Oblivion's Crown

by M. H. Johnson

  Insight check made! Finesse check made! Complex Greater Oath is in full effect! All snags have been eliminated! Movement efficiency is 80% of hiking pace!

  Val took a deep breath and smiled, happily tuning out Kentric’s vile promises, Julia’s desperate fear, the brilliant flash of high-powered artillery slowly but surely wearing away the defenses protecting his palace.

  All that mattered was that this oath be kept.

  All that mattered was that he spare his people the horror to come.

  2,000 of your citizens have passed through your gates.

  He could feel them all, under a geas so potent it was almost a trance. Parents gathering strangely calm children before leaving their homes at a brisk walk, joining thousands of others, everyone gazing straight ahead, jostling no one, ignoring the confused gazes of troopers, moving as if one massive organism. Even when panicked troopers shot innocent civilians dead, others would walk over the fallen bodies without paying them any mind as sergeants lowered enlisted men’s carbines and shook their heads at soldiers having no idea what to make of the sight before them.

  The jostles and confusion that slowed so many crowds to a gridlock was completely absent. Every affected individual moved to the heart of their district, walking at a brisk pace in perfect sync with thousands of others, all of them making their way to a pulsing black gate and hesitating not a second as they stepped through, disappearing without a trace, followed by the flood of citizens behind them.

  No one flinched or hesitated, no child cried out in alarm. Not even those held by the handful of folk clearly not lost in dream but rather wearing worried expressions, one couple holding a pair of children born to the territory that had never slept so peacefully before, exchanging quick, anxious nods before jumping through the shimmering gate together, the mild disruption smoothing over in seconds as the crowd continued to flow through.

  52,000 of your citizens have passed through your gates. Citizens dying in transit due to mischance or enemy blasterfire: 47. 34,000 of your citizens have fled past the border of your territory by vehicle. Mobile citizens dying in transit due to mischance or enemy blasterfire: 22.

  Wearing the dreaming faces of those lost in sweetest reverie, Val’s citizens soon left the city a ghost town, save for the confused stares of soldiers exchanging anxious looks before peering back at the spectacular sight of over one hundred battle-mechs, a number never seen upon the face of Jordia at a single location before, all firing together in deadly concert.

  All the soldiers exchanged smiles.

  It didn’t take a genius to see that their enemy’s madly flickering shield was only heartbeats away from being breached.

  "Warning! Silvermesh shields are at 4% capacity."

  Val forced open groggy eyes, catching Kentric’s hate-filled smile. “Soon, mortal worm. Soon I shall have you in my arms and I will crush every bone in your body! I will snap each of your fingers, delighting in your screams! I shall smash your knees to splinters and force you to walk on them, delighting in your honeysweet tears. I shall shatter your limbs and twist them until fragments of bone rupture from your flesh! I will not stop until you beg. Until you beg me to release you from the hideous agony of your tortured flesh for the time it takes to put your cleaved head in a pain vat. And after the brief mercy of a few seconds’ dying bliss, you will savor pain beyond your wildest dreams!”

  A shaking Julia held Val close, not hiding her tears, and Val was lanced by crushing guilt after losing himself in trance for almost half an hour while this monster went on with his endless threats and horrifying promises.

  Val forced an exhausted smile, even as he winced with the furious itching agony his left shoulder had become. “Are you okay?”

  Julia swallowed, jerking a quick nod. “You bet I am, Val. Please, for god’s sake, tell me it’s time.”

  “Warning. Shield collapse imminent! Warning. Shield collapse imminent!” Unlike the earlier messages, this one blazed loud and clear through the palace entire.

  Kentric’s grin only grew. “Soon, worm. Soon I will have you in my hands! How they hunger for you. How they hunger to rend your sweet flesh!”

  Val tilted his head, locking gazes with the Dauda standing beside her master once more. “Is everyone out?”

  Kentric’s eyes blazed. “No more tricks, maggot! Your only option left is to kneel! Kneel before me and beg! Beg for mercy. Beg for my pleasure, even as your palace erupts around you! Even as my sixty thousand men drag you from your shattered hovel and bring you before my presence! Kneel, worm, and beg!”

