Path of Transcendence 1: Ultimatum of the Nameless God

by Brian McGoldrick

  The mana-cannon at the end of the basin remained trained on the riverboat, and one of the tall black armored soldiers imperiously gestured for them to approach the mooring stone it stood beside.

  “Sure as sure, we're in for it. Them are sheep-futtering DokkAlfar, or me mother is a whore.”

  “Your mother is a whore, but them are DokkAlfar all the same.”

  *DokkAlfar. From what Brand had told me, they are everyone's enemy.*

  *I've never heard anything good about DokkAlfar, but I've never ran into them either. Only the most hardcore players ever went looking for trouble with DokkAlfar.*

  As the riverboat closed with the basin wall, a group of five more DokkAlfar approached. Four of those DokkAlfar were more armored soldiers, but the fifth was dressed in a long black leather robe, with a hooded cloak, also made of leather.

  “All human trash disembark and line up for inspection.” Despite the harsh tone, the DokkAlfar soldier's voice was still pleasantly melodious.

  *What do we do?*

  *Follow their orders, for now.*

  Jinmu and his party joined the queue of passengers and crew at the gangplank. In turn, they departed the ship and lined up with the others.

  The DokkAlfar in the leather robes began inspecting the lined up humans, with their backs to the basin. A baleful green glow emanated from under his hood, as he looked each person up and down. Until he reached Jinmu's group, he did not pause. After inspecting Jinmu, the DokkAlfar quickly assessed the rest of the group and the deckhand after them, before staring at Jinmu.

  The DokkAlfar used the Slave Tongue with an odd accent. “Three Possessed and an anomalous latent Medium, you are an interesting group.”

  Jinmu stared into the hood for a moment. Even with the light of the setting sun and the green glow, he still could not see more than the DokkAlfar's chin and mouth.

  “There is a point to your observation?”

  The DokkAlfar smiled. “You are nothing but trash, but you, at least, are a trash that has the potential to be useful. I am giving you a chance to swear allegiance to Yggr and submit to a Spirit Bond from the Great God. You will become a priest of Yggr and obtain more value than you could ever imagine in you wildest dreams.”

  Jinmu frowned. “My dreams are wild beyond your imagination.”

  The DokkAlfar's smile broadened. “Ambition is a good thing in a priest of Yggr. Do you accept my offer?”

  “If I refuse, you will kill me?”

  The DokkAlfar's mouth hardened into a straight line. “There is no purpose or value in forcing someone to become a priest. If you do not willingly serve the Great God, you will not do His work.”

  “I would like to think about it.”

  The DokkAlfar nodded. “I am Kra'cha'len. What is your name and to where do you travel?”

  “Jinmu. We are going to Tallifer.”

  Kra'cha'len flicked his hand in the general direction of the others. “I will contact you again Jinmu. These others are of no account. They are complete trash, with no value or purpose in their existence. You are free to pass.”

  Kra'cha'len turned to the other DokkAlfar and said something that Jinmu and his group could not understand, before moving on to the deckhand that was next in line.

  “Go to the gate. Do not dither here.” A DokkAlfar soldier hooked his thumb in the direction of the teleport gate.

  *Hurry! I do not trust that DokkAlfar to not change his mind.* Jinmu swiftly leads his group to the teleport gate.

  The teleport gate itself is an arch, close to thirty feet across at its base. Made from a black stone that Jinmu cannot identify, the arch rest on a block of the same stone, that is about forty feet square. Carved into the stone, dozens of runes are inlaid with a non-reflective grey metal. An upright pedestal on the side of the arch, has the control crystals for the gate set into its face.

  The human at the controls of the gate looked toward the DokkAlfar, but they did not acknowledge him in any manner. Turning back the gate controls, the human began to manipulate the crystals set in its face. After changing the facing of five of the crystals, the human looked toward the gate.

