War Aeternus 3: The Culling

by Charles Dean

  I see. Thanks for the info. Very helpful, Lee thought, doing his best to make sure the last part didn’t come off as sarcastic.

  It is good you know.

  Lee saw the last message and frowned. Alright, enough of that. Off to leveling.

  -----

  “What’s the point of going back to town?” Jade complained. “I have a tent, and if we camp here, it means less travel time when we wake up.”

  They had been at the grind for hours, and it was almost night before any of them even mentioned that they should start back to town. Jade, for whatever reason, was very much against returning to Satterfield. Lee and Ling, however, weren’t keen on sharing a tent with Jade--even if she was just being practical.

  By the time they got back to Satterfield, it was already halfway through the night, and only the moon watched over them as they made their way in through an unmanned gate. Ling promptly excused herself from the party, making her excuses and bidding everyone goodbye before going to spend the last part of her night at home.

  Lee and Jade made their way to the bar, and he was somewhat surprised to see that the entire place was empty. There were dozens of empty glasses and a few licked-clean plates left behind from the night’s earlier festivities, but that was the only sign of life in the entire place. Normally, he would have been upset that no one had cleaned up. Given what the villagers had gone through, however, he didn’t see the point in griefing them over a single slovenly night.

  Thus, rather, than waking someone up to finish cleaning, he simply had his three golems take care of the place for him. He wasn’t sure if it was the case, but they seemed rather annoyed that their first task in a few hours had been to clean up dishes.

  “That is . . . very useful,” Jade commented as she stepped inside after Lee. “So, what you gonna do now? I don’t exactly have a standing room here . . . so, I might need to borrow yours.”

  Lee looked over at the blue-haired temptress that was doing her best to act coy with him, “You’re welcome to it,” he said. “I’m not exactly ready to crash yet myself.”

  “Oh.” Her face changed from a fake shy to a very real pout. “Well, in that case, let me pour us a few drinks, and you can tell me what you wanna do until then.”

  “Didn’t you want to borrow my bed while I’m not in it?”

  “What’s the point?” she answered, shrugging. “They’ve already stolen a march, so I’ve got to make up for lost time. So, tell me, what random thing are you going to craft now?”

  “Who said I was going to craft?” Lee took the beer she had just poured for him and sat down at the table, opening up his inventory and going through the material list.

  “It’s you. You seem to love crafting. I’ve never seen someone spend five hours making stuff without getting extremely bored. Although, I suppose it’s in your blood.”

  Lee looked through his inventory and found the one project he hadn’t finished yet: the orchestrion. Lee almost had each prerequisite skill at the right level to make one through the book’s crafting system. It probably would also be faster to do it that way, but he didn’t want to cheapen it.

  He had spent hours working and toiling away on the thing, and he figured it was time he finished it up. So, he didn’t stand on pretense. He just took out all the parts and started working on it right in front of her. He was only a few parts away from the final assembly stage when he started, so it didn’t take more than a few hours to finish it up. Then, he spent a little longer putting together music sheets to feed into it. After he was finished, he sat back down at the table.

  “So, is that it?” Jade asked as she looked it over. “We got another hour before sunrise if you wanted to add something to it: carve your name into it or maybe draw something on it.”

  “Huh?” Lee turned to look at her. He hadn’t even considered changing the design or adding art or dyes to anything in this world past making camouflage for his troop’s armor. “I mean, I guess we could . . . draw something on it later?” The idea didn’t really resonate with him at all. He was more interested in seeing how it functioned now that it was complete.

  Since it was technically an automatic organ with a percussion kit set in the base, Lee wasn’t exactly sure how it would sound--but he was dying to find out as he loaded the first sheet in and started it up. Just like that, the deadly-quiet church-turned-bar was filled with music. He had chosen Moonlight Sonata, one of his favorite classical pieces, for the first piece, and he couldn’t help but feel relaxed and a bit sleepy as he sat back in his chair and listened to it. It was magnificent.

