Chapter 107: Chapter 106

Chapter 106

Dawn’s light had brought with it a flood of the undead, pouring over entrenched defenders like a tidal wave of death, bathing the northern city of Brightsville in blood when the two major factions present there clashed in the biggest battle yet.

And it had been short lived.

Allie glared down at Prophet’s second-in-command, an old wiry military veteran who’d managed to get a paladin class and cause grief for her forces numerous times. He now stood battered, beaten, broken and bruised blood dripping down his forehead and breathing out in ragged gasps. Her hand was through his chest, grasping his spine, and she gripped more tightly to hear the crunch of bone under her fingers.

The man screamed, and she yanked with a spray of gore to end him on the spot.

Tossing the vertebrae casually to the side and letting the man’s twitching corpse fall onto the ground, she turned and gracefully stepped over the dozens of corpses between her and the burning cathedral Prophet had once called home. Stopping not far off from Vin, the skeletal necromancers gave her a raspy chuckle and motioned for her to come closer.

“They never stood a chance!” Vin croaked, a crooked, bone finger pointing to where thousands of fleeing refugees were frantically trying to escape the onslaught of their forces across the plains just outside of Brightsville. Skeletons and zombies were in abundance, but there were occasional ghouls, blood golems, bone golems, skresh, and even a few ghosts that ran the crowd of screaming people down.

Allie watched her forces murder the families of the defenders with only a very small amount of guilt, but internally she knew this had to be done lest she endanger herself and the civilization she was going to build here. It was a great evil for a greater good.

“We didn’t catch him, did we?” Allie asked impassively - gazing across the carnage and the fields of corpses.

Vin’s smugness dropped, and he grunted an acknowledgement of her assessment. “Yeh, bastard got away with a couple hundred of his best fighters. They fled north across the plains to abandon these ones here.”

The skresh waved a hand across the fields stained red. “They’ve been long gone. But now this poses a question… What do you want to do with these ones?”

Allie’s eyebrow raised and she followed her lieutenant's gesture, seeing a couple hundred bound humans rounded up into an enclosure between buildings. Many of them were outright terrified. Some were young, some were old, while others were her own age. A couple of sentient ghouls had taken command of a group of minions and kept the humans in line while awaiting orders, and their dead eyes watched Allie with curious intent - waiting to see what she’d have them do.

“Why were they not already killed?” Allie asked flatly, shoving her hands and her wand into the pockets of her cloak.

Vin cleared his throat, or vertebrae, or whatever it was he did to make that sound happen. “They were not part of Prophet’s forces. They were a negotiating group, one that was being blackmailed and coerced into joining Prophet before we struck. They’d not agreed to anything yet, and this is confirmed by our spies.”

“Is that so?” Allie strode over confidently through the crowds of unholy creatures, the wave of them parting before her like the red sea. Coming to a stop before one of the bound men nearby. He was a huge man, thickly muscled and built like a bear with a long black beard and of Indian heritage. He was very bruised, but otherwise bore no wounds. “I hear you weren’t part of the faction who’d declared war on us. What would your plans be, should I let you and your people go?”

The man hesitated, glancing back at the people behind him one by one in unspoken conversations.

Allie looked left to the ghoul soldiers standing nearby. One carried a sword, the other a rifle and a machete. “This is the leader of their group, correct?”

She got two nods, and in turn she stared back down at the man again with piercing red eyes through the bone mask on her face. “Speak, I do not have much patience for this.”

The man gulped, then raised his face to the light. “I had not known you were the ones declared on, the man calling himself Prophet had told us that you’d gone out of your way to kill people just for being different from you.”

“I have done terrible things, but that sin is not mine to bear. I did not start this war, I am merely finishing it.”

Again the burly man hesitated, then he blinked a couple times and shakily exhaled. “We have no ties to the people you killed. Simply put, we will do whatever it takes to survive. The real question is, what would you have us do?”

Vin came to stop beside Allie, letting out a laugh when Allie hummed with contentment.

