“So, yeah, people started to get bored and then the Empire had another idea. Humans found games interesting—why wouldn’t the Jukal? So, they took whatever videos humanity made on Emerilia and fed it to the masses. Then people started to buy their way into the positions of gods. That messed things up for a while as they weren’t that adventurous. So, we took Humans and made them think that they were the lords and ladies of whatever.” Bob waved his hand.
“So, the people who are running this whole thing are human?” Dave asked.
“Yeah. Smart, right? Have one race use one another for your own goals.” Bob’s laugh held no humor. “That’s when we stopped straight out destroying the aggressive races and started closing the portals before they could all be wiped out so that we could keep them entertaining the People of the Empire.” Bob’s voice turned dark and cold as he took a long drink from his beer.
“So why are you helping me?” Dave asked.
“I’m just explaining things to you. Think of me as a guide. I might have a thing for you to do here and there. To keep the balance and make sure that my people don’t get hurt,” Bob said.
***
Dave looked at the man who had created all of Emerilia. He had heard his story, and the story of Emerilia.
“You care about Emerilia—you care about humanity,” Dave said.
Bob made noises and “kind of” gestures. Dave could see through it all.
“Sure, you made this to use humanity but the goal was to kill the races that wanted to kill your people. Then they turned it into a sport.”
Bob’s jaw tightened as he ground his teeth together.
“You’ve wanted to change things for a while and now you finally can.” Dave’s eyes widened. It was as though he had created a magical circuit again and things were just sliding into place.
“The other lords and ladies have to act through intermediaries; they can give them certain boons and push them in the right direction. Yet they never come straight out and start fighting. You’ve never been able to do that. You never had anyone believe in you, or be neither NPC nor Player and have all of the Affinities. You said that there’s never been a bleeder before. So, you’ve never been able to have someone fight for your cause.”
Dave looked at Bob. “Each of the lords and ladies have a cause, but what is yours?”
“Protect the denizens of Emerilia.” Bob didn’t hesitate.
For a second, Dave felt the power that was inside Bob. For a second, he could see the steely cold resolve in the man.
That power—it was like sitting next to the sun.
What do I want to do? Since he got to Emerilia, he’d been going with the flow of things. He thought of the people he’d met, not just the Players. Bob might have made this prison, but he was stuck here like everyone else. Dave didn’t blame Bob. Humanity was a bunch of assholes and Bob hadn’t been able to do anything until now.
“You got another beer?”
Dave replaced the one in Bob’s hand with another.
“You’re getting better,” Bob said, trying to lighten the atmosphere.
“Working with Kol has opened my eyes up to a lot,” Dave agreed.
“Like a proper brew.” Bob sipped his beer.
“That being among it.” Dave laughed.
He sat there on his porch, with the closest thing to a god smoking and having a drink not four feet from him.
Life was certainly interesting.
Dave thought of how Bob had showed him the reality of Emerilia. How he’d worked with him. He might be sketchy on the details at times, but he’d helped Dave. Dave snorted.
“What?” Bob asked.
“After it all, I guess I’m friends with a god,” Dave said.
Bob rolled his eyes. “Just think of me as a bored system administrator, who just deals with magical powers and people instead of servers and coding things. Ugh, trying to figure out your technology was a pain in the ass!”
Dave laughed at his friend’s antics.
Chapter 23: Dark Machinations
The Dark Lord held up his hand, cutting off the orc. His eyes thinned as he felt a tug on his power. It was strong, the kind of power that he gained when the Alturaran portal had been opened. As more Dark forces entered Emerilia, he harvested their power, feeding him and growing stronger.
The Lady of Light had been devious in her plot, arming her people with weapons that she had been saving for hundreds of years.
One of the guilds vowed to her had fought the Dark Lord’s forces, taking away the power of a large undead army. It seemed that she had been watching his portal placements before the new travelers.
