by N H Paxton
I blew through a million emotions while hanging there for what felt like hours. I felt the terror of death creeping over me again, that fear of the unknown and unforgiving place that would eventually spit me back out into the living world.
I smelled strange scents, like the blood and gunpowder from my father’s suicide. They filled my nostrils, riling the bile in my stomach.
I felt the touch of fire all around me, and for an instant I thought I was burning alive. Every nerve in my body was screaming to maintain connection with my brain.
My arm brushed against something cold and hard at my side. I must have dropped my hand in an acceptance of death. I willed my hand to work, forced it to wrap around the object. I recognized the feel of it—it was my Everdark Autobow.
I slowly raised my hand, the crossbow already loaded. I would have to congratulate myself later for being prepared. Darvis was too busy trying to crush my skull to realize that I had brought up another weapon. It was heavy and hard to control. My mind refused to focus.
I pursed my lips, trying to speak, but my head was pounding so hard I couldn’t get the words out. I mouthed a phrase in Russian: Idti goret v adu.
“Oh, last words? Speak before I crush that stupid skull of yours.” His grip released just enough for me to get a clear thought out, and to raise the crossbow to his eye.
“Burn in hell.” I pulled the trigger as fear shot through his face, and his good eye widened for just a moment before being punched through by a Crossbow Bolt +1. The back of his head split with a sickening schlick as pieces of brain tumbled out.
His grip relaxed and I fell to the ground, unable to keep myself on my feet. Darvis’s body collapsed next to me, his fear-stricken features frozen on his dead face. I stared into his dead eyes for a moment before righting myself.
“Ah,” I gasped as I rubbed the side of my head with my good arm, the other still a solid twenty seconds from being usable again. I looked down at the dead Risi, whose body was just beginning to vanish. “Will have terrible headache in morning.”
I downed another Health regen potion, chucked the empty bottle behind me, then leaned against a wall. I pulled a cigarette from my bag, lit it, and took a slow, refreshing drag. I blew it out as I stared at the smoke-filled sky, the ash falling like snow in Russia.
“All of this,” I said to myself. “Taking of Rowanheath, destroying Imperial stronghold.” I took another puff, letting the smoke suffuse my lungs. “Crimson Alliance is insane. Crazy bastard says will take Rowanheath and succeeds. This Vlad can live with, and is just beginning.” I took another long drag from the cigarette, burning the paper down to my fingers. “Vlad will help Crimson Alliance burn everything to dust.”
I dropped my cigarette on the ground, kicked myself to a standing position, and recollected Gamma from the alleyway. I slung it over my shoulder and walked back into the main roads of the city.
There is Resentment in Purpose...
I STOOD IN THE CITY square, quietly contemplating the current situation of our conquest of Rowanheath when a message pinged in my ear.
<<<>>>
Personal Message - AA Missive 005
Vlad,
Your intentional misdirection of Imperial forces and the resulting conquest of Rowanheath, the most heavily fortified Imperial stronghold in Southern Eldgard, constitutes treason. There will be repercussions that will cause you to suffer greatly, and at a considerable expense.
Consider yourself marked for termination.
You have one chance to atone for your gross disobedience:
Provide information regarding the number of soldiers, as well as the movements thereof, the armored capacity, and the siege capabilities of the Crimson Alliance. Should you fail to accomplish this task, a wetworks team will be dispatched to act upon our determined punishment.
We are watching.
Stay Strong. Stay Wise. Stay Vigilant.
—Almaz-Antev Weaponeers
<<<>>>
Almaz-Antev always had a way of making me feel so welcomed in Eldgard, what with their incredibly cheerful and joyous messages. I shook my head. “Vlad thinks not.”
“Lord Vlad!” Anya’s voice was chipper, as usual, as she practically skipped across the city square. I sighed in resignation. There was no way I was going to be able to keep them from calling me that.
“Have told you, is not lord. Is just Vlad. Vlad.”
“Yeah, well, I don’t care.” Garret’s armor was looking worse for wear as he approached, his great axe hefted over his shoulder. He sounded exhausted.