“That… That is the correct answer.” Allie stated simply. Turning around and speaking to the ghoul soldiers, she gestured with a hand to the prisoners at her back. “Free them. Find Mara at the tower, have her integrate them into our society one way or the other. They’ll be made useful, I’m sure.”

Audible sighs or sobs of relief escaped numerous humans and undead soldiers started to cut their bindings one by one, with many people crying or hugging one another after they’d been set free.

Allie continued to walk through the ruined compound, watching her forces dig through the remnants of Prophet’s belongings to try and find whatever treasures could be salvaged. No doubt he’d taken the holy book with him, but there might be other things she could acquire that he’d not had time to collect in the panic of her surprise attack that morning.

Irreverently kicking aside a corpse and plopping down onto a wooden bench, Allie took her mask off and set it in her lap. Pulling out the communication orb she’d linked to Riven’s own, she let her mind wander for a time - wondering what he’d say if he saw what she was up to right now.

But she was doing this for him. Great evils for greater goods, that was what this was all about. There was a good chance he’d one day find out about the things she’d done here, but she’d face it when that time came. No matter what happened, they would always love one another. Riven and Allie had always been inseparable, and just as she would forever support him no matter what he did - he too would never abandon her for the things she was forced to do here. It still made her slightly sick to think about how disappointed he’d be in her though, and she tried to push those thoughts away while wincing when the sunlight reached her eyes.

She pulled down her hood with a groan, and Vin took a seat next to her on the bench.

“I’m surprised you let them live, and even more surprised you’re incorporating them into the community.” Vin speculatively stated while rubbing his bone chin. “Suddenly going soft, eh? You’ve probably been talking to Mara too much. We should have butchered them for parts like the ones running in the fields.”

Allie gave him a frown, then shook her head - placing her communication orb in her lab but not activating it yet. “Do not think me evil for evil’s sake, Vin. If you do, you’d be mistaken. I only kill those fleeing from us for reasons of practicality. I do not want to kill them, but they have to be killed. It is a matter of security for ourselves, rather than one of cruelty.”

“Truly?”

“Truly. Think about this, Vin. Would it not be wise to have a sect of our society based on mortals? Those that are not undead already?” Allie turned her entire body, shifting one leg to rest on the other knee to get a better look at the other necromancer. “There will always been enemies to kill for more parts, to use as fuel to create more of our kin. However, it does not need to be a violent path all the time. What happens when mortals die? Their bodies go to waste. But we could collect those bodies when they die of old age and normal means, and allow both of our people to grow under one umbrella.”

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“Under your umbrella.”

“Correct.” Allie shrugged. “It just makes sense. Yes, humans spurned us multiple times when we got here. But we are the ones in power now, we are the strongest faction in this city. They will fall in line because they have no choice, and when they realize that they are offered security and a path to a better life under my rule? It’s a no brainer.”

She tapped the side of her head with a finger. “After we subdue the warring gangs of the suburbs and kill that man who’s made a base out of the city prison, the rest of the city will be easy for the taking. Who else has the power to stand against us? The answer is no one. It is now simply a matter of time, and a matter of hunting down the rabbits that followed Prophet into the wilderness.”

“They’ll likely run far and fast.” Vin stated flatly. “If we do not pursue them now, we may never find them again. Mara’s assassins are pursuing their retreat, but we do not know if her minions are capable enough of catching them, then staying hidden for surveillance, and finally relaying a message without problems.”

Allie picked up the bauble in her lap again with an indifferent shrug. “Perhaps… perhaps not. We will see. I have a very strong feeling that this is not anything but a tactical retreat, however. Where would they go? None of us have any idea what lays beyond the borders of this small city, so unless they want to wander around aimlessly I doubt they’d have a real trajectory to shoot for anyways. They have no true sanctuary any longer, but let’s pause this conversation. I need to talk to my brother, knowing him he’s gotten himself into some kind of trouble over the past 24 hours as is typical.”

She rolled her eyes, but grinned with amusement as she said it. Then beginning to infuse mana into the black orb, she took her leave and began to walk aimlessly away from Vin or the other undead to maintain a semblance of privacy.

