It fell away to show a boxy bullpup rifle. Dave checked the simple iron sights.
“Well, this is probably going to be about as accurate as me trying to throw a cow at a target.” Dave moved back out to the balcony. He checked the runes that flowed over the body of the rifle as well as the ones he could detect inside the weapon. He pulled his hood up, obscuring his features in smoke, and extended his Mana barrier around his head in case anything went wrong.
Dave moved back to the bridge everyone was set up on. He sat and braced his arms on his knees as he aimed at the kobold.
Party Chat
Suzy> Metal golems are in position.
Deia> As soon as the golems start fighting, we go. Whenever you’re ready, Suzy.
Dave felt the metal golems silently drop from their perches on the ceiling, headed right for the unsuspecting kobold below.
“Field of Souls,” Dave said. A purple glow fell over the kobold.
“Dispel magic!” Induca and Malsour said at almost the same time as Anna jumped off the balcony, using the bridges and lower floors to get closer to the kobolds.
“Daylight!” Deia yelled. A miniature sun flared into life among the kobolds. Their screams filled the living areas as the five metal golems found their targets with meaty and final crunches.
Dave stroked the trigger on his rifle. It bucked, hitting low and to the right of the kobold he’d been aiming at. It didn’t notice as it was screaming in pain at having been blinded by a small sun.
Dave adjusted his aim, taking two quick shots. The second missed but the third hit, dropping the kobold mage from a hundred to eighty percent Health. Well, not doing so good; not as strong as a bow right now. Maybe if I altered the rounds, then it would be better?
Three more shots put the creature out. Gray smoke rolled from Dave’s shoulder and into the magazine. The runes on the rifle glowed with new power as Dave conjured a ten-round magazine, finding another target.
Anna was now among the kobolds who were recovering from their loss of sight. Anger was in their eyes as they looked for vengeance.
“Ebony Whips.” A square of darkness erupted behind the kobolds, cutting off any possible retreat and claiming two kobolds that vanished from sight. Dave put their screams to the back of his mind as he tried to adjust his rifle and kill the creatures below.
Well, that sounded odd. Dave was about to turn toward the rifle as its conjured power core started to overload. Dave pulled his Mana from it as fast as possible. The rifle exploded in his hands. His armor’s natural Mana barrier deflected the damage but still made Dave fall on his ass from the explosion.
“Return,” Dave said. The two rods he’d used to make the rifle came back to his belt. He pulled them off, turning them into a crossbow. A lot more stable and easier to use. Have to do some more testing, but might be better to go with a bow than a rifle at this point.
“Firestorm!” Induca called out. Flames popped onto the bridge that the mages had been lazily walking over.
“Righteous Fire!” Deia unleashed a pillar of Fire that seemed to rain down from the ceiling onto the kobolds below. Anna had to quickly move out of the way while Suzy watched over the golems.
Dave looked for anything moving in the two Fire attacks and put a crossbow bolt into it.
Deia’s pillar of Fire fell away to reveal three metal golems and two metal cores that had been pushed to the side. Just three kobolds had survived the attack.
Anna fell on them; using her sword, she pushed them back toward the metal golems, who turned their bodies into lances to finish off the creatures.
Fire and shadow lances greeted the single kobold that survived Induca’s attack.
All of their attacks happening at once with the kobolds never knowing where they were or what was going on had turned all of them into sneak attacks.
“Well, shit, we’ve got a ton of FIREpower.” Dave sat back, his crossbow turning back into two rods.
“Dave, please, for the sake of the English language, just give up on trying to make puns,” Suzy said.
“Everyone’s a critic.”
“I thought you said that your rifle wouldn’t explode.” Deia gave Dave a stern look.
“Well, I never specifically said it wouldn’t. There was a high chance it wouldn’t and it didn’t for about twelve shots. Then, I think from overuse and the thin metal, a rune got linked in the wrong way though I broke it down enough that it didn’t do all that much damage.” Dave smiled, forgetting that all she could see were his teeth and his eyes while he wore the hood.
“Dave, you look like a jack-o’-lantern. Take the hood off.” Suzy rubbed the bridge of her nose and walked away. Induca and Malsour also headed toward the northern door’s entrance.
Dave followed her advice.
“Next time, do your experimenting on the seeder instead of in the middle of a fight,” Deia said, exasperated.
“Hmm, when you put it that way…”
“You sound like an idiot.”
“Well, no, just makes me see my decisions in a different light,” Dave amended.
“Like an idiot.” She smiled.
“Your idiot.” Dave grinned like some kid might, knowing that he had won his argument.
“Yes, my idiot, who I would prefer to not blow his head off with his crazy inventions.” She walked over to him and wrapped her fingers in his as they headed down toward the door to see what lay beyond. “So how was the rifle?”
“Pretty crap, then it exploded. Need to zero the barrel somehow, and I have no idea how you do that. Then, need to fix that overheating issue which means different materials. Which means more power to make or higher cost.” Dave realized that he was rambling by the look on Deia’s face.
“Well, seems that you’ll have something to work on.” She smiled.
Chapter 7: And the Universe Keeps Turning
“Bob, what are you doing?” Fire moved to the room that he had created in her volcano and was living in.
