Chapter 34 Some Gave All

Sliding into a booth I sat for a moment thinking about what I had seen. The Dark God was something that I had not seen before and it was frightening. I have been exposed to Gods and powerful entities since I had started playing Gods and Men, yet I had never encountered anything like this. As I sat there musing about what I had seen Nyx slid into the bench opposite me and waved her hands.

“There,” She said. “Now we won’t be disturbed. I can see that you are troubled Torn and I wish I could reassure you, but I can’t. The Dark God has entered your realm and while his power is still acclimatizing he is more than you can handle, after all, he is a God.”

“How the Hell did he get here, “I began. “If the barrier between the realms is getting that weak why have we not seen other Gods arrive?”

Nyx spoke softly and said, “There are several reasons why he was able to be summoned and managed to get here, first the Gods of this realm are imprisoned in a sphere of stone from which they cannot escape. Without them here to oppose this Dark God he has no opposition. Second, most Gods are content with what they have, why leave a realm where you rule supreme to go fight and possibly die in a strange realm.”

As I listened I felt like I was being hit below the belt and it hurt, I would be damned if I was going to justify why I had imprisoned the Gods of this realm, they were Dickheads at best and the world was better without them. But the power vacuum that they had left was slowly being filled with bad people and things like this Dark God, and that damned BanHammer.

It was time to step up and try to deal with these problems, and I was the person to do it. After all, If I died I could come back, again. What I would find left from the upcoming war and the shadowy forces that were coming forth I did not even want to speculate on.

Looking at Nyx I asked, “What can I do, I am prepared to do whatever it will take but I don’t want to throw my life away here, I want to kill or send this SOB back where he came from and shut the fucking door. How can I do that?”

Nyx stared at me and then sighed, looking sad she said, “There is one way and only one way to defeat this God, another God must kill him. Unfortunately, I am limited in this realm to minor magics. I cannot defeat him. However, if you obey me and do exactly what I say, I can empower you to kill him. It will require a sacrifice on both our parts and there is no guarantee of success but it is the only plan that might have a chance to work. What say you, will you stand with me against this Dark God?”

I looked at Nyx and nodded, I would do my best and hope that it was enough. Nyx smiled at me and said, “I will meet you at the battle, and remember you must do what I tell you if we are to have a chance her.”

“Nyx,” I asked how or why is this happening, not just this Dark God showing up but the war that is coming and even the darkness that seems to have spread across this land?”

Looking at me Nyx slowly replied, “Things have been in motion for a long time, and are speeding up, some of us who have not forgotten who we are have speculated that once it was decided to have mankind enter VPS in the real world a splinter group did the same. They created a mirror of the original realms, and kept it hidden, their intent was always to eventually merge the realms. They took their time and grew in strength while we the Gods grew complacent. Now they are seeing the opportunity and are trying to seize the moment in this time of weakness.”

I nodded the information seemed to fit the big picture and while it did help me to understand what was happening it did not help me to know how to change the future. One step at a time I thought. Nyx smiled at me and then faded into the Shadows and was gone.

Standing up I made my way outside and walked over to Ingar who had been put in charge of mounting a defense. I stared as he directed small groups to find weapons and evacuate the village. Of the men in the village about 20 would fight with us, the rest were packing up families and preparing to flee.

Reona and Tasia were acting as Ingar’s lieutenants and while it did seem to be a mass of confusion there was a clear order that was slowly revealing itself. Within half an hour Ingar and the other guards from the Caravan along with Reona, Tasia and myself plus the 20 men from the village were walking up the hill. If we had to fight it would be on high ground and really it was the most likely spot that we would be attacked at.

The men quickly started some fires for warmth, soon the day would be upon us but I remembered the coldness that emanated from the Dark God. The fires would help even if only psychologically. As I stood there Tasia handed me my armor and began to put her own on, as did Reona. I checked my maces and other gear, just wasting time as we waited, but it gave me something to do.

I noted that most of the others were doing the same, getting ready to fight a God was enough to make anyone nervous. As the Dawns prelight began to spread across the land, a growing darkness could be seen approaching from the west. Soon we could hear battle shouts also, it would seem that the Dark God had found some people to join him.

Within minutes the bottom of the hill was occupied by a combination of 20 Goblins and Orcs. They stood there jeering at us with taunts and threats some even turning around and showing us their hairy asses. It seemed surreal and it reminded me of an old movie scene. Abruptly the sound died away as the 3-meter-tall figure of the Dark God appeared. He stopped and seemed to stare at us and when his eyes focused on me He let out a huge roar.

