Alix only intended on resting for a bit, but he woke next morning with Tifayn lying beside him. His clothes had vanished during the night, likely Tifayn’s work when she climbed into bed herself.
The low light told him that it was still early morning. Alix gingerly swung his legs out of bed, expecting them to ache as bad as they had the day before, but he found the pain to be completely gone. As he stretched in the morning sunlight, he felt a strength in his arms and legs, and the rest of the muscles that had been burning like fire, that he hadn’t noticed before. Muscle tone had appeared where there had been pathetically little before. You didn’t build up much by sitting down playing RPG’s all the time, but he seemed to be building them by living one. Even his chest had more definition. It had to have something to do with Infinite Growth, he just wished he knew exactly what it was so he could keep doing it.
Before Tifayn could wake and drag him away to begin the lessons she had been vigorously planning, Alix quietly dressed, slipped out of the room and headed to the library. Half the time he spent there felt like he was procrastinating, but time and time again he was forced to return there to learn something important. After all the time he had spent there though, he had yet to come across a book on woodworking, which was the latest problem he hoped to remedy.
As he stepped into the massive library, he suddenly understood why the ring was unable to tell him everything there was to know about his powers all at once. The room contained all the knowledge that the collective Darknights had learned, or at least the knowledge that they had thought to write down, plus books that had been sourced from further afield, and even if he read every book here, he still wouldn’t have learned everything he could about his potential powers. It would take him lifetimes to read all the books in front of him. It was way more information than the ring could safely give him all at once.
Dozens of books caught his attention, with fascinating titles such as Knight Flight, The Lost Races, Beyond Babyl, Alchemical Synthesis, and one that almost derailed his entire day, Chords of Destruction & Melodies of Creation. Alix couldn’t help but pull all the volumes from the shelves and pile them up by the lone reading table, which was already overflowing with books he needed to read eventually. The last one he couldn’t help sitting and skimming through for a few moments.
It wrote of the use of music as both a weapon and a tool, a rare and complex form of magic that only one previous Darknight had managed to master. Some notes at the end from later readers spoke of how they hadn’t heard of such a magic anywhere else and all attempts to replicate it had failed. It ended with a warning that the contents could just be a hoax or a myth and not to waste precious time on it. It was an engrossing book, one he would have to study at length later, although without his guitar maybe it would be better for him to heed the warning. Still, if there was a possibility that there was a musical form of magic here, he had to investigate it. He put the book back down before he read too much and went back to look for any on woodworking.
“Are you able to help me out at all here?” Alix asked the ring after searching the shelves fruitlessly.
“Of course. Start using the card catalogue instead of walking around blind,” the dragon replied.
“Shit, I completely forgot about that. Why didn’t you mention it before?”
“The struggle is all part of the experience. I’m glad you have finally remembered about it though. One of the previous Darknight’s was a librarian in their own world. It was very difficult watching Astrid spend most of her time cataloguing the library instead of training, but I finally managed to convince her to show the demons how it was done and they took over the job. Astrid managed to put up a good fight in the Terminus Ritual, after having read so many books she knew a lot of nasty tricks, but in the end the Solknight’s brute strength was impossible to overcome. The demons pledged to continue the work she was most passionate about, and by the time the next Darknight arrived, the entire collection had been sorted. When the demons proudly showed off their work, his exact words were ‘reading is for nerds’. Those were the first demons to abandon the Darknight and I think you can probably trace the current state of things back to that moment.”
“I wonder if that Darknight is among the skeletons? Maybe she would be able to continue the job of cataloguing all the newer titles?” Alix wondered aloud, but the ring was silent.
Glad of the lack of company to watch his sheepish retreat to the card cabinets, a long stretch of hundreds of small drawers handily placed so the light from the windows illuminated them, Alix began searching for the right card. Card catalogues were a thing of the past in his time but he still understood how they worked. Each book in the library probably had several cards but generally they would be sorted by author, title and subject. Since he didn’t know the author or the title, he began by searching by subject.
First he found the ‘W’ drawers, squashing the temptation to search for more music related books, and searched for the subject wood. The first book he came across was titled Identifying Wewd by Robert Baron, which didn’t sound helpful at all since the ring could identify anything for him. He kept flicking through the delicate old cards. The Woodsman’s Guidebook appeared again but he already knew where that was. It was sitting half read up in Tifayn’s rooms. Finally he came across one that sounded promising. The Complete Book of Woodworking. He made note of the shelf number and headed off to find it, hoping the book was still where it was supposed to be.
