Elysium's Multiverse

Chapter 202

Chapter 202

Trees cast shadows on their cabin. The sounds of the campfire crackling under the night sky grew louder as Julie added a handful of dry twigs. The young redheaded woman gave Hakim a wide smile, sitting down next to him as he roasted marshmallows over an open fire and kissing him on the cheek.

“You look unusually happy tonight.” Julie said while wrapping her arms around his waist in the warm forest breeze. She glanced over to her mother Tanya, and her brother Tim who’d managed to regrow his lost limb after they’d spent all their hard earnings from the dungeon experience with Riven on a series of high quality potions.

Tanya, who was putting another marshmallow on a stick and handing it to her teenage son, smiled back at her daughter who looked absolutely stunning in the formfitting white healer’s robes she had multiple copies of. “You make us all happy to be around, Julie. Your energy is infectious.”

Hakim chuckled and pulled out a flaming ball of what had once been edible, sighing when the others laughed at him before pulling it off and tossing it into the fire pit. His shirtless chest was heavily tattooed now, given the abilities and body enhancements he’d acquired, which only kept Julie’s eyes on him longer. “Yes, your mother is right. How lucky I was to have met you!”

Julie flushed in embarrassment, but not before Tim gave a loud snort.

“My sister still snores and farts far to often for my liking.”

Julie gasped as her mother and lover began to loudly laugh around the campfire. Glaring at her little brother, she crossed her arms and harumphed. “I do NOT SNORE! And it isn’t my fault I’m lactose intolerant!”

“You could stop eating cheese.”

“BLASPHEMY! Mom’s pizza is too good! I’D RATHER DIE!”

The sound of laughter rose, but the sound of heavy boots trudging through the forest towards them caused the small group to pause. Hakim glanced down the forested hill towards the outskirts of town where tiny lights littered the dark landscape, and coming out of the darkness a familiar figure stepped forward.

It was Caleb, the same man who’d entered the dungeon with them when Riven had shown up. He still carried his semi-automatic rifle, though he’d upgraded some of the runes along the weapon’s side to empower its shots, and had the typical camo outfit he liked with a pair of night vision goggles on top of his head.

He pulled the goggles off when he came around the bend in the forest path and strode forward with a smile to the cheers and waves of the others. “Hey guys! Sorry I’m late.”

Hakim’s large muscles flexed as he gripped his battle axe and waved it around in mock threat. “Yes, how dare you not be faster! You court death!”

Julie rolled her eyes and handed Caleb a long stick with a marshmallow attached to it, smiling gently when the man took it in turn and sat beside her mother on the other side of the firepit. “Glad to see you came safely.”

“I’ve got a scout class! I can usually see danger a mile away. Literally.” Caleb winked, setting down his rifle and pulling out a small sack of goods from a backpack. He tossed over some twinkies, a couple chocolate bars, some pre-cooked hotdogs with buns, and some paper plates before pulling out the big kicker: the vodka.

“OOOOOoooooh! Caleb!” Tanya said in a teasing flirty voice while waggling her eyebrows. “You never told me you were bringing alcohol!”

Caleb’s face grew bright red when his friends’ mother nudged up against him, and both Julie and Hakim began to cackle loudly while Tim rolled his eyes.

Julie grabbed one of the hot dogs from Tim and then shook her head. “Mom you need to stop doing that or he’s going to think you’re serious one of these days.”

“Who says I’m NOT serious!? I’m totally into younger, handsome men!” Tanya retorted with a frown, briefly glancing at Caleb sitting on the log next to her while his face went from red nearly to purple in embarrassment. Her grin only grew wider, but she spared him further stress by giving him a little bit of space and giggling. “So Caleb, how did you like the new clothes I made you?”

