War Aeternus: The Beginning

by Charles Dean

  “Wait, are you going to use them to cheat on gambling games? Do you these mice secretly run casino scams with you? Wait! I know! You keep them hidden because they’re usually busy running a miniature gladiator arena where they murder and sacrifice other small creatures and insects in the name of Augustus!” Miller’s speculations caused Lee to almost drop the new creature as he laughed, imagining each of these things.

  Actually, he’s right. We’d be great at gambling, Lee thought to the pair.

  In truth, he was struggling with wrapping his head around the concept of Ethan existing within two bodies at the same time. If it weren’t for the fact he had already become used to seeing the world from two pairs of eyes, the concept of one being in two bodies would have been rather disconcerting. What’s worse, he was in three at the moment. His brain was being flooded with images and other sensory information from not only two points, but three. It taxed his brain to sort and organize everything appropriately. It had been rather easy to accept that he was seeing the world from two different perspectives when he had first created Ethan, but he was having trouble acclimating himself to a third position as well.

  He winced as he held his head. This, this will take a lot of getting used to. He wasn’t sure what a migraine felt like, but for the two minutes before his brain began to adjust, he imagined he was as close as possible to actually having one.

  “Oh, I’m sorry. Does that hurt your head when I pet him?” Ling asked as she quickly retracted her hand.

  “No, it’s just part of the process. I’m sorry. I didn’t expect it to hurt this much when I created another one. It wasn’t like this last time.”

  “So, I guess it’s out of the question for me to ask for one too? I wanted a miniature Paladin one! I was going to make him miniature armor and miniature spears and give him miniature boots so that he could march over his miniature victims with me.”

  “I think the world has enough miniature things.” Lee laughed at the idea, but both Ethans’ ears perked up as they listened. In coordination, the two mice turned to look at Lee. What? No. I’m not making you tiny sets of armor. What the heck ideas are you giving my pets?! He glared at Miller for a second.

  “Okay, fine,” Miller agreed, his spirit clearly dropping like a popped balloon. “No miniature mice men soldiers.”

  “So, I can still pet him?” Ling asked.

  “Yeah, have fun.” It was hard for him to say no to her, so he allowed the two mice to jump off him and onto her. Ling immediately began nuzzling into them. She looked so cute that he was tempted to focus on what the mice were feeling and experience what nuzzling into Ling must be like, but the idea didn’t sit well, somehow feeling like a violation, so he focused his attention on Miller instead. “Let’s just get back to killing. We’re losing daylight.”

  “That sounds great,” Miler agreed, scratching at his forehead. “I have been wanting to test which is more effective: breaking a bear’s rib or breaking a bear’s limb. Doesn’t matter which, but I have a feeling that Augustus demands that I come up with the best way to kill a giant bear.”

  “Are there bears around here?” Lee asked, looking from side to side. The wolves weren't particularly tough now that the group was larger, and they were a much higher level, but he had no idea how mean a bear would be. In most game worlds, especially ones like Dungeons and Dragons, bears could absolutely destroy someone while wolves often only ranged from very manageable to tough, so Lee wasn’t too keen on finding out how vicious or fierce they might be in this particular universe.

  “There’s only one way to find out,” he said, defiantly letting out a drunken shout at the same time. “We go and murder a ton of things until the scent of blood draws one out of hibernation and lures it into a great battle of life and death where it wrestles us for survival like the suns and moons wrestle the sky for the right to shine upon our faces in victory!”

  Huh? “You do know that the sun . . .” Lee wanted to correct him but brushed off the notion immediately.

  “Don’t bring science into art, especially not the holiest art of battle! Just embrace it!” Miller preached, pushing farther into the woods.

  “Yeah, just embrace it!” Ling giggled once before proceeding to ignore both of them and continuing to play with the mice.

  Fine, I’ll just embrace it—whatever that means. Lee harrumphed and followed after the oaf.

