Empire Builder 1: Breed, Populate, Conquer

by Dante King

  There was a large clearing, perhaps a mile off, a few buildings clustered together. From what Ben could make out, they were short, dilapidated huts. Among them were stone blocks that might have been the ruins of a much larger village that had existed long ago. If those collections of huts were a settlement, perhaps they’d encounter people there. Or perhaps some other kind of beings, Ben thought, as he glanced at Melody’s furry ears and swishing yellow tail.

  Ben continued to look around, amazed by the beauty he saw in every direction. The birds that flitted from branch to branch would put the most splendid tropical birds of earth to shame.

  His back straightened, and he felt stronger, more refreshed. The weight of the egg in his backpack was now barely noticeable.

  Was this how Neil Armstrong had felt taking his first steps on the moon? He had been stronger on that world too, with reduced gravity. That said, Ben didn’t know if he was the first human from Earth to visit this world.

  “Has anyone else from his world been here before?” he asked Melody. “Are there humans like me here?”

  Melody shrugged. “You would have to ask someone more learned than me about that. Archmage Kamila might have the answer. Though she also said that Earthlings have very little magical ability.”

  She waved her hand in a gesture, encompassing the vista before us. “If any Earthlings did come here, they probably died to monsters soon after.”

  “Monsters?” he asked. Melody had mentioned monsters in the hotel room, but from what Ben had seen in his vision, he had controlled them. Now she was saying Earthlings might have been killed by monsters. That didn’t sound very encouraging.

  “Monsters inhabit the desolate and remote regions of this world, preying on lesser creatures and waylaying travelers.” Melody’s face was as grave as her tone. “But they are also the ancestors of the Forgotten Ruler’s army. Every time the ruler has returned, he has built his forces from the most formidable outcasts and savage beasts.”

  “What are the monsters? What makes them different from other creatures?” Ben asked, eager to learn all he could about this new world.

  Melody gave him another puzzled look. “Monsters…have more magic,” she said, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

  “Of course, magic is the answer to that question again.” He sighed. This would take a bit of getting used to. “Where do monsters come from?”

  “They come from dungeons beneath the ground in the desolate places, where the Xurian Realm has not established its domain.”

  Ben raised his hand to stop her. “This Realm is like the big bad guys in this world, is it?”

  “That is correct. It is a force you’ll need to defeat if you wish to take your rightful place here.”

  He didn’t want to overload himself with information, so he decided to get back to small-scale questions.

  “You mentioned dungeons, right? I think I saw some of them in my vision. They had traps and things that could kill intruders.”

  Melody nodded. “The dungeons were once your strongholds. It is said that the power you once had is still contained within their depths. But I can’t tell you any more than that, you will have to find someone more learned than me to answer such questions.”

  “So, if Earthlings are too weak to face these monsters, why did you bring me here?”

  Melody chuckled. “I mustn’t have made myself clear before.” She turned and fixed me with a gaze from her bright purple eyes. “You are no Earthling, Benjamin of Davies.” She said the word “Earthling” as if the idea were more cute than anything else.

  “Right,” Ben said. “Because I’m this Forgotten Ruler.” It sounded so strange coming from his mouth. “How exactly is that possible?”

  “The soul of the Forgotten Ruler was sent to roam the ether for eons after he was defeated. Somehow, that soul finally broke free and settled in your world, in your body. You are the Forgotten Ruler, reincarnated.”

  “O…OK,” he said slowly. “You mentioned that before, I’m just finding it a bit hard to believe. I mean, sure, I did have that vision before, but being told you’re the reincarnation of a powerful tyrannical ruler is a tough sell.” He shook his head. Already he was starting to sound a little crazy himself. “And how do you know that I’m not just an ordinary Earthling, whose destiny isn’t to be a ruler, but the lunch of the first monster we see?”

  Melody patted her stomach and pointed at the rucksack on his back. “You think it’s normal for a woman like me to generate large monster eggs?”

  Ben laughed. “Honestly, I have no idea what passes for normal round here.”

  The catgirl’s expression was earnest. “The offspring we have borne this day is a sure sign that you are the Forgotten Ruler. Such potent seed is not found anywhere else in this world.”

  With the word seed, she pointed down at the, uh, at the source of his seed. It still took him by surprise how open she was about these things. Was everyone in this new world so blasé about sex? If so, that might make things even more interesting than they already promised to be.

  “Now that we’ve got that cleared up,” Melody said, gesturing to the bridge, “we’ll need to cross that. There is, unfortunately, no other way off this hillside, and you will need to enter the forest before you can begin your quest for power.”

  Ben glanced at the bridge again, the thing swaying ever so slightly in the breeze. “Your portal stone couldn’t have made us appear on the other side of this chasm?”

  Melody shook her head. “Teleportation magic is much more difficult than people might believe, I can assure you.”

  “Well, I can assure you I had no preconceptions about teleportation magic, given that I didn’t even know it existed until half an hour ago.”

  Melody looked up at me, inquisitively. “Is there something holding you back?”

  Ben mustered the strength to hold his knees perfectly steady. “I’ve, ah, never been great with heights.”

