Arcane Survivalist: Apocalyptic Fantasy LitRPG
Author: Davis, Deck
Date: 2017-09-04
Publisher: UNKNOWN

Prologue

Dr. Aitken Screws Up the Universe

Dr. Benny Aitken wasn’t just a scientist; he was a god-damned genius. Or at least, that’s what he told himself. No other fucker agreed with him on that point. He’d earned his doctorate, and after years of writing research papers that nobody bothered to read, he got bored. He wanted glory, riches, recognition…and he wasn’t getting an ounce of it.

That was why he started experimenting with dark matter. Don’t ask how; Benny didn’t have time to explain the specifics. It took weeks of getting up at sunrise and working until the sky darkened, but he did it. Again – don’t ask how. Suffice to say that after six months working in secret, he opened a dark matter portal into another dimension.

Yeah. Bet you’re impressed with him now, aren’t you?

He messed around with the portal for a while. He threw all kinds of crap through it, before finally having the balls to step through it himself. When he did, he found himself in a world that, to all intents and purposes, was like a video game. The world was called Rapto, he discovered.

It was a land completely alien to Earth. Rather than smog-filled cities and roads crammed with traffic, this was a place where small towns were joined by dirt roads, and lonely adventures wandered along them with swords swinging from their backs. Creatures unlike anything he’d ever seen prowled through shadow-filled forests, only to meet their demise at the swing of a warrior’s sword.

When he first got to Rapto, he saw blue orbs hanging from trees. They looked like massive testicles. Against all sensible instincts he touched one, and a weird blue energy rushed through him. He found himself looking at this new world through a menu overlay, again, like in a game.  His new status in said game was that of a level one illusionist.

If he killed something he earned experience points. When he used his illusionist powers, his skill levels went up and new spells were unlocked. It was sweeter than chocolate spread on a juicy tit.  Magical wizard powers would have been enough, but the blue balls didn’t stop there.

The blue orb had also given him the power to understand the common language of Rapto which, to an untrained ear, sounded like a mixture of Swedish, German, and caveman grunts. He began talking to locals and learning the lore of his new world. He took on quests, went on adventures, and he stayed in taverns and drank as much ale as his stomach would hold.

Since he lived alone and hadn’t seen any of his family in years, he had no qualms about spending time in the land beyond the portal. He began to explore this unfamiliar environment. Green-skinned goblins ran around with level bars over their heads, and dragons flapped across the sky and shat fire. Benny was more than a little worried at first, but he kinda got used to it.

The trick to it, he found, was staying on the outskirts of towns and levelling up by killing creatures much weaker than he was. The problem was that the stronger he got, the harder it was to improve.

He thought about taking on tougher beasts, but was reluctant after he witnessed a muscled barbarian get his throat torn out by a troll. After that, Benny exercised a lot of caution. It seemed like almost everything in Rapto was deadly, right down to the plants. Back home, plants weren’t really anything to worry about. Here in Rapto, some flora had poison thorns that they fired at you, while others had vines that they used to strangle the air from your lungs. Nice place.

Despite the dangers, it all started to go swimmingly, and he had the time of his life; killing stuff, earning gold, spending said gold in taverns where he got rat-assed drunk. What a time to be alive!

But then it all went to hell in a handcart of his own making.

He’d stay in his new portal world for a while and have a great old time. Eventually he’d always get an itchy feeling, like the portal was going to close behind him or something like that.

Whenever he felt like that, he went back home. The longer he spent in Rapto the braver he became, until soon he was spending months there at a time. He found that time filtered slowly through the portal from one world to another, and that a month in Rapto was just thirty minutes back home.

Once he’d gotten all of the killing and whoring out of his system he decided it was time to make some money. He tried taking things back home through the portal with him; sacks of gold coins, gems, even a frost-enchanted sword he’d gotten in a quest. Nothing survived the trip; when it reached the other side it resembled melted mush.

This made sense, since as soon as he walked through the portal from either direction, he’d find himself in the other world completely naked. In Rapto he placed a magically sealed chest near his spawn, where he stowed all his stuff. On earth, his portal was in a garage he owned outside of the city, and he always kept clothes there. It was a good thing he could lock the damn thing; imagine if someone saw a butt-naked man falling out of a dark matter portal?

Despite not being able to take anything from one world to the next, it was for the best, he guessed. It wouldn’t have been sensible for anything from Rapto to be able to go to Earth.

The reason he believed this was a story he’d heard about how in Australia, cane toads had been introduced into the wild to control the Frenchi beetle population. The toads bred beyond all expectations, and over two hundred million cane toads prowled the outback to this day. If that happened with toads in Australia, what would happen if Benny accidentally let a goblin through the portal?

With that way of making money ruled out, he wondered if it was time to start telling the world about his discovery. He imagined founding a company where he’d earn fame and fortune as the tour guide into another dimension. That was the plan. Private jets and sunny beaches here I come, he thought.

With his mind made up, he went back in to Rapto, resolved on just one more night getting rat-assed drunk and starting a fight with someone.

And that was when he met Fiona.

She was a blue mage passing through a town named Festwiche, and she and Benny had found themselves sharing the same table in an inn. Hours of beers led to them sharing the same room. This, in turn, led to him completely ignoring world that waited for him back beyond the portal, he was so enraptured with her. Days turned into months, then into years. A casual bang became a steady relationship, which then became marriage. Screw fame, fortune and all the rest of it. Dr. Benny Aitken was happy, and Rapto was his home now.

That was when they found the portal. Benny didn’t know it, but some level thirty-four rogue bastard had been watching him for months. He’d seen him drop out of the portal like an egg from a chicken’s ass, and he’d decided to make some money from it.

After selling Benny’s secret to an extremely powerful, but rather unscrupulous, mage guild called the Umbra, Benny found himself imprisoned in a dungeon while they messed around with his only way home.

The Umbra, he learned, were a sect of powerful mages whose moral compassed pointed straight at the chaotic side. They were a real set of bastards, and they seemed to hold Benny in the kind of contempt that a prison guard would a rapist.

The worst thing wasn’t his imprisonment, though; it was how much they gloated about what they were doing. When they told him that they’d worked out a way to for their minds to go through the portal, he was pretty worried. He was going to be famous, alright, but not Dalai Lama or Mahatma Ghandi famous. No. Dr. Benny Aitken was jumping the queue and getting right beyond J Robert Oppenheimer, who invented the atom bomb, as the most dangerous idiot the world had ever produced.

He didn’t know how the hell they managed to do it, or why. The only thing he knew, was this: somehow, the fabric of the fantasy world and the real world melded together, and the dark matter portal visited the apocalypse upon Earth.

It’s starting point? A small town called Pasture Downs.

Chapter One

Mob Justice

Ash Hobbes was born April eleventh nineteen eighty-nine. Ash Hobbes the Asshole was born September twenty-third, two thousand and fifteen at eight PM.

The reason he could be so specific about it was because Al Jones’ radio show had just started as he pulled up to his house. When he got inside, he found a little black box and a note waiting for him. His stomach lurched; he knew what was in the box.

You see, not only had his girlfriend of eight years accidentally found the engagement ring he’d stashed in his sock drawer, but she was so non-plussed about the idea that she’d collected her stuff and left him. At first, he thought it was a joke, but as the days turned into weeks then into months, he failed to hear the laughter track.

So, if that was the birth of the asshole in him, he guessed the conception was buying the ring. Whatever the order of events, that’s what he was now. Not an in-your-face one – he rarely sought people out to shove an ounce of assholery their way. He was just kinda done with screwing around.

Years after asshole day zero, Ash drifted in and out of towns doing what he did best but had stopped because his girlfriend had wanted him to go straight; conning the hell out of people.

That particular night in, some slack-jawed locals watched him as he left the mayor’s office and walked to his car on the parking lot. It wasn’t much of a lot and it wasn’t much of an office, but what else did he expect from a shithole town like this?

Pasture Downs was the kinda place that map makers pretended didn’t exist so they wouldn’t have to set it on paper. It was full of folks who spent their days laboring and their nights drinking, and it was rare that the local bar didn’t play host to a drunken brawl.

The locals who’d gathered in the parking lot that day, a guy in a shirt with a pack of smokes in his pocket, and a woman with a skirt that barely covered her ass, were joined by another couple of men. They stared at Ash with troll-like looks of anger.

They want to kill me, he thought. Seems like a natural reaction.

It was a sunny day, but the mood of Pasture Down was gloomier than a broke drunk who’d just spilled his last drink. There was a good reason for this; the life savings of half its residents had been wiped out. The problem was, you see, that the poor folks of Pasture Down had invested their money in a promising investment.

Or Ash had told them it was promising, at least. The fact was that he’d swindled them out of as much money as he could, and he didn’t feel the slightest touch of guilt. That was the kind of son-of-a-bitch he was.

He pressed his fob and unlocked the car. The bleep seemed to distract the bystanders for a few seconds, as though for them the sound was some kind of wizardry that they couldn’t comprehend. Before long, their burning stares were back on him.

There was really nothing for them to be impressed about. His car ranked among the shittiest on the lot. Maybe he could have bought something better if he didn’t give the proceeds of his scams to various charities. The thing was, the money meant nothing to Ash. He loved the feeling of the con; the adrenaline rush of knowing when he’d gotten away with it.

Ash’s phone rang. He wasn’t going to answer it, but he glanced at the screen and saw that it was the number of the care giver service he’d paid to look after his mum and dad. He pressed answer.

“Mr. Hobbes,” said a woman with a high-pitched voice. “It’s Clara from Cosy Carers. I’m sorry to interrupt you, but I have a delicate matter to discuss. You’ve been paying for our services for years, but I’m afraid that due to recent regulations, our prices are going to have to increase.”

This was the third time the damn prices had increased this year, and Ash knew when he was being gauge. Problem was that he’d already been tried four different care giver services, and these guys were the best. They didn’t have to do much; just tidy mum and dad’s house up a little in the mornings. They weren’t invalids, or anything, but the years were starting to show on them, and Ash wanted to help any way he could.

“Fine,” he said. “Just send me a new invoice and I’ll have the bank change the debit.”

With that he ended the call, because he had a more pressing problem to deal with. Just across from him, a slack-jawed local man was glaring at Ash as though he’d just taken a crap in his stew.

“You better get us our money back,” shouted the man with the cigarettes in his pocket.

“You’d only drink it away,” replied Ash. “I did you and your family a favor. You should be paying me for my services. Go home and spend time with your wife and kids.”

He knew he was goading the man, but he couldn’t help it. Ash was an asshole, and he knew that people were supposed to hate assholes. The thing about Ash was, that he never tried to hide how much of a dick he was. Surely a bit of honesty counted for something? An asshole in the hand was worth two in the bush.

The crowd of four had turned into seven now. Was that enough for them to be called a mob? He’d never had a mob after him before. He’d been chased out of one town a while back, but that had been by a meth-head in a pickup truck. This, though, this was a real mob. The only thing they were missing were pitchforks. First time for everything, he thought.

He’d just come out from a meeting with the mayor of Pasture Downs where he’d told him that the investment had taken an unfortunate turn. Delivering the news hadn’t been so tough, since the mayor was a real slime-ball, and Ash had relished watching his jaw drop when he realized he’d lost the tax-payers money he’d siphoned into Ash’s scheme for personal profit. Now, all that remained was for him to get the hell out of town. The locals, it seemed, didn’t want him to leave just yet.

A pissed crowd of men and women of all ages was slowly forming, though most of the population was curiously white. Guess diversity hadn’t hit Pasture Down yet. It was the kind of backwater hole where one half of the population farmed and the other half worked in the mines, and anyone who strayed from those choices of profession was looked at like they had a dick on their forehead.

“You goddamn thief son of a B,” shouted a woman old enough to be Ash’s grandma.

“Hey now,” said Ash. “You gave me the money, remember? Calling me a thief implies you didn’t hand it over willingly on the hope that I’d lay a golden fucking egg.”

He got into his car, but they had blocked the exit now as if they were challenging him to run them over. He felt his skin start to itch. This was becoming a little too real. Maybe he should have just skipped town straight away, but he hadn’t been able to resist seeing Mayor Dance’s face when he told him the money was gone.

“Judas has nothing on you, you thieving little scumbag,” shouted a man wearing a vicar’s collar.

“For a long time, Judas was a pretty good guy,” said Ash. “But he gets judged on a few days of his life. Maybe you better think on that.”

Ash had no idea what the hell he meant by that…but it stumped the man for a while, giving him a little breathing room.

He had only one thought on his mind now; he needed to leave. If he had to run any of them over while doing so, then that was their fault for standing there like rabbits facing headlights.

A man in dark blue jeans and an oil-stained shirt strode across the parking lot. His fists were clenched, and from the swell of his arm muscles it looked like he was used to throwing punches. Ash focused on the exit and revved the engine, driving forward at a snail’s pace.

He’d only driven a few yards when a man stepped from a hummer to his right and blocked his way. The oil guy crossed the parking lot until soon, he too stood in the way of his escape. A woman, with a single string of her fringe dyed purple, took a set of keys from out of her purse. She smiled at Ash and then scratched them across his Mercedes from the windshield to the bottom of the bumper.

“Really? What did my car ever do to you, bitch?”

The oil guy took shallow breaths and his cheeks looked ready to boil. As he stared at Ash his eyes became little black balls that burned with the fire. Ash didn’t feel so confident with anger anymore. His practiced words and slippery gestures left him, and he didn’t know how he was going to get out of this.

The people started to close in on his car in a circle. Pretty soon they’d try and drag him out or something. It was locked, but they were so angry they’d probably try smashing a window. He could almost feel the beating that was going to come his way.

“Gonna get my money back by carving up your belly,” said the oil guy. From the growl in his voice, Ash knew that he meant it.

The nature of his profession meant that he’d faced quite a few angry looks in the past few years. The trick was getting out of town before he had to face them, but he wasn’t always quick enough. Still, up to now he’d managed to avoid a beating that even he himself would admit that he deserved.

Right now, though, he didn’t really feel like getting a beating. The question was, what was he going to do about it?

He looked over the shoulders of the man and his heart jumped. At the end of the parking lot, leaning against her cruiser and smoking a roll-up cigarette, was Sheriff Ellie Ashurst. She couldn’t have been much older than Ash but her face had a lived-in look, like she’d seen more bad stuff than most people, and she was sick of it.

Ash couldn’t tell if she’d seen him, but there was no way she could have missed the angry mob. So why wasn’t she coming over to investigate?

He wound his window down a touch.

“Hey,” he shouted. “Sheriff Ashurst. What a damn pleasure it is to see you. A little help, maybe?”

When the sheriff flicked her cigarette and looked the other way, Ash remembered that he’d scammed her out of money too. He was an expert in fraud, but organization really wasn’t his thing. He really needed to start writing this crap down.

As the mob closed in, Ash accepted that help wasn’t going to come. He couldn’t bring himself to drive into the crowd, nor could he get out of his car. This beating had been a long time coming, and he’d always known that. Fair’s fair, was his motto. If he deserved a beating and someone actually managed to give him one, then he couldn’t complain. His motto didn’t reassure him much now that he was about to get his head caved in like a melon under an elephant’s foot.

Then, the crowd parted.

A man pushed his way into the middle. He was old but he was bulky, and he had a damned-fine grey beard covering his jaw. He was dressed like a hunter fresh from a day in the forest. He faced the crowd and held out his hands to stop them moving closer.

“This isn’t going to solve anything,” said the man. “All its gonna get you is a night in Ellie Ashurst's cells. And don’t think it’s not big enough for all you folks. This fella might have drained us dry, but the people of Pasture Down don’t take an eye for an eye.”

“I’ll gladly take his eyes,” said the oil guy.

“You’re an ignorant bastard, Kenny. It’s time you learned to stop the shit in your brain dribbling out of your mouth.”

The crowd, with their anger dissipated for the time being, began to drift away. Ash breathed a sigh of relief. “Thanks,” he said to the man. “Didn’t catch your name?”

The man glared at him.

“Shame you can’t catch my name now, but you sure as hell had no problem cashing my check. Name’s Tony Fucking Shore, you rat-banging son-of-a-whore. Now you better leave town before they start queuing up to tear your cock off.”

“Nice to meet you, Tony,” said Ash.

Chapter Two

Big Blue Balls

Ash, the newly-proclaimed rat-banging son-of-a-whore, didn’t need the invitation extended twice. That was another of his talents; knowing when to get the hell out of somewhere. He drove out of the parking lot, leaving the mob behind.

After grabbing his stuff from the motel he stayed at on the outskirts of town, he hit the road. It hadn’t taken long. Ash didn’t live out of a suitcase, he lived out of a rucksack. The only things he usually carried were a change of clothes, a suit that he folded up as best he could, and a book or two. Nights on the road got lonely, and he liked to lose himself in stories.

When night fell on a shitbucket place like Pasture Downs, it fell fast, and the sky soon looked like a black duvet sprinkled with silver glitter. Out west and in the distance there were farms, and to the east there was a rocky mountain range that loomed over the horizon like a stone behemoth. The only way through it was a tunnel that had been dug through the centre decades ago, and that led to Tinago city, where Ash lived. In some ways, by pulling a scheme on Pasture Downs he was crapping where he ate, but his bank balance had sunk too low for his liking and he had no choice.

Ash started to feel drowsy, and sleep wasn’t the best idea when he was going at seventy miles per hour. He wound down the window and let the cold breeze slap his skin, but even that couldn’t cut through his tiredness. The radio was turned low, but he heard the faint tones of a saxophone solo.

He slowed the car to five miles per hour, then turned off the road and killed the engine. There was no point rushing tonight, since he didn’t have anything to go home to. He’d recently split with his girlfriend, and nowadays his house felt pretty empty. There were his elderly parents, he guessed, but he’d be able to see them in a few days.

The geography around him reminded Ash of an ass; smelly and bleak. Somewhere east of Pasture Down was a forest, and apparently there was a national park nearby. If someone was in the mind for it, they could get there by driving through the forest and then a dozen miles north. If they decided to do that, they better have a week set aside for the trip. A knife would be handy, too. There was no telling what kind of inbred clans screwed around up there.

As he sat in his car and looked across the ass-like landscape of Pasture Downs, he heard something. A loud, high-pitched yelping noise coming from nearby.  What the hell was it?

On and on the yelping went. At first, he wound his window up, but that didn’t stop the sound reaching him. It didn’t sound good. He might have had many faults, but he was an animal lover, and he couldn’t just sit there.

He sighed. Whatever it was, it was in pain. He’d have to do something. He got his tire iron from the trunk and followed the sounds of the yelping. Then, just thirty meters from his car, he saw it.

A black Labrador dog was under attack from two mountain lions. These were common around here, but it was rare they strayed from their dens in the mountain, and even rarer they’d come within five miles of town. Their healthy fear of men meant they weren’t so dangerous unless they got cornered.

The Labrador had a collar on, so it was obviously someone’s pet. It looked as if it had put up a fight, but now it was led on the ground with blood seeping out of a bite on its side. The lions teased around it in circles, every so often snapping in the dog’s direction.

Fuck this. Without taking a second to let his brain slip into first gear where it would try to drive him away from the situation, he raised his tire iron in the air. The lions – adolescents, by the looks of it, and not fully grown – saw him charging at them, bellowing as loud as he could. Their instincts kicked in, and they fled.

That left Ash and the dog. The lions would be back once they realized he was soft as hell, no doubt, but this gave him a little time. The Labrador was in a sorry state; when it wasn’t whimpering it was taking labored breaths, and its fur was sticky with blood.

Damn. He was going to have to put it out of its misery, wasn’t he?

He ran his fingers through his hair. Goddamn it, he knew he had to do this, but he didn’t want to. He’d had a dog when he was a kid; a small salt and pepper schnauzer called Tom, and he’d doted on the damn thing. Tom had passed through old age, and Ash would never have been able to imagine killing it, even to ease its suffering. But that was just what he was going to have to do now, wasn’t it?

He raised the tire iron. He looked deep into the Labradors eyes. Don’t hate me for this, pal, he thought.

As he was about to strike, a blue light flashed across the sky. At first it looked like lightening, but instead of flashing and fading away, it began to spread. It became like a spider web of crackling light smothering the blackness. It started to pulse, and Ash thought he could almost hear it. Then, the light flashed again, this time down from the sky and to the ground, where it covered everything and washed over the cracked landscape and whooshed far into the horizon.

Was he going to get stuck in a storm? The humidity around here led to pretty nasty patches of weather, and he didn’t relish having to drive through the rain. He got to his feet. Better hit the road before it got bad.

Just as he rose, another expanse of light flashed in the sky. This time it seemed to drift toward the ground, where it gathered into a ball. It shot at him and hit him in the chest. It knocked the wind out of him, and sent him flying thirty meters across the ground, where he landed face-first.

When he got up, his face stung, and his skin was wet from where the stones had grazed it. Something felt different.

“What the hell was that?”

Ash had a deep sense of dread in his stomach, one that told him that something had changed in the world. He felt the chilly wind lash against his face. He looked at the darkened landscape around him. Not too far away, he saw a shining blue ball on the ground.

Was it a meteor? Or had someone sprayed painted a ball to have a game of glow-in-the-dark soccer? The closer he got to the sphere, the more he realized that this was no damn football. The air around it smelled of sulphur, and the rotten-egg aroma made him want to gag. Although the ball still glowed sky-blue, the light was fading as if heat was dissipating from it.

He got as close as he dared. There was no sense of heat, no smoke to indicate that it had burned through earth’s atmosphere. Just what was this thing? When he looked closer he discovered that beneath the glowing light, the ball had a metal core, and strange rune-like letters were inscribed on it.

He had no time to ponder these, because then a thought hit him; radiation, you stupid asshole! When glowing metal balls come crashing to Earth, you don’t walk right up to them! He’d been stupid to approach the thing, no doubt, but he felt he could be forgiven through his lack of experience with blue metal balls that fell from the sky.

Just as he went to turn away from it, he noticed something.

No god damn way.

The sphere has his name written on it! There, next to a string of runes, was ‘Ash Hobbes.’

He looked around for signs of hidden cameras that would tell him that someone was having a joke at his expense. Nope – nothing.

He edged a little closer to the sphere. Surely if his name was on it, then he was meant to find it. And if that were the case, it would make no sense for it to be radioactive. If someone wanted to hurt him, they’d just come and stab him in the gut, they wouldn’t concoct some scheme of firing a blowing blue ball to earth, covered in runes and bearing his name. That would be Bond-villain-like levels of unnecessary complexity.

He picked up a stick. He walked closer to the sphere, then prodded it as if it was a dead bird. Nothing happened. He felt the end of the stick, and it didn’t seem hot.

He felt like he should touch it. He almost took another step.

Then logic reigned supreme.

“Screw that,” he said. “That would be the stupidest thing to do.”

But he didn’t need to touch the sphere, as it turned out. As he walked back to his car, the sphere began to glow again. It became bluer and bluer, the light gathering around it like a mist. Then, when it had reached its peak, it shot out toward Ash, hitting him on the back and seeping through his clothes and into his skin, rushing through his pores like an ice-cold wind.

“What the hell?”

The icy-feeling began to spread from his fingertips and up his arm, before coursing through his shoulders, chest, belly, and legs. Energy surged inside him until he felt it throb inside his skull.

He felt his pocket for his phone. Who the hell did you call when this kind of thing happened? The police? The fire service? A God damned priest?

Then, the throbbing was replaced by a voice in his head.

Hello! I am your Rapto mind-construct! My job is to advise on all matters related to your class and skills. Would you like to name me?

Chapter Three

Pleasure to Meet You, Fuckface

He didn’t know if he’d really heard the voice, or if this was some kind of dormant mental illness rearing its ugly head. They said that mental illness was genetic in some cases, and he quickly ran through his family tree and tried to remember any instances of it in his family. Nope, he couldn’t think of any.

“Say again?”

He heard something sighing inside his head. No mistaking it; he’d definitely heard it.

Hello! I am your Rapto mind-construct! My job is to advise on all matters related to your class and skills. Would you like to name me?

“Rapto? Class? Mind construct? What are you talking about?” said Ash.

Rapto? Class? Mind construct?” What are you talking about?, repeated the voice in his head, mimicking his words.

Name rejected – too long, don’t you think, dickbag?

Whatever this thing was, it was sassy as hell.

“That’s pretty rude,” said Ash.

I am constructed from a mixture of dark matter, biometric technology programmed by Dr. Aitken, and aspects of your personality wrenched from your own brain. Any negative traits may safely be assumed to have come from your own mind, fuckface.

“Fuckface, huh? You just gave me a great idea. I have to name you, whatever the hell you are, right?”

Correct.

“Then it’s a pleasure to meet you, Fuckface.”

This time, when it spoke, it sounded a little upset. You wish to log ‘Fuckface’ as my name?

“You brought it on yourself, you stupid ball of shining blue shit. But we’ll call you FF to keep up a polite appearance, unless you really piss me off.”

Name logged and accepted, it said, with resignation in its high-pitched voice.

He rubbed his eyes. He was tired, hungry, pissed-off, and going ever-so-slightly insane. Still, better not to dwell. Dwelling on things never got anyone anywhere.

“So, what the hell are you?” asked Ash.

When Doctor Aitken was imprisoned by the Umbra and forced to help them try and pass through his dark matter portal, he secretly spent time converting their red orbs into blue ones.

“And what does all this mean? Red orbs, blue orbs, I don’t know what the hell is going on.”

Okay, try and follow my words. Umbra people, bad. Got that? Umbra not strong enough to leave Rapto through portal. Umbra send red orbs through portal. When red orbs touched by people on earth, Umbra possess their bodies. That clear enough, for you?

“Okay, no need to be an asshole about it.”

I told you, I am a mind construct. My programming boundaries were modified by Dr. Aitken, but my personality is dredged from various parts of your mind. In other words, Ash, any assholery that you perceive comes from your own sludge of a brain.

Fair enough, he thought. He guessed that anything unfortunate enough to be made from his own brain deserved a little pity.

Ash knew that at this point, most people would have been going out of their minds. Not him. His world view had always been to accept whatever happened, and find a way around it. Potential insanity, magical blue orbs, it didn’t matter. No point messing around trying to understand what had occurred or why – better to think of a solution.

The current situation was stretching the boundaries of this attitude. He forced himself not to dwell on how batshit-crazy this whole thing was, but instead to accept it, process it, and overcome it.

Would you like to see your class and skills?

“Uh…sure.”

Just so you know, from now on if you need to see your class, skills, or other information you need only think the command, and I will process it.

“You can read my thoughts?”

I’m speaking you to you through your mind, cocknugget. Of course I can.

“Well stay away from my memories. Especially all the stupid stuff I did when I was a teenager. Now, let’s see these stats, shall we?”

Name: Ash Hobbes

Level: 1

EXP: 0%

HP: 350/350

Class: Blood Mage

Tier: 1

To next tier: 0%

Attributes:

Strength: 2

Endurance: 12

Intelligence: 6

Charisma: 4

Agility: 5

Luck: 1

He’d seen this kind of stuff before, back when his buddies had all gone to college. Ash hadn’t been able to afford to go, so he’d been gotten a dead-end job while his friends all screwed around drinking, getting high and, occasionally, studying.

After a particularly hard shift at work, he liked nothing better than to crack open a beer and load up a game on his console. It had been a while since he’d played any. Back when things were really grim, he’d sold his console to pay for a tank of gas.

“So this is like a game?” he asked.

According to what I have seen in your mind, this is most akin to an RPG game. You know, the ones you used to screw around on when you were younger, when you should have been studying so that you didn’t end up such a chump.

“And how can I see all of this stuff? You know, all the stats and levels.”

On Rapto, biometrics have evolved to the point that everything can be measured and processed through the mind.

“How does that work?”

Think of it like this. Lifting weights would improve your bicep muscles incrementally. The only problem is, you wouldn’t see the numbers. The only time you’d know your muscles have grown is when you could either lift heavier weights, or someone complemented you on your muscles. Which I doubt has ever happened to you. Seeing your improvements in stat form allows you to train better.

“And I’m a blood mage? Sounds cool, but do you mind explaining what that is?”

A blood mage uses his own life force to wield the magic of the arcane. By sacrificing some of your HP, you can cast spells.

Accept the reality, Ash told himself. Figure it out now, and worry about potential insanity later. Panicking didn’t solve anything. Besides, maybe it was the inner gamer in him, but something about being a Blood Mage sounded cool.

He’d never realized it until now, but maybe wielding the powers of the arcane was a pretty awesome thing to do.

“So, what can I do? What kind of spells do I have?”

Let’s see…

Blood Mage Tier 1

Ignis (LVL 1) – A basic arcane attack. Blood is converted to an arcane fire ball that can scorch enemies.

Life Drain (LVL 1) – Drain lifeforce from the creatures you have killed to restore HP.

Transfusion (LVL 1) – Heal the HP of a creature by sacrificing an equivalent amount of your own HP.

Wow.

So, so many questions, and only a sassy voice inside his head to answer them. Could he really shoot fire balls out of his ass? And what were the ‘creatures’ he could drain life force from?

He needed to try this out. Only then could he accept that this was real. He walked away from the sphere, which was now completely dim, and passed his car. He found the injured Labrador not far away.

For a second, as he stood over the injured canine, the evil part of his mind told him to use Ignis. Scorch it, practice his spell, and earn easy EXP.

No way, he told himself. I’m not a monster.

Instead, he focused on the dog. FF had told him that he need only think about his stats for them to appear. Did his spells work the same way?

He raised his hands in the exaggerated way he imagined a wizard would.

No need to do that, this isn’t street theatre. Just think about the spell and the target, said FF.

He looked at the dog and cast Transfusion. His own HP was 350, so he decided to sacrifice a meagre 20HP to heal the animal. As he did, a purple glow burned in his palms. He fired it at the dog, hoping to God he hadn’t accidentally gotten this wrong and somehow cast Ignis.

Twenty HP left him and transferred to the Labrador. The wound on its side began to close, and its breathing became steadier. It slowly got to its feet. Now healed, the dog looked better, with its ears pricked up and its eyes alert. The collar around its neck jingled as it had a big shake. It stared at Ash for a while.

Ash smiled. He could get used to this.

“Who’s a good boy?” he said. “Eh? You, buddy. That’s who.”

He held his hands out to stoke it. Instead of accepting Ash’s affection, the Labrador turned and ran away.

“Hey!” shouted Ash.

It was no use; the dog ignored him, and it quickly became a dark blot on the horizon.

“Ungrateful mutt.”

Transfusion LVL 1 increased by 10%

20HP lost

It seemed that using his skills was how he’d level them. The most apparent problem here that was to wield them, he’d have to sacrifice his HP. At least it didn’t hurt when he used HP to cast a spell; that would have sucked.

His Life Drain skill meant that he’d be able to top up his life force, but he needed to kill something first. So…what was he supposed to kill? He supposed that he could go hunting for hares or something like that.

The answer came when he heard the sound of feet on the ground behind him. Had the mountain lions come back? He turned to look.

“Holy shit,” he said.

It wasn’t mountain lions, that was for damn sure. Stood just behind him, looking at his car as if it was some kind of mystical artifact, were four waist-high goblins. Their skin looked like leather that had been submerged in pond water and then dried out.

When they opened their mouths, he saw rows of sharp, yellow teeth. The four of them wore nothing but loin cloths, but it wasn’t their almost-naked appearance that worried him. It was the daggers they held in their hands.

Chapter Four

Pyromaniac

Don’t just stand there, you rat-brained asshole, do something!

FF was right. The creatures hadn’t come here to shoot the breeze, and Ash guessed he wouldn’t understand their language even if they had. He’d become an expert in reading people’s body language over the years, since his self-perseveration hinged on it. There was no need to look for subtle cues here though; four dagger-wielding goblins hadn’t come here to make friends.

The goblins moved away from Ash’s vehicle, but not before one of them had punched his wing mirror clean off. Ash felt a flicker of anger as he watched the green-skinned little bastards vandalize his car. This was replaced by nerves when he saw them running at him, brandishing brown-hilted daggers.

This is your first fight, Ash, said FF. They might not be trolls, but they won’t go down easily.

He’d never seen creatures as god- ugly as the green gimps running at him. They were a blight on the beautiful pastures of Pasture Downs. Well, not quite, since it was a shithole. But Ash considered himself an environmentalist, and he wasn’t going to let these beasts run amok. In most cases it would have been difficult to accept the appearance of creatures straight from a fantasy book 101, but it was a little easier to believe after having just learned that he was a blood mage.

He focused. Time to try out his new-found powers. In the same way he’d cast Transfusion, he concentrated on one of the goblins and sent a blast of Ignis fire at it. The purple flames hit it in the chest, scorching the curly hairs that poked through where its leather armor didn’t reach. The goblin squealed and dived on the floor to try and douse out the fire. One of the other goblins hopped to the side, protecting itself from the flames licking its friend’s body.

Casting Ignis had cost Ash 25HP, leaving him with 305. This was already taking a toll on him, and the damned thing wasn’t even dead. Being a Blood Mage wasn’t all fun and games, it seemed. He’d need to be careful about what he used.

The goblins approached him, one on each side and another coming at the center. It seemed they had the basics of a tactic, and he’d need to be careful.

One of them darted to his left. Ash launched an Ignis ball at its chest, but the sprightly goblin ducked under the blast. The purple flames shot passed it and into the distance, before fizzing out.

Looks like my spells can only carry a certain distance.

The goblin charged forward. It was so quick that it reached him before he could react and it sank a dagger into his waist. The pain ran hot across his skin as the goblin dagger tore through him.

20HP lost!

They’re too quick for you! When you level up, raise your intelligence to reduce your cast time, said FF.

He had barely enough time to recover before the other goblin was to his right. He side-stepped, but he was too slow. Another dagger pierced his soft, fleshy side just below his ribs, sending a sick well of agony through him.

“God damn it,” he said, grunting through the pain and forcing himself to keep a clear head.

20HP lost!

Damn, these things were fast. He backed away. He needed to put a little distance between him and the beasts and try and avoid their pincer movement.

The goblins screeched to one another, and he wondered if that was what passed for language to them. Were they conferring? Deciding on another tactic?

They advanced on him, daggers raised, cold metal dripping with his own blood.

He gathered an Ignis ball in his hand. Rather than shoot it at one of them and let it just duck out of the way, he fired it at the ground in the center of all three. They weren’t expecting this, and each of them flinched and dived to the side. This scattered them a little, and bought him time to move further back.

With added distance, he had time to circle around them and get to his car. He climbed onto the roof. When he was up there, he felt safer. The goblins walked toward him, but there was no way for them to spring on him with their daggers. Instead they had to climb onto the car bonnet to get to him, and his gave Ash a clearer shot.

He scorched the first one that climbed onto the bonnet. The arcane fire hit it so powerfully that it knocked the goblin clean off the car. IT hit the ground with a thud.

The second beast didn’t seem worried about what it had seen happen to his friend. It hauled itself onto the bonnet.

Ash grew another Ignis ball.

The goblin snarled and walked toward him. The metal bonnet creaked.

Ash unleashed his fire, clipping the goblin on the shoulder. The fire spread across the hairs on its skin and onto its face, burning it with an arcane fury. The goblin slapped its own head and fell sideways on to the ground.

Two of them lay on the floor now, smoldering and lifeless with wisps of purple smoke drifting from their carcasses.

He had lost 50hp by scorching two of them until they lay on the floor, and that meant he was already down to 215. He was going to have to use his new-found powers wisely, and wisdom wasn’t exactly his forte.

EXP 20% Gained

Ignis LVL 1 increased by 20%

That left just one of them. A scrawny little git with a bulge underneath its loin cloth and a blade in its hand. It didn’t seem at all worried that its friends had just been burned alive.

This time, rather than blasting an Ignis flame at the remaining goblin’s ass, he waited until it had climbed the car bonnet and was closer to him.

Just as the goblin was about to stab him with its dagger, Ash delivered a knockout punch worthy of a heavyweight boxer. Dazed, the goblin stumbled back and then fell off the car and to the floor, unconscious. Finally, a little breathing room.

Ash rubbed his knuckles. He really wasn’t much of a fighter. He climbed down off his car. He looked at the unconscious goblin and wondered what to do about it.

“What happens when I level up a spell?” he asked.

What do you think, crap for brains? When you level a spell, it increases its power. In turn, levelling up spells contributes toward getting your next Blood Mage tier, which will unlock even more spells.

“Okay. First-things-fucking-first, I want to set up alerts. Can you tell me when my HP gets to 50%, then 25%?”

I live to serve, you dolt. Done.

He used Life Drain on the two dead goblins. Wielding this spell didn’t cost him HP. The point of life drain was to gain life force from things he’d killed, so a HP cost would have been pretty counterproductive.

HP increased by 50

Life Drain LVL1 increased by 20%

The goblins now resembled dried-out husks, which he presumed was because he’d sucked life force from them. Fifty HP was a pretty small haul, but he guessed that the bigger the creature, the more HP he’d get from them. Maybe it’d get better as he improved his spell level, too.

That gave him an idea. His misspent youth of beers and console RPGs had taught him the basics of this kind of thing; if you wanted to get strong, you needed to grind. That was why the early levels on most games were spent near the starting point, where weaker creatures surrendered their EXP without much of a fight. Normally, there wouldn’t be much grinding to do with a single unconscious goblin, but he wasn’t just a normal class, was he?

He waited for the last surviving goblin to wake up. After a few minutes the creature stirred, and then struggled to its feet. When it did, he blasted it with two Ignis flames, leaving its hp hovering barely over empty.

Ignis increased by 10%

With that done, he used Transfusion on the poor creature, restoring its HP using some of his own.

What the hell are you doing? Said FF.

He performed this ritual again and again, hurting and then healing the goblin until his own HP was just 125. By the end of it, his Ignis spell had risen to 70%, and Transfusion to 40%. Only then did he cast a final Ignis bolt, putting the goblin out of its misery. With that done, he used life drain on the creature to top up a jot of his own HP.

10% exp gained!

It wasn’t much of a grind, but it was a start. His Ignis wasn’t too far away from level two, and he’d made some progress with Transfusion.

You devious, cold-hearted orc-humper, said FF. I like it.

“Might as well take advantage while I can,” answered Ash. “I’m sure goblins won’t be the worst of it, right?

Your powers of perception are truly outstanding.

It was only then, with the dried-out corpses of three goblins in front of him and the adrenaline leaving his veins, that the horrible face of reality began to intrude on his thoughts.

“Just what the hell is going on, FF? Blood mages, goblins, annoying pulsating blue-ball little twats. Be honest with me; am I going mad?”

Multiverse theory states that many universes existed concurrently, yet are never supposed to meet. A guy named Dr. Aitken tore a hole in the ass of the dark matter fabric that shields Rapto from Earth. That’s why you don’t usually see goblins running around.

A bunch of mages called the Umbra discovered the new dark matter portal, and decided they’d like to use it. They weren’t able to figure out how to travel through it since it was created by a human, which meant that only human tissue could pass through.

They imprisoned Dr. Aitken and force him to modify it, but he wasn’t able to configure it enough to allow non-human living tissue through. He was, however, able to configure it enough to allow other solids to traverse it.

With that leap in technology, the Umbra sent red matter balls through, with the intention that humans would go near the balls and become infused with their energy, allowing the Umbra to use them as Duplis; puppets, in other words. Dr. Aitken had just enough time to send enough blue matter balls through to give humans a chance.

“There are more people like me, then? More guys who’ve become blood mages?”

Not blood mages. Classes are chosen according to your aptitude. You, Ash, think that the sun shines out of your own ass, so it’s only right that sacrificing your own blood grants you magical powers.

“I better warn people,” said Ash. “But the cops are going to think I’m out of my damn mind. Maybe I’ll drag one of these little bastards back to town.”

He pulled his phone out of his pocket, only to find that the screen was blank. He tried holding the power button, but it was no use; it was fried. Not only that, but his digital watch had suffered the same fate. He walked over to his car and found that it was dead too.

The problem centered around anything electrical, it seemed. Most cars used electronics so heavily that circuitry problems left them useless. His car had never been a treasure, but he wished he’d bought one of the really old models.

“What’s going on with the electronics? My phone’s dead, FF. Hang on – do you even know what a phone is?”

I told you, you dim-witted twatbagel, part of me is constructed from your own mind. I know what a damn phone is. It seems that anything electronic has been broken, possibly due to the atmospheric shift caused by two worlds colliding in the time continuum.

“That sounds like bullshit that you just made up on the spot.”

You know what they say; great minds think alike.

