Anthropia 8

Story by Epic Quest on SoFurry

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#13 of Anthropia Adventures

Gelnon faces off with Relonk who turns out to be a bigger threat than he was lead to believe. Moon discovers his family has been "busy" while he's been away.


Gelnon focused his attention on the massive swords Ralonk was holding with one arm each. The blades were almost as long as he was tall, and 12 inches wide, they had to be immensely heavy, yet the bear showed no signs of stress.

Gelnon's family were completely unaware the bears had any magical talents. They had never showed any before now. Come to think of it, they barely made any public appearances, issuing their soldiers to do all the work.

"So, you thought you could just prance on down to the academy, learn some parlor tricks, then come back all high and mighty and usurp my clan?" Ralonk said, taking his time strolling over to the lion who was trying to break the spell that held him paralyzed. "I'm bigger than you, I'm stronger than you, and I'm more experienced than you. You should have stayed as a middle class, at least then your sister's wouldn't be sucking cocks over seas!" He fumed, raising his swords and preparing to strike.

There was only one spell Gelnon could invoke in this situation. He quickly enhaled, and against all his reflexes screaming him to hurry up, he slowly exhaled, a cloud of mist and frost creeping out from around him. His Chill of the Grave spell being invoked, and over the last 3 years, he had improved upon it. Within moments, the spell effected a 20 foot radius, twice the distance it had been when he first used it on Moon.

"Gah!" Ralonk moaned out as his body temperature plummeted, his teeth were chattering in seconds. Not only the distance, but also the potency of the spell itself had been increased. The temperature dropped 70 degrees, imparing Ralonk's ability to speak clearly.

Gelnon soon realized that Ralonk's concentration had been broken, freeing him from the spell, and he immediately snatched up his axe and rolled to his feet, snarling at the larger predator.

"Y-y-you l-lit-tt-ttle!" Ralonk stammered as Gelnon hefted his axe up. Ralonk was struggling to hold onto his blades, his muscles were growing numb.

"Oh, what's wrong, fat ass? Can't recite any magic words?" Gelnon taunted as he held his axe paralel in front of him and dragged a paw across its length, releasing an arc shaped Death Bolt. The green, flaming projectile lanced forth, but as it was about to impact Ralonk, the bear swung one of his swords to catch it. The projectile impacted the weapon, but had no effect, the sword wasn't made of organic tissue, and thus, Necromancy was powerless against it.

Ralonk tried to back step out of the spell's radius, he was half way inside its range, but Gelnon wans't going to let him go that easily. He held his axe above his head and began twirling it with one paw.

"Nether Fog!" He declared, as a cloud of purple fog began to billowing out from under his feet, filling the room. Ralonk was caught in its path and as the fog rolled over him, it was so dense, he was completely blinded, even holding his paws right up to his face, he was unable to see in front of him.

"I don't know what kind of magic you specialized in, Ralonk, but I most certainly did not learn mere parlor tricks!" Gelnon boasted. His voice sounded broken and echoed, as though coming from a great distance, Ralonk had to struggle to hear it.

"This is the fog of the netherrealm, which forsaken souls must navigate before reaching the city of the dead in Doquox's realm. Only souls who have come to terms with their passing are said to find the clear path." He explained before stepping towards Ralonk with his axe poised, "Unless, of course, you're the spell's caster, then you can see just fine!" he shouted.

Ralonk was looking in several directions, trying to find the source of the voice, unaware Gelnon was approaching directly infront of him. The cold hadn't left his body, so his previous spell must still have been in effect. The fog only covered a 10 foot radius, but he was so blind, he couldn't tell the difference.

"E-Er-Eri-" Ralonk tried to recite, but as he finished the word "Erriif" the word of power back fired from his failed pronounciation. Gelnon was just about to strike when Ralonk's muzzle burst into flames, and with a roar of pain, the flames seeped out to the rest of his body, slowly engufling him every time he exhaled to scream.

At last, he dropped his swords, trying to paw at his mouth and body, but the flames only spread to his arms. Evidently, he was trying to call out a powerful flame spell, but succeeded in lightning himself, rather than his intended target.

Gelnon leered at him as he began to slowly approach once more, hefting his axe with both paws over the kneeling, howling bear.

"More experienced, my ass." He muttered, and brought his axe down like an executioner, separating the bear's head from his shoulders. With his opponent slain, he dispelled his frost and fog spells and was about to claim victory before....

"Oh to answer your question, my specialty is illusion. Thank you so much for showing me some of your best tricks." Ralonk's voice declared, Gelnon turning to the sound of the voice in rage to see the bear was once again sitting in the throne with his paws clasped, staring cheerfuly at him. He turned to the supposed Relonk's corpse as it vanished from sight, as if it were a mirage.

