Fighting a horde of regenerating skeletons wasn’t the oddest thing I’ve ever done, but it was slowly becoming the most tiresome.
“Would you blast the crystal already! I’m running outta steam over here!” I ducked from a skeletons axe swing, wearing what I assumed to be viking type armor.
I didn’t hesitate and slashed through his spine from below its rib cage. It crumbled to the ground like candy from a pinata. I took a step back, examining the rest of the horde slowly marching my way. The bones I just slashed began to shake and rattle, quickly reconnecting to one another. I started to pant as sweat rolled down my face. It feels like we’ve been at it for an eternity.
“I'm working on it! Didn't you like go to knight school or something? I don’t recall hearing about the great whiny knight!” He yarped at me.
I felt a twinge in my eye from frustration.
“I’ve never heard of a magician that can’t hit a non moving target! I’ve cleared you a stupid path five times!”
“You think this is easy!? What the hell do you know about magic, HUMAN! I’ll have you know it’s extremely complex!”
“Yeah, mumbling some words and imagining a fireball is so complicated. I've been freaking killing hundreds of regenerating Skeleton warriors back-to-back. News flash! Humans get tired!” I charged forward and rammed a charging skeleton with my shield.
I readied myself as the horde started to grow closer. I was at my limit here. I was drenched in sweat and my sword and shield felt like two tons in my hands. If Zack screwed this up, our quest was gonna end here.
I looked back as a dazzling green light shimmered in front of Zack. He had his hand held out to it with his eyes shut. The orb rippled and bubbled as it grew. His hair floated slightly in the air, and so did his robe. Just the other day he fell in a river chasing a cat who stole his spell book. I couldn’t believe this was the same guy, so focused, so powerful.
Then suddenly the ball exploded like fireworks! Balls of fire fell down upon me and the skeletons like rain! Wait me and the- I started running for my life as the death balls from the sky rained down on us all. I was just inches away from getting blasted by that green hell fire. I quickly collected my thoughts and darted toward the stone, dodging blast after blast.
Soon I came upon the floating purple crystal. It was square shaped and looked like the size of a refrigerator. I leaped high in the air and went to stab the stone, then BOOM! A green ball of fire blasted the crystal cube and blew it and me away. I crashed into the cavern caves wall, ramming my head against the rock. Then everything went black.
I woke up slowly to an odd cold pulsation coursing through my veins; it felt especially cold in the back of my head. I looked around me and noticed I was floating in some weird pink river. Zack was staring down at me with a big goofy grin on his face. His long and shaggy brown hair dangled in front of me, inches from my mouth. Gross...
“Hey you're awake! That enchanted salt really came in handy! Fixed up that huge gash you had too.” Suddenly everything came back to me.
The skeleton hordes, the crystal, and Zacks rain of fireballs…. I sat up and decked Zack square in the nose. He squealed like a girl and fell backwards into the lake. I could tell I definitely broke his nose. I watched carefully as his new broken nose slowly began to shimmer, and sparkle with a white glow. It was kinda hard to see when he was splashing around like a five year old...
“Well at least you grabbed the right salt.” I mumbled.
I reached back and rubbed the back of my head. My hand slowly going over where I felt myself get hit. It felt perfectly fine now, hair and all.
The cold sensation soon stopped. And the back of head felt normal again.
“What the hell was that for! Is that anyway to treat the guy who just saved your life!” Zack snapped as he shot up from the water.
“It would mean so much more if you weren’t the cause of it to begin with!”
“Hey! I’m the one who blew up the damn crystal! And killed that horde!”
“Only after you missed five times! And proceeded to blow me up! With the stone!”
“Hey I’m the one who brought the healing pack! So it's all good!”
“Only after I pestered you to help me make it all day! You even forgot to bring the salt, I brought it!”
“Says the lame swordsman who couldn’t even kill a bunch of skeletons!” I groaned a little and decided to drop the argument.
I wasn’t going to get anywhere with this idiot if I kept going. There were more important things at hand anyways. I climbed out of the water and looked around at the dark blue stoned walls that made up this humongous cavern we were in.
There were chunks of faint purple glowing stones randomly scattered about the cavern. It reminded me of the dim lights fireflies would give off at night. I spotted our stuff ahead, laying on top of a boulder. I stretched and headed over to check on our inventory.
