Path of Transcendence 1: Ultimatum of the Nameless God (21 page)

“Who was he?” Jinmu's voice is soft, an odd gleam in his eyes.

“She almost never used his name, but I think she said it was Talon.”

“TALON! He was a murderous psychopath!” Sigurd's shock is almost comical.

Jinmu's tone of voice is half serious and half needling. “Brand, do you see how pretty young girls look a people they consider heroes. Are you sure you do not want to be a hero?”

I stand up. “Fuck being a hero. Heroes die for people who stab them in the back at the first opportunity. I learned from Talon's mistake. He was murdered by people he was protecting.”

Delilah sighs. “Talon's dead? Nessa would be sad.”

“No. She wouldn't. Not anymore.” I do not know or care if they hear the words spoken as I walk away.

In the middle of the stormy night, the forces of Thug Horde quietly surrounded a ruin. The ruin looked like it might have once been a small fort or keep, but now, it was barely more than a pile of slag. It sat in the middle of a clearing, where the ground seemed to have been melted and fused into black glass. Cracked and shattered in places, the glass showed the ravages of an unknown number of years. There were a number of cracks in the remains of the outer wall, but no gaps big enough for a person to fit through. It had become a slick, steep slope, only about twenty feet or so high.

The darkness and the howling of the wind should have completely concealed the Thug Horde members presence, but a dark shadow ascended the ruined wall, from the inside. A pair of Half-Dvergar eyes scanned the surrounding woods. Those eyes saw a group of twenty-five to thirty shadows clustered near the edge of the clearing. The shadows looked human, but one of them had the wrong physical proportions.

“Talon, you gutless bastard! Come out and face us!” Menton's voice boomed over the cacophony of the storm. He was a DokkAlfar. His voice never should have been audible on such a stormy night, but he was also an Umbral Sorcerer. The only player ever to become a DokkAlfar was thoroughly seduced by evil power of the Umbra long before the Great Fuck Over. In the game, as soon as he found himself in a DokkAlfar's body, Menton crossed a line that no human should ever cross.

A few minutes passed without any response from the ruin, and Menton's anger visibly grew by the second. Since first using the Umbra in his new body, he had become barely able to control his darker emotions. He gave in to the darkest side of his nature, becoming something more and less than human. He was rapidly losing any and all self-control that he once possessed.

“Talon, I have a friend of yours! She's a little half-blood Alfar slut that you should know well. Come on, Selestra, Talon wants to hear your voice.”

A slap was followed by a scream. “Aaahhh! That hurt! What was that for?”

Menton felt a tingling in his groin at Selestra's scream, and he hit her a few more time. Getting more excited with every scream, he was barely able to hold back from beating her bloody.

“Talon, this girl is your friend isn't she? If you don't come out, I'm going kill her. This isn't like the game. She'll feel all the pain, and I'll make sure it agonizing. I'll really enjoy making her scream and beg. You can save her, Talon. You just have to come out.”

Seeing a wide, massively muscled figure stood up on the top of the wall, most of the Thug Horde members involuntarily cringed. Muttering to themselves, some looked around, as though seeking an avenue of escape.

“Bring Selestra out where I can see her.” The hard gravelly voice was deeper than anything that should come out of a human throat.

Menton walked forward, dragging the slender figure of Selestra by her long hair. The rest of the Thugs, spread out in an arc to either side of him, moved forward as well.

“Ow, that hurts. Let go of me! I agreed to help you catch that asshole! Why are you doing this to me!” Selestra struggled vainly, holding onto her hair to keep it from being torn from her scalp.

Selestra's sting of complaints was ignored by Menton. He was no more merciful than he was in the game. He had found new pleasure in hurting people. As long as he was the one with the upper hand,  he would hurt people, because he enjoyed it.

Menton stopped about thirty feet from the wall. Staring into Talon's eyes, he looked for even the smallest hint of fear.

“Aaaahhh! That hurts you bastard! Let me go!”

Menton hurled Selestra to one of his Thugs, a burly melee type. The Thug expertly twisted her arm into a submission hold and jammed his thumb into the V at the top of her breastbone. Selestra stopped complaining, as she gagged from the pressure.

“Darius, signal the other teams to close in.”

At Menton's words, Darius, a human, took a sealed tube out of his belt pouch, a bag of holding, and tore the top off. A white flare lit up the stormy night sky for fifteen or twenty seconds. Deposed by Menton, Darius was the founder of Thug Horde's chapter in Taereun: Battleground of the Damned. He was somewhat of a caster, but his specialty was actually alchemy.

“What do you want?”

