Server Lost - Chapter 39 for King Country

Within the next three days, everyone set out on their own directives. Runa and Vivian going to the Fae Imperium, Jack sending them half way by portal, to the edge of the Greyhorn Territory. Snow and Rein went off to their respective Guilds with a letter of introduction from the Castle Lord, Ivan Carmichael.

That very night, lesser noble houses known to conspire in corruption that serve beneath the Castle Lord’s jurisdiction were to be arrested and tried, the verdict always being guilty.

Their sons, their daughters, stripped of their status and enslaved. All whilst their fathers and mothers were imprisoned in the dungeons of Noctia for ‘Crimes against the Crown.’

Despite the righteous appearance of this act, it was simply to acquire their coin filled vaults and candid regulation of the noble dominated trade and trafficking within the city’s territory. Eliminating the presence of Kline’s criminal enterprise through the use of inside knowledge as he knew everyone involved in the city.

Those who were once on top, soon found themselves hung depending on the severity of their crimes and their direct descendants on the bottom of the food chain as slaves or indentured servants.

Of course, those were the ones who were caught right away by the Castle Lord’s men. And then there were those who initially escaped the order, using their own Men at Arms as their rear guard to hold off being captured during this coup against the wealthy and corrupt.

It was no matter.
for visiting.

Jack, flying low with his wings extended from his back, the wind rushing through his hair. He was making headway towards a convoy of Nobles who had initially escaped.

Men, women, children. They were all running as fast as they could in the darkness of night, the riches they could carry or pack away in tow.

They dare not use lamps to light their way. They moved slowly along the gravel and dirt paths leading away from the central highway heading further inland.

The only thought going through their mind was self-preservation and to spread word out of ‘House Carmichael’ using the king’s name for self-gain and falsehoods.

They weren’t to escape. Silence was a must.

Within minutes he was directly above them, surfing on the wind as it howled under his wings.

“I found them Kokei,” Jack uttered under his breath.

“Do you really have to kill them?” The skeleton asked curiously, as he had spent three days experimenting on dead bodies that just happen to turn up in the Dungeon.

One of them being the former Master of the Merchant’s Guild, who had been in a vegetative state and ended up succumbing to a fatal aneurism during a mind altering experiment.

“It’s that or wiping each one of their minds individually Or taking away their will, enslaving their minds all at once.” Jack retorted and he didn’t feel like having a bunch of slaves who couldn’t think for themselves or called him Master. He didn’t mind being treated like a god, if anything he liked the idea, but he hated the thought of being surrounded by artificial personalities or yes men.

“Both I’d say are worse than Death,” Kokei responded with a low tone of voice, though not really understanding Jack’s particular reason, but agreed with his own moral rationality which Jack would have dismissed in his own mind.

“Then we’re an agreement,” Jack shook his head watching as the entitled old bloods ran, they hadn’t noticed him hovering above just yet. Following their group of people, the clopping of horses.

He even watched as one of the wagons capsized over and squashed a slave or two who were running beside it. A light frown passed his lips as he drew his spear from his inventory.

He aimed the weapon down towards the unknowing people below. With the spell he wanted to use, he could wipe out three fourths of the runners. That would be about thirty two people in all, out of forty four.

It was like watching little ants scurry in a single direction, all in one big group. However hardly any of them notice that there was no one behind them. No soldiers, no dogs barking.

They smelled of fear, wreaked of it.

They trampled over one another should they trip and fall, and be unlucky enough to be in the path of a wagon. The horses wouldn’t stop, thanks to the encouragement of the drivers.

In the darkness of the night, plenty of people were dying without Jack even raising a finger.

A sick thought came to mind, wanting to see who would be the last one standing. How many would survive until they finally slowed down, or noticed they weren’t being actively pursued.

Despite this, Jack wasn’t smiling. He kept a stoic expression about his face, even his body language. Excitement couldn’t be seen, he hardly squirmed in the air. He was like an eagle, a hawk, eying a snake in the rough patches of grass below.

A predator, but not with the eyes he had shared with his fellow partners.

On cue, he licked his lips and tightened his grip on the spear. His lips moved, but no sound came out. It was as if he was wordlessly giving prayer to those whom he was about to wash away into the next life.

Then the wind stopped. The crickets fell silent. The horses slowed to a halt, docile, they didn’t respond to their masters beck and calls. They wouldn’t even react to a carrot brought to their snout.

That was when Jack would begin to cast a single spell in his mind, watching as all the humans and their slaves began to group together. Something he didn’t anticipate.

Greater Dragon’s Breathwas the spell he chose to cast, a blazing green inferno would begin spiraling down towards the unknowing nobles and their accompanying servants. The death spiraling down towards them, continued to widen as it became a funnel of fire.

There was little to no escape.

As they could feel the heat, the driest leaves began to sizzle and smoke. At first, they didn’t see where it was coming from, not until they looked up.

Many held their loved ones close, others hid behind their slaves and their possessions. It was too late to run, but some still tried. The funnel was already hundreds of feet wide and continuing to expand until it slammed into the frozen Earth below. Massive amounts of steam raising from the tree tops and soil.

Soon enough the area would smell of burnt steak, and when the mystical flames cleared, there was nothing but eerily dancing shadows of what once was.

The only true remains were the wagons, filled with personal possessions, material wealth.

Jack remained flying on high above the scene, admiring his own work. He had eliminated an entire group of people, the moment they made the mistake of regrouping. Even though they couldn’t fight back, he was rather impressed to see the fire power for the first time in person. To feel the flames that had brought down on those he had damned the dug his talons into the Lord of Noctia.

After about ten, twenty, minutes he turned and allowed the wild winds above the forested terrain, to bring him back to the city. He drifted for a short while. Looking over the lamp and candle lights that lit up small homes and places of business.

A noble who had resisted tried burning his own home to the ground.

So Jack could see people rushing with pales of sewage water and chamber pots, rushing to put out the flames. Even though he could put out the fire all at once, he was able to see all of the local community working together alongside the City Guard.

It was truly an amazing sight. He saw no reason to intervene, though it was more on the lazy side of Jack’s mind. As the wind continued to carry him, his eyes narrowed on the Castle.

In a white sleeveless nightgown with frilled yokes, stood Sidon.

She had seen from a distance, first hand, the massive funnel which had come down from the heavens and consumed an unknown quantity of people. In a way, she was amazed.

He was so strong, just like she thought he’d be, if not stronger.

She watched as his robes fluttered in the wind, his wings teetering and tottering, until he finally decided to glide down towards the Southern entrance where she stood.

Sidon smiled halfway, her eyes dancing along his glowing white wings which illuminated the grounds the closer he got to the ground. When he finally touched down in front of her, he placed a hand on the top of her head.

His gaze traced over the dark bags under her eyes, grinning to one side.

For the past three days, they had been interrupted before he could even come close to taking her on and mostly by the common servantry at that. So for those countless nights onward, he had improvised garments to be used to gag her so he could sleep as every night she woke up screaming from the visions.

“It’s time for bed… Don’t you think?”