by Seth Ring
Instead, Thorn held the gauntlet in one hand, the gash facing up. Placing his other hand above it, he concentrated his [Spiritual Sense of Earth]. As he focused it in the hand that hovered over the weapon, he could sense the broken threads of earth element in the gauntlet. Slowly taking control of them he joined them back together, repairing the damage that Commander Del’har’s sword had done.
As Legion Commander Kavalas saw the glove being repaired before his very eyes, his mouth dropped open and his eyes grew wide. For the first time since he had appeared, his expression truly changed, morphing into complete shock.
*THUMP*
The sound of Kavalas falling on both knees was so loud that Thorn nearly dropped the glove. Startled, he took a small step back as Kavalas bowed his head to the ground, prostrating himself.
“All glory to the Stone King, the Lord of Earth!”
Kavalas’ gravelly voice was powerful and rang across the whole camp. As the echo died away, even more thumps rang out as the other twelve Dwarves of the Stone Legion knelt down and bowed their heads, their voices echoing out.
“All glory to the Stone King, the Lord of Earth!”
*ding*
“Wha…?”
Lost for words, Thorn looked at Commander Del’har. The Wolfkin commander had no idea what was happening either, so Thorn dismissed the watching soldiers and asked the Dwarves to return to his tent. Entering the tent, he took his seat as the members of the Stone Legion stood respectfully in front of him.
Rubbing his forehead, Thorn closed his eyes for a moment. The last few days had been mentally draining and the Stone Legion’s abrupt change in attitude was not helping. After centering himself, he opened his eyes and looked at Legion Commander Kavalas.
“Explain what is going on.”
Flinching slightly, Legion Commander Kavalas quickly knelt down. Bowing his head, he began to speak.
“Great Stone King, may your glory stand as eternal as the unbreakable rock. For my earlier disrespect and insolence I deserve punishment. I was ignorant and did not recognize your majesty. It was not until you, in your kindness, reformed my gauntlet that I was able to clearly see your glory.”
“Hold on. First, drop all the honorifics.”
“Your majesty! I cannot, I cannot!” A horrified expression crossed Legion Commander Kavalas’ face, as if Thorn was asking him to blaspheme.
“Alright, fine, but keep it to a minimum. Why are you calling me the Stone King? Wasn’t that Courdum?”
“Yes, your majesty. You are the Bearer of the Stone Heart, the Lord of the Earth, the True Ruler, the Stone King!” The large Dwarf’s eyes glowed with fervor as he spoke. “You are Courdum’s heir, and our master!”
“You seriously expect me to believe that you are just going to walk in here, declare me the true king or whatever and pledge allegiance to me? Hah, forget it.”
“I mean, that actually does sound like something that would happen to you.”
Hearing a frivolous voice from the entrance of the tent, Thorn looked up and saw Corvo smirking at him. Nodding a greeting, the Elf laughed.
“Honestly, I’m surprised it's only Dwarves and not a whole tribe of dragons, or super ancient one-eyed centaurs that can predict the future.”
“Are there one-eyed centaurs that can predict the future?”
“Yeah, but that is not the point. The point is that your luck is stupid good and should count as cheating.” Rolling his eyes, Corvo grabbed a piece of fruit off of the table and took a bite. “Mmm, so what is going on here? Why are these super buff Dwarves pledging allegiance to you?”
Sighing, Thorn put his head in his hands and explained everything that had happened, starting from using his [Call the Stone Legion] ability. About half way through, Corvo began laughing, and by the end he was nearly crying.
“What’s so funny?” Giving Corvo an annoyed look, Thorn smacked his hand on his armrest, being careful to do it lightly. “I need help here, not laughter.”
“Haha, you don’t get it? You’ve collected what, three races? Soon four, maybe five? Haha, sorry, sorry. I just got this image of you walking around with a, ehem, Titan sized group of people of different races trailing after you. Haha, better watch out or you’ll end up starting a revolt by accident.”
Rolling his eyes at Corvo’s lame pun, Thorn thought it better to ignore it completely, instead focusing on what Corvo was saying.
