Warbreaker's Rage: A LitRPG Apocalypse Adventure (The Connected System Book 3), page 52
His recruitment for his plans was going slow. There were a couple of non-combatants that Theodore had convinced of his rightness. The Voice’s rightness. But out of those with combat Classes, it was only Roger and Mike Turner currently. He was close with Eric and Malcolm, the other two in his party. Another dungeon run or two and he’d have them. The thick atmosphere of Spirit in a dungeon helped his influence be stronger, but outside the dungeon, it would happen eventually.
The plan was proceeding slowly but smoothly.
As long as they survived the battle. Theodore wasn’t sure of the Clan’s chances. There were a lot of gaunts. The Voice had not heard of gaunts before but could feel the Concept of Death on them. One of the Divine Beings was involved.
A guard fell, opening a line for a gaunt. The monster charged forward, heading right for Theodore. He raised his faintly glowing hand, and a shimmering barrier of white energy appeared. The gaunt crashed into it, falling back. It fell into the rear of a guard, pulling the man down with it. More gaunts rushed through the gap, trampling the guard and their fellow monster.
Theodore felt panic. He wasn’t equipped to deal with multiple foes. That wasn’t how his Class worked. The archers dropped their bows, drawing weapons. Not swords, those had gone to the melee defenders, but knives and small hatchets. They set their feet, ready to receive a charge that would probably kill them. He stepped back, ready to turn and run into the school.
The Voice woke up then, telling Theodore that he had to survive no matter what. The plan might fail in Northwood, but there were other places where humanity gathered. It would take time and be a complete restart, but the Plan would continue as long as Theodore survived.
But, the Voice said, he couldn’t be seen to run. Just in case the Clan survived. Theodore could not be seen as a coward. He had to be a hero.
He fought the urge to retreat. The Voice was right.
Theodore Activated Mindblast, the gaunt in the lead faltering. It dropped its sword, clutching at its weak mind. The Gray Gaunt Drones were incredibly weak-minded. Something about the name sparked a memory in Theodore. Drones. Weren’t bees called Worker Drones? Not good for more than just working, following the simple tasks of the hive. Were these Drones the same?
He adjusted his next Mindblast, mentally shifting the Spirit to target not just the single Drone’s mind but the minds of all those linked.
The effect was amazing. He felt the Ability, his power, jump from gaunt to gaunt. It was like a lightning strike jumping from target to target. It followed the mental connection between the gaunts. One fell, another a second behind, then another and another.
Pain spiked in Theodore’s head. His Ability always hurt, but this was something else. The sharp pain was magnified, a chisel to his skull. Blood leaked from his ears, and his vision went blurry.
But still more gaunts fell. Not just the ones on the stairs but a few ranks at the bottom. The pressure on the surviving guards was relieved, allowing them to spread out and fill the gap.
Theodore sank to his knees. He felt drained, mentally and physically.
“Was that you?” the archer to his right asked, Theodore barely hearing. “Dude, that was amazing. Hey, are you all right?”
Theodore tried to tell him that he wasn’t, but no words came out. Blackness overtook him.
The Voice fell silent.
INTERLUDE EIGHT
“Things are not going well for your Chosen,” Loki said.
Thor smiled.
“Have faith.”
Loki laughed. “That is an odd comment coming from one such as us. What should we have faith in? The Connection itself?” Loki laughed again. A bitter sound.
“Of course not,” Thor replied. “Have faith in the choices we have made.”
The two sat at the end of the table in Thor’s longhouse. It was empty save the two. The table itself was empty except for a large flagon at the head where Thor sat. Loki was to his right, leaning forward as both watched a small glowing globe floating over the table. Green light tinted both Divine Beings as they stared intently into the globe.
“There are a lot of factions seemingly interested in that little Clan of your followers,” Loki offered after a couple of minutes of silence.
“Aye. That is strange,” Thor said, shooting a glare at his fellow Divine Being.
