ROD - Chapter 130

Chapter One-Hundred-Thirty – Gambit – Part One

Actions that shake the balance of the fates become legends. Legends given sufficient time become myths.

-Artemius-

The air gusts in wild torrents as Jaledi’s power is stripped from her, piece by piece. I feel the power swelling in the Earth and in my soul. Flashes of the place that the Lich Adaraic described flow across my mind. As though my consciousness is flowing into it. The first rite, to find the realm of my soul.

Before I can find it, I feel on the edge of my expanding perception twelve… no thirteen unique signatures of mana… the number increases again reaching over twenty. The numbers don’t cease… they just keep growing, like a horde. They aren’t extremely strong auras, but they’d be able to overrun Clayton and Zero even at their current boosted level. Maybe not if they had time to master new classes and skills, but with their current kits… I’m not sure how long they’d last against an endless horde.

I think they’re all blue admin auras, it’s hard to tell with so many mixing in a churn while my body pulses with Jaledi’s divinity.

The fresh arrivals are pressing the edge of the border just as the one who made it in did. The same one that Clayton and Zero are fighting. They are winning, but against so many… they will surely lose.

Even with Fisban they will not be enough… we’re going to lose before the battle has truly begun. If only I had more time, or more that are loyal that I could boost to change the tide.

My eyes widen slowly as I look across the war torn city of rubble… I did not prepare for an army. In the slowed cadence of time my thoughts move at immense speeds as I formulate counter measures.

None will be enough, I don’t have enough soldiers to fight them… I’ll have to cancel the ritual… but I can’t, if I do, I’ll lose the synchronicity with it. The energy from Jaledi will disperse into the Earth’s circuits without me holding it in place. All of my plans will be for naught… the others, I need to get the others here. But I told Mira to protect them, not bring them back…

Maybe the spirits from my well of souls skill. Maybe I could have them fight…

Light blooms on the horizon.

A mountain of a dragon that fills the skies beats its wings, putting the emperor dragonfly to shame. The winds howl as it moves toward us. In droves she sweeps her spiked tail across the boundary, impaling hundreds at a time. Painting the landscape in deep blue blood.

Mira… she’s back… hope is not lost.

The air cracks and Mira is before me, kneeling with her head low, “Darling, I’m sorry, Cleo was very insistent and made me an offer I could not refuse in exchange for me to bring her to you.”

Cleo made her an offer… I turn to look at the dragon in the distance, I feel the pulse of human bodies riding in its clawed hands…

“I could not leave the others without violating your order to protect them... I am prepared to accept punishment… Darling?” she looks up at me strangely as I pull her into a tight embrace.

“Well done, Stormborn, bring them to me quickly.”

“You’re not going to punish me?” she asks, eyes darting in mine.

“No, you changed the tide by bringing me an army.”

She blinks, her face flushing as she nods, dusting the air again, bringing me Cleo first.

It takes Cleo a moment to realize that she traveled from the dragon to me in less than ten seconds. Cortez blinks at me, looking at Jaledi and then me, “Jimmy… what the hell is going on? Mira said something about you killing another god and…”

“There isn’t time,” Fisban interrupts from behind me, I see her peering in the distance at the lights that are bombarding the encirclement, the horde is becoming massive. “Buckle up buttercup, it’s going to be an all hands on deck fight.”

Dust plumes again and I see a very shocked Greymore, his hair is straight sideways and his shirt is torn. Another gust of wind and Dorliac is standing there, her makeup smeared and her hair askew worse than Greymore.

“Novak?” he asks.

I nod.

“Buffed?”

I nod again.

“Thank god,” he murmors looking out at our enemies.

He looks out toward the sounds of Clayton and Zero fighting the blue admins that are streaming in through the holes, climbing over each other and marching in formation, as though they do not fear the loss of their lives.

“Is that Clayton?”

“And Zero.”

He cracks his neck, “Okay, I’m ready.”

Dorliac gives him a wide eyed expression, “What no explanation, you’re just going to have him send you into the fight? Against whatever the hell those blue blooded freaks are…”

Greymore stretches his shoulder, “I don’t need an explanation. If buffed Novak tells you to do something, you fucking do it. If he says jump, you ask how high.”

