Midnight Bounties 4 - Chapter 13

“I never really heard myself breathe. I mean I did, we all do when we start panting or it becomes coarse from sickness or deep when you want it to be deep. But the regular, everyday breathing that you don’t really notice, you never really hear it. It’s strange isn’t it?”

“Strange? It’s fucking boring,” Tyfus muttered, scratching his head.

He had lost his robes, his hat, and staff somewhere and was now walking around with a bushel of leaves tied to his crotch like most of the others in the alcove. He seemed skinnier, tired, drained even. Big black sacks hung under his purple, milky eyes.

“And how did I deserve your Grace’s visit, gnome?” I said, stretching out my leg.

“I think I’m in love again, Frank.”

“It’s like we had this conversation already.”

It was a particularly hot day. The mage was so sweaty his hair clung to his scalp as if he had washed it a moment ago. His whole disturbingly white body glistened. Not even the coolness of the temple helped. I was drenched, too, but I only became aware of it when Tyfus waltzed in and interrupted my meditation.

“Yes, but it’s different this time. She’s an orc.”

“An orc,” I repeated. “What about the elf?”

“She’s feisty like me,” he continued, ignoring my question. “She really knows how to enjoy life.”

He finished staring at the ceiling and crossed his short arms.

“Is this why you came? To tell me you’re porkin’ an orc?”

“That and…well, I was thinking, Frank. This place has everything I ever wanted out of life. Everything here is so…it’s so alive. I feel like I was born to be here.”

“I don’t know, Tyfus. I always thought you were born to bring misery to the world and—”

“Yeah, yeah, the good old—”

“I’m not done, gnome,” I said and cleared my throat. “To bring misery to the world in general and me in particular.”

“Done?”

“Done.”

“Funny, Frank, always with the funny Tyfus jokes. I have feelings, you know?”

“You do?”

“Fuck you.”

“There’s something I need to tell you,” I said and stood, dusting myself off. “And I need you to listen to me carefully. This is important.”

Tyfus shoved a hand into the leaves around his crotch then pulled out a small pouch. He stuck his finger in and took a sniff of some greenish powder. His purple eyes suddenly widened, and he grunted like a bull in heat.

“I’m all ears,” he said enthusiastically.

I stared at him for a moment, unsure of if to even continue, but then sighed and did so.

“I’ve been thinking about our fight with Castelian and Tarnia. It’s due in less than three weeks if you remember.”

“About that,” the gnome jumped in. “Why do we even have to fight? I was thinking, too, you know? Why wouldn’t we just—”

I raised a hand, and he rolled his eyes. I was half-expecting that reaction though I was hoping for some wild reason it would be otherwise.

“Just listen. I’m closing in on level 65. It should be done by the end of the week. With that I’ll have the opportunity to decipher much of the souls’ messages. I’m close, Tyfus. Very close to understanding what’s going on.”

“I don’t like where this is going,” he said, crossing his arms over his naked chest again. “I didn’t come here to listen to you, my idea was for you to listen to­—”

“Once I level-up one more time, I want to go to Hell. No more detours, I’m going straight down the Redmaw to face whatever’s down there.”

The gnome swallowed as all the implications of that statement unraveled in his mind.

“You’re forgetting something, Frank. A certain fight with a certain asshole and his angry little bitch. You won’t be back in time to—wait…” He gave me a suspicious look, “You know you won’t be back in time, don’t you? Fuck, you’ll probably die there anyway.”

“Thanks for the encouraging words, but no, I probably won’t make it to the fight.”

The gnome mage threw his hands up.

“Then it’s settled. We’re not going. You’re going to Hell and I’m staying here, in heaven. Sounds good to me. You know I’ve got to give it to you, Frank. You’re one cold bastard, you know? Being ready to leave the Ashpit at Castelian’s mercy? And Fey and the others? Maybe you deserve Hell, after all,” me grunted, then started chuckling like a madman.

“That’s not the plan,” I said calmly.

