The Land: Forging (Chaos Seeds Book 2)

CHAPTER 4

The two Companions walked slowly through the village talking about this and that. Richter sent Futen ahead to look for Randolphus, and then report back. As he was talking with Terrod, he realized that he had not taken a look at his latest Companion status page. Letting his vision relax, Richter’s interface came up. He focused on the small icon of Terrod’s face that was floating next to Sion’s.

Name: Terrod

Age: 46

Level: 7, 41% to next level

Health: 190 Mana: 120 Stamina: 140

Strength: 16

Agility: 12

Dexterity: 14

Constitution: 19

Endurance: 14

Intelligence: 12

Wisdom: 10

Charisma: 19

Luck: 14

Abilities:

Comradery

Skills:

Swordsmanship Lvl 2; 67% to next level, 87% affinity

Shields Lvl 4; 82% to next level, 98% affinity

Cooking Lvl 8; 13% to next level, 96% affinity

Horsemanship Lvl 9; 32% to next level; 83% affinity

Repair Lvl 4; 64% to next level; 54% affinity

Repair Armor Lvl 3; 13% to next level; 52% affinity

Repair Weapon Lvl 4; 18% to next level; 52% affinity

Marks:

None

Resistances:

None

Race: Human

Reputation: Lvl 1 “Who are you again?”

Alignment: 0

Language: Common Tongue

Richter looked at his Companion. “Have you noticed that since we have become Companions you can see my status page?” Terrod nodded. “Well, I just looked at yours for the first time. You have a strange mix of skills.”

Terrod gave a small chuckle, “Yes, I know. I didn’t serve in the army if that’s what you were thinking. At least not in a traditional way. I come from a very minor noble line several times removed from power. My mother convinced a cousin to take me on as a page when I was a child. He was a knight in Yves’s army. I followed his patrol for two years. That’s why I have some martial skills. One of the main responsibilities of a page is caring for his knight’s armor. If you have seen my status, then you’ve also seen that I was piss poor at that. What I was good at however, was making dinner each night and caring for the horses. I seemed to have a real connection with the animals. I also have good affinity for sword and shield, but riding was my true passion. That is what saved my life. My skill in Horsemanship was noticed, and I was promoted from page to mounted messenger. While I was away from the rest of my squad, delivering dispatches, they were attacked by a tribe of gnolls from the Whisper Woods. They were wiped out to the last man.”

Terrod stopped talking for a second. “I was the one who found them. The gnolls had taken their scalps as trophies, and the battle hounds they train had savaged the rest of the remains. I couldn’t even tell which of the bodies was my cousin. That was it for me. I had already been debating whether or not I should leave. I never could get used to being ordered around. When I saw their bodies though… I still remember the way they looked, and I still remember the smell of the blood and entrails…”

Terrod shook himself slightly as if to be rid of the bad memories. “Well, that’s why I have the strange collection of skills. I came back to Law and took on odd jobs until I landed at the Laughing Imp. Ten years later, I owned the inn. My Comradery Ability made things easier. It makes it more likely for people to enjoy my company, and want to work with me. As abilities go, it certainly helped me in life. And on more than a few dates, if you catch my meaning,” he laughed.

Richter laughed as well. He was glad that the shadow that had been cast over his friend’s mood with the telling of his story was gone again. He hadn’t expected to be digging up such painful memories with his question. Despite the discomfort, it seemed to have caused, Richter was pleased that his Companion felt comfortable enough to share those personal details. He tried to further lighten the mood.

“So you’re saying that if it wasn’t for your Ability, then you would be completely annoying and not just the pain in the neck that you are now,” Richter asked.

Terrod chuckled, “Shut up.”

“You got it,” Richter said. The remnant was gliding back towards them. “Futen, where is Randy?”

“He is in the catacombs, my Lord. The chamberlain appropriated one of the side rooms as an office.”

“Lead the way.”

