The lords of Dark and Earth sat in their chairs. The tension in the air was heavy.
A shadow formed down near their feet; it was only five foot tall while they themselves were nearly twenty foot tall.
At least one knows their place in this world, the Dark Lord thought, an unseen sneer passing over his face. It quickly turned to a cold smile. Soon they will be shown the true might of my servants and they will fear ever trying to resist my advances.
A creature wearing a gray robe stepped through the mist.
“Wahhdaya want? I was watching a pretty sweet match!” Neutrality grumbled.
“Quiet, underling. You have failed to maintain the balance,” the Dark Lord spat.
“Wow, all doom, gloom and underlings with you lot.” Gray sighed as a seat formed behind him. He sat on it, reclining.
“You dare to talk back to me!?” the Dark Lord yelled at the obstinate little creature. “The creatures of Emerilia have attacked us, blatantly cutting ties to the Pantheon! You will pass new rules to…”
The Dark Lord’s words fell off as his eyes widened. Neutrality grew in size until he too was twenty foot tall. It wasn’t the size that stilled the Dark Lord’s words. It was the sheer power coming from the creature.
***
It was at that moment that the Dark Lord knew he fucked up, Bob thought, controlling his power. It had been some time that he had needed to show the strength of his power.
“This planet, these rules, and I have been here longer than all of your iterations.” Neutrality looked to the Earth Lord. “You attacked the People of Emerilia. Did you not remember the Asha-moor fiasco?” Neutrality’s words were hot and bored, as if talking to gods was a flippant thing he had little time for.
“You might use the People of Emerilia as your playthings but they are as smart as you, if not smarter. Do not be surprised when your plan to harm them backfires in your damn faces. The next time you deem it prudent for a new rule, send me a message about it.” Neutrality’s voice took on a colder tone. “The next time you order me to attend one of your meetings, remember I control the lights around this place.”
With that, the lights blinked in the room and the two lords disappeared.
“Fucking children.” Bob sighed. “Might be time for a new iteration.”
What Bob was building, he couldn’t let the meddling Pantheon interfere with. This was not just a game for entertainment anymore.
It might be the last thing that he ever did, but he knew in his mind it was the right thing to do.
Chapter 19: Ain’t Nothing Like a Tailgate Party
Dave, Joko, and a dozen others had turned the area in front of his house into an outdoor kitchen. With Dwarven engineers and a few Elven Fire mages, it was surprising what you could make in a few hours.
The open area backed by the copse of trees and surrounded by the smithy, kiln, and Dave’s house had impromptu chairs and tables everywhere. After the matches had finished, everyone had got some rest. Now, it was late evening and they’d come together again.
The tables extended from the kiln factory past Dave’s house and the smithy. It looked as if the entire village was in attendance. Beer flowed and food was cooked.
Dave checked his soup and then pulled out fresh bread from an oven. The cooks were working together, laughing, joking, and sweating as they created a true feast.
“All right! Now let’s get to eating!” Joko barked, the leader of the cooking effort. The cooks yelled their agreement.
People picked as servers had whisked away their foods, putting them on tables all over the place. The feasters had waited for the cooks to take their seats and serve themselves, tankards being filled and thanks given for their work.
Dave sunk into his chair.
“Smells good.” Deia kissed him.
“Damn well better. My stomach’s been rumbling ever since you put that first pig on the roast!” Lox said.
“Eaters, are you ready?” Koda, the Dwarven leader of the warclan and the unofficial leader of Cliff-Hill, called out.
“Yes!” many yelled out, laughing at the reference to the fighting just hours before.
“Begin!” Koda barked, grabbing a chicken leg and chewing on it as people set to eating their meals.
Dave laughed, ate, and drank. When the music came out, Deia and he danced. She laughed at his drunken antics as the two of them were inseparable all night.
Children ran around playing games and the darkness of the night seemed a little less scary. There was laughter and smiles, belching and drinking contests. Everyone got to having a good time with gusto. The stress of the last few months slid away a bit.
Dave and Deia ate and drank, before finding themselves sitting in front of Dave’s house.
Lox’s warband got into all kinds of antics. Gurren, who’d taken fifteenth place in the 40 to 60, was having a rather animated conversation with a group of girls, with Max also helping to entertain the ladies. Lox, Tounk, and Joko were off sampling beers, meeting with old friends and making new.
Dave sat there, leaning against the table with Deia resting her head on his shoulder. For years, he had been separated from his friends and family. Money had become the great division. People had seen him for his wealth, not him as a person. Here, people cared little about the numbers that the bank said he had. His actions and his words had gained him a place here. The future might not be the brightest but for the first time in too long he had found something that was worth fighting for once again.
He had come to Emerilia to escape, to cut himself off from the world. Instead, the world had come to him and he was thankful. It wasn’t perfect and the night was filled with terrors, but damn if it wasn’t magical in more than one way.
He kissed Deia on the forehead. She smiled, tilting her head and pursing her lips. Dave laughed and gave her a proper kiss.
