Path of Dragons-Chapter 6Book 8: . Seeking Understanding

Elijah landed a few miles away from Hong Kong. There were still a few undead around, but the kamikaze flyers that plagued the city tended to stick to the high rises. So, after exterminating a small horde of zombies by using Lightning Domain, he shifted into the Shape of Venom, adopted Guise of the Unseen, and headed into the city.

It wasn’t long before he found the most obvious results of their efforts to conquer the Primal Realm. Before, powerful undead like wights and abominations had become fairly common. In addition, there had been more than a few roaming demons within the confines of the city. But now that the Primal Realm had been defeated, Elijah found that the populations of such foes had thinned quite a bit.

There were still a few wights and abominations around, but the demons were completely absent. In addition, those stronger versions of undead generally confined themselves to specific locations, leaving the streets mostly devoid of anything but a few scattered groups of the weakest zombies.

But Elijah knew it wouldn’t last, largely because of the second factor that confirmed one of his previous suspicions. He’d only been gone from the city for a few weeks, but even in that short time, the density of the death-attuned ethera had risen by a noticeable amount. The message was clear: the Primal Realm was recharging, and if left alone, it would one day return to its former strength. When that happened, Hong Kong would be right back in the same situation.

As Elijah realized that, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of hopelessness. After everything they’d done, what was the result? A few months: maybe a year or two: of relative peace? It wasn’t enough. If things kept going that way, humanity would not survive.

If only he’d built his grove beside a Primal Realm instead of a tower, maybe the resulting drain on the ethera would keep them from spilling out. But there was just as much chance that it wouldn’t have worked like that. What’s more, he probably would have long since died if he’d been forced to deal with a bunch of undead while coping with the mundanity of survival.

He wouldn’t have made it a month if that had been the case.

Those thoughts: and a few others, mostly concerning Sadie: flitted through Elijah’s mind as he crossed the city. Along the way, he passed a couple of necromancer enclaves, but he didn’t bother investigating them further. Partially, that was because when he sensed their servile undead, he felt a wave of disgust that screamed at him to destroy them all. He ignored those impulses, reminding himself that the residents of those enclaves were just people trying to survive the best way they knew how. If he attacked them just because of the tools they’d been forced to use, he would be no better than people like Gideon or Nico.

And Elijah refused to let himself become like them, even if his instincts told him they were probably right to hate the so-called necromancers.

In any case, he bypassed those settlements as he passed through the city, and eventually, he arrived at his destination. Not Heaven’s Bastion, but rather, Victoria Harbor. He stood near Ke Ming’s ferry, marveling that the large boat had been almost entirely repaired. There were a few scars along its side where it looked like the ferryman had welded the thing back together, but otherwise, it looked fine.

As for the ferryman himself, he was nestled inside his building having supper with his family. That scene: which Elijah sensed via Soul of the Wild: reaffirmed his refusal to heed the call of his instincts. Ke Ming was a necromancer. He used undead rowers to motivate his ferry. And yet, he was a good man with a lovely family.

Perhaps the other necromancers were no different.

But Elijah knew that probably wasn’t always the case. There were assuredly bad apples among the bunch, but judging the entire population based on that was a bad idea. An obvious concept, but difficult to remember when his instincts were yelling at him to destroy them all.

Difficult as it was, he turned his attention to the task at hand. A few moments later, he found himself swimming across Victoria Harbor and to the island containing the Tin Hua Temple. The swim was bittersweet, not least because it reminded him of the clam he’d been forced to kill. There was no trace of the guardian: it had practically dissolved into the surrounding water: but the memories remained just as strong as ever.

Elijah basked in those thoughts as he crossed the harbor, eventually arriving at the island where he’d killed the squid monster. There was nothing left of the charred remains he’d left behind, but the nearby rocks still bore the evidence of Elijah’s fire. He moved past the beach, parts of which had been turned to glass, climbing the path to the temple itself.

