Corruption

Corruption
By: Zarak the Fireraga

Grim Mortbane sat atop one of the high roofs of a building in the massive Kaineng city. It was a clear night allowing the moon to flood the city with its eerie light. Grim sat, scythe beside him, overlooking the streets below him, unable to sleep. He knew himself he wouldn’t be able to, not until he had found Roan.

It was only five days ago that he had gone on a small hike over the Vehtendi Valley to come home to guards scrambling like ants all over his house. When asked, the captain told him his son Roan had been kidnapped with no signs of struggle, injury or bodies. Grim knew his five year-old charr son probably wouldn’t have known what to do when threatened by a stranger.

He asked his guild leader and companions to help him find him and their first instinct was Kaineng city.

Footsteps among the rooftops snatched Grim from his remorseful memories to the world of reality. He whirled around, grabbing his scythe as he did to face the person. Kaineng was known for numerous gangs and thieves and Grim felt sorry for anyone who wanted to rob him in his current mood.

Across from him stood a hooded and cloaked figure, moonlight revealing him to be wearing red robes and wielding a scythe as well. The figure began to speak. “Not able to sleep are we Grim?” he asked. Grim let his scythe droop to his side.

“I didn’t know the almighty Jim was going to come along to help his officer” he smiled.

“I’m not helping an officer, because to me Grim, you aren’t and never will be an officer of the Defenders of the North” he spoke sternly walking towards Grim.

“But uhh, I’ a-“Grim stammered in his new confused state.

“No Grim you’re not” Jim paused for awhile, letting Grim stare blankly at him.

“What is this world coming to” Grim thought. Jim flashed a smile and Grim relaxed.

“To me Grim you’re not an officer because in my eyes and mind, you’re my friend and that’s more important to me than any rank”

The two walked along the rooftops together. “So what’s the plan?” Grim started off, anxious to know.

“Calm down Grim, you’re lucky that I let you come along on this”

“What? “I’ am his father Jim!” Grim roared and Jim put a finger to his lips. He gave Grim a moment to relax.

“In any case, people’s decisions become mistakes more and more as they are blinded by emotions when personally involved” Jim spoke calmly, the slightest trickle of sympathy was in his voice.

“I know” Grim nodded.

“Anyways” Jim began and started walking again. “I’ve contacted someone who might know something of the people who took Roan, I’ve already contacted Nika and nothings been reported in concern to the Am Fah or the Jade Brotherhood”

“So we’re dealing with something totally unknown?”

“That’s why I’m hoping the contact will know something” Jim paused for a moment. “Have Anthony and Fend arrived yet?”

“Yes, they’re in our room sleeping”

“Good” Jim began walking away from Grim before turning to say “Meet me at the marketplace an hours worth after dawn breaks”

Grim squinted his eyes and sat up right in his bed. He rubbed his eyes and looked out the window into the open sea. The sun had begun its daily climb over the horizon but had yet to reach more than a sliver over it. Only a few streaks of light bled across the landscape. Grim took a deep breath. Exhaustion had attacked him a few hours after Jim had left. His body couldn’t hold if off and he crawled into bed for some much needed sleep.

He looked across from his bed to find the second bed already empty and neatly made. “Fend must be making breakfast” he thought. He turned to the bed beside to find a sleeping Anthony flat on his bed, slightly snoring. Anthony blinked his eyes open.

“Morning” he yawned.

“Don’t sleep in too late” Grim got out of bed. “We gotta be outa here in a few hours”. Anthony didn’t reply. The white haired elementalist had already drifted back into sleep. Grim smiled and headed downstairs.

Fend was cooking breakfast over a small iron stove when he hear Grim coming downstairs. “Morning Nightwalker” he said. Grim sat down at the table.

“How’d you know I was up?” The dark haired necromancer walked over to the table, serving Grim a plate of scrambled eggs and sat down himself.

“It’s easy to wake up in the night and see the bed across from you is empty” he said. Grim nodded and began eating. “Plus you and Jim couldn’t walk any louder on the rooftop” Fend smiled. Grim stared at his food, barely touching it with his fork.

