The cold stone of the prison was refreshing after that long flight in the great outdoors. Sometimes I forgot that I was a shut-in at heart. I missed Misty's screams, but I didn't regret killing him. I walked down the hall to Oblivion's cell. He'd better be done with those statues by now. As his cell came into view, I realized that he'd done as I asked; two aquatic, sub-terrestrial, and aerial species.
The first aquatic species resembled a mermaid, which was what he'd tried to pass off the first time, with a few key differences. Instead of a fish's tail, it was the lower half of a snake with the fin of an eel going all the way down the spine. Since the male's mouth was open, I could see that his mouth was a maw of serrated teeth, similar to a shark. Apart from those two things, and the gills rippling his neck, he looked human. The eyes were still blank spheres because Oblivion didn't work in color. I hoped that wouldn't be the case for the real species. The other aquatic species was like nothing I'd ever seen before. The mouth was oriented in a perpetual frown, like a fish, and he had a fin on the top of his head that resembled a Mohawk more than anything, but the rest of him was a skinny man with webbed hands on the ends of each ridiculously long limb. It was crouched, so it looked even more like a frog than it would normally. I couldn't figure out if his limbs were oversized, or his torso was undersized. "I thought you'd prefer species that can exit the water, seeing as how you hated my fish man."
Frankly, I was amazed he had the imagination to create these species. They looked more like monsters than npcs. The first aerial species had me thinking he'd made three aquatic ones until I saw the female. The male had his wings folded, so they looked like arms with fins. Huge bat ears extended from their temples, proving without a doubt where the inspiration for them stemmed. Their mouths were full of blade-like tiny teeth, again reminiscent of a bat. Their feet were paws, though, breaking the semi-humanistic appearance. The other aerial species was more what I'd expected, a bird's head on human shoulders with eagle wings extending from the shoulder blades. The rest was human except for the talons extending from their fingers and the bird feet gouging into the stone they stood on.
I had to commend Oblivion's skill. He was a true artist. Where he really shone, though, was in the digging species. The first looked like it could be a golem of some sort. It definitely looked close enough to stone that I couldn't imagine it with flesh. It would almost be a pity to give the little monsters armor, as they looked hard enough to kill without any at all. The other was based on a worm, but it was still humanoid. He showed the transformation between digging machine and humanoid in the variations between the male and female statues. The male had his mouth open all the way, pushing back the membrane of his face to make way for the gaping maw filled with layer after layer of wicked teeth. The female's mouth was barely open, showing the hungry fangs all the way back into her throat, but a normal…ish upper face. The body appeared to have no bones but the teeth, as far as I could tell.
"Do those have no bones? I would think that's a major weakness." If a player couldn't brace the shield, it would simply make a sharp blow into a blunt force. If they couldn't brace anything, they'd have to be constantly attacking. A major weakness.
"They don't have any bones, but they don't need them. You're forgetting magic. It will keep them strong when they want to and fluid if that's what they want. I designed them on an animal I heard of from one of the players I met during my training, an octopus. She said that they could fit their entire body in a tiny can, or squeeze through a crack a human would barely be able to fit their pinky through. Same basic principle. Except these can dig when they want to." I opened the cage and walked around the boneless statue. It had eight limbs. Four arms and four legs, each with five "fingers" at the end. I could see it living beneath the earth or beneath the ocean, either way it was a viable creature. He had a point, I hadn't been thinking of magic when I wondered at their defensive capabilities. I was a cloud, yet I held a firm physical form whenever I wanted to. They could also incorporate anchors into their equipment, that would work as well.
Oblivion had done good work. Too bad I didn't have the cities built yet. Those would take time. And since my war against Heaven and Camelot wouldn't start until I owned Hell, I had all the time in the world. Except for the aerial species. I'd start them immediately. I needed to make it look like I was trying to keep Heaven away from me by force.
First, though, I'd need to finish up with Oblivion. I was done waiting, and I didn't want to give him the satisfaction of making the good statues. "Would you like to live, Disgrace?" Oblivion's eyes widened. He'd been assuming his reward for finishing would be a quick death. Normally, he'd be right. Technically, he still was. He didn't have to know that. "I can't hear you, Disgrace. Would you like to live?"
