Benjamin Vryce

Entering reality again after so long was jarring. He could feel his body, and the Hive made floor under his bare hands and feet. The void space was sterile and clean in comparison to this place, then again reality was messy by nature. He looked around; he was still seated where the Arbiter told him to. He was still in the Hive waste pits, but there weren’t any fresh bodies left. it looked like the bugs had done their job, and eaten them all.

A movement to the side caused him to leap to his feet, manifesting the newly created King’s blade for the first time as he did. It was only Jade, getting up from where she fell near the end of the battle. She hadn’t even made it to her knees yet and had summoned Tok into reality beside her. The ogre materialized next to his mistress, and a happy smile found its way onto his ugly face.

Benjamin didn’t blame her, for wanting the security the eight-foot-tall ogre provided. He had seen deeper into her mind then he had intended, and understood more about her now as a result. Taking a cue from her actions, he pulled Ice into reality as well. The she wolf came into being looking around for threats, ready to battle without hesitation.

The two humans and their summons approached each other, looking around as they came together. They were both armed, Benjamin held the King’s Blade, and Jade held her essence pistol. They were tense, and waiting for something to happen. When nothing did, they began to grow uneasy.

“So, what we supposed to do now?” Jade asked at last, when nothing happened.

“Now,” the Erlking said from out of nowhere. “I will give you each a token of my thanks. Then, you will be on your way.” the pair jumped; Benjamin swore that he just liked scaring them.

“Damn, horny dude. why couldn’t you have, I don’t know, made some noise before making noise?” she said a little incoherently, but the men had understood what she was trying to say.

“Sorry Jade, old habit.” He said not sounding particularly sorry at all. “Hopefully, this will go some way towards earning your forgiveness?” he said, proffering a small black leather box out to her.

She looked at it with suspicion, before accepting it. When she opened the lid, Benjamin could see the cell phone case sized leather box, held nearly twenty robin’s egg sized patterns. They glowed softly from the red velvet lining. She tentatively picked one up and absorbed the pattern, before her eyes lit up like a kid in a candy store.

“Wow, thanks horny dude!” she said, before her skin tight black leather dominatrix armor vanished.

It was undeniably true that Benjamin didn’t see a thing when her outfit vanished, and was replaced by a nearly identical blood red set. She either didn’t notice or didn’t care that her wardrobe change hadn’t been seamless. She just started looking herself over, feeling the leather and grinning from ear to ear. Looking to Tok she made his armor vanish as well, before an identical set of matching blood red leather replaced it. Her eyes narrowed when Tok’s clothing changed and she glared at the two World Lords.

“I love the outfits Jade,” Benjamin said before the awkward tension could build. “The color really…sets the mood for…battle. Did you get any others?” he asked, struggling to find the right words. He wished desperately that he could burn the vision of Tok in all his glory from his eyes, maybe bleach would do the job.

“I just bet you wanna see me change again, Vice. And here I thought there was only one horny dude here.” She glared daggers at him, before glancing at Tok and blushing.

“Yes, well…this is for you Benjamin.” The Erlking said into the silence. “This world, means a lot to me. I can’t ever truly tell you how grateful I am that you were able to save it.” He extended another case out to Benjamin, this one was nearly identical to the case he already wore strapped to his lower back. It was the color of ice, and shaped like the abdomen of a fighter ant. The ovaloid shape fit snuggly into the small of his back and the carapace it was made from, was extremely durable.

Benjamin, grateful for the save, turned away from Jade and opened the case. Inside were seven chicken egg sized patterns, set into an orange padding material. What was up with the Erlking and the color orange? There were also several empty spaces, in the case. Benjamin looked up at that, cocking an eyebrow.

“I thought you might like to put the creation cores you acquired along the way in here as well.” The Erlking answered his unasked question. “I created these patterns specifically for you, Benjamin. There won’t be any behavioral oddities or inability to communicate like before. A few of these I made with your world in mind.” He stopped talking when pain flashed across Benjamin's face.

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Benjamin nodded his head in thanks. He hadn’t meant to seem ungrateful, but he couldn’t think about his world right now. He didn’t think he could bare to absorb any new patterns either. With the exception of his broken pattern project, but he wasn’t expecting to find a friend from that creation. Pulling his old pack off he opened it up and pulled out the contents.

