by Dakota Krout
“Boring, boring, boring!” a voice cackled into the still air. “Killing people sitting on the ground doing nothing would have made for terrible karma.” The question of who the voice belonged to was resolved when a near-nude man stepped out from behind one of the few undamaged buildings.
“I show up to try out some legendary Dwarvish bathhouses, and children like that go interrupting my fun!” The greasy old man grouched–now not quite as dirty due to a relaxing bath–and walked over to the dead Mages to retrieve his belonging still embedded in a skull. The others leaned forward, trying to catch a glimpse of the artifact that could go through the skulls of three Mages without issue.
“Ew. Now there is brain on my toothbrush.” The man sighed and tossed said item to the side. “Might as well get this next part over with. Come on out Kere, at this point you are just being embarrassing.”
“I was hoping you would take this chance to repent.” It felt like dawn had come as Kere Nolsen stepped closer to the man. Pulsating light seemed to collect around him, and everyone present felt at peace as his footsteps echoed amongst them. “Egil Nolsen. I stand before you in my role as High Inquisitor of the Holy Church. I shall now read a much abridged list of your sins. You have committed crimes against the church, Humanity, Elvenkind, Dwarvenkind, Goblins, Orcs, Beasts, and a variety of animals wild and domestic. You are accused of patricide, matricide, fratricide, and regicide, amongst a mountain of other crimes. Actually, you are also accused of attacking and somehow killing a mountain. As my post demands, I stand before you and am charged with granting you a fair trial and a swift death. How do you plead?”
“Would you believe me if I plead insanity?”
“Yes. Yes, I would. It will not lessen the sentence.” Kere’s eyes were hard as he stared upon the man who shared his name.
Egil grinned a mad grin, a myriad of chaotic lights shining in his eyes. “You may as well call me by my chosen name, no one else will understand what is going on otherwise… my dearest son.”
Kere’s mouth turned down into a frown. “After two decades of hunting you, Egil Nolsen–known to the world as ‘Xenocide’–I stand before you to mete out… Justice!” A plethora of differing sounds were emitted. At the pronunciation of the name ‘Xenocide’ most people gasped, screamed, or tried to run from the area. Hue was leached from the world, as Kere spoke and the spectrum of color shifted to include only black and white. Everyone caught in the area had their sins exposed, no matter how minor they may have been. “I can see the sins crawling up your… huh?”
“You can see my what now?” Egil stood with a depraved smile on his face, beginning to dance in place.
Kere seemed a bit nonplussed, his face rigid as he looked at his father. Egil had not a single speck of black on him, seeming every bit as pure as new-fallen snow. The man in question strode forward, laying a hand on his son. “Aww. Two decades of hunting for no reason. No. Reason. At. All.” He poked Kere on the nose as he said the last word, causing Kere to snap out of his shock.
“Im-impossible! I witnessed their murder!” Kere roared while drawing his sword and attempting to swing it. His arm didn’t move an inch, his connection to Justice refusing to allow him to harm an ‘innocent’ person.
“Hmm. Am I innocent because I had to do it or because I feel no remorse?” Egil laughed as his son nearly frothed at the mouth. “Ah well. Either way, you should come over for dinner soon! I found a new recipe for roast puppy that I am just dying to try!”
“You’re sick!” Kere bellowed, trying and failing to attack again.
“And you limit yourself!” Egil screamed in reply, his face twisting into something terrifying. His words caused the Inquisitor to flinch. “Following just one path, you literally see the world as black and white! Everything is shades of grey, boy! And it abyss well should be! Look at how weak you have become! Under your restrictive mindset, even breathing is a sin, because you take air that another could use! Open your eyes, child!”
“You are insane! Your entire goal is to kill everyone!”
“I’m not going to argue! But as you can see, insanity has a few perks. Also, you are wrong about one thing… I don't have any goals. They are more like… things I want to do for giggles.” Egil laughed in the face of the helpless inquisitor. He turned in a slow waltz, waved dramatically at the aghast crowd that had gathered and danced through the portal.
