Chapter 146 (Patreon)

Chapter 146

[The Apocalypse Beasts, Chalgathi, Quest Update: Revo Mani has fallen in battle to Fred Talons.  Fred Talons has acquired 3 of 5 set pieces for Chalgathi’s Inheritance.  A new Chalgathi’s Chosen will be picked within 1 hour from now as a replacement for Revo Mani.]

[The Apocalypse Beasts, Chalgathi, Quest Update: Sara Orni has fallen in battle to Nora Lang.  Nora Lang has acquired 2 of 5 set pieces for Chalgathi’s Inheritance.  A new Chalgathi’s Chosen will be picked within 1 hour from now as a replacement for Sara Orni.]

[The Apocalypse Beasts, Chalgathi, Quest Update: Jin Lee has fallen in battle to Justin Mather.  Justin Mather has acquired 4 of 5 set pieces for Chalgathi’s Inheritance.  A new Chalgathi’s Chosen will be picked within 1 hour from now as a replacement for Jin Lee.]

***

Three days had passed since the battle for Chicago.

Riven stood on the balcony of the Margrave Hotel with his back to the railing.  It was a very high-society building that’d just been built before the integration had occurred, and it’d been well kept even afterwards with many of the fancier things in life still available.  His weapon, Vampire’s Escort, was encased in what Riven could almost describe as a brick of red ice while it underwent evolution and was laying on a table in the room behind him where various staff members for the leadership of Chicago bustled about.  Beside the chunk of ice was the black and green orb that’d once been a Chalgathi artifact, held up on a pillow - the same one he’d taken off Richard.

[Cursed Azag Sanctuary Stone:  This sanctuary stone enables the bearer to create an Azag Hive Cluster Sanctuary, and will list the creator of this sanctuary as this hive’s Overmind.  This sanctuary will seclude an area of the planet in a protective layer that has permanence for 1 year, and can only be passed through by the overmind, Azag, and whoever the overmind deems as allies.  Becoming the Hive Overmind will enable the creator of this sanctuary to create a Hatchery immediately upon creation, and will open up the ‘Queen’ and ‘Drone’ pathways to breed units with.  More units will be available upon creation of the necessary biological modification facilities.  Warning:  This item is cursed; It afflicts the owner with compulsions that are in the best interest of the Azag Hive Clusters, and links the owner to the galactic hive minds for communication purposes.]

Riven dismissed the screen with a thought.  It appeared that there was more to the backstory of Richard Longhollow than he’d originally thought, and they weren’t just simple monsters.  Whatever these Azag were, it appeared that they had a far greater influence than just the local area or even this planet.  Had they sent this sanctuary stone here or helped Richard to get one somehow through changing Chalgathi’s artifact in an attempt to gain a foothold on the planet?  It certainly appeared that way through context clues.

“Riven.”  The newly appointed General Bruner, who’d replaced General Florence as chief commander of the military, saluted him in typical military fashion.  He immediately went at ease with Riven’s nod of approval, and approached to stand beside Riven at the railing.  The older man’s graying hair was swept back, and his orange cyborg eyes combed the surroundings far below in the bustling central district before clearing his throat.  “Sir.  Are you ready for the press conference?”

“Are they already good to go?” Riven asked, a little bit surprised by the speed at which things got done around here.  “I’d been thinking it’d be another few hours.”

“Well the civilians are all riled up and wanting to know how things are going to proceed from here - so things got a bit hasty.  They’re calling you a hero you know, and most of them want to join without question.  Everyone’s scared after the city had almost been overrun, and having someone like you at the head of things protecting them doesn’t sound like a bad option to most.”  General Bruner adjusted his military suit, frowned, and waved away an assistant who offered him some refreshments amidst the bustling in the room.  “They’ve lost faith in us after the video footage of Senator James’ assassination went public, and finding out that you’re from the USA only helps your standing.  There’d be riots in the streets if we didn’t go ahead with this, and the mayors of Rockford further inland and Milwaukee down the coast are both ready to pledge as long as you guarantee our citizens certain rights.  But may I be frank, sir?”

Riven raised an eyebrow from underneath his mask, then lazily nodded.  “Go ahead.  You know I’m anything but formal.”

