A rat scurried across the stone. Skivret drew his long dagger in surprise.
Nimble chuckled at him, “Don worry sire, I protect you,” she said.
“It’s been years since my last patrol,” Skivret said.
“You shoulda' stayed in the camp,” Nimble said taking the lead, “It’s hard to protect you out here by m’self.”
“We’re short on soldiers,” Skivret said keeping his eyes out, “Everyone needs to pull their weight now.”
“Then send someone else,” Nimble said checking a branching tunnel, “You have more important things to do, like dealing with that monster. Where’d it go anyway?”
“It said it had to prepare,” Skivret said, “but the last week has been peaceful, so I hope it stays gone.”
Nimble continued to lead. Her short spear held tightly in her right hand and her left hovering close to her dagger. Her footsteps were quiet against the stone walkway as she snuck around trying to detect any threats. It made their patrol longer than usual, but Skivret didn’t mind. It was good to get out of the camp every now and then.
“Sire!” Skivret snapped out of his daydreaming. Nimble stared at a sigil carved into the wall, a diamond overlapped with a spiral. “Looks like your brothers are moving into your territory.”
“I’m not surprised,” he said looking down the tunnels, “We better head back.”
Nimble’s ears twitched, “Someone’s comin,'” she said staring down the tunnel in the direction they were heading.
“Let’s go,” Skivret said going back the way they came.
Skivret took the lead trying to keep his pace quick and quiet. The sewers were a maze with intersecting tunnels and water reservoirs which is why directions to each camp were marked into the walls, except for his camp. His camp was able to stay hidden because there were no markers, but it meant wandering through the tunnels trying to find it. He was already turned around.
The tunnel ended into an intersecting tunnel. Skivret took the tunnel to the right and ran into another patrol. The soldiers wore padded jackets under their wooden armor and carried slightly rusted swords. The symbol they saw on the wall was stitched on the soldiers’ sleeves.
“The C–Cursed Prince!” the soldiers said, pointing at them.
Nimble ran forward stabbing at the leader with her spear. “Run sire!” she said, “I keep them off ya'.” One soldier tried to rush past her. “Go, now!”
Skivret turned, dropping to all fours and ran down the tunnel. He could hear the fight clashing behind him. Skivret’s heart burned in his chest as he gasped for air. The stone walkways cut into his paws, but he didn’t stop. The sounds of fighting died.
Skivret stood up and leaned against the wall. “Nimble,” he said clutching his chest.
Skivret continued through the maze of tunnels. Slowly, he started to recognize his surroundings and the walls to his camp appeared before him.
Skivret pounded on the walls, “Open up!”
The wall split and two guards stared at him, “Sire, what’s wrong?” they said looking at him, “Where’s Nimble!”
“We were attacked,” Skivret said pushing past them, “We ran into soldiers serving my brother. Nimble stayed so I could escape. We need to save her!”
“Do you know where they took her?” a crowd started to gather.
“Yes,” Skivret said staring at his feet, “They took her to camp Amvret.”
The crowd gasped. “How do you expect us to save her?” a soldier asked.
Skivret looked at everyone, and his stomach sank. It would be impossible to save Nimble, he didn’t have the forces.
“I’ll ask the monster,” Skivret said looking at them.
“Ask us for what?” Reviled stepped through the opening in the wall. Five skeletons followed behind carrying two large crates.
Skivret pushed passed the crowd and fell to the ground, “I need your help, master Reviled,”
“Must be important for you to beg after calling us a monster,” Reviled said with a chuckle.
“I need your help saving Nimble,”
“Why should we?” Reviled said, “How does it benefit us?”
“She is the strongest fighter in the camp,” Skivret said, “No other can compare.”
“So, you are all worthless to us?”
A chill ran down Skivret’s spine, “No, we’re not!”
“Then prove it,”
“I-I,” Skivret’s throat tightened. Reviled growled, and threw Skivret.
“How long are you going to be weak!” Reviled said brandishing its claws, “Your people are dying, and you just lay there. You are no better than a corpse,” the red eyes turned to the skeletons, “Correction, we have more use for a corpse.”
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“How can I become strong?”
“You can start by getting up,” Reviled said stepping past him, “and follow us.”
Skivret scurried to his feet and rushed to follow. The silence was heavy as they left the camp. Skivret dropped to all fours to keep up with Reviled’s long stride. Reviled led the prince to an empty reservoir, but gurgling moans rose from the shifting shadows. Skivret squeaked at the sight of the zombies.
“So many,”
“Twenty-five to be exact,” Reviled said with pride, “We spent the last few weeks experimenting, and now we can control up to thirty undead.”
“But Meridith said you could control only six,” Skivret stared in horror.
Reviled said with a growling chuckle, “She told you that? Yes, at one point we could control only six undead, but that was due to our inefficient processes,” It started walking around the pit, “We realized it after subjugating your clan. We were wasting the potential of the souls we devoured.”
“I don’t understand,” Skivret said keeping as far away from the pit as possible.
“A city is not made with a single building,” Reviled said reaching the water gate lever, “We began dividing the fifty souls we devoured into different branches from our core. This greatly increased our efficiency.”
Skivret swallowed, “Meaning you’re more deadly now,”
“Exactly,” Reviled said pulling on the chain and flooding the reservoir, “If you want to get stronger then you must evolve, but can you?” It turned to him with a chuckle.
Skivret looked into the machine’s red eyes. “Yes,”
“Then let us go save Nimble,”
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Reviled stared at the wooden walls of camp Amvret. Rusted swords and broken shields were built into the wall for better defenses. Reviled was impressed with this camp.
