LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 76: The Light Amidst Darkness
Chapter 76: The Light Amidst Darkness
It often seemed like the most valuable things in life could only be truly appreciated once they were either gone or difficult to come by. For the last three whole years, Zach had spent almost all of his free time with Kalana: especially this past year, in which she had grown even closer to him and had begun following him around basically everywhere he went. And yet, through it all, he had been totally oblivious to how precious she was. Truly, it was hard to believe he had shared so many moments with her without realizing until much later on how lucky he'd been for every second of it. He had been so stupid: so totally incapable of cherishing what he had. These days, he felt like he needed to move mountains just to be with her for five minutes. And now, finally, he had the chance to tell her this much in person—which he did. He wanted her to know what she meant to him.
“You’re probably the only reason I’ve survived what I’ve been through,” he said to her. Then, with a macabre sort of chuckle, he added, “Well, except for the one time I didn’t. But you know what I mean. I just kept hoping to see you again.”
“You’re cute,” she said, pinching his cheek.
He playfully brushed away her hand. “Kal, not in front of other people. They can see us.”
“Don’t care!”
She tried to pinch him once again, but this time, he gently grabbed her hand midair and took it into his own. The two of them were sitting together on a single large rock while they waited for the arrival of Ziragoth. The effect she had on him was palpable. While close to her, the heat stopped bothering him, the sun burning down on top of his head ceased to exist, and his fear of the dragon became greatly diminished. Right now, in this moment, there was nothing but her in the world. Nothing else mattered.
“Ever since…you know, ‘that day,’ I feel like it’s become impossible to spend any real amount of time with you.”
“That’s how I feel too,” she said.
“It’s just one thing after the next, Kal. And what sucks is that we were so close to finally having some time to ourselves, just me and you.”
She pouted. “It’s all ‘cause the stupid dragon spawned.”
“That’s why,” Zach began, “after this is over, I want to pick things up where we left off. Hey, do you remember our summer plans before all this? Back when we were going to meet up in the Den of Ziragoth?”
Kalana beamed at him, smiling happily. “Yeah, you said you’d come to my island. Wait, so are you saying you wanna just continue on like none of this ever happened?”
He nodded. “Well, yeah, of course. Don’t you?”
“Duh!”
“Then we will. Let’s do it. Once this whole thing is done with, let’s finally get away together.”
She practically chirped with excitement. “That would make me so happy. I can’t wait!”
“But,” he added, “with the same rules as before: no power-leveling and no forcing me to level-up there.”
“As long as you go swimming with me.” She made an evil-sounding hum and leaned close to him. “Did you see the picture I sent you of me in the swimsuit?” she asked in a whisper.
His face turning red from something other than sunburn, Zach nodded. “I saw it all right.”
She laughed devilishly. “We’re gonna have so much fun. Let’s leave as soon as we beat the dragon.”
“Actually…”
“What?” she asked, a concerned frown appearing on her face.
“Nothing bad,” he said with a laugh. “I was just hoping we could do one other thing first before we go.”
“What thing?”
“Before we go to your island,” he explained, “I really, really want to take you to Angelica’s. I want to bring Olivir and Kolona, too. We can have a double date in the best place in the world.”
Kalana seemed to like the idea, because she became so happy that she actually clapped with approval. “Oh, cool! We can do that, Zach. Yep. And then, after, you’ll let me show you where I live. And you can meet my cat, Nila, and you have to look at all the decorations I put up, too. And there’s this one cool mob that spawns near the river that you don’t have to fight, but you have to hear it sing. It sings, Zach!”
He laughed. “We’ll do it.”
If we survive, he finished, not speaking the words aloud.
Glancing over his shoulder for what must’ve been the hundredth time, he marveled at the sight of the massive, stone-wrought, and totally out-of-place fortification that had been erected in what was typically considered “the middle of nowhere.” Only three miles southeast of them, he could clearly see the large, twenty-foot-high, spiral-shaped wall that ran for what looked like an entire mile and was punctuated with habitable towers equally distanced from one another with open, square-shaped entryways and windows. From this somewhat elevated position, he could also see the camp that had been set up, which was so massive and colorful that, from over here, it looked like a tiny city all on its own. Much farther into the distance beyond that point was the outline of the actual city of Shadowfall Coast.
Due to his fascination with both the scope and result of what had been constructed in just a matter of days, he became distracted. Therefore, it took him a bit to realize that Kalana was now giving him a very intense and peculiar sort of look and had likely been doing so for the past minute or two. It somewhat startled him, as only a moment before, the two of them had been chatting away happily. Yet now she was staring at him so hard that it was almost as though she was trying to burn a hole through him with her eyes. It was really unnerving.
“What’s wrong, Kal?” he asked her, becoming alarmed. “Why’re you looking at me like that?”
When she said nothing, he became even more restless. She wasn’t just looking “in his direction,” but directly into his eyes, saying nothing. But why? What had changed? He had no clue what was going through her mind. Had he upset her somehow? He didn’t think so. The sense he got from her wasn’t one of “anger,” but at the same time, he couldn’t really place it. Finally, though, she ended the suspense, and now she grabbed his other hand, tightly, so that he held one of hers and she held one of his.
