Chapter 9: Meeting new friends

I woke up with my whole body hurting. Especially that wound on my shoulder is pulsing with a constant stabbing pain. I don’t know how many days have passed since the elven attack that almost killed me. The last thing I remember clearly is being shot by an arrow and then losing consciousness. After that everything is foggy. I vaguely remember that I was carried through the forest by someone, but it could have been just the hallucination caused by the pain and blood loss.

I’m sure that I woke up a few times, but it was only for a couple of seconds, before the combined pain from my wound and master’s soul core knocked me out again. If this happens each time I devour a soul core, I will need to be extra careful with choosing a safe location as I’m too vulnerable at that time.

As I’m trying to lift myself from the ground a new wave of pain is sent to my body. I clench my teeth and try to ignore it. The good thing is, I still have my daggers and cloak that I received from the master. They should make my journey at least a little easier. For the first time I check my shoulder wound and I can see a large scar that started to slowly form in its place. Somebody must have removed the arrow, because I don’t see it anymore. It was probably me while being delirious. When I try to move my shoulder the burning pain almost knocks me out again. Well whatever, I could use some healing magic that master previously cast on me, but for now I’m glad that I’m still alive.

I finally look around myself to see that I’m definitely out of the forest. The empty plains are stretching in every direction as far as I can see. There are some strange looking trees and bushes growing here and there. With the sickly looking brown leafs and a lot of hollow branches, they look more dead than alive, at least in comparison with the vegetation in the elven forest. The rocky ground with the dried grass has a hard feeling to it, probably because the sunrays can’t reach it as they are constantly blocked with thick clouds. Thanks to that everything has a greyish colour.

I’m almost certain that I’m in the Abandoned plains. I remember how master instructed me to cross them to get to the queen. He was right when he told me that after devouring his soul core a lot of previously unknown knowledge will suddenly pop up in my head. For example, I know I must go north-east and cross the Abandoned plains to reach the Lands of Shaytan and there Grimthorn, the capital city of the undead and demonata race, and also the fort of the demon queen. It’s a confusing feeling when the information just comes to you out of nowhere, like you read it in a book just a second ago.

It’s not just the path I should take, but a lot of other random things, like plants that are edible, monsters that should be relatively easy to kill, the anatomy of a few races that I didn’t even meet yet, their names and some of their abilities, some names of other lich-lords and I also learned some of master’s spells. They look very complicated and are surely deadly more for me than for my enemies. Master warned me about them, they would kill me if I’m not strong enough and try to cast them. I don’t even know their purpose.

Forget the specific spells; I don’t even know how to cast magic correctly. I heard master when he had done it previously, but I have my doubts that it will be as easy as it had seemed to be. Every few minutes something new shows up in my head. As I said, with this random knowledge coming to me, I’m starting to be very confused and my head is staring to hurt, but for now I’m thankful for every little help I can get.

Another strange thing is my new soul core. When I concentrate, I can feel how it is slowly pulsing near my heart. It’s sending the magical energy through my mana veins. They seem to be very similar to the blood veins with the exception of mana coursing through them. When needed, they are supposed to supply my spell casting with the necessary magical energy. I can also feel the soul core functioning like some kind of filter. As my body absorbs the mana from its surroundings, it concentrates in the soul core and there it is transformed to my own power.

I can tell, this process is quite slow and is called mana regeneration. Regretfully, master was very brief when he was explaining these things to me as he didn’t have a lot of time, so I’m not really sure how can I use this yet. When I try, I get the feeling of concentrating and moving my mana to my hands, but it dissipates quickly if I’m not careful with it.

While focusing on my inner body, I can feel some weak foreign presence. That must be the thing master transferred to me while dying and I must bring it to the queen. I think about betraying him for a second and going my own way, but it probably isn’t a good idea. I’m weak and even with some of his knowledge I still don’t know a lot about the world. Also, he told me that he can’t control my body but he never mentioned that he won’t be aware of what am I doing. I’m willing to bet that he has his methods to make my life hard even in his weakened state.

