Chapter 7: The Raid Begins
After leaving camp the first direction we headed was towards the forest. The system had labeled it as inaccessible, and so far I had no reason to doubt its voracity. But even if I couldn’t make it through the misty border that obscured the treeline, I was hoping that the mists were wide enough to hide our approach to the capital. On a barren beach like this, it would be all too easy for our enemies to notice us approaching, and after their patrol didn’t return they would probably be on high alert.
Riding on Wuzzy’s back was surprisingly quite comfortable. Though my undead bear looked more like a collection of bones that had been skinned to create some rich asshole’s rug, the spectral outline of his missing flesh and hair was made out of a gelatinous ectoplasmic substance that was cozy enough to make it feel like I was riding on a pillow. Soon enough I felt myself drifting off to sleep as I rocked gently on Wuzzy’s back. While riding on my minion’s back was peaceful, my dreams were anything but.
I was running down a darkened corridor. Doors raced by me as my feet squeaked underneath me. I couldn’t catch my breath and soon I was spitting out blood. Voices growing louder told me they had almost caught up to me. I tried to start running again, but my body gave out as I began to cough uncontrollably. The voices were over me. Then I was blinded, everything had gone pitch black. I struggled to no avail. Then a cold washed over me, like falling into a frozen lake in winter. Then my nightmare started over.
I was shaken awake after the third time I sank into the black cold liquid of my dreams by Nuts. If you’ve never been awakened by a skeletal squirrel patting on your head, count yourself lucky. I felt my heartbeat rise for a moment until the mental link I had with him brushed against my consciousness. Nuts was informing me that we had arrived at the mists. Looking up I saw that indeed we were traveling along the beach within inches of the gaseous wall. I was taken aback seeing it up close for the first time. It was almost like coming face-to-face with a cotton ball. A cotton ball made of air moisture.
I tentatively stuck my hand out and watched as my hand disappeared into the cloud, fading from view a mere inch into the cloudy substance. I walked boldly forward trying to test my limits in the mist. Sure enough, I was greeted with a notification informing me that further progress was currently impossible. Shrugging off the text I pushed forward. That was, I thought I was pushing forward. Within moments I found myself strolling out of the mists and facing the beach from the exact location I had entered from. I did it several more times testing out the limits on whatever magic was guiding this barrier.
While it was true that trying to actually cross the mists would return me to an original point, I was able to prove that it was possible to travel along the mists and come back out in a different area, as long as I didn’t go in too deeply. Satisfied I beckoned my deathsworn army and this time I decided to walk. After that nightmare, I felt like I needed the exercise to clear my head.
Marching through the mystical barrier was oddly comforting. It was so dense and self-contained that within a short time, my mind was starting to drift, and for the first time since being given my second life I really took the time to think about what had happened and all the changes that had taken place inside of me.
Here I was leading a small force of undead animals to kill humans, and I hadn’t even been questioning it. I had already taken the lives of eight people and for the most part, I had shrugged it off because I had gotten power-ups out of it. I had even taken a bite out of each one so I could collect more of their memories. In what world did that make any sense? I know the system wanted me to be the villain, but I didn’t want to be one.
While my dreams of being a goody-two-shoes superhero had long since passed, I had always thought of myself as someone who tried to do the right thing. Even if it meant balancing what the right thing was in the fine shade of gray between the lines of black and white. I wasn’t that star-spangled dude with a shield. I wasn’t that true blue alien in the cape. But that didn’t make me the guy with the skull shirt who ran around killing people either. The system had recognized the bloodlust inside of me. But that was a darkness I had always fought. I didn’t actively want to hurt people. That was a hatred that spawned from my rage. I acknowledged that and actively tried to overcome that.
I thought back to how naturally using my abilities had come to me. As if the knowledge of them had always been a part of me. For that matter, I was now almost twice as strong, fast, and smart as anyone back on Earth. I could now hear, smell, and see as well as an animal. Yet except for a brief moment of excitement it had faded from importance and felt like I had always been this way. So was the system manipulating me? Or was the lack of oversight in a new world freeing me from whatever qualms I had?
You kill people in video games, and this is a world that runs like a video game. You have read plenty of fantasy books. You know the value of life in them. You do what you have to do to survive. It is kill or be killed. My inner voice reassured me. Perhaps it was right. The priests were no righteous figures. They were more like Nazis with their ideals of racial purity. Would it really be wrong for me to kill Nazis? That wasn’t the right question to ask. In a world where I had become the only one with the power to stop them did I even have any right to be debating over my own morals?
The whole thing felt moot with me being confined to the beach until this matter was dealt with, but it was something that I needed to resolve in myself. Especially with the looming class quest telling me to conquer the world. I needed to figure out who I was and what I would fight for. Ultimately it would have to come down to my moral compass. I was a monster now. A monster who had already killed. I know I could do it again. I also could feel the excitement growing within me at the thought.
Just like a roleplaying game. You are excited to hunt down the bandits, and the cultists. You want to level up and go on bigger quests. I assured myself. I would kill, and I would relish each death. I just had to make sure that my prey was deserving of my wrath. Thinking of Hyhtriem’s agony told me that at the very least, I would butcher every last human in the capital.
