The Eldritch Realms Pt. 02

For a few months I alternated between taking on bounty hunting and training with Caitlyn, who taught me swordsmanship, magical barriers, and horse riding. She was a terrifyingly powerful fighter, as I discovered when she brought me to her own missions, easily able to match or even eclipse the most skilled of Phantoms. She decided I was at least strong enough to handle the Eldritch Realm. She brought me to the Tower of Mist, where a bluish portal stood in its highest level. "Be careful there," she warned me.

The Eldritch Realm; it was dark, but not so dark that vision was completely futile. A silent and strong castle stood, lit by many lanterns and warded with layer upon layer of different shields. I felt slight pain, but nothing unbearable. "That is our headquarters. Let's go in."

She led me to the inner sanctum of the castle. There gathered many an influential figure: the three High Lords, Phantoms, and, peculiarly enough, a succubus. They were talking around a magical projection of Eris. Caitlyn nudged me to sit down on one of the empty chairs. "Fuck," the succubus cursed. "You want to face someone who could create half-demons? This bitch gotta be ridiculously powerful."

"Unless we want our free will to be taken away, we will have to do battle against her, Ivala," Lady Magna said.

"A question, if you'd indulge me," one Phantom said. "If this Eris is so powerful, how come she hasn't, you know, completed her plan already?"

"It comes back to the principle of rootedness, that the most powerful entities such as creation, death, and time are so latched unto the foundations of the worlds to the point that they become nonsentient, and in a way harmless. To even slightly nudge them would require great magical prowess and preparation even for her."

"So what do you fuckers plan to do?" the succubus Ivala asked. "We do have a fuckton of resources here, but without a concrete enemy like the previous war, we're likely to be alone as hell. We can't exactly convince our allies without introducing them to the Eldritch Realms."

"You're right, Ivala," Lord Autumn conceded. "Which is why we have decided on a two-pronged approach: most of us here will focus on locating Eris in the Eldritch Realms. Meanwhile, we'll persecute her cults in conjunction with the Baroque States. They've been performing human sacrifices to strengthen Eris, so hitting them would cut off Eris' power source, earn us some goodwill, and perhaps even allow us access to some of their lore and artifacts."

"That sounds fair," Ivala agreed.

Once the short meeting was over, Caitlyn brought me back to the real world. "Your impression?" she asked.

"If not for the shielding, I would have died," I said. "I understand why only few could withstand the Eldritch Realms now."

Caitlyn let out a small laugh. "Well, good to see your carefulness, but I was actually talking about the 'destroy-Eris'-cults' plan," she said. "Master gave me total freedom to judge whether you're ready for more high-level missions, but I want your input as well. Let's talk in your house."

With her Caitlyn carried a map. "Oh, hello, Master. And Caitlyn. What brought you here?" Cassy asked. She was cleaning the living room with (only) an apron on.

"Discussing a mission," Caitlyn replies shortly. She rolled her map on the table. "Hurdle around, everyone."

"Your mission, should you accept, is here," Caitlyn pointed at east of Phantasma. "The city-state of Minaria. It is, or should I say was, a prosperous state. Mostly because they have a lot of mines, so they supply a lot of ores and magical crystals and whatnot. The problem is that the cult of Eris moved nearby, preventing anyone from working, kidnapping citizens, killing a good chunk of their city guard, and basically paralyzing the whole state."

"So they're screwed."

"Very screwed. I heard they barely had enough resources left to last a week... and I heard that last week," Caitlyn said. "I gotta warn you. You have to neutralize the cult all by yourself with maybe some help from the city guard--or what remains of it. Furthermore, they have hired a very skilled dark elf mercenary. Last mission, Master could bail you out. It won't happen this time."

I nodded grimly. "I can't get stronger if all I do is take easy missions," I remarked.

"Besides, he won't be alone," Cassy said. "I will accompany him."

"Cassy!" I said. "You can't be serious. It's dangerous."

"I'm not taking a blade and fighting with you, Master, but I can use my healing abilities."

"Alright," I relented.

"In that case, allow me to teach you a bond spell," Caitlyn said. She pulled out a scroll containing a spell which I absorbed. The spell could link Cassy and I, allowing us to draw each other's powers and communicate telephatically.

I closed my eyes. A serene wind blew. "It's done," I remarked.

"Excellent. Also, take this."

