Path of Dragons

Book 6: Chapter 84: A Call to Action

“I’m not going back out there,” announced one woman, her voice rising above the din of conversation.

“Have you seen those things out there?” someone else asked.

“I saw something flying through the air that was bigger than a cargo jet.”

“It’s suicide!”

On and on it went, with hundreds of people all trying to talk at once. On the bright side, there seemed to be more survivors than Elijah had expected, but the relatively small group was just a reminder of how difficult the Trial had been. Originally, there were more than five thousand participants. Now, approximately a quarter of that number remained, and that estimate was generous.

Many had used the Branch to go back to Earth, but a good many had died. Whatever the case, the former was no longer an option. The Branch had been deactivated, leaving them all stranded.

Sadie raised her voice and shouted, “I understand that most of you have no interest in trying to complete the final challenge. That is as expected. If that’s the case for you, please vacate the square. For everyone else, we need to plan how we’re going to proceed.”

Elijah’s stomach dropped as he saw the vast majority of the gathered Trial participants leave. There were a couple of groups that chose to stay, though. Lamar led one, while the other was the group led by Ikan, the war elf with the mental powers. There was a third group of mixed origin, consisting of a couple of normal elves, a few humans, and a woman with feathers for hair. Elijah knew he’d been told the race of the latter at one time, but he couldn’t remember it.

In all, there were less than twenty people who remained behind.

They all gathered around Sadie, who’d taken the lead on addressing the Trial participants. Elijah and the rest of the group remained behind her, with Atticus lending his weight to the proceedings as well. The Merchant was ill equipped to accompany them on their quest, but his word carried quite a lot of cache in Nexus Town.

“Is this it?” muttered Kurik. “Thought these people were made of sterner stuff. Ain’t the first time I’ve been wrong, though.”

“Bro.”

“What? They just got told they were gonna be infected by the Abyss, and they want to curl up and hide? Cowards, every one of ‘em.”

“They’re not cowards, Kurik. They’re afraid. And when humans are scared, we latch onto anything that alleviates that fear. In this case, they’ve chosen not to believe that they’re in danger. They think the town’s safe,” Elijah stated.

“Stupid. Ain’t nowhere safe. They gotta feel it.”

“They do, but…denial is a powerful thing,” Elijah said.

As they were speaking, the other groups converged on their position. After exchanging greetings with the people they knew and introductions with the ones they didn’t, they launched into a discussion on how they were meant to tackle the problem at hand.

Fortunately, Helen revealed something that would help them out quite a lot. “I was talking with a couple of the other Explorers,” she said. “And we think we know where the Seat of Thunder is.”

After that, she described an island located just past the Ice Fortress, which had been described as being under the effects of a perpetual storm. Elijah wasn’t sure how Explorer abilities worked, but Helen seemed to trust the information she’d been given, saying, “We know when we’re looking at something important.”

She wouldn’t elaborate on that statement, but Elijah chose to take her word for it.

That left them with one huge problem – it was more than a week away by foot, and that was based on old travel times. Now, the entire continent was beset by millions of empowered wraiths who’d been awakened by the influx of abyssal energy. And that wasn’t even considering the giants or the other creatures that had crawled through the rips in the shield.

In short, they would need to fight across half the continent, which would assuredly take them much longer. And that wasn’t even considering whether or not they could even manage it.

Eventually, though, they all came to the same conclusion. Despite the complications before them, they didn’t have any choice in the matter. If they didn’t act, people were either going to die or be corrupted just like the wraiths. Aside from everyone’s desire for self-preservation, they also knew that Earth couldn’t afford to lose so many strong people, so the way forward was clear.

Sadie said it best when she stated, “It doesn’t matter how difficult it will be. We need to get it done. So, unless someone has a better option, I intend to set out tomorrow morning. I’ll fight my way through millions of wraiths if I have to, and when I get to that island, I’m going to kill the Lightning Emperor. I hope you’ll all come with me.”

Then, she left.

Elijah looked from one stunned person to another, then said, “Sorry about that. You get used to her.”

“She’s right,” Lamar stated. “I’m going to prepare, and I suggest everyone else does the same. We’ll meet back here in the morning.”

With that decided, there wasn’t much else to discuss. So, the group dispersed, and Elijah headed to the Consortium to consult with Atticus. And to get a decent meal. Unfortunately, the Chef had departed just before the lockdown, so the second part of Elijah’s plan proved impossible to complete. So, he settled for sharing a cup of coffee with his friend.

Eventually, their conversation led to a discussion of odd items they’d found. Elijah detailed some of his adventures in the ruins, to which Atticus said, “I think I have something you might find interesting. Hold on.”

With that, he disappeared into his office, only to reappear a couple of minutes holding what looked like rectangular piece of crystal. “Give me those other crystal pieces you found. The ring too,” Atticus said. Elijah narrowed his eyes, but he complied. If it had been anyone else, he wouldn’t have done it, but he trusted the Merchant at least as much as he trusted anyone else in the Trial. Probably more. n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

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As he handed over the crystal pieces he’d looted throughout the Trial, Elijah asked, “Where did you get that?”

“One of the other groups found it, and once they realized that it wasn’t all that useful, they sold it to me,” Atticus said. “I have a lot of stuff like that. Most of it will end up being recycled for materials when we get back to Earth, but I think someone with a more focused inspection ability can find at least a couple of useful items.”

“All inspection abilities aren’t equal?”

“Far from it. I’ve heard about people with Appraiser classes that can tell exactly what was used to create an item. Some will eventually be able to recreate a record of the crafting process,” Atticus explained. “One day, those sorts of people will end up making all kinds of money, my friend.”

