by Eric Vall
A cry came over from the pirate ship under attack from my sea serpent as their grappling hooks rained down upon our ship. A few found purchase on the wooden railing and the pirates swung over. I gripped the God Slayer in both hands as I calmly came down the steps towards them. They saw me as a mere man in fancy armor with a huge polearm, but they were sadly mistaken. I was a god, but I was more than that, I was the fallen ruler of the Underworld. I had killed millions of men in my lifetime and then punished souls in their own personal hells. I’d seen death and destruction; I’d witnessed pain, and all of those times, it’d been by my hand. I feared no man nor god, and these mere mortals weren’t enough to strike fear in my heart. They couldn’t tell from looking at me, but I would have to show them, would have to make them see what type of god they dealt with.
A group of four pirates faced off with me as the rest of them rushed off to attack the crew. Two of the men held cutlasses that were badly chipped along the blade, one of them held a flail and the last held an ordinary broadsword. All four of them looked sickly, their skin sunburned and their bodies thin from weeks of starvation. The captain said these pirates were the most feared on the seas, but to me, they looked pitiful, like hungry mongrels fighting over scraps of bread in the street.
I would put them out of their misery.
They came at me all at once with their mouths open wide in hoarse screams. I saw their movements in slow motion as one of the skinniest men raised his sword over his head and slashed at me. The blade glinted dully in the light as I saw my reflection in its curved surface. The sword sliced through the air as I ducked under the blade, and whipped the God Slayer under my armpit. I whirled away and used the haft to slam into my attacker’s stomach. The wood of my weapon hit him with all of my strength behind it, entered in through just below his ribs and exited out through his lower back. Blood sprayed from his lips as his hands limply held onto the shaft of my polearm. I ripped it away, and more blood lifted into the air as I twirled the God Slayer then stabbed out at my second attacker. The pirate with the flail barely had enough time to react as all three of the God Slayer’s blades entered into his forehead and sunk in like a rabid animal’s teeth. The flail fell limply from his hands and clattered to the wooden deck. His mouth moved for a second as if his dying brain attempted to form words, but then it stopped and hung slack as I ripped the blades free.
Annalise’s rageful scream came from behind me right as I brought up the polearm and blocked an attack from one of the pirates with a cutlass. I glanced over my shoulder as the swordswoman leapt at a pirate’s back with Bloodscale pointed downward. The tip entered just below the base of his neck and sprayed blood onto her snarling face. The high queen ripped it free as she launched herself away from the dead man and whirled on another advancing enemy. The hair around Annalise’s temples came loose and whipped around her beautiful face as she quickly wiped it clean of the enemy’s blood. She glanced at me and gave me a wolfish grin as her boots pounded the planks after another pirate.
The pirate with the cutlass pushed against me and growled between his rotten teeth. He seemed angry that I was distracted but still easily keeping him at bay. I stepped back from him and pooled all of my dark energy into the polearm as I locked it into place at my hip. The pirate stumbled from our release, and I chuckled darkly in the back of my throat as he skewered himself directly on the end of the God Slayer’s blades. I slammed my pooled dark power into the middle of his chest and watched as the blackness crept over him like a disease. My powers ate at him and consumed every inch of his flesh like fire. I pulled the polearm free with a wet squelch, and he fell, not even putting his arms out to soften the fall. He landed face first on the planks as my black power took over him.
The last two pirates circled me like sharks, and I kept a wary eye on them though I knew this would be easy. Their thoughts were clear to me, and from the way they eyed each other over my shoulder, I knew they had a plan already figured out. They saw me as the biggest threat on this ship, and I would be the first to go down. I wanted to laugh at their idiocy, but I kept my expression hard and emotionless as I moved the God Slayer between each hand. Their hearts beat loudly in my ears, and as they beat harder than ever, I knew it was time. The two pirates slashed out at the same time, but I was gone except for my haunting laughter roaring in their ears. The two men whipped around as they searched for me, but I was unseen to the naked eye as I stepped around them.
