War Aeternus: The Beginning

by Charles Dean

“I’ve never . . . I’ve never really been drunk before. Is that . . . Is that what it feels like?” Ling’s face had taken on a slightly pallid expression, but her cheeks were growing flushed even as Lee watched.

  “Can you do it again?” Lee asked. Since he had a background with video games, he instantly recognized the skill for what it was: a war cry. Miller was much less akin to the Paladins of his old games and more in line with a warrior, which made sense given his unnatural hunger for blood and battle even if he claimed he was doing it to spread justice. War cries or shouts that caused an area of effect with the user being in the center were common for almost every fighter class in all of his favorite games. They also either had time limits between when you could cast them again, ate up a lot of stamina, or had an effect that couldn’t stack to prevent the skill from being imbalanced. While he didn’t know which check and balance this one would have, he knew that there was no way it would be permanently spammable. Being able to keep an entire group of enemies drunk and benefiting from Appreciative Drunk at the same time—that was just broken.

  “Not for a minute or two. As soon as it wore off, I tried to use it again to keep that good, old servant-of-Augustus feeling, but man, the effect is too short-lived, and the cooldown is too long. What a letdown.”

  “Hold on.” Lee pulled out the Bible of Augustus. “Since you two are now members of the Church of Augustus, please place your hand on this Bible.”

  “What, you want to do your indoctrination here?” David looked skeptical. “Us saying it ain’t enough? You need a swear now? Should I polish a few doorknobs at your church later too? Come on. Cut it out. I said I was a believer, so don’t test me, boy.”

  Miller, as simple as he seemed, lit up. He immediately knew what Lee was doing. “Have a little faith in your god, David. Put your hand on it.”

  I hope this works. It’ll be annoying if they actually have to read it. Lee gave his own silent prayer as David extended his hand.

  “There!” Ling had beat him to it. “Now— Oh, wow!”

  “What? What is it?” David looked at Ling inquisitively. “You trying to pull the wool over my eyes? You guys having a go at ol’ Dave?”

  Ling pulled back her hand. “Just put it there,” she urged without saying anything more. The three just watched David extend his right hand and place it on the book. “Alright. What’s the— Cotton-tailed bunny babe! That’s a strange one! To be able to anoint people with power in such a quick and instantaneous fashion . . . I’ll never doubt you again!”

  “There are bunny girls?” Lee glossed over the second part of that as he took in the possibility of a were-bunny race. Wait, this isn’t like one of those anime where half-cat or half-bunny girls exist just for fanservice, is it? Lee wasn’t honestly sure if he was hopeful or annoyed.

  “Yeah, there are. In a sense. There just aren’t any of their towns near us. Why?” David was much more compliant to Lee’s stupid question than he had been before.

  “Lee, did something happen to you when you died?” Miller gave him a funny look. “I mean, when you were reborn?”

  “No, why?” Lee couldn’t understand the question.

  “I mean, you’re different.” Miller leaned in closer to Lee, his head swerving around as he eyed Lee in the same way a dog might eye another dog’s rear end on the first introduction. Lee half-expected Miller to sniff him as the large man’s squinted eyes studied Lee’s features.

  “Physically?” Lee touched his ribs while trying to figure out what Miller was talking about.

  “No.” Miller shook his head. “Same face. Same body. Ling, you notice it too?”

  Ling studied him silently for a moment then said, “Yeah, he is different.”

  “What? You can’t just drop that on someone without explaining it! How am I different?” Maybe it’s the divinity thing. Do I have an aura glowing off of me now?

  “You’re just . . . calm,” Miller answered. “Laid back. Not uptight.”

  I was never uptight! Lee wanted to shout, but he just took a deep breath, scratched his neck and brushed off the whole topic. “Whatever. Let’s just get going. We have monsters to kill.”

  Miller’s hushed voice was barely audible to Lee as he stomped down the path. “Different.”

  Did dying change me? Lee ran over the list of things he had done, the things that had happened to him, and his responses to them since he had been resurrected. He couldn’t help but think about his conversation with Augustus and the peace he had felt as he thought he was going to sleep for the last time.