The shelf mentioned turned out to be hidden behind a pile of unsorted books that took him a while to clear first, but once the books had been shifted to a new location, he managed to find the book he was looking for. It looked like it hadn’t been touched since the day it had first been placed on the shelf.
The book purported to contain detailed plans for hundreds of projects, as well as all the essential skills and techniques he needed to complete them, along with a large catalogue of woodworking tools and how to craft them as well. It was a very large book but the curious thing about it was that it looked like it had been lifted straight from his own world, with a glossy professionally bound hardback cover, clearly printed text and images, some in full colour. All it was missing was a tacky paid for review emblazoned on the front.
“This book looks way too high quality to be from this world…” Alix said, looking down at the ring to see if it had an explanation.
“I can assure you that it is from this world. I suggest you check out a book called Materialization when you have time,” the ring said.
Alix made a mental note to check out the book another time. For now he had to get learning woodworking.
The book was unwieldy in its size but with his Bibliophile skill he didn’t need to spend too long studying each page before the information lifted and imprinted itself in his mind. The sun continued to rise as he devoured page after page, unlocking plan after plan. Most of the things he learned how to build were things he couldn’t justify using the wood on just yet, such as wardrobes, bookcases and wall cabinets, but they were things that would make the place a lot nicer once the major restorations were complete. Eventually he began to skip ahead to builds he could actually use now, such as doors, chairs, tables, ladders, stairs, roofs. The book really did have pretty much everything imaginable that could be crafted from wood, more than he had time to read with all the other things he had planned for the day.
Once Alix had several dozen new plans stored under the Woodcrafting submenu, he decided it was time to give some of them a go. He left the library and headed outside, grabbing a loaf of bread from the stores on his way. Outside, the skeletons were already hard at work utilising the vast stores of lumber, which had already taken quite a dent. Mr Bones shambled over when he caught sight of him.
“I see your skills with the ring are coming along well, my lord. This wood will go a long way to fixing the worst of the damage. We have already begun laying new floors, but it will take us a while longer before we can get to work on the roofs.”
“I will be able to help you with some of the work now, I have learned a lot of Woodcrafting plans. I came out here to give them a go if you can spare a bit of the wood.”
Alix had emptied his entire stock of wood from his inventory so he had to reabsorb some lumber before he could get started. Since there was so much, and he intended on cutting more soon, he absorbed 100 units of lumber. Then he went to his Woodcrafting submenu and selected Door. Thanks to already having acquired the castles blueprints, a new option popped up asking which door in particular he would like to craft. Luckily most of the doors in the castle were grouped into only a handful of shapes and sizes, with doors like internal room doors all the same size. He found the one he was looking for, External Entrance (Small), and tapped on it. A freshly crafted door appeared on the ground before him, the perfect size to fit the hole that had been uncovered in the wall the day before.
Almost before the door had even materialised, a few pairs of skeletal hands grabbed it and hauled it off to install in the side of the castle.
“We should have the placed fixed up in no time at this rate. I’m going to go gather some more lumber,” Alix said to Mr Bones, taking his leave as the skeletons got back to work with renewed vigour. When he was back he would have to ask Mr Bones about the librarian Darknight.
Instead of heading through the gates and back into the woods, he made his way to the opposite side of the wall from where he had been working. With the grounds cleared, it was only a short walk compared with the trek through the dark woods.
Once he was positioned under the tumbling portion of wall, he opened up the Woodcrafting options and selected Ladder (long). A stoutly crafted ladder sprung into existence against the wall, extending from his feet to just above the height of the defensive wall. Alix climbed its length and stepped onto the solid wall to the side of the crumbled section. Then he crafted a second ladder down the other side and he descended back into the woods.
The woods were as quiet as when he had left them, but every time he turned his back to the shadows he still felt like he was being watched. He felt like he would have to explore them further one day, but for now there was no need. The troublesome elm had been felled, and he had a plan to repair the wall soon, but there was still plenty for him to cut. The Azurite Axe was calling to him. He felt safe having it with him, with its Power Rating more than double that of the Azurite Knife, at 86.
