Broken System Ch. 96-97 (Patreon)

Ch. 96 - A Word of Warning

“Ah… we didn’t know where to find you, you see,” the paper bird said, hemming and hawing like speech was something new to it. “So we’ve been trying oh so hard to get your attention.”

“Who is it you think you’ve found?” Benjamin asked, unwilling to give away anything.

“Clear eyes. Four friends. Three men, one woman, and not of the Rhulvinar. No trappings of the arcane.” This time, it was different birds that spoke. Each one sounded the same, but each answer was called from a different mouth. He was dealing with some sort of swarm intelligence. “You are the rebels. Specifically. The rebel leaders and you are the one called Ben-jamin.”

“So you summoned a whole mountain to get this Benjamin’s attention?” Benjamin asked. “Seems like an awfully big waste. Why would he even be here?”

“We summoned nothing. That was our masters, the kind and beneficent sorcerers of the Rhulvinar.” At this, all of the flock spent a few seconds calling out random compliments, but the fact that they sounded terrified as they did so ruined the effect. We are but humble servants that stayed behind to wait and deliver a message when I found the one called Ben-jamin. The rest of my flock was distributed likewise at all the other summoning sites. We all wait for the Ben-jamin, tell him the news, then, and only then, can we fly home. Those are the orders.”

Benjamin looked at the paper bird on the altar again as he began to realize that whatever it was he was talking to was a lot closer to Kitsune Miku than the strange demons that had been summoned to battle them since then. Whoever had summoned the mountain had left behind a literal stool pigeon to see who it was that came to investigate.

Did that mean that they know where we are now, he wondered. For that matter,

“So your Master’s summoned literal mountains just to flush someone out?” Benjamin asked skeptically. “Seems like kind of a waste of effort to me. Why not just send him a message?”

“The war is going well for the Rhulvinar, but it would be going better if the Thrones were distracted,” one of the birds chirped. “It would be going better if the Thrones were distracted, though, and nothing is more distracting to them than goblin infestations.”

“As for a message…” One of the birds darted into the air straight toward him, and Benjamin flinched, worried about how it was about to attack him. He raised his hand in self-defense, but midway through the air, the bird unfolded into a piece of paper and refolded into a letter.

“Ummm… what’s this?” he asked, pretending like he hadn’t been about a second away from torching every last one of the fragile things with a fire spell.

“It’s an invitation,” a bird squawked. If they realized they’d been in danger, they didn’t show it. Instead, they continued to hop and flutter amidst the grisly scene like any other group of pigeons or crows. “You’re invited. You all are. The Ben-jamin is especially, though. Our masters want to speak with him more than anything.”

“Speak to him, huh?” Benjamin asked skeptically as he looked at the small folded card in his hand. The paper had changed completely, and instead of being the dark butcher paper the rest of the birds were made out of, it had become fine ivory cardstock like you might find on a wedding invitation. On the front was a gilded message that read, ‘You’re Invited,’ and he spent a moment wondering how the spells that allowed the material to animate and move worked without making the fragile thing burst into flames.

He wanted to study that more than he wanted to read it, and it was only after he tried and failed to access whatever magics it might be enchanted with that he started to open it. Raja quickly put a stop to it by putting his hand on his friend’s.

“Dude, wait,” he said, “What if this thing can tap into you somehow like those virus things, but in a picture?”

“Like a QR code?” Benjamin asked, confused as he thought about it. “That doesn’t seem likely…”

It wasn’t impossible, though, he realized quickly. Even if the Rhulvinairans didn’t do such a thing, he realized, with a bit of effort. It was a disturbing realization, and for a moment, he didn’t know how to proceed as he chewed on it.

Finally, he said, “Sorry about this, guys,” to the birds, and before anyone could react, he tore the thing in half.

The birds immediately fluttered around. Half of them took off, circling briefly before landing again, and all of them screeched accusingly at him.

“Benji, what the fuck!” Emma called out. “It’s a fucking bird, stop torturing them and read the damn note!”

A twinge of guilt passed through him, but he didn’t let that stop him. He remembered too clearly what had happened on the rare occasions he’d underestimated their enemy. Their cruelty was boundless, which meant that Benjamin’s ruthlessness could know no bounds either.

He handed half of the note to Raja, and they both opened them together. Inside, there were no obvious charms or perils. There were just a few short lines that were each cut in half, and together, the two of them took turns reading them out loud to their friends.

“Dear Mister Newsome,” the letter started. “You are hereby invited to attend a gathering before the final phase of this war and your inevitable defeat. Many familiar faces will be in attendance, and if you are reasonable, we may yet have a chance at peace. This is a formal affair. Please dress accordingly. Sincerely, Lord Jarris.”