“Kolona tells me…” she began, stopping herself for a reason that Zach could not be sure.
“What? What’s going on, Kal?”
“I talked to Kolona,” she said.
“Okay, so?”
Even while maintaining the intensity of her gaze, her eyes seemed to dampen ever so slightly. It was not enough so that she could be said to have formed tears, but it was enough to arouse even more suspicion and uncertainty within him. “What is it?” he asked.
From the rise of her chest, he could see her draw a deep breath. “Zach, she told me only ‘cause she cares and not ‘cause she’s trying to upset you or anything.”
“Told you what?” he demanded, becoming as annoyed as he was concerned.
“She told me you’re not okay.”
There was no controlling the unpredictable, unexpected bout of anger that crashed into him in response to her words. Yet he clamped down on it. If any of it managed to spill into his expression, he doubted it could have been much, as he was quick to get a hold of himself. Even still, he could not fully conceal the frustration in his voice.
“She doesn’t know what she’s talking about. And she shouldn’t be talking shit about me behind my back, either.”
“She was not!” Kalana said, her tone now on the grumpy side. “Zach, that’s not what she was doing at all. Don’t even say that.”
Zach couldn’t help but feel both defensive and agitated all at once. “What did she tell you, Kal?”
“She…you know, she told me about how you guys met…”
Zach looked beyond Kalana and over to where Kolona was standing next to Olivir, and he glared at her. She immediately averted her eyes apologetically, which told him right away that she knew why he was glaring at her and that she’d expected he would be upset. Witnessing this exchange, Olivir said something to Kolona that Zach was too far away to overhear, and then Kolona said something back to him. Then he nodded slowly and knowingly. Thereafter, he turned in Zach’s direction and gave Zach a shrug.
What the fuck did they tell Kalana? Gods damn it all!
“I already told you how we met. In great detail. Right in front of your mom.”
Kalana squeezed his hand. “I know. But, um, I mean more like…you know, the conversation you guys had.”
It took everything Zach had not to seethe. “What about it?”
“How you were having…trouble sleeping. And you, totally by accident, you…you were having a bad dream, and without meaning to do it, you—”
Zach tore his arm free from Kalana, unable to tamp down on the rage shooting through him. He said nothing to her as he got up from the rock and stormed off. He knew that, right now, anything he said would come out wrong due to anger and cause tremendous pain to Kalana. He couldn’t believe they told her about the Fluffles thing. It hurt him that they would actually expose him that way.
Why would she do this? She knows how much I love Kal, and she’s trying to make me look awful in her eyes.
A sense of wrongness and fear rushed into his belly as he struggled to think of how he could talk or lie his way out of this. He loved the cat so much. He’d never willingly hurt Fluffles. He still couldn’t believe it’d happened at all. He had no memory of it. But even if it did happen, he didn’t want anyone to know about it, both out of shame but also a genuine belief that they’d get the wrong idea about him. Hell, Zach himself wouldn’t ever trust or look fondly upon someone who did what they claimed he’d done regardless of context. It was only natural. What kind of sick fuck would hurt a cat? Only people worthy of being despised would. No matter what anyone said to the contrary, there was no way Kalana could hear this about him and not change the way she viewed him. Gods damn it! Why did Kolona have to open her mouth?
“Zach, stop,” Kalana said, hurrying after him. “There’s no reason for you to be upset. Really.”
“They’re lying,” he called back to her. “They told you something about Fluffles, right?”
“Umm, yeah but—"
“Ask Fluffles yourself if it’s true. Fluffles!” he called, looking around for the cat and not seeing him anywhere. “Fluffles! Where’d you—”
His words were cut off as Kalana yanked on his arm forcibly enough to spin his whole body around. Now, she glared at him, and for the first time in his entire life, he actually felt intimidated by her. It wasn’t a comfortable feeling. “Don’t lie to me,” she said.
“Why are you doing this, Kal?” he asked her. “And keep your voice down. Please.”
If nothing else, she at least complied to that one request. Speaking at a lower volume but with an even harsher tone, she said, “I’m worried about you. That’s why.”
“I worry about you all the time, too. But that doesn’t—”
“Zach, you don’t get it. I’m not gonna…it’s not just about you or me. This is really important.” He had no idea what she was talking about or even trying to say. He shot her a questioning look, and this only seemed to frustrate her further. “You don’t get it, do you?” she asked.
“Get what?”
“Why it’s so important.”
“Why what is important?”
Kalana’s frown deepened. “That you’re okay.”
“I am okay.”
“No, you’re not, Zach!”
Her voice having once again risen, he placed his finger on his nose and frantically looked around to ensure people weren’t eavesdropping on their conversation. “Kalana, please, what’s gotten into you?”
“I love you,” she said.
“I love you too, Kal. You know I do.”
She looked away a moment then licked her bottom lip as though unsure of what to say. Facing him once more, she placed her arms on his shoulders.