“What are you talking about? I’m the ruler of the Wolfkin, but that is it.”
“Sure, just the Wolfkin. And the Ailuridae. And probably the big Wolves I see wandering around. Oh, and the Dwarves, Mr. Stone King. And you’re headed to save your best friend soon, that new Elf queen. Ryshella? Rychell?”
“Rychell.”
“Yeah, her. I count five.”
“Okay, put that aside for a moment. Help me figure out what to do right now,” Thorn said in defeat, rubbing his temples in frustration.
Chapter Eighteen
“What do you mean?” Corvo looked at Thorn like he was an idiot before turning to the Dwarves. “Hey, thanks for voting him King or whatever. What does he need to do to get the recognition of all of the Dwarves?”
Obviously excited by the question, the Legion Commander bounced to his feet before glancing nervously at Thorn and quickly kneeling again. Annoyed, Thorn waved for him to get up and answer the question.
“Your majesty, the answer to this question requires an understanding of the long history of the Children of the Earth. My daughter, Drada, is an Earth Priestess and knows the history of the Children of the Earth better than most.”
Seeing Thorn’s confusion, Drada coughed and spoke up.
“Your majesty, we call our race the Children of the Earth. That is our oldest and proudest name. Dwarf is a name that was given to us later in our history.”
“Got it, thanks. Please continue.”
Legion Commander Kavalas stepped to the side and gestured for Drada to continue, which she did with a small bow.
“In the time before the gods, the Stone King created and ruled the Children of the Earth. One day, the Stone King vanished, leaving behind the Stone Heart and a message that the one who held the Stone Heart was to be our ruler and the one who wielded the earth element was to be the next Stone King. Throughout our history we have had many rulers, but only two Stone Kings since the original Stone King vanished. Courdum was our third Stone King, and by casting him down and taking the Stone Heart you have gained the right to rule. By wielding its power you have earned the title of the Stone King and with it, our undying allegiance.”
“Hold on.” Thorn lifted his hand. “If I’m the ruler of the, uh, Children of the Earth, why didn’t the Dwarves in Rakkam act this way when they saw me?”
“Your majesty, I believe they were too embarrassed by the fact that you were not one of the Children of the Earth to tell you that you were the rightful ruler.”
“Probably because they didn’t actually see you use the power of the earth, or whatever it is that you did just now.” Corvo spoke up from where he was trying to select a pastry. “I think this is one of those hidden conditions that the average person would never discover. You know how all the things in this game seem to be secretly tied together? This is one of those secret ties. Modern Dwarves wouldn’t necessarily recognize it, but these Stone Legion people have been around for thousands of years. Potentially tens of thousands. Plus, weren’t they super friendly to you? They pretty much gave you the run of the city and let you keep Flamespire Fortress even though they pretty much kicked all the other guilds out of the Deepworld.”
“The esteemed Child of Life is correct.” Drada nodded at Corvo before continuing. “It is a matter of shame for the Stone Heart to fall into the possession of another race.”
“Ugh. This is making my head hurt,” Thorn groaned. “What is the difference between being the rightful ruler of the Dwarves, and being the Stone King? One makes you embarrassed and one makes you so happy you’re falling over.”
<
br /> “The Great Forge!” Felph blurted out in a loud voice before catching himself and lapsing into an embarrassed silence.
“Stop.” Standing up, Thorn held out his hands. “If this is a big long quest that requires me to drop everything and go off adventuring somewhere, I’m out. I don’t care, I’m not interested. I have way too much stuff to do here. There are places to be, wars to fight, Children of Life or whatever to save. I am up to my ears in problems and as you can see, that is a whole lot of problems. Not interested.”
The disappointment on the faces of the Dwarves was so palpable Thorn had to avert his gaze.
“Ehem. Please excuse his majesty’s poor joke.” Corvo coughed into his fist while shooting a glare at Thorn. “What he means to say is that even though he is incredibly busy he would be happy to hear about this Great Forge.”
Groaning, Thorn sat back down and glumly waved for Drada to continue. Rubbing her hands together nervously, the Earth Priestess picked up the conversation where Felph had interrupted.
