They do not understand, the fools. They reject me. Track my every move. Th4DwArfY1 undermines every effort made to strengthen us against the impending doom. He made a second military unit, Ruhn’s. He thinks they follow only him, independent from me. I know it, I know he seeks to ruin this entire effort. It all started when I appointed him in a fit of madness. I should’ve chosen more wisely. Never again. Never again will I leave it to fate’s chance. I make the choices now. I choose.
The hallway shimmers in unengraved colors as I walk through it. I see faces on the walls. Some forumitian, some demonic and some terrifying. They scream at me, but make no noise. I know what they say though. Yes, I do. They all tell me the same thing in different ways. Bring him back. Bring the destroyer back. Bring the savior back. The former a screeching sound willing to be obeyed, the latter a mad cackle with the sound of a thousand bugs as they rend into flesh. I see it. It is a machine, not bugs. I wonder what it is.
They tell me what to do, but I will not do what they want. The voices lie too. They lie. I know it. They want to use me. Use me just like the others. They don’t know I know. They mustn’t know. Oh yes, I won’t let them know. They think I dance to their tune, oh no. I will use them. I will use them too. I will use everybody. Even the people around me.
They blame me. Blame me for Tsiru’s death. Blame me for bringing them here. Some want to go back. A woman gave birth a few months back. She wanted to go back home to care for it. I didn’t let her. We need the babe. The babe is critical for the future of this outpost. I put her at my axe’s range and willed her to stay or the capital will send her to the gallows via private jury. She listens now. Listens well to everything I say. Everybody knows about it. Th4DwArfY1 heard about it. He breeds a resistance. Hahahahaaa... Resistance.
He shamed me publicly with that little speech of his. Undermined the authority of the military leader. That cannot be let to stand. The head bean counter. He was there when Th4DwArfY1 made the speech. I remember him. Before I left in a fury he looked at me. He looked at me with a disappointed look. The message was clear. Deal with this insubordination or be court-martialed for failing a top-priority project.
My head feels heavy. Emotion has all but left me. The crown that rests on my head feels heavy but powerful. It’s a choking sensation. The edges of it rub against my scalp. I feel as if it’s embedding deeper into it. It’s getting harder and harder to let it go when I sleep. But it’s working. I see how they look at me. Terror in those who lack loyalty or discipline, nervousness in those who have. They now understood. I’ll rest on a throne of bones before anybody ruins this place. And they will be subject to that will.
Arx tells me I talk sometimes. A voice not of my own. He has been talking with Quill a lot recently. He thinks Armok’s influence reaches this place. Says that I’m unstable. But I see what Erin does when he’s in my presence. Always fiddling with that damn thing of his. He was Tsiru’s friend. Tsiru. Why can’t I remember much about Tsiru? It doesn’t matter. I know what to do now, and there is only one way to accomplish it. Nobody will resist. They will fear me. The ends justify the means.
The corridor has finally ended. Was it always this long? In front of me stands a stone door. One of the many that I had mandated. This was one of unused bedrooms at the far corner of the fortress. They waited inside. My arm feels heavy. A sense of hesitation fills my stomach. Why do I hesitate? The ends justify the means. Do they?
Just as quickly as that feeling came, it went. Emotion left me, seemingly being sucked upwards. My head feels heavier now. Yes, the path is clear. No time for hesitation. I open the door and enter it with muffled feet. Inside I observe the preparation. The woman and her babe are here. She is roped and gagged. In the middle is a stone table. Around the table on the edges of it on the ground are stone spikes and rope attached to them. There is another table in one side of the room, filled with various objects, mainly of medical association. There are also rare herbs on it. Herbs that cost quite a lot to acquire from the traders, and even more without the knowledge of anybody else. My most trusted soldiers cover the room. Quill is here, with a knife poking him at his back. He seems pale. Arx isn’t here. He never would’ve agreed. I never told him. They would call us fanatics for what we’re about to do, but they do not understand and they never will.