  Between the magical beer in his hand, the music from the automated machine, and the fresh, bacon-flavored air that was hanging in the bar, Lee finally felt like the boss fight and the stress he had been dealing with was behind him. This was the downtime he had needed earlier. He knew he wouldn’t be able to spend too much time here--Jade, Miller, Ling, common sense and logic would all drag him back into leveling as they prepared for whatever high-level threat to his existence might pop up next--but that didn’t mean he couldn’t enjoy at least one song before then.

  “So, you about ready for your usual post-Herald-murdering trip to Earth?” Augustus asked, breaking into Lee’s consciousness as the Herald sat there, marinating in the melancholy melody playing out through the automated organ.

  “Oh, yeah,” Lee thought aloud, not bothering to mute himself as the only other person there probably knew exactly what it was like to talk to a god that only she could hear. “I think I’m gonna pass, actually.”

  “What?” Augustus seemed surprised. “You don’t want to check up on Masha, enjoy a round of games with Wolfe, hang out with your old, giant shape-shifting bear while watching some television?”

  Lee didn't even think about it when he turned Augustus down. He had no real reason to pass up the trip. It was free time, after all. He might die tomorrow in this game world, but over there, he could likely enjoy weeks, months, or years without stress or hardship. It was, by no small means, a paradise when compared to this gaming world. The simple luxuries of toilet paper, good bed sheets and pants that weren’t made of rough cotton were enough to warrant a trip there, but he had automatically said ‘no’ like it was a gut reaction.

  “Yeah, I’ll pass,” Lee reaffirmed and shrugged. Jade looked over at him with one eyebrow raised. After everything that had happened, even if it was a better life over there, it wasn’t one he was sure he deserved. This venture hadn’t saved anyone. He hadn’t brightened up the world or even rescued so much as a single flower in a field. The jukebox playing out a beloved but somber song was the only thing he actually felt like he had accomplished in this battle to save Satterfield. If he had been better, stronger or smarter, then fewer people would have died. If he hadn’t been a part of Satterfield, Meadhbh wouldn’t have targeted it or his people. Those that perished, their deaths were in large part his responsibility, his fault.

  “Suit yourself, but if Masha knew you were turning down more time with her, she’d be really disappointed,” Augustus said, punctuating his words with one of the most overly-exaggerated sighs Lee had ever heard. “So disappointed.”

  “Not going home?” Jade asked around mouthfuls. She had found some leftover cold fried chicken, and she was devouring it like it was the greatest thing she had ever tasted.

  “You heard?” Lee asked, looking over. He knew she could probably intuit what was being said from his side of the conversation, but he figured he’d take a stab at it to see how much this chummy pair of deities was actually sharing.

  “Yeah, Mary is telling me what was said. Why not? Don’t you wanna go back and watch some TV? See what happened on your favorite anime?”

  “Man, they really are dating, aren’t they?” Lee laughed.

  “Hey!” Mary exclaimed, her voice audible through whatever channel Augustus used to talk to Lee. “Stop that! Why in the name of banana bread do people keep saying that?!”

  “Banana bread?” Lee questioned. “What in the
. . . never mind. I don’t want to know.”

  “She has a thing for fruity desserts. Just leave her be.” Jade waved the mostly-eaten drumstick as if dismissing the idea. “Anyway, if you’re not going to sleep, do you want to go get more EXP? You finished your gadget, and we’ve had a bite to eat. Why not stock up on some bacon and go back to the mountains? I’m sure we can let Ling know where we are when she wakes.”

  Lee leaned back in his chair and took another sip of his drink. He was tired. He wanted to sleep, and he even wanted to go back to the other world, but he knew his mind wouldn’t let him do either of those things. “Fine. Let’s do it.” He picked up a few plates of food and a keg’s worth of beer and headed off with Jade. He considered letting Ling know that they had given up on relaxing and were about to pull an all-nighter, but he decided that she needed the rest, and he knew she’d have come with him even if she didn’t want to.