Taking the olive branch immediately, Caleb cleared his throat and shuffled nervously with the food in his lap - arranging it and rearranging it on the paper plate while avoiding death glares from Tim. “They’re great! The stat boosts they give me are definitely appreciated, your skills are getting better”

Tanya beamed and started pouring herself a tiny cup of vodka. “Glad you think so. However, I do believe…”

Her voice trailed off and her eyes widened when, under the starry sky and with the backdrop of the small town in the distance, five men silently appeared on the forested edge of their clearing. All were utterly silent, all dressed in black with white masks that hid most of their face. The familiar symbol of two crossed daggers hung as tiny metal amulets around each of their necks.

It didn’t take long after that for the others to take notice, and Hakim slowly turned to stand while hesitantly reaching for his axe and silently activating some physical buffs. His brows furrowed, and the five masked men turned their attention to him next.

One of them, the central figure, raised a finger and wagged it back and forth. “Do not be so hasty to start such violence, Hakim. We are not here to do you harm, we are merely sent as messengers. How you respond to that message dictates what happens next.”

Hakim’s nose wrinkled, and he put his body in front of Julie’s while the rest of his tiny guild behind him. “I already told Matt that I spent everything I had. Tim’s leg took a lot of money to regenerate, I am not hiding anything and even if I were - it wasn’t Matt’s to take.”

The central figure snorted, brushing Hakim’s reply aside with a wave of his hand. “That isn’t my concern. What is my concern, is that we were paid to bring the lot of you in for a discussion.”

“How much did he pay you?”

The figure shrugged indifferently. “The Red Hand paid in items rather than Elysium Coins. Not many people have direct access to the altars anyways in this remote section of the world, so items are better suited for our needs unless we wish to travel. But that doesn’t matter. What matters is whether or not you’re going to come quietly, or whether or not you’re going to come missing a member or two.”

Shadows in the forest began to move, and Hakim’s eyes narrowed when more hooded figures on their right and left made themselves visible - if only barely.

Tanya shuffled nervously, and her son Tim got to his feet with a gritting scowl.

“This is robbery, a shakedown. Plain and simple.” Tim snarled, clutching at a small pistol at his side.

Immediately hidden weapons were revealed from the people on the perimeter, with a variation of knives, wands, crossbows, and guns.

The central figurehead of the group slowly nodded. “You’re probably right. But in this world, where the apocalypse has descended and all around us monsters try to chew away what little we have left, you cannot blame me for attempting to make a living. I am an honest mercenary, and if that occasionally includes escorting particular groups of people to their enemies then so be it. I will say though, The Red Hand doesn’t seem like they’re entirely convinced of your hidden treasures either - so as a gift to old friends, I tell you now that there’s a decent chance you could talk your way out of this when you get there. Matt may be a thug, but he’s not stupid. What is not negotiable, is the fact that you’re coming either way.”

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***

Riven stayed in the shadows, a small demonic snake wrapped around his right arm while a spider clung to his left shoulder, and a shadowy jackal with red eyes sitting at his feet; dismissing the status page notification and having been impressed with Luke’s progression. The old man, elf turned thrall, was almost completely healed. Riven didn’t know how much power he’d retained or if any or all of the old man’s abilities had finally come back after their link had slowly put Luke’s soul back together piece by piece - but he could visibly see the change in the old man’s body. Riven was happy that he’d briefly stopped by before going into the underdark, because though he had less savory responsibilities as the most powerful person in the Thane Necropolis - he always enjoyed watching the small, important, and often overlooked things in life play out.

Luke was playing with the children of the large orphanage Riven had set up in central Brightsville, and was laughing loudly as they climbed over his robes or threw buckets of water at one another. A couple of them were even practicing small forms of magic and miracles, with Luke specifically having taught many of them tiny amounts of wind and water magic from the Storm Subpillar - forgoing the lightning based abilities just yet.

Three stories high and guarded at all times by soldiers of the army, this place was not only a vibrant and thriving school for the children who’d lost their families - but was also an experiment of sorts in real time. Different children were progressing down different roads of cultivation, learning, and even crafting paths.

Crafting paths. He snorted with a shake of his head. He’d been wanting to pursue Totem Making for quite a while now, it fascinated him, and it’d be a nice stress reliever. But he’d simply not had time with everything going on the way it was.

