The Gates of Eldoria
Chapter 6
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Believing that Maggie was under some sort of compulsion after using her powers, the trio headed to the kitchens to satisfy her hunger.
The kitchen staff were startled to see them, but set about doing their best to ignore the group while carrying out their duties. Normally a bit shy and reserved, Maggie set about heaping a plate with victuals; sausages, bread, fruits and pastries were piled on high before she was satisfied.
“I’m not sure if you’re experiencing what I do after using my powers,” Daniel said as they sat at a table reserved for staff, “But focus on what you’re doing, because it seems to help.”
“I’m eating because I’m starving,” Maggie said, shoving a chunk of buttered bread in her mouth. She had devoured over half the plate and didn’t appear to be slowing down.
“Then focus on tasting the food, chewing it, slowly enjoying every bite,” He advised.
Maggie gave him some side-eye and slowed down, concentrating on eating the food, not devouring it. Soon enough, she pushed away the plate still heaped with a mound of breakfast food. “By Cadmus,” she swore. “I see what you mean. I’m absolutely stuffed, but just a minute ago I felt like I hadn’t eaten in a week.”
Stroking the soft sideburns that ran down her cheek, Daniel offered a sympathetic smile. “The compulsion is hard to ignore. Without the bond to you and Sera, I’d be a raving lunatic by now.”
Maggie wrapped her fingers around his, embarrassment filling the bond at his public display of affection.
“What about you?” Daniel asked Sera. “Any strange compulsions?”
“I was very angry after the demon was destroyed, but I was able to control it,” She said. “As the daughter of a Duke, I have ample training in managing my emotions.”
“That’s good to know,” Daniel nodded. “Are we ready to head out?” Receiving nods from all around, they exited the castle kitchen.
Daniel felt a sense of urgency as the trio headed for where he felt the last demon. General Reganset and four guards followed closely behind them.
“This is where they were,” He said. “I could feel them watching.”
There was no one at the balcony overlooking the northern bailey, so Daniel turned to the General. “Can you give me a tour of the castle? Every corridor possible.” He said, lowering his voice. “I’m not even going to attempt to capture the next one, I’m going to eliminate it as quickly as possible.”
Reganset nodded, placing a hand over where her ribs were healed earlier that morning. “Considering the result of our last effort, I would agree with you.”
The group wandered through the castle for the rest of the morning, covering as much ground as possible but Daniel never did feel the presence of the demon again. It was noon when they returned to the Solarium for lunch.
“This is a demon stone?” Duke Lewis asked, eyeing the fist-sized golden nugget on the table. “We’ve never seen the like before, and many demons have been destroyed over the years.”
“Perhaps it’s something new with the transmigration,” Daniel offered. “Earth certainly didn’t have magic two days ago.”
“Perhaps,” The duke agreed poking at it with his finger. “It just looks like a pretty rock to me,”
“You don’t feel a compulsion to pick it up? A sense of power radiating from it?” Daniel asked, frowning.
“None at all,” Duke Lewis said, looking around the table. Everyone else shook their heads, indicating they were immune to the effects of the stone.
“Maybe it’s an Earthling thing,” Daniel muttered, eager to consume the stone and add to his growing powers.
A new face was at the table, Feliberto Antuna, a High magus of the Royal Order. “I’m curious about these powers of yours,” He said, lifting a spoon of stew to his mouth, before lowering it without taking a bite. “Can you demonstrate them?”
Daniel had made certain to move his cup to the right side this time, removing himself from the gastronomic game of nobility. He wondered what the Magus was saying, holding his spoon like that. Disbelief? Waiting to see results? Withholding his opinion?
“Using the powers comes with a cost,” He said, lifting his hand and wreathing it in crackling flames. He shifted it to lightning before allowing a diseased-looking tendril of darkness to emerge, slithering across the table towards the magus only to vanish into the shadows. “But they seem to like intimidating people, feeding off awe and fear.”
“Amazing,” the magus said, dropping his spoon back into the bowl of stew. “No words of power, no enchanted items, no connection to the Stellae. And you can use them as often as you please?”
Daniel ran a mental check, feeling out the powers and their limits. “As long as I’m willing to pay for them, I can use them as often as I desire.”
“And you Lady Seraphina, Lady Magribella?” Magus Antuna asked. “You have unlimited powers as well?”
Daniel felt a flush of heated embarrassment come from Maggie. She wasn’t used to being called a lady any more than he was used to being called Sir.
“I feel as though Daniel is the source of the powers,” Sera said, considering her words. “I feel that I draw on our bond when using them, so I worry what effect it will have upon him.”
Maggie nodded in agreement.
“How does it work?” Alanna, the first wife of Duke Lewis asked. She was holding the stone in her hand, examining it closely before passing it to Ophilia, her second oldest daughter, who gave it a cursory inspection before handing it to her younger sister Isabella. “It looks and feels like a rock to me.”
Isabella passed the demon stone to Magus Antuna, who sat it before Daniel. “As far as I can tell,” He said, pointing at the glittering rock, “it’s just a common stone. Possibly created by a spell like [Craft Earth] because there’s a faint dweomer of energy binding it together, but I’d stake my reputation on it not being magical in any form or fashion.”
