by Dante King
It all came to a halt when the tall doors on the far side of the dining room opened. A small procession entered, orc guards and a pair of battlemages, along with a group of beautiful women. In the center of them was a tall man dressed in all black, every bit of him covered. He sat down in the high-backed chair, one of the battlemages pulling it out for him.
There was no doubt in Ben’s mind that this was The One.
When he was seated, all eyes on him, the women flocked around him, putting their hands on his shoulders as if all they wanted was a touch. Everyone sat in silence, waiting for him to speak. One of the battlemages stepped behind The One and cast a spell, surrounding the area where he sat in the same darkness that Ben had seen in the arena.
That’d be a useful spell, Ben thought.
When The One was sheathed in black, he spoke.
“Welcome.” His voice was low and resonant, inhumanly so. “I will keep the speech short, simply wanting to congratulate the winner of the gladiatorial games on his thrilling victory.” Polite applause sounded from the crowd, who had big smiles on their faces. “To my friends, I hope you enjoyed the games, and to the winner, you did well. Relax, savor your night in the tower. I’m looking forward to meeting with you, to assess your skills and find a proper place for you in my Black Army.”
Silence hung. “The command to savor your time in the tower extends to all of you. One week remains until we begin our campaign. It will be hard fought, but there is no doubt in my mind that we will prevail. When we do, our power and riches and grip on the continent will only grow.”
More applause.
“Eat, drink! Together, we will create an empire that this world has only seen once before!”
More applause. And with that, the group went back to their feasting. It wasn’t long before they were sloppy and drunk, the place a mess. Food fell onto the ground, drinks were spilled, and more than a few were passed out. Ben compared the revelry to the scenes of slavery he’d witnessed.
At least in this state they’ll be unprepared for what’s to come.
“What’s the plan?” Lexi whispered as she ate and drank.
“I meet The One,” Ben said. “Can you two handle these orcs until I come back for you?”
Shrike smiled. “No doubt. You fight your battle, Ben. We’ll be here waiting, a few roasted orcs here and there on the ground around us.”
As Ben took a bite of the roasted meat on his plate, a voice spoke in his mind.
It’s time, Ben. Come—we have much to discuss.
He sat up and looked around. The voice belonged to The One, no doubt.
His eyes landed on the black shroud around The One. It slowly disappeared, revealing once more the figure dressed all in black. Ben watched as he rose slowly, then turned to leave through the doors he’d entered from. The women and the wizards he’d come with stayed in the room.
“It’s time,” Ben said as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “Wish me luck.”
“Good luck, Ben,” Lexi said.
“The fate of my people hangs in the balance,” Shrike murmured. “So… no pressure. But good luck.” She smiled softly.
Ben rose and started toward the exit. A few of the guests watched him as he made his way, but none of the orc guards moved an inch to stop him. Ben passed through the exit and found himself in a smaller hallway, this one leading to a magic door of shimmering black. Ben approached, and the magic faded.
The room on the other side was the same as Ben’s room on the top of the tower. It was a massive bedroom, adorned with weapons and armor and all the rest that The One had collected during his campaigns of terror and slavery.
Just as Graven had said, three massive braziers were on the balcony, none of them lit. From where Ben stood, he could see the forests below, the fires raging and the plumes of smoke belching into the sky. It wasn’t as thick as before, when he couldn’t see more than half of the tower because of the smog.
Standing on the balcony, his hands clasped behind his back, was The One. He wore the same black outfit as he had in the dining room, but with one key difference—he wore nothing on his head. It was hard to make out, at first—his hair was the same pitch-black shade as his outfit.
“Come, Ben,” he said, his voice low and strange. “Come. Oh—let me take care of one thing first.” He stuck out his hand and flicked his wrist. The katana shot out of the leather scabbard and flew to the nearest wall, sticking there as if it had been pulled by magnets. “Can’t be too careful.”
Ben felt vulnerable without his blade, but he pressed on, making his way to the balcony and stepping out. The moment he did, he realized something, that he was exactly the same height as The One.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” he asked. “Thousands and thousands of slaves working day and night, building me the army I’ll need to conquer this continent.”
Ben stayed in place. “You want to conquer the continent? To what end?”
“Power, of course. Power and wealth and women—all the same things as you, right?”
His words gave Ben pause. “The same thing as me?”
“That’s right, Ben. Come to my side.”
Ben did as he asked.
“We want the same things,” he said.
Ben realized right away why The One seemed so familiar. He closed his eyes, as if turning off a spell.
“We want the same things,” he said, speaking in a voice Ben recognized as his own. Then he turned to Ben, looking at him with his own eyes.
It was him. Ben and The One had the same face.
“We want the same things,” he said with a twisted, scheming grin. “Because we are the same.”
Chapter 18
“What… what the hell are you?”
Ben stepped back, his hand instinctively going for his sword, but his fingers closed around air.
“What the hell do you think I am?” The One asked. His voice was identical to Ben’s—almost, that is. It had a harder edge, lined with malice and sneering confidence. “I’m you! Well, in a manner of speaking.”
