Living dead skeletons pour out of the door and immediately started attacking. They were easy enough to kill, but the numbers were becoming overwhelming in the stairwell area. Sasha added light magic to her claws, and any undead she touched instantly fell to a pile of bones, while Kyrin wreathed his blade in flames and cremated the bone warriors.
"Everyone, fall back to the stairs!" I yelled.
Mikota gripped me tight with fear as I smashed skeletons with rock fists that rose from the ground. Jill used her Water magic to create a wave that pushed the undead back so everyone could get behind me.
"Is everyone on the stairs?"
"Yes, you can do it now," Jill let me know from behind us.
"Ready?" I said with a grin to Mikota, who still had a scared look in her eyes.
"Mmhm."
Mikota pulled my shirt up and pushed her cool hands against my stomach, and then I felt the darkness mix with my magic. As the skeletons tried to get up, I inhaled deeply. When I expelled my breath, a cloud of brown and black gas spilled from my mouth.
As the vapor touched the undead, the preservation magic that held the bones intact after every fight was destroyed by our Decay magic. The bones chipped and cracked, ages of damage and wear piling on in a moment. The army of bones reduced to piles of chips.
"Whoa," Mikota had her hands and arms wrapped around my waist under my shirt.
As the last skeleton crumbled, I got a hot feeling inside me as Mikota's cool and smooth arms pressed against my bare skin. I tried to lift her higher, but Mikota held tight and buried her face into the area just below my belly button. Blood trickle from my nose, caused by the Mach speed of my heart. As I heard the girls coming back down the stairs and I tried to put Mikota down again, she just held tighter and pushed her face in more. Then I was asked a question that made me undergo the legendary transformation technique: Total Body Blush!
"What's poking into my back, Dave?" Mikota asked with a wicked smile as she looked into my eyes.
As my body started to puff steam, I saw the girls and Kyrin crowded around, giving me very pointed looks. I practically drop Mikota as my pure instinct kicks in again, and I run. The girl voices trailed after me as I partially run into the broken door frame. As I flee like a frightened wild animal, all reason had left me. It was one large room with another stairwell at the end, so I aimed for that, wanting to flee the crushing embarrassment of what just happened.
These marble stairs were nicer than the stone one leading down from the other levels; I thought as I ran two steps at a time, hearing the girl's voices telling me to wait and not to be reckless. That was easy for them to say. They hadn't been on the receiving end of that embarrassment. No, they were just the pointers and laughers.
I didn't even notice until it was too late, when a gate slid down over the stairwell exit, just as I passed over it. I turned around and seen four bears covered in twisted tree branches and roots coming from their feet, while leaved branches stuck out of each back—Gnarled Bear Trees. Just like the lady had said from the market, come to think about it, she was the only one in the whole place that would talk to us, but my thoughts were cut when I heard Jill scream out in pain behind me.
I turned around to see Jill on her knees and clutching her hand that was smoking, with the other girls around her. I tried to come closer, but Jill shook her head with tears in her eyes. The gate had some kind of offensive magic barrier separating us. Growls from behind me forced my attention back to the problem at hand.
The four bears were advancing. With each step, their roots grappled for purchase. My thoughts raced as I tried to figure out how to use my magic to defeat these things. Every scenario I played in my head left me short of power to finish them all. Finally, I called to the earth and brought the element around my body as the bears charged.
Looking like a stone-Knight, I charged, slamming one of my fists down on top of the first bear's head, creating and forcing an earth spike into the brain with the connection as the bear went down, the next closet bit into the stone armor and scrapped my flesh with its teeth. The stone bracer exploded with spikes of rocks, killing the bear instantly. The other two were almost to me as I got up, charging them both and getting between their intersecting paths.
I lift my stone covered arms and rammed them down both bears mouthes. Their teeth clamped down, and I could feel the teeth sinking into my flesh, then I let loose with all the magic I had left. Instantly the biting stopped on both arms as hundreds of stone spikes exploded from the gnarled wooden flesh and the bears fell off my arms, along with all the stone armor I was wearing.
I vaguely remember the sound of the gate sliding back up, and the girls cry as they rushed to catch me, as everything went black.
When I came to, a fire was built, and I could smell some kind of potato soup Maxine had brought. I felt my head lying in a soft lap, and I opened my eye's looking up. Jill's tears almost blind me as I looked up into her beautiful face that was filled with tears.
"Please don't ever do that again! What were you thinking?!" Jill cried, and I sat up, taking her in my arms and holding her close.
"I'm sorry, Jill, I didn't mean to scare you like that, but I told you I could protect you," was all I could really say, considering that I didn't want to get into what got me into the predicament.
Jill held me tightly, not wanting to let go, then she looked up into my eyes. My breath caught as she moved to pressed her lips into mine passionately. As we kissed deeply, our tongues slightly brushing, I pulled her body into mine and held the back of her neck. As our passion slowed, my mind was pulled away to that day when Davey met Jilly.
I had been playing just outside of the village when I heard the little girl's screams. I was only eight-years-old at the time, but I ran to the cries. When I got there, a girl I had seen around the village named Jilly was being cornered by strange wolves with horns. I ran forward, creating an earth hand to slap away the wolves, so I had time to get to Jilly.
"Davey! What are you doing! These are thunder wolves! Why didn't you go get help?!"
"You got me here, just call me big bro. I can protect you!"
The wolves leaped at us, but I create large fists made from dirt and rock, beating them away. Finally, they started using Lighting attacks, but the walls of dirt I created just absorbed the attacks. The wolves we now held back and beat down, so they made a yipping retreat like a bunch of coyotes.
I turned to see a wide-eyed Jilly staring at me.
"How did you do that alone?"
"I told ya, just call me big bro! I can protect you."
From that day forward, we spent all of our time together, playing and exploring. It wasn't until my mother died that things changed. It happened right after we had stumbled upon some runes with a large strange mosaic. When we touched it, we were taken to a room with 5 jars filled with moving golden lights.
Somehow when we let go, we knew what needed to be done, the message drilled into our minds, and even now, I could recall the message. Collect the other four and find the souls to rise up and away from this dreadful prison. It was at that moment that we stopped being children. My mother dying was just the push before jumping.
Jill became the mother figure in my life as we traveled for years, and yet our feelings for each other only appeared after Sasha joined us. No matter how the events turned out, I held her here and now in my arms. When our lips finally pulled apart, Jill put her head into my chest that was only covered by a thin shirt, and closed her eyes.
I kissed Jill's forehead and held her close as I watched the fire dance and the girls mill about getting ready to serve soup.
