Kingdom Come

by James Osiris Baldwin

  The giant carried a weapon in one hand: a beautifully made steel spear, glinting with traceries of scarlet light. When he saw me looking at it, he grinned widely, baring a set of interlocking, shark-like fangs. “Come, Hector. There is one final test.”

  Slowly, I pulled myself out of the sarcophagus and hopped down to the ground. They’d left my pants on – that was nice of them. I crossed to the giant and stood at ease, not sure what he wanted.

  He held his wrist to me. “Place your left finger on my pulse and drink. One swallow… it will seal your status as my Damu.”

  Hesitantly, I took his wrist in my hands. There was no pulse, but through my fingers, I could somehow see the map of veins underneath his skin when I closed my eyes. No sooner had I realized that than my nails began to lengthen and narrow, until the end was a perfectly sharp needle point. I flexed my index finger in against his wrist. It broke the skin with a snap, sliding into the vein. I breathed in, chest rattling, and felt icy energy slide up through my finger, along my arm toward my heart. And when it hit… a warm glow suffused me, a combination of afterglow and the sensation of the best meal I’d ever had, all wrapped up in one heart-shuddering moment of contentment. The symbol on the back of my other hand, my right hand, burned with an unpleasant sensation.

  “Good.” He held the spear out to me. "Welcome to eternity, my child. Take your weapon and ready yourself for a cold journey. We have a great work to accomplish."

  Nodding absently, I took the Spear - and as I did, a powerful sense of deja vu swept over me, and then a sense of warm fullness as memories of the very recent past shunted into my brain like a download. Suddenly, I knew exactly what I had to do.

  I smiled up at Ashur like he was my favorite person in the world. I hoped it was a good performance: my life, the lives of my friends, and the life of a god depended on it. “Yes… Sire.”

  Chapter 51

  The four of us left for the Dragon Gate just after sunset: Ashur, Violetta, myself, and Violetta’s dragon.

  "There." I pointed at the wobbling, gleaming star in the sky. "If we fly for that, the Gate and the Thunderstones should be where its orbit passes over the mountains."

  "Excellent." Ashur was decked out in his golden war finery, a great hooked sword strapped to his belt, and a scepter in his hand. The scepter was carved of ivory and was set with a star sapphire the size of an eyeball: a stunning blue-black crystal with a brilliant white flash. It called to me and the Spear like a long-lost lover. "Once we have slain the Black God, I will have Hector summon his Queen dragon. Thus the bargain shall be fulfilled between your Master and I. I am only glad it did not require another war."

  "We will need Hector and the Spear for the other gods," Violetta replied. "My emperor will pay you handsomely."

  The vampire chuckled. "In other stones, perhaps?"

  Violetta fixed him with a blank stare. “You will have enough power to save your homeland. I would not push his generosity.”

  I smiled like a doofus and nodded to everything my new 'Master' had to say. After watching me take my first vampiric baby steps, he was utterly confident that I was just another happy little undead thrall. Violetta didn't seem so sure. I made a point of staring hungrily at the back of her neck as her creaking Blue dragon climbed into the icy cold vault of the sky.

  “I can use a spell to triangulate an approximate position,” Violetta said. Her voice grated on my ears, which seemed slightly more sensitive than I recalled. “We will make several jumps, so as to get an accurate location.”

  "As you wish." The elder vampire wasn't strapped onto the dragon. He hung on with one clawed hand, gazing up to the stars and enjoying the sensation of the wind on his face. "Long have I waited for this day, Hector. I look forward to showing you my homeland as it is restored to its former glory! The Hanging Gardens, the mighty rivers, the artists and metalworkers!"

  I glanced past the spread of information in my HUD to see if he was looking to me for an answer, but he wasn't. I had several windows open: my Quests window, the ArchemiWiki, the character log. "What about my dragon, sire?"

  "What use does a future master of life and death have for dragons?" Ashur boomed. "Vainglorious, petty, selfish creatures. You are the child of Ashur of the Ten Thousand Swords! You have the makings of a masterful tactician, destined for far greater things than mooning around after one dragon. You could have the power of a thousand dragons! A thousand queens! With Matir's power, we will go on to conquer Vlachia, then Dakhdir. You have the Ruby – perhaps we will take Khors as well."

