War Aeternus: The Beginning

by Charles Dean

  Huh? “Is he not here? Is he further in the mines?” Lee asked, looking around. Wait, where is that little bugger? Ethan. Lee reached out with his mind to see where his little mouse golem was only to discover that the mouse was still outside, perched atop the roof of the building looking around. He had missed the commotion entirely as his eyes searched for any sign of an incoming potential threat.

  Ethan, do you see any life from the direction of the mines? Lee asked his mouse, but the little creature only shook its head.

  “He’s with the bad ones. He went with them so they wouldn’t hurt me more. Please, get him back,” the girl pleaded. “He’s the only family I have left.”

  “What bad ones? Where?” Lee asked, still using Ethan to try and find a clue about what she was talking about.

  “She means the other Herald, your holiness,” a tall, dark-haired woman stepped out from the crowd of former slaves. “They beat her until he went with them, saying he’d convert.”

  Another Herald? Lee frowned. So that means there is another actual child of a god here. “If he went with them after converting, why were you all left here?”

  “Because the Herald needed weapons for his army,” the woman answered.

  “Yeah, those bastards were stealing townsfolk and making us either convert to their stupid god or mine all day long until we converted. That shaft leads down toward a ruby mine, where they’d have us dig out gems and then they’d sell them for gear, equipment, rations and whatever else the Herald needed,” the beer-gutted man answered.

  That’s at least better than the outcome I had imagined they were suffering. Lee tried to imagine an upside as he glanced toward the door. “Then do you know where they took the others?”

  “No, but they kept maps, and detailed ones at that. Every soldier was required to keep them near his bunk. I know because I stole one once trying to find out where we were, hoping to use that knowledge to escape in case one of them guards ever stopped paying attention,” the man said, and his eyes darted to the ground. “You can probably find plenty in the packs at either of the quarters, not that anyone will ever go to the mine again, though.”

  “Why won’t anyone go back in the mine?” Lee asked, confident that, after the blazing inferno Miller and Lee had descended upon the one next to this building, it was unlikely that a cloth or paper map would survive.

  “Well, some of the soldiers were using the quarters at the bottom of the shaft . . . until . . . While expanding a shaft near the quarters, we connected the shaft to a monster’s lair. Everyone abandoned that area, but some of the guards died running, and no one went back for their supplies,” the man explained.

  Are you kidding me?! Monsters? Ones capable of scaring off an army that had at least forty soldiers plus however many guards and people that died down there? “Fine, I’ll do it,” he spoke before he could even finish coming up with a list of reasons it was a dumb idea. “If that’s where the map to this Herald is, the map to where your father is, I’ll go find it.”

  “Can we please do it in the morning, boss?” Miller looked over at Lee sympathetically. “I killed a lot of people, and I need to go offer praise to your father at the tavern.”

  “But what do you think the enemy will do when they see us all coming down to the town, their former captives now freed and talking with us?” Lee shot Miller’s idea down right away. It’s not that he didn’t want to have a cold beer and relax after all the pain. He just knew that time was not their friend at the moment.

  “But—”

  Lee wouldn’t even let him finish his sentence. “But nothing. If we go down right now, we’ll announce to the other Herald that we know his plan. We know where he is. We have freed his slaves and killed his army. So, for this, I must apologize.” Lee bowed his head toward the crowd of people he saved. “I need you all to stay here too.”

  The round-bellied man’s surprise was written across his face. “Wait, you’re not seriously going down into the mine, into the monster cavern by yourself, are you?”

  The girl whose dad was missing seemed to immediately regret her request.

  “Yeah, no. Just forget I asked.”

  “Didn’t I just teach you all? Death in the service of Augustus is not something to fear. Since your dad can only be rescued if we find the Herald, and the fastest way to find the Herald is a map down in those tunnels, then we’ll just have to go down there,” Lee stated as if it were a simple matter of fact.

