—Chapter 13—

—Equipment—

The odd mix of trees and mobile homes intrigued Kellan. A group of adventurers, walking through the White Trash Forest, were jumped by a zombie cat, he mused, entertaining himself as they went. But how long have we been out here? He glanced upward, his vision obstructed by the branches of the oak trees.

The sun was high in the sky, and pillars of light shone down around him. When did they need to register for the Nexus Games by?

“Which abilities did you acquire?” Husker asked, breaking the silence with his gruff voice.

Kellan crossed his arms and then shrugged. “I’m not sure. The few that stood out to me were the ability to mold metal, something to ignore pain, and the ability to shoot lasers from my hands.”

Mavis snapped her attention to him. “Lasers? Why are you even hesitating? I need to see that.”

“Well, there was this ability that flashed in my mind called Skin of the Dead.” Kellan half-smiled. “It allows me to pretend to be dead, apparently. That’s amusing, right? I’m a mage, and the first ability I learn is on-par with training a dog to lie down when you say bang.”

With a twirl of his hand, Sen threw back his long black hair. “How dare you. This is a serious affair. Skin of the Dead is a cowardly ability picked up by low-tier body mages who want to avoid confrontation as much as humanly possible. You should develop an attack—since that’s what you’re good for—or a utility ability to better protect me and my sister. Every other joke ability should be forgotten.”

Although Kellan wanted to argue, he agreed with Sen’s overall assessment. Apparently, everything here wanted to kill them. His best bet was to either have a strong offense—to kill everything first—or a strong defense and utility, to better combat the unknown.

And that was a lot of unknown, as far as Kellan was concerned.

“Why are we in the middle of a mobile home forest?” Mavis asked. She glanced around and frowned. “Reminds me of my childhood.”

“This is the effect of the Conflux,” Husker drawled.

Sen scoffed. “Haven’t you figured it out already? The Nexus is where parts of other dimensions collide. During the Conflux—” he clapped his hands together once, “—things are mashed together. Clearly, a forest and this trash heap were fused to become this one area.”

“I don’t like it.” Mavis rubbed at her arms. “It’s unsettling.”

“What a profound thought,” Sen quipped. “Surely you must’ve been a philosopher on your world.”

“Hey, careful with your sarcasm. Didn’t your parents ever teach you any manners?”

Sen’s frown deepened. “I regret all the decisions that brought you here.”

While they argued, Kellan took a deep breath and then closed his eyes. He didn’t want to remain blind too long—not when monsters could apparently leap out at any moment—so he tried to focus on a magical ability he wanted.

Mold metal?

Shooting lasers?

There was an ability that would give him a point of armor rating, which seemed useful…

Another ability would give him a health point.

Kellan shook his head. He hated indecision, and he wasn’t going to let it stall his actions here. What he wanted was something that was versatile.

Mold metal… He could make impromptu weapons. Or escape from places with metal. The more he thought about it, the more he wanted to try. What was the harm? The ability to mold metal only cost a single arcana. It was the perfect “training” ability.

Kellan willed himself to take it.

His mind flooded with information again.

E Rank Metal Abilities:

Mold Metal—The most basic metal mage power, and one that is quite useful. This power represents control over metal in its most limited form; the mage can shape it. The mage spends a mana, and for thirty minutes, they can mold metal as though it were clay.

“Okay, I got this mold metal power,” he said as he opened his eyes. “Now what?”

Sen exhaled and then rolled his eyes. “Not the most useful ability… But I suppose it’ll do. You just need to spend mana to activate the ability. Then you can use it to your heart’s content.”

Before Kellan could try anything on the rust mobile homes, they reached a fence.

The chain-link barrier separated them from a swamp of mud and twigs. Among the sludge was a ruined airplane. Not just any airplane—a 1960s Gulfstream II. It was a two-engine business jet. A smaller version of a modern commercial aircraft, with circle windows and a pointed cockpit.

The airplane had been smashed in half, though.

Kellan walked to the fence and laced his fingers through the chain-links. He stared at the plane, his brow furrowed.

