The Monarch

Chapter 12

While our goal was to infiltrate the laboratory and find the necromancer responsible for beginning the attack on the forest, there were just too many undead to even get close. While Rose and I didn't have as much of a problem taking them down, Josh's weapon wasn't silver.

The best he could do was stand back and hopefully not die. Rose dabbled in magic, but her progress through the giant horde wasn't significant either. Thankfully, my root magic proved effective against these undead. And while I was able to tank an entire side of the laboratory and prevent any undead from passing through, Rose and Josh couldn't hold down the other side. There weren't two of me.

The forest was raging in flames as the undead piled through the thicket. As I separated from Rose and Josh, slowly ascending into the air as my attention fixated itself upon the Undead, I became able to see the village from above the trees from atop of my wooden tower. If the undead reached the village, how many would die?

My blood started to boil as my wrath unleashed itself on the ground below me. My arm outstretched over the laboratory ground as if I was playing an intense game of chess. From above, I could see the ground uproot itself as if molding itself. The ground became liquefied as roots grappled the undead's ankles. I watched as dozens upon hundreds of undead drowned in mud. My arms became warm as the root's embrace became stronger along my arms. Soon, my arms lo as if I was wearing gauntlets made from wood. From beneath the wooden crevices, I could see a green light emerge.

The undead below me started to grow in number, and I chose to annihilate all of the undead in my sight. I clenched my fists, unleashing all of my magical energy. The trees from behind me seemed to speak to me as they unleashed their own roots upon the escaping undead. 

Then, a voice started to speak from deep within my head.

"Well now. The newest monarch has knocked onto my door," It was Bal's voice, "You have opened the door to nature, and thus have submitted yourself to me. If you continue further in your endeavor, your soul will become mine as well. Do you accept?"

"Yes," I gritted, my jaw clenched.

"So be it. Take all of my power, Monarch. Swear your name for me," Bal laughed. Suddenly, I felt a great force of heat expand from within my arms. The heat crawled up my arms, then spread through my entire body. I screamed in pain as I closed my eyes. For a moment, my attention was lost.

As I continued to scream, my scream slowly became overruled by an even more terrifying scream. Several screams, from deeper within the forest, all echoed to me. They were deeper and much louder. The vibrancy of their echo seemed familiar as it ran through my bones. As the echo found it's way through the forest, the undead's advances stopped. They all looked toward the trees, almost afraid of the screams. As I screamed louder, the pain nearly overtaking me, three woodland giants rushed through the treeline. They all looked similar to the beast I defeated upon my arrival here a month ago.

Dirt and leaves sprang from their shoulders as they knocked aside what was in their path. As they found their way to the laboratory, they all slid to the ground. Their hands tried to find all the undead as they could. Their screams continued, now fueled more by rage than pain. The Undead also started to scream. They started to run, but now fueled more by fear than blood lust. The undead darted through the trees, attempting to find a haven from the woodland giants. Their attempts proved to be in vain, however, as the giant woodland fingers crushed them eventually.

As my pain receded, my wood tower collapsed. I fell to the ground, no longer screaming. Although, my body was exhausted. A woodland giant caught me with his massive hand. From the corner of my eye, I saw another giant headed toward Josh and Rose. Even from here, I could see their terrified expressions. Rose fell to the ground, her legs having gave up. Josh rushed to shield her.

"No," I muttered. The giant continued to walk to the pair, "No," I muttered again as I pushed myself up, "You stay away from them."

The woodland giant turned, his face glowing red. Just from the way he stood, I could see that he wanted more combat. He lowered his stance, then brought his hands in a shielding position. Did this giant know hand to hand combat?

"So be it," I sighed. The giant that held me dropped me to the ground. I brought out two long swords, both created from the roots on my wrists, "I know where your weak spot is, bitch."

My opponent roared, his scream vibrating the floor beneath me. The giant was the first to make a move.

"This will not work," I heard Bal speak from the back of my mind. As the giant rushed me, I created a long grappling line connected to a tree far behind the giant. I pulled myself toward it, using momentum to swing myself through the trees. The giant's eyes followed me. As I swung through the trees, using several roots to do so, the giant's eyes never let off of me. I increased my speed, although the giant had no problems tracking me. Was this giant intelligent?

"Buzz off," I muttered as I attacked. Using the root's momentum, I quickly changed directions toward the giant's chest. There was no way I could attack from behind, as I had preferred. Instead, I planned to dive right in. The roots were strong, but my swords were made of the same tough material. I could do this.

