9
The Mountain Path
“Plow through them,” I said under my breath. We surged forward dispatching one here and one there but not making any overall progress. We managed to put them all behind us at least, but they simply kept marching after us.
The necromancer cackled once again. “Chase them, my pets! Gnaw on their bones!” I started to get that strange feeling of being watched again. Something blurred past us, splattering raindrops. From behind us came the sounds of screeching and flesh being torn asunder. We turned to look.
“Holy crap,” said Garstil. “What happened?”
“One metal mans,” said Morogan quietly. In the pouring rain, I could see dark coagulated blood dripping off a vaguely humanoid shape which displaced the falling raindrops. Dark ichor pooled on the ground. I could sense it staring back at me. It stood there, judging me.
“Let’s go,” I said.
Angered at failing to kill us, the necromancer yelled from high up on the wall as we retreated. “If I don’t kill you, my brothers will!” Garstil sent one last lightning bolt up at him, forcing him to duck down. Morogan laughed.
We pushed forward in the driving rain, making for the mountain as fast as we could considering the weather. A few hours later, we made it to the base of the mountain. The silhouette loomed over us, dark and foreboding, like some demented demon, wanting to claim our souls. The ground gave way to rocks and deep trenches as the path inclined upward and into living rock. The walls were a good fifteen feet tall, and the rain ran freely on the ground, making our footing treacherous.
“Don’t slip, this water will likely wash us to the base of the mountain,” said Garstil.
“Keep going,” puffed Morogan. “Flat part up. Can rest.”
We kept climbing and climbing up the water path for another hour. The walls began to get shorter until, finally, we emerged onto a clearing on the side of the mountain. From here, we could easily see the city and all the destruction that had claimed it. The sun was just beginning to set as we made camp. The supplies were a mess, due to our hurried escape, but with some light swearing, we managed to sort things out.
“Stew again?” I asked.
“Morogan cold. Stew good,” he said. Garstil agreed.
“Stew it is then,” I said.
After dinner, we heard heavy footsteps thudding toward our tent. The three of us rushed outside, weapons drawn. There was nothing there. Morogan pointed toward two deep imprints in the mud that betrayed the cloaked tech warrior. Now that we knew where it was, we could see its outline in the rain.
“What do you want?” I asked.
In response, sparks which turned to lightning began to arc around its outline. It dropped its cloak, and a humanoid-shaped robot faded into existence. It had massive actuators on its legs and arms and looked like it could handle its own in a fight. “Sword Bearer,” it said in a mechanical voice. “You have proven yourself worthy of the trials and the title. At first dawn, proceed up the path. Undergo the trials. You must succeed, or you will perish.” A compartment opened on its leg, and it pulled out a piece of metal. “You will need this.” It tossed the metal, and I caught it. “Farewell.” It turned and walked up the path.
“Well,” said Garstil, “that was…odd. What did it toss you?”
We returned to the tent, and I looked at the piece of metal and realized exactly what it was. “A replacement bracer and a note inside.
Apologies it took so long to get to you. Zeta wanted to make sure you lived up to my expectations. Good luck in the trials!
Noslen
“Huh.” I removed the leather bracer and replaced it with the tech bracer. At first, nothing happened. Then I felt the familiar sting of the neural interface connecting to my nervous system. Nothing else happened. “Hmm, I expected more. I guess I still need more power modules.”
“Shame,” said Garstil. “Hopefully, we’ll find some more components in the mountain. Let’s get some rest. I’ll take first watch.” Morogan and I turned in; however, we both were fully armored and kept our weapons next to our bedrolls. Morogan woke me for third watch, but all was quiet. The guys woke up, and Garstil cooked up some eggs and passed rolls around. The rain had let off during my watch, and we watched the sunrise as we packed up our camp.
“Beautiful,” said Morogan.
I smiled. “The sunrise always is.” We watched fingers of light stretch across the land and turned to follow the path. By late afternoon, we’d finally reached the end of the path which led into the open mouth of a cave. As we pushed farther in, the stone ground gave way to a metal corridor. Our footsteps echoed eerily in all directions. As we walked forward, I ran into something solid.
