Executioner- Reign of Blood

by Edwin McRae

  They would still need reinforcements even to achieve that much, but Karina was confident she could manage with the materials at hand. She took the silver flask from her backpack and gave it a shake.

  “Please tell me that’s whisky, madam,” said Maribella.

  Karina smiled and shook her head. “Something far more potent.”

  “Alchemy?”

  “Child’s play. This is a far more mature art. It was developed right here in the Barrens, when this civilization was in its prime. This little tincture is the product of Biomancy.”

  “What does it do?”

  “You’re going to find out first hand.”

  The captain’s jaw tightened with fear. “Sorry, madam, but I’d rather just wait for this leg to heal and try-”

  “Seed of Doubt.” Karina’s voice was as quiet as an assassin’s knife. Maribella stiffened as the spell sank its claws deep into her mind. “Let me explain just how sorry you will be, Maribella.” She pushed the ripe seed deep into the captain’s mind, tucking it into a fertile bed of nightmares.

  Maribella was a woman who prized her strength and speed above all else. She reveled in the power of her body, so that’s what Karina took away from her. She coaxed the seed to sprout and bloom into a flower of putrid flesh and numbing incapacity. Leprosy was rare among the empire’s populace, having been studied and controlled by the inquisitors long ago. But it was still used for special prisoners, of a political nature usually, whose iconic images demanded a little degradation.

  With a smile, Karina felt Maribella’s mind draw back in horror from her own body as she watched it rot and disintegrate in her mind’s eye. Once the inquisitor was sure the terror had taken firm root in Maribella’s subconscious, Karina returned to herself and proffered the tincture to the now shivering captain.

  “If you embrace your evolution, Captain, those fetid dreams need never become your reality. Glory to the Great.”

  “Glory to the Great,” echoed Durk between chews.

  Karina gave him a speculative look, studying his eyes for any signs of intelligence. They were as blank as polished stones. His response had been one of habit rather than understanding. She gave him a ‘proud teacher’ smile and almost laughed at his foolishly chuffed grin. Whether physical or psychological, something had happened to Durk’s mind, arresting his development. Battle trauma could do that sometimes. Then again, she really didn’t need to know the reason. He was perfect the way he was, a useful and unquestioning tool.

  For a moment she considered giving him the biomantic formula instead. He would be easier to command post-transformation, less likely to turn on her than the clever Captain Maribella. Then again, she doubted Durk could find his way out of a privy unless the door was labeled with a pretty picture. She didn’t fancy having to be in that chamber with him, micromanaging his every move. She needed a loyal minion, not a dull puppet.

  Maribella reached out for the flask with a trembling hand but Karina shook her head.

  “Finish your lunch and focus on healing that leg. You’ll need all of your strength for the transformation ahead.”

  The captain shuddered and a bead of sweat trickled down her pale brow, sliding along her scars like a barge negotiating a network of rivers. “It’s going to hurt like fuck, isn’t it?”

  “A little bitterness makes victory all the sweeter, don’t you agree?”

  Judging by the look in Maribella’s eyes, clearly not, but Karina honestly didn’t give a shit.

  16

  [Arix]

  Arix leaped into the air as the ledge exploded into silicon shrapnel. He soared through the billowing dust, landed on the next balcony, performed a perfect roll and sprinted for the next ledge.

  An avalanche of fractured masonry chased him around the curvature of the basilica as he jumped from platform to pillar top to statue. He stopped for a moment to catch his breath and glanced back at the damage he’d wrought.

  Roof tiles rapidly gave way to sky as the once impressive structure tumbled into the chasm. Stonework and gravel struck the putrid mass of flesh below, sending up spouts of viscera into the air. Arix noticed a few warped figures stumbling across their queen’s bulk, their boney claws scrabbling for purchase on the leviathan’s oozing skin.