I step in front of Erin, my crown making me seem nearly as tall as a human. I could see him close his eyes as he seemingly became even paler. I could swear he would faint by the amount of sweating he was doing. It doesn’t matter. He would obey in the end.
“Erin Quill. Magitechnician, traplord extraordinare, siege engineer and marksmite. It has finally come time for you to be of use to us.” He opened his eyes and when he saw me pull out a familiar bunch of documents, he was practically having a seizure and needed to be held by some of my soldiers. My soldiers. Not Th4DwArfY1’s. Not the council’s. Mine. “During a justified search for spy activities done with the intent of undermining this whole operation, in your room, it has come to my attention that you have devised a theoretical way to force constant exposure to the visions, insomuch that they become the visions themselves. Your dream catcher, as silly as I find it saying, has also shown results of being able to replicate certain visions in some people with the proper affinity and location, being able to even to influence it via objects in the vicinity of the subject.”
I start circling around the table, touching the edges of it with my calloused hand. All eyes are on me. The woman’s tears which seemed to have dried by the time I showed up started welling up when I walked near her. Likely an influence of the crown. I pay her no heed, she is of weak character. The ends justify the means. I stop in front of Quill again.
“I am a merciful person, Quill, even if it doesn’t look like it. We have the instructions on what to do but I’m letting you have a chance. You will perform the vision induction on this woman according to my wishes and do any necessary adjustments. The alternative is less than pleasant for it be considered.” I wave at my troops. “Set her up.”
They undo the rope, but keep the gag and force her on the table. She resists but not by much. She is both weakened and has no chance against hardened soldiers. She is tied using the ropes on the spikes and is unable to move at all. The baby merely watches all this with fascination. A true soldier, that one. I order them to release Erin and he recoils as he gains control of his body. I hand him a piece of paper, not of the documents from earlier.
“Here is who I wish you to induce in this woman, permanently, Erin Quill. Later today you will also induce the person on the other side of the paper, whom I assume will take more time.” He scans the page with trembling fingers as he reads. When he turns the paper and sees what’s on the other side, he dropped the paper and started whimpering, backtracking. He was met with a push that made him lose control of his knees and fell to them. Tears were starting to well in his eyes. All signs of madness and eccentricity now gone. All that stood before me was a simple forumite, his character forged by a smithy not meant to last under duress. Those kind made for poor weapons.
“I-I-I-I.. c-c-can’t do this-s-s-s. You can’t bring him back! She’ll die if you do this! Tsiru was certain that he was the cause of the last tragedy!” I watched him with cold, unfeeling eyes. Erin was weak.
“You don’t have a choice. Start now.” I wave yet again and they pull him up to his feet and point a knife at his back, making sure he feels it. After a few droplets fall from his face, he wipes it and after a bit of hesitation he starts the procedure. He starts working on the side table, creating a concoction that will induce those visions. The voices in my head start growing louder. LIAR. LIAR. DECEIVER. KILL HIM.
The heaviness of the crown of bone grows and I start getting a pounding headache. As if somebody is trying to pry open the gates of my mind. Then I see it. Quill isn’t following the instructions. He’s using the wrong herbs in the wrong order. I walk up to him with haste and in a moment of fury scream and bash him across the face with the back of my gauntleted hand. He crashes into the table with his pelvis and lets out a yelp as he falls to the ground, holding his face. I pull him up using his shirt and bring him close to my face. My eyes are fully open now. Everybody is resisting. Resistance is futile. This is no time for mercy. My free hand waves at the soldier holding the baby and she brings it up.
“Erin Quill. You will not sabotage this operation under the pretense of morals. You are first and foremost a soldier, second a living being. Failure is not without consequences. If any future issues arise with the completion of this procedure, the baby will be taken as collateral damage. Do you understand?”