Not a bad world at all.
Chapter 20: Malsour and Induca
Malsour stood within the shelves of the Mages College of Opheir. He looked over pages of inscriptions and magical runes.
He tapped his chin in thought as he read the works. Thousands of years ago, he had walked among the People of Emerilia, danced through their skies and seas. That had changed with an update; he and his family had been kept safe on an uninhabited world where they’d been allowed to do as they desired, watching Emerilia and occasionally visiting it in their human forms.
Now Grandmother had allowed them entrance to Emerilia once again. Malsour was not letting it go to waste. Some of his family desired wealth or adoration. He craved something much more.
He craved information. He had created great things simply because he could. He had watched and listened, learning from the Humans. They had lost so much information over the years but their ability to create even more allowed them to progress. Their libraries were a wealth of information, a veritable paradise for Malsour.
“Are you done yet?” Induca complained. She floated down next to him, pouting even upside down.
“It doesn’t do our family proud to have you pouting all over the place,” Malsour said. Induca was an odd one, like him. Where he sought information, she sought entertainment. She was one of the few who, after a few decades, had gone into hibernation to sleep the centuries past before they were allowed back to Emerilia.
“Come onnnn! You’ve just looked at books every day!” she complained, turning in a circle.
Malsour shook his head at her antics.
“Don’t you want to go and see the people Grandmother talked about?” Induca asked.
“I do, little sister, but there is much that we do not know yet,” Malsour said.
“You’re only older than me by four minutes!” Induca muttered.
Malsour sighed and closed the book. “You could go on ahead.”
“But I don’t wanna go alone. Then I wouldn’t have anyone to talk to. Plus, Mother said you needed to get out more.” Induca’s smile lit up the room. Induca settled onto the floor, finally standing.
She lo
oked as though she were just entering her twenties. She had a human face, with comely features and a smile that would light up a room. Her red hair was pulled back in a single braid and her eyes were the color of rubies. She wore dark clothes like Malsour, simple in their make but well made.
A red liner filled her cloak while Malsour’s cloak was blue.
Malsour’s blue hair was pulled back into a ponytail. There was a clear familial resemblance between him and his sister.
As much as Induca was annoying and impertinent, she was the one sibling he was closest with. It was hard for him to tell her no. His mother had also told him to look after Induca. She might be a few centuries old but she knew little of what had happened on Emerilia.
Malsour would make sure nothing happened to his sister. Maybe one day her curiosity would turn toward books and items other than wild adventures.
“Brat,” he said, his eyes thinning.
She smiled, holding her hands behind her and turning slowly, knowing she’d won against her brother.
Malsour smiled, baring his sharp teeth as his blue eyes shone in affection. “It is still a long while until we get there.” He put the book in his bag and gathered a few more he had made a pile of.
“I know.” Induca wasn’t happy about how long it was going to take to travel. “Though there are all those traveling caravans we can ride with to meet new people!” Her smile lit up the room.
“We don’t have much gold for that,” Malsour said.
“Well…” Induca pulled out some gold coins.
Malsour sighed and grabbed one of the coins.
“Is this from Gelimah’s stash?”
“Maaaybe.” Induca toed the ground. “He has tons of gold anyway.”
It was true that their brother had tons of gold; he had always been a collector of shiny things and magical ones as well. He was a tinkerer and although his cave did look like a pack rat’s paradise, he knew every single item.
Malsour had talked to him long enough to know that the coins were rare and worth much more than a single silver.
“First of all, no stealing from Gelimah! He takes his possessions very seriously. You’re going to take that to the bank and send it back to him. Second, we can make our own money.”
“How?” Induca asked.
“Knowledge is worth more than all the money in Emerilia and soul gems are worth a decent chunk of that money.” Malsour pulled out a soul gem. He always kept a few around. Although he was less of a tinkerer than his brother, he had found a good number of inventions interesting and soul gems were valuable tools.
Many thought of soul gems just as holding containers for a dead creature’s power. They siphoned off their power to the Pantheon or used it as much as possible that they no longer saved it up.
In earlier times, mages had saved their power and sold it to power great machines. Now that there were so many mages, it was easier to hire one instead of buying their stored power.
The soul gem’s murky light cleared up as he poured power into it. It turned from murky to clear with a kaleidoscope of energies roving around: pure Mana, all of the Affinities and none of them.
“Pretty,” Induca said, looking at the soul gem.
Malsour gave her another soul gem. “You can make your own too. It would do a lot to make Gelimah happier,”
“I wanted to keep it.” Induca pouted.
“You can make more and making soul gems isn’t too hard. I can teach you,” Malsour said.
Induca smiled and nodded happily.
She might hate having to learn from books, but if it was pretty enough or looked interesting, Malsour could trick her into learning a thing or two.
Chapter 21: Grit Your Teeth
“Take a rest,” Deia said.
Dave panted, dropping to his knees and falling on the ground. He rolled so he was looking up at the sky.
