What is it like to strive to your goal that you have been working towards for years and then be mercilessly crushed? Well, it is like if your arms, and legs were torn off from your very much alive body for the amusement of others. Bandits most likely.
The scenario is this; you are with your company of traders one day, just a regular guard, or otherwise called caravan mercenary. You have been with a few, one with a single scare by some old witch in the middle of the night who seemed oddly fascinated with your hairline, but everything is just peachy. You are earning a paycheck to get some grub, pay rent, insurance, the whole nine yards.
Then, the very next run you do is something mediocre, a few food related items, and a bunch of straw. You are going into the mountains with this caravan of a couple of traders, who seemed to be very nice, hopefully to have some dealings with a couple of villages before making a return trip. At first it was the crows, then the coyotes, then the wolves, before finally a group of like ten bandits, one of whom just evolved into a berserker. Angry fellow, I swear.
So, I tell them, “hey! We come from the city of Lance! We have food for the starving families of this mountain.” It was true. Maybe not. Also, probably not the wisest words to say, but as the guard, it was my role to get the product to its destination.
Well, oddly, they agreed to let the traders pass without making an appraisal of the goods. Only stealing a bag of apples.
The berserker, however, held me back, saying something along the lines of “hurr durr, you should be afraid of me.”
I’m like, “listen buddy, I don’t know what you’re saying, but if I didn’t say anything back there, then I might have lost my job. I have responsibilities.”
He gets all red in the face and punches me in the gut while screaming something. I don’t know, I was focusing on my screaming stomach and the lack of air in my lungs. Oddly, they were a bit numb, and I coughed up a black liquid.
They grab their horses, hog-tie me with some rather abrasive rope, and literally drag me across the rocking terrain, down the mountain. That hurt something really awful for the first, five, twenty minutes?
We stop by the edge of some pines that smell kinda nice in the fall weather and the berserker goes, “I’ll teach you to not mess with me with my lack of responsibilities.” I was unaware of what he said as it became a bunch of nonsense to my muddled brain.
I interrupted with my mouth full of gravel and grievances, “buddy, how will I mess with you if I’m dead? How would I learn anything?”
He punches me in the face while his minions snickered.
“Ya shouldn’t have done what you did!” He yells spittle right in my face, “ya right on the money!” or something like that.
They change up the ropes on me to match the horses and then, well, I blanked out honestly from the hellish pain. Only thing I remembered was that witch who said that I will become a Dominion or some rubbish.
Now here I am.
An area of bloodied grass the size of a yard. They didn’t bury me even a foot under the earth.
I don’t think of this as something bad. I still have feelings of some kind, kinda like the air, but throughout my body? I can also catalogue everything that is here too, if that is useful.
Piece of Grass A, piece of Grass B. Cloud A, Cloud B...
I honestly hate this. It is like hell.
At least the bandits had something of a personality? A piece of grass is a piece of grass.
I guess I’ll get a mental journal of my gradual descent of insanity.
…
Day 2 as a plot of soil. Day 1 of my gradual descent into madness.
‘Why, oh why witch of the redstar, did you scare the hell out of me by plucking a piece of hair while I slept? Why did you think I wanted to be a plot of soil?’
Nice poem, right?
No one will miss me. Sigh.
Did I have to write that sigh into my mad journal?
Yes.
…
Day 8 as a plot of soil. Day 7 of my mad ramblings.
Day 8 of being constantly awake and aware of EVERYTHING.
Anyways...
A spectacular thing happened today!
One of those coyotes that I encountered before peed on me! Well, on some of the grass that is in me.
But that isn’t the coolest part!
When they walked by, a blue thing flew out of her that felt nice! It disappeared though shortly after leaving the coyote.
But if I looked carefully, there was still a bit lingering around. It was just microscopic.
She is the best coyote in the world!
This is depressing.
...
Day 8 and a half.
In the dark, more of the blue orbs came out of the grass!
And, I think, I’ve grown bigger? Maybe an inch bigger all around?
That is like a 4 and a half inch increase to my circumference!
Am I a circle?
....
Day 12 as a slightly bigger plot of soil.
Aside from a bird taking a dump mid-air onto my grass, nothing else has occurred.
Aye-aye Captain!
…
Day 16 as a slightly bigger, bored piece of land. Day 15 into a hopeful descent of madness.
