Origin ARS 5

by Scottie Futch

  The background music shifted from the somber, depressing, score that had been playing. It had been the background soundtrack of a city in ruin. A violin played in the background as woodwind instruments carried a melancholy tune. Now, the music had shifted to a deep drumming sound. It was a pounding tune reminiscent of barbarians about to make war in any number of sword and sorcery films.

  Slowly, they turned their helms toward the blue-haired sorcerer. Eldritch light flared through their eye holes and the monsters began to stomp toward him. The background music picked up woodwind instruments and the beginning stirring of a guitar.

  They were faster than they looked, but still slower than a hellion. Scott easily made it to the first spot that he had picked. He leapt atop an overturned car, a dark grey contraption that looked a bit like a jeep with no wheels. It was a strange thing to see in a parking lot full of vehicles that actually did have wheels, but that was not important at the moment. What was important, was that the beasts were upon him.

  His little pulsating light of celestial retribution burned the beasts even as they stomped toward him. The closest among them whipped his axe down in a killing stroke, but Scott had already begun to move. Compared to the hellions, these things were just as dangerous in a close battle but far more predictable.

  Scott launched himself backward just enough to avoid being cleaved in half. His light remained on the other side of the vehicle and burned the monsters with its purifying force. The axe-wielding beast yanked its weapon free of the wreckage before it and two of its brethren joined it in chopping down what remained. It was rather disheartening to see how little time it took them to tear through so much solid metal.

  However, every few seconds that passed the monsters were burned by the light. Scott hopped back to avoid another powerful cleaving motion then repeated that process a few more times. He needed to keep the monsters busy, but he also had to stay outside the range of their fear effect.

  Soon he had hopped back far enough to begin the next phase of his plan. Scott leapt atop a bright orange vehicle that looked like a muscle car from earth. When the first monster swung at him, he performed an expert backflip that allowed him to almost lazily arc through the air to land atop the next vehicle behind him. By the time the monster freed its blade, the pulsating light had taken the life of one of its compatriots.

  Scott nodded. He had not performed these backflips and hopping motions to look cool. He needed to kill these murderous bastards and move on. Fighting them head on was suicidal for him at this point, so he had been forced to use the terrain and focus on his magical attacks throughout this horrible night.

  The monsters tore into that poor car for all they were worth, and soon broke it down to the point that they began to step up onto the wreckage. Another monster fell to the side, its armor charred by the light.

  Starlight flare could last for only a scant few minutes at his skill-level, but that was more than enough time to wreck these things. They relied heavily on their brute power and physical defense.

  A repeat performance of his backflip and wait plan occurred, and soon the remainder of the beasts fell to the side. The power animating them had been destroyed by the gentle celestial light.

  No time was wasted in checking the fallen monsters for loot. He could not carry the charred armor plates for lack of space, but he did find a few coins and the occasional gemstone when he defeated one of these things.

  Surprisingly, he also found something new. "A letter?"

  Scott opened it, expecting to see some sort of mission orders even though the monsters probably did not even read.

  [Mission Briefing]

  A Desperate Mother's Plea

  Oh Origin, patron of love and reincarnation; please hear my prayer. My son Jimothy has run off in search of his father. I fear the worst! Please, hear the prayer of a desperate mother and bring my sweet boy home to me. Barring that, bring what remains of him so that we might return him to this world.

  Mission Requirements: You have located the remains of a young boy slain by the Eldritch Armor Knights of the Storm Tyrant. Bring his remains to his mother before three dawns have passed.

  Reminder: If you have a crysta-com you can scan the code at the bottom to generate a city map and location for the quest.

  Success: Bring the remains of Jimothy to his mother.

  Failure: Fail to bring the remains of Jimothy to his mother before three dawns have passed.

  Reward(s): Increased Event Contribution Acknowledgments, improved relations with the church of Origin, a mother's thanks.

  [—]

  Scott's eyes narrowed. "I see. The letter thing really is how quests pop up sometimes. That's an odd way to give out quests, but I'll do my best." He fiddled with his crysta-com for a moment until he recalled how to scan things. After scanning the bottom of the letter, a map application appeared on his mobile device. It showed his current location, and his next destination, which was Jimothy's body. There was even a little distance marker that showed how far he was from his objective.

  He ran over to the body of the boy and then wished that he hadn't. What he saw was something that no one should have to see, much less the boy's mother. The body was in too many pieces to lift and carry. He was forced to tear down the awning of a nearby building and use it to pile the pieces inside. He wanted to be as gentle and respectful as possible, but it was not easy.

  His crysta-com vibrated in his pocket and he checked it. He had received a destination update. "Distance eight thousand six hundred forty-seven." How far was that? It sounded like a large amount of ground to cover.

  Scott took a few experimental steps toward his destination and the distance dropped by twenty-two."Oh! I get it, it's that many normal steps." He thought about it for a moment, it sounded like the destination and distance markers worked on full paces. Those were about a yard, which was similar to a meter. "Eight kilometers then...?"