It was two days since the tournament. Everyone was feeling a little better, with smiles and laughter making more of an appearance. There might be a few thousand Elves and Dwarves in Cliff-Hill, but they were blending with the population instead of just being another camp inside the walls.
A few warbands practiced with Lox and his Dwarves. Dave and Deia had been training since morning and Dave was being put through the wringer.
After the tournament, they’d all gotten together and talked about how to improve their skills. It was clear that although Dave was using heavy armor, his fighting style leaned him more toward speed. His blows hit hard but he needed to work on speed in order to strike. With two axes, he was positioned to attack faster. With little defense other than his armor, he needed to make those hits land.
So Deia had taken him and he was in the process of getting his ass beat.
Weights were strapped to his armor and his pack was filled with weight. He now knew how tanks felt. It was annoying as hell moving with so much weight.
Deia was also wearing a large weighted vest. She had less Strength but more Endurance and Agility, which meant that her weight was less than his to get the same progression.
She also had him actively enchanting his armor; instead of giving him buffs, they were debuffing both of their Agilities.
It was harsh training but it was well suited to building up their tolerances. They pushed each other and she beat the hell out of him most of the time.
“Up you get, lazy.” Deia breathed through her nose to try to not sound gassed.
Dave grunted. It took time for him to raise his mass upward. Dave didn’t have the Mana to run through his body; he was still bleeding it into the enchantments. He needed to get soul gems into it so that he could store his power instead of feeding it direct every time.
It was kind of like solar panels: he could actively power it direct, though if there was no sunlight then there was no power. With soul gems, he added in batteries so unspent power could be stored and then used at will.
He’d wanted to build new armor for a while; he had a number of rough sketches for it. Still, he wasn’t the level of blacksmith he needed to be to create what he truly wanted.
Deia came at him with her twin blades. Dave went on the defensive, his body yelling out from his exertions, his Stamina at just thirty percent.
Dave yelled, catching her blade and bringing his shoulder in. Deia twisted and flipped. Dave could hear the grunt of effort as she twisted and kicked the armor between his shoulders.
“Crap!” Dave tried to keep himself up. The additional weight and momentum carried him forward and made him unstable. He hit the ground.
Deia landed on him, pinning his arms and putting her blades next to his helmet. “You’re getting faster but this armor is making you clumsy.” Deia put her blades away.
“Yeah, I’ve got plans for new armor but I’m not high enough blacksmith for what I want to make,” Dave said, sucking air.
“Best to make it now. Can at least train with it before you go into battle with it,” Deia said, opening his helmet.
“I just got out of the smithy and my Agility is lacking now,” Dave complained. It was half-hearted as they both knew he enjoyed his time in the smithy.
Though they also knew that the training they did together could keep the other alive in the coming battle.
“Well, I need to do some more control with my flames and you do seem to be the innovative one. I can stoke the smithy’s fires, bleed off some Mana and play with my control. You build your armor. Once you’re done with the smithy, then we’ll do some training in the forest,” Deia said.
“Trying to get me alone?” Dave grinned.
She rolled her eyes and smiled as she got off him.
Dave pulled himself up. The armor was good for a low level; for what he was thinking, he needed something more. His powers were strong but their power requirements were intense.
“Build your armor and try to make me something that I can wield and it won’t warp with my fire,” Deia said.
“Yes, my lady.” Dave tried to bow and nearly fell over, his legs
buckling with the weight.
“Uhh, mind helping me get out of this?” Dave asked.
Chapter 22: Settling in for the Winter
Dave sat in his house, sitting at the table that looked over his porch and down the western cliff that surrounded Cliff-Hill. He was looking at the drawings in front of him. On his interface, he had several windows open.
A smile spread across his face. His armor wouldn’t be like a tank’s; it was a mix of medium and heavy armor. Steel bands were connected with thick leather strips to armor his shoulders without making them hard to move. Plates would cover his body, and larger bands than the ones on his shoulder would reach his knees.
His legs and arms would be protected by dragon scale.
It was a complicated forging process similar to chain mail but instead of links of metal, plates of metals were interconnected. They moved easily and were much stronger than chain mail, but the process of making it was incredibly difficult and time-consuming.
Dave looked at a second picture that showed the layering of the armor. Its true strengths were hidden from sight.
He put the soul gem that was on his worktable back in his bag of holding. His bag shivered, making Dave look at it. He accessed the interface that handled its inventory. He scrolled down. One square was lit up, surrounding a single object.
Dave looked around before pulling out his Mirror of Communication.
Mirror of Communication
Capable of communicating across distances instantaneously. Undetectable. Origin Unknown.
Quality: SS
Durability: 5000/5000
Charge: 120/400
Dave looked over the mirror. He wrote down the runes and their order. Each set of runes was usually different, the enchanters using different tools to create the same thing.
Shrugging, he put the mirror back. It was a curiosity but he would deal with it later. He put the layered drawing into his bag as well; he grabbed his bag and headed for the door.
The Trapped Mind Project (Emerilia Book 1) Page 36