Tyfus didn’t like the sound of that at all. He frowned immediately, cocking his head to one side.

“If I don’t make it out of Hell on time—”

“You won’t.”

“If I don’t make it,” I repeated. “You’ll be in Sankta Varath to smooth things out.”

“I will what?” he spurted out and started laughing.

“Listen to me,” I continued, trying to remain calm. “You’ll go straight to Nergat and explain the situation. You’ll leave all the Hell talk out of it, but you’ll make the same point so he’ll give you and the club protection. After that, you’ll take 10,000 gold from the stash and offer it to Castelian and Tarnia as collateral in case I don’t show up. You’ll postpone the fight for another month until I return.”

Tyfus stared daggers at me, his face dark and heavy. It was a big ask but I had no other choice. I wasn’t ready to fight Castelian. If both Tyfus and I died in that fight, everything was lost. The club would lose Nergat’s protection, my family would be swallowed by the city’s greed, and I’d never reach Hell and who knew what that would entail at this point.

“So you want me to risk my life on the off-chance Castelian, one of the richest people in the land, would accept 10,000 gold? And Nergat? What orc can threaten Castelian? You can’t be serious, Frank. You think you have a plan, but you don’t. This is madness.”

“I’m out of options, Tyfus. It’s either this or we both die in the Ashpit. At least there’s a chance that once I return from Hell, I’ll have the strength to take him on.”

The gnome was nervously pacing up and down the cold temple floors.

“You want to go to Hell? Go to Hell. I’m not going to be sacrificed on your altar of shitty ideas. I’ve finally found happiness here, Frank. I found a piece of the puzzle that completes Tyfus Flaptrip and you want to take it away from me? No,” he continued, shaking his head. “No, I’m not doing that.”

It took a lot for me to not smack him straight across the face, but I knew it wouldn’t get me anywhere. No, I had to practice calm and patience. That’s what Snowdog said. That’s how you get enlightened or something. Besides, I had already prepared myself for Tyfus’ reaction both mentally and emotionally.

“Tyfus, I know what I’m asking for. You’re the only one with enough smarts and power to do this. To save our family.” I walked up to him, clenching my fists. “I’ll say this once,” I landed a hand on his tiny shoulder and looked deep into his drug-fueled eyes. It wasn’t easy to say what I was about to say. It felt like pushing boulders out of my throat as I uttered the words. “Please, Tyfus.”

“No fucking way.” I felt my left eye twitch as a pang of anger shot through my entire body. Days and weeks of calm meditation suddenly washed out of me, replaced by a burning need to bring the whole temple down on the gnome.

“Our family will die if you don’t, Tyfus,” I said, surprised by the tranquility of my own voice.

Wolf raised his head from his slumber. He must have sensed the tension in me. He’d let them all die while I went to Hell carrying that burden with me.

“I know that face, Frank. You think you can beat me into submission? Well, forget about it. Bigger men have tried and failed. I’ve made up my mind days ago, anyway. I’m a free gnome. I can’t be tied down by—”

“I will kill you, gnome,” I heard myself growl. “And I’ll give Tarnia your head to straighten things out.”

Tyfus looked at me in shock.

“You’d kill me?” he said, trying to sound sarcastic but there was genuine fear in his voice.

If I could sense one thing, it was the tremble of a man’s voice when faced with the possibility of violent death.

“So that’s it, huh?”

“That’s it, Tyfus.”

“That’s your great friendship, Frank? Do as I say or you die?”

He spat on the temple floor which annoyed me even more. He knew it was a place of worship for these people and I couldn’t say I hadn’t developed a sense of respect for it after all this time.

“You have another week to get this shit out of your system, gnome.” I said in a calmer tone. “Then it’s back to reality. I won’t let you risk the lives of our family just so you can whore yourself out here. One week, Tyfus.”

“We’ll see about that,” he snapped and walked off briskly.

