Renegade Read online

  Renegade

  a novel

  by Alexey Osadchuk

  Underdog

  Book#8

  Magic Dome Books

  Underdog

  Book #8: Renegade

  Copyright © Alexey Osadchuk 2022

  Cover Art © Valeria Osadchuk 2022

  Designer Vladimir Manyukhin

  English translation copyright © Andrew Schmitt 2022

  Published by Magic Dome Books, 2022

  All Rights Reserved

  ISBN: 978-80-7619-526-4

  This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  This book is entirely a work of fiction. Any correlation with real people or events is coincidental.

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  Table of Contents:

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  About the Author

  Chapter 1

  DARKNESS SURROUNDED ME. Inky. Impenetrable. Quaking. And famished.

  It was persistently attempting to gulp my conscious mind into its belly ― its vile, stinking, bottomless belly. But it never got close. Because I was fighting back.

  My unwavering resistance drove it into a state of rage. Apparently, it wasn’t used to that.

  I don’t know how long our silent showdown lasted ― a fraction of a second, a year, a century… Or maybe the very concept of time was nonexistent there. But eventually, Darkness’s violent onslaught diminished. It decided to change tactics. It came to the negotiating table.

  “You must submit to Me!” it hissed contemptuously. I could hear notes of impatience and annoyance in its voice.

  “I don’t have to do anything for anyone.”

  “Do you not wish for power?” the Darkness asked ― sincerely surprised.

  “Not like this,” I replied. “What good is one more slave to you anyway?”

  “Who said anything about slavery?” more surprise in the voice.

  Hm… Now that rang false.

  “Funny… You’re contradicting yourself.”

  “What I need is a sidekick!”

  “Yeah, in shackles.”

  “I will share power with you,” the Darkness proclaimed.

  It isn’t lying.

  “You will become Great!” it continued making loud promises. It must have taken my silence the wrong way. “Do you really not wish for power and greatness?!”

  “I’ve been called great before…” I responded with a sigh. “Now all those who once called me that view me as a heretic and enemy.”

  “Now, I am your friend!” the Darkness exclaimed cheerily.

  “That’s rich…” I muttered.

  “With My help, you shall conquer the entire world!” it thundered. “All your enemies shall bow at your feet!”

  “What about my friends?” I chuckled.

  “What need do you have for friends if you have Me?!”

  “Hm… Good point… That would make things easier, wouldn’t it?”

  “Well, of course!”

  It missed my sarcasm. But who am I kidding? It didn’t miss a thing. It’s just playing with me.

  “I see what you’re doing,” I whispered.

  “You’re testing My patience, mortal!” the Darkness barked back furiously.

  “And you mine,” I responded calmly.

  “You cannot resist Me for long!” she ratcheted up the pressure. “Soon or later, you will be mine!”

  “I guess that remains to be seen…”

  A moment later, I felt a slight push. Did she really think that now was the time for an attack? I felt another push. And another after that. And another…

  I got on guard. I tried making a move. But nothing was working.

  Meanwhile, the Darkness around me gradually started to thin. Light started streaming in through little gaps. They grew quickly, joining together and forming long slits in the dark shroud. And light started pouring in through those slits. It was faint, dim, but still it was light! After a long dark night, it was like seeing an old friend again!

  Meanwhile, the pushes kept coming, in fact growing more and more insistent. Beyond that, another voice appeared in my head.

  “Master, wake up! Open your eyes! I know you can hear me!”

  That put me on guard. What? Who? What does it mean “master?” Eyes?

  That’s right. Eyes! Open my eyes!

  As soon as I did, the Darkness disappeared completely. Light flooded everything around.

  The first thing I saw when my eyes got used to the light was a strange semi-transparent human silhouette. But before I started feeling afraid, my memory obligingly informed me that it was my keeper spirit.

  The pushes stopped coming immediately. I squinted my eyes to focus. The spirit’s opaque tentacle-like appendage came to rest on my shoulder.

  “Finally.”

  I frowned. Was it just me or had the voice in my head taken on grumpy notes?

