The Newt and Demon

Throk had quite a few attachments for the train. Theo had thought little of the depot building near the end of the train’s line, but it was filled with different styles of cars for the train. He even had a little artifice that dragged them along the hovering track. Of course, each piece of equipment was made of… Azrugium. Theo shivered as he thought of that name. They hadn’t made laws in the alliance, but perhaps that should be the first one.

“Shouldn’t take but a minute,” Throk said, kicking his artifices to life. The cargo car hovered on the track, and was pulled along toward the station.

Theo double, then triple checked all his equipment for the excursion. He had returned the Retreat Potion to his inventory, as he didn’t ride the contraption behind Throk’s workshop. Both Sarisa and Rowan were coming along for the experiment, but the alchemist spent his time reaching out to the network of golems in Gronro. They were still doing as ordered, marshling along the rocky paths of the mountain to clear away the scourge. The information he got back from them was muddy, as it had to pass through Tero’gal to reach him.

Once the cargo car was attached to the train, Throk ran off to find strong half-ogres to help load it. After that, the four members of the party boarded the train and prepared for another whirlwind journey.

“I’m just gonna crank this up,” Throk said, popping a panel near the conductor’s station and fiddling with the internals.

“You’re gonna what?” Theo asked, eyes going wide as he searched for a way to secure himself. He hooked his arm under a bar, then looked through his inventory for a Strength Potion.

“There we go,” Throk said, slapping the conductor’s panel. “Hold onto your butts.”

Theo’s stomach felt as though it never left the station while the rest of his body hurtled down the track. There was a reason the tram didn’t run at full speed. It was impossible to hear anything, as all members of the party were buffeted by the powerful wind. Everyone held on, closing their eyes as they traveled northward. In between the rush of wind, the alchemist could hear Throk howling with delight.

Eyes wide and dry from the ride, Theo looked upon Gronro-Dir. The trip had taken half the time, and several years from his lifespan. “Please,” he gasped. “Don’t do that again.”

“We have the return journey!” Throk said, cackling as exited the train.

“I’ll just teleport, thank you,” Theo said, joining with Throk on shaky legs. Grot was there to greet them, and he seemed in better spirits than ever.

“Archduke!” he shouted, shoving a mug of beer into the alchemist’s hands. “I didn’t know you were coming today.”

“Either did I,” Theo said, downing the beer in one go. He gasped, then cursed his Vigor.

“So, what are we doing? Your golems are doing well enough,” Grot said. “We had to move the lodestone a few times a day. Every day!”

“That’s good to hear,” Theo said, composing himself as he gestured back toward the train. “We’re going to apply some curative potions to the mountains. Hopefully we can give the golems some help.”

“Works for me. Are your friends going to be alright?”

Theo looked back, finding that both Sarisa and Rowan were vomiting near the train. “Yeah, just give them a minute. Maybe a few minutes.”

“Maybe an hour,” Rowan croaked, vomiting again.

Grot went to get some folks to help with the platform. They only unloaded it from the train car before Throk activated the hovering platform, moving it through the mountain town with ease. Interested eyes turned to them as they marched it through the town, angling for the northern gate. The marshling had to hover it over the gates to get it through, but his new fake coins burned longer and stronger than motes, making the job easy. When they arrived outside of the northern gate, Throk affixed a sprayer artifice to the platform. Theo loaded it with Hallow the Soil potion.

“You know,” Sarisa said, still looking green from the ride. “I was thinking about this plan of yours.”

Theo had allowed his mind to wander through the local lodestone network, pinging the golems that seemed to have wandered quite far to the north. He ordered one to return, as he had no intentions of operating the platform. “What is it?” he asked, dragging his thoughts away from the golems.

“The goose is part of your bond. Isn’t she?”

“Yes, she is,” Theo said.

“So she has access to your shared inventory power.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Couldn’t she drop the potions?”