~ Cal ~
When the Mage died, I had only been able to speak a few words before I was forced into my inner soul. His Mana flowed into me in a rush that took me by surprise. It was different than my own and sought to overpower my law. I freely admit, I panicked at first, but then I had a realization and needed to laugh. All other laws were inferior to mine and were only a small portion of my own, broken and splintered to fill a niche. The Mana continued flowing into me, but without me fighting it, the Mana was integrated into my own. The surge from the dead Mage allowed me to have a happy little boost to my own well of power.
It didn’t propel me forward in ranking; the only thing that could do that at this point was forming a deeper connection and understanding with Acme. It did give me access to more Mana, but when it was used up it was gone. I paused and chuckled. This had given me a few ideas. I had a dimensional bag stuffed with Mana! If I could use it as a power source, I could accelerate my plans to a huge degree!
I came back to myself, looking around in confusion. Hadn’t there been a dead body in front of me? I looked around my body, and realized my decoy Core was gone.
“You are still here?” Bob half-screamed-half-asked. “Great Spirit! I am so sorry! I doubted you! Your silence was… disconcerting.”
“You got good news out of this somehow?” Bob questioned as his people began to take shape around him. He shivered. “Oh, this is so strange to see.”
“You do?” Bob was intrigued at my words. “The ritual?”
I turned my attention to a part of the dungeon that was separate from the rest, connected only by a small portal. Too small for anything but a Basher to fit through.
“I don’t think they want to leave. What is this place?” Dale seemed a bit grouchy tonight.
I looked closer, noting the Alchemist and a few other craftsmen struggling to get at the workbenches only a few feet away from them. I chuckled, every time they tried to cross the Runes in the floor, gravity would increase by a massive amount and they would be pressed to the ground. It was set up as a directional Rune, so when they gave up and attempted to back off the weight would abate.
“That doesn’t actually tell me much,” Dale thought at me. “What is it? What do we do?”
“No one would do that!” Dale shouted in his head, very accusingly and–in my opinion–incorrectly.
Dale stared at Tyler, and decided to ask him directly. “Tyler, this room is a lab where you ‘pay’ to work. You can bring things in or donate power, and you’ll get a token that lets you stay here with a room and food. Also, all the materials you want.”
“What's the ratio?” Tyler whipped his head around so fast I thought it would break. “Where do I pay? There is crushed opal in there, Dale! I can see it! Is… is that powdered aluminum? I need to get in! I need to, Dale!”
“Bring it up to the protectorate,” Dale scoffed at me, “No way in the abyss am I going to-”
“Look! That sign says we can donate memories instead of things for an equal amount of time! Hot dang, I can stay here for years!” Tyler was nearly jumping for joy as he ran to a donation lectern. There was a memory stone embedded in it, and without hesitation, he pressed his head to it. A moment later, he looked up a bit dizzily. The stone dropped into the lectern, and a new one slid into place. A necklace with a pendant fell into a small drawer, and Tyler snatched it up and put it on as soon as he saw it. With a touch of Essence, it bound to him, and he ran to the edge of the Runescript. He took a deep breath and stepped over the line. Continuing forward to the workbench, he laughed as he started applying heat to a vial. Suddenly, the area around him grew too blurry to see clearly.
The others groaned as they saw the privacy filter snap into place; they had wanted to see what Tyler was doing!
“You are literally a monster.” Dale sighed at me, then spoke softly, “I have no idea why other people refuse to see it.”
“I’m leaving,” Dale announced to the mixed group of people. “I am going to go check on the surface, I think the danger has passed.”
~ Chapter Twenty-Nine ~
“Moron! Imbecile!” The Master threw the Core to the ground at his feet. It shattered, the Essence inside of it being sucked into the Core of the infernal dungeon.