After finding my resolve and coming to terms with my actions so far, I felt a burden I hadn’t been aware of falling away from my shoulders, and for the first time since coming to the new world, I finally felt free from all the shackles that had been binding me for so long. I could finally carve out my own destiny. And if the system wanted to make me overpowered enough to be the evil overlord, well, I could just use that power to do what I felt was right. With that in mind, I began to race through the mists, laughing as I unleashed the power behind my new attributes for the first time.
Running brought us to the city a lot faster than I expected. From my campsite, it was about 30 miles away. My minions and I managed that in just under 3 hours. I was panting heavily and sweating profusely when we arrived, but we had made good time. I had originally wanted to wait until it had gotten darker before beginning my attack, but with the clarity of conscience came a certain impatience, and even eagerness to test out my new abilities in full.
Coming out of the mists I caught my first real view of the city and was astonished. The vague glimpses of memories I had gotten from the men I had killed did not do this place justice. Like the fishing village, I could see a lot of signs of wear and decay. Buildings crumblings here and there, rooftops pitted with holes. It was clear the priests had not kept up on regular maintenance. But the size of the city was astonishing, and large walls circled several portions. Including the castle which rose over the town in the way, a Galapagos Giant Tortoise would tower over a regular pond turtle. The capital was so vast that, unlike the other parts of the shoreline, the walls were barely half a mile from the mists.
“Alright, listen up, team! The first thing we need to do is figure out how many there are, and where they are at. I doubt they will have any guards on this side of the city so this will be our entry point. But if we want to hunt them down efficiently we need information. Talon, carry Bandit and Nuts over the walls and drop them off. Then find a high point and just look out for any movement. Don’t fly around. Besides the fish in the sea and the crops grown in the city, all other life has died off or migrated.” I commanded. At my direction, the squirrel and the raccoon gripped the eagle's legs, and then with a few powerful beats of its wings, they were off and flying toward the city.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Tan you’re next. I want you on scouting duty too, but if you happen to see any isolated priests. Make sure they can’t be found.” I told my simian companion. With a grunt, he started shuffling across the sand following the direction Talon went. That left me with Mane and Wuzzy who were sitting expectantly. “No commands for you guys yet. Let’s let them do their jobs for a bit.” At that, I sat down and rested my head against Mane’s side. While I could use my revenant abilities to basically turn into a ghost and scout the city myself, that was still a lot of ground to cover.
Instead, I pulled the grimoire out of my inventory. Earlier I had been too busy to really pay much attention to it and had just put it away without looking at it since it didn’t appear to suit my immediate needs at the time. Now though with time to kill, I figured it was the perfect opportunity to see how the system had changed my cell phone.
Item: Grimoire (evolved from Cell Phone)
Item Name: Tome of Lost Echoes
Item Rank: SSS
Item Description: All functions have been modified for the current location. All applications now operate according to current needs. While the grimoire is summoned and within reach, all magical effects and damage are increased by 1% per level
As I pondered how the functions might have been modified the grimoire opened on its own, startling me and causing me to release my grip on it. I received my next surprise when gravity had no apparent effect on the tome. Instead of falling it remained in place hovering in the air, its pages now wide open. Grabbing at it, the tome slid towards my hand. I was bewildered and looked at the pages it had revealed to me. I could see a table of contents. It was a list of all of the grimoire's functions. I could see one called ‘Instant Portrait’ which I guessed was photo mode. Another one was labeled as ‘Lantern’ which was easy to guess was the flashlight function.
Plenty of other apps had changed and adjusted but as I flipped through the book I was able to make a few important discoveries. The first one was that the tome had access to everything that was on Earth’s internet at the time of my departure. It couldn’t gain new information, but whatever magic had given me a second life, had accessed the collected knowledge of humanity at that moment.
The second thing I discovered was that the tome had almost no knowledge of my new world. It only gained additional data by having the grimoire either perform mental links with sentient beings and absorb their collected knowledge or by utilizing a type of perimeter scanner function that could absorb knowledge through books and maps. The only downside was that all secondhand knowledge could be inaccurate. The mental link step had to be done with the willing participation of the one the tome was linking to. Apparently, I was automatically linked to the tome which meant that everything I knew, the grimoire would know.
Seeing the benefit of that almost immediately I mentally directed the book to open up the navigation function. The pages turned quickly and then emitted a blue light that turned into a series of holographic maps detailing my surroundings. It was clear to determine that the best method for map building would be through the normal line of sight observation, as the direct surroundings of my earlier base camp were bright and vivid on the screens while growing hazy and indistinct as it moved further out until it faded into the same fog that obscured most game maps of undiscovered locations.
I was gratified to see that the map of the city had a very vague layout and design. Both from my observations and the memories I had absorbed from the priests. I could see where the memories had influenced the map and by how much. Those spots on the map were very vague but gave a rough outline. It was as though the knowledge that was transferred was only partial. With a spark of an idea, I closed my eyes.
