Scourge of Souls: The Realms Book Four: (An Epic LitRPG Series)

by C. M. Carney

  Gryph muttered under his breath, his hand moving across the Scourge’s chest like a drunk man.

  “Give your soul a purpose!” the Scourge roared, failing to notice the dim, silver glow building around Gryph’s hand. "Choose now, service or death.”

  Gryph grinned and stared the Scourge straight in the eyes, the facade of false confusion and weakness falling away. “You know, I think I’ll go for option three.” The Scourge’s eyes went wide in alarm and the serpents hovering over him moved to strike.

  They were too late.

  Gryph grabbed the gem, an artifact his Identify talent named a Soul Reliquary, and finished casting Emancipation.

  Pure silver light flowed into the gemstone and pulled Gryph’s consciousness with it. He surged down a tunnel of multi-hued light and then he was inside the odd pocket dimension of the Soul Reliquary. Gryph had experienced a similar place once before when he'd journeyed inside the Barrow King's soul haven. While that world was a reflection of Simon's childhood home, this one presented itself as an endless expanse of arid desert. The dim remnants of a dying sun cast a baleful glow over the harsh terrain.

  Gryph flew over the landscape, his body flush with the positive radiance of a free soul. He spun and dove. Below him dozens upon dozens of circular openings came into view. Gryph flew lower and hovered. Each hole was an immensely deep pit. He extended his senses down one of them. At the bottom, far beyond the reach of his eyes, he sensed a soul, trapped, afraid, longing for contact, longing for release.

  “You are free,” Gryph said in a whisper that reverberated across the land over and into the pits. Desperate cries of hope rose in a song as silvery, ethereal spirits rose from the pits, each keening in joy. As one, the spectral cadre stood and stared up at Gryph.

  Gryph floated to the ground and landed on light feet in front of the arrayed spirits. There were men and women, young and old. Each one bore desperate expressions of confusion and loss. One, a young girl who was no more than twelve years old, stepped forward.

  “Where do we go?”

  Gryph paused for a moment. He did not know where they would go now that he had released them. He thought back to the Scourge’s taunt and understood the lie the creature had used to deceive. “You can choose the bleakness of whatever afterlife your soul has earned.” Gryph had seen parts, the barest hints of his soul’s journey. The soul was eternal, and no matter how wretched a life one had lived, the soul always had a chance to earn redemption in the next.

  He sighed and knelt down to the shimmering soul form of the girl. “I do not know what will happen to you, to any of you, when you leave here, but there is something that exists out there, that will be forever denied you if you stay here.”

  “What is that?” the girl asked, a desperate tear trickling down her face.

  “Hope.”

  The girl smiled and turned back to her fellow souls. A moment later she launched herself upwards on contrails of silver light. Gryph watched her surge skyward and then, as if passing through some unseen threshold, she flared to the brightness of a newborn star and disappeared.

  One by one, the rest of the gathered souls did the same. Soon the harsh landscape was empty save for Gryph and the spectral form of a woman. Gryph recognized her. She was the Vex woman the Scourge had slain.

  “How long have I been here?”

  “No more than an hour.”

  Her eyes snapped up to Gryph. “It cannot be. It felt … eternal.” Gryph had no answers for her and simply shrugged. “If I leave the Princes of Chaos will lay down their wrath upon me.” She turned and looked across the stark desert of the Reliquary. “But, that is better than this endless nothingness. I thank you.” Then she zipped skyward, flared to brightness and disappeared.

  A rumble built in the ground and around Gryph the pits filled and closed. Soon the rumbling stopped, leaving one lone pit. Gryph walked to the edge and peered down. This one was endlessly deep and ancient.

  A piercing scream burst from the pit and a rush of darkness knocked Gryph to the ground. He rolled to his feet, instinctively casting Soul Shield. A moment after his casting finished a mass of soot laden smoke slammed into the shield with a rage filed scream. Gryph grunted, willing his shield to hold. A moment later the flowing blotch of darkness pulled back and coalesced into the form of a raven haired, human woman.

  “You are the Scourge.”

