But Death is Not Forbidden

by Kip Terrington

  Moes crawled up the castle side of the mound and looked down at the battle. He saw the Night Lights begin to descend and he heard a faint gong from inside the castle. He could see that Spooky was inside of Obsidian One and holding a single scimitar. She had nowhere to go. He had been clear with Joe and Spooky, the yetis could not be trusted. A trench couldn't hold them back, especially not with their numbers. Moes was so angry that they hadn't listened to him. He knew the yetis were going to betray them and, for that reason, he had not been idle. Never before had he had access to yetis, but while Joe was in his trance and Spooky was performing her experiments, Moes had been working with the slaves. He had studied the brain of one yeti in particular. It wasn't all for his own purposes, for he was also helping the yeti, but with his greater understanding, he had been able to craft a spell. This spell was his own creation and lessened the threat any single yeti could have on him.

  He raised his hands and targeted one of the yetis confronting Spooky. Once he cast the spell, Moes’ body would be vulnerable. So, he put himself in a place where he would fall back behind the mound of dirt. Moes’ whole body glowed silver and blue. He closed his eyes and allowed his consciousness to jump into the larger enemy that Spooky was facing. He had cast Level 10 Yeti Puppet. It allowed the caster to replace the target’s will with the caster’s own.

  Suddenly, the yeti facing Spooky turned to the side and pushed the yeti beside him off the bridge. If Obsidian One had had eyes, they would have opened wide.

  “Hello, Champion, thought you could use a little help. How do you like my new spell? If you can't beat them, I guess let them beat each other,” Moes said through his yeti puppet’s mouth. Spooky didn't answer back, but quickly stepped beside him, so that they could drive the yeti back together. Seeing one of their own turn on them had halted the yetis’ advance.

  Understandably, none of them wanted to attack their own. Moes was even able to retrieve the lost scimitar from the ribs of the injured yeti before he promptly kicked that yeti off the bridge.

  “I told you he would betray us. If Joe would have killed the chief when he had the chance, we wouldn't be in this mess,” Moes said as he stumbled and almost fell off the bridge. A few of the yetis had mustered the courage and began their advance once again.

  “Now is not the time to whine. Focus on controlling this new body of yours. Where is Joe? He should be here by now. It shouldn't take this long to put on a uniform. I'm almost out of ivory angels. If he doesn't show up soon, he might as well not show up at all,” Spooky said from inside Obsidian One.

  Spooky and Moes continued to hold the bridge, just keeping the yeti from advancing.

  “This is going better than I thought it would,” Moes said. That was when a broken torso of one of the ivory angels hit Moes’ puppet right in the head. Apparently the chief had noticed that one of his tribe was being mind-controlled and had taken appropriate steps to alleviate the problem. The severe concussion caused Moes to lose control of the puppet. Through a quick mind-click, Spooky was able to confirm that Moes no longer had control of the yeti. Luckily for Spooky, the concussion had dazed the yeti and he had dropped the scimitar. After the mind-click confirmation, Spooky promptly pushed the concussed yeti into the trench. Once again, she held the bridge alone, but now with a retrieved scimitar. With their attacking comrade off to the side, the yetis began to charge with full force again.

  Moes came back to himself. Quickly patting his body, he realized he was no longer controlling the yeti. Lying on his back, he looked up and he saw that the ivory angels that were now coming out of the castle were wearing the same black uniform that had been given to Joe. Prior to these, there had only been ununiformed stone angels participating in the battle. He counted fifteen and noticed that the last one was only half-dressed. Apparently Grork and Bork hadn't had time to dress all of them.

  The largest doors of the castle swung open and Joe ran out of them with Grork behind him, unable to keep pace. With a crystal-clear baritone voice, Joe began to sing as he ran.

  The word of the chief is broken.

  A noble yeti has faltered.

  I swore to protect your children.

  My oath remains true.

  Cease this needless bloodshed,

  I am not your enemy.

  Remember once more,

  the words that you swore.

