Conscripted, p.13
Conscripted, page 13
“Deal.”
“Good. Let us begin…”
Chapter fourteen
“Over one hundred years ago.” Demos pulled a nearby stool closer to my cot and sat. “The great catastrophe began. Some call it the black plague; some call it the curse of the dark goddess.” He waved his hand in the air as he continued. “It’s no matter which name you use. At the center of our world sits a dark mountain called the Black Scar. It is described in the few history books that have survived as a spike of rock from Valeria herself. It sticks out of the ground like a shard, made of the blackest rock which soaks up the light of the sun throughout the Scarlands that surround it. This is where the problems started from.”
“Center of the world… What do you mean? Like coming out of the ground at its center?” I asked. I didn’t bother to ask who or what this Valeria was.
“In a way, yes,” he said, nodding. “What I mean is, the Scar is in the center of all the lands of this world.”
“So then there is only a single continent?” I said, picturing some Pangea-type landform.
He glanced over at me with a raised eyebrow, as if something had just occurred to him.
“I had always thought so, but much has been lost. Now that I think about it, your being here tells me there might be more to our world than just the Camaria I know. A question occurs to me: is there a way to return to your lands and leave this dying one behind? Perhaps by ship?”
“Oh,” I replied, somewhat shocked that he didn’t actually know everything there was to know about me. Whoever had told him I was from another place mustn’t have gotten into too many specifics. Would he even have the knowledge base to understand the concept of a completely different world? “I guess you wouldn’t know all the details about where I’m from. Um, let’s say no, not that I know of. It’s not a place you can travel to.”
“Well, that hope flared and died quickly,” he chuckled dryly.
I moved my legs to stand up, wanting to stretch my stiff muscles, but Demos held up a hand. “Be still, your body has gone through a lot of changes, and they will take some getting used to. Let us wait for our brief history lesson to conclude before you stand.”
I relaxed back into the cot, sitting up on my elbows, and glanced around at the large tent and the other cots inside. That reminded me–
“Where is Ria?”
“In another tent. I needed to have privacy for this introduction. What you tell each other after this will be for the two of you to decide, not me. But worry not. Jarrold is watching over her for now. We will retrieve her before we leave. So let us stay on topic.”
Tell each other? Does that mean she has something special about her too or… you know what, worry about that later.
“Okay, so what happened at the…” I glanced at him for help.
“Black Scar,” he supplied. “The religious orders call it the border into the Ten Hells. It is said to be the birthplace of the dark gods, or demons when they fell to Camaria long ago. The lands around the Scar, for a few miles in all directions, are like poison to all life. Nothing grows, nothing lives where its black rock mars the surface. A place where lush green forests would abruptly stop at its border. The texts say those who went in for too long would get sick after a week at most. Anyone sentient who lived there for more than half a year would die even with clean water and food. Very few entered, and even fewer returned from it.”
He paused as if considering his next words.
“But it is also the center point at the heart of the lands of the Five Great Races. Roads traveled through the outskirts of the Scarlands, and there were towns scattered along its border from each of the five where they could meet, trade, and sometimes war against one another.”
“Races?” I asked, a little shocked. “Like different humans or…”
“I take it there are only humans in your lands then,” he said, nodding in understanding. “On Camaria, humans live to the south of the continent, elves to the west in their forests, dwarves in the great mountains and low-lying hills to the north and west, and orcs to their east in the desert plains shielded from rain by the dwarven mountains. The Sidhe or Fae folk, sometimes called the dark elves and fairies if you want to insult them, lay directly to the east of the Scar and to our northeast.”
“Wow,” I said. “Just… okay, five races in this world.”
“This world?” he asked as he studied me. “I continue to wonder just how far away this land you hail from actually is.”
“Very,” I replied simply.
“Regardless, many more than five exist, each numerous in their own right, though they were not organized enough to matter much in the time before or after the the First Treaty. They are predominantly scattered about in vast Wyldlands to the west of the dwarves and elves. I have never seen them, but have read of trolls, gnomes, and goblins, to name a few. Saw a story about Merfolk once, though I never read it or know if it's true.”
He paused, glanced up to the tent ceiling, and shook his head defeatedly.
“If they still exist at all now. Humans haven’t communicated much with anyone but the elves and fae since the fall of the first great wall. So, I can’t be sure. Our liaison with the fae was lost with the Fourth Great Expansion a few years back. We still hear from the elves, but that is limited to the occasional messenger ship, maybe once or twice a year.” he shook his head. “No, the old alliance of the Five has long since collapsed. Every race has been more or less on its own for at least ninety years.”
The nerdy part of my brain wanted to get into more details about who and what else might be out there. But I kept my mouth shut to let him continue.
“You will learn more when you get to the schoolhouse; we have a library with far more information than what is generally known. To return to the matter at hand, the great disaster started when Shadow Beasts, who were once only beings of dark lore and children’s stories, began attacking the trade towns near the Scar. They killed or captured those who lived nearby in the dead of night, taking them back to the Scar where they were turned into more Shadows. Ones that were stronger than the Beasts.
