Otherlife Awakening: The Selfless Hero Trilogy

by William D. Arand

  “Othay.”

  A trumpet sounded from Rike’s camp.

  “Good timing. Off with you, my little assassin. If you do an especially good job, I’ll let you have whatever you want for one day. So long as it doesn’t involve killing or hurting other people.”

  “No, you won’t. Not whatever I want.”

  “Actually, yes. Whatever you want. Anything. For a whole day. I’ll bribe you if it gets me better results. I’ll pay the piper later. Run along before I change my mind.”

  Amelia became a shadow and was gone even before his voice faded.

  “She’ll choose your bed,” Milicent stated. From Faye’s camp a series of horns signaled a change in their own formation.

  Does everyone know what Minxy wants? Is it that obvious or that rumored?

  “I know. Minxy is already dangerous. But a determined goddess of murder? Again, I’ll pay that cost when the bill comes. Maybe I can talk her into letting me walk her around Norwood on a leash. If we can’t get this done quickly, Lady and Kitten will die anyways and they won’t be able to get mad at me. Simple as that.”

  Sighing, Runner walked out from their position, straight towards the enemy flank.

  Runner could feel prayers filtering in to him that didn’t match the ones from the portal. Following them back to their origination, he found that a large portion of the army was now engaged in quiet prayer to him. For success, for safety, for their souls, for their comrades’ well-being.

  “Time to be the god-emperor everyone expects you to be.”

  How right you were, Grace.

  Drawing out his own divine power, he began spinning it out around himself and his Paladins.

  In response, their bodies sparked and glowed as his power washed over them.

  He could hear the creak of their armor and stopped to look back. Both of his Paladins were kneeling in the grass.

  “Divine Norwood, have mercy upon your humble Paladin,” Milicent began.

  “I pray for your blessing in these trials. To be the sword of your justice,” Heilwig responded.

  Clearly Milicent had been training the woman in what she felt was an acceptable prayer.

  Runner was pretty sure it sounded exactly like the last one at the battle of the gate.

  Watching his two Paladins, he continued to build up his aura and presence, charging it with his mana and intent to slaughter the entirety of Rike’s army.

  “To be your shield of charity. That I might carry your truth into the den of battle. I ask for your benevolence and grace, for not myself, but for those I fight with,” Milicent said, her voice rising in volume.

  “May you safeguard my soul should I fall, and forgive me for my failure,” the two finished in unison. They both clanged their fists to their armor and then stood up. As they did, they slammed the butts of their axes into the ground as if to punctuate their request.

  Turning back to Faye’s forces, he waved his right hand at them, sending a massive blessing through them. Responding to their prayers and desires. In the same action, he granted the Paladins their request.

  With his left hand he dropped a curse of fear and weakness on the opposing army.

  Runner faced down the army of Rike. All eyes had been drawn to him with his divine casting.

  “Host of Rike, I, Runner Norwood, the god-emperor of Bastion, advise you that you immediately lay down on your stomachs and surrender!” Runner roared at them, powering the volume of his voice with his ever-replenishing divine power pool.

  “If you’re unwilling to heed my words, I shall end you! Every one of you. You have two minutes to decide!” Runner delivered his ultimatum and drew his sword with his right hand. In his left hand he began building a single massive Splatterhouse round.

  Filling it with his mana, his divine power pool, pushing the link to the ship to leverage the very code itself, he built up the spell.

  After a single minute had passed, Rike’s army began to troop towards Faye’s position.

  A section of heavy infantry had broken off and started towards Runner.

  Snarling, Runner threw his left hand forward towards the wagons that would be raining death on his troops.

  “Wrong answer!” Runner shouted as the immense Splatterhouse shell boomed from his hand.

  There was no trajectory to follow, only a glowing blue trail that burned the air.

  Detonating with the fury of an angry god-emperor, the reinforced shell broke open, unleashing its hot plasma death. The furious ball of ruin engulfed everything within two hundred feet.

  The roar and hiss of the fire drowned out everything. To Runner, it felt cathartic.

  Rike was responsible for many things. Innumerable deaths.

  Wounding everyone he cared about.

  Trying to kill them.

  Losing control of his thoughts, he only wanted to decimate her army.

  Growling, Runner dropped his sword and began working on casting two more rounds of Splatterhouse. One in each hand.

  Draining his divine pool as it filled, he watched the heavy infantry break into a trot to reach him.

  Launching the spell in his left hand before it reached half the size of the previous one, he targeted those soldiers approaching him.

  Fools.

  It struck the front line, and the entirety of the company dissolved under the fury of the vengeful explosion.

  Putting everything into the remaining spell, he lobbed it towards the front line of Rike’s forces.

  Bigger than even the first detonation, it shook the ground they all stood on. When the flash cleared it was obvious to everyone the center of the army had been torn out wholly.

  Runner picked up his sword at his feet and began a slow and steady stalk to engage the rear of the enemy forces. Primarily their wagons and casters.

  As he did so, he continuously threw out a slow steady stream of Banishing Bolts.

  His Paladins flanked him, their axes glowing ever brighter as their faith soared at his display of unchecked holy wrath.

