The sun rose long before Blackthorne awoke. Sonja and Branwen had largely recovered and were waiting near him. It took a moment for him to comprehend their conversation as Branwen was trying to tell her something with hand gestures, while Sonja attempted to speak louder and more clearly with each passing moment.

He whispered hoarsely, “What’s happening?”

The girls stopped speaking, or whatever one might call their attempt at communication and looked to him. Sonja immediately walked over and slapped him on the chest, hard. The symbol on her back flared to life, but that flaring light was nothing akin to the fire in her eyes. “What were you thinking!”

“I wasn’t,” he said weakly. “I figured the worst that would happen was that I would lose the materials. This has never happened before.”

“Even so! That could have killed you, or even us!” exclaimed Sonja.

“I don’t know what to say. I’m sorry it went out of control,” he said softly.

“The only thing you need to say is that you’ll tell us next time, and that you’ll make some of that for us as well!” she said heatedly.

“Huh?” he asked intelligently. “Sorry, my brain is a little… dry I guess?”

Her anger faded a little. “Truthfully, I want to be angry at you. I can’t do it.”

Enough of his strength had returned that he could now sit up, so he wobbled into a seated position. “Why is that?”

She looked at him curiously for a moment then leaned back. His eyes widened considerably. There was the set of armor perfectly visible to him for the first time. It still floated in the air as though it was waiting for him.

“That armor is an absolute masterpiece. I have seen high lords who could not afford something such as that,” said Sonja. “I can’t be mad at the master who will someday make for me my own legendary armor.”

He attempted to chuckle at her, but it came out more like a dry hiss. Worse, it made his everything hurt. Rather, everything already hurt but now he had made it sting on top of the hurt.

“By the time I try that again, hopefully it won’t go like this… I almost think I should stick to grass!” he said with an attempt at a smile.

“Are you and Branwen alright?” he asked her. “I lost consciousness, so I don’t know what happened after that.”

“Whatever you did drained us dry, but that was it. I don’t even think we got a bruise out of the deal.” She glanced at him briefly then nodded her head, “Not like you at least.”

“I’m an idiot. I should have moved further away or maybe rounded up some onions first. Something,” he said.

“Going to sacrifice onions for your fell magical workings, oh dark one?” asked Sonja with a grin. She glanced over at the armor once more then sighed. A hint of drool formed at the edge of her lips, but she soon wiped it away.

It took a moment, but she helped him to his feet so that he could go inspect the armor. What he saw proved to be more than a little shocking!

Exquisite Grand Field Plate of the Abyssal Lord

Equipped: --

Weight: 0.00

Life Force Cost: 200, +20 per level

Level: 1 [0%]

Accessory Type: Arcane Heavy Plate

Armor Class: 24 + Charisma Modifier

Quality: Legendary

Agility Reduction: 0

Durability: 229/229

Hardness: 40

Equipment Requirements

Blackthorne (Human Form Only)

--

Bonus Armor Class: +2 (per level)

Special Options

Resist Elemental Light – 4.2

Ignore Basic Elemental Spells – Tier I elemental spells cannot harm the wearer. However, they will damage the armor in his place.

Dark Devouring – Any blood that comes in contact with the armor will be absorbed by the armor. Life will be restored to the wearer, and the spirit energy contained in the blood will bolster the armor. Over time the accumulated spirit energy will increase the armor’s level. Higher quality blood will provide superior spiritual essence.

Dark Lord’s Reward – All dark magic spells are increased +1 level. They will further increase by one additional level per every four armor levels.

Gravitas Imperious – The wearer will be able to control gravity to a limited degree. He will be able to fly via his will power alone or to cause objects within a certain distance to become lighter or heavier in accordance to his will.

- This power will drain the spiritual essence from the armor and may even cause it to lose a level if the power is utilized frequently.

- This power causes the armor to be naturally weightless.

Drain Touch Reparation – The wearer may draw life force from any living organism that he touches. This gathered life force will be used to quickly repair the armor and restore durability, but it will not increase his own life force.

Dread Lord of the Abyss – Expend spiritual energy gathered by the armor and call forth souls from the abyss. This ability will only manifest itself as the capacity to draw abyssal energy into the world and to form it into an undead creature by utilizing accumulated spiritual energy. These creatures are not true souls, but are simulacrum crafted by abyssal energy and soul essence.

- The level of the creature will be equal to the armor’s level when divided by four, plus the charisma modifier of the summoner also divided by four.

- Level one is the lowest level.

- The conjuration skill can further bolster the level of the summoned creature by one level for every twenty-five ranks of skill.

He blinked slowly. The words would not come to him. He had made something like this ridiculous armor suit? Admittedly, most of its abilities seemed a bit low-end for a so-called legendary item. Yet, the true strength that it possessed was its growth potential. It would become stronger over time! The bonuses would stack, and he could even raise an army of the dead. Possibly.

The latter aspect would require testing. He would not have used it at all, if it had been actual souls that were to be called up from the abyss. The wording, however, made it seem as though it was just a method of taking bits and pieces of stray spiritual energy then converting them into a unified physical form. Something like his other spells, really, but it would follow orders and look disgusting.

While he wanted to try it on, the first thing he did was to ask Sonja if she was alright once more. She said that she was, so he went to speak with Branwen. He apologized for having gotten her involved with his mess. She would have none of it, despite his attempts to relate to her on the level of a normal person. If anything, his all-devouring armor creation had made her divine hero worship escalate. Hers was a god of legendary armor crafting now, as well.

The guilt that he felt over their inclusion in his experiment could not be assuaged. They forgave the issue far too easily, though at least he understood the reasoning. If he could make something like this, what then could he make for them at some point? Sonja had flat out said as much.

Unfortunately, even after he secured his forgiveness and made his apologies, he could not equip the armor. He was still far too injured to generate life force. “Damn. At this rate it’ll be tomorrow this time before I can try it out.”

“Maybe we should head back to Earth?” asked Sonja.

He nodded to her. “Yes. I’ve been away too long as it is.”

They made a few last-minute preparations. Branwen had more than recovered enough after her brief nap. She could watch them for however long they needed her to do so.

Sonja and Blackthorne nuzzled together in their makeshift camp then drifted off to sleep in each other’s arms. Her rest would be short-lived, of course. Not long after Blackthorne logged in on Earth, he called her to his side.

“Fancy meeting you here,” he said lightly.

She smiled at him but said nothing. He took it as a sign that she was still mad at him but hiding it.

Sonja went to take a shower, while Scott chose to check his emails. Before he had any chance to do so, however, his attention was taken up by his online news feeds discussing the worldwide issue that happened recently.

“The hell?” He immediately clicked on a news feed and watched as hundreds of goblins attacked Washington DC. While that was no big loss on a philosophical level, it was still concerning.

“Shit… If it was happening everywhere then what about here?” He hopped up then went to check his phone. Several voicemails and text messages were left for him from Ashton. His heart sank as he heard her voice take on more desperation with each message.

He tried to call her, but there was no answer. “Fuck!”

While he had been off in the dream, one of the few people on Earth he had come to care anything about needed him. He quickly got dressed, then knocked on the bathroom door. “Sonja! We need to go when you’re ready.”

She did not hesitate, and quickly ended her shower. She opened the door, perfectly nude and asked him what the problem was that he would speak so tersely.

“Something may have happened to Ashton. There was a worldwide monster attack here while we were gone,” he said.

Her eyes widened slightly then she nodded. “I won’t be long!”

She immediately turned and began to get dressed. Now was not the time to luxuriate in the shower.