by Erik Colombe
“I’ll leave you two here. We don’t have much variety for food, mostly whatever the others hunt. It will take a while, so please take your time. Let me know when you’re done. The beginning is naïve, and the ending sucks, but everything you’re looking for is in there. Well, probably not everything, but enough to get you started or enough to answer the questions you may have had when you started out here. Of course, you’ve been here long enough that maybe you’ve figured out a few for yourself. Sorry, rambling again. I’ll leave you to it.”
The construct called Thomas walked out of the room and left Max and John staring at the book on the desk. Max walked over to one of the couches in the room and laid down.
“What are you doing?”
“I’ll rest here while you read the book. Better to save my strength in case there’s a fight later,” Max said, closing her eyes.
John sat down at the desk and opened the book. His hands trembled a little as he clasped the old leather journal, wondering what important secrets were written inside of it and feeling excited that, for the first time, he might get some answers.
Chapter 4
John’s eyes grew blurry, and the world around him faded to black. He was no longer sitting at the desk but standing in an empty black vacuum.
“Hello,” he called out, but his voice was weak and came out almost like a whisper as the black expanse ate light and sound.
John heard footsteps coming towards him and saw a man about the same age as he come walking forward. The person looked like Thomas’s construct, and John understood that this must be the man behind it all, the man who would become known as the Demon King.
He stopped in front of John, his head bowed down to the floor, but when he spoke, his voice was loud and clear coming from all directions, not just the image of Thomas.
“Traveler from another world. You have been chosen to be the Hero of this one. Arise and know you are welcomed and loved,” a booming voice roared out from nowhere.
“These were the words I was greeted with. They still haunt my soul to this day as I pen this diary. Of course, at the time, they sounded like the words of fantastical luck. I had been summoned to a world where magic existed. I played games all through high school. I spent so many quarters in the mall arcade that I often forgot to save money for lunch.” Thomas smiled to himself at the thought.
The black expanse transformed around John to show a city with men and women clad in light cloth that covered them, barely. They wore colorful jewelry and ornaments on their bodies. John could see men carrying shields and spears, while they walked through a city made of adobe. John turned around to see a forest that was thick but allowed the sun to pierce their branches to illuminate the forest floor and the many dirt paths that spread out from the area.
John recognized it. The last time he had seen this place, it had been so overrun with trees, undergrowth, and fog it always seemed like it was close to dusk. This was the dark forest before it became a place to be feared. Thomas was in the center of the large crowd, and a large, plump man, who was covered from head to toe in vibrant colored clothes, was addressing the audience.
All John could hear was “behold our hero.”
Thomas looked over the crowd and looked at John. The cheers and applause died as he spoke.
“This is what was awaiting me. A dream world. They told me I had been chosen and brought here by the god of fate and virtue. The twin gods had chosen me to deliver the Armody people from their plight of monsters and beasts and to show the world their glory. Really, I was there to commit genocide for the fat prick that has his hand on my shoulder. I was blinded by the women who adored me, the attention, that I could do no wrong, and finally, I was powerful. The drugs I was given came later as they struggled to keep me under control.”
The scene shifted to an image of a war room. A map of the world sat in the middle covered by moving colored mists. A blue mist covered almost everything, whereas a red mist was sprinkled throughout the world.
“The Demi-Humans were the rulers of this planet and had that right. They were smarter, faster, stronger than humans and knew how to use magic effectively. However, humans bred faster, had no problems changing the planet to suit their needs, and while the Demi-Humans were smart, the humans were cunning, and it’s always better to be clever than smart.”
John could see the red mist start to spread like a mushroom cloud until it covered the world map.
“I led armies, and my magic was greater than even the greatest Demi-Humans could muster. My power gave King Vilraran the ability to build and overtake kingdoms, killing Demi-Humans by the thousands. It wasn’t long until I became a figurehead, just a symbol of heroism. The only time I was called out was for parades and publicity.”
The image shifted to a large city. The entire town was moving as people ran back and forth. John could hear trains in the background and saw homes made of steel and rivets. The world looked like it was on the cusp of an industrial revolution. The image shifted quickly, and John was taken to a large castle that held giant tesla coils for towers that sparked electricity at each other. The entire castle seemed to glow with raw power. John could see it was the incandescent lightbulbs dimming and glowing as the electricity failed to be regulated.
Inside a large room lined with books and paintings was Thomas. He was significantly older, maybe 10 years or so. He filled out the room more like a man than the teenager he had been when John first saw him. A perfumed smoke covered the room as naked women seemed to cover him like a blanket.
“This is what I was reduced to, a druggie who cared for nothing but his next fix and the beautiful women that overflowed my bedchambers. I was told the perfume was a magic contraceptive. I learned later that they were breeding me like a prized horse. It was actually one of my children that brought me to my senses. She didn’t deserve a father like me,” Thomas said beneath the blanket of well-endowed naked women. He pinched the bridge of his nose with one hand as tears started to well in his eyes. John heard several pages being torn from a book.
