The last thing I saw was their stupid faces. The Hero, his Princess, and their companions, their Sage and their Knight. All wounded and exhausted, running on the last fumes of their strength and magical power, the only thing burning in them their own hopes and this world’s Divine’s will.
How infuriating. That was the last thought that went through my mind as I regarded them with a final sneer. I wished for some level of my power to still be present, for something to give me the strength to at least take these fools with me as I departed this world and entered the Chaotic Void that I had sworn myself to years ago. But I knew it was not to be. My own Dark Lady did not have the presence anymore to aid me any further, these worms had seen to that. How aggravating it was that I would never get a chance for revenge, that these fools and their kingdoms of light and Order would continue.
However, there was some hope. While they had succeeded in killing many of my close comrades, their efforts had not been as successful as they would have hoped. In truth, this final assault directly against me had been their last hope of victory, one which had annoyingly succeeded. A few of my allies and my Generals still remained, and they still dwelled on the frontlines, no doubt attempting to make it back here to reinforce me. They would survive, and they would seek revenge. At the very least, I was confident that the homeland that this Hero and his party had originated from would be nothing but ashes and ruin by the time they returned triumph.
The thought brought a soft smile to my lips as the last of my life faded from me, and I perished wishing my followers luck in completing our conquests even without me.
—
I was in the depths of the Chaotic Void, the overwhelming and suffocating nothingness and primordial slop that made up all physical creation raging around my spirit and tearing into it. Only Her protection allowed me to keep my sanity and form intact as I awaited her judgement, I had failed her, and held no hope nor expectations of mercy. I did wonder what my punishment would be though. I doubted something as extreme as snuffing out my existence. Demotion was the most likely fate, to be reduced to a pitiful Demon and servant for another, more successful Lord’s conquests.
Finally, after a timeless eternity seemed to have passed me by, She manifested before me. My Dark Lady, the Chaos Goddess of Nature. Her form appeared to me in three ways, each constantly flickering into view and sometimes all being clearly visible and sometimes none as my mind pathetically attempted to comprehend Her divinity in some manner that made sense to it. Sometimes She was a beautiful naked elf woman, Her skin like silver and Her hair a thousand different shades and textures all at the same time; other times She was a nightmarish demon with a vaguely feline and nude form that cast a spell of horrified arousal upon me, Her face withered and reptilian yet sculpture like the most lovely of princesses, Her delicate fingers ending in sharp talons, and lovely black bird wings with feathers that smelt of decay and blood. Her hair was a mass of serpents of all types, venom and honey dripping from their fangs as they crawled across Her flesh lewdly as they sought prey to devour. Finally, She appeared as a mass of snakes, brambles, and fleshy tendrils all wrapped up in a vaguely humanoid form. Flowers of all shades and types and warped faces screaming in a chorus of agony and ecstasy. She was all of these things, and so much more I would never begin to understand, and I laid bound before Her, in miserable failure.
I spoke no words, and neither did She. I asked naught for forgiveness nor gave excuses, and She offered no mercy nor demanded me to explain my failures. I simply lay before Her and She stood before me, until finally She moved. Her arm extended, Her hand outstretched. Delicate fingers petted my cheek as sharp talons carved into the soft flesh of my soul and sharp brambles and cold scales rubbed against it.
“My Champion, my Demon Lord of Domination,” She whispered and screamed at me in an angelic and serpentine voice. “I do not fault you for your failures.”
“That… whore of a Goddess,” venom and wine spat from the snakes as She sneered the words, “has gotten… crafty… and so will I.”
I did not dare to speak and neither did She allow me, instead She threw me with a single motion, sending me sprawling truth the Chaotic Void until I connected with the physical bearer of a world, and passed through with a single, excruciating, burst of pain and death.
—
I awoke to a fist in my ribs, pain exploding in my abdomen to the point I vomited up blood. Memories, fragmented and torn apart, slammed together roughly. My own memories, those of Malifar, the Demon Lord of Domination, were far stronger however and overwhelmed the much more damaged memories in this body. At the same time, I could feel the body’s natural soul being pulled into and fusing with my own before going silent completely.
As I collapsed to the ground coughing and sputtering, my mouth tasting of blood and bile, a brutish and dim-witted masculine voice suddenly called out, a distinct undertone of nervous fear clear as day in it. “H-hey Jack, stop! What if you kill him! Then we won’t get no ransoms or nothing, and we will have a Duke raging after us!”