“Why don’t you trust me?”
“I do.”
“You don’t. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be so upset.”
Zach paused a moment. He had to fight through the urge to flee. “It’s just…”
“Just what?”
“If a person did what they said I did, that guy would be a real piece of shit. Someone you could never look at the same way ever again.”
“Not if it was just an accident. Not if I know the person would never, ever do something like that intentionally.”
“I’d have to first convince you of that, though.”
Kalana shook her head firmly. “No way! I already know you didn’t choose to do anything on purpose. I know you! And also, Kolona made that really clear to me and Alex when she—”
“She fucking told Mr. Oren, too?” he snapped, becoming furious. “Holy fuck. Your cousin really screwed me. Why would she tell him that? Why would she ever tell anyone? Does she have it out for me or something?”
“Zach, please don’t be like this,” Kalana said. “No one is trying to blame you or call you bad. Everyone knows this wasn’t your fault.”
“When did you even have the time to talk about this? How many people did she tell?”
“Only me and Alex. And it was when you walked off alone somewhere before. We came over to ask Kolona if you were okay, ‘cause we know you went through a lot. And then Kolona told us about everything.”
Frowning, Zach looked over his shoulder at her. “I need to have a word with Kolona.”
Kalana squeezed his shoulder blades hard enough that it actually hurt. “Nah-uh. Don’t you be mean to her, Zach.”
“I’m not going to be mean. I just want to know why she did it.”
“I already told you why. It’s ‘cause she cares about you, Zach. She really, really cares. A lot.”
“She only just met me.”
“So?”
He sighed. “Maybe I’m overreacting a bit.”
“You think?”
He took a moment to calm himself down and rationally assess the situation, which was what he should’ve done in the first place. Quite clearly, Kolona’s intentions had not been bad. Zach wasn’t even really mad at her. He was mad at himself, and he was terrified over how he’d be perceived.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered.
“You don’t gotta be sorry.”
Wetting his lips, Zach asked, “If you know I didn’t mean to do it, and you’re being honest when you say it wasn’t my fault, then why did you suddenly bring this up when we were both happy and having such a great conversation? I mean everything between us was perfect. Why ruin such a great moment?”
She again squeezed his shoulders, though not as hard this time. “You should already know why. Alex told me so. He said you should already know. And Kolona wasn’t surprised to find out either, ‘cause when me and Alex told her about you, she said that she had a suspicion already ‘cause you looked really shaken up when Fluffles appraised her.”
“Huh?” Zach asked, totally confused. Was he actually supposed to make sense of that jumble of words? What was Kalana even trying to say? Seriously, whatever garbled mess of thoughts had just escaped her lips, it made absolutely no sense at all: none whatsoever.
“Zach, you know why,” she again insisted.
He shook his head. None of what she was saying rang a bell. What did this have to do with Kolona? He tried to think back in order to make sense of things. The only time he could ever recall Fluffles appraising Kolona was a very short while ago when they were making their way through the forest on Archian Prime. Fluffles had begun rattling off details about Kolona’s level and abilities that she and Olivir had wanted to keep hidden. If anything, the two of them had been the ones who were “shaken up” over it, not him!
In fact, Zach had barely even reacted or paid attention to it. He had been far more perturbed at the way they took this whole “appraisal” thing so seriously. And when he’d asked them about it, they’d claimed that these strange “appraisals,” which to Zach felt more like some kind of bizarre, animal-based palm readings, were not only correct, but in their words, were “perfectly accurate.” He distinctly recalled how uncomfortable that had made him, and clearly Kolona had taken note of that. He’d simply refused to accept it was true, because if appraisals were, in fact, “perfectly accurate,” then that would imply that Zach was…
Oh, he thought as understanding dawned on him. I get what she’s saying now.
“It’s this again, huh?” he asked with a slight moan. “I should’ve known. Of course it’s this bullshit again.”
“So you do know. Alex was right.”
“Know what, Kal? That a cat said some things about me? What does it even matter? What he said about me isn’t true. Hell, it’s not even possible.”
“It is true.”
He laughed derisively. “It’s not. Think about how silly that is. This is me we’re talking about here. Also, Fluffles doesn’t always tell the truth. But he’s a good and loyal little buddy. He didn’t want us to be separated, so he lied and made up these laughable claims about me so that I wouldn’t be sent away and could join the guild and spend more time with you and him. That’s all this is, okay?”
Kalana removed her left hand from his shoulder and instead placed it on his cheek. The look of deep worry in her eyes was now causing him to be worried as well. “Please stop,” she said. “You need to stop denying it.”
He snorted. “But it’s not true though, Kal. Fluffles was lying.”
From out of nowhere, an angry meow echoed behind him. Caught off guard, Zach flinched and turned his head around to see Fluffles standing by his feet and looking up at him. The black-and-white tuxedo cat was thwacking his tail up and down onto the grass as if miffed about something. Zach’s stomach lurched as though he'd fallen off a cliff and was plummeting down to his death. Talk about awful timing.
