Path of Dragons

“Master, it looks at us with ire!” spat one of the little demons as it hopped from one pile of rubble to the next, clearly incapable of standing still. “Make it stop!”

“Deal with it,” muttered Benedict with a shake of his head. He shrugged at Elijah, then apologized before saying, “They’re a little odd.”

That was definitely true. The four creatures looked similar enough that Elijah had some difficulty telling them apart, especially when they never stopped moving. But as much as they’d tossed glares his way, they didn’t seem terribly hostile – to him, at least. The same could not be said for Sadie or Dat, who were the subject of quite a lot of animosity from the demons.

That ire was reciprocated, and Elijah knew that if the circumstances had allowed for it, the two would have slaughtered the demons. And Benedict as well, now that they had seen his nature. Thankfully, they were both capable – Dat more than Sadie – of pushing their feelings aside for the greater good.

Even so, Elijah knew it was only a matter of time before they erupted into violence, but he had no idea how to deal with it. Angels and Demons were mortal enemies, to the point where they naturally hated one another even without any other information.

But even with all of that, Elijah was far more interested in two other things. First, there was Oscar Ramirez and his dog pack. He’d gotten a glimpse of how they fought, and he was incredibly impressed with how much power and versatility they could bring to bear. Even that small glimpse had made it clear just how Oscar had remained near the top of Earth’s power rankings.

It did beg the question of what the system thought of the dogs, though. To Elijah, they didn’t feel quite like guardians, monsters, or beasts. Nor did they seem like people. Instead, they were somewhere in between, and what’s more, they were obviously intelligent.

Most of all, though, they were adorable, and Elijah wanted nothing more than to sit on the ground and be buried under a blanket of happy dogs.

The situation wouldn’t allow for that, though, which brought him to the other thing that interested him. He’d felt the Immortal that had attacked Oscar and Benedict, and he could say without a shadow of a doubt that they had been a monster on par with the hydra or the spider he’d fought so long ago.

But that was impossible, wasn’t it? Not that long ago, they’d all been people. Now…now, they were something else. At least some of them were.

It just didn’t make sense.

After a few more minutes, they found their way out of the Nexus Town and proceeded to travel a couple more miles before Elijah announced that they’d reached a relatively safe area. Once there, they deployed their precautions – including Elijah’s monster-repelling tent – and settled down for a long discussion.

Ron asked the most obvious question. “What the hell is going on? What happened?”

Oscar shook his head, saying, “I don’t know.” He spoke with a thick Spanish accent, though Elijah got the impression that the system wasn’t translating. He also had one of the larger dogs draped across his lap, where it was contentedly snoring. The others – all except the chihuahua, who was staring back the way they’d come – were sprawled all around the man. “I think…I don’t know how they got the way they are, but they feel…wrong.”

“They are, bro,” Dat said, sitting next to Sadie. He’d settled down a little, but the woman was very much on edge. She hadn’t taken her eyes from Benedict, who sat as far away as possible, since they’d stopped. “My skill says they’re monsters. They don’t have classes or levels, either. Just…a lot of attributes. It’s something to do with their scars.”

“Why do you say that?” asked Ron.

“That’s what my skill said. ‘Beware the scarred,’ it told me,” Dat explained. “I think…I think they get stronger each time they survive something that should have killed them.”

“This ain’t good,” Kurik muttered. “This is really, really bad.”

“What? Do you know something?” Elijah asked.

“I’ve heard some stories, but until now, I didn’t think they were true,” Kurik said. “But seein’ what I just saw, I think some of our legends might be more historical than they seemed when I was young.”

He took a deep breath. “These Immortals, they bear a strikin’ resemblance to one of our myths. There was this dwarf, she was an outcast even before she got her class. Name of Turi.”

“Just Turi? No surname?” asked Ron.

“Not in the story. She had a title, though. Turi the Undying. She took the Tactician archetype, you see? Her parents and the other outcasts, they were tired of bein’ shunned by the rest of the clans. So, they prepared her for war, teachin’ her everything she needed to know ‘bout battle. But after she got that class, they were raided. Only a few escaped. And then, while she was on the run, she got her class.

