The Eternal: A Boxed Set (World of Ga'em Book 6) Page 20

  The knot in my stomach tightened, but I ignored it. “If you think you can threaten me like this, then you’re just fooling yourself.”

  “If you are rejecting my offer because you wish to join the Alliance of Light, then I will say this.” He paused. “They are no better than we are.”

  “I will not join any Alliance,” I said, my voice stern. “My rejection of the Dark Alliance is because of the Dark Alliance. Not because of you, or the Alliance of Light, or anything else.”

  “Careful, Eternal,” Asterion muttered.

  “Or else what? The Leader of the Dark Alliance is going to come after me?”

  He stood silent.

  My fists tightened. “You know what, let him come,” I said. “Let this Emperor of Dargonia show up for once. What is he doing sending his henchmen after me all the time? Is he too scared to face me? Is that why he’s sending the likes of you to come talk to me?”

  Asterion stared at me, and then he broke into laughter. “You’re amusing, Eternal. I do not work for the Emperor of Dargonia.” He smiled. “I am the Emperor of Dargonia.”

  ***

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  He’s the Emperor of Dargonia. I froze. He’s the Lord of the Dark Alliance.

  Both those titles implied only one thing. Asterion was going to fight me now, and I had a strong hunch I was ridiculously underpowered for such a battle. I quickly analyzed the men in front of me.

  I really wish I hadn’t.

  Asterion’s minions were strong, about Level 160 each—similar to the Elite Squad from the Alliance of Light. Asterion himself was a godly Level 435, as expected of the Lord of the Dark Alliance.

  That doesn’t sound good for me, though, I thought.

  Asterion grunted. “Staying silent?” he asked, a grin on his face.

  “I’m sorry to disappoint you.” I smiled.

  “I was nice to you the last time, Zoran,” he said. “But unfortunately, that will not be the case again.”

  The men around him mobilized and surrounded me in a flash. Freya immediately grabbed my hand. “Hold on,” she whispered. “I’ll—”

  A blast of darkness came out from behind me and thudded into her. She went flying through the air and straight into the clutches of one of the enemy men.

  “I won’t fall for that twice,” Asterion said, sparks of black energy still coming out of his index finger. “No portals this time, so stop trying to summon them.”

  Dammit. I looked at Freya. The men quickly shuffled around, and a few of them put themselves between me and the man who held the Moon Elf.

  Asterion laughed. “She’s not going to be helping anybody with anything.”

  I clenched my fists. “What are you going to do with her?”

  “Well,” he said, “it’s very clear that you’re fine with doing something outrageous and getting yourself killed. However”—he grinned—“would you still do the same outrageous things if your life wasn’t the one in the balance?”

  A man held a sword up to Freya, the blade only a few inches from her throat.

  I gritted my teeth. “Don’t you dare hurt her, Asterion.”

  “Simmer down,” he chuckled. “All you need to do is follow orders and she won’t die by screaming her lungs out.”

  My heart clenched. I suppressed all my emotions and stepped forward. “What do you want?” I muttered.

  “Just do what we ask you to, and she’ll be fine,” he said. “But if you don’t…well, then I can’t make any guarantees those arms and legs are going to stay with her for long.”

  My fists clenched. “Stop making threats and just tell me what you want me to do.”

  “It is quite simple.” He smiled. “Join the Dark Alliance.”

  “Why are you so adamant about this?” I asked. “I’m not even that good of a bargain. I’m just Level 20. Is that the kind of person you’re fighting this hard for?”

  He smiled. “I have my reasons, Eternal. Do not question me.”

  The veins in my forearms popped out. “Reasons,” I muttered. I turned to the ground and took in a deep breath. You have to choose between Freya’s life and joining the Dark Alliance, I thought. Let go of your anger. It isn’t needed here.

  I looked at the men around me. I was far too weak to beat up any of these guys, and I was quite certain Freya’s seal couldn’t be broken anytime soon either. We were completely at the mercy of these men.

  Damn this situation. I clenched my fists.

  Suddenly, my bones rattled within my body, and then a second later, they stopped. I blinked. What just happened?

  And then it began.

  A surge of shadows exploded from the ground. Not shadowy men like the Valdar, but raw, animated cutouts of darkness. They rose from the surface and charged to the enemy men in an instant. They all panicked and attacked the shadows with spells, only to have the attacks pass harmlessly through their dark bodies.

  “Lord Asterion!” A few of them backed away.

  I had no clue what the hell was going on, but I knew things were working in my favor. I used the split-second distraction and immediately charged toward Freya. I grabbed her wrist and tugged her away from the distracted man in a flash. Another man came after me, with a dagger held up high.

  Oh no you don’t. I put myself between him and Freya and held the elf close to me. “If you want to get to her, you’re going to have to kill me.”

  The man hesitated. A shadow figure crashed into him and threw him yards away from us.