The remnant led them to the inclined entrance leading to the chamber of the Great Seal. Terrod split off saying he was going to find Isabel. Richter entered the tunnel and came out into the large chamber that housed the mosaic. The four spirals constituting the four Powers of the nexus of ley lines the village was built upon were much the same as he remembered. Each spiral represented one of the four Powers he could master. So far only one spiral showed signs of life. The clear crystal indicating Air Magic glowed with an inner light and depicted a cyclone in two dimensions. The other spirals for Dark Magic, Life magic and Water Magic remained only cold tile.

There was one other change that made Richter smile. Someone had hung one of the larger paintings and the rug that Richter had stolen from Count Stonuk. They actually made pretty nice wall hangings, he thought. None of the smaller paintings were anywhere to be seen. Randolphus had told him previously he would see them hung as soon as the carpenters had time to make frames.

Futen continued across the Great Seal and into one of the side rooms. Richter followed him, sparing only a bit of time to look at the stairs leading downward through another arch set into the wall. It led to the next level of the catacombs. Richter had not gone there yet due to Futen’s warning that it was populated with monsters. He would have to conquer the lower levels at some point if he ever wanted his village to progress to level two. It was one of the requirements Futen had told him about. He wasn’t sure what it meant to move on to level two exactly, but Richter was sure that he wanted it to happen!

Richter also peeked into his room before following Futen, but Hisako was apparently occupied elsewhere. He continued on to speak with his chamberlain. Randy was sitting at a rough-hewn table bent over a stack of papers scribbling. Richter had not bought much paper and ink from Hafiz, he would have to remember to negotiate for more. “Hey Randy,” he said in a loud, boisterous voice.

The man gave a clear sigh before looking up, “Welcome back, my Lord. I trust your trip went well.” He really didn’t like that name, Richter thought with a silent chuckle. Randolphus, as was his full name, had been the chamberlain for the late king of Yves. The rules of proper decorum were heavily entrenched within him. So even though the shortening of Randolphus’s name clearly frustrated him, the man was too enamored of the proper rules of conduct to correct his liege. That kind of circular logic trap was exactly why Richter just spoke his mind. Being PC all the time took way too much effort and needlessly complicated things.

“It did, thank you for asking. I’m guessing there are some things that require my attention?” Richter looked pointedly at the stack of papers on the desk.

“Yes sir, there are.” Randolphus reached under the table and pulled out a previously hidden, and much larger stack of papers. He set them on the table top and picked up the first page, “Item one…”

Richter gave a sigh of his own as he sat at the table. Was that a smirk on Randy’s face?!?

Richter wasn’t able to escape Randy’s grasp for hours. Food was brought, but they kept grinding away. They covered topics ranging from resource management, defenses, the need to allocate people to key positions like trade master and captain of the guard, requests of the new villagers and items that needed to be bought during the next trip to Leaf’s Crossing. Unsurprisingly, the man had already included paper and ink in that list. As painful as the hours of bookkeeping were, there was no denying that Randolphus was thorough and indispensable.

Richter stood and stretched. There were more items to be discussed according to his chamberlain, but he just couldn’t sit still any longer. When Randy had pulled a list of all the new villagers and wanted to go through each person’s qualifications and skills, he thought, enough! It was probably a few more hours until full night. Richter had more to accomplish before the planting ceremony. He was leaving the room when a thought occurred. He walked back to Randolphus and reached into his Bag of Holding. He withdrew the stack of papers he had taken from Count Stonuk’s private safe. The count was involved in nonhuman slavery in the Kingdom of Yves. He was also the reason that Terrod’s love, Isabel, had suffered so much emotional trauma.

“Do you know Count Stonuk?” Richter asked.

A look of distaste crossed Randolphus’s face, “Yes I do. One of the new king’s inner circle. A distasteful man that would not have been tolerated at court in the days of his father.”

“Well, I was able to… procure, these papers from his private safe. They were well hidden so I’m assuming they are important. I’ve only glanced at them, but there are references that I don’t understand. It seems to be in code as well. Do you think you could make sense of them?”

