I watched with my lips pressed into a thin white line as the scout drew a small map into the sand while he gave me his report, and my heart sank more and more with each new detail he added.
“There’s roughly ten of the Naga coming this way,” the scout reported with a tight-lipped expression of his own. “They’re traveling fast, though.”
At the same time the scout was giving his report, Nameless was sending me a mental image as he flew over the heads of the Naga, and both reports told the same story.
Thank you, but stay out of sight, I said as clearly as I could to the iridescent dragon, and I could only hope he understood me as I turned my attention back to the scout.
Then I made a new save point before I said anything so I could return to this moment to change any immediate instructions necessary in future run throughs. The familiar tingling sensation that washed over me was comforting, but I quickly moved on to the matter at hand.
“Thank you,” I said, and I saluted the soldier before I turned to gaze out at the horizon in the direction of my enemy.
I’d dealt with the Naga before, so I knew how to kill them. They had human faces beneath their cobra-like scaled hoods, but scales ran down their spines and ended in a wicked spiked tail. They walked bipedally like a human, but that was where the similarities ended.
It was like they were made up of a combination of every type of snake, and I knew from experience they were capable of constricting themselves around an enemy to squeeze them to death. Their fangs and tails secreted a venomous substance, and they had the jaw strength of an anaconda.
They were nightmarish creatures straight out of children’s tales, and they elicited fear in the most stoic of the desert dwellers.
The rumors said they couldn’t be killed, but during my previous encounters with the lizard-men things, I’d learned that beheading and igniting them in magical flames seemed to do the trick, so I mentally prepared myself to use my fire magic.
The Kanuaki tribe usually took it upon themselves to hunt down the Naga, and they were the only desert dwellers who could wield magical flame swords capable of cutting through the impenetrable scales of the cobra-men things, so I turned to Mikino, Akina, and Rystuni with a grim look on my face.
“It looks like we have a fight on our hands,” I announced in their tongue. “Naga are approaching on the horizon.”
“How long do we have?” Akina’s steel-blue eyes narrowed as her gaze turned to the horizon. “How many?”
I opened my mouth to respond, but just then the rest of my companions crossed the distance to us, and I turned to greet the newcomers.
“Sir!” Jorgen saluted as he approached me. “What is your command?”
Eva, Caelia, and Zenda all flashed me curious looks from beside the hunter, and everyone stared at me expectantly.
“Are the reports true?” Corvis asked.
“What do your men say?” Mikino asked in a cautious tone.
“What is happening?”
“Everyone stay calm,” I instructed in my most authoritative voice. “We’ve dealt with the Naga before, and it’s nothing we can’t handle if we work together. I’ll make sure no one gets hurt, but I need you all to take a deep breath before we get all worked up over nothing.”
I repeated my words in the language of the Kanuaki tribe, and everyone’s shoulders relaxed slightly as they did as I instructed.
“Eva, Caelia, and Zenda, you should stay back here while we deal with the Naga.” I turned my attention to my three women, and I flashed them an apologetic smile. “With Eva and Caelia being pregnant, and Caelia and Zenda being less combat trained than the rest of us, my main focus is keeping you safe. I hope you understand.”
“I understand,” Eva sighed, but she gave me a disappointed look. “Once our child is born, though, I expect to be fighting by your side once more.”
“Thank you for keeping us safe, Bash,” Caelia said, and she reached across the distance between us to squeeze my hand as a soft smile played on her lips. “The Naga terrify me, but I believe in you.”
“I merely request permission to inspect the bodies for scientific research prior to disposal,” Zenda said in her scholarly voice. “There is still much we need to learn about these beasts if we are to maintain the upper hand.”
Then I turned to Jorgen and Corvis, and the two platoon leaders nodded to signal their readiness for my commands.