A large serpentine skeleton was wrapped around the airplane, as though it had been in an epic fight. The serpent’s ribcage was hooked around the outside of the rusted jet, and Kellan wondered how long the bones, and the plane, had just been sitting there in the mire.

That serpent must’ve been huge… At least the size of a freeway. What’s going on?

“Tell me there aren’t interstate-sized yami around here,” Kellan muttered.

Husker snorted. “Shouldn’t be.”

His tone wasn’t as confident as Kellan would’ve liked.

“There it is,” Sen declared. He pointed beyond the chain-link fence, straight at the ruined airplane and the massive skeleton. “Sevriss is in the skull.” He motioned everyone over the fence. “You go. I’ll wait here.”

“Is it because you’re too short?” Kellan asked.

“N-No.” Sen crossed his arms and smirked. “If I wanted, I could order you to carry me. I would just prefer to wait here while the rest of you do the dirty work.” He fluttered his robes out in a dramatic fashion. “This task is beneath me.”

He looked like a child with a god complex. Kellan still couldn’t figure out how Sen appeared to be eight when he was apparently thirty.

But he didn’t have time to question things. He grabbed the fence, determined to leap over, but then stopped himself halfway. Wait. I have magic now. He smiled to himself as he thought about using mana. Clearly, mana is another form of currency. I spend it to use my skills.

Without much effort, a surge of power rushed through him, like a jolt of electricity from a discharged AAA battery.

Somehow, he sensed he had gone from five mana to four.

Kellan gently touched the chain-link of the fence. Then he squeezed his hands. He almost laughed aloud when the fence squished between his fingers. It reminded him of Play-Doh. I can actually mold metal. That’s… such a useful ability. Kellan ripped a part of the fence away with ease.

Mavis’s eyebrows shot for her hairline. “Is that your magical ability?”

Kellan pulled another chunk of the fence away, cleaning a small hole for them in a matter of seconds. “That’s right.” He yanked a fistful of metal from the fence and held it in his palm. The silver steel wire looked hard when he examined it, but the moment he closed his hand, the metal gave way, completely defeated by his magic.

“Okay, okay,” Sen said, rolling his eyes. “Stop looking at yourself in amazement. That is a basic metal mage power. Literally every metal mage has it.” He snapped his fingers. “Go. Get the weapon. You can pat yourself on the back after you’ve done something.”

Kellan wanted to remind the kid that he was almost eaten by a bobcat, but he held back the comment. “Fine.”

He stepped through the hole in the fence, prepared to step onto the mud, but then sank far further than he ever expected. His shoe went into the grime, followed by his ankle, then his calf, until finally Kellan hit solid ground—his knee was almost completely submerged in mire-like mud.

The fart-like squish that accompanied his step just added the cherry atop the disgusting sundae.

Husker snorted back a laugh.

“Are you okay?” Mavis asked, frowning.

“Very,” Kellan drawled.

He stepped forward with his other foot and it, too, sank into the mud, all the way to his knee. When he tried to step forward with his first foot, he had to tug and struggle. When he finally got his foot up, he lost his shoe to the disgusting sludge.

Gnats and flies buzzed around.

A smell of sewage wafted up to his nose.

Kellan glanced over his shoulder. “Sen—you didn’t want to get the sword because you didn’t want to walk through this, is that it?”

The little kid half-smiled. “Perhaps.” Then he pointed at the plane and serpent skeleton. “But hurry. We really don’t have much time.”

“Walk through the watery parts,” Husker said, motioning to the more lake-like mud in the middle of the area. “It’ll be easier.”

After a heavy sigh, Kellan did just that. He trudged his way through the grime, losing his other shoe in the process. In all his time with the Delta Force, he hadn’t gone through any mud-pits, but during basic training, there had been several obstacle courses that involved moving through water and dirt. Once he got the hang of moving, he made it to the water without much more trouble.

And then something cut his leg.

Kellan flinched and backed away. With his breath held, he lifted his left leg. He gritted his teeth, both hating the sight and angry with himself for being careless.

Barbed wire had cut through his jeans and was hooked into his calf. Worms wriggled along the injury, trying to heal his flesh, but unable because of the metal.

