Orc Glitch- The Mad King

by KJ Harlow

  “May I be honest with you Cal?” The orc nodded. “You’re too weak to be of use to us right now.” Cal relaxed his grip on Cist’s shoulder. “But that isn’t going to be a problem for too much longer.” Cist stood up and started moving from Lightblade to Lightblade, uttering quiet yet warm words of encouragement, reassuring touching a shoulder or listening and nodding to grievances that had to be aired.

  He exuded an aura not only of competency but also power. His people gravitated towards him and seemed to relax when he spoke to them. Cal wondered how long ago he and Javal met and how much time they had spent together. Even in separate cities, it was clear that they were cut from the same cloth.

  “Apologies for leaving the conversation hanging like that. We were in the middle of planning our next major operation to enter the Catacombs and free Fairshade.” He looked lingeringly at the boy, who was playing with toy soldiers roughly hewn from a dark wood. “It’s important that the young ones have the right guidance. That is the only way that they can thrive in the world.”

  Cal smiled. Cist was so focused on his role as Leader of the Lightblades that he didn’t realize that he very fittingly filled the role that he was just talking about.

  “We’re going to launch a co-ordinated attack on the Catacombs and go deeper than we have ever gone before.” He started moving towards a large, round, wooden table. “Come.” Pieces of parchment were organised in neat piles around a larger central piece. It a complex grid with many square or rectangular chambers, colour-coded and complete with a legend in the corner.

  “As I said before, we’ve lost many Lightblades scouting out the Catacombs. It’s not just a prison, it’s a death trap.” He pointed at the red boxes. “These locations are where we have lost men due to traps.” He shifted his finger across the page, tapping blue boxes. “These are safe zones. We have found only three so far.” He pointed them out. Cal didn’t bother counting, but it looked like there were over 200 chambers that filled the map.

  “What are the safe zones?”

  “They automatically replenish HP and MP. Monsters also cannot enter these safe zones and they render anyone who goes inside them invisible.”

  “Monsters?”

  Cist looked at Kai. “Yes, all manner of creatures that live and breathe only the stale, stagnant air of the Catacombs.”

  “What sort of creatures?”

  “We have a beastiary that we have been adding pages to when we find new monsters. You are free to have a look.”

  Kai wiped his mouth; he was salivating again. Cal resisted rolling his eyes. “I take it these creatures are quite strong then?”

  Cist nodded. “Yes. Making it a perfect place for training and raising your EXP.”

  Cal understood. The purpose of them going with the Lightblades was two-fold: rescue Fairshade and get stronger in the process of doing it. It was grinding 101.

  “Can we create check points as we go along?”

  Cist shook his head. “There is ancient craft cloaking the Catacombs preventing one from creating check points. Our highest level craft wielders have no way of circumventing it.”

  Cal nodded. Once you’re in, there’s no going back… unless you die.

  “Are there any bosses in there?” He watched Cist’s reaction. When he looked nonplussed, he elaborated. “Errr… big monsters that are really hard to kill.”

  “I’m sure there are,” Cist said. “But there are none that we have seen yet.” He pointed to a box at the edge of the map. “This is as far as we’ve gone. There is a… creature we’ll call it who prevents us from going any further.”

  “The lightblades have died facing the creature?”

  Cist shook his head. “They attempt to answer her riddles and if it she is unsatisfied with your answer, it transports you back to the beginning of the dungeon.”

  Cist furrowed his eyebrows. It sounded perplexing but piqued his interest. It was fun hacking, slashing and being a bad-ass magic user, but he loved a good riddle.

  Cist moved towards a room that had a lot of crates inside it. He made a come hither motion with his fingers towards Cal and Kai. They eyed the map one more time then followed Cist.

  The room didn’t look that big from the outside. Inside, crates were stacked 50 high with more space on top. They filled the walls more than 100 across. Cal glanced across and saw familiar pink vials in some and green vials in the rest.

  “MP and HP potions.” Cal looked at Cist. “There must be thousands them. How did you get so many?” Cist looked back at him, an eyebrow raised. “Forget that I asked.”

