The next month flew by. Arden was able to get his air magic to 5th level. This allowed him to gain an augment that drastically improved his ability to cast air spells.
Neophyte Air Magic
Augment
This augment improves the user’s ability to conjure and control air magic. Additional Augmentation will further enhance the user’s ability to command air magic.
The augment gave him the boost he needed to be able to lift and move the wheat after it was cut. Combined with his brother and sister helping, and what little assistance their father could give, he was already ahead of schedule. They worked day in and day out and it was a full three weeks before Mina came to check on them and told Arden that Sheriff Rawlins had gone missing. The Mayor made up an excuse that he had been called back by the king but no one believed him. The village seemed to think that the sheriff didn’t like the mayor, and when he had been given the opportunity to leave he had taken it.
The problem was that the king had sent a new Sheriff. Bernard Harkin. Unlike Rawlins, who was loyal to the royal family over everyone and everything else, the mayor had managed to weasel some control over the process and made sure that Harkin was selected. Harkin was loyal to the Mayor over the royal family.
From the moment that Harkin arrived, things got worse. Harkin would show up to the farm at the worst times and demand a search for contraband. Every time he did he’d turn the house upside down and leave a mess behind him. Every time he’d leave Trinny so upset she’d cry for an hour unless their father or Talia held her.
Then he got physical.
“Well your air magic reached level six, that’s considerable. You must be tired” Mina said as he walked with her back to the farm. Arden was returning from town where the blacksmith had sharpened the scythe blades.
“Very” Arden said, seeming to slump somewhat, he was in truth about ready to fall over, but the harvest would finish on time. Mina helping was a big part of that and he had been trying to find a way to thank her. She smiled at him and he looked away in silence, unable to find the words. As they walked a scream pierced the awkward silence. They locked eyes for a second and broke into a run.
When he reached the fence he saw Harkin toss his father to the ground. Talia was holding Hallidan back and he saw Trinny watching with tears in her eyes from the porch. Arden broke into a sprint as Harkin kicked his father in the leg, which was still injured. His father screamed and Arden couldn’t help it. The power came to his command as he activated his lightning bolt card, hurling a bolt of coruscating power at the sheriff. Harkin felt it coming and with a wave of a hand the spell shattered.
“You little shit, you just attacked the sheriff” He said, drawing a knife. He reached down and grabbed Arden’s father by the hair, holding him up and holding the knife to his neck.
“Give me one reason why I shouldn’t slit this traitor’s throat” He said with a vile grin. Talia screamed and Hallidan broke free, rushing the bastard. Harkin kicked him in the chest and Hallidan began to cough and splutter.
Arden lifted his hand and lightning crackled across his fingers.
“If you harm him, I’ll kill you, I swear it” Arden said, and Mina stood behind him, having pulled her staff from her inventory.
“With that magic, hardly. I could slit his throat, slit your throat, and the boy, and then I’ll have the girls all to myself” Harkin said, licking his lips. His eyes locked on Mina and he sneered at her. His father lifted his hand, and displayed the brand on his arm.
“And when you do, the King will send a dozen men for your head. You know what this mark means. And if you kill my kids or harm Aramina, I won’t stop, I’ll make you kill me” His father said, his voice suddenly firm, in a way his children had never heard before. He spoke as a man with power, and with determination.
“Walk away Harkin, you know what happens if you don’t” Ebrin said, and Harkin looked like he had a bad taste in his mouth.
“One of these days you won’t have that mark Traitor” He said, letting their father go. He stormed off and Arden was about to give chase, but he didn’t have his armor on and Mina told him to stop, rushing to look at Halidan then his father. Harkin vanished into the growing gloom and Arden moved to help his father up and get him back to the porch.
“At some point I’m going to have to do something about him” He said as they got him back into his chair. Trinny immediately ran to jump in his lap and cry. It took us ten minutes to calm her down. Arden and Mina spent the next ten minutes looking over everyone, and Mina used her magic on both Hallidan and his father. Arden and Talia got everyone clean water and when all was finally said and done they came back out just as the sun was beginning to set behind the forest.
“Ok, what just happened?” Arden said, settling into his own chair. He looked at his father and gestured at the tattoo.
“I reminded Harkin that Deston Margo wants me alive, I won’t call him the King because in reality he stole his throne from his half brother. I got this mark because I was part of the protest to Deston killing his brother. But Deston wants me alive for reasons that are a bit too complicated to explain at this point. If Harkin kills me, the king will send men, powerful classed men, to kill him and bring his head back to Deston. You know I was a blacksmith, and yes, I have a class. But the tattoo keeps me from accessing any of my cards, or gaining new ones. I can’t even access them to give them to my children. Deston wants me to suffer, and the pompous little shit thinks that he’s firmly in control of everything” His father explained and Mina’s eyes went wide.
