by David Burke
Whatever he was, he was at a fairly high Monster Tier—nearly divine tier—and Kyle guessed that he was the one controlling the undead. Beside stood a massive creature. It was the mage’s companion that confused Kyle.
He could see the creature that towered above the mage clearly, despite the encroaching darkness. It looked akin to what he would have thought an orc might look like. The fading light and distance made it impossible for Kyle to tell what color its skin was, though. He could see armor and an obsidian black hooked blade, which seemed to draw into itself even what little light remained as twilight set in. At first glance, he appeared to be a bodyguard for the mage.
The new Kyle would typically have relied upon his expanded senses to tell him more about this creature. The problem was that they were failing him. At first, he couldn’t even sense that the being existed. His eyes told him it was there, but it was as though whatever it was, was invisible to Kyle’s essence based senses.
That caused Kyle to probe further. It was then, that he noticed that the man, or orc, or whatever it was, appeared to his senses as a hole in the world around him. Kyle could detect him by detecting the absolute absence of essence that he represented.
Kyle stretched out with his senses, intending to pierce whatever veil obscured the creature from him and became even more confused.
There were tiny remnants of earth essence and raw essence bound together, but it was like an orange had been squeezed until all that remained was pulp. Whatever this creature was, it represented a new challenge. Worse, it caused a chill to run down Kyle’s spine. Krig’s memories knew something about this thing, but Kyle just couldn’t remember what it was that Krig had known.
Before he dealt with the one who was in charge, though, Kyle needed to buy Kierra some breathing room. He shaped a heavy blade composed of War and Earth Essences in his mind. He channeled the cutting aspect of War Essence, along with the tendency of Earth Essence to bury things. When he summoned his soul blade, it was still in the shape of a long sword.
That wasn’t quite what he had in mind here. With a thought, he changed it into a heavy, double bladed war axe. This was no lumberjack’s tool. It was meant for the rending of flesh. With Kyle’s power, though, it could do so much more. He again wove his combination of Earth and War Essence overtop the axe and then struck.
Despite still being a couple hundred yards away, he brought the blade down in a powerful overhand stroke. The cutting force raced out first and ripped all the undead in front of Kierra to shreds. But it didn’t stop there. The force of it was so great, it tore a six-foot-wide trench for hundreds of feet in front of Kierra twenty feet deep into the ground.
Kyle felt the technique draining war essence out of him at an astounding rate—far faster than anything else he had done up to this point. There was still more to it, though. He reversed his stroke and brought the blade back up. Some of the undead had been thrown into the air from the initial impact. They now met once again by the cutting force, as it came up while they fell down.
Their severed limbs and chunks of torso were cut again and again, till there were no pieces larger than an inch square. Blood and gore filled the air, but all the pieces fell down into the several hundred-foot-long trench. Then the Earth Essence came into play. The trench closed in on itself, burying all those little pieces of undead deep in the ground.
Kyle grinned. It was one of the first time he had been able to let loose with a stroke like that. He could sense appreciation run through Kierra, but she still had to deal with a few severed parts that hadn’t landed in the trench. That was okay, though.
Kyle knew she would be fine. He had his own quarry to hunt down. Propelled by his powerful legs and backed by sky essence, Kyle streaked across the riverbed and landed right before the two beings.
Now, up close, he could see that the robed mage was definitely human, though possessed of magic beyond what he thought most mortals capable of. The other was a fierce orc-like creature.
Perhaps seven feet tall, it wore heavy armor and carried a wicked looking sword. Kyle had never heard mention of orcs being in Verden, but that was the most accurate comparison that he could come up with, right down to the tusks and red eyes. Yet, there was something off about the creature. Seeing it up close, another weird shiver down Kyle’s back.
The robed man spoke first. “Why do you interfere? We are cleansing this land of the weak.”
“Who are you to decide that?” Kyle asked back.
“I am a servant of undeath, the realm of the eternal. My master has transcended mortal constraints. He has thrown off the shackles of the Goddess of Death.”
When the robed man said this, the orcish creature interrupted with harsh laughter. This seemed to irritate the mage, who snapped to his companion, “Quiet. You are only here out of respect to my master. I don’t know what he sees in your kind, but I wish to speak to this warrior. He clearly has abilities beyond those of normal men. He could be a powerful asset for my master.”
The harsh laughter continued a moment longer, until a dry, raspy voice came from the orc’s mouth. “You fleshlings are so amusing. You don’t even know who you are speaking to, yet you talk about throwing off the shackles of the gods. This one has the flavor of one of the ascended champions about him. His presence here can’t be a coincidence.”
Kyle’s guard was instantly up. He ignored the human mage and looked with all of his senses at the orc. Finally, it hit him. “You aren’t supposed to be here,” he gasped.
“Now it awakens. It is too late, feeble champion. Your sanctuary has been found and I am but the first of many,” it growled. “Gone are the armies of champions. Gone is the hope that you might hope to resist us.” It sneered, “Hope was always a lie, though. There is only one truth that matters… and that is oblivion. The void is the end of all things.”