  On the last note, he stepped up on the mound that sat between the castle and the trench. Joe noticed Moes right beside him, but he did not let that divert his attention. In that moment, he needed to focus on the chief who was standing still and looking directly at him. The battlefield had gone quiet. Spooky's angels in the black uniforms were all that she had left of the once numerous golem army at her disposal. Obsidian One stood still on the bridge hoping that Joe could figure out a solution to this situation. Slowly, the yetis began backing off of the bridge, and as they did, Spooky released the Sticky Ground spell, allowing the yeti army to retrieve their fallen comrades. Obsidian One's chest opened up and Spooky flew out and to Joe’s side. Unasked, Moes began casting every buff that he could on Joe and noticed that Joe already had a quite a few buffs running. Other than Spirit Shield, all of the active spells were Life Magic buffs. When had Joe become such a powerful Life Mage? Moes mind-clicked Joe.

  Level- 52

  Character- Joe

  Race- Human Machine Hybrid

  XP- 52,348

  Mana- 423

  Hitpoints- 1,037

  Height- 7ft 8in

  Charisma- 36 + 14

  Constitution- 31 + 41

  Intelligence- 27

  Wisdom- 13 + 1

  Luck- 28

  Gifts

  Empathetic learner

  Sight of the encourager

  Magic

  Apprentice Force Magic

  Apprentice Life Magic

  Apprentice Mind Magic

  Apprentice Portal Magic

  Journeyman Spirit Magic, ConMod + 2

  Contracts

  Defend capital castle

  In Jeopardy!

  Lender to Rook

  Protect yeti children

  Servant of Rook

  Contend evil

  Contend Rook

  Active Spells

  Elastic Muscles

  Fast Twitch

  Increased Oxygenation

  Natural Jumper

  Regen

  Smart Adrenaline

  Spirit Shield

  Ultra Balance

  Moes was surprised that Joe let him have so much access to see his stats. He knew he wasn’t seeing everything. For instance, Moes did not see any of Joe's skills, but whenever he clicked on Spooky, he barely saw anything about her. All of the active spells on Joe were well below master level, but in combination with each other, they could make a real difference.

  At the same moment that Spooky flew to Joe, the chief’s mate, Chabrid, moved close to Bridcha and whispered.

  “You said king weak human. That no human. That hairless yeti.”

  “No know what that is. Make no matter, I fight it,” Bridcha said, loud enough for everyone to hear.

  “Not an it, I’m your king. King Joe. Yes, I know I look a little different. I got a nice new skin treatment, I think it looks good. There's no reason to judge. Let’s find a way through this. You made a mistake Bridcha. I can protect your children. I have protected your children. You must restore your oath. I can help your people prosper,” Joe said, but the last few sentences only seemed to enrage the yeti chief further.

  “YOU STILL TALK LOT! I LISTEN NO MORE. CLAN BOUNDER GET BEHIND ME. I FIGHT HAIRLESS YETI FOR IT CASTLE,” the chief said with finality. Quickly, the yetis got behind him, lining up to watch the challenge their chief had just initiated. Chabrid attempted to speak to her mate, but he bared his teeth at her and growled low. In that moment, she wondered if she had made a mistake in pressing him to break his oath. It no longer mattered, he had issued the challenge, and he would hear no more from anyone.

 
Activate Aura of Authenticity. Rank 1? Yes/No

  Activate Aura of Benevolence. Rank 1? Yes/No

  Joe quickly clicked yes to both questions, but knew it was fruitless. Another message popped up in Joe's HUD.

  Unsuccessful trust check.

  “Again, I'm not an it. At this point, you're just being petty. I have your children. They're not hostages. I rescued them and brought judgment to the two hunters. No one need die here today,” Joe reasoned. His words just seemed to infuriate the chief more.

  “NO MORE TALK! I CHALLENGE YOU! I DIE OR YOU DIE. MAKE YOUR PEACE!” Bridcha screamed, and then began to pace, clearly driving himself into more of a fury in preparation for the fight.

  Joe turned to Spooky and spoke quietly to her, keeping the lid of his twenty-sided eye closed. “Yeah, I don’t need to make peace, but I wouldn’t mind asking you a few questions. I thought you had a personality that was at least somewhat like my wife? Why didn't you bring Tig out to be reunited with his family? If you had, we might not be in this conundrum,” Joe whispered.

  “Oh, because your wife would totally bring children into a war zone? Just because you decided to trust the wrong person, doesn't mean you should take it out on those around you,” Spooky whispered back.

