Evolution

by A R Chen

  With a quick spell, he zoomed the Looking Mirror in and saw Steve drawing the energy out of a Crystal which sat… In a wagon full of Elemental Crystals.

  “Holy shit! Are those—” Reagan began.

  “We must notify the Mottor clan immediately,” Remley commanded sharply. “They’re going to want to know about this.”

  ***

  Steve drifted into the guest house as he silently brooded; even his earlier elation at absorbing so much energy had been obliterated. A dark cloud had descended and blackened his mood.

  4 Days 9 Hours 0 Minutes 0 Seconds

  Even when the countdown hit, he didn’t react and barely even noticed. What’s the point? I’ll never see her again… Steve thought to himself as his mind spiraled down into increasing self-pity. Why am I trying so hard? We’re in completely different worlds right now. I don’t even know if she’s still alive! Fuck! I still don’t even remember her name!

  He had spent hours now, trying to dredge up her name from his memory, but there wasn’t even a hint or vague impression there. Why couldn’t he find it?

  Steve just floated, wallowing in his misfortune. He wanted her back so much! When he asked Bonnie if there was any way he could return to his world, she’d glibly replied, “No can do!”

  The two of them had been everything to one another. They were going to live long, happy lives together. Why? Why had whoever brought him here set it up like this? It was like they had dangled everything that made life worth living in front of him, then snatched it away so they could laugh at him. What was the fucking point!

  The red sun slowly climbed into the morning sky. Steve noticed in passing, but didn’t care. There was no point to any of this. He ran through his memories, over and over, obsessing about what could have been.

  Only when he heard a knock on the guest house wall did he finally rouse from his daydream. Steve slowly and groggily floated through the curtain to find Ash outside, in apparent high spirits and raring to go at the break of dawn.

  “God Steve! The Elder is ready to discuss terms with you and has prepared the prisoners and livestock you requested. We gathered all that we could spare. Are you ready to go?” Ash asked.

  “Alright, that’s fine,” Steve replied halfheartedly and began to follow the boy. Then, he recalled something.

  Bonnie had said that he wasn’t the only one of his kind. Maybe with assistance from the others, he would have some hope of getting home. Steve knew that it was a long shot, but it was the first possible solution that had occurred to him, so he couldn’t help latching on to this shred of hope.

  In order to make contact with those other light beings, he needed to evolve. Becoming powerful would put him in a better position when it was time to bargain with those others. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t stand a chance. There was no way he was going to stay in Niti forever.

  Steve suddenly cursed himself for the wasted hours. He could have been absorbing Crystals and refining his skill in magic. Every time he cast his abilities, he could feel that his mental state was becoming sharper and the effort of casting was less taxing. Magic was apparently like a muscle. When it was used, it became stronger.

  ***

  Leffer was out of bed an hour ago, before the sun had even risen, despite having gone to sleep late last night. He’d taken the time to set up some sentry traps in key locations around the village. These traps would alert him if anyone or anything approached the outskirts of the village. He didn’t like starting his day with so little rest, but it had to be this way. There was always so much to do, especially today, when he needed to negotiate terms with a god. If Steve didn’t ask for too much, that would be great, but even if god Steve demanded a lot of assistance from the village, they would have to endure it. After all, they really needed those Elemental Crystals, and were lucky he was even offering to bargain, rather than just taking what he wanted by force. As for Leeroy and his grandson, Lemoy, he might have to ask the god for leniency. Not so much for Leeroy—the man was hopeless—but for Lemoy, or Loop, as the kids called him.

  Gods know where kids get these strange nicknames nowadays, Leffer chuckled to himself. Then he sighed. “Ah, I remember when Joffrey and I were kids.”

  Leffer had reviewed all the books he had on gods and goddesses again when he got up. Nothing on any Light God named Steve, not even a mention of any divine being by that name. Well, the world was always changing and the books were older than he was, anyway.

