“He’s using all the enchanted stuff,” muttered Nicole.
The big, terrifying demons ran forward too, but died just as quickly as their smaller kin. Tom was unstoppable. He whirled, stamped, thrust, and hacked; every movement had meaning, purpose. Nicole had never seen such a high level of swordplay in her life. Pasha was considered a far-above-average swordswoman on Ludus, but Tom made her look like an amateur. He moved like he had eyes in the back of his head.
Demons in the square ran towards Tom, back toward the street, attracted by the violence. Most of them were cut down with the same brutal efficiency as the others. Tom never stopped moving, and none of the attacks leveled at him connected.
As he sprang forward to cut down one of the remaining cultists, his sword hit but didn’t penetrate very far. The cultist was powerful; his punch dented a wall as he missed Tom. Since the enemy was likely orb-Bonded with enhanced toughness, Tom’s response was to just keep hitting him over and over again with Pasha’s sword, all while dodging other attacks and continuing to kill demons left and right. Eventually, the cultist stopped moving, likely frozen all over. Tom leveled a hand and something shot from his fist, knocking the powerful ‘Bonded into a wall. The impact must have broken something, because the cultist fell and didn’t move anymore.
As Tom fought, he triggered more of his borrowed enchanted items, killing demons with blasts of magic, or even conjuring weapons that he threw or used in his other hand for a time. He was like a whirlwind of death, but never seemed harried, always stayed in complete control. His mouth was set in a firm line, his eyes narrowed. The man was serious, but not panicked, not angry. His demeanor as he fought was vastly different than the breakdown he’d had when he’d discovered Maggie’s body.
Nicole was in awe, and hope swelled in her chest. She didn’t know how Tom was so powerful, why he hadn’t fought until now, nor why someone with this level of skill had been living in a small village like this, but she was actually beginning to believe she might survive this night. Nothing had even touched Tom so far; he was unscathed.
Another cultist popped up from behind a demon, both hands outstretched, and delivered a jet of flame. Tom had to jump back and twirl, showing off superhuman agility or maybe using another of his borrowed, enchanted trinkets to help escape the blast.
In that moment, as his long, dirty hair over his face was flung aside, Nicole saw something she knew she wasn’t supposed to see. Her eyes met Tom’s as his full face was revealed. After a chime sounded in her head, a name ran across her left eye that even a newbie to Ludus like Nicole was familiar with, a famous name.
Thato Dumi Jacobs, Terran, South African
Dolos Orb, Semi Modular Experimental Build
Fifth Rank
Nicole couldn’t help it; her jaw dropped. Thato didn’t look back, but she was sure that he knew what she’d seen. Suddenly, Nicole felt her chances of surviving had just narrowed again. It didn’t take a Ludus native to know she’d just uncovered a long-buried secret, likely something dangerous.
Thato Jacobs, the most famous adventurer in over one hundred years on Ludus, a man who was both respected and feared in books and stories, had been declared dead for years on Ludus. In reality, he was alive, had been living in Action, and was currently slaughtering demons in the street with a borrowed sword.
Nicole didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. She’d never wanted a cigarette so badly in her life.
Missing in Action, Chapter Seven
“It’s this way,” said Nicole. In what was probably the weirdest and scariest new development of the weirdest and scariest day of her life, she was alone with Thato Jacobs, leading him back to where she and her teammates had been staying. “Are you going to tell me why you want to look at our dungeon loot?”
“I guess,” he said, then lapsed into silence.
Nicole held her tongue as long as she could, but after the two of them walked past yet another body strewn down the dark street lit by fires, she couldn’t hold it back anymore. “You guess about what? Filling me in? Maybe telling me what the hell is going on? You talked to Diore for a while, she told me to go with you, and now here we are. This is all I know!” Nicole was terrified to her toes, but her anger was growing. She may not be hell on wheels in a fight like her friends, but she wasn’t some weak, helpless little girl, either.
“Yes.” Thato didn’t even look at her.
Nicole felt her fear, frustration, resignation, all the emotions she’d been hit with full-blast over the last hour or two start bubbling up again. She hissed and blurted, “So is this where it ends? Is this where you kill me because I know,” she stuttered, “your real identity, Thato Jacobs?” His name came out of her mouth as almost a whisper.
“Oh, is that what this is, that’s what has you worried?” Thato sounded amused. “Don’t you think we have more important things to worry about now than—”
“No, dammit! I am not from this fucking place—apparently neither are you. And nothing is attacking, we’re just walking right now. What is going on?!”
Nicole’s irritation grew as Thato chuckled. “You remind me of my daughter. If she had something eating her, she always went from completely calm to just short of bliksem in no time flat, even when she was really little.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“She always got that same expression when she was really about to tear into someone. That was a long time ago, though.” The man paused for a moment. “Okay, fine. I suppose I need to tell you what we’re doing anyway, it just feels strange to...talk after so long, much less with someone who knows who I am.”
“So you aren’t taking me somewhere to murder me?”
He rolled his eyes at her. “Do you really think your team leader would have asked you to come with me if that was the case? Actually, would you have really come with me if you thought so?”
