Empire Builder 1: Breed, Populate, Conquer

by Dante King

  “Did it work?” Melody asked.

  “I…I think it did, actually,” he said, turning to continue across the bridge. “I feel better already.”

  Ben’s shoulders were straighter, his body felt lighter, and his vision was clearer as he looked calmly at his surroundings. A smile touched his lips. His first spell as the Forgotten Ruler was already proving to be very useful. And it had worked without holding the relic, so evidently he was right that he didn’t need it in his hands after learning a spell.

  He was much steadier on his feet now, and his anxiety was greatly reduced, though he still proceeded cautiously. Melody still walked confidently as well, but with less of a spring in her step, now that he’d taken some of her courage.

  Halfway across the bridge, right when he was beginning to think they would cross without incident, a loud shriek pierced the canyon. Ben turned to look at Melody.

  She looked up and to the left. “Werebats!” she cried.

  Ben didn’t know what the hell werebats were, but they didn’t sound like the sort of creatures he wanted to get acquainted with while swinging on an ancient bridge over a deep chasm with a precious monster egg on his back.

  “I knew this had been too easy,” he muttered

  Then Ben turned to face the growing number of shrieks in the canyon, ready for whatever was next.

  Chapter Three

  The high-pitched shrieks of the werebats intensified as the beasts swooped into the gorge. With his hands gripping the ropes of the bridge, Ben whipped to the left to face the source of the sound. Melody, still behind him, turned to look as well.

  The bright sun had risen a short way above the horizon to the right of the gorge. As the werebats flew into view, their shapes absorbed the rays of light and blackened the sky. Their forms were the darkest black, like they were soaking up the sun itself.

  “What the hell kind of creatures are these?” Ben asked, his voice raised over the shrieks of the bats. His tone was confident and calm. Sure, he was nervous about the coming conflict, but the courage he had absorbed from Melody using his Drain spell gave him the fortitude to remain calm.

  He shifted his weight to keep the rucksack on his back steady. He didn’t want the egg he was carrying to be damaged at all, and he couldn’t take off the bag while they were still halfway across the ravine.

  “Werebats are so named because they are like a combination of a human and a bat,” Melody explained, her voice surprisingly calm considering the situation. “They‘re small flying monsters with disease-ridden fangs. Be careful not to get bitten.” Melody’s tone was grave, but she still bore herself with confidence. “If you contract a disease from these creatures, you will most likely die, and that would make all this for nothing.”

  “Thanks for the tip,” Ben shouted back over the growing noise of the werebats’ cries.

  He knew Melody had at least one spell herself. He hoped that together they could take these monsters down.

  “Let’s try and get to solid land again,” he called to Melody. She nodded, and they began shuffling along the rickety bridge again as quickly as possible.

  Ben put one foot out far too hastily and set the whole bridge to swinging wildly back and forth. He would have to be more careful. Falling to the bottom of this ravine would be no better than being bitten by rabid werebats.

  The monsters approached on an erratic flight path, hovering up and down as they grew closer. When they were little more than a hundred yards away, their shapes could be seen more clearly.

  There appeared to be roughly twenty of the creatures, all about the size of chimpanzees. Their black leathery wings flapped sinuously back and forth, causing their bodies to bob up and down.

  Their bodies were more like those of imps than bats—if imps were real, of course. Then again, there was a very good chance that imps were real in this strange new world. But that wasn’t exactly a productive thought to be dwelling on at that moment.

  The small humanoid bodies were covered in pitch-black fur. Their faces were also black, except for rows of sharp yellow fangs and gleaming red eyes. And on the end of each wing was a sparkling, wickedly sharp claw. Every now and then, one of the bats would open its vicious mouth wide to let out a horrible scream, an unholy shriek like the world’s loudest Wilhelm scream.

  Ben and Melody hurried down the length of the bridge as quickly as they could. But the werebats soon caught up to them, swarming around. Ben had nothing but his arm to shield himself with, and he didn’t want that getting bitten either by holding out an arm to ward them off from his face.