Caitlyn handed me a communication orb. "Similar to the commercially available ones, but this one directly connects to mine and is more protected against magical espionage. Contact me daily if possible, weekly if not."

"Thank you," I said.

The next day, in the early morning, Cassy and I set out with two horses. With us Phantasma sent many wagons of grain, meats, poultry, and other foodstuffs to help Minaria, as well as a few horsemen to guard those wagons. Sir Bedievere was the captain of the horsemen. He was proud and tall with his hair cut short.

"Good morning. Sir Bedievere, yes?" I asked as we began to ride side-by-side in front of the wagons.

"Good morning to you, Robin Treville," he replied. "I heard you'll be in charge of the operation in Minaria. I wish you luck."

"Thank you. Will you join us?"

"I'm afraid not. Our orders are to protect the caravan until it reaches Minaria."

"Nevertheless, I'm glad for your assistance."

The horsemen marched for many hours before night fell and we rested. The next morning our journey continued through sparse forests, though in this day it was cloudy. "Halt," Sir Bedievere said.

Groans were heard, and not by Sir Bedievere's horsemen; as he and his horsemen drew their spears and scimitars, I took out my own black blade and nudged Cassy to safety. The groans became louder. "Whatever that was, come out!" Sir Bedievere roared.

And they came. Deformities, abominations! These creatures appeared humanoid, though shorter than any man or elf, and they groaned like wild beasts with tusks. Their skin were grey and wrinkled and marred with terrible scars whilst their eyes burned yellow or red.

These creatures attacked, forcing us to form a circle around the wagons. Finely made spears and scimitars of Phantasma clashed with crude axes and iron shields. I unleashed a flock of birds to distract the creatures before I too leaped into conflict. I swung my blade in wide sweeps, beheading them while conjuring arcane daggers to pick off the isolated.

With many of the creatures dead and the horsemen overcoming the initial shock, a second wave came, this time Eris' cultists. "Heah!"

A dark elf attacked me with his twin short swords. Without neither time nor concentration to cast magic, I resorted to my blade. We danced around, sword against sword. The drums of war sang as I lunged, giving him a slight wound on the cheek. He reciprocated with a punch on my shoulder.

"Damn, you're pretty good," I said.

"Same to you."

But whilst he and I fought on more or less equal terms, the horsemen steadily pushed the cultists back. A bell rang and they ran away with the dark elf guarding their rear. "What of the casualties?" Sir Bedievere asked.

"None dead, but a good many severely injured," one of his subordinates said. "We should be able to save them all."

I approached Cassy. Judging from her smirk and her bloody short sword, she was more than fine--heck, she probably made those cultists not fine. "You okay?" I asked.

"Totally okay."

"Robin."

"Sir Bedievere?"

"With my men this badly mauled, I have to return to Phantasma as soon as possible to bring them to healing houses. Can you go on by yourself?"

"I can," I replied. "Minaria's not very far, after all."

Sir Bedievere took with him several corpses of the strange creatures. With Sir Bedievere and his men turning back, Cassy and I escorted the wagons. We arrived in Minaria a few hours later. It was a broken city; the few remaining guards distributed what little food their storages still had whilst all shops were closed. They exulted when we came with jubilant cheers. I went straight to the townhall, where Lord Narthia, leader of Minaria, awaited with his wife Lady Nholem. Lord Narthia was short but stout with a short beard and thick mustache, whereas Lady Nholem was thin and tall, even taller than her husband. She was a brunette.

"Greetings. The High Lord bids me to deliver his salutations," I said, bowing slightly.

"Greetings, Robin Treville. We understand you are the agent sent to solve the cult of Eris situation. If you do, we will be most grateful," Lord Narthia said. "This is Captain Raven Black, commander of the city guards. She will provide assistance."

I shook hands briefly with Captain Black, an experienced soldier judging from her scars on the face. "Pleased to meet you," she said.

"Likewise."

We quickly retreated to the guardhouse to discuss strategy. "So, first things first, how many men do you have under your command?" I asked.

"Around fifty men or so. A lot of the villagers are hunters and could be counted upon as a last resort, but these thirty men are the real soldiery here," she said. "Actually, I want to discuss something else. We have discovered their base."

"You have?" I gasped. "Then what are you waiting for?"

"We simply don't have the manpower. There are hundreds of them at least, likely thousands. And they have bred what we call orcs."

"Grey skinned and shorter than men?"

