We had limited knowledge about the Devil Kings dealings. Right before the old timeline fell apart I had instructed Wraith to have the Thieves Guild gather information for me so we could plan a methodical course of action for confronting him. I’d get no such luxury here since this Wraith was new to this world and didn’t have those connections. Plus there’s the fact that the Oracle said the Devil King was aware of my presence and would be anticipating me to do something at some point.
Our best bet was to try and get to the Devil King’s domain and deal with him first.
Unfortunately, the quickest way there from this continent was by ship. Either from ports east of Vale or the long way around from the Southern Seas. That wouldn’t be economical nor practical. Taking a dozen barbarians by ship would be expensive, obvious, and probably dangerous. In a way, this felt like the situation in Bristol all over again. Get to the Devil King and eliminate him before his spies have a chance to signal something is up.
We decided that the “safest” route would be to head west, through the Dwarf mines and over the continental divide to the neighboring nations that shared a border with the Devil Kings territory. It would take longer, but it would keep us on land and be a little more discreet than loading up on some merchant ship that could get people talking and make our presence known to the spy network. Hopefully, the Oracle’s prediction about finding a Tome of Wisdom would happen somewhere along this journey.
The dwarves were kind. We paid them for hospitality with what little gold we had. Thankfully, Arduwan, Wraith and I were safe from being recognized. In this timeline, we had not robbed them of gemstones, so they weren’t looking for us. They offered us the fastest route to the other side of the continent and we were on our way.
We traveled for over a week. It was slow at first, because Wraith had to relearn how to ride a horse. But once we got going, everything felt right. Wraith and I got to dress up like barbarians for a change. We didn’t quite fit in, given the fact we weren’t as muscle bound as all of them. But it was still kinda fun. We spent our days riding and our evenings sharpening our swordplay skills.
One evening, we were sitting by the fire and Throd sat over by Arduwan. She rolled her eyes, got up from her place and went to sit closer to Wraith. This embarrassed Throd. So he said, “Little man! I challenge you to a contest.”
“Uhh, who, me?” Wraith said, seemingly confused.
“Yes. We must decide who is ranked second to Sir Noble.”
I decided to interject, “Umm, Throd, that’s okay. There’s really no need to do that. You see, you lead the barbarians, and I lead you. Wraith doesn’t really have a place in this system.”
“That cannot be,” said Throd, “there must be a defined order.”
He was really trying to push the issue. My guess was that he wanted to impress Arduwan. Wraith really had no idea why she liked him so much and I think he was intimidated by her. They simply didn’t have the history together they did in the other timeline. But it would be futile, because Arduwan remembered everything from before.
“Okay, fine. What is your challenge,” I conceded.
Throd stood up and said, “see that peak? At first light, we shall race to the top of it. The first one of us to reach the top and wave down at the others will be the winner.”
Oh good, at least it wasn’t combat or a test of strength. Wraith had a smirk on his face. I knew what he was thinking, his Ninja Warrior training was going to win this thing for him. Throd was simply too muscle bound and bulky to have the endurance to beat him. Arduwan could, but she was different. She was lean muscle. Throd was like a barn door!
* * *
At sunrise, the two men lined up in front of a fallen branch and faced towards the peak. It was a steep incline towards the top no matter which direction you took. Another barbarian held up a cloth and lowered it to signal the start of the race.
The two of them took off into a sprint at first. Once they reached the lower rock formations they started climbing. Wraith climbed the first large boulder by hand and they parkoured his way across a smaller set before reaching a rock wall. He started going hand over foot from there. Throd was still trying to get some traction. It wasn’t looking good for him early on. Wraith looked like Tomb Raider leaping from rock face to rock face. By the time Throd had gotten just past the halfway point, Wraith was already at the top waving down to all of us.
Arduwan screamed, “Yaaaayyyyy!!!!” And the other barbarians joined in on the cheering.
This only further embarrassed Throd than he was the night before.”
The two of them descended down and Throd begrudgingly admitted defeat. “Congrats, man,” I said to Wraith, “looks like you’re my second in command.”
After a quick celebration, we packed up and started moving westward again.
* * *
A few days later, we were well into the neighboring land. We had not encountered many people since leaving the Dwarf mines. Only a few passing caravans and a small hamlet. But soon, something disturbing came into view. We saw plumes of smoke on the horizon, so we decided to go and investigate.
What we discovered was a burned village. Not a small one either. It was nearly the size of Braytown, but it had been reduced completely to ashes. Any survivors must have fled because there was no one around. The whole thing gave me an uneasy feeling.