“You see, the shadows first take the form of wild animals and hunt in packs. Using this strategy, they eventually capture humans, orcs, or others and turn them into warrior types, which look, act, and fight like humans or other sentients. However, they have more strength than they should. Behaving like empty shells of the bodies they stole or copied; there is no life within them that can be reasoned with. Despite this, they still have some intelligence and can fight as well as we can.”
“Damn,” I said. “Do they look just like us? How can you tell the difference?”
“Similar,” he corrected. “Skin as black as night, said to be the same color as the Scarlands. Their skin looks and feels like semi-hardened pitch. Able to move and flex. They also have hardened chitin on their bodies in key places, which can resist a blade, and even magic, like armor.”
Shit, that must be freaky as fuck!
“When the old alliance formed to counter the threat,” Demos continued. “They built a Dwarven wall to contain the Shadows and their Beasts for a time. It worked for ten years, and not a single Shadow broke through. However, it was then that the Dungeons appeared, overnight and without warning, coming up through the ground and spewing out more of them. Bypassing the walls and all their defenders.”
“Why are they called Dungeons?” I asked.
“Because when they spawn, they collect all the living animals and sentient races they can find for miles around. Take them back into their depths. We think they do it to consume energy, for power to expand further, and to make new Beasts or Shadow warriors. There are reports of another type of beast inside the dungeons, different from those that spew forth on the surface. I have never seen one myself, though.”
In my mind, I pictured the dungeons from all the fantasy games and shows from my world. But they didn’t seem similar to what he was talking about. The shared name must have been a coincidence.
“The alliance fell after the wall fell,” he continued. “In the one hundred and eight years since the first recorded attack, three of the four kingdoms of men, all save the one we occupy now, have all been overrun and destroyed. In return, humans have only destroyed and gained the crystals of three dungeons. Three of at least one hundred known or heard about throughout Camaria.”
So many questions… but which do I ask? No, focus on the here and now, get the history and details later.
“Three crystals? The ones here in the courtyard?” I thought aloud.
“The same. The first came when the wall fell ninety years ago, called the First Great Expansion. A man named Vardon Hexin obtained the first crystal, and through it, the first power. He was a general’s aide and head of the elite guard for the commander of an army who happened to be camped near one of the first dungeons to spawn in human lands.
“It was purely by accident, of course. They were on their way to replace a part of the garrison at the wall, but when it opened, they didn’t hesitate and stormed the entrance as they were. You see, a dungeon when it first forms is weak for a short time. The army broke all the way to its center, eventually fighting their way to a great beast laying the eggs that would become the first beasts they would have sent forth to capture others. The shadow forms inside were weaker than the typical Beasts or Shadow warriors. Even so, the general, thousands of his men, and most of his elite guards, all died in their efforts to slay the beast. But it was done, and the dungeon was destroyed.”
“What was the beast?” I asked, morbidly curious.
“A giant spider, according to the lore. Other dungeons have been different. It is said that when it was slain, it fell into dust, leaving a glowing red crystal where its body once was. When Hexin, at this point in command of what was left of his army, picked up the crystal, he was consumed by a fire that didn’t burn. It was accompanied by a great flash that spread throughout the humans of the world. The other races couldn’t see it.”
“So that’s how this… do you call it, magic?” he nodded to me. “How magic came about?”
“Magic is one of the many terms, yes,” he said with a smile before continuing. “Like I said, the flash was only seen by humans. The powers bestowed by a crystal are only for the race who first claims it. We don’t know how or why, but the crystals don’t grant power to individuals right away, except for those who first touch them. Hexin gained dominion over fire and heat when he touched the first crystal, the same power that I am able to wield now.”
Demos lifted a hand, and a rope of pure flame twisted around his wrist and forearm like a pet garter snake.
“He became known as The Hexinblade, and all of us who followed gained our titles from him. However, for twenty years, he was the only one of our kind. He achieved what most believe was a C-rank before he died, though they didn’t have the nomenclature or the tests at that time so we cannot be entirely certain.”
“What happened to change him from being the only one?” I asked.
“During the night of the great flash, we believe the pulse of energy from the crystal awakened some kind of innate magic inside our species. There are other magics known and wielded by the other races after they defeated their own dungeons, but humans have never been known to possess any of them. Whether this magic was created or awakened by the crystal, we don’t know. But it became something that we can now pass down to our children.”
I watched as Demos continued to alter his flame, making the thin rope-like flame dance around his arm and fingers. I noticed that this time I felt no heat from it.
“By sheer dumb luck, the red crystal was on display as a war trophy in the capital of Pael when a young noble boy of twenty collapsed like you and the girl did when he approached it. He woke up changed. Developed the same powers as Hexin did, and was trained by the General himself.