***

“You’re being stupid. Why don’t you just kill the old man causing you these problems and subjugate the village?” Allie’s voice cut through the communication orb clear as day, garnering attention from the others in their cabin while Riven continued to play chess with Azmoth. “It sounds to me like these elves are just using you without giving you any real value. A pretty face and a body to feed on are not something you need to negotiate for. You should simply tell them that you’re in charge and take as many bodies to feed on as you want. Conquer the village and make it easy. How would they stop you?”

Riven grimaced at her words, but he was hesitant to leave the room for privacy’s sake should Ethel’s family think he was actually going to consider something like betrayal. He wanted them to hear the conversation back to front now that she’d openly told him to take the village by force. “I’m not going to just take over, Allie. That’s essentially slavery. The idea to kill Elder Preen isn’t a terrible one but even that pushes a line I don’t want to cross… yet. I’ll deal with him if I need to, but I want the trust of these people. They just had a group of orcs and goblins come to murder their families two days ago, there’s no way I’m going to come in and make them submit to me just because I can. Why would you even suggest that?”

“Didn’t you just say that you were wanting them to join our new faction?”

“Well, yeah it’d be nice. But not by force. I mean what the fuck Allie, are you being serious?”

To this, Allie let out a long sigh. “Perhaps this is a conversation we would best have in person.”

Riven let out an irritated grunt. “Yeah, it probably is.”

“Huh. Well I’m a bit busy, was there anything else you wanted to talk about?” The way she said it was snarky at best.

Riven opened his mouth to reply, but quickly shut it to give himself pause so he wouldn’t lash out verbally. They were both obviously in bad moods. Talking more about anything right now would get them nowhere, and the topic of Chalgathi was pushed to the backburner because of it. “No. There’s nothing else, we’ll talk later.”

“K, bye.”

The communication stone stopped pulsing and the connection to Allie disappeared, and Riven finally got up to exit the cabin - leaving his minions, Ethel, and her family awkwardly behind.

***

From up in the shade of a large tree, Athela plopped down beside the warlock and nudged Riven’s ribcage with an elbow. “Yo. How you feeling? Any better?”

Riven didn’t bother looking up from where he stared at the huge branch under his legs, but nodded his affirmation. “Yeah I feel fine.”

“You don’t look fine. You look pissed off.”

Riven gave Athela a half-hearted smile. “Yeah a bit, but let’s not talk about that now. I really am fine.”

Athela crossed her arms skeptically then abruptly shapeshifted into her spider form. Clambering onto his lap, she nuzzled under one arm and stayed there. “I’ll pretend you’re telling the truth. I suppose my next question is: do you feel good enough to get this greenskin deal over with?”

Riven’s smile turned warmer, and he started scratching the spider’s head like he would a dog’s. His body became less stiff, more relaxed, and he felt his shoulders slump slightly with an exhale of air under the tree’s shade. “Probably not that good. I want to be in top shape, apparently they still have their elites at the orc encampment - ones that didn’t come with the raiding party. Give me one more day of rest from our last battle and I’ll go.”

“You know… there is one thing I agreed with your sister on.” Athela blinked her red eyes from where she rested on his lap, hesitantly looking up. “Ethel is definitely using you. As long as you’re aware of that, I’m fine with it. You can use her back and it’ll be a fair trade, but I don’t like how she was so manipulative.”

Riven’s expression soured, but he did give a grunt of acknowledgement. “Can’t say I necessarily blame her though. Imagine finding yourself in that situation. Wouldn’t you do something similar if you could?”

“I sure would. I’m just trying to point out the obvious in case you weren’t aware.”

“Oh I’m definitely aware.”

“Want to play rock paper scissors for a bet?”

“What for?"

“Well, if you win then I don’t kill Elder Preen. If I do win, I go with your sister’s plan to kill the old fart today. Then I’ll eat him! That’ll solve ALL of our problems!!! Well, some of them anyways.”

