Rise of Geists is a novelette (7,500-17,999 words) made and owned by Icestormshadow as a part of the Rise of Balance Saga.
Author's Note: This story runs on an independant saga timeline, therefore not corresponding to that of the Great Northern or Southern Sagas(or anything that occurs in between, before, or after).
Prologue - Eracan Tower[]
As I looked to the hoard in front of me, I knew I had to save the knowledge gathered by my master, all those years ago. Quick as a snake, I darted over to the entrance of the tower, even as my former companions told me to stop.
"Stop, please."
"No, this work is too important to fall" I said as I closed the door.
I sealed the door with Arcane Magic and made my way below, setting up some golems to guard the door. As I stepped down I heard the door break and curses from my friends. I reached one of the many doors, sealed it, and began the teleportation process. But soon my friends broke in, so I summoned golems to defend me as I continued the chant.
"Please, you don't have to do this" one said.
"No, I must" I said as I drew a pentagram.
"There is no turning back is there?" said Arcturus.
"You, the jerk, managed to figure it out, woah" I said bitterly.
Arcturus sighed and drew his sword and charged. While the golems intercepted him, I began to finalize the steps of the spell. The pentagram glowed blue, and I shouted with triumph, but then Arcturus shot the Pentagram with his magical sword and the spell just fell apart.
"You have got to snap out of this, please, for Lily" Arcturus said.
Then I stopped, fighting the force possessing me, even as I slowly began to draw the pentagram again, as a stream of tears went down Arcturus's face.
"For your unborn child" he said.
I fought all the harder once he mentioned that, even as the circle was almost complete. As the force was about to complete its goal, I managed to get back control for a second and with that I jumped and messed up the process of the dark spell. As Lily walked in, the room exploded and everything went black.
Chapter 1 - Introduction[]
Hello my name is Eric, I was hired by some wizard to go to a tower, and the rest I couldn't really get, as he dropped stuff that I couldn't understand, but he did mention that it was dangerous and that the pay would be worth it. I was then assigned to Hunting Duties of all things, when all I wanted to do was actually fight. Whatever, as long as I get my paycheck.
Three months later.....
As I was walking around, it was a normal day for the most part, however a high amount of Wazrets were missing, we had heard of the Wazret Revolutionaries, but we thought nothing of it, as we were a multiracial caravan, but I was starting to think that they may have infiltrated the group anyway. I then saw something move behind a tree. I aimed carefully with my bow and turned towards the tree, Javik came out running away from a stag. I took careful aim and shot it in the head and the stag fell down. Javik then hid behind me. I sighed and moved to retrieve my kill. I picked it up and headed back, then I remembered the mud, and... My boot stepped in the mud, "ugh...." I thought.
"Hey can someone get me out, I stepped in more quicksand!" I cried desperately.
Two white figures approached and grabbed each of my arms and pulled. However, I was already in the mud and it didn't want to let go. It did, after a third person came and pulled me out.
"Thanks.... guys. I said.
"No problem." said the first person.
"Anything for a friend!" said the second.
"Sure." said the third person.
I then got up and went back towards the wagon. I stopped by the horses pulling it, and petted one lightly on the head before getting inside. My name is Eric, a guard and huntsman for this caravan. Lately food has been getting low as we traveled closer to our destination, some sort of ruins that supposedly hid some sort of magic artifact. I do hope we get there soon, it's been 3 months already.
"Hey, Eric, the Quartermaster is wanting to know if you caught anything" said my friend Henry.
"Okay...." I responded.
I got up to go to Hogan, hopefully something was actually discussed other than reports of food caught and the like. I stepped out of the wagon and moved over to another wagon where the Quartermaster lived and stepped inside.
"Did you catch anything today, Eric?" the Quartermaster asked.
"I caught a gorilla, if that helps?" I said.
"Gorilla? You mean the ones we fought earlier today?" the Quartermaster asked.
"Yes, it is" I half-mumbled.
"Well then, where is it?" The Quartermaster asked as he extended his hand.
I then pulled out the body, it had already been skinned, gutted and all that wonderful stuff by another person.
"Ahh... okay, smells like it too" the Quartermaster wrinkled his nose.
"Take it to Hogan" the Quartermaster said.
"Yes, sir" I responded.
Hogan is the main, and best chef in this caravan, he is one of the only parts I enjoy about this expedition, other than my friends. I moved over to the Cooking Wagon and heard shouting. "What did the other cooks do this time...." I thought as I stepped in.
I saw that once again, Keith had messed up our meal and Hogan was letting him have it. I briefly considered giving it to him later, then he looked up, and his face brightened.
"HEY ERIC, WHAT YA GOT!" he shouted.
"I have a gutted and skinned gorilla."
"A GORILLA!?!?" he shouted again.
"YES, WHY?!" I shouted.
"I HAVEN'T COOKED GORILLA BEFORE!" Hogan shouted again.
"Oh, okay" I said.
I walked over and gave him the meat. Hogan thanked me and then muttered about how Keith is incompetent at his job. I left before anymore drama broke out.
I walked out of the Cooking wagon and headed to my wagon, and then I remembered that we had a new member joining us in our wagon, I rushed over, hoping I wasn't too late. I ran in and saw everyone but me in a seat, phew they hadn't started yet.
"Why, hello Logan, you're actually early!" said Javik, another one of my wagon mates.
"WHAAAAT" I said sarcastically and playfully.
I sat down in the chair for me, leaving two chairs empty, why is Jason late? Our new arrival stepped in. She had a short, skinny build and she was white like the rest of us. She also had cherry red hair, where did she get that, probably dyed it.
"Welcome to the Epsilon Hunting Wagon!" I said in an introductory manner.
"Hello, could I know your names?" the girl said in a high-pitched voice.
"Sure, what is yours?" Javik asked.
"I'm Emily" the girl said.
"I'm Javik, and this is my friend Eric" Javik said.
"I heard there were three people in this squad, where is your third member?' Emily asked.
"Right here behind you" said a deep, gruff voice as Jason stepped in. He stood at least a head over the other members, and a full head, neck, and upper torso in my case.
"OH! Hi, I'm Emily; you're the missing squad member?" Emily said.
"Yes I am, sorry I'm late guys, just things were happening, thought I saw a bear, turned out to be nothing" Jason said.
"Oh darn, hope something bites next time" I said.
Jason took the last seat.
"Okay, we are now ready to begin" said Javik.
"Uhhh... what are we beginning?" asked Emily.
"It's a surprise" said Jason.
Emily was quiet, waiting for one of us to speak.
"Well first we need to know what you are good at" said Javik.
"Well... I'm good at healing and firing bows" said Emily.
"Is that all?" Henry asked.
"Yes it is" Emily stated somewhat nervously.
"Okay, now show us" said Henry as he looked at me, nooo.......
He stepped over to me and pulled a knife, and cut my hand.
"OW! Why...." I said.
Emily just came over and pressed her hand against my wound and her hand glowed blue for a second, and then the wound went away. Then she stepped away.
"Interesting...." said Javik.
"Now, let's see your archery skills" said Henry.
He pointed to a tree around 200 yards away.
"I want you to hit the very end of that low branch there, understand?" Henry said.
"Yes, I do" Emily said confidently.