“You think?” Elijah asked as he tried to fit the thing together.

“Of course. Crafting secrets will one day be very lucrative,” Atticus stated. “Here it goes?”

Atticus had fitted everything together, but even though it looked like it should have worked, the entire thing came apart the second he removed the pressure. Elijah sighed, saying, “Oh well, it doesn’t look like it. Maybe we’re missing something.”

He didn’t see where another part could fit – the weapon had come together into a sword – but he was no expert.

“Wait…that ring you found? What was it called?” Atticus muttered. Then, he snapped his fingers and said, “Keystone Ring! You still have it?”

Elijah did.

“Put it on and put everything back together.”

Elijah felt silly, but he followed Atticus’ directions, exchanging his oft-forgotten Ring of Anonymity with the Keystone Ring. Then, he gathered the crystal pieces before fitting them back together. There was a click. Then, ethera flooded out of him and into the hilt. The crystalline piece erupted into a blinding light that forced Elijah to shield his eyes. Before he knew it, Atticus was dragging him to the back room, where he guided the sword to the table he used for inspection.

“That’s it!” shouted Atticus.

“Uh…can we turn this thing off?” Elijah wondered.

“Just let it go.”

He did, and the thing fell apart. The light ceased. “What the hell?” he wondered.

“Here. Look,” Atticus said. Then, a notification appeared floating above the table:

Yloa’s Bane Overall Grade: Sophisticated (Transcendent) Enchantment Grade: S+ Description: A weapon forged for a singular purpose – to kill Yloa K’hnam. Attribute Bonuses: None Traits: Bane: Drains target’s ethera and vitality, effectively bringing their power down an entire tier. User’s ethera and vitality will be drained as well.

“Atticus…”

“I know.”

“Did you know this kind of thing was even possible?” Elijah asked, suddenly feeling very vulnerable.

Atticus said, “I’ve read a few accounts that hinted at it, but the requirements to craft such a weapon are prohibitive. Not only would the materials be almost impossible to source, but it could only be created by a true genius. And it would need something to connect the weapon to the bane target. Blood would be the most common. It might even be the system at work.”

“But it will work?”

“Probably. I’ve never seen a false notification.”

It was a terrifying prospect, that someone might be capable of creating a weapon specifically to counter a person’s power. It was just another reminder that there were any number of ways to even the playing field with a superior opponent. Elijah had already encountered domains – like the one associated with the Warden back in Easton – and it seemed that he would need to keep an eye out for bane weapons as well.

Over the next few minutes, Elijah discovered that the Keystone Ring was required in order to keep the thing from falling apart. In addition, he read and re-read the last line of the description, noting that it basically promised that using the weapon would render the user helpless. There was a chance that it would even kill them.

The implications were troubling.

In the end, Elijah thanked Atticus for his help, then headed to the building he and his group had taken as their own base of operations. There, he found the others, and he told them about his discovery.

“Obviously, I’ll use it,” Sadie offered. “I’m the only one here who knows how to use a sword.”

“Doesn’t require much expertise to stab someone, bro.”

“I could probably survive it so long as I have a few heals going,” Ron said. “I could do it.”

“You’re all idjits. You can keep your self-sacrifices. I ain’t doin’ it, that’s for damn sure,” Kurik contributed.

“It doesn’t matter right now,” Elijah said, knowing that the dwarf would do what was necessary given half a chance. He talked a big game, but he was no less noble than anyone else in the group. “When the time comes, we’ll all be ready to do what’s necessary. Until then, we just do our jobs. In the meantime, I think we should all take as much time to rest as we can, because the upcoming trip is going to take everything we have.”

No one disputed that supposition.

For his part, Elijah had everything he needed, and he’d just spent an entire day resting. Or recovering, which he regarded as the same thing. So, he decided to go for a walk instead. And as he strolled through the Nexus Town, he was struck by just how much it had changed from when he’d first arrived.

Back then, there had been so much hope. Sure, people had already been lost, but everyone that remained knew they were going to make significant gains. And many had. Many more had died or been forced to retreat. Now, most of the remainder were hiding, and the worst part was that Elijah couldn’t really blame them. Outside of a few, most of them would die if they left the city.

Those thoughts danced through his head as he felt a familiar figure approaching. When she arrived, he said, “Hey there, Delilah.”

“I was worried about you,” she said, standing before him. She had a few new scars, the most noticeable of which cut across her neck and descended beneath her shirt. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. You?”

“Not really.”

Then, she sat down on one of the stoops and unburdened herself, revealing that she’d watched most of her team get slaughtered by the sudden surge of empowered wraiths. “I couldn’t do anything about it. None of us could. They came so fast and hit so hard that Nia and Faruq were dead before we even knew what was going on. The rest of us ran. Only David and I made it, and neither of us did so unscathed.”

Elijah didn’t know who any of those people were, but he was capable of connecting the dots well enough to assume they were the team with whom she’d been working. He put his arm around her and said, “I’m sorry. Is there…is there anything I can do?”

She didn’t answer. Instead, she just leaned into him and wept. It was such a departure from his first impression of the woman. Back then, she’d seemed so confident. So strong. But now, something inside of her had broken. Maybe it was a good thing. At least now she could move forward knowing that she wasn’t invincible.

So long as she didn’t shatter completely.

“I just want to go home,” she said quietly.

Elijah remained silent because he didn’t know what to say. Maybe that was a good thing, too. Instead, he just held her and hoped that he could grant her wish sooner rather than later.