As I started to spin, hopefully gaining enough momentum to pierce through the root chest like a corkscrew, the giant smiled at me. Its smile was amused and playful. The giant was luring me into a trap. I watched as the giant rose both of it's palms. Then, the giant turned his hands so the palms were facing each other. I quickly changed directions, ignoring the alien feel of the sudden loss of momentum, just before the giant clapped his hands together, attempting to squish me.

"f**k you," I muttered as I slammed into a tree. The giant chuckled, it's voice deep enough to vibrate the forest.

"Monarch, it will not work. You are not using my power's correctly. Speak to your heart. What is truly what you need to do?" Bal asked.

As the giant chuckled, it shared a strange resemblance to a person I once knew. I hadn't seen that person for years and I never wanted to again. I groaned as I dropped to the ground. Could I truly do it? Was the process reversible? I looked at Josh and Rose. If I failed here, they would die. No, I wouldn't allow that. Even if I had to risk something in order to prevent their deaths.

I slowly removed my cloak then dropped my swords onto the ground. Snow was still in the tree house, far from danger. I looked up to the giant again. It chuckled as it stared at me. Its impressive height was comparable to a mountain. And I was comparable to a bug.

I sighed, exhaling and inhaling. Then, giving the giant another look of hatred, I muttered.

"f**k you, Stanley,"

As Bal's wave of power washed through my body, destroying my body's cells and replacing them with his own, I could hear the echo of screams originating from my body. From behind my closed eyes, I was able to see a vibrant green light peak from behind my eyelids. I felt my body grow heavier as the cells were rapidly dying and regenerating. It was as if my body was growing heavier.

"The first time is always a bit painful," Bal laughed. I heard my screams, which had been light and quiet, turn to a deep roar. My feet slammed heavily in the ground, sinking itself in. My screams echoed through my own body as I opened my eyes. The trees near me seemed smaller as my arms flailed helplessly. I watched as my arms, which had been smaller before, knocked over the trees like Jenga pieces. When I stabilized myself, I found myself staring at a similar eye level to my opponent. Their face was suddenly full of fear as I raised my arms, ready to fight.

Again, my opponent was the first to strike. They rushed over to me, almost reluctantly. When they tried to give me a right hook, I easily dodged and jabbed with my left. Then, I gave a few more consecutive jabs. I watched as the tough armor of my opponent started to chip away as I attacked him. Sharing a similar body to his, my attacks were much quicker and more powerful. Within a few more hits, the armor was almost gone. The other giant attacked again. But this time, I reacted by grappling it's arm and swinging it away. The other giant seemed exhausted. This was the time to finish the fight.

As I stared at the other giant's eyes, I slowly raised my left knee a bit forward. Then, I brought both of my hands above my eyes but far apart. My knuckles were slightly bent forward. My stance seemed to taught the other giant. It rushed forward, ripping the earth from below it's feet. When it got closer to me, it tried to attack with a right punch. Quickly, I dodged to the right, then wrapped below it's arm to the left. I met with it by gripping both of my hands diagonally behind it's back, holding the giant's body close to my own. It was restrained this way, but I had no need to keep it like this. Within a moment's movement, I quickly shot my right foot behind it's own feet, then quickly swung my foot backwards. I kept my grip strong and my left foot stronger as I brought the giant to it's back.

A few seconds after it landed, I slowly raised myself from the ground. Then, I stared into the giant's face as I raised my arm. It did bear a frightening resemblance to Stanley Webster.

The area near the laboratory was uprooted in all manners of destruction. After the battle was over, the remaining two giants returned to the forest, leaving me alone with the destroyed body of the third. Getting myself back to human form again was tiring. Unlike the other woodland giants, I wasn't hiding my real body as a core inside my chest. Bal's magic seemed to change my entire body by replacing all of my cells. That meant I used the same magic to turn myself back.

By the time I was ready to move again, this time as a human, morning had already come. Constantin hadn't returned to the tree house yet, and I made Josh and Rose swear secrecy. Based on how the area near the laboratory looked, Constantin would have questions. But I didn't want him to find out all of the answers yet.

Before Constantin returned, the three of us decided to go into the laboratory now, just to hopefully prevent any more destruction. The laboratory entrance wasn't hard to find, as it had a giant gaping hole where a pile of rubble once was. The hole was massive and would've easily fit a double-decker bus from my old world.

Before we went into the laboratory, Rose quickly casted a light spell. Although it was small and dim, it was enough to see inside the dark hallways. We walked through the laboratory, which revealed itself to be a complicated maze, for almost two hours. Luckily, there weren't undead in our path the entire time.

As we traveled through the laboratory, I realized that we were slowly moving more down through several stairways and curved hallways. The hallways all seemed the same, with withered portraits of unknown individuals and rooms full of mysterious but useless items.

