V5: Chapter 14

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Interlude: Riegert

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It was a long time since I was last home, and as I expected, things changed quickly in my absence.

“Feels like we’ve stepped into a different world, but with all the same faces, Captain.” Oswald peered in every direction, as did many of the other many. His mustache quivered and his bushy brows narrowed, while he looked. Some older ladies giggled at the sight of him, and he flushed. “Can’t say it feels bad.”

“Our King has been busy.” The words didn’t do the thought justice. All around us buildings of great size were being built of brick and glass. The first floors were shops filled with all manner of clothing, toys, and other amenities once reserved solely for those in Academy lands. The streets were wide, with trees planted every so often to cast shade, and small plots were dedicated for gardens. The sewage system was completed and water ran into the gutters, as did anything else foul, towards the Citadel where it could all be cleaned and made useful. “Most of this was in construction when we left, though.”

“Aye, but it’s one thing to know it’ll be, but another to see something as it is.” Oswald argued, and I couldn’t argue. We reached the level of the Academy in less than a decade. We watched this place as it came up from dirt with houses and structures that all looked the same as one another. Now, well the buildings all looked the same still, but the materials were undoubtably stronger and each structure could hold far more. Yet, even though I know almost a million people lived here, there was more than enough space, everything was clean, and there was a sense of purpose in the air. “Look at that. There’s children walking around in little groups now with barely a care.”

I looked to where Oswald was pointing, and sure enough, I caught sight of Jack’s developments.

With so many of our people working, he saw that children were being neglected, and moved to address the issue at its heart. Children were given free board and food and schooling at our new schools, where they would learn what was once limited only to the aristocracy of the Academy. Those schools were well-guarded, and the food carefully chosen. What was once reserved for only the elite of the greatest nation on the continent was being provided to all who had children in our lands.

“It’s like raising a child with the help of a whole village, but better. Work all you want, rest, and see your children and every so often.” Oswald shook his head and sighed. I knew where his disappointment lay, and I placed a hand on his shoulder. “Captain, do you think I’ll have another chance?”

“You will. I need men like you here, helping to coordinate my expedition from the rear lines. Go find yourself a young lass. Get in the tank and you’ll be a fine fit for a new family.” Jack insisted that we retain as many of those with talent and experience as possible. Even though many clamored for the revitalization treatments offered by the Citadels now, with many merchants offering vast sums and even newly wealthy offering substantial amounts, those who served with us had priority, especially those who fought for the front. Only the finest care for those who risked their lives in battle, he told them all, and that earned him the loyalty and trust of many. “You’ll be rid of all your aches and pains… but a desk job will introduce you to a few more!”

“I’d thought being young and whole again would mean fighting the same fights I did back as a young man. I’ll take a boring job here with the chance to do things right.” Oswald took a deep breath and nodded. His hand went to his chest where a locket lay. His wife and child died of disease on our wagon train, despite our best efforts. It was a familiar tale to everyone in these lands, but it was impossible here. “I’ll take that offer, Captain.”

“Good. Leave scouring the planet for a means of being victorious to me.” I let go of his shoulder as he aimed a dour look at me. I gave him a large grin. Since I’d been revitalized, I felt like a new man. So many aches and pains that I’d grown accustomed to simply weren’t there. Tasks that I had found a bit difficult no longer were. I felt like I was in my prime again, even after a year. Truly, the Ancients were at the very apex of civilization. “Go and start a family. You’ve earned it.”

Oswald swallowed thickly and nodded in return, as we made our way through the town.

However, as I walked, all that I knew faded the vibrant vision that I looked upon.

Jack’s plan was to make this region so difficult to contest that all our battles will take place our other Citadels. Over there no towns were being built and none were living outside of the Citadel’s reach. Rural populations were being shifted to permanent homes near Citadels and its Guardians, while the land was being stripped of resources and food was being grown with great efficacy and stored in tremendous amounts. With rationing, at our current pace and even with our trade obligations, every person that we had already had five years of food set for them. That’s without the Citadel’s mechanisms making food in tremendous amounts, too.

Jack and Khanrow were shaping the continent into a battleground, for a battle for our very existence, and I was telling my friend to start a family and be happy.

His child, and many of the children we saw being guided in groups throughout the town, we're likely to pick up weapons and be buried by their parents.

Such was the terrible truth of our world.

All that we have achieved now will soon be under siege by the most terrible of foes.

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Interlude: Grimnar

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The stone itself somehow reeked of brine and blood.

My hands gripped the handle of my hammer, while from my shoulders a light was cast upon the sewage tunnels.

Carved into the mountains to keep our halls and homes clean, it instead became infested with a new, terrible foe.

Yet, still, it was a foe that could be crushed and killed.

But something was different today.

I turned off my gems and let the darkness enrobe me. My eyes adjusted to the darkness. Though the hunters of precious gems held true reign over the tunnels of our common ancestors, my people’s sight was more than sufficient for battle in the darkness.

So, I walked gingerly through the emptied sewage tunnels, carved smooth by magic, and followed the trail of my foes.

They arrived at the start of this year in small numbers and in secret. The throngs of our kin knew not of them, but our king heeded the warnings of his only peer. We kept watch on the seas and the underbelly of our society, using our criminals and the refuse of our society as bait, and they preyed upon them as we expected.

We followed them as they used the bodies of the misbegotten filth to use as nests for their eggs and smashed them apart without mercy.