In addition to the seven new patterns, he added the following creation cores to the case; seven worker ant, two fighter ant, five dire squirrel, ten goblin, and one hive monarch. His hands trembled when he added the last few cores; the Hive monarch core had belonged to the blue king, and thinking about the goblins still upset him.

The last items to be added were the two damaged patterns. It shouldn’t be long before he was able to fix his mistakes there however, after the Erlking’s instructions. That brought another thought to mind though, he looked at the Erlking and asked.

“Where is the obsidian sword and the ebony rod?” the two weapons the demon woman had carried were very powerful and he didn’t want to let them go so easily.

“Unfortunately, the Arbiter collected the ebony rod before he left.” the World Lord said, “but the obsidian blade was a part of the demon’s pattern. If it’s gone then it was likely destroyed. Perhaps you can make a new one if you succeed?”

That didn’t make Benjamin happy but he thanked the World lord all the same. Closing the lid on his new case he latched it onto his back. He didn’t want to know what the patterns held at the moment. He didn’t want to think about it, besides, if the Erlking had made them for his world it didn’t matter yet. The world was still locked to him as it settled into reality.

“Thank you,” he said, with a hand wave to indicate the ice-colored case. “Now what?” he added, not wanting to dwell in this place any longer than he had too. His eyes kept trying to wander over to the place where Honor and Grace had leapt in front of the attack meant for him.

“The Shipwright needs help. One of his ships, similar to the one you did your trial on, had a rift open inside of it. Frank Briggs and a few of the Morrigan’s champions are dealing with it. But another rift has opened up on his space station, and he requested help. The two of you are all I have to offer, so I will be sending you.” he said by way of explanation.

The three talked about it for some time. He answered what questions he could, not having been to the station for ages. He also let them know that he would be going to war himself after he sent them, so it would be some time before they saw each other again. The pair said their farewells to him and to each other. It would be a long trip, and they would be trapped again in their void spaces like before.

“Will you be, ok?” Benjamin asked Jade, knowing the woman probably shouldn’t be alone right now. He knew what he would be doing for the trip but worried that she would have trouble.

“Yea Vice, no worries. The horny dude gave me a few games to keep me busy, along with the clothes. With my meditation chair put back together I can always try and make something of my own too.” She said, shrugging off his concern. After that they went back into their void spaces. Saying goodbye to their Benefactor, and getting ready for the trip.

* * *

Erlking

Once his champions had reentered their void space’s, the Erlking contacted Shipwright. It was a long trip, and he didn’t want to pay the essence costs alone. Tapping into the world essence of several of his worlds, he opened a portal that connected with one coming in from Shipwright. Lifting the human souls gently with his energy as to not disturb them, he put them in the portal.

They didn’t technically have to be in void space to enter the portal. Benjamin was clever and Jade was surprisingly gifted with creation essence manipulation, however. Once they saw how the portals worked, it would only be a matter of time before they could make their own. He wasn’t as worried about them leaving, as he was about what they might find out there.

The universe was a very big place. Much of it, at least the choice bits, had been claimed and colonized by the world lords. There were only twelve of them active on a large scale however, and it was dangerous out there. The Erlking had no proof, but he suspected there were more of his kind in hiding somewhere.

That thought was like a sore tooth to the Erlking, he found himself poking at it constantly to no benefit. He shook the thoughts aside as his champions departed. They were strong, even diminished as they were after the last battle. The Shipwright was also a fare being, he would treat them well.

That taken care of, the Erlking looked around his Hive world through a multitude of screens. He was going to the front lines, but he had a few things to do first. Benjamin likely didn’t realize how strong the barrier to this world now was, the Hive world was all but immune to the corruption and chaos now.

It was a small world, but if he was careful, he should be able to fit some key creations in. he had already made a few new Hive monarchs, they had proved more effective against the Imp swarms then he could have hoped. The new ones would follow orders better than the old pattern had. It wasn’t his preferred method but this was a difficult time.

That brought his mind to the patterns he had hand crafted for Benjamin and Jade. He had to admit he felt bad about giving Jade clothes and games as a reward for saving his first world, but really what did you get a woman like that? Benjamin’s gifts on the other hand; well, he wouldn’t be summoning a dragon or anything, but if used correctly they would be indispensable to him in the future.

With a deep breath, the Erlking put his champions out of his mind. he couldn’t help them anymore and he had war plans to make, and creations to move. The Morrigan was expecting him, and he never liked to keep that lady waiting, when she was on the battlefield.