“What. The. Fuck.” Emma said as the two of them finished reading. “That can’t be right! Give me those!”

She grabbed the two pieces of paper, and as she brought them back together, they knitted into one piece again like they’d never been separated. Her eyes widened, and as soon as she finished, the invitation refolded itself into a bird and nuzzled into the crook of her arm.

They were all stunned for a moment before Matt finally asked, “That motherfucker is still alive?”

It was the question that was on everyone’s mind, and no one had an answer for it. To Benjamin, it felt like a slap across the face. It was certainly possible, of course. They’d never found the body, and if souls could be backed up, then it was entirely possible that the soul of the man who had brought them here had been transplanted into the body of some other poor bastard.

Finally, he decided to ask the birds. “Well, did Lord Jarris send you? Is this all his doing?”

“Lord Jarris did not summon us!” the birds squawked in an annoying chorus as they each sought to speak over each other. “He has before, though! He has, he has!”

The birds spent the next minute answering, but the best Benjamin could get out of this was that if his name was on the card, then he was probably alive. None of his friends took the news well, except for Matt. He just grinned, which was especially disturbing, given that he was still covered in his own slowly drying blood.

“This is great news,” he boomed. “I never thought I’d get my chance at a proper vengeance, and now I’ll have it.”

Benjamin got where he was coming from, but he’d already seen the man die with one bloody shotgun blast to the chest and didn’t fancy doing that again. He still had nightmares about those Azmodeon flies sometimes.

They discussed what they should do for a bit. They all agreed that it was certainly a trap. The question was whether or not it was a trap worth springing.

“The problem is that everything is a trap,” Benjamin said finally, in exasperation. “Our enemy can teleport whole armies around and drop mountains on people they don't like. Anytime they know where we are, we’re dead, and any time they suspect where we are, we’re probably still dead. They just need to use a bigger hammer.”

“So since we’re already dead, we should just, what? Give up?” Emma sighed. “Count me right out. I’d rather die fighting than—”

“No one is talking about giving up. I have some thoughts on all that, but…” he nodded at the birds that were just standing there watching. “Maybe it’s best if we save those for later.”

“So, will you attend?” the paper birds asked, now that they’d been addressed once more. “There’s plenty of time. You’ve still got weeks before—”

“Where is this thing happening anyway?” Benjamin asked. “Your little invitation didn’t say.”

This time, none of them flew to him. He couldn’t say he blamed them after the way he treated the last one. Instead, they congregated on the ground and, together, unfolded as one, revealing a large map of the whole region that was missing only a single spot, which was probably the bird that Emma was holding.

The map was interesting, and Benjamin noted that it showed the lost Rhulvinarian territory only as blank spots. There was only a blank spot where Arden should have been, and the large swaths of plantations were missing, showing the effectiveness of the other armies roaming the region.

Or all of that could be a lie to lull us into a false sense of security, he reminded himself. There was no reason in the world why they should trust anything from a Rhulvinarian source.

Still, it was an interesting data point, and he had no trouble locating the proposed meeting spot. Benjamin had half expected to be right next to one of the large cities on the coast, at the heart of their influence, but instead, it was a good distance away from anywhere.

Was that to make him feel more at ease, Benjamin wondered, Or was that so they could use bigger weapons without worrying about damaging anywhere important?

He didn’t know the answer, but looking at the way it was laid out, he couldn't help but draw the invisible lines from where they were to where they’d planned on going. The goal before had been to build a few interesting weapons and then meet back up with their army in a more advantageous location to wage war on the coastal strongholds that were the linchpin between the Rhulvinarian’s dispersed farming operations and the heart of their empire.

However, looking at how it all fell together, he could see how a detour might help with that. He’d have to talk it over with Matt, of course, but…

“You know, I think we will go after all,” Benjamin muttered to himself.

Those simple words were enough to make the map dissolve back into two dozen individual birds. Even the one that Emma had been holding flew back to join its flock as they parched on the corpses of the summoning ritual. “Excellent!” they chirped. “Wonderful news! We’ll tell them. We’ll let everyone know that Benjamin is coming. We will! We will!”

No, you won’t, he thought as they gathered and took to the sky. Before they’d gotten more than ten feet, he cast fire spray, and they all went up like matches. A few of them had time to squawk in pain, but the rest simply ceased to exist.

As the last few faded out, he turned to face his friends. Emma looked at him with hard eyes but said nothing. She knew the score. No one could know where they were or where they were going next.