“I had many duties under the old King, my Lord. Part of that was to monitor the correspondence of less desirable types in court. Count Stonuk never struck me as overly bright. I have an ability called Code Breaking. I am sure that I can decipher these papers given time.”

“Code Breaking?” Richter asked incredulously. Just who was Randolphus? All Mama had told him was that Randolphus had been a chamberlain. Richter wasn’t 100% up on his Ye Olde English terms, but he was pretty sure a chamberlain was kind of like a souped-up butler. Now he was finding out that the man was 007! Analyze didn’t reveal much, however. Like Terrod, his level was a bit higher than other humans, but it was nothing to write home about. Richter didn’t know why he hadn’t analyzed the man before.

Name: Randolphus. Human Level 9. Health 170. Mana 120. Stamina 140. Disposition: Friendly. Humans are one of the shortest lived, but most prolific breeders in the Land. Humans have a broader affinity for skills than other races. No special bonuses to race. Humans get four points to distribute per level.

“Yes, my Lord,” Randolphus answered.

“Just ‘yes’?”

“Yes, my Lord,” he said with just a touch more force.

Richter was silent for a moment. Who would be born with an ability in Code Breaking? How often would that come up? It seemed very coincidental that the former King of Yves’ chamberlain had such a useful and appropriate ability. Then again, Richter thought, maybe that was one of the reasons that Randolphus had risen to power.

“Well, no rush. I truly appreciate your help.” Every man was entitled to his own secrets, Richter thought. It didn’t seem like he was getting the whole story though, and so he resolved to pay a little closer attention to his chamberlain in the future.

“It is my pleasure to serve, my Lord.”

Richter left the room with Futen floating along behind him. He stopped at the Great Seal. When he had searched his inventory for the count’s paper, he had seen two other items that required his attention. The first was also from the count’s safe. It was a blue wand tipped with a white jewel. Richter had no Lore to speak of yet, despite finding snippets of time to read Leandra’s book, and had no identification spells. When he looked at it, the prompt simply said, “Magic wand.” Luckily, Futen had an ability to identify items.

He held the wand up, “Futen if you would be so kind.”

A white light flared from the center of the glowing remnant.

You have found: Wand of Magic Illumination. Durability 30/30. Item class: Common. Quality: Above Average. Weight 0.3 kg. Sends out a beam of blue light that illuminates the darkness. Magic seen in this light will glow white. Twelve hours of illumination per day.

Well, that could be useful, Richter thought. He resolved to play with this latest toy as soon as possible.

The second item he had retrieved from a thief. To be more specific, he had stolen it from a den of thieves right before burning their house down. Richter wasn’t one to dwell on details, though. He held the book out and Futen pulsed again. The light in the remnant built for several seconds before subsiding this time. That’s strange, Richter thought, it had never taken more than a split second for the remnant to identify an object before.

“You have found an item of exceptional power, my Lord.”

You have found: Tome of Soul’s Familiar. Durability 500/500. Item Class: Epic. Quality: Masterwork. Weight 0.5 kg. Let’s you cast: Summon Soul Familiar. Tome destroyed upon casting. Requirements: Master of a school of magic. Intelligence 20. Cost: 1200 mana. Do you wish to use the Tome? Yes or No?

Twelve hundred mana?! That was more expensive than any other spell Richter had even seen! The most costly spell he had cast was Confusing Mist, and that was an enchantment that protected the entire village! It had only cost eight hundred! Why was this spell so expensive? Despite the prohibitive cost, that was probably the reason that he was holding the Tome at all, he realized. The thieves probably didn’t know what to do with it. Also, Masters of magic didn’t exactly grow on trees. The book was almost priceless, so finding a buyer would have been difficult, but for the same reason they certainly couldn’t just give it away. So it had sat collecting dust until Richter had come along and ‘freed’ it. None of that mattered, though because Richter came to a profound realization. He wanted a familiar!

In games and old stories, familiars always lent their masters awesome powers! He could get a mouse that gave a bonus to lock picking checks or a falcon that would let him see through its eyes. Maybe a cat that he could have pithy banter with. No matter what, it would be awesome. Most gamers would sell a kidney to get an item like what he had here!

