Chapter 125 - A Kingdom of Her Own

  I knelt there, staring at the Forgotten King’s corpse for a long moment. I half expected him to get back up and start fighting again. You know, that moment at the end of a horror movie where everyone thinks the monster is dead, but then it comes back to life? Yeah, that was sort of what I was figuring would happen. But it didn’t. There was no more movement, no sudden last-minute rising from the dead.

  After giving it a beat, I reached out toward the body, ready to loot it out of habit. I froze just short of touching it, turning my gaze toward Carver.

  He saw my look, but shook his head and waved his hand in my direction. “Your kill, your loot. Besides, there’s plenty here for everyone else to share.”

  I looked where he pointed, at the horde of zombies meandering around the field. Without Lyonius and the wraiths guiding their actions, they were unfocused, fighting without coordination or direction. Between my force and Carver’s, our people were making short work of what remained of the horde. He was right. There’d be plenty of crystals for everyone else. I reached out and touched the dead King in front of me.

  Three stones appeared in my hands. One was the control stone that I’d been expecting. The other two were black crystals, one of which was huge. I quickly examined the stones I’d won from the fight. One of them was a spell that was entirely new to me, something called Dark Pulse. It was an area of effect spell, something that sent out a wave of necromantic energy from the caster, hitting every enemy nearby. That had to be the spell Lyonius cast that created that wave of energy. It was already tier three, which was a nice touch.

  The other stone was much better, though. It was Animate Dead, and it was at tier ten. I swallowed hard, seeing that. It hadn’t occurred to me while I was fighting to consider what the loot would be like, but every monster I’d killed usually dropped at least one stone at the tier it was. Since Lyonius was tier ten, that meant he would logically drop a tier ten stone. That was crazy and cool. I pocketed the stone for the time being, sliding it into my pouch. As soon as I socketed it, everyone who looked at me would see I was tier ten, and I just wasn’t ready for that yet.

  “He dropped a control stone, right?” Carver asked.

  I nodded. “Yeah. He was the head of a Domain.”

  “So you know about Domains, then,” he replied, nodding approvingly. “I thought he might have one. That’s why I thought it best you loot him. I already have two, myself, and you seem like someone I can work alongside as an ally. Have you considered where you’d want to set up a Domain? I can help you get started.”

  I looked around at the mess we’d made of the field. This place had been farmland, not long ago. With work, it could be again. “I don’t know. What about this place? There’s a well, fields, a few buildings already in place. It could work.”

  “It could. You’ll want walls, obviously.”

  “Obviously,” I replied, flashing him an exhausted grin. “Thankfully, I have undead who can handle that.”

  He laughed. “Precisely what I did. But make sure to find a few humans who can help. My first attempt at wall building was less than inspired. Brian fixed that, got our walls up strong and secure.”

  “Brian?”

  Carver pointed toward the battle. “He’s over there. My second in command. A good man.”

  “Shall we go help with cleanup?” I said.

  “A good plan.”

  The two of us joined the battle, healing ourselves with Drain Life spells and then throwing our weight against the enemy. Both of us Controlled as many zombies as we could before turning them back against the rest. Then I Animated a few Abominations from the dead zombies littering the field. With Carver and I added to the mix, things went even more swiftly in our direction.

  By dawn, it was over. Every zombie had been killed. Lyonius’s horse was dead as well. We never spotted the wraiths again, but if they turned up, they’d be dealt with. They were strong, but not strong enough to pose a serious threat to any of our bases. As the first light pinked the eastern sky, our living fighters, exhausted, moved back toward the houses at the center of the space.

  The ratkin settled into the barn, building little temporary nests for themselves out of the hay. Each one had managed to acquire half a dozen or so crystals. It was enough to rank up virtually all of them, and I was glad of it. They’d proven to be strong allies.

  The avians found me, landed in front of me, saluted, and then flew off. They’d taken a few crystals each for their trouble. I hoped we might work together again in the future, if Turner didn’t screw everything up completely. The avians were smart and perfectly capable of diplomacy. We just had to be willing to meet them halfway.

  I stationed my undead around the property. They’d keep an eye out for intruders and alert me if anything nasty tried to get in. I had more than enough to provide good security for the place.

  Carver met me in front of the main farmhouse. “Looks like you’re settling in.”

  “Yeah, so far, so good.”

  “Do you need help using the stone?” Carver asked. “I’ve done it already, myself. I can walk you through it if you need assistance.”

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  I shook my head and gave him an exhausted smile. “No, the instructions are pretty clear. I’ve got this.”

  “I figured as much,” he replied, nodding. “You always were a quick study.”

  “Thanks. You weren’t my favorite teacher, but I’m glad you made it through all of this. What was that spell you used before, anyway? I’ve never seen it before.”

  “The one I shot him with when he was about to kill you? It’s called Shadow Bolt. Very rare spell. I only have it to tier two, but I’ll be looking for more copies. It’s proved its worth more than once,” Carver replied. “I wanted to talk with you more about the future, but I suspect you’re exhausted. My fortress is northwest of here. Once you control your own Domain, you’ll be able to sense other nearby Domains. You can find me easily enough. We were a good team last night. I’d like to see us work together more, moving forward.”

  “There’s enough stacked against us out here. Allies would be good.” I offered him my hand, and he shook it. “We’ll put things back together. They might not be just the same as they were before all this craziness started, but it’ll be something livable, anyway.”

  “That’s my goal as well,” Carver said. “And we will have opposition. I destroyed the ‘pirates’ and their Domain on the lake shore, yesterday. They were not the sort of people I wanted as allies.”

  “That bad?”

