Soulforge Legacy Series

“What the fuck is that?” I demanded as I reached up to grab onto one of the sides of the truck bed. Just in time too as the truck tilted. One entire side lifted up enough that I was sure the wheels under it were no longer touching the ground.

Lance, Mindi, and Tindi were all quiet as they kept an eye out for whatever we had just awakened. A moment later, the liquid appeared around the bend behind us. The way it crashed and battered at the walls were akin to what I had seen of flash floods.

One moment the area was bone dry and clear of any damage. The next the water was there and everything was washed to the side. Shoved as if by a giant.

“You cannot go toward the city.” Barti’s yell was loud enough that even I could hear it over the roar that was only getting louder as the thing closed in.

The truck once again tilted as Xander took the truck around a corner. This one was much sharper than the last. And just making the turn ate up our speed and allowed the thing a chance to catch up.

I watched the corner, almost expecting the liquid to rush by. To pass us and continue on. To leave us be as it raced to the end of the path. It didn’t.

Well, it did, but it only went far enough to stop. It formed a giant wall that blocked off the canyon behind us. The liquid rippled up the surface as every drop joined the main body.

Then, as one, the wall of matt red liquid exploded in our direction. What we should have gained from such a maneuver was flipped back on us as it continued to close in. Xander, not one to just give up, took the truck through two tight turns back-to-back.

Unlike the last maneuver, this one seemed to work. Nearly quadrupling the distance between us and the liquid. Then, as if the universe had decided to ruin our luck, the truck rolled and bounced over a few rocks. The movement was enough to shift the vehicle to the left a little.

The sound of crunching metal nearly drowned out the noise that the thing was making. While the truck managed to keep moving, it was slow and jerky. Almost like the engine was sputtering. Then it died.

No one hesitated as we all raced to leave the vehicle. To get out before the thing could catch up. To find somewhere to go. But where? We were in the middle of a canyon and I doubted going down was an option. Of course, we could try and go up, but something told me that would take longer than we had.

Which left us with two choices. Standing our ground or running. But honestly, standing our ground was the worst option. At least in my opinion given that I had no clue what this thing was.

Could it be killed? Was the liquid alive or some spell? Would fire work on it? Water? I had no clue and I wasn’t going to find out. Not here. Not now. As though we all came to the same conclusion, we turned and ran.

Every intersecting crevasse that we found, we took. Anything to slow it down as we looked for some way out. Our unspoken plan worked for all of five turns. Then we found the walls curving outward.

The sight was enough to bring hope forth. That hope was quickly dashed as I found that there was no other way out of the small room hidden in the canyon. Save for the way behind us, but that wasn’t really an option.

Which meant that this was the end of the path forward. The end of our run. And probably the end of us.

There was an odd glint to the air. Like spiderwebs shifting in and out of the sun’s rays. Out of fear for both what such webs could mean and in an effort to move closer to the center of the room where movement and fighting wouldn’t be as restricted. Where we could possibly fight without getting in each other’s way.

My hand stung a little as it encountered the web looking material. Almost like an extreme case of static. A feeling that vanished nearly as quickly as my hand moved away from the thread. A thread that still hung there as though it had not just had something pass right through it.

Before I could contemplate any of that, the roaring grew to a crescendo. On reflex, I spun around and tossed a ball of fire at the wall of liquid as it turned that last corner. The faintest sound of liquid hissing was all that I got for my efforts. No scream of pain. No explosion of steam. Nothing but some hissing as whatever it was absorbed the heat from my spell.

Vines erupted from the walls on either side. They stabbed at the creature. Their shadows twisted and sharpened as they too joined in on the attack.

With a grating sound, the earth itself turned it attention on the thing. Spears of stone stabbed out of the ground. Each and every attack sliced through the thing. If it was a solid block of cheese, the attacks would have turned it into swiss cheese.

The liquid slid around the attacks, not bothering to avoid them as it continued forward. Its pace was slow and almost methodical. Like a creature that knew its prey was trapped and it wanted to savor the end of its hunt.

Stone turned to crystal as vines turned to something I couldn’t quite make out before they dove into the thing. Even the shadows shifted their attacks to something along the lines of dividing rather than killing.

“Oh, come on.” Barti ground out through his grit teeth. “The core has to be in there somewhere.”

