by Lucas Dunn
“Up and on your feet” I said commandingly as I lowered the wall. The kobolds behind the wall had made it about two thirds of the way through in multiple spots which made me realize he only talked to allow his troops time to get to him. Again noting the intelligence, I asked if he would speak to me privately. Turning around, he addressed the other one hundred kobolds. Turning to me as he was speaking of my titles they instantly dropped to the ground like the previous ones did. They continued to do so until he told them we had much to discuss and that they should begin packing their things and to prepare for travel. Stopping him there I told him to let us speak before he made any decisions with his people.
Guiding him through the tunnel a couple yards in, I turned to my units and told them to hold things down and make sure no one eavesdropped. I quickly shut of both sides of the tunnel with earthen walls and spoke to the kobold. “As First Priest I deem no punishment necessary for your deeds. I also do not wish to make you move, but as lord of the lands I will ask you bow your knee to me. Should you choose to stay in your home you will be called upon and asked the same of every other citizen of these lands.
Looking at me for a few moments the kobold spoke. “We Kobolds are loyal servants of the Dark One and have no problem serving his cause. We will do whatever you ask. We are yours to command…Dark Lord.
Liking his answer and how he addressed me I got down to business. “Good, there are many things the Dark One needs and many things we must do. First of all, since you inhabit this cave I will not have crews of men coming down to mine, but rather I will task your people with this duty. I can already see you have a fair amount of miners. Do you consider this reasonable?
“Yes Dark Lord. My clan is known for living with the stone hence our name, however there is one problem. My people are unable to go into the lower levels due to the monsters that inhabit them. We were only able to make our home in the second level due to our sheer numbers. Will you help us?
Quest Received: Clear out lower dungeons inhabitants. Reward: Access to more types of ore.
Weary at the additional quest, I accepted much to the relief of the kobold.
“The next thing I need is 50 of your warriors. I will be making a trip today that will take a few days.” I knew it was asking a lot but these were my people now and I needed him to realize it. A little harsh maybe, but now wasn’t the time to play tea party.
Nodding his head in assent, I decided we had wasted enough time already and dropped the wall around us. It took roughly thirty minutes for him to gather his troops and have them pack their resources. He talked to his people once again explaining the circumstances while they stole glances when they thought I wasn’t looking, but it was not hard to notice when a hundred or so people tried at once. Noticing him talking to one of his two guards, the guard continued to get increasingly agitated until finally walking away as the other kobold dismissed him. I looked questioningly at the kobold until he explained that he needed someone to take care of the people while he was gone with me. Not expecting the kobold to travel with us, I started to view him with a little more respect.
Chapter 20
We had swept through the field quickly. I wanted to have the kobolds gain some extra levels, but we didn’t have enough time. As we entered the jungle I was able to catch glimpses of enormous animals shifting out of the way and fleeing. We were not nearly as high levels as them but we had plenty of people. I took the time while we traveled to ask the kobold “master”, who’s name I found out to be Raken, some questions.
“What did you mean when you said there was more of my kind that could fulfill the racial need for the castle. I do not know much of my people or race as it has been lost.”
“Well it is a long story and much of it is lost or distorted but I will tell all that my father passed down to me.” Raken said taking a moment to gather his thoughts. “I do not know what you are only that you are a direct creation from the two main gods. The story my father told to me was that all of the light ones and dark one’s god children coexisted in peace for many ages until they grey bored and started to quarrel among each other. The Light One and The Dark One foresaw the problem and created many races so each of lower gods could each have one of their own followers and hoped to distract them from their quarrels. The races were created and again peace lasted, but only for a short while before each of the races started to fight. The gods loved their new worshippers and could not bear to see so many die in their name so they also joined in causing destruction on a massive scale. The Light God and Dark One were at odds on what to do. They could not settle this by peace so they created their own elite warriors. These warriors were created and changed from their original races to beings immensely powerful in magic and combat, but they were very few. There sole purpose was to end the feud being strong enough to destroy gods and men, but it did not happen so easily. These warriors were said to be corrupted by their own power and quickly started to destroy the gods. Why the Dark One and Light One did not do it themselves is a mystery. In the end there became two sides. These elite warriors claimed like the races before them to fight in the name of the one who created them. The races started to align themselves and the war grew even bloodier with both of the high gods being drawn in more and more until finally they declared war on each other. At that point the high gods split and war enveloped the continent. Races were torn in half, some following the dark one and some followed the light. The elite warriors the gods had created broke themselves and some left the fortress both gods had created for them. The war lasted for decades but eventually came to an end. The dark one’s elite warriors tried in a last coup to kill the Light One but were deceived by one of their own and The Dark One Was banished into oblivion by the might of the Light one and his elite warriors combined. With the dark one’s races defeated there was but one elite warrior of the dark left who took his last stand in a grand battle holding off the enumerable armies of the light until eventually being slain. From there the light one’s propaganda spread like a disease and the beaten dark races were forced to retreat and recover their strength. It has been thousands of years since that and now that we are strong again the Dark One has returned from Oblivion. I do not why, but I know war is coming. War in the likes this continent has never seen.”
