Forger of Worlds

by Simon Archer

  “They have all been defeated, master. Would you like me to begin harvesting?” Queenie said as she walked over to me covered in blood and guts, and when I turned toward her, she casually wiped a bit of entrail from her cheek and flung it disdainfully onto the ground.

  “After I’ve extracted their Aura.”

  “Very well, master.” Queenie gave me a quick bow of her head. “Your will be done.”

  After sparing a glance at Morlaon and Jay to confirm they were both all right, I moved to examine my new skill.

  Auric Interrupt did exactly what it seemed like it should. It allowed the user to use his Aura to interrupt a channeled spell or one that was still being cast, which explained why I hadn’t learned it when I’d used the power to dispel the taunt. That skill had already been used, whereas this fear spell must have been channeled.

  Satisfied, I quickly distributed my points into Strength, Agility, and Intelligence, before dropping my last skill point into Aura Infusion since that would increase the strength of several of my new subskills. Lastly, I went to the dire wolves we had killed and used Auric Extraction to learn the pattern and refill my Aura, and once I was finished, the ants busily began harvesting.

  That just left the dire bear, and since I’d leveled up and had two new slots available, I smiled when I walked over to its corpse and read the message.

  Pattern: Red Dire Bear has been learned. Would you like to create a Red Dire Bear?

  “Yes,” I said, and as Pooh sprang to life in all his green-hued glory, I couldn’t help but laugh. “Everyone is really fucked now.”

  31

  Let me start by saying that riding a giant summoned dire bear was pretty awesome. Not only did we make the rest of the journey to town in record time, but nothing fucked with us either. Whether that was due to the party level stealth skill the bears could cast or because they were big hulking monstrosities of death and destruction, I wasn’t sure, but if I had to wager on it, I’d have probably gone with a little from column A and a little from column B.

  “Once we round this bend, we should be able to see Clucas,” Morlaon explained from atop the dire wolf I’d summoned for him to ride. I’d have gone with a dire bear, but he and Jay were too small to ride on the dire bears comfortably. That was fine though because it felt fitting for just Queenie and me to have the dire bear mounts. “It’s not much of a town as it caters to the type of clientele that most don’t want to associate with…” He paused a moment and then mouthed the word “dwarves” before looking around like he was afraid someone might have heard him. “But it’s got decent food, and even an Adventurers’ Guild outpost.”

  He patted his dire wolf on the haunch. “And thanks to your steeds. We will definitely be on time for our gig at the Dwarven Priestess this afternoon.” He smiled from ear to ear. “It goes without saying that we will sing many songs in your name.”

  “I look forward to it,” I said, and the strange thing was, I wasn’t lying. Over the journey, I’d found I quite liked the goblin duo’s songs, even when they weren’t fueling me with their magic.

  “I can’t think of a better way to spend an evening than to listen to songs proclaiming your greatness, master,” Queenie said with deadly sincerity. “I only wish more hours in the day were spent filled with them.” She smiled as she looked to the sky, clearly lost in a new daydream. “That would be marvelous, indeed.” Then her face grew horrified, and she turned toward the goblins. “Will I be in your songs as well?”

  “I should hope so, milady ant. After all, there is none quite like--” Morlaon said, and before he could say more, Queenie let out a shriek of horror.

  “Oh, no. We can’t have that.” She swallowed hard as she looked from me to the goblins and back again. “I have done nothing more than assist master in his exploits. To think that I might take place in the song that could be better used to sing his praises is the height of arrogance.” She shook her head violently. “This cannot, no, will not stand.” She looked at me pleadingly, and while at first, I thought maybe she had been embarrassed, I realized she was one hundred percent serious.

  “Queenie,” I said as I reached out across the gulf between our bears. I couldn’t touch her or her bear because the damn things were so massive, so I just waggled my fingers at her.

  “Yes, master?” she said as she returned the gesture and reached out toward me so that our fingers were just separated by the space between our mounts.