“The rest of us will form a circle around the Naga and slowly tighten the circumference until we have them surrounded.” I used my hands to gesture while I spoke to add emphasis and understanding to my words. “Once we’re all around them, they’ll likely go on the offensive, but I’ll need everyone to stay focused on keeping them together instead of trying to kill them all themselves. Leave that to me and the Kanuaki.”
Finally, I gave Mikino, Akina, and Rystuni my last round of instructions, and the fire mages listened eagerly as I described them beheading the Naga with their flame swords before I set all their bodies ablaze.
With that settled, we all remounted our horses and galloped across the desert to get into formation. The Naga were roughly a mile away from us according to the scout, so we arched out wide as we separated to get behind them and flank either side of their small herd.
The first cobra-man thing came into view less than fifteen minutes later, and I marveled at the speed at which the beasts could traverse the desert landscape. I pulled out one of my panabas as I
prepared a flame spell in my other hand, but I kept my thighs gripped tightly against Goliath to direct the stallion toward battle.
The Naga finally spotted us and paused their movement across the arid landscape, and the hisses and rattles echoing from the herd could be heard from a hundred feet away. I scanned the horizon in search of my companions, and I saw the circle formation tightening around the herd of Naga.
They were surrounded.
Mikino, Akina, Rystuni, and myself each took a quadrant to lead into battle, and when I saw each of them nod their heads in readiness, I called for the charge.
“Kill them!” I shouted as I twirled my panabas over my head and kicked my heels against Goliath’s flanks.
The white stallion reared, but I managed to keep my seat, and then we charged forward at full speed toward the snake-like things.
I swung my panabas at the closest Naga, and at the same time I saw flames bursting into existence all around me as the fire mages charged into battle from every direction.
I decapitated my target, and then I blasted a fireball at the corpse as it fell to the sand and began to spew out its toxic blood
from the gaping hole in its neck. The flames caught, and I turned my attention to the next Naga in my line of sight.
Chaos ensued.
The Naga shrieked as they realized they were now the hunted ones, and dead snake-men things quickly covered the ground beneath our horses’ hooves. A couple of the Naga tried to flee, but the rest of the soldiers being led by Jorgen and Corvis worked together to push them back into the circle of death created by the Kanuaki and me.
Victory was close.
Then Rystuni suddenly screamed out in pain and fell from his horse, and my head whipped around in the direction of the noise.
The Kanuaki tribesman toppled to the sand, and an invisible foe began to shred apart his flesh.
What the fuck.
Before I could cross the distance to fight off the invisible enemy attacking the young man, more cries of pain echoed through the air all around me. Everyone was being attacked by something I couldn’t see, and my heart pounded against my rib cage as I tried to figure out what to do next.
“Hiya!” I shouted as I drove my heels into Goliath’s side, and the warhorse charged toward Rystuni’s writhing form.
Then I spotted movement of something I couldn’t quite make out in my peripheral vision. It looked like a humanoid shape made entirely of mirrors, and the sunlight bounced off its hide to reflect straight into my eyes whenever I tried to look directly at it. More of the beasts rushed past my side view, and I realized with a heavy heart that we were outnumbered by nearly impossible to see foes.
This was a new kind of challenge altogether.
I reset to my save point to strategize with my team before I led them to their deaths, and the chime ringing in my ears was the most welcoming sound I’d heard for a while.
Chime.
The scout finished giving his report while Nameless flashed a mental image of the Naga through my mind, but I ignored the obvious threat and searched the telepathic communication for any signs of the invisible enemy.
It didn’t seem like Nameless could see them, either.
I thought over what I’d learned during my first attempt at eradicating the Naga, but one thing was for sure. They weren’t
alone. Whatever the creatures that attacked us were, they were obviously traveling with the cobra-men, and that was worrisome in and of itself.
Could the mysterious missing sorcerer be responsible for this?
“Akina,” I said as I crossed the distance to the Kanuaki warrior woman. “There’s something strange about to happen. Maybe you can help shed some light on the situation.”
“What is it?” She frowned.
