ALEXiThymiA: Chapter 41: The Return

<<<<AUTHOR'S NOTE: Take 2. Let's see if you agree that this is enough closure to end Book 1. Again, I plan on this being a series, so Book 2 will easily start next. But I will leave that all up to you.

>>>>

Chapter 41

The Return

Gina and Julie watched on in horror, as their friend exited the dungeon. Only then for her to reappear in a similar dungeon, with a dragon. This time the only difference was that she now squared off against a dirty orange colored dragon versus a black dragon with purple highlights.

“What? What just happened?” Gina asked.

She looked over to see that Julie for her part was also mystified by what had happened.

“I don’t know.” Julie replied.

They saw their friend, come so close to death, time and time again. Of course, Alexa survived, that was apparent. Or at least that is what they realized would happen, as the two continued to watch what was happening.

Then with a feral rage she charged forward again. This time just like the last she struck at the beast, but there was something different. Her attacks were, more powerful. She seemed to be more accurate with her strikes. This time the blades of glowing air that she fired at the beast had a physical component to them.

Boom!

A nova-flash of light struck and blinded the creature. Then this time just like before the girls watched as the sickening mounds of rotting flesh began to form from the orange dragon’s eyes.

Alexa didn’t stop there; she had apparently learned from her last attack and went in instantly to strike from the rear.

This time rather than striking out with her firsts, Alexa only climbed the beast’s back. She ran up its spine and back. Each touch seemed to have a crippling effect on the creature as it buckled and winced from the pain caused by her touch.

The more she touched the dragon, the more glowing green lights of life energy could be seen being sucked from the dragon and pulled into Alexa. The more energy that was pulled in this way, the brighter the smile on Alexa’s face grew.

Chills.

She was a monster, a monster capable of going toe to toe with a dragon.

Almost in unison the two friends turned to each other, then mouthed the word they were both thinking. The word that if it got out, could ruin their friendship with Alexa.

They mouthed the word, Necromancer.

Then nodding their head in agreement, they then turned their attention back to the screen. Back to Alexa who was still in the fight of her life. A fight where she was able to both corrupt the life energy of the dragon to produce giant tubers on the dragon’s body. Then to the way her body seemed to have a leeching effect to the powers of the dragon.

This time, much like the last, the dragon managed to get away. Disappearing into a cloud of white smoke.

Crumpling to the ground in exhaustion, Alexa fell down panting. Then with an angry fist she pounded the dirt beside her. Before standing up, going over to her backpack once again. Then the two watched as her smile from her battle lust slowly faded.

The minute the green glow of her body faded, she was back to being cold and emotionless Alexa. The change was unnerving. Was it all just a front? Did the green Necromantic energy do something to her? They didn’t know. But they stared on with horror and fascination.

This time just like the last, Alexa waited until she looked like she was fully recovered from her ordeal. Then she said a word that clearly rang with power. A word that sent shivers down Julie and Gina’s spine each time she spoke it.

“Stay.”

By her third time through she was so powerful that she managed to finally kill the dragon before it managed to flee.

After the third time, each time she entered she slaughtered the dragon. By the eighth time, the dragon started trying to run shortly after the initial salvo was delivered.

By the tenth time, the creatures had apparently heard of her exploits, that or they could see the malevolent aura that presided over her. As the tenth and eleventh dragons both just fled, no duel, no battle of attrition. They just took one look at her, and the power she all but seemed to radiate. Then they fled.

That was it, eleven times.

Alexa still tried to use the command, “stay,” but found herself teleported back to Bottomless Gorge.

The girls who had been watching her fixatedly on the screen suddenly jumped, when they felt her presence from behind.

“Uh, hi?” Gina said, turning around on the couch. Using the back of a couch as a shield to protect her from Alexa.

Alexa saw the two girls.

With her pack bond now active, she could feel the concerns that Julie had. Fears and concerns about, her.

Alexa’s eyes then flicked up to see the show the two had been watching. The screen still showed a now empty room where a mighty dragon once stood. A mighty dragon that fled at the very sight of a girl.

“You saw.” Alexa said, more than asked.

With that the two just nodded.

“Now you two are afraid of me?” Alexa asked.

With that question Gina’s eyes went wide. She was frightened, she had been terrified, both for Alexa. Then at what Alexa had turned into.

Alexa just nodded in slow understanding to herself. She knew this would happen. In the back of her mind she had expected something like this, though knowing what will happen and being prepared for its impact were two different things entirely. This hurt, even with her emotions numb, this hurt.

“Very well.” Alexa said, “don’t worry. I’ll find my own way back to campus.” Alexa said, as she made her way out the exit.

Click.

There was a faint feeling of static in Julie’s mind. She reached up to grab her head, but then panic set in.

Seeing her obvious distress Gina immediately asked. “What happened? Did she do something?”

Julie for her part was just silent as she took in deep ragged breaths to calm herself. Finally after a moment, she realized what had happened.

“My pack? I am no longer part of the pack?”

“What? She kicked you out? Can she do that?” Gina asked.

Julie for her part just shook her head. “She is alpha, which means she can disband at will. But this is something different. I don’t think she just ended the pack with me, but with everyone.”

There was a silence as the two thought about what happened.

Then finally Gina asked the question, “what do we do now?”

A pause.

