The Land: Predators Read online

  Richter had started to walk woodenly towards the grave when Randolphus grasped his arm, “My lord,” the chamberlain said softly. “You have done enough. You must rest.”

  The chaos seed shook his head. His eyes were locked on one woman draped over the body of her dead husband. The two mist workers carrying his litter stood there, motionless and unaffected by her sorrow. She clutched at his armor, weeping, and paid no attention to either the large gash in his skull nor the gore that smeared his body. Richter started to pull his arm away, saying, “I need to help them.” His voice sounded hollow, even to him. “I have to-”

  “You have to be our leader,” Randolphus said firmly, but with deep understanding. “We will hold the burial ceremony tonight. That leaves you several hours to rest.” Richter started to argue again, but the chamberlain didn’t give him a chance, “Your people will need you to make them feel safe tonight. Remember that you are not alone, my lord. Trust me to tend to what needs to be addressed. You do not have to do this alone.”

  Randolphus’s words touched a chord in Richter. He had made the mistake before of trying to do everything himself. People had died as a result. His chamberlain was right. Tiredly, Richter nodded his head. Before he left though, he let Randolphus know about the kindir they had met and his seeming immunity to the mists.

  The chamberlain’s eyes narrowed at that, but after he heard about the quest and the man’s Vow to return, he just shrugged, as it was beyond his control. By this point, Richter was almost asleep on his feet. At Randy’s gesture, two of the village women came forward to attend him. He tried to tell them that he could make his own way, but they just ushered him along.

  Soon he was walking across the Great Seal and entering his room. To his great surprise, a large wooden tub sat in the center of the room. Randolphus had thought of everything. The two women helped him remove his armor and clothes. In the past he might have protested being treated like a noble, but between his exhaustion and the months he had spent as a ruler, all Richter felt was silent appreciation for the two women. Soon he was eased into the tub. They started scrubbing his body with soft cloths, cleaning away the blood and grime of the past day.

  Richter fell into a peaceful lassitude despite himself, enjoying the massaging fingers of the two village women. He dozed a time or two, until they pulled him from the tub and dried him off. He fell into bed and Alma lay atop his chest. The dragonling curled into a ball and closed her own eyes, completely at peace. He was in a deep slumber before the women left his room, taking his dirty clothes and armor with them.

  CHAPTER 7 – Day 141 – Kuborn 31, 0 AoC

  Richer woke with a shout. At the same time, Alma reared up from where she had been resting on his chest. Her wings spread wide as she issued a threatening hiss. Their psychic link recycled anger and fear between them until neither was sure who had started the process. One hand was held out, ready to summon deadly magic while the other patted around his naked body, searching for a weapon. Long seconds passed until he realized that he was no longer in battle. His heart began to calm and his familiar relaxed as he did. One of them had had a nightmare, and neither was sure which of them it had been. Neither cared about that detail though. They were united.

  A guard poked his head through the doorway, hand on the hilt of his sword. Seeing Richter’s concerned face, he scanned the room for danger. When his lord waved him away though, he relaxed his grip on his weapon.

  “What time is it?” Richter asked. “How long have I slept?”

  “Three hours have passed, my lord. The chamberlain told me to wake you in five hours for the ceremony.”

  Richter nodded. He looked around the room. He began to ask where his weapons and armor were, then the last vestiges of sleep cleared. They were soul bound to him. He always knew where they were. A quick check of his map showed that his gear was in the forge. A pile of simple beige clothes lay on a stool nearby. His Bag of Holding lay on the table.

  With a groan, Richter sank back into the bed. The pains of the day before made themselves known in every ache of his muscles. Healing magic restored health points and mended wounds, but injuries still took a toll on his body. He knew there was magic that could ease sore muscles as well, but he didn’t know it yet. Also, Sumiko loved to harp on about how natural healing was the best healing and that pain was a blessed reminder of when you had done too much… blah blah blah. Richter normally tuned out when she started waxing poetic. He shook his head and, with a faint mewling sound, sat up again.

