jmclarke
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Chapter 782: Hart's Anger
🕑 Added 2024-02-13 22:56:39 +0000 UTCMerzhin bolted from his seat and fled toward the hallway with one hand clamped on his mouth. He shoved the door open, took three steps and heaved the meagre contents of his stomach onto the white floor.
Alex cut the recording, shaking with rage.
The rest of the room was in an uproar.
“You, filthy plague-spewin’ bastard!” Cedric roared, turning and running after Merzhin. “Are y’alright?” He called.
The Saint stumbled further into the hallway.
Drestra was up and out of her chair, her body slack with shock.
Hart’s eyebrows had shot up.
Jules was shaking her fist at the image of the God, cursing him with colourful words Alex had never heard before.
Birger’s hand was clasped to his mouth.
Theresa was grinding her teeth, shaking her head while glaring at Uldar. Brutus was snarling at the image of the god, barking beside her.
Bjorgrund had gone pale.
“How horrible!” Isolde gasped.
Alex went after Merzhin and Cedric, finding the two young men down the hall. Cedric’s arm was around the Saint’s slight shoulders, as he sobbed against the wall.
“That's what we worshipped!” Merzhin choked. “That monster is what I dedicated my life to! I trusted that, and if I hadn’t…Carey would still be…” He gasped again. “Her life…she wasted so much of her life on that!”
“I ain't gonna say s’alright,” Cedric said, rubbing Merzhin’s back. “But, the two’ve ya’ve got good hearts. Don’ matter ‘bout some dead monster—”
“But it does!” Merzhin spun around, tears staining his face. “It does!”
Alex reached them as Drestra and Hart came up behind him. The five Heroes were united.
‘The five Heroes of a god who had slaughtered his people,’ Alex thought, feeling a wave of nausea wash over him. A thought where he had no Mark, neither General, Fool, or any other, kept playing in his mind as he silently cursed the selfish, murderous god of Thameland.
Merzhin’s eyes turned to Alex, tears streaming from them. “All of our lives were twisted by that…monster!” he choked. “Your life was stolen,” he sobbed. Then he looked at Drestra. “You didn't want any part of this quest, and I told you to serve Uldar…I told you to serve a god, a dead god who’d killed most of his own people! His own people! A god who believed that marking the young would make them easier to manipulate!”
Drestra stood quietly, only trembling.
Cedric’s mouth opened and closed, but no words left it.
Alex was speechless.
Hart broke the silence. “So what?”
The other Heroes collectively flinched.
“What do you mean, so what?” Alex asked him.
“All of you need to pull yourselves together right now,” the Champion continued. “Look, he was a shitty monster. I can’t even pretend that he wasn’t. We served him for a lie. He changed the path of our lives including our futures. If he was here, I'd be happily caving in his bloody head without a second thought. But he isn't, I don't even have his dead body to kick around.”
His expression was fierce. “But on the battlefield, sometimes your enemy sticks you with a spear. They hurt you. Do you cry and scream, and roll around on the ground bleeding? Maybe, but that's a good way to get dead. What you should do is pull that spear out of your guts, and drive it right back into their face. Doesn't matter; when you grab it, it's yours.
He pointed to each of their Marks. “Those Marks we got? They’re ours now. He's too dead to make us do anything with them, except what we want. There’s nothing he can do about that, and that’s good, right? We'll take his power and break his plan into pieces.”
“But what about all the mistakes we've made?” Merzhin asked. “I have done so many terrible things in his name.”
“So?” Hart asked. “By the time I was twelve, I’d done things that would make all of you look at me like some monster. That's the way of battle. Sometimes, you don't fight for the right cause. Sometimes you don't have a choice. Sometimes you don't know better. But we know better now. So what matters is what we do next.”
He nodded at Merzhin. “Carey laid down her life for all of us, and now she's with a deity that's not some raging shithead. A deity that’s trying to help all of us. It'd be nice if she was still alive, but she isn't. We've gotta deal with that, she took her death and did a lot of good with it. When she died, she didn't cry and scream and vomit: her soul came back to save us. That's what a warrior is. Nah, I say we do the same. We get back in there, find out what else we can learn from that bastard’s image, then we go fight his spawn, train, get that fancy research stuff done, then…we kill whatever he’s left behind.”
Silence followed.
“Are you sure you're not the General?” Alex finally said. “That was really well put. Harsh, but really well put.”
Hart shrugged. “We've all got our moments.” He looked at Merzhin. “You good, or do you need some more time?”
“I…” The Saint took a trembling breath, choking back tears. “I can do this. Let's finish learning what we can from his record, so we don’t have to hear his poisonous voice any longer.” He paused, giving a bitter laugh. High-pitched. Chilling. “All my life, all I ever wanted was to hear his voice. Yet, even when I was foolishly in the hands of the hidden church, he wouldn’t speak to me. Now, all I want is to never hear his voice again! Life is a wicked jester, isn’t it?”
