by Ryan DeBruyn
That was when the rest of the people were all led to Rocky, and he clenched his teeth in anger, recognizing some of them as the ones who had attacked him after his speech yesterday. With his hangover and current mood, he considered killing all of them. He had already made the mistake in the past of letting enemies live, and it had cost him two young men who were nearly family.
“Give me a reason why I shouldn’t exile all of you!” he spat out and didn’t even recognize his own voice. Even the guards, who the question wasn’t directed at, flinched and seemed to step back accidentally at his tone.
One of the individuals stepped forward with an ugly sneer, and Rocky Analyzed him before he began talking.
Jeremy Brown
Level 11
Apprentice-Sailor
Health Points 120/120
“The people in your Territory told us of your tyranny when we got here! We traded one dictator for another, and we won’t stand for it!” Jeremy spat the words out with vitriol that couldn’t have been faked.
Rocky’s eyebrows had climbed steadily during Jeremy’s quick and entirely baseless accusation. He could see all the survivors nodding along with the man. Rocky felt his anger putter and die instantly when Jeremy compared him to Corsair. The fact that the rumors were started by the people he and Sela had saved and allowed to live here was… surprising.
The people took in his shocked look, and as a group, he watched them hesitate, blinking and perhaps thinking over what they’d heard. Rocky blinked a few times in quick succession and whispered confusedly, “I’ve been in Algonquin Valley for a grand total of two days now, and I haven’t interacted with more than three people who lived here through the intervening time.” After speaking, a silence fell over the delinquent individuals and military. Rocky allowed it to linger.
After he felt it had been long enough, he cleared his throat, “Do you remember who told you this rumor?” His voice, while quiet, held a menace the survivors widened their eyes at. After a time, they nodded, and he motioned for the military to escort him and the group of twenty people through the camp to find this individual.
Rocky, who had been planning on killing the instigator, was lost a moment later. The problem was that each person had heard about it from a different individual, which left Rocky with a frustration that clenched his jaw and hands. How was he going to rectify this problem?
The military gathered up each individual who was pointed out, and Rocky questioned each one. Each man and woman he questioned looked confused at the accusations. Then each one of them pointed out another individual they heard it from, and each one of those pointed to another. After twenty minutes of this, Rocky was at the end of his rope. The fact that everyone had now gathered for training also played a factor.
If I make a speech about that rumor, will it help?
“I am going to ask you all,” Rocky looked at the hundred-plus rumor spreaders before continuing, “to remain under guard for the moment and stand beside the stage.”
The reaction of the group was startling as many of them began to cry, and a few even lost the ability to stand unassisted. Seeing their fear, he quickly continued, “Don’t worry. I realize you have all been misinformed and your reaction, while very stupid and impulsive, was done only after a few drinks.” He looked over everyone and forcibly softened his eyes for a moment before finishing, “However, if anything like this happens again, you will not get the same treatment, drunk or not!” He met each individual’s eyes before articulating, “I can’t have people attacking me or others because of rumors. Do. You. Understand?” He clipped the last bit out with pauses in between, transferring his gaze back and forth across the group.
They all nodded, and most still seemed to think he was going to reconsider and kill them now. Shaking his head sadly, he made his way once again to the pile of cut trees.
As soon as he stepped on stage, all conversation was stifled quickly. The moment was surreal for Rocky, but he forged ahead, “The people you see before you attacked me or the military that surrounds you.” He boomed out these words and pointed at the guarded group of one hundred. He moved on quickly, “They did so because of a rumor that was shared with them.”
Rocky stopped and looked over the gathered crowd and saw guilt in a few more eyes. He met those people’s eyes, but in them, he didn’t see any emotion that gave away anything more. Each person he saw seemed sheepish, like they knew better. He took a deep breath, having hoped he would find the de-facto leader of this dissent.
Disappointed, Rocky projected into the continued silence, “The rumor that I am a dictator is unfounded and strange. First, if I was a dictator, would I let people who attacked me go with just a warning?” Rocky made a motion to the group, and they walked into the crowd to join them.
Smiling, Rocky continued, “Secondly, I have not been in this Grotto myself before yesterday and have only spent a single full day in Algonquin Valley. So, whoever told you I was a tyrannical leader couldn’t possibly know me personally.”
He looked to the group where Smith stood. “I only met three people who live here during my brief stay. So, if you hear the rumor I am speaking of, please think about that.”
Rocky scanned the group again, taking a long, pragmatic pause. Then he finished, enunciating every word in hopes this time it would stick, “Lastly, everything I announced last night about making this a place of safety and growth for all humans still applies.”
Then he clapped his hands together. “Now, let’s get to training the Meditation technique that many of you already know. For the rest of you, pay attention and ask one of the Ottawa survivors why this is so important!”
Rocky sat down to begin his instruction on Meditation. As he lowered himself, he saw Sela, who was no longer trapped in a druidic form since midnight had passed.