“The sounds of your sister are worrying.” General Bruner stated flatly, straight and to the point.  “In the very little time I’ve known you and after witnessing your conversation with Senator James before he was killed in cold blood by our own people, you seem like a decent man.  It was also a breath of fresh air to get so much honesty out the gate, concerning how you’ve treated those elvish war criminals, even if there are many in the city that don’t necessarily agree with it.  The forums are abuzz with what-ifs and worries about losing our democracy in favor of a kingship, but without your intervention we’d all be gone.  People are willing to bet on you.  I just hope that you’re as straightforward as I think you are, and I would hope that if your sister does anything rash you’d stop her.  We are pledging because of you, Riven.  And because we need to be stronger than we are.  We are not pledging because of her, I just wanted to reiterate that.”

Riven gave him a sad smile.  “Try to get to know her before making any assumptions, General.  When we open the gate later today at the press conference, I hope to introduce you soon.”

Riven winced as his body shuddered again, and he coughed before glancing up at the blue sky overhead.  It was nice, being outside in the daytime without needing to look away.  His mask allowed him to do just that, and it was rather refreshing.

“Are you ok?” General Bruner asked upon seeing Riven’s flinching.  “Is it the stat points again?”

Riven nodded wordlessly.

He’d leveled 23 times to settle at a combat level of 68, which was frankly absurd.  But given the amount of mantis he’d killed, he could understand it.  The power spike he’d had due to the dao insights had made all of his abilities far faster to cast, and far more powerful than they had been just days before the fight.  The mere shock of having all those base stat points flood his body at once had been rather violent, and he was still in recovery days later - not daring to use his free stat points yet due to fear of what would happen if he placed them all at once on top of the baseline stats he already got.  He still had 161 free stat points just sitting there, but he was going to add them slowly so he’d avoid the violent downsides to abrupt stat acquisitions again.

Casually pulling up a screen and looking over the forums of Chicago, Milwaukee, and Rockford again, he touched based on what the general population of his countrymen were saying.

The city was still in mourning due to their losses, but many of them were excited due to the new developments.  Videos of the battle and General Florence’s assassination of Senator James were rampant, and even the front page of the world’s cortex had it on display while highlighting Riven’s rise to power as the number 72 spot on the power ladder out of tens of billions.

The populace had received Riven very well, even gone as far as to burn pictures of General Florence while sending death threats to his family for killing the senator - which Riven put a stop to immediately.  Riven had been almost unanimously hailed a hero, and when it was learned he was actually from the United States himself prior to his vampiric change - he’d essentially been put up on the pedestal of leadership without much of a say.  The forums practically demanded it, which was a big surprise considering his negative charisma, but it went to show that charisma only went so far.  Actions could speak for themselves, and memories of Mara’s explanation on charisma or speaking with Ethel and Senna on the subject before their betrayal only reinforced that it was something that mattered far more with first impressions than anything else.

And it made him feel very good that his old country, or at least part of it, had accepted him back as one of their own.

Lieutenant General Bruner had been promoted to General Bruner to fill General Florence’s spot, had given a public speech yesterday regarding the transfer of power to Riven - and Riven going to publicly accept that position today as king of the three cities.  It was… interesting, how easily people’s worldviews and priorities shifted when their safety was at risk.  He hadn’t even asked for it, but rather he’d had it shoved onto him through desperation and public outcry when they thought he might leave them.

Two men in business suits, one in blue with a bald head and the other being a very burly man in a black suit, came up to the door together with smiles typical of used car salesmen.  The other people in the room behind them got out of the way rather quickly, and it was apparent that both of these people were of a higher social standing.

“Mayor Bret Rawling, Mayor Eric Parker.”  General Bruner said with a curt nod to each of the arrivals.  “Good to see you both here.  I hope the trip was both uneventful and safe?”

The bald man in blue chuckled, causing his shoulders to bounce, and he shook his head.  “We were attacked by some kind of dinosaur birds on the way… but the armored convoy easily dealt with those beasts.  Still, it does me little good to complain after what happened here in Chicago.  It must have been downright terrifying.  Plus, the roads between our three cities are largely intact and the newly modified cars that run on new-world energies work just fine… so I shouldn’t be complaining when so many others have it far worse than I.  By the way, Name’s Bret.  Bret Rawling, Mayor of Milwaukee.”

Bret held out his hand to Riven, which Riven took.  The mayor’s eye twitched slightly when touching the slick red suit covering Riven’s body, and he hesitantly glanced to where the maw was lined across Riven’s chest between black rags of the shirt he’d worn.  “Ahem, it’s nice to meet you.  Should I start calling you ‘liege’ now?”

Riven saw the slight grin on Bret’s face, and it was obvious the man was trying very hard to look friendly here.  “No.  Just Riven is fine.”

“Eric Parker, Mayor of Rockford.” the burly man in the black suit stated next, holding out a hand of his own with a more stoic expression after his smile fell to shake firmly.  “I hope you’ll do right by us.  Never thought I’d see the day when we went back to colonial days under the rule of a king, but that’s what the people want.  So that’s what the people will get.”

