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“But it’s an advantage you shouldn’t ignore! Think of how much you could get done using them, they don’t tire, they don’t eat, they-”
Arnold cut him off. “They don’t eat!? I think most of us would disagree with that statement!” The rest of the tribe had come out of the cave by this point and had completed the circle around the arguing pair. Madison, Kai and I stepped back, fearing the mob that was forming.
Someone in the crowd shouted, “kill the zombie!” and there was general agreement rolling like a ripple through the rest.
“NO!” Tim shouted. “I need it, it’s my last one left, and it helps me level!”
Arnold made a gesture, and I got a System message.
An Area Quest has been initiated!
Area Quest: Kill The zombie! Reward 25 XP for anyone who accepts the quest and participates. Do you accept? YES/NO
I selected NO, not wanting to be a part of this mob that was getting out of control. I must have been one of the few to choose that option as there was a surge of people grabbing the zombie and beating on it like a piñata.
“NOOOOO!” Tim screamed and tried shoving people off his pet, to no avail. Within moments it was a broken heap on the ground. “Why did you do that!?” Tim whirled on Arnold.
Arnold just looked at him, his face changing from animosity to outright disgust.
“It’s better than you deserve,” one tribesman said as she spit on Tim.
This level of outright hostility was getting to be too much. Kai shouted “STOP!” Their faces turned to him, but the anger had not cooled. “If you wish to enact justice, do it, but if you treat him as less than human, you’re no better than him.”
“Who cares!” came a voice from the crowd, and a rock flew past me and hit Tim in the chest.
“I thought you wanted justice, not vengeance,” I said to Arnold. “Let’s have a trial or something, you can’t hurt him just to hurt him.”
“What made you think I didn’t want vengeance?” Arnold said.
With those words Tim tried to make a break for it. He shot out like a bullet, shoving people out of the way and tried to run. Arnold just chuckled and signaled with his hand. Sarah, also wearing a look of disgust on her face, blasted Tim with a Spirit Shock, locking him up and sending him slamming to the ground.
“Sarah, what are you doing, you can’t be going along with this?” Madison yelled.
Sarah just pointed at one of the nearly naked Hunters who was striding out towards the fallen Tim.
“That’s Austin, we were close, helping each other during the worst, before Tim caught him and threw him into his death trap. He has hurt every single one of us.”
Several Hunters picked Tim up and dragged him towards the cave. Spirit Shock wore off and he tried to put up a fight but the Hunters holding him were strong enough to prevent his escape. I whirled toward Arnold. “What are you going to do with him?”
“Tim won’t be allowed to stay here. We’ll get him to reincarnate and leave this area.”
“How exactly do you plan on doing that?” I asked. I already knew the answer, but I wanted to hear it. I wanted him to hear himself say it out loud. The Chief didn’t flinch.
“We’re going to spawn camp him until he reaches the reincarnation point and tell him he better reincarnate and choose somewhere else to go, or we’ll just keep spawn camping him until he does.”
“What is wrong with you!? You’re going to do exactly what he did?!” shouted Madison.
“Don’t you see that’s what started all of this?” Kai said.
Arnold looked at us with a flat stare. “Tim has been a thorn in our side since we got here. It’s my job as the leader of this tribe to prevent problems like this from arising. Look at how much he hurt the tribe already!”
“Cut to the chase,” I said, “you’re just pissed because he cuckolded you.”
Arnold’s face turned bright red and he shook with anger. “You may not like this, but this is what we are doing. We will be rid of this annoyance forever, and be able to thrive, as we should have been able to FROM THE START!”
“Fine. Then you can thrive without me.” I turned and walked off.
Arnold ran up and grabbed me by the shoulder, spinning me around. “You would choose that scum over this tribe!?”
Madison came up behind us. “It’s not about choosing one over the other. It’s about choosing what’s right.”
“NO!” Arnold yelled. “I say what’s right in this! He caused terrible misery for all of us, for WEEKS! He took everything from me, from us.”
“Why don’t you let me take him? He can start fresh and you won’t have to think of him again,” I said.
“That is foolish,” Arnold said. “Exile is not enough. He needs to feel the pain we felt before he can go away forever.”
Kai stood next to me, his frown deepening as he addressed Arnold. “Your foolish actions started this.”
“You too Kai? You’re going to abandon us now when things are finally getting better?”
“I will not be led by someone who refuses to learn from his own mistakes,” Kai said, shrugging.