  “Go get Randolphus for me, please,” Richter told the guard. The man clapped a hand to his heart and left. Alma looked at him for a moment, and then, in a very puppy-like way, walked in a circle before lying back down on the bed. He fondly stroked her scales for a moment before getting up.

  The chaos seed quickly donned his clothes and started stretching. After a few minutes the worst of his stiffness had gone away, though the aches remained. He sat back down on the bed and addressed the final prompts waiting for him. These were the ones he had saved until he had a clear and rested mind. The first had appeared as soon as the last villager was safely through the walls.

  Congratulations! You have completed a Quest: Bloodstone I

  You were charged with saving the lives of the goblins’ slaves. You succeeded and surpassed what was required. Not only did you free every slave, but you brought 100% of them back to safety. Your heroic efforts will be rewards!

  Rewards increased per % of prisoners saved. All Rewards increased by 100%!

  Total XP awarded: 6,250 (base 5,000 x 1.25) Experience Points

  +10,000 Relationship Points with each freed prisoner.

  +100% more likely to stay in the village if asked

  +100% more likely to swear fealty if they stay in the village

  Richter smiled. His village was about to grow! The next prompt dealt with his new alignment and, in a way, his very nature.

  Know This! By revealing a Truth to others, you have learned more about yourself! No longer are you or other chaos seeds bound to an alignment of “0.” Your new alignment is Chaotic (2) Neutral. Know thyself to find thy power!

  Before releasing the power of the chaotic shard, everyone in The Land had been assigned a number to define their alignment. Positive numbers had generally been Good, negative Evil, and a zero, which was what he had been, denoted Neutral. The Chaos energy from the shard had changed that. Now, one’s nature was no longer confined to just one dimension. In addition to being Good or Evil, people also were now known as Chaotic or Orderly. This was the new “truth” that he had revealed to the entire Land.

  What this new “truth” portended, Richter had almost no idea. Personally though, it had changed him from an alignment of “0” to “Chaotic (2) Neutral.” The consequences for him were so small in the grand scheme as to be laughable, however. The true effect of touching the Chaos Shard was that it had ended an Age. After thousands of years, the Epoch of Banished Gods had passed. The Age of Chaos had begun.

  Again, the full consequences of that were beyond him, but in addition to having a new alignment, he had also absorbed the power of the Chaos Shard. Some of the energy had escaped, but he had still absorbed enough to earn himself the following prompts.

  Congratulations! You have absorbed the power of a Chaos Shard! You are the first to have done this and have earned a Choice! Never forget, Choice is the essence of Chaos.

  You are now faced with a Choice! As the first Chaos Seed to find a Chaos Shard you may choose one of the following:

  1) Double your current total of Chaos Points. Total Chaos Points: 122.

  2) Gain the ability: Feel of Chaos. This may lead you to more sources of Chaos in the future.

  3) Three extra respawns

  You have seven seconds to decide, starting now. 7…

  A counter started counting down as soon as Richter finished reading.

  “What the fuck?” Richter said, his heart beating wildly. Seven seconds. Who the fuck gave someone seven seconds to dec
ide something like this?

  6, 5, …

  In the time it took Richter to process his first reaction to the prompt, two seconds had passed. When he realized that, he expressed himself again, admittedly in a more time efficient way, “Fuck!”

  4, …

  One more second down. His heart really started hammering and his thoughts went into overdrive as he calculated his options. More points were always good. He had no idea what to do with them, but it seemed like a good bet. A mystery ability that could lead him to more chaos shards or “other sources of chaos” was promising as well. Abilities, unlike skills, seemed to almost always give unique bonuses. Who knew if he would ever get the opportunity to gain the ability again? It was the last choice that really made him hesitate though. Extra respawns.