“Oh come off it, he was pissing me off!” Even as the pain surged through me, I felt a distinct wetness suddenly impact against my cheek as the utterly charmless brute made a distinctly loud and crude noise. “Ya are right though, can’t go beating this prick up too much. Can’t have him dying on us.”
Too late for that, you incompetent baffoon, I thought to myself as I struggled to gather my wits and oriente myself. The only reason I possessed and fused with this body is because it had just recently died and the soul was getting ready to depart before I came through what was supposed to be his exit.
I felt myself settling into this body fully as the pain slowly numbed. I could feel the Mana in this body, and it still being directed and altered in some way or manner. Finally, a screen of sorts appeared before my mind’s eyes, visible to only me and completely separate from my physical sight.
Major Mana Alteration Detected!
Bond Recalibrating… Complete!
-
Your Class is: Lord
Your Rank is: Duke
Your Affinity is: Domination
Level set to: 1
Starting Cards generated.
My left hand felt hot, I opened my eyes to see some sort of crude metal cuff clamped on its spark and then suddenly dissolved in fine powder with a loud hiss. A loud hiss that unfortunately my apparent captors were not too brainless to notice or comprehend.
“T-the Hells!?” My assaulter, John or Joe or something, shouted in surprise.
“The Restrainer! It just dissolved! But that isn’t supposed to happen!” The other one stammered, just below squeaking.
“Piece of junk!” Jacob growled as he snapped out of his surprise and immediately tried to kick me, whatever power they had over me apparently dissolving with that cuff.
As his foot connected with my chest, however, a white barrier appeared completely surrounding me, a personal shield of some kind. It flared up and the thug was set sprawling on his ass. As I felt my own wounds rapidly healing and vanishing, I finally began to move and got to my feet, raising my fists in a crude fighting stance. As I raised my left hand, I noticed a small white gemstone set into my wrist that was glowing brightly.
“Now then, Young Master, all that I am about to tell you is very basic, but also very important, to understanding your powers as a Lord and what they grant you the ability to do.”
“First, is the Gem itself. This is a direct conduit for your Mana and your Class, and only Lords have them set into their left wrists like this. If you see it on another person, then beware, because they are another Lord. The Gem is attuned to the world and will go into combat mode once it senses danger and will begin to glow brightly.”
“Once it enters combat mode, your Cards will activate and your initial Mana will be ready. You need to be prepared and familiar with your Cards so you know what you are working with. In an immediate threat, a quick attack Spell is best for making some room for yourself, followed quickly by a fast Summon to defend yourself.”
The aged voice spoke in my memories, coming to me and flashing by in an instant. Not my memories of my previous life as Malifar, but of the memories of this life from the depths of the soul I had fused with. So, in some ways, I had some idea of what to do but at the same time I was learning this all for the first time. It was a strange feeling, like coming back to something after years of neglecting it.
I opened my left hand, palm facing up. Four cards began to shimmer just above them, floating in the open air. Each had a similar design, a colored border, a picture in the top half and text in the bottom half, and a dark blue diamond in its up right with a white number. One of them had a bright blue border and another had an emerald green one. Two had slate grey borders as well as a red axe head in their bottom left and a green orb above a yellow kite shield in their bottom left, all also with white numbers in them.
“S-shit, he’s got his cards and stuff back Jack!”
He didn’t respond, the large and brutish man growling and drawing a mace from his belt. Now that I could see them clearly, I could see they were nothing special or unexpected. Typical Bandits and thugs in every way they could be. I also doubted that there were only two of them, so I had to settle this quickly.
“The Borders of your Cards are also very important, Young Master. Gold and grey ones are your Summons, blue are your Spells, green are your Enchantments, and silver are your Relics. For all Cards, they will have a Mana cost, which you can find out by the blue diamond in the top right.”
Not having much time, I quickly examined the blue Spell card and hoped it was an attack Spell:
Shard of Winter:
Cost: 2
Level: 3
Single-Target Attack Spell
-
Fires a bolt of White Frost at a single target. Deals 1 damage and White Freezes for 1 turn.
-
Can choose one of the following if condition(s) are met:
- Dominate Life: Extend White Freeze effect to 2 turns.
