Shattered Lands 2 The Fall Of Blackstone: A LitRPG Series

by Darren Pillsbury

  Mira counted on her fingers. “Okay, so you need us, you can’t do jack shit on your own, and you trusted us enough to bring us here to go after Eric. So stop micro-managing us and let us do our job.”

  “I am not micro-managing you.”

  “You kinda are.”

  “Well, you don’t get to make decisions about how I run this mission.”

  “I know ONE decision I can make,” Mira snapped. “I can just log off and let you do everything on your own.”

  “So you would abandon Daniel?”

  “Not if he decides to log off, too.”

  There was a pause.

  “Daniel, do you feel the same way?”

  “Uhhhh… I think it might be a good idea for us to have some space and do what we need to do,” he said as diplomatically as possible.

  “I see,” Rebecca said icily. “Well, then. I’ll leave you to your own devices. For now.”

  “Good,” Mira snapped.

  “If you need me, just call out. I’ll be monitoring the situation. Otherwise – ”

  “We got it,” Mira interrupted.

  “…fine.”

  And then there was only the rustling of wind in the trees and the twittering of birds.

  “Thank God,” Mira muttered.

  Daniel laughed. “That was pretty awesome.”

  “That woman – she just – ARGHHH.”

  Mira didn’t have any pupils or irises, so it was kind of hard to tell, but Daniel was pretty sure she was rolling her eyes.

  “She was just trying to help,” Daniel said gently.

  “Yeah, I know, but she wasn’t.”

  “No… she wasn’t.” He laughed. “You really pissed her off.”

  “I’ll apologize later. Right now we – ”

  “Apology accepted,” Rebecca interrupted. “Perhaps you should – ”

  “I’M NOT APOLOGIZING NOW!” Mira roared. “GO AWAY!”

  There was silence again.

  Daniel was trying really hard not to laugh.

  “Ugh,” Mira muttered. “Alright… at the risk of more comments from the peanut gallery… what do we do now?”

  Daniel thought for a second. “There’s no way we’re getting to Eric. Not for a while. So… maybe we should go see if we can make some new friends.”

  “Some new friends we already helped out earlier?” Mira asked with a smile.

  “That’s what I was thinking.”

  “Sounds like a plan to me.”

  60

  Dr. Rebecca Wolff

  Unlike his son, Jon Lauer was doing nothing to hold in his hilarity.

  “Oh my God, I wish I had a video of that,” he snorted with laughter. “Actually, you were recording that, right? You’ve got to send that to me.”

  Rebecca glowered at him. “This isn’t funny.”

  “Ehhh… it kind of is.”

  “No it’s not. We have a rogue AI co-opting a human in order to help it escape onto the internet, and I’m dealing with temper tantrums from a snotty teenage girl.”

  “Number one, she wasn’t snotty at all – she was assertive. And number two, she had some good points.”

  “And what are those,” Rebecca asked sarcastically.

  “You’re a micro-manager who thinks nobody else is nearly as good as you. You don’t have any experience in the game, so you don’t know what it’s like to play it. You don’t have another option besides them, at least not at the moment. And if you’re hampering their progress in any way, shape, or form, it’s better if you take a back seat and just let them do their thing.”

  Rebecca sat there and stewed for a moment, then snapped, “I didn’t ask for her participation.”

  “No, but Daniel did.”

  “I don’t trust her.”

  “But Daniel does, so trust his judgment and give her the benefit of the doubt.”

  “She’s arrogant.”

  Lauer snorted. “Not like anybody else in this room.”

  Rebecca glared at him. “I’m not arrogant.”

  “No, you’re the very picture of humility.”

  “If it becomes apparent that she’s endangering the objective, I’m removing her.”

  “Fine, but like she said – until you come up with a better plan, they’re the best shot we’ve got.”

  “Their chances are far, far better chance with my help.” Rebecca shook her head angrily. “Why can’t they see that?”