Before I could change my mind, I brought up the tribe menu, and selected ‘Leave Tribe’.
Are you sure you wish to leave the tribe; Ascendants? YES/NO
I selected YES, and the tribe menu disappeared. I took a look at my character sheet to confirm;
Name: Hudson
Year: 0
Race: Human
Age: 18
Title: Vassal of the Adjudicator
Class: Treasure Hunter
Level: 1(3)
HP: 254
Armor: 0
Body – 171 Stamina
Strength - 11
Agility - 12
Physique - 14
Mind – 162 Mana
Conscious - 14
Subconscious - 14
Superconscious - 1
Heart – 152 Zeal
Empathy - 5
Projection - 1
Emotion - 13
Soul – 141 Spirit
Self - 1
Aura - 1
Connection - 6
Attunements:
Light
Class Skills:
Hunch – 10
Audeo – 10
Lucky Find – 10
Illugraphy – 10
Throwing Mastery - 10
Personal Skills:
Driven – 10
Secondary Skills:
Archiving – 10
Unassigned Skills:
Survival – 10
Climbing – 10
Running – 10
Jumping – 10
Willful Ignorance – 10
Obstinance – 10
Throwing Mastery – 10
Makeshift Crafting – 10
Assessment – 10
Athletics – 10
Parkour – 10
Throwing Mastery – 10
Diving – 10
Toughness – 10
Sucker Punch – 10
Core Manipulation – 10
Active Dodge – 11
Brawling – 11
Camouflage – 10
Cohesiveness – 10
Center - 10
Scavenging – 50
Unique:
Character Scan – NA
Prime of Death - NA
“What have you done?” Arnold asked. “Why would you abandon us?”
Madison must have left the tribe too as she took my hand and started walking, pulling us away. She stopped and turned back to Arnold.
“We’ve given the tribe enough. You have new skills now that will make you stronger. I have a mission to spread this knowledge everywhere, my time with you was always going to be temporary, and now is as good a time to leave as any.”
The Chief looked at Kai. “Please, stay. We can figure something else out.”
Kai looked at me. “It’s up to you,” I said. “But you’re welcome to travel wit
h us. We would enjoy your company.”
My friend, the Martial Artist, looked at the Chief, then shook his head. “We have forever to live here. I hope to return and find a much different tribe sometime.” He joined Madison and I as we walked off heading towards the great plains.
Arnold mumbled something behind us, but his words were lost on the wind as we walked. Eventually, he turned and went back to the cave. Madison squeezed my hand and looked at me. “Where are we headed Hudson?”
I smiled, looking at the Driven buff that had popped up on my HUD. “Oh, I’ve got a hunch we’ll find something interesting out there.”
Epilogue
Cora expected to be sent back to the world, but when the swirling light stabilized, she found herself somewhere much different. She witnessed a constantly shifting and changing landscape, areas where the normal laws had no sway from one second to the next. The temperature fluctuated, one moment she was freezing cold, the next burning hot. She was on a vast plain and turning around saw it spanned as far as she could see.
She could see hills that would rise into mountains, then collapse into valleys. Miniature volcanoes rose, spewing ash and fountains of magma into the skies, then would explode, hurling rocks everywhere only to be replaced with geysers of water in the next eye-blink.
She saw storms raging, tornadoes touching down and rising into the earth only to dissipate and turn into golden skies. Strange plants would burst forth at every opportunity, with sped-up life cycles that lived and died in minutes, spreading their seeds for the next cycle. Some of these plants produced delicious looking foods, and some noxious clouds of gas.
Creatures roamed the landscape, twisted and strange. With the bodies of one beast and heads of another, even their limbs were of other creatures. They ranged in size from elephantine to minuscule. She watched this in muted fascination wondering what she was witnessing, and why she was here, and where ‘here’ was. A voice, like the sound of a thousand angry bees, laughed behind her and she spun to see a beast the size of a rhinoceros. She gasped as her eyes took in its form.
Its body was that of a lion, with powerful and dangerous looking claws. Enormous, scaled crimson wings erupted from its body. Its tail swept back and forth, stopping and twisting to stare at Cora with the head of a snake on the end, venom dripping from its fangs. All of that freaked her out enough, but the head, or rather heads, of the creature put her over the edge and a Fear debuff popped in her HUD. The creature had the head of a lion, and on either side, the heads of other beasts, one a goat with huge evil looking horns sticking straight into the air, and the other head was that of a snapping turtle, its mouth open wide to reveal the beak-like jaws.
