Janus and The Prince: A LitRPG Saga (The Nightmares of Alamir Book 2)

by Noam Oswin

  “I thought he’d be… scarier.” The voice was Arol’s. “I remember the stories of Demiurges I was told. I grew up scared of what’d happen if I ever met one. Scared he’d rip me to shreds. Turn me inside out. Gouge out my eyes and screw the bloody holes for pleasure.” She lowered her voice. “I thought all Demiurges were monstrously insane.”

  “They are,” came Erzili’s harsh voice. “To be able to read the words of existence and decipher the language of the universe would drive anyone to utter insanity. Erzili has met two others. They were terrifying darlings, terrifying. They claimed that the universe is nothing but some sort of game. An entertainment medium devised by higher beings. They were utterly convinced, that all beings in Alamir are nothing more than puppets and pieces whose lives and turmoil exist only for the satisfaction of those ‘beyond the fourth world.’”

  “That sounds like a Demiurge alright.” the gruff voice was Wunder’s.

  Erzili sighed. “Do you know how lucky, Erzili is, how lucky we all are, to have encountered a Demiurge who is sane? No, more than just sane… he’s almost a krvavi. We have a one-in-a-billion find.”

  “This one has not yet rambled about transmigration from another world and how he’s from Ierth?”

  “So far darling, Lord Janus has not provided any such stories. Although,” Erzili hesitated. “He seems to believe he needs to kill the Night Emperors or he’ll lose his memories.”

  There was silence.

  “I thought you said he was sane.” Wunder hissed. “He wants to kill the Night Emperors? What next? Suffocating the sea? Torturing the clouds?”

  “Erzili convinced him it would be better instead recruit the memory-thief to back-up his memory,” Erzili said. “He agreed to the method. In terms of insanity, he appears to be, at the very least, affable. Wunder, Slim – you darlings will be leading an assault on Masakh Mountain to find the memory-thief.”

  “Lea – Erzili… you have to be joking.”

  “Does Erzili appear to be in a jesting mood, Wunder?”

  “Masakh Mountain is... troubling. Upon entry, we will not remember who we are, much less what task we are to accomplish. We will be at the whims of whatever lies or deception the memory-thief concocts as the truth.”

  “Erzili will brew a potion. The ingredients are not something Erzili has on hand, so you darlings will need to gather it. With the potion, you should be able to resist the mental attacks.”

  “Ah, yes, the Potion of Pure Mind. I almost forgot about your expertise in Alchemy.” Slim rasped. “Perhaps you could attempt some of your more famous brews and use it to ensure the Demiurge does not one day awaken and decide to kill us all?”

  “Lord Janus has shown to be a more… agreeable, sort. Any betrayal or deception on our part will only end with our eradication.”

  There was a loud scoff. “How strong can he possibly be? If we all ganged up against him –”

  “Enough Onna!” Erzili’s voice was sharp. The reprimand, harsh. “Listen, darlings, do not attempt to raise his ire. Erzili has already seen it. He was weaker than he was now, a thousand times weaker. Yet, he stormed Fort Zyvar by his lonesome and slaughtered all of you. Slim surrendered, and out of chivalry or kindness, he let him leave. But the rest of you, all of you… none of you stood a candle to him. None of you managed to touch him. He slaughtered all of you without so much as a dent in his armor or a scratch on his person. So, darlings, believe, when Erzili tells you – Lord Janus is your better in every conceivable way.”

  “…he… killed all of us?” Onna’s voice was lower. Softer.

  “Do whatever it takes to ensure Lord Janus is content darlings. Ensure he is satisfied. Always have it at the back of your mind, darlings, that he could destroy you in an instant if you displease him. Despite how he seems, Lord Janus is still a Demiurge.”

  I stopped listening as their conversation went into the logistics of the oncoming battle.

  ‘Ooh la la, my, my Janny, we’ve struck gold.’

  Have we?

  ‘Didn’t you listen? Demiurges are nightmares who can use languages from earth, read them, understand them, but have the downside of going loco. Or at least… appear loco.’

  “What if… Demiurges are people like us, sent from earth to this world?”

  ‘Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. If we’re to believe that, then it means we’ve got to accept that this whole transmigration to another world thing isn’t as rare as we believed, and Oblivion doesn’t have the monopoly on it. Right now, we’ve got nothing but conjecture – so go crack some books and find more.’