  “You’re insane, you know that?” Miller, the last person who should have ever accused anyone of being crazy, said to him.

  “You can’t leave until—” Ling protested, but she was cut off.

  “Then just come with us.” Lee didn’t try to throw her off this time. Her arrows had saved his life, and he wouldn’t underestimate whatever potential enemies could kill them down below. There was still a part of his brain that kept saying, Don’t bring the girl. You’re going to get her killed, but at the end of the day, something about his whole life or death experience just moments ago—or three days ago depending on what timeline was being used—had given him a strange sense of calm.

  “Okay, but you better not do anything stupid that will get either of us killed.”

  Some part of him was still angry, but there was a deeper, truer part of him that felt almost vindicated by nearly dying—as if reaching the end of the road and almost embracing his final sleep had made the game so real that it became addicting in its own right. Is this what adrenaline junkies feel? No, it was too peaceful. I felt like I was going to sleep, not being thrown off a thirty-foot building. It wasn’t a heart-racing, splat-potential ending I avoided. It was just . . . an endless rest. It’s not the same. No, this was different, and as much as he wanted to put his finger on the feeling, he didn’t. He wanted to just carry on, truly treating the game world like what it was for the first time: a game. One I plan to win, he thought to himself and grinned. Too bad Wolfe isn’t here to get our guild a bunch of angry dwarven women again, he chuckled, causing the others to look at him strangely.

  “He really just dazes off a lot, doesn’t he?” Miller said to Ling.

  “You have no idea how weird it was during training,” she nodded.

  “Also, there is no point in asking him not to do anything stupid. He’s always trying to go about fights in a silly, roundabout fashion, trying to sneak up on people and trying to avoid confrontation. He just does things in the most tedious, boring, and stupid manner sometimes,” Miller whispered to Ling, though loudly enough for Lee to overhear it.

  “I’m going too,” the beer-bellied man said as he pulled some boots over his feet. “You can’t navigate those tunnels without me, so don’t even try to argue. I’ll take you right to where the quarters are, and I’ll make sure you get that map to the Herald.”

  “Well, in that case, what’s your name?” Lee asked, walking over to the man and sticking his hand out for an introduction.

  “David.” The man took Lee’s hand in a shake. “Pleasure to meet you, holiness.”

  Holiness? Oh, God, that’s going to get annoying to hear. “Just call me Lee, please,” he insisted.

  “That would just be too dang rude of me. I can’t go around calling the very child of our god by his first name like some sort of chump.” David shook his head at the idea. “Herald, Holiness, One of Fire and Rebirth, just . . . something right and proper for your title. Something that won’t make me feel like I’m doing you some sort of gross disservice.”

  “Please do just stick with Lee though,” Lee insisted further. “Everyone, please stick with just calling me Lee.” He pushed further, already having conceded to the weird instant cult formation. Well, if I didn’t have any technology or schools to make me a skeptic, and I saw someone come back to life right in front of me . . . yeah, I might be in a cult too, he thought, not judging them at all for this behavior.

  “Right, L-Lee.” David tripped a bit over the word at first. “Do you want to head out right now? Or do you need a few mi
nutes to . . . uhh . . . finish healing?”

  Lee looked down at his wound, then over to Miller and Ling who both seemed to be just watching him while trying to figure out what to do themselves. Ethan, how ‘bout you? You want to head out right now, or do you need a minute?

  Ethan stood on his two back legs and threw a few shadow punches in his own little ‘bring ‘em on!’ way. That settles it, I guess. “Let’s just go now.”