"Okay, fire" Henry stated.
Emily fired and hit the mark right where Henry stated, I wish I were that good sometimes, but I'm a klutz.
"Is that all for your skills you are good at?" Henry asked.
"Yes" Emily said, somewhat annoyed.
"Now, what are some things that you can do, but not that well?" Henry asked.
"Uhhh.... let me think" Emily said.
"Swordsmanship, and maybe writing" she said, unsure of herself.
"Okay, follow me" Henry said.
We followed Henry; he took us to the training grounds, where people spared nearly every day.
"Okay, you and Jason go and duke it out here, no foul play just yet" Henry said.
"I got to fight the pipsqueak, fine" Jason said.
"I'm no pipsqueak!" Emily protested.
"Yes you are, can't even fight me" Jason said.
"I will fight you!" Emily said with sincerity.
"We will see, child" said Jason.
Emily just looked angry; I hoped they hadn't pushed her too far. She pulled out a short sword, which was a longsword on her, while Jason pulled out this gargantuan tree branch. Emily laughed at him.
"You th..." laughing "think tha..." more laughing "You can beat me with a tree branch" Emily said while laughing.
Jason only sighed in response. Henry then stood between the two.
"You promise that you won't severely hurt each other, the goal is to disarm, not cut someone's hand off, understand?"
"Yes" they both said.
"Good, now begin" Henry said as he dashed away, and not a second too late, as Jason smashed his branch into the ground. Emily barely dodged it. She then dashed to the right as Jason recovered from his previous strike. She tried to close in on him, only to be greeted by a tree branch hitting her and getting stuck in it.
"Well this will be interesting" said Henry.
"Jason is going to win, we know it" I said.
"Great optimism you have" Javik said.
Emily climbed the branch, having lost a part of her jacket, Jason then shook the branch, throwing off balance, before smashing it onto the ground, she nearly lost balance, she grabbed part of the branch and flung herself to Jason's face and hit him. Then she fell and got hit with the branch and was trapped, or so we thought, until she crawled out, due to her ludicrously small size. Then she climbed the branch as Jason lifted it and shook it vigorously, knocking her off balance before flinging it, sending her flying into the ground around 20 feet away. We rushed over to her to see if she was okay.
"Are you okay?" I asked.
Henry and Javik got there as I was asking the question.
"Yes I'm fine" Emily said, clearly annoyed.
We stayed silent.
"You set me up!" Emily then accused.
"Well it was my idea, they didn't know about it until I said it in front of you" said Henry.
Emily then took a breath before saying, "Okay, fine, what is your next test?"
"Nothing" Henry said as he, and the rest of us walked back to the wagon.
Chapter 2 - Games are Fun, And Rain isn't[]
We got back to the wagon, and then sat down, thinking for a few minutes. The silence was most likely from the training session; at least that's what I thought. Then Javik spoke.
"Hey, remember we're supposed to continue that session."
"What session?" Henry asked.
"The one with the zombies" Javik said.
"Ummm... okay, I don't kno-OHHHH I know, the session where we left off 2 weeks ago" I said.
"Yes, now do you remember?" said Javik.
"Yes, I do" Henry said dryly.
"'Kay then, let's get out the pieces" said Javik excitedly.
We then got out the pieces and the battle map. As well as some dice: 2d20s, 3d12s, 4d10s, 3d8s, 10d6s 4d4s, along with a few coins to flip.
"Remember your characters? Right? Let’s review" said Javik.
"Ugh...." the rest of us said at the same time.
"So Eric, you're Beowolf the fighter, you use a Greatsword and have chainmail, Henry, you have an Archer who has a longbow, Jason is the mage, who specializes in Pyromancy if I'm not mistaken, and I'm the Gamemaster!" Javik said in about 5 seconds.
"Okay, how do you even speak that fast?" I said helplessly
"Ugh..." said Henry and Jason.
"Okay, let’s go" Javik said as he set four figures on the board. We were in a city-like area where people had gotten infected by some sort of magical plague. I, Beowolf, charged the Mindless Zombies and rolled a 1d20 and rolled a critical. I rolled to confirm but failed to hit the zombies AC, with no crit I rolled my damage, which was a 1d8. I rolled a 5, and added my strength bonus of 3 to it, plus my base attack bonus of 3, which added up to a total of 11 damage. The Zombie then fell down, knocked out due to the fact that I had a slashing weapon which went through its Damage Reduction of 5.
Then the next person with the highest speed went, which was the Zombie I had just knocked out, Javik rolled a 1d20 and grumbled on how he rolled badly a lot. So we skipped the Zombie's turn. Next was Jason, who cast a Scorching Ray spell, he then rolled to hit another Zombie. He confirmed the hit and rolled 2d6 and rolled a mighty.... 2 damage. We all laughed, including Jason. Afterwards two more Zombies jumped my character, but thank goodness neither of them hit. It was then my turn, I thought about attacking, but decided to grab a Zombie and throw it against the wall instead, I dealt a mere 7 damage to it, but it walked no more. We then heard a noise, we then all got up to look for it. We then saw it, a grey fox; we then connived on what to do about this unnatural occurrence.
"Let's kill it" said Jason
"No!" both I and Javik said
"Why? It’s unnatural, and we don't need its taint to spread" said Jason
Then we heard Emily walk down and the fox ran up to her
"Why exactly do you have an unnatural animal here" demanded Jason as he barged towards her
"Chill, I found it outside and took it in, it’s not very harmful" Emily said as she backed up a little
Most of us then just resigned from the fight, but Jason must have something foxes or something, as he continued to question Emily. I left them to their fight, and went outside, and sat down and began to sharpen my sword, I then heard someone behind me, I turned to find Henry.
"Hey man, wanna go to the Quartermaster today and of course we have to go bed after we collect food for everyone" Henry said
"Sure" I said
We went over to Hogan's Wagon, and found him huffing, he looked tired.
"Hogan.... are you okay?" I asked
"Yeah I am, I finally Keith out of my Wagon as assistant Quartermaster, after a very long talk" Hogan said
"Well we came to collect food for Epsilon Hunting Wagon" Henry said
"Oh, yeah, come inside" Hogan said
We walked in and smelled something interesting cooking.
"What’s cookin’ Hogan?" I asked
"Well that's a little something for myself after a hard day’s work" Hogan said
"Interesting...." I said
Henry interrupted my statement, "ummmm... Eric, I was thinking of some juicy Steak and salted Tater Tots, with a side of Broiled Broccoli"
"Hmmmm... I like that, sure" I said
Hogan looked around for the stuff
"Ahhh.... here it is" Hogan said as he handed to us
"Why thank you" Henry said as I observed a nice sirloin
I could already imagine the sirloin in my mouth, the taste, nom. we then headed, as we stepped out the wagon we heard Hogan say "Be careful out there guys"
I said "We sure will, we will enjoy the steak"
As me and Henry headed back we saw an unusual amount of Wazret footprints, could it be, the Revolutionaries are here after all.
"Should we do something about this" I asked
"Uhhhhhh.... I guess we should after supper?" Henry said
"Yeah I guess" I said, even as I began to doubt that we should wait
We got into the Wagon and called "Everyone! Supper is here"
Jason was the first to come to the table, he served himself his share of the meal, then Emily came down and came to eat with us.
