Path of Transcendence 1: Ultimatum of the Nameless God

by Brian McGoldrick

  I make sure my grin is in place as I approach the kneecapped DokkAlfar. There are only a few minutes left before this building catches fire, so I shatter both the DokkAlfar's humeri. He is unable to resist, as I snap the straps holding his helmet in place and tear it off.

  Like the Priest-Captain, this DokkAlfar is on the border between handsome and beautiful. Put him on Earth in a dress, and the homosexuals would drool all over themselves. He may be a vicious pretty boy, but that does not mean he can hide the fear in his eyes.

  “You will get one chance to answer each of my questions. If you refuse or I think you are lying, I will give you same treatment as that ass fuck friend of yours that you beheaded.”

  As the DokkAlfar snarls, his near-beautiful face turns ugly. “You will have and eternity of agony, in the torture chambers beneath Yggr's Mountain.”

  My swords flicker, paired slashes striking three times. The chainmail falls away from his torso and arms, revealing long bloody gashes. The flesh on his cheeks gapes open like parted lips, revealing the bones beneath.

  “What is the Left Hand Order of Yggr?”

  The DokkAlfar continues to glare, until I kick him onto his back. His knee joints tear apart on, leaving his shins connected to his thigh only by strips of ragged skin.

  “AAAARRRRGGGHH!”

  “What is the Left Hand Order of Yggr?”

  My swords flicker once more, leaving the chain mail on his legs and the padded leggings underneath sliced open. I use the point of my blade to push the ruined mail and cloth away from his groin, exposing him in all his underwhelming glory.

  “Now, I understand why you were staring at me in awe. What is the Left Hand Order of Yggr?”

  “We carry out special tasks for the Church of the Jotun Lords. We can do everything that the Right Hand Order of Yggr is incapable of. The Left Hand Order will never let you live. You will be tortured in life and the Transcendents will torture you in death. You are damned, human!”

  “So, why do you want to kill me?”

  The DokkAlfar laughs. “The Priest-Lord ordered your death, so we kill you. No reasons are necessary.”

  The light of fanaticism is mixed with the fear in the DokkAlfar's eyes. I have the feeling he really does not know or care why the Priest-Lord wants me dead.

  My sword slices off his dick and mangles his balls.

  “AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!”

  Cutting off the DokkAlfar's hand, I take his ring, along with scraps of is armor.

  “You are an embarrassment to the Left Hand Order of Yggr, but I will not kill you. The coming fires will do that for me.”

  My grin stretches my lips wide, as I run and leap across the rooftops. The DokkAlfar's screams growing softer are sweet music. This is not my first time torturing someone, and it will certainly not be my last. After the Great Fuck Over, I tortured dozens over the years in the Lands of Despair. At first, torturing people bothered me, but after enough times interrogating enemies, my disgust faded. What I did to Menton, the three times I caught him after he crucified and castrated me, would make this seem like gentle and kind treatment.

  Even after I exterminate this group, I am certain the DokkAlfar will come after me again. I do not know enough about the Jotun Lords or the DokkAlfar's empire and religion. Very soon, I am going to have to acquire and question a number of them. Perhaps even more important, I need to know what their connection to The Nameless is.

  Reaching the top of the Stevedores' Guild, I have a clear view of River Square. There are only seven DokkAlfar remaining, the Priest-Captain, four casters and two soldiers. The soldiers are meaningless, once I use my ki. The other five are the real danger.

  The Rivermen's Guild is at the back of the square, facing the river. Three stories tall, its front is porticoed, with a facing and columns made from white marble. The Boatbuilders' Guild is more practical. It stands only two stories tall, with a roofed entryway, and is made from granite. I remember that Stevedores' Guild was built similarly to the Boatbuilders' Guild.

  Scattered body parts and pools of blood are all that remain of the watchmen who were submitting to the DokkAlfar.

  The Priest-Captain is pacing back and forth, his irritation and impatience ill-concealed. One of the casters is holding a black metal disk with three lights glowing on it. When one of the lights disappears, he looks towards the Priest-Captain.

  “Priest-Captain, the last one has expired.”

