For a world that had ended, the landscape sure was stunning. Golden grasses reached up to our knees. The sky seemed to always be the color of a late sunset, never changing, filled with stars I couldn’t recognize but that, along with the three crescent moons, provided sight for our journey. Ruins of the civilization the Shadowsoul had destroyed dotted the hillsides, the broken columns and arches filling me with a sense of the mythic.
Between the scenery and Esme’s athletic body and gorgeous face, I was unsure where to gaze. I caught as many glimpses of her as I could as she walked beside me, careful not to seem creepy. In the world I’d come from, women certainly didn’t like when you oogled them, though Esme was nothing like any women I’d ever met. Still, I didn’t want to do anything to ruin our soulbond. For all her strength, I sensed a fragility in her spirit, and so didn’t want to move too fast, lest I scare her.
No, I’d let her set the pace. It was the right thing to do, as I was a newcomer to this world and ought not to assume it was anything like my own.
Suddenly, Esme stopped and pointed to something in the distance. An imp-like creature stood aside a broken stone house. It held a sword with many teeth-like ridges and stared at us with oily black eyes.
“We call those imps Baby Snatchers,” she said. “They like to devour newborns, and are attracted to the sound of crying babies. They are wretched servants of the Shadowsoul.”
How vile to prey on helpless babies. Though the hideous creature seemed to be aware of us, it remained still.
I made a fist. “A fine target to test my skills on. Flow your ice mana into me so I can slay it.”
“You don’t need me to flow it into you. Try pulling it from me. First, feel our tether.”
I could feel the tether between us. As if I were sucking from a straw, I pulled ice mana from Esme into me, then flowed it toward my hand. The ice katana crystallized in my fist.
I gripped the hilt with both my hands, then rushed toward the baby-snatching imp. As my katana came down upon it, it raised its toothy sword up above its face, blocking my swipe. Then it back flipped, turned, and ran.
“Get back here you ugly bastard!” I chased after it, Esme at my back. Somehow, I was so much faster than I’d ever been in my world. My feet felt light, as if the gravity of this world were less than my own, though I’d not sensed such a thing until now.
I pulled ice mana from Esme and conjured a snowball of ice. I let it float in front of my chest, then palmed it toward the fleeing imp.
The snowball smashed into its back. Icicles erupted out of its skin. The imp turned into a statue of ice. I impaled it with my katana, then hacked it to bits, shadows flying out of it with each strike. Until finally, all that remained was a glistening black soulcore.
Esme collected the small obsidian crystal and dropped it in her soul storage.
“Did you see how fast I ran?” I asked.
She tapped her chin. “Hmm.” Then she pulled up my shirt. Her touch was cool, like her ice mana, but in a comforting, soothing way.
She exposed the tag on my shirt. “Set Bonus: Speed Burst – A temporary 15% increase in speed when fleeing from or chasing an enemy.”
“Whoah. Are you saying these clothes made me faster?”
“Indeed. It’s written right here on the tag. I suppose that man really did give you your soulcore’s worth.”
She let go of my shirt, allowing it to drop back down. Already, I missed the coolness of her touch. I wanted to be closer to her, but I wouldn’t let my longing get ahead of me. There was plenty of time for us to further our soulbond, later.
Esme gave me a bashful smile. It was the cutest thing. “Those imps aren’t easy for me to kill. Usually, it takes me a whole day to track one. If I try to freeze it, I have to hit it with five Ice Blasts. Took you only one.”
She could barely look into my eyes when she said it.
“It was your ice mana I was using, though. Without you, I’m powerless.”
That made her look into my eyes with a bright smile. “It’s just… you were so decisive. You knew what you wanted to do and you did it. I feared you would be so reluctant. But you’re so eager to help us… it’s beyond anything I could have realistically hoped for.”
Now my cheeks got hot. Had it been a lifetime since I’d heard such genuine praise and admiration? It sure felt like it. Her warm words soothed me as much as her cool touch had done earlier.
“You can rely on me, Esme. I won’t let you down.”
I sure hoped I wouldn’t. I knew then I never wanted to see her frown or be sad. Though we’d only just met, I knew I’d do anything to keep her smiling.
Her smile vanished, replaced by a pout. “Sorry. I’m putting you under so much pressure. You only just got here, and I have you doing everything.”