There were, he realized practical things to consider, though. The village generated a thousand mana per day. That clearly wasn’t enough.

“Futen, can I combine my mana with the village mana to cast this spell?”

“Yes, my Lord. At the time of casting, simply focus upon how you wish to allocate the mana expenditure. The spell will use it accordingly.”

Okay, one problem solved. So if he combined the village and his personal capacity, it would give him the grand total of thirteen hundred to use. That didn’t take into account the mana upkeep for Confusing Mist, though. The spell required a hefty four hundred mana smackeroos each day or the mists would fade away.

“Futen, what time is the upkeep for Confusing Mist paid?”

“At midnight, my Lord.”

“What happens if the village doesn’t have enough mana to pay the upkeep,” Richter asked.

“The spell would dissipate at midnight, my Lord. It would have to be cast again at the full cost of 800 mana.”

Hmmm, Richter thought. He needed 1200 mana to cast the spell. The village reserves were full now so he had access to the 1000 maximum. If he used his personal mana and took the rest from reserves, it would leave 100. The village recharge rate was determined by the total mana the village could have divided by hours in the day. Put another way 1000/24 gave 41.67 mana regen per hour. So he just needed to know…

“Futen, how many hours until the upkeep is due?”

“Four hours and thirty-seven minutes, my Lord.”

Richter stared at the remnant in surprise for a moment, not having expected such a specific answer. It was useful information, though. It meant that if he cast the spell now, the village would only regenerate a total of 192 mana by the time the upkeep was due. It would leave him more than a hundred mana short of the upkeep!

He stood in silence for a while. He understood the importance of the defenses around the village. The Confusing Mist enchantment was definitely important. On the other hand, the hunters had not seen anything dangerous coming too near the village. They also had the trench and the sprite warriors if something randomly made its way close. He did a few more quick calculations.

The cost to recast the enchantment was 800 mana. His own mana would refill at about 12 points a minute so his 300 would be full well before the village’s had replenished. Counting his own 300, only 500 more mana would be needed. That would take… just 12 hours. He made his decision, the risk was negligible. It was time to get a familiar! He chose ‘Yes’ on the prompt hovering in his vision.

Suddenly, there was a complete absence of sound. Richter blinked, then snapped his fingers, but still heard nothing. The Great Seal changed. The spiral of black became a hole devoid of all light. The edges of the hole distorted space, causing the floor to ripple and bend. The spiral of gold tile was replaced by an arched doorway standing ten feet tall. A gentle radiance spilled into the room and a shining gold tree could be seen through the portal, waving in an otherworldly wind. The blue spiral was replaced by a swirling pool of water. The spiral of Air became an actual ten foot tall swirling maelstrom, lightning crackling across it. Each transformation was independent and silent. In the center of it all stood Richter. He was amazed at the power around him. He could not have left the Great Seal if he wanted to. The boundary of each transformation touched the next, leaving free only the grey diamond in the center of Great Seal.

The silence was sundered by a horrific tearing sound. A small black rent appeared in the space above Richter’s head. It started small, no larger than his forearm, but quickly widened to the height of a man. The sound intensified proportionally to the size of the tear. It kept growing until it reached all the way to the top of the vaulted chamber and stretched from one wall to the other, bisecting the room. On one side was Richter and the transformed Great Seal. On the other side was a white sky. Black clouds were lit with orange bolts of lightning. Beneath that alien sky, was a canyon formed of midnight blue rock. The surface of the rocks was multifaceted like the inside of a geode, and each streak of lightning lit the canyon with reflection. At the end of the crevasse were massive trees festooned with thick vines. As Richter watched, a monstrous reptilian head poked through a break in the grove. It looked about with copper colored eyes, scanning for the source of the noise that had drawn its attention. Two large slits were at the end of the snout and as Richter watched, a forked tongue sampled the air.

