Stormforge (Rise To Omniscience Book 5)

by Aaron Oster

  Finally, he pulled out a rectangular object about five inches long and nodded. It was only once he ripped the top off and took a bite out of it, that Morgan realized it was a food of some kind. He’d never seen anything like it before. The man chewed thoughtfully on the strange bar, which dripped with a stringy, stretchy brown substance that made him nauseous to watch.

  The man continued muttering, now tapping at the air and stuffing the remainder of the bar into his mouth before reaching for another. In this manner, the man polished off fifteen of the strange food items before deciding to switch to another. Morgan, not really sure what he should do, simply watched in disgusted fascination as he continued shoveling food down his gullet.

  At one point, he pulled a cup larger than his head from the air. It was filled with a fizzing dark brown liquid, and he quaffed the entire thing in one gulp. He then released a belch that shook the entire building, before letting out a satisfied ‘ahhhh’ and throwing it on the ground. The pile of colorful wrappers began to grow, and when the man finally looked up again, Morgan had counted up to two-hundred and ninety-nine.

  “Oh, how rude of me,” the man said, looking between Morgan and the still wrapped orange package clutched in his fist. “Would you like some?”

  Morgan was tempted to turn the man down, especially after witnessing the piggish glutton-fest the man had displayed. However, his keen sense of smell had picked up the aroma coming from those snacks the man was shoveling down his throat, and seeing as he hadn’t eaten in five days at this point, he was inclined to accept.

  “Sure,” Morgan said, holding his hand out.

  Instead of handing it to him, the man tossed it carelessly, reaching for another before going back to whatever he’d been doing. Morgan’s sharp reflexes saved the food, and he deftly snatched it out of the air. The package crinkled lightly as he caught it, the material feeling oddly slippery.

  Hesitantly, he tore it open by the seams, much as the man had done, and removed the paper tray inside. There, sitting on the tray, were four separate thin brown sticks. Morgan had already seen the man eat about twenty packages of these already, so he was fairly certain they weren’t poison. Then again, the man was a god, so maybe he liked eating poisonous food.

  In the end, Morgan decided that he didn’t really care. He wasn’t going anywhere, and the world was coming to an end. Everyone had to go eventually, and if this managed to overwhelm his massive constitution and kill him, then so be it. Picking up one of the four sticks, Morgan took a bite. There was a small amount of soft mush, then he bit though something hard, crunching through some sort of biscuit.

  It was far sweeter than he’d imagined it would be, and as he chewed, he felt himself craving another bite. It was unlike anything he’d had before and as he finished the first bit off, he could understand why the man before him was eating them like he was going to be facing a famine. Still, Morgan controlled himself, finishing the snack slowly and savoring it for as long as he could. The temporary reprieve from his crushing misery and guilt was amazing, but it came back to him all too soon as the last bite was swallowed, leaving him with an oddly hollow feeling in his soul.

  What the hell kind of food does this to you? he wondered, having never experienced something like this before.

  Never had he eaten something and immediately regretted doing so.

  “No matter how many I eat, the feeling never goes away.”

  Morgan looked up from the empty packaging to the man, who had a wistful, sad expression on his face.

  “Is that why you eat so many?” Morgan asked, wondering how the man wasn’t even fatter than he already was with how much he ate.

  “Yup,” he replied, popping a round disk of the same brown substance into his mouth. “I know it’s a bad habit, but I can’t help myself when the stuff’s this good.”

  “Are you going to get to the point of why you’re here now?” Morgan asked, not really knowing how to answer and feeling just a bit uncomfortable.

  “Right,” the man said, dropping the last wrapper and licking his fingers.

  As soon as the wrapper hit the ground, it, along with every other scrap of garbage, vanished.

  “Can’t leave those lying around,” he said in explanation. “Bad for the environment and all, especially seeing as your world doesn’t have plastic.”

  “Doesn’t have what?” Morgan asked, never having heard the strange word before.