  The Priest-Captain turns to glare the caster. “I told you not to call me by that title, while we are in this human town.”

  Contempt is visible on the casters features. “I am a Priest-Wizard of the Central Fane of Yggr. Do you really wish to challenge me?”

  The Priest-Captain backs away, his posture radiating barely controlled rage and hate. It appears that the DokkAlfar are not a united front.

  The Priest-Wizard's eyes glance toward where I am crouching on the Stevedores Guild roof, before staring at the Priest-Captain's back again. “We are going to leave, Priest-Captain. Your warriors have been virtually annihilated by a single human. We are under no orders to engage this human and are only here as a favor to your Priest-Lord of the Left Hand Order. Stay, if you so choose, but you will stay alone.”

  All four casters turn and walk to the docks, descending a flight of steps to the lower wharf. After chanting briefly, a blue glow surrounds their feet, and they begin to walk across the waters of the delta.

  “Go! Find that human and kill him!”

  The two warriors look at one another and leave the square at a jog, moving toward the south.

  I give them a few minutes to get farther away, before I take out Stone Feather Death and nock an arrow. Releasing the arrow, I quickly nock and draw another.

  “AAAAARRRRRR!” The Priest-Captain spins toward me, when the arrow pierces his back. His helm turns upward, and I can see his eyes glaring at me.

  The Priest-Captain raises his hands over his head. “Mighty Lord Yggr, bring succor to your servant!”

  When nothing happens, he looks around. “Mighty Lord Yggr, your unworthy servant beseeches you, bring succor to your servant!”

  “Your Priest-Wizard knew I was here, when he left.”

  The Priest-Captain takes off his helmet and glares at me. “Damn you, human! I will see you in Yggr's eternal torture chambers!”

  My arrow punches through his forehead, exploding from the back in a spray of blood, bone fragments, and pieces of brain matter.

  Moving Towards a Future

  *** Swamp of the Lost (Bogwater) - Battleground of the Damned ***

  Return: Day 6

  Jinmu sat silently in a hard wooden chair watching the dawn lit city. A raven haired alabaster skinned woman was sleeping in the bed, next to his chair. Her naked breasts were rising and falling in time with her breathing, but thoughts of her soft flesh did not touch upon Jinmu's mind.

  Through a gap in the buildings across the road, the waters of the Delta could be glimpsed, and the shadow of small boat was moving away from the Bogwater docks. Jinmu smiled faintly, when he caught sight of the boat.

  Standing, Jinmu dressed and donned his armor. He buckled the dimensional storage belt with his swords hanging from it around his waist. Looking out the window, his lips quirked slightly, and his hand fingertips traced the design engraved in the belts buckle.

  Letting his eyes rest on Delilah's naked form, sprawled on the bed, Jinmu stroked his beard, while thinking. After the death of Sumire, I remained celibate for too many years. Immersing myself in martial training, when I was not engaged in business, was only a way to sublimate the pain of losing her. Delilah is the first woman to stir my passions in twenty-two years. Perhaps, it is because she has also suffered the same losses, that I can open myself up to her a little. Though, I must admit that her beauty does not hinder my passion.

  Not disturbing Delilah's sleep, Jinmu left the inn room and descended to the restaurant. Sitting at a corner table, he ordered and ate his breakfast alone. His meal finished, a frown
settled on Jinmu's lips, as he sipped his tea. The tea in this place is truly atrocious. If I ever find good tea, I will have to lay in a large stock for future use.

  Hearing the voices of Sigurd and Xenia, Jinmu glances toward the entry to the restaurant.

  *Jinmu, are you downstairs in the restaurant?* Delilah's soft voice filled the chat room for the party that the two were alone in.

  *You should hurry. I hear Sigurd and Xenia coming down, as well. When all of you are here, we need to have a discussion.*

  *I'll be there in a few minutes.*

  “Good morning.” Sigurd's face had a somewhat dopey grin plastered on it.

  “Hi, Jinmu.” Xenia, despite her smile, had a cold calculating look in her eyes. No matter what she was doing, Xenia always had the appearance of someone looking out for herself first.

