by Arthur Stone
Now, I could just reel in the line. No matter how fast I did so, the wisp would follow the clinking, clanking bait. Still, I tried to keep it slow, so that no others would detect the noise.
Something grew visible in the fog. A circular shape. Within seconds, the details became visible. It was not a stronger wisp—its Chaos Power was most likely 2 or 3. If my talent’s description was accurate, I should be able to neutralize its poison.
The wisp drew closer and closer. It was a mere five steps from the pit. Beko stood in the center of that pit and began squirming nervously. No matter how brave he was, no matter how much he claimed that the sting did not hurt much, he did not like the prospect of the approaching stinger.
Meanwhile, the wisp was paying him no attention. It pursued the lure, its feeble mind trying to figure out what to do.
With a short jerk, I made the bait land in the mud at Beko’s feet. It plunged deep, disappearing from view. The wisp froze, confused.
I was unable to predict what it would do next, but Beko took the situation into his own hands.
He looked at the buzzing ball, nearly on top of him, and stated, “Someone’s going to die today, and that someone’s not us. That’s what Ged says. And what Ged says, goes.”
The confidence in his voice decreased noticeably the longer he spoke. His hopes in our success were clearly weak. The wisp reacted, surging towards him. Beko barely had time to cover his eyes before the stinger jabbed into his forearm.
Stuttering in pain, the ghoul wavered as the wisp turned and flew away with a satisfied buzzing.
The flying ball had played its part. Now, it could go, back to the center of its circle.
I tossed the spinning rod aside and jumped into the mud. Beko had not fallen down into the pit—we had suspended him by a rope. After all, he didn’t want to drop into a trap of spikes and water when the paralyzing poison was injected into his veins.
I jumped over and wasted no time carefully freeing my companion. First, I put my palm on his arm and activated my talent. Then, I cut down the rope and caught him. “Are you all right, Beko?”
The ghoul moaned indistinctly.
Either my talent hadn’t worked as expected, or something else was wrong, but it was obvious that Beko couldn’t walk. He expected me to get him to the raft before the rukh got there, so there was no point in waiting.
I hauled him up over my shoulders and ran.
Even with my strength, I was a lousy porter, yet my beanpole teenage body managed.
Then, my speed magically tripled. I was spurred on by a sound from behind. It defies description in words. It sounded like steam from the spout of a kettle, like the crunching of a glass cutting machine, and like the gurgle of huge tar pit bubbles, all at once. A perplexing cacophony.
But despite my brain’s inability to process it, my legs knew quite well what it was.
The awakening of something mighty and terrifying. A stubborn and ravenous monster set on enjoying a meal.
Beko understood, too. He twitched and rolled off of my shoulders, landed on his feet, and surged forward. And then just collapsed. But he jumped up, grabbing my outstretched hand. “Run!”
“We are running. On my shoulders, quick!”
“No, Ged. He’ll catch us if we do that. I can do it on my own!”
Beko glanced back and blanched with comingled joy and horror. The latter was understandable, but it took me a split second to understand the former: he had a few of his prized mushrooms clutched in his hand.
How had he managed to notice and pluck them while he was rolling on the ground?
What a weirdo.
I was not about to argue with his greed, but I very much wanted to vacate the area. I seized Beko under the arm, and so we pressed forward together. We were hardly any faster this way, but it was probably comforting for the ghoul.
How could he do nothing with such mortifying sounds just behind him?
The cystos columns trembled as some horrific beast moved along somewhere up above. I had no idea what the area up there looked like. The fog had never allowed me so much as a glimpse. But it was clearly something like a giant, solid umbrella. The rain which had poured into the swamp yesterday had not reached the ground here. This ground remained as dry as ever.
The sound grew rapidly, and pushed us forward better than any drug. Something new joined the mix. A rapid, pounding beat with which the cystos rocked in rhythm. Our imaginations painted a picture of a terrifying, many-legged monster bull-rushing us.
Beko pushed away from me and increased his speed. He was stumbling, but he was moving on his own. The talent worked well—just not quite instantly.
I’m sure the adrenaline played a part, too. Now, I could barely keep up with him.
The giant’s sound slowed and then began to fade. A massive crash ensued, along with the sound of a falling gargantuan—followed by a blast of an all-out roar. Only this time, it was more of a piercing whistle of terrible pain and anger. It was clearly upset and trapped, furiously trying to escape by pounding its limbs against anything it could.
Beko was far ahead of me now. Since when did he become so quick? I kept my pace, trying to pay attention to the interface without crashing into any of the columns. I was waiting for a long message of accomplishments, delivered by the ORDER upon our victory.
As the seconds passed, though, nothing of the sort happened. It was then I knew that the trap had failed.
