by Matt Forbeck
You are overstepping your bounds.
Wait. What?
Archie looked up at the Orb hovering atop his staff. When he’d first laid hands on it, he’d assumed he was in charge of the artifact. At this point, he wasn’t quite so sure it wasn’t the other way around.
The Orb had often talked about his destiny with him. His fate. That was something he’d never thought of as being in control of before that.
But was the Orb of Dominance controlling him?
It struck Archie that manipulating him wouldn’t be that hard. After all, what did Archie have to lose? His life had been absolutely awful until he’d come across the artifact. Why would he want to argue with the Orb?
Why indeed?
That didn’t make Archie feel any better about it.
He decided to set his doubts aside for now. Or at least he thought he did.
As they drew closer to the village, Archie couldn’t stifle the disquiet in his mind. He began to think about the path that had led him to that point.
He flashed back to the fight with the Undead that Thord had insisted he join. It wasn’t odd for the bully to pick on him like that, but the Illagers generally tried to leave the Undead alone unless they were attacking their camp. After all, it’s not like the Undead had anything the Illagers wanted.
But the Undead had been harassing the Illagers quite a lot before that, up to the point that Walda had decided they needed to be eliminated. That made sense, at least to Archie. You couldn’t just let the mobs pick at the tribe forever.
What seemed incredibly odd, though, was that the Undead had left Archie alive. At the time, he’d ascribed that to incredible luck—something he’d not had much of before, so he’d not been inclined to question it. As rotten as his life had been up to that point, he’d felt like he might have deserved a good turn of fortune by then.
But what if that hadn’t been by chance? What if the Undead had spared his life on purpose?
That seems unlikely.
Archie couldn’t disagree. But it had led to him being banished from the Illager camp, which had set him on the road to the hollow mountain.
Although, not directly. First he’d wound up at the village, with Yumi. He might have carved out a life for himself and stayed there forever—if the heroes hadn’t arrived. More particularly, if he hadn’t run into Smacker again.
That had set him back on the road. But the entire time he’d been on the run, he’d been hounded by the Undead. Every time he’d wanted to relax, they’d been there, groaning and clattering after him, herding him ever farther north.
They’d kept after him, driving him toward the rivers of lava by which he’d fashioned the Fiery Forge. But instead of them surrounding him and killing him, they’d given him room to escape.
Which now seemed like maybe more than lucky.
Why would you question your fortune? It’s all part of your destiny.
That narrow escape had led him directly to the hollow mountain. The spiders had chased him there until he’d had to climb to heights that would have otherwise terrified him. He really hadn’t had a choice.
And that’s what had brought him to the Orb of Dominance.
Archie’s stomach twisted itself into a gigantic knot.
Once he’d fashioned a staff for the Orb and taken it away from the hollow mountain, much of his life had seemed like it was on rails. He’d created Highblock Keep, and then the Orb had encouraged him to attack the village—just like now.
That had gone poorly, which didn’t seem like it could have been part of the plan. Why would his fate be to fail?
Unless it had happened to steer him into the clutches of the Nameless One, the single creature with which the Orb of Dominance needed to negotiate. Without that encounter, Archie wouldn’t have gathered the Undead mobs he needed to distract the heroes, and this attack on the village would have been doomed to fail.
It had all come together so well.
Maybe too well.
Just stick to the plan.
Archie shuddered. Even if his suspicions were correct, what could he do about that? If the Orb had plotted out his movements so well, was there any hope that he could alter their course?
Did he even want to?
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
The Illager army arrived in the hills overlooking the village late the next day. They rallied at a point an easy march from their target, near a low mountain that offered a view of the area all around. Archie had the Redstone Monstrosity set him down, to make sure that no one in the village below might see it, and climbed to the top alone.
From that vantage, Archie could see the torches being lit. Night would soon fall across the land, and the Villagers were preparing for the darkness to come. They had built some new fortifications around the place, but they weren’t much more than low walls. The redstone golems would be able to make quick work of them, Archie thought.
Peering down at the place, he could see Yumi’s home, but he didn’t spy any sign that she was in it. He hoped that something might have called her out of the village, although he didn’t imagine that he could possibly be that lucky.
He gazed up at the Orb of Dominance hovering atop his staff. Finding it had probably used up all of his spare luck for the rest of his life—both good and bad.
He turned his attention to the horizon and spotted exactly what he was looking for: Four dark columns of smoke smudged the edges of the sky.
Walda had done her job well.
Wearing a smile of grim satisfaction, Archie focused once more upon the village, which now stood entirely in shadow. Lots of Villagers roamed about down there, mostly returning to their homes after long hours of whatever they spent the bulk of their days doing. They seemed entirely unconcerned with anything happening outside of their boundaries, as if nothing could touch them while they were together.