I shook my head. “No, Esme. Killing that evil imp was immensely satisfying. I feel like I’ve been yearning for this sort of thing my entire life. If I could, I’d march up to the Shadowsoul and slay all its tethers, this instant.”
That made her chuckle. Nothing satisfied me more than seeing that smile return. “Let’s just clear this dungeon. It’ll be a good start. Never know what we’ll find in there.”
The entrance to the dungeon was in a cave mouth. There were no markers or indications of what lay inside. Once we entered, stone steps appeared, lit only by fireflies throbbing on the walls. The light of these fireflies was ten times more luminous than the ones back in my world, and they also had a subtle green hue. It was plenty with which to see.
“Do fireflies always light up dungeons?”
Esme shook her head. “No. Some are lit by mosses. Others by crystals. And there are some that are totally dark.”
We descended the steps and arrived in a wide cavern. The fireflies floated about, showing various openings.
“Should we explore them all?” I asked. “You never know what treasures are waiting down seemingly dead-end paths.”
“Agreed. I’ll follow your lead.”
I picked the tunnel to my left. We walked down the dark path, our shoes crunching on pebbles. A mossy smell wafted from down the way.
A glowing flower the size of my torso sprouted out of the ceiling. Esme clutched my arm and pulled me back, just before a seed shot out of the flower and smashed into where I was about to step. The seed exploded in a ball of fire, setting the ground alight.
“A Flame Shrub,” Esme said. “That was close.”
I conjured an Ice Blast right at the Flame Shrub. The snowball shattered against the petals of the glowing, giant flower.
“It’s resistant to ice.” Esme tightened her hold on my arm.
“Resistant, but not immune, right?”
She nodded. “I forgot to mention something. Whenever you have my ice mana flowing through your veins, you’ll be weak to fire. If that Fire Seed had hit you…”
“I’d be in a world of hurt.”
“Yup. Let’s be careful.”
While Ice Blast was a useful ranged attack, the Flame Shrub hadn’t even flinched when hit by it. It seemed this move wasn’t very potent outside of its freezing effect, especially compared to my ice katana.
“I need to get close to cut it to pieces,” I said. “But I doubt I can dodge its fire seed attack.”
Esme grunted in frustration. “I was hoping to save this for later, but I might have just the thing.” She stuck her hand in her soul storage and pulled out a small clay pot. Within the pot shimmered a blue moss mixed with a sticky liquid. I almost gagged from the foul odor, which reminded me of rotted cheese mixed with carrots.
“The hell is that?” I coughed.
“It’s an item I crafted.” Esme seemed unbothered by the smell. “I was intending to use it on a different enemy, but might as well test it out here.”
“What does it do?”
“It’ll stick to the monster and slow it down. You’ll be able to dodge its attacks much more easily.”
“Sounds incredibly useful. Sure it’s worth using on this ugly thing?”
“I really want to clear this dungeon, so yes. Besides, we can collect ingredients to craft more later.” Esme wound her arm. “Let me know when you want me to throw it. The slowing effect doesn’t last very long, so as soon as it hits, you know what to do.”
I formed my ice katana and gripped it with both hands, my stance high. “Go.”
Esme tossed the pot. It hit the Flame Shrub and exploded, sticky liquid dripping across its petals. I lunged upward and stabbed what I could. I cut it across and through, until finally shadows started leaking out of it. I kept going until all the shadows had drained from its body.
Its soulcore clattered onto the ground. But this one was different. It gleamed golden.
Esme gasped. “A rare core!” She bent down to grab it, revealing just a hint of her luscious backside. She brought the golden core to me. “These goldcores are worth ten to a hundred times the normal ones. But they’re super rare.”
“What made that monster drop it?”
“Nothing but luck. We should hang on to it. Goldcores aren’t worth selling to normal merchants. If we amass enough of them, we can trade them for ultra rare and useful items.”
I loved how excited Esme was. She could barely catch her breath when she spoke. It was infectious.
“That alone makes this dungeon worth it, right?”
She giggled and shook her head. “Tiring so soon?”
“Nope. Let’s keep going. I’m amped.”
“Amped? I’ve never heard that word.”
“Excited. Juiced up.”
“I see.” That addictive giggle again. “Let’s continue.”
We walked farther down the path. It led to a dead end. Esme knocked on the cave wall.
“Sometimes there’s a wall you can break through,” she said. “But this one seems solid.”
“So we turn around?”
“Yup.”
