Realm at the Edge of the multiverse

by B G Mitchell

  “Take the captain and his soldier to Mayli. I am sure she can find good use for five hundred heavily armed dwarves.” The conscript nodded and rushed off, followed by five hundred dwarfs. Lucinda sighed. This is what it had come to. Dwarf and Dark Elf fighting side by side.

  As they entered the city, Gary and the dark elf who had introduced herself as Althenian and had been freed from her chains stopped and looked over the city. There was smoke arising as Bloodhammer looked up, a smile on his face. He pointed to the floor. “A column of dwarves came this way, no doubt to reinforce the city. Come.” He turned down and rushed down the road, followed by Thoergerod and Gary and the Dark Elf, struggling to keep up with Bloodhammer.

  Once they reached the compound where it seemed like there were more elves, at least elves with crossbows, suddenly a Dark Elf wearing a fine breast plate and a chain male skirt rushed out of the compound and embraced Althenian. Althenian returned the embrace and again began to cry as Gary recognised the elf as one of the ringleaders when he first arrived.

  She then spoke. “By the goddess, sister, how are you? It is good to have you back.” She wiped away a tear as Gary heard a loud thud off in the distance.

  “Outside is not safe. Come inside,” shouted the dark elf as they rushed into the safety of the compound. Gary did not need to be told twice as he followed closely behind. In the compound he was met by a group of stretchers laid on the floor, some with wounded dark elves in them, others covered by a simple blood stained sheet. She ushered them in to another room which had a solid wooden desk as well as a stand with many glass bottles and beakers about that looked to Gary like an old time chemistry set.

  “I am sorry, but are there dwarves here?”

  “Yes,” replied the Dark Elf who had sat her sister down and started examining her like a doctor would. “What happened to her?”

  “Apparently,” replied Gary, “she was to be the avatar for Zateria.”

  The elf put a hand to her mouth in shock. “Well, at least she is safe now.” She turned to Gary. “I assume you and your friends saved my sister from this fate?” She turned her back to her sister who simply nodded her confirmation. She then continued. “My name is Lucinda, leader of this city, and I thank you for rescuing my sister.”

  Bloodhammer then spoke. “Saving one Dark elf is fine, but if there are dwarves fighting, I do not want to be left behind. I am joining the battle.”

  Gary sighed. He had not had a bath in a while, his feet hurt, and he had not had a chance to use his laptop or his new internet connection, but he knew it was the right thing to do. It was apparently after all his city. He pulled his sword out and looked at the dried blood on it. He turned to Thoergerod, who nodded and smiled. “Well, I knew I was saving my fireball spell for something special.”

  “Hold on a sec,” replied Gary. “You had a fireball spell all this time and did not use it?” Thoergerod smiled. “Fireball spells and small spaces don’t mix, or rather they mix too well, and they mix anyone who happens to be in the radius.”

  Gary sighed and glanced once more at his blood stained sword. He put his backpack down which contained the laptop and the crystal then left the room, dreading what he was going to find.

  Sylvania felt Lathenia gently stroke her hair. She had fallen in and out of sleep, feeling way too comfortable to move. She was currently still in Lathenia’s bed, enjoying the soft mattress, the silken sheets, and Lathenia’s company. She heard a knock at the door, and Lathenia slowly climbed out of the bed, waking Sylvania from her half dreaming state. She blinked a couple of times and admired Lathenia as she put on a dressing gown and cracked open the bedroom, poking her head out and spoke briefly.

  Sylvania assumed it was elven military business and did not bother to listen, instead stealing one of Lathenia’s undefended pillows and trying to get more shut eye. The door closed and Lathenia sat down on the bed, clutching a piece of paper. Sylvania, sensing Lathenia’s mood change, crawled up beside her and put her hands on Lathenia shoulders. She turned and smiled at Sylvania and then spoke slowly and in a rather formal tone. “We have just got word an orc army has attack Narderba and the dwarves are sending in reinforcements.”