“Why Zach say Fluffles lie?” the cat asked him. “Fluffles not the one who eat the chicken. It was Chumpkenwiffles.”
Thank the Gods! He has no idea what we’re talking about.
Hoping to quickly steer the situation away from this awful topic, Zach opened his mouth to reply, but before he could say a thing, Kalana clasped her hand over his mouth, and his words came out as mumbled gibberish.
“Hi again, Fluffles,” she said to him.
The cat meowed. “Oh, hi Kalana.”
She smiled down at him. “Is it true what you said about Zach?”
Zach tried to pry her hand off his mouth, but she was determined to keep it there. So instead, all he could do was listen.
Fluffles brushed against Kalana's leg. “Yes true,” he said. “Zach pet Fluffles too much and get greedy.”
“He did?” she asked with a giggle. “Well that’s not nice.”
“See?” Fluffles asked with a loud, animated meow. “Even Kalana say Zach greedy.”
Kalana laughed a second time. Then, more seriously, she said, “I actually kinda meant the other thing, Fluffles. Umm, what you told Alex and the others about him.”
Fluffles stared at her a moment then tilted his head to the side. “Zach most powerful human?”
“Yes, that.”
“It true! Fluffles appraise. Zach more powerful than all GSG combined. If Zach level 80, he beat the stupid dragon all by himself.”
“Kal, that’s obviously fucking bullshit!” Zach attempted to say. Instead, with her hand covering his mouth, it came out as: “Kval, nvvvatats ommmbvslle mffvvkkn mbvvulffit.”
None of this made any sense. How could Kalana seriously consider let alone actually believe such stupidly exaggerated claims of this magnitude? It stood in direct defiance of all logic and common sense. Especially the part about the dragon. Even with hundreds of adventurers, and now quite possibly dozens of even more powerful Elves, Mr. Oren and Donovan did not look all that optimistic about their chances of taking down Ziragoth. Yet Fluffles was actually trying to put forward the claim that Zach, all by himself, could take on and defeat the fire wyvern if only he were level 80? Get real! That was just downright ludicrous. The word “impossible” did not even begin to describe such a farfetched, silly idea. Yet not only did Kalana take it seriously, but from the sound of things, so too had Mr. Oren, who Zach was now willing to bet was the one who’d told Kalana about Fluffles’ so-called “appraisal” of Zach in the first place. How else would she know? Honestly, he was becoming a real troublemaker.
They just don’t get it, Zach thought. They don’t understand how ridiculous this is.
Something else was now bothering him, too. It was something that took him a bit to really work out in his head, as he had been so focused on the sheer absurdity of the claims themselves that he hadn’t even contemplated the overall, broader point of why these claims had Kalana so concerned in the first place. But as he replayed portions of the conversation in his mind, a growing sense of discontent began slowly twisting itself into anger and even pain.
Putting aside for a moment whether or not Fluffles’ appraisal of him was accurate, the fact of the matter was that Kalana believed it to be true. And because of this, she was deeply concerned and clearly troubled. This naturally prompted Zach to ask himself the only follow-up question that made any sense: why?
Why was she so worried? What, exactly, was she trying to imply here? That Zach was somehow inherently dangerous? That if he had the kind of power that she herself currently had, that that would somehow be a bad thing? Or was he being too defensive and completely misconstruing the whole situation? He just didn’t know anymore. But the more he thought about it, the less fair things seemed. And since her hand was covering his mouth, she could likely feel his growing anger through his stiffening lips, which caused her to finally remove it.
“I love you,” she said again. “I’m not trying to make you upset. I wouldn’t ever wanna do that to you. Everything I’m saying is only ‘cause you mean the world to me.”
Zach took a moment before speaking, and not because he needed time to gather his thoughts, but so that he could calm himself before voicing them. “Kal,” he said to her, using great effort to avoid losing his temper. “What exactly is it you’re so worried about?”
“You,” she said, stroking his chin and kissing his lips. Seriously, did she actually think something like that would calm his growing anger? Because, okay, it actually did. He loved her so much that he couldn’t help it. But even still, he was actually quite upset, and so he realized he had to vent this here and now. Calmly removing her hand, he asked her the same thing yet again.
“What are you worried about, Kal? Specifically.”
Despite asking such a simple, obvious, and run-of-the-mill question, Zach clearly stumped her—or no, wait. Not stumped her. No. It was worse than that. Because she obviously knew the answer to his question damn well, but she just didn’t want to say it. He was sure about it. That was why she tensed up, opened her mouth, and then rather than speak, released only a half-silent exhalation of breath, which contained nothing more than an “ah” along with an “um.”
Don’t get mad! he shouted to himself, even as he could feel his own blood pressure rising.
“It’s because you think I’m dangerous or something, right?”
“No!” she said, hurt in her eyes. “That’s not what I was gonna say at all!”
“Then what are you afraid of? Tell me.” When she again began stammering all over herself, unable to produce any real response, he continued speaking. “I don’t want to make this into a contest,” he said to her. “But just so you know, on two different occasions, I’ve had people tell me they were afraid of you or thought that you are going to be really dangerous to the world, and both times, I defended you. Just so you know.”