“Whole Ebenguard is here, fighting is over?” I raised an eyebrow at Ken and Eberand, who wandered over.
“Well, most of the fires have been put out, and there are still a couple pockets of Imperial resistance, but the city guards are getting that all sorted out. It’s definitely nice to have them on our side instead of fighting against them.” Eberand spoke quickly, almost excitedly.
“We took down a couple stragglers, nothing major. What about you, bossman?” Ken leaned against a nearby barrel that had somehow managed to avoid the fires. “Whoa!” He tripped a bit when the barrel started to roll over, but he caught himself before falling.
“You don’t have to try to be the comedic relief, dude.” Eberand clapped Ken on the shoulder, a broad smile plastered on his face.
“What’s the next order, Lord Vlad?” Anya, with the lord thing again. She looked at me with respect and something deeper that I couldn’t quite figure out.
“Need to find Chief Kolle, get back to Yunnam, debrief, then sleep.” I yawned hard, despite my best efforts to avoid doing it.
“Oh, is that the big necromancer dude? He’s a bit north of here. We can get there pretty quickly.” Ken darted off into the darkness of the night, his body naturally blending into the shadows.
“And now guide is gone. Feels familiar.”
I looked at the sky; the smoke was starting to thin out and the stars were peeking through the haze. It was gorgeous, like the Darklight Parks we had in Russia where no lights were allowed within twenty kilometers. I rubbed the stubble that had started to grow thick on my jaw. I was never blessed with the ability to grow facial hair on Earth. Now, I wasn’t sure how I felt about it.
“Nah, he’s just being Ken. Come on, it’s not far.” Garret led the way, his heavy boots clanking hard against the stones as we traveled through the now ruined city.
We all kept pace, following after the elusive Ken, whom Garret said he could see, but I was sure he couldn’t. Anya kept close to me the whole time, almost too close, but her presence was reassuring. And, to be fair, I didn’t mind having her close. I was starting to grow fond of her, in more ways than one.
“Lord Vlad?” Her voice had a lovely cadence; it danced in my ears. Wait, hold on, why am I thinking this way?
“What is?” I nodded as I spoke, letting her know I had heard her question.
“You’re staring at me.” Her face had turned slightly red, bringing out the color of her purple eyes, which I just now had noticed.
“Oh, eh, ah...” I coughed a little as I fought off embarrassment. I didn’t think I had been staring that long, but maybe I had.
“Hey, lovebirds!” Eberand had turned around and yelled from the front of the pack. “Maybe you guys could keep up the pace a little? Maybe get a room later, once we’re safe?” He high-fived Garret as they both laughed.
“We are no such thing. Ugh, boys.” Anya started walking faster, her pace now faster than my own. Maybe I was taking her signs wrong? She didn’t seem interested, based on her words.
“Oh, come on, we’re just messing around.” Garret waved back to us as he continued to walk.
“Ebenguard is full of jokes.” I sighed as I increased my speed to be sure I wasn’t left behind.
We walked for another twenty minutes before arriving at the area Ken had spoken of. The camp was just outside the city gates and consisted of a large collection of various fighting forces, some standing in lines while othe
rs were milling about. A few of them had prisoners on the ground, their hands bound behind their backs.
Off to one side, with a large contingency of undead roaming about, was Chief Kolle. His armor was molded from bones, yellow and aged, and his helmet was a skull of some kind of long-dead beast. I approached him with caution, not entirely certain what to say or do. After all, before I had made the mobile Arcane Shadow Cannons, he was exceedingly suspicious of me.
“Chief.” I joined the circle of people, nodding as I took a spot.
“Ah, and there is the man of the hour.” Chief Kolle walked over and grasped my hand, clasping my shoulder with the other. “We may have lost many a man to the battle, but we would have lost many more had your cannons not been present!”
“I only did work.” I shook my head, as I didn’t like receiving compliments.
“Nonsense! You made the shadow cannons mobile, you gave us our greatest tactical advantage short of climbing the walls yourself!” There was an unusually large smile on his face, which made me further uncomfortable.
