I surged to my feet, pouring nearly half of my mana into a single supercharged Force Slash. Unfortunately, the damn thing was gone. In its place was something far worse. A bloody, crazed and half dead Gruff was stumbling into the Clearing helped along by two Watchers. The larger of his left arms hung limply, freely leaking blood, while the smaller of the two was completely severed. Numerous deep gashes covered his body, and he walked with a pronounced limp. Hurrying over, I noticed his right eye was missing as well.
"Good god man, what happened?!" I shouted as I drew near. The Gruff's remaining eye was fogged over and had a glassy look to it. I was far from a medical expert, but if I had to guess he was going into shock. It took a few moment's for the man to register my question. "I- I don't know. They're all dead. All of them. Something bad is coming." The man coughed violently, spraying a fine mist of blood from his mouth. Suddenly, I realized why my vision was red.Oh, no. Please don't be what I think it is.
Alerts that I had been too distracted to notice earlier flashed in my vision. seventeen casualties. A dozen Gruffs and half that number of Bark Spiders went out. All but one of them had died. My people, living beings that relied on and trusted me, were dead- and there was nothing I could do about it. I dismissed the alerts and pushed away the guilt I felt. If I acted quickly, at least somebody could be saved.
"You." I said, pointing to one of the Watchers, "Go to the Reservoir and get me at least two Tainted Goblins." The Watcher quickly scurried off to the Reservoir, a magically chilled building dedicated to safely holding parts of the creatures we killed.
Turning back to the Gruff, I stepped forward to fill the Watcher's place supporting him. "We'll get you patched up soon. Let's get you settled down, okay?" As gently as we could, the remaining Watcher and I lowered the massive Gruff to the ground. We did what we could to stem the flow of blood for the few minutes it took for the other Watcher to get back. Other Izveir showed up over time. Most were empty handed, but some carried various medical supplies and a few had even armed themselves.
"Make way! We've got parts coming through!" I called, noticing the Watcher I had sent out drawing near again. The crowd quickly parted as I drew a knife from my belt and began cutting clothes to make room for what I was about to do. The last thing I needed was to magically seal fabric into the poor man's body.
"Alright, here we go." I muttered to myself as the bodies were deposited. Thankfully, I had gotten plenty of practice of the past few months making citizens for my kingdom. Working on a living being however, was a little different. I couldn't just use the preset options I had made and call it good. "Ready?" I asked, not wanting to surprise the injured man and send him further into shock. He nodded, and I began.
The "procedure" went surprisingly well. It took less than an hour for the Gruff to be brought back to a relatively stable and whole condition. From there, a trio of weavers took him to the eastern longhouse, which had been pre designated as a makeshift medical facility if the need arose. The injured Izveir had passed out along the way, so a report on what happened would have to wait until later.
Until then, I tripled the Watchers' presence on the walls and sent a dozen hastily created Bark Spiders out to patrol the immediate surrounding area. I would have liked nothing more than to go out and search for the bodies of my fallen people, but my mana was bordering on empty. The grief I initially felt had burned away to reveal nothing but hot anger. Who dared wound and kill my people?
As soon as my mana recovered to about 50% I gathered my advisors and every one of my spiders not on patrol. All said, 24 spiders gathered to my call, including Arach and another large spider. Before we left, I decided to leave Murlough behind. Other than me, he knew more about the needs of the Clearing better than anybody else. Then, after I quickly mounted Arach, we set off.
Less than an hour later, we found the bodies. "No, not again." I moaned, taking in the gruesome scene. Gallons of blood soaked the ground, seeping into the soft dirt and turning it a rust colored mud. Pieces of what, only hours ago, were my people were strewn about haphazardly. The cuts were perfect, almost surgical. Bark spiders were simply crushed, pounded violently into the unforgiving earth.
Behind me, I heard my advisors retching. It was easy to forget that they rarely saw bloodshed, and never anything of this magnitude. For me, it was becoming almost commonplace. The dungeon and underworld had gone a long way to desensitizing me, even if I was only now realizing it.
Empire's Burden- Seeing those that look up to you butchered time after time wears on the soul, but hardens it. Such is the burden of a leader. Humanity point max capacity dropped permanently by 2.
"Fuck." I couldn't help a lone tear trace its way down my face. "Fuck! I tried to make you all perfect, to make you unsurpassable. I failed, again" I said, barely loud enough for my own self to hear, before calling out. "Advisors! Head home, assure the people that whatever creature did this will be put down."
"What about you, milord?" Gida spoke up in a slightly quivering voice. "Me? Don't fret about me, Gida. It's whatever monstrosity that did this that needs to worry." I growled, anger and pain at the suffering, the loss I had been forced to endure over and over burning into a climax. "I'll be fine."