  27

  Enter the Catacombs

  20,156th Cycle

  16-Hyten

  “No, like this.”

  Jon held the thin yet heavy knife, the ribbed hilt in his palms. He expelled his breath and threw it at the same time. It slammed into the canvas target 50 yards away. Straw dummies dropped down and swung in line with the trajectory of his throw. He made a pulling back motion, his hands balled beside his head. Finally, he yanked sharply to his left, the heads of the half dozen dummies thudding into the ground.

  “I’m ahead of my friends. They can’t even form the Lightblade yet.”

  Kai growled at the boy. “How long have you been doing this anyway?”

  “Pa said ever since I could walk. ‘If you can walk, you can throw.’ Try again.”

  Kai grimaced and turned to his targets. Knives littered the floor at the bottom of the target. Only one had managed to stick and it had embedded itself in the straw outside of the target. It clanged to the floor as he stared at it, unable to protect the werejaguar’s dignity any longer.

  Kai held the knife the same was as Jon, handle in his palm, flat blade between his index and middle finger. He held his breath, visualized himself hitting the target then expelled it and threw the knife straight. It spiralled through the air, clattering into the ground three feet short of the target.

  Jon sighed, shaking his head, his red-brown cowlick swaying to and fro. “Needs some work.”

  “You little–”

  “Doing some target practice are we?” Cist strode in and made a beeline towards his son and ruffled his head.

  “Kai is, not me.”

  Cal came entered the room. He took one look at the scattering of knives then raised an eyebrow at Kai.

  “Why would you even try learning this? You’re a lance wielder not a knife or dagger wielder.”

  “Silence.”

  “It doesn’t hurt to try, though I do agree with Cal. I’m sure your talents lie elsewhere. In fact,” he gestured to a Lightblade standing by some levers with his arms crossed. She pulled the one closest to her and ten row’s worth of straw dummies thudded down, swaying in the air. “Why don’t you show us how you do it?”

  “Really? You want me to…” he inched towards his Blood Lance leaning on the wall. Cist nodded. “It helps us if we ever need to fight lance wielders.”

  Kai hesitated, torn between the desire to show off and unnecessarily giving them intel. He bounded over to his Blood Lance, the former winning the battle. Cal shook his head.

  “Alright, what do you want to see first?”

  Acquired 40x HP Potions!

  Acquired 40x MP Potions!

  “Are you sure this is OK?” Cal asked, putting the potions into his satchel one by one.

  “Yes I’m sure. Don’t ask again,” Cist said. “You’re putting your life on the line by helping us so the least we can do is help you preserve that life.

  “I’m like them, Fetter’s soldiers.” Cist looked at him with a raised eyebrow. “What I mean by that is that I respawn when I die. I will regenerate at a check point within half a moonshift. You might say that I’m immortal.”

  “All the more reason why you should join us then,” Cist said. He turned back to put more potions into his own satchel. “You and Kai will be very useful to us as human shields.”

  Cal and Kai shared a glance. Jon helped his father, glancing nonchalantly at the pair. �
��Will you two lighten up? I speak in jest.” Jon’s face cracked into a wide, mischievous smile. Cal laughed nervously while Kai stared stone-faced at Cist.

  “Alright, ready to go?” Cist stood up. He pulled his mask back over his mouth. A long piece of fabric extended from the hood, swishing down past his waist. He casually threw it black, revealing a belt full of knives.

  “Why do they call you, ‘Lightblades’?” Cal asked.

  “Because we can use mana to create blades that are so sharp they can almost cut through light,” Jon blurted.

  Cist laughed at patted his boy’s head again. “He’s not far off. In the past, the mana we attach to the handles of our knives was the width of two fingers. It reflected moonlight, giving it the appearance of a blade made of light. We have since refined our techniques so that our mana blade is string-thin, almost invisible but impossibly sharp.”

  “Anyway, the moons wait for no one. Let us rise back to the surface and make our way to the Catacombs.” He called out to a Lightblade putting some crates away. He ran off and came back with a couple of fabric pouches. “Apologies, we just can’t take the risk.” He gave one each to Cal and Kai.

