Monarch- the Elementalist Read online

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2019 by Gideon Omoruyi

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner without written permission of the copyright owner except for the use of quotations in a book review.

  First E-book edition November 2019

  Book Cover Art by Briana Uchendu

  "Life is but a curse or a gift. But you who has life does not get to choose."

  Each day lasts thirty hours and commoners like me have got to work for twenty of those hours. What a pain. I should try to stop complaining because I've seen worse. We have seven days in a week, four weeks in a month, fourteen months in a year and some would work yearly with no time off but to eat, defecate, and sleep.

  Many young children and ignorant adults think it would be glorious working in the castle. But it's not. Servants had it better than I did and to make matters worse, they got a kick out of ordering me around.

  I was sitting at a desk down below the castle's floor currently reading... well, I should have been writing. What I was writing? Nothing important. I'm a scribe and a scribe must write just to write. It is a trade-skill profession and our kingdom's top exported items are Fire Spell Scrolls and Spell Book: Fire. All hail the Kingdom of Fire... I guess. Scribes should be able to write down their most used spell.

  Active Spell: Fire

  There was no surprise that I could cast fire. Writing in a blank book would create a chance for me to undergo a trance like state and jot down the spell book or if I were to write on a scroll, a spell scroll. A majority of creatures in this kingdom can cast fire but like most kingdoms, only those under the command of a noble, like me, or within a guild are given tutorship and free range of practice. That forced the entire trade-skill of scribing to become controlled by the kingdom and trade guilds.

  As I continued to read, down came Delve, a thirteen year old boy with brown limbs, a yellowish body, purple eyes, and a purple stub of hair atop his head. Following close behind was Sky, a fourteen year old girl with light blue skin with yellow zebra-like stripes, pitch-black eyes, and flowing blonde hair. Two fellow scribes I could not get along with. Hell, I couldn't get along with any of them.

  DELVE

  Pain! Why are you reading? If Dean finds out, you're dead!

  I didn't respond. Each and every one of them has written at least one spell. I was the only one who hadn't written one in the twelve years I'd been here. Sky took a seat across from me and stared at me. I did my best to ignore her but she decided to open her mouth.

  SKY

  You're old. You look like a sage.

  I mumbled,

  PAIN

  I guess you'll be a sage in four years.

  SKY

  Ew! No!

  I shrugged and before I could continue, Dean a twenty-three year old, bald, charcoal skinned male with white spots and white eyes, rushed down the stairs.

  DEAN

  Hey you insects! The ceremony is about to begin.

  Sky and Delve moaned and complained,

  DEAN

  Come on now, hop to. You too Pain!

  He saw me reading,

  DEAN

  You really are a pain in the ass.

  Said the pain in my ass. My real name was Ire Farcatcher but after working as a scribe for twelve years and having not written even one spell turned me into the Pain in Dean's ass. Screw him.

  PAIN

  Narcissistic king.

  And this king.

  DEAN

  Dammit Pain! Shut up before you get put in prison!

  It was time for us and all of the servants, scribes, cleaners and the entire horde of insects to be present for the King's rise to power. We normally do not appear in the throne room unless the King had a guest from another Kingdom. We would stand hidden in the back just to fill space. What a ridiculous waste of time.

  But this time it was of hyped importance, for our heroes stumbled on a Godly item called Infinity that granted the user immortality. I must say, it was difficult for me to believe that whomever prospected such an item was not tempted to use it right away.

  So there I stood among a mass of dirty commoners up against the back wall of the enormous throne room. I couldn't see a damn thing but I heard something in the distance. I was not the only one, others began to hear it too.

  An explosion echoed from the city below and the cry of a dragon filled the air. I nearly shat my pants in excitement because I've read (maybe a little too much) about dragons during the time I should have been writing. They were interesting and an unpredictable race that no one knew where they hailed from. For unknown reasons, they would reveal themselves and attack places at random.

  I was expecting the ceremony to be called off but it went on as planned. Our king was just too proud and believed the kingdom's Lancers and Dragoons could handle any dragon. What an imbecile.. I couldn't help but hate him. He would throw away citizens' lives just so he could enjoy this pathetic ceremony.

  And so the charade dragged on while a dragon made a play toy out of our city. It didn't sound like any Dragoon or Lancer was taking care of it... probably because it was a god-damn dragon.

  It suddenly became quiet and what timing too. The ceremony was about to end and my hopes of having a new king was ending along with it. I and everyone else in the room felt a powerful glare fall upon us.

  We all cranked our necks up and there it was. A fierce red and yellow dragon. It was flapping above the castle and peering through the crystal glass. In a fit of uncertain anger, it sent down a great ball of fire that shattered through the glass and made its way toward the ground. It was mostly dissipated by the court wizards, but despite their attempts, the fireball still caused some destruction throughout the throne room.

  Everyone panicked and much of the throne room was in shambles and on fire. One of the heroes used a Celestial item called, Quicksilver that slowed everything in a small radius around him. But my fellow commoners and I were nowhere near him and fled for our lives pushing into people who were slowed down causing them agony.