  A silver-grey shimmer filled the arch and darkens, until it looked to be an opaque pool of liquid metal. The runes inlaid into the surface of the gate gave off a radiance in the same shade, and the liquid pool in the arch began to swirl, turning into a cyclone of energy. As the color of the swirling energy turned from a silver to a spectral kaleidoscope, an infinite tunnel appeared to form in the center of the arch. When the colors faded away, the zone on the other side became visible.

  Jinmu quickly passed through the gate, with the others following him.

  A plaza of weathered white marble surrounded this gate's block of black stone. On three sides of the plaza there were heavy woods, and behind the gate a sheer cliff rose above the gate. Leading away from the plaza in the direction they were facing, a dirt road disappeared into the forest.

  There were no guards though there were rings of stones with ashes and some logs around them in several places, marking old campsites.

  *It appears that no one is maintaining any guard posts on this side of the gate.*

  Sigurd looked around. The gate was still open behind them. *Until we reach the seaside trading post with ships that can to take us to Tallifer, we won't find any more guard posts. Is it safe to stand here like this?*

  *Probably not. Let use start travelling.*

  *** The Seventh Trade Corridor – Unnamed Zone ***

  Return: Day 9

  Nearing noon, Jinmu paused his steps. He could hear the faint sounds of metal banging on metal and explosions.

  *Why are you stopping here?* Xenia's face was covered in a perplexed expression.

  *Do you not hear that?*

  Jinmu looked at the glances of blank confusion his party exchanged with one another. He did not reveal the frown in his heart. It seemed that all of them had inferior hearing to his own, despite being younger and having bodies that had been raised in the ways of Power.

  *There is a battle up ahead.*

  *Delilah, you specialize in illusions. Can you conceal us or render us invisible?*

  Delilah looked at Jinmu, her lack of confidence obvious in her visage. *I can, but I am not sure how effective it will be. Since this all became real, my spells started to break randomly.*

  *Do your best. I believe in you.* Jinmu smiled at Delilah.

  Delilah began to chant softly and a spell pattern grew in the air before her. Once it was complete, she examined it uncertainly.

  *Trust yourself. The skill and Power to be successful lies within your body.*

  Delilah smiled nervously. “Incipio!”

  The spell pattern rapidly expanded, before bursting into fragments of light. As the light settled on the four like glitter, their outlines became hazy, and their bodies bodies turned transparent.

  *I can still see everyone. Is the spell complete?* Sigurd looked from one to another of his companions.

  *We are all affected by the same spell, so it is not having a complete effect versus each other. It should have left us completely invisible to anyone outside the casting.* Delilah's voice held no certainty.

  Jinmu smiled again. *Let us go and investigate this conflict.*

  Without waiting for any affirmations or objections, Jinmu set off down the road. The increasing volume of the battle was his guide, and the rest could clearly hear the cacophony after a few moments. Passing two bends in the road, they found themselves watching a one-sided conflict.

  Less than twenty people were facing more than fifty, and the twenty only had seven unwounded combatants. Five people, who were unable to fight any longer, were taking shelter behind the rest.

  The fifty people all had the sign of an erect penis and testicles, representing Thug Horde, located somewhere on their gear. The Thugs were trying their best to injure without killing, which was the only reason the smaller force had not been overrun.

  Jinmu observed the battle for several mo
ments, a deep frown on his lips.

  Jinmu placed his hands on Delilah's shoulders. *Delilah, I am going to ask a great deal of you. I need you to make as believable an illusion as possible. It is going to be complex, but I trust in your ability to succeed.*

  *A complex illusion? I don't know if I can.* Delilah's eyes held the shadow of fear, the fear of disappointing Jinmu.

