The Adept Archives: Volumes 1-3 Page 9

  As he tried to mold the energy, it exploded in his hands, creating an array of dazzling dark-violet light before simmering into nothing.

  Again, and again he tried to channel spirit energy into his palm, and each time the energy either proved too volatile or immense to control. Quinn nearly seemed ready to nod off when Roy finally managed to half-way stabilize a sphere of void energy in his palms.

  “Finally,” Quinn muttered, arms crossed over his chest as he watched. “Now launch the thing and let’s move on.”

  Roy complied, cupping the sphere of energy into his hands before launching into the air. The energy spun uncontrollably, traveling a few yards before exploding with a sharp crackle. He waited for a notification to appear in his vision, but seconds passed, and nothing came. He hadn’t quite gotten it yet.

  “Alright, moving on,” Remley said, reaching for his leather sack.

  Roy immediately protested. “Wait, I don’t think I’ve got the hang of this one.”

  Remley shrugged as if it didn’t make a difference. “It’s going to have to do for now. We’ve got one more exercise planned, and I don’t want to be stuck out here after dark,” As he spoke, the man pulled out a rather large slab of meat, a slab that looked eerily similar to the butcher’s ruined raktos tail. Had he snatched that up during the scuffle with the butchers?

  “What are you doing with that?” Roy asked with trepidation.

  Remley merely smiled as he gave the slab of meat a shake, forcing its juices to drip onto Roy’s boots. “This is the key to our last exercise, Roy. You’re going to put those new skills of yours to the test.”

  “Against a slab of meat?”

  Quinn shook his head as Remley let out a hearty laugh. “No Roy boy, the meat is just bait. Quinn here was nice enough to lure a sparring partner into the area for you. In fact, he should be here any second!”

  Suddenly a terrible hiss echoed through the clearing, causing Roy’s skin to crawl. Remley tossed the Raktos tail at Roy’s feet and Quinn leaped onto an overhanging branch just seconds before a creature emerged from the tree-Line, baring its teeth and making its presence known.

  The beast was unlike anything Roy had ever seen. Its body was larger than a horse, though long and scaly like a lizard, and with a mane of colorful feathers on its neck. The creature’s tail snapped back and forth, sporting a hook-like claw on its tip. Its fangs and claws looked immeasurably sharp and its terrible yellow eyes had already locked on Roy’s form.

  Suddenly, a notification appeared in his vision.

  //////////

  Minoragarwa

  Natural beast

  Ecology: Wooded areas near swamps, lakes or streams

  Nature: Highly Aggressive

  Vulnerabilities: Underbelly

  Notes: The minoragarwa is a semi-aquatic, carnivorous beast. It will attack other creatures without warning and has even been recorded posing aggression towards its own kind. The minoragarwa has a sack inside of its belly that allows it to digest nearly any kind of poison.

  //////////

  Roy nearly stumbled off his feet as the creature hissed and bared even more of its fangs. Fear began to swell in Roy’s core... he barely knew one skill! How was he supposed to fight something like this?

  “Wha- what do I do, Rem?”

  Remley gave Roy a quizzical stare. “Do? Roy, that thing wants to eat you. Kill it!”

  At that instant, every muscle in Roy’s body tensed and it was all too clear why the Sky Wolves were short a crew member.

  Then, before he could protest any further, the minogarwa charged.

  ****

  Varyon Risen, assassin of the Thousand-legged Spiders Guild was quite certain that he hated Atherune city. In his short time in Atherune, he’d seen a number of adepts dressed in odd-colored robes, ran into more than a few with some alarming body modifications and nearly even tripped over a beggar in the street! This cesspool was no way to run a city, that was to be sure. Varyon wondered if the jade storm guild had grown so relaxed in their rule that they had stopped patrolling the streets altogether. Well, if they did then that would just make his mission all the easier.