That realization gave me such a boost that I nearly caught up with Beko in a matter of seconds. I almost shouted with joy when the ORDER finally made itself heard.
Until I read the message.
As you fled from a perilous creature, you have shown unusual running qualities for your level of development.
You receive:
Lesser Symbol of Chi x1
Personal Talent Mark, Runner x1
I nearly screamed in displeasure. The powers that be were mocking me.
Were they laughing at my exertion? I was moving at world record speeds.
We charged all the way to the swamp, where our speed immediately dropped. It was simply not possible to run full out through puddles and mud. The ground sucked our legs in to the ankle with every step.
Unless the rukh suffered a similar problem, we were done.
Damned swamp! I shouldn’t have rushed. I should have dug that pit for a week. Two weeks. A month! Dug it so deep that a herd of elephants would perish inside! I could have dug a canal from the swamp to the pit so that it was filled to the brim with water. And we could have upgraded the spikes in width and sharpness. Tree-sized spikes! Whichever way we could have gotten them there.
Now, I was going to die, thanks to my greed and laziness. I had been too lazy to “waste time.”
Beko tried to maintain his speed through the swamp and, predictably, crashed face-first.
He pulled himself up, sobbing. “We’re going to die!”
I stopped abruptly and dropped to my knees, realizing that my energy was gone.
We could not run any longer.
Nor did we have to.
You have created a two-part trap. You are the first to create such a trap. You lured the rukh into a trap. Both components of the trap worked as planned. You have dealt significant damage to the rukh. You have dealt fatal damage to the rukh. The rukh is dead. You have defeated the rukh using an unknown method. This creature is part Chaos (Chaos Power 26).
You receive:
Unknown Method
Greater Chaos Mark x5
Random Greater Personal Chaos Attribute Embodiment x1
Greater Standard Talent Mark x2
Greater Attribute Power x1
Random Greater Personal Chaos State Embodiment x1
Greater Standard Universal Chaos State x2
Greater Primal Essence x1
Greater Star of Transformation x1
Victory over the Rukh (a worthy victory, over an opponent orders of magnitude stronger than you)
Medium Chaos Mark x14<
br />
Medium Attribute Power x2
Medium Concentrated Warrior Energy x2
Medium Universal Chaos Talent Mark x3
Medium Equilibrium State x1
Medium Enhanced Shadow of Chi State x1
Medium Enhanced Measure of Order State x1
Medium Primal Essence x2
Medium Standard Universal State x2
Medium Chaos Refill x2
The Rukh is a part Chaos creature.
You receive Emblem of Valor x7
Creating a New Trap
Lesser Chaos Mark x12
Personal Chaos Attribute Embodiment, Shrewdness x1
Personal Chaos Talent Mark, Shadow Chaser x1
Lesser Chaos Refill x8
Successfully Using a New Trap
Greater Standard Chaos Talent Mark x2
Greater Standard Universal State x2
Greater Chaos Transformation Star x1
Inventing an Unknown Trap
Greater Chaos Mark x3
Greater Universal Chaos Attribute Embodiment x1
Greater Standard Chaos Talent Mark x2
Greater Personal State Embodiment, Measure of Order x1
Superior Standard Universal State x2
Greater Standard Attribute Mark x2
Greater Essence of Artificers x1
You may now name your Unknown Trap
All I read was the first line. Then, I noticed the length of the message. Only one thing could explain so much text.
We had done it! “Beko, stop!” I yelled at my companion, who was still fleeing.
He turned and moved towards me, clearly intending to pull me out of the swamp and carry me, though that would clearly reduce his already poor chances at escape.
When he saw my stupid smile, though, Beko slowed down. Then, he stopped, and his eyes lost their focus.
He saw the message.
The ORDER would be awarding him prizes, too. Natives had long ago calculated that the rewards earned from the ORDER depended, among other things, on the difference in Degrees of Enlightenment (or Chaos Power) between the victor and the opponent. If you were a 5th Degree character, for example, and you defeated an enemy that was 20th Degree, you were entitled to quadruple the loot.
What level had the rukh been? I was too exhausted to bother checking. But Beko was at least a few times lower in level than the monster.
I didn’t count, of course. I was a level 0, and you can’t divide by zero. Well, you could, actually—as long as you didn’t mind getting infinity, every single time. The ORDER could hardly follow such math, since my killing a single kote would fill the entire world with loot then—whatever universe this world was in. Still, it did give me drops that one-of-a-kind warriors who had pumped their Measure of Order a dozen levels higher couldn’t dream of.
You have named your unknown trap “Sticks-n-Shit
You have named a new trap
Greater Standard Chaos Talent Mark x3
Greater Primal Essence x1
Greater Chaos Refill x1
I didn’t care much for the name. It just described what the trap was made out of. But I was not in any state to think of a more eloquent moniker for my invention. Other thoughts filled my head.