“There’s a mysterious enemy on the horizon that I’ve never seen before,” I explained. “They were only visible in my peripheral vision, but even then I couldn’t get a good look at them because they reflected the sunlight off their bodies--”
“Mirago!” Akina gasped as all the color fled her face at once.
“Oh, Great One, what will we do? They are legends. It is said they’re immortal and impossible to kill. They are invisible to the naked eye…
They attack at high sun like mirages in the desert.”
She continued to ramble on about the nightmarish creatures we were about to face, and a knot formed in my stomach as I contemplated the challenge ahead of me. Yet another unkillable monster to best, but if anyone could do it, it was me.
I was the God of Time, and I had all the time in the world to figure this out.
“It’s going to be alright,” I promised the warrior woman. “I’ll find out how to kill them, I promise.”
“It’s impossible.” Akina shook her head in disbelief. “We are all doomed.”
“I doubt it.” I smirked. “You must have forgotten who you’re traveling with, because I’m not about to accept failure as an option.”
“If you say so.” Akina narrowed her metallic eyes at me, and she seemed to regain some of her stoic composure. “I’ve never heard of the Mirago in real life before, though… Only stories.”
“Well, they’re apparently as real as you and me,” I said. “They are deadly, too. I don’t want anyone getting themselves killed trying to be a hero, so I’ll figure out how to kill them on my own before I get the rest of you to come help me.”
“Do not face the Mirago alone!” Akina’s eyes widened in terror.
“They hunt in packs. There is never just one of them, and if you can’t see one, you can’t see twenty. There’s no way of knowing how many there truly are. We must flee, Bash.”
“The God of Time does not flee,” I pointed out in a calm voice.
“I swear to you, Akina, I will handle the Mirago. Nothing is unkillable except me.”
“Please come back alive,” Akina requested in a solemn tone.
“Your people and mine both need you still.”
“I swear.” I grinned, but I couldn’t resist the urge to sweep her into a tight embrace.
Akina stiffened against me for a moment before she relaxed into the hug, but then she squeezed me even tighter than I had her.
Then I stroked the back of her hair affectionately, and she let out a small sigh.
When I finally let her go, her neck and cheeks were both darkly flushed, and she refused to make eye contact with me.
Part of me wanted to kiss her, but it was time to face both the Naga and the Mirago.
Alone.
I reset to my save point again to erase the conversation with Akina since the God of Time would obviously already know what the Mirago were, and I started over from the moment the scout finished his report once more.
Chime.
Nameless shared the mental image as the chime rang in my ears, and I sent my gratitude through the bond between us and once more requested he stay out of sight.
“Jorgen, Corvis,” I said as I gestured for the two men to join me. “We face more than the Naga, but I want to handle it myself. I want the two of you to make sure no one follows me into battle. This is a fight for a god.”
“Yes, sir,” the two men said in unison with crisp salutes.
I was satisfied my orders would be followed, so I turned to my three women next. They deserved an explanation, but there was no way I was letting any of them anywhere near the Mirago.
“I have news.” I crossed the distance to my women, and I kissed them all on their foreheads before I flashed them a tight-lipped smile. “We face a challenging enemy. I need to handle it alone, or there will be casualties. The three of you need to stay here where you’ll be safe.”
“Are you sure?” Eva frowned. “I could still fight by your side, husband.”
“You have our little one to think of,” I pointed out as I laid a comforting hand over her growing stomach. “Please…”
“Alright, Bash,” my wife sighed, and she gave me a reluctant smile. “You’re right.”
“We will stay out of the way,” Caelia said with a firm nod that sent her curls dancing.
“What kind of enemy?” Zenda asked in a voice full of curiosity.
“I’ll bring you one of their corpses when I’m done with them,” I promised the scholar.
“Thank you.” Zenda grinned, and her sapphire eyes twinkled.
“Be safe, Bash. We still need you to lead us to the far side of the world.”
“I’m always safe,” I said, and I tweaked her nose before I turned back to Goliath.