  Varyon tore away his hood, revealing his scarred face as he scanned the streets for his target. Sure, he was risking detection by showing himself so openly, but he didn’t care. If anyone recognized him, then he would just kill them before he left.

  Varyon had been scouting for hours and thus far, the only man to show interest in him was some guildless spirin with a wild void aura. That man might as well have been a dog as far as he was concerned, though when he thought on it, perhaps the dog offered more of a threat. At least it could bite.

  After nearly an hour of scouting, Varyon finally laid eyes on his target. The woman was tall and slender and covered in robes of white, which were exemplified by the shine of her light aura. Above her head floated a small, iridescent halo, the sigil of her guild, the Godsayers. Surrounded by a small escort of jade guards, the woman barely seemed to notice or care what was going on around her. That was good, because for all her beauty, to Varyon she was no more than a target.

  Varyon Risen was a member of a rather infamous guild in Eon, the Thousand-legged Spiders. It was a guild that operated in the shadows, hell-bent on controlling the realm through any means necessary. Rumor was that the guild had come into possession of a number of powerful artifacts, as well as a few political secrets that were better kept hidden. Of course, these were just rumors... anyone that could confirm such things had already been killed.

  Varyon’s role in the guild was a simple one. He was an extractor... he found his target, extracted any information the sect required, then dealt with them accordingly. Such was the reason he was in Atherune. This godsayer emissary held information on the location of a dungeon which housed a very rare, very powerful artifact….

  Fortunately, that information would be his very soon.

  Varyon followed the light adept and her guards to an old, sparsely used monastery. According to his sources, the Adept was planning to broker a deal for her information later that day and had secured a private location for such dealings. Oh, how foolish they were.

  Varyon watched from the shadows as the adept entered the monastery with her guard in tow, still far too inattentive for her own good. Those guards had lured her into a false sense of security, but they were mere spirins. They would be no match for him.

  After the woman was completely out of sight, Varyon crept around to the monastery’s rear and activated his guild sigil. A black spider tattoo began to glow beneath his tunic, granting him the ability to scale the monastery’s wall with ease. He crept to the nearest window, a small pane of glass sealed with a simple rune. From his pocket he produced a simple cloth etched with a rune of its own. He pressed the cloth to the glass and both runes disintegrated to dust, allowing the window to open freely. He was in, and it was time to carry out his mission.

  Varyon leapt from the window sill, landing in between two of the guards with the grace of a feline. Immediately he activated the second skill of his guild sigil, launching a web of pure aura from his hand that ensnared the now fleeing light adept and held her true. It wouldn’t hold her forever, just long enough for him to take care of the guards.

  The four jade guards quickly fell into their fighting stances as Varyon’s temporal spirit aura flared to life. Its power afforded him the ability of spatial manipulation, allowing him to slow and distort things within his reach. If wielded efficiently, the temporal spirit aura was one of the deadliest weapons in the realm... and Varyon was a prodigy.

  As the spears of the jade guards came in Varyon focused, creating a field of temporal energy around himself that slowed their attacks to a crawl. Everything within the adept’s temporal field moved with a fraction of its intended speed… everything except him. All he had to do was lure them into range and they would be little more than moving targets. He crouched as the spears inched closer, waiting until the men had fully extended their weapons before co
unterattacking with vicious force.

  Varyon lunged at the first guard, smashing his fist into the man’s throat with an empowered strike, shattering his windpipe and forcing him out of the temporal bubble. As the man fell back, Varyon ripped the spear from his hand, pivoting on his heel and slamming the tip into the second guard’s eye socket. Both of the guard’s spirit auras were snuffed out in an instant as they fell to Varyon’s deadly strikes. Sure, they were trained adepts, but their power paled in comparison to a 4th ranked Spiriteka.

  Varyon continued his dance of death, stabbing the 3rd guard through the heart as the fourth and final guard managed to retreat from the temporal field. The man’s spirit flared with emerald energy as he readied his spear, but it was more bravado than anything else.