  Looking through the window, he saw Ash and Steve approaching and went out to meet them. “Good morning, god Steve,” Leffer began. “Shall we head to the village hall now?”

  Steve agreed and they set off; Leffer’s residence wasn’t far from the place anyway. When they arrived, they found the Left and Right awaiting them, having already taken their places. The two were in the middle of reviewing their responsibilities for the day. All complaints, arguments, and requests were handled either directly by them or their subordinates. This aspect of their roles took a lot of pressure off the Elder, allowing him to better fulfill his role as the ultimate authority and face of Niti.

  As they all got settled in, the Left handed the Elder a slip of paper. On it was an accounting of the prisoners and animals the village could readily spare. If they let Steve have more than the numbers listed, it would be a hardship for the village. After all, humans must eat. Leffer looked at the sheet and nodded his agreement, as Ash approached and whispered something in his ear.

  “I’d like to gift you the Squad of Scoundrels, that’s what we call the twenty men that tried to steal your Crystals, god Steve,” Leffer offered. “We’ll also trade you what livestock we can spare and prisoners for Crystals, at a fair rate of course. I understand that you are currently in need of energy. The Crystals are yours, of course, but draining their energy devalues them.”

  “What about the trees?” Steve asked shrewdly. It looked like they had hoped he would just forget about them.

  The Elder winced as he replied, “You mean the Elemental Bark?”

  “Exactly. How about this, you give me the livestock and prisoners as I need over the next couple of days, and in return I’ll trade some of the Elemental Bark from my clearing and a few Crystals to you. You’re right that I need energy, but I could easily absorb what I need from the Crystals I have,” Steve bluffed. In reality, he had 10,000 energy worth of Crystals, at the very most. That wasn’t nearly enough to accomplish his goals. What he really needed was the villagers’ help to harvest all of the trees, and together they would contain much more.

  “My memories have continued to return and I believe they will continue to do so over these next few days. I will also need details on this village and its surroundings. Serve me well, and I’ll reward you fairly.” Steve was banking on the idea that the Elder wouldn’t be too greedy. From what he had seen so far, he was still regarded as some kind of supreme being, but if those three men acted together to subdue him, he doubted he was a match for them. Once again, Steve cursed himself for falling into despair and wasting so much time last night. With his prior changes, his mind had grown sharper, but with that last memory, and the change after that, all he’d gained was dolor.

  “We have a deal,” the Elder replied, seeming unwilling to push his luck against a god any further. Steve wondered if his caution was due to the reputation of the gods on this world, or perhaps some past trauma.

  Over the next twenty minutes, Steve and Leffer worked out the details of the agreement. The Left and Right dutifully recorded everything, while Ash just kind of stood there awkwardly. It was decided that after this, Ash would help Steve deal with the villagers and later on they would gather up men to carry out the tasks.

  Bonnie, countdown please, Steve requested. He needed to be ready for the next vision, as it seemed there was one with every other interval that passed.

  Bonnie instantly and cheerfully replied, “Four days, eight hours, twenty-five minutes and thirty seconds.” Though she was less and less talkative recently, it st
ill seemed he could count on her to brightly reply to his direct requests.

  ***

  The first thing Steve did after the meeting with the Elder was to evaluate what he’d gained. The livestock they’d given him were mostly strange creatures they called ‘pigs.’ They were large, slow, noisy, and fat. They were a shade of pink almost reminiscent of humans, but it was hard to tell, as they were covered in muck and their own waste. When he scanned them, he saw that each contained 50 energy. Steve decided to not absorb them just yet; he needed to confirm some things with Ash, about their world first. The pigs were left in their sties for now, where they continued to wallow in filth.

