Empire Builder 1: Breed, Populate, Conquer

by Dante King

  Ben crouched in front of the fallen giant and waited a moment. His expression was still totally vacant. He grabbed the back of the scimitar blade and wrenched it out of his hand. Ben didn’t want him to start swinging that thing again while he was in range. Gingerly, Ben reached out a hand and waved it in front of his face, cautious, in case he decided to throw a punch.

  Still nothing. Ben slapped his cheek. Then he slapped it again, hard. A line of drool ran out from his mouth, his eyes still motionless. Had he sapped his intelligence?

  It wasn’t like there was much there to begin with, but this was a whole new level of dumb.

  Ben paid attention to his own sensations. Energy rushed swiftly from his arms where he had absorbed it from the mountain ogre. Then with a burst of light and warmth, he felt the energy reach his mind.

  Ben’s brain crackled and popped, almost as if it was physically expanding in his skull. He looked around him, feeling like the guy in Limitless after he’d just taken the nootropic drug NZT-48.

  Ben’s vision raced around the ruins in the fading light. Details popped out to him that he would never have noticed before, like a camera zooming in on trees and branches and bugs and birds all around, scanning them like some kind of hypersensitive computer. It was almost as if his brain had split into several, all of them able to focus on something different.

  And more than that, with each step to his mind raced with possibilities. It was like he could imagine the consequences of each action, playing them out in his mind’s eye like a probability calculator. This step would snap a branch, which would attract the attention of that guard. Or this other step would cause the bird perched on the branch of a nearby tree to caw, which would blow his cover.

  Ben had to pause, close his eyes, try to focus his out-of-control thoughts.

  Not going to lie—back during his CS exam cram sessions, he'd tried an Adderall or two. But how Ben felt in that moment made low-rent stims like that seem like a half-cup of weak coffee.

  When Ben finally felt as if he had his mind under control, he concentrated on the task at hand.

  Ben glanced down at the motionless form of the sentry. And that’s what I got from a dumbass like you. Imagine how smart I could become if I sapped someone with a real brain, he thought as he chucked to himself. This spell certainly had some perks.

  He caught himself as he laughed. Was he really finding the misfortune of this asshole humorous? Well, he’d been part of a band of slavers, so Ben figured he deserved everything he got. Still, Ben couldn’t help but wonder whether his pleasure in his suffering was not some residual component of his past life as the Forgotten Ruler.

  This mystery could be dealt with later. For now, he had this drooling dumbass to deal with.

  But what do I do with you now? He thought. I can’t have the other guys noticing you’re not here. Ben’s thoughts raced, fueled by the extra mental power he had acquired. He hoped this boost would last long enough for him to formulate a decent plan.

  A smile touched his lips as several possibilities occurred to him. The first thing he wanted to test was whether he could control the sentry as a minion now. Was that something the Forgotten Ruler could do? Worth a shot.

  Ben tried sending his thoughts out to him. No, he didn’t know if that was something he could do, and he didn’t know how one was supposed to send thoughts. Was there some sort of communication protocol for brains? A chat with Professor Xavier could really come in handy right about now.

  Nothing.

  Maybe physical contact was required. Ben put his hand on the mountain ogre’s cheek. His skin was slimy, which he tried not to think about. That would only get in the way of effective communication.Ben tried pushing his thoughts through his arm. He was glad nobody was around to see his expression of extreme concentration.

  OK—this wasn’t working out so hot.

  Maybe speech would do it. They didn’t speak the same language, to his knowledge, but it was still worth a shot. Ben got to his feet.

  “Get up, you dumbass.” He kicked the mountain ogre’s shins. Maybe that bit wasn’t necessary, but it’s not like it was going to hurt him anyway.

  The mountain ogre didn’t respond. He just kept sitting there, his eyes vacant and his tongue hanging from his mouth.

