Chapter 5: Rage

My mind raced as I watched the horde of monsters slowly tear away at my walls. There was nothing I could do to stop them. Not with the numbers they had. Feeling like I had no choice I summoned Abyssal Ruination to my hand and readied myself for combat. I decided to scan the monsters. Perhaps I could take out a few of the more powerful ones before my walls completely came down. If I leveled up I might even have a fighting chance.

I shuddered as my brief analysis showed me that every one of them was no weaker than level two with a good number at level three and at least one was level four. Now I knew why hunting them could be so dangerous for the priests. While none of the memories I had gained indicated the damned would swarm in these numbers, even a few of them could prove a formidable match against the group I had taken out earlier. Eyeballing the closest level 4 I mentally pulled up as many details on the thing that the system would provide.

Howling Damned: Level 4

Monster Type: Cursed Poltergeist

Description: These creatures once living beings were slain by a powerful magic spell that doomed them to haunt the shores of their home. The pain of their sudden demise has caused endless torment on these damned souls turning them into near-mindless machines of slaughter. Their howls summon gusts of wind that they can use to travel on.

Affinity: Neutral

That caught me up short as I read the displayed text. These beasts had been agitated, or else they wouldn’t have swarmed in such numbers, but their affinity said that the creatures were neutral. Of course! I thought as my mind put together the pieces. They hated fire, which is why I had used so much of it. But the priests didn’t need to use fire, they had their holy magic. And in the ruins of the city, there was no need to worry about the howling damned breaking through their more fortified walls. It was a risk, but I dismissed my scythe and held out my arm sending a mental command to the chain that was wrapped around my wrist.

In a moment my Fetters of Manipulation had become a shovel. Praying that my hunch was right I knocked apart the logs within my various fire pits and then began shoveling sand on top of the burning and smoldering timbers. Quickly the world around me darkened and grew cold as I did so.

To my endless relief though I noticed that the howls of rage around me had begun to grow quiet, and even though the howling damned moved in around me they didn’t attack. As the last of the fires died the creatures stopped trying to dismantle my shelter and they all moved in circling me. Slowly the level 4 approached me and sat down right in front of me. I was shocked to see that his affinity changed from neutral to friendly as he did so.

“Oh, that’s right. I am the Dark Monarch. Monsters and I get along now.” I said laughing. I knelt down before it and tentatively stretched my hand out As I did so the monster raised a claw and took my hand in its skeletal grip. I felt an electric sensation run up my arm as it did so, but it didn’t hurt. I realized what the feeling was as soon as I saw the new line of text appear before my eyes.

Howling Damned: Level 4 has been tamed

Experience Gained: 236 points

Howling Damned: Level 4 has become Hythriem. Hythriem is now a tamed ally. Additional information can now be revealed upon inspection. You have formed a telepathic link with Hythriem allowing you to give him commands and receive information.

You have gained the skill Wailing Winds.

Skill: Wailing Winds

Skill Rank: F (Upgradable)

Skill Description: At the cost of 5% mana per use you can release a wail that beckons the winds and summons spectral allies to your side. At current rank, you can summon 5 spectral allies per use.

“Master,” a voice spoke into my mind. No, that was inaccurate. The voice didn’t speak so much as push the impression of the word. It was like a mental image of what the word meant. Fealty. That’s what it was. Fealty and Subservience. I knew at once it had come from Hythriem. I didn’t know how to react to that. I wasn’t comfortable with the thought of being someone’s master. It felt way too dark lord for my tastes, especially with the quest the system gave me. Not to mention I still barely knew anything at all about my new world. That didn’t give me much confidence in my abilities to lead or be anyone’s master.

Those doubts only flitted through my mind for a moment before I replied to Hythriem with a mental image of my own. It was an image of the round table from the tales of Camelot. If Hythriem wanted to make me his master and offer me his fealty I wouldn’t take that choice from him. But at the very least we could be equals and friends as he did. I felt his gratitude through our bond and I smiled. It wasn't how I had planned on making my first friend in this world, but I was still excited.

Although that excitement was soured by the incessant pain that the creature felt. Their existence was truly nothing but torturous as every second of their existence was filled with agony and despair. Imagine drowning in a tub of molten lead, suffocating and melting at the same time. The only mercy you could hope for in that situation is a swift death. For these poor souls though the very magic that had done this to Hythriem’s people also bound them to this form to be eternally damned.

“How can I help?” I asked him, despairing at the agony I could feel through my connection to his mind.

“You can’t help us. We are damned.”

“Try me. Please. How did your people become like this?

“It was the Priests. The Watchmen. It was they who did this to my people.” The thoughts he conveyed were easy to understand but I still had a hard time believing that there could be anyone out there with magic strong enough to doom an entire race of people into becoming these pitiful creatures. Sensing my reluctance to accept what he said as truth, Hythriem conveyed the history of his people and this fallen land to me.

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In the beginning, this coast was inhabited by two sets of people. The first set was the Threlnistari Tribes that lived deep beneath waves. They were a sort of amphibious humanoid that could survive on land but preferred the ocean depths. Sort of like that one superhero in the comic books that talked to fish. The other set of peoples was the land tribes that were no more than a collection of fishing villages on the outskirts of the other great powers in the realm.

For a long time, these two groups seemed to live in harmony, capable of sharing the bounty of the seas. However, as other kingdoms began expanding their territory in great wars of conquest their troubles eventually made their way to the coasts. This forced the various villages to join forces to resist the more powerful kingdoms that were set against them. Thus the Shangrior people were formed. Named after the two most senior chiefs of the collected villages. Not only did the combined villages manage to resist though, the fishermen proved they could be powerful when they aligned themselves, and together began carving out their own place in the world, even managing to build a potent navy.

