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Guilds at War

GUILDS AT WAR, THE ETERNAL JOURNEY, BOOK FOUR

By C.J. Carella

@2020 Fey Dreams Productions, LLC

Prologue

Laryn the Huntsman still remembered a time when he had been alive.

His old state of being had not been exactly pleasant. Few of the Fae knew much joy, only brief episodes of pleasure that took place while watching the suffering or downfall of others, or indulging in some decadent pursuit. Such feelings never lasted long, being quickly replaced by an emptiness that demanded to be filled but rarely was. Their near-eternal lives were spent chasing one fleeting high point after another, never sated, always wanting more. Nevertheless, it had been preferable to his current state.

Laryn the Unliving no longer felt anything. Even the urge to serve his creators lacked any passion. It was merely a drive that only resembled hunger because it needed to be satiated, but brought no sense of satisfaction or even closure. Even the brief moments of joy of his previous existence were denied to him. He did as he was told, and neither the magnitude of his accomplishments or the suffering they inflicted on others brought about any sense of victory or regret. On the few occasions when he had enough time and leisure for contemplation, Laryn examined his previous existence with what one might call it yearning, although that was too strong a word.

He had been defeated, suffering a reversal so complete that it would have driven his old self into a murderous rampage, or even to seek his own destruction. Here and now, he simply reported his failure to his master and awaited new orders. The remnants of the Fae he had been were inside him somewhere, howling in utter torment, but they did not concern him. He used them to empower certain abilities, that was all.

Suspended in utter darkness, with only the Maker’s presence to keep him company, he finished the report. The initially-successful invasion of the Labyrinth had collapsed when interlopers severed his connection to the Dungeon that he had used as a beachhead into the Infernal lands. He had barely managed to escape while the few surviving minions that weren’t destroyed outright fell protecting him. When he finished telling the tale, the Maker revealed the identity of the architect of his defeat. It had been the same Fae half-blood who had destroyed his army of Wild Sidhe.

If he had been able to feel anger, Laryn would have raged against Hawke Lightseeker. As it was, he simply noted that defeating the Champion of Order would require greater efforts on his part.

New instructions were delivered to him, imprinted directly into his mind without the use of words, a procedure his former self would have found agonizing. Powerful spells and enchantments were woven into his body, designed to hide his true nature from all but the most powerful senses. To finish the disguise, his former self’s personality was reawakened and imprinted onto the Undead who had replaced him. The behaviors he would affect would be nothing but a façade, but they would allow him to travel among the living without arousing suspicion.

After the process was complete, Laryn was transported near the mortal city of Akila, where he would prepare the way for a Great Plague of Undeath.

And, incidentally, where he would confront Hawke Lightseeker for the third and final time.

* * *

Desmond the Destroyer woke up from one nightmare to another.

“Wakey-wakey!” Leara said, her piercing voice almost as painful as the second poke with a sharp dagger. She liked to use the weapon as her version of an alarm clock. Desmond was usually awake before his mistress, but whenever she got up before he did, the hateful voice and a couple of dagger prods made his mistake painfully clear.

Desmond rolled out of the large circular bed that Leara took with her everywhere she went. The two minor wounds she’d inflicted on his hide – five and six damage, respectively – were healed before he was done summoning his clothing and gear from his Bonded Vault. The pain wasn’t a big deal, not anymore. Desmond had learned the hard way just how much agony he could tolerate. He followed the Fae out of her tent, a huge colorful thing that wouldn’t have been out of place in a circus. Leara made a gesture, and the forty-foot tent promptly disappeared into her Vault. You didn’t need an inn when you traveled with the Grinning Dancer.

Today, Leara had chosen to look like a blonde girl, human and athletic. The Cheerleader, she called the persona, using the English word. She spoke English as well as a native, and claimed to have lived on Earth for decades, running assorted missions for her lords and masters. Desmond watched her Glamour with mild interest. She had used sex to entice him into her service, but after he had sworn the right oaths, she only slept with him when it suited her, and it wasn’t always a pleasant experience. Leara liked to play some bizarre games.

With another gesture, she summoned a pair Fae Warhorses, massive beasts with wide mouths full of sharp teeth that betrayed their carnivorous nature. Desmond had seen one of those things bite off the head of an Orc Berserker a couple of weeks ago, when a group of bandits had unwisely decided to attack Leara and her manservant. Riding one of those monsters was like surfing a tsunami wave. They moved as fast as a car, except cars didn’t pummel your ass with every massive step they took. The mounts shimmered for a second before assuming the appearance of normal-looking riding horses, although Desmond knew that was just an illusion, a Glamour, just like Leara’s appearance or the name, species and stats on the status box floating over her head.

Over the past few weeks, Desmond had learned that the Fae lived in an ever-shifting dream state, reshaping their environment as it suited them. Their world was full of lies, and the worst part was that those lies often became reality. And he was trapped with one of them. He felt a panic attack coming up.

Trapped! Can’t get out! Can’t leave!

“You’re upset,” Leara said, sounding concerned. Another lie.

“No, I’m good,” Desmond said, biting his lip hard enough to draw blood. If he lost his cool, she would punish him.

“Here.” She handed him a small flask. “Drink this.”

He did. The fruit-flavored liquid had as much alcoholic content as eighty-proof vodka; he felt it burn all the way down his throat and chest. That wasn’t the only ingredient, though. The potion numbed his fear and despair, made them something remote, detached. He stopped caring about being bound body and soul to a cruel and possibly insane Fae woman. Everything was okay. He had gained a lot of levels and some great gear in her service. He was okay.

“Better?”

He nodded, and she ran her fingers lightly over his face.

“Good. Maybe after today’s ride, I’ll let you ride me for a bit. Would you like that?”

“Yes,” he found himself saying. “Very much so.”

“You’re so cute. Now, get on your horsey. We are going East!”

“As you wish.” She liked that phrase from The Princess Bride a lot.

He didn’t ask her why they were going east. He had quickly learned not to ask too many questions. After recruiting him, she had taken him to a Dwarven city, where they had murdered a merchant and his bodyguards. Then they had traveled north, among the Orc nomads that dominated the plains there. They had infiltrated one of their gatherings and killed a Shaman who had been forging a great alliance of tribes. After that, they had wandered around, doing nothing specific besides engaging in some recreational serial-killing. The victims were people who weren’t likely to be missed. Travelers, prostitutes, beggars. Leara didn’t care, just as long as she could entertain herself with some casual torture-murder.