  I took a look around. Low lighting. Stone roof. I could just barely hear the sounds of distant surf. Yeah, that’s it. Sounds like waves.

  I sniffed the air. It made me wince. Sweat, piss, shit. And all the aromas seemed to be emanating from my body…

  “Water,” I rasped with a dry throat.

  Just then, the spirit stirred and a second later, the narrow mouth of a wineskin was pressed to my lips, dispensing a dark lilac liquid.

  Before I could even ask the spirit what it was, my parched throat practically burned with a cool sensation. I squinted, gratified. A wave of vigor ran through my body. I felt much better. I started feeling a lightness in my whole body. But not for long. The strange potion only lasted just over a minute before I was again overcome by weakness.

  “What’s going on?” I rasped.

  “You are cursed,” the voice in my head told me calmly. “See for yourself.”

  Taking the spirit’s advice, I immediately opened my stat window and zoned out for a minute. At first, my brain refused to think. I had to reread the same sentence several times, but gradually I got a handle on my mind and realized what had happened.
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  Abyss! Why is this happening to me?!

  It’s right. I am cursed. But that is not all. I was afflicted by not one but two curses. The first I got from Alrak the Heartless. Its name was Exhaustion Curse. About as nasty as they come. It cut the size of all my supplies down to a tenth, and my regeneration and wisdom down to a twentieth. Beyond that, the effect of any potion, or strength-restoring or healing spell was minimized or cut to a very short duration.

  But that was not the end of my woes. The cherry on top was the Heretic Curse, my “reward” from the Great System. I knew I’d taken it too far with the orbs of darkness, and my reputation with the Hunters had dipped to zero, which was how I ended up labeled a renegade. But I did not know that Darkness was in such a rush to take advantage of my incoherent state and had slapped its mark on me.

  The Great System wasn’t far behind, either. As if it wasn’t enough for her to release all the hounds on me, or rather announce a manhunt for me by promising my former friends a handsome reward for my head, she had also left me with a curse.

  And her curse essentially blocked the majority of my spells and skills. And specifically, it took away everything connected with Light, Forest, Chaos and of course the Order of Monster Hunters. Which also applied to several of my artifacts.

  With a fated sigh, I closed my eyes.

  “It’s not that bad,” the voice in my head said.

  I winced.

  “Not that bad? I lost access to my most powerful spells and skills. My perks are blocked. A few of my artifacts, like Ava’s Bracelet are now nothing more than worthless trinkets as far as I’m concerned.”

  “And yet, you’re alive.”

  I opened my eyes sharply. The spirit’s words had a sobering effect.

  “Yeah, you’re right. I am alive! I should thank you for that.”

  “There’s no need for that. As long as you’re alive, I will be, too.”

  “Why might that be?” I asked in surprise.

  “I am your keeper spirit,” it responded vaguely. “I have a stake in making sure you don’t die. We are one and the same.”

  “In other words, you’re like my pet?”

  “Yes and no,” it responded. “Our bond is stronger. If you were to die, the summoning amulets would disappear, and your pets would be set free. I though would disappear along with you.”

  “What makes you so sure of that?” I asked. “And how do you know all that? After all, as far as I understand, you were only just born.”

  “True,” the spirit replied. “I was born the moment you gave me permission to leave the confinement stone. And as for how I know things… In the downtime between improving golems, I studied the manuscripts in the Order’s library and archive.”

  I frowned.

  “What do you mean studied?! Wait… How’d you get access?!”

  “I am your pet,” the voice in my head laughed. “Remember?”

  That or parasite… I still need to get that nailed down.

  I struggled to keep my composure. I was starting to like the spirit’s roguish style less and less.

  “What’s got you so tense?” the voice asked right away. “You and I are one and the same. I am unable to hurt you.”

  “Yeah, so you claim,” I decided to speak freely. “Where’s your proof? With pets it’s obvious. I can see their status and relationship to me. As for you, though, I don’t get anything like that.”

  “I agree,” the spirit responded suddenly. “That I did not consider. I am alien to the Great System. That is why you cannot see any information about me. But it isn’t because I’m hiding it. No. The system just doesn’t have enough data about me yet. Or beings like me.”