  Melody’s brow creased. “Not good with heights?”

  “Ever since I fell from the oak tree in my friend’s Sean’s backyard when I was eight, I’ve been terrified of falling. Can’t even go near the window of a highrise without feeling myself plunging toward the ground.” He was surprised at how quickly he was divulging all of this to this woman. Then again, between the sex and the egg-birthing and the teleportation, experiences they’d shared in the last day had been enough to build an unusual amount of trust.

  Melody laughed. “The Forgotten Ruler? Afraid of heights?”

  Ben frowned at her. OK, so maybe that had been too much trust.

  “I’m sorry, Benjamin.” She swiftly composed her face again. “It’s just that when you weren’t delving the deeps, creating your dungeons, you were building towers that soared into the heavens. It was said that the stars garnished your crown. And now you are scared of heights?” She began to laugh again.

  He gave a low growl of irritation. This might have been funny to her, but it didn’t help him feel any better about crossing that bridge.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “It’s not so strange that you are afraid. You must have conquered this fear in your previous life. I’m sure you will do so again. Think about it this way—your fear of heights was gained on Earth, correct? During your childhood? If so, you can leave it behind the same way you picked it up—become what you were before, Benjamin.”

  He wondered to himself how many of his predecessors’ footsteps he would follow in. Was he destined to do everything the same way, or could he change the course of his journey and become a different kind of ruler?

  He took a step toward the cliff edge and the start of the rickety bridge.

  “Oh,” Melody exclaimed. “I almost forgot. I should give you this.” She fished the crystal ball out of a satchel hanging at her belt.

  “Where did that satchel come from?” he asked. “I didn’t see you wearing it in the hotel room.”

  “You didn’t see my ears at first either,” Melody pointed out.
“Or this.” She flicked her tail, sticking out above the waistline of her jeans. “The Archmage gave me a potion to conceal them while I was in your world. How else do you think I was able to produce a crystal ball and a wand from my jeans?”

  “I suppose a tail and a satchel wouldn’t have blended in very well in a nightclub,” he observed.

  Melody held the crystal ball out to him.

  “Whoa, not so fast.” Ben held his hands up. “I don’t know if I want to start tripping and seeing visions on the edge of a cliff.”

  “This relic belongs to you.” Melody thrust it toward him. “The Archmage Kamila gave it to me to give to you. It is rightfully yours.”

  Ben held his palms out reluctantly, keeping his footing sure on flat ground. When Melody dropped the glass globe into his hands, he expected another vision, perhaps another mirage from his old nightmares.

  But nothing happened. He glanced up at Melody and frowned. “Why don’t I see anything this time?”

  “That only happens the first time you pick up one of your ancient relics. That’s why it’s so risky.” Melody’s expression grew sober at this point. “Having memories of your past directly infused into your mind can cause you to pass out, or even sustain lasting damage if you are not properly prepared. You must always ensure you do this in a safe place.”

  “Nice of you to inform me of that back in the hotel room.” He said, a tinge of irritation to his voice. Images sprang to his mind of turning into a vegetable, his mind scrambled from the memories of some intergalactic warlord, as officers in white coats came to escort him to the nuthouse.

  “The Archmage assured me that this would not happen with this crystal ball. It was a weak relic and would not have such a powerful effect on your mind. Besides,” and here Melody’s shoulders drooped, penitently. “I had no other choice but to take the risk. We need the Forgotten Ruler to return.”

  “Why’s that?” he asked, intrigued as to the urgency of the matter. Did they have some sort of danger he needed to avert?

  “Again, I am afraid you must consult someone wiser than I to answer that question,” Melody replied. “All I know is that I was sent to ensure that you would begin to regain your former power with the utmost speed, and that I should take you to a place where you previously ruled.”

  “I see.” Ben glanced down at the glass ball again. “And you said this is one of several old relics that belonged to me?”

  “That is correct.” Melody nodded.

  “And is this globe good for anything other than restoring my memories?” he asked.

  “Nothing right now.” Melody smiled. “But it will be useful to you soon. Some of these items can give you not only your old memories, but also the abilities you once had.”

  What would it take to activate the old abilities contained in the crystal ball? Ben stared into its depths, focusing on the swirling mist inside.

  The mist had appeared to writhe restlessly ever since he’d seen it, but as he looked, he could discern a pattern to its motion. The silvery wisps snaked about each other in a kind of infinite dance.

  Suddenly, he felt a jolt inside him, and words appeared on the surface of the globe. The words were in red letters that appeared to have been written with the slashings of a knife.

  Benjamin Davies has learned: Drain

  Drain? What did that mean?

  Ben felt an increase of power inside him, as if he’d suddenly downed half a case of energy drinks. This power felt cleaner though, as if he’d taken in the life-giving force of the rays of the sun.

  He grasped at the energy inside him as it wrapped itself around the organs in his body. It snaked about, evading his control. Though he couldn’t say how he was doing it, he exerted his mind and snatched at the magic, whatever it was. As he gripped the energy by the source, a green wave shot out from his hand and struck Melody, emitting a cloud of green dust as it smote her side.