  Cal’s legs ached from the climbing; it almost made him wish that he didn’t have to use them… almost. The warm, slightly stuffy feeling of being in Lightblade HQ gave way to fresh, crisp air. The moaning Hyten gales greeted them, the bags flapping around their heads. A pair of hands helped pull them up and they stood there and waited.

  “This way,” Cist’s voice said. It was disconcerting walking with Lightblades when they were in assassin mode. Cal couldn’t hear them, he obviously couldn’t see them and he couldn’t sense them either. For all intents and purposes, he and Kai was walking in a strange and dangerous city with bags over their heads. Word would have surely gotten back out that Col and his team were ambushed; soldiers and eryn would have been swarming all over Thaylia. Slight nudges this way and that were the only instructions Cal and Kai received to change direction. He relaxed; the Lightblades had rescued them after all. While he still knew relatively little about them, anyone who wanted opposed Fetter was an ally in his book.

  “Wait here.” Cal felt a pair of hands press down on his shoulders and he stopped walking.

  “Orc.”

  “Don’t speak.” Cist’s snapped. Cal could feel the werejaguar’s annoyance through the dark fabric of the pouch over his head.

  There were two pops followed by heavy slumps to the ground. Large wings flapped and the sound of eryn squawking could be heard, then nothing.

  Without warning, the bags slipped off their heads. Cal shut his eyes and opened them slowly. Remnants of respawn light in front of him. They were outside, but standing from a long opening. Cal could just make out a stone door about five yards in. Hyten couldn’t be seen, while Flulia was still far enough to not share her light with them. Torches burned at the opening, creating shadows over the paved sandstone floor.

  “This is the Catacombs?” Cal asked.

  Cist nodded tersely. “Let us enter first; I will tell you more inside.” He led Cal, Kai and half a dozen other Lightblades in. Darkness shrouded them again, the light from the torches falling well short. Cist grunted. Stone ground on stone. He pushed again and there was more grinding. With one final shove, the doorway opened up. Fathomless darkness beckoned them to come in.

  He looked back at Kai. “Would you like to go first?” Kai’s surprised, red eyes reflected the little light from outside. He glanced at Cal, straightened up then nudged past Cal. He stared into the darkness, walked in and promptly disappeared.

  “Your turn.” Cist shoved Cal with more force than he anticipated. He stumbled in and fell, the chasm swallowing him and his bellowing scream whole.

  In space no one can hear you scream.

  That’s all Cal could think about as he hurtled towards the ground… if there was a ground. He started counting late, but it felt like he had been falling for at least 40 seconds. Had he completely fallen for Cist’s ruse? Were they being shoved into a bottomless pit to wither and die? Was he really siding with Fetter or a more sinister foe?

  Cal had the uncomfortable sensation of his stomach being pushed up against his lungs as he decelerated. He floated over a square, grey tile for a moment before he dropped and stumbled forward. Kai was standing with his arms crossed in a sandstone tunnel, leaning against the wall. Rows of torches in wall brackets illuminated the way forward.

  “Took your time, orc.”

  Cal looked up; there was no light. The only indication there was a way out was the square tile. He walked towards Kai. “What happened?”

  “We were transported to the Catacombs.” Kai uncrossed his arms and walked towards Cal. He grabbed him by his right tusk and turned his head.

  “Go away, I don’t have creeperslugs in my brain.” Cal looked up just in time to see the first Lightblade float down. Over the next two minutes, the remaining five came down, standing in a row against the sandstone wall. Cist came last. He landed lightly on the gray, pulsing tile and straightened out his vest.

  “Really knocks the wind out of you the first time, doesn’t it?” His usually flat eyes twinkled; Cal could see where Jon got it from.

  “So these are the Catacombs then,” Cal said.

  “Yes. Oh before I forget,” he reached into his satchel, pulled out a piece of parchment and handed it to Cal.

  You have obtained Map of the Catacombs!