“I take it you’re against the idea of joining the necropolis?” Riven asked casually, letting the man’s hand go.

Eric Parker shrugged.  “Not necessarily.  If life becomes better I’m all for it.  I just have my doubts.  Prove me wrong and I’ll be more than happy about it.  Regardless, it’s not really my say anyway.  I’m just a small town elected official, nothing like the bigshots in Chicago or Milwaukee.”

“Over 90,000 people still live in Rockford after the integration.” Bret Rawling stated with a drawl.  “I’d hardly call that a small town.  Small city maybe, but not a small town.”

“The specifics are meaningless to me.” Eric Parker shrugged again.  “Anyway, we were hoping to get a rundown on what the new laws under your rule will be.  Stuff we can bring back to our own cities to discuss with our police force and citizens.  Anything out of the ordinary that we need to know about?  I’m also curious about this elf situation that you’ve got going on back in Brightsville, seems a bit dark-ages to me.  Care to explain that in more detail?”

Riven let out an exasperated sigh, then motioned for the three men around him to follow him inside.  The staff rearranging papers, talking to their contacts in the media outside the hotel room, and soldiers standing guard all paused briefly and made room at the table by pushing stacks of papers aside so Riven could sit.  Quickly a hotel maid provided by the owner set down some cookies, cheese and a bottle of wine with glasses.

Riven sat down and reached for the cheese, only to hesitate as he looked down at his maw.  “God damn it.”

Bret Rawling, Mayor of Milwaukee, began to laugh with folded hands.  “So it’s true then?  You really can’t take off your mask?”

“Nope.  I can’t, and the maw on my chest doesn’t taste anything for me so eating stuff like this is just bland.  As I said in my video on the cortex addressing the three cities, I kinda fucked up and now have an evil set of armor strapped to my body that I can’t get off… for now at least.  It’ll probably come off eventually if I don’t manage to die completing the apocalypse beasts quest first.”

Bret snorted with amusement.  “That’s hilarious!”

Riven slowly turned his head, and General Bruner nearly facepalmed.  “What’s so funny about that, may I ask?”

“Oh come on!” Bret Rawling said with a cheeky grin.  “You’re rank number 72 in the world!  You just wiped out an entire army!  You’ll be fine.  There’s no way you’re going to fail that Chalgathi quest.”

Riven gave an unamused grunt.  Little could be hidden from the populace after his talk with Richard had gone absolutely viral concerning the cult and Chalgathi, and afterwards Riven had come out clean on just what was going on.  It was both fascinating and scary to most of the people here, and was another hot topic that was rampaging across not only Chicago’s forums - but apparently the world forums too.  Not many people across the planet had openly discussed or had knowledge of the Apocolypse Beasts quest to Riven's knowledge - and that had been confirmed by General Bruner.

Though Riven hadn’t had the time to look over the world forums himself just yet.  He had his own stuff to contend with, and he’d make time to delve into the massive expanse of Panu’s main page later this week when he wasn’t swamped.  No doubt he had both haters and fans out there somewhere, but he also cared little for public opinion now as long as he had a core set of people he could rely on.  Especially after he’d tried so hard to win over the opinions of the elves of Greenstalk, only to be betrayed with a murder attempt.  There was only so much you could do for people to like you, so he’d do what he could for the people that he got along with and the people who didn’t like him for what he was could go fuck themselves.

Riven folded his arms and leaned back.  “Anyways, there’ll be little in terms of changes to the laws just yet.  The laws will pretty much stay the same for now, with the exception of a few things.  I know you have certain topics you want to touch on talking about guild activities or taxations and we’ll get to that too, but for now it’s this: Our undead part of the faction is going to need bodies.  That means all bodies lost to death by old age or in battle will be given to the necropolis government for processing, either for parts or for raising.  Bodies are valuable resources now, no more burying them.  Other than that, the prison systems need to be redone.  We aren’t going to just have leeches that feed off the rest of society, especially in a post apocalyptic world like this one.  The worst prisoners we have now will be made into slaves or outright executed, and the ones with crimes that aren’t that bad will be put into indentured servitude.  Both slaves and indentured servants will only be owned by the government, and there will be no personal slaves whatsoever.”

“Not too terrible.” General Bruner muttered.