I could see Rana out of the corner of my eye as I circled the pair of pirates. Her fiery red hair blew out around her shoulders as she dodged a strike from a pirate, and her giddy laughter lifted into the air. The nimble fox hopped out of the way as the man swiped at her legs with the blade of his sword but the fox flipped up and over him. Rana placed both hands on the hilt of the claymore and slammed it into the spine of her attacker. The man’s screams seemed to egg her on as she brought up her foot, placed it in the middle of his back and pushed all of her weight against the sword. The tip exploded out of the man’s chest, and he went limp on the end as she pulled away. The redhead flipped hand over hand away as another pirate attacked her, but the smile on her face showed that she wasn’t bothered.
I turned my attention back towards the two pirates as their eyes searched for me wildly. I positioned myself behind the one holding the longsword then glanced down at my polearm. I placed the weapon back in my void pocket momentarily then whipped my hands above my shoulders. I slammed them forward into my enemy’s back and felt his clothing rip and flesh part under my immense power. His scream was like music to my ears as I forced my hands through the wet warmth of his chest cavity. His ribcage stopped my probing hands, but my fingers curled around the lower half of his bone as I pulled my hands backward. His bones cracked and splintered as I wrenched the rib fragment free. The pirate wavered on his feet as blood poured from the wound, and I lifted the broken bone over my head and slammed it down into his skull. The portion of rib stuck out of his head like a crudely formed horn as he barely managed to stay on his feet. He stumbled forward as his longsword fell to the deck. The pirate groaned then slumped forward at the feet of his comrade.
The cutlass in the last remaining pirate’s hand wavered as he stared at me with wide, watery eyes. I stepped over his dead mate and came closer with a wicked smirk plastered over my lips. I wasn’t going to use my hands or my polearm on this man, no, I had something special in mind for him. He scuttled backward with his hands raised, but I shook my head. I would give him no mercy; I would show none of them mercy.
I raised my hands, and my telekinetic power surged out towards him. The pirate couldn’t see it, but I was sure that he could feel it. He choked and sputtered as my power took him by the throat and lifted him from the deck into the open air. His legs kicked out wildly as he struggled for a breath, but I smiled as the water behind him frothed and broke. I flung him out over the surface without much care, and my sea serpent’s massive blue scaled head rocketed from the water, maw wide open and ready to receive a gift from its master.
The jaws of the serpent snapped closed with the crunch of bone. The beast stayed in the air for a moment as its golden eyes connected with mine then it slid back into the water smoothly and was gone. I turned back toward the remaining crew to see that they’d cornered five of the pirates and the five men cowered in fear as I looked them over.
Carmedy swung down from her position in the rigging and wiped her hands; satisfied with a job well done. The rest of my minions hurried over with their bloodied weapons at their sides. Morrigan closed her eyes, breathed in deeply through her mouth and slowly lowered herself to the ground. My women surrounded and stood behind me as I stalked over to the remaining pirates. They shrunk back at the sight of me, and when I stood in front of them, my shadow overtook all of their frightened faces. They looked mangy and weak, but I would put them to good use in the next couple of days.
I looked over at the ships that attacked us and saw the damage the crew and my women had done. The ship to our lef
t had taken on water and was slowly sinking, most of the stern was underwater and filling up fast. The other’s mast had fallen and was blazing with fire from Carmedy’s explosives. They had nothing to go back to, no crew or ship, nothing left for them.
“Your captains are dead,” I growled as I took a step forward. “I am your Master now.”
Chapter Five
I stood on the deck above the five pirate prisoners we’d taken and looked out over to the slowly sinking ships. One was charred black and smoldering while the other was taking on water quickly. The prisoners told us that within the hulls of both vessels were chests of stolen gold. I didn’t care enough to retrieve it, but once the word gold was mentioned, Rana’s eyes went wide, and she licked her lips eagerly.
“Please, oh please, Master!” the redhead begged me with her paws clamped together, and I stared down at her with furrowed brows.
