Chương 19: GB - Chapter 19: The Fog Thickens

Luke got around to the northern wall, where a huge gap of fallen stone grown over with moss marked the point of easiest egress. The forest beyond was thick with fog, and he could see shapes moving through it.

"Fog Creepers," Luke said. Captain Stephanie had her sword held aloft, golden flames projecting a glow.

"You can see that far?" Luke nodded.

"One benefit of being Undead—perfect dark vision." He tried to count the shapes moving through the wisps of shadowed mist, but could not keep track of them as they went farther out of sight and then came back into view.

"Can't count them," Luke said. He almost jumped as Alpha appeared next to him. The Grave Node just manifested into existence, and commented, "Orders?" he asked. Luke looked at the Captain, who asked, "What is the maximum range you can go out to?" Alpha swept his hand across the stones behind them.

"The fort's walls mark my outer boundary. All Undead must remain within ten feet of the walls." He shrugged.

"I'm limited by the zone of Death." Damn, Luke thought. I was hoping to just send a few out to draw the Fog Creepers to us. Captain Stephanie said, "Keep an eye on them, if you don't mind. This northern edge is the closest to the fort. If an attack were to come, it would be from this direction." Luke nodded and looked at Alpha.

"I want you to station Undead here, and at the front gates." He then looked at the Captain.

"I don't mind staying up as well." He let out a wry chuckle, trying to humanize himself further.

"I don't need to sleep." Stephanie grunted an affirmation, then turned and headed into the fort. Luke glanced at Alpha.

"So…you're a program of me?"

"Pretty much," Alpha replied, scratching his chin.

"Do I…I feel like I should treat you as a person, but at the same time, I know you're just a soul-based construct under my control." Alpha shrugged.

"Easiest way to think of it is I'm an AI recreation of you." I can work with that, Luke thought. Then, he frowned. And you should know about why I detest the tool. It was the whole reason Luke's models were discredited. When he worked at Chicago PD doing crime analytics and community outreach, he was forced to work with AI. It kept mucking up his data, and even though what he had been doing for years before the tool was presented to his superiors, they were sold on the hype, and didn't follow Luke's suggestions.

Instead, they trusted the AI's interpretation of the data, which wasn't accounting for a whole variety of factors that were not easily quantifiable and required a delicate touch and exceptional mind. Alpha seemed to pick up on or perhaps was connected to Luke's discomfort. He said, "Sorry, boss. Just… easiest comparison, y'know?"

"I do," Luke replied as he looked out at the forest line.

"Have one of your skeletons bring me bodies. Eight of them. Older is better. Bring them to me."

"Got it." Alpha vanished. Luke waited patiently while corpses were brought to him. Thankfully, that burial site had tons of old bones. The fort had to have supported fifty people at once, and it appeared that none left the fort alive for fear of spreading the plague. Now, they were just bones, and it took an hour of sorting, but Luke was able to get mostly matching skeletal remains. Then, he began using Corpse Retainer. Over and over, waiting for his mana and stamina to return between uses.

In a few minutes' time, he had eight skeletal minions under his Command. Alpha re-appeared.

"What's the plan?" Luke looked at his skeletons, saw the hands, the smooth bone, the cleanness of the magical constructs…and wished they had some type of weaponry. But, the armory was empty, and all the Dawnbringer's gear was off-limits in his mind. As if responding to his thoughts, the skeletal forms began to sharpen: fingers became claws, flat teeth in grinning skulls sharpened to razors, and the eye sockets burned with a pale, blue glow. Luke grinned.

"Excellent. Yours might not be able to leave your fort radius…but mine can." Luke raised his arm and pointed to the forest line.

"Go get 'em, boys." The skeletons wordlessly rushed over the grass and to the forest. They went right into the forest, into the deep fog… and Luke heard the sounds of violence. The sound of ripping, flesh being sliced, and bones smacking into wood. Shrieks and howls permeated the air as the Fog Creepers let loose with their war cries—all the while Luke just watched from the gap in the walls. He saw his Command Limit replenish, and knew he had lost a skeleton.

But, Alpha had brought over more corpses, and Luke simply raised another skeleton to rush into the fray in the forest. The process continued all through the night, and Luke ran out of bodies after the fiftieth skeleton. But, as the sun rose, the fog burned off, and the world woke up once more, his Mindless Undead returned. Six had survived the elongated combat, and they brought back the Life Essence Shards from the Fog Creepers they had killed. Sixty in total.

"Good job, boys," Luke said as the skeletons formed up in front of him. [Art Increase: Corpse Retainer 3 → 5 (Increase Command Limit by +2).] [Aspect Increase: Enduring Soul 3 → 5 (Reduce time to regenerate soul by 20 hours. {980 → 960}).] [Experience Gained: 300. Current Experience: 861 / 1000.] Captain Stephanie came over, looking quite refreshed, and crossed her arms.