"So where did you get this again?" asked Emily
"Who do you think, the Quartermaster" Jason says in a hostile tone
"Chill people, now is not the time for a fight" I said, trying to calm things down
"Fine" Jason grumbles
We eat in peace for a little while
"Hey has any seen the monkey guy, Javik right?" Emily said
"It’s Javik and no, he seems to not be here" I then think about the footprints from earlier, could they have taken him, if so why?
"Ummm.... guys I saw Wazret tracks near our wagon, a lot of them earlier" Henry said
"Think the Revs might be here?" Jason asked
"Maybe, we should check out those tracks" I said
"Ummmm.... what are Revs?" Emily asked
"The Wazret Revolutionaries are a group of Wazret who want to destroy the Precursor race for prior enslavement, but we stopped that around 100 years ago, but for whatever reason they still can convince people that we enslave them, I really don't get that part, but they try to convert follow Wazret to their cause.... is that why they took Javik, we need to get their fast, they may kill him if we don't" said Henry, then we all got up and grabbed our armor and weapons.
As we rushed it was raining, we pressed on, as we saw the tracks, we followed them, away from the where the caravan was camped for the night. As we got away from the camp we had to pull out a torch, and use grease to light it, which then stopped it from going out, we moved out following the tracks to a cave.
"We going in or what?" I said when everyone one hesitated
"Well, I was hoping for a less" she paused "Violent solution" she finished
"Well, that's not... yeah, we are gonna have to fight, wish we had brought some more people with us, but we can do it, right?" I said
No one responded and I laughed nervously.
We then walked into the cave; the cave was made of some sort of grayish green stone. As we walked through, only a short distance later we spotted silver blood, not a good sign, we then saw two pathways to go down, which one to go down, that is the question.
"Well, which way do we go?" I asked
"Well I say we go right" said Henry
"I second that" said Emily
We went to the right, and saw curved cages, with dead Precursors and Wazret who had defended them inside, I shuddered with horror, why would they even do this, what was the point? Those were all questions that would most likely never be answered.
As we walked around inspecting the carnage, we saw movement from one of the bodies, we rushed over, Emily then touched the person with the palm of her hand, and the person was magically healed before our eyes
"Who are you?" Emily asked
"I.... Am..... Kathlen" said the person, who was still heavily wounded
"Okay, do you know where the recently kidnapped have been taken?" Emily asked\
The person points to the door ahead of us
"There...... Executed..... They..... Will" the wounded Wazret responded
"Okay, thank you for your assistance" Emily said as her palm lit up and the room became seeable, oh goodness, cages on the ceiling too, by Inaroks Beard why? The Wazret was healed fully
"Thank you Precursor, I will aid you where I can" Kathlen said
"Now to stop the others from getting killed" I said
Interlude 1 - Bye Monkeys[]
I was talking to the leader, when I sensed someone.... like me approaching. I then was scared, the execution was about to begin, and someone was about to crash the party, how did they find out, how did they find us? All good questions
"Sir, we have been discovered" I said
"What, how the rain should have covered our tracks" the leader said
"Well someone must have been tracking before the rain started" I said
"Great, well go and deal with them" he said
Screw you, I’m not going to deal with them, besides I already had everything I needed
"Fine, I will deal with them" I said
I then left and gathered my stuff, and then hastily left, even putting some of the guards to sleep. I would soon have an Army wherever I went..... They may not be quite what many people call "alive" but hey, it works.
Chapter 3 - Rescuing a Monkey[]
Kathlen
Six weeks ago...
I was walking around, when a group of Wazret approached me; they looked mean and were armed.
"What are you doing here?" I asked
"We are here to get what we deserve" said the largest one
"And what exactly is that?" I asked
"Why of course to free fair maidens such as yourself" a smaller one said, his face was very deformed, what were they doing here?
They then drew their weapons and said to surrender while I had the chance and I could 'join' them, ugh.... disgusting.
I spat, "I am not joining whatever you are, go back to hole you crawled out of" I said
"Fine maiden, just don't say we didn't warn you" one said, I couldn't tell which one though.
I heard other people also draw weapons, some of them my kinfolk, to fight these scum. I along with around 20 others charged the thugs, at first we looked to be winning, as I swung my sword into one's gut. But then people were cut down pretty quickly by the more experienced thugs. What few of us remained surrendering in a hurry, and we were carried off.
Six weeks later.....
Eric
Kathlen gasped, Emily asked what was wrong, and Kathlen said it was nothing. I then cracked the door open, and saw sleeping guards, wow, must be boring in a cave with no intruders ever coming to get you.
"Hey guys, the coast is clear for now, let’s go' I said somewhat quietly
We all went to the next room, we then all got ready, and opened the door, and it led to a large cavern with a large gathering of Wezret in it, we then scanned the room for the cages, and saw them in the corner near us, thank goodness that something is easy. The problem is getting through the massive amount of Wazret.
"Hey, you guys got any potions we could use, or powers?" I asked
"I have Telekinesis" said Emily
"Well, I have... my mind" said Henry
"Ummmm... my size and strength" said Jason
"Great, well let’s charge and try to those prisoners" I said sarcastically
"We can't sneak through, because we are white, and they are all black, with hatred of people with white skin, and I’m really large, so stealth is out of the question" said Jason
"Well we could use my fox" Emily said
We all turned all looked like she was an idiot
"Okay, just here me out, please?" she said
We reluctantly agreed to her out
"Okay, I have actually trained him to pick locks and sneak around, and since he is grey he would blend in with the cave" Emily said
"But they have lights, and a better sense of smell than us" Henry said
"Well he doesn't really have a smell" She responded
"Well then, I guess we do charge and make a distraction" I said
I kneel down and pet the small fox, "you can do this buddy" I say
The Fox tilts its head and gives me a crooked smile, I get back up, and the fix goes off to try to free the prisoners. we opened the door and shouted "CHAAAAARGGGE!!!!" as we all descended, I threw potions down near the stairs to give a little breathing room, while Emily tossed around several Wezret with her Telekinesis, and Henry went to shooting his bow with shots to the head every time, although that was due the fact the we were 60 feet above them than his aim, which was impressive without the advantage of being higher up than them. Kathlen was flinging unstable fireballs, so the question is how fiery is she? Bad pun, ugh.... as we rushed we saw the fox slip past the Wazret, "phew" I thought. We got down closer and had to switch to more close range options as I pulled out my bastard sword and shouted a second "CHAAAARGGE!!" as we clashed, it looked like we had the upper hand, as we were more trained than the civilians who decided to fight us. The Wazret then watched as their prisoners were freed, and they fought back against their captors once freed. We then fought hard to clear a path to them, with me just spinning in a circle, while Jason bull rushed them, and Emily and Kathlen dealt with any ranged support with fire and force. Finally we met with the Prisoners.