Core? As in monster core? The things that were commonly talked about in pretty much every litRPG out there? But this place didn’t have those. If it did then the guild would have requested them instead of monster bodies.

Wait, that wasn’t true. The materials on the bodies were probably the reason that the creatures were requested in the first place. Still, I should have heard about something like that before now.

“We don’t have a choice, we have to divide the thing and hope that it only have one core.” Mindi cried out as she cast some spell. A sheet of milky yellow crystal sheered through the rock and creature, cutting it into two pieces.

“NO!” Both Barti and Xander cried but it was too late. The crystal shattered as the persistent low rumble rose in pitch and intensity. Shards exploded in every direction. Somehow, the majority of them headed in our direction.

As one we scattered. Barti and Mindi ducked to the right as Xander and Tindi ducked to the left. I ducked backwards, mindful of the odd threads as I did so. The threads grew more and more numerous the closer I got to the center of the cavern.

Pain lanced up my leg as a few of the shards found their mark. Before I could remove them and try and heal the damage they started to burn. It wasn’t the kind of burn you would get from a fire. It didn’t climb up my leg but spread in every direction equally.

As I twisted to get a look at the damage, my leg gave out. Whatever it was already eating at my muscle. On the ground, I was finally able to see the wounds for the first time.

Matte red liquid covered each crystal shard. It seemed to pulse in time with something. Pulling back slightly before pushing forward with each pulse.

Whatever this liquid, no creature, was, it was eating me. With a rock liberated from the ground, I timed my strike for the moment the liquid was retracted. The strike took out two of the crystals, but only served to drive the last one in deeper.

As though it knew what I was doing, the liquid latched itself to my skin just as I brought the rock down for a second strike. The attack failed to more than jiggle the crystal. All of the force serving to tear the wound ever larger. Yet, even with the gaping wounds, no blood raced out of my body.

My hand shook as a dull fog descended upon my thoughts. It drove everything from my mind, save for the thought that I would die here if I didn’t get this thing out. Even my mana seemed sluggish to respond as I pulled on it. What little that did respond went into my last strike.

Flesh tore from my leg as the crystal was finally driven from my body. Blood gushed out, but there was nothing I could do about that. Not when I was so tired.

It was as I laid back and stared toward the ceiling high above that I found myself looking at a tendril of red liquid. Almost like it was studying me. Either it found whatever it was looking for or it was sick of waiting as the tendril stabbed forward.

Earth dug into my back and leg as something yanked me backwards. Threads twisted and tore at the air above me as I was pulled further and further into the cavern. A loud boom accompanied each tug. Each more forceful than the last until, finally, my head bumped into a wall.

With what little energy I had left, I shifted so that my head was tilted enough to see what was going on. Barti was still trying to use his plants to cut through the liquid as Xander and Mindi tried to use their spells to find the core. I even saw Tindi hidden between a rather large stalagmite and the wall.

As for the creature, it ignored everyone and their attacks. Its attention completely on me as it started to pull back. Then, it leapt forward. Slicing through the air as it struck at me one last time. This time certain that it would get its target.

Its body sliced through the center of the cavern. Directly through the densest section of threads. But unlike when I passed through the thin thread, it fell away from me even as it flew in my direction. The movement was akin to what I had seen the creatures in the void do as they dove through some other dimension.

Then it was gone. Save for the damage to me and the cavern around us, it was like the creature was never there. “What was that?” My voice was the first to cut through the blanketing silence.

“A quicksilver golem.” Barti sounded almost like he was in shock at what had just happened.

“But it was red and made of a liquid, not metal or even stone.”

“Quicksilver is akin to mercury in that it is a liquid at room temperature.” Xander answered.

“Quicksilver golems are known to absorb materials from their surroundings and integrate them into their body.” Mindi sounded almost like she was reading from some text. “The red color is usually indicative of blood. Massive amounts of blood given the creatures size.”

“But where did it go?” Xander asked the million-gold question.

Barti took a moment to step toward the point that the creature dove through and studied it. “Into another world on the tree. Likely one below us given that this world should only have two and the other leads up.”

That answer only served to create a dozen more. Unfortunately for me, I didn’t have it in me to ask any of them. Instead I found the world darkening on the edges. “Sorry.” Was all I got out before the world faded to darkness.