Mantle of the Gods

I was showered in a cloud of dust.

Then Ether knocked me over.

I was too sore, too surprised, and too happy to register what had just happened.

“You’re alive?” I felt drunk.

Ether crawled over and picked me up as she hugged my neck. I noticed that she was also crying.

“Why are you crying?” I slurred my words. “I should be crying.”

“Ether! You’re okay!” Aelin ran over and wrapped us both in a hug.

I saw Justia come over and our healer began to heal all three of us.

“What happened?” My head was starting to feel a little bit clearer.

“Don’t look at me, I didn’t do it.” Aelin looked at me. "I thought you did it.”

“I didn’t do it.” I forced my eyes to stay open,

“I did it.” Ether beamed.

“How did you do it?” Justia finished healing and sat down.

“When it swallowed me, I was able to work my way back up its throat thanks to the two of you healing me and keeping me hardened.” Ether grinned when Aelin giggled. "After I tore open the sack in its throat that was spewing dust, I was able to see its crystal.” She held up Rix’s knife. "I kept hacking away at it until It broke.”

“You did a good job.” I leaned on her. "But please don’t scare me like that again.”

She nodded. "Maybe after this we make sure that we’re prepared for the bosses before we fight them?”

“Speaking of…” I looked around. "Where’s the boss crystal? And did we get a loot drop?”

“I’ll get it!” Aelin ran over to where we had first come in and retrieved the sling bag with all our crystals in it.

The blonde Buffer slung it over her shoulder as she came back. “Oh! This is fun!” She bent down and picked up a larger crystal than the ones we'd collected as well as what looked like a bone sword.

“It looked like it’s made out of the same material as the bramble monsters!” She brought it over and offered it to me.

The sword was made of the same material as the bramble monsters, with the blade having little thorns on it to make a serrated edge. It was fairly light, despite being a longsword. The scabbard looked like it had been made out of snakeskin and it had a long belt attached at the top and middle, so that the sword could be carried on one's back.

“I don’t think it’d hold up very long against something that had a hard exterior, but it should rip apart something fleshy or soft.” I tried to hand it back to her.

“I’m not taking it.” Aelin held up her hands and showed me the dagger. "This is enough of a melee weapon for me.”

I looked at Justia. "I broke your ax.”

The Healer shook her head. "It’s a good thing it's gone. Besides, I was thinking about going the ranged route anyway.”

I turned to Ether. "I’m a tank.” She pushed it back towards me. "I should get defensive gear before I think about a weapon.”

“A melee weapon will just blow my cover.” I looked at the women, I really don’t need this.”

“Just tell everyone that you’re planning on being a Spellblade.” Aelin offered. "Then you can use magic and weapons.”

“That would work! And since you’ll be using auras and healing, it won’t matter if you have them because you can just say you bought the skills, since you’ll be able to use just about anything.” Ether smiled widely.

I nodded. "Okay, we’ll do that.” I looked at Aelin. "How do you know that about the Spellblades?”

“It was one of the classes I was hoping to spec into.” She grinned. "But after this week, I’m over that melee stuff!”

We all laughed for a bit, then it got quiet.

I stood up. I was a little wobbly, but in better shape than I had been the night before. “We should get out of here before the boss respawns.”