  “That’s the spirit!” Jade patted him on the back and cleaned out some of the pantry for her inventory as well. “Let’s try to hit Level 40 before the next sunset.”

  “Yeah, that’ll be helpful.”

  The two of them left the church and began their venture back out into the world. Even if he didn’t enjoy the mindless murder as much as the girl next to him, he did enjoy the distraction. He didn’t like thinking about whether there was any merit to what Meadhbh had said or whether he could have saved her. He liked not having to think about what was going on with Masha. The only thing he liked thinking about was that he was, little by little, gaining control of his destiny in this world. The more he fought, the stronger he got, the better he would become. Even though it wasn’t the life of luxury, relaxation, and comfort in the other world, the one he ultimately wanted and felt that his powers should help him obtain, the feeling of control and agency that grew with each enemy vanquished gave him a sense of satisfaction.

  Meadhbh had talked a lot about fate and the destiny of men if they did not purge the weak from their bloodlines. What Lee had taken away from most of it, the part he couldn’t block out of his mind, was her last words: he was still too weak. It was a feeling that had plagued him since he first arrived in the world, and that same weakness which seemed to hang from him like a constant burden was why he had to face so many problems. If he had been stronger, fewer people would have died, everything would be in better shape, and Pelham--even Amber--would be standing there to drink with him. Even though he wasn’t born strong, as Meadhbh seemed to feel was necessary, he had but one goal: to cull the weakness from his own mind and body and take control of his fate by whatever means possible.

  -----

  “You think she knew?” Mary asked. The two gods sat together, eating snacks, drinking boozy juice and watching the screens in front of them.

  “Fey, the Goddess of Changing Fates?” Augustus looked over at Mary. “She saw everything. Of course she knew.”

  “Then . . . was this too all for your plan? Did you talk her into helping you as well?” Mary lowered her head to use the funny-shaped sippy straw she had grabbed out of Augustus’s kitchen to pull up more alcoholic fruit juice.

  “Her? No. No one ever got to talk to her after they realized what she did and what she knew. Not even I had a chance to say a word to her,” Augustus explained. “Her stone door never opened.”

  “Then why did she help you?” Mary questioned. “I don’t get how she helped you, but that last line . . . She clearly knows what you intend to do with Lee--or, rather, what you intend to make Lee do.”

  “Maybe it’s exactly because of that--because she knows. Maybe because she, like me, knows how important it is for the future, for the order of society. We can’t let things stay as they are. The rotting limbs must be cut from the world tree.”

  “Ugh.” Mary retreated at the line, shivering involuntarily. “I hate thinking about it. It’s too much. How can you plan something that will be so devastating? Is there really no other way? We could just . . .”

  “If you think of another way, then let me know,” Augustus said. “Or better yet, let him know. Because as things are going . . .”

  “He’s still dancing to your tune. I don’t know what bothers me more”--Mary grimaced--“that he is doing everything as you said he would . . . You aren’t even pushing him in the slightest, yet he’s following along perfectly.”

  “Call it a gift,” Augustus muttered. “One you should be well aware of.”

  “As was Fey, apparently.” Mary closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Then, she seemed shocked out of it by something.

  Augustus felt a tingle too. It was his phone vibrating in his pocket. Since he wasn’t used to being in his human form around another person, much less using pants, he also wasn’t used to throwing a phone in his pocket. When it vibrated, it ended up startling him and drew a snorting chuckle out of Mary.

  “Not as timid as you were when you first started crashing,” Augustus noted. He wasn’t sure whether he liked that or not. The woman had been quaking in her boots when he first revealed who he was, and now she was practically snorting milk out her nose at his jokes. His ability to intimidate her was clearly reaching an all-time low as familiarity built between the two.