  ——-

  An hour or two later, Lee had managed to make a fair bit of progress. He had reached level 11, and he had raised Swordplay up to Initiate Level 7. His other skills didn’t seem to progress at all, but the extra two points to Intelligence and the extra point to each of his primary skills didn’t hurt.

  Even though this type of continuous combat was no different than what he often did when he was at home on his computer, it was a lot more physically and mentally taxing. It wore him down and left him fatigued in a way that no other thirty-six-hour-straight video game grind session ever had before. The strain of constantly worrying about whether or not he was going to die, if his neck was exposed, if something could get under his armor and bite at his sides, or if his special parts were within reach of a wild dog had left Lee exhausted in a way that he wasn’t used to. He felt like an old woman in a soap opera, and the only thing on his mind was grabbing a bottle of something alcoholic, a book and resting.

  They returned to his newly acquired bar a few hours later and found the four girls, the two guys and several newcomers sitting at the tables drinking and chatting quietly.

  He was a bit surprised, since he had expected at least a few of them to remain with their families for the day. But, instead, it seemed like they brought their families to the bar with them.

  Three men he didn’t recognize were patching up the parts of the bar that had been destroyed in the fight against Ramon, another was cleaning the bloodied floor, and someone had removed the Leprechauns’ bodies at some point. He also noticed that there wasn’t a single person from the first group to come down the mountain present.

  “Did you already kill them all?” Amber asked excitedly, blurting out her question the second she saw them. She jumped up from her seat and slammed her hands down onto the stone table she had been sitting at. “Is that . . . Did you three already murder their Herald?”

  Lee was puzzled for a moment, but then he realized he was covered in blood from head to toe. His armor was so brown and red from the mix of fresh and dried blood that he couldn’t even tell what color it originally might have been. Neither his face, arms, hands nor even his hair was much better. He remembered being trapped under a wolf at one point, the creature’s full body weight pressing down on his upper body and sword arm and stopping him from getting a clean blow in or from wiggling away. He had been doing everything he could to stop it from biting his face in half when Miller came up from behind it and shoved his spear right through the dog’s skull. The point of his spear had exited from the canine’s eye cavity and spewed blood all over him.

  That was only the most memorable of several instances that had left him in dire need of a shower, so he could only imagine what he looked like now. He was actually a little scared to use either pair of the golem’s eyes to confirm what he was already sure about.

  “Oh, no, this is . . . We were training. I don’t know how tough tomorrow is going to be, but it won’t be easy,” Lee said.

  “We could put it off another day,” Ling suggested. “I’m getting much better at fighting. Another day for training might be a big help. We could teach these guys a bit and help get them ready for the battle,” she offered. “I can show anyone who is an archer some of the tricks I picked up if it would be helpful.”

  “No, we will kill that Herald tomorrow. I can’t put myself in your shoes or know what you went through, but I do know that I don’t want anyone else to go through it again. We’ve already lost a day as it is, and we need the night to recover. Let’s not lose any more time than we have to. I don’t know what he’s planning, but I can guarantee you
he’s making preparations of some sort: buying mercenaries, hiring guards, something. I don’t even want to know what else he might be up to,” Lee said as he went to the kitchen.

  Miller had eaten all of the fried chicken earlier, so he immediately started rummaging through the freshly cleaned kitchen for something that he could cook up to go with the group's beer.

  Yep, I need a long bath, maybe some wine, and a good night’s sleep on a nice mattress with high thread count sheets. Lee went over the list of things he wanted to do between now and the siege tomorrow in his head. As soon as he closed his eyes, he was planning on asking Augustus to help him use some of his faith to go back to the real world so that he could get a little bit of a detox from the rather tough grind that he had gone through these last two days.

  “So, you want me to warp you into the real world so that you can spend some time with your family before your suicidal death march on a well-defended fort tomorrow?” Augustus’s voice asked out of nowhere while Lee was picking pieces of vegetables out of the oil he had used to cook them in.

  “Yeah. That’s possible, right?” Lee asked.