I could sense the waves of heat emanating from the gnome as he went. Good, I thought. Get uncomfortable, get angry and pissed. The worse he felt, the better the chances he’d actually use that head to think for a bit instead of drowning it in wine and orc assholes.

“Fucking gnomes,” I muttered, taking in a big, long breath and getting back into position and Wolf did the same.

For the rest of the day and most of the evening all I did was chew on Tyfus’ words, barely able to get into the meditation. I only managed to squeeze another point in intellect by the end of it, however, something else happened when I did.

[Animal Handling Skill increased by 1]

[Animal Handling Skill 10/10]

You’ve unlocked a new ability!

[FATE MOUNT MASTERY: You now share a portion of your power with your mount.]

[NOTE: You now have access to your mount’s stats and abilities.]

            I raised a curious eyebrow and looked over at Wolf. The Deviltail remained seated in that silly position that mimicked mine, seemingly unaware of any of it.

BASIC INFORMATION

NAME

Wolf

RACE

Deviltail

CLASS

Fate Mount

LEVEL

50

STATUS INFORMATION

STRENGTH

61

STAMINA

144

AGILITY

67

INTELLECT

28

“Now, isn’t this something,” I muttered, scrolling down through the rest of the notifications in my Deeproot.

New mount skill unlocked!

[SKILL: Abyssal Rampage]

[DESCRIPTION: While mounted, charge through enemies and release blasts of Everdark energies with each step that deal constant damage and cause a knock-back effect.]

New mount skill unlocked!

[SKILL: Whips of the Black]

[DESCRIPTION: While mounted, your deviltail will release eight spiked tentacles from its sides with which it can attack any target in range.]

New shared skill unlocked!

[SKILL: Mounted Rift Walk]

[DESCRIPTION: While mounted, merge into the Everdark with your deviltail and appear at a chosen location within range.]

[UPGRADED EFFECT: Enables the caster to instantaneously move to a visible location. Rift Walk has FIVE charges, after which it goes on a one-minute cooldown. OPTIONAL: When moving through an enemy, release a blast of Everdark energies that will damage and push them back.]

            “Fuck me,” I muttered. “Will you look at that, Wolf.”

The deviltail opened its eyes and offered me what I learned to understand was a smile. I knew my Animal Handling skill had been growing steadily and it allowed me some greater control over my mount, but that was it. Somehow, upon reaching the 75 intellect threshold our connection changed. I noticed something else, too. Wolf had grown a coat of armor, or a carapace of sorts across his slick black fur reaching across his shoulders and legs that made him even bulkier than he already was. The deviltail gave no signs as to whether he noticed it or not, but I sure as hell did.

            It brought a much-needed smile to my face that washed out some of the aftertaste of Tyfus’ idiocy.

            The next day I got back to it with Wolf in tow. Despite everything, I was in a good mood, and I reached another point in intellect before noon and two more by the end of the day.

            The day after that, sometime around dinner time, I reached 80 intellect and the now familiar message to upgrade my skills appeared again.

[CONGRATULATIONS, YOU HAVE REACHED 80 INTELLECT!]

[SPELLMONGER CLASS SPECIFIC UPGRADE AVAILABLE]

[CHOOSE TWO SPELLS TO UPGRADE]

            Having expected this development I upgraded the next two spells that proved essential to my kit.

[SKILL: Demon Skin]

[DESCRIPTION: Envelop your body in the impenetrable skin of Everdark’s greatest demons.]

[EFFECT: Creates a coating of dark magic around the user that increases all amor value to that of plate armor and is additionally modified by the user’s stamina stat.]

[UPGRADED EFFECT: Armor value is doubled. Demon Skin now additionally reduces all elemental damage by 60%.]

“If that gnome really forces my hand, this will come in handy,” I said and laughed, then suddenly turned serious as I heard myself say the words. “Gods, don’t force my hand, gnome,” I muttered, worried about how the fight would even turn out.

I focused on the next upgrade,

[SKILL: Waltz of Death]

[DESCRIPTION: A storm of blades and dark energy surrounds you, destroying everything in its path.]