I grin and motion for him to approach, as he does, another gust of wind brings Barlow and blows dust into Dorliac’s eyes.

“She’s doing that on purpose,” Dorliac gripes, wiping her eyes.

Mira grins at me and winks.

My hand finds the back of Greymore’s neck, “Carry the torch.”

The symbol ignites and his eyes widen as he swipes his interface, “Level one thousand… well, that should take me back to my prime.”

“Level one thousand.” Dorliac blurts, blinking fast, “Rebound sickness, Jimmy you’re going to kill him and…”

“He already accounted for that,” Fisban said, pointing out at the impending doom that is rising, “You see that? He said the fate of Earth depends on that,” she makes a motion at Jaledi, “not interrupting whatever this is.”

“Well knowing what the fuck this is would be…”

Fisban’s eyes grow dark and I feel the shadows ebb around her, “Shut the fuck up and carry the torch, soldier.”

Dorliac straightens, her roots as an enlisted soldier pull her legs together as she goes to attention for a moment. Fisban shoves her forward, but I don’t force it on her, I wait for her to nod.

Once she receives the buff I inform her of her role as the dedicated healer for our army.

Barlow is quick on the uptake as Gilroy appears from the dust next, “Sergeant, he’s going to give you a level boost so we can beat the shit out of those blue system admins, you can’t get rebound sickness. Don’t worry about claiming skills, just roll for levels. Kill as many as you can and…”

A steaming half mangled body slams into a broken wall chunk near me, splattering blue blood. Clayton rushes over, dripping like a painter who used his body as the canvas, “Sorry, I’ll aim better, still getting used to my own strength, Godslayer!”

I nod and he nods back, he looks tired already.

Barlow turns to Gilroy and grabs his shoulder, finishing the brief and yelling over the chaos, “Be careful and if you get hurt, fall back to Dorliac and get healed!”

More hordes just breached the containment field on the backside of the war zone. Luckily Greymore is also quick on the uptake. I just saw him do some kind of charging haymaker and then an uppercut that sent a group of blue admins flying a hundred meters into the air. Zero’s arrow barrage laid waste to more than twenty... it’s a fucking massacre and they just keep coming.

I’m not even sure if these are their real bodies or just an endless wave of… meatsacks.  

Good… we can win this. So long as we maintain the advantage.

A pulse of Jaledi’s power ripples through my abdomen and tightens around my heart, making my eyes go wide.

“Jimmy,” Cortez says, trying to comfort me.

I grit past the pain and the panic as my body threatens to fail from the surges. Everything feels so rushed. I wish there was more time.

So much blue blood. Streams of it run through the cracks of the streets and make puddles.

Barlow gives the brief to Mwangi next, and everyone else that was with Greymore on the plane.

Then the next arrives, Tran, being held with an outstretched hand by Mira and a look of disgust on her face as she drops him in a heap on the ground.

“Last one, darling,” Mira says with a bow.

“What about Verantha?”

“She disappeared after we came back, no one has seen her,” Cleo explains.

Weird…

“Would you like me to find her, darling?”

I nod, “Please, but be quick, I need you back here soon.”

She bows with a smile, giving a quick and strange glance to Cleo whose gaze lowers.

What did she promise her?

Doesn’t matter, focus.

“So like… I’ll be how strong?” Tran asks Barlow.

“Level one thousand.”

“Why not like one thousand and sixty-nine? And why should I not be claiming skills, and class upgrades, what if they have passives that stack my stats? Seems like a waste to me.”

“Fuck’s sake,” Fisban groans, then looks out at the growing number of lights breaching in new hordes, “I’m going to help them fight.”

Tran squints at her, then looks at her legs, “Good to see you walking… Andrea.”

She mutters curses under her breath and looks at Cleo, “Guard Jimmy with Barlow and Tran, I’m going to help them.”

Fisban leaves in a flash of shadowy movement. I see jets of darkness plume between the massive clouds that Sylfie is making trying to stomp on admins and eat them in droves.