"Hey Javik, you there?" I asked
"Yeah I am here" said a heavily tortured Javik
"By Wazrat's Beard, were gonna get you out of here, along with everyone else" I said, horrified at what they had done to my friend
I then went back to murdering Wazret Revs, and was even enjoying it. Then a giant Wazret, around 7 feet tall jumped and knocked me back, I landed on some squishy enemy Wazret thank goodness, Javik then threw an Acid Splash Potion at its face, causing it to put its hands on its face, which was clearly in pain, that what you get when you kidnap people. I then jumped up and stabbed it in one of its lung. And took my sword and moved on, trying to get out of this place. I then said one last "CHHARRRRGGE!!!" as a barreled through Wazret and made an entrance through to the stairs, I then fought off the Revs until most of people got up, which then Jason took over, smashing them to pulp as I fled up the steps, with him not close behind. Kathlen then set the apparently wooden stairs on fire just before I slammed the door and ran out the cave.
Along the way, I thought I saw a body move, I then ran faster, not sure if it was an enemy waiting to kill me among the bodies.
Once out of the cave I stopped running, and looked around, we had recused around a 100 people, what were we thinking, where would they go? We couldn't feed another 100, that's for sure.
"So, what are you all going to do now?" I ask no one in particular
One person stepped up and said "Well, go back to our families, thank you for saving us"
"No problem" I say
As they leave, I walk over to Javik, who is with the others, and sit down.
"Hey guys" I say
I then just lay back and rest my body, that was tiring.
"Well, are we going to go back" said Henry
"Yeah" I half mumbled as I got up. The others then also got up.
We then headed back, through the intense rain. After we got back and changed and dried off, we then hit the bed beyond normal curfew, but we didn't care at this point...........
Chapter 4 - Guilt & Planning[]
We woke up, late, as predictable. We then resumed our normal hunting duties, with Javik staying and recovering from his wounds from the Torturers of the Wazret Captors, wait, don't they have Clans? I walked to Javik and asked
"Curious, what Clan did we fight down there?"
"We fought Clan Teshin, a clan that is known as extremists even among our own kind for their extreme hatred for the your race"
"Okay, thanks for tell me" I said as I left for hunting
As I left I thought of the Wazret we killed last night, could they have been saved?, we will never know as we killed a lot of them, many civilians, I started to feel a little guilty, luckily I got to the forest in time, and went into my hunter crouch, looking for any prey, and shifting my thoughts from the massacre of yesterday. I didn't find much that day other than things that rotted pretty badly, yuck. I managed to catch a deer, several squirrels, and a hare or two. As I hauled my findings back, my thoughts jumped to the other people of the caravan, and how they were, I also wondered if last night’s events reached the leaders ears, and what they would think.
I then got back and gave me kill to the Quartermaster, and then headed to the wagon. After I got there I saw the others were going to practice, I then decided to lie down.
Later that day, I began to hear voices, from inside the wagon. Although I couldn't make out much, I could make out the word "undead", what in the world did that mean? Not dead.... Alive, but why wouldn't they use the word alive? My brain hurts, I then went to sleep.
(Anything past this point has not been grammar checked, beyond spell check)
Henry
I then came back with some freshly killed deer and even a moose. I then gave it to Hogan, and left for the wagon, and stopped to socialize with some of the other hunting wagons, such as Delta Hunting Wagon. There were four people on Delta; Rofus, Kevin, Josiah, and Zach.
"Hey Delta" said Henry
They all then stampeded him in a bearhug.
"Hey, it's been a few days, where have you been?" Zach asked
"Did you find any treasure?" Rofus asked
"Did you find true- ouch it was a joke" said Kevin
"How is Epsilon Hunting Wagon?" Josiah asked
"Okay, first off stop bear hugging me, i'll die if you squeeze me too long!" I said
Thankfully, they listened and stopped the Bearhug of Death.
"Okay first off, i have been fighting people, well people depending on who you ask" I said
"Oh, you mean the Wazret?" Rofus said
"Yes, i mean the black monkeys" I said
"Why were you fighting them?" Josiah asked
"Because they took out friend, Javik" I explained
"Oh, the guy who makes potions that can explode and heal people!" Rofus said loudly
"Yes, that guy, now as for treasure, we found none, mainly because we were too busy fighting" I said
"Oh darn, well next time, could bring something back to us, to show off" Rofus asked
"uhhhhh...... i won't make any promises, but maybe" I said
Rofus just nodded, looking pleased with himself.
"Now, as for the fighting itself, it was intense, with a small band of people, mainly composed of Epsilon Hunting Wagon, and a freed prisoner, we took on hundreds of Wazret, to free our friend, with Jason smashing through so many of them that their bodies flew into walls! And me and Eric were slicing Wazret left and right! you should have been there!" I said in a massive monologue pretty quickly.
"Wow" and "Cool" were among the most common reactions to his short version of events. I then sighed and imagined if they hadn't found the Wazret, more kidnappings, and maybe a ambush, wait, maybe that's why they were there. I then got up, and rushed over to the Guard Organizer.
"We faced and killed a major amount of Wazret Revolutionaries last night, they have kidnapped people from this caravan, we managed to recuse most of them, but we couldn't a few, and then we fled before they could retaliate, they may have planned to ambush us farther up the road, as it grows small and bumby up ahead" I blurted quickly
He was taking notes as fast as possible at the mention of the word, "Revolutionaries".
"So you were out, risking yourselves for people you didn't know?" the Guard Organizer asked
"Basically" i said, although the reason we went out was for Javik.
"I shall let Arcturus know at once" the Guard Organizer said.
He then rushed off to presumably warn our boss. I then went to Epsilon Hunting Wagon, only to see Emily and a small girl with purple hair talking quietly about something, i then walked up to them, curious, and i managed to pick up the word "undead" before they turned to me.
"This is Henry, he is pretty smart, but doesn't show emotion" Emily said
Bah humbug i don't, i do, just when i do actually feel it. I was also unsettled by the word "undead" well since dead meant not alive, and un means not, so not not alive? why not say alive? pushing that thought aside, i then asked about their day
"It was fine, although i wish it was more than White and Black people to talk to" the purple haired lady answered.
"You know how last night Henry" Emily said.
"Okay, what is your name" i said, looking at the purple haired girl.
"Oh, my name is Angel" she said
"Well, Angel, what are you doing here?" i asked
"Hanging with my sister of course" Angel said
"Emily is your sister, okay" i said
"Well have a nice day ladies, i'm going to chill out for a little while" i said, i then went to the "lounge" area and plopped on one of the couchs.
I then thought about why they would kidnap Javik, i mean he is a Alchemist, but wouldn't they already some, as the Wazret are natural Alchemists, with a gathering of that many, surely there must have been a few, right? I sat in the the room, i then pulled the memory of the battle from my mind, and tried to search for any Alchemists during the battle, nothing.... Ah, at the back, why were they not fighting then? Unless they were saving them for the ambush... shoot, well at the very least there will Alchemist's Fire, at the worst, i didn't know the full art of Alchemy, but i knew enough to know that they could very easily defeat this small caravan. How to counter Alchemist's Fire? i might, actually i will just make a list of things they could throw at us, and take them to Javik and ask if they are possible, how likely they would to use it, and any counters to it. After a few minutes of rapid writing i made the list.
List of possible potions and other stuff
- Alchemist's Fire
- Explosive Bombs
- Can they safely consume their Potions? (if so yuck, and bad)
- Can they use Potions to summon stuff?
