Clans War

by Mahanenko, Vasily

  “This is why the Hymn of Shadow shouldn’t affect the Free Citizens,” said Geranika’s sad voice. “The power, the strength and the desire to become mighty and deadly all comes with an Achilles Heel — for some reason when the Shadows come into contact they begin to destroy each other. Lorelei, you must flesh out your song — Free Citizens should not be subject to the Hymn’s power.”

  “It’d be nice to know what I’m supposed to do with this too,” Lori muttered quietly as Plinto’s whimpering sigh filled the library:

  “I’ll be gobsmacked!” The Rogue had really taken a hefty blow: His eyes were wide-open, their pupils immense, clearly indicating that I had been lucky that my sensory filter was still all the way up. The only thing I had felt were vibrations and emotions. Plinto, it seemed, had felt much more.

  “Don’t you play with the Heralds of the Horn band?” he went on, rubbing his temples wearily. “After that…Yes, it’s hard to recognize you…Damn! That was pretty cool! Like that one time in the cave with the ‘Sounds of Barliona.’”

  “What sounds?” Lori inquired, peeking out from the shield of the spirit escorting her.

  “I’ll dig up the recording and send it to you. I won’t leave you alone now, my little cabbage. I’ll bring you some fans too. My wife won’t forgive me if I don’t tell her that I met none other than Kiera White herself!”

  Still struggling to come back to his senses, Plinto took on his Vampire’s battle form — two enormous, black wings unfurled themselves behind his back, his eyes turned red like an aggroing mob, and auras of fear and panic appeared around him. To complete the transformation, sharp fangs extended from his upper lip. There aren’t many players who could calmly look on this extravagant Rogue, and Lori backpedaled instinctively, instantly butted up against Eid, and cursed loudly.

  “Keep in mind, bloodsucker, that besides cabbage my ancestry includes garlic too…” she warned just in case, without hurrying to step out from behind Eid who was covering her.

  “Heh! I’ll keep that in mind! Mahan, transform into a Dragon. You’ll feel better,” Plinto said, turning back into his human form and stretching his neck. “You should be aware, madam, that I don’t eat ladies. Not for dinner, in any case. Better tell me, what’s the next song? We play your masterpiece about the Fifth Horseman all day along in our house. I never imagined that I’d like a rock ballad, but you really are something. Can I get your autograph?”

  “You should have seen yourself a minute ago,” Lorelei still looked a little taken aback and uncertain, but she risked stepping out from behind Eid. “Who could say no to someone as scary as you? Anyone who dared would probably find themselves in the Gray Lands in the blink of an eye. As for new songs — you’ll hear them at the Battle of the Bards. We almost have a new album ready. We were thinking of using the clan competitions to do some marketing for it. But then this tournament popped up and I guess we’ll have to play some of the new songs at it.”

  “You lot are getting too distracted,” Geranika intervened. “There’s a tournament ahead of you and you need to get down to business. If you’ve settled the matter of Lorelei’s powers, you should leave her so she can work.”

  “Easy for you to say — work!” Lori grumbled quietly, sitting down in the surviving chair. The armored ghost immediately took up his customary position on her left shoulder. The Bard inhaled deeply, exhaled and looked up at Geranika with her strange eyes. “You can’t simply up and write a song about a person you know nothing about, aside from some contradictory myths. And this library has neither a catalog nor an index nor some alphabetical organization system. The little I’ve managed to glean about Karmadont over the last day won’t be enough for even half of a chorus. Once upon a time there was a great hunter who united the human tribe into a single empire. And that’s it. No details. I can’t work like this. I can’t even pin down a contemporary of his to speak to. I could summon its soul and find out at least something about Karmadont that way. He may be the most famous historical figure in the Barliona lore, but there’s absolutely zero info about him.”

  Karmadont?!

  “What do you need Karmadont for?” I asked carefully. Maybe Plinto is right and I should turn into a Dragon to release this pressure that’s throbbing all through me. I wonder what’ll happen — will I become a Dragon of Shadow? Or simply a normal Dragon that seeps fog?