“Yeah, those cannons were a sight ta behold. I thought fer sure we’d get through the walls with ’em too.” A burly Dwarf wearing a set of splint mail armor stood next to Chief Kolle. His beard was incredible, twirling and braided in a myriad of places. It had patches of gray in the black, and here and there small tokens were intertwined with the hair.
“Vlad is thankful for compliments, but is not, eh how to say, solo accomplishment.” I looked down at the ground, my face a slightly burning red. “Had great help from good people.” I didn’t want them to think I had done all of the work on my own. I was part of a team, and that team deserved recognition as well.
“Yes, the engineering crews. They spoke very highly of you. One of them said you manned a cannon on your own before rushing the wall, taking out several high-priority targets, and then destroying a giant Armored Karvalos.” Chief Kolle crossed his arms against his chest, a bit of a smirk on his lips.
“Was not so glorious.” I shook my head. I honestly couldn’t remember everything I had done during the fight. I knew that I had almost died—twice—and had used some kind of extremely powerful ability that started a really long cooldown. I also remembered seeing Alvinoth, having him save me for a second time, and still not being sure of who or what he was.
“The troops are saying otherwise.” A gentleman wearing robes that were in a drab coloration, almost like military garb, spoke up. His accent defined him as Asian of some kind, though I couldn’t place his dialect. He had a grim look on his face. He reminded me of a tactician I had once met, years ago.
“Story from soldier is like listening to fish tale, yes?” The situation was becoming dire; I didn’t want people to think I was a great warrior or anything. I just wanted to be an Alchemic Weaponeer, making amazing things and doing what I loved to do.
“I suppose that’s true. But I imagine that you are tired. We are going to be heading back to Yunnam soon, by way of portal. Surely you are ready for some rest.” Chief Kolle suddenly looked to be exhausted. He almost imperceptibly slumped, the sign of a man who was very done with a day.
“Yes,” I admitted. “Vlad is quite tired, need to sleep.” I noticed that I had recently received the third tier debuff of Tired—I was having a hard time focusing on important things.
I sat on the ground, flopping onto my ass like it was a pillow. Granted, the pillow was made of fat and bone and now pain since I had fallen rather hard. I let my head hang low as I thought about all of the things that had been accomplished in twenty-four hours: I had successfully modified a dozen Arcane Shadow Cannons, augmented the Ebenguard’s weapons, sieged a powerful stronghold, and ultimately captured, albeit indirectly, the most powerful Imperial city in the South.
“Time to rest?” Anya stood before me, staring down at my fatigued form. Her stance was at once curious and adorable. She sat down next to me, her armor clanking as she landed.
“Soon, will go back to Yunnam, will have proper rest. And proper food.” I curled my knees up to my chest, wrapping them in my arms. I felt a cold chill run along my body, the dampness of the early morning getting to me.
“That’s a good thing. I would love a nice long rest.” She mimicked my sitting position, letting out a sigh as she grabbed her own legs.
“Will be good, hopefully can get back to work.” I already had a plan in my head for what I wanted to do once we got back to real life. I was hoping that this experience, this intense siege, was not, in fact, everyday life.
“What kind of work?” She laid her head on her knees, looking over at me. She looked very young, but very wise. Her eyes held secrets.
“Manufacturing, modification, creation, construction. Need to make organization of engineers, get equipment sorted, find new ingredients. One important thing, want to make potion.” I rolled my neck, trying to relieve the kink in my shoulders that had somehow crept up uninvited.
“A potion? What kind?” Anya’s voice perked up, her eyes glowing with curiosity.
“Unsure, just feel need to make. Do not know ingredients, do not know procedure, just know need to make.” There was a burning sensation in my chest that I couldn’t explain, aside from a need to make this potion. It had just started, in fact, when I had mentioned it to Anya. All of the details were lost to me, aside from an internal drive, a need. Alchemy was not a real thing on Earth, but here, it fused magic and science. Perhaps the magic of it all created this intense desire for fulfillment.