  “It would please me beyond all reason to hear songs sung of your exploits. After all, your glory reflects upon me because I am your master, does it not?” As I let the words hang in the air, Queenie’s face grew resolute and deadly serious.

  “That is true, master. I had not thought of that.” With that, she turned toward the goblin musicians. “I have changed my mind after speaking with my wise and noble master. You may indeed sing my praises, so long as they are praises and reflect accordingly on my master.” She gave me a satisfied look. “And I shall perform even greater deeds to bring about more glory for you, master.”

  As she spoke, Jay gave me a look I didn’t quite understand but seemed to mean, “I hope you know what you’ve gotten yourself into.”

  The thing was, I couldn’t help but be pleased with Queenie. I knew that the rigid caste nature of ant colonies played a part in her antics, but at the same time, she was so genuine about them that it was hard to not feel good about it. If it made her happy to let her go on that way, I wasn’t going to fight her on it.

  “Trust me, milady ant,” Morlaon said with a gulp. “We wouldn’t dare sing ill of the man who would be the Destroyer King.” He drew his thumb across his neck. “That would be a sure way to wind up dead--” He just stopped talking, his mouth falling open into slack-jawed horror before he let out a shout of abject terror. “No!”

  As one of his hands raised to point into the distance, I twisted on my dire bear to look ahead, and when I saw a rising plume of smoke coming from the distance, I cursed.

  “Is that the town?” I asked as I spurred my dire bear forward in a rush of speed. Sure, it would drain its stamina to go faster, but at the same time, if we delayed, there might not be a town left.

  “I believe so,” Morlaon said as his dire wolf surged up to keep up with my newly hastened dire bear with ease. “Perhaps we should go around it?”

  “No.” I shook my head. “I don’t know what’s going on there, but I aim to find out.” I swallowed. “If those people need rescuing, I’m going to save them.”

  “Besides, if we did that, you would be unable to sing my master’s praises at the local inn,” Queenie said matter-of-factly. “I can think of nothing that would cause me greater despair.”

  With Queenie’s words still ringing in my ears, I spurred my dire bear forward, even going so far as to pour additional Aura into the creature to increase its speed and stamina so it could sprint for longer.

  When we arrived only a few minutes later, I couldn’t help but cry out in shock at the sight of the amassed army of hobgoblins attacking the town. The wooden gates set into the walls surrounding the place were on fire, ignited by great bonfires the hobgoblins besieging the town had lit along the doors. No doubt they wanted to burn them down before they set to using the massive battering ram that they had brought near the entrance.

  Archers from within the town stood atop the walls and fire down, but their arrows bounced harmlessly off the giant steel and wood canopy that the hobgoblins had hoisted over their army to block the vast majority of the arrows that would have skewered them. The rest were easily deflected by the hobgoblins’ steel shields, and I knew it was only a matter of time before they took down the flaming doors and poured inside.

  Assuming, of course, the other hobgoblins using siege ladders to scale the fence didn’t manage to get enough of a foothold to just open the doors first. So far, the defenders seemed to be doing a good job of keeping the hobgoblins at bay, but it was clear to me that given enough time, the hobgoblins would break through the town’s d
efenses, and once that happened, who knew what would happen to the residents.

  “Perhaps… we should leave?” Morlaon’s voice cracked with fear as he came up beside me on the ridge and stared at what had to be over three dozen hobgoblins busily climbing the siege ladders, while who knew how many more sat under the metal canopies.

  “We will do as master wills it.” Queenie looked at me as she appeared on my right side and gestured at our amassed army of hobgoblins, ants, dire wolves, and other assorted creatures. “Because while they have an army, we have master.”

  “That is true,” I said as I watched the battle, and as I did, I saw a prompt appear out of the corner of my vision.

  Pathway Quest has been revealed. Will you help the town of Clucas? Yes or no?

