Chapter 315: Return Visit
The River King’s jaw clenched tight enough to bite through solid gold. That may not have been a particularly impressive feat. Gold wasn’t exactly the densest metal. But as far as jaws went, his wasn’t all that strong.
Muscle was a sign of effort that could have been offloaded. A trouble that could have been handed to someone whose time was less worthy than his. He did not do menial labor. That was saved for those who worked for him. It was their honor to serve him.
He provided safety. A path to the future. A way to survive the apocalypse.
Normalcy.
And in exchange, he asked for next to nothing. His only demands were that his people worked to earn their keep.
That was how it had always been. People longed for this. They were sheep. Incompetent idiots that would get nowhere in the world if the guiding hand of one who could see the forest from the trees wasn’t there to keep them from killing themselves.
In many ways, the world hadn’t changed at all. The tasks had just grown more bloodthirsty. Human nature was still the same, and so was his purpose. It was the same purpose that his father and his father before him had served.
To guide those too foolish and incompetent to what small sliver of safety and wealth their inability could ever justify handing to them. Not so much as to make them complacent, of course. Comfort bred even more incompetence.
Only those who were naturally gifted, those who shepherded the sheep, could be afforded such a thing as comfort. They needed it. It was a rest for the mind, a reprieve of the immense task that they undertook every day.
But those beneath them coveted that rest. They were never satisfied with the offerings that the shepherds so painfully shaved away from their own wealth to distribute to the undeserving.
In truth, they deserved nothing at all. Those who could not lead themselves deserved nothing but death. But even in spite of the kindness they had been offered, even with the gifts that had been laid upon them in the form of a purpose, a place to live, and food to eat, they wanted more.
Better food. Larger houses. Riches that did not belong to them. Riches that belonged to him.
Disgust filled the River King with such an intensity that it threatened to bubble out through his lips like black sludge. His hands clenched into tight fists as he fought to control his breathing, to keep his fury from spilling free.
To seek to take from my hoard? When I give so graciously to those who serve me, granting them something when I should instead give nothing at all?
No.
I should have known.
A mouse cannot comprehend the fact that it has been fed. It only knows that the one feeding it has more food to give. More food that has not been shared. It does not care that the food does not belong to it.
The food is mine. The gold is mine. The safety is mine. Everything here belongs to me. I earned it. I earned this place, this power, this wealth. All of it has come from my hard work. And yet people still dare to try and take it from me.
They think their mere existence entitles them to what I have spent my life dedicated to earning. Perhaps I may have garnered some slight advantage from my father’s resources, but not so significant. No. Not at all. Should any of these fools have been competent enough, they too could have accomplished what I have.
But instead they nip and claw for what is mine. They prevent me from reaching the heights that I deserve.
The River King pounded a fist down into his chair. It took everything he had not to let out a scream of fury. He’d been forced to retreat back to his lodgings in Blackreach to avoid getting torn to pieces by the Outworlders. It was pathetic.
He was used to idiots and failure. He was used to people quitting because they ‘couldn’t afford to live’ and whatever other bullshit they came up with to justify their worthlessness.
But never had he lost like this. Everything he’d invested into the Ancestry was gone. More gold and wealth than most would ever dare even look at. The riches he’d used to outfit and prepare teams, hire mercenaries, and arrange entry into the Ancestry… it was all gone.
And it was all because of one bastard. The Outworlders didn’t know who it was yet, but he did.
Alex.
The little insufferable shit. He’d taken advantage of the kindness he’d been offered and spat in the River King’s face, stealing away everything that should have been rightfully his.
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The River King’s eyes trembled as they stared straight ahead, at the glowing words that he hadn’t managed the strength to dismiss for any of his waking moments.
Global Leaderboard — Wealth Ranking
- Crux
- Cold Iron
- Nighteyes
- The River King
His spot on the leaderboards had been stolen. Crux, Cold Iron, and Nighteyes. Three people. Three people had passed him. That was how bad the damage was. Not one, but three different groups had raced ahead because of the betrayal that he had suffered.
Alex had taken everything from him.
But the insults hadn’t stopped there. Gentle Shadow had cut him off. They thought he wasn’t worth the time of day to the point where he hadn’t even been given a chance to try and sell them the information about what had happened.
They’d just ended things. Taken away the promises they’d given him and faded into the shadows like their name, leaving behind nothing but the mess for him to deal with.