  "Yeah, for sure. The more the merrier." I tried my best to sound enthused, still listening to my HUD narrator as she read out my quest updates.

  [Sub-Quest failed: Bayou Warriors]

  [You gain 725 EXP: Completed Subquests]

  [You have new Quest Updates!]

  Unto Death

  Myszno, in the south-east of Vlachia, was formerly one of the most beautiful places in the country. Now it is a ruin, blighted by undeath and ruled by a powerful vampire lord.

  You accepted a grant to travel to this troubled land and reclaim it from the vampire’s claws – a terrible proposition, given how powerful he has become. But with great risk comes great reward. You could become a true Count in Vlachia, with land, property, and income.

  After fighting to unite the Myszno Defense Force, you decisively smashed the Demon’s Army against the walls of the Prezyemi Line, though at great cost. Now it is time to finish what you started. Karhad and Egbolt are within your grasp - will you succeed, or will you die trying?

  Difficulty: Level 20+ (extraordinary)

  Rewards: EXP, 60 build points, Charter to Resettle the Duchy of Myszno.

  The Shrine of the Elder Gods

  Follow the Star - and remember, Herald: be subtle and clever.

  Everything blanked out as the blue dragon rumbled the words of a spell. I paused in my listening as reality folded in around us like a sheet, enclosing us in a black nothingness. When it unfurled, we were hanging over a range of wild, snowcapped black mountains. Gusts of snow and ice blew into our faces, skittered over the dragon’s scales.

  Violetta held her hands up, palms facing one another as they glowed. “Next jump. Brace.”

  We vanished a second time, and a third... each time, appearing over steep mountainous taiga. A black river cut through the narrow stone valley below. deepening and becoming more thunderous each time we blinked between locations. On the fourth try, we appeared into a raging storm, hovering over the lip of a waterfall that plunged down into a black abyss of space. Across the crevasse were two enormous obelisks that stretched up from the depths to a height greater than the nearest mountain. The monuments spat and arced with power. When the swirling clouds overhead convulsed with lightning, the obelisks drew the blasts and channeled them, absorbing the energy into the glowing vertical lines of script that decorated them.

  “The Thunderstones,” I murmured.

  Ashur rumbled. “Do you feel the way it makes your blood crawl, boy? The Dark God hates the dead.”

  This area didn't feel bad to me. It felt like an old graveyard. Peaceful, but spooky. The Mark of Matir throbbed dully on the back of my right hand. “Yeah. This is the place.”

  “Tempest doesn’t like it,” Violetta said. “Be on guard.”

  The great blue dragon soared into the canyon, breaching the fog and revealing the mouth of a great cave that was so perfectly dark that even my wildly enhanced vision couldn’t penetrate it. Only a dragon or other flying creature could have reached this place - and even a dragon struggled to enter. Tempest’s wing-tips grazed the entry to the cavern, and he grunted in displeasure as we flew deep into the heart of the great mountain that loomed above.

  The rumbling waterfall receded, and silence fell over us like a heavy cloak. I had to be careful to conceal my breathing, and spent the trip in relearning the limits of my character, scheming and planning. I had three branches of skills now: my combat abilities, the Mark of Matir abilities, and th
e Shadowlord powers. There were only two of those to worry about:

  Rite: Shadow of the Sun (Level 1)

  Suund'karon, Karalt', Binah!

  You may call and bind the spirits of the dead to your will. You may enact Shadow of the Sun over a corpse and extract the creature's wraith to serve you. To qualify for extraction, the target must be an NPC of any species that possesses a Wisdom score. This excludes certain monsters and constructs. Constructs animated by a spirit may qualify for extraction, as you can extract and bind the spirit contained within the construct - assuming you are strong enough to defeat the wards and magic laid on the construct by its creator.

  You have a default 80% chance to summon an individual creature's wraithform. The chance of failure increases or decreases depending on the extracted creature's level (10% +/- per level relative to your level). For example, at Level 21, you have an 80% chance to bind another Level 21 creature, a 100% chance of binding any creature below Level 19, and a 70% chance of binding a Level 22 creature.