“Something wrong?” Fend asked.

“It’s just” Grim began. “I haven’t seen you guys in months and now to come here on these circumstances” he paused. “It sucks”

“Life always sucks sometimes” Fend took another bite of his eggs. “All we can do is make the best of it”.

“How do we even know Roan will be alive?” distress had oozed over onto Grim’s voice. Fend wiped his mouth and sat back looking at his friend.

“What does your heart tell you?” Grim said nothing. Fend got up, his plate empty. “Your mind can tell you all it wants to but what truly matters is in your heart” he said patting Grim on the back.

Grim finished his breakfast as Anthony came down the stairs. “What’s for breakfast” he yawned.

“You can grab something on the way” Grim grabbed his scythe. “We gotta head out” he and Fend walked out the door with a sighing Anthony trailing behind.

True to his word, Jim was waiting for them at the Marketplace. After a few words of greeting he directed them north to Bukdek Byway. “His message said he’d by the third bridge north” Jim said. They counted bridges as they went and the third was just in site after a few minutes. As they approached it a man in blue armor wearing a mask they covered all of his face leaped back off the bridge. A massive bird attacked him, stabbing and clawing at him. Grim and his party drew weapons but before a move was made an arrow struck the man in the head and he slumped to the ground. The bird looked at them but didn’t move. A ranger with dirty blondish hair walked beside the bird. He was just a bit shorter than Grim and wore purple armor that Grim was sure you couldn’t get anywhere but from the Forgotten keepers in the Realm of Torment.

The ranger pulled off his mask, revealing he had a moustache and beard and then spoke. “You must be Jim?”

“Indeed I’ am” Jim answered. The group moved forward. Grim examined the bird.

“Where did you get such a magnificent bird?” he asked.

“You like it?” the ranger said patting the bird’s head. “It’s a rare rainbow phoenix that can only be found in the Hall of Monuments or obtained from the Zaishen who have a few specimens”

“I’ll have to look into getting one” Grim still stared at the phoenix.

“May we know your name” Fend interrupted the small talk. The ranger looked at him.

“Hoogles would be my name” the ranger answered. Anthony burst out laughing and Grim let himself laugh a little as well. Hoogles merely glared at them.

“Quiet you two!” Jim growled. The air became thick with silence. Grim turned to the ranger.

“Before we begin, how do we know whoever you’re talking about are the ones who took and not others somewhere in the world?” Grim asked. Hoogles smiled back at him.

“First off there little to no chance that any place other than Kaineng is where he is now. “Ascalon is in ruins, Kryta is in the middle of a civil war and all of Elona is still recovering from the wrath of Abaddon. He paused for a moment and started.

“Now, two new gangs have been reported trying to start up here in the city. “The first one is what I call a ‘random gang’ as they have no name, official headquarters and have so far only performed petty theft and small time armed robberies.

“So, you’re sure these other guys are the ones then” Grim asked. Hoogles nodded.

“I’ am almost positive, they fit the case very clearly. “The other guys are an actual guild who calls themselves the ‘Hands of Corruption’. “They are a self funded and the majority of members consist of darker magic masters”

“Assassins and Necromancers” Fend stated. Hoogles nodded once more.

“Because they have the cash already they don’t perform many thefts or robberies and have begun to escalate to more disturbing actions”

“Such as kidnapping?” Grim asked.

“That and murder” The group stood silent for a moment. “They started with mere peasants that appeared in a healthy condition and then moved onto stronger foes such as Am Fah or Jade brotherhood members and even the Kaineng guard. “All kidnapped victims have never been seen again say one who was found in a sewer line in the Shenzun tunnels; he died hours later of an unknown and incurable disease.

“So how do we find em?” Anthony asked. Hoogles pulled out a picture from his belt pouch.

“We find this man” The picture was of an older man wearing elementalist armor. He had short brown hair and a goatee.

“Hey, I know that guy” Anthony blurted out. “His name is Gavin”

“That’s right” Hoogles agreed. “He’s a very rich and well known elementalist here in Kaineng, he once defended a small neighborhood from hordes of afflicted by himself and three guards.