I almost forgot, I can use Status now and see some information about myself.

“Status.” As I said it a little bit of my mana poured to the spell and a weird window popped up before me.

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STATUS

Name: Malakhay

Race: Imp (lesser devil)

Affinity: neutral-chaos

Title: none

Class: none

Skill tree unlocked: none

Spell book: ?????

?????

?????

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So this is the Status master talked about. I can see some minor information about myself, but nothing really helpful for now. If master was correct I shouldn’t concern myself a lot with it and use its help only when I’m training my skills and spells. For now I don’t really have any, but that’s not a problem as they should appear with time, when I will be able to acquire a class. There are some spells listed in the Spell book section, but I can’t even read their names. They are probably from transferring the master’s soul to me and I shouldn’t use them as he instructed me. I would like to see the Status of some realm walker to know how much different we are, but I guess that would be impossible.

As I tried to concentrate on a specific thing in my Status, some additional information showed up:

Affinity – evaluation of your deeds and actions, and their influence on the world. It can lead to unlocking of special classes.

Class – a basic specification of the tree of skills and spells one trains in. More classes can be obtained simultaneously. After doing so, it unlocks skills one could use in the specific class. Skills can be same for some different, but similar classes or unique and specialized for the given class. By raising the class mastery one becomes more capable in it and new possibilities can be unlocked.

Oh well, standing here all day and looking at my Status won’t help me, so I slowly started walking towards the north-east. I just hope this won’t take too long as I want to be finished with my task as soon as possible.

***

It has been a few days now since I woke up for the first time in the Abandoned plains and started travelling through them. At first I didn’t really think it will be hard, but now I must admit I was wrong. My shoulder was almost healed, but I could still feel some minor pain from it when I tried to move it. Also my body finally calmed down, so my soul core was probably already stabilised and didn’t hinder me anymore. It was actually quite the opposite. Thanks to it, I could feel the mana steadily coursing through me now. I just wished I knew some spells which I could try, but I guess I will still need to wait for master or somebody else to teach me some.

Nights in this place came quickly and daytime was very short. The chilling wind was blowing continuously and there was nowhere to hide from it. It could get especially cold in the night, so my only option when resting was to dig a hole and hide in it. When the wind finally, occasionally stopped, a thick fog formed every time, worsening visibility to the minimum. If I didn’t know where I was going, I would have probably lost my way the very first day.

The biggest problem on my journey very quickly became food. I guess the name Abandoned plains wasn’t just for a show. It was an empty land and trying to find something edible was quite a challenge. The information that master provided to me said that these lands were the kingdom of humans a long time ago. They went to war with the undead and demonata under the pretext of some holy crusade. In the beginning they were quite successful, until the necromancers united and with the help of some evil god cursed the whole country. In a few days most of the vegetation dried up and died and what was left mutated and became mostly poisonous. The same thing happened to the animals. In the end, the nation that started the crusade crumbled from the inside and the humans were either killed or enslaved, with only a few people successfully fleeing from death.

This was my second day without any food and I was starting to become desperate. That was when I noticed that something black was coming in my direction. As I stared at it, the figure of a wolf showed up. It was bigger than me. The long, black fur looked ominous on it and his yellow eyes had a bloodthirsty look. If I’m not mistaken that’s a mad wolf, one of the animals that survived the curse and after mutating stayed in these lands.

It ran in a straight line at me. I know I can’t outrun it, I’m too slow with my small body, and I’m becoming really hungry, so my only chance is to fight. I readied my two daggers and prayed it’s starved enough to be weakened. When the mad wolf noticed that I was waiting for him and I didn’t try to flee, he started to bark and white foam created around his mouth. He was quick and dashed through the distance between us in just a few moments. When he was only a few meters from me, he leaped in his crazy speed with open jaws and readied claws. Not waiting for the impact I jumped to the side and barely dodged one of the sharp claws.