  “That’s your problem, Rebecca,” Lauer said, not without some sympathy. “You may have helped make the game, but you don’t understand the first thing about the humans playing it.”

  She didn’t dignify that with a response. Instead she just turned back to the screen.

  61

  Eric

  Eric slammed open the doors to the throne room and strode inside. Beside him glided the Dark Figure. Cythera walked a few steps behind, followed by Korvos and a hundred flame-skulled soldiers in heavy armor.

  Merridack sat slouched on the throne, twirling a golden crown around his hand.

  The king lay gagged and bound on the floor. Merridack was using him as a footrest, with his boots propped up on the old man’s back.

  “All hail the conquering hero!” Merridack called out mockingly as the group made their way down the aisle.

  “Get off the throne,” Eric snarled.

  “I don’t know… it sort of suits me.”

  Eric cocked his head and stared at Merridack menacingly.

  “Alright, alright,” the thief sighed as he got up from the throne. Then he held out his arms as though performing for an invisible audience. “The time of King Merridack on the throne was brief, but it was most assuredly the best reign ever. Unfortunately, he was deposed by King Snot-nose the First.”

  “Shall I kill him for you, Sorcerer?” Korvos asked.

  “I’m considering it,” Eric said.

  “Relax,” Merridack said, and tossed the crown through the air. “Look, I saved this for you.”

  Eric caught it and gave his old mentor a reproachful look.

  “Didn’t even put it on or nothin’,” Merridack said. Then he put up a hand to his mouth and spoke behind it to Cythera in a loud stage whisper. “Yes I did. It fit great.”

  Eric walked up to the king. He prodded him and turned him over with his staff, then bent down and removed the gag.

  “Any last words?” Eric asked.

  “You will pay for this outrage,” the old man said, his face mottled red and his whole body shaking in anger.

  Eric stood up, put the end of the staff over the old man’s heart, and wrenched the two halves of the rod in opposite hands.

  SNIKT!

  The hidden stiletto inside the staff popped out and buried itself in the old man’s chest.

  The king cried out. His eyes widened in surprise – and then his expression went slack.

  “Not today, I won’t,” Eric said as he retracted the blade.

  He walked over to the throne and turned around to his gathered court: a thief, a witch, an artificial intelligence program, and a general from Hell with a hundred minions at his back.

  Eric lifted up the crown and put it on his own head.

  It was surprisingly heavy, and the metal felt cool against his brow.

  “The king is dead,” Merridack grinned. “Long live the king.”

  62

  Daniel

  Though Daniel was worried the dragon might be on patrol, he and Mira took the chance of flying the griffins above the treetops in search of the remaining Blackstone troops.

  They found them deeper in the forest – just a glimpse of shining armor and white horses, but there they were.

  They landed the griffins in a clearing about a tenth of a mile away. By the time they got off their saddles, ten riders and foot soldiers were gathered at the edge of the clearing.

  “You’re them,” a knight with a green sash said in awe. “The griffin riders.”

  “Nice to meet you,” Daniel said as he removed his
helmet. “Can you take us to whoever the leader of the army is?”

  “Come with us.”

  They left the griffins and traveled half a mile through the forest. The entire time the green knight answered Daniel and Mira’s questions, and peppered them with a few of his own, including their names.

  They eventually arrived at a makeshift camp. The wounded were being treated, but there were no tents, fires, or food. After all, the army had ridden out to war, not to set up a siege.

  The green knight led Mira and Daniel to a group of armored men with their helmets off. Someone was speaking at the center. “Obviously, we will have to send out messengers to ask for aid. The nearest is Vartoth, but I doubt they’ll lend their assistance – ”

  The green knight called out, “Make way for the griffin riders, Sir Daniel and Lady Mira!”

  The group parted respectfully, and Mira and Daniel stepped through their ranks.

  The man in the center wore golden armor. He had a short brown beard, and looked to be about thirty years old.