Ingar meanwhile was shouting at the men, “We must stop the Orcs and Goblins, if they make it past us they will attack all the people fleeing.” Turning to me he shrugged and said, “I hate to leave this at your feet, but it is up to you to try to stop big ugly down there.”

I nodded it was my plan to engage the Dark God in combat alone anyway, plus I had my secret weapon Nyx. I was not sure what was going to happen but I knew that either the Dark God or myself would be standing at the end, and I sure hoped it would be me.

The two groups stared at each other for a moment then the enemy began to charge up the hill. “Hold your arrow ready,” Ingar screamed, “Let them come up half way before you fire at them, as soon as the arrows are fired, the spears must be thrown.”

I nodded it was a good plan, we had the high ground and with 10 bowmen, hunters from the village firing, plus the spears that the rest of the men would throw we had a good chance to knock out a sizeable number of the enemy.

The attack went according to plan and we decimated the enemy. Between the bowmen and the spearmen attacking we soon had about 8 of the green-skinned brutes left rushing to close in for hand to hand combat. Ingar’s guards shined here as they met the attack head on and with the help of the villagers we soon began to cut down the enemy.

It was still mortal combat and I winced as I saw two of the villages with mortal wounds, but as I gazed down at the bottom of the hill I knew it was now time to get into the action. The Dark God had let his troops rush up the hill, probably thinking that they were enough to defeat us. Once he saw that they had failed in their attack he began to stride up the hill with darkness flowing off his arms and a terrible look on his face.

Suddenly Nyx was beside me and as I started down the hill she shouted, “Get your swords ready and change into your Dragon form, your Elf body is not strong enough to handle what will happen.”

I pulled both of my swords from my arms and then metamorphed into a dragon, I was still humanoid but much more recognizable as a Dragon. With a thought, I sent out my elbow claws as well as my hand claws and then roared with a fury that matched that of the Dark God.

I was aware that the sounds of victory coming from the men behind me had faded as they witnessed my transformation. Not that it would have mattered if I had known, I was focused on one thing. Suddenly all around me the Diggerduggers appeared and began to pop up from the earth and dive back into it.

The Dark God had stopped his advance upon seeing my transformation but quickly started up the hill again, closing with me at an incredible speed. We were about to engage when Nyx once again appeared and threw out her hands causing Shadows to surround the and block the Dark God.

Walking towards me she said, “Those will not hold him long, so now is the moment that you must do what I say. Take your swords and thrust them into me.” Then reaching out she grabbed both swords and stabbed them into her own chest.

Double Crit

Bleed effect

I read as I stared in horrified shock at Nyx who stood with a wan smile as she looked down at the swords. “Nyx, what are you doing?” I yelled as I watched her standing there.

She looked at me and smiled then said, “I am giving you the power to defeat this abomination, you must defeat him to continue.” She then reached out her hand and touched my armor and whispered some kind of a blessing on it. Then with a sigh she was gone, her body had literally turned into shadows and traveled up both swords.

The Swords suddenly flew together and began to change, and in the space of a heartbeat there was once sword, shadows seemed to drip from it and it felt alive in my hands, without knowing why I lifted the sword and said, “I name thee, Godslayer.” The sword hummed in my hands and I felt a vague presence in the back of my mind.

I also became aware that I had received another essence of a higher being, and as Nyx’s soul bound itself to the three lesser souls and to my soul I shuddered as my very being began to change. The code that this avatar was made of began to change, and I was helpless to stop it.

A new window opened up and I read,

You have received the first of three higher souls.

By receiving two more you will be accepted into the Pantheon of the Gods as an equal.

The choice is yours to become one of the Higher Powers with your ascension or stay as a normal deity.

I brushed that window away only to discover another window had opened which read,

You have entered an open-air battleground all earned xp doubled for participating and tripled for winning.

You have killed a God, you have leveled up, you have leveled up, you have leveled up…

I quickly closed that window, the time to look at that would be later if I could survive this battle.

The dark chains of Shadows that Nyx had cast were rapidly been torn asunder as the Dark God raged and roared. Everything that had happened had only taken seconds and had all been hidden under the veil of darkness the Nyx had surrounded us with.

I began to rush at the Dark God half flying half running moving at incredible speed the shadow sword Godslayer held in front of me. Just as I was about to close with the Dark God the Diggerduggers went into action.