Trapped. Can’t get out.

The thoughts were still there, but the potion made them distant, less urgent. He only wished that numbness would last forever.

“We are going to the Ruby Empire,” Leara deigned to explain. “To the city of Akila. You remember the place, don’t you?”

“Yes.” That was where everything had fallen apart. He and Nadia had been a team until they went to that cursed city and she had abandoned him.

“It’s going to be an old-fashioned reunion,” she went on. “Hawke Lightseeker is headed there as well. Wait until he gets a load of you.”

Desmond no longer recognized the face he saw in the mirror, except on the days when Leara made him look like his own self. The things she had done to him had changed him irrevocably, both physically and mentally. Regardless, the thought of seeing Hawke again brought a smile to his face.

He might be trapped. But he would enjoy getting some payback.

One

“This isn’t working!” Hawke shouted as he held on for dear life at two thousand feet.

<You don’t sound like you’re having fun,> Blaze griped as his wings beat steadily, killing his forward momentum.

Killing it a little too fast. The sudden lurch flung Hawke against the improvised leather and steel harness keeping him attached to the Drakofox. For a sickening second, he felt himself sliding free of the straps, but a quick grab at the handles in front of him – they weren’t reins; Blaze went where he wanted, and Hawke could make suggestions, that was all – prevented him from falling off. At their current altitude, Blaze would have about fifteen seconds to catch him before he hit the ground. The kit could probably manage the feat; he was surprisingly nimble for a thirteen-foot long beast. But Hawke didn’t want to find out one way or another.

“All right, no more diving or speeding,” he told his adopted son.

After stopping in midair, Blaze was hovering in place, his wings spread but unmoving. The furry wings helped him steer, glide and brake, but they weren’t what kept the silver-white critter aloft. Magic handled that, lots of it. They had discovered that Blaze burned through one Mana unit per second to fly when he was carrying Hawke, which didn’t sound like much until you figured that translated to sixty Mana per minute and thirty-six hundred Mana per hour.

Blaze regained power at the rate of eighteen Mana per minute; he could fly for a maximum of thirty-something minutes before running out of juice, and that was if he wasn’t casting spells or breathing fire, which also cost Mana. Gliding could add a few minutes to his flight time, but his range was limited. By himself, flying cost Blaze only half as much energy, giving him a bit over an hour of solo flight range. Hawke’s dream of spending the rest of his adventuring days in the saddle of a flying mount had been crushed.

And then there was the issue of the saddle itself. Orom’s leatherworkers had done their best, but the contraption and its straps kept stretching out under the stresses generated by the flying half-Fae, half-dragon beast. Whenever Blaze accelerated or decelerated too abruptly, Hawke was shaken back and forth, which had a way of loosening the straps holding him in place. Even with magic, physics was a cold, uncaring mistress.

<Do you want me to do another pass over the hills?> Blaze asked.

Hawke checked the straps. Several had come loose, and he couldn’t tighten them all without bending too far down and risking falling off.

“Nah. Take me down, please. I’ll see if we can fix the saddle and harness on the ground.”

<You got it. Thank you for flying Blaze Airlines,> Blaze said, sounding just like a bored commercial aircraft pilot.

Hawke didn’t have to ask where the Drakofox had gotten that bit of dialog. When he and Blaze had imprinted on each other, they had forged a psychic connection as strong as the one between him and Saturnyx. And now that Blaze had become an Ethereal Drakofox, capable of reading minds, Hawke’s brain was an open book to the giant fuzzball. All kinds of trivia had found their way to the white-furred monster. It would be more annoying, or even worrisome, if Blaze weren’t devoted to him, and vice versa.

Taking care not to toss him off the loose saddle, Blaze descended toward the road where the caravan was making its way to Akila. They were on the third day of the seven-day trip, assuming the weather held out. The wagons and riders had left the Sunset Valley Domain a day ago; the Legion’s Highway they were using was in poor shape that far from the town or friendly villages. Even Roman-style roads began to fall apart if nobody maintained them. As a result, the nine-wagon caravan was moving at little better than a walking pace. Hawke was using the opportunity to practice his dragon-riding skills, just in case he found a dragon he could ride at some point.

<You would abandon me for a stinking dragon?> Blaze chided him as he unstrapped himself and got off, nudging him with his snout. The kit’s pink wet nose smacked into Hawke’s back like a damp pillow wielded by a linebacker, making him stumble for a couple of steps.

“Watch it, furball,” he said with a grin as he walked to rejoin the travelers.

The lead wagon was manned by Korgam Stern, a Dwarven Adventurer who led the local chapter of the Stern Company, a mining and mercenary consortium dominated by the Clan of the same name. He handled the two horses pulling the covered vehicle with the ease of someone who has done a lot of traveling. His red beard was currently divided into two braids dangling from his chin. In combat, he would tie the braids behind his neck, using the thick matted hair as an extra cushion between his neck and his heavy armor.

“Look at ye, coming down from the sky like something out of an epic song,” Korgam told Hawke.

“Yeah, you should have seen me trying not to lose my lunch and crap my pants when I was up there,” he replied, walking alongside the wagon and easily keeping up with it. “Songs don’t mention that part, do they?”

The Dwarf laughed. “The drinking songs do, the ones composed by those who did some of the deeds they sing about.”

“Good to know.”

Korgam’s wagon was full or ingots of iron, copper and silver. There were even a couple of gold bars inside, each worth close to two thousand gold denars. Hawke knew the miners had also gathered some mithril, but they were keeping that in ore form, because a high-level Arcane Smith could improve the metal magically during the smelting process. Nobody in Orom was qualified for that sort of work, so the untreated ore was sitting in a strongbox at the bottom of the wagon. There had been jewels and other valuables, but those were kept in a precious Purse of Holding. After paying Orom their cut, of course.