For a world that had ended, the landscape sure was stunning. Golden grasses reached up to our knees. The sky seemed to always be the color of a late sunset, never changing, filled with stars I couldn’t recognize but that, along with the three crescent moons, provided sight for our journey. Ruins of the civilization the Shadowsoul had destroyed dotted the hillsides, the broken columns and arches filling me with a sense of the mythic.
Between the scenery and Esme’s athletic body and gorgeous face, I was unsure where to gaze. I caught as many glimpses of her as I could as she walked beside me, careful not to seem creepy. In the world I’d come from, women certainly didn’t like when you oogled them, though Esme was nothing like any women I’d ever met. Still, I didn’t want to do anything to ruin our soulbond. For all her strength, I sensed a fragility in her spirit, and so didn’t want to move too fast, lest I scare her.
No, I’d let her set the pace. It was the right thing to do, as I was a newcomer to this world and ought not to assume it was anything like my own.
Suddenly, Esme stopped and pointed to something in the distance. An imp-like creature stood aside a broken stone house. It held a sword with many teeth-like ridges and stared at us with oily black eyes.
“We call those imps Baby Snatchers,” she said. “They like to devour newborns, and are attracted to the sound of crying babies. They are wretched servants of the Shadowsoul.”
How vile to prey on helpless babies. Though the hideous creature seemed to be aware of us, it remained still.
I made a fist. “A fine target to test my skills on. Flow your ice mana into me so I can slay it.”
“You don’t need me to flow it into you. Try pulling it from me. First, feel our tether.”
I could feel the tether between us. As if I were sucking from a straw, I pulled ice mana from Esme into me, then flowed it toward my hand. The ice katana crystallized in my fist.
I gripped the hilt with both my hands, then rushed toward the baby-snatching imp. As my katana came down upon it, it raised its toothy sword up above its face, blocking my swipe. Then it back flipped, turned, and ran.
“Get back here you ugly bastard!” I chased after it, Esme at my back. Somehow, I was so much faster than I’d ever been in my world. My feet felt light, as if the gravity of this world were less than my own, though I’d not sensed such a thing until now.
I pulled ice mana from Esme and conjured a snowball of ice. I let it float in front of my chest, then palmed it toward the fleeing imp.
The snowball smashed into its back. Icicles erupted out of its skin. The imp turned into a statue of ice. I impaled it with my katana, then hacked it to bits, shadows flying out of it with each strike. Until finally, all that remained was a glistening black soulcore.
Esme collected the small obsidian crystal and dropped it in her soul storage.
“Did you see how fast I ran?” I asked.
She tapped her chin. “Hmm.” Then she pulled up my shirt. Her touch was cool, like her ice mana, but in a comforting, soothing way.
She exposed the tag on my shirt. “Set Bonus: Speed Burst – A temporary 15% increase in speed when fleeing from or chasing an enemy.”
“Whoah. Are you saying these clothes made me faster?”
“Indeed. It’s written right here on the tag. I suppose that man really did give you your soulcore’s worth.”
She let go of my shirt, allowing it to drop back down. Already, I missed the coolness of her touch. I wanted to be closer to her, but I wouldn’t let my longing get ahead of me. There was plenty of time for us to further our soulbond, later.
Esme gave me a bashful smile. It was the cutest thing. “Those imps aren’t easy for me to kill. Usually, it takes me a whole day to track one. If I try to freeze it, I have to hit it with five Ice Blasts. Took you only one.”
She could barely look into my eyes when she said it.
“It was your ice mana I was using, though. Without you, I’m powerless.”
That made her look into my eyes with a bright smile. “It’s just… you were so decisive. You knew what you wanted to do and you did it. I feared you would be so reluctant. But you’re so eager to help us… it’s beyond anything I could have realistically hoped for.”
Now my cheeks got hot. Had it been a lifetime since I’d heard such genuine praise and admiration? It sure felt like it. Her warm words soothed me as much as her cool touch had done earlier.
“You can rely on me, Esme. I won’t let you down.”
I sure hoped I wouldn’t. I knew then I never wanted to see her frown or be sad. Though we’d only just met, I knew I’d do anything to keep her smiling.
Her smile vanished, replaced by a pout. “Sorry. I’m putting you under so much pressure. You only just got here, and I have you doing everything.”
