The buttoned sky, p.1
Mythica 3: Reign: A LitRPG Adventure, page 1
REIGN
©2024 DEAN HENEGAR
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CONTENTS
Also in the series
Recap
Introduction
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Thank you for reading Reign
Afterword
Appendix A. Sabine’s Status at the end of Book 3
Groups
LitRPG
ALSO IN THE SERIES
ALSO IN SERIES:
Revenant
Reforged
Reign
Check out the entire series here! (Tap or scan)
RECAP
Sabine Giroux is a mercenary captain escorting a band of refugees out of the land of Deira as they seek to avoid an invasion by the Vitalion Empire. She is skilled but hot-tempered, and while stopping for the night, her attitude gets her into trouble with the leader of their mercenary company. Sabine feels he is needlessly risking them with his lax standards, and in the ensuing argument, Sabine is demoted.
Sabine is proven right as an orc warband attacks the camp and overwhelms the defenders. Severely wounded, Sabine and a few others make a final stand where she is killed by a huge ogre. Her last act of defiance before it stomped her to death was to stab the monster in its toe with her dagger. Instead of moving on to her eternal reward, Sabine finds herself in limbo, floating in the void between life and death.
During her time in the void, Sabine stubbornly holds onto her memories, going through her past battles thousands of times as she tries to keep hold of who she is. Eventually, Sabine finds herself in the presence of one of the minor gods of death, Gnessos, who, along with the reluctant help of the goddess Ana-Sett, brings Sabine back to life as an undead revenant.
Resistant to being controlled, even by a god, Sabine fights against Gnessos’ commands, eventually keeping her free will intact. With an uneasy understanding between them, Gnessos tasks Sabine with locating a threat that is siphoning power from the gods of death. Fearing that her living relatives, a sister and her family, will be destroyed by whatever is threatening the gods, Sabine reluctantly agrees to help Gnessos.
She is given powerful abilities and must gain more of Gnessos’ favor to grow in strength. The magical power of mana now infuses Sabine, and she can use it to empower herself in battle and heal even the most grievous of wounds. Should her mana run out, Sabine’s time as an undead revenant will end.
Gnessos sends an advisor, Hamish, to assist Sabine and help her understand her new life. Hamish is a soul trapped in the realm of the dead and forced to serve Gnessos to atone for his past sins. Her advisor can occasionally be called upon by Sabine, taking over the remains of a skeleton for a short time to assist her. The two don’t get along well, but both are forced to work together.
Sent back to the world of the living. Sabine finds herself housed in the body of a young woman who had recently been brutally murdered. Tying into the rage of the poor woman, Sabine tracks down the murderers and ends them. Sabine follows Hamish’s directions to Hammerhead’s tavern where she is tasked with fulfilling various quests to earn money for the trip to Golgotia, where the threat to Gnessos can be found.
As she completes her tasks and gathers funds, Sabine is joined by Orren Cavendish, a young scribe from a family that documents threats throughout the land. Their methods are magical, and Orren soon uncovers Sabine’s true nature. Orren and Sabine come to an understanding and work together to fulfill both their objectives.
Back at the Tavern, Hammerhead gives them another job. They are to descend deep under the inn to a place called the Darkrealm, where another, much deadlier, world exists. While in the Darkrealm, Sabine and Orren are caught up in a civil war among the rat-like verminkin. One, a verminkin named Skrix, attaches himself to their group and proves useful, if not entirely trustworthy.
Their adventures in the Darkrealm culminate in an encounter with the champion of Zalzaran, the god of corruption and decay. A huge battle ensues, and Sabine slays the rival champion, taking a portion of his power as her own. After returning to the tavern, they are well funded and ready to proceed to Golgotia.
Skrix joins their party as a permanent member and continues to prove useful, if not more than a bit strange. Time is of the essence, but before they can begin their journey to Golgotia, Sabine stops to check on her sister and her family. Not realizing how much time has passed since her first life ended, Sabine is surprised to find that her sister and husband have passed away, but her niece and nephew have families of their own and are doing well.
On their way to the port of Shamrahar, where they plan to catch a ship to Golgotia, Sabine is attacked by an orc warband. It turns out these orcs are part of the same band that killed her long ago. Sabine dies at the hands of the orcs, but instead of staying dead, she is tested in a trial before being returned to the realm of the living with a magical set of armor as her prize.