  Steve now had the Squad of Scoundrels as well as another 50 prisoners, which brought his current workforce to 70 people. Addressing them, he said, “You guys are mine for the next five days. Serve me well, and I’ll see what I can do for you. However, if you are lazy, negligent, or decide to run…Well, let’s just say you guys are the perfect targets and I need the practice, anyway.” Steve did his best to be clear on this point, as he needed their labor, and didn’t want to waste it by making an example of someone. Steve continued, “I think I’ll refer to you guys as Workforce One and Two. Leeroy! You’re in charge of the Squad of Scoundrels. Now, for Workforce Two, Loop! I’m putting you in charge of these prisoners. If you see them shirking, feel free to tell me.”

  Steve chose Loop to oversee the prisoners because for one, it didn’t allow any of the prisoners to have power. Two, it let Loop have an opportunity to redeem himself. Steve didn’t feel like it was Loop’s fault that he got into this position. The first time they had met, Loop had been quite polite and hadn’t seemed at all like a ruffian. As for the Squad of Scoundrels, Leeroy was the only reasonable choice. He was already the leader and Steve doubted he could do anything other than make trouble by trying to put someone else in charge.

  Everyone stared at the ground beneath Steve, not daring to contradict him or complain. Against other villagers, they might be able to argue or bargain for better treatment. But against a god? They were lucky he didn’t just harvest them for their energy. The only useful attribute these guys possessed in Steve’s eyes was their ability to perform hard labor. If they refused or tried to undermine him, Steve wouldn’t hesitate to drain them.

  Steve commanded them to gather up the axes, wagons, and other supplies that the Elder had provided. Once that was done, they started out toward the forest. Steve made sure they were all single file so that he could spot any stragglers easily. He had omnidirectional vision, after all.

  Turning his attention to Ash, he decided it was finally time to get a few questions answered about the world. “As you know, my memories haven’t yet fully returned,” Steve began. “I require a lot of information about this world.”

  “Of course, god Steve. I’ll answer to the best of my ability,” Ash replied. As the son of the current Left and future hope of the village, the boy was better educated, knew more, and had a deeper insight into matters regarding the Empire and the world.

  “What are the known races of this world? What is the current state of the world?” Steve began his questioning.

  Up ahead, in his omnidirectional vision, Steve saw some of the prisoners whispering to each other. They had shackles on their legs but had their arms were free. They were gesturing to each other but Loop hadn’t noticed. The kid was too busy staring at the surroundings instead of paying attention to his job.

  “We are currently located in the Empire, if you want to know exactly where, you’ll have to consult a detailed map. The Empire is controlled by the Human race, with the Emperor being the overall ruler. His imperial clan dictates what happens within the Empire and international relations. As for the other races, there are just too many, I don’t even know them all.” Ash didn’t really know where to begin with such an overbroad question.

  Not wanting to seem useless to Steve, Ash continued telling him everything that came to mind. “We're located in a small country within the Empire named Turkey. To the North of the Empire is the Satanland, which is ruled by Satan, aside from that we have very little information about that place, truthfully. It is said that the Satan of Satanland is tens of times more powerful than any human alive. To our West is the Great Ocean, Lovoth. There you can find all sorts of powerful aquatic races, including the Great Turtles and Naga, or so I’ve read in my texts. Most of this I can’t be too sure of, since I've never been very far out of Niti before."

  It was then, that the prisoners, deeply engrossed in their conversations, began to slow down. Finally, even Loop noticed, despite his daydreaming. He weakly shouted at them to stop talking but was ignored. The kid didn’t know how to exercise power at all.

  Ash took a breath and continued, “In the vast East, there lies Mudda, which is a land composed of various Beast-man tribes vying for control. What lies beyond Mudda, we don’t know. Our Empire’s spies have never made it that far, or so it is written in Empire texts.” Ash was smart enough to not believe everything the Empire told him. Obviously, they weren’t going to make their secrets public.

  “To the South of the Empire lies the Great Desert. It’s a dangerous place, which has claimed the lives of many travelers and adventurers. The Empire won’t release any information about that place, leaving it even more of a mystery than the East. Aside from those places, there are the Sky Islands that float around somewhere but I really don’t know anything about those places, sorry. I’m afraid that everything I know is either from stories or Empire texts, I don't have much firsthand knowledge, god Steve.” Ash ended his long explanation, knowing that he hadn’t really told Steve much useful information.