[Alex Kellan] took 1 cutting damage from rusted barbed wire.

[Tyranny Worms] restore [Alex Kellan] for 1 damage a round.

Kellan reached out with a shaky hand and batted away the spare worms. They fell into the mud, writhing and squirming, each one more putrid yellow than the last. Then he used his mold metal ability to unhook the barbed wire. He almost laughed—it was so easy to remove.

Thank the stars I picked up that ability, he thought as he threw the mangled barbed wire to the side. But this confirms it’s only my hands that use the ability—my legs didn’t mold the metal. I have to touch the metal with my fingers and palms if I’m going to manipulate it.

“Are you okay?” Mavis called from the fence.

“Yeah.” Kellan stepped forward a few more times. With careful movements, he tried to “search” the mud for more barbed wire. “Apparently a war zone and a swamp were fused together here to make a fucked-up pit of despair.”

His leg touched another patch of barbed wire, and Kellan silently cursed to himself. He couldn’t see the wire beneath the surface of muddy water—but it was there. Tons of it. Waiting to shred his legs.

“Hurry,” Sen called out. “Just finish this up.”

If Kellan could have his way, he’d throw Sen into the swamp and never look back.

Unfortunately, reality had a different plan.

The ground quaked. At first, Kellan couldn’t really feel it, but he saw the ripples rushed across the surface of the brown water. Although he wasn’t sure what was causing it, he already knew it wasn’t good.

“Damn,” he whispered under his breath.

Husker placed a clawed hand on the fence. “Run. Get out of there.” He pointed. “There’s a yami in the waters. It’s heading toward you.”

Although Kellan didn’t want to see, he glanced over. The top of a scaled creature was poking out of the muddy water, half-covered in grime and circled by a swarm of gnats. The creature didn’t swim like a shark or a serpent—it moved like it was walking, causing quakes in the swamp with each movement.

An alligator? Perhaps a giant alligator? Kellan wasn’t sure.

The massive creature took several steps, faster and faster, disturbing the swamp as it headed for Kellan.

“Run,” Husker ordered again. “That beast will drag you beneath the surface and drown you.”

“I can’t fight it?” Kellan called out, estimating a distance of a hundred feet between him and the monster.

“I wouldn’t recommend it. That yami is a hassle for most B rank mages.” Husker motioned to the airplane. “Thankfully, it won’t leave water.”

More ripples and splashes. The muddy alligator moved through the swamp with the grace and speed of a drunken frat boy—but it never changed its target. The beast headed for Kellan, and once it was eighty feet away, it popped up two eyes to get a better look at its prey.

That was when Kellan finally got information.

Name: Queen Hexiton

Race: Greater Yami

Magics: Wyld, Metal, Entropy

Rank: Impossible

Armor Rating: 5

Health: 45

Stats:

Strength—10 [Strong-Jaw]

Dexterity—2

Fortitude—12 [Sturdy]

Intelligence—1

Perception—2

Willpower—1 [Animal]

Abilities:

Death Jaw—The yami can maintain a hold and grapple with a target, even when dead. The jaws lock in place.

Kellan nervously chuckled to himself. I hate this place.

The yami picked up its pace, stomping closer and closer to Kellan.

He turned to run, but immediately cut himself on barbed wire just beneath the surface of the brown water. It hurt—he grimaced—and yet another notification of the damage flooded his vision.

He could deal with the boxes of info. He could deal with the injury. But the barbed wire burned every time it cut him. He had to run through at least two hundred more feet of swamp and metal before he reached the airplane, and he knew the sheer amount of pain would hinder his escape.

“Go,” Mavis called, panic in her voice. “It’s almost on top of you!”

Kellan stepped forward again, and the wire cut his other leg. With his jaw clenched, he took a deep breath.

What other magical abilities did he have access to?

Ignore pain.

E Rank Body Abilities:

Ignore Pain—Body mages learn to control the autonomous functions of their body, one of the simplest of which is pain. The mage spends a mana to ignore agony for thirty minutes. This power ceases if the wound itself disappears.