“I got you now.” Happy, and thinking that he made a mistake, I wanted to stab him from the back after he landed, but he was a lot quicker than I anticipated. The mad wolf turned around before I had a chance to do something and clawed at me again. From the surprise and fear I wanted to jump backward but one of his claws got stuck in my cloak as it ripped through it. As the cloth was ripping, I was tossed like a rag doll and hit the ground really hard. Before I had a chance to stand up, the mad wolf leaped again. This time he successfully landed on me, pinned me down and burrowed his fangs in my previously injured shoulder.

“Aaaaarrrgh!”

The pain from his bite was so bad I almost lost consciousness while I screamed and dropped one of my daggers. The wolf started to thrash his head from side to side as he tried to rip me apart and my blood flew everywhere, painting the surroundings in dark red colour.

“You little son of a bitch! I swear, I will take you with me you fucker!” I could hear my screams and more delirious than sane I started to stab at his head with the second dagger I still held in my healthy arm. I didn’t care about anything anymore at that moment. I just wanted to inflict as much pain as I could to that little bitch. I think I heard it yelp a few times but I still didn’t stop.

*STAB* *STAB* *STAB* *STAB* *STAB* *STAB* *STAB* As I stabbed, soon I could hear the squishy sounds of something wet, like when you are walking on the soaked ground in the rain. When I finally stopped, the head of the wolf was unrecognizable. My dagger could pierce even through his skull and its grey brain matter mixed with blood was slowly soaking the ground and my ragged cloak. The wolf’s eyes were now nowhere to be seen, only black holes in their stead.

With some work, I was finally able to escape from his jaws, the piercing pain still assaulting my almost bitten off shoulder, now with a part of the bone clearly visible. I slowly crawled to his belly, leaving a blood trail behind me and ripped him open with a few clumsy tries. His entrails and a lot of still warm blood spilled out as it bathed me, but I didn’t care. I started to look for his soul core and was able to find it near the heart. It was a lot smaller than the one the shadow lurker had, only the size of a candy, so swallowing it wasn’t a problem. After that I started to chew on his raw meat without minding the bad smell it produced. I was becoming very dizzy and delirious. I don’t know if it was from the blood loss, or because the foam in the wolf’s mouth was probably poisonous, or both, but soon after I started my feast I passed out again.

***

“What is this? Hey Larkus, come and have a look, I found something!” A loud shout was heard, as somebody was inspecting the corpse of the mad wolf.

“Don’t yell like an idiot when I’m right behind you.” Was the upset answer from Larkus, as he came closer to the lifeless body. “What? Are you so stupid that you can’t see it is dead, hmm Igmorg?”

“Not the wolf, but this.” Igmorg lifted the body of the imp with one hand as if it didn’t weigh anything.

“Oh, an imp, now that’s quite a rare sight these days.” Larkus started to nudge the body of the little creature with his index finger. “Hey you, still alive?”

“C’mon Larkus, can we take him? I always wanted some pet.” Igmorg pleaded, while slightly shaking with the imp.

“Only if it’s alive you idiot. Why would we drag a dead body with us?”

As Larkus said this, the imp started to slowly wake up. Opening his big round eyes Malakhay found himself grabbed by his wings. Remembering how Korpus almost killed him the last time he was held this way, he started to panic.

“Let me go!” His childish voice was heard as he tried to get out of Igmorg’s tight grasp.

“See, he’s alive, so could we take him?” Igmorg asked again, completely ignoring Malakhay’s attempts to get free.

“Sure, why not. I bet we can get a few coins for him, if we find somebody desperate enough to use him.”

Malakhay had a bad feeling when he heard this, so he tried to threaten the men that were holding him: “If you don’t let me go, my master will kill you.”

“And where is this master you speak of? I sure don’t see anybody around here.” Larkus wanted to know. He wasn’t so stupid as to take the summoned servant of some necromancer; that definitely wasn’t worth the trouble.

“Ha, my master is lich-lord Korpus and he sent me on an errand, so you better let me go if you don’t want to face his wrath.” Malakhay knew Korpus was powerful and a lot of people feared him, so he tried to use his master’s name.