I patted the warhorse on the neck, but in the end I decided to leave the stallion with Corvis, and I continued the rest of the way on foot. I’d have to kill all ten Naga alone before I could deal with the Mirago, but it would be a simple enough feat for the God of Time to accomplish.
I’d done it before, after all.
I stood at readiness with one of my panabas in hand, and a fireball ready to go in the other, but as soon as the Naga came into view, I stomped my foot to activate the fleetness ability of my dragon scale boots.
Then I dashed forward and annihilated the Naga like cows being herded to slaughter. I sliced my blade through their thick throats until heads toppled left and right, but I made sure to immediately douse them in fireballs to burn the bodies. If the bodies remained intact, they would soon grow another head and get back up to keep fighting. It was cool as fuck, but it was also a pain in the ass when I was trying to kill them.
Their thick blood oozed across the desert sand, but my nerves were on high-alert for the oncoming Mirago attack. I could sense their presence from the edge of my peripheral vision, but they merely sat back and watched me kill their colleagues.
Then I sensed movement racing across the desert toward my people.
“Fuck.” I cursed under my breath as I stomped my foot to activate my boots again, but I wasn’t as fast as the Mirago.
By the time I arrived back at the location where everyone was waiting for me, a massacre greeted me. Bloodied clothes were ripped off motionless bodies, and even my three lovely ladies had already met their ends on Mirago claws.
“What the fuck,” I breathed in utter astonishment.
I couldn’t believe how incredibly fast the nearly-invisible creatures were, but there was no way I was going to let them keep the upper hand. I would figure out how to stop the Mirago if it was the last thing I did, and I swallowed down the lump that rose in my throat as I scanned over the remains of my friends and lovers.
It had been a long time since I’d experienced such a loss, and I never wanted to experience it again.
Not if I could help it.
Chime.
The sight of the scout and the people wandering around our midday campsite were welcome to my grieving eyes, but I shook off the lingering feelings of sadness and focused on the current moment.
Everyone was alive, safe, and well.
The God of Time never suffered forever.
Once the scout and Nameless finished their reports, I snuck away from the camp to spy on the Naga and the Mirago. The more I could learn about the semi-invisible beasts, the better, but it would be hard to observe them if I couldn’t look directly at them.
I thought about everything Akina had said about them, and I wondered if the missing sorcerer was to blame for these new foes.
How were legends coming to life if not through some nefarious magic?
I climbed a dune and laid on my belly as soon as the Naga came into sight, but when I swept my head from side to side, I could see the shimmering humanoid forms flitting in between the cobra-men things.
They’d been there the whole time, guarding the Naga.
But why?
Were they after us or on their way to some other task?
There were still too many unanswered questions, namely how to kill these incredibly strong monsters, but I would find out the answers soon enough.
I always did.
There was nothing to do but try, so I jumped to my feet, stomped my boot, and charged forward into their midst. I went after the Mirago first, and I kept my head down and my eyes staring blankly ahead as I tried to place one against my blade. As I drew closer, I noticed the creatures might have been hard to see, but they did leave behind footprints in the shifting sands, so maybe I could use that to my advantage.
The Mirago seemed to sense my intent, and they all came at me at once.
Blindingly bright sunlight reflected off their shattered mirror-like skin, and I hissed in my breath as I kept my eyes focused on the sand at my feet. The smell of burning rubber permeated the desert air, and I frowned as I focused in on the scent. It grew stronger just as sand was kicked up into the air, and then suddenly, claws ripped into my chest and instantly tore through my dragon scale breastplate to my flesh below.
Pain screamed from every inch of my body as the Mirago descended upon me, and I swung out my panabas wildly as I shot fireballs at them with my left hand, but nothing seemed to stop the razor-sharp claws from ripping into me. My weapon collided with
something firm, but the blade merely bounced right back off like I’d struck a concrete wall.