“Your majesty, the Great Forge is the holy land of the Children of the Earth. Sadly, it was lost after the second Stone King was driven out by the Elemental Giants who seized it from my people. The second Stone King was wounded in the war by the leader of the Elemental Giants. It was the third Stone King, Courdum, whose desire to reclaim the Great Forge that led him to create the Stone Legion. Though he attempted to reclaim the Great Forge, he was driven back many times, to the point that he fell into madness and created the [Living Statue] curse in an attempt to cheat death.”
*ding*
Seeing Thorn’s face get even more glum, Corvo burst into laughter.
“Hahaha, I knew it! You got another quest, didn’t you? Ahaha, I’m so glad I joined this ridiculous group. I tell you; life is never dull around you.”
“Not a new quest. An update to one I already have. One that I can’t turn down.”
With a deep sigh, Thorn shared the details of the quest with Corvo. Opening it up, Corvo’s eyebrows rose as he read over it.
“Whew, that’s something, isn’t it?” Scratching his nose, the Avatar of Huginn glanced at Thorn from the corner of his eye before rereading the quest. “You know, the longer I’m around you the more I get the feeling that you are being turned into the final boss. Still, like you said, can’t turn it down so you might as well lean into it.”
“True. But one thing at a time.” Dismissing the quest window, Thorn stood and looked down at the Dwarves from the Stone Legion. “Thank you for your confidence in me. I have a great interest in the Great Forge and would be pleased to lead you to liberate it from the Elemental Giants. Before that, however, I have a laundry list of things that need to be taken care of. I will have Commander Del’har arrange quarters for you. Corvo here is in charge of the valley while I am away and will be assigning work to you.”
“Hey, I thought I was coming to Rasyn?!”
Completely ignoring Corvo’s outburst, Thorn waved to the Dwarves and fled the tent as fast as he could.
“Hey! Thorn!”
“Thank you, your majesty!”
Legion Commander Kavalas called as Thorn disappeared, chased by an Elf in a ragged coat. Left alone with the Dwarves, Commander Del’har coughed into his fist and invited them to follow him back to Moon Wolf Citadel.
Corvo caught up to Thorn outside the camp, but before he could continue arguing, a small flash of red forced him to jump to the side. Bounding out of the woods, Akira jumped through the air, landing on Thorn’s shoulder and hugging his head excitedly.
[Master! Master! I missed you!]
[I missed you too, Akira. How is it going?]
[It's great, master! Ailuridae have the best noses and I am the best Ailuridae, so we found all of them easily. There were even some that tried to hide in some caves, but I found them and then I wacked them with my tail, like this!]
Launching herself off of Thorn’s shoulder, Akira’s small body abruptly expanded until she was her full size. Smashing into the ground with an earth-shaking rumble, she spun around, her tails leaving trails of red flame as they whipped through the air. Scared out of his wits, Corvo dived to the side, barely dodging the attack. Completing her spin, Akira sat up on her haunches. Raising her front claws, she bared her teeth and growled.
[See! That’s what I did, and I scared them so badly they all just fell down.]
[Wow, that is really scary,] Thorn said, doing his best not to laugh as Akira shrunk back down and climbed up his leg. “Corvo, we’ll talk about you coming to Rasyn if you can find someone who can run the guild while you’re gone.”
Leaving Corvo with that ultimatum, Thorn and Akira hurried south to meet up with the rest of the Iron Wolves.
It did not take Thorn long to join the defensive line that had been formed around the old Temple of the Moon. The ten Iron Wolf Battalions had established their perimeter a bit more than a mile out from the ruined temple walls, stationing themselves at regular intervals. Large wolves patrolled the spaces between the battalions in groups of six, their sharp senses preventing the cultists from being able to sneak out. Positioned at the center of the line, Hasta spotted Thorn running over and greeted him with a snappy salute.
“Earl Greymane.”
“I thought I told you to cut that out.” Thorn said.
