War Aeternus: The Beginning

by Charles Dean

  “But. . .” He reached for the right words, trailing off when he saw his health slip dangerously close to the bottom. “But Augustus is not going to hand you everything. He will give you a chance, but he wants you to prove your worth with the value of your spirit. That’s why the request he is giving you, through me, is not unsurmountable. It’s just one man, one man between you and freedom. Do you think you can do that as a whole? Do you think all of you together can finish off the last obstacle?”

  Silence. Of course, they don’t know me.

  “Well, now is your chance to prove the strength of your spirit. Now is your chance to show the great god Augustus that you are worthy to be his followers, that this boon and salvation he has granted you wasn’t for nothing. Are you ready?”

  There were a few blinks. Am I really that awful at speeches? This is worse than my proselytizing. “Well, you better be,” Lee chuckled to himself. The worry, the tension, the anger . . . none of it seemed to matter at the moment. It had all evaporated away with the realization that this was the end for him.

  Lee gave the guard what he wanted, yanking the chair out of the way and letting the man burst into the room. He shot in, momentarily thrown off balance as his momentum carried forward, and then went right back into a fighting stance.

  “I got you now, you blasted worm,” the man said, lunging at Lee.

  Lee didn’t bother trying to parry but backed up further into the crowd of mute slaves instead.

  “You’re going to die right here, and that stupid false religion of yours is going to go with it!” The man smirked as he thrust at Lee again, but he just backed up once more, the crowd of slaves making way for the two like a school of fish avoiding a predator in the water.

  “This was your last chance to be one of his chosen, to regain the dignity their false deity had taken from you, and to regain your lives in Satterfield,” Lee said to the slaves as he continued to back up. “But, if you don’t want that, don’t worry. Augustus won’t force it upon you if you’re so ungrateful you can’t even reach out for it when it’s right in front of you.”

  Finally, there was a reaction. It wasn’t a big one, just a tiny metal cup that was thrown at the guard’s head which harmlessly bounced off of his leather cap, but it was a reaction.

  “Hey!” the guard yelled, turning in the direction the object had come from.

  Lee took advantage of the situation and reached out, quickly thrusting his sword into the guard’s back now that his clunky shield wasn’t perfectly blocking it.

  Lee pulled his blade out quickly as the guard turned around to face him again, but as soon as the man did that, more attacks came. This time it wasn’t cups, but fists, belts, elbows and kicks. They rained down his back like a hundred small pebbles, none of them doing significant damage, but all of them adding up quickly. Lee didn’t have to raise a hand now, he just watched silently. He was already down to thirteen hit points, and they were still draining from his earlier injury as the prisoners violently murdered their captor in front of him.

  Your party has killed Frank the Tank. Your party has been awarded 60 copper, one tower shield and 135 Experience. Your share of this is 30 copper, one tower shield and 68 Experience.

  Well, at least I took a few with me, Lee thought as he sat down on one of the beds.

  “Now, when I’m gone, remember what Augustus has done for you . . .” Why am I still preaching? Especially for that stupid, annoying, drunken ape that sent me here to die? It’s over for me. “Remember that he gave you your freedom by teaching you to take it for yourself. That, if you’re patient, and if you think well, an opportunity will always come for those with faith. Just don’t let it pass by . . . Don’t take it for granted . . . Don’t be . . .”

  Lee had more to say on the subject. He wanted to give a rousing speech before he passed on so that he would at least be remembered by someone. The guy who saved their lives, that will give my name some longevity past my corpse, right? So tired . . . Three hit points left. All this talk about Augustus isn’t going to block me from going to the real Heaven, is it? Lee smiled, a small laugh escaping. I’m dying. Why am I laughing? He toppled over. No, I’m not dying. The fight’s over. I’m just . . . I’m just going to rest my eyes for a second. That’s all I’m going to do. I’m going to rest my eyes for a moment and—

  Lee’s thoughts came to a halt as he slipped, too tired to be afraid, into death.

  ——-

  Ling’s feet carried her forward as fast as they could, but it was still barely enough to keep up with Weiser’s quick movements. Even if Weiser did stop every now and again so that Ling could gain ground on the furry animal, her pet was simply moving too fast. I have to find him. I have to find him before it’s too late. The thought ran through her head, repeating itself like a mantra despite the pain it seemed to cause.

  Everything seemed to have started the day she met Lee. Her savior. It hadn’t been a particularly fortuitous meeting. When she first laid eyes on the shabby-looking, oddly-dressed man, she had already been kidnapped and tied up after being dragged through the forest and beaten several times before finally being tossed next to a rock and forced to watch as other people ate. She had been hungry, cold and miserable when she first saw him, so nervous and shaking that she was basically acting on autopilot. He killed her abusers, cut her bonds and helped her regain her footing in the world, yet she didn’t even say so much as a simple ‘thank you.’ It was a point she would have regretted if she had thought about it at the time, but she couldn’t actually remember thinking about anything before he had rescued her.