Loki shrugged.
Thor shook his head, returning his attention to the globe. Loki spoke the truth, for once. The Trickster Concept was not one known for telling the truth. At least not the full truth and typically only enough to support its own agenda. Loki’s form was mostly male at this time, but it kept shifting a little, never staying one shape for long. Thor knew the attention was inevitable. No one, not even Odin, the Concept of Knowledge, truly knew what the two of them had done. The other Divine Beings guessed, but none had evidence.
Which was good. If it was found that The Storm and The Trickster had broken the rules of the Connected System, Thor didn’t even want to think about what that would mean for them. They were among the strongest beings in the universe, but one was still above them. One that they all feared.
The Connection.
Lochlan Brady would have been noticed and attracted a lot of attention, but it was happening much sooner than they had thought it would. Even Loki, for all his planning, had been caught by surprise. Or pretended to be surprised. Thor had a suspicion that Loki was behind it all. The Trickster was not to be trusted.
“I am curious what Death has created,” Loki said, leaning back in the chair.
They held their hand out to the side, a heavily decorated wine glass appearing in it. The glass was made out of crystal with gold trim along the rim and the stem. Jewels glittered along the stem and the base. They caught the firelight as they lifted it to their lips, casting reflections along the table and walls.
“They are odd,” Thor agreed. “More than a zombie but not quite a revenant. Something new.”
“I never would have thought Death would have an imagination.” Loki laughed.
“Are we sure it is Death? What was the name that Death took on this planet?”
“Hel. And who else could it be? What other of our Divine family would use undead?”
Thor shrugged. He really didn’t care, it was curiosity.
The Divine Beings played games like this all the time, but normally, it wasn’t the Concept of Death involved. Death was one of the most powerful because of their Concept. Knowledge was considered the most powerful of the Divine Beings, but it was thought Death was a close second or even more powerful. Death was ever-present across all the universes. No matter how high a Level, every being in the Connected System would eventually die. There were no true immortals. Even the Divine Beings would someday fade away after millennia of living. Their deaths would happen. Even Death would die someday.
The Concept of Death had never really involved themselves in the games of the Divine Beings.
Why had they now?
“What will you do if your chosen one dies?” Loki asked as they continued to watch the fighting.
“He won’t.”
“Are you sure?”
Thor didn’t bother answering. He knew that Loki was baiting him, trying to get a response. It was just the way of the Trickster. He leaned back in the large chair, taking a long drink from the large cup of ale. In every new Connection, where he took a physical form, he enjoyed the local planetary equivalent of ale. It took different names, sometimes different forms, but for some reason, it was one of the near constants across the universe.
At least on the humanoid worlds.
He didn’t appear on all Connected Worlds. None of them did except for the greater Concepts like Knowledge, Life, and Death. Loki never admitted it, but Thor thought the Trickster one of the greater Concepts. They were Divine Beings, but even at their lofty Levels, they were not all equal in power. Maybe someday he, The Storm, would be a greater Concept.
If this plan worked, he might be there sooner.
Kelly Brady screamed, a sound of primal rage.
The tip glowing brightly, she slammed her spear into the monster. An ogre, the ugly creature was more than twice her height, more than five times her weight. It was far stronger and tougher. It was a higher Level.
She didn’t care.
The tip burst through the back of the creature, pulling organs and muscle out with it. White light, matching the glowing tip, leaked out from the wounds in the front and the back. The stupid ogre just looked down at the weapon piercing its body, stunned that such a small thing could have even hurt it.
With another roar, Kelly pulled the weapon out. The large ogre jerked as the weapon was pulled free, ripping a larger hole coming out than it had made going in. More light leaked out, bright and blinding.
The light seemed to spread across the ogre, making the puke-green skin glow from within. Lines appeared like veins. The ogre lifted its arms, looking at them as if it had never seen them before. Its head rolled back, the monster roaring in pain. It staggered back a couple of steps.