  Sylvania felt part of her world crumble. Yes, they were expecting the attack, but to hear it happen and she was not there, part of her panicked what about her sister, and she felt tired and helpless. Lathenia grabbed her in a hug, and she held on tight to Lathenia.

  As he ran through the Dark elf city toward the sounds of moans and screams and the clash of weapons, he thought he was mad to be heading towards such violence, but when he turned and saw Thoergerod next to him, at least he was with other people who could be mad as well. He stopped next a group of dwarves as well as some elves. Bloodhammer went up to one who looked like he was in charge and shook his hand.

  “Tankarda, I assume our part of the relief force. How are you doing?”

  “Well enough, old friend, well enough.” He nodded to an elven female with short white hair and a scar on her cheek. “This is Mayli, the elf in charge of defence, and so far thanks to her all the gains the orcs made have cost them drearily. We are about to launch a counter attack to see if we can retake one of the barricades. I assume you wouldn’t mind joining us?”

  Bloodhammer nodded and tightened the grip on his axe as Gary noticed that Mayli had in her hands one of the elf flintlocks and wished he had one, as Mayli went over the plan. “Right, we shall fire at the barricade while you lot head down the side street, and you should be able to break in to a back alley door and storm the barricade.”

  Tankard moved to the alley, followed by Bloodhammer, both of which seemed to be too happy about this. As Gary followed into the alley and he was followed by about twenty more dwarves, Thoergerod had stayed at the barricade and was already warming up a fireball spell. He heard the distinct bangs of a black powder weapons and a loud whoosh as a fireball spell made its way down the street. As they crept down the alley, which did not smell at all that pleasant, he thanked whoever was listing that the lack of any good light meant he could not see what he was stepping in. They stopped briefly as Tankarda held up his hand next to a crossroads. He checked the corner to make sure no one noticed them, then sprinted across, followed by the rest of the group, and after about a hundred yards they exited the alley and came to another long street. Tankarda pointed at their target: a door which was boarded up. It was about a foot above ground, level a couple of dwarves smashed into the door hard with their axes, causing it to buckle as the rest got on each side of the door. Again there was the bang of black powder weapons and another whoosh. Gary could hear the moans of the wounded on the other side as well as the crackling of burning wood.

  The dwarves swung their heavy axes at the door again, this time smashing in a couple of holes and, out of one of those holes flew an arrow hitting a wall and smashing to pieces. This did not deter the dwarves who swung again at the door, breaking it in half. Once they had done that, another arrow flew through the air, narrowly missing one of the dwarves as they rushed for cover. Another couple of dwarves then took up positions besides the damaged door and poked their crossbows through the gaps in the door. They pulled the trigger, firing blindly, but were rewarded with a scream of pain as another couple of dwarves in full armour and wielding a heavy battle axes rushed past them, smashing the remaining bits of door as they went and causing more screams of pain.

  Gary followed Bloodhammer as the group rushed into the room. Inside the room was a broken wooden table and a wooden staircase leading up to a second story which had a couple of orc corpses lying. Most of the pots or any other stuff was either broken or looted. The dwarves had managed to smash into the other room as Gary followed Bloodhammer up the stairs. An orc archer was making his way down and was hit in the side of his leg by Bloodhammer’s axe. Since he was within range, Gary stabbed straight up into the albino orc’s throat and pulled his sword out, allowing the body to drop and to be kicked off the stairs by Bloodhammer’s boot.

 
; At the second floor there were a couple of more archers. They turned, and one shot an arrow at Gary, which hit the wall behind harmlessly, and the other arrow ended up all the way above Bloodhammer’s head, no doubt expecting a taller opponent. He took advantage of this by running straight towards the confused orc and swinging his axe right into the orc’s torso, causing him to hold his side in shock and gibber before falling down to the ground in a pool of blood. Gary’s opponent dropped his bow and made a grab for his sword, but Gary managed to launch a boot into his solar plexus, giving him enough time to let out a scream of rage as he brought down his sword on the poor orc’s skull, cracking it with a loud smack and causing the orc to fall down dead.