  He rubbed his chin. The metric system was not exactly a native thing for him. His time in the army had taught him that a twenty kilometer ruck march was about twelve miles. Given the fact that the destination thing seemed to measure movement in paces, it would probably be better to consider the distance in yards or normal steps instead of meters in the future. "It's a good four or five miles through this hell to get you home, kid."

  The colorfully clad sorcerer reached down and carefully lifted the wrapped body of the small boy. Before his change into a fantasy world hero in the making the burden of carrying so much weight would have been problematic. Scott barely noticed the weight, however. Such was the carrying capacity of a man when they had five times the strength of the strongest man who had ever lived on Earth. Though, there was a much more solemn weight to this small burden in his arms that no stat could lighten.

  In the distance he could hear the tell-tale sounds of gunfire. The city guard was fighting against another wave of monsters. Lightning crashed in the background. The invasion of the city continued unabated. The background music had already shifted and returned to its somber score and its crying violin as well.

  "Let's get you home." said Scott softly. The sorcerer set out across the city once more. This time he did not stop to fight monsters. He avoided both them and the patrols of the city guard. They would try to usher him into one of the underground safety areas or shoot him since he might look like a looter, or worse.

  A few minutes later he was forced to stop and wait as a roving guard patrol passed near his location. He truly did not want to stop and explain his current situation to a city guard. What would he say if he had to explain? Scott snorted then shook his head. One hand rose into the air palm up. "Pardon me good sir, may I be on my way? I have collected various bits of a small boy in this sack and I don't want him to spoil."

  For a moment he thought that he should feel bad about his morbid joke, but the moment passed and he chuckled softly in the darkness. As disturbing as the situation was, the ability to laugh at it helped him to relieve quite a bit of built up stress.


  He continued on his way, his heart a bit lighter despite his terrible burden. After a time he came to a rather significant impasse. What looked to be an entire sky-scraper had fallen over sideways. It was the sort of hellish damage that a modern city would normally see if a giant monster invaded.

  Scott scrambled over the top, or rather what had once been the side, of the fallen megastructure using the debris as a means of reaching its high surface. Roughly half the way to the top he was forced to break his way into the building through the surprisingly damage-resistant glass that constituted its outer wall. He was certain that it had been weakened in the collapse, but he was surprised that it had not already broken during the fall.

  The war was ridiculous. If the city survived, would it ever be whole again? Once inside the building he called out his starlight flare spell to allow him to see what he was doing, and to add a little protection in case of axe-wielding monsters.

  The sideways structure proved to be rather maze-like at first as it defied his sense of logical physical dimensions. He had to crawl through doorways, and ended up reversing his course several times before he managed to climb up into a corner officer through interior rooms.

  It took more time and effort than he would have liked, but he managed to pile enough debris up in the corner of that corner office to reach the glass wall above. It was not exactly the smartest move, but if he wanted to continue forward from here he would have to break through the glass. He sat the sack of Jimothy to the side then covered his eyes with one hand while he punched up into the glass with the other.

  Without clear sight of his target it took a while to break through, but he managed it somehow. He had received a few minor cuts from the thick glass shards in the process, but he was tough enough physically for such a thing to only be a minor irritation. His knuckles did feel a bit raw, however.

  Scott tossed the Jimmy sack up through the hole, respectfully of course, then leapt up and out of the madness that was a sideways building. Once free of the place he looked around and saw that the way beyond was surprisingly clear. "Well, that's something."

  He walked to the edge of the building and looked down. There was no clear way down nearby. The glass only appeared at the halfway point on the side of the building, and the place where it had fractured and toppled in a manner that probably completely defied the laws of physics was filled with loose, shifting, debris that he could not trust as a means to escape the place. One wrong move would leave both him and his passenger buried. Frustration welled up within him for a moment. He thought he might have to go back inside and seek out a middle room.

  It was not until he spied something on the street below that he had an idea. It would be risky, but wasn't everything risky at this point?

  Scott carefully walked to his chosen destination and looked across the divide. The building that he stood on was huge and even fallen on its side, it was still a long way down to the street below. However, there was a street light with an extended arm that he might use.

  He sighed then checked the ties on the makeshift sack he had made to carry Jimothy. Afterward, he spoke to the boy. "I'm sorry about this, but it's the only way unless I want to backtrack a lot." Left unsaid was the fact that backtracking through the mess that the city had become could lead him into an even worse situation.

  Scott respectfully tossed the Jimothy sack off the side of the building before looking at the street lamp once more. He took a deep breath, steeled his resolve and then made a running leap toward his goal. Unfortunately, his aim was a little off as he was not used to making such grandiose leaps. Scott's hands just barely gripped the lamp's arm, but that was not nearly enough to stop his descent. A great deal of the momentum of his fall was mitigated but the force was still enough to rip his fingers free of their loose purchase. He fell hard to the earth below and landed with a loud, pained, cry. Thankfully, enough of his fall had been broken that his legs had not been.