Thankfully, he wasn’t forced to solve any more puzzles once he was inside, and, at last, he retrieved the giant pearl. It was a powerful natural treasure, and as the killer of its guardian, it belonged to him. So, he slipped it into his ring, then headed out, eventually reaching the shore and resuming his trek through Hong Kong.

The city looked just as run-down as it had during his first trip through, but everything seemed even more decayed than ever. It wouldn’t be long before it all succumbed to the rot of the death-attuned ethera in the air. But what would spring up in its place? Hong Kong was still home to quite a lot of people. The population didn’t quite reach into the millions, but there were certainly hundreds of thousands of people left.

And Elijah suspected that it would one day become a desirable destination for those with appropriate classes and attunements. Probably those who opposed them as well. Heaven’s Bastion wasn’t going anywhere, and Elijah knew that they wouldn’t abandon their disdain for those who chose to embrace their environment rather than fight against it.

Was war on the horizon?

Maybe.

But even that was dependent on whether or not they could solve the Primal Realm problem. If it was allowed to continue growing, repeating the cycle over and over again, no one would survive to fight against one another.

Conquering the Primal Realm was a solution, but given the difficulties Elijah and the others had faced during their time in the Desolate Reach, it didn’t seem very viable. Even if it was a weakened environment, it would kill just about anyone else in the city. Perhaps the answer was throwing numbers at it.

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Getting into the Primal Realm could only be accomplished by six people at a time, but there was nothing that said multiple groups couldn’t do so individually, joining up once they were inside.

Maybe that was the only real solution, though Elijah suspected that the attrition from using that plan would be overwhelming. It was a losing strategy, and one that would slowly whittle down the city’s resources: both in terms of human capital as well as material.

Yet, it might be the only option.

In any case, Elijah knew he couldn’t solve the issue in the short time he intended to remain in Hong Kong. What’s more, they didn’t really need him to. The levels of death-attuned ethera were rising, but it would take some time before it reached the point where something needed to be done.

But more than anything else, he suspected that any suggestions he made would fall on deaf ears. Song Tianwei was not likely to be very receptive to Elijah, especially if Nico had any say in the matter.

So, without any other recourse, he wandered through the city until, at last, he found himself once again facing one of the necromancer enclaves. It was located in a series of older buildings, most of which had endured some structural damage. They had been repaired, but the results weren’t exactly pretty. Likely, the people inside had other things to worry about than cosmetics.

Eventually, Elijah decided to go inside.

Partly, that was because he wanted further fuel to push aside his instinctual bias against them, and he expected that seeing them as normal people: much as he had with Ke Ming: would go a long way toward that goal. However, he also wanted a closer look, just in case his prejudice was well-founded. If that turned out to be the case, he wasn’t certain what he would do.

The only question was whether he would simply sneak inside or go in as a human. Eventually, he chose to opt for the latter. Creeping around under Guise of the Unseen wasn’t really conducive to fostering an understanding of the people inside, even if it was probably much safer.

After dipping into an alley, he let Shape of Venom fall away. As he did, he was once again reminded that most of his clothes were in a terrible state. Even his best set was dirty and a little ragged.

That was probably a good thing, though. The people in that enclave were clean enough, but they’d obviously fallen on hard times. Most wore clothes they’d clearly salvaged out in the city, and those weren’t really made to endure the harsh realities of their new world.

Elijah left the alley behind and crossed the street. As soon as he did, he felt eyes on him. The necromancers weren’t all magic users, after all. They had plenty of Rangers and Explorers among their number.

“State your business, stranger,” said a guard when Elijah approached the lone entrance. It was a large set of double doors reinforced with steel. Once, they’d probably been glass, but the situation demanded something far sturdier. The man himself stood in front of it, but Elijah sensed a handful of others on the other side.

“Just a traveler looking for somewhere to rest and eat before moving on,” Elijah answered, holding out his hands.

“You’re a pretty high level.”

Elijah shrugged. “I’ve done a lot of traveling.”

“Non-combat,” came another voice. “Sort of. Still dangerous.”