"What happened last night? The watch reported sounds of combat, though nothing came close." Luke gestured to his line of minions.

"I raised some Undead of my own to go and wipe out the Fog Creepers that were close to the fort. Alpha's minions might be constrained—mine aren't." She nodded her head in sage approval.

"If that's the case…you could go and try to clear out some of the Fog Creeper nests and kill off Matriarchs." She gestured to the forest line with a sweep of her palm.

"They're due for a culling. That would really fix a lot of long term problems." Luke considered the idea. Going on a crusade into a dark forest to kill off monsters wasn't his initial plan, but corpses were limited, and the fewer that could assault the fort would mean that Alpha wouldn't run low on replacements. Not only that, but he could make the forest significantly safer if he ventured into it and tried to cull the population by killing the monsters that produced more of their kind.

Eventually, he thought, the Matriarchs will re-form from the ambient Life power in the forest itself. But… yeah, Experience, Essence Shards, and the ability to use my Arts, raise my Resistances, and increase my Aspects… all of that sounds good. It wasn't like he had anywhere to be, either. The fort was protected, he had made his Grave Node, and the Dawnbringers were coming with the rest of their force that same day with supplies to repair the place.

"I'll wait until people start arriving," Luke said.

"And I'll need to visit town, probably, to find someone who can be a guide." He looked at the Captain's sword, and said, "You use some Art to infuse your weapon with your Power, yes?"

"That is correct," Stephanie replied. Luke nodded.

"Is it Holy and Heat?"

"Yes." If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

"Mind pulling the weapon out and activating that?" She raised a quizzical eyebrow but did so. Luke winced and instinctively backed away a step as the blade ignited with holy fire.

"It's called Sunwrath." Luke nodded and removed his gauntlet, then held a hand forward. It was shaking, trembling, but his will was stronger than the body's reflexes to remain uninjured.

"Let me grab the blade." She smirked at that, and a bit of personality eked through: a cocky assurance and air of superiority.

"Ah, trying to overcome your flaws through Resistance training?" Luke nodded.

"Is it well-known?"

"Painful, but some do it. There are sects of powerful people with a Class known as Martial Artist who will inure their body to Blunt, Pierce, and Slashing injuries through methodical exposure." Luke grabbed the blade and recoiled with pain. His skin was burning, and he could smell the cooked flesh. Quickly manifesting a Pale Flame Bolt, he pushed the power into himself and mended his form.

"Right…here we go." She raised an inquisitive eyebrow.

"Are you sure that you can overcome that increased damage suffered by Holy power?" Luke shook his head.

"No idea if it can never be overcome because it's a part of me." But, he thought, I have to try. And I have increased damage suffered from Life, yet I was able to whittle away a few percentage points of that lowered Resistance from fighting Life-imbued monsters. It stands to reason that I can overcome this, too. He grabbed the blade and held firm, willing his hand to lock around it.

His flesh sizzled and cooked, and he could feel a deep heat all along his hand and spread down his forearm—as if he had pushed the palm against a griddle. After only three seconds, he ripped his hand away and used another Pale Flame Bolt to mend his injury. [Resistance Increase: Heat (1%) → (2%). Holy (-50%) → (-49%).] Luke grinned.

"Looks like it worked."

"God messages telling you that?" she asked. Luke nodded.

"We've got a few hours in all likelihood until people from the town arrive. Mind letting me keep at it?" The Captain shook her head and sheathed her blade.

"I may tolerate you, but I am making you stronger and more resistant to the power that might need to bring you down." She turned and departed. Luke sighed. Alpha manifested next to him and said, "At least they're not killing you."

"True," Luke replied. A few hours passed, and during that time Luke experimented with activating his new Infuse Weapon Art. At first, he simply tried applying Death to the weapon. The blade was covered with a wisping black and grey mist, and as he held it close to the patches of green grass, he saw them wither and decay away.

It confirmed to him that the Fog Creeper Guardians whom they had fought were infused with Death, and Luke assumed it was because of the ambient Death Power Type lingering throughout the fort that was the cause. Next, he tried Marrowsteel. The weapon's hilt and pommel were crusted over with white bone, and the blade dripped a gory red. After, Pale Flame, which as he expected, simply ignited and flickered along the surface, just like the Dawnbringer's own weapon Art.

Second to last was Gravefrost, which crusted over with a deep, blue ice that caused the weapon to sprout little razor shards along the length of one cutting edge. Last, he tried Soul, because he did have an Aspect that was of that Power Type, and so it stood to reason that he could use it. When he did so, however, a voice he had never heard before echoed in his mind. It was vast, encompassing all of his being, and shook him to his core. [Cutting a Soul is desecrating one.] Luke instantly deactivated the Art, and his weapon—which had been turned a ghostly grey-white, just like Alpha's physical form—faded to cold steel once more. Right then, Luke thought. Soul-infused weapons are off the menu. Whatever god that is… I know that doing things to souls is taboo, and I'm not interested in pissing off a pantheon. Also… I could use raw Soul… but I can't use the Death and Soul combination of Soulgrave… what does that mean? Am I also technically bound to the god of Soul?