  Chapter 8

  Name: Lee

  Race: Human

  Class: Herald - None

  Level: 9

  Health: 190/190

  EXP: 868/2000

  Primary Stats:

  Power 19

  Toughness 19

  Spirit 19

  Secondary Stats:

  Charisma 5

  Courage 20

  Deceit 2

  Intelligence

  Honor 1

  Faith 26

  Personal Faith 21

  Skills:

  Unarmed Combat: Initiate Level 2

  Swordplay: Initiate Level 3

  Sneak: Initiate Level 3

  Cooking: Initiate Level 1

  Divine Skills:

  Golem Sculpting: Initiate Level 5

  Appreciative Drunk: Initiate Level 2

  David was very clear about using the term ‘for freaking ever’ to describe how long he had worked in the mine and as an explanation as for why he didn’t seem to mind the low level of light. He had insisted that the two weak torches they had brought from the supply shed would be sufficient, but Lee was having his doubts now.

  “If you need help, you can always follow your new divinity,” David taunted. “He seems to have taken to the dark like a fish to water.”

  “Yeah . . .” Ling looked over at Lee. “He has.”

  “It’s only that, as a god rebirthed in flame, his internal light burns strongly enough to see through any darkness!” Miller declared as he shifted from walking next to Lee to walking behind him.

  Ethan squeaked unhappily as he usually did whenever someone else stole the credit for his work. Lee had been using the rodent’s superior vision to help navigate through the dark since they first entered the mine, and now that Miller was attributing god-like powers of perception to Lee, the small mouse was agitated for not being given credit. Sensing his irritation through their shared bond, Lee silently pleaded for Ethan to calm down. All he received in response, however, was a feeling that seemed to suggest Lee was stealing credit for all of the golem’s hard work. He knew the little rodent wanted him to correct them, but he couldn’t do that without giving away his secret.

  Lee decided to acquiesce to the rat’s demands. “Ah, it’s not me. I’ve got no special walk-in-darkness powers,” he said.

  “Lee?” Ling asked, her voice no longer coming from his side either but rather from right behind him where Miller had been seconds before.

  “Huh? What is it?” Lee asked without turning around. For the moment, he was focused on his footing and trying to navigate the awkward wooden planks that had been laid down for the mine track. It was fairly easy with the assistance of Ethan’s added vision, but he had come close to tripping a few times already, and the last thing he wanted was to have to take a face-first dive into the tracks because he had stubbed his toe when he wasn’t paying attention.

  “If it’s not you, then how do you know where you’re going?” Ling asked.

  “Yeah . . . how do you?” David asked as well. “I’ve spent so many back-breaking hours down here that I practically have it memorized at this point, but how do you know where you’re going?”

  “I mean, it’s a straight shot,” Lee answered honestly.

  Miller brushed off their queries as if they were children annoying a father before Lee could answer. “He’s the Herald, the son of a god. That’s how. Stop asking stupid questions.”

  “What’s there to be confused a—” Lee paused before he could finish the word as he turned around to face them and realized exactly what they were asking and why.

  “You’re not in range of the torchlight,” Ling stated, iterating what he had just realized.

  “I see.” Lee unconsciously looked over to Ethan. Well, what now, little guy? I tried to deny any power, but how do I explain walking over tracks and rocks without an issue in an effectively pitch-black setting?

  “Well, you see . . .” Lee trailed off as he struggled to come up with a good excuse for a power he might have that would let him see and navigate through the dark.

  “See what? Son of a god, touched of fire and capable of coming back from the dead, and you guys are questioning and pestering him over a small issue like how he can walk through a dimly lit tunnel without tripping? How dare you claim to be believers!” Miller slammed his spear into the ground, prompting the group to march forward again.

  “Yet his gifts apparently don’t protect him from being interrupted by his party member.” David gave a half-cocked grin as he pointed out Miller’s rudeness.

  “Interrupted? Nonsense! I’m just helping him by speaking for him so he doesn’t have to waste words on less important things. He needs that godly intelligence and divine brain of his to plan out how we’re going to kill monsters, murder pagans and infidels, or—”

  “I don’t think I ever mentioned wanting to murder pagans or infidels.” Lee was very seriously starting to worry about the direction his bloodthirsty companion might take their religion.