"Yes. I would love to live. I would love to live next to Cassie even more." So that was her name. I glanced at the trembling woman in the corner. I'd only played with her once, but her terror was still fresh. She had no idea of the horror awaiting her. I imagined being in the loving embrace of WWO wasn't pleasant, given the patron.
My blade slammed into the ground between us, point first. It was becoming a habit to dig the tip of my sword into the ground when I talked to people. "Spill blood on my blade as you swear fealty to me."
He looked at me strangely, but obeyed. The fool entered my familiar list of his own free will. I swung my blade around and severed Cassie's throat. He didn't even wince. Once she fell forward and rose again I pointed to her rising corpse.
"Shift to a pixy and possess your former beloved." He couldn't even want to disobey anymore. The zombie screamed as it was possessed, and I felt through my skills. I'd hoped that I could be taught skills as I'd taught Vyktor his. And I was right. I reclaimed my guild seal before putting my staff on my back. My gauntlet sparked with black electricity as it ripped into Oblivion's chest, crushing the heart and reducing his vitality to zero. Both former prisoners crumbled to ash as they died. I wove an arcane circle into existence, one that had never before seen the light of day. I summoned a stone golem, but altered it into the statues I desired instead. Using a mental image instead of arcane scrip filled nineteen circles with emptiness. I couldn't make as fine a statue with a spell as I could with my hands, but I didn't need to. The stone of the prison ripped with a sound so deep the ground vibrated under me. The light species I'd created were nowhere near as beautiful as the dark ones Oblivion had imagined for me, but they would do. A simple mermaid, fish bottom half with human upper half and gills on the neck for their aquatic, a dwarf with talons and an even larger nose than normal sufficed as their digging species, and an elf with the wings of an insect would work as their flying species, I was sure to make the wings singular so they wouldn't cross over between the dragonfly wings of the fairies despite the difference in size. Now I just needed to get them to Arthur so WWO would be appeased before creating my species.
As if the thought had been an omen of some sort, a dull ring started in my head. That was new. Was I straining too hard? Was the stress getting to me? Was a single tone this world's version of a headache? Perhaps it was some sort of mental attack from a npc-exclusive class that hadn't existed before! If so…what a weak attack. It was annoying, but nothing more. As I shuffled through my menus, I realized I was getting hailed. Think of the Devil and he shall appear. I'd forgotten that anyone who'd seen you face to face could request a private chat. Arthur was hailing me. "I'll keep calling until you answer." Was a bubble that kept floating up from her annoying request.
I sat down so I could concentrate on the chat entirely. She was already fully immersed in the blank field. "How did you get this?" she puffed up with the mist, lightning crackling as her anger affected the pure white cloud. "And what sort of deal did you strike with the game that would bind us together like this? I'm getting way too many benefits for you to get anything short of everything you ever wanted." Small people had small dreams, apparently. Everything I ever wanted was a lot more than would be on the table for something like creating an equal.
I levitated a bit to give myself time to come up with an answer that wasn't the truth. My dark cloud seemed to scare her. Odd that she wouldn't be wearing her helmet. I had no ideas. I wouldn't even know of a reliable way to contact WWO, let alone propose a method I'd used for some ambiguous deal. I'd just need to explain the rules to her. Maybe she could become a real adversary that way. I was starting to get the feeling that I'd peaked. Maybe WWO was wiser than I'd given it credit.
