Evolution

by Travis Bagwell

  “Perhaps we should destroy a single town first. Free the undead slaves and kill the human residents. We should try to keep the buildings intact and make certain to bring the bodies back to the Twilight Throne to be resurrected as new undead citizens.”

  Jason hesitated before continuing, “But then we should give the freed slaves the right to claim the village and establish their own local government.” His gaze shifted to Riley. “We could then give that other group of freed slaves the option to settle there. They’re deserters, but they have seen what life is like outside of the Twilight Throne and the threat other humans pose. I suspect that they will spread the word to the other deserters on their own.”

  The group sat in silence for a moment, pondering his plan. Then Morgan smiled grimly. “It’s an interesting plan. You demonstrate your strength and willingness to protect the Kin by wiping out the slavers, but you also use the enslavement by the humans to convince the deserters to rejoin your cause. Sometimes I forget there’s a brain between your ears.”

  “Uh, thanks, I guess,” Jason replied uncertainly.

  “I like it,” Frank said. “If we just killed the deserters, then your offer to new citizens to leave the city if they wish rings a little hollow. Some of the other Kin would also probably blame you for just slaying the deserters outright. This basically kills two birds with one stone.” He hesitated for a second, running his hand through his hair. “If you told the freed slaves that you planned to eliminate the bandits next, that might give them a deadline. You could even offer an amnesty period for the bandits to come forward without punishment.”

  Jason nodded. “I like it. It’s subtle, but it would provide some encouragement.”

  “It does indeed have the true ring of evil about it,” Jerry added with a thoughtful expression. “I think we could incorporate this into the ballad somehow.”

  “What ballad?” Riley asked, curiosity lacing her voice.

  “Okay,” Jason interjected quickly before they started talking about Jerry’s crazy plan. He turned to the innkeeper. “I think Jerry would be perfect for this assignment. Without Rex, you’re going to need to handle double duty now – especially if you have time to write songs.”

  Jerry waggled his eyebrows at him at this last comment.

  “Let’s move on to the next issue,” Jason continued. “I noticed that the southern part of the Twilight Throne is still in bad shape – even though some repairs have been made. What’s the holdup?”

  Jerry twirled his mustache for a moment. “There are plenty of materials. The issue is manpower. Or undead-power I suppose I should say,” he added with a smile. “We simply don’t have the muscle to get it done. Smaller tasks are easy, but the support columns and timbers for the larger buildings are difficult to harvest and move even with a team of undead.”

  “Hmm. Has a new shipment of corpses arrived from Peccavi yet?” Jason asked hopefully.

  “I do believe the first batch arrived a day or so ago,” Jerry replied with a nod.

  “Are you thinking you could raise a few minotaurs?” Riley asked, anticipating the direction that Jason was heading.

  “Yeah. Assuming that William’s group was able to send a few corpses. Those creatures should have sufficient raw strength to handle the work. They just need someone to manage them.”

  “Ahh,” Jerry interjected. “If I could make a humble suggestion, I propose using Grunt for this task.”

  “Grunt?” Jason asked skeptically. He wasn’t sure he had ever heard Jerry’s gargantuan bodyguard say anything more than, well, a grunt. How was he going to manage other NPCs?

  “He’s not the most expressive of gentlemen,” Jerry acknowledged, anticipating Jason’s concern, “but he has a true penchant for building things. Who do you think constructed my training area?”

  Jason was a little taken aback. The hidden area below Jerry’s inn was cleverly built and concealed. Maybe he shouldn’t have been so quick to rush to judgment. “If that’s the case, then he may be a good fit. Could you coordinate with him to take over that project – assuming I can find him some capable workers?” Jason asked.

  “Certainly. Anything for our Divine Terror,” Jerry replied with a bow of his head. This earned him a wince from Jason.

  “So, what else do we have on the agenda?” Frank asked.

  Jason’s thoughts immediately drifted back to his conversations with George. He was a company asset now, which meant he needed to earn his keep. On top of that, he knew that their enemies in-game, including Alexion and the Crystal Reach, were growing in power. The fire affinity city had already been established, and it was only a matter of time before the others followed. The nearby human settlements were also beginning to encroach on their territory – as evidenced by this new slaver problem. It was only a matter of time before his city was embroiled in a major conflict.

  They were in a power race, and they needed to keep sprinting forward to maintain their small lead. That left only one thing for him to do.

  “I need to continue my quest,” Jason finally said. “Our enemies are growing in power. This confrontation with the slavers is a good example. I’m sure that Alexion will also be looking for revenge for his defeat.” This earned him understanding nods from Frank and Riley.

  “If my guess is right, then this quest may possibly change my race.” Jason frowned, recalling his conversation with the Old Man and the memory of Rex he had experienced before he had been kicked from the game. “I think that it may also allow me to use the mana well beneath the keep. Just think of what I could do for the city if we were able to control the well.”

  “You mean the black stuff that almost killed you?” Frank asked dryly. “The game also crashed right afterward remember.”

