Chapter 77: Say it ain’t so!

In all my years of research I have never found a more terrifying event than the Blackgill Uprising. Centuries ago, in the early days of Esem, there was an event which began when Fisherman discovered a black box during one of their voyages. This box was found in Tangamar, and upon opening the box a black mist is said to have issued forth and consumed the Fisherman. Days later, their ship was found and only their skeletons remained. The sailors who found them returned to the main island but they were not alone, as numerous frog like beings were in to pursuit. These frog men then overran the islands and began killing everything they saw. Soon news of this reached the other areas, and powerful players and guilds rushed to Tangamar’s aid to try and fight this new and mysterious enemy.

What made the frog men so terrifying is not the victims lives which they took so viciously, it was instead what happened to their prisoners. Some, perhaps mercifully, were eaten by their captors, but a great many more were transformed into the enemy they were fighting. Great players, once human and full of life, became cold blooded amphibians. How this transformation took pace remains a mystery, but it did not change the fact that soon players were fighting players. This transformation became known as the Kodamunga, and it was greatly feared until the frog men were finally put down some five years after their first emergence. Many heroes were made famous during this time, and to this day Tangamar has a statue dedicated to all the lives lost during this event. This also began a great feeling of unease toward AION, and players across Esem, perhaps for the first time, began to view him as just another NPC out to kill them all.

Though many centuries have passed since then, this lingering unease has never ceased. There are still many in Tangamar who do not trust AION. Whereas before he had been an aloof god, he was now seen as a tyrant playing with the lives of humans for his own amusement. The Church of Aion had some bitter feuds over these ideas, though at the time Lord Oscuro was more dominating in peoples minds, and so the debates never went very far. It is only in recent history with the defeat of Oscuro that these ideas are at last being spoken of again.

-On the Many Events of Esem, SD 980, by Vicaro.

Amid the cheers of the Seven Banes, a single deep word came from Markon, which silenced them immediately.

“Foul ball.”

“What?” Said Chase indignity. “He hit it!”

“Chase, what’s a foul ball?” Said Amelie.

“That’s not fair, Markon,” said Chase. “You only said to hit the ball, and Alex did.”

“I said a good hit, not a foul ball that any ten year old with no contracts can muster.”

The other Followers were laughing, and Xemnara had now taken a seat upon a fallen tree. He could tell that she was smiling by the way her teeth flashed within her hood.

“That’s ridiculous,” said Claire, shaking her head.

“Those are the rules,” said Markon.

“Hey!” Shouted Alex. He was standing up straight with the bat dangling from his hand. Brent was on the ground beside him still trying to recover himself. “What did he say? Was it good?”

“He said it’s a foul ball!” Yelled back Thomas.

“What’s that?” Said Alex.

“It means you didn’t hit it right,” said Markon. “Doesn’t count.”

“What!”

“Ready for the next one?”

Alex grumbled but got into stance.

“Bring it, old man.”

Markon spit on the ground again and wound up his arm.

Whoosh.

Alex swung again, but the ball hit him in the stomach. Instead of doubling over he dropped the bat and clutched his stomach.

“The lad is a strong one,” said Ethan. “But no one could take a ball at such force and feel nothing.”

Chase watched Alex, nearly feeling his guild members pain, as he swayed on his feet. He shook his head and his hair shook from side to side. Chase had not noticed that it had grown so long. He must not have cut it since leaving the island.

Suddenly Alex laughed. He then uncharacteristically slapped his belly.

“Is that the best you got, Markon? I barely felt a thing. Send another one.”

Markon grunted.

Whoosh. WHUMP.

Alex swung too late, and the ball glanced off his shoulder. Chase was sure it would have spun around any of the other guild members, but Alex merely shrugged his shoulders and readied his stance again.

“You’re getting sloppy,” said Brent. He was finally coming back around and had gotten back to his feet.

“Is that so,” said Markon flatly. He threw again.

Alex swung, but the ball hit him again in the stomach. Chase watched as Alex’s mass jiggled despite the leather he was wearing. Alex was clearly in pain, but refused to so much as grimace. He merely shook himself off and raised the bat again.

“This could take awhile,” muttered Bill. The dark haired man sat on the ground and began plucking blades of grass from the ground.

It went on like this for some time. Alex never managed to hit the ball again, and Chase had to stop counting the number of balls that struck him. Occasionally Alex would get lucky and only be grazed by one of Markon’s wild fastballs. When that happened Chase would try to swap with him but Alex refused, only allowing Brent to take over after particularly tasty hits, and only for a few tries. Brent was strong, but the continuous abuse proved too much for him. Where Alex had built this determination Chase had no idea.

“You know,” said Bill, after some hours had passed. The sun was going down and he was laying on the ground, his head propped up on his hand. “I really think we should have gone with my idea.”