  Her hateful stare pushed a bone-deep chill straight to Gryph’s soul. “You have released my chattel,” the woman said with a hiss.

  “I have freed those you imprisoned.”

  “Blasphemer. They gave themselves to the High God. Who are you to steal them of their choice?”

  “Your choice was a lie, as are the words of your false god. Aluran, Bechard, Morrigan, whatever name he calls himself he is nothing but a small man terrified of the fate he has earned. And I will kill him.”

  “He is the High God. I have served him since the beginning of time, and I will serve him until he becomes the Eternal All.” She rushed him, her body expanding into a clawed apparition of smoke and silver flame.

  Gryph extended his hand and unleashed a volley of Soul Bolts. They exploded into the Scourge and sent her flying backwards. The power of his attack shocked Gryph. Is Soul Magic somehow stronger here?

  The Scourge scrambled back to its feet and gripped her side, shocked at the damage she’d taken.

  “Tell me where Ferrancia is,” Gryph demanded.

  “The Messenger Goddess?” the Scourge asked in surprise. “She serves the High God, as I do. What could you possibly want with her?” The Scourge gazed at Gryph oddly. Then she grinned. “You care for her?”

  Gryph gritted his teeth, refusing to give the Scourge anything.

  “Keep silent if you wish. It will not aid you. I am the Scourge, and this is my world. Here I see all, I know all. How do you think I convinced so many souls to join the quintessence? I exposed their fears and showed them their fates should they reject the High God.”

  “You lied to them.”

  “Truth is so … subjective. When the High God becomes Eternal, his truth will be the only truth.” The Scourge launched herself at Gryph, dodging around another volley of his Soul Bolts. She slammed into Gryph’s Soul Shield and somehow pushed her way through it. She latched onto his chest, her back feet becoming smoke laden claws that tore into his stomach. She grabbed his head in her hands and started to squeeze. “I wonder what the High God will do to Ferrancia when he learns of your interest? Perhaps he will let me take her.”

  The Scourge squeezed harder and Gryph screamed. He punched feebly at her, unable to dislodge her. Then, deep inside him a warm glow built and spread up his body and into his forehead. His Prime Godhead flared. Blazing light poured over the Scourge, and she screamed, tumbling to the ground. She scrambled onto all fours like some insectile creature and stared at him in shock.

  “I know you,” she spat. “You are one of the betrayers.”

  “The only thing you need to know is that I am your doom.”

  She spat again and leapt at him. Gryph thrust his hand out and caught the Scourge by the throat. She tore at his arms and face with her claws and burning acid flowed through him. He ignored the pain and started casting.

  “You will not hurt her. You will not hurt anyone, ever again.” Silver energy twined around his wrist and he spoke in a clear, quiet voice. “I wish I could say that I hoped you find peace. That someday you can make amends for the stains on your soul.” Gryph finished casting Soul Rend and pushed the incantation into the Scourge. “But I would be lying. I want you to burn.”

  The sound of a hundred thousand bits of cloth being torn asunder rose across the barren landscape as the spectral body of the Scourge ruptured and split. Silver light flared and then with a boom, her soul flashed skyward and disappeared.

  Gryph looked up and then fell to his knees. A rancid taste filled his mouth and his very being felt stained. He now understood the warning that had accompanied Soul Rend and wondere
d what consequences he would face for crossing that line.

  He couldn’t, wouldn’t dwell on it. He would face the consequences of his actions when the time came. For now, he had a job to do. He looked upwards, felt himself transform into pure soul stuff and zipped upwards. A moment later he was back in his own body.

  Gryph’s lungs heaved, like a man awoken from near death. All the pain of his previous battle with the Scourge punched into him and he fell onto his side. In front of him, wide eyed and empty stood the man who had been host to the Scourge. No longer animated by a soul, his body collapsed. The Soul Reliquary slipped from his neck and clattered to the ground near Gryph.

  Gryph reached out and clasped his hand around the gemstone. The souls that had illuminated the smooth stone were gone, leaving nothing but a deep blackness. Gryph pulled the Reliquary to his chest and gave one last glance to the man whose body had held multitudes. Who he’d been in life, Gryph would never know. Hopefully his soul would find peace.