  The shadowy men around me contorted and changed form once again, now turning more three-dimensional than two. Their hands morphed to have sharper ends, like talons, and they clawed at the enemy, sending streaks of blood down their bodies. A few of the men stood their ground, but they lasted less than ten seconds against the shadows.

  What the hell? I thought as the dark forms crushed into the men, sending all their HP gauges down to zero.

  I felt a tug on my arm. “Zoran, what are you doing?” Freya asked.

  “I have no clue.” I blinked.

  “What did you do, boy?” the Emperor of Dargonia grunted. A circle of his remaining men surrounded him, but the shadows were clawing hard at that defensive wall.

  I tightened my grip on Freya’s hand. “I did absolutely nothing,” I said. “You saw me. I cast no spells, spoke no words. Didn’t even open my Ga’em menu. How could I have caused all that?”

  “Don’t play cheeky with me!” Asterion yelled.

  Shadows immediately swarmed the man, tugging and clawing at him. He flailed about and swiped at them uselessly.

  And that was the distraction I needed.

  Freya and I charged as fast as we could and headed straight away from Asterion and the others.

  “Get them!” Asterion growled. I picked up the pace and charged forward. An entrance lay before us, but it was blocked with rubble. Freya can just break it apart, I thought.

  “That way,” I whispered to the elf and kept going, running straight to the entrance.

  I heard a word uttered behind me, spoken with the tone of an angered man. A shiver ran down my spine, and without as much as glancing back, I grabbed the elf and dove to the floor, bringing her down with me. A blast of energy soared over our heads and smacked right into the wall, breaking the rubble, and creating a bigger opening than before.

  “Thanks,” I chuckled and ran for it.

  “No!” Asterion yelled, louder than before. “Stop them! It isn’t time yet!”

  It isn’t time yet? I thought. What?

  Footsteps rushed up to us and then abruptly stopped. I turned around and saw more shadowy men had formed and were all standing imposingly between me and the men of the Dark Alliance.

  I don’t know why you’re helping me, but thank you, I thought as I ran through the entrance in the wall. I took my first two steps and immediately felt a tug on my arm. “Zoran, wait!” Freya yelled, but it was too late.

  We toppled forward into the hidden pit and surged down through the air,
dropping deeper into the ruins once again. Freya grabbed onto me with one hand and pointed her other one down. She summoned a ball of light first and sent it down beneath us. It bathed our surroundings in light, but I could see nothing but the empty air.

  Seconds passed and our speed increased, but we still weren’t seeing any ground. How long does this drop go for? I frowned.

  “There!” the elf yelled. Freya immediately put down her hand and summoned a spell. A blast of wind pushed down, just as the surface emerged, and our drop softened.

  When we finally hit solid ground, my heart was thumping and my face was drenched with sweat. We are not doing that again, I thought.

  I glanced up, but I saw nothing but darkness. We’d gone too far down to even find any light from above.

  “Zoran.” Freya tapped my shoulder.

  “What?” I turned around.

  And that’s when I saw it.

  A giant crystal of a bluish hue stood a few feet in front of us, growing right from the ground. The light bounced off its inner walls, covering it in ghastly undertones. A mild humming reverberated from the crystal and whispered through the air.

  “What is that thing?” Freya asked.

  “A Kronos Crystal.”

  I stopped.

  “Zoran?” The elf looked at me.

  Why do I know what this thing is? I looked at my hands. What the hell is going on?

  DING!

  Congratulations! You have completed the quest:

  The Mysteries of the Self IV!

  You have found the mysterious presence that Grand Wizard Krof sensed within the Heartfelt Ruins. Reward: 50000 Sol.

  Wait, this is the presence? I blinked.

  Something thundered into the ground, and a cloud of rock, debris and dust flew into the air.

  Asterion emerged from within the cover. “You dare run away from me?” A vein in his forehead throbbed. He put his hand up, ready to summon a spell. “The guts you have, trying to—”

  And just like that, the Emperor of Dargonia stopped talking.

  I blinked. “Hey, Freya.” I turned, but the elf had frozen midstep.

  What’s going on? I thought. The crystal glowed brighter, and its blue colors changed to a radiant gray. Heat and power radiated from its insides, and the sensation grew exponentially stronger with every breath I took.

  “Eternal,” a voice called out.

  I jerked my head around. “Who was that?”

  “Time,” it said.

  “Time?”

  “The time has come.”

  A loud crack echoed through the room.

  Asterion gasped, and stumbled out of his statue pose. Freya stepped up to me.

  “What just happened?” the elf asked.

  “Oh God.” Asterion looked at the crystal.

  Vibrations and tremors came from the object, surging through the air and into the ground. A form emerged inside the crystal, an existence of bright white.

  My eyes widened. A spirit?

  “Eternal,” the voice called, and the crystal’s humming intensified.

  “No!” Asterion yelled.

  The object shattered, and the pieces of debris floated in the air, as if a gentle wind was carrying them. Heat surged out from the core, like a firestorm had been trapped in there all along.

  And then it appeared.