A moment passes as Erin watches my eyes in a mixture of fear and shock. Once he realizes what I have said he starts sobbing as his tears well up again and he nods. I let him go a bit roughly. He starts working on the herb creation again, while trying to muffle his sobs. His mental state slows the process itself, however it proceeds without a hitch. This time I made sure to watch him follow the instructions and asked him his reason for deviating from the formula when he did. He gave good reasons. The voices in my head have abated. I will have to trust his goodness as a person about not ruining the procedure at the cost of likely his life, the baby’s and the woman’s. The ends justify the means.
Once he finished with the concoction, he takes the various objects that have been linked with this person. A medical rag. A saw. Various state of the art medical needles of all sizes and a crutch. He places them near the woman held on the table. At this point not much had been left of her. She watched the ceiling with no reaction. Shock induced catatonic state. Common in soldiers put through torture. Perfect, this will make things easier.
Finally, as Erin was bringing the mixture to her and was getting rid of the gag, he fell in complete moaning and crying. Damn, I forgot his own emotional state might hinder us. I immediately took the potion from him before he drops it in angst and push him to the ground as he places his hands on his face. I pull the gag and force the liquid into her. She takes it in without resistance or sound, her catatonic state greatly helping in that effort.
Seconds passed and nothing happened. Tension was in the air, some of my soldiers now shifting their eyes. A minute passed and still nothing happened. I was about to lash out at Erin in anger for sabotaging the entire thing when her eyes rolled back and she started shaking. Everybody stepped back as we watched what we had done. Something was happening. Old forumitian escaped her lips. Words like chainsaw, railgun and laptops permeated the room. Objects previously rare in the world that have started showing up again as Ur and Armok returned. It was working.
She stopped. Her eyes came back. A stone face looked at us as she moved her head. Her eyes stopped at me. At first I thought she recognized me as the leader, but at closer inspection I saw her looking at the crown. The crown of bone. When she opened her mouth and started speaking something, I knew it had worked. We succeeded. I succeeded. Another backbone upon my throne of bone.
A laughter wells up in me and I let it all out. I hear raucous voices cry out in my success. We laugh and cackle. Victory is in our grasp. We will rule. I will rule. A creaking is heard. My back swivels immediately. The door is slightly ajar. Everybody in the room is still here. I hear running in the hallway. I order the soldier closest to the door to open it and then I see it. Mud and gravel. The signs of a miner, and I know which one. My face contorts into a sardonic grin, head tilted. I see it. I see the path I must take. Blood. Blood and bone. The metal upon which my forge is based. I chuckle as I close the door to finish the preparations. Soon all shall be blood and bone.
Feet trot amongst the wide corridors of Necrothreat. Faces peer out of their rooms to watch. Some eating, some sleeping, most working. I stand at the head of this parade. A parade to my success. A parade of change. We have succeeded in our goal. The door to the barracks is in front of us. Without halting I burst into it and halt with my soldiers. My elites. My army. In front of us stands the second regiment. Ruhn’s regiment in the middle of training. He stares in surprise as we gather. He always was nervous at my presence. It didn’t matter. He was merely a tool. A marionette of Th4DwArfY1. He was just going to change puppeteers.
“Ruhn of the second regiment. As lord general of the Necrothreat brigade and the power vested in me by the council of kings, you are hereby mobilized in an effort to topple the sabotaging regime of Th4DwArfY1, accomplish the goal of this excursion and establish order and discipline among this military outpost. Failure to abide is and will get you court-martialed.”
He just gapes at my statements like a country bumpkin. This is the military by the godforsaken guardians. Discipline requires immediate obedience else we face the ghastly consequences often resulting in loss of limb and life. Shifting from one foot to another, he answers me.
“Apiks, what’s this all about? What do you mean topple Th4DwArfY1? What’s all this talk of lord general? Overseer Th4DwArfY1 is just doing his job. I won’t put my soldiers at risk without good reason.” He responds with pleading in his voice. Fool. Just a puppet. A tool. He is of no consequence. Just another bone.