Ben looked over The One. His face was the same as Ben’s, the same blue eyes, the same strong nose, the same angled bone structure, but it was wounded, three deep scars over his cheek, as if he’d been swiped by a massive paw. The skin near his scalp was burned, and one more long, wrinkled scar ran around his neck, like a circular friction burn.
“Tell me what’s happening, right now,” Ben growled. “Is this some kind of trick? Is the real you hiding somewhere around here?”
The One kept grinning, as if he couldn’t have been happier to tell Ben what was happening.
“You really have no idea, huh? You really, truly, showed up here from whatever planet you came from and have been wandering in the dark ever since?”
Ben chose not to answer his question—he didn’t want to tell this strange facsimile anything more than necessary.
“’Whatever planet’?” Ben asked. “You mean, you’re not here from Earth?”
“‘Earth’?” he asked, cocking his head to the side. It was clear he’d never said the name before. “What the hell is an Earth? Oh, is that what the place you’re from is called? Strange name.”
“Explain what’s happening. Explain who you are and what’s going on.”
The One snorted, as if more amused than anything else. “You’re quite bossy considering you’re right where I want you, Ben.” He swept his hand toward the forests and industry sprawling down below. “This is my kingdom, my empire. And you invade it, come to my tower, and demand answers to your questions?”
“Yes.” Ben held firm, not budging an inch.
The One stared him down, his eyes narrowed. For a moment, Ben was certain that he’d try to kill him on the spot.
Instead, a wry smile spread across his face.
“Well, you’re not going to be around much longer. No harm in telling you.”
“You’re certain of that?” Ben asked.
The One cocked his head to the si
de, confused. “You’re in the middle of my realm. I know that you came here with a few friends, but they’re in my clutches, too. Even in the slight, slight chance that you got the better of me in combat, all I have to do is send out a telepathic alert and every orc in the tower will come running. Then, outside of the tower, hundreds of soldiers of my Black Army will stop you from taking even a step. You’re mine, Ben. Accept it.”
He doesn’t know about the revolt, Ben thought. He doesn’t know that as soon as I light that brazier his whole empire is going to crumble to the ground. Might as well take advantage of his arrogance and get what information I can out of him.
“Then tell me what the hell’s going on before you kill me.”
He grinned. “Oh, you think I’m just going to kill you? You couldn’t be more wrong. I’m going to drain every last bit of power you have before that. Every spell you have is going to be mine. Then, while you’re still alive, I’m going to march on your tower and take whatever’s there. Whatever women you have, whatever soldiers—mine.”
“Still doesn’t explain what the hell is going on here.”
Another smirk. “Since you seem to be completely in the dark, let me illuminate things for you. Let’s do it like this—I’m going to describe how I think you got here, and you’re going to tell me when I’m wrong.”
“Sounds like some bullshit game playing.”
“Well, it is. You want information, we’re going to do it in a way that’s fun for me. That’s one of the advantages of holding all the cards, you know.”
“Fine. Go ahead.”
“You were in your world, this Earth, living and minding your own business. Then, one day, some strange person appears in your life, someone who’s odd and unlike anyone you’ve ever met before.”
Melody. He kept her name to himself, not wanting to reveal too much.
“He or she—betting a she—tells you all about some amazing destiny that you have, that you’re the one who’s meant to rule over some huge kingdom or some crazy shit like that. You think she’s insane, naturally, but things change when she shows you some artifact. You touch it, and it gives you visions of you as some amazing, all-powerful emperor. You’ve got it all—soldiers, power, magic, and, of course, women. Tell me, am I on the right track?”
As much as Ben didn’t want to play his game, he wanted more to know how The One could describe his journey so well.
“Yeah. So far, you’ve got it.”
“That’s what I thought. Anyway, you go with her and bam, you end up in this insane new world. You’re totally out of your depth and face death every five minutes it seems, but soon you’re gaining power and followers and a nice little harem of women. You’ve even got a cool tower fortress to start your campaign of conquest.” He grinned. “I can tell that I’m on the right path, so I’ll go on. All you need to do is conquer the other towers. Seems simple enough, huh?”
“This all happened to you,” Ben said. “You came here from another world.”
He let out a sharp laugh. “Wow, we’ve got a real brainiac on our hands, huh? Yeah, that’s exactly what happened. I came from my world, and you come from yours. And we’re both here in this world to do the exact same thing.”
“Conquer.”
“That’s right. The Forgotten Ruler you’ve been hearing so much about? The one you think you are?”
“Wait,” Ben said. “You mean I’m not him?”
“Well, you are—in a manner of speaking. When the Forgotten Ruler was defeated all those years ago… he was powerful. I mean, insanely powerful, but all the same, he wasn’t able to defeat the forces of this world.”
“The Xurian Realm,” Ben said.
“That’s right. Them and the other little pissant city-states that they were able to strongarm into fighting against us. They managed to defeat us, but just barely. It took everything they had to do it, too.” He snorted and shook his head in disgust. “I still can’t believe we were defeated by the likes of them. All that work to destroy us, and they decline as soon as they took control. Pathetic.”
“Wait… us?”
