Benjamin Vryce

Benjamin came back to himself slowly. He didn’t know how long he had been out, but judging from his core, it had been a while. Looking at the core that had been down to mere vapors when he lost consciousness, he was surprised to see he had nearly fully recovered. The darkness of chaos and the starlight of creation essences had blended closer together as well.

He furrowed his brow and looked at his slowly rotating core. his best guess was that being depleted to near nothingness simultaneously; and refilling together at the same rate, had allowed the essences to blend deeper into one another. There was still a separation between the two halves of his core, but the blended section in the middle had grown.

Pulling back his mental view, he took in the state of his soul. Nyx had blended into it without incident it seemed. Her pattern was huge though, taking up nearly as much space alone as the two goblins and hive had combined. There might be enough room left for a small creature or some gear, but that was it. His soul had once again reached its capacity.

He was ok with that; he hadn’t been equipped to deal with so many units at once anyway. A few powerhouses that could think for themselves would be of more use to the way he liked to do battled, versus a few dozen weaker ones who needed constant supervision. He opened his eyes into his void space at last. Seeing Ice’s bulk taking up much of his field of view.

As he moved, shifting position to rise, she got up and moved out of his way. when he had finished straightening up to his full height, he looked around for the demon noble he had captured and remade. He spotted her as Ice moved aside, the she wolf had been sitting between him and Nyx. That worried him, was she concerned about an attack, had he done something wrong again?

She had been seated cross-legged in front of Ice, but as he came into view she rose to her feet as well. He looked her over, checking out his work; she had added mass, looking more like the muscular goblins now. He was happy to see that she had maintained her full height, however. Standing at six feet tall and with her new bulkier frame, she looked a lot like he did now.

Well, not exactly like him. She had red skin, batlike wings, dark s curved horns that must be at least eight inches long. There were other things as well; but her body shape and musculature, shoulder width and stance, she looked more like he did now than anyone else he had met besides the Erlking. that was of course, due to the fact that he had reshaped his body to be more like the animalistic form of the World lord by accident.

He realized he’d been staring, when Nyx shifted under his gaze. He looked into her ice blue eyes, they were confused and uncertain, but held a determination he hadn’t seen in them before. He hoped again that he hadn’t made a mistake by recreating her. Giving her form another once over; he debated whether or not he should make her a new set of soft hides, she had filled out more than he had expected and these were stretched tightly across her frame.

“Master?” The word brought him back to his senses again, his eyes refocused and jumped back to hers. Frowning he debated on telling her he wasn’t her master. He held back though, she needed to follow his orders and letting her think to freely wasn’t a good idea.

“Are you ready to fight for me, Nyx?” he asked, after a long internal struggle. He watched as the confusion and uncertainty disappeared from her expression, replaced entirely by determination.

“Yes, Master. I am.” She replied, lowering her head as she spoke.

“Good, I will put you to rest now. When I call again be prepared for battle.” With that, he dismissed her to retake her statue like pose, there but unaware and unresponsive.

“That wasn’t necessary, Benjamin.” The mental voice of Ice was full of reproach as she spoke into his mind, “I have been speaking with her at length, her mind is in turmoil but she will be loyal to you.” she continued, butting her snout into his shoulder in a gentle rebuke.

“I know, I just…she…” he trailed off, he didn’t know how to say what was on his mind. she wasn’t the same demon who had murdered so many of his companions, but when he saw her standing there all he saw were their dissolving bodies in his mind.

“I understand my rider,” Ice said. Bumping his shoulder again with her nose. “I miss them too; but after talking with her for some time, I now believe you were correct. She is powerful, and our pack needs that power now. I fear the battles will only grow more difficult the more time that passes.”

It was the longest speech he had heard from her to date. So, he had to listen if she felt so strongly about it. He would bare her words in mind, because deep down he knew she was right. That was why he had reforged her after all, he needed her strength and knowledge.

The rest of the trip passed uneventfully. He never woke Nyx up, even though he knew he should have been asking her about the demons who were entering the universe. Instead, he focused on his cultivation and creating minor patterns for practice. When the trip finally ended, he was relieved. Between his withdrawal to mourn and this trip, he had spent months in this small yet infinite void.

* * *

Opening his eyes into reality was again a jarring experience. The area he had arrived at was much like the trial room he started in when he ran the Shipwright’s trial. The air was heavy with the smell of oil and hot metal. It hadn’t hit him this hard last time he was here, of course his nose had improved a lot. He had also spent much of the last few months on the Erlking’s worlds and he was a World Lord who loved nature.

“Damn this place smells like shit,” Jade announced her arrival with those words. Standing next to him with her hand over her nose, Tok coming into existence behind her.

“Hello, Jade. Yes, it is nice to see you again after weeks apart.” Benjamin said with false hurt in his voice. As he too drew Ice into existence beside himself.

“Boo hoo, Vice. Like you had anything to complain about, you probably spent the last few weeks in the sack with the green girlie. Maybe next trip you can send the Viking over to me, so I can have some fun to.” She added waggling her eyebrows at him. “Where are they anyway?” she added when he didn’t bring them out.