“It was called Eternal Lord,” Kurik went on. “Or that’s what the myth said. Stories have a tendency to twist things around, though. In the story, she had the ability to grant immortality to her people. They had to agree to it. That’s how all Tacticians work. They only have authority over people who’re loyal to ‘em.

“Anyway, after she got that class, she built her forces up, only usin’ her skill on the best of the best. Then, they attacked one of her old clan’s outposts, and let me tell you, when powerful people can’t die, it makes fightin’ a foregone conclusion. They massacred ‘em, which only brought her more followers. On and on it went for years as she swept across the continent.

“But then things started to change, and it became clear why most civilized worlds keep an eye out for that kind of class,” the dwarf said with a gruff sigh. “Immortality ain’t cheap. It took a lot of ethera to grant it to her followers, but nobody knew the real cost. Nobody could have, ‘cause those kinds of classes are shut down the second anyone in charge finds ‘em.”

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“What is it?” asked Elijah.

“They lose everything,” Kurik said. “Every time that blessing keeps ‘em from dyin’, they lose a little bit of whatever makes ‘em people. And if it happens enough, they cross the line into bein’ monsters. But they don’t lose their minds. Not altogether. They’re still in there, and they’re still mostly in control, except for the worst of the worst. Those people lose their classes. Their levels. They lose control, becomin’ rabid monsters who only want to do their masters’ bidding. They’re no different from summoned minions, at that point.”

“How did the story end?” Ron asked.

“With a whole lot of death. Those monsters might be immortal, but Turi wasn’t. It took an alliance between all the clans, but they eventually fought through her minions and killed her. And that was only possible ‘cause the minions couldn’t really advance, other than to get stronger each time they should’ve died,” he explained. “If this is like that, it ain’t good. We should get out of this Trial as soon as we can.”

“That sounds like what I saw,” Benedict added. “The ones I’ve fought were stronger than they should have been.”

“Perhaps you were simply too weak. Too craven. Too demonic,” Sadie spat. “I should kill you right now, just to rid this jungle of your foul stench.”

“You are more than welcome to try, Angel. I must warn you that it will not be as easy as you suppose.”

“Enough,” Elijah said. “You two don’t like one another. I understand that, even if I think it’s silly, given that before you knew about your cores, you were fine with each other. Maybe you should look into that before you start killing people based on what kind of core they have.” Sadie started to say something, but Elijah continued over her, “Regardless, our backs are against the wall here, right? We can’t afford to overlook any potential alliances. So, let’s work together at least long enough to figure out how to deal with this situation.”

Left unsaid was that if the Angels and Demon couldn’t get along – at least for a while – Elijah would simply walk away. And Kurik and Ron would likely come with him. Sadie had clearly seen enough to recognize just how unlikely she was to survive going it alone, so she went silent. However, Elijah could still hear her teeth grinding together.

Meanwhile, Benedict said, “I have no issues working together.”

“Good. Then, we need to figure out what we’re going to do here. I’m not willing to leave the Trial. So, I think we should just head off into the wilderness and create a base of operations well away from Nexus Town. Then, we can –”

“They have hostages,” Oscar said.

“What?”

“The Immortals took custody of all the crafters and non-combatants, and they’ve been forcing them to work for them,” he explained. “That’s what started all of this. They were trying to negotiate something with a group of crafters, and things went wrong. After that, the Immortals took over. There was a lot of fighting, but when the enemy can’t die…”

“Dammit,” Elijah muttered, knowing that the crafters in question were probably Atticus’ people. It wasn’t a certainty, but as far as he knew, there was only one organized group of non-combatants in Nexus Town, and they were led by his friend. “Survivors?”

“Most of them surrendered after their guards were cut down,” Oscar stated.

At that, Ron shook his head. “Those people chose to stay in Nexus Town because they thought it was safe. Even the guards just wanted an opportunity to make connections and get some decent equipment. This is my fault. I should have stayed in –”

“You’re not responsible for this,” Elijah insisted.

“Yeah, bro. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Tell that to all the people I failed,” the Healer said. Then, he added, “We have to save them.”