It was time to get a look at the beast who had made us run twice as fast as we had ever run before.
* * *
When the shape in the pit became visible through the fog, Beko started fleeing again. I almost followed him.
It was terrifying.
We couldn’t even see the pit. Only the trail of mud that dripped as we had carried it in indicated where the trap was. The entire excavation area was covered with the carcass of the rukh. I had never seen anything like it before—not even on the old pictures my mother used to draw for me on sheets of rice paper. It had something like a flattened spider body, with two rows of elongated legs. They were reminiscent of the stilts the wisps used to walk around on and to sense vibrations. In enormous dimensions, of course. Three times my height in length, and as thick as a grown man’s thigh. The beast’s eyes also looked something like those of the wisps. Similar shape, but not a similar arrangement: They were present on all sides, rather than only on one.
Even though the beast’s body was flattened in shape, the spikes had been unable to pierce it all the way through. The description from the Chaos encyclopedia had been entirely correct. The creature had launched itself from a point positioned exactly above the center of the pit. It had slammed down with all of its weight. That alone may not have killed the rukh, but it had been unable to get out quickly enough to survive. Perhaps it was confused, or in shock, or even stuck on the spikes that pierced its body. In the end, either its wounds or the water did it in. It lay with its paws pointing in all directions, like the death dance of a disgusting, demonic daisy.
Wisps had gathered around. There were some seven dozen of them, at least. They formed a tight ring and stood, their thin legs stuck in the red soil. They did not buzz, move, or otherwise react to our presence. Not even my shout to the fleeing Beko caused a response.
The ghoul came back, albeit reluctantly, and joined me in staring at the pit. “What’s wrong with the wisps?”
“Their master is dead. Without him, they too will die.”
“But they’re still alive. Seems like, anyway.”
“For now. They will die later. Wait—no we have to kill them now! Otherwise we won’t get a reward from the ORDER for them.”
At these words, Beko pressed his hand to his chest with a triumphant frown. “I got my rewards already. And they’re mine. Mine! I ain’t giving them to nobody!”
“Yes, yes, they’re yours,” I sighed, “but you’ll get even more for the wisps.”
I threw a knife into the clump of bugs. One took the hit, deflated, and fell. “See, Beko? They don’t even react. Let’s go!”
The ghoul took a step back and shook his head.
“What are you doing?” I blinked. “They’re just target practice now.”
“I understand. I’m not scared of them. But you should be the one to kill them. You’ll get a lot of rewards for that, but I’ll get next to nothing. You get rich. Not me. You’re the one who needs to kill them.”
I nodded. He was right, after all. I moved towards the wisps, regretting my decision to leave my spear on the raft. Its long-handled stab would have come in quite handy here. Now, I needed to attack with the ax, getting myself sprayed from head to toe with bug innards.
Not to mention that, despite their newfound complete apathy, I didn’t want to get so close to them.
But I did what had to be done. At the end of it all, I even began to feel some regret.
I had come to this land. I had invaded their home. I killed their master, and without him, their lives were meaningless. And then, I had wiped them out, one after the other.
They were peaceful, making not even the least attempt to resist or to flee. I was merciless...
As I had to be. The laws of Rock were cruel.
I stared at my hands and found it suddenly hard to breathe. Beko approached and placed a hand on my shoulder. “It’s alright, Ged. We won. Just like you said we would.”
I nodded. “Right. We’re winners. Legendary winners. We just took out a rukh.”
“No one at the trading post will believe us,” Beko complained. “But I doubt we’ll ever see that place again.”
“You still doubt our strength?” I wondered as I wiped the sweat from my brow.
“We haven’t even started our journey yet, and already we’ve killed a rukh. I bet there are scarier things to come.”
“There’s another rukh, at the least.”
“What!?” Beko exclaimed.
“Calm down. We killed one, and we can kill another. And perhaps a third. No matter how many are in our way, we’ll get through.”
“Then what? What if things get worse after that?”
“Then we’ll kill anyone who stands in our way. We’re the winners here, after
all. We’ll line the road from here to the post with corpses, if we have too. It’ll be okay, Beko.”
“You really think that lining the road with corpses is OK?”
“If they’re the corpses of our enemies.”
Without taking my eyes off the scene of the battle, I thought about the tasks awaiting us in the future, near and far. My mind cleared, and I gazed years ahead.
First, I needed to examine the corpse. Perhaps it held something of value. Then, we would have to rest—we were both badly shaken.
There was still a lot of work to be done. Sometimes it would be boring, monotonous. Other times, it would be exciting, invigorating.
At some point, I would reach the goal which seemed most important of all to me.
I mentally crossed Treya out of my mind. She was gone. In the past. The first name on my blacklist had been struck.