Their flesh, bones, and viscera proved to have many effects and we harvested them for study, while burning their nests.

The first delves against them resulted in casualties, but we adapted. Singular, highly skilled agents fought better in the tunnels. Helms lined with lead thick, strong glass to cover faces. Air only through backpacks housing large, thick filters. Only those with the finest physiques and even thereafter trained extensively, and covered in even more armor and magical protections.

Now, we hunted them like titans, while they scurried in fear in the sewers.

But today was different.

I happened upon the nest of my prey and found something else looming over the body of the ones I hunted.

It was tall and sleek, but unlike its parents it did not struggle beneath the weight of the surface. It stood on two legs with a body covered in fine scales and fingers more kin to tentacles than digits. The fins on its back were small and atrophied, while a defined musculature was apparent upon its form. Bare of hair, its head was transparent and showcased a pulsing, glowing brain behind its clear bones.

Its eyes were upon me in a moment, and it lunged upon me with intent to tear my helm off, and force its mind upon my own.

To that I had a singular answer.

“Fool.” Mid-lunge, I crushed its skull with speed and precision. My hammer carved a square path through the whole of its mind. It twitched once in the air, before falling to my feet… dead. “Stolen strength means nothing. Now, the rest of you, come.”

I looked at the rest of them, scurrying in the deeper darkness of the tunnel with their yellow, glowing eyes and faintly glowing skulls. They were giving each other strength, some innate magic allowing them to lend each other power.

I was ready to prove them wrong, when my eyes looked upon the nest from which they were born.

Anger overtook me like an inferno overwhelming a furnace.

“You dare take the life of a Trueborn!?” The musculature of the body was apparent even in death, but what condemned the creatures completely was the brand on the Trueborn’s shoulder. Ten generations of careful breeding, of training, of feeding, of nurturing supported by the entirety of the nation to ensure our race prospered throughout time… dead. To my horror, only five marks were beneath his brand. Only five children sired. This Trueborn was could barely be halfway into his third decade. Nowhere close to expended. Nowhere close to having finished his duty to make our people strong. “Death is a mercy for you and your ilk! You will all burn!”

I called forth flame and suffused myself with it. The flame coursed through my armor and I burned, but I withstood the pain. My father’s father was Trueborn, thus I was blessed. My hide was strong, my heart mighty, and the flames that would burn these creatures barely harmed me. Me and my kin once walked on the surface of molten rivers to do our duty, and one day we would again, but for now… I would see these transgressors suffer instead.

I felt through the rock by touching it with my hand.

I saw the sewers in the back of my mind, and found the markings left behind by the mages, and activated them.

The tunnels turned instantly turned into a furnace as I sealed them all with me and continued to burn.

They realized what I did.

What I intended to do them for their crimes against my people… and they charged at me as a combined, slithering mass with stolen strength, profane claws for hands, and their minds amplifying their strength.

My anger roared.

“You damnable beasts! You stole so much, yet all you can do is charge!?” They stole the strength of so many future generations, but they just charge!? All they do is fight like animals against me!? This was worse than mockery. This was an insult to my entire people! With that in mind, I discarded my hammer and curled my hands into fists and set them aflame, letting metal melt and augment my burning hide. The pain was nothing compared to what these creatures did. “You don’t deserve the dignity of dying by our weapons! You die today with my hands alone!”

My hammer lodged itself into solid stone, beyond their ability to extract, and I accepted their charge head on.

And, I was not moved.

“Weak! Incapable! A mockery of life itself!” I cursed them as they tried to claw and find purchase into my armor, even as they burned, screeched, and fought through the pain. While I endured it without flinching, they were stopped by the flame enrobing me. “Even your minds are beyond saving! To be ash will better you lot!”

I grabbed the closest to me, and it shrieked as it tried to escape my grasp, but they were the fools that charged into the reach of a Forger.

I caught it, as it tried to leap away, and I crushed its spine and tossed it aside to die lamed and aflame.

Then, with my fists, I engaged the rest.

I tore through the chest of one and tore out a lung and set aflame what remained.

My fist punched through the soft underbelly of another, and I set it alight while holding its soft, flexible spine in a crushing, burning grip.

One that clambered on my shoulders, I grabbed with both hands around the waist, and smashed against the nearest wall so hard that its insides burst out of its torso. It twitched as the flames on its sides slowly engulfed it.

With those deaths alone… the creatures broke and tried to run.

I did not allow them.

I burned, I crippled, and I made them suffer for their crimes against my people.

And, as they died in the furnace that I created, I went to the corpse of the Trueborn and knelt before him in forgiveness.

“Oh, ye of honored blood and body. I beg thee for forgiveness for my failure.” I burned, but the pain meant nothing to my sorrow. How many children could he have fathered that would have grown strong? How many of his sons and daughters would have been Trueborn and bettered our people? All that was lost forever. So many generations of work… gone forever. “Let the wailing of these creatures carry thee to peace, Trueborn. Know that thy demise with be avenged a thousandfold for each of thine murderers. This I swear upon mine own blood and body.”

That oath soothed my heart.

Yes.

One parent. Twenty children.

Twenty-one thousand deaths of these creatures shall suffice as my penance for my failure to protect my people.

No lesser amount would suffice, but their complete destruction was beyond my reach.

Aye.

Twenty-one thousand shall have to do.