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Unbound Deathlord: Challenge

Page 51

by Edward Castle


  "Thanks for not obliterating me and accepting my suspicious. How can I help you?"

  "You weren't that polite last time we talked."

  "That's all Bear's fault. Look at him: a perfect gentleman. It infected me." The zombie looked at me and burped.

  "I see you're still secretive. Good. Now, listen carefully. For you to adequately help me, I'll have to tell you the whole story."

  And so he did.

  There was a reason why High Lady Renno had set her prison where she had, at the outermost point of Dakar, between her nation and the West Underworld: she was keeping the drow in check.

  She didn't care about the Resistance, the Unifiers, and whatnot. She understood the real problem was the drow and her mere presence there was enough of a threat to make them cautious.

  Every other week she'd capture a Blackguard and torture them to death, then send the body back, just to make a point. Sometimes she even did that to a Faithful. She also did the same to the darkbound deathlords. That had been enough to halt any drastic actions from them.

  When she died, the drow lost the need for the Resistance and began to work directly with the darkbound. They bribed and blackmailed enough people to support a coup and only the unexpected escapade of the Father from death, and the actions of the Unifiers, prevented the coup to succeed, putting Dakar in a civil war instead.

  Thanks to their observers, the drow knew every move of the Resistance and had effectively decimated its members. Manhart had survived in a way he didn't want to tell us, but he swore he wasn't helping the drow in any way, nor misleading us.

  "I also swear everything I've told you is the truth, as far as I know. Now, please, tell me about what happened to you after Marbareus' death."

  After considering the pros and cons, I decided that lying to a truthseer wasn't in my best interests. Not one as powerful as him; he could kill all of us and after seeing Shai's body, I didn't think he'd make the same mistake of underestimating Daggers. Plus, I was out of "cheatstones" and he could immobilize us all without any trouble.

  And so I told him everything, starting with my talk with Tardas.

  "Sir, that is not how I died." Daggers said. "I was alone with Tardas in my tent when I felt a stab in my back, and Tardas said your name. I died right after that."

  "So he put the blame on me. Asshole."

  I kept talking, and also explained my plans for the battle in the Slums, my meeting with Eternal, and described the fighting itself.

  I didn't tell him I wanted to destroy the Underworld, though.

  Although he was telling me the truth – of that I was sure because Valia's rules forced him to – I still didn't trust him completely.

  No, if Tardas' tale had been true, Manhart was a monster that attracted people with lies and killed them afterward. I needed allies for now, but I'd have to dispose of the lich as soon as I could.

  Manhart nodded when I finished my tale. "I know the Sophus clan army. They are not as stupid as you seem to think. If they had visible sentries looking for you, they had hidden ones, too. If they hadn't allowed it, Tardas wouldn't have been able to leave with Marbareus' and Daggers' bodies, nor would you have been able to avoid capture. Tardas lied to you about contacting me and about how Daggers died. He also lied to her. There's only one conclusion we can reach."

  "He betrayed me," I said.

  "No. He's helping us."

  "Wait, what?"

  "He told you lies that are easily discovered. Meanwhile, he also said truths. For instance, Marbareus' behavior where you were concerned: he could have ordered you to obey Tardas in the Maze from day one, and I had been suspicious of him lying to me for quite a while. It's also true that the First Lord was a double-agent, and I was planning the same for you." He stood up and began to pace slowly. "Providing easily verified fake information among truths is a common practice for double agents. We can't be sure of who holds Tardas' allegiance, but he's telling us he's not our enemy. At least for now."

  "Oh. Makes sense, I guess." I still hate the vampire, though. "Why the hell didn't Marbareus just tell me everything, then? Why all the acting?"

  "I'm a truthseer, Thorn. There are ways to escape my gaze, but none that you'd be able to accomplish. The Father also has his own way of taking the truth out of weak people. It'd only take a question from me and Marbareus' plans would've been discovered."

  "Oh. Makes sense too."

  Still hate him! I thought weakly.

  "It does. Tardas also lied about something, even though he didn't know it: the death of idealists. I was playing the drow, just as they were playing me. Our immediate objective was the same: conquering Dakar. But the Resistance wasn't killing idealist like Marbareus was told, and the drow believed.

  "I have been recruiting people for a secret army; Marbareus was too famous for me to make him disappear, and so he was left out. I admit slavery means nothing to me, but what I feel means nothing to Her."

  "Her? Who?"

  "Ilishia, the Goddess of the Living Skeletons. You, Travelers, brought change with you, and one of them is that the gods are interfering with mortal business. Necromancers usually raise skeletons and strip them of their will. So, Ilishia gave me a quest to free her people. I am her paladin; Her will is my command. After that, even more gods have asked the same of me."

  "Wait there, go back a little. You said we brought change, and that the gods asked stuff from you. But we've been around for a month, and the Resistance is older than that."

  "Two hundred years ago, your coming was prophesied by the Destiny Spirits. The gods changed that day and old rules have been fading away little by little. That's when I was asked to free my people.