- Healing Potions
- Throwing Potions
Okay, now with that done, i brought it over to Javik.
"What is this?" Javik croaked.
"A list of potions or possible alchemical concepts that the Wazret could throw at us, since we attacked a force, maybe not even the main force to get you back" I said.
"woah dude, slow down, While it is true that most, well all of these of possible, and that most definitely wasn't the main force" Javik managed to get out
"So, did you manage to get a hold of their plans, or over hear anything important?" I asked.
"Let me think...... Ah yes, they said they would ambushing the caravan soom, but don't know how soon" Javik answered.
I cursed, then asked about counters to these.
"Oh, Alchemist Fire, well no counter other than dodging it, or maybe Gelatinous Water, haven't tried it personally, Explosive Bombs you run and hope you don't splat everywhere, as for buffing potions and poison, their counter is buffing ourselves and anti-poison respectively, Summoning things, well guess what, no counter, deal with it, or summon your own creatures, Healing Potions are countered by, well damaging them, Throwing Potions, go get a shield and some heavy armor, and hope to Wazrat that it isn't Acid, otherwise you are toast" Javik said.
"What about just dodging?" I asked, even though i already knew the answer
"Of course you can dodge" Javik said in a tone that sounded like he was scolding me.
I rolled my eyes and then thanked him and wished him good luck on his recovery, I then left the room and then smelled something cooking, and i witnessed Emily and Angel cooking something. I then sat in a chair and waited them to finish, 30 minutes later they did, and all but Javik came down to eat. I saw Emily, coloring the water? why did we need colored water, whatever.
Eric
When i came down, i saw Emily coloring the water, green, white, blue, red, and yellow. I sat down and then analyzed the food, it looked, normal, that didn't stop me from thinking that they had done something to it, wait, who was the short purple haired lady? She then served the food. I then ate it, albeit somewhat reluctantly at first, once i tasted it, it was unaltered so i wolfed it down.
"So who is the newcomer" i asked between bites.
"She is Angel" Henry said.
"Okay" i said, i then went back to eating.
The meal was mostly silent, with a question or two about Angel. I got up and put my dishes into a container. I then left for bed, as were the rest of the crew.
Chapter 5 - Integration of the Future[]
Eric
I woke in the morning pretty tired, mainly still recovering from that short battle. I also found Kathlen in the kitchen, working on breakfast, which was nice. I saw Javik up early and went to talk to him.
"So, what potions are you making?" i asked him, he looked slightly surprised
"uhhh... well, Alchemist's Fire of course, some Chlorine Gas if possible, and of course explosive bombs for those chickens" Javik said
"Ahh, okay"
"So, i see a Wazret can talk normally with a Precursor or N'zath while in here" Kathlen said.
"Of course we can" I said like the idiot i am.
Kathlen just shook her head and went back to cook.
Chapter 6 - Battle of the Serpentine Path[]
I was shaken awake by a panicked Henry.
"The Wazret are going to ambush us soon, we need to warn the others!" he said desperately
Wait, Wazret were gonna attack?, i thought we had dealt them a nice big defeat two nights ago, but i guess not. i got and got dressed for battle, as did the others, including Javik, who had recovered from his time with them, i guess. We then rushed outside, and scanned the woods, and sure enough, there they were. I saw red eyes on their monkey frames, and they had Alchemists, great. I saw other people, such as the guards, and several other Hunting Wagons, both sides for the other to do something for a whole minute, i just wanted to charge, but i was told otherwise, finally the Wazret spoke.
"You dare slaughter citizens!" one of them spoke
"You killed families!" said another
"They were kidnapping people, then attacked us, what were we supposed to do" Javik said
"Traitor, supporting the whites" a shaman looking one said
That earned several snorts from our side. The Wazrets then issued a battlecry and charged. We charged and both sides slammed into each other, I hit one with my Greataxe, while Javik shot a Lightning Bolt at several Alchemists, who's bombs exploded, Emily slammed several Wazret into each other. I then cleaved through two Wazret, their top halfs falling down, i then spun around just as a sword came at me, and a parried with my axe, although it quickly slipped, it at least stopped the attack, as my attacker had not expected me to something as stupid as parring with a axe. I then brought the axe on his head, and it rolled before he had a chance to block. I then saw another Lightning Bolt hit what looked to be Honor Guard, fun. I then saw Angel, literally become her namesake, as she brought fire, although it didn't look holy, down upon the enemy. Henry then sliced up somebody behind me.
"Watch your back dude" Henry said
"Sorry" i said
I then brought my axe upon another's head. The Wazret then threw acid potions at us, i lodged out of the way, but others, well they didn't make it. They then flung Alchemist's Fire at us, which several were batted away by Telekinesis, The Shamen of the Wazrets began to chant something, and pentagrams appeared in front of them, as the chanting continued I yelled "CHHHHHAAAARRRRRGGGGE!" and lost myself in the battle
Henry
While Eric was slicing people with that Axe of his, I was slicing and stabbing Wazret to high heaven and back, then I heard the chanting, it was a sickening chant, with a serpentine-like sound to it, although i couldn't decipher the language, I knew they were doing something bad, so I rushed over to try and stop them, until a huge Wazret, the size of a house, slammed into me, knocking me back, I then flipped somehow and landed on my feet, I then charged it, it swung, and i rolled out of the way, and slashed its arm, Then a Lightning Bolt hit the Ogre square in the forehead, and it fell over, and i quickly stabbed it in the skull, hitting its brain, killing it, I pulled out my blade and saw the summoning was complete, as, What?, Snakemen crawled out of portals and started swarming us, I then began to fight one, only to realize how powerful they were, as he deflected my jab easily, I then swung at its head, and it parried, while in the blade lock, I kicked where its groin should be, and it was stunned for a second, and I then sliced off its lower, more snake-like body, and it fell over. I then saw more coming, and then I saw a large Wazret, not quite the size of the Wazret Ogres, but still much larger than its brethren, with two swords and a crown, here was the leader, and with him was a high ranking mage, I then saw Arcturus come up, the Mage spoke
"Hello Arcturus" The Mage said
"Hello Gretchen" Arcturus said
Jason
As the others battled, I smashed the puny monkeys to pieces easily due to my large size, one of my favorite things to do was to pick up two of the monkeys and slam them together, as it killed them, and the morale of the enemy was weakened as a result. I then saw a snakeman, I then picked him up and threw him into a tree, and he fell down, knocked down. I then saw a Wazret Ogre fighting Henry, and one charging me, great, i then kicked it, and it didn't go flying, no, it decided to grab my foot and throw me into a tree, i then got up and barrel into it, knocking it off balacne, i then smashed it with my club, and it fell down, knocked out, i then moved to save Henry, who had moved on to fighting the King.
Henry
They both shot beams at each other, somehow, they met in the middle, as magic exploded and knocked everyone nearby, myself included, away. I then got up, and was going to the mage, but was intercepted by the King, and our blades clashed, and mine broke, I then rolled away, and ran, knowing i couldn't beat him. All of the sudden Eric barrels into him and knocks the King over, I was saved! i looked for a blade, and saw the Serpentine's sword, I grabbed it as the King threw Eric off him, I leaped and lunged, he blocked, but this time the blade didn't break, I then jumped on him and dropped my sword, then pulled out a dagger and stabbed him in the eye, robbing him of a eye. I then jumped off, then Angel dived and slashed the top of his head, while I retrieved my sword. I then slashed his other eye, before being stabbed, I fell down in pain, as i saw a Small Wazret behind me. I then fell behind me, hoping to fall on my attacker, but he stepped out of the way, then a heard a crunching noise, as Jason picked me up.