  “Sure. Just remember not to be touching anyone, and let me know when you’re ready,” Augustus confirmed.

  Well, that’s easy enough. I’ll just do it at bedtime.

  Lee carried a plate of fried veggies and other assorted fried foods into the main room when he had finished cooking. He passed out the food and then sat down next to Miller and Ling at an otherwise empty table to eat. They didn’t talk much, each devouring their food like crazy while washing it down with beer. Lee kept stealing glances at Ling the entire meal, trying to figure out what she was thinking about. He wasn’t sure if she noticed, but after she caught his eye when he looked over and gave him a smile, he decided that he should stop there. If he kept it up, he was sure it’d start moving the scale of creepiness closer to stalker than he was comfortable with.

  He wiped his mouth when he finished and stood up, ready to head to bed, but Ling stood up as well and followed him. He thought it might have just been a coincidence, but she remained behind him, even as he climbed the stairs to the second floor. He stopped when they reached the top floor and asked, “Did you not want to sleep at your own home?”

  “I won’t feel like you’re safe if no one is nearby. They’ve already tried to kill you once while you were asleep here,” Ling said. “Also, our house doesn’t have a bathtub, and I’m . . .” She looked down at her body and frowned. “I need a bath.”

  “Wait, are there two bath tubs? Or are we supposed to share one?” He hoped his second question didn’t come off as a creepy sexual advance.

  “Don’t worry about that. My brothers set up one of Ramon’s fancy bathtubs for you and Miller already,” Amber said as she snuck up behind Lee. “Since he’s still drinking and talking with the others, you can go first.”

  Holy crap, it’s another ninja! Lee nearly jumped out of his skin when she appeared. “Oh, uhh . . . thanks,” he said as she opened a door for him to show a metal bathtub filled two-thirds of the way up with a tiny fire under it.

  “I’m sure you’ve never seen one like this, but it has a special draining system so we don’t have to lift it up to toss it out. All you have to do is push that lever, and it’ll empty on its own. But since Miller is coming up after you, be careful not to hit it. He’ll probably want to clean up too.” She smiled, and it was so warm that it probably could have melted ice.

  Lee nodded, having trouble taking his eyes off the girl. “Yeah, I’ll be sure not to hit that lever.”

  Amber extended an arm in offering and said, “We’ve got two bathtubs set up for girls as well if you want to join me, Ling. I haven’t cleaned up yet, either.”

  Ling’s eyes darted between the door, Lee, and Amber’s arm, but then she nodded and took the other girl’s arm, and the two stepped into the room across from his own.

  So, you go from ogling Ling all day to staring at Amber in two seconds? Lee kicked himself. Can’t you at least pick one girl you like and stick with her? He couldn’t help but feel guilty. A part of him believed any connection he had with Ling was nothing more than that of his role as a leader, her fellow party member and the guy who had saved her. He was an inch away from being positive that anything else he was picking up was all in his head, but the idea of instantly switching his interests to Amber still bothered him. Even if she does have those hips . . . and legs and . . . Nope, nope, nope. Just go take your bath and relax, Lee. He slapped both sides of his face, walked into his own room, disrobed and slid into the giant bathtub.

  “You wanna warp over now? You might not get another chance. All you have to do is lean back and go to sleep. That shouldn’t be too hard after a day like yours, right?” Augustus asked, the god’s voice taking away any chance he had at a bit of peace. He knew that the deity was probably always watching, but it was an entirely different thing to have someone talking to him while he was naked. “Oh, stop acting like that,” Augustus continued when Lee moved quickly to cover himself up. “You have nothing to be ashamed of! You’re part of my blood, after all.”

  “Still, you could at least learn when to give a man some peace!” Lee grumbled.

  “Whatever. Do you want to go to your home world right now or not?” Augustus asked.

  “No, I’ll wait for bedtime. This will do for now,” he said.