“And what was that?” Said Chase. He watched as Alex swung the bat and missed once again. In all of this Chase was secretly impressed by Markon, as well. The large man was hardly breaking a sweat after all this time and his aim and power was not mar to flagging.

“I wanted to have y’all race whippersnips.”

Chase shuddered. Whippersnips were notoriously fast and vicious dog like monsters which hunted in packs.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“Well, I am glad they went with this.”

“Why?” Said Bill, a slow smile drawing across his face. “The outcome would be the same, anyway.”

“I’m not so sure,” said Chase.

“Then you’re a fool,” said Bill. “Before mornings light each and everyone of you will give up and accept your fate.”

“Those contracts must be very restrictive if you have to get us to agree to die.”

“No, I mean—.”

Suddenly light appeared. Chase saw it was Xemnara, using a spell to illuminate the area. A orange ball of light came from her open hands and silently hovered before her. Then it rose up into the air and split it self into a dozen smaller spheres. They streaked across the clearing and positioned themselves so that the area was bathed in an eerie glow.

“Don’t go telling our secrets, William,” said Xemnara. She had not moved from her fallen tree, and now the light of her spell work cast her hooded face into even dark shadows till Chase thought he was once more looking at into the abyss of her realm.

“N-n-n-no! If course, my Lady,” stammered Bill. “I didn’t mean to say—.”

“Since you are all about to die, Chase, I suppose it wouldn’t be too bad to let you know a few things,” she said, ignoring Bill.

“I don’t really care,” said Chase, despite his curiosity. He wanted to die with dignity, and not showing any interests in any secrets of her was one way to do that. Esem was full of secrets, and he had learned long ago that he would never know them all, so what was a couple more?

“I don’t believe that for a moment,” said Xemnara softly. “At least the old Chase would be curious.”

She knows I was Spade, remembered Chase, choosing his next words carefully.

“Maybe I am slightly curious, Lady Xemnara,” said Chase. “How is it that you are signing contracts, first of all.”

“I haven’t signed a thing. Only one type of NPC can make a contract.”

“Ah,” said Chase, realization dawning on him. He watched as Markon threw another ball. This time is was for Brent, and the ball struck him in the leg. “I thought it might be some Advisors.”

“Only some of the clever ones who can tell which way the wind is blowing,” chuckled Xemnara. “A few of them have come over to me, and are making me special contracts for my loyal Followers.”

“Fascinating,” said Chase. “I’ve never heard of that happening before.”

“Because it hasn’t,” said Xemnara. Some of her Followers were craning their necks around to look at here. Clearly they hadn’t heard her speak too much about this. “I am no ‘event’, as you like to say. I am far more, and far more powerful than anything Esem has ever known. And I did not come to change the world in some measly manner. I came to remake it in my image. I came to bring justice.”

Whoosh. WHUMP!

“Justice?” Said Chase, shaking his head. “What you are doing here is not justice. What happened at the inn was not justice, either.”

“Did I not give you options this entire time? We are only here because of you, you know. At any point you could have all joined me.”

“Why us?” Said Chase. “Why is it so important that we join you? We are only newly spawned players.”

Xemnara grew quiet, and seemed for the first time to hesitate.

“I think you know the answer to that, Chase.”

Because of my past, he thought, but still something was not adding up to him. Even as a former Old Guard he had been the absolute weakest, and there was no information he had which she could not get. He went back to watching Alex and Brent as he ruminated.

“Did Karkren join you?” Said Chase.

Xemnara sounded like she was smiling.

“Why do you ask that?”

“You know why,” said Chase. He glanced at the other Followers who seemed to be more interested on the performance, but he knew they were likely listening intently. “I saw him in that dream world you sent me.”

“Who saw him?”

“I saw him,” hissed Chase.

“If you can’t be honest with me, then I shall not be honest with you, Chase, “ she said, stressing out the ‘S’ in his name like a snake slithering toward it’s prey.

“Fine,” he said. “Let’s just—.”

“No,” said Xemnara suddenly. “He is not, if you must know. That was just an illusion, and nothing to trust.”

“That wasn’t Karkren?”

“No,” she said, shaking her head. “Just my little fantasy playing itself out, trying to trick you.”

A tinkling of laughter played on the air and the orange balls of light which Xemnara had summoned pulsed with their master’s mirth.

“I guess it doesn’t matter,” said Chase. He wanted to make a sound of disgust but thought better of it. He didn’t put it past Bill to hit him over some disrespect toward his master.

“Brent!” Yelled Chase.

The young man looked beat up, and he stared dumbly at Chase. Chase jogged over to his young guild members and gingerly took the bat from Brent’s hands. Alex was laying flat on the ground, exhausted and with purple bruises covering his arms and bare chest.