  I ran my hand through my hair, muttering underneath my breath. The more answers I found, the more questions I had. At least, a part of me grew comfortable in understanding that Erzili had no immediate plans to betray me.

  ‘She has no immediate plans to betray us… yet.’ Sunny added. ‘The Yuki-Onna, on the other hand, that’s a different matter. She’s the entire reason we had to slaughter our way through Fort Zyvar the first time around because she called us the W-word. We can’t just let that sit idly now can we? Gonna need to do something about her.’

  Rising from the bed, I grimaced from the slight sensation of discomfort. While it was, a bed, and it was, the first real bed I had the pleasure of sleeping on in my second life, it was sorely lacking in finer comforts. A lot of things, truly, about Fort Zyvar were lacking in the finer comforts. The walls were old, damaged, worn. The watchtowers were broken. The place looked to be on the verge of collapse.

  We’re also going to need to do something about this Fort.

  ‘Agreed. We’re going to need stronger beds for all the fucking we’re going to be doing.’

  You are afflicted by the negative status [Blood Parched]

  –50% MP Regen Rate for as long as you remain [Blood Parched].

  You are afflicted by the negative status [Flesh Famished]

  You have [6] More Days Left Before You Die of Starvation.

  My stomach growled, rumbling uncomfortably. I also need to get rid of this hunger…

  ‘That’ll be a tricky one. The closest sign of human life we’ve seen was that blood on the Chameleon Panther’s fangs. We’ll have to track it and see where it leads us.’

  Daily Task:

  Gain a minimum of 400,000 EXPGain at least four new Weapons/Armor/Skills/Minions

  Gain at least 10 Levels in four different skills.

  Rewards:

  Triple EXP Gain for 48 Hours. (Stackable) [(2) Currently Active]

  Summon Two Random Item Chests Once a Day. (Quality Increases with daily summon.)

  All Skills Can be Used Twice a Day with Zero Mana Cost. (Does Not Stack)

  Penalty:

  –100% Experience Gain for 24 Hours. (Stackable)

  Randomly Forfeit Four of Your Skills/Weapons/Armor.

  Four of your Highest Leveled Skills are Reset to Lv. 1

  Time Limit: 23h41m22s

  And we also have the daily task to complete…

  I had a lot of things to do.

  “Let’s split the chores. You take A, I’ll take B.”

  Ah, that was right. I didn’t have to do any of it alone. “[Duality].”

  You have split Paths

  You are now in Path A

  /∞/

  You have split Paths

  You are now in Path B

  Finally!

  I stretched my legs out, winding up the ol’ arm and flexing the muscles, allowing a large grin to appear on my face. “Damn Janny boy, you’re stiff. That hunger debuff is a major bitch.”

  I clicked my tongue. “Once we’re nice and done with our tasks, we’ll decide which path we’re selecting and which path we’re going to discard. I’m going to handle the Yuki-Onna situation, grind a bit, complete the Daily Task and get us some grub and take care of renovations. You handle getting information about the Antediluvian Hieroglyphs, the Night Emperors, Demiurges and learning how to read.”

  “Wait, if that’s the case, d
oesn’t it mean it’s my timeline we’ll end up discarding?”

  “It’s better that way.” I cracked my knuckles. “We need the information, but at the same time, we need to make sure no one knows how much we know. The less Erzili knows we know, the better.”

  “Lord Janus, you’ve awakened.”

  Erzili stepped into the room, sexy as ever. She’d taken a different form again, not that I was complaining. Pointed ears were a beautiful plus, especially on chocolate skin and very little clothing. Technically it was my first time seeing what was most likely a member of the Elvani race – and I’d be a blind man to claim that I did not appreciate the sight. Especially that chest.

  Erzili made use of her power wisely. If you could turn into anyone or anything you wanted to be, it’d be a waste not to turn into someone that could set the genitals of the opposite sex alight with but a glance and a smirk. Vanity upon vanity, Solomon once said. Coming from the man who’d enjoyed over seven hundred wives. It was like finishing a full cake someone baked and then telling them that it wasn’t worth it to have eaten it.

  “Lord Janus… were you… talking with someone?”