  Jinmu stroked Delilah's cheek. *I believe in you. You will not fail me.*

  Delilah unconsciously straightened her posture. *I'll do my best.*

  *That is all that I ask. I need you to back out of sight of the battle and create an illusion of five archers. Model them on Sigurd, but do not try to make them exact copies. Any discrepancies in their appearances is a good thing. Once you have cast the spell, I want you to walk them around the corner with Sigurd and have them fire on Thug Horde.*

  Delilah's fear and confusion showed in her face. *But they are just illusions. I don't have the Power to kill with illusions.*

  *You do not have to kill. With Sigurd's real arrows mixed in, they will not realize that yours are just illusory. Their own minds will give them wounds and sow confusion in their ranks. I will do the killing.*

  *Okay, I'll try.*

  *Tell me when you are ready.* Jinmu softly moved forward towards the battle.

  Delilah moved back so the curve in the path concealed her from Thug Horde and began to chant her spell. The spell pattern that grew was far more complex than the one that rendered the group invisible, and her voice shook as she built it.

  *Ready.* Delilah's words were hesitant.

  Jinmu moved to within striking range of the leader of the Thug Horde group. *Begin!*

  “Incipio!”

  At the vocalization of the activation command, the spell pattern flared and turned into five figures, that could have been Sigurd's brothers and cousins. The illusionary archers began to advance past the bend in the road, stopping in full view of Thug Horde.

  “Aim!” Sigurd's yell preceded the archers drawing their bows.

  A number of the Thugs looked in the direction of the shout, and fear became plainly visible on their faces.

  “Fire!” Following his shout, Sigurd released his own arrow with the illusionary archers. As his arrow was in flight, he immediately drew and released two more rapid shots.

  In confusion, the Thugs scrambled to avoid the incoming fire. Some of the illusionary arrows did no damage, but two caused injuries along with Sigurd's real ones.

  The Thug Horde leader started to move, so that he was father away from the archers on his flank. His retreat ended, when Jinmu's sword removed his head.

  Following the death of the Thug leader, Jinmu charged into the rear Thug ranks, on the opposite side from the rest of his party. Two more Thugs fell to his quick slices, and three more screamed in agony from injuries, before others began turning to face him.

  The besieged twenty were gaping as the pressure of the Thug Horde attack relented. They could not imagine who would attack monsters like Thug Horde in defense of their own group.

  “IF YOU WANT TO LIVE, ATTACK THE THUGS!”

  Jinmu's yell spurred Thug Horde's intended victims to action. The ones still on their feet pushed their attack into the confused Thug Horde fromation. A war hammer flew into the air and began smiting thugs with no one's hand on its haft.

  Without a leader, the Thugs were getting in the way of each other and being cut down from three sides. In less than two minutes, the odds went from fifty versus seventeen to thirty-one versus twenty-one. The Thugs began to break and run into the forest and down the road, in their attempts to mostly flee from Jinmu's deadly blade work.

  As the last of the Thugs broke and ran, Jinmu lowered his sword.

  “Let them run. We will only risk being separated and killed if we pursue.”

  “Not that I'm upset at being saved, but who the hell are you?” A red haired, freckled man, who was about 5'6” tall stared at Jinmu. The floating war hammer was casually held in left hand and broadsword was in his right.

  “Jinmu. I am from Earth.” Jinmu spoke in English.

  The red haired man grinned. “I'm Carlson. We're all players who were caught up in this insanity too. You know I think you're the first person I've seen with an Asian character.”

  “I'm not in my character's body. This is my real Earth body.”

  Carlson and his group stared at Jinmu in gape-mouthed shock.

  “I came here by choice, but I do not know of any way to return to Earth. This place is home for me as well as you now.”

  Carlson's disappointment was plain to see, but he still smiled. “I guess that would have been too easy. Where are you headed?”

  “Tallifer.”

  “We have a base to the north of Tallifer island. There are a lot more of us there. You're welcome to join us.”

  Jinmu looked at the three who were currently following his lead and seeing a glimmer of hope in their eyes, he smiled at Carlson.

  “We would be pleased to take you up on that offer.”

  Detour

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

  Return: Day 13

  The Priest-Captain's glaive and armor give the impression of being of higher quality that that of his soldiers, and his ring is quite obviously of higher quality. Binding the ring and checking its contents, I find a large supply of coins, gold bars and gems. There is also a large number of books, but I cannot read the language. The characters are different from those used in the written Slave Tongue. I would guess they are written in DokkAlfar, but unless I can learn the written form of the language, I will never know.