Hawke looked back at the other wagons, strung out in a loose line that stretched over a couple hundred feet from end to end. Tava was riding Luna on the ground, staying off the road and trailing the caravan to keep everyone safe. Digger, his pet monster, which looked like the bastard child of a lobster and a scorpion, was off the side of the road, skittering along without a care in the world. A couple of Eternals, graduates of Tava’s Ranger School, led the way, examining the road and its surroundings.

The vehicles held local wares off to be sold in the big city: furs, rare herbs and other alchemical components, barrels of olive oil, which had dozens of uses and was always in demand, honey and beeswax, also easy to sell, and a few other things. Other than the alchemical components, none of the stuff was worth a lot of money; most of the merchants who had joined the caravan were looking to buy stuff in Akila rather than sell. They were bringing some goods mostly to help defray their costs. Their plan was to come back with tools, barrels of wine, fabrics, and other items that Orom couldn’t produce, at least not in the quantity that the people of the valley – and more recently, the Arachnoid tribes in the surrounding mountains – needed.

One of the wagons held Arachnoid trade goods. The spider people had domesticated a variety of subterranean critters that produced all kinds of exotic stuff. Instead of wood, for example, they used assorted kinds of chitin or a resin-like substance that one of their equivalents of sheep secreted. The materials were tough, lighter than wood, and waterproof. As soon as trade opened between the two communities, one of the local merchants had realized the potential for the plastic-like components and acquired enough of them to fill a wagon, to see what prices they could command in Akila. If the investment paid off, the Arachnoids would do very well. They had little use for coin, but their aversion toward mining meant they were always short of metal weapons and tools. Trade would improve everyone’s lives on both sides of the equation. That was the sort of situation that made Hawke glad to be in charge of a Domain.

He frowned at the thought of what was waiting for him in Akila. In the big city, Kaiser Wrecker and his gang of thugs were only looking for ways for make themselves prosper, no matter who suffered for it.

Hawke didn’t know if he was strong enough to stop them, but he intended to try.

Two

<It’s right near here,> Blaze insisted as he and Hawke slunk around in the middle of the night like a couple of thieves.

“I believe you,” Hawke said in a low voice. “I’d believe you even more if you hadn’t said the exact same thing a mile and a half ago.”

<It’s not an exact science, okay?> the Drakofox replied.

“We’re not flying over anything until we fix the saddle.”

“Yeah, with your mouth. Probably end up biting off one of my arms or legs, and then I’d hit the ground at terminal velocity, except I’d be pre-mutilated.”

Blaze laughed, sounding like a cartoon child. Apparently, the idea of him biting Hawke’s arm off while he fell to his death was hilarious to him. Hawke shrugged and continued to follow the long pale form of his adopted child through the dark forest. He’d waited until the caravan had made camp to go look for the ley line. The area was probably safe, but they were in Evergreen Circle territory, and even if the ancient sentient trees didn’t have a problem with travelers, there were dozens of Woodling tribes out there, some of which liked to take a swipe at strangers. He’d wanted to keep an eye on the wagon train until they were in a defensible position.

And if someone wants to take a swipe at me and my fox-dragon, they are welcome to try.

He had formed a two-person party with his furry buddy, which meant Blaze was operating at seventeenth level and Hawke was at twentieth, the maximum he could reach in the Common Realm. He was bumping into the level cap already, which made him theoretically as powerful as any being in the world. Theoretically. A level thirty Adventurer would have access to many more spells and abilities, not to mention better gear, which meant that they would be powerful enough to kick Hawke’s butt. But he didn’t think high-level travelers were thick on the ground in the Shadowy Foothills, and he wasn’t worried about a random encounter.

The woods around them were still recovering from the Revenant’s blight. They’d spotted several dead trees as they searched for the ley line. From what they’d seen so far, almost a fifth of all the plant life in the Shadowy Foothills had been killed by the Undead energies infecting them. In the summer, all that lifeless wood was going to become bone-dry and turn much of the forest into a giant tinderbox. If he worked out a deal with the Circle before then, maybe he could do something about it. A massive forest fire would devastate not only the Foothills but would affect his Domain. It was in everybody’s best interest to keep that from happening.

<There it is, just like I said,> Blaze said.

“Only took us half an hour to find it.”

<Perhaps this bickering can wait until we are back at the camp,> Saturnyx broke in.

<Sorry, Auntie Nyx.>

Yeah, sorry, Auntie Nyx.

the sword said primly. <If I were, we would have committed numerous sins against gods and men every time we have time to enjoy our bed sports.>

Point, Hawke replied with a grin as he examined the ley line Blaze had found.

Ley lines were conduits of magical energy. They linked places of power together, and could be used in a number of ways, like, for example, serving as the site for a new Mana Node. To the naked eye, there was nothing unusual about the patch of forest they had reached, but Hawke could feel its energy, humming like a power line. He turned on his Advanced Mana Sight and the line came into view like a fiery torrent of energy that was moving in a perfectly straight line. This particular power pathway ran roughly toward the northwest. It wasn’t linked to any points in his Domain, at least not yet. The energy coursing through it was pure Mana, unattuned to any Elements or Forces. That would make things easier.

“Okay. Now we just have to find a good spot to place the seed,” Hawke said.

<It goes on into a hill that way,> Blaze said, pointing with his pink-nosed snout. <Maybe plant it on the other side?>

“Okay, let’s check it out.”

Ley lines were unnaturally straight, but the path to the hill it bisected wasn’t. Too many trees in the way. He and the twelve-foot Drakofox had to skirt through a section of underbrush too thick to cross, a section where several dead trees had fallen against each other, making a mess or crisscrossing trunks. It took a few minutes before they reached the foot of the hill. As they got closer, Blaze froze.

<Undead. And aware of us,> Saturnyx warned a moment later.

Hawke drew the sword and cast the first of his buffs on himself as he saw something rise behind the hill. And rise. And rise some more, until whatever that was stood taller than the hill.

His Dark Vision let him see, but only in shades of blue. The neon-blue giant looming over them had tree trunks for arms and legs, and a thick mass of thorny vines for a torso. There was no neck, or a head, either: a pair of glowing eyes looked out of the upper part of that mass. Two arms long enough to serve as the wings of an airliner began to stretch out, each ending in four claws the side of medium trees.