  He looked at the body and part of his mind thought how human the orcs looked, but that part was quickly told to shut up. This was war. Bloodhammer gently kicked him and pointed up another set of stairs leading to the roof which Bloodhammer then rushed towards, followed by Gary, bloody sword in hand. When they reached the top, they found that any station there had long since fled. He looked down on the street below and could see the dwarves were now in full battle with their orcish foes as the Dark elfves came up the street to reinforce their new comrades.

  He rushed down the stairs, followed by Bloodhammer and found himself surprisingly eager to join the battle. Once he got out of the door, he sent his sword flying into the first orc neck he could find. Luckily, the orc was busy engaging a dwarf and did not notice the attack until it was too late. He did not even check that the orc was dead as he moved on to his next orc, who this time had the gall to notice him and swung his sword at him which he managed to block with his own sword. He then sent a boot flying right in between the orc’s legs, causing the orc to let out a howl of pain and allowing Gary to disengage his sword and swing it straight up into the orc’s chest, pointy bit first, causing more blood to flow down his already bloodied blade. The orc to let out a gurgle and expired.

  Good, he thought to himself, this was too easy. As he looked for another target, it presented itself as a larger orc, this time with a nicer sword as well as a heavy looking, round, metal shield and a breast plate on his chest, and he was making his way towards the orc with a look of cold rage in his black eyes. He swung his sword at Gary, causing him to step back. He ducked the next swing and sent his sword up into the chest, only to hit the shield. The orc easily batted the sword away, causing Gary to almost drop it. Using this distraction, the orc then swung his sword at Gary, exposed arm cutting in deep to his left shoulder.

  Gary unleashed a howl of pain in response, feeling the pain burn up his left arm. The orc then stabbed his sword straight into Gary’s chest. He felt numb for a second and found it difficult to breath. He looked for help and realised that he had strayed away from the barricade and there was now a group of orcs blocking the Dwarf and Elven path to him. He then saw Bloodhammer’s eyes and by the look on his face he could tell that it was bad as Bloodhammer fought desperately to get to him, but it was too late as he felt blackness engulf him.

  As his axe bit into anther orc’s flesh, Bloodhammer roared in rage. There was no doubt Gary was dead, and he had let a battle rage take him as he felt the anger flow through his veins. He swung again at another orc, trying to clear a path to his fallen friend, only to see the large orc pick up Gary, fling him over his shoulder, and walk back past his fellow orcs towards the orc camp.

  He ducked another orc sword and swung his axe up, hitting the orc in his chest and causing it to collapse on the floor once. The logical part of his brain then pointed out that the orcs had not taken anyone else, so why Gary? He swung his axe at another orc who got in his way, this time severing the orc’s sword arm, he then swung up into the midriff of the orc. He then heard more shouts and the remaining orcs started to run as he noticed the dwarves start to surround him.

  He looked back towards the broken barricade and saw the elves lining up with their flintlocks and fired, sending the line of fleeing orcs falling. He then proceeded to run towards the orcs but was stopped when he felt a hand grab his shoulder.

  He turned, and it was Tankarda. “Let them flee.”

  “But,” replied Bloodhammer, “they have Gary. He might still be alive.”

  Tankarda shook his head slowly. “I am afraid not no one could survive a hit like that.”

  Bloodhammer dropped the head of his axe to the floor. The logical part of his brain, once it had checked for orcs, knew Tankarda was right. He sighed and got a pat on his back by Tankarda. He then spoke his thoughts aloud. “Why would they want his body?”

  “Who knows? But we will avenge him and get his body back.”

  Bloodhammer nodded and picked up his axe. He walked towards the freshly reinforced barricade where he saw Thoergerod, who looked at him.

  “Hey, where is Gary?”

  He just shook his head and then decided he needed an explanation and spoke as if he was trying to convince himself as well. “He was too far behind the orc lines for me to reach him in time, and he met what I suspect was an orc captain. He didn’t stand a chance.” He then spoke rather loudly as he put his axe over his shoulder. “The bastards even took his body.”