“My turn,” said Chase. “You two did really well.”

There was a slight breeze and Chase could hear Thomas’ voice on the wind.

“Why did you let them swing for so long? They look half dead!”

Chase ignored that and put a hand on Brent’s shoulder.

“You two are heroes in my book,” said Chase. “I am so proud of you both.”

Tears welled up in Brent’s eyes, and Alex beamed while still laying on the ground.

“Thanks, Chase,” said Alex.

“I can keep going!” Said Brent. He tried to grab the bat but Chase gently pushed his hands away.

“Don’t worry,” said Chase. “I got the next little while, okay? You two just lay right here and get some more rest. Right there,” he pointed to a tree. “Brent, lay against it. Alex, lay your head on that stump.”

“What, why?” Began Alex.

“Just do it,” said Chase. He turned back to Markon and raised his voice to be heard. “How about a bit of healing for these two, eh?”

Markon was looking bored and had still not broken a sweat. The sun was fully down and the orange lights illuminated both sides of his face, leaving his eyes the appearance of twin caverns upon an uncaring face.

“My Lady?” Said Markon.

“No healing,” said Xemnara. “Nice try, Chase. As nice as it is to watch Markon hurt your guild over and over again, I do not want to be here all week.”

“Makes sense,” said Chase, shrugging his shoulders. “The answer is always no, if you don’t ask.”

“Funny,” said Markon. “Are you ready or what? I thought you were just gonna let your boys take the licks until the morning.”

“They did well,” said Chase, glancing back at Brent and Alex. “They are good players, and people. They don’t deserve to be murdered by you lot.”

“It ain’t murder,” sneered Bill. “We gave y’all a choice.”

“Do they look like they had a choice?” Said Chase, pointing the bat at Brent and Alex. Their bruises and lumps stood out starkly to the orange blow of the light surrounding them. One such light was directly above them, as Chase had ensured they were positioned perfectly to catch the ethereal glow.

“Yeah, they did,” spat Markon. “Now enough stalling. Are you ready?”

“Not only that!” Continued Chase, raising his voice. “But you guys already tried to kill us once. You found me and a friend and beat us nearly to death!”

His voice rang out in the forest.

“Shut up!” Said Markon. Beside him Ethan was on the ground, and was frowning as he listened to Chase.

“Keep your voice down,” said Ethan.

“Don’t tell me what to do,” muttered Markon, but curtailed any thing else he was about to say after Xemnara menacingly cleared her throat. “Alright! Chase. Here it comes.”

Chase had only a second to look back at Brent and wink. When he returned his gaze to Markon the giant man had wound his throw and, with a grunt worthy of an actual giant, threw the ball.

WHOOSH…………………………………………………whump

“What happened?” Said Alex.

Chase had thrown the bat on the ground, and ducked as soon as Markon had thrown the ball. The baseball had whizzed right over his head and into the forest where it had disappeared only to crash into something in the distance.

“Coward!” Cackled Bill. He beat his hands on the ground as he laughed at Chase. “What a coward!”

“Can’t take the pain, eh?” Said Markon. He took another baseball from the sack. “Maybe one of those lads there should have been the leader.”

As the Followers laughed Chase saw Claire shaking her head forlornly. Amelie appeared confused and Thomas had hung his head in shame.

“True, the lads are brave,” said Chase as the chattering stopped. “They must be brave during confrontation. A guild leader, however, must be something else.”

“And what’s that?”

“Smart,” said Chase. He stepped out of the way just as a large and smokey being was coming out of the forest.

The creature was over ten feet high, and had to duck beneath a tree branch. As it came to it’s full height the Followers began to scramble for their weapons. It’s entire body seemed to have been made from a dark and putrid gas, and Chase had to cover his nose to keep from being overpowered.

“WHO,” said the beast. It sounded like many people speaking at once. ”WHO THREW THIS!”

Suddenly a baseball, held on a smoky tendril coming from the monsters torso, appeared.

“The big one!” Said Thomas, pointing at Markon.

“Thanks, Tommy,” said the being. The baseball disappeared back inside the creature and then shot out as though fired from a cannon.

Markon was hit directly in the face with a satisfying crunch. He fell back on the ground, soundly unconscious. The other Followers stared first at him, and then at the being, and then finally at Xemnara.

“Damnit,” said Xem. “I knew we should have done a faster game.”

Xem stood up and pointed at the smoky being.

“Who ever can kill that get’s Markon’s job, okay?”

“What is it?” Said Bill. He had his sword out. “Some kind of monster? I’ve never seen such a thing.”

“That,” said Xem, “is some OP fool trying to be a hero. Anyway. Bye by.”

Xem disappeared, leaving her followers alone.

“Attack!” Shouted Bill.