Terror Tree (Undead Fae Elemental)

Level 16 Elite Aberration

Health 6,400 Mana 1,600 Endurance n/a

Well, eff my life, Hawke thought as a fist the size of a tiny house came crashing down on him.

He leaped away with inches to spare, feeling sharp branches cut the air right behind him as the wooden fist smashed into the ground. The massive impact pounded a crater into the ground and made the whole area shake, toppling down a few more dead trees and maybe a couple of live ones.

<BURN!> Blaze shouted with his mind as a stream of Mind energy came pouring out of his open maw. He leaped into the air flying in a circle around the giant aberration as he continued to bathe it in silver-white flames.

The Terror Tree recoiled from the painful attack, giving Hawke enough time to finish buffing himself and go on the offensive. He and Blaze cut loose with several anti-Undead spells. Some four thousand damage ‘units’ exploded upon the reanimated Elemental, plus another two thousand from the Drakofox’s breath attack. Celestial and Order energies burned through the woody mass of the monster. Its Health dropped by almost half – and sprang back to full a moment later.

WTF? Hawke had time to think before the monster said a word in a language he didn’t understand – and the earth came alive in the entire area.

Grasping hands and stone spikes exploded under Hawke, grabbing and stabbing him; the attacks inflicted hundreds of Death-infused damage per hit. His armor was punctured in multiple places. Dozens of wooden fingers wrapped themselves around his ankles and squeezed them with crushing force. A few others held on to his shield, trying to drag him down where more gripping limbs waited to immobilize him. His Mana Shield shifted the damage to his energy pool, which spared his Health and kept his limbs hale, at the price of losing over a third of his Mana.

Hawke swung Saturnyx into the ground, activating Elemental Burst. A mini-explosion of Light energy seared a twenty-foot radius around him, destroying all the grabbers. He used the freedom to fire off most combat spells while Blaze kept tearing into the giant with Mind-Fire and spells. Once again, the monster healed itself with impossible speed, and one of its massive limbs struck the Drakofox. Blaze went flying into the forest, smashing through several trees before disappearing from sight. Hawke heard a cry of pain in his head. Blaze was alive, but he’d been badly hurt.

Damn you. Hawke charged the monster, ignoring the stone spikes that kept springing under his feet and destroying the earth hands with spells or swings of his blade. He was running low on power, so he had to leap on a boulder, away from the spikes and earth limbs, trade Saturnyx for a Major Mana Potion and down it in a couple of quick gulps.

<I’m coming!> Blaze called out. He had healed himself before taking back to the air.

Be careful, Hawke told him as he stood on the boulder and fired off his combat spell rotation at the wood giant, only to watch it regain all its lost Health a moment later. The only time he had seen something like that was during his fight with a demon-Undead hybrid who had drawn power directly from a Dungeon Core implanted in its body. He could think of only one source of energy that could be doing the same thing here.

He leaped out of the boulder and rushed forward, not toward the monster, but in the direction of the ley line. Sure enough, he saw that the Tree Terror was standing right on top of it. He reactivated Advanced Mana Sight and saw exactly what he had been afraid he would: the ley line was being drained of its power by the giant monster. Hawke and Blaze had a few thousand Mana between the two of them, but they couldn’t compete with a ley line, which was pouring several thousand Mana per second into the Undead Elemental. That was a neat trick: Hawke couldn’t do that; even if he had learned a Node Mastery ability that let him tap into ley lines, his limit would have been a few hundred Mana per day. How was this bastard doing it?

Only way to find out was to watch the monster in action. Hawke and Blaze hit the monster with another round of spells while avoiding its flailing fists. Hawke also had to contend with the Earth spell that kept turning the ground into another enemy. It was hard to keep track of Advanced Mana Sight at the same time, but as the monster healed itself a third time, he managed to see what was going on.

The Terror Tree had created a Mana conduit to feed on the ley line. The process was very much like a vampire’s parasitic draining, just on a much larger scale. Watching how the monster took the power it needed, Hawke came to understand Undeath. Unlike regular Elements, it didn’t create anything, it only stole. It was Chaos’ bastard’s child, taking energy from the system to ensure its destruction. It was as if entropy were aware and malicious.

The realization took a couple of seconds, and they cost him another chunk of energy when a new set of spikes and grasping hands pummeled him like a piñata. He had to leap onto a nearby tree and climb some distance up to avoid them. The tree began to sway back and forth as the summoned Earth limbs tore into its roots. He’d better do something soon.

We’re on our way, Tava said through the sword. Luna and I. Korgam is keeping watch on the camp.

Stay airborne and keep your distance, Hawke replied. And for God’s sake make sure you’re strapped in tight!

He hadn’t bothered to take Blaze’s saddle along for the walk, because it was clear that trying to fight from it was too risky. And now Tava was flying to his rescue; at least she could shoot at the monster from a distance, but she could easily fall off the harness. A fall wasn’t automatically fatal even at terminal velocity, not for Adventurers whose bodies had been reinforced far beyond human limits, but it wasn’t something you could shrug off. Even high-level Warriors could die from a long drop if they hit the ground at the wrong angle.

I don’t remember telling Tava we needed help, he thought as he braced himself and leapt for another tree. A moment later, the one he’d used as a perch toppled over.

<You did not think of it. I did,> Saturnyx replied.

Hawke didn’t say anything to that; he had other things on his mind, like the Terror Tree stomping toward him, ignoring Blaze’s spells and Mind flames. As long as the giant creature stayed within a hundred feet of the ley line, it could continue to steal its energy and use it for healing. And also for casting spells: it spoke another word of power and Hawke was enveloped in an aura of Undeath that began to drain his energy.

This was just supposed to be a quiet stroll in the evening! Hawke protested as he watched his Mana pool drop toward zero.

Three

Hawke leaped from the tree and used his shield as an improvised sled to toboggan down the slope of the hill.

The mad slide would have been fun at any other time, but the bumps and leaps on the way down only added to the sense of urgency. The Terror Tree’s spell was still with him, eating away at his Mana and promising to do the same to his Health as soon as it got through to it. He managed to retrieve a Major Mana Potion and downed most of it just before he smashed into a tree. The impact made him choke on the rest of the syrupy liquid. He coughed and spat while he heard the sounds of battle above his position. From the woosh of flames, Luna had arrived and used her own brand of dragon breath on the monster.