  What did it mean? He had often wondered if he was truly immortal. Now, it looked like he had gotten his answer. Richter lost another second reeling from that. He had been throwing himself into dangerous situations again and again. He’d known academically that he might not come back if he died, but knowing it and knowing it were two different things. It meant that one day he would die and never come back.

  Should he choose the extra lives? How many did he have left? What should he do? Richter wanted to scream but it would take too much time.

  1, …

  The counter ticked down to one second. Even confronted with truth of his mortality, Richter wasn’t one to shy from hard choices. He made his choice.

  Congratulations! You have chosen to receive the Ability: Feel of Chaos. You now have the ability to detect other nearby sources of Chaos. With your alignment of Chaotic (2) Neutral, you have reached the second rank of this ability.

  Rank 1: You may become aware of sources of Chaos within one hundred yards.

  Rank 2: You may become aware of sources of Chaos within two hundred yards. You can also perceive a vague sense of where the Chaos lies in relation to yourself.

  For making a Choice in the allotted time you are awarded: 2 Chaos points.

  Total Chaos Points: 124.

  Richter blinked. He didn’t have any complaints about the ability. It was what he had been hoping for. The detection capability seemed pretty nonspecific, but it was still way better than nothing. His choice has also given him some insight into his new alignment. The number qualifier “2” wasn’t just for show, it had real world implications. Already, his new ability had twice the range than it would have had otherwise.

  The decision now made, Richter took a moment and just tried to explore with his new ability. For long moments, he sat on the bed with his eyes closed. Searching. He didn’t feel a thing. Richter opened his eyes again. Either he didn’t know how to identify the “Feel of Chaos” or there weren’t any sources of Chaos within his range.

  He also realized it was possible that there were other factors at play. He had learned the hard way that his prompts only described ideal scenarios. The damage described by a poison, for example, might be less effective on certain races. Even his magic might be unreliable in certain scenarios. For all he knew, being physically close to the Great Seal, the physical manifestation of his Place of Power, made it harder to detect other types of magic.

  The chaos seed went back to examining the prompts.

  As the Catalyst for the Age of Chaos, you are Blessed by the Lords of Chaos. Your Catalyst Blessing awards you the following boons:

  1) +100% earned Chaos Points from any source

  2) One free purchase from the Sea of Chaos. You may use this at any time.

  3) +1 to the accessible stratum of the Sea of Chaos

  Richter considered what he had just read. It definitely explained some things. First, that he only should have gotten four chaos points for each level he reached. That made more sense. It suggested that the base number of Chaos Points he earned each level were due to his alignment. Of course, for everything he learned, there were still fifty thousand things he didn’t even know to ask questions about yet. What was a stratum? Who the hell were the Lords of Chaos? And what was a Catalyst? He was smart enough to have picked up the importance of that. As his gramps used to say, his head was more than just a hat rack.

  He also wondered if the Chaos Points he’d been awarded were because he had only had one second left to make his Choice. If that was true, deciding faster might prove beneficial in the future.

  From day one there were things he didn’t know, but always before, there was the hope that he could find the right person or the right book to explain things. He was no stranger to being in the dark, but this time it was even worse. The entire world, and everyone in it, was uncharted territory now. In regards to his Chaotic nature, Richter had a feeling that he would have to figure it out himself. The “Sea of Chaos” at least, was an easily answered mystery.

  Know This! As a Chaos Seed, you may access the Sea of Chaos. The benefits of this will be different every time the Sea is accessed. Your nature allows you to access the first two stratum of the Sea. Due to the Blessing of the Lords of Chaos, you may access one stratum deeper than your nature allows. Each level has more powerful offerings but they are more expensive as well. Would you like to access the Sea of Chaos? Yes or No?

  Richter quickly chose “Yes,” eager to see what his Chaos points could do.

  You have accessed the Sea of Chaos. The Sea contains everything that was, is, or could be. Choose wisely, for you may choose the Catalyst for your own death and salvation.

  You may reach the first stratum at a cost of 1 Chaos Point.