“Sprucing the place up a bit and putting a distillery in! After Dave showed me his drinking know-how, I’ve been craving some good beer or even a nice Scotch, but I can’t get any unless I go and visit him! If I can’t visit him, then I’ll just have to do it on my own!” he said as there was a metal banging noise and then a crash.
Bob came out a few minutes later wearing a stained Hawaiian shirt and an expression that told Fire she shouldn’t ask what had just happened.
“I guess this is what I get for letting him move in because I’ll be off at Per’ush in a few months. I hope that Denur can keep him from blowing the place up,” she muttered to herself as Bob walked over. “What is with the shirt?”
“Well, with the Pantheon all watching what I’m doing, I thought that I would give them some well-needed fashion advice. Wearing just one color all the time is just boring as hell. Look—even you are doing black pants and red shirt. Could you imagine Light wearing anything but golden robes? I don’t even know if she has legs anymore!” Bob walked past Fire and headed to her living room.
Fire rolled her eyes, knowing that he was just deflecting. “Now, how about you tell me the real reason that you’re messing around with all of this alcohol-making equipment?”
“’Cause I’m BORED!” Bob fell backward into his chair. “I’m stuck up here with nothing to do because that fucking Emperor had his Jukal mouthpiece talk for him and give me new orders. They’ve completely lost the fucking point. Emerilia was supposed to be capable of fighting off the aggressive species that were coming to destroy the Jukal Empire. Now, they’re not even seen as threats; they’re seen as entertainment. The empire is as stagnant as a fart in space and they don’t care. Emerilia was supposed to be an aid. I was wrong in thinking that and so many people have died because of it. Yet now, without it—well, without it, the empire would collapse. I need to be down there. I need to be down on Emerilia, doing what I usually do—working from the shadows, altering the course of a war by millimeters, balancing the outcomes. Yet now, I ca
n’t do that.”
“Well, you’ve always talked about how you’ve wanted a vacation.” Fire tried to bring some levity to the situation.
“You don’t get it.” Bob turned to face her, his expression grave. “What happens in this cycle of Players; it could change everything”
“What, the Pantheon’s power balance? Well, there always has been a threat that there might be another one of the Affinities rise to power in order to disrupt Light and Dark’s ongoing battle,” Fire said.
“No, I don’t mean the Pantheon. I don’t mean Emerilia. I mean the entire Empire.”
Fire knew to a degree that the Jukal Empire supposedly gave Bob his orders, which he passed on to the others of the Pantheon and was bound by their actions and their rules. Though she hadn’t ever seen anyone from this Empire other than Bob, their strength was no simple matter.
“We will prevail—we always have,” Fire said, trying to reassure Bob.
“The Pantheon has pissed off too many people of Emerilia. It won’t survive,” Bob said.
“The Pantheon? Falling? I know that I have heard many people declare that they would pull the Pantheon down. I myself have said it a few times, though it isn’t possible.” Fire shook her head.
“Oh, it is. There didn’t used to be a Pantheon. I gave them an inkling of power at the beginning and then said that they would have to get the rest from the devotions of the people. Now, the people are starting to rethink their deals with the gods. This new generation of Players are already making waves. Leading them is the Stone Raiders. They’re hiring POEs all over the place to do their work and not one of them believes in a higher power. They believe in themselves and hard work and you know what? It’s paying off. They’re the strongest guild on Emerilia right now and they’re only getting stronger.”
“They’re Players, though. Their interests can change on a whim if given enough of an incentive.”
“Yes, in the past that had been true, but they have people within their very guild who are from Emerilia. They fought at Boran-al’s Citadel and created a camaraderie that is unseen at this period of time. The Golden Sabres that fought with them—that was the second-most powerful guild in Emerilia at the time, and now the fifth—are making preparations to merge with the Stone Raiders if the Raiders will accept them.”
“That kind of power shift will be immense, but still it won’t be enough.”
“The Dwarves are mobilizing and they will be opening up competitions for the Weapons of Power. Many of the races that went against the gods, but then mysteriously disappeared are going to return and then the creatures that were bringing wanton destruction to Emerilia are returning in a year. Think what’s going to happen with these competitions and powerful groups coming together. The People of Emerilia and the Players are going to be stronger than ever if they can get through it. Few, if any, are going to be giving a devotion to some god, goddess, lord, or lady. They’re going to be dealing with all the crap that is going on in their lives—they’re not going to look to the Affinities unless they’re too weak to change their own lives. The guilds, the different clans that are already preparing for the coming wars—they will be the icons that people look up to. What is more powerful than the most powerful guild in history standing up against the most powerful beasts ever known and laughing as they do it?”
“They’re going to be hailed as heroes. They’ll be venerated.” Fire sat into her own seat, seeing how things were coming into place. Seeing hundreds—no, thousands—of different aspects that, if they came together just right or even marginally right, could lead to something that she couldn’t predict the end to.
“I might be sitting here and waiting, but I am not yet powerless. My own agents of change are on Emerilia and with them a change is coming.” Bob sat back, looking at the lava that lay in pools around Fire’s home.
