Vania capital of Vussia.
“Your majesty, we were able to find one of the sellers who sold the banned potions,” said the fully armored guard captain as he knelt in front of the large throne.
The guard captain dared not raise his head and look directly at the queen. He fought to keep his body from shaking as memories came to him of what had happened to the last two captains who held this position before him. They had become husks of their former selves all on the whims of the queen’s mood.
“Where is the seller of the potions?” Asked Jezebel as her hand gently caressed the head of a Mini Rock Golem.
The rock golem stood still, the only thing moving were its violet shining eyes. If the guard captain dared to look up he would surely recognize those eyes. Everyone under her control had such eyes.
“There was an accident and they had to be killed,” said the guard captain.
“Explain,” said Jezebel. Her hand stopped its motion as her attention was fully directed at the kneeling man.
“He was infected by something and tried biting and ripping apart one of the soldiers. His body was covered in a black rock substance. We could not reason with him and were forced to use blunt force to kill him.”
“Do you still have the body?” asked Jezebel, as she stood up from her throne.
“We were getting ready to dispose of it.”
“Bring me to the body,” said Jezebel. She walked up to the kneeling guard captain with the small golem waddling behind her.
With his head still bowed the guard captain stood up, still avoiding the queen’s sharp eyes that were staring at him.
On their way to the large furnace used for disposing of the dead, a commotion was heard on the streets.
“Your majesty, I will go see what it is. Please stay here…”
“No, I will go with you,” said Jezabel, as she headed toward the noise leaving the guard captain a few steps behind her.
The mini golem was now walking in front of her while her personal royal guards all surrounded her. If one looked close enough they could see a purple glow coming out of each of the slits in their helmets.
They reached the commotion quickly to find a disheveled figure hunched over the bloody body of a city watch patrolman.
The body was already half-eaten and the hunched figure was now eating one of the man’s legs.
“Capture that thing!” ordered Jezebel.
The mini Golem showed surprising speed for its short and heavy stone legs as it launched itself at the creature eating the patrolman.
With its stone hands, it subdued the struggling thing and dragged it before the Queen.
“Is this what you encountered earlier?” asked Jezebel as she inspected the former human that was now fully covered in black onyx stone.
“Yes, although the one from before was not at this stage of infection.”
“Interesting, let me try something…” said Jezebel with a somewhat disturbing smile on her face.
As soon as the guard captain saw her eyes start to glow he quickly looked away, not wanting to get caught by her bewitching gaze.
The struggling creature in the Golem’s hands stopped and stood still, its eyes now glowing with a purple glint.
Ring! Ding! Fweee!
The city watch bells and whistles all throughout the city were going off as more and more similar situations were happening everywhere.
“Controlling and using this skill is so tiring and hard. Now is the perfect time to practice! I might even be able to use these things to clear the dungeon!” said Jezebel in high spirits.
***
In a short time, many of the outskirt villages and towns of every country were overrun by the humans and monsters that were infected by the [Molten Onyx] plague.
Those escaping the spread were now living in cramped towns and villages closer to the countries capitals.
In each country, several odd and exotic cures and customs started to pop up which were supposed to ward off or cure you of the [Molten Onyx] plague.
Such a thing was happening in a small cramped village of Beorin.
“Hey wake up the surgery is finished!” said Dr. Cray.
There was a man still asleep atop the wooden table that acted as the surgery table, among other things. The man had been out for the entire surgery when Dr. Cray had completed a very complicated medical process of physical anesthesia, or in simple terms a hammer to the man’s head. The hammer was, of course, wooden, because of course, you wouldn’t want to cause any extra problems for the patient right?
He continued to slap the man’s face until he woke up.
“Huh? What?” asked the groggy patient.
“No need to worry about anything! It was all a success. I was able to amputate and replace your legs and arms for you!”
The patient’s swimming head slowly cleared up and he looked at his limbs in horror.
“Bu…but doctor, I only came here to cure a cold…”
“Don’t worry about the small details. What you need is some fresh meat to regain your strength! Here eat this. It is freshly cooked and was delivered from the local restaurant Mystmeat,” said Dr. Cray as he pushed a plate of medium-rare meat towards the man.
Dr. Cray left the room and went to the dark secluded back room. A man was waiting for him at the back entrance of the room.
“You got the supplies?” asked the man.
“Right here,” said Dr. Cray as he picked up a closed wooden box that had blood dripping out.
In exchange for several gold coins, the box was handed over to the man.
“The customers at Mystmeat are demanding more and more of our special cure meat. Is there a way you can get us more than what you supply us every week?”
“No… right now, this is the limit. If we increase our output, then there might be questions. You might want to look into using those that died from that infection. If you remove the outer layer it might be edible.”
The man carrying the bloody box walked through the streets heading to his restaurant.
As he was halfway there, the village bells began ringing!
“An attack?”
The man ran to his empty restaurant and threw the box onto one of the tables before going behind the bar counter to get his sword and put on his armor.
He then ran out of his restaurant and headed to the front gates to help defend the village.
