Eden's Gate: The Scourge: A LitRPG Adventure

by Edward Brody

  What, what have you… ch… ch…?

  The Gilgaroth flopped its hand back on the ground, and I reached out and touched its claw again.

  What is this, Reborn?! Where is my rage?! The stones… They’re too close! Get them away!

  “No,” I muttered.

  I pulled my hand back, turned away, and took a step.

  No! Reborn! Obey me now! Obey… ch… ch…

  “It’s working,” I said.

  “How are you sure?” Mordok asked.

  “It’s just weaker,” I said. “It wants me to move the stones, so it’s definitely working.”

  “Good job,” Rithnar said. “Let’s go. We find Ergoth now.”

  “We can’t just leave the shards laying loosely on the ground,” Mordok said. “Someone or something may come here and attempt to steal them.”

  “Yes,” Darion said. “I’m afraid we can’t leave this place accessible anymore. It needs to be sealed to visitors, so someday we can retrieve the stones, and so we can ensure the Gilgaroth isn’t disturbed.”

  Eanos looked at me. “You know, the Mages Guild will need a new shard, right?”

  “I umm…” I groaned, not really knowing what to say.

  “We’ll figure something out,” Darion said, “but for now, this must be sealed.”

  “Then we seal it,” Mordok said.

  “Does anyone have inscription powder?” Eanos asked as he pulled out his runebook. “We need a rune so that we can return.”

  When no one answered, Darion said, “Wait.” He quickly recalled, and only two minutes later, he came back out of the portal they had used earlier, hidden behind a boulder near the seal’s entrance. He had inscription powder and a rune in his hands. He gave all the materials to Eanos who hastily marked a rune for himself in his runebook and then marked a runestone for Darion.

  Darion pocketed the runestone, nodded to the others, and said, “Done.” He homed in on Mordok and walked closer to him. “You seem different than other orcs.”

  I chuckled. “That’s what I said too.”

  “How many orcs in the Wastelands are members of the Mages Guild?” Darion asked.

  “I am the last,” Mordok said.

  “The last?” Darion raised his eyebrows.

  Mordok nodded. “For lack of interest. Most orcs prefer to get physical or use dark magic.”

  “Hmmm… interesting.” Darion crossed his arms. “Do you remain neutral or are you loyal to Ergoth?”

  “I remain as neutral as I can be,” Mordok said. “I am an orc, however, so I tend to do what’s best for the Scourge.”

  Darion sighed and raised his eyebrows. “Well, regardless of your commitment to the Scourge, there are bigger issues at play—ancient beasts and the potential the magic suppressing them will falter. Heck, even this monstrosity down here may escape its seal if, or rather when, the Old Ones die.”

  Mordok nodded but said nothing.

  “Your knowledge of infinite mana shards, amongst other things, could be useful,” Darion continued. “I don’t expect us to be friends, but for humans and orcs alike, I suggest we do what is necessary to keep the world from faltering.” He took a deep breath and looked to the side. “How do you feel about sharing more of your knowledge and using both our resources to potentially save Eden’s Gate from another War of a Hundred years?”

  Mordok raised his chin and straightened his shoulders. “I will help you with this cause, human. For the Scourge.”

  “Darion,” Darion said. “My name is Darion. And not for the Scourge.”

  Mordok banged a fist against his chest. “Mordok.”

  “Well, then…” Darion held out his fist towards Mordok. “I hope that this will be beneficial to us all.”

  Mordok looked down to Darion’s fist. “Why do you do this?”

  Darion glanced to me. “Reborns call it a ‘fist bump’. Gunnar over there does it sometimes. It’s an alternative to a handshake, and I’m sure neither of us wants to shake each other’s hands.”

  Mordok cautiously extended his fist towards Darion, and Darion leaned in to quickly give him a light tap.

  “When and where will we talk?” Mordok asked.

  “Hmm, good question,” Darion said.

  “If you can assure my safety, I will travel to the Mages Hall in Highcastle with a rune,” Mordok offered.