"Now, if you don't mind," Relonk said, " Ehcysp Gnidner Nosirp" He recited, and with that, Gelnon's vision litterally shattered like broken glass, as he was engulfed in a world of swirling red mist. He felt weightless, floating in an empty void. The feeling was dizziating and as he felt his senses swirling, he numbly felt his body impact something hard, he presumed it was the floor.

"Psyche Rending Prison." Relonk gloated, "Packs quite a punch." He added, rising to his feet and approaching the young mage. This time, he didn't carry his swords. Instead, he grabbed the lion by the neck of his armor and hoisted him into the air with one arm, clutching his free paw into a first and slugged him hard in the face, releasing him as he did so, and sending the lion sliding across the ground, his armor making loud scraping sounds on the stone floor. Relonk sauntered up to him and stomped on his chest twice, before picking him up again.

"Its better when the meat's been tenderized." He threatened darkly, not that Gelnon was aware of it, judging by the blank expression on his face. His body felt completely empty. If he was moving his limbs, he was unaware of it, he felt so light, so dizzy, so hollow. He was barely even aware of the pain that was being inflicted upon him.

In the real world, however, Ralonk had succeeded in stripping off Gelnon's armor, leaving him naked in the throne room, held up by the mane with one paw as he dangled limply in the bear's grasp. With one final punch, he slammed his fist full force into the lion's stomach, dispelling the illusion just before doing so. Gelnon groaned in agony as the air was forced out of his lungs, and the pain from all his accumulated injuries sank in. Ralonk didn't release him that time, but rather allowed the force of the blow to send him swinging in mid air, tugging harshly on his mane, Gelnon was torn between wanting to grab for his scalp, or his stomach.

"So much for your great come back." Ralonk gloated, "Father is planning to have you for dinner, but I think it will be a lot more enjoyable to keep you constantly sedated as a slave. I've already made you my bitch." The bear laughed at his own joke before calling for the guards. Gelnon quickly heard the sound of boot steps and as Ralonk turned him to face the door, he realized in shock that there were no piles of bodies littering the halls, smearing the walls with blood. The guards were all alive and in one piece, they had allowed him to walk right into the throne room! How much power did Ralonk have to pull off an illusion of this scale?

"I want this slave given the family brand and his willpower broken, take him to the dungeon." Ralonk ordered. "Make sure he's heavily restrained, I don't want him twitching without my notice." He added.

"Y-you can't put m-mages in slavery." Gelnon wheezed, his injuries making it hard to speak. This earned him a punch to the spine from the bear, causing him to gasp and cough as he heard something pop.

"What mage?" Ralonk asked, "When I get done with you, your mind will be so clouded, you'll just be a senseless thrall like the rest of my slaves." He promised, before dropping him on the floor, the guards grabbing him by the shoulders and hauling him towards the dungeons.

As Gelnon was dragged away, one thought kept replaying over and over in his mind. Once he recovered his strength, he was going to decorate his family's estate with the bones and entrails of every soldier stationed here. The sound of the heavy doors slamming shut as he was dragged away limply in naked humiliation muffled the sadistic laughter of victory from Ralonk at his presumed triumph over the last of the lion family.


"Wait, wait, you're my sister?" Moon asked in surprise. The pair that had been coming from the opposite direction of the road was a young wolf bitch, and an older goat female. Upon seeing Moon, the young wolf seemed to immediately recognize him and introduce herself.

The young wolf was named Crescent, and apparently, she had just awakened her magical potential. She was conceived shortly after Moon left for the academy, his parents deciding to celebrate their good fortune. She was barely older than Moon was when he was first taken to the academy, an estimated 10 years old.

As Moon looked over his younger sibling for the first time, he realized getting a scope of her features was difficult. She robe she wore, was the same brown silk as usual, but it was quite baggy and loose, as though it were a size or two larger than her. Her arms were concealed inside the sleeves, it lightly pooled around her feet, and the hood kept sagging down over her eyes, so only her cute, little muzzle poked out from underneath. She was only 4'0 tall, and although the robe was flowing and difficult to make out her features, she couldn't have been more than 90 lbs. When the robe moved enough to reveal her features, her fur was shown to be a dusty red, similar to clay.

"Ah, I see you've graduated at last, sir Moon." The goat woman said, "Your sister has been told quite a lot about you, she practically idolizes you." she explained with a smile, causing the young wolf to giggle and wave at him.