  Bound shadows are permanently available to be summoned. The number of summoned shadows you can retain depends on your Will score - 1 shadow per 5 Will points (current Will: 60]. You may permanently dismiss any or all of your Bound shadows to regain a slot and summon a new minion. A dismissed bound shadow cannot be resummoned.

  Shadows retain all magical and combat abilities they had in life - however, any Light elemental abilities are transmuted to Dark elemental abilities instead.

  Your bound shadows cannot be healed in combat, and must be rested for 1 minute per 1HP/MP to recover.

  Summoned shadows do not drain MP once called; however, if a shadow is slain, you will lose 20MP. If you reach 0 MP, all of your summons will vanish.

  To increase this mastery of Shadow of the Sun, you must study Necromancy (Incorporeal) or Invocation (Summoning) at the appropriate level.

  Ability: Imbue Shadow

  Your shadows are capable of growing alongside you, gaining levels and experience of their own. Every time you attain a new character level, your shadows will gain EXP. Each time a shadow increases in level, you may manually assign their stat points, combat ability points, and skill points.

  Tempest glided out into a massive cylindrical chamber - a space big enough to seat five hundred dragons of his size. There were alcoves set into the walls, each one containing what looked like the crumbling remains of a nest. Great hexagonal columns supported a high, towering roof. At the center of the chamber was a tall dais, tiered like a wedding cake... and at the top of that was a stone circle. Cleverly placed magelights lit the dais from high above, painting nine long, painted shadows in a starburst shape across the well.

  "There." Ashur sniffed and snorted, bearing his fangs, and held up the scepter. The stone mounted in the head of it emitted a baleful light. “We fly toward the dais.”

  Violetta did not reply, except to tap Tempest at the base of his neck. The dragon let out a mournful moan, and coasted toward the circle. As he came up on it, I saw there was a large well at the center. The whole arrangement - stones, well, altar - was strangely familiar.

  “That is a sacrificial well,” I said. “The entry to the Gate is through there.”

  “Sacrificial well?” Ashur frowned. “Hmmph. Had I known we needed sacrifices, I would have bought them.”

  “We can teleport back to Karhad and then back to here,” Violetta said. “Or have Hector call his dragon and use her. Whatever we do to her here is better than what the Emperor has planned for her.”

  I saw her glance at me, waiting for a reaction. I shrugged.

  Tempest circled the altar, the membranes of his wings rippling. When he couldn't find a place to land, he swung around and clung to the wall of the towering dais like a bat. He beat his wings stiffly to keep his grip, and lay his neck against the edge so that we could climb over it to jump down. Ashur went first, his sword in one hand, the staff in the other. I was next, with Violetta following up the rear. The hollow-eyed woman raised a hand, and light pulsed through the intricate glass and crystal filigree worked into the leather. A greenish pulse of magic radiated from her, sliding over and caressing the varied surfaces of the cavern around us.

  A flash of movement caught my eye - a streak of shadow flowing down the side of the well. I pulled the Spear and twisted around as the shadow bubbled to the floor like thick black ink, then rose up into a humanoid form that resolved into... me.

  My doppelganger stared at us with feverish, filmy blue-white eyes. His skin was mottled with a rash; his breathing was raspy, thick with phlegm. He clutched a copy of the Spear in his hands, the blade dripping with black ichor that sizzled on the ground.

  "What the hell?" I took a step back as an awful, gnawing fear took hold of my guts. Everything about this creature caused my lizard brain to scream 'disease'!

  A HP ring appeared over the thing's head, along with a name: [Darkform: Level 30].

  Chapter 52

  The monster's lips parted, letting out a thin stream of toxic smoke. It lifted its corrupted Spear and plunged it into the stone floor.

  "AoE!" I Jumped straight up into the air on reflex as the floor erupted with oily, putrid spear blades. Ashur and Violetta both flew up into the air, avoiding the ground entirely - and ran right into a phalanx of shadow spears lancing in from all directions. They manifested with a sound like breaking glass, thrusting and then vanishing, reappearing somewhere else. It was all I could do to avoid the weapons as they formed from the air. Violetta made a stifled sound of pain as several pierced her at once, but she was such a high level that it barely chipped her HP. Ashur avoided them all with supernatural alacrity.

