Hack, Slash & Burn 2: A LitRPG Fantasy, page 6
Oh, how his life had changed. For the better, he liked to think.
Though he knew the world—the universe—hadn’t been the thing that had changed. It had always been this way. He had simply finally learnt of it.
“We have a lot to do.”
Chapter 6
Calder didn’t stop to say his goodbyes to the clones. He headed straight out of the tomb and through the tunnels. Once they were a little ways away, he leant against a wall and took a sharp breath.
“You alright, Calder?” Peter asked.
“I’m fine.” Calder pushed off the wall. “That was just…”
“Weird?”
“Yeah.”
He pulled the pre-charged Portal Stone they had tried to use to leave this place earlier in the day out of his pouch of holding, then looked at Peter. “You ready?”
Peter shrugged. “No, not really. But I don’t think that will ever be the case.”
“Remember, this is about reconnaissance. We don’t need to make a move today, we just need to learn what’s going on.”
“Shouldn’t we change back into the Imperial armour?” Peter looked at his light armour. “We’ll stand out otherwise.”
Calder thought on that a moment. He looked at his Sage Armour. “I’d rather not change out of this.” He touched a hand to his sword. “Or give this up.” He handed the Portal Stone to Peter. “Take us somewhere we won’t be seen. Somewhere on the outskirts of the city. For all we know, there could be an army outside the city walls.” There could be an army inside the city walls, he thought, but chose not to say.
Peter nodded. “Good idea.” He touched a hand to his armour. “I’d rather not be without this either, tell you the truth.” He looked around at the corpses. “But shouldn’t we loot these?”
Calder shook his head. “No time. The others will come across the corpses when they come here to train. We have more important things to do.” Even if the others didn’t come across them, they could always loot them on their way back. The truth was, he simply didn’t want to do that work.
Harvesting cores was slow, gruesome, and above all monotonous. Right now, he needed to act. He didn’t want to let his mind turn. There was too much swirling around it already.
Peter frowned, but didn’t protest. He stared at the Portal Stone in his hand. “It’s been a while since I’ve been… home.”
“Do you miss it? The palace?”
The prince’s face soured. “Not a bit.”
He tossed the red soulstone to the cave floor. A portal bloomed to life a moment later. Calder sighed in relief. Even though they had been notified that the Light Nexus was no longer in contention, it was still good to see that World Travel actually worked again. He didn’t fancy the idea of being stuck in the Dark World.
Peter stepped toward the portal, meaning to be the first to go through, but Calder held up his hand, stopping him.
Calder drew his sword and took his shield off his back, nodding at Peter to get his bow. “I know your mind is elsewhere, but we’ve no idea what might be on the other side. We cannot grow complacent.”
Peter grabbed his bow and nocked an arrow, looking suitably chastised.
Calder turned back to the portal. Activating Tough Skin and Strong Stance, he stepped through.
~
Calder smelled ash and smoke.
He looked around. It was still day time—still early morning. They hadn’t been gone from their world long. He stared around, taking in his surroundings.
It was a forest.
Was.
A fire had come through, burning the trees to their stumps and blackening everything.
Peter stepped out of the portal behind him. The man took a sharp intake of breath.
Calder looked at the prince. “What is this place?” The fire looked recent. Smelled recent.
“The… the Emperor’s Woods.” Peter’s voice was weak. He walked forward, boots stomping on ash as thick on the ground as snow back in Berring. “One of the few places I was allowed—with supervision—to go. Had my first hunt here.” He gazed around, eyes wide and fearful. “What happened?”
“Nothing good,” Calder muttered. He observed the prince closely. Though the man may have run away from the palace, from the emperor—his father—he clearly cared for his home. “I’m sorry we didn’t come here sooner.” He placed a hand on the man’s shoulder.
Peter shook his head. “Whatever happened here isn’t your fault, Cal.” His gaze turned hard, head facing forward. “Come on. We must find out what’s happened.”
Or what still might be happening. Calder kept his sword drawn, pushing his senses outward. He followed on Peter’s heels, treading softy across the ash-ridden forest floor.
Under normal circumstances, Calder might have made a point of taking the lead. It wasn’t out of some sort of pride that he usually took point—he was a better tank.
But he let Peter lead. At least for now.
Before they were too far away from the portal, Calder pulled another Portal Stone from his pouch and tossed it through to close it, just so they wouldn’t have to worry about enemies entering from behind.
He commanded his Proximity Scanner to audibly alert him of threats once again, glancing at it.
The only dot on it was blue. It was strange, staring at the mini-map and seeing so much black. This was an area of his own world that he had never explored before.
He tore his gaze away from the Proximity Scanner, attuning his senses. The usual forest sounds were absent. No birds sung in the trees. No small animals skittered across the underbrush. No wind gently swayed the branches and leaves.
It was silent but for their quiet steps.
Calder usually didn’t feel the need to break such silences. But this felt different. He licked his lips—his mouth tasted of ash—and stared at the back of Peter’s head. “How far away is Dranador?”
“Not far.” Peter’s tone was terse. Clipped.