As far as Archie could tell, no heroes walked the streets among the Villagers. With luck, the ones whose homes Walda had attacked had brought Smacker along with them to help them out, taking him out of the picture as well. Either way, the place seemed relatively abandoned.
Behind him, a little way down the far side of the slope, the Illagers were growing restless. Archie could hear them starting to chant. They sensed the big fight about to come, and they were spoiling for it.
He realized he didn’t feel the same way. As he gazed down at the village, he wondered why he’d ever wanted to attack it in the first place.
Maybe it was part of being an Illager, which meant you weren’t generally allowed into villages in the first place. That was, of course, because the Illagers tended to attack the Villagers and pillage whatever they could find. Their way of life was built on that cycle of beating other people up and claiming their things—which the Villagers understandably didn’t care for.
It was one thing to raid a village though. Tonight, if all went well, Archie and his army would destroy it. After tonight, the name of the Arch-Illager would be known far and wide, and it would cause those who heard it to tremble in their shoes.
The last time Archie had been here, about to attack the village, the thought of that happening would have delighted him. Now he hesitated.
Could he just walk away from all this? Could he send everyone home and then make his way down to the village and find Yumi’s house in the dark? Did he really have to become the legend he was supposedly fated to be?
Yes.
“You’re not going to give me a choice?” Archie bristled at the idea that the Orb of Dominance would overtly control him like that. Could it just grab him and use him like a puppet?
You don’t want a choice.
To Archie’s absolute horror, he realized he didn’t. He was comfortable—if not actually happy—about following the path fate had carved out for him. Even if the Orb was the primary instrument of that fate.
After all, he was the Arch-Illager, soon to be the ruler of all the land. That was a position he would never have dreamed of achieving on his own. He hadn’t even aspired to becoming the leader of his own tribe before this.
But was that true? Did he really have the ambition to transform himself into the Arch-Illager? Or had the Orb of Dominance simply planted that thought in his mind?
Archie honestly couldn’t tell.
Does it really matter?
It bothered him to even admit to confusion about that point. Like it or not, he was fated to be the Arch-Illager.
In fact, he had already become the Arch-Illager. Now all he had to do was play that part the best he could manage.
He turned and walked back down the far side of the slope to where his army was waiting for him. Their chanting had become louder and louder, rising to a fever pitch.
Some of them toted torches to light their way through the darkness. Others carried blue banners that marked them all as members of the Arch-Illager’s army. One and all wore faces twisted with ginned-up anger and the lust for battle.
“Arch-Ill-a-ger!” they shouted. “Arch-Ill-a-ger!”
They were ready. There was no need for a speech.
Archie stood on a rock before them and gazed down at them all. He’d never felt such power. Such pride.
He’d melded the Illagers into the greatest fighting force the land had ever seen. Together with his redstone golems and his secret weapon—the Redstone Monstrosity—nothing could stand against them. They had become an insatiable war machine, one that needed constant feeding to grow—and new foes to fight. Without such things, the entire affair would implode and collapse atop Archie’s dreams, smashing them flat.
Along with himself.
He almost wished the heroes were hiding in the village, waiting for them. Then he could have crushed them then and there, once and for all.
Instead, he would have to be satisfied with destroying the entire village as a warning to them. One that would keep them away until he was prepared to defeat them all.
Archie held his staff high, the Orb of Dominance glowing like a small sun on top of it. He waited for a moment, savoring the tension in those final seconds before the battle began. Then he thrust the staff forward, toward the village, and his army launched itself on its mission of utter destruction.
The Illagers roared in anticipation of the thrill of the upcoming battle as they charged down the path that would lead them straight into the village. The redstone golems followed in their wake. They moved more slowly than the Illagers—silent but for their booming footsteps—but they stood twice as tall, so their longer legs helped them keep up.
Archie resumed his position on the head of the Redstone Monstrosity. That meant he wound up leading from the rear, but he decided he was okay with that. He could direct the redstone golems and the other Illagers better when he could see where they were heading and what they were up against.
As the army rounded the edge of the hill, Archie was pleased to see that the Villagers still weren’t ready for the attack at all. A couple of them were patrolling the perimeter, keeping their eyes peeled for threats, but they were on the opposite side of the village. They wouldn’t reach the bells in the center of the village to sound the alarm before the Illagers crashed into the place like a tidal wave.
Archie smiled. He couldn’t have planned this any better.
The Illagers reached the village in no time flat. The first of them simply ran around the fortifications the Villagers had slapped up, swarming their way into the streets. The rest of them waited for the redstone golems to arrive moments behind them and begin knocking those defenses to the ground.
By the time Archie and the Redstone Monstrosity caught up with them, the golems had cracked the defenses in half. Archie pointed the monstrosity straight at the walls, and it shattered them into rubble with a swing of its gigantic fists.
The nearby Illagers roared in triumph as Archie and his redstone creatures stomped into the village. The fleeter-footed Illagers poured past their gigantic compatriots and began the attack in earnest.