Kyle didn’t need to hear anything more than that. He immediately launched himself at the orc. His soul bound axe was blocked by the creature's dark blade. Kyle pivoted and swung again. Each blow was blocked in turn. The creature was barely fast enough to block him; Kyle would have to push harder.
“You seem weaker, godling. More like when you were just a champion. Perhaps this shall be even easier than I expected,” the orc taunted.
“I know you for what you are, child of the void. You are a mere wraith and no match for me,” Kyle said, even as he shifted his weapon back into its naginata form. The longer blade scored a deep cut into the orc’s side. Instead of blood, a black ooze leaked out of the wound and turned into wisps of gray mist.
The creature accepted the wound to latch onto the naginata’s shaft. When he surged forward, it ripped open the wound in his side even further as he pulled himself forward off the blade. The massive orc closed quickly inside Kyle’s guard, though he caught the wrist bringing down the wicked looking, serrated edged blade.
But that hadn’t been the wraith’s chief aim. Instead, his clawed hand struck at Kyle. The blow had been aimed for his face, but Kyle ducked and deflected it off his pauldron so that the claws only caused a shallow cut along his cheek.
Still, that slight wound burned like someone was pouring salt into it. Kyle pulsed with essence and closed the wound, but the momentary distraction resulted in them grappling hand to hand. Weapons dropped, the two plied their strength against one another. Again, though, appearances were deceptive.
The dark mage stared at the two impossibly powerful creatures fighting as the ground around them crumbled. Kyle knew he was the stronger of them, but it was far too close for comfort. That this creature had Spirit Tier strength was disconcerting. In some ways, Kyle just as concerned with its strength as the fact it had managed to find and then appear on Verden.
Fight now, worry later, Kyle told himself.
Little by little, Kyle forced the creature’s arms back. Then, when he had it off balance, he shifted his hip into the orc’s side and kicked back with his right leg, sweeping its feet. When the orc’s back
smashed the ground, Kyle’s boot was already coming down on its head. He crushed the skull of this abomination and then ripped its arms off, in an ultimate show of strength.
Stepping back, he called his weapon once again to his hand. The creature’s oily, black remains began to bubble and eat away at the ground, like it was dissolving into an incredibly corrosive acid. The dark mage watched the process intently, until suddenly Kierra streaked in from behind him. A single slash of her claws ripped out the man’s throat, and he too, fell to the ground. His life blood sizzled and hissed as it mixed with the oily black, tar like substance that was all that remained of the void wraith.
That was the thing about mages—powerful essence without a powerful body left one vulnerable. He would bleed out in seconds, but he had even less time than that as the black goop that had been the orc reached his still twitching form. The mage tried to shriek through his ruined throat as it touched him. Whatever effect it had on him, was enough to make him pull his hands away from trying to staunch the flow of blood from his ruined neck and push weakly at the corrosive stuff.
His body thrashed briefly, as though the agony caused by whatever the black goop was, so far surpassed the pain of his ripped-out throat as to make it inconsequential. Kyle continued to step backwards and pulled Kierra with him. When it was finally over, they stood at the edge of a crater almost twenty-feet-deep and just as wide. Nothing was left of wraith who’d posed as an orc, and the area that had been dissolved was also void of any essence that Kyle could detect.
Chapter 11 - This Changes Everything
Lycan and war god alike stood still for a while in the silence that followed the destruction that followed the deaths of their foes.
Finally, Kierra spoke. “What was that?”
Kyle knew she must have been shaken by what she’d seen, since she hadn’t remembered to call him ‘Alpha’.
“I don’t know for sure,” he admitted, “but I have some very old memories of an enemy from beyond the stars. I have been having premonitions of a growing danger for the past couple of weeks. This explains why I’ve felt that way, but not how this enemy got here. Verden was meant to be a sanctuary, hidden away from this threat.”
Kierra moved next to him and pressed her body up against him. Kyle knew that, for once, it wasn’t sexual. She was just seeking comfort in his presence. It chaffed him that he’d had to fight so hard to defeat the void wraith. It shouldn’t have even been a fight, but he was still but a shadow of his true power.
“I wish you hadn’t killed the mage,” Kyle sighed. “He likely had information that we needed.”
Kierra immediately dropped to her knee and lowered her head while simultaneously tilting it to the side so her neck was exposed. It was a display of absolute submission.
“I am sorry, my Alpha. I have failed you. Punish me as you wish.”
Kyle thought for a moment. Her standards were different from his. He wanted to respect hers, though, and how she felt their relationship should be. For once, that didn’t mean he had to betray his own desires entirely either.
“No, you acted in ignorance. A dead enemy is a safe enemy, so I understand your reasoning. But remember, if you get another chance, try to leave one enemy alive—we need to learn more about whatever is going on.”
He pinched the bridge of his nose. “I don’t understand why a mortal necromancer would be working with child of the void.”