Instinct took over, and Richter froze in place hoping that the wormhole, or whatever he was standing in front of, acted like a one-way mirror. He did not want this THING to see him! That hoped faded as the bus-sized head oriented on him and the jaw dropped open. The monster stared at him with a sadistic leer. The steel colored fangs were each the size of short swords and it rolled its beet colored tongue around in its horrific mouth. With a graceful step that shouldn’t have been possible in such a monstrosity, it moved more of its large body into the rocky dell. A clawed hand attached to an arm the size of an ancient oak shook the ground with an impact tremor. It brought its other arm forward, and continued making its way towards him. The head moved closer and closer. Richter looked around, but there was no escape! The four Powers still hemmed him. He drew his high steel sword, but knew it would be like attacking a bull with a toothpick! Either way, he would go down fighting! He just REALLY did NOT want to be eaten again!

The monster’s mouth was only a dozen yards away from the tear in space now. Richter could see rotting flesh in between its fangs, and the nauseating smell of decomposing flesh washed over him with its exhale. Richter held his sword up, preparing for his pointless last stand, but all of a sudden there was a resounding boom! The portal slammed shut, and a wave of force emanated from the rapidly closed rift. It blew Richter down off of his feet. He struck his head on the ground and was momentarily dazed. When he picked his head up a few moments later, the Great Seal had returned to its previous appearance. Silence once again reigned in the chamber, but it was a natural silence, filled with tiny, almost imperceptible sounds.

Richter’s heart was pounding wildly in his chest. As the monster had approached the portal, he had been playing out various scenarios. In the rosiest one, the dragon thing had swallowed him whole and killed him in the process. The next scenario was decided less pleasant, and it taking a big enough bite that arms or legs were left behind. He would still be alive when he was eaten, but blood loss would make his death relatively quick. The worst case would be if he was swallowed whole and screamed all the way down the beast’s gullet just before he was digested for one thousand years in the equivalent of the pit of Sarlac… None of those options were very attractive, but the last would most definitely not be on fleep, or whatever that stupid phrase the kids were saying these days!

His mood wasn’t great, to say the least. He had used a massive amount of mana and almost been eaten for his trouble. And there was still no familiar! His temper was not helped by the bachelor party sized headache that was triggered by the depletion of his mana. If he wasn’t already on the floor, he would have fallen. His head felt like it was full of cotton. This was probably a good thing since it also felt like someone was hammering on the outside of his skull!

“Futen!”

“Yes, my Lord.”

“What the hell?”

“My Lord, are you alright?” a voice shouted. Randolphus was standing just inside of the doorway of the room he had been working in.

“I’m fine Randy. The danger has passed. I’m sorry, I should have warned you I was going to cast a spell. Please go back to work.” The man stared at Richter for a few seconds before turning around. He was shaking his head as he walked back to his desk.

Richter returned his attention to the source of his ire, “Well Futen? I’m waiting!”

“I do not believe that was a lower plane of existence.”

“What?” Richter asked exasperated and confused.

“You asked what type of hell that was. It was not a hell. It was simply an alternate dimension.”

Richter ground his teeth. The lack of idioms in this new world was going to kill him! This stupid conversation was not helping the headache that had barely started to subside. Through gritted teeth he said, “I wasn’t asking if that was a hell or an underworld. I was asking you why I was almost eaten by a dinosaur on steroids when I was trying to summon a familiar. Was that thing it?”

“Ah, thank you for clarifying, my Lord. As you know, my memory is still fragmented, but I have no recollection of a familiar trying to eat its master. Except for perhaps a demon familiar. As we have already established, however, that portal did not go to a netherworld.”

Futen’s inane babble was driving him crazy, “So what was that thing?!” Richter felt like he was shouting. Was he shouting? He couldn’t be sure. His ears were still ringing from clunking his noggin.

“I believe that ‘thing’ was a monster intent on eating you, my Lord.”

Richter just started his silent mantra, ‘Don’t kill him, Don’t shoot him, Don’t see if you can light him on fire. Don’t kill him, Don’t shoot him, Don’t see if you can light him on fire.’ By his fifth iteration, he was calm again and opened his eyes. In a tranquil voice, he said, “Futen.”