“So how is he going to lead us to the guild?” Grim asked.

“Simple, he’s holding an auction today, he’s selling some of his own items in the Marketplace and then donating the money to the Dragon Empire.

“So we better head to the market place” Fend put in.

“Not just yet, the auction doesn’t start for about another hour. “Our best bet is to head to Wajjun Bazaar and scout out the area.

“Agreed” said Jim.

The party had fanned out as they reached the Bazaar. Hoogles took down the middle of the streets with his phoenix with Jim and Grim to his right near the water and Anthony and Fend to his left near the housing areas. The streets had become densely populated with peasants who must have heard of the auction.

They weren’t the only thing that crowded the streets. Groups of guards dotted the area in corners, along the streets. “Not a jade brotherhood member in sight” Grim thought. He turned and saw Hoogles beckoning them to come forward. He pointed to the bridge just above him and gave a ‘thumbs up’ signal. Hoogles got up there first and many peasants began exiting the area as they saw the giant phoenix beside him. He looked over the area. The peasants made it difficult to spot anyone out of the ordinary and even with his keen eyes nothing stuck out. Jim and Grim soon arrived beside him.

“See anything?” Grim asked.

“No, not re-“ he paused. He pointed over along the bridge. Not 20ft away was a man leaning on the bridge railing wearing blue armor like the man before. The man turned suddenly and caught the eyes of the three looking at him. He turned and ran for it.

“Everybody DOWN!” Hoogles yelled. He notched an arrow and fired it. Peasants ducked down and scattered. The man bent down, touched the ground and vanished moments before the arrow would have struck. Hoogles looked down off the bridge and saw the man running. He shot another arrow that struck the side of the man’s leg.

Fend and Anthony we’re rushing up to the bridge yelling “Behind you!” Grim turned to block two daggers with his scythe as Jim whirled around him and carved death into the oncoming assassin. Two more appeared in front of the dervishes. Before they could attack, one was struck down by a massive bolt of lightning; the other became covered in thousands of black dots that ate the very flesh that covered his bones.

“Quick the other one’s escaping” Hoogles yelled. He had already jumped down from the bridge and was in pursuit with the others not far behind.

They came to a clearing just before the Marketplace and saw the man standing against a wall, his leg bleeding greatly. Grim looked around and didn’t like what he saw. Recent peasants had vanished and no sign of any guard patrol was near them.

“We’re surrounded” Jim spoke. The group back into a circle in the center of the clearing. Numerous amounts of men in blue armor could be seen around them and on rooftops. The party turned their heads to the one with the bleeding leg. The man let out a screech of pain as his hands began to turn a bluish gray and small needles and thorns sprouted on the backs of his hands and arms. A tail grew from his rear in the same gray colour with thorns and needles all around it.

Grim looked at the other men surrounding them. Several more had made the same transformations and others who hadn’t had drawn daggers, ready to attack.

“I think I know what they mean by corruption” Grim smiled.

“Anthony, Fend stay in the middle and back us up” Jim ordered. As they moved into position an assassin appeared beside Grim. Jim turned and caught the man by his waist, spilling his insides out. Two more appeared in front of Jim, ready to catch him off guard. Two arrows sunk their way into the chest of one while the other was struck by a ball of lightning.

“See?” Fend smiled. “This shouldn’t be too hard”. As if to reply to his statement, large amounts of them came rushing in to attack. Anthony levitated and to his will fire rained from the sky, the earth shook and opened into an abyss. Those who stall fell to Hoogles’ arrows or felt their life drain from them as Fend hexed the light from their souls. Grim and Jim made short work of any who made it to the front of their line. The phoenix that Hoogles began to call ‘Chuck’ pecked out at any foe that came near his master.

Bodies soon piled up amongst the part. Grim looked up from his latest kill and noticed a sudden ceasefire. The group stood ready, weapons drawn and arrows ready to fire.

