A Lion's Way Home

5. Only Goodbye Knows

Leon snarled at the sight. That buttinsky Bright stood at the junction, with Leon's unzipped backpack leaning against the wall.

"Didn't I tell you to stay?" Leon pointed at his bag. "Also, why did you open it?"

Bright dug into the backpack and pulled a fabric pouch out of it.

My potion stash? Leon facepalmed. "Can't you see that I'm perfectly fine?"

Pouch between its jaws, Bright tilted its head and blinked.

"If it's about bringing some potion to a fight, I'm not doing it." Leon folded his arms over his chest. "Many foes, including constructs and undead, often try to steal them from you and use them to their advantage."

Bright walked towards Leon, its bushy tail swishing left and right.

"Yeah, I know some healing potion can harm undead, but mine contains too little Life magic to do so. You know, I can't resist buying discounted stuff." He waved his hand in a shooing gesture. "Leave now." Bright stood still, at which Leon kicked it lightly in the face. "Leave, I say!"

With its ears and tail drooping, Bright turned and limped away. Leon's chest ached as a lump formed in his throat; he'd never had a heart to hurt a wolf, even if it were just an act, but this had to be done. Bright getting hurt or dying would not only put him in a serious trouble with Mr. Marino, but also reopen the wound created by his big bro's death.

"I'll make sure that you aren't following me." Leon stomped the ground hard, and a metal wall erupted in front of him. It stopped right before hitting the ceiling and left behind a small gap.

Bright's howl sneaked through the crevice, causing Leon to wince. Damn. If he hadn't needed some air, he'd have sealed off the entrance completely.

Hearing even more howls, Leon stormed away from the metal wall. The swarm of lux inducens dispersed to avoid him. Not that he cared anyway, since nothing in this world could touch them. Heck, despite being fireballs, they didn't give off any heat.

An ornate carving of a thumbscrew compass - Aedifex's symbol - rested on the wall at the end of the hallway. Quite a small and straightforward dungeon, huh? Leon thought. The dungeons in city areas are never big anyway.

He stopped in front of the wall and held his spear two-handed. White radiance emanated from his body.

"Praised be Aedifex,
The almighty creator.
Open the final gate of thy dungeon
For thy faithful to slay the dungeon master!"

Leon spun his spear and drove the three-pronged head into the center of symbol. As the radiance around his body disappeared, the carved wall faded.

A rectangular chamber, illuminated by clusters of lux inducens on the walls, awaited in front of him. At the center of the room a skeleton stood, slightly taller than a grown-up man. Radiant green orbs rested in its eye sockets.

In its hands a bone greatsword rested, its blade resembling the vertebral column of a human. Unlike real spines, though, they were flat and the bony projections on each side looked more like oversized sawteeth.

A swordsman? How generic. Leon wondered what elemental magic this fiend wielded, though. Nobody could guess a fiend's element until it used magic once, but to Leon, it was never a big deal. His antimagic jacket would protect him, although it only covered his torso and arms.

Leon whistled at the skeleton. Clenching its jaws, the fiend charged with its sword raised overhead.

Got you!

Once the skeleton entered the hallway, Leon's flurry of jabbing spearhead stopped it in its tracks. At first the fiend could still dodge, but the lack of wiggle room eventually forced it to parry everything. Their weapons clashed several times before the wild claws ripped off its arms and the fiend lost its footing.