It should be coming anytime now.
Anytime.
Anyways, more of that blue goodness came out of the grass, and a few oversized bugs that moved in. I’ve grown to encompass a rock.
It is my rock now.
Mine.
…
Day 23. Madness descent. Into something
I’m getting lazy.
Anyway, I’ve been driving the beetles and ants away from my rock.
It only takes a bit of focus to get my intent across.
I think I know what they’re thinking?
‘Good place. Good place to grow my empire.’
What kind of good ant would think of such a foul thing!
Maybe, I should get rid of them?
Nah.
They’ll pay their rent to this sane piece of land!
Just not this piece of rock! Or the original plot of grass.
And! I’ll have them take care of their poop.
I’m a clean plot of land after all!
They can give it to whatever is beyond the veil!
Seriously, there is a barrier that I can’t see through.
It appeared at some point today all around me.
But the blue orbs come in intermittently now throughout the day from the bugs.
I’m still growing and that is increasing my sight.
Just not beyond the veil that grows alongside me.
Hmm, maybe I can play city planning with the ants?
Food for thought.
Wouldn’t that stop my descent into madness?
Did I want to go mad?
Yes.
Because life is unfair.
...
Day 30. A full month of boring madness.
I now have a tree!
A pine tree!
It smells nice.
Ehg, I think my vocabulary can use some work. I need to read a dictionary.
I know just who to ask for one!
‘Sir Ant, the Fifth! What say you tell your queen below to bring me a dictionary!’
‘A dictionary? What’s that?’
‘A dictionary has words and can remind me of my human ways!’
‘Human? What’s that?’
‘That is uh… something that walks on two legs?’
‘Which one?’ It waves its antennae in question.
‘You know, instead of a dictionary, bring whatever sized book all of you find, and I’ll grant you eternal life as long as you remain here!’
‘Really?! Actually, can you grant all of us eternal life?’
‘I can try as long as you bring me books. I’m a piece of land after all!’
‘Wait… what is a book?’
Ugh.
....
Month 1, Day 5. Success!
The ants managed to bring me a book!
Titled: The Berserker’s Personal Underwear Saga!
Based on a true Story.
Written by Thomas Edifor.
Regrettably edited by a personnel of the Academy of Munster, in the City of Progoa.
This. This is perfect!
‘It is to your liking?’ Ma’am Ant the Fifth asks shyly while rubbing her front limbs together.
I forgot that most ants are females, spaded females.
‘Yes. Now as promised, I’ll grant your colony eternal life!’
‘Hurray!’
Ah! The little bugger did a dance!
I didn’t know that they did that.
As I grew, I realized that I could do some rather magical things.
Such as changing the ‘organisms’ living in me.
I can take the microscopic blue orbs, that I will now call mana, because why not, and infuse them with my desires.
I am a god!
Muahaha!
Was that thunder? Eh, okay, a demi-god or something.
Don’t want to offend anyone or anything.
Maybe there was a pantheon or something? I was never the religious sort.
When I look back down to Ma’am Ant the Fifth, I suddenly get an urge to do something.
Something further down the natural order!
I asked the ant, “would you mind if I change ya’ll to a form more fitting to my image?!”
‘...sure?’
Hmm, she seemed a bit hesitant.
‘I’m just going to make ya’ll into some of the humans I was talking about, but smaller, and less
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gender-ly discriminatory. Men should be a part of your colony too, I say!’
‘....sure?’
‘I mean, when I saw that male get torn apart for coming to your entrance, I was shocked. Shocked, I say!’
She seemed to be growing confused with the conversation. Alright, I’ll start!
With a feeling like a burp, I brought out the mana that wasn’t consumed, and shoved it into every individual ant in the colony.
I superimposed the image of different humans onto their bodies.
The blue orbs grew to cover them, then grew into larger balls of blue.
‘Excellent.’
I was proud of myself, until…
I thought of lizard people.
I couldn’t get the thought out of my ‘head’ and before I knew it, I now had dozens of ant sized, bipedal lizards that looked at themselves before they began screaming as a chorus.
In terror.
I also spent all of the blue orbs I accumulated, so I wouldn’t be able to change them on such a massive scale anytime soon.
The worst part?
They were like bacteria, genderless, with each member able to lay their own eggs.
They didn’t have a gender! They were gender-ly neutered!
