Zach saw Andy pull off his backpack and let it drop to the ground. Slowly, he began wrapping himself in his chains and switch out the club ends with blades. “I will take Alexa, if you get Zach?” Andy asked. Milly nodded as Alexa tossed her backpack next to her fathers and jumped on to his back like a toddler asking for a piggyback ride. It would have been funny if not for the simple fact that Andy acted like the weight was nothing, and simply took a step back and began running at a dead sprint to the edge of the cliff. Then like some diving competition, Andy leapt forward keeping his feet together and his hands out. As the two of them began to fall to the hard quarry floor Andy’s chains began to unravel and traveling from his arms with purpose.

The blades attached to the ends of Andy’s chains struck the marble walls of the quarry, breaking the rock and wedging itself securely in as an anchor. It was one thing to watch old movies of Spiderman or Tarzan as they swung from one place to another on a web or vine, but to see Andy do it with his own eyes left Zach with childlike glee that in this new world all was possible. Zach began taking off his own backpack and looked at Milly wondering if she was somehow going to pull a Mary Poppins and have a gravity defying umbrella. Instead Milly seemed to have a small smile on her lips as she shook her head. “Andy was always a bit of a show off. Well, come over here, I can only take so much with me when I cast Blink.”

As Zach walked over to Milly, he watched her slim frame take off the backpack and place it with the others. Long elven fingers settled on Zach’s shoulder as Milly began a soft chant as she stared intensily at the Quarry, while Zach gripped his spear in his right hand. The light around Zach and Milly began to brighten and Zach started to feel like air around them cracked with energy. Soon the mana surrounding them began to flash in a strobe pattern as Milly’s voice increased in volume. Milly finally shouted the last word of the spell and with a blinding flash Zach’s surroundings changed from the Quarry’s cliff edge to the Quarry’s bottom. Disoriented, Zach looked around and saw that Longtooth was perhaps hundred yards in front of him and looked to be the size of a city dump truck. The named monster shook its great head and with a stomp of its feet that sent vibrations through the ground began to charge Milly and him.

Milly looked at the Zach and said in a calm voice, “Get Alexa and defeat the elementals it is summoning. Andy and I will take care of Longtooth.” And without waiting for confirmation, Milly stepped forward and began chanting while her hands formed complex gestures. Taking a look at Longtooth’s metal teeth and rock skin, Zach knew there wasn’t anything he could do against such powerful beast. So he began moving his head back and forth trying to find Alexa or an Earth Elemental, when Andy swung down and touched the ground twenty feet from Zach. With a cry a pain the three party members turned to see a large shard of ice flying from Milly hands and striking Longtooths shoulder. Grunting, Andy pulled with his right arm on the anchored chain and Zach heard an explosion of rock as it came free. Andy seemed to swing his arm gathering up the slack of the chain around it, as Alexa slipped down from his back. The chains around Andy’s body started to take on a cherry glow as a red haze began to shimmer along Andy’s flesh. Longtooth gave a deafening roar that made Zach whip his head back to the creature. The ice clinging to Longtooths shoulder was causing the bear a great deal of pain as muscled locked and the bear stumbled into the ground. Yet the sound of ice breaking as sharp spikes of stone began to grow from the bears hide echoed off the walls of the quarry.

The glowing red chain from Andy flew pass Zach’s vision and slammed into the Longtooth’s shoulder. Steam burst forth from the hit as Zach hear the explosion of stone. Longtooth screamed as the hot metal buried itself in him, and with a giant paw threw marble gravel up from the ground as it took a swipe at Andy’s chain. The screech of metal on metal rang out, as well as, a grunt from Andy as the chain pulled on his arm. Zach turned and ran towards Alexa as she stood frozen watching her mother and father fight the mana beast. With each step Zach took he felt the shifting of the ground as Longtooth moved. Right before reaching Alexa, Zach felt the instinct to throw himself to the side and roll. Trusting Grim to help him use his Awareness skill, Zach moved and saw a large stone slab come crashing down where he was. Of course, instead of being some grand martial artist that could roll out of a dodge and do a flying kick. Zach’s right arm slammed into a rock on the ground and pain flared up his forearm as a stone shard punctured his flesh.

Zach’s natural instincts screamed at him to get up, and like an drunken fool, he scrambled against the gravel earth to his feet. The large sandstone sheet began to crack and break as Zach looked on. Six arms made from broken stone began splinter off from the sheet and move under their own power. The dust that rose from the sheet began to swirl around the arms and with a few more cracks jagged thin crab legs formed.

Zach grabbed his spear from the ground and focused on the idea of pushing mana through the tip of his spear into the core of Elemental. As Grim recognized his intentions, dark smoke flowed from the skin of his hands into the shaft of the spear and formed a dark edge at its tip. When the bronze spear hit the stone Zach was expecting it to shatter, instead the spear point stunk into the rock, causing a faint brown haze to flicker out of the stone. Immediately, two arms dissolved into small pebbles as they dropped onto the ground around it, while two more grabbed the spear’s shaft before Zach could move it back, and finally two large stone fists raised themselves in the air and began to fall.