  A giant wraith emerged from the broken stone. It had no form; it was just a muddle of white smoke with a face atop it. It moved its head, and locked its dark, haunting eyes onto me.

  Oh God, oh God, oh God. I froze and turned around, only to see Asterion stepping away from this as well.

  My chest tightened. Just what is going on here?

  The wraith screeched the most horrific scream I’d ever heard, and its phantasmal form surged into me. Pain immediately tore through my nerves, and heat surged into my head. My muscles twitched and my body convulsed, as though lightning and fire were spreading through my blood.

  And suddenly, it all stopped.

  DING!

  Congratulations! You have broken through:

  The Seal of the Eternal (1/5)!

  By uniting with your spectral spirit, you have now broken through a part of your seal. Stats have been updated. Inventories have been updated. Skills, Subskills, and Special Moves have also been updated.

  Spectral spirit? Updates? What? I turned to Asterion, with pain still radiating through my body. I gritted my teeth. “What did you do to me?!” I yelled.

  The Emperor looked at me, a blank expression on his face. “That is your place to tell me, Zoran Diablo.”

  ***

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  Time froze.

  Or at least, that’s what it felt like.

  Zoran Diablo. The name repeated in my head over and over again. Everything became more ridiculous the more I thought of it.

  I was not the Phantom Lord.

  I couldn’t be.

  Freya stood silently at my side, staring at my face. I couldn’t tell what she was thinking, whether she trusted me or whether she didn’t.

  I clenched my fists. You’re not the Phantom Lord, I told myself.

  Asterion chuckled. “Do not deny your thoughts, Eternal,” he said. “You cannot hide from what you truly are.”

  “Shut up!” I punched the wall next to me. My hand went right through the stone, shattering the structure.

  “How…” My voice went soft. I looked at my hands. What’s happening to me? My chest thumped. Why is everything different?

  “I told you already.” Asterion stepped closer. “You cannot hide from who you really are.”

  I pulled my arm back, and my fingers curled into a fist.

  A hand touched my shoulder. “Don’t,” Freya said. “It’s not worth it.”

  I looked at Asterion and then dropped my hand. I put my arm around Freya’s waist and lifted her up. I launched myself forward and burst away at top speed. Everything around me turned into a blur, a meaningless mix of colors.

  “Where are we going?” Freya asked.

  I don’t know, I thought, but I didn’t tell her that. I shot through three different entrances as I traversed the ruins. I’d already traveled more than a mile within the place, and it’d only been less than ten seconds since I’d left the room.

  Well, I guess traveling isn’t a problem now, I thought.

  Another entrance came up in front of me, this one a pair of double doors that rose high into the walls. Freya touched my forearm. “Let’s stop here,” she said.

  I quickly slowed down and slid a few yards along the ground before I came to a standstill. I released the elf from my grip. She held my wrist for a moment, and I felt warmth brush against my skin.

  “Freya.” I looked at her, but her eyes didn’t meet mine. She let go of my hand and stood where she was.

  I gazed at her for a moment and then looked away. I pushed the double doors before us, and they silently slid open. We walked through, onto a large balcony on the other side. I approached the railing and looked down, at the circular hall beneath.

  No one here. I stepped back and sat down, reclining on the wall opposite the railing. My mind was bustling with questions, but there was one that stood higher than the rest. Who was I?

  Zoran Diablo, I thought. My very mind shook at the prospects of what that meant.

  I put my hand in the air, finger outstretched, and held it there. A knot formed in my stomach. Should I do this?

  A gentle draft kissed my cheek.

  I don’t have a choice, I thought and swiped down.

  DING!

  My Ga’em menu opened, and I had a ton of notification icons on my Player menu and my Inventory menu. I hesitated for a moment and tapped my Player menu.

  DING!

  Stage one of the Seal of the Eternal has been broken. Status updates have been made to reflect changes.

  DING!

  Name

  Zoran Diablo

  Level

  518

  Health
<
br />   12650

  Constitution

  1265

  Mana

  13800

  Intelligence

  1380

  Stamina

  11090

  Endurance

  1109

  Strength

  1598

  Wisdom

  3409

  Agility

  2361

  Dexterity

  1236

  Charisma

  862

  Luck

  200

  I looked at the screen in a daze. I didn’t know what to do with this information now. People would die a hundred times over to obtain those kinds of stats.

  DING!

  Stage one of the Seal of the Eternal has been broken. Ability updates have been made to reflect changes.

  My secondary stat screen shifted into view.

  Name

  Zoran Diablo

  Race

  Eternal

  Abilities

  Resurrection

  Spirit King

  Resistances

  All Arts

  Class

  None

  Alignment

  Neutral

  Titles

  Phantom Lord

  Undead Emperor

  Reputation

  Infamy Level 10 – “Kings shake in your presence”

  I hesitantly focused on my Titles section, and my heart jumped.

  Phantom Lord, I read.

  I knew what that implied. It meant I’d just gone on the wildest goose chase ever. It meant Asterion was right.

  It meant I was the villain I’d been chasing all along.