The thought made him wonder just how Hakim and the others were doing. Hopefully they were alright. It’d been a while, but they did have that artifact to call him if need arose - so he was sure everything was as it should be.

“What thinking?” Azmoth asked in a gruff, demonic voice - leaning into the large magma-infused warhammer in front of him to support his enormous weight. “Look deep in thought.”

Riven glanced left and smiled, his Gluttony-attuned helmet peeling back to reveal his pale features. “Yeah. I was just thinking back to my friends from the tutorial, the ones I knew before I ever even met you. It’s been a while, I was just mentally wishing them well.”

Azmoth nodded sagely. “Is good to have friends. You need more.”

“Oh? Do I?” Riven grinned, slapping the large metallic shoulder of the obsidian plates fused into Azmoth’s flesh. “I’ve got you guys! I’ve got…”

His smile faltered as he remembered Fay. His world quickly turned from that of an upbeat, warm feeling - to that of a cold and sad place. It showed on his face, and Athela reached up one of her spider legs to lightly touch his cheek.

“You miss her.” Athela said sadly. “I can tell.”

Riven abruptly cleared his throat, then looked down to the spider with a nod. “Yeah. I do. But I wouldn’t ever give you up, she forced my hand.”

“Are you mad at me?” Riven considered the question, then sighed. “Slightly. But I love you Athela, and I don’t hold it against you. Let’s just drop it for now, ok?”

Athela hesitantly nodded her arachnid head, clicked her mandibles twice, and then snuggled into his neck where the red blood silk underlayer of his armor met with the ivory plates mail. “Ok.”

Yattazi seemed interested in the exchange - molten eyes glancing between the other three as a tongue flicked out underneath dark gray scales. “Who issss this persssson you talk about? And can we find food sssssoon? I wasss wanting to cook! Dwarf, preferably!”

Azmoth snickered at the last comment, but quickly contained himself when he realized laughing right now probably wasn’t appropriate. “”We eat many dwarves together in underdark. Patience tiny snake.”

“I am MASSIVE dear brutalisk!”

“Not right now you aint!” Athela quipped back with a tiny tongue sticking out. “Right now you’re a slug! A teeny tiny ugly slug!”

The rather sleek, dangerous looking snake wrapped around Riven’s arm rolled her eyes - getting a chittering laugh from the spider.

“I am going to eat that ssspider, masssster.”

Athela dramatically gasped. “Bring it bitch!”

Riven sighed with a shake of his head, though he was now smiling again. Yes, he supposed it was good to have friends such as these. Pushing off the wall in the alley he was viewing the three-story tall orphanage from, he made his presence known while stepping into the light.

Immediately the guards around the perimeter of the orphanage tensed and bowed their heads, clapping hands to their chests in a salute. There were orcs, humans, cyborgs, ghouls, skresh, and even a few goblins in the mix of the guards stationed here for the time being - making it a rather diverse outfit of over 50 people protecting nearly three thousand kids that lived here. The caretakers, mostly ghoul and human women but also having a good number of elves who had chosen to stay behind, all stiffened on the playgrounds in turn when seeing him approach. Some of them even prostrated themselves, while others, tried to round the children up to hush them or push them inside.

The only one who did did not freak out was Luke. The old man’s skin had a leathery appearance to it when he smiled, and his smile only grew wider upon seeing Riven approach. He waved, putting down a little boy he’d been playing mock-wrestling with, and walked forward to meet his master with a hand outstretched.

“Good to see you!” Luke called out, surprising Riven by pulling him into a brief hug and stepping back. “How have you been!? It’s been a while since we sparred, have you come to bring me in for more lessons?”

Riven’s eyes softened while taking in the little children who stared up at him in from a nearby picnic table and a jungle gym on his left. “No. I think your place is here, more than teaching me how to be a pathetic excuse for a warrior.”