Zach felt his instincts kick in and he twisted his body while letting his spear go. The dark mana that flowed from him stopped and a large fist slammed into his collar bone, creating a burst of pain that forced him to his knees. Screaming he looked up at the elemental to see his spear being pulled out and the arms raising again. Stone burst from its body as a steel blade came through it. Alexa shouted out a warcry as she moved the blade out and the two arms raised to kill Zach shattered into small pebbles that fell on his face. With an over arm chop Alex’s sword came down on the rock once again, a flash of light came from the blade as it connected with the elemental’s body and pebbles began to rain down on Zach.

Another roar, distracted Zach from his pain and made him look back at Longtooth. Andy appeared to have several large cuts about his chest and legs, but his chains were wrapped around Longtooth neck and front legs. Purple sickly light came from the chains as Longtooths skin opened up every place it touched metal. While Milly seemed to be springing into the air, casting Fireballs and Ice Lances down onto the massive beast. Blood began to drip from the chains around Longtooths neck as the bear jerked its head trying to bite Milly as she got close. Andy struggled to keep the bear in place as his feet dug into the hard ground. Feeling inspire by the sight of Milly and Andy, Zach got back up from his knees while cradling his arm. His eyes turned back to Alexa as she bent over to Alexa pick up his spear. Gritting his teeth Zach took the spear from Alexa into his left hand and scanned around the quarry.

Light seemed to catch Zach’s vision as he looked towards a crystal on a rose marble outcropping. Slowly the crystal began to grow as the marble began to crack and shift. “Alexa, over there I see another elemental.” Zach pointed with his spear. Red pyramids began to form into sharp dagger like points, while the clear crystals on the pink marble seemed to stretch towards the sunlight. Alexa turned and started to walk over to the growing mass, while Zach moved beside with her. The elemental was still creating its form, when Alexa swung the blade down like she was chopping a block of wood, and the elemental broke into pieces. Alexa shook her head and did another quick scan, “Gem Elementals are tough as hell, thankfully we got this bastard before he could grow.”

Just as she finished talking, Alexa’s eyes got wide, and she cursed before running toward her parents. Turning around Zach saw what had surprised her. Black tar appeared to be spreading in a great puddle that occasion a large jet would shoot up. Just as Alexa was a few feet away from the elemental multiple jets shoot up from the tar and it seemed to shift its pool closer to Milly and Andy. It was still ten feet away when a jet of black tar shot out at Milly while she was jumping to dodge a paw swipe. Scalding sticky tar splashed across Milly’s robe as she completed a spell. A long spear of ice slammed itself through Longtooths hide puncturing a lung and driving itself into the ground. As the tar splashed around her robe, a look a pain shot across Milly’s face and she fell to the ground in a heap. Zach gritted his teeth against the pain in his shoulder and ran towards the black pool of tar. He had taken no more than three steps when another spray came out and hit Alexa’s shield splashing over it and covering her shield arm. She screamed as she fell to the ground looking at her arm.

Seeing that if he didn’t act Zach pulled back his offhand arm and had Grim activate Thrust. Brown and black energy came from his hand and focused itself at the tip of his spear. Zach stepped into the pool to strike at the body of the spray instantly feeling intense heat around his boots. Screaming in pain and determination, he thrust the spear forward and just as it was about to hit the tar elemental the black liquid moved opening a hole in it’s being as the spear went through. Zach immediately felt his instinct to jump out of the puddle and move away from the elemental as fast as he could. Turning, he forced himself to jump knowing that the landing would send him into agony. As he cleared the elementals pool, he sudden felt an explosion of fire and heat from the elemental right before he hit the ground. The impact jarred his shoulder and pain flooded his body making him see lights. Rolling over on reflex to get off his injured shoulder, he saw the tar elemental on fire as black smoke rose into the sky. Andy’s chained had blue flames dancing on them as two of them moved from the body of the elemental.

Looking at Andy, Zach saw the man awash in purple, red, and brown energy. His chains no longer swung in the air naturally, but rose above him like they were alive. Andy screamed and his chains struck Longtooth like a viper striking a mouse. The blades at the end of his chains plunged deep into Longtooths flesh over and over again. Chunks of meat came out on the chains only to be set on fire and flung to the ground as they came down for another strike. Longtooth’s legs gave out and the massive bear dropped to the Quarry floor mewing in pain. Blood soaked into the ground as Andy made an arcane gesture with his hand and the blades of this chain struck piercing Longtooth’s heart and neck, finally ending the battle.

Quickly, the mana flames around Andy died away and his normal healthy muscular frame looked pale and sickly. His chains that had been moving on their own, dropped onto the ground and quiet descended the quarry. Andy’s head looked up at the sky and in a hoarse voice screamed, “Vasih’ il von Schoner’s Creek!”

The words bounced off the walls of the quarry and then a burst of lights appeared, as chiseled crests appeared on the walls. Looking at the crest, it had lines like a tribal tattoo, yet on the sigil it showed a tree with a river flowing out of it. Underneath the crest was small simple words that held a power on their own, Forever Free.

It was then that a Blue screen appeared in front of Zach’s face.

Congratulations, you taken part in the battle to kill Longtooth and his summoned elementals! Know this that your battle has completed a City Quest! As you have fought in a party, are one of the Village Elders, and your opponent was the primary target of a City Quest; you may choose to defer your rewards to the City Core instead of you. This choice will increase the city’s rewards but will not give you any personal gains. Should you choose not to defer your experience and mana gains, it will be split amongst you and your teammates.

Would you like to defer your experience and mana?YesNo