Feeling the mana drain out of me as I did so, I reached out to Talon through my skill and connected my mind to him. Instantly my senses were subverted, becoming wholly Talon’s. Everything my eagle saw, heard, and smelled so could I? This was completely different from the limited telepathic impressions I had received from my undead so far, or the much stronger imagery from the Hythriem where the mental impressions had almost been like talking in words. No, this was a true melding, and it was exhilarating.
From Talon’s perch, I was able to look out over the city. I took in the details from his perspective with enthusiasm noticing everything I could. The most immediate difference I perceived was how acutely vivid everything became through Talon’s eyes. Especially the colors of the world. My perception had now increased past that of a normal human’s but compared to Talon’s vision I might as well have been watching an old black-and-white Chaplin movie, while he saw everything in ultra high-def color.
That wasn’t even the most unique aspect of Talon’s sight. While he was not only an eagle, he was also undead. All around the city, there were pockets of locations where his eyesight almost seemed to blur. Focusing my attention on the largest one I could see that there was a cluster of five priests on a wall. As I studied the men through my minions' eyes I realized that it wasn’t that my eagle’s vision had blurred, but that the colors of the world muted around the humans.
It wasn’t that color itself didn’t exist, but there was a blue tint that encompassed the men. Like a child going outside the lines in a coloring book with a blue crayon. The people themselves glowed with lines of bright yellow, orange, and red. I was confused by what I was seeing for a moment until I pieced together the information. Talon was able to see the emission of life energy. As an undead, it would have some ability to track the living. Which was the blue tint that surrounded the humans. The warm coloring was nervous systems and veins. Tracking the flow of blood and vital energies and indicating the systems crucial for the survival of their prey. The brain and heart glowed bright red within the priests while yellow and orange lines spread out from there.
Recalling my mind from Talon, I slipped my consciousness into Bandit next. I had spotted him sneaking next to the cluster of priests on the wall. This time I was intent on listening in on what they had to say. I might not have understood them before, but now that I had a class perk to understand languages I was eager to snoop.
“-out a scouting party. At the very least we could have recovered their remains for a proper burial.”
“Don’t be a fool Delreisa! You heard the abominations last night. Their cries echoed all across the shores. There had to be every foul beast left all condensed in one location. Only the High Priest might have had the power to withstand that. For Seinjeir and his team, there would be no remains left to recover.”
“Calm yourself Grestik. Your words are too harsh. Delreisa, while I don’t condone Grestik’s words, they are not lies. I understand your desire to at least lay their spirits to rest with a proper burial. But if they were caught up in whatever drew the attention of the abominations then there would be little reason to send out a scouting party. At this time we would only be risking the safety of even more. Until we know what caused the beasts to swarm like that our best strategy is to see to our own defenses.”
“Cowards. The lot of you. Do you doubt our purpose? Or our potency? After The Great Undoing has any of the spawn managed to resist the power our God has blessed us with? The Great Eye has seen our devotion and rewarded us with security. Seinjeir was weak, and his team was young and brash. That does not mean they deserve to be abandoned.”
“All of you silence! This argument itself is invalid. Father Versyok has spoken. Something has changed in the monsters, and he has foreseen that the final battle is upon us. While he might have been saying that for some time now, the signs are clear. We are the Watchmen Delreisa. We are to serve the Watcher alone. Not our own desires. We do not doubt our mission but don’t you dare use your own emotions as a reason to bring our great lord’s will to validate your desires. Even as we speak Father Versyok is preparing to fulfill our final duty. So be at peace. The Great Eye will soon be smiling on us, and then none of the abominations will be able to escape the wrath of our Lord.”
At that, I finally recalled my consciousness back to my body. Interesting, and ominous. I thought as my mind raced through the stolen memories. While I caught glimpses of images from some of the names there had been three strong reactions from the discourse I eavesdropped on. Delreisa, her and Seinjeir were lovers. Seinjeir was the level 3 spearman I had first taken a bite out of. Intense feelings lurked in his mind towards her. Father Versyok was powerful. Based on the intense impressions the various memories gave me I guessed he had to be between level 9 and 12.
But as my mind continued to piece through the conversation with the context of the memories from the dead men, there was something that didn’t sit quite right. Then it settled on me like a bag of bricks. The final duty. They had mentioned the high priest. The final act of the priests was to awaken the High Priest from a deathlike slumber. They were only to do that when the time had come to finish off the Threlnistari once and for all. I don’t know what decided that time in their minds, but I did know that I didn’t want to let that happen. I was only level 2. If they woke up someone powerful enough to create the howling damned in the first place I didn’t think I would even remotely stand a chance.
Quickly I glanced at the holographic map still floating before me and I could see a vivid layout of the city that had been filled out by linking my senses to my minions. I could see green points in various locations that indicated my minions, and across the map, there were red dots as well which had to be our foes. At least the ones that my minions were keeping tabs on. I swallowed in eager anticipation as I counted at least thirty, all spread around the city in batches of three to six all patrolling.
“Come on Mane, Wuzzy. Let’s get to work.” I commanded my last two minions as I took off at a full sprint.