Dagger-like claws drove into every crevice of my armor, and I screamed out loud in agony before I reset to my save point with my last clear thought.
Chime.
It was time to spam respawns so I could learn everything possible about this new opponent, and I gritted my teeth with determination as I developed my next plan.
This time, I went in with my panabas swinging at full speed, but that ended with me being surrounded, so I tried again.
Chime.
And again.
Chime.
And Again.
Chime.
The Mirago vastly outnumbered me, and a direct attack ended with me being surrounded during every attempt. I needed a different plan. It was unusual for me to feel so powerless, but I knew it would be that much sweeter of a victory when I finally won in the end.
I always won in the end.
What I needed was to isolate one of the creatures from the herd without alerting them to my presence, but it was almost impossible to sneak up on them.
I had the perfect item to use back in Bastianville, but the ring of invisibility I’d taken from the Arginold treasury was in my own safely guarded room full of treasure and loot.
Good thing it was just a blip away.
I reset once more and grabbed the Amulet of Zyne I always wore around my neck, and the glowing blue aura surrounded me as I fast traveled back to my home base to grab the ring.
Blip.
I rematerialized in the middle of the castle living room directly in front of Mahini, and I grinned triumphantly at my raven-haired wife.
“No time to talk, in the middle of a fight,” I said in a hurried voice. “I need the ring of invisibility we took from Arginold.”
“Got it.” Mahini spun on her heels and took off at a dead run toward our treasury room.
I had the ring in hand a moment later, and I pressed a quick kiss to my pregnant wife’s cheek before I grabbed the Amulet of
Zyne once more. It had taken no more than five minutes to retrieve the ring, but every moment was precious until I found out how to kill these creepy mirror dudes.
“Give Elissa and Sorena my love,” I instructed as I kissed Mahini goodbye. “I wish I had more time to spend with you, but you may not even remember this in the future.”
“We all miss you, but we know you’re taking good care of the Kotar Desert.” Mahini pushed me away with a mischievous smile.
“Go, Bash! Save my people from themselves. I’m sure they’re at each other’s throats again already.”
I chuckled and blew her a kiss as I backed away, but then I began the ritualistic movements required to start the fast-traveling process.
Blip.
I was back in the desert an instant later, and everyone stood staring at me in open curiosity.
“Sorry,” I said with a sheepish smile. I clasped my fist around the ring of invisibility, and I nodded to Jorgen and Corvis. “I needed something from the house.”
“You were only gone for a few moments,” the hunter said with an awed shake of his head. “But never mind that, what do we do about the Naga?”
“Never mind the Naga,” I said. “There’s a stronger, hard to see foe walking across the desert with them. I’m going to capture one.”
It was a good thing I was talking in the common tongue of Sorreyal because the three Kanuakians merely blinked at me in confusion as I spoke, but I knew they’d be terrified if they heard me discussing their childhood nightmares come to life.
“Capture… it?” Corvis frowned. “What is it?”
“It’s hard to explain,” I said. “Just trust me for now.”
“Yes, sir.” Both men nodded as they spoke in unison, and I made a mental note to compliment Riondale on their training. They had the balls to question their leader, but when it came down to it, they would always follow my commands.
“I’m going after them on my own,” I explained. “They’re too dangerous for anyone else to face. Even the Kanuaki.”
At the sound of their tribe’s name, the three Kanuakians perked up and began to cross the distance to me, and I sighed at the small error. I’d have to be more careful on my next run through, but I
didn’t want to have to redo the blip back to Bastianville, so I decided to give them an explanation as well.
“Heyo,” I said in their tongue. They always liked it when I spoke in their language. “I have a mission to accomplish real quick, but I need you to keep an eye on my people.”
“We heard the word Naga,” Akina said as she crossed her arms. “What’s going on?”
“It’s more than that,” I said with a shake of my head. “I’ll explain more later. For now, you’ll just have to trust me.”