  Joe raised his eyebrows and stayed silent.

  Spooky quickly continued her counter-arguments. “And why did you come out singing? Once again, I have to reiterate what a huge waste of points that was,” Spooky grumbled.

  “You're seriously still complaining about that? I thought Moes was the whiner. I thought it might potentially be useful, you know, like in the Harry Potter series. Music soothes the savage beast and all that,” Joe said, then chose his next words carefully so as to avoid offending Moes nearby, “I thought it was likely to work in this case because there's not a developer born in the last century who wasn't heavily influenced by the works of Dr. Rowling. Sure, there are those who pretend to not be influenced, but… What am I doing? I don't have time for this! You know I have a lack of focus, Spooky. I have to fight him and I need your help. Unfortunately, what worked the last time will not work this time. He won't let me pin him again… I don’t understand how I’m supposed to be a match for him, he's too big. When I face him down below, I won’t be able to reach his head, even if I used my MIL Bar like a gymnast. If I had strong Fire Magic, maybe I’d have a chance, but with those blades of his, he’ll cut me in two. I'm going to need to be able to pull myself away from him. …I have an idea. Help me tie the MIL Bar around my right calf,” Joe said, as he bent over. Luckily, he was tall enough that it only went a little above his knee. She secured it behind him. It would not easily come off.

  “Done, that's secure. Something wrong with your vision? You have one eye have closed,” Spooky asked.

  “You could say that, but Bridcha’s patience is almost up. Quickly, I need your two scimitars,” Joe said.

  “You'll cut your own foot off. You don't know how to use bladed weapons,” Spooky said as she instructed Obsidian One to hand them over to Joe.

  “I know that, and you know that, but the chief doesn't. I'll try not to die. One more thing, I know we're partners, but don't interfere with this fight or let Grork, Bork, or Moes. My instincts tell me that it has to be between the chief and me. If you need to call that an order from your patron, go ahead,” Joe said.

  Spooky pursed her lips. She didn't like being bound. The way he had phrased the order meant she would have to break one of her protocols in order to interfere. As Joe walked away, Spooky ran calculations for his chance of success. Unless the yeti had some congenital heart defect that suddenly struck during their fight, Joe was out of luck. Then again, he had defeated the chief once before. Maybe he would think of something outside of her calculation’s parameters and pull off another win.

  Chapter 17 - Poobradork

  With careful precise steps, Joe walked across the bridge conveniently placed over the trench by the yetis. Looking out where the yeti was standing, he opened his twenty-sided eye. It was disconcerting, as his vision split. Joe wasn't sure if he would ever get used to this new way of looking at things. Slowly, the twenty-sided eye rotated, moving triangles and backward numbers across his vision. When the eye finally settled, he was looking through a triangle with a backwards 7. He saw the yeti chief, but differently. Instead of a furious angry yeti, he saw a yeti who was trying to eat the ribs of a pig. The chief appeared to struggle in obtaining a solid grip on the greasy bones. Joe quickly closed his twenty-sided eye and there stood the furious angry yeti chief once again, ready for the duel. Joe wasn't sure if the vision he had just seen was a cruel joke. He had read somewhere that the closest equivalent one could get to eating a human was pork. All the sudden, Joe's stomach growled.

  “That's not cool,” Joe said to himself. No matter how wonderful pork tasted, if it was mentioned in the same sentence as cannibalism, one’s stomach should still never growl. Joe shuddered, as he tried to slip away from that greasy thought.

  “Greasy!” Joe thought forcefully and smiled. After crossing the bridge, he stopped. One shining black scimitar in each hand, Joe faced a yeti who was slobbering with rage, extending his own blades out of his paws. Joe looked at the yeti, and then dropped the scimitars on the ground.

  “I have heard it said that only a coward needs to defeat his enemy with a bladed weapon. I will defeat you with my fist and magic,” Joe said loud enough for all the yetis to hear. It was an obvious tactic, but when you're in a rage, it's hard not to accept a dare. At this, the yeti chief retracted his blades back into his paws.

  “Make no difference. Result same,” Bridcha said, then began slowly walking carefully toward Joe. He was not going to be easily tripped this time. As fast as he could, Joe began working his way through the pages of his Holdall in his HUD.