“Alright, Matt, before we deal with any of this, I’m going to need to get answers from another source, and to do that, I’m going to need some things,” Benjamin said finally. “For starters, I’m going to need some goblins. Alive.”

Ch. 97 - Hard Questions

When Benjamin summoned Prince Agadrian again, the young man appeared with his characteristic sneer, but that faded into a look of real concern as he surveyed the bloody scene he’d been summoned into. It was dawn now, and after journeying back down into the depths to make sure that all of the stone children were okay, Benjamin and Raja had spent hours staging this scene to make it look even worse and had hauled up quite a few goblin corpses while Matt had tracked down a few live ones for what came next.

“Well, this is certainly something new,” the phantom said disinterestedly. “At least I don’t have to smell what you’re doing here, though I do have to wonder why you picked now of all times to call me.”

“The feeling completely mutual, man,” Benjamin said disinterestedly as he fussed around with some ritual elements that didn't actually do anything but looked suitably impressive. “After doing more than a few experiments on your fellow mages, though, I think you and I finally time that you and I have it out once and for all.”

When Benjamin finished speaking, he dropped several burned-out amulets not so casually on the ground between them and read off their names as best he could remember them. “Lord Tormund. Lord Galfree. Lord Pauciss,” Benjamin lied, picking a few names out of the hat at random. “I learned a lot from all of them, both from what they told me and from what I did to them, and now I think it’s your turn.”

“I’ve already told you,” the Prince scoffed. “Destroy my backup whenever you like. At this point, they’ve already revived me from an older copy of myself they keep in the palace vaults, and if there’s any justice in the universe at all, that version of me is already hunting you down.”

“I’m not going to kill you, Your Highness,” Benjamin smiled. “I’m going to give you a new body. After a little trial and error, I’ve worked all the kinks out, and—”

“You cannot be serious!” the Prince roared. “You think that if you upload my mind into yours, you’ll, what, learn my secrets? We’d both be driven mad by such a ham-handed attack and even if we wouldn't, I would never want to touch the flesh that ruined mine so casually. Do you know how hard it’s going to be to find a new vessel half as perfect as my old one?”

“Oh, no, that’s not going to happen.” Benjamin laughed, “I’ve got enough negativity in my mind. The last thing I want is a prick like you in my head.”

“Then what are you planning? There’s no one else…” The Prince’s words trailed off, and for the first time, Benjamin could see that he had the man, or at least the ghost of the man, off balance. A moment later, the cocky expression was back, but it was a fragile mask, and Benjamin had seen behind it.

“An amusing jest,” Prince Agadrian said finally, “But the souls of men can’t be put into the bodies of animals. I should know. I’ve tried. It would have made for excellent sport for slow days at court.”

“It’s true,” Benjamin agreed. “I’ve tried as well, and the ending is… very messy. Luckily for you, Goblins aren’t animals. They are just high enough on the food chain to be considered people, as it turns out, and thanks to the sacrifice of some of your peers, we know that—”

“They are not my peers!” The Prince Snapped. “No one save for another member of the house of Rhul could ever be considered my peer.”

“Well, for now, maybe,” Benjamin smirked, “But in a couple of minutes, when I transfer you into your new body, you’ll have hundreds of peers in this warren.”

The Prince looked at him with contempt but said nothing, and Benjamin continued setting up the ritual he was setting up. Then, after a few minutes, he placed the amulet into a slot on the alter where it intersected the bloody circle, and placing his hands on either side, he began to concentrate.

Then, very slowly, the ring began to light up. It started in a ring around the amulet, and a number of status screens and indicators sprung into existence, ran their prompt, and quickly closed again at a speed that was almost unreadable. Benjamin obviously didn’t even try to read them, though. Instead, he kept his gaze fixed on the ghostly Prince as the light slowly spread across the larger circle and started moving toward the goblin.

As it went and more status screens appeared and disappeared, the Prince began to grow viably nervous. “Listen, if you want to talk, we can talk but know that this won't intimidate me. Not only will it not work, but…”

“Oh, you’ll talk plenty in a moment when we get you back in a body, Your Majesty, and when we’re done, I’ll take that polluted soul, rip it out, and put it back in this amulet for your family to find,” Benjamin smiled evilly. “Hopefully, they try to reincarnate you and see what a monster you truly are.”

Benjamin even managed an evil laugh at the end of that, and though he wanted to believe that was what finally broke the man’s spirit, he was sure it was the glowing ring around the bound goblin. “Stop this, and I’ll tell you whatever it is you want to know!” the Prince yelled finally.

