A Little Fall of Rain

[Goku]

Justin and his bodyguard stood clustered around the flickering light of their fire. When the night had first settled, the burning wood had been the only source of protection against the encroaching darkness. Now, it licked at their heels as the stench of death pressed in around them. How many of these monsters were there? The shambling horde had done well to get this close to Darkshire, and the astronomer took a deep breath.

Gabriel Bloom, Captain of his Guard, raised his sword higher and took a sudden stab forwards, the blade expertly stabbing through the face of one rotten corpse.

“Well, M’Lord, look on the bright side.” The stern-faced man said, without a trace of amusement on his weather-beaten features. “This lot outright proves that you’re on the right track.”

Justin chuckled faintly, and lifted his fingers to push his glasses back into place. The stars above twinkled merrily. Even here, even now, he couldn’t help but find beauty in the way they shone. And yet, one of the stars didn’t seem quite right… he was sure he would have noted that erratic movement previously.

“I suppose you’re right Captain, just a pity that nobody will ever hear of it.”

Suddenly, then, that irregular star fell streaking towards the ground, the burning white of it resolved instead into a short figure wearing strange, bright orange clothing. His hair was even stranger – a mass of spikes projecting every which way. The brilliance of that bright white illumination made the poor astronomer feel even less confident about their chances.

All around them were the rotting corpses of the damned and the dead. Most were simple peasants; a motley crew of assorted corpses which had lain forgotten in this abominable place. Their flesh was sallow and most writhed with maggots, the obvious wounds which had claimed their lives worn as proudly as soldiers might bear their coat of arms.

Some few were the more dangerous sort – men of rough trade whose deaths had come thanks to their own folly. Bandits and soldiers whose ignoble ends they now sought to bring about on the encampment which had dared to stand in defiance of their master’s will.

For one moment, Justin wondered if the strange figure now stood at the edge of the ring of death were their master – but the casual smile he wore dispelled that notion at once. If there was any doubt, the cheerful note in his voice cast it aside completely.

“Ohayo!” He announced, above the growls and snarls of the dead as they began to shamble around to face him as well as their initial quarry. “Six to one? That doesn’t seem like very fair odds!” His boots dug into the dirt, and that bright light surrounding him burst even brighter, a shining beacon against the dark night.

“LET’S TRY THIRTY TO ONE INSTEAD, HYAAAAAAAAA!”


“Do you think he’s suicidal or… or does he actually have a chance?” Justin tried his best to keep the quiver of fear from his voice, but he couldn’t quite manage it. Gabriel, however, hadn’t taken his eyes off the hoard of enemies since the beginning, and now that there was an opening, he was ready and willing to take advantage of it!

“ATTACK, ALL OF YOU! FOR THE KINGDOM!”

The battlecry served its purpose, his men surged into the front rank of confused undead with blades slashing in all directions, determined to force the enemy back and away from their charge. In the same moment, the newcomer burst from his stationary position to hit the enemy like a cannon ball. What had seemed a hopeless situation was immediately thrown into a new light by this sudden and unexpected good fortune.

Gabriel had seen many men fight in his day. The Omniverse was full of strange and wondrous styles which he could never have dreamed of before his time here. He had never, however, seen a man fight with only his own limbs and seemingly without even an ounce of fear in his heart as he took on the restless dead.

The enemy were numerous, but the martial artist moved with a grace and control which bellied his apparent enthusiasm to get into the fray. He turned the numerous grasping limbs of his adversaries into a weakness rather than a strength; ducking and twisting amongst them such that they spent as much time pawing fruitlessly at each other as they did trying to find solid purchase upon his stocky, muscular frame.

But he wasn’t merely waiting for the guards to do their work; he was no mere distraction! Where he lashed out in return, bones and tendons tore in a hideous cacophony of discordant violence. The rotten, decayed husks had no adequate defence against such a coordinated onslaught, and with each blow another was sent toppling to the ground, where a powerful stomp or accurate slash of the blade could send them back to a merciful rest.

Even as he watched, the stranger turned to deliver a crashing kick which staved one creature’s ribcage in cleanly, and then one of the sturdier of the lot was on him. No mere peasant, this wretched sack of flesh had clearly once been a mercenary; thick chainmail and leathers protected him from the first three blows, though it had clearly not protected him from the spear-haft still lodged firmly in his heart. Even as Gabriel watched a great, rusted battle axe came swinging down to attempt the decapitation of their would-be saviour.

He shouted a cry, attempting to warn the man – and at the last possible moment both arms came up to protect his head. The axe slashed hard against the martial artist’s forearms, cleaving a deep cut across them with a splatter and spray of blood…

And then the warrior undead’s legs were swept out from underneath him, and a punishing fist crashed through his skull, sending a fountain of grey-matter and maggots flying into the air.

The stranger’s voice raised in protest - “Eugh! These things are disgusting!”


It had been a long time since Goku had engaged in massed combat, but the skills never truly died – which was more than could be said for the foul-smelling creatures which made up this foe. There was a kind of rhythm that you had to find in these situations; a heartbeat to the battle, a give and take which flowed through it all. The dull ache in his arms was only getting worse as the fight dragged on, and he was surprised to find that he was moving so slowly. That sense of strange weight which had settled on him since his arrival here refused to let itself be shaken off completely. It was as though he were fighting with a limb tied behind his back, only he had never been aware of it before…

It was exciting! Ordinarily, foes like this would pose no challenge at all, but now he found himself suddenly having to hit each one with care and precision; to duck and dodge away out of range of grasping hands and slashing, rusted blades. Frieza had been the most intense battle of his life, but it had been a battle of martial artists clashing for the fate of the galaxy – this was a scrum of desperate men and women forced to action against mindless undead.

When the battle was finally won, it wasn’t with a single glorious attack or display of overwhelming power – it was with the slow, methodological dismemberment of the nauseating enemies which continued to try and drag them to the ground.

Goku himself was left battered and bleeding, not least from the vicious cut to his forearm, but he was unbowed. So, too, was Gabriel – a warrior he had picked out in the melee almost immediately. The tall, powerfully-built blonde sheathed his sword and cast an appraising eye over the blood-and-gore caked form of Goku. How Gabriel’s armour still managed to shine as a brightly-polished mirror was completely beyond the saiyan.

“You have my thanks.” Gabriel said, offering his hand. “Captain Bloom. I would know your name, friend.”

Goku smiled easily and took the hand, squeezing hard through the metal and shaking firmly.

“Son Goku. Just Goku is fine.” He laughed, scratching behind the back of his head, “It was no problem. What were they? I’ve never seen anything like that before!”

The Captain turned to cast his eye over the astronomer – who seemed to have emptied the contents of his stomach onto the ground, just to add to the degree of unsanitary mess now staining the campsite.

“We can’t stay here.” Gabriel declared. “Son Goku, would you help me relocate the camp to higher ground? When we have set up a new base, I will answer your questions.”

Goku blinked, and looked around the blood-drenched battlefield. “Eeeh? Oh, sure sure, I suppose that makes sense…”


By the time the new camp was safely ensconced amongst the hills overlooking the Gate into this place, Goku was thoroughly exhausted and couldn’t keep his eyes open any longer. The saiyan slept, and there were muttered words from the remaining members of the expedition.

“There were eighteen of us when we began, Justin, now there’s scarcely enough to keep you safe. We need to send back for reinforcements.”

“We don’t have time for that. It is imperative that we complete our mission.”

“Then we will need help from an outsider.”

All eyes turned to the figure now splayed out next to the fire, snoring as merrily and completely as though he were sleeping in the softest sheets, rather than on damp, cold earth. How anyone could sleep at all – let alone so soundly – after seeing such brutal horrors first hand was a mystery they did not want to think about too deeply.

“Do you think we can trust him? It could have been an elaborate trick.”

A pregnant silence followed, and it was Gabriel’s voice which broke it.

“A man like that? No. I’ve seen him fight. I don’t know what he is… but I’m certain there isn’t a shred of deception in him.”


When the sun rose the next morning, it was on a camp almost as weary as it had begun. None had slept well, and the discussion long into the hours of the night had not been pleasant. In the end, however, Gabriel had given his word that he would tell Goku what had happened, and it had been agreed that the outsider could probably be trusted – if he had wanted to betray them, doing so in the middle of the battle would have been quite easy, after all.

It would have been an easier decision to stomach if they hadn’t had to watch him eat the next morning. Goku had attacked the thin and watery gruel they had available as though it were another deadly enemy to be overcome with maximum force. Not a drop remained in his bowl, as the rest of the party tried to stomach theirs down.

“So, those creatures, what were they?”

Gabriel turned his head to face Goku, and his jaw clenched firmly. “Evil magic. The corpses of the dead brought back to kill us.”

“Oooh. Does that happen a lot around here?”

The Captain hesitated for a moment, nonplussed by the easy acceptance of such a thing. “Ah, well, yes, but there is a particular reason why they are after us.”

“Oh? What did you do?”

Gabriel looked to Justin helplessly, whilst his surviving men had to try and hide smirks of amusement at the easy way the newcomer had thrown their poor commander for a loop. He was used to being treated with deference and respect; there was something in Goku’s manner which made it clear he didn’t really know or care who they were or what they were doing; it was only the fact that they were in danger which interested him at all!

The Astronomer took pity on his friend and took over the explanation for him.

“We are searching for a piece of a star.” He said, “We have reason to believe it fell to earth in this place, in fact… I think I have charted its precise location, and it is absolutely vital that we reach it before our enemies find it and use it themselves.”

Goku’s brow furrowed at that, and he scratched his head again.

“Eeeh? A star? Like, a meteor? Don’t those fall to earth all the time?”

The Astronomer chuckled, and shook his head. “Not like this, no. Suffice to say, the creatures that attacked us last night were the first evidence we have of a coordinated effort to stop our advance. Everything else has just been… a natural consequence of this place.”

Goku cocked his head to the side. He didn’t need to say anything to make it clear he was completely and totally lost. This time, it was Gabriel who came to the rescue.

“A lot of our men have died whilst Justin confirmed his predictions. There used to be a lot more of us. Now, we are considering whether to push on or call for reinforcements…”

Goku nodded his head seriously.

“And the trouble with that.” Justin continued, “Is that the longer we leave it, the more likely that the powers which sent those monsters – or one that is even worse - will find the star piece, and use it to become even more powerful than they are already!”

Hopping up to his feet, Goku punched his open palm and nodded firmly in response. “I see!” He declared brightly, “So those were just the small fry? They’ll send stronger guys to try and kill you?”

The Astronomer and his guards shared a curious look – Goku didn’t sound worried or nervous at the prospect of fighting stronger enemies… he sounded excited, as though the prospect had done more to wake him up than breakfast ever had.

“I, suppose you could put it that way.” Gabriel said. “This whole world is ruled by evil, the longer we stay here, the more likely it is that they will send their truly powerful servants to try and finish us off.”

Goku’s face split into a wide grin, and his eyes twinkled at the prospect.

“Okay! Then you don’t have to worry at all!” Goku announced, his hands moving behind his head. “I’ll travel with you! If those things were the first attack, I want to see what else this place can throw at me! Haha!”

Gabriel stared in naked confusion at the brash confidence this strange newcomer was suddenly exuding.

“Are you, are you sure—“ Justin began, intending to scold Goku for his attitude, to warn him of the darkness and dangers which surely lay ahead. Instead, Goku interrupted him by holding up his hand.

“Absolutely! Don’t worry about it! I saw some of what Gabriel was able to do in that fight, and I wanted to spar with him anyway.” His grin took on a whole new, cheeky, dimension, and he walked over to clap the stunned Captain on the back.

“I can’t do that if I let you die, right? So let’s go and get this meteor! What’s the worst thing that could happen?”

… Oh, why did he have to ask that?

[Goku]

“So, what brought you out to the Pale Moors, Goku?”

Justin was back in good spirits – at least, for the most part. Camp had been broken and now the long, hard trek across this decrepit landscape could begin. At first, Goku had hovered overhead to help provide a wider field of vision – but it didn’t take long for him to realise that it was seriously exhausting to keep that up! Now, the party trudged together, doing their best to keep up their spirits with light conversation. It was a flimsy defence against the continuous malaise inspired by the PaleMoors, but it was a start.

“Oh? Is that what this place is called?”

It would have been a lore more effective as a countermeasure if Goku didn’t seem to have all the wit and intellect of a potato.

“Yes.” Justin said, as patiently as he could. “How could you not know that?”

Goku laughed, and gave an easy shrug of his shoulders. “Well, the gate to this place looked kind of creepy with all the grey stone and mould—“

“You mean moss.”

“Yeah, sure. Anyway I figured that there had to be some reason everyone else seemed to be avoiding it, so maybe there were strong guys through there!”

This time, it was Gabriel’s turn to laugh, shaking his head at the naivety of his new traveling companion. “Well, I can’t fault your logic. There definitely are a lot of ‘strong guys’ in this place, that’s part of the problem.”

Goku sighed, looking around the windswept moor. Even the grass seemed to have had the life sucked out of it; brittle and dark, the ground beneath his feet was unpleasantly hard, and there was no sign of anything moving out there. No sign of any enemy to fight at all. As far as he could tell, there were only two hazards in this place. The cold wind, which bit relentlessly at their faces as they were forced to walk into it… and boredom; a far more nefarious foe which could not so easily be banished.

“Hey, hey, Justin, how long is it going to take to get there, anyway?”

The astronomer pursed his lips, looking up into the sky as though he could discern that fact from the movement of the clouds above.

“Difficult to say.” He said, “We have to keep going. I believe the piece has fallen somewhere north of a regional landmark known as the Black Gate.”

Goku strode ahead of the group, turning so he could look Justin in the eye as he continued to walk backwards. “Oh? Is that far?”

“A few weeks travel under ordinary circumstances.”

Goku’s foot suddenly dug into the earth; the unpleasantly-firm ground treacherously giving way and sending him toppling over backwards with a cry – despite his best efforts to save himself by whirling his arms around dramatically. “Owaaaaah!”

Landing with a heavy thump, Goku rubbed at his rear end and tutted “Weeks, weeks! What have I gotten myself into? I’ll go crazy just walking for weeks!”

Gabriel’s hand clasped over his own, and the shorter man found himself being dragged back up to his feet by the Captain, who could not keep his amusement from his lips.

“Perhaps you should worry more about keeping your eyes on the road than about how long it will take us to get across the Moors.” He suggested. “There is danger everywhere for the unwary traveller.”

Goku dusted himself back down, and sighed. “So you keep promising, but we’ve been walking for HOURS and nobody has tried to stop us yet!”


It didn’t help their newfound friend that they had made the decision to stay off the roads. Whilst it was true that the roads offered some scant degree of safety from the roaming monsters and foul beasts which called the Pale Moors their home, they were watched by the far more calculating monsters who ruled over the place. If they were going to be successful in their mission, they had to keep the powers that be guessing about the true purpose of their quest; and most especially the place they were actually going to. That meant braving the countryside itself rather than the network of dirt-packed roads which serviced the few settlements in the region.

Lunch was another education for the astronomer and his retinue. Watching Goku eat was like watching some terrible beast tear apart its prey. Justin had wondered, perhaps, if the breakfast display was simply a case of the warrior being especially hungry after taxing himself against the zombies of the previous night. After watching Goku devour enough rations for three men in the time it took him to eat half of his own… that did not seem to be the case. It was lucky for all concerned that they had continued to bring the extra supplies they had packed for the dead men… and even so, Justin found himself wondering if their little party would have to contend with the hungry saiyan just as surely as every other threat out there before this business was concluded.

“Aaah, that’s so much better!” Goku exclaimed, sitting back and resting on his hands now that the rumbling in his belly had finally subsided. “So, Gabriel, you seem pretty strong! What do you call your style?”

The Captain was a little taken aback by the question, and had to genuinely consider it for a few moments. “Well.” He said at last, “I trained under Swordsmaster Lionheart, so I suppose it would be the Lionheart style.” Casting his mind back to the stern-faced Swordsmaster, Gabriel had a hard time imagining that he’d ever accept anything so needlessly baroque as a style named after himself. His was a functional, decisive style of combat; he’d been given a sword and taught how to kill his enemies with it. Why did that need a name?

