Into the Darkness: A Fantasy LitRPG Adventure (Axe Druid Book 4) Read online

  INTO THE DARKNESS

  Book Four of the AXE DRUID Series

  Written by Christopher Johns

  © 2020 Christopher Johns. All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except as permitted by US copyright law.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Table of Contents

  Dedication

  Acknowledgments

  Newsletter

  Getting Caught Up

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Afterword

  Author’s Note

  About Christopher Johns

  About Mountaindale Press

  Mountaindale Press Titles

  GameLit and LitRPG

  Mageblood sample

  Appendix

  The Good

  The Bad

  And The Ugly

  Dedication

  I’d like to dedicate this book to my readers. Especially two little ones who helped me to realize that even when I’m writing a bunch of goofballs—those goofballs can be important too. Kayda and Tmont say “hi” guys. To those special people out there who these characters touch and resonate with, thank you for sticking around.

  And last but certainly not least, my gratitude eternal to my family for understanding that my long hours at the keyboard or on my phone are important to me and others. Your patience is appreciated though I know it comes at a great personal cost to you. I love you.

  Acknowledgments

  My sincerest gratitude and thanks to those who slog through these books in their raw, untamed glory. Those of you editors and beta readers who trim the jungles of my thoughts and navigate the depths of my mind—you guys are awesome. My only comfort at your loss of brain cells is that you seem to be as invested in Brindolla as I am.

  With love, respect and absolute awe,

  Chris.

  Newsletter

  Don’t miss out on future releases! Sign up for the Mountaindale Press newsletter to stay up to date. And as always, thank you for your support! You are the reason we’re able to bring these stories to life.

  Getting Caught Up

  Hey guys, Zeke here. It’s been a wild ride, and things have really been looking up for us, you know, the boys and me.

  You all know how this happy adventure began, right? Let me remind you. Radiance, one of the nine gods of Brindolla, reached through the veil between her world and ours hoping that we could help her, and her siblings solve a little problem. A galactic baddie called War had come to try and take their planet.

  He worked his way through the galaxies taking world after world with his war machine and adding to the fold. Constantly moving from one to another, but never skipping any he set his sights on.

  And that was how we were going to help stop him from reaching our families and world, Earth. By giving them our aid, the Brindollan gods hold the line against him. We had volunteered—no matter how unwittingly—to hunt down the minions and generals that had arrived before the gods had known what was happening. Once we found them, we were to destroy them by any means available to us.

  And oh, do we have the means. Sorry.

  So, what do we do? We come to this huge world based on modern role-playing video games and start beating ass. We have stats, levels, magic, axes, more magic. Bigger. Axes. And lots of friends from this new world to assist us and sort us out.

  Did we take our lumps? Hell yeah. Fighting a bone dragon? Cool as hell—scary as shit—but still cool. Watching helplessly as a kid was murdered in cold blood so that one of War’s generals could banish us to the Fae Realm? Wasn’t fucking cool. I was even “gifted” lycanthropy from our time there in the fae realm, and it’s kind of screwed with the crew and me in a few ways since we came back. But the general, Rowan, died for that—nowhere near as painfully as we would have wanted, but he died. Just not before he sent our rogue friend, Balmur, to the Hells, though. It still kind of messes with me today.

  Point is, we’re here doing the thing, taking our lumps, taking names and kicking ass as best as we can. Thanks to some clever thinking, we even got our friend Balmur back from the Hells and managed to kill another General in the process. There are three of them left as far as we’re aware of, so we have those goals, right? That was with the help of some friends we had made after liberating the high elves from the Children of Brindolla, a bunch of assholes who think we’re the bad guys for coming to help defend their planet. It was a whole fiasco, let me tell you, and we’d had a bit of a scuffle when we first arrived at the high elf city. After proving we had Mother Nature’s backing to help the planet, their leader Queen Silvannas, a former idol of Maebe’s who had mistakenly decided to side against us, had her power stripped by Mother Nature and died. After that, we had a friend in power.

  Silvannas’ son King Telfino had done well in trusting my friends and me to investigate the goings-on in his kingdom. Those Seelie kidnappers and their Doffilnar accomplice never saw us coming.

  What’s that? What’s a Doffilnarr? It’s a highly dangerous creature thought to have been hunted into extinction by the Fae. The Seelie must have found one because they had it pretending to be a dryad so it could lure victims into a portal to the Fae realm. They likely tortured them for information on how to get closer to their own equivalent of Mother Nature—Samir.

  That was how Maebe, the Queen of the Unseelie Fae and my girlfriend, had assumed they may try to get the upper hand in their millennia-long feud for supremacy.

  But now, my brothers and I have our sights set on the next leg of our quest to return order to this planet; and keep the galactic equivalent to a steaming bag of assholes away from Earth, our friends, and our families. The kingdom of the drow—dark elves covered in fantasy lore since well before I was a pup, and typically evil as hell.