“Sometimes you tell the joke, sometimes you're the punchline,” Alex said, patting Merzhin on the shoulder. “All we can do is laugh or get even. Right now? I feel like getting even.”
“Yes,” Drestra growled. “He talked about the young having passion. We’ll let the flames of our passion burn down his legacy.”
“Aye.” Cedric stood to his full height. “We’ll give his little creation what for! Now, let's go back in there an’ see if’n his sins get worse.”
“Yeah,” Alex said. “Then we undo what we can.”
When the Heroes returned to the viewing room together, they were quiet, with their heads held high. They looked united.
The others watched them; Professor Jules’ eyes were full of pain.
“Are you sure you can continue?” she asked.
They made their way back to where they’d been sitting before Merzhin had fled the room.
Alex sat in Uldar’s chair again. “I’m sure.”
“Aye,” Cedric said.
“Yes,” Merzhin said.
“Of course,” Drestra said.
“Always was,” Hart said.
Theresa mouthed ‘are you okay?’ to Alex.
He nodded. “If everyone's ready, let's continue. I don't wanna see his filthy face much longer.”
The General of Thameland turned on the recording.
Uldar made a great show of sorrow at his admission, but Alex couldn't help but feel sick watching him.
“The guilt still eats me to this day,” the god said. “Yet, it had to be done. The continued disruptions by the General would have destroyed the cycle. The cycle’s end would have spelled my doom. And my doom would have meant the end of Thameland; my people always needed their god, even if that meant pain in the short term.”
“We were fine with you being dead,” Alex muttered bitterly. “We got on just fine.”
Uldar, of course, did not respond. “And so the Ravener, during the next cycle, had all safety protocols lifted. With full access to its power, and the fear generated by my people, it was easy for it to make its strongest monsters; hordes and hordes of them. They struck quickly before the Heroes were ever united. My heart broke watching as my people died in massive numbers. I had to watch their cities burn while their prayers went unanswered. It was one of the most difficult experiences of my long existence, though the fear powered me deeply and let me enjoy greater health than I had in centuries. I spared the lives of a small portion of the population: enough to be fruitful and make Thameland whole again. Just as if I were culling a population of deer, specimens had to be left intact to re-populate, like any herd.”
Theresa said something rude under her breath.
“When the cull was over, a small number of the lowest most isolated peasant communities remained. Robust people who would make good stock to replenish Thameland’s numbers, simple folk who knew little outside their own closed off group. The perfect types with little knowledge or histories from hundreds of generations to pass along. They were pure, almost like blank slates. The Ravener eliminated a good portion of the hidden church as well, leaving the lower ranking members since they were not privy to the full details of my plan. I then told them what they needed to know and no more. These agents, these young priests, worked with the peasant stock to shape the rebuilding of Thameland.”
He smiled weakly. “Again, I have to thank my own foresight for making my island nation isolated. I was able to do what had to be done without the world seeing or interfering. People were far less connected than they are now, and the nearly complete destruction of one small kingdom could easily escape the notice of others. While the people worked with the hidden church to renew my kingdom, their faith grew. Combining with the dying prayers of those the Ravener had erased, the poison coursing through me ebbed away for a long period of time.”
His smile faded. “However, I must also curse my own foresight. In my attempt to make the process of marking Heroes self-sufficient as well as to fit with the same time that the Ravener was reborn, I made the process extremely intricate. I could not simply eliminate the General without having to rebuild the entire process from the ground up. Nor did I have time to do that. Yet, it was necessary to ensure that never again would the leader of the Heroes be able to discover my true intentions. So, although I could not completely eliminate the General…I could modify the Mark. Where before I would have had a grand leader for the Heroes, one made in my image to coordinate the Heroes’ actions and lead them, now I had to change that role to one of Fool, someone who would not analyse the situation they were in. The Chosen could still be suitable to lead, while a greatly diminished General, now the Fool, would still be of use, providing relief, levity, and comfort to the others.”
He opened his hand, a glowing symbol of the General’s Mark appeared above it. With a twist of his fingers, it transformed into the Mark of the Fool. “I granted the remaining members of the hidden church a revelation that the General was an abomination, and that my true intentions would follow in the next cycle. They were tasked with ensuring that none of the population spoke of the General again, and they themselves were to take any knowledge of their existence to their graves. They did so admirably.”