  He launched himself forward as his former vantage point was lost to another cascade of stone. Ahead of him, at the other end of the chasm, a second explosion splintered the base of a mighty colonnade. It toppled and added its crushing weight to the ruinous deluge, bringing another hefty chunk of roof with it. With the basilica now collapsing both behind and in front, Arix had precious little room left to maneuver.

  “Could’ve waited just a few more secs, Mark,” he muttered to himself. “I’m not fucking Spiderman.”

  With gritted teeth, Arix blocked out everything else and focused purely on timing and distance. He’d played many a platformer in his day so this wasn’t anything new, but if he put just one foot wrong now, he’d be right royally fucked. He ledge-hopped twice more and then began his descent, a series of drops that would take him to where Mark and the others were sheltering from the fallout. He landed and lunged into the alcove just as a mosaic the size of an SUV hit the attached balcony and reduced it to a cloud of jagged pebbles.

  His roll stopped at the toe of Mark’s boots. He lay on his back and thrust out his hand.

  “A little help?”

  Mark gave a faint smile as he took the proffered hand and hauled Arix onto his feet. Arix caught Vari’s eye but the figurist met his gaze with a cold, impassive look. It figured. She probably didn’t have a script for this situation so was falling back on her default settings. Say nothing. Stare blankly.

  Arix loaded his crossbow as he read his latest notifications.

  You have performed a remarkable feat of Agility.

  Your personal XP reward = 30 XP

  Your Acrobatics ability has increased to Tier 3.

  He nodded with satisfaction and lined up the first Flesh Nester as its hazy silhouette appeared through the dust.

  “Hey Mark, had we blown that statue as well, we wouldn’t be facing this cleanup job,” he pointed out. “Just saying.”

  “Yup, maybe,” answered Mark as he drew his sword and brightened their gloomy hidey hole with firelight. “But let’s just concentrate on killing these bastards, shall we?”

  Arix leveled his crossbow at the approaching monster. He shattered a clacking skull with the first bolt and sent the second plunging through the decaying flesh to skewer the puppet master beneath. The creature shivered and stumbled, giving Mark the opening he needed to drive Volcanic Bastard into the bolt wound and cook the monster from the inside out. The amalgam of carcasses slumped to the floor and Mark sent it all tumbling into the chasm with a shove of his boot.

  Your party has slain a Level 9 Flesh Nester.

  Your XP reward per party member = 30 XP

  “Mark?” Vari called out.

  “Yup?”

  “Save the next one for me.”

  “Righto.”

  Arix raised an eyebrow at Vari who ignored him. He shrugged it off and busied himself with reloading his crossbow. He’d just put the second bolt in place when another flesh nester made its appearance. He repeated the process, shattering one of the protective skulls with the first bolt, stunning the flesh nester with the next. Mark followed up as before, giving the nestled monstrosity the hot poker treatment. This time he refrained from kicking the dead lump off the ledge. Instead, he offered the mound of carrion to Vari like a magician presenting a magic trick. The Figurist smiled and murmured “Puppeteer” under her breath.

  Arix flinched and raised his axe as the flesh nester lurched to its ‘feet’. He relaxed again as the notification rolled in.

  Your party has slain a Level 9 Flesh Nester.

  Your XP reward per party member = 30 XP

  Okay, so this was new. The figurist could control dead bodies, or anything made out of dead flesh, it seemed. Just as well, because their next
attackers came as a pair. He and Mark concentrated on their shooting and skewering routine with one of them while Vari’s puppet and its opponent proceeded to tear each other to pieces. By the time he and Mark had finished with theirs, Vari had ripped her foe from its rotten refuge.

  Arix looked at the shivering blob of life with open disgust before he chopped it in half with his axe.

  Your party has slain two Level 9 Flesh Nesters.

  Your XP reward per party member = 60 XP

  Arix wiped his axe head clean and turned to Mark. “Them devs went all out with the aesthetics when they designed this quest line,” he said with a smile.

  “I don’t think the devs had a hand in it,” argued Mark.