  Varyon channeled his aura once more, this time creating a swirling ball of temporal energy in his hand. The jade guard grimaced as Varyon activated the orb, using it to draw him in as it manipulated the gravity in the room. Before the guard could anchor himself, Varyon lunged forward and swept his spear tip across the man’s throat, spilling his lifeblood across the cold, stone floor.

  With the guards dead, Varyon turned and walked towards the godsayer emissary as she struggled to free herself from the final grasps of his aura web. He could see the terror in her eyes as if her mind was frantically searching for a way out. “Please... you... you can’t do this!” she yelled, growing desperate as Varyon drew ever closer.

  He ignored her pleas and placed a hand on her neck. “Give me the information I desire,” he said, his voice cold and unapologetic.

  “I-I have nothing,” she stammered, cowering in his presence.

  Varyon let out a growl this time, the first sign of any emotion he’d shown since arriving. “Give me the location of the damned dungeon!”

  Suddenly, the woman grew defiant and her halo brightened. “I will give you nothing, assassin,” she said, her voice shaky,

  Varyon raised his spear and pressed the tip into her cheek, drawing a thin line of blood that ran into the corner of her lip. “My masters require your knowledge. Now give me what I want and spare yourself the suffering.”

  The light adept shuddered but her lips remained pursed, and for a second Varyon thought that she might hold onto her secrets.

  She lasted less than a minute.

  Chapter 10

  Aura Bullet

  The Wilds, Outside Atherune City

  Roy Skyworth had fought plenty of battles with his fists over the years, but never against anything like this. The creature charging at him looked like some sort of prehistoric terror with fangs and claws that were sharper than knives, a genetic creation built to hunt, and to kill. The beast let out a terrible hiss before charging at him with rubbery-looking legs, clearly ready to tear him to shreds.

  Roy grimaced. Damn that Remley and his training.

  The minoragarwa lunged at Roy as he channeled his void aura into his legs, jumping over the creature with an empowered leap as it snapped its jaws in his direction. He wasn’t even sure if his leap would work, but using his spirit aura was already becoming instinct, and he needed to rely on those instincts (along with everything else in his arsenal) if he was going to survive.

  Roy landed sloppily, stumbling to his knees as the beast pivoted and charged right back at him. His legs ached as rose to his feet and rolled away from a second lunge, the creature’s claws sheering the very air in front of him. He knew he wouldn’t be able to dodge this thing forever, especially with fatigue already setting in. He needed to fight back... he needed to put this damned thing down.

  The minoragarwa made a third pass at him, it’s yellow eyes flaring with rage, but this time he didn’t flee. Channeling his void aura into his right arm, the adept leaned back and took aim at its face. Then, as it leaped into range, he threw the hardest punch he’d ever thrown in his life.

  The sickening sound of cracking bones echoed through the clearing as Roy’s empowered fist connected with the creature’s face. His arm immediately went numb and he wasn’t exactly sure whose bones had broken... that is until he saw the beast’s jaw go slack.

  The monstrous reptile howled in agony as the bottom half of its jaw flapped about haphazardly, greenish blood oozing from the corners of its mouth. Roy had definitely broken its jaw, an attack that seemed to be causing the creature a great deal of pain. And yet those yellow eyes still focused on him with unbridled rage. Damn this thing was relentless!

  “Launch a projectile at it!” Remley yelled from above, his feet dangling from the tree branch where he sat. “And make it count... it’s going to get dark soon!”

  “Damn you,” Roy cursed under his breath, giving the man a sidelong glare before turning his focus back to the minoragarwa. At this point, he half-wished that Remley would’ve dumped him off at the academy for his training.

  Despite its injury, the reptilian beast crouched low and prepared to charge, its anger outweighing its pain. Even if it couldn’t bite him, those claws on its hands would tear the man to shreds in seconds.

  Roy lifted his hands as the creature came barreling in, following Rem’s instructions and channeling aura into his palms. His body was weary, and his right arm ached something fierce, but still he channeled, drawing the energy needed to finish the creature off.