  “Good morning. When Delilah gets here, we need to have a little talk.”

  “What about the others?” Sigurd's voice sounded a bit nonplussed.

  Jinmu changed to using English. “Brand and Perzey are hunting Thug Horde, and Harkins left by himself, without saying anything.”

  Sigurd looked at Xenia and seemed surprised at the cold expression on her face. He did not say anything else, before sitting down at Jinmu's table. After a moment, Xenia followed suit. The sharp, cold look in her eyes was masked, leaving only her normal party-girl smile.

  After ordering breakfast, neither Sigurd nor Xenia said much. Both of them were watching the silent Jinmu, unaware that the apparently oblivious Jinmu was carefully appraising them.

  Delilah came over to the table, before Sigurd and Xenia's food arrived.

  “Good morning, everyone.” Her smile was brilliant, and neither Sigurd nor Xenia had seen her smile so naturally in a long time, not since her daughter became a victim of the MMO Incident.

  Jinmu returned Delilah's smile, and only someone who knew him well would realize that the smile did not reach his eyes.

  Delilah kissed Jinmu quickly, before sitting next to him.

  Delilah looked around. “Perzey isn't up yet? That's odd. She's such a morning person.”

  Xenia's frowned, her face showing a complex, unpleasant expression. “She left with that freak Brand. Jinmu says they're hunting Thug Horde. Bob's gone too. He left on his own.”

  Delilah's face was a picture of shock. She turned to Jinmu. “Will she be okay? Is it safe for her to go off alone with Brand?”

  There was no sign of the anger in Jinmu's heart on his face. He looked from one to another of his companions. Secretly, he was disappointed in Delilah's reaction, but he could not find it within himself to blame her, either.

  “Despite what you might think because of his looks and mannerisms, Brand is the most honorable person any of you have ever met. I would trust him with my life or my property. Brand's intention is to help Perzey master the skills that are locked within her new body. As long as Perzey does not deliberately provoke Brand, he would not harm her.”

  Delilah and Sigurd appeared slightly ashamed, after hearing Jinmu's words, and did not say anything. Xenia, on the other hand, had an expression that Jinmu found himself unable to interpret, despite his years of business negotiations and studying human nature.

  Jinmu observed Xenia the longest. I do not like nor trust the woman. She is a viper, that could strike at any time. It is probable that she is mentally unstable, but still capable of hiding it form the medical professionals she dealt with on a daily basis.

  Steepling his fingers, Jinmu straightened his posture and spoke in English. “I mentioned several things last night and over the preceding days, but now, I need to make my intentions clear. This place, the Battleground of the Damned is part of the Labyrinth of Yggr. Outside of this Labyrinth is a new world, the world of Taereun. My daughter is somewhere outside the Labyrinth. Delilah's daughter should be out there as well. None of us who are from Earth have anyplace we can call our own in the Labyrinth of Yggr or on Taereun.

  “I am going to build an army out of the players trapped in the Battleground of the Damned and fight my way out of this Labyrinth of Yggr. I will create a nation that will be our safe haven in this new world. I am doing this for my daughter's sake, but anyone from Earth will have a place in my empire should they desire it.

  “Will the three of you join me in this quest?”

  Delilah did not hesitate for even a second. “Count me in. I want to protect my daughter too.”

  Jinmu smiled and nodded toward Delilah.

  Sigurd looked at Xenia, but she never took her eyes off of Jinmu.

  “Is Brand going to be part of this nation of yours?” Xenia's voice was as cold as her eyes.

  Jinmu matched Xenia's stare with, with his own unblinking stare. “Brand has his own path to tread, but he will help me for a time.”

  “I'll go along for now, but I may leave depending how things go.”

  Sigurd's expression was caught between hope and worry. He did not seem to know how to react to Xenia completely ignoring him. His eyes shadowed by his internal struggles, Sigurd looked at Jinmu.

  “I'm in.”

  Jinmu nodded to Sigurd. His manner seemed to be that of a feudal lord accepting fealty from someone from a lower station.

