World of Eternia: The Complete Collection (39 page)

Kassender raises her
mace high up above her head. Dark clouds start to form above her.
Suddenly she throws her weapon down on the ground. Boom! At the
instant of impact, a bolt of lightning crashes down from the cloud
and strikes the retreating demon. The impact knocks it to the ground,
face first. Sparkles of electricity cause the demon’s flesh to
sizzle until it is completely turned black.

Seeing that the demon
is not moving, Maximus breathes a sigh of relief. However, a fire
appears a short distance away from the downed demon. The small flame
starts to expand rapidly, growing in both length and width. A large
demon slowly walks through. The demon is unusually big, nearly an
additional half the size of the regular demons the expeditionary
force had just vanquished. The demon has large wings of fire, and two
sharp horns protruding from the sides of its forehead. The newcomer
fixes its black eyes on the charred demon on the ground and takes a
few steps forward. Its eyes quickly sweep across the battlefield to
access the situation.

As soon as this
monstrous demon exits the fire gate, more demons trail behind it. The
number of demons starts to swell until they outnumber the twenty
person expeditionary force by three to one.

“That’s a demon
lord!” Deidra cries out in alarm.
This
is the worst enemy we could face,
the Chief Demonologist
thinks. “He’s probably the one who cast the Meteor Swarm that
wiped out Xavier’s group. We don’t have the manpower to fight him
and his underlings, Kassender. We must run!”

“Run towards the
prospecting group! Whatever we do, we must protect Evangelina and
have the ore return to Starter Town,” Kassender orders.

Maximus flicks the
reins of his mount, and starts charging towards the dig site. The
rest of the group follows his lead.
Hopefully,
we can put some distance between us and the demons.

“Talnia, can you hear
me?”

“Loud and clear,
Willa,” the diviner replies.

“We have a demon lord
and his minions hot on our trail. You need to wrap up operations,
break camp, and move toward us. Once we merge our two groups,
Evangelina will be able to open a portal to take us back,” Willa
says.

“I'll inform Clarke
at once,” Talnia replies and ends the communication link. With
urgency in her steps, the diviner walks over to the pit. Seeing
Clarke digging with a pickaxe, she yells out, "Clarke, you have
been ordered to wrap up your operation and leave at once! The other
group has been spotted by a demon lord. We are to merge with the
expeditionary group and return to Starter Town."

"Okay,"
Clarke replies. He looks at his guild mates. "You heard the
lady! Let’s pack up! We’re going home!" he orders.

Lucious walks over to
Talnia. "Can you link up with Kassender for me? I have a
suggestion for her," he requests politely.

Talnia's eyes widen,
but she manages to avoid raising questions. Clutching the symbol of
the Gods of Eternia hanging on her neck, the diviner invokes the
communicate spell to link up with her counterpart. “Willa, Lucious
requests to speak with Kassender. “

“Okay. I'm riding on
a horse towards the rear of the caravan right now. Give me a moment
to reach the leader's position,” Willa answers. Urging her mount
faster, in a few heartbeats the diviner reaches her leader.
"Expedition leader, Lucious would like to speak with you,"
she says.

"Tell him to make
it quick," Kassender replies.

“Go ahead,” Willa
says.

"You're up,"
Talnia tells Lucious.

The elementalist nods
in appreciation. "I think it would be better for your group to
run over to our current position instead of us leaving this place to
reach you. A circle of protection from fire has already been placed
around the site. If you could reach us, the demons won't be able to
enter the barrier," he says. “The circle is large enough to
allow the creation of the portal as well. Also, we can’t risk
having the demons follow us through the portal back into Starter
Town,” he adds. Once a demon appears in the player controlled zone,
other demons could easily be summoned into the area. That must not be
allowed to happen!

Talnia repeats the
suggestion verbatim.

Kassender considers the
plan for a moment, and appreciates the mage’s concerns. "We
have a demon lord in the group chasing us. How will you handle his
meteor swarm?" she asks.

