Stygian Sword Read online

  Part III- Tobias

  Ivan

  Great. Now I have to walk to all the way to a tower. Things are not going my way. First Amnesia, Next that guy comes and steals from me. Then, I had to eat bear meat, which actually, was good once I was able to cook it properly. "Are we there yet?" I complained. Heather gave me a nasty look. "Shut up!" And followed with a punch to the arm. Mattais removed the fancy thing from his face. Good. Now I don't feel like a total... un-fancy person. That academy was pretty cool. Hmm. I might actually enroll in that, after my travels. Yeah. Magic sounds nice. We actually walked back to Garnet, to run some errands. The stupid forest. Walking inside again, we were briefly attacked by brigands, who were swiftly cut down by Heather. Oh great. The Amazon shack. We dashed across the field, but we were too late. Twelve Amazons came out of the shack, in dragoon armor. We were prepared I drew my dirk. Battle stancing, I realized that I got a new weapon; Blood Dirk. The Amazons were fast, but I was faster. I quickly cut down one, and felt revitalized. Xavier's arms was a blur of black, and as I looked dreamily at Heather, Lucia ran in and cut down an Amazon, who had her Lance raised, ready to spear my head. "Watch out" she said. "Save googly eyes for later, lover-boy." And she smiled. Still facing me, put her arm out and gave an Amazon a knife through the face, leaving it as two halves of a face. Lucia winked at me, and backflipped into action. No thanks. I thought. She is three years older, half as good looking and seventy times a better warrior than me. For whatever reason, every one of my allies retreated into the woods. I followed suit. Mattais walked into the clearing, his cloak trailing behind him. His eyes closed. Putting his hands out, the Amazons were getting cautious now. One lunged towards Mattais but was thrown back by an unseen force. Mattais starting chanting words, and a purple ball of... stuff generated in front of him. The Amazons ran backwards but, to late! Mattais screamed "GOETIA!" And a purple beam shot from his hands, and decimated all life forms in contact with it. It was as if they never even existed. Mattais grinned and struck an awesome pose. We all exited the forest to congratulate him. Xavier revealed the goal out in the clearing. "Forty mercenaries are coming from Garnet tomorrow. Our goal from King Roy is to eliminate the Amazons. We Will hold the base under seige until then." There was general agreement about this. We were not very lucky. More Amazons burst from the shack. I counted Eighty-six. Mattais was drained. Xavier and Lucia were team fighting and Hector swung his axe, which instantly froze Amazons with subzero temperatures. We were overwhelmed by the sheer number of enemies. Going back to back I had lost all hope. A hooded traveller was passing through. Help us, I thought. My prayers were answered. Dropping his sack he drew a shortsword, and dashed to help us. His speed was unmeasureable. He seemed to blur, then show up somewhere else. The Amazons were taken by total surprise, by the time they realized what had happened, they were lying in a pool of their own blood. I looked towards Xavier, who stared at the man. He frowned and whispered "Morgan." Morgan noticed Xavier and dashed towards him. Xavier closed his eyes, muttered a few words, and blurred out to fight Morgan.

  Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

  All in the space of two seconds. Both fighters became visible, and Morgan had a gash on his right arm. His mouth was twisted in pain, and he lowered his hood.

  Morgan was not a guy. Morgan was the most beautiful woman I have ever laid eyes on. Coming in at 5'6", Morgan had long black hair, swept across her face. She had aqua eyes and light skin. She shed her coat, and her clothing was red and screamed Little Red Riding Hood. "My, My." I said. "You must be tired" and I walked up to her. "How about a drink at the cafe after all this work?" She looked at me with a face of total shock. "Really Ivan? Of course!" She beamed. Perfect. I got a date with a beautiful lady tonight! Morgan suggested we don't wait, and storm the fortress. We agreed. We rushed into the fortress, finding it empty, and went to the throne room. Athena was in her chair. She looked up at us and smiled. "Good Job Morgan! You brought the prisoners! Perfect! Your death sentence is pardoned. Now." She looked at us. "Okay. I only need Lucia and Xavier. The rest can go." When we were out, all of our group, including Morgan, used a sight spell from Mattais's book.

