by Dakota Krout
“I can’t believe how empty it is out here.” Dale murmured, looking around the near-empty plain. Where tents had been there was grass or dirt showing, but those spots on the landscape were slowly being filled in as the wind carried drifts of snow around.
“This is awesome! When people come back, I can actually force them to set up in some kind of order!” The city administrator was staying, much to Dale’s confusion.
“Well… I’m… happy for you?” Dale’s face gained a crooked smile.
The administrator nodded, walking away. “I’m happy for all of us! Gonna have a nice looking city this year!”
“What a strange man.” Adam was watching the administrator pull out a measuring rope and start outlining property boundaries.
“He gets the job done, and he loves his work.” Dale smiled. “Good enough for me.”
“The Dwarves have finished the wall, and unless I’m mistaken, that is the rider that was sent out to scout the other day.” Hans pointed at a man on a horse that was lathered up, nearly dead with exhaustion. “I’ll put fifty gold on him having bad news.”
“No deal.”
It was bad news. The hoard had found the road up the mountain, having been stymied by their unsuccessful attempts at swimming up the waterfall. As soon as a few started going up the road, the rest had followed. They had been a bit off in their estimates as well. There were nearly ten thousand of the creatures that had once been human.
“How? How are there so many?” Dale demanded of the silent council.
Amber shook her head. “It shouldn’t have been possible. There are maybe a thousand people in a good-sized village. Unless there was a near one hundred percent conversion rate from the disease…”
“I know what happened.” Prince Henry walked into the room. Everyone stood, murmuring, ‘Your Majesty.’ Henry waved for them to sit while he paced. “This year we were holding a census in the kingdom. To ensure accurate records, we had made it mandatory that each town hold a post-harvest festival and bring in anyone within fifty miles.” He stopped, looking close to tears. “That mass of infected represents nearly a sixth of our rural population.”
“Good God above.”
~Cal~
“He leaves for a few hours every day.” Dani said the next part under her breath, “I’m starting to think he has the right idea.”
Though she was waiting on the first shipment of memory stones, she brought me interesting trinkets daily. She had also walked into the dungeon and started discussing topics with people. That was an interesting way to learn things, especially when she had started talking to the smith that was buying ore from a miner. I learned so much about desirable metal purities and alloy creations that day!
Just that single conversation would have been worth the risks of keeping my pet human. There was more; she had talked to a bowyer, carpenters, and other tradesmen. Each of these conversations helped me understand concepts that would have taken years of trial and error to figure out otherwise. Something as simple as using larger bricks at the base of a wall to help strengthen it changed the way I looked at things. I had thought that using the same size throughout was the best way, so I had simply made them huge. Silly me!
As though our discussion had summoned her, Minya walked into the dungeon and started talking to me. “Cal, there is a serious problem.”
“Did you release a parasitical virus into the wild?”
“Okay. Thank goodness. I had to ask. Well, they think it is your fault. Apparently there is a multi-thousand person hoard of infected people coming this way. When they die, they release spores like a mushroom would.” Minya informed me with a hint of relief overshadowed with fear.
<...Uh.>
“Hmm?”
I mentally winced,
Minya paused, thinking through her verbal options, “Did you do it on purpose?”
She gained a considering look. “So it was the Spotter Guild’s fault. Thank you, Cal. If they get in here, would you make more of them?”
Minya nodded, “Then I’ll go see how we can turn this to your benefit.” She stalked out of the dungeon with a look on her face that reminded me she was very dangerous. I wouldn’t want to face her when she was this determined. I hoped she was going to go yell at Dale.
I turned to my Goblins, as they had been having some mental issues themselves. Each day, any survivors would add their memories to the memory stones that I had provided. This meant that they would lose at worst only a day of memory if they died. I had also made them into what I called Delta memory stones, as it would only take what was different from previous memories, not make a full copy. The problem was surprisingly not with the Goblins who died frequently, it was with the ones who lived every day.
They all made copies of their memory to the stones, but the survivors did it much more frequently. There were only twelve total stones, I had made them share in the hopes that the accumulated experiences would make them smarter and more dangerous. This worked… to a point. Then there was the worst case scenario. The first Goblin to show problems was the massive Goblin that carried around a Warhammer. His mind had snapped, and he reverted to a bestial mentality. He didn’t attack the other Goblins unless they got in his way, but was absolutely mad for combat. He would fly into a rage at the first hint of a fight, ignoring all attempts at defense as he threw himself at his opponent.
