Lord of Creation

by Lawrence Blackwood

  Bronzed Talons- Already a lethal weapon, bronze tipped talons add a razor edge to Aurrelites' attacks.

  Bull Rush- Charging at a dead sprint, Aurrelites can use their massive shoulders to destroy nearly anything in their path.

  Fast-twitch Muscle Reflex- Extra strong ligaments and tendons along with fast-twitch muscle tissue allow for impossibly fast reflexes and impressive athletic feats.

  Inspirational Presence- As the Alpha Bronzed Aurrelite, Ur'Rak's presence on the battlefield inspires other Aurrelites to fight with a vicious fervor. Other Aurrelites within 25 feet of Ur'Rak receive a 1.5 multiplier to their stats.

  "I thinks it's official, I'm getting pretty damn good at this," I mused, closing out the stat sheet, "though it would be nice if I could create for a purpose other than war for once." I mentally sent out a message to Gida to assemble her best and brightest. Within ten minutes she and her chosen few had gathered, ready to rumble on their new steeds. I watched them, pleased with how quickly rider and mount bonded, before hopping onto Ur'Rak.

  I signaled to move out, impressed at the speed at which the Watchers fell into line. We traveled in four rows of three, with me at the head and Gida to my right. To my left was her second in command, a barrel chested Watcher with a shiny brown carapace named Bourok. The wall guards saluted as our procession left through the Eastern Gate but quickly returned to their duties after we had passed by.

  The afternoon passed relatively quickly, and for the next few hours we rode without speaking until Gida finally broke the silence. "According to Antuhr's report, we've got to go well beyond Haven Empire's reach before the forest thins out." She said, staring at an expanded version of her mini-map. "I also do not believe that we have enough soldiers with us to combat any large force moved against us. The things that these creatures were before... it's a miracle we didn't suffer any casualties, even with the wall."

  I nodded, considering her words. "I know, we're just on recon duty for now. After we report back to Haven Clearing, Murlough and Austin will bring as many troops as we can afford to bring without abandoning our home." I explained, "Though to be honest, I don't know enough to make a solid plan yet. For as far as we've come in the past months, this has been our only solid lead on how to fix the planet's corruption."

  "How long d'ya reckon we have?" Gida asked, doing her best to seem nonchalant. Her accent, which only came out when she got over excited or nervous, was the only thing that gave her away.

  "I don't know, Gida, but I'll do everything in my power to st-" An intense clash of metal on metal exploded through the air, cutting me off mid sentence.

  "Contact, left flank!" A powerful voice cut through the ringing of my ears. I spun around on Ur'Rak in time to see a rush of dark armor and flashing steel slamming into the ranks of heavy cavalry. I chopped through the air sideways with my hand, instinctively launching a brutally charged Force Slash.

  Two of the enemy soldiers were sliced clean in half before it detonated, taking three more with it. Compared to the three dozen or so that were coming it wasn't much, but the force of the explosion created enough of a gap for my Izveir to rally. They wasted no time, charging into the opposing force with deadly efficiency. Mount and rider alike fought brutally, and between the Aurrelites' claws and the Watchers' chitinous weaponry the battle was over in a matter of minutes.

  "I'm thoroughly impressed." I said to the group, hopping off of my mount as I did so. None of them had fallen, though one had lost a hand in the fight. It was no big deal for me to reattach it, but the poor kid that had lost the appendage couldn't stop gawking at it.

  Most of the Watchers were already scouring the fallen bodies for any sign of who they could be. I knelt down next to one of the bodies and took off its helmet, revealing a sickly looking black-pocked skin. The dead man had been human once, with traces of pale blonde hair still sticking from his head.

  In short, he was a zombie. Or something similar. It was hard to tell, really, but Niko would have been able to tell me exactly what it was. "Bourok, have one of your men take an intact body back to the Clearing! Tell them to have Murlough bring this up to Niko with all due haste." The burly Watcher nodded and snapped a salute before bellowing orders. In short order the bodies were stripped of any useful gear and piled up, while one of the men left to cart everything important back to the Clearing.

  "Form up! We'll leave the bodies for now and grab them on our way back." I called, mentally urging Ur'Rak forward as I spoke. The soldiers fell in line as I rode, but I could feel their tension after the unexpected ambush.

  Our path was clear of enemies from that point on, but the traces were there- trampled grass, bits of half decayed flesh, and even the occasional campfire as the forest began to thin out. If they were to get caught here, this deep into what could only be called enemy territory, they likely wouldn't survive.

  As the sun slowly dipped below the horizon, Gida called a halt to the procession. She knew more about these things than I did, so there were no complaints from me. Besides, a hard day of riding was starting to wear on my body. A rest would definitely be welcome. The Watcher's had camp set up in a little over half an hour, though Bourock and Gida had packed along an embarrassingly large tent for me to sleep in.

  Inside the tent was a veritable mound of soft pelts and hide, giving it the feel of some cliche barbarian lord's throne rather than a bed.

  Where the hell did they keep all of this crap? On second thought, it doesn't even matter.