"Yes, exactly. You have encountered them, huh?" Captain Black bit her lips.

"Yes, they ambushed us on the way," I said. "Hmm. So we have information on the cult's base, but without the manpower to actually storm it."

"That's right. Take a look at the sketch. And honestly, even if I do have the manpower, I wouldn't. Too many casualties."

"Agreed," I said. We both fell into deep thought for a few minutes as I observed the detailed sketch of the hideout: it seemed to be a repurposed cave, similar to my own house.

"I have a way, but it's... it's not savoury. I don't think you'll like what might happen to the cultists."

"They can be thrown into a volcano for all I care. What's it?"

"This precipice is really there, right?" I pointed at the cliff above the cave.

"Yeah. Wait, don't tell me...."

"I can make the precipice fall down with a properly aimed shockwave if I use all my power," I said. "Then they'll be cut off of water and food... they'll have to parley or regret it. The main concern as far as I would understand it is that we also risk your people captured dying; though if the cult I encountered in Phantasma is in any way similar to this one, they might have died from being sacrificed to their goddess."

Captain Black smirked. "Glad to see you're not a weak-ass. I approve the merits of the plan," she said. "Unfortunately, there are several problems with the plan. One is the captives that you mentioned. Two is that they have secret tunnels; we know of only two and we have blocked them, but there must be many more."

After discussing several more ideas, we were burnt out. I bode her farewell for the day as night fell. In the inn I met Cassy, who had been busy helping with healing. I contacted Caitlyn with the orb.

"So how's the progress?"

"Uh, not good. I've been brainstorming with the local captain and we haven't found a good solution yet," I said.

"Hmm... without being there myself, I can't contribute much, but I do have a piece of advice based on what Sir Bedievere told me about that ambush," Caitlyn said.

"Oh? Do tell."

"It seemed they employed a dark elf mercenary. The thing about dark elves is that they are only loyal to themselves," Caitlyn explained. "But you can bind their complete loyalty to you. They have a strange cultural concept that they will never bend to anyone's will except for someone 'worthy'."

"Worthy? What does that imply?"

"It's a very subjective thing, but it usually means beating them at their own game. If you can cook better than a dark elf chef, that chef might consider you worthy and so on. I heard the dark elf that attacked you used close combat heavily. Try to limit your magical spells and use your own close combat abilities," she recommended. "Once you own his loyalty, you can extract all kinds of information from him and use him against the cult."

"Okay! Thanks a lot!"

As I shut down the communication and prepared to rest, Captain Black burst into my room. "Enemy raid! Get your ass up here and help us!" she shouted.

I was shocked, making my legs tremble. "Straight away!"

I rushed to an outlying village torched by the cultists. The guards fought valiantly with arrows and spears. I sent flocks of birds of mana, blinding and distracting the cultists.

I brandished my blade as Captain Black took out hers, and we fought side-by-side like an unstoppable duo of swords and wind blasts and arcane shockwaves. We cut down cultists with swift slashes whilst the guards covered us with well-shot arrows.

The dark elf mercenary came at last when almost all the cultists had been captured or killed. He groaned at me, as if issuing a challenge. "You want a fair fight?" I bellowed. "Come, I'll give you one!"

The masked dark elf brandished his own short swords. A gale of thunder surrounded his body and his swords. "Well, if he is willing to use magic, I'll use mine too!" I thought to myself.

We charged against each other, my blade shining with arcane magic clashing against his swords of thunder. I sent a shockwave, propelling him back.

"Strong. I've never fought anyone as strong as you. You deserve to see my face, at least."

The dark elf took off his mask and cape.

Her mask and cape.

"You're a woman?" I asked in shock. Her body had always been draped in armor and cloth whilst her face covered. She had very short hair and she looked tomboyish, but even in the dark I could still recognize a woman.

"Don't worry, you're far from the first person to think I were a man," she said. "You said you wanted a fair fight. Let's fight, then!"

I conjured a sea of arcane blades, hurling them at her. She leaped from tree to tree with lightning speed, swiftly evading them all. She called upon thunderbolts from the sky, which I blocked with a barrier.

I concentrated my power into a flock of large birds that assaulted her from above, yet she merely channeled her lightning, disabling them. All sense of orderly battle was lost as we crashed against each other, our blades duelled in unparalleled desperation for our strength waned the longer our fight went on.

"Heah!" she roared as she made a forceful lunge. I lowered my sword.