Finally, Julie said, “we need to go talk to her.”

“Are you sure that is a good thing?”

“We need to, if we are ever going to save our friend.”

“Save her? Save her from what? She is a Necromancer.” Gina said, as she began get flustered. Her hands gesticulating wildly around her.

“We don’t know that for certain.”

“She stole powers from a dragon. Not one, but multiple.”

“Then, isn’t that even more reason to stop her.” Julie said, as she got up, quickly grabbed her gear. Then waited for Gina.

Gina for her part looked well and truly frightened. But after a second of thought, she got up grabbed her gear and went with Julie to the door that let them exit the dungeon.

When they exited, there was no sign of Alexa. She wasn’t near the exit, nor was she near Gina’s vehicle. Gina felt both relieved and sad at the thought. Also part of Gina realized this was likely the worst way things could have gone. Assuming Alexa was innocent, this would be terrible, but she had known that they knew, right? That was why she left?

Seeing Gina’s mental state, Julie answered her unspoken thoughts. “Alexa wanted to tell us something, something big. I got that much through our bond. That was part of why I wanted to come with her, to be here for her, when she told you. I don’t think it was that she was a Necromancer. In fact, that could easily have been something she got by surviving the battle with the first dragon. We saw that attack it did. That could have done something to Alexa.”

“Right, it could all just be a misunderstanding that our Alexa could easily strike down dragons.” Gina said, shifting her weight from side to side as she tried to understand what was happening. This was not going as she had planned at all.

Ping.

Ping.

Ping. Ping. Ping. Ping. Ping.

Suddenly Julie’s phone blew up with messages.

As Julie looked, most appeared to be the standard messages one would miss while going out of cell phone range and into a dungeon.

Then there were more incessant buzzings as her phone went off as real time texts were coming through.

Julie turned on her phone.

M: “What happened? Did Alexa die?”

K: “No, she just disbanded our pack.”

A: “But why?”

M: “I don’t know, lets ask Julie, she was there with her. Surely she would know?”

Ping. Ping. Ping. Ping.

With that, Julie’s personal message threads began blowing up as people tried to talk to her individually, each asking the same few questions. What happened? Is everything okay? Why did Alexa disband the pack?

J: “Stop. There was an incident in the dungeon.”

Ping. Ping. Ping.

A dozen texts all came in at once. All asking the same questions again.

J: “Stop. I don’t know everything, though I know Alexa had a near death experience. Then when she left the dungeon she was less than responsive.”

K: “OMG, we need to go there to rescue her now.”

J: “Not a good idea. Will explain everything in person.”

Power Off.

With that last message, Julie turned off the power of her phone, as she didn’t want to deal with the pack, well former pack’s text thread.

As soon as her phone was off, Julie looked up to see Gina.

“I don’t think she is a Necromancer. She can’t be, right?” Gina asked. Her eyes growing wide with concern, as she tried to understand what was happening.

“Look, I don’t know. Not really. But we need to do something.” Julie said. “Where do you think she would go?”

“Her parent’s?” Gina asked.

Julie thought about it, then nodded in agreement. “That is probably a good start. At least informing them of what happened might be a good start.”

Gina paused for a second, then realizing she had the only active phone made the call, as she began making the way to her sports car. After everything, her legs were trembling, and she needed to sit down.

“Hello?” Judy Thyme answered.

“Hello, Ms. Thyme. I think we need to talk about Alexa. We are on our way to you now.”

“Is everything okay?”

“I think it is best we talk about this in person.” Gina said, not knowing if she could do this over the phone. This was a lot, perhaps too much.

The two got into the car, then paused.

“You going to be okay?” Julie asked.

Tear.

A single tear fell down Julie’s cheek. “No, but that doesn’t matter right now, does it.”

With that Gina shifted the car into drive and then drove out of the little parking lot that housed the entrance to the Bottomless Gorge dungeon.

“Oh, I need to call Captain Johnston. I figure she should be there for this as well.” Julie said.

Gina just nodded.

Only after a second did she realize Julie was still avoiding her pack. So Gina decided to make the call from her dashboard.

“Siri call TSI Captain Johnston.”

“Calling Captain Rayne Johnston, TSI- Investigations lead.” The mechanical voice of Siri called out.

With that voice, a pang of regret coursed down Gina’s spine as the cold mechanical voice reminded her of Alexa.

“Just what exactly happened? What is that? How are there dragons in a dungeon?” Gina asked.

Julie paused, “I don’t know. But I hope we find out.”

Ring.

“Hello?” The voice of Captain Johnston came to life over the speakers.

“Hello Captain Johnston. This is Gina, Alexa’s… friend.” Gina said the last word, like it was a slug in her mouth that she had to swallow to continue.

“I know.” Captain Johnston said.

“Well you see. We were on a weekend long dungeon camping trip when something happened.”

“What?”

Crackle.

With that one word, a faint lighting bolt crackled to life in the sky. This was odd, as there were no clouds in the sky, and everything was supposed to be clear.

“I think it is best that we tell you in person. We are on our way to Alexa’s house now.” Gina said.

Crackle.

This time a slightly larger bolt of lightning appeared in the sky.

Deep breathing.

“I’ll see you there.”

Click.

With that, the phone call ended.

A strange silence filled the car, as Julie and Gina both looked to each other, wondering what would happen next.