  “I’m just used to you,” Mary explained. “You still scare the hell out of me, but . . .” Her eyes darted to the screen and then back to Augustus. “Never mind.”

  You feel pity for me. That’s what you mean.

  She shifted the conversation, not wanting to carry the topic further as she looked over at her own phone.

  “Another stupid meeting?” Augustus grumbled out a guess at what could have possibly required both of them to be notified at the same time. He used to look forward to them to a degree. He liked to watch Siegman grumble, whine and protest every sensible thing he did. The prudish deity followed the rules to the letter, and when he realized that there weren’t many rules, he had invented fifty or sixty more silly conventions and traditions that he foisted on others as well. It’s what made him both intolerable to be around as well as incredibly fun to tease and mock.

  “Yeah, I got the notification a bit ago,” Mary sighed. “Apparently this entire impromptu meeting is to discuss unwanted changes and dynamics within the game.”

  “Let’s just skip it.” Augustus shrugged and swiveled his chair back around to face the screens.

  “But they might use the system to punish our Heralds,” Mary protested. “We can’t be negligent. If they ban them for a prolonged period of time again, there is no telling whether or not either of them will be able to catch up.”

  “They can’t,” Augustus said, watching Lee cutting through twenty dire wolves as if he were an impatient sushi chef in a fish shop. Each slice was clean and thorough, but the cuts were all sloppy. Their placement was much better than when Lee had started, but the level of precision wasn’t where it needed to be yet. Lee was still lacking a lot in terms of skill, but at least he had his determination.

  “Yes, they can. That’s part of the power given to each council as a way to help regulate the games,” Mary said. “If not for that power, then who would ever show up?”

  “But they can’t now. The game has started, and since both of our players have been involved in another Herald’s death . . .” Augustus just turned to smile at Mary.

  “Any penalty raised against them could be protested as biased interference.” Mary’s eyes opened slightly. “So, the group has no power over us now until the next time our characters are in a game--if there is a next time.”

  “Yes, and by then, who is to say whether they will have lived through their games? We might be dealing with an entirely new set of players,” Augustus chuckled.

  “So, we really don’t have to go . . .” Mary sat back in her chair.

  Augustus nodded. “Right. But, you’re also right that we should go,” he said as he stood up from his chair. “If anything, we can at least see Seigman’s face as he tries to yell at us for killing yet another Herald. That is what this meeting is about,
isn’t it? That my poor boy Lee is already up to three kills this game. Apparently, they have a tradition against that.”

  “Yeah, it is what this is about, but . . . If you really don’t have to go, then why put yourself through that?”

  “Through what?” Augustus asked. He already knew what she was going to say.

  “You don’t have to put yourself through their abuse. They’re just going to lash out at you again, make fun of you. You don’t have to sit through that.” She shifted closer to him as she spoke, frowning slightly.

  Augustus had seen all of this as inevitable. She had been looking at him with those eyes that spelled out neither love nor hate, but rather swelled with pity, for a while now. She thought he must be some poor and tragic man whose life was filled with loss and disappointment. Her perspective was evident, but he didn’t see himself the same way. Where she saw him suffering over lost loves, he reveled in the memory of each encounter he had shared with those amazing women. Where she saw his abuse as something worth avoiding, even though she had, herself, once taken part in it before knowing him better, he was fine with it. It was just another way for him to entertain himself through the endless stretch of life that was foisted upon gods.

  He thought about explaining this to her, but it was useless. She’d just take it as an excuse. “The tree must be cut,” he mumbled to himself as he stood up. “You can stay, but I’m leaving.” He shifted into a grizzly bear as he went through the door.

  “You’re still going to the meeting? Even though you don’t have to?” Mary asked as she watched Augustus leave.

  “No, I’m not,” he answered. And he left it at that. He didn’t feel the need to explain his actions further as he used a combination of his inadequate bear claws and his magic to text someone he hadn’t talked to alone in a very long time: the only other deity who had always known who he was.