  “Suit yourself, but you should know . . . your mother was planning to buy some brownie-bottomed cherry-glazed strawberry cheesecake to give to you at the hospital. You really don’t want to miss out on that. I know the bakery she has programmed into her phone, and it is delicious,” Augustus said.

  “They let animals eat there? Maybe I shouldn’t have any.”

  “Hey! HEY! My human form’s face is not that ugly!” Augustus shouted in mock protest. It was clear from his tone he wasn’t mad.

  “How would I know? I’ve never seen you as anything other than an animal,” Lee retorted.

  At the mention of the word ‘animal,’ he noticed the pair of mice shook their heads vehemently while raising tiny fists at the nothing. Fine, fine. I won’t compare you to Augustus.

  “I have no idea how those things got so much personality. Normally, golems are only supposed to blindly follow exact orders. But suit yourself,” Augustus said. “I’ll be waiting for you to make up your mind, but I don’t see why you’re stalling.”

  Probably because I want to talk to Ling again before I go to the other world, Lee admitted to himself before settling back into the tub.

  ——-

  He actually dozed off while relaxing, so he wasn’t sure how much time had passed before a knock on the door came.

  “Lee! Are you decent? I’m coming in in a minute!” Miller shouted through the door. “I’ve got a towel for you, but I don’t want to interrupt any of your weird deity-power-stuff if you’re summoning some sort of devil in there.”

  “No, no summoning going on in here,” Lee answered, standing up.

  As soon as he did, Miller walked in and tossed him a towel.

  “Ling left for the night, and she asked me to tell you that she’d do something awful if you left without her in the morning, but I don’t feel like repeating it.”

  Drats. She left ‘cause you fell asleep. “Wait, I thought she said she was staying here?”

  “She was, but her dad came and got her. Anyway, sleep well. I can’t wait to hear about the murder plan you have for tomorrow.”

  “Yeah, the murder plan . . .” Lee had forgotten that he even needed to come up with one. This isn’t exactly the type of homework you can turn in at the last minute! I need to actually put together a strategy . . . But how exactly does one siege a town? Augustus, you got any ideas? He actually expected the shapeshifter to be reading his thoughts. No? Nothing?

  Miller scratched at his chin as he submerged himself into the water. “It better involve me killing someone in at least one new and unique way. Lately, I feel like I’ve really hit the end of my r
ope on creative kill styles.”

  “Sure thing. I’ll do my best,” Lee said and left, making his way to his room. He couldn’t make out much due to the lack of lamps, but the light from the hallway illuminated enough to show him the direction of the bed, and that was good enough for him. He made his way over to it in the darkness and flopped down, only to have half his body land on something lumpy.

  “Owe!” The queen-sized bed squealed as Lee did a mixture of jumping and falling off it.

  “I’m sorry! I fell asleep waiting,” a voice said from within the sheets.

  “Who is there?” Lee asked. “What’s going on?”

  “I’m sorry. It’s me! Amber! Please don’t kick me out! I just don’t want to sleep alone,” she pleaded.

  “Why don’t you sleep with one of the other girls then?” Lee asked. “I mean, I’m—”

  “A guy? I know. I just thought about everything this morning when my friend almost died under that door. I can’t stop thinking about all the stuff they did to us, how they treated us, and I thought about how you came and saved us.” Her voice was more confident now than he had heard it so far. “I just thought that, if you were here, I’d feel safe. If I was with one of the girls, I’d feel like I was back at the mine. Please, just let me stay here tonight. I don’t want to be by myself. It’s terrifying and scary and . . . please, just let me stay.”

  Lee sighed. Oh, what a burden it is for me to have to sleep with a hot girl in my bed. Let me cry about it. He chuckled silently to himself. Sharing a bed with someone other than Ling felt wrong, but he still wasn’t sure where he even stood with her.

  “Well, we have a busy day ahead of us, so just make sure to get some rest,” he said, climbing back into the bed and lying down on his side and facing the wall.

  “Thank you,” she said.