“Never mind; it doesn’t matter. What matters is what was really happening,” Thomas said, and the sound of pages being torn stopped.
“I met with the Demi-Humans, and it was they who had granted me the name Nechomit, meaning ‘end of hope’ or Demon King. It took me a while to earn their trust and to pay for my transgressions. I brought all of them to this desert past the miles of forest.”
The map changed again, showing a great egress as one red dot led almost all the Demi-Humans through what would become the Tar Sea.
“Their armies came for me, mostly to prove a point, and we struck them hard for their foolishness, one I don’t think they’ll be able to overcome. However, my time is coming close to the end, and I have not repaid my debts. That is where Lilzziat comes in.”
A half-woman half-snake appeared next to John, who almost jumped and ran screaming as he clasped his hand on the hilt of a sword. He knew the thousand-year-old lamia as the self-proclaimed god that had brought him here to try to eat him.
“Lilzziat has been my right hand and my most trusted advisor. She has agreed to become the guard of the Armony forest. The powers in it are vast, and I cannot understand them. When she becomes the guard, she will tap into the power that brings those from our world here. She will pick my replacement and prepare them.”
“You’re a real bad judge of character,” John said to them both. Neither responded.
“I have thought long and hard about what I will say to my successor when he finally comes.” Thomas looked up and stared John right in the eyes.
“I’m sorry. I’m so very sorry,” he said, and his eyes slid back to the ground as he took a heavy sigh like he was shifting the weight of the world from one shoulder to the other.
“If I had another option, I would have used it, but unfortunately, I’m dying and won’t be able to continue my repentance. I am so sorry that I have so little to offer you and instead must ask you this weighty favor.”
“This is all I can offer you, the spell that will send you back home if you wish it. However, the only way it can be unlocked and used is if my construct gives you the key. I have instructed him to do so only if the Demi-Humans have had their status lifted and are able to live freely. Then maybe my debts will be forgiven,” Thomas said, as the sigil disappeared, and John’s eyes opened back to the library. Max was asleep on the couch, and a plate of foreign meat was cold next to him.
John started to eat as he went over in his mind everything he had learned and thought about what he would do next in this world. He didn’t feel inclined to help a thousand-year-old ghost clear his conscience, and if Thomas had found a way to go home, then he could possibly find it as well. However, there was a man who wanted his head, and John honestly feared Chris more than anything this dungeon had shown him so far. What kind of man could lead two monsters like Mike and Ryan?
Chapter 5
Thomas’s construct, whom John had just started to call Tom, came into the room after John had finished his meal.
“I hope the food was satisfactory,” Tom said.
“It was. It’s been a while since I’ve had food that didn’t taste burnt or dried,” John said.
“That would be thanks to Thomas’s information. He was a bit of an amateur chef.”
“He should have been a loan shark, asking for payment on a thousand-year loan when he was the one who brought me here.”
“You’ve read the book and heard the requirements. What will you do?”
“I want to go home. People have been after my head ever since I got here. I’ve almost died a handful of times. Matter of fact, I did die once, but this world does have a few things that I would be crazy to ignore. For now, I’m safe from Chris, and I don’t know if I can help, but I’ll try. If it turns out that I can’t, I’ll either have to take the method to go home by force or find my own.”
“Then you will need to be introduced to the Generals,” Tom said, ignoring the thinly veiled threat.
“Who?”
“Zyn, Xyla, and Quway,” Tom said as they walked from the library.
“Back when Thomas was around, he had four generals that were part of the strongest Demi-Humans. To you, they would be something similar to desert animals. However, Lilzziat was one of the generals, and after she left, no one wanted to take her place. The other three are the newest incarnations of the originals. After they die, each of the different Demi-Human tribes has their own way of selecting them. Be aware that they are all extremely strong. I know the dungeon had some side effects, like taking away your analyze skill. So, let me tell you now Zyn, Xyla and Quway are level 93, 96, and 90, respectively. If you anger them or give them cause, they have the power to kill you,” Tom said.
“If these generals are so powerful, what do they need from me?” John asked, gritting his teeth.
“Leadership, first and foremost. Their tribes do not get along, and the only thing that has kept them from killing each other is the pact they made under Thomas. Next, they need hope. They are starving. Thomas, with his final act, created the dungeon and the Tar Sea to block the rest of the world from hunting down the Demi-Humans under his care, but we’ve been trapped in a desert with an ocean to our backs and no fertile soil. The East and South are cut off by the Tar Sea, while the North is cut off by mountains that lead to a cold arctic none of the desert Demi-Humans could hope to cross or hunt.”
“How am I supposed to fix that?” John asked as they passed through a door in the main hallway and started walking down a rough tunnel cut out of rock.
“It’s not going to be easy, but Thomas did leave behind a few tools for you, one of them being the dungeon core.”