  Grunting, Runner slammed a divine tendril into the back of Milicent and Heilwig and flipped the on switch to his rapidly filling pool.

  Alexia and her people were pouring enough energy into him that even supplying his two Paladins, Amelia, and his own needs, his pool was still full.

  Staggering under the sudden change, both Paladins nearly tripped over their own feet. Milicent stumbled to one knee while Heilwig fell to all fours.

  Milicent recovered and lowered her head, hunching her shoulders as she began to stomp forward. Then she sped up to a run and finally a sprint, heading directly towards her distant target, the casters. Streaks of blue bled off her as she went, her axe trailing out behind her.

  Heilwig lost herself under the onslaught of power and emotions from Runner.

  She began to change into her Were form without meaning to. She let out a roar as her body rapidly shifted in the blue haze of power that encompassed her.

  Inside of that miasma of fury and holy retribution stood a Werelion. Bigger than a Werewolf and more muscled, she looked like an armored monster.

  Then Heilwig the Were was off and running after Milicent.

  Slamming down a mana potion, Runner began calling up an Earth spell. A one-foot segmented cube made up of two-inch cubes came to be above Runner’s palm.

  Enchanting the cube with Scott, he began building up a force of compressed Air behind it.

  Targeting the far side of the enemy’s front line, Runner focused on it. Even as he walked forward, he worked on the complex spell.

  As soon it was completed he slapped his palm into the center of the cube and activated the Air spell.

  Spinning wildly as it arced through the air, the cube began to disintegrate as it reached the top of its arc.

  Then the two-inch cubes rained down over the front line as it passed.

  Around each and every one, Rike’s forces panicked in fear and rushed about, breaking formation.

  Summoning a column of stone with th
e rest of his mana bar, Runner spun it with a flick of his fingers. It began to spiral as he enchanted it with Poison.

  He punched the end of it with a compressed Air spell, and it shot off towards the casters on the hill. In an explosion of grass and dirt it sat angled in the ground like an uprooted tree.

  A green cloud burst forth and spread out rapidly over the enemy.

  Looking to his Paladins, Runner continued his march towards the foe. There was a certain amount of value in the dramatic. Even as angry as he might be, as furious with Rike for putting those he loved into danger, he couldn’t discount the worth of putting the fear of death into his enemies.

  The fear of the God-emperor.

  Milicent spun her big axe in a circle as she collided with the flank of the caster ranks.

  Crumbling under the enchanted holy weapon, the low hitpoint casters were bowled over like children fighting an adult.

  Leaping over Milicent, Heilwig came crashing down in a spray of flashing limbs and whirling axes.

  Walking through the carnage his Paladins wreaked, Runner focused exclusively on the command unit at the far back.

  Choosing the maximum extent of the distance, Runner blinked closer. Walking onward like an inexorable avatar of death, he kept his face impassive.

  Their general waved a hand at some of his mounted soldiers to one side.

  A platoon of heavily armed Knights rode out from the command unit. They made their way straight towards him, looking to intercept him before he could do any more damage.

  Then Amelia was there. She appeared as a shadow, landing like a feather atop the lead Knight. She buried her blade in the base of the Knight’s skull, and then disappeared only to reappear atop the next Knight in line.

  The goddess of assassins sped up as she fell into a groove. By the time the lead Knight’s horse, carrying a corpse, passed by Runner, there was not a single Knight left.

  A black pool of night dropped down beside him and reformed into Amelia. She walked along beside him as he continued to close on the enemy commander.

  “The amount of power your people put out is… immense, lovey.”

  “Remind me to link my pool to yours after this. Honestly I didn’t realize how different our pools are,” Runner said softly.

  “No, it’s better this way. I appreciate the sentiment but… it’s just better this way. If something happens to us three, you can still function and vice versa. Besides, we already receive a portion of every prayer sent to you since we’re your wives in the pantheon.”

  “Wives?” Runner asked curiously, sparing her a quick glance.

  “I may have told a few priests that you forced us into your service and then made us your equals. They may have assumed I meant wives. I didn’t correct them.”

  Laughing softly, Runner shook his head.

  “You’re terrible. Thana’s going to cook me.”

  “Nah, I already told her. In fact, I gave her the entire situation a while ago when you first set out on campaign. I figured I could get an easy in for us if I got ahead of you. Wasn’t going to tell you, but you seemed worried.”

  “Oh? Smart. Time to kill. Take care of the wagons, Minxy wife?”

  Amelia shuddered at his words and nodded excitedly.

  “Yes, yes. Immediately,” said Amelia the shadow as she flew away.

  Few now stood beside the enemy general outside of messengers, a few lieutenants, and some retainers.

  Throwing a targeting reticule on the general, Runner made sure to align himself in a straight line for the man.

  Using a Blink charge, Runner put the location marker between him and the general at the furthest he could.

  Watching the numbers fall off as he got closer by the second, Runner braced himself.

  In no time at all, as if time had been moving in fast-forward, he was in range.

  Activating Blink, Runner flung out his arms, wrapping up the general and three people who were close enough for Runner to grab.

  Mentally he used GMHub.