Hawke had ended up at the bottom of a ravine, about fifty feet below the hillside where the Terror Tree stood, beset by the pair of Drakofoxes. His Mana jumped up, although he’d spilled too much of the potion to get less than its full effect. In any case, it began dropping immediately, and at an alarming rate. The Undeath curse was still afflicting him. In fifteen seconds or so, he’d be OOM – out of Mana, an old gaming term that meant you were screwed, since not being able to cast spells usually ended with your Health being zeroed out next. The only good news was that his slide into the ravine had taken him beyond the area of effect of the Earth-based spell with the spikes and hands. He cast Healing on himself, removing the Mana drain, and went to work.

The ley line ran across the ravine. His Advanced Mana Sight spotted it and he stepped toward it. This section was ‘downstream’ from the monster, and only a trickle of power was running down it. He focused on the spot, about sixty feet from his position, where the Terror Tree had stabbed the line with an energy shunt. Chugging another Major Mana Potion got him close to full; he studied the way the monster was draining power – and tried to copy it.

Chaos Funnel learning attempt failed!

Prerequisite not met: Unlocking Chaos magic.

Hawke cursed under his breath as he ran up the hill, heading toward the battle. Blaze and Luna – with Tava perched precariously on the red Drakofox – continued to circle the Terror Tree from a distance, raining death and destruction on it. The giant monster had used the same Mana drain spell on them, but they had used Healing to remove it before it could wipe out their energy reserves. Only problem was, neither Blaze nor Luna could use potions to restore their power, and one look at the stat boxes floating over their heads told Hawke that they were running low.

The Terror Monster ignored Hawke and began to cast another spell, one that took more than a single word. After seeing what the quickie spells were like, Hawke feared that it was going to be deadly – the fact that his Advanced Mana Sight showed him that hundreds of Mana units were going into it confirmed that feeling. The ground spell had finally expired, so he was free to rush forward toward the giant creature, whose Health was still at full. From the way the giant was looking at its flying attackers, they were going to be on the receiving end of the spell.

He reached the energy conduit and reached a Mana tendril toward it as he studied the Chaos-attuned power behind the draining magic. He had recently become an adept of Order, and felt that side of him rebel against what he was about to do. Every time you tried to bring two opposing types of magic into the same space – his body in this case – the conflict between them risked tearing it apart. Hawke had managed to do it twice before – Light and Darkness, Life and Death – and by doing it had learned about the complex network that governed the magical energies coursing through him.

He had never dealt with two opposing Forces before, though. They were more primal and inherently powerful than Elements, and also had what he would call a personality, a desire for something more than simple existence. Chaos and Order wanted opposite things, and when Hawke tried to bring them together, they pulled in opposite directions, burning and freezing him from the inside out. His Health bar dropped by half in one second; the damage ignored the Mana Shield protecting him. He was going to die, and his friends with him.

No choice. Hawke activated Timeless Mind and the world around him seemed to freeze, although it was him who had stepped out of the normal flow of events. His body was paralyzed, but so were the two opposite Forces beginning to split him in two.

Timeless Mind has triggered a Side Effect: Slowed Time (1%).

Slowed Time: You are out of synch with the normal flow of time. You move, act, and perceive the world 1% more slowly than normal. This will affect your reaction time and initiative in combat. Additionally, every time you trigger a new Side Effect, there is a 25% chance that it will be an aggravated version of Slowed Time, increasing the effect by an additional 1%.

This is a permanent effect.

Sumbitch. Nothing he could do about that, so Hawke tried to make the best use of what he had bought at the price of being slowed down for the rest of his life.

Root Chakra! The anchoring node of his personal energy network was the only thing that might save him, except he hadn’t opened it yet. He desperately tried to do so, unlocking the complex puzzle at the base of his spine. Rushing the complex process rarely worked, but he forced it, pouring Mana through the body Node. He felt something give down there, but he wouldn’t know if the Chakra was open until he released the time-freeze and saw – and felt – what he had done. One thing he was sure of, whether he succeeded or failed, it was going to hurt. A lot.

Here goes nothing, he thought, and let time flow normally again.

The hurting part happened right on schedule; he felt something tear up inside him. The sensation was similar to being kicked in the groin and ass, being stabbed in the kidneys, and having lava injected into his veins. Like all those things, but worse. His legs stopped working and the fell, mercifully landing on his face instead of his ass, which was on fire, perhaps literally. It took everything he had to look at the notification through the tears of pain half-blinding him:

Congratulations! You have acquired access to Chaos magic.

You have learned a new spell: Chaos Funnel.

Chaos Funnel (Master Spell)

Time to Cast: 5 seconds. Cooldown: 12 hours. Cost: 250 Mana. Duration: 1 hour. Range: 100 feet. Prerequisites: Node Mastery II or higher; Mana Channeling II or higher; must be in range of a ley line or Mana Node. Effect: Drain the power from a Mana Node or ley line. The amount of Mana absorbed every second is equal to 250 per caster level plus the Mana Node level.

Warning: Mana in excess of your capacity must be used within five seconds or it will overload your energy conduits, inflicting 1-4 damage per Mana point above your limit.

Additionally, while the spell is in effect the energy flow from the Node or line will be interrupted at the funnel point. This will alert entities with a connection to the network, as well as prevent any other use of its energy.

Finally, after the spell ends, there is a 1% chance (plus an additional 1% per minute the spell was active) of permanent damage or disruption to both the caster and the energy source being tapped. The side effects are random but often severe. Chaos is a dangerous and unpredictable Force. Only Chaos Adepts and Masters can reduce the risks of using this spell.

He couldn’t move his legs, but he could insta-cast the spell, and he did, aiming upstream from the Chaos Funnel the Terror Tree had created. The giant monster stopped casting when it noticed that its energy tap had dried out. At the same time, Hawke’s depleted Mana pool got an influx of 5,000 units, more than twice his capacity. That was okay: he leveled Saturnyx at the abomination and fired off a 6,000-Mana Elemental Strike.