The story weighed heavily on me as he told it. Another war I knew was coming, that much had been told to me. What I didn’t know was that it would be so massive. I had yet to even summon a destroyed god from the war. There was so much that needed to be done and I was so woefully unprepared. What hit me hard was the fact that I was definitely one of these elite warriors. I don’t know what this entailed but I knew the extra points had definitely been helpful but not enough to make me that much more powerful than others. Could it be the class I choose or was it something else entirely? I did not know but I definitely needed to find out. I also needed to gather the dark races and build up a massive force. I don’t know how long I had but if I was the Light One, then I would want to take out the Dark Ones forces before they got too strong.
As I came out of my musings I noticed the light shining through the trees and knew it was time to log off. The game had an auto travel feature that allowed me to go offline and still travel. The only conditions were that I could not do anything besides use my form for transportation. While I was in this mode my body would take on a sort of gaseous form so if I was attacked, I would automatically be logged off and unharmed. This feature was strictly watched by AI’s to make sure it was used only when requirement was met and took thirty minutes to activate. So you couldn’t go into it during a battle to avoid death and many other constraints. Setting it up and logging off with a sigh, I started another day of work.
Chapter 21
Work was interesting to say the least. My co-workers constantly talked about the game and I heard something that particularly interested me. The four players that followed the light one had officially reached level thirty-five. Apparently there were videos out of them going through d
ungeon and slaying monsters. The players didn’t know each other but I could infer that they were the elite warriors that Raken had talked about. That left me puzzled since I was the one on the Dark one’s side. Maybe he hadn’t showed me the others or maybe he hasn’t chosen them yet. Either way I needed to get in touch with the Dark One when I got back. The rest of the day was spent focusing on my work which including log after log to find errors. Finally, five o’clock hit and I headed home for dinner.
At home I got a message from Jake telling me he had arrived at the village. Telling him I would be there soon he sent a quick text back asking how I was able to travel through the forest without being killed. I cryptically replied about an escort and he left it at that. The good thing about my “escort” was the ability to travel while at work. That meant I was able to travel twice as fast as Jake, and it would shorten my trip by two days. Hopping into the capsule I focused my mind and entered my leader mode.
Appearing next to Raken, everything had gone smoothly so far. The animals smartly stayed away from our small army and Jackson was able to cast his improved buffs on the group making us move 20% faster. At level twenty he was really getting some useful buffs and I could easily see him helping out my future army. With our increased speed we would make it to the village by first light which was extremely fast.
I was in the middle of trying to create extra spells when we ran into our first “attack”. Jogging along I heard groups of kobolds start to hiss loudly as they were pelted with looked like acorns from above. Looking up I saw hundreds of squirrel like creatures with extremely sharp teeth and claws chucking the acorns at us. As I prepared a spell, I was outdone by Raken who quickly released the second most powerful spell I had seen yet. A force of darkness flew off of his body in waves. It washed around the trees and my group but formed what looked like dark needles when it touched the creatures attacking us. The weakest ones squealed and dropped to the ground dead but the stronger ones stood their ground until they saw another wave following and quickly fled.
Interested in the spell I walked up to Raken as the group recovered from the barrage and continued on its way.
“How did you learn such powerful magic when the rest of your clan are mostly stone dwellers and miners.”
“We are the Stone clan, but we also were once one of the main Kobold clans that supported The Dark One. When he joined the battle against the light one, he blessed the leader with a great affinity for dark magic though it has been greatly reduced throughout the years and many of our spells lost. I still have a few surprises that I use to keep my clan alive. This is why I follow him so strongly and subsequently, you.” Raken said in a serious voice.
Interested in the way his spell formed only around his enemies I went back to my group and continued creating spells to see what I could effectively come up with. Stopping, I realized that Raken was able to create creatures, which also meant he might be able to teach me. Walking back to him I excitedly asked if he could teach me how to create the creatures that he did only to find out he didn’t really create them, but tamed the spiders and magically combined them to make them stronger.
The rest of the trip was spent learning the spell called charm and learning how to magically breed them to make them stronger. I would start off by casting my spell of charm on the creatures in the trees called Raqours. From there I would order it to come down and try to tame it which involved many failed attempts that left me with scratch and bite marks. Eventually the game took pity on me and I got a level in taming which allowed me to effectively tame my first animal. Sure it was a Raquor, but at least it was something. I continued on with the guy on my shoulder taming anything I could and releasing it just to increase the skills level. Charm I had figured out was determined by somethings fortitude and my level. With my Divine Fortitude ability, I was able to Charm anything that was lower than my level. I shuddered to think what people could do to others with a control spell like this, but just had to hope someone never learned it besides me. That and without divine fortitude I imagined taming anything above level ten for others no matter how high a level they got would be extremely hard.
