by Jez Cajiao
“Augustus?” I cut him off.
“Yes, Jax?” he answered with a note of confusion.
“You do remember what the Golems are, right?”
“I do…?”
“Two of them are ‘Complex’ level, so they can order the others around. If you need things moved, like the wood that fills the corridors, or walls held in place in order to secure them, the Golems can make that happen. The one that’s a Servitor class is ‘Complex’ as well, which means it can independently build and repair shit. Tell me you at least made it help the Engineers?”
“I did not, Jax. In fact, I was ordered to stay away from them,” Augustus said stoically.
“Wait, so they didn’t ignore you because I set the orders incorrectly; you were ordered to stay clear of them?” I asked, and he nodded shortly. “Why?” I asked Romanus, who shook his head. “I wasn’t aware of these orders. I…” He turned suddenly to Alistor, who’d been growing paler by the second. “Alistor?” he pressed, and the Tribune swallowed hard before straightening.
“I ordered the Maniple Prime to stay away from the Golems. In fact, I ordered everyone stay clear of them, including your ‘people,’ Lord Jax. I received a report of them roaming wild and devastating the Magical Emporium just prior to our… exit… from the city. I see no reason to risk them doing the same here.” He glared at me, as though daring me to countermand his orders. I frowned, then replied.
“Well, I can understand you being cautious, but I’ll be clear. Next time I order that someone has authority over something, such as Augustus having the direct authority to command the Golems, they are to have unopposed access to that item. The Golems didn’t run wild. They were under my orders, and I took control of them; that’s how they ended up on this Airship.” I tried to maintain an even tone of voice, while internally, I was growling at this jumped-up shit.
“So, it’s true, then? You ordered them to loot and rob an innocent man’s property?” Alistor asked acidly.
“No, Tribune,” I retorted harshly. “I robbed the shop, and if you want to view the Golems as artifacts, I stole them as well. I, however, don’t. I am at war with that prick Barabarattas, and they were being controlled using Imperial Authority to guard a particular location. The ‘Emporium’ was originally a Golem repair facility for the city, one of several, and as near as I can tell, the only one that survived the Cataclysm. I used my authority as Lord of fucking Dravith to take command of the site, and yes, I took everything I could, considering that the city is at war with me, and they remain the property of the Empire!” I paused, realizing how loud my voice had gotten and the way that the entire room was staring at me, and I took a deep, calming breath.
“Look, I apologize for shouting,” I said, reaching out a hand placatingly. “But seriously, you’re accusing me of a fucking crime? I’m at war with that city, and as such, so is the Empire. You, as a Legionnaire of the Empire, and as an Imperial subject, are therefore also at war with the city, which means you can loot the shit out of it, if it’s for the greater good, okay?” I pinched the bridge of my nose, feeling a headache building, and the warning, wriggling bar of light in the left of my vision, which had always signaled a migraine incoming, was growing brighter.
“We accepted you as our lord, Jax. Never fear; we understand our place, and the responsibility of the Legion,” Romanus said soothingly. “I apologize; you’ve barely survived your injuries, and we have exacerbated them, giving you stress at such a time. Perhaps if we could get some clarity on your orders, then you could rest for the day? Tomorrow, we can look to address more details,” Romanus offered.
“Fine,” I said tiredly, rubbing my eyes again. “Look, I’ll go rest for a few hours, see if I can get rid of this migraine. As to orders: yes, land on the Sunken City, get everyone working on making the Battleship as safe as possible, and send overtures to the researchers in both camps. Ask them to come tomorrow morning at… fuck knows, first light?” I asked, getting a subtle nod from Augustus. “Right. First light, get them to come here, and we’ll talk to them. I want to know what they know. As to the Golems…” I eyed Alistor sternly, before looking back to Romanus. “Augustus is in charge of them. I want them used to their maximum potential.” I shifted my focus to Augustus. “Use them as you see fit, but the ship is the priority. If you think that it’d be better served by having them on sentry duty and the Legion helping with construction, fine. If not, also fine. Just discuss it with the Engineers, okay? And make damn sure the Servitor is put to work immediately; you’ve no idea what those things could do…” I said, closing my eyes as the glare built in direct proportion to the pain. I knew instinctively that attempting to use magic to ‘heal’ this would be a mistake, and Oracle wasn’t talking, since she was still too busy trying to make sense of Amon’s ‘info-dump’.
“Augustus…” I whispered, my eyes still closed.
“Yes, Jax?” came the response, his voice now at my side.
“Get me somewhere I can rest, please, mate. Somewhere dark.” I was painfully aware that while I could push through this, I’d regret it later… something was very wrong.
“Yes, my lord,” he said, and I felt strong hands on either side, guiding me from the bridge.
The next few minutes passed in a blur, as every time I opened my eyes, all I could make out was a smear of bright light and colors, and pain… so much pain…
Then I was in a room, being guided to a bed, then doors were being softly closed, and the last thing I heard was a familiar voice that made me release a relieved breath, trusting fully that I was safe.