  “Not important,” the man said, waving his hand. “Now, you’re here, and you shouldn’t be. According to my calculations, you’ll remain here until Octagon wipes this place off the map.”

  “Octagon?” Morgan asked. “Is that another strange thing from wherever you’re from?”

  “What? No,” the man said, seemingly taken aback. “That’s the name of the Pinnacle King currently wreaking havoc on your kingdom. Don’t you know anything?”

  Before Morgan could answer, the man continued talking.

  “Not important. The point is, you’re not supposed to be here, and the events in the East have thrown off the balance of the timeline. So, instead of being the South, you’re here and you’re broken. Don’t worry, though. We can fix you and get you right back on track,” the man finished with a smile.

  “Um, how?” Morgan asked, deciding not to ask any other questions.

  Best to give this strange man what he wants so that he’ll leave.

  “By making you face your fears, of course!” he said, then snapped his fingers.

  The world stuttered for a moment, as though time itself had been interrupted. Then, Morgan found himself in a very familiar setting, facing down the woman who’d so handily defeated him just a few days ago.

  “So, you’re back for more,” Hilda said, folding her arms beneath her chest. “You don’t stand a chance of winning, but I’ll humor you. After all, defeating you last time was hardly a challenge, so doing it again should be a piece of cake.”

  23

  Sarah strode towards Katherine’s office, her fists clenched at her sides as she fought to keep her temper down. Katherine hadn’t said so much as a word to her since their last confrontation nearly a week ago. Now, at three in the morning, someone had been sent to practically knock Sarah’s door down to demand she go meet with Katherine. She’d had half a mind to simply ignore the message and go back to sleep, but the need to confront the person who’d so badly bruised her ego overwhelmed her feelings of spite.

  So now, she stalked the empty halls, her heels clicking off the stone and echoing around her. She’d had plenty of time to think about what Katherine had said, and what had made her so angry was the fact that she was right. She had been acting terribly towards him over the past few months. She’d just been so used to getting her way that she’d simply assumed Morgan would go along with her and leave.

  However, for the first time in their relationship, he’d said no, and Sarah just hadn’t known how to handle it. She’d gotten angry with him and put distance between them. As the weeks had gone by, she’d tried to convince him yet again. She grew just a bit angrier and more resentful each time he’d refused. She moved out of their shared suite, started avoiding him altogether, and had grown sullen when he was around.

  She’d noticed him spending more time with Katherine then, and thoughts of cheating and backstabbing had begun sneaking into her thoughts at night. The longer she stewed, the angrier she became. When Katherine had sent him away without telling her, and he hadn’t insisted on coming to see her, it had all blown over. That was when she’d confronted Katherine, only to be interrupted by a battle that had nearly killed them all. After the battle, they’d been forced to wait nearly an hour for her to show up, just for her to speak for sixty seconds.

  Then, instead of backing down and admitting to what she’d done, Katherine had had the nerve to stand up for herself, saying that Sarah was the problem. Katherine was right, of course, but Sarah wasn’t about to admit that, and with Morgan still gone, she had no one to take her frustrations out on but the
so-called Queen of the North.

  Sarah stalked up to the door and raised a fist, intending to knock hard enough to break it, when it swung open to reveal the woman in question. Instead of looking haughty or amused as she always did, Sarah found a worried expression painted clearly on the Queen’s face.

  “Are we under attack again?” Sarah asked, which was the first thing that came to her mind.

  “Worse,” Katherine said grimly, standing aside for her to enter.

  Sarah hesitated for just a moment before entering the room. She had no idea what Katherine could want from her or what could be worse than another attack, but it must have been serious for her to be called here at this time of the night.

  “Well?” she asked as Katherine closed the door.

  “It’s Morgan,” the Queen said, turning to face her, her grim expression even more pronounced.

  Sarah felt her heart drop as her mind immediately went to the worst possible scenario.