  Darion shook his head. “Too risky. It could cause a panic, and I don’t entirely trust you. I will travel to the tower in the Wastelands if you allow me to mark a rune there.”

  Mordok snorted. “If you do not trust me, I do not trust you.”

  “Well, then we have a problem,” Darion snapped, his face suddenly smug and angry.

  Mordok clenched his teeth and gnashed them back and forth before saying, “Gunnar still has my rune to the Mages Hall. I’ll allow him to keep it—only him. So long as he has it, he may allow you to travel to the tower.”

  “I would like to be there as well,” Eanos said. “I want to know everything you know of ancient beasts and these mana shards. I have heard of using them somehow when hunting ancient beasts, but I’m not sure how. Up until now, I thought these crystals were only useful for powering Omnicrons.”

  Mordok turned to me. “If I allow you to keep my rune, can you assure me that you will secure it and only allow these two to use it? No others.”

  I nodded. “Yeah, sure.”

  “Very well,” Mordok said. “Keep the rune.”

  You have failed the quest: A Master’s Incentive!

  “Fuck…” I muttered under my breath. I had really wanted to get that Mark Rune spell and had totally forgotten that returning the rune was part of a quest. I’d just have to figure out another way to get the spell someday.

  “We’ll talk soon,” Darion said.

  “This one,” Rithnar said, pointing to Hoshgrim. “Free him so we can set forth.”

  Darion turned to Hoshgrim, snapped his fingers, and Hoshgrim’s body rapidly began turning from a solid stonelike material back to his normal organic self.

  “What was that!?” Hoshgrim yelled as he patted his body. “What did you do to me!?”

  Rithnar stepped to the shaman and placed the blade of his axe up to his throat. “You will listen to me, Hoshgrim.”

  Hoshgrim showed his fangs. “I will not listen to traitor orcs.”

  “You’re the traitor,” Rithnar said. “And now that your King is dead, Ergoth will kill you and the rest of the Shaman Council if he finds out what you’ve done.”

  Hoshgrim’s eyes widened with a combination of fear and anger. His irises darted around, taking in all of us standing around him. “If you want me dead, kill me now!”

  “You can live,” Rithnar said. “But you must help us.”

  “What do you ask of me?” Hoshgrim queried.

  “You’ll accompany us to Ergoth and report to him that the Mages Guild—” Rithnar pointed his finger to me and Mordok. “—has calmed the Gilgaroth.”

  “No, no, no,” Mordok said, waving his hands. “Not the Mages Guild. You need to vouch that Gunnar—” He cleared his throat and tilted his chin towards me. “That the human alone has somehow calmed the ancient beast. We need Ergoth to feel the need to do a favor for a human, so the more we emphasize his responsibility, the better.”

  “You’re going to tell Ergoth of the infinite mana shards?” Eanos asked.

  “No,” Mordok explained. “We’ll play Gunnar off as a mighty mage who cast a powerful binding spell of some sort. Ergoth wouldn’t know any better.”

  “He’s just a yellow-belt,” Darion pointed out.

  Mordok lifted his upper lips and made a low growl as he reached into his bag and yanked out a red belt. “We’ve already made plans for Gunnar to pose as a master mage.”

  “That’s a violation of guild rules,” Darion said, “and—"

  Eanos reached out his arm and laid it flat on Darion’s chest, cutting him off. “Stop being a prude, Darion. We all know that if this succeeds it will be for the
best of all.”

  Darion yanked Eanos’ arm from his chest and huffed. “Fine, but make sure you’re not wearing a red belt once you leave the Wastelands, or it won’t only cause trouble for you but, as your master, for me as well.”

  “I’ll be sure,” I said with a nod.

  “I simply say the human subdued the Gilgaroth, and I’ll live?” Hoshgrim asked.

  “Yes,” Rithnar said. “And you must encourage Ergoth to end his attack on Highcastle and the Freelands. It’s what Xurrak wanted anyway, so you should have no problem with that.”

  Hoshgrim showed a hint of a grin as if he were pleased with the idea. “And you won’t tell Ergoth of Xurrak or my necromancy?”

