Chapter 188 - The Consequences of War

Zeke trudged back to the tower, pointedly avoiding the area surrounding the hermit’s hovel. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to see Fiona – or rather, it wasn’t just that. Rather, it was that he didn’t want to go back to her empty-handed. Now that he had a quest, he had every intention of discovering her sister’s fate, and the next time he saw the woman, he wanted to go back with answers.

Of course, despite Fiona’s hopes, he knew that the news wouldn’t be good. Whether it was instinct, intuition, or subconsciously putting the puzzle pieces together, he was almost entirely convinced that the demonic warlock that had possessed Fiona’s sister was the same one that had taken over Julian Asino and tried to launch a demonic invasion in Jariq. If that was the case, then the chances that the girl had survived were less than nil. But perhaps knowing what had happened would provide some measure of closure for the woman who’d thrown her life away in what Zeke expected was a meaningless pursuit.

He understood it, though. If he’d been in the same situation, he’d have made any necessary sacrifice to find out the truth and punish whoever was responsible. Of course,  considering that Fiona and her parents had ultimately facilitated the girl’s possession, there was blame enough to go around.

In any case, Zeke had no interest in seeing the hermit until he had something to report, so he skirted that area by a wide margin, eventually leaving the caustic atmosphere behind. It faded gradually the further away from the lake he moved, and after six miles, it was gone entirely. Another two miles, and he found the tower.

From a distance, it looked entirely out of place. A lonely spire of white-and-red stone, jutting toward the sky and towering over the nearby trees. He’d placed it in a wide meadow, but it had grown so much of late that it dominated any area it inhabited. Not for the first time, he found himself wondering just how much more it was going to change in the coming years. Certainly, it would grow ever larger, but where would it stop? It was already half as wide as a football field, so any bigger, and it would begin to rival the skyscrapers from Earth.

He was busy thinking about just that as he drew closer and his ears were assaulted by the unmistakable sounds of battle. Suddenly, a lightning strike descended from the sky in the vicinity of the tower, and at that signal, Zeke picked up the pace. His [Heart of the Berserker] had been active for quite some time, so his body was more fragile than it had been since he’d been in the troll caves. However, the [Armor of the Crimson Juggernaut] had grown proportionally more durable, so he lost little in terms of survivability. Still, he felt the strain, and he knew that the moment he dismissed the skill, he’d be forced to endure a lengthy period of unmitigated weakness.

For now, it was a tradeoff he could accept, but sometime in the near future, he intended to alter the skill and eliminate the worst of the detrimental effects. In the meantime, though, he rushed forward, weaving between the trees and crashing through the underbrush of the forest until, finally, he emerged into the meadow to see a small army of men and women surrounding the tower.

“Get back!” came Abby’s raised voice. Zeke noticed that she was on one of the balconies, an arrow nocked, but her bow undrawn. “I don’t want to hurt any more of you!”

“Hand over the undead fiend!” screamed the man in front. He wore mismatched chainmail armor and carried a sword and shield. The rest of the group, which numbered at more than a hundred, were even worse equipped. Some didn’t have weapons or amor at all, and instead, had armed themselves with sharpened sticks. Zeke jogged forward, his armored footsteps heavy against the turf, and as he drew closer, he noticed that they were, one and all, dirty, haggard, and wounded.

The crowd – or really, mob might have been a more accurate description, given their disposition – turned almost as one, and a few of them gasped, backing away. Zeke had no idea if it as due to the frightening nature of his armor or if someone had identified him, but he didn’t really care, either. He slowed to a stop, using [Inspect] on the man in the front:

Alex Sanders – Level 16

Zeke frowned, trying to make sense of the scene. He identified a few more members of the mob, and after seeing that none of the others were even evolved, he began to wonder what, precisely was going on. Abby could have killed each and every one of these people, and without any trouble. So, why was she holed up in the tower? Moreover, why did they feel emboldened enough to make demands?

“What is going on here?” Zeke demanded, noting that Pudge had wisely lagged behind and was circling the meadow to come in from the other side if necessary.

