[https://i.imgur.com/JrCfdCo.jpg]
"It came from beneath the sea, when the storm was at its climax. A hulking monster that had no right to be called a ship, and yet it still floated. And upon its bow was a man, and his name was Death." - Von Briggs, lone survivor of the Veiled Lady
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Nineteen Years Later
Acrid smoke stung Knell’s nostrils. He opened his eyes just instants before the mental alarm he’d prepared went off with a loud ding only audible to him. Knell grabbed the staff at his side and stood, gritting his teeth as pain shot through his lame right leg.
A faint metronome started ticking away in his mind. Knell’s lips curled up in a grin before his features returned to their normal, unreadable expression. Soot covered him, blending in with his dark hair. It made the black scar covering the left half of his face slightly less noticeable - but not nearly enough. He walked out of the tent with all the confidence he could muster, his staff thunking against the packed ground with every step. He had a schedule to keep.
Thick pillars of smoke curled into the air and fire danced across the tents at the south of the Brennan Army’s camp. His team had been right on time. He wasn’t a huge fan of rescue missions – there were too many shifting variables. Too many possibilities for things to go wrong. But, to repay his father’s last favor, Knell had made an exception.
Just a few tents away, a large tent towered over its brethren. The captain’s – he’d made sure the night before.
A woman’s scream for help intermingled with the smoke as men rushed to the scene of the fire. Knell stepped over a man curled in a fetal position, surrounded by a pool of his own vomit, and wiped some soot across his face, smudging it even further. The metronome ticked away in his mind. He was still on time. He always was.
Knell paused for a moment, working his expression into a terrified rictus and hunching his back to look cowardly. He threw open the captain’s tent flap and staggered in, his breath coming in fake ragged gasps. “Fire, captain!”
“I can tell, you bumbling fool!” a large man midway through donning his armor snarled, pounding a hand into the wooden desk before him. He’d only managed to get the top half of his suit and the greaves on. “Why aren’t you doing something about it?”
Knell didn’t immediately respond. A small girl was chained to a chair, and the Captain’s sword rested just beside her neck. She stared at him with wide, terrified eyes. Her face was streaked with tears and dried blood from several minor injuries.
“I asked you a question, you crippled bastard! Who let you into the army?”
“I did my best to stop the fire, but the Hilldancers are attacking!” Knell exclaimed, giving the captain a shaky salute. “We thought this was just a supply raid, but they’ve somehow infiltrated our army. The men are turning on each other. I couldn’t trust any of the officers with the information, so I had to run here immediately. We need your help, sir. We’re getting slaughtered.”
Yusef let out a series of curses and stood, taking the blade away from the girl’s neck. “Godsdamned Hilldancer rats. They should have known better than to dare attack my camp directly. Where are they, boy?”
“I’ll lead you to them, Captain,” Knell said, turning and heading out of the tent. Pain racked his limbs and his lungs groaned in protest from overexertion, but he ignored them. The captain followed him towards the flame, roaring orders at the panicking men as they went.
“Move faster, boy!” Yusef ordered. “You walk like a cripple. What platoon are you part of? You’re pathetic.”
“I’m not, sir.”
“What?” Yusef asked, his bushy eyebrows furrowing in confusion as Knell stopped walking. He turned to look back at the soot covered youth, his eyes narrowing. At the edge of the camp, the fire started to recede as the soldiers managed to bring it under control.
Knell twisted his staff, pulling it apart to reveal a thin blade that had been hidden within it. With a calculated strike, he drove the sword up through the captain’s stomach and straight into his heart, ripping it free and stepping to the side to avoid a flailing hand.
Yusef turned, his eyes wide in disbelief. He clutched at the wound, then up at Knell. “Please–”
Knell’s sword flashed and Yusef spoke no more.
“I’m not in one of your platoons,” Knell finished, sheathing the staff once more. The metronome came to a stop. Right on time.
“You should have put the rest of your armor on, Captain. Leaving such an important part off just gives me a target.”
Sparkling white energy flooded from the fallen captain’s body, spiraling around itself as it entered Knell’s body. A trickle of adrenaline spiked his heartbeat and he let out a satisfied breath.
The gods have granted you experience for besting your foe! Welcome, Knell Coda, Scion of the Goddess of Death. I was wondering when you’d join our little game.
You have leveled up!
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
Knell suppressed a grimace as the melodical words rang out in his ear, heard only to him. He’d taken care to avoid killing before today for this exact reason. Mordrigal had warned him of exactly what would happen once he claimed his first kill. Now the pieces were all on the table.
You have defeated an entity more powerful than you. Experience Gained. Your Level has been adjusted accordingly.
Well, almost all the pieces.
The metronome started again. Knell had given himself a few seconds for this exact reason. Training was one thing, but it had been a long time since he’d killed anything. He pressed his wrist, activating the magic link that every human possessed.
