GEN Project, Chapter 1

<Approximately 3500 words>

Hi all, this is a novel that I have been turning over in my head for some time now, and I have just now begun to write. I know that in several instances I do need to correct some grammatical errors; this is sort of just a rough draft right now. However, I really hope you enjoy it, and please feel free to give me constructive criticism when you are done. Any little bit helps!


“So that's it, huh?” Ennix looked up from a weathered old map to an old green mound, half sunken into the ground. “It doesn't really look very amazing. Are you SURE there is treasure here? I mean, if I get dirty crawling around in that Stink-hole for nothing, then I am going to be a little bit upset.”

A grubby looking man with a paunch and few teeth to speak of nodded his head vigorously. Of course he would, Ennix paid the man good money for this information. Well, this was the only lead that Ennix had, and he had come all this way, so he might as well at least try. He looked at Ranke and shrugged. “Okay, you're coming with me.”

Ranke shook his chubby head quickly, making his little cheeks ripple. “N..Not me, sir! There are rumors of undead walking the halls of that place! Someone like me would be...” Ranke gulped loudly. Pheh, he was a little dramatic for Ennix's taste, but Ranke was all that he had, making him important.

“You'll be fine. I will be here to protect you, and we will need a second person to carry away all of the treasure. You DID say that there was more treasure than twenty people could carry out by themselves, didn't you?” With that last sentence, Ennix looked pointedly at Ranke, making him shift uncomfortably.

“Well um, yes, yes I did, young master. But you see...” Ranke started.

“Well then, let's go, shall we?” Ennix cut him off abruptly.

Ranke spluttered for a moment, trying to find another way to weasel himself out of going somewhere potentially dangerous. He decided that he was not cut out for work like this, liking better sitting in libraries pouring over musty old books. But here he was, and he was about to go into an old crypt. He had promised himself to not go to places where he would potentially stay for the rest of existence. Plus, he was afraid of zombies. Sighing, he followed after Ennix, promising himself, swearing to himself that he would never again enter any place like this again. Never, never, never. Why did he get the feeling that he would break his promise? He adjusted the pack on his back and steeled himself.

Derth's tomb. Didn't really look like much, but then again you would be looking a little decrepit too, after a thousand years of wear. It certainly did not look as if there was a horde of treasure inside. Ennix shrugged; a treasure hunter always had to start somewhere, and he was tired of chasing libraries and listening to the rumors of old men after they had consumed far too much intoxicating substance for their own good. No, the worst that could happen is that Ennix would find out there was no treasure, and he would just go home frustrated, giving Ranke an earful all the way for giving him false information. Scratch that, the worst that could happen is that he could be decapitated in a horrible, gruesome fashion. Let's just hope that doesn't happen.

Ennix lead the quivering Ranke towards the entrance of Derth's Tomb. “So, this guy was a King?” Ennix asked the scholar.
“An emporer, actually,” Ranke corrected him. “He was one of the most prominent leaders of his time. Rumors have it that he amassed a fortune within the short years of his life. He was a terror of the western nations, and when he learned of his imminent death, he had all of his wealth stored within this very crypt. Then, he cursed his wealth, that if anyone tried to remove it, he would rise from the dead and kill them.” So, the usual. But the way Ennix figured it, Derth wasn't planning on using the money anyways, so he probably wouldn't mind if Ennix borrowed a few coins here and there. And if he fought back, well, Ennix was not really into hurting elderly folk, but if he had to, he could push around a rotted corpse. Show that old bag a thing or two.

“Something tells me he won't be around to complain. I am pretty sure it's nothing to worry about.” Ennix stated, drawing near to the crypt entrance. From afar, it looked small, but as they drew nearer, it looked much larger than Ennix originally thought. But it still looked like a mound of dirt.