“My lord!” Sanders said. “Thank the gods you’re here!” He gestured to the tower. “In that unholy tower dwells an evil lich and his undead minion! Please, help us destroy it, and you will be handsomely rewarded!”

“Uh…”

Abby’s laughter echoed across the meadow, and Zeke saw a few of the members of the crowd shiver. He looked up at the balcony to see that both Talia and Carlos had joined her. Talia, predictably, was completely motionless while Carlos seemed to want to be anywhere but right beside her.

“The lich! Shield your minds, my friends!” screamed Sanders, hefting his shield. He shook his sword at the balcony, bellowing, “Have at thee!”

“What the hell is going on?” Zeke wondered to himself, unsure why the man was talking like he was attending renaissance faire. So, shaking his head, he asked, “Why are you talking like that?”

“Like what, my lord?” the man asked, not taking his eyes from the balcony.

“Just drop it, Alex,” came a sighing voice. Zeke saw a woman emerge from the crowd. She was a little more plump than the others, who looked like they’d miss a fair few meals, and she carried herself with a little more authority. “Sorry about him. He’s been talking like that for years, and…well, I don’t even know if he can turn it off now.”

Zeke used [Inspect] on the woman:

Geraldine Powers – Level 15

Geraldine stopped about halfway between Zeke and the mob, saying, “We really do need your help, though.”

“With what?” Zeke asked.

She glanced back at the tower – or more accurately, at the people on the balcony – then said, “You see that man up there? The one dressed all in black? He’s a shadow lich. And the creepy one with the pale skin? His undead servant. We found them half a mile from here and cornered them in their evil tower.”

“How do you know he’s a lich?” Zeke asked, playing along even though he felt like laughing aloud, despite the seriousness of the situation. If he said or did the wrong thing, every member of the mob would die.

“Um…undead companion?” Geraldine said. In the background, Zeke saw that Alex was still shaking his sword at Abby and the other two, hurling archaic insults their way. “She was eating a heart when we saw them.”

“Oh.”

“And he just disappeared into the shadows,” the woman explained. “Besides, look at him. The way he’s dressed, he’s got to be a bad guy. I don’t know what they did to bind the other one to their service, but…please, you have to help us.”

“What are you doing out here?” Zeke asked, glancing at the balcony where he saw that Abby was observing him. She gave him a helpless shrug, and he focused back on Geraldine. “As far as I know, there aren’t supposed to be any towns around here because of how close it is to the Lake of Flames.”

“We came that far east?” she muttered. “I had no idea…”

“Where are you from?” he asked. “Why are you so far from civilization? It’s dangerous out here.”

For a moment, she glared at him. “Don’t you think we know that?” she spat, the cautious friendliness gone from her voice. “We’ve been walking through the wilderness for almost a month, now, and we’ve had to fight almost every step of the way. When we set out, there were more than four-hundred of us…some were even evolved. But now…”

Zeke’s eyes narrowed. They’d lost three-quarters of their number, and yet, they still kept going. Clearly, they were running from something, and given what he knew about the situation in the Radiant Isles, he had a sneaking suspicion of what it was. Still, he needed her to say it. “What are you running from?”

She cocked her head the side, then said, “The war, of course. Our town – it wasn’t even a waystation, but it had stood for a hundred years. We had walls. We had warriors. The undead, they swept through it like it was nothing. We only escaped because we were forewarned. And we weren’t worth chasing for more than a few miles. But we couldn’t go back. We didn’t dare. So, we started heading toward Jariq. Lots of people are.”

Zeke sighed. “Shit.”

“Will you help us? We couldn’t deal with the undead horde, but with your help, we can rid the world of the blight in that tower. And –”

“No,” Zeke said. “This has gone far enough.”

“W-what? With your level, you could –”

“I won’t help you because those people up there are not your enemy,” Zeke stated. “They’re good people. They’re my friends. And that’s my tower.”

