Chaos Rising: The Realms Book Six: (An Epic LitRPG Series)

by C. M. Carney

  "That one's batshit crazy," Gaarm said. "But there's only one question any of the spawn ask, regardless of which Prince they call lord, and usually with somethin' pointy to help persuade truthful answerin'.”

  "And what's that?"

  "They ask about some bloke named Tal. Where he is and the like. I told them I’d heard of the guy, but I didn’t know nuthin about where he was.”

  “Tal?” Vonn asked, surprise filling his tone

  “Yeah, why? You know him?” Gaarm’s eyes grew to slits.

  “Nope, just a funny-sounding name is all.” It was obvious Vonn was covering, and that he did not want to share what he knew with Gaarm around.

  “That’s what I said when they done asked me, but they thought I was lyin’, cuz they still tried suckin’ my memories out.”

  “Did they get anything?” Vonn asked.

  “Not much. As my momma used to say when the upstairs light is dim nobody comes a knockin’.”

  “Not much, but something?” Lex asked.

  “Maybe,” Gaarm said, scratching nervously at his facial scruff.

  “What did they get Gaarm?”

  “Just some info on some folks.”

  “What folks?”

  “People from Harlan’s Watch, like Nahrman and Grimslee and that new fella Sean.” Gaarm’s shoulders slumped, and he hung his head. “And you.”

  “Me? What did they want with me?”

  “They said you was a disturbance in the Aether.” A pang of deep sadness took the man as he struggled to speak. “I’m sorry Rex, I didn’t wanna … be no rat.” He sniffled and rubbed a hand under his nose. Minny walked up behind him and kneaded his shoulders.

  “Look, pal, I forgive you. I know you’d stab me in the kidney for a few coins, but you’d never rat me out unless you had no choice.”

  Gaarm rubbed an odd pair of scars at his temples and nodded his thanks. “Sometimes I can still feel them barbs they stuck in me brain when they were suckin’ at it. Surprised there’s any left.” He guffawed uncomfortably and tears filled his eyes again. Minny eased the large Ordonian to his feet and led him to a moldy cot in the corner. She put him to bed and pulled a blanket over him.

  Lex felt for the man. Sure, Gaarm might be a violent, murdering thug with poor hygiene, but underneath it all, he was a man who wanted love, and against all odds, it seemed he’d found some. Perhaps all people are worthy of redemption.

  Vonn took Gaarm’s vacated seat and whispered low.

  “You know who Tal is?” Lex asked.

  Vonn nodded and glanced around to ensure nobody was listening. “Odymm Tal is a legend of the Circle, the group of deacons and archons tasked by the Lords of Order with protecting the mortal realms from chaos. His power and wisdom rivaled the Old Gods, but he disappeared millennia ago, right around the time of Xygarrion's destruction.”

  “The Nimmerian city blows up at the same time this Tal guy goes missing. That seems coincidental,” Lex said.

  “Errat does not believe in coincidences.”

  “Neither do I, buddy,” Lex said. “But, if he is here, and somehow still alive …”

  “Then he might be able to help us get home,” Simon chirped in, his tone full of false hope.

  “We’re not going home,” Lex said, wishing the words weren’t true. “At least not yet.”

  “What?” Simon said loudly, drawing a glare of ire from Minny. Suitably cowed, Simon lowered his voice. “Why not?”

  "Cuz if we don't stop the Princes there'll be no home to go back to. We find Tal, warn him and hope he can stop the Princes."

  “Bugger,” Errat mumbled, earning a small, stress easing chuckle from Lex.

  For a few breaths nobody spoke, each of them lost in their own grim thoughts. “We could take a page from Gaarm’s book,” Simon said. “Stay here.” As soon as the words were past his decaying lips, it was clear Simon wished he could take them back.

  “We're all scared Simon,” Lex said. “But the Realms have no idea what’s coming for them. Maybe we can’t stop them, but we have to try. Are you with me?”

  He looked from one member of his ragtag bunch of goobers to another, each one nodding including Simon. The undead teen met Lex’s gaze with frightened eyes. “Sorry about that. I’m just …”

  “We all are kid, but we gotta try.”