It’s going to work… with everyone here, we can do this.

I look down and see my hand glittering with ashes, my skin is burning away as fast as I’m healing it. I can’t go any faster than this, my base level of fortitude is far too low… If only I had time to become a Drakaroth… I shouldn’t have poked the bear so soon.

I didn’t expect Jaledi to be as stupid as Azeroc… damnit.

There is no time for regrets… my hands weave complex circuits in case the worst should happen. The fall back plan… I look up to the sky and whisper, “I hope you remember the activation phrase, Mythren.”

He can’t hear me, nor can he see me, but if the fallback plan is activated, it will automatically revoke the barrier I have erected so that he can. Because I will need him in that moment. Otherwise, it won’t be possible.

“Jimmy,” Cortez begins, looking at me strangely, “Why do I feel like you’re going to break your promise?”

“What promise?” Tran asks.

“He promised not to die again,” Barlow says softly, pulling Tran away.

“You promised me,” Cleo says moving her hair from her neck and turning, “Don’t break your promise.”

My jaw is tight as I gently grasp the back of her neck and whisper, “Carry the torch.”

Some promises are not meant to be kept.

Dust plumes once more and I see a very wide eyed Verantha being held up by her pajamas, Mira looks at her with disdain, “I caught this one playing games on a television screen, whilst eating something called Cheetos and drinking poor tasting soda.”

Verantha squeals, “What… what the hell is going on?” she looks up toward the sky and then toward the droves of bodies that line the edge of the encirclement, “Sorry, goddess… is this punishment?”

I sigh through my pain and ask her one thing, “Verantha, do you wish to have power?”

She turns and looks at the withered and wheezing goddess Jaledi, “No thanks.”

“Don’t worry, you won’t end up like her.”

She swallows.

Mira leans in and whispers something into her ear with a low growl.

“I would love power!” Verantha screams, trying to pull at a piece of rubble to escape Mira’s grasp, “Please give me power!”

Mira brings her to me, and I repeat the incantation for the Jimminites skill to activate. Barlow gives her the brief and she quickly claims her levels.

A loud vibration rumbles the air as more organized hordes enter. The field is leveling. “Mira, assist them, Verantha,” I turn to look at her…

She’s gone.

“Want me to fetch her, Darling?”

“No,” I sigh, “Go help them. Show no mercy.”

She bows and bounds instantly. The air wails as her Drakarothian body slams against it.

Good, besides Verantha, everything is in order, everything is falling into plan. We can…

A slow and sickening feeling rides up my spine as my wards begin to scream in protest. A being of immense power is shifting their energy to Earth…

The skies rumble and text boxes begin to flicker even past the system dampeners, as though the admin is forcing them to go through with an unbelievable amount of inefficiency. To strong arm it… they must be at least ten times as strong as Jaledi…

[ Error… Governing System Administrator Change Protocol Activating… Success ]

[ Removing… Mythren The Enlightened One… Replacing With… Sariel The Endless One… ]

[ Attention Citizens of Earth… Your world has been flagged for cheating… Your admin has been replaced and will be investigated… Do not resist… It is futile… ]

I swallow as the air becomes colder and cracks begin to form on the periphery of my barrier.

There is no time… I look at Cortez and with a single glance, she knows that I’ll be breaking my promise.

Jaledi cackles with the last of her strength, her face sunken in like an old crone, “You… die… now… mortal…”

“Death is not the end,” I whisper.

There is no choice, I need to do it. Regardless of the cost to myself…

The air whips at my command as I begin to change the flow of mana, directing everything into me. An orb of energy pushes back Cortez, Barlow and Tran, I can’t let anyone stop me.

Cleo pounds on the edge of the barrier. Above us, I see streaks of purple lightning.

There is no turning back…

The circuits I placed as a precaution ignite with fervor, channeling everything that was taken from Jaledi, she howls in pain as I release the barrier and look into the skies, hoping that Mythren remembered our deal and will honor it.

My body begins to immolate rapidly as all of the magic tries to compress inside my insufficient mortal coil.

I look at Jaledi as I say, “Get fucked.”

Purple light engulfs me…