  As soon as he saw Daniel and Mira, he broke into a smile. “Welcome, friends. If it had not been for you, our army would have been doomed today.”

  The entire group of warriors murmured their agreement.

  The leader continued. “As it is, we have suffered grievous losses…”

  The man’s eyes dropped down to Daniel’s sword and scabbard. Suddenly his smile faded and his skin grew pale.

  “…but without your help, it would have… been a complete massacre…”

  “We were happy to help,” Mira said.

  “Actually, now we need your help,” Daniel said.

  There was a long, uncomfortable silence as the leader stood there staring at them… and then he barked, “Seize these two!”

  Daniel and Mira looked at him in shock – as did everyone else in the circle.

  “M’lord?” one of the men asked.

  The golden-armored warrior drew his broadsword and thrust its point just under Daniel’s chin.

  “You heard me – SEIZE THEM!”

  The knights quickly grabbed Daniel and Mira’s arms, though every single man looked confused. Daniel’s helmet clattered to the forest floor.

  Mira looked around in fright. “What’s going on?!”

  “What are you doing?” Daniel asked, his eyes on the sword at his throat.

  “My name is Byrel, of the house of Naughton,” the leader said coldly.

  Daniel frowned.

  Naughton… why does that name sound so familiar?

  “Less than a fortnight ago, there was a robbery in my ancestral home,” Byrel continued. “One of our family’s most cherished possessions was stolen, and my father was murdered.”

  Daniel’s face drained of blood.

  No… oh no…

  The tip of the sword pressed at his throat.

  “Pray tell me, sir,” Byrel sneered, “why my family’s sword and scabbard hangs there at your side?”

  Shit.

  63

  Eric

  Eric walked out on the fifth-story balcony of the palace. His black clothes were still torn and bloody, but the crown gleamed on his head.

  His new subjects gathered in the square beneath him. There were probably forty thousand of them packed shoulder to shoulder. They looked around fearfully, their attention shifting between Eric and Korvos’ army. Thousands of flame-skulled soldiers stood at attention on both sides of the square, completely surrounding the civilians.

  Just a few yards behind Eric, the Unnamed One, Korvos, Cythera, and Merridack waited in the shadows of the colonnade attached to the balcony.

  “Citizens of Blackstone,” Eric shouted out. “I am Eric Richards, your new king.”

  Hundreds of cries rose up from crowd, none of them happy.

  Eric raised his hands to quiet everyone beneath him.

  The uneasy murmurs lapsed into silence.

  “You have nothing to fear from me. I will be a just king. I will institute a new reign of peace and prosperity – ”

  “We had peace and prosperity!” a voice cried from the crowd.

  Shouts of agreement wafted up from the crowd.

  Eric clenched his jaw, then forced a smile. “Not like this. Under my rule, we will be the greatest kingdom in all of the Shattered Lands – ”

  “Are you going to murder all the other kings, too?” another voice cried out.

  Angry shouts rose up by the thousands.

  Eric stared down at the crowd. “Who said that?! Step forward!”

  “Go bugger yourself!” someone cried, and the entire crowd laughed.

  Eric raised his hands again for silence, but this time people kept yelling insults – and the volume was growing.

  For some reason, it felt like he was back in his high school cafeteria… and Trent and all the other popular kids were jeering at him, taunting him, ridiculing him…

  His palms began to sweat, and his stomach churned with rage.

  “You’re losing con-troooool,” Merridack said gleefully in a sing-song voice.

  Black swirled in Eric’s eyes, and squirming tattoos covered his skin.

  “Naxat abraminok,” he hissed, and smoke shot out of his fingertips and spiraled down into the crowd.

  A man – perhaps one who had yelled out taunts, perhaps not – grabbed his chest and screamed in agony.

  The crowd quickly gave him space as he fell to the ground.

  There was a cracking sound –

  Suddenly his ribcage burst open and dozens of bloody tentacles swarmed out.