“Ohoh! Lionheart Style? That sounds impressive!” Goku enthused, “I definitely want to have that sparring match soon!”

Gabriel looked at the hunk of bread in his hand, stale and unappetising, as though it might hold the answers to his questions. After taking another reluctant bite from it, and swallowing it down, he turned his attention back to the man who could actually answer them, though.

“You seem to enjoy fighting a lot, Goku. Why is that?”

For the first time, the newcomer seemed to hesitate – to actually think about the question which had been asked of him. “I suppose.” He said at last, “It is just what I’ve always done! I like to test myself, and martial arts have been my life ever since I was a little kid.” He smiled, a faint little grin daring to tug up at the corner of his lips. “If you asked Vegeta, I guess he’d say it is my saiyan blood.”

Gabriel shared a look with Justin, and several of the other guards surreptitiously put their hands on their weapons. None of them recognised the term, but if it turned out that this guy was some sort of demon…

Gabriel tried to sound relaxed. “Saiyan?”

“Oh right! You guys probably don’t know what that is!” Goku exclaimed, “Ah, basically, it is a kind of alien? There’s not many of them left because they were a warrior race who really loved fighting!”

Odd that he’d refer to his people in the past tense, but then again, there really weren’t many of them left. Two full-blooded ones at any rate.

“I see.” Lied the Captain, “And is that how you fly around without any means of support?”

That, too, had been the cause of a little disquiet amongst the men – but then, magic was hardly some mysterious unknown in the Kingdom, and it had been easier to think of Goku as some sort of wandering wizard of martial arts than anything else. Who questioned the ways of wizards?

“Eeeeeh…” Goku began, “I guess it probably didn’t hurt, but really that’s a technique I learned when—“

Suddenly, the conversation was interrupted by a loud, soul-shaking scream. The martial artist was on his feet in an instant, and the guards drew their weapons, forming up around Justin with all the smooth precision of a well-oiled machine.

“Where did that come from?” Gabriel asked.

Goku’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t know. But I don’t like it.”



If there was one thing that Goku was finding difficult to deal with, it was the loss of his senses. Over decades he had honed his ability to feel ki; to learn the intricate way that energy played through all living things. He didn’t know whether the strange ‘dead’ monsters that this place seemed to be infested with would even fall under that purview, but he would at least be able to feel the life force of his allies. Oh, it would have been nice to have his full strength and speed back, absolutely, but without his ability to sense energy it felt as though he were rendered half-blind to the world.

Instead, as the creeping sense of dread fell upon them, Goku was forced to take to the air again so that he could keep a watchful eye on all of them. The last thing he wanted was to be caught off-guard and watch one of them die for his mistake. This, of course, meant that he was by far the most obvious target.

The second shriek was coupled with the sound of something whistling through the air, and this time Goku was looking out for it. The spear which came streaking in was aiming directly for his heart; made of bone and yet razor sharp, it was more by luck than judgement that he was able to twist to the side, and the deadly missile struck deep into the earth.

There! The creature which had fired the spear was a horrifying example of the Pale Moors’ twisted inhabitants. A wretched, skeletal figure bent and misshapen, wrapped in tattered yellow cloth. Even as Goku watched, it reached into the folds of its cloak and pulled from within itself another long length of bone. The dirt-encrusted length flowed and melted like candle-wax until suddenly hardening into another barbed spear, its pointed tip eager to taste the flesh of the living.

Fear struck Goku’s heart as the creature lifted its weapon, and the air was rent asunder with a third shriek. This time, several of the guards – and Justin – were sent to their knees, shaking and trembling under the assault. Goku’s head snapped around, and he had just enough time to see the well of scarlet bloom on Justin’s nose before Gabriel shouted a wordless cry of warning…

This time, there was no chance of dodging. Acting purely on instinct, Goku pivoted his position in the air, and his foot crashed powerfully into the top of the spear. The impact sent a shudder running through his entire body, and the weapon’s course was successfully diverted, carving a deep furrow into the earth once more.

Sweat ran down Goku’s forehead, and he took a deep breath to steady himself. His ki sense might have abandoned him, but he could still feel the hairs on the back of his neck standing up, his heart beating faster at the prospect of another of those screams. They weren’t just natural sounds; they were an attack of some sort, trying to bear down on his will and make him an easier target. They had almost worked.

There was something almost mechanical in the way the skeletal figure reached once more inside itself, and this time, Goku wasn’t just going to stand there and let it have its own way. Streaking across the sky, Goku accelerated as fast as he could, hurtling towards the malevolent entity with renewed vigour.

“Oh no you don’t!”

As he closed on it, he could see the malevolence burning in the creature’s eye sockets. What had seemed purely dark before now revealed themselves to have tiny, burning embers in each dark pit. The hate that the creature had for its mortal quarry was plain to see… as was a sudden glint – a shine, as though Goku had fallen for its trap.

The monster’s mouth opened to unleash another shriek, but this time Goku’s fist was the answer that it got instead. The blow crashed into the side of the monster’s jaw, and the ancient bone shattered under the impact. What would have been a mind-melting shriek became little more than a pitiful mewl – the creature’s fearsome howl silenced with the straightforward, simple technique.

But rather than another spear, this time, the front of the damned soul’s robes exploded outwards as the creature’s ribcage burst forth into eight sharp spines.

Goku had enough time to register surprise – his eyes widening – but not enough to even begin to mitigate the damage. The spikes shot forwards with shocking speed, and before he could start to try and defend, two had stabbed deep into his shoulders, four into his chest, and two more down into the soft flesh of his thighs.

“Gwah!”

Blood began to flow, and even though there was no jaw with which to smile, those twinkling eyes seemed satisfied.



Gabriel stayed close to Justin – it was his duty to make sure that the astronomer made it through this alive, after all. As Goku closed on their adversary, the Captain tried to make out what he could of the monster. Yellow robes? Decrepit form? He hissed through his teeth.

“Juliet, do you recognise what that thing is?”

The most studious of the Guards stepped forward and squinted, cupping her hand over her eyes to make out more of the creature. “Shepherd of Bone.” She said, “This isn’t good, if that thing gets its claws into him—“

Almost the same instant that she said it, Goku’s fist crashed into the side of the creature’s jaw, and the trap was sprung.

Swearing, Gabriel surged forwards. After just the briefest hesitation, the guards followed.



Goku felt as though his bones were locking up; his skeletal structure seized by some strange outside force. Behind him, he could hear his allies coming across the distance to try and help. He couldn’t see, but he could hear the heavy armour crashing against the ground.

“NO!” He shouted, “STAY BACK!”

Fear had been banished from his heart, now, and there was only a pounding thrill in its place. He could feel this monster wrestling with him, trying to usurp control of his body through its strange magic. It thought that it had him trapped in place. Now it was time to show it the mistake that it had made.

Goku’s teeth ground together as he grunted, and his will pushed back against the invading force. Momentary surprise registered in those dark eye sockets, and the creature responded in kind. Trembling with the effort, straining for all he was worth, Goku’s hands came together at his side. The sweat now running down his body wasn’t due to fear; it was due to the intensity of the effort needed to force his form into motion.

It felt as though every bone in his body was grinding against each other, trying to push against his flesh, but he refused to let that stop him! The pain was intense, and he didn’t know how much longer he could stand before all the willpower in the world wouldn’t keep him on his feet. He wasn’t going to let this thing attack his friends, though! And he definitely wasn’t going to let it use his bones to do it!

Energy surged wildly around him as he gathered it, forced it into shape… he couldn’t go for a big one, but the monster had already proven to be quite brittle. Now that it was pinned in place – its ribcage locking them both together, all he had to do was…

“Kamehame … HA!”

If there was one set of motions his bones knew how to go through under any circumstance, this was it! His arms thrust forwards, and the bright lance of brilliant blue energy surged out. At point blank range, the creature was struck directly in its core. There was a blinding flash of light, Gabriel found his eyes averted all of a sudden…

And when he opened them again, Goku was still standing, arms stretched forwards. Smoking bones rained down all around him, and the warrior was completely out of breath. Blood flowed freely from the round, neat holes left in his body.

“I just need… a few, minutes.”

And with that reassuring statement given, Goku collapsed to the earth once more – his last thought before he passed out being that he was actually grateful for how hard the ground here could be.

[Goku]

Justin and Gabriel had tended to Goku’s wounds as best they could. Neither were physicians, but Justin had once read a book on physiology and Gabriel had a working knowledge of battlefield medicine. Enough, they hoped, to help the downed warrior fight against the damage inflicted upon him. The holes piercing his flesh were strangely reluctant to close, and he had lost an awful lot of blood.

His pain was obvious. His muscular frame twitched and struggled, his eyes squeezed shut tight as needles were inexpertly applied to sew shut the wounds, and bandages wrapped tight around his body. It took the other four guards to hold him down as the ‘medicine’ was applied, and when it was finally over, the saiyan warrior was left to whimper in his sleep as his body tried to repair itself from the grievous wounds it had sustained.



Goku drifted in a world of pain and darkness. The external injuries were gruesome enough, but he could feel the deeper core of them. The monstrous being hadn’t just been trying to stab him; it had been attempting to rip out his bones for its own use! He’d fought some pretty strange and powerful enemies in his time, but he’d never come across anything quite as disturbing as that.

He was vaguely aware that he was being moved, supported by someone, but he couldn’t bring himself to open his eyes. The pain was excruciating, and every step made it worse. He tried, instead, to block out the pain by trying to meditate. This… was not something that came naturally to Goku, his mind a constant whirl of unfocused thoughts, but he did his best. If he could just block out the pain, that would at least help his body rest…

There was another unfamiliar power inside him, though. As his mind turned inwards he felt the Omnilium inside him. He’d used it to make clothing, but there was a sense that it could help him here, too. He couldn’t verbalise how he knew it, but he could feel the energy yearning to give him what he wanted – and right now, he really, really wanted to stop being in pain, because every moment was pure agony.

Suddenly, he felt his body impact the earth, and he let out a high-pitched squeal before the darkness rushed in to encompass him completely.



Gabriel looked startled at the rather, undignified, scream that Goku gave when he was dropped down to the ground. Night was encroaching once again, and they would have been foolish to continue the journey when the truly horrifying monsters of the Pale Moors were free to walk the verse as they wished.

They had managed to find a cave, a small hovel in which there was only a pair of enormous centipedes to deal with. They might not have been able to deal with the horde of zombies or the Shepherd of Bone themselves, but damnit, they were still proud warriors of the Kingdom and they weren’t going to be killed by mere insects. He had posted most of the remaining men at the front of the cave to watch it and ensure that they were warned before any others made their approach, and now sat watching over Goku with Justin.

The astronomer was not a difficult man to read; the wide-eyed horror he had for the damage inflicted upon the warrior spoke volumes.

“He’ll survive.” Gabriel attempted to reassure the man, “He’s strong, he’ll be back on his feet in a few days.”

“Do you think we can wait that long?”

Gabriel looked back towards the mouth of the cave, barely able to make out anything at all in the darkness, but he could see his men. The few remaining from the expedition.

“I think that if we don’t have him with us, we’ll lose more people. We can’t afford to lose many more before I won’t be able to keep you safe any longer.”

The astronomer sucked his teeth at that, and there was a long sigh as he nodded his head.

“Besides, he helped us greatly. We can’t leave him to perish in this damned place.”

Gabriel clapped the man on the shoulder.

“Do not lose hope.” He advised, “We’ll come through this, I am certain of it.”



Goku tossed and turned throughout the night, and in the morning his bandages were soaked through with blood where the amateurish sewing had failed to match up to the task of holding him together. Gabriel had not slept a wink all night, but blessedly their decision to make do in a cave far from the beaten track had done them good; there was no trouble all night, though the guards posted at the cave entrance had several times heard disturbing noises coming from without. If it were merely disquieting sounds which bothered them from here on out, Gabriel would be very pleased indeed.

The bandages were removed, the injuries swabbed, and new stitching applied. It was during this process that Gabriel took a momentous decision. One which he knew the astronomer would not approve of.

Rising from next to his wounded comrade, Gabriel shrugged his pack back onto his shoulder, and secured his weapon at his hip. “Juliet.” He said, “You stay here with Justin and Goku. Darius, Fenchurch, Johan and Rosalia, you form up with me.”

Justin looked genuinely startled at this announcement. “What do you mean? Where are you going, Captain?”

“We can’t travel like this any longer. If your calculations are correct, we are traveling parallel to a road. I will secure us worthier means of transportation.”

Gabriel’s expression brooked no further protest, and Justin thought it wiser to defer to his friend’s judgement than continue to question it. There were good reasons why they had decided to forego use of the roads, but with Goku in his injured state he could see the logic in taking the risk – at least for the duration of the saiyan warrior’s recovery.

“As you say.” The astronomer yielded, dipping his head to the Captain. “But, please, do be quick about it. If we are set upon it will hardly be troublesome to take from us and, well, try not to get gouged on the price? These folk are untrusting of outsiders.”

The Captain smiled thinly. “Of course, Justin. Don’t you worry. We’ll be back before you know it.”



They said that the Pale Moors were not simply full of monsters, but turned those who spent too much time there into monsters themselves. It was a rumour that Gabriel had never paid much heed to, but as he and his men stood in the middle of the road, it was something that he suddenly understood all too well.

The sun offered some scant protection from the worst elements of the Moors, but even its light was dim that gloomy morning, as though the celestial body itself were loath to bear witness to the crime that was surely going to take place here. It was all too easy to see what was going to play out on this little spit of packed earth, and Gabriel hated himself for it. But he had a duty to attend to, and it was a duty which he needed to take seriously.

The first two travellers were unsuitable. An old woman and her grandson heading to Darkshire for supplies for their ratty little village. They looked upon the armed and armoured men with well-deserved suspicion, but made no complaint when the men parted to let them through.

The second was a lone man on a fine black steed. His plague doctor mask showed no sign of even recognising the existence of those who had stood in his way, as the Captain was quick to usher his increasingly-uncomfortable men to the side of the road to let the strange man past. It was better not to question such things in this dark and terrible place.

The third, finally, was suitable. A covered wagon pulled by a pair of sturdy and dour horses. Gabriel nodded to his fellows and they formed up to block the path.

The merchant who was running the wagon was fat and unkempt, wearing rags more befitting to a peasant than a man of wealth. The wagon itself was filled with boxes, and he had with him a pair of guards of his own – men of the sort that Gabriel knew all too well. They were rough and ready souls, no doubt mercenary sellswords looking to make some coin protecting the weak from others of their kind.

“Hail and well met.” Gabriel said, his voice loud and clear.

The merchant looked upon him with a scrutinizing eye.

“You ain’t Darkshire lads.” He said, “What’re you doin’ blockin’ my way? Move your arses or I’ll have the lads move them for you.”

Gabriel steeled himself, and shook his head in turn.

“I have need of your wagon, good Sir, and all its contents. I am prepared to offer you ten gold crowns for the lot.”

The merchant laughed uproariously, and his ‘companions’ snickered to themselves as well.

“From the Kingdom are you?” He asked as he stopped laughing. “What good would Kingdom gold do a man like me, eh? And even if it did, the wagon alone is worth more’n that. Get out of my way. Now.”

Gabriel’s hand grasped the hilt of his sword, and he pulled the weapon free. Even in the gloomy half-light of a Pale Moors morning, the weapon gleamed like silvered death, and the sellswords were quick to produce their own weapons; the one on the left a thick cudgel, the one on the right a brutal-looking axe.

“I apologise, Sir.” Gabriel said, calmly as he could, “But this is a matter of grave importance. I have offered you all the money I have. If that is not enough, I shall be forced to take what I require.”

The mercenaries were outnumbered, but they were being paid to do a job. The Merchant’s features twisted into a grimace of pure hatred, and he pulled from beneath his seat a well-oiled crossbow. The bolt streaked towards Captain Gabriel as the two mercenaries rushed forwards.