Illagers took torches and tossed them into the Villagers’ homes, flushing them out with flames. When the Villagers emerged—dazed and confused by the terrifying assault—the Illagers grabbed them and began rounding them up as prisoners. No one was safe.
Archie cackled in triumph as the battle ramped up, the screams of Villagers echoing in his ears. He spotted Salah emerging from his home and glancing all around, astonished at how quickly the village’s defenses had fallen. He looked like he might drop dead of surprise alone.
Archie didn’t blame him. The previous attack had gone so poorly that the Villagers must have felt themselves relatively safe. If reports of the Undead mobs attacking the heroes’ homes had reached the village, Salah had probably figured the village was at least safe from assaults from that corner.
That likely explained why the Villagers on patrol had let their guard down. They were ringing the bells now, alerting the few Villagers who weren’t yet aware of the threat to their lives, but they were far too late to do anything to stop it.
Archie pointed the Redstone Monstrosity toward Salah. He wanted to see the look on the Villager’s face when he saw who it was that was going to seal his doom.
The Villagers barely put up a fight. They seemed too shocked by the destruction flowing through their streets to be able to do more than either gawk at the invaders or flee before them. One by one, they were swept up by the Illager horde.
“That one is mine!” Archie shouted as he pointed his staff at Salah.
The rest of the Illagers parted before him, giving him plenty of room. The redstone golems went off in search of other targets.
Salah goggled at Archie and the Redstone Monstrosity beneath him with eyes widened by absolute terror. He fell to his knees as his legs gave out beneath him. He looked like he wanted to run, but he couldn’t figure out a way to persuade his legs to get started.
As the Redstone Monstrosity towered over Salah, Archie slid down the creature’s arm and landed crisply in front of the cowering Villager. He strode up to the shivering man, using his staff as a walking stick, until he was standing right over him.
“Hello,” Archie said. “Remember me?”
Salah nodded, unable to get his tongue to work. He looked like he might freeze up and fall over at any second.
Archie leaned over and smirked at him. “Looks like you were right about me after all. I am a danger to the village. I am, in fact, going to take you all and press you into work in my mines.”
Salah’s lips began trembling. If he had something to say, it was warring with his need to start sobbing instead.
“Archie!” a familiar voice said from somewhere over his shoulder. “What are you doing?”
Archie turned around to see Yumi storming toward him. She had no iron golem with her this time—it must have been destroyed already—but the other Illagers all gave way before her, just as Archie had ordered them to. He might have to destroy the village, but he wasn’t about to let her be harmed if he could help it.
“Hello, Yumi. I’ve missed you.”
That bare sentiment expressed in the middle of a raging battle stopped Yumi in her tracks. She stared at him, uncomprehending. “What? After all you’ve done, you have the gall to talk to me like that?” She gaped in horror at the Redstone Monstrosity behind Archie and then at the destruction happening all around her. “Like we’re still friends? Are you insane?”
Archie motioned for the Redstone Monstrosity to move off to give them space and then gave her a helpless shrug. “If you want to blame someone, blame him.” He pointed at Salah. “If he hadn’t worked so hard to get me kicked out of the village, I might still be here, and the whole place might still be standing come morning.”
Yumi gaped at him in d
ismay. “You can’t do this. Please. I beg you. Just leave us alone.”
“Look around you.” Archie gestured toward the entire village, which was ablaze in more places than it was not. “It’s already done.”
She looked as if she was about to cry. “I trusted you. I took you in.”
Her sense of absolute betrayal tugged at Archie’s heart. He wanted nothing more than to call a halt to the entire invasion. To take her away from all this. Or maybe to just make peace with the village—with her in charge of it.
It is too late.
Archie couldn’t argue with that. It was too late for the village. But for her?
It’s too late for her—and for you.
An agonized grimace creased Archie’s face. “Get out of here,” he said to Yumi. “Take whoever you can with you. My army has orders not to stop you.”
She opened her mouth to protest, but he cut her off.
“Still, accidents can happen. Do your best to not become one.”
Yumi started to say something again—to snarl at him, perhaps, to chew him out—but this time she shut herself up. She screwed up her lips in disappointment and dismay and gave him one last disgusted shake of her head.
Then she turned and was gone.
Archie felt the last of his hopes of ever standing up to the influence of the Orb of Dominance flee with her. If the best friend he’d ever had couldn’t believe in his inherent goodness after everything he’d done, how could he?
He turned back toward Salah then and saw that the Villager was trying to slink away. “Hold it right there,” Archie said to him. “I’m not done with you yet.”
“Hey!” an obnoxious voice called out. “I’m not done with you!”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Archie turned to see Smacker standing in the center of the village, his sword out and ready. The hero had apparently not gone off with the others to see who had attacked their homes. Instead he’d stayed behind, either to protect the village or because he was simply too lazy to leave it.