“Wait, you were part of the palace revolt?” She asked and Ebrin nodded.
“I was Aramina. And I was sentenced to this place as punishment” He said.
“Harkin is going to keep doing this” Arden said, looking down.
“I know, we’ll deal with it as best we can” His father said.
“I need to get stronger, then when he comes here alone we just bury him in the forest and force the mayor to pick a new sheriff. Make sure he vanishes without a trace” He said and his father smiled.
“I like the initiative boy, but no. You won’t be powerful enough to fight toe to toe with that one anytime soon. He has a class, and a decent one at that. Until you have one going up against him is suicide” He says sadly.
“I’ll handle Harkin, as long as I can hold this cursed brand over his head he’ll stay in line” He adds, rubbing the mark.
“We need to figure out what really happened to Sheriff Rawlins” Mina says suddenly, surprised she let that thought out. She blushes and looks away from everyone.
“You were thinking the same thing I was Aramina” Ebrin said, smirking again.
“You think the mayor got rid of him to bring Harkin in? Harkin has been looting the village of everything he can get his hands on” Mina said and Arden’s father nodded.
“Seems reasonable. When I last talked to him he said he was going to go look at that dungeon again. Make sure it closed” Ebrin said, looking at Arden.
“Go check it out with Cole and Frederick. Make sure there was no foul play” He said, looking at his son.
“And be careful. I don’t like this corruption stuff you’ve been telling me about. Between the dungeons and that bear, I am worried. You all know the Mayor will do absolutely nothing that doesn’t benefit him, even if that is to our detriment. He’d let this entire town burn for a single gold coin. And us with it. If he did do something to Rawlins we need to have evidence of it” He warned and Arden and Mina nodded, getting up. Arden made sure that his gear was readily available in case Harkin showed his face again. Mina too seemed to be ready for a fight in case the sheriff did something stupid.
They moved quickly and with a purpose, never staying from the path as they made their way to Cole’s home. Frederick was already there and they got the sense the two of them were discussing the same thing Arden’s father wanted.
“The Sheriff just attacked Arden’s father” Mina said and Cole and Fred stopped talking, their head’s snapping to her.
“Is he ok?” Cole asked after a tense moment. As if he was asking if the four of them were about to go to war with the sheriff. Arden smirked.
“He’s fine. But Harkin is stronger than we expected, maybe stronger than Rawlins. My father thinks we need to go make sure that the dungeon de-spawned. He doesn’t buy that Rawlins was called back by the throne”
“Neither do we” Cole said, standing up to put on his armor. Frederick also began pulling armor from his inventory and in response Arden did as well. Mina started helping Arden get into his armor and when Fred and Cole finished donning their armor they moved to help strap on the last few pieces.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
“Arden, last time we went there you got really hurt. Are you sure about this?” Cole asked.
“It’s not a choice Cole. We have to know. And these dungeons are getting more dangerous. If the Mayor won’t accept that his precious money making village is in danger we will have to go over his head and tell the Duke, or even the King” Arden reasoned and the others couldn’t help but agree with him.
“Then we do this slowly, and safely. We use every trick in the book to keep Arden from taking hits. If we get back in there and there are still skeletons we have to be ready” Cole said and the four of them started walking. Cole’s family home was on the edge of the village and they could cut into the forest without having to walk through the town center. They needed to make sure that Harkin didn’t see them heading for the dungeon and Fred worked hard to ensure they were not.
They walked in silence, not wanting to be heard, but everyone could tell there was tension in the air. By the time they reached the stream they were all in a cold sweat. It wasn’t until they noticed the first black tendril that they realized the sensation wasn’t entirely internal.
“That’s not good” Cole said, pointing at the bank where the entrance had been. The entire area was blackened and the portal swirled ominously.
“What are the odds that the portal isn’t safe?” Fred asked and Arden grunted.
“We don’t have a choice, clearly this isn’t normal, and even after seeing it the Mayor did nothing. I”m betting that the Mayor used this to get Rawlins killed. All so he could replace him with a sheriff that would help him fleece the village even more. Until this directly affects the Mayor, he won’t lift a finger” Arden said and as he said it he grew more confident in his position.
“Ok, well if you think we have to, you have to go first” Fred said, patting him on the shoulder. Arden nodded and Mina walked up, casting her ward spell just in case. He felt the magic envelope him and with a nod to Cole, turned to the portal. Slipping into Spellblade stance Arden put as much stamina as he could into reducing incoming damage. That done he moved up to the portal and drew his sword, pushing it into the portal. When it came back out whole with no marks on it he shrugged and stepped into it.