“How much of the salt did you use in the water?” I asked while examining my sword for any chinks or bruises on the blade.
“Half the bottle, we still have the rest of the kit.”
I took out the map that held the schematics of the dungeon. So far that dungeon explorer had everything tit-for-tat right.
I laid it out on the ground and moved my finger along the pathway of the map. It seemed we were at what the guy called a rest stop on the map. The next thing according to the map, was the hall of illusions. I looked around the cavern and found the path on the far left end that we were supposed to take (It looked pretty sketch, not gonna lie).
I looked back over at the river and noticed that it lead into an ominous looking tunnel that gave me the hibijibis. The tunnels entrance looked like a mouth with rows of long sharp teeth that could just snap at any moment. It lead to an eerie looking path that I didn’t trust one bit. I looked back at Zack who was floating in the water. Slowly but surely easing his way to the mouth of that tunnel.
“Hey idiot! You should probably get out of that! Last time I checked, water isn’t supposed to be pink!” He ignored me and kept floating down the path.
I shook my head and looked over the map one last time. I examined his drawing of the pink lake once more. This time I noticed an odd bump in the middle of it. I turned the map a little and realized what I assumed to be a wave, now had eyes. Then it hit me..
“ Zack! Get out now!” I yelled running toward the lake.
I saw a black figure come from the tunnel entrance and dart toward Zack.
The figure was massive and had a snake like form. I quickly grabbed my sword and charged into the water. I watched in horror as the serpent circled around under Zack. Who was still blissfully unaware of his impending doom.
Then the creature sprung up fast from the water and attacked Zack. All I could see was a flash of white and the water as the creature dived back down. I instantly dived in and started swimming toward the commotion. For some reason, I felt more awake than I have ever been before. It felt like I was swimming in some giant pink Gatorade bottle or something. I felt like I could go fight that horde of skeletons all over again.
I didn’t think too much about it though. I was more focused on somehow killing this thing while it had the home advantage. I opened my eyes under the water and adjusted oddly fast. I could see Zack with a force field dome around him. The serpent had him in its mouth, slowly crushing his shield with his rows of sharp jagged teeth. The creature was much bigger than the silhouette let on.
It was a dirty white color, with scars riddled all over its body. It looked slick and slippery like an eel, with long catfish like whiskers protruding from his nose. Then there were the eyes. Its eyes were a greenish yellow color that were void of any emotion. One of his eyes seem to be staring dead at me. This thing was twice my size. I started shaking slightly in the water as the beast stared me down, daring me to move. I looked over at Zack for a moment. He looked just as petrified as I did. I had to do something quick.
I bite my lip as hard as I could, snapping me out of the trance. As soon as I could move again, I swam forward with all my might. The creature let go of Zack and zoomed my way. It was so fast! It charged me with its mouth wide open! I waited for just the right moment as it came closer and closer. Then I saw an opening! I quickly javilened my sword at its eye. As soon as my sword pierced its eye, the beast started spazzing and jerking about as it dashed passed me. I quickly grabbed its whisker and soared off with it.
It felt like riding a roller coaster. That was cranked to ten and jacked with steroids! It flung around violently as I held on tight. Slowly pulling myself closer and closer to its face.
I planted my feet on its face and pulled my sword out from its eye. Without any hesitation I stabbed the beast in the head. Which prompted an even more hectic spazzing then before!
It was like riding a bull, except the bull was a five ton sea monster that could bite through solid rock. Once It rammed its head into the wall, I kicked off of it. I held on tight to my sword, and I swam towards the surface. Once I made it, I gasped for air and swam to the edge. I could still feel and hear that thing bashing about against the rocks underwater.
As I was climbing out onto the land, I saw Zack ahead of me. He was looking at me in awe with his mouth wide open. I walked up to him still catching my breath. I looked him in the eyes and gave him the ‘I could kill you” look. I flicked some excess monster blood on the ground from my sword, gesturing Zack to look at it.
“That's what knight school taught me. Now let's move, were wasting time.” I panted as I walk past him.
He seemed genuinely scared of me now. He just nodded his head in agreement and followed behind.
“Remind me not to piss you off... ” he mumbled.
“How about you use some of that heat magic on us so we can move on.”
“ Right, also remind me to get some sushi once we get out of here. I need to face some demons..” He said with a gulp.