The Eternal: Transcend - A LitRPG Saga (World of Ga'em Book 3) Read online

  The Eternal: Transcend

  A World of Ga’em Novel

  By Dhayaa Anbajagane

  GATEWAY TO DANGER

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

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  OTHER BOOKS BY DHAYAA

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  COPYRIGHT

  ASTERION’S AMBITION

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  CHAPTER ONE

  The roar of a dragon thundered through the sky, and the leaves and trees around me trembled. Clouds of granite-gray broke apart as the beast of black shot through, splitting them into halves. A strong breeze blew past my face as I ran forward, chasing the shadow of the great Dragon.

  “Acnologia sure is active today,” Nyx spoke into my subconscious.

  “Zoran, why the heck did we have to run again?” Freya gasped, and her moon silver eyes gazed at me accusingly as we ran. Strands of her black hair flowed down to her waist, and a streak of silver glistened magnificently within them. Pointy ears poked out from under the black, revealing her elven heritage — well, Moon-elf heritage to be more specific. Her chest heaved with every step she took, and the sounds of her rough breathing pulsed through the air.

  “I thought it’d be easier to search the forest if we were on the ground,” I said. “It…probably wasn’t the best of ideas.”

  “You don’t say,” Nyx chuckled.

  “Well.” A deep voice spoke in my mind. “I will confess it seemed a good plan at the time. However, I did not foresee your lack of speed.”

  Gee, thanks. I rolled my eyes.

  “Can’t you and Freya just run super-fast though?” the spirit asked.

  Yeah, but we can’t do that for hours on end, I said. Which is close to how long we’ve been running already.

  Quick footsteps came from the right, and my eyes darted in the direction. A dark-furred wolf leapt down to me, baring its sharp teeth. I slid out my sword and slashed at the beast in the blink of an eye.

  The creature dropped to the ground in two halves — no sound or breath coming from either of them.

  DING!

  Congratulations! You have defeated Forest Wolf (Lv. 124)! Reward: Wolf tooth (x5). Reward: Hide of the Forest Wolf. Reward: 34000 XP.

  I turned to the weapon in my hand — Dawnbreaker, the Void Blade. I glanced at the stains of blood that coated its midnight-black surface, and gave the blade a flick, cleansing it of the red shade.

  Freya chuckled as I put the blade back into my sheath. “Look at you have all the fun,” the elf said. “That poor wolf.”

  “It was his fault that he attacked me,” I said. “I’m not backing down just because he was being stupid.”

  “I know,” she smiled. “It’s amusing when you get competitive.”

  I sighed and then we took off, running through the forest once again.

  “That was a pretty good sword slash,” Nyx said.

  I narrowed my eyes. Thanks?

  “Yeah, I really loved the way you swung your hands in the air,” he said. “It was a very intimidating style.”

  I groaned, finally noticing the playful tone in his voice. Stop making fun of me, I said.

  “I hate to be the spoilsport,” Acnologia said. “But I believe it’s best we keep our focus on the task at hand.”

  “Fine,” we both said together.

  “You know,” Freya looked at me. “It was odd enough when you had one spirit voice only you could listen to. Now you’ve gone and gotten another one as well. And this time it’s a dragon.”

  “I’m sorry about that, Miss Freya,” Acnologia said.

  “She can’t hear you,” I mumbled.

  No matter how many times I told Acnologia that Nyx and I were the only ones who could hear him, he still tried to speak to the people around me. I felt a little sad for him. Maybe he didn’t want to be stuck talking to just me and Nyx.

  “You know, I wouldn't be surprised if he’s had enough of you,” Nyx said. “You’re too snarky.”

  That’s amusing, coming from you, I chuckled.

  “Hey, what are you implying here?”

  “It is true. You are quite snarky, Nyx,” Acnologia agreed, sounding a deep chuckle as he spoke.

  Freya sighed, watching my silent conversation with the voices. “Sometimes I wonder why I still accompany you through all this.”

  “And I am ever so grateful that you do.” I made a small bow as we rushed in between the trees.

  “Anyway,” she said. “What do you think is at this place?”

  “I have no idea,” I said. “But an energy signature that huge has to mean something.”

  “You’re not thinking…”

  “Nah,” I shook my head. “It’s definitely not the third Spectral Spirit.”

  She cocked her head to side, alarmed at my words. “Are you sure?” she asked.

  “Positive,” I said.

  “Why?”

  “I don’t know.” I shrugged. “Just a feeling.”

  “You’re positive this energy signature has nothing to do with your third Spectral Spirit because that’s what you feel,” Freya repeated my words.

  She doesn’t sound too thrilled, Nyx chuckled.

  “Look,” I said. “We’ve been through two of these already. I feel like I can tell pretty well now when something is not one of my Spectral Spirits.”

  “Either way, we’ll find out soon,” she said.

  “How much further, Nyx?” I asked.