“As highest ranking officer on the spot and lord general of Necrothreat I hereby take direct command of Ruhn’s second regiment in this operation. Insubordination will result in death without court-martial. Effective…” I gaze into Ruhn as he gazes into me with his mouth open. “Immediately. Ruhn as an exception is now given the option of laying down his uniform or follow me. Is everything understood?” I look across the soldiers from Ruhn’s regiment. Of course they were already mine. Do you take me for a fool to split the military in two? I’m sure Th4DwArfY1 had such ideas when he created this regiment. There is a reason most of the military is made of females. The voices were right. Playing along was the right choice.
Every single woman saluted with the double tap and gathered in line. The men were less eager but fearing so many of us they joined. Finally I saw Ruhn line up as well. It was obvious he was uncomfortable. This is the military. It’s not supposed to be comfortable. I walked through the front of the line, from one end to the other, ending in Ruhn. I stand in front of him.
“Ruhn will take point in apprehending Th4DwArfY1. He will be taken alive. No use of weapons is allowed unless casualties are spotted among us.” I felt like the crown was changing, shaping itself to my skull. Contorting. My face was cold. Was it always this cold? My moment of wonder ends as I remember. Blood and bones. “Am I understood, maggot?”
With a grimace he nods, having no choice now. He was now under my strings. There would be no resistance. I turn around, step forward and point forward. “Let us make Necrothreat great again. Move out.”
At first there was silence in the air, only the dampness of the air remaining. Then there was movement. We were going. Ruhn was in front, I a few lines behind him. Going straight for the office of Th4DwArfY1. Some of the civilians were curious now and followed us. Others weren’t quite so sure and hid. A few were so busy with their ducks and wood crafting that they paid us no heed. The air was thick and heavy. Heavy like the crown of bone, jutting from my head now as an extension of myself. The throne of bone would be built. Blood and bone.
We stopped. My army has arrived at its target destination. The walls look at me with their changing faces, screaming and burning. My soldiers look at me for orders. Ruhn looks at me for confirmation. I nod. He gets to work at banging the door and hollering for Th4DwArfY1. Nobody responds. Ruhn looks at me and I make a motion to break down the door. He steps back, readies his shoulder and slams right into the stone door before anybody can stop him. Of course he wouldn’t know how to break down a door properly. He’s a crossbowman, how could I forget. I facepalm myself and ignore Ruhn’s cries of pain as he likely dislocates his shoulder. Won’t be training for a while.
I step up and move him away. I stand in front of the door, tell the closest soldier to hold my back. Bracing myself, I lift my foot up and put all my weight on it. This is how you break open a door. Of course a crossbowman wouldn’t know how. A scream enters my mind.
The door breaks open without resistance. Huh, that was much easier than I expected. What I saw inside I did not expect however. There she was, the woman, Erin and Th4DwArfY1. The last two with crossbows ready behind a table and the woman behind a cabinet. How did Erin and the blasted woman manage to escape? I had them placed with four of my soldiers! Blasts! Curses enter my mind.
They let their bolts loose. My instincts kick in and I roll to the side, hearing the hissing bolts pass by me. A moment later I hear a cry of pain as somebody topples down. I recognize it as Ruhn’s. When I looked back I saw him with two bolts jutting out of both of his shoulders. Won’t be using them anytime soon indeed. Focusing my vision on Th4DwArfY1 and Erin I see them grow in panic as they realize who they hit. They fumble around trying to load the next bolt, but they’ve made a mistake. Crossbows don’t reload that fast. Voices enter my mind.
“Secure them! Nobody is to die!” I shout to my army as they enter the office. At this point I’m glad that I made the bedroom so big. There is enough space here to fit all of us and more. Just as I was enjoying my glee I hear shouts from my sides where my troops were streaming in. Some had arrows jutting out of them, others metallic splinters, others outright stones on them. Traps! Curses, when did he have time to set them up? This must’ve been premeditated. For how long has he been waiting? Anger enters my mind.