A beam of pure light some fifteen feet wide erupted from the point of the sword. Even through his gloves, he felt the sword heat up intensely enough to soften regular steel. Only the enchantments bound into the blade prevented it from exploding when that amount of energy passed through it. And for the first time since he’d met her, he heard Saturnyx cry in pain. Well, it was more like a grunt; the Fury didn’t go for girly displays of emotion, even when she was in agony. Everyone was in for a world of hurt that night.

But none as badly as the Terror Tree. Unable to heal itself after Hawke diverted the ley line’s power, the only things standing between its Health and 6,000-30,000 points of Light-based damage (which doubled against Undead creatures) were its natural armor and resistance values. They weren’t enough, not by a long shot. The light beam hit it right below the eyes and exploded the monster like a one gallon water container hit by a heavy rifle bullet. The beam didn’t dissipate at its normal range, either, but kept going up toward the sky, where it was visible from the campsite two miles away, and likely all the way back in Orom, although at that distance it probably just looked like a bolt of lightning.

Hawke quickly killed the Chaos Funnel before it killed him. The kept pulsing out of the Root Chakra, and he still couldn’t move or even feel his legs. All he wanted to do was close his eyes and go to sleep, forever if he had to. His friends were all shouting at him in his head, adding a pounding migraine on top of all the other crap, but he ignored them and glanced at his newest notifications instead.

For slaying your foe, you have earned 2,880 Experience (360 diverted towards Leadership; 360 diverted towards Node Mastery).

You have earned 1,500 Experience towards Node Mastery.

Congratulations! You have awakened your Root Chakra!

You have earned 400 Experience (50 diverted towards Leadership; 50 diverted towards Node Mastery).

You have gained +10% to Mana Capacity and +1 to Mana Regeneration per minute.

You have gained Tranquil Mind (Mana Channeling Ability)

Tranquil Mind: By dedicating 10% of your Mana capacity towards centering and calming your mind, you gain (50+Level) percent resistance to all mental and emotional distractions, as well as mind-controlling or altering spells, and effects. You can ignore pain and discomfort and gain the same bonus to activities that require focus and concentration. The maximum bonus and resistance value cannot exceed 95%. Current bonus available: 72%.

You have found: 15 gold, 3 Major Mana Potions, 1 Major Healing Potion, 6 Pollen of the Walking Tree (crafting item), 3 Imbued Branches (crafting item).

Current XP/Next Level: 71,664/100,000. Leadership XP/Next Level: 47,534/50,000

Current Node Mastery XP/Next Level: 24,888/25,000. Current Guild XP/Next Level: 4,382/5,000

Nifty, he thought before drifting off into the dark.

Four

“Well, that was fun,” Hawke commented over breakfast, served at the crack of dawn.

Said breakfast consisted of a generous order of scrambled eggs with cheese, hash browns and a stack of pancakes with honey and something that tasted a bit like maple syrup although it came from a different tree; some kind of birch, he’d been told. Everything was made to his specifications and kept in the same state as it had been moments after it was cooked, thanks to his magical Inventory, the pocket dimension that all Eternals got free of charge to store their loot and any other crap they wanted to drop in it. Hawke was using it to lug a few tons of cargo around, as well as eighty-four meals ready to eat, divided into six different kinds of breakfast, lunch and dinner. He might be on the road, but he didn’t have to rough it when it came to feeding himself. He’d also devoted twelve more slots to bring enough food for everyone in the caravan, since he wouldn’t feel right enjoying good meals if everyone else was making do with the Imperial version of trail mix. He had the space, since he had emptied most of the stuff he didn’t need into the storage vaults at his Stronghold.

“Glad to see you are feeling all right,” Tava told him. She had kept watch over his unconscious body for most of the night, and looked exhausted. He decided to talk her into sleeping in one of the wagons, one of the well-sprung handful that wouldn’t bounce her up and down with every bump in the poor roads ahead.

“Well, all right might be pushing it. I can feel my legs, and I can sit down without screaming, as long as I do it slowly and carefully.”

And he could walk, but also slowly, with every step sending a shock of pain from his ass to the rest of his body. He’d tried using his new ability, Tranquil Mind, but it only took the edge off the continuous agony without eliminating it. Even worse, he soon discovered that when the power was active, it was too easy to focus on only one thing and ignore everything else around him. That wasn’t a good idea under the current circumstances, so he’d turned it off and endured the pain. It would fade away in time. He hoped. A good night’s sleep might help, but he had a lot to do and never enough time. The damn Terror Tree had messed up his schedule, on top of almost killing him and inflicting him with a permanent curse.

So far, nobody had noticed his Slowed Time effect, including him. One percent was probably not noticeable, and with his high Dexterity, he was still faster than any normal human alive. Th side effect wouldn’t become much of a problem until he screwed around with Timeless Mind too many times and it went up in strength. He mentally moved the ability from the ‘In Emergencies Only’ to the ‘In Absolute Life or Death Emergencies Only’ category.

“I just want to know why that freaking thing was still around,” he went on. “Without a Dungeon Core helping out, Larry the Revenant doesn’t have the juice to keep spreading Undeath everywhere.”

“That’s great. Wish I’d known and run away from it. Instead of, you know, nearly dying, not to mention tearing myself a new back hole.”

Hawke shuddered at the thought of the nearly-invincible monstrosity tearing through innocent villages, and had to nod in agreement. It had taken every unfair advantage he had to beat the monster, and even then it had been a near-run thing. Every time he thought he had a handle on things, the Realms seemed to delight in slapping some humility into him. To be fair, he usually came out of those situations stronger than before, although last night’s adventure had been unusually rewarding. He’d unlocked a new Force, learned a new spell, and gotten his third Chakra awakened. Only four to go!

“Anyway, I still have to go back to the ley line, since I was too comatose to finish the job last night,” he told the gathering around him. Besides Tava, they included Korgam, Helena Setes, who was the unofficial leader of all the merchants in the caravan, and several Adventurers and Eternals he’d brought along for security.

“From the aerial scouting we did, it should be safe enough for the next day or so. I will catch up with you by the day after tomorrow,” he concluded. He and Blaze would travel on the ground, he had decided, grimacing at the thought of having to fly. Hanging on for dear life while watching the ground from a couple thousand feet had turned out to suck.