“You surrender to me, in exchange for the little slut's freedom. If you don't, I kill her or maybe have all my men take turns raping her. I have a few women who would like to take their turn with spears or staves, so it should be fun.” Menton smiled, an expression of twisted joy, in contrast with his bored tone of voice.

Other members of Thug Horde climbed the ruined wall, behind Talon, and dropped to the ground in the ruined courtyard.

“Let her go. I won't run from you. Unlike you, my word is good.”

Menton waved his finger at Talon. “Uh uh, we can't have
you getting violent once the girl is gone. A couple you strip her and have a go at her, so that Talon knows how serious I am.”

“NNNOOOOO!” Selestra's shriek drowned out the tearing of her clothing.

“If they touch her again, I will kill as many of you as I can before you take me down.” Talon's voice was as colder than the depth of space.
I do not want die, but I know that I will. If not for what I owe Urehara-sensei, I would leave her to fate. There are too many of them. This is a fight I cannot survive, no matter what I do. If I fight, I will die. If I surrender, they will kill me.

The Thugs holding Selestra stared at Talon. He was the living legend that brought their guild to its knees in the past. Their fear was easy to read in their faces and postures. They did not know that Talon was nearly powerless, completely unable to use Shadow Fist.

“It seems that our intelligence was not in error, and you really have been watching over and helping this girl for years. If you do not surrender peacefully, after you are dead, we will rape her to death. Thug Horde has been hand picked and well trained. They all learned: it's much better to hurt others as much they want than to hold back. It was all just a game after all, and this is just an extension of the game.” His peaceful smile in contrast with the twisted lust in his eyes, Menton stared at Talon . Without any fear of retribution by the authorities on Earth, he would commit any and all twisted acts that struck his fancy.

“Let her go. I surrender.” Talon jumped down from the wall. At Menton's nod, he was grabbed and bound to a yoke, by half a dozen of the biggest Thugs.

Selestra glared at Talon, her eyes filled with hatred and contempt. Slipping free from the Thug holding her, she stalked over to Talon, trying to hold her torn clothing in place. She started punching and kicking him, her small naked tits bouncing with every blow. She had not forgotten what she learned in her father's dojo. She knew how to hit and do damage. “This is all your fault! He raped me, you asshole! If you didn't make enemies out of everyone, I wouldn't be here! This wouldn't have happened to me! Die! I want you to fucking die!”

Menton smirked at Talon from behind Selestra's naked shoulder, for a few minutes. When one of Talon's eyes was covered in his own blood, and the other mostly closed from the swelling, Menton grabbed Selestra and threw her to two of his Thugs. “Take her back to the compound, but don't touch her, if you want to live. If you soil her with your pathetic dicks, I will melt them off. She belongs to me.”

Selestra stared at Menton in shock for a few second, before struggling wildly. “No! You said you would let me go! I'm a guild envoy!”

Menton laughed, cruelly. “No. You were never anything but an offering from the Bohemian Cats. I get you, as a fuck toy, and they go free. The Lady of Gold made the offer. You for the rest of the guild's freedom without retaliation.”

“Your lying! Your lying! Your lying!” Her shrieks rose in volume and desperation, with each repetition.

“Why would I lie to my property?” Menton laughed.

As she was dragged away, her half torn away clothes exposing her naked upper body, splattered with Talon's blood, she whimpered and mumbled to herself. She did not even try to walk, her knees and feet leaving drag marks in the muddy ground.

The heavy rain kept Talon's blood from completely obscuring the vision in his good eye. One of his teeth was broken, and several others were ready to fall out.

“Remember the example we made of you when you were still a solo noob? We're going to do it again. But first, we are going to castrate you. Don't let him escape. Nero rip his dick and balls off.”

Nero Black's hate filled face was covered with ugly marks that looked like chemical burns, and huge clumps of his hair were missing leaving raw flesh and exposed bone. He had a pair of crude pliers, grasped in a hand with black scabs where the finger nails should be. “You have no idea how much I suffered because of you. Now, I get to pay it back with interest.”

Talon was helpless to stop Nero from pulling his pants my pants down around my knees. Six thugs held down the heavy yoke he was tied to, while eight more Thugs held his legs, four on each one. His glare never left Nero black, as he felt a hand grabs my dick. He could not hold back a scream, when the pliers crushed his left testicle before tearing it off, or stop another one, when the right was crushed and torn off. He was too deep in shock for the pain his dick being torn off to really register.

“Nail his balls to his palms and stick his dick in his mouth before you hang him from the wall.”