Willa relays the
expedition leader’s skepticism over to Talnia.

"We have a method
to deal with it. Right now you need to make sure the demons won't
kill Evangelina," Lucious replies.

What
a cold bastard
, the expedition leader thinks.
He
is right though, in thinking that everyone else on my team is
expendable.
"Very well," she decides. "We'll
proceed with your suggestion."

“We’ll prepare for
your hot arrival,” Lucious replies and motions with his hand to cut
off the communication link. He sees everyone is looking at him. “The
expedition leader has agreed to modify her order. We are to remain
here and prepare for a hot incoming.” He turns to Loquist. “Please
check the circle of fire protection again to make sure the circle is
complete, and strengthen it if necessary,” he requests. He sits on
a rock and patiently awaits the arrival of the other group.

Ten minutes later,
Lucious feels the ground shake. Looking at the northwest direction,
he sees a thick cloud of dust moving towards his camp. A short
distance behind the cloud is a trail of flickering flames. He quickly
gets up and sees that his group is already aware of the impending
arrival of the other group.

As Kassender’s group
draws closer to the dig site, Lucious sees the rearguard launching
arrows at the fire demons. Some of them miss, but a good number of
them hit the intended targets, causing the demons to pause to pull
the annoying arrows out of their bodies. However, once the arrows are
out, the struck demons quickly follow in pursuit of Kassender’s
party, ignoring the wound slowly bleeding the demons to death.
Amongst the demons is a giant sized demon with horns and wings.
That’s the demon lord
,
Lucious recognizes. When the retreating group is a few yards away,
Lucious kneels on the ground and starts the process to summon his
giant Earth Elemental and prepare for the tough battle to come.

The fire demons
continue to follow the fleeing humans, blazing a trail of fire
whenever they go. Although they cannot match the speed of the horses,
the Demon Lord urges his minions onward. Sooner or the later, the
horses will lose their strength and then the horde can feast. . .

The caravan maintains
its formation despite their fiery pursuers. Every player understands
that it is suicidal to fight the demons when the players are
seriously outmatched. The only way out is through the portal, or
death.

Kassender takes a
glance back at her expedition, and sees no sign of panic from her
companions.
Good
, she
thinks as she looks further back at the blazing flame a distance away
from her group.

“I think we may need
to create speed bumps for the demons,” Maximus says quietly.

“If there is no
alternative but to have a group stay and confront them while the
portal master moves on ahead to the dig site, I will lead the group,”
the expedition leader replies.

“There is no need for
you to stay,” the fighter objects. “This is a job for the
demonologists and the fighters. Your job is to escort Evangelina to
the work site. If we can’t put up a good fight for these demons,
THEN you could play martyr.”

Kassender frowns at
Maximus’ characterization and bites her lips. “Very well,” she
agrees. “We don’t have the numbers to take on a demon lord,”
she adds quietly.

“I know,” the
fighter shrugs. “Our objective is to get the Zisslean Ore back to
Starter Town, not to defeat the demon lord. Maybe next time?” he
smiles wryly.

“Next time,” the
priestess smiles back. “I’ll leave it to you to decide when to
break off from the main group.”

Maximus nods and starts
to drift towards the fighters and demonologists at the rear to give
his orders.

Kassender turns her
attention straight ahead, towards the dig site which is slowly coming
into view. After ten minutes of riding, she hears, “Break!” She
glances around, and sees only four other players remaining in the
caravan. The priestess moves her mount next to the wagon, where
Evangelina is sitting next to the driver. “Get ready to create the
portal as soon as we reach the dig site. There is a Circle of
Protection from Fire in place already, and should hold off the demons
long enough to give you time to make the portal,” she says.

Evangelina replies with
a sharp nod.

The remaining five
members of the group ride the rest of the way in silence. In a few
minutes, they see the dig site up ahead. A shimmering wall surrounds
the site, giving off a faint pink hue under the sunlight that peeks
through the hazy cloud covers in the sky above.