- Dominate Strength: Increase damage dealt to 5.
- Dominate Numbers: Change to Multi-Target Attack Spell and target up to 3 different enemies.
-
- [White Freeze]: Freezes target in White Frost and prevents all action for the turn. At the start of each new turn the target is still frozen or the freeze ends, deal 2 damage.
-
“Even a single shard of the White Winter’s ice is capable of freezing even giants, feeding off of their despair and weakness before shattering them apart with its terrible power.”
There was a lot of text that I unfortunately didn’t have time to read. I got to “Single-Target Attack Spell’ when I grabbed the Card with my right hand. It disintegrated into white and blue Mana that gathered around my fingers, crackling eagerly. I felt some sort of choice or option being presented to me, but had no way to understand it so I didn’t bother to try. The Spell felt almost frustrated, in a way, as I threw it towards the charging Bandit. The Mana leapt from my hand in a way I was much more familiar with, taking the form of a large javelin of jagged ice. The ice was a distinct shade of bright, almost pearl or marble white, as if it was frozen milk instead of water while still being ice.
If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
Josh tried to dodge, but the Spell was as fast as a ballista’s bolt and impaled him in the center of his chest, piercing completely through him. He was thrown back and would have been sent flying, but before he could be; the white ice spread from the javelin, and rapidly and completely encased him in it.
The other Bandit took a step back before shouting and calling out desperately, “So-someone help! The brat’s loose and he’s got his magic back!”
Seeing as he was distracted with screaming his head off, I turned my attention to my slate grey cards. One of them and the green Enchantment Card had both darkened, so I went for the one that was still bright. Keeping the hysterical Bandit in my view, I was actually able to read this Card:
Opportunistic Wretches:
Cost: 3
Level: 2
Pack, Dominated, Winter Fae
Health: 2|Attack: 3|Defense: 1
Size: Small|Number: 3
-
When Summoned:
- Dominate Strength: Cost reduced to 1.
- Dominate Numbers: Summon 3 additional Opportunistic Wretches.
-
In Combat:
- Plus 2 Attack against enemies suffering from White Freeze.
-
“Sniveling creature, the lowest of the Winter Fae. These cowards are quick to seek any hope of promotion or gain, and are even quicker to swarm weaker or out-numbered opponents.”
The picture that took up the top half of the Card depicted several small, withered humanoids with icy white skin and long black hair, half naked and dressed only in a few tattered black furs. They were all running towards the face of the Card’s view and were in a winter forest in the midst of a blizzard. The Cards words were simple enough to understand, though without any context I had no idea if this Card was good or how strong these things actually would be. A name like ‘Wretch’ anything did not exactly inspire much confidence. Examining the text with more detail, I noticed that the ‘Dominate Strength’ text was glowing soft but clearly, while the ‘Dominate Numbers’ text was not. Perhaps only that effect was met?
Looking around a bit more I noticed that beneath the Cards on the right was a floating blue diamond just like the Mana Cost symbol in the top right of the Cards. In this diamond it read ‘1|3,’ which must have meant I had three Mana at the start and only one now. I could only summon the Opportunistic Wretches because whatever ‘Dominate Strength’ was was active. To the right directly next to the diamond was another fraction, ‘26|34.’ I had no idea what this one was supposed to be, but it was counting down. Under the right side of my Cards was a red heart inside of a yellow kite shield with another fraction, ‘5|5,’ that I guessed was my own personal Health.
Grabbing the Opportunistic Wretches Card, it dissolved into a frigid white mist that shot in front of me and split into three before solidifying into three humanoid creatures. They looked similar to the ones on the Card and now I could see them in much greater detail. They were all about three and a half feet tall, and were crouched over, scrawny humanoids whose flesh was pale and on looked almost withered, as if some of the liquid had been drained from the skin. Their ears were pointed and quite long, their nails were long, obsidian black talons. Coming out of their backs was a bit of webbing and torn flesh that looked to have once been insectoid wings before they had been savagely torn out or plucked. Each of the trio looked somewhat different. The one on my left was male and bald and had on the least clothing; the middle one directly in front of me was female though she had nothing covering her chest just like the other two; and the right one had shorter hair than the female and a much longer fur loincloth.