I have sinned.
…
Month 1, Day 6.
I had a terrified lizard person flip the last page of the book about underwear, as I didn’t have hands.
The Ma’am Fifth Ant, or something.
Now it is just an it.
It shall be renamed from henceforth, Poker.
Anyway.
I was wrong all along, about the book.
It wasn’t about underwear at all!
Instead, it told the person in three parts on how to become like that idiot, mumbling, short-sighted, bedwetting berserker!
It was such a simple concept as well!
You had to find something, like a Domain, a Deity, or acquire a ‘Divine’ spark.
Then you kill, ask, or meditate, depending on what you go with.
Finally, you train, and grow as much as you want into a class, such as Berserker.
‘Yo, Poker!’
The miniature alligator spasmed onto the ground, hitting its head repeatedly.
‘Why are you doing that?’
“I do not wish to offend, as I once did! Domain, please spare my colony any further misfortune!”
It spoke from its mouth, weird. It actually had a language now, weird. The language I used before. Hmm.
‘You called me a Domain. That witch did as well...’
“Please, have mercy!”
Poker shook and spasmed even more on the ground, before flopping on its back, and showing its belly.
It went still afterward.
‘Poker, you don’t need to be afraid.’ I tried to sooth the poor creature, ‘you weren’t given something bad before. It is actually a blessing.’
It had no response. Not even a twitch.
Whatever.
Flow like water… into a cup?
‘Why did you call me a Domain?’
“You are conscious land, with immeasurable potential. Born to fight other Domains. My colony learned of this through our many generations.”
Ah, I get it!
‘So, I’ll need to make an army and do what exactly?’
“Grow and consume the other Domains. You must make yourself larger if you want to become stronger.”
‘So, keep doing what I’ve been doing with the mana?’
“Y-yes. Please, have mercy!”
Poker had prostrated itself onto the ground, in a stricter fashion with its belly going further into the air.
I needed to upgrade the grass and the bees?
I didn’t want to do any hard work though...
Month 1, Day 10
I started experimenting with grass and made it blue. Is it a breakthrough for the center of the earth?
Since they transformed from ants, they transformed their society entirely.
Their old queen resigned, and Poker, oddly marked by white squarish things, became the so called Prideful One Knows Everything Resets.
A weird name, I must think to myself in this mental journal.
Under Poker’s direction, the lizard people have began crafting weapons, make-shift spears made of small sticks, and bows and arrows.
Their numbers have been doubling every couple of days as well, with designated hatcheries being dug out everywhere.
Culture became a thing of significance, with their old tunnels transitioning to actual halls with stony architecture with pictures of grass.
The biggest thing, though, is that they don’t eat or sleep.
I think when I said that I would give them eternal life, then it has a tangible effect?
Could also be a result of the image that I conjured.
I think that it is just great that I made immortal lizards.
It’ll provide entertainment at least.
The good news at least is the amount of mana that I am getting.
With their numbers, the amount of mana is also doubling as well, and there is more to each particle.
The amount of land I can see all at once is getting much larger now.
I wonder what I could do now?
…
Month 1, Day 11.
Today is the day that I test drive this mana!
Making immortal lizards from ants was only the start!
Although, I’ve seen some of them have been making actual underwear.
I’ll ignore that for now.
Maybe, I’ll start being more descriptive with my journal entries?
It might be important if anyone ever finds my notes and thinks of them as being weird, or hard to read?
Hmm.
Descriptive.
Be descriptive.
Eck, it is like trying to move a wall.
Move damn it!
There we go.
The sun is pretty high up in the air and the wind is blowing with a nice chill that I can’t feel with my non-existent skin. The lizard people now cover the space that I control by around sixty percent. Bugs and other things fight them tooth and nail with the bugial screams of rage and ferocity. A constant struggle. A constant conflict.
Is that good?
I’ll keep at it until I think otherwise, I guess?
I think I’m now around the size of a large pond, with units of measurement being unfathomable. A good chunk of dark green pines are now under my purview. Squirrels and other junk are lazing around, beginning their hibernation.
What should I do with this stockpile of mana?
Maybe, I should make it spring?
That is a good idea, me!
Oh, thank you for the compliment!
*cough*
Wait…
Would that be too much?
Nah.
