by R K Billiau
I tried to teach them some tricks and found them to be very receptive to treats and to being pet on the head or scratched under the chin. After a few minutes when they had learned the ‘sit’ command, I dismissed them, summoning them a short time later. I tried the sit command and both sat on the ground in front of me, their puppy dog faces gazing at me with affection, anticipating a treat or a pet.
That was awesome- they were the same flunky every time! I decided to name them. It only seemed right for a pet. The one with stripes that was currently red would be Lucca, and the one with dots that was currently blue, Marle. Practicing my summoning had increased my Core Manipulation twice and Core Mastery once!
I debated trying to set some traps around the village, but there weren’t enough materials and without knowing when she’d arrive, I didn’t want to be caught off guard. I did pull out the saw from one of the builder’s kits and weakened the front gate supports. Maybe when I shoved it over on top of them, it would surprise them enough to make them think I had traps all over. Or maybe it would at least take out one or two. Or not. Who knows?
With all my free time I got to worry about something else; should I be using my new Dose of Chaos power? The last thing I wanted was to help throw everyone into a year of insanity fueling chaos. It sounded extremely unpleasant, not to mention the fact that now that there were kids here, who knew if the buffs that protected them would stay. I knew that my miniscule amount of power probably wasn’t enough to make too much of a difference, but if everyone thought that way we would be thrown into upheaval in no time.
This whole game of the archons was something that needed to be addressed. If all the players knew about it, we could focus on the archons that would grant us the best years so we could prosper and prepare for those times when the years would be hard. I mean, we didn’t even know what all the archons were yet. For a second I thought maybe Minuitt would be a good choice of an archon to promote. Magic was pretty darn cool, and one of those things that could spread easily. But then again, I didn’t really know her at all, and would like to build a little trust before I start playing for anyone’s team.
I wondered how the Adjudicator could ever win a year in power. Without something like a skill everyone could use, how would it get points? If only we could spend time growing and learning instead of having to deal with being at the brink of destruction every moment.
I was staring off into space through the open gate, thinking about all these things, when I finally noticed the approaching horde. It had doubled in size from the last time I had tangled with it; that must be why it had taken so long to get here.
It was massive. Forty to fifty small, gray, wiry gromlins, their over-sized heads bouncing as they walked, flopping their long tongues out. In the center of them, on an actual palanquin made of sticks, rode Cora, posed in an uncomfortable looking position. I didn’t know whether I should be impressed or disgusted by the amount of effort she put into this march. Then she switched poses to something else that looked both awkward and sultry, and I realized I was most definitely disgusted.
The palanquin was crudely fashioned from long branches that had been broken and lashed together with roots, tough bark and... I scanned the horde to see that yes, loincloths had been used. Yuck. Cora was giving me a great look at what life would have looked like if she had been able to wrest control of the tribe.
They stopped a good twenty yards away and I sauntered toward the gate, yelling out to Cora.
“Sorry! We’re closed! Come back during business hours!” She rolled her eyes so well I could tell it from her body language, even from my distance. She leapt off the palanquin, her carriers losing their balance and falling into the dirt.
Cora walked closer until she had covered half the distance. She must not have noticed she was walking on dirt toward someone who ranked her one of the vilest he’d ever met, because she moved as though she were on a catwalk. “Hudson, when will I be rid of you? How much grief do I have to cause until you just let me have my toys and go your own way?”
It was my turn to walk closer, and I did so, though in a much more normal fashion, mentally calling the flunky Marle to ride on my shoulder. I didn’t want to get any closer than ten feet to her and was nervous to have even come out of the village this far. But I couldn’t let her think I was scared of her.
“I could say the same for you, Cora. I would prefer it if you just weren’t all... you-like.”
She laughed at that, her head going back to expose her beautiful neck. My eyes instinctively followed it down to her ample bosom that was barely covered by the skintight outfit she wore. The closest thing I had seen to it was in those advertisements for the types of clothes women were supposed to wear in their bedrooms while enticing their mates. The expensive kind. She had on a strapless corset that appeared to be made of black and red leather, which tied tightly in all the right places to push and pump, complete with tight black shorts and thigh-high fishnet leggings. The ensemble was topped off with high-heeled shoes with straps that wrapped around her ankles. I was half surprised she didn’t carry a whip.
“Where did you even get clothes like that?” I asked, tearing my vision away to make eye-contact with her again.
“Oh, you like it, huh? You’ll love this part: it's from a skill. You love all this game stuff, don’t you?” She waved her hand down her body like she was a showcase showdown model. I gulped. I was starting to understand what had happened to Carl.
“I don’t want to fight you, Cora,” I said.
“You want to love me instead?” She asked as she did a little wiggle and my eyes were drawn to her body again. Had she gotten closer?
I shielded my eyes with my hand, making sure I could at least see her feet. “Stop Cora, I just want to talk.”
She let out a little groan. “Oh Hudson, don’t be rude, would you kindly look at me while we talk?”
She was right, I guess, if I wanted to win her over, I shouldn’t be rude. I moved my hand so I could see her. Sure, she was beautiful, and there was nothing wrong with admiring beauty, right? I looked her up and down again, settling on her face that was now only a few feet from mine.
