Path of Dragons-Chapter 79Book 7: : Emptiness

“You know,” Elijah said, running his hand over his smooth scalp. “I think being cooked is way worse than being digested.”

“I’m glad I don’t know enough to offer an opinion,” Sadie admitted.

“Right. Did I tell you about the time I was –”

“Yes,” she interrupted.

“Or what about when –”

“That too. We know all your stories, bro,” Dat said.

“Well, you two are just no fun at all,” he said, pushing himself upright. Then, he hiked his thumb down the hall, where a thousand refugees huddled together like scared sheep. “I should go hang out with them. They would be suitably impressed by my heroic tales of survival. I mean, I’m no Zhang Yue, but who is, right?”

“Long live the legend of Zhang Yue,” Dat intoned. “May he continue to inspire us to be better men.” He glanced at Sadie. “And women.”

She rolled her eyes, which was a curious gesture for her. So was the smile. Elijah felt like he was living in the twilight zone. Sadie looked the same as always, but she’d never been the sort to show much emotion. Or laugh. She’d made a few jokes during the Trial – mostly towards the end, when she’d gotten Sense of Sin under control – but even then, she had been a dour person.

Still, waking up to see her concerned face staring down at him had made everything a little better. He’d still been wracked by agonizing pain – being cooked alive was not a pleasant experience – but the sight of her was a soothing balm.

After regaining awareness, he’d been shocked to find that he was covered in severe burns. Briefly, he’d worried that he would be horribly scarred, but it seemed that, aside from a rough patch on his stomach, he’d escaped mostly unscathed. It’d taken most of a day for him to heal himself back to normal, but every time he looked at the former prisoners, he realized it had been worth it.

Now that he was healed, he mostly just missed his hair. It wasn’t the first time he’d had his hair burned off, but he hoped it would be the last.

“I really should stop and think about the consequences of heroism from time to time,” he said to himself.

That elicited a hearty laugh from Dat and a slight chuckled form Sadie.

“What?” he asked.

“You’re not the thinking type, bro.”

“You’re really not. You’re more of a charge-at-the-problem-and-hope-it-all-works-out kind of guy,” Sadie agreed.

“Ouch,” he winced, theatrically clutching his chest. He was still a little sore, but he was almost entirely recovered. “Seriously though – thanks for coming back in there for me. I don’t think I’d have made it without your help.”

“You would have done the same for either one of us,” Sadie stated.

“Yeah. But you two don’t make a habit of blowing yourself up, either. Seriously, how did I not know that would backfire? Enclosed spaces and explosions don’t usually mix well. I’m not fireproof.”

“It was the only way we could have won,” Dat said.

“We’re holding you back,” Sadie added. “If I had access to a Branch, I could evolve…”

“Nobody’s holding anyone back,” Elijah insisted. “It’s just a tough situation. It’s no one’s fault.”

But as Elijah focused his senses on Nico, who was almost a hundred feet away tending to the wounds of one of the refugees, he wasn’t entirely convinced of his own statement. Nico only had one job, and in that endeavor, he’d failed miserably. Whether that was intentional or not was a question Elijah desperately wanted answered, but he knew that if he went around accusing the Healer of holding back, he would draw Sadie’s ire.

She’d grown a lot since he’d first met her, but she wouldn’t easily endure accusations against her brother.

So, Elijah held his tongue, resolving instead to remove Nico from his own plans. If the Healer did his job, then that would be a nice surprise. But Elijah wouldn’t depend on him anymore.

With that resolution in mind, Elijah continued his own healing, casting Blessing of the Grove and basking in the cooling rain that came with it. He wasn’t unaware that, if he hadn’t cast that spell before passing out, he would be dead. It had already saved his life, and he knew it wouldn’t be the first time.

As he healed, Elijah focused inward and looked at this updated status:

Name

Elijah Hart

Level

143

Archetype

Druid

Class

Primal Lord

Specialization

Connection

Alignment

N/A

Strength

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262

Dexterity

248

Constitution

271

Ethera

268

Regeneration

306 (276)

Attunement

Nature

Cultivation Stage: Expert

Body

Core

Mind

Soul

Iron

Drakyn

Jade

Student

By defeating the Chainspeaker, he had gained another level, pushing him to one-forty-three. That raised most of his attributes by seven apiece, with ethera rising by six points. The only buff he’d ensured was active was Aura of Renewal, which added a relatively paltry thirty points to the total. Otherwise, his badly damaged gear lay in a pile by his side, and he hadn’t even had a chance to enjoy any of his jerky or coffee. Even so, his attributes had truly gotten out of hand, and at his current leveling speed, it wouldn’t be long before he had three-hundreds across the board.

More importantly, he was fast approaching another spell level. He had no idea if he would gain a chance to evolve one of his existing abilities or if he’d get something new, but he did know that the interval between spells would soon grow larger. At one-fifty, it would jump from every five levels to some unknown number. It might be ten. Or it could be twenty-five. There were even some classes whose spells came every fifty levels.

If that happened to him, he would definitely regret his choice of class evolution. Primal Lord had treated him well so far, but he would always wonder what he might’ve become if he’d picked Bloomwarden.

Once Elijah had finished distracting himself with his status, he moved on to a recap of the battle. They had been victorious, but the fight could have easily gone differently. If he’d not used his abilities – Lurking Swarm and Thornbound Legion, especially – the Chainspeaker would have been too powerful to defeat.