Kelly also stepped back, but not in fear. She needed more room. The problem she had found with using a spear as a primary weapon was that she needed space—a lot of it.
In melee combat, she had to constantly move around her targets. It was a good crowd control weapon, a concept that had been foreign to her before the Connection but was now something she knew intimately. Along with many other things that she had never once thought she’d ever have to consider. One-on-one, or even two-on-one fighting with a spear meant moving. Standing still would allow the enemy to step within the reach of her spear, making it that much more difficult. She had learned to avoid that situation.
She’d forgotten it in her anger against the ogre. She just wanted it dead and hadn’t been fighting with the presence of mind that she usually had. The ogre had gotten within her reach.
Luckily, she’d gotten a new Class Ability at Level Fifteen, which had been three Levels ago. Inner Radiance. It sounded innocent enough but was anything but.
INNER RADIANCE RANK ONE (ACTIVE SKILL)
CHANNELS SPIRIT INTO THE TIP OF YOUR SPEAR, INCREASING PIERCING DAMAGE. WHEN SPEAR PENETRATES THE BODY OF THE ENEMY, IT LEAVES BEHIND THE SPIRIT ENERGY DOING RADIANT DAMAGE. +50% PIERCING DAMAGE. +50% RADIANT DAMAGE. COST: 300 SPIRIT FREQUENCY: TWICE PER DAY.
It was an incredibly powerful Ability, but it used up most of her Spirit Reserves. It was meant as a finishing move or last-ditch effort to kill a target. Unlike most of her Abilities or just the spear itself, Inner Radiance didn’t require a lot of room to thrust the weapon. She just needed to be able to get the tip against the target and push, the Ability did the rest.
The ogre was still backing away, each step a heavy thud against the cracked and broken pavement. It looked down at the glowing veins spreading across its body, taking damage but unsure of what it could do. Kelly knew it wasn’t enough to kill the monster, but it gave her the space she needed.
Her Spirit was running low. She had just enough for one more Ability.
Kelly Activated Double Thrust as she sprang forward, jumping off the ground, holding the spear with two hands. The tip slammed into the ogre’s shoulder, piercing deep, blood leaking from the wound. She pulled it out, arms pushing the weapon forward again, not moving under her power but through the Ability. Spirit spread out from her Core, moving down her limbs, making them move extremely fast, the spear a blur as it pierced the ogre’s neck, bursting out the other side.
Holding her legs in front of her, Kelly’s boots hit the ogre’s chest, not moving the massive monster. As she fell back, bouncing off the ogre, she pulled the spear out, ripping the neck apart. Blood fountained out, a spray that narrowly missed her as Kelly moved into a backflip, landing in a roll and coming up facing the ogre, spear ready. She was amazed at how easy such moves came to her now. A move that her daughter Harper would have appreciated.
The ogre slumped to its knees, hands hanging uselessly at the side. Knuckles dragged across the pavement as the ogre fell, causing the ground to shake. A cloud of dust blew up, falling down onto the ogre as the multi-colored sparks of its Spirit started to drift into the air.
Kelly turned her back on the Spirit, barely feeling it as the sparks flew into her body. She’d recently hit Level Eighteen; it would be a while before she’d hit Nineteen, even with the decent amount of Spirit that ogre gave her. She stopped a couple of steps away, looking down at the body.
He lay face down, one arm bent at an unnatural angle, the other ripped completely off, blood still pooling on the ground. His head was turned almost completely around, the face one giant bruise. His eyes were open in death, blood leaking out his nose. He looked young. High teens, if barely at that. A handsome young man. One that would never grow older.
Kelly crouched down, letting her spear fall to the ground. She leaned forward, gently closing the young man’s eyes. She didn’t even know his name. One of the newer recruits, as Senora called them.