“Watch it, Sword Bearer,” said a mechanical voice. Green eyes flared in midair for a second and then faded out. Another Tech warrior, I presumed.
“Uh, sorry,” I said. We kept walking toward the lone door which awaited us at the end of the corridor. Upon our approach, a green laser shot out from a panel above, tracing my outline, landing on my right bracer. It lit up, and the door groaned open.
“That wasn’t creepy or anything,” said Garstil. “At least it seemed friendly enough.”
We entered the doorway. Red lighting slowly clicked on, panel by panel, illuminating the entire hallway in a subdued red tone, likely to be easy on the eyes. Marker lights began to illuminate along the floor, guiding us to who knows where.
“Guess we follow the path?” I asked.
“Unless you have any better ideas,” said Garstil.
“Forward,” said Morogan. “Meet metal mans inside.”
We followed the lights, and their pattern guided us deeper into the mountain. Five minutes into our trip, we entered a small room with several tables arranged neatly in rows.
“Welcome, Sword Bearer,” said a detached mechanical voice. Green lights flared, and another of the robots uncloaked before us. “My designation is the Arbiter. You may call me Arbiter. Please use this room to rest and prepare for your trials.”
“Trials?” I asked, playing a little dumb. Maybe I could get more information on what these trials entailed.
“That is correct, Sword Bearer. You have passed your preliminary tests and earned the title and sword and the right to wear the bracers. However, you are not officially The Sword Bearer, and until you’ve passed the Trial of the Titan at the conclusion, it will not be so. You will have until morning to make yourselves ready. Excuse me, I must prepare for the trials.” Arbiter walked out of the room, heavy footsteps sounding like hammers against the floor grating.
“Huh,” I said. “Well, guess we’d better get our gear in order. It looks like there are supplies here that we can use.”
“Food,” said Morogan, pointing at a table with several stacks of supplies. “Metal mans know how get Human and Orc foods. Morogan impressed.”
Garstil made his way to the foodstuffs, “Quite. I’ll start preparing a meal while you two clean up your gear. Aba, one of these tables may have an upgrade for your equipment, double-check everything.”
In my search of the room, I discovered a control panel which began to glow as I neared it. My bracers also began to glow, so I did the only thing that came naturally. I pressed my hand to the panel. The bulkhead slid open, revealing a hidden room. Within was a bed, neatly made, an outfit of fine leathers, and a nightstand. Atop the nightstand was a floating green crystal, slowly bobbing up and down and rotating. I reached for it. After grabbing the sword for the first time, you’d think I’d have learned something. The world faded to black as soon as my fingers touched it.
“Noslen,” someone was screaming. “Noslen. Wake up.” My fingers were numb. My whole body was, in fact. But somewhere close by, I could clearly hear someone screaming for Noslen. Someone punched me across the face, and my eyes snapped open. I lay on my back, rain hitting my face. A young man stood over me yelling, “Noslen! We need you on the front lines! The necromancers! They’ve broken our lines!” He reached down and helped me t
o my feet before running off.
Was that… Agamor? I recognized his facial features and the feeling of his power. But he was maybe in his early twenties. What’s going on?
An Orc woman in chainmail came up to me looking concerned. “My love! There are too many!”
“Fear not, Ghorza. We shall be victorious.” I said, grinning. I don’t even know who this woman was. I’m not even sure why I said that. It’s like I don’t have any control over my body whatsoever. I reached out my left hand and spread my fingers wide. A purple circle of light sprang out from my feet and grew and grew until it was about a hundred feet wide. Target markers suddenly snapped to the head of every zombie within the circle. My fist snapped closed. Golden spears of light parted the clouds and struck from the sky, vaporizing too many zombies to count. “Let’s go,” I said to Ghorza and chased off after Agamor.