"Argh!" I gasped in pain as she stabbed my stomach.

"Got you," she muttered with fettering breath.

"No... got you."

I conjured a hail of arcane daggers as fast as I could whilst I held the dark elf in place with my legs and arms. The daggers plunged into her back. A scream of agony was heard, and then silence.

I had won.

But my vision blurred. Blood spurted from ny wounds and soon darkness took me.

I woke up. I gasped for air as I forced myself upwards. Cassy held my hand firmly. "Master!" she gasped. "Calm down, calm down."

"Where-where am I?" I asked. "What about the dark elf?"

"The local hospital. The dark elf is safely in prison."

"Is he awake already?"

Captain Black entered the room with a faint smile. "Glad to see you recovering so fast," she said. "They attacked and we actually won without any casualties and none of them escaped. That's new."

I smiled. "Well, I'm glad."

"Though, if you are recovered already, you may want to meet the dark elf prisoner."

"What is it with her?"

"Well, she is demanding to see you," Captain Black explained. "She threatens to break out of prison unless you see her."

I stood up from my bed with great effort. The wound was deep. With Cassy on my side and Captain Black leading from the front, I went to Minaria's prison. There the cultists were imprisoned.

"My Angel!"

One of the cultists--seems to be pretty high-ranked--cried out. She seized my ankles. "Hey! What's with you!" Captain Black raged, but was ignored.

"You're one of the Goddess' Angels, right? Your energies are the same! Then why? Why forsake us?" The cultists was practically crying at this point, bashing her head against the floor multiple times in a desperate kowtow until a pair of guards breached the cell and stopped her.

"These lunatics...." Captain Black gritted her teeth. "Pay her no heed. They're all crazy."

I glanced at the cultist once more. Indubitably, because of me being a half-demon, I felt similar to Eris. We went to the dark elf's cell.

"Ah!" The dark elf struggled but she woke up from her bed. "Yes, there he is! Robin! The one I fought!"

"Yeah, that's me. You want to talk, uh... I realized we never exchanged names. For obvious reasons."

"Yes! Yes! I'm Eliza!" she said giddily. "Ah, I've been waiting for this moment for so long. I have never seen anyone so determined to win they'd allow themselves to be stabbed!"

"I want to be your slave, Master!" she continued, holding my hand. I smiled.

Only now could I see her in her entirety. She was slim and tall, whilst her hair was cut short. She had pitch-black skin, as expected from a, uh, dark elf. "If so, I want you to cooperate with Captain Black and her soldiers here."

"As you wish, Master!"

"Right.... We're going to extract every single iota of information from you."

"If Master commands it, sure."

With Captain Black's men interrogating Eliza, Captain Black herself took Cassy and I for a short trip in the city. "Looks like the city is recovering," I noted.

"Yeah. With so many of the cultists dead or captured, a good chunk of the men are inspired to sign up as guards, thus swelling our numbers," Captain Black explained. "This means some of our ore mines closest to the city are available again."

"Huh? How many of them were captured?"

"Eh, somewhere around a hundred with another hundred dead."

We went visiting the markets where we sampled local foodstuffs. Then we visited the gardens, which housed many plants from the rare black roses to valued potion ingredients like the auruflora. Then we toured the outer city, where Captain Black left us for a while to report to Lord Narthia.

"Hello there, young man." A plump, blonde woman approached us with a smile. She had a bunny suit that accentuated her large breasts. Cassy scowled.

"Hm? Oh, hello. Who are you?"

"I'm Miranda," she replied, "but for enough coin, you can call me anything you like. In fact, why don't you come inside, honey?" She pointed at a building behind her. With a powerful ability named "common sense" I deduced it was a whorehouse and her a prostitute.

A knife flew in the air, nearly cutting off Miranda's ear. "Hey!"

"What 'hey'?"

"Ugh. Look here Raven, we're just trying to make a living here," Miranda scowled. "Not everyone is cut out to be a miner or a soldier or a farmer, okay? And this brothel is legal!"

"Yeah, yeah sure, but I can say with complete confidence that I could throw you in jail for your clothing... what do they call it again? Right, 'public indecency' and 'disturbing public order'."

"Gah. Fine, you asshole!" Miranda angrily stormed inside the brothel.

"Fuckers," Captain Black cursed with a low voice. "Oh, er, apologies for that. Anyway, Lord Narthia has given permission for you to use his private hot spring."