They’d found him with a group of ten as her caravan of people made their way north through Massachusetts. Kelly wasn’t even sure where they were. They weren’t on any roads that had been familiar to her, now taking more of the old backroads and not the main routes. Those had gotten more crowded with monsters and harder to travel due to the destruction of buildings and the roads themselves. That caravan was now hundreds strong. Her small band of Valkyries were now two dozen strong with over two dozen other combat Class holders. Most were in the Level Six to Eight range, but there were enough over Level Ten now.
The young man had been on patrol, moving beyond the large group to keep an eye on the woods and any buildings. He was supposed to stay in sight but had disappeared behind what had used to be a gas station. The building was still there, the glass door and windows broken, most of the interior destroyed by some animal or monster. The pumps were gone, only a large hole in the ground where the giant gas tank had been. Kelly had noticed the man had gone out of sight. When he didn’t return in a couple of seconds, she went to investigate.
She’d heard the grunts of the ogre before she heard the young man’s scream.
Turning the corner of the gas station, she saw the large ogre twist the man’s head, an arm lying on the ground. The monster had dropped the body, turning to face Kelly. It looked at her, confused by her appearance. It wasn’t scared, just curious.
Kelly had been enraged. How many people had she lost already? How many more would she lose before they reached whatever destination Freyja had planned?
Crouching next to the dead body, she still didn’t understand why she’d felt such anger. She’d just attacked. The ogre had to die. It had just killed the man for no reason. He was barely older than Harper. His fate could easily be hers.
This new world was horrible.
Kelly just wanted to get home to her kids and husband.
“Why do you mourn the loss of one such as he,” a cold voice said.
Kelly lifted her head, watching Senora walk around the corner of the building. The elf moved with an easy grace, each step perfectly placed. She held her hands clasped behind her, not a single care in the world. Kelly just looked at the woman, not positive she had understood.
“He was weak,” Senora said.
“He was just a kid,” Kelly growled, anger rising again. Her hands clenched tight. She wanted her spear in hand. “He shouldn’t have died.”
Senora looked down at the body, every part the priestess.
“He was weak,” she said with a slight shrug.
“For someone whose patron is the Concept of Life, you don’t seem to hold much regard for it.”
“Life is for the strong,” Senora said, sounding like she was speaking a mantra.
It was all Kelly could do not to jump up and kill the elf. The priestess was higher Leveled and would easily break Kelly, but that wasn’t what held her back. If she died, she would never see her family again. She had to live, no matter what.
“You should know this, Kelly Brady,” Senora continued. “You are no stranger to the Connection. The weak have no place within it. They die so that the strong can live.”
Kelly looked back down at the young man. Why couldn’t she remember his name?
He didn’t deserve this, no matter what Senora Barkfall said. Anything that actively wanted people to die was cruel. This wasn’t someone weak; this was a life yet unfinished. It was a life of infinite potential. Who knows what this boy could have accomplished except for a cruel twist of fate.
It was similar in the old world, Kelly knew. People died randomly all the time. An innocent caught in the destruction of a drunk driver. Freak accidents. People died all the time. But in the old world, no one actively set out to kill like the Connected System did. It wanted people to die.
Kelly hated it.
“Come, leave him here.”
Kelly ignored Senora.
She could feel the others glare.
“I said it is time to go.”
“Then go,” Kelly said without looking up.
“You are a Valkyrie of Freyja. You will do what I say.”
Kelly looked up. Her glare, what was seen in her eyes, forced the higher Level Senora to step back. The constant arrogance and pride of the elf momentarily fell away. Before she could get it back, Kelly stood up, grabbing her spear as she did. She took a step toward Senora, getting into the elf’s personal space. She could see how much it made Senora uncomfortable.
“You do not command me,” Kelly said.
Senora’s eyes widened in surprise. They quickly returned to the cold, arrogant stare that was their natural state. She started to say something, but Kelly interrupted.
“You do not command me.”
