by Pavel Kornev
A flight of dragons soared past me toward the city. These ones were perfectly alive and breathing fire. Luckily for me, they were taking paratroopers to the town center; burning the dead was a job for the second wave.
I managed to take cover by ducking into the blocked gates moments before flames poured out of the sky onto the house roofs. Fires erupted everywhere, billowing thick gray smoke which immediately filled with swift stealthed shadows.
The clan’s magic attack had failed to kill all of the garrison. The surviving defenders took to the walls which resounded with the popping of the ballistas. With a desperate roar, a wounded dragon lost height, collided with a house and exploded, burning all and sundry.
A vertical line sliced through the sky, then parted as if someone had grabbed at its edges and pulled them asunder.
The resulting portal was grandiose. The Light players hadn’t arrived in the Kingdom of the Dead on their own: they had their gods to support them.
To spend all this time collecting shards of the Sphere of Souls only to end up with such a miserable advantage? I couldn’t believe such a coincidence. Either the Sons of Light had somehow got wind of the Spawn’s raid and swallowed their pride by making an alliance with other clans, or it had been the mods’ plan from the start: to collide the forces of Light and Darkness in one tremendous battle.
I’d put my money on the second scenario — even though if the truth were known, I didn’t give a shit.
By then, the dragons had scorched most of the gate defenders and had begun clearing a path directly to the Tower of Decay. Fearsome flames rained from the sky; everything was enveloped in acrid smoke; the burning figures of the dead rushed around in their ultimate death throes.
My own luck couldn’t last forever, so I took the first available chance to escape the fiery inferno by turning off into a side street. The imposing building of the Royal library towered at its far end, complete with a colonnaded entrance and marble statues on the roof of the main building.
The tower housing the scroll repository was right there, almost within my reach. All I had to do was run a couple of blocks and cross a small park filled with dead blackened trees.
Let’s go!
I ran like hell along the deserted street: first one block and then another. The park’s low fence was already to my right when the air thickened around me as time began to fly by. I ran but I didn’t make any progress.
Dammit! They’d slowed me up!
The realization sliced through my bare nerves like a razor. I swung round and saw the assassins approach incredibly fast. Two wizards and three scouts were all covered in soot and very pissed.
They wouldn’t lose me a second time. And if I died now, I’d lose both time and the opportunity to procure the Scroll of Rebirth.
I produced Isabella’s vial, pulled the stopper out and poured the thick briny blood down my throat. It hit my larynx like a drop of molten lead, seething inside me. Its power overflowed me and hit me in the back from inside, ripping open my fresh stiches and breaking my ribs.
A Blood Eagle? Oh yes!
I momentarily fainted from the unbearable pain. Then the divine will hoisted me in the air, turning me into something more than a deadman or even a player. A fireball hurled at me by one of my pursuers expired; a crossbow bolt ricocheted off my skin, unable to pierce it.
Hah! Those mortals and their miserable efforts!
Achievement received: Carrier of Divine Will!
Resistance to Divine magic: +25%.
The relationship with the subjects of the Tower of Decay has been changed. Current status: enemy.
Immediately, like the messengers of the looming retribution, blurred shadows appeared behind the dumbfounded assassins’ backs. The vampires who’d already ported to the Kingdom of the Dead had attacked the scouts while Goar had carved up the nearest wizard and Isabella had turned the other one into a pile of ashes with one sweep of her staff.
My support group was glowing with the ruby light courtesy of the blessing of the Mistress of the Crimson Moon. It took them mere seconds to polish off the unsuspecting assassins.
“Not a moment too soon!” I croaked as I collapsed onto the bloodied cobblestones. The divine presence had left me; I had stopped being a vessel of force and turned back into a simple human. I wasn’t exactly alive yet but I wasn’t completely dead, either.
In a silvery flash, Neo appeared in the middle of the road. “Uncle John!” he shouted with a tearful voice, “You promised to take me with you!”
Talk about bad timing.
“You’re here, aren’t you?” I gasped, trying to scramble to my feet, then turned to Isabella. “Are we gonna open a portal or are we going to the library?”
The Baron guffawed. “Stick your library up your ass!” he said. “We have more important things to do!”
Isabella frowned. “Count?”
With a sarcastic wave of his hand, the vampire leader and his two blood-sucking buddies scurried off toward the Tower of Decay.
“Scumbags!” Isabella cussed.
In the clouds of smoke enveloping the nearby crossroads, I could make out the shadows of the Spawn’s advance parties.
“Open the portal!” I told Isabella. “Goar, cover her! We’ll meet up in the library!”
Goar helped the priestess to climb over the park fence, then turned back to me. “Are you sure, John?”
“Yes, I’m sure! Go now!” I said, relieving him from his bodyguard duty.
In any case, my neutrality status didn’t apply to him. Pointless dragging him along.
Then there was Neo.
“I’m coming with you, Uncle John,” he hurried to say, meeting my stare.
“No, you’re not,” I snapped. “Help them!”
“But-”
“Quick! It’s important!”
The boy complied. He put one foot in my cupped hands and rolled over the park fence.