What I didn’t expect to see is that the woman was holding my troops back. With what I could not say, except that they couldn’t move pass a certain point in the room. It looked like it had a green tint and smelled of… disinfectant? The troops have disregarded my order to take them alive and have pulled out their weapons, trying to bash their way through the barrier, and failing. We were losing. Victory was escaping my grasp. No! I will not let anybody stand in my way. This fortress is mine. Mine. A pounding on a door enters my mind.
Two more bolts are loosed as they’re aimed at me and just as quickly as they’re flying my axe enters my hands. One misses me but the other flies true and ricochets off of my axe and grazes my left cheek, drawing blood and splatters it on my entire face. It makes me drop my axe as it forcibly turns me around. The weight of my crown throws me to the ground and I stumble as I get dizzy. I’m lying in a puddle of blood. Blood. The crown is bloodied. Blood and bone. I taste my blood. The door opens. Power enters my mind.
I stand up and blood flows freely around me. I feel power. Power over life and death. I sense that nobody in the room is dead. My army is alive. Victory is still a possibility. I see it now. Blood in one hand, the essence of life. Bone in the other, the remains of death. Armok and Ur respectively. But in the middle is time. A third party. The chronicles said Sprin and Apiks transcended space and time, I remember now. This power. It is… intoxicating. With this I don’t have to stop at Armok and Ur. I can take over the entire world with this. Nobody to resist. No one can.
My reverie is broken by another two bolts flying at me. Strange, they seem so slow. I will a wall of blood in front of me and the bolts are deflected. I see the woman’s face now. It is one of horror. She is scared. Jenny. I think that’s her name. Companion of Sprin. Why do I know this? It doesn’t matter. I see her barrier. It looks weak. So very weak. I walk towards it. The traps don’t even graze me, the bolts miss me from being so slow. I’m in front of it now. It does smell of alcohol. Disinfectant. She was a nurse. I look around and see Th4DwArfY1. My anger returns. The fool. The cause of this whole mess. Everything that has happened was his fault. He never should’ve come here.
With a simple touch the barrier breaks like glass. The woman pulls out a knife and throws herself at me but I merely swat her to the wall with my powers. Erin pulls out another contraption, one that looks small and metallic with a trigger. He uses it and I hear a great rumbling sound. A moment later I look at my stomach and see blood. I look at him again, my face blank, his the opposite as he is fumbling with the trigger. I walk towards him and he shoots again. This time at my chest. It didn’t work. There was already a layer of blood there protecting me. Another step and I’m in front of him. I push the device out of his hands. It falls to the ground and fires on its own. The result hits him in the leg and he falls down in agony, clutching at his leg. All that’s left now is Th4DwArfY1. The source of my problems.
The voices scream in unison as he is in my hands reach. I can hear wardrums and cries for blood and bone. I could swear I saw hideous creatures in the shadows of the room, cackling in glee. And then pain in my stomach again. I look down and see a funny little thing jutting out of my guts. A bolt. He let loose a bolt at point blank. I look at his terrified face. I should’ve been angry. I had a right to be furious. I had a right to be terrified. I could’ve even ran away and nobody would complain. Yet there was no reason to. I had won. I simply smiled at him and clutched his throat. Blood, bone and time.
The table room stood empty. I placed Th4DwArfY1’s limp body on the table and got to work creating the concoction. I remember how it was done perfectly. I even know what the machine from earlier was. A chainsaw. It rends flesh with amazing efficiency. What a magnificent weapon. Shame it was used in medicine mainly, but I do see it’s use for battle medics. I hummed a cheerful tune. I had won, after all.
I told the civilians to gather the casualties in their bedrooms and keep a watch on them. Miracilously nobody had died. The wounds normally would worry me but not in this case. He was coming after all.