Kelly felt a presence pushing against her as Senora stood straighter, once again looking haughty. It was hard, the presence heavy, but Kelly fought back. She gritted her teeth, glaring at the taller elf.
“Leave,” she said.
Senora quirked an eyebrow.
“You do not want to make an enemy of me,” the elf woman said.
“Leave,” Kelly replied.
The plan was proceeding slowly but smoothly.
As long as they survived the battle. Theodore wasn’t sure of the Clan’s chances. There were a lot of gaunts. The Voice had not heard of gaunts before but could feel the Concept of Death on them. One of the Divine Beings was involved.
A guard fell, opening a line for a gaunt. The monster charged forward, heading right for Theodore. He raised his faintly glowing hand, and a shimmering barrier of white energy appeared. The gaunt crashed into it, falling back. It fell into the rear of a guard, pulling the man down with it. More gaunts rushed through the gap, trampling the guard and their fellow monster.
Theodore felt panic. He wasn’t equipped to deal with multiple foes. That wasn’t how his Class worked. The archers dropped their bows, drawing weapons. Not swords, those had gone to the melee defenders, but knives and small hatchets. They set their feet, ready to receive a charge that would probably kill them. He stepped back, ready to turn and run into the school.
The Voice woke up then, telling Theodore that he had to survive no matter what. The plan might fail in Northwood, but there were other places where humanity gathered. It would take time and be a complete restart, but the Plan would continue as long as Theodore survived.
But, the Voice said, he couldn’t be seen to run. Just in case the Clan survived. Theodore could not be seen as a coward. He had to be a hero.
He fought the urge to retreat. The Voice was right.
Theodore Activated Mindblast, the gaunt in the lead faltering. It dropped its sword, clutching at its weak mind. The Gray Gaunt Drones were incredibly weak-minded. Something about the name sparked a memory in Theodore. Drones. Weren’t bees called Worker Drones? Not good for more than just working, following the simple tasks of the hive. Were these Drones the same?
He adjusted his next Mindblast, mentally shifting the Spirit to target not just the single Drone’s mind but the minds of all those linked.
The effect was amazing. He felt the Ability, his power, jump from gaunt to gaunt. It was like a lightning strike jumping from target to target. It followed the mental connection between the gaunts. One fell, another a second behind, then another and another.
Pain spiked in Theodore’s head. His Ability always hurt, but this was something else. The sharp pain was magnified, a chisel to his skull. Blood leaked from his ears, and his vision went blurry.
But still more gaunts fell. Not just the ones on the stairs but a few ranks at the bottom. The pressure on the surviving guards was relieved, allowing them to spread out and fill the gap.
Theodore sank to his knees. He felt drained, mentally and physically.
“Was that you?” the archer to his right asked, Theodore barely hearing. “Dude, that was amazing. Hey, are you all right?”
Theodore tried to tell him that he wasn’t, but no words came out. Blackness overtook him.
The Voice fell silent.
INTERLUDE EIGHT
“Things are not going well for your Chosen,” Loki said.
Thor smiled.
“Have faith.”
Loki laughed. “That is an odd comment coming from one such as us. What should we have faith in? The Connection itself?” Loki laughed again. A bitter sound.
“Of course not,” Thor replied. “Have faith in the choices we have made.”
The two sat at the end of the table in Thor’s longhouse. It was empty save the two. The table itself was empty except for a large flagon at the head where Thor sat. Loki was to his right, leaning forward as both watched a small glowing globe floating over the table. Green light tinted both Divine Beings as they stared intently into the globe.
“There are a lot of factions seemingly interested in that little Clan of your followers,” Loki offered after a couple of minutes of silence.
“Aye. That is strange,” Thor said, shooting a glare at his fellow Divine Being.
Loki shrugged.
Thor shook his head, returning his attention to the globe. Loki spoke the truth, for once. The Trickster Concept was not one known for telling the truth. At least not the full truth and typically only enough to support its own agenda. Loki’s form was mostly male at this time, but it kept shifting a little, never staying one shape for long. Thor knew the attention was inevitable. No one, not even Odin, the Concept of Knowledge, truly knew what the two of them had done. The other Divine Beings guessed, but none had evidence.
