Ruthless: Path of Conquest

Soon James’s desperate prayer gave way to an ugly reality.

A mass of people entered the city from several directions, all brandishing weapons and moving with a sense of urgency. Heading toward Mina and the little girl she had with her.

The interlopers’ faces were covered in a gray haze, but James could see that there were people of all human racial backgrounds. Men and women. And they all seemed violently angry with Mina. It seemed unlikely that she was the real object of their fury to James somehow. Mina could be stubborn, sarcastic, and occasionally had dark moods. But she was too lovable for him to imagine anyone sincerely wanting to kill her.

Were these people angry with James? At war with the Fisher Kingdom?

Whatever their motivations, they swarmed into the city by the hundreds.

The Fisher Kingdom seemed to awaken from a slumber of some sort. People rushed out of buildings and moved to fight off the invaders. Goblins, wolves, alligators, and Mole People began joining the human defenders. There were other creatures James did not recognize fighting alongside them. Little blue-skinned people, toad-like creatures, and multiple other unfamiliar Races that James couldn’t name.

For a brief time, the forces of the Fisher Kingdom countered the unexpected attack effectively. Unexpected sinkholes began appearing beneath some of the attackers. Others got mauled by Mole People, stabbed to death by Goblins, or turned into chew toys by the wolves or alligators. The toad-like creatures spat acid bursts at the enemy, while Mina threw bursts of fire and lightning while levitating above the city.

The tide seemed to be turning. Humans faltered and tried to fall back under the weight of the defenders’ power. James let out a breath he hadn’t realized he had been holding as he watched.

Then reinforcements arrived.

It seemed the initial onslaught of people might have been just a scouting party, because the original group was like a few drops of rain before the deluge. Tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, of people flooded the city.

The sheer weight of numbers beat back the forces defending Mina. Monsters like the great three-headed wolves that led the wolfpack in the vision were crushed against buildings by the mass of people and then were stabbed over and over before succumbing to their wounds and falling.

The Goblins and other small Races were killed by the score, but they continued to fight valiantly against the much larger humans who were attacking their home, rushing into close range and striking at any exposed skin with their small daggers, various racial abilities, and even, in some cases, their teeth.

A vast sinkhole opened up to try and swallow the bulk of the enemy force, but they had Mages of their own on the scene, and the enemy warriors were kept from falling by magic.

Where am I in this vision? James couldn’t help but wonder. What’s happened to me? Don’t I know that my family is in trouble?! Don’t tell me this takes place at the same time as the last vision…

The invading human force began to prove itself stronger and more numerous. It continued to sweep forward unstoppably, painting the previously beautiful blue-green buildings crimson with blood and gore.

Though James could not make out individual faces in the mass of humans attacking, he could tell that they did so with horrifying glee.

And then the enemy army managed to cut its way through to Mina.

From the way her fire and lightning bolts had begun to subside, James recognized that she must be low on Mana.

Where did the little girl go? One moment, the child had been beside Mina. James had turned to look over the rest of the battle, and when he turned back, the girl—who he could only assume was his future daughter—had disappeared.

Before he could spend much time considering where she had gone to, though, the enemy were upon Mina.

Three male figures clutching long daggers. James still could not see their faces, but now he saw that these three wore a strange amalgamation of religious symbols on their necklaces. A cross, a Star of David, and a crescent moon all tangled together.

The three men spoke some words that the vision did not allow James to hear.

Mina’s eyes narrowed in response. She said something that James likewise could not hear, but since her face was not obscured, he was able to read her lips.

He caught, “—kill you for this. You and your families. Your children and your children’s children. Your friends and anyone who knows your name.”

In his mind, he filled it in, “My husband will kill you for this. You and your families. Your children and your children’s children. Your friends and anyone who knows your name.”

It clearly wasn’t the start of a negotiation. It didn’t even constitute a threat.

Simply a prophecy of doom.

There was no further dialogue.

James rushed in, forgetting for a moment that he was intangible, that he could do nothing for this future version of his wife and his country. He walked right through the three figures, and of course they took no notice of him.

They continued to advance on Mina.

Then the three men attacked and sank their daggers into her chest.

James felt the pain of the blades in his own heart. He clenched his fists and gritted his teeth. He resisted the urge to scream. He would not give Sister Strange the satisfaction.

It’s not real, he reminded himself. It’s not real. This will never happen. The monster only wants to torture you.

But it felt very real as he watched, unable to intervene, while the men cut out Mina’s heart and chopped off her head.

As the leaders raised Mina’s severed head into the air, their army let out a raucous cheer.

James turned to look away from Mina’s bloody body—it was too painful to look, knowing he couldn’t even cradle her in his arms—and watched the army. He was caught between seething rage and intense grief, even as he tried to pretend this could never happen.

He tried to distract himself by looking for any face that wasn’t blurred out by the vision. Any culpable party he could kill to prevent this from happening in some distant future.

Instead, he saw that someone in the enemy army had come up with the bright idea of setting fire to the city. The Fisher Kingdom burned before his eyes.

Compared to what he had just seen, though, the buildings meant very little, beautiful though they were. He felt a bit sad that his other allies were dying, but his heart was too broken at the thought of his wife’s death to fully absorb the other fatalities.

Why would this happen? How? I wouldn’t leave her undefended…

His mind jumped back to the scene previous, when he had been beaten to near death by the man in green armor.