He leaned against the bonnet of his car. The last remnants of the blue flashing light had disappeared, leaving the sky uniformly black save the twinkling of a few stars. Other than the dried-out goblin corpses on the ground, there was nothing to suggest that it wasn’t just a normal night in the shithole that was Pasture Downs.

“I better get back to town and see if anyone knows what the hell is going on. It’s a long walk, so I guess I better get going.”

Would you like me to sing a song for the journey?

“You know what, FF? I’d love that.”

Chapter Five

So’s Your Face

By the time he got back to town his feet ached and his head throbbed. Before setting out he had grabbed a half-full water bottle from his car, but he’d drained it dry hours ago.

He remembered the survival rule of three that his dad had once taught him when they took a camping trip; you can go three minutes without breathing, three days without drinking and three weeks without eating. Luckily the air was fine, but his body ached for water.

As he got to the first street in town he went by Farley’s liquor store. The light on the front, usually illuminated in large yellow letters, was dark. The town was silent, save for the tinkling of a beer can as the wind blew it across the pavement. There wasn’t much sign of life, which he found strange. He’d expected a crowd of people queued up by the police station to ask what was going on.

As he got nearer the liquor store, he saw that there was a big white van parked outside. Two guys stood in front of an open bonnet. It looked like their vehicle had suffered the same fate as Ash’s, yet these guys evidently hadn’t figured out that the electricity was gone.

“Check the oil,” said one. He had a dirty rag over his shoulder as though he was a waiter.

Another man, tall with beefy shoulders, shook his head in contempt. “The dashboard is fried, and oil doesn’t have anything to do with the dash.”

“Cars are funny things.”

“So’s your face.”

The man shook his head. “Really? That the best you could come up with?”

The streets of Pasture Downs were hardly Vegas at the best of times, but Ash had never seen them this dark before. He looked as far as he could along town, and he couldn’t see a single light glowing. As much as he hated the dump and everyone in it, he kinda wished it was back to normal.

Okay. Better try and be nice. Just be friendly and polite, if I can remember how to do that. Don’t say anything too antagonizing.

By the van, one of the men held a lighter over the bonnet. Ash approached them, and nodded at the lighter.

“Not a clever thing to do when you’re checking the oil,” he said. “What if it caught fire?”

Hmm. Maybe a little too antagonistic. Really need to brush up on my people skills.

The men turned to look at him. Ash felt his stomach tighten when he realized that not too long ago, he’d sat in the living room one of the men and told him how much a clever idea it was to transfer a few thousand into Ash’s investment account. Damn it! He really, really needed to start writing this down.

Recognition flitted in the man’s eyes and his face became stone. He stepped forward, and the dirty rag fell from his shoulder. “You’re the son-of a-bitch who took our money!”

“Your feats of memory are astonishing,” said Ash.

The beefy-shouldered man squinted.

“That the fella who screwed you over?”

The man nodded. “That’s him.”

Ash could sense that it was going to get ugly.

“Let’s mess him up.”

Yeah, this was going to get real ugly indeed.

He knew that in the face of hostility, you did one of two things; you stayed, or you ran. Ash wasn’t a runner.

“Do any of you hairy apes know what’s going on around here?”

“Unless you’re blind, you can see that we got a goddamn power cut.”

It was then that he heard banging sounds coming from the back of a van. Three louds thuds that gave a metallic ring. Something was in there.

“What the hell’s that?” he asked.

One of the men scratched his ear. “Just my dog,” he said, without an ounce of conviction.

As well as more thuds, Ash heard a muffled cry. No way was that a dog. It sounded like a woman was screaming through a rag, or something.

“Sounds like a strange dog to me.”

“You should mind your own damn business, piss-ant,” said the man.

He grabbed a hammer and started to approach Ash. At six-foot-four, he was a looming monster of a man. His friend picked up a crowbar, and soon both weapon-wielding thugs were advancing on him.

Normally Ash would have used his winning personality to back out of a confrontation, since he wasn’t much of a fighter. No need to run away now, though. Not when he could fire flames out of his ass. Maybe he’d fire a warning shot and scare them.

As one of the men reached him and swung with his crowbar, Ash fired Ignis at him. He must have misjudged a little, because the flames lashed his face and set fire to his hair.

The man ran in circles, screaming. He sprinted over to the bonnet and grabbed a water bottle propped up on top of it. He frantically unscrewed the cap and poured it over his burning hair.

For a second, Ash could only watch, astonished, unable to believe that he had this kind of power inside him. The other man capitalized on Ash’s lapse in concentration, and hit him on the jaw with his hammer. Ash felt his bones crack, and FF helpfully informed him that he’d lost 30HP.

“God damn that hurts!” he said, rubbing his jaw.

He needed to take care of the man, but with just 95 hp left, he was quite literally playing with fire. What else was there to do, though? The man was ready to swing again, and if Ash just stood there he’d be pulverized.

Instead, he stepped back just enough to avoid another hammer swing. He cast Ignis at the man. The flames caught on the oil covering his overalls, and soon the man became a screaming ball of fire.

The smell of burning flesh filled the air, and Ash felt sick. He’d never so much as hit someone before, but now he’d set two men alight. This just wasn’t his style, but what else could he have done?

Maybe a little more charisma will mean you don’t have to start a flame battle with everyone you see, said FF. You know, just something to think about. Anyway, here are your stats.

Ignis LVL 1 – 100%!

Ignis levelled up to 2 – You can now choose to donate double HP for a more powerful arcane blast.

25% toward Blood Mage tier 2!

“Sweet. Now all I need is something big enough to try it out on.”

That’s not all, said FF.

70% EXP gained!

Level up to level 2!

- HP increased to 404

- 5 attribute points gained

The tool-wielded lugs had earned him 35% exp each, which was a damn sight better than the goblins.

You can spend your attribute points now, you pyromaniac.

“One sec,” said Ash.

First, he needed to top up his HP in case goblins sprouted from the dead men’s asses or something. He used Life Drain, sucking 80 HP from them and leaving them looking like dried-up, flame-kissed prunes. He felt bad, but they’d started it. Okay, maybe Ash had kinda started it by defrauding one of them, but that was just business. He wasn’t the one who’d started swinging crowbars and hammers.

Life Drain 50%!

With that done, he spent his attribute points. Since his spells cost him HP, it’d make sense to top up his endurance to raise his total HP limit.

Don’t forget intelligence, too. You’re pretty short on that score.

“What does intelligence have to do with it?”

Increasing your brain size makes your spells a little more powerful. It also comes with the added bonus of upgrading you from shit-for-brains to sludge-for brains.

By increasing his endurance to 15 and his intelligence to 8, he found that his HP total increased yet again, making his total 444. He’d need to gain a lot more, but it was a start.

With the dim-witted mechanics dead, he opened the back door of the van. A woman was on her back on the metallic flooring.

She had lank brown hair, and her forehead was covered in sweat. Her wrists and ankles were tied up, and her clothes were smeared with blood. What the hell had those guys been doing? Why did people act this way as soon as the world turned to hell?

He untied her ropes and removed the gag from her mouth.

“You okay?” said Ash.

She backed away from him. Her eyes were so wide they seemed entirely white.

“Don’t worry, I’m not gonna hurt you. I took care of the thugs.”

She tried talking, but all that came out were moans. Whatever they’d done to her, she was in a bad way. He was going to have to do something.

Already regretting the HP sacrifice, he used Transfusion on her.

Transfusion level 1 increased to 50%

She looked a little better. Her clothes were still stained with blood, but Transfusion was a healing spell, it wasn’t fucking laundry detergent. Still, she was able to sit up now.

“Do you have a phone?” she said, her voice still weak.

“All the phones are out. What the hell were those guys doing to you?”

“I need to get home.”

“Come on, I’ll take you somewhere safe.”

She looked quite young, maybe in her mid-twenties, which would place her a few years younger than Ash. She was tall and gangly. Her knuckles were red raw, which indicated she’d put up a bit of a fight. When Ash offered his hand she took it, and he helped her out of the van.

“Where do you live?” he asked her.

“Near Blake’s farm,” she said.

“I don’t know where that is, but if you lead the way I’ll get you there.”

“Who are you?”

“I’m the blood mage bastard.”

As they walked away from the van, Ash felt something whiz by his head, and then it clanged on the metal doors of the van. He turned to see a bullet hole in the metal. Then, turning back around, he saw a man fifty meters away from him. He had a rifle in his hands, and a crossbow slung on his back.

“Step back from the girl,” growled the man.

Ash recognized the guy. It was Tony Fucking Shore, the guy who’d helped him with the mob in the parking lot! With his grey beard and wrinkled face, he looked like some kind of post-apocalyptic wizard who’d given up on spells and picked up a gun.

“I don’t know what you think you’re doing with her,” said Tony, “But you better leave her be.”

The girl held up her hand. “It’s okay, he helped me.”

“Don’t trust this son of a bitch, girl. Back away from him.”

Ash sighed. Was he going to have to buy a sign saying, ‘I’m a blood mage, keep the hell away,’ just so that people didn’t mess with him?

“This is way above your station, dystopian Gandalf,” he said. “Some jerks tied her up in the back of a van, and I let her loose.”

Tony levelled the rifle at Ash’s face and squinted through the sights.

“When I count to three, I open up your chest like a lasagna.”

“Really? You sure you can count that high?”

“One…”

“The next number is two,” added Ash.

“Three…”

With that, Ash fired an Ignis flame at Tony.

Chapter Six

Sweet Dreams, My Prince

Instead of burning Tony Shore to a crisp, Ash watched in dismay as his Ignis flame hit an oval wall of pure white light in front of him, before fizzing out. Tony lowered his gun and looked at Ash strangely.

Now, Ash had some questions of his own. Was that some kind of magic shield?

“Hold on a second,” he said. “You got one of those blue balls too?”

Tony, it turned out, had been at his ranch when light flashed over the sky and electronics had failed. At first, he thought that wolves or something had been screwing around with his generator. When he went out to explore, he found a glowing blue ball in the middle of his yard.

“I know this will sound goddamn crazy but when I went near it, the light washed over me like horse piss. Before I knew it, some guy inside my head was telling me that I’m a blue mage.”

“No further explanation necessary,” said Ash, holding up his hand. “I’m in the same boat.”

As the two newly-acquainted mages had discussed their powers, the girl slipped away from them. She ran away screaming, her mind no doubt struggling to comprehend the display of magic she’d just seen. Before Ash could say anything, she reached a corner of the street.

As he watched her run away, he shook his head. “What’s with the lack of gratitude around here?” he said.

“Folks might not be so disposed to spending time with a cock-faced conman,” said Tony.

“And I guess I’m the cock-face in this scenario?”

“Yup.”

Ash shrugged. “Can’t argue with that. Any idea what the hell’s going on?”

“EMP is my bet. Every damn thing that’s electronic is down. Seen it happen from time to time, and it’s down to a faulty cable or problem at the plant. Different this time, though.”

“Call me crazy, but I don’t think an EMP would crap blue balls from the sky, and I’ve never heard of one sending mobs of goblins into the world. I’m no genius, Tony, but I think something a little worse than a god damned EMP is afoot.”

“Whatever it is, I’m gonna give you some advice. You don’t deserve it, but you might have guessed by now that I’m a nicer guy than you are. My advice is this; you better get the hell out of Pasture.”

Ash shook his head. “Wish I could, but my car died. What are you doing out, you old bastard?”

“The lights and heating went,” said Tony. “Had a look at the breakers after the blue ball pissed all over me, but couldn’t see anything wrong. I came to find Alec. He’s the electrician. Looks like the grid is gone.”

“There’s a nuclear power plant twenty-five miles away,” said Ash. “Maybe we should go borrow some of their power. Me and my buddies used to siphon gas when I was a kid and use it to run an old dirt bike. I’m sure my talents translate to siphoning juice from a power plant.”

“You shouldn’t joke about that. I hope to hell their grid’s okay. This’ll get bad real fast if there’s a problem up there.”

“Listen. I really need to use a phone. Know anyone who might have a radio, or something?”

“What’s wrong?”

“I need to check on my parents. Make sure the old man doesn’t have fucking goblins in his garden or something.”

“Best I can do is take you to the station,” said Tony. “Ellie Ashurst might have something. After that, I don’t give a damn where you go.”

“What about you?” asked Ash.

“Me? Only thing I care about is my wife Marg. Not that she needs me to care for her; woman’s tougher than steel. But she’s my life. Don’t tell my dog Abraham that, though, little pupper thinks I live and breathe for him. Once I’m done in town, I’m getting’ back to Marg and my dog.”

Tony guided him through the darkened streets of Pasture Downs. Ash looked through every window that they passed, but none had power. If it wasn’t for the fact that he saw movement inside some of the shops, he would have sworn it was a ghost town.

It seemed like everyone had just upped and left in the middle of the night. It was ridiculous really, how much we took electricity for granted, and the panic it caused when it went. Even a few hours without power caused people to lose their minds. God help them if they saw any goblins.

The town centre was small, lined on each side with shops selling shit people didn’t need for prices that they couldn’t afford. One of the shops was a butchers, though there was something strange about the sign. The first four letters had changed, so that instead of ‘butchers,’ it read ‘ALCHhers.’ He didn’t know what to make of that.

When they got to the police station they found the door open.

Tony stopped. “Something I gotta tell you about Ellie,” he said.

“What?”

“She might seem like she has a stick up her ass sometimes, but there’s a good reason. She looks after her boy by herself. The dad is a scumbag; left her when the lad was only six. She’s struggled by on her own all these years, and it’s made her a little bitter. Get to know her, and she’s a gem, but she’s not too friendly to strangers. Especially not ones who stole all her money.”

Ash was about the explain that technically he didn’t steal her money, but he thought better of it. Instead, he felt a pang of guilt, which was quite a rare feeling for him. His folks had always struggled with money when he was younger, and he knew how hard it must have been to bring up a kid alone, while keeping a full-time job.

Maybe I should give it back to her, he thought. When all this is done, maybe…

“Come on,” said Tony.

They walked inside and found the sheriff with the telephone at her ear. She was bent forward over the desk and pressing the numbers on the handset.

“Piece of shit’s broken!”

The sheriff slammed the phone down. Next to her was a kerosene lamp that cast a dim glow over the room.

Ellie was a tall woman with a face so stern it looked like it was made of stone. There was an ever-present look of seriousness about her, as if during her time in the force she’d seen so many horrors that it had driven out all sense of fun. The pockets of her jeans bulged with a square-shape that looked like a pack of smokes.

Her shoulder-length brown hair was tucked behind her ears, and Ash saw that part of her right ear was missing, like something had taken a chunk out of it. Whatever had happened it had been long ago, since the wound was completely closed. Maybe it was something that happened when she was a kid.

Ellie gave Tony a hug. “Good to see you, big guy,” she said. Then she glared to Ash.

Fair enough, he thought.

“Powers out everywhere,” she said, and got out of her seat. “Been trying the phone for thirty minutes but it won’t even dial. It’s that damn nuclear plant, I bet. Pissing around with the grid. Sucking it dry.”

Ash took a deep breath. Ellie’s matter-of-fact manner was of particular concern to him. He knew he’d screwed her over with money, yet here he was coming back to her for help. Still, there was nothing else he could do unless he learned a spell that made a long-wave radio fall out of his ass.

He needed her help, but he wasn’t gonna pander to her. Ash had learned long ago that confidence was the key; say what you had to say with a strong voice and a cocky smile, and you’d go far.

“Ellie Ashurst,” he said. “I can’t tell you how happy I am to see your beautiful face. Got any radios here?”

The sheriff walked over to a coat stand and picked up her police department jacket. It looked bulky in the sleeves and had a brown fur collar that was worn away through years of use. On the back of the jacket was an eagle, the emblem of the Pasture Downs PD.

“Tony Shore,” said Ellie, ignoring Ash. “I don’t remember making you a deputy, but thanks for bringing this joker to me. I was in two minds whether to arrest him yesterday. Technically, the crap he pulled wasn’t exactly illegal. I had a guy from the bank explain it to me. Don’t mean I can’t arrest him for something else though.”

“Like what?” asked Ash.

“Your ugly mug is a crime, for a start.”

Ash felt his cheeks start to heat up. He didn’t get angry too often, but when he did it spilled over until he was blind with it, and that was when his lips ran too fast for his rational mind to catch up. He needed to rein in his smart-ass mouth.

“I need to check that my folks are okay,” he said. “Dad’s always loved messing around with radios, and I’m hoping he’s sat on his ass with a beer and a receiver next to him. Don’t suppose you have anything I can use?”

Ellie walked over to her desk and picked up a pre-rolled cigarette. She bit a few stray stands of tobacco off the end and spat them down on the floor.

“You pa will be fine. Think you’ve got problems? I’ll tell you who’s got problems,” she said. “My son, Jake. He keeps high-tailing it out of our house. Goes missing for hours on end.

“Then, when I send a cruiser to pick him up, he gets a temper like you wouldn’t believe. He’s like a Pitbull sometimes. I was saving up money to take him to a behavioral therapist, but some son of a bitch convinced me that I could treble the cash with one of his investments.”

“I’m very sorry to hear that,” said Ash. “Let me get my violin.”

“Not sorry enough,” said Ellie.

She picked up her pistol from the desk and pointed it at Ash’s head. For a second his stomach turned to water and he thought she might shoot him. Instead, she jerked it in the direction of the cell at the end of the room.

The iron-barred door was open and the tiny cell was swamped in darkness. It looked like the kind of place the town drunk would sleep off a dozen whiskeys.

“That’s where you’re gonna spend the night,” she said.

“Sheriff Ashurst, the world has gone to shit. You honestly have no idea what kind of freakish hell spawn is running around out there. Just sit down a second and I’ll explain everything.”

“Last time I sat down with you, I ended up investing all my savings. Might has well have burned my money. You think I’d give you a second to weasel your way out of this? I’ll admit, something’s going on tonight. That don’t mean you get a free pass.”

Screw this, he thought.

He had Blood Mage powers, and he wasn’t letting some hick cop throw him in the slammer. He didn’t want to hurt her, but maybe a show of flames would be enough to get her to reconsider her actions.

As he gathered arcane power in his palms, the window of the police station exploded.

Glass rained out all over the room, coating the floors and desks with jagged pieces. Ellie ducked for cover, while Tony Shore held up his rifle without flinching. Guy was as cool as ice.

An orc had joined them in the room. It was so tall that it towered over them all. It held a cleaver in his hand. Its skin was green-brown, and almost every inch of it bore scars. The damn thing looked like a goblin on steroids, and had a face uglier than a pig’s arse. It looks like it could crush my skull with one hand.

“Fresh meat,” he growled.

“Can this thing speak English?”

I’m converting as much of Rapto language as I can for you, said FF. Unfortunately, Dr. Aitken picked up only the basics of orc-tongue and none of goblin, so I won’t be able to translate much.

“Fresh meat,” repeated the orc.

“I like my meat barbequed to a crisp,” said Ash.

Ellie looked at Tony. “Am I really seeing that?”

Ash gathered an Ignis flame in his hand. This time he decided to use the level two version. He let more of his blood to seep into it, gathering it into a spitting ball of fury. He could feel its power, much stronger than his basic Ignis spell.

As the orc charged at him, Ash let loose.

Flames scorched over the desks in front of him, setting fire to the paper. The orc moved to the side. The flame burned his black beard but didn’t hurt him. It flew out of the broken window and exploded against a stone wall across the road.

50HP lost!

That left him with just ninety-five left; not enough to risk another flame.

The orc grabbed a desk. With one movement, he flung it upwards and sent it flying toward Ash. He ducked, but the edge caught him on the jaw. The desk clattered against the cell bars.

God damn that hurt! It felt like his jaw was broken.

20HP lost!

Seventy -five left now. Not enough.

“Shoot it,” he told Ellie.

The sheriff looked like she’d been frozen in time. He guessed that seeing a real-life orc had rooted her to the spot.

The orc pounded forward. Dried blood was smeared on his cleaver.

He was going to have to use Ignis again. He could barely afford it, but he had no choice.

The orc took another giant step. Ash could smell him now.

He grew a flame. Just aim right. This is your last chance.

Then Tony stepped forward.

He levelled his rifle and fired.  A shot rang out, loud enough that Ash though his eardrums would burst. A bullet tore through the orc’s chest.

The orc groaned, stumbled to his knees. He batted at his pec muscle as if that would take away the pain.

Tony shot again. The explosion made Ash’s ears ring.

This wasn’t just a regular bullet though. A blue light flashed from the barrel. Along with the bullet, long tendrils of spider web-like light latched onto the orc and burned lines on his skin.

“What kind of goddamn blue mage are you!?” said Ash.

The creature stumbled forward. For a second it looked like it still had strength to attack again.

Then, it collapsed to the floor and let out its last breath.

Ignis 10%!

15% EXP gained!

After they were sure that the orc was actually dead, Ash and Tony both looked at each other.

“Nice gun,” said Ash. “Take it the spider-bullet-0thing is one of your powers?”

“Sure is. Nice fireball. Shame about your aim.”

“I’m still getting used to it. Speaking of which, I better top up my HP. The well’s pretty empty.”

He was about to use life drain on the orc, when he felt something cold against his temple.

Ellie stood next to him with a revolver pressed to his skull.

“I don’t know what the hell you are, or what that was, but you better keep your hands at your side and shut your mouth.”

“You didn’t learn anything from that display?” said Ash. “I’m a blood mage.”

“I don’t know what the hell that means, but I’m pretty sure a bullet to the face is going to hurt just a little bit.”

He thought about using Ignis, but he knew that as soon as he even flinched, Ellie would put a bullet through his skull. Not only that, but with 95 HP left, he didn’t have much breathing room for blood magic.

“Get in the cell,” said Ellie.

Ash looked at Tony, but he just shrugged.

“When a woman’s got a gun pointed at your head, you better do what she says,” he said. “I need to get back to my ranch. Tough luck.”

“Spoken like a true gent,” said Ellie. “Come on, get your scrawny ass in the cell.”

“Seriously? After everything you just saw, you’re gonna lock me away?”

“I already didn’t trust you when your words were the only problem. Now I’ve seen that you can shoot fire from your palms, and you think I’m gonna let you wander around town? I’m needed out there, and I can’t be worrying about you at the same time.”

Ash looked at the gun and then looked at Ellie’s face, but he didn’t see any sympathy in it. Instead he saw a woman who would be happy to shoot him and then say he was resisting arrest or something like that.

After what he’d done to the town, he couldn’t exactly blame her. The key to a successful con was getting miles away from your victim when they realized that they were, in fact, a victim.

He could just kill her. He had HP for one Ignis blast, but that was all it’d take. One quick ball of arcane fire.

No. He was a conman, he was an asshole, but he was no killer. Not unless it was in self-defense, anyway.

“God damn hick towns,” he muttered, as he went into the cell and sat down.

Ellie clicked the lock shut. She turned her back on Ash and walked to the door of the station.

“Sweet dreams, my prince,” she said.

She opened the station door and stood in the shadows like a silhouette.

“What if a goblin gets in here when you’re gone?” said Ash.

She shrugged her shoulders. “It’s prison rules for you now.”

With that she locked the door and walked out of view, leaving him alone in the cell. Ash sank onto a bed against the wall and leaned back. He’d definitely broken the number one rule of a successful fraud this time.

Chapter Seven

Tony Fucking Shore!

Two days passed while Ash was stuck in the cell, and he was growing weaker by the minute. He licked his tongue over his cracked lips. He hadn’t eaten since the sandwich he’d demolished in the seat of his car before leaving Pasture, and after two days he felt skinny enough to just squeeze through the bars and walk out of the station. It wasn’t possible, of course, but he didn’t see how the hell he was going to get out of there otherwise.

His incarceration gave him a little thinking time, and that worried him. When he was alone he usually started thinking about what an asshole he was, and how it might be better sometimes to play nice. The problem was that he knew where being nice got you – nowhere.

His dad had played nice all his life. He’d been loyal to his old employer, a timber merchant, and all it had gotten him was laid off aged sixty-two. After that, Ash had decided he’d do all he could to support his parents.

The place was starting to stink, and not just because he was unwashed. Left alone for two days, he’d had to use the corner of the cell as a toilet. He felt his resentment growing by the minute.

He had never been inside a police cell before, which was something of a rarity for a guy with his profession. Whether it was through being good at his job or just plain luck, he’d avoided the slammer. The fact that he’d finally seen a jail cell at the worst possible time was just one big thrust from karma’s cock.

He’d tried blasting the cell lock with Ignis, getting nothing for his efforts but a message from FF that informed him he’d lost 25HP, leaving him with 70. He could have tried again, but what happened if he got out and then ran into trouble with such a low health level?

His next plan had been to Life Drain the dead orc, but Ellie had dragged the stinking thing away with her when she left, straining as she walked out of the door.

“Need something to show the mayor,” she had said. “Or he’s not going to believe me.”

Ash didn’t blame her; he’d had a similar plan with the goblins he’d killed on the plains. If it weren’t for the fact that his car was shot and he didn’t want to lug a stinking dead goblin across all the way to town, he’d have slapped the little beast’s corpse down on the mayor’s desk.

In his two days caged up, he saw and heard continuous chaos from the streets outside. Early that morning a few Pasture folks had braved the town, only to get murdered by a gang of marauding goblins. The concrete paving was wet with their blood, though judging by the sweltering sun, it’d dry before long. Luckily, the green little bastards hadn’t come to investigate the station.

He sat against the cell door and eyed the lock again. He just couldn’t see any way of smashing it short of using his last HP.

“What happens if I die?”

We’ll have a funeral for you, and the town will show up to mourn the loss of its most beloved son.

“For real, FF. I’m not in the mood for your subtle blend of sarcasm.”

I told you, it all comes from your mind, buddy. Don’t like my sense of humor? Blame yourself. I don’t wanna be trapped in here, you know. Anyway, you will respawn with a cost; your HP will be low, and spells cost more of it for a limited time.

That made sense. Although it pleased him to learn that he was, in a sense, immortal, it didn’t mean he looked forward to the prospect of meeting his maker.

The problem was that sooner or later some goddamn goblin or orc was sure to come looking, and he’d be stuck in a cell. He looked at the lock again. What was better? To be stuck in a cell while green-assed creatures came marauding, or to escape and give himself a chance?

Fuck it.

He used a level 2 Ignis spell on the lock. He was surprised when his flames didn’t just shatter the lock, but knocked the goddamn cell door off its hinges. It flew into a nearby desk and knocked a computer monitor onto the floor.

50HP lost

Ignis 20%

He was free from his prison, but he had only 20HP. To his mind, that put him roughly on par with a kitten. The streets outside seemed a little calmer now, but there was no telling what was out there. He was screwed as soon as he came across something; even a basic Ignis blast would cost 25HP, leaving him with a terminal case of -5HP.

As he pondered this, Tony Fucking Shore turned a corner and walked into the police station. His brown shirt was covered in blood. He had bullets – charged with magic blue energy – strapped around his chest, and he wore a jacket padded with Kevlar.

Ash hated to admit it, but he was impressed. Tony was equipped for this kind of situation in a way Ash could only dream about. In fact, Tony looked like the kind of guy who’d waited his whole life for something like this to happen.

“About fucking time,” Ash said, trying to put a brave face over how wretched he felt.

Tony cradled his rifle in his hands like a baby, and Ash half expected him to kiss it. He had two bottles of mineral water in his pocket. A compass hung off his lapel, and a solar powered torch was in his chest pocket. His cargo pants were splattered with mud. Dark bags sagged under his eyes and made him look like he hadn’t slept in days. His grey beard made him look the very definition of grizzled.

“Where is everyone?” said Ash.

Tony pulled a bottle of water out of his pocket and threw it toward Ash. It went behind him, bounced off a black bar and fell to the floor.

Ash picked it up, twisted the lid and drank it in five seconds. The last time he’d drained a bottle so quickly was when he was in his college dorm surround by five guys goading him on. Back then, it sure as hell hadn’t been water.

“Drink up, bitch,” said Tony.

He drained the bottle and then threw it to the floor. He wiped his lips. They were wet now, but they had been cracked so long that the skin had torn. With his thirst quenched, he felt his stomach cramp up.

“Don’t suppose you got a steak in that thing?” he said, pointing at Tony’s jacket.

Tony shook his head. “I’m not your damn dad.”

Maybe not, thought Ash. You look like him, though. Following that train of thought made him think of his parents, and that made a puddle of guilt slosh in his stomach. He needed to get back to them but first, he had to focus.

Ash walked over the Ellie’s desk and picked up the phone. It was dead. He uselessly pressed the buttons, but nothing happened.  He knew that in severe power outages, not just fuses blowing, the telephone lines would go down. The fact was that with each passing year the things we used were getting more sensitive to electrical and power problems, not less. Throw god damned orcs into the mix and things got a hell of a lot worse.

Tony started to walk across the room. When he reached the door, he stopped.

“Wait,” said Ash. “Where are you going?”

Tony turned around. He zipped up his coat to his chin and held his rifle in both hands. From here he looked like a hunter on a trip, but Ash wondered if there was more to it than that.

“Pasture is done,” said Tony. “The power’s gone and it doesn’t look like it’s coming back, and a bunch of green-cocked little imps are slaughtering everyone they see.  A few people drove out of town and that’s the last we saw of them. I don’t suppose you know, but someone smashed the pharmacy window and cleaned out the drug aisle. I don’t know what the hell’s going on, but I got a wife and a ranch to look after. It’s in Greenock on a patch of land I own, and I gotta get back there. I only came back to make sure your skinny ass doesn’t starve to death.”

“Greenock’s out west isn’t it?” said Ash.

Tony nodded. “Fifty miles out of Pasture. About as far away from the power station as you can get without leaving the town jurisdiction. I’m a Pasture boy and don’t want to leave, but I also like my distance from the place.”

“Damn. That’s the opposite direction to me.”

Tony looked at the ground. Ash could tell that he felt bad for him. Tony seemed like a good guy, and he’d already done more than enough to help a man who had knowingly swindled him out of money. The fact that he had come back for him at all was going above and beyond.

“Can I borrow your car?” Ash said. “Mine’s dead.”

“Are you out of your mind? You think I’d lend you my pick-up?”

“A goddamn bicycle then. Something.”

Tony lifted a hand off his rifle and ran it through his hair. The top of his grey hair was thick and it seemed like he found it tough to run his fingers through it. For a guy in his sixties he had a fine head of hair.

“Do you understand what’s happening here, Ash?”

“Apparently some guy named Dr. Aitken opened up a portal, and creatures from another dimension are spewing out of it. That about the size of things?”

Tony nodded. “Pasture’s under attack from goddamn monsters, and it’s time Daddy cleaned up the mess. Follow me.”

“I thought you weren’t my dad?”

“Just have that flame-shit handy and shut up.”

“If we come across any creatures, you’ll need to weaken them, but let me get the kill. I can only drain life from things I murder.”

“Any other day, I’d ask if your tiny brain has turned to slush. But today’s taught me one thing; just when you think you got things figured out, god shoves a goblin up your ass. Take this and come on.”

He handed Ash a dagger. Ash wasn’t so keen on getting up close to things, but it’d do. He doubted that Blood Mage was much of a fighter class, but it’d be good to have another form of attack for when his HP was too low to risk an Ignis flame.

“Let’s do this then, daddy,” he said.

“Let’s rock,” said Tony, and clicked his fingers.

Stepping outside the station made him feel like he’d walked through a wormhole and into a parallel dimension. It was daylight now, and the glint of the sun blinded him. The streets were stained with blood, shit, and bullet casings. The sign on the butcher’s shop had changed even more, so that now it read’ ALCHEMIS.’

Someone had dragged a sofa and two chairs out of a furniture shop and left them in the middle of the road. God knew what their thinking behind that was. The Reedley pharmacy, as Tony had said, had been raided, and the front of the store was littered with discarded brown vials of pills. A couple of cars were abandoned on the roadside, one with the front doors open and another with a set of keys sitting on the roof with a pink fluffy dice on the keyring.  None of the shops were open, and not a single building showed the signs of having any power.

There was a smell in the air of food starting to rot. South down the street was the butcher’s shop, and Ash supposed that the refrigerators had failed and the meat had begun to spoil. It was crazy that just a few days without power were all it took to tear the fabric of society.

As deserted as town was, it wasn’t long before the goblins showed up. He and Tony stood side to side as a dozen of them rounded a corner, saw the two humans, and charged.

The air soon filled with the smell of gunpowder and the crack of Tony’s magically-charged rifle. Goblin blood stained the streets. True to his word, Tony knee-capped a few of them so that Ash could get the killing blows. After Life Draining enough HP, he was able to use Ignis again. He felt power flow through him as he smoked five of their goblin asses, and the scent of barbequed goblin flesh filled the air.

When the battle was done, he needed a sit down. Not only that, but he needed a goddamn drink.

Stat time! said FF.

Ignis 55%

**Life drain 100% - Level up to level 2!**

- Drain life from multiple corpses at once

With his new Life Drain level, he sucked life from the fallen goblins, topping up his HP to a healthier, but still not good enough, 255. He really needed to find a way to regenerate HP when there were no fresh kills around.

“Are there any passive spells I can get that will help with HP?” he asked FF.

Stay tuned, asshole. Just keep levelling up. Until then, loot anything you kill. You might get lucky and find a potion or two.

“Who you talking to?” asked Tony.

“Just an annoying voice inside my head. You have one too, don’t you?”

“Ah, you mean the magic god damned stat fairy that keeps chirping up when I kill. What did you name yours?”

“Fuckface,” answered Ash. “What about you?”

“Dave.”

“We better get to your ranch,” said Ash. “I need a vehicle. And a bed. And a drink. And a steak.”

“Not yet,” said Tony, and started walking down the street.

“Where are you going?” asked Ash.

“Follow me and see, dick-stick,” said Tony, and started running.

He looked at the end of the street where Tony was starting to disappear from view. Part of him wanted to go with him to his land outside the town. At least it would be safe there, he guessed. As Tony turned the corner, Ash noticed the town hall at the end of the road. There was a wooden sign outside with words painted on it in red.

Emergancy Town Meeting. Cum one and all.

Someone needs to learn how to spell, thought Ash.

Chapter Eight

Surprise, motherfuckers!

He walked across town, stepping over red bloodstains on the paving and avoiding severed fingers, ears, and even a hand of the townsfolk who’d met their end at the edge of goblin blades.

Some of the shop windows were smashed, and their stock had been looted. Ash couldn’t tell if the looters had been human, or something decidedly inhuman. It didn’t matter, he guessed. Shop owners had a hell of a lot more to worry about now than some missing stock.

When they reached the door of the town hall, Tony turned to him. His expression was stern.

“Keep a low profile in here,” he said. “Stay at the back and keep your flappy mouth shut. You might be able to shoot fire out of your ass, but that won’t help when half the folks in there wanna gut you like a pig.”

“Subtlety is my forte,” said Ash. “Don’t worry.”

Tony grabbed the handle and was going to open it. Ash got there first. He kicked the door open and strode inside. Fifty Pasture Downs residents turned to face him.

“Surprise, motherfuckers!” he said.

“God damn it,” said Tony, putting his hand to his face.

The Pasture Downs folks were seated on foldaway chairs lined up in rows. They faced a stage over at the front. On seeing Ash, some of the residents stood up. By the looks on their faces, they were just about ready to tear him limb from limb.

He felt like he’d just interrupted them all while they were watching two pigs banging, or whatever passed for entertainment around here.  He could practically feel them mentality beating the hell out of him.

Tony showed them his rifle. Blue energy buzzed around the hilt. What kind of goddamn blue mage was he? Ash found himself wondering again.

“Settle down,” said Tony. “I’ve got our favorite conman under control. Get on with your meeting.”

The town hall could have housed a few hundred people, but there were only fifty hicks in there today. The power was out and dark shadows sprang off the walls. The air was stuffy and smelled of sweat and stale booze. There were dozens of windows on each side of the room, but the blinds had been closed to block the room from outside view. Over on one wall, a large poster advertised the upcoming Pasture Downs Vegetable Growing Competition. Doubt that’s gonna happen anytime soon.

Ash moved into a patch of darkness at the back of the room and listened.

A man was stood on stage talking at the crowd. Ash squinted and realized that it was Kenny, the guy in the oil shirt who had come within inches of knocking him out when he was leaving the mayor’s office.

Kenny looked like the kind of guy who’d spent his entire life in Pasture Downs, never straying beyond its borders. It meant he’d never see much of the world, but in a way, Ash envied him. He’d spent a lot of time on the road himself, and sometimes he thought it’d be good to put down roots.

It seemed like Kenny assumed leadership in the meeting. Ash felt like leaving, but he had nowhere else he could go.

“What about Blackwater and Olton?” said Kenny from the stage.

A man two rows in shouted back at him. He was a short man with a bald head and cheap plastic glasses. Next to him was his worried-looking wife and a young boy with a shaved head.

“We sent the Adam’s brothers to Blackridge but they ain’t come back. Yellow Pete trotted into town on his horse a few hours ago. Says it’s the same over in Olton, ‘cept people are even more pissed down there than we are. One man got stabbed over a hand crank radio.”

“What about the military base?” said Kenny.

“No one goes near there. You know what they’re like.”

“Then maybe we ought to. That’s what the army is for, ain’t it? To protect us against crap like this? I don’t see why they’re sitting there with tugging each other off while the town turns to shit.”

The man in row two folded his arms. “I’m not risking it. They’ve got itchy fingers and shoot on sight. You know how they be; they treat us like crap on their shoe.”

“You know how they are,” corrected a man from across the room. “Not how they be. Sheesh, John. All that time you spent copying my homework when we were growin’ up, and you never leaned anything?”

He was stood up four rows back on the opposite side. He was short and had a belly that drooped over his belt. He wore a thick coat with a fur hood. He looked like the kind of guy who was happiest sprawled out on his sofa with a six-pack next to him. In fairness that could have described half of Pasture Down’s population, but this guy’s gut was particularly big.

“We need to be wary of the nuclear plant,” he said, in a voice more refined than Ash expected. “If the power is gone, the rods will need to be cooled. And if they aren’t, I wouldn’t like to be within a hundred miles of the place. We need to know for sure, or we’re all more screwed than a priest caught in a brothel.”

Kenny paced the stage. “I don’t understand what you mean Greeb. We don’t all have fancy degrees.”

The scientist named Greeb took his seat as if he had just realized that everyone in the room was staring at him and he was uncomfortable with it. Once he was in his seat, he carried on talking.

“Reactors are usually in a state of controlled meltdown. Controlled being the key word there. We need the nuclear rods to meltdown because that turns hot water into stream, which then triggers the turbines and makes us a fresh batch of electricity. The rods are kept from reaching dangerous meltdown levels by cold water flow controlled by pumps. And guess what powers the pumps?”

Kenny stopped pacing. “Electricity.”

“Correct,” said Greeb.

“So, what happens if the rods aren’t cooled?”

“The plant goes into full meltdown, and anyone in the surrounding areas dies of radioactive poisoning. Either that, or they grow ten extra fingers and two extra dicks.”

Kenny folded his arms. He stared out at everyone in the room. He stood tall with his shoulders straight, and Ash could tell that this was a man who liked to give the impression that he scared of nobody. Something about it didn’t ring true; maybe the way his shoulders hunched every so often, and how he straightened them when he realized, as if it would give away his cocky act. Since Ash had spent most of his adult life lying to people, he knew a fellow bullshitter when he saw one.

“We need to go check out the plant,” Kenny said. “I’m not giving up Pasture lightly, but I’m not waiting here for some toxic crap to blow my way. We gotta know for sure if they managed to cool down the plant or not.”

There were some murmurings, and a lot of the forty men and women in the room turned to their wives and husbands with worried faces. They started to chatter amongst each other, but Ash couldn’t pick out any of the words. Most of these folks’ idea of trouble was running out of beer, yet here they were faced with orcs and goblins rampaging through their streets. He almost felt bad for them.

Kenny stomped his feet. The echoed of his boots silenced the room. “We got any volunteers?” he said. “Anyone who wants to do this fine town a service?”

Ash walked out of the shadows and strode towered the front of the hall. His boots thudded and echoed up to the ceiling above. Everyone looked at him as he passed them. They were so angry he could almost feel the heat coming from their faces.

“Mr. Hobbes,” said Kenny from the front of the room. “Everyone’s favorite conman. Glad you could join us.”

The stares of the people in the hall were so angry that they smoldered, and Ash worried they made the room a fire risk. He had no doubt in his mind that most of them would love to tear him to pieces.

“Grab hold of him,” said Kenny, nodding at two guys who were on the stage with him.

Ash held up his hand and gathered a ball of Ignis flame.

Not the best idea, said FF.