I stepped toward the library, then gave myself a slap on the forehead.
Neutrality! I didn’t have it now, either!
Having become a vehicle for the Dark Goddess' will, I’d turned into a mortal foe for the local inhabitants.
I very nearly called Goar for help. Still, I suppressed a bout of panic and ran along the road. Was I a rogue or just a pretty face? I was bound to come up with something.
With the portal it was different: we couldn’t do without it. The Black Trackers were the trumps up our sleeves. For the Spawn, the taking of the Tower of Decay may have been a priority — as was their vendetta with the Lights — but what if they decided to check out the library and stumbled into Isabella on their way? I couldn’t leave it completely unprotected while she was casting the ritual.
The pain in my ripped and burned back was easing much too slowly. Still, I gritted my teeth and got on with it.
I was a mere hundred and fifty feet away from the library’s porch when I heard the sound of hooves on the cobblestones behind me. I looked back and cussed. Prince Julien had caught up with me!
I had no time to take cover behind the columns — but when the Prince tried to lance me with his magic spear at full gallop, I easily dodged his attack and slashed his horse with my undulating flamberge. The blade hit the animal between its blinkers, dealing a crippling blow.
The horse rolled to the ground. Prince Julien, however, landed on his feet and immediately went for me, holding his deadly spear in front of him.
Haste!
I took off like greased lightning — but the Prince had second-guessed my maneuver and managed to parry my attack with a flourish of his spearhead.
Leap!
I miniported behind his back and swung round, intending to immobilize him by slicing through his poleyn and run away. The next moment I found myself impaled on his spear which went easily through both my cuirass and chainmail, exiting between my shoulder blades.
Julien hadn’t bothered to swing round, he’d just pierced me with an underarm lunge.
He'd hit me all
right, only I hadn’t received any damage. My flesh had crumbled to dust under the touch of his deadly cold steel but that hadn’t been the magic of his weapon: it had been my own defense spell!
Ashes!
The Prince was let down by his desire to dramatize everything. Before turning to his slain opponent, he took a theatrical pause. And this brief moment was enough for me to take a swing and lash out at him with my flamberge.
Powerful Blow! Accurate blow!
My undulating blade pierced his armor just below the knee. Julien lost his footing and waved his arms. As he did so, he forced the spearhead out of my chest.
Not bothering to finish off my crippled opponent, I turned round and legged it. I heard heavy footsteps behind my back, the sounds of swearing and the squeaking of his limping armored leg.
On impulse, I ducked aside. The spear Julien had thrown clattered harmlessly on the cobblestones.
Hah! He should’ve known better!
I reached the porch and darted up the marble staircase.
Immediately I rolled back down when the paladin in reddish orange armor stepped toward me from behind the nearest column.
Unhurriedly Barth Firefist began walking down the footworn stairs. The fiery mace swung casually in his hands. My sworn enemy had somehow managed to enter the city with the first wave of the Light army.
He laughed. “I thought I’d find you here!”
“What about the scroll?” I asked mechanically.
The scorched remains of the library guards lay amid the columns. He may have killed them but he hadn’t had the time to break the tall powerful metallic doors. Battered and deformed, they completely blocked the entrance to the library.
Prince Julien came limping.
“Your Highness,” I said matter-of-factly, “allow me to introduce to you my good old friend Barth. He’s been in the game since the alpha tests. He’s in the Top 100!”
The prince drew his two-handed sword from behind his back. Barth — or should I say Garth? — tramped down the stairs, swinging his mace.
My opponents were too strong. I put my faith into my high Agility, well-developed Dodge and the universal knowledge which my charmed flamberge had bestowed on me.
Haste!
I invested the last drops of my magic energy into Acceleration. Then I darted toward Barth and ducked under a torrent of fire pretending I was about to pierce his head with the flamberge. I stopped in mid-swing and jerked the sword back before he could entangle the blade in the chain of his mace and rip it out of my hand.
I spun round, parrying his swing. His powerful blow had very nearly wrenched the hilt out of my hands, throwing the flamberge behind my back. I was forced to dodge the next attack. His dark sword brushed my pauldron and slid off it without piercing it.
The momentum span me around. I dropped to my knees, dodging a fireball over my head. Barth had missed too, his fiery mace hitting the hesitant Prince in the chest.
The blow threw Julien back a couple of steps. Before he could restore his equilibrium and rejoin the fight, I’d already rolled to the side, leaving my opponents to face each other.
The Prince didn’t disappoint. He rushed to attack and gave Barth an almighty whack on the helmet. Barth replied with his mace.
Then all hell broke loose.
The paladin was more than twenty levels above the knight. Still, their combat skills gave both fighters a considerable advantage in hand-to-hand. The fight was more or less even, so neither of them could afford to chase after me. Barth was too busy beating the Prince off with his fiery mace while Julien replied with powerful swings of his two-handed sword.
Fire! Sparks! Blood!
Should I interfere and take one of their sides? Yeah right. A squad of the Spawn of Darkness was already hurrying from the avenue toward the library. I had no time to lose.