After finishing off the orcs, Sabine finds the corpse of the ogre that ended her first life. Imbedded in its toe was the dagger that Sabine had stabbed into it. It turns out that the small wound inflicted by her dagger became infected and eventually killed her foe. Now, the dagger was infused with mana, making it a powerful magical item called Toe Picker.
With old scores settled and funds for their journey in her pocket, Sabine and her party reach Shamrahar, only to find the city besieged. Sabine is on a tight time crunch to stop the threat to the gods, and her only way to their destination is through a battlefield. Luckily, if there’s one thing that Sabine is familiar with, it’s battle.
In Book 2, Sabine and her party join the forces besieging Shamrahar in hopes of obtaining passage to Tarasan where the threat they must face can be found. Sabine is given command of the deserters and dregs of the attacking force, with the promise of passage to Tarasan if she can whip them into shape and assist in the fight.
Using her lifetime of experience as a mercenary captain, Sabine rallies the troops she had been given into a new mercenary company. The name Reforged is suggested by Orren, who sees them all as similar to bits of cast-off materials that are now forged together into something new and stronger.
With a plan to enter the city through the sewer outlets, Sabine’s group is charged with sneaking in and opening a gate for the main army to attack through. Their daring attack through the city sewers fails, and to her surprise, Sabine finds that the Golgotians are assisting the forces holding the city.
Faced with capture and death, Sabine and her party are saved by one of the lords of Tarasan, Lord Bakanar. Watching Sabine defeat his champion has made the lord eager to have her in his service. Sabine’s skill, as well as the hope of gleaning wealth from Orren’s family connections, leads Bakanar to invite them to his estate in Tarasan.
On the voyage to Tarasan, their transport is attacked by merfolk. Sabine is dragged overboard and commences a running battle to escape the merfolk, who eventually relent when Sabine and Ham
Once inside the city, Sabine searches for Orren and Skrix. Enlisting the aid of a young man from the slums named Jumper. With Jumper’s help, Sabine locates the ship that they had all been sailing on. Unfortunately, the captain of the vessel blames his misfortune at sea on Sabine, and she is arrested by the guard and learns that Orren and Skrix have already been arrested and sent to fight in the grand arena the city is famous for.
Sabine is released from prison by Lord Bakanar, who uses his influence to imprison the captain instead of Sabine. Bakanar offers a deal. She will serve him as his champion, fighting against the champions of other lords when they have a dispute. In return, he’ll buy the freedom of Orren and Skrix.
For her first assignment, Sabine is ordered by Bakanar to enter the arena as his champion and compete in a tournament for all the champions of the lords of the city. Once there, rivals of Lord Bakanar see to it that Sabine is given every disadvantage, but despite that, she uses her powers to conquer every challenge and every preliminary battle that she is forced to fight. While in the arena she meets and befriends a disgraced noble named Dahl’kalim and his companion, a powerful female orc warrior named Ghetchkar.
When the time for the tournament arrives, Sabine bests the other champions. Her performance catches the eye of the Grand Vizir of the city, who allows her a writ to form her own mercenary band based in Tarasan. Sabine leaves the arena and is given funds by Bakanar to do with as she pleases. Sabine uses her funds to create a new Reforged, buying the contracts of Dahl’kalim, Ghetchkar, and some of the other experienced fighters in the arena. Adding some thugs from the slums, Sabine whips them into shape.
Reunited with Orren and Skrix, Sabine learns that they hired a seer to divine the location of the threat that is draining Gnessos’ power. Scouts are hired to explore the area that the seer indicated. While they wait for the scout’s report, Sabine is called by Lord Bakanar to fight for him once more. Sabine is to duel with another lord’s champion, and at the estate, a trap is sprung by the rival lord who tries to assassinate Lord Bakanar. Sabine is instrumental in thwarting the attack, earning Bakanar’s praise as well as enough funds to expand Reforged.
A single, traumatized survivor of the scouts returns with information on the location they were looking for. It’s a ruined city on the coast to the north of Tarasan and is occupied by strange cultists. Sabine rallies all of Reforged’s strength and begins the journey to the ruins. Once there, Sabine pushes ahead to do some reconnaissance and finds some armed men standing watch over the ruins. Before she can do anything, the armed men are attacked by merfolk who spot Sabine after the short battle.
After some discussion, the merfolk, lead by a warrior named Nimiane, agree to assist Sabine’s troops. They have a common enemy as the cult below the ruins is also causing problems for the merfolk. While negotiating, Sabine discerns that Nimiane is actually the champion of one of the other gods of death. Her undead nature urges Sabine to kill Nimiane and take her power, but she resists the urge and continues with the plan they have agreed on.