He was telling her the truth. Both Lienne and Olivir had expressed great reservations about Kalana, and both times, he’d told them that they were wrong about her. But that was only part of the unfairness at play here. The other part was that Kalana had actually made plans to shake up the world and knock over the political guilds. She’d called herself a God and acted like she had some right to rule. Had Zach ever said anything like that? No, he hadn’t! At least not seriously, anyway. All he wanted was to live a good life and have lots of money. Yet he was the one to be worried about somehow? Kalana was being a hypocrite, and Zach now had a winning argument against her. He realized this as it began pouring into his head. He had a checkmate against her. A knockout blow.
And it was here that Zach learned the most important thing that could ever be learned about being in a relationship with a woman: sometimes, it was better to just let them win. This, he would discover as he opened his mouth and stupidly said to her everything that he’d just thought, telling her how, of all people, she was one to talk. He brought up her previous text messages. He brought up her bragging about being a God. He threw it all back in her face like a fucking idiot.
Now look: if this were a fair contest judged purely on the merits of one’s argument, Zach would have just wiped the floor with her. He would be crowned the undisputed champion. But this wasn’t a contest, and this certainly wasn’t fair. Thus, he got totally annihilated as Kalana retaliated. And when she did, she pierced him straight through the heart. She hit him right where it hurt. She went for the jugular and said something so terrible and awful that she might as well have killed him.
“You’re being really mean,” she said, frowning. “I wanted to talk ‘cause I’m really worried about you, and you’re just being really mean about it, so guess what, Zach? No sex tonight.”
“Wh-what?” he asked with a loud, panicked gasp as every bit of confidence drained from his face. “You don’t mean that, Kal. You can’t seriously—”
“You’re sleeping in your own tent tonight. Or you can still sleep in mine but nothing’s gonna happen.”
“N-no, wait! Kalana!” Now, he was the one chasing after her as she began to walk away back in the direction of the others. “I changed my mind!” he called, urgency in his voice. “You were right about everything. I’m a threat to Galterra! I’m the only thing standing in the way of world peace. You were right! Wait, can’t we just…let’s be reasonable here, Kal. Come on! I love you and I’m sorry!”
She paused. Then she replied to him, but she did so without looking back his way. “I love you too, Zach.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay,” she said quietly. “I forgive you.”
“Wait, you do?”
“Mhm.”
He sighed with relief. “Okay, so then we can still—”
“No!”
He pursed his lips bitterly. “You know what? Fine, whatever. I didn’t even want to, anyway.”
This time, she did turn around as she responded to him. Now, she wore a smirk. “Oh really, you dork?”
“That’s right,” he said, even as he knew she could see right through him. “In fact, I wasn’t even going to—”
“GRAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
Whatever Zach had been about to say—it was gone. Lost. His words fell off completely. An explosion of pure terror came upon him, one so horrible that his entire body began to shake violently as all the energy drained from him. The ground shook, and the temperature seemed to become just a little bit hotter. His eardrums ached. All five senses blended together and became dedicated towards the processing of a single, terrible cry that seemed to actually invade the air more than it permeated it. This wasn’t his mind playing tricks on him. This was real. This was it. This was Ziragoth.
Its roar having once again graced his ears, everything came back to him in a rush. It was only upon hearing that Gods-cursed sound that it fully became apparent how wrong he had been. He thought he could hear it in his nightmares. He’d thought it played inside his mind whenever he closed his eyes. But now he saw that this was false, for what he heard in his dreams was merely a pale imitation that failed to convey the awful, soul-sucking, and life-draining misery that consumed him entirely when it came straight from the source.
All at once, voices began to shout.
“Everyone, get in position!” Spider barked. “Break time is over!”
“Get ready!” Donovan cried. “This ain’t a battle, but be ready to fight if it turns into one. But most of all, do not fuck this up!”
“It’s game time,” Zephyr said. “Alixa, Maric, spread out further in case it starts throwing fire. Alex, you’re with me.”
Zach turned his head even as he struggled to breathe. Images of dead children, blood, and misery popped into the world before him: images so vivid that he could almost reach out and touch them. It was as though he was back in that small town, witnessing it all over again for the first time. His jaw trembled, his knees were barely able to uphold his weight, and he worried he might collapse as his eyes went wide with pure terror. It was all coming back to him now. The pain of losing his eye and his arm. The fear of nearly being swallowed alive. He remembered all of it.
“Aggro range is 14.92 miles,” Kesten said. “Target entering visibility.”
It soon became clear why Donovan and Zephyr had chosen this exact, specific spot to intercept the dragon. It was because they were at what Zach assumed to be the highest point of elevation in the grasslands, and this allowed them to see the dragon from nearly twenty miles away, giving them time to ready themselves before it entered into aggro range.
There it is, Zach thought, chills shooting down his spine.