“Who?” Fire asked.
“Yours and my own daughter’s party.” Bob looked to her.
“Deia?”
“Deia, Malsour, Induca, Dave, Suzy, and Anna. One a demi-god, two first-born dragons, two bleeders, and an Administration AI of Emerilia, Anna’kal.” Bob’s words were quiet but powerful as Fire’s eyes widened in shock.
“You woke her up? I thought that you had to put her to sleep because it was getting to the stage where she couldn’t stand to watch the suffering of the People of Emerilia for the sport and entertainment of the Empire?” Fire looked at Bob.
He sat there, not saying a word as she let what he had said filter into her mind.
“You really think that they can help to change Emerilia, to change the Pantheon and go up against the Empire?” Fire was shocked by her own words.
“I don’t think that they can do it by themselves, but they are a wind of change and with them, many plans will become possibilities. While the Pantheon was off running amok, I was making alliances. Did you ever know why there are no longer fights between everyone except the Ashal nations?” Bob asked.
“Because fighting while Players are there is a quick way to see everyone get destroyed by Players joining into the fight?” Fire said. It was common knowledge. With Players coming in, it was like adding a nuclear bomb to a caveman fight and everyone came out the worse for wear. Ashal nations fell and rose by the decade because of this.
“Yes, but it took me going down there and having a private and pointed conversation with every single nation leader. Not one of you noticed that as soon as the wars stopped that the nations started trading immediately. Trade is the basis of an agreement, a bit of good old-fashioned give-and-take. At first, I used different ploys to get the various nations to trade with one another. In the end, it didn’t matter what I had said; the ones that were working together and were trading for the sake of trading were doing better than the ones that were using it as a front to gain information or to try to understand another nation’s strengths and weaknesses. There was tension but as soon as someone thought about overstepping their boundaries, I would give them a little visit. The bonds of Emerilia have never been stronger. Sure, it costs to cross a nation’s borders and the forces are all highly trained but that is more to sustain their military and to have a fighting force that can deal with the Players if they step out of line. Populations are bigger than ever; people are stronger than ever and the Pantheon is now going to try to break those bonds that have been in place for decades or longer. The lords and ladies of the Pantheon are so focused on their own plans and one another’s that they didn’t notice a damn thing as I altered things bit by bit.” Bob gave a proud smile.
“So what does this mean?” Fire asked.
“Well, it means that things are going to change quickly. I don’t know how things are going to go and I had hoped that the Player Champions I was working with had higher levels. I also did not foresee the different people I had packed away being released from their hibernation,” Bob muttered and then shrugged. “Well, it’s up to them. It is their planet, after all.”
“Do you have Champions?”
“Nope, not one.” Bob shook his head.
“Then how were you able to convince different lords’ and ladies’ Champions?”
“Oh, that was easy. I just posed as the game’s AI and then fed them information on the different lords and ladies of the Affinities. They might have made an oath to the lords and ladies but Players are always thinking about themselves more than anything. Armed with information against the Pantheon, if their masters tell them to do something that they don’t want to, then it might just happen that they revoke their Champion status.” A sly smile spread across Bob’s face.
“Why did you keep so many races in hibernation? You kept the Demons and the Aleph, for Empire’s sake!” Fire said. Not even she could try to understand what would happen in the coming years.
“The Aleph are the most mechanically inclined of all the races. When Emerilia started, there were just portals and people would have to travel from one city to another. Now, there are teleport pads all over the planet that th
e Aleph first created. The Aleph’s creations were incredible but the Empire got wind of some of the things that they were tampering with and then they called for the Pantheon to root them out and destroy them. I saved as many as I could and made sure that the full extent of their secrets stayed secret. Well, the Demons, they’re kick ass and they’re one of the two predominantly magical warrior species. They and the Angels are the strongest of all the races when it comes to combat. Again, I tried to save as many as possible, knowing that they might be needed in the future.”
“The Dark Lord is already putting his new generation of Demons out into Emerilia’s north,” Fire said.
“Yes, but who better to either destroy or tame them than their ancient brethren?” Bob said.
Fire’s mind spun with all he was saying.
“I don’t even know what is going to happen in the coming years. I don’t know if Emerilia will even survive. There are just too many variables. The Empire gave their orders and in their idiocy and an attempt to make things more interesting—well”—Bob shrugged—“it’s going to be interesting.”
“What plans do you have for my daughter?” Fire could see things would quickly windmill out of the control of the Pantheon. The lines of battle were being drawn up and no one realized it yet.
“I have no plans for her. I will aid her and her party as much as possible. I have great hopes for them. But in the end, they are my friends. That is where all of the other lords and ladies, except Water, went wrong. If you make a relationship with someone, you have to give and take and help them; then they, in turn, will help you. I would be willing to do everything in my power to help them. None of the others in the Pantheon understand that, except for possibly you for your Dragons and Water with the Merpeople. Isn’t it interesting how two opposites are more alike than not?” Bob tapped his chin, giving her a perusing look. “The die has been cast; now it is time to see where they land. The forces of Emerilia are being unleashed. Only time will tell what it will lead to.”
For The Guild (Emerilia Book 2) Page 9