“Jax… sleep well,” Bane said.
Chapter Three
It was the change in the ambient sound that brought me back to consciousness. The steady, ever-present ‘thrummm’ of the engines; a mixture of a purring diesel engine and the warm hum of magic was the closest I could match it to, and it had changed.
Instead of the steady purr, interspersed with occasional rapid-fire bursts of the engines altering course, I had been awoken by the sound of creaking and breaking wood, of branches rubbing against the hull, and then, finally, of the engines dying away. A creaking filled the air as the ship settled slowly, weight returning to the supports.
I blinked slowly, opening my eyes cautiously and feeling that particular weird feeling you get after a migraine, where your skull is simultaneously too tight and feels like a balloon that might either pop or float away at any second, the hollow space surrounding your mind that had been filled with pain, now suddenly free.
“O…*cough*… Oracle?” I managed, feeling her close by.
“I’m here, Jax,” she said, flying into view from where she’d been hovering in the air nearby. “Are you okay?” she asked.
“Yeah… what happened?” I replied groggily. “God, it tastes like a cat shit in my mouth…”
“Well, I didn’t see a cat around, but Grizz checked on you a few minutes ago…” Bane’s voice offered from the corner.
“Well, he’s got the morals of a cat, from what I hear, but as long as he didn’t stick anything in my mouth, I’ll let that slide…” I muttered, pausing. “He didn’t… right?” I asked, feeling terror rising.
“No, he crept in like a mouse and left the same way. I think you scared the entire Legion, Jax. They’ve been tiptoeing around outside, threatening to murder anyone that disturbs you with a loud noise.”
“Crap…” I muttered, rubbing my face. “I hope they’ve not scared the crew too much. Seriously, Oracle, what happened?” I asked again.
“Amon,” she said simply. “He’s simultaneously millennia dead and oblivious to what you’re capable of. When he was alive, well, he was exceptional and seriously high-leveled; he doesn’t really have much of an accurate impression of what a living human can handle. You remember the issues you had with Spellbooks?” she reminded me, and I nodded.
“Well, Amon just gave you a whole new level of that. Think, the equivalent of ten Spellbooks or more; he’s given you a basic grounding
in so many different subjects, I can’t even…” she landed on my chest and gazed down at me. “Luckily, removing the Valspar and being healed by Jenae and Mistress Nerin repaired almost all of your previous brain damage. The fact that this was a direct mental transfer of knowledge minimized the impact as well, and I was able to soothe some of that absorption. The headache should be about the worst of what you have to suffer this time.
“Interestingly, considering the spells that you used, ‘Ability’ would probably be closer to the truth of what you’ve been given. Specifically, this ability, the one that you used to free the slaves in the city, is a mixture of several spells so complex I really haven’t got a handle on them yet, let alone how you activated it instinctively and fueled it out of pure righteous fury. All I really remember is that it felt amazing,” she said, giving a little shudder as she closed her eyes, then pursed her lips in thought as they popped back open.
“I am positive that it was a solid Ability, like a capital ‘A’ ability, that you used. Much like the way that certain species can perform different feats, like the Djinn can phase their bodies into mist and back, or the way that a Warrior can use a ‘Taunt.’ Those are both Abilities; one is intrinsic to the creature, while the other is a gained, or learned, Ability. You getting this?” she asked, and I nodded in confirmation.
“Yeah, I think so. Go on…”
“Well, I think this is an intrinsic Ability: something that is part of you, of who, and what, you are. You haven’t read your notifications for a while; now might be a good time…” she suggested hopefully.
“Okay…” I shifted to sit upright, grinning as she effortlessly floated into the air before me, her tiny wings blurring. “I need a drink first, and damn, flying does look fun at times…” I admitted as I watched her.
“It is!” she replied with a smile as Bane materialized from the darkness of the corner, stepping forward and offering me a canteen. I nodded my thanks and swigged from it, washing my mouth out first, then swallowing a second mouthful and feeling better as the cool liquid ran down my throat. As I handed it back, I eyed Bane’s gear with concern.
“You’re a mess, mate,” I said, and he shrugged nonchalantly, moving fluidly back to the corner where he’d been crouching. Bane was a Mer, or a Tia’Almer-atic, as the race called themselves. Essentially, Bane was an amphibian frigging ninja. He stood about six foot tall, with no visible eyes or ears. Instead, his face and head were smooth, intersected only by a mouth that contained a mix of sharp incisors, canines, and flatter molars. About three quarters of the way back on his head, where a human would have hair, just behind the ears, a ridge looped around, running from behind his jaw to halfway up his skull. From under this ridge hung a nest of tentacles. They were short and stubby, and long and thin, and every shape in between, and they moved constantly, shifting like a nest of vipers. These tentacles were how he ‘saw’ the world. He somehow produced a kind of sonar, or at least that was what I understood, called ‘World-Sense’. He could perceive far more with the sense than I could with my eyes, due to being totally unreliant on light, and the peculiar nature of it allowed him to accurately ‘map’ things. He tended to be amazing at finding traps and other such hidden dangers. He had four arms and two legs, wore mainly leather and chitin armor, typically carried a pair of short stabbing spears, and almost always had several sets of daggers, knives, and throwing blades secreted about himself, even when he was “off duty.” He was sarcastic, snappy, and the sneakiest motherfucker I’d ever met, able to blend in almost anywhere, through a mix of a racial ability, heavy training, and investing his points in becoming an assassin-hunter class. He’d appointed himself, with his trainer’s approval, as my personal bodyguard.