Gods, the sight of it was so surreal and haunting all on its own. Beginning with its face as it crested the most distant visible hill, Zach was once more forced to reacquaint himself with that horrible beast. It was heading towards them at a walk, flattening the grass beneath its razor-sharp, black-toenail-covered feet. Any rocks within its path were shattered regardless of size. Watching something so fantastical and ancient stomp its way across a modern-day stretch of boring, empty grasslands created an impression so stark and jarring that Zach was actually transfixed by it even as it made him tremble.
He reminded himself that Ziragoth wasn’t roaming this way by chance. No, the dragon knew what it was doing. It was coming to kill everyone here, and it wouldn’t stop until it had. It was coming for them all. Anyone who went near it was going to die. This was a mistake. They should have run. He should have grabbed Kalana and taken her and all his friends to another planet, far away from this fire-breathing catastrophe. He shouldn’t have had to see this thing again. Once a lifetime was enough.
Zach became paralyzed as the behemoth-sized wyvern ambled its way in their direction, coming closer and closer with each step of its massive legs. Although Zach would never forget just how large the wyvern actually was, there was simply no substitute for seeing it in person. He struggled to come to grips with the fact that he was really encountering this thing again. Part of him couldn’t believe this was really happening. But this was really happening: and the dragon was heading right for them. Its dark brown body, which was covered in scales, along with its golden, lizard-like eyes, and its barbed, lethally dangerous tail were all becoming larger in view as it neared.
It’s here. It’s really here, Zach thought. Why can’t I breathe? What’s wrong with my body? I can’t move. I can’t speak. I can’t breathe!
“I’m here,” called Kalana’s voice as she ran towards him and clutched him tightly. The moment her arms wrapped around him, it broke whatever hold Ziragoth had on him.
“I’m okay, Kal. I’m sorry we fought. Forget everything I said. You’re all that matters to me. If we die here, I just want you to know that you’re the only person in this world I—”
“Shh, we’re not gonna die,” Kalana said to him. “It’s gonna be okay.” Then she grunted angrily. “That’s the thing that hurt you so bad, right?”
He nodded. “Yeah, that’s him. Gods, I need a weapon. I hate being unarmed at a time like this. Even if I can’t possibly hurt the thing, it feels wrong not having a weapon.”
“Fluffles have weapon for Zach,” the cat said, causing him to shift his attention from the approaching fire wyvern to the talking cat. Wiggling free of Kalana’s arms, he crouched down next to Fluffles, and a sense of pure gratitude flooded into him.
“You made me another sword?” he asked. “Thank you. I’m sorry I broke the one you gave me.”
“Zach take sword. Hurry.”
He nodded as a shadow formed onto the grass. A weapon, which he assumed must’ve just popped into the air out of nowhere, began to fall down before landing silently in front of him. He leaned over to pick it up—and then he paused, gasped, and became so stunned that, for just the briefest of moments, he forgot where he was and what was approaching him. His eyes went wide. His voice caught in his throat. He croaked in disbelief. What lay on the grass ahead of him was not the “starter sword” that he had become so comfortable with and had grown so accustomed to. It was something else entirely. Something beautiful. Something magnificent.
“Where did you get this?” he asked, his mouth falling open in shock.
Fluffles, either deliberately or for inexplicable “cat reasons,” chose to hiss rather than answer the question. Kalana, on the other hand, knelt down next to him and tilted her head almost as though she recognized the weapon. “Zach, isn’t that the sword of…”
Zach looked at her. “Huh?”
Kalana immediately closed her mouth and shook her head. She seemed confused: like she knew something but wasn’t sure if she should speak on it. If not for everything going on around him, he would’ve questioned her about it. Whatever the case, she smiled at him and gestured with her chin at the weapon. “You should take it. It’s right for you.”
Hesitantly, Zach wrapped his hand around the grip of the weapon. Its hilt was made out of a brilliant, pitch-black metal that somehow shined vibrantly almost as if in opposition to its darkness. This created a look that was as unnatural as it was beautiful; Zach was entranced by this white, diamond-like shine that formed around the entire base of the weapon and formed an aura that made the entire hilt glow. And upon wrapping his hand around it, Zach’s hand, too, began to glow with the same vibrant, diamond-like shine that was visible even amid the intense sunlight bearing down on them.
Socketed in both the pommel as well as the center of the blade’s polished crossguard was a blue gemstone the color of the sky. Upon glancing closer at the weapon, Zach could see that within these gems were what looked like clouds, almost as though an entire world resided within each of them. The one in the pommel was the shape of an oval, whereas the one in the crossguard was the shape of an eye. The weapon itself was a longsword, but its blade was not made of any steel Zach had ever before seen. It, too, was black, though it was a lighter shade than that which made up the hilt. Silver, spiraling patterns were etched into both the left and right edges of the sword, running the length from the crossguard all the way to just before the point, and dead center between them both was a third pattern, this one taking on the illustration of flames, giving the blade a streak of orange amid what was otherwise an oppressive deep black; this pattern, along with the two blue gemstones, served as the only touch of color to be found on the blade, but the result was something of such astounding beauty that Zach could not believe something like this had actually been given to him.
“Is this really mine, Fluffles?” he asked.
