Evolution: A Warlock’s Rise To Power

Silent Night watched as the Plague Baron's troops marched away from the fortress. She looked out over the field filled with bodies. The wall had taken significant damage as did Aniketos. Currently the dragon was back in the castle recuperating.

One of his wings had been cut off, it wouldn't be too hard to regrow, but it would cost a good amount of magical ore, mostly mithril to do so.

The formation was gathering the energy from the surroundings, slowly recharging itself.

The giant's greatsword stood erect outside the walls of the fortress, half plunged into the ground.

Major General Santine came to the command room to report to Silent. "Madam, we have lost just under 2,000 of our soldiers. We have many wounded, but they should all be able to recover with time."

"Alright, send men to clean the battler field. The bodies will disappear shortly, collect anything of value. Without a complete victory, this battle has cost us more than it was worth. Try to recoup our losses."

"Yes, Madam." Said the general before he left.

"It looks like you won't be needing my help anymore." Sturdy said.

Silent sighed. "All that money wasted."

"I am not heartless. I will give Lucan some credit for the future."

"Who wants your credit? I still have things I need you to do." Said an illusion of Lucan that had appeared in the room.

"What can our A team do for you?"

"Go run dungeons and fill my vault."

"Seriously, you want our most powerful team to just go run dungeons."

"Yeah, do you have a problem with that?"

"No, it's just that with the drow coming there are many other better things we could do."

"You took my money and signed a contract. So go run dungeons and don't come back till the contract is over."

Sturdy smiled and shrugged his shoulders. "Alright, I will tell the team that we can do some dungeon runs for once." He then left to get them moving.

Silent walked to Adrestia. "Is it really okay to have them just run dungeons. You spend so much."

"It is fine." Lucan said. "I need them gone. I confirmed it after seeing the Plague Lord, one of the casters on the A team is his acolyte. I don't want them around. They have the same energy as him. It is too similar to be a coincidence."

SuperSleuth walked into the command room and headed to Lucan and Silent.

"Hey Lucan, congrats on the marriage, make sure to invite me to the wedding."

Silent quickly spoke to him with telepathy before he could respond. 'I kinda told a few people that we will be getting married in game if you defeat the Plague Baron. Raze's daughter was pissing me off.'

Lucan smiled. "Thanks, I just have to defeat that bastard first. Raze set a time for us to duke it out in a week. The loser will no longer be a Hand. Then I get to claim my prize." He said while putting an illusionary arm around Silent. "I can't wait for the honeymoon." He said to Super with a wink.

Silent became flustered but didn't say anything.

"Then you should start preparing." Super said. "I have instructed my people to collect information about the drow. It has only been a few hours since the worldwide announcement and over 40 entrances to the underdark have been found. So far, I haven't heard of anyone successfully entering. Drow are pouring out like crazy. There are already over a million of them on the surface who knows how many remain below."

"This is an important time for us. Sell as much as you can." Lucan said. "This worldwide conflict is the perfect opportunity to bring in the experience. We can't let this go to waste."

***

Lucan spent the next 4 days in the pool until his evolution completed. Pale green tribal symbols covered his flesh. The eldritch egg had finished absorbing energy and went into a hibernation to digest the raw power. As the Warlock exited the pool the guardian's face appeared before him.

"My Champion, you are now a planeshifter and have completed your evolution. You have been bestowed with three abilities. If you wish to keep them, you will do your duty to protect the ethereal realm and the yellow river."

The floating face disappeared and so did the floating island Lucan was standing on. He appeared outside of the Ghost Kings Castle. His armor and gear covered all the tribal symbols except the ones on his face. Activating his ring, Lucan's face began to return to the saved preset. After a few minutes, he looked the same as he did before his race change.

'Hey Lucan.'

'What's up Silent?'

'You just received an invitation to a summit.'

'Oh?'

'Apparently a lot of guild leaders and players with nobility and high achievements are gathering together to discuss the drow. There has been a messenger here the past two days waiting for you. Seeing that you weren't coming anytime soon, they passed the message to me. Do you want to go?'

'When is it?'

'It's this afternoon. Will you be able to come back in time?'

'That's no problem, I just finished my race change. Do you want to come with?'

'Really! That's great.'

'Alright, I will pick you up. Wait at the fortress.'

Lucan disconnected the call and walked into the Ghost King's castle.

***

In the plains of Isthal, far from any of the entrances to the underdark, guild leaders and other distinguished players gathered together in a makeshift city. The drow had only been active for a few days but the majority of the players had suffered great losses. For casual players it was just a minor setback, but for people who played to earn a living, the constant raids and pillaging were causing them to lose a lot of money. The issue was becoming serious.

The drow were extremely organized and capable. Several small cities had been wiped off the map in a single night.

The drow soldiers and scouts only carried the bare minimum with them when they fought. Killing a drow would earn experience but the loot they dropped wasn't worth very much, there money had no value on the surface. It was a bad situation for the player who were heavily invested in Evolution.

Four hundred players sat in an amphitheater that had been created with magic. It was to be the stage for their discussion. Each player present represented a faction of their own. Everyone was on edge, the drow were causing problems and now all the players were gathered with their friends and enemies. If something happened here it would be disastrous to the parties involved.

On the stage stood the number two ranked player who had organized the meeting. He was the guild leader of Crunchy Eggs, a shield guardian named Tigereye. "Alright, we are only missing three people who have received the message and responded that they were coming. We will give it a few more minutes."

A player in the crowd stood and shouted out. "Bigfoot from the Let's Find Nessy Guild encountered Drow on his travels and said he isn't going to make it."

"Noted." Tigereye responded.

"It is the same for Big Nick." Another player shouted out.

"What about Lucan Quilldrake? Does anybody know where he is?" Asked Tigereye.

Hellfire stood up. "He said he will be here soon."

Tigereye nodded until one of his guild mates came up and told him that there were no players within 20 miles of the area.

Tigereye frowned.

"Ahh! What the hell!"

"Prepare to attack."

Panic spread through the players as a portion of the sky began to crack. Nobody knew what was happening.

*Shatter*

Space shattered and a yellow river poured out across the sky. The river ran for a mile before the sky cracked again. The river disappeared through the second crack.

Floating in the sky was a stretch of yellow liquid that flowed from one hole in space to the other.

Everyone watched, unsure what was happening. After only a few seconds a ship appeared. It was sailing along the river in the sky.

"Drop anchor." Came a voice from above.

A large metal anchor fell to the ground with a loud slam.

The ship continued to follow the current of the river until it was pulled to a stop by the anchor lodged into the ground.

Lucan leapt off the side of the ship, avoiding the yellow water and fell towards the ground. A shadow landed on the ground and reformed into the warlock everyone was waiting for.

"Sup guys, were you waiting for me?"