Master of Rats: The Rat Lord
I was nothing, then he found me.
I had nothing, then he gave me worth.
I failed those who trusted me.
I am losing pieces of me.
I choose... with my last breath,
I give all of myself.
—Final thoughts from Jonny
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They scurried and listened, growing more each day with their joy. So many eyes, so many ears to see and hear—they watched the scene with the spy unfold.
They watched as the spy flinched, startled and scared, sweat beading as he thought himself hidden. Yet now on the roof beside the spy and rat was Tom, watching passively as if he did not care.
"We need to talk," a calm voice spoke with finality even the rat lord knew to respect.
"You've been watching us for a while. It stops now. We dealt with the thieves and things are changing—give me time and I will report to the king. Till then, walk away."
The spy watched Tom carefully. The rat lord knew he was debating risk versus worth—whether to try fleeing or fighting Tom. They both watched Tom slowly reach into his vest. The spy tensed, ready to bolt or counter-strike, when he paused, seeing it was a pouch. Tom jingled it. "It's coins. Leave with them. I swear I just wish to talk to the king."
The spy knew it was a threat—the implied talk was the start, not the end result. He also knew the bribe was a start and would end worse if he said no...
The spy took the coins, nodded, and—poof—like smoke in wind, he was gone. Amazement and shock went through the rat and him. It was an impressive trick.
"Simple magic. He's still near but moving away," Tom spoke to the air, but the rat lord knew it was meant for him. He blushed at feeling watched, which was odd to care about since he watched all... They just never seemed to see him. But Abaddon did, and it seemed Tom did too.
Watching Tom, he was lookingoff into the distance—the rat lord an afterthought. It seemed his focus was on Ves's location, wondering how she was. the rat lord assumed since they always tried make time for each other from what he saw.
"She's well. Talking to merchant. Trying to get food. Home soon. Promise." Tom looked to the talking rat, not judging it as absurd but as fact. The rat lord was thankful for that. Since he became the swarm, they could speak as one or as single rat—it was hard to tell, and not random speaking as swarm to all.
"Thank you. I think I will go see her."
And Tom left. He watched him in fragments, with each new pair of eyes. It was hard to follow his movements quickly, and the rats did not like to focus versus the swarm seeking places to hide and listen.
As the swarm settled back into a stream of thoughts, he reflected: did he really care where Tom went or who he was with? Yet he still took time to help him find her....
He shrug to himself Not really giving it much thought anymore... The genuine joy was watching, like always. He liked the people to a point.
Maybe Tom or Ves would handle those details what happened to other people as the swarm watched and listened inside the only home the followers had—kids roaming and playing with young girls overseeing them, making sure all was well. it reminding him of a mom? And he had human one too?
No... he's a rat born and grew just bigger is all.
He let his mind drift elsewhere. the swarm kept tabs on the rat vendor cooking their kind, feeding off their flesh. Well, not their flesh, but other rats like them. But they did not choose the swarm, so it did not bother them very much. Just felt off watching humans eat them. He tried to remind the swarm they consumed humans or even each other depending on when their was food, so they were not innocent either.
An odd feeling from the church kept nagging at the swarm ever since he joined the dark. Yet anytime he tried to push closer to understand why, they fled and he felt overwhelmed with the same fear. It took a while to overcome that before it would repeat if he tried again, so it was a blind spot that bothered him something about getting near it hurt their flesh and burn them.
There were still many people not of the dark—adults and kids— he felt closest to kids just wanting to play and be free, and he watched over them with care as the lord gave him purpose to oversee and watch. So he made sure the real bad threats did not exist anymore, but he knew there were always more that just liked to hide better. Even when they saw all, things could slip through cracks. Too many eyes and ears made it harder to focus. And the church was special... a permanent blind spot.
That's why it was odd when the feeling of fear spiked again from the swarm. He did not enter the church, so why was it causing a spike of fear? And moving west to their home? He tried to look but kept getting overwhelmed a light seem to blind them and they hide vs to trying focus on what hurt them , the only thoughts and senses that kept repeating.
scatter, flee, seek sanctuary. It burned to look, inside walls. Safe. Hide.
as he could not force them beyond that he chose to listen, hoping for a answer from a whisper from the walls but was surprised by the shout that followed instead.
"COME OUT, WHORES! JUDGMENT IS HERE!"
A voice was heard clearly inside the house with young women and kids. The swarm also heard it, being there even as fragments of his mind still scattered with the rest fleeing the unknown fear.
"Run. Hide." he whispered with the rats trying warn the kid inside.
Kids panicked and looked confused, seeing a rat running away saying those words. The rat lord could not help the panic from slipping into the rats, sharing their fear and need to seek safety. The women took the kids upstairs, unsure what to do. They were in the slums—where could they go if not here? And if the danger was at their door....
The rat lord pulled at his mind, trying to focus the swarm, and felt his lord's troubled mind. It seemed something was eating away at him literally—like gnawing at his life like rats. But we did not touch him! We never would! We swear!
Yet the feeling was beyond the wall at the house, getting stronger. He felt it even from inside the walls. It made all other selves flee in terror— he final knew feeling it so much more on the rats flesh it was light magic, it burned...
"Flee! Run!" the rats spoke once more, seeking somewhere to hide. He lost himself once more to a sea of thoughts, all confused, seeking a way to escape the burn. Even as he wanted to know what was going on how was the light here at their door hurting them, he was blind to this threat and could not focus.. but the words that followed were very clear.