  “Are you saying this shit’s procedural?”

  “Yeah, but not in the normal sense.”

  “What other sense is there?”

  Mark sighed. The warlock clearly had something on his mind.

  “Out with it, man. What do you think you know that I don’t?”

  “Boys,” interrupted Vari, “could we please discuss this away from the mortified crowds?”

  She pointed at a new pair of flesh nesters crawling up over the edge. Since Arix had been too busy chatting to load his crossbow, he shouted “Righteous Fury!” and let rip on his chosen opponent with his axe. To his left, Mark shouted “Arcane Edge!” and “Second Skin!” in quick succession before hacking away at the second creature with Volcanic Bastard. A little pain and a couple of Mend Flesh spells later and they were standing over two piles of offal that they happily shoved off the edge.

  Your party has slain two Level 9 Flesh Nesters.

  Your XP reward per party member = 60 XP

  Arix looked down into the chasm and saw the source of this cadaverous onslaught. While most of the Corpse Queen was dead and buried under tons of rubble, a small portion of it remained and was squeezing another morbid horror out of something that looked like a leprous anus.

  “Fuck. We missed a bit. Right where that statue would’ve fallen too. Why didn’t you-”

  “Let us not waste your precious blood whilst we weep over spilled milk,” interrupted Citadel, his ruby flaring brightly. “I would recommend we now proceed as I previously recommended?”

  “What previous recommendation?” Arix eyed the others with open suspicion. “You lot been talking behind my back?”

  Mark did a bad job of looking innocent. “We did some forward planning while you were climbing about.”

  “Indeed,” confirmed Citadel. “To prevent further division of the party, I proposed that Mark forgo the third explosion in favor of clearing up any dregs with his Ignited Breath ability.”

  Arix gave a grudging nod. “Worked well enough with them corpse soldiers. Got any rope?”

  “Twenty meters,” answered Vari, “in my pack.”

  “Then let’s get down there. I’ll mind the kids while you fire up the barbeque.”

  Vari sighed. “Is it fun for you to be completely incomprehensible, Arix?”

  “Just have to be smart enough to know what I’m saying, luv.”

  He caught the coil of rope that she threw at his face, tied it to the only surviving statue, and snapped off a smug salute at the Figurist before abseiling into the pit. On the way down he chuckled to himself. Vari was getting under his skin and only real people were allowed to do that. If he wasn’t careful, he’d start falling into Mark’s trap. Hate can drag you into madness just as effectively as love can.

  His feet sank into the squelching flesh of the Corpse Queen’s body, making him extremely glad of his boots. He tangled with the freshly born flesh nester until Mark joined him. Together they put the thing down.

  Your party has slain a Level 9 Flesh Nester.

  Your XP reward per party member = 30 XP

  Mark whispered “Ignited Exhalation” and proceeded to breathe fire all over the show. Arix noted with approval that he aimed for fatty deposits, the most likely spots to catch fire and spread the flames. The warlock repeated his spell until he’d exhausted his EP reserves and then began to attack the mob-generating sphincter with his simmering sword in a bid to cauterize it shut.

  In the meantime, Arix fended off a couple of flesh nesters that had survived the rockfall. He sundered one with Chopping Block before getting stabbed through the side with a shard of bone. Within seconds, he heard “Mend Flesh!” echo throughout the chasm. He looked up to see Vari’s dark face poking over the edge.

  He should’ve felt grateful, he supposed, but then the NPC was just doing what she was programmed to do. It would’ve been like thanking his apartment’s central heating for warming the bathroom floor. He missed that bathroom with its shiny copper taps and half-pearl tiling. He and Krissy had ‘christened’ the new shower only a couple of months back. Now here he was, spattered in stinking bodily fluids, chopping the shit out of a crawling coagulation of cadavers. Arix decided then and there that he would swear off Reign of Blood and every other dark fantasy or survival horror FIVRrpg when this was all over. He would focus on nice, clean racing and space games instead.