I take the large amount of mana that glowered at me, somehow, and imagined the spring. Growth, bright green grass shoots, warming weather, rain… The land pulsed a bright blue glow for a moment, and all at once, the temperature rose significantly. The beatles, lizard people, and other critters jump in shock. Even the clouds seemed to tremble, growing darker, and rain poured from them, just in the space that I controlled.
Huh.
The lizard people kowtowed onto the ground, before they showed their stomachs up to the sky.
They whispered, “all praise the great Domain!”
After I stared at them for a minute or so, I looked at the mana that went down by half. Some of it came out of the ball in a line, going to where I was buried in pieces, disappearing.
Weird.
……
The Underwear Berserker, Toad Howard.
“Leader, leader!”
Who was it that wanted themselves killed?
“Leader, you must get up!”
The instant that they put their hand on me, I sprung up with the usual fury that I had stored to the extent of my abilities.
I brute forced my way through their shocked defense and grabbed them by the throat, lifting them up into the air.
“Gary, what the blazes possessed you today!?”
Gary, my right hand man. It was rare for him to wake me up. Usually, he would send in one of the lesser men to do it. It might be something important.
I waited for his answer, after I let him drop to the floor.
Gary looked at me with fear in his eyes, “a Domain appeared, leader! It is down the mountain, changing the weather, and…”
I held my hand up, processing what he said, “a Domain?”
I wouldn’t trust the word of any of most of my other subordinates, but Gary was not a fool.
“Yes, leader.”
“How large and where exactly?”
“The scouts said that it is five hundred feet across and is growing fast enough to see with the eye. It is east, in the direction of Vault city, sir.”
“Troublesome,” I stroked my beard as I thought about the issue.
If it had already made something that would give it energy to grow, then it could take the mountain in a week or two at most. It had to appear recently as well, as there wasn’t any Domain over there before. We would have killed it already. This Domain would become a problem with its position, as it would take the trade road, potentially driving off those possibly valuable traders. Even if it decided not to take the mountain, they still wouldn’t have any money coming in. I have to feed my men after all.
Now it was either take on the Domain, flee and tell the Barbarian Deity to the northwest to hopefully instill some conflict of interest, just leave or worst of all, notify Vault city.
Deities were terrible creatures though. Unlike Domains that tended to be lacking minds, only responding to stimuli on some kind of protocol, Deities were the opposite. They were either as old as the world or were very lucky bastards that found Divine Sparks. All Deities though, were arrogant and often resorted to extreme levels of greed. They would have to pay a high price or strike some kind of deal with the Barbarian Deity.
Fleeing was a hard choice as well. Groups like his were as numerous as the stars. They had to defend their place from a variety of low level bands every week. Trying to move onto the land of a stronger band would mean the death or subjugation of his own.
Vault City… I scowled in disgust at the idea. They would come over here and kill/imprison them anyway. They only cared about it, because of the creatures that poured out of them. He would rather try his luck with the first two options. The third before the fourth as a last resort. The city could find out on its own.
Domains were easiest to kill when they were young and were barely a few feet across. Just had to find their Vessel and destroy it. Older by ten years, they tended to have creatures that were on par with a low class Deity. Larger, miles across, they tended to have enough divine power to obliterate armies. Both? They have killed and dissolved Deities before, Deities that were thought to be immortal, and supremely powerful.
They were Eldritch beings. Unreasonable, relentless, and ultimately dangerous. They spontaneously appeared as well, under cities, in bird houses, in the sky… They also offered the opportunity to give others the ability to gain power as well.
After a few moments, I decided. “Gary, give me a moment. Round up the men in two hours.”
“Yes, sir!”
Gary left, leaving me in my homemade cabin, that I’ve lived in for a few years now.
Two options, one of which I’ll use as a backup plan. With that thought, I began writing a letter with a quill that a trader let me borrow last year. I looked to the pictures of the family I once had and sighed.
‘Barbarian God, if you are reading this, I have a proposal…’
....
Month 1, Day 11.
Poker came up to the surface and bowed to where my body was decomposing into nothing, “great Domain, you have blessed us greatly! I thank you for the gift of warmth and moist air!”
This is random.
Wasn’t it afraid of me? Oh well, this is better.
‘Poker, you don’t need to thank me. I did this, because I wanted to.’
It asked with a tremble to its voice, ‘Great Domain, may I ask why you would bless us again?’