Calder gritted his teeth. He would have appreciated a straight answer, but he understood, in part, what the man must be going through.
He was worried his home had been burnt to the ground. Even if he didn’t feel as though he belonged their anymore, the place was still important to him.
Considering all Calder had been through, he could relate to that kind of loss.
Instead of pushing his friend, Calder decided to sit with the silence. He kept glancing down at his Proximity Scanner, expecting to see trouble appear, even though he would hear about it first.
If the Emperor’s Woods had been burnt to the ground, that didn’t bode well for the capital city. Luceen had warned him that there wouldn’t be enough Soldiers of Light to help protect their world. That the order was spread too thin.
I’ve let us sit on our hands for too long. The only solace he took in that moment was that some of the forest still smouldered, the fires not completely out—it couldn’t have torn through this section of woods more than a day ago.
There might still be something they could do to help Dranador.
Ding! Ding! Ding!
Calder glanced at his Proximity Scanner. Three red, flashing dots appeared on the mini-map. As the mini-map covered a three-mile-wide area that they were at the centre of, that meant the Darktouched were about one and a half miles away.
Before Calder got a word out, Peter turned his quick walk into a sprint. The Hunter activated Charge, disappearing through the ashen trees.
“Peter!” Calder shouted. “Slow down! You don’t know what you’re running into!”
Peter did not slow down.
Calder sighed, activating Charge himself, then caught up to Peter easily. Though the archer had a lot of Agility, it was still nothing compared with him.
I’m glad I doubled down on that attribute.
Calder took the lead. He hadn’t activated Berserk—he didn’t know what they were about to run into. He doubted three enemies would be able to give the two of them any trouble.
Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!
Calder gritted his teeth and sent a command to his Proximity Scanner to cease its noise. He threw out his shield arm, forcing Peter to halt.
The Hunter slammed straight into his arm, jolting Calder’s body.
“What are you doing?” Peter shouted, trying to shove past Calder. “We have to keep going!”
Calder turned, shoving the man backward. “Not like this! Look at your damned scanner!”
Peter locked eyes with Calder. His body shook, making the shaft of the arrow he held clatter against his bow.
Calder had never seen so much rage in the young man before—he wasn’t sure he had ever even seen him angry.
“My people are in danger,” Peter seethed. “Why are you stopping me?”
“Look, damnit!” Calder shoved his Proximity Scanner in the man’s face.
Peter almost looked as though he would push Calder’s arm away, then his eyes focused on the mini-map.
It was a sea of red. Not just three enemies, like the first they had been alerted to, but hundreds. As the mini-map on Calder’s scanner was covered in black, he didn’t know where they were amassing.
But it was clearly an army.
The rage seeped away from Peter’s face. He glanced down at his own scanner. “An army.” He showed Calder his mini-map. “An army outside the walls.”
Calder looked at Peter’s Proximity Scanner. The entirety of the mini-map was revealed, showing that Peter had explored the whole area. Calder pointed at something on the map. His forehead creased. “Is… that where the wall starts?”
Peter looked at the map again. His eyes glazed over as he noticed what Calder had. “The army is inside the walls.” His face fell. “We’re too late.”
Calder looked over his shoulder, toward where the army had amassed. “For all we know, the battle might still be raging. We move, but we move quiet.” He stared back at Peter. “Do you hear me?”
Peter inclined his head. “I do.”
“Follow my lead.” Calder jogged through the forest. He still moved fast, but he moved quiet, too. The last thing they wanted was an entire army—one that could be as strong as the army that had attacked Berring—on them all at once. Once we know what’s going on, I’ll have to bring the others here.
They should have headed straight here the day after the Battle of Berring. Gods, he had been a fool. How could he have thought he would be able to let his people rest?
Calder slowed as they reached the tree line, then stopped completely as he spotted the army.
Orcs.
He glanced at his scanner, then looked at those amassed.
Thousands upon thousands of orcs, just like the army that had attacked Berring.
But there was something strange about this army. He frowned, staring at them.
They were camping outside Dranador’s walls. The whole area was dotted with large tents, each big enough for several orcs.
“That doesn’t look like a battle is still raging.” Peter pursed his lips. “I should have been here. Gods, I should have been here.” He tensed his fist around his bow. If it hadn’t been enchanted, it might have broken inside his grip.
“You didn’t know, Peter.” Calder’s frown deepened. He had an odd feeling in the pit of his stomach. There was something else off about all this… something he couldn’t quite put his finger on.
Then he noticed.
The army… it wasn’t just orcs.
There were humans among them.
“Peter.” Calder pointed. “Do you see what I see?” The Hunter, though still a lower level than Calder, had considerably higher Perception.
Peter came to stand beside Calder. He squinted in the morning sun, then his eyes widened as he noticed what Calder had. “That…” He shook his head. “That can’t be right.”
There weren’t many, but Calder spotted a few men and women walking through the orc camp. They walked freely, barely seeming bothered by the orcs that surrounded them.
And they all wore Imperial armour.
Calder looked over at Dranador’s walls.