  “You’re right to point out that I’m not the first to use Shadows. Karmadont used them a long time before me, so I wish to summon his Spirit and ask him how he learned to do it. The Bard must find or compose a song that will summon this creature.”

  “That’s a little more accurate,” I became so interested that I even calmed down a little. “What do you mean by summon a Spirit?”

  Lorelei sighed and told me an entertaining tale about another ability of the Bard, which was not directly tied with her combat abilities: The ability to summon the Spirits of dead creatures. The important thing here was to show the system that you’re summoning a specific individual and for that you needed information about them. The more you specified the dead individual, the higher the probability of summoning the soul you needed. The Bard had another, more complicated way to do this by personally traveling to the Gray Lands, but even there she would need detailed information about the soul she wanted to summon.

  “Mahan, don’t you think that it makes sense to share some information with her? ” Plinto wrote in the clan chat. The Rogue looked at me inquisitively, but didn’t say anything out loud, allowing me to make the decision on my own.

  “There’s too little information about Karmadont in the books,” I agreed with Plinto. “I tried to find some mention of him in the Anhurs library, among the jewelers, I even asked the Emperor if I’m not mistaken. But what’s out there, in public sources, doesn’t really correspond to who Karmadont was in real life. I don’t know if it’ll help you compose your song, but listen to this. Here is what really happened with Karmadont, the first human Emperor…”

  I told Lori everything I knew — how the Hunter started out, who he was, who he became, what he created and what he eventually did. I’ll be the first to admit that the story that ensued wasn’t the nicest, but it was the most complete and accurate story of the ones that currently existed.

  Lorelei stayed quiet for a while, considering what she had heard.

  “Again with those overgrown spiders,” she muttered to herself. “I suppose I might manage summoning this soul out in the Gray Lands. There’s already one song that seems relevant, and there’s even a specialist on the Tarantulas and their followers. If I don’t find Karmadont, I’ll find one of his fellows.”

  “You know something about the Tarantulas?” I asked surprised. “Will you share?”

  “I can even sing a song to you about them,” she promised, “but first let me do what I promised Geranika.”

  “In that case,” Geranika decided, “Plinto — there’s no limitation on killing another Free Citizen in my Empire. So, if you would be so kind, please take care of this fine lady. Kill her.”

  Chapter Ten. The Chess Set of Karmadont

  I was sitting alone at a recently-repaired table in the Armard library, trying to understand something from what I was reading. The book was interesting and it had pictures. The letters were all familiar to me. The words that the letters composed were also well-known to me. Even the sentences carried their meaning, and yet the idea in the text kept evading me. The sentences I read didn’t linger in my mind for longer than a second. Each new sentence was completely new and entirely unrelated to what had come before. It was unique and trying to escape my mind like the dozens or even hundreds that had come before it.

  Reading was the last thing I wanted to be doing — the Shadow Hymn required immediate action and emotional expression.

  As soon as Plinto had sent Lori to the Gray Lands, Geranika spirited him away to training, promising to show him something that would even surprise the world-weary Rogue. Plinto could not refuse an offer like that. B
efore leaving me, he repeated his suggestion that I turn into a Dragon to dispel the buff I’d been saddled with, but I was overfilled — I needed to transfer the effects of the Hymn on my own! Without resorting to any damn Dragons!

  Tossing the book aside, I sighed deeply and paced the room, barely keeping myself from breaking into a run. I wanted to do everything at once — jump, fly, jog, swim. No! This wouldn’t do! If I can’t occupy my mind, I’ll break down! Where’s my design mode?!

  Tossing aside the ‘illuminated’ version of my crafting interface, which kept dutifully appearing by default, I sighed with relief — the effects of the Shadow Hymn in design mode were noticeably weaker. My eyes began to wander along the virtual shelves. No, it really is easier to be here! I don’t even want to…

  The Orc Warriors from the Karmadont Chess Set drew my attention. Powerful, regal, indefatigable — the eight figurines represented Unique items which no one would manage to recreate in Barliona ever again. Even me. Orcs, Dwarves, Ogres, Giants, Lait, the Lizards. Six types of pieces I’d crafted facing six more that had not yet been crafted: the War horses, the Trolls, the Elves, the Orc Shaman, the Archmage, the Leader of the White Wolves clan. Although no! There was also the chess board that had to be crafted. So all in all I’ve crafted less than what I haven’t crafted yet. In other words — I had barely begun to complete the mission of recreating the Chess Set.