While that was a good question, it wasn’t well-informed. “The problem with dropping a potion is the spread. The sprayer allows us to cover a wide area. Especially from the air.”

“How high up is this going to go?” Rowan asked. Theo could see it in his eyes. He wasn’t sure which of them was going to operate the platform.

Theo judged how high they would need to go by eye. For maximum spread without sending the potion to a useless mist, they would need to be about fifty feet in the air. “About as high as that crag,” he said, gesturing to a jagged outcrop of rocks.

“That’s not bad…” Rowan trailed off, scratching the stubble on his chin.

“Alright. Up you go, alchemist,” Throk said, jabbing a finger at Theo.

“I’m going to make my golem ride the platform, thank you,” Theo said.

“Too heavy. Get your demon ass up there.”

Theo considered his options. He didn’t want to ride the platform. He would rather do almost anything else, including retreating into his realm and teleporting to Tresk. The alchemist stammered, trying to make up an excuse on the spot. But the longer he floundered, the more he noticed a smile spreading across the marshling’s face.

“Oh, you son of a…”

Throk’s laughter drowned out Theo’s string of curses. “Did you see him sweat?!” Throk howled. “Someone check our archduke’s undies.”

Both Rowan and Sarisa were laughing as well. Theo couldn’t help but laugh at himself. Because Throk had told him the platform would be completely automated. The sprayer was operated from the ground, not the platform. The only reason they had constructed it as a platform was for utilitarian purposes. They could use it elsewhere, but for this task, it was completely remote.

“I only just got the remote operation working,” Throk said, working the controls to raise the platform into the air. “As long as I have a control receiver, I can put any artifice on the platform.”

“Thank god,” Theo said, watching as the artifice ascended.

“Let’s do a simple test,” Throk said, working the control panel like a video game controller. He pressed a button and the sprayer squirted a small amount of liquid onto the ground. He moved the nozzle around, checking each function before he was satisfied. “Now the fun part. Lots of walking. Lots of spraying.”

Grot joined with the group as they walked the cleansed mountain path. Throk operated the platform, watching with satisfaction as it hovered ten feet from the ground. Theo felt a sense of wonder as he walked over the mountain pass. Every single rock, outcrop, and crag had been purified of the necromantic energy. Even compared to last time, there were more wild creatures running around and mountain grasses clinging to what little earth was present. At this pace, they would clear their way through the path by the next season. If they used the sprayer, it would be done far sooner.

Theo checked the wards he had placed around the area as they went. He had Grot run back to town to grab some more junk for him to cast his spells on, and the duke returned in short order. He came back with a team of workers that helped place the junk along the path. It hardly seemed necessary, though. Balkor’s energy was waning by the day, which was interesting to consider. The corruption his undead left behind would be there forever if not dispelled. But the energy acted as a fuel, feeding and causing the scourge to spread. Without that energy, Theo only needed to remove what was there.

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The path wound through the mountains. The party walked for about an hour before they found the place where the golems were working. Theo had already ordered the one he had summoned back to work, but he recalled them yet again so he could inspect their wards and power sources. Throk took great interest in that.

“Are the siphons working?” Throk asked, trying to inspect the golems but finding nothing for him to inspect.

“They’re working great,” Theo said. His Drogramath cores allowed him to inspect the creations. Both the siphons and the batteries were functioning perfectly. His golems no longer needed to come back to the lab to be powered up again.

“Can you pull a siphon out for me to check?”

Theo held his hand out in front of a golem, and the siphon just popped out. He handed the artifice to Throk who nodded with satisfaction. After giving his golem its power supply back, the alchemist reapplied his wards and ordered the golems to get back to work. They shuffled off, scouring more of the corruption away.

As the group moved forward, they stepped into the domain still corrupted by Balkor. The landscape, despite being made up of mostly rock, looked sickly. There were no creatures here. No sparse grasses clinging to the stones. Only a pale green aura that made everyone feel sicker than Throk’s train ride.