  Plan B it was then. Ben still had enough mana from the crystal he'd eaten before, so he reached out and drained a portion of the mountain ogre’s physical strength. He didn’t know exactly how much he would need, but he made sure not to drain more than half. He might need the rest later, and he didn’t want to waste it.

  Immediately, Ben’s muscles felt stronger, his body felt taller. He was filled with the same manic power he had experienced after draining strength from a werebat on the bridge. It was as if his muscles were made of solid steel, his blood hot as magma, like he could kick down one of the nearby trees if he wanted to, or punch a hole straight through one of the stone ruins. But as he stepped, he noticed the power was raw and sloppy. He had brute strength, but not agility.

  More warmth coursed through his veins. Ben thought about those contests the Scottish have where they throw telephone poles. At that moment, his muscles felt so strong he was sure if given the chance, he could launch one into the damn sun. Ben bent down and lifted the mountain ogre like a ragdoll, careful to avoid the line of drool dripping from his chin.

  Ben slung him over his shoulder and turned to head back up the hill. The raucous song of the drunken-sounding revelers below continued unabated, so he'd just have to hope they wouldn’t notice their missing comrade for a while.

  He needed to regroup with Melody and test his spell with a couple more experiments. He could already feel that his mana was significantly lower, so he needed to find a smart solution to take down the rest of the ogres. He couldn’t just walk in and absorb all their strength at once.

  Melody was busy purifying the mana crystals on the hilltop in the twilight. The moon had come out, so he was able to see her face fairly clearly. The silvery tips of her lynx ears gleamed in the light.

  She looked startled as she spotted Ben carrying a mountain ogre nearly twice his size.

  “What are you doing with him?” she asked.

  “This is all part of the plan.” Ben grinned as he set the limp sentry down as gently as he could.

  “I didn’t expect you to carry him all the way back here like a prisoner.” Melody seemed surprised, but not shocked. “What if he starts shouting and brings the others here?”

  “I wouldn’t be too concerned about that,” he said, waving a hand in front of the mountain ogre’s face. “I drained almost all of his intelligence.”

  Melody’s mouth widened, then she laughed softly. “No wonder he is so peaceful. You know, I can think of a few men back at the Arcanarium who would benefit from such a thing.”

  “Yeah, sure makes a nice change from the annoying shouting the others are doing.”

  “And what is your plan now?” Melody looked up at me, scrutinizing his face.

  “I’m going to turn the ogres against each other,” Ben said confidently.

  Melody raised an eyebrow. “How devious.”

  He shrugged. “I can’t think of another way to take them down. You have your wand that can shoot lightning, but how many lightning bolts can you cast until you run out?”

  “A few at most,” Melody said. “Lightning is powerful, but it quickly drains mana.”

  “Exactly. And even to enact his plan, I’m going to need a lot of mana. But I won’t have to replenish it on the fly, like you’d have to do during a fight. I should be able to cast Drain on the ogres without them noticing. Speaking of which, have you finished purifying those crystals?”

  “Almost.” Melody gestured, encompassing the transparent crystals in front of her along with some piles of slag. Ben assumed those were the waste product of the process. He would have to ask her later if anything could be done with those.

  His eyes tracked over the mana crystals. “You’re going to have to show me
how you do that sometime.”

  She smiled broadly. “I'd be happy to. But I am afraid we don’t have time for that right now—it’s an intense process.’

  “Sure, sure—some other time.”

  “And exactly how do you intend to turn the mountain ogres against each other?” Melody asked, bringing the subject back around.

  “I want to take the energy from some of the ogres and put it into others,” Ben said. “I want to create confusion.”

  Melody smiled. “That sounds cunning indeed, Benjamin. You will make a good ruler.”

  He was starting to feel that way himself. He had expected to feel more hesitation at what needed to be done to these mountain ogres. But the thought of how they would mistreat the innocent nymphs they had captured was enough to remove any doubt. These savages deserved what was coming to them.