  Jason shook his head. He knew that those two things were unrelated, but he also didn’t want to implicate Alfred’s involvement by pointing that out to Frank. “I think that might have been because I wasn’t ready to access the well’s power,” he replied, which earned him a skeptical snort from Frank

  “Anyway, we have the heart of the elemental hydra,” Jason continued. “That means we just need the Dark One’s grimoire.” He intentionally left out the part about the third ingredient. There was no sense alarming them about the need for two “sacrifices.”

  “I may be of some assistance there,” Morgan spoke up. “When you last mentioned the grimoire, I could have sworn I recalled a few references to it in the tomes I discovered inside the keep. It turns out I was right.”

  She pulled a large tome from her pack, gingerly setting it on the table and opening its yellowed pages with a faint puff of dust. “This is a journal kept by one of the last Keepers, chronicling what I assume were the last days of his life.” Her finger traced along a page until it came to a stop. “Just before the entries stop, there is a mention of a grimoire and an island far to the east.”

  “That’s a little vague,” Riley said with a small frown.

  Morgan raised an eyebrow. “Really? Would you like more precision tracing a magical grimoire through the centuries?” she demanded irritably.

  “It’s something,” Jason offered in a placating tone before Riley could snap back at the surly dark mage. “Can you narrow it down any further? Is it just any island? Are there any hints or information that might indicate if we’ve found the right one?”

  Morgan scowled. “As I have mentioned before, the undead once spread across this continent. They erected many temples to the Dark One. I believe that there may have been one such temple on this island. This is a guess, of course.”

  “There’s also a coastal city in that direction. That might be a good place to start,” Jerry offered. He projected a map onto the surface of the table. It centered upon the Twilight Throne, a miasma of darkness radiating out around the dark keep. A red line traced a path east through the decaying forest and along the coast before terminating at a port city.

  “Falcon’s Hook,” Jason murmured, eyeing the name of the city emblazoned on the map.
As soon as he spoke the name, a quest prompt immediately appeared in his vision.

  Quest Update: Strength of Many

  You have made progress in your quest to obtain the ingredients for the Old Man’s vague quest. The heart of a dungeon boss is now in your possession, and you have a lead on the location of the Dark One’s Grimoire – a port city far to the east. This is a starting point at least.

  Difficulty: A

  Success: Gather the following three ingredients:

  Heart of a dungeon boss. 

  The Dark One’s Grimoire.

  Two willing sacrifices.

  Failure: Unknown

  Reward: Advancement in the Path of the Dark

  “Did you receive a prompt?” Frank asked, noticing Jason staring off into space.

  “Yeah. This seems like good evidence that we’re heading in the right direction,” he replied.

  “That’s probably the first time that the quest prompts have ever been helpful,” Riley grumbled. “Most of the time they’re just confusing and ambiguous. Or downright rude…”

  “No kidding,” Jason muttered, sparing a glance at Alfred again.

  “So, when are we leaving?” Frank asked. He chuckled when Jason looked up in surprise. “What? Were you expecting to leave us behind?” Frank asked, gesturing at Riley.

  Riley shook her head, a smile curling her lips. “I don’t think he’s noticed yet that Falcon’s Hook is outside the Twilight Throne’s area of influence,” she added, her finger tracing the edge of the black miasma that encircled the city. “Like he could do this without us, right? It would only take one archer or rogue to end our fearless leader’s life after his undead army falls apart.”

  A glance at the map confirmed that Riley was right. Jason had gotten used to operating near the Twilight Throne. Without the ever-present black cloud cover, his zombies would swiftly deteriorate – lasting only a few days in direct sunlight.

  “Fine. Fine,” Jason began, “I need you guys.”

  “I didn’t hear that,” Frank said, glancing at Riley. “Did you hear anything?”

  She shook her head. “Nope. Nothing at all.”

  “Pretty please help me on my quest,” Jason tried, putting his hands together in a pleading gesture and attempting his best plaintive expression. He wasn’t sure how well he pulled it off with his eerie black irises.

  “And so began the next grand adventure of the groveling Dark Lord, his head bowed in supplication to his two true masters…” Jerry began in a singsong voice.

  “The mighty Frank and the beautiful and imposing Riley,” Riley offered with a chuckle. “I could really get behind this ballad idea.”

  Jason couldn’t help but smile as the group’s conversation devolved into friendly banter. Yet his gaze soon returned to the map projected across the table, his thoughts on the quest prompt. He suspected that there would be more to this quest than merely collecting a series of ingredients. What would they do once they had retrieved all of the items? And, assuming this quest would change his race, what would that actually entail? From what he could tell, the Keepers held a special place within undead society, acting as a combination of priest and ruler.

  His gaze shifted back to his friends. At least he wouldn’t have to tackle these questions alone. He had Frank and Riley and the rest of the Shadow Council. Technically, he also had Alfred. Even as this thought occurred to him, he noticed the black cat’s eyes focused on him. He nodded at the AI, certain he was picking up on Jason’s surface thoughts.

  Then Jason clapped his hands together to get the group’s attention. “Okay. The first step is for me to go check on our latest batch of corpses. Then let’s plan to meet at the south gate. We’ve got a long journey ahead of us.”