  “You have our word,” Mordok assured him. “Ergoth will hear nothing of what really happened down here. As far as he knows, Xurrak has long been dead.”

  Hoshgrim smirked. “Fine. I will do as you say.”

  Rithnar yanked his axe away from Hoshgrim’s throat, and the shaman started straightening his gear.

  “Is Ergoth still in Morgsgorg?” Mordok asked.

  “Ergoth prepares to ride,” Hoshgrim said. “The catapult is loaded, and the next attack will take place tonight. We must leave now, if you want any chance at stopping him.”

  “Let me meditate and then we’ll quickly go over exactly what we’ll say, so everyone is on the same page,” Mordok said. “Then we leave.”

  “We’ll be going now,” Darion said, motioning to Eanos. “Gunnar, can we have a word with you first?”

  I followed Darion and Eanos several meters away from the orcs and until we were out of earshot.

  “Be careful,” Darion warned. “Those two seem unusually normal for orcs, but they are still orcs.”

  “I will,” I said.

  “And when this is all done, I expect you back at the tower to continue your training,” he continued.

  “You’re not worried about the orc’s catapult?” I asked.

  “Worry would require me to trust clumsy orc engineering,” Darion said. “But even if I am a little concerned, I cannot intervene because—”

  “Politics,” I interrupted with a groan. “Yeah, yeah.”

  “The Mages Hall is neutral ground but also the tallest building in Highcastle. If the orcs mistakenly hit it with their catapult, I might be able to campaign the other mages into a massive counterattack.” Darion winked. “But as long as it stands unharmed, we will remain in a neutral state.”

  “Okay,” I said with a shrug, and I suddenly remembered the Sparrows I had encountered in the Omnicron room. “Oh, and there are Sparrows in the—!”

  “Yes,” Darion interrupted with a nod. “I was there and heard it all. Don’t worry, we’ll handle those two, and we’ll figure out what to do about the Omnicron until we have another shard. Let’s talk about it all later.”

  I followed Darion and Eanos around the corner where their portal was still standing.

  “Congratulations on your advancement,” Darion said before he passed through.

  “Impressive progress, Gunnar,” Eanos added. “You’re one step closer to becoming the badass I know you’ll be.” He smiled, entered the portal, and a few seconds later the portal was gone.

  As I was walking back towards the orcs, I noticed the shiny hammer Xurrak had dropped sitting on the ground. I shuffled over to it and picked it up.

  You’ve received: Urzyla’s Mallet. 75-168 Attack Damage. Requires 50 Strength. Requires 30 Dexterity. Durability: 201/250. Quality: Exceptional. Rarity: Legendary. Weight: 4.2. kg. +15 Strength. +5% Poison Resistance. +5% Water Resistance. +5 Fire Resistance. 2% chance to slow on hit.

  Damn, I groaned as I looked over the item’s stats and also noticed it had two vacant slots in its handle for runes. It was one of the most powerful non-ancient weapons I had encountered, and it made me wish I could put it to use.

  “Urzyla’s Mallet,” Mordok muttered as he strolled up to me. “At least you know you’ll walk away with a major reward if we survive. I reckon it’ll fetch you 50,000 gold or more from a weapon vendor.”

  “50,000?” I questioned. “Holy...” The hammer was the type of item I wanted to keep for myself or my guild, but with that kind of gold on the line, I knew I had to sell it.

  “Urzyla was Xurrak’s half-orc daughter,” Mordok said. “They say after her death, he trained in blunt weapons just so he could keep his daughter close to him at all times.”

  “What happened to his daughter?”

  “She was killed by Xurrak’s wife,” Mordok said.

  “Xurrak had a human wife?” I asked. “Why would she kill their daughter?”

  “Xurrak’s wife was an orc,” Mordok explained. “The Queen killed Urzyla when she found out about his half-orc daughter, and when Xurrak found out about the killing, he killed the Queen.”

  “Oh…” I muttered. “That’s terrible.”

  “Urzyla was a wonderful fighter,” Mordok said. “I’ll tell you more of her story someday, if you’d like to hear. For now, you should meditate while I ready a portal that will lead us out of here.”