While the Dark God’s focus was on me they dived below the surface and then suddenly thrust themselves upwards straight into his feet and legs, sending sharp jagged stones into his flesh. As he screamed in pain and rage he stumbled forward, his legs and feet held fast to the ground by the sharp jagged bedrock.

Both of his legs fractured under his weight and momentum and he thrust his hands forward to stop his head from hitting the ground. As he looked up at me with hatred in his eyes I thrust Godslayer straight into his left eye and into his brain.

Triple crit

Bleed effect

I quickly pulled the sword out and thrust it into his right eye and once again read,

Triple crit.

Bleed effect.

The Dark Gods body began to jerk and thrash around, I had killed his brain, but the rest of the body did not know it yet. Pulling the sword out of his eye I swung using all my strength and severed his head from his body. Standing there I suddenly felt Godslayer begin to devour the essence of the Dark God. As I stood there the sword then began to pass on to me his soul, and once again a window opened and I read,

You have received the second of three higher souls.

By receiving one more you will be accepted into the Pantheon of the Gods as an equal.

The choice is yours to become one of the Higher Powers with your ascension or stay as a normal deity.

This time the changes were more painful and almost overwhelmed me I could feel who I was beginning to fade away as the code was being rewritten. I seemed to stand off at a distance as I watched the fiber of who I am and what I am changed as my very soul began to assimilate the new code. I was suddenly aware that there was a very real chance that I might not be me anymore and I began a titanic struggle to keep my identity.

This lasted for an eternity and I almost lost the struggle but eventually, I became myself and could feel my body and the world come back into focus. Eventually, I blinked and looked around, I was surrounded by Reona and Tasia who were supporting me. Standing facing me was Ingar and his guards and surrounding them were the men from the village.

AS I looked around I saw fear on many faces, and turning to Tasia I asked, “What the hell happened?

Tasia looked at me with a pale face and said, “You somehow managed to kill the Dark God, and then it was if a living shadow descended on you. Lightning was flickering from within the darkness and yet nothing was visible. Once that all faded away you were here kneeling on the ground holding that sword.”

I glanced down at my hand and could see Godslayer, taking a step forward I swung the sword across my back where it just seemed to turn into Shadows as the Roses and Thornes quickly spread across my back and sheathed it. Turning to look at Reona I asked, “What else happened?”

Reona looked at me and then said, “You are now human or at least half human by the look of you, in addition, you are now level 30. Also, you do not register as one of the races in this realm, your status declares you to be an Ascended one, a demigod. Your name is now displayed for all to see as Tor. I am sorry, everyone now knows who you really are now.”

I nodded, it could not be helped, I would look at my interface later and see what I could do to hide who and what I was. Turning to look at the men I said, “Are they here to attack me or to thank me?”

Ingar strode forward and said, “They will not attack you but runners have already been sent to and returned from the village, you have been summoned to answer to the headman and council.”

What about you Ingar, where do you now stand with me?” I asked softly.

Ingar bowed his head and then stiffly said, “I owe my life to you as do us all, yet the King’s commands are clear, you are not to be recognized if you should ever return, in addition, you are declared personae non gratae within the Kingdom of humans.”

I could hear one of the villagers ask, “What does that mean?”

Turning to him I said, “it means I am to be considered a person not appreciated within the Kingdom. So be it.” My face was grim as I looked at all the people I had just saved who were now turning their backs on me.

I thrust out my hand to Ingar and said, “The provisions within our deal are now active, Reona and Tasia are now your business partners. In addition, I expect that they will be given all honor and dues as your partners. Am I clear.”

Ingar looked in my eyes and then hurriedly looked away and said, “Yes, of course, I would never think otherwise.”

I relaxed I knew he was a good man and would not default on the girls. Turning to Reona I said, “I am sorry Reona it would seem my usefulness to you is now at an end. Leaning closer I whispered I would encourage you to continue onward with Tasia acting in my place.” Seeing her nod, I gave her a quick hug and then said, “I will be close by, it seems the Dwarven Kingdom is the only place I will be welcome at.”

I then looked back over at the place of my battle with the Dark God, there was only some stones of bedrock brought up from the depths by the Diggerduggers when they had attacked. I knew that they had not survived, but the sacrifice they had made had allowed my victory to happen.

I walked over to the stones and knelt down, placing a hand on the largest pile I softly spoke, “Some give all for others, and no one knows or appreciates the sacrifice that has been made, I do and I won’t forget you.”