I shook my head. “No, Esme. Killing that evil imp was immensely satisfying. I feel like I’ve been yearning for this sort of thing my entire life. If I could, I’d march up to the Shadowsoul and slay all its tethers, this instant.”
That made her chuckle. Nothing satisfied me more than seeing that smile return. “Let’s just clear this dungeon. It’ll be a good start. Never know what we’ll find in there.”
The entrance to the dungeon was in a cave mouth. There were no markers or indications of what lay inside. Once we entered, stone steps appeared, lit only by fireflies throbbing on the walls. The light of these fireflies was ten times more luminous than the ones back in my world, and they also had a subtle green hue. It was plenty with which to see.
“Do fireflies always light up dungeons?”
Esme shook her head. “No. Some are lit by mosses. Others by crystals. And there are some that are totally dark.”
We descended the steps and arrived in a wide cavern. The fireflies floated about, showing various openings.
“Should we explore them all?” I asked. “You never know what treasures are waiting down seemingly dead-end paths.”
“Agreed. I’ll follow your lead.”
I picked the tunnel to my left. We walked down the dark path, our shoes crunching on pebbles. A mossy smell wafted from down the way.
A glowing flower the size of my torso sprouted out of the ceiling. Esme clutched my arm and pulled me back, just before a seed shot out of the flower and smashed into where I was about to step. The seed exploded in a ball of fire, setting the ground alight.
“A Flame Shrub,” Esme said. “That was close.”
I conjured an Ice Blast right at the Flame Shrub. The snowball shattered against the petals of the glowing, giant flower.
“It’s resistant to ice.” Esme tightened her hold on my arm.
“Resistant, but not immune, right?”
She nodded. “I forgot to mention something. Whenever you have my ice mana flowing through your veins, you’ll be weak to fire. If that Fire Seed had hit you…”
“I’d be in a world of hurt.”
“Yup. Let’s be careful.”
While Ice Blast was a useful ranged attack, the Flame Shrub hadn’t even flinched when hit by it. It seemed this move wasn’t very potent outside of its freezing effect, especially compared to my ice katana.
“I need to get close to cut it to pieces,” I said. “But I doubt I can dodge its fire seed attack.”
Esme grunted in frustration. “I was hoping to save this for later, but I might have just the thing.” She stuck her hand in her soul storage and pulled out a small clay pot. Within the pot shimmered a blue moss mixed with a sticky liquid. I almost gagged from the foul odor, which reminded me of rotted cheese mixed with carrots.
“The hell is that?” I coughed.
“It’s an item I crafted.” Esme seemed unbothered by the smell. “I was intending to use it on a different enemy, but might as well test it out here.”
“What does it do?”
“It’ll stick to the monster and slow it down. You’ll be able to dodge its attacks much more easily.”
“Sounds incredibly useful. Sure it’s worth using on this ugly thing?”
“I really want to clear this dungeon, so yes. Besides, we can collect ingredients to craft more later.” Esme wound her arm. “Let me know when you want me to throw it. The slowing effect doesn’t last very long, so as soon as it hits, you know what to do.”
I formed my ice katana and gripped it with both hands, my stance high. “Go.”
Esme tossed the pot. It hit the Flame Shrub and exploded, sticky liquid dripping across its petals. I lunged upward and stabbed what I could. I cut it across and through, until finally shadows started leaking out of it. I kept going until all the shadows had drained from its body.
Its soulcore clattered onto the ground. But this one was different. It gleamed golden.
Esme gasped. “A rare core!” She bent down to grab it, revealing just a hint of her luscious backside. She brought the golden core to me. “These goldcores are worth ten to a hundred times the normal ones. But they’re super rare.”
“What made that monster drop it?”
“Nothing but luck. We should hang on to it. Goldcores aren’t worth selling to normal merchants. If we amass enough of them, we can trade them for ultra rare and useful items.”
I loved how excited Esme was. She could barely catch her breath when she spoke. It was infectious.
“That alone makes this dungeon worth it, right?”
She giggled and shook her head. “Tiring so soon?”
“Nope. Let’s keep going. I’m amped.”
“Amped? I’ve never heard that word.”
“Excited. Juiced up.”
“I see.” That addictive giggle again. “Let’s continue.”
We walked farther down the path. It led to a dead end. Esme knocked on the cave wall.
“Sometimes there’s a wall you can break through,” she said. “But this one seems solid.”
“So we turn around?”
“Yup.”