“Why do you think they stopped?” Anthony asked. Grim’s eyes turned to the one Hoogles had injured. Its leg had stopped bleeding and about five men stood beside him. Grim looked back around and noticed the other ones had either vanished or retreated.

The man let out an ear-piercing shriek and the five men suddenly stood within inches of the party. Grim and Jim were in front, attempting to block the oncoming waves of attacks. Grim swung his scythe left and right, deflecting blow after blow. “They’re too fast” he thought and suddenly felt the sharp needle of his opponent cut through his cloak and graze the skin of his shoulder. He suddenly heard Anthony shout “Get back!” Jim and Grim were beside their party as a meteor, the size of a young man, came crashing down on top of their opponents. Three of them stood up after a silent moment and resumed the attack.

“Lets have some reinforcements, shall we” Fend smiled. He levitated for a moment and crossed his arms together. A small army of bone horrors grew like weeds from the surrounding corpses and threw themselves at the assassins. They were surrounded and Jim rushed into to finish them off. Grim stood motionless. It was one of those moments when time slowed as the mind realized something. He looked back at the men and counted two. The squawking shriek of a bird turned heads to see the man with the leg injury holding the phoenix Chuck by the throat. In one swift move the bird’s throat was opened, spilling blood onto its feathers.

“NOO!” Hoogles screamed. Two arrows found themselves flying towards the man who dropped the lifeless body of the phoenix. He stepped to the side, avoiding the arrows with ease. He looked at the party; Grim swore had the mask not been covering his face he was smiling maliciously at them. Smoke appeared as the man vanished.

Hoogles rushed to his pet, eyes filling with tears. Jim stood next them; the blood of the now dead men was dripping from his scythe.

“What now?” Anthony asked.

“We go a huntin” Hoogles was standing beside the phoenix. He threw an arrow head laced with an orange fluid at the body which burst into flames. He put his hands together and uttered a small prayer before walking back to the group. “I’m in” he looked each of them in the eye.

“With revenge as a motive?” Grim asked. Hoogles nodded.

“That bastard won’t get away with this; we’ll find him as well as your son Grim”

“But how do we take out an entire guild now that they know who we are?” Fend put in. There was a small pause.

“We call for backup” said Jim.

“But that could take days!” Grim snapped.

“Will go on ahead after the leader, but will send word out to the EYE alliance as well as the Obsidian Flame and the Kaineng guard to help finish the guild off”

“How do we know where they are?” Anthony cut in. “We don’t have any leads-.

“Actually we do” Hoogles interrupted. “I told you of a victim that was found alive.

“In the Shenzun tunnels” Jim nodded at the statement.

“Right, the place has had some deserted areas since the affliction plague and it may not be right but at least it’s something”

“Ok then, take half an hour to get ready and will head out” Jim turned to the marketplace to sends the message with his party behind him.

Hoogles had told them to wait just outside the tunnel area for him. The party had not been there long before footsteps echoed in the near distance. Hoogles appeared same as before with a bow in hand, except his quiver was full of arrows to a point where it looked like it would break if it held any more.

“I see you’re all stocked up” Anthony looked in awe at the amount of arrows in his quiver. “There’s gotta be at least 60 arrows in there” he exclaimed

“More or less” Hoogles smiled. He brought out a few things from his belt pouch. “I’ve also got some poison, attachable barbs and explosive fuel”.

“Wow when you hate someone you really hate them” Fend laughed. Grim and Jim stood silent.

“So how do we find an entrance?” Grim asked. His recent thoughts had remembered the fact that his son was still missing and these murderous men were responsible. “We’re so close yet so far” he thought to himself.

“That pipe” Hoogles pointed to a large sewer spewing pipe that contributed to the swampy waters beside them. “Is where the man was found, just hanging off the side of it.

“Then lets get moving” said Jim.

The stench of the water made the part of getting to the pipe seem like icing on a cake. Most of the party held there breaths while they fought back the urge to spew forth their most recent meals.

The pipe was large enough to stand tall in and a few holes in the top allowed streaks of the afternoon sunlight to illuminate the tunnel. They began to walk only a short distance before Jim stopped.