  Val caught the miniscule nod he had received. “Good.”

  “Shields have collapsed.”

  Said only once. An announcement like a dirge as the roar of Vulcan autocannons suddenly echoed through the chamber, Julia screaming as artillery fire tore through the chamber before suddenly winding down.

  “Get the prisoners! Overlord wants them alive!” A call repeated over and over again, along with the pounding stomp of battle-mechs actually tearing through the palace.

  Kentric laughed, low and guttural. “I shall savor watching my men drag you out, kicking and screaming.”

  Val turned to Julia, nodding. “It’s time, babe. Jump through.”

  Willpower check made! Congratulations! You have seized hold of all enemy gates within your territory. Gates are now under your control for 0 territory points! Gates have been modified to lesser state for 0 territory points! Gates now allow for the free flow of macro particles without regard to allegiance or sentience! Feel the breeze from halfway across the continent!

  The air suddenly roared with the sound of artillery fire, the massive reinforced door glowing red-hot and warping under the terrible onslaught of electromana pulses blasting into it, even Altersian plating forced to give way.

  Val caught Kentric’s confused stare before flashing a smile cold as ice, devoid of all fear.

  Devoid of all mercy.

  “Enjoy those final moments, Kentric. Time to say bye bye to all your toys.”

  The giant’s nostrils flared. “I eagerly await the hour I can tear that smirk from your face, Valor Hunter. And that hour will be soon, I think. Very, very soon."

  Val winked at a nonplussed Elsith. “I’d get another employer if I were you. Stat.”

  And with a thundering roar, the massive vault door crashed to the ground, cracking numerous marble tiles.

  “Hey Kentric!”

  “Prepare for suffering without end, worm!”

  Val gave him the finger. “Checkmate, motherfucker. You just got played.”

  He turned to Julia as scores of soldiers flooded into the room.

  “Jump! Now, now, now!”

  You have successfully activated forceshield at maximum diameter! Contest of skills: Blasterfire Horde VS L10 PRM + L4 EM mastery: Success! You have deflected 75% of all blasterfire! Forceshield has successfully absorbed 200 electromana damage. Cost to counter present electromana barrage: 5 Psion per second.

  You have successfully cast Overlord Ritual Meteor Storm! Target: central cluster of red targets within Dominicus Province.

  You have increased Meteor Storm by one order of magnitude for 1 additional point! 9 additional meteors unleashed!

  You have increased Meteor Storm by two orders of magnitude for 1 additional point! 90 additional meteors unleashed!

  You have increased Meteor Storm by three orders of magnitude for 1 additional point! 900 additional meteors unleashed! You have two territory points remaining. Use them well! Not that it really matters, at this point.

  Congratulations! Destruction is now Rank 3!

  And suddenly Val felt the ground vibrate as the very air came alive with a roar so awful, so all-encompassing, he could feel it in his bones. A score of soldiers winced and stumbled, firing at Val no longer as the sound of battle-mechs careening wildly could be heard in the distance.

  Val’s heart pounded with sudden panic, only then realizing what he had done.

  Congratulations! You have unl
eashed an Extinction-Level event! Crucial milestone in Hidden Questline: Child of Oblivion achieved!

  Meteors unleashed by the power of Overlord rituals are far beyond what any mundane spell could hope to summon forth. And you have summoned a thousandfold that number, putting the meteor strike that wiped out Terran dinosaurs to utter shame! Prepare for unprecedented seismic aftershocks as an entire province is turned into a massive impact crater that will change the face of Jordia forever! Along with a dust cloud that will plunge all of Jordia into perpetual darkness and subzero temperatures for centuries to come!

  Oblivion welcomes the crimson path embraced by its newest disciple!

  Kentric’s terrified gaze met Val’s own. “I feel the cords of fate twisting. The ground shakes with our doom. What have you done, you fool? What have you done!?”

  And Val felt no satisfaction in the horror upon his enemy’s gaze as he jumped through the gate, desperately placing his points and making his plea in an endless heartbeat that froze like time itself as the spirit of Phoebe wailed and screamed in the endless darkness that was the gate between realms.