[UPGRADED EFFECT - DEPENDS ON WEAPON TYPE): Swing your sword, creating a whirlwind of deadly attacks for TWENTY seconds. Each swing of your weapon is replicated and QUADRUPLED by dark magic. Waltz of Death DOUBLES your attack range. Increase movement speed by 100%. Increase defense by 80%.]

“Alright, that ought to do it,” I said.

I knew there would be more stuff at level 65 and I was very much looking forward to it all, but these upgrades alone increased my powers way more than I had ever thought they would.

With the fourth week halfway through and my day of departure inching closer, I spent almost all of my time in the temple. I ate once every two days and slept only when I keeled over while meditating, unaware that it even happened. Interestingly enough I somehow didn’t lose any weight nor did I feel particularly tired.

I pushed myself hard wanting to reach 100 intellect, but one thing I had learned with this whole meditation thing was that you couldn’t really force it. It still only provided some three points per day on average no matter how deeply I could focus on my breathing. What worried me more than unlocking upgrades to my spells, however, was untangling the soul quest and its speakers.

The day before departure I grabbed the last few intellect points that brought me to 90 in total and allowed me to upgrade my last spell,

[SKILL: Black Embrace]

[DESCRIPTION: The black embrace of the Everdark pulls your enemies toward it.]

[UPGRADED EFFECT: Summon FOUR orbs that will float around you. On activation, send any number of orbs of attractive darkness to a target location. Activate them to pull all enemies in range toward it. ACTIVATE AGAIN to detonate the orbs causing massive dark energy damage.]

I wanted to get up and try it out immediately. However, time was running short and I hadn’t heard from the souls in almost a week. It worried me greatly, especially because I only had that one day and night before departure. I could stay longer, of course. I could stay for another year if I wanted, but I had other concerns coming up.

Then it happened, sometime around midnight I sensed the tug of the souls again. It started with the usual wailing growing louder, but it never reached the pitch I was used to. That debilitating screaming that seemed to fill my whole world with its insane sound.

[WARNING: Souls begging for the Everdark 401/1000]

[DESCRIPTION: More souls wish for the Everdark with every passing day, month, and year. Spellmonger, you can ignore a whisper, but can you turn deaf to the wailing cries of a thousand souls?]

“Ship,” I said before the voices even formed a sentence. “Give me more, talk to me,” I said in a calm and steady voice. I felt my body tremble and my muscles tighten so I breathed in slow and long and tried to relax as much as I could.

“Ship,” they said. “Don’t let him reach the ship. Don’t let him go.”

“Don’t let who go where? Morgefah?”

As I said his name, the souls screamed into my mind as if someone was torturing them. I grabbed my head with both hands, feeling pain shoot through it.

“Fuck, sorry. I won’t mention him, alright?”

“We are chained to everything!”

“How do I unchain you?” I yelled back.

“You must destroy it all.”

“Destroy what?”

“All!”

“What the fuck is all?” Silence followed and it felt worse than the wailing.

“Not yet! I need more! What do I need to destroy? What is all? Hell? Him? What do you want me to do?”

“He is of us but not us. Traitor!”

I wanted to ask if they meant Morgefah but I couldn’t take another session of screams, not again. They repeated the sentence several times though it didn’t really help me in any way. Was Morgefah one of them and had he betrayed them somehow? Then who was the other God? The one the Quinta worshipped and called God of Light? I was growing desperate for answers but all I got were more questions.

“Destroy it all before Esheytan!”

The words were heavy and loaded with agony and a sense of urgency unlike with anything else they had ever said.

“Esheytan? What does Esheytan have to do with anything?”

Renewed silence met my question, and I felt the souls evaporate into nothingness. I opened my eyes, panting hard and drenched in my own sweat.

“So, that’s it. Another question instead of an answer. Great.”

I looked to my Deeproot, which did bring a smile to my face.

“At least it was worth it.”