  Should I drop everything and give up? Forget about the complete set? Admit that it would never be recreated after all?

  LIKE HELL!

  My desire to act consumed me entirely. Shall I jump and jog? Shall I fly and crawl? Not in this life! I know of more productive ways to blow off steam.

  The knights — or rather the two Amethyst War Horses. No doubt these are powerful monsters clad in armor, who had performed some great feat in the course of their difficult lives as animals of war. Perhaps they carried a king or emperor from the field of battle. And did so on their last legs. The design mode immediately began to waver, offering to show its customary video series about the knights’ history — but I forced it to regain its customary solidity through an unbelievable exertion of will. NO! Enough tales! Enough distractions! My head began to heat up and I got the distinct impression that blood (non-existent in Barliona) was trickling from my nose, but I refused to surrender. I saw the projections of two massive horses rearing on their hind legs and thereby using their chests to shield the riders on their backs…a goblin and a Biota. Hmm…an odd combination for Malabar. Design mode wavered again, again offering me the chance to watch this story, but I shook my head, dispelling the offer. NO!

  The Emerald Troll Archers. What might they be like? Grand and mighty? Like hell! They’re Trolls after all! No doubt they’re two loners who like to lie in ambush and await the moments when no one expects them! Or expects them, but from the wrong direction. They’re Trolls. Sarcastic, wry, smirking with long recurved bows and black arrows. Why black, I have no idea. More vivid that way. I’m not sure why but at this point, the name ‘Edka’ popped into my head. Odd, as far as I recall it, it was that of a Shaman…But okay! I hereby name one of the trolls Edka and the other…The system came to my aid here as through the confines of the ‘wavering’ design mode, I heard: “Enough, Tany! You’ve already won! Tany! Stop!” I made another effort, the taste of salt appearing in my mouth, but design mode against regained its solidity. I don’t want to watch ‘cartoons!’ The other troll will be Tany then. Why not? Should there only be men on the board? Women, especially troll women, were a terrifying power. Just look at Stacey. And two, sharp-eared and hunching trolls appeared beside the rearing war horses. Excellent, moving on.

  The Aquamarine Elf Archers. I know! It didn’t matter to me who the devs had in mind for the elves. I already had my own image of an archer in my mind. Once upon a time, I had the pleasure of watching the film version of J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings . It featured a very vivid character who was very unlucky with the ladies and who never ran out of arrows. At all! Whatever he did and whoever he shot — his quiver remained full of elven arrows. Legolas. A solitary ranger played by…played by…erm…I forgot the fellow’s name. But it doesn’t matter! The important thing is I remember what he looked like, so it’s utterly clear to me what I need to do with the elves. The system again recommended I watch the video, this time less insistently than the previous two times, but I only shook my head. No! Placing two similar looking, but slightly differing in details Legolases beside the horses and the trolls, I moved on to the next piece.

  The Orc Shaman of Peridot. I barely considered who would have the right to represent this figure on the chessboard when a bright light bulb went off over my head — Prontho! He meets all the necessary requirements and then some! He’s a Shaman. He’s an Orc. He’s as hard-headed as a stone. And for the Shamans of Barliona he performs the same role as the queen on the chessboard! Who cares that there was no thought of him at the time of Karmadont — I’ll adjust the lore of this world to my own ends! The system accepted its fate and didn’t even bother prompting me to watch the video. Its feelings were hurt and it took a seat off to the side, muttering to itself unprintable words, sadly folded its arms, and allowed me to place the transparent orc beside the other projections.

