Chapter 1: The Beginning
Lars slid beneath the dagger mid swing, narrowly keeping his nose attached, and shot a small fire bolt at the ground. The blast ignited the concussive force launching lars back and putting more distance between him and his snarling green adversary. The goblin wasn't about to let its prey escape so easily, however. It tore through the lingering flames, eyes wild and dagger raised.
Blinded by the smoke and sparks, the goblin failed to see Lars now poised, crossbow raised, a silver-tipped bolt locked in place and aimed directly at its face. The young man's sly grin was the last thing the goblin saw before its vision filled with its own red blood, then faded to black.
Lars wiped the blood from his cheek, looking down at the fallen goblin. It was only his second encounter with one, and although he'd won, he could feel his heart pounding. "Stay calm, Lars," he reminded himself, trying to ignore the tremor in his hands as he reloaded his crossbow.
Around him, the dense forest was eerily quiet, save for the crackling remains of the flames he'd ignited. He quickly surveyed his surroundings, a habit he'd picked up from the stories the innkeeper told him about adventurers who had let their guard down one time too many.
"Alright," he muttered to himself, forcing a smirk. "One goblin down. Only... however many more are out here left."
He crouched low, stalking through shadows casted over him by the dense greenery of the forest as he moved deeper, determined to find whatever monster had plagued these woods and caused so much fear among the townsfolk. As he navigated deeper, he could feel the excitement bubble up in him again after all. What better way to make a name for himself?
His confidence was abruptly tested when he heard a low growl behind him. Turning, he found himself face-to-face with a towering figure cloaked in darkness, two gleaming yellow eyes watching him with predatory intent. Lars swallowed, feeling his heartbeat thunder in his chest. His fingers twitched over his crossbow trigger. Lars went still as he recognized the shape of a leopard, and he stared at it. He knew the worst thing to do would be to look like prey "back of kitty!" He yelled, puffing up his chest. The large cat watched him for a few moments before deciding to look for easier prey. "Lars one, wilderness zero" Lars says to himself as he finds and enters the cave he has been looking for.
The cave was not well lit as caves usually are not. The ground was uneven and filled with debris and decaying bits of rodents and plant life most likely blown in from the outside by the wind and there was a pungent musky smell perforating every inch of the narrow hallway esque shape of the cave.
Lars moved carefully, installing torches as needed as he descended further into the cave. The dim light flickered against the jagged walls, casting eerie shadows that danced around him. He grinned to himself, his excitement only growing as the torchlight barely penetrated the darkness ahead. Every step, every echo, felt like a step into some grand adventure.
Ahead, he spotted movement a hunched, twisted shape skulking along the tunnel's edge. A goblin, larger than any he'd seen before, with mottled skin and a dagger in its clawed hand, sniffed the air as though catching his scent.
Lars felt his pulse quicken. He raised his crossbow, taking a careful breath to steady himself. His fingers wrapped around the trigger; his eyes narrowed on the goblin's Head. He'd make sure this bolt counted.
He fired. The bolt whistled through the air, but at the last second, the goblin shifted, and the bolt buried itself deep into its shoulder instead of its head. The creature roared, clutching its wound, and turned to face him with a snarl.
"Not ideal," Lars muttered, already moving backward as the goblin charged. With no time to reload, he forsakes his crossbow, drawing his short sword a long, slender blade just short of a proper sword but deadly enough in close quarters.
The goblin lunged at him, dagger flashing. Lars sidestepped, swinging his blade toward the creature's side, but the goblin twisted, parrying the strike with surprising skill. Sparks flew as their blades clashed, and Lars felt the jolt in his arm.
"Alright, you've got some fight in you," he grinned, eyes alight with the challenge.
The goblin snarled and swung again, this time aiming for his chest. Lars ducked low, dropping almost to his knees, and slashed upward in a tight arc, scoring a shallow cut across the goblin's arm. It yelped, staggering back, but didn't retreat. Instead, it pressed the attack, slashing wildly, each strike forcing Lars to step back further down the tunnel.
His back nearly met the cold stone wall, and Lars knew he had to do something fast. Just as the goblin raised its dagger for a downward stab, Lars spotted an opening. He lunged forward, letting his shoulder take the brunt of the goblin's weight as he ducked under the dagger and drove his blade deep into its side.
The goblin howled in pain, swinging wildly to break free, but Lars twisted his sword, pulling it out just as quickly as he'd thrust it in. He stepped back, watching the goblin stagger, clutching its side as blood seeped through its fingers.
For a moment, it looked like the creature might fall, but with one last burst of fury, it lunged at him, teeth bared, hands outstretched to grab him. Lars dodged to the side, slashing his blade across its exposed neck. The goblin's eyes went wide, and it fell to its knees, collapsing to the cave floor with a final gasp.