“See something?” Grim asked, desperation laced in his words. Jim felt to the side of the tunnel. He moved his hand in a circle along the wall. The dervish took a step back before sending a mighty kick to where he had placed his hand. A perfect circle of the wall fell out and down into a dark tunnel. They looked down into the darkness.

“Think it goes to them?” Fend asked.

“Only one way to find out” Anthony smiled and jumped down into the tunnel.

“His arrogance blinds him” Jim shook his head before jumping in after him with the rest right behind him.

The tunnel lead to a long and surprisingly dry corridor, lit by torches that hung from the walls. Silence became a dominating effect as they began to walk down the hallway. A junction came to their attention causing them to stop. Hoogles stepped forward. “Well, lady luck points to the left” he smiled.

“And if we’re wrong” Grim growled. “This is not the time to guess” he thought to himself.

“I think he’s right” Jim put in.

“How so?”

“If you look close enough you can see the right corridor begins to go up while the left goes down; if we’re right about these guys their base will be more underground”.

“Left it is” Hoogles marched along in front. Left made itself out to be the right as not far from the junction the party entered a huge dome clearing. Massive chandeliers hung from the ceiling and along with more torches, brightened the room. Tables, surround by candles dotted the room. Grim felt sick as he passed a table with blood spattered on it.

At the end of the clearing was a small hill with a larger table on it. Three candles stood lit on it and one became enveloped in shadows as its flame went out. Grim gripped his scythe.

A man moved from the table and began slightly limping down the hill. The familiar figure clapped his hands and laughed a little. Hoogles notched an arrow but the sturdy grip of Jim’s hand on his shoulder told him to stop. The man stopped at the bottom of the hill, no more than 20ft way from the party.

“Seeing as we’ve met already, let me introduce myself” the man pulled off his mask. Grim felt his stomach churn and Hoogles bent down to let go of his lunch. The man’s head was gray just like his hands and tail, he was hairless and his ears didn’t stick out like normal but rather seem to be fused to his head. Three black horns jutted out like thorns on either side of his head with one big one in the middle of his forehead. His eyes we’re bloodshot red and his nose flat against his face allowing two little slits to be seen. The mouth of a normal person was warped into a crooked smile with sharp fangs being every tooth in his mouth.

“Welcome” he said smiling with his arms spread out.

“WHERES Roan!” Grim yelled. Rage was boiling in his blood. The man turned to the table nearest him. He put his hand on the table and a wisp of smoke from his hand revealed the charr boy to be lying their motionless.

“Don’t worry, he’s not dead” the man turned back to them. “I know you wouldn’t be able to be captured if you found him dead”

“What are you talking about” it was Jim speaking now. The man’s smile widened.

“Like Kanaxai, demon of nightmares or Urgoz; we are the next stage of evolution in this world”.

“What are you talking about, you’re a MONSTER!” Hoogles yelled. His armed tensed as he desperately wanted shoot the abomination.

“No no no, you see, many species have roamed this world but never has there been a dominant one. “We will change that through corruption, bringing a new age of prosperity among the lands of Tyria”

“So what does my son have to do with this?!?” Grim roared.

“Your son play two parts, the first of which is where we want to bring as much diversity into our new race as possible while still maintaining the same family. “Thus we began to experiment on other species but you should know it’s not easy to transport a live grown charr against his will, so we moved on to the young. “The first two we abducted we natural charr who unlike your son, were well trained in combat and fought to the death for their freedom. “Your ‘lack of parenting’ though made young Roan the perfect target”

Grim looked down at the floor. The sudden burst of guilt rivaled his burning rage.

“But then we began to think more of Roan when we found his owner was an elite member of the well renowned guild of “The Defenders of the North”. “We knew we could lead our research into a whole new era if we experimented on people so attuned to the powers of magic such as you Grim”
Grim looked back up at the man. Murder yelled out from his eyes. “You’ll have to kill me before you do anything to me or my son”

“We’ll see about that” the man smiled. He let out a ferocious roar and bat-like wings expanded from his back. He seemed to grow in size and two bone spikes protruded from where his jaw connected to his skull. He charged at them.