  6

  Utter blackness. Frozen between heartbeats of time as Jordia’s doom came hurtling down from the sky.

  A voice howled with unspeakable pain, an agony that transcended anything Val could possibly fathom. “What have you done!?”

  Haunted eyes the pristine blue of Phoebe’s endless oceans gazed imploringly into his own. An anguished plea that took up his entire world.

  The face of a goddess peering desperately into his own.

  “Child of Oblivion, what have you done!?”

  Val crumpled to his knees upon that lifeless frozen plane of ash and snow he only now realized was Jordia. Caught between heartbeats of time, a portal leading to the endless nightmare of the future he had wrought.

  Val squeezed his remaining fist tight, whispering desperate words. “Gazing upon the light of Phoebe, I invoke your blessing!"

  The massive vision’s pristine features, taking up the heavens much like Phoebe itself did burst into bitter laughter. The wind howled. Val’s face was pelted with the bitter hail of her tears.

  “What blessing, mortal fool? You have destroyed everything. Everything! Doomed the world I trusted you to save!”

  Val licked dry, cracked lips. “I invoke Phoebe’s monthly blessing of Avert Disaster on behalf of Dominicus Province!”

  Phoebe’s gaze was the blaze of the heavens hidden by endless clouds of dust and ash. Sheer incredulity at the gall of Val’s words.

  Val grit his teeth against the crushing wave of horror and despair. The nightmare of knowing he had acted the cocky fool, embracing madness without having a clue as to consequence, confusing luck and survival savvy with brilliance.

  And his luck had just run out.

  “Haunting Luminescence...” he whispered.

  “What of it, fool? You have doomed us all!”

  “Think!” Val screamed, at that moment caring not that he spoke to a goddess. “That Mystic Enchantment manipulates physics on the most fundamental levels! Warping and distorting electromana waves, heightening fertility, fecundity, warping all sense of space and location… the potential must go deeper than that! What will doom our world isn’t the impact, it’s the dust cloud to follow! But it doesn’t have to be that way! Re-channel the released potential energy into something else! Sound waves… spontaneous growth… magic! If that Overlord Ritual can warp the energy flows of endless soldiers and discharges from battle-mech Vulcan cannons forever, it should be able to convert some dust into something else!”

  And the endless dust clouds whirled and swirled. The ghostly image of a hauntingly beautiful girl took up the heavens entire. Val squinted and shook his head. A trick of perception, and that vision of beauty gazing at him with absolute fury was in fact a human-sized woman right before him, dressed in a cloak of shimmering white, a crimson raven perched on her shoulders, blood trickling from a crown of thorns upon her brow.

  The crack of her fist shattered his jaw.

  He crumpled to the ground, stunned with the agony of her blow.

  He groaned in pain as she gripped him by the ears, feeling cartilage tear as she lifted him high, glaring with seething fury into his eyes. “Do you know what you dare ask, mortal? Can you even conceive of the agony of that which you would face? Haunting Luminescence can do nothing! Only the Greater Mana Warping of magic and reality itself would stand a chance! Your mind would burn with the knowledge of sages and necromancers, searing and seething with the most hideous of lessons if there were to be even a shadow of hope. A shadow of hope!

  "You, pathetic student who learns only by cunning, must prepare to have your mind ripped open and scream for the torment you shall feel. Are you ready for that, mortal? Are you truly? For if you dare to disappoint me, crushing hope I dare not feel, lest you crawl away begging for mercy like every other fool to overstep his path before you, I shall never forgive you! Not after what you’ve done! So don’t you even think of breaking under the burden you will be forced to endure!”

  And in that moment, gazing into the eyes of a goddess blazing with knowledge hideous and unending, Val’s soul quailed like never before.

  As memory of Julia’s sultry laughter seared his soul. Holding him so tenderly, whispering how deeply, how fiercely she loved him.

  The gentle smile of an exquisitely beautiful princess with chestnut curls, soft blue eyes gazing into his own. Ava. Holding their daughter even now against her chest, and he knew in that terrifying moment that this was all real. As she gazed at him from within her dream, the name of their daughter blazing upon his soul.