  Holding onto the ropes of the still precariously swinging bridge, he ducked low as the bats all swooped in for their first attack. Lucky for him and Melody, simply ducking was enough to make the beasts miss them this time.

  The screeches of the monsters were deafening, and their mouths were opened wide, fangs bared. And as they rushed over Ben and Melody, their awful stench, a scent like piss and garbage and death assaulted the senses. It took all the restraint Ben had not to puke where he crouched.

  Soon after they passed, they flew in long, lazy circles back around—they were coming in for another attack. Melody stood upright, one hand on the side of the bridge, her other hand raised, holding her wand aloft. Ben rose to his feet as well. He wasn’t sure how Drain would help in this situation, but it seemed like a better option than trying to punch these little fuckers out of the air.

  The monsters were coming back around from the right this time. The sun shone, illuminating the rockface, but again the dark wings and fur of the werebats blotted out the light like a black hole. Ben’s heart raced as the twenty faces locked their attention on him, their fangs bearing and more horrible shrieks bouncing off the cliffsides.

  And the faces looked even angrier this time as they swooped. Melody waited, holding her fire as they drew ever closer. Then a crackling noise sounded from the tip of her wand.

  The nearest bat drew closer, closer, flying in until it was only ten feet away. Then, with a sharp flick of her wrist, Melody cast her lightning spell.

  A tendril of bright blue electricity shot out, a boom crashing through the air, the lightning crackling straight at the monster’s face. With another boom, the werebat exploded, showering blood and entrails like a firework over his comrades. The stench of burnt flesh overwhelmed the smell of the bats themselves.

  The werebats all shrieked as one and flew high above them, trying to avoid the spray of their fellow’s detonated corpse.

  “Nice job!” Ben called out to Melody. He would have high-fived her, but he doubted she would understand the gesture.

  Melody smiled back, followed by a wink, and they quickly took a few more steps toward the end of the bridge, the monsters circling around for another attack. The bridge continued to sway, and Ben and Melody couldn’t move too quickly for fear of being hurled into the abyss below.

  Melody stopped as the werebats drew within range once more. Ben stood beside her, his hands clenched into fists as she prepared her lightning spell. He began preparing Drain, summoning the energy from inside him out into his arms. The energy moved down the lengths of his limbs all the way down to his fingertips. He could see the strands of energy inside each bat as they approached.

  Ben had used Drain on Melody at a distance of only two yards, so it made sense that the werebats would need to be close if he was to have a shot at them. Maybe when his powers developed he’d be able to cast magic from a greater distance, but not yet.

  A loud crackle, then a boom sounded as Melody struck another bat. But this time, the other creatures knew what was coming, giving their unfortunate comrade some distance as not to be showered by a hot spray of electro-charged guts as he exploded.

  Ben waited with his fists closed until the next bat was close enough to smell its fetid piss stench. Then, as he’d done to Melody before, he opened his fists and released the spell, targeting the green strands of the creature’s physical energy.

  The spell was so powerful tha
t Ben sucked every shred of physical power from the bat. The strands of energy were clear as day in his head, like thick ropes he could grab onto in his mind’s eye.

  So, he grabbed one.

  The creature couldn’t even scream. It opened its mouth in what seemed like shock, its eyes wide as it shriveled up like a scrunched-up paper ball and fell like a sheet of loose leaf paper onto the bridge. The shell of the creature was so light that the bridge hardly budged from the landing.

  Energy poured into Ben’s body as he absorbed the physical strength of the monster. His limbs burned with vigor as he stood up straight next to Melody, who was right on the verge of casting her spell again.

  With another boom, she detonated her third werebat, the shower of gore falling silently down onto the gorge below. Melody’s body moved lithely as she waved her wand before each attack. Her tail flicked back and forth, balancing her weight, allowing her to dance over the uneven surface of the bridge.

  Ben wasn’t sure how long she’d trained for, but her attacks seemed to him to have the practice of a master. He watched as she exploded yet another werebat, forcing the other monsters to fly over her head, missing their chance to sink their fangs into their intended prey.