Which was good. If it was found that The Storm and The Trickster had broken the rules of the Connected System, Thor didn’t even want to think about what that would mean for them. They were among the strongest beings in the universe, but one was still above them. One that they all feared.
The Connection.
Lochlan Brady would have been noticed and attracted a lot of attention, but it was happening much sooner than they had thought it would. Even Loki, for all his planning, had been caught by surprise. Or pretended to be surprised. Thor had a suspicion that Loki was behind it all. The Trickster was not to be trusted.
“I am curious what Death has created,” Loki said, leaning back in the chair.
They held their hand out to the side, a heavily decorated wine glass appearing in it. The glass was made out of crystal with gold trim along the rim and the stem. Jewels glittered along the stem and the base. They caught the firelight as they lifted it to their lips, casting reflections along the table and walls.
“They are odd,” Thor agreed. “More than a zombie but not quite a revenant. Something new.”
“I never would have thought Death would have an imagination.” Loki laughed.
“Are we sure it is Death? What was the name that Death took on this planet?”
“Hel. And who else could it be? What other of our Divine family would use undead?”
Thor shrugged. He really didn’t care, it was curiosity.
The Divine Beings played games like this all the time, but normally, it wasn’t the Concept of Death involved. Death was one of the most powerful because of their Concept. Knowledge was considered the most powerful of the Divine Beings, but it was thought Death was a close second or even more powerful. Death was ever-present across all the universes. No matter how high a Level, every being in the Connected System would eventually die. There were no true immortals. Even the Divine Beings would someday fade away after millennia of living. Their deaths would happen. Even Death would die someday.
The Concept of Death had never really involved themselves in the games of the Divine Beings.
Why had they now?
“What will you do if your chosen one dies?” Loki asked as they continued to watch the fighting.
“He won’t.”
“Are you sure?”
Thor didn’t bother answering. He knew that Loki was baiting him, trying to get a response. It was just the way of the Trickster. He leaned back in the large chair, taking a long drink from the large cup of ale. In every new Connection, where he took a physical form, he enjoyed the local planetary equivalent of ale. It took different names, sometimes different forms, but for some reason, it was one of the near constants across the universe.
At least on the humanoid worlds.
He didn’t appear on all Connected Worlds. None of them did except for the greater Concepts like Knowledge, Life, and Death. Loki never admitted it, but Thor thought the Trickster one of the greater Concepts. They were Divine Beings, but even at their lofty Levels, they were not all equal in power. Maybe someday he, The Storm, would be a greater Concept.
If this plan worked, he might be there sooner.
Kelly Brady screamed, a sound of primal rage.
The tip glowing brightly, she slammed her spear into the monster. An ogre, the ugly creature was more than twice her height, more than five times her weight. It was far stronger and tougher. It was a higher Level.
She didn’t care.
The tip burst through the back of the creature, pulling organs and muscle out with it. White light, matching the glowing tip, leaked out from the wounds in the front and the back. The stupid ogre just looked down at the weapon piercing its body, stunned that such a small thing could have even hurt it.
With another roar, Kelly pulled the weapon out. The large ogre jerked as the weapon was pulled free, ripping a larger hole coming out than it had made going in. More light leaked out, bright and blinding.
The light seemed to spread across the ogre, making the puke-green skin glow from within. Lines appeared like veins. The ogre lifted its arms, looking at them as if it had never seen them before. Its head rolled back, the monster roaring in pain. It staggered back a couple of steps.
Kelly also stepped back, but not in fear. She needed more room. The problem she had found with using a spear as a primary weapon was that she needed space—a lot of it.