"DO IT! BURN THE HOME OF LIES AND WHORES! LET THEM SEE WHAT THEY'RE WORTH!"
The few of his swarm that was able to watch in the distance outside fled even further before a few brave tried watching on his desire saw those near the bishop grew brighter—they held a light that grew like fire. Even as a objects they held flew inside the home.
Shattering of glass and twin flames soaring in air, and with it a fresh wave of unknown light grew brighter, burning to ash the few rats he tried to keep near. The ground inside was now awash in flames. A few rats inside saw the event, ran to hide or scattered upstairs, escaping the immediate flames and light. But the blinding pain broke his mind and he could not think—an endless series of twitching and squeaks was all the scared kids and women saw, unaware of the flames downstairs.
Can't... think... flee. Run. Hurt. Hide.
No... I want.... Save... them... how? Don't know. Scared...
Desperate to hold on to something, he called the swarm to focus. With the eyes that could see, he tried to focus. It was odd to see: fire spreading, madness, screams everywhere, nowhere to hide. And laughing, drinking, being free from it all at inns. Sex in homes between lovers. Yelling and fighting among people over coin... An indifferent king getting a report. And Ves and Tom talking—yes, they are there, yes, focus there... not the pain, not the fleeing, not the death... not the kids that are like me I cant save.....
"Hurry! They die! We run scared!"
Tom watched a panicked series of rats running to them and away, each repeating those lines. Confusion. Then they felt their lord's distress and people's desire to stop an event they could not—something repelled them, and their lord was not really here. He gave them pieces of himself, but they were whole and free. And as they tried to serve in his name, something was burning away their life even as he tried to give back and preserve it. But it was a losing battle since he was not here.
Ves rushed to go to the scene with a few of the other girls that were also their tom shout he would get help from the knight and guards as he rushed to gather them to contain the fire they assumed from the smoke they could now see from their . As they both saw clearly smoke rising knowing what the rat lord tried to tell was his fear all knew it was going to be bad they just prayed they could contain it before it was to server.
A beastly roar helped snap the rat lord free of the collective rats fear, even as others cowered in fear at the sound. To him it was clear sound of the rage of their god unable to help the people hurting, trying to heal them and failing to stop the light.
Yet they, as rats, fled seeking to be free while kids burned and others fought... he? Fled... when he could choose to help?
For the first time he had clarity as he looked at his dirt-covered hand in the middle of a sewer, smelling the filth and rot for once, away from it all. Aha... I'm me. And I'm the swarm. Still the rats tried to flee, still filled with fear, and he still felt it. Still, see heard and felt with them everything. But now he knew the difference—he had never been a rat. He was just alone, he did lose his mom and his mind and rats were all he had: thanks to his power, he could think like them and influence their ways. He knew that now, from what he watched from others learning magic, he assumed it had to be spells like fire he never knew it could be other things like control or sharing.
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he missed his mom and wondered what happen to her she had to have died..... he knew that now and it was the thief that fed and used him was the cause funny he killed them without even knowing it but least he ended the cause but now the light was doing it again now repeating the cycle killing people like him trying be free happy....
He wondered, as the screams and rage and desperate people and events raged around him, if things were different, if he could prevent this as... a human. and mabye live among them vs the rats?
doubt claim his mind once more If only he had a strong will to move the swarm versus them moving him... No... Not... Yet... I choose.
Pushing his will into the swarm, overriding their fear: NO. RUN. SAVE. FIGHT.
The flames were already too deep, engulfing all. His only blessing was that even though he was there, he did not see the rats that stayed inside burn with them—flesh charred, roasted, even as they still fled seeking a safe wall, trying to fight, trying to flee. Yet he pulled the swarm—all that was, thousands all at once he knew the fire was bad but the light was worse and they needed to stop it at all cost even as he forced the swarm to act the fade to ash from A light that took all and left nothing..
Unity in the madness. The swarm felt his will and overwhelming desire, and as a collective, found purpose following his truth vs their fear. Save the kids. no more like me.
Even as they poured forward, smashing into the light, it did not dim—no, it seemed to burn brighter, shattering his mind more as each wave of the swarm was gone. And with it, some of him. Unsure what to do as the mix of pain and shame was too much, but he wanted to choose, wanted to prove he wasn't a rat but something more... maybe human? As he pushed all the swarm into killing the light.
Each rat that touched it becomes ash in an instant, but there are always more. Always more of me to feed into the burning. I feel each death like a limb being torn away, but I push forward. The crystals pulse brighter with each sacrifice, purging our existence, but they cannot burn us forever he hoped.
I am becoming less. Each wave costs me memories, thoughts, pieces of who I was. But the children upstairs—I can still hear them crying. That sound keeps me focused even as my mind fragments kids like rats in the slum, like me. Nobody can save them now. If people can’t pass the light, maybe nobody can save them anyway…. But I still will fight and still will try.
The swarm obeys because I make them. Because for once in my miserable existence, I choose something other than survival. I choose to save.
The light wavers. Just for a moment. The crystals strain against the endless tide of flesh I feed them. They were not made to burn forever it seems.
I am almost nothing now. Just scattered thoughts and the will to protect. But nothing—the light dims. The crystals crack. The burning stops.
A small piece remained dying among of the swarm to watch as the flame spread. The women did not lay and cower; they tried to risk dropping kids out windows. Too late for some, but not for all.
Maybe... maybe this is what it means to be human. To choose others when it costs everything.
I was something after all. maybe they will grow up to be humans and not rats..... if....they....live...33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV4MY5UiKWl
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