The One grinned. “I’m getting to that part—the fun part. When the Forgotten Ruler was on the verge of defeat, when the Xurian Coalition was on his doorstep, he used the last bit of his power to perform the greatest spell of all. He shattered his essence into pieces, sending it out into the other dimensions of the multiverse, to the mirror images of this planet. I’m sure this Earth of yours is primitive and backwards, but surely you at least know about the ‘many worlds’ theory?”
Ben nodded. He was far from an expert, but he’d recalled his physics professor back in college discussing the subject. “Yeah. I know of it.”
He swept his hand toward the world before him. “This is my planet, and it’s your planet. Sure, everything about it is different, but it’s the same. Technically. Anyway, The Forgotten Ruler broke his essence and spread it through the different dimensions, letting them lay dormant until the time came to take this world back.”
“So, I’m not the Forgotten Ruler—I’m only a part of him.”
“We’re all him, just with the power removed. The potential was there—that’s why you’ve been able to gain so much power in so little time.” He shook his head, as if in disbelief. “Can you imagine what he, we, were like back when we were fully constituted? It took the entire strength of this world to just barely defeat us. Imagine now, our powers reintegrated, the Xurian Realm a shell of what it once was… we could conquer this world once and for all!”
Ben said nothing, but he was getting the distinct impression that when he said we, he didn’t mean them working together.
The One turned his attention back to the land before him. “You want my opinion? I think he did this as a competition of sorts, to see who among us was the one truly worthy of retaking the throne of the Forgotten Ruler.”
“There are more of us, then.”
“That’s right—many more. And only one will live to claim the power of our forebearer.”
Ben’s right hand twitched. He could sense a battle was coming. He flicked his eyes over to the brazier.
“I’ve killed many of our kind on my path to the power you see before you. Make no mistake—you may have claimed your tower, but it won’t be yours for long.”
Ben knew the plan couldn’t wait. He’d wanted to slay The One before lighting the brazier, but knowing what he now knew, the fight might be more than he was prepared for. The One had been ready for his coming.
“I watched you in the arena. It was impressive. I’ve no doubt that you’re going to be one of the most difficult versions of me to conquer. But make no mistake—I will conquer you.” Out of the corner of his eye, Ben spotted the silver glimmer of a blade coming from The One’s black cloak.
“And I’m going to do it,” The One said. “Right now.”
The instant the blade arced toward Ben, he brought up his hand and cast Force Wave. The blast shot from his palm, knocking The One’s hand back as if a powerlifter had wrenched it away. The blade dropped to the ground with a clatter. Then Ben turned toward the leftmost brazier, summoned Flame Cannon, and shot a blast of superheated flame in its direction.
The brazier ignited. Ben turned to see The One standing still behind him, a curious expression on his face.
“What… what the hell did you just do?”
Down below, a series of bellowing horns called out. In all of the slave camps, fires came to life. The message was being passed on—the revolt had begun.
Ben turned to The One. “You’re about to learn a lesson in why you don’t prop your empire up on slaves.”
The One hurried to the edge of the balcony. Down below the fighting had already begun, shouting rising from the din of the work. In the mountain range to the right, Ben saw hordes of monsterkin rushing out of the tunnels, the orc guards turning and preparing to face them. Ben knew Zito was down there with them, and could only hope he’d make it out alive.
“What… what ha
ve you done?” The One asked.
“I’ve ended your empire,” Ben said, “and now it’s time to end you.”
Pure rage formed on The One’s face. “No. My Black Army is too strong. No rabble monsterkin will be able to come close to defeating them.”
The One stuck his hand out at his hip, a beam of pure energy forming in his grasp. He took hold of it and wielded it like a blade, swinging it in front of him in a flourish of light. The blade sliced through the body of a candle holder nearby, the thing melting apart and falling neatly in half.
“I’m going to kill you, Ben. Then I’m going to end this rebellion. God, I can’t wait to get a hold of the monsterkin in charge. My only regret is that you won’t be able to see what I do to them.”
He swung the blade, Ben just barely stepping back and missing the strike. The One raised his free hand and called forth a burst of frost that fanned out in the air in front of him. Ben dropped to his knees, casting Flame Cannon once more and melting the frost as it blasted above, water dropping down harmlessly onto him. Then he used Force Wave to shoot off a nearby column, the blowback of the energy shooting him into the room, nearer to his blade. Ben cast Siphon, only to find the barrier surrounding The One, preventing Ben from accessing his attributes or spells.
The One strode into the room, fury in his eyes as he gazed down at Ben.
“I’ve worked too hard for this,” he growled. “Too hard for you to ruin it all when I’m on the verge of my invasion of the rest of the continent.”
Ben glanced over at his blade, still stuck to the wall. He rushed over to it and grabbed the hilt, yanking it with all his strength. It didn’t budge—it was still stuck with whatever force The One had used to take it from him.
“Still grabbing for things with your hands?” The One asked, a derisive tone to his voice. “You’re lower level than I thought.”
As if to illustrate his point, The One extended his hand toward a nearby chair, lifting it off the ground with some kind of telekinetic power and launching it in Ben’s direction. Ben dodged as quickly as he could, but not before the chair grazed his back, pain exploding through his body.