In time the outside kingdoms began to realize they couldn’t bend the Shangrior to their whim, and sued for peace. The different kingdoms all agreed to a treaty making Shangrior an independent neutral nation. By being invited to sign the treaty this elevated the Shangrior from a tribe into a kingdom for the first time. Fortunately, there was little need to argue over who would rise to rule as they had Sha’n’s son wed the first daughter of Gri’or in a political union.

Yet, as the Shangrior celebrated the end to their wars the peace that they had built for themselves started to fade, as problems from the sea began to surface. As the Shangrior began expanding along the coast they soon found themselves in conflict with the Threlnistari.

You would think that with the whole of the ocean floor to gather resources there would be plenty enough to go around, but as fishing and trade increased soon the two different people were contesting over resources. Despite the open hostility the fighting was contained to small and sporadic skirmishes, mostly on trading ships, making the Threlnistari seem more like pirates than an actual national threat.

That changed though during the reign of King Golhrus the Bloody. During his reign, the tribes launched an all-out assault. For ten years the war raged, causing massive losses on both sides. Though both sides had suffered grievous losses the war had the potential to continue for even years more if it wasn’t for a brutal yet effective tactic devised by the king that earned him his grim title. A sect of clergy for a deity known as The Great Eye devised a spell that would allow the royal forces to survive the ocean depths long enough to the Threnistari directly. Instead of sending his collected force beneath the waves, Golhrus split his army into two parts, luring the Threnistari army away from their home. Then using the other half of his forces to raid the ocean and capture all of the innocents that had been left behind.

Using the women, elderly, and children as hostages King Golhrus forced the Threlnistari army to surrender and submit themselves to total execution, on the condition that Golhrus would spare the innocents. For two weeks the Shangrior army methodically beheaded every member of the Threnistari who had wielded a weapon against the people of the land. When the last of the deep sea soldiers had fallen, Golhrus honored his word and found something concerning behind the motives of the tribes.

Some parasites had infected the fish and the crops that the Threlnistari used as foodstuffs. The parasite spread rapidly and infected the people of the tribe too. Unfortunately, those infected lost their ability to reproduce, and the tribes were gradually dying out. They saw the prosperity of the land as their only hope and wagered their future by claiming the land for themselves.

Sympathetic to their plight Golhrus managed to offer salvation to the tribes, and even gave them the islands off the coast of Shangrior to live as their own people. This created the first bridge of trust between the two peoples, and another era of peace and prosperity existed in the kingdom.

It wouldn’t last though as during the reign of King Ferhenrier the Gourmand, war once again broke out between the two people just as a unification of the two peoples was about to be formalized. Ferhenrier’s son, Mythalis, was engaged to the head chief’s daughter. But on the eve of the marriage Ferhenrier collapsed during dinner, and did not survive the hour. By the morning, it was revealed that Mythalis' intended bride, Leshiala, had poisoned the king. It coincided with raids all along the coast by the tribes against the Shangrior. It was the ultimate act of betrayal.

Outraged, Mythalis had his wife executed and then gathered his forces to raid the tribe’s island strongholds. On the first island, they had complete success with little loss of life. Sadly, by the time his fleet had made it to the second island, the tribes had gathered their own forces, and the battle was devastating. It was reported that Mythalis survived the battle, but his ship was sunk as it left the island.

With the Threlnistari forces gathered and prepared to attack a now defenseless capital, the people were desperate. Coming to the aid of the people, the same clergy who had helped King Golhrus now rose once again to protect against the threat. They nominated High Priest Vastein to be the nominal ruler. Vastein ordered the Threlnistari to surrender or perish. Even as calmer heads wanted to find a way to reach an accord too much blood was shed. Days later everyone in the kingdom with Threlnistari blood in their veins was slain at once and turned into the monsters they had become.

According to Hythriem it had been over half the entire population. The rest of the civilization didn’t make it through the first few nights as in a blind rage from their transformation and pain the howling damned slew everyone who was still breathing. Except for the priests who managed to erect some defenses.

Several centuries had passed and over that time plenty of the damned had been destroyed by the priests as they lingered, hunting down the tormented souls. Occasionally people would wander into the shores and the anguish drove the damned into an uncontrollable murderous frenzy. At least until I had arrived.

My Dark Monarch perk of making them neutral to me allowed the bloodlust to be soothed. Which is why Hythriem had offered his allegiance to me. In his previous life, he had been one of the more powerful Threlnistari generals and was one of the leaders in charge of managing the sudden carnage that had sprung up at the end. As Hythriem told me his tale it clarified some other tidbits I had gleaned from the priests but couldn’t understand without context.

As his tale ended my entire body was shaking uncontrollably. My head was spinning, and my breath was both heavy and loud. There was indeed treachery involved in the story, but it hadn’t been the Threlnistari who had been the problem. The Watchmen of the Great Eye saw the Threlnistari as abominations. In fact, they viewed anything outside their ideals of purity as a target for cleansing. In their minds cleansing meant complete destruction. The priests had been the one behind the infections that had forced the war with KingGolhrus, and they had instigated the final war in order to prevent the royal line of Shangrior to be corrupted with the blood of mere beasts.

Unable to contain myself I looked up into the sky and released a cry of intense malice. I howled in anger until I was out of breath and then I released another cry. This continued for minutes and each one of my howls was answered and echoed from the howling damned all around my encampment. I had never felt an anger so pure and all-consuming. If I had still been on Earth I would have tried to bury it deeply. Here, in this new world, and surrounded by monsters, I embraced that feeling and just kept howling. The priests would die. They wouldn’t survive the next evening. They might have their holy magic, but I had something even more powerful. My rage.