The pain of the spikes going through Talon's palms was barely noticeable compared to the agony in his groin. His mouth was filled with a lump of bloody meat, forcing him to half-choke on the blood from his broken nose. As he was hauled into the air, the ropes biding him to the yoke kept his body weight from tearing his hands off the spikes.

“As strong as you are, you should last for days. I wish I had the time to enjoy it, but I have a slut to rape and tens of thousands of players to subjugate to my will. Enjoy your last days in agony. What no snide comments? Oh, I'm sorry. I did not notice the dick in your mouth.” Menton's full-throated laugh was anything but sane. Already, his mind was completely consumed by the Umbra.

* * * * *

Time had blurred into a sea of agony. When a light appeared in the stormy night, Talondid not know how long it has been since he was crucified. As the yoke was lowered, hands caught body, lowering it to the ground.

“My God!” A quite male voice.

“He's almost dead. He's lost too much blood.” A girls voice, soft and compassionate.

“Can you save him?” An inhumanly deep voice.

“I don't know.” The girls voice.

“Try, girl. Try your hardest.” The inhumanly deep voice.

“What's wrong with his mouth.” The quite man's voice.

Soft fingers pry open his mouth, and pull out the lump of torn off flesh.

“What kind of animal could do this?” The girls voice.

“Not animals girl. Only humans are this cruel. Thug Horde are humans, the lowest most degenerate human scum you will ever find. Can you heal him? Make him a whole man again?” The deep voice.

“Thorrin, do you understand the price I will pay?”

“Nessa, my girl, we can't leave him like this. Even before this happened, he's already been hurt and betrayed by people time and again. I'm afraid of what he'll become, if we leave him like this. It would be more merciful to put him out his misery than to have him live as a eunuch.”

“I'll try, but it has to be soon, or he will die. We need to get him to shelter now.”

“He was staying inside these ruins, so there must be shelter inside.”

The pain of being lifted off the ground drives away Talon's consciousness.

Nessa sat crosslegged on the floor of her small cabin, staring at the bandaged Half-Dvergar lying unconscious on her pallet.

“AAAARRRRGGGHH!” Talon's scream echoed in the dim room. He looked around, panting for breath. His bandaged hands reached for his head, before he pulled them away, staring blankly at the bandages.

“You're okay now. It's over. You're safe.” Nessa hugged Talon from behind, her voice a soft whisper in his ear.

“Don't touch me!” The viciousness in his voice surprised Nessa.

When he tried to shake her off, she only held on tighter. She was surprised again, when Talon shivered like an unbroken horse being touched.

“It's okay. I won't hurt you.” Her arms trembled. She was scared, but she could not let go.

“Please, Talon. Lay down again. You're safe, but you are not yet well.”

Talon looked around the cabin, his breathing a heavy, erratic panting.. The walls were made of rough hewn beams, at least a foot thick. Except for a small table, meant to used while sitting on the floor, there no furniture.

Nessa's small hand started to stroke his head, like he was a child. She gasped as she was twisted and gently dropped on her back. Sitting up, she stared wide-eyed at him.

Talon looked at the girl. She was a little more than just pretty, but she did not have the inhuman beauty of some former players. Her long dark brown hair was cut into bangs across her forehead, framing her an oval face. Dark brown eyes stared out over her high cheekbones. Sitting down the top of her head barely reached the top of Talon's  chest, but it would reach his chin if they were standing. Half-Dvergar legs are shorter and the torso longer, compared to a human's.

“Where am I?” Talon's harsh voice made Nessa flinch.

“Emer, it's northeast from the ruins where you . . . you were . . .” Nessa's voice faltered, as she started trembling. She could not forget the pain, so much pain she wanted to scream. It was not just the torture at Menton's hands. There were older pains buried inside of Talon, and she had lived through them all. She had felt the agony of having her body cut, pierced and torn tens of thousands of times, but that was not the worst. There was one even worse than being crucified, the pain of being burned alive. It was haunting her, no matter how much she wanted to forget.

“Then, you saw what happened to me?”

Hugging her knees tightly to her chest, Nessa rocked back and forth. Tears welling up in her eyes, streaming down her cheeks. “I healed you. I'm an empathic healer. I had to feel some of your pain. It hurt so bad. So bad. It hurt so bad.”

“Thank you.”

Talon put his hand on the bandages on my groin, wincing. Seeing his motion through her tears, Nessa's cheeks flushed.

“Am I a … Are my … parts … there or … gone?”

Nessa's entire face turned brilliant scarlet. “I ... I put them back.” She buried her face in her arms. “I healed them, as much as I could. I only touched it enough to heal it. REALLY!”

“How young
are
you?”