  “Very good. We will leave as soon as you are finished eating. We can take passage to the teleport gate at the docks. Tallifer is our initial destination. Brand and Perzey will join us there after they are finished.”

  *** Swamp of the Lost - Battleground of the Damned ***

  Return: Day 8

  Securing passage on a river boat headed to the teleport gate had been simplicity in itself. The journey from Bogwater to the teleport gate was only two short days aboard the oar powered riverboats. In the middle of the afternoon on the second day, the four former Earthlings gathered together in the bow of their ship.

  “Still ain't seen no other boats. Something's wrong.”

  “Just cause we ain't seen no other boats don't mean there's a problems. Sometimes there ain't nobody coming from Tallifer. Ain't no captain worth spit gonna take an empty boat south.”

  “Ain't been no boats since noon the day 'fore we left. Something's wrong.”

  The sailors continued arguing in the same vein, but Jinmu's party was no longer paying attention.

  *You actually came from Tallifer. What do you think about trouble at the gate?* Jinmu's question is directed at the others in general.

  Delilah and Xenia look at each other, unsure of how to respond. Neither of the women had played Taereun for more than six or seven months, before The Nameless' second stealing of player's minds and souls, and they were not very active as players.

  Sigurd reached behind his head, scratching the back of his neck. *I'm not sure, really. I'm pretty much from the Central Reaches. This is my first time coming so far into the Southern Reaches. I do know that the Tallifer Trade Corridors are legendary and are supposed to have more trade along them than any other trade routes in the Battleground. We're not really on one of corridors here, though.*

  Jinmu remained impassive, as he looked around the deck. Like most, they are fools. If I had passed through Tallifer and followed the trade corridor to Bogwater, I would know what the likelihood was of there being no trade caravans or riverboats. The boat's crew is no better, arguing like a pack of gossipy matrons, because they cannot be sure if there is a problem or not.

  As the sun moved closer to the horizon, Jinmu remained near the bow. His eyes remained on the river unfolding to the north of the riverboat, and his breathing matched the flow of ki through his body. For a few minutes, his thoughts had weighed possible actions, but he decided to not brood on the matter, when he lacked too much knowledge. Spending the time training was a far more productive use of his time.

  Along the river bank, stone became visible through the thick forest. As the riverboat rounded the bend in the river, a semicircular basin becomes visible. Its side were lined with more stone, that was covered with vines and weeds. On the north end of the basin, a mana-
cannon pointed at the oncoming riverboat.

  Mana-cannons are the work Artificers, Makers who specialize in the construction of mechanical and technological items. The mana-cannon is fueled by Power-crystals, that have been charged with mana, and convert the mana into destructive energies, commonly elemental type energies. Because of the stored Power, mana-cannons can release larger and more destructive spell effects than all but the strongest adepts or casters, and can even be used by people whose mana is too weak for them to become an adept or caster.

  In many polities in the Battleground of the Damned, Artificers and their creations are outlawed by the rulers, who are almost always adepts or casters. Many Artificer crafted weapons allowed those with no Power or weak Power to become a threat to those with strong Power. Tallifer was not one of the polities that outlawed the magical technology and instead made great use of it. This allowed Tallifer to protect its expansive mercantile empire with its limited population.

  Among the guardsmen, who wore tabards with the coat of arms of the Tallifer, there were a number of very tall thin men dressed in black chainmail and face concealing helms. Each of those tall soldiers carried a glaive taller than himself. To Jinmu's trained eyes, their fluid movements, as they walked, made clear the extremely high level of their martial training.

  *Who are those tall men in the black armor?*

  Sigurd squinted as he observed the camp next to the gate. *I don't know. They weren't there when came through last time. I've never seen anyone like them before.*

  As the riverboat entered the stone lined basin, the crew and passengers saw more than a dozen other riverboats tied to the moorings along the basin's edge. Also, the ruins of the city behind the basin became clearly visible.

  The construction and architectural style of the deserted city reminded Jinmu of pre-Columbian South American ruins, but there was a feeling of malignant hostility about the city that no Earth ruin ever possessed. Jinmu was certain that despite appearances that city was anything but deserted. Though, he could not guess what might actually be inhabiting it.