I didn’t want to put any of my minions in danger, and from the state of both ships, they looked to be pretty treacherous. I stared deeply into the fox’s baby-blue eyes and thought for a moment what it would feel like if I lost her because of some hasty decision. I could protect them in ways that human men could not, but I wasn’t going to let them jump on a sinking ship for some measly gold coins.
“Come on! I’m super agile! I can do it!” Rana begged as she threw herself to the floorboards and aimed her huge eyes at me. “I can even take Carmedy! Cats are just as agile as foxes, and if anything bad happens, we can help each other!”
“Carmedy can do what now?” the feline asked in a shocked voice as she whipped around and stared at her redheaded sister.
“Work with me here!” Rana hissed through her teeth to the cat-girl as she nodded in my direction. The fox-girl whipped back to me as she brought her clasped hands up underneath her chin. “Please, Master, pleeeease!”
I raised my eyebrows at her antics then looked back over to Carmedy. The cat-girl stood behind the redhead and slowly shook her head to let me know she wasn’t willing to go onto the sinking ships. The feline made a cutting motion with her paw close to her neck as she grimaced, and my eyes flicked back to the pleading fox at my feet.
“No,” I stated in a firm voice and Rana visibly deflated as if all the air had been sucked from her body.
The redhead slumped sideways and lay on the floor as she pouted. I was surprised by this, I’d expect it from the more emotional Carmedy but never from the fox. I knew how much the fox loved gold, and as I looked out over the ships, I knew there was a slight chance that one of the sacred items was out there. There was no telling if it were true, but with how desperate the fox was to get her family back, it seemed like a risk she was willing to take. I thought for a moment as I took a few glances at Rana, and our eyes connected each time as she pleaded with me.
“We’ll get the treasure,” I said finally as I strode to the wooden railing and looked out over the ruined ships.
“Really?” Rana shouted as she jumped up from the floor and scurried over to my side. “We can go over and get the gold?”
“No, you’re not going, neither is Carmedy,” I said as I looked down at the deep water sloshing up onto the deck of the ruined ship.
“Whew, thank the gods.” The feline sighed as she slumped against Annalise and the swordswoman chuckled in the back of her throat as she supported her dramatic sister.
“Then how?” Rana asked as she pawed at my sleeve. “Annalise and Morrigan aren’t willing to go over there and get it.”
“There is no need to put any of you in danger like that when I have other minions at my disposal,” I smirked as I summoned my shadows slaves to my side.
My shadow slaves were utterly invisible to the naked eye, but as a god, I could see them perfectly. They resembled human men but without any type of features at all. Their bodies were seamless and devoid of any characteristics that would make them look human. I couldn’t remember when I discovered them, but I knew that I came across them in the depths of the Underworld. The shadow slaves were sexless, devoid of human emotion, and easy to control. They reminded me of Morrigan in a strange, offhand way. They never expressed displeasure, pain, or happiness, but it was hard to do those things without a face or mouth, I assumed. They responded to all of my commands, no matter how trivial or small, and I was grateful to them for it.
I summoned about twenty of them, and the gray-skinned beasts stood on the deck around my minions and me in groups of ten. I pointed the first group towards the sinking ship, and without a word, they rushed forward. The shadow slaves ambled forward, climbed up onto the wooden railing then launched themselves into the air towards the ship. They made no sound at all; not even their feet shuffled against the wooden boards of the Royal Fortune. The beings didn’t slosh through the waist-deep water on deck almost like they weren’t really there, and for a moment, I wondered how they were able to carry physical things if their bodies passed through everything. I brushed that thought away as Morrigan came to stand at my shoulder and looked out over the calm water.
“Shadow slaves,” The elven woman commented, and realization broke over the faces of my other three minions. “I never imagined them to look like that, though.”
“You can see them?” I questioned curiously as I turned to the pale woman, and she nodded once as she followed their movement with her eyes.
“I believe that once you started training me and opening me up to my powers, I became able to see the Shadow Slaves. This is only my second time seeing them.” Morrigan stated in her emotionless voice as she pressed her hands against the railing and leaned out over the water.