  “Just having a conversation with myself,” I said, easily. “Last night was fantastic. Where did you learn that trick with your tongue?”

  Her eyes sparkled with amusement. “At an Oreillan whorehouse in Qu’bal Lang.”

  “I’ll remember to visit there one day and thank them. And perhaps learn a thing or two myself.”

  She crossed her arms. Her dark Elvani hair changed color to red. Her eyes changed color to pink. “Erzili is more than willing to teach all that you wish to know.”

  I clapped my hands. “Excellent. We’ll invite Arol into the mix to make sure the learning session is very productive.”

  “Sunny! What are you saying?!”

  Oh, right, he was still listening in.

  “Of course I’m still listening in!”

  Erzili laughed. “Erzili is certain she will be honored.”

  “Good. Schedule it for the evening. Right now, I have some important things to do.”

  Donning my full armor and descending from the Commander’s Quarters, the Lieutenants of Fort Zyvar were gathered, each one bowing, albeit some of them did so reluctantly. The reluctance came, mostly, again, from Onna.

  “I’m heading out to stretch my legs. One of you is to accompany me.”

  “Erzili will be glad to –”

  “You.” I pointed. My finger landed upon the pale-skinned, white-haired being of frost. “Follow.”

  There was no need for second doubts. The nightmares of Fort Zyvar were terrified of me, and more than that, they looked up to me as a King. There was no reason for me to throw aside this privilege to the wayside and bring myself down. In a lot of ways, it was fitting. I was better than them. Smarter, more powerful, superior in a lot of ways.

  To act like royalty was to be perceived as royalty.

  Onna pointed at herself with a small amount of confusion. “I?”

  “Did you hear me stutter?”

  “N-no, but –”

  “Bite off two of your fingers,” I said cheerily.

  The silence was such that a feather could have landed on the ground and made waves. The Yuki-Onna stared, wide-eyed.

  “W-what?”

  “Make that three,” I added, clapping. “Either you bite off three of your fingers, or I take your entire arm. You have five seconds.”

  Onna froze, no pun intended. “I –”

  “Four seconds.”

  Erzili tried to speak. “Lord Janus –”

  I rose one hand to silence her. “Three seconds.”

  Onna stared at her two hands, hesitating over which one to bring up.

  “Two seconds.”

  “Sunny – you wouldn’t really –”

  “One second.”

  Her teeth clamped down, hard. She spat out three ice-covered fingers, bleeding blue blood. The fingers landed on the ground directly in front of me. She froze over her wound immediately, ice covering and coating the bleeding stumps of her index, middle and ring fingers on her right hand.

  Commanding the earth to rise, I picked up the discarded digits.

  “The next time I give a command, and you question it, you will lose an eye. The time after that, a tongue. And after that, a leg. And for each error, I shall take a part of you. Make enough errors, and I will take until there is nothing left. Is that understood?”

  “Yes, Lord Janus,” came the consensus from the Lieutenants.

  “Excellent!” I clapped my hands. “Now, you, seven-fingered snowwoman. I’m going for a walk. Accompany me.”

  My hands were put softly behind my back. I walked forward, not bothering to look back and see if she did.

  Frost and cold air approached me along with cautious footsteps. I increased my stride, idly whistling a song that I’d long since forgotten. Ah, that’s true. We need to remember to ask Erzili if she knows how to play any instruments.

  ‘Why did you do that?”

  I almost sighed.

  They’re nightmares, Janny. Nightmares, not people. Or if we must think of them as people, think of them as prison inmates who follow a pecking order. Nightmares don’t have or fully understand empathy, so attempting to get them to obey out of loyalty or love is a fool’s errand. But fear – now, fear is something that everyone understands well.

  ‘You want them to fear us?’

  It is much safer to be feared than loved because love is preserved by the link of obligation which, owing to the baseness of men, is broken at every opportunity for their advantage; but fear preserves you by a dread of punishment which never fails.

  ‘Quoting Machiavelli now?’

  Trust me, Janus. I’m you. We’re the same. At the end of the day, we have the same interests, the same goals, but I’m simply the part of you that doesn’t feel the need to reign it in.