A couple of people in the rows gasped. Ash’s arcane power cast a purple glow over the darkened room.

“I’m not gonna hurt you guys,” said Ash. “but someone needs to go to the nuclear plant. If you’re all gonna be bitches about it, I’ll go. I need a ride to get there. And once I’m done, I get to keep the ride.”

Chapter Nine

A Blood Sprinkler

There were a few grumblings behind him, but Ash ignored them and waited for Kenny to respond. He didn’t expect his words would get the greatest reception.

“Forget that,” said Kenny. “The only thing you can do for this town is fit my foot up your ass.”

With that, he pulled a long hunting knife from his belt. The grip was green, but a lot of the color was faded. Like a lot of folks in Pasture Downs, Kenny was probably a keen hunter. He’d let himself get out of shape in recent years judging by his beer-gut, but he was still a big guy. Men like that were the most dangerous; all it’d take was one punch from his meaty paws, and Ash would be out like a light.

“Me and the boys are gonna make your asshole smile,” said Kenny.

“I don’t think that threat came out quite like you’d meant it,” said Ash.

This served only to inflame Kenny further, and Ash wished that for once, he’d learned the skill of self-restraint.

Two of the guys on the stage followed Kenny’s movements and pulled knives of their own. They were both taller than Kenny. One of them was out of shape. The other, a man in a tight shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbow, had a nasty looking scar on his cheek that suggested he partaken in the occasional bar fight over the years.

This should have been enough to worry Ash; he was a self-confessed city boy, yet Kenny and his friends were gritty men of Pasture Downs who spent their free time hunting and skinning animals in the woodland. He was on their turf, and they were going to fight by their rules.

He was outnumbered, out-muscled, and pretty much screwed, since his only ally was an apocalyptic wizard who probably hated his guts.

That was why he was surprised when Tony stepped in for him.

“Come on now fellas,” said Tony, his voice the epitome of calm. “Let’s talk this out.”

“Only talking I’m gonna do is on city boy’s ass,” said Kenny.

Don’t rise to it, Ash told himself. Keep your mouth shut…

Nope. Can’t do that.

“Again, I don’t think…”

But he didn’t have chance to finish his sentence. The guy to Kenny’s right, a heavy man with a shaved head and neck tattoos, advanced.

The poorly-constructed wooden stage shook under each step. Ash wondered if there was some lever he could pull to open a secret trap door. That would have been handy.

He thought about backing out, but he doubted the townsfolk behind him would sit on their asses and let him leave. This was going to have to be a fight. That was the only way he was getting out of there.

Damn it. Killing goblins had been hard enough to get used to, but people? He didn’t feel guilty about the guys near the van after he’d seen the woman they’d tied up, but the people in the hall were innocent. If anything, Ash was the ass here, considering what he’d done.

Could he do it? And what if he did manage to kill Kenny and the boys? There was still a room full of people who’d love to stick a knife in his gut and twist it until he screamed.

No. Better fire a warning shot, he decided. Make them back off a little.

With that in mind, he waited until the heavyset man advanced to the edge of the stage. He took a deep breath.

As the man leapt off the stage, Ash aimed an Ignis flame ball at his legs. That should have been enough to hurt him a little.

A purple flame ball left his palm and fizzed through the air. It cast a glow in the darkened room.

That’s when Ash realized that he had misjudged it.

Badly.

His flame ball hit the man in his chest mid-leap. The force of it was magnified by the man’s trajectory. When it hit him, it sent him flying twenty feet into the air.

The man screamed as he hurled toward the roof. He flailed his arms.

He was impaled in the stomach by a metal light fitting. The screaming stopped, his arms went limp. The metal fitting stabbed through his chest and held him in place.

Blood rained down from above like a crimson fountain, showering everyone underneath.

One woman screamed, while a man grabbed his children and fled from the hall.

“Oh shit,” said Ash. “Sorry.”

Ignis 60%

25% EXP

Pandemonium broke out. People screamed, shouted, panicked. Some ran out of the hall, while others drew their weapons.

Ash took a quick count and saw eight knife-wielding Pasture Downs folks coming for him; two on the stage, including Kenny, and six on the floor. Bad odds, blood mage or not.

Better think carefully about this, said FF.

He was right. Even if Ash hit each one with a perfect critical hit, using 8 Ignis flames would cost him 200 HP, leaving him just 30 to spare. That discounted having to use more when he missed, and the damage he’d take during the fight. He was going to have to be clever about this. Again, not his strongpoint.

Blood rained on his face. Drips touched his lips, and he could smell the iron. People shrieked around him, doors opened and then slammed.

Two beefy guys advanced on him, and they’d already gotten too close. Ash tried to move out of the way. The man flashed a blade and dug it into his thigh.

Ash gasped in pain. He felt hot blood dribble down his skin. A flinch of agony as the man withdrew his knife. I need to Life Drain something, but there’s no time.

To his left, one man punched another so hard that he clattered into a row of chairs, tipping them over. He groaned, then got back to his feet. They weren’t just fighting Ash; this was like a god damn cowboy whiskey joint. They were beating the hell out of each other as well.

He grew a level 2 Ignis and aimed it at both of them, knocking them clean off their feet and into a row of now-empty chairs. The men didn’t get up. The fire licking their bodies started to catch on the wood of the chairs. He could smell it burn.

Ignis 10%!

12 EXP gained!

8 EXP gained!

So, one man had earned him 12, while the other only 8.

“Guess all men aren’t created equal after all,” said Ash.

Kenny advanced on him now.

“What the hell are you?” he said. His eyes were wide and he looked scared, yet he still walked forward. It was as if he was acting on instinct, his fight or flight response revved up into suicidal overdrive.

“Me? I’m a blood mage bastard,” said Ash.

He shot an Ignis bolt at the hick’s chest., knocking him off his feet. Evidently he was a tough S.O.B, since he groaned in agony but still got to his feet. He had the presence of mind to take a water bottle from his hunting jacket, unscrew the lid and douse the flames on his chest.

He stumbled back, gasping. “You’re gonna die for this,” he said in between breaths.

Tony, it seemed, had watched this for long enough. He raised his magic-charged rifle to the ceiling and fired. The gunshot echoed across the hall.

He obviously hadn’t thought about where he was stood, because his bullet hit the guy impaled on the roof. The heavy man slipped off his impalement and fell down and crashed on the floor. He slapped against it like wet meat. Blood sprayed out everywhere.

“Stop this fighting, for god’s sake,” said Tony.

Kenny still had some of his boys with him. He was the ringleader, it seemed, and his friends were so goddamn stupid that they didn’t flee in terror at the sight of a blood mage.

Ash’s heart was racing. He had used too much HP already, and still had four men to kill. With his adrenaline flooding around his system so fast that it felt like he was high, he didn’t know if he’d even be able to aim his Ignis straight.

He held his hand up. “Think we got off to a bad start, Kenny,” he said.

“Shove it up your ass,” groaned Kenny, still moving forward.

He had to do something other than shoot fire at his chest. The way this was going, everyone in here was going to die. That wasn’t gonna help anybody. He didn’t like it, but he knew what action he had to take.

“Hold still a second,” he said.

Ash focused on Kenny and cast Transfusion, healing him with 30 of his own HP. The burns on Kenny’s chest, visible through his melted shirt, started to heal over.

Transfusion 50%

“Feel better?” said Ash. “Think of that as a peace offering.”

“Fuck you,” said Kenny. His voice had recovered, and he stood straighter.

“I bet you wish you could. But let’s stop this. It’s time to stop worrying about who’s in here, and think about what fucking things are out there. I’m sure you’ve noticed that Pasture Downs ain’t the beautiful place it used to be. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather work together with human assholes, than die by getting crapped on by a goblin asshole.”

“Goddamn it,” said Kenny, still gripping his knife. “What the hell do you want?”

“That your mustang parked outside the hall?” asked Ash.

“Yeah.”

He held his hand out. “Then I need the keys.”

Kenny seemed to wrestle with the decision. Ash thought about growing an Ignis flame in his hand to help him make his mind up, but he didn’t want to risk more violence.

“Fine,” grunted Kenny.

With the cold metal keys in his hands, Ash faced the corpses on the hall floor. He used Life Drain to top up his HP to 285, and then walked out of the halls while the wide-eyed Pasture folks watched.

As he neared the exit, he was surprised to hear boots walking behind him.

“Ash, hang on a sec.”

It was Tony Fucking Shore.

“What do you need, Tony?”

“You’re an asshole,” said Tony, “But I’m not gonna see the town suffer. You’re going to the nuclear plant, right?”

Ash nodded. “I said I’d go if I got a ride, and I’m gonna keep my word. It’s about time I stopped being an ass and started helping people.”

“First time for that.”

“I’m not such a bad guy, Tony. I’m just a blood mage bastard.”

“And I’m coming with you. Feel like you need a babysitter, anyway.”

Chapter Ten

The Roads Are a Bitch Outside of Pasture

He got the feeling that there would be worse things than goblins and orcs out on the road, so he had a few things he needed to do before leaving Pasture Downs. As he walked through town, he saw that in the thirty minutes he’d spent in the town hall, things had already changed on the streets.

More of the shop signs had begun to transform. A DIY store sign now read “Bolts and Arrows,” and what was once a hair salon now sported a sign that read ‘Polden’s Small Arms.” Whether that was a weapons shop or a boutique for short prosthetic limbs, he had no idea. As of yet, he couldn’t see any sign of stock on the shelves, nor of the proprietors of these new shops.

“What’s going on, FF? Why are things changing around here?”

Need me to spell out everything to you? Clear some of the sludge from your brain and think about it.

“Well, I’m fairly sure that goblins aren’t resident creatures in this neck of the woods, and you already told me about the dark matter portals.”

This is like trying to illuminate a cave with a matchstick. Go on…

“The two worlds are merging, aren’t they? Stuff from Rapto is crossing into our world. I mean, obviously that’s happening since there are goblins prowling around, but the buildings are changing too.”

Ding Ding! Here’s today’s winner! A dicknose dimwit who can’t tie his own laces!

Ash glared at him.

Sorry, that was kinda mean, wasn’t it?

“A little.”

I apologize. Let’s make a deal; if you’re less of a jerk to me, I’ll be nicer to you.

Since he was going to be spending quite a lot of time with FF from here on out, Ash guessed that he didn’t have much of a choice.

“Deal,” he said.

The goblins are just the start of it, Ash. The Umbra messed with the portal too much, is my guess.

“If stuff from their world is coming here, does that mean that somewhere in a town in Rapto, a new hairdresser shop just opened up?”

That’s actually a good question.

For the next few hours, he and Tony spent time just outside of town after one of the townsfolk had asked for their assistance. It turned out that a dark hole had opened in the ground, and at first Ash thought it was some kind of mole den.

He soon discovered that this was a goblin home, which made it a good place to grind levels for a short while. With his Ignis flames and Tony’s rifle, they cleared out the goblin’s dank nest.

He was just about done, when he saw another hole on the horizon. They cleared that out, and then saw another. On and on these went, until soon he’d spent the whole day lighting goblins up with his Ignis and then draining the life from them. It took longer than he’d planned, but it was worth it. Not only did it keep the town a little safer, which Ash felt was the least he could do, but the skill gains were tremendous.

He levelled all the way up to level 7. With this, added to the attribute points he spent on endurance, he managed to increase his HP to 595. He also got Ignis level up to 90%, Life Drain (LVL2) to 55% and, by using Transfusion on Tony whenever he got injured, his Transfusion skill to 85%.

This put him close to levelling all 3 spells, which would have been enough to get him to tier 2. He would have stayed longer, but the more time they spent grinding, the more anxious Tony got about the nuclear plant. Ash knew that he wanted to get back to his ranch, and the fact that he wouldn’t leave until they were sure the plant was okay made him respect the guy.

“Come on, Ash. There’s no more holes, no more green-assed goblins. Let’s go.”

Ash nodded. “Okay, big guy. Just one more thing.”

He walked back into town and went to a shop called ‘Al’s Hunting Supplies.’ There, he found himself a nice hunting knife with a green hilt, one that had a longer blade than the dagger he already had. It seemed that at some point he was going to have to resort to melee combat, and he wanted better weaponry when that happened.

Next, he went to a clothes shop and found himself a black leather jacket with a red eagle printed on the back. It was a snug fit but it was padded, and he felt a little safer with his new battle leathers. He grabbed a pen from the counter and wrote on the white jacket label near the collar, ‘Property of the BMB.’ He strutted out of the shop with the leather crinkling under his armpits.

With that done, he found Tony on the edge of town. He was stood over Kenny’s mustang, with his rifle and crossbow propped up against it. He was messing with something, but Ash couldn’t see what.

The mustang must have been at least thirty years old, but Kenny had paid an almost obsessive level of attention to the red paint job and metal framework. Sat in the afternoon sun, it was so red that it gleamed. It looked like it had rolled straight off the lot. Ash had never given much of a shit about cars, but he had to admit that this one was a beauty.

“Check the liquids,” said Tony.

“Check the what, now?” said Ash.

“Pop the bonnet and make sure it’s got enough oil. Last thing we need is to break down. The roads are a bitch outside of Pasture.”

Ash lifted the bonnet and hooked the latch to make it stand on its own. He didn’t want to have to ask Tony questions and seem like he was a complete dickhead, so through trial and error he found and checked the coolant, oil and brake fluid.

“Brake fluid needs topping up,” he said, feeling prouder of himself than he had any right to. But what did anyone expect? Ash was a conman Blood Mage, not a mechanic.

“There’s some fluid in the back,” said Tony as he crouched against a rear tire and checked how worn it was. “People round here are usually prepared for anything.  Any situation can happen, even the most unlikely”

“Is that why you don’t seem the least bit surprised that goblins are chopping people’s cocks off?”

“I don’t go to the shop for milk without having an alternative route in case I hit trouble. Panic solves nothing. And that reminds me; the route to the plant. We’ve got two choices, and I want you to think carefully before you answer me. One route is on the 54 out of town. Takes around twenty minutes on a good day. The other is over a rocky plain that stretches far outside of Pasture Downs. It’s full of boulders and pits where they dig for lime.”

“Seems obvious,” says Ash. “We take the road.”

“You need to get your survival skills tuned, for God’s sake. Think about it. The first thing some people will do when they realise the power is never coming back is leave town. Add to that the fact that some folks would have been driving on the road when their car died, and I’d hazard that the simple route is blocked by fancy-ass cars with fried electric circuits.”

Ash topped up the brake fluid and then screwed the cap back onto the bottle. Tony stood away from the tire and folded his arms. Ash handed him the brake fluid.

“I ain’t your fucking butler,” said Tony. “Put it in the back.”

The rear of the pick-up was full of enough gear to survive four Armageddon’s. It seemed like the entire space was crammed with whatever Kenny had thought he might need at some point in his life; a big box of strike-anywhere matches with white phosphorus tips, a box stuffed with curled up maps, piles of energy bars and military rations that he had procured from somewhere. There was duct tape, rope, knives and so much more stuff that Ash was surprised that the vehicle could still run under the weight of it.

“Kenny sure as hell came prepared, didn’t he?”

“Maybe he saw this coming.”

“It’s something I’ve always considered,” said Ash, sarcastically. “The emergence of a dark matter portal spewing goblins out of its ass.”

Tony laughed. “Alright, maybe not this, but some kind of disaster. Me personally, I’ve always thought something was heading our way. You should see my ranch.”

“Are you one of those prepper guys? Don’t tell me you’ve got a rape basement dug underneath it.”

“You don’t know the half of it. It’s more than likely you’ll need to see it, because there’s no way you’re getting home without supplies.”

Tony had a point, Ash knew. But supplies were way at the back of his encyclopedia of problems. If goblins and orcs weren’t enough, Ash didn’t have a ride. Even when he did, he’d still have to navigate his way home while avoiding getting attacked by green-skinned bastards.

He opened the door of the mustang and climbed in. “You drive,” he told Tony. “I’ll pop the window and fry any cuntpuddle who gets close.”

“Whatever you do, watch the paint work. Kenny will lose his mind if we damage his car. Not that I care what he thinks, but this is a god damned beauty of a vehicle.”

Chapter Eleven

Shit, Not the Mustang

As they left Pasture Downs and hit the rocky wilderness that led to the plant, the sun was beginning to sink in the sky. Ash kept the window down while Tony drove, and the breeze slapped his face at sixty miles per hour and practically glued open his eyelids.

The horizon seemed uniformly bland; just an expanse of piss-colored rocks with weeds poking through here and there. Ash knew that there were farms on the outskirts of the town, but it didn’t look like anything could grow out here in the wilderness. It was a wonder that people could get by.

Damn. Another stab of guilt. If the People of Pasture Downs were already struggling to get by, he hadn’t exactly helped them by swindling their money, had he? He wondered if there was something he could do. Maybe he could go clear out all the goblin nests. Would that cover the bill? Nah, probably not.

“Is family important you, Ash?” said Tony. He didn’t take his eyes away from the windscreen as he spoke.

“What is this, heart -to-fucking -heart time?”

“Just leave your irritating brand of wise assery at the door for a sec and answer the question.”

The seriousness of Tony’s tone washed Ash’s wise-assery clean out of him. He thought about his mum and dad and felt a bad that he wasn’t with them. His Pa was tough as nails and they’d probably be fine, but he still needed to be there.

“Course it’s important to me,” he said.

“Me too. Nothing more important than the people who depend on you.”

“You’re quite the softie at heart, aren’t you?”

Tony ignored Ash and carried on talking. “So imagine how I felt when I had to explain to my wife that I’d lost all our savings to a shady salesman. The woman nearly beat my ass into next week. Tell me, Ash. How does mirror look when you stare into it? You like what you see?”

“I love it,” said Ash.

“Arrogant cock-nosed shitbag.”

Yep. Can’t argue with that one.

“Thought you were supposed to be gone by now, anyway? What about your ranch in Greenock? If family’s so important to you, why are you here with me and not at home?”

“Because I’ve got a thing that you seem to lack, Ash. Common fucking decency. As soon as this is done I’m heading back to the ranch. After that, don’t think I’ll be coming back to Pasture.”

“What, never?”

“Think about it, Ash. If this was a power shortage, you’d expect out it to be back on by now. Even if not, surely somebody would have come to see us. But we’ve seen nobody. No-one from the power company, the army, the police. This isn’t just a power cut.”

“Well, yeah. Are you forgetting the goblins and orcs?”

“Even putting that to one side; if a whole town loses power for days, you’d think someone would come and have a look and see what’s happening.”

“Maybe this thing has spread further than we thought.”

“I pray to God’s holy golden ass that it hasn’t.”

“Pull up,” said Ash.

The power station was in front of them now. A giant cylindrical chimney stretched a hundred feet into the sky. Usually it would have had plumes of white steam rising from the top and discoloring the air, but there was nothing coming from it today.

Ash grabbed a pair of binoculars from beside his feet and scanned the power plant boundaries. A chain-link fence ran around the perimeter, and there was a guard booth at the entrance next to a two-lane road that let cars move in and out of the facility. There was nobody there now, and no signs of movement anywhere. Ash moved his head and looked at every inch of the plant, until he saw a white sign strapped to part of the fence. Something was painted on it in red.

WARNING: Plant in meltdown. Do not approach.

He started to notice that there were at least five other versions of the same sign spread across the perimeter. That would have been bad enough, but a malfunctioning plant wasn’t the worst of it.

He suddenly felt cold. He lowered the binoculars from his eyes and turned to Tony.

“Oh shit,” was the only thing he could say.

“Oh shit indeed,” replied Tony, when he noticed what Ash had seen.

There was a fourteen-foot tall troll stood by the east fence of the plant. It had rock-colored skin and a giant club in its hands. This particular troll obviously had no sense of decency, since its lack of clothes revealed a five-foot long, floppy penis. Blood was smeared all over its chest, indicating that it had recently had a rather large meal.

“We’ve gotta leave,” said Tony. “All of us. Everyone in town.”

“No kidding! I’ve wanted to leave all along. Let’s roll.”

Tony reversed the vehicle and turned around. The wheels crunched over loose stones. Ash was more than a little pleased with the decision. They got to the plant and they’d found that it was in meltdown; job done. It wasn’t the best news, but there was no point hanging around to piss off a troll.

“You sure you don’t want to come with us to the ranch?” said Tony, as he drove.

“I’m an asshole, Tony. I’m sure you noticed. Why are you being so nice to me?”

“Everyone deserves a second chance,” said Tony. “One day you’re going to realize what an dickbag you are, and everything you’ve done will come crashing down on you.”

“Well, thanks for the offer. It’s nice of you.”

“Sure you’re not coming, then?” said Tony.

“Can’t. Need to see my folks.”

Tony nodded. “Okay. When we get back to town, I’m hauling ass.”

Tony started to drive back the way they came, toward Pasture Downs. He’d only gone twenty yards when they heard a bang, and suddenly the pickup lurched violently to the left. Tony struggled with the steering wheel, and Ash grabbed his seat belt and checked it was tight enough.

“Ah hell,” said Tony, slapping the steering wheel. “Puncture.”

As he put his foot on the breaks and the speed needle dropped, there was another bang.

“That the other tire?” said Ash.

Tony shrugged as he slowed the mustang to a stop. “Just my luck. My pa used to say I could fall in a barrel of tits and come out holding a dick.”

Ash didn’t believe that anyone could be unlucky enough to have two punctures in the space of seconds, yet it seemed like that was exactly what had happened. Pasture Downs was still miles away, which was too far to walk with god knows what waiting on the plains, and a floppy-cocked troll behind them.

As he thought about how much he didn’t want to walk back to town, something hit the passenger door of the pickup. It sounded like a rock had been thrown at it, but then the sound rang against other parts of the vehicle. Ducking down in his seat, Ash realized that they were being shot at.

He needed to look around, but he didn’t want to life his head in case a bullet smashed his skull like a melon. He ducked in his seat.

“Any chance I have super enhanced hearing?” he asked FF.

You’ve got big ears, but your hearing’s normal.

“Shit, not the mustang,” said Tony. “Kenny’s gonna have a fit.”

“Who gives a crap about him??”

“I know, but it’s a beauty.”

Tony held up his hands, and a blue wall of light gathered in front of the mustang, protecting him and Ash from bullets. Ash lifted his head, but he couldn’t see the source of the shots.

“Quite a power for a blue mage to have, Tony. There’s something you’re not telling me.”

Tony pressed the door level and kicked it open.

“You’re a blood mage bastard, aren’t you? Well, I’m a blue mage bastard. Let’s see who’s stupid enough to screw around with us.”

Chapter Twelve

Holy Hell, Think We Popped This One

A vehicle drove toward them from the distance. It was hard to make out clearly at first with all the dust kicking up in front of it, but it was obvious that this wasn’t some Pasture Downs hick taking a drive.

It was a jeep of some sort, alligator-green with giant wheels and a glass windshield. The canvas roof had been rolled back, so that Ash could now see that four men wearing green khakis sat inside. The one next to the driver had am M16 rifle propped up on the windshield and looked to be aiming for another shot.

Tony traced out an outline in the air just in front of them. The air began to vibrate like it was shimmering under heat, and a blue light spread into a rectangle shape, shielding the both of them. Man, that was a cool power to have.

With his shield in place, he unslung his rifle and hid it under the mustang. He then took a roll of sticky type, a bottle of water, and a notepad out from one of his coat pockets, before finally grabbing a Glock pistol and checking the magazine.

“Where are you getting all this stuff from?”

“Picked up a coat up in town from the party shop that changed into a trader’s boutique. There was some crooked little bastard in there who sold it to me. Seems crazy, but it’s designed to give me more room to store things. You wouldn’t believe what these pockets can hold.”

“I’m delighted for you and your  new wardrobe choice,” said Ash. “But onto the problem at hand; I’m thinking I blow the tires with an Ignis flame. If we can get to them before they get closer…”

“There are four US army trained soldiers armed with M16s driving our way. If they get even an inch of their shit together, they’re gonna spray it over us. Fighting is the stupid thing to do here.”

“We can’t die, Tony. We don’t need to worry about getting shot.”

Tony punched him on the shoulder hard enough that it stung.

“Still hurts, don’t it?” he said.

Point proven, thought Ash. Just because he couldn’t die, it didn’t mean he relished getting pumped full of bullets. They said a hole in the stomach was the slowest, most painful way to die. Ash could think of plenty more. A knife to the spine, getting your cock blown off…better play this safe. But how?

“They’re not exactly the Brady Bunch riding out to say hello. The bastards have already shot at us,” he said. “Best we can do is hope the mustang can outrun them.”

“If only one tire was popped, maybe we could change it before they got to us. Doubt it though, since your hands are softer than a baby’s ass and I doubt you ever changed a wheel in your life. With two tires screwed, our options are petty limited.”

“Perhaps we better appeal to their better nature.”

“I might have something up my sleeves. Whatever I do, be a good boy and play along, okay?”

“Sure.”

He held his Glock pistol and partly concealed it with the sleeve of his coat. The gun was pristine, the frame made from ink-black polymer plastic. Small wisps of blue light drifted from the magazine body.

“That one magically charged, too?”

“You know it.”

“Okay, now I really gotta know what your class is. Don’t give me any of this blue mage bullshit.”

“Now’s not the time, hotshot.”

Tony’s face was calm and his breathing was steady.  He acted as though he faced this kind of situation every day of his life, but Ash guessed that was the effect of being a prepper. Tony was the kind of guy who’d spent years storing food and reading survival manuals, getting ready for an apocalypse that most people didn’t believe would ever come. It meant that mentally he had rehearsed the crap hitting the fan enough times that he wasn’t scared when it actually happened.

The green jeep was closer now, near enough that he could see that the soldier’s shaven heads sported days of growth. One of them held onto the sides of the jeep as they tumbled over the rocky plains, while another trained his rifle on Ash.

When the soldier pulled the trigger, a bullet sped near his head and made a dinging sound as it lodged into the roof of the mustang.

Ash jumped at the sound.

“What the fuck are they firing at?” he said.

“Us, dickhead.”

“I’m going to grill them like grandma’s chicken wings.”

“Don’t worry yourself about that. Now’s a time for some cool, calculated maneuvering. When they stop I want you to give yourself up and follow my lead.”

“Give myself? I’m sorry, my vocabulary seems to be lacking that combination of words.”

Another bullet hit the mustang, and Tony dropped to the ground. At first Ash thought that he had been hit, but Tony turned his head, opened his right eye and winked. He didn’t know what Tony’s plan was, but he didn’t really have much of a choice other than to follow it. Apocalypse Gandalf seemed to be playing dead.

Ash shrugged. Better than nothing.

“I’ll follow your lead, captain.”

As the jeep got closer, Ash put his hand in the air to show that he wasn’t carrying a weapon. The soldiers drove it within five meters of Ash and Tony and then stopped. The door opened and two men in army fatigues stepped out. Another man stayed behind the wheel of the vehicle and watched them, while another squinted down the barrel of a rifle which he rested over the side of the jeep.

“Fellas,” said Ash, spreading out his hands. “You got the memo too?”

The men walked toward Ash and they kept their M16’s pointed at his head. They were well-built and looked athletic, and their heavy khakis didn’t seem to hinder their movements.

“What memo?” asked one of them.

“Someone dropped a letter through my door. Told me to be on this very spot at this very time, and I’d meet four slack-jawed dumb fucks.”

One of the soldiers lifted his rifle higher.

“Ignore this dickhead,” one soldier told the others.

Two of them stepped forward now, one towering over the other, giving them a little-and-large look. They both had crew cuts, but the shorter guy had a dark beard that spread across his cheeks and chin, before being sharply shaven away just under his jawline. The taller one trained his weapon on Ash, but he seemed to hold it awkwardly, like a nun grasping a cock. He had a cross necklace around his neck that tinkled against his dog tag.

The two men stopped in front of Ash. The taller one stared with an emotionless face. The other frowned like he was chewing on a shit sandwich.

“We’re from Fort Knowles,” the shorter soldier said. He had something of a bulldog look about him; grouchy eyes, droopy eyelids. “And things have gone to hell.”

“Straight to hell,” repeated the taller one.

The smaller guy looked at his partner and shook his head.  “Stop parroting me,” he said. “We’ve been through this. Sheesh, always copying what I say…”

“Sorry.”

The soldier looked at Ash.

“Things have gone to hell in a handcart filled with donkey dicks, and everyone’s leaving the base. Pretty soon Pasture Down is gonna get stripped bare, since it’s the only place for miles around in this godforsaken part of the county. Man, I wish I’d never enlisted.”

“No, you don’t,” said the tall one. “What else you got going for you? Your girlfriend dumped you, remember?”

The smaller one ignored his friend. “Now,” he said, and shifted the M16 in his hands. “What have you guys got for me?”

“Got for you?” said Ash.

The soldier smiled as though he was greeting an old pal.

“Yeah, you know. Food, rations, bullets. I’m taking everything I can get.”

The way he smiled and the light tone in his voice made it seem like a friendly request, but the M16 he pointed told a different story. There was something downright creepy about this soldier’s eyes. There was a red glow to them that Ash suspected couldn’t have come from anywhere but Rapto. That, or the army had started issuing fancy eye contact lenses.

The two soldiers approached the pickup, taking cautious steps. The smaller one kept his gun pointed at Ash, while the other walked to the driver’s side of the vehicle. When he saw Tony’s body on the ground, he stopped.

“Holy hell. Think we popped this one,” he said.

The taller soldier got down to his knees to get a closer look at Tony. The man was so big that when he was crouched, Ash could still see his head over the bonnet. As the soldier put his gun on the floor and looked at the fallen man, Ash heard a bang.

The soldier’s head exploded in a mess of blood that spread across the already-red bonnet of the pickup. Pieces of his brain rained down on the cracked stone with a squelch.

The smaller soldier instinctively turned around just in time to see Tony get to his feet with his Glock gripped in his palm.

Without giving him time to react, Ash punched the smaller soldier in the head. He connected with the man’s temple, and although he knocked him off balance, Ash got the impression he’d hurt his own knuckles more than the guy he had hit. He shook them, as if that would get rid of the pain.

The soldier recovered himself and grappled with Ash. They struggled against each other by the side of the car, and Ash felt his strength start to wane.

“Screw this,” he said.

He raised his boot and planted it in the soldier’s stomach, forcing him back a few steps.

He was about to scorch him with Ignis, when a tremendously loud booming sound shook the land around them.

“It’s the fucking troll!” said Tony.

Ash turned around. Yep, there it was alright. Perfect. A thirteen-foot tall hunk of pure muscle was currently cross the plains and heading toward them. The ground seemed to tremble on its approach. Its body rippled with pure, granite-carved muscled. This thing could squash them all with a finger.

“Troll?” asked a soldier. “Jesus goddamn Christ.”

“You stupid gimps drew it here,” said Ash. “Maybe if you hadn’t sprayed the mustang with bullets none of this would have happened.”

“Enough scratching our ball sacks. Get yourselves together,” said Tony.

The troll moved fast for such a large hunk of crap, though that was mainly because its giant legs meant it could take large steps. The closer it got, the more he saw that its skin was so tough it looked like stone. It’s impossibly large, floppy cock swung with each step. Resting on the troll’s shoulder was a crow with wings like black glass.

The soldiers opened fire on the troll, but their bullets ricocheted off it like pebbles thrown at a shark. Their rifles cracked with each press of the trigger. Ash was so close that it was deafening.

On and on the troll stomped, shaking the ground with each thud of its feet.

As the troll got closer the stench of its skin became rife; one of treacle-like sweat and troll piss.

Tony reached under the mustang and grabbed his rifle. Blue light glowed on it, but when he ran his hand along it, the light turned red. He raised his gun, squinted down the sights and fired.

The bullet penetrated the troll’s skin, boring a tiny little hole on its bicep. Ash was pleased to see that it was more effective than the soldiers’ regular guns.

“Okay, you’re not a blue…”

“I’m a Mage Survivalist, okay? That’s the class I got. Now, will you quit pestering me about it?”

“Then why lie about it? I don’t give a shit if you’re a mage or not.”

“Helps to keep a few cards close to your chest.”

“Does that meant you trust me now?”

“That means you need to shut the hell up and help me deal with this thing in front of us!”

The other two soldiers left the jeep and joined their friends. Although they were scared, their military training kept them calm. They fired burst after burst, aiming for different parts of the troll each time. The bullets sprang back off its stone armor.

“This isn’t doing anything!” said one of them as he squinted down the sights of his gun.

The troll walked relentlessly forward, showing no more sign of discomfort at the bullets than a bear would if a fly flew into it.

Ash had 390 HP. It was enough for a few Ignis level 2 blasts, and there was no time to mess around.

He aimed at the troll’s face, catching it on the cheeks with one fire ball and singing its eyebrows with the other. The troll gave no sign that it was hurt. Damn. At this rate, he’d be out of HP before the troll even felt anything.

“FF, any chance I can get a little info on this thing? Ignis doesn’t seem to be doing much.”

Sure thing, ballbag.

Troll – Level 9

Strengths:

Tremendous Power

Stone skin

Blood Roar

Weaknesses:

Crow

“Blood Roar?” asked Ash. “What the hell’s that?”

It turned out that there was no need to ask. Now just twenty feet away, the troll opened its mouth and screamed. The air in front of it seemed to vibrate. The sound was tremendous, louder than gunfire.

Tony quickly traced the air with two fingers, generating a shield of yellow light in front of him and Ash. One of the soldiers ducked to the ground with his hands over his ears, but the other three took the brunt of the scream.

Nothing happened at first. Ash wondered if Blood Roar was just intended to make the troll’s enemies piss their pants. Then, the three men began screaming in such a pain-filled way that it chilled Ash to the core. Bubbles began to appear in their flesh, and smoke drifted from their skin.

It seemed that Tony’s shield was enough to protect he and Ash, but that didn’t help the soldiers much.

One of the solders shouted something, but this was cut off when his right cheek exploded. Blood splattered onto the ground. Steam drifted off it.

“FF, what exactly is Blood Roar?”

He boils the blood in your veins. A nasty way to go, by the look of it.

“Please can you start telling me this before I have to ask for it? Would have been nice to know.”

Like I said, I’m here to serve.

The smell of freshly-boiled, iron-tinted blood was so thick that he coughed. The troll faced Ash and Tony now.

The soldier who’d covered his ears got to his feet and sprinted over, joining them behind the shield.

“You okay?” asked Ash.

The soldier ignored him.

“Hey, dick face, why didn’t the scream hurt you? And don’t tell me it was because you covered your ears.”

“FORGOT TO WEAR MY EAR PLUGS,” shouted the soldier. “THEY DEAFENED ME WHEN THEY STARTED FIRING.”

Ash turned his attention to the troll. The stone-skinned beast was stomping toward them, evidently set on squashing them underfoot. Maybe that meant that its Blood Roar skill had some kind of cooldown after use. What about Stone Skin, though? Was that passive?

He fired another Ignis blast. The flames scorched through the air like a meteor, clipping the troll on its chest. The flames burned out when they touched its stone-like skin.

This isn’t working. My HP’s gonna drain.

Then he remembered. FF told him that the troll’s weakness was crow. That was a pretty weird weakness to have.

He stood up.

“What are you doing, numbskull?” said Tony. He tried to yank him back down behind the shield.

Ash batted him away. He gathered a level 2 Ignis and aimed not at the troll, but just to the left of its head.

He unleashed his purple arcane ball. It rushed through the air like a meteor. Just a second later he heard the satisfying squawking sound of a crow being burned to a crisp. The blackened bird toppled off the troll’s shoulder and hit the floor.

Had that done anything? It was hard to tell for sure. The troll didn’t seem to be very perturbed, that was for sure.

“Okay Tony, fill the fucker full of holes.”

“Got it.”

“WHAT?” said the soldier.

Ash mimed shooting at the troll.

“OKAY!” said the soldier, and raised his M16.

The troll roared, and its face twisted into an expression of fury. It raised its mighty arms and brought its fists down on the ground. Tremor lines ran through the dirt. It sounded like an earthquake. Within seconds the earth cracks reached just a few feet in front of Ash.

The ground exploded. Stones flew out. Ash ducked to the ground, but a chunk of rock clipped his forehead. His vision blurred for a second.

50HP lost!

As Tony and the soldier aimed their weapons and pulled their triggers, blue-tinted magic bullets mixed with regular metal ones. With the crow dead, the troll had lost its Stone Skin power, and the bullets ripped through him like a kitana through a porno mag.

“What’s its HP count?”

95 / 780, answered FF.

Easy, thought Ash. Just a few more bullets…

Click.

Click.

That was the sound of two magazines running empty.

“Arrrrggguuuhhhrrrtthhhhh!”

And that was the sound of an enraged troll about to run into its last stand and take out all the humans who’d killed its crow and peppered it full of holes.

God damn it, was there no stopping this thing?

Nothing for it. He was going to have to blast it with the best Ignis he could must and hope for the best.

He raised his palms. His forehead throbbed, and he felt wet blood drip down his face.

As the ground shook with the creature’s steps, Ash grew another level 2 Ignis. The force of it was so strong that his hands shook. This time, he aimed it at the troll’s chest and let it loose.

The ball of fury crackled as it flew through the air…

…and missed its chest.

Instead, the arcane ball had hit the troll’s groin, catching his pubic hairs on fire. The troll screamed as the hair sizzled and the flames spread to its penis.

It ran in circles, thudding over the ground. The air filled with the sour scent of burned troll pubes. Finally, its screaming stopped, and the troll crashed face-first to the ground.

Ash’s HP was so low that he felt like he might just collapse to the ground. He forced himself to stay upright. The beast might not be dead yet, he told himself.

The troll smoldered on the ground. Thin wisps of black smoke rose from its burned hair. Tony took shaky breaths and kept his rifle trained on it. The ground around them was cracked and littered with bullet casings. Two dead soldiers lay just across from him, their flesh burst and torn from the troll’s blood roar.

Ash’s pulse wouldn’t let up. He eyed the troll, hoping to God that it didn’t get back up.

“I think it’s done,” said Tony. “Good work, lad.”

Chapter Thirteen

Welcome to the United States God Damn Army

The ground was littered with spent bullet casings and blood stains. The smell of grilled troll was in the air, and Ash’s heart raced so fast he felt like it was gonna burst out of his chest.

The soldier collapsed to the floor on his back and took deep breaths. Tony changed his magazine and then leaned on his rifle and gathered himself. Ash had barely enough time to get himself together, before FF gave him a stat drop.

**Ignis level up to level 3! [MAXED]**

Target multiple creatures at once for the cost of 1 Ignis blast

Oh boy. This was a game changer. Up to now, if Ash needed to kill 3 goblins and it took 2 Ignis blasts to kill each one, it would have cost him 150 HP to slaughter the gang. With his new Ignis level, it’d cost just 50, since he wouldn’t have to aim at them separately. Being a blood mage came with its drawbacks, but he was starting to like the way it was turning out.

“How far apart do the creatures need to be for them all to get hit?” asked Ash.

A stone’s throw away. Imagine an invisible chain linking your enemies. Any of them connected to the chain get scorched by your Ignis. If the chain is interrupted by a car or a wall or something, that would stop the creature nearby from getting hit.

“Okay, let’s see the rest of it.”

Well, levelling up Ignis again has gotten you 50% toward your second Blood Mage tier.

“Cool, what else?”

Give me a chance, you impatient asshole.

“I thought we were gonna be nicer to each other?”

Yeah…sorry. Hang on a sec.

Ash waited, but FF didn’t say anything.

“And…?”

You didn’t use anything else in the battle, so your other skills stay the same. Although, hang on, killing the big bastard got you to level 8, giving you a new HP of 611. Can I suggest something?

“It’s about the only thing you’re good for. Go ahead.”

Up to now you’ve loaded most of your spare points into endurance to get your HP up. Not such a shit-brained idea. But maybe you better put some in intelligence this time. If you make your spells more powerful you might not need to cast as many, and that would save life force.

“Consider it done. Thanks, FF.”

FF was right. If he could get his Ignis level 1 powerful enough that it took just 1 blast to kill, say, a goblin, he wouldn’t need to fire as many times. He loaded 4 points into intelligence and 1 into endurance, boosting his HP up to 624 and increasing his spell power by 6%.

“WHO ARE YOU TALKING TO?” asked the soldier.

Ash realized that the soldier had been watching him have the conversation with the voice inside his head. He’d started getting used to the craziness, so he was beginning to forget how absolutely mind-blowingly insane it would seem to others. It was strange how quick you could get used to things, but Ash had always prided himself on his ability to adapt. It was a skill any successful conman needed to develop.

“Tony, can you fill him in a sec, please?”

