Enlightenment Through BDSM

I was getting the hang of it, not getting hit, hitting back. I was even getting a couple kicks in when Soul Strike was on cooldown. I don’t think they really did much in terms of damage, but it didn’t hurt me, right? I mean, there was the one time I stubbed my toe against the Goblin’s knee, but that doesn’t count!

“Order up!” Emi shouted from behind me.

I had the good sense to duck when I heard that, though the vial that came flying soared over mine and my opponent’s head anyway, landing right in the middle of the three goblins Emi had taken down earlier, the ones that were now starting to stand up. This vial looked different though, a vibrant yellow sort of like Gatorade, and in a sphere this time rather than the triangle one like last time. 

When it hit the ground, there was an explosion, just not a normal explosion. The first one hadn’t been normal either with its spinning, forward moving flames, but this one was beyond even that. A thunder crack that reverberated throughout the cave, sparks shooting out from the shattered vial in all directions, one at each living person nearby, Kalia and me included.

I could see it in slow motion, lighting flying towards me. There were no supernatural reactions to rely on here though, just that sense of dread and foreboding you get when you’re about to die, when you can do nothing about it. I, unfortunately, knew that feeling a little too well.

The lightning stopped, maybe an inch away from my chest. It hit the goblins though, both the ones Emi hit before and the ones fighting Kalia and me. Kalia seemed stunned as I was, but apparently unharmed as the cave once again was filled with the sound of the Screaming Goblin’s Choir. I got my head back together, stepping back while the goblin in front of me was frozen.

And I did it, channeled my chi properly, stepped back, extended my arm, the straightest possible shot for the energy to flow through me, the barest point of contact to transfer it, right on the Goblin’s chest.

There was no explosion, no jolt of pressure, but I could still feel it. Even more than the time I’d tested it on Dreck back at the Guild, this was it, the pinnacle of Soul Strike. The Goblin crumpled to the ground, silent, and soon the other cries ceased as well, the one Kalia was fighting being the last to fall.

“Emi, what the hell was that?” Kalia shouted.

Emi herself laughed like a maniac, doubling over and clutching her side. “The look on your face! Gods!”

My attention was elsewhere though. There was a high in fighting, I’d learned, but there was that moment afterward as well. The Goblin I was fighting was lying there, motionless, breathless, eyes open. Lifeless.

“I just killed someone,” I realized, stumbling back.

As I stared at the body though, light started to fill the air, rising from its body. It was a gold light, floating up like blurry specs, the same thing that happens to fireworks when you look at them through those weird kaleidoscope glasses, but just there. They were coming up from the other bodies too, and the bodies themselves were vanishing the more light came off them, not breaking away, but fading.

“Their souls,” Kalia said, placing her hand on me. “Reforming, trying to return to the sky, rejoin the flow of life that makes up the planet.”

“Trying?” I asked.

I didn’t need to wait long for my answer. As the specks of light reached the top of the cave, they started to darken. They were still light, but also dark? It’s hard to explain, but that’s what it was. An emanation of darkness in the same way light emanated from a candle, and they all started to sink, dropping to the floor. I reached out to try and stop it, catch it in my hand, but the darkness phased through me, dropping down into the stone floor. It was only a handful of seconds before every trace of the souls was gone.

“What happened?”

“The Demon Lord,” Kalia said, sighing. “First the Lord traps the souls of the dead, corrupts them, morphs them into new beings. Even if you kill them again though, their souls usually aren’t freed. Sometimes, but rarely. Most of the time, they get trapped again, dragged down to the Demon Lord’s lair deep in the earth, ready to be used again.”

“Why?” It was the only thing I could think to say. These weren’t being used to take over the world, as far as I could tell, just mess with some blue collar workers. What was the point?

“I wish I knew. For now, this is all we can do. Unless… I mean, honestly, I don’t know if anyone can get strong enough to face them, but until that happens this is the best we have. It’s just a Band-Aid, especially since the souls we actually free can’t keep up with the souls we’re losing, but it takes time for the Demon Lord to remake the monsters, so it’s at least something.”

“That’s—”

“The fuck’s a ‘band aid?’ Like a bard’s helper?” Emi said from behind.

“And you!” Kalia said, heel-turning as I slowly looked away from that empty passageway. “What the fuck was that? You throw one thing, stop for a fucking year, and then throw another that nearly kills us too?”

“Relax, you were never in any danger! Lob is an Int skill, remember?” Emi said while knocking on her skull. “Two inches closer each and you woulda got a little fried, sure, but I warned ya!”

“‘Order up’ is not the most clear way to do that,” Kalia said, throwing her head back.

“Still, she did a lot, right?” I asked. “I mean, she took out three on her own, helped us with the last two?”

“Yeah, but it took her forever,” Kalia said, walking back over to the battlefield and examining the two spots with broken glass on them.

“That’s Lob’s cooldown. One of the longer ones I’ve ever seen,” Emi said, pulling a sharpened piece of wood out of her overalls and picking at her nails with it. “Not much I can do about that though, ‘cept level up.”

“And you can’t just toss one in anyway, without the skill?”

“Hells no! You saw my Dex score, right? And how close you two were to being extra crispy?”

“I thought you said ‘a little’ fried earlier?” I asked.

Emi’s eyes darted away, the same look as when Kalia asked her if the hangover cure was actually made with piss.

“Why don’t you give me some to throw then?” Kalia asked. “I’m not really a sword class anyway. I’m mostly here for the buffs, of which I only have the one at the moment”

“Not a chance! Remember what I said happens when I hand these things out? Kabloom! One party member down, Emi gets kicked out again.”

“Uhm, you’re exaggerating, right?” I asked, stepping a little further away from her as she knocked her satchel against the cave wall.

“A little. No one’s ever died thanks to HP, but it’s been close. Someone lost a hand once.” She reached into the bag, pulling out a small tube with green liquid in it. “If I could just hand these things out, I’d be selling them to you adventurers, kicking back and living the high life, or more likely be some bigshot minister position to some king or queen just to keep me on a leash to stock their armies and their feeties.”

She tossed the vial to me, and in a panic I was able to grab it out of the air, heart pounding as my fingers grabbed at the glass.

“It don’t work like that though,” Emi continued. “I told you, like it or not, I was born to adventure. I’m the only one that can use these things, and they fucking work. The only ones I can hand out are stuff like my hangover cure, or that small healing potion I tossed Mai.”

“Healing potion,” I muttered, heart slowing down a little. 

“Yeah, but not too many where those comes from compared to, so listen to your girlfriend and try not to get hit, unless you wanna drink lightning I guess.” Emi turned around, throwing her short legs forward and starting off down the path that the sign very much wasn’t pointing down. “I remember the map perfectly, by the by. So if you’re gonna trust me from now on, I’ll lead the way.”

I’m pretty sure I saw Kalia’s nose turn at that.