WIth a last half hearted goodbye, they left.
"I think you scared them. I know I would be, after what you just did."
"What do you mean, Shard? I'm not in the mood."
"Look at your alerts. Empire's Burden is far from the only thing you've gotten."
Empire's Retribution- There is only so much a man can take. Push him too far, and he'll run himself into the ground to exact revenge.
Passive Ability- At the cost of 50% of your Health, all attributes and skill strengths are doubled.
Active Ability- At the cost of Health and Humanity, unleash a devastating attack that will mortally wound even the strongest adversary.
A manic grin spread across my face after reading the alert, fueled by the intense pain of my Health being halved. "Shard, let's kill something."
"I don't think you understand. Each time you use that ability it permanently scars you. I can feel wisdom in your mind, a quote from somebody obviously more level headed than you. When on a journey of revenge, make sure to dig two graves. I understand your bloodlust Donovan, I do. But you cannot release that dreadful power. It is a last resort only."
"But I failed, Shard. I have the power to create them, but not to protect them. With this, I can do that."
"You can't protect anybody if you die! Don't you see that? You've got eight uses of that before you become a shell of a man, maybe a dozen before it kills you. I know it's never easy, but people die. You should know that. Control yourself. I'm saying this as a friend- as much as something like me can befriend a mortal- not for self preservation. Do not die like this."
Slowly, purple fire that I hadn't even notice come into existence faded from my body. The overwhelming hate and depression it brought with it faded as well. "Thanks Shard, but we still need to kill the bastard that did this."
"I know. And with Empire's Burden, we have the power to."
I looked around again, only now realizing that I had sat there for at least an hour. I stared at the forms of my dead people. Slowly, an idea formed in my mind. "Shard, have you ever heard of something called irony?"
◆◆◆
"Well it certainly is horrific. I don't see where irony comes into play though." Shard mused at my creation.
"Imagine killing someone, only to have something made of that same person come to kill you. An old English teacher of mine would have definitely called it irony. Similar to Frankenstein's monster, almost. But yes, it is horrific." I said, not sure whether to laugh or cringe in fear at what I had made.
Dark, oily ribbons danced about the forest around my head, darting this way and that. Occasionally they collided, forming- for the briefest of moments- what looked like an evil grin. At my command, they coalesced into a single, inky black shape that towered at least two stories above t
he top of my head.
Name- Kaureth, Reaper of Damnation
Level- 1
Health- 5713/5713 (1% regen per minute)
Stamina- 4451/4451 (1% regen per minute)
Mana- 9862/9862 (1% regen per minute)
Strength- 872
Endurance- 793
Dexterity- 1534
Perception- 2208
Intelligence- 2261
Wisdom- 543
Luck- 792
Condition- Healthy
Humanity- -2/10
Alignment- Righteous Evil
Inventory-
None
Spells-
Unholy Darkness- Expose weak to moderately strong willed enemies to horrors no mind can fathom, destroying their mind and fracturing their will to live for 10 mana per second times the square feet of affected area. Afflicted creatures lose 1 Humanity point and 190 Health per second.
Deathly Grip- Necrotize an enemy's flesh before their very eyes, ignoring armor and all but the holiest of enchantments for 300 mana per second. Afflicted creatures permanently lose 3% max Health per second.
Abilities-
Reaper's Siphon- (Passive Ability.) Absorb the Health and Mana from all hostile creatures within a three foot diameter at a rate of 1% of their max Health and Mana per second. Rejuvenation from this ability can not exceed 5% max Health or Mana per second.
Dissipating Form- On a whim, disassemble into numerous razor sharp strands capable of slicing through even plated armor. Strands can be controlled individually, or take the form of a tool for the larger body to use.
Vengeful thirst- (Passive Ability) Absorb the soul and essence of any being to die by your hand, granting power and Exp, as well as minor Health and Mana boosts.
I scanned the thing's ridiculous stat sheet, still stunned that I could create anything like it. If I was being honest, I barely even remembered doing it. I was just focused on revenge, and well... the results spoke for themselves. That being said, I had no nagging desire to go around creating more things like it. Him, maybe? Kaureth is a male name, right?
After a brief and rather curt conversation (Kaureth was most definitely not a sparkling socialite), the nightmarish Reaper disappeared into the forest in a swarm of near-invisible strands, using the last few seconds of memory from the dead Izveir that went into his creation as a means to track where the murderer went.
Arach and I were quick to follow the Reaper's rapidly fading form, giving chase as best we could. The damn thing was fast, and in its dissipated form it could flit around trees without a problem. Fortunately, it kept a pace that we could manage to follow.