“Here we go,” Throk said, sending the hovering platform into the air.

The sprayer blanketed the land with a rolling silver mist. Everything it touched was purged of the necromantic sickness, curing it in an instant. Each sweep of the sprayer saw hundreds of square feet of area cleared away in a blink. Theo watched in amazement as Throk walked the platform forward. He covered an area that would have taken the golems hours in a matter of minutes. The marshling was laughing the entire time.

“This is good,” Grot said, the excitement he felt clear in his voice.

It was beyond good. Theo needed this area clear for a few reasons. It wasn’t just that the necromantic aura was making everyone sick, or that they needed more overland trade. He had made a promise to the pale elf Twist. That masked man needed to get to Qavell, and the alchemist wasn’t about to go back on his promises. This was also a chance to expand the holdings of the alliance.

With Throk’s speedy train, he could happily travel from Broken Tusk to Qavell in a day. Maybe two days, depending on which speed setting they were using. Folks had different ways of expressing how long it took to travel overland. Some karatan had enough endurance to gallop for days without rest. The best karatan could go for days, and navigate on their own.

But Theo’s goal would be to expand the nation’s borders along this mountain path first. Then he would establish another town in the north where the mountains ended. That would be a defensible spot that was also ideal for trade.

“What do you think Balkor’s minions are doing?” Sarisa asked, coming up alongside Theo. She poked him in the side with the butt of her spear.

“Honestly? I don’t know. If he wants revenge on Glantheir for his defeat, he’ll attack the elves.”

Sarisa laughed. “Do you think the undead could destroy Tarantham?”

A grimace spread across Theo’s face. They had discussed this in the past. The theory that felt most possible had lingered in his mind for some time. “I think he wants revenge, so he’s going for Veosta. They don’t stand a chance.”

“Ah. That’s grim.”

The group spent some time operating the platform, but they didn’t intend to do all the work themselves. Throk gave Grot and his people instructions on how to operate the platform. He made the duke work the platform for a while, correcting him when he was misusing it. After that, the marshling gave him a sack of fake coins. Theo gave the leader a fair amount of Hallow the Soil potion, but reserved some for himself. Dusk was fast approaching, and Theo didn’t intend to spend the night here.

“Where are you?” Theo asked, sending his mind toward Tresk. He couldn’t feel her very clearly.

“Just hanging out.”

Theo narrowed his eyes. “In a dungeon?”

“Yeah.”

“Alex, where are you?”

“Flyin’ around.”

“In a dungeon?”

“No. In the sky.”

“Could you land? I’m going to teleport to you in five minutes.”

“Sure!”

“Alright, guys,” Theo said, patting Sarisa and Rowan on the shoulder. “Have fun with the trip. I’ll meet you back in town.”

“Lazy. No good. Stupid teleporting… Hey, can’t you take us with you…”

Theo fell between the veil before Sarisa could hurl any more insults. He felt the Bridge of Shadows ripple with excitement as he passed over. Uz’Xulven sensed he was traveling to Tero’gal. A moment later, the alchemist landed in his realm. Before he even looked around, he could sense a lot of souls waiting for his approval. He blinked against the bright, sunless sky above and looked upon a field of souls. Belgar was there within moments, a nervous look on his face.

“Yeah. That’s what I was thinking,” Belgar said, jerking his head toward the crowd. “Lots of elves and half-elves.”

Tero’gal’s interface claimed there were 117 souls waiting for approval. He scrolled through the list of applicants, finding that Belgar was right. Most of them were half-elves. He didn’t need to be told where they had come from, but intended to ask once he had accepted them. Several archways sprung up as Uz’Xulven, Benton, Glantheir, Spit, and Drogramath entered the realm. They waved at Theo, but headed toward the renovated cottage. It had been made larger to allow Spit entrance.

“See you in a minute!” Glantheir shouted, smiling as he waved at Theo.