As the three of the manifested, the door to this stone holding room was bashed open and a trio of Bandits rushed in. One was wielding a sword, another a battle axe, and the third a crossbow; who immediately took a shot at me. The bolt was far too fast for me to try and just dodge out of the way, and struck the left side of my chest. Like with the kick, a white barrier formed around me and the bolt shattered on it. However, unlike the kick this time the barrier shattered as well. Immediately, a new Card materialized, this one shining white.
“Certain points of your Health are protected by Empowered Shields. At Level 1, you have five Health and two of these Shields: one protecting your fifth Heath point, and protecting your last. Be careful, any direct amount of damage, whether it a hundred points or one, is all it takes to shatter a Shield. Once one of your Empowered Shields have been shattered, you will immediately draw a Card that will be Empowered and cost no Mana.”
So that must have been why the Card was glowing. Checking it, I saw it was another copy of Shard of Winter. Looking up at the Bandits, I spoke calmly. “Kill them.”
The Wretches all charged, as did the two melee capable Bandits. I quickly read over the Card more completely this time. The picture depicted a large, jagged formation of white ice in the middle of a snow-covered field and a raging blizzard. Of the three options, the ‘Dominate Life’ and ‘Dominate Strength’ were both lit up. Two of the Wretches went after the sword wielder and the third leapt at the battle axe wielder, which quickly proved to be a mistake. He swung his battle axe, the thick head slamming into the Wretch’s side and sending it flying along with a great spray of oily black blood. As he pulled his swing back, I cast my Empowered Shard of Winter and this time I focused on it as the magic energy gathered in my hand just before I unleashed. I felt the Spell shift and change, a dark energy tainting it.
This time, the white ice javelin was much larger and more solid, truly looking like a ballista bolt in shape just as it did speed. And unlike before, the freezing effect wasn’t fast enough to pin the Bandit to the floor, it struck him off his feat and after blowing out most of his torso, it pinned and froze his corpse to the wall next to the crossbow Bandit, who stumbled from the impact and messed up his reload.
The sword-wielding Bandit didn’t fare as well against the Wretches as the battle axe-wielding one did. He stabbed his crude blade into the male Wretch, who responded with an angry shriek and raked his talons across his arm, clawing several deep wounds across his arm. He let go of the blade, screaming in pain as he clutched his arm briefly before the female Wretch leapt on him and knocked him to the floor, quickly being joined by the other one as they tore the Bandit limb from limb, gore and blood splattering them both and the floor, walls, even the ceiling.
The Wretch who had been knocked away by the battle axe rose to their feet, the massive wound in their side, still weeping black blood, glowing white before slowly mending. Shrieking in anger, the Wretch ran straight at and leapt at the last armed Bandit as they struggled to try and reload their crossbow. Seeing the Wretch charging at him, he threw the crossbow away and tried to draw a dagger to defend himself. The Wretch landed on the Bandit, his left hand’s talons stabbing into his shoulder and dislocating it, before he stabbed his right hand through his throat.
At that moment, the countdown reached zero and and two things happened: first, another Card entered my hand, and second, both of the frozen dead Bandits exploded in a shower of frozen gore and chunks of white ice.
“Here is one of the most important things you need to remember, the Turns. Each time the count reaches zero, a new Turn will begin. You will regain all your Mana, and you will Draw a new Card. The time it takes to your new turn is controlled by how close you are to the nearest Dragon Vein.”
Ah, so that fraction was the Turn timer. Interesting. Considering that the danger had passed, I looked at the Card that I had drawn. It was an Enchantment, a duplicate of the one I already had in my hand. Curious, I examined it in case there were anymore Bandits I would have to deal with.
White Frost Infusion:
Cost: 2
Level: 2
Single-Card Buff
-
Gives Target the following effects:
- Boosts Health by 2.
- Boosts Defense by 2.
- Dominate Life: Attacks on enemies suffering from White Freeze extend the White Freeze by 1 turn.
-
“To those foreign to it, the White Winter grants only despair. But to those who have already surrendered themselves to it, even only a small amount of the White Frost can grant them its terrible power.”
The picture depicted a hand with pale white skin and black nails on a pale dark grey background. The hand was open, with snowflakes falling down upon it from above. So the Enchantments were primarily buffs of different sorts to put on my Summons. I considered throwing it on the Wretches, assuming it would throw it on all of them due to them being from the same Card, but before I could a high pitched scream suddenly filled the room.