  Making my way towards the giant gates of Fort Zyvar, I felt elated at knowing that my other half was no longer whining about the methods used. Oh, I know he knew the value of such methods, but the problem was he was intentionally restricting himself. Limiting himself with halfhearted arguments. For shame.

  Onna trailed behind me at a steady distance. I could hear the uncertainty in her breathing. Beyond the uncertainty, I could smell it, as a High Ghilan had senses attuned to finding and hunting Alamirians, my nose was attuned to sniffing out the residual scents of lingering emotions. I didn’t get how emotions could linger, but Onna’s did. There was a frosty bitterness. A wave of chilling, cold anger.

  Yet, underneath that anger, simmering, laying beneath, was a healthy amount of anxiety.

  Perfect.

  “Nightmares! Nightmares be gone! Bad! Bad! Go! Go! You nightmares not s’posed to be here! Evil! Evil! Corrupting the fort! Vile! Defilers! Defilers!”

  Standing before Fort Zyvar’s gate, there was another voice in my head, that wasn’t mine. High-pitched and whining like a child whose candy had been stolen by an older, yet still more juvenile child, the voice ranted over and over again about the bad, evil nightmares.

  Raging. Raising my right hand, I activated [Gatekeeper].

  [Gatekeeper Activated]

  Identified: Reinforced Fort Gates, created by the Hlahani Human Army, the twelfth day of the Month of the Visitor, 311FE in the Hlahan Forest of South-Eastern Alamir.

  Gate’s Structural Integrity: Medium

  Gate’s Special Ability: [Bastion Against the Night]

  Memories Available: [192]

  Gate Soul: Present [Zyvar]

  No. of Times Gate has been used: [9,999+]

  Gate Connections: None Assigned

  You may edit, delete, replace, upgrade, assign, bless, or curse this gate.

  A thousand memories of a thousand lifetimes pierced through my head like a laser tearing through tissue. I staggered, only for a brief second, as the images of blood, bones and death occupied my head. Warfare. Battle. Siege. The Fort’s creation. The For
t, withstanding an army of pointy-eared Elvani. The Fort, holding back a Horde of hundreds of thousands of goblins –

  The memories of the Fort’s previous commanders: the hero, Sionis the Savior, the brigand, Erodes the Errant, the sorcerer, Alquon the Black Blood. Their adventures, their commands, their lives and deaths as they held Fort Zyvar, defended Fort Zyvar, and met their demises, here at Fort Zyvar.

  I forced the memories to the wayside with a snarl. “Enough.”

  “My… Lord?”

  “I wasn’t talking to you, seven fingers.” I pointed my finger straight at the gates. “I was talking to Zyvar.”

  The accumulation of several heroes and villains living and succeeding in this Fort had given it a personality. Well, well – why am I not surprised? If simply suppressing your emotions could grant a personality, why then, was an object such as this, which had been lived in and breathed in for years upon years not eventually develop a soul?

  “…You… nightmare… you can hear my voice?”

  “Yes, rather annoying that. I’d rather not have any errant voices running amok in my head.”

  Onna took a cautious step back. She couldn’t hear Zyvar talking. No doubt, I must have seemed insane to anyone who couldn’t hear the voice.

  “My name is Janus,” I said. “You’re Zyvar aren’t you? I can tell. You don’t like us nightmares being here.”

  “Yes!” Zyvar screeched. “Yes! Yes! Leave! Leave! Fort not for Nightmares!”

  “The Fort is mine now,” I said. “My Domain. We have a problem because I have a bad habit of not giving away things that are mine.”

  “Fort not for Nightmares! Fort made to repel nightmares! Fort –”

  “Fort is abandoned. Decrepit. Rundown.” I gestured. “If it weren’t for the nightmares here, you would be nothing. A relic lost to time. Consumed by nature. Overrun with animals, crumbling and breaking until the sunsets and sunrises turn you to dust. Is that what you want, Zyvar? To spend a thousand years dying, going quietly into that good night?”

  Zyvar didn’t respond.

  “Think carefully, Zyvar. What is a sword’s purpose? To lie, gathering dust eternally in its sheath? What is a shield’s purpose? To be hung up on a wall, rotting away as a decoration? What is a Fort? A graveyard of warriors, left behind to decorate the landscape? Is that what you are, Zyvar, ornamentation?”