There is nothing stronger in this world than money.
Money is the answer to every problem one could have in life. Want to be famous? Please, make enough money and you’ll become famous eventually. Are you weak? Ha! With all of the money at your disposal, all you have to do is hire people to fight for you. Are you stupid? Well then hire philosophers and scholars to do your thinking for you. Are you unhappy? Just pay for your own therapy and cry into your piles of gold coins, and wipe your tears away with promissory notes from the bank.
There’s an old saying. “Manners maketh man.” Well, that’s a load of bullshit. What use is there in having manners if not for impressing other people with more money than you have? No, the more accurate saying would be “Money maketh man.”
But just as the greatest strength in the world is having money, then one could say that the greatest sin in this world was to be poor. And if that was the case, then I was the greatest sinner of them all.
-
“Hey kiddo, don’t pass out on me now.” A voice called to me, and I struggled to raise my head to meet their eyes.
Ah, this bastard.
Long blonde hair braided down to his shoulders, framing a handsome face with just a hint of stubble, tanned skin and finely toned muscles that rippled with his every movement. Pale blue eyes that held a contemptuous humor to them, like everyone around him was a pet he found amusement in. Travian, just as cruel and heartless as I remembered. He was crouched down in front of me, dragonscale armor adorning his frame, and I watched as blood - my blood - dripped off of his gloves to the dirt floors of my home.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
ASSIMILATION RATE: 97%
“Hey. Look at me.” I heard his voice leisurely drift into the air, coiling around me like a snake.
I glanced up, my vision blurred and red, barely able to make out the group of people past him. I was pretty sure one of my eyes was bleeding.
He smiled as my eyes met his own, a predatory grin that made some small part of me want to cower away. The rest of me, though, wanted nothing more than to strangle him.
As if my body was trying to grant my wish, I felt my arms strain against their restraints, causing the rope tying me down to tighten painfully against my wrists and shoulders.
“What do you want from me, you son of a bitch?” I croaked, coughing as dry breath raked against my throat.
He clicked his tongue, shaking his head as he looked around my house. Well, my shack would be a better description. “I can’t believe you live like this.” He laughed.
And whose fault do you think it is that I do? A bitter voice in my head asked, but I clenched my jaw and said nothing.
“Well, to answer your earlier question, what I want is simple. Where’s the Heart?”
I chuckled, a hollow, bitter sound that sent me into another coughing fit. When I was able to regain my breath, I glared at him. “How the hell would I know, you shitty ass old man?” I snarled, and he studied me for a few moments before nodding.
I didn’t even see his fist. One moment I was glaring at him, the next I was on my side, pain splitting my skull open as blood pooled in my mouth, and for a few moments I saw nothing but white. I felt something hard resting on my tongue, and I spit it out. When my vision cleared again I saw a few shards of my teeth on the ground, stained red from the splatters of blood around them.
He jerked me back up into a sitting position, and through the pain I felt hot liquid pouring down my cheek, dripping off of my chin to join the crimson puddle underneath me.
He gripped one of my bound arms with one hand, fingers digging painfully into the soft tissue. “The Heart, Ajax. Where is it?” He asked, still smiling. In response I spit the blood still pooling in my mouth into his face. His jaw clenched, and so did his hand.
My vision went white once more as there was a sickening crunch, my mouth opening wide in a soundless scream as I felt the bones in my arm shatter, splintering off into the muscle around it. White gave way to black, thinking… slowing… down…
Another crunch, and pain brought me back to consciousness.
“FUCK! FUCK, I DON’T KNOW WHERE THE HEART IS YOU FUCKING BASTARD!” I screamed, thrashing against him, but it was no use. His grip was steel, holding me tight. He sighed, and I panted in relief as his grip loosened.
“Trav, this isn’t getting us anywhere.” A voice came from the left, and I saw a woman wearing silky black robes step forwards, expression cold and disinterested. Oh Arisa, you absolute bitch. I wish I could say that I was surprised you sided with Travian.
As if sensing my ire, she looked at me, pitch black eyes completely devoid of any emotion. She lifted her chin slightly, before turning back to Travian. “We should bring in Mattius and Carrina. He should be more willing to talk with them here.”
I stilled, ice flooding my veins. For a few moments my breath stopped, but I forced myself to calm down. “You’re bluffing.” My voice came out as a whisper. “They should be out of the Kingdom by now. You don’t have them.”