The library’s central entrance looked blocked, so I decided not to waste my time looking for a back door. I heard the sound of an explosion, followed by cheers and catcalls as Black Trackers started pouring over the park’s fence to pick a fight with the Spawn’s looters.
I shrank my head into my shoulders and hurried on along the gloomy library building. Just as I turned a corner, I heard Neo’s voice,
“Uncle John, wait! I’m coming with you!”
The boy scampered over the fence and darted after me. I hadn’t even slowed down. As I ran, I swung the back door open, then promptly rolled over the floor to avoid a blow from a black longsword.
Half a dozen bone golems in mithril armor were guarding a round hall with a spiral staircase. They all came for me like a pack of wolves. There was no way I could make it to the staircase.
I parried a blow aimed at my head, stepped into a corner and began blocking the guards’ attacks in short well-calculated blows. They could only attack me in twos, with all the others just milling around, but fending off even two mechanical swordsmen was a struggle. They simply didn’t notice their wounds nor did they retreat.
With a lucky blow, I lopped one’s arm off and kicked another one in the chest, brushing him off, but another one immediately took his place. I didn’t panic; I knew it was quite possible to give them a good hammering but time was literally slipping through my fingers. There was precious little of it left.
From the doorway, a silvery flash suddenly blinded me, its Light magic sending the golems flying. Their bones crumbled to dust; their metallic sinews snapped; the guards froze on the floor littered with loose cogs and springs.
I too had been thrown against the wall. My ears rang but at least this time I’d received no burns. Either Neo had mastered his power or it was the effect of the resistance to divine magic I’d received.
“Uncle John!” the boy shouted. “I’ll clear a way for you!”
“Get back!” I snapped as I leapt toward him and yanked him off the staircase.
“I can help you!” he protested.
“After me!” I growled and led the way.
Crossbows snapped. I dodged two of the bolts quite easily and parried the third one with my sword, then ran up to the landing and cleft the head of the nearest crossbowman in two with my frosted sword. I swung round, releasing the blade, slashed the one next to him, then knocked the last one down with my pauldron and finished him off, pinning him to the floor.
Once again Neo tried to get in front of me, and again I shouted at him, “Get back!”
Swordsmen were already rushing toward us from the top floor. I met them with a well-practiced combo. My flamberge sliced through the air, performing a Scythe of Death and knocking down the undead guards. With a powerful swing I hacked through the remaining survivor's helmeted head. I only lost concentration for one moment as I pulled the sword out — but Neo had already lost his patience and darted up the stairs without waiting for me.
He didn’t even stop at the next two floors which were lined with rows of bookcases. I wasn’t so lucky: two Disciples of Death had emerged from behind the bookcases. I threw one of them down, hauling him over the banister, and hacked the other one with my Soul Killer. The bone hook left a long scorch wound in his flesh, putting the dead sorcerer to rest for good.
Their spells couldn’t harm me due to my immunity to death magic. You can say what you want but immunity is much more reliable than neutrality!
Taking several steps at a time, I bounded after Neo who’d already reached the end of the stairs and popped into the scroll repository.
A pedestal towered at its center, holding a precious box of blackened silver. A figure wrapped in darkness blocked the way to it.
Unhesitantly Neo hurled a wave of silver light at the enemy. The flash ripped through the darkness, tearing it apart and dissipating it.
The darkness was gone — but the demonic golem wasn’t. Spooky and impossibly tall, he was clad in black steel from head to toe so you couldn’t even tell his armor from his flesh.
His shoulders and back were studded with long metallic spikes; his steel tendons creaked as he moved; h
is alchemic heart was beating steadily within its wrought-iron casing. There wasn’t a single opening in his closed helmet which traced the outlines of the infernal creature’s gruesome head.
Still, he wasn’t blind, either: his two-handed saber moved quickly and meticulously. Only at the very last moment did I manage to raise my flamberge to block his attempt at beheading the flabbergasted boy.
“Step aside!” I shoved Neo out of the way and lashed out at the mechanical demon’s hip. He shrank back with unexpected agility, then went on the attack, furiously whirling his saber.
My lightning reflexes allowed me to parry the blows aimed at my head; then I slid aside, took cover behind a column and stealthed up. I had no intention of leaving the boy for the golem to rip apart, so I promptly stepped into the fray and showered the enemy with a series of powerful blows.
Take that! And again!
A couple of seconds of invisibility allowed me to rain blows down on him completely unchallenged, but even though I’d managed to pierce his armor, it had also absorbed the lion’s share of the incoming damage. On top of it, the demon began swinging his terrible saber, shielding himself from me with its steel whirlwind. I was forced to try different approaches, thus losing myself precious time.
I kept hacking at the knight’s armor, striking sparks off it, but I still couldn’t strip him of more than 25% Health. He wasn’t even staggering.
Finally, the shadows concealing me from the enemy had dispersed. I invested all my strength in a last decisive blow. I took a furious swing, intending to strike at his steel poleyn but lowered the sword at the last moment and whacked him on his foot instead.
Accurate Blow!
My Executioner’s skills allowed me to drive the blade into a joint in his armor, right between his greaves and his steel boot — in fact, so hard that I couldn’t even pull the flamberge out straight away.