“Could you fetch me a chair,” Theo said, nodding to Belgar. “And grab me a cup of tea once Benton has it made.”

“Sure thing,” Belgar said, scampering away.

Theo began the interview process, where he learned the truth of Balkor’s assault on Veosta. Almost every soul that arrived had been without a patron. They all had unaligned cores, or had put little faith in their gods. All were eager for a new life. That gave Theo some amount of comfort. Since he had allied himself with Fenian, the weight of the dead had come back. Glantheir’s purging of his mind had eased that, but this sight did more than anything. The dead were being given a chance to live a life where they would have everything they ever wanted. They lived a life of quiet leisure with as much food, water, and entertainment they wanted.

The alchemist got through fifty souls before he found one with more will than the others. He was an elf that didn’t have the same vacant stare and incorporeal form as the others. His appearance reminded Theo of the way Belgar looked a few weeks after he arrived in the realm. Mostly formed, but still hazy around the edges.

“I was a general,” the elf said, pausing to look at the ground. “Although I cannot remember my name.”

“You’re more here than most new souls,” Theo said, inspecting the screen provided by the realm. “What happened?”

“We’ve been fighting the undead for a while now. A foreign trader brought an alchemical solution to our problems and… it was going well for a while. But we had a breach, and I was there.”

“Tragic,” Theo said.

“The army was led by a single undead. Perhaps a lich,” the elf said.

Theo couldn’t shake the feeling that this guy was trying to vomit as much information as possible. He was trying to help the alchemist.

“Could you describe him?”

“Hunched over. Green skin, although that might have been rot. He was intelligent.”

Theo felt a sudden, comforting presence behind him. He turned, finding Glantheir with that permanent half-smile on his face. “And now he knows,” he whispered, placing a hand on the alchemist’s shoulder.

Theo turned back to the soul, realizing what Glantheir meant. He accepted the elf into his realm before turning to another applicant. “Who is it? Who is leading the army?”

“Let’s see if you have put it together. If Khahar shows up, you’re not there yet. Ready?”

Theo couldn’t help but laugh. It was a curious way to test the laws that Yuri had put in place. “Yeah, let’s see.”

“Balkor had three places where he stored his soul,” Glantheir said, looking around and smiling. “No Khahar.”

A loud snap issued behind Glantheir. Khahar stood there, arms folded. “I don’t appreciate you making a game of my rules.”

“But isn’t it fun?”

“Kinda,” Khahar said, coming to stand near Theo and Glantheir. “But the creature leading the undead isn’t Balkor. Think of it more as an echo. He is a different person. Confused. Scared. Angry.”

“When I get confused, I also destroy the world,” Theo mocked, winking at Khahar.

“Har har. I don’t like this loss of life either, Theo. But I have seen where this ends. And the world is better for it.”

“‘Trust me! I won’t blow it all up!’” Glantheir said, clasping his hands together. “That was your promise from the start, wasn’t it?”

“Are you not satisfied with what I have accomplished?” Khahar asked, glaring at Glantheir.

“I’m over the moon,” Glantheir said. “Sometimes literally. Things are going well, even if there are casualties. Most of the elves who died in Veosta entered my realm, where they will be happy forever. Some came here, although I don’t know why.”

“I know you’re right, Khahar,” Theo said, accepting another soul into the realm. “When are we going to claim the next throne?”

“Soon enough. They’re still cooking.”

“What’s mine gonna be called?”

“We’ll dub you ‘the Idiot Who Asked Too Many Questions,’” Khahar said, flipping Theo the bird.

“Oh that has a certain ring to it,” Glantheir said.

Theo laughed with his godly friends for a while. Belgar brought him some tea and a chair and Khahar and Glantheir went to go have tea in the cottage. The new souls brought the total count of souls to 292, but it only gave him one level in the realm. The alchemist felt the power of the realm expand, but he didn’t get any new expansions. When he was done with the souls, he joined with his companions in the cottage. Heavenly tea was just so delicious.