Gabriel reacted with startling speed, his blade cut the bolt clean in two. In the same instant, the mercenaries met the Guards and discovered what it was to face off against men who fought for more than mere money.



Goku no longer tossed and turned in his slumber, which Justin took to be a good sign. The man’s bones had made some alarming clicking noises a few hours hence, but since then he seemed to have settled into a true sleep. His face was placid, his body still, though his chest rose and fell at regular intervals and his heart – from what Justin understood a very important part of the body all things considered – seemed to be beating strong and true.

“Do you think they’ll be much longer?” The astronomer asked his one remaining guard. “Only, we really do still have a very long way to go, we can’t afford to fall behind, I’m certain others will have noticed by now.”

Juliet had seen the expression on her Captain’s face before, though she dearly wished that she had not. She knew just what it meant, and she was pleased that she was not going to have any part in it. The astronomer’s babble annoyed her, though.

“You should know better than to worry about Gabriel.” She said, “He’ll do what is necessary and he’ll be back here before you know it.”

Justin blinked at the sudden, sharp rebuke. “Well, yes, of course.” He said, “The Captain has always done his best, I’ve no doubt about that, I just meant that I would feel much better if we were on the move again.”

As though summoned by the mention of his name, Gabriel’s voice suddenly rang out through the cave.

“I’m back. Come along, you two.”



It wasn’t possible to bring the wagon to the cave, and manhandling Goku across the uneven terrain was an unpleasant challenge. Soon, though, they were safely back with the wagon. Crates filled with food and drink – most of it of questionable heritage – made sturdy enough seating, and the saiyan could be laid out easily enough across the back of them.

Justin remained in the back, with Gabriel and Juliet driving the coach forwards. The horses were entirely unperturbed by their sudden change in Master, and with a ‘HYAH!’ the beasts trotted along the road, pulling the cart with them.

Travel would be slower by this means, but it was at least less exhausting – and whilst there would no doubt be dangers to be encountered on the road, off the beaten path had not been any better.

But Gabriel would always carry the knowledge of what he had done with him. Juliet could see the weight of it pressing down on the man’s shoulders, his noble features just a little more drawn and wan. Juliet’s hand grasped his own and squeezed, trying to offer what support she could.

By the side of the road, the Pale Moors hungrily accepted another offering. Three shallow graves, a good man forced to sin. Fresh, sweet blood to nourish the grave dirt.




Far away from the travellers, in a place devoid of any light, a finger trailed over a watery pool. They had been scrying for a very long time, but it wasn’t until now – when darkness called to darkness – that they had finally found what they were looking for. Though none of the group could hear it, three words were whispered which ought to have sent shivers down their spines, if only they could have known it:

“Send, the Sisters.”

[Goku]

It was as though the Moors were rewarding them for the needless blood which had been shed. Three days and three nights they were hauled along the road, barely seeing another soul. Those who they did pass refused to meet their eye or acknowledge them.

It was time they sorely needed. Goku was able to heal, his haphazard efforts to channel the new power within him finally bearing fruit on the second day, enough that he could sit up and join the conversation once more. Both he and Justin seemed blissfully ignorant of the dark acts necessary to secure the transport they now enjoyed. Would that the same could have been said for the rest, but a malaise had set in over the guards. The mood was dour, and the quiet suffering of his new friends even dampened Goku’s spirits. He wasn’t sure what had happened whilst he was unconscious, but he knew that he didn’t like it one bit.

The going was slow, and made worse by the tension in the air. At least the food was good, with the supplies stolen from the merchant lending more flavour to their meals than simple gruel and water had been able to achieve. Even that wasn’t enough to lift their spirits, though, as to those who knew where it came from, it tasted sour indeed.

And on the third day, whatever favours the corrupted world was doing for them came to an abrupt end.



There was a terrifying splintering sound and an almighty crash as the wagon bucked against a pothole and its axle was brutally torn asunder. The vehicle lurched to the side and the crates within toppled over, lids thrown open and glass shattering as valuables were thrown wildly around. Justin squealed in panic – gratifyingly, everyone else was startled but managed to hold on to their dignity.

“Is everyone okay?”

Gabriel pulled himself from the wreckage, and the rest of the party followed a few moments later. The horses looked at each other, as though sharing some private joke at the expense of their human masters.

“I think so!” Goku replied, rubbing his head as he looked over the mess. Once everyone was out, he reached down and grasped the bottom of the wagon, straining as he tried to lift it up – and was surprised to find that his strength had been reduced to the point where lifting a fully-loaded wagon by himself was… not actually feasible any longer!

“Hnngh!” After a few moments, Goku stopped straining, and laughed, “Ah, well, I guess if we want to fix it we’ll have to unload it first…”

“Don’t bother.”

Gabriel cast an appraising eye over the cart, and then shook his head. Walking around to the horses, he freed the animals from the wreckage.

“We don’t need it any more. You’re healed. We’ll return to going off-road. Justin, you take a horse, it’ll help speed us up.”

The astronomer clambered up into the saddle, and Goku looked up at the slate-grey sky. It really was very overcast. He could barely make out the sun at all. “Okay, shall I go up again or…?”

Gabriel was about to answer, when Justin suddenly toppled over from the saddle, landing with a heavy thump on the hard ground below. The bodyguard looked stunned, and was down next to his friend in an instant. “Justin? What’s the matter?”

The astronomer let out a low groan, and as Gabriel turned him over the source of the problem was revealed – a tiny feathered dart stuck into the side of Justin’s neck. Gabriel’s fingers closed around it and pulled it out. Behind him, Juliet gasped.

“Drow!”

That exclamation was all the warning they had before the Sisters were upon them, and everything went very wrong very quickly.



There were three of the women; slender elves with jet black skin and sharp, pointed facial features. Goku had rarely encountered anyone who could sneak up on him as easily as these three had, but it was as though they simply materialised out of the air; impressive, given the flat, featureless terrain surrounding them.

They were all dressed in shades of black and purple, their hair brilliant white in sharp contrast. Goku – and his companions – were taken by surprise and the Sisters moved amongst them as though they were statues. Goku did his best to distinguish between the three, trying to work out which he ought to focus on first.

One seemed to be wielding some sort of quarterstaff with a spider motif – in his mind, he put her down as the most likely to be a martial artist. The shortest of the three (though none of them were particularly tall; perhaps just over five feet with the tallest) was carrying a pair of wickedly-curved daggers dripping visibly with a clear liquid; poison, most likely. The third had produced a whip which, even now, was transforming into a snake! Okay, so all of them were clearly menacing in their own right and all of them needed to be dealt with if they were going to get through this.

And they weren’t going to make that easy.

The dagger-wielding drow had picked her target well, and drove both daggers deep up and under Gabriel’s arms, expertly finding the weak points in his armies. The Captain cried out in pain, and crumpled almost immediately, collapsing down to the cold earth to join his downed friend.

“GABRIEL!”

Juliet’s horrified cry was cut short by a blast of bright power from the quarterstaff wielder, which sent the poor woman sprawling to the floor. The snake-headed whip lashed out to bite through the protective covering of Fenchurch’s arm, and he grunted as poison began to course through his veins as well.

Goku again found himself wishing that his senses were as sharp as they usually were; the best he could do was hope that they were still breathing and hadn’t been killed immediately… he couldn’t tell how close the unfortunate souls were, but he was furious. These people weren’t mindless monsters, they were clearly alive, and moving with a calculated, hateful malice.

”Enough!”

Goku’s shout was coupled with a sudden flaring of his power, bright white light coursed around him. That did seem to give the drow momentary pause.

“Why are you doing this? What do you think you are doing?!”

The woman with the whip cast a glance to her sisters as Darius and Johan took up protective stances over the fallen bodies of Justin and Gabriel. Rosalia and Fenchurch – still nursing his arm – flanked Goku, trying to add what support they could and make ready for the inevitable counterattack.

“They are drow.” Fenchurch warned, with a low whisper. “They don’t need a reason to try and kill us.”

The woman with the whip allowed herself a small smile, and cracked her hissing weapon, which spat menacingly, its eyes on Goku. The spiky-haired warrior did his best to keep all three in his eye line – these people were fast!

“My name, male.” She spat, “Is Drisnolu Aleanviir, and you would do well to show me the proper respect I am due as a Priestess of Lolth.”

Goku’s boots dug into the earth and he raised his hands into his traditional fighting stance. “Sorry, I don’t have much respect for people who need to use sneak attacks.”

The woman with the daggers let out a high-pitched giggle, before a sharp look from both her sisters stifled that.

Drisnolu did her best to press on as though her sister hadn’t sounded like an over excitable schoolgirl.

“We are here to claim the Astronomer. He will tell us where to find the artefact, and the power of Menzoberranzan will rise!”

Goku risked a glance to his downed friends. Juliet wasn’t moving. Rosalia was murmuring a prayer of some sort over Gabriel’s body – not a good sign, as far as Goku was concerned.

“I don’t know what this Menzober-whatever is.” He said, “But if you want my friends, you’re going to have to go through me!”

Drisnolu smirked, and raised her free hand lazily. “Very well.” She said, “Schezalle. Redeem yourself for your indiscretion.”

The dagger-wielding woman sprang into action, but Goku was at least expecting it this time. He leapt into the air, heading straight up, and she stabbed her daggers where he had been just a split second earlier. She jumped after him, a cry of anger on her lips… but she could only jump; he could turn, and it was easy to twist around in the air and let her continue her ascent harmlessly.

“HYAH!”

Throwing his hand out, a bright ball of yellow energy slammed into the back of the startled Drow assassin, and – brittle as she was – she hit the ground like a rubber ball, bouncing once before rolling and stumbling back up to her feet.



The guards weren’t about to let Goku turn this into a three on one fight, though! The instant she landed, Fenchurch and Rosalia closed on Schezalle, shields and swords at the ready – though Fenchurch’s sword-arm was held low and shaky.

“Impressive.” Drisnolu conceded to the warrior floating in the air. “You are an outsider in this. I will give you one chance to leave now, with no hard feelings, or else…”

Behind them, Shezalle was having a much harder time fighting the two guards at once. She was at her best in quick bursts, and whilst they couldn’t touch her, she couldn’t find her way past their shields either. Steel rang against steel as the assassin did her best to fend off the guards.

Goku returned the woman’s smile – though his had no trace of bad feeling in it at all.

“What’s the matter?” He asked, “You don’t want to try and kill me anymore? You’re starting to sound nervous.”

The woman’s eyes narrowed, and she snapped her head to glare at the woman with the quarterstaff.

“What are you waiting for Phaetlara? Put an end to this at once!”

Now that he was looking more closely, she really did look like a martial artist. The other women were wearing leather or chainmail, heavy armour that would slow a martial artist down. She was wearing cloth robes. Goku hardened his stance, fully expecting an attack from some strange and unexpected direction – these people didn’t seem big on playing fair.

“Why dear sister.” Phaetlara murmured, “You normally get so angry if I cast so much as a simple cantrip without your express permission. But, very well, so be it.”

She kept murmuring, her voice a soft and sibilant whisper, and the quarterstaff in her hand glowed with a sickly green light. Goku’s jaw clenched tight as he prepared himself for the attack – perhaps some kind of beam? Maybe she was just incredibly powerful and that was why she had been holding back so far…

But with a sudden, sharp motion it wasn’t a beam that exploded from the tip of the staff, but instead a burst of thick, cloying white webbing. Goku let out a startled cry and tried to jet backwards, but the spread was too great – he was snared in the sticky strands, as were the injured Fenchurch and Rosalia, the webbing spread out over twenty feet. Shezalle was swift enough, perhaps well-versed enough in her sister’s machinations to be expecting it as well, that she was able to nimbly slip between the sticky strands as they stuck to the defenders.

Drisnolu stepped forwards to the edge of the webbed boundary, Goku caught on the very perimeter of it, and met the brash warrior’s eye. He struggled and strained against the webbing, but it was tough! Pinned down to the earth, much of his tactical advantage was now gone, and his strength wasn’t quite great enough to just tear the webs aside.

“Now then, male.” The Priestess sneered, “I think it is time you learned to respect your betters.”

The snake-headed whip lashed out, and bit deep into Goku’s shoulder. The poison was terrible, like acid injected directly into his veins. It burned its way through him, and he let out a scream of his own. That only seemed to entertain the Priestess more, and she drew back her whip, intending to deliver another punishing strike.

This time, Goku’s hand snapped upwards and grabbed the snake by the head. There was real anger in his eyes now, not just at the pain caused to him, but the underhanded methods they were trying to use to win!

The snake writhed and squirmed, trying to find its way out of Goku’s closed fist, and then… he closed it tighter. There was a sickening crunch, and the ‘whip’ went limp.

“Why you…!”

Drisnolu threw the useless weapon to the side and drew her backup – a long, sharp and silvered rapier. She was just about to strike again when Goku unleashed another bright yellow burst of light, and it was all she could do to roll away before it struck her down.

“Sister!” Shezalle chastised, “We don’t have long before the spell is broken. Stop wasting time and complete the mission!”

As much as she hated to agree with the assessment, Drisnolu couldn’t deny it was true. The assassin had drawn blood on each of her targets, but they were shallow wounds and it was impossible for her to target anything vital thanks to the armour and shields being brought to bear to cover each other.


Darius and Johan remained in guard formation over the two bodies, but now found themselves facing down both Drisnolu and Phaetlara. Goku and the others continued to struggle against the webbing, but there simply wasn’t enough time.

They were brave men, and when they calculated that the pair were close enough, the guards rushed forwards intent on doing what their allies had been unable to. However, just before the two men were on them, Drisnolu raised her hand.

“Xal nindolen rivvilse kampi'un lil' seke arlathil de' oloth!”

The darkness which flowed from around her was not merely the absence of light; it was something deeper. A level of sucking, clawing void brought from the hells of Lolth herself. The assassin let out another unbecoming burst of laughter, and danced backwards across the webbing, to stand atop the ruins of their wrecked wagon.

“You got off lucky.” She said to the assembled masses. “Next time, I won’t go so easy on you.”

She sheathed her daggers, and leapt backwards into the darkness.

When it cleared, the three drow were nowhere to be seen – and nor were Darius, Johan or – most importantly – Justin. Only Gabriel remained, his breathing coming in hard, laboured groans.

[Goku]

The webbing dissolved, and the group gathered around their fallen friends. Juliet was coming back around, but Gabriel was badly hurt – the combination of his grievous injuries and the poison now coursing through his veins would have overwhelmed him completely, were it not for Rosalia’s tender ministrations.

The woman sat with her head bowed, dark hair shrouding her features as she murmured prayer after frantic prayer. Both hands, now that death was no longer an immediate concern, clasped tight together around the holy symbol she ordinarily kept hidden beneath her armour. The yew tree cast in silver was clasped so tight that it bit into the soft flesh of her palms, and blood dripped in twisting rivulets down her hands, baptising the earth.

“Is she helping?” Goku murmured to Juliet, and she nodded numbly in return.

“I should have been ready.” She said, softly, “I know what those monsters are capable of, I should have been prepared for their magic.”

Goku’s hand clasped her shoulder. “That doesn’t matter.” He said, seriously. “All that matters now is getting our friends back. Where do you think they have taken them?”

Juliet looked up at the sky, and took a long, steadying breath.

“Well, we’re lucky.” She said, at last. “They won’t have been close enough to get him to Menzoberranzan already. There were only three of them, and trying to carry all those prisoners between them… they must be somewhere around here, probably preparing a summoning circle.”

Goku nodded in turn, “Okay, so, how long will that take?”

Juliet’s expression soured. “Ten minutes or so, I imagine. Maybe a little more if we’re lucky.”

“Okay then!” Goku declared, punching his hand into his open palm. “I’ll see if I can find them, when I do… you guys follow when Gabriel is back on his feet!”

Juliet blinked, “You’re going after them alone? Are you insane?! They’ll kill you!”

Goku shrugged his shoulders, “Yeah, maybe.” He said, “But we can’t let them get away, besides.” He smiled an easy smile, completely at odds with the dire situation now unfolding before them. “You’d be surprised what you can get done in even five minutes. Ten minutes? No problem!”