Riven stifled a snort. “Rock, paper, scissors shouldn’t be how we decide life and death events. Plus, I wouldn’t get anything out of it if I won. We’re already not killing Elder Preen.”

“Yet. Not killing him - YET.” Athela corrected with a spider leg waggling his way. “5 platinum says we kill him soon.”

“I’d prefer not to come off as a murder-happy type of guy to the rest of the village, which is why I haven’t seriously considered it yet. I already look the part.”

“Wah wah, goo goo gah gah! That’s an impression of you, by the way. Let me bust out the sad violin music so Riven can wallow in self misery!”

“Hey!” Riven cackled a laugh when Athela started rubbing two of her limbs together, no doubt referencing the act from back on Earth when people mimicked playing the ‘world’s smallest violin’. How she’d known about that reference he didn’t know, but he definitely found it amusing.

A strong gust of wind caused the trees of the village to shake and rustle. The chirping of birds was momentarily hushed and the sun’s rays glinted off the lake nearby.

Athela burped and readjusted herself on his lap. “Do we know where it is?”

“Where what is? The orc camp?”

“Yeah.”

“No idea. I’ll have to ask Elder Bren, but he said he’d send a scout with us to confirm our side of the bargain.”

“Bargain? Oh, you’re talking about citizenship and the…” Athela gave Riven another little nudge and a chittering smirk - head bobbing over to where Ethel was kneeling below them on the ground, next to Len, and talking in hushed but stern tones. She, like many of the other elves in the village, was wearing only a thin two-piece garment of stitched leaves and furs that were quite revealing. “The hot babe!”

Riven’s hand karate-chopped hard into Athela’s back, sending the spider into a laughing gasp. “Shut it.”

Riven did manage to spare a glance up at the woman though, barely having enough time to reflect on her long tanned legs before she swept her blonde hair over her back to glance upwards his way. He immediately averted his gaze from Ethel to avoid detection, and then went back to looking out at the lake. Now was not the time to get distracted with things like that, the world of Panu was literally in danger and he was a key player in at least 1 of the 6 world quests. He needed to get stronger, and he needed to do it fast. 5 years may be a long ways away in some aspects, but not in the realm of needing to finish world-spanning events. He had to assume Panu was at least 3 times the size of Earth if all of those planets had been incorporated into one another, so there was little wiggle room in terms of a timeline.

“Have you looked at the Guild & Faction System, the cortex, and the leaderboards yet?” Athela’s voice carried to question him while he stared off into space.

Riven immediately paused upon hearing the question. He’d nearly forgotten after all the things that’d happened concerning that jackass Elder Preen, or in his short bursts of craving directed towards Ethel. And by craving he didn’t necessarily mean physically, but moreso meant it in terms of blood. He was getting hungry again, and despite having had warg meat last night as well as some cookies that hilarious little she-devil Len had baked for him - he was wanting blood too. He’d already made a morning trip to where the goblins were held down at stakes on the other side of the village. The goblins were stinking, disgusting creatures and though he’d already feasted on one that day - but it only satisfied his hunger and not his taste buds. Despite his disgust for the action that he’d performed in dungeon Negrada, he still remembered what human tasted like compared to goblin… and it was a stark difference. The taste of it, the smell, the satisfaction of a human was far more enticing… Even the corpse of the human back in the hospital that he’d scrounged up had been incredibly appetizing, but each of the elves here gave off an even better aroma than humans did. It made his mouth water just thinking about it, and though he hadn’t brought up feeding to Ethel just yet - he was certainly going to have that conversation sooner rather than later. She’d literally volunteered for it, so he didn’t have many reservations holding him back. It wasn’t like he was going to eat her, he’d never even consider it, he just wanted some of her blood in small amounts from time to time so that the cravings would go away and he wouldn’t go insane.

And he really, REALLY didn’t like the taste of goblin.

He shook those thoughts off. Then opened up his status page and scrolled, finding the three new options listed at the bottom.

Guild & Faction System (Currently Delayed)

Panu Cortex

Panu World Quests