  “It’s fine. If you just want to come up with the plans for it, then I, as the trusty Paladin of your order, will be more than happy to take care of all the work for you.” Miller slammed the fist carrying his spear to his chest as if he were giving a sort of salute. “You’ve done nothing but lead me to more and more beautiful battles where I can kill evildoers since we met. I have faith that you’ll steer me right.”

  Doesn’t that make it sound like we’re the evildoers? Lee was not happy with Miller’s wording, even if he technically was talking about making the world a better place. Wait a minute. “Paladin? I thought you were training to be a knight?”

  “Oh, I was. But, after that last fight and declaring that I’d serve you, I was given the option to promote directly to the rank of Paladin even though I’m not even level ten yet. Now, I’m officially Miller, First Paladin of the Order of Lee! So, ha!” Miller proclaimed triumphantly. “First Paladin of an order!

  “If you’re the first Paladin, is there a second Paladin?” David asked.

  “There might be. Are you applying? You wanna join the Order of Lee?” Miller leaned over. “I can teach you how to use a spear, and we can stab people and burn people and drink beer in the name of our gods.”

  “Gods?” Ling asked. “I thought the only god you had faith in was Augustus?”

  Miller shook his head. “Well, if Lee is the son of a god, makes sense that he is a god too, right? It’s not like two humans get together and pop out a wolf, is it? So, if gods get together, then clearly, their child is a god too, right?”

  Well, my mother was definitely not a god, but he does make a point. Lee still wasn’t sure about how much of what Augustus told him he should actually believe.

  “What’s the pay?” David seemed earnestly curious as he scratched his beer belly. “And can you join the order if you’re married? Kinda don’t think Henslee would approve if I left her to go around waving my spear with a bloke.”

  Such a resilient belly. Everyone else was starving and gaunt, but he managed to come out with a perfectly-intact gut, Lee thought, admiring the man’s fat’s constitution It might not be an admired trait in Lee’s world, but being able to not turn into a skeleton and survive longer without food back in the day was a trait that would be incredibly valuable. Especially for circumstances like this.

  “Of course you can, and the pay is whatever we get from killing people that do evil. Typically, evil people are rich, so it pays well,” Miller laughed. “Also, check this out!” Miller stomped his foot so hard that Lee expected the cave to shake a
nd shouted at the same time, and a circular nova exploded out of Miller.

  Lee instantly felt tipsy when the wave hit him. To be more precise, he felt plastered. He felt like he had been out bar hopping with a group of friends all night long. He took a wobbly step forward, and even his thus-far sure footing was compromised as the cave spun beneath him.

  You have been struck by Shout of the Drunk God. You are currently inebriated. This effect will remain for 10 seconds.

  Due to consistently being drunk, Appreciative Drunk has been promoted to Initiate Level 3.

  As a result of your Initiate Level 3 Appreciative Drunk skill, stat adjustment has been reduced. Your inebriation penalty has been changed from -50% Intelligence, -30% Coordination, -30% Reflex, to -46% Intelligence, -26% Coordination, -26% Reflex. You also have received an additional +3 to Courage and +2 to Charisma from Appreciative Drunk until your inebriation fades.

  Due to improving Appreciative Drunk, you have received +1 Intelligence. Current Intelligence: 31.

  Unarmed Combat has been changed to Drunk Fu.

  Swordplay has been changed to Tipsy Blade.

  Sneak has been changed to No Squeaky Floorboards, Please.

  Lee was able to handle the rapid conversion from stone sober to very inebriated somewhat well thanks to his skill Appreciative Drunk, but Ling and David both fell over as they lost the fight to maintain their balance.

  “Dang! That was strong.” David was the first to break the silence that followed while the effects of Miller’s attack faded. “That felt like I just went from zero to ten shots of Ramon’s best in half a second and then back to head-dunked-in-cold-water-after-being-passed-out-for-two-days sober. If you could just get that effect to last a whole night, I’d save a ton on beer.” He finished his thought with a laugh.