As they proceeded to enter into the crypt, Ennix reached into his bag for a Sparkle. He made sure to bring several; he did not want to get caught in the middle of a crypt filled with stinky corpses with no light. No, that just would not do. He glanced behind him to see Ranke follow suit, pulling out a thin red stick. Ennix was about to break his own for light, when he suddenly walked in on several men wearing splotchy leather armor tossing dice and laughing amongst themselves. Crap. Ennix wondered how they were able to enter without even hearing the men talking. Maybe it is because we were too busy talking to actually pay attention to any people. Well, let's look on the bright side... at least we didn't walk in on the undead. They usually were not too friendly with foreigners.

For a few seconds, Ennix and Ranke stood there staring at the men, who stared back. It was one of those odd moments that both parties were caught unaware, and did not know quite how to react. After staring for a moment, it was Ennix who reacted first.

“Yeah, we were actually just in the area and were wondering if you had a privy in this place. You see, my friend here, he has a bladder the size of a walnut, and...” He trailed off as the men stood up, grabbing their weapons. The man in front spat on the ground and smiled.

“You see, me and my friends were sitting here and thinking, we was hoping some poor soul would walk on in here for us to stick this,” he motioned at a rust ridden sword that would probably give tetanus to anyone just by looking at it. “right there!” He motioned in general to Ennix.

Ennix rolled his eyes and put his hands in the air. “Actually guys, I am not really in the market for pointy objects thrust inside my body, but thanks all the same. Now if you will excuse me, I am late for an important meeting, you see, and...” Ennix was cut off short as the man in front lunged towards him. Ennix scrambled to the side and Ranke jumped to the ground, cowering with his hands over his head. Ennix looked at Ranke. His eyes were closed and it looked a lot like he was praying or something. Ranke was not going to survive long like this. Too bad, he was a knowledgeable man.

With the momentum of his thrust, the man was unable to stop himself from barrelling straight into Ranke and tripping over his shoulder, hitting the floor with a loud mmph. Ranke opened his eyes slowly, and, realizing the position that he was in, grabbed a large rock and threw it at the man's upturned head, crunching it from the size and velocity. Ennix's eyes widened at the brutality of Ranke's attack and would have commented upon his approval, but at that moment he was attacked by two more men, one with a shaven head and the other with short hair, a goatee and no teeth.

Ennix was not quite sure why these men were attacking him so viciously, but he knew that he had to defend himself. He reached his arms to his sides, where his weapons were; two short swords, a chosen weapon style native to the village of Clairvonne. Ennix did not like to kill unnecessarily, but these men were intent on killing him first, so he felt that he could make an exception.

Well rested as these men were, Ennix knew that they had been drinking. This made it quite easy for him to parry the attacks of both the men, and dispatch them quite easily. Ennix almost felt bad for them. Almost. After running the toothless man through, Ennix straightened himself... and dropped his two swords to the ground. The last of the four men held a sword straight at Ennix's throat.

Uh oh. This is probably not the most heroic death, getting killed by a stupid barbarian of a man in the middle of nowhere. How unfair is that? Ennix took the next few remaining seconds to ponder the mortality rate of treasure hunters. Of course, the reason treasure still existed in places like these were that most people did not live to actually see any. Still, getting stabbed in the jugular by an uneducated barbarian was not really the way that Ennix imagined himself leaving this world. He braced himself, ready to receive whatever blow the man had coming.

But it didn't come. The man stood there staring for a moment, then began to twitch violently. He rasped some inaudible words, and possibly some words that should not be repeated around children, and he fell to the floor, smelling slightly of burnt flesh. Yuck. If you ever have a chance to avoid that smell, do it. It is totally an unrelated smell to toast.

Ennix looked up at Ranke, who looked back at Ennix as if he had just done something unexpected. It was an expression that made Ennix laugh. “So, I see your Thunder Balls worked, huh? And here, I thought it was a complete waste of time. Not bad, Ranke.” He poked the charred man on the ground with his foot. Dead, yes, very dead. Something like that could actually be useful in the future... though much of Ranke's experiments mostly managed to go horribly wrong.