"I take it you haven't seen a red demon named Ryne." She shook her head, looking at my dark cloud like I was the devil. "She's the one that made War World Online real. The thing is, her power is based on souls. So this world works on souls. Monsters have a little bit, npcs a bit more, players have full souls. When stuff dies, the power goes to War World Online. It doesn't want the death to stop, so my absolute rule was getting in the way. If I took over the whole world, players wouldn't die. Or they'd only die once in a blue moon. Since that's the most powerful source of energy for WWO, it doesn't like my idea of world domination. It gave me something I wanted, in return it made you into my adversary and made me wait to attack Camelot until I'd conquered Hell. And to never fully win. So that's the score. We're going to be enemies for the rest of eternity. Oh, I almost forgot. I made you some statues. They're one of three requirements of creating a new race. Use them or don't, I could care less. Giving them to you was the requirement, so I've done my part. I'll leave them…" I showed her a piece of Camelot I'd flown over on my way to eradicate the trainers that didn't belong to me and teleported my six new statues to that location. Good thing I was in my keep, otherwise the mana would have ruined me. Apparently, teleporting non-soul-possessing things was harder than soul-possessing things. The more you know. "there. Now you can make three new species when you get three unoccupied cities and mythic sets to make into crown gear." I doubted she'd have trouble finding volunteers to become the new species. Or mages willing to alter them. Good kingdoms were built on ideas like self-sacrifice and generosity. "When they reproduce enough to give you subraces you send the dark ones to me and I'll do the same for the ones I'm making."
She sputtered for a few seconds. "You think I'm just going to sit back and let this happen? I'll destroy you before you get anywhere close to the throne of Hell!"
"You'd better work fast, then. Heaven is coming for you. Since all of those are still non-player, WWO has them in the palm of its hand. If you conquer the first level of Heaven, the second will come for you. Let's see if you can climb as fast as I can sink." I dropped to the ground, resuming my banal appearance. Strange, to think I'd come to believe the spiked armor that had awed me in the beginning was banal. The human soul could get used to anything, I guess. "I'll race you. Are we done?"
"No! You haven't answered my question! How did you get this?" she pointed at herself, still in cloud form. Oh, I'd thought she meant more than that. Had I given her information I didn't need to? Damn it.
"I killed one in heaven. The heavenly hosts are just npcs that have racial modifiers. Angels aren't a species, they're a modifier." I was guessing. I didn't know that for sure, but WWO made it sound like there were more modifiers for me to find. That meant I had to have them. That meant they had to be the denizens of heaven. Since I'd killed a human, and he was high ranking, I assumed that the whole system was set up exactly the same as the world below. Just stronger. "When I killed him, I took a deep breath of his mist. I didn't know he was a human with a racial modifier until later. That's how I became like this. Are we done now?" I wouldn't put it past her to sit in chat for the next fifty years, becoming the dull tone that drove me mad, otherwise I'd just leave.
"For now. This isn't over. I will find a way to destroy you." I was sure. Not that WWO would let that happen. I was a surefire way to make sure the world never knew peace. Free empires like Arthur's couldn't coexist with slavers like me in charge of anything. I returned to myself to see Lethe glaring down at me. Had I done something to piss her off again?
"Were you ever going to tell me who passed your test in person? I had to figure it out from Vyktor." She snarled. It took me a second to remember what she was talking about. Kids. Right. Test. I was supposed to tell her who won. Events hadn't happened so fast in a long time. "And how could you let the nameless two go? They're your children, whether you claim them or not!"
"They won't betray me, they just weren't right for my empire. Besides, they were really good fighters. Had to respect that. They're my familiars, so they'll never turn on me, that much is safe, and I sent them on a fool's errand to subjugate one of every uber. They're dead, I just didn't want to waste their potential so blatantly as execution." I didn't want them to die at all. They were perfect killers, so long as you didn't compare their loyalty to each other with anything else. I'd still given them a death sentence, but that was only if they wanted back in. They'd probably settle in Heaven somewhere. "The game has changed since I put our kids to the test. We're heading to Hell, not Heaven." that was just the start of a long info dump she'd need to be up to speed again.
"Changed how? And how could you turn your back on the two that want you dead the most? You're making no sense." Maybe she hadn't noticed she was now made of clouds of lightning. Entirely possible. Though unlikely. She was currently sparking with dark lightning, her cloak billowing in nonexistent wind. "What are you looking at?"