I had allowed that memory stone to continue, and simply called them ‘Goblin Berserkers’ now, but the new Goblin Warriors I reverted to the old, original memories. He had to relearn a lot, but it was a good lesson for me. I made a memory stone for each encampment, and would let them diverge as individuals from this point forward. No need to make sentient beings slip slowly into insanity.
The shaman had had a lot of fun with the Delta stones, having a dozen of himself trying new ways of doing things, then using the accumulated knowledge to push himself in new directions. Every two days gave him nearly a month of research, so he was progressing quickly. As a seeker of knowledge he was the only one disappointed when I took away the Delta stones, so I gave them back to him in secret when other Goblins weren’t around.
Since the dungeon was approaching empty, I started experimenting with Essences. The combinations were so interesting, and I had barely scratched the surface of their potential. Slight variations in the corruption levels produced astoundingly different results. For instance, earth and water in equal amounts made ‘mud’ Essence. A bit more earth than water made ‘plant’ Essence, while a large amount more water Essence made ‘blood’ Essence. There were combinations that I was sure did something, but they didn’t affect the things I could test them on, so it was hard to tell what kind of affinity they were.
What really interested me were the opposing affinities. Let’s just discuss the equal amount of each. Earth and wind; water and fire. The
se, at first glance, seemed to simply cancel each other out, or make something seemingly useless. Fire and water made steam, right? Wrong! Fire and water intermixed naturally also needed a third component, air! That made steam. When combined without air, it made an interesting fluid that super-compressed itself! This ‘superfluid’ when released or exposed to air would violently explode, decompressing itself straight to a gaseous form! Useful? Not a clue, outside of traps.
Earth and wind made freaking lightning when combined! I had really thought that would be an effect in the purview of fire, but I was pleased to be proven wrong. Chaos, the intermixing of celestial and infernal, had mind-altering properties that made it very difficult for me to work with, as I was a thought construct. I would suddenly start, having a feeling of a breakthrough, only to realize that I couldn’t remember what I had been doing. It was incredibly frustrating.
“Hey, um. Cal?” Dani was speaking in a horrified voice.
“Have… have you looked at the Mobs on the fourth floor recently?” Dani seemed to be going somewhere with this. I focused but sensed no life, well, beyond a few insects that had made their way in. Useless bugs, can’t even evolve to a useful configuration.
“They’re all dead, Cal. Look for bodies.” This time I changed what I was looking for, finding corpses littered around the floor.
“What? No, how would you forget killing five dozen Cats and double that in Bashers? Are you okay…?” Dani now had a really nervous look. She tried to shake it off. “No, Dale, we are pretty far underground. You and I don’t notice — as we don’t have lungs — but the air quality is so bad down here that it became polluted and poisonous. It happened quietly, everything just sort of laid down and died over about an hour.”
I inspected the air, and sure enough, it was bad. There was an overwhelming amount of earth Essence and little air Essence at all, except around the Silverwood tree. I thought about how to fix this; should I open vents to the outside? That would take a while, but it was doable…
“So, if you could go ahead and grow some plants down here, that should take care of it.” Dani interrupted my thoughts.
“Yup. Plants will release breathable air, and at the rate you can grow them the air should be breathable in an hour or so. No air ducts needed.” Dani promised me while looking wistfully at Snowball. I started absorbing him so she would be able to move on a little faster.
Dani tried to shake me out of my melancholy. “Hey! Listen!”
“Mistakes happen, big guy. You are fixing it now, right? Then let’s move on. What were you working on?” Her sweet voice eased my tension, and I gratefully described my experiments with Essence. She listened raptly and offered some suggestions for my playtime. Um. Practicing.
“By the way,” Dani mentioned as a thought crossed her mind. “Has Minya brought all of the gemstones that you asked for?”
“Has that helped with your corruption cleaning efforts?” Dani was flying along, visually inspecting the plants now growing on this floor.
“Yeah?”