“The what?”
“The dungeon core is what was used to create this dungeon in a single day. It requires a huge amount of power. You must have seen it when you walked in. It was the big blue rock.”
John nodded his head in memory of the giant magical crystal.
“It’s tapped now, but it works as a kind of battery. You funnel magic into it and then you use it to reshape the world around you.”
“So, I have a giant magical rock that can solve all our problems, but I need a way to charge the damn thing.”
Tom nodded.
They walked through the rock tunnel covered in spider webs until they reached a large open room with a round table in it. John didn’t take a seat. If he pissed off any of them, he wanted the ability to run.
“Zyn, Xyla, and Quway, I’d like for you to meet John. He’s read Thomas’s diary and has agreed to help.”
John didn’t see anyone at the table but felt eyes watching him from the shadows.
He heard a buzzing sound and the breaking of cartilage as a woman in a black evening dress walked slowly, seductively towards the chair. Her wasp-like wings folded into her back, merging with the black dress.
“He has not proven he is worthy of taking the lord’s place. Instead, he comes here like a thief seeking to plunder,” Xyla said in low voice that was off put by the faint buzzing sound that accompanied her words. She sent shivers down John’s spine as she was the closest to his level and the one he may need to impress the most.
“A rat plundering a sinking ship is still a rat trapped on a sinking ship. He is the first one to come in this long of a time; let him have his chance. After all, we can always kill him if he fails,” Zyn said as he walked out of the shadows and stood next to his seat. He was covered from head to toe in a desert brown armor. Two swords struck out from his side, while a third larger sword was held on his back. As John looked closer, he could see the sword on Zyn’s back was a part of him and curved into his spine like the stinger on a scorpion. He reminded him of a soldier, calm, strict and waiting for a fight.
Quway walked out of the shadow and remained silent for a while, staring at John with unblinking eyes. He was covered in black clothes, and only his eyes could be seen as the light seemed to drift away, like it wanted nothing to do with him and meandered away. John realized it was more than black cloth; parts of it seemed to sway in nonexistent wind. John had to stare close to see the strips of black cloth that extended out of his sides were thin spider-like legs and were constantly moving independently of each other. Both Zyn and Xyla were seated as far from Quway as possible. He may not have been the strongest that was present at the table, but John knew that levels weren’t everything if you had a few tricks up your sleeves.
“Listen, you have a problem, and I may have a solution. This is not something I can do alone and will need help. Our best bet is recharging the dungeon core. I have an idea, but I need information. How is the crystal recharged?”
Tom spoke up next to John.
“The crystal requires a power source of pure mana to be directly infused into the crystal. Thomas was the only one that could infuse mana into it and spent a large part of his life storing energy in the crystal.”
“I don’t have that kind of time. We’ll need to find a shortcut to get the mana stored into the crystal quickly. I’m going to need some time to test it and read any of the research that Thomas may have left.”
John was interrupted by the sound of thousands of whispers in a language he didn’t know coming from what sounded like every direction at once. Quway closed his eyes and looked like he was listening. After a few seconds, his eyes jerked open, and he stood abruptly, sending the chair he was sitting in skittering away from him.
“He’s brought the Undead to our doorstep,” Quway said with a tense voice pointing a gloved finger at John.
Both Zyn and Xyla turned to John and looked like they were about to kill him on the spot. John remained seated and crossed his arms to t
ry to keep them from trembling and giving him away.
“Excellent. This will save me some time. Why are you so worried? They are hard to kill, but if I’ve done it once, I can do it again.”
The fury seemed to fade a little from the three generals.
“You lie!” Xyla said. “They are undead and cannot be killed; otherwise, we would have done it long ago to find better hunting grounds.”
“We robbed them of their mana and pulverized it until it was nothing,” Max said in a low growl.
John stood and looked around, surprised to hear her voice. She stood at the back of the room by the doorway. He hadn’t heard her come in.
“Destroying one may be impressive, but it does little to absolve our current situation. I’m being informed that many have crossed into the desert. We will need to flee,” Quway said.
John looked at each of the Generals, panicking. He was losing them, and if he lost them, he would be forced to fight his way out of here or give up on the journal that had his ticket home. He needed them to listen. He slammed a fist on the table.
“Fuck that,” he said looking at each of them. Their fury smoldered against the fire burning in his eyes.
“I’ve been running since the moment I got here. If you run, you die. Thomas may have saved your people, but he backed all of you into a corner, and now you’re paying for it, and instead of fighting for your lives, you’re running away like cowards.”
“You don’t care about us. You just want what Thomas left you,” Xyla said.
“True. If you run and all of you die, I can’t go home. From my point of view, we both have something to fight for,” John said.
“Finally, someone is making sense. I’m throwing my lot in with the human,” Zyn said rising from his seat.
“I will join as well,” Quway said almost reluctantly after hearing several whispers from the dark.