  Xavier was brought upstairs to Athena's room. Xavier looked at her. "You want to be a God? Don't you." Athena smiled "That's part of it. But mostly I love you Xavier." Xavier hurled onto the ground, but made it disappear before it hit the ground. "Both that and what you said was unpleasant." Athena giggled. "Why don't you let me be a God Xavier?" Xavier was unsettled. "I'd rather marry a rock than you." Athena was still smiling. "You know, I hear the volcano goddess is very good looking." Xavier mentioned. Athena started to panic and there was a look of worry on her face. "But... what about me? If I become a God, then I Will forgive Lucia. She is being executed as we speak." Xavier said, "Really? Gods are difficult to kill, you know" Athena was getting tired. "Will Lucia die or not?" Xavier laughed "Not for a while!" Athena was running out of tricks.

  The vision stopped. Hector started to talk. "So you become a God by marrying one?" Mattais looked nervous "Um... Sorta." Heather started to question. "How did Xavier and Lucia become gods? Neither of them are married?" Mattais was very uncomfortable. "As gods, they... we have more than one life. Our ages only change at Will. Or something." Loch exclaimed "Who is a God! And who is not!" Mattais spoke up "Me. Xavier. Lucia." Loch was interested. "And can you die?" Mattias looked worried. "Yeah... I'm not telling you you though!" Mattais decided to find a way in, and sent me and Morgan to Garnet to get reinforcements. Arriving at Garnet via magic, I headed straight for the cafe. I got a coffee, and Morgan got a tea. We sat down. Grinning I started conversation. "So Morgan, what kind of music do you like?" She smiled. "Come on, Ivan. You know me! Stop joking around!" I was confused. "I have amnesia... please help my memory." Morgan started. "Let us start from the beginning. You, Ivanoff Volstock was born 13 years ago, in Rübor, Nòrd. You have... had two siblings. One died, the other... disappeared. Your parents are dead. They died from poisoning with your sister. I am Morgan. I am THE most important person in your life, says you. I am your future wife." I got all this. I am the luckiest man alive. Anyways, we finished our coffee in silence and contacted the king. He was able to spare 350 mercenaries (Not soldiers). After walking back the the previous area that we camped in, Loch looked up at me and my army, and frowned. "Damn it. Less killing for me." Hector looked at Mattais. "Why does Xavier and Loch's hometown matter so much?" Mattais sighed. "They come from cities lost thirteen years ago, and the people from Renais are said to be magical." Gathering our troops we stormed the castle. Five hundred Amazons lay in wait. Among our group was the most skilled mercenaries ever. Minus Lucia and Xavier, of course. Loch was seen decimating the enemy's army, I was just slashing things, and I think I hit my comrade once... anyways Heather blocked my slash, and kicked me in the stomach. I fell over in total pain. Getting up, I managed to cut through one piece of bronze armor. Anyways, while the fight raged, I went downstairs. Unlocking Lucia with nice lockpick skills, she smiled. "Thank you. Now, LET'S KILL THINGS!" She picked up her sword and jumped into the fray. The Amazons faced two threats now. Lucia and... never mind. Three. Xavier joined the fight, with knives so fast he looked like he had golden hands.Overwhelmed, the enemy crumbled, and I stopped to look around. The blood was ankle deep on the floor. blood of enemies and heroes. Besides my group of eight, fourteen mercenaries survived the great battle. Saying my last goodbye to the Amazon stronghold, our group literally ran towards our next objective: find and eliminate Tobias.

  We finally came across the king of all castles, situated in Transelvenia: CastleVenia

  Complete with lightning and spooky winds. Taking the other seven inside, we were briefly assaulted by some sort of animate skeleton. Sensing an undead threat, Xavier passed out the bronze, gold and stygian weapons, we proceeded to the second floor. We were bombarded by axe wielding knights, they even disarmed Loch! Luckily, Xavier's bow skills saved us. We moved on through the floors, but met with another person soon afte
r. "What the..." he was confused. Swinging his whip, he hit Morgan square in the face. He retracted it, and brought out part of Morgan's brain with it. I was devastated. My love... died. I fell to my knees over her body. The whip man was up against the wall. Rage taking over, I rushed to whip-man, pinned him against the wall and used the first name to come to mind. "How well do you die, Richer?" I jabbed my hand through his chest, and pulled, ripping out his vital organs. Calming down, we moved forwards. We came across a giant door, Mattais knocked. "What the hell do you want?" Came a voice from the other side of the door. "It's me" Mattais answered. "Tay? Come on in." Coming in at five-foot eleven, Tobias had black eyes, brown hair. He preferred to float, instead of walk, and wore black mage attire. He had a regal aura around him. "Ah... the seven of legend. Please sit down, we need to talk." And he magiced up chairs to sit in. "You are the heroes the legends speak about. Two evil beings stand over this realm, Anima, and Animus." Lucia was mortified, Xavier was distressed. Tobias continued "One male, one