Rise Of The Godking

Another loud boom made them spring to action. But even after getting to their feet, neither of them knew what to do, until the giant moved beside them and turned his impossibly big eyes which were now quivering with fear on them.

"Get the children. Get everyone! We must defend! There"s nowhere we can go!"

Daneel blinked once, then fell back as the king weakly moved his hand to swat them both away.

It seemed that even the slightest movement was hard for him to make, so it was obvious that he would be able to do nothing in the fight that was soon going to be at their doorstep. His action did make both of them ran towards the dining cavern, though, and on the way, he kept glancing back at the huge man from whose eyes a bucket-sized tear had just dropped to the floor.

"Brother… they love you. Calm them down. If worst comes to worst… be with them, please. I can"t… Move. We"re—no, I"m depending on you…"

The king"s weak voice was the last thing Daneel heard before he entered the adjacent cavern. The meaning behind what the man had said hit him with such force that he felt the wind go out of him, but when another explosion from somewhere nearby rocked the entire cavern, he hastily put those feelings aside, convincing himself that there must be another way.

Pleadingly, he turned to the steward, unaware that his face looked was that of someone desperately looking for a way to escape reality. The steward met his eyes and immediately understood what he was asking. They were still moving onward, into a cavern that Daneel hadn"t been to before which might be where all those little dwarves resided, and after pursing his lips and scrunching up his eyebrows thoughtfully for a few moments, the steward sighed and replied, "The king is right. We can go nowhere. We must make a stand here… and hope that we can make it too costly for them to enter. This place is naturally protected by magic formations that have been laid almost an eternity ago… but I don"t know how long we can hold. I must go check on them. I"ll leave it to you to herd all the little ones to the same place. Go to the library. And when you"re there… check the third book on the right. Ah, never mind. If we had had the time to show you the Path of the Gluttons, it might have been different…but there"s nothing that can be done about it, now. Still, it might give you a few tips, so take a look. Maybe you"ll have a shot to use them. As for the rest of us…"

He left the sentence hanging, but a single look at his face was enough to make it abundantly clear what he was thinking. Pressing his lips together into a thin line and nodding to Daneel, he continued onward, leaving him alone in a cavern that was very similar to the one he had seen before where the quarters of the army had been situated.

The difference was that the caves that dotted the walls were all personalised, with either childish drawings on parchment or other materials, or a mishmash of objects moulded creatively in a way that only children could do.

There were small corridors that lined the walls, and on them, the children were milling around, slight panic on their faces as in the background, the master"s attempts to get into the city were still ongoing.

Daneel had to blink back tears the moment they all saw him and cheered, as if he was a father figure that they could trust to protect them. Not all of them spotted him at the same time; those that did quickly started to hurry down, and soon, the others did the same, resulting in a large group of the dwarves congregating around him, all shouting questions that resulted in a din filling the cavern.

They were all much calmer since they had seen him, which made Daneel feel such a heavy responsibility on his shoulders that he almost bowed down due to it. The king and the steward had both entrusted this task to him… and as he looked at all the innocent faces around him, he swore that he would do it well.

"Should I tell them the truth? No, there probably isn"t anything dumber. Okay… If I must lie, I"ll do it with aplomb."

Forcefully bringing a smile on his face, he raised one hand, which was the signal that they had to quiet down. It took some time, but when the only sound that remained in the cavern was that of the loud booms, he raised both his hands and shouted, "Listen up, everyone! Father is preparing a surprise for you! That"s why there"s so much noise! We are also going to have a feast soon… but only the best behaved will get the choicest pick of meat! For now, we"ll all have to go to the library and wait there… so which brave dwarves will show me the way?"

"A feast? Oh, boy!"

"Wow! I can"t wait for the surprise!"

"Father loves us best! But Crazy Uncle m.a.s.o.c.h.i.s.t is next!"

Chattering excitedly, the dwarves milled around, now happily ignoring the sounds of destruction from above. A gang of them shouldered through the rest and volunteered to show the way, and after giving them a mock salute, he set off behind them with the rest on his heels.

He felt like he was in a burning house where he had to take care of kids who would run into the fire if they were allowed to find out that it was waiting outside the door. He was the only one who knew about its existence, but he had to ignore it or keep it in the back of his mind, where it kept popping up at odd times, threatening to force him to collapse and just mumble the truth out loud.

To take his mind off of it, he kept thinking on the steward"s words. Obviously, he was an expert in the Path of gluttons, so he tried to force himself to be interested in what was waiting for him in the library.

When they reached their destination, he raised his eyebrows when he saw that the books present here were very few, merely taking up one bookshelf the height of fully grown man. The rest of the s.p.a.ce was covered with tables and chairs, though, and as if they had done it many times before, the dwarves all clambered on to them dutifully and looked at their neighbours, checking to see whether they were in the lead.

Compet.i.tion was one of the best ways to take care of children, and it had worked here, too. This seemed to be the place where they learned their letters after they were turned to infants by the king, so making use of an activity they were accustomed to, he got to the front of the cavern and shouted, "Alright, how about this! We are going to play a game of dreaming… for 10 minutes, all of you must be silent and dream about what you want to be in the future. After you wake up, you have to tell me about the dream, and the ones who do it best win! Alright? Begin!"

The children nodded and scrunched up their eyes. For a moment, Daneel was only able to stand there, looking out at the sea of faces which are all filled with their hopes and dreams of the future.

"I swore that I would protect them, no matter what… but what the h.e.l.l can I do now? No, no, no… I"ll take a look at what the steward talked of, first."

The dread kept returning stronger and stronger, and Daneel knew that he wouldn"t be able to keep it away for much longer. Moving to the books, he picked up the third one and opened it to find a startling t.i.tle that drove away all other thoughts from his mind.

"Glutton Technique: Muscle Control(Face). 

Use: ident.i.ty transformation(Part 1: Face)."

[Technique found. Scanning in progress. Please flick through the text so that system can collect the data.] 

In a daze, Daneel obliged.

[Scan complete. a.n.a.lysis complete. Energy absorbed can now be used to change the structure of host"s face.]

In an instant, the steward"s intention became clear. Even if the dwarves escaped, the purge that would soon follow would result in all those who were half the height of normal humans killed, or worse. But if he changed his face and hid himself among the workers in the Refinery… wouldn"t he be able to survive?

"Wouldn"t I be able to live on, find my memories, and go to my real family? I can tell that there is definitely someone waiting for me… And maybe even a lot of "someone"s", judging by what I feel every time I remember those images. But—"

"You"re done? Good. Come with me!"

The steward arrived to interrupt him again, standing at the doorway with a grim set to his face. He was saved from his thoughts once more…but right away, as the man left, he knew that this might be the last time he would be able to do so, and this thought made a wave of anxiousness sweep over his mind, to which he wished he could give himself up.

Yet, getting to his feet and waving goodbye at the happy faces, he followed.

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