[You have received 14,000 experience points toward your SPELLMONGER CLASS]

[CONGRATULATIONS, YOU HAVE LEVELED UP!]

[SPELLMONGER LEVEL: 65]

[SPELLMONGER CLASS EXPERIENCE: 5,500/39,000]

[You have gained +2 STAMINA stat]

[You have gained +2 STRENGTH stat]

[You have gained +2 AGILITY stat]

[You have gained +2 INTELLECT stat]

BASIC INFORMATION

NAME

Frank Midnight

RACE

Human

CLASS

Spellmonger

LEVEL

65

STATUS INFORMATION

STRENGTH

89

STAMINA

85

AGILITY

83

INTELLECT

92

[CONGRATULATIONS, YOU’VE GAINED A NEW SPELL!]

[SKILL: Final Contract]

[DESCRIPTION: Your final step towards fully embracing the powers of the Everdark. Offer your complete service to Morgefah and in return ascend to the AVATAR form.]

[AVATAR OF MORGEFAH: Transform into the AVATAR, increasing in size and growing wings. The caster gains 50 points in all stats. Additionally, it increases all damage dealt by 100%, all defenses by 50%, speed by 100%, and allows the caster to fly and hover for short durations.]

[NOTE: The caster can’t turn back until he has killed an enemy.]

“I’ll turn into a fucking demon?” I muttered, reading the description.

The spell was truly out there. It seemed fitting, though considering I was going to Hell. Might as well look the part. I was eager to test it out but the note worried me. Unless I killed someone, I wouldn’t be able to return to my normal form so I’d have to be sure that I used it only when there was killing to be done. Well, considering how I lived, the next murder was always close by anyway.

“Esheytan,” Snowdog said.

He stood in front of me, bathed in silver rays of light coming from the temple entrance. There was something different about him. The aura of tranquility that usually followed him everywhere was gone. The tattoos across his body were glowing in a feint red.

“You heard, huh?”

“What did they say?” he asked with a commanding tone that I really didn’t appreciate.

“Destroy it all before Esheytan.”

His shoulders suddenly deflated and the tattoos stopped glowing.

“Alright then,” he said with a smile.

“I feel like you have some answers, Snowdog.”

“Answers? To what, my friend?”

“Esheytan, this temple. Your reaction. Come on, I’m not blind.”

Snowdog shrugged and rubbed his chin.

“I guess I owe you that much. You’ve been quite a good student, I’ll give you that. Truth is, I didn’t expect you to get this far, but here you are. Come, stand up and join me at the fire. We’ll eat something and I’ll explain.”

I followed him out of the temple into the night of the Peacespeaker’s Abbey. We settled around one of the fires where a few of his acolytes slept. Some kind of stew was simmering in a large black pot above it, and Snowdog filled a bowl for each of us. Though it smelled nice, I couldn’t eat. Snowdog shoveled in a couple of spoons and then looked at me.

“What do you know of Esheytan, Frank?”

“Not much. He’s the combination of the four elemental gods or something. I have a couple island elves in my club that claim he’ll end the world.”

“You do?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah, they said that after a thousand nights of dancing they’ll invoke his wrath or something. I don’t know. It all sounds pretty stupid to me. They dance for free so I didn’t ask any questions. Never cared much for prophecies.”

Snowdog laughed and I realized how I must have sounded.

“It’s different with this whole Hell thing.”

“It sure is,” he agreed. “Your island elves aren’t wrong.”

“What?”

“Not the dancing part. That’s just empty superstition. The world-ending part? That’s sadly true.”

“You’re not serious.”

“I wish I wasn’t,” he said casually. “Some ten years ago, Shieldmother, Blacksmile, and I escorted the King on an oversea trip to the Yavan Island Kingdom. On our way there, the Steel Goddess, Steelheart’s flagship got caught in a storm. Long story short, we found ourselves on an island that hadn’t been charted. The whole place was one big peak. Like the top of a mountain that started somewhere deep on the ocean floor.”