“I see. So you are the servant of lord Korpus. That is certainly a completely different story. We will set you free right away.” Larkus signalled to Igmorg, who was still holding him, to put Malakhay down.

Feeling relieved that he was successful, Malakhay wiggled with his little wings as it was painful to being held by them. Not really paying attention, because he was trying to find his previously dropped daggers, he didn’t see a kick coming his way. Just as he was looking around, Larkus’s feet connected with his head and sent him flying. Not prepared for it, he was hit with the full force of the attack and found himself on the ground once again.

“You-little-piece of-shit-who-do-you-take-me-for-?” Larkus was yelling at him, while kicking and stomping at him continuously. “You think I’m an idiot? Somebody like a lich-lord will never need such garbage as you. Little fucker.”

“Stop! Let me go!” Malakhay cried again, uselessly trying to defend from the painful kicks.

“I have enough of this stupid creature. Igmorg, shut him up and throw him with the troll.”

“But Larkus I want to keep him as a pet.” Igmorg protested, again lifting Malakhay with one hand.

“Can’t you see he is problematic? I bet that if you will let him, he will try to steal your weapon, stab you and flee. Do you really want that, to be stabbed?”

“No.”

“Then do what I told you without complaining for fucks sake. I promise I will buy you some other pet in the next town. So shut that little garbage finally up.”

“Okay.” Igmorg nodded his head. The last thing Malakhay saw was a large fist, which hit him in the face and he passed out again. Seeing the imp stopped his trashing, Igmorg took him with them as they started to return to a small caravan of five carriages. Four of them loaded with steel cages full of other humans and creatures.

“Here, a new friend for you.” Opening one of the cages, Igmorg tossed Malakhay inside and shut the door behind him.

Larkus returned to the first carriage and jumped to the driver’s seat.

“Ha, saying he is a lich-lords servant. The little shit thinks he is funny.” He said to himself, chuckling at the idea. Seeing the imp is safely locked in the cage he stood up and yelled to the rest of the caravan: “C’mon you scum, MOVE! We don’t have a whole fucking day and the fucking money won’t earn itself alone.”

***

As the caravan slowly moved through the Abandoned plains, Malakhay started to wake up. The rattling of the carriage didn’t really help his beaten body. Again feeling the aching of every bone, he was hurting all over. When he finally remembered what had happened to him, he jerked up from his sleep and started to look around in panic. Seeing he was locked in some cage, he became terrified. Trying to get out, he was jerking with the steel bars of his cage, but they didn’t even budge.

“It’ useless my little friend, if those steel bars could be so easily removed I would have escaped already.” Malakhay heard the voice from the corner of the cage. Surprised that he isn’t alone, Malakhay looked at the owner with fear shoving in his eyes. He found a troll siting on the wooden floor of the carriage. With a height little over two meters, slim athletic muscles packed on his body, light blue skin, long pointy nose and two large tusks protruding from his mouth, the troll looked like bad news.

“You don’t need to fear me. I will not hurt you, but I’m sure they will.” The troll said, leisurely pointing at the guards accompanying the caravan.

Malakhay, not responding, made him smile a little.

“I don’t trust you. Stay away from me!” Malakhay showed his hostility, but still backed away.

“As I said, I won’t hurt you. They gave you some good lynching, but let me give you some warning my little friend, the real torture will just come.”

“I’m not your friend!”

“Oh yes you are. The moment you were tossed in here, you took half of my torture on your shoulders, so you are my friend.”

Malakhay really didn’t like how that sounded. When he wanted to ask the troll how he meant it, the cage opened and the thick arm of an orc grabbed him by the throat. He couldn’t even scream as he was held tightly and was starting to suffocate. Hitting the hand of the orc was pointless with his strength and the orc didn’t even budge. He was being brought to a single steel pole not far away from where the caravan camped for the night.

“As I said, half of my misery now belongs to you my friend.” The troll said to the now empty cage, not smiling anymore.