  "The Ruined Kings leaving the Catacombs is the biggest proof of such a change. If it had happened three hundred years ago, the gods would have annihilated the Kings for what they did. They even dared use Divine Magic, which is the reason they were confined to the Catacombs in the first place. The Travelers Age changed things. And that's why I need you."

  "I don't follow."

  "The Resistance is gone, except for my still incomplete army, and I'm being hunted. I'd go into hiding in old times, but this is the Travelers Age, isn't it? There are millions of you in Valia, and you grow fast. You also can't die, which means you can do things Valians are too afraid to do.

  "You can battle against impossible odds. You can lie, and murder, and be assassinated for it, and then you'll revive and do it all again. Even imprisoning you in the special prisons the gods provided can only halt you for a time since you can forfeit your bodies and come back in new ones.

  "Anyone who thinks about it for a second fears you, for it's only a matter of time before you conquer Valia. Recruiting and befriending Travelers is the most sensible course of action for me right now."

  He stopped pacing and looked straight at me.

  "And you are more interesting than most. Not the strongest; Daggers, behind you, could kill you before you could blink, and she is just one among many I know of. Not the smartest, either; I have heard of genius mages and generals appearing all over the world.

  "No. You are the most unpredictable. You killed Renno on your second day in Valia; you found ways around Marbareus' orders in the Maze; you started a battle when everyone expected you to hide, and it has plunged the whole West Underworld into war.

  "The drow are master manipulators, but for that, they need to predict people's moves. They sent rogues and traitors against you in the Slums, and it only worked against them. You are their worst nightmare."

  He sat in front of me.

  "The way I think and plan is too predictable and too bound by rules of mortality. I need an unpredictable second in command to appropriately deal with the wild cards that are the Travelers. Only in this way can I hope to win against the drow.

  "Jack Thorn, will you become my General?"

  Multiple exclamation points appeared on the edge of my vision at the same time the 'C' letter disappeared from above my head.

  T
he Challenge was complete. I had done it!

  Anxious about what I'd see, I raised a hand for him to wait and checked on them.

  Intelligence increased to 20 (+2)

  You cleverly survived the Challenge while decreasing the competition and removing a possible threat from your future. You've proven you have a superior intellect.

  » MP: 1145 (+195)

  (Items disregarded)

  Constitution increased to 15 (+1)

  Your body has become more intimate with suffering and how to bear it.

  » HP: 695 (+75)

  » Stamina: 315 (+10)

  Event Quest Complete: Challenge

  Congratulations!

  You have won the Challenge!

  Attributes points received:

  » +10 strength

  » +10 agility

  » +10 dexterity

  » +10 constitution

  » +10 intelligence

  » +10 perception

  » +10 willpower

  » +10 charisma

  Fun fact: You rank #89 in level in all of Valia and #4 in the Underworld.

  Level up!

  Current level: 28

  HP, MP and stamina restored

  Title received: Warmonger

  Your actions have led to a war between countries and shown that you value war above peace.

  The methods employed achieving this title impact the trait that is positively affected.

  » +10 Strategist

  » -50 charisma when negotiating peace deals

  Strategist increased to 11 (+10)

  To all members of a party you are the leader, except you:

  » +5.5% increase to attribute of choice

  Trait has evolved into Adept Strategist:

  » Number of attributes affected: 2

  » Extra increase on each level: 0.5%

  To all members of a party you are the leader, except you:

  » +6% increase to 2 attributes of choice

  Level up!

  Current level: 29

  HP, MP and stamina restored

  Profession: Resistance's General

  You have been offered a Profession.

  A Profession is usually a title that can be stripped from you by your employer or by yourself, any time either of you wishes.

  To know more about your bonuses and responsibilities as a General, ask Manhart.

  Be advised that he can lie, and some Professions are semi-permanent and can only be removed by your employer!

  That was awesome! I was level twenty-nine in an instant! And this Warmonger title was fantastic! Well, not the charisma penalty, but the extra levels in Strategist would work wonders for my parties.

  And I hadn't even received my reward from Manhart yet.

  I was about to demand it before negotiating his generalship offer, when I hear a phone ring in my head.

  This time it wasn't grandfather; I recognized the number as Richard's. I had made it clear to him not to call me under any circumstances. Still, he had done so as soon as he was able to contact me. There was a very tiny chance that it was important.

  "Just a second, someone is calling me from Earth," I informed the lich.

  My lawyer's voice came through.

 

 

 

  I heard him inhale deeply.

  I froze.

  He could be joking. He could be shitting me. That could be a maneuver to make me leave the game against my wishes.

  But I knew Richard. He wouldn't do that.

  And if he did, I'd beat him him to death.

  "Emergency travel out!" I yelled.

  Are you sure you want-

  I didn't even finish reading. "Yes! Emergency travel out! Now! I'm sure!"

  * * *

  Getting out of a rented Dreamer usually took about half a day, depending on how long the queue of people wanting to leave was.

  Emergency logouts put the user in the first positions of the line, for a damn high price. One hour after logging out, I awoke in a hospital bed, with a big plate of food right next to me.