  I hopped onto the pile after undoing my armor, surprised at how comfortable the bed actually was. Within a few minutes, the soft embrace of sleep sent me spiraling into darkness. The soft patter of footsteps never reached my ears as a shadow swept through the camp, bypassing even the ever wary eyes of my Watchers and into my private quarters.

  No, I didn't wake until the stiletto blade slid up and into my ribs, and death was all but guaranteed. I lashed out at the sudden pain, empowering myself with as much mana as my failing body could muster. The sound of shattered bone and split flesh exploded through the night as my would be assassin dropped to the ground in a pulped mass, blood spraying from what used to be their head.

  I sank to my knees, blood loss and exhaustion from spent mana flooding through me. I fumbled for the knife, numbly grabbing onto its hilt, and pulled the damned thing from my chest. A spurt of blood followed the blade, making me dizzy.

  "Shard, not much time. Use the body to fix this. I can't. Focus."

  "Understood."

  Gida stormed into my tent as Shard went to work, slicing and dicing the corpse to patch me up. "D-don't worry, I'll be okay." I sputtered, blood leaking from my lips. The wound didn't even burn anymore, which was bad. Like my fingers, the rest of my body was going numb. I had died enough to know that that was a bad thing.

  "Flesh ready for transfer, patching you up now."

  I watched through blurred eyes as bloody chunks of flesh drifted over to me from the fallen assassin, before magically sealing into my body.

  "Rebooting nervous system, this is going to hurt."

  Pain shot through my body like a lightning bolt and I sprang into the air as my nerves all ignited simultaneously. "Fuck me but that fucking hurts!" Gida and the others shrank back as I shouted, not sure whether I was still sane or not. Truth be told, I didn't blame them.

  ◆◆◆

  "Milord," Bourock said with a for the dozenth time that day, "I apologize for our lack of attentiveness. We will be more aware in the future." It had been several days- nearly a week now, actually- since the attack, and the forest lay far enough behind us that it could barely be seen any more, but the poor man was still hung up on the attack. There was nothing for almost as far as the eye could see, save the forest that housed Haven Clearing to the west and a dark smudge to the northeast. With little else to work with, it was our best bet of finding something.

  I inhaled deeply, wincing as a twinge of pain shot through me. Even now I could feel the tug of unfamiliar tissue every time I took a
breath, and the fatigue of constant travel was weighing on me much more than it should have been. Apparently the assassin's flesh wasn't as compatible with mine as I had assumed it would be, which made my lungs tickle and itch and burn. And yes, that is exactly as awful as it sounds.

  The dark smudge on the horizon slowly grew into something recognizable- an immense, black, gothic castle that looked straight out of a dark fantasy novel. Its walls stretched easily sixty feet into the air, likely higher, and were forged from dark black stone that looked like obsidian. Writhing, grotesque forms were carved into the wall in various degrees of agony; some looked like they were merely burning in the pits of Hell, while even the sight of others was enough to unnerve me with the hyper-realism that their suffering was portrayed. Just the sight of that wall was enough to give me nightmares.

  For someone that has gone through as much as I have, that's saying something.

  "Bourock, if you truly wish for my forgiveness then ride back to Haven Clearing as fast as you can for reinforcements. Bring the rest of the Watchers with you as well. Come back with everything we've got. Kaureth, the Earthshakers, even get help from Niko if you can in time. I want everybody we can spare... This. This is it." I could feel it, the opposing Shard. Its power radiated from the building, making the otherwise cool air thick and soupy. The walls were undoubtedly one of its dark creations, a mere fragment of the blight it had thrown upon this world.

  Bourock looked to Gida for help with a response as I glared at the wretched castle. "All of us sir? Do ya intend ta stay out 'ere all on yer lonesome?" Gida asked, her accent slipping through on account of the wall.

  I shook my head. "Of course not," I smiled, drawing deeply on the Aura of Dominance and Inner Channeling, "I'm heading in. Ur'Rak will accompany me. When you return, do everything in your power to break this place, even if I am still inside. This is more important than ensuring that I make it out alive." I patted the bronze-feathered raptor on the shoulder. Something strangely akin to a purr escaped his throat and we were off, shooting toward the castle so fast that the wind stung my eyes even through my empowerment.

  I didn't look back at my Watchers, choosing to just enjoy the ride instead. The last time I had gone this fast was back home after I had gotten my license, before this whole mess had started. Only back home I was in a car, not riding a beast straight from the pages of my own imagination. Back home I was human, mortal in every sense of the word. Now, less than two years later, I was practically a demigod. Even before I lost my Dungeon in the Underworld with Felix and Niko, even the demon sisters Lucia and Lacey, I barely had a fraction of the strength that I possessed today.

  And yet, I rode toward the castle not as a demigod, creator of life, a champion of the people, or fabled warrior. When I rode toward that castle it was as that seventeen year old boy, the mortal I was before my trials had changed me. I had grown and changed along the way, become desensitized to the brutalities of life, but my soul had remained unbroken. And I was ready for blood.