In melee combat, she had to constantly move around her targets. It was a good crowd control weapon, a concept that had been foreign to her before the Connection but was now something she knew intimately. Along with many other things that she had never once thought she’d ever have to consider. One-on-one, or even two-on-one fighting with a spear meant moving. Standing still would allow the enemy to step within the reach of her spear, making it that much more difficult. She had learned to avoid that situation.
She’d forgotten it in her anger against the ogre. She just wanted it dead and hadn’t been fighting with the presence of mind that she usually had. The ogre had gotten within her reach.
Luckily, she’d gotten a new Class Ability at Level Fifteen, which had been three Levels ago. Inner Radiance. It sounded innocent enough but was anything but.
INNER RADIANCE RANK ONE (ACTIVE SKILL)
CHANNELS SPIRIT INTO THE TIP OF YOUR SPEAR, INCREASING PIERCING DAMAGE. WHEN SPEAR PENETRATES THE BODY OF THE ENEMY, IT LEAVES BEHIND THE SPIRIT ENERGY DOING RADIANT DAMAGE. +50% PIERCING DAMAGE. +50% RADIANT DAMAGE. COST: 300 SPIRIT FREQUENCY: TWICE PER DAY.
It was an incredibly powerful Ability, but it used up most of her Spirit Reserves. It was meant as a finishing move or last-ditch effort to kill a target. Unlike most of her Abilities or just the spear itself, Inner Radiance didn’t require a lot of room to thrust the weapon. She just needed to be able to get the tip against the target and push, the Ability did the rest.
The ogre was still backing away, each step a heavy thud against the cracked and broken pavement. It looked down at the glowing veins spreading across its body, taking damage but unsure of what it could do. Kelly knew it wasn’t enough to kill the monster, but it gave her the space she needed.
Her Spirit was running low. She had just enough for one more Ability.
Kelly Activated Double Thrust as she sprang forward, jumping off the ground, holding the spear with two hands. The tip slammed into the ogre’s shoulder, piercing deep, blood leaking from the wound. She pulled it out, arms pushing the weapon forward again, not moving under her power but through the Ability. Spirit spread out from her Core, moving down her limbs, making them move extremely fast, the spear a blur as it pierced the ogre’s neck, bursting out the other side.
Holding her legs in front of her, Kelly’s boots hit the ogre’s chest, not moving the massive monster. As she fell back, bouncing off the ogre, she pulled the spear out, ripping the neck apart. Blood fountained out, a spray that narrowly missed her as Kelly moved into a backflip, landing in a roll and coming up facing the ogre, spear ready. She was amazed at how easy such moves came to her now. A move that her daughter Harper would have appreciated.
The ogre slumped to its knees, hands hanging uselessly at the side. Knuckles dragged across the pavement as the ogre fell, causing the ground to shake. A cloud of dust blew up, falling down onto the ogre as the multi-colored sparks of its Spirit started to drift into the air.
Kelly turned her back on the Spirit, barely feeling it as the sparks flew into her body. She’d recently hit Level Eighteen; it would be a while before she’d hit Nineteen, even with the decent amount of Spirit that ogre gave her. She stopped a couple of steps away, looking down at the body.
He lay face down, one arm bent at an unnatural angle, the other ripped completely off, blood still pooling on the ground. His head was turned almost completely around, the face one giant bruise. His eyes were open in death, blood leaking out his nose. He looked young. High teens, if barely at that. A handsome young man. One that would never grow older.
Kelly crouched down, letting her spear fall to the ground. She leaned forward, gently closing the young man’s eyes. She didn’t even know his name. One of the newer recruits, as Senora called them.
They’d found him with a group of ten as her caravan of people made their way north through Massachusetts. Kelly wasn’t even sure where they were. They weren’t on any roads that had been familiar to her, now taking more of the old backroads and not the main routes. Those had gotten more crowded with monsters and harder to travel due to the destruction of buildings and the roads themselves. That caravan was now hundreds strong. Her small band of Valkyries were now two dozen strong with over two dozen other combat Class holders. Most were in the Level Six to Eight range, but there were enough over Level Ten now.