“Wow! When did you make that? Why didn’t you tell me? I hadn’t noticed!” Dani went from elated to curious to slightly angry in the span of a single breath.
Dani make a small noise. “You actually forgot that you had made corruption collection devices?”
I gave her a mental shrug,
“Ugh.” Dani sounded disgusted. “Minya just had to talk to that mind-cleric here.”
I started as someone stumbled into the dungeon, bleeding heavily. I looked at the time, it was getting near midnight.
“Something is happening out there, I’m gonna take a look.” Dani informed me, flying out her specially-designed escape tunnel just as the ground began shaking.
~Dale~
“Dale. They’re coming.” Frank jogged up to the serious young city Lord at a normal human speed.
Dale looked at the Guild leader in shock, “What?! They’re way ahead of schedule! They shouldn’t be here for another day at the earliest!”
“This part is non-human.” Frank frankly revealed. “The infection is far worse than we assumed; it affects more than just humans, it also takes animals and magical Beasts. They’re far faster than their two-legged counterparts, and we need to be ready to defend right now.”
The alarm was sounded, just a guy with an Essence-enhanced voice. They had had to improvise, as no-one had expected an attack this early. Fighters began running the distance to the walls, and there was no formation or discipline to be seen amongst the cultivators — at first. As they moved, they slowly began to separate from a mob of people into small groups of five.
The wall was easily large enough to hold the entire defending population, with just enough room that the line wasn’t too thin in any spot. Melee fighters had a slightly disgruntled look, while archers and other various ranged attackers were flushed, excited to show off their ability.
A sound reached the ears of the defenders, a low rumble of feet pounding the ground, hooves clopping intermittently against stone. Above all, a wailing, anguished noise tickled their eardrums, creating a feeling of primal dread in more than one person. The first of the things came into view, and what may have once been a regal or handsome animal now appeared as a fungus encrusted, diseased horror. It bleated; had it been some type of goat?!
The eagerness and bloodlust was starting to fade as more and more infected specimens appeared. Herds of various cattle, forest creatures, packs of wolves… The disease had taken everything in its path. Towering, lumbering forms appeared, some massive type of Beast that was totally unrecognizable under the parasite.
The hoard was moving quickly but without appearing to be violent. They were totally silent apart from the wailing and crying sounds they emitted. That is… until the first arrow *thunked* into the lead animal. Then the creatures stopped, actually going quiet before screaming, bleating, whinnying, or roaring with rage and charging the wall. Arrows began to fall like rain, slicing through unprotected flesh. Dozens of the creatures died, then hundreds as the slaughter continued. Still they came onward, throwing themselves at the wall, their blood painting it red, their cries shaking the very fo
undation. For now, the towering defense held. The stone crafting abilities of Dwarves were more than ready for this test.
A blast of fire from a defender charred a swath of beings below, but prompted Frank to shout. “Hold your Essence! This is only the advance group, bare animals with a sprinkling of weak Beasts! Wait for the dangerous opponents!”
This had a sobering effect. People had been getting a bit exuberant, seeing the enemies fall so easily. The slaughter continued for hours, with the once-animals unable to overcome this barrier in their path. A few hours after dark, the creatures below started having a different shape to them, and the howls became disturbingly human.
Brianna, standing with her half-dozen Dark Elves, peered into the gloom below. “Those were definitely people recently.”
The human monsters were slightly more intelligent than their bestial counterparts, using tools, weapons, and armor. They climbed the huge mound of bodies in their way, reaching the wall and starting to climb. A flicker of fire was seen before Frank shouted ‘hold!’ again. These humans were struggling up to the wall, slow and easily slain.
Amber pointed, “Frank, Mages approaching!”
A trail of light followed the form of a man sprinting at superhuman speeds. He blasted through the infected in his path; their flesh gave way, their bodies pulverized from the impact. Then a wave of gore shot in every direction as the glowing infected man sprinted directly into the piled dead in front of the wall. The effect would be best described as if a large rock were tossed into a shallow pool of water. He made it to the wall and impacted the shuddering blockade, beginning to pound away at it with sledgehammer-like blows. Chips flew at every strike, his punches enhanced with an earth-type Mana.
“Kill that bastard!” Beor the Dwarf was screaming, “He’s breaking Cliff!”