She reacted exactly how Zeke expected, backing away so quickly that she tripped over her own feet and tumbled to the ground. He didn’t move. “I have a deal for you, Geraldine,” he said. “Your people are starving. They’re hurt. And they need shelter. I can provide that. But if I do, you’re going to have to stow the aggression.”

“And if we don’t?”

“I’ll go into my tower, go to sleep for the night, and then head back to the Lake of Flames where I have a task to perform,” was his simple response. “I’m willing to help, but whether or not you accept that help has no bearing on what I do.”

“You would leave an enemy behind you?”

“We’re not enemies,” Zeke said. His voice turned cold. “Further, I could stand here and let each of you attack me all at once, and I doubt you could move me an inch from this spot. The bottom line is that you just aren’t a threat to me. Nor to the people in that tower. In fact, you’re lucky they didn’t just kill you to avoid the annoyance of having you outside.”

“We’ve survived so far,” she stated. “Against higher level creatures than –”

“Even one of them could have killed every single one of you,” he interrupted. “Abby could do so from the safety of that balcony. You’d never see Talia or Carlos. People would just start dying. I don’t say this to intimidate you. I’m telling you this because I don’t want it to come to that. I want to help, but I can’t make you accept it.”

“But the undead –”

“Talia is as human as I am,” he said, removing his helmet. He stowed it in his storage space, which drew a gasp. “She’s been through worse than you can imagine, and she’s still recovering from it. But she’s not like the ones you left behind. You’re just going to have to trust me on that. Or not. Either way, I’m tired of talking to you.”

With that, he strode past the woman, ignoring a still-yelling Alex as he passed the mob. Without another word, he mounted the ramp leading up to the door and, without a backward glance, opened it. Stepping inside, he closed it behind him. The moment it clanged shut, he remembered Pudge.

“Shit,” he muttered. He contacted the bear through the mental connection they shared, and to his surprise, Pudge seemed perfectly content to remain outdoors. Which made sense, Zeke supposed. He was still a bear, after all.

That taken care of, he strode forward, barely noting the sculptures lining the walls or the carvings on the staircase leading up to the next level. Instead, he mounted the steps and quickly found his way to the level that housed the suite he shared with Abby. Predictably, she was there waiting for him.

“What do you want to do about them?” she asked.

He let his shoulders sag. Even with [Heart of the Berserker] still active, it was beginning to take a toll on him. Soon, his endurance would be completely sapped, and it would start draining his mana and vital energy. From a physical standpoint, he still felt fine, but the mental exhaustion of holding onto the skill for so long was beginning to wear on him.

“I offered our help,” he said. “If they choose to take it, we’ll feed them and shelter them in the tower. They’ll be confined to the bottom floor, though. But for now, I really need some rest. I…I might be out for a couple of days.”

“Did you find the moss?” she asked.

“I did,” he said. “But I got another quest. I’ll explain it once I’ve had a chance to rest.”

“Okay,” she said. “What if those people out there don’t want our help? What if they attack?”

Zeke sighed, already removing his armor. Even though he wore a padded suit beneath, he felt naked without the blood mithril armor. “Just ignore them,” he said. “Close everything up and wait until I’m done. They can’t hurt us.”

“They can’t hurt you,” she corrected. “If they all attacked me or Carlos, we’d have a hard time.”

“We don’t really have much in the way of choices, do we? It’s either help them, ignore them, or kill them,” he said. “I hope they’ll allow us to help, but…well, you know how people are. It won’t be easy to convince them to take our help.”

“I know,” she said. “We’ll do what we have to do, I suppose. In the meantime, let’s finish getting you out of the armor and into a shower so you can get some rest. I’ll hold down the fort.”

“Thanks,” he said, his words a little slurred. He was more exhausted than he’d expected. Still, he managed to finish undressing and scrub himself clean in the shower attached to their suite. However, the moment his head hit the pillow, and he, at last deactivated his skill, he descended into blessed unconsciousness. As he drifted off to sleep, he could only hope that a less exhausted mind could figure out the solutions to his problems.