All three of the heads looked up and breathed out, the turtle mouth shooting lightning, searing her retinas, the lion mouth blasting flames and melting her eyelashes, the goat head spewed forth a green cloud that made her retch. She fell to her knees, her eyes watering with more than just the tears from the gas. “What are you!?” she screamed, unable to do more than shake, while she covered her head with her arms, a weak attempt at protection. “What do you want with me?”
I am the Chimera, the Archon of Chaos. What I want… is you.
Cora gasped as it spoke from all of its heads at once, the noise barely intelligible for the volume and power. “What do you mean? Why do you want me?”
I watch all the spiral of chaos in this world, it gives me power. Since the Viators have arrived, my power has grown and through you, my power will grow further.
“I don’t understand… what have I done? Why do you want me?”
You have fomented chaos, brought me power by destroying the order your tribe could have obtained. This is what I want, more chaos, more power. I want you to give that to me, as my vassal.
Cora sensed an opportunity, and her eyes narrowed. She dropped her hands and straightened slightly. “Your vassal? What does that mean?”
You will work for me, to spread chaos, overtly or subversively. I suspect you will enjoy the latter much more.
She thought about this for a moment. “What’s in it for me?” she asked.
I will grant you some of my power, the power to achieve your goals.
A grin alighted on her face, one of pure selfish desires. “What would this power look like?”
If you wish my power, accept my terms.
Cora looked all around at the twisted and twisting landscape, at this being of ferocity and power, her heart yearning for the same thing the Chimera wanted; power. She thought about her last experiences, with the tribe of idiots and led by that fool, Arnold. She had played both sides of that conflict, working with Tim from the beginning, as well as Arnold, to better her station in life. Cora thought of all the people she had played, then flushed them from her mind. Here was a real opportunity.
“I accept. Give me your power,” she said.
Cora screamed as the last words exited her mouth and the Chimera released its breath at her, melting her, burning her. She screamed on and on as the power changed her body, her form becoming gray and featureless. Finally, the breath stopped, and she stood there, a gray bipedal being more akin to a blob of putty than a person.
You have accepted the vassal-hood of the Archon of Chaos, the Chimera!
Your race has been changed.
New race - Doppelganger
New Racial skill - Shapeshift - You can change your shape to that of any sentient creature once you have tasted their blood. The higher your skill, the more forms and more varied the forms you can take.
Shapeshift 1/100 - You have access to three forms, a base featureless form, your original characters form, and another form of a single sentient whose blood you have tasted. This sentient must be equivalent, in dimensions. You may choose a new form once a week.
You have a new class!
New class - Harbinger
Harbinger - Advanced class
Attributes: Empathy Projection Emotion Self
Skills:
Forked Tongue - Greatly Enhanced Deception
Mimic - Copy the skills of your chosen form
Escape Artist - Don’t blink, or you’ll miss me
Illusion Magic - Don’t believe your eyes
Unlocked skills - Seduction, Forgery, Accents, Disguise, Negotiation, Stealth
HP Multiplier - 4
Cora closed her eyes, focusing on her shapeshifting skill, and with minor effort took her original form. She gazed at her naked body and smiled, concentrating on illusion magic and granting herself clothes.
Excellent my vassal, you already show promise. Now go forth and extend my power. Bring forth chaos!
“Where will you send me?”
The Chimera chuckled.
There is a place, that has been out of my reach since the birth of the world. Now you will be my emissary of destruction.
The world swirled around Cora again, shifting to a landscape similar to where she had come from; idyllic forest with a large lazy stream running through it. Ahead along the stream was something she did not expect, a small frontier village filled with cabins made of logs. Many people were running around doing various activities…. But one thing she saw stopped her in her tracks: children, there were children in the village. The Chimera’s laughter ripped through her mind.
Thank you for reading my first novel, I sincerely hope you enjoyed it. Hopefully enough to want more in the PrimeVerse universe! (Is that too many ‘verses’ in a row?)
About the Author
RK Billiau is the best selling author in his household. He feels strange writing about himself in third person, so just know that he has a wife, a ridiculous amount of kids, a few pets, is a geeky used-to-be-gamer who now games by living vicariously through reading and writing LitRPG. When he isn't drowning in children, he works for a nonprofit medical outreach bringing free healthcare to people in his local community. Follow him here:
www.rkbilliau.com or Facebook group.
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