Tony leaned on his gun. “What do I look like to you, your secretary?”

“The beard makes you look like you shouldn’t be allowed near small children. Just fill the guy in, please?”

While Tony talked at an incredibly loud volume so the soldier could hear him, Ash walked over to the dead troll. Its flesh looked like melted plastic, and the stench of burned meat was overwhelming. First, he tried to loot it, but the troll didn’t wear clothes so there was nowhere for stuff to be hidden.

Next, he cast Life Drain, sending a purple mist of energy toward the carcass that seeped into its skin and then fed him, topping up his HP. The troll was so large that it filled his HP bar to the brim. They were really god damn lucky it had only been level 8; any higher, and they’d have been pummeled into mush.

The fact that they’d even seen a troll was worrying. He’d hoped that goblins and orcs would be the end of it, but trolls? What was next, god damned dragons? He thought of all the crazy monsters he’d fought in RPG games over the years, and grimaced.

Life Drain Lvl 2 increased to 65%

Life Drain 2 was be useful, since it meant he could top up his HP quickly in the heat of battle by draining several dead creatures at the same time. He was so close to the Blood Mage 2nd tier now that he could taste it. He left the troll and rejoined Tony and the soldier.

“NAME’S CHAD,” said the soldier. “TONY FUCKING SHORE HAS FILLED ME IN. SOUNDS BATSHIT INSANE BUT WHAT ELSE CAN I BELIEVE WHEN THERE’S A TROLL LYING OVER THERE?”

Chad looked so young that Ash found it hard to believe he was even over the enlistment age. His face was pale. He looked like he’d been on the road for days. He had a muscled, athletic frame, no doubt from the rigorous fitness regime a solider had to keep.

Chad’s hair had been buzzed in the regular army cut once, but it looked like it had been a while since his hair last saw a razor. He had somehow managed to grow his hair long enough so that it was fuzzy, and it was a wonder that he’d escaped the anger of his commanding officer. He’d fastened a yellow smiley face badge to the breast of his khaki jacket.

Despite his youth, the thin growth of hair on the sides of his head had started to grey a little. Welcome to the greying-before-your time-club, thought Ash. He himself had started to grey when he was in his early twenties. There was something he liked about Chad. He reminded Ash of one of his old buddies who’d moved away after high school. Ash hadn’t seen him since the removal van had left his street, but he’d always meant to get in touch. Maybe when all this was over, he’d look him up.

It was time for another spot of benevolence, Ash decided. Spending time in the goblin filled butthole of Pasture Downs was beginning to have an effect on his moral compass; it was turning worryingly toward the ‘good’ side. He wondered if he should balance it out a little with some more assholery.

Maybe he could go kick a cat up the ass or something? Nah. He’d never liked cats, but they didn’t deserve a size ten up their bums.

He looked at the young soldier and then gathered an arcane glow in his palms.

“Stay still a second, Chad.”

He cast Transfusion on him, giving Chad 30 of his own HP. Some of the color returned to his face.

“How’s that feel?” he asked.

“Great,” said Chad. “The ringing in my ears is gone, anyway.”

Transfusion 95%

Wow, this Transfusion skill was great; it seemed like it could heal anything. When all this was done, Ash thought he might become a surgeon, healing people with his arcane energy. The only problem was that he’d need to top up his HP by life draining something he’d killed, which didn’t really sound like something a doctor would do. What, you need me to cure your pneumonia? Hang on, let me just murder this cat first.

Tony stood up. He picked up his rifle.

“Feeling better, kid?” he asked.

Chad gave him the thumbs up. “Feeling great!” he said, with an enthusiasm that would almost have been infectious if Ash weren’t so cynical.

“Good,” said Tony. He raised the gun and pointed it at Chad’s head. “Now you can tell me why you were trying to kill us.”

Despite the rifle pointed at him, Chad didn’t seem too worried.

“Listen, I wasn’t the one who fired on you, okay? The guys have been acting really weird lately. I just want to get the hell out of here. I have orders.”

On the horizon, Ash saw more army vehicles speeding over the rocks. There was a dozen of them. If all of them had four soldiers inside, that meant at least forty-eight M16-carrying recruits were headed toward them. It would only take one of them to spot their fellow soldiers dead on the floor for Ash and Tony to suddenly have the guns of an entire battalion pointed at them.

Not the greatest odds he’d ever faced. They needed to leave, but they were sure to be stopped as soon as the soldiers spotted them.

“Time for a little dress up,” said Ash.

“What do you mean?”

“We need to blend in.”

They stripped the soldiers of their jackets and put them on. Ash took his from the smaller soldier, and the fatigues were tight around his arms and left his wrists uncovered. Tony’s jacket seemed to fit him well.

“Welcome to the United States God Damn army,” Chad said, sarcastically.

Ash gave him a mock salute. “Let’s hit the road. We’re taking the jeep. You’re driving, kid.”

As they joined formation with the other army vehicles and then drove toward Pasture Down, Chad excitedly told them what he knew of the current situation.

“Fort Knowles lost juice at the same time as everywhere else. We had hand-crank radios that let us stay in contact with other barracks, but they went silent soon after. My unit were going to drive east to Fort Allison, but General Powell died when his pacemaker blew. Things turned to shit after that, and people decided they wanted to go see their families rather than die out here.”

“Know how that feels,” said Tony.

“A guy called Colonel Beele took charge,” said Chad. “He’s meaner than a honey badger in a bad mood. He managed to stop most of the guys leaving, god knows how, though. It’s like he has this weird hold over them. Said we should raid the towns around us and take everything they’ve got.”

“How far does this whole thing go? Has it spread beyond Pasture?”

“We haven’t had much contact from anyone.”

“So, what’s your plan?” said Ash.

“I got family south of here. An uncle and an aunt. Think they were glad to get rid of me when I enlisted, but maybe they’ll be happy to see me with the way things are now.”

“So, you’re deserting your unit then, boy?” said Tony.

“We haven’t heard from the rest of the country, and Colonel Beele is out of his mind. Kept ranting on about a red ball that he’d found. He-”

“Wait,” said Ash. “Back up. Colonel Beele found an orb?”

Chad shrugged his shoulders. “He said he did. Then all the other guys starting acting weird. Staring at Beele like he pissed sunlight and shat rainbows. Doing every little thing he said.”

“What about you?”

“I...dunno. I guess it just never affected me.”

The vehicle hit a rock and then jolted, and Tony broke their conversation by shouting out in pain after he hit his head on the wind shield.

“God damn it, kid. Where’d you learn to drive, in the destruction fucking derby?”

“Sorry pal,” said Chad.

“Tony wants to get back to his wife,” said Ash. “He’s going to his ranch in Greenock. You know the way?”

“Nope.”

“I need to go get there no matter what,” grunted Tony. He turned and looked at Ash.  “And you’re going to make sure I do.”

“I’d like to make up a reasonable excuse and say I have somewhere else to be,” said Ash, “but the truth is, I just don’t want to help you with your ranch. I’m sick of Pasture Downs and I wanna be a million goddamn miles away. I wanna be so far away from this shit dump that the moon is a closer neighbor. But if I help you get to your ranch, you better give me a god damn vehicle.”

“Screw that. You owe me, ass-stick. And I don’t owe you shit.”

Ash punched the windshield. “God damn it.”

The problem was, that he knew that Tony was right. After everything he had done wrong, and after all the things Tony had done to help him, he couldn’t leave without doing the same. He would settle the score and then hit the road. Once that was done, he’d consider his debt to Pasture Downs settled.

“So, we’re driving to the ranch?” asked Ash.

“Yeah. But first we better stop in town. Looks like the folks are knee deep in a puddle of crap.”

Colonel Beele

Colonel Beele sat on the bonnet of what the humans called ‘a truck.’ After his mind had been stored into red orb, sent through a dark matter portal and then discovered by a human host, it had taken a while to get used to. Luckily, his min-construct was well-versed on the ins-and-outs of this horrible dimension, and Beele found he could adjust.

He'd been in this hellhole for a week, and he hated it already. The placed smelled back, the buildings were made of strange materials, and the people dressed like clowns. The problem was that he was so far down the Umbra ladder, that he had no choice but to hold a bucket up to his leaders’ arses and catch whatever fell out. Still, won’t be that way for long.

That was how he found himself riding the dark portal as part of the invasion advance unit. Beele was like a servant for the Umbra. Before the dark mages came to dinner, it was his job to come here and set the table. That meant getting everything ready; finding suitable hosts for their red orbs, plenty of mana potions, and a bunch of soft-as-goblin-crap humans for them to use their spells and level up on.

Luckily, his Gonodil Mind Poisoner class was perfect for this. He’d exercised mind control over some of the soldiers in the army base, leveling it up on them enough that he could spread his control wider. Before long he held all the soldiers under his mental sway. They followed his orders like mindless zombies, and if any of them gave him back chat, he lashed them with a mental whip.

Of course, those who had the potential to play host to a blue orb couldn’t fall under his control, but so far, he hadn’t seen that hidden power within any of the soldiers. He’d make sure to stay on the lookout for the telltale signs.

He held the head of a dead shopkeeper in his hands. He lazily sliced pieces of skin away from it, then tossed them in his mouth. Humans didn’t have so bad a taste. Not a delicacy, to be sure. They wouldn’t serve grilled man-meat in the dining halls of Seleste, that was for certain, but it would do for now. He wouldn’t be stuck in this dimension forever; just long enough to get conditions right for the Umbra.

After that, what would he get? A sack of gold? No, he didn’t care about that. He wanted the Red Stain; he wanted the mark of the Umbra burned into his chest so that he was part of the leadership.

He watched as his soldiers dragged people out of shops, stripped them of anything valuable, and tied them up. He ordered his men to plunder whatever he could from the human buildings before the Rapto ones melded to them. The Umbra would need to eat what passed for food here on earth, and as such, the town centre was filled with piles of tin cans and things like that.

He was just about to rebuke a soldier who wasn’t moving fast enough for his liking, when he felt something tug on his mind. It was like a hand trying to get his attention.

“What in Osol’s hell?” he said.

And then he felt the pain. He felt fire burning him, spreading over his skin, cooking his eyeballs. Arcane flames scorching his skin.

When he opened his eyes, he was sat on the truck bonnet again, quite unharmed.

Damn this place to the seven hells of Aziop!

His crow was dead, then. That was part of his skill; being able to divide part of his mind and cast it into a different being. The smaller the part of mind he cast out, the smaller the creature it could possess. That was why he often used crows. Once a possessed creature died, his mind perished along with it. Until he was stronger, he wouldn’t risk putting a larger part of his mind into anything.

So, what about the crow, then? Had the troll died along with it? If that were the case, it must have been one of the blue-balled morons, and that changed things. It meant he’d have a little cleaning to do before he set the table for the Umbra.

Beele stood up. He lifted his foot back and kicked the trader’s head off the truck bonnet, where it hit a tied-up woman in the face. She screamed when she realized what it was.

Beele allowed himself a short laugh, and then faced his men.

“Listen up,” Beele told his soldiers. “Have your fire sticks ready.”

“Fire sticks, sir?” said one of them.

Damn, what was the word, again? His mind construct had told him once already.

Guns, answered Fenderen, his mind construct.

Beele had named it after his father, the only fellow Gonodil he’d ever respected. Growing up, he had learned to hate being a Gonodil. Most of them didn’t amount to much; they ended up using their mind-jumping talents as spies for lords and kings. Beele didn’t like staying in the shadows; he preferred the lime light.

He stood up so that the men under his control could see him.

“Ready your guns and stay alert,” he commanded. “We’re going to have visitors soon. And don’t harm a hair on their heads until I command you.”

Chapter Fourteen

Careful, You’re Losing Your Head

They parked the jeep on the edge of town so that they didn’t attract too much attention. Chad pulled his door handle, kicked open the door and leaped out. He took one big stride to stretch his calves and started doing warm-up lunges as though he were about to go on a run.

“Never know when you’re gonna pull a muscle,” he said, when he caught Tony looking at him strangely.

“Whatever keeps you supple.”

“Remind me what we’re doing here again?”

“I saw a truck in town, looked like army,” said Tony, sat in the passenger seat of the jeep. “Can’t see it from where we are now, but it was there. And you lard-asses, no offence, haven’t exactly proven yourselves to have Pasture’s best interests at heart. Need to make sure everyone’s okay.”

Ash couldn’t argue with that. “Let’s go, then.”

“Just gimme a sec.”

Tony was looking pale; no doubt about it. He kept himself in better shape than most men, but the guy was in his sixties, and this must have been taking a toll on him. Still, he never moaned or complained, and there was plenty that Ash respected about that.

Ash looked around. From the outskirts, the town seemed quiet. Too quiet. Everything Ash had learned about their current situation told him that he was more than likely going to be walking into a fight. He needed to be prepared. His HP was almost fully topped up, save the little HP he’d transfused to Chad.

“FF,” he said, “as much as I like your stat updates, from now on I want you to make sure I only get them after battles. I can’t have you rattling round in my head while I’m trying to fight.”

Done. I’ll just entertain myself poking around your memories then. Tell me, Ash, what the hell were you doing with that watermelon when your parents weren’t home?

“Let’s not talk about that…”

Ash walked over to the jeep and held out a hand out for Tony. The man didn’t take it, and instead grabbed the doorframe and heaved himself out. The color rushed back to his face, but Ash could tell it was because of how much he was straining to get out. He was tough, but he was old, and things were taking a toll on him.

They could hear raised voices and banging noises coming from somewhere in town, so they decided to walk quietly through the streets. As they crossed through the town centre, Ash was surprised at how different it was. A mini-mart had transformed into a potions shop. A man stood outside wearing an apron splashed with multi-colored stains.

He’s an alchemist, said FF.

“Is he hostile?”

Doesn’t look like it. Seems not just the Umbra are crossing over through the portal.

He wondered what else would eventually leave Rapto and merge itself with earth. Dungeons? Castles? Maybe the famous Dr. Aitken would even make an appearance. Ash had plenty he wanted to say to him. He had a special greeting he’d give him to show his affection, one that started with IG and ended with NIS.

When they reached the corner of the main street they stopped. The voices were louder now, and Ash saw what was happening.

There was a green military truck parked lengthways across the road. Soldiers walked to it with arms full of tin cans and other supplies, put them in the back of the truck and then went to collect more. Ash watched as they raided the pharmacy, grocery store, outdoor clothing shop and even the utility emporium. Not far from their plunder there were four barrels with gas running down the sides. They must have been siphoning fuel.

“How are their trucks still running? And their jeeps for that matter?”

“Same as the mustang,” answered Tony. “Any vehicle that doesn’t rely on electronics is fine.”

A group of Pasture Down citizens sat across from the truck, with Kenny at the front. They had their arms folded and most looked angry, though they were subdued by the M16’s pointed at them and the ropes around their wrists and ankles. Children clung to their parents’ arms, and most of the townsfolk avoided making eye contact with the soldiers.

One man sat on the bonnet of the army truck, a meter off the ground. The bonnet of the truck was splashed with blood, and the man had some of it smeared around his mouth. It made him look like a warlord who’d just drank the blood of one of his victims.

Despite that, Ash could tell his wasn’t a mighty warrior. He was a short man with a shaved head, and tiny dots of grey stubble lined his scalp. Ash didn’t know what the pins on his uniform meant, but given that he had more than the other soldiers, Ash guessed that this guy was Colonel Beele.

A man broke free from the Pasture group and ran until he stood below Beele. Ash recognized him as Frank Tealman, the owner of the Food O’ Mart which now belonged to the alchemist. He was known to have a particularly ruthless policy on shoplifters; get caught stealing in the Mart, and you’d get your ass handed to you. Ash wasn’t surprised that Frank was the only one who dared stand up to the soldiers.

“Why are you doing this?” said Frank. “What the hell are we supposed to do when you’ve bled us dry? You’re meant to be protecting us, for God’s sake!”

Belle leaned forward. His face was a picture of controlled menace. There were bad vibes and then there were bad vibes, and Ash was getting some utterly horrendous vibes from this guy.

“Careful,” said Beele, with complete calmness. “You’re losing your head.”

He grabbed Frank by the skull and lifted him off the ground, so that he dangled in thin air. Frank kicked out with his legs, but he didn’t hit anything. He made a sound somewhere in between fear and surprise.

“This guy’s much stronger than I thought,” said Ash.

“You’re telling me,” replied Tony.

Beele shut his eyes and then squeezed Frank’s head with both hands. His face turned red with the strain of it. What was he doing?

Frank’s head exploded like a pumpkin under a hammer, spraying chunks of blood, brain and bone everywhere. Ash felt his stomach lurch.

He wasn’t just gonna sit there and watch. He might have been an asshole, but Beele was on a whole new level.

“Fuck this,” he said.

Cursing his own stupidity, he ran toward the truck. He grew an Ignis level 2 ball as he did, and felt the flames warm his palms.

When it reached full power, he unleashed it. It hit Beele in the stomach, catching him by surprise. It knocked him clean off the bonnet and onto the pile of brain mush.

Belle got to his feet and grinned. His khakis were covered in blood. His face was one of pure, dripping evil.

“Looks like the blue-balled gnome-shaggers have made an appearance.”

You can’t kill him, said FF. He’s too strong for you.

“I can try.”

Tony and Chad caught up to Ash and raised their guns. Tony squeezed the trigger and a shot rang out. Ash couldn’t see where the bullet went, but it didn’t hit Beele.

The tied-up townsfolk watched in astonishment. Some were pale, some were obviously scared.

“Need to make sure they don’t get caught in the crossfire,” said Ash.

Beele nodded at the soldiers around him. Their eyes started glowing red. Ash was no expert in Rapto matters, but he guessed magic might just be involved here.

The soldiers turned to face Ash, Tony and Chad, with their M16’s held high. Just as they fired, Tony traced an oval shape in front of them, casting a blue shield. The bullets peppered against it.

“Mana’s pretty low,” he said. “Hope you’ve got a plan that isn’t batshit crazy.”

He had a plan, alright, but no promises about it not being batshit crazy.

Beele strode forward with an unbearable cockiness.

Ash waited until he was level with the barrels of petrol, before blasting an Ignis flame his way. The ball exploded into the barrels, igniting the petrol. The flames took hold on Beele’s face. They burned his hair and melted his skin and then spread onto his khakis.

If Beele felt the pain, he didn’t show it. Instead he carried on walking while his skin burned away to reveal his skull. His eyes began to sizzle, and then they popped.

Still, he kept walking.

“Doesn’t this guy ever die?”

Beele looked from side to side. Without eyes, he evidently had no idea where Ash was. That didn’t seem to matter, which became clear when he raised his hands in the air.

A soldier next to him began to jerk violently, as if some invisible hands were shaking him. His eyes glowed a deep, burning red, and then a curious expression spread across his face.

“This body fits even better than the last,” he said, his voice sounding like Beele’s.

Worse than I thought, said FF. He can mind jump. He must be a Gonodil, which means he’s working for the Umbra.

If Beele could jump from one body to the other, that meant Ash would have to kill every last soldier. A feeling of guilt wrenched inside him; the men were being controlled by Beele, they weren’t choosing to do this.

Tony Fucking Shore didn’t share the same thoughts, since he raised his rifle. With quick pulls of the trigger, he popped the skulls of two men. Blood sprayed out.

A green mist began to gather around Beele, like the magic-charged fog of a smoke grenade.

Temero mist, said FF. Don’t let that shit touch you.

Mind jumping, temero mist…this wasn’t good.

Beele might have been able to jump from one mind to the next, but Ash guessed he was still limited by the particular HP stats of each body. With that in mind he cast a multi-Ignis.

He carefully aimed it and then unleashed it.

The fire ball hit the soldier nearest to him, before spreading from man to man as if following an invisible chain. Their clothes set alight, and some of them screamed. On and on the blaze went, scorching khakis, burning hair, melting skin.

Beele had stepped back and crouched behind a pile of tins of plum tomatoes. The chain missed him.

Damn it. How many Ignis blasts could he use? His HP was getting worryingly low.

Ash gathered another Ignis and prepared to send it his way.

And then the glow left the soldier’s eyes.

The soldier looked normal now. He looked at the carnage around him, and his eyes widened so much it looked like they would burst.

Ash let his Ignis die out.

“Beele’s jumped again,” he said. “Who is he now?”

“Quickly,” said Tony, striding forward with his rifle trained in front of him. “Check ‘em all.”

They checked the surviving soldiers and the tied-up townsfolk, but they couldn’t find any with the glowing red eyes that indicated Beele was present. He must have mind-jumped, but god knew where.

Is now the right time for a stat update, your lordship?

Ash looked around. Cinders drifted in the air. The fight was over, but he didn’t feel great. They were dealing with an enemy who could jump from one mind to the next, wearing and discarding them like a set of clothes. At least there was a giveaway; whoever Beele jumped into gained a glowing set of eyes. From now on, he was going to have to watch everyone carefully.

Some soldiers writhed in agony on the floor. The familiar belly stab of guilt hit Ash. Now that the soldiers were back to normal, he had to fix it.

“One sec,” said Ash.

Certain now that they were no longer under Beele’s control, Ash cast Transfusion on the soldiers that survived, getting to each one in turn and restoring just enough health for them to live.

Transfusion increased by 20%

**Transfusion level 2!**

-Use your life force to heal poison and other debuffs.

207% exp gained!

Level up to level 10!

After spending his attribute points on endurance and intelligence, Ash took a second to get his breath. He tried to look away from the dead, burned soldiers on the floor. I had no choice, he told himself. It was them or us.

Tony put a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t let it weight too heavy. You did the only thing you could.”

If it makes you feel better, I got a little surprise for you, said FF.

“Oh yeah? Did you bake me a ‘sorry you had to murder people’ cake?”

No. Watch.

**Blood Mage Tier 1 – 100%!**

Level up to tier 2!

“Does that mean I get new spells?” said Ash.

You bet your ass it does.

“Let’s see them.”

**Blood Mage Tier 2**

Blood Concentrate LVL 1 – Casting spells costs less HP [passive]

Durus LVL 1 – Create blood armor that offers protection for a limited time depending on how much HP you sacrifice [Active]

Blood Share LVL 1 – The blood from fallen enemies can be used to heal allies, without sacrificing your own HP [active]

Chapter Fifteen

Another Chain Ignis Should Shut Them Up

The feeling he got when the second tier hit him was like the adrenaline rush of a first-time skydiver plummeting toward the earth. Arcane energy rushed through him, inscribing its ancient teachings deep inside him, all the way to his cells. It was a feeling of pure power, and he loved it.

His second tier of blood mage spells was more of a support tier, it seemed. Ash could have used something a little more offensive, but he wasn’t going to sniff at it. The problem was that although Blood Concentrate lowered his HP cost for using spells, he was still going to have to sacrifice a hell of a lot of HP when things got tough.

He sensed there were more enemies waiting for him, ones that wouldn’t just burn to a crisp with one shot of Ignis. He needed something with a bit more bite.

“So,” he asked FF, “Blood Concentrate lowers my spell cost, huh? How much?”

Ten percent on level one, then more as it progresses. Every spell you cast adds to levelling it up, so just keep using them.

“Ten percent doesn’t seem like much.”

It’ll be the difference between life and death at some point, you ungrateful bitchtit.

“Suppose you’re right.”

Durus was the biggest leap in this tier. By sacrificing a continuous rate of HP, he could form blood armor to protect himself. It basically quadrupled the damage he could take; in simple terms, if he used up 50 HP casting Durus, he’d gain 200 HP worth of damage resistance. It seemed like only helped against basic weapon and spell attacks right now, but maybe at later levels it’d give him protection against other more gruesome stuff.

Blood Share was the strangest of his new spells. This one let him use the blood from fallen enemies to heal allies. The thing was, he could kinda do this already; if he Life Drained an enemy and then transfused it to an ally, it was the same thing.

You’re thinking about this wrong, shit for brains, said FF.

“Enlighten me then, wise one.”

Two things as far as I can see; one, you use can use Blood Share on ANY fallen creature, not just ones you’ve killed. Two, it just makes it quicker. If the old magic rifle man is hurt, it’ll be quicker to just use Blood Share, rather than use Life Drain and then Transfuse.

This was getting interesting. It occurred to him that he needed to try experimenting with Blood Share. For instance, what happened if a creature died of poison, and then he cast Blood Share and doled out the poison blood amongst other enemies? Would they all get infected, or did Blood Share clean the blood it touched? Maybe this could be turned into an offensive spell as well as a healing one. He’d find out later. Right now, he had things to do.

With Beele gone, seemingly wandering the invisible airwaves to find another arsehole to climb into and possess, the soldiers got their shit together. A guy named Tommy Huey took charge, directing the remaining recruits to get in their vehicles and haul ass. They were headed to a barracks beyond the mountain pass that led to Tinago city.

Beele won’t be gone long, warned FF. He’ll come back like a cock rash.

Chad and Tony had untied all the Pasture Downs townsfolk now. Kenny was the first to see Ash. He broke away from the crowd and met him in the middle of the road. A few minutes earlier, the soldiers’ rifles had kept him in line. Now that they were gone, it looked like Kenny’s balls had dropped back down.

“Look who’s back. And I see you’ve got friends.”

He had to give Kenny some credit; even after everything he’d seen Ash do, he didn’t back down. Pure, honest-to-goodness arrogance was something Ash respected.

“The plant’s in meltdown,” said Ash. “We need to get the outta here. I don’t even know how long it takes for radiation to be carried by the wind. Where’s the scientist guy, Grebe?”

Kenny shook his head. “No idea, and it’s none of your business anyway.” He gestured toward Chad. “Who’s this guy? You made friends with the soldiers? Don’t you know that they just banged us up the ass?”

“He’s okay,” said Ash. “He helped us get here.”

Kenny turned and looked at the crowd of Pasture folk. He looked like a shepherd addressing his flock. The crowd waited for him to talk, seeming to hang on his words. In times like this, people needed to be told what to do and how to think, and Kenny loved to hear himself talk.

“Anyone with a working car,” he said, “Better bring it here. We need supplies. Dry food, canned food. Stuff that won’t go rotten after a few days on the road. Fill your trunks with bottled water and things like that. Use your goddamned heads.”

“Where are we going?” asked a man.

“I don’t know,” said Kenny. “Gimme a break. I’m not the oracle.”

People began to file away toward their homes. Most wouldn’t have had far to go, since many people in Pasture Down had built their houses near the town. It was as though they loved the place so much that they couldn’t bear to be too far away from it.

Sure enough they followed Kenny’s orders, and within two hours most people were back. Some turned up with sacks over their shoulders, and one man rode a motorcycle. Only three people had working cars.

Those who hadn’t been able to bring back a working vehicle had carried whatever supplies they could; water, food, blades, tools, and guns. Soon, there was a pile of it on the ground.

Kenny shook his head.

“This is goddamn pathetic. We can’t all leave in three cars. Hell, one of them is gonna have to be our supply vehicle anyway. Here’s what’s going to happen. I’m going to put you in order you according to how much you contributed. The people who came back with nothing but beef jerky and a water, guess what? Your asses are gonna walk.”

People began to chatter amongst each other. Some argued over how much they had contributed, while others looked scared. Ash wondered how many people in Pasture Downs had simply stayed at home during the power cuts. Some folks, the sensible ones, had probably locked their doors and kept to themselves.

Kenny turned and glared at Ash.

“You,” he said. “Wherever you’re going, you’re going to have to walk.”

“We had a deal, you slack-jawed son of a bitch.”

Kenny shook his head. “I need my Chevy. It’s all I’ve got now. You’re lucky I don’t just kill you after you trashed my mustang. After what you did to this town, the fact you can even walk in the first place is luckier than a four-leaf clover sliding down a double rainbow.”

Before Ash could even explain how easily he could melt Kenny’s flesh, he turned back to the crowd.

“Where’s our whore of a sheriff?” he said.

“Hey,” said Tony. “If I hear you call her that again, I’ll slap the lips off your face.”

“Sorry. Didn’t know she was your girlfriend. Where’s she at?”

Nobody knew where Sheriff Ellie had gone; people had seen her leaving town a few days earlier, but they didn’t know where she was now. She would no doubt have been a useful person to have on the road, but Kenny evidently wasn’t going to wait for her.

“If you see the sheriff,” he said. “Tell her she missed her ride.”

With that they loaded up their cars and drove away from Pasture Down, quickly disappearing from view. This left Ash, Tony, Chad and a handful of townsfolk stood on the main street wondering what the hell they were going to do.

“Now what?” said Chad.

Ash rubbed his forehead. “Don’t you have a home to go to?”

“Not much out there for me, really. Mom’s in a nursing home. Her health went south when dad died and she couldn’t keep the house by herself. Don’t have brothers or sisters, never had a girlfriend. Got an uncle and aunt, but I don’t know if I should go there.”

“We need a ride. I gotta get home, I’m sick of this fucking town.” said Ash.

“The jeep’s a no-go. Practically had to roll it back into town. Besides, we wouldn’t be safe if we used it. Beele will be on the lookout for it. If he somehow joins up with the rest of the unit and they catch us in it, they’ll mess us up. We need a vehicle he doesn’t know about.”

“Surely he won’t try and control the soldiers again?” said Ash. “That didn’t go too well for him the last time.”

“Who’s better to use than a bunch of well-armed and in-shape guys with more testosterone than a sex-deprived bull?” said Tony. “Beele’s gonna seek them out and control one of them again, you can bet your cock on that.”

“No bother. Another chain Ignis strike should shut them up.”

Beele won’t be so easily beaten again, said FF. He’ll adapt. He knows your powers now, and the next time you see him, he’ll be prepared.

“Before we do anything I have to get back to Marg at the ranch. She’s gonna kill me if I’m much later,” said Tony.  “The sheriff has a 4x4 parked underneath the station. The keys will be in her office.”

Ash didn’t much feel like going back to the sheriff’s office after having been locked in there for days, but there wasn’t much else they could do. If there was transport there that they could take, then he was going to have to do it. They could drop Tony at his ranch and then he was going to gun it across the plains and out of Pasture.

Chapter Sixteen

Fine, Let’s Rock

The town had changed even more in just a matter of hours, indicating that Rapto was spreading worryingly quickly. Gone were the ugly brick buildings that had stood there for centuries, replaced by shops built from rough-cut stone. They looked like they belonged in some medieval village. Wooden signs swung in the wind, and smoke drifted from chimneys.

Most of the new Rapto shops now had stock, along with vendors who were desperate to sell it. A sword-maker called out to Ash as he passed by, while an herbalist advertised a half-price sale that he was running. Through the window behind him, ash could see shelves lined with glass vials that were filled with all manner of strange colored potions.

The paving was made completely of cobblestone now, and the tarmac road had given way to dirt that bore the wheel tracks from carriages that had passed through. Over by one shop, two horses were tied to a post with rope. Pasture Downs might have been a backwards-ass town, but they sure as hell hadn’t travelled by horse and cart before. Rapto was spreading across Pasture like herpes on a gigolo.

When they opened the Sheriff’s door, they were hit with the smell of piss and sweat. The piss, Ash knew, was kinda his fault, but what did they expect? The cell Ellie had locked him earlier in didn’t have a toilet, which he was pretty sure was against some kind of regulation. Still, now wasn’t the time for a complaint.

They found Ellie Ashurst stood above a desk. She was wearing her police jacket, and the sleeves were stained with blood. Her mustard-yellow canvas pants were tucked into leather boots that reached up to her ankles. Her hair was tied back, leaving her half-chewed right ear on show. If he didn’t know that it had happened years ago, he’d have guessed that a goblin had taken a bite from her.

“What the hell are you doing?” said Tony, staring at the sheriff.

Ellie had tied a goblin down to the desk with rope. The goblin strained against the bonds and tried to break free, but the knots held. Ellie towered above the creature. Ash was shocked to see that she was burning its green flesh with the lit end of a cigar.

“Stop grunting, you little bastard, and tell me what the hell’s going on.”

She pressed the cigar into the goblin’s breast. Ash heard its flesh sizzle, and he almost had to look away. It didn’t seem to matter how many of them he’d already melted with his Ignis, the smell of burning meat sickened him. Killing them was one thing, but torture was another. Ellie Ashurst was capable of things that Ash could only dream about.

Damn. Maybe his moral compass wasn’t as broken as he thought.

The goblin squealed. It seemed to be trying to say something, but Ash couldn’t understand what.

“Can you translate that?” he asked FF.

I told you, Dr. Aitken didn’t pick up the goblin’s language.

Tony raised his rifle.

“Enough torturing it,” he said.

“Not until it talks,” said Ellie, not turning around.

Tony pulled the trigger and shot the goblin in the head. Its brain exploded and blood leaked onto the floor.

Ellie spun around. In a second, she had drawn her pistol.

“Oh, it’s just you couple of bumholes.  You’re here for the four by four, aren’t you? You’re not the only free loaders who’ve come here begging for a ride. Well, I’m not going anywhere.”

“The plant’s about to blow quicker than a virgin in an orgy,” said Chad. “We gotta hit the road.”

“Who the hell are you?”

Ash stepped in front of Chad.

“Don’t worry about him,” he said.

The sheriff stepped away from her desk. Her hair was tied back and looked greasy, and the skin on her face sagged as though she hadn’t slept in days. Ash wasn’t bothered if she had lost sleep, and he wanted nothing more than to rip her a new bumhole for leaving him locked up. He clenched his jaw and held it in. He needed to get home, and Ellie had the wheels.

Hey, maybe he was learning self-restraint after all.

“My boy has run away,” said Ellie. “and I’m going nowhere until I find him. I don’t give a crap about the plant.”

“Jake’s gone again?” said Tony.

“Yep. Right on schedule. I oughta start keeping him handcuffed to his bed.”

Tony hobbled across the office and pulled a chair toward him. He grimaced as he sunk into it.

“You’re gonna die if you stay here, Ellie. Things have gone to hell.”

“Yeah? And whose fault is that?”

“Not mine, if that’s what you’re implying,” said Ash. “The money side of things – yeah. Fair cop. But I don’t think you can really blame the god damn goblins on me.”

Ellie huffed. “It’s all your fault. I don’t care what you say.”

Ash paced forward a few steps. “Maybe I’ll just take the keys from you.”

“No you damn-well won’t,” said Tony. “I might have helped you up to now, but I’m not in love with you. You’re not gonna take anything by force.”

Ash sighed. “If we help you find your son, can we get a ride?”

“I don’t give a shit about anything except my boy.”

“We’ve all got families,” said Ash.

Ellie nodded. “Yeah. And I bet yours is proud of you.”

“Where’s your son usually run to?” Ash said.

“The forest nearby. The one near the wolf sanctuary. His scrote of a father used to take him when he was younger. He knows I hate him going there.”

It was clear that Tony wasn’t gonna let Ash wrench the keys from Ellie Ashurst’s cold, dead hands. Besides, he guessed that he owed the people around here a little help. He was still an asshole, and he was proud of the fact that he probably always would be, but that didn’t mean his morals were completely gone.

He sensed that if he was going to survive what was to come, blood mage or not, he’d need the help of Tony Fucking Shore. Best to keep him on side.

“Fine,” he said. “Let’s rock.”

Chapter Seventeen

Violated by an Orb

They drove Ellie’s four by four a few miles away from Pasture and to the edge of Holwood Forest. This was a mass of trees that looked impenetrable from the outskirts. Each section of it looked uniformly alike, so much so that Ash had no idea where to start looking.

Ellie guided them to a spot on the outskirts and killed the engine. Ash heard crickets call and birds shriek, along with other sounds that sent a shiver up his spine; ones that definitely didn’t belong in Holwood.

“This is it,” said Ellie. “He usually comes this way. Little pea-brain comes out here to smoke and thinks I don’t know.” She sighed. “He’s just like his ma. I used to do the same thing.”

“I quit when I joined the army,” said Chad. “Just couldn’t keep up the habit. Could kill for one now, though.”

“Yeah, well, when we find Jake, feel free to confiscate his smokes.”

The further they walked into the woods, the more the blue sky was drowned and replaced instead by a black blanket of shadows cast by the treetops. They walked through the forest for two hours and Ash’s body began to remind him that it had been a long time since he had eaten, and even longer since he had taken a break.  He almost called them to a halt, when Chad shouted that he’d found someone.

It was Ellie’s son, Jake. He was a scrawny teenager with a floppy fringe, and he had two thin rings in his lips. He was backed against a tree with a book and a pack of smokes beside him, but it seemed that something had interrupted his reading session.

Stood in front of him was a creature that looked like it had fallen out of the devil’s arse. It was vaguely human-shaped, except its body was covered in a kind of brown scale that looked like scabs that had healed over.

“What the hell is that?” said Chad.

Tony shrugged his shoulders. Ash certainly had no clue, either.

That’s a rubigine, said FF. A mean fucker with sulphur-drenched skin.

“Anything I should know about it?” asked Ash.

It likes long walks on the beach and enjoys seeing a play every once in a while.

“Maybe I’ll feed you to it if I can figure out how to get you out of my head. Do you know anything useful about it?”

This isn’t good…

“I’m a big boy, I can take it.”

I’m not so sure; Dr., Aitken hadn’t encountered one, so there’s nothing in my memory banks. Just be careful. It’s my ass on the line here too, since I’m stuck inside your head along with the pea that counts as your brain.

Ellie drew her gun.

“Jake, move to the side,” she shouted.

When her son darted to the left, Ellie opened fire on the rubigine. The bullets hit its brown skin and fell to the floor like discarded peanut shells.

“Can you give me its HP count?” asked Ash.

Scanning…40/40

“This thing only has 40 HP??”

Maybe that’s all it needs.

He grew a level 2 Ignis flame. That should have been enough to drop it to the ground. He sent the purple flames hurtling through the forest, where the edges caught on leaves that hung from the trees and set them alight. A bird squawked and flew from its nest. The ball hit the rubigine, spread across its scab-like body and then extinguished.

“HP count?”

60/60

“It’s gone up?”

Told you.

“Told me, did you? I don’t remember you saying ‘Ash, be careful, this pussyflap regenerates HP when you hurt it.”

The creature turned away from Jake now. Ellie’s son backed further toward the tree, bent down and picked up his smokes. He popped one in his mouth and lit it. If the kid was scared, he sure as hell wasn’t showing it.

“You guys just gonna screw around, or are you gonna sort this thing out?” he said, with a cigarette hanging from the corner of his mouth.

Ash almost laughed. He couldn’t tell if Jake was acting tough as an act, or if he genuinely believed it.

Tony pushed past Ash and Ellie, levelled his rifle and aimed at the rubigne’s head. He squeezed off a round. A mana-charged bullet hit its skull, and then bounced onto the ground.

75/75, said FF.

“Guys, this thing’s HP is going up every time we hurt it,” said Ash.

“So, what do we do?” asked Chad. “And what the hell is it doing now?”

“If attacking it gives it more HP, maybe we better give it a kiss.”

The rubigne’s skin started to melt. Rather than being scab like, it started to liquify as if someone was torching it with a flame thrower. It became so runny that it fell to the floor, and then drop by drop it collected in a small puddle amongst the fallen leaves.

For a while, the forest was silent again. The branches set alight by Ash’s arcane flames didn’t burn much, since they were wet from a recent rainfall. The bird that had fled its nest returned, but seemed to be keeping a wary eye on Ash and the others.

Ash breathed a sigh of relief. “Problem solved. I don’t know how…but it’s solved nonetheless.”

As soon as he’d said the words, the puddle of rubigine started to move across the forest floor, sliding over the leaves and mud. It went too quickly to track, and Ash soon lost sight of it.

“Maybe I spoke too soon.”

“Holy hell!” shouted Chad.

Ash turned to see the rubigine separating itself from the brown trunk of a tree. Within a few seconds, it was fully formed again. It grabbed Chad by the shoulders and bit his neck. Chad screamed, and blood poured out from him. Tony raised his rifle, Ellie her pistol.

Ash ran in front of them, purposefully blocking their aim. They were probably so wired with adrenaline, and the rubigine was so close to Chad that they’d probably end up hitting him. He had only one thought now; heal Chad before he bled out. But first, he had to get the rubigine off the soldier.

He cast Durus. He heard blood squelching around him, then felt his own life force leak from his eyes, nose, and mouth. He tasted the iron of his blood as it rolled over his tongue, he felt its wetness as it dripped out of his ears. It soon formed a casing around him, hardening over his skin like armor.

“Set a limit,” he told FF. “Keep Durus running until I get down to 200HP.”

I’m not your magic fucking wand, Ash. I’m a glorified Excel spreadsheet. By thinking about the spell limitations, you’ve already done it.