“Yes. Zach take.”
“Are you sure?”
“Zach take!”
“It’s yours,” Kalana said to him, and as Zach looked up at her, he noticed a tear in her eye: one of happiness. Somehow, he didn’t think she’d shed it exclusively over the beauty of the weapon. He shot her a questioning look, but all she did was smile. For some reason, he didn’t imagine he was going to get any kind of explanation out of either her or Fluffles.
“Aggro range in about five minutes!” Donovan barked. “Kid, you ready?”
“Not a kid,” Olivir said with a chuckle. “But yeah, I’m ready, dude. We’ll be fine. I’ve got this.”
Sensing things were about to ramp up, Zach picked up the blade, which had come with its own custom scabbard. Even that was beautiful. The scabbard had an illustration on it of a dark sky consumed entirely by clouds except for a singular point towards the center where a large, full moon shined brightly in the sky. And to both his surprise and delight, the moon on the scabbard emitted actual moonlight.
As far as distractions were concerned, this had to be the greatest one in history, as even with Ziragoth slamming down its feet and roaring as it drew nearer, the sword had somehow broken through his terror. Zach decided to inspect his new weapon even while the T7 fire wyvern continued to close the distance between them. Given its appearance, he was fairly sure it would be better than the one he’d been using. He just hoped it was at least as good as the Yorna’s Sword of Courage, which the dragon had broken during their last encounter.
As it turned out, the sword may have been too good. Upon attaching the scabbard to the holster on his back and making sure it fit snugly and wouldn’t become loose, he raised his hand to begin tapping on his shoulder and bring up his stats—but even before he did so, he took a sudden, sharp inhalation of breath as he felt his body change. He felt it change a lot. Like, in a way that reminded him of entering Unleashed Phase. He felt more coordinated, stronger, and faster.
Okay, wow. This is definitely going to be something really, really good, he thought, becoming so excited he felt like a little kid at his birthday party.
Extending his pointer finger, he touched the word “inventory” in the air before him, and he found what he was looking for right away. When he did, something happened that should not have been possible given the situation he was in: he began to smile and even laugh. “Kal!” he said in a hushed whisper. “Kal, do you see this?”
She also smiled, warmly. “I see it, Zach.”
“Fluffles, thank you! You’re the best cat in the universe! How is this even…” He lowered his voice, fearful that Mr. Oren or someone would try to take this away from him. He clearly was not supposed to have something like this at level 17. No way in hell. He thought his eyes would pop out of their sockets when he read over the item. His mind wasn’t just blown: it was shattered.
(EPIC RARE): The Sword of Light Amidst Darkness: discovered by Aiyral Vayra
+500 physical attack damage
+500 magical attack damage (sword only)
+25 str
+20 dex
+20 spd
+15 int
(8.5%): Successful hits with this weapon have a chance to refresh 25% of the user’s stamina.
(1.5%): Successful hits with this weapon have a chance to engulf the target with light, dealing an additional 8,000 attack damage along with additional damage that scales with strength.
(0.5%): Successful hits with this weapon have a chance to engulf the target with darkness, dealing an additional 20,000 magic damage along with additional magical damage that scales with intelligence.
(1 week / 604,800 seconds): User may use Light Amidst the Darkness, reducing the cost of their next inner exertion ability by half. The cooldown on this ability cannot be refreshed by any means, including items, magic, abilities, item abilities, or buffs. (Confliction Level: P) (if another item or ability conflicts with this one, The Sword of Light Amidst Darkness is given priority. If both have a confliction level of P, chance of success = 50%)
Zach whooped in approval. Then he pumped his fist. “Yes!” he shouted. “I can’t believe I got something like this. I just can’t believe it!”
“Wow, you’re looking pretty pleased,” came the voice Donovan, who Zach had not realized until just then had moved over in his direction. “Guess you got over your fear of the dragon, eh, kiddo?”
Zach flicked his eyes upwards and noticed Mr. Oren, Donovan, Spider, Kesten, Maric, and Alixa had all gathered around him. With a nervous croak like that of a teenager caught with his pants down, he hurriedly dismissed his inventory and hoped no one saw it. He didn’t want to get Fluffles into any kind of trouble. No matter what, he would not admit where he got the weapon.
“Nice sword,” Mr. Oren said to him. “Very nice indeed. I’d really like to know—”
He paused as the dragon roared, causing the ground to again shake. Without a trace of fear on his face, Mr. Oren calmly waited for the sound to quiet down before he continued to speak.
“GRAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
“I’d really like to know how you acquired a level-65 weapon,” he finished.
Zach blinked. “A level what weapon?”
“He doesn’t know,” Spider said with an affirmative grunt. Then, looking Zach in the eye, he explained it to him. “Once you hit level 20, you can see the level of items. That blade of yours is level 65. That’s higher than anything I have.”
“Same here,” Donovan said with a laugh.
Zach was so overwhelmed by what he was hearing that he wasn’t even sure how to feel about it. Instead, he asked, “Did you guys come over here just to spy on me?”