  Peace . . . Lee thought about the word he had kept using in his own head to describe the experience. It was peaceful. I was even laughing through the pain. Lee started to understand what might be going on and became cognizant of the change in himself. I am more laid back. Dying has washed away my fear of death to some degree. Previously, I would have shied away from the idea of fighting unknown monsters—monsters that even trained guards couldn’t handle—at the bottom of a mine shaft so dark that it might as well be a dungeon.

  “A—” Lee was about to turn around and say something when Miller let loose another drunken warcry.

  “Ah . . . That’s the spot,” David sighed contentedly.

  “See, even that good feeling is better now that you’re a proper follower, isn’t it?” Miller slurred proudly.

  “If that ain’t the truth,” David agreed.

  “I still don’t like it,” Ling complained, a slightly whiny note in her voice.

  Having forgotten what he was going to say, Lee just turned back and kept going. Miller kept repeating the shout the rest of the trip down the shaft. He claimed he was only doing it because he enjoyed the feeling, and David wholeheartedly agreed with him, but there was also an upside for Lee as well. By the time they reached the bottom, Lee’s Appreciative Drunk had increased to Initiate Level 7, also increasing his Intelligence to 35. Unlike most other skills he had found, this strange inebriation-based boost apparently increased based on the number of times he actually became drunk, not based on how long the person was plastered or how much they actually drank.

  Another small benefit was that Lee was actually able to time the skill and learn how often it could actually be used. From what he could tell, Miller seemed to be able to use it roughly every two minutes, and after it leveled up, the effect lasted about eleven seconds. Lee, Ling and David became incredibly used to the feeling of popping in out of being in a state of being where they had consumed three drinks too many, and by the time they reached their destination, Ling wasn’t losing her balance any longer before the effects wore off.

  That’s going to be so helpful in battle, Lee thought as he saw Ling completely unaffected by the change and remembered how badly she had handled it the first time. If we ever get into a fight with a group of alcohol-hating nuns, we’re sure to win handedly. He laughed at the mental image of twenty nuns with weapons suddenly becoming drunk in the middle of a fight and not being able to even stand up straight.

  ——-

  Lee knew that they had reached their destination when the tracks veered off in a smooth but deliberate forty-five-degree angle to the right.

  “This is it, isn’t it?” Lee asked, putting a hand on the wall. The rock here was a shade darker than it had been at the other parts, and the ground was bumpier.

  “Yeah. It might take a few minutes to swap the tracks over, but when we get it open, there will be supplies on the other side. No one had time to grab all the torches when they ran,” David explained as he grabbed a pick axe lying on the ground next to the poorly-made rock wall.

  “Wait, what are you doing? Are we going to have to dig through that?” Miller asked as the pudgy began hammering away at the wall.

  “Well, I don’t reckon you can just shift through to the other side, can you?” David gave a hearty laugh and kept swinging. “There’s only one pick axe, so just give me a few. This wall wasn’t well built, and the support beams overhead are keeping the pressure off, so it’ll be easy
to knock through. Just wait.”

  True to his word, David made it through the makeshift wall in less than four of Miller’s war cries, even though he did pause every time Miller shot off a whoop just to bask in the joy of it. “There we go,” David said as he pulled away the last major stone. “That ain’t gonna let a cart through, but you and the big’n should be able to push through without an issue.”

  “Thank you,” Lee said, and he stepped inside with Ethan scurrying around his feet. He would have felt more comfortable sending the mouse in first, but he didn’t want his creation to get crushed while he was too far away to lend a hand. He didn’t know whether or not recreating the golem would restore its personality, and he was growing more and more fond of the little guy.

  “Surprised you don’t want your Paladin to go in first, make sure it’s safe,” David noted as Lee crept into the place.

  “Don’t worry. The Herald never hogs the blood and glory. If bad guys show up, he’ll be sure to let us kill a few of them too,” Miller said, resting a hand on David’s shoulder reassuringly.

  “I don’t think that’s what he meant . . .” Ling said.