  Simon nodded his head vigorously and wiped the back of his hand under his eyes. It was a motion born of habit, for no tears flowed from the dead boy’s eyes. But the friction created a permanent droop under his eyes, giving him the appearance of a basset hound who’d suffered a plastic surgery disaster.

  Lex turned away before Simon noticed his expression. “Okay, we’re agreed then. We find this Tal and get him to stop the Princes before it's too late.” Lex stood and walked over to Gaarm’s cot. Minny gave him a threatening look, but Gaarm placed a hand on her arm and told her he was okay. “Hey Gaarm, sorry to bother you but we really need to find this Tal fella. Are you sure there’s nothing you can tell us?”

  Gaarm sat up, swinging his legs over the edge of the cot, his shoulders slumped. “Locals tell tales of the bloke. He's a bit of a legend in these parts. Supposably this guy came from Korynn like forever ago and has been a thorn in the Princes’ side ever since.”

  “Did you just say supposably?” Simon asked, channeling every iota of teenage rudeness he possessed in his rotting body into the comment. “Cuz ya know that isn’t a real word, right?”

  “Shut up kid,” Lex said. “We’re not the grammar police.” He turned to Gaarm. “Please continue.”

  “Anyway, supposably…” He glared at Simon. “… this guy Tal flies around in some kinda crystal ship and is a real fly in the Princes’ soup.”

  “You don’t have any idea where we can find him? Nothing you held back from the chaos fiends?”

  “No,” Gaarm said. “Wish I did, but I’d start with space,” he pointed to the floor. “Or what goes for space in these parts.”

  “Why are you pointing down, genius?” Simon asked with snark, still raw after exposing his fear. “Space is up, everybody knows that.” He pointed up and made a ‘duh’ face.

  "You think you’re all brainy and sure you know what’s what, don’t cha kid?” Gaarm said. “But this is the Realm of Chaos and nothing is what it seems, and if it is, it don’t stay as it seems for long. Up is down, sideways is left and space is all around us. This Harlan’s Watch ain’t like the one back home. It ain’t huggin’ the surface of a big ball like ours, it's just a city on a flat disc, so yeah, space is that way." He pointed down. “And both of these ways.” He shook his thumb to the left and then the right. He pointed at Simon’s head. “And pretty sure there’s a buttload of space between your ears, or at least where your ears used to be.”

  Simon opened his mouth to respond, but then shut it and rubbed the bare holes on the side of his head. Lex felt bad for the kid. He was literally falling apart, but it was no excuse to act like a dickhead. “Simon apologizes Gaarm. He’s having a bit of a rough day.” Gaarm glared at Simon, but after a moment his face softened, and he nodded.

  "Welcome to the club," Gaarm said, but his tone eased.

  “Have you seen this crystal ship?” Seraphine asked.

  “Uh, nope, I ain’t never seen it.” Gaarm turned and looked at Minny. “But she has.”

  “Could she describe it?” Lex asked.

  “She’s not much of a talker.” Minny dipped down and whispered something into Gaarm’s ear. “But she can draw it.”

  Minny cleared a space on a table in the corner and grabbed an old bit of parchment and a bit of charcoal in her three-fingered hand. Her movements were surprisingly deft for such a large woman and soon she’d finished. She lifted the parchment, blew the excess charcoal dust from it and handed it to Lex.

  The others crowded around Lex. The ship resembled a long thin piece of crystal that thickened towards the end. It was familiar, but somehow still off. Seraphine took the parchment from Lex and rotated it 90 degrees a
nd all eyes widened in understanding.

  “It looks exactly like Harlan’s Tower,” Lex said, voice low, breath heavy. He turned to Vonn as the full meaning became clear. “Odymm Tal is flying around the Realm of Chaos in the missing Order Lance.”

  Order Lances were matrices of pure Order Magic that had existed in a state somewhere between a liquid and a solid. They were the first, and last, line of defense against chaos incursions. The Circle, at the command of the Lords of Order, had built 129 of the devices all around Korynn. Together, the network created a complex web of interconnected fields that prevented chaos from gaining a foothold on Korynn.

  They’d recently learned that one of the 129 had disappeared during the destruction of the Nimmerian city of Xygarrion, and that single missing lance had created a weakness in the web. To counter that weakness, the Lords of Order had sent the crystal arachnid queen Sziilloth to the ruins of Xygarrion. For millennia she’d sacrificed her own children to prevent chaos from gaining a foothold.