“No way, man,” Kesten said. “We’re getting into position: and this is where we’re positioned.”
“Oh, right.”
Mr. Oren lifted his cat-eye glasses and rubbed his eyes. “Those stats…they’re just shy of the best Alixa can craft.”
“It’s true,” Alixa agreed. “The lab coat I made for Alex has the highest stat points overall of any piece of gear I’ve ever made. But I’ve never forged a weapon as good as that. Epic rare quality, too. Must be a boss drop.”
Zach released a brief, nervous laugh. “Yeah, my bad. I forgot to tell you guys I fought a boss in Archian Prime and it dropped this. I just took it out of my bank and storage right now.”
Donovan barked out a laugh. “Bullshit artist,” he said.
Mr. Oren let out a small grumble of disapproval. “Now is not the time for an explanation, but I would really like to know afterwards how you came in possession of that.”
“You’re not taking it away from me,” Zach said, backing away slowly.
“Of course not. I’m not a thief, Zach. I would just really like to know. That weapon is likely worth anywhere between eight and ten-million gold.”
Astonished, Zach was almost blinded as pictures of mansions, hot tubs, and limousine DEHVs flashed before his eyes. “It’s worth how much?” he asked. “Are you telling me I could be a millionaire if I sold this?”
An adventurer from GSG he did not recognize nodded at him. “You could be a millionaire right now. I’ll give you ten mil for it, kid.”
“You’re fucking with me,” Zach said, nearly drowning in his lust for gold. “Right here, right now, even while the dragon’s walking over—you’d give me ten mil.”
“Without question,” he replied.
Adventurers are like super rich, Zach realized. All suffering aside, I definitely picked the right profession!
Zach felt around for the strap on his harness. “Okay, well, that’s definitely an offer too good for me to refuse. In that case—”
“Don’t you dare!” Kalana shouted, slapping him on the arm.
“Ouch!” he cried, rubbing where she’d hit him. She needed to learn her own strength. Gods, that was going to make his skin look like a rotten banana peel. She’d cracked him so hard he’d be lucky if bruising was the extent of the injury. As if realizing what she’d done, she squeaked, began apologizing profusely, and then tried to rub it.
“What gives, Kal?”
“You can’t sell that,” she said to him.
“Why the hell not?”
“Because…because it was my family’s.”
At this, every head within earshot turned her way, and Zach inhaled sharply. “It what?”
She groaned. “I didn’t wanna say anything ‘cause I wanted you to be happy and didn’t want you to feel like you had to get rid of it. But my mom must’ve given you that sword. I’m only telling you so you’ll give it back to me instead of selling it. It’s precious to me. I’d rather you have it, though, and so does my mom, I guess.”
Zach didn’t think his mind could explode any more than it already had, but Kalana had proven him wrong. “I’m sorry. I’d never sell it now that I know how important it is to you. You can just have it if you want.”
“No, you should have it. I don’t even use swords. I just…rather than sell it, I’d rather keep it if you don’t wanna use it.”
“Of course I do!”
“Really? Even knowing it’s from my mom?”
Zach snorted. “Are you kidding me? Why would I pass on free, amazing loot just because it’s from your mom? By all means, tell her I’ll actually forgive her if she keeps this up. Find out what else she’s got.”
Kalana narrowed her eyes at him. “Stop, Zach, it’s not funny. She must’ve been really, really sorry if she gave you that.”
Once again, he snorted with derision. “Your mom doesn’t have feelings. She can’t be sorry. She’s playing games with us.”
Kalana looked wounded. Zach regretted his words immediately. “She does have feelings,” Kalana whispered. “I know she’s terrible. I just wanna think maybe she’s not pure evil.”
“She’s not,” Kolona said, chiming in. Zach had almost completely forgotten she was even there with them at all. “Everything she does is out of fear and ignorance. That’s even worse than if she was just pure evil and didn’t understand the way her actions hurt people. She knows—and still decides to go through with them anyway.”
Kalana folded her arms. “I know you’ll probably all hate her forever. But I dunno how I feel about the thought of there being nothing she could ever do, no matter what, that’d make you all forgive her. What if she tried her best?”
Zach was surprised by the amount of empathy he felt for Kalana even given his absolute, uncompromising hatred of Fylwen. Once again, it all came down to the way in which he missed his own mother. Now that Kalana’s anger had died down a bit, she had become sadder and more reflective with all things regarding Queen Vayra. The passion of the moment having ended, she now wanted to believe there was more to the woman: this much, Zach did not have to be a mind reader to tell. Seeing Kalana like this softened him.
“Even though I’ve told myself I’ll never forgive her, Kal, if she really does try, and if she ever works up the nerve to apologize to me, I will. For you.” Kalana smiled at him, and he held up his pointer finger. “Having said that, there’s no way I’d ever trust her. Not for anything.”
“I wouldn’t either,” Kalana said. He took her hands into his own. He felt as though his courage had finally returned to him—and then the dragon came into range, and once again, he was forced to prevent his own knees from buckling. He really, really hoped Olivir knew what he was doing.