"You're a thunder storm. Literally. That's one thing. Another is that WWO is keeping Heaven and Camelot occupied with each other. And my goal has changed from world domination to king of Hell and perpetual war against Camelot." I wasn't sure she'd caught the second half of that. She was gaping at herself, making the lighting spit and crackle even more. "Yes, you're a dark cloud. And you can fly. We're going to war against Hell. Just as soon as I finish making a few cities in Heaven and races to populate them." I was beginning to regret telling Arthur as much as I had. I should have put more thought into my responses. As I thought about it…maybe I'd told too much to Lethe as well. I could trust her, right? Too late now. I turned my mind to the new races, since Lethe clearly wasn't listening anymore. I made sure to order four of my skeletons to start making mythic gear for each of the statues before I teleported with them to the throne room. My terrified steward was waiting for me. "Steward! Tell me what's cheaper; extending the borders of every city I own into Heaven or building a city over each of my cities?"
"My Liege, both options require vast amounts of gold. The difference is minimal, when compared to the overall cost of such a venture." Of course it was. So, now I was faced with an option. I could create cities, which would provide me with capitals for my new species, resulting in even more cost, or I could extend the borders, and remain without two new species to rule. I didn't have to think very hard for my answer.
Only one question remained. "To create a new species, you told me that I needed a city, mythic gear, and volunteers. Oh, and a wizard willing to change them. Does the city have to be done, or even technically started?" Please let it be no. I didn't want to wait. By the time I finished with Hell, I could have more than double the citizens I'd gotten from taking the continent.
"All that is required is a city, the power, gear, subjects, and a ritual. The population of said city is irrelevant. Why would you ask that, Master?" so I could make cities brand new and start races building them up immediately. Duh. He really was a useful little guy. I considered having him start the ritual right then and there, or turning him into a familiar so I could use him more. But that just brought up a lot more issues. Not to mention the fact that I'd just have to appoint another npc to be my governor. That could get annoying, though. And a player wouldn't know what he did. Npcs having implicit knowledge of the world was invaluable.
"Build cities directly over each of my current cities. Name them Upper Whatever-the-City-Below-them-is-Called." I used a spell to pull the four aerial statues forward. Steward looked like he was about to shit himself. "Let's call Upper Hill and Upper Naieura the capitals for these new species and the rest the normal cities." I used another to pull the worm species forward. "Hate can become the capital for these beauties." It was perfect. They would function as both an aquatic and subterranean species. The bridge between land and sea. "What were those cities I built around the deep roads?"
"Gate, Bar, Block, Wall, and Barricade, my Liege." Steward didn't like being in my direct line of sight. He was shifting and wringing his hands like he was guilty of something. I would have been suspicious, but he'd acted the same for as long as I'd had him doing all the banal bits of running my empire. He was either perpetually nervous or he'd been building his plan for revolt since I'd appointed him. Either way, I wasn't scared. My power was beyond what anyone in my empire could match. Especially here.
"Name Barricade the capitol for this species." I pulled the rock midgets to the fore. Steward actually jumped backwards with a little squeal. Was there a terrible monster species that looked the same? I hoped not. That could be a snag in my plans. I didn't have the creativity to create as beautiful a monster as these. "And I'll need to start building underwater cities for these." I pulled the last two species forward. Where to put them? "Let's put one city called Nagaea one thousand miles north of the northern tip of my empire. That will be their capital." I pointed at the serpent species. "And for the south, we'll do one thousand miles again, call it Atlantis. Their capital." I pointed to the frog species.
"My Liege, I fear there is more to the race creation process than that. It is a spell that must be cast, not controlled at all by the bank. I will, of course, commission the construction of the cities you mentioned. However, all the specifics of a species are controlled not by the bank, but by the magic used to create them." That was remarkably un-helpful. I didn't know a spell that could do that. I didn't know a spell that could fuse volunteers into the statues either. Where would I learn such a spell? He sensed my question before I'd even gotten a chance to ask it. "There is a book in the deepest dungeon under the catacombs beneath the Temple of Zezhria, Master. It is entirely devoted to rituals of the darkest sort. The construction of a species is in that book somewhere."