The world flashed green, and pain took over. I blinked. I was in the small alcove bedroom, Morogan and Garstil screaming at me. I let go of the crystal and collapsed to the ground.
You are unconscious.
You will wake up in one hour.
Think about the choices that led you here.
Make better choices next time.
I just lay there in the dark, trying to process what I'd just experienced. The tingling sensations of the pain I'd felt still had all my nerve endings firing, confused. It was as if I'd grabbed a high-tension power line.
It took quite a few mental cycles to piece together what I'd seen. Flashbacks from Noslen. He had somehow recorded his memories into the crystal. There had to be more. Answers, clues, something to give me a better idea of what I was supposed to accomplish here. I mean ‘Save the world of Tempest from evil zombies’ is still pretty vague, right? I needed more information. I had to go back in even if it hurt worse than anything that I had felt my entire life. Screw it. I took a nap.
When I came to, I was lying in the bed, my friends close by. “Anyone get the plates of the bus that hit me?” I asked.
Morogan looked confused. “What is ‘bus’?” he asked. “Want steal plates? Have food to put on plates.”
Garstil and I laughed. “Earth expression, sorry.” I said. Morogan nodded.
“So,” said Garstil, “What happened?”
My stomach growled almost as loud as Morogan. “Food first. Then talking.” Garstil stood and returned with some grilled fish and vegetables and rice on my plate. I dug in. I explained most of everything I saw but left out a few bits about the Orc woman and Noslen being in love. From the stories Morogan had told me, it seemed an awful lot like she could be his mother. And from the look of things, the Caretaker could be his father. I wasn't so sure he knew yet, but the details fit.
“Lifelike, you say?”
“Thought it was real. Well, I suppose it kind of was real.” I pondered on that for a moment. “I'm gonna have to see the rest. Maybe there's answers or a clue or something in there about how to beat the necromancers. I mean, why else would he store those memories if there wasn't something I needed to see?”
“I don't like it,” said Garstil. “But you're right. If there's any information in that crystal, we probably need it.”
“Aba careful,” said Morogan.
“Doesn't seem to do any damage, just hurts like hell,” I said. I guess it’s time for round two…
My eyes opened to the sights of people blurring by as I ran. Raindrops splattered my face, but that didn’t concern me. The necromancers had breached the wall, and it was just ahead, about another half mile or so. Ghorza ran beside me, keeping up with little effort on her part. Cords of Orc muscle quivered as she ran, step after step. I couldn’t … Uh. I mean, Noslen couldn’t keep from admiring her curves as they ran at breakneck speeds toward the next challenge.
Ghorza smiled and yelled, “My love! Quit gawking and take heed of those who would do you harm.” She pointed at the ground in front of me.
The ground exploded upward. A massive undead spider jumped out of its burrow, arms outstretched toward me as I ran straight for it. I grinned. This was no threat to me. I flipped backward, unsheathing the rune sword, swinging it over, and sheathing the sword again in one motion. The truck-sized spider parted like a curtain, and I landed the flip, still running. Ghorza’s grin of appreciation at my method of dispatching the enemy was downright sinister.
“Noslen,” said SADA. “Enemies ahead. Two hundred left side, three hundred fifty right side. ETA thirty seconds. Advise caution and heavy firepower.”
“You got it!” I yelled. We reached the hole in the defensive formation a few minutes later. A few wooden turrets connected by a wall were right in my path. Power coalesced around my body as I jumped and Dashed at a forty-five, sprung off the wall, and double Dashed off of the top. I curled into a ball as much as I could. At the top of my arc, I reached out my legs and arms as much as I could and flipped over. I came down hard, glowing with power. I hit the ground kneeling. The ground gave way, and I made a thirty-foot-wide crater. The shockwave of energy was immeasurable and vaporized every undead nearby. I stood. People walked to the edge of my crater and looked down, mouths agape.
A shiny golden Dwarf spoke first. “Odin’s beard! By all that is holy, Noslen, how do ye channel such power?”
I smiled. “I’ve no clue, I just do it.” He reached down and helped me out of the crater. “How are we looking, my friend?”
