Zeke seethed.
At some point, he’d forgotten what true anger felt like. So often, he was subjected to the artificial fury that came from fueling his skills with demonic corruption. That had given him an erroneous perception of the debilitating nature of true rage. Sure, under the influence of demonic mana, he was often too angry to even think. But the real thing – the sort that came from his own heart and mind – was something entirely different.
It didn’t just overwhelm him like a tidal wave. Instead, it was more like a roiling storm surge, slowly rising until there was nothing else left. And as he sat in that tavern, surrounded by so many normal sights and sounds, he was very close to boiling over. It didn’t matter if the timing was right. Nor was he concerned with the consequences of any potential actions. Beneath that flood of real and potent emotion, little else mattered.
He gritted his teeth, then forced himself to take a deep breath. Then another. And another after that. Gradually, he reached some degree of calm, though beneath the surface, a tempest of unmitigated fury continued to rage.
Out of the corner of his eye, Zeke watched the tavern’s other patrons. Most were normal people, dressed in the local fashions, which put Zeke in mind of the American old west. The materials were different, and the cuts were a little odd, but there was something about their attire that reminded Zeke of the westerns his father favored.
That definitely didn’t help Zeke’s mood.
The tavern itself was all rough wood and simple design, and the meal he’d just finished was more of the same. However, even if it was a relatively normal supper of roasted meat, potatoes, and some vegetables he didn’t recognize, Zeke found it all disgusting – because he knew the price that had been paid for harvesting those vegetables. For raising the livestock. Even the servers were pretty elves – both male and female – each bearing a vivid brand on their necks.
“Slave brand,” Eveline said. “They’re widely used in Hell.”
“What do they do?”
“They drain mana,” she said. “All of it. Notice how lethargic they are?”
“Mana deprivation,” he guessed. Usually, using all of one’s mana resulted in a headache and a period of weakness. However, if the drain continued, it would start eating into a person’s stats, effectively rendering them no more powerful than people on Earth. Needless to say, when their masters had the relative power of comic book superheroes, that would make the slaves that much easier to control.
“It’s very effective,” Eveline agreed. “Fortunately, it would be useless on you. Nothing can block your Will. Except for a stronger Will, of course, but it’s almost impossible to put that kind of thing into a slave brand. If you’d followed your runecrafting path, you might’ve managed it. But now, the best you can do is break them. Of course, doing that would require a significant degree of control on your part.”
Zeke didn’t need her to remind him of his deficiencies. If he tried to use the Runebreaker technique on a person, the residual impact would likely rip them to pieces. It would be especially deadly for people under the effects of a slave brand. With their stats having been degraded, they would have almost no defense – natural or otherwise – against the expression of his Will.
He refocused on the task at hand. After spending a little more time in the city, he’d accomplished both of his main goals. Not only had he purchased a few maps – using the gem-like beads that were the Eternal Realm’s currency – but he’d also gathered enough information that he now knew he’d made the right choice when he’d foregone the plan to simply cross Adontis without direction.
If he’d done that, there was every chance he would never have discovered the way, because there was a labyrinth that cut through the center of the kingdom. It had grown out of a dungeon, and it went on for miles, effectively slicing the country in half. If he wanted to get to the undead Kingdom of El’kireth, he would need to either traverse the labyrinth or go hundreds of miles out of his way.
However, the way through was well-known, and though it was dangerous, the Knights of Adontis had positioned a series of forts along the intended path, rendering it much safer than it otherwise should have been. But without a map – or the foreknowledge that there was a way through the labyrinth – it would have been almost impossible. What’s more, it was apparently very easy for unwary travelers to stumble into the dungeon.
Usually, those were never seen again.
Still, that dungeon was one of the reasons the Knights of Adontis were relevant at all. They used it to funnel valuable kill energy as well as the rewards for conquering the dungeon into their people, giving them a much higher level of advancement than they should have expected otherwise.
Of course, it wasn’t possible to simply run the same dungeon over and over again in order to take advantage of the rewards. After the first time, both the experience and rewards were significantly reduced. And that decrease continued until, after the fourth run, a prospective adventurer would get nothing out of it. Even so, it was a great boon for their development, which was why they’d garnered the interest of their vassal state in the first place.
Idly, Zeke wondered if the Radiant Host – and their host, which was called The Luminous Empire – was as corrupt as the Radiant Isles back in the Mortal Realm. Given that they obviously sanctioned slavery – or at least looked the other way when it came to their allies – the chances were high.
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In addition, Zeke had learned that there was a large contingent of Knights that had been deployed to Heartwood. Estimates ranged from a couple of thousand to more than ten times that number, but Zeke suspected it was on the lower end of that approximation. Mostly, that belief was based on the size of the city, which he doubted was large enough to accommodate such a force.
Still, Zeke intended to discover the truth before he moved on.
So, with that in mind, he finished his meal, paid the enslaved elf who was his server, then left the tavern behind. Once again, he found himself traversing the clean and ordered streets of Heartwood, though now that he knew why everything was so tidy, he couldn’t look at it as anything but the filth it represented.
He ambled through the city, and though his attire was a little out of place, he barely garnered any interest. There were other foreigners in the city, each one plainly belonging to a different culture. They were all human, though. Or in Zeke’s case, they at least looked the part. And so, they were accepted by dint of their species.