With his new armor in place he charged forward, pulled out his dagger mid-run, and tried to sink it in the rubigne’s forehead. As soon as the tip of his blade hit the rubigne’s skull, it snapped.

90/90 HP, said FF. You’re not getting this, are you?

It didn’t matter that he’d increased its health; he knew that would happen. The only important thing was that he’d manage to get it to release its grip on Chad. Ash grabbed the young soldier’s arm and yanked him away. Chad stumbled over the leaves, holding his neck with one hand and trying to stem the flow of blood.

“Keep it busy,” Ash told Ellie and Tony.

“How do we do that?”

“Dance with it! I don’t give a shit!”

He focused on Chad. The soldier was on his back now, his blood leaking out over the mud and staining it. His face was pale. He tried to talk, but all that came out were gasps.

Damn. A small transfusion wasn’t gonna be enough, that was for damn sure. After using level 2 Ignis and keeping his Durus armor running, he had 423 HP, and that was draining fast. He cast a Transfusion, donating 50 of it to Chad.

The healing arcane light washed over the soldier. Part of his neck wound knitted together, but most of it was still ripped open.

That’s not working, said FF. He still looks like hell. Must have gotten him bad.

“Ash!” called Tony, behind him.

He needed to give Chad more HP. How much would do it? Another fifty? A hundred? Chad wasn’t like him and Tony, the recruit could die. Ash wasn’t going to let that happen.

Chad stopped gasping now. His hands fell limp to the floor. He was almost gone.

He transfused Chad with 150 of his own HP. Just as the purple arcane life force left him, the rubigine stomped over. Ash looked on in horror as the transfusion mist lapped over the rubigne’s skin, where it disappeared into the cracks of its scabby skin.

Goddamn it! He could try and transfuse Chad again, but he had to get the rubigine out of the way first. At the rate he was pissing his HP down the drain, he’d soon be all out.

And then the rubigine started to scream.

You’re a genius, Ash!, said FF. It’s working!

The scabs on its skin started to bubble, and brown goo leaked out from them. The rubigine sank to the floor, choking on the brown glop that was coming out of its mouth.

He was no genius, that was for sure, but he’d done it. It seemed that the rubigne’s weakness was being healed, and Ash had just delivered a shit load of transfused HP directly into its veins.

Ellie ran over to Jake and hugged her son. Tony kneeled next to Chad and checked his pulse.

“You need to hurry, Ash.”

He delivered another 150HP to Chad with a transfusion, leaving himself running on empty. He felt his own pulse pounding in his ears, and a splitting pain wracked his skull.

Chad sat up. He spluttered for air. His face was covered with his own bloodstains.

Certain that chad was okay, Ash started to feel a little annoyed at FF.

“A bit more information would have been greatly appreciated, FF. I’m not asking for a detailed history of the creature down to its toilet habits, but just the basics.”

I didn’t know, Ash. I’m not a demigod. Dr. Aitken programmed me with his knowledge of the creatures of Rapto, and it turns out the stupid bastard spent more time drinking and whoring than fighting. I only know what he knew.

“I’m gonna have some strong words and a quite frank discussion with that god damned doctor when I see him,” said Ash, and sank onto his back on the ground and let tiredness wash over him.

For somewhere deep in the forest came a chorus of howling. It could have been wolves, mountain lions, or something a hell of a lot worse, but he didn’t want to find out.

“I need to Life Drain this bastard, and then we’re out of here. No point sticking around now we’ve rescued Rebel Without a Cause.”

He stood over the rubigne’s corpse. It’s brown scab-like skin had almost completely melted away to reveal its fleshy insides. It looked like a man-sized slug that had been scooped out of its shell. The smell of it made him feel sick, and he found it extremely distasteful that he was going to have this…thing’s…life force inside him.

Still, what choice did he have? He was down to the bare minimum of HP, enough for a few Ignis flames and nothing more.

He began to form a Life Drain spell, when he stopped.

Hang on. This was exactly the wrong fucking thing to do.

“FF,” he said. “This thing grew stronger the more we hurt it, and it died when I healed it. Everything about this god damn monster is opposite. If I drain life from it…will it hurt me?”

I see your intelligence points have been put to good use. You know have three brains cells instead of one.

“We better go, guys. As soon as we get back to the ranch, I need to work out a way of topping up my HP without murdering something first. Either that, or find something to kill and drain.”

“You can keep your life-draining ass away from my cows,” said Tony.

The chorus of howls grew louder. They sounded far away, but they were getting closer.

“Let’s go,” said Ash.

Jake and Ellie walked back away from the tree. Suddenly, Jake darted over to a thorn bush thirty meters to his left.

“What the hell is that?” the teen said.

He reached into the bush, and strained to pick something up. He grunted as he scratched himself on a thorn. He reached further in, before taking hold of something and pulling it out. When he showed what he found to the group, Ash felt his chest freeze.

It was a glowing red orb the size of a football. Red light pulsated across it.

“Guy, look what I-”

Jake didn’t get chance to finish the sentence. Red light left the orb and drifted into his mouth, moving in snake-like zigs zags and gathering over his tongue. Red lines, vein like and pulsating, spread across his skin. His eyes rolled back white, and he collapsed to the ground. The red light of the orb unravelled like a ball of yarn, creeping into Jake through every open orifice until it disappeared completely. Jake lay still on the forest ground.

“He’s been violated by a fucking orb!” said Ash.

Ellie ran over to him. She took his head in her arms and tried to shake him awake.

“Come on, damn it! Come on,” she said. Tears formed in her eyes, and Ash almost couldn’t watch.

They heard more howls. They were even closer now, and it sounded like there were a dozen of them.

“Grab the kid and let’s go,” said Tony, pointing his rifle at the forest around him. “If we stay any longer we’re gonna get banged by forest wolves.”

Chapter Eighteen

A Dozen Burning Gimps

By the time they got back into town the sun had fallen and the sky was the murky dark blue of dusk. Ash felt his arms and legs ache and his eyelids start to drop. They parked the vehicle in the centre of town. Ellie and Tony carried Jake out of the backseat.

“Thanks for your help,” said Ellie.

Ash couldn’t help but notice that she’d directed this at Tony, but he guessed that helping her find Jake didn’t really cover what he’d done to her.

“I hope he’s okay,” said Ash.

He had to admit that the kid didn’t look good; his face was pale, and even though he was unconscious, he thrashed around every so often as if he was having a fit. They were going to have to do something about that, since Ash’s Transfusion didn’t seem to have any effect when he’d tried it.

In a grand show of patience, said FF, I held back on your stats while you ran like chickens from whatever was in the woods. Can I tell you now?

“Sure,” said Ash.

Transfusion lvl 2 increased to 40%

Level up to Level 11

-HP 740

He was well overdue a grinding session if he wanted to get tier 3 anytime soon. Maybe when they got to Tony’s ranch he’d go hunting. His Ignis skill was maxed, but there was still plenty he could do. He could cast Durus to form blood armor and then let something beat the crap out of him for a while to level it up, then kill the enemy and cast Life Drain. Given a week with nothing to do but grind, he could make this class great.

“What do we do about the kid?” asked Tony.

“I need to get him to a hospital,” said Ellie. The hard-assed sheriff was gone, replaced by a woman whose only concern was for her son.

“Do you know anything about this, FF?” asked Ash.

“Who the hell’s FF?” asked Ellie.

“Sorry,” said Ash. “With everything going down, I was behaving like an ass. I should have explained.”

“Come here, hon, and I’ll fill you in,” said Tony, and gently put his arm around the sheriff.

“FF, do you have any idea what’s happening to Jake?”

The red orb is infecting him, said FF. It’s carving up his mind like chicken. It’s a testament to how strong he is that it hasn’t claimed him already. Remember how quickly your blue orb got you?

“It was pretty fast. What can we do?”

You need to get him to a mage, one with experience in cerebral spells.

“Great. Let me go grab the fucking phone directory.”

Chad scratched his ears. “Listen, I’m kinda sat here on my ass. I’ll check the pharmacy for painkillers and stuff,” he said.

“I think the soldiers cleaned it out. Hang on,” said Ash. “What about the potions guy? The alchemist? Maybe he’ll have something.”

Worth a try, Einstein.

“Something for what?”

Damn. He had to try and remember that nobody else could hear FF. He explained to the others what FF had told him about Jake and the orb. Ellie, to give her credit, took the news as well as he’d expected, by walking over to her four by four and smashing the passenger door window with the butt of her gun.

“First priority is the lad, obviously. But we may as well stock up while we’re here,” said Tony, his voice rough. “Pasture’s been raided once, and it’ll be raided again. In a few days when more people realise how serious this is, they’ll start to lose their shit. We don’t want to have to come here again and get caught in the violence and looting.”

“Agreed. Let’s get moving,” said Ash.

As they walked through town they found that it had changed beyond recognition. Red Rabbit’s, a hellhole whiskey joint, had changed into a ye olde-style tavern. Laughter and drunken shouting drifted from it, and as they passed, Ash saw sword-brandishing warriors clinking glasses of ale together. Half-naked whores danced around the tables and tried to tempt the warrior men and women into taking them upstairs to a room.

They headed toward the alchemists’ potion shop. On the way there, two axe-wielding barbarians stopped them in the middle of the street. They were half-naked, and had muscled so tight it looked like they’d rubbed themselves in oil before leaving the house.

“Something you need?” asked Ash. “I’m not oiling your backs for you.”

“The girl,” said one, nodding at Ellie. “How much for us to have her for a while?”

“Fifty dollars,” said Ash.

Ellie elbowed him.

When Chad politely explained that the woman wasn’t their property and they couldn’t just ‘hand her over’, the barbarians grew balls. Bellowing war cries, they charged at the group with their weapons aloft.

Two barbarians wouldn’t have been a big deal, but Ash was starting to learn that Rapto didn’t like even odds. The barbarians were soon joined by ten more brigands, evidently part of the same group. They were dressed in black leathers with chains hanging from them, making them look like gimps caught in the middle of a night of debauchery.

Not wanting to mess around, Ash had Chad tip over a barrel of petrol. It had worked with Beele, he reasoned, and anything that saved his HP was fine by him.

When the brigands were in the middle of it he cast Ignis, and the flames licked around their sexual leathers. Pretty soon, a dozen burning gimps ran screaming through the center of Pasture Downs.

With that, he had just 15 HP left. That was it; no more spells, no more screwing around. He needed to be careful.

Level 12 – 727

Blood Concentrate Level 1 – 10%

Blood Concentrate was a handy spell, since it took ten percent off the HP cost for his powers. Since it was passive, all Ash had to do was to use his other spells, and Concentrate would level up along with them. Pretty soon, he hoped he’d be able to cut his HP cost in half.

One by one the screaming gimps fell to the ground and died, their leather completely melted into their skin. They gave off a sour smell of fire. Ash Life Drained them, topping up his HP and getting a 20% bonus toward level 3.

He and Tony looted the gimps. Tony, the lucky son of a bitch, collected gold, while Ash found a trinket called the Necklace of Libido, a golden piece of jewelry that increased the wearer’s sexual prowess. Having no need of such a boost, he gave it to Chad.

“Here you go,” he said, passing him the necklace. “In case we run into any goblins you take a liking to.”

With Pasture Downs thankfully gimp-free once again, they headed to the alchemist. He was a mean old git with a belly almost too big for his belt to reign in, and he gouged them with ridiculously high prices.

Luckily, he had what they needed, and Tony and ash left his shop with three potions of mental fortitude. Administered every few hours, these would help Jake fight his red orb mental battle for a while. It wasn’t a long-term solution, but it was something.

Hours later, they all gathered on the edge of town near Ellie’s four by four.  She rested against the bumper and rolled a cigarette with practiced fingers. “I need more tobacco,” she said.

“Now’s not the time to think about luxury,” said Tony. “Your vehicle will struggle to carry us all if we overload it. What’s the weight limit?”

“Around 1500 kilograms,” said Ellie.

Tony shook his head. “That doesn’t sound right. I think that’s the towing limit.”

“Jesus. I don’t give a shit. Just tell us what we need and we’ll get out of here.”

Tony sat up and looked at Ash.

“The salesman will tell us,” he said.

Ash felt under pressure. Ellie, Tony and Chad all stared at him and waited for him to speak. Was this some kind of test? Tony seemed to be on a quest to bring out Ash’s survival skills, and he saw himself as a mentor. In a stupid way, Ash liked it, and he didn’t want to disappoint him.

“Let’s see,” he said. “The basics first, I guess. The three-minute rule. We need as much water as we can get, so go check the grocery and see if the soldiers left any water bottles. Don’t just check the aisles, either. There will be a stock room at the back. If it’s locked, get a fire axe from the wall and just smash through the door.”

“Yes, sir!,” said Chad, and put his hand to his forehead in a comic salute.

“You just nominated yourself as the water boy, then,” said Ash, and glared at the recruit. “And while you’re at it, go to the outdoor clothing store. They might have a survival or camping gear section. If they’ve got any water filters, get as many as you can carry.”

They all went off and looted the few shops that weren’t from Rapto. Pretty soon they had all hauled their stuff to Ellie’s car and loaded it in the back. The four by four shouldered the weight well, but Ellie had to slam the boot twice to get it to close.

“You helped me find Jake,” she said, and put her hand on her son’s head. “So, you can use my wheels.  I never thought I’d hear myself say this particular combination of words…but we need to find a mage. What’s the plan?”

“Town’s not going to be able to support us, and it’ll get dangerous here,” said Ash. “we need to get to Tony’s ranch and figure a way forward from there.”

He looked over at Tony and saw the man gave him an approving nod.

“I’ve got a few long-range radios,” said Tony. “Let’s see if any buggers are still listening.”

Chad leaned against the car. He had a small ukulele in his hands that he’d raided from a discount furniture store. According to him, the stringed instrument was essential survival kit. As he watched the recruit struggle to tune it, Ash wasn’t sure he agreed. Chad was never going to be the bard class, that was for sure.

“We need somewhere self-sufficient,” said Chad.

“What about your aunt and uncle? Aren’t you going back to them?”

“Sure, but I figure I’m safer with you guys. I just need to make sure they’re okay.”

“I have some land,” said Ellie

Tony spoke from the back of the 4x4. “But have you actually done anything with it?”

The sheriff shook her head. “No. But we could grow things on it, given time.”

“My ranch has crops planted already. They’ll be ready to eat sooner.”

Ash folded his arms. “Listen guys, let’s start thinking about growing carrots when we’re sure that a troll army isn’t going to turn up and break our necks with their cocks. We’ve got more immediate things to be worrying about.”

“Agreed,” said Tony. “Let’s hit the road.”

Chapter Nineteen

We’ve Got a Green-Skin

Tony’s ranch was twenty miles due east of Pasture Downs, out on the plains where people rarely travelled. It was a tight squeeze fitting five of them in Ellie’s four by four. Normally it would have been alright, but with Jake comatose, it complicated things. Ash volunteered to sit on the open-back of the vehicle with Jake. He put his coat under the teen’s head and kept a hand on his chest to make sure he didn’t move much when the vehicle lurched. It was hardly a sterling ambulance service, but he did his best.

Crouched down on the back of the vehicle, the wind slapped at his face and made his cheeks raw. He watched the landscape whizz by, and was surprised by how much it had changed.

He’d hoped that most of the Rapto-Earth meld had centered around Pasture Downs, but it seemed to be spreading. They drove through a landscape that had, until the day before Tony told them, been green with grassy fields. Now it was a desert of cracked earth that resembled the moon, and a dark mist seemed to gather an inch above the ground.

A thin patch of land surrounding Tony’s ranch was still green, suggesting that Rapto hadn’t crept up to Tony Fucking Shore’s property. The ranch had a ten-foot-high concrete wall surrounding it. Ash could see the roofs of a house and barn, with smoke drifting from the chimney and mixing with the ocean blue sky.

A sign at the beginning of Tony’s stone driveway proclaimed, ‘The Shore Ranch – Private Property, Keep Out or Get Shot.’

Stern warning aside, Ash got a good feeling about the place. His dad had a buddy out west who owned a ranch like this, and before he fell on hard times and had to sell it, he’d let Ash and his family stay there some weekends. Ranch life was peaceful. Or it was if you were just having a vacation there, he guessed. If you owned the ranch, it meant a hell of a lot of hard work.

Ellie drove forward, and soon a metal access control gate blocked their way. Tony got out of the vehicle, walked toward a wall, and pulled down a section of it to reveal a panel of numbers. It had looked just like the rest of the wall until now.

“How is this thing still working?” asked Ash.

“Generator, dumbass,” said Tony. “I had some spares for the circuitry, and it seems like they didn’t get ruined. Maybe because I kept ‘em in the basement. Walls are really thick down there.”

“Are you completely sure you don’t kidnap people, Tony?” asked Ash.

“Why do you think I brought you here?” said Tony, with a wink.

The metal door creaked open and Ellie drove through. They pulled up next to a chicken coop. Tony was the first out, plating his feet on the ground and taking a long deep breath, as if the air of his ranch nourished him. He was like a boat captain setting foot on dry land after spending a year at sea. The metal gate closed shut behind them.

Ash looked around. Across from him was a cozy-looking farmhouse with ancient stonework and a thatched roof. There was a giant barn nearby. Most of the ground was dirt and grass, though Ash saw cables snaking along it and lead to generator. To offset the stone walls that surrounded the ranch, someone had planted beds of flowers. This was a place where you could feel safe, but also feel at home.

“Let’s go see Marg,” said Tony, and strode off across the yard.

They found Marg around the back of the ranch underneath the shadow of a large elm tree. She was sat next to a plastic foldaway desk that had ham radios stacked on it. Overhead was a plastic canvas designed to protect the equipment from rain, though it was rare that it rained in Pasture Downs and it’d usually be foretold by the appearance of mean looking clouds. The sky was completely clear today.

Marg was a big woman who looked like she’d win an arm wrestling contest with a barbarian. She wore tight-fitting blue jeans, and a blue shirt with the sleeve rolled up to reveal tattoos on her arms. She had a cigarette hanging out of the corner of the mouth, and it moved up and down as she talked.

“This is Shore 08, is anyone picking up, over?” she said into the receiver.

The radio crackled. Ash couldn’t tell if it was someone trying to talk through a bad signal, or just interference.

“This is Shore 08, say again?”

“Hello!” said a voice on the radio. “Name’s Clyde from the…”

Marg’s attention was drawn away from the radio and to the wall on her right, where a wooden structure clacked against the stone.  Ash was shocked to see that it was a wooden ladder that had been propped up against it. Soon, the green head of a goblin emerged at the top of the ladder.

“We’ve got a green-skin,” said Ash.

It jumped down, held its dagger aloft, and ran at Marg, its mouth opened to show razor sharp teeth, and a shrill war cry sounding out.

Marg lazily picked up a revolver from the table, aimed it in the goblin’s direction without looking, and fired. The bullet tore through the creature’s forehead and it slumped to the ground. Marg set the gun down, took a drag of her cigarette, then picked up the radio receiver.

“Sorry hun,” she spoke into it. “You were saying?”

Tony laughed and marched forward. He and Marg enjoyed a sickeningly hug-filled reunion, after which Tony introduced her to the survivor group.

“This is Ellie, her son Jake – I’ll explain later – the young guy is Chad, and this asshole is named Ash. Remember the blue orb I found? Well this young ass-squirt found one too.”

Another goblin climbed the ladder leapt over the wall and sprinted so quickly that it had reached Marg before anyone had time to react. Tony raised his rifle but Marg was quicker, pulling a knife from her belt and stabbing it under the goblin’s jaw. She pulled it out, wiped it on her jeans, then faced the group. She gave a beaming smile.

“Pleasure to meet you all,” said Marg.

The pleasantries were interrupted by the sound of more ladders clacking up against the wall.

On the opposite side of the yard, something thumped into the metal access door, raising a booming sound that seemed to shake the walls.

“Chad,” said Tony. “Go and check what the heck that is. There’s a peephole in the door.”

“Yes, sir!” said Chad, giving an exaggerated salute. He ran over to the gate.

The green faces of goblins appeared at the top of the ladders now. How many were there? He counted eight ladders and eight hideous green beasts. God knew how many were still waiting to climb up.

Tony raised his rifle and fired off a shot. The bullet ripped through a goblin’s cheek and knocked him off the ladder. A chorus of squeals rose up, and seconds later another goblin appeared above the wall.

They leapt over the walls, and landed in the yard. More followed, clambering up the ladders with urgency.

Tony’s rifle cracked once…twice…but with each dead goblin, another appeared.

The ones in the yard wasted no time in having their weapons handy. Ash saw a mix of ragtag equipment ranging from rusty axes to blood-stained short swords.

“They’ve cut a tree down to make a god damned battering ram!” shouted Chad.

“Ellie, get Jake inside,” said Ash. “I’ll go and deal with the slutflaps with the battering ram, and you guys can slaughter the green-headed cunt-sticks in the yard.”

He ran across the yard. There was an almighty crash, and the gates shuddered. He wondered how much force they could take.

He needed to act quickly. If the gates burst then they’d be facing a fight on both sides.

Ash climbed the wall next to the access gate and fired a chain of Ignis at the goblins. The flames took hold and scorched them one by one. The creatures screamed in agony as the arcane flames licked their skin.

When they died, their battering ram hit the ground with a thud. Ash Life Drained them like a greedy vampire sucking a virgin’s blood.

Behind him, a mixture of gunshots rang out. Magically charged bullets from Tony’s rifle zipped through the air. Marg’s hand-cannon boomed, while Ellie and Chad chose their shots wisely and picked off the goblins at the sides.

More and more of the goblins streamed through. No sooner was one wave finished, then another, even bigger, one would take its place.

Tony shouted as a goblin stabbed him in the arm. He dropped his rifle. Ash blasted the goblin with Ignis, knocking it ten feet across the yard.

They started to tire. Tony grabbed his rifle, but he began to miss his shots. Marg was slower in reloading. Chad’s M16 jammed.

Swarm after swarm came over the wall until the yard was filled with the stink of frog-skinned bastards. It was as if there was no end to their ranks. He cast a quick look at the ladders.

Phew. No more were coming over. Now they just had to deal with the ones in the yard.

Two goblins approached Chad. One leapt up and latched onto his head and began scratching his face. Chad frantically tried to shake him off, while the other goblin stabbed him in the thigh. The soldier stumbled to the ground.

“Leave him alone, you bastards,” said Ellie. She pressed her revolver against a goblin’s head and blew a hole in its skull.

Ash used his chain Ignis when he got a clear shot. The problem was that the smaller minion goblins were under the command of slightly taller ones, and these ones seemed to possess a shred of intelligence. When they realized how many of their soldiers Ash could kill, they began ordering them to move further apart and put as many obstacles in their way as they could.

Clever goblins was the last thing they needed.

The swarmed at them on all sides. Ear-splitting screeches and high-pitched squeals filled the once-quiet air. The yard grass was trampled, chickens who flocked from the now-broken coop were slaughtered in the chaos.

“What did the chickens do to you?” he said, and scorched the groin of a goblin who’d just stabbed one of the birds.

Rifles cracked, Ignis flames flew through the air. Gradually, the group were forced back.

“Keep it tight,” said Tony. “Don’t let them surround you, and take your shots carefully.”

The group hemmed in toward each other. It meant that the goblins couldn’t surround them. Together, they fired their guns while Ash blasted flame balls.

The fight felt like it lasted hours. In reality, only ten minutes had passed by the time the last goblin fell, though Ash was soaked in sweat as if he’d run a twenty-hour marathon.

The ranch was littered with dead goblins now. Some of them were peppered with bullets holes, while others were charred black from Ash’s Ignis flames. As he walked through the yard, one goblin, clinging onto its last seconds of life, grabbed his leg and raised a dagger. Ash lifted his boot and stomped its head, killing it instantly.

“We better loot them,” he said. “See what they have. Potions, gold, anything. The alchemist won’t accept dollars, only gold coins.”

Ellie had suffered a gash to her arm,  Chad had a scratched face and a stab wound in his thigh, but the worst was saved for Marg. The woman was tough as nails, but right now she had a knife-cut running from her chest down to her stomach. Blood poured from the tears in her ripped clothes.

“Ash, can you do something?”

He needed to top up his own HP badly, but Marg had the pesky problem of being mortal, and he sensed he wouldn’t get much of a welcome in the Shore ranch if he let Tony’s wife die.

Ash used Blood Share on Marg, draining HP from the dead goblins and into her until her wound began to close.

"Thanks," said Tony, kneeling next to his wife.

Ash's own HP was still pitiful. He’d used too many Ignis blasts and Transfusions during the fight, and now he was down to just 25. He needed to heal.

Luckily, there were still plenty of dead goblins littering the yard for him to drain. Life Drain level 2 meant he would be able to drain all the corpses all at once, filling him with lovely goblin life force.

“God damn it!” shouted Tony.

“What?”

“Watch out!”

Tony struggled to raise his rifle. Marg spun around, but she was too slow.

Ash had no time to react before a goblin behind him, a devious little creature who had must have been playing dead, got to its feet and ran towards him.

No time for Ignis.

He drew his dagger, but he wasn’t quick enough.

The goblin sunk its blade into his spine. Crippling pain washed over him, made him feel sick. He moved away, dizzy with the feeling that the dagger was still lodged in his back.

A rifle shot boomed out.

Ash raised his hands to cast Life Drain, but his was too late. His meagre HP drained instantly. The world around Ash faded to black.

Chapter Twenty

The Kraken Has Arisen

He awoke in a bed, tucked up tight under a duvet sheet with a power ranger printed on it. At first he wondered if he was waking up from a crazy night on the town, and that everything that had happened was just a dream concocted by his drunken mind.

He struggled to wrench himself free of his, admittedly quite comfortable, bondage, before finally getting his arms loose. He sat up. He was in a child’s room, that was obvious, but Tony hadn’t mentioned having a kid.

Mornin’, sleepy balls, said FF.

Nope, definitely not a dream. Was it morning? Ash had lost all sense of time. He got out of bed to find he was naked except for a pair of purple briefs.

He rubbed his head. The remnants of a headache rattled around his skull.

“What happened?”

We died, said FF. We respawned a few miles away from Pasture Downs, near where you left your car. Tony Shore drove out looking for you after his mind-construct told him that you’d come back to life.

Ash rubbed his head. “Is there a way of setting my own respawn point? Otherwise, death’s gonna be quite an inconvenience.”

There’s a way to set a respawn point…but Dr. Aitken must not have known exactly how, because I don’t have that knowledge.

“I better cancel my career as a stunt driver, then. No point travelling miles away only to die only to respawn next to this shit bucket town. So, this is how it feels to die, huh? Not as bad as I imagined.”

I haven’t told you about the penalties yet.

Ash sighed. “Go on then, FF, I know you much you love it.”

Well, you don’t get any EXP from the last battle, how’s that for a start? Also, you’ll get a 50% EXP reduction form future battles for the next day.

“Fine, I don’t give a badger’s cock about it. We’re not leaving the ranch yet anyway.”

On top of that, your spell cost is doubled.

“For a day?”

For the rest of your life!

“I would criticize your sense of humor, but I’m guessing you’ll only tell me that you got it from my own mind.”

Correct. And yeah, I’m kidding. It’s for a day.

“Dickbag. Fine, I’ll wait it out. Anything else?”

I was saving this one for after I gave you the bad news. Kind of like giving you a cake after feeding you a shit sandwich.

“A delightful image. What is it?”

Transfusion level up to level 3! [MAXED]

- Mass transfusion; heal multiple creatures for the price of one

Blood Mage Tier 2 increased to 25%

“That eases the pain of death a little, I guess.”

Gaining a better Transfusion ability was great and all, but Ash really started to learn how to take better care of himself. For such a self-confessed asshole, he was doing an awful lot of healing, and sometimes he was doing it unnecessarily. Not with Marg, of course; he was hardly gonna sit back while she bled out. But did he really need to heal Chad when he cut his thumb? Did he need to Transfuse Tony’s headache away?

From now on, he’d only heal Tony in battle. They needed to start stocking up on healing potions from the alchemist, because relying on a Transfusion from Ash was unpractical. God knew if healing potions would work on Chad and Ellie, though. Maybe potions from Rapto would only be effective on people who’d fondled a blue ball.

“FF,” he said. “Is there any way I can program a spell? Like, set up certain conditions for it to activate?”

Sigh, said FF. We’ve been through this, Ash. Take your head out of your arse. Just think about what you need the spell to do, and as long as it isn’t mind-numbingly stupid, it’ll happen.

“You don’t actually say ‘sigh’,” said Ash. “You just do it. It’s a noise. You let out a breath of air in a frustrated way, like a guy who’s fallen in love with a hooker only to see her take cash from another man.”

Dr. Aitken was sometimes a little too literal in his programming, said FF.

Fine, thought Ash. Enough bullshit. What he needed was to set up his Life Drain spell to automatically activate under the following conditions:

1) His health was below 50%

2) There were corpses in the vicinity that he could drain from

3) He wasn’t already in the middle of casting another spell

“Did that work?” said Ash.

Looks like It’s logged to me.

With that done, he looked around the room. He saw a bookshelf full of kids’ books. The bright colors and simple titles suggested they were for someone under the age of ten. That meant that Tony Shore had fathered a child when he was in his fifties. Tony, you sly old dog, he thought. Didn’t know you still had it in you.

He found his black leather battle jacket left folded for him at the side of the bed, along with other clothes. He walked downstairs and found everyone in the kitchen. It was an old-style kitchen with cold stone walls. The smell of bacon was so strong his stomach twisted. Everyone was sat around an oval oak table, except Jake how’d he passed as he lay comatose on the living room sofa.

“Sleeping beauty wakes up!” said Tony, “And she’s lost all her looks!”

“The kraken has arisen!” replied Ellie, “And he’s taken a crap, named it Ash and flung it onto dry land!”

“You’re ugly!” said Chad.

Ash laughed. He was shocked to admit it, but he was happy to see them. He hadn’t known any of them for long, but it felt like they’d been through a lot together.

“Yeah, you might wanna work on your insults a little, Chad.”

“Come on,” said Marge, with a cheeky grin. “Give him a break. He’s not so bad looking.”

Tony stood near the oven top and flipped over a rasher of bacon. “Heard that,” he said. He nodded at Ash. “Have a bite to eat, and then I wanna show you something.”

“Gotcha. Any news?” said Ash, sitting down.

“We don’t need to worry about the power plant anymore,” said Ellie. “Marg spoke to a guy on the radio, said the plant is gone.”

“It’s gone? As if, disappeared?”

“Kind of. Turned into some kind of dungeon.”

“Guess that shouldn’t surprise me,” said Ash. “Maybe we should go there.”

After having his fill of bacon and coffee, Tony excused himself and Ash and led him out into the yard. It was a chilly morning, and a wind lapped around the yard and shook the leaves from the trees. There was a stench coming from one corner, where all the goblin bodies had been piled.

“We’d appreciate an Ignis blast on them,” said Tony. “Thought about using gas, but we need to save what little we have.”

The carcasses were dried up thanks to Ash using his Life Drain on them, and he guessed that one Ignis ball would set them all alight. He’d do it later, he decided. With his HP cost penalty in place, there was no point doing it now.

“Barbequing goblin corpses is my specialty,” said Ash. “What did you wanna show me?”

“I’ve taken the rest of the guys around the ranch, and I thought you’d wanna see it too. The grand tour, so to speak.” There was a look of excitement on Tony’s face that Ash hadn’t seen before; a kind of immaturity that seemed to banish the leathery wrinkles from his face.

“Sounds good to me,” said Ash. “Listen, I wanted to ask you. Where’s your kid? I haven’t seen him around.”

The excitement left Tony’s face, and the wrinkles came back deeper than ever. “I don’t have kid.”

“But the room I woke up in…”

“Ash, you need to learn to read subtle signals. Practice with this one; I don’t want to talk about any fucking kid. Not now, not ever.”

The severity of Tony’s tone shook him for a second. He hadn’t meant anything by the question, but he’d struck a particularly sensitive nerve. Whatever had happened to Tony, he felt bad for him. He added it to the list of things he’d never talk about again.

Ash nodded. “Got it. Sorry.”

“Not your fault, you city-boy weasel. Now come on, there’s plenty I need to show you.”

Tony gave him a tour of the ranch, but instead of walking them round it he just pointed and explained what he had done with the place. He sounded like a proud father bragging about how good his son was in school.

There was a giant tank on the west side of the house. It was as close to the exterior wall as possible, and the roof of the house was slanted so that rain water could run off it, divert into a channel Tony had cut into the roof, and then collect in the tank, which would filter it and then store it for use. If there was ever to be a problem with the tank, Tony explained, there was a pond nearby that they could collect water from and boil if it ever came to it.

There were two fields. One had cows grazing on it, with a barn at the end, and the other had crops planted. Tony’s plan was to breed the cattle and rotate the crops. In the barn, he had a store of dried and canned food that would be good for a year or two while he mastered self-sufficiency.

There were solar panels on the roof of the house and barn which Tony had always planned to hook up to a localized grid. He’d tried learning electrics, but he hadn’t gotten far before the electricity had gone.

“Don’t suppose you used to be an electrician?” he said.

Ash shook his head.

“Didn’t think so. You have the hands of a perfume salesman.”

“Hmm. Maybe I would have been good at that, actually.”

Out the front of the ranch, beyond the access gates, four thin wooden stakes were planted in the ground. The decapitated heads of four gobbles were stuck on them. Blood had dribbled from the cuts and stained the wood.

“Marg’s idea,” said Tony. “To scare the bastards away if more of them come back. Let me tell you, you don’t wanna piss her off.”

“I’m impressed,” Ash said when the tour was over.

Tony put his hand on his heart. “Really? City boy gives me his approval? Oh my, how honored I am.”

“Dickhead.”

“Asshole.”

Tony laughed, slapped him on the back, and they went inside.

That evening, Marg served up steaming dishes of a stew she had made. As Ash took his first taste, he felt his stomach cramp. He didn’t realise how long he’d gone without food, and it seemed like his stomach was punishing him for it. The aroma teased its way into his nostrils, and he decided that he’d never smelled anything so divine in his life.

“What meat is this?” he asked. “It’s delicious.”

Marg looked down at the ground.

Then the truth dawned on Ash.

“This is goblin stew, isn’t it?” he said.

“It’s a little chewy,” said Ellie.

Chad sat up.  The recruits buzz cut had grown out even more, and the prematurely greying hair strands near his ears were more prominent.

“Can I have yours?” he asked.

Ellie smiled at him. “Knock yourself out.”

Chad grinned back, and the two of them held each other’s gazes for just a second too long.

“Come on, Ash,” said Marg. “Meat’s meat. I tried some, and liked it, and decided to save some of the cows for later. You said yourself that it tastes nice.”

When he thought about it, maybe eating goblin meat wasn’t so different from butchering a cow or a sheep. Well, there was the fact the cows rarely ran at you with a knife, but that was a minor detail. With the way the world was turning, they’d need to make maximum use of every resource they could.

“It’s actually pretty good,” he said, and carried on eating.

Chapter Twenty-One

Think We’ve Got a Couple of Voyeurs

Marg stared at Ash as he ate. “So, we talked about it last night, Tony and me, and we decided you’re welcome to stay here at the ranch for as long as you need. I still half think that you should be strung up for what you did to the town, but Tony told me how much you helped him.”

“Thanks, guys. Really. I know you could just tell me to get my ass out of here, and I wouldn’t really be able to complain.”

“Not how we do things,” said Tony.

Ash scooped another spoonful of goblin stew into his mouth. No matter how distasteful he found it, his belly ached for more, and his bowl was soon empty. Tony handed out a few bottles of beer. Ash drained the first one quicker than he’d planned, and pretty soon he started to get a buzz. He was a real light weight these days.

Ellie cast a wary glance toward Jake, who lay on the sofa with his eyes closed and his chest rising and falling softly.

“Marg says she heard on the radio that someone saw an old fella in a robe wandering around the outskirts of Tinago city.”

“Tinago? That’s where my folks live. We can take the Bolton tunnel to get to it,” said Ash.

Tony drained the last suds from his beer, burped, then reached for another bottle. “Yep. The tunnel through the mountains is only way to drive from Tinago to Pasture.”

“And this robed guy…is he a mage?”

“Well, said Marg, “Fella I talked to on the radio said they saw him shooting a bloody ball of ice from his hands. So yeah, darlin’.”

“And let me guess, you think he might be able to cure Jake?”

“Better plan than any,” said Ellie. “Right now, I’d sacrifice a goat if there was a chance it’d help.”

“What do you think, FF?” asked Ash.

Mages have various magic spells. It’s as good as lead as we’ve got right now. Maybe he’ll be able to help the boy.

“You know,” said Chad, “It gets really boring when you have these one-sided conversations with yourself.”

Ash heard a sound that caught his attention. He glanced over at the window and saw two ink-black crows resting on the windowsill. He couldn’t shake the feeling that they were trying to listen in to their conversation.

Beele, said FF. He’s using them to watch you.

“I think we’ve got a couple of voyeurs, guys,” said Ash, nodding at the crows. “Beele can jump minds.”

Tony stood up. He picked his rifle up from the counter and walked toward the window. The crows squawked and then flew away.

“We better be careful what ewe say from now on,” said Ash. “The pisswizard might be listening in from anywhere.”

“Well, they’re gone now,” said Tony. “I’ll take a couple of scared crows over an army of goblins.”

Within a few hours a plan was formed. Tony was generously going to loan Ash one of his vehicles, as well as enough supplies to make the journey home. They’d go through the mountain tunnel, try and find this mage guy and hopefully get a cure for Jake.

Chad was going to come with him, because he said he would only get bored if he just stayed at the ranch. Ellie was coming too, she said. There was no chance she was just going to sit on her ass.

“What about you?” asked Ash.

Tony took a sip of beer. “I’m sitting this play out.”

Damn. Tony would have been useful on the road with his magic bullets and mana shield. Not only that, and Ash would never say it to his face, but he was starting to like the old guy.

“No, you aren’t sitting anything out,” said Marg.

“What?”

“Look at ‘em, Tony. They’re greener than an alligator’s backside. They need you to get them to the city.”

“No chance, my love. I’ve done all I can.”

Ash nodded his head. “You’ve helped me more than I deserved, in any case. You’ve earned a bit of time to sit on your ass and enjoy a few beers.”

“Well, Lord Ashhole, thank you for the drinking permit.”

“Listen, everyone. I don’t usually get all gooey-eyed or anything, but I just wanna say thanks. You guys have helped me out, and I’ll do the same for you. From here on out I might still be an asshole, but not with you.”

Marg glared at Tony. It was the kind of stare that Ash sensed Tony had faced at many points in his life. It was an unwavering one, an expression that would accept no refusal.

Tony slammed his bottle down. “Ah god damn it, fine, woman. You win. I’ll help them get to the city.”

They thought about taking Jake with them so that if the mage could cure him, it could be done straight away. The problem was that Ash, Chad, Ellie and Tony were going to be crammed into one of his vehicles, which left little room for supplies if they carried a comatose teen around with them. Not only that, but if they ran into trouble, Jake would be a major hindrance. Ellie didn’t like it, but a decision was made that Jake would stay under Marg’s protection.

They spent the following day tooling up. Chad went to pasture and bought healing potions and extra mental fortitude potions from the alchemist, using gold they’d looted from the dead goblins. They loaded Tony’s truck up with food, water, flares and other supplies.

Ash incinerated the pile of dead goblins, and soon the smell of the ranch air changed from cow dung to charred goblin meat. He’d wanted to explore a little of the area around Tony’s home and level up, but with Jake the way he was, he didn’t have time.

When they were ready to leave the ranch, Marg came to see them off.

“Remember,” Ellie told her. “He needs one fortitude potion every few hours. I’m leaving you with enough to see him through.”

“Got it,” said Marg.

Ash had tried drinking a health potion to top up his HP, only to find that it didn’t work on him.

A blood mage can be powerful, said FF, especially when with the potential to kill a group of enemies with one chain Ignis. But it comes with drawbacks.

Despite his previous warning, Tony let Ash Life Drain one of his cows. It needed to be slaughtered for meat anyway, so agreed to bring the slaughter forward a few weeks and let Ash recover the rest of his HP.

With that done, they were ready to leave on the morning of his third day at the ranch.

In many ways Ash didn’t want to leave the Shore ranch. They had everything set up for them to survive here, and the Shores seemed like a warm couple who would do anything to help others.

He was glad to have tony with them on the journey. He was an encyclopedia of survivalist knowledge, and he’d be invaluable. Still, even though he was leaving with a police sheriff, a soldier, and Gandalf, Ash still felt cold when he thought about the new world they were journeying into.