The Sisters had laid out their three captives. Now it was Phaetlara’s job to inscribe the ritual circle which would enable teleportation back to their tower in Menzobarrenzan. The three human men they had taken looked almost restful in their enforced slumber. It disgusted Drisnolu to see them so comfortable – but she could take solace in the fact that it would not be long before they were in more pleasing positions. Screaming, begging for their miserable lives to end.

The rocky outcropping was far from the perfect place to draw such a circle. From the regular, geometric shape of the rocks they had clearly once been shaped by mortal hands, but whatever purpose they have had originally they were now toppled over into a heap of broken and crushed stone, beaten and worn down by weather and time.

How temporary and impermanent the structures made by these pathetic humans were; even the shrines to their Gods were gone in the blink of an eye to the rightful rulers of the world.

“Will you be much longer?” Drisnolu snapped, folding her arms across her chest. “I am tired of being above ground. The air here is foul.”

Phaetlara spared her sister an indulgent look, smiling as she looked up from the intricate series of symbols she had been inscribing in the ground with her staff.

“It will take as long as it takes, Sister dearest.” She said, “Chiding me won’t make me go any faster.”

Drisnolu’s lip curled into a sneer at the blatant insubordination. “Do not think.” She said, “That just because I have lost my whip I am incapable of disciplining you, Phae.” Oh, how she loved the hatred in her sister’s eyes when she used the diminutive name. “I will just have to be less gentle than usual.”

Shezalle giggled behind her hand, and Drisnolu spat out a sharp hiss, a gesture, and a burst of red light forced the drow to sit up straight from the rock she had been lounging on as pain coursed through her being.

“And you!” Drisnolu snarled, “Control yourself. You are drow but you guffaw like some kind of court jester. I’ve had enough of it.”

Shezalle’s hatred was a far more dangerous thing than Phaetlara’s. Where the wizard would plot intricate schemes to which the Priestess was accustomed, Shezalle was prone to impulsive and sudden action. Still, even she was smart enough not to press the issue whilst Drisnolu was clearly in a foul mood. The loss of her whip had affected her more, perhaps, than she was willing to admit. The whip had been a good and loyal companion, especially compared to her fickle sisters. She was going to miss it dearly.

“Oh good, I found you.”

Goku’s voice rang out above the trio, and he looked down upon them with his arms folded over his chest. Floating down slowly towards the ground, the three drow found themselves staring at the saiyan warrior in absolute confusion. He’d taken them completely by surprise – why in Lolth’s name would he throw that away rather than trying to take one of them out quickly?!

“You’re not planning to run away before we can finish our fight, are you?” He continued, smiling what might be the most infuriating smile that Drisnolu had ever seen. “I was just getting warmed up!”

Drisnolu looked carefully around, but she could see no evidence of his allies.

“You’ve come alone?” She asked, “Are you suicidal, or just stupid? You don’t have a chance against all of us.”

“But, who says he has to fight all of us?”

Shezalle interrupted her sister, putting her hands behind her head and leaning back against the stones.

“This guy shouldn’t be any problem for a proper Priestess like you, right Drissy?~ Surely you aren’t worried about your ability to deal with one human male.”

The Priestess glowered at her rebellious sister, and sighed, drawing her rapier. “I see.” She said, “You’re going to be like that, are you? Then you had better hope that he DOES kill me, otherwise you will be paying for this for a very long time, Shezalle.”

She lifted her chin into the air, looking down her nose at Phaetlara.

“Sister. Bind this man so I can dispatch him quickly.”

The wizard continued to draw intricate designs in the floor with the tip of her staff, as though she hadn’t heard the Priestess’ demand.

“SISTER!”

Phaetlara looked up with a disinterested expression. “Oh, I’m sorry Sister.” She said, calmly. “You told me to get the circle up and running as quickly as possible, so, I’m going to concentrate on that.”

If looks could kill, Drisnolu would be an only child at this point, but alas, Lolth had not yet gifted her with that particular ability.



Goku laughed uncomfortably as the trio bickered amongst themselves about who was going to fight him - but hey, at least it was better than having to try and take all of them on at once, which was what he had been expecting. Stepping around to stand in front of him, the Priestess pointed her rapier right at him – the slender silver weapon gleaming bright in the shaded outcropping.

“You’re really prepared to risk your life going against us?” She demanded, “What stake do you have in this, outsider? Are you hoping the Kingdom will reward you in some way? We can match whatever offer they have made.”

Goku shrugged his shoulders, “I said I’d help him, I don’t need any other reason than that.”

Drisnolu snorted, and flicked her rapier up between the pair. “Hopelessly naïve.”

“I get that a lot.”

“And now you will die.”

“… That too, come to think of it.”

The Priestess lunged forwards, rapier leading the way as she attempted to vent her growing frustration with Goku’s nonchalance by carving out a chunk of his flesh.

There was a tendency in some circles to think of a rapier as being little more than a springy length of metal with a sharp tip. Goku didn’t have much experience fighting people who used such swords, but he knew immediately that this was not the case here. The long length was more like an extended razor blade, perhaps not the best for blocking other, heavier, blades… but an elegant weapon with which to open veins and cut tendons.

Once again, it was the drow woman’s speed which was her greatest advantage. She advanced on the saiyan warrior in a swirling storm of slashing blades, attempting to drive him back or force him to be cut. Goku knew all too well how great an advantage speed could be; bigger, stronger fighters tended to overestimate their ability to actually hit their enemies; the Priestess was likely to manage that, and even a thin cut could become debilitating if it was repeated enough times.

Stepping forward into the slicing blade, the Priestess drew blood almost instantaneously. The blade slashed across Goku’s forearm, and he hissed as he turned his shoulder into the assault. A second cut appeared over his thigh, one across his chest, and then his hand closed tight about her wrist. It wasn’t an exchange he had won easily, but all of a sudden the elegant and lightning-quick motions were rendered impossible.

“You dare—AUGH!”

Whatever further insults the drow was preparing to throw at him, Goku answered by smashing his fist directly into the woman’s nose. Blood spurted from the wound, and her eyes widened in shock and pain. The impact rang out, and she tried to wrench her arm free more desperately – Goku refused to let go.

Shezalle snickered behind the back of her hand, eyes sparkling with mirth at her sister’s pain.

A second and third punch followed, Goku intent on pressing his advantage until the Priestess’ head was ringing and her vision blurred with tears of pain. Before she could try and mount a counterattack, her wrist was released. She jerked it back with a hiss of triumph – and then Goku’s foot crashed powerfully into her stomach, sending her hurtling backwards to slam into Phaetlara and send the pair of them sprawling into the dirt.

There was a clatter of wood against the ground, and Goku saw his opportunity. Leaping into the air, he came down heavily on that strange quarterstaff the woman had been using to draw symbols across the ground. His foot smashed right through it, and the quarterstaff exploded into a shower of splinters and crackling arcane power.

“N-No! You fool! What have you done?!”

Phaetlara threw her sister off her, displaying far more strength than Goku would have thought her slender frame possessed. Her eyes were wide with shock, the stave she had put so much effort and power into, sundered in a moment! Who even did that? Who sundered magic items?! Didn’t he know he could have gotten so much more if he’d just taken it? And then she could have tried to get it back!

Instead, now, she was forced to watch as the last vestiges of all that power discharged harmlessly into the ground. Goku actually looked genuinely apologetic as he turned to face the two women again.

“Yeah, sorry, I know you weren’t really paying attention to the fight.” He said, “But I really couldn’t afford to let you kidnap my friends.”

Outsmarted? They’d been outsmarted by this man? He was just some knuckle-dragging male! Phaetlara’s eyes widened, and she let out what could only be described as an unearthly screech of rage – a horrifying amount of fury packed into that scream. Enough that Goku flinched backwards, raising his hands as though to placate her.

“H-Hey! If you didn’t want to lose that thing, you shouldn’t have been using it to try and hurt people!”

Ordinarily, Phaetlara would be struggling to channel her magical abilities without her stave of power – but the sheer frustration she felt dealing with this idiot seemed to bring out the best in her. She summoned up the eldritch words of power as though they were her mother tongue, and her hands snapped forwards to bring her will into force against the mundane world.

Lightning erupted from her outstretched fingers as she brought her hatred to bear against the impudent male who had dared to stand against her. Goku did what he could to steel himself against it, bringing both hands up and – well, it didn’t help all that much. He was picked up bodily by the lightning bolt and flung against the stone, a scream tearing from his lips as the electricity scorched into him, leaving a nice, Goku-shaped mark against the dark grey rock.

He hit the ground hard, and managed to get himself back up to his feet, although the effort of even doing that showed through clearly. His legs trembled and his body smoked in the aftermath of the attack.

“You were entertaining when you were harmless.” The Wizard hissed, “But now I think it is time you ceased interrupting.”

Again, she began chanting the words – and this time, rather than letting her continue unabated, Goku erupted from the ground, tearing towards the woman with all the speed that his beaten and battered body could give him. At least the lightning had cauterized the cuts that the rapier had opened! Those small silver linings were what made fights like this so exciting.

His heart was pounding in his chest, the full rush of battle filling his heart as he closed the distance. Lightning was starting to course between the dark elf’s fingers, but it was too late! He was on her, and his fist smashed powerfully into her gut, forcing the air to explode out of her lungs and disrupting the complicated spell.

A swinging kick swept her legs out from underneath her, and all of Phaetlara’s hatred couldn’t keep her focused any longer. The arcane link had been severed, and she spluttered, gasping and flopping like a fish on the riverbank as her body refused to take in air.

Then he felt something he wasn’t expecting – a gentle caress against his back. Goku’s brow furrowed, and he tried to turn – he had just enough time to catch a glimpse of the leader, Drisnolu, before his whole body was suffused with a bright red light. Goku had never experienced ‘negative energy’ before, but he could feel it as it tore into his very life essence, ripping him apart on a fundamental level.

His legs gave out, and he collapsed into the dirt, muscles trembling as he found himself incapacitated just as neatly as he had dealt with the wizard.

“Now, Shezalle.” The Priestess said, her voice once more calm, controlled, as smooth as silk. “Regain my favour. Cut this impudent wretch’s throat.”

The assassin sighed and hopped down from her perch, hands drawing her daggers in a practiced motion. “How disappointing.” She complained, as she sauntered towards the downed warrior. Her shadow fell across Goku’s features, and he grunted, his arms and legs feeling like lead as she grasped his spiky hair and drew his head back.

“I was expecting so much more from you, Outsider. Oh well~.”

[Goku]

Shezalle twirled her dagger, examining the exposed throat as an artist might inspect a canvas. Then, quite suddenly, she stumbled backwards. Her daggers dropped to the floor with a clatter, and she looked down at her breast at the long bolt protruding from it. The assassin’s eyes were wide, and her mouth opened and closed several times as though in protest before she collapsed to her knees, and then down to the cold earth.

Goku managed to turn around, barely, able to make out the approaching group.

Juliet lowered the crossbow, and smoothly slid another bolt into place as Gabriel marched forwards with sword and shield at the ready. His face was thunderous, and he was doing a good job of hiding the extent to which the brutal injuries the dying assassin had inflicted upon him.

With the element of surprise turned against them, Drisnolu felt a shiver of fear run down her spine. Her nose was broken and her head throbbed, Phaetlara’s stave was broken, probably a few ribs as well, and their most infuriating sister lay dying. The drow considered the various ways she could proceed, and decided on that most noble of dark elf traditions.

Springing from her position, the Priestess grasped her sister and hauled the slight, bleeding woman over her shoulders before continuing to flee. Phaetlara groaned at the sight, managing to get up to her knees.

“You, chose her over me?”

Phaetlara actually sounded reproachful – but she knew when she was bested. Gabriel advanced on her with a grim set to his jaw, the tip of his sword resting on her forehead.

“Any last words before I send you to your foul Goddess?”

The woman looked up and sighed, her shoulders slumping. It seemed there was no way out of this for her. She could only hope that her sisters would return and claim revenge.

“I suppose it wouldn’t help to say that I surrender?”

Gabriel drew his sword-arm back.

“Indeed. I will make it quick—“

But before he could bring the blade down, there was a sudden weight grasping at his elbow, pulling him back. “What the devil?!”

“Don’t!” Goku shouted, clinging to his ally as strongly as he could – which, under the circumstances, was really more relying on the dead weight of his body more than anything else. “Don’t kill her! We don’t, have to!”

Gabriel pulled away, and Goku collapsed back to the dirt, only to grasp the Captain’s ankles.

“If we let her go, she’ll only come back stronger.” He said, “And if we bring her with us, we’re inviting the viper into our beds!”

Goku coughed, the strain he’d put on his body really make it hard to object, but he couldn’t let his friend kill this woman when she was completely helpless! “Maybe.” He said, “Or maybe she’ll start, being a better person. Let her go. Please.”

Gabriel couldn’t hide the disdain in his eyes at the heartfelt plea for clemency from the injured warrior below him. Still. Goku had risked his life to save his charge, and if he hadn’t, there was a good chance that they’d never have found Justin in time.

“How about it?” He asked the drow, letting his sword drift away from her neck. “If I let you go, are you going to hunt us down?”

The woman did her best to look imperious, raising her head – but the effect was somewhat undermined by the breathy, wheezing nature of her voice she had been reduced to after the rib-shattering blow that Goku had landed.

“They just, abandoned me, to die.” She hissed, “I hate you all, but do you seriously, think that I am predisposed to helping them any longer?”

Gabriel snorted, and his blade clicked back into his scabbard. “A fair enough point I suppose.” He conceded, “Don’t give me cause to regret this.”

The rest of the guards had formed up by this stage, and were now engaged in the busywork – freeing their captured comrades from the rope binding them in place, rousing them with smelling salts and getting them back to their feet. Leaning down, Gabriel slid an arm beneath Goku’s own, and with an effort managed to get the burned and beaten warrior back up to his feet. “You know, if you keep this up.” Gabriel chided, “I may lose faith in your ability to help us after all.”



Repelling the drow attack was as good a cause for celebration as any of them were likely to find in the immediate future, and that night the party made full use of the excuse to eat, drink and make merry with the last of the supplies from the crippled caravan. Taking it any further seemed implausible, and after eating enough dried meat to reconstitute an entire cow, Goku seemed in much brighter spirits.

Justin, for his part, was incredibly grateful to his rescuers. The poor man had only a faint idea as to the events which had transpired following his slide into the land of unconsciousness, but the drug-induced hallucinations coupled with snatched fragments of conversation made for a terrifying picture of the future if his comrades had not come to his rescue.

Juliet and Gabriel spoke long into the night about the drow and what they should be wary for in future. It was a depressingly long list. Drow were cunning opponents, and neither of them truly believed that they had seen the last of their shadowy assailants. Juliet was even more critical of Goku’s decision to spare Phaetlara than Gabriel had been, but that criticism just seemed to flow off Goku without ever touching him.

“You’d be surprised.” Was all he said on the subject, “Some of the worst enemies I’ve ever had have become my closest allies. You have to believe in people.”

“People, perhaps.” Fenchurch muttered darkly, “But what about drow?”



It was surprising to find Goku meditating when the sun rose, but there he was. There was no birdsong to greet the dawn in this grey and depressing part of the Verse, but Goku was there to witness it regardless. Sat cross-legged, he had taken the time to repair his clothing of the damage it had sustained, and had been working through the night on doing the same for his scorched form.

Omnilium was still largely a mystery to Goku, but the use of the strange energy to soothe his own injuries was rapidly becoming something with which he was disturbingly familiar. With one of those healing tanks he’d used on Namek, he was pretty sure he’d have been healed in an hour or two at the most… but he could achieve a similar enough effect just by concentrating hard on it and willing himself to heal.

‘Similar enough’ for a certain value of similar, of course. He’d been meditating for eight hours continuously when the sun rose, and the party began to stir around him. The aches and pains still lingered, but at least it wasn’t a constant battle to keep from crying out in pain. More importantly, he could also feel his saiyan heritage kicking in – every fight made him stronger, and if there was one thing he was certain of, it was that they were a long way from finished, and he was going to need a lot more strength if he was going to make good on his promise to keep them all safe.

