Dark Legacy

by Valery Starsky

  “There is something, but it’s completely incomprehensible to me.”

  Machete almost lost his temper. “Was it really understandable before that? Smartass! Tell me everything; come on,” he ordered.

  The former broker shrugged and continued, “It turns out that our clan leader is also the head of the dragon faction in the Parliament of the Worlds. Can you imagine it? In the beginning, I thought it was just a beautiful name since the Midnighters have a coat of arms in the shape of a dragon. I was wrong. The Parliament of the Belt of the Worlds is a real authority. True dragons and many unknown creatures are members of our clan, as well as a clan of dark elves with the poetic name ‘The Shadows of the Moon’.”

  Maybe the people would have continued to chat further, but the gates of the corral then opened. The sound, imprinted in their brain, made them jump up and squirm, like a pack of wolves driven by red flags.

  A flock of beasts ran toward them like an avalanche: the most powerful ones were in front—those who would be the first to devour the poor people, they clicked their jaws with impatience and sometimes, raising their muzzles to the sky, they howled deafeningly. They were not even frightened by the sounds of the outbreak of the battle—there , in the main camp.

  When several yards separated the monsters from Yar, the people in the corral saw how their clan leader took three steps forward to meet his seemingly inexorable death only to be transformed. Now Yar was wearing fabulous beauty black chain armor with iridescent tints of color as if made of dragon scales. Wide, short swords flashed like lightning in his hands, crackling and twitching as if alive.

  “Oh, my God! It’s a power weapon!” someone shouted. Without exception though, it seemed to everyone that this mad man could not stand there alone. The beasts would surely destroy him.

  It seemed to be the end. Suddenly, a huge cat crashed like a diesel locomotive into the side of the avalanche of muscles, canines, and claws. It was impetuous, huge, and strong. Moreover, this deadly large black cat had twenty sickle-shaped transparent blades on its paws instead of claws.

  They had never seen such a creature in their life. The people had nowhere to run, so they just fell on the concrete, although it did not save them from the falling flesh of torn apart beasts. Oddly enough, people in the corral were exhilarated by a heart-rending whoop of joy from Dice.

  “Aaaah! Yes! Yes! Guys, watch your levels. Aaaah! It... it increases! I have reached the fortieth. Hooray! Fiftieth! Hooray!”

  Yan Machete seemed to shy away from these screams and looked at his characteristics in complete confusion. His level certainly was growing very quickly!

  However, it was not important for him now. He, a completely persistent and brave person, understood for sure: they, the people in the corral, were finally going to be pulled out of this hellish cycle. Their reality had changed, finally. Machete whispered quietly, only to himself, “Whoever you are, no matter who you’ll become, we will faithfully serve you, Yar Dark. I swear by all my friends I have lost along the way.”

  Not everyone in the cage was engaged in pleasant contemplation of the growth of their characteristics; most of the people preferred to be fascinated by the ongoing battle. It really was quite something to look at.

  Yar moved incredibly fast and, it seemed, his speed gradually increased further. He combined lightning-fast blasting sword strikes with sharp movements of the portal. The people were left in awe at how quickly Yar changed his location three times within one second. Splashes of blood and severed heads flew into the air when Yar appeared again from a short portal.

  The rain had stopped, and the wind carried the strong scent of blood. For the first time, it was not human blood. The huge cat did not lag behind the head of the clan, it always followed its leader. Now it was clear even to an inexperienced spectator: a formidable black fury insured and covered Yar’s back.

  Disoriented by such an unexpected attack, the beasts roared but stayed on the spot. They still could not understand what was happening. It seemed someone was cutting them without regret from all sides at once. The tonality of the roar of the monsters suddenly changed dramatically, turning from a formidable roar into something closer resembling the heart-rending squeal of pigs during slaughter. The impression was created that they had all been impaled, and ruthless panic completely devoured the remnants of their brains as they rushed to flee, trampling their weaker comrades as they went.

