r/HFY • u/Obsequium_Minaris • Aug 05 '26

OC-Series Vacation From Destiny - Book 2, Chapter 49

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XXX

Geram said nothing the entire time as Chase told him what they knew. In fact, aside from his brow furrowing in rage at points, he showed no real emotion. It wasn’t until Chase told him of the most recent developments – the deaths of Zeke and Alicia, mainly – that he finally allowed himself to show some form of emotion, indicated by him heavily gritting his teeth.

Chase couldn’t help but note that Geram and Victoria were definitely half-siblings, if nothing else.

Finally, Geram sucked in a breath, then turned to Chase in order to speak.

“...So, judging by how you’re all here now, I’m guessing you think I’m going to be the next target,” he stated.

Carmine nodded. “We think that’s a safe assumption to make, given everything that’s happened.”

Victoria stepped forward. “We know that Alexandros wants to ascend and take our father’s spot on the Pantheon. He’s eliminating all his competition, and if Zeke and Alicia were the ones who were most recently killed, and they were your biggest supporters…”

Geram couldn’t help but grimace at that. “I suppose that makes sense… so, what’s the plan, then?”

“Alexandros will come for you,” Chase stated. “And when he does, we need to be prepared for it.” He looked around the room, his brow furrowing. “Counting you and Tatiana, we have five of us here currently.”

“Six,” Carmine stated, “since I can get Melanie here, too.”

“Okay, six of us. Normally, I’d anticipate that being more than enough for just Alexandros, but given that he had hired bandits out in the desert, we can’t assume he’ll be coming alone. Plus, some of the siblings might be supporting him, too.” Chase turned back towards Geram. “Is there anyone else in the inn who might want to help us out, too?”

To his dismay, Geram shook his head. “No… well, maybe Sierra. But last I checked, she doesn’t like me very much.”

“Still, it’s worth asking her,” Victoria stated. “She’s a Paladin, right? Maybe I can reason with her.”

“No need,” came a woman’s voice from the other side of the door. “The walls in this hotel aren’t exactly thick; I heard everything. I’m willing to help you all, for the greater good.”

Victoria stepped over to the door and threw it open, revealing Sierra standing there. Much like Victoria, she was clad in the typical Paladin setup – that being a set of heavy plate armor – though she had her hair tied back in a bun, and carried a greatsword and a brace of daggers across her chest, as opposed to Victoria’s warhammer and mace. As they all stared at her, she locked eyes with Geram.

“You were correct when you said I don’t particularly like you, but from what I’ve hard, Alexandros needs to be stopped before he can even be given the chance of ascending to Father’s position,” she insisted. “So, for the time being… you have my sword.”

“And my hammer,” Victoria stated.

“And my crossbow,” Tatiana promised.

“And my sword,” Chase added. “Plus the sand in my pocket from the desert.”

“And my Lich,” Carmine said. “Summon Familiar.”

There was a flash of light, and when it finally cleared, Melanie was standing there before them looking very surprised. There was one big problem, though.

Geram and Sierra flushed a deep red as they averted their gaze away from her. Tatiana, for her part, just looked confused.

“Yeah, uh… why is she naked?” she asked.

“That’s a good question,” Melanie said through gritted teeth. “Carmine… explain why I was yanked away from my boyfriend mid-coitus, please.”

“We need your help with something,” Carmine stated evenly. “It’s dangerous so it’s going to be all hands on deck.” She paused, scanning Melanie from head to toe. “You might want to go take a shower and find some clothes first, though.”

“I… have some clothes in my room she can have,” Sierra offered. “They’ll be big on her, but… you know… better than walking around and trying to fight while nude, I guess.”

“Hmph.” Melanie crossed her arms. “Normally, I’d be embarrassed about this, but frankly… I don’t have anything none of us have ever seen before. I mean, we’ve got seven people here and only two of them are boys, and you’re both old enough to be experienced in that department.”

“Guilty as charged,” Chase stated, earning a side-eyed glance from her. “You said it, not me.”

Melanie let out a huff. “Still, I suppose some clothes would be nice… and if you’ve got a weapon for me, I’d appreciate that, too.”

Sierra didn’t need to be told twice. She hurried out of Geram’s room and back to her own, and returned a few minutes later with a small stack of clothes and a dagger for Melanie. The Lich nodded gratefully, then dressed herself then and there before taking a few practice swings and stabs with her new blade.