“Whoever did this must be to the north,” said Throd, who further noted, “these tracks indicate movement of a few dozen men with steel boots. They came from the north, burned the village, and doubled back. Their encampment must be in that direction.”
“Should we go investigate? Or try and avoid them all together? We’re still a long way from the Devil King’s domain,” I said.
“I will go,” Throd offered, “It’s too dangerous for all of us to move at once. I will scout ahead and report back what I see. Then we will assess the appropriate course of action.”
No one tried to stop him so I didn’t bother to either. The rest of us dismounted to rest while he rode on ahead. The area we were in was flat land with trees, rivers, and fields all around. It was an ideal place to live in a world as harsh as this one. To the north of us was a small mountain range. Storm clouds seemed to be ominously forming near them.
About an hour passed and there was no sign of Throd returning. We weren’t sure how far ahead he was going to search but I had a really bad feeling about it. After a little while longer I made an executive decision to go find him. We hastily packed everything up and began following his trail.
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Tracking Throd lead us near the base of the mountains. We saw indications of others moving around in small groups but Throd’s tracks circle around a mountainside. As we were going along, slowly trying to find out where he had gone to, we suddenly had an encounter.
About a dozen knights in all black shiny armor marched around the corner of the mountainside. They came from the direction Throd’s tracks led too. That didn’t seem good. Each of the knights were over six feet tall. They were totally covered in body armor. Their closed helmets made them faceless and their movements were almost robotic in nature.
We held our ground fast and dismounted our steeds. We weren’t looking for a fight if we could avoid one but it was looking like that was what was about to happen. The barbarians all readied their weapons, followed by me and Wraith. We had been given short swords and bows by King Ardu. I called out, “Halt! We do not wish to engage with you!”
No response. The metallic foes simply marched on towards us. It began to darken. The storm clouds we saw forming earlier appeared to move in, almost as if to compliment the presence of this obsidian menace before us. When it looked as though a peaceful parting was no longer an option, I shouted, “Charge!” Signaling the barbarians to attack with full force, Wraith and I in tow.
I stopped to fire an arrow from my bow about halfway before meeting the enemies up close. It was a direct hit on one of them, but seemed to just bounce off without so much as even slowing him. Odd, the power behind that should have at least jolted him a bit. The barbarians and the knights fully clashed and it quickly became a blood bath. Our blood. Not a single knight had fallen and yet all but three of the barbarians, Arduwan, myself, and Wraith were left standing to retreat. But there was nowhere to run to. Behind us, yet another patrol of knights was round the corner. The barbarians advanced again to give us an opportunity to run. Wraith joined them toe to toe against the knights.
*CRASH* *SLASH* *SLICE* *WHAM*
“No! Wraith!” I shouted, but it was too late. He tried a springboard maneuver in an attempt to strike one of them with momentum but was cut down and killed right before us. The other three barbarians alongside him.
I hesitated a moment before yelling, “Flash!” Casting the same blaze of light I used to ward off the werewolf before, I grabbed Arduwan and ran inwards towards a valley in the mountainside. I wasn’t sure where it would lead us but it was better than standing their to be butchered.
We ran side by side about fifty yards before the small break in the mountside fed into a dead end cul-de-sac. There were large stones laid about as if this were some kind of shrine that had long since abandoned. But there was nowhere to hide.
“Eric,” Arduwan said, in a panicked breath, “I’m going to try and hold them off. See if you can climb out of here.”
“I can’t just leave you!”
“It’s my job, Eric. I must protect you so that you may live on another day. That is the way of the Barbarian Life Debt.”
It hurt me to do so, but I nodded at her. She had tears in her eyes but raised her greatsword anyway and ran back out towards the black knights.
Rain started to pelt around me as I heard her clashing swords with them. I looked around and saw nowhere to go. Even if I were to start climbing, the rain on the rock face would cause me to slide back down. It was looking grim. Perhaps the grimest it had been since I began my journey. Nearly everyone I cared about was dead and I was helpless to even avenge them. We couldn’t even kill one of those knights. How could I possibly stand to an entire platoon of them, much less the Devil King. What had gone wrong? Did I somehow miss the opportunity to find that Tome of Wisdom the Oracle mentioned?
My contemplation was cut short at the sound of Arduwan’s screams. Lightning crashed and the rain picked up. I knew I had about enough magic power to cast one good spell. Not that it would make a difference, but maybe if I got lucky I could kill at least one or two of those knights before they got me.