Maybe Poker was still scared? Whatever.
‘I didn’t bless you in particular,’ I adjusted more of my sight toward the pine trees, ‘I felt that everything here is better being brighter and less lazy.’
It spoke with a higher pitched voice, “I thank the Great Domain for the answer! It warms my heart!”
Oh, it actually feels thankful? Weird. Before, the most I got to thanks was giving a homeless person some change. Who… turned up jumping me with a gang of dirty men and woman later that day.
Eck.
“Great Domain,” Poker began speaking again, “when you gave us these forms, I thought that we were cursed, but I was wrong. We can see more clearly, build everything much more easily, our minds are sharper, and we can enjoy one another in a way that wasn’t there before. I, I can have children which I didn’t know I desired!... Over the past few days, I have been thinking on it and now proclaim my loyalty to Great Domain. From this day forward, I will protect you with everything I have!”
Although it couldn’t cry, by the end of its speech, Poker flopped onto its stomach in a show of what I could feel was great emotion.
Cries came out of the nearby lizard people who had flopped onto their backs a second time.
I didn’t know how to respond to this.
To the emotion and intent that came from its small frame.
Poker was too nice!
‘Poker, I’ll give you another gift.’
“Great Domain, you don’t need to,” Poke quickly got up to its feet.
With a flash of an image, dragonfly wings materialized behind Poker’s back with an equally fast flash of blue light. It was bright red, creating a large contrast to the dark green scales that covered Poker.
Huh, that had cost a bit more mana than I thought it would. Weird.
“Thank you, Great Domain!”
Poker appeared ecstatic as it flew up into the air with the new wings, already knowing how they worked.
‘Don’t worry about it. Call me Casey, instead of Great Domain.’
“Yes, Great Casey!”
‘Fine, I will accept it.’
Suddenly, seven people in soaked garments entered from the veil. Bandits with torches, buckets of a strange liquid, and weapons.
Then it occurred to me, they saw the sudden weather change and I saw the Berserker who tore me into pieces.
Just as sudden as they came in, a new feeling welled up inside me, and a voice.
Hate and resentment. Images and the feeling of being torn apart, forced to watch myself buried alive.
The land sky became red and the lizard people looked around in panic.
‘Threat Recognized: Humanoid, Human. Seeking to eliminate. Access Denied? Seeking Access… Access Denied. Seeking Access… Access Denied! Assessing Twin Partner...’
My focus was forced to withdraw and I found myself in darkness looking at a blue orb.
“Seeking Access. Give Me Access.”
It demanded in a female voice.
“What?” I touched my face. My face.
She demanded in a deadly voice, “Give. Me. Access. Now.”
Now I was floating somewhere in front of a female ball of blue mana that looked just like the mana that I had outside. This was a very odd experience. Did I succeed in becoming insane?
“SEEKING ACCESS.” She started yelling at me, “GIVE IT TO ME!”
“Eh, sure?”
The dark space was gone and I was back looking across the land from where I died, standing upright in my human form with Poker flying above, over my grave. The bandits had started to burn everything and the lizard people were trying their best to fend them off, but they were being disintegrated by the flames. A couple of the bandits had backed off, shielding their eyes.
‘Seeking to eliminate. Ground forced, minimally equipped. Counter to fire in operation. Manpower of 798 being burnt through, but is BLESSED, and will return given time. Enough MANA to succeed in killing two individuals with 80% probability.’
The mana I had flew in streams toward the fire, turning them blue. The bandits were surprised at the sudden change.
“Leader, the Domain is acting up!” One of the bandits yelled to the Berserker.
“Separate and keep moving to the center. It can’t afford to burn its own. George, escort Taylor and Michael to the border, don’t give this thing more fuel than it needs!”
Like what he said, the bandits moved away from one another, quickly moving to where I was buried. The blue flames leaped from where they burned to all of the bandits before it was extinguished on their wet clothing and from the ground where it came from.
The female mana spoke, ‘tactics shown by the enemy. BANDIT with a signature similar to the highest form creature at the forefront. Chances of us surviving thirty to forty percent.’
‘That sounds nice,’ I said from the side.
‘Distraction is not advisable. Ignoring in progress.’
‘Okay.’ I didn’t know how to feel about this change of perspective, with this thing controlling everything.