“Hey, Goku, do you think you’ll be up to walking today?”

Fenchurch asked the cheerful question, and clapped the saiyan on the shoulder. In order to answer him, Goku leapt up to his feet, stretching his arms above his head, “You know, I think I just might be able to manage it!” He grinned, “What do you say guys? Time to hit the road, right?!”

The enthusiasm did not last.

Getting the group back on track was a good feeling, but the joy of that feeling was eclipsed somewhat by the fact that as they wandered across the dark and depressing moors, the overwhelming sensation was on how much further they needed to go. Justin’s attempts to lighten the mood by pointing out various landmarks was not really helping matters at all.

“And over there is the field where The Battle of the Great Spear took place, claiming the lives of a thousand men!”

The astronomer’s chipper tone did nothing at all to lighten the grisly heritage of the place. Perhaps surprisingly, nor did time make the disturbing atmosphere which permeated the Moors any less horrifying. Day turned to night, and back again, as the group of intrepid travellers made great strides in their quest to make it to the Black Gate.

Eventually, the group came into sight of their eventual goal, and even Goku was forced to admit that it was a breath-taking sight. It rose above the horizon, a dark stain against muted skies. The circular gate structure had an undeniably foreboding air about it, spiked and menacing in the most unsubtle way imaginable. Even from this distance, the scale of the battle that had once taken place on this blighted terrain was obvious.

The party made camp on a hill overlooking the broken and blood-stained terrain before them. Goku’s irrepressible good nature had taken something of a hit, with the uncountable amount of corpses scattered across the landscape making his earlier insistence on saving one life seem somehow quaint and pointless.

“What happened here?”

It was a question that nobody was surprised Goku wanted to ask, but nobody was truly prepared to answer. Clustered around the campfire, silence reigned for a few long, uncomfortable moments. It was Justin who finally broke it, as though it were his duty to do so.

“A great evil was defeated. This is the price.”

“It must have been some evil…”

The astronomer sighed softly, and closed his eyes – summoning up the memory of that clash as though he had actually been there. A battle that had been a victory, by all accounts, but, could anything ever feel like success when it came at such a steep cost?

“If we hadn’t done it, the whole Omniverse would have been doomed.” Gabriel said, dourly. “There are some things in this world which you can’t hope will redeem themselves, Goku. The monsters down there are some of them. I daresay we’ll see more before this business is done.”



Nobody liked to sleep so close to the bodies of the dead. The battlefield was steeped in blood, and it was impossible to shake the feeling that the living were being watched by a restless population of spirits. It seemed somehow obscene to continue to draw breath in the presence of so many stilled hearts and unseeing eyes. Still, as creepy as the surroundings were, it was necessary for everyone to rest up if they were going to make it across the terrain in good time.

When dawn broke, it revealed the true scale of the battle to Goku’s horrified eyes. He was a man who knew violence; he’d been in more fights than he could count, heck, he’d even beaten up armies in his day! But the brutality of this conflict was etched so deeply into the land that one couldn’t help but be aware of it. As far as the eye could see, corpses rotted – left to fester and bloat, as even the hardiest of scavengers were reluctant to come out to such a blighted, corrupted landscape.

“Once we’ve made it across these fields.” Justin said to his comrades, “We should at least be beyond the reach of the drow. No reports have ever seen them come out this far from Darkshire before. So, we can relax on that score at least.”

“Perhaps.” Gabriel murmured, “Or perhaps there are reasons why they don’t come out this far. It would be foolish to assume we’re safe in a place with so much death.”

Goku had seen creatures similar to the demons before; the brightly-coloured Oni of Hell chief amongst them, but he had rarely seen monsters who had been so clearly twisted towards nothing but violence. Even the Oni were really more amiable than menacing, and these creatures looked as though they had been specifically crafted purely to kill. They were more like the servants that King Piccolo had used than anything else he’d seen … but bigger, stronger.

Man, he would have loved to have been here when this battle was taking place! The sheer scale of it must have really been something! But it seemed incredibly disrespectful that all these bodies were just left lying around, as though their sacrifice didn’t even merit a proper burial.

The trek across the battlefield was tense, Goku’s fist clenched tight as the injustice of it worried at him. When they finally made it across the other side, he rounded on Gabriel, and jabbed his finger at the man’s breastplate – causing the Captain to stumble to a halt, a shocked expression on his features.

“You. These were your people, weren’t they?”

Gabriel’s surprise didn’t abate in the least.

“In… in a manner of speaking, I suppose you could say that.”

Goku shook his head, “When we get back to … wherever it is you guys are from, you need to tell people about this! They need to put these poor people to rest!”

Gabriel’s expression softened, understanding the concern. “They already know, Goku.” He said, “If they could do anything about it, do you think we’d have left them to rot?”

If anything, Goku’s voice got louder – protesting. “This isn’t right! There has to be something!”

“How?” The Captain interrupted, forcefully – but not angrily. “You’ve seen how far this is from the entrance to this world. You’ve seen the kinds of monsters and resistance we’d face. How do you propose we get enough people here to bury all these bodies? And is it really that much better if we bury them here? In this hell? Don’t be so naïve. It’d take thousand of men to transport them back to their home, and we’d be attacked every step of the way!”

Goku stumbled back a pace, as though struck. On the far side of the gate, the ground was much marshier. His boot sunk into the earth with a wet, sucking noise.

“Then I’ll find a way.”

The Captain smiled a thin little smile, “Stubborn. But if you can, I know a lot of people will be very grateful. For now though, come on, we’ve got a star to capture.”

The party continued to trudge onwards, the marshland providing a sharp contrast to the hard-packed earth which had made their journey seem relatively easy to date. Goku found himself looking back at the thousands of dead for a few more seconds, before he turned and joined his erstwhile allies.

They had to have Dragon Balls around here somewhere, right?

[Goku]

The marshes were a new flavour of misery. There were, at last, signs of life – but universally it was life which the party wished was not present. Buzzing flies were a ubiquitous presence, crows flapped in the sky above or perched malevolently on trees which looked not only dead, but as though they had never been alive.

The fetid stench of the marshland made things even worse. The carrion fields had been bad, but somehow the swampy earth was even worse – a kind of ur-example of how unpleasant such places could be. The stress of the journey laid heavy on the shoulders of the group; none who had set off to recover the star piece were unaffected by it. Each had bled and suffered for the quest, and it still felt as though they had an impossible amount of ground still left to cover.

“You’re certain.” Fenchurch asked, as the sun descended and the party were once again forced to take shelter around a campfire’s flickering, inadequate glow. “That we are on the right path, yes? If we’ve come all this way for no reason…”

Merely verbalising the possibility of it earned Fenchurch a series of dark looks from his comrades. It was a thought which most of them – Goku perhaps the one exception – had considered. It was also a thought which none of them wanted to say aloud, for fear that it might become true for being spoken.

“I am certain.” Justin said, darkly. “We are on the right track. Three, perhaps four more days of travel and we’ll make it to the Star.”

Nobody commented further; nobody needed to. They were a tired, misbegotten lot, and the prospect of even one more day of travel was a horrible thought. Their boots were caked in mud, their exposed flesh bitten by the many buzzing insects which called this awful place their home. At least they could be comfortable in the knowledge that they were ahead of the competition. They had seen no evidence of other travellers out this far, and what kind of lunatic would come willingly into this marshland if they had any other alternative?

The marshes were no more regular than the ground around the Black Gate, and as they pressed onwards into the malevolent terrain it was not long before even that towering landmark was obscured by the oppressive landscape. The world was a grim and depressing place, and without even that to go off, it was easy to imagine that they had strayed from their path and lost their way.

“Goku.”

Justin paused in his step, and turned to face the martial artist.

“Uh, yeah? What’s up?”

“Can you still fly?”

Goku looked up. There were some trees around but, nothing he could see that might inhibit his ability to ascend into the air. “Sure, I don’t think that’s a problem.”

“Great.” The Astronomer reached into the inside of his outfit, and produced a small compass. Comparing it to the position of the sun for a moment, he then pointed off to the horizon.

“We should be close enough that you can see the landing site if you go straight up. Don’t, go towards it without the rest of us, just confirm that it is there, will you?”

“Oh! Sure!”

Bursting up into the sky, Goku was quietly relieved not to be stuck in the earth any more. That marsh was horrible, but he didn’t feel right wasting any energy after they’d been attacked so many times over the last few days.

At first, the scale of the marshland made Goku’s heart sink. It seemed to go on for miles upon miles, as far as he could see. Then he saw it – the scar on the landscape which must be what the Astronomer was looking for. The marsh simply buckled in on itself as though it had been struck by a powerful energy wave, and in the centre of it Goku thought he could just make out the faintest glimpse of purple light.

The shimmering hue brought a smile to his lips, and he punched the air. “Whoo-hoo! I can see it Justin!”

For the first time in far too long, a true, free smile broke on Justin’s face – soon mirrored by the rest of the party. Survival alone was a poor reason for celebration; but now, they were literally within sight of the purpose of this journey! Or at least, one member of the group was.

“Hey, hey! Are you sure you don’t want me to go and pick it up? It wouldn’t be any problem! I think I could make it in a few hours if I didn’t have to deal with all that mud!”

“No, Goku! The fragment is incredibly dangerous! We should approach it as a team, just in case… LOOK OUT!”

The cry of warning brought a frown to Goku’s features. “Just in case look out? Look out what?”

It was only the sheer quantity of surprise attacks over the past few days which gave Goku the wherewithal he needed. At the last possible moment he twisted around to the side, and was buffeted with the wind from the creature snatching at where he had been just a moment ago.

The harpy was a twisted wretch, half woman, half bird (although, it must be said, it seemed to favour the bird portion quite considerably). Razor-sharp talons lashed through the air, closing on nothing at all, and the monstrous beast threw her head back in a shrill cry of frustration.

Three more of the bird-like monsters followed, and Goku’s jaw clenched as they bore down on him. Not good! Flying backwards across the sky, the saiyan warrior called up his power, and tried to work out the best way to deal with these beasts.

All four were working as a cohesive unit now, the one who had initially led the attack circling back around to join the others as one attack wing. Individually, each was a little smaller than Goku, and they looked fragile – but there was malice in their hungry eyes, and a determination to rend the interloper to pieces.

Down below, there was a sudden flash of fire – roughly where Goku remembered the others being! And that solved his dilemma. He couldn’t hold back! He had to make sure the others were okay!

“HYAH!”

Throwing both hands forwards, bright yellow orbs streaked towards the harpies. If it were just one or two, they would probably have been fine; indeed, the first couple were easily dodged by the swirling mass of feathers and hatred…

But Goku didn’t stop. Throwing his hands forwards again and again, the air was filled with searing yellow energy, and the twisted monsters found themselves being shot straight out of the air, with nothing but a startled series of squawks to show for their efforts as they were sent tumbling down into the swampy marshland below.

“You better not be dead already!”



Gabriel had enough time to register Justin’s warning before the second prong of the attack was on them.

Skeletal horses, hooves suspended a few inches above the cloying terrain, came streaking towards the startled guards. Fenchurch and Darius stepped forwards to meet the charge, shields at the ready, and the first two skeletal horsemen were wrenched from their steeds as lances shattered against shields.

The steeds themselves carried on, however, and it was Juliet and Gabriel who stepped forth to deal with the infernal creatures. Blades were not, traditionally, the best weapon to bring to bear against such monsters – but brute force and zeal could make up for such inadequacies in a pinch, and they put both into sending the skeletal creatures back to the grave.

Unfortunately, the second wave were more successful. With their shields knocked briefly out of place, Fenchurch and Darius found themselves staring down the next three horsemen without a hope of being able to defend themselves adequately.

Fenchurch threw himself to the side, swearing viciously as a lance grazed across his back, catching painfully against the armour.

Darius was less lucky. Faced with two to deal with, he steeled himself as best he could, bracing against the impact, and stabbed out defiantly with his sword.

Both spears found their mark, piercing him in the chest – and the bodyguard’s eyes widened with pain. His sword had found its mark, however, and the lead skeletal horse was sent crashing to the earth as flame began to billow from between Darius’ lips.

“GET DOWN!”

Gabriel’s shout was coupled with him bodily throwing Justin to the floor, covering his friend as best he could against the sudden inferno unleashed from Darius’ spiteful ‘ace in the hole’. The steadfast guard had always said that if he was going to die, the least he could do is make sure that the bastards who took him down joined him on the journey.

There was a sick irony in the fact that the creatures who had finally managed it were long since dead themselves.

Fire erupted from the bodyguard, a brilliant cascading orange fire hot enough to burn the skeletal horsemen and their steeds to nothing at all. When it was over, only Darius’ blackened skeleton remained, dropping to the earth in a smouldering crater.

The bodyguards were horrified. Since Goku joined their group, they’d had many close calls – but they’d actually begun to think that they might be able to make it through this without losing any more of their number. Darius’ smoking bones were a stark reminder that their enemies cared not how much they had suffered; they would not be satisfied until it had taken everything they had to give, down to the last drop of blood.

Then soft applause broke the silence following the rush of flames.

“How delightful.” Came a cooing, amused voice. “And to think, I was certain that we’d seen all your surprises. Well, I suppose it would have been boring, otherwise.”



The man who emerged from the smoke was beautiful and pale, but it was a disturbing kind of beauty – unnatural in its perfection, and somehow dangerous. His green eyes would have looked more comfortable in a snake than a human face, his lips somehow too broad and his teeth too white.

He was dressed in dark robes, his stark black hair worn straight and long – a sharp contrast against the snow white shade of his skin. As he spoke, he spread his arms wide in an open gesture which completely failed to set even a single of the mortals looking at him at their ease.

“My Lord Dracula has asked that I step in at this point.” He said, relishing the name of his dark Lord. “You see, these are His lands, not yours, and whilst we are grateful to you for showing us the precise location of the star piece, it too belongs to Him.”
Poor Fenchurch had been too slow to fully shield himself from the fire, and though he would probably have recovered given time… the newcomer’s elegant, booted foot rested heavily on his throat. Wet, choking, gurgling noises issued from the bodyguard as he attempted to claw and shake the man from his position. He would have had more luck trying to claw his way through his own coffin.

Juliet had taken the opportunity whilst the man was speaking to carefully line up her shot, and the bolt cut through the air with a deadly whisper. It would surely have struck the man dead between the eyes, if he had not simply cocked his head to the side – the length of deadly metal shooting harmlessly past his ear.

“You talk too much.” She said, sliding another bolt into place. His lips curled in a smirk at the accusation, and dark power began to crackle across his fingertips.

“So I am told.” He agreed, sighing softly. “But you ought to enjoy these last few moments. Life is precious, and fleeting. As you are about to discover.”

Black light spilled from his fingertips, forming up into the shape of a leering skull. It was, however, the necromancer’s taste for the theatrical which gave Gabriel the time he needed to interpose himself between Juliet and the dark spell.

“ROSALIA!”

The woman was already incanting her prayer, and as Gabriel’s sword cut an arc through the air, it was suffused with a glittering light. Brilliant white in contrast to the darkness, Gabriel’s blade carved through the skeletal energy and sent it dissipating back to nothingness. This, at last, seemed to break the necromancer’s composure.

As did the second bolt, attempting to bury itself in his forehead. This time, his hand snatched up angrily to grasp the projectile from the air, and he snapped it between his fingers.

“Pitiful.” He murmured, “This is inevitable. The Lord of Death Himself has decreed it!”

At which point, Goku descended from above and kicked him forcefully upside the head.



Zahkrith, Archmage of Death, known in the western lands of his home as The Necromancer and amongst Dracula’s forces as one of the Vampire Lord’s most loyal servants was not, it must be said, accustomed to being kicked in the head.

All at once, he was forced to give up the position his boot had earned on the throat of his enemy, and he stumbled back a few paces – one hand raised to the weltering bruise now blossoming on the right side of his face.

“What, what is the meaning of this?!” He spluttered, furiously.

Goku helped Fenchurch back to his feet – the shaken warrior coughing and spluttering, before he deigned to answer the enraged man.