“Well, you just took out the rest of the attacking demons all by yourself, and you are fifth-rank ‘Bonded. Running or hiding would be kind of useless if you really wanted me dead. It’s not like anyone could stop you.”
Thato slowly nodded. “That is a good point.” He frowned. “Again, I am not used to people knowing who I am or that I’m even orb-Bonded, at least not for the last ten years. Hiding my status was a problem after Dolos announced his little death game a while ago. Nobody in this town even knew I’d been an adventurer, and I lied about my past, so I couldn’t even wear a mask to hide my status. This long hair had actually been Maggie’s suggestion.” His face fell.
“Maggie? Your lover?” asked Nicole.
“Sort of. More like a friend and booty call. She mattered, but I didn’t realize how much until after she was dead. Damn it. Everything is ruined again.” He cursed in English.
Nicole blinked. After all the stories she’d heard of Thato Jacobs, the legendary adventurer, leader of his team of elite companions, she’d expected to be talking to a fierce man, or someone who practically oozed dignity and honor. It was a good thing she wasn’t Ludan or she’d probably be even more disappointed that Thato was coming across as tired, irresponsible, and kind of a jerk. Then what he’d actually said fully registered. “Did you just say, ‘booty call?’”
“Ja.” He sounded completely unapologetic.
“Isn’t that kind of disrespectful to say?”
“No, it’s the truth.”
“I mean, aren’t you a little old to be stringing a woman along? She might have thought of the relationship differently than you did.”
He sighed, then looked her in the eyes. “This is Ludus. Even poor in a small town, I’m a decent-looking man with a good body and a job. If I didn’t need to keep hair over my fucking face, I know how to take care of myself, too. I could have had multiple wives right now, or be stringing along a dozen young things. My personal life is my business anyway, but I don’t deserve a lecture. You can take your tone and your Earth morality and shove them up your ass.
“I was an adult, so was she, I cared a
bout her, now she’s dead, and I think I’m holding it together pretty well since I just saw her dead body less than an hour ago. Meanwhile, this is the second time I’ve ever talked to you and you’re telling me how to live my life, or at least how to talk.”
Well, this is off to a great start, she thought, completely taken aback. And he accused me of escalating quickly, that’s rich!
Nicole blinked, and struggled to control her frustration. Her first, knee-jerk reaction was to snap back at this man, tell him he wasn’t all that, try to put give him some perspective and vent her spleen. However, Ludus had forced some hard lessons, and she had to concede that pushing a fight with a man she’d been sure was out to kill her a few moments ago, someone who could slaughter demons with ease, wouldn’t be wise. He seemed to dislike her already and she was pretty sure she didn’t like him, either. Of course, this all begged the question of what the hell she was doing walking with him in the first place.
She fought her anger, and eventually won. Nicole had always had a temper, and after a few years on Ludus getting to know herself, being hammered into a stronger person, she had to admit that some of her mistakes back on Earth had been made through anger.
When she spoke again, she managed to keep most of the heat out of her voice, and completely changed the subject. “What did you tell Diore? The Action mayor was there too at your meeting, right? The two of them came to get me, pushed me to go with you, and now here we are.” What she’d just said was more or less true. If she hadn’t trusted Diore so much, and if the woman hadn’t given her an order, saying that it was a matter of life and death that Nicole had to go with “Tom,” she wouldn’t have complied.
Thato gave her an unreadable look, coughed and said, “I told them the truth. The red glow in the distance is a hellgate about to open, or already opened. It’s what the demons here were moving towards, and Action was in the way. I know how to stop the portal, close it, and it has to be done or we’re about to have a never-ending stream of them coming from that direction. They’ll get bigger and meaner with a stable portal, too. The opening gets bigger over time.”
“How do you know all of this?”
“Are you really asking that?”
“Yes! Why should I trust any of this?”
He met her eyes and with a completely straight face replied, “Because I’m Thato Jacobs.”
Nicole’s brain felt like it stuttered for a moment, but she pulled herself back from putting her hand in this stupid man’s face. Barely. It wasn’t just what he said that got under her skin, but how he said it. Unfortunately, she had to admit he had a point, and she did know his real identity. The man’s legend was so great he had entire museums dedicated to him on Ludus. Through gritted teeth, she asked, “So you’ve seen demons before?”
“Yes. Obviously.”
Oh Lord, have mercy, Nicole silently prayed. God, help me keep my cool and not to kill this man or get myself killed. She grated, “Then—” She swallowed and tried again. “What do you need me for? My friends are hurt, and I am worried about them, but instead of being with them, I am out here, in the middle of the night, with some…guy.” She’d almost said, “smug asshole.”
“Your team leader agreed that you are the most capable person in this area now to help me.”
“What? There were mages, and probably retired adventurers in town. The rest of my team is still here, too.”
He gave her a pointed look. “Most of the mages I knew are dead. Two of your adventuring team members are badly injured and can barely move. Even with healing magic, they won’t be mobile until tomorrow. Your leader is still moving but is busy saving as many lives in town as she can with the last of her magic. There might still be straggler demons around, and townspeople keep trickling into the square for protection, too.”