As he joined the rest of the ragtag village militia at the top of the gates the ringing of the village bells had already stopped. What he saw outside was vastly different than what he was expecting and fearing.
A large human army stood outside the gates.
“By the Order of King Rodger, you are commanded to put down your weapons and open the gates. You will allow us to inspect every villager and business for their health and for contraband!” shouted a knight that had ridden his horse forward to speak to those inside the village.
The restaurant man nervously fidgeted and looked at those near him wanting to escape. There were several others with the same idea as the gates to the village were opened.
“Stay where you are! Those who move will be cut down and run through!” shouted the messenger knight.
A large force of cavalry detached from the army and rode forward passing through the gates and halting inside the village for a moment. Behind them was an odd small group of people who wore mismatched armor, weapons, and clothes of all different colors. None of them had a matching set of anything.
“My King, what are your orders?” asked Silias.
“The usual, if anyone shows signs of infection, put them down. For anyone with contraband, take them to the square for a public execution. Order must be maintained.”
Silias saluted Rodger and barked off a few orders to the cavalry and the small group of ragtag demigods.
He turned back and watched the strong-willed Rodger overlooking the villagers who all had looks of amazement at seeing the king as well as some who looked at him with fear.
Silias was still surprised at how fast time passed by. It felt as if it were only a short time ago when the young king sitting before him was just a little runt that couldn’t even hit the broadside of a barn with an arrow.
In less than an hour, the small village had been completely turned over. Luckily for the villagers, no one had shown any symptoms of the [Molten Onyx] plague. As for contraband, there were too many violations to list.
Rodger stood at the center of the town plaza where a chopping block was being dragged over.
He was sharpening the large two-handed sword that had been handed to him by Silias.
“Did you find similar things in the food shops as the other villages and towns?” asked Rodger.
“Yes, luckily we arrived before they started to serve meat from the infected monsters and humans. My king…are you sure you want to do this yourself?”
“I have told you many times before. I gave the order so I will honor them by doing it myself. Only a coward would command someone to death and have another person carry out the act.”
When the large metal chopping block was placed at the center of the town square. Those that had been condemned to death for their various crimes were led towards Rodger and the chopping block.
The entire village was gathered around the area some only able to hear what was going on and unable to see.
“Dr. Cray you are accused of amputating your patient’s limbs and selling them for profit. I, as king of Beorin, find you guilty! For this crime, you are sentenced to death! Step forward!” shouted Rodger in a loud booming voice so that everyone could hear everything.
Mummers of shock went through the crowd as they watched Dr. Cray get shoved forward only wearing his underwear.
The back of his knees were kicked and his shoulders pushed down onto the cold metal chopping block. His body shivered due to the cold winter air and the sight of the large two-handed sword that Rodger was raising high into the air. A warm puddle formed on the ground beneath Dr. Cray’s legs.
“May your soul be tormented in the afterlife,” said Rodger.
Swish! Shink! The sword swung down in a flash severing the man’s head.
Rodger continued to list off the crimes and sentencing of those in violation of the country’s laws.
The crimes committed by those executed, filled the village people with more horror and nightmares than watching the executions.
***
“I’m ready. Has everyone fully recovered their energy?” asked a demigod in leather armor and also holding twin daggers.
“Almost, I need a few more seconds to recover all my skills. I should be ready on the way to the next dungeon room,” said a female demigod in cloth armor. She carried a book and a wand as her weapons.
“There are only a few more dungeon rooms on this floor, if we can clear them we can be first to the next floor! Just remember that the farther down we go the more heat there is!”
“This dungeon sucks! All my ice attacks are half as effective here than outside. The farther down we go the worse they get!” complained another female demigod who held a blue staff and wore purple robes with a matching pointy hat.
As they walked down the long winding stone hallways connecting one dungeon room to the other they heard the sound of a fight happening ahead of them.
“How could someone get here before us?”
“Hurry! Let’s see who it is!”
They rushed through the hallways and entered the next large room and stopped in their tracks.
In front of them were over 10 humanoid black onyx figures fighting with the dungeon monsters with only their stone hands.
The front of their bodies were cherry red and letting out a cloud of black smoke from their bodies, caused by the fire attacks that constantly scorched and slammed into them.
“What are those things and why are they fighting each other?”
“There was nothing in the data we bought about this type of monster. Maybe it’s a new monster that popped up?”
“Let’s just clear both of them and continue to the next floor!”
As the melee fighters rushed forward, one of the Black onyx creatures turned its head. Its purple eyes stated at the approaching demigods before getting blown to smoky bits by a barrage of ice attacks that caused a negative effect with the already red hot stone.
With the combined forces of the melee and skill users from behind, they wiped the floor of the strange creatures as well as the other dungeon monsters.
“Cough, this smoke smells awful,” said the leather armored demigod. He waved his hand in front of his face trying to get the black smoke away from him and clear his vision.
“Those eyes on the stone creatures… I have a feeling I saw them before… but I can’t remember where,” said the blue staff-wielding demigod.
“It doesn’t matter, they’re dead now. Let’s get out of this room the smoke is killing me.”