Unlike the previous time he had used this portal, this time it was not as seamless as before. He stepped into darkness. The portal had elongated and instead of being a seamless transition it now resembled a long hallway. As he walked he realized the walls of this strange hallway were transparent. Beyond the hallway he could see an empty expanse. Moving to the wall he looked out into the vastness only to be confronted with a pair of glowing blue eyes.
“Arden” A voice said, but it didn’t seem to come from the eyes. He looked around and the voice whispered his name again. Moments later the portal seemed to shudder and Arden thought it better that he move on. When he reached the other end his senses shuddered as he passed through into the dungeon. Collapsing to his knees Arden immediately vomited. Barely manging to gain control of himself before Cole stumbled through the portal, similarly ill. One by one the other two stumbled through, with Arden helping her.
“What was that?” She said, looking at the others as she tried to get the taste of vomit out of her mouth.
“I don’t think this dungeon is going to be around much longer. We have to hurry” Arden said and Cole grimaced.
“Didn’t we just say we didn’t want to do that?” He said and Arden shrugged.
“Do you want to be in here when that portal finally closes?” Arden said and the others nodded. They needed to find out what happened to Ralwins. The mayor wasn’t going to respond to the corruption in the dungeons and the entire village was going to suffer for it. Now as their chance to supplant him. Arden didn’t tell him that someone or something had whispered his name in that corridor, they had enough to worry about. Instead he adjusted the investments in his Spellblade Stance, increasing his damage output, keeping most of his damage reduction, and investing mana into his defense to give himself battle regeneration.
Moving to the door they found it unbarred, and the courtyard beyond. It was covered with the chittering and rattling remains of skeletons. A dozen or more of them. Someone had been through the dungeon after them, someone who was able to put down large numbers of the corrupt skeletons without issue.
“Rawlins has been here” Cole said, kicking the piles of bones to scatter them. Fred began scouting and soon found the path that Rawlins had followed and the group began to follow it. Multiple times they happened across piles of skeleton bones. Several of them were in the process of putting themselves back together and Arden made quick work of them, scattering the bones. To his surprise the skeletons granted character experience no matter how many times they reconstructed themselves. He thought how easy it would be to abuse this for a moment, but the state of the portal into this dungeon made staying here to do it almost suicidal.
“We’re getting close to the boss room” Cole noted and the others looked ahead to see the walls of the boss room.
“This is the point where I note that the boss was a skeleton, and we didn’t check to see if he could rebuild himself” Fred said, and Arden grimaced. They should have checked that.
“Nothing for it but to do it, we need to get out of here” Arden said and the group moved towards the boss room. They were concerned that the boss was active, and not tucked away in the back room like it would be if the dungeon was fresh. So to this worry Arden took point instead of Fred. Peeking around the corner he saw that the boss was indeed active, but defeated. What he saw at the base of the pile made his heart sink.
“Oh no” He said, moving out into the clearing. Rawlins’ mutilated body lay beneath the pile of bones. They threw the bones off to uncover him. Rawlins had killed the boss, but had been mortally wounded in the process. He had a huge gash on his stomach straight through the armor. When they turned him over a blue orb became visible, floating over his chest.
“Damn” Cole said, looking the former Sheriff over.
“We need to take him back to the village” Arden said, reaching up to close Rawlins’ still open eyes.
“The Mayor didn’t kill him” Mina said, looking the sheriff over with tears in her eyes.
“Ok let’s move. We’re going to go get some wood from the forest, and make a litter. We have to hurry before the portal collapses” Cole said and everyone stood up. That was when everything went wrong.
There was a strange grinding sound and Fred made a grunting nose. Arden and Cole turned to see the tip of Rawlins sword jutting from Fred’s chest. There was a hollow rasping sound and from behind Fred the corpse of Rawlins stepped, hauling the blade free. Fred spluttered and blood erupted from his mouth. Arden looked in shock as Rawlins' eyes began to glow red. The shambling corpse snarled and hissed and Mina screamed. Cole launched himself at Fred trying to catch him.
Arden had to lunge forward and received a blow on his shoulder from the zombie’s sword. The raw strength of the blow sent Arden skidding backwards and it was clear that the monster that had been made from Rawlins body had access to his stats and skills.