“You going to cause trouble in here?” the guard asked.

“Don’t plan to. Like I said, I’m just passing through,” he answered. Then, he chose to add, “They turned me away from that big building across the island.”

The guard spat, then shifted in place before saying, “They do that. Uppity assholes think they’re better than the rest of us. They’re not. They just claimed a nice, shiny building.”

After that, the man was more amenable to Elijah’s entry, and it wasn’t long before he opened the doors. Once inside, Elijah was a little surprised to see that the building was a lot cozier than Soul of the Wild had led him to believe. That wasn’t terribly surprising. He mostly just sensed life, which meant that in the death-attuned region, it was a little blurrier than normal. Still effective, but not at a hundred percent.

In any case, the lobby of the building had been turned into a market of sorts, with dozens of stalls selling everything from fresh meat to patched clothes. None of it was particularly high quality, but it seemed decidedly normal considering the nature of the people who lived there.

It was only when Elijah saw zombies being used as veritable pack mules that he remembered how different it was.

Doing his best to ignore it, he began his quest of exploration. Unlike Heaven’s Bastion, the enclave featured quite a lot of nods toward Chinese culture. Elijah even saw a small temple that drew him forward.

When he entered, he was greeted by an old man.

“Hello, stranger,” the ancient fellow said. He was entirely bald, with a patchy white beard and a slight frame, all of which came together to give him a somewhat ragged appearance. Helping that perception along were his hunched posture and prominent age spots. Still, leaning on his cane, he exuded a sense of power that marked him as one of the stronger people he’d met outside the Trial of Primacy. Maybe level seventy or so, which put him only a little behind Nico.

“Hey,” Elijah said, raising his hand. He introduced himself, adding, “Impressive place you have here. Not a huge fan of all the zombies, but I guess you work with what you’ve got.”

The old man chuckled. “Indeed. You are American?”

“Yeah. Seattle, then Hawaii. Most recently, Ironshore. You probably haven’t heard of that last one, though. It’s a long way away.”

“What brings you so far from home?”

Before answering, Elijah studied the man before him. The twinkle in his eye reminded him of the old man back in the Primal Realm, though that was more than likely coincidental. If that old man had escaped, he certainly wouldn’t have set himself up in a temple within a run-down necromancer enclave. Even if he had, the odds that Elijah would run into him were absolutely miniscule.

Regardless, he didn’t feel the same. Less powerful, certainly, but this old man didn’t dabble in the deathly arts. No: he was a different person, even if there were a few similarities.

But Elijah suspected something that he wanted confirmed. “You know who I am, don’t you?” he asked.

“I do, Elijah Hart. Your name was atop the rankings for long enough that I would be a fool not to notice your arrival.”

“Are we going to have a problem? If so, I’d just as soon leave. I have nothing against your people,” Elijah said. It was a minor lie. The notion of coexisting with walking corpses was abhorrent, but Elijah struggled to keep that disgust quarantined in its own facet of his mind.

“We are not here to pick fights, Mr. Hart. We only want peace.”

Elijah let out a deep breath. “Good. Now, what can you tell me about your people? And why can’t you coexist with Heaven’s Bastion? I’ve got some information, but it occurs to me that most of it is biased.”

“Indeed, Mr. Hart,” the old man said with a sad smile. “But that is the nature of people, is it not? We distrust that which we do not understand, and we look down upon those who we deem beneath us. The people of Heaven’s Bastion are guilty of both sins, though they hide their guilt behind pretty words of purity. It is a lie. They are not monsters, but nor are they heroes. In that way, they are no different from any other group of people.”

That made sense to Elijah, but more than anything, it put into context that he shouldn’t judge the entirety of Heaven’s Bastion based on his experiences with Nico or Tianwei.

Still, he wanted to know more about the necromancers, so he said, “I want to stick around for a day or two, see what you have going on here. In exchange, I can offer healing, and I can help with any crops you might have.”

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“That would be wonderful, Mr. Hart. Wonderful, indeed.”