The trees immediately surrounding the freshly cleared area were no more than small saplings, which yielded little materials other than Aloe and Fibre, a material he hoped he could use to craft paper. He didn’t have anyone to write to, but was beginning to feel the need to keep a diary, a record of what had happened to him. From all the books in the library, he knew the previous Darknight’s had felt the same urge. Once the smaller trees were out of the way, he turned his attention towards the larger trees.
The Azurite Axe made light work of the trees, cutting through them like they were made of fudge. Their names were familiar at first, species such as Birch, Ash, Oak and Pine, but then he started to encounter stranger varieties. Albacia, Muginut, and Gumheart were all new to him, but all produced the same Lumber.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
A steady diet of tonics helped to keep the ache away from his arms, but like before, the weight pressing down on him began to grow the more his inventory filled. He hadn’t been built for such things, but he was slowly feeling his strength begin to grow. It helped that every time he emptied his inventory, he felt twice as light as before.
Alix managed to deposit four more loads of timber on the other side of the wall, clearing a large swathe of the overgrown forest, before Tifayn emerged from the castle. He had just stopped for a break after making good progress in his push along the wall to the gate, the tonic not enough to stop him from breaking out in a furious sweat.
“You can’t put this off forever,” Tifayn said, passing him a wooden sword before he could slip back out to the forest again.
“I was just gathering some more wood,” Alix replied, although from the mountain of lumber already filling the grounds, it was obvious there was no rush for him to gather any more.
“I saw that. You have been working hard, but don’t think I’m going to go easy on you. I’ve been able to wield a sword for hundreds of years and even I wouldn’t want to go up against the Solknight.”
“That’s not the kind of thing I want to hear. So where are we going to practise?”
“Here seems as good a place as any. Not many sword fights take place inside,” she said, raising her own wooden sword. The swords were crude looking but he still wouldn’t want to be hit with one. She looked like she could kill him with a wooden sword just as easily as with a steel one.
“Isn’t there a training hall or something? Somewhere with more padding?” Alix asked, looking around at the sparse rocky ground. There was little to protect him in a fall now that he had cleared all the overgrowth. He felt a bit pathetic worrying about falling and getting a scratch.
“There is, but it will take weeks to clear the way there and weeks longer to restore it. We can’t waste that time just sitting around drinking and gardening.”
Suddenly she lunged forward and, taking her sword in both hands, swung it down at him. Alix instinctively raised his own sword to block the blow and their swords slammed together. The blow ricocheted through his body, his arms instantly going numb, but she didn’t give him a chance to recover. Tifayn quickly reversed her sword and struck a quick blow to his midriff with the hilt.
The next thing Alix knew, he was curled up on the ground gasping for air, no idea where he was or what had happened to him for a moment. Tifayn helped him to his feet once he had caught his breath. She looked like she was disappointed but she shouldn’t have expected anything else. Still, he hadn’t expected her to be so rough with him.
Tifayn gave him no time to rest before she came at him again. After another swift beating, she gave him a few pointers on how to hold the sword properly, and how to correct his weak stance. Suddenly the notification bell went and a new Title appeared.
* Title Unlocked: Swordsman
Along with the title, he received some healthy stat boots, especially to his Agility. He had never been a quick study before but now the moves came easily to him.
As she came at him again and again, he deflected more and more blows. He felt like he was in The Matrix, downloading new moves in an instant. It was easier to pick up how to dodge and defend than attack though.
At one point he noticed the skeletons had lined up to watch them. They were expressionless as always, but he got the feeling like they were laughing at him. Bastards, Alix thought to himself. They should have had some sympathy for him, after going through the same thing themselves. Then he realised most of them probably hadn’t had it as bad as him. If they had come from different period throughout time then chances were high that they had already known how to swordfight by the time they arrived here. In his time, it was no more than novelty. He tried to ignore them, and concentrate on the wooden death spinning around him. Even he could see that Tifayn was incredibly talented.
Alix was sore in places he had never felt before by the time Tifayn declared, several hours later, they had done enough for the day. The time had passed quickly, but he felt like he had achieved weeks’ worth of training, and he had quickly breezed through Level 8 and 9, finishing on Level 10. He felt awfully like he was being put through the tutorial of a game, but he was just glad he hadn’t ended up on a prison or a sewer. “The ring will help accelerate the growth of your muscles and strength, but all this work still takes a physical toll. Rest now, and we will begin again tomorrow.”