Mina ran to Cole who was holding Fred in his arms. Arden turned to glance at them and Mina, without thinking, began healing Fred. The zombie instantly locked onto her and Arden roared, hurling himself in the way again. Another devastating blow sent him tumbling to the ground. Cole, to his credit, saw what was going on and leapt to his feet, drawing his bow and putting three arrows in the enemy. Arden scrambled to his feet and Cole ran past him, trying to draw the zombie to him. But it continued to move towards Mina. Arden hurled himself forward again, this time throwing a bolt of lightning at the monster. That too failed to draw its attention away and Mina shrieked as the blade came down. Fred, with the last of his strength, managed to deflect it just enough that the sword slashed into his own stomach instead of Mina’s head.
He didn’t seem to notice, instead locking eyes with Arden and mouthing the words ‘Save them’, before his eyes fluttered shut and a blue loot icon appeared in the air over his chest. Mina let out a cry and began desperately trying to heal him. Only drawing more ire from the zombie.
Arden moved faster than he ever had before, his blade shimmering as he activated a carded power. His provoking slash hammered home and finally the zombie’s eyes turned back to Arden.
“He still has his cards!” Arden said just as Rawlins’ zweihander began to glow. Arden activated his Mana shield block just as the blow struck home. What happened next was difficult for him to describe, but when his vision cleared he was on the ground, leaning against a wall, his shield missing a huge chunk out of it. He looked for the zombie and found it trying desperately to free itself from ice that encased its legs. Mina had gone on the offense when Arden had been flung into the wall and her magic was able to immobilize the zombie.
Arrow after arrow embedded itself in the zombie’s face as Cole tried to blind it. Arden pulled himself to his feet and hurled a bolt of lightning at the creature. It continued hacking at the ice around its legs and Arden used the opportunity to close and slam another provoking slash into its back. The zombie looked at him and Arden backed up, hurling a second blast of lightning at it.
The zombie pulled itself free of the ice, and Arden noticed that one of the monster’s boots and greaves had pulled free from it, leaving the leg unprotected. Because of the stamina invested in his spellblade stance his cooldowns were reduced and Arden leaned in again, activating his provoking slash. The zombie lifted its sword to block the attack but Arden shifted and swung low, sinking the attack into its upper thigh. The zombie rasped loudly and Arden’s sword was difficult to pull free. The stuck blade slowed him just enough that he was forced to activate mana shield block again as the creature sent him flying once more with whatever skill it was that Rawlins had. Arden ragdolled and slammed into the outer wall of the clearing again and the air was blasted from his lungs. Cole continued pelting the monster with arrows and while they were blasting rotting bits of flesh from the best with every hit, or sinking deep into its body, they were not creating enough aggro to get the creature to stop focusing on Arden.
Mina hurled more ice at the monster and Arden rose to his feet just as the zombie reached him, being hurled against the wall again. Cole drew his bow and Arden watched the arrow shaft shimmer as he activated a skill. An instant later an arrow pierced all the way through the zombie’s head. Arden deflected another bone jarring strike from the zweihander before staggering to the side. His lightning bolt came off cooldown and Arden hurled another at the beast. It stormed forward and another shimmering blow cleaved Arden’s shield in half. The zombie shoved forward, blasting Arden off balance with a shoulder rush and he struggled to parry a swipe before the zombie lifted the huge sword over its head again. Arden had no defense with his shield destroyed and he heard Mina scream in panic and felt the ward begin to envelope him.
Arden watched as Cole leaped on the zombie’s back, driving an arrow into its right eye socket from behind. The zombie made quick work of detaching Cole, hurling him against the nearby wall with a spin and an unnaturally powerful arm. Arden lunged forward and drove his sword into the zombie’s side as it turned back from dislodging Cole. It rasped again and bit Arden on his shoulder.
“Just DIE ALREADY!” Arden said, grabbing the zombie by its rotting face with his free hand. The lightning bolt spell came off cooldown and Arden activated it, shoving himself away from the monster just as the bolt descended from the sky. The zombie roared and the blast hurled Cole and Arden away from it. Arden struggled to his feet and still the beast stood. It took two steps forward and again that sword began to shimmer. Arden braced himself to block the attack with his own sword, knowing it would shatter. This was it, he had to weather the attack or the next target the zombie would seek out was Mina.
He never had to. The flame in its eyes flickered, and when it did the loot icon appeared on its chest. Rawlins' corpse took one more step and collapsed, the light in its eyes fading for the last time.
Cole turned instantly and ran towards Fred’s body. They all knew he was dead because he had a loot icon too, and Arden watched in horror as Mina tried to envelope Cole in a shield.
The boss had risen again in the chaos, and Arden watched helplessly as it mercilessly bashed the life from Cole, sending his body flying. Arden braced himself but it was too late, and Cole’s lifeless body hit him, sending both of them flying into the wall again.