“I guess that’s all true, but seriously? I’m really the strongest fighter left in town who isn’t completely beat up or busy saving lives?
“Other than me, yes.”
Nicole didn’t try to hide her judgement as she asked, “Okay then, speaking of power, Mr. Fifth-rank ‘Bonded, why the hell didn’t you help with the fighting until the entire town was about to go down?” She could tell the words had stung him. The man scratched his head, a mixture of irritation and sorrow crossing his brow. For a second, she wondered if she’d pushed him too far. For all she knew, he wasn’t even sane, and he was still carrying Pasha’s sword.
When Thato answered, a shadow of his grief he’d shown in the town square before fighting earlier was reflected in his eyes. “Have you ever done anything for a decade or more, fully given into a change, a habit?”
“I don—”
“When I stopped being who I was, when I ‘died,’ I gave up everything, left it all behind. I thought I had no choice. My money, my house, even most of my gear, all gone. I left my...family behind, too.
“There were so many times I wanted to let go of my disguise, protect someone, save someone. A year after I’d become Tom Visage, a year after I’d ‘died,’ the town I was living in was under attack by bandits. I couldn’t do anything. It was terrible. I still think about all the people that died that I could have saved.
“After that, I moved again, trying to find a safer place, but there’s no such thing on Ludus. It seemed like every month I had to remind myself not to act, to be still. It became like a religion. My reason to exist was to be still. The only time I could fight, realistically, was if everyone else were already dead, and I also killed all the enemy. This time around, I just couldn’t bear to live that way anymore, and by the time I’d figured it out, it was too late to save some people it turned out I really cared about. As always, I am a fool.”
Well, that was heavy, thought Nicole. Out loud, she said, “What is the actual story behind your disappearance, anyway? You were rich and famous.” Despite her dislike of the man, the way his voice had become more wooden, the obvious traces of his pain had made her feel some sympathy for him. She was also suddenly very curious about his life. How had Thato Jacobs winded up in a small town like Action?
“What do you think you know?”
Nicole said, “The story that most people hear is that you and your wife were both found dead in your room with the door still locked from the inside, that you’d both been murdered. It’s officially still a mystery. Of course, there are rumors that you never died, or that you and your wife came back to life, or that you were recruited by Dolos or God to fight for them directly. There are still sightings of you reported by the gossip papers in some of the cities. I’d always figured it was sort of like Elvis being spotted back on Earth.”
Thato’s jaw worked for a while, like he was arguing with himself. Finally, he began to speak, and at first his tone was slow and flat like it had been earlier. “I killed my wife.”
Nicole wasn’t sure what she’d been expecting him to say, but that had definitely not been anywhere close. “Wha—”
“I still don’t remember what actually happened. One moment we were having dinner, and the next, I was waking up, covered in blood, next to my wife’s body. At the time, I didn’t know what happened and I still don’t know. A good family friend, actually a few of them, got a dead body to stand in for my body. They were all convinced I was innocent, that someone or something had infected me, or possessed me, or knocked me out while they killed my wife. My friends gave me a chance to go into hiding, and...I took it. Without even knowing who my enemy was, I didn’t know what else to do, and I couldn’t chance being near the rest of my family in case I would also kill them.” By the time he’d finished, his face had screwed up and his words were ragged. It was obvious that this was not a story he’d told very often.
At first, Nicole wasn’t sure what to say, if anything. She knew she should just say that she was sorry and let the matter drop. Instead, her mouth moved before her brain could okay the action. “So something terrible happened and you just ran away from it? What about your daughter?”
“She thinks I’m dead. I t
old my father my wishes and he respected my decision. She’ll never know the truth.”
“But it’s been like 10 years now, right? You had powerful enemies, even I know that. Has anything like that day ever happened again?”
Thato’s mouth firmed. “No. But when I made my decision, I didn’t have years of experience to draw on. All I knew was that my wife was dead, and I wasn’t even going to get to bury her. The love of my life might have been killed by me. I was mourning my wife, my life, my...sense of trust in myself. Turning myself in and being investigated wasn’t even an option, because if I was a target, I could be used again. After disappearing, after my friends made me officially die, I spent a few months alone in the wilderness to make sure I wouldn’t start waking up in strange places, losing my memory or control of my body.”
Nicole’s mouth worked and she finally asked, “Why are you telling me all of this?”
Thato looked directly forward, not even glancing at her as he answered. “That’s not a bad question. I’ve told fewer people than I can count on one hand in the last decade about what really happened.”
After a pause, he said, “I guess the answer is because you already owe me your life tonight, and you’ll owe me for it again soon. You found out that I’m ‘Bonded, and I think I needed to talk about all of this after finding Maggie dead, the only person in this entire country who knew who I really was before. Whether telling you is selfish or not, I had to get it out of my system. My life for the last few years has been fake, but it still became real to me, and now it’s over. I can’t live in Action anymore after this. This is going to be like the second time I’ve died, given up everything.”
Delvers LLC- Surviving Ludus Page 40