I could feel Travian’s gaze on me, before he nodded to the group behind him. I saw them part, as two struggling forms were dragged into the room by a grinning bald man, bound in chains that rattled and clanked against each other.
“Caught them at a teleportation square in Hag’s Rest.” He said, laughing as he roughly forced them to their knees. They were gagged, eyes wide and wild as they looked at me. The bald man - Menadiel, some part of me recalled - drew a mace from his belt and put it on the back of Mattius’ head.
ASSIMILATION RATE: 98%
Travian looked at me, that slight smile still on his face. “Now, Darien. I think it’d be best for all of us if you told us where the Heart was.”
Mattius immediately started shaking his head, his muffled voice crying out desperately. I stared at him, my jaw clenching and unclenching, before I slowly turned my gaze to Arisa.
“Hey.” I said, very quietly. “You. Bitch.”
She looked back at me, eyes still cool and impassive. “What is it, you greedy bastard?”
For a few moments I said nothing. My body was ice cold, and I could feel my sweat beginning to join the blood on my cheek, stinging the open wound as it trailed down my face. But my mind was clear.
“I have to ask. All that time spent working together with us. Did it not mean anything to you?”
Her brow furrowed just the slightest bit, as her mouth parted and closed. But her chin tilted up, her lips set in a grim line.
“Not in the least.” She replied, and I nodded.
I looked back at Travian. “Fine. You want to know where the Heart is?” I asked, and his smile widened, eyes gleaming. “I shoved it up that bitch’s cunt a while ago. Why don’t you try looking there.”
Stunned silence greeted my words, before Travian began cackling. “Oh Darien. You should’ve just told us where it was.” He nodded at Menadiel.
I stared into Mattius’ eyes. I’m sorry, I mouthed, and he nodded at me, bowing his head.
I watched as Menadiel’s mace wound back, so achingly slowly, his lips almost splitting his face open with his maniacal smile. And then, faster than I could see, he buried it in the back of Mattius’ skull.
One moment he was sitting there, eyes closed in relief and acceptance. The next his head erupted in a shower of gore, blood misting into the air even as his body slumped to the floor. Some of his blood and grey fleshy flecks of brain matter landed onto my face, and I screwed my eyes shut.
Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fu-
“Darien.” Travian whispered, and I slowly raised my head to glare at him. He was now standing behind Carrina, Menadiel’s mace in his hand. It was still dripping with blood, and he rested it on top of her head. Still with that same fucking smile on his face. “I really don’t want to kill your dearest student.” He pushed her head forward with the mace, as if to emphasize his point. “Just tell us where the Heart is.”
“Wait, Trav.” Arisa cut in, and I noticed just the slightest tremor in her voice. “If we killed Mattius and he still hasn’t told us where the Heart is, then he certainly won’t if we kill Carrina. Why do-”
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Before the last word could leave her mouth, Travian’s arm blurred, the mace crashing into Arisa and sending her tumbling through the wall of my hut. “I knew you still cared about Carrina.” He laughed, looking back at her still, crumpled form on the street outside. He trained his gaze back on me, once again resting the mace on Carrina’s head.
ASSIMILATION RATE: 99%
For a few seconds we stayed like that, staring at each other, before he raised an eyebrow and shrugged his shoulders. The mace rose, and panic flashed through me.
“WAIT! WAIT WAIT WAIT!” I shouted, raising to my knees. The mace paused, the death sentence halted for just a few moments. His smile widened once more.
“Finally willing to talk?” He asked, and Carrina immediately shook her head, her muffled scream leaking through the gag. My breath was heavy, and it felt like the room was spinning.
“The Heart.” I panted. “Maria still has the Heart. She knew that she’d be able to escape. We faked giving me the Heart so that you’d chase us instead of her. She should be at the border of Irithyll right now. It’s too late. You’re too late.”
He still smiled at me. “That’s not possible. Because Maria’s dead.”
It took a few moments for his words to register. When they did… my mind went blank.
“What?”
He laughed. Laughing, laughing, he was always laughing. He was saying something now, his mouth was moving, but I couldn’t hear him. There was a low ringing in my ears, my head filled with one thought.
She’s dead.
Maria’s dead.
Ah, he stopped talking.
His muscles tensed.
This was it.
The mace came down, the death sentence fulfilled. But if Menadiel had made it swift on purpose, then Travian made it slow. Carrina collapsed to the floor, the top of her skull caved in, blood pooling around her and staining her blonde hair crimson. She spasmed, her body convulsing on the floor for what felt like minutes, before she finally stilled.