  Time to find Brynn. Gryph focused his attention on the Soul Reliquary and activated Psychometry. The perk enabled him to read impressions left on items. This could include the memories of those who touched or owned the item, important events that had occurred around the item, and a whole slew of other impressions.

  Gryph’s mind was overwhelmed with imagery, so quickly and so fast that he could not focus. He opened his mouth to scream as the emotions of dozens of souls slammed into him, each one begging for attention.

  Normally Gryph would have a better than even chance of filtering the images in search of the information he sought, but this was no ordinary situation. The Reliquary had been host to over fifty souls, each one experiencing everything in the Reliquary’s vicinity. The onslaught proved too much for Gryph’s already taxed mind and the visions fractured and disappeared.

  Gryph rolled onto his back with a pained grunt and stared upwards. He forced action into his muscles and pulled a healing potion from his satchel. Downing the warm liquid brought him enough relief to open his eyes. The liquid magic of the potion worked its way through him, scouring the last vestiges of the necrotic damage from his body. And with it the pain.

  Have I failed you Brynn?

  Around him the shimmering sphere of the Order Engine pulsed and dimmed and disappeared.

  61

  “Gryph?” Lex yelled. “About damn time.”

  Several pairs of hands lifted Gryph into a sitting position. He blinked away the last vestiges of pain and saw Lex and Errat kneeling next to him. Sean stood by them while Vonn and Ovrym had weapons drawn and pointed at the Scourge.

  “He still breathes,” Vonn said apprehensively and raised his sword arm.

  “Don’t!” Gryph yelled in alarm. “We need him alive.”

  “He is too dangerous,” Ovrym said.

  “Not anymore. He is nothing but an empty, soulless shell,” Gryph said. Ovrym’s eyes widened and Gryph feared the xydai would judge him for his use of Soul Rend, but the man said nothing and snapped his sword back into its sheath.

  Lex and Errat helped him to his feet. He looked at Lex in surprise. “Your arm?”

  “All healed up,” Lex said, moving it back and forth like a baby bird trying to fly. “You were gone awhile”

  “A while?” Gryph’s eyes snapped up to the Order Engine. “How long was I in there?”

  “Nearly a week,” the archon said, entering the room. Gryph’s mouth fell open, and he looked at Sean.

  “Yeah, apparently the archon is the tower, and the tower is the archon. So the tower just made a new body for him ... itself. It's kinda hard to wrap your head around.” Sean’s voice was that of a man relieved of a heavy burden.

  “I would have reformed sooner, but I was using my resources to heal the hole in the tower made by the Vex’s chaotic rune-form. It took substantial reserves of mana, but I believe I have counteracted that weakness.”

  “Well, glad to have you back, and my thanks for protecting Sean. He and his weapon would be in Aluran’s hands if you had not.”

  “What you do is important in more ways than we can know.” The archon dipped his head. “But I appreciate the recognition.”

  “Important how?" Lex asked.

  The archon turned to the NPC, cocking his head quizzically. “I would tell you if I knew, but I do not, so I cannot. I just know it is true.”

  “Never has anyone spoken more words without saying less,” Lex muttered.

  “You do it every time you open your mouth.” Vonn said.

  Lex scowled, but refused to take the bait and turned back to Gryph. “Do you know where Brynn is?”

  “No. I tried using Psychometry, but there were far too many images to process. I do know that the Scourge was with her recently, but I could glean no other information.” Gryph looked down on the Scourge, whose chest rose and fell in an unnervingly calm rhythm. “But he knows.”

  “How do you know that?” Ovrym asked.

  “Because he bragged about striking fear into the Pantheon.”

  “Yeah, but he doesn’t seem like a talkative dude anymore,” Lex muttered.

  “He doesn’t need to talk,” Gryph said and bent to one knee and cast Telepathic Bond on the Scourge. He closed his eyes and pushed his mind into the Scourge. The connection started to form and then failed, pushing Gryph out. “Shit.”