  Everything from then on happened in a blur. There were nurses, doctors and other V-Soft employees yelling at me as I ran through the facility, and there was a lot of money and threats exchanged. Next thing I knew, I was sitting in an automated taxi, feeling hungry as hell and watching TV.

  My body felt okay, much better than I expected. Whatever V-Soft did in the Dreamers worked, since I wasn't feeling weaker or thinner even after a month of doing nothing.

  "Five hundred people are protesting in front of Congress right now, as the congressmen vote for a bill that limits AI usage for entertainment purposes." The female reporter said in front of the Capitol. "The discussion has sparked after V-Soft's public announcement that they're using fully sentient AIs for their gaming characters in the commercial success 'Valia Online.' For over ten years the AIs Rights Movement have been insisting that using AIs in military simulations is cruel and inhumane. AI engineers mostly agree that AIs are only software and that-"

  I stopped paying attention.

  My aunt was alive!

  How? Why had she hidden away?

  Wait, was she afraid of me?

  Did she think I was a monster?

  Maybe... Maybe I was the one she didn't want to see.

  Maybe she had run away from me.

  From the madman who had killed his own parents.

  Who had killed his employees.

  Who had set fire to his own house.

  Maybe-

  Somehow, I was in front of Richard's office door. It was made of wood and full of details.

  Now that I thought about it, there was a lot of wood around. And I had seen the sky after a month. That was touching, I supposed.

  Maybe I should've stopped to look at it.

  Yes, I'd go back and watch the sky a little-

  The door opened, and Richard became visible.

  "Hello, Jack." He said. It felt as if I had gone through so much in the last month, but he was just like I remembered him.

  He didn't sound confident. That was weird for him.

  "Hey, Richard."

  With a sigh, he stepped to the side.

  First I saw a man in his seventies, with dyed blond hair and green eyes. He wore a tailored suit and looked like the most caring old man you could find. He was one of the most dangerous people I knew.

  After him, I saw one of his bodyguards: a blond man in a suit. Grandfather liked to have blond guards like him. He said it gave a message, but he had never told me which message it was.

  Then Richard finished getting out of my view, and I saw her, sitting on a chair.

  She was in her late thirties, had brown hair that went to her shoulders, brown eyes, and a angelic face. She looked just like my aunt.

  But it wasn't her.

  She was wearing fishnet tights that stopped over her knees, a very 'mini' jeans miniskirt, a tight white blouse knotted in a way that showed her pierced navel and red high heels. The lipstick she had used was too red, and so were her nails.

  "What's the meaning of this, Richard?" I yelled in sudden fury. "You're grandfather's puppy now?"

  "Jack, listen-" Richard began.

  "Shut up and leave." Grandfather's voice boomed, even though he didn't yell. "Let me talk to my grandson."

  Gulping, Richard obeyed. He tried to lock eyes with me, but I was focusing on grandfather now.

  "Now, boy-"

  "I'm no boy!" I yelled even louder than before. "Who's this poor woman that you brought into your plans? Really, grandfather? A cheap hooker like this? Did you think I couldn't recognize my aunt when I saw her?"

  He smiled, and it made me even more furious. I stepped his direction, but someone suddenly grabbed me and locked my arms behind my back. I hadn't s
een whoever it was, but grandfather never left his house with less than five bodyguards.

  I tried to free myself, but the man knew what he was doing, and I almost broke my arm in the process.

  "Ha! Coward! Let me go! Let me go and I'll give you a free plastic surgery, you pig!"

  He looked at the hooker and nodded. She smiled.

  "Hello, Jack." Her angelical voice washed over me, and with it came confusion and fear. "It's been a while, little penguin."

  My eyes widened. Only my aunt called me that. That was our secret name. And she had the same voice. And the same face.

  No. My aunt could've had said something to my parents. I-

  "Sophie Richards told you she liked you in the second grade," she said. "And Matt Davis said the same on the fourth. Do you remember how confused you felt when you discovered homosexuality existed? You confessed to Eleanor Williams in the eighth grade and lost your virginity to her on vacation that year."

  I looked at her. She was smiling, that beautiful smile of my aunt. Her voice was the same, too. And her cleavage showed the small heart tattoo that I had glanced at so many times.

  Scream. Cry. Explode. I wanted the world to end, to fight, to do something. I wanted to kill, to die, to disappear.

  Instead, I broke.

  It felt like when I had been in love and father paid my first girlfriend to leave me.

  It was too much.

  My muscles relaxed, and I wanted to cry, but I didn't have the energy even for that.

  "Your mother reacted the same way," grandfather said. "So did I. And my father before me. The loving actor or actress has been a tradition in the McHolen family for generations. You'd learn about her when you came of age, but our little bunny disappeared after the fire."

  "I was a bunny once-" She began.

  "Shut up." Grandfather interrupted her. "It's painful enough for him as it is. Leave."

  No, grandfather. It's not painful at all. I'm not feeling anything; I feel empty.

  "What about my money?"

  "I told you to leave, whore. I'm not as kind as my daughter, do not defy me."

 

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