  “The first thing I have to do,” he explained, “is test whether I can take energy from one person and put it into another.”

  “How are you going to test that?” Melody asked.

  “I’m going to take the rest of this sentry’s physical energy, and try putting it into you, Melody,” Ben said.

  Melody’s eyes widened, their purple hue reflecting the pale moonlight. She stood up to face me. “You know this could kill that man, don’t you?”

  She stared deep into his eyes, waiting for his answer.

  “This is a test, isn’t it?” he asked. “You want to know whether I can do what needs to be done to build his empire.”

  Ben set his jaw and felt the muscles of his face harden. He glanced down at the motionless ogre.

  Who knew how many innocents he had already abused like cattle? How many homes had he burned, children slaughtered? How many women had he raped in front of their husbands before dismembering both in wanton acts of cruelty?

  Ben searched his heart for doubt or hesitation, and found none.

  “I don’t care if I kill this man, Melody,” Ben said with conviction. “Not a bit. No mercy for savages who don’t give a damn about being cruel to the innocent. I’ve been thinking about what kind of ruler I’m going to be, and it’s this—cruel, but fair. Obey my laws and you can live in peace. But break them and it’s another story.”

  Melody’s eyes sparkled. She clapped her hands and beamed at Ben. “I am so happy, Benjamin. You will be a great ruler. You are living up to the legends of old already.”

  “Thanks, Melody,” he said, happy to have her vote of confidence. “And I know you’re going to be there for me along the way.”

  “Of course I will.” Melody stood straighter, and her eyes appeared to gleam even brighter than before. “The usurpers who defeated you in the past said that you were a tyrant, who enslaved whole peoples and nations, with no regard for their wellbeing. But these were all lies, the Archmage Kamila assured me of that.”

  “If I didn’t enslave people, what did I do then?” Ben asked, his curiosity piqued.

  Melody arched an eyebrow, slyly. “You always knew how to make others do your bidding without force.”

  Well, that was a bit cryptic. He waited for Melody to continue.

  “Just as you are about to do with these mountain ogres,” she explained. “You sowed confusion amongst your enemies, and created unity and conviction among your friends. You always knew how to inspire others with the desire to do what you wished them to do.”

  Ben thought about what Melody said, and what he was planning to do now with his Drain spell. If he could indeed plant energy in other people, he could manipulate their emotions. He could give them desires they had not had before.

  Ben chuckled to himself at that thought. He would be able to pull off Inception. He could make people want to do whatever he wanted them to do, and they would never even know about it. More than that, they’d think it was their idea to begin with.

  “This power does sound a lot like slavery, Melody.” He was a modern man, he couldn’t shrug off his entire moral compass so easily.

  Melody shook her head, looking puzzled. “It isn’t slavery. These people only do what it is they always secretly wanted to.”

  “But I could have given them those desires,” Ben argued. “That’s mind control.” That was some powerful mind control too. If the CIA could have known what he'd be capable of, they’d be green with envy.

  “I don’t understand what you are saying, Benjamin. It’s not slavery to do what you wish to do.” Melody flicked a strand of gleaming purple hair out of her face and continued to look at me, slightly puzzled.

  “But they wouldn’t want those things if I didn’t give them those desires,” Ben persisted.

  Melody laughed, her voice quiet but clear in the still night air, over the dissonant drone of drunken song below. “This is simply a question of semantics. If the people only do what they want to do, then that is freedom enough.”

  Ben laughed and scratched his head. This was definitely not a modern world. Still, perhaps this sort of power in the right hands was what was needed to make the world a better place. It was his responsibility to use this power for good, even if he had to make use of some sinister means to achieve it.

  “Then let’s get started,” Ben said, the last of his doubts evaporating under the cold light of Melody’s peculiar brand of reason.

  Ben knelt beside the mountain ogre and focused on his strands of energy. He held out his open palms, channeling his Drain spell.