Kellan spent the arcana, and then mana.

He was down to only three mana.

I don’t care what it takes—I’m not getting caught by the damn slow-moving alligator. He ran forward, occasionally reaching his hands into the swamp water to mold the metal away from his legs. The barbs cut his legs, and sometimes his arms, but Kellan didn’t feel any pain. He felt the prick—the physical pressure and sensation—but much to his delight, no agony whatsoever.

Although his blood filled the water, he also didn’t care.

Notifications about the worms kept informing him that he was being healed.

The alligator stomped faster, but never fast enough. Kellan dragged himself up onto the destroyed airplane long before the mighty beast could catch him. Unfortunately, his jeans were shredded, and he had no socks or shoes, but at least he didn’t have to deal with the monster.

“Hurray,” Kellan sarcastically said to himself.

Mavis clapped from her location near the fence. “You had me worried,” she said with a laugh. “Thank goodness.”

He waved to her. “Yup. I’m fine. I’ll be back in a moment.”

It was then that Kellan realized something dreadful—he’d have to run through the swamp a second goddamn time.

I really hate this place.

With a sigh, Kellan stood and walked along the rusted and broken pieces of the airplane. It was smaller—the type of aircraft meant for less than thirty people—and he hopped from one damaged area to the next, hoping that nothing would break. The deeper he went, the darker it became.

He found the skull of the serpent near the cockpit, shrouded in shadows. Kellan slowly shuffled his way over, hating the fact he couldn’t see Mavis and the others.

A few times, he stepped on broken glass and discarded bolting, but it never hurt him. The perfect magical ability to step on Legos with, he thought to himself, amused. Mundane uses for extraordinary abilities.

The serpent’s skull was as large as a truck. Kellan walked up to the mouth and glanced at the person-sized fangs before heading into the cranium.

To his shock, there was already someone there.

That was a lie. A person’s skeleton was there. The boney-hand of the individual was holding a sword—a blade pierced into the roof of the serpent’s mouth.

A black blade.

Had the wielder of the sword died fighting the serpent? Kellan couldn’t come up with any other explanations. He glanced around, hoping he could find another weapon that wasn’t a blade. I don’t know how to swordfight, dammit…

The plane quaked, and Kellan could’ve sworn he heard someone shout. Was the alligator on the move? What the hell am I doing? I have to get back to them.

Kellan hurried over, pushed the human skeleton out of the way, and then yanked the black sword out of the serpent’s skull. The moment it was dislodged, Kellan received a notification.

Magical Item [Semi-Sentient Weapon]—Sevriss [Short Sword Mode]

A mythical weapon that is said to appear once on every dimension. Powerful and versatile, it transforms to match the preferred weapon-type of its wielder. It’s also cursed. Weapon damage varies depending on the weapon [short sword, strength + 4, ignores 2 points of armor rating]. Has a 10% chance to double arcana when used to make the finishing strike.

Cursed?

The hilt of the blade pulsed in Kellan’s hand. His chest tightened, and he stumbled backward, caught off guard by the odd sensation coursing through him. It was as if the weapon had an emotional range that Kellan could suddenly detect.

“Will you wield me?” a strange voice whispered in his ear—in his mind.

“Excuse me?” he asked aloud.

“Will you wield me?”

Kellan exhaled. “Maybe.”

“I will grant you power, and the ability to destroy your enemies. But as punishment, you will be doomed to die a bloody, and violent death.”

“Lovely,” Kellan quipped. “Anything else I need to know?”

“You will not know the embrace of loved ones, or the warmth of a winter bed. You will only know pain and suffering for the last few moments of your existence.”

The dead man inside the serpent’s skull suddenly made a little more sense to Kellan.

He took in a ragged breath.

“Do you accept?” the ghost-like voice asked, a mere whisper in Kellan’s mind.

That was when Kellan heard it again.

More screaming. The sound of metal twisting. Mavis shouting something.

Were they in danger? Kellan couldn’t see.

“Do you accept?” the voice asked again.

“Yes.” Kellan held the weapon close. “Now let’s go help the others.”