I put Jenny bound and gagged in a secure location. Only I knew of it. My wounds hurt but I didn’t mind them much. Soon they wouldn’t matter. I saw figures in shadows perfectly now. Little goblins jumping up and down in laughter. I didn’t mind them much. It was a time to be merry.
The concoction was now done. I didn’t even need to bound and gag the body. The potion slipped into his mouth, the vial now empty. I stepped back and hummed and heaved as the power in me twisted the insides of the body. The heart started beating again, the spine straightened. Time was sped up and nerves reconnected. Then I groaned as I started controlling the visions. I knew what I was searching for, and I got it. Th4DwArfY1’s eyes rolled back and he started spasming. A minute later his eyes popped open. It was a success. Those were not Th4DwArfY1’s eyes. Those were the eyes of a madman. He looked and me and when he saw my crown, I immediately felt a force push me back. I groaned, exhausted from what I had just done to revive him as I hit the wall. I was pinned to it. The madman stood up and looked at me as if calculating me. Just when I thought he decided to get rid of me, I interjected with a gasp “Jenny.” His hand stayed.
“Release me.” A breath ”I have Jenny.” He looked into my eyes, as if to see if I was lying and a moment later I was on the ground, coughing some breath into myself. I stood up and faced him as his face turned ferocious.
“Where is Jenny, thing of darkness?” He bared his fangs at me. I would let this slight go, he has, after all, not been alive for hundreds of years and is instrumental in my future.
“Hello. Name’s Apiks. I think you knew my namesake. I have placed Jenny in a time stasis in a location only I know of. If I release it or you kill me, the stasis will be broken and she will die.” I could swear his face grew in insanity as he heard what I was saying. “I brought you back from the dead, I brought her back too. Do what I tell you to and you will see her alive and well. We have a war to win here. If I insomuch think that you’re sabotaging me, she will die. And then she’ll die again, and again.” I gave him my best smile. “Welcome to Necrothreat, Sprin.”
It is done. My powers have now let me detect bones in nearby places. I see them, and I find them. The companion to my crown has been built. I stand before it as the entire military and every citizen of Necrothreat is here. Sprin is also here. Everybody knows what happened. The mission of Necrothreat was a success. How ironic that this success would be founded on what that fool Th4DwArfY1 tried to topple me with. A symbol of the olden times. Sprin. And now two symbols of rule. My rule.
I climb the first stair and feel the power permeate the air. I climb the second stair and I’m trembling from excitement. I climb the third and face the crowd. They cannot move from the almost palpable awesome power in the room. I scan it from one side to the other and finally center my focus on Sprin who is near me. He nods to me and I turn again to the crowd. The military has prepared for this day. I extend my arm with my hand in a fist and salute with the double tap. Seconds later the military does the same. The tapping sound overfilling the room marked the inauguration. Even in Ruhn with both his arms in slings could be seen moving.
Sprin had patched him up quite nicely. No traces of my wounds remained either. I have pardoned everyone that may have conspired against me during Th4DwArfY1’s rule. I have fallen out with Arx. He does not wish to look at me any longer but I feel nothing at it. They are merely tools, and tools will not be thrown away. That is why Erin Quill was at the back of the room using a contraption that managed to use multiple instruments simultaneously and amplify them using the huge room’s echo. My victory music. Long had I waited for this.
Finally, I sit in the throne. It is uncomfortable yet it feels a part of me. Created from the bones that build this place. They jutted from the sides in a mimic of my crown, a gradient line of yellow and white making up the color as it is mixed with the black velvet on the stairs that is lined with white lines on the side.
One symbol of old and two symbols of rule. One to give legitimacy and two to enforce it. A crown of bone to mark him, a throne of bone to make him. Life in his hand, death in the other. Time to balance.
The music quieted down, the light from the torches seemingly grown and shadows danced in plain sight.
“I am lord of Necrothreat. Armok and Ur will bow. Let my will be done.”
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Topic: NecroThreat IV: Fortress for BFEL, God of Necromancy (Read 516823 times)