While it would have been better to tell her about the Mirago, I didn’t want to waste the time explaining everything and helping her work through her fears when I was just going to reset back to my save point again later.
I was still in the experimentation phase, after all.
As I snuck toward the Naga and the Mirago, I thought about everything I’d learned about the mirror creatures so far. It seemed like they were made out of glass, or mirrors, but their skin was hard and armored. They emitted a distinct smell of burning rubber, but they moved so fast it was a challenge to trace their movements.
They left footprints, but with how fast they moved, and how easily the sands shifted, their trail could be hard to track in the heat of battle.
But with my amount of skill and a little bit of luck, I should be able to sneak up and grab one to experiment further on.
Everything had a weakness.
I walked in a broad circle to get around the back end of the herd of monsters, but I kept my gaze low to the ground as I searched for their forms. There was a Mirago tailing farther behind the rest of the group, and I slipped on the ring of invisibility before I went after it.
As I drew closer, I decided to experiment with the one I had in my peripheral vision. It would be hard to tackle something I couldn’t look directly at, but the sun was still high in the sky, so it reflected brightly off its glass hide.
I found this particular creature’s set of tracks before I closed my eyes and pinpointed the Mirago by its scent, and then I inched my way closer and closer to the smell of burning rubber it emitted.
When I was within a few feet of the mirror beast, I lunged forward and tackled it from behind.
It was like grappling with a spiked mace. The claws instantly began to slash out at me, but I wrapped my arms around the Mirago
tightly as I moved my legs to straddle it. It squirmed and twisted beneath me in an effort to stay on its back, but I wanted to get it into a prone position on its stomach.
I held on for dear life as I attempted to get a free hand, but it was like riding a bucking mechanical bull at a country bar. I kept my eyes squeezed tightly shut, so there was no way of knowing if the other Mirago would catch on soon, but I only needed a few seconds worth of time to figure out its weakness.
I finally got a free hand, and I threw spell after spell into the humanoid head shape beneath my fist. I tried fire first, but the creature’s flesh didn’t even heat up. Water merely washed off its impenetrable skin, but my vines did help me restrain the beast better.
They must be resistant to magic.
I drew my dagger, and I stabbed into the Mirago at various points in an effort to cause any sort of damage. The mirror creature thrashed within the confines of my vines, but I had it held tight for the moment, so I couldn’t resist the urge to squint my eyes open enough to try to see it.
The light reflected off every angle of its flesh, and it shone outward in bright, blinding rays.
Then I noticed something on the back of its neck.
The spot didn’t reflect the sunlight the same way. In fact, I could see my own image reflected in it like I was staring into the reflective surface of a faucet. The shape of my helmet was elongated to a comical degree, and I resisted the urge to bob my head up and down to play with the image before me.
Then I narrowed my eyes until they were nothing more than slits, and I leaned forward to get a closer view. It was like a blown glass tail protruding from the nape of the creature’s neck.
I struck the tail shape experimentally with the hilt of my dagger, and suddenly, the Mirago exploded into a million tiny shards like a mirror being struck with a baseball bat.
“Shit!” I cursed as the slivers split the light even more until the creature resembled a disco ball for a split second. Then the shards filtered down to rest against the sandy ground, and I had to hold my hands over my eyes to guard them against the brilliant flash.
It reminded me of a YouTube video I’d watched once back on Earth about Prince Rupert’s Drop. The glass droplet was indestructible if squeezed on the large end, but if pressure was applied to the tail, the whole thing exploded.
They had a weakness after all.
That was when I smelled the strongest scent of burning rubber I’d smelled yet, and I knew the other Mirago had somehow sensed their comrade’s demise. Maybe they let out some sort of sound I couldn’t hear, or had a telepathic link with each other. There were still so many mysteries surrounding the mirror creatures, but I’d solved one at least. Thanks to my small experiments, I knew it was possible to kill the Mirago, and that was all I needed before I could reset to end them once and for all.
The God of Death was ready for his turn.
Chime.