"Thanks man, I would have been toast" I said.
"Your welcome" Jason said
We then both sidestepped some bombs, and charged the still alive King, with Jason picking him and repeatedly smashing his face into the ground, i then stabbed him in the head, killing him, or so i thought.
"Ah, well done Stickmen, however soon something more deadly than mere Terrorists or the Serpentine shall confront you soon, beware you allies, they are not your friends" the King prophesied, then he died
I then looked around, as the Serpentine turned and broke their bonds with whoever was controlling them, They then fled the battle. As we watched the Wazret flee along with the Snake-people, i saw their eyes were not red anymore, i wasn't satisfied with our victory, it came too easily, and it sounded, maybe someone else may have been controlling the Wazret after all. We looked upon our hard earned victory, and then camped for the night.
Interlude 2 - The Plans Continue[]
As i watched the battle unfold, I was impressed by some of people, especially Epsilon Wagon, as they cut through the Wazret minions, well they were certainly putting up a fight i must say, more than i was expecting, perhaps, nah, not yet. Maybe mind control the King just as dies, sounds like a good idea, as he died, from the giant Jason, and the swordsman Henry.
""Ah, well done Stickmen, however soon something more deadly than mere Terrorists or the Serpentine shall confront you soon, beware you allies, they are not your friends" i said, and the King copied what i said.
Ahh... soon my revenge would be complete, soon, Arcturus will suffer for what he did all those years ago.....
I turned to Rofus, the poor soul, just happened upon my hiding spot, well he would be my pawn now, as he sent my power into him, and his eyes glowed red briefly, then once again like a dead corpse.
Chapter 7 - Grieving & Finding[]
As we set up camp among the ruins of our caravan, which had gotten destroyed in the fight. We then gathered around a large Bonfire, and the Cleric recited the names of the dead.
"Miles, Ronnie, Rofus, Quintus, and Jay all have perished today in battle" the Cleric said
No! Rofus, how did i not see him die, how? i shall attend the funeral. We then had a special dinner, or lunch, or whatever, i didn't care, then it started raining, we went inside our ruined wagons, with me at First Watch for our Wagon, i sat, waiting for something, anything to jump, sadly, nothing did, i just swung at the air to dissipate my anxiety. I then waited for my shift to be over, after around 3 hours, i shook Eric awake, and he took over. I then rested....
In the Morning i was awakened with sun in my face, I then saw Zach above me.
"Hey Zach" i said half-asleep
"Get up, we are going to the funeral" Zach said
I then got up, and followed Zach. We stopped at a coffin, with Delta Hunting Wagon around it. I arrived as the speech starting
"Rofus, was a cheerful person while he was alive, we all know he wasn't the smartest, but he was one of the nicest people i knew" the Speaker said
When it came to pay my respects, i put the Wazret King's Crown on his coffin.
"A token to remember me in the afterlife, if such a thing exists" I said as i did that.
I then half payed attention through the rest of the funeral, luckily I wasn't called up for anything, I then left half numb and went to the wagon, then realized that we were packing, I were on the final leg of the first part of the journey. I then packed and gathered with the rest of the caravan, as we moved forward. I pulled out my bow, i was the best in the group at archery. I then spotted figures in the distance, i realized that i was a little, as people were already shooting.
"Shoot" i muttered to myself as he knocked my first arrow, and shot, then realized that they were stone, well arrows wouldn't do a thing, unless enchanted.
But i continued shooting anyway, as everyone else was. I then realized that the stone was uhhh.... softer than i thought, so we killed them, and moved ever closer to our objective. We then saw it, a pedestal with a jeweled skull on it, not what i had thought it would look like, Arcturus then walked up and picked it up, nothing happened.
"Wasn't it supposed to do something?" one whispered.
"I think so" another whispered
"SILENCE!" Arcturus shouted, everyone went silent.
"We have gotten what we came for, now let us return to what, remains of our caravan" he said.
We then headed back to the ruined wagons, and settled down and waited for orders for what to do. Eric then walke over.
"So it was disappointing, what the artifact was i take it?" Eric said
"Yeah it was, not even closer to what i had imagined it has" I replied
"Well, we don't get what we want from life" Eric said, wait, ERIC said it, he isn't known for his wisdom to say the least
"It is what it is" I say
"True" Eric says
"So, how are the others?" I ask
"Well, the others are fine, i just thinking about why Emily dyed the water last night" Eric said
"yeah, well, what do you think?" i said.
"I don't know to be honest" Eric said.
"That's great" i said.
"Maybe it's nothing" Eric said.
"But do you really think so?" I asked.
Eric sighed and said "No".
"Well then" i said.
"Lets get back to the wagon" Eric said.
"Good idea" i said as i got up.
We then came back to our partly repaired wagon, as Emily was reconstructing it. We then sat down next to Javik.
"Hey Javik, how are you doing?" Eric asked, before i could.
"Just bored, i have been told not to do anymore 'stupid' stunts, like battling today" Javik said
"By who?" i asked
"The doctor" he said
Javik then leaned and whispered "I saw his eyes, they were red like the Wazrets".
"That bad, right?" Eric whispered
"Yes, its mean that he is being controlled, by something, but by what?" Javik whispered
"Invisible demons who can possess people to fart rainbows" i said jokingly
"That great, although why should try to help repair our wagon" Javik said
We up and starting helping, by noon the wagon was ready to depart, however, others were not, so we waited, till nightfall, then we has to camp, again, ugh.... We slept in the tent
Rofus's Coffin
As Night fell, the light disappeared, and the coffin, began to move a little, then a moan, a quiet one, but it fell on deaf ears, as a louder sound came from the Coffin as the corpse clawed its way from inside the coffin, and its eyes were blazing red....
Chapter 8 - Dead Rising[]
Henry
While i was sleeping, i had a dream. In that dream, i was fighting, weird plant things, looked like little fairies, then the sky turned black, and a hand came up from the ground, what in the world, thats creepy, as if that wasn’t enough, it was half rotted, and then the ground broke, and i saw a full person, who was half rotted, but uhh… alive, my brain is messed up. I then saw more, i tried to redirect the dream, but it didn't work, I then run from the corpse, and ran away, as i didn’t like fighting things that should have died, i then saw hands come up all around me, i backed into a corner, trapped i then heard the moans, but they were not moans, but someone’s voice
“Wake up dummie”
I then woke to Eric shaking me, i then got up, and me, Javik, Jason, and the Gray Fox were here.
“Where are the others?” I asked
“Well, they have disappeared, and well it's hard to explain, but uhhhh… corpses are walking outside, eating people” Eric said, terrified
“WHAT!” both my and Jason said in panic.
“Shoot” Jason said
“Yes, and that too” i said
The Gray Fox growled in agreement
“Well, let's form a plan” i said, hoping one of them would at least have a partly concocted one.
