“Turn around and run back home.” Olly says in a forceful whisper. “This place is not for you. It’s a life you can’t survive, Hawk. John… maybe, but still. Leave and don’t look back. Pretend that you saw nothing.”
“How are we meant to do that?” Hawk asks, “After everything that we’ve seen, and everything that we’ve done?”
“It’s worse out here.” He says. “We don’t know peace anymore. Please, just leave me and go.”
“We can’t do that.” John replies. “If you’re here, then I want to stand beside you again. I want to be more than just another chump in the streets, just more blood for the nobles to drain… I…”
“I get it.” Olly replies, looking back at his team, “I get it. But you’ll regret it. I do.”
“You…?” John starts.
“The life we had was peaceful, John. It was simple, and fun, and quiet, and good. We didn’t have to worry about people dying beside us or fighting for our lives. It was a good life. Please don’t abandon it like I’ve done.”
“I…” John can’t find his voice any longer, Hawk just stares up at Olly, her expression slowly becoming more fierce.
“No.” She says, firm and harsh. “I want to be like you.”
“Hawk…”
“If you’re out here, then this is where I want to be, Olly.” She says, refusing to give him a moment to speak back. “I want to stand beside you, even if it’s with weapons in hand. If it means fighting the nobles and king himself then that’s where I’ll be, if it means killing monsters in this forest, then I’ll be here.”
“Hawk.” Olly slowly shakes his head, glaring at the dirt at his feet as if hoping to find the right words there to convince her to leave. Unfortunately, he takes so long searching that he runs out of time to say anything more.
“Oh? A sweet lover come to the edge of the world to find her man?” The leader of the little noble excursion asks, “Brought a few friends along with you, too. Well, welcome to hell, recruits.”
“Recruits?” John asks, and Olly violently hisses, glaring up at his superior.
“Let them go.” He demands, “They’ll stay quiet, won’t you?”
“Now, now, Olly. You know that’s not how this works.” The leader says, a tall lizard man with red-purple feathers crowning his head.
I’ll call him Kyle, he seems like a Kyle.
“Those who come here, become one of us.” Kyle says, looking between us. The rest of his group has surrounded us, and have their weapons up, though I feel no bloodlust from them, curiosity, and derisive humour perhaps, but no bloodlust.
“I might be an exception to the rule.” I say, stepping up to the leader.
“Traveller.” He says, bowing his head to me. “We’ve been warned to expect your presence. You aren’t confused about things here, are you? You’re not going to cause us trouble and start a fight?”
“I don’t intend to, but I should report that I’ve killed a noble back in the city.” I say with an easy shrug, looking for a reaction.
I get one.
“Who was it?” Kyle asks.
“I didn’t quite catch his name.” I say.
“Sarule.” John replies for me.
“Yes!” Olly cheers, pumping his fist in excitement as he shows his teeth. The rest of his team has taken a step back and readied their weapons, taking me for a threat, but not one they’re particularly happy to engage.
“I’m not on a slaughter spree.” I explain. “I caught him killing a woman, and his explanations were rather unconvincing. He thought of it as something akin to stealing, while my new friends here understood it as murder.
“What are your thoughts on the matter?”
“He killed a woman?” Kyle asks, easing a little while his expression deepens with disgust.
“Sucked her blood until she toppled, then left some to waste on the floor. Actually, if we’d left him to live, I wonder if he’d have licked it off of the floor?” I ask, finding the imagined scene grimly amusing.
“Then he deserved what he got, though I don’t envy those who have to deal with the mess you left behind.” He says, a reptilian smile rising on his lips. “In that case, it really is a pleasure to meet you.”
“You as well, you fought rather well back there.” I say, waving to the flesh that remains of the beast they slaughtered. “That’s the meat supply for the peaks, I’m guessing?”
“For our own meals too. Blood is power, but we’re still made of flesh and bone.” Kyle responds. “Let’s all head back to the fort and get everything sorted.”
Olly is clearly about to say something more, but Greg hits him in the back, and he accidentally bites his tongue. I cringe back from the sight. With teeth as sharp as theirs, biting your tongue isn’t as simple and harmless a thing.
He hisses and slurs a few insults at his companion, watching the forest for any dangerous beasts that might follow us, but occasionally turning back to look at Hawk and John. The other three rebels lag behind, likely feeling out of place.
Honestly, they probably could’ve sneaked their way back into the city and no one would be the wiser. I wonder what life is like for those who aren’t main characters.
“The fort up ahead is your home for the next century, or however long you last.”
“Century? Olly, people don’t live that long.” John says, looking around in confusion.
“We do, and you will.” Kyle replies. “You’ll be made into nobles, it’s a painless process I assure you, but it will entail taking on new responsibilities. The most important, you will protect the peaks with your life.