It was a good reminder that, while he had a lot of advantages, others would too. Nobody reached ascendence easily, and to even qualify to take that step, one must have proven themselves worthy. Elijah didn’t think he could have done anything differently, but he still needed to remember that he was neither special nor invulnerable. Otherwise, he might end up dead.

To that end, he went over every second of the fight, and he found a host of mistakes. Nothing huge, but he knew he could be better. He would need to be.

He was in the middle of that exercise when his body completed its healing, and Sadie announced that they needed to move on.

“What are we going to do with them?” asked Dat.

“We take them with us,” Sadie said. “They’re innocents, and maybe they can help.”

“The highest level is around forty,” Elijah pointed out.

“They helped keep you alive.”

“Fair point,” Elijah admitted, though he suspected that their efforts hadn’t been as impactful as Sadie claimed. Sure, every bit of healing helped, but he believed that his Regeneration probably played a much larger role. He knew better than to say as much, though.

“Some of them are necromancers,” Nico interjected. His voice lacked the venom it usually did when he spoke of that group of people.

“So?” asked Elijah. “They’re people, and we’re not leaving them here.”

“I never suggested it,” the Healer pointed out. “I’m only saying that we need to be wary. They are not known as the most trustworthy of people.”

Elijah definitely didn’t trust the man’s sudden shift. Not that long ago, he was right beside Gideon calling such people trash. Now he wanted to save them? It didn’t make a lot of sense.

“Noted,” Sadie said. “But for now, we’ll just lead them through the fortress above. Dat? Scout?”

“On it, bro.”

Then, Dat disappeared, leaving Elijah a little jealous. Ghost Cloak had limitations, but the ability could be used even when someone was staring right at Dat. Guise of the Unseen – or even Dat’s less powerful stealth ability – could not.

After that, they waited for around fifteen minutes until Dat returned. When he reappeared, he said, “We have good news, and we have bad news. Which do you want first?”

“Just tell us the situation, Dat.”

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He sighed heavily and shook his head at Sadie. “You are no fun. Okay, so I found my way up to the surface,” he said. “It’s not even that far. But the place we’re trying to get to, it’s guarded by some serious-looking threats.”

Then, he went on to describe two demons. The first was a slender male with swords and knives strapped all over his body. The second was a robed caster of some sort. The former was troubling, but the latter seemed like far more dangerous than him. In Elijah’s experience, spellcasters were an unpredictable sort.

“The first one is called the Bladesinger. Warrior archetype,” Dat said. “The second is the Corrupted. Healer archetype, though she’s got some sort of shadow powers.”

“How do you know that?” asked Nico.

“The ghosts told me, bro.”

Nico sneered, “I’m not your…bro.”

“I know. Sounded better than cowardly asshole,” was Dat’s reply.

“Guys…”

“Sorry, bro,” Dat responded to Elijah’s plea. “Those two are flanked by a pair of wights. They’re ascended.”

“The Bladesinger and the Corrupted?” asked Sadie, pointedly ignoring the animosity between Dat and her brother. Elijah had no interest in stepping between them, either. “Ascended as well?”

“Yeah. It’s going to be a rough fight.”

After that, the group discussed their strategy. Nico remained mostly silent, interjecting his opinion only when absolutely necessary. Otherwise, he stood to the side, seething as he stared at Dat. Elijah wasn’t certain what had gone down between the two, but he did know it had something to do with Lisa’s death. Whatever the cause, there was a great deal of anger between the pair.

Eventually, they all agreed to leave the refugees behind during the fight. It wasn’t ideal, but they would just get in the way if they tried to participate. And that was the best-case scenario. The worst case they discussed was if the demons chose to take them hostage and use them as bargaining chips.

Once that was decided, they started in on a plan of action. The problem was that they didn’t have many assets. Sadie was a great defender, and Nico would probably keep them all alive. However, Dat just wasn’t a damage dealer. Neither was Elijah, though he could make a decent showing. So, their available options were limited.

But they all agreed that the Corrupted needed to go down first. That was the first rule of any confrontation – the Healer needed to be dealt with before anyone else. So, they came up with a rudimentary strategy that, in a lot of ways, mimicked what they had used against the Chainspeaker. The only difference was that Sadie would work to tie up the Bladesinger while Elijah and Dat attacked the Corrupted with everything they had available.

No one thought it was a good plan. They all knew it was, at best, workable. But with the options they had available, it was the best anyone could come up with.

So, armed with that, they left the refugees behind – much to their panicked chagrin – then followed Dat as they twisted through the corridors leading them to the surface. In the end, they found themselves standing before a large marshalling yard just inside the main gate.

Elijah felt the wights, but he also sensed a few abominations as well. It seemed that the party had grown since Dat’s reconnaissance. And more were coming with every passing moment, as evidenced by a giant skeleton literally climbing out of the ground.

That was when Elijah focused on the creature’s origin. It was a pit, but it radiated deathly ethera on par with what he’d felt back in the Trial of Primacy.

“There’s a gateway to the Underrealm there,” he said.

“I feel it too,” Sadie agreed.

“We need to close it,” Dat stated.

“No,” Nico said. “That’s not the mission. It’s just a distraction. If we focus –”

“If we don’t close it, there are going to be a lot more undead out there. We’ll have to deal with those two demons and a horde,” Sadie interrupted. “We close it. Then, we kill the demons, just like we planned.”

Elijah shook his head. “No. We need to adjust. Here’s what I think…”