“Master! I am so sorry! I had no idea that it would have a decoy! I will return immediately and-”
“You will do nothing of the sort!” The Master growled. “Your leader swore an oath that we would not go back if he wasn’t attacked. We don’t exactly have a plethora of A-ranked summoners, and going back would end him. We need to find a way to make them attack him, then we will go back. At least he kept the wording vague.”
Behind them, Dani did all she could to keep from laughing aloud. Her mirth dwindled as she felt the attention of the infernal dungeon fall on her. It seemed to leer at her, reaching tendrils of Essence toward her as if it could sneak its way into a bond with her. “Shoo,” she hissed at the looming presence.
“Show mercy? Have a good soul? Not allow extraplanar demons into our lives?” Dani brutally rebuffed the dark presence. “The real question is: what could you offer that he can’t? I can already tell that he is smarter than you.”
The dungeon’s presence seemed to twitch and slowly retreated.
~ Cal ~
The Manticore really freaked me out when it responded in a deep, rumbling baritone, “I will do my best to ensure that you don’t need to do so very often.” It laughed, a rolling vibration that would terrify a normal being.
It answered, rolling it’s ‘R’s as it spoke, “I only desire prey. I will feast on them and find comfort in their demise. For the time being, they will be more than enough sustenance. I assure you that I am pleased.”
I had been working on this plan with Bob for some time. This was only the start of my machinations. Since I had used the obelisks to demarcate an ‘enclosed’ area, I was able to extend my influence upward. Cores inset into the top of the obelisks began to glow softly, releasing a tiny amount of Essence into the air. The Essence fed my influence, which grew into ‘walls’ around the town. To the trained eye, they were more like soap bubbles. A seventh, much larger obelisk grew in the exact center of the zoned-off space, which just so happened to be where the entrance to my dungeon lay. I smiled as the Core on its tip began to glow, and lines of Essence flowed between it and the six others. A bubble of influence began to form over the town, upon completion becoming a dome-like structure that could only be seen by cultivators.
It didn’t do much right now, but over time, my influence would fill the area. It would take quite a while, as this was me technically adding another floor to the dungeon. I hoped that no one was stupid enough to destroy the stone, as this would help the town greatly. As a matter of fact, likely everyone would enjoy the benefits and only Dale would complain about it. Already I felt the beginnings of an influx of air Essence as the wind howled over the mountaintop. A trickle of influence began to seep across the ground, avoiding places where living people were standing. There seemed to be a conversation happening, and I noticed Dale was involved. Looking at all the blood, bodies, and damage, a flash of inspiration hit me and I chuckled. Time to prove that the obelisks would be useful and that destroying them would be a terrible idea.
I actively began breaking down the bodies. They turned to goop, then nothingness as I finished decomposing them. I absorbed blood and other liquids, even tasting a new kind of snow for the first time. It had an odd yellow color, and I couldn’t understand why people talked about catching this on their tongues… I found more snow, white this time, and cleared pathways between buildings, the snow simply vanishing. Rubble sunk into the ground, and I replaced it with usable bricks and various building materials. I wouldn’t repair the buildings; they would get too l
azy if they thought I’d just fix everything for them. I laughed to myself. When daylight came I was sure there would be quite a bit of confusion.
“Great Spirit!” Bob called, pulling attention to my depths. “The ritual… after much study, we believe it is ready.”
Bob, all of them, shared glances and nodded. “We will stay. This is not an occasion that we feel we should miss.”
There was no flash. There was no sound, no waste of excess energy. The only way I was able to tell that the ritual was complete was the slow, constant drain of my Mana.
“Follow it!” Bob demanded shrilly, eyes alight with the thrill of discovery. “I need to know if it is doing what it should!”
I gave him a ‘look’ due to his tone, then looped my Mana through a Core. I poured the entirety of my excess Mana from the dead necromancer into the Core, allowing the ritual to sustain itself without my direct intervention. Then I followed Bob’s order and dove into the earth. I sank down, down, following the hole that had been bored by my previous ritual. I got to the appropriate depth and looked around, daring to hope. I saw nothing. I looked closer, but still no change was visible.