Archris and Caroline arrived at the Vipers hideout, and Caroline was flabbergasted by what happened. With a gaping mouth and wide-opening eyes, she slowly walked and looked around the room that Archris had made as the main office of the Vipers.“Woah! This place is kind of creepy but cool,” the young woman commented while looking closely at some displays in the room. “Was this a museum?"“Not really,” Archris replied. “This used to be an office in an amusement park.”“Amusement park?”“Yeah, the amusement park where hundreds of people died two years ago,” the young man answered. Then he went to his fridge and opened it. “Anything you want to drink? Uhm… Ms… “"Anything is available as long as it is not alcohol,” Caroline said with a sweet smile. “Uhm, yeah… Just call me Caroline. No titles, okay?”That smile made Archris face turn red. He also suddenly stopped moving and was stuck, looking at the young lady in front of him.“You’re a bit weird, Archris,” Caroline commented with a smil
Archris slowly let go of Caroline and he fell on his knees, drenched in sweat and panting. He had burns and bruises in different parts of the body. The explosion caused a huge crater at the beach. Luckily, it was a secluded beach and nobody got hurt except for him. He coughed and shook his head when he saw blood when he spat.“Archris, are you okay?” Caroline kneeled to see his condition. He nodded and smiled faintly but he coughed again, and more blood came out of his mouth. “No, you’re not okay,” Caroline said, then she looked around to see if there was a better place he could pull Archris. But she didn’t see any, so she took out her phone. She was about to make a call to Jake, but there was no signal.Caroline started sobbing while helping Archris to sit down comfortably. “Is there magic that you can use to heal yourself?” she asked.“There is, but I am too tired and damaged to cast it,” Archris said before coughing up blood again. “Then what should we do? I don’t know but I fe
Jake had settled everything with the board of directors and shareholders of their company. He was expecting them to be mad at him for the negative effect he caused the company because of the fight he was involved in last time. However, the board and the shareholders took it as a positive marketing strategy for them.And that was thanks to Sebastian.“Thank you for working on things while I was unconscious. I owe you this time, Sebastian,” Jake said to his so-called stepbrother. “You can have a vacation if you want, and I’ll pay for all the expenses.”Sebastian smirked. “Anywhere?”“Yeah. Anywhere, as long as you won’t do anything illegal,” Jake replied with a snicker. Then he stood up and approached a table where a bottle of whiskey was placed. He poured some into a glass and gave it to Sebastian. “You know, I’ve always wanted to take revenge on you because of what you’ve done to me. But I didn’t think that you would be this useful to me.”Sebastian took the glass of whiskey, but he d
“Damn it, Jake! That was scary!” Sebastian whispered to him as they waited for the investigators to come. “I thought I was done for!”Jake sighed, but he didn’t look at Sebastian. “Well, that was a surprise attack, and we could get killed if I was late to cast the barrier.”“But I wonder why that man did that, like, who was he working with?” Sebastian questioned. “As soon as a person rises to power, everyone around him could be a potential enemy,” Jake said while staring at the stainless steel table in front of them. “Also, we don’t know where Anthony Smith is yet. You know Kranous, right? They told you about him."“Yeah, a loyal servant of Tharanos, the evil ruler you sealed in the world where you lived,” Sebastian replied. “Archris and Karlow told me about him.“If I won’t be able to catch and seal him, then bad things won’t stop happening,” Jake said.Sebastian was about to reply when the door opened and Police Captain Cruz entered the room. Then a tall man in a decorated military
News about what Jake did in front of the city police station broke out like a fire on the internet. It even became a topic of discussion on different shows and in the news. He received negative criticism because of that, and once again, it affected their company.But Jake didn’t bat an eye at those. He continued to create the drugs and ointments that were already bringing a lot of money to them.However, something has changed, and it was Jake himself. And people around him noticed it.“Mr. Drummond, the client wants to move his appointment today to Friday. Is that okay?” Ms. Hanson asked Jake as she entered the room.But instead of answering yes or no, Jake just glared at the woman before sighing loudly.“I’m sorry to irritate you, sir. I’ll just tell the client that it’s not possible anymore,” Ms. Hanson said while looking at the floor.“Didn’t I tell you already? No moving of appointments this week!” Jake shouted. “I am sorry, sir. I just…”“Are you seriously going to justify your
Two days had passed, and Jake continued to observe Caroline. He would talk to her like before, trying to control his temper every time. He also tried to convince her to stop learning magic, but she said it made her feel alive again.It was actually true, as he saw his young sister smile and laugh again like there was no tomorrow. Something that he hadn’t seen since their mother died.“Professor, are you okay?” Archris suddenly asked when Caroline went to the restroom.Jake exhaled deeply as he looked at Archris, then he shook his head lightly. “I am not okay, Archris. I feel like Voragor is really trying to control my body.”“Then let’s just face him and defeat him.”“That’s easier said than done, young man,” Jake replied. “We can’t just release him here, and you know it. If I could just kill him by killing myself, I would gladly die rather than let him control me over time.”Archris pouted his lips and sighed deeply. “But scarier and scarier every day. And I can actually see that you