  The floor cracked, the walls crumbled, mages and nobles held the room together, and I was thrown to the ground. I opened my eyes to witness a pure silver orb rolling toward me and on instinct, I grabbed the orb to protect my face.

  The entire ordeal came and went and the dragon was long gone after that single attack. As I stood up, Dean couldn't keep his eyes off me. Actually, everyone was staring at me.

  DEAN

  You fucking idiot.

  A hero eyed Dean and he regretted saying anything to me. The king and his guards pushed through and saw the orb in my hand. For a moment I thought he was about to cry. He looked as if his wife had died again before him.

  PAIN

  Is this infinity?

  That must have been the only stupid question in existence for the king's response was to draw his sword and lunge it through my gut. Ouch.

  *****

  Passive:

  Immortality

  Infinite Petty Regeneration Level 1

  Recall Memory

  Ageless

  Apparently, Infinity was activated on contact. For the next several years, I was tortured down in an isolated prison cell. The guards informed me that Godly items will reappear in the world once the previous owner dies.

  PAIN

  Has it occurred to you, that I am immortal!

  He palmed my skull and pulled me toward his bad breath.

  GUARD

  Our prospector deduced that you
can wish to die.

  He brought his spiked club just pass my eyes.

  GUARD

  Immortality is a passive and like all passives, it can be turned off.

  PAIN

  What idiot wishes to die?

  Said the idiot who then got beaten by his spike club, chopped into pieces, and stomped into mush. Even if I knew how to deactivate my passive, it wouldn't work. Passives that protect or provide safety are impossible to turn off due to the survival instincts of creatures. It might have been anger that motivated me to taunt the guards or it may have been my sadistic nature to watch them struggle. But a small part of me enjoyed it. It beats writing crap all day.

  They've tried everything and the pain was immense. Acid, cutting, chopping, burning, and poisoning. They even separated my body parts which eventually decayed and within two and a half days, I was back to normal. There were times they would repeat some tactics and I would not scream.

  GUARD

  Can you feel it? Of course you can feel it. Piece of shit. Die already.

  He held my head still and chopped it off. I looked into his infuriated eyes and gave him a wide, crazy grin. I wasn't ignoring the pain rather building up a minuscule tolerance to it. The pain was there but the need to scream was not. Recall Memory would not allow me to forget since I couldn't find a way to control that new passive entirely.

  Passive:

  Petty Hard Skin Lv 6

  Petty Pain Resistance Lv 5

  *****

  Every seventh year on the seventh month and on the seventh day, luck ran wild. Bad luck or good luck, something of note happened to nearly everyone. It caused events with low chances of happening to become likely. One could only prevent or lessen the phenomenon, both good and bad luck, by being undead, being nature, wearing accessories pertaining to luck, or decorating one's home. Items such as a rabbit's foot, a necklace of rat skulls, or occult paraphernalia around the home prevented some of the events. I was taught the more living creatures in one area that weren't nature, the more random events would happen.

  Our kingdom suffered grave misfortune because another dragon attacked it with a passionate hate. How the kingdom fared against the dragon? I could care less because I had bigger problems. I was still under the castle in prison and the walls were crumbling around me. Despite the cruel torture I've received from the guards, the thought of being crushed alive had never crossed my mind until now. I had to find a way out but unfortunately the dragon attack came while I was in the process of being chopped into parts and the guards were ordered to aid the fragile royals. I began to move the few body parts I had that were still whole.

  It proved to be difficult at first but I soon began to understand the process of it all. I made it through the prison bars and there, I saw it, a drain. Luck was on my side as the brick walls behind me exploded from pressure and out came a gush of polluted water washing me down the drain.

  The majority of my body washed up onto a river coast quite far from the capital. The gush of water aided my regenerative abilities and within a day, I was walking naked and away from the capital.

  For days I walked, doing my best to keep the moon and sun to my right. The sun never moved and would always hover north in the sky. As night came, the sun would dim and replacing it was a bright moon that shone its light to raise the dead.

  To avoid the masses of dead, usually where travelers were slain, I kept to the roads during night fall because they were vacant at night save for a few travelers. But even those few made sure to avoid my naked presence. Whenever the few bandits lurking off the side of the road would become visible, they would see my nakedness and then snicker back into hiding.

  Eventually, my path went off road and I ended up trudging through a forest. Oh, how I regretted it. From afar, I saw a small thicket and I deduced I could make it through quickly but as I trudged on, my hope faltered.

  Night fell and the shadow of leaves above me turned the forest into a blanket of darkness. With the lack of sight came unnerving sounds. Was it my own footsteps or something else lurking in the dark? It was definitely something else.

  I was pinned to the ground and felt the quick pains of my neck being ripped apart. Sharp teeth dug into my body ripping off my flesh and muscle. The beast was vigorous and keen to chew deeper into its meal. Its own body weight crushed me and I was helpless. Unlike the swift blades of the guards, the beast's quick bites at my neck caused cruel and sharp pain. Despite my decapitation, pain coursed throughout my body parts even after my skull was torn apart.