“You were hurting my friend.” He explained, as though the question weren’t entirely rhetorical. The saiyan’s eyes settled on the burned bones, and his jaw set. A serious expression drawn on his face as he straightened, turning to face the man.

“Now apologise.”

The Necromancer straightened, sneering, and brought his hands up in an intricate arrangement designed to focus his arcane power.

“You fool. I serve he who is beyond death! I apologise to no man!”

Goku spared a quick glance to his side, and was pleased to see that Gabriel was there, just as he had expected he would be.

“He looks strong.” Goku said, which earned a firm nod from Gabriel.

“I think we’ll need to work together this time.”

Goku smiled despite himself. “Okay.” He said, “Just try your best to keep up.”

“Who do you think you’re dealing with here?!” The Necromancer bellowed, his voice suddenly shrill. “You do not have time for a conversation!”

Bright red power leapt at his command, lancing towards the saiyan, and he was surprised once again. Goku didn’t try to block it or retreat; he rolled forwards underneath the burst of energy and came up towards the mage directly.

This time, Zahkrith was at least expecting his opponent to make a move, and his magically-hardened frame shuddered under the impact as Goku’s fist slammed powerfully into his outstretched hand. The archmage sneered in triumph and brought the other hand up, intending to simply drive the sharpened nails of his hand through the warrior’s heart…

Only to find that Gabriel was already on him, and that silvered sword flashed out to detach the raised hand at the wrist. Thick, clotted black blood spurted from the wound, and Zahkrith howled in shock and pain.

Where the blood landed, it did not simply pool as ordinary blood would – instead twisting to the Necromancer’s will into a series of slender tendrils which came around to wrap themselves about Gabriel’s sword-arm, wrenching it backwards painfully. He’d barely begun to struggle with it when a burst of bright yellow power slammed into the tendrils, burning through them and freeing his comrade.

“I think we won the first round.” Goku said, smirking, as Zahkrith readied himself. “How do you feel about the second?”

Gabriel chuckled softly, and that only enraged The Necromancer more – which was, of course, entirely the point. A spectral hand replaced the one which had been removed, and the pale man’s eyes burned with hatred as he summoned up the most potent weapon in his arsenal.

The word of power he spat at the pair of warriors would have spelled their certain doom if it worked as intended. In his rage-induced state, however, he was unable to focus the last syllable quite correctly. It sounded as though the air were being rent asunder, mortal ears were ill-equipped to make sense of the word, but its effect was immediately obvious.

Bright green fire erupted between the pair, and each was caught in it. Gabriel let out a shout of shock and surprise, and rolled to the ground, hoping that the marshy water would be able to put it out. Of course, it wouldn’t – Zahkrith’s lip curled in satisfaction at the foolish man’s desperate plight. The fire would consume them both and – wait a second, where was the other one?

Goku wrapped both arms around The Necromancer’s own, forcing him back and leaving his chest exposed.

“Juliet! Do it! Now!”

The Necromancer’s eyes widened with shock – he could feel the soulfire burning against his back, but it was the look of careful calculation in the woman’s eyes that sent a shiver of shock down his spine. All the strength in his form wasn’t enough to free him in time, no matter how much he struggled, and with a simple thunk the battle was over.

Zahkrith’s head snapped backwards, the bolt penetrated clean between the eyes, and the green fire sputtered out of existence. Goku let the body drop back to the ground, and his hand patted his own forehead just briefly. Then, he laughed.

Gabriel blinked in confusion. “Eh? Goku? What’s so funny?”

“Oh, nothing.” Goku replied. “Just, that went a LOT better than the last time I tried that trick.”

[Goku]

The battle had left all of them tired, even if they had escaped with comparatively mild injuries compared to the majority of their recent encounters. The party took the opportunity to pause, bury the dead – even the enemy got a few words murmured over their resting place – and make camp as comfortably as they could in the fetid, swampy marshland.

After he died, the strange magician’s corpse had lost much of its beauty; a withered husk twisted and curled in on itself as though bitter at the injustice of his own demise. After the last shovelful of earth swallowed up that hateful visage, the group felt as though they could at least catch their collective breath.

As the fire kicked up, Juliet sat down next to Goku. “I was surprised.” She said, “I thought you’d try to, I don’t know, knock him out or something. I didn’t think you’d let me take the shot.”

The spiky-haired man looked sidelong to her, and sighed, tucking his hands behind his head.

“If I thought I could have gotten away with it, sure!” He agreed, “But that guy was strong! If I’d hesitated for even a moment, he could have killed someone. Unfortunately, I’m just not strong enough to try and save everyone. And he made his choice.”

Gabriel settled down opposite the pair next to the fire, and stretched his arms over his head. “We made a good team.” He said, “Hopefully, that’ll be the end of it from here on out. I doubt Dracula has an infinite supply of people that strong to send after us.”

For once, Goku’s expression was the more serious of the pair, his features grim. “I don’t think so.” He replied, shaking his head, “It might not be him, but in my experience, the closer we get to the treasure, the more likely we are to find other people.”

Justin settled an old, battered tin kettle over the fire, and passed out cups with tea all ready to go when the water boiled. “You’re probably right.” He said, “So let’s try and make sure we’re up to strength for the last leg. It’d just be embarrassing to fall at the final hurdle.”

The pale sun started to dip down beneath the horizon, lighting the sky in shades of red and purple as the night closed in – and, wisely, the group allowed themselves to settle in until the dawn could break and light their path for them.



The Golden Flame were an adventuring company of some repute before they found themselves in the Omniverse some three months ago. Kunain Heldenhammer, the leader of the company and proud scion of the Heldenhammer Clan, had wasted no time in securing for himself a network of contacts across the different planes which made up this place. He had little patience, as he ever had done, for the intricate world of politics and intrigue into which it was so easy to be drawn. No, his contacts existed for one purpose and one purpose only: to make him rich.

This miserable quest had proven to be a disappointing one. The dwarf’s brilliant golden armour was now tarnished and encrusted with dirt. His thick, bushy black beard had taken an astounding amount of care and attention to maintain in this long and miserable journey. Ordinarily, he would not have a problem with the hardship of the road – but ordinarily, he would have been kept busy with all sorts of profitable fights! Aside from a few undead and other miscellaneous horrors, there had been nothing to test his skill and mettle against – and none of those encounters had brought with them the appropriate level of gold to which he was accustomed.

Ah well, with luck, the final payoff would be worth it. Anything which crashed mysteriously to the earth had to be worth investigating, and by all accounts the party which had set forth from Dalaran was an impressive one. Probably some sort of magical experiment gone awry. He certainly hoped so; prototype magical items were always worth their weight in gold, if not more!

“Hoi, Omion!” He barked, “Have you found the trail yet?”

The half-elf scout looked over his shoulder at his employer, and narrowed his eyes. “If I had found the trail.” He remarked, as calmly as he could, “I would certainly have mentioned it. Do you think I want to stay in this place any longer than I have to?”

“Well hurry it up.” Rosie interjected. The flame-haired Halfling was juggling balls of fire as she waited for further instruction. “I’m bored, and you know what happens when I get bored.”

Kunain could very well understand the irritation coming from his fellows, they were just as hungry for their share of the treasure as he was, and the pickings had been slim. The only one who didn’t seem to care at all was the newcomer – the one member of the Golden Flame who hadn’t been with them for years.

The figure was six and a half foot tall, broad-shouldered and armoured not in the gleaming gold or otherwise elaborate style which Kunain favoured, but instead a series of thick steel plates beneath a dark olive, hooded cape. His features remained shrouded in shadow, and though he could not see them right now, Kunain knew that there were a pair of wickedly sharp scimitars beneath the tall human’s cape.

“Nothing to say, eh, Acwulf?” The nominal leader of the company asked, nudging his newest employee with his elbow. “I swear, you stay so quiet all the time I wonder if you listen to a word we say. It’s as though you’re too busy daydreaming of the treasure to actually help us earn it!”

The statement had been intended as a joke. The withering look which the grizzled man gave the dwarf made it clear that it had not been taken as such.

“They went this way.” Kunain growled, and began to walk.

“O-Oh yes, of course!” Omion said hurriedly, “I can see it now, this way, come on everyone!”

Kunain shouldered his warhammer, and huffed. There was just something about that guy which gave him the willies.



The night closed in on the tiny camp. Fenchurch and Johan stood on guard over the rest of the party as they slept. Trying to keep their wits about them was a challenge on several levels. Firstly, of course, there was the ever-present threat of boredom. The darkness was near absolute, and although they were absolutely aware of the dangers that lurked out there, it was challenging to stare into the gloomy dark and maintain the focus they needed to be aware of any threats.

Then, there was the challenge posed by their own comrades. By now, they were all too well-versed in the rhythmic snoring that filled the camp. Most weren’t too bad, but Goku! That guy could snore fit to send a bear running, and although they were aware enough (now) to tell the difference between his snorting fits and imminent attack by rampaging monsters, the nocturnal noises issuing from the camp made it difficult to pick out any noises which might alert them to approaching trouble.

Finally, there was the actual physical demand placed on them. They had, just a few hours hence, lost another of their close friends on a mission which had claimed many of their lives already. This was something they were supposed to be ready for; they all knew when they took up the sword and the shield that they might not be returning. The Pale Moors were notorious for claiming the lives of even the most experienced soldiers. But still. They were exhausted. Physically, emotionally and spiritually. Fenchurch himself was already mildly burned, but had insisted that he sit up on watch before he rest – determined to prove that he was not going to be a burden on his fellows.

Any one of these factors would have provided an opportunity; all of them together was a deadly combination.

There was a whisper-soft noise from the other side of the camp, and Fenchurch looked over curiously.

“Johan? Are you okay?”

There was no reply, and that sent a tingle down Fenchurch’s spine. He readied his sword, drawing it in preparation just in case it was more than it seemed.

“Johan.” He repeated, more urgently. “Report.”

Fenchurch never saw the blade that claimed his life. It drew across his throat in an instant, and there was naught he could do but gurgle as blood filled his lungs. In desperation, he threw his shield at a tree stump. The almighty clatter was not the warning that they had agreed upon, but as darkness rushed up to swallow him, it was all he could give his friends before the enemy closed upon them.



Goku sprang to his feet, and it was fortunate that he did. A dagger plunged through the pillow where his head had been a moment earlier, the crazed clatter of metal on wood having brought him rocketing back to awareness. The drow looked startled at the sudden alertness of the warrior facing her, and wrenched her weapon free in a flurry of feathers.

“Aw man.” Goku sighed, “Now I’m going to have to make a new one of those too? You guys are the worst.”

The camp was a mad flurry of activity. Shadows danced around the campfire in the dim half-light, and trying to gauge who was friend and who was foe was just too much of a challenge in the gloom. All Goku could really do was fend off the ones attacking him.

They were quick – but not as quick as the last drow he had fought. The woman dashed forwards and struck out again with her dagger. Goku twisted to the side, swept her leg out from underneath her, and kicked her towards the fire. Another was on him in an instant, and this time he was forced backwards, ducking and diving as the dagger slashed out over and over to try and draw blood.

“Light!” Goku recognised Juliet’s voice shouting above the rising cacophony. “We need light!” Well, that was good, that meant she was still alive.

He also recognised the quiet murmuring which answered her. Prayer from Rosalia. He still didn’t really understand where the woman drew her power from, but that hardly mattered – it was all he could do right now to stay one step ahead of the blade being wielded by his adversary.

“HAH!”

A bright flash of yellow light did stun the drow – but the explosive force packed into the punch did a much better job of distracting her, as she was sent hurtling backwards by the sudden orb.

And then Rosalia’s voice raised up in a triumphant shout, and the camp was illuminated by glorious, brilliant white light. For the first time since he had come to this blighted place, Goku felt as though he were standing under a real midday sun – the purity of it was enough to make his soul sing.

It was also enough to draw startled, surprised squeals of pain from the drow, whose eyes were not ready for the sudden light, and who had been trying to take full advantage of their affinity for darkness. There were a lot of them. There had been thirteen of them at first – Goku was quietly pleased to note that four drow bodies lay sprawled around the camp in various states of consciousness and health. Their attackers had not found them as easy pickings as they had likely hoped.

He was less pleased to notice the two dead bodyguards. Each had been dispatched with a simple cut across the throat. If it hadn’t been for Fenchurch’s final act, they would probably all have met their ends in a similar fashion.

Gabriel and Juliet had taken up position around Justin, back to back over the cowering astronomer. Rosalia’s hands were clasped tight about her sword, her attention now back fully on the battle with the miracle fully summoned.

A sudden hiss caught Goku’s attention, and he raised his arm up in front of him just in time to catch the lashing whip. The serpent coiled around his forearm, viper-sharp fangs sunk deep into the soft flesh, and he let out a cry as he felt the burning venom start to work its way through his veins. He tried to pull free, and was surprised to find that the whip stayed firmly where it was.

“That won’t work this time.” Drisnolu sneered, “He’s stronger than my last. You won’t find it so easy to break him.”

Goku’s teeth ground together and he jerked his arm to the side, allowing him a good look at the woman. She was strong enough to bear the light unhindered, and did not seem at all concerned about the fate that had befallen her underlings.

“Where’s your sister?”

The question took the drow Priestess by surprise, although she tried to cover it. “Why do you care?” She asked, “As you can see, I brought other allies. I don’t need her to finish this.”

“I don’t care what you do!” Justin shouted, “I’ll never help you! I’d rather die!”

That drew Drisnolu’s lips from a sneer into a full-on smirk, her eyes narrowing as she looked past Goku and to the cowering astronomer.

“Good!” She spat, “Because I’m no longer here for any paltry magic. I’m here for revenge.”



On the outskirts of the marsh, the Golden Flame were suddenly treated to a sign. Where before they had been following a trail where they could find it, all at once, a point on the horizon lit up as though it were daytime. Kunain drew his hammer back to rest on his shoulder, the remains of an unfortunate crocodile still splattered gorily over its head.

“Rosie.” Kunain demanded, coming to an abrupt stop waist-deep in water. “You’re our magic expert, what do you make of that?”

The flame-haired woman narrowed her eyes – she herself hovered a half-inch above the surface of the water, refusing to allow it to stain her fine red boots, let alone touch the rest of her finery. “Well, it’s not arcane.” She said, “It probably means that they’re in trouble.”

The dwarf nodded, and turned to his half-elf companion. “Well, what are you waiting for? Lead the way!”

Omion looked reproachful, but did as he was told. “Stay close.” He advised, “I’ll find us somewhere we can get a better view, and decide how to approach.”

Carving a path through the swamp was not something it was possible to do quietly, or stealthily – at least, it was beyond the reach of the Golden Flame, even if the drow had somehow been able to manage it. But they did their best, following the path their ranger picked out for them… all except Acwulf, who seemed to pick his own path – parallel, but separate to that of his ‘allies’.

Kunain was disturbed to note that the warrior’s scimitars were now drawn, and glinted menacingly under the light of the full moon – as though eagerly capturing the reflected light and sharpening it along their edges.

Well, whatever. So long as he went in first, the lad could do what he liked. With a bit of luck, this other party would dispatch the creepy bastard and they’d all have a greater share of the eventual reward!

[Goku]

“You should have stayed with your sister.”

Goku’s reply brought an angry snarl to Drisnolu’s lips.

“You killed my sisters! One with your weapons, the other with your words!”

The saiyan couldn’t help but smile at that. “So she did decide to stop being evil. That’s great! She should have stayed with us!”

The Priestess wrenched her whip backwards, and lashed out with it a second time, intending to double up on the amount of venom now working its way through Goku’s veins. This worked to the saiyan’s advantage just fine, as he threw his palm out to meet the unfocused, rage-induced attack, and the poor snake closed its fangs tight into an energy ball instead, before it exploded into a gory mess.

“You should be more careful with those.” Goku said, chidingly. “They look expensive.”

”KILL THEM!

The second drow attack was far less successful than the first, mostly because the element of surprise was now proving to be firmly on the side of the defenders rather than their assailants. The melee resumed, and this time the bodyguards did what they did best; they closed ranks to make sure that no enemy could come close to touching their ward. It didn’t matter how swift and graceful the drow were, their elegant poisoned blades found nothing but firm shields and stoic resilience to match them.