  DING!

  A screen of translucent white appeared before me, and on it was a small map. I could see a cluster of trees around two dots, a blue and green, both moving fast through the landscape. I willed the image to scan out and it did, presenting a bigger picture, which was just a lot more trees cramped into the screen.

  Wow this forest is huge, I thought.

  “Well, yeah,” Nyx said. “I told you it was massive before, didn’t I?”

  Yeah, but I didn’t expect it to be THIS big, I said. It’s quite close to the Viridian forest in size.

  “What are you talking about? It’s like a fifth at most.”

  “It’s probably a fifth, Eternal,” Acnologia said.

  “See?” Nyx chuckled.

  Fine, fine, stop ganging up on me, I said. I’m still very surprised a place of this size is a mere day’s travel from Ikarius.

  “I agree,” Acnologia said. “It seems to me we should have been more aware of this Oleois forest’s presence before.”

  “It’s such a weird name,” Nyx laughed. “Oleois.”

  We found out about this forest days ago, I sighed. Jus
t didn’t know it was this big.

  “Or that a weird presence could come up within it,” the spirit said, bringing the conversation in my head back to what our main intentions were right now.

  “I apologize for changing the topic,” Acnologia said. “But we’re approaching an opening in the forest. And quite a large one at that.”

  I looked up and saw that the dragon was about half a mile or so ahead of us. I turned to Freya. “There’s-”

  “An opening ahead of us,” she smiled. “I know.”

  “Oh,” I blinked.

  “When you’ve explored as much as I have, you don’t have to use dragons to figure out when a change in landscape is close by.”

  “Oh,” I said once again.

  “The soil around us has more moisture now. I’m guessing this opening has a water body. I can’t hear any water flow ahead though, so it can’t be a river. Probably a lake.”

  “Huh?” I blinked again.

  “She’s right.” Acnologia sounded impressed.

  In a few seconds, I dug my heels into the ground and brought myself to a quick halt. Freya did the same and came to a stop beside me, overlooking the view before us.

  A large lake stood in a clearing within the forest — a stretch of land about forty yards wide, separating the wild trees and the fresh water.

  “Wow.” I looked at Freya. “Exactly what you’d guessed.”

  “What can I say?” Freya smiled. “It’s my elvish charm.”

  “That is both unfair and logical,” I said, chuckling.

  “Unfair?” She raised an eyebrow. “Says the guy who’s basically immortal.”

  “Fine, fine,” I waved my hand in the air as we walked closer to the lake. A shade of radiant blue lay within it, a blue I had not seen water possess before.

  A roar roamed the skies, and a gust of wind brushed against the surface, kicking up the sand and soil around me. Acnologia lowered himself onto the ground beside us, and planted his large body between the trees and the lake.

  The Dragon towered over us even though he stood hunched. He folded his long wings of black and walked up to us, the ground thudding softly with every step he took. The beast looked at me with his eyes of blood-red. “I do not sense anything odd within this place, Eternal.”

  “Neither do I,” Nyx replied.

  Do you think this is not the place then? I asked.

  “I’m unsure.”

  When we’d first sensed the high-energy signature, our friends Ijyela and Krof had been able to direct us to this forest, but they couldn't give us any details other than that the signature was definitely within the forest. So, it fell onto us to pinpoint the exact location of this entity, and that was usually time consuming.

  Which was why we’d been running through this place for a few hours now.

  “What do you think?” Freya turned to me.

  I shook my head. “Nyx and Acnologia sense nothing.”

  “And you?”

  “Nothing as well.”

  “Ugh,” she groaned. “I’m getting a little tired of all this running. It’s been nearly four hours since we started searching.”

  “We have no choice but to keep going,” I said. “Unless you think we should stop the search.”

  “Of course not.” She straightened. “Every time a signature like this shows up it’s always been followed by trouble. And this time the energy signature is extremely close to our village as well. It’s definitely not a good idea to ignore this and just let this be.”

  “I feel the same,” I said.

  Where is this signature though? I thought as I walked down to the lake. I knelt before the deep blue waters, and felt the cool breeze on my face. The trees around us ruffled in the wind, with leaves of brown and green being pulled into the air.

  I looked down at the lake, glancing at a rough image of myself in the water, and the reflection of my eyes looked right back at me.

  My body was quite toned now, my emerging muscular frame making itself seen even under my loose tunic. I still had my high cheekbones and a chiseled jaw, which was quite surprising considering my face had been bashed in more than once. My skin tone was a shade between tan and pale and my hair was a radiant silver-grey, with the longer locks now falling softly onto my forehead.

  I looked right into the reflection of my eyes. They were a shade paler than my hair and had familiar flecks of grey in them, as if spirits and ghosts were trapped within.

  I’m starting to look more and more like a Phantom Lord now, I thought.

  “Does that freak you out?” Nyx asked.

