New Horizons (Emerilia Book 4)

by Michael Chatfield

  “There are a number of safeguards and other items on the portals that the Aleph had never been able to backward engineer.”

  “With an inactive portal, then those safeguards shouldn’t be in place, allowing us to study them more than ever before!” Ela-Dorn reminded him.

  “I know, but the risk is still rather high,” Hamdir said.

  “Risk big to win big,” Ela-Gal said.

  “Fine. I know when I’m beat.” Hamdir held up his hands in defeat. “Look after yourselves and let me know if anything goes wrong.”

  “We will, mother hen,” Ela-Dorn teased.

  Hamdir shook his head, looking to the Aleph standing in the controller room behind the teleport pad. They nodded; the teleport pad flared to life and a portal opened to Cliff-Hill.

  Ela-Dorn took a deep breath and looked to Gal. “Well, let’s go and see Emerilia.”

  “Sounds like an adventure.” Gal grabbed her hand and started forward, forcing them both into motion.

  Ela-Dorn felt the sun on her as she looked out over a large flat area made from stones. A bunch of armed and armored Dwarves looked at them from behind their shields. Their eyes thinned at the sight of the automatons.

  Dave and Deia walked through the dwarves, hand-in-hand. “Welcome to our home, Cliff-Hill. We’re not far from our home. We can go there to talk business. How fares things?” Dave asked.

  “Shard sends his regards. Most of your people have moved off to their next event. The guild hall is expanding. You don’t think small, do you?” Ela-Dorn said as Gal’s hand rested on his blades, watching the Dwarves and the others with detached interest. Ready for anything. The archers and fighters spread out, ready to protect their masters at a moment’s notice.

  “Ah, thinking small just limits one’s mind,” Dave said.

  The Dwarves started to walk off, seeing to their other tasks. Many were still eyeballing the automatons. They’d never seen anything like them.

  Dave held out his hand to shake Ela-Dorn’s. She shook it and then Deia’s. Ela-Gal repeated the gesture.

  “I have seen a lot of your feats, Deia, though it has taken too long for us to meet,” Ela-Gal said.

  “You are too kind.” Deia smiled at Gal. “I heard that you are interested in the spellsword fighting style that Anna and I use?”

  “I have seen it. The combination of your magic and your blade makes for a truly inspiring fighting style.” Gal smiled.

  “Shall we move to our house? Deia and Gal can talk about fighting things,” Dave said.

  “You just want to show off your toys. Don’t think I haven’t forgotten about you not practicing much recently,” Deia warned.

  Ela-Dorn held in her laughter at Dave’s expression. She smiled and looked to Gal, who was sizing her up.

  “Yes, I think that we will have to test your fighting skills once again. Better to be ready, right?” Gal’s studying eyes looked to Deia, who nodded seriously.

  Right about that point, Ela-Dorn was thinking that her face looked really similar to Dave’s.

  “Yes, let’s move this to your place.” Ela-Dorn waved Dave on.

  ***

  Ela-Dorn tried to form words, but she found she couldn’t. Deia and Gal were out front of the house, sparring and talking different fighting techniques. Some Stone Raiders clan members were hanging around, including two of Dave and Deia’s close Dwarven friends.

  The fighters and archers had stayed outside, watching for threats and being studied by the Stone Raiders around the home.

  They’d stepped into the middle of the house. Dave activated a spell that transported them somewhere else.

  “What is this?” Ela-Dorn’s hand rubbed the metal frame of the room they were in. It looked like a command center of some kind. The lights were similar to mage lights, but instead of runes, there was metallic string running to them.

  “This is called a seeder, one of a whole bunch. They were made to change Emerilia from what it was, to what it is today. It comes with all you might need for changing a planet’s ecosystem, including the bits that you need on Emerilia to make it like a game.” Dave led the way to the back of the command room and to an elevator. Ela-Dorn got in. It was a short ride.

  “So, how did you find this?” Ela-Dorn asked.

  “Mostly it was just luck. I wanted to get away from everything, so I picked the most remote place I could. I also happened to find this thing. I didn’t know it at the time. Bob thinks that because I’m a bleeder, that some of the things that should be restricted from my interface aren’t. It’s also how he laid the hint for the housing complex that we stumbled into.”

  The doors to the elevator opened; they stood on top of catwalks.

  “Turn on lights,” Dave said out loud. “It’s got a limited computer interface that recognizes me as the commander of this ship.”

  Dave was talking, but Ela-Dorn wasn’t paying much attention. She moved to the edge of the catwalk, her mouth open as the lights came on row by row. Stacked on top of one another was portal after portal. It was a massive storage facility of some of the most advanced technology on Emerilia.

  Dave gave her some time and opened his character sheet. He put in twenty stat points into his Intelligence attribute, ten into his Agility, so he didn’t start falling all over the place, and five to his Vitality.

  It was a rush as he moved around, getting used to the changes. Bit by bit, add it all together and then see what happens. Hopefully, the Demons are worth lots of EXP to kill. And the quest will give us a nice EXP bounty. He hadn’t been watching his levels before, but now that he was focused on them, he was acutely aware how few quests he had completed.