“Nope”
“No”
Darn it, oh well
“Okay then, lets scout the surrounding area for any walking corpses” i said
We then did it, and thankfully found none waiting outside the wagon, but none of us were brave enough to go beyond that, we then heard a groan as a hand stuck through the cloth, we jumped and saw it was half rotted, Jason then went out and slammed, and we a satisfying CRUNCH! But no time to waste as we heard others coming, we jumped out the Wagon and saw three more. I took the left one, and stabbed it in the heart, and it did nothing, i tried the head, still nothing, finally it tried to swing an arm, but i sliced its arm off, and the arm began to jump around on its own, okay, that is gross, and repulsive, i then sliced it in half, and that seemed to the trick, i then saw it start to move both halves of its body, i then shopped its head and started chopping it to pieces, and those didn’t move, i then kicked the moving arm into the wall of another wagon, and it went SPLAT! I turned and saw they had dealt with their corpses. We then heard more coming, would they ever end, we then rushed over to another wagon, and saw survivors fighting off some of the corpses, we then rushed to their aid, Javik then saw more, and threw a Alchemist’s Fire at them, they burned, boy i have never been so glad for that fire. He then tossed us some, we then saw red hair in the distance, we knew we couldn’t abandon our friend, so we made our way to Emily, We saw her leading others to a Wagon, we followed, only to our dismay, she turned to us, and had red eyes, we saw Angel, and she also had red eyes, the Gray Fox then showed up, and both were shocked, as Emily chanted something, i had to act fast, so I lashed out, but found, that I couldn’t move, and that a blue light surrounded me, She then looked Eric, and a light was sent into him, and he began to mutate into a horrible wolf monster, i was shocked that i didn’t realize that i was next, and i beame translucent, a Ghost? Why?
Eric
Kill… Kill… that was all that was ran through my head after, the intense pain, i then stared at my hands in shock, i had fur, what had Emily done to me, Kill… Kill… i then charged her, to her shock, and i began tearing her, using my newfound strength, i tried to rip her in half, but i found myself choking instead, although not much. I then barreled into her and knocked her over, I was then picked by Angel, i clawed her wings and she fell over, i then saw, the corpses, Kill….. Kill…. I then charged them, and tore into them, killing much much effective with my massive claws than i did with my battleaxe, which was laying around somewhere, i smelled more, Kill…. Kill…. I once again charged and tore into them, i then sniffed for something more, and saw a flash of white, Kill…. Kill….. I leapt over the wagons no problem and saw my employer, and charged, but he stopped dead in my tracks, and clearity came to my mind.
“What happened?” Arcturus asked
“Uhhh… Emily, is leading people into traps, we were turned into things, I became a wolf monster, with just an instinct to kill everything, even my friends” i said
“It is worse than i feared” Arcturus said gravely
“Can you do something about this?” i asked hopefully
“Not much i’m afraid, just grant you a choice to choose your base instincts, or a higher more civilized mind, i'm so sorry it has had to come to this” Arcturus said
He then sent a white light into me, and i felt the control slip away, although not completely. I then howled and leapt at the nearest corpse, and tore into him, taking only a swipe before he was sent flying. I then heard a Wail, as translucent blue beings rose up out of the earth, i then heard a demonic voice speak
“RISE GEISTS, SLAUGHTER THESE FOOLS! AND FEAST ON THEIR SOULS”
That didn’t sound good, i tried to slice one, but ended up going through him, and the thing was unaffected, and i felt my lifeforce beginning to leave my body, I then wanted to kill it, but i couldn’t, until Arcturus blasted it wit some sort of yellow bolt.
“Blasted Undead, how are they this strong” Arcturus said
Wait, this is what Undead were, what the heck, Emily was a Traitor all along, she had this planned, she can go die in Hell for all i care. I then saw a collection of rocks punch Angel out of the sky.
Jason
I watched Emily turn the other two, and both disappeared, i then felt heavy, and loose, like a bunch of rocks, and i couldn’t see anymore, but i instead fet the movement in front of me, I then smashed where Emily was, and i heard a scream in response, i then heard her say
“This is all Arcturus’s fault, he didn’t do enough” i realized that Emily may be controlled by something, if i could only find it, i then felt something blast my loose arm, and i then felt it recovering, and I smashed something, turned out to be a corpse, yuck, who even made those, they are disgusting beyond belief. I then found more, and smashed their unnatural steps out of existence, hopefully. I then felt fire nearby, i went over, and grabbed the person in the air, and flung them at the ground, i never felt their thud, as they resumed flight, and i heard a voice ring out.
“RISE GEISTS, SLAUGHTER THESE FOOLS! AND FEAST ON THEIR SOULS”
I then felt, well nothing, maybe i couldn’t Geists, but whatever, i grabbed i was certain was Angel and punched her, sending her into the ground, i tried to say something, but i couldn’t speak i realized, or at least speak where people could understand me, i then saw Arcturus, he was wizard, maybe he could help me, i walked up to him and made a pleading gesture.
“Oh my goodness, Emily has been busy” he said as i regained my sight, and grew larger.
“Thanks man” i said as a stomped on a corpse
“Your welcome, Jason, and take this” he said as he tossed a club, it looked fancy, and had runes on it, and when i caught it, it grew in size to became what to most people was a massively oversized greatclub, but for me it was a large one-handed weapon. I then saw the Wolf Monster, formerly known as Eric, nod at me in greeting, meaning he retained at least some of Eric’s intelligence and memories.
Chapter 9 - The Battle of Minds[]
Henry
I then saw My friends crazy in front me, and that's when i broke down. Why couldn’t i have died instead, well i am kind of dead, but still, completely dead, Fate, Destiny, anyone? Fine, i then saw Emily and Angels Spirits, trapped by some black gunk, i then went over and broke them out, and well Emily was still evil, Angel was shocked that her sister would help the person that raised the corpses, we then were surrounded by black ghost with red eyes, all of the sudden a yellow burst, which killed most of the ghosts, it was the, Gray Fox, why would emily’s pet oppose her? Whatever, i then followed the fox to Arcturus? Interesting. I then asked Arcturus
“What in the world is going on?”
I didn’t get an answer because then a demonic voice rang out
“RISE GEISTS, SLAUGHTER THESE FOOLS! AND FEAST ON THEIR SOULS”
Well, that wasn’t good. I then saw dozens of black ghosts, aiming for my poor little soul, and my and Angel put our backs to each other. As she sent off blasts of Holy Fire, and well, i kept things off of her in the meantime, while she turned them to ash. I then saw Eric/Wolf Monster getting attacked, and i rushed to his aid, and then i was hit by the Fox, and i gained new life, as i shifted into realspace, whoa, okay, i summoned a lot of the yellow energy, and to my suprise, it both harmed the undead, and healed the living. I then looked for Emily, i then went back to the Spirit Plane, as i was calling it. And grab Angel, and transported her here, and she became physical, I then asked for her to fly me around so i could find my sister, Eric then howled and bounded off in a direction. I then was off the ground, and i named this yellow energy, Positive Energy, die to its positive effect on my life, I shit Positive Energy beams at the end, and they died like good boys, but they were already getting up, the ones we killed earlier. I then spotted Emily over near a Arriving Wagon, with a skeletal crew arming it, well, at least it isn’t semi-fresh corpses. Then, another girl stepped out the Wagon, a blue skinned girl, who had blue hair, what is this, whatever. Both me and Angel jumped down to meet them, but we were not the only ones, As Eric, Arcturus, Jason, and Kevin come up the flank.