  Interesting. I’d gotten Pathway Quests before, and when they appeared, there was never a right choice or a wrong choice, really. They merely determined which branch of a quest chain one did, and as I stared at it, I knew we could just go on our way and not get ourselves involved in whatever this was. Hell, perhaps we could even help the hobgoblins.

  The thing was that this wasn’t a game anymore, and those were real people in that town. People with lives and destinies and, god help them, children. I couldn’t stand there and watch them all get slaughtered just because the odds seemed stacked against them. No. I would help them.

  “I think we should help them.” I grinned at my companions. “And you guys can write a song about it when we are done.”

  As I spoke, I accepted the Pathway Quest, and once it was confirmed, the town suddenly glowed green with the ally designation while hobgoblins’ names were all suddenly outlined in yellow, letting me know they were only a tiny bit higher level than us. That was fine though because I’d seen what the dire bears could do.

  “Your will be done, master,” Queenie said resolutely. “How shall we proceed?”

  “We need to break their siege.” I pointed at the gates. “I think I can put out the fires, but those ladders and that battering ram are going to be a problem.” I swallowed. “And once we kick that hive, they are going to swarm us.” That’s when I had a thought.

  “Here’s what we will do.” I nodded to Queenie and the goblin musicians. “We’ll play this like ancient medieval combat with knights and pikemen.” I waved off my statement before they could ask questions. “We will use the dire bears and dire wolves to break their line… there.” I pointed to a weaker spot beside the left tent. “Once we break through, we’ll get to the gate and use the army of ants to keep them from swarming us by creating a line of forces around our people. Tanks in front, healers in back, soldiers filling in the gaps.”

  “And what should we do?” Morlaon said with a gulp as he looked at me, clearly a little white despite his green-colored skin. It probably went without saying, but his silent partner Jay looked equally distraught.

  “Play like your lives depend on it.” I grinned evilly. “Because they do.”

  Jay gave me an “Are you mad look?” but I ignored it and turned to Queenie.

  “I’ll lead the charge. You follow behind me on my left with Pixel on my right.” I gestured to the Hobgoblin Warrior I’d summoned as he sat upon his dire wolf. “Keep Jay and Morlaon between you two and keep them safe. We’ll need their music.”

  “Nothing will harm them, master.” Queenie gave me a resolute look, and I nodded back to them.

  “Amsterdam,” I said as I glanced over the hobgoblin Archer I’d summoned. “I need you to try to take out anyone who looks important as we move but do not let yourself fall too far behind Queenie. I’d rather not have to re-summon you from limbo, but if it’s the difference between getting a good kill and not, I won’t mind.”

  The archer gave me a wry grin which wasn’t surprising. I wasn’t sure why, but I got the distinct impression he wasn’t worried about getting shot full of arrows since he couldn’t die. Well, not really, anyway.

  Still, with that, there was nothing to do but attack, so I steeled myself, kicked Pooh in the sides, and rushed out down the ledge with the loudest war cry I could manage.

  32

  She Who Has No Name

  We were fucked. Well and truly. As I stalked the walls with the glinting Overseer’s blade in my hand, smiting what hobgoblins managed to make it over the walls and onto the platforms where the archers stood, I knew our defeat was inevitable. There had to be at least a hundred of the vile creatures, if not more down there, and we had less than a handful of archers among all the town’s ranks. Most of those were not even archers by trade, rather, they were a motley crew of adventurers who had some skill with the bow.

  I did not have high hopes for the rest of the adventurers and guards in the town because most of them were so low level, I doubted they could take on one of these hobgoblins. Still, I would fight until the end, and perhaps beyond it.

  After all, I was the Blue Death, and I would earn my nickname. I would be an army unto myself.

  Another hobgoblin leapt off his siege ladder and landed on the platform before me. He grinned at me, green spittle dribbling from his lips as he smacked his jaws together.

  “Lady slime--”

  He was probably about to say more, but I stopped that by extending my hand and stretching my index finger forward with lightning speed. In an instant, it turned into a piercing blade of green-blue slime that speared through his open mouth and punched out the back of his skull. I quickly withdrew my hand and allowed his corpse to fall to the floor as a sword punched through my back and ripped out of my chest.

