Can she turn my character into a lich? Killum thought. If she did, then he'd be forced to abandon a level 36 battle-mage. That would put him way behind the others. Rand and Tiana had recently both lost characters permanently, so were forced to start leveling back up. It could be weeks before they caught up with the others. That can't happen to me. I fought too hard to reach the level I am now.
He juked right, and went left. The vampire took the bait, allowing him to flank her. Killum swung the thigh bone cudgel with all his might, connecting with the back of her head. The vampire cried out, but only dropped on one knee.
"Ouchie," she said, that scary smile back on her too beautiful face. "I like it when my dinner plays rough."
"Son of a bitch, someone help me kill this monster," Killum called.
The vampire priestess launched herself through the air. Twenty feet in two seconds, and she was on him. Killum thought fast, and swung the shield. He caught her in the shoulder, batting her to the side. Then two liches were on him, front and back.
"I got her," Asha shouted. "Fergus, help me. Stake her heart with an arrow."
The chamber was loud with the clashing of steel weapons, grunts and groans. The liches fought in eerie silence, but not the vampire. She cursed, kicked, and scratched at Asha, who was clearly struggling to hold her down. Fergus was tied up with a lich warrior, so couldn't help.
Killum sent a roundhouse into the head of one lich, and then smashed off the jawbone of the next. "I'll be right there, Asha! Hang on!"
Asha squeaked, and then cried out in alarm. "Help!"
He slanted a look that way. Asha was caught, and the vampire priestess was pulling her head back by her hair while opening wide to bite the sorceress. The battle-mage grabbed the lich attacking him, spun around with it, and threw the skeletal monster into the vampire. Then he charged up and whacked the vampire priestess in the back of the head.
Killum held out a hand toward Fergus. "Quick. Give me an arrow."
The elven ranger tossed him an arrow, and the battle-mage savagely thrust it through the vampire priestess' heart.
She looked surprised, and then locked eyes with him, and smiled cruelly. "You're going to be sorry I didn't stop you."
And then she turned to dust. Poof. Just like that. Nothing left but a pile of gray dust and black silk. Then he noticed a pulsing read crystal half-buried by the dust pile.
"Don't touch that," Asha warned. "It's pure evil. It might turn you to the Dark."
Killum used a rib bone to get it out of the dust. Asha got that vacant look in her eyes that said she was checking it out. So he concentrated on it, too.
Heart of the Vampire. Subjugate and control your minions. Must be aligned Dark to use, minimum Level 25.
"Yeah, that might be enough to turn someone Dark," he said. "But still, we'll figure a way to take it back to Uhrs. I bet we can sell it for a fortune."
"Only if we can safely transport it," the sorceress said. "But let's finish the dungeon off first. How many levels can it have?"
"One too many, if I'm any judge," Fergus said.
"Nope," Tiana said.
The little thief was across the chamber, picking at an evil looking mosaic design on the wall behind where the vampire priestess originally stood. It looked like a stylized eight-headed dragon surrounded by flames.
"I think this is the treasury or something," Tiana said, still picking away with her dagger. Then it suddenly crumbled to reveal a small chamber lit by blood red torches. There was a black altar against the far wall. "Okay, maybe not treasure."
"It's radiating powerful magic," Asha said. "I can actually feel it on my skin. And that's a first."
"Yeah, me, too," Rand said. "Can't say I like it."
Killum stepped into the chamber, while the others hung back. What he thought of as the altar was a four foot tall column of black, red-streaked marble. There was a faintly glowing human handprint on the top.
"Touch it," Tiana said. "See if it's anything."
"It's obviously something," Killum said. "It feels evil. It feels like it's trying to push me away."
"Let me," Asha said, slipping past him. "It's magical, so my area of expertise."
Killum almost reminded her that he was a battle-MAGE. But it didn't feel right, so he was willing for her to figure out what the altar was all about. Whatever it was, it couldn't be good.
"See if it has any treasure or magic objects to give up."
"Okay. Step back," she whispered. "Here goes nothing."
Killum watched Asha slowly place her splayed hand upon the handprint. She gasped and looked up as a blood red pool appeared upon the wall behind the altar. The sense of being repulsed lessened, so he was encouraged. Then she cocked her head, slanted a curious look back at them, and then spoke softly.
"I agree."
And Asha was sucked into the red pool. They all gawked at it a long moment.
"Well, that was…. Unexpected," Killum said at length.
Fergus pushed him forward. "Check it out. Find out what happened to Asha."
"It might happen to me!"
"Just don't agree to anything."
Maybe that was her mistake. Was it a mistake? Only one way to find out. So Killum inched up to the black altar and gently placed his hand on the handprint. Coolness flowed into his hand and up to his elbow. It wasn't unpleasant. And then the altar spoke to him in a booming voice, at the same time the words appeared before him.
"Do you wish to proceed into the Hidden Realms? Yes or No?"
Was that what Asha agreed to? Was she in the Hidden Realms, whatever that was? He didn't recall reading anything about Hidden Realms in the manual.
"Okay, it's just asking if I want to proceed into something called the Hidden Realms."
"What is that?" Tiana asked. "I read everything about this game, and there wasn't anything about any other realms, hidden or otherwise."
The others started arguing about it. Killum turned his attention back to the blood red pool on the wall. He wasn't sure, but it almost looked like he could see idyllic forests and meadows. Maybe the game was divided into multiple realms, and going there would give him access to an even better VR world to explore.
"Um," Killum said, hesitating only a second. "Yes."
And the lights went out.
Chapter 5
"Oh!"
Asha sat up, wild-eyed, and looked around.
"Was I kicked out of the game?"
She was sitting atop a perfectly flat stone slab, about the size of a twin bed. She was in the middle of a small meadow surrounded by the largest, oldest trees she'd ever seen. And none of it looked to be computer generated.
"I hear birds and insects, and the wind in the treetops," Asha muttered, looking left and right, and all around. Then she looked down at herself. "I'm almost naked!"