Uldar smiled weakly. “To achieve my new goals, I added additional protocols so the Ravener would make the next cycle less challenging than past ones. The Thameish population was far from abundant, and of course, this new Hero—the Fool—would naturally hinder the Heroes: I did not wish for them to display the same level of power that they’d had in past cycles. The results were even greater than I had hoped for. Though the Ravener acted with a good deal of restraint when it faced the new generation, they nearly lost the war, only achieving victory through great sacrifice. I sent another revelation to my priests, in it I told them that the Heroes’ sacrifice should be celebrated, and that word of this should be spread among the budding population of Thameland. Over time, all mention of a General disappeared both from history and memory. Soon even the fae—long lived, but flighty and largely unconcerned with the intricacies of mortal matters—saw that knowledge slip away too. All except Aenflynn, of course. Cycles passed, my kingdom rebuilt through generations, and we reached a new equilibrium. Unfortunately, the odd complication would arise.”
The god frowned. “For one, I was unable to consistently alter the selection of my Fool. At times, the Mark would find its way to those who were analytical and clever. This problem forced me to manually select the inept for my Fools when I learned who had been chosen in certain cycles. Yet, it did happen on one occasion when I was indisposed and a cycle occurred, that the Fool’s Mark found its way to one with an analytical mind and ambition; causing what the hidden church called the General’s Folly. A troublesome event where a Fool came to discover that they could control dungeon cores.”
Alex swallowed, looking at Drestra.
“Of course,” Uldar continued. “The name the hidden church chose for the event—The General’s Folly—was coincidental. They had no knowledge of the General, but for a frightened moment, I thought they had uncovered something. Luckily, it turned out the name was because the Fool was commanding Ravener-spawn like a ‘general’. Thankfully, in that instance, the people of Thameland were none the wiser and all went well. I will end this entry for now, the matters I was forced to remember here have been most distasteful, leaving me drained.”
With that, Uldar disappeared.
Alex felt the chair’s energies.
“There aren’t a lot of entries left,” he said. “It looks like we're getting close to when he died.”
###
Author's Note
Hello thirty-nine cool fools, almighty chosen, wise sages, and mighty champions! Thank you for your support!
Welcome to a new week! Hart has had a life. He's loosely inspired by Guts from Berserk. Loosely. God, I love that manga. It's not for the faint of hear tho!
Cya tomorrow!
Comments
A. B. Edwards
Thanks for the chapter as always. Very nice to finally learn the whole truth. I don't think Uldar will give too much more details of great note like the Ravener's location. He seems a bit too careful, despite some moments of idiocy like making the general, to give that up, just in case the General ever returned to gain access to his viewing room. I also do agree Alex has been a little foolish with his new mark, I would mark (no pun intended) that up to boing a little power mad. He has not been able to use magic or fight and now suddenly can and with the new mark we can see the mistake Uldar made, making it too powerful. I think it makes total sense he would be over confident and make such mistakes. And as for the people saying the whole getting sick from gynecide was out of place, a little. At the same time, they expected everything else, it is all stuff they expected or experienced in some form before. Yet they thought Uldar loved his people in some twisted form and would not just kill all his people; they did not think he could go that far but were proven just how horrific Uldar was. That is why they got sick, the whole identity they had grown up around was far worse than any of them thought and for Merzahn, it makes even more sense. This is the moment he sees the real face of his God so in a world with living deities, I think it makes quite a bit of sense. Don't look at it from the view of us in the modern world but from theirs where they knew (thought) Uldar lived due to the Heroes, miracles and all that. They thought he loved them and now, there is no saving his character. It would be like learning your father or older sibling you always looked up to was really Hitler reborn and planning to do it all again only worse.
Jeff
(It's not for the faint of hear tho!) I think you mean faint of heart tho. ( All we can do is laugh or get even. Right now? I feel like getting even.) I would have ended it with I feel like getting even and then laugh at him.
Sterling Holcomb
I think it will work well in novel format. It just feels slower since with web serials one always wants more.
Joshua Little
Hart is always awesome. Good example of someone who their path in life and follows it.
Joshua Little
Well the magic in the novel is based off DND magic which has up to Level 13 spells (though Mystra set a hard limit at 9th after a certain incident ) so you could use them as an example.
Joshua Little
Thanks for the chapter.
Code Reed
Feels even worse than that. The way he talked about the remote community people as 'good stock' made him feel cattle farmer. No hesitation in killing any and all of his cattle since there 'his'. It's pretty sickening when applied to living thinking people.
Nate El
Poor Merzhin. Functionally the heroes and their villain )the ravener), were on the same side all along. Your society is built on that and the church of Uldar. Who even are you? What is your morality based on? What is the core of goodness
Nate El
Love that the Mercenary adapts fastest. This makes the most sense. Imagine you were proudly serving your millitary for years and found out your uniforms, your guns and training and the church supporting you were originally the NAZI’s who had once wiped out all your people. And then they rebuilt Germany with a few Roma ( gypsies) , Jews Etc… that would hit you hard. You realize your tattoo is a brand of the Swastika and you have worshipped stories of these older soldiers and revered these standards but they belonged to monsters. It’s easier for mercenaries than soldiers I think. The mercenary follows orders but knows he is killing for money. .