  “He isn’t dead,” Katherine said as she went to take her seat. “At least, as far as I know. But he is missing.”

  “Explain,” Sarah said, folding her arms and doing her best to hide her body’s trembling.

  Though she and Morgan had been having a bit of a rough time lately, she still loved him dearly, and with every fiber of her being. She had for as long as she’d known him, and it had taken years to get him to reciprocate those feelings. The reason she’d been so mad was partly because of his refusal to leave, but mostly out of a perceived wrong on Katherine’s part for stealing him away with her charm and beauty.

  “Sit,” Katherine responded, motioning to a chair before her desk.

  “I’d rather stand,” Sarah replied frostily.

  “Suit yourself,” the Queen replied with a roll of her eyes.

  In truth, Sarah was quite tired, having been awoken so suddenly and so soon after she’d gone to sleep. However, she wouldn’t give Katherine the satisfaction of ordering her around. So, she would stand.

  “As you know, I sent Morgan out to win over the rulers of our neighbors in an attempt to get them to join us against the Pinnacle King,” Katherine began.

  Sarah was tempted to scoff, roll her eyes, or make some snippy remark, but her worry for Morgan kept her mouth shut — at least until she found out exactly what was going on. Then, she’d let the bitch have it for sending him away in the first place.

  “To stay in contact, I gave him one of my amulets. I was going to call and see how he was doing several times, but circumstances got in the way. It was only an hour ago that I finally reached out to him, but instead of Morgan, I got someone else on the other side of the communication.”

  “Who was it? Does someone have him? Is he being held hostage somewhere?” Sarah immediately asked, before wondering who would even have that kind of power.

  “It was Queen Le’vine of the East Kingdom. As far as I know, she doesn’t have Morgan, nor does she have the power to keep him locked up. However, the story she told was more than a little disturbing. Knowing her, I have no doubt she’s telling the truth.

  “Apparently, Morgan busted into her palace when they refused him entry and caused a fair bit of damage. Knowing her and knowing Morgan, I had expected this and included some money as compensation. However, the trouble came when he was challenged by her champion in the tradition of the East.

  “This, I also expected. What I didn’t expect was that Morgan would lose…”

  “That’s impossible!” Sarah cut in, the disbelief clear in her voice. “You just said the East Queen didn’t have the power to keep Morgan imprisoned, so how could he possibly have lost to anyone?”

  “He didn’t lose per se. He merely failed to land a winning blow by the constraints of the challenge. He then, in Le’vine’s own words ‘fled like the little bitch he was. Flew straight through my roof and ran with his tail tucked between his legs.’”

  Sarah felt anger rising in her chest then, anger at this unknown queen of the East and the horrible things she was saying about Morgan.

  “So, in other words, she manipulated some sort of challenge in which Morgan couldn’t win, then he ran away. Why would he run, though?” Sarah asked, her anger at Katherine momentarily forgotten.

  “My guess?” Katherine said. “He was ashamed.”

  “That’s ridiculous,” Sarah scoffed. “Morgan can’t…”

  “Yes,” Katherine said flatly. “He can. Let me ask you something. Has Morgan ever lost a fight to someone weaker than him?”

  Sarah didn’t even have to think about it, immediately shaking her head. The only fights Morgan had lost were due to his enemies outclassing him by many ranks. He’d never lost in a straight fight before. He’d even won some crooked ones, like the one set up by Keldor, Grub, and Frush back at the academy.

  “Imagine how he must have felt losing that fight. With the stakes as high as they were and Le’vine’s likely rude reaction to the whole thing, how do you think he’d have reacted?”

  Sarah opened her mouth to reply, hesitated, then snapped it closed. How would Morgan react to something like that? Truthfully, she had no idea, as it had never happened before.

  “Do you think it’s likely he would panic and flee given those circumstances?” Katherine continued.

  Though she didn’t want to, Sarah slowly nodded. If indeed faced with a situation like that, with such high stakes, Morgan may indeed have fled. He’d never experienced something like that before, and with all of his new emotions churning through him, he wouldn’t know what was happening to him.