“That isn’t hyperbole, just over half of us die in our first century alone, but life doesn’t get all that much easier from there.” Kyle says. “Life out here is a struggle, as you will discover.”
He goes on to explain what training will be like, and what they can expect from their personal lives. What little they’ll be allowed that is. Life here, as a protector of the peaks, really is nasty. The rebels seem too shocked at the moment to be regretting their decision to come here, but I’m sure with time and experience they’ll come to look back at the memories of today with bitterness and disgust.
Forced conscription seems to be a rather common thing here, but then Earth wasn’t a stranger to the concept either. Heck, I’m familiar with stories from Earth that make my own experiences seem tame in comparison. Child soldiers, slavery, people essentially farmed for their organs, I was lucky to be born away from such horrors.
“Oh, another thing. I hope you weren’t planning on having children.” He says.
“They’re not allowed?” Hawk asks.
“They’re not possible. The noble blood will leave you unable to have children, that is for both males and females.” He says, “There is no escaping that fact, and no healing that will fix it.”
I quite specifically recall Nel telling me about all the ways we could carry our genes on, so I’m not convinced that he’s right about that. It’s more likely that they just don’t have the means here, and they haven’t researched it.
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Hawk’s enthusiasm immediately drops, and I can’t help but feel a spike of sympathetic pain. Since having that conversation a while ago, I’m rather interested in having a horde of little sons and daughters. I just need a horde of maids and carers to look after them before I even dare to try for it.
They say that Genghis Khan’s genes are still common today on Earth. I’ll just have to wait a while until I actually have the time and resources spare for such things.
I am so very glad that accidental pregnancy isn’t something for me to worry over.
“The dangerous beasts here,” John says, addressing the leader of the noble group leading us. “Why don’t they go up to the peaks?”
“Those on this side of the wall aren’t dangerous.” He says, “They’re mostly kept for food and training, the one we killed back there wouldn’t be able to climb the paths to the peaks regardless. The beasts on the other side of the great wall are much worse.
“Out there you’ll find beasts that would tear you apart just by looking at you.” He says shaking his head. His gaze glazes over a moment as a shudder runs through him, memories of trauma flooding through his mind. Something that healing magic doesn’t fix, at least not that I’ve found.
“Ah, here we are.” Kyle says, as the large walls of the fort loom over us. The trees have been flattened, and even the grass cut low for the hundred metres closest to the tall walls, lit by a thousand glowing lanterns.
The lanterns glow with the same light as the moss from the forest at our backs. The intense blue aura intensified many times over to provide light, clear enough for even me to see the busy guardsmen atop the walls. They seem to be chatting rather casually as they work, which supports the idea that this side of the wall is more a farm than anything.
The sun has left no trace behind, fleeing over the horizon, and the fort coloured by the deep blue shades of the lanterns almost seems like a sunken Atlantis. I ensure that my new Record Skill is running properly, and follow them up to the nearest guardsman.
The wall here is without gates, which makes sense since these nobles can fly, instead, the flat section of wall here has long drag marks along the height of it and an elevator-like structure at the top by the guard.
“Hold!” The guard far above us calls, “You bring fresh blood?”
“New recruits. Same thing.” Kyle says, clearly amused by our presence. “There’s some meat out there being picked at by scavengers, so if you could get someone to take them from our hands…?”
“Wait just a moment.” The guard above says, before turning back to the inside of the fort and crying to someone beyond view.
“Someone get Gregorious, we have fresh recruits!”
“Oof, base commander himself.” Kyle says under his breath. “Good luck, to all of you. Team we’re heading out soon as someone comes to secure these idiots. We clear?” He focuses his attention on Olly in particular.
“Yes, sir.” The lizard says, his face twitching involuntarily as he looks at his old companions.
“Good.”
“What’s the trouble? From this side, it’d have to be more recruits? Unless someone got themselves hurt in the farm?” The commander says, laughing brightly as he strides up the edge of the stone walls and steps off.
He has wings. He could easily, and comfortably glide down, but instead he falls, landing with enough force to sink his legs calf deep into the soft earth. Stepping out of the soil with practiced ease, he turns to take a look over us.
“Oh, we have our traveller here as well. I was expecting you to find us sooner.”
“I was busy dealing with things in the peaks.” I reply. “I’m guessing there are plenty of pests out here?”
“Most certainly. It’s all we deal with day in and day out.” He replies turning to the others with me. Those who are natives to this dungeon. “Another pack of new recruits, at this rate we’re going to lose our peasantry to the dangers of curiosity.
“How much do you know about what we do here?”
He waves a hand up at the defenders on the walls, and they start lowering the lift, working with the ropes and slowly getting it rolling down. It’s the same thing I saw back when Red stole us, too. Gates are a weakness that’s not needed, especially not when the walls themselves are not all that insurmountable.
