Chapter 75 – Trust Issues
“Enough with your games!” Onem said, pulling out his staff and slamming it into the ground. “Tell me where you are hiding the control rod.”
“I’m not hiding it, I swear.” Jack said while glancing at the door. A menacing looking axe was working its way through the door as the draugr screamed from the other side.
“Then how did you know its exact description? Do you really think me such a fool?”
“Fool isn’t the word I would use…” Jack said, taking a considering tone. “Maybe… dickbag?” he tried.
Onem responded by swinging his staff at Jack’s head. Jack narrowly dodged the enormous staff and bounced a few steps backwards, far away from the angry draugr.
“Hey buddy, don’t be mad at me. Had you told me what I was looking for, like I asked a dozen times earlier, maybe I wouldn’t have destroyed it when I killed methed out Merlin over there. Technically, this is your fault. We can’t work together unless we trust each other Onem.” Jack said, taking a haughty tone of chastisement.
“You. Destroyed. It…?” Onem said, eyes going wide as he stared at a second axe head that burst through the wooden door.
“A little bit, yea.” Jack shrugged. “So? Why did you keep it a secret? Planning to steal the army for yourself and betray us all over again?”
“I didn’t inform you because you are the one who can’t be trusted. Or have you already forgotten the second I gave you any agency you immediately killed one of my commanders? You’re the betrayer, filthy human, not me.” Onem spat at Jack, eyes going hard.
“Hold on now. Sure - had I known the rod would give me access to an undead army of draugr, I absolutely would have stolen it and used it for myself, you got me there. But you’re the asshole who locked me away and tortured me and kicked the shit out of me for their own amusement. Can we agree that maybe we’re both at fault here?”
A draugr arm ripped through the door, hand slapping against the wall as it frantically searched around for the door handle. Both Jack and Onem stared at it for a long moment.
“So, what the hell is going on anyway? Why are they acting crazy?” Jack asked.
“The control rod was designed to maximize control over the soldiers while still maintaining the rage that fuels them. The draugr have been in a constant state of enraged suffering for as long as they’ve been under Authun’s control. I fear with the rod destroyed it’s as if a thousand wild animals blinded by rage and insanity have been let loose all at once.” Onem said, staring at the door with a considering gaze.
“Huh. Well, I bet if we just talk to them and explain that we’re here to help, not enslave and torture, I’m sure we can reason with them with.” Jack said, walking up to the door, batting the flailing draugr arm out of the way, and grabbing the handle.
“Wait!” Onem screamed. “Their enraged state will make things difficult. We will be able to fend them off for a little while, but they will quickly overtake us, there is little that can stop the enraged horde. We need a plan, we won’t be able to overcome this with just ourselves.”
“There is nothing that the power of friendship and healthy communication can’t overcome.” Jack said in a chipper tone.
Jack pulled the door handle and jumped back as dozens of enraged draugr fought at the threshold of the door to enter the room. Onem wasted no time whirling his staff above his head in preparation for an attack. Jack ducked out of the way as his staff erupted two scythe-like blades from either end and ripped into the first two enraged and screaming draugr entering the room.
Unlike before, Onems attacks did not simply cleave the draugr into pieces. These draugr proved a more worthy foe then their counterparts moments before, their unbound rage serving to push them to greater heights. The draugr were fast and angry and that made them capable of dodging the worst of the damage while also getting a solid swipe in on Onem’s arm. Shadows began to stitch together his arm as Onem was able to force the door shut, severing a draugr’s arm off in the process. The door held against the raging outside, but it was on its last leg. The hinges bent and busted, the lock holding on to its last bit of integrity.
Jack glanced around at the severed arms on the floor and then over to Onem, whose face was contorting in rage.
“Maybe use your words next time? We can’t create a dialogue if you cut everyone to pieces every time we let someone in.” Jack said, channeling his best daytime TV psychiatrist.
Onem’s rage-filled gaze fixated on Jack, before closing his eyes and rubbing at his temple with his free hand.
“I will not die for your foolishness.” He said, frustration plain in his voice. Onem leaned his back against the banging at the door and sighed deeply. A small smile of contempt crawled across his face.
“My oath with the insipid queen prevents me from slaughtering you out-right.” He said, frustration plain in his voice. “There are, however, no stipulations that I must save you.”