  But Sziilloth had been corrupted. Gryph, Lex and the others, with the aid of the new spider queen, had defeated Sziilloth and prevented a full-on chaos breach. They had thought they’d achieved victory until Harlan’s Watch had come under attack. It seemed oddly appropriate that their one chance to prevent the invasion came back to the missing Order Lance, and the mysterious Deacon who flew it through the Realm of Chaos.

  If anyone could stop the Princes from invading Korynn, it would be Tal. And maybe, just maybe he’d be able to get them home. It amazed Lex how quickly he’d adjusted to the possibility that they might not get home. It was not the first time during this insane adventure that his priorities had changed, and he suspected it would not be the last.

  He looked to Vonn who smirked his patented ‘go with the flow no matter how effed up shit gets’ grin. Then to Errat whose child-like glee had become a deep, almost mature confidence. Even Seraphine, trapped in a stolen body, seemed to recognize the gravity of the situation and put aside her selfishness. Finally, Lex turned his gaze on the corpse of the assassin Dirge, the decaying vessel of a murdered teenager turned arch-lich. Before Lex could feel pride at what this motley crew had accomplished, Simon spoke and ruined his mood.

  “There’s just one problem,” Simon said. “How are we going to find him? It’s not like we have our own spaceship.”

  “But I know where you can get one,” Gaarm said, leaning against the wall, arms crossed.

  20

  Once again Lex and the gang skulked through the sewers, catacombs, and tunnels beneath Harlan’s Watch. Minny led them, grunting, huffing and puffing at Gaarm, who somehow translated the nonsensical noises into words.

  Evidently, they were heading to the underside of Harlan’s Watch. There, protruding from the center of the disk, was a tall mooring tower for a ship capable of plying the odd semi-gaseous soup that comprised much of the Realm of Chaos.

  Minny had been on the ship before. It was the pleasure barge of a notorious gangster and slaver who did business in town. The way Gaarm spat the word business coupled with Minny’s general demeanor, hinted Minny had an unpleasant history with both the ship and its owner.

  “I’ll kill the bastard if I ever lay eyes on him. I don’t care whatnot for him being some kinda noble. Nobody treats Gaarm’s woman that way.”

  Lex found Gaarm’s unexpected chivalry almost as surprising as the phrase ‘my woman’ coming from Gaarm’s mouth. I guess all people can change, he thought. If they have the right woman. He grimaced, attempting to stop his mind from treading any further down that path.

  After a quiet fifteen minutes, they reached a large chamber, a confluence of several sewer tunnels. Lucky for them, the tunnels were dry at the moment. At the room’s center was a collection basin for rain runoff.

  Lex paused, his head cocked sideways. Did it rain here? He knew this Harlan’s Watch was a copy of the real one, but from what he’d seen the sky here didn’t seem capable of producing rain, and there was no nearby river that overflowed its banks every spring, which meant no floods either.

  Why did they make an exact copy of Harlan’s Watch?

  Lex did not have an answer but suspected it was important. Minny descended a ladder into the basin, walked to its center and lifted up a thick, rusty iron grate. She turned, grunted and pointed down.

  “You want us to go in there?” Lex asked, reluctantly climbing into the basin. He eased to the edge of the hole like a man expecting a snake to lash out at him and peered down. The vertical shaft seemed an endless pit of black. A metal ladder clung to the wall, secured by suspect rusty bolts. Minny grunted at Gaarm who nodded before turning to Lex.

  “Minny says this will take you to the underside. From there, all ya gotta do is get to the tower and climb. The ship is at the top, or the bottom. Directions are all quirked up down here.”

  Vonn nodded his thanks to Gaarm and Minny and then lowered himself onto the ladder. He descended and soon the rogue disappeared in the gloom. Errat was next followed by Seraphine. Simon stared down and grumbled something about his hands and the better than even chance that the strain of the climb might tear them from his decaying body.

  “Climb or I’ll throw you down,” Gaarm said. Simon’s eyes widened in fear and he did as the burly Ordonian requested. Once Simon’s eyes were off him, Gaarm gave Lex a knowing wink. “I’s got a reputation to upkeep,” he said.