  He finished his assailant off with another Chopping Block and then turned to Mark.

  Your party has slain two Level 9 Flesh Nesters.

  Your XP reward per party member = 60 XP

  “You done?”

  In that moment the warlock looked quite striking, his black armor in stark contrast to a backdrop of roaring flames, volcanic sword in hand and firelight flickering off his shining helm. Arix wished for the in-game snapshot function then. It seemed to have been disabled along with streaming and logoff. A crying shame. It was a seriously postable moment.

  “Yup!” shouted Mark. “Let’s move before the whole place goes up.”

  Arix followed Mark up the rope and tried to ignore the stench of burning flesh wafting up from below. It brought out some rather mixed sensations and thoughts. Salivating over a nicely seared steak whilst also imagining what it would be like to eat the carbonized fat off an old barbeque. He did his best to block out both thoughts and kept on climbing.

  The notifications rolled in just as he hauled himself up over the chasm’s edge.

  Congratulations!

  Your party has destroyed a Legendary creature, the Root of Solmora.

  Your XP reward per party member = 300 XP

  You have completed the Pit of Despair Subquest.

  Destroy the Root of Solmora to cleanse this area of corruption.

  Your XP reward per party member = 50 XP

  A clump of neurons fired in Arix’s head and released a memory from captivity. “Hey guys?”

  “Yup?” acknowledged Mark.

  “Just remembered where I’ve heard the name Solmora before. Inquisitor Karina mentioned it. One of the altars she’s after, it had something to do with this Solmora bint.”

  “That means the Altar of Solmora could be close by,” suggested Vari. “Sid? If there was a hidden chamber around here, do you think you could find it?”

  “I shall give it a whirl,” answered Citadel.

  Mark took the amulet off and placed it against the ground. The ruby twinkled as Citadel reached out into the surrounding structures. After a few minutes, Citadel gave a chuckle.

  “It seems we’re in luck.”

  “You found it?” asked Arix.

  He felt a thrill of anticipation tingle through his body. He wasn’t interested in the altar but he was definitely interested in what the altar could do for him. It was the bait he needed to trap an inquisitor.

  “There is indeed a chamber,” answered Citadel.

  “Where?” pressed Arix.

  “At the far end of the chasm.”

  His heart sank. “Shit. Buried underneath tons of rubble now, right?”

  “The main entrance is, yes. There’s another way in. It appears to be a chute of some kind that runs on a steady decline from the chamber into the lower portion of the pit.”

  “You know what that sounds like to me?” ventured Vari.

&nb
sp; “A disposal chute of some kind?” wondered Citadel.

  “Yes.” She gestured towards the chasm. “No prizes for guessing what they were disposing of.”

  “Are we talking human sacrifice here?” asked Mark with disgust.

  Arix nodded. “Yeah, that would make a nasty kind of sense. This thing was too big to be made up of a few reiver settlers. It’s been growing here for a long time, since this city was supposedly alive and kicking.”

  “Which would mean that the Root of Solmora was older than the cataclysm that laid this place to waste?” wondered Vari.

  Arix knew there was no such thing as the cataclysm or the so-called civilization that had inhabited the Barrens. It was all back story. The devs had created a tract of ruins, not a city. Still, it was an NPC’s job to help suspend disbelief and he knew there was no point in trying to disillusion her. About as useful as trying to teach a dog to speak English.

  “I would say so,” he answered.

  “Arix.” Vari fixed him with an intent gaze. “Do you think Karina is trying to control these things? Could the altars turn the chasms into a tool that the reivers could use?”

  He hadn’t thought about it, but it made sense. “Maybe, yeah.” Not that he really gave a shit what happened to this world once he got Karina to send him and Mark home. But it also made sense to play along so that Vari and Sid would remain cooperative. “All the more reason to find the Altar of Solmora before she does. Then we can lay a trap and nab her when she turns up to claim it.”