  Keep track of the booby trapped rooms, unexplored rooms and boss rooms with this map. This map will automatically appear in your visage; you do not have to take it out to view it.

  “I have an Ability called ‘Track’.” Cist touched his hand to the map. It glowed faintly then became normal again. A cluster of cursors at the bottom-left of the map started blinking. “It helps me keep track of people in my party and my clan.” Kai nodded, clearly impressed.

  “Are we able to see monsters?” Cal asked.

  Cist shook his head. “We’ll see them when we see them. Speaking of which…” his eyes flicked out towards the torchlit tunnel. Someone – or something – stood there at the very end. It was hunched over and leaned over to its left. It noticed the figures at the other end of the tunnel and started shambling towards them.

  “Examine.”

  Rotters

  The souls of people who have died in the Catacombs remain in the Catacombs forever. They are able to animate corpses and thirst for the flesh of the living.

  Cal dismissed the message just in time to see one of the Lightblades step aside. He deftly threw a blade that zipped past the rotter, entwining itself on one of the torch handles. With a flick of his wrist, the rotter’s head had come off, thudding into the floor. The body continued walking forward, unaware that its head was gone.

  Kai stepped forward, ignited his lance then drove it into headless body. With a whoomph, it caught on fire. The head wailed as the body burnt. Kai put his hand on its chest as it walked through his lance, keeping it an arm’s length away. It eventually fell limp. He pushed it off with his foot and watched hundreds of tiny blue wisps break away and float into the air. A blue shard was left in its wake, which Cal picked up.

  “Do you want it?” Cist raised his palm and shook his head.

  “Look.” Kai stepped ahead, pointing his lance at the tunnel. What looked like a rotter but slightly taller stared at them. It then broke into a sprint.

  “Examine.”

  Rotlord

  The souls of people who have died in the Catacombs remain in the Catacombs forever. They are able to animate corpses and thirst for the flesh of the living. The Rotlord has spent several cycles in the Catacombs, feasting on the living flesh and has the capacity to run – really fast.

  “My turn.” Cal stood in front of Kai. He drew his axe back with both arms and flung it at the Rotlord’s neck. It jumped at the last moment. The attack severed his torso from his legs, which kept running towards Kai. Kai changed grip on his lance and smacked the legs at its kneecaps. T
hey skittled on the ground like bowling pins. The head, torso and arms flew towards Cist. He stood motionless, arms by his sides.

  Half a dozen blades skimmed through the air puncturing the head like a ripe tomato. The torso hung in the air, swinging about as it clawed at Cist mere feet away. Foul innards plopped onto the sandstone floor and eventually it became still.

  Cist nodded at his men. Once the rotlord disintegrated, they withdrew their lightblades and sheathed their throwing knives. He walked past Cal and Kai. “Not bad, there will be stronger foes inside, so stay alert.” He continued in, the torches illuminating his lean yet muscular figure. “Once we get through this tunnel…” he stopped walking. Cal, Kai and the other Lightblades stood behind him. “More are coming.”

  No less than ten rotlords came through the other side of the tunnel. They spied the fresh meat and bolted at them. Dozens of rotters shambled behind their leaders as quickly as they could, keen to dig in.

  “Earth Wall!” Cal raised a wall that filled the space in the tunnel. It thudded into the top of the tunnel, trapping the body of a rotlord that had tried jumping over it but only made it halfway. The Earth Wall crunched its ribs and that rotlord was no more.

  Cal turned to his comrade. “I’m going to hold this Earth Wall for a while longer. When I drop it–”

  “I’ll use Fireball.” Kai nodded. He stood next to Cal and got into position. Cist and the rest of the Lightblades watched in silence. There was snuffling, groaning and scratching from the other side of the sandstone Earth Wall. How many were there? Cal watched his mana bar until a quarter of it had depleted. He looked at Kai, nodded then dropped his palm.

  “Raargh!” Kai’s Fireball roared away from him and engulfed the rotkin. It was a burning mass of undead flesh and screaming agony – and it was moving towards them.