Sera and Maggie had to keep a firm leash on his emotions while the stone was being handed around, it was all he could do to keep them in check by himself.
He wanted that stone. It was his. He deserved it.
Daniel reached out and snatched up the stone, it promised him power beyond his wildest dreams, wealth without measure. He accepted the power, and the stone liquified, forcing its way under his skin. He slammed his hands on the table as acid ran through his veins again, burning, dissolving, corroding his living guts.
He could feel concern and support flowing through the bond, Maggie’s presence a bulwark against the pain, Sera assuring him that this would pass soon enough, even as they underwent their own changes. When it was finished, there was a new power and an alien presence in his mind.
“Well?” Magus Antuna asked, eager for new knowledge.
“Elysia,” Daniel said, pointing south. “She’s that way.”
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The bond was abuzz with new communication, the women deepening their emotional connection with the new member while Daniel was left to grapple with larcenous urges. His agility and sense of smell had increased a bit, and along with it came manual dexterity that would make a magician raise their eyebrows.
The party had split after lunch, with the girls going off together to prepare for the upcoming trip, leaving him in the care of Magus Antuna. Daniel felt like a specimen that had been left for sacrifice.
Daniel demonstrated his powers fully for the mage, enduring the compulsion that followed, which prompted new questions and scrutiny. Thanks to Antuna’s insistence, Daniel discovered that pushing off the penance wasn’t as horrible as he thought. It was an itch, but one he could endure. Even after going an hour without paying for using [Infernal Fury], it was manageable. Not comfortable, but manageable. He felt that maybe he could go an entire day before he lost his cool.
That was just one use though. If he used it more than once, it would probably shorten the time before penance was due. Which wasn’t bad, now that he had some proper tools. A deck of cards was perfect for sorting, or playing a game of solitaire. In just a few minutes, he could scratch the itch of wrath completely. Gluttony was handled by controlling his appetite, eating a handful of nuts one at a time, or small sips to quench his thirst. Or even ignoring the hunger altogether and fasting.
“You pay on the backside,” Magus Antuna said, watching as Daniel played solitaire to repay his display of [Thunderous Wrath]. “A mage pays first by using words of power to activate the Stelae, then channels the power through their blood until it is exhausted. Enchanted items do the same, requiring a keyword or some other activation and a link to the Stelae. You take the power first, then pay the cost later.”
“So is that better or worse?” Daniel asked.
“Much better on the battlefield,” Antuna said, stroking his waxed moustache. “You would slaughter dozens before the first spell was cast. And you mentioned physical improvements?”
Daniel nodded. “I’ve grown a couple of inches, and my muscles are a little bigger, but much… denser? And I’m very flexible now.”
“Those are attributes that the average soldier needs boosted by enchanted armour and weapons,” Antuna said. “Which again require Stelae, and channeling the power through a bloodstone. It takes time to craft an enchanted item, to link it to the Stelae, and for the soldier to speak the word of power to activate it. You break the game with your silence.”
Daniel nodded at that, happy that his powers were innate, not borrowed from excess divinity radiated away by the gods.
The ladies returned for him after their arrangements were made, rescuing him from the poking and prodding of Magus Antuna. His assigned manservant Arnaut carried his belongings as they made their way to the Southern Bailey.
The power of Greed was new, but a pouch of coins waited to be sorted and counted, and of course, he could always give into his urges. He smiled at that thought.
A variety of silver cutlery he’d lifted from the dining table cluttered the pocket of his new coat. Louisiana being Louisiana, spring meant hot, humid days and cold, damp nights, so a warm, knee-length jacket was added to his quickly growing wardrobe. Greedy thoughts of pilfering even more valuable items were quickly quashed by the tenuous link between him and the new bondswoman, Elysia.
He wondered what she was like.
His thoughts turned crafty. He’d have to hide his ill-gotten booty, and since only a fool would keep pilfered goods in his own room, he’d stash them in one of the ladies rooms. ‘And of course, no one would ever suspect Sera,’ He chuckled to himself.
He could literally, in the literal sense of the word, literally smell valuables now. Which was odd, because Sera and Maggie now had the most enticing scents. He couldn’t wait to explore that later.
“That one’s a fake,” Daniel said, stopping to point at a painting on the wall. It was valuable, but it smelled like silver coated pennies. Only valuable because of perception, not reality.
“What?” Sera asked, stopping next to him.
“Fake. I can smell it,” Daniel said.
“Of course it’s fake,” She said, a small frown creasing her brow. “The real one is in the vaults. It’s far too valuable to be displayed.”
Greedy thoughts raced through his brain. “Maybe I can have a look at the real one?” He asked, sliding an arm around her shoulder. “We could take a look once we get back with Elysia.”
Maggie sighed and grabbed his arm, dragging him towards the waiting carriage. “We really need to get you bonded before you steal all the silverware and anything else not nailed down.”
Daniel gawped like a fish.
“It’ll be okay,” Sera said, grabbing up his other hand. “We know you’re not thinking straight right now.”