  Once he recovered from the surprising end to the current leg of his journey, he collected little Jimothy and went about his business. Along the way he would occasionally check his crysta-com to see where he needed to go. The monsters and guard patrols thinned considerably once he left the city-center, and became practically non-existent as he entered the outskirts of the city where Jimothy's family lived. At the moment the invading army seemed content to do as much damage to the heart of the city as possible.

  It had taken over three hours due to the wreckage and the need to hide on occasion, but Scott managed to reach his destination. It was a building that looked like a church but with a statue of Origin in the courtyard. She had her arms outstretched and wore a crown of flowers. Her well-sculpted face brought a smile to his. He missed her, and the statue was an excellent likeness.

  Reminiscence of currently denied love aside, his destination was not a house like he had originally thought. It was a civilian defense shelter beneath the church. The guards posted outside stopped him as he drew closer to his goal.

  "Sorry, sir. We're full."

  "I'm not here to stay. I'm here to deliver something." said Scott.

  "A delivery? Here? In this?" asked the guard surprised.

  "Is it a pizza, captain? I could do with a slice." asked one of the men snidely, though there was also a slightly hopeful tone in his voice. Several of the men laughed, though the one manning the heavy gun didn't take his eyes off Scott while doing so.

  "Aye, me too! Is there sausage on it?" asked one of the other men.

  The captain shook his head then granted Scott a long suffering look. He had been with these men a little too long tonight. "Forgive my men. These little jokes keep their spirits up."

  "It's fine, but I really do need to go inside." said Scott.

  The captain shook his head. "Like I said, we're full up. Too many people in one place could draw those things down on us. We can handle a few of them at a time, but we aren't the army. We're not equipped for large scale battles."

  Uncertain what else to do, Scott pulled out the letter that he had received and showed it to the guard. The man's eyes widened, and then they slowly narrowed. "I see. So, the boy didn't make it?"

  Scott shook his head. "No, he was killed before I could get to him, though I destroyed the eldritch armor knights that took his life."

  "Ah, good! Well, there's a few priests of Origin downstairs. Can't turn away pregnant women, or children whether living or dead according to the head priest's order. You can take the poor lad down there and discuss things with the head priest." said the shelter captain.

  Down into the earth he went, the body of the small boy wrapped in his arms. The previously laughing men were silenced by their captain. There was no joy in this moment, and what Scott bore was certainly not a pizza. Though, had anyone taken a good look inside the sack after the way that it had been dragged through the streets one might wonder at the similarities that the contents held in relation to pizza toppings.

  After clearing the stairs he walked down a short corridor and moved past another set of guards. They had him wait a moment as they opened a metal blast door and turned off the shield that helped to secure it. Through the door, Scott was met with the sounds and scents of unwashed humanity. Though, some of the unwashed masses were not exactly human.

  In the far back there was a small alcove where robed men congregated around a table. They viewed a large crystalline sphere with rapt attention and hawkish eyes.

  "Pieter, I tell you that the army is overmatched this time." said one of the men as Scott approached.

  "Dovak, do you see the placement of the second battalion? They are clearly buying time for something." said the man named Pieter.

  "Aye, see here and here as well? The Blizrum priests are focusing their powers on the rear guard as well, instead of the main attack force." said another, unnamed, priest.

  Scott eyed the fourth man, the man with the fanciest robes. He wore red robes and a large circular shaped gold medallion that had the appearance of a stylized phoeni
x within a triangle. If he had to guess, that man would be the head priest. He was also the only one who had yet to speak.

  It did not take long for the older man, the head priest, to turn his head. He blinked slowly once, and then twice more. His eyes widened when he gazed upon Scott then slowly placed his hand to his mouth. Scott immediately felt an uncomfortable sensation flow through his body.

  The head priest stood up from his chair and moved toward him, the action causing a minor ruckus among the younger priests. "What's going on your eminence?"

  Snow white and bushy eyebrows pressed together as he took stock of Scott's face for a moment. He then turned back to the other priests and said. "Continue your lessons on the study of war. I must speak with this man alone."

  The three younger priests stared slack-jawed at Scott and then back to the head priest. This was a strange sort of event to have happen during an invasion!

  The head priest gestured politely for Scott to follow him. He hurried after, curiosity evident upon his face. What had spooked the older man? He had taken a single look at his face and suddenly become quite animated. In the far alcove, behind a metal door, Scott and the head priest began to speak earnestly.

  "My apologies for not entertaining you better, brother." The older man extended his arm to Scott. A sudden urge possessed the blue haired man. Scott reached out and clasped the older man's forearm. The older man clasped Scott's as well. The priest's eyes lit up slightly when Scott said, "Well met, brother. My name is Scott."

  The older man visibly relaxed after hearing what Scott's mind now referenced as a customary greeting among kin, more specifically the head priest was Lunarii himself. In many ways it had been like when he had first learned to fight or to use his magic. He had simply known a few things via spiritual download and the rest had to be learned. He now knew several customs among his new race.