“I'm not a child. I'm sixteen, and I'm already working on college credits in school.” Nessa stared angrily at Talon, but the memory of what was done to him has slipped to the back of her mind for the moment.

“Eavesdropping is a bad habit, old man!”

Thorrin opened the door and walked into the cabin, an indignant frown on his face. “It's not eavesdropping, when I happen to hear what your saying while walking by.”

“You stopped walking three minutes ago.”

Thorrin shrugged and sat down. “I'm guessing that was Menton's work?”

“More or less. He gave the orders, but his ass-licking Thuggies did the dirty work. How long have I been out and what's happening at the Chamber of Transition?”

Thorrin sighed. “Five days since we cut you down. We have scouts watching the camp, it has turned into those sucking up to Menton and the slaves. The slaves are getting some pretty brutal treatment, but they won't fight back because they are scared of dying for real. Taereun: Battleground of the Damned may have been the most hardcore PvP game ever, but the players are mostly normal people. They are still afraid of dying. Some are even afraid of getting in a real fight without the pain dampers to shield them.”

“Faggots. That's why most of them sucked at the game. They were so scared, they would cower when they should fight. Even with the pain dampers at zero, getting punched in real life hurt worse than in the game.” Talon glared in the general direction of the wall, but his eyes were fixed on the past.

“You shouldn't talk bad about people. It's not like you've been punched a lot.” Nessa's tone was scolding, with a smug superiority in her eyes.

“I've been punched millions of times more, than you've kissed your boyfriend, and you probably haven't spread your legs for him even one-thousandth as many times as I've been in fights.”

Her face turns flaming scarlet again, and she cannot keep the pain out of her voice. “My parents are strict. I go to an all girls school and don't have a boyfriend.”

“Talon! She didn't deserve that. She's a really good girl. She won't stab you in the back like Selestra.” Thorrin paused for a moment. When he continued, his voice was subdued, he sounded tired.  “Menton has Selestra. He's not being gentle with her.”

“I know. I fucked up. I didn't realize how far over the edge he was. I'm going to have to go in after her.”

“Is she your girlfriend?” Nessa asked in a small voice.

Talon stared wide-eyed for a moment, before bursting out laughing. “Girlfriend? I'm so fucking ugly I make girls cry. I know her in the real world.  She's spoiled bitch who hates me, but I owe her father more than I can ever repay.”

“You're not really ugly, just a bit old.” Nessa's cheeks turned red again.
Oh my god! What did I just say.

The mockery in Talon's laughter was directed at himself. “In real life, I look like a horror movie freak. Half my face looks melted wax and the other half . . . well, it's just normal ugly. I was in an accident when I was eleven years old. I was badly burned over half my body and the bones were mostly shattered in the other side of my head. It was months before I could leave the hospital.”

“I'm sorry.” Pity welled up in Nessa's eyes.

“Don't apologize for something that isn't your fucking fault.” Talon's tone was nasty.

“Talon, enough!” Thorrin's voice was hard and angry. “She didn't do anything wrong, so don't take you frustrations out on her.”

“Thank you for healing me. I owe you, but it's best if you stay away from me. I'm broken. The only thing I'm good at is hurting people. I don't need or want anyone's pity.”

“She's not ... Forget it.” Thorrin sighed. “So what about Selestra? Are you really going into the camp because of her father? Menton won't let you live, if he catches you. He won't let you die fast either. He's already had some players tortured as examples for the rest.”

Talon grunted. “Yeah, I'm going. I'll wait till I'm fully healed though. I might be crazy, but that doesn't mean I'm stupid.”

“You haven't mastered your character's powers.”

Talon's eyes jerk toward Thorrin.

“I thought so. You should have been able to at least escape, before you were tortured. How are you going to free her if you can't use your powers?”

Talon shrugged. “I'll do what I need to. Have you forgotten my war with Thug Horde? I put a lot of effort into studying guerrilla tactics, while fighting them.”

Nessa filled bowls with food, from a kettle hanging on the fireplace.

“You need to eat, if you're going to heal. I can't do more with my healing magic.” Her fear of the pain inside Talon left a haunted shadow in her eyes.

Thorrin and Talon ate in silence, lost in their own thoughts.

Nessa sat off to the side not quite facing them. She watched Talon e out of the corner of her eye, but she looked away, when he turned in her direction. She was trying to reconcile the Talon here with the stories and the Talon she first saw. She could never forget the hero, that she first saw attacking Thug Horde, when they were torturing and killing a group of new players.

When he was finished, Thorrin stood up. “Nessa, let's give Talon some space. He doesn't spend much time around people. It's probably why he's such an asshole.”

Nessa frowned at Talon, before following Thorrin out of the cabin.