  “Are you trying to steal all the Herald’s glory?” Miller asked indignantly.

  “No, no, no! That’s not what I’m saying. I’m saying it’s safer for Lee if you go first.

  “Safer for Lee? He is the God of Revival. If he dies, he’ll be back to life in no time. What safety is there to worry about? You’re just trying to get him to wait in the back so you can kill his share of the monsters.”

  Miller’s twisted reasoning made Lee chuckle. “I think I’m okay sharing the carnage,” he interjected, trying to end the topic. Ethan had picked up on some small movement ahead, and Lee wanted to focus on that instead of their bickering. Despite the rodent’s superior night vision, neither he nor the golem had been able to catch sight of whatever it was. There had been a flicker of movement in the dark, but it was gone again almost as soon as Ethan had caught sight of it.

  “You’re so generous, offering us all the—”

  Lee quickly cut Miller off as the Firbolg tried to carry on with the conversation. “Quiet, we need silence to hear them coming.”

  “To hear wha—”

  “Quiet!” Lee snapped again. He knew that they had been spotted, but he didn’t want to make any bigger of a ruckus than he had to—not yet, anyway. Lee frantically searched the darkness for another glimmer of movement, straining both his and Ethan’s eyes as he tried to spot any sign of the creature.

  With the way that thing is moving, and how big it is . . . Please don’t be capable of popping out from beneath our feet.

  Lee suspiciously eyed the floor of the tunnel for any sign that there might be something burrowing underneath it. The passageway was actually rather wide once past the rubble of the broken-down wall and was more than capable of allowing three people to walk abreast without a problem. The presumable monster he had caught a glimpse of had been a shadow that blocked out over half of the tunnel before it had vanished. If something that large could pop out from underneath their feet—and Lee had an eerie feeling that it could, given how quickly it dove into what looked like a solid wall—then they were in a lot of trouble. There was no way to defend against something that size popping directly on top of them.

  “It’s here.” Lee gave up on trying to catch sight of it again and just decided to notify the others that it was nearby so they wouldn’t be caught off guard when it attacked. “Whatever it is, it shot into the wall when we approached.”

  “That’s because the foul demons of this world cannot stand in the face of justice,” Miller proclaimed triumphantly, practically declaring their victory before a battle had even been fought. “We’ll just have to murder them when we find out where those slimy miscreants have crawled off to!”

  “I don’t think it’s that simple. There’s something here . . . something large and dangerous,” Lee muttered, trying to impress the warning on them one more time. “Watch your step, watch the walls—watch everything, and be careful.”

  Miller and the others kept quiet after hearing how serious Lee was. Miller was almost always confident of victory no matter what the odds, but now he just studied the walls and floor, his head visibly moving between the two as his focus shifted from one to the other. Seconds passed with nothing happening, and around the half minute mark, Lee regained just enough confidence to let his guard down so that he could begin to creep forward. Just as he took his first step, the beast burst out a wall right in front of the group. Rocks and dust sprayed in every direction as the monster appeared, whipping a long thigh-thick tail in Lee’s direction.

  Lee instinctively dropped into a defensive stance, digging his heels into the ground and throwing both of his arms up in front of him as he braced for impact. Amusingly, Ethan had done the exact same thing, even though the clay creation was so small the monster probably didn’t even notice it.

  Miller slammed his spear into the ground and activated his drunken stupor, causing everyone to feel inebriated just as the blow struck them. If nothing else, the effects of Miller’s shout worked wonders in dulling the initial shock of pain. Even dulled as it was, however, Lee felt pain explode through his forearms and chest as the scaled, two-meter-long tail slammed into him, sending him flying back into the rest of the group.

  Welp, there goes almost half my bar. Lee clutched his previously broken rib cage and hoped he hadn’t already reinjured himself. He almost felt relief when he stood up and wasn’t immediately greeted by a ‘your rib cage is broken, prepare to take damage over time’ message.

  “To Victory!” Miller shouted from behind Lee.

  Ethan, the closest to the beast, also raised his hand up like he was holding a spear and saying ‘to victory’ as well.

