by Dakota Krout
“That would be quite the shame after you spent so much time just figuring out how to survive long enough to breathe,” Captain growled at Joe, his already deep voice going so low that Joe practically vibrated with the sound. “Hear our abyssal offers; choose to join one of us, or-”
“We will kill the chicken to warn the monkey,” the Elf finished, cutting off the Dwarf; much to his displeasure.
“Celestial’s sake, can't you just say the words ‘use you as an example for others’?” Captain turned to glare at the Elf, then back to Joe. “This is why you don't want to join them; every conversation is doublespeak, and you have no idea what the real meaning behind their words are.”
“Just because your race panders to, and even elevates, the least intelligent beings doesn’t mean everyone else does, or should.” The Elf turned his mesmerizing eyes on Joe, allowing a hint of a smile to appear. “I can tell you this, Captain is likely the most intelligent Dwarf that his race could possibly afford to send to this incredibly important recruitment position. You see how angry he is getting? Right now? It is not because I am saying something negative about his people, nor that I’m calling them dumb; it is because I am calling him smart.”
“You watch your mouth!” Captain snarled practically animalistically at ‘Enlightened One’.
“There it is,” came the smug reply. “Imagine joining the Dwarfs, and being surrounded by thousands upon thousands of beings that only listen to their… the human equivalent is testosterone, I believe. Male and female alike, I’ll add. Instead, you could join a refined culture, one where advancement is predicated upon your ability to think through situations and gain the favor of those above your station… not punching enough people in the face that no one can tell you ‘no’ anymore.”
“A place where you become stifled by bureaucratic nonsense! A place where you have to fill out a form in triplicate so you can join combat when your people are in danger!” Captain spat on the ground between them, but the Elf simply raised an eyebrow and caused a flower to grow out of the tiny puddle in retaliation. “You join them and it is not a death sentence… it is a guaranteed life of boredom and frustration.”
“So this is a choice between joining the Marines, or the Air Force. There was a reason I joined the Army,” Joe muttered with his eyes closed. “Actually, less joining, more being drafted. Fine. Tell me why I should join you. Enlightened One, please start.”
“A wise choice.” The Elf unfurled from his lotus position and rose to a profound stance, hands clasped behind his back. “You are clearly a human that uses his brain. You have immense talents with internal mana manipulation, and even appear to be mainly self-taught.”
“How can you-” Joe started, only to be cut off by the Elf’s careless wave.
“Your mana… suffuses your body.” A slight twitch accompanied Enlightened One’s words as he said this, but he didn’t comment on it further. “If you were traditionally trained, your mana would be well on its way to forming a central core from which you direct all mana. Your current state will make it harder for you to learn in certain ways, but likely allows you to cast the spells that you do know much faster. We can teach you, train you, in all the things you need to learn. You can grow so quickly, and become a powerful force by working with us; especially on the Officer’s track.”
Seeing that the Elf was done, Joe turned to the Dwarf. “Captain? How about you? Can I get on the Officer’s track?”
“Ya don’t know what you’re asking for, lad.” Captain wiped sweat off his forehead and shifted uneasily. “You don’t ‘get in’ to the Officer’s track; you need to survive Candidacy and selection. I can tell you that our area is more fun. You’ll grow in the ways you want to grow; not be forced into small rooms and told what to learn for the next decade. You’ll get into the mix, and learn in a hands-on environment.”
Joe tried to escape one last time. “Just to be sure, there is no way either of you are going to just… let me out of here? I’ll just go do my own thing and leave you both alone?”
“You get near that door, and I will turn you into fertilizer,” Enlightened One stated serenely.
“Every single unit of land is constantly being… contested.” Captain chose his words carefully. “If we let another person onto our land, and just let them do their own thing, we are essentially creating competition for ourselves. We will not let that happen. Neither of our people will.”
Joe rubbed his bald head, even though it felt like lifting a boulder and dropping it on his skull. He resolved not to do that again. “All right, fine. I'm joining the Dwarves.”
A blast of mana sent him skidding across the floor, tumbling until he hit the wall of the strange cave they were in.
Health: 200/875. Burning, -20 health per second for 12 seconds.
The Reductionist hadn’t even seen what had happened. One moment, everything was fine and calm. In the next instant, the world had been washed out in white light. Captain’s deep laugh echoed through the area, along with the sound of metal hitting wood. “I got one! Sod off, twig!”
“He dies! How dare he turn down the Elven Theocracy?” The Elf’s voice was no longer calm or cool; it was instead… a Boston accent? What? “Show me disrespect? Your intestines are gonna turn green from regret, then black from rot, you get me?”
Faction joined: Dwarven Oligarchy.
“Buzz off, Sparkle Bro!” Captain did something with his hammer, and the Elf was blasted out of the room—through the stone wall—by a torrent of fire and steam. The Dwarf turned toward Joe with a wide smile as a large top hat appeared in his hands. He put it on, and unseen mechanisms whirred to life. Thick sunglasses that could easily be used for welding dropped over his eyes, and the Dwarf took a step forward. “Recruit, let me officially welcome you to Svaltarheim, Dwarvenheim, Deepvenheim. Take your pick; they mean the same thing: Home of the Dwarves.”
