Galthranor

My ears rang as I pressed myself back against the wall. I was faintly aware of blood dripping down from my nose. There might have been some coming from my ears as well, though I was having a hard time orienting myself. I moved sluggishly through space. It felt as though everything was underwater.

Lynessa and Imalor looked at me, frightened expressions on their faces. They wanted me to figure out a plan.

“Shield.” I said. Lynessa pointed to her ear. “Shield!” I shouted. Still no response. I mimed holding up a shield. She looked at me with a confused expression on her face.

I glanced at the door and sucked in a breath. I dove across to where Lynessa leaned against the wall.

“Shield!” I shouted into her ear. She scrunched up her face and said something back to me, but it was drowned out by the ringing in my ears. I pointed towards the doorway. She raised her hands and a shimmering barrier appeared in front of her.

Lynessa advanced, pushing the barrier in front of her as she stepped through the threshold and into the room. I followed behind with my hand on her shoulder and my head ducked. The shimmering of the magical barrier obscured our vision somewhat, but I saw on the far side of the room what looked to be a robed man loading another round into his RPG-7 shoulder-mounted grenade launcher.

I braced for impact. The grenade exploded as it contacted with Lynessa’s barrier, once more deafening me. The barrier wavered as shrapnel blossomed on the other side. It held for a few seconds after the explosion had finished, before eventually dematerializing as Lynessa struggled to maintain control of it.

I could see the robed man better now that the shield had been lowered, and I immediately recognized his face from everywhere it had been plastered over the dungeon. The evil wizard Galthranor lowered his RPG-7 to load another grenade, a twisted smile overtaking his features.

I charged, pushing past Lynessa to attack the wizard mid-reload. There would be no way Lynessa could conjure a second barrier capable of withstanding direct fire from explosive ordinance. I swung the sword I’d stolen from the sets of armor on the last floor. Galthranor raised his weapon, and my sword clanged off its launch tube.

I brought my sword back around, smacking away the launcher with the flat of my blade. Galthranor smirked, producing from beneath his robes an intricate dagger with a jagged blade made of polished obsidian. He raised it, pointing at me with the blade and carved in the air a short semicircle. The tip of the dagger glowed, leaving behind a bleeding orange line that floated where he’d cut. I watched, shocked, as he peeled back space as though it was a canvas, and plunged his hand into the hole he had made.

“The Duskknife.” Lynessa gasped. “Its power is just as great as the stories say.”

“Greater.” Replied Galthranor. He pulled his hand out of the rift in space, revealing the item he’d retrieved: an M249 Squad Automatic Weapon.

“Get down!” I shouted, throwing myself to the floor as Galthranor squeezed the trigger. Galthranor swore as the barrel of the weapon shot up on the first shot, the fool had tried firing the damn thing while still holding the Duskknife in his other hand! Bullets ricocheted off the walls as Galthranor struggled to control the weapon’s recoil. Eventually, he finally released the trigger, the barrel of the weapon glowing a sinister red.

Atlas took the opportunity, flying into the room with the ferocity of a laser eagle and smashed headfirst into the wizard, sending both tumbling across the room. The Duskknife went skittering from Galthranor’s hand as the wizard unleashed another volley of uncontrolled lead into the empty circular chamber. Lynessa shrieked as she crawled across the floor, trying in vain to avoid a hundred unpredictable projectiles as the stone walls rained down chipped stone flecks.

Imalor’s spear went flying through the air, smashing into the wizard’s weapon as it flailed wildly in his skeletal and weathered wizard hands. The wizard cursed, dropping the M249. It let loose one final round, then silenced. Galthranor patted his robe, suddenly realizing that he did not have the Duskknife. In all the chaos, I’d manage to crawl over to it. I now held it in my hands.

“Now you’re going to be the one dodging bullets!” I shouted, pointing the blade in the air exactly as Galthranor had done before me. I carved a semicircle with the point. The glowing line did not appear.

“Foolish mortal!” Galthranor spat, “Only a being of immense magical power can utilize the raw magical energy of the Duskknife!”

“Shut your mouth before I shut it for you, old man.” Atlas demanded, pressing his paws down on Galthranor’s chest. The tiger bared his fangs and snarled.