  The minoragarwa closed in and leaped at Roy, extending its claws and exposing its soft underbelly. This was it. This was Roy’s chance to end it. He cupped his hands, rotated his sphere of void energy, took aim....

  And lost control of the sphere.

  His ball of energy broke apart and fizzled into nothingness as the minoragarwa crashed in, slamming him into the ground under its deceptively heavy weight. Its claws came next, slicing through Roy’s shoulder with ease as saliva poured from the creature’s broken mouth.

  “Help!” Roy choked out, fighting against the pain and the pressure, reinforcing his body with spirit aura just to keep himself from being crushed. The creature thrashed again, slicing his bicep with its other claw, it’s tail whipping about wildly in the air behind it.

  The reptilian’s intensity flared as it let out another hellish screech in his face. It was just as Roy had feared, no one was coming to his rescue. For a split-second, Roy thought he might be the victim of some cruel entertainment… but no. Remley had invested too much into him already. He must’ve truly believed that Roy had the power to overcome this thing. Well, he was going to prove him right dammit.

  Letting out a primal cry, Roy pressed his open palms into the creature’s belly and began channeling his aura into his palms. The fatigue felt heavy in his bones and his spirit aura was nearly depleted, but he was not going to let this thing have him. He was not going to lose his life again!

  Roy’s hands glowed violet with void aura as he pooled his energy into a collective mass and forced it out through his palms, blasting the minoragarwa with everything he could muster. The creature flew from atop his body, skidding through the grass under the force of Roy’s blow.

  //////////

  Skill obtained: Aura Blast

  (Base Skill)

  //////////

  The adept immediately climbed to his feet and glanced to the trees, searching for the watchful eyes of Remley and Quinn... eyes that were no longer there. Had they abandoned him? Had they seen enough and just left him to die?

  His eyes scoured the tree-line before quickly switching focus back to his foe, but it was a bit too late. A scaly tail slammed into his abdomen, knocking the wind out of him and sending him crashing into a nearby tree. His back ached and his head spun as it bounced off the blackened tree bark, but a quick cycle of aura brought him back to his senses.

  With another hiss, the creature charged in his direction once more, it’s tongue now slithering like a wild tendril out of its slack jaw. Pinned against one of the surrounding trees, Roy pushed off and spun to his right, only to get clipped by the beast’s charging shoulder. The blow sent him spiraling over the creature’s feathered back before he slammed i
nto the unforgiving dirt. Before he could rise, the beast made another pass, slashing at his head and smacking him back into the grass before he could make a move.

  Blood began to drip from a cut on Roy’s forehead, running over his left eye as his other eye met his attacker’s gaze. The beast had slowed momentarily, now circling Roy with anticipation as it plotted its final strike against its wounded prey.

  Slowly and deliberately, Roy climbed to a knee and raised a hand into the air. These hit and run tactics were depleting him. He wouldn’t surivive another pass from the minoragarwa, he was sure of it... but he wasn’t certain he could kill it either.

  Concentrating on everything he had left, Roy poured his spirit into his shaky palm and took aim at the stalking beast.

  “Focus, Roy!” a distant voice hollered, a voice he was certain was Remley. “Focus and take your shot,”

  Take your shot... those words triggered something in Roy. He’d heard those words before. Back in the academy, his instructor had echoed that same sentiment at least a hundred during firearms training, and each time he’d blasted away the center of his target with ruthless precision. He was a hell of a marksman, and that phrase had helped his mind slip back into that zone.

  The former officer fell back into that familiar place, envisioning the cold steel of a pistol in his hand. Rather than hold his palm open, he tightened his fist and straightened his index finger, channeling his aura into the finger’s tip.

  A sphere of void energy began to form in front of him, taking the shape of a tiny black-violet orb. He poured the last of his spirit energy into the sphere, using his heightened to focus to compress it tightly.