Maybe that was the problem. I went too far away, to some bloody icy place, to fight that warrior. Now I’m lying helpless, near death somewhere while these animals kill my wife and my people.

He wanted to vomit.

Wait, he thought. Where’s the little girl? She might still be alive.

Out of all the faces the vision allowed him to see, she was the only one he had not seen die.

That pulled his focus back to the vision. No matter how painful it was, he could still get information here.

His eyes scanned the burning city, looking over column after column of blurry-faced foot soldiers, but he could not see the girl. It felt like he was playing a twisted version of the “Where’s Waldo?” puzzle, where every potential Waldo candidate had blood on their hands, and frequently on their faces as well as their armor and weapons.

Perhaps the child had an invisibility cloak on or some ability that allowed her to blend in. In any case, no matter how hard he looked, James could not find her.

His heart felt dry and dead as he realized that he believed this was, in fact, a possible future.

If I didn’t believe that, I wouldn’t be looking for the child.

Before he knew it, the vision was fading.

Fuck, at least it’s over…

Then the world dissolved and reformed itself. James found himself floating over an ocean.

It’s not fucking over. Great.

He was about to wonder what else he could lose, when he spotted himself accompanied by a group of flying allies, including giant eagles, winged snakes, and a number of humanoid figures he did not recognize who floated on the wind. One of them was a man who looked to James like a younger version of himself.

Ah. My son. Of course.

Present-James sat down with crossed legs to watch himself and his adult son die along with all their allies. He imagined they would be eaten by monstrous sharks. It would be as arbitrary and inexplicable as everything else that had happened in these visions.

What actually happened was far stranger than that.

A crack opened in what Present-James guessed was the fabric of reality. Within that opening, James saw what looked like the black void of space.

Then things began coming through.

That was all Present-James could think when it came to a description of the invaders. They were horrible, loathsome things. Though their appearances did not seem to be obscured in the vision, he could not understand what they were or relate them in any way to earthly creatures, or even to earthly legends or geometry.

Their bodies seemed to have one more dimension than those of human beings, was all Present-James could figure as he watched. And Vision-James seemed to know how to destroy them.

Using a combination of magic that Present-James did not recognize or understand, and attacks with a sword that appeared to be made of light, Vision-James split some of the creatures into pieces or forced them back into the fissure in space.

But the others fighting alongside him were much less effective. For every few of the creatures that these fighters destroyed or forced into the void, one of them died. The enemy had a terrible armor-piercing attack that seemed to be irresistible by almost any of the humans whenever the monsters set their eyes on them. A long limb would suddenly extend, and then an ally would fall, a hole visible in their head or chest.

Some of the otherworldly invaders seemed to reform their bodies after a certain amount of time being deceased, while none of the humans who were killed rose again—at least not as humans. After the battle continued for a little while, some of the fallen humans rose again, their eyes turned black, and fought alongside the monsters with the same powers they’d had in life.

Vision-James was the only one who seemed to be able to block the monsters’ death blow attack, using his sword made of light to deflect it. The sword also allowed him to strike down any of his allies that the monsters raised from the dead. But the enemy’s numbers were far greater than those of Vision-James and his forces. Gradually, only he and his son were left.

James’s son launched a furious attack and destroyed a dozen of the creatures with just a few blows. But he had left himself vulnerable to one of the invaders that had been standing on the sidelines waiting. It struck out with an inky-black limb—and Vision-James was there, intercepting.

Wow. My son is a badass.

But he hadn’t moved quickly enough to block with the light sword. The blow had penetrated Vision-James through the heart.

Present-James let out a sigh of relief. Shit. Well, it’s only me dying this time. I hope.

Vision-James was whispering something in his son’s ear, but Present-James could not hear the words or read Vision-James’s lips. It didn’t seem like something he needed to worry about anyway, since whatever it was that he was supposed to say, he would undoubtedly know when the time came.

Probably telling him to run away, if I have any sense left, Present-James thought.

But no. Vision-James reached a hand out to his son, and the younger man reached out and took the sword of light from him. He turned to face the monsters, and Present-James found the vision fading to black. He was in darkness so total that he couldn’t even look down and see his own body.

Why end it now? he thought. Just when I was about to find out what happens to my son…

He felt a shaking and jostling of his body, and he realized he no longer had a sense of where his astral form was. Someone was moving his physical body, and James decided to wake up so that he could find out why. This could be Sister Strange moving their battle from the dream world to the physical one.

He deactivated Dreamwalk and opened his eyes—and saw a pair of familiar eyes.

Mina.

She was holding him in a tight embrace, a look of concern on her face. He didn’t need to look around to realize he was back in bed.

Was it all just a strange, elaborate dream? James wondered. Could my own imagination do that? Be so detailed—and cruel?

“Are you all right, skapi?” Mina asked. Her eyes were slightly teary, he realized.

James leaned in and kissed the tears away.

“I’m awake now,” he said. “Just a bad dream, I think.”

“Damien and Jeremiah said you were battling the monster from the evil woods,” Mina said.

And James’s face fell. His eyes went vacant, staring off into the distance as he went over his nocturnal adventure again.

So it was all real. At least it was real that Sister Strange showed me what she calls visions… But were those the things that she claims “must” happen, or those that “may” happen?

“Tell me what’s going on,” Mina said. “You were crying out in your sleep. I heard you say my name.”

“Oh, God,” James said slowly, his mind still wrestling with what had happened. “The creature in this forest knows how to make people suffer.”