Chapter 26: The Hundredth Soul

  The smell of week-old roadkill, left to rot in the hot summer sun, hit me before I even opened my eyes. I gagged and could hear the others doing the same.

  “Feck me,” gasped Paddy. “Smells like the toilet after me mate Connor eats Vindaloo.”

  We all chuckled, even as the stench clawed down our throats and my eyes streamed like I’d been tear-gassed.

  The first chamber of the Stepped Tomb of Tlek'Vohr was a perfect square, each wall broken by a jade-framed stairwell descending into darkness. At the centre stood a jaguar-shaped throne, carved from blood-red stone and perched atop a raised pedestal. The floor—if there even was one—was buried beneath a crust of old, blackened blood—so thick I had no idea what lay beneath. It felt like a pretty safe assumption that it was the source of the stench.

  It crunched beneath my boots as I approached.

  A sacrificial dagger, wreathed in a sickly green glow, floated a few feet above the throne. If I climbed it, I might just be able to reach.

  Faint whispers—promises of power—were audible behind the tribalesque latin music that echoed through the chamber. That dagger. The potential it held. I could barely take my eyes off of it.

  It stank of danger even more than the room did.

  Tyler pushed past me, crunching over the dried gore as though he didn’t even see it. He raised a foot to climb the throne, but I caught him by the collar and yanked him back.

  He snarled something I didn’t catch. His eyes still locked onto the glowing dagger.

  I slapped him hard, causing the big fella to reel back and curse and only then did he look away.

  He blinked a few times, his eyes gaining focus as they locked onto mine.

  I pointed down to where the blighted bodies of three humans had half sunk into the blood crusted ground in a ring about the throne.

  “That’s a trap if I’ve ever seen one, mate.”

  Tyler let out a deep breath, reached out and squeezed my shoulder. “Reckon you’re spot on.” He tried for a smile, but it withered.

  Tammy had the same slightly dazed look about her, and she nodded her thanks. I noticed that she had started on another beer, and made a mental note to talk to her about that.

  Checking on the others, I found that nobody except Tyler seemed to have been affected so strongly. I wondered what that meant. Probably some stat-related bullshit.

  Ariel picked her way across the crust to inspect the dead humans, her expression grim.

  “You recognise them?” I asked.

  “Oui.” She bent over the first. “This man is Benyamin Currant. His efforts in water reclamation allowed a 7% increase in the population of West Africa. He was one of Victor’s. The madam is Yasmin Khavlov, a sapper—one of Linh Phan’s.” She paused over the last, a young, caucasian man in his late twenties. He wore a vest and an olden-times hat—her eyes flashed as someone on Earth fed information. “Seth Indiana, a media personality and cave spelunker. What on earth was he doing as part of this group?”

  Ariel turned from the bodies to inspect the hieroglyphs carved into one of the four stone doorframes. She walked from one to the other, muttering under her breath the whole while. I was pretty sure she was discussing them with the folks back on Earth. That was good. This place had me crawling out of my skin and I’d take any advantage I could get.

  We needed this place. Needed the power it offered.

  I gave one last look at the poor dead bastards, wondering if I should, I dunno, recover them, bury them, something. But decided against it.

  Priorita cleaned up after herself.

  I turned away, but a flicker of movement caught my eye.

  One of the bodies. The young man. I stepped closer. Had his chest risen?

  Ebonrage was made of obsidian, or something very much like it. So I held the glass-like blade near his mouth and waited. A moment later, fog misted the surface from a faint breath.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  He was alive—just.

  Seth, Ariel had called him. He had a kind face. Both of his legs—and most of his pelvis, were gone. Consumed by the blackened temple floor.

  There was no saving him.

  The poor bugger.

  I could only offer him peace.

  Ebonrage whispered through the air. In the final moment, just before I severed the man’s head and ended his suffering, I heard Priorita’s heavy breathing.

  I cried out as my Grandmother’s crucifix—the Ashen Relic—burned hot against my chest.

  A notification appeared in a bloody starburst.

  Soul Consumption 100/100

  “Congratulations!” squealed Priorita. “Your one hundredth kill has activated the Soul Consumption effect of your Ashen Relic. Wow! Who would have thought that this would activate on a same-civilisation kill?! The sweepstakes will be distributed shortly. Stay tuned to see the effects!” The roaring and cheering of a crowd almost drowned out her words.

  I staggered and fell to a knee as a spike of pain rammed through my brain. I dimly heard Ariel cry out, running to me and catching me before I fell.

  And then I was—

  I was eighteen, racing my friends down route 66 on my father’s e-cycle, weaving between vehicles like I had seen in the movies.