  /GMHub 2

  Teleporting…

  Active settings only:

  Death=Off

  Food/Water=On

  Damage=Off

  Gravity=100%

  Biome=Plane

  Day/Night Cycle=On

  Foliage=On(N)

  Resource Nodes=On(E)

  Wildlife=On(H)

  Weather=On(N)

  Reaching out with his mind, he closed the portal on his arrival.

  “Thank you, High Priestess. Give my great thanks to our people. I’ll be in touch to begin repaying them as per my promise,” Runner said, catching Alexia with an eye as she spun around at the sudden closure of the portal.

  “I am beyond pleased, High Priestess Alexia. Beyond pleased,” Runner said, using a trickle of power to make sure his voice was heard throughout Eden.

  She gave him a blazing smile as her face became as red as blood. She immediately flopped down to her knees and pressed her hands to the stones.

  “Of course, my beloved god.”

  Around Runner, the general and his people looked stunned. Runner flicked his return button.

  /GMHub Return

  Teleporting…

  Popping back into place, Runner checked his surroundings.

  No one was left except his two Paladins. Around them were only corpses.

  Snorting, Runner looked to Milicent then Heilwig.

  “Good work. Come, we make for Dover. Faye can handle this and there’s little else we can do from here,” Runner said with a shrug of his shoulders.

  As delicately as he could, he slid the amount of power being pushed into his Paladins to nothing more than a faucet with a drip leak.

  Both women sagged with his words and the gradual loss of his divine power.

  Amelia stepped out from Milicent’s shadow.

  “Wagons are toast, lovey. Anything else?”

  “No, you’ve done spectacularly, Minxy wife,” Runner admitted, taking two steps closer to the goddess.

  Amelia shivered suddenly, her eyes dilating a touch.

  Too much of my power still going in without an outlet?

  “Please remain here and do what you can to assist Sparky. Would you like me to disconnect you? Turn it down? Leave it?”

  “Ah… leave it. I’m getting used to it. Unless it’s costing you?” Amelia asked, looking much more normal than she had only a moment previously.

  Maybe she really is getting used to it?

  A quick check of his divine power bar showed it was filling up faster than it was being depleted.

  Even without the constant prayers.

  “Nope, no problems. Though…” Runner paused. Reaching out with a tendril from his divine, he followed the tendril that was still stuck into Amelia. As gently as he could, he slipped it in and trailed up along her divine core.

  “Minxy wife, take me to your sisters,” Runner said, not seeing anything as he focused on his divine presence.

  “Y-y-yes, m-my lord,” Amelia stammered. Two shaking tendrils snaked out from her and disappeared into the east. Runner followed blindly.

  In what felt like an instantaneous relocation, he could detect both Brunhild and Ernsta.

  Sending out two more tendrils from where he stood, he guided them to the other goddesses.

  He’d connected with Ernsta before and knew where that junction point was for her. In Brunhild’s case he had to search for a moment before he found it.

  Much in the same manner that Amelia’s core had opened up and connected, theirs did the same after a split second of shock. Drawing him straight in.

  Unfolding their cores, he latched in tightly and then opened up his power source to them. He quickly elevated the flow until it matched the amount he was pushing into Amelia.

  Checking the work with the tendril he’d sent through Amelia, he found everything to be as he wished.

  Withdrawing from Amelia, he refocused on the world around him.

  Amelia was staring at him blankl
y, her mouth hanging open, her eyes glazed.

  “Minxy? You alright in there?” Runner reached out and gently poked her between the eyes.

  Shaking her head, she blinked twice and then nodded.

  “Yeah. I’m-I’m fine. Warn a girl next time. Let alone warn my sisters. They weren’t ready for that, you know. You and Ernsta had connected once she said, but Brunhild hadn’t.”

  “Sorry, wasn’t thinking. Realized that they could probably use the power as much as you did. Now, did it change anything for me?” Runner looked back to his power bars and found that, even feeding three goddesses, he wasn’t in any danger of running out. In fact, it was still filling up.

  “There we go. You’re all three connected and it costs me nothing.”

  Runner checked himself internally, wondering at the situation. It didn’t feel like something his little human mind should be able to accomplish.

  Finding his answer, he realized the little AI program Srit had installed in his head was working at less than one percent capacity.

  In other words, my computerized brain is far more powerful than Srit hinted at and I gave it credit for.

  Runner.

  Fuck.

  Chapter 22 - All Things Die -

  8:48 am Sovereign Earth time

  5/25/44

  Runner looked to Milicent and Heilwig.

  “Go. Start towards Dover. I’ll catch up to you.”

  He was excited to hear from Srit, yet also deathly afraid.

  Opening up his link, he transported himself to Srit’s white room.

  “Darling,” Srit said as he opened his eyes.

  “Hey there, Sunshine. I miss you. All done?”

  Her avatar made a crackling noise for a split second. Runner frowned and really looked at her. She wasn’t looking at him. She wasn’t looking at anything.

  “I’ve prepared a series of recorded messages for you,” she began. Runner felt his skin go cold and he swore he broke out in a sweat in the virtual room. “I’m actively monitoring this conversation and will activate the appropriate responses.”