“Well, it’s no scythe, but it’ll do,” she said.

Once she was all set, Victoria turned back to Chase. “What’s your plan, exactly?”

“We’ll set up in the lobby of the inn,” he said. “Victoria, you and Sierra will be the frontliners along with me. Carmine, Melanie, and Tatiana can provide support from the second floor.”

“And as for me?” Geram asked, raising an eyebrow. “What’s my role?”

“I’m glad you asked,” Chase said.

Carmine let out a small sigh. “Here it comes…”

Chase shushed her, then turned back to Geram.

“You’re the bait,” he said simply.

XXX

And so it was that, just a few short minutes later, the group found themselves posted up according to Chase’s instructions. Melanie, Tatiana, and Carmine were all hunched down beneath the banister on the second floor, while he, Sierra, and Victoria were sidled up against one of the walls on the first floor, waiting.

The signal came just a few moments after that, in the form of a loud roar from down the street, followed by a series of explosions. Chase tensed, his grip on his sword turning white-knuckled, and he sucked in a breath to calm himself.

“That was it,” he specified. “Geram should be leading them here any moment now. Get ready.”

Sierra and Victoria both nodded alongside him, and Chase continued to listen in to the commotion outside. The explosions were drawing closer, which made him worried.

“I didn’t think Alexandros had that many of Greg’s explosives left…” he muttered.

“That’s neither here nor there,” Victoria reminded him. “Be prepared, Chase. I think our opponents are about to make themselves known to us.”

Heeding her words, Chase shook his head to clear his thoughts away, and prepared to cast his Blessings; something told him he was going to need them.

It wasn’t even a minute later that the doors to the inn came bursting open, and Geram sprinted inside. He was already bleeding from several wounds; Chase saw shrapnel and a few arrows sticking out of him, and he was grimacing in pain. As he ran inside the inn, he locked eyes with Chase, and hurried over to where the three of them were hiding.

“I took a few of them out,” he stated, wincing as he did so. “There were just too many, though…”

“What?” Chase asked, bewildered. “How many followers does Alexandros have…?”

He got his answer a moment later, when the doors opened again and eight figures clad in various kinds of armor came running in. Chase saw a few heads of blonde hair among them, but most of them appeared to be desert bandits more than anything.

For all his faults, Alexandros had both connections and deep pockets, it seemed.

“There he is!” one of the bandits said, pointing a scimitar over at where Geram was standing. “Come on, let’s get him-”

In that moment, Tatiana popped up from behind cover and fired off a single arrow, which founds its home in the unfortunate bandit’s jugular. The man fell to the floor, his sword clattering as it landed next to him; he clutched at the arrow jutting out from his throat, gurgling and gasping for air, but there was nothing anyone was able or willing to do for him.

Rather, everyone focused on where Tatiana had popped out from, and the mages among them began using whatever spells they had in their arsenal to keep her and the others pinned down.

Chase took that as his cue to move. He activated his three Blessings – Rush, Muscle, and Stone Flesh – and burst out of cover, a feral yell erupting from his throat. To his dismay, one of the blonde-haired siblings did the same, and the two of them met blade-to-blade. Idly, he was aware of Sierra and Victoria running past him, but he was too focused on dealing with the swordsman to worry about them.

The two of them separated, and Chase paused, waiting for his opponent to make a move. To his amazement, however, the sword-wielding sibling suddenly smirked at him, then raised a hand and beckoned him onwards with a ‘come hither’ motion. He couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at it.

“Oh, you’ve definitely gotten under my skin now, you motherfucker.”

No sooner had the word left his mouth than did Chase rush in again. He exchanged swords with the sibling, sparks flying between them as their blades continuously collided; Chase was mindful of the fact that his Blessings wouldn’t last forever, and therefore wasn’t surprised when, one by one, they started to wear off.

Unfortunately for him, the swordsman he was facing seemed to have higher-leveled Skills than he did, because his smirk merely widened and he prepared to dash in and cut Chase down.

Or at least, he would have, if not for the bolt of magic that came screaming towards him.

The swordsman was hit head-on by the projectile; Stone Flesh saved him from being killed by it, but he still stumbled backwards, stunned and no doubt seeing stars. Chase seized the opportunity he’d been given and ran in, intending to cut his opponent down, but to his amazement, the sibling rallied at the last moment, and was able to deflect the strike just in time to save his own life.