  “I knew that wouldn’t work,” Lex said. "His body may still be alive, but that doesn’t mean there’s anyone home to talk to. Let’s face it, we’re screwed.”

  “Perhaps not,” said the archon. “The biological mind is not all that different from the matrices used by the Lord of Order. Both are computational engines. Your biological version is much simpler, more primitive, but the underlying concept is the same. As long as this body lives, the information should still exist inside the brain.”

  Lex scowled at the archon. “I’ll have you know this biological mind contains an entire Lexicon, so maybe your order matrix thingamabob ain’t all that great.”

  “You contain within you vast potential, but as long as you are beholden to the vagaries of your biological mind, you will never reach your full potential.”

  “Did he just call me dumb?” Lex asked Vonn.

  “That you had to ask me should answer that question for you,” Vonn said.

  Gryph shushed both men and turned back to the archon. “So you’re saying you can access the Scourge’s memories?”

  “In a manner of speaking. I believe I can implant my base code into his mind.”

  “Is there any danger?”

  “Not to me. If the integration fails, then I will reform once more. However, the damage done to the brain if I fail would make a second attempt untenable.”

  “I don’t see that we have any other choice,” Gryph said.

  “Very well. I will deactivate this body. Once that occurs remove my Core Matrix and place it onto the bare chest of the body. It will take nine minutes and forty-six seconds for my code to meld with the body and work its way into the brain.”

  “Perfect, that will give us just enough time to rifle through this dudes stuff and distribute the swag.” Lex said, smirking at Gryph like a kid excited to open his Christmas morning stocking.

  Gryph shook his head. “We’ll see you in ten.” The archon nodded and powered down and its chest plate opened, revealing the energetic globe at the archon’s core. Gryph gingerly removed the Core Matrix while Ovrym exposed the body’s chest. Gryph placed the core onto the body. Thin filaments of light extruded from the core and wormed their way into the Scourge’s flesh, turning the tanned skin a pale, almost shining white.

  “Well that’s kinda creepy,” Lex said and then clapped his hands together greedily. “What say we loot a body?”

  Gryph smiled, for once as excited as Lex to see what loot the Scourge had dropped. He triggered his Identify and examined the suit of magical silver cloth that had proved so effective against them in battle.

  You have found Magebane Aegis (Light Armor)(Chaos Magic). />
  Item Class: Major - Item Category: Passive/Active.

  AC Bonus: +22 (+5 Major Item Bonus).

  This fine suit of silver black material provides the same protection as a full set of Enhanced Elven Chain Mail, and Mana Reducing Capabilities.

  Passive Power (1):

  Mana Reduction: When worn all incoming spells are reduced in effectiveness by 0.5% per level of Chaos Magic Mastery.

  Passive Power (2):

  Mana Absorption: When worn the armor will absorb 0.5% of the mana of any spell per level of Chaos Magic mastery. This mana is added to the user’s existing mana pool.

  Passive Power (3):

  Fitted: This armor is designed to fit the Scourge. +20% AC Bonus and +20% speed.

  NOTE: This armor is damaged and must be repaired by a skilled Mystical Weaver before being used.

  “Well that sucks,” Lex said. “I’m guessing one of you guys happen to be a Mystical Weaver?” He looked to Errat expectantly.

  “No, but Errat would someday like to weave, knit and sew magical garments.”

  “Keep dreaming that dream Versace.” Lex handed the Magebane Aegis to Gryph. “I’ll assume you’ll want to hold on to this.” Gryph nodded and placed the item in his soul bound satchel.

  You have found Argent’s Talon (Short Blade)(Chthonic Magic).

  Item Class: Major - Item Category: Passive/Active.

  A short blade forged from a talon of Argent the Hellwolf, a General in the Chthonic Armies of the Abyss. It was lost during the Twenty Fourth Abyssal Civil War. Any chthonic creature who sees this blade will attack the user on sight. A significant bounty has been set for the return of the weapon, but beware, bargaining with a chthonic being is rife with difficulties and dangers.

  Passive Power (1):

  Chthonic Damage: Upon a successful hit the blade does 0.25 points of additional chthonic damage per level of Chthonic Magic Mastery.