Lars stood over his fallen foe, breathing hard, a wild grin spreading across his face. He wiped the sweat from his brow, his heart pounding with the thrill of the fight.
"Well," he said, half to himself, half to the silence around him, "that was a bit messier than I planned."
With one last glance at the goblin, he sheathed his short sword, reloaded his crossbow, and straightened his tunic, brushing the dust from his clothes. The shadows ahead seemed to call to him, and Lars felt his confidence grow, his initial stumble with the bolt already forgotten.
He picked up his next torch, letting the small flame push the darkness back just a bit more, and continued down the winding path, eager to see what awaited him deeper in the cave.
Lars pulled his last torch from the wall, glancing back only to see the light retreating with every step. There was a soft, eerie blue glow ahead that lured him forward like a beacon in the pitch-black cave. He could just make out its faint shimmer reflecting off the damp rock walls, casting shadows that seemed to writhe and shift with his every movement.
"What in the-" he murmured, the sound barely louder than his footsteps. Curiosity overwhelmed his caution as he crept forward, his feet moving almost on their own, crunching softly over loose pebbles.
He moved closer, his eyes straining to see past the shadows, the last remnants of his torch flickering faintly behind him. The comforting warmth of firelight was almost gone, replaced by the cold blue glow just ahead. As he walked, the cave seemed to expand, the walls widening into an open chamber with uneven stalagmites rising like ancient teeth from the floor.
The light pulsed softly now, hypnotic, drawing him in. Lars barely noticed that he could no longer see the path back. The blue glow grew stronger, casting everything around him in shades of midnight blue. It seemed almost alive, thrumming with an energy that made the hairs on his arms stand on end.
Finally, he caught sight of the light source. At the center of the chamber, nestled between jagged rocks, was a stone pedestal. Resting on it, bathed in the shimmering glow, was a crystalline orb, perfectly round and translucent, swirling with blue mist. Lars's eyes widened, his heart racing.
"Well, this is... different..." he whispered, unable to tear his gaze away from the orb.
He approached, each step quieter than the last, his hand instinctively reaching for the short sword at his side. He'd heard enough stories to know that ancient, glowing artifacts were rarely left unguarded. But he couldn't help himself the mystery of the orb was too tantalizing to ignore.
When he was just a few feet away, the ground beneath him trembled ever so slightly. A low rumbling filled the chamber, and Lars froze, glancing around for any sign of movement. Just as he was about to take a cautious step back, a shadow detached itself from the far wall, coalescing into a tall, hunched figure with skin as pale as the light from the orb, and eyes that gleamed a deep, hungry blue.
The creature stepped into the light, revealing twisted features and long, clawed fingers. It wore scraps of armor that looked ancient, rusted, and barely holding together, but its eyes were sharp and focused, locked on Lars.
"Oh... well, that's not good," Lars muttered, gripping his sword tighter, the thrill of the fight mingling with a flicker of doubt.
The creature lunged, moving faster than Lars expected. He barely had time to dodge, rolling to the side as a set of claws raked the air where he'd just been. Scrambling to his feet, he raised his sword, the blade catching a faint glint of blue as he positioned himself between the creature and the orb.
"Alright, big guy," he said, forcing a grin even as his heart hammered in his chest. "Let's see what you've got."
The creature hissed, its eyes narrowing as it sized him up. Lars felt a rush of excitement, his confidence flaring. But as the figure stepped forward, drawing itself to its full, towering height, he felt a chill creep down his spine. He'd been in fights before but something about this creature felt... different.
Realizing he was on his own, with no torch and only the faint glow of the orb to light the way, Lars took a deep breath and steadied himself.
Lars charged, aiming his crossbow with calculated precision. The creature, anticipating a shot, slipped out of the trajectory of the bolt. But that was exactly what Lars wanted. In a split second, he unleashed a bolt of condensed flame, the fireball erupting just as the creature moved. The blast caught it off guard, sending its head snapping back.
"That'll sho—" Lars began, but the creature pressed on, undeterred by the flames that had only slowed it for a heartbeat. Wasting little time in shock, Lars circled the creature, hoping to limit its attack options, and slashed toward the back of its neck.
In one swift movement, the creature ducked beneath the attack and swept Lars' feet from underneath him, the slight crackling of his shins echoing in the cavern as he hit the ground with a thud. Pain shot through his legs, but somehow, Lars managed to spin mid-air, landing on his back just in time to deflect a potentially fatal swipe from the foe.
"Force bolt!" Lars screamed, unleashing one of his stronger spells. An invisible blast of pure magic slammed into the creature, forcing it back ten feet. Yet, to Lars's dismay, it didn't even flinch; it slid across the rocky terrain like a shadow.
Using the brief respite, Lars rolled back onto his feet, adopting a fighting stance as he squinted into the darkness. "What are you?" he muttered, straining to make out anything beyond a vague silhouette.