Eric
Kill… No….. I fought with myself as i fought through the Geists, I then noticed some of the Geists dying, and for a second i thought i saw Henry, but he turned into a Geist, didn’t he? I guess he didn’t break, I then saw Henry appear before my eyes, with the traitor Angel, what was he thinking, Oh she doesn’t have red eyes, hopefully she doesn’t betray us. I then saw another survivor, I then resisted my instincts to murder him on the spot and managed to form the words of a question.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“Wha, Eric what happened to you?” he said.
“Short version is Emily betrayed us, and cursed the others” I said
“Wha, why would she do that?” he asked
“I have no idea” I said
“Well, once we capture her, we might get more information” he said
“Are you crazy, we not capturing here, we are killing her, she has had this thing planned for a while” I said
“Okay, but i still think we should think we should capture her” he said
“Lets go, she isn’t going to kill herself” I said as I moved forward, and saw more Undead.
I then charged and let my instincts take over in ripping them to shreds, I then turned around, and saw Angel and Eric flying over to a incoming crimson wagon, i then leapt over there with the survivor, and saw Jason, Angel, and Henry facing off against Emily, and another lady, why are all the lady’s bad guys? I then joined Henry’s side.
Jason
I then moved away, then saw a Giant Undead, I then hit it with my club, and it knocked off its, uhhh… fragile arm, it then stated at me blankly, before slowly raising its arm, I then hit its head, it it went flying, and it fell down, whoa, something where a headshot kills them, great, I then saw more Undead i and stomped them with a foot, and i heard CRUNCH! As they turned to red mist. I then moved to smashing more undead, and then saw a wagon off in the distance. I then walked through some more undead, and then saw Angel in the sky with Henry, okay, i thought she was with Emily, I guess not. I then walked over to the wagon, and saw moving Skeletons, okay, this place is just getting weirder. I then walked over to the wagon, and Emily appeared along with a blue skinned woman, what the heck?
Chapter 10 - Dying Light[]
Henry
We then waited, as the blue skin spoke.
“Arcturus, it has been a while” she spat
“Yes it has Lily, pray tell, why don’t you kill these Undead?” he said as he was charging a spell.
“Because i caused them, I want revenge for you killing the love of my life” Lily shouted
“It had to be done, he was going to be-” he said
“He would never betray anyone bastard” she interjected and interrupted
I waited for something, but Emily stood there look a drone waiting for orders.
“I guess bitterness has gotten the better of you Lily” Arcturus said
“Wait, you know this person?” Eric growled
“Yes” he said
“Enough with these games, DIE” she said
The Skeletons knocked their bows, and the Fox did a Positive Energy burst, the Skeletons turned to dust.
“Emily, control your brother” Lily said
“Yes mother” Emily said
Wait, this was Emily’s mom, just, this is so messed up, why possess your child, whatever. Emily then shoot a purple beam at him, which the fox responded with a beam of his own, as the two beams met in the middle, purple and yellow energy began to leak into the surrounding areas, meaning I had to jump out of the way, as the plants withered and turned green may times over, i then charged Lily, and she grabbed my with Telekinesis and threw me aside like i was a toy. I saw Eric charge, and almost land a hit, but he too was thrown aside like a toy. I then shot a Positive Energy at the purple beam, and it disrupted the beam enough to where the fox’s beam was pushing the purple beam back. Emily ten turned to a Skeleton and was hit by a Alchemist’s Fire, and she began to scream, as we saw a badly injured Javik emerge from behind the wagon, he even had his bones in places, and then we saw the snakemen from earlier come and start fighting the undead, and then i got up, and tried to lunge at Lily, but she then threw me aside, as Arcturus unleashed a white beam, she then summoned a shield, and the beam broke on the shield, its power leaking into the ground and plants, I then shot a Positive Energy bolt at her, and she fell down, her shield dropping and being hit by the beam. I then was slammed into a wall, and a black burst appeared where she was, as shehad Arcturus pinned, Javik threw another potion, this time acid, and she then turned in, rage in her eyes, and then Javik began to rise in the air, and sounds like choking came out him, just then, Eric slammed into her, knocking her aside,
“DIE” he growled.
Lily then stopped whatever she was doing to Javik, and then slammed Eric through multiple walls. I then saw fire in the distance, as Lily was stabbed by a snakeman, she gasped, and crushed the Snakeman with her Telekinesis, which I noted that was much stronger than Emily’s. She then flung Arcturus around and brought him to her.
“Lily, it couldn’t be avoided, he was going to release the undead on everyone, listen to yourself” Arcturus pleaded
“You should have listened to me, and spared him” Lily screamed
I then snuck up behind her, and stabbed her in the spine, she fell down, as Emily stabbed me in the back, and the world went black.
Eric
I saw Henry go down from a stab made by Emily, then leaped at her and swiped at her, it then went through her, no fair, why can she turn into a ghost and I can’t. She then lunged with her dagger, I rolled out of the way, and then jumped onto her, knocking her down, i then tried to bite down on her throat, but I couldn’t, Kill…… Kill…… I then lunged with my claw, and was grabbed by her Telekinesis and flung off, although it was weak, i then leaped, and missed Emily, landed face first on the wall. I then turned around and bounded towards Emily, then i heard Arcturus’s cry of pain, as Lily stood victorious. A burst of light then came from his body, and she was knocked own, she was then up before you could say “Hi”
“Your master is dead, now join me, and your curses shall be undone, and i shall rule Sildan!” Lily said like a madman, well she was one.
Angel then shot Holy Fire at her, while Javik threw tanglefoot bags at her feet, and a lot of vines grew, preventing escape from the fire. She then writhed and screams, as Jason smashed her with his club, ending her, as a shockwave of black energy left her body, and everything died, not us, but everything else, the plants, even the weaker Undead. Emily was affected differently from the rest of us, as she screamed, she disappeared, but her voice was still heard. What the heck, i then felt it, Kill…. Kill… I then left before I could be defeated by my instincts. I saw Jason fall over dead as i left, which shocked me, what could have done that, and for the first time in a while, I felt fear, I then whimpered and sprinted away….
Epilogue - Another Contender[]
The ship came, upon its flag was a skull, and two staffs crossing behind it, just then, the First Mate, a Bomber, pointed at land, and the Dark Knight looked at it with greedy eyes. The Harrowdei eyed him carefully, not showing any emotion, has they landed the ship, and saw things that no one else waw, Precursor bodies, everywhere, why did they die?
"Uhhh... sir, why are there Precursor bodies everywhere?" A Eclipsor asked
"Because, they were not strong enough, we can best anything, for we are the Chatonian Imperium" the Dark Knight proclaimed proudly.
Everyone else rolled their eyes and moved on, they then saw an artifact in the middle, and the Dark Knight rushed and grabbed it, then, the Precursor bodies began to rise, and turn black and rotted, and they heard howls and wails
They were doomed