With two more of their number dead, a cold hatred had settled into the hearts of the bodyguards. With Rosalia’s miracle burning in the sky above, there was nowhere for the drow to hide and no angle so unexpected as to catch the experienced warriors by surprise. Refocused in their efforts, they were cautious to a fault; striking only when there was no chance that it would break their shield wall. The fighting style was not flashy, it would not have won them accolades in the arena or moved the hearts of bards to sing… but it was effective, plain and simple.

It was the complete opposite of Goku, who threw himself into the battle as though he were born to it. Where they were the stolid rock face against which the drow struggled to find purchase, Goku was the crashing wave which smashed them to pieces against it. The lesser drow were not a great challenge, despite the increasingly-shrill threats being laden upon them by their Priestess. Before long, they lay in various states of injury and distress about the swamp.

The expression on Drisnolu’s face was one of the purest expressions of rage that Goku had ever seen. Goku paused to mop some sweat from his brow, and turned to face her. For some reason, the half-smile on his lips didn’t seem to improve her mood at all!

“Okay so, that was a fun warmup.” He said, “Are you ready to get serious now?”

Drisnolu let out a furious shriek, and brilliant purple light erupted about her – which seemed to really shock the bodyguards, although Goku took it in his stride.

“Is this some sort of game to you!?”

Goku scratched behind the back of his head, “Well, not really, but, this didn’t go so great for you last time, remember? No dirty tricks to save you now.”

The purple light grew more intense, power spilling out all around her as Drisnolu’s shriek entered whole new octaves – painful ones.

As they watched, the drow grew. Bones snapped and muscles stretched as she screamed, her body warping as new legs sprouted. Her armour buckled and broke, her clothing unable to contain the enormous arachnoid thorax bloating into existence to bear her above them.

Drisnolu would have hated this under any other circumstance. To have been judged so unworthy that she would be transformed from her pure drow state to a drider would have been too much to bear. But as the demonic power of her Goddess filled her, Drisnolu felt new strength entering limbs which would have been too spindly to contain it before.

When the transformation ended, the Priestess towered over her prey on six great legs, each wickedly sharp and yet somehow able to distribute her weight perfectly on the marshy terrain. Two more legs, sharper still, projected from the front, barbed and vicious. Her hair – freed from the intricate braiding that she had previously enjoyed – now blew behind her in a vivid, blinding white mane.

“Pitiful mortals!” She crowed, “Do you understand, now? You have offended me, and for that, you will die!”

Skittering forwards on all eight limbs, she was like some great, terrible spider-centaur, packing an incredible amount of momentum to slam bodily into her hated prey. Goku did what he could to ready himself for the impact, but even so it was impressive, and he was sent hurtling back through the air to crash against Gabriel’s shield.

“Do you want a hand, friend?”

Goku paused only to shake his head, “Not yet. You protect Justin. I’ll take care of her.”

“Take care of me?” Drisnolu crowed, “Look at you! You can scarcely take care of yourself!”

It was true, the earlier bite was causing Goku to favour his left hand a little more than he ordinarily would, and he could already feel the bruising begin to form from the impacts he’d received, but he was excited more than he was intimidated! Last time, her weakness had been obvious – she was speedy, but brittle. This time, he couldn’t immediately see it.

“We’ll see.”

Erupting back into the fray, Goku’s flight back across the swamp kicked up a trail of water droplets in his wake. Before they could touch the ground again, he drew his hand back and smashed his fist forward with all the strength he could muster.

The impact sent out a small shockwave of force, the drow’s front legs defending her as she brought the rapier down in answer. Goku barely managed to twist to the side, and then it was a flurry of complex blows and counter-blows, neither seeming to gain much ground on the other.

The Priestess let out a sharp hiss, and her hand was suddenly aglow with the same malevolent red energy which had almost claimed Goku’s life before.

“Wow!”

The woman’s hand passed harmlessly through where he had been mere moments before, his heart pounding as sweat poured down his features. This fight really was a lot more difficult than the last one, and Drisnolu sneered up at the fighter.

“What’s the matter?” She growled, “Afraid? Fight me properly!” Her hand, still glowing, motioned towards him, and Goku blinked as the realisation struck him. Hovering as he was in the air, the idea that she couldn’t follow him… well, he was so used to that being ubiquitous in his home, it really hadn’t occurred to him!

“Oh, I get it now!” He exclaimed, “THAT’S your weakness! You can’t fly!”

Drisnolu’s expression soured, even as Goku’s grew more triumphant.

“Okay!” He exclaimed, “Now I really do know how to beat you!”

Both hands cupped at his side, and he started to gather his power. Phew, this really was a lot more exhausting than it used to be – but he could afford to make sure it was big enough it wouldn’t miss, at least.

“KAAAAAAAAAA!”

Bright blue light began to emanate from between Goku’s hands, the martial artist suffused with a brilliant white energy as he poured himself into it.

“Don’t you know how spiders deal with flies?” The newly-minted Drider spat, not that Goku could really do anything about it right now – it took a lot of concentration to put his all into this technique, even if he’d done it a thousand times before.

Juliet was quicker on the uptake, and there was a startled gasp from the gathered bodyguards.

“MEEEEEE!”

“Goku! Look out!”

It was too late. The drider spat, and thick webbing shot out to ensnare the saiyan. Goku’s eyes widened, and he tried to brace himself as best he could. She was strong, though! Far too strong!

With a whip of her head, Goku found himself being dragged down to meet her, and that bright red hand was brought forward to slam into his gut. Again, the sensation of his body being thoroughly assaulted by the dark force filled him, and he let out a startled cry – he couldn’t dodge when he was bound so tightly, and his head was swimming. Damn, this could really – be the end! The woman’s forelegs coiled about him, and she raised her rapier up high, features set in a vicious snarl of triumph.

“Any last words before I send you to meet your maker?”

It was a risk, Goku knew that. It was one of the hardest techniques he had ever mastered, but he couldn’t find the power of the Super Saiyan – no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn’t feel it. That meant there was only one option. If he was going to break out of this.

He smiled, and coughed. “Just one.” He said, the woman’s blade hovering before his eyes as she prepared for the killing strike.

“Kaio-ken.”

Her brow furrowed, “Kaio-what?”

And then the world erupted into an inferno of bright scarlet power.

Goku’s body screamed at him for daring to do something so stupid. It felt as though he were tearing himself apart – because, really, that was exactly what he was doing. If the Omniverse was going to put limitations on his body, he was going to do everything he could to break through them! As it turned out, breaking through barriers placed on you by a God was incredibly painful.

The Kaio-ken was a heightened state of being. All at once, he could see every line in those cold, beautiful features. He could hear the thundering heartbeats of his allies close at hand. He could smell the festering swamp with incredible clarity, and taste the coppery blood in his own mouth.

In that moment of shock, however, the Drider’s grip loosened just a tiny amount – and he could feel that too. Goku flexed, pushing his arms out to either side and throwing the woman back. She was enormous; she had to weigh at least a ton, but she was sent stumbling by the power now erupting around Goku’s floating body.

Already, he could feel the limits there, burning at him. He couldn’t keep this up forever. He couldn’t keep this up for more than a few seconds. That meant he had to make this count.

She came back at him, determined not to let him do … whatever it was, he was now preparing to do. The rapier whistled through the air, determined to skewer the saiyan straight through the heart.

And Goku was simply not there any longer.

For a moment it seemed like he simply vanished, and even the bodyguards couldn’t see him. Goku’s power flared even more brilliantly as he struggled to concentrate it. For a moment, he had entertained the idea of trying to use the Kamehameha to finish her off – but right now, it felt like even the power needed to form a simple energy bullet would be far too much for him to cope with. He had to keep this as simple as he possibly could!

“HYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”

Propelling himself at the Drider’s back, Goku drove both feet down at the point where her torso met her new arachnoid enhancements. The impact drove her into the ground with a sound like a series of twigs being snapped all at once, her legs buckling and breaking under the impact. The Priestess’ eyes bulged, her spine faring no better than her legs had, and she could not even find the breath in her lungs to scream.

The bright fire which had surrounded him flickered and died out, and Goku hopped backwards to land in front of the crippled Priestess. Her lower body was now rendered entirely useless, her eyes closed in merciful unconsciousness.

“That… that was amazing.” Gabriel said, at Goku’s side. Now certain that the battle was over, he stood next to the saiyan to regard the downed drider. “Why didn’t you do that before?”

Goku laughed, and scratched behind the back of his head, shrugging a cheerful shrug. “Well, it isn’t like I was trying to hold back.” He said, “I wasn’t sure if it would work! If I mess it up, I’d just explode, so…”

Gabriel clapped Goku on the shoulder, and he might have imagined it, but it certainly looked like Goku flinched at the impact. The shorter man tried to hide it, though, and drew himself up.

“Okay!” He declared, “If you guys don’t mind… I think it is time we stopped taking it so easy!”

The bodyguards, to a man, stared at Goku as though he had completely lost his mind. Goku merely clapped his hands together and beamed from ear to ear.

“Time to break out the torches! We should get moving!”

“Oh, I see!” Gabriel said, “Every monster and predator in the swamp will have seen and heard that. Good thinking, Goku.”

That wasn’t, exactly, what he’d been thinking of – but as the torches were handed out anyway, Goku didn’t see the point in correcting his friend. The truth was, he was absolutely certain that the biggest threat would be the one that had managed to get ahead of them, rather than following in their footsteps… and now that he knew he could use the Kaio-ken, he was eager to see whether that was a threat he was ready to meet!

[Goku]

The indigo star piece lay buried deep in the earth. The crater it had made with its impact was deep and the ground around it burned clean. Perhaps in deference to the strange power held within the piece, the life of the swamp had not dared to encroach on it; nor had water soothed the scar in the terrain that its presence caused. There it remained, protected from discovery only by the fact of its incredible distance from any other worthwhile locations.

The torches provided flickering, inadequate light – but the indigo glow of the missing piece, radiating up through cracks in the earth, provided a serviceable guide. When the party finally emerged from the swamp, on the edges of the deep crater, Justin let out an excitable whoop. After so long, to see his work validated first hand – it made the trip completely worthwhile!

Immediately, he pushed forward, intent on scrambling his way down the crater and to the prize at the bottom. Instead, Gabriel’s hand grasped his shoulder, pulling him backwards.

“Let us go first. It might be dangerous.”

Justin hesitated, clearly wanting to go down and be the first to get his hands on the fruit of his labours… but he couldn’t deny that Gabriel had the more sensible notion.

Rosalia smiled, “I’ll stay here with you, boss.” She said to the disappointed astronomer, “The others can retrieve it and bring it back.”



Sliding down the side of the crater wasn’t exactly the most dignified way down for most of the party. Goku hovered a little, but stuck with the rest – which meant that Gabriel could see the disappointed expression on his face.

“What’s the matter?” He asked, “We’re almost done! Once we’ve got the star piece, we only have to worry about the journey back!”

Goku shrugged his shoulders, “Well, I guess I’m a little disappointed.”

“Disappointed?”

“I was hoping that we’d run into another strong guy! With the Dragon Balls, things usually got interesting when someone was really close to getting their wishes, so I thought…”

The ground began to shake, splitting and cracking all around the star piece. A bright lance of indigo power burst upwards, shooting into the sky where it was reflected by the clouds, and one enormous hand reached up from the growing fissure in the ground.

Each finger was the size of a man, and as the creature hauled itself from the ground, the sheer scale of the creature became horribly apparent. The flesh of the creature had been mummified by the swamp, pulled taut over ancient, grotesquely oversized bones.

Legend had it that some of the first beings to walk the world were the giants, sons and daughters of the titans, long before the gods overthrew that race and raised up humans in their place. Certainly, some of the giants were cunning or cowardly enough to flee, to find some quiet and forgotten corner of the world to live out the rest of their long, long lives. But most? Most were proud, and brave, and strong. They had fought. They had died. Their bodies left on fields of battle which then, as the ages turned, swallowed them whole. They might have laid there forever, if the indigo star piece hadn’t buried itself in their ancient grave instead.

The monstrous creature was thirty feet tall, clad in ancient armour which it had once worn into battle against the heavens. Even after so long, the breastplate still gleamed and the axe at its hip was still disturbingly sharp. The head of the axe was easily ten feet across, and as it hauled itself into the open air, milky eyes looked down on the gathered party. Bright indigo light played about its form, and it draw its axe out, hefting up above its withered, ancient head.

“You just had to jinx it, didn’t you?”

Gabriel’s sour expression did nothing to dim the excitement now spreading across Goku’s face. The enemy was huge! And there was no mistaking it as the reanimated monstrosity swung its axe around with a deep groan; this was not going to be a confusing or tactical battle, it was just, pure and simple, a matter of whether they could beat the hell out of it before it managed to land a good, solid blow on one of them!

The axe cleaved straight into the ground where the group had been, and even though they had all managed to scatter before it made impact, the shuddering shake still knocked most of them off their feet. Goku, flying as he was, merely let out a wild cry of excitement.

“Now this is more like it!” He declared, “Let’s fight!”

The bodyguards were less enthusiastic about the sudden new opponent – but they formed up, intending to follow in Goku’s wake… were it not for the fact that the broken and splintered ground was now cracked wide open, and from it, another pair of hands grasped the earth, a second looming, misshapen face pulling its way from its deserved grave and up into the world once more.

The Omniverse had a sick sense of humour. Of all the places that the star piece could have landed, to have found the resting place of not one but two of these colossal monstrosities?

Gabriel and the others began to hack at the titan as it emerged, and great ribbons of rotting flesh were carved off in awful, foul-smelling strips. The creature groaned and batted at them, as though trying to brush annoying insects from its path as it clawed its way back into reality.

Well, Gabriel thought, If he wanted a good fight so much, let him deal with that one on his own.



“Kamehameha!”

The exultant cry was coupled with a swift burst of light from his cupped palms, and the swinging axe glanced through it, knocked off balance just enough that it passed in a whisper over Goku’s head rather than cleaving him in two. The mummified corpse was huge, and powerful, but very, very slow, and without any real brains with which to direct its tactics – drawing its axe seemed to be about the best it was capable of. Goku was pleased to seize on the advantage that offered him. He was going to need to play it to the full!

His fists and feet thudded into the great colossus’ torso again and again as the monster tried to correct its swing. The impacts had no visible sign of hurting the creature, dead flesh proving quite apt at soaking up the rapidfire impacts that Goku could dish out. With another loud moan, the axe was raised overhead, and came down a second time intending to bisect Goku straight down the middle.

The axe lodged deep in the earth, and the slow monster groaned, steadying one boot against the ground as it strained, struggling to free the axe once more. All the while, Goku circled around it, punching and kicking as fast and as furious as he could.

The bodyguards were having a more successful time with their monster, having started at it the moment it appeared and refusing to let up. The sharpness of their blades helped them try to hack through the vital parts of the corpse, and one arm already hang limp at its side, vital tendons having been targeted and severed. The loss of its arm did not seem to bother the ancient warrior that greatly, however, and it still laid about itself with its cudgel in wide, sweeping motions which made it difficult to coordinate the attack.

The cudgel caught Gabriel square on the shield, and the warrior was sent hurtling backwards at the same moment as Goku’s adversary wrenched the axe free from the earth. Goku had been planning to evade the strike, but suddenly, the arc of the flying Captain meant that wasn’t an option! Dark eyes widened in shock, and he gritted his teeth. He hoped this worked!

Both hands came together in a sudden clap, and he caught the blade of the enormous axe between his hands. Dead flesh was forced to a sudden halt, and for a moment, even the zombie looked confused – rotten brow furrowing as it found itself halted by the saiyan’s hands. Bright white light poured out around Goku as he pushed himself against it, sweat bathing his features and – just as the axe began to touch him, Gabriel made an impact.

Literally.

The heavy armoured warrior slammed into Goku’s side, and both of them were sent hurtling to the ground, where they carved deep furrows into the dried, cracked earth. Goku’s gi was torn and ripped, Gabriel’s shield badly dented.