It was the initial Bandit who had called for help to begin with. I had forgotten about him and my Wretches had ignored him, but now he stood shaking in terror and looking ready to piss himself. His scream also drew the attention of the Wretches, who quickly stopped tearing their victims apart and they all turned to look at him.
Promptly pissing himself, the Bandit turned and ran for the exit as fast as he could. The Wretches began to pursue, but they didn’t make it to him as he reached the door, and a spear suddenly shot through it and pulverized it, running him through as splinters rained down on him. The spear was still for a moment before it tore upwards, slicing him apart from his belly to the top of his head. An armor clad boot kicked the Bandit’s corpse back, before what could only be a Knight rushed into the room, spear ready. A pair of much more poorly armored and armed soldiers quickly ran in after him.
Battle Complete!
-
Battle Summary:
- Bandit Killed! 25 exp earned!
- Bandit Brute Killed! 35 exp earned!
- Bandit Killed! 25 exp earned!
- Bandit Crossbowmen Killed! 30 exp earned!
- Spineless Rogue Killed! 10 exp earned!
Total exp earned: 115
-
Level Up!
You have reached: Level 2!
3 Stat points earned!
The message appeared before me, meaning that hopefully this group was friendly and I was no longer in any danger. Further supporting my hopes, the white ice from my Spells and my Opportunities Wretches all settled down before disintegrating into white mist, even the black blood of the one that had been injured, before rushing back into a single stream that poured into the gem on my wrist along with my unused Cards.
“Master Vain?” The Knight said cautiously, his tone one of surprise.
I stood before him, as I had many times before. As I processed his latest proclamation and punishment to me, the annoyance and slight dread I was so used to feeling in his presence slowly curdled into outrage.
“W-what?! You cannot be serious, Father!” I shouted, my anger giving me as much courage as my blood did protection to take such a tone with one of the three Dukes of the kingdom.
“I am perfectly serious, boy,” he said, the sneer that was lacking in his cold, proud features so clear in his deep baritone voice, as was his anger. “I have coddled you for far too long, hoping you would grow out of this deplorable character you’ve developed! Despite my mercy, however, all you have done is get worse. You have only yourself to blame.”
“So I’m being exiled!? To some shit-stained group of hovels and slums, in the northernmost border of our nation?!” This was ridiculous! My father had punished me many times before, but they had been reasonable at least if not particularly fair. This however! This was preposterous! I was the son of a Duke! I should be governing one of the Kingdom’s cities, not some fucking village of filth!
“Yes. It is my last hope for you, that actually having to struggle and work to make something of yourself will finally make you grow up.”
I clenched my hands into tight fists, desperately thinking of some way I could get out of this. “But that village is located at the edge of the Endless Forests! It’s swarming with Monsters and Bandits!”
“And if you are smart, boy, you will use those forests to finally level up and grow stronger, and finally become a proper son of this Duchy!” Father took a deep breath and calmed himself. “However, I am not so cruel to send you without protection or aid, you are certainly not ready to be on your own yet. Your aid, Wilhelm, will continue to serve you as Seneschal; and I will send one of my Knights, Sir Reginald perhaps, to serve as your bodyguard. He will protect you.”
The memory passed by, and I found my awareness in the present once more. I regarded the Knight, Reginald I now remembered, and spoke calmly. “Ah, it’s about time you got here, Sir Reginald. You’ve done a very poor job as my bodyguard. Why, I even had to got to the trouble of killing these fools myself.”
Reginald examined the massacre in the room, shock evident in his tone as he carefully spoke, “I apologize for it taking me so long to get here, Master Vain. Am I to understand that you did all this?”
I chuckled softly, “Yes, Sir Reginald, that is correct. Everything here you see is my own work.”
“And… how did you manage to do that?” Reginald asked in disbelief.
“Hmph, I suppose I owe this filth some gratitude. Their injustices against me seem to have awoken something in me. I feel… reborn.” I laughed a little at my inside joke, then spoke again and interrupted Reginald before he could comment, “Enough. No more questions, I wish to return home. Escort me back, and this time, at least try to protect me.”
He hesitated for a moment, be concedeing to my orders. And so, I left the room and walked back with him through the Bandit’s outpost, both returning to this outside world and entering it for the first time.