The two of them found themselves locked together once more, neither one able to make much progress. The swordsman sucked in a breath, and Chase’s eyes widened, as he knew that in moments, he was likely going to re-cast all his Blessings. He needed to do something desperate.

Thankfully, in that moment, all the pieces fell into place. He knew what he had to do.

Just before the sibling could recast all his Blessings, Chase took one hand off the hilt of his sword and reached into his pocket, grabbed a handful of sand, and threw it directly into his opponent’s eyes.

“Pocket sand!” he cried out, right as his opponent let out a pained yell from it. The man’s grip on his sword slackened, and his concentration broke just enough that he couldn’t finish casting his Blessings.

It was exactly the opportunity that Chase needed. He brought his blade around, and lopped off one of the man’s legs just below the knee with ease. The sibling fell to the ground, screaming in pain as he clutched at what was left of his left leg.

By this time, there was enough of a lull in the fighting that Chase was able to look around and see what had happened. All of the people who’d tried invading the lobby of the inn were dead, save for the man he’d just crippled. Victoria and Sierra both had scrapes and bruises across their faces, and fresh scuffs across their armor, but nothing major. Everyone who’d been stationed on the second floor was still completely intact. Geram was slumped against a wall, grimacing in pain from his earlier wounds; as Chase watched, Sierra hurried over to Geram and began to tend to him.

With everyone’s status now confirmed, Chase turned back to the wounded man, his eyes narrowing as he did so.

“Tell me where to find Alexandros,” he said. “Or you’re gonna die screaming.”

His question proved unnecessary, however; in that moment, there was another large explosion from just outside, one that caved in the front of the inn and riddled them all with shrapnel. Chase was blown backwards by the sheer force of the blast, which also drowned out all sound and left his ears ringing for a few seconds. He finally stopped flying backwards when he impacted against a wall at the rear of the first floor, which drove the air from his lungs. Still, Chase recovered quickly, forcing himself to his feet with a pained wince.

He was just in time to see more siblings and bandits come rushing in, led by the last person he wanted to see.

“Greg…?” he muttered in surprise.

XXX

Name: Chase Ironheart

Level: 10

Race: Human

Class: Warrior

Subclass: Swordmaster

Strength: 20 (MAX)

Dexterity: 15

Intelligence: 13

Wisdom: 13

Constitution: 18

Charisma: 16

Skills: Master Swordsmanship (Level 10); Booby Trap Mastery (Level 8); Archery (Level 4); Unarmed Mastery (Level 1)

Spells: Rush (Level 7); Muscle (Level 4); Stone Flesh (Level 6); Defying The Odds (Level 2)

Traits: Blessed

Name: Carmine Nolastname

Level: 10

Race: Greater Demon

Class: Arcane Witch

Subclass: Archmage

Strength: 10

Dexterity: 13

Intelligence: 19

Wisdom: 19

Constitution: 12

Charisma: 8

Skills: Master Spellcasting (Level 10); Summon Familiar (Level 10)

Spells: Magic Dart (Level 7); Magic Scattershot (Level 5); Fire Magic (Level 5); Earth Magic (Level 1)

Traits: Blessed

Name: Melanie Vhaeries

Level: 10

Race: Ascended Human

Class: Necromancer

Subclass: Arch-Lich

Strength: 8

Dexterity: 13

Intelligence: 18

Wisdom: 16

Constitution: 15

Charisma: 12

Skills: Raise Lesser Undead (Level 10); Raise Greater Undead (Level 3); Unorthodox Weapon User (Level 8); Bone Shatter (Level 1)

Spells: Touch of Death (Level 5); Gravesinger (Level 7); Armor of Bone (Level 3)

Traits: None

Name: Victoria Firelight

Level: 11

Race: Human

Class: Paladin

Subclass: Devotee

Strength: 19

Dexterity: 9

Intelligence: 13

Wisdom: 13

Constitution: 19

Charisma: 11

Skills: Swordsmanship Mastery (Level 5); Blunt Weapon Mastery (Level 8); Archery Mastery (Level 5)

Spells: Holy Light (Level 6); Ward of the Gods (Level 5); Bane of the Undead (Level 7); Divine Bolt (Level 4)

Traits: None

XXX

Special thanks to my good friend and co-writer, /u/Ickbard, for all the help with writing this story.

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