  If Val failed… Julia would die. Ava would die. Their daughter Avelina would die.

  Everyone Val knew and loved would die.

  And it would be his fault. Forever.

  Val locked gazes with the goddess before him, forcing himself to speak, every slurred whisper an exercise in pain. “Do it. Whatever it is… I sure as fuck am not backing down.”

  Phoebe nodded once, crimson lips curling in a bitter smile. “So be it, fallen angel, sword dripping with the blood of 70,000 foes even as you cry for redemption, the universe singing your praise as oblivion awaits your final damnation, countless souls swearing themselves to your cause even now.”

  Her crimson nails elongated into talons she plunged into Val’s skull, smiling bitterly as he shrieked, crumpling before her.

  “Let the trials begin.”

  And Val screamed as horrific pain unlike anything he had ever experienced before roared into him like a storm. Arcane matrix after arcane matrix flashing before his eyes. As if he were consuming endless lessons of Personal Resonance Mastery not over months, or hours, but seconds.

  His screams were muffled by the caw of crimson ravens tearing into his soul, one after the other, forming upon Phoebe’s shoulder only to soar high above before diving into him, smashing into his chest with a splash as if he were the surface of a roiling lake, and they the pelting rain pouring into him, flooding him with knowledge hideous and unending.

  You are directly responsible for the death of 70,462 soldiers and civilians! You are directly responsible for the obliteration of 107 2nd & 3rd generation battle-mechs! You have successfully destroyed an entire province! Experience earned! The endless potential of an entire army is now one with your soul!

  Sacrifice! You have successfully destroyed all enhancements within one of your provinces!Sacrifice! You have successfully eliminated all citizens within one of your provinces! Territory tier converted to Dominion points! You have earned 4 Dominion points! You are now a level 6 Overlord! 3 points earned toward Level 7 Overlord.

  You have earned 2 additional Darkpoints! Now the world knows to fear your wrath!

  Fate itself has chosen your Overlord Specialist Class: Arcane Reaver. Your ruthless bloodthirst knows no bounds! Blood, Death, and Necromantic magics are 20% more effective and 10% cheaper to cast per level of Arcane Reaver achieved! All destructive magics a
re 10% more effective per level of Arcane Reaver achieved!

  But there is now an added cost to embracing the purest of all arts, free of your crimson taint. Unless mastered or gifted by Phoebe herself, all healing magics now cost 15% more mana per level of Arcane Reaver to cast!

  Additional Arcane Reaver powers gained with first Tier!

  Death’s Kiss. - Every foe who falls to your spell, blade, or Psionic power shrivels to dust as you claim their life force for your own! You instantly heal 3 wound tiers and 10% of your maximum Health/Stamina/Mana/Psion per Arcane Reaver tier, up to foe’s maximum! (All opponents have 10 Mana & Psion inherent to all sentient things)

  Song of Battle. - The killing fields are your friend! You heal an additional 5 points of Health/Stamina/Mana/Psion per second per Arcane Reaver tier whenever you find yourself upon the field of battle, engage in melee combat, or use magic or psionics at close range! Dark rejuvenation continues for 30 seconds after last foe has fallen or all enemies have fled from your sight!

  Dark Legend – Some legends never die. Your Survival increases by 50 points for every level of Arcane Reaver you earn!

  Congratulations! You have leveled up!

  Val howled as he understood at last the true nature of the task before him. All this was happening in a frozen slice of time, the instant impact had been made.

  He was not merely studying quantized dreams of elemental charts in a single night. What he was being forced to endure was so much worse. And he understood in that instant the sacrifice he must make for the sake of everyone he loved as Phoebe strove to enact her blessing.

  He was the shockwave racing at unbelievable speed through the air, his soul shredded into a million screaming pieces, desperately trying to maintain integrity as oblivion caressed his tattered psyche.

  Willpower check made! Your Air magic is now Level 1! Your Air magic is now level 2! Your Air magic is now level 3! (6 of 7 points spent.) Mana pool has increased by 10%. (7 of 7 points spent.)