They looked completely unharmed.
It all sunk in at once. “They didn’t lay siege to Dranador.” He looked at Peter.
“Dranador… surrendered? I didn’t even know that was possible.” Peter took a step back. He eyed his Proximity Scanner, then looked at a small group of Imperial Soldiers that had strayed from the others.
There were three of them.
Calder looked at his own scanner, then realised what Peter had.
The first three red dots they had seen on their mini-maps, alerting them to the presence of Darktouched.
The mini-map hadn’t been showing the orcs. They hadn’t been close enough for that yet.
It had been those three humans.
They, like the orcs, were Darktouched. Soldiers of Darkness. Their souls turned to evil.
They were the enemy.
“How… how could this have happened?” Peter’s gaze kept slipping back and forth, from the three soldiers to his scanner. Over and over. “I thought humans could only become Darktouched when they were corrupted by a Dark Nexus?”
Calder tilted his chin up. “That is only one way we know about.” He gripped his sword hilt tight. The Talna Empire. My enemy once more. Except this time, it didn’t feel right.
It didn’t feel right at all.
Calder scanned one of the three Imperial Soldiers.
Jeffral
Level 3
Classification: Undefined
Attributes
Strength: 5
Agility: 4
Magic: 4
Stamina: 5
Perception: 2
Calder frowned, noticing how low level the man was.
“What are we going to do, Cal?” Peter’s voice sounded weak. His arms dropped to his sides, the arrow held in his right hand brushing the ash-ridden ground. “I… don’t know what to do.”
Calder nodded toward the burnt trees of the forest. “Let’s talk about this somewhere we won’t be spotted, aye?”
Peter nodded numbly, then followed Calder back into the forest.
Calder’s mind raced. This hadn’t been what he had expected. He had assumed Dranador hadn’t fallen to the enemy. And if it had… he hadn’t expected it to have happened like this.
“What does this mean?” Peter looked to Calder as though he held the answers. “Do you think… do you think my father is Darktouched?”
Calder asked a question he already knew the answer to. “Do you think your father would turn to the dark to keep hold of his empire?”
Peter pursed his lips, making them a thin line. He nodded. “Without a doubt. That man… he would do anything for power. I’m sure you know that as well as I.”
Peter was convinced that now his father had become Touched, he would want to kill his only son—his only heir—so that there was no contention to the throne.
Not only is he a horrible emperor, he’s a horrible father, too.
“If Dranador is like this…” Calder got a faraway look. “Then everything within the empire might be under Darktouched rule. Kashan, the Capital of Lorilan…”
“Berring might not be as safe as we thought,” Peter muttered.
Calder nodded. Though he was less worried about Berring than he was the rest of the world. “They… they must have betrayed the Soldiers of Light who had come to rescue them. The only thing I don’t understand is how they acquired so many Weapon Stones.”
Peter tilted his head to the side. “What do you mean?”
“They must have changed much of the Imperial army into Touched.” Calder motioned back the way they had come. “Didn’t you scan any of the Imperial Soldiers?”
Peter shook his head. “I… didn’t even think to.”
Calder supposed he understood that. They weren’t orcs. It would have been harder for him to associate them as the enemy, especially considering he wasn’t just the prince of this land—he had also served in the Imperial Army. “The one I scanned was only level 3. He can’t have been one of the Touched that were initially created when the Soldiers of Light came here. You remember what level Marcus was?”
“He was level 13.”
“Exactly. And that was weeks ago.”
“Maybe that’s what they offered my father… not just his safety, but more power. He would have gone for that in a heartbeat.”
Calder sighed. This… was going to be more difficult than he had thought. They had planned to assassinate the emperor and place Peter on the throne, but that was before they had known the empire was filled with Darktouched.
This complicated matters. Now, they wouldn’t simply have to infiltrate and kill one man.
They would have to take the entire empire back.
Chapter 7
While in the burnt down forest, Calder and Peter discussed at length what they should do. It would be much harder—perhaps even impossible—to move through the city of Dranador now.
Though they still had the Imperial armour in their pouches of holding.
“Do you think they have Proximity Scanners?” Peter asked.
Calder shook his head. “I don’t think so. We had to purchase them from the Great Marketplace. Baldor might be a free city, but something tells me that doesn’t apply to Darktouched.”
“If they know how to make Weapon Stones, they may know how to make scanners,” Peter remarked.
They stood in the middle of a clearing. Calder’s boots had sunk into the ash. Though every time he picked one of his feet up, he was surprised to find his boots still gleaming. Even ash couldn’t tarnish them.
He looked at his mini-map. The blinking sea of red was still in view. “If we could see them from this distance, they would have noticed us long ago.”
Peter sighed. “True. You’re right. Do you think… do you think there’s a way to turn Darktouched back into Lighttouched?”
Calder bit his lip. “I’ve been wondering about that. The first time I ventured into the Great Marketplace, I saw some orcs. They weren’t Darktouched—I know that now. So there must be a way. I just don’t know what it is,” he said, and thought, and I don’t know how we’ll even have a chance to try.