Benjamin waited a moment longer, and then, with a big show, he canceled the spell. Of course, the only spell he canceled was lesser illusion he’d programmed into the altar before he summoned the Prince. The truth was that he had no idea how to upload a human soul into another body, but he doubted that the fop did either. Benjamin was sure that before a new soul was uploaded, the old one would have to be purged somehow, and if he knew that, he’d be halfway to fixing the damage to his own soul.

All he had was a flare for the dramatic and an understanding that the Prince would do anything not to be dirtied in the way that Benjamin had described. Unfortunately, this little act scratched the topic of soul transfer off the list, lest he tip his hand and reveal his ignorance. Instead, he stuck to safer targets and started with the most obvious and urgent first.

“Tell me about the priority override you used to take control of me through my firewall,” Benjamin snapped.

“Those are secrets of the Royal Family,” Prince Agardian explained. “I can’t just…” His words trailed off as soon as Benjamin reached for the amulet once more.

“I won’t let you waste my mana twice,” Benjamin answered. “If I start the process a second time, your soul will forever be mixed with a goblin, and when I finally conquer the capital and bring those shining towers down, I will make sure that this copy of you is the only one that survives.”

“You’ll never conquer the—” the Prince started to say, but Benjamin interrupted him with a laugh.

“You have no idea what I’m capable of. I started a revolution, I broke your hold over me, and right now, my allies and I are winning a continent-wide war even as your friends drop goblin-filled mountains on us. We’ll win with or without your answers; I just want to spare as many lives as possible. So you can either tell me the ports and commands you use, or I can turn you into a goblin and let you watch the whole thing play out from a cage.”

“I can tell you about the barriers and the accesses, but it will do you no good. Your system is literally built not to see them,” the Prince said.

“I knew it!” Benjamin crowed. “You have a completely different setup from us, don’t you.”

“Of course,” the Prince smiled. “Sadly, yours is unupgradable. I can’t help you with that, even if I wanted to. It was decided a long time ago that though we needed the help of other humans, they should never have more than a fraction of our power.”

“Must be pretty humiliating that you got beaten by someone with only a fraction of your power, then, huh?” Benjamin gloated, stepping away from the altar. “Of course, a slave with a lesser system was probably never supposed to delve this deeply into rune magic, were they?”

“That you survived your own death speaks to the shallowness of your mana pool,” Prince Agardian sneered. “If the same command had been executed while I was still breathing, half the room would have been burned alive before the tower collapsed on my murderers.”

“I’m sure,” Benjamin said, making a note of that. “We’ll discuss that awful little command later. Right now, you’re going to tell me every nasty little surprise I can expect from these blind spots, and if you spill your guts to my satisfaction, I may just let you stay unmolested in your cage.”

. . .

The Prince spent the next several hours answering Benjamin’s questions, and by the time he stumbled back to Raja, who had been making sure nothing hostile interrupted their conversation, he was out of mana and so low on hitpoints that by the time it was all said and done, Benjamin was pale, and he felt faint. Toward the end, he’d even drained the life from the captive goblins just to keep the conversation going a little longer and been forced to suffer the flood of grisly memories that came flooding into his mind along with their life force.

It had been worth it, though. Their conversations had ranged from system interface blindspots and secret protocols to self-destruct commands and system versions. Apparently, the Prince had a lesser version of Benjamin’s codex built into his system, but the man had no idea how to use it. Since he had full access to a complete spell list, he simply picked what he needed.

“Learning is for slaves and sages,” the man had told him arrogantly when Benjamin had tried to dig deeper into that. “The nobility have too much to do to waste time learning.”

Of course, living in a society where skills could simply be uploaded made that excuse a ridiculous one, but Benjamin said nothing and merely continued to question him about the nature of demons and how a given Summoner chose their pet before they moved on to discuss the defensive measures of the cities that would be their next targets.

It was there that Benjamin thought he'd detected the man's biggest lie of the night. “Those cities are centuries old,” the Prince bragged, “You have no chance to breach their defenses. After all the attacks they’ve suffered, they are ten times better protected than anything you found in Arden.”

At first glance, the words were compelling, but it was the only time in their entire conversation that the man volunteered details without being pressed. He went on at length about the size of their garrisons, the thickness of their walls, and the strength of the arc cannons. In the end, Benjamin decided that the other man was lying on just a little too thick, and it had to be a lie, which made sense if you thought about it.

After all, those lands had been completely conquered for decades. It was the frontier they were fighting through now, which was where the defenses would be concentrated. As he walked back down into Lasthome with Raja and explained all of this to him, Benjamin was actually pretty sure that those places might be nearly undefended compared to some of the other places they’d attacked recently. At least that’s what his gut told him after that conversation, and as he told Raja about it, his friend nodded along, and seemed to basically agree with his assessment.