Name: Knell Coda[Age: 0]
Path: Scion [Rank Zero]
Magical Energy Level: 8
Attunement A: Foresight of the Vulture
Attunement B: Empty
Attunement C: Empty
Attunement D: Empty
Attunement E: Empty
Foresight of the Vulture [Legendary] – Peer a short distance into the future, seeing the most likely outcome of actions taken in your immediate surroundings.
Bloodline: Eternal Body [Epic]– Time magic bends around you, modifying your lifespan and granting you resistance to spatial magics.
From behind the magical window, another one shimmered, just barely visible. Knell flicked the first out of the way, revealing what was hidden behind it.
Path: Epoch
Magical Energy Level: 3
Abilities:
Mental Clock – Use time magic to keep time or set an alarm audible only to you.
Advent of Eternity (Passive) - You do not fall under the jurisdiction of time. With sufficient strength, it will bend to your will, and your existence is absolute. Perennial Soul; Eternity awaits.
While the first window was covered in fancy scrawls, the second was completely plain and unadorned. However, that wasn’t what caught Knell’s attention. After discovering his second Path as a child, he had been trying to level it for years.
Paths weren’t terribly uncommon, although ones that were actually useful in combat were a little rarer. However, a second Path – that was completely unheard of, as far as Knell could determine. That didn’t even consider the ominous description of the Advent of Eternity ability. And now, after all this time of being stuck at level one, it had gained two levels from a single fight.
Keeping it secret from Mordrigal had been difficult, and all the other training techniques he tried had only affected his Scion Path, which he’d gained when she’d given him her eyes. The only thing he had yet to try was killing someone, and that was to remain out of the gods’ game until he was prepared.
A grim smile stretched across Knell’s face. Now the game was truly afoot. The age of the gods would come to an end. His metronome clicked to a stop.
Knell turned and strode back toward the tent, taking advantage of the chaos to slip away unnoticed. He threw the flap out of the way and strode in. The little girl’s wide, terrified eyes watched Knell.
“Are you going to kill me?” she asked, staring at his scarred face.
“That would defeat the purpose of all this,” Knell said, a tiny grin tugging at the edge of his lips. He studied the chains holding the girl down for a few seconds, then pulled a vial full of cloudy yellow liquid out of his pocket. “Don’t move.”
Knell tipped it over a portion of the chains. Acid hissed as it ate through metal link, turning it to mush. He pulled the two halves of the chain apart, careful to avoid touching the affected area, and the wrapping fell around the trapped girl.
She scrambled out of the chair. “Did my daddy send you?”
“Yes. Come along, now. No time to waste. Walk casually. You will be safe.”
Knell turned and headed back out of the tent, only looking back to make sure his charge was following. The flame was consuming more of the camp now, but the late captain’s men were doing well containing it. It wouldn’t be much longer.
Unfortunately for them, that also meant that there was nobody to notice Knell and the girl as they casually strolled toward the jagged posts that had been erected around the Brennan Army’s camp.
“Are you a demon?” the girl asked, pointedly not taking her eyes away from Knell’s face. Fire reflected off her wide, brown eyes. “Daddy said I would always be safe. Are you going to kill all the bad men?”
“I’m just a man. And I’ll only kill the ones that get in our way,” Knell replied.
“Which ones are in our way?”
“Less talking and more moving. You are wasting time.” Knell’s eyes flickered with yellow light. He cocked his head to the side and an arrow whistled past him, thudding into the ground harmlessly.
Knell turned, staring in the direction from where the arrow had come from. A terrified guard let the bow slip from his hands as he turned and sprinted in the opposite direction. Arrows weren't particularly useful when Knell was using his foresight - especially when shot from far enough away for him to dodge.
“You are a demon,” the girl whispered. “Daddy said demons hate the gods. Are you evil?”
“Perhaps I am a demon, then,” Knell said. “Look what the gods do for you. Perhaps your father should next teach you that the only people that matter are you and your men. The gods will not save you.”
The girl swallowed and the two of them walked straight out of the camp, completely uncontested. They ambled down the hill as the fire started to abate. Shouts rose up from the camp behind them as the soldiers discovered their dead commander.
A man sat astride a horse at the base of the hill when Knell and the girl arrived. Knell grabbed the girl, drawing out a startled yelp as he hoisted her up to the man. A twinge of pain shot down his lame leg, but he repressed it.
“Safe, as promised,” Knell said.
“How did you do it?” the man asked, taking the girl into his arms. “Lord Byron was worried sick. If Miss Tiffany had remained in the Brennan Army’s hands, I fear he may have surrendered the fight. Now, we can attack with all our forces.”
“My methods are my own,” Knell replied. “Consider Rynholt's favor to Lord Byron paid in full.”
“Is it true?” the man asked, shifting his grip on Tiffany to make her more comfortable. “Rynholt really passed on?”
“He did not pass on,” Knell replied. “He was murdered. You’d best be on your way. If you waste my work rescuing the girl, all of this will have been for naught.”
The man nodded, turning and kicking his horse into motion. It galloped away and Knell wasted no time in watching it leave. He set off down the road in the opposite direction, the sounds of chaos overtaking the camp behind him.