  The people in the cage responded to it instantly: someone screamed in a jubilant way, shaking their fists; someone laughed, smearing tears; and someone jumped with happiness like a madman.

  Chapter 16. The LBM

  “D o you think you can escape death, airport beasts? Fuck it! Bastards! You won’t leave this place alive!” Yar shouted angrily before calling Blacky over.

  He had thought long and hard about how best to realize Armageddon using the least amount of energy.

  Well, this time seems like the most appropriate: I have about five minutes—which is pretty much equal to eternity in the Constructor. The place is open, and these scum will not go far, he thought.

  He didn’t even bother to check the presence of his residual forces. There was so much negative energy accumulated in the Pulkovo Lowland that he could feel it clearly all around him. Sometimes it seemed that the energy itself was swinging like a thin leaf on a tree. Yar moved to the Constructor and activated Armageddon, ordering: Perform sequentially with a delay at each stage.

  The implementation of the spell began immediately, and Yar intervened during the energy collection phase, partially cutting off the access. He accumulated the energy without his own emotions. He mixed every negative thought that was within the meat corral and all the hostile experiences that the former slaves had been subjected to. Yar processed it through his magical sources, and it became even less. Further, he spun all this shapeless mass to the limit, turning the energy clot into an object no larger than a football. After thinking a bit, he decided to call this stage Enrichment.

  Accepted: Enrichment Stage

  Yar admired the buzzing iridescent power ball a little and included it in the spell, immediately feeling a sharp and strong jolt.

  Attention! Danger! Fixing the process! Fixing the process! Fix-

  The security system roared in a cracked and frightened voice, turning into something better resembling a squeal. The last one sounding as if a mosquito squeak had broken off in mid-sentence. Yar was scared of this emotional manifestation of the soulless system. The unexpected arising anomaly affected him, too. The pain was very brief, like a flash, but its extreme emptiness was more dangerous. Yar had never felt such a strong breakdown, and if not for Blacky, he would have collapsed on the concrete. Armageddon’s spell not only absorbed all of Yar’s energy from the main source, but it also managed to pump out all his emotions and power.

  He couldn’t even blink or move his tongue. Even the thoughts themselves seemed heavy, as if cast from lead. His health and life activity stats were in the burgundy sector, almost on at zero. Yar could have gone to rebirth in a second.

  Blacky promptly doused Yar with several blocks of treatment.

  “Wow!” Yar said after being revived. It was the first time he had been kicked out of the Constructor. He had the feeling that he could dissolve and be dragged into a newly formed spell at any moment.

  “Thank you, my friend,” Yar said, leaning back on Blacky and stroking his pet. “Use the remedial units—in case the trouble starts again.”

  Yar received agreement in the form of a loud, “Mmrr!” and Blacky licked the clan leader’s face.

  Yar drew several conclusions from the event, scolding himself for his boyish carelessness. I must have put in place several remedial units with certain conditions of operation. However, Duplicate Source has proven to be an excellent safety precaution. It has helped out so much!

  While he was being treated and coming back to his senses, the main source itself started up, having received an impulse through the pathways. Yar glanced at
the source and pumped the main one up almost to its maximum. Watching his source and thinking about what happened, he caught on to a stunning thought: What if I try to run several sources simultaneously, as I did in the pyramid in the Dark World? Great! That’s a great idea! What a wise guy you are, Yar! He praised himself jokingly. I could build a convenient collaboration algorithm and install intelligence assistants on everyone—like Eva and Lyan—and provide them with work.

  Yar considered this a great idea. However, one of the potential future complications appeared immediately.

  Heck! I don’t even know from what kind of metal or material this source construction was mounted in the pyramid. It looks like it won’t be easy to replicate.

  Yar left the Constructor and said aloud, “Well, okay, I’ll deal with this issue at some point. Now, though, the beasts might escape. There’s no time for regrets; I need to move on. In addition, it is probably the most sought-after skill.”