  “Taking slaves. Doing abominable things to people. It…wasn’t pretty. We have the survivors at my home, and we’re working to help them heal. For some of them, it’ll be a long road, but we’ll get them there.”

  I had to admire that. “Still a doctor at heart, huh?”

  Carver chuckled and ran a hand through his hair. “I suppose I am, at that. All this has changed me some; I’ve clearly gone past ‘do no harm.’ I’ve killed people, Selena, not just monsters.”

  “So have I,” I replied, my face grim.

  “I’m sorry you had to. But I think the reality of this new world is that we will sometimes have to kill in order to protect our friends, family, and those who rely on us.” He paused, then looked over at his troops, who were readying themselves to depart. “We’re headed for home. Come visit us whenever you want. You’ll be very welcome.”

  “Thanks, Professor Carver.” It felt good, having someone I knew out there, someone who had risked his life to help me.

  “Please, call me Gideon.”

  We shook hands again, and then he was off. One of his men led a zombie horse to Carver, who mounted it and then led them all to the highway, then north from there.

  I was utterly spent. When was the last time I’d managed a full night’s rest? I couldn’t even remember. I headed back toward the farmhouse, where Kara was waiting by the front door.

  “I’ve already set Alfred and his people up in the dorm. Big room, row of beds… It’s not perfect, but it’ll do for now,” Kara said.

  “Thanks. You leave any beds for us?”

  “Yup. There’s a few single rooms upstairs. I wrote our names on the doors of two of them.”

  “You’re an angel,” I said, following her inside.

  “You going to use one of those control stones?” Kara asked as she started up the stairs to the second floor. “Become a Domain holder?”

  I paused at the foot of the stairs, thinking about it. Before, I’d decided not to set up a Domain because it would paint a target on my back. Everyone nearby who had a control stone would see where I was based. They’d be able to find me easily. The Domain center, the citadel or castle or whatever it was that I built, would be easily detected by any other Domain leader who was within range.

  It was a level of openness that I struggled with. I’d never wanted to be the leader of anything. Class offices weren’t my thing. I’d never been captain of a sports team in school. My goals had always been to keep my head down and study hard, so that I could reach my goal—becoming a doctor.

  Well, all of that was changed now, for sure. Doctors weren’t really a thing anymore, in spite of my jokes with Professor Carver. He might still have some of the values inside him that made him want to be a healer, but he’d also learned from this harsh world we were living in how to become more than that.

  So had I. I still wanted to help others where I could. That was probably never going to go away. But not just by healing, not anymore. I’d become someone for whom healing was no longer enough, not when I could do so much more to protect those weaker than me.

  “Yeah, I think I will,” I said. “You like this place, Kara? I was thinking it could be one hell of a fortified castle if we put some work into it. With the barns for animals and the fields nearby for crops, we could be self-sustaining without too much trouble.”

  “There’s that Hannaford’s just south of the mall, too,” Kara added. “We didn’t get a chance to look, but I’ll bet with the zombies right next door, it hasn’t been looted much. We can get the supplies there that we’ll need to survive the winter.”

  “You should do. This is good place,” a soft voice said from the doorway.

  I turned and saw Patches there. “I thought you’d be sleeping with your fellows!”

  Patches shook his head. “Wanted to thank Lady Death for saving us all, like she said she would.”

  I blushed at that. “You’re welcome, Patches. You all helped, too. We couldn’t have done it without the ratkin.”

  “I am glad we could help,” Patches replied. “But I heard your words. You become true lady, leader of this place?”

  “We’re talking about it, yeah,” I replied.

  Patches knelt down, bowing his head in front of me. “May ratkin join you here?”

  “And maybe a few humans, too?” Alfred said from the doorway into the dorm room.

  Was everyone still awake? I thought we’d been having a quiet, private conversation. Apparently not.

  “Yes! You can both stay.” I broke out laughing at the absurdity of it all. There I was, a college student, with ratkin kneeling before me. Oh, and there was Alfred, joining Patches in kneeling. “Please get up, both of you!”

  But they didn’t, at least not right away. Alfred glanced up at me, his eyes gleaming with mischief. “Are you kidding? I wouldn’t miss this for anything. Do it, Selena. Make the Domain. Create something new. I think you’re going to make a home that’s like nothing else the world has seen, and I don’t want to miss a moment of it.”

  “He is wise, Lady Death,” Patches said. “We believe in you.”

  “Okay. I’ll do it,” I said. I pulled the control stone from my pouch. Not the one I’d won from Lyonius, but the tier two control stone that I’d already had from past battles. I’d save the other one—who knew what I’d be able to do once the stone was ranked to tier three?

  I held the stone in my hand and focused my Will on it, concentrating. The stone told me, in my mind, how to activate it. It understood my desire to make this place, this building, the center of my Domain. Power flowed down my arms, through my fingers, and into the stone, until with a flash it was absorbed into me.

  A wave of magical energy washed out from the stone, flowing over the nearby space. In an instant, I could sense every creature nearby. I knew the details of my home in a way that made it almost like an extension of my body. I had my Domain, now, my home, a place of refuge for those who needed it and a place of strength from which I could help make this world a better place.

  Kara was the first to reach my side, pulling me into a hug. “You amaze me every day.”

  “Thanks,” I told her.

  Patches and Alfred rose and cheered, rushing to join our hug as they celebrated the moment with me.

  Inside me, something that had been wound tight for days released. I’d made a decision, one I’d been trying to resolve for some time. Who was I to be, in this world? A follower? A leader? I’d been asking myself those questions for some time. Now, at long last, it seemed I had my answer.