  In fact, as odd as it was, the first thought she could actually remember having that was her own was only from a day ago. Before that, her entire life had basically been on autopilot. Yet, once that first instance of self-realization occurred, the memories flooded back to her one after another. She recalled training with Lee for half a day. They had sparred, talked, sparred, talked, and overall, they had a good time despite the rather tragic backdrop to their situation. She hadn’t really considered anything more of it, even if it had happened immediately after rescuing Shannon. It was then that she remembered watching Miller gruesomely murder the kidnapper. She remembered that Miller was Lee’s close friend. Even though part of her had really wanted to go with him in order to prove that she wasn’t helpless, she had obeyed him when he told her to be patient and wait.

  Why did I listen to him? She actually began to question her own actions and what had spurred her to that particular course of action as he recalled the event. Another twinge of pain, albeit duller this time, shot through her head as the question arose.

  She hadn’t even planned to follow him. She had planned to stay put just like she agreed. She was going to go home, wait for him to come back, and that would be that. But then she went home and found her dad sitting in his chair holding Weiser.

  “Ling, while you were gone, some nice young man named BeardsExtraChin was able to find and rescue your cat, Weiser. You should really thank him the next time you see him,” her dad said, petting the cat.

  Ling had been befuddled—not just by the fact she didn’t remember Weiser running away, but by the fact that a strange blue box had appeared letting her know that her affection for this man, BeardsExtraChin, had gone up. She tried to figure out exactly what the blue box was, and why she should listen to it, but then her head started to hurt. It wasn’t just a small pain, but a sharp, driving, stabbing sensation. She imagined that it felt similar to what it would be like for someone to cut her skull open and go to town on her brain with a miner’s pick.

  It was then that she realized those same blue boxes had been appearing her entire life. Those boxes were what drove the autopilot she lived by. They were there to teach her how to walk and how to talk. They were there when her father taught her how to shoot a bow and to swing a sword. They had been there every step of every day, always letting her know how to do something, how to react, how she felt about someone, and how quickly she was progress
ing as she learned new skills. She had simply accepted them without actually thinking about them. After all, she was operating on autopilot, and no blue box had told her to become self-aware.

  Now, however, she was conscious of them. Each and every time she thought about that fact and how she used to be, her head hurt even more. The pain grew worse, intensifying with every errant and unprompted thought or action, and it felt like she was caught in an ever-intensifying loop of agony. But she was determined to persevere and push through it. She refused to give up and return to how things used to be. The torment continued and continued to grow until, finally, it was as if she had crested a wave and had begun a downhill run. Her thoughts began to come easily and fluidly, and the pain became less and less.

  That was when she remembered Lee. This man saved my cat too, she realized. In fact, a different man has saved my cat every day this week. Did Weiser run away every morning? She was curious, but she was also determined to either focus and follow through with the line of questioning until the discomfort either dulled, or it was no longer noticeable. She wasn’t going to be dissuaded any longer.

  She thought about Lee, the cat, and everything that had happened, and she came to one solid conclusion. I need to talk to Lee. I need to ask him if this is because I started believing in Augustus. Are these thoughts, this awareness . . . Is this his doing? Is this some byproduct of the tragedy, or has an actual god interfered in my existence? She was fully aware of the fact that, even though she had lived for years, she couldn’t remember a single time she had contemplated anything. She had always just obeyed the blue boxes, liked who they said to like, hated who they said to hate, went where they said to go and waited for someone to rescue her stupid runaway cat, morning after morning. Has the god, Lee, or misfortune granted me this strange clarity?

  When she went to the tavern, ready to stay the night waiting on Lee to return if needed, she passed by three men she hadn’t seen before. She wasn’t planning on eavesdropping, in fact, she often avoided listening to men talk when they thought no one could hear since the subject was always crude, cruel or bawdy, but she just couldn’t help it. She overheard their topic of conversation and how they were going to butcher ‘that stupid Herald and his pet brute.’

  Lee . . . that’s . . . They’re after Lee and Miller?! She panicked, her eyes opening wide as she turned around and stared at them. What are they talking about?! Why are they going to do that? She brushed off the pain as her ears perked up and her feet slowed down. Instantly, she was doing everything she could in order to listen in on the conversation without being obvious about what she was doing.

  “That man is going to taste my blade before he even gets close to the camp,” one of the men boasted.

  “Yeah, I’m going to split him from top to bottom and offer whatever falls out to the big man,” the other bragged with a laugh.

  They kept on for a minute, but then they were out of earshot, and she couldn’t hear anything else they might have said.

  Ling looked both ways, ducked behind a corner, counted to two, and followed after them. She had absolutely no experience trailing people, but she knew enough to try and not to make her footsteps noticeably loud. After a while, she even started to match her footsteps with the man in front of her so that they would be even less noticeable. One of the blue boxes, the kind that had first tormented her with these brain pains, appeared in front of her.

  You have learned the proficiency skill Sneak. This skill is currently at Initiate Level 1. This skill improves one’s ability to stay hidden, move silently and act undetected.

  Ignore it, Ling resolved. She had seen messages like this more times than she could count, but now she didn’t want to bother with it. She didn’t want to risk taking her eyes off of the group. They were on their way to kill Lee, after all, and she couldn’t risk missing out on any important bit of information if they gave her any more clues as to what was going on.

