Chapter 19: The Mystery of Shadow Fighting

  “I think I forgot something,” I mumbled under my breath.

  It was too late, as the coast was already visible on the horizon. Even with weeks of preparation, I still didn’t feel ready for Xanadu.

  “What was that? Isa mumbled from across the carriage where she sat snuggled up to her mother.

  I, unfortunately, was stuck with Vince, who snored loudly beside me. Not that I minded. I knew I wasn’t going to get much sleep during the trip. Still, even though I didn’t mind Nax, I’d rather sit with Isa. My knights drove the carriage, which helped a lot as it took several days to get to the coast from Yew.

  “Alex says he forgot something, and we have to go back,” Anna mumbled, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

  “No, no, no,” I balked, holding up my hands defensively. “It just feels like I forgot to do something. It’ll be fine…I think.”

  “Oh, good,” Anna made an exaggerated stretch before yawning. “Tell me when we’re there, then.”

  “Are you sure you didn’t forget something?” Isa asked.

  I sighed. “No. It’s not that.”

  “Then what is it?” she raised an eyebrow.

  The last thing I wanted to do was admit the truth. I was scared. Scared of what we’d find. Scared we wouldn’t get them back. Scared of a thousand different ways I’d fail. No, I couldn’t fail. The weight of what we were about to do hung heavy over my head.

  “I have to get them back,” was what I said in the end.

  “I know,” she whispered, getting up to sit beside me. She nestled into my good arm. “Don’t worry. We will.”

  I wrapped my arm around her, taking comfort in the support. Unfortunately, it was short-lived. The carriage lurched to a stop, and I heard the heavy thud as a knight dismounted to open the door.

  Meanwhile, in Albion…

  “What do you mean he’s going in ahead of us?” Michael screamed at the official.

  Primith did her best to do damage control. “You have to remember Alex has personal reasons to go. His friend’s lives are at stake.”

  “Who cares?” Kendra said, glaring at Primith. “We need points, and every monster he kills over there is going to put us that much farther behind. Give me one reason why we shouldn’t go over there and do the same.”

  “How about getting yourself killed?” Primith asked. “How’s that for a reason?”

  “We won’t die,” Darrin said, rolling his eyes. “This is a game. The GMs won’t let it get that far. There are safeguards.”

  “That’s beside the point,” Primith replied. “We don’t need to take needless…”

  “Let’s vote!” Alan said, holding up a hand. “All those in favor of playing the game, raise your hand.”

  It was apparent things were hopeless as everyone raised their hands. Only Primith’s hand was at her side.

  “I also vote to stay,” Carlito’s voice reminded everyone he was invisible.

  “Are you guys sure about this?” Primith tried again.

  “Relax,” Kiavi said. “We’ll be careful. Besides, if it gets too dangerous, we can always come back. The company even agreed to provide us with supplies.”

  Primith glared at the official who’d come to deliver the news. “Did you come here to get all the players killed? Who authorized this? Where’s Michael?”

  “I can’t answer those questions, M’Lady,” the official replied smugly. “Would you like to speak to your temporary sponsor?”

  “No,” Primith huffed. “He’s useless.”

  “Let’s go!” Darrin shouted, heading in the direction of the harbor.

  “Are you coming,” Kendra asked over her shoulder as she turned with the others to follow.

  Primith sighed and sat heavily. “No, I’m waiting for Alex to come back.”

  “Someone needs to tell him they’re coming,” Carlito’s voice said.

  Primith held her head in her hands. “I don’t know what’s going on out there, but something’s wrong.”

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  “Alex!” Isa sounded panicked when she called my name.

  I shot up with a start, momentarily disoriented. That’s right, I fell asleep.

  Beside me, Anna slept lazily on the bed in the captain’s quarters of the ship. We’d set sail for Xanadu, and everyone decided I needed a nap. At some point, Anna must have joined me. I rushed outside and looked around for Isa.

  “Alex!” the voice repeated, but this time it wasn’t Isa.

  I spun to find myself face to face with a dark entity with glowing red eyes. It was Pi.

  “How did you get here?” I asked, my voice cracking from nerves. “How are you in that form?”

  “Think logically,” Pi said in his raspy voice. “When have we spoken like this? It should be obvious that you’re dreaming.”

  “Oh,” I replied, feeling only slightly calmer. “That doesn’t make sense, though. You left me. How are you here.”

  “Maybe I’m not here,” he shot back. “Perhaps you’re simply dreaming of me.”

  “Why would I do that?” I asked.

  “Why do you seek me?” Pi retorted. “This is the question you need to ask yourself.”

  “What are you doing?” I ignored the question. “You said you left to do something I can’t. What is that?”

  Pi sighed. “Think about it, Alex. You’re still weak. If I don’t take action, your enemies will overwhelm you. Go back to your castle and focus on leveling. I will return once your enemies are dead. Do not worry about your friends. They are in good hands.”

  “You know I can’t do that,” I was starting to think this really was Pi. “Tell me where you are so I can come get them. Then you can conquer the world, or whatever it is you’re trying to do.”

  “Alex!” Pi shrieked in a voice too high-pitched to be his own. “What are you doing to my mother?”

  My eyes shot open. Pi was gone. I found myself in bed spooning with Zelle.