  With a groan, Melody fell to her knees, putting a hand to her ribs.

  Ben rushed to her side. “Are you alright? Are you hurt?” He reached out a hand, and Melody took it.

  What the hell had just happened? Had he learned a spell? And he’d just cast it at Melody, the one person who could show him around this world. What the hell had just happened?

  She smiled weakly as she got to her feet.

  “I’m sorry,” Ben said. “I didn’t mean for that spell or whatever it was to hit you like that.”

  Melody laughed weakly and shook herself. “I am unharmed. You did not intend to hit me, therefore the strength of the blow was greatly reduced.”

  “What was that spell?” he asked, still unsure what he had done.

  “What you have done is sapped my physical energy,” Melody explained. “That is why I was weakened. It is a very powerful skill. You should use it wisely.”

  Ben stepped back, allowing Melody to stand on her own feet, as she seemed much steadier now. He noticed that his limbs felt a little stronger than they had before.

  “I feel more powerful,” he observed, extending his right arm and flexing the muscle. “Like I just put in a month in the gym in two seconds.”

  Melody gave him a curious look, as if she were considering something she hadn’t before. “The legends say that the Forgotten Ruler could sap the strength of others, using it for himself.”

  “Drain,” Ben said. “That’s what the ball said I’d learned.” Ben held the ball up. The mists inside it were definitely swirling in much more controlled patterns now.

  Melody furrowed her brow. “Yes, I do recall reading about a spell with such a name. I did not think you would regain your powers so quickly,” she gazed at him in wonder. “Who knows what heights of strength you will attain? This is all very exciting.”

  Melody seemed like she was champing at the bit to see what he was capable of. If she was upset about the fact that he’d just blasted her with magic and stolen some of her power, she didn’t look it.

  Ben swung the rucksack off his back and stowed the crystal ball inside, next to the still warm monster egg. After placing the rucksack on his back, he took a step toward the cliff edge.

  He still didn’t understand everything that was going on. But at least now it seemed that he would be able to recover some of the powers of this great ruler he’d seen in his visions. Whatever all this meant, if he was going to gain more abilities like that one, he needed to find more of those relics.

  But first, he was going to have to cross that damn bridge.

  “Don’t look down, donkey,” Ben muttered, allowing himself a little grin. Then he placed his right foot on the first plank of the bridge.

  Ben clutched the rope in both hands, his elbows shaking. He shuffled one unsteady foot after the other onto the crookedly carved planks. His rucksack slid from one side of his back to the other as his weight shifted.

  Despite his own admonition, he couldn’t resist looking down between the planks. Had anyone who’d ever been told not to look down when crossing a huge height ever managed to do it? His throat went Sahara dry. Far below, he could see a spindly tree growing out of the cliff face like a weed. A small white shape rested on the trunk. It was a skeleton.

  Ben swallowed his fear. It wasn’t like he could stay on this hillside forever. He shuffled further out onto the bridge. It began to sway under his weight, and he had to place his feet with great care. The bridge was nearly a hundred yards long, no short distance by any means.

  Melody appeared happy as a lark in comparison, lightly hopping from plank to plank behind him as if she were crossing a stone path.

  She smiled sympathetically as he glanced over his shoulder at her.

  “There is nothing to be afraid of,” she said. “This bridge has hung here for centuries, unchanged. Or so I am told.”

  He really didn’t think that was very encouraging, much as it might have been meant to be. This old bridge could collapse at any moment.

  Melody stopped and got a look on her face as though she had an idea.

  B
en was beginning to dread that look.

  “I know of something that might help.” She gestured toward herself. “Why don’t you try sapping some of my courage?”

  “Why don’t I what?”

  “Sap my courage.” Melody beamed, pleased with herself for coming up with the idea. “If what I understand of the Drain spell is correct, you should be able to distinguish between different types of energy, and take some of my courage without affecting me in any other way.”

  Ben nodded, understanding what she was saying but still trying to wrap his head around the fact that he was capable of using magic.

  But it was worth a shot. He reached back to grab the crystal ball from his rucksack, then paused. Since he had learned this spell, maybe he’d be able to cast it without holding the relic?

  As before, he grasped some of the energy inside him and focused on Melody. The energy began to shoot from the center of his body toward his hands, but he clenched them in a fist momentarily, halting the flow. He could discern multiple strands of energy inside Melody, being drawn toward him.

  There was a multitude of energy within her, broadly divided into three different kinds: physical, mental, and emotional. The physical energy strands were green, the mental energy strands were blue, and the emotional ones were red. He chose only the emotional strands, and found the one that represented courage. He didn’t quite know how he was able to tell which emotion each strand represented, but it was clear to him as he examined them. That understanding must have been inherent in the Drain ability.

  Ben opened his hands and drew some of Melody’s courage toward him, being careful to stop before sapping all of it. It wouldn’t do them any good for Melody to become as paralyzed by fear as he was.

  He felt a strange taste in his mouth as the energy flowed into him. It was almost like caramel, a strong, warm and sweet sensation. Evidently, his body reacted strongly to the use of magic as well. Perhaps this was normal in this world, just as the five senses were taken for granted on Earth.