  Yar generously invested his points—as many as five thousand characteristics points—into the Master Constructor of Magic. He looked: the skill was still pretentious and, frankly, all a bit incomprehensible.

  Master Constructor of Magic, 52th rank, 5200

  “Okay, I’ll see what happens next.”

  Yar moved to Constructor and was dumb with delight. A thought flashed through his mind— Bravo, System! You never cease to amaze me... and thank you!

  There was another private room. A huge space—actually, a whole laboratory. Despite the fact that there was almost nothing in this room, Yar knew and felt that he, as a wizard in his tower, could now create anything he wanted. He looked around with pleasure.

  The back wall was a huge panoramic window or screen into reality. The front wall was transparent and separated Yar from that unfinished magical voracious object hanging in the air within powerful manipulators. Yar’s personal space was a rounded area in the middle of the room. The vaulted ceiling was white—as well as the matte floor. Yar estimated the size of the room to be about the size of a basketball court. There were side power doors, in any case, and they looked this way. On the right door, which radiated with the energy of a greenish color, there was a ‘Workshop of the Demiurge’ inscription, which glowed with a neon-white light. A similar door, but glowing red, was on the left. There was a red cross warning that the passage was forbidden.

  “It’s clear!” Yar said loudly. He was pleased to hear his own voice. The other notable thing that immediately caught his eye were the huge double watches with green and red temporary counters that hung under the ceiling. The green one counted down real-time, and the red one noted time within the updated Constructor. Yar carefully went around his personal space; he liked it very much, and everything seemed real.

  “Well, let’s get started,” he muttered.

  He imagined a huge English burgundy leather sofa from his father’s office and a poof to put under his feet. Both pieces of furniture appeared immediately and seamlessly fit into the interior. Yar went to the sofa with a sinking heart and gently touched it: it was real. He sat down in awe and almost burst into tears from the hit of nostalgia. He suddenly felt bitter and sad for his parents.

  A sharp alarm interrupted Yar’s thoughts. He looked back. Blacky was spinning on the spot and clawing the concrete of the runway ruthlessly.

  “What’s happened?”

  Yar was worried and, without thinking, he rushed to his beloved pet. He walked through the window to reality without any resistance, stepping on the pieces of broken concrete as he moved.

  Black Rainbow froze when it saw its Master, only its huge tail continued to strike, moving nervously along its sides.

  It’s very nervous, Yar understood right away. Black Rainbow thought that his leader was gone. It didn’t trace him, and it didn’t understand where and how he’d left his side.

  Yar hugged its head. “Sorry, Blacky, I forgot to warn you that I had gone to my little invisible ‘den’. I needed to work with magic. It is more convenient to do it there. Watch out here; I won’t be long.”

  The huge black cat licked his face again, and Yar disappeared as if he was not standing there at all.

  He approached the unfinished spell and looked at the object with interest. The inscription appeared on the transparent partition:

  Attention!

  The third phase of development 00028A (the original spell of Armageddon) was fixed.

  Destroy / Continue (the security capsule is recommended.)

  Wow, there’s something interesting. What kind of safety capsule is this? I really need to learn the phases.

  “Show the phase sequence,” Yar requested. A list immediately appeared below.

  First phase: Input

  Second phase: Absorption, Energy generation

  Third phase: Energy Formatting

  Fourth phase: Increasing Power Affect

  Fifth phase: Stabilization

  Sixth phase: Registration

  Seventh phase: Implementation

  “Great. It seems like everything is clear. I should leave this memo hanging here as a visual aid. I will continue. Engage the Security Capsule,” Yar ordered.

  A golden-glowing transparent dome covered him, but it did not look like a reliable shelter. However, this capsule was still delightful and it improved his mood, although Yar was obviously creating something deadly within it. He tried to go through the golden dome, but he could not. This substance, amorphous in appearance, was hard, slimy, and unbelievably cold. Because of this, it was uncomfortable to work with. Moreover, it was unusual for Yar to look through the golden wall as he worked, but he was willing to accept the fact in case of his safety.