“Yes, my Lord.”

“Then where is my familiar.”

“Behind you, my Lord.”

“What?” Richter asked as he twisted in the sitting position he still occupied. He turned almost all the way around and locked eyes with the small creature on the ground behind him. His world changed forever.

Know this! You have summoned your soul’s familiar. Every living being is born incomplete. Connecting with others is the only way to move beyond this limitation. You have cast the spell: Summon Soul Familiar. The spell has reached across all timelines, dimensions, realities and fractal causalities to find another piece of your fragmented soul. You and your familiar are bound until this Universe ends and all souls are once again returned to the True Essence.

Know this! Unlike the paltry connection of most mages and familiars, the Soul Bond between you and your soul familiar has unlimited benefits. You will have to discover these over time, but the first is perhaps the most powerful. Abilities are bound to the soul. As such you will have access to some of your familiar’s abilities. Increasing your familiar’s strength and level will unlock further abilities for you to access.

Congratulations! You have been granted the Ability: Psi Bond. Thoughts can be shared with another being that has the ability Psi Bond. A connection can only be completed by both parties being willing to participate.

Congratulations! You have bonded your soul familiar. You’re familiar is a Psi Dragonling.

Know this! You have summoned your soul familiar at the center of your Place of Power. As you level your Place of Power, your familiar will evolve. As Master of a Place of Power, your familiar has the ability to cast spells in any Power you unlock, and the associated resistances. Your familiar has access to: Air magic.

The psi dragonling was about a foot and a half long. Its tail was another foot long and was a deep black. The body was long and sleek. The diamond-shaped scales on its appendages and back were slate grey, like the color of a storm in late afternoon. No light reflected off of its hide. The lack of shine didn’t make it look boring or dingy, however. It looked beautiful. Two wings were folded against its sides. They were the same color as the body. It sat up with its two back haunches folded and its two front legs extended. The dragonling stared up into Richter’s eyes. He didn’t know what to do with this new creature which was bound to him, for eternity it sounded like. He was about to reach out to touch it when he heard a small voice.

*Hungry!*

Richter was confused for a moment. The voice was different than anything he had ever heard. It was slightly high pitched and definitely insistent. It didn’t seem to come from any direction, however. Had the familiar spoken?

“Say that again,” he said.

*Meat!*

Richter pulled his head back slightly. He narrowed his eyes and shook his head lightly. He focused on the small dragon and thought at it, *Did you just say you were hungry?*

*MEAT!*

The dragonling blew a small but strong burst of air into Richter’s face. It felt like being whacked in the forehead with a chicken leg. His head jolted back slightly, and he looked at his new life long companion with an amused grin. Well, Richter thought, I guess I don’t like stupid questions either.

“Come on little guy. Let’s get some food.”

Another gust of air struck Richter in the eye.

“Gah! What was that for?”

The dragonling just stared at him and extended its neck to full extension, head cocked slightly to the side.

“Girl?” Richter asked with a questioning note in his voice. The dragonling relaxed and purred slightly. “Okay girl, let’s go get some food.”

He stood up and then turned to face his familiar. He was about to reach down and pick her up when dragonling hunched her body and with a powerful jump, launched into the air. One flap of her wings allowed her to gain altitude. Soon the familiar was gliding lazily above Richter’s head. Fair enough, Richter thought.

He started walking to the exit. Before he got to the tunnel, a slight weight settled onto him. The dragonling had landed on his shoulders, draped across him like a mink stole. She wrapped her tail around his arm to secure her position. Her weight was in no way troublesome. He had expected a reptile to be cool or slimy, but she radiated a gentle heat. Shaking his head in disbelief of how his life had changed in the last few minutes, he continued into the tunnel.

Soooo, my soul familiar is a demanding female who rejects offered affection but later clings to me in a way that everyone can see… There is probably a lesson in all of this… Richter continued his internal musings as he turned to leave. Then the dragonling jumped off of him and dug her claws into one of the wall draperies, and all he said, “Oh shit, my rug!”