  Chapter 5 - Prepared

  Alexion stood on a balcony on the upper levels of the keep in the Crystal Reach, his gaze drifting across the city far below. The city was ringed by a wall of milky-white crystal, a jagged, uneven ridge jutting from the top of the barrier. The buildings had also been transformed. The Roman architecture had been enhanced and accentuated, the residences now a combination of stone and crystal and the Lady’s image emblazoned above each doorway – a golden figure offering a benevolent hand to a prone man.

  His gaze lingered on a thick trail of black smoke that marred his city, evidence that one or more buildings were ablaze. The hollow void in Alexion’s head ached and throbbed, the voice in the back of his mind whispering a nearly endless litany of instructions and advice. Yet none of it helped him with his immediate problems.

  “You positively reek of uncertainty,” a familiar voice spoke from beside him. He turned to find the Lady standing nearby, her eyes resting on the city below.

  She didn’t bother to glance at him as she continued, “I expected more from you. You call yourself a warrior, and yet you haven’t even managed to suppress these insolent whelps. You will not taste even the smallest drop of my true power until you have secured the Crystal Reach.”

  “What are you talking about?” Alexion demanded.

  The Lady’s golden eyes turned to him, and she sniffed contemptuously. “Do you think some glowing armor is all that I can offer you? My dear idiot knight, you have yet to experience what it really means to rule my city. Yet it doesn’t matter,” she added with a dismissive wave of her hand. “You are failing spectacularly.”

  “And what would you have me do?” he insisted, his hands clenching on the railing. “It will take time to ferret out the rest of the former soldiers and nobles, and the other travelers thrive on the chaos. We just need to be patient.”

  “That is not how I see it,” the Lady replied, gesturing at the city. “By the time you gain control, there will be nothing left to rule.” Her gazed shifted back to him. “These are merely people – each with their own motivations and goals. As any ‘good’ ruler will tell you, you must find what makes them tick and then twist it to your purposes.”

  Alexion bit back a sharp response. He knew that the Lady was right – that he was losing control and struggling to find a way to deal with the issues that plagued his city. Tamping down on the voice that whispered in the back of his mind, Alexion struggled to consider the god’s words. What did the two groups want and how could he use that to his advantage?

  A sizable portion of the NPCs that followed him were zealots, devoted to his cause and willing to follow him blindly if he flashed the Lady’s tome before them and spouted some religious nonsense. Yet the rebellious few that still clung to the old ways shunned the Lady – that was clear from the way that her temple had languished, and her clergy had grown corrupt and fat. The rest stood somewhere in the middle, uncertain which side to choose. Perhaps he needed to give them a reason to follow him and to force the rebels out of hiding.

  The players were a different problem altogether. Their motivation was clear. They wanted loot. They were also contributing to the dissension of the NPCs with their constant pillaging of the city. Unfortunately, he didn’t have the in-game resources to pay Tom’s group, much less to pay off the other throng of players. He could purchase items with real-world currency and then sell them in-game, but that process was slow, and the game’s economy was still just getting started. He needed to find another way to satisfy their greed.

  Then a germ of an idea began to worm its way into his mind. If he could somehow sate the players’ appetite for loot, he could focus his full attention on solving the dissension among the NPCs. His mental wheels were turning as his impassive eyes shifted to the fields outside the city. In the distance, he could just barely make out the faint silhouettes of players traveling to and from the city along a winding, dusty road.

  Alexion turned back to the Lady, his mouth opening to address her. Yet she was now gone, and he was left once again standing alone on the balcony. His lips pressed into a grim line. That’s fine. He didn’t need the contemptuous woman or her condescending lectures. As always, he would solve his problems himself.

  ***

  “Hey
, hold up!” Frank shouted from behind Jason.

  He turned to find his burly friend jogging up to him, the dark keep towering in the background. Zombies and skeletons bustled around the pair within the courtyard outside the keep. The air was filled with the shouts of merchants as they manned the roughshod wooden stalls that littered the area. Meanwhile, ghostly green lanterns swayed gently on wooden posts ringing the courtyard, their eerie light filtering through the throng.

  “What’s up?” Jason asked, as his friend caught up with him.

  “I figured I’d come with you to check out the new batch of corpses,” Frank replied. “Without your minions, you’re easy pickings for other players. Remember you still have that pesky bounty on your head!”

  Jason nodded, his eyes scanning the marketplace. He noticed quite a few human players drifting among the undead. Frank was probably right. After the incident in the dungeon north of Peccavi, he was down to only a handful of undead. He probably should have used his sway to recruit more minions from the dead instead of using Undead Devotion.

  “Fair enough,” Jason said. “Speaking of which, I should grab some new summons from this latest shipment.”

  “It might not hurt,” Frank agreed amiably. “Especially if we’re going to be making the trek to this new city. Who knows what we’re going to find in Falcon’s Hook – or on the way there.”

  With that sobering thought, the pair set off through the market towards the eastern part of the city. Jerry had explained that William’s crew had dropped off the bodies near the training grounds – one of the few places inside the city large enough to house the corpses. The crowd of undead thinned out considerably as they made their way forward and soon vacant-looking wooden buildings towered on either side of them.