Three carriages were arranged, and two platoons were assigned to guard them, one in front, one in the rear. Camping gear and other sundries had been packed in anticipation of spending a few nights away from the castle. Several changes of clothing were available, along with leather armour that still needed to be fitted, his bat, a nice flanged mace that he had no idea how to use, a small satchel of things that he may need to satisfy his compulsions, and glamping gear piled on top of the roof of the carriages. Judging by what he had seen, royalty didn’t believe in roughing it.
Piling into the carriage, Daniel and the bondswomen were arranged in the rear, while the maids-in-waiting, Abigails as they were called, were sat in the front along with Arnault. There was a new face sitting between Evelyn and Brandy, presumably a lady to serve Elysia when she joined.
His emotions cycled unevenly, wrath gave way to greed, which was quashed by gluttony, which was ensnared by greed, which was smashed by wrath. Every time he had two under control, greedy thoughts surfaced, throwing off his concentration.
Ten miles passed in twenty minutes, the carriage following the King’s highway from the castle, heading south towards the new connection to the causeway. Daniel got a chance to see the buildings and people of Eldoria as they went about their business, seemingly unaffected by the event.
‘Life goes on,’ He thought. People had food to buy, clothing to wash, bills to pay. Being transmigrated to a different world wouldn’t stop the taxman from coming. He wondered how the rest of America was doing.
Clattering down the steep slope to the causeway, the carriage picked up speed as it crossed the several miles from Verdentia to the shore and headed towards Bootie. Elysia was somewhere in that direction, perhaps in that forest of enormous trees, judging by the mental impressions that occasionally flickered across his mind. The gate was somewhere near there too. He had felt it when the powers had first awakened in him, a malevolent thing, pulsing like a diseased heart. He had no clue how to close it, but Magus Antuna had packed various gear in the other carriage along with a few adepts to do the heavy lifting.
The ruins of Metairie passed in the blink of an eye, Temporary shelters of earth and stone, constructed by magic, set up for the displaced and a heavy presence of armed guards to keep the peace. He wondered how the population was adjusting to the fact that guns and cars and electricity no longer worked. That mobile phones and the internet were gone, that they would have to talk and interact with their neighbours if they wanted news or entertainment.
The near normalcy of modern architecture quickly gave way to farmland as the summoned horses galloped tirelessly down the highway, clattering over the concrete roads as they passed strip malls and fast food joints, then crossed into fields of rye and wheat, oats and corn, all driving home the fact that entire sections of his world were missing.
He missed his mum.
“Bronze for your thoughts,” Sera asked, placing a hand over his.
Daniel shook his head. “I was just thinking about my mother, wondering how she was doing.”
“Father has sent out scouts,” Sera said, her voice calming the worries growing inside his chest. “Thanks to the maps you drew, they should be able to navigate any unknown territory quickly and locate her.”
“I hope so,” Daniel said. “She’s all that I have in this world. The rest of my family is distant, or dead.”
Sera squeezed his hand. “I’m certain she’s alright.”
Eager to escape his morose thoughts, Daniel changed the subject. “What about you Mags? Have you heard from your parents?”
Maggie shook her head, a faint smile crossing her lips. “I have word from them and you will need to meet them soon. Right now they believe I am a guest of Lady Seraphina.”
“Will there be any problems?” Daniel asked, suddenly worried about having his head ripped off by a burly Dwarf innkeep.
“Well,” Maggie said, playing with her fingers before continuing. “It’s not uncommon for Humans and Dwarves to intermarry, but uncommon enough to raise eyebrows. My parents are a bit conservative.”
“So me having two wives… or more,” He said, thinking of Elysia, “won’t upset them?”
“Not as much as you being human,” Maggie admitted. “Polygamy and polyandry are perfectly normal.”
“Well, my mother will have a heart attack,” Daniel admitted. “Monogamy is the legal norm in America.”
“Really?” Sera asked. “What happens if you fall in love with someone else?”
“You divorce,” Daniel said.
“But you love two different people,” Sera said, confused. “Why would you? It makes no sense.”
“What if the other partner isn’t into it?” Daniel said. “Jealousy is a terrible monster.”
The ladies fell silent, trying to comprehend how one could love someone and disapprove of their love for another.
“You are truly from a different world,” Maggie said, breaking the silence. “Even the Orcs and Goblins practice Polyandry, and they are as uncivilised as it comes.”
Daniel turned his gaze outside the carriage window. The bond made it difficult for him to imagine a life without Sera, Maggie, and now, Elysia. How would he feel if one of them declared her love for another man?
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None of this matters to you. Ignore it.
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-=- Greed - Main -=-
Name: Thunderous Plunder
Type: Evocation / Thunder / Greed
Duration: Instantaneous
Range: 20-foot cone
Damage: 3d8 thunder damage
Source: Inspired by the spell "Thunderwave" (Level 1)
Effect: The user releases a powerful thunderclap that resonates with their insatiable greed. The shockwave created by the thunderous plunder shakes loose valuable items from the surroundings, scattering them within a 10-foot radius. The forceful blast also inflicts thunder damage on nearby foes, staggering and disorienting them.
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