  For some time, I could not hear, nor see but for some damn reason, I felt nothing but numbing pain. As I regenerated, first came my sense of smell and the sharp foul smell of dung.

  I soon realized that I had been eaten whole and finally shat out by the beast. As my body began to form ever so slowly, the growls in my stomach tortured me and the lack of water caused my entire body to ache.

  I crawled towards some foliage and munched on few dried twigs hoping for some relief but that hope was cut short. I got to my knees and was face to face with a female bear who was emitting quick puffs from her mouth signifying agitation. It was a fairly young bear and had a scar down its right eye. Behind her was a litter of three cubs nibbling at the same foliage I had eaten from.

  Once again, I felt the pain of my body being ripped apart. I was grateful I was not eaten whole but parts of me were scattered in the surrounding area. She had no interest in feasting on my rotting body but rather sought to protect her cubs.

  Once I was completely regenerated, I swallowed the first few berries I was able to crawl towards. Petty Regeneration wasn't an adaptive passive rather an acquirable passive. Unlike my Pain Resistance which could become stronger, the prior would not adapt and become any better on its own.

  There was a tingling sensation in my mouth and throat. I began to cough up blood and soon remembered the sensation of a poisonous infection. The berries were toxic but it wasn't as horrid as the poison injected into me by the guards. I collapsed as my body became numb and for a day I was paralyzed. My body was now in a state of premature rot because my Petty Regeneration could barely keep up with the rate that the poison was making its way through my body.

  Omnivorous owls came and pecked at my numb skin and I chuckled as a few of them fell victim to the toxins in my body. It was hard for me to believe I was actually amused by that incident. Humor would be helpful if I were to continue on this tortured journey.

  Passive:

  Lesser Hard Skin Lv 1

  Petty Pain Resistance Lv 9

  *****

  I managed to finally escape the forest with a handful of leaves and some other leafy foliage just before night came again and found a small abandoned outpost at the foot of a rocky hill. I chomped down on the foliage satisfying my raging hunger before falling into a deep sleep.

  I was back in the basement of the kingdom casting fire at an already burnt training dummy. Dean came down to squawk at me and so I palmed his face and let loose a raging torrent of flame into it until his body went limp. I dragged his lifeless body upstairs and laughed as Sky and Delve lost their minds.

  They began casting fire on me and I laughed at the pain. Parts of my body chipped off and regenerated and at their shocked expressions I yelled,

  PAIN

  Yes! Come on! Show me what you got!

  I loved how fear crept upon their faces and before they could try to flee, I pulled out a sword, apparently out of nowhere, and beheaded Delve with a quick leap. Sky screeched out in horror before I stabbed her to death and lavish at the sounds of her screams.

  I stabbed and stabbed and suddenly after each stab, my own gut exploded with blood. Despite the pain, I repeated it over and over again.

  Soon, I woke to realize a skeleton warrior was stabbing me in the gut. Night was upon me and a small party of skeletons were making their way toward me.

  Due to my undernourishment, I was completely out of mana and could not utter a spark of flame nor did I have t
he strength to even move out of the way of its slow repeated stabs.

  Like a bolt of lightning a young knight smashed the skeleton with his shield, dispelling the moon's magic upon it. He turned and faced the small party and quickly turned them into dust.

  He looked about my age, eighteen, with a round face and blonde hair with pale white skin and faint yellow stripes upon his cheeks. His eyes were silver and with a faint glow. He was using a night vision spell or potion of some sort as the glow faded.

  COSMO

  Citizen! You will be okay!

  He looked down on me with a smile.

  COSMO

  For I am here!

  He momentarily forgot I was injured and forced a green potion down my throat. The pain ceased and my stomach healed almost instantly. Unfortunately, it did not help me recover my stamina nor lifted my hunger.

  COSMO

  It's pure, so no side effects!

  He sang every word he spoke. He easily lifted me upon shoulders and carried me away. After a few minutes, he set me down and I saw a small group of wagons, guards, a small campfire, archers, and knights.

  KNIGHT

  Hey Eldritch, Cosmo is back!

  He glanced at me.

  KNIGHT

  With a freak.

  One of the wagon doors smashed open and from it emerged a beefy woman; bulging with muscles, about forty years old with dark purple skin with a black ring pattern around her limbs. She had auburn colored waist-length hair that was tightly braided and red pupils that glared at Cosmo and me.

  ELDRITCH

  Damn it Cosmo! What the hell do you think you're doing!

  Cosmo did realize he was being scolded and smiled with a thumbs up,

  COSMO

  I had to go for a walk. I saw a civilian in need.

  ELDRITCH

  What makes you think that is okay? What did I tell you?

  Cosmo gave her a confused look,

  COSMO

  Saving people is okay right?

  Eldritch stomped toward me,