“I don’t intend on abandoning them, and I don’t think anyone else here is either,” Elijah said, looking from one person to the next. Predictably, the rest of his group all wore steely expressions of grim determination. They’d all befriended Atticus, to one extent or another, and they were not the sort of people to leave a friend in need.

Even Benedict seemed entirely willing. The only outlier was Oscar, who said, “I don’t know these people. They don’t know me. I want to help, but…I will not risk my pack for nothing. Do you have a plan?”

“Not yet,” Elijah said. “But Dat and I are going to go back into town and scout things out. Hopefully, we’ll figure it out by then.”

After that, no one had much else to say. So, once everyone had a chance to recover from the previous battle – Oscar and Benedict had incurred a few wounds – Elijah approached Sadie and asked, “Can I speak to you in private?”

She nodded and followed him a few dozen yards away. The spot Elijah had chosen for the conversation was a small clearing that played host to a lightning-struck tree. It was twisted and black, but Elijah could feel a pulse of life deep beneath the surface. It was down – nearly dead – but it refused to give in. Elijah could relate.

“What do you want, Elijah?” Sadie asked.

“I want to know that you’re not going to fly off the handle,” he said. “I realize that your skill affects you, that you can’t always control it. But –”

“I can control it just fine.”

Elijah sighed. “It was weeks before you could look at me with anything other than disgust,” he said. “Even now, it feels like you’re looking for a reason to hate me. And I get it. I can be difficult to like. But I’ve done nothing to hurt you in any way. This isn’t about me, though. This is about Benny.”

“Don’t do that.”

“What?”

“Give him a little nickname to make him seem less dangerous than he is,” Sadie said. “Do you know what I see when I look at him?”

“Something similar to what you see when you look at me?”

“No. It’s worse. So, so much worse. I don’t know how I missed it before,” she explained. “I think he must have an ability that masks his demonic nature. Those things he has with him…I have some experience with summoners, and I know something of what’s required to cast those spells. Each is the result of at least one sacrifice. Perhaps more, given their power.”

“Power? Those little things?”

“Imps are fragile, but they can cast potent spells. That is beside the point, Elijah. I have spoken to you about Sense of Sin. It tells me that you have killed many people. I have tried to look past it, but…”

“But it’s hard. I’ve had similar issues in the past,” Elijah said, thinking back to his reactions to the bear guardian’s death, what felt like a lifetime ago. In addition, his initial impressions of Ironshore had been colored by his biased perspective. The attunement to nature gave him quite a few advantages, but it also influenced him in many unforeseen ways. The same was assuredly true of Sadie’s attunement – whatever it was – and her Angel Core. The Sense of Sin ability just made it more overt. “The fact is that we can’t afford to let our biases influence us here. Benedict is powerful, especially if those imps are as strong as you say. Even without them, he could influence a battle. And he’s already helped us.”

“While lying through his teeth. You don’t sincerely believe that demon we encountered in the junkyard was unrelated to him, do you? His story was a lie. Likely, he attacked those people first,” Sadie guessed.

“We don’t know that.”

“He is a demon. That should speak for itself,” Sadie countered.

Elijah sighed. “Regardless, I need to know that you’re not going to try to kill him the second my back is turned,” he said. “We need as much help as we can get right now. Atticus and his people won’t survive otherwise. Just don’t attack him unless he makes the first move.”

“You ask much.”

“I know. Do it for Atticus. For those innocent crafters.”

“There is no such thing as innocence,” she responded. “However, I will agree to this under one condition.”

“What’s that?”

“When the time comes – and it will – you will help me put the demon down,” she said. “I will not attack except in retaliation, but I am certain that this alliance will end poorly. When it does, I expect you to be on the right side.”

“Always,” Elijah said, though he wasn’t certain that his interpretation of right and wrong was the same as Sadie’s. Whatever the case, now that he’d ensured that she wouldn’t murder the man outright, he and Dat had a job to do.

So, without further ado, Elijah headed back to the temporary camp, gathered the Witch Hunter, and set out for Nexus Town.

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