  I didn’t respond. I glanced past my reflection and looked into the deep blue of the lake. I felt the shade call out to me, stirring within me an urge to touch it. I dipped my fingers in the water, feeling its chill run up my skin as I plunged my hand deeper in.

  A sharp sensation cut into my fingers, as though a spark of lightning had sunken into my nerves. I jerked my hands out, and stumbled backward.

  “Zoran!” Freya ran to me. “Are you okay?”

  I looked at my hands, watching the drops of water fall off my fingertips and onto the dry soil beneath. “I’m…fine?”

  “Really? Your face is pale right now.”

  “Everything is fine.” My voice was firmer now.

  All of a sudden, the ground beneath me began shaking, and in a second the small tremor had amplified to a large earthquake. We rushed to Acnologia, ready to hop onto the dragon.

  And then I saw it.

  I stopped, sliding across the ground for a moment and coming to a halt.

  “Zoran, what are you doing?!” Freya tugged on my arm.

  “There,” I pointed.

  Out in the middle of the lake, a small speck of land was making its first appearance. The tremors intensified, and as they did, the speck lifted from the depths of the lake, turning from a simple patch into a wide island. Water spilled over the banks as the tides rose from the appearance of the new lands.

  I stepped toward the water, noticing that the tremors had quickly stopped. I looked at the island.

  “What the hell is that?” I whispered.

  “It gets worse,” Nyx said. “Or better, depending on how you look at it.”

  What? I asked.

  “That island seems to contain the energy signature we’re looking for,” the spirit said.

  Of course it does, I muttered.

  I turned to the elf. “We’re going to have to make our way onto the island,” I said.

  “Why do we—” Freya paused. “The energy signature. “She turned toward the piece of land.

  “Yeah,” I said. “Can you sense it?”

  “It’s a lot fainter than I expected,” she said. “Which is odd considering we’re closer to the source now.”

  “That’s odd,” I said. “But we just saw a whole island rise out of the lake, so I’m presuming a dimmer energy signature is quite plausible.”

  “Would you like a ride?” Acnologia hunched down and extended a wing, letting it touch the ground and form a ramp onto its back. I promptly climbed up and seated myself at the base of the Dragon’s neck, with Freya sitting right behind me.

  “Hold on,” the Dragon said and pushed its wings down, lifting us into the air. A few seconds and fewer flaps later, we were on the island.

  I knelt down and touched the sand. It’s completely dry. Even though it had just been underwater a minute ago. Weird, I thought.

  “So where exactly is this energy signature?” Freya walked around.

  “Tell her it’s a little further up,” Nyx said, and I relayed the same to the elf.

  We made our way forward, ascending the shallow incline of the island as we made our way to its center. About half a minute in I saw a shred of blue light fall into my eyes, shining brightly from ahead. I repressed my desire to run toward it and instead approached it with caution.

  I stepped up, and noticed that the rays of light were coming from in between the soil.

  “That doesn’t l
ook normal,” Freya said.

  I hunched down and put my palm on the section of the ground the light was coming from. I dusted sand to the sides, and more light shone from within. I knelt down now, and pushed the sand to the side in heaps. In seconds, I realized that the light was coming from a small object in the ground. A little more digging later I found a small cube of pure blue light half-stuck in the soil.

  “What is that thing?” Nyx asked.

  I was hoping you could tell me, I said. Acnologia?

  “No clue,” the Dragon said.

  I glanced at the object, concentrating on its surface as I summoned my Analyze skill.

  DING!

  Object cannot be analyzed.

  Well that can’t be good, I thought.

  “What do we do?” Freya asked, her eyes fixed on the cube. “Should we get that thing out?”

  “Well, it doesn’t seem to be connected to anything,” I said. I leaned over and grabbed the object, quickly jerking it out of the ground. Almost immediately, a loud hum resonated into the air. The water around the island turned turbulent, and in an instant the deep blue of the lake morphed to a paler shade. The skies around us changed just as fast, with clouds of dark grey now filling our vision. The winds picked up, and howls sounded in my ears as leave and twigs from the forest were lost to the gusts of air.

  “I’m guessing that wasn’t what we should have done,” Freya said.

  My eyes darted around. “We need to leave.”

  “No,” Acnologia said. “Wait.”

  “What?” I looked at the dragon.

  “He’s right,” Nyx said. “Wait.”

  I heard a clap of thunder sound from the skies, and the clouds above us swirled around.

  A hurricane? my eyes widened.

  Freya stepped back. “We really need to-”

  A massive clap of thunder descended the air, sounding like an explosion. All of a sudden, a hazy golden glow emerged around us. The lake’s blue water glowed with a warm yellow shade. A stream of small orbs of light rose out of the lake, and lowered at the center of the island.

  I saw the specks of golden-yellow conjoin at one point and a flash of light summoned, blinding me for an instant. When I looked again, I saw a small cave in front of me, right where the lights had merged.