Riven nodded.  “To address your question from earlier, Mayor, the elves I talked about had tried to kill me.  Their people apparently have a deep-seated hatred for vampires and I happened to be one, so they struck out at me even after I saved their lives.  I struck back.  What remains of their village will remain as slaves to the government and they will be allowed to pursue happiness in many aspects of their lives, it won’t be as bad as you’d think.  Their children won’t be born into slavery either, but rather are being re-educated and allowed full citizenship rights unless they cause problems.  That’s pretty much the entire gist of it.”

Both mayors nodded.

“Fair enough.  Do you mind going over a few things that are at the forefront of problems we have now, though?  Before you go off to your news conference and open the portal gate to Brightsville?”  Bret Rawling of Milwaukee asked with a curious side-glance at General Bruner.  “May I?”

Riven and General Bruner nodded, and Bret took out a small vanilla folder from underneath his suit jacket.  Placing it on the table and opening it up, and he put forth a list.  “These are the things that I think need immediate attention in the wake of what happened in here in Chicago.  Some of this was already a problem and just outright ignored by our late General Florence, god rest his traitorous soul, so I’m hoping to get some more input from you - Riven.  Ahem…”

Bret shuffled through the papers again, brows furrowed.  “Alright so here goes.  We have bandits and gang problems along the trade routes between our cities.  We have guilds of civilians who are proclaiming independence with small pockets of territories after we lost over half of the army in the battle for Chicago.  Black market human trafficking for sex slaves is skyrocketing, mostly involving captured peasants from the villages further south and inland - which is in itself causing a lot of unrest with our neighbors.  Monster attacks are on the rise and I think we may have a dungeon problem on our hands… and food supplies are in dire need.  We won’t make it through winter without increasing our food stores, and it’s already the beginning of autumn.”

***

Riven was dumbstruck, and he stepped out of the armored transport to the sound of thunderous applause and screaming crowds.  They’d chosen the professional football stadium as the site where Riven would set the portal up, as it’d be a major trading hub between the two sides of Panu and would be a permanent addition to the landscape.

It was also the place he was to make his public address to the citizens of the three cities, and he’d expected there to be a couple dozen reporters working for the new-world press companies there - but he hadn’t expected this.  It was one thing to see how the forums were ramping up positive vibes about him, but it was something else entirely to see the roaring crowds numbering tens of thousands of people around him chanting his name.

“They really seem to like you.” Athela mused, waving at his side and putting a hand on his shoulder to the absolute roars of approval when she did.  “OOOH A FAN BASE!  They seem to like me as well!  Let’s stay!”

Fay stepped out next, getting quite a few gawking looks from nearby onlookers, and Azmoth hopped off the tank he’d been riding on with a grunt.

“Avengers assemble!” Some nerdy teenager with a superhero shirt called out from behind the guarded barricade, getting laughs from both Riven and the others nearby.

Riven waved to the kid, then to the crowd, and started walking to follow behind General Bruner through the gates of the stadium.

The walk to the central field was a bit surreal for Riven.  Despite dozens of soldiers with automatic Rifles making sure the crowds didn’t push in and outright swarm Riven with pleas for autographs, congratulations, or heartfelt thanks for saving the city, there were still a few times that someone broke through to touch Riven and even hug him once when an old lady shoved by and swung her arms around his waist with tightly closed eyes.  She sobbed her thanks loudly into his chest, talking about how her son had died protecting Chicago and that she knew he was up in heaven looking down favorably on Riven for what he’d done, and Riven had to stay the hands of nearby military personnel to stop them from dragging her away until she was done.

“I’m sure he was a fine young man.  I wish there was something I could say or do to help your struggles… but I’ll make sure that you and people like you don’t go without if you’re in need.”  Riven hugged the old woman back and she let go, wiping tears away and smiling up at him as he waved back at her and continued to make his way to the field.

Inside the stadium a wooden platform had been erected with a series of microphones, and the two mayors were already sitting and waiting for Riven to make his entrance.  They stood up to clap, followed by dozens of reporters resting on metal folding chairs and tens of thousands more people in the stands.

Again the uproar from the crowd was deafening, and Riven even began to get a little bit emotional as he stood and gawked from underneath the porcelain mask he wore.  Ever since coming back to Panu from the hellscapes, he’d been worried he’d be an outcast.  He’d been betrayed by Jalel, betrayed by the elves, been shunned and hunted by Prophet’s forces and the humans of Brightsville.  But here and now, thousands upon thousands of people had given him their stamp of approval.

They called him a hero.

They called him their savior.

And they wanted him above anyone else to lead them into the new world.  Yet again, it was a stark reminder that the forum posts praising his name weren’t just text on a screen - those were real people with real feelings and ideas behind them.