“How are we going to save Nimble?” Skivret said. The prince hugged the wall while eyeing the bubbling water of the canal wearily.
“We will go in first to cause a distraction,” Reviled said, “You can come in afterwards to save her.”
“How am I going to find her!”
Reviled summoned a rat from the darkness, “Follow our familiar,” it said, “Keep your eyes open. You’ll know when to enter.” It dropped into the water. The dark sewage obscured Reviled’s vision, but it could make out the silhouettes of the zombies waiting for commands.
Reviled focused on the souls within its core. The lights representing the souls were divided into three clusters each of different sizes. It focused its attention on the smallest cluster, each soul in this cluster belonged to magic casters. At the heart of this cluster was a single soul, the creator, with four other souls connected to it. The four outer souls were connected to its neighbors for stability and this gave the cluster a pyramidal shape.
How foolish we were to not organize the souls. It ushered commands to the zombies to follow it into the camp. This magic sub-core makes casting more efficient. We can cast multiple spells in a row with little effort. Reviled stopped and looked up. The lights from the camp lit the sewage floating on top of the water. Reviled shot out of the water. It spun around and spotted a group of soldiers standing next to the wall. Energy flooded into Reviled’s core, and it launched a fireball. The soldiers screams were drowned out by the explosion, and a chunk of the wall blew away. Reviled landed in front of another group of soldiers. It pointed at the group and a bolt of lightning shot out arcing between them. The soldiers fell to the ground dead.
The zombies crawled out of the canal and lumbered towards the bodies. Alarms rang throughout the camp. Soldiers rushed out of their tents wearing their wooden armor and wielding their makeshift weapons. Several squealed in terror as they watched the zombies feed on the dead.
“The monster’s attacking!” the soldiers cried.
One soldier drew its bow. The arrow bounced off Reviled’s armor, and the soldier nocked another arrow. Reviled moved its attention from the magic core to the second largest core. This core contained fifteen souls all connected to Laegyn’s soul in the center. The soldier shot the arrow but Reviled dodged out of the way. Reviled rushed forward and killed the archer with its claws.
Reviled dashed through the tents slashing each soldier. Amazing. We didn’t expect the martial core to enhance our abilities to this level. Reviled jumped over a group of soldiers hiding behind their shields and spears and cut open their necks. If only we could link the magic and martial cores together.
“Monster,” a rat knight called out, “I’ll kill you here and now.” It started chanting and its mace started to glow with magical energy.
“That’s cute, paladin,” Reviled said with a chuckle. Of course. Reviled dived into the martial core until it found the right soul. It chuckled with delight. We underestimated you, Jal. Reviled used Jal’s soul to link the martial and magic cores together. Energy flooded throughout Reviled’s systems the moment the link was established.
The rat paladin jumped over the canal and struck out with his mace. Reviled drew on its magic causing flames to engulf its claws. Reviled grabbed the paladin’s arm. The paladin screamed in pain dropping his mace. Reviled chuckled at the paladin’s pain and shoved its left claws into his gut. Reviled’s claws tore through flesh and bone with ease, and it threw the corpse into a nearby tent. The renewed sense of power brought out a grinding shriek. Reviled looked around the burning camp.
This is the perfect hunting ground.
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Skivret dashed between the burning tents trying to keep up with Reviled’s familiar. Camp Amvret is in complete disarray. Zombies feasted upon the dead and the living. A shriek rang through the camp followed by a fiery explosion deeper in the camp. The rat stopped in front of a dirty, torn tent.
Skivret pushed into the tent and found Nimble bound at the back of the tent. Nimble looked awful. Dried blood caked the fur around her snout, and her clothes were cut showing the wounds she acquired during battle. Skivret rushed over to her.
“W-why are…ya' here?” Nimble said.
“I’m here to save you,” Skivret said pulling her close and drawing his knife. His eyes widened, “Nimble…your t-tail.” Skivret stared at the bloodied stump.
“Yah, they cut it off,” Nimble said.
“Damn monster!” a voice came from outside, “Why is it attacking?” The camp commander stepped into the tent and stared at them in shock. “What are you doing here?”
Skivret rushed forward and tackled the commander to the ground. Skivret sat on top of the commander trying to stab him with the knife in his left hand, but the commander stopped him. The commander reached out and raked his claws deep into the right side of Skivret’s face. Skivret anger overcame the pain. Skivret jerked his head to the left, his vision blurring in his right eye, and he bit into the commander’s left arm, tearing out a chunk of flesh. The commander screamed and the strength in his left arm died. The knife plunged into the commander’s neck.
Skivret stabbed into the commander’s face over and over. Skivret stared into bloody mess that remained. He slowly rose from the corpse. Breathing hard, Skivret walked over to Nimble and started cutting at her bonds.
Nimble placed a hand onto Skivret’s face, “Why?”
Skivret grabbed her hand, “I’d rather lose an eye than you,” Nimble stared at him with glistening eyes. “Let’s get out of here.” He said helping Nimble to her feet. They stepped out of the tent and stared at the destroyed camp in horror.
Reviled stood among the destruction with blood dripping from its claws and face. It approached the lone tent.
“Good, still alive,” Reviled said.
“Master Reviled,” Skivret said, “I think I understand what you mean about evolving.”
“Do you?”
“Yes,” Skivret said looking at Nimble, “I’ve been stagnant, sitting around letting my brothers walk all over me. No more!”
“What are you going to do?”
“The throne is mine,” Skivret said, “And no one is going to stop me.”
Reviled chuckled, “Excellent goal. We look forward to seeing your progress.”