Galthranor sighed impatiently. “I guess we’ll have to do this the boring way then.” He stuck out his hands, lightning dancing over his fingertips, and blasted Atlas with electricity. My muscles seized up at the same time as the tiger’s, sending us both spasming to the ground. My teeth clenched in my mouth as my limbs jerked of their own accord.

The wizard regained his feet, sending a concentrated blast of fire at Lynessa. She held up her hands, generating a magical barrier, but it was clear that most of her energy was spent. The barrier dissipated on contact with the fire, the flames licking at her arms.

Imalor pulled out his axe and charged. The wizard fired a swirling ball of ice, but the dwarf tumbled forward in a somersault, narrowly dodging the attack. He swung his weapon, but the axe’s head bounced ineffectually off a glowing green barrier conjured by Galthranor, who retaliated by stomping his foot, causing a dozen massive snakes to burst forth from between the cracks in the masonry beneath our feet.

By then, Atlas and I had regained control of our muscular systems, and once more pressed the advance. I swung my sword at the wizard from behind, dimly aware of Atlas behind me pouncing on a snake that had tried to take me by surprise. The wizard swung around, catching my sword with his bare palm. He flicked his wrist, shattering the blade. My other hand came up from underneath, and I rammed the Duskknife into his gut.

Galthranor’s eyes widened. He laughed, walking forward. I held onto the handle of the knife and tried to drive it deeper into his flesh.

“You really possess no magic, do you boy?” He asked. He brushed my hand away and withdrew the blade himself. No blood flowed from his wound. Instead, a stream of gray sand slowly trickled from his wound. “Had you any innate magic at all, that blade would have latched onto its power and torn apart my magical essence. That little maneuver of yours would have worked.” He listed the blade up, casually examining it. “Of course, without any magic within you, the blade is nothing more than a mundane weapon, and mundane weapons, I’m afraid, cannot harm me.”

Just my luck. The only move that would have killed a nigh-immortal wizard had failed because I wasn’t good enough on an inherent level. I was apparently the only person this wizard had seen in his literal hundreds of years alive with absolutely no innate magic.

“Well, I’d tell you to get it over with, but I’m afraid that tiger would have something else to say about it.” I said. Atlas pounced from behind. Galthranor whipped around, shooting off a spell that froze Atlas in midair.

Galthranor rubbed his chin. “You know,” he said, “I haven’t seen one of these creatures in this dimension. In others, sure, but not here.” He turned to look at me, his eyebrow raised. “You’re not from around here, are you? That’s why you have no inherent magic.”

I shook my head. “Nope. I was summoned here to defeat the Demonlord. Now that I’ve done that, I’m just trying to get home.”

“So,” Galthranor asked, “That wouldn’t happen to be your 1992 Ford Ranger that’s parked right outside of my dungeon, would it?”

“Yes.” I said, “How did you know what it was? Everyone else seems to think it's some kind of weapon.”

“The truck isn’t a weapon?” Imalor asked, shocked.

“No!” I responded, “Have you not noticed how it makes travel incredibly easier and faster?”

“That just seemed like a nice bonus to its demon-killing prowess.” Imalor huffed, “You can’t honestly expect me to know everything about foreign technology.”

Galthranor’s eyes narrowed. “You know what?” He asked, “I have a large collection of vehicles from across multiple dimensions within my hoard. What do you say we have a race? Your truck versus something of your universe. If you win, you may live.”

“And if I lose, you’ll kill me?” I asked. Galthranor nodded. “Well, I mean, I’ve faced worse odds. And I can actually drive, unlike some other stuff I’ve been doing since I got here. To hell with it, let’s do this!”

Galthranor grinned. “Excellent! I haven’t had a good race in decades!” He released Atlas from where he remained suspended in midair. The tiger slumped to the floor.

“I despise every time that you get to make decisions.” He growled. “You always find new, exciting ways to get us killed.”

“Oh shut up,” I said, “I haven’t gotten you killed before.”

“Yeah.” He snapped, “We’re just lucky you fail at everything you try to do. Like getting us killed. Or getting with Lynessa.”

“Okay,” I said, “If you think it’s so easy, you try it!”

“Wait, which one?” Atlas asked confusedly, “Because I really don’t want to do either.”

“Gentlemen,” Galthranor said, he was now wearing a motorcycle helmet and racing gloves, “Can we stop the arguing and get on to the race?”

“Right, yeah. Let’s go.” I said, giving Atlas a stern glare. Atlas yawned and slunk along after us.