The elf thrall’s eyes widened in surprise, then he began to laugh while putting his hands on his hips. “I suppose you weren’t the greatest in up close combat, but you sure look the part with all that heavy armor you’re lugging around. And hello to the rest of you! Azmoth, Athela, Jackal, Messenger, and…”

He gave each of them a head nod - even the maw along the armor set that gurgled back at him, before staring at the snake wrapped around Riven’s arm. He raised an eyebrow. “New minion?”

“You got it. Her name is Yattazi, and she’s usually a lot bigger than this - but I can’t go around the city with a massive snake now can I? She’d rip everything up.”

The snake, who’d been curiously examining the children nearby, turned her spined head to the older man and flicked her tongue out to display fangs crackling with chaos energy. “Hello, fellow servant of the massster! I am Yattazi, devourer of the living and great sssserpant of the volcano! You may kowtow before me one thousand times and ssshower me with giftsss for being allowed to basssk in my presssence!!! For I have gracioussssly chosssen not to eat you!”

Athela chittered in amusement when Luke’s face fell.

“I see she’s a keeper.” Luke replied flatly, ignoring the snake and turning to Athela. “You told her to say that, didn’t you?”

Athela took in a deep inhale, aghast. “HOW DID YOU KNOW!?”

“That is exactly something that you would say. If Riven ended up getting two demons with your personality, I think this necropolis would be in for a real shit show.” He shook his head. “So what is it that brings you here then, Riven? Anything I can help you with, if not training?”

Riven’s smile returned. “I just wanted to check in and see how you were doing. Don’t get me wrong, we’ll train later, but I have things to do and it’d simply been a while. You’re looking good, healthy even. I also saw your soul degredation was only at 3% now, you’ve come a long ways. Have your abilities returned?”

The old man grinned mischeviously, pulling his hands out of his simple robes and producing a baseball sized orb of water that began to crackle with lightning. “Yes. Though not all of them. The most prominent miracles I have are still being set into place, but I can feel them. They’re almost here.”

Riven’s smile grew wider. “Awesome. You’ll have to teach me more about the difference between miracles and spells later on. I know the basics, but not many people use miracles here.”

“That will change very fast if I have any say about it.” Luke hiked a thumb over his shoulder to the children in the background. “They’re all really fast learners, and I’ve even captured a couple weak monsters for them to battle against in practice rounds! It’ll all be controlled obviously, but cultivating the younger generations is something every great faction starts very early. At least that’s how it was on Zazir before the merging of worlds. Now with the system here and the levels we can gain though… it may be even more important.”

Riven clapped the old man on the shoulder. “Glad to hear it. Do you work with Mara a lot? She is supposed to be overseeing these kinds of things.”

“I do.” Luke replied with a nod. “That hottie is really something else…”

“Mara? The ghoul necromancer?”

“Yes, that’s the one.”

“You think she’s pretty?” Riven replied with a teasing grin.

Luke only blinked. “Well I’m straight and I’m not blind, so obviously so. She’s gorgeous! Just because you surround yourself with beautiful women like Athela, Kathrine and… Others, doesn’t mean the rest of us get so lucky all the time. Contain yourself and save some of the women for the rest of us, damn you!”

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Athela let on another dramatic gasp, hopped off Riven’s shoulder and morphed into her humanoid form. She put both handed on the old man’s face to pinch his cheeks with affection. “YOU’RE SO NICE! Riven, wrinkles here just got a lot of brownie points. Treat him well, and tha plan you had to eat him - scratch that. We’ll just eat Genua instead.”

Riven could only facepalm and roll his eyes. “Stop harassing my teacher. Anyways, it was good seeing you Luke. I’ve got some ratkin and dwarves to visit in the underdark, along with some native vampires too if what Snagger told me was accurate. Take care, keep safe, and I’ll be sure to drag you out for a practice match whenever I get back.”

Luke gave him a thumbs up after swatting away Athela’s fingers with a scowl. “This is how you do it, yes?”

Riven chuckled. “Yes, that’s the thumbs up motion. You have it right. Adios my friend.”

“Yes, adios to you too Riven. I’ll see you later.”

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