“Wish we’d been able to help,” Lady Pew-Pew said. The ninth level Half-Elven Exalted Ranger was one of the six Eternals Hawke had brought along, a group that included Grognard (level fifteen Battle-Mage and Stalwart), and Boris Imdoomed (level seven Ranger-Warrior). The rest were newbies Hawke only knew in passing: Mandrako (5^th level human Wizard), Angus Kold (6^th level human Warrior) and Hoon (5^th level Half-Orc Druid). They’d been recommended by Grognard and Kinto, who spent more time with the other Eternals than Hawke did. That total didn’t include the three Dwarven Eternals Korgam was delivering to Akila. Through sheer bad luck (and in one case, two suicides), their Identities had gone down into the single digits. They had forgotten most of their previous existence and wanted to integrate into their people’s society. Weeks of mining and occasional adventuring had raised them to or close to eighth level.

“Maybe next time,” Hawke told her. “Although against that tree kaiju thing, only Grognard would have had a chance to survive.”

“And I don’t go looking for trouble,” the veteran said. “There’s plenty of it already.”

“There is that. I’m hoping all of you will pick up a few more levels by the time we make it back to the valley. We may end up tussling with the Herders, although hopefully not all of them at once.”

“I was a top-ranked PVPer,” Lady said. “And Boris won a bunch of arena tournaments back in the day. We’ve got you covered.”

Grognard sighed. “That was computer games. Things are a mite bit different here, as you may have noticed.”

“My fellow Rangers have acquitted themselves rather well in the field,” Tava said, coming to the defense of her prize pupils. “If they faced opponents of similar rank, I would expect them to prevail.”

Which was one of the problems they faced; the Earth and Realms Defenders were outnumbered and outpowered. The Nerf Herders had grown in leaps and bounds, having attracted dozens of new members since Hawke’s visit to Akila. Besides the big cluster of abductees in the swamplands close to the city, there had been three smaller ones nearby, each consisting of ten or twelve Eternals, mostly from North America or Western Europe. A fourth, even larger one, was centered around the port city of Ostas; it consisted primarily of Central and Eastern European players.

Kaiser and his henchmen had lured many of those Eternals into the guild, and once you were in, you couldn’t quit. According to the report Girl-Has had written for Hawke, there were only a couple of non-Herder Eternals in the city, both under the protection of Dwarven clans, and fourteen others in Ostas, where they had formed their own guild, the Knights of Stanislas, and told the Herders to go eff themselves. The rest, well over sixty Eternals, were either under Kaiser’s control, or perma-dead.

To make things worse, the Herders put their favored members – the ones willing to follow Kaiser’s orders unflinchingly – through a continuous grind at the local Proving Grounds, which included a high-level Labyrinth that had portals that led to the Gates of Tartarus, right in Hawke’s back yard, although thankfully the rival Guild hadn’t figured that out yet. most ‘active duty’ Eternals in the Herders were level twelve or higher, with Guild officers in the fifteenth to eighteenth-level range. And grinding Proving Grounds would provide those Eternals with lots of magical weapons and devices.

Hawke had started improving the Defenders by creating dozens of Guild Quests. Even simple ‘fetch and carry’ and ‘collect ten Alchemical ingredients’ quests provided experience, cash, and minor item rewards. It wasn’t much, but the Guild Quests had helped most of the Earth and Realms Defenders get over the fifth level hump.

Still, he wasn’t going to Akila to fight, so he had only brought a small group of Eternals, as well as Tava and the Drakofoxes, plus Digger and Bear, of course. If the Herders came after, his team didn’t have the numbers or power of win against the entire enemy Guild, which had over thirty fighting members. On the other hand, he could count on the Stern Clan and, through them, the Dwarven Hills community, a city district on the northwest side of Akila where three thousand Deep People lived. And there were other potential allies in the city; Girl’s notes had made it clear that the Herders had made a lot of enemies in Akila, including the largest wizard’s association in town. Hawke was hoping to use diplomacy to take Kaiser and his gang down, or at least down a notch. A set-piece battle would play to the Herders’ strengths. He wasn’t planning on giving it to them.

If it happened anyway, he had a few tricks up his sleeve. He hoped he wouldn’t have to use them, but he was willing to nuke them from orbit, just to make sure.

Five

You have placed one Mana Node Seed on a ley line.

Proceed? Y/N

After agreeing, Hawke took a step back and watched the glowing green construct sink gently into the earth. He had found a natural cave on the side of the hill where he had met the Terror Tree, close enough to the ley line to serve as a Node site. Now all he had to do was burn some Mana and let the energy egg become a full-grown construct.

Mana Node Seed (Life)

Health 1,000 Mana 9,975 Endurance n/a

He had been feeding Mana to the seed every day, getting it close to the ten thousand it needed to arise. Now that it was on fertile soil, as it were, all it took was a trickle of energy to make it sprout. He had seen the process three times already, but it was always a sight of wonder. The Life Node burst into light, bringing comfort and vitality everywhere. For a few seconds, even the toothache-like pangs from his overstressed Mana channels vanished, making him gasp in relief at simply not feeling continuous, intense pain.

The area had been ravaged by Undeath and the Terror Tree that had encroached there, but the surviving plant life took the infusion of Life energy and improved visibly: from the mouth of the cave, Hawke saw new leaves appear branches straighten, and seeds sprout and grow a season’s worth in a matter of seconds. The pulse of Life followed the ley line’s flow, healing all living things along its path. Hawke grinned, ignoring the flareup from his Root Chakra when the effect passed. He had done a good thing there, even if it also benefitted him.

<That felt great,> Blaze agreed. He nuzzled Hawke. <I’m going to miss you, man.>

“It’ll only be a day. I’ll be back here tomorrow morning, and I’ll see you then.”

“Good. Now let me finish. We’re burning daylight.”

You have accessed: Level 1 Mana Node (Life). You have the following choices:

Leave Mana Node alone: No risk or reward. Y/N

Claim Mana Node: +250 Experience, +100 Mana as long as you are within 1 mile/level from the Node. Y/N

Destroy Mana Node: +500 Experience, +1 Spirit. Y/N

Absorb Mana Node, gaining three new Life spells, +50 permanent Mana pool increase. Y/N

Hawke claimed the Mana Node. Normally, doing that brought a surge of strength as his Mana pool increased, as well as a warm feeling from having a place of power become a part of him. The energy flow ran through his damaged Mana system, however, sending another burst of pain through his lower body and making him stagger. He had to lean on Blaze to stay on his feet.