  A block before they reached the edge of the town, Ling was suddenly unsure of which path to take. I can’t follow anymore; it’ll be obvious if I do. I don’t have any weapons, either, so if I start chasing after them now, they’ll just discover me . . . and I’ll be right back where I was when Lee saved me. I can’t let them ambush and kill Lee. I need to stop them.

  Finally, she decided to watch to see which direction they were leaving from, which direction they headed in, and then go get weapons before tracking them down. She wasn’t exactly the best fighter with a sword, though she considered herself fairly proficient, but she was confident that she was the best in town when it came to a bow. I got this, she thought as she clenched her fists and ran to her house as quickly as she could.

  She reached her home in record time, swinging open the door to her home and moving across the room so fast the candle next to her dad was almost blown out by her backdraft. Instantly, her cat leapt out of her father’s lap and ran out the door. Ignore it, Ling resolved once more. She made her way to her room and dug through her stuff, grabbed a bow and several arrows and a short sword just in case.

  “Your cat ran off again!” her dad grumbled.

  “He seems to do that a lot,” Ling answered with a shrug as she loaded up her quiver.

  “Does he? I wouldn’t know.” Her dad didn’t even look up as he went to pet an empty spot on his lap, causing no small level of discomfort on Ling’s face when she noticed.

  Once she was armed, she made her way to the part of town from which those men had left only to find her cat curled up and waiting. As soon as she came near to him, she bolted in the exact same direction she had watched the men leave. Weiser even ran through the exact same two trees where she had last spied the men as he exited into the forest.

  Is . . .? Is Weiser following a scent? She blinked, unable to piece together what was happening.

  Weiser, who was almost completely out of sight, turned back to give Ling one last glance before taking off again. Not to be outdone, Ling chased after her cat. It wasn’t long until she saw the feline standing still and staring her direction as if to say ‘Come on, I’m waiting on you.’ They ran for a while, and whenever she tried to slow her pace down and take a breather, Weiser would run out of sight again, forcing her to keep up.

  All the running paid off, though, and the duo finally caught up with the three men she had been pursuing. Two of them had been killed in what looked like a clean conflict, but one was mutilated to the point he was barely recognizable. His chest was sunken in and disfigured, the top half of his chest cavity had been ripped open and his collar bones had been removed. The missing bones had been stuck in each of his eye sockets, and his mouth was hanging open and filled with blood, likely from his missing tongue.

  Did he bite off his own tongue because he couldn’t take the pain? Ling swallowed down the bile that rose in her throat and used the excuse of looking for signs of Lee or Miller to take her eyes off the corpse’s horrifying visage. She scoured the area twice, and even though there was no sign of either, whatever relief she felt at the fact Lee and Miller weren’t already dead was stifled by the morbid image that had been burned in her head.

  This is . . . This is what they did? Her eyes unconsciously returned to the mangled body. I saw this exact type of thing earlier at the tailor’s home . . . Why didn’t it bother me the same way then?

  Thankfully, Weiser’s meow drew her attention away from the horrific sight. That’s right! Just because they killed these three, it doesn’t mean they’re safe. There will be more ahead. Ling gripped her bow tightly and started running after the cat once more, determined to catch up with Lee before he wound up dead.

  Her feet carried her forward with as much speed as she could muster. I have to find him. I have to find him before it’s too late. She kept going for longer than she was comfortable with, pushing the boundaries of her endurance. Finally, when she was giving up hope that her legs would be able to keep up the pace any longer, and after she had begun to doubt whether or not her cat was even leading her in the right d
irection, she heard the sounds of people shouting and screaming. She slowed down at last, legs aching and out of breath, just long enough to get her bearings. The last thing she wanted to do was rush headlong into a bad situation and be caught unaware or make things worse. She couldn’t make out much through the trees, but she could plainly see a giant pillar of smoke rising into the sky ahead of her.

  That’s them. They must be in the middle of it, so I need to be careful, Ling cautioned herself as she slowed down from a run to a walk and readied an arrow. She wanted to rush in as quickly as possible, but she knew better than to give up an archer’s greatest weapon: initiative. As such, she crept along toward the buildings, bow in hand with an arrow nocked, ready to help out at the first sign of trouble. She had almost reached the encampment when she caught sight of a man running toward the back of one with four others chasing him. He was still too far away for her to make him out clearly, but she knew without a doubt that it was Lee from the way he was dressed. She looked to her right, toward the burning building, and saw a giant man, likely Miller, fighting with a guard as well.

  She approached the building carefully, simultaneously trying to figure out where best to approach from and also keep an eye out for any other combatants, when she noticed that another man was sneaking around to cut Lee off. Crud, if he keeps circling, they’re going to have him trapped. I have to do something about this! Ling panicked, deciding to give up on her stealthy approach altogether. She took off racing toward the building, circling around the entrance and going after the lone man who had peeled off to trap Lee. Despite her haste, she was too slow. Even before she was within range and with a clear shot, she realized that it was already too late to prevent Lee from falling into their trap. Even as she pulled back the string on the bow, she saw that Lee was already on the ground, being kicked around by one of the oafs.