She licked her lips. It was hypnotic. “What did you want to talk about Hudson?”
I kind of liked when she said my name. “It’s about uh...” it was hard to focus when she was so close and smelled so good. I could feel the warmth of her body as she placed her hand on my shoulder, lightly trailing her finger down my arm. “The uh... archons, and chaos, you shouldn’t...”
She leaned in, her breath warm and so close to my lips. I felt my pulse increase and the blood flow to my face. She shushed me, whispering now, so close her lips almost touched mine. “Shhh… it’s okay, you don’t need to think about them, you don’t need to think about anything but me...and us...” Her tongue peeked out of her lips to brush against mine and I closed my eyes to kiss her.
My hair was violently yanked and instead of kissing her, I threw my head up, bonking my chin into her nose and causing her to step back, covering her face in pain. On top of my head was Marle, still pulling my hair and looking at me with admonishment in her eyes.
“Ow, damnit,” Cora said, “would you kindly get rid of that damn thing?” She pointed her finger at Marle and I pushed the flunky down to my shoulder. Get rid of her? I thought about dismissing her, but then shook my head. Why would I dismiss...? I gave Cora a hard look.
“Seriously!? I try to have a real conversation with you, and you try to what? Seduce me? What is wrong with you?!” I backed up, pointing my finger at her. “Damn you woman, you are broken in the head.” It was terrifying how strong her ability to manipulate had gotten. I had felt it pulling at me before, but now, well, I don’t even want to think about what would have happened if it weren’t for my trusty sidekick.
“Oh screw this, you have no idea what you’re missing. Your little girlfriend has nothing on me, on this,” she said as she waved her hand over her body again.
“You know w
hat she does have?” I asked. “A freaking heart. She is an actual good person. While you, well, I’m thinking it’s a perfect match for you to be an agent of chaos. Besides, she is way hotter than you, and doesn’t have to fake it with magic.”
She threw her head back and laughed, her form shifting from the beautiful woman she was to a featureless bipedal creature. When she spoke, her voice sounded as if it was speaking from two mouths, one with a high-pitched voice and one low.
“Oh poor Hudson, jealous much?” Her form shifted again and was Cora once more, but this time in what I could only describe as sexy military fatigues, complete with functional looking boots.
She raised her hand to the sky. “I’m not some damsel in distress waiting for a knight to save me. I have the power now and I am not afraid to use it!” She threw her hand down and the horde of gromlins started rushing toward the village.
Chapter 46
I leapt back and threw Marle at Cora. The flunky landed right in her face, biting and scratching. I chuckled as I used the distraction to run back into the village and slam the gates closed. For all the good it would do me. The wall around the village was barely taller than a gromlin and I was sure they would be over it no time.
“You BASTARD!” Cora screeched and I watched as she threw Marle to the ground and blasted her with a chaos bolt, execution style. I was thankful I could summon her at any time, but that was cold to watch. I resummoned her and Lucca as well. Both of them in the elements I had come to associate with them, fire and ice.
“Come on girls, let’s see how quickly we will be sent to respawn,” I said as I watched the incoming horde. I wished I knew what happened to the villagers that had become gromlins. Why would they let Cora control them? Did they know she was controlling them? Could they even stop her? Gromlins certainly looked a lot more stupid than humans. As if on cue, they proved this when a large group of them came to the front gate and began banging on it in an attempt to batter it down.
I shrugged and decided that if they wanted to fall into the single pathetic trap I had laid, I wouldn’t stop them. I cast Mana Orb, compressing it into a ball of destruction, and threw it at one of the weakened supports for the gate. It exploded and the combined force of my attack and the stupid gromlins pounding caused the gate to shudder and rip free. I threw another orb, hitting the top of the gate, the force of the explosion pushing the gate onto the gromlins with a surprisingly audible squish.
Evidently my trap had killed enough of them that I leveled up. Which was a great thing to have happen at the beginning of a fight, all my expendables refilling from full to... full. It would have been great for that to happen in a clutch moment when I was near death, but oh well. I split the level up points into HP and Mana, at least that would help.
Not all the gromlins proved to be quite as stupid as the ones at the gate. I watched many hands and fingers climbing the wall around the village. I shuddered as scenes from horror movies flashed through my mind. I retreated to the fountain, my expendables refilling quickly. This was going to be my final stand, and I was not going to go down lightly.
I knew that using the chaos ability I got from the creepy chaos node was something I had to do. Without it, I wouldn’t have a chance, even if it had a chance to backfire against me. I grabbed a rock and I injected a hundred points of Dose of Chaos- the largest amount I had used so far- into my Throwing Mastery skill and threw it at the first gromlin I could.
The rock flew from my hand like I had just fired a rail gun, leaving a contrail of air behind it. I couldn’t tell if it had infinite X axis range or what, but the contrail kept going further than I could see. It had blasted a hole through everything in its way, the two gromlins that had been lined up, the wall, and I don’t even know what else past that. That was really cool. My Spirit had drained to twenty percent, but was refilling quickly as I watched it, thanks to the power of the fountain.