She’d taken the power of the undead army from him and then had her forces open the portal before the Dark Lord had enough power to do so. When she had sent her forces through the portal, the Dark Lord had been unprepared. Her forces, armed with weapons she had bestowed on them, had risen in strength as they took out the meager Alturaran forces.
He needed to regain the initiative and the power that he had lost with the destruction of his forces. He couldn’t directly act in Emerilia, but he had instruments to do his bidding, as were the rules for all of the Affinities Pantheon.
It was why twelve paladins, from Orcs to Humans, were arrayed in front of him. In their respective cultures, they were feared around Emerilia. Here, they were just disciples, bare embers to the Dark Lord’s raging inferno.
He opened up his senses and located the disturbance. A plan that had been set in place eighty years ago was possibly reaching fruition.
“Boran-al!” the Dark Lord bellowed, summoning the powerful necromancer.
The tall man stood in front of the paladins of Dark, holding a staff made from some creature’s bones with a skull perched at its top.
“My Lord.” The paladins stepped back, feeling the necromancer’s bloodlust as it bowed.
“It seems your disciples prevail where others have failed.” The Dark Lord’s voice was cold and hungry.
Boran-al looked up. His purple eyes thinned before a hungry smile crossed his face.
The Dark Lord felt a similar smile cross his own features. “How long will it take them to break the remaining runes and free their citadel?”
Boran-al paused for a moment. “Six months and the citadel will rise.”
“They have done well. Wait until they have opened their prison and give them my blessing,” the Dark Lord said.
Boran-al bowed but paused, as if unsure to ask his question.
“Speak. I will hear your request,” the Dark Lord said.
“May I use it?” Boran-al asked, raw hunger in his voice.
The Dark Lord laughed. It was an ugly and hard thing. “Yes.”
“My Lord.” Boran-al bowed low in respect and excitement. He rose, saying a few words of power before he tapped his staff.
The paladins looked shocked. The amount of power it took to use that incantation should have taken tens of minutes to perform.
The Dark Lord floated from his chair down to the floor. “Prepare your forces and spread my anger. Soon, we will have the means to show the Lady of Light the folly of her surprise attack.”
The paladins dropped to their knees, displaying their obedience to his great power. “As you command,” they said as one.
The Dark Lord waved his hand and runes under them glowed before they disappeared in purple light. The Dark Lord opened up a chat window with the Earth Lord.
The Earth Lord grunted in greeting.
“My old friend, I think it is time that our alliance was revealed,” the Dark Lord said.
“Talk.” The Earth Lord’s voice was like listening to boulders crash together.
“A citadel that was locked away is once again rising. When it does, I will be able to lend you the forces to fight Water,” the Dark Lord said.
“By contract?” the Earth Lord said.
The Dark Lord knew enough of the Earth Lord to hear the man’s excitement. “By contract,” he agreed.
&nb
sp; The Earth Lord closed the chat.
The Earth Lord dealt with the creations of the earth as well as the materials of the land; the Dark Lord dealt with that of the inanimate. Their powers complemented each other, where light worked with that which was living. Dark and Light were the major power houses with Water, Earth, and Air as seconds.
Fire was a fickle lady; she had the least power until someone opened a few of her portals. Yet she cared little about people’s issues. Then there was the administrator.
The Dark Lord would have rolled his eyes. The creature was weak and useless. Just a caretaker, the one to clean up after their fights. He barely had any power.
The Dark Lord looked through the reports. His people were already talking about what people were doing for the new raid.
Dark guilds were also moving into the area. A number of their people had already infiltrated the Light guilds in order to tear them apart from the inside.
The Dark Lord smiled greedily, looking at the ranks and powers that were racing toward his citadel. Seeing the names of his guild, he wondered what the Lady of Light was doing.
He laughed and the noise reverberated through his hall.
***
The Lady of Light sat in the lotus position, trying to drain the anger she felt in her very core. The Dark Lord might be good at fighting when he was angry; she knew that it was best if she was calm.