"I'm Alnmia, her mentor, taking her to the academy for training." the goat introduced herself, as Moon looked her over. Anmia's fur was gray with age, and her robes, though sagging liek Crescent's, were not nearly as oversized. They lightly dragged across the ground as she walked, the sleeves concealed her arms unless she lifted them up, where it would then scrunch up at her forearms, and the hood sat correctly upon her forehead, without sagging down.

"She has displayed an affinity as a Gesturer, so we have to be careful about keeping her still and calm." Alnmia laughed, as Crescent, remembering her abilities, slowly put her hand down, as if she had been holding a live explosive.

"Well I'm glad to see our family's legacy is regaining its power." Moon congratulated, patting his sister on the head, who seemed to notice both Skalma and Jakra at this point, as she adjusted the hood out of the way.

"Ooh, are these your slaves?" She asked, "Daddy told me he gave you an otter, but I didn't know you had a rat too. Why don't they have a collar? Are you going to eat them? Did they try to run away? Can I help you punish them?" She listed off a stream of questions before Moon finally put a paw to her mouth to silence the energetic little wolf.

"This is Jakra, and she's not a slave anymore, she's a servant. My new body guard." Moon introduced his aquatic companion, "And this is Skalma, she's from the Bard's Guild." Moon introduced the rat. Crescent tilted her head at the mention of Jakra having been freed, and had an expression of exhasperation.

"You freed your slave?" She asked, "Why would you do that? Now you can't punish her if she disobeys you. That's no fun." Crescent chastised, getting a look of surprise from both Moon and Jakra as Alnmia cleared her throat.

"Ah yes, it seems most of her admiration for you is based on your magical talents, sir Moon." The goat explained, "She doesn't share your famous empathy towards us prey species." She added, before giving the young wolf a nudge on the rear with one hoofed paw, signalling they had to leave before things got out of hand.

"Oh well, good bye, brother, this little bitch is going to become a powerful mage like you, some day!" Crescent promised as she and her mentor followed down the road. Alnmia sighed and called back yet another explanation that Crescent referred to others by their technical terms. In her case, bitch, instead of girl.

Moon shook his head in disbelief as he and Jakra shared a glance, Skalma trying to decide whether to laugh, or begin asking questions as they continued on down the road.

"Cute pup." Skalma finally commented, "Shame she's another supremecist." she added, before finally realizing something she needed to ask. "Oh, you do realize as a Bard, I need to accompany adventurers, right?" She asked, "I won't graduate just hanging out at your place." She added.

Moon rubbed his muzzle in thought before nodding in agreement, "Actually, I think becoming adventurers for hire sounds pretty entertaining." he answered, "Maybe I'll pick up some new tricks on the job." He added. Jakra drew out and spun her daggers in her paws before sheathing them again, indicating she was agreeable to the suggestion, and Skalma smiled in confirmation as well.

"Think we'll get any other strong, male companions following us around?" Jakra asked, "Or do you plan to surround yourself with just girls and wait for them to go into heat?" She teased.

"Who says I have to wait." Moon teased right back, leering at the otter as he pulled her in close with a playful growl. Jakra let out a fake squeal of terror and playfully struggled in his grasp.

"No, I'm not a slave anymore!" She laughed, "Someone save me!" She added. Skalma pushed past the two, rolling her eyes, they still had ground to cover.

"Lets go, you pervs." She muttered, a tone indicating she knew they were just fooling around. The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful for another few hours, but eventually, the consequences of helping Skalma free herself caught up to them.

Moon and Jakra began to feel tired from their long trip, and hunger was setting in as their stomachs growled, they would need to feed soon, and that meant they would need meat. Skalma realized this and reflexively kept up her guard, still not completely trusting the two predators she had only met a few hours ago.

"Skalma, aren't rats supposed to be omnivores?" Moon asked, gently placing a paw on his stomach to try and silence another growl from it as he tried to think of what they could eat that wasn't rodent flavored.

"Sort of." Skalma replied, "We're more like scavengers, we'll eat what we can get. We usually don't hunt meat unless we're in large enough groups to overrun our prey." She explained, "Why do you ask?" She questioned curiously. Moon seemed to think for a moment before replying.

"Oh, well I didn't know if you ate meat or not, and I didn't want to offend you by hunting." Moon said, but when Skalma gave him a questioning look about his intention to find meat, he looked back at her, sighed, and explained.

"Look, I sympathize with weaker species, but I'm still a carnivore by nature. I have to eat meat." Moon said in an apologetic tone, "I don't do it for pleasure, I do it to survive." He said. Skalma looked to Jakra who nodded silently, and the rat nodded as well in understanding. With that, they decided to find themselves something to eat, and began to keep their senses sharpened for the sounds of anyone who could fill their bellies.