“Save me? You think I need saving? Destroying the control rod and letting loose an army of insane draugr while we are trapped in the barracks was merely phase one of my master-“
Onem stepped away from the door and into the nearby shadows, disappearing out of sight before Jack could finish explaining the nuances of his made-up-in-the-moment master plan.
“Umm….Onem?” Jack called out to the empty room.
A loud crack sounded at the door as an axe took out its top half, exposing a hallway full of angry draugr.
“Onem. Buddy. This seems like you're lashing out.”
“I hope for your sake, you truly do have a plan to escape.” Came Onem’s voice from the shadows that filled the room.
Jack rolled his eyes. Melodramatic asshole.
The draugr outside finally kicked down the rest of the doorway and began piling into the room, bearing down on its lone inhabitant. Jack backed himself to the exit only to find it blocked by shadow made physical and impenetrable.
“Such a dickbag.” Jack growled at the door. Onem wasn’t going to kill him outright, but he was definitely making sure that Jack was going to be a draugr kebab.
He began to weave through the room, dodging draugr attacks and lashing out with a strike of his own wherever he could. There were too many, and even more piling in by the second. The hallway was no longer an escape option and he needed to get outside, but with one exit blocked by Dickbag McGee and the other by a throng of draugr hoping to use Jack to vent their rage.
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Jack looked up at the ceiling. It was time to get creative.
He wasn’t sure on the mechanics of his storm step ability. The problem with his drops of mana and his abilities tearing him apart from the inside out was that it didn’t allow for very extensive testing.
Using it inside should be fine though.
Probably.
“Sorry fellas, I’m gonna have to step away,” Jack chuckled to himself.
Jack cast [Storm Step].
An instant later he let loose a scream of pain as he slammed straight into the ceiling of the room, splayed out and spread eagle he hung there. He felt as though something in his back was knocked loose and his eyes flashed white, his head throbbed in pain and a dull ringing in his ears was all he could hear.
Jack had never actually cast [Storm Step] inside. The thought had crossed his mind before, but he had never considered the implications of using an ability that launched him a hundred feet up into the sky, indoors. Apparently, it wasn’t as strong going up as it was going down.
Filing away that weakness for later review, Jack grunted through a splitting headache.
Enraged draugr continued to file into the room below him, axes and swords flailing in the air as they looked up angrily at Jack. They quickly filled up the room leaving nowhere for Jack to come down that wasn’t occupied by an axe wielding enemy.
“Well, shit.” Jack said, spitting out blood. He had initially been planning to let the ability wear itself out and hopefully just drop back down. He’d never done that either and was now reconsidering his testing philosophy. Crash test dummy was not a career path he had hoped to pursue.
He let loose another long sigh, still glued to the ceiling as the ability kept trying to force him upward to the peak of the attack. It felt like he was being smooshed in a garbage compactor by an invisible force field. Left without any other options, Jack went with chaos. At Least that was familiar.
“This is going to suck.” Jack grumbled to himself as he activated the second part of storm step.
The world went white as Jack came crashing back down in an explosive burst of lightning. He felt himself crash straight through the stone floors of the office and slam into the ground of the first floor.
He rolled onto his back, groaning in pain as dangerous bolts of lightning bit at the air around him. As per usual with using his abilities, everything hurt.In addition to the standard pains that came with using his ability, he also felt like he had been run over by a Mack truck. How he wasn't dead from impact he wasn’t really sure, but he was starting to think the ability did shield his landing to some extent. To some very, very frail extent.
Dozens of notifications flashed through Jack's vision letting him know he killed everything in the room and directly beneath him. He laid there for a solid minute cursing the draugr, Onem, the Tower, and just about any other name he could think of before pushing himself up off the cracked stone floors. He looked down at the distinct Jack imprint on the floor and grimaced as his body went into overdrive trying to knit itself back together.
He spared a glance at his now scorched mana channels in his legs, they joined his arms in a fiery pain as his berserker channels kicked into action to start healing them as well. He watched the single remaining drop in his core grow a little dimmer as it pulled on his mana to heal his channels. Jack held off on pulling in another drop he had at the precipice of forming. He wanted at least one drop on full strength in case he needed it.
Jack let out a long sigh, fighting against the pain in his cracked, if not broken legs. He fished out another health potion, only to drop it back into his void sack, unsure how long it had been since his last potion.