Even though he appreciated the anonymity such acceptance provided, Zeke was still disgusted. That feeling was especially strong each time he passed an enslaved elf or heard someone mention the beastkin who worked their fields as manual laborers. So, by the time he reached the city’s barracks, his anger had very nearly overcome his good sense.
Fortunately, Zeke had some experience with wrangling his emotions, so he kept himself from acting according to the thoughts racing through his mind. However, buried only just below the surface was the surety that he would make the city and its residents pay for their sins. Perhaps not immediately. Maybe it would take weeks. Or months. It could even be years. But one day, he would tear it all down.
That stoked the fires in his soul, but it was also strangely soothing. In any case, it allowed Zeke to think clearly, which was the most important thing at present.
The barracks were housed in a large, stone castle, and Zeke estimated that it would hold at least a few thousand knights. He couldn’t be more specific than that, so he was incapable of confirming or denying the various rumors he’d heard. That wasn’t to say that he didn’t uncover some information, though. He discovered that the Knights of Adontis mostly kept to themselves. Every now and then, one would leave the castle, but for the most part, they remained within.
That was a good thing, because it kept all of Zeke’s enemies in one place.
“I don’t like what you’re thinking,” Eveline said. “There’s no reason to –”
“There’s every reason, Eveline,” he said, cutting her off as he stared at the castle. “Thousands of them, most in cages.”
“Ezekiel…”
Zeke tuned her out, largely because he didn’t want to be talked out of doing something that, in his soul, he desperately wanted to do. In fact, he needed it in a way he couldn’t quite wrap his brain around. He’d seen injustices before, but they’d never hit him quite as hard as what he’d seen in Heartwood.
Once, he’d considered himself one of the good guys, and during his time in the Radiant Isles, he’d lost sight of that. Barely a day passed when he didn’t feel some degree of regret over leaving the Mortal Realm in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. At the time, it had made some degree of sense. But mostly, he had just been angry – at Abby, at the people of Jariq, at everyone who’d tried to kill him along the way – and he’d made every excuse to leave it all behind.
There was even an argument to be made that he’d ultimately made the smart choice. Fighting a war against an army of zombies – some of which were already more powerful than him – was a good way to end up dead. And yet, smart or not, he still regretted that he’d turned his back on people who’d needed his help.
He didn’t want to do that again.
His conscience wouldn’t bear it. If he kept going down that road, his demonic side might truly take over. It would be a gradual fall, but every step he took on that path would turn him inevitably toward evil.
Because no one started off as the bad guy. It was the result of hundreds of smaller choices, each supported by logic – skewed or not – and excused by all sorts of reasoning. Then, one day, they would cross a line. Just a little. And that would make sense, too. But every step past that line would be easier and easier until, at last, they descended into true villainy.
Zeke wouldn’t allow himself to go down that road. He wasn’t perfect, though. He knew he would kill. But he did intend to live his life based on his own code of morality. And as far as he was concerned, what was happening in Heartwood crossed every line he could conjure.
As a result, he had already set himself on the path to doing something about it.
To that end, he retreated to a disused alley in a nearly abandoned part of the city, where he summoned his gate. The moment it had manifested, he stepped inside and told one of the waiting kobolds what he wanted. Then, he headed back outside to wait.
A few minutes later, he was joined by his most trusted confidants. Pudge, Jasper, Sasha, Eta, and Kinma all wore thick cloaks intended to hide them from casual observation, while Silik did the same, though he added a significant hunch to his posture. It wouldn’t stand up to close scrutiny, but Zeke hoped they wouldn’t be exposed for long enough for that to matter. Once everyone had joined him, he dismissed the gate.
Then, he told them his plan. To their credit, none of them objected. After he explained his reasoning, everyone was entirely onboard. The only question was how they intended to accomplish their goals.
“Poison,” Pudge said. “They eat. They drink. We can poison their food and –”
“It would have to be some poison,” Eta said. “I might have something that can help, but it won’t kill them. It would take a real alchemist to make something that would affect people their level.”
Zeke wished Tucker was around, but he’d made his choice about who to seek out first. He had no choice but to stick with it.
“How long will it take?” he asked.
“Six or seven hours,” she answered.
“Alright. We need you to get on that,” he said, summoning the gate again. “Kianma, Silik, get the troops ready. Pudge, I want you ready to move as soon as Eta finishes her poison. You’re the stealthiest person we have, so it’s going to be up to you to sneak in there.” He turned to Sasha and Jasper, asking, “Anything to add?”
Sasha shook her head, saying, “I could probably bring the castle down if you want, but…”
“But there are innocents in there. I know,” Zeke finished. “It’s fine. You’re our secret weapon. If we need to drop a meteor on someone or something, that’s when you’re up.”
She looked down and wrung her hands. “I guess…”
After that, everyone retreated into the gate, leaving Zeke once again alone.
Mostly.
There was always Eveline, and she made her opinion known when she said, “You do understand that if you go through with this plan, you’re going to start another war. And this one won’t be over in a month or two. It could take years. Thousands are going to die. These Knights of Adontis are a proper faction with real power. They’re not barely-more-than-monsters hill giants living in isolated mountains.”
“I’m aware.”
“Then why do it?” Eveline asked. “You have what you came for. We could move on. We could get through that labyrinth and find your friend in weeks. Maybe a month. Isn’t that what you want?”
“Some thing are more important than doing what I want to do.”