The gromlins were not put off by my attack though, and they had the numbers. Dozens of them had already climbed over the wall, and dozens more were making their way over still. Outside the village I saw Cora firing chaos bolts one at a time into a small group of gromlins she kept by her side. The gromlins struck by the bolts would fall to the ground, huge growths burst from their skin and expanded until they erupted off them, in what I assumed would end up as more gromlins, like in the chaos node.
I didn’t have time to watch the whole thing, but it felt unfair for her to be able to build her own army instantaneously like that. Of course, it wasn’t all that fair for me to have unlimited lives with which to destroy her unlimited army in the first place, so I guessed we were even. Except that I really didn’t want to lose levels again, so, not even.
I screamed “Antipode!” while I threw Marle and Lucca out and they glided down, landing on a gromlin together, their teeth and claws digging in, burning and freezing the poor thing.
I cast Mana Orb and formed a spear, filling it with a hundred points of chaos, and threw it at the closest group of gromlins. The spear spiraled through the air, tendrils of blue energy lengthening off it as it flew out of my hand. The energy sprayed out at me and everything in its path like a dog shaking off water. I screamed in the backlash as it whipped into me, causing nearly fifty percent of my life to evaporate.
The spear's energy also did a number on any gromlins it met, burning holes in them, killing some and sending others into hiding behind whatever object was close. My poor flunkies were caught in it and forcibly dismissed by the power of it. Other than that, the spear of Mana acted like normal, falling into the dirt and dissipating away. This chaos stuff was powerful, but nearly just as dangerous to me as it was to my enemies.
In merely a few attacks, I had taken out a quarter of the encroaching gromlins. I was beginning to think that maybe I could just kill them all and save the village. Then an attack from behind caught me off guard as a gromlin I had missed leapt onto the back of my head and began biting and scratching. I screamed and the gromlin stuck its disgusting fingers in my mouth, digging its freakishly long and sharp nails into my flesh, and ripping my cheeks apart from the inside out.
If I hadn’t experienced the feeling of tearing flesh before, it probably would have upset me, but I was an old hand at it by now. I leapt backwards, using the gromlin as a crash helmet, and slammed my head into the ground, causing it to huff out all of its air- and then some. Vomit exploded out like a fountain, landing on the top of my head and dripping down my face. I was surprised I didn’t get a debuff, but I did get the gromlin to release its hold on me.
I wiped my face of the disgusting bile, spitting out what had gotten in my mouth, while silently hoping the gromlins didn’t carry any diseases. I grabbed the still gasping-for-air gromlin by the ankle and flung him as hard as I could, which, as it turns out, was not very hard at all. Catapulting something by its leg is a lot harder than it looks. The gromlin landed on its face barely a foot away, and I cursed.
In my tango with the one retching gromlin, a dozen more were surrounding me now, and while my expendables had topped off thanks to the fountain, I knew this would not go well. I summoned a wolf, dumping a whopping one hundred and fifty points into Dose of Chaos.
I gasped as it ripped the power from my HP, since it had tried to take it from Spirit, the only expendable pool I had that wasn’t large enough to cover the cost. I was starting to think this ability wasn’t worth it while the blue energy streamed off of the core as it disintegrated. Dose of Chas was just too, well, chaotic, to be useful. Then the wolf populated, and the sight of it dashed those thoughts.
Before me was a massive beast, taller than me, with a head full of teeth as large as my hand. Two heads full, actually. One on either end of it. Like some demented kids cartoon, the double-headed wolf snarled as it eyed the gromlins who had stopped in their approach. I grinned maniacally at the carnage that was about to ensue and opened the summon control window.
Well, tried to anyway. Nothing happened. Another fun little chaos moment, yay. I leapt in
to the water of the fountain and went under, holding my breath and getting as close to the outer wall as possible to remain out of sight of my self-imposed giant wolf monster.
The huge shadow of the wolf-thing growled with a low, powerful voice that I could feel reverberating through me, even in the shallow water. I saw its shadow dart away and allowed myself a glimpse. As slowly and carefully as I could muster, I lifted my head out of the water over the edge of the fountain.
I watched in awe as the wolf had started spinning and bouncing between its two sets of front feet, like a giant wolf-rocking-horse-top. It was spinning so quickly I couldn’t tell which head was which, and each time it came close to a gromlin its mouth would snap and come away with a bloody chunk of something and the gromlins scattered, fear on their creepy little faces.
I was back to full again on my expendables as I literally bathed myself in the water, but I waited to get to get out until the wolf-thing chased down a gromlin further away, hoping that my presence wouldn’t draw its aggro. I breathed a sigh of relief and was just thinking about what to do next when I noticed the fires.
I smelled them first. The fountain bath had rinsed the gromlin vomit smell from my senses, and I smelled a pleasant, earthy bonfire. I snapped my head around and saw them. At the other end of the village, the farms were burning. The entire field had been set aglow, and I swore under my breath as I saw little gray figures moving from building to building, holding torches. Everything in this village was made of wood.
I had just left my station by the fountain when a voice from the other end of the village caused the hair on the back of my neck to stand up.