  “Alex!” Isa’s high-pitched voice knocked the last of my sleep off. “I don’t know what’s worse: you holding Zelle like that or my mother!”

  Anna chose that moment to stir, looking back at me with one eye open. “Relax, Honey. Nothing untoward happened. Now, either join us or keep it down.”

  Of all the places I visited on Gaia, Xanadu was the most ominous. The sea off the coast was littered with jagged rocks that made getting close to shore in the ship all but impossible. We had to lower the longboat, and we still would have broken up on the rocks had it not been for some creative magic on behalf of Anna. She calmed the raging sea and formed a river that flowed safely past the obstacles.

  The beach wasn’t much nicer. Tall cliffs lined the coast as far as the eye could see. Had I not been a Terramancer, we probably would have had to do some serious mountain climbing to get past. I formed a narrow staircase that we slowly ascended.

  Beyond was a dense jungle that led to mountains in the distance. I summoned a pair of golems and equipped them with swords to clear a path, and we slowly cut our way through. Loud howls echoed in the distance, setting off a cacophony of sounds as other monsters responded. It wasn’t clear if they were fighting each other or reacting to us entering the jungle.

  “Do you think we should find a place to set up camp?” Anna asked, clinging to her husband.

  “Not yet,” I replied, my conversation with Pi spurring me on. “We need to rescue Nax and Zelle.”

  …and get to Pi. Of course, I wasn’t about to tell anyone my true motives. Progress was slow as the golems had difficulty cutting through the dense foliage. Several hours passed, during which time we made very little progress. I was about to suggest returning to the beach to make camp when we broke into the first clearing.

  At first, I thought the sun had set as the area was filled with shadows, but then I noticed the shapes. Wolflike apparitions with beady red eyes stalked through the knee-high grass straight toward us.

  “Get ready!” I commanded as I drew Excalibur and ordered the two golems to take positions on either side of me.

  The shadow wolves ignored the golems and went straight for me. I lashed out with Excalibur, cutting through the lead wolf, which evaporated into smoke. Another two crashed into me, knocking my back a few steps and drawing blood from my good arm. The golems knocked them off me, and they broke apart, reforming in the middle of the clearing with the rest of the pack.

  Liquid blades shot past me and right into the wolves, which were huddled together in the middle of the clearing. They whimpered in pain as the blade sliced through the shadows, causing a black, oily substance to drip off of them.

  Vince stepped up beside me and grunted. “What do you think?”

  “Stay behind my golems,” I replied. “Try to hit them after their attack. Oh, and aim for the neck. Maybe decapitating them can kill them.”

  My main hope was that his weapon would be more effective than the ones I’d equipped to my golems. It was going to suck if I had to find relics for anyone to do any damage. The next wave tried to circle me to get at Anna. I had the golems spread out, effectively forcing them to funnel back to me. Anna destroyed the leftmost one with a well-placed water blade while I made short work of the first and second to reach me. The third cut through my armor, leaving a gash in my leg.

  Vince’s axe sheared through its neck just as it was pulling back. As I feared, the blade passed right through the shadow creature and dug into the ground beneath it. I lashed out with Excalibur, staggering to the side as my leg buckled under the weight of my stone armor. The attack flew wide of the mark, allowing the wolf to retreat.

  Anna kept them at bay with a wall of water while Isa rushed forward to tend to my wounds. She placed her hand on my thigh and closed her eyes. Warmth soon spread up my leg, and I felt my strength return.

  “How many are left?” I asked, testing my weight on the newly healed leg.

  “Three,” Vince replied, peering out from behind one of my golems.

  “Hold still, I’m not done yet,” Isa said with her brow furrowed as she worked on my sword arm.

  Anna stood behind everyone with her eyes closed in concentration. “I can hold them for a little while longer, but please try to hurry.”

  I raised my foot and stamped the ground with it before trying a few test swings with Excalibur. “I’m ready. Get the left one again, and I’ll try to take the other two.”

  The wolves charged as one the moment the water wall fell. Anna lashed out with another water blade, but her target dodged at the last second, slipping behind the other two to emerge on the opposite side. I followed suit and slipped behind the golem on my left, leaving all three wolves head-on with the other golem. Anna adjusted her aim and took out one of the wolves with a well-aimed water spear that passed directly between the two golems.

  Excalibur crashed down on one of the two remaining wolves before it could turn to face me. The last one tried to run, but Anna nailed it with what I could only describe as a water bomb. A large geyser arced over my head and splashed the fleeing wolf. The next thing I knew, the shadow wolf was encased in a water bubble. It grew smaller and smaller until all that was left was a black cloud in the water. Then even that went away, leaving nothing but clear blue water, which Anna let disperse.

  “Whew!” I fell to my knees, heaving a sigh of relief.

  “Is it always going to be this hard?” Anna asked.

  I turned to find she’d collapsed into Vince’s arms.

  “No,” I replied. “We need to find a way for your weapons to deal damage to them. Also, where were you, Aura?”

  Aura, who’d been quiet throughout the voyage, appeared beside me as a burly redhead. “I was unsure if you wanted me to participate. This was a good opportunity for you to practice your teamwork.”

  “Yes,” I agreed. “But you’re a part of the team now. Do you have any suggestions on how Vince can attack those Wraithlike monsters?”

  Aura rubbed her chin, but another voice spoke from my chest. “I can help with that. Take out my cookbook.”

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