At dawn, one of the kobold scouts came up to me and Raken and reported another force of seventy to eighty gathered at the walls of a village. Surprised, I then realized I had what looked to be an army and we had a path directly set towards the village. Cursing at my idiocy I went to greet the army that defended the village. As I was leaving Raken stopped me saying that he would join and to keep my titles on unlike when I had greeted him. Smiling I agreed and we emerged from the tree line. At three hundred feet away I heard their commander shout stop but continued on anyway with Raken at my side. When we reached two hundred yards I heard the troops start to mumble and the commander again yelled stop. This time a bit less certain. Noticing that they had finally seen my name I continued on and by the time I reached them they all bowed their heads the commander stammering as he spoke.
“I…I am sorry, I had no idea the rumors are true. Why have you come with such a force?”
Looking down at the commander I said as sincerely as I could. “We mean no harm, I have come to speak to your village leader and collect a friend of mine.”
“Lucian?.... Lucian is that you?!” I saw a familiar looking burly warrior approach me. Quickly using appraise on him I realized who he was.
Dark Blade. Level 10.
“Hey Jake, I told you I was going to be here soon but you didn’t have to have the villages army waiting.” I said laughing.
“Well how was I supposed to know it was you! I’m the one who makes the grand entrances, not you! Also what’s with the squirrel on your shoulder?” he replied laughing
Quickly realizing the commanders confused expression I spoke to him “This is the friend I have come to collect. The forest near my lands is extremely dangerous so I had to bring troops as an escort. Jake I hope you don’t mind waiting but I really need to talk to the village leader and set things in motion before we leave. I know you are probably confused as hell, but I promise I will explain on our way to my fort.”
“Your fort!!!” he shouted. “You bastard! I shoulda known you would be amazing at this game. You owe me one hell of an explanation when you get back! Pretending to angrily storm off, I snorted trying to contain my laughter as I saw Jake unable to hold his glare as he walked away in a fit of laughter.
Clapping my hands together I looked at the commander seriously “Let’s begin if we may”.
The Village elder greeted me with a bow. “I had suspected the rumors were true. He has returned and so has war.”
Replying to him I said “These are no longer rumors, we must spread this to the other elves. Especially the main capital. We no longer have enough time for speculating about the Dark Ones return, but we must enact upon it.”
The elder bowed his head again “I am sorry, I had yet to realized how dire the situation was otherwise I would not have tried to mince words with you Dark Lord. I will spread word to all of the elves but I am afraid I do not have enough people to inform the other races.”
“That will not be a problem, I plan on reaching them soon enough. Until then, alert the elves as quickly as possible and tell them Shadow’s Edge is now open to the dark races.” I said the last part because I would need to start building an actual town, instead of the beaten down village it was now. I dismissed myself from the elder and walked to where Jake had been waiting with his bags.
“Let us leave the village before I tell you of my exploits, I have only an hour or so before I have to go to work.” I said.
Nodding in assent Jake followed behind me.
As we started to leave the gates Raken joined up with us and we made it to the tree line when my Raquor started hissing behind us. Sweeping my eyes across the clearing I could see nothing, but the Raquor was continuing to hiss in a certain area covered in bushes. Becoming suspicious of a rogue or someone else following us I summoned my fireball and shouted “Come out now, before I kill you. I do n
ot like sneaks.”
Immediately a skinny figure emerged from the grass with a sardonic expression. “Whoa! Hold your fire!... hahaha get it” the character said snorting
Turning to Jake, I noticed him cracking up hysterically. “Who is this” I said with noticeable tension in my voice.
Jake quickly calmed down “Chill, it’s just a guy I cleared a dungeon with, in the start of the game. Don’t worry, if he isn’t trustworthy than either am I. He actually really helped me in the beginning. I was thinking he could come with us.”
Sighing, I gave the wiry character the once over noticing his name was Grimm. That’s ironic I thought snorting as I just realized his joke. Releasing my fireball, I spoke to Grimm. “Are you a rogue?”. I had noticed the two daggers that hung at his side and the way his sneak concealed him.
“Your observational skills are stunning!” he said in a voice that sounded to cheerful to be sarcastic.
Knowing better, I brought the fireball back and instantly saw uncertainty in his eyes. “Uh, my bad boss. Dark Blade said we were going on an adventure; I guess I got a little excited. I’ll keep it in check on the journey”
Thinking to myself, I doubted it. Rolling my eyes, I turned back to Jake who just shrugged.
“Well let’s get going, I have about forty-five minutes left and a lot to tell you two.”
Chapter 22
Friday at work, I stood contemplating if telling Grimm was a good idea. On one hand he seemed a little green in his experiences, but on the other traveling with his bad puns was actually kind of fun. It did brighten up my militaristic command style I had to admit. I wasn’t worried he would be trouble because after a while I could tell there was a since of loyalty between him and Jake. Jake had been amazed about what I told him. I told him that a caravan had dropped me off at the city because I didn’t know how to explain the first part yet, and it didn’t seem too detrimental. He also did not know of my race yet, but I figured that could hurt too much yet either. Overall, I was definitely happy to have two new additions to the team.