“Okay.” Gabriel said, picking himself up from the ground, “Any other secret techniques you’ve been holding back? Now would be a great time to show them.”

“I do have one idea. But I don’t think you’re going to like it.”

Both warriors were forced to jump backwards as the axe carved another path through the air, crossing the trenches they had made and carving more dirt into the air.

“Try me!”

Goku caught Gabriel’s eye, and smiled. “Okay then. I need you to keep them off me for as long as you can. About … twenty seconds, I think that’ll be enough. Whoa!”

Goku dived up into the air, and took a firm stance, feet rooting as though there were solid ground beneath his feet. Gabriel didn’t ask what else the saiyan had in mind – he didn’t have time, he needed to make sure that the giant didn’t notice, or care, that his primary quarry was now otherwise engaged.

There were fighters, Goku knew, who preferred to have a technique for every situation. A wide body of techniques allowed for one to have a specialised tool for the job. Goku wasn’t like that. Oh, sure, there were tricks in his repertoire that he would have liked to have access to… but he largely relied on one technique, he just learned to apply it in different ways. It had been with him since he was a boy.

“Kaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa…”

This time, his voice started low. Pooling his power, he was pulling out the vast majority of what he had left. He wasn’t going to be able to do this again; if this missed, he was going to have to hope that Gabriel had some tricks of his own in his bag. Right now, the Captain was barely able to prove an annoyance to the giant warrior, though. Diving, rolling, and performing acrobatics in that armour which no man should have been able to pull off… he was playing for time, and putting all his hopes in the strange outside who had been so instrumental in getting them this far.

Goku was determined not to let him down.

“Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!”

The bright indigo light illuminating the battle suddenly had a competitor in Goku. Bright blue energy spilled from between his fingers as he strained to compress the power. This was his own stupid fault, after all. If they’d just stopped and rested overnight, he’d probably be in a much better position for this fight! But as it was, his whole body trembled and shook under the stress of the energy, fingers locked dead in position.

“HAAAAAAAA! MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!”

Both giants stopped in their fight, milky white eyes slowly turning as they became aware of the miniature sun swirling into being between Goku’s palms. The bodyguards did their best to keep up the fight, stabbing at each as best they could.

Goku’s own eyes were wild, even ferocious, now! He had all these people relying on him! If this journey was to have any meaning at all, he couldn’t afford to let them down! He had to give it all he had! To prove he could overcome even this challenge, in this bizarre world!

“EVERYBODY! GET DOWN!”

Gabriel’s warning was timely, the bodyguards throwing themselves to the grounds a matter of seconds before Goku’s hands thrust forwards and his voice raised in a hoarse bellow, completing the incantation they had seen before – but taken to the limit of what he could achieve.

“HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

No interruption this time, no defence. The beam of energy was twenty feet wide, and even the axe that the giant braced against it was no defence. The hateful creature wailed as the beam collided forcefully with its chest, and it was knocked off its feet, carried backwards to crash bodily into the second enormous abomination.

The explosion was immense, completely engulfing both guardians of the star piece and swallowing them in heat and light. The ground shook, the shockwave enough to knock Rosalia and Justin – who had merely been watching until that moment – to the ground.

In the aftermath of it, Goku hit the ground hard, crouched and panting for breath. A second crater joined the first, with no sign at all of the ancient creatures that had risen from the ground… until a whizzing sound above caused all to look upwards.

And there was a heavy CHUNK as the axe-head, separated from the haft, buried itself next to the comparatively tiny chunk of glowing indigo material.

Finally, Justin stopped cowering behind his protector, peeking out into the suddenly-deeper hole.

“Is it… is it over?”

[Goku]

Goku’s fist punched deep into the earth, and when he dragged it back out of the ground, it was seized around a chunk of bright indigo material. The light spilling forth from the star piece was almost blinding at first, but the longer he held it the more manageable the glow became.

Just holding the celestial shard, it was impossible not to feel the radiant energy surging from it. The power of the Star Piece was incredible. Goku straightened, and a smile spread across his features. All at once, he understood why it was his companions had been so desperate to find this artefact. With the kind of power he could feel pouring from it, it could probably be used for all manner of evil purposes.

The rest of his companions gathered around him, and Goku lowered his hand, letting them see the shard nestled in the palm of his hand. The material felt warm to the touch, energy still visibly glowing from the Piece. Gabriel smiled, and shook his head in admiration.

“You know, I wasn’t sure we would actually manage it, for a minute there.”

Justin was even more overcome! Actual tears in his eyes as he looked upon the undeniable evidence that his theory was correct – the indigo shard of the Star had been recovered, from the deepest depths of the Pale Moors. At last, he could return to the safety of Dalaran and report back to his superiors.

“This is, incredible!” The Astronomer exclaimed, “To be emitting so much energy that it is given off in the visible spectrum at such a radiant level, it must be an item of awesome potency! Does it… does it feel safe?”

Goku frowned at the question, and held the shard up to his eyes, caught between two fingers, “I guess?” He said, “It feels kind of … tingly!”

The bodyguards and the Astronomer all shared an astounded look.

“T-Tingly?” Justin asked, “What do you mean, tingly?!”

Goku scratched behind the back of his head with his free hand. “Well, I mean it… tingles. I don’t really know how to explain it.” He shrugged his shoulders, and tossed the piece into the air, snatching out again with a swift movement, which caused his companions to flinch.

“Anyway! Do you want it?”

The saiyan warrior held out his hand towards Justin, and the Astronomer cocked his head to the side.

“You’d really give it up to me that easily? Don’t you at least want some sort of payment? We never would have gotten this far if you hadn’t been with us, you know. Most Primes would demand that they get to keep the artefact, or trade it … we never really talked about what you were hoping to get out of all this.”

Goku’s hand remained stretched out, and the saiyan chuckled, shaking his head. “I didn’t ask for anything because I didn’t need anything! I helped you because you guys looked like you needed the help! Go on, this is what you came here for, isn’t it?”

Justin looked to Gabriel, and the Captain gave a nearly-imperceptible nod. The Astronomer raised his hand, and placed it over Goku’s, before lowering the saiyan’s back down.

“In extraordinary circumstances.” Justin said, “We are … authorised, to give custodianship of items of power like this to individuals who we believe will protect and not misuse that power.”

Goku cocked his head to the side, as though he really did not understand what his friend was driving at. Justin continued with a sigh.

“You, Goku, we’d like to ask that you take this Star Piece and look after it. Do you understand?”

“Well that be very touching!” Boomed a voice at the lip of the crater, “But I’m afraid we’ll be taking that little magical doodad ourselves! Just place it on the ground and back away!”



The Golden Flame were gathered at last, and the treasure they wanted was right in their sights! Kunain stood towering over the bedraggled group from Dalaran, his armour once again polished to a bright and gleaming gold. Next to him, Rosie in her flame-haired glory had her palm outstretched towards them, ready to bake them all to cinders at his command, and Omion held his bow at the ready, an arrow pointed directly at the spiky-haired warrior’s head – he was the one holding the star piece after all.

Acwulf stood on the far side of the crater, features still shrouded in shadow. To the surprise of the gathered interlopers, though, the people in the crater didn’t look scared – more… tired.

“Hey, I’m really sorry.” The spiky-haired one said, looking right up at Kunain. “But, I’m reaaaaaaaally exhausted. Would you mind coming back later? I’d love to fight you guys tomorrow!”

Kunain spluttered, the proud dwarf huffing and puffing in indignation. “No I won’t come back later!” He shouted, “Give me what we came here for, or I’ll kill all of you right now!”

“No, you won’t.”

Acwulf’s voice was soft, and he let his cloak fall back to reveal the gleaming scimitars beneath – shining brilliant and eager for blood.

Kunain turned crimson, and for a moment it looked like his eyes might actually bulge from his skull. “What the hell do you think you are doing, Acwulf?! You are the youngest member of this party, you do NOT tell us what—“

“Shut up.”

By this point, Goku had tucked the star piece away inside his gi, and was now – along with the rest of his companions – watching the meltdown of the apparent ambushers with great interest.

“I didn’t come here to help you kill these people when they are too weak to defend themselves.” Acwulf said, “Besides. Every monster, bounty hunter and thief in the Pale Moors will be looking to gut whoever has that thing and take it to Dracula. I can’t allow that, either.”

Kunain raised his hammer, and Acwulf drew his scimitars in response.

“What’re you going to do, tough guy? Kill ME?” The dwarf roared, “I’ll mount your head above my wall!”

“If I have to.” The mysterious wanderer replied, calm as though he had not just been threatened by his erstwhile employer. “But I was thinking of a more sensible arrangement. We help these people get back to Darkshire, then we can fight for the shard.”

Gabriel’s eyebrow rose, “Travel with people who want to kill us? Why do you believe we’d allow that?”

“You don’t have a choice.” Acwulf said, bluntly. “Consider how many of your group have died to get you this far. Do you think it will be easier now that you’ve got what you came for?”

Goku laughed, “I guess he’s got us there!”



Goku was about the only person in either group who seemed cheerful in spite of the new arrangement. Going back the way they had come, it was indeed a brutal and tiring journey, one where they were often (grudgingly) grateful for the ‘assistance’ rendered by their would-be assailants. It seemed much quicker without the agents of the Drow harrying their footsteps, but even so, there were undead horrors a’plenty and they all had reason to be thankful for another four competent warriors to watch their backs – just as the Golden Flame relied on the Dalaran party to keep them safe through some of the more testing conflicts themselves.

When they did make it back to the comparative safety of Darkshire, however, things took a more serious turn.

Whatever camaraderie they had gained on the journey melted away in an instant. Justin found himself surrounded by his bodyguards again, and it was Acwulf – not Kunain – who stepped forward to block their path towards the gate.

“Do you really have to do this?” Justin asked, “You must realise that the safest place for the star piece is with us, anyone else would seek to abuse it.”

“I don’t care about that.” Acwulf replied, “I agreed to this mission because I heard about the warriors strong enough to take on the Drow and Dracula and come out in one piece. When I take your heads, I’ll be able to name my price.”

“Aye, and we don’t care about safety neither!” Kunain bellowed, “With the price we can fetch for that thing, we’ll live like kings! Rosie! Do it now!”

Of course, in the weeks of travel, the Dalaran party had plenty of time to prepare their own initiative in response, which is why when Kunain shouted Rosie’s name, Juliet hurled a flask of oil right at her. The woman had impressive command over heat and flames, they’d all seen that – she summoned it up in an instant, intending to incinerate her opponents…

… instead, the fireball engulfed the flask, which burst directly in front of her and the night was lit up with an agonised scream as flames licked into the air.

Acwulf moved swiftly to try and get the drop on Gabriel, but the Captain had his own target in mind – rushing towards Kunain, the dwarf’s mighty hammer clashed against his shield, and Goku came in from above to cut off the scimitar-wielding warrior’s advance. The scarred human twirled his weapons around one another.

“I know why you really decided not to ambush us.”

“Oh?” Asked the assassin, “Is that so?”

“Yup!” Goku declared, cheerful as ever. “You didn’t want to make it too easy! You wanted a clean fight, so you’d know if you really were better than us. I can understand that.”

“You’re half right.” Acwulf admitted, “I did want to fight you properly. But now I’ve seen your moves in action, there’s nothing left for you to surprise me with. This is already over.”

Goku smirked in response, and fell into his combat stance – crouched with both arms raised, eyes sparkling with amusement. “Don’t be so certain!”

Acwulf snarled with frustration and surged forwards, scimitars gleaming brilliantly as he advanced on the overconfident saiyan. What followed was an impressive ballet of death, Goku forced onto the defensive thanks to the increased reach and wickedly-curved steel with which he was assaulted. It was all he could do to twist and turn through the blades, his attempts to hit back turned aside with contemptuous ease.

The others were having markedly more success taking on their opponents. No sooner had Juliet’s crossbow trained on the half-elf Omion than the ranger had decided – having seen Rosie baked to a crisp – that discretion was the better part of valour, turned tail, and fled back towards Darkshire proper.

Kunain was hammering over and over at Gabriel, but the Guard Captain’s defence was proving more stubborn than steel, refusing to so much as bend or buckle in the face of the dwarf’s furious rage. By the same token, Juliet couldn’t find a clear shot as Gabriel allowed Kunain to tire himself out against his guard, but Kunain was failing to gain any ground.

A sudden, twisting pirouette caught Goku by surprise, and the saiyan stumbled back with a light scratch drawn across his chest. Blood blossomed to stain his gi, and the warrior cracked his neck.

“I know you’re holding back.” Kunain murmured, “Will you take me seriously, now?”

Goku shrugged his shoulders, “Well… okay, I guess!”

Leaping into the air, he was instantly taken out of arm’s reach of his opponent. It didn’t seem particularly fair, but, the scimitar-wielding warrior had been insistent! Bright white light exploded all around him as he called up his inner strength, a loud shout on his lips.

“HRRRRRRRRAAAAAGH!”

The light was dazzling, and Goku suddenly thrust both hands down towards Acwulf. The rain of bright yellow orbs was sudden, and explosive. The Kamehameha was far too focused for such a quick opponent, and the sword-wielding warrior was quick to respond – leaping upwards into the torrent of surging ki energy, his steel flashed out to deflect the attacks back at Goku – which was precisely what the martial artist had expected.

Three energy bullets whizzed in towards him, and three more shot from his palms to meet them. The resulting explosion filled the air with light and heat, and when it cleared, Acwulf was lunging through the air to try and slash those weapons right at neck height… where Goku had been, a split second earlier.

Both arms wrapped around the weaponmaster’s elbows, and Acwulf grunted as he found himself being bent backwards, arms wrenched painfully in Goku’s grip.

“You’re really good!” Goku explained, “But… you’re predictable. If you always go for the killing blow, I’m going to know where you’re coming from, and then…”

Suddenly, Goku and his quarry were rocketing back towards the ground. Acwulf had enough time to let out a shout, before he impacted painfully with the earth and the air was driven from his lungs. Both hands lost their grip on his weapons, and he rolled over, choking and coughing for breath.

Goku bent down, picked up the swords, and simply hurled them towards the horizon.

“Okay! I think we’re done here—oh wait, right.”



Kunain was having difficulty believing that any human could weather his assault as well as this one had. The idiot Rosie had burned herself alive, Omion had fled like the coward he was – showing his elvish ancestry in full force – but, how could he, Kunain Heldenhammer, be having anywhere near this much trouble with one man?!

“Kaioken.”

Ignoring the strange word from behind him, the dwarf resettled his grip, the dwarf shouted out loud and swung it up and around with all his might, only to find that the head of the hammer refused to budge as though it were stuck in deep earth.

“What in the devil?!”

Turning around, the spiky-haired warrior was wreathed in blood red fire, his eyes burning ferociously, and his hand settled easily on the head of his hammer. Try as he might, Kunain couldn’t bring it to budge even one inch!

“Let go this instant!” The dwarf raged, “I’ll break your skull for this, you—“

That was the moment that the pommel of Gabriel’s sword smashed right across his jaw, and darkness rushed up to swallow Kunain’s consciousness.



On the far side of the gate, Goku once again found himself in the strange, blank whiteness of the Nexus. He and his friends gathered together for one last time.

“Do you know where you’ll go next?” Justin asked.

Goku smiled easily, and shook his head. “Nope! No idea at all!” He said, cheerfully, “I’m willing to bet there’s a lot of places out there that could use my help. I figure I’ll just… find the next one.”

Gabriel shook the martial artist’s hand, and chuckled to himself. “Well, if you ever find yourself in Camelot, my friend, come and pay me a visit. I know that we’d be happy to have you.”

Goku nodded his head in turn, “I’ll be sure to do that!” He said, and his hand raised to touch the Star Piece where it rested comfortably inside his gi. “And if you ever need this back… well, you only have to ask!”

Rising up into the air, Goku took off at speed, leaving the Dalaran party behind.

“Do you think he even understands the importance of what he’s done?” Juliet murmured as she watched him go.

“Probably not.” Gabriel said, “Heroes rarely do.”