  What the heck is that thing? Lee peered into the darkness once again using the mouse’s sight as he tried to shrug off the sense of confusion the strange combination of effects left him with. He was halfway between drunk and sober and pained and numb. Appreciative Drunk reduced the effects of each, but it was still rough acclimating himself to the opposing sensations.

  Finally, he was able to make out something that looked like a cross between a Komodo dragon, a spider, and a dog. The twisted creature had the body of a dog with giant hind legs and stubby front legs that ended in sharp-tipped claws, but in addition, the beast also had extra sets of appendages as well. The first set protruded from its back, just above its shoulders where a dragon’s wings might be, and the second was just about a foot behind the first. These additional protuberances more closely resembled arms than legs, and the hinge-jointed limbs ended in giant webbed hands possessing six claws. The creature was covered in scales front to back and had a short, thick neck that ended in a snub-nosed head that looked almost identical to that of an incredibly large lizard with incredibly sharp, protruding teeth.

  “That’s . . .” Lee took a moment to try and analyze it for any visible weak points, but his feet were already carrying him forward before he even realized what was going on. It took a moment for his brain to catch up with the fact that he was charging forward without even being aware of what he was doing. When the cogs finally started turning, he immediately knew what was going on. This bravery is part of the courage that comes with the alcohol, isn’t it? So, not only am I unable to refuse quests, but I must also charge into battle when drunk? NOT FAIR! He screamed as his sword dug into one of the arms of the giant, blue-scaled beast.

  Miller, who was right behind Lee, jabbed his spear into the beast’s chest, his weapon maneuvering through the web of limbs and stabbing squarely into the thing’s lungs.

  “No way,” Lee thought aloud as he began hacking away with both swords. “This is too easy. Something is wrong . . .” The beast wobbled from side to side, only ever using its extra limbs to try and stabilize itself. Then, as if in response to Lee’s complaint, the thing righted itself and started attacking Lee and Miller.

  Just as the beast hissed at t
hem and lashed out with three of its six front limbs at Miller and Lee, an arrow zipped by and struck it in the eye. The creature’s hissing rose two octaves as it shrank back, withdrawing the giant, clawed arm that was about to strike Lee. The creature curled its tail around itself while it edged backward, threatening to whip it out at either of the two men at any second as it retreated.

  “It’s wounded badly! Go for the kill!” Miller shouted.

  “Wait, careful!” David shouted from behind them. Lee looked through Ethan’s eyes and saw the shaking man in the back next to Ling. “That’s . . . That’s what he does when he—!”

  He didn’t need to say any more. Before he finished his sentence, the flighty creature sprang forward and dove into the ground and began using the four, oddly-placed limbs on the front half of his body to tear through the soil as if they were duck’s feet treading water. A weird, dark orange magical symbol appeared in the spot the beast dug into, giving Lee the impression that this ability to tear through the ground was part natural ability, part magic.

  After the tail disappeared into the ground, David followed up his earlier warning with only one word: “RUN!”

  Rather than following his suggestion, Lee and Miller tightened their formation and prepared to go another round.

  “You think we scared the little bugger off?” Miller asked, holding his spear with confidence.

  “Well, I don’t think it liked that arrow that Ling shot.” Lee turned around and looked at Ling, who was backing up slowly toward the rock wall they had torn down before entering the dungeon. Wait, it’s going to do that attack again! It’s going to go after Ling! “Ling, just run! Get out of here!” He shouted the warning as he turned and sprinted toward her, both he and Miller trying to get into position before the creature could reach the young woman.

  As if on cue, the beast burst claws-first from the ground and swiped at Ling, catching her with enough force to send her bouncing off a wall and onto the ground.

  Miller and Lee both stabbed at it as the creature exited the earth. Miller thrust his spear into its rear twice, and Lee lunged forward, dodged its tail, lowered himself as much as possible, and sliced at the beast’s ankles. The beast hissed and tried to turn around as soon as Lee’s blade made contact, but as soon as it put its weight on the foot with the slashed tendon, it shrieked in pain, lost its balance, dipping low before catching itself with two of its extra limbs.