“Why don’t you just sit on a cloud and do that?” the Lady of Fire said through the candle in front of the Lady of Light.
“Oh, piss off!” The Lady of Light stood and looked around her immaculate garden.
The candle turned into a whirling mass of fire; none of the heat even touched the Lady of Light as the Lady of Fire appeared.
The Lady of Light wore gold fringed robes with white satin drawn into a dress, emphasizing her womanly charms. She had a face that would have been called irresistible by the high Elves. Her golden-blonde hair was braided into a circlet on her head.
The Lady of Fire wore a red top and black leather pants. On her ears were twin flames. Her red hair was pulled back in a ponytail, showing her high cheekbones, azure eyes, and mischievous smile.
“Are you going to join in on this one or mutter around the sidelines? You’re no better than Neut.” The Lady of Light rolled her eyes.
The Lady of Fire’s expression turned dark. “Don’t underestimate him.”
The Lady of Light’s eyes thinned. The Lady of Fire had been alive for longer than any of the current Pantheon. She and Neut were known to share a beer or two. The Lady of Fire at least played the other five’s games, even with her limited powers. Neut did what he always did and pandered around the edges.
“What’s he going to do, give me more rules?” the Lady of Light asked.
The Lady of Fire tapped her lip in thought, clearly wondering about telling the Lady of Light something.
“Maybe. He did make that whole rule that people’s farts were a display of Air power,” the Lady of Fire said.
“The fart debacle.” The Lady of Light shook her head. It sounded minimal but everyone passed gas, including creatures. If that power was siphoned off, Air would have become considerably more powerful. Neut had put down a ruling that it was not created from Affinity and thus it did not count. Otherwise, the Lady of Light could just harness the heat given off by people’s bodies.
“Are you going to be part of this one?” the Lady of Light asked.
“I don’t like Boran-al or what his people stand for, but this is yours and the Dark Lord’s fight,” the Lady of Fire said.
“I heard that he might be working with the Earth Lord,” the Lady of Light said lightly, studying the Lady of Fire.
“Might be an idea to talk to Air or Water—have to act before the Dark Lord has a chance,” the Lady of Fire said.
The Lady of Light nodded as a golden scroll appeared in mid-air. It was the reports from her guilds of Light. She nodded appreciatively. Her forces were doing well in the Alturaran lands. Catching them off guard when they were not ready to open the portals themselves meant that her people were only growing in strength, gaining hard-earned loot and gold that could be used to dominate the markets of Emerilia.
“Well, I have a volcano to sit in. I will talk to you later,” the Lady of Fire said.
“I heard that there might be dragons coming back into the world,” the Lady of Light said, reading her scroll still but glancing at the Lady of Fire.
The Lady of Fire shrugged. “I miss the old bunch—not up to me, though.” With that, blue flames consumed her and she disappeared.
The Lady of Fire appeared in her volcano, rubbing her hands to get more heat. She sat down on her recliner, and settled back.
You return, Master, the voice in her head said. The side of the volcano moved. A massive head the size of a car moved toward the Lady of Fire.
“Hello, you.” The Lady of Fire tapped the creature’s snout.
It crooned, moving its head so she could scratch its neck.
“You spoiled girl, you.” The Lady of Fire turned her hand into a claw made of magical fire as she scratched the dragon’s neck.
Neut appeared in a similar recliner. His eyes thinned seeing the Lady of Fire’s chair. “I was wondering where that went,” he muttered as she grinned.
The dragon looked to Neut as an attacker, sniffing him before snorting and agreeing with his presence. Neut didn’t even bat an eyelid.
“A gnome, huh?” the Lady of Fire asked, looking over at Neut.
“I’ve got a soft spot in my heart for gnomes.” Neut grinned and took a drink of an odd beer.
“Come to share?” The Lady of Fire licked her lips.
Neut rolled his eyes; the beer moved to her hands.