  The Elemental Archmage, a Human of Sapphire. Here too I had no possible alternatives. Feeris! The Human who had found Lait. The Mage that Karmadont betrayed. A Phantom whom I had consigned not even to death so much as eternal service in the strange Death Knight’s staff. I suppose using his image for the chessboard will be a worthy continuation of his service to Malabar. Not only in life, but in death too!

  The Leader of the White Wolf Clans. An Orc of Green Diamond. Here I had to think. Of all my Orc friends, only Prontho fit this role, but I’d already assigned him to be a Shaman. Two Pronthos on the chessboard would be too much. Shivers coursed down my spine — the hell! A very curious idea…And why the hell not? Who said that everything should be simple? First of all I needed to create the image. An ordinary person. Two legs, two arms, a torso, a head. An ordinary humanoid. A Shaman, who else? A staff, a cape, a cool-looking hat with horns. A surprised look on his face, as if he’d seen a turtle for the first time and was asking himself: “What the hell happened to this fellow?” Blond hair. Gray eyes. An inscription over his head: ‘Mahan.’ Green skin. Now let’s enlarge him. Now let’s make his forehead wider. We’ll move his lower jaw forward, and stick some fangs on it. Erm…A skirt! That’s right! I had seduced the goblins in a female habit! A skirt for the orc! We’ll paint his lips. And underline his eyes. Damn! The main detail — a bone in his nose! And a flower in his hair! No, I suppose I should erase the Mahan label. If Stacey sees this, I’ll be sleeping on the couch. And she’ll start locking her closet and make-up boxes. I guess I’ll color his hair black too. After all, the hell with it!

  The chessboard. I didn’t bother overdoing it and crafting anything farfetched. I needed an ordinary, standard chessboard that fit all the proper dimensions and met all the requirements. Sixty-four black and white squares. Glinting letters and digits. A special space for pieces that had been taken. It doesn’t seem fair to me to remove the pieces from the board at all. They have to be together. I spent a long time considering whether I should make the board as a case that could store the pieces. But I decided that that would be too banal and ordinary. Everyone does that. Instead, I adjusted and expanded the area for the taken pieces. Green ones on one side, blue ones on the other. Nooks appeared on either side of the board, shaped to contain each piece. Even another piece of the same type — say an orc warrior — wouldn’t fit into a nook that wasn’t its own. They were custom tailored. Like graves.

  The most important thing remained. The projections took up their places before my eyes, but they were still not alive. They had no animating force. No energy. No thought. No emotion. They had nothing but one thing — they had me. Their creator. The being that only wanted one thing — to pour the energy that overfilled him into the worl
d around him. Plinto had suggested I turn into a Dragon to take off the pressure. At the risk of repeating myself — hah! A hundred times hah!

  I recalled Lori. I recalled the song she had performed. I recalled the emotions that had filled me from head to toe like an enormous wave. I recalled my desire to act, to fly, to run, to swim and jump. I recalled the power. I recalled it all! I remembered it and passed it to the projections, breathing a piece of myself into each one. For a moment there were so many of me that my head began to spin. I was myself. I was the pieces. I was the chessboard. I was…What am I talking about, ‘was?’ I am!

  “That was a good library,” Geranika’s irritated voice pierced the blinding light. “With very rare books. Unique you could say. Mahan, you’re costing me a fortune! When am I going to get any use out of you?”

  Congratulations! You have recreated the Legendary Chess Set of Emperor Karmadont, the founder of the Malabar Empire…

  Bonuses received:

  Malachite Orc Warriors

  +1% HP, MP and Energy regenerated per minute; +10% to Strength.

  Lapis Lazuli Dwarf Warriors

  +1% HP, MP and Energy regenerated per minute; +1 to Crafting.

  Alexandrite Battle Ogres

  +1% HP, MP and Energy regenerated per minute; +30 Attractiveness with all NPCs younger than 18.

  Tanzanite Giants

  +1% HP, MP and Energy regenerated per minute; -50% to Energy costs.

  Tourmaline Battle Lizards

  +1% HP, MP and Energy regenerated per minute; +10% to Speed on a mount.

  Amethyst War Horses

  +1% HP, MP and Energy regenerated per minute; +10% to Endurance.