During our time in Himnel, he’d recruited an elven Legionnaire called Tang to join him, and the pair kept me as safe as possible around the clock.
Bane had become a close friend, even more so now that he understood the male bonding ritual that was shit-talking, and we spent at least half of every day trying to wind each other up.
Normally, I could expect to be mocked for ‘napping’ in the middle of the day or something. The fact he hadn’t made a single crack meant he’d been seriously worried.
His armor was torn, battered, and missing in sections, and I clearly remembered the terror and fury I’d felt when he’d been gravely injured in the fight to reach the Skyking. His chest armor had clearly taken the brunt of the damage, barely holding together the remaining sections, and I shook my head in dismay.
“Seriously, Bane, we need to replace your armor, mate.” I insisted, frowning at him.
“And your own,” he replied calmly. I glanced down at it, noting the multiple sections that had been hastily stitched back together, the missing links and torn sections of gear, and the way that I was constantly having to pull my belt up, as even that, old faithful weapon that it was, concealing my razorwire, was starting to give out.
“Good point. I think a trip to the armorers is due…” I muttered, “…and if we look this bad, god knows the rest of the team will as well. Shame, really… I like these pants…” I tugged at a fold of Gloom Spider silk.
“Jax, I know you feel like your head’s full of wool right now, but focus, okay?” Oracle said, floating closer. “You really need to read your notifications.”
“Right,” I said, rubbing my face and trying to clear my mind fully. “Sorry.”
I pulled up the notifications and read carefully, finding that I had quite a few of them awaiting my attention.
You made progress in a Quest given to you by the Goddess Jenae: ‘Bring Home the Bacon…’
The Goddess Jenae has commanded you to retrieve all you can from those that skulk and raid the corpse of the Empire. Take your rightful place as their Lord and bring back that which you need to repair the seat of your Power, the Great Tower.
Recover Magical Artifacts and Technologies: 27/?
Retrieve manastones: 327/100
Recruit additional citizens: 937/100
Recruit skilled crafters: 31/100
Recruit a Tower Healer: 1/1
Bonuses will be given for exceeding these numbers.
Reward: Basic functionality of the Great Tower, Unknown, 250,000Exp
Congratulations! Through hard work and perseverance, you have increased your Constitution by two points. Continue to train and learn to increase this further.
Congratulations! Through hard work and perseverance, you have increased your Intelligence by one point. Continue to train and learn to increase this further.
I quickly pulled up my stats, reading them over and nodding to myself as I found the differences from the last fight.
Name: Jax
Titles: Strategos: 5% boost to damage resistance. Fortifier: 5% boost to defensive structure integrity, Champion of Jenae
Class: Spellsword > Justicar> Champion of Jenae + Imperial Magekiller
Renown: Unknown
Level: 18
Progress: 86,810/265,000
Patron: Jenae, Goddess of Fire and Exploration
Points to Distribute: 7
Meridian Points to Invest: 0
Stat
Current points
Description
Effect
Progress to next level
Agility
42
Governs dodge and movement.
Average speed + 320% (+10% increase in darkness, -20% in daylight)
38/100
Charisma
23
Governs likely success to charm, seduce, or threaten
Success chance +130%
71/100
Constitution
36
Governs health and health regeneration
700HP (200+500), regen 26pts per 600s (+10% regen due to soul bond, -20hp, each point invested now worth 20hp)
19/100
Dexterity
31
Governs ability with weapons and crafting success
+ 21% chance
to wield weapon successfully, + 21% chance of crafting success
48/100
Endurance
26
Governs stamina and stamina regeneration
520 STM
(200+320), regen 16pts per 30s (Each point now worth 20STM)
36/100
Intelligence
56
Governs base mana and number of spells able to be learned
540 Mana (100+440) mana, spell capacity: 28 spells (-20mp due to soul bond)
15/100
Luck
24
Governs overall chance of bonuses
+14% chance of success in areas luck affects
82/100
Perception
25
Governs ranged damage and chance to spot traps/hidden items
+150% ranged damage, +25% chance to spot traps/hidden items
44/100
Strength
24
Governs damage with melee weapons and carrying capacity
+14 damage with melee weapons, +140% carrying capacity
63/100