  Nearly a third of Bogwater is consumed by the flames, but I see no sign of anyone fighting the fires. If every one has fled because of the DokkAlfar's attack, the town is doomed.

  “That was rather interesting. It was not very impressive, but still interesting.” The voice is one I have not heard since returning to the Battleground of the Damned.

  Turning, I glare at The Nameless. He is wearing a brown robe, and I can see hundreds, if not thousands, of blood colored runes etched into his staff. I cannot remember ever seeing those runes, while in the Lands of Despair. The unpleasant feeling the runes engender in me makes it certain that they are special, but I cannot tell in what way. What interests me more is why I can see them now.

  “So, what are you here for this time?”

  The Nameless laughs. “So very hostile. You have come to the attention of Yggr or his disciples. It is not the most auspicious of events.”

  “So what? I learned one important thing in the Lands of Despair: the greater the danger, the faster I grow. If Yggr sends his dogs to hunt me, I'll kill every last fucking one of them.”

  “The dogs you faced here were nothing but puppies compared to Yggr's real dogs. He has many Transcendent DokkAlfar that serve him.” The Nameless lapses into silence for several moments.

  My eyes narrow, as I stare at The Nameless. “Get to the point already.”

  “This spatial construct is known as The Labyrinth of Yggr, but that does not mean that Yggr is in sole control of it. He has two other Jotun Lords and dozens of Jotun Champions, who aid him in overseeing it. Then, there is me. I control what you could think of as the backdoor access methods to this construct, and almost completely control the Battleground of the Damned.”

  A nasty smirk twists my face. “Is that why you're a traitor in the DokkAlfar's eyes?”

  Anger visibly flares on The Nameless' face. “I am not a traitor! Yggr betrayed me! The Jotun were unable to properly initiate the the dimensional matrix that sustains the Labyrinth. Without my knowledge, the Jotun Labyrinths would still be nothing but a dream.”

  “Your body isn't imprisoned beneath Haven. What's the real reason behind the Great Fuck Over?”

  All the emotion leaves what I can see of The Nameless' face. Even if his eyes are not visible, it is obvious that he is staring at me.

  I have known for a long time
that he was just feeding us a line of bullshit, when he took us and put us in our character's bodies. The big thing that I do not know is the real reason. What is there under Haven that he wants? Why did he need to use us to get it for him?

  After a moment, the Nameless begins to pace. He does not bother to avoid the bodies and body parts lying on the cobblestones, his translucent feet passing through them.

  “My vain hope was that you were to be the battering ram to smash open the gates of Haven. The best I expected was that a few of you would sneak into the Dvergar vaults beneath Haven. You were to be a distraction more than anything, but in the end, you failed miserably to be even that much use.”

  My morbid laughter fills the square, echoing from the walls of the guild houses. “They were a bunch of fucking gamers. Other that preserving the lives, backstabbing and one-upping the other players is the only thing that really mattered to most of them. Yeah, some players became damn effective in the Battleground, but that was because they knew they weren't in any real danger. You overestimated their balls.”

  “Only a few of you were ever truly effective, and none more than you. Thorrin would have been the most useful, if he had not been so focused on helping and protecting the cowards.”

  “What is your game now?”

  The Nameless turns and stares at me. Even if I cannot see them, the intensity of his eyes bores holes through me. He raises his hand, his index finger pointing at me. “Serve me. If you become my minion and swear yourself to me, I will block Yggr's forces.”

  I spit in The Nameless' direction, but the phlegm just passes through his translucent body. “Go fuck yourself.”

  A frown turns the corner's of The Nameless' lips downward. The hostility he directs toward me is almost strong enough to be a weapon. “You have two options. Serve me or die. I will not lift a finger against you, but you will still die. Yggr has set his eyes upon you, and it is not in a friendly manner.”