“What is a child of the void, Alpha?” Kierra asked in obvious confusion.
“I don’t want to have to explain this multiple times, so a more thorough description will have to wait until we are with the rest of the team. We are going to miss Hilde’s might, I fear.” He shook his head. “For now, though, know that they are an enemy of all life. They devour essence and leave absolute nothingness in their wake. Their master is the enemy of the gods.”
Kierra shivered at his words, eyes wide.
“We created this place as a sanctuary and thought Verden safe… but apparently they have found their way here,” he said.
The pretty lycan perked up. “You shall crush them, my Alpha. None can stand against you,” Kierra replied confidently.
“Yes, we shall. There is no other choice. As for the second part, I only wish that were true. I will have to work even harder to make sure it is so,” Kyle said.
He paused, resting his hands on Kierra’s taut shoulders. “One other thing… I know you won’t like this, but I expect you to obey.”
“I am yours. You have but to command.”
“If you encounter another one of these creatures, without me, then you are to flee. I value your honor, but I value your life even more. Until we know more, none of you are to engage them without me. Simply run as fast as you can to wherever I am.”
The expression on Kierra’s face said she didn’t like this instruction, but she bowed her head. “As you wish, Alpha.”
Now, it was Kyle’s turn to smile. “As for your punishment, don’t think I’ve forgotten about it. I think we will have to find a way for you to suffer your penance once we get back to my bedroom.”
Kierra flashed her teeth in her version of a smile. “I will work hard to repent for my mistake, my Alpha. But you must punish me for a long time, so I don’t forget.”
She pouted, the look odd on her features but still incredibly cute. “Sometimes, I can be slow to learn, so I may need more than one lesson.”
“Until then, let’s run for a bit. Show me what you have learned about these undead. This can’t be a simple coincidence.”
As they ran through the area, Kyle noted that it was different from the area surrounding Thena. Here, the trees were sparser and the terrain rockier. Instead of cattle, Kyle saw several farms raising sheep, although he also saw many ruined farms. That made sense and explained the undead farmers who had attacked them near the beach.
“Is it just me, or does this area look like it’s been hit pretty hard?” Kyle asked after a while.
“Yes, the monsters have ravaged it,” Kierra agreed.
He knew she was inured to suffering from a hard life growing up in the lycan villages on the tundra, but for him, it was hard to comprehend the amount of suffering these burnt and smashed farmhouses represented. Even the livestock hadn’t escaped the horror, dead chickens and sheep lay strewn everywhere. He fully expected, at some point, that they would run into zombie sheep now, too.
“Do you notice anything about all this destruction?” Kyle asked.
Kierra didn’t answer for a few minutes as they ran, but eventually she responded. “The individual acts of destruction are wanton and unnecessarily violent. It is what you would expect from the undead, but…”
“But?”
“It is as if someone was directing the path the undead took because they don’t deviate far from it. Any farm that is off the direct route has been left untouched,” Kierra finished.
“Why would zombies do that? They seem rather mindless,” Kyle pointed out.
“I’m hardly an expert on the undead, though we had to deal with many of them in my homeland. The presence of Beltarkus and the lesser fiends who follow him caused the area to be corrupted. Any animal that was killed but not properly cleaned and treated could turn into a zombie or skeleton.”
She shuddered. “But there are worse things than zombies. We also had to deal with the occasional vampire, bone storm, or lich. Ghouls were more common than any of those, though,” Kierra admitted.
“I know about, or at least have an idea of what ghouls, vampires, and liches are… but what is a bone storm?” Kyle asked.
“It is a truly terrifying monster. As you’ve seen, the greatest danger that the undead present, is that they cannot simply be destroyed. They must be destroyed by powerful magic, usually by someone blessed by a god, though fire will usually work, too. The same is true with the stronger undead.”
“Ghouls are dangerous because they are more intelligent and highly infectious. Whatever caus
es them to be ghouls can be spread very easily. Fortunately, only people can become ghouls, otherwise animal ghouls would present a genuine threat. Vampires, of course, are intelligent and strong. They possess lust essence, but fortunately they are also the victims of their own hunger. Only if they progress to become a vampire lord, are they a threat to a group of prepared warriors.”
Her eyes grew distant as she remembered what she’d been taught as a cub. “Liches are something entirely different. Not only did they choose such an accursed existence, but they were powerful magi before doing so. There was only one lich that I heard of in the north. He had been the shaman of a human tribe that sought to defeat Beltarkus. He killed many warriors, but ultimately was consumed by the father of the lycan.”
“Thanks for filling me in. That was very useful information, but it doesn’t answer my question about bone storms,” Kyle said.
“I was getting to it, my Alpha. On the hunt, patience is often necessary. I felt it best to contrast the unfamiliar with creatures that you knew about. A bone storm occurs when a sufficient number of bones have been buried in one location and not properly sanctified. It is one of the main reasons that even Beltarkus allows the human tribes who remain as vassals to keep worshipping the deities—at least as long as they don’t worship Lige.”