  “You read that in the library, too?” I asked.

  “Of course,” the spirit replied shortly.

  “Odd. Somehow, I never stumbled upon any books about that in there,” I bluffed.

  All the while, I was trying to make my voice sound steady.

  “Magister Romas’ Treatise on Otherworldly Entities. Volume Two. Page one hundred twenty-eight,” the spirit rattled off.

  To say the prompt and exhaustive answer stunned me would be an understatement. My eyes crept up into my forehead despite my best attempts. Holding my breath, I asked:

  “And how many books were you able to read?”

  “I studied and memorized all the information in the library and archive,” the spirit responded before adding: “I should note that there was a lot of useless junk like notes about the Order’s internal procedures or manuscripts copied from original sources, but still there was plenty of interesting stuff.”

  “But how can that be?”

  “Your mind,” the spirit responded and repeated yet again: “You and I are one and the same.”

  “Meaning my characteristics are your characteristics?”

  “Not all of them. Only those in the Mind branch.”

  “What about the rest?” I chuckled.

  “Negative effects from spells or injuries do not apply to me.”

  “Of course, they don’t…” I muttered, then stumbled and tried to sit down. And succeeded. After patting down my arms and legs, I came to the conclusion that the terrible pain had passed. Honestly, I also no longer felt the same lightness in my body. All because of that necromancer’s curse. May he rot in the abyss!

  “By the way, how were you able to heal me?” I asked. “After all, I remember Alrak giving me quite the thrashing.”

  “The necromancer is powerful. My recommendation is that you stay as far away from him and beings like him as possible. I’m still struck by his might and cannot fathom how you… uh… or rather how we were able to survive.”

  “Pyrus’ Signet saved my butt again,” I explained.

  “You think so?” I heard doubt in the spirit’s voice.

  “What do mean?” I got on guard.

  “Insufficient data,” the spirit dodged. “When I am ready, I will tell you.”

  Bug glitch you…

  “How’d you heal me? It’s hard to believe my pathetic current regeneration could have done it…”

  “Primordial blood,” the spirit responded curtly.

  “Ah, gotcha,” I snorted. “Use a lot?”

  “All of it.”

  “Wha-at?!” I shuddered. “But I had more than ten vials!”

  “Reread the description of the necromancer’s curse. It blocks practically all healing elixirs.”

  I heard derision in the spirit’s voice. I also got the feeling my mistrust wounded it.

  “Alright, alright,” I grumbled. “No offense intended. And thank you. You hear that? I’m being sincere.”

  “I know.”

  “You a mind reader?” I got on guard.

  “No. Our oneness does have its limits. I can only sense your emotions.”

  “So, how long was I out?” I decided to change the topic.

  I felt beside myself. Maybe I shouldn’t have been dumping all this on the spirit.

  “According to my calculations, by the standards of your world, you were unconscious for just over a month. Or to be more precise, thirty-eight days, six hours and thirty-four minutes.”

  “I see, that means… What, what did you just say?! What do you mean ‘by the standards of my world?!’“

  I felt a treacherous chill run down my spine.

  “Ahem…” the spirit hesitated. “The thing is… Basically, we are not in your world.”

  While I tried to select the most appropriate curse, the spirit spat out a rapid-fire explanation:

  “After I got you out of Foreston, I had to spend several days evading pursuit. The wraiths only gave up on the edge of the Forest. And when I thought we were safe, the Forest suddenly attacked us. Or rather, you. I had to go back. For a few days, they were both tracking me…”

  “What did you do?” I asked coldly, meanwhile having a hard time holding back my anger.

  “I went to a place where nobody would ever find us. Using an otherworldly portal, I broug
ht us to one of the fallen worlds. I did have to leave the golem, though… It led the pursuers away to the east…”

  The spirit said the last part more to itself. Seemingly, it regretted parting ways with its creation.

  I took a quick look at my hands, then at my feet. I felt my face and head again.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I have a body,” I said, puzzled. “How is that possible? My Amulet of the Wanderer is blocked. And that means I should be like a spirit… And how was I able to make it through the portal with no amulet?”