<You shouldn’t be using power until you heal,> the Drakofox told him.

Saturnyx agreed. <But unfortunately he has business to conduct and if he waits too long it will be difficult to rejoin the caravan, even with your help, little one.>

The sword kept using that term of endearment on Blaze, despite the fact that the fur-loaf now weighed five times as much as Hawke did in full armor, and was too long to fit in a horse carrier even if someone cut off his fuzzy tail. Even so, he also thought of the massive Drakeling as a small child. It was hard to believe that the critter and his sister had grown from tiny cubs to their current size in a matter of days. And that he and Tava had become devoted to them – and vice versa – in the same amount of time. Magic rushed things, sometimes, or made them so intense that you could experience a lifetime’s worth of feelings in a few hours. It could also reduce your lifespan just as quickly and suddenly, of course.

“Listen to Tava,” he told Blaze, ruffling the pelt between his ears and getting nudge from his furry snout in return. “Keep everyone safe, okay? I’ll see you tomorrow morning, rain or shine.”

With that, Hawke used Node Travel and made his first teleport of the day.

* * *

Gosto Kintes looked up from his gardening when the shift in energies warned him of Hawke’s arrival.

“Greetings, Lord Hawke,” the young Druid Warden said, the formal greeting clashing with the grin on his face.

“Greetings, Grove Warden,” he replied, taking a few stiff steps towards the kid and shaking his hand. He didn’t want to show it, but the teleport had kicked his ass, sending a jolt of agony from his bruised Root Chakra through his entire body. Pulses of pain kept radiating from there. He forced himself to act normally, but sweat dripped down from his forehead as his body reacted to the continuous torment. Gosto’s smile faltered, but he took his cue from Hawke and ignored the situation, clearly figuring it was Hawke’s business and not his.

“It is good to see you,” he continued. “I was able to plant my last Node Seed, so I can run some last-minute business before I have to rejoin the caravan.”

Technically, he could return to his Domain all the way from Akila and beyond, thanks to his Node Recall ability, but that was a one-way trip; going back would have to be done by conventional means. Having a Node closer to their destination had made it possible for him to make it there and back without trouble. Teleportation was great, but it had limits, and working around them made life complicated. Since Blaze and Luna could only travel for a limited distance before they ran out of Mana, flying was a distant second best option. Magic wasn’t a cure-all, although it could come close sometimes.

Gosto nodded. “I am glad you managed to do so. I know the caravan’s departure could not be delayed any longer, but events have transpired in the past two days that need your attention.”

“Of course. Can’t have a day go by without some crisis rearing up is ugly head.”

That wasn’t entirely fair. He’d gone through a couple of weeks without a fight to the death, a major mystical upheaval, or news of some threat arising from a random cardinal point. Still, he was looking forward to a whole month of peace of quiet. He was on his fourth month in the Realms, and he still hadn’t had one of those.

“Yesterday, I received an emissary from the Evergreen Circle, suing for peace. A Sapling Warrior, empowered to speak for the Great Trees that rule the Circle.”

“Okay, that’s pretty big. Did he offer terms?”

Gosto nodded. “An end to hostilities, although the Circle claims not to hold sway over independent bands of Woodlings, or many of the beasts that dwell in the Foothills, many of which are likely to remain hostile. Some Undead still prowl the woods as well. They accept that our people have the right to defend ourselves, of course.”

“That’s fine. We’ll have parties of Eternals patrolling these woods; I already have assigned a bunch of Guild Quests sending people here looking for herbs, crafting components, running errands for you, and so on. If somebody wants to pick a fight with them, it’s more XP for our guys.”

And more respawnings and Identity losses for unlucky Eternals as well, but that was how things worked in the Realms.

Gosto grinned again, probably enjoying the idea of having entire parties of Eternals working for him. He went on: “The Circle has also agreed to cede control over the area around my Grove, accepting it is part of the Sunset Valley Domain.”

“That’s a big concession. What do they want in return?”

“Help in cleansing the blight the Revenant inflicted upon their land. Our promise not to cut down any living tree, although they will consent to our removing any and all the dead trees left behind by the curse. Our gatherers may take herbs, but take care not to take too many from any given area, leaving nothing to regrow.”

“That seems fair. We can send lumber-gathering parties in and help clear all the deadwood they can cart off. I’ll set up Quests for teams of Adventurers to serve as escorts. It’s a good deal for everyone: fuel and construction materials for us, and less danger of massive fires in the summer for them – and for us, so we’re really getting a good deal. Since you are in charge here, I’m leaving orders that any party venturing into the Foothills has to swear an oath to you and Cerunnos to do as the Circle asks. I’ll even set you up with the power to grant Quests to Guild members.”

An oath to a god was a serious thing, which would help ensure nobody got greedy enough to mess up the peace process. And Gosto, being a Guild official, would be able to help members get extra XP and loot from doing their jobs.

“Some of your fellow Eternals may balk at swearing oaths to a ‘pagan god.’ I have heard such talk around town.”

“Tell them not to think of Cerunnos as a god, then, just a big, powerful entity that will make their lives a living hell if they violate a contract with him. But if they can’t swear the oath in good conscience, that’s fine, too. They just won’t get to adventure in the Foothills.”

“It will be as you say, Lord Hawke. The Circle wishes to meet with you to further discuss matters. From what their emissary said, they seek an alliance. Perhaps even to join the Domain, although that may require more negotiations.”

“Well, that gets added to my to do list when I come back from Akila. And you’re coming to the meeting. Your father, too. Kinto can smell a scam from a mile away, and he has more experience with the Wild Fae than any of us.”

“That would be wise. The Children of Yggdrasil are Fae spirits born into wood instead of flesh, but they are as experienced in deceit and trickery as any other. That they are so generous in their first entreaty worries me.”

“Yeah, me too. The only question is, are they planning something, or are they afraid of something else?”

“Perhaps both things are the case.”

“There is that.”

cjcarella@cjcarella.com