Jake opened his eyes slowly, but all he could see was nothing but black. It was the darkest darkness he had ever seen or experienced. It was so dark that he couldn’t even feel his limbs and fingers.He asked himself what happened, but he couldn’t find the answer. He suddenly felt sharp pains all over his body, and he started coughing. He felt like he was being choked, as he could feel a very hot hand in his neck.Then he heard a very familiar voice.“This body of yours will be mine, Jake. Then I will take your powers, and I will destroy the remaining worlds."He was sure it was Voragor, but still, he couldn’t see anything.The grasp on his neck was getting tighter and tighter. And he felt like losing consciousness again. But he knew that once he completely closed his eyes, it was over. So he put his hand in front of him, and he was able to grab the arm of the one choking him.“No! You’ll not be able to do that! I won’t allow it! Never!” Jake screamed as he stood up and pushed down the
They continued walking inside the ruined garden and saw more skeletons of knights and warriors who fought there. And it could be seen in the burned garden that a very huge fight happened there.Jake asked Lyca to scout the place for anyone alive since she has the strongest sense of smell and senses. Karlow was tasked with guarding them from behind.They didn’t encounter anything strange until they reached a huge tree. It was a tree as tall as a five-story building and was once renowned as the tree of peace and life, as it used to give anything that a righteous leader could ask for his people.But it was already burned, and not a single leaf was there. And the ones that made them more shocked were the skeletons with armor hanging from their branches. There were more than ten of them, and those were tied tightly to the tree’s branches.“Silver armor and eagle crests are on their chests. They were the gatekeepers,” Karlow said as he looked up.“Gatekeepers? The guards of the caste and th
Karlow quickly dashed to Damascus and he carried him on his back. He knew that he wouldn’t be able to match that form of Valaree, and that retreating would be the best option for them to save their lives. He wanted to fight but he didn’t want to waste the second life he had now. So, he couldn’t be reckless. But he hadn’t gone far away yet, when Valaree jumped in front of him.“Don’t look at his eyes!” Damascus said faintly. Karlow quickly looked away from Valaree and he started to run to the other side. “You can try looking at his chest. Just avoid looking at his face, or else you’ll be tempted to look at those eyes.” Damascus said again.“Damn it! How can I fight like that?” Karlow exclaimed.“Just put me down,” Damascus said. “I will just slow you down. I am done for. So, just go and fight without thinking about me.”Karlow snickered. “As if a noble knight like me can do that to a comrade who saved my life.”“Ah! Damn it! Let me go!” Damascus shouted.Karlow was about to answer b
Damascus immediately ran towards Jake and hugged his friend tightly. Then he sat on the ground while catching his breath. “You could’ve killed me with that woman,” he said while looking at the ground. “You even saved me from death.”“So the healing spell that I cast down there healed you?” Jake asked. “But you were dead. You were dead even before we got there.”“That’s what I knew as well. But I guess, you have awakened something that wasn’t awakened even by the strongest mages in history. Or maybe even the Aetherlock,” Damascus replied.Jake looked at his friend. He did not say anything, but he thought about what Damascus said. He knew he didn’t have the magic to bring dead people to life. He didn’t even try using the reanimation magic even before. So, there must be a possibility that what Damascus said was true. “Anyway, we don’t have much time to think about it right now,” Damascus suddenly said while slowly standing up.Jake nodded and his brows knitted when he saw the bodies of
“Damascus?!” Thalara shouted after coughing up blood. “How come you’re still alive?! Damn you!”Damascus snickered while looking up at her. “Have you forgotten? I was once called ‘The Immortal Damascus.’ And once you have an Archmagus Maximus friend, you’re unlikely to die easily. Right, Jake?”“You son of a gun, I thought you hit the bucket already,” Jake said with a faint smile on his face. Tharala cast a spell and the sword that was pierced in her slowly moved and was pulled out. The sword fell but Damascus caught it. She then cast a healing spell but Jake dispelled it, causing her wound to bleed more.“Does it hurt?” Jake asked as he slowly floated around Thalara. “How does it feel to be stabbed in the back by someone you know?”Thalara did not respond. She just gritted her teeth while pressing the wound to at least lessen the bleeding. “You think that’s painful?” he asked again. “But that was nothing compared to the pain that you caused me.”Thalara then smiled and looked at Ja