Things had been bad enough in a small town like Pasture Down, so he couldn’t even imagine what it had been like in the city. Ash had a strong feeling that he wouldn’t make it; that something was going to happen to him. It didn’t matter, though. He was beginning to realise that being a…what was the opposite of an asshole?...anyway, being whatever that was, meant thinking about people other than yourself.

He turned and looked at Ellie, Chad and Tony.

“We ready?” he said.

The young recruit grinned. Ellie threw a cigarette to the floor and crushed it under her boot. She nodded.

Marg gave Tony a hug. “Stay safe, you big lug,” she said.

Tony held up his rifle and tapped it. “Don’t worry.”

“Then let’s go,” said Ash.

With regret in his heart, he drove the pick-up truck away from the Shore ranch and into the wider world, or whatever was left of it.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Jelly Sacs Full of Acid

Ash was surprised that Tony had surrendered the wheel of the pickup truck to him so easily, but he was glad of it. Sitting behind the wheel made him feel like he was in control. His dad used to drive a pick-up for a while before he had to sell it, so it wasn’t too hard for him to maneuver. If anything, it gave him fond memories of being taught how to drive by the old man.

They had driven twenty miles west of the ranch through plains of cracked earth where a blanket of grey mist hovered not far above ground. This, a decidedly alien feature, was from Rapto. The rate of the new world’s spread was worrying. How far would it go? There was no way of answering this other than to just watch it expand.

In the distance, black plumes of smoke puffed up into the air. They looked to be coming from the city beyond the mountains, but wherever the source, it didn’t look good. The smoke was black and soft and it became an angry cloud over the otherwise-blue sky. Ash hoped to God that it wasn’t actually coming from anywhere near the Bolton tunnel. The dual-lane tunnel was their only direct way through the Lantern Mountains, and he badly needed to make his way through to the city.

Before leaving Tony Fucking Shore’s ranch, they’d loaded up the trunk with survival supplies. That was the reason the truck was a little slower than usual, but Ash would take survival over speed any time. As long as it could bear the load, that was okay.

The reasons they taken so much stuff for what should have been a one-day trip were twofold; Ash wanted to have supplies ready for his mum and dad, and Chad wanted some for his uncle and aunt. Not only that, but if anything happened on the road, they didn’t want to be left holding their cocks.

The truck was packed with Meals Ready-to-Eat; beef-flavored food pouches that delivered a 400-calorie dose and could last a couple of years. They had a crate of water bottles, as well as water filters for when they ran out and needed to locate a source in the wild. Each of them had a sleeping bag. That was the essentials covered; food, water and shelter. On top of that they had topographical maps of the Lantern Mountains, a couple of compasses, two kerosene lamps and a kerosene stove. All they needed now was a TV and life couldn’t be better.

The idea was that they would get to the city. They’d all go and see this mage in the hope that he could cure Ben. After that, they’d go their separate ways. Ash was going to check on his parents, and he wasn’t sure where he’d go after that. Chad didn’t know have a plan beyond seeing his uncle and aunt, while Tony would escort Ellie back through the woods. Not that she really needed escorting, she was tough as a pair of bull’s balls.

Thirty minutes later, the smoke spread even thicker across the horizon. Ash started to feel uneasy about it, and he’d learned to trust those kinds of feelings.

“Roll the windows up, will you?” said Tony.

The smell of smoke crept into the pickup and covered them, seeping into their skin and clothes.

When Ash pulled the pickup to a stop just short of the source of the smoke, he felt his stomach sink. There were abandoned cars and debris strewn all across the plains. Some of it smoking, some of it was smashed. Glass from windshields littered the ground, and the windshields that were still in place were smeared with blood.

The archway of the Bolton tunnel was ahead of them, across a mist-covered rocky plain. The tunnel should have been an easy five-mile drive straight through the mountain range, but there was no way of getting through it today.

It was carnage. Abandoned cars completely blocked the tunnel entrance, and queues of them went back through the tunnel as far as Ash could see. Windows were smashed, doors were opened. Trunks were left ajar, some with bags sat in them, and other rucksacks on the floor as if the travelers tried to grab their things and leave in a hurry.

The closer they got, the more Ash’s eyes adjusted, and he began to see things. Extremely unsettling things. Blood smeared on a windshield. A crimson puddle near a car door. And then a hand on the floor. A leg. Soon, he saw dismembered body parts everywhere.

He pulled the pickup to a stop.

“Yeah…think that’s our cue to assess the situation a little.”

Tony got out his binoculars and moved them left to right to get a view of the tunnel.

“Jesus,” said Chad. “You would have thought that we’d hear this going down.”

“I heard something,” said Ellie. “I thought it was just the wind. Now I’m thinking it was some poor bastard screaming.”

Ash kicked the car door open and stepped out. He felt his face start to get red, and his shoulders were knotting up with tension.

“Goddamn it,” he said, “That was our only way through.”

“So, what now, boss?” said Ellie, making sure that ‘boss’ was said sarcastically.

“We better be careful. Whatever did this might still be out there. I’d say we should check for survivors, but something about the hands and legs littering the floor makes me a little reluctant.”

“I don’t think we gotta choice,” said Tony.

“Why?”

Tony passed him the binoculars.  “Just inside the arch, up at the roof. It’s dark, but you can just about make it out.”

Ash stared through the binoculars and found himself looking at a green sign that read ‘Bolton Tunnel,’ though the writing was fuzzy. He refocused and panned to the right, toward the tunnel arch. Then he saw it.

It was toward the roof of the arch, wedged against it so that it was half covered in shadow, half lit up by daylight. It was a yellow viscous sack around three meters deep. It looked like it was made from some kind of runny latex, except thicker and more fluid. Parts of it had dried to resemble a beehive, and these sections held the most shocking sights.

Dismembered people were stuck to them, trapped halfway-in and halfway-out of the nest as though it had been knitted around them. If they were dead he would have been horrified enough, but these people were alive.

He hoped one Ignis ball would take care of this, but plans going that smoothly were rarer than hand jobs in a forty-year long unhappy marriage.

“Know anything about this, FF?”

Luckily, I know a little; Dr. Aitken spent three weeks studying arachnids, and four days in the Lost Soul Mines completing a quest. He learned a little about nesting insects in Rapto.

“What’s FF saying to you?” asked Chad.

“He says it’s best you go down there on your own first and see what the deal is,” said Ash.

“Yeah, yeah,” said Chad.

This isn’t good, Ash, said FF. Stay alert.

“I’m a big boy. My balls have dropped and everything. Lay it on me.”

“Lay it on you?” said Chad. “That doesn’t sound too good. What’s FF saying? Come on, Ash.”

Looks like one of a few possibilities to me; nest gopplers, corux spiders, and if you’re really unlucky, this could be a giant wasp infestation.

“We need to destroy the nest,” said Ash. “Those people are still alive, for Christ’s sake. I just don’t know how we can get to them without putting ourselves in danger. Call me crazy, but I’m pretty wary about getting close enough to that thing for an Ignis flame.”

“What’s your spell range?” asked Tony.

“About the length of a weak kid’s softball throw. What effects can you put on your bullets?”

“Got a stun spell, and one that drains mana. Need to level up the spell before I get the third effect.”

Chad raised his bolt-action rifle. After his m16 ran out of ammo, he’d reluctantly had to borrow a gun from Tony’s worryingly-vast collection.

“Screw this,” he said. He squinted down the sights, found his mark, breathed in and fired.

Ash lifted up the binoculars. The bullet tore through the nest-like mesh, hitting a strand that connected it to the tunnel. Yellow goo sprayed out and rained down on the cars below like a fountain. The nest dislodged from the roof of the tunnel and began to crumple like a balloon losing air.

“All well and good,” said Ellie, but the people in it will still be alive.”

Ash sighed. He remembered the Labrador he almost had to put out of its misery. That was bad enough, but people? Killing someone who’d attacked him was one thing; it was them or him. This was a mercy killing, and it wouldn’t feel good. It meant getting closer to the tunnel than he liked, but he wouldn’t let them suffer.

“We’ll do a drive-by,” said Ash. “Tony, you take the wheel, and I’ll stay out on the back. I’ll have an Ignis ball ready, and I’ll burn the thing to ashes as we drive alongside it.”

“And where in Satan’s red ass are we going after that?” asked Chad. “If the tunnels blocked…”

“It’ll have to be through the Lantern mountains,” said Tony. “Now, let’s stop flapping our ass cheeks and move.”

Tony drove at a steady clip. Out on the back of the pickup, Ash felt his dark hair blow in the wind. He held onto the side of the vehicle with one hand. He raised his other, and as they drew nearer to the Bolton tunnel and the deflated nest, he grew a purple arcane flame in his palm.

Tony swung a turn, taking them right by the tunnel mouth. Ash unleashed his Ignis, and the flames lapped straight over the nest and incinerated it like it was kindling. It wasn’t the best end for the people who’d been stuck in it, but it was a damn sight better than a dying a slow death, trapped inside a nest waiting for god-knew-what to come back.

Through the back window of the pickup he saw Chad looking at him and giving thumbs up. Ash didn’t especially feel like patting himself on the back, and the 20% EXP he had earned when the people died made him feel dirty.

The smell of the burning nest mixed with scorched flesh, and Ash was glad when he felt the wind hit him faster, and Tony picked up their pace to get the tunnel behind them.

And then he heard the buzzing. A loud drone, like a pneumatic drill hammering up and down on concrete, except there seemed to be dozens, and they were coming from somewhere in the air.

The pickup lurched violently to the right, and Ash almost toppled right over the side. He was about to shout at Tony, when he saw what he had steered to avoid; there was a fly in front of the pickup.

Not the kind a kid could swat with a newspaper while taking a dump. This was a much bigger, and nastier, fly.

This fly was seven feet in length. Four feet of that was comprised of its beetle-black-colored body, with gangly, hairy legs and beady, bulbous eyes. The other three was made up of a translucent sac on its back. It looked almost like a cocoon, and thin layers of goo washed over the jelly-like material.

Most sickeningly of all, there was a man inside the cocoon on the fly’s ass. His face was pressed against it, his hair covered in slop. He beat against the sides of his prison. The fly didn’t seem to care; it made no sign that having a man trapped inside its arse hindered it in anyway at all.

Worse than I thought. Musca Flies. They dissolve things in their sacs and convert it to energy. It’ll be a long, painful death for the poor bastard inside.

Ash let an Ignis ball fly toward the insect, but it was too fast. The purple flames scorched passed it and fizzled in the distance when they ran out of range. After a short cooldown he cast another one, this time aiming not at the fly but where he guessed it would go.

He hadn’t judged it completely correctly since the fly moved diagonally upwards from where he aimed, but it was a better shot than last time.

The arcane flames struck the bottom of its translucent sac, splitting it open so that the man inside – his face dissolved by acid- fell to the ground amidst a glop of jelly juice and stomach acid.

With its buzz dying out and its wings flapping slower and slower, the fly lurched down like a plane losing altitude. It recovered itself, and then plummeted again. It hit the ground just in time for the pickup to crush it under its wheels.

The buzzing sounds intensified around them, and he saw five flies coming at them from the sides, while another five approached the rear, straight toward Ash.

He banged the metal roof of the pickup and shouted so that the guys inside it could hear him.

“We’re surrounded!”

It was hard to compete with the rushing wind and buzzing insects, but he tried.

“Keep zig zagging,” he told Tony. “Don’t let them get close.”

“Got it!”

“And you guys, aim for their jelly asses. I wanna see more jelly on the ground than at a five-year-old’s birthday party.”

Chad leaned out of one window with his rifle, Ellie leaned out of the other and took aim with her pistol. Gunshots sang out. It was a deafening sound but a sweet one, and made all the sweeter when it was followed by the pop of a jelly sac and the plummet of a dying fly.

They hadn’t had time to properly agree on where to go, but Tony was driving closer and closer toward the start of the Lantern mountain pass. He zigzagged as much as possible, careful not to lurch too much in case Ash flew out of the thing and splatted on the ground like an egg.

Ash clung on through every lurch of the vehicle, then judged the arc of the flies and did his best to scorch them.

A chain Ignis was impossible since they moved too much, and he couldn’t risk a level 2 Ignis with such a great chance of missing and wasting HP. Added to that the fact they were driving at 50 miles per hour, meant he didn’t have time to Life Drain the ones they managed to kill.

One fly swooped over his head. It was so close that the buzzing drowned out the engine of the pickup. His hairs stood on end. He’d never seen an insect so humongous.

Tony steered to the right, and a fly smashed into the windshield. Tiny cracks frosted the glass, but thankfully they were on the passenger side.

Ellie leaned out of the car window. She fired off a shot with her revolver and blasted open a jelly sack. Sour smelling goo splashed down onto the ground. Smoke rose off it.

Not good. This stuff burned whatever it touched, which made it dangerous to fight the flies at close quarters.

He heard a loud drone to his left, and turned to see a black shape heading straight for him. It hit him in the face with the power of a heavyweight boxer’s punch. He landed on his back on the metal of the truck.

Two more flies buzzed overhead. They kept pace with the truck and managed to hover just above him.

He saw a jelly sac open, and a slop of goof rained down. Ash rolled to the side and avoided it. The acid goo smoked on the metal.

He scrambled to his feet. That was no easy task, since Tony lurched left to right to avoid the fly onslaught.

The sound of a revolver shot boomed out. One fly to their right lurched back and then fell out of the air. Another kamikazed into the side of the truck, hitting it with such force it almost tipped it over.

There was still one fly above Ash. It’s jelly sac began to retract., Soon, he’d be showered in acidic gunk.

Damn. Can’t Ignis it, because the acid will rain down on me.

He banged the back of the truck.

“Break,” he shouted.

The jelly sac opened further.

“What?”

“Hit the brakes!”

Tony slammed on, and the truck stopped so suddenly that he smashed his head on the edge of the roof. He stumbled back, dazed.

Be careful with your head, said FF, I live in it too, you know!

He recovered himself to see the fly twenty feet in front of the truck. Breaking so suddenly had bought them a little distance from it. Two more buzzed to their left and right.

It was now or never. Hit them now, because if they got too close, they couldn’t shoot without getting splattered with acid.

“Take the bastards down!” he shouted.

He grew a level two Ignis and focused on the fly ahead of them. He studied the arc of its flight, watched it swoop side to side.

Come on, come on…

When he was sure he’d judged it correctly he let his arcane fire fly. The ball shot through the sky. Ash watched its flight nervously, hoping it landed.

The purple flame ball hit the insect bang on the jelly sac, melting the gooey flesh. Masses of yellow glop rained down on the ground. The fly hovered to the left, and then fell.

“Come on, yeah!” he shouted.

He banged the truck again.

“Okay, speed it up.”

The mountains loomed closer. One by one the flies died, whether by a bullet popping their ass-sacs or arcane flames greedily devouring their black skin.

Finally, the buzzing died, but even when the last fly was dispatched, Ash felt like he could still hear them. It was a sound that rattled around in his skull, louder even than the rushing wind.

He sank onto his back and felt the cool metal of the pick up on his neck. The sky rushed passed above him.

He took a few deep, quick breaths. His head stung from where he’d banged it, and he couldn’t get the rotten sour smell of the fly gunk out of his nostrils.

Level up level 12!

Blood Concentrate LVL 1 increased to 25%

“Thanks, FF,” he said, panting.

As glad he was for the progress, Ash was too tired to spend his attribute points yet. He’d cast so many Ignis balls in the fight that his health was down to 402, and his head was swimming so much he worried he’d gotten a concussion.

He gripped the edge to the truck and turned around, and he was relieved to see that there weren’t any more insects following them. The truck rolled over the dry ground, leaving the fly corpses behind them.

Eventually Tony slowed the vehicle to a stop. In front of them was a narrow path that marked the start of the Lantern mountain pass, a dangerous road over a rocky mountain range that nobody in their right minds would attempt. And yet, they had no choice.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Target Practice

Before even thinking about what to do next, Ash convinced Tony to turn back around a few miles and sweep the area so that he could Life Drain the dead flies. It was risky, but it would be worse to go on with a big dent in his HP.

With his done, his Life Drain skill increased to 80% on level 2, and his HP was almost topped up. Then, arriving back at the mountain pass, Tony killed the engine.

They decided that their only option was to drive through the Lantern Mountains. The road through them was treacherous as hell and would add almost five days onto their journey, but it came out somewhere near the city. It meant going back on themselves, but there was no other option. It wasn’t as if they could move the wreckage away from the tunnel entrance, and Ash didn’t think he could part the mountains. He was good, but not that good.

“It could take a week if things really go to hell,” said Ellie. “But there’s no other way through.”

“I might be losing my eyesight in my old age, but I’m sure a gang of big beaked little bawbags are spying on us from up in that tree,” said Tony.

Tony pointed toward a tree, and sure enough, Ash saw a group of crows perched on a branch not far above them. They were a few birds short of a murder, and there was something unsettling about the night-black birds watching them.

Ash shot an Ignis ball their way, cooking them instantly.

“What the hell?” said Chad.

“They might have been regular crows, but I wasn’t taking chances,” said ash.

Good thinking, said FF. It’s likely that Beele is still watching.

“Maybe we should head back to the ranch,” said Chad. “The tunnel is done. We might have enough supplies to get through the mountains, but the margin is thinner than a goblin’s cock.”

Ash shook his head. “No way. Things are only gonna get worse, and the Rapto shit is spreading. If we don’t make it through now, I doubt we’ll get another chance. The only thing that worries me is getting back. Tony, if you wanna head back to the ranch, I won’t blame you. All I’d ask is that you let me keep the pickup for a while.”

“No way. Marg would skin my ass if I went back alone. Not my style.”

“We better talk supplies, then,” said Ellie.

They worked out that they had enough MRE’s to last nine days if they rationed themselves. A man needed roughly 2500 calories a day and a woman 2000, but they were looking at getting 1600. If something happened on the mountain pass and they needed more food, they were going to have to hunt.

In terms of water, they were okay. They had enough bottles to last a week, and they had water filters with them. It just meant that when the bottles ran out, they’d have to find a stream.

It took thirty minutes to get to the mountain pass proper. The road was muddy and it was a stretch to even describe it as a road. The Lantern Mountains were rocky and seemed to be made mostly of dark grey-colored jagged stone. It stretched monolith-like into the sky, so high that Ash felt dizzy just looking for its peak. It was a place that many animals called home, with common reports of rabbits, deer, and even the occasional mountain lion roaming it.

It started on a steep incline and didn’t let up for almost an hour. The pickup was made for terrain like this, but it still seemed to struggle a little. As the slope began to level off they found themselves in the middle of the mountain. The road that cut through it was decades overdue maintenance work.

Thick forests lined either side of them, but these sure as hell weren’t regular ones. The trees seemed impossibly knobby, like the craggy skin of a troll. They gave off spectral glows of yellow, red and purple light. Rapto had spread much further into the world than Ash realized.

While Ash and Tony took turns driving, Ellie and Chad stayed on the back seat and chatted with each other. Chad had popped open a whisky bottle that Marg had given them to keep them warm when the chill hit. Despite Tony telling him not to get wasted, the young recruit soon had a buzz on. Let him have it, thought Ash. We all need our comforts these days.

After an hour of driving Ash realized what a tough ride this was going to be. He was limited to going ten miles an hour because the road would twist without warning, and in some places the forest thinned and there was a drop at the side of them. Further along the road, the forest would thicken again. They heard strange noises coming from it; not the usual chirps of birds but something else, growling sounds that sent a chill up Ash’s spine.

As he guided the truck along a relatively-straight stretch, the vehicle jolted and Ash saw something fly across his windscreen. He killed the engine.

“What the hell was that?” said Ellie. “It looked like a bird flew across.”

Ash wound down his window and saw a coil of rope on the ground next to the wheel. His chest tightened as he realized what had happened.

“It’s a fucking trap. Get your guns out.” he said.

Ellie looked at him in surprise, but she followed his order and picked up her pistol and put it in her pocket.

Two men stepped out from the trees to the right side of them. They were dressed up to the nines with mud-stained brown leather armor, and they held shiny-looking crossbows in front of them. Their faces were lined with a few days’ worth of beard growth.

Ellie got out of the car, faced the men and held up her police badge.

“What the fuck is that?” said one of the men, peering at the shining piece of metal with the Pasture PD symbol on it.

These lovely folks are from Rapto, said FF. Brigands by the looks of it. Those tosspots have less morals than a dark mage high on a mana rush.

“Looks like you strange-looking pissflaps have stayed into our territory,” said the tall brigand.

“Didn’t see a sign,” said Ash, when he got out of the pickup. “All I see are a couple of ragged-looking bitches flapping their mouths.”

“No? You sure you didn’t notice it? Did the old guy here spunk in your face and glue your eyes shut?”

“That’s unnecessarily vulgar,” said Chad.

Tony raised his rifle. The two brigands pointed their crossbows at him.

“Drop the fancy fire stick,” said one of the brigands.

“There are two ways I see this going,” said Ash. “One is that I burn you both to a crisp, and then I’ll piss on you to put it out and we’ll throw your smoldering carcasses to the mountain lions.”

“You got a big mouth,” said a brigand, “And I’ve got something to put in it.”

“Another idea,” said Ash, “Is that you think about this very carefully.”

The taller brigand on the left seemed to be the conversationalist of the two. The other one had lips like a puckered butthole, and Ash wondered if that was why he wasn’t talking. Maybe some monstrous accident of DNA had left him with a butt hole on his face.

“Interesting choices,” said the talker. “I got a counter offer. Pay us the toll.”

“You want gold? Go fuck yourself,” said Tony. He raised his rifle.

The brigand smirked. “Not gold. We don’t have any quarrel with you gentlemen. It’s the woman we want. Nothing to fuck in these woods, and we’ve already been here too long. Give us the woman; that’s our toll.”

Without a word, Ellie reached into her pocket, pulled out her pistol and pointed it at the taller man’s head. Tony aimed down the sights of his own rifle, while Ash let an Ignis flame burn in his palm.

Sensing that their odds weren’t as good as they’d thought, the brigands stepped back. The taller one still held the crossbow, but his grip was less certain than it had been before. Ellie’s eyes became black balls as she stared down the sights of her gun.

“Drop it, shitpouch” she told the taller man.

A drip of common sense must have mixed with the dung that counted for his brain, because he dropped his crossbow so quickly that Ash was surprised. He was almost a little disappointed; he had expected more of a fight than that. Ash bent over and picked up the bow from the ground beside the man’s feet. It was heavier than he thought.

Ellie nodded at the smaller one. He still held his crossbow, and his grip was surer than his friend’s.

“You ever actually used that thing?” said Ellie.

Ash pointed his new crossbow at the taller guy to keep him in check, but judging by the panicked look on his face, it wasn’t needed. He switched aim to the one with lips like a puckered arsehole.

“You have three weapons drawn on you now,” said Ellie. “Even if you’re more than a novice with that bow of yours, you still ought to know it can only fire one bolt at a time. Whether you shoot me or one of my jackass friends, you’re still getting your head split open seconds later. After that, I’ll drink your god damned blood.”

Ash felt a chill run through him. Damn, Ellie was mean when she wanted to be. He guessed that the brigands asking them to hand Ellie over like a piece of meat hadn’t put her in the best of moods.

“Fine, you bastards can pass,” said the taller brigand.

“Normally I’d arrest you and throw your dirty ass in a cell. But I can’t exactly do that here. So, I’m gonna teach you a lesson.”

“You always let your bitch talk like that?” asked the brigand.

Ellie whipped his face with the butt of her gun. The brigand’s nose exploded, and he put his hand to it and groaned in pain. Blood dribbled through his fingers.

“Okay, Ellie, you made your point,” said Tony.

There was a fierce look in the sheriff’s eyes, like a tiger zapped with a cattle prod and then turning on its warder.

“Not quite,” she said. Then she looked at the brigand whose nose she’d just broken. “Walk over to the tree over there,” she said.

He grunted through the pain. “Crazy god damn whore.”

Ellie stepped forward, gun raised, and he flinched.

“Go on, before I really lose my tempter.”

Ash watched both brigands follow Ellie’s instructions. Given she was a police officer, she was used to speaking with authority. Added to the venom in her tone, it meant they didn’t dare disobey.

Ellie made the taller brigand stand with his back to the tree, facing forward. She grabbed a crossbow and handed it to the shorter one. He looked amazed that Ellie was handing him his weapon.

“Move an inch without me telling you, and I won’t just blow your brains out. I’ll rip your cock off first, get my friend here to incinerate it, and then make you eat the dust.”

The shorter one gulped. “Whatever you say, lady. I’m your puppet. What do you need me to do?”

“Chad?” said Ellie. “How much of that whisky you got left?”

“Loads,” said the soldier, shaking the bottle. The amber liquid swished from side to side.

“Pass it here.”

She took the bottle off Chad, and passed it to the brigand. Again, his eyes widened.

“Drink up.”

The brigand looked at Ellie, then at Ash. Ash shrugged his shoulders. “You made your bed, fella. Not my fault you took a crap in it.”

Ellie forced the man to drain the rest of the whiskey bottle in one swig. After that, she made him turn around in circles, spinning again and again until even Ash felt dizzy. By the end of it, the brigand’s face looked green. He stumbled forwards and crashed face-first into the pickup. Ellie hauled him to his feet like he was a sack of potatoes.

“Come on, Ellie,” said Tony. “We don’t have time for whatever this is.”

“The bastard wanted you to hand me over to him like I was a cheese sandwich. What do you think they would have done with me? Not have a god damned tea party, that’s for sure.”

The brigand moved away from the pickup. His steps were so shaky that he looked like he could fall at any moment.

“Now,” said Ellie. “Pass me back the bottle.”

She took the whiskey bottle from the small man, marched over to the tree and balanced it on the taller one’s head. With that done, she came back, slapped the smaller one on the back.

“Time for target practice. Let’s see how you good you really are with that thing.”

“Now hold on a second,” said the taller one near the tree.

Ellie pointed her gun at his groin. “You either shut your mouth, or you lose your dick. That’s your choice.”

They all stood in silence as the smaller brigand aimed the crossbow. Even though he was stood still, the whiskey buzzing in his head made him sway like the forest ground was a carpet being shaken by a giant.

Taking quick, nervous breaths, he raised the crossbow. His face was completely white now.

He squinted down the sights, and then fired.

The arrow bolt whizzed through the air and made a sickening crack. Ash looked over and saw that it was lodged square in the taller brigand’s forehead.

“Just as I thought; you can’t aim for shit.”

Tony shook his head, walked to the pickup and got inside. He gritted his teeth. Chad perched against the bonnet of the vehicle, transfixed with Ellie. Ash didn’t know what the hell he’d just seen, but blood mage or not, he was never going to screw around with the sheriff.

The smaller brigand fell to the floor on his knees and vomited.

“What now?” said Chad.

Ellie pointed her pistol at the brigand, pulled the trigger and blew his skull open.

“Now we hit the road,” she said.

Chapter Twenty-Four

More Damn Crows

They kept the bandits’ crossbows and stored them, along with a set of bolts, on the back of the four by four. Ash looted the dead men and found two health potions, which he gave to Tony, and a leather purse full of gold coins. One of them had a dagger with an ivory hilt that offered more of an attack bonus than his current dagger, so Ash kept it on his belt.

With health potions being ineffective on a blood mage class, Ash decided he needed some way of carrying healing provisions. He and Chad spent a couple of hours hunting in the forests. Chad was a decent hunter, having spent some of his youth killing deer with his uncle when he was growing up. By the end of it, they had a several dead hares and a fox for their troubles, which Ash stored on the back of their vehicle.

He wondered how long a creature could be dead for and still allow him to Life Drain it. They pushed on through the mountain for a few hours, and when they took a break, Ash Life Drained one of the hares. He was pleased to see that it still worked, although the drain wasn’t too effective. It seemed that the longer something was dead, the less HP he’d get from it.

Further into the mountain the road became rougher, as though nature was angry at their progress through the pass and did its best to resist them. The wheels of the pick-up dipped into pot holes and rumbled over rocks without complaint, and Ash realized why Tony Shore seemed to have such a fondness for the vehicles.

Ellie wound down a window, lit a cigarette and breathed out smoke as the greens of the trees and greys of the rocks passed them by.  Ash turned his head slightly toward her, making sure his eyes were still on the road.

“You went too far back there,” Chad said.

Ash could still picture the smaller man’s wide eyes as he stood against the tree, and the suspicious looking dark patch that had spread on his crotch.

“People pounce on weakness,” Ellie said. “You learn that the first day you get your badge. If you’re gonna teach someone a lesson, if you’re gonna make them feel pain, then you better do it without mercy. Give them a lesson they’ll remember for the rest of their lives.”

Ash turned his full attention back to the road. It seemed like he and Ellie were fundamentally different people, or he liked to think so at least. Then again, was what Ellie had done any crueler than Ash’s past actions? Nope. Not when he really thought about it. He had spent the last few years travelling from town to town stealing life savings from gullible people.

“Ash, look out,” said Chad at the back.

Ash pressed the brake and brought the vehicle to a halt. The road ahead of them was rough and narrow and it would have been difficult to pass even in normal circumstances, but it was made all the more difficult today.

Somehow, a giant ash tree had fallen over and it completely blocked the road ahead. Ash slammed his hand against the dashboard.

“Damn it,” he said.

“Can we get around it?” said Chad.

“Impossible,” said Ellie. “The road’s here for a reason. It’s the only safe route through the mountains in a vehicle.”

“And there’s no goddamn way I’m abandoning the pick-up,” said Ash.

“What about going back?” said Chad.

“Go back to the ranch? And then what? The tunnel to the city is blocked. This is the only way through.”

Ash stared at the fallen tree. It was thick and large enough to cover the road, but it looked hollow. There was a hole in the middle of the trunk the size of a plate, and he could see the road ahead of them through it. If the tree was hollow then it would be lighter than it looked.

“We can move the tree,” said Chad.

Ellie turned in his direction. This time her stupid look was reserved for Ash.

“Just when I think you can’t be more of a dumbass.”

“Listen,” said Chad. “How do you think the pyramids were built? How do you move a large weight?”

Ash leaned forward. “With thousands of slaves, if you’re talking about the pyramids.”

Chad shook his head.

“No. You don’t use brawn. You use brains.”

“Unfortunately, you guys are lacking either,” said Ellie.

“Okay,” Chad said. “I know how to clear the way. But you need to listen to me. First we need to snap as many branches off the tree as we can, get rid of some of the weight. Tony, that’s your job. Then we need something to use as a lever. Something long and durable. We need something else to use as a fulcrum. A smaller log or something like that.”

“This ain’t going to work,” said Ellie.

“Nothing works unless you try it,” said Chad. “And I don’t think your sarcastic put-downs are gonna clear the road.”

“How do we move it then, Davy Crockett?”

“The lever and fulcrum will multiply the force we apply when we push on them. If we do it right, it should be enough to move the tree.”

“It makes us stronger than we are?” said Ellie.

“This is starting to sound like an after-school special, but no. It makes the weight easier to lift. Just trust me on this.”

“I don’t trust you an inch,” said Ellie, leaning against the bumper with her legs crossed.

“When the tree lifts, you’ll change your mind”

As they talked, Ash began to hear chirps coming from the trees above them. He looked up to see a couple of crows perched on a branch.

Chad grabbed a crossbow, took aim and hit one on the wing. It squawked and then plummeted to the ground, while the other bird took off into the sky.

“We don’t have time to screw around with levers,” said Ash.

He cast an Ignis bolt on the fallen tree. The flames licked over the wood and it began to burn, and plumes of smoke rose into the air. They backed up the truck to a safe distance and then waited for the log to burn enough that they could just drive over it.

There was movement in the trees to Ash’s right. He saw men wearing army khakis walking out of the forest. This must have Beele’s men, which meant that at some point, Beele had regained control of their minds. It was strange, because they had seemed fine back in Pasture Downs after Ash’s fight with Beele. Maybe it was something that only came into effect when he got into close proximity with them.

Whatever the reason, it was obvious they had a fight on their hands. There was something strange about the soldiers. They walked slower than usual, and their eyes had a glassy look to them. They took shambling steps out of the forest and toward the vehicle.

They’re corrupted, said FF. It must be one of Beele’s powers. They’ll be harder to kill.

That gave him an idea. He focused on one of the soldiers and cast Transfusion lvl 2, a spell that could cure debuffs. The blood spell hit the soldier and then washed off him.

Your intelligence is too low for the spell to be effective, said FF.

“I’ve been levelling my intelligence steadily for a while now.”

Let’s be honest, Ash. You started out at a major intelligence disadvantage, even before you became a blood mage.

Ash cast Durus to protect himself, and then blasted one of them with an Ignis ball. The flames scorched the soldier’s clothes and burned them away. Despite having been turned into a human torch, the soldier kept on walking, showing no sign that the arcane power had hurt him. Similarly, Tony popped one in the heart with a mana charged bullet. The soldiers lurched back a step, then carried on going.

Ash grew a level 2 Ignis flame. He gathered it in his hands as large as he could make it, then swept his hands out. The flamers scorched a pack of three soldiers who walked close together. The first, who he’d already hit, dropped the floor. Two of them walked on as the flames singed their faces and hair, and the forest air filled with the smell of them burning.

Ellie let loose with her pistol, Chad with his new crossbow. Bullets and bolts lodged into the corrupted soldiers.

“Go for headshots,” said Ash.

The blasts of Ignis balls mixed with the bangs of gunshots and thwacks of Chad’s crossbow. Tony’s aim was good once he knew where to shoot. Ellie was a little better, though Chad wasn’t great with his crossbow. Frustrated, he threw it to one side and picked up the rifle he borrowed from Tony.

It was a hard-fought battle, but when the second-to-last soldier fell at one of Ash’s level 2 Ignis flames, he leaned against the truck. Tony lined a shot on the last one.

“Wait,” said Ash. “Don’t kill it yet. Shoot it in both knee caps.”

“What?”

“Just trust me.”

Tony raised his rifle and with two bangs shattered the soldier’s kneecaps.

The fight had cost Ash more HP than he’d wanted, and he found himself left with 502 out of 827.

Don’t use Life Drain on them, said FF.

“Why not?”

They’re corrupted, there’s a chance you could drain the corruption along with HP.

Instead, Ash life drained a couple of the hares that he’d killed earlier, topping his HP up to 600. It seemed like the journey through the mountain was going to take a hell of a lot longer than he planned, so he was going to need a better way of healing.

“Chad,” he said. “Think we could catch a couple of hares and keep them alive? They’re more use to me that way.”

“We can try,” said the soldier, catching his breath.

Stat time? said FF, eagerly.

“Sure buddy.”

Level 12 EXP increased to 60%

Durus level 1 increased to 40%

Blood Concentrate Level 1 increased to 55%

“What are we doing with this guy?” said Tony, gesturing with his rifle at the corrupted soldier crawling along the floor and straining to reach his boots. He stepped back.

Ash focused on the soldier and cast Transfusion Level 2. He guessed that since the soldier was injured, his spell would work better. This time, the blood spell seeped into the soldier’s mouth. His eyes began to change, and the glassy look left him. With his corruption status gone, the pain from his shattered knee caps hit him at once, and he started groaning in a way Ash had never heard before. He kneeled beside the soldier and cast Transfusion to rid him of his pain.

The soldier’s knee caps healed, and the color returned to his face. He looked around at the corpses of his corrupted unit.

“What the hell happened?”

“Do you remember how you got here?” asked Ash.

“Did you do this?” said the soldier.

“I need you to answer my questions, and then I’ll explain. Do you remember how you got here and where you came from?”

“You killed everyone. Jesus Christ, what the hell are you?”

“My questions first.”

“Fuck you,” said the soldier, and spat in his face.

This was no good. With Jake in a coma back at the ranch and with only a limited amount of fortitude potions, they couldn’t waste time.

Ash grew and Ignis ball in his palms. He held it up so that the soldier could see it, then moved it close to his face. The soldier grunted in pain when the ball of flame was just an inch away. The arcane flames burned the stubble of his beard.

“I’m sorry I have to do this, but I need you to talk.”

“I’m not telling you…Christ!…anything.”

Ash moved his palms closer. He could smell skin burning.

“Fine! Fine, god damn it! Beele sent us, okay? I overheard him say that he needs to find the others who got the blue balls, whatever the hell that means. Said there was four people with blue balls.”

Behind him, Ash heard Chad let out a laugh.

The soldier reached to his side, and with a second produced a knife. Ash pressed the Ignis ball against his palm, scorching his skin. The soldier screamed and dropped the knife.

“What do we do with him?” said Chad. “Let him go?”

“So, he can go straight back to Beele?” said Ash. “No way.”

“We can’t just kill him.”

“Sure we can,” said Ash.

And with that he put his Ignis flame-covered hand against the soldier’s throat and held it there while he screamed.

After that was done, he stood up, drained the last of the hares and the fox.

“Did you really have to do it like that?” said Chad. “Couldn’t you just have shot him in the head?”

“Beele’s watching. I know he is. I want him to see what happens if he comes for us.”

Level 12 EXP increased to 72%

**Life Drain levelled up to level 3!**

Drain HP from creatures you have wounded while they are still alive.

Blood Mage Tier 2 increased to 50%!

“Let’s get moving,” said Ash. “I’m sure I can hear more damn crows.”

Chapter Twenty-Five

Let’s Get Drunk

With the fallen tree reduced to cinders on the ground, they drove on through the mountains. Tony took the wheel this time, and he seemed to relish driving his vehicle, almost as if it was an old friend and it had pained him to watch others in the driver’s seat.

As they went, Ash decided it was time to take a look at his skills and see where he was up to. He had gained so many since becoming a blood mage that it was getting hard to keep track.

Blood Mage Tier 2 – 50%

Ignis – LVL 3

Lvl 1 – Target one creature with an arcane flame attack

Lvl 2 – Donate double blood for a more powerful flame

Lvl 3 - Target multiple creatures

Life Drain – LVL 3

Lvl 1 – Drain life from a creature you have killed

Lvl 2 – Drain life from multiple corpses at once

Lvl 3 -  Drain life from wounds on creatures still alive

Transfusion – LVL 3

Lvl 1 – Heal someone using your own HP

Lvl 2 –  Heal poison and other debuffs

Lvl 3 – mass transfusion – multiple people can be healed for the price of one

Blood Concentrate – LVL 1

Lvl 1 – Casting spells costs 10% less HP

Durus – LVL 1

Lvl 1 – Blood Armor protection

Blood Share – Lvl 1

Lvl 1 – Heal an ally using an enemies blood

He was getting somewhere, but he couldn’t help but think that his blood mage tiers were weighted way too heavily toward the support side of things. He needed more offensive spells. Ignis was great, but it wasn’t good for everything. What if he came up against something with arcane or fire resistance? Hopefully, tier 3 would fix that.

By the time night fell Tony was getting drowsy, and Ash needed a rest too. They pulled up by a large cave cut into a cliff face on their left. They made sure that nothing big and nasty lived inside it, finding only the remnants of an old campfire and a few tin cans on the stone ground.

Tony got out of the vehicle and stretched his legs.

“Well, we’ve lost the light, and as much as I want to get there and back for the boy, we need the rest.”

“If we’re stopping, then I’m getting really god damn drunk,” said Chad. “After seeing corrupted soldiers and everything else, I need to obliterate my mind a little.”

“Never a truer word fucking said. Ash?”

“Sure. We could all do with relaxing before the morning, and I’m certain there’s another bottle of whiskey in the back. Just don’t complain when your heads are throbbing in the morning.”

An hour later, all four of them were well on their way to drunkenness. It might not have been the wisest idea, but in times like that, everyone needed to take whatever escape they could. In the morning, they’d get up and travel all day regardless. Might as well try and take their mind off it for a bit.

“Why did you want to come along?” said Ash, looking at Chad. “You’d have been safer at Tony’s ranch.”

“I’ve never been a homebody,” said Chad. “I’ve always been travelling. When I enlisted I thought the travelling bug would calm down, but my feet got even itchier.”

“Do you have family?”

“An aunt and uncle, like I said. That’s it, really.”

“Must be hard.”

Chad picked a twig from the floor and started to snap it.

“I’m used to it. My parents died when my older brother, Dirk, and I were kids. The state put us in separate homes, for some damn reason. I didn’t see him for years, so long that I even started to forget what he looked like. When I was fourteen I put a request through the adoption agency for me and Dirk to write letters to each other, but Dirk said no.”

“Any reason why?” said Ash.

Chad looked at the floor and shook his head.

“Jeez. That’s tough. Why didn’t your aunt and uncle take you both in?”