“That’s oddly vague, my lord.” Anya stood up, brushing her backside off in the process. “But, I will support you.” She reached down, ready to help me stand. I gladly took her hand and rose to my feet. She pulled me up with almost no effort. Gods, she was strong.
I was on my feet, but she continued pulling. I wasn’t sure if it was intentional, but I was unable to stop myself from bumping into her. I was further unable to keep my face from practically landing on hers. That, ultimately, led to us kissing in a slightly awkward way.
The kiss lasted a while, longer than I would have expected, being that not even an hour ago Anya was denying we were even interested in one another.
“That was well worth it,” she said after she pulled away, a sly smile on her lips.
“Yes, ahem, well.” I couldn’t formulate what I needed to say. I hadn’t been anticipating that anything would come of our banter, but there we stood. My awkwardness would always leave me feeling, well, awkward.
“Oh, come now, my lord. Surely you have more to say than that. You’re a hero, you know?” She winked at me, which I found to be strange.
“Yes, not expected.” I tilted my head, which caused her to laugh.
“I wasn’t sure of my feelings then, but now I am. I hope I did not displease you.” She looked down at her feet sheepishly. Just a moment ago she was a confident woman, taking something she felt was rightfully hers. Now, however, she appeared to be a young lady, questioning her own decisions.
I reached a hand out to comfort her, laying it gently on her shoulder.
“No, is no displeasure. Vlad is just, ah, unsure of feelings right now. Lost love just few days ago, is hard.” I gave her a pleasant smile, and in my heart it felt true and honest. Time seemed to flow differently in my mind while here, but with all that had happened it seemed like a much longer span since Ina had died.
“You guys ready to head back?” Eberand, in all of his dented plate mail glory, broke up the awkwardness of the moment, and I was grateful for it.
“Oh, is the portal ready?” Anya looked about, hoping to find a shimmering door of light.
“Yeah, quite a bit of the troops have already headed out. It’s time to get rolling.” Eberand turned around and pointed to a place where a considerable number of people had lined up and were flowing smoothly into what appeared to be nothingness. We were looking at the portal from the side, apparently.
“Vlad is ready for home.” I needed rest, and more importantly, I needed time to think about the situati
on with Anya. I nodded to both of them, then walked toward the portal, my body exhausted, my mind fraught with shattered thoughts.
When Means Justify End...
THE PORTAL JUMP TO Yunnam wasn’t as bad as my previous experiences. Whether that was due to me being more capable of handling the travel or not was up for debate. The Ebenguard arrived with me, having stood fairly close together in the line to return. I stepped off to the side and stretched my arms over my head. Anya, Eberand, Ken, and Garret all slipped through the portal in time, then gathered about.
“So, party time?” Ken had a wily grin on his face, nodding slowly.
“Ah, no, am going to rest.” I put my hand up, hoping to forestall any further suggestions.
“Oh, hey, where’s the bar?” Garret stopped one of the nearby Murk Elves strolling about. He just rolled his eyes at Garret and pointed in the direction of Yunnam proper.
“Man, I could really use a drink. After all that fighting, a man’s gotta refresh himself. C’mon, Lord Vlad.” Eberand elbowed me in the side as he spoke. “Let’s grab a drink. It’s on me.” He chuckled a bit as he waved all of us forward.
“No, is fine. Ebenguard goes, has good time. Vlad will rest.” I waved them off, trying to give myself some space. I just wanted to work things out in my head and sleep. Maybe have a quiet moment and eat some dried meat. I did not want to go to a party.
“Oh, please?” Anya’s face was full of pleading. Her eyes sparkled as she really turned on the charm.
“No.” I crossed my arms and firmed my face. I wasn’t going to give in.
“Dude, stop being such a stick.” Ken wrapped an arm around my shoulder, leaning against me like I was a tree. “Have a drink, loosen up. I bet I can outdrink you!” Garret laughed hard as Ken walked around me, then twirled. “Come on, man.” His voice was pleading now too.