I stared at her.
Oh. They’re all dead.
The thought entered my mind and stayed there, spreading and corrupting its way through my thoughts until it was the only thing left.
They’re all… dead.
Boots stepped through the puddle, approaching me, until they were right in front of me. I felt the mace under my chin, hard and slick with blood, forcing my gaze upwards.
“I’m glad you were alone in the end, Darien. This would have been much harder to accomplish if you’d had any type of backing from a guild. You can only blame yourself for being such a penniless bastard.” Travian’s voice flitted through the air, light and jovial. I stared at him blankly, his eyes still crinkled in that damned smile. “Now, the Heart.”
I felt something then. A rage so hot and terrible that it burned its way through my body like magma, blazing in the pit of my stomach, threatening to consume me whole. And underneath that rage, I felt something inside of me snap.
And my mind became free.
ASSIMILATION RATE: 100%
YOU HAVE ABSORBED: HEART OF THE DEATH GOD
CLASS FORCE UNLOCKED: GOD OF DEATH (LVL 1)
NEW CLASS ABILITIES: CURSE (LVL 1); DEATH’S TOUCH (LVL 1); MORTUM (LVL 1)
ALL STATS: +200
ERROR: VESSEL IS UNABLE TO WITHSTAND CLASS FORCE UNLOCK
ERROR: VESSEL IS UNABLE TO WITHSTAND FORCED STAT INCREASE
CALCULATING: VESSEL WILL DIE IN 100 SECONDS
VESSEL IS DYING: CLASS SKILL ACTIVATED, MORTUM (LVL 1)
It started slow.
A low, pulsating wave of power that rippled out from my heart. It flowed through my body in waves with every heartbeat, and I felt my bones cracking and mending themselves in an endless loop, my muscles tearing and regenerating at mind numbing speeds. I felt like I was going to explode, my body straining to contain the sudden increase in power.
It hurt. Fuck did it hurt. But oh, it also felt so good. All of the anguish cleared away from my mind, the grief giving way to wrath as cold clarity overtook me.
I’ll make that son of a bitch pay for what he’s done.
I cackled as I felt my veins erupting, a black miasma beginning to pour out of my body. My arms bulged, and the ropes that bound me snapped away. Travian’s eyes widened and he backed away, the rest of the crowd behind him following suit. I staggered to my feet, laughter bubbling up from deep within me.
“You are one stupid son of a bitch.” I laughed. For the first time his smile faltered.
“Don’t tell me…” He began, his face beginning to darken with rage.
I giggled, blood beginning to leak from my ears as I breathed in deep. I felt so free. My heart was light, my mind was clear. All of those troublesome thoughts drifted away. I felt like dancing, singing. I felt my hips begin to wiggle, my feet dancing a jig to a tune only I could hear. I felt positively amazing. Was this what madness was? Well, if I thought I was mad then I couldn’t possibly be mad. You’re only crazy if you don’t realize you’re crazy, after all.
“That’s right, Trav my boy.” I cackled, staring at him and the crowd. I walked forward, the darkness swirling around me, affixing itself to my body like a cloak. “When Maria stayed behind to occupy you all, she told me to brew the Heart into an elixir and drink it, consequences be damned. Better to die than to let a Heart-less son of a bitch like you Ascend.” I giggled at my own joke. Had there ever been someone with wit like mine? I didn’t think so.
Oh, no one else was laughing? “Laugh.” I commanded them, giving them my bestest stern gaze. “It was funny, so laugh.”
CLASS SKILL ACTIVATED: CURSE (LVL 1)
One by one, the crowd began to laugh, with the exception of Travy boy. So hard that they bent over double, some even collapsing to the floor. Travian glared at me with a rage so fierce I almost got shivers. He dropped the mace and drew his sword, the blade shining with a radiant light that glowed against the darkness roiling inside of the room. He lowered into a stance, blue eyes turning golden as he activated a skill. His figure blurred, the ground caving in as he shot forward.
But the movements that only moments ago would have been invisible to me were now just ‘fast’. Still far too quick for me to avoid completely, but as his blade drew closer I was able to twist my body just barely out of the way. Instead of cleaving me in two, I felt fire and agony as it sliced through my shoulder, my left arm cleanly separating from my body.