She took a sip of the beer; somehow it was still cool, even in her volcano.
“Nice,” she said. “Where’d you get it? Have to grab some when I’m down there.”
“Trade secret.” Neut winked.
The Lady of Fire laughed and took another sip before she levitated it back to Neut.
“So how are your lovely children doing?” Neut asked.
“Very well. They keep me entertained,” the Lady of Fire said, proud of her creations in a motherly way.
While there might be cat ladies, the Lady of Fire was most definitely a dragon lady.
I thought you just wanted some company.
“Oh, shush, you.” The Lady of Fire smiled. It was good having the dragons around.
The other five lords and ladies didn’t know but she and Neut liked to travel around on Emerilia as travelers now and then. Having someone she could talk to while she was up in her volcano was rather pleasant.
“So why the sudden power up?” the Lady of Fire asked, looking to Neut.
Dragons were capable and powerful creatures. Her own dragons had been alive for four hundred years. Sixty of them, ten of each Affinity, were perched around her volcano ranges. They were more powerful than any mere traveler. Although the other lords and ladies kept their power back, using it as a bartering chip with their people, the Lady of Fire had poured fire into her creations. It was her clear affection toward them that made them loyal. Not the want for more power.
He had rescinded a previous order, allowing them to leave the ranges of Alka-poush and once again roam the skies. The kind of power he would be giving her with the dragons was not inconsiderable. In fact, it might elevate her to the same power as the second-tier houses. Something that she was going to keep a secret for as long as possible. She hated dealing with their fights.
“Can’t a guy just want to see his friends having fun?” Neut smiled.
“Well, thank you, Neut,” the Lady of Fire said, deeply thankful. The dragons were like her surrogate children. They were powered by all of the elements; that was Neut’s one rule. Every dragon litter was to have one of each element, and the Lady of Fire was not allowed to have paladins of fire.
She hadn’t, anyway; most people wanted to be Light or Dark, with a
few of Water, Air, and Earth. People used fire but usually while following someone else. She’d had few paladins and they were chaotic. Another reason she had kept her power to herself.
“You are most welcome, Lady of Fire,” Neut said.
“So, what have you been doing on Emerilia?” the Lady of Fire asked.
“Talking, hanging out.” Neut tried to act relaxed but there was a coldness to his eyes.
If Neut didn’t want to tell her, that was fine; he was the one person she could call a friend other than her dragons. Which makes me so damn happy I was the Lady of Fire instead of the other affinities. Dealing with all the power moves and the damn entourage would be a real pain in the ass.
“I heard that your dragons are already creating their broods across Emerilia,” Neut said.
“Yes. I’ve made it a rule that they are to only kill non-sentients. One village has come to worship Koso. He killed off a pack of wolves attacking their village. He has become their guardian while his mate, Gesal, looks after their brood. A year to Emerilia will be ten to them. They will grow in knowledge and Mana quickly,” the Lady of Fire said, not without some pride.
“Proud of your dragon babies?” Neut smiled.
“A little.” The Lady of Fire smiled.
“Don’t get too attached—things live and die. With us, we see all too many brilliant flames snuffed out too soon.” Neut sighed.
The Lady of Fire nodded, patting Denar with her flame-hand, hoping that her incarnation came before the death of her sons and daughters.
“What of Boran-al’s citadel?” the Lady of Fire asked.
“In six months, it will rise once again.” Neut stared into space.
The Lady of Fire knew how much Neut cared for the People of Emerilia. He wasn’t a lord or lady of the Pantheon but he was one of the few who actually cared about those who called Emerilia home, or a game.
Without an intermediary, Neut was powerless. The Pantheon’s games had once again started.
Even with all of the possible threats, excitement filled her. Once again, dragons will fly the skies. Stretch their wings and live! She smiled to herself, promising herself a ride in the near future. There was nothing quite like riding a dragon above Emerilia.
The Trapped Mind Project (Emerilia Book 1) Page 24