  For just one more instant, he paused. He glanced behind him, and saw the campfire below, and the three helpless dryads, bound and awaiting their fate.

  Ben’s resolve hardened, and he tugged on the mountain ogre’s physical strand, pulling all his energy into his own body. The mountain ogre’s form shriveled up, just as the werebat on the bridge had done earlier. His body became so weak , he couldn’t even make a sound, as the life drained out of him. The metallic sensation of physical strength was strongly noticeable this time.

  Ben felt his energy swell into his limbs, augmenting what he had already absorbed from the previous spell. Then he rose to his feet and faced Melody. Time to see if he could in fact infuse this energy into someone else.

  “Give me your hands,” Ben said gently but firmly.

  Melody placed her soft fingers on his own. Ben looked into her eyes and concentrated, drawing strength from her trusting gaze.

  Ben was going in totally blind. He had no idea how to pull off a trick like this one. He gathered the physical energy swirling inside him, and tried to push it back out through his arms again.

  At first, it was like passing his fingers through mist, eluding his grasp. Several long minutes passed, as he repeatedly attempted to force the energy to comply with his will, but Melody was patient, and never uttered a sound or allowed any judgement to cloud her face.

  At last, Ben gathered enough energy at his fingertips to force it across the divide between them and into Melody’s body. After overcoming the initial resistance, he easily pushed an amount of the strength into Melody’s fingers.

  Her eyes widened as she experienced the rush of receiving new energy that was not her own. Then her grip strengthened, and her posture straightened.

  Ben also noticed, however, that some of the energy seemed to slip away from his gasp, dissipating in the air around his fingers. Evidently, there would be some attrition when he transferred energy to others. It was not as efficient as when he absorbed it directly himself.

  Ben tried several more times, giving Melody a little more strength, and finding it easier every time to manipulate the transfer. But he also needed to be able to do this at range.

  “Stay where you are,” he said to Melody, and he took several paces backward. Then he focused on the power inside him and tried directing it toward Melody.

  Her strands lit up, just as they would if he were going to sap her energy. Ben gathered the physical strength in his arms and pushed it out across that same link. Again, there was resistance at first, but then the green strand flowed across the divide between them with the same ea
se that it had previously flowed toward them.

  The energy stretched out toward Melody and entered her body. Her eyes widened with surprise as she felt the energy entering her. He noticed that some of the power was again lost, as it trailed off into the air, but enough of it was still able to make the transition. At last, he felt confident that he could do this in the heat of battle without difficulty.

  “You have succeeded, Benjamin,” Melody whispered, hushed awe in her voice.

  “Well, go on.” Ben smiled at her. “Show me what you can do.”

  She turned and looked around. Her gaze settled on a suitcase-sized boulder at the side of the small hilltop. She walked over and crouched above it. She wrapped her slender fingers around the underside of the stone and heaved. She almost stumbled back as she hoisted the boulder into the air with ease.

  Melody let out a low gasp of surprise and looked over to Ben, grinning. He saw her arms quiver then, and she was forced to quickly set the rock down again. He wasn’t surprised that such a feat would drain her strength. All the same, the boulder had probably weighed nearly as much as her.

  Melody beamed as she walked back over to him. “That was amazing. You made me so strong.”

  “I didn’t think I’d given you so much,” Ben said, impressed.

  “Your powers as the Forgotten Ruler are burgeoning rapidly,” Melody said. She placed her hand on his arm. “You will become mighty again, I am sure of it.”

  Ben nodded. “I’m looking forward to it. But for now, it’s time to use this power to teach those ogre pricks a thing or two.”

  Melody knelt and picked up one of the mana crystals she had refined. “You will need this.”

  She was right. Especially after performing that transfer, Ben was badly drained.

  Melody finished refining the remaining crystal while he consumed this one. Although it might be a bit risky to consume so much mana in one day, he figured it was certainly better than dying. He’d hang on to the mana, use it later if he needed it.