“Over time, more were awakened and the Order of the Hexinblade was founded. Hexin was the first Lord Blade Commander until he died at the age of seventy-five in an assault attempt on a mature dungeon during the Second Expansion. Before his death, he organized the Order into a single entity answerable only to themselves rather than the Kings of the time.”
“I’m guessing he didn’t stop these dungeons?”
“No,” he said, shaking his head. “Once a dungeon forms and grows strong enough, within about four weeks of its birth, it’s capable of stopping an army of thousands, even with Hexinblades leading the charge. There aren't ever enough of us, and most of the time they form in remote locations where we cannot find or strike them in their vulnerable stage.” He released his hold on the flame, and then glanced back at me, his expression grim. “No attack on an established dungeon has ever succeeded. In over one hundred years, we have only stopped three, and only by getting to them when they first appear.”
There was something he wasn’t saying, something in his eyes, as he said those words. But I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.
“How often do they appear?” I said instead.
“We believe it depends on how long it takes them to consume things, to build up power and energy. But we are not completely sure. We thought the fourth Great Expansion would not be until forty years after the third. Our sages came to this estimate by calculating the time between all the others, but it only took thirty-five years, and we were unprepared.” He became distant for a moment, his eyes unfocused, then quickly returned to the present and shook his head. “There is more to it, but we do not have time to go into it now. You will learn all of it at the academy.”
He stopped and pulled a simple wooden pipe out of his pocket, extracting a small vial of dried leaves from another. Uncorking the vial, he tapped some of its contents into the pipe, lighting it with the tip of his finger. The smoke smelled very similar to that of a cigar, with a pleasant hint of jasmine mixed in.
“Why you need to know, and why I have told you this, is that people have only ever been born with a single affinity. Only one man has ever achieved two in the entirety of our history, Lord Blade Solomon Munns. He was Lord Blade Commander and a powerful Fireblade before he came into his second element. His power increased more than our sages could calculate after he defeated the Dungeon of Hate before Pael’s final collapse during the Third Great Expansion. From this victory, he achieved the Earth affinity for humanity and became the first Earthblade. It was also the last dungeon ever defeated by our kind. He was considered an S-rank, referring to himself as a Duoblade in his journal. He was the most powerful human who ever lived.”
“So, if I have all three… then?” I asked as my brow furrowed.
“That gives you the potential to be more,” Demos said. “Achieving an S-rank requires you to have an A-rank in one power and at least a C-rank in another. That is what Munns had achieved before he died in the Dungeon of Death in a last desperate attempt to save Pael before it was overrun. He took with him fifty of the most powerful Blades who ever lived, all A-rank or higher of water or fire, hundreds in the ranks below that, and over ten thousand of our best warriors into a single dungeon. The largest assault in history with Blades to lead it.”
He paused; his eyes alight with the ring of fire glowing in his eyes and the anger and despair that seethed just below the surface.
“None returned.”
Demos shook his head and took a deep puff off his pipe.
“But that is of no matter right now, back to the point. In order to get to the same level he did, you will need training, skill, dedication, and time. Even Lord Blade Munns, who had a great deal of knowledge from learning his first element, took almost a year to achieve C-rank.” Demos took in a deep breath. “He still died on the first level as far as we know.”
That was a lot to take in. I tried to categorize each of those facts, the numbers, and the fact dungeons had levels. I took note of the naming convention they were using for the dungeons, resolving myself to learn more about them when I could. But I knew now was not the time to ask.
While I thought, Demos took another deep draw on his pipe and closed his eyes while he let the smoke back out.
“Until the day you become at least a C-rank in one or more elements, you will be vulnerable. Achieving this feat will take a great deal of time and effort.”
“What exactly am I vulnerable to? What is out there?” I implored.
Demos lowered his pipe as he turned, meeting my gaze with an unreadable expression. His features betrayed nothing but neutrality as he spoke, but his eyes gave him away, blazing with a fire that burned more intensely than the reddish glow around his irises.
“Everything and everyone who would use you or kill you to their advantage,” he said, his tone sending a shot of cold fear up my spine. “There is much arrayed against us now.”
“Like who or what?” I asked. “It's hard to jump if you don't know which way.”
“Excellent, I am glad you can think, and not simply give in to fear. Very well, first, the Dungeon hordes. The two forms they take are the Warriors, the ones that have copied a sentient, and the Beasts, which resemble animals. We do not know the exact pattern of the forms they take, but the Beasts have repeatedly taken the form of creatures such as bears, deer, and large dogs. All are warm-blooded species. Though, there was the spider monster I told you of; we think the Core beasts, as those varieties are called, are different from the rest. We have never seen another like it, and we don’t think they target insects or anything smaller than the dogs.”
His eyes seemed to drill through me as he continued.
“Humans and other sentient beings have more power and are usually attacked before animals if together. Shadows often attack the rider first and the horse second, for example. They ignore plants, reptiles, and fish entirely. Hexinblades like us have even more energy than mundane humans due to the power stored in our cores. We are always attacked before the animals and the mundane troops with us if the Shadows can get through them.