Nate El
Friendly fire incidences, even from hard people who have years of experience, can mess you up and everyone around you. Seeing a pile of dead bodies in a mass grave hits very different even if a lot of it is from disease. Like a little hand sticking out of the earth can stick with you forever. I guess they are imagining both at once? You never know what will push you over or stay with you. To be honest there are also some people who just don’t care from second 1. They just assess and move on. People come in all shapes and sizes.
Nate El
“Uldar made a great show of sorrow at his own admission, but Alex couldn't help but feel sick watching him. “The guilt still eats me to this day,” the god said. “Yet, it had to be done. The continued disruptions by the General would have destroyed the cycle. The cycle’s end would have spelled my doom. And my doom would have meant the end of Thameland; my people always needed their god, even if that meant pain in the short term.” “We were fine with you being dead,” Alex muttered bitterly. “We got on just fine.”
Silver Beard
It's not just the Ravener that needs to go but the Fae Lord as well.
Simon Hoerder
I like the parts where Uldar describes what happened. I don't think it's too much exposition or too slow. But the reactions of the people in the room feel off to me. They listened to a lot of shitty stuff already and then Uldar mentions he committed genocide against his own people. So far so good. But at that particular point everyone flips out, goes a little crazy, cursing, puking, barking. The heroes have their private moment, Hart gives a pep talk, they come back and the others have quieted down as well. Everyone continues listening to Uldar, no one has had enough. That doesn't feel natural to me. I would've expected them to be numb, shocked at that point. Maybe even catatonic. Taking a break to process is normal but that no one decides they've had enough for a day? It's been bothering me for a while now, how the final part of the story is being written. Up to the point where Alex reverted his mark, the story was really good, well written. Then he is suddenly able to progress his spell craft to ridiculously overpowered levels, summons completely overpowered creatures but somehow those overpowered creatures aren't enough to take down the stalker and the apostles. I understand that Theresa had to have her evolution moment but maybe you shouldn't have hyped Alex' new prowess and his summons so much before giving Theresa (and Grimloch) her (their) moment. Also, Alex' is acting increasing foolishly. I'd expect a general to direct troops and to think; instead he seems to jump from thing to thing to conclusion in a frenzy and takes on enemies himself without directing his summons. If you want him to go mad with new found power, ok. That happens, sometimes. But then make it clearer instead of turning everyone else into starry-eyed Alex-fans. Or make him less powerful but a real general who thinks, analyses and plans.
Obi-Wan-Sage
Woot finally Hart speaks.
Bender
What a douche! Still wondering how the Alefynn play a part in all this. Hopefully next chapter addressed this.
Decide
So now we know for certain that the General’s Folly has nearly nothing to do with the Mark of the General, the naming was just a coincidence, and that Fool we saw in that flashback so long ago really was a Fool Marked. Anyway, I doubt Uldar will explain anything useful, like how to kill the Ravener for good or where it is. He’ll probably talk about who he was going to meet, and I bet it was Aenflynn. My prediction: Alex is going to make a ton more golems, send out elementals to find the Ravener, and maybe they’ll kill it for good somehow. There’s probably triggers in place, separate from the Ravener, that cause it to respawn.
Trevor Mergen
Thanks
Decide
Different chair and location. The throne was in the throne room with the body. Alex is using the chair in the viewing room.
Brayden
(All this is me guessing) So if there is a 10th level Spells would Those be spells created by wizards for themselves if So what would a 10th level summoning Spell be like Maybe a fusion of same type of elementals or a temporary Fusion of body( The 10th Level spells could be like the unique rank If used right and by the right person it aka the creator and whoever they teach it to otherwise it wouldn’t be nearly as effective)
Adunn
Kind of weird that they’re all so shocked by what he did.
Loah
There have been a lot of complaints recently that a lot of these chapters recently have been pretty big nothing burgers going at an incredibly slow pace and I'm beginning to agree. This recent one, along with the number previous, have just been one long exposition dump. Its incredibly hard to read, like having a bandaid pulled off of your leg way too slowly.
mhaj58
The Ravener stole Uldars body, but the throne is what Alex is using to project the recordings, or did the Ravener steal the throne and Alex is using a chair in his private study
George R
Hart was awesome this chapter- thanks
Vorquel
So the Saint was right in the worst way. Ulder did love his followers, but in the same way a farmer is proud of a particularly good wheat harvest. No hesitation in destroying that which gets in his way