  “I need the section for pigs,” Joe whispered and the Holdall pages flipped quickly through it’s pages, spinning. Finally, when the page settled, Joe saw twenty-four tiny thumbnail pictures of whole pigs. As fast as he could, he scrolled through the next pages.

  “I can't believe this. I'm going to die because there's too many pigs to search through. I need pig grease!” Joe said as Bridcha got closer. The pages spun again and he saw containers of pig fat. Instead of pulling out one of the glass containers, he pulled out a few of the small Ziploc-style bags containing the pig fat. Joe began to circle so that it would take longer for the yeti to reach him. As he jogged, he placed the bags of pig fat in his breast pockets, the pockets on his thighs, the pockets on his rear, and then just emptied one of the bags on his back.

  The chief stopped and sniffed the air.

  “Poobradork,” the chief said while looking at the greasy Joe. Joe smiled at that. Having an understanding of the yeti language, he knew there was no equivalent in his native language. It meant someone who built an overly large fire next to a bucket of grease, and then promptly used the bucket for a pillow and fell into a deep sleep beside the fire. Poobradorks never woke up because they always burned in the fire. Joe would have just called himself an idiot, but Poobradork was probably more accurate.

  Joe knew, at this point, he needed to start throwing magic, but the moment he began, so would the chief. Though Joe knew he was significantly more hardy this time than their first engagement, he didn't want his brains scrambled by the chief’s Kinetic Missile. Nevertheless, he had very few options. Before raising his hands, he began to subvocalize a new life spell he had acquired after awaking from his trance. Carefully selecting the chief in his HUD, he targeted Bridcha’s face. Joe set his feet and activated his MIL Bar. Despite Joe attempting to hide his actions, the chief sensed the magic gathering around Joe. The yeti raised one paw, pointing it at Joe, and released the quick-cast Kinetic Missile.

  As the concentrated bullet of force moved toward Joe, he let himself fall back in the classic Matrix-style. Because his calf was tied to the immovable bar, some of the force was absorbed there. The rest of the force moved harmlessly above Joe as he felt it fl
y past above him. The moment he felt the wave had passed, he used his anchored leg to pop back to a standing position. The spell he had been casting was not even interrupted. Joe raised his glowing white hands upward and the spell flew directly in the twenty-foot tall yeti’s face. Joe had cast a spell called Unrelenting Proliferation. As the spell hit, Joe saw its name and description in his HUD right beside the yeti’s face.

  L4 Unrelenting Proliferation- This spell causes cells to quickly multiply while the spell is active. This spell can be useful in re-growing tissue in large wounds. Warning: If not ended in a timely manner, this spell can cause harm.

  Almost without thought, Joe closed the message hovering beside the yeti’s head. Bridcha felt the spell hit just above his eyes. There was no pain and no immediate effect. Joe could feel the tiny mana drain it took to keep the spell active. Joe deactivated his MIL Bar so that he could begin moving again and jog around in a circle. Joe hoped the spell had hit the chief’s eyes, but he could not yet tell.

  Bridcha carefully turned to follow Joe. The chief had been surprised by how the young king had dodged his force attack. The young king wasn't backing up, but rather going in a circle around him. Carefully and methodically, the yeti closed the distance to Joe. His forehead began to itch. Bridcha unconsciously began to scratch. As his paw moved over his forehead, Bridcha felt a small growth. The yeti shook his head at Joe, showing a little disappointment.

  “Pimple spell? Poobradork,” Bridcha said, and Joe almost tripped when he started laughing. The small growth continue to grow. Bridcha’s brow became heavy as the growth increased in size. Suddenly, the chief recognized the danger and increased his pace to reach Joe.

  Joe stopped circling and mind-clicked his MIL Bar, anchoring him to the ground. Joe raised his hand, and pointed it at one of the yeti’s feet, firing off his own Kinetic Missile. The chief was unprepared for the wave of force that hit his left foot. During their last engagement, Joe had not had access to Force Magic. Unfortunately for Joe, his Kinetic Missiles did not pack the same punch that the chief’s did. Though Bridcha fell forward, he caught himself with his hands and then sprang at Joe like a leaping cat. Joe released his MIL Bar and hurried to get out of the way, but the yeti caught one of his legs.