“Oh man, really? You can see them?” Carmedy cried as her head whipped towards the other ship and her short, black hair fluttered in the wind.
“I always imagined them to be just…literally made of shadows?” Rana thoughtfully said as she crossed her arms and leaned against the railing.
“I thought the same thing, human shapes but just made out of like, smoke or something,” Annalise interjected as she stroked the coil of her braid with both hands.
“I imagined them as sun-bleached skeletons with a gaping, black abyss for eyes and toothy jaws that could tear out your soul instantly.” Carmedy giggled as she scratched at an ear and Rana looked to her with a grimace.
“Kind of expected something like that from Morrigan but certainly not from you.” The redhead snorted, and the elven woman glanced over her shoulder at the fox unbothered by the comment.
“What? I kind of imagined them like little skeleton people, scurrying around to help Master out whenever he needs it.” The feline offered in a sweet tone, and I smiled down at her as I reached out and stroked her hair.
“Okay, not as creepy as you first described,” Annalise snickered as she prodded the cat in her side and Carmedy giggled in response.
“I imagine that they’re with us all the time, actually,” Carmedy went on, and all eyes turned to look at her as the second group of Shadow Slaves left to plunder the burning ship. “They’re like pets or companions!”
“Oh…okay,” Rana said as her brow furrowed, and she looked at the cat-girl curiously. “A little strange but go on.”
“I thought it was kind of nice like I imagined them standing by and watching as Master and Annalise got married, Morrigan too. Maybe they even shed a tear or two as they patted at their faces with handkerchiefs.” The petite alchemist went on, and I didn’t have the heart to tell Carmedy that none of my Shadow Slaves had eyes or faces for that matter.
“I mean, it is kind of cute but why? We’ve never had any direct contact with them before except for when they haul up the treasures from dungeons.” The high queen asked as she crossed her arms over her chest and looked into the feline’s innocent face.
“I don’t know,” Carmedy shrugged good-naturedly. “Just thought it was fun to think about. I guess I always imagined them protecting Master and us when no one’s looking, not that we can see them, but it’s the thought that counts, right?”
I reached
out for her and placed an arm around her slight frame as I pulled her closer. Her words were so sweet and kind-hearted that I couldn’t bear to tell her the truth. If Carmedy wanted to believe that the Shadow Slaves looked out for us, then I would let her think that until the end of time. I pressed a tender kiss to her forehead as the Shadow Slaves reemerged from the sinking ship’s hull. My eyes widened at the immense number of trunks they carried, but that wasn’t what caught me off guard. Something in one of the trucks called out to me, not in an audible voice but in the same way that other god’s powers called out to each other. I pinpointed the exact trunk the call came from and felt excitement beat in my avatar’s chest.
We hadn’t invaded a dungeon since we encountered Nergal, and I was itching to enter another and take the god’s powers for myself. The feeling emanating from the chest was similar to the power imprint I’d left on Haruhi. Whatever object was in that trunk would lead me straight to the god that left the mark, and that would be a death sentence for whoever it was. I waited impatiently on the deck as the Shadow Slaves deftly carried the trunks up to us. The other group of ten returned, but I sensed nothing of value in those trunks except for more gold and useless jewelry. My Shadow Slaves unloaded their spoils then sunk into the floorboards of the deck with their job finished. I kept my eyes on the trunk with the beating song inside and ripped it open. My hands shoveled through the coins and other trinkets until small piles of gold and silver surrounded me.
“Whoa, I’ve never seen Master so excited over treasure before, maybe I’ve rubbed off on him.” Rana chuckled from behind me as she opened another trunk and started rifling through it with reckless abandon.
I reached the bottom of the trunk right as the trail of godly power reached a pinnacle. The only thing left in the bottom, except for a few stray rings and trinkets, was a beaten copper coin, unlike all the others. I picked it up between my pointer finger and thumb and held it up in the bright sunlight.