The world faded to nothing more than indiscriminate blurs of color as we traveled. The sun slowly set as I tried to process how fast everything had changed. I thought we were safe, that I could finally do something meaningful with myself. But how, if I couldn't even protect my own people, was I supposed to make a difference here?
"Arach!" I yelled, casting out blindly with feelers of power. I had no idea quite what they were, but they worked given that the bloody mist permeating the air rendered me blind. Arach, if he could hear me, was unresponsive. "Kaureth!" Still nothing. A fiery line of pain flashed across my arm, though from where or what I had no clue.
Feeling panic starting to rise within me, I activated the Aura of Dominance. I stumbled slightly as the world was forced back into clarity, the fiery orbs of my gaze seemingly able to pierce the gory fog.
I almost wished I could have stayed blind. Arach- or what was left of him- lay a dozen feet away from me in a broken heap. Just like the people I had found murdered only a few hours ago. The hour of reckoning was, apparently, upon us. I was caught so off guard the impact of Arach's death didn't even hit me.
Dozens upon dozens of Kaureth's oily strands flitted to and fro, disemboweling, dismembering, and otherwise exacting vengeance upon those that dared stand against him. The glimpses I caught of the creatures he was killing made me want to run and cry like a little school girl. Or would have, if not for my Aura.
The smallest of them had to be at least ten feet long, and its shoulders would likely reach my chin. Their gray, leathery looking skin was pockmarked with putrid looking sores that I was thankfully too far away to smell. Multiple mouths were scattered seemingly haphazardly along the beasts' three heads. I watched as one of Kaureth's strands severed a head, only to be sprayed by apparently acidic blood. Well, shit.It was time to quit gawking and start kicking ass.0
I quickly checked my mana, running ideas through my head and dismissing them just as quickly. Even as powerful as he was, I realized that Kaureth was outmatched. The damn things seemed to blatantly shrug off most mortal wounds, and every time my hulking avenger struck one of them he took damage. Not much, but enough that they were nickel and dime-ing him to death... literally.
"Damn it!" I scanned the trees, noticing that Kaureth was keeping the things away from me as best he could, buying me time to... well, work my magic. Problem was, I was drawing blanks. If even he was ineffective against them, what could I do?
I felt the pit of despair inside of me deepening, to the point where not even the Aura of Dominance could overcome it. Even after creating Kaureth, after hunting these damned things down, after everything I had fought, bargained, and bled for, it was amounting to this. Death by the claws of creatures I had never even heard of before.
No. Not here, not now. I had one last card up my sleeve. I summoned dozens, then hundreds of Force Walls, each crackling with deadly potential. Almost every last one of the creatures collided with the explosive barriers, either being knocked off balance or launched completely airborne by the sheer force of my creations. Then, knowing their attention was focused on me, I called off Kaureth, ordering him to stand by until the time was right. And oh boy, would he know when.
I smiled as the creatures charged me en masse, barely holding back a maniacal as they drew near. My confidence started to waver as they got within forty feet of me.
Then thirty.
Twenty.
Ten.
I activated Empire's Retribution with the kind of peace that only a man so obviously condemned as myself could feel, knowing that the end was finally at had. I just hoped Kaureth remained loyal long enough to kill any stragglers after they killed me. But either way, that would be someone else's problem then. Right?
My power ripped outward, disintegrating a handful of the approaching beasts instantly. One last thought crossed my mind as the world flashed white.
It would be their problem. My people...
Chapter 9
Dying sucks. I've done it twice, so trust me when I say it hurts like hell. Thankfully, the pain never lasts for very long. Because, well, you're dead. But for some reason, death never really stuck with me.
Of course, I didn't expect to end up back in the room where I first met Shard. I mean, once is a miracle, but twice? Come on, man! What the hell is going on around here?
As feeling flooded back into my body, I prepared for the inevitable rock spider thing to crush my chest. Thankfully, it wasn't. and I didn't feel the weakness of being Level 1 again either, which was decidedly a good thing.
I stood up, feeling surprisingly good for a man twice dead. The damned spider was staring right at me, only a few feet away from where I had appeared. Well, considering that it didn't have eyes, I had no idea where it was really staring, but it was a safe assumption.
"You have done well, child. You have fought, bled, and killed for your people- the beings you created. Even more, you have fed and clothed them, given them not only shelter but a place to call home. They have thrived because of you. For that, congratulations are due." A deceptively loud voice boomed from the spider, echoing across the chamber. The little thing's hair bounced from the sheer power of its ethereal voice, and I had to suppress a laugh at the absurdity of it.
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