  As the last bat passed above, Ben leaped into the air with a roar. The power surging through him was incredible. It was like every atom in his body was aflame, his muscles feeling strong enough to grab one of the werebats and rip it apart. The power was so sudden, so intense, that he felt unable to contain all of it as it flowed through him.

  Mid-air, he found himself face-to-face with a werebat, his mouth spreading into a grin as he pulled back his fist and smashed it into the monster’s face. His arm had all the power of a freight train, plowing into the werebat’s jaw.

  The bat’s face crumpled into its body with a crunch. The thin skin of the werebat tore, followed by the loud snap of every bone in its face cracking. The creature stopped in midair and fell straight down, landing with a dull thud, its face mashed into raw hamburger.

  With a laugh of pure exhilaration, Ben landed heavily back down on the planks of the bridge. The wood creaked underneath him, and he quickly moved his feet to avoid cracking the planks and falling through. As much fun as he was having, they weren’t out of the woods just yet.

  The werebats’ numbers were reduced to fourteen by now, but they appeared undeterred as they wheeled around to attack again. They clearly didn’t know what was good for them if they were prepared to face Ben and Melody after they had obliterated six of their comrades in the most heinous ways imaginable.

  They were too ballsy for their own good, too bold.

  Then a thought occurred to Ben: their courage was only getting them into trouble—maybe they’d be better off without it?

  “Yo, Melody! Stand back—I’ve got an idea.” He placed his hand on the soft curve of her hip, gently pushing her to the side and behind him. She frowned but didn’t object.

  Ben didn’t want her getting caught in the crossfire. If he sapped her courage as well, he didn’t know if he could give any of it back. The monsters needed to come near to the bridge if this plan was going to succeed.

  He waited for the whole colony of angrily screeching bats to come closer. Their glowing red eyes were filled with rage, and their rotten yellow teeth were bared. He held his energy in check, clenched his fists, and dropped below the level of the ropes, signaling to Melody to do the same.

  The bats drew level with the bridge, then slowed to come in for the attack, not fooled by this trick a second time. As far as Ben could tell, they intended to hover above the bridge and strike at him and Melody individually.

  And that was when he made his move, releasing his Drain spell in a wave around him, targeting the whole pack of bats. Tendrils of red, emotional energy flowed toward him, and he tasted the sweet caramel flavor of courage. He grabbed one rope, then another, then another, that delicious taste flooding his mouth. Their emotion came pouring into his arms, filling his body with a crackling sensation of invincibility.

  In unison, the monsters stopped screeching. The silence was deafening. Their eyes widened, their wings faltered, and their mouths snapped shut.

  Then the largest bat, at the front of their line, let out a piercing cry of fear, higher pitched than before and quavering. The other bats all screeched likewise. The biggest bat flapped its enormous wings in haste and whipped around in a half-circle, rushing away from the bridge with such speed it was like he’d seen death itself staring him in his ugly face.

  And he wouldn’t have been wrong to think it.

  The other bats followed, howling in terror and fleeing as fast as their ragged wings could take them, back to whatever lair they had in up further in the mountains.

  Ben rose to his feet, watching them recede into the distance, his eyes focused on their rapidly shrinking forms until it was clear they weren’t coming back.

  With a whoop of excitement, Ben pumped his fist in the air. Heedless of the weight of the rucksack on his back, he jumped up and down a couple of times, reveling in victory.

  Then he turned to see Melody staring at him in wonder.

  “What, you didn’t think I was capable of holding my own in a fight?” he asked.

  “What you did was remarkable,” Melody breathed, her chest rising and falling with excited breaths. “I did not think you could cast such a powerful spell so quickly. You attacked so many adversaries at once.”

  “I wasn’t sure if I could do it myself,” he agreed. “Just as well though, I’m not sure how else we would have got out of that scrape.”