“You have to say, ‘at ease, commander’, or I’ll be forced to keep saluting.” The grin on Hasta’s face did not match the seriousness of his tone at all.
“I dunno, maybe I should make you continue saluting for being insubordinate.”
*ding*
Reading over the message that Hasta sent him, Thorn paused for a second. His aunt had specifically sent Hasta and the other bodyguards into the game to help him with establishing the Iron Wolf army, and he knew it would be foolish not to take the advice, even if it went against his preference.
“At ease, commander. Your point is taken.” Thorn nodded to show that he accepted Hasta’s rebuke.
“Thank you, my lord.”
“What is the situation?”
“We’ve been stalled here, my lord. As you can see, there is a nasty fog that is preventing us from getting close.” Hasta pointed toward the temple ruins that were covered by a thick corrosive mist that emanated from the cave where Mayari was sealed.
“Hmm.”
Sniffing the air, Thorn could smell that faintly rotten odor that was indicative of the devil’s corruption. Frowning, he walked forward into the mist. As it grew thicker so too did the smell. Reaching out, Thorn could feel the corruption trying to enter into his body as the mist swirled around his hand. A faint tingling on his skin indicated just how corrosive it was, but he could feel the effect of the sap from the World Tree keeping it out. Retreating out of the mist, Thorn thought for a moment and then opened up a call to Mina.
“Hey Thorn, what’s up?”
“Have you checked out this mist?”
“Are you at the blockade? How’d the thing with the Dwarves go?”
“Uh, it was weird. I’ll tell you about it later. Have you tested the effect of the mist?”
“Are you crazy? Someone nearly melted after walking in there. There is no way I am about to go into there.”
“Well, I seem to be immune.”
“Of course you are.”
Ignoring Mina’s eye rolling, Thorn took out a vial of the golden [Sap of the World Tree].
“I think this stuff makes us immune, but I need you or Heidi to test it out for me. You two are the only other people here who have ingested this stuff.”
“Huh, that is an interesting idea. Hold on, let me check it out.”
Without ending the call Mina lifted her wand and waved it, summoning a shimmering field of snow around her body. Tiny flakes of ice glinted in the light, making her sparkle as if her skin was covered in tiny diamonds. Another wave summoned a track of ice under her feet, allowing her to slide forward into the mist.
As she arrived at the edge of the mist the shimmering ice on her s
kin began to dim as it fought against the corrosive effect that the mist carried. Stretching out her hand, Mina allowed the protection on her hand to disappear, leaving her skin exposed. After a moment, her eyes lit up as all she felt was a small tingle. Sliding back out of the mist, Mina dispelled her protective spell with a wave.
“I think you might be right! How much [Sap of the World Tree] do you have?”
“Well, I emptied out the whole pool. We might have to run some tests, but so long as a diluted version works against the mist, we should be able to get everyone some. It will depend on how diluted it can be. Hey, that was a nice defensive spell. I’ve never seen that one.”
“Oh, [Shimmering Snow]? I came up with that the other day. It's got a reflective effect as well so it is better against magic and light-based attacks.”
“Wait, you created it? You can make magic spells?”
“Ice-based ones, yup. I can feel that I’m getting close to mastering my Ice Witch class. Probably just one or two more spells. I’ve been playing around with a freezing curse as well as a large-scale ice storm spell. Something bigger than my [Avalanche] and [Blizzard] combo. Once I nail them down I have a good feeling that I’ll progress.”
“An ice curse? That sounds really interesting. Let me get someone started on testing diluting this sap and then I want to hear more about this.”
Chapter Nineteen
“So, the way it works is pretty simple. Instead of doing direct damage, the curse is a damage over time effect, commonly referred to as DoT, which means it does damage for regular intervals for a given amount of time. In this case, every three seconds, starting from when it is applied, for 45 seconds,” Mina explained, showing Thorn the ability window for [Blistering Chill], her new magic curse. “It also adds two status effects that trigger on alternating ticks, so as soon as it is applied, there is a damage effect, then at one second, it slows the target. At second two, it reduces endurance regen. Second three is damage again, and the whole process cycles fifteen times.