Her eyes flashed for a moment before she turned and strode off towards the entrance to the Grotto, changing into her cat form as she went. As his eyes tracked her leaving, he saw Frankie and Joe standing at the back of the clearing. Frankie was scribbling notes in his journal, and Joe was shaking his head looking between Rocky and the retreating tail of Sela.
Why do I feel that Frankie is psychoanalyzing me?
Chapter Nine
Sela
Sela stalked out of the Grotto.
That man! How can he just let people who attacked him live? Then teach them a priceless skill that I would have killed armies to obtain in my previous life! Where did he even go last night?
She had woken up frustrated and less hungover than she would have liked. Somehow, as the festivities were just getting good, she had used her final two charges to change through her druidic forms, ending in her current cat form. If she was remembering right, it was because of a bet from Rockland. He had made the bet, and then the next thing she remembered, he was gone.
Now though, she worried that he had gone missing because of the survivors who had attacked him. That thought made her even angrier. Why would he let the traitors live? Not only had they attacked him, but they had ruined a good night of celebration! She had been having fun with Rockland the previous night, at least she thought they were…
She ran through the forest, trying to find the other group of humans who had been let off from a punishment she believed they deserved. Smith had told Sela they’d been leaving food at the entrance to the Grotto every morning and were working extremely hard to make up for their part in Arti’s despicable crimes.
Sela didn’t believe that people could be forced to do something that they didn’t want to do. In the world she knew, all you had to do was put in some extra work, and you would gain the power to stand against tyranny. Work a little harder, and you could create your place, write your future, or sign your name on the annals of Gaian history. While there was something to be said about the family heritage of classes, skills, wealth, and the like, they weren’t insurmountable advantages. She had always lived with the motto of her grandfather, “Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t w
ork hard.”
She prowled the expanding forest of Algonquin Valley, looking for signs of the four individuals and quickly discovered signs of human passage. As she followed them in Stealth, she continued to consider some of the oddities that this world seemed to latch on to. Immediately, her mind recalled how people who met her for the first time seemed to immediately think she was fragile. It was mostly the male populace, but there was a definite shift in the way she was regarded by people because of the way she looked or her sex. What in the hell had happened to make males think that women needed to be protected? For that matter, what stopped those women who Arti had abused from getting their own vengeance?
Sela tried desperately to understand it from the way Rockland described it. According to him, women had been less physical in the world ‘before’ the return of Ether, which was still naturally true in the new world. However, to Sela, that didn’t mean they were ‘weaker’ which was what seemed to be the implied correlation. She clenched her jaw and narrowed her eyes, thinking of what she would do if someone tried to tell her that she was weaker than someone based on her sex. Women may not be as physically imposing naturally as men were, but in her time, they had always had greater spiritual stats. It had been obvious to any researchers that men at the age of eight would have slightly higher Stamina, Agility, and Strength, but women would have slightly higher Intelligence, Wisdom, and Dexterity. It was usually a single point swing in either direction, and based on how hard one worked, any disadvantage could be turned into your greatest strength.
It was with this mindset that she stumbled on to a clearing that was occupied by the four men she had exiled from the Grotto. From Stealth and the shadow of the trees she Analyzed each of them.
Brendon Forgis
Level 12
Apprentice-Shielder
Health Points 180/220
Strong-Analyze has failed to reveal further information.
—
Frank Futis
Level 12
Apprentice-Windrunner
Health Points 120/120
Strong-Analyze has failed to reveal further information.
—
Guy Jilles
Level 11
Apprentice-Lurker
Health Points 135/185
Strong-Analyze has failed to reveal further information.
—
Jack Estra
Level 13
Apprentice-Strengthener
Health Points 130/130
Strong-Analyze has failed to reveal further information.
Three of the men stood guard over Jack as he skinned their most recent kill, an antlered animal that Sela didn’t fully recognize. Analyze told her when it was alive, it had been called a Deer, and it had been level 10. The men chatted amiably as she watched.
Guy, a tall, skinny man with deep-set eyes and dark hair, smiled at Frank. “It was amazing to see so many people join the Grotto. I wonder where they all came from.”
Brendon sneered, “We would know if they hadn’t exiled us!”
Frank, still with his back turned, shrugged, and in a tone exactly opposite Brendon’s hostile one, corrected, “Well, if we can join our families back in the Grotto, we can ask them ourselves.” He glanced back directly at Brendon. “Let’s keep working as hard as we can. At least we aren’t dead!”
Jack, a muscular, shorter man, wistfully stated in his baritone voice, “I wish I had known how easy it is to get stronger. Maybe we wouldn’t be in this mess.”
Brendon chimed in again, anger lacing his voice, “Arti was a real Blue Jay.” Sela could tell his last system-adjusted word was a swear word and without thinking, reported the language.
She immediately grimaced to herself; what did language matter in this present world? While it was definitely true that in the Silver Spire, people made a point of not swearing and it was commonplace to report violations to better others, in this world, she doubted it mattered. However, that reminded her of Rocky’s hilarious reaction. She felt her feline mouth attempt a smile and clamped down on her emotions, returning her attention to the group.