  I was nine, on an underwater explorer holiday with my parents in the Bahamas. A small striped fish followed me everywhere I went. I called him Mr Nibbles.

  I was twenty-four, reading a fantasy book about pickling demons, and writing a script for my show.

  I was twenty-six, sitting at a table with three military officers, volunteering to come to an alien world. They sent packets of data to my wetware cogni-sist and I laughed in delight as I learned about stats, skills and titles—just like in the games I always loved.

  I was in this temple, reaching for the glowing green dagger that would make me the main character I was born to be.

  I was, I was, I was—

  Who was I?

  My eyes snapped open, staring into Ariel’s blue. She reached out to steady me.

  “Allan? What happened, are you ok?”

  I was Allan. I mean… me, again.

  But I remembered being that man. Pieces of his life now lodged in my brain.

  A series of notifications pinged, stacking in a list on my HUD. My antivirus popped up, fought with them and fizzled away.

  Soul Consumption: 100/100

  First activation Bonus detected.

  Compatibility Bonus detected.

  Title Bonus detected.

  Higher Level Victim Bonus detected.

  Effects increased… Calculating.

  Calculating…

  Calculated.

  Consumption set to 100%

  Stat bonus applied.

  Physical:

  Strength + 5

  Agility + 6

  Vitality + 5

  Endurance + 3

  Mental:

  Intelligence + 8

  Wits + 4

  Will + 3

  Charisma + 8

  Special:

  Luck + 1

  Adaptability + 1

  Viewer Rating + 0

  Sanity - 2

  Skill consumption… Calculating

  Calculating…

  RNG 0-3

  Calculated.

  One Skill Awarded.

  Skill: Br%&^# Error.

  Skill: Quick Learner Applied.

  Just a minute ago, I would have minimised all this nerd shit. The numbers and nonsense had meant less than nothing. But now… Now I understood them instinctively. I remembered being a pimple-faced teenager playing RPG games with my friends until the sun rose. I remembered studying the data pack the UE Military had uploaded to me as I volunteered for this damn game.

  Except that wasn’t me. Not my life, nor my memories.

  What the actual fuck.

  “Allan? Can you hear me? Paddy come here. I think there’s something wrong with him.” Ariel’s voice was faint. The fear in her voice hurt.

  But the instinctive confusion I felt, wasn’t right, wasn’t me anymore. As much as I didn’t want to admit it, I knew exactly what had happened.

  The effect of the Ashen Relic had activated upon killing a hundred creatures. It had absorbed memories, skills and stats from the hundredth soul, a human. It was obvious really, now that I thought about it.

  I flicked through my stats menu, seeing that the total had risen by almost a third. It looked like I had gained all that the man, Seth, had.

  An icon blinked in the top left corner of my HUD. I tapped it and quickly cycled until I found the details.

  Skill: Quick Learner— Your mental data retention and application rate is significantly improved. You will more naturally adapt to unfamiliar concepts.

  That would come in handy.

  Something struck me softly on the head, and a wash of red light flowed down over me.

  Error: HP Max

  “Didn’t help, try a blue one. Maybe he’s run out of mana?”

  “I told you, lass. I can see his HP, MP and STAM—they’re all full.

  “Then what’s wrong with him? Christ, Allan? Allan?”

  I surged to my feet, throwing Ariel back and jumping a foot or two into the air.

  The sudden increase in stats made my body feel like it wasn’t really my own.

  Tammy caught the kid before she could fall, spilling her beer in the process and scowling.

  “I’m fine. Never better.” I said with a grin.

  Holy shit I felt great.

  They just stared.

  Nobody was buying it, I guess that made sense. I must have gone unresponsive for a moment there. Better reassure them.

  “An effect from my end of stage floor reward activated. It took me by surprise is all.” I gave Ariel a look, only she knew about the Legendary rewards we had received, and I didn’t want it to become common knowledge.

  “I gained a couple of stat points, guess it short-circuited my brain or something.” I shrugged. “No big deal. Anyway gather round, we’ve got a vault to crack.”

  A low rumble echoed through the chamber. The black, blood-crusted floor crinkling beneath our feet once, as though exhaling.

  Well that was ominous.

  I turned back to the red jaguar throne, the bodies and that glowing green dagger.

  “Let’s see what else this place is hiding.”

  Ariel made a faint gesture, just a slight tilt of the head towards one of the stairwells.

  “Eyes open, ears pricked and whatever weird senses you’ve got turned on.”

  I turned and led them to the doorway.

  Didn't mention that only the top half of that bloke, Seth's head still remained above ground.

  “This room was just the beginning.”

  Chum Bucket is still open, so if you drop your name in the comments, I’ll happily write you into the story… just don’t expect to survive.