Chad threw the twig to the floor. His fists were clenched now.

“They have kids of their own, my cousins, and they didn’t want to take two more on. It was only when I turned sixteen that they let me go live with them for a couple of years, but on the condition that I got a job and paid them three hundred dollars a month.”

The sky outside the cave was the color of tarmac, and a wind picked up in the air and ruffled the leaves of the trees. Somewhere deep amongst the trees a bird cried out, and the chirps of insects filled the air like a backing chorus. Ash turned to Chad and squeezed his shoulder.

“We need to figure a way to deal with Beele,” said Ash, taking a shot of whiskey. “The guy’s sending me crazy. Every time I see a bird I feel like scorching it.”

“First thing is to make it off this damn mountain,” said Tony. “It’s too enclosed. Once we’re in open air, his little birds won’t have anywhere to high.”

“Except the sky,” said Chad.

“Well…yeah.”

Ellie reached out for the whiskey bottle. Ash handed it to her. She drained it dry, wiped her lips, then stood up. She held her hand out toward Chad.

“Come on,” she said.

Chad looked confused. “What?”

“You and me in the back of the four by four. Now.”

“Seriously?”

“Do I need to ask you twice?”

“Classy lady,” said tony, with a grin.

“Class can get fucked. I need to de-stress,” said Ellie.

Ash was even more confused than Chad for a second, and then he remembered that he’d given the army recruit the necklace of libido. He didn’t want to stand in the way of Chad having a good time, but it didn’t seem right that Ellie was being swayed by the necklace’s powers.

“Where’s the necklace I gave you?” he said.

Chad felt around his neck. “Damn. Must have lost it.”

Ash laughed. “Okay. You too have fun. I’m just gonna walk far enough away that I don’t hear anything.”

It turned out that he had to walk quite far away for that…

The next morning, the splutter of the engine broke the stillness of the forest around them, and they rolled along the mountain path. Their progress so far had been slower than they hoped, and Ash was worried that they were going to have to cut their calorie intake even further before long.

The cliff edges on both sides fell back after a while, and a large patch of forest greeted them. Every few hours they stopped so that they could have something to eat and then stretch their legs. Ellie would roll herself a smoke, and Chad would destroy the tranquility of the area by strumming the ukulele that he had picked up in Pasture Down. Ash filled up the gas tank with a red metal can with a dent in the side of it.

“Only three cans left,” said Chad.

“Not good, is it?” said Ash, as the gas gulped out of the can.

“Think we’ll get through the pass?”

“I’m hoping it’ll take us most of the way. If we have to walk a mile or two at the end so be it, but we need to clear the mountains as best we can.”

“Son of a bitch,” came a cry at the front of the pick-up.

Ellie had tripped on a root and sprained her ankle. Ash couldn’t help but think that these kinds of things always happened at the worst times.

Chad leaned with his elbows on the hood of the pick-up. His cheeks and chin were covered by three days of beard growth. It seemed that with each passing day his image moved further away from the shaven, crew-cut standard expected of an army recruit.

“We better splint your ankle,” he said. “Or you’re gonna do some serious damage.”

Chad walked around to the trunk, searched through it and then came back to the front of the pick-up holding a roll of duct tape and a pair of scissors. He held them up and grinned.

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” said Ash.

He cast transfusion on Ellie, donating 50HP to fix her ankle. He was getting to the point now where he didn’t want to spend any on spells unless he had to, but letting Ellie hobble around would only slow them down. With that done, it was time to get in the truck and set off again.

As they approached it, a giant shape leapt off the cliff to the side of them and landed on the roof of the vehicle, crushing it.

Ash’s heart pounded. It was a goddamn troll!

He’d hoped that the last troll he’d killed would be the only one he’d see in his life. He certainly hadn’t expected adding a second troll meeting to his list of ‘things that really, really sucked.’

This troll didn’t have a crow on its shoulder. That was something to be glad about, at least. Unless…

“FF, Can Beele mind jump into a troll?”

Doubt he’s become that powerful yet.

“Good. Let’s deal with this thing and hope that we can salvage the truck in some way.”

As confident as he’d tried to sound, his heart was racing. At fifteen feet tall it towered over them. Its body was packed with so much tough muscle that it looked like it was a chunk of rock that some crazy mage had breathed life into.

Focus, he told himself. Look for weaknesses. Stay out of reach.

The troll picked up the vehicle and tossed it over the side of the mountain like it was a pebble. Ash heard the crash of metal as the vehicle tumbled into the depths below, along with most of their equipment and all their rations.

Shit.

Ash was the first to react, firing a level 2 Ignis straight at the troll’s face and blinding it with flames. While the beast batted at its own face, Tony, Ellie and Chad peppered it with gunfire.

The troll lashed out wildly, catching Tony in the chest with one of its mighty fists.

Tony tried to shout, but all that came out was a horrible, twisted groan. His chest looked like it had caved in. Broken ribs for sure.

As it tried to strike him again, Ash fired another Ignis ball. The arcane fir lashed its face. A sickening smell rose in the air as its skin singed.

The troll roared and struck out in a wide arc with its arm. Chad pulled Ellie just out of reach. The troll’s fist crashed into the side of the cliff and tore a hole in the stone.

Jesus Chris, these things are tough.

The troll took a giant step forward, it’s feet making a booming sound when it touched the ground.

Without a second to check his HP, he grew a level 2 Ignis. Just as he cast it, he heard a sickening pop.

The troll gave such a high-pitched scream that it chilled Ash to the core. Blood and goo ran down its face. It’s eye sockets seeped red.

My god, he thought. Its eyes have burst.

Ash gathered himself. Ash cast Durus and then told the others to stay back. The closer he was to the troll, the more his flames would hurt it. It was blinded and weakened, and he needed to finish it off.

The troll was swinging wildly now, hitting thin air with one first, punching the cliffside with the other. Stones as big as Ash’s head tumbled down. He lost all the breath in his lungs when one, big enough to kill him, landed an inch away from him.

Just a few more steps.

He got as near as he dared, and then blasted it. Flames devoured its chest, but the beast wouldn’t go down.

“Doesn’t this thing ever die?” said Chad.

He heard a click behind him and then heard Ellie say, “oh shit,” and sure enough, he saw her put her pistol in her holster.

“I’m empty,” she said.

“Chad, switch to the bow,” said Ash. “We need to conserve bullets.”

It was down to him then. He lashed Ignis after Ignis at the beast.

Keep an eye on your HP, FF warned him.

Gasping for breath, Tony charged his bullets with a stun spell and then shot it in the arm, locking the low-HP troll in place.

When Ash was drained to 380 HP he unleashed one more Ignis level 2, blasting the troll in the chest. The creature took two stumbling steps back.

Fall, damn it!

With the last of his energy spent, Tony stumbled forward and fell face first on the ground. He was a goner. If Ash didn’t do something soon, he was done.

Ash acted quickly, casting Blood Share and using the troll’s life force to heal Tony.

Just as he had finished, the troll cried out in pain and anger, and then stepped back again.

“The stun’s losing effect!” shouted Chad.

It was now or never. He grew a burning ball of purple Ignis in his hand. He charged at the troll. He was so close that if it swiped out, he wouldn’t be able to avoid it.

Just a little closer…

“Okay, you bastard!”

He unleashed his ball of fire and blasted the troll in the chest. The forced rocked it backwards. It lashed out with its arms, catching Ash on the shoulder and knocking him to the floor. Pain seared his upper arm and shoulders. The wind was knocked out of him.

He looked up to see the troll trying to beat its own chest to fan the flames. IT took two steps back…then two more…

…and it toppled backwards over the mountain side to join the wreck of their vehicle.

Ash listened to it roar as it plunged down the mountainside. Its fall seemed to last hours, but he knew that was just a trick of anxiety. Finally there was a loud crash. The mountain was silent after that, save for the faint crumbling of rocks falling from the cliff side.

Is now a good time for…

“Just one second,” he said.

He rushed over to Tony. His heart was hammering. He was too late, he knew it.

He carefully turned the old man over. His chest was a mess, caved it from taking the blow of the troll’s fist. His breaths were shallow and raspy.

Ash cast transfusion on him, pumping with HP until his chest started to look normal again, and his breaths came at a steady pace.

With that done, Ash fell on to his back and closed his eyes.

Ahem. Is it a good time now?

He knew FF wouldn’t be happy until he told Ash his stats, so he agreed.

Great! Said FF.

Level up to level 13!

- HP increased to 820

Blood Concentrate Lvl 1 increased to 70%

Durus Lvl 1 increased to 60%

Blood Share Lvl 1 increased to 15%

“So, we have no food, no ride, and we have miles of troll infested mountains to walk through,” said Chad.

“Cheer up,” answered Ash. “You never know, that might be the last troll we ever see.”

“Doubt that very fucking much,” grunted Tony.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Time For your Reward

Tony stared over the mountainside. His vehicle had disappeared amongst the trees at the bottom of the fall, so he looked in its general direction and put his hand on his heart.

“You were a good truck,” he said. “And a damn fine friend.”

Ellie looked at Chad and put her finger to her temple and made a ‘he’s batshit crazy’ gesture. Ash walked over Tony and squeezed his shoulder.

“Come on, buddy. With the way things are, there’s gonna be thousands of abandoned vehicles in the city. We’ll get you a new one.”

With no truck they had a lot of walking ahead of them, and that meant they were going to need food for the journey. This was why, a few hours after sunrise, Ash found himself stood in the middle of another patch of trees with a crossbow in his hand.

The treetops were fanned out wide above him and smothered out the daylight light. Some of the trees cast violet and crimson glows, a symptom of the spread of Rapto onto the mountain. He had his weapon cocked, bolt ready. Chad and Ellie were over at the pick-up playing cards on the back seat. Tony had come hunting too, but he’d gone over to the west, toward a rock nestled in the center of the forest.

Ash walked further over the bracken, crushing the twigs and leaves under his boots. He held the crossbow in front of him. Chad had given him instructions on how to use it, and after that, a message had appeared in front of him.

Proficiency gained – Crossbow LVL 1

LVL 1 – You know the fundamentals of using a crossbow. With practice, you may even hit something.

As much as he enjoyed learning a new skill, he still wished he could just Ignis the unlucky mountain lion, hare or fox that got in his way. The problem with that was that although they were going to cook the meat before they ate it, he doubted the others wanted their food charred black beyond belief.

Not only that, but he’d decided he better work on a secondary mode of offence for situations where his Ignis wasn’t effective. He was bound to come up against something that couldn’t be barbequed eventually. So, he’d use the crossbow and level up his skill a little. If anything really big came his way, like another goddamn troll, he’d shoot an Ignis up its ass.

He’d walked on a few more minutes, until he heard a sound. He glanced around and couldn’t see any sign of Tony. Ellie and Chad were out of view. He held the crossbow ready. With his basic proficiency, the weight of it felt good in his arms.

As he carried on, he saw a shape.

Ok. Time to be quick, and quiet. The bolt was loaded, all he had to do was fire. Just a few more steps closer…

And then he stopped. There wasn’t a hare or lion or fox in front of him, but a woman. She was on her back on the forest floor with blood seeping from a wound in her shoulder. For a second, Ash was completely taken aback with how beautiful she was, with her long, red hair and supple skin.

He kneeled beside her. “Just one sec,” he said.

He cast transfusion on her, and the wound on the shoulder began to knit itself together as though a surgeon was closing it with stitches. It gradually became less swollen and red and returned to a more normal pale color.

She looked to be Ash’s age, with green eyes that shone like sapphires.

“You okay now? What happened to you?”

“It’s coming back,” she said.

She sat up.

“It’s coming back!”

She pointed behind Ash. He turned around to see a giant grown bear coming after him. Its course fur was matted with mud and twigs, it’s yellow teeth looked sharp enough to crush Ash’s skull in one bite.

He scrambled to his feet. He had just seconds to react before the beast reached him. Just as it swiped with its paws he cast Durus and absorbed the blow with his blood armor. The bear reared back, then stretched out tall on two feet to show Ash how big it was.

“Yeah, you’re pretty big, but you’ll still burn all the same.”

He grew a level two Ignis flame, letting the purple arcane fire ball crackle and spit until it was big enough. As the bear bounded back at him, Ash unleashed his spell, catching the bear on its face with its flames.

The beast roared, and Ash wondered if it would attack again despite the flames coating its fur. It took one stumbling step, then another, and then crashed face first to the forest floor. Ash life drained it, topping his HP back up to 695.

Level 13 EXP inc to 98%

Durus Lvl 1 inc to 70%

Adrenaline sloshed around his veins for a few minutes while he gathered his breath. Then, as the adrenaline started to drain away, a wave of tiredness shot through him. He sat down on the forest floor. He just needed a minute or two, and then he’d be back on it.

As soon as he sat down, he felt two hands touch his shoulders. He lifted the crossbow and spun around, only to see the redhead behind him.

Not only that, but she was naked.

“It is time for your reward,” she said.

He didn’t quite believe what he was seeing, and something told him this was wrong. He knew he should get back to the others, but as the redhead stared at him, her felt drawn in by her green eyes. All sensible thoughts left his brain as if she’d cast them out, and she was reeling him. It was as if she cast a spell on him, and every last dredge of common sense was sucked away.

He stood up. Before he knew it, she embraced him, and he let her. They walked a little further into the forest. Part of him knew this was stupid, but an even stronger urge told him that he had to accept his reward, that he had no choice.

3 minutes later…

Ash was on his back. Man, he’d needed that. He hadn’t realized it until now, but he’d needed it.

“I didn’t get your name,” he said, catching his breath.

Silence.

He opened his eyes. He turned to look at the woman.

She was gone. In her place was a four-foot tall, green and vaguely humanoid monster, with three large, oval eyes and. It had a long tail that trailed along the ground, with something resembling a scorpion’s sting at the tip.

“What the hell!” he shouted. He zipped up his fly, grabbed his crossbow and pointed it at whatever this thing was.

The monster held up its hands. Ash saw that it had ears on its palms.

“Do not be alarmed,” it said.

“Alarmed? I pretty far beyond fucking alarmed right now.”

“I am a changeling,” said the monster, “And the flame-haired human woman is one of my forms.”

Ash felt sick. “So I just…with you? I just banged a changeling?”

“My name is Verto and I classify as female. Since arriving on earth planet I have looked for a mate.”

You’ve really done it now, said FF.

Ash felt like unleashing a bolt in this thing’s forehead. He took a deep breath and forced himself to stay calm.

No. That wasn’t working. He needed to remove himself from this situation before he completely lost his head.

He turned and went to leave, but he heard footsteps follow him.

“What the hell do you want, Verto?”

“I have looked for a mate,” said Verto, “And I am pleased to announce that fertilization is complete.”

Status Gained: Changeling Father

By fathering an offspring to the unbelievable fertile changeling, you are bonded to the creature.

“FF, tell me this isn’t happening. Please.”

Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time.

“A status just told me I’m bonded to this thing. Tell me it doesn’t mean that literally.”

I’m afraid so. Neither you nor the changeling will be able to stray a certain distance from each other until the changeling baby is born. It’s a defence system they have to stop changeling fathers just leaving after mating.

“Verto wishes to see your dwelling,” said the changeling.

Ash rubbed his face. Jesus god-damn Christ. He’d never wanted kids. Not even the human kind, and he’d always been careful. Then, all it took was one little mistake, and bam! He was the father of a changeling. They should have covered this in sex-ed at school. Then a thought struck him; what was he going to tell the others?

As he contemplated that, he heard footsteps crunching over the forest floor, and soon, Tony loomed into view.

“Ash, I found another blue orb!” he shouted. Then he stopped, saw Verto, and raised his rifle. “What the hell is that?”

“It’s okay,” sighed Ash. “She’s with me.”

Chapter Twenty-Seven

The Oathbreaker

After Tony and Ash joined the others, they all stood in a circle. In this little gathering were two points of interest; one being the blue orb that Tony had found beside a hollow felled log, and the other was Verto, Ash’s new changeling bride.

Ash felt that Verto warranted the most pressing explanation, so he’d told Ellie and Chad what happened, making sure to leave in the parts that emphasized what an ass he was. There was no point trying to hide it; they’d spent enough time with him already.

Ellie shook her head. “You know, I fell pregnant with Jake when I was fifteen, and my dad called me a whore and an idiot. But you, my friend, have hit a whole new level. At least my lay was Brad Thommo from the soccer team. You got yourself a mutant inter-dimensional girlfriend.”

Verto shook her head. “No. Not girlfriend. No emotion, only help Verto until baby is born.”

“There’s nothing I can do about this, FF?” asked Ash.

Not until your little changeling offspring enters the world, no. But does this man I’m an uncle? Or joint father? I can’t figure out how this works.

“What if I just kill her?”

Ellie gasped, and Verto eyed Ash with suspicion.

You wouldn’t do that.

Ash sighed. “No. I wouldn’t. What if I force her to leave?”

The bond you have won’t allow it. Get beyond a certain distance from each other, and your HP will begin falling. Sure, you’ll respawn, but then you’ll be even further away, and your HP will drain again. It’ll just happen over and over, keeping you in an endless respawn loop.

“Damn it. Looks like Verto stays with us until I figure this out. Sorry, guys.”

Tony hefted the weight of his rucksack on his back. The tip of his rifle poked over the top. He put his foot on the blue orb in front of him as if it were a soccer ball.

“So…we need to decide who gets this,” he said. “Ash and I touched a blue orb and got our classes, and it looks like it’s time for one of you two to join us.”

“What’s it like?” said Ellie. “Do you feel different?”

“Fitter. Stronger. And I could never charge my bullets with fucking fairy magic before.”

“Ash?” said Ellie.

“I killed a bear, Ellie. By myself. I’m pretty sure I couldn’t have done earlier.”

Ellie looked at Chad. “What do you think?”

“You take it,” he said.

“Listen,” said Tony. “If I can just toss a penny in our worryingly low thought jar, I have an inkling that Chad might be the guy we need. The orbs give classes based on something inside you. I’ve always been preparing for disaster scenarios, so I became a Survivalist, meaning I’m better in-tuned to stuff, I can cast shields for damage protection, and I can charge my bullets with stun effects and the like.”

“I get what you’re saying. We need to think about who’s gonna get the best class,” said Ash.

Tony nodded. “Looking at our army fella here, he’s got a good build. Fit, muscled. I reckon that his class would be something physical, which is exactly what we’re lacking. No offence, Ash, but you ain’t Mr. Universe.”

Ash shrugged. “No need to be when you can shoot fire.”

“Are we agreed then that Chad gets the orb?”

Ellie shrugged. “I’m wary of touching that thing anyway.”

“Okay then, Chad. Pick up your big blue ball.”

Chad kneeled next to the glowing opal orb. If he was nervous at all, he didn’t show it. Instead he grabbed it with both hands. Light began to drift from it, almost mist-like, and wrapped around his hands before teasing its way up his arms, and across his chest. It began to seep into his mouth and cover his face, until soon the recruit was awash with blue mist.

Blue light suddenly spread out like the crack of horizontal lightening. It washed pulse-like through the forest, and then faded, leaving them with the normal daylight and chilly wind.

Chad didn’t look any different. He certainly hadn’t become some kind of tank-like class, that was for sure.

“Well?” said Tony.

“Give him a sec,” replied Ash. “He’ll be learning about his class and seeing his stats.”

Verto sighed, as if she was impatient with waiting. Ellie crossed one arm across her chest.

Finally, Chad opened his eyes.

“So…” said Ash. “What are you? Warrior? Barbarian?”

Chad shook his head. “The woman inside my head tells me I’m an Oathbreaker.”

“What does that mean?” said Ellie.

“I deserted my army unit after Beele went insane and I met you guys,” said Chad. “That means I broke an oath according to this holier-than-thou ass of an orb. The orb matched me up with a class and came up with Oathbreaker.”

“You didn’t desert, lad,” said Tony. “Beele had made a glop off shit out of the other guys’ minds. There was nothing you could have done.”

Chad shrugged. “I don’t know how the balls work. They made Ash a blood mage and gave you magic bullets. I think arguing over army discharge semantics is a little beyond them.”

“What can you do?” asked Ash.

“I’ve got something called Impius sense, so that when someone does an act classed as evil near me, I sense it.”

Tony looked at Ash. “Watch yourself,” he said.

“What else?” asked Ellie.

“You’re not gonna like it,” said Chad.

“Listen,” said Ash. “I’m about to be father to a human-changeling hybrid. Right now, any other news I get is right down the pecking order.”

“Lizzie says I – “

“Lizzie?”

“My mind construct. She says my other power is Sinful Act; the worse acts I do, the more powerful I get. Kind of like a chain reaction, too. Do more bad things in a row, and they add up like multipliers.”

“We should have let Ellie touched the orb,” said Tony. “At least she’d have been a fucking ranger or something like that.”

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Murder of Crows

They spent the rest of the day walking through the mountain. Ash kept a wary eye out for any sign of bears, trolls and goblins, but fortunately all he saw were a few hares. He shot two of them with his crossbow and then missed a third, cursing his poor aim as it scampered away.

Crossbow LVL 1proficiency increased by 20%

The sky started to darken around them. The blacker it got, the more Ash felt unsettled. He was suspicious of every sound he heard. Since they were surrounded by forests, there were plenty of birds nesting in the trees and chipping their evening songs. The question was, was Beele watching through their eyes?

“We’re not too far from leaving the mountain now,” said Tony. “What’s the plan after that?”

“We look for the mage. Can’t be too hard to find,” said Ash.

“Verto knows mage.”

Everyone turned to look at the changeling. The little green creature had been quiet for most of the journey, and she had stared at the landscape around her with wide-eyes. Ash supposed that here, everything was new to her. Did they have bears and hares in Rapto?

“Say that again, Verto,” said Ash. “You know where the mage is?”

“He lives out of the mountain. He changes things in the forest.”

“Can you guide us there?”

“Verto can, and Verto will.”

Ellie tapped Ash’s shoulder. “A word please, father-to-be.”

Ash and Ellie walked apart from the group a little.

“Something wrong?”

“I don’t trust that little frog. Something’s not right.”

“You’re telling me. Wrapping my head around being a blood mage and killing goblins was bad enough, and now she’s telling me I’m gonna be a dad to a god damn hybrid-monster-thing. I need a drink.”

“We’ll have a baby shower for you when this is over. Just keep an eye on her.”

“Trust me, I am. One foot out of place, and I’m blasting her,” he said, not completely sure he meant it.

“I would have thought you’d have considered that already.”

“It doesn’t seem right yet,” said Ash. “Call this a spiritual awakening, but I can’t bring myself to do it. And trust me, FF says things will go wrong real fast if Verto and me are separated in any way.”

“Makes me a little uneasy,” said Ellie.

“As soon as I figure out a way to get rid of her, she’s gone.”

To their right, Chad suddenly stopped walking. He looked around him, as if his attention was drawn to something. After gazing at the forest to their right, he focused on a giant knobby elm tree that stood taller than the rest.

“My Impius sense is ringing like a frigging alarm bell. Other there, in the elm. See them?”

The tree looked like a giant stick of broccoli, with dark green leaves covering the spindly branches. Ash stared for a while, then began to make out dark shapes perched on the branches. At first a couple, then more.

The more he looked the more he saw, and he realized there must have been at least fifty crows staring back at them with dark little eyes. Unlike the rest of the forest birds, these were silent. There was something unnerving about it.

Tony raised his rifle, then thought better of it. “I don’t have enough bullets to take them all down.”

“They’re either Beele’s spies, or they’re an unusually silent murder of crows,” said Ash. “Either way, an Ignis blast will scatter their asses.”

As he raised his hands and grew a flame, one of the crows fluttered silently off its perch. The rest followed it and gathered in the air above the trees, flying so close together that they looked like black mist. The swarmed together, their obsidian wings melding with the darkened sky.

He cast an Ignis flame at them, but the birds swooped downwards almost as one, and the arcane bolt fizzled out into the expanse of black sky. Taking that as a signal, the crows began flying at them.

As they got closer, Ash watched with dread as they began to transform. They grew in size until each one of the feathered-vermin was at least two feet long. Whether these were Beele’s minions of not, they were definitely not regular earth-variety crows. These little gits were from Rapto.

One crow swooped in too fast for Ash to avoid and pecked him on the shoulder. He felt a sting of pain as its sharp beak pierced his skin, and FF told him that he’d lost 20HP.

The other birds, gaining confidence, swooped on Ash and his friends.

Tony fired off a shot, and his bullet tore through a crow’s wing. The bird swirled to the side, and then plummeted to the ground.

“Gonna need a damn machine to take all these out!” he said.

Ash shot two out of them with Ignis, and as the flames spread across their wings and devoured them they became infernos, before crashing to the ground like squawking feathered comets. Tony shot one out of the sky while Ellie, reduced to wielding a crossbow due to lack of bullets, winged one of them with a bolt.

“There’s too many,” said Chad.

Say that again, thought Ash.

Hitting the damn things was hard enough; they might have been bigger than normal crows, but they swooped and dived too fast for him. At this rate, he’d drain his HP and have nothing to show for it but arcane fireballs flying harmlessly through the air.

Gunshots cracked and Ignis balls fizzled. Squawks of giant crows mixed with shouts of pain whenever one of the gang were pecked.

Soon, the ground was littered with fallen birds, some dead from gunshots, others thrashing as flames licked over them.

Ash tried a chain Ignis ball, but the problem was that the crows swooped and dived without warning, some of them using the trees as cover and shattering the chain. Unless they stayed in one place at the same time, there was no way for him to nail them in one shot.

Despite their best efforts, it wasn’t enough. There must have been dozens of the mutated crows on the ground now, yet a swarm of them still hovered overhead, swooping in for an attack whenever they saw a chance.

Ellie cried out as one crows gouged a wound in her neck. Chad batted away at two of them who swarmed around his head, pecking his skull and drawing blood.

Need to do something here. Ash cast Blood Share, draining life force from the dead birds to heal his friends.

Shot after shot rang out, and still they came. The birds were almost suicidal in the ferocity of their attacks, and not even Ash’s flames scared them. More fell, and yet twenty or more remained.

“I’m out of bolts,” said Ellie.

Tony reloaded his rifle. “Running low myself.”

Ammunition was scarce in the apocalypse, and much more so when they had to use it shooting birds from the sky. If only they’d stay still…

“Verto help,” announced the changeling.

Ash watched in astonishment as the changeling started to mutate. Her green skin began to bubble and became almost goo-like, before changing into a new form before him.

Verto became a giant magpie, a black and white winged bird with beady black eyes and as big as a tank.

Wow. After all he’d seen, there were still things that could surprise him.

Verto flapped her wings and produced a blast of wind so strong it almost knocked Ash over. She took to the sky and headed for the swarm of crows, flying straight into the middle. She knocked some out of the sky with flaps of her humongous wings, and stabbed others with her beak.

“Humans leave,” said Verto, as the crows swarmed her.

She was buying time for them to escape. Thanks to her tremendous size she was a match for the crows, but one by one they began to ignore Ash and the rest and instead gathered around Verto like a plague of locusts, swooping in and out with their beaks and stabbing her.

“Ash, come on!” yelled Ellie.

The other had started running. The trail away from the mountains wasn’t far now, and if they fled, they could hopefully leave the crows behind.

And yet, Ash found himself stuck to the spot.

He couldn’t leave with the rest of them; he was bonded with the changeling now, and if he went too far away, he’d lose HP and then die, and then he’d be stuck in the never ending respawn cycle FF had told him about.

“Ash!” cried Chad.

Verto shrieked as one of the crows pierced her eyeball with its beak. She hovered down a little, almost starting to plummet, but then regained herself.

“You guys run,” said Ash.

“We’re not leaving you!”

“You don’t have the luxury of choice. Get your asses out of here!”

As his friends fled and ran towards the trail, Ash faced the bird battle that was waging in the sky.

He grew a level two Ignis.

“Verto, keep them around you as long as you can. When I tell you, drop as fast as you can.”

Verto shrieked as another crow stabbed her.

“Are you listening?”

“Verto listens!”

Come on, he thought.

“Okay…drop!”

As the giant magpie plummeted downwards, the crows stopped in surprise. It was only a millisecond, but it kept them all in one place long enough for Ash to blast them with his level 2 arcane ball.

The ball hit them one by one in a chain. The flames devoured them instantly, burning their feathers and charring their bodies until they fell to the ground like pebbles tossed into water.

Level up to level to level 14!

Level up to level 15!

-HP increased to 900

-10 attribute points gained

Blood Share LVL 1 increased to 35%

Blood Concentrate LVL 1 increased to 85%

As Ash caught his breath, Verto changed her form. Her feathers began to shrink and then melt, and her black and white colors transformed into green. Gradually she morphed back into her true form. She lay on the ground, her green skin covered in peck marks made by the crows’ beaks. Green blood dribbled out on the mud.

From deep in the forest beyond, Ash heard a cacophony of squawks. It sent a shiver down his spine; there must have been hundreds of them.

He had to go, but couldn’t just leave Verto to die, even though that would be the easiest way to rid himself of his bond. He wouldn’t be killing her himself, so he wouldn’t have that on his conscience.

Then again, by leaving her, he may as well have been murdering her.

Damn it. He couldn’t do it. The Ash of just a week earlier would have left her to die, but he knew he couldn’t do that now.

He cast Blood Share and healed Verto using the dead crows. He pulled her to her feet.

I never thought I’d say this, said FF, but I’m proud of you.

“We need to move,” he said.

The squawks rose up again, a horrible orchestra of mutant crows who wanted blood. They had a head start, but would it be enough?

Ash and Verto ran down the mountain and toward the trail, where the others waited for them. Somewhere behind him, he heard the ominous flapping of wings.

“Can you change into something faster?” he asked Verto.

“Verto too weak.”

They ran as quick as they could. Just as they reached Tony and the others at the edge of the trail, Chad shouted something and pointed.

Ash turned to look. A swarm of crows were in the sky behind them, so many that they looked like a writhing black cloud.

As the crows got nearer and prepared to swoop, Tony traced a giant square in front of them, and a blue mana shield formed. It stretched up into the sky, way beyond the outline Tony had drawn. One crow swooped in, hit the shield, and electricity shivered through it, cooking its feathers. This gave the others some pause as they realized they couldn’t pass. Evidently, this murder of crows had a little more sense than the last.

“It’s bought us time,” said Tony, “But the shield’s too big. I don’t have the mana for it to stay in place long. Let’s stop screwing around and get out of here.”

None of them needed to be told twice, and together, they ran from the mountain. As they left it behind them, Ash was glad to see the back of it.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Punch Me

By the time they came off the pass and completely left the Lantern mountain range, they were like prisoners escaping from a penitentiary. Ash walked in front of the others and led the way. Hunger made his blood sugar drop and his head started to become light enough to float up into the air. Pretty soon, he was tired of walking.

Tony and the others hadn’t fared much better. After being in the army, Chad was the most physically fit of the three, and he had a more positive temperament to go with it. Even so, he had dark coffee-stain rings around his eyes, and his jokes were becoming less frequent and more forced.

Ellie had started to feel the effects of her tobacco supply running out. Sometimes Ash would glance at her while they walked and he’d swear he could see steam coming out from her nose, and he thought that any minute she was going to breathe out a ball of fire and engulf the three of them.

As soon as they took the last step that meant they had left the mountain range, Chad pumped a fist in the air and gave a weak cheer.

“Take that, crows!”

“Really?” said Tony. “Escaping a bunch of crows is something to cheer about?”

“Humans fight well,” said Verto.

Tony patted Verto on the head. Strangely, it seemed the bearded old man had taken a liking to their new changeling companion. Ash himself had to admit that he was kinda thankful for her being there, in a weird way. If she hadn’t changed into a giant magpie, they wouldn’t have made it off the mountain.

After a few hours of walking they came to a field full of sheep. A wooden fence ran along the sides of it, and the grass beyond was an unhealthy yellow color.

Ash was going to reach for his bow and snag a couple of the animals so they could eat, when he saw something strange. The animals’ white wool had begun to turn green in places, almost as if a moss had spread over them.

“What’s going on, FF?”

It’s sept-moss. It affects some of the livestock back in Rapto. Harmless to humans, but it can spread through herds of sheep and cows like wildfire. Usually if they find a sheep with septo, they kill it and burn the body.

“And it definitely can’t hurt me?”

A hundred percent not. Why?

He focused on the sheep in the centre of the field and fired an Ignis at it. The arcane flame became a chain, spreading from sheep to sheep and killing them on the spot.

“Kindest thing for ‘em,” said Tony.

Ash Life Drained one of the sheep and topped up some of his HP. With a dozen of the animals now dead it was a pretty good supply, but there was no way they could lug sheep corpses around with them.

“Who’s got a good punch?” said Ash.

Tony and Chad looked at each other, then at Ash.

“Wanna explain why?”

“I want you to punch me.”

“It would be my pleasure,” said Ellie.

“Enough games, lad,” said Tony. “We don’t have time to fuck around.”

“Seriously. This’ll take ten minutes, but it’ll be worth it. Just hit me.”

Tony rolled up his sleeves and shrugged.

Ash cast Durus and felt arcane blood armor form around him, melding against his skin.

“You sure about this?” said Tony.

“Positive.”

For the next ten minutes, he let Tony punch his blood armor again and again, stopping only to heal Tony when his knuckles hurt, or to Life Drain a sheep to top up the HP Durus had drained from him. By the time he’d drained eight sheep, FF gave him the news he’d been waiting for.

Durus levelled up to level 2!

- Durus costs less HP, allowing it to be cast for longer periods

Blood Mage tier 2 increased to 75%

“Job done. Let’s go,” said Ash.

“Human very strange,” said Verto, shaking her head.

They carried on walking, and soon they needed a rest again. Ash leant against a signpost that welcomed them to ‘Green Gross County.’ There was a chilly wind in the air that was so strong it seemed to slap his cheeks. It felt strange to be faced with open land after being hemmed in by cliff edges and forests for so long.

They were on the crest of a hill. Ash knew that they needed to walk around eight miles south and they would come to the city. From there, he knew that his body would run on adrenaline and it wouldn’t take him long to get home. First, though, they had to find the mage.

“How far, Verto?”

“Humans walk half a day by Verto’s strides. Then you find mage.”

“Ash,” said Chad from behind him.

“What’s up?”

“My aunt and uncle live a couple of miles away. Think we can call in on them? I know we’re pressed for time and all, but I gotta check they’re okay.”

Ash was desperate to get this over with so that he could check in on his parents, and he knew Ellie was desperate to help Jake. Still, it would have been selfish to say no to Chad. He was worried about his family just like the rest of them.

“I mean,” said Chad, “I can always go by myself.”

“After the shit we’ve seen, nobody goes anywhere alone,” said Tony.

Ash faced Ellie. “I don’t wanna hold this up, but I won’t stop Chad seeing his uncle and aunt. If you want, I’ll go with him and then we’ll join up with you guys after.”

“No,” said Ellie. “By my count, Marg still has more than enough potions to see Jake through. You guys are risking your necks helping me. We’ll go together.”

When they reached Chad’s uncle’s house, Ash started to get excited about the idea of resting on their couch for ten minutes and getting something good to eat.

Their house was a two-story log cabin that was cut off from everything else. The nearest neighbor, Chad informed them, was a senile old farmer a mile and a half away, whose sheep always escaped his fences and ended up chewing grass outside Chad’s uncle’s house.

“I could really go for some lamb right now,” said Ellie. “Hey, don’t suppose your uncle smokes?”

Chad shook his head. “He drinks, but doesn’t smoke. He used to be a track runner when he was younger.”

“Glad to be back?” said Ash.

Chad smiled. “You know what? Now that we’re here, I missed the pair of them more than I realized.”

The curtains on every window were drawn, and they couldn’t see any lights on inside. The front door opened without resistance, and when they stepped into the house they were greeted by darkness and the smell of damp.

The house was silent except for the pounding of their boots as they walked from room to room. They didn’t find anyone, but there were signs that people had been living there, from the discarded food cans on the kitchen counters and muddy footprints on the wooden flooring in the living room.

“This wasn’t my uncle or aunt,” said Chad, looking at the muddy footprints.

“Times like this, people don’t worry about cleaning up,” said Ellie.

Chad shook his head. “It’s not that. They were both small people, and I used to tell them that they had hobbit feet.”

He crouched to the floor and inspected the footprints closely. Then he turned and looked at Ash.

“This is a size twelve. What the hell happened here, Ash? Where are my uncle and aunt?”

Chad stood up straight and walked passed Ash and Ellie and out of the room. They heard his boots thud on the stairs as he ran up them.

A few minutes later, they heard him shout down. It was a horrible sound; one that wasn’t words, but instead a stream of pure fear.

Ash ran up the stairs. He could hear Chad babbling to himself. He reached the landing, took a right into the first bedroom, and then he saw it.

It was a blood bath. Crimson stains covered the walls, the floor and the ceiling. On the king-size bed were two dead people, a man and a woman, their clothes ripped and stab wounds covering their flesh.

The couple on the bed matched the photographs of people in a frame on a dresser near the window, and Ash had the sickening realization about what had happened. The next question was, who had done it, and where were they?

Chad was on his knees beside the bed, his face completely drained of color, his hands covered in blood from touching the corpses.

Chapter Thirty

Burning Retribution

Ellie put her arms around Chad and hugged him. He seemed to be oblivious to her being there, and instead he buried his face in his aunt’s thigh and sobbed.

Ash didn’t know where to put himself. He wanted to do something for Chad, but words mean nothing right now. He couldn’t even imagine what it’d feel like to walk into something as horrific as this. It made him sick enough as it was, and they weren’t even his uncle and aunt.

He looked at the couple on the bed. They were in their late sixties, though they didn’t seem old. The man, especially, had kept himself trim. Death should have been a while away for them, yet someone had broken into their house, ransacked the place, and then murdered them.

Not only had whoever had done this killed Chad’s uncle and aunt, but they’d committed it with such savagery that it chilled Ash. The once-cream colored bedspread was splashed with blood as if it had fallen victim to an artist armed with a pot of crimson paint and a grudge. Their clothes were ripped in places where what looked to be a knife had been driven into their skin. Loss of blood had completely drained the color from their faces, giving them a ghoulish appearance.

Tony leaned in and whispered to him. “Think it was someone from Rapto?”

“Not Rapto,” said Verto, way too loudly.

Chad looked up. His eyes were red. “What did she say?”

“This not Rapto.”

“She’s saying whoever did this wasn’t from Rapto,” explained Ash.

“How does she know?”

“Verto know.”

“Think Verto and me are gonna wait outside,” said Ash.

He noticed movement out of the corner of his eye. The bedroom window looked out onto the gravel driveway that led to the house. Now, Ash saw four people walking up it; three men and a woman. Sure enough, there was nothing Rapto-like about their appearance. Two of the men wore hunting vests, while another had a blue denim jacket with the sleeves torn off. The woman was dressed conservatively in a beige jumper with a collar that covered her neck. Her hair was tied back tightly.

They each carried weapons; the men with three varying blades, the woman with a shotgun. One of the men tapped a machete along the wooden fence to his right. Though the open window, Ash heard the black tap along the wood. The group were talking to each other, but Ash had no idea what they were saying. Judging by the way the men smiled, he guessed they didn’t have a care in the world.

“Chad,” said Ash, “I’m really sorry about this, but we’ve got a problem. Whoever did this is coming back.”

Chad got to his feet in a second. He looked out of the window, then crossed the room and opened a wardrobe on the east wall. He rummaged around at the top shelf for a while, before grabbing an old shoe box. He put this on the bed and opened it to reveal a silver revolver with a black handle and long barrel. He loaded it.

“Verto look,” said the changeling.

She scampered along the room and to the window, where she stood on her tip toes and looked out.

“Woman bad…very bad,” she said. “Verto show you.”

“We sure that’s them?” said Tony.

“Pretty big coincidence if not. Has to be.”

Chad gripped his revolver tight. “You guys don’t need to get involved if you don’t want. I just have something I need to do.”

“You think we’d just leave you?” said Ash. “Let’s go.”

“Thanks,” said Chad.

“Let’s not be cryptic about this,” said Ash. “As soon as we know it was them who did this, you can blow a hole in their skulls.”

They walked down the stairs in single file, Tony leading the way with a rectangular mana shield cast in front of him. He left the cramped stairs, took a right turn, and then walked into the living room.

Ash heard a shot fire. In such a small house, the noise of gunfire was deafening, and he felt his ears ringing.

“What the fuck?” shouted a voice.