Kassender sees that the
second prospecting group is already packed and waiting for the
expedition group to arrive. She also notes the shock registering on
their faces when they realize how few survivors are coming back to
Starter Town.

Lucious stands in the
center of the site, with a gigantic Earth Elemental looming behind
him. “Make way! Let them through!” he yells to the group that is
crowding at the entrance.

The guards heed the
elementalist’s command and step aside for the wagon and
accompanying horse riders.

As soon as the caravan
comes to a complete stop, Evangelina hops off and starts casting her
portal spell.

Lucious commands his
Earth Elemental to stand at the edge of the fire barrier, but not go
beyond it.

When the horde of
demons move within range, the water mages start sending volleys of
Freezing Arrow at the demons.

Fighters quickly follow
with arrows of their own that had been blessed by the demonologists
for extra damage against demons.

The volleys of magic
and steel start to whittle the demons at five per volley. However,
the Demon Lord simply gates in more reinforcements to replenish his
horde. Suddenly, the monstrous demon raises its arms into the air
with its palms facing the sky. A fiery orb of light begins to form
above the demon’s hands.

“Oh no you don’t!”
Lucious says as he commands his Earth Elemental to shake the ground
directly beneath the Demon Lord. The tiny earthquake is enough to
disrupt the Meteor Swarm spell, and the Demon Lord snarls in
frustration. Its thrice daily use of the spell exhausted for the day,
the demon decides to use another tactic. The Demon Lord points a
black claw at the humans.

The demon horde
immediately charges at the human base and pound angrily against the
fire barrier.

“Augh!” Loquist
drops to his knees. The pounding on his fire barrier delivers a
biofeedback loop to the player’s hands. Even worse, mana upkeep
cost has spiked. He can hold the barrier for only a few more seconds!
Suddenly, a hand rests on the spell caster’s shoulder, and his mana
bar is back to full.

Kassender offers a
reassuring smile to the young mage as she maintains her Succor spell
to pass her entire mana bar to the mage, and help him keep the fire
barrier in place.

A flash of light bursts
from the middle of the circle of protection, and a shimmering portal
appears.

Without word, Clarke
urges his horses to enter the portal, pulling the caravan loaded with
hard won Zislean ore back to Starter Town.

The remnants of the
expeditionary force quickly enter the portal, until only Loquist and
Kassender remain. The mage has to enter last in order to maintain the
Circle of Protection, and Kassender is with him in order to maintain
the Succor spell. The two survivors take one last glance at the
demons pounding against the barrier, and finally return to the safety
of Starter Town.

The fallen and revived
members of the expeditionary mission mill around the town square,
anxiously awaiting the return of the remaining survivors. There are
some three dozen players in all; each of them had lost a bit of
experience from the death penalty, along with a physical shock to
their hands from the virtual reality equipment. By now the sting has
already worn off.

Other players gather
around, not sure of what is taking place but curious to find out.
After all, the expeditionary mission was only limited to sixty
players, and it was kept very hush-hush. Rumors start flying among
these bystanders, many of whom are anxious to get organized into
parties to participate in this mysterious event.

The revived players
absolutely refuse to divulge on the details of their mission, having
sworn to secrecy to their respective guild leaders. Failure to
maintain confidentiality may result in expulsion from their guilds,
and without support from their guilds leveling up in their respective
character classes would be much harder for the players to accomplish.

Finally, the air in the
center of the town square begins to shimmer, as a wide, rectangular
shape of glowing light starts to form in mid-air. The players start
to back away from the developing portal, to make space for the party
on the other side to return back to Starter Town. Of course, there is
also a possibility that a hostile force is in pursuit and gets
through the portal as well. Thus, the onlookers start to draw their
weapons, just in case.

Within a few seconds,
the portal fully develops and players start to go through it.
Onlookers could see vicious looking demons pounding on an invisible
wall a short distance behind these returnees, and the onlookers back
away even further from the portal. Nobody wants to fight demons
unless they have to.