The men no longer had smiles on their faces, instead replaced by grimaces. Jack, who was deftly and quickly skinning the corpse to Sela’s appraising eyes, spoke up. With determination and regret lacing his heavily accented words, he intoned, “We can’t change the past, gents. All we can do now is what we are doing and hope to make a better future.”
Sela’s mouth fell open, and she looked around the clearing to try and see who these men were putting a show on for. While they still held animosity of some kind, it seemed the vast majority of that hate was directed at Arti and not the residents of the Territory. To Sela’s surprise, her senses told her that it was only her and them in the area. She stalked away somehow more annoyed after being shown that particular scene. How come this world kept forcing her to question what she knew?
As she prowled the forest aimlessly, she continued to consider. What were the chances that someone from her world hadn’t known the skill of Ether Manipulation? The skill that quite possibly could have saved her life from the deadly Martian poison. It was very hard to believe that no one in Cathodiem had known a skill that Rockland had discovered in a few weeks.
In addition, she’d grown up in the Silver Spires, which was the strongest Cathodiem Territory. If the leaders, one of which was her grandfather, hadn’t known about Cardinal Dungeons, she would eat an entire tree. The fact that she had been told to find and eradicate Dungeons her entire life was odd. What reason could leaders have to justify the destruction of something that could be so beneficial?
Everything is so twisted. Cathodiem seemed to be at war with all Dungeons; we were even sent in to ‘save’ Territories from ‘invading’ Dungeons, but now, I think those were those Territories’ Cardinal Dungeons! What in the abyss weren’t you telling me, Grandfather?
Depressed, Sela mentally contacted Azoth, as she couldn’t speak directly to Rocky unless she wanted to waste a charge to change back, and she didn’t yet.
She could always use a Vial of Gambler’s Charge to regain a form shift, but she only had two of those left, and they were extremely expensive; each one would cost a full day or more of farming. Unfortunately, they also had a ten percent chance to remove a charge, which had happened to Sela already. This was a huge waste of the five crystals they cost. Sadness in her mental tone, she sent, “Azoth, tell Rockland we need to meet tonight. It’s about the shop.”
Azoth jubilantly sent back, “It done. Sela okay? Is Sela hunt?”
Sela felt her bad mood gradually begin to evaporate as Azoth joined her, and together, they hunted creatures and critters inside of the Territorial boundaries.
She would get to the bottom of her controversial discoveries about her past… but that would come later.
Rocky
After the Meditation practice, Rocky left the stage and searched out Derik and Smith. They were looking for him, it appeared, so he found them easily and quickly.
“If it isn’t our abandonment issue leader!” Derik sneered as he saw him approaching, and Rocky shook his head while simultaneously sucking on his teeth but let the comment slide.
Still not one hundred percent okay with Derik and his attitude, Rocky strode up and shook Smith’s hand before emphasizing speaking only to him, “Morning, Smith. How has everything been since moving to the Grotto? How are we doing on food and other resources?”
Smith glanced at Derik once and briefly shook his head as well before starting into a report-like tone, “It would seem that we’re going to have to greatly increase the number of hunters. We were easily supporting the hundred-plus individuals here prior, but if the numbers Joe mentioned to me are accurate, then we now have four thousand hungry mouths to feed.”
He paused, took out a pipe, and began to pack it with tobacco as he continued, “As far as resources go, there seems to be a lot of helpful plants that grow in the Territory. Many of the groups with a miner swear that there seem to be
metal deposits in areas that a day prior didn’t have any. Almost like they’re growing or popping into existence.” He finished packing in tobacco and pulled out a metal match that he struck on the case and lit up.
After a brief puff and exhale, he shrugged and whispered, “Our group has noticed the same strange effect with monsters, almost like they’re growing rapidly or every time we kill one, a new one is born and grown so fast it makes no difference. At current, I don’t think we have to worry about overtaxing the surrounding environment, at least.” Then he pointed to the trees and nodded his head, making it clear that they were abundant and growing back as well.
Rocky put a hand to his chin in thought at what Smith had just explained. That was definitely good news and did bode well for the people within Algonquin Valley. Additionally, he would like to possibly try to mark up a map of some sort from the Grotto to create hunting zones for groups and resource gathering crews. If Smith was right, that would require some coordination by the leaders—so him. He blinked. “Smith do you think you can take me on a tour and show me where you traditionally have been running into what monsters?”
Derik sneered and cut into the conversation in his annoyingly high octave falsetto, “We have been marking locations for a while in the dirt. Follow me, and we can show you everything we have gathered. Not that you deserve the help of people you abandoned!”
Rocky swallowed and looked at Smith who shook his head and rolled his eyes, clearly not feeling the same way as the eccentric and dramatic Derik.
With his lips pressed tightly together, he answered as politely as possible, “By all means, Derik, please, lead the way.”
Smith and he followed Derik to an area on the ground that was covered with a large drape of interwoven leaves. He examined it, and his eyebrows rose; whoever had made the tarp-like device had done a marvelous job and must have also been the one who wove the bathhouse dividers.