He ran down the staircase and turned into the living room. Tony had his mana shield cast in front of him, and there was a black gunpowder stain on the front of it. The three men and the woman were in the living room. The woman held a sawn-off shotgun, though the cut of the barrel indicated it had been a poor-quality job. Smoke drifted from the barrel.

The rest of the crew joined Ash and Tony in the room now. One of the men saw Verto, and he pointed.

“It’s one of the damn…goblins or whatever the hell they are!”

“Ain’t goblins,” growled the woman with the shotgun. “Something else.”

Verto’s skin began to bubble and become gooey, and soon her appearance changed. Her height stayed as it was, but rather than being a little green creature, she was now a young human boy with chestnut-colored hair parted at the side. So far Ash had seen her be a gorgeous redhead, a giant magpie, and a little boy. It seemed there were no limits to her talents.

The woman’s eye widened. She was so shocked she almost stumbled back.

“Ben?” she said.

She held the shotgun limply at her side now. Whoever this boy was, he had meant something to her.

“You let me die,” said Verto, as the boy.

The woman’s face turned pale. “Is that really you, Ben?”

“It’s the god-damn little creature. Can’t you see that?” said one of the men.

Chad raised his revolver and walked toward the group. The woman was so transfixed with the appearance of this ‘Ben’ that she raised her shogun only at the last second.

Before she even got chance to aim, Chad held the revolver against her skull, pulled the trigger and blew her head apart. Blood and brains splattered out on to the walls and covered his aunt’s wallpaper.

The men gripped their blades now. One had a machete, two had long, silver kitchen knives. Ash grew an Ignis ball in his hands.

“Think carefully about what you wanna do from here,” he said. “We outnumber you, we’re armed, and my friend is so pissed that you’re lucky he hasn’t blown your cocks off yet.”

One by one, the men dropped their knives and held their hands in the air.

Chad put the revolver against the chin of the man nearest to him. He was a tall guy with a cleft lip.

“The couple upstairs,” said Chad. “What happened?”

The man shrugged. Chad pressed the gun harder against his chin.

“Not good enough. Did you kill them?”

One of the other guys, a shorter man with stocky shoulders, nodded.

“Came here for a place to crash,” he said, “and they wouldn’t open their doors. It was pouring down with rain and a bunch of weird little creatures were prowling’ around. We asked them nicely, but they wouldn’t open up, so we busted in.”

“Yeah,” said a man to his right. “Then the old fella tried grabbing Suzie’s gun from her. Had to step in and gut him.”

Chad’s face began to redden. Ash looked at the recruit’s hand and saw that he gripped his revolver so tight that his knuckles were white.

Ash could understand why. He didn’t even know Chad’s uncle and aunt, he’d never met them, yet the idea of these thugs breaking into their house and murdering them made him want to blast their faces with the hottest Ignis he could muster.

“Tony,” said Ash. “Grab the shotgun.”

“Got it. Verto, what was all that with the boy?” Tony asked.

“Woman let her son die. Woman drunk and let him play with gun.”

“Chad, do you want to do something that might make you feel a little better?” said Ash.

The recruit didn’t say anything.

“Guys,” said Ash, facing Ellie and tony. “Can you find something to tie these bastards up with?”

They marched the three men out of the house and down to the field where they’d seen the dead sheep. There, they tied them to a fence, wrapping ropes they’d found Chad’s uncle’s shed around their wrists and then around the wooden post. Ash had tied the tightest knots he could, and was glad to see that the rough material was digging into their wrists.

The men begged for their lives, but neither Chad nor Ash were in the kind of mental place where they could show mercy. Ash had taken this to heart; every time he thought about Chad’s uncle and aunt and their bloodstained sheets, he gritted his teeth in anger.

“Just so you know,” said Tony, “I’m not gonna stop you guys. I won’t pretend that I like whatever this is, but I won’t stop you.”

“Screw ‘em. Make them scream,”! said Ellie.

Verto clapped her hands. “Scream! Scream!” she said.

Ash started on the first man. He lashed his legs with an Ignis bolt, then watched as the flames burned away his jeans. Some of the denim melted against his skin, and the purple flames burned away all his leg hairs and bubbled his flesh. The man shrieked in agony, so Ash used Blood Share, draining HP from a nearby sheep to heal the man.

When that was done, he lashed him again and again, healing him each time. The man screamed with each blast, and Ash watched his arcane flames devour freshly-healed skin and turn it into burn tissue, only to heal it once again to start the process anew. If anyone had been passing within a mile of the place, they would have wondered what the hell was going on.

Similarly, Chad shot one of the murderers in the knee cap and shattered his bones. Ignoring the screaming, he took out the other kneecap, and the man passed out. The third man on the end, having seen what happened to his friends, begged for mercy and cried for his mother to save him.

“What did my uncle say when you killed him?” asked Chad. “Bet he didn’t beg like you. The only thing he would have wanted is for you to spare my aunt.”

“Guys,” said Tony behind them. “It’s getting dark. Let’s finish this now.”

Ash nodded at Chad. “He’s right.”

“Okay,” said Chad.

An Ignis ball and two gunshots ended things quickly. After the last crack of a bullet, the air was silent.

Ash… said FF, with trepidation in his voice.

“Yeah, let’s see those stats.”

**Blood Concentrate level up to level 2**

-HP regenerates 0.5% per minute when spells not in use

Finally; this was something he’d been waiting for since Blood Mage day 1; a way to top up his health without life draining something. Half a percent wasn’t the greatest regeneration rate, but it was better than a kick in the balls. With a current HP of 900, he’d regenerate 4.5 HP per minute, which meant it’d take over three hours for his HP to fully top up. This was great, since it meant that every time he went to sleep, he’d wake up with a full HP bar!

You know what levelling up a spell means, said FF.

“I do,” said Ash. “Give me a sec.”

Ash squeezed Chad’s shoulder and then walked away from him a little. The recruit needed a little alone time. When he’d walked twenty feet away, he stopped.

“I levelled up my blood mage tier, didn’t I?” said Ash. His pulse began to pound. Something about earning new spells and skills always shot a potent dose of adrenaline through him.

You bet you did. I bet you feel like a kid at Christmas.

“Let’s see it then.”

** Blood Mage Tier 3**

Blood Sense – You can sense warm blood nearby, alerting you to the presence of enemies

Defile – You can poison an enemy’s blood, causing them to lose HP as their own body fights against them

Cell Elemental – Change the nature of your blood to gain resistance against elemental damage

Chapter Thirty-One

Defiler

Ash and Chad dug two graves in the field by his uncle and aunt’s house. It was right by a patch of carrots that Chad said his uncle used to grow for competitions, and Chad told the group how proud he always used to be about them.

They buried the couple together silently. Chad didn’t want to say any words, he just wanted to commit their bodies to the earth and leave. He’d been forever changed by what had happened; the joking part of his personality had been chipped to pieces, and his youthful immaturity and been completely stripped away.

From then on, practicality reigned. They took what they could from the house, including provisions of tinned food, the carrots, a couple of torches, and a box of safety matches. Tony found a rifle and a box of bullets, and he was delighted to find that the caliber matched his own.

They had kept the blades they took from the dead men. Ellie looted the woman and found a dozen shotgun shells to go with her new sawn-off. Chad kept his uncle’s revolver. After running low during their pass through the mountains, it was reassuring for everyone to be tooled up again. As crazy as it sounded, Ash was glad his spells worked from his own lifeforce. It seemed like HP was easier to top up than bullets. With their provisions inside their rucksacks, they left the house.

As they waked down the gravel path and away from it, Chad made sure not to turn back. Ash could see his face straining and his eyes beginning to water. He knew the solder would hate him to point it out by trying to make him feel better, so he chose to ignore it. Besides, sensitivity wasn’t really his thing, no matter how hard he tried. Ash could have the Dalai Lama whispering beautiful words into his ear but when he repeated them, he’d still end up looking like an ass.

Verto led them across a stone path that cut a few miles through the country. As she walked she sang to herself, though Ash couldn’t understand the words. There was a rhythm to her voice. Ash would never have described it as beautiful but there was something haunting about it. He wondered if it was a song of grief, one to commemorate Chad’s loss.

The countryside around them was stained by the spread of Rapto. Looking around, Ash guessed the loss of working cars and other marks of civilization didn’t mean much to the wide-trunked, oak magically-glowing trees or the rolling hills that housed goblin dens.

Each of them seemed to be lost in their own thoughts as they walked. Chad probably dwelled on his uncle and aunt, Tony about Marg, and Ellie about Jake. Ash didn’t have any close to him except his parents, but somehow, he knew they’d be fine. Dad was a tough old bastard, and Mum was even more so. As soon as this was done he’d call in on them.

Instead of thinking about family, Ash was preoccupied with his third mage tier. He’d wanted a new offensive spell for a while now, and with Defile, he’d got it. This spell meant he could cast a poison effect on his enemy’s blood, draining HP from them. This was going to come in handy, especially in long battles when he fought something with a high HP level.

On the face of it, Blood Sense seemed like a basic spell. The ability to sense warm blood in the area, so what? The more he thought about it, the more he knew it’d help him. Sensing blood nearby took away some of the element of surprise. Imagine if, back on the mountain, he’d have been able to sense the troll before it leapt down on the roof of Tony’s pick-up?

Lastly there was Cell Elemental. He was already feeling the effects of this spell; there was an icy wind in the air that seeped down the collar of his coat and spread on his sky like frozen fingers. He cast cell elemental and dedicated a modest amount of HP to the spell, and he felt himself warm up instantly. He deiced he’d keep it going for another ten minutes and then let Blood Concentrate level 2 regenerate his HP.

After hours of walking, they came to a long, flat grassy plain.

“Verto sees it!” cried the changeling.

Ash saw it too; at the end of the football-pitch-long plain, there was a building that could have come from nowhere but the insane world of Rapto.

It was a vaguely phallic-shaped tower that rose high into the air. In a way, it reminded him of a lighthouse. Spirals of crooked wooden steps twisted around the dark stone on the outside and led all the way up to the roof, which was shaped like a creased wizard hat with wide sides and a pointy top. Birds flapped around the roof, though something told Ash that they weren’t Beele’s birds. He couldn’t say why; it was just a feeling he got.

Windows were set into the stone. Red, purple and yellow light glowed from them. In front of the tower were four misshapen hunks of rock that stuck out of the ground, and each one had red rune-like letters carved on the surface.

This, without a doubt, was the most fantastical thing Ash had seen since Dr. Benny Aitken first screwed around with dark matter. Forget goblins, trolls, alchemist shops and brigands – this was pure magic. He couldn’t wait to meet whoever lived inside, but life in the Rapto apocalypse had taught him that they had to be cautious.

“Verto,” said Ash. “Are we sure the mage is friendly?”

She nodded. “Friendly. Nice man.”

Tony stared in awe at the wizard tower. Chad had a faraway look in his eyes, while Ellie put her arm around his shoulder. Birds flapped and gave shrill cries above the wizard tower, and a chimney puffed smoke out into the darkening sky.

As he watched the birds, his head began to throb. It was like the banging of dozens of tiny drums inside his skull.

That’s blood sense, said FF. You can feel the blood rushing through them.

“Can I tune it out? Make it so I only sense hostiles?

It’s impossible to know whether something, or someone, is hostile before seeing them. Now that you have seen the birds, your blood sense will ignore them.

Ash took a deep breath. After coming all this way, he hoped the mage would be able to give them something to save Jake.

“Okay, then. Let’s go see the wizard.”

As they marched across the plains and toward the tower, Ash began to get the blood sense feeling again. It was like something pulsing inside his head. His skull began to throb, and he smelled blood.

This wasn’t the birds. It was something bigger.

Chad stopped walking.

“What’s wrong?” said Ellie. She looked on edge; Ash guessed that since they were so close to the mage now, she was desperate to get this over with.

Chad held his hand up. “My Impius sense just activated. Something’s nearby. Something nasty.”

“I sensed it too. We need to be-”

Before Ash could finish the sentence, an almighty screeching sound broke across the sky. Over to their right, the leaves of a small grouping of trees began to shake. Slowly at first, then more powerfully. It was as if the trees were shivering.

“Not more crows,” said Tony.

And then a shape began to emerge. Large and black. It had long, beetle-black wings and giant dark eyes. Ash watched in horror as a giant crow flapped up into the sky.

“Oh shit,” said Chad.

Ash couldn’t have agreed with the sentiment more.

“Sorry Tony, but it’s crows alright,” he said. “Must be Beele.”

The giant crow was bigger than Tony’s truck. It was so big that when it flapped its wings, Ash felt a gust of wind from fifty yards away. Its beak was as long as Ash’s forearm, a sharpened weapon colored pure black and that looked like it was made from bone. One peck from would smash through a man’s skull like a dagger through tissue paper.

“What is it with this guy and crows?”

He’s a Gonodil. Along with their mind jumping powers, they choose a spirit animal to mesh their mind with when they come of age. It usually corresponds to what kind of person they are. A noble, powerful warrior might get a lion, and so on, said FF.

“And Beele got a crow. Makes sense.”

Ash sense more movement over by the trees. He watched with a spreading sensation of dread as something began to walk out of the trees. Men wearing the green khakis of the US military. Pale faces, large, black eyes completely devoid of life.

“More corrupted,” warned Ash.

“Is he cloning these things, or what?” asked Chad.

Ash quickly cast Transfusion level 2 at one of the emerging corrupted. He saw his arcane mist cover the soldier but then evaporate.

Damn. Still not strong enough to remover the corruption in one go.

“Kill Beele,” said Ash, eyeing the crow as it hovered midair. “But knee-cap the soldiers. Try and leave them alive, but so they can’t fight. I might be able to save them.”

“Above all though, if it’s you or them, blow the bastards’ head off,” added Tony.

Just as he said that, Beele opened his beak and shrieked. He swooped toward them, rushing through the air with his swings spread so wide that he seemed to cast a shadow over them. Ash felt the rush of air chill his face.

He shot an Ignis ball, but Beele veered to the side and let it burn harmlessly away. He raised his clawed feet as he got closer. Was he planning on picking one of them up like an eagle stealing a mouse?

Tony traced a shield in front of them. Beele ploughed onto it. The mana of the shield fizzled, but it held in place. Beele jerked back, shrieked in pain, and then fluttered in the air just twenty feet away from them. His attack had been strong enough to break the shield, but it had stopped him getting close. For now, anyway.

“How many of those can you make?” Ash asked.

“Seven or eight,” said Tony. “Make that ten if I don’t mana charge my bullets.”

“Guys,” said Chad. “Right flank.”

The corrupted were closer now. These soldiers looked even more ruined than the last ones. Sickly red veins covered their pale skin. Their eyes had started to turn completely black, as if someone had injected ink into them. Ash couldn’t see any trace of life, and the realization was a chilling one. These soldiers were too far gone for him to remove the corruption.

A rush of air on his face told him that Beele was ready for another swoop. They needed a plan, and quickly.

Tony cast a shield in front of them in readiness of the attack.

“When he hit the shield,” said Ash, “He seemed to be stunned for a second. When it happens again, use that time to unload on him. I’ll deal with the corrupted, and then I’ll help you take down Beele.”

The ground started to shake, and vibration passed up Ash’s legs. At first, he thought it was from Beele’s wings, but then he realized that the ground around them was changing. The grass of the plains was disappearing. Giant holes were tearing up, spraying mud everywhere. They were small at first, but then they began to widen.

Ash had seen holes like this before.

“Goblin dens,” he said.

Sure enough, he saw bony green hands reach out of the ground and pull themselves out of the holes. These weren’t just ordinary goblins though. There was something different about them; a kind of faint aura surrounding their outline.

“Anything you can tell me?”  he asked FF.

They’re Elite. Better at attacking and harder to kill.

“Damn. Okay, Chad, I need you to keep the corrupted at bay, and I’ll work on the goblins.”

His chest tightened. They had Beele hovering and swooping from the sky, squawking in a high-pitch, ear splitting way and then smashing into Tony’s shields. Sooner or later, the old guys mana would run out. Not only that, but the corrupted walked relentlessly on from their right flank, and more and more goblins were streaming out of the holes.

If they just stood and fought this out, they were screwed. Yet if they tried to run without Tony’s shield, they were easy prey for Beele.

Just as he had the thought, the giant crow swooped in, claws first. It hit the mana shield with its beak. The blue energy exploded, and for a millisecond, Beele was still.

Ash unleashed a level 2 Ignis on him, with the Tony and Ellie shot at it. If they did any damage, it didn’t seem apparent.

“Why won’t this guy just die?” shouted Ellie.

To their right, Chad blew away two corrupted who’d gotten to close.

In front of them were thirty or so armed goblins. They grunted at each other, seeming to agree on a strategy.

“Verto,” said Ash. “Can you change into something fast? A cheetah, something like that?”

“Cheetah?”

“Something that can ran fast.”

“Verto change.”

The changeling’s skin began to bubble. Her green color faded and become red, yellow and brown. She changed into a beast that resembled a cat in some ways, but with six-legs and diamond-shaped patterns in its fur. Its eyes glinted like emeralds and were the deep crimson color of blood.

“Run across the plains and go and get the mage,” said Ash. “We need his help.”

Verto galloped across the grass. When she reached the goblins, some of them jumped back. Evidently, they had seen the type of creature Verto was before, and they didn’t like it.

To his left, Belle swooped in and collided with the mana shield again.

“Down to five,” said Tony.

“No mana potions?”

“Used the last one on the pass, right before the crows.”

Beele wasn’t an idiot; Ash knew that he wasn’t blinding smashing into Tony’s shield. He would be aware that Tony had limited mana, and he was forcing him to use every last drop of it.

First things first; he needed to free up their right flank. With Beele swooping from the left and the goblins running at them from the centre, they were going to be trapped.

Gunshots boomed in the air, and mixed with the fizzle of mana as Tony created shields, only to have them destroyed. Time was running out.

Ash gathered a level two Ignis. He focused on the corrupted. Chad raised his rifle and took one out with a bullet through its forehead. Ash looked that the soldiers faces and gave them one last chance to show any trace of life.

Nothing. Just dead-looking skin crossed with sickly veins. They were too far gone for even his transfusion debuff to work.

“Shit!” cried Ellie.

The goblins had reached them now. They held their daggers in front of them, ready to stab the first of the group they got to.

That turned out to be Ellie, who aimed her shotgun, pulled the trigger, and caught three goblins in the spray.

Beele gave an ear-splitting shriek. It was so loud that it made Ash’s ears ring. There was a smash, and another of Tony’s shields burned away. He unloaded as many shots into the crow as he could while Beele was stunned. When the bird recovered, he traced another shield outline.

“That’s the last one,” he said.

Ash cast Ignis on the corrupted soldiers. He aimed for one in the middle of them all, catching him in the stomach with his arcane flames. The fire spread from soldier to soldier in a chain, singeing their skin, clothes and hair.

Man, he thought, you don’t know what a bad smell really is until you’ve had a nostril-full of corrupted soldiers burning alive.

At first, the corrupted carried on relentlessly as if the smoldering flames were nothing but an annoyance. Then, the first soldier that he’d hit fell onto his knees, and then face-planted the floor. More followed, until soon the mass of corrupted were down. Only a few stragglers had survived the chain, and Chad began taking these out.

In the corner of his eye he saw a giant black shape surge down from the sky. Mana sizzled, and Ash turned to see Beele hovering midair, monetarily stunned.

He grew a level 2 Ignis and unleashed it, but Beele recovered in time to pivot, and the arcane flames missed his wing.

Across the field, Verto had almost reached the mage’s house. Come on, thought Ash. Hurry up. In her new cat-like form she was quick enough to avoid the goblins. She drew level with the four-giant rune-covered rocks outside the mage’s house.

As she did, a blinding blue flash rose up, and a wave of energy surged into Verto.

The blast was so powerful that it knocked her back through the air and across the plains, where she landed twenty feet away from the runes. Her cat-form was gone, replaced by her usual changeling appearance. She was on her back, completely still, smoke drifting from her chest.

Shit, thought Ash. Isn’t the mage seeing what’s happening out here? Why isn’t he helping? Is he a coward?

The goblins were among them now. Almost thirty screaming, sweaty, blood-thirsty creatures. One of them charged at Ellie and raised its dagger. Ash had just enough time to drag the sheriff back out of harm’s way, before taking the dagger blow on his own shoulder. Pain tore through him.

Better me than her. At least it won’t kill me.

To his left, Beele swooped in from a long mid-air run up and aimed for Tony. The old man saw the bird coming at him, but he wasn’t quick enough to get out of the way. Beele’s sharpened beak hit Tony’s shoulder with the force of a cannon and almost tore his right arm clean off.

Tony fell onto his back. His right arm was completely limp. Color drained from his face.

Beele landed softly on the plains and advanced on him. There was something impossibly eerie about seeing a giant crow scuttle on the ground. Tony reached for his gun with his left arm, but he could hardly move. Even the slightest twitch seemed to send agony through him.

Ash cast an Ignis ball at Beele, clipping him on the wing and burning half its feathers away. Undeterred, Beele carried on toward Tony.

He grew another ball, but he didn’t think he’d have time to use it before Beele got to Tony. Shit.

And then six goblins sprang out toward Beele. Four had knives, two were weaponless, but all of them were fixed on the giant crow.

They plunged their daggers into his side, and two of them bit his legs and tried to tear them off.

At least they’re not on the same side, thought Ash.

Sensing his disadvantage on the ground, Beele tried to take flight. He hovered just ten feet up in the air before veering to the right. Ash’s Ignis had ruined one of his wings, and Beele could do nothing except flutter madly as he crashed back onto the ground.

To Ash’s right, Ellie and Chad stood side-to-side and shot any goblins who got close.

“That’s six,” said Chad after hitting one of the goblins in the chest. “Race you to ten.”

“Race you?” said Ellie. “Catch up. I’m already on fifteen.”

The goblins near Beele wasted no time in attacking the giant crow. Beele shrieked as knives were plunged into him. One goblin climbed on top of him, grappled with his neck, and then tore a chunk out of him. The goblin spat out black feathers and went for another bite.

As Beele struggled less and less, Ash grew a level two Ignis ball. The crow was getting weaker, and it was time to end it for good.

Beele thrashed his wings as two goblins began to cut them off. He struggled, but it was no good.

Ash’s Ignis ball was ready. Purple arcane flames trembled in his palm. He aimed at Beele’s head.

And the crow suddenly changed. In the blink of an eye, it became normal sized. The goblins looked at each other, rooted to the spot in confusion. Ash knew exactly how they felt.

Wasting no time, he launched the Ignis at the goblins, catching them in a chain. The now regular-sized crow was caught in the inferno. Flames spat and hissed, and orange embers floated in the air.

Ash took a deep breath. Was that it? Beele was finally gone?

He looked at Tony. He needed to heal him, but first, he had to get to Verto. She was halfway across the plains and hadn’t moved since hitting the blue force in front of the runes. As bad as it would be, tony could at least respawn. He didn’t know if Verto would be the same.

“Ash!” said Chad. “You need to see this.”

Sure enough, when Ash looked at the remaining dozen goblins on the plain, one was different from the rest. This one had glowing red eyes, and moved with more deliberation and poise than the others.

“He’s mind-jumped,” said Ash. “Take him out. Aim for red eyes.”

Chad and Ellie both aimed their weapons and fired, taking down the red-eyed goblin.

Then, another goblin’s eyes began to glow.

No time to get to Verto. Damn!

There were just eleven left now. Enough for Beele to jump from goblin to goblin. Chad and Ellie fired at him, but no sooner had they killed one goblin, then Beele jumped to the next.

This was no good. Beele was too quick; he was leaping into a new host before the old one died. They needed to buy some time. What would happen when the last goblin died? Where would Beele go?

He’d just jump into something else. Into another bird, or a hare, or a goddamn worm. Anything to get away from them. After that, he’d watch them again and wait for another chance.

Ash needed to end this for good. He watched Chad, Ellie, and Beele. The pattern was obvious.

Red, glowing eyes. The crack of a rifle. The fading of the red light, only to reappear in the goblin next to him.

The question was, what to do about it? If Beele could jump before a bullet hit, then Ignis wouldn’t work, since it was even slower.

Another two gunshots rang out. Bullet casings fell on the ground.  Beele jumped again.

Just three goblins left now.

He quickly cast Blood share on Tony, gathering lifeforce from the dead goblins and healing him. Tony grunted, and got to his feet.

A gunshot rang. Another goblin died. Beele leapt into another mind.

Two of them now.

Ignis would be too slow. So, what could he do? He had to stop Belle jumping.

Got it.

He focused on the goblins. One of them had the glowing red eyes that indicated Beele’s presence. It ran toward Ellie, dagger raised, its face a picture of fury.

Ash ignored it. Instead, he focused on the other goblin. He raised his hands and let his arcane energy gather. He cast Defile on it, letting his blood poisoning spell wash over the goblin and seep into its mouth.

Beele reached Ellie. Just as it was about to strike, Chad raised his revolver, pulled the trigger…

The gunshot rang in Ash’s ears.

The goblin crumpled to the ground.

And then the other goblin jerked. Its eyes began to glow red. Beele had jumped into it, but he hadn’t known about Ash’s spell. The blood poison wracked through the goblin, holding it and Beele, in place. It started to convulse. Its veins throbbed and stuck out against its skin as Ash’s poison ravaged it.

“Now!” shouted Ash.

And with that, Ellie and Chad fired on it, and Ash cast an Ignis ball at its chest. The gunshots and flames tore through its skin.

The goblin fell to the ground.

That was it. No more crows, no more corrupted, no goblins.

Had it worked? There was no way to tell, at first. And then he saw it. Right beside the goblin, resting in a puddle of blood, there was a red gem.

Chapter Thirty-Two

The Final Chapter

Stat update? said FF.

Stats were the last thing on his mind right now, but he knew it was useless to argue against FF, whose sole existence seemed to hinge on the delivery of level-up messages.

First things first, you’ve levelled up to 17. With that comes an important milestone.

“Go on…”

One thousand and two hitpoints! Yay!

Ash was aware that the rest of the group were keen to push on.

“What else?”

FF sighed. Fine, you ruin all my fun.

Blood Concentrate LVL2 increased to 15%

Blood Share LVL1 increased to 45%

Blood Sense LVL1 increased to 10%

Cell Elemental LVL1 increased to 5%

Defile LVL1 increased to 10%

“Thanks, FF. We good to go?”

Thanks for listening!

With that, Ash stood up. The once green grass of the plains was stained with a mixture of crow, corrupted and goblin blood. Spent bullet casings were nestled amongst the weeds, and the corpses of the fallen lay still.

He walked over to the goblin that had once been Beele. A red emerald lay next to it. Ash picked it up and turned it over in his hands. It looked valuable, but other than that, he couldn’t see anything special.

“What is it?” he asked.

Something rare. I can’t identify it.

“We better check on your wife,” said Chad.

Ash grimaced. “Let’s not call her that, okay?” He looked at the group. They were panting for breath and covered in blood. “Thanks, everyone. You were brilliant. I mean it.”

“Let’s save kissing each other’s asses for when we’re back at the ranch with a beer and a roaring fire,” said Tony.

Together, they walked across the plains and toward the mage’s house. Ash stopped by Verto’s body and kneeled next to her. A blue scorch mark stained her green skin. He put his finger to her neck.

“Anything?” said Tony.

Ash shook his head. When he looked into Verto’s lifeless eyes, he felt a pang of guilt.

“She’s gone. She’s gonna respawn, right FF?”

Maybe, but something tells me it’s unlikely. Not everyone does, Ash. Not even in Rapto. And if she does respawn, it’s likely to be somewhere in Rapto.

Ellie put her hand on his shoulder. “We need to hurry,” she said.

Ash nodded. With Beele gone and the mage so close, he knew she’d be desperate to get a cure for Jake.

He looked at the mages house. He couldn’t help but feel angry. Why hadn’t he come out to help them? There was no way he couldn’t have noticed the battle raging on his doorstep. And what was with the stones?

Ellie started walking ahead of them.

“Wait a second,” said Ash. “We can’t go near the runes. It must be some kind of protection. We need to get the mage to…I don’t know…deactivate them, or something.”

“He’s right,” said Tony, looking at Ellie. “Just hold on a second, girl.”

Look closely. Something’s changed, said FF.

Ash stared at the four stones in front of the house. At first, he couldn’t see it, but he looked closer. FF was right.

“The runes on the front of the stones are gone,” said Ash.

They’re deactivated, said FF.

“I’m taking that as an invitation,” said Ellie.

“Alright. Just be careful. Everyone, keep your eyes open.”

Just as FF had told them, when they walked by the stones, nothing happened. They followed the winding path up to the mage’s house. The closer they got to the door, the more Ash’s chest tightened. Something made him feel anxious, but he didn’t know what it was.

He pushed open the mage’s door. A burning smell hit him. Looking inside, he couldn’t see anything on fire.

That’s the smell of spent mana, said FF.

The house consisted of one room, though different levels of it ran all the way to the top of the tower, connected by a spiral staircase. Shelves full of potion bottles lined every wall of the ground level, and in the corner, near a window, was a giant cauldron.

“Hello?” said Ash.

The close walls of the tower made his greeting echo, but he didn’t get a reply.

“Maybe he’s gone for a walk,” said Chad.

“My blood sense isn’t showing me anything. I don’t think he’s here.”

And that was when he saw him.

The mage was on the floor in the far corner of the room. His face was pressed against the stone floor, and his robe was spread out. He wasn’t moving.

“This doesn’t look great,” said Tony.

“He’s dead?” said Ellie, with a tremor in her voice. “We get all this way and the bastard’s dead?”

Ash rubbed his face. He shared her anger. After everything they’d been through, they had gotten here to find him dead. What did this mean for Jake? What were they going to do? Without a cure, Ellie’s son was going to succumb to the red orb.

No. It must have been a mistake. He couldn’t be dead. Maybe he was just hurt.

Ash ran over to him. He turned him over. When he did, he gasped.

The mage was dead; no doubt about that. The color had left his skin, and he wasn’t breathing. What shocked him more, was the mage’s eyes.

They were a dark, deep red. They looked lifeless, but despite that, there almost seemed to be a glow to them. He’d seen those eyes before.

“He looks just like…” said Tony.

“Beele,” finished Ash.

He didn’t know what to think. He knew that Beele hadn’t mind-jumped into the mage’s head, since the mage was dead, and there was nobody else around who could have killed him.

Then, he began to hear a faint pounding. At first, he thought it was coming from somewhere in the room, but the more he listened, the louder it got. Then, as he looked at a level above him, the sound became louder.

Blood Sense, said FF.

He got to his feet. He quickly checked his HP in case he’d need to use Ignis. Then, he looked at Chad.

“Picking up anything with your Impius?”

“Nothing.”

“Someone’s here,” said Ash. “But if Chad can’t sense them, it means they don’t have bad intentions. So, why didn’t I pick up on them when we first got here?”

Your Blood Sense is only level one. You’ll need to level it up for it to be more consistent.

Ash looked at the mage again. He couldn’t take his gaze away from his glowing red eyes. What did this mean? Was he another Gonodil, like Beele?

A crashing sound came from upstairs. Tony raised his rifle and made sure it was loaded.

“We better check it out,” he said.

They walked up the stairs single file. Ash led the way with the purple glow of an arcane flame in his hand, ready to unleash it if he needed to. The further up the stairs they got, the more his blood sense pounded. It was like a radar blip, getting stronger and stronger with each step.

He rounded the corner, and then he stopped. This level was barer than the ground floor, with no furniture, no potions bottles, no cauldrons.

Instead, there was just a naked man changed to the wall.

His head was shaved, but judging by his public hair, he was a redhead. Ash could have done without knowing that particular piece of information. His pale skin was covered in cuts and scars. His wrists and ankles were strapped into manacles with just four inches of chain connecting them to metal hooks on the walls.

The man looked up. He had a faraway look on his face. There were bags under his eyes; deep, heavy ones that suggested he hadn’t slept in a week.

What happened to the poor bastard?

The man stared at Ash.

“A little help?” he said.

“Who the hell is this?” asked Tony.

Ash darted over to the man. He grabbed a manacle and shook it. The metal was thick and heavy.

“The key’s downstairs,” said the man. “Beele keeps it on him.”

Ash turned to face Chad. “Fetch it, will you?”

“Just to check….” Said Chad, nervously., “Beele is the mage, right?”

The shackled man nodded. “That’s him.”

“Damn it,” said Ellie. “We come all this goddamn way…”

When Chad left and then returned with the key, Ash unlocked the manacles and threw them on the floor. Tony was close by to catch the man and make sure he didn’t just fall to the ground. Now that he was free, he glared at Ash.

“Took you long enough,” he said.

“Okay, that’s it,” said Ash. “This place has a serious lack of gratitude. First the damn dog, then the woman I rescued from the van. I don’t want a bouquet of flowers, but maybe you could buy me a drink, or something.  Who the hell are you, man? And what happened to you?”

The man got up. He started taking shaky steps toward the staircase.

“Follow me,” he said.

They all went downstairs onto the ground level. The man wandered over to a shelf and started inspecting potion vials. He found one with an amber liquid inside it. He uncorked it, and drank back a quarter of the liquid.

“Is that a health potion?” asked Chad.

“Nope. Whiskey,” answered the man. “For all his faults, Beele brewed a mean batch.”

He leaned back against the wall and took another drink.

“Who the heck are you?” asked Ellie.

“Haven’t you figured it out by now?”

“We’re a bit slow on the uptake,” said Ash.

“Well, let me speed it up for you. I’m Dr. Benny Aitken.”

“Holy shit.”

Benny walked over to the mage and started removing his robe so that he could wear it himself. He didn’t seem to show any distaste at wearing the clothes of a dead man, not even a man so despicable as Beele.

“Is he really dead?” asked Chad.

“He’s not in the prime of his life, let’s put it that way,” said Benny.

“He might have jumped somewhere else,” warned Ash.

“No, he didn’t. Trust me; I’m a doctor.”

“Well, doctor,” said Tony, “you better explain what the hell is going on.”

Benny led them to the third level up the stairs, where they found a long wooden dining table. There was a single plate on it with the remnants of an unfinished meal. Benny hungrily gorged on half a steak, some boiled potatoes, and a side of carrots.

While he ate, he explained everything that had happened, starting with his creation of a dark matter portal, leading up to his imprisonment in one of the Umbra’s dungeons in Rapto.

After that, he explained, the Umbra had found a way to place their souls into red orbs, and they’d forced Benny to modify the portal to let them through. They’d grilled him for hours about Earth and what it was like. By the end, they were convinced that they would easily be the most powerful people in it. After finding a way to send their orbs through, all they needed were human hosts that they could possess.

This was where Beele came in. His role was to find suitable hosts for the Umbra’s red orbs to inhabit, allowing them to walk the earth. To that end, he brought Benny back with him to make sure everything went smoothly.

What they didn’t bank on, was that Benny had created some orbs of his own, and he’d sent these through right before he and Beele left Rapto.

When he’d finished talking, Benny had a clean plate. He’d even slurped up the steak juice.

“So, as you can see, I expected that you guys would come. Four orbs, four people.”

Ash shook his head. “We’ve only found three orbs. Where’s the other one?”

“I sent them through, but I couldn’t pick exactly where they went. All I know is that they’d land near Pasture Downs.”

“Why Pasture?”

Benny shrugged. “The Umbra chose it. God knows why. Seems like a dump to me. Are you telling me that you numbskulls have left an orb laying around?”

“Who are we, the orb finders? How the hell would we know there were four?” said Chad.

Ellie glanced at the vial of whiskey next to Benny’s plate. She reached for it and took a long drink. By the time she was finished, it was almost empty.

“What’s with the broad?”

“Don’t call her broad,” said Ash. “And you might wanna be a little sensitive. She’ll break your fingers if you aren’t.”

“My son found a red orb,” said Ellie. “It’s infecting him. We came here to find the mage, ‘cos we thought he might be able to do something, but the fucker’s dead. Damn it.”

With that, she threw the vial across the room, where it smashed against the wall. Chad put his hand on her shoulder, but she shrugged him off.

“I might be able to help you,” said Benny. “I learned a lot of alchemy when I was in Rapto, and being modest, I’m probably Earth’s leading expert on Rapto orbs. Where’s the boy?”

“Back at my ranch. Through the goddamn mountain pass. There’s no way we’ll make it back in time,” said Tony.

Benny sat up and smiled. He had something of a cocky look to him, but Ash found himself liking him.

“Maybe I can help,” said Benny. “I can open a portal to get you across the mountains quicker. Only thing is, I can only do it through a portal already used to send a blue orb. Is there one near your ranch?”

“Better than that. There’s one on my damn ranch!”

Ellie stood up. “Then let’s go. Doctor, grab your shit. You’re coming with us.”

Benny nodded. “Got nothing else to do. And I kinda feel like I messed up a little, you know, by creating the apocalyptic portal and all. Seems I should make amends for my little error.”

“One more thing,” said Ash. He pulled the red gem that he’d taken from Beele out of his pocket. “Any idea what this is?”

Benny gave a wide smile. “Oh boy. Let me show you something. You guys, stay here a few minutes, okay?”

Despite Ellie’s protests, Benny led Ash up the crooked spiral staircase and to the top of the tower. There, he opened a hatch on the ceiling and climbed through it. Ash followed him, only to find that they were on the roof.

Out there, the icy wind swirled around him. The sky had darkened now, and the plains behind him were smothered by a blanket of black. He squinted, but he couldn’t pick out the bodies of the goblins and corrupted.

Benny touched his shoulder.

“It’s starting,” he said. “Just as I thought. They must have heard about Beele somehow.”

“What’s starting?”

“Watch.”

He pointed up at the night sky. At first, all Ash could see were a few twinkling stars that weren’t covered by clouds. Then, one of the stars seemed to glow red. It shot across the sky, before plummeting in a trajectory toward the earth. A trail of red flames grew behind it, until it disappeared out of view.

More of the red stars joined it, showering down on the black horizon and landing in different spots.

“Those are the red orbs,” said Benny, with a grim tone to his voice. “The Umbra are arriving.”

Oh, shit. That was all Ash could think.

“See that red gem?” said Benny.

Ash held the gem he’d taken from Beele.

“That,” said Benny, “will lead you to the orbs. Get near one, and it’ll start to glow burning hot. Might take a while to find them, and you’ll never find them all before some poor son of a bitch picks one up, but it’ll help.”

“What are you saying?”

“That you, Ash, are gonna have to find all the red orbs and destroy them before the Umbra can use them.”

Sub Class gained: Orb Seeker

You have gained a class secondary to Blood Mage. As an orb seeker, you can find orbs, both red and blue. With practice, you can also destroy them. Some say that even higher levels, you can create orbs of your own.

“And here was me thinking I could have a rest,” said Ash. “Got any more of that whiskey?”

Two hours later, after an arcane ceremony involving lots of potions vials and a little more whiskey, Dr. Benny Aitken opened a portal on the ground floor of the mage’s house. It was the size of a dressing mirror, and the edges of it buzzed with a blue energy.

Tony, Chad and Ellie stood in front of it, Benny to the side.

“So, we step through this thing and we’re back on my ranch?” asked Tony.

“I promise you. It might look a little…dangerous… but it’ll take you back.”

“What are we waiting for?” said Ellie.

The three of them looked at Ash.

“You go ahead,” he told them.

“You’re not coming?”

“I will,” answered Ash, “But not yet.”

“What are you doing?”

“I need to see my folks first.”

Benny crossed his arms. “You kinda have the destiny of the world riding on you, Ash,” he said. “Maybe a visit to ma and pa can wait?”

Ash shook his head. “If being with you guys has taught me anything, it’s this; I’m an asshole.”

“No arguments there,” said Tony.

“The difference is, I’m not an asshole who’s not gonna flake out on people. Tony, you need to go and see Marg. Ellie, you have to get to Jake. Me? I need to see my folks.”

“You better get your scrawny ass through that portal when you’re done,” said Ellie. “I still need to give you a beating for taking my money.”

Ash smiled. “It’s well overdue. You guys go on. I’ll catch up. Benny, will this portal hold while I go see my folks?”

The doctor scratched his chin. “It’ll stay here for a few days.”

“Okay then. You guys go., And really, everyone. Thanks for everything. Without you guys, I wouldn’t have been dead a week ago. Especially you, Tony.”

The old man walked across the room. Without warning, he grabbed Ash and gave him a great bear hug, almost squeezing the life out of him.

“Stay safe,” he told him.

Ash nodded. “I’ll try.”

As his friends stepped one by one into a portal that would take them miles across country to a ranch where they’d cure Ellie’s magically possessed son from an infectious red orb, Ash was going to do the simple thing.

He was going to go see his parents.

The End of book one

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