  “Thank you, it’s fine.” Steve would double check with the Elder later, anyway.

  After he replied to Ash, a group of prisoners broke off from the group. The rest of the party stopped and stared, as five prisoners ran away as fast as their ankle chains could allow. Ash immediately started chanting, but Steve was faster.

  He shot four Shock spells, in extremely rapid succession, having had his focused vision of these prisoners the whole time. As soon as they started moving, he was already prepared to shoot them down. The last prisoner saw what had happened to his friends and immediately stopped running; he knelt on the ground and begged for mercy.

  The whole group was silent as Steve floated toward the fools.

  Chapter 9

  “It’s not like I didn’t warn you,” Steve declared. Prisoners, by definition, were people who had previously committed crimes serious enough to justify incarceration. They weren’t exactly the cream of the crop in either intellect or morals, so he had expected this, even if he’d hoped to avoid it. These were useless, desperate law-breakers, or most of them were, anyway. “I did warn you. Right?”

  He focused his attention at the four prisoners moaning on the ground. Their legs were in even worse condition than the last man he’d used Shock on, as they wore only flimsy prisoner’s garb rather than the sturdy clothing of a working man. The material of their outfits was so charred it looked like he’d nearly set them on fire. Steve turned his attention to the one prisoner on his knees begging him for forgiveness. He was babbling something about repenting for angering the ‘divine’ being. These men’s will to resist was clearly broken.

  Steve called Loop over and addressed him. “Hey, kid. Loop, right? This is your fault, you know? This is what happens when you’re unable to control your men. Now they’re useless. What do you have to say about this?” Steve accused. He needed Loop be useful to him.

  “I…uh…uhm,” Loop stuttered and stumbled over words as he went pale. He was clearly scared out of his mind. To him, Steve had blasted the men instantly with Divine Lightning the moment they had stepped out of line. Any kid watching this feat would be afraid. Well, except for one. “I’m sorry! Sorry! It won’t happen again. I swear on the gods!”

  ***

  Ash, on the other hand, was terrified for a different reason.

  Auto-cast…my gods. That�
�s insanely high-level magic. Holy gods, that’s fucking crazy! Ash’s mind was spinning, this was incredible. Then he had a more coherent thought, Maybe I should ask him to teach me…after my Naming ceremony.

  ***

  Leeroy and Jenkins felt sick watching the exchange. It confirmed just how wise their previous decision to not resist Steve had been. They shuddered at the thought of what could have happened to them. What Steve had just done, casting multiple spells that quickly, with precision, was unheard of.

  “Well, now these prisoners are useless. Will you carry them back and waste my time? What do we do here, Loop?” Steve asked his stunned observer. The kid was fixated on the men moaning on the uneven forest floor. Steve was really getting annoyed; no one had even passed out. The tools they had carried were on the ground, back where they first started running.

  “Uh…do we split the force to take them back? Send a runner to request for help from the village?” Loop had finally realized the importance of the situation he was in, as the impression he made on the god mattered. What Steve reported to the Elder would likely affect the course of his future. He racked his brain for solutions.

  “No. We don’t,” Steve said slowly and calmly. “Try again.”

  Two of the grounded men were crying at this point. To them, a god had just smote them with divine retribution. They were repenting where they lay on the ground, looking like pathetic, miserable creatures.

  Loop now understood. He had a different look in his eyes as he turned around and met the pleading gaze of each of the men. Then, he handed down their death sentence. “My god, here are five perfect offerings to aid in your rise in this world,” Loop said with manic fervor. “May these lesser beings be of use to you.”

  “Good,” was the only reply.

  ***

  None of the prisoners talked after that; they all walked a little bit faster and didn’t dare step out of line. Not just the prisoners, the Squad of Scoundrels was the same.