“A mountain island, huh? Interesting,” I muttered.

“It was nothing unusual. The crew took a day or two to repair the damage and get the ship ready again, and in the meantime I took a look around the place. I came upon a cave and as I went deeper inside, I realized it wasn’t just any cave, it was a temple of sorts. It was pretty badly weathered but I could make out four statues. I guess you know which statues I’m talking about?”

“Sure, the elemental gods, but what about it? There’s a thousand empty forgotten temples across the world.”

“True, true,” Snowdog said, licking his spoon. He threw the bowl over his shoulder and it landed in one of the streams.

“Except, that there was something else there. Carved into the walls was a map of the world and you know what was different? There was no Steelheart Kingdom, Frank.”

“So? Obviously people believed in gods before Steelheart.”

“True, true, but there was no Shat’ar either, a kingdom a thousand years older than Steelheart.” He looked at me with expectant curiosity. When he realized I wasn’t getting any wiser, he continued. “The whole continent, Frank, it was portrayed differently. There were depictions of kingdoms never spoken about before.”

“Yeah, the warring tribes and barbarian kingdoms which the Catan united into—”

“Before that, Frank. Before that. These weren’t tribes, they were great kingdoms, some even greater in size than the Shat’ar. Do you understand? Those people have been wiped off the face of the world before the first barbarian showed its ugly head.”

He smiled as I tried to process what he’d just said.

“So, what’s your point?” I asked, beginning to eat the salty stew. Only then did I realize how hungry I’d actually been.

“I took to libraries again,” Snowdog said, leaning back against a palm tree. “I wanted to learn what happened but the sources were scarce. Every history of Steelheart begins with the Catan bloodline. Anything before that is simply called the Barbaric Days. But then I found something that made me connect the dots and it wasn’t in a library. It was island elf folklore.”

“Shit? Really?”

Snowdog grinned.

“They believe Esheytan wipes the world clean every so often. Throughout the years their story changed, but one thing is always the same, the position of the stars. Each of their stories tells of a darkening of the Small Moons. A moment in celestial movement when the two small moons hide behind the Great Moon. Look at the sky, Frank. Do you see the second moon?”

I did as he said and realized he was right, the second moon was only partially visible, while the third one was still shining brightly.

“And the dancing thing?”

Snowdog waved his hand and chuckled. “Bullshit. That’s just so the island elves can feel like they have a say in these things.”

I dug into the bowl and ate my stew in silence as Snowdog let me think about it all. Once I finished, I tossed the bowl over my shoulder as he did, and it landed on a sleeping elf’s head. She yelped and cursed, but went back to sleep right after.

“So this enclave you have here? You’re all just fucking yourself stupid awaiting the end times?”

“Well,” Snowdog said, looking to the stars. “That’s one way to put it. Pleasure definitely is a big part of it all. But I haven’t created this space only for pleasure, I also created it to survive the initial destruction. Maybe. Hopefully.”

“Shit,” I muttered, pulling out a cigar and lighting it on fire. “When will it happen?”

“I can’t really tell. The cycle is too vast to pinpoint the exact moment, but as far as I’ve figured out, this just might be our last decade.” I truly wasn’t one for prophecies despite it all, and the story was very much out there. Still, the voices had mentioned Esheytan in a way that might suggest he was right. It was all too big to wrap my mind around it anyway. In the end, I just laughed.

“And I’m going to Hell,” I said.

“And you’re going to Hell,” he grinned.

“As the world ends.”

“As the world ends, yes.” He got up and slapped me on the shoulder. “You’re a tough guy. Tougher than I thought. You take things as they are. I like that.”

“I already have one God pissing on my life. I can’t really worry about another one.”

“True.”

“So that’s it, that’s why you left the Three of Steel?”

“What would be the point, Frank? Defending a dying kingdom didn’t sit right with me.”

I grinned and puffed out a wide circle of smoke as I stared up at the three moons, and for a moment I felt like I could see the Small Moons slowly move towards their big sister.