  He looked to his character sheet as Ela-Dorn wandered through the catwalks, looking down at the various items littering the seeder’s warehouse-sized storage facilities.

  Character Sheet

  Name:

  David Grahslagg

  Gender:

  Male

  Level:

  23

  Class:

  Dwarven Master Smith, Friend of the Grey God, Bleeder, Librarian, Aleph Engineer, Weapons Master

  Race:

  Human/Dwarf

  Alignment:

  Chaotic Neutral

  Unspent points: 501

  Health:

  18,800

  Regen:

  6.14 /s

  Mana:

  3,980

  Regen:

  15.75 /s

  Stamina:

  2,480

  Regen:

  12.70 /s

  Vitality:

  188

  Endurance:

  307

  Intelligence:

  398

  Willpower:

  315

  Strength:

  248

  Agility:

  254

  Level 124

  You have reached level 124; you have 501 stat points to use.

  Quest: Survival of the Fittest

  Together, the races of Demon and Beast Kin have worked together, making a foothold in Devil’s Crater. The Dark Lord, who sends his Demon Horde, hardened by a long journey and countless fights, sends them unknowingly into your home.

  He wishes to use it to grow his forces stronger. Show him your newfound strength. Rise from the history books that you were cast into and LIVE!

  Requirements: Defeat the Demon Horde

  Failure: Death

  Rewards: 1,000,000 gold to the Devil’s Crater Treasury

  Quest: Dwarven Master Smith Level 3

  You must craft 10 weapons of S quality with your Smithing Art (Currently 3/10)

  Rewards: Unlock Level 4 quest

  Increase to stat gain

  Quest: Friend of the Grey God Level 4

  Complete the Quest: Survival of the Fittest

  Rewards: Unlock Level 5 Quest

  Increase to stats

  Quest: Bleeder Level 3

  Complete the Quest: Survival of the Fittest

  Rewa
rds: Unlock Level 4 Quest

  Increase to stats

  (???)

  Quest: Librarian Level 3

  Conduct research that allows you to understand how to create your own teleport pad.

  Rewards: Unlock Level 4 Quest

  Increase to stats

  Quest: Weapons Master Level 2

  Kill one hundred enemies with every weapon type.

  One handed and shield: 13/100

  Two handed: 41/100

  Dual wield: 46/100

  Archery: 0/100

  Rewards: Unlock Level 3 Quest

  Increase to stats

  Quest: Aleph Engineer Level 4

  Help build 1 Aleph facility

  Rewards: Unlock Level 5 Quest

  Increase to stats

  Increased access to Aleph College Knowledge

  Thankfully, with my classes, I can keep gaining stats as long as I keep up with all the quests that it gives me. Making seven S quality weapons is going to be hard, but I could use the coin to back up the smithy and it would also show that we’re not just any smithy.

  Dave had found that with his higher Intelligence, he would frequently start thinking of his future and the plans he formed. Time didn’t seem as rigid for him. Though, once getting stuck into his mental fugue state, he came out more tired. Before he fell in anymore, he shook his head to clear it.

  Ela-Dorn was looking over a collection of portals just lying in wait, four stories of them stacked and ready.

  “Quite the sight.” Dave leaned on the banister beside her. “Huh, I guess Anna’s training to get me over my fear of heights kind of worked.”

  “And we can take one of these?” Ela-Dorn asked.

  “Yes, though I have a favor to ask.”

  “What?” Ela-Dorn looked to Dave, anxious that Dave would take the portal away from her.

  “Any information that you gain from these things, I want to know about it. I have plans for the future and these are a big part of it. I’m going to need to know a hell of a lot about them in the future to do what I want to.” Dave’s usually playful tone turned serious as he looked to Ela-Dorn.

  “We’re allies and I hope that we can become friends. I will share anything that I learn with you,” Ela-Dorn promised.

  “Thank you. Also, the first thing I’m at least going to try to play around with is dialing multiple, different locations. You’ve got it with the teleport pads, but these portals are hooked one-to-one with another. I want to see if we can’t change that.” Dave’s smile returned.

  “You’ve just learned part of how teleport pads work and now you want to not only bring portals online, but modify them?”

  “Remember, got to think big!”

  Ela-Dorn shook her head and looked over the facility. “How the hell am I going to be able to get one of these out of here?”

  “Well, that is the first hurdle. I have no idea.”

  Epilogue: Head Of The Serpent

  Lezar looked over the Demon Horde as it progressed. They were highly resistant to most diseases and poison, but that didn’t mean that they were unaffected by it.

  The Demon Horde was slow, most of them dealing with cramps and stomach flus that they had seemed to catch over the last couple of weeks.

  Lezar smiled as the afternoon turned to night. Among the Demon Horde were his own DCA soldiers. It had been easy for them to get into the camp.

  The Demon Horde didn’t care who walked beside them; they just weighed whether it was worth stabbing them for what they had or not. The Demon Horde was growing in strength, due to their uncaring murder of one another to take another’s belongings and food or to eat them.

  “Tonight’s the night.” Krenua stood beside Lezar.