  What, y’all are having trouble with the boys? It’s the fourth time I’ve told you lot the story, do I need to break ‘em down again? Fine, fine. But you know what they look like, so I’m not doing that all over again. Needy.

  Yohsuke - My brother from another mother who I served with in the Marines. Fast friends for a while now, he’s my best friend, and he’s a real O.G. gamer. You know what it is. He’s our spell blade with a pact to a demon and an abomination elf as well. Half drow, half high elf, all angst.

  Jaken - A goofy, surfer like gamer buddy of mine from home who recently had a darling little girl. Proud papa and powerful paladin of Radiance. His Fae-orc avatar is a little wild at times, but he’s a super nice dude. Admit it, you like him.

  Bokaj - One of my former coworkers at a local gym, guitarist and singer for a band and a love
ly musician who finds time to school me in most games. He’s could be a bit catty and cold at times, but that’s mainly because his avatar is an ice elf, and his distancing himself is so he can fling arrows like a young kid flings boogers. Let’s not forget his kooky, tail-biting asshat Tmont, house cat, and his panther companion.

  Balmur - Our Azer dwarf buddy, who is also a friend from the gym who I would sit and talk about the latest and greatest RPGs with when we weren’t spotting lunks. Super awesome guy, though he can be a bit quiet at times. Useful trait as a rogue, as you would think.

  James - Another buddy from the Marine Corps I met through Yoh. He’s a New Yorker through and through, and he can be a confrontational guy at times, but he’s working through all that. Meditation helps. He’s more dragon than half-dragon, half-elven lately due to a bad trip on some black dragon magic. His wings are fucked up and weird, but we love our monk.

  Muu - Jesus Christ. This guy is my roommate back home. Lovable, affable, and has NO idea when to shut up. His antics make his role as a fighter all the more reasonable because his mouth has a tendency to piss people off. Funny as he is, he’s a damned fine addition to the team, and we’re happy to have him as our dragon-kin dragoon. Green-scaled asshole that he can be.

  We caught wind that they could have been affected either by the proximity of a minion, or a general. Their presence seemed to cause people, animals, and creatures, in general, to go completely insane, even attacking a city of dwarves with a small invasion force, which seemed pretty fucking unsound to me.

  After our time in the city was at an end, we had decided to leave the high elves of T’agnolian Val, under the somewhat steady hand of their leader King Telfino, to their own devices in dealing with their newly discovered enemies, the Seelie Fae. They didn’t have to deal with much really, just the “ambassadors” who had denied any and all involvement, despite the fact that evidence stated otherwise. We couldn’t get them to swear to it, which was telling.

  I had received word a day ago that Maebe may be coming back to the Prime Realm now that the spies had been ousted. But that didn’t guarantee that the ones on her side had been found, or that there hadn’t been some sort of attack. I was starting to get a little worried, but I didn’t dare try to get ahold of her with Shadow Speak just in case she was fighting or busy. That could prove detrimental to her.

  With the group back together and my lovely girlfriend on her way, it’s time to follow some leads, track down the rest of these assholes, and get home for some more, less deadly gaming. You coming?

  Chapter One

  Fading light filtered in through the leaves and the branches of the trees above, the beams of pale brightness against the shaded forest where I laid in the dirt. Tired. Exhausted and mentally drained. I was even bloodied if the tickle above my forehead could be trusted.

  “Again!” Yohsuke barked.

  I sat up to see my tormentor seated against a tree twenty feet away in his customary dark cloak, his gray features, and the horns he had because of an accessory he wore, only slightly hidden. His bright, sickly yellow eyes shone with both mirth and frustration.

  “Look, I know it’s funny to beat on the werewolf, but can I at least rest long enough to not have to mentally beat the shit out of this asshole who keeps pressuring me to bite you guys?” I grumbled tiredly. I cast Regrowth on myself. It’s a relatively cheap spell mana-wise and speeds my regeneration significantly.

  “You know that we need to try and get all of our ducks in order, brother,” Jaken, the one I could usually trust to intercede on my behalf, sounded apologetic as he helped me stand.

  He wore his full battle-rattle of beautifully polished full-plate mithral armor with two swords on his hips, his half-Fae-half-orcish features obscured by shadows. Golden energy lit along my body, and my health leapt up to full.

  “One more time, bud. Please?” His presence drifted away, but his voice remained strong and imploring. “Then we can go rest in the springs for a bit.”

  “Better be the last, I’m dirty as shit,” I said with a growling tone to my voice. I closed my eyes and honed my will. Looking inward, I was starting to get a little better at calling to the beast that lived inside me, but even if he was tired of our bullshit and my tapping into his strength. Our strength.

  Before, when I gave in to my lycanthropy, I would feel his presence within me, and he could talk back. Now? I was there with him. Inside some sort of cave, the core of my being, where he sat on a throne of bones and stone. Why? I don’t know.