  Chapter Fifty-Four

  2/23/0001

  Rocks rained from the ceiling of the steep passageway that we had used to enter the seal. It was the third shot of magic Mordok had fired at the top of the hall, leaving it blocked with hard, crumbled rocks.

  “What do you think?” Mordok asked as he stepped over some debris and placed his hand on one of the larger rocks that were creating an obstruction.

  “It should stop all but the most determined soul from entering this place,” Rithnar said. He turned and scowled at Hoshgrim.

  “I have no more reason to enter,” Hoshgrim said. “I’ll tell the others that the Gilgaroth did this somehow.”

  “There’s nothing left for any of us here,” Mordok said. “Let’s go.”

  Mordok had already cast a portal nearby, and he was the first to step through.

  Hoshgrim stopped shy of entering and looked at Rithnar, who was waiting for him.

  “You first,” Rithnar said. “I won’t risk you escaping.”

  Hoshgrim snarled and stepped through.

  Rithnar turned to me. “Once again, thank you, Gunnar.”

  I smiled. “Of course.”

  Rithnar turned and stepped into the portal.

  I stepped up to the portal, and right when I was about to enter, I heard a slight, almost whispering noise in my head.

  Ch… ch… Wait!… ch….

  It was the faint sound of the Gilgaroth’s voice, much harder to hear than before—because of the crystals, because I was far away, or for another reason, I wasn’t sure.

  I turned to look at the monstrosity, and it shifted its head against the floor. It reached its massive hand out and scratched the ground with its claw. Its eyes were almost sad rather than angry, though it was hard to tell the expression of such an enormous, bizarre creature.

  Ch… ch… Reborn…. my… chee…

  I felt a sense of sorrow for the Gilgaroth. It was locked in a dark seal, trapped in a hole, and covered with a mountain of rock that was pinning it in place. If it were an animal, most people would kill it before leaving it there to suffer. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the option.

  I took a step closer to the Gilgaroth. “What do you want?”

  Ch… ch….

  I walked even closer and glanced behind me at the portal. I knew the others were waiting for me, but I was also curious what the Gilgaroth had to say.

  I closed in until I was a few feet from the monster and held a hand out towards it as I focused on communicating with it. I was pretty sure it wouldn’t be as effective as touching it had been, but I wasn’t about to get too close while I was the only one in the seal.

  Ch… stones….

  Stones? I projected back. Do you mean the infinite mana shards? I’m not removing them.

  Free me, Reborn! its angry voice suddenly boomed, startling me a bit and causing me to lower my head and take a step back.

 
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “This is your place.” I looked up the massive pile sitting atop it. “I couldn’t even if I wanted to.”

  Why!? Why am I imprisoned here!? Why have I been weakened!?

  “Because…” I shook my head. “The War of a Hundred Years. Whatever happened then.”

  The Gilgaroth laughed low, the acidic air coming from its mouth causing me to put my arm in front of my face and step away.

  Free me, Reborn! it suddenly boomed.

  I turned to walk away, feeling like the discussion with the Gilgaroth was pointless.

  Wait! Listen to…ch! I ch…help...ch…you!

  I paused and turned around. “Help me how?”

  Ch…. Ch…

  “What?” I asked. I held out my hand and focused so I could hear better.

  I will spare your life! I ch… ch… I feel it Reborn! The Old Ones are faltering! Soon my rage will return! Soon I can break myself free! But you… ch… ch… Free me now, Reborn, and I will spare your life!

  You’ve received a quest offer: Free the Ancient!

  The Gilgaroth wants you to free it from its seal.

  Reward: 50,000 XP, Your life will be spared.

  Do you accept this quest? Accept/Decline

  I swallowed hard as I lowered my hand and was genuinely surprised by the quest offer that appeared in front of my vision. But even if I wanted to free the Gilgaroth, which I didn’t, I had no possible way to do so. It seemed like the Gilgaroth was simply taunting me by offering me quests.

  “No thanks.” I shook my head and turned away. I wasn’t going to waste any more of the orc’s time getting taunted by a monster.