With that, I felt a wave of power come from me and I realized that a new spell had become available to me the interface window opened and I read,

You have received the essences of non-ascended beings along with that of the Dark God, by giving their lives for you freely you have received the earth mage ability.

Earth magic now flows within you,

Spells,

Earthmover,

The ability to move large amounts of earth dependent upon your mana.

Earth guardian,

The ability to create a Gollum of Earth that is alive and will follow your leadership.

Dig Deep,

The ability to go deep into the earth to bring forth and shape the living rock for your benefit.

I stared in amazement and then suddenly knew what to do.

With my hand on the stones, I cast Earth guardian and closed my eyes, pouring out as much mana as I could and willing the stone to receive a small measure of myself within it. With my eyes still closed I felt the ebb and flow of power between the earth and myself.

Finally opening my eyes, I stared at what I had created, on a pillar that stood 5 meters tall and one meter thick was a Dragon, made of pure black stone, he stood on top of the pillar and gazed off into the distance. Suddenly he turned and looked down at me, his eyes were as mine are, made of living flame. I could hear a gentle voice in my head speaking, “Master, you have brought us to life and we will continue to serve you.”

I was startled for a moment, for the thoughts and feelings belonged to that of the Diggerduggers. I recognized them and was certain that I had somehow transferred some of their essences back into the Gollum, the living stone Dragon I had created.

The pillar was warm to the touch and then with a huge down blast of hot air the creature was flying, how something that must have weighed over 3 tons could fly was beyond me. The magic of the game I thought as I stared at the receding Dragon.

Turning I glanced at all the men, most were pale and a few were clearly keeping their distance from me. This kind of thing is not scripted in the game world I guessed. They would recover and have an amazing story to tell their children. I gestured up the hill and began to walk with the men forming a loose circle around me.

Ass we crested the hill I thought back it had only been yesterday that we had arrived, so much had happened since I had sung at the wedding. I consoled myself with the fact that I had managed to save the village with only two causalities. It was small consolation as I knew what would come next.

Standing in the middle of the village square was the headman and the council with the rest of the village residents standing behind them. They stared at me with curiosity and fear, some with loathing and hatred. I stopped in front of the headman and waited, he had summoned me he could begin this charade.

Clearing his throat, the headman looked at me and asked, “You who we had known as Torn, are you the Demon Tor come to afflict suffering upon mankind and despair throughout the human kingdom?”

I stood in silence, no matter what was spoken here I already knew the outcome. If we were in a large enough city I would have been imprisoned but here in this small village, I was about to be cast out.

The headsman looked at me and then nodded and said, “Bring the wine, the salt, and the oil.” I stood there waiting for a small table was hurriedly erected in front of me, on it were placed flagons of wine and oil and a bowl of salt.

Walking over to me the headman lifted the wine and said for all to hear, “This is the wine that represents peace and prosperity for home and hearth, what all men desire. Then pointing to me he said, “May this man have none of these blessings here,” and with that, he poured the wine out onto the ground. Grabbing the oil, he lifted it high and said, “This oil represents our connection to this land to our king and to our Gods. May this person never be anointed with the oil and welcomed into the fellowship of man. Then he poured it out onto the packed stones of the courtyard.

Finally, he grabbed the salt and lifting it he pointed at me and said, “This salt represents the toil of a man who by the salt of his blood and the toil of his sweat has worked the land and brought forth abundance.” Then dumping the salt onto the ground, he stared at me and said, “May this man never have success in the kingdom of man. You are an outcast and runners have been dispatched to the nearest town with a guard detachment, I expect your head will adorn the King’s walls soon enough.”

Turning he began to walk away from me as did all the villagers and Ingar and his men. I turned to the girls and smiled as I blinked back an angry tear or two. “You two better join them or the damn King well be after you also.” I ignored their protestations as I walked towards the road, I knew that they had to shun me also or they would be under suspicion.

I finally stopped and taking a chance I gave them each a hug and a kiss then said, “Go back, Ingar is a good man and will help you, we will meet in the Dwarven kingdom.” Stepping into the Shadows I faded from view and then made my way around them and back towards town.

I had noticed that the headman had a lot of gold jewelry on, far more than someone who collects and pays the taxes and tithes for this small village could be expected to have. The monies to pay for all that bling-bling had to come from somewhere and I suspected he had a nice little chest full of stolen taxes.

I had just been thrown out of the Human kingdom with nothing, and I was thinking that some of that stolen gold was going to be useful to me after I acquired it, which should be easy after all my class is the Thief.