I mean, I guess, everyone is, since after a person dies, and their god scrubs the soul clean, we go to the Soul god for redistribution. As he walked to the sounds at the front gates of the fort, he reasoned that a Soul-infused weapon would probably actually injure the part of a person's being as well. He resolved to not use a raw Soul infused weapon… but if he could use Soulgrave, he would. After testing, of course. And not if a god boomed in his skull again telling him not to.

The new arrivals were the remaining Dawnbringers, who also came with more of the weird deer-mounts, some of whom were pulling wagons. Villagers and townsfolk from Mistbrook were along for the ride, and the Captain looked at Luke.

"Explain to my companions what your Grave Node can do." Luke nodded and briefly explained Alpha, introduced him, and reaffirmed that the Captain could command Alpha, and therefore the Undead he would raise. One of the Dawnguard asked, "What're they going to do?" The Captain replied, "Whatever I see fit. For now, I think having them keep to the northern gap in the wall, so that any possible Fog Creeper assault is fended off, is appropriate."

Alpha saluted in the American style, and said, "Yes, ma'am," before vanishing into thin air. The few skeletons who had been helping unload the wagons departed, and the villagers who had been shying away from the Undead visibly relaxed.

"They're just bones," Luke mumbled without breath. The Captain began directing supplies and men, then turned to Luke.

"So, your plan?" Luke faced the north.

"Well…I'm going to cull the Fog Creeper population, like you mentioned. But, I'll need a guide to the forest to actually help me find my way." He turned to face her.

"I'll be heading to town for that purpose." The Captain, surprisingly enough, held out a hand to shake. Luke gripped her at the forearm and shook. She said, "For an Undead, you're a pretty decent fellow."

"Thanks for not smiting me," Luke replied as he smiled as best he could. She released his hand and walked with him past the carts and to the road leading back to Mistbrook.

"Your whole entire idea, the Undead Outposts thing, it makes you seem like a good person." She flicked her gaze to him.

"But I am not ready to give you a writ of passage just yet. Cull the Fog Creeper population, with your guide as a witness, and then I'll write it out."

"And what exactly will that do?" She smirked.

"Whenever you're close, within a foot or so, I know you are Undead. Considering that my holy order are lawbringers across much of this part of the world, you would normally be killed on sight." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a painted-red wooden necklace.

"This would mark any non-Dawnbringer as someone to be spoken to before any actions are taken." She put the necklace away.

"Without that? You'd be killed once someone knew you were Undead." In other words, Luke thought, if I want to leave this place and be anywhere that isn't just on the fringes and outskirts of the world, I need that writ. [Quest Available.] [Title: Earn your freedom.] [Source: The Last Warden.] [Trigger: You have come to terms with the restrictions placed upon your travel as an Undead.] [Objective: Clear all of the Fog Creeper nests, and cleanse the Forest's Heart.] [Reward: Undead Infusions.] [Accept or Reject?]"Quest accepted," Luke replied with a smile.

"I'll return with proof of my deeds. But first—" he turned and willed Alpha to appear. The spectral Grave Node manifested within the wall's perimeter, a few feet away.

"Have my skeletons meet me on the road. Have them go around the outside. The fort is yours." There was a second intent embedded in that command: he was telling Alpha that the fort was his, and therefore ultimately the control should be ceded to Alpha, and therefore Luke. Even if that went against Captain Stephanie's wishes. The Grave Node seemed to get the hint.

"Sure, boss." Then, Alpha vanished. Luke headed toward Mistbrook, glanced back and saw the Captain return to her directing duties, and as he faced the road once more, he heard the light clattering of his skeletal entourage sprinting around the fort to join him. Captain Stephanie looked after the man as he departed. Luke Rivers, she thought. Curious… at least William is dead. That asshole had it coming.

Stephanie had been in contest with William since meeting him at the academy, and the young man, despite having great natural talent, was a hot-head and absolute asshole. She was very glad that he would not be in charge of the Fort Watch expansion effort. Stephanie looked at the now-visible flying rodent.

"So…Alpha—""Yeah, what do you need?" it said back in Luke's voice.

"You are fully under my command, yes?"

"Pretty much." Stephanie tapped her fingers against her thigh.

"Well, first off, set some of your Undead to patrolling the outside of the walls. Any extra left over will help us clean up the fort itself and make it habitable."

"You got it!" the flying rodent vanished. That is going to be handy, Stephanie thought.