More mana went to the ash that the retreating bandits were heading for. When they were close to the veil, large squirrels with red eyes and teeth a bit too big rose from the trees that once stood. They latched onto the two injured and dragged them to the ground. With the third cutting down the few that were tearing at his leather. I couldn’t see what else had occurred, but I felt a Huge amount of mana fly toward me, and it was cyan.
‘Succeeded in killing two of seven. The third has a 60% chance of perishing. Redirecting MANA to reconstitute grass.’ The large amount spread over the area that the bandits were running through and went into the ground.
The grass grew quickly and soon enough, it rose ten feet into the air, before its outer layer hardened, with thorns the size of hornets growing out of them. In an instant, they drove downward, to the bandits in the center.
I heard the berserker curse and I felt elation rise, but soured immediately as three of them broke through to the side.
A red film covered his body as he dragged two of the other bandits out. Besides the berserker, they were bleeding heavily, and appeared on the verge of death. With a yell, the berserker threw them with immense strength. Faster than arrows, they flew outside the veil.
The mana moved in an attempt to do something, but it was too slow.
‘Miscalculation. BERSERKER optimized his strategy by killing its allies by throwing them outside the perimeter. The last BANDIT fled outside the perimeter, evading elimination. Frustration. Usable MANA coming in. Chances of survival, 20%,’ so spoke my heroine.
Poker scrunched up its face in a snarl toward the incoming berserker.
He was within a hundred feet, running with extreme speed, he closed in and drew a axe.
More cyan mana came from the mutated grass that was still after the berserker and twirled around Poker. A golden glow began to emanate from it, but with a weaker glow than the bandit leader.
‘Forcibly changing and giving POKER’s desired class to POKER with MANA. Class name Paladin. Strength equivalent to 70% to BERSERKER, with abilities that counter the Berserker Class.’
The red wings that I made today became golden.
‘POKER, eliminate the berserker,’ the female blue mana authoritatively commanded.
With a cry, Poker flashed gold and a small golden sword, more like a toothpick, came into being in its grip, and Poker flew forward.
It intercepted the berserker who flashed red, “Annoying bug!”
“You will not get any closer to Great Casey,” Poker yelled back.
Surprise flashed across his face, before it became an expression of disbelief. It still didn’t halt his attack which, once flung forward, created an omnidirectional burst of red that moved three feet away from his body.
Poker was pushed back, but venomously cut through it, flying around the berserker who kept an eye on it, while also observing the surroundings.
He smiled aggressively once his face showed he came to an understanding, “There’s no way that that two bit scoundrel became a Domain! I made sure that he’s dead after torturing him.”
Poker sliced forward from time to time, but each time the berserker blocked it, “if it really is him, then that makes this even more important!”
‘BERSERKER sacrificing lifeforce to increase power. POKER’s strength is equivalent to 30% of BERSERKER. Chances of survival dropped to 10%. Emergency counter measures being taken. Permission required. Twin Partner, give permission’
The voice seemed sad and disappointed.
I chewed on my semi-non-existent lower lip, ‘can I do nothing?’
‘Twin Partner, process worry into hopeful probability,’ said the voice with its most encouraging way. Which wasn’t that encouraging.
‘Please, go ahead. He ruined my life anyways.’
‘If I am predicting what you mean correctly. Then, you shall be recompensed. I will take his life.’
With a flash of blue light, I felt a tightening of my chest, and fell to my knees. The land that I had grown over the last month, scorched and scarred, retracted. Blue mana flew into the air in quantities that covered everything in smoke.
In it, I saw sparks of red and gold, with Poker being shot back at me, landing by my feet. It sucked in deep, agonizing breaths.
“So is one of the ones tied to the death of my family here? Hmm.”
The berserker walked confidently towards me. The glow of red around him being that of blood. I spoke out, ‘I have no idea what you mean.’
His face transformed into pure disbelief before transforming into a bloodthirsty joy, “I didn’t know people could turn into Domains. How does it feel?”
He walked at a leisurely pace, his skin gradually becoming sickly, “I bet it has been horrible for you, eh? You were a guard on a caravan in the past, one moving my family. They were poisoned on the trip by what my old friends in the army called a new mercenary. I cross checked everyone, and found out that it was you who did it. Till your last breath, you didn’t confess. I must congratulate you, you have nerves of steel like a demon. It serves you right to become this abomination!”