  "Bathos prava!" The sorceress leveled her hands at the Darkform.

  A white fireball tore free from her fingers, smashing into the boss... and passed right through it, leaving it unharmed.

  Violetta gasped, taking a step back. "What?!"

  The Darkform's eyes got big, and its lips peeled back as it gave an unnatural, wooden laugh - and then transformed again, morphing into an elegant, richly dressed female lich. Her clothing and fingers dripped with gold and copper, jewels and magical talismans. She fixed Ashur with a piercing, eyeless gaze.

  “Seheru, my love?” He stepped in beside me, his fangs bared. "No... an illusion. And yet -"

  "Bathos prava." The lich made an arcane gesture, repeating Violetta's spell.

  A glowing fireball twice the size of the one she had cast curled to life and then blew at us like a meteor. Violetta and Ashur both snarled words of power, and magical shields sprung to life in front of us. The ball turned back, smashing into the edge of the well and spraying chunks of stone everywhere. The lich laughed as she flew to the side and dodged: the same unpleasant, grating sound that had come out of my doppelganger's mouth.

  "Azul ha'rath!" It rasped.

  Bolts of foul energy shot out, homing in on me. I struck out at them with a shout - and to my surprise, the Spear turned the projectiles, sending them shooting back at the caster. The lich dodged, but the bolts followed - and hit her hard, shaving off almost a third of her HP. She wailed with an unearthly sound, momentarily freezing in place.

  Violetta circled around. "Azul ha'rath!"

  The shadow-morphed lich turned the second round of projectiles with a contemptuous wave of her hand as Ashur's formed blurred. In a split second, she teleported above us, avoiding the glint of the vampire's sword. He snarled and launched himself into the air, but the doppelganger avoided every blurring strike, laughing at him the entire time.

  "Ridiculous." Violetta scowled, and bought her hands around to charge another spell.

  "Wait. I get it. We have to turn its attacks back at it." I watched as the Level 30 Vampire chased the lich too fast for the eyes to follow. A fireball exploded from the air - and Ashur thrust the staff forward, barking a command. The dark crystal flared, and the fire splashed around an invisible wall of force as it impacted, harmlessly deflected by Ashur's magic. The magic missiles followed - Ashur swung t
he staff like a tennis racquet, and the magic missiles turned back on the lich like a pair of glowing boomerangs, slicing her form apart.

  "Pitiful." The vampire exclaimed, dropping smoothly to the ground. "This is the only protection Matir has? No monsters, no army... not even interesting treasure."

  I was about to agree when I saw a pillar of shadow form behind Violetta. It took the form of a tall, handsome albino man, with cruel pink eyes so pale they almost looked silvered. He smirked, and reached up to wrap his hands around her neck.

  Violetta turned, and when she saw the man, her eyes flew open wide. She crumpled with a mewl of terror as he squeezed, clawing at his hands. The move left both of them wide open. Ashur and I came in from either side, stabbing and slicing as Violetta's eyes rolled back in her head. She was catatonic with fear, so much so that she didn't even really try to defend herself. She hung there, plucking weakly at the man's hands as foam collected in the corners of her mouth.

  “What is this!?” Ashur snarled. He thrust the crystal stave into the monster's chest, crystal and all. The white-haired man's grin faltered, and then his face sloughed away as he howled. His body collapsed like melting wax.

  [You have defeated Darkform!]

  [You gain 813 exp!]

  "There. It is done." Ashur pulled the staff free. The Darkform collapsed and melted back into the shadows around us. Violetta dropped to the ground, coughing. Tempest bellowed in reply to her, his voice echoing and distant.

  813 EXP? That was hardly anything for a boss. Frowning, I peered out into the huge chamber, and then backpedaled toward the well. "No. No, it's not."

  Darkforms crouched in every one of the nest alcoves: copies of me, copies of the white-haired man, copies of amorphous creatures with too many mouths and not enough eyes. They leered at us from every shadow - thousands of them, each one wearing a face out of our worst nightmares.