  You may reach the second stratum at a cost of 3 Chaos Points.

  You may reach the third stratum at a cost of 5 Chaos Points.

  Which level do you wish to access?

  Lips pursed in thought, he chose level one, and more prompts appeared.

  Total Chaos Points: 123

  These are the current offerings of the first Stratum of the Sea of Chaos:

  1st STRATUM OFFEREINGS

  Offering

  Chaotic Cost

  Traits

  Scroll of Summon Weak Chaotic Spirit

  2 points

  Summons a level 20 Chaotic Evil Spirit for one hour. Immune to physical harm. 17% chance the spirit will attack you. This is decreased by 5% for every point of evil alignment or chaotic alignment you possess.

  Scroll of Chaotic Melding

  3 points

  Allows the user to adopt one random trait from another nearby creature for 24 hours.

  Chaotic Dagger

  5 points

  Provides a dagger of +15 damage. Once unsheathed, it will disappear in 24 hours. If claiming the life of a Chaos seed, it will not only end their current life, but also an additional one of their respawns. Their rebirth time will be based on their new respawn count.

  Know This! No purchase is required. This window may be dismissed at any time, but it will last no longer than 7 minutes, sometimes less. The purchase price of accessing this level cannot be retrieved. Each time a stratum of the Sea of Chaos is accessed, the offerings are randomized and may never come again.

  Richter read over the prompt twice, excited about the possibilities. It was the last option that drew his gaze immediately. Every new magic and bit of Lore he had picked up since waking in The Land had been mentally applied towards a problem that was always at the back of his mind. What would he do if he met a hostile chaos seed? What could he do to remove a threat that could be continually reborn? He finally had an answer.

  It still wasn’t clear how many respawns a chaos seed had, or even if it was uniform for every chaos seed. One thing that was clear to Richter now though, was that there were a finite number. The earlier offer to give him more lives had hinted at that, but seeing a weapon purposely made to kill a creature like himself really drove it home.

  Richter was going to die one day.

  His gaze unfocused and he actually forgot about the prompt for a moment. A strange feeling was welling up inside of him, and it seemed important enough to give it his full attention.
It took about a minute to understand what he was experiencing. Though it had never been explicitly stated, he had thought he was immortal. Dying definitely sucked balls, there was no doubt about it, but still, he had taken risks with abandon. That fearlessness had stemmed in part from the belief that he’d always get another chance. That he could “Reset” and keep playing.

  Now he knew differently. Now he knew that at some point, he had an expiration date. The knowledge made Richter feel something, but he couldn’t pin it down at first. Fear flashed through him. That wasn’t a new sensation and wasn’t one he denied or ran from. Only morons lacked fear. At this point, it was an old friend and counselor that would never inhibit him, only guide him when needed. After that, he felt worry and panic, but those emotions swiftly flew beyond the boundaries of his consciousness like shooting stars. They were bright and poignant, but they faded quickly against the immensity of his primary emotion. What was left, was… exhilaration. He started grinning, as he received a gift that he hadn’t known he needed. An unnoticed hole that had been slowly siphoning his will was now filled. He was complete once more. Life mattered. Time mattered. He mattered!

  You have uncovered your fourth Quality!

  You are Impassioned!

  Though you have committed yourself to your new life in The Land, a small part of you quailed at the immensity of forever. Many would trade their very souls for an eternity on this plane, but it is only because they ignore or are ignorant of how being untouched by time means being untouched by life. Every sip of wine is slightly less rich; every breath slightly less vital; every embrace has just a touch less passion. The final consequence is inevitable: a heart that is as cold as stone. A small part of what you are railed against this curse, but this will not be your fate. You have rediscovered your mortality and with it, the core truth shared by all creatures that live and die. Simply put, Life is amazing and should be cherished with every breath! All your future actions will reflect this newfound passion for life and others will react positively to it. +5% to Movement and Attack Speed. +5% to Charisma.