“Bastards,” the River King hissed room devoid of all but gold. “They want to make an animal of me. An animal. But if an animal is what they want, then an animal is what they’ll get. Outworlder. Nativeworlder. I don’t care. I’ll eat them all. I won’t let anyone stop me from claiming what is rightfully mine.”
And that started with Alex.
That brat was the pin that had been pulled out of his carefully laid plans. Everything had been going perfect until Alex had turned for absolutely no reason at all. He’d saved Alyssa. Stopped the River King from getting a Legacy that would have sold for thousands of Credits and stealing the Nexus Shards that should have been his in the process.
And then he’d vanished. Every single team that had still been in the Ancestry had been rendered unable to reap any rewards. All because of Alex. And barely any of the Outworlders even knew who was to blame for their losses because the damned fools at Gentle Shadow had cut him away like rotting flesh.
I’ll kill all of them.
The River King raised his hand again, preparing to pound it into his throne in a fruitless attempt to vent the hot magma fury coursing through his veins.
“Sir!” a man called from outside the room, his voice cutting through the River King’s thoughts like a sharp knife. “Sir! Are you here?”
Where else would I be, you damned fool?
The River King didn’t recognize his voice. It was rarely necessary to. The only people worth remembering were the ones at the top. Everyone else was just a cog in a machine. And it seemed this particular cog had somehow missed his stern orders to avoid bothering him while he planned.
“Begone,” the River King snarled. “I am in deep contemplation. Do you not know that it is for your survival that I work? That I slave away while you enjoy the fruits of the labor I have done for you?”
“That’s very kind of you, sir!” the man outside called. “I apologize for bothering you! But I think this might be important!”
The River King’s jaw clenched. The gold beneath him groaned as he shifted his weight forward, his hands tightening around the armrests of his throne. “It had best be. Speak. You have already ruined my thoughts. I pray whatever it is you have brought is worth more than they were.”
“I think it is, sir. The bastards from Mirrorwane! They’re back!”
The River King’s eyes widened. For a moment, he didn’t even dare think. Then a huge grin split across his lips. Laughter bubbled up from deep within his chest, rolling out before he could stop it.
I only dared to hope that they would come right for me. But they actually did it. I can’t believe it. But I suppose I should, yes?
Greed. It catches even the biggest prey. They have delivered themselves right back to me. They will pay for every ounce of suffering they have inflicted upon me.
“Splendid,” the River King said. Gold rose up around him in a wave, lifting him off the throne and supporting him to the ground. It wove itself into a cape around his back and bubbled at his feet like boiling water. “Leave. Go take them down. Bring them to me.”
“I’m not sure we can do that, sir.”
The River King’s eye twitched. “Can you incompetent fools do nothing? Did they send all of their forces? Are we under siege? No. I should think not. I hear nothing.”
“No, sir. We’re not under siege,” the voice confirmed. “But—”
“Then what is your problem?” the River King roared. “We have an entire town of people who are duty-bound to protect this place! How can you fail to bring them here?”
“I think you misunderstand, sir,” the voice said. There was a short pause. “Your order just isn’t possible.”
“And how would that be?” the River King asked, each word trembling with restrained fury.
“Because they’re already here, sir,” the man replied. There was a deafening crash. The door to the River King’s lodgings flew off its hinges. It smashed to the ground, shattering into several pieces and leaving behind only the massive white anchor lodged in its center. A chain ran from the end of the anchor to connect to the form of a man in a tuxedo. The same man that had ruined everything the River King had been working toward in the Ancestry — but this time around, he wasn’t wearing a mask.
The only face looking at him was Alex’s.
And behind him were half a dozen other people. Alyssa. Claire. And there were more — the undying man riddled with weapons that had been with them during the Ancestry, a woman with a massive gnarled white staff, a young girl, and more still that he didn’t recognize. Some seemed to be Outworlders or have modified races, while others were clearly human.
The River King froze.
His brain sputtered to a halt.
What?
“You miss me, you fucking traitorous bastard?” Alyssa asked, baring her teeth.
“I’m a little offended he didn’t even remember my name,” Alex said, winding his hand around the heavy white chain connected to his wrist. “But we can fix that.”
“How?” the River King stammered, his words still failing him. “My people. They should have stopped — no. Wait. There’s no need to be rash. We—”
“That’s enough out of you.” Alex cracked his neck. Then he bared his teeth in a hungry smile. “Right, then. Get it on with, yeah? Let’s beat the brakes off this slob.”