“Not… Nidavellir?” Joe was wracking his brain for all his old mythology. “I thought that was the land of the Dwarves.”
“Once upon a time, lad.” Captain winced and looked away at Joe’s comment. “I wouldn’t mention that name to anyone else. Anyone who knows about the ancestral home is… salty about it. Abyssal long-form dragons. Let’s… let’s talk about you. Take a look at what you got before that maniac tried to bring down this entire spawn point, and then we will talk about your future in the Legion of Silver, the Dwarven Legion.”
“Sounds very rock and roll.”
“…what?”
“Forget I said anything. Did you say something about dragons?” Joe sighed and read the blinking notification tab.
Faction Bonuses gained:
Dwarven Superiority. You have chosen to join the Dwarven Oligarchy and now understand that they are superior to Elves in every way. You will see them in a favorable light, and Elves unfavorably in every situation. This is a perception shift, and cannot be denied or changed without leaving the Dwarven faction.
Dwarven Currency. You now have access to the Dwarven currency system. Precious metals? Beautiful gems? None of that matters here. All that matters is your word. You are now able to trade reputation points gained from Dwarves for goods and services. Note: Any skills, titles, or classes that grant reputation bonuses will not function within Dwarven society.
Faction Quest Gained: Shatter the Elven Theocracy. Completing this quest will break the Elven Theocracy, leading to their eventual eradication or subservience to Dwarves. Reward: The Zone gains the designation ‘Svaltarheim’, Variable (Based on contribution). Failure: The Dwarven Oligarchy is shattered, leading to the eventual eradication or subservience of all Dwarves to Elves.
“Oh, come on!” Joe waved a hand at the faction quest. “Not this again!”
Chapter Four
“Don’t worry about dragons. There aren’t any in this Zone.” Captain pulled Joe up from the floor and brushed off his charred shoulders. Skin sloughed off, and Joe let out a sharp gasp of pain. “Yikes, that light magic really did a number on you. G
otta watch out for that; Elves are known for their ‘impressive’ ability to manipulate light, sound, and sensory input. Just one more reason you can never trust them.”
The Dwarf snorted, half-turned and took a few steps, then waved at Joe to follow after him. “What's all that impressive about creating things that aren't real? Solid? ‘Oh look, I tricked this person into tripping over their own feet. Look at how witty I am’. Ridiculous. What a waste of an existence.”
Joe healed himself with two spells in quick succession, then started to follow after Captain. A thought crossed his mind, and in the next instant, he activated his Exquisite Shell. It appeared that they would be walking for quite a while, so he was not worried about having to use his mana anytime soon. As soon as he could, Joe toggled Retaliation of Shadows to be on as well. He was almost kicking himself for not having these active, but to be fair, he had been devoting all of his mental energy to breaking the Mortal Limit. “Where are we going, Captain? What is going on in this Zone, and how can we move it along so that I can start doing what I want to be doing?”
“We are going to the spawning grounds of a minor fort,” Captain told the human without turning back to face him. Joe hoped that he was just focused and not nervous about what might be in the area. “As for what is going on? War! I’ll tell you now, human-”
“My name is Joe.”
“I'll remember your name when it matters.” Captain spoke the words with the same inflection as a hardcore gamer casually promising to do the dishes ‘later’. “Let me explain the rules of Svaltarheim for you. Reputation is everything. You buy things with it, sell things for it, you gain reputation for completing quests and for acts of service for all of Dwarvenkind. Things that will get you the most reputation: capturing minor forts, capturing major forts, and doing what your commanding Officer tells you to do.”
“What is this about forts? I don’t have any idea what that means.” Joe was starting to get grumpy; even though this Dwarf had much shorter legs than he did, his physical stats were likely insanely higher. He was practically running just to keep up, and still trying to ask questions? It was starting to become frustrating.
“Right, well, you know what happens when the people of Eternium die. It’s a little different here, because of the constant war. If we all respawned with opposing viewpoints every single time we died, we would have-”
“Wait.” Joe cut Captain off, his eyes wide. He had been seeking out this information, subconsciously or not, since he’d started the game. What did happen to NPCs when they died? “Captain, I don't know why you assume I would know what happened to the people of the world. Could you give me a quick rundown?”
“What?” Captain actually came to a halt, surprise clear on his face. “But you are here? You won the war for your Zone already; we all got the notification. Don't tell me you won your war, and you didn't even know what you were fighting for? Celestials, humans are kinda messed up… that means…”
“Your people are going to fit in with us just fine!” Unexpectedly, Captain burst into laughter. He clapped Joe on the shoulder hard enough to knock the man to the ground and got slapped by a shadow for his trouble, then continued walking, still chuckling. “Pretty big mosquitoes in here. Listen up, human. When a native of Eternium dies, they come back. Problem is, all of us made a deal so that we could live here. Part of the deal was that we would always come back. And…”
Captain hesitated for a breath of time, but he pressed forward after a long pause. “It was a dark time in our history. We had the option to live in peace and grow together, but too many people clamored for war. The System decided that if we were going to be at war all the time, we needed to really understand what we were doing to each other. Every time one of us dies in enemy territory and the fort isn’t captured by our people in time, our memories of living as that race are saved and locked away.”