  “That was very brave,” Melody said, allowing a smile to form on her full lips. “But don’t you want to leave this bridge? I must salvage what I can from these bats, and then we can leave.”

  She put her head down and began extricating some sticky black substance from the two bats that had fallen on the bridge. Their carcasses shriveled up as streams of the substance swirled up into her wand.

  Melody was right—Ben did want to get off the bridge, but he was also curious about what on earth she was doing to the bats. He wanted to ask, but before he got a chance, his senses were overwhelmed by an intoxicating sense of courage. Everything he had absorbed from those bats was swirling about in his veins, threatening to blot out his vision.

  Ben could vaguely remember being terrified of heights only a few minutes ago, but his newly acquired courage throbbed through his veins, obscuring any sense of fear. His head felt warm, his heart pounded, and his fingers prickled. He felt taller than before, and the gorge below didn’t seem so dreadfully deep. In fact, he felt like he could leap off the bridge and land gracefully and safely—no problem. Nothing scared him.

  Driven by pure impulse, he leaped up onto the rope railing on one side of the bridge and began tight-rope walking his way to solid land. The rope sagged under his feet, causing the bridge to tilt precariously. But he forged ahead undeterred, even as he could sense his body listing toward the ravine. He felt Melody seize his left hand, and pull him back to the plank walkway.

  “By the gods, Benjamin, what are you doing?” she demanded in a furious tone. “Are you trying to throw your life away? And the life of our child?”

  Ben stopped, staggering upright, and took a deep breath. He tried to focus, pushing the raging energy inside him back down. Melody was right, he hadn’t been thinking. There was a fine line between courage and stupidity, and he’d crossed it just then. All because he’d taken too much foreign courage into his body. He would have to be very careful about how much emotion he drained in future.

  Melody took his hand and guided him the last few yards to the end of the bridge. As he felt the last of the courage he’d absorbed still frothing inside him, he wondered if he could ever infuse others with the energy he sapped. What would happen if he were leading an army and pulled all of the courage from the enemy’s forces, infusing his soldiers with it? It was an intriguing idea, and a grin formed on his lips as he imagined leading a ten-thousand-man a
rmy, every last soldier charged up on stolen courage.

  But that question would have to wait for another occasion. For now, it was important just to stay alive.

  “Thanks, Melody,” he said as they reached solid ground. He felt such relief to have his feet firmly planted as the last of his drained courage dissipated that he was almost tempted to kiss the ground. But not wanting to risk a disturbed reaction from Melody, he decided against it.

  Then the thought of what they’d done out on that bridge hit him. He let out another cry of triumph.

  Melody raised her eyebrow, likely worried he was about to do something crazy again.

  “That was awesome!” Ben exclaimed, wrapping her in an embrace.

  After a moment of surprise, Melody returned his embrace, her warm body sinking into his with relief.

  “I can’t believe I just had my first real battle in this world,” he said, breathlessly.

  Melody chuckled.

  “Well, not exactly a battle, I know,” Ben said. He imagined those could get a whole lot bigger and messier. “My first combat.”

  Melody cocked her head to the side and knitted her brow in confusion. “You do not have combats like this in your world?”

  He laughed. “Not really. At least where I come from, slaughtering your foes in broad daylight is frowned upon.”

  “Well, this is something you will need to grow accustomed to.” Melody shook a strand of purple hair out of her face as she stepped back. “Although you may be the Forgotten Ruler, you will have to face many foes in order to regain your dominion.”

  Ben wasn’t sure how he felt about that idea just yet, but the thought of using more spells in battle was definitely one he could grow accustomed to. He had just slain monsters using magic! Less than an hour ago, he couldn’t have imagined such a thing.

  “I have a hell of a lot to thank you for, Melody,” he said, remembering how much she had brought him through already this morning.

  Melody nodded at me, kindly.

  “You’ve been a great guide for this Forgotten Ruler so far,” he said, looking deep into Melody’s purple eyes. “You’re here to guide me back to my place, especially when I stray in to doing something stupid like I did on the bridge.”