Tifayn looked like she had barely broken out into a sweat as she turned and headed back inside, but Alix was ready to collapse on the ground. There was still something he had to do though.
As his skills had improved, Tifayn had increased the ferocity of her attacks, leaving his HP with a sizeable dent. He downed a few health potions and some tonics until was able to move again, and headed back towards the woods.
Within seconds of his feet touching the ground, he heard a rush of wind and Evory appeared in the clearing with Casimir Brant under her arm. It was almost comical seeing her carrying such a large man like a loaf of bread. Alix expected Brant to try and attack him again, but the man stood there calmly, the effects of the Soulbind spell still holding strong.
“What took you so long?” Evory hissed. “I told you that you had to hear what Casimir has to say.”
“Sorry, I’ve been getting my ass beaten.”
“I don’t want to hear what you have been doing in the bedroom, master.”
“No, that’s not…never mind. Let’s just get this out of the way quickly. Alright, what’s Brant’s story?” Alix asked.
Brant glanced at Evory first, as if asking for her permission to speak.
“It’s alright, he’s not the one you are looking for, but he might be able to help you,” Evory said reassuringly.
“I don’t know what you have done to me,” Casimir Brant began in a deep gravelly voice, “I want nothing more than to wring the life from your pathetic body, but there is something stopping me. I will remind you of your crimes, if Lady Evory asks it of me, although I do not believe that you are innocent.”
“I have cast Soulbind on you, Casimir Brant. I am telling you this because I am not trying to hide anything from you. Whatever you think it is that I have done, I promise you that you are mistaken. I’m sure Evory has already explained that to you, but I can see you don’t believe me. I will release you when you are no longer a threat to me. Now tell me, what is so important that I have to hear?”
Brant shifted uncomfortably on his feet for a moment, until it seemed he could hold the words back no longer. As he began to speak, it sounded like the words were being forcefully torn from him.
“I wasn’t always like this. I used to be a soldier in the Imperial Army. Worked my way up the ranks, earned the respect of my men. Then I met my wife, Ophenia. My men though, they didn’t agree with the relationship. Ophenia is a Ringtail you see. That probably wouldn’t have been so bad, even though relationships between humans and Ringtails is frowned upon, but she is Ringless, an outcast born without any markings. It always seemed a bit ridiculous to me, to cast out your own kind because of the way they were born. It didn’t change how I felt about her. I married her, moved her into my home, and told my men that if any of them had a problem with that, I would deal with them personally.
“I still heard some of them whispering, but most of the men soon thought as I did and began to see the Ringless as more than they had been told. I even began to trust some of the men to look after her when I had to go away on occasion. A week ago she wanted to go out foraging in the woods, spending time in nature is important for Ringtails, but I had been assigned to investigate a rumoured Dark Elf sighting. I left two of my men behind to watch over her.” Brant’s face hardened into a grimace before he continued. “When I returned, I found my two men in the infirmary, and Ophenia was gone. I asked them what had happened, and they told me two of the Darknight’s men jumped them and took my wife, but I’m sure you already know that. I tried to find her but she was already gone, so I came to find you instead.” Brant was almost spitting the words by the end. He looked like he was trying his hardest to fight the spell on him, either to throw himself at Alix or to run off in search of his missing wife, but he could do nothing other than stand and answer Alix’s questions.
“Look man, this is the first time I’m hearing about this. I’m really sorry about what happened, but I’ve never heard of your wife before and I never sent anyone to go after her or your men. The only ones here are me, a demon, a vampire and hundreds of skeletons. You say this happened a week ago? A week ago today I was passed out in bed, and before that I was still trying to convince myself that I wasn’t dreaming.”
“You expect me to believe that my men lied to me?” Brant snapped in a barely restrained bark.
“No, but I would really like to know why they were so sure that the men that attacked them were sent by me. I honestly don’t understand what I would stand to gain from such a thing.”
“They said that you tasked them with rounding up every Ringtail they could find. They are worth a pretty penny on the black market. Everyone knows the king refused to give you any aid, so you found yourself a lucrative business to fill your pockets, selling the people of this world you don’t care about into slavery.”