At her words, Ice growled softly raising her hackles. Benjamin felt his chest tighten up a little as well at the mention of his long dead goblin friends. Was it possible that she didn’t know? Benjamin was a little shocked by that, he supposed she had been fighting for her life and sanity when it happened.

“They’re dead, Jade. The red queen, the blue king, Stomper, Honor and…Grace.” He said their names aloud slowly, having to pause before he uttered Grace’s name. “The demon noblewoman who came through with the gargoyles got them all.” he finished, wishing she had already known. The pain would be fresh for her now, and he would have to relive it again.

She stood there for a long time, just staring at him. He wondered what she was thinking when she didn’t respond right away. Eventually she walked over to him and, standing on tiptoe lightly kissed his cheek and gave him a hug. The gesture startled him, but there was nothing sexual about her actions only comfort so he let her do it.

“I am sorry Benjamin,” she said using his first name for what he thought might be the first time. “I saw the loss in your eyes before…you probably don’t want to talk about it now, but if you do…I will be here for you.” with those words, she backed away from him and looked around.

He was grateful, truly touched by her words. Maybe she had grown as a person after all. This place could easily change who a person was, perhaps…

“The fuck is that smell?” she repeated, “you know what, it reminds me of this guy I had a thing with at a body shop one time.”

He shook his head, there might be more to this girl than he thought but she was still who she was. For Benjamin, that wasn’t a bad thing either. He thought about everything he had been through since he died back on earth. He had lost track of the number of times he had been killed or maimed; normal people couldn’t deal with that. So, her being a little off had probably saved her sanity here.

“That’s basically where we are,” he said at last. “We’re on a space station, a huge ball of metal and wire, glass and gears floating up in the vacuum of space.” He finished, finally looking around himself.

He had been right; it was nearly identical to the room he had been dropped into before. It was a storage locker, filled nearly to bursting with drones of all types. It was kind of nostalgic, looking at the machines. If he had done better; finished that trial, perhaps he never would have been sent to the Erlking. He would have never met the goblins, or found the acorn. That train of thought ground to a halt, with that realization.

“Greetings champions of the Erlking.” came a heavily synthesized voice. “I regret that I couldn’t come in person…well avatar I suppose…but there are many demands on my attention.”

Benjamin found the floating screen that contained the image of the Shipwright. He looked the same as ever.

“What the hell is that thing? I didn’t sign up to be the play toy of no tentacle monsters, Vice.” She said looking at the screen. “I’ve seen this show before thank you and the girl always get screwed…and I mean that how it sounded.”

Benjamin looked at her in mild surprise, did Jade watch anime? She didn’t seem the type, but who was he to judge he’d ‘seen that one’ too and she had a point.

“That’s the Shipwright, Jade. I did my first trial under him, when I failed, he traded me to the Erlking for some other guy.” Benjamin said, by way of explanation.

“Right, right.” Jade said nodding her head along with him, then. “Wait…you failed your trial?” she said laughing and pointing at him.

He sighed, here he was worrying that she was going to treat him differently because he had lost someone, although now that he thought about it, she had lost Tik too and he hadn’t said a word about it. Perhaps he shouldn’t be so judgmental and try practicing what he preached. Looking at the little blonde bent double and still laughing hysterically, he figured now wasn’t the time.

“Right, anyway. Hi Shipwright, what can you tell us?” he said. Deciding to ignore her entirely. If the rift was already open then they needed to move, whatever local forces the demons were engaged with likely weren’t as formidable as the autumn hive had been.

“Yes, hello again Mr. Vryce.” The octopus looking metal monster said from the screen. He waved one of his limbs and a satellite dish opened up and panned around before closing again, not having done anything that Benjamin could see. “Had I known you weren’t a huge failure I would have kept you, but honestly I still like Frank better.”

Benjamin didn’t know if that was a genuine insult or if the Shipwright just didn’t have the best communication skills. He had turned himself into a machine from a living being at some point in the last several million years so who really could say.

“Thank you, I guess.” He said back, with a shrug.

“Yes, well anyway. My security drones are currently engaged with the manifestation of corruption on the station. I cannot linger here; I have to direct the battle or my station world will be over run before you can close the rift.” He said, tentacles flailing around like crazy.

“I understand,” Benjamin said, “just tell us what you can and we will help you.” these World Lords were a difficult bunch to communicate with, he hoped he wasn’t this insane when he got to be over a million years old.

“Yes, I am sending a guide to you now. It will take you to the rift, unfortunately I couldn’t get you any closer then this due to chaotic interference with the portal so you will have to make your own way there.”

“Like, how far away are we Hentai guy?” Jade chimed in, from where she had sat down on the floor. She had to loosen a buckle on her blood red leather armor to let her breathe after her fit.

“Hentai guy?” the Shipwright said, “I am unfamiliar with that, ah…. yes, a quick search of my human network has brought the meaning to me. I apologize Miss Benz; I can see from your current attire that you wished to court me due to my many satisfying limbs. I am afraid that I must decline your invitation however, there is a war on after all.”

It was Benjamin’s turn to have a fit of hysterical laughter, and Jades turn to glare at him.

“Ah, your guide has arrived. They will explain the rest to you, I am afraid I really must go.” The screen winked out of existence as a hatch slid open with a whooshing noise behind the pair. They turned around and caught sight of their ‘guide’ for the first time.