The lump in Riven’s throat grew, but he continued walking after the brief moment of clarity.  Uniformed soldiers on either side of the way towards the platform saluted him as he passed, and eventually he came to the wooden stage.  Walking up the steps and waving to the crowd to stand beside the mayors who each shook his hand for a more public display of congratulations, General Bruner cleared his throat and spoke loudly into the microphone.

“Silence please!  Quiet down!”

It took a couple of requests for the crowds to do so, but eventually the people of Chicago settled into a more bearable state of excitement as the top military officer there began to address them yet again.

General Bruner nodded in satisfaction, taking his time to eye the people sitting in the seats all around them.  “Hello, people of Chicago.  It is a pleasure to be with all of you here today, and even more of a pleasure that I have the honor of publicly introducing the man who saved our fine city only a few days ago.  By now you all know his story, it is public knowledge now that he posted a video on the cortex explaining just who he is and what happened to him.  How he was changed into what you see now, and where he began.  And it brings me great pleasure to announce that he was and is one of us - born and raised in the United States of America!”

Again the crowds roared with approval, only to settle down again with a raise of Bruner’s hands.

“But that brings us to now and today.  Things are changing and even the physical world around us is completely different from the one all of you and I grew up in.”  Bruner’s gaze turned, with cameras flashing and voices murmuring.  “We are now in a world where the United States of America sadly doesn’t exist anymore.  We are on our own.  The cities of Chicago, Milwaukee, and Rockford have all been thrust into the world of Panu as one of many puzzle pieces of land mass shuffled into the greater whole, and we have enemies on all sides.  Monsters of myth and legend roam our lands, killing our people at random.  Kingdoms to our South and North from other planets with magics not known to us are encroaching on our lands regularly with questionable intentions.  The weapons of our old world are not necessarily obsolete, but as you have all recently seen - there is much room for improvement to be made when things like magic exist.  Not only that, but we have 6 world quests that need to be completed in 5 years’ time, and if not - great calamities will befall not only us, but the entire planet we now reside on.  They will be calamities far greater than the one you witnessed here in our tiny piece of the planet today.”

General Bruner let that message sink in, and the mood became more somber than it had been only seconds before.  “With that in mind, and with the will of the people having been expressed, I and my colleagues in the military brass believe that strong leadership is a must.  Especially after the traitorous actions of my predecessor, General Florence.”

Boos and angry shouts echoed throughout the stadium after that, but quieted down again after another pause from Bruner.  “We have listened to all of you.  We have heard what you have to say, and we agree.  As I said, strong leadership is a key in these trying times.  We need someone who can not just lead us, but someone who can protect us from the greater evils of this world that we cannot fight by ourselves.  Who better to do that than the man who so selflessly fought for our city without being asked to do so?  A man who was framed for a crime he didn’t commit, only to turn around and help us regardless when he could have ran?  A man who is one of the most powerful entities on this planet, a superhero not in the comic books - but in reality.  And above all - a man who shares our origins and histories from Earth.  He is one of us, and he did not ask this of our people, but he is willing to take on the responsibility we ask of him.  Without further ado, I present to all of you the man we are now pledging our allegiances to.  To our new king, the hero who saved our city, I present to all of you Riven Thane!”

The crowd went ballistic, jumping to their feet and starting to chant Riven’s name as General Bruner stepped back from the microphone and started to clap along with all of the government officials.

“Thank you, General Bruner.” Riven said into the microphone while waving to the surroundings, and he chuckled as the people of Chicago continued to chant over and over again.

“RIVEN!  RIVEN!  RIVEN!”

“Alright!  Alright.  Calm down everyone.” Riven said with an amused grin while the uproar died down to a thrum.  “Thank you all for being here today.  As General Bruner said, I did not ask to be your king.  I am even a little bit surprised that it was suggested, but when it was - the idea caught on like wildfire and spread across all three of our cities.  I’ve gotta admit, I’m humbled by the idea.  It is true that I’m technically a prince and one of two leaders of the faction you’ll all be joining though, so I’d like to welcome you all into the Thane Necopolis.  Today marks the day that I’ll be utilizing a system prize to join the two opposite sides of Panu with a permanent portal gate, making travel between Brightsville and Chicago an everlasting fixture, and I hope that you’ll all have the time to explore the opposite side of the world with me over time when the city there is more secure.  Now with all that’s happened, there are a couple things the Mayors and I have talked about recently that I’d like to address - then afterwards you’ll all be witness to the portal’s creation.  I hope that I can fill the shoes you’ve all given me, and I look forward to making all of your lives better through both policy and protection.”