  It probably would have hurt if I had a real body or any vital organs to speak of, but as a slime, I did not have those things. The hobgoblin in question should have known that, should have fled in terror before my blade. Instead, my body instantly reformed so that I was facing him, and with one quick step, I was so close that the hilt of his shitty little sword pressed against my abdomen.

  And then my slime reached up over that hilt and grasped his arm. He screamed and tried to release his grip, but unfortunately, he was already caught, like a fly in a spider’s web that did not already know it was dead.

  Normally, I’d have eaten him here and now. Pulled him inside me and dissolved him until less than skin and bone remained in a process that would let him experience each and every last moment of his life in earthshaking agony. Fortunately, for him, there was no time for that. A slash of my sword removed his head from his shoulders, and as blood geysered into the air and his body slumped, I released my hold on his hand. With that done, I kicked him backward off the platform and into the ladder he’d used to climb up, knocking the whole thing backward and sending half a dozen hobgoblins crashing to the ground twenty feet below.

  Then, as I drew the sword he’d planted in me from my body and held it in my left hand, I heard the war cry.

  “What could this be?” I said aloud as my eyes flicked toward the sound in time to see a sight I’d never quite beheld. The Otherworlder was coming down from the far ridge on a dire bear, and Hell was coming with him. An army of all sorts of creatures, some familiar and some not, surged after him, and as I watched, stupefied by the sight, he slammed into the hobgoblin’s left canopy like an avenging god.

  Even from here, I could see the way his dire bear ripped through the ranks like they were so much wet paper, and then the rest of his army hit right after, obliterating what had to have been several dozen troops in a single sally.

  The canopy came crashing to the ground as he passed through it and reached our gates a moment later. The fires were still burning from when the vile hobgoblins had doused it with pitch and set it ablaze. After that, the bastards had kept the fires going with a massive bonfire, fueled by wood they’d no doubt stolen from the farmers in the valley to the west when they’d come through the area in a scythe of blood and death.

  The Otherworlder settled himself in front of our gates, and as he did, his forces broke into two groups. The group he led spread in front of the gate, no doubt to keep the vile ho
bgoblins from using their battering ram once the flames ate away enough of the door, while the other followed a strange looking winged woman on the other dire bear.

  She led a charge straight for the ram itself, and even though her entire troop was shot full of arrows by the hobgoblin archers within the remaining canopies, they didn’t seem to mind. I’d heard tales of the Black Mountains in the frozen north and the living dead that resided within that snowy realm. How you had to shoot them a dozen or more times to put them down, and even then, the dead didn’t quite seem to stay dead. If I hadn’t known better, I’d have said that was what this was.

  Still, I was not one to look a gift horse in the mouth. As the woman and her dire bear hit the canopy over the ram and it fell, I couldn’t help but let out a squeal of glee.

  “Kill them all,” I shouted out as I slashed through another hobgoblin foolish enough to leap over the wall and face me. As his bloody corpse hit the ground, I stepped over him and flung his ladder to the ground. It was no use though because the ladder I had knocked down only a moment before was already back up, and hobgoblins were racing up it like the green monkeys of the Dinuvian Jungles. Faster even.

  I’d barely managed to stem their tide when I heard the sound of a drum. The crazy beat of it ripped through the air, and with it, I felt myself grow strangely energized, and gods be, I couldn’t help but turn toward it. The movement cost me because a hobgoblin’s thrown spear pierced the left side of my face, but it was no effort to fling the projectile back at its source a dozen yards away and pin him to the wall like a macabre flutterby.

  I spun back to the gate, ready to take the fight to the hobgoblins… only what I saw there was beyond my ken. The fires were out, and the entirety of the gate was sheathed in a wall of blue ice a foot thick that crawled out over the walls themselves like icy fingers of death. Then the ground began to rumble and shake.