He pivoted around, feet maneuvering with graceful efficiency as his sword came up from below, the tip angled to pierce my heart. Still too fast to avoid, I instead raised my knee, intercepting the blow with my leg. Indescribable pain filled my body once more as it pierced through my shin and into the thigh, but it stopped there.
I grinned. “Caught you.” I whispered, twisting my body and driving my fist into his armor. I felt the bones in my hand shatter, my knuckles turning into paste on impact, but his body lifted into the air with the blow, the breastplate caved in. He coughed as my first drove the air from his lungs, and before he landed I gripped his throat with my ruined hand.
CLASS SKILL ACTIVATED: DEATH’S TOUCH (LVL 1)
TARGET LOSES 1% TOTAL HEALTH/S (3 SECONDS)
YOU GAIN .5% OF TARGET’S TOTAL HEALTH/S (3 SECONDS)
Vitality flowed into me, my ruined hand restored to perfection, the wound on my shoulder closing and my leg healing around the sword. He snarled and grabbed my arm, wrenching it from his throat and kicking out my other leg from underneath me. His sword cut cleanly through my leg, sheering half of it off. Before he could attack me again I twisted around in his grasp, hand gripping his forearm and jumping up, wrapping my legs around his neck. I heaved with my abdomen, using my momentum and core strength to flip him onto his back.
But instead of disorienting him he moved with the motion, torso twisting impossibly to let him land on his feet. He grabbed my legs and slammed me face first into the ground. I felt my nose crunch, my vision going white as blood poured down my face. My legs loosened from his neck and I rolled away blindly, feeling the ground shake as something slammed into right where I had been. I rolled to my feet, desperately inhaling air through my mouth.
I grinned at him, wiping the blood from my nose. Standing on my left leg was impossible with half of it missing, and the pain filling my body was indescribable. Even so I couldn’t stop the giggle from bubbling out of my throat, wet and phlegmy.
“And here I thought Maria’s combat lessons were unnecessary for an Alchemist.” I laughed. My body was shutting down. I could feel my muscles atrophying in real time, withering away as the shadows around me continued to grow. But even then, I had managed to at least hit him once.
I felt something hard slam into my side, sending me tumbling away. I rolled to a stop, struggling to breathe as I felt my own ribs piercing into my lungs. I looked up to see Menadiel standing where I just was, mace in his hand and heaving for air.
Travian rushed towards me, but when I tried to roll away I found my one good arm was just a black, withered stump. His foot stomped down onto my other leg, and his sword pierced my chest.
“Fuck. Fuck you fucking mother fucker.” He cursed, stabbing me over and over again, but I felt nothing. My nerve endings had probably withered away with the rest of my body. I laughed soundlessly, blood trickling out of my mouth, as I stared at everyone in the crowd.
This was always going to be the outcome. Travian had ruined me almost two years ago, reducing me to a copperless bum. All of my hard work, the countless months spent making potions and elixirs, gone because of some psychopath. The ‘Hero’ of Markat my ass. I had no weapons, no armor. Even with the stat bonuses, the difference in experience and equipment between us was too great.
I felt the bitterness rise like bile in my throat. A wealthy man, able to purchase all of the equipment and party members he needed, beating on a poor man who had lost everything.
In the end, it was all about money. Because I didn’t have any money, I couldn’t make any meaningful connections. Because I didn’t have any money, he was able to ruin me. And because I didn’t have any money, he was able to hunt me down like a dog.
I glared at all of them, even as Travian continued stabbing me. Each time he did the shadows around me ebbed away ever so slightly, and my body grew colder and colder. I memorized their faces, even finding that I recognized a few of them. Thirteen people, but I only knew the names of several of them.
Travian. Menadiel. Arisa, who had been killed by Travian. Yvonna. Ulysses. Johanna. Ryker.
If only I had a chance to go back. If only I could right the wrongs these people had inflicted. If only I had the resources to fight back. If only… if only…
If only I had more money.
I laughed again, breathlessly.
That was the reason those dearest to me had died. Why I was dying right now, my body so very heavy and cold.
In the end, it all came down to not having money.
Travian was panting roughly, his sword poised for one last strike. The one that would end it all.
I glared up at him, grinning savagely. I couldn’t speak, my lungs and throat were well past withered away at this point. But I mouthed the last thing I could think of.
At least you’ll always stay Un-Ascended, you psychotic son of a bitch.
His face twisted with hatred, and his sword struck down.
CLASS SKILL ‘MORTUM (LVL 1)’ HAS ENDED
YOU HAVE DIED
And everything went black.