The young man had been on patrol, moving beyond the large group to keep an eye on the woods and any buildings. He was supposed to stay in sight but had disappeared behind what had used to be a gas station. The building was still there, the glass door and windows broken, most of the interior destroyed by some animal or monster. The pumps were gone, only a large hole in the ground where the giant gas tank had been. Kelly had noticed the man had gone out of sight. When he didn’t return in a couple of seconds, she went to investigate.
She’d heard the grunts of the ogre before she heard the young man’s scream.
Turning the corner of the gas station, she saw the large ogre twist the man’s head, an arm lying on the ground. The monster had dropped the body, turning to face Kelly. It looked at her, confused by her appearance. It wasn’t scared, just curious.
Kelly had been enraged. How many people had she lost already? How many more would she lose before they reached whatever destination Freyja had planned?
Crouching next to the dead body, she still didn’t understand why she’d felt such anger. She’d just attacked. The ogre had to die. It had just killed the man for no reason. He was barely older than Harper. His fate could easily be hers.
This new world was horrible.
Kelly just wanted to get home to her kids and husband.
“Why do you mourn the loss of one such as he,” a cold voice said.
Kelly lifted her head, watching Senora walk around the corner of the building. The elf moved with an easy grace, each step perfectly placed. She held her hands clasped behind her, not a single care in the world. Kelly just looked at the woman, not positive she had understood.
“He was weak,” Senora said.
“He was just a kid,” Kelly growled, anger rising again. Her hands clenched tight. She wanted her spear in hand. “He shouldn’t have died.”
Senora looked down at the body, every part the priestess.
“He was weak,” she said with a slight shrug.
“For someone whose patron is the Concept of Life, you don’t seem to hold much regard for it.”
“Life is for the strong,” Senora said, sounding like she was speaking a mantra.
It was all Kelly could do not to jump up and kill the elf. The priestess was higher Leveled and would easily break Kelly, but that wasn’t what held her back. If she died, she would never see her family again. She had to live, no matter what.
“You should know this, Kelly Brady,” Senora continued. “You are no stranger to the Connection. The weak have no place within it. They die so that the strong can live.”
Kelly looked back down at the young man. Why couldn’t she remember his name?
He didn’t deserve this, no matter what Senora Barkfall said. Anything that actively wanted people to die was cruel. This wasn’t someone weak; this was a life yet unfinished. It was a life of infinite potential. Who knows what this boy could have accomplished except for a cruel twist of fate.
It was similar in the old world, Kelly knew. People died randomly all the time. An innocent caught in the destruction of a drunk driver. Freak accidents. People died all the time. But in the old world, no one actively set out to kill like the Connected System did. It wanted people to die.
Kelly hated it.
“Come, leave him here.”
Kelly ignored Senora.
She could feel the others glare.
“I said it is time to go.”
“Then go,” Kelly said without looking up.
“You are a Valkyrie of Freyja. You will do what I say.”
Kelly looked up. Her glare, what was seen in her eyes, forced the higher Level Senora to step back. The constant arrogance and pride of the elf momentarily fell away. Before she could get it back, Kelly stood up, grabbing her spear as she did. She took a step toward Senora, getting into the elf’s personal space. She could see how much it made Senora uncomfortable.
“You do not command me,” Kelly said.
Senora’s eyes widened in surprise. They quickly returned to the cold, arrogant stare that was their natural state. She started to say something, but Kelly interrupted.
“You do not command me.”
Kelly felt a presence pushing against her as Senora stood straighter, once again looking haughty. It was hard, the presence heavy, but Kelly fought back. She gritted her teeth, glaring at the taller elf.
“Leave,” she said.
Senora quirked an eyebrow.
“You do not want to make an enemy of me,” the elf woman said.
“Leave,” Kelly replied.