  He tried to move the manipulators. They felt like his hands. The magical object resisted perceptibly—it was covered with sharp pimples and strove to break free. Yar shrugged.

  “The fourth phase!” he ordered.

  The hint of the internal system arrived in a helpful manner.

  I have to upgrade this assistant, Yar thought. Maybe it is possible to pump up the system. Okay…

  Yar vividly recalled the horror that had happened here once, which he had witnessed. There were poor children hanging in the trees, and the desperate men from the meat corral were there in their terrible state. He imagined and felt all the horror of the people whom they ate alive: wild pain, rebirth, and suffering repeated day after day. Yar was shaking, thrown to the sides. He seemed to be dancing a crazy dance in front of the Sanctus Vitus’ statue.

  He had experienced such emotions before, but they had never been so strong previously. When it became very difficult for him to control himself and hatred seemed to overflow, Yar put all this negativity into the magical object.

  However, something was missing to complete the spell—something very important. A terrible conjecture came to his mind as if it had been sent down from above. Yar, without regret, placed Marstom Broon, the lefar traitor, in this insatiable object, shouting: “Serve!”

  For some moments, this vicious magical object subsided, and then again it began to shake, twitch, and click its impressive fiery jaw, before trying to escape from the manipulators.

  “Kill! Eat! Burn! Destroy!”

  Yar felt a little better because the shaking energy-filled object had absorbed all the negative emotion to the last black droplet, and it was growing with every second. This object resembled a mixture of a fiery porcupine and a toothy emoticon in shape. Yar barely restrained the monster with the manipulators, cursing out loud:

  “How? How can these damn light elves create these tiny, malicious EWIS! I’m constantly suffering from gigantism: I can create both Armageddon and an elephant-like terrestrial piranha!”

  Attention!

  Stabilization of the Object 00028A has begun

  Destroy / Confirm

  Yar, suffering from sunbeams in his eyes because of this fiery essence, screamed: “Confirm! Realization!” thinking, I will finish this spell later. I’ll register and name this monster after the process is comple
te.

  He swiftly jumped out of the Constructor and threw the Monster towards the fleeing beasts with all his physical and spiritual strength.

  “Go! Work!” he ordered.

  A strange fireball flew into the sky. It had fiery spikes jerking from side to side, and it was making loud sounds, shaking the surrounding space.

  “Burn! Burn!”

  This incomprehensible, fiery object quickly caught up with the fleeing pack of beasts. There was an explosion, and it seemed that a huge volcano had exploded. White-hot pieces of lava and burning fragments of concrete flew into the air. The fire-born monster was completely absorbed in the process. It flew up and screamed, louder and louder, more furiously, as if rejoicing, and again it rushed down, exploding, beaten and burned...

  Yar and Blacky looked at this fiery extravaganza, a bright squall of chaos.

  Who or what did I create? Did the inexplicable monster decide to reproduce the Yellowstone Volcano? Yar thought.

  A large red message popped up. Impressive information was included.

  Target hit by 100%. Total annihilation (revival is impossible)

  Uyu got in touch almost immediately.

  “Master, the task is completed. We have killed all the elves. The revival cycles are about to begin. There are a lot of released people... children ... but what is happening there? There were no volcanoes before.”

  Yar shouted back in a broken voice: “Uyu, show this place! Fine! Return urgently to the meeting place! I give you a minute to do so. It will soon be very dangerous there! Take the children and go through the portals. Let the others run to Pulkovo Heights. Go!” he ordered.

  Yar quickly renamed ‘00028A’ as ‘Burn’ and, after waiting a minute, he set a new target for it to attack.

  He had repeatedly seen on TV the impressive firing of a ballistic missile. ‘Burn’ was no less ambitious—a blow to the target that shook the very Earth. Not everyone could stay on their feet.

  “What was it?” the intrigued Uyu asked. A thousand Untouchables lined up in rows behind her back, and almost every elf held a child in their arms.