Ennix and Ranke examined the bodies. Ranke pointed out that they were all wearing a sort of leather uniform, leading them to the conclusion that these men were probably bandits, taken to hiding out in these ruins. Ennix grumbled at that. Stupid bandits, why couldn't they just take up residence somewhere where there WASN'T treasure buried? Oh well, it couldn't be helped. Maybe they had stolen all of the treasure, but Ennix had to find out. He turned to Ranke.

“Any idea how we can get past all of these bandits and into the treasure room without being caught?”

“I was pondering the same thing myself, sir. I have come to the conclusion that the only way we can enter without being spotted is if we dress like one of the bandits themselves!” He smiled, looking proud of himself.

Ennix looked at the fallen bandits, and then back up at Ranke. “Ranke, you are way too much of a fatty to wear their uniforms. You do realize that, right?” Ennix motioned at the layer of exposed flesh that Ranke had unwittingly shown at some point through the struggle.

“Ah, I see. You have always had a way with words.” Ranke blushed.

They ended up coming to a compromise; Ennix dressed like a bandit and Ranke dressed like a captive. Honestly, the leather jerkins smelled like body odor and... well... leather. Ennix made a mental note to never, never, never decide on leather, no matter how extenuating the circumstances. In fact, he decided, he would never date a leather wearing girl, unless she was incredibly beautiful. There were always exceptions to every rule.

“How do I look?” Ennix showed himself off.

“Just smashing, sir.” Ranke knew how to lie with a straight face. Ennix knew that he needed to take lessons from the man.

After “disposing” the bodies by dropping them into one of the many coffins the crypt had to offer, Ennix and Ranke continued on with the facade, which to Ennix's surprise, actually worked for the most part. Sure, one man Ennix had to shove quickly down a pit to keep him from screaming, but on the whole he was rather satisfied with Ranke's plan. Satisfied, that is, except for the other man's sweat that was beginning to get caked on his body. Yuck.

The crypt was a large one indeed. Being a place of storing dead leaders from ages past, it was unnecessarily complicated and large. However, Ennix soon found his way to the treasure room. Apparently, nobody had taken a single coin of the treasure, ever since one bandit had been skewered through for slipping a coin into his pocket. They thought it was the bodies of the dead, rising up for revenge. Really now, bandits would believe anything. Just because a man had been found, with several spikes protruding from random body parts, there was really no thesis in proving the existence of evil spirits rising from the dead.

Drawing near to the cache of treasure, Ennix realized that he was not alone. In fact, this was obvious because the other man present stood head and shoulders above Ennix, with arm muscles the size of Ennix's legs. He held a spear that spanned his entire body, and the dual blades at the end were each the length of Ennix's forearm. He was definitely not a man that Ennix wanted to go toe to toe with. In fact, if he did not catch a glimpse of gold in the room behind the man, he would have turned around and run the other way. Still, he froze in his tracks, and with good reason, for the man who was in the act of leaving the treasure room froze in his. Well, Ennix thought. This is awkward.

A bead of sweat dripped down Ennix's forehead. “Sir, I have caught somebody loitering outside. I thought it best to bring him to you to decide what to do with him,” so far, so good, Ennix hoped.

The man drew himself up to his full height, which really was not necessary. He looked at Ennix with his sharp eyes before speaking. “What do you think? Take him outside and cut out his gizzards! If we held him captive, we would have to feed him, I am not running a charity, here! We already are running tight on food!” Hah, Ennix thought. There are a few less mouths to feed than you think. Ennix wanted so badly to voice his thoughts, but knew that anything of the sort would be quite fatal. Darn.

“Right. I will take him outside and whack his head off or something.” Ennix turned to leave, but the curiosity got the better of him. “Sir, if I may ask, why don't we just leave with the treasure and buy an entire country or something? I mean, there is enough loot in there to last a lifetime!”

The man's beady eyes narrowed at Ennix, making him feel suddenly cold. Don't do that, Ennix thought. He wondered if children would scream and run away from him, or just simply cower in fear from his gaze. He sincerely hoped that this man standing in front of him would never, EVER become a father. “Yes. Well that is what I keep telling them. But they will let us walk away with the treasure soon enough. They had better, else I will slit that foolish girl's throat. His knuckles grew white upon tightening on the spear. “Just a little longer in this stink hole, then we can live like kings!” Another thing that chilled Ennix was that man's smile.