  The crowd around him screamed and began to back away.

  There were shouts of confusion from the rear of the crowd.

  “What’s that?” Eric called. “You can’t see? You don’t know what’s going on? Here – let me show you!”

  He chanted the spell a half dozen times, and vortices of black smoke swirled down into separate parts of the crowd. Random people screamed, clutched at their chests, then collapsed to the ground where they burst open, spilling writhing tentacles everywhere.

  The crowd began to surge in all directions like something alive.

  “Do not let them pass!” Eric shouted at the Hell army.

  Two thousand skeleton warriors drew their swords and brandished them at the crowd.

  The people panicked. With the barred doors of the palace before them, and Hell’s army to their left and right, the only place to go was the rear of the square. The crowd began to trample over each other to try to escape.

  “Paloptek caltonum!” Eric shouted.

  Black smoke formed one of the giant crustacean monsters in the rear of the square, cutting off the citizens’ escape route.

  “SILENCE!” Eric screamed in fury.

  The crowd gazed up at him in terror. They were not silent, but where there were angry jeers before, there were only stifled sobs and whimpers.

  That, and the slimy, slithering sounds of the tentacles.

  “I am merciful,” Eric shouted at the crowd. “I could have had my army slaughter you. I could have brought down the wrath of a thousand demons, or summoned my dragon and burned you all. Remember that the next time you risk my anger.”

  He waved his hand, and the mountainous insect demon disappeared in a cloud of black smoke.

  The crowd began its stampede again, trying to get out of the square.

  Eric shook his head in disgust, then turned and walked back into the palace.

  Merridack did a slow, mocking clap. “Now that was a rousing speech. What a leader you are.”

  “Shut up,” Eric growled.

  Cythera inserted her arm around his as he stalked past. “I thought you were magnificent,” she whispered.

  He shook her off and walked out of the room on his own.

  64

  Daniel

  Daniel swallowed hard and stared into Byrel’s eyes as the nobleman’s sword pressed at his throat.

  Suddenly, an ear-piercing screech rang out from above.

&nb
sp; The men all looked up in terror as a huge body crashed through the treetops and skidded across the forest floor.

  Mira’s griffin. Not his – just hers. She must have summoned it with her mind.

  It expanded its wings and screeched again.

  The soldiers drew their swords in terror and turned to face the griffin.

  “If anything happens to him,” Mira said, “you die. ALL of you.”

  Daniel raised his hand to stop her. “Mira, no – make it go away.”

  “…what?!”

  “This isn’t helping. Send it away.”

  “We saved them today!” she shouted angrily. “Everyone here would be dead if it wasn’t for us!”

  Daniel winced. “There are some things you don’t know… that I didn’t tell you. And he deserves to hear the truth.”

  Mira just stared at him in shock.

  Daniel turned back to Byrel. “She had no part in anything having to do with your father. She’s done nothing but put her life on the line for you in battle. I’ll tell you the entire truth, and you can do anything you want with me, but you have to give me your word: she goes free and unharmed. No matter what.”

  Byrel looked back and forth from Daniel to the griffin. “How do I know she’s as blameless as you say?”

  “At some point we have to trust each other. After what I tell you, if you want to kill me, I’ll gladly kneel down and let you do it. But she goes free.” Daniel stared at the nobleman. “Swear it.”

  Byrel looked at the griffin, then back at Daniel. The bearded man stared into Daniel’s eyes.

  After a moment he finally said, “I swear by my father’s soul, she shall go free and unharmed.”

  Daniel nodded. “Okay. Mira… get rid of it.”

  “Daniel – ”

  “GET RID OF IT. Please.”

  Mira sighed, but the griffin backed away, then flapped its wings and took off into the sky.

  “Thank you,” Daniel said. “And no matter what happens in the next few minutes, I want you to promise me you won’t hurt anybody here. Even if they kill me.”