“You drink people’s blood.” John says, looking between the nobles gathered here. “You keep us up in the peaks and… what is all of this?”
“Ah, no one sent you here? So I suppose you didn’t go raving about it in the streets, there is that in your favour.” The commander says, looking back as the lift clunks to the ground. “It looks like the lift is ready.”
The commander leads us on while we see off Kyle and his group, who are racing into the forest after the meat that they hunted. They were meant to disappear the moment the commander appeared, but I suppose he might’ve surprised them enough to make them forget.
As the lift rises up the wall, we get a clear view of the world we’ve passed through to get here. The natural peaks aren’t really so far away, but the city within is well hidden from sight.
The forest between glows a faint blue, shining out through the gaps in the upper canopy. The visage is like nothing I’ve ever seen, and I’m again considering making a holiday home out here. A slight wind carries over the top of the canopy and sends waves through the leaves, and the glowing lights within seem to move as well.
“Enjoy the view, Vii.” I whisper, taking in the sight and talking to the magical camera jammed into my brain.
“The reason we’re here is to be the defenders of civilisation.” The commander says, looking between all of us. “We stand between the wildlands and our peaceful home in the peaks. This wall has held back the tides of beasts that come from all throughout this dungeon, and we will continue to hold firm against them.”
“Why don’t they just fly over the walls?” I ask, waving my hand up towards the sky.
“They cannot.” He snaps in reply. “Now that you know what lies here. The truth of our civilisation, you will become defenders of this wall.”
“What if we don’t want to?” Hawk asks, showing a surprising amount of backbone.
“Then you die.” He replies simply. “We cannot afford for waste here. If you didn’t want this life, then you should have turned back and lived a simple life when you had the chance. Here, you will spend the next century, until everyone who once knew you is dead.”
A few of the rebel’s wince at that declaration, but it’s more reluctant acceptance than surprise. They’ve already anticipated as much before coming here. No one returns, after all. At least not for a hundred years.
“How will we… become nobles?” John asks, stepping forwards and showing a moment of courage.
“The conversion takes a number of weeks, but most survive.” The commander says. “For now, you’ll be resting in your own rooms and doing chores while we ready things for you.”
“We’ll live for hundreds of years?” Hawk asks.
“If you don’t get yourselves killed, then yes.” The commander says. “At that point you may return to the peaks as a noble. You will, of course, be returning here for shifts. Try to think of it as a holiday that you have to work towards.”
“Over a hundred years?” I ask. HR would hate him, but there are plenty of businessmen who would love to borrow his employment model.
“As for you, you’ll be staying with us?” He asks me. “We would appreciate your assistance if that’s the case. I’m not sure how powerful you are?”
“I’m not easily measured.” I reply, with an easy smile. “Just know that I can put out some damage if needed.”
“Always good to hear.” The commander replies as the lift finally stops. The height enough that I’m not convinced I could survive the fall. “Then, we’ll have you fed and given a room for the night. If you hear any alarms, then come out and assist in the defence of the fort.”
“Does that happen often?” I ask, looking about the massive stone structure. There aren’t many marks on it as far as I can see, but the guards on the distant side seem to be much more tense than those here.
“Every year there’s something that comes up.” The commander replies, “It could be tonight, it could be weeks or months away. It pays to be prepared.”
“That it does. Thank you for the hospitality.” I reply following him along as the rather sombre revolutionaries trail after me.
It’s not that I don’t understand their plight. I’ve gone through the same worries as them before, it’s just that I don’t have the luxury of commiserating while I have my own task to tend to.
If I don’t complete Arduelle’s quest, I’m sure she’s going to cause me problems later on.
With a long sigh, I chew through as much of the meal as I can manage, before heading to bed in the room they’ve readied for me. After a little thinking and a great deal of reluctance. I take the sheets and blankets from the bed and use them to keep the ground feeling a little soft and warm, as I sit up against the wall.
My armour was not designed for casual comfort, and it’s going to be a chore sleeping in it. Not as bad as I’ll feel dying because I wanted to sleep a little better.
Dreams of phantom beasts chase me through my dreams, as I feel the cold cut through my blankets and my armour. I feel like I’m chasing after something just out of reach, warmth that I cannot touch, and a place of safety that isn’t real.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Skills & Stats
~Mana Form:
Current mana density: 890 units
~Mana distribution:
Catagory Current Max. Defence 32% 32% Offense 0% 57% Mana Sense 0% 72% Recovery 0% 30% Gluttony 0% 26% Misc. 0% 42% Efficiency 32% 89%
~Favourited Skills:
-Chip Shredder
-Multi-mind
-Tag
-Mana surge movement
-Reactive defence
-Fire burst punch
-Annihilation magic
-Mana form flow fixer
-Branching magic