After two hours, we were almost sure that we had already explored every room of the laboratory. We were about to move back up and attempt a regroup with constantin before something caught my eye. Near a stone wall, to the right of a caved in hallway, was a portrait. The portrait had been straightened and maintained, unlike all of the other portraits. On the portrait was a man of Indian decent with round glasses and a groomed beard. He wore a lab coat and a dress shirt much like the ones from my own world.

I looked to the bottom of the portrait, where letters were engraved in a golden plaque. The letters read "Dr. Isil - Head scientist and current director."

"Do you think this guy's still alive?" I asked the others, "Look at the condition on the portrait, it's basically brand new!"

Josh moved a bit closer, inspecting the portrait itself. He moved his hand to it's surface and carefully caressed the frame with his fingers. After inspecting his hand a moment later, he confirmed that the portrait had been polished and maintained.

"Undead wouldn't do this," Josh muttered, "Would they?"

"Not unless they were ordered to," I shrugged, "And even then, I doubt they would do this good a job."

"Lets take it off the wall," Josh suggested, "Maybe there's something on the back of the frame."

I nodded, approving of Josh's suggestion. Just a moment later, Josh carefully took the portrait from the wall and set it on the ground, leaning the front side against the wall. On the backside, near the corner, was revealed to be a golden key. They key was carefully nudged in between the canvas and the frame, but Josh had no problem removing it.

"What do you think this goes to?" Josh asked. Rose pointed at the wall where the portrait had been just a moment before.

"Probably there?" She guessed. I turned to where Rose was pointing, then found a small keyhole in the middle of one of the larger bricks. I took the key from Josh and carefully inserted the key into the keyhole. Then, I slowly turned the key right. A loud click was heard through the wall. Then several gears seemed to clank together and the wall itself started to move. It swung inward, pushing aside dust and earth stuck atop the door.

The opening of the door revealed a giant hallway with glowing crystal walls. The floor shined with the same crystal, and while there wasn't a direct light source to be found, the hallway seemed illuminated by the sun.

Intrigued, we took no hesitation to start walking down the hallway.

"They're here?" Dr. Isil panicked. How had they gotten past his horde? Not even the last two monarchs could fight back against that. Never in his life had he been bested at his best strategy. He panicked in his study, pacing back and forth. Dedre rested on a nearby arm wrest, awaiting her master's orders, "Stop them. Whatever it takes. Kill all of them, but keep the monarch's body preserved."

When Dedre left, Dr. Isil returned to his pacing. He looked himself in the mirror. His bright blue eyes showed just how fearful he was. At this state, he had no chance of beating the monarch. He was simply too weak.

"Do you wish to seek power?"

We walked the hallway for ten minutes before it opened up into a giant cavern. The cavern's walls were also made of the same crystal, but there were furniture and carpets everywhere. A stove near one of the walls was still warm.

"You should not have come here!" I heard a loud voice caw. A moment later, a giant crow flew from inside one of the walls and tackled Rose. She knocked against the ground, taking a hard hit to the head. The crow swung around a bit more before it stopped itself mid air in front of me.

Rose took a moment to get on her feet, but she held her head in her hand as she wobbled with shaky knees.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"Intruders!" The crow cawed before it took another dive. This time, it targeted Josh. He took one swing at it, but the crow easily dodged.

"Tell us who you are or we'll have no choice but to kill you!" I yelled as the crow flew around us in circles.

"My master is displeased with your presence. Now you must die," The crow stated before diving again. It targeting josh for a second time, but was repelled by his sword. When the crow took to the ceiling again, I quickly slashed at the crow with a wooden long sword, but I barely missed.

"The master will kill you," The crow mocked again. It dove at me. When it did so, it's eyes quickly flashed red and dozens of birds were copied from the main in an instant. I braced myself, but still felt dozens of pricks at my sides. The bird rose above us again, laughing as it did so.

"Shut up!" I yelled, thrusting my fist at it. A spike of roots immediately extended from my hand, piercing the bird a moment later. When the roots returned to my wrist, the bird fell to the ground.

Then, a slow applause erupted from an off-branch hallway.

"I would've never expected you could beat my familiar as well," the voice chuckled. Then, scientist with glasses, the same one from the portrait, walked into the main cavern.

"Dr. Isil?" I asked. The man nodded, bowing as he did so.

"It's truly an honor to meet you, Monarch," The man said. Then, he rose from his bow and looked me in the eye again. He smiled, but his eyes showed bloodlust, "My name is Isil Crimsonblood. But you can call me Dr. Isil."