The Vipers and the Wolves started to attack. They used all the magic powers they had to suppress the evil gods and Tharanos. Archris quickly ran towards Jake and he pulled him away from the chaos. “Bring him inside Caroline’s barrier,” Lyca said. “We’ll fight with our comrades here. We have to be in the front line. You know our mages wouldn’t last long and that there will be bloodbath in just a matter of minutes. So, move fast. Okay?”Archris nodded his head. Then without a word, he teleported together with Jake near the evacuation area. Caroline then touched the barrier and let them in. “Oh, no,” Caroline exclaimed. Alica beside her was crying and the people started to crowd around them trying to see what happened to Jake.“Come on, Caroline. Don’t cry,” Jake said. He was trying to hide the pain, but his face couldn’t. Then his body started trembling. “Caroline, we don’t have much time,” Archris said. “Heal Professor as fast as you can. We have to go back to the battlefield.”“B-
Thalara’s intelligence was hard to match. She was the queen, the leader of the forest priestesses, and once, hailed the greatest forest priestess ever lived. She had led the elite faction, and protected them from extinction even before Jake arrived in Eldramoria. She had won many battles already, and was a feared tactician during the war of Eldramora against Tharanos.And Jake just forgot that. And that mistake put him in a terrible situation.He was still dizzy from the punch he took from Tharanos. He could feel his body, but couldn’t move. He wanted to crawl away, as he knew what was coming next. And heard an unsheathing sword. And he yelped when he felt something was stabbed in his back. It was so painful but he couldn’t even scream. “Jake!” “Aetherlock… I am sorry…”“No! You aren’t dying yet!”The ring on his finger illuminated a bright light, causing blindness to those around him. It was so bright that even the people in the evacuation area had to cover their eyes.Jake felt a
Jake looked at the five evil gods behind Tharanos. He remembered all of them, and the struggles he had against them flashed in his memories. He might have defeated Voragor and Dudgara, but he knew that fighting the remaining five together, and Tharanos would be a suicide. From the left of Tharanos, he saw the evil god of Pride. A woman in a red leather suit that was not zipped properly on the chest part because of the chest's massive size. Her name was Samarah. Next is the evil god of envy, a man in deep blue armor. He had blue eyes and long hair. He was called Ingo. Beside him is a man without a shirt, the evil god of lust. He was just wearing pants and leather boots. And his physic was so nice like he was a perfectly carved sculpture. He also had a blindfold. He was known as ValareeThen almost beside Tharanos, is a bald man with a red beard. He was wearing armor made of gold and a cape laced with shining gemstones. He is the evil god of greed, Mammonar. And the last one, was a sma
Tharanos put for marks around the evacuation area. Then he cast a spell. A black translucent barrier appeared and covered the evacuation area. The normal people didn’t see it, but Caroline did. And she suddenly felt fear when she saw it covered the place.She looked at her brother. Jake was still on the ground bound by binding magic. She tried to call him, but his eyes were closed and not responding.The evacuation center went into panic when they saw what happened. They still couldn’t fully understand what was happening, but they knew that they were in grave danger. They started shouting at the police and military, asking for assurance that they would be safe. Others were asking when the rescue would be coming, and some were forcing themselves out of the place.It was chaos, and the officers and authorities were having a hard time controlling the crowd. And in the middle of that, some fights broke out. A woman and a middle-aged man then approached Caroline. The woman pushed her fro
Tharanos slowly descended from above, his eyes locked at Jake and Thalara followed him with a proud face. The tyrant god-like creature that once terrorized Eldramoria softly landed on the ground, and even the people inside the barrier felt the strong and dreadful presence from that man and they started squirm and ran behind the officers and Caroline. But Jake did not waver. He just stood in the spot where he appeared while looking at the man who was just casually walking towards him. The dark aura emanating out of Tharanos did not affect him.He then looked around and he could not help but sigh when he saw the city was lit by the fire created by the evil gods walking towards where they were. The buildings and houses were destroyed. The whole city was already in ruins. “You look worried,” Tharanos said. His steps were accompanied by black lightning and smoke. “Are you worried about the city?”Tharanos raised his hands and the buildings behind him all fell down. Jake looked at the dir
Jake sat beside Damascus’ not moving body. His head and shoulders were down, and he kept on sighing. There were no tears coming out, but the fury in his heart kept on growing. And it was greater than the sadness that he was feeling at the moment. He touched Damascus’ shoulder, hoping that he would still feel a bit of life from his former friend. But there was nothing. The body in front of him was lifeless. He stood up and without saying anything or looking at Lyca, he headed to the stairs leading down. His face was dark, and his eyes were glaring. There was also small lighting surrounding his body and fists. And the most notable of all was that the Aetherlock was shining brightly.Lyca and the two knights could feel Jake’s fury, and that stopped them from saying anything. They just followed the Archmage until they reached the final floor of that dungeon. It was a long pathway and on the sides were also cages filled with ominous creatures in Eldramoria. However, the floor contained