They assault the cultists, with Sabine’s troops attacking from above and the merfolk attacking from an underground river. They fight off a horde of enemies who are enacting the ritual that is draining off the gods’ power. The battle reaches a climax when the ritual is interrupted and inadvertently creates a creature called the Avatar of an Unformed god. With the assistance of the merfolk, and Hamish inhabiting the remains of the ogre that had once killed Sabine, they defeat the avatar and, seemingly, end the threat.
Sabine and the others loot the cultist hideout, but she is disturbed to find that Gnessos is no longer communicating with her. With the gods of death silent, Sabine and the survivors of Reforged begin the long journey back to Tarasan.
In the epilogue, we see Darvick, the champion of the god of death Uxsabai, stalking Nimiane. He assassinates Nimiane in a fierce underwater battle and the book closes with Darvick determined to track down the last rival champion, but he’s also disturbed over the silence of his god.
INTRODUCTION
Another stab of pain lanced through Darvick’s chest, but he mastered it and kept his focus. To slip up now was to be caught, and to be caught was to die. As the pain faded, worry took its place.
Darvick felt lessened, as if each wave of pain stole power not only from his god, Uxsabai, but also from himself. Absorbing the powers and abilities of several of the other champions of death had left him feeling unstoppable. Now, doubt had begun to creep in. He had to finish this task, or face oblivion.
It had been several days since he’d heard from his god, and then, it was only a simple demand to kill a man who was hiding inside one of the many large estates in the city. His target was the one who had stolen power from the gods of death. As a servant of the god of deceit and murder, Darvick would obey.
That last command from Uxsabai had left Darvick worried. He had heard something strange in his god’s voice that day. He had heard fear. Now, he had to kill someone who had frightened a god. He would need all his deadly skills to accomplish the task.
A day was spent examining the other estates, which were owned by wealthy merchants, politicians, the masters of various criminal enterprises, and even a few high-ranked military officers. Despite the silence of his god, Darvick could tell none was the right estate. His god should have been able to tell him exactly where the target was, but Uxsabai remained silent, and Darvick would have to do this completely on his own.
Just that morning, he had happened upon this estate. After catching a glimpse of the master of this place standing upon a balcony, the dark mana inside Darvick stirred. Despite his god’s silence, knew that the master of this house was the one he was after. Now that blessed night had fallen, he would find his target and eliminate him.
Having surveilled the estate during the day, Darvick knew it was a beautiful place with lush gardens, several fountains, and a large staff to keep things tidy. From the outside, and in the light of day, it did not appear to be the type of place where someone would steal the power of death itself. Despite its appearance, Darvick was certain that he had found his target.
A stone wall surrounded the estate, and Darvick had detected several magical wards and conventional traps placed along it. In time, he could have circumvented the defenses, but time was the one resource that he was all out of. That left walking thought the front gate as his only option.
It was early enough that the gate was still open, and his cloaking spell kept the pair of guards outside it from noticing as he slipped silently past. Darkness was his friend, but the brightly lit estate left him few places to hide, and his cloaking spell would not last forever.
It seemed that even nature was against him this night. The sky remained cloudless, and the bright moon added its glow to the courtyard that Darvick had found himself in. He was clothed from head to toe in black leather armor, and with a cloth hood covering his face.
All his gear had been enchanted to make the eye naturally slide away from him, preventing even a vigilant guard from picking him out of the darkness. Despite the enchantments and his skills at concealment, stepping from the shadows and into the light would more than likely give away his presence.
Using every small patch of darkness that he could find, Darvick navigated the courtyard and moved toward the main building of the estate. From what he could tell, his target was there, on the third floor where a balcony allowed his target a great view of the city. That balcony would be Darvick’s ingress point. There was a faint light coming from inside the room that shone onto the balcony, but it was muted, and the drapes must have been pulled, giving Darvick enough darkness to work with.
Murmuring a word of power, one of the runes on Darvick’s gloves activated and he could feel a tingle as the magic began to work. Doing the same for the boots he wore, Darvick reached a hedge that would help conceal him as he climbed up to the balcony. The enchantments on his gloves and boots allowed him to scurry up the wall as easily as a spider.
Moving slowly to prevent any noise, and keeping to the shadows, Darvick climbed closer and closer to the balcony. Just beneath it, he paused, pushing mana into his ears to enhance his hearing. He could hear the guards chatting at the front gate, and a worker near the entrance of the building as she swept the floor. From the balcony, he heard only silence.