  Gaarm held out a calloused, grimy hand. Lex took it without hesitation, despite the unknowable filth and germs making the hand their home. That simple act showed just how much his relationship with Gaarm had improved.

  “You’ve changed Gaarm for the better. Thank you.”

  “Love will do that to ya, pal. I suggest you get yourself some of it.” Lex smiled as Yrriel's smiling face popped into his mind. Gaarm leaned in close and whispered in Lex’s ear. “Minny has a sister who is quite the looker. If ya don’t get eaten in the next few days, come back and I’ll introduce you.”

  “I’m good, Gaarm, but thanks.”

  “Your loss, pal.” Gaarm slapped Lex on the back and the NPC gingerly placed a foot onto the top rung of the ladder. He nodded one last time before disappearing into the gloom. Gaarm and Minny watched for a few moments before closing the grate.

  “I always liked that dwarf,” Gaarm said before extending an arm to Minny. She curled her own muscle laden arm through his and they left via the tunnel back to the safe house.

  ******

  The sound of Minny’s hooves smacking the stone of the tunnel was still audible when a monstrous, carrion riddled head pushed into the chamber from another sluiceway. It turned its sightless gaze towards the sound and its brittle toothed maw opened into a thin sneer. A cry like a gurgling trumpet flowed past its lips as it sensed the smell of fresh meat.

  Instinct demanded it pursue the quarry. The beast needed new flesh to replace the outer layers of its body, already falling victim to the entropy of decay. It took a step towards the tunnel, but then stopped as some internal battle waged within it. A deep growl rumbled from the beast and its eyeless head turned to the grate at the bottom of the chamber. Dozens of eyes arrayed along the surface of its skin turned their gaze on the grate and an equal number of mouths opened like flayed wounds and spoke in mad, low whispers.

  The beast leapt down on silent feet, trailing bits of flesh and blood in its wake. It padded up to the grate and sniffed, nostrils flaring. Its quarry was down there, plump and warm and waiting to be consumed. The beast raised one of its paws and grimaced in joyous pain as bones cracked and flesh rent into a new form, one capable of gripping and opening the grate.

  It tore the grate from its hinges and tossed it over its head. Then with one last, almost orgiastic coo, the dire chaos abomination squeezed into the tunnel and descended.

  ******

  Lex’s muscles burned as he climbed. They’d descended so deep that his eyes no longer detected the faint light from the room above. The only illumination came from the occasional patch of bioluminescent
slime clinging to the walls.

  Simon found the goop fascinating and trailed a pair of fingers through it before drawing a pattern on his face. The glow-in-the-dark war paint made him look ‘cool’ in his own estimation and he laughed until Vonn mentioned that the slime was likely the product of algae feeding on sewerage.

  “Dammit, why do you ruin everything?” The undead teen spat, wiping his fingers along the wall.

  “Friend Simon should not worry about germs, for he is already dead and cannot get sick.”

  “Yeah, thanks for reminding me I’m trapped in a dead body and when it's done rotting away, who the hell knows if I’ll go with it.”

  His voice sounded pained and desperate and Lex realized the kid was right to fear. Nobody knew what would happen to Simon if the Dirge body died with him inside. Would he pop back to Ouzeriuo’s skull-like some odd version of Gryph’s respawning, pass on to the next realm or simply cease to be?

  We really need to be nicer to the kid. He didn’t ask for any of this.

  As he pondered what to say to ease the kid’s mind, Lex heard a distant clang, as if something heavy and metal were hitting stone. He slowed his descent and looked up but neither saw nor heard anything above him. He held his breath for long seconds trying to listen over the pounding of his own heart.

  Then a low sound came to his ears. It reminded Lex of the sound of beef moving through a meat grinder, though he did not understand why that noise seemed familiar. Had one of the movies Sean made him watch featured a butcher?

  The sound grew more intense and a wet scraping sound rose. On instinct, Lex raised his hand and fired a single Order Bolt. In the dim light, the knife of white light seemed as bright as the sun, causing several of his compatriots to complain.

  “Quiet,” Lex hissed his gaze on the zipping shard of energy. After several heartbeats, the bolt slammed into something and exploded. Sparks flashed to brightness, revealing a mass of bloody flesh shimmying down the tunnel towards them. A mouth filled with thin, filament-like teeth opened at the front of the mass and roared in anguish, but it did not slow.