Myths and Gargoyles by Jamie Hawke (interesting books to read in english txt) 📕

few good Saturday mornings watching it with me over shared caramel corn and something he said was a true classic but I never could understand—Jolt cola.

Looking at the real King Arthur, I wasn’t sure what to think of him compared to the version of the tales. This man had been a real king a long time ago, had lived and breathed, had been around at the same time as Merlin. Only, the sorcerer had been some sort of corrupted paladin who cursed the king into becoming a vampire that he could use like a puppet. It was so mind-blowingly insane, it almost seemed real, as reality went. That’s why I had no trouble latching on to these stories. If they’d seemed more grounded, I would have believed them to be lies. But King Arthur himself as a vampire? That’s too crazy for anyone to make up.

“I hope you’re feeling better,” he said, referring to my little training session with Pucky in the woods. His eyes moved to Excalibur, now back on my hip since Nivian had brought it for me, and I couldn’t help but feel it belonged to him.

“Hey, throw me in the Pits of Despair,” I said, hand on the sword’s hilt, “I’ll come out swinging.”

He frowned, looked to Nivian, but she shrugged.

“They aren’t as caught up on the movies as I am,” Pucky whispered, and then added a wink as she said, “Dementors are so cool.”

“Wrong movie,” I mumbled, but low enough that she didn’t hear.

“What?”

I smiled, nodding, and made a mental note that we were definitely going to have a mandatory movie marathon when we made it back to the real world. Or, Earth… as I guess that place had to be real, too. How could I have been there, otherwise?

“This won’t be like last time,” Arthur said.

“Last time?”

He nodded. “When Riak pulled you in, I hear. We’ll be entering their domain, true, but at that point you weren’t fully here. Now that you are, it’s much more dangerous, but also much more exciting.”

“How so?”

“For one, you know that ichor prana you get to level up your stats?” He waited until I grunted in confirmation. “Well, on Earth let’s say you were sipping it through a straw.”

“Sipping prana?”

“Stick with me.” He motioned to the rolling hills, the thick blanket of fog ahead, or maybe that was the mists? “Here, you’ll have the opportunity to do combo-kills. The more of the Shades you take out in a short amount of time, the more linked they are, creating an amplification to the prana earned. No more sucking it through a straw, if you do it right, here you can be thrown into a pool of the stuff.”

“You’re saying, if I do it right, if I take out Shades in this kill-combo way, I get a bonus.” That checked, as the process wasn’t so different from various games I’d played. “But then, why isn’t everyone out here leveling up and maxing out their stats?”

He laughed. “Because, not everyone has Excalibur, for one. And not everyone is a Tempest.”

“What he’s trying to say,” Nivian cut in, “is that you only have a chance because of what you are, and the weapon you’re now latched to. In there, most of us wouldn’t stand a chance. We can take them in our world, even outside of the mists, but in there…”

“Imagine it’s like lightning,” Pucky said, indicating a cloud with her hands. “Now if you’re on Earth, there’s a thunder storm and you’re not so worried. In life, it’s not so bad. Go down a slide, get a static electricity shock. Maybe hear about lightning hitting someone on a rare occasion.” She took her hands and cupped them together. “Now you’re in that lightning cloud, and you’re made out of metal—right? Well, as far as this is concerned, we’re all metal. So are you, but you’re like a lightning rod, made to refocus that energy, to put it to better use.”

“That use being leveling up?” I looked at the blanket of fog ahead, seemingly so peaceful. My heart was thumping as my excitement for the adventure ahead rose. “But wait, I’m going in there alone? Arthur, you’re a Tempest, too.”

“I am, but you’ll need me out here, you’ll need a beacon to guide you home.”

“A beacon? Like a lighthouse for a ship…” I froze, a chill running through me now at that same sight. “You’re telling me I’ll get lost in there, otherwise why would I need a lighthouse?”

“Jack,” Arthur put a hand on my shoulder, “what will happen in there is up to you. But what I can tell you is that it’s rife with Shades, ready for the picking. Pluck those grapes, stomp on them until you have the wine of the gods, and then drink up.”

A look at Pucky and she nodded, confirming that he was attempting another metaphor. There wouldn’t be any actual wine.

“Fight, stick to your instincts, and use your powers when appropriate,” she said. “Do that, and you’ll be fine.”

“And remember,” Nivian said, “you’re a tempest. Use that shit.”

I nodded, honestly still getting used to that part of who I was. My strange tattoos could give me power and help me connect with the elements. Apparently I could do weird things like walk on water, as Arthur had taught me. But how that applied here, I wasn’t sure. Then again, looking at the near wall of mist and reminding myself that this was water in the air, I could see how interesting results could come from using powers. Somehow.

Mist started drifting by, slow moving tendrils of it, at first. Suddenly, with a swoosh of color the mists pulled back, swirling, creating an entrance like the cave of fucking wonders. Not so panther like, but there was definitely some sort of animal face look going on. Somewhere between a dragon and a cat.

“Is this thing going to eat me?” I asked, meaning it as a joke, although the words came out sounding very nervous.

“Yes.” Nivian didn’t even