Woosh
Lars felt the rush of wind as the figure vanished from sight.
Clang
Without turning around, he held his sword defensively to guard his neck and spine, then jumped forward just as a jarring impact launched him even farther. Using the momentum, Lars started sprinting, praying to whatever deity would listen not to trip in the darkness. He counted his steps—five—before spotting a wall ahead. A grin spread across his face.
Soft footsteps echoed on the gravel, moving with impossible speed. Just as it seemed he would collide with the wall, he leapt forward and up, muttering an adhesion spell onto the wall Lars ran up the wall, kicked off of it and executed a backflip over the figure aiming and shooting an arow from his wrist bolt at where he assumed his adversary would be.
The creature, caught completely off guard, stumbled. Though the darkness made it hard to see, Lars heard the satisfying squelch of a hit.
"How'd you like that?" he taunted, expecting things to go downhill from here.
"Grrrrrr," the creature replied, advancing with no less ferocity than before.
Unable to track its movements, Lars dropped down and extended his leg, successfully tripping the creature as it tried to circle behind him. "how'd you like the taste you- Ahh!" he yelped as the figure countered the trip with a front handspring, its heel connecting sharply with Lars's face as it landed back on its feet.
"For fuck's sake," Lars grumbled, snorting blood back into his nose.
The two clashed again. Lars, clearly weaker and slower than his opponent, was forced into a defensive dance, dodging and deflecting blows but unable to deliver any significant damage back. Each blow sent pain radiating through his body, and he knew he couldn't endure much longer.
The creature seemed to realize this too, refraining from taking risks, even when Lars tried to bait it into a mistake. Running low on magic, Lars quickly imbued a pebble with a timing enchantment, infusing it with the majority of his remaining manga.
Backing up as if he were trying to recover his breath, he watched as the creature pounced forward, right past his hidden trap. Lars halfheartedly thrust his short sword forward, a desperate attempt to keep the figure at bay. The creature halted, just out of reach of the blade, but before it could react, it felt the hairs on the back of its neck curl and burn.
The explosion threw it forward as lars' spell triggered, and Lars seized the moment, thrusting his sword deep into the creature's neck. He twists, forcing all the muscles in his stomach to assist in the motion. The momentum from the blast helped him slice clean through the remaining flesh and the figures head separates from its body landing on the ground with a wet thud.
Stumbling back, Lars breathed hard as the creature's headless body collapsed to the ground with a second sickening thud. He watched it for a moment, half-expecting it to rise again. When it didn't move, he let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, clutching his short sword tightly, his hand trembling from the intensity of the fight.
"Ha! Not so tough now, are you?" He panted, more for his own reassurance than anything else. His legs throbbed, the sharp pain of the earlier kick radiating up to his knees. Blood dripped from his nose, the metallic tang lingering in his mouth, but he couldn't help but grin through the pain.
He sank to one knee, catching his breath as he surveyed the carnage around him. The dim blue glow from the orb cast long shadows over the scene, giving the fallen creature's body an almost surreal quality. Lars wasn't sure what he'd just fought nothing he had ever read about resembled it, but he sensed it was something unnatural, something dangerous.
Pushing himself back to his feet, he wiped the blood from his face with the back of his hand, wincing as he brushed over his bruised nose. The fight had drained him; his magic reserves were running low, and his body ached from head to toe. But he couldn't leave yet. The mysterious blue orb pulsed on its pedestal, still radiating strange energy and beckoning him closer.
Limping over to it, he remained wary of any last traps or hidden guardians. Up close, he could feel the orb's energy radiating in waves, like a heartbeat. Reaching out, he paused, letting his fingers hover just above its surface. The air around it was cold, and faint mist within the orb swirled faster as he drew near.
"This is definitely going to get me a free pint back at the inn," he whispered, the thought of recounting his tale bringing a weary smile to his face. Cautiously, he touched the orb, half expecting it to unleash some new horror. Instead, the mist inside pulsed brightly, and he felt a surge of energy flow up his arm, revitalizing him.
Lars blinked, taking a step back as the orb's glow dimmed and finally faded, leaving only a faint shimmer behind. The energy from the orb seemed to settle inside him, a quiet hum in his veins.
"Well, that was... different," he muttered, feeling both exhilarated and exhausted. He glanced back at the creature's body one last time. Its body a swirling mass of armored shadow and deathly pale skin. Then he turned and began limping his way back up the tunnel, the faint afterglow of the orb's energy lighting his path.
As he climbed back toward the surface, he couldn't help but laugh, wincing as the vibrations jolted his bruised ribs. This adventure had turned out to be more than he'd bargained for, but he knew one thing for certain: this wouldn't be the last time he would walk out of a cave half dead with treasure in hand.