  Thoergerod sighed and then looked at Bloodhammer with a shocked expression as he spoke the thought that came to his mind. “They could use his body to try and get his soul which they could pump for information, but that would take quite powerful magic. Something I doubt orcs such as these would have access to.”

  “Well,” replied Bloodhammer. “When we find the orc captain, we will find out what he exactly wants to do with Gary.” He picked up his axe and slung it over his shoulder with as much determination as he could muster.

  Lucinda gave the still bubbling potion to Althenian who took it without a word. They were currently in her potions room. Althenian downed it in one shot. She then put the bottle down and said in a rather distant voice, “You know, sister, you were always good at brewing potions.”

  Lucinda put a hand up to her chin and noticed another bruise. She sighed and turned Althenian’s cheek as she said, “What have they done to you?”

  Althenian replied rather slowly. “Apparently to be an avatar they have to tear at any personality of the former host.”

  She looked at Althenian and could see her eyes tear up again. She then said in a whisper, “I am sorry. I was wrong. Zateria has led us down the wrong path, she has turned into a brutal leader and a tyrant not worthy of our worship.” She grabbed her sister and hugged her as she heard her sob and patted her gently on the back. She heard a knock on the door. She let her sister go to sit down on a wooden chair as she said, “Enter.”

  In stepped Mayli, carrying her musket with her and smelling slightly of gunpowder and smoke. She performed a quick half bow before saying, “We have captured one barricade, and the orcs no longer seem to be making any advances. I think they are running out of steam, but the southern quarter of the city is still occupied.”

  Lucinda wished she could have the report in writing, but this would have to do. “How are our dwarvern allies doing?”

  “A big help,” replied Mayli. “Thanks to them we have the barricade, and they make excellent shock troops. So far, casualties with them are light. The bad news to report is that they did lose a man. The human that had rescued Althenian. He was killed by a large orc. For some reason they have taken his body. We suspect they may use it to see if they can talk to his soul.”

  “That takes very powerful magic,” replied Lucinda. “But let us not forget the orcs have demon allies. Are there any reports of those in the city?”

  “Not at all,” replied Mayli. “In fact, they’re strangely absent, and thankfully the only magic we have come across is the typical group of orc shamans.”

  Lucinda just nodded. It was her one worry, especially with demons. She then spoke aloud. “Odd they are not on the frontlines.”

  Mayli nodded. “Well, I am thankful for small miracles such as this.”

  Lucindia looked at her sister who seemed to be o
n the verge of crying again. She did not know the human, and it was rather ironic that he would die in defence of the city, especially after she had let him live and exiled him, possibly a good human if he survived so long with the dwarves and there where many unanswered questions.

  She looked at her sister again. She had been given better clothes, which consisted of a white shirt and black pants as well as a bath, but part of her still looked rather weak and tired. She then turned to Mayli and said, “Thanks for that report, I better get back to brewing. I imagine more potions will be needed soon.”

  Mayli nodded and left the room, leaving Lucinda to gather the ingredients for more healing potions as her sister sat there in silence, seemly lost by her thoughts.

  The demon, Gilgamar, sat in his chair and looked down at the dead body the orc had put before him. He then spoke. “This does look like the human wanted be the new...” He paused for a second as if collecting his thoughts. “New mistress,” he continued with a grimace. He kicked the body a little. “I find it hard to believe you so easily defeated a man being looked for by a goddess and killer of a demon king, but it does look like him.” He picked up the body with one hand and slung it over his shoulder. There were many demons looking forward to getting their hands on his soul. He just hoped that the human did not earn the favour of any powerful god or goddess, as that could make things tricky.

  He took the body over to the pentagram carved into the floor, and the grooves filled with sacrificial blood (sacrificial blood for demon magic is rather like oil for cars. Not enough and the journey won’t be as smooth and you could damage the spell. It is also a good idea to get your spell checked after every five hundred uses). He muttered an ancient incitation, and a rift opened up, causing the room to spin as he was flung from this world into a room covered in blood red stone and also with a pentagram carved into the floor. He nodded to a succubus who was guarding the doorway out of the room and walked past her, out in to a large hallway with the body in tow.