“Then, we come back as a member of our opposing race, losing all the memories of that life. By regaining levels, or by increasing certain characteristics to a high enough point, we slowly unlock the memories, skills, or spells that we have stored away. It’s all race-specific. For instance, if I died, I’d come back as a low-leveled Elf. If I got to the level I am now, as a Dwarf, I’d start to remember my life here, as a Dwarf. I wouldn’t be any good with a hammer, but I’d understand it better. Just like I understand illusions, and how nasty they are.”
“The war… is still going on? Even with all that? Knowing that you were an Elf at some point?” Joe couldn't comprehend what kind of twisted mindset was required to be literally at war with yourself for hundreds of years.
“Aye, that it is.” The Dwarf nodded sagely, a lopsided grin almost hidden by his thick beard. “The only way to stop the cycle is to shatter the other race. Then, if and when we die, we will at least come back only as Dwarves. That's also why we defend ourselves more than we attack; every soldier that we lose means another enemy we will have to face. That's what I was saying when I said that things are a little different on this Zone. Here is where the forts come in.”
“Now I understand why humans had been reduced to one single City, and were so reluctant to launch an attack against the Wolfmen. At least until they were almost positive they would win in a single strike. As for here…” Joe prodded Captain after a few long moments in which neither he nor the Dwarf were speaking. “Please go on.”
“Huh?” Captain frowned at him in confusion. “Wait, you actually want to hear about this? History and such? I kind of figured that you had zoned out, so I just… yikes, you might have a harder time in the Legion than I was expecting. Alright, listen. There are nine minor forts that surround almost every major fort unless something wonky is going on. Anyone killed in the territory of a minor fort will respawn at that minor fort after a day, so long as we retain control of it and pay the fees for the Ledger of Souls. The Ledger is commonly known as ‘the rolls’, while respawning is referred to as ‘roll call’. Any enemies we kill will come in as low-level Dwarves after that same amount of time.”
Joe was starting to see what Captain was getting at, “I'm guessing that if they took the fort, the Elves would be able to recoup any of their lost troops? They would also gain any Dwarves that fell in that area?”
“Yes, and no.” Captain nodded approvingly, though there was a slight hint of disgust on his face. “They would get their troops back, but the second part is where major forts come in. If we lose a minor fort, we can pay a certain amount of resources to bring back a portion of our fallen, as I said. It is random, so we can't always bring back the best of the best every time, but it is still a costly gamble we are usually willing to bear. The major forts allow specific people to be brought back using the Ledger of Souls; they also act as rapid transit systems. So long as they are not under attack and can pay the cost, minor forts can transfer their people to major, and major can transfer to other major. Gotta hoof it from major to minor forts, unfortunately.”
“I'm betting that skirmishes are really frequent, but all-out attacks are crazily rare?” Joe nodded at his own logic. “That's why you are so excited to take on whatever human arrives? Because they can throw themselves against your enemies again and again without a cost to you, and they’ll always come back on your side? This… this is going to change the face of your entire war, isn't it?”
“Got it in one. Lad, you contribute enough to the war efforts, and you’ll be a hero in no time. But we are here, and it is time for you to join the Legion and the blood games.” The two of them emerged from a tunnel and were met with an assortment of weapons pointed directly at their faces. Captain grinned, then screamed an incoherent stream of expletives at the Dwarves threatening them. So foul were the words—and so potent was his voice—that the air in the vicinity actually started to turn light blue. Captain paused to take a breath, and another Dwarf stepped forward with a smile.
“Captain Bro!” He slammed his forehead into Captain’s, and the two bounced away with grins on their faces and blood dripping do
wn into their eyes. “Welcome back! It so good to see you, haven't had proper spotter in days!”
Joe watched the odd social interaction, trying to figure out if they were speaking his language so poorly. Was there a different language, a Dwarven language, and they were speaking human just so they could be friendly to him? If that were the case, he decided not to judge their poor grammar and sentence structure. The Dwarf turned to face him, and an even wider smile appeared on his face.
“Human Bro! You joined up! Dudemeister, I gotta know… how many plates you squat? Feces, look at the way you stand! Your form terrible, thin Bro. No worry, we fix!” He grabbed Joe’s shoulders and slammed their foreheads together, creating a shower of sparks and a dark version of Joe that slapped him in the face.
Joe stumbled back as all of the Dwarves in the area laughed in excitement. Another, this one without a beard but sporting a glorious mustache, jumped forward and slammed their heads together. “Ha! Sparks and funny feel! Dudes and Dudettes, try this out!”
*Wham*.
Every Dwarf in the area raced over to bash their head against him, and Joe began to despair. “I was wrong. They’re speaking as well as they can. They’re idiots.”
Chapter Five
“Wake up! It is already four in the morning! Why’re all of you lazing about instead of getting ready to go kill Elves?” The explosion of the amplified voice literally knocked the Dwarves closest to the door out of their beds. Joe only managed to stay in his because his blankets had been tucked in on the edges, and he was able to use them to hold himself down.