  “That it is,” Lezar said. “I am surprised that it has taken the horde so long to start making leaders. If either of the plans are pulled off, then it will be the beginning of the end.”

  “It does feel good to have a purpose once again. When seeing the Demon Horde, I can understand why the trust that we’ve built up within the Devil’s Crater Army is so useful. Without it, we wouldn’t be much better than the rabble down there,” Krenua said, a look of disgust on his face.

  Lezar grunted in agreement, taking one more look at the advancing horde. Some were trying out their ability at flying, but it took time to understand how to do it properly. It also made beginner fliers vulnerable. It was easy to throw a rock at a new flier and bring them to the ground, stunned and weakened for another attack. Only the strongest Demons, those who had grouped together, or were just plain stupid, tried out flying.

  “Without their aerial abilities, we’re going to be able to bleed them on the ground. Their loss of mobility is going to be essential for completing this. Make sure that you target the winged ones first.”

  “There are only a third of them with wings, most of them with wounded wings. You can see the winged ones starting to group together as we had within our own horde when we crossed these plains. You and your brothers were the first of us to learn how to not only fly, but to fight while flying,” Krenua said.

  “Exactly. Wings give them mobility and advantages. Tonight, we’ll take out the leaders among the Demon Horde. The more chaos within their ranks, the longer it will take them to reach Devil’s Crater and the more we can bleed them.” Lezar’s stony features turned into a cold, pleased smile.

  “I’ll head down to the rest of the groups waiting. It will feel good to cut these ingrates down a bit.” Krenua looked over the two million-strong Demon Horde. His heart beat fast, a mix of excitement of battle and the fear of death that followed it.

  “Good luck, Krenua. Bring me their heads.” Lezar held out his arm.

  Krenua braced forearms with the general. “We’ll sow the ground with their blood,” Krenua promised.

  Lezar nodded.

  Krenua headed down the hill that they were using to watch the slowing Demon Horde getting ready to make camp for the night. Krenua jogged through the forest, his footfalls light as he made nearly no sound in his movements.

  It was only through his mini map that he was able to find the Demons assigned to the mission, every Demon from Lezar’s brigade.

  They had traded their service clothes for rags in most places. For this mission, the Beast Kin were held back, as a very last resort. For this to go off without a hitch, the Demon Horde would have to think that their leadership was killed from within.

  Krenua waited, looking over his interface, checking the linked scouts that were updating the map constantly with where the Demon Horde’s people were.

  The Demons who had already inserted themselves into the Demon Horde camp also ran updates on certain high-value targets.

  Dusk turned into night. Demons tried to hunt food down. Brawls started between the hungriest. With no meat to be found, the Demon Horde was not averse to killing their own and cooking them for sustenance.

  Still, the DCA waited; the night came and the biggest fights came and went. Darkness descended as the Demon Horde started to fall asleep. The night’s air smelled metallic, telling of the victims who had already fallen.

  “Go,” Lezar said over the brigade-wide channel.

  The Devil’s Crater Army started to stand up in groups, heading into the Demon Horde’s camp. They looked like hunters who were just coming in late. There were around fifteen thousand of the DCA soldiers who were part of the operation. Facing over two million other Demons, it was hard to figure out that they were part of the same group.

  Krenua waited for his group’s turn. They moved forward, relaxed and muttering among themselves as they got closer to the camp.

  “Hope that there’s some damn meat to be had in the camp,” Krenua said as they walked.

  “Well, if there isn’t, then we’ll have to make some of our own,” another said with a bloodthirsty smile.

  “Look at these idiots—more scared of one another than of the creatures that should be in this area.” Ilia shook her head.

  The camp seeme
d to be formed into a sort of arena: Demons around the outside, with the interior empty except for those brawling. The Demon groups had their backs to the forest, watching their fellows they thought of as a larger threat than the natural beasts.

  Krenua shook his head, agreeing with Ilia’s observation.

  “Easier for us,” Krenua said, as they moved toward the marked targets. “Spread out, so we don’t look like a group.”

  They moved apart. A Demon made a pass at Ilia, slapping her ass. Her sword took off their arm; their leering smile turned into a howl of pain before she slit their throat. He made choking noises, causing three other Demons to draw their crude stone weapons and move up to help.

  Their faces showed looks of shock at the saw blades suddenly emerging from the Demons’ chests.

  The DCA left the dying Demons.

  It’s pretty messed up that we’re kind of killing our younglings. They were made from the same base as us, though they’re pure destruction. The Dark Lord’s perfect tools: they’re dumb, strong, and loyal as long as they’re fed. Simple fact is that they’re coming to destroy my home and do that sadistic fuck’s dirty work.

  “What are you doing?” a large Demon said as Krenua walked past him.

  The Demon didn’t feel anything as Ilia’s blade cut out the tendons in his knee, dropping him down before she took his head off in a powerful blow.

  “Killing you,” Krenua said, not feeling an ounce of guilt as he moved into the sleeping area. Other groups of DCA moved into the area also.

  Krenua walked under a low-hanging tree to see three demons wrapped in their wings, sleeping around a tree. One of them looked around, her hand on her weapon.

  Krenua didn’t give her time to react, putting his blade through her eye and into her skull.