  It took mere minutes for Ur'Rak and I to arrive at the castle's gate, eyeing the twin pillars to either side of it warily. Like the walls, they were also adorned with gruesome beasts, but they moved and hissed like living things ready to strike at any moment. Atop the pillars sat two demonic beings that were clearly hewn from flesh and blood rather that simple stone. They cackled and spat as I walked forward, but made no move to attack.

  "Run and hide young one, run or die!" One of them cried out, sending the other into fits of laughter. I did my best to ignore them and let up slightly on the Aura of Dominance, which compelled me to kill them. It was pointless, and there was no need to waste my strength needlessly.

  As soon as I passed their perches, the demons dove toward me. I rolled to the side, narrowly missing a nasty set of razor sharp claws. "I was going to let you two live." I snarled and let loose with an empowered punch strong enough to shatter stone. The first demon flew backward into its pillar, where flesh and stone collided in an explosion of pebbles and blood mist. Ur'Rak leaped at the second, both of them falling to the ground in a tangled mass of metal, fur, and blood.

  Crack! The demon fell to the ground, lifeless as its skull was crushed between the Alpha Aurrelite's teeth. "Good boy." I murmured, patting him on the head with a bloody hand. We walked the last few feet to the monolithic door together, and as one we pushed the horrific orifice open. Ur'Rak's massive shoulders heaved as he pounded into the door, accompanied by the creak of metal on metal as I carefully put more mana into Inner Channeling, not daring to draw too deeply and deplete my reserves.

  Slowly, inch by inch, the doors began to part to reveal a single passageway leading off into darkness. I took a step forward and grimaced as my armor clad foot clanked loudly off of the stone floor. Echoes traveled down the hallway and reverberated off of the walls, making it seem as if an army were marching toward us.

  "Now or never I suppose." I said to no one in particular, re-activating Aura of Dominance to burn away any lingering doubt. Ignoring my resounding footsteps, I strode forward into the abyss with Ur'Rak at my side. He was practically panting in anticipation, eager for the coming battle. Torches ignited themselves as we walked, lighting just in time to run the risk of being cliche, but served their purpose well.

  The castle's interior was no less creepy than the exterior. Carvings still covered the walls, twisting and moving like the twin pillars, but depicted much more macabre scenes; to the left a towering monstrosity fed unendingly on the corpses of brutalized soldiers, while to the right a girl no more than ten years old was repeatedly sacrificed in the name of an eldritch horror. Above, mingling with the shadows outside the torches' reach, a serpentine figure glared down on all in its domain. The three depictions chilled me to the bone, and I know all of the Watchers would have fled at the sheer oppressive horror the place radiated.

  I can't wait until this place is just a shitty memory, broken to dust. I thought, wanting nothing more than to go at the place with my bare hands until the entire structure collapsed. At this point it didn't even matter whether I was inside it or not, so long as it was gone.

  "Focus! What you're feeling is exactly what this place wants you to do. The minute you defile anything, I am positive that defenses will activate. Forge ahead, and we shall destroy the corrupted Shard."

  "Of course. Thanks, non-corrupted Shard." I almost laughed despite myself. It was a stupid joke, if something so utterly unfunny could be called that, but right now anything would do. Ur'Rak hissed at the eerie carvings, bronze feathers tinkling as his hackles raised. "Easy boy," I said, rubbing the strange mix of scales and metal of his head, "just forget about them and let's go. We've got a job to do." He relaxed slightly, showing a surprising level of recognition to my explanation.

  With our tempers in check, we trudged on. We eventually left the passageway- and those godforsaken carvings- behind, and entered a cavernous, circular room that must have taken up the entire castle. A dizzyingly long staircase led down into a massive arena. Tiered seats ran the circumference of the room, all the way down to the top of the arena walls. The place was easily two or three times the size of a football stadium...

  And it was packed full of Tainted beings. As one, the corrupted things turned to stare at my arrival. Nobody moved, nobody spoke, but each and every one of them glared at me like I had personally deflowered their sisters and kicked their mothers. "Thief!" One called out, followed by another cry of "Murderer!" More followed, each considerably worse than the last until their limited vocabularies ran out.

  While they screamed for my death, a pair of human guards in full plate mail materialized as if from thin air. Their armor was covered in pitch black runic symbols that oozed oppressive power. They corralled Ur'Rak and I downstairs at spear point. I wanted nothing more than to attack, wrestle control over their unholy weapons and cut down all of the damned things here, but there were hordes upon hordes of them. It was impossible, or at the very least highly improbable. So, I let them guide us into th
e arena.

  The arena floor was covered in a fine layer of sand, not thick enough to lose footing but perfect to soak up any spilled blood. A group of brutally dismembered Tainted Goblins were being cleared from the floor, along with a single badly wounded Tainted Orc, who was pumping his fist victoriously into the air. The human guards left us, disappearing back into the Tainted crowd. I looked around, glaring at the crowd, and shouted "I've answered your challenge, I am here! Have your leader step forth, and let this be settled once and for all!"