Then they came. From out of the mountain pass, about five of those black knights emerged. They were silent. We never once heard them make a sound before the battle and the same could be said for now. I held out my short sword with both hands and prepared to embrace their attack. But just before they made their move, there was a sudden flash of light. It wasn’t lightning. But it was accompanied by a presence. One I had felt before but didn’t recognize. The knights stopped dead in their tracks and looked up behind me. Before I could turn around to see what was there, another flash of light dissolved the black knights into nothingness.
I slowly turned behind me and saw the faint outline of a woman hovering over the abandoned shrine I had discovered. She was transparent and had no color or pupils in her eyes. Really, she was almost a silhouette. I could see she had long flowing hair and gave the appearance of a middle aged woman, but there were no defining features. Her outline was the size of a billboard! Part of me was relieved but the other part was afraid.
“Wh-who are you?” I timidly asked.
She responded with an elegant and well spoken demeanor, “I am Delilah, the Goddess of Second Chances. You have stumbled upon my shrine that was abandoned centuries ago.”
Delilah! This was the goddess Apollo summoned to revive Stephanie! Was this what he had been looking up at and speaking to when he communed with her?
“Thank you! But why did you save me?” I asked.
Her response was hesitant but she finally said, “When I was in your presence before, back at your Mansion, I took interest in you. Your name is Noble and so is your namesake. I saw that you went through great lengths to revive your friend, so that is why I granted your request. It seems fate has brought you here before my shrine that has all but been forgotten.”
“Unreal. But why are you so interested in me? I only did what anyone would and should do to help their friends?”
She paused yet again before cautiously replying, “You may find this odd, but deities can be quite curious. We are restricted by the laws of the cosmos in meddling too much in mortal affairs. But I suppose you could say…I like you and your comrades.”
Well that was a relief. At least she didn’t save me from the knights just face me in battle herself or anything crazy like that. I’d expect as much from this damn world.
“If you’re restricted from meddling, how were you able to save me from the knights?”
She answered in her wise and soft spoken voice, “A deity is permitted to aid a mortal up to three times in a lifetime. No more, since that would imply favoritism. But I’ve decided to grant you a single wish now. Since I have already helped you twice, I will be banished to a lower realm. But I am the Goddess of Second Chances, so that is what I have decided to do.”
“Twice? But this is only the first time you’ve helped me. Technically, Apollo was the one who summoned you to revive Stephanie.”
“Yes, but I only helped Apollo achieve his redemption. It was you who wanted Stephanie to be brought back.”
That made sense. But I really wonder what the parameters of this wish she wants to grant me is. I decided to ask, “If asked, could you kill the Devil King?”
“Yes.”
No way! Talk about calling in the cavalry. I could wrap this thing up a whole lot sooner than I thought! He’s the only active Devil remaining! But wait a second…
“One more question Delilah. If I wish for the Devil King to be killed, will that reset the past year and bring everyone back the way we were before?”
“No. It will not. What’s done is done,” she replied, stoically.
Oh no. This is terrible. It will be bittersweet taking out the Devil King only to know there was nothing I could do to save my fallen friends. And if that is the only wish Delilah can grant me, then I’m afraid it’s the best I could do. I wish Emily were here. She could surely help me figure out a way to cast a wish with maximum benefit.
“However,” Delilah said, “If you were to wish that the Devil King’s curse had no effect on you, I could rewrite the events of time up to this point to prevent him from ever being able to cast it. Though I must warn you…your opportunity to defeat the Devil King while he is at half power will disappear along with the curse.”
“I see,” I replied somberly, “then that gives me some hope. But the entire reason I marched out here to begin with was to take advantage of his weakened state. If we couldn’t even defeat his foot soldiers as we were, I’m not sure if we could stop him at full power.”
“It is a moral decision you must make on your own,” she suggested, “stop the Devil King now and forever or reunite with your allies and find a way without my assistance.”
A moral dilemma was more like it. By her giving me this ultimatum it just made things that much more difficult. But she was the Goddess of Second Chances after all. Perhaps she wanted me to be happy, even if it meant running the risk of the Devil King dominating this world anyway. What am I thinking? It’s just one Devil. There will be more. Eventually, somebody else is going to have to deal with them. I know what my choice is!
“Delilah! I’m ready to make my wish,” I proudly exclaimed, “I wish that the Devil King’s curse never worked on me!”