“Let’s do this!” Hoogles yelled and began firing arrows as Anthony sent fire and lightning out to meet the charging demon. Fend conjured magic but nothing happened.

“My hexes aren’t affecting him” he yelled as the demon swatted away spells and arrows with his wings.

“Stick to physical attacks” Jim muttered. As the beast neared them Grim and Jim leaped up and slashed at his rib area. Their scythes struck but did as much as open small wounds in which black blood spilled forth. The demon turned to face the dervishes and an arrow struck his back where his spine was. He reared in pain as a ball of fire and two more arrows struck his back side. Grim and Jim slashed out at the knees contributing two more cuts.

The demon leaped back over to where he had begun the charge. Wincing in pain he grabbed Roan by the throat and yelled “STOP!”

“NO DON’T” Grim yelled. The demon smiled.

“Put down your weapons or the kid dies” he roared. Grim dropped his scythe immediately. The others looked to Jim who nodded and more weapons dropped. The demon laughed.

“Good” he laughed and swung his clawed hand towards Roan’s stomach.

“NO!” Grim yelled. There was a spatter of blood and Jim stood impaled by the demon’s attack. Eyes widened in surprised. Jim spat up blood, his hood fell back and he looked at the demon with menacing eyes. Two long scars ran down his face striking sudden fear into the demon.

“Coward” he muttered weakly. He clasped the demon’s arms with both his hands and the arm suddenly burst into white fire. The demon recoiled in pain.

“Of course!” Grim’s mind exploded with the answer Jim had given him. He raised his own scythe and it enveloped in white flames as he charged at the demon. In one swift slice he chopped the demon’s wing right off. He whirled around and slashed a deep gash in its back.

Fend pointed his staff and a purple haze surrounded the demon’s legs, draining the very life from them. A massive lighting bolt crashed down incinerating the other wing. From the distance Hoogles notched a lit arrow. “Dodge these” he smiled. The first arrow launched and struck the shoulder bursting into flames. He shot two more arrows which exploded on impact as they hit his was area. Three more arrows flew striking him deep in the chest.

The demon collapsed on the floor breathing heavily with Grim standing over him.

“You’ll….never….stop…..the corruption” he gasped for air. Grim gripped his scythe.

“Then will have to make due with you then” he raised his scythe and in a flash, decapitated the beast.

Silence enveloped the dome. Grim had turned to see other figures in the shadows disappear. The death of their leader struck fear in their hearts and instinct told them to flea. Grim rushed to his son’s side as the others crowded around the still breathing Jim.

Grim felt and found a pulse in his son. He carried him over and laid him down on a table beside Jim.

“Alive?” Jim forced the question through bloodstained lips.

“Yes, pretty much sleeping” Grim laughed a little, tears welled in his eyes. Jim smiled. His breathing became harsh and ragged. Fend and Anthony bet down to try and lift him.

“No” he muttered. The group shot the dying man puzzled expressions. “I’m going to die, nothing can stop that now”. Tears shot down the cheeks of the group. Even Hoogles who had barely known Jim at all sniffled and rubbed his eyes.

“Anything you want for a funeral?” Hoogles laughed a little as he asked the question. Fend and Anthony glared but Jim smiled back.

“You can receive my will from the Guild Lord but the cremation may happen now” he spoke softly.

“Cremation!” Anthony exclaimed. Jim nodded.

“My time can end with the people who have mattered most to me in this world” he said smiling. Grim knelt down and grasped his leader’s hand. The leader looked up at the ceiling, his eyes brightened with a light that was not seen by the others. He looked back at Grim. “May the grace and light of Dwayna carry your lives to prosper” He coughed blood up a little and breathed heavily and stopped. The silence seemed to echo across the chamber.

“May we meet you again in the Hall of Heroes” Grim whispered and kissed the top of Jim’s head. White flames from Grim’s hand soon covered the body. Grim looked at his son, still sleeping on the table.

“Corruption has taken the life of my leader, no, my friend” he paused in his own thoughts. “But the life of my friend given me my son back”.