  Poor Morgan, stuck there all alone in a strange land, not knowing what was happening…

  “This is all your fault!” Sarah yelled, feeling her emotions begin to boil over. “If you would have just sent me with him, this never would have happened! Now we don’t know where he is! For all we know, he might be hurt, or worse! And with him gone, your Kingdom really is doomed. We’re all doomed, in fact! You, me, we’re all going to die, and it’s. All. Your. Fault!”

  By the time Sarah’s rant came to an end, she was out of breath, red-faced, and standing right at the edge of Katherine’s desk. Instead of getting angry or yelling back as she’d expected, Katherine remained calm, keeping her composure and staring evenly back at the enraged girl standing before her.

  “Do you really think so little of him?” Katherine asked. “That he can’t even take care of himself without you around to constantly babysit? He’s a grown man, Sarah, though with the way you treat him, one might think you were an overbearing mother looking after an unruly child. Your relationship with him may have started out well enough, but you’ve turned it into a toxic mockery of what something like that is supposed to be.

  “I called you in here to see if you might know his whereabouts, or perhaps be willing to help me brainstorm a way to find him. But you know what? I’ve decided that I don’t want your help. I can manage without you. Now, if you’d be so kind as to leave so I can think, I’d appreciate it.”

  Sarah stared in shock as Katherine then turned away from her, spreading a map of the Five Kingdoms and beginning to trace trajectories. For just a few moments, she didn’t really know what to say. What could she say, after a speech like that? But Sarah would be damned if she let this bimbo get in the way of her helping Morgan. She didn’t care what Katherine said, she loved him, and if he was in danger, she would help.

  “You can’t get rid of me that easily,” she said, refusing to move from her spot. “If Morgan’s in danger, you better bet your ass that I’m going to help.”

  Katherine didn’t even look up, keeping her eyes trained on the map.

  “Suit yourself,” she said again, causing Sarah to become even more annoyed.

  The Queen of the North just seemed to have the special power of getting under her skin. No matter what she did, Sarah always felt like Katherine was mocking her. From constantly flaunting her amazing figure in front of Morgan, to the condescending way she spoke to her, Katherine always seemed to be playing some sort
of angle designed to drive them apart. She’d nearly succeeded too, by driving a wedge between them, then sending him off on his own.

  It wouldn’t work, though. Morgan was hers, and Katherine would not get in the way of that. And as long as she was around, Morgan would have eyes for no one else, no matter how much skin Katherine showed off.

  Just hold on, Morgan, she thought as she scoured the map. I’m coming for you. We’ve been through too much for us to give up on each other now!

  24

  “How is this possible?” Morgan asked, looking around the reconstruction of his greatest failure.

  Rationally, he knew it was just that, a reconstruction, though as Hilda stalked towards him and the guards moved to encircle them, he had an intense feeling of déjà vu. This was immediately followed by a feeling of fear, something he normally never experienced during a fight.

  “You’re not used to feeling fear,” the disembodied voice of the interfering god echoed around him. “For you to succeed, you must overcome that fear and use it, instead of allowing it to use you.”

  “Easy for you to say,” he muttered, turning back to face his opponent, who was now right on top of him.

  Morgan let out a yelp, wondering how he could have possibly missed her approach with his Aura Sense. The answer came a split-second later when he found that he couldn’t use it. In fact, not a single one of his skills would activate. Morgan had about another tenth of a second to panic before Hilda’s fist slammed into his nose.

  The pain was excruciating, worse than anything he’d felt in a long time. There was an audible crunch as his nose broke, and warm blood sprayed across his chin and the front of his shirt. Morgan went down hard, his head swimming as he desperately tried to cover himself. However, the expected follow-up didn’t come and after a few seconds, Morgan moved his arms aside, squinting through teary eyes to see Hilda’s blurry form looming above him.