  Maybe he has a flair for the dramatic that mirrored my own? Maybe he was a damned fine interior designer, and this was just his idea of feng shui—I tried not to judge. I mean, I had no sense of style and can barely dress myself, so who am I to talk mess?

  Why do they insist on struggling against us? The lycan before me tilted his head. The manifestation of his spirit was that of a hulking hybrid wolfman. It was my fall back, the only one that I had taken since becoming a werewolf.

  “They want us to get this ability under control, and so do I,” I returned as I watched him.

  He stood, all seven feet of muscle and hatred clearly visible in his features as he stepped toward me, a slight, cool breeze of death and rage ruffled the black and white fur along his frame.

  That they do not fear you is the problem. He bared his teeth angrily as he looked down at me from where he stood. We are alpha. The strongest of the pack. It is our right to lead. We took it from the other alpha. You claimed it, and yet you do not claim me. You refuse to do what must be done. You refuse to be hard and correct the issues in your pack. And worse still, you refuse to allow me to help you do so.

  “They’re my friends!” I stepped close enough to look up at him. “We’re all learning together. And I am the alpha. The first time you took over, you ended up making me attack Jaken. The last time I acted alone with your strength, I ripped someone’s fucking heart out in full monte fucking front and center and almost alienated them. This transformation isn’t like my normal ones, and there’s a fine line between you and me. I don’t like that, and I will have more control over this.”

  That was truly the moment I knew there was hope for you, but now? He shook his head, with his eyes closed in recollection and then opened them, one eye glowed red with malice and the other blue and radiating power. I do not know. You seek my strength, but you subconsciously limit yourself. Then you limit us further on purpose so that you do not harm your precious “friends.”

  “Because if we kill them.” I grabbed it by the fur on its chest and pulled it down to look me in the eyes, “Then I’ve murdered the people who stand the greatest chance of helping me home! People who know me best—my brothers. Our pack. So, instead of fighting me, and questioning me, give me your support, and we can move on. Then, when a real enemy comes, and we need to defend ourselves, you and I can fuck them up together. Okay? Because if I have to fight you, I will fucking destroy you. This is my body and my will.”

  The werewolf seemed to think it over before holding his massive clawed hand out to me. I went to take it, but he pulled it back and cold cocked me in the jaw, sending me onto my ass. I snarled and launched myself at him with a closed fist, but he stepped aside.

  Stop limiting us. They are fighting to learn how to protect themselves from creatures like us. The malice gone from the red eye at that moment replaced by curiosity. You are hurting our pack’s chances of dominance by fighting at half strength. Let loose, so that they will learn and so that you will as well.

  I blinked, unaccustomed to the thoughtful nature of the request, but it made sense. Why he had decided to try and hit me, I wasn’t sure, but I nodded and held my hand out. He clasped it and squeezed.

  I opened my eyes and knew that I stood in my hybrid form. Everything around me was crisper. The scents of the people around me, sweat, and horrific body odor.

  I looked to my left where the party rested from their own bouts with me and each other, “Muu. Take a damned shower, you smell like hot ass
wiped with gym socks.”

  “Tell me how you really feel,” he grumbled sullenly.

  I looked to my newest opponent, Bokaj. “Look. New rule: I’m no longer limiting myself in my werewolf form. The wolf…really going to need to name him, seems to be under the impression that when I hold myself back, it limits your abilities to protect yourselves. He hinted that when I don’t go for the kill, it leaves you unprepared. All of us unprepared.”

  “Sounds good to me.” James hopped down from a tree, his dark-winged form outlined against the light filtering through the trees. “But it’s weird to know that you’ve been holding yourself back when it seems like you keep getting your ass kicked.”

  I looked over at him and sighed. So, time to play.

  Yohsuke groaned, “Enough jawing, get to it!” Then the fight was on.

  Tmont, Bokaj’s familiar and black-furred panther, barreled toward me as her master rained arrows toward my position, but I wasn’t going to just take it.

  I gripped the earth beneath my feet and pushed myself out of the way. One second I was there, and the next, I was out of Tmont’s way and on the side of a tree with my claws digging into the bark as if it were wet ground. I grunted and leapt from the tree and sailed toward Bokaj. Rather than try to land on top of him like I had the last time we had sparred; I went toward the rear of his position. I wasn’t as stealthy as I would have liked to be, but it was enough.

  He must have guessed my trajectory and fired an arrow into where I should have landed—where my leg should have been. But rather than land fully on my feet, I threw my arm forward and executed a forward shoulder roll that I’d learned from the Marine Corps that moved my body just far enough out of the arrow's path that I only mildly felt the burn of the arrow’s silver attachment. The bastard had taken to preparing his arrows with a tied-on silver wire. And I had no doubts that silvered arrowheads were in the immediate future.