“I would never do such a thing. I only have a little time in this world, do you think I would waste it living a life of crime?” Suddenly Alix remembered the food Evory had asked him to bring and he handed over the loaf of bread, something to occupy the man before he became any louder. “Eat this, and keep the noise down,” he commanded him. “What?” Alix asked Evory when he caught her staring at him expectantly.
“You have to help him master! His poor wife is still out there somewhere. If you help, Casimir and Ophenia can go back to living their lives and maybe the kingdom will think kinder of you,” Evory said.
“That won’t happen. I deserted my post when I learned Ophenia was missing. If I go back they will arrest me. I would rather spend the rest of my days on the run searching for her, or for the one who took her so I can get my revenge.” Brant took a ravenous bite of the bread and chewed in brooding silence, suddenly realising how hungry he was.
“I agree with the bitch and the brute,” a voice came from behind the trees.
Alix yelled in fright. He was even more frightened when Tifayn walked out of the shadows. I’m dead…”Tifayn, I can explain,” he started to say but Tifayn cut him off with a raised hand.
“You don’t need to explain master, I heard the brute’s story. You cannot let your name be abused by common criminals. You must get to the bottom of this and rectify the insult. The bitch can help you, in payment for letting her live in the north tower.” Tifayn glared over to where Evory had jumped up to hide in a nearby tree. “I’m not going to attack you, vampire, but I can’t ever forgive what your people did to mine.”
“You can put your feud behind you then. Her people are all dead,” Alix said, pulling the crown from his inventory.
“The Crown of the Vampire King! That explains it…” Tifayn exclaimed, then suddenly went quiet.
“What’s wrong?” Alix asked, turning over the crown in his hand, examining it properly for the first time. It was roughly hewn in a material that felt like metal but looked like bone, with tines that rose haphazardly like thorns.
“That crown is said to nullify and make the wearer impervious to all curses. It explains why I’ve felt more…reserved…around you lately. The curse of the Darknight bond is nullified now that you are holding that crown,” Tifayn explained, looking at him in a way he had never seen before. The look of lust was gone from her eyes, and even though it was what he was hoping to achieve, his heart sank a bit. He placed the crown back in his inventory before he was tempted to throw it away.
I knew this was going to cause trouble, Alix thought to himself, although it might come in handy if he were to encounter any more demons. With the curse of the bond nullified, they had no reason to stay away from him now, although they also had no reason to rush to his side or help him either. He was a nobody to them.
The look of lust had faded, but it was soon replaced by a new fire. “This might be the perfect opportunity, master. We can help you track down the real criminals that took this man’s wife and find out what happened to her. Just think of it as training. You might be able to get some fighting in, and you can feel safe in the knowledge that their blades won’t be able to harm you. In return for letting the brute live after his barrage of insults against you, he can assist with your training. The help of an ex-Imperial soldier will be invaluable.”
Throughout everything, Brant continued to devour the loaf of bread until every scrap of it was gone, showing no sign of shock at having a demon appear in front of him, but at the sound of Tifayn’s plans he made his presence known again.”
“I would rather die-“ Brant began to rage, but Tifayn turned her full attention on him.
“That can easily be arranged. We will find your wife, and in return you will assist with the Darknights training.”
Brant stewed over the offer for a few moments. Alix could almost see the thoughts swirling in his head, see him come to the conclusion that he had no choice.
“If you help me get Ophenia back, and she confirms that you had nothing to do with it, then I will believe you were not involved. If you bring the ones that really did do it to me, I will train you,” Brant said, choosing each word carefully.
“Deal,” Tifayn said, forcefully shaking Brant’s hand before Alix could even contemplate the offer. “Let’s get back to the castle and we can discuss things in more detail.” As if the matter was completely decided, Tifayn climbed up the ladder and disappeared over the other side.
Evory finally came down from her perch up the tree once she saw that Tifayn had retreated far into the grounds on the other side of the wall.
“Phew, I thought for sure she was going to headbutt me with those horns again. I think I’ll stay in the north tower for now. At least I know she can’t get to me there. Come on Casimir, let’s get you something else to eat and a proper bed to sleep in.”
Once again Alix was left without time to object before Evory and Brant were back over the ladder again and he was left alone in the woods.
That definitely didn’t go the way I expected it to…