The Dwarf grimaced. “Well, now that yer here, we be doin’ pretty good. But we think a couple of those bastard necromancers may have made their way into the city. There just aren’t enough bodies to cover all the entrances as well as the wall.”
“And that is why you shall fail!” screamed a manic voice from the top of the defense turret. “It is too late fools. My brothers are already casting their spell. They will have the city.” The necromancer began to cackle as shadow enveloped him, and then he faded from existence.
I blinked. I was back in the room. The pain sucked, but it was a lot easier to bear, now that I expected it. I was drenched in sweat, and my whole body shook with adrenaline. “Whoa, that was intense.”
“What did you see?” asked Garstil. “Did you learn anything new?”
“Maybe,” I said. “The spell the necromancers cast, it seems like they had to prepare for it. Or a ritual or something. Whatever it was, it seemed like it may have taken them some time to spin it up. Also, Noslen was one hell of a badass. He was wiping out hundreds of zombies at a time.”
Garstil’s eyes went wide. “Hundreds you say?”
“Hundreds. With ease. There was even this huge undead spider. It got the jump on him, and he cut it in half while doing a backflip. Kept running like it was nothing. I would love to know what level he was at during the war.”
“You can’t pull up his stats?” asked Garstil.
“No, I’m just along for the ride. I can feel all his actions as if they were my own, but it’s just like a movie really. I can’t control what he does.”
Morogan nodded. “Make sense. Is memory crystal.” He chuckled.
“You’ve seen one before?” I asked.
“Mother has one. One day, she show Morogan. Not ready yet.”
Garstil walked over and handed me a buttered roll. “Eat up, sounds like you’re going back in.”
I nodded. “Have to. I feel like I’m getting close to whatever he intended the recording to show. There’s something to the necromancers, I just know it.”
“The good news,” said Garstil, “is that you’re not missing much sleep while you’re in there. I think that last one lasted maybe five minutes?”
My mouth hit the floor. “Are you serious? It felt like an eternity. Well, if that’s the case, time for round three.” I reached up, wrapping my fingers around the floating green crystal.
I opened my eyes and beheld a nightmare. I stood in the City of Lost Angels before it had been destroyed. I looked up past the two-hundred-foot-tall wall at the massive beast that was stepping over it.
“Breacher!�
� Ghorza screamed over the chaos. Trebuchet fire hammered the monster’s head with boulders the size of small cars; it shrugged them off like pebbles, unphased. It roared, shaking the ground. Then it surged forward, claws outstretched.
10
Trial of the Titan
“Hold!” screamed a voice from on high. Beside the breacher, standing on the wall, was the necromancer from before. The beast stopped its forward momentum and sat on the wall like a dog. In fact, its tongue lolled out as it panted. It was almost cute except for the acid drool eating away at the stone atop the wall. I’d hoped a giant blob would land on the necromancer’s head; however, I was disappointed. People ran screaming in all directions, away from the wall.
I stared up at the necromancer. “What do you want, necromancer? Why have you brought this…filth…to our wall?”
The breacher growled with contempt, and gloating, the necromancer chuckled. “Why, to see the priceless look on your face. You have already lost. You just do not realize it. Yet. But you will soon come to know defeat as we unmake you, Sword Bearer. Of this, I swear.”
I grinned and puffed out my chest. “You will never win. The light will triumph over evil,” I said with conviction.
“Do not believe your own confidence. It is mistaken.”
“How do you figure?” I asked.
He laughed. “My simple-minded friend… My brothers have completed their ritual. Do you not see the green haze descending upon you this very moment?”
A wave of sickly green energy drifted slowly down over the city. Screams could be heard from all directions. “No…” I said, my stomach starting to turn sour.
“Yes… And partly with thanks to you and your friends. The prince’s noble bloodline was the key. And you all but delivered him to our doorstep! Every level three in the city will perish!”
Legend of the Sword Bearer: Tempest Chronicles Book 1 Page 10