The sound of Klaus’ gargled breathing and frantic cries filled the air of Fort Bane, echoing through every corridor and chamber. Riley had hesitated more than once as he made his approach, his pack of rats trailing a few paces behind him.
“He should have bled out by now. All those wounds... and losing his entire jaw. No way he should still be alive. Certainly not thrashing about like this.”
All his years in med school seemed pointless now. Everything he knew about the human body felt totally outdated, faced with beings that existed beyond the norms of conventional biology and evolution. He supposed he couldn’t take anything for granted now.
He halted just outside the doorway, his hands trembling as he gripped his staff and hatchet.
“I’m... I’m going to draw his attention. And while he’s attacking me, you rush at him from behind. Bite any piece of skin you can reach.”
As you say, noble Emissary, the mohawk-rat exclaimed, beaming with pride as best a rodent could.
Riley fought the urge to sigh. This situation just got weirder by the second.
He pressed on, entering the hall with his weapons raised high. His gaze settled on Klaus, who stood hunched on the opposite end of the room. Snowy fog rolled off of him in glistening waves, blood dripping from the ruin that had once been his jaw.
Now, however, his face and neck were covered in a sea of oily black growths. The sight of them sent an uncomfortable shudder racing through Riley’s body.
There was no talking this time. No taunts or demands. They simply rushed each other.
Riley ducked under a swing, a wave of boreal wind passing him by. His hatchet cleaved a gaping wound on Klaus’ side, sending a spray of blood and flesh across the damaged floor. His next swing struck one of Klaus’ damaged bracers, carving into the metal and releasing another spray of blood.
He jumped back, avoiding being impaled on an erupting spike of ice. His movements in their first fight had been brutal, yes, but he had still carried himself with a degree of dignity and grace. Now, however, he was stomping and thrashing about like an enraged bull. His eyes, whenever Riley could glimpse them, had lost any trace of humanity: Just jet black pits of inhuman cruelty.
They raced up and down the length of the hall, hazes of magical plague doing little to slow Klaus down. But, fortunately, his swings and strikes seemed to go wide of the mark every time. Riley kept dodging, his lungs burning from his own exertion.
He landed more cuts throughout, hacking deep into any exposed wounds, yet Klaus was only barely slowing down. It was almost as if the man barely felt pain at all, his mind having devolved to the point where it couldn’t feel it anymore.
A sweeping cut missed Riley, but the ensuing explosion of ice clipped him and knocked him halfway across the room. He bounced and rolled across the room, a pained cry echoing through the war torn hall. He forced himself to one knee, huffing for breath while Klaus stomped his way.
Then the rats made their move.
Riley hadn’t seen them during the chaos, too focused on the movements of Klaus’ axe and horns to pay attention to anything else. But, over the course of the battle, several of them had scurried toward Klaus and clambered into his furry cloak. Riley caught a glimpse of several of them as they raced out of their furry hiding space, making for Klaus’ neck and arms.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
They attacked in unison, biting and gnawing at every piece of flesh they could reach, pulling at exposed muscle tissue like string cheese. Klaus howled in beastly rage, blood and bile spraying from the mauled ruin that had once been his jaw. He thrashed and stumbled about, clawing at each rat he could reach. Any unfortunate enough to be caught in his ironclad fingers were promptly crushed into a fine paste.
Riley pushed himself to his feet and rushed toward Klaus while he was distracted, ignoring the pain that burned in his limbs. He had to end this, here and now!
His hatchet slammed into the back of Klaus’ injured knee, the plague wizard striking with every bit of strength he could muster. Klaus howled, his knee buckling entirely, and the ground shook violently as he landed.
Burning eyes locked onto Riley, the armoured man releasing the bundle of crushed rat meat in his hand. His other hand gripped his axe tighter, the frosted blade glimmering as he tried to lift it. Riley narrowed his eyes, raising his hatchet a fraction of a second faster.
Steel whistled through the air, catching Klaus’ damaged neck and cleaving clean through it. The giant swayed, his head halfway cleaved from his neck. He hit the ground with another mighty thud and went still, the final few beats of his heart spraying blackened blood from his neck wound.
Riley stood over the corpse for several moments, his body heaving with ragged breaths. He was half expecting Klaus to spring back to life, angrier than ever. Yet that never happened. He was as dead as a doornail.
“Holy shit,” Riley mumbled. The last of the adrenaline left his system, his whole body shaking like a leaf. Then, suddenly, great strands of luminous black smoke hissed from Klaus’ body. It swept over him in an instant, like a tide, the shock of it nearly knocking Riley on his ass.
Four thousand Essence, plus an extra two hundred from his prior kills. And something else, sending a pulsating notification radiating from Riley’s menu icon. He reached up with a shaky hand to open his menu, and then navigated something new that had appeared in his inventory.
----------------------------------------
Aspect of the Stag
The lingering remnants of Commander Klaus, Stag of the East, Able to imbue power into a Warden, once activated by an Oracle. Spend stamina to release cutting gales of boreal wind.
‘Klaus Rieger was once a bastard son of an imperial aristocrat. Ambition burned in his breast with the heat of a star, driving him to countless victories on the battlefield. His reward was Fort Bane. The bitterness of this posting ate away at him over untold years, the fire in his belly contorting into hateful ice that the Rot was able to prey upon.
Yet, despite it all, he never lost his loyalty.’
----------------------------------------
Riley read the description again, knitting his brows together. Despite everything, he felt a tiny measure of sympathy for the man. He had killed a man, after all. Even if it was out of self preservation, he had still taken the life of a thinking, breathing person who had once had hopes and ambitions. It went against everything he had devoted his life to when he was trying to become a doctor. Still, he ultimately felt a great sense of relief from his victory.
But, most interestingly, he could apparently get a new power from that victory, if that ‘Aspect’ was anything to go by. He’d have to look into that, when his heart stopped threatening to beat out of his chest.
“Well done, Warden,” Arubis said. She, as ever, seemed to appear from thin air at her leisure. She strode closer to him with silent steps, clapping her hands together. “I knew you had it in you. The Arbiter may be strange, yet he always chooses Wardens who are strong at their core.”
“Th-thanks,” Riley murmured. He pushed himself to his feet, his legs feeling like jelly. He made his way for the door, past the shattered stones and ridges of ice that had been kicked up over the course of several battles. A cold night wind wafted over him as he stepped beyond the doorway.
A path stretched ahead of him, toward the wall that ringed the outside of Fort Bane. The gate house was a ruin, left wide open. There was nothing left between him and the wider world now.
A gallows stood off to the side of the path, the noose supporting a body that had largely rotted into a skeleton. Black rags hung limp around the body. The robes, Riley quickly realised, of a plague wizard.
Riley approached the hanging body, his eyes drawn to something hitched to his belt. Something that had avoid the ravages of time shockingly well. Once he got close enough he could see that it was a scroll, contained in a sculpted azure shell. He took it from the skeleton’s belt, inspecting it in his inventory. Another spell.
----------------------------------------
Flesh-Rend
Plague wizardry. Unleashes a plague that simmers through the air like a vibrating wave, dissolving the flesh of those it comes into contact with. Unarmoured targets take higher damage.
----------------------------------------
‘The third lesson imparted to the wizards of Aqar’Ghul. Those who seek to harm us are blasphemous sin made flesh. Thus we shall deprive them of their flesh.’
Riley hummed as he closed his inventory again. He tilted his head upward, watching the shattered moon as it dipped toward the distant horizon.
“That would have been really helpful about an hour ago.”