So, they were taking orders from someone. Well, that did not matter to Ennix. What did matter was the fact that the treasure seemed to be almost completely untouched. This fact relieved him somewhat. Now, all he had to do was wait until nightfall, then he would return and...

“Wait a minute. I am not sure that I recognize your face.” Uh oh... not good.

Ennix spluttered for a moment before talking. “Oh, I am just one of the new recruits. You know. Just got here yesterday and all. Heard there was a group of bandits roaming the countryside and wanted to get in on the action.”

With speed that Ennix thought incapable of a man of that sheer size, the man shouldered his spear. Before Ennix knew it, he was pressed up against the wall, the two spear blades on either side of his neck. Ennix would have gulped, but that may have proven to be fatal, so instead a funny sound came out of his throat.

“Do you take me for a fool, boy?” If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck...

“N..no sir!” Ennix gasped for air, his hand holding onto the shaft of the spear for dear life.

The hulking man lowered his face to meet Ennix's, his mad little eyes bulging and spittle dripping from his lips, the stench of his breath permeating his senses and making him wish that bandits would be more sanitary and brush their teeth more often.

“I am Dalton, boy. Leader of the renowned Talon Brigade and the fear of the Seven Countries! With my name comes only fear and death!” Honestly, Ennix had never heard of the Talon Brigade or of Dalton, but he decided to keep that little tidbit of information to himself.

“You may be a terror, but you take orders from somebody! If you are so strong, you should make decisions for yourself!” Ennix retched, between his gasps for air.

Dalton removed the spear from Ennix's neck and pressed one of the blades against his forehead. Ennix slumped to the ground, heaving for air.

“Don't presume to know me boy! I should kill you right where you are! The Council, they have promised me all of the power I could hope to dream of! But an insignificant worm like you could never fathom to understand!” He spat on the ground in front of Ennix. Obviously, his mother had never taught him manners.

“So, tell me boy, why did Corleon send a boy like you!? I almost want to send you back to fetch a real army so that I could have a little fun, but you, you are almost not worth killing!” This guy definitely had issues.

Ennix looked up at Dalton with unfocused eyes. Corleon? He had never been there, and he certainly wasn't a Corlon. So, not only was this man a psychotic murderer, but he was crazy as well. Fancy that. He remained silent. Well, as silent as a gasping man could possibly remain silent.

“Refuse to talk, huh? Well,we have ways of making you talk. Oh yes...” Dalton smiled that smile that makes children cry, and cackled.

The upside was that Dalton thought Ennix too important to kill. The downside... Rather nasty torture. Ennix had never been the victim of torture, but he was pretty sure that many unethical things were to follow. Ennix just hoped the man would not lop off his appendages, he really needed those for future use.

Ennix opened his mouth to spew out nonsense that would hopefully be enough to stall any immediate pain, when suddenly the wall next to him imploded rather noisily, catching Dalton in the blast. He hit the ground like a bag of bricks, and gold coins from next room over began to pour on top of him. Ennix really hoped that the gold would crush his windpipe, or at least cause intense pain that would leave the crazy psychopathic killer giant bandaged up in a room somewhere for months. Ennix thought death by a ton of gold would be a fitting end to anyone. Well, at least there is gold in there, Ennix thought excitedly.

Ennix turned and looked at Ranke, who had that surprised look of someone who caused more damage than he originally intended. A Thunder Ball... of course! Ranke was lucky that he did not cave the entire building in. He would have to talk to him about that.

“Beginner's luck,” Ennix muttered. he shrugged and made his way to the next room over, making sure to stomp on Dalton on the way over. Serves him right for his poor manners! Honestly, a leader like that should have better skills in diplomatic relations.

He rounded the corner with his mouth half open, and it sort of stuck like that as he slowly took everything in. Wow. Just wow.