“Hey Alexa, remind me to look for a… potion timer watch when I’m out of this hellhole.” Jack called out without expecting a reply. He looked up, inspecting the destruction he had just caused. There was a massive hole in the ceiling leading to the room above. Deep fragmented cracks ran through the stone floor below and anything wooden was on fire from the jolts of lightning biting at the surroundings.
He squinted as he heard subtle groaning and snapping from the ceiling and surrounding walls. In his rattled state it took him a few moments longer than normal to understand what exactly he was hearing.
“Oh fuck.” Jack said, stumbling forward as he applied too much pressure to his damaged legs in a hurried escape.
Deep cracks tore through the walls and chunks of the ceiling above started to rain down haphazardly on Jack. His storm step was clearly the straw that broke the camel’s back on the poorly maintained barracks.
The rest of the building came crashing down on top of him in a cacophonous storm of wood and stone.Darkness and pain were all that followed.
From under the rubble of the wrecked building Jack gave a few experimental movements. The shifting around him was promising, but also worrying. He wasn’t sure how much more damage he could take without a healing potion. He quickly dropped his five newly earned points into vitality in hopes it would do something to speed up his recovery. He grimaced in pain, pushing up against the rubble with all the strength his body would allow.
His hand was the first thing to emerge from under the rubble of the destroyed barracks. He grasped onto his surroundings, pushing off rocks and pulling himself out from under the debris, rolling down it and onto the ground.
He panted heavily, body screaming in pain as he stared up at the night sky. Over the sound of his heavy breathing he heard the footsteps of lumbering draugr walking into the courtyard. Jack pushed himself up to a sitting position to get a better look at his new friends.
There were only three draugr who joined him in the training yard, but these were different from the others, unique, even. One was short and round, with several swords jutting out of his body creating dangerous spikes from any advantageous angles. The second was a regular sized draugr, aside from his arms which were the size of tree trunks wrapped in banded iron. The massive limbs dragged on the ground behind him as he shuffled towards Jack. The third draugr was perhaps the most intimidating. He was slender and at least seven feet tall with whipcord muscles like tightly braided rope. He carried a large rusty looking trident and several javelins on his back.
These must be the draugr elites I’ve been hearing so much about. Sure wish someone had mentioned they would be experimental monstrosities. Jack huffed.
“Hey fellas, give me like, I don't know, five minutes? I promise I’ll kill you, It’s just been a rough day at the office and I need a minute to fix my shit first.” Jack said, holding up a staying hand towards the approaching draugr.
The tall slender draugr tilted his head to the side, its red eyes radiating madness. Jack could feel the deadly anger as the creature drew a javelin from the bundle attached to his back.
“Hold on now-“ Jack protested just as the draugr fell into a stance swinging like a pendulum as he hurtled the javelin at mach speed towards Jack. He jerked his head to the side on pure reactionary instinct, the Javelin grazing his cheek and ripping through his ear as it buried itself in the rubble behind him.
Jack rolled his eyes in annoyance as he pushed himself off the ground. He once again drew his daggers, burying the pain of the last few minutes deep down in his body.
“At least Onem isn’t here to ruin the fun this time,” Jack grumbled to himself.
He held his daggers tight in his hand as he felt the blood lust poor through his beaten and broken body. Despite the pain he felt the smile tug at his lips, unable to hold back the excitement brought on from his urge to kill. He reminded himself yet again he didn’t have to hold it back anymore.
Jack charged the draugr elite.
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[Hannah]
Hannah sat next to the queen at the top of the mountain valley side, staring down at the far off barracks down below. The Valkyrie soared in the air above, keeping watch for any approaching draugr. They had heard the cries of the draugr army fill the night air, a signal something had clearly gone wrong.
Without warning a giant bolt of lightning lit up the night sky and came crashing down on the barracks. Hannah and the queen watched in silent horror as the building crumbled to nothing but a pile of rubble.
“I’m beginning to think your friend has a bit of a calling card.” The queen contemplated, face betraying little emotion. She sent a signal to one of the Valkyrie flying above and they came swooping down to the ground, kneeling in front of the queen.
“Eyla, send for my army at once. I fear things will be more difficult than we hoped.” She said, a note of concern to her words.
“My queen” Eyla said, launching off the ground and taking to the skies above.
“Tell me, daughter. Is anything ever simple with your friend?”
Hannah calmly picked up her bow and began preparing herself for battle, rotating her shoulders and stretching out her arms.
“Rarely. But you get used to it.”