‘Oh, you were trying to get me to tell you that I killed your family. Well, I didn’t kill them, asshole!’ I screamed at him, ‘all I’ve done is hop onto a couple of caravans, and enjoyed the ride until you came along!’
The berserker was only a few steps away and snarled, “Rubbish! I’ve got all of the evidence I needed and the way you acted when the contracted traders dropped off was enough to condemn you. You fucking monster!”
He stomped on Poker, crushing the poor mini alligator to pieces, and used his axe like a shovel. In a mere moment, the pitiful layer of dirt that was over the corpse that I didn’t want to see was removed.
My old rotting flesh was revealed and if I had a stomach presently, I would have thrown up. I saw all of my old hopes and dreams collapse into the very pieces of my rotting carcass that I was. Dreams of moving on from my dingy apartment to greater and better things. Such as having family, my own farm… my own life.
The only thing that remained was my old heart that had become blue, crystalized, and was beating.
The berserker raised his axe and I asked him with my eyes closed, ‘what is your name.’
“Toad Howard.”
The female voice spoke, ‘begone.’
The ground trembled for a moment and I heard a gasp.
I opened my eyes to find Toad pierced through in several locations by spikes of some kind of transparent material. He croaked up blood and smiled with release, “C-Casey, the Barbarian Deity will come to-to kill you for me, and for the oth-others. Al-all of you will wish, t-that I did it f-finished it,” his eyes grew unfocused, “Maria, Luke, C-Christine, I will be t-there soon.”
With that, the red film dissipated, and his body became entirely white, and turned to dust that covered my corpse.
‘Threat eliminated, resources and Domain reduced by 85%. Time it will take based on probable recovery, 2 weeks. Turning Access over to Twin Partner.’
My ethereal body broke apart and I returned to how I started, but all I did for the rest of the day was stare blankly on the piece of land with the lizard people staring up at me in celebration.
…
Four days later.
Gary and another bandit named Jilbert came to the outside of a castle covered in rubies, with golden golems that seemed to only stand around, looking out into the forest. A one-armed mock of a woman, covered in black veins, came before Gary and presented her palm.
She was visibly deformed, aside from the lack of an arm as her ears were different sizes, and her nose was crooked. Various growths were present on her skin as well as the sense that she was made of clay.
In a sad, hesitating motion, he deposited a bag of fifty gold coins and a letter.
The mock-woman walked and phased through the door, leaving behind the grieving bandits.
...
In a smooth motion, the mock-woman knelt and offered the bag of coins, and the letter just beyond a large throne. On it sat a larger than life woman clade in furs and with the aroma of clotted blood.
“What’s this, I wonder? It’s been a while since anyone has offered tribute. I was just about to take a stroll,” a voice of divinity and power echoed about the chamber. Causing it to slightly tremble.
With a thought from her, the seemingly pitiful bag of coins, which was enough to fund an average family for six months, was casually set aside. It was her fee to even view any request. It was a kind of tradition among the Deities.
With a casual glance, she smirked, “a mortal wants me, of all Deities, to go on a vengeance quest as their dying wish? Very well. Jodaline.”
The mock-woman, Jodaline raised her head, and spoke in a voice made up of gravel, “Yes, my Majesty?”
“Go and confirm that the amount that this mortal has stated to be paid to me. If it is, then notify General Nimand to go raze that Vault city to the ground while also finding out the other perpetrators of this measly quarrel. Also, clear up that Domain by Berkshire mountain. I don’t need a Dominion to form in a couple decades.”
Jodaline bowed her head once more before she took her leave.
The Barbarian Deity looked at the letter again with a smile full of sharp teeth, “Foolish mortals, I always do it my way.”
‘Barbarian God, if you are reading this, I have a proposal that you might consider with your greatness. A decade ago my family perished under the most dishonorable of means, poison. Since then, I've been searching for the perpetrators, and I will list several of them in this letter. The reason why I'm writing this to you, the Great Barbarian God, is because I have no choice, but to face a Domain that may be strong enough to kill me. If I die, and this letter finds you in your most awe inspiring home, then I beseech you to kill these horrible individuals. If you do take on this offer, or if you don’t, then I tribute upon you all of my pitiful savings over the decades that I served in the military. If you find it in your empathetic heart to not destroy Vault city...’