Rise of the Devourer

Book 2: Chapter 53 — The Dragon's Vault

Noah looked around the vault, feeling the energy coming from all the artifacts vying for his attention. He knew the sensation wasn’t just his imagination. Little wisps of mana moved from the artifacts interacting with his aura as they drew Noah towards them.

“Before you go wandering around the place, I have a suggestion if you’d like to hear it,” Zax said, standing above Snow as magical runes flowed around his palm.

“Sure, what is it?” Noah asked the dragon.

“The girl, she is a Slave is she not? From the sight of her, we can sense her soul. She is far too weak and small for someone of her age, and now that she is inside this life-essence, it will try to correct that. But her collar will resist the changes,” Zax said, the magic continuing around his hands even as he talked.

Noah frowned, looking at Snow’s collar glowing dimly as her wounds healed.

“The girl is not someone we know of, so this is not our matter to decide. But we know your personality fairly well by now, and we know what it is like to be bound in chains. As such, if you think it is something you wish to do, then we suggest breaking her collar.”

“I looked into it. It was one of my first thoughts. But if I try to break it forcefully the collar will kill her. It’s why I was forced to think of alternatives,” Noah said, as he looked at Snow. The girl’s pale skin began to take on a slightly healthier shade for the first time since he’d seen her.

“Not if we’re here. The spell on the collar can be interfered with, and stopped for the duration you tug at it. If not for our own shackles, we would have broken her collar on our own.”

“You can do that?” Noah asked, eyes wide.

“Do you doubt our capabilities?” Zax asked, huffing.

“No, no I don’t,” Noah said, looking back at Snow. Watching the sleeping girl, his expression became resolved. “Let’s do it then. I’d already promised her I would free her. It’s about time I followed through on my word.”

Zax smiled, lightning crackling around him. Extending his hand, the Dragon slowly lifted Snow up in the air, keeping her floating at chest height for Noah.

“The process is the same as what you did for us. But this time, we will help offset the spell and make it a little easier on you. On our signal, start pulling.”

Noah nodded.

The dragon floated his hand over Snow’s collar, as lightning sparked between his fingers, igniting the runes on her collar. A moment later, he pulled a small glowing orb from inside the collar, before crushing it in his fingers. “You may begin.”

Noah grabbed Snow’s collar, feeling the suppression trying to resist him. Letting his mana and aura settle around him, he pushed back against the Aura’s resistance. The chains on his arms flared to life, wrapping around the collar, as Noah felt a stronger grip directly from his spirit tugging onto the collar.

With a tug Noah pulled at the collar. Mana crackled with exploding sparks, as the collar began to vibrate angrily. Energy flowed in through the collar, but Noah simply drank it in, assimilating into his body.

[Mana Reversal] broke down the spell, as his own mana began to pull.

A blinding flash came from the collar, as a crack appeared in the metal. Noah groaned, his muscles bulging as he put his body weight into breaking the collar.

Crack.

With a shattering burst of sparks, the metal exploded into pieces, flying all around. Noah was flung backwards, falling onto the ground with a burnt piece of the collar in his hands, now smoking and sparkling as its mana slowly vanished.

Zax raised his hand, and captured the broken shards of the collar, bringing them to the dragon. With another gesture, he gently lowered Snow back into the pool of life-essence, still sleeping and unaware of the freedom she’d been granted.

“A disgusting tool,” Zax said, looking at the pieces of the collar. With one finger, he separated the part with the only glowing rune on it, before moving it towards Noah.

“You should be able to absorb this piece. Similar to what you did with our chains,” Zax said, leaving the collar piece in Noah’s hand.

Noah looked at the small chunk of metal, with runes carved onto it. Closing his eyes, he tried to probe it with [Devourer].

A moment or two passed, before Noah opened his eyes again. “I don’t think I can do that consciously yet.”

“Ah, that explains some things,” Zax said, humming to himself. “Keep the piece with yourself. It cannot harm anyone anymore.”

Noah nodded, throwing the metal piece into his Dimensional Pocket before he pulled himself back on his feet. Dusting off himself, he glanced at Snow, watching the girl sleep peacefully.

“Will she be alright now?” Noah asked.

“She’ll be better than alright. A pool like this, if misused, causes cancerous overgrowth. But the void beast inside her drained her life. Had she continued to live as she had, she would’ve died by the time she turned twenty. Now, if she can gain a suitable path and embark upon it, she may live for centuries.”

Noah looked at Snow, trying to use Identify on her and found the Perk unreactive.

“Will she be able to pick a Path now? I don’t see the Slave one anymore,” Noah said.

“When she wakes up, she’ll have the ability to choose. But that may take some time. With the life-essence, her body will begin to fill in the growth it had been unable to reach thus far. She will need some time to adjust to the changes,” Zax said, before extending his hand. A dome of mana formed around the pool of water Snow was in, before the entire section vanished. “We’ve placed her in our spatial storage. When she awakens, we will bring her back.”

Noah nodded, feeling a weight lifted off his chest. He glanced down at his hands, looking at the chains now wrapped around his forearms with runic symbols. “Chainbreaker huh. It might not be such a bad name after all.”

“To free those who are bound, it is a noble task,” Zax replied.

“I may have selfish reasons for wanting to do so, makes it feel a lot less noble,” Noah replied.

“We all have selfish desires. To me, that simply means you are helping yourself as well as others. A win-win, as you would call it,” Zax said.

Noah grinned at the dragon’s words.

“Alright, is there anything here that I can use? I know you told me not to touch anything, so I’ll just let you point out what may be helpful. I’d feel better if I can go in prepared.”

Zax frowned, thinking to himself. “Truthfully speaking, Noah, almost everything here is simply beyond your capability to use.”

“What do you mean?” Noah asked.

“Can you see item ranks, Noah?”

“Item ranks?” Noah asked, confused.

“It seems not. Items also have ranks dictating their strength. For example, that mana weapon tattoo on your shoulder is a Rank E item. This means that you require Rank E amounts of mana to successfully use that item. It is the same idea behind how a Rank A legendary Path is not the same as a Rank F one. Higher Rank items are more powerful, so even a legendary Rank F item will likely be meaningless against a rare Rank D item. The items we have collected here are nearly all Rank A or Ascendant rank.”

“Huh,” Noah said, looking around him once again. “That… kinda makes sense.”

Zax nodded. “It is why you find yourself having greater strength than others. A rank F epic path will simply not be the same as a rank E epic path. Which is why when your familiar evolved, you saw Rare path options as well. Because that too was an increase in strength for your familiar.”

Noah frowned, thinking over the dragon’s words. “So it can make sense to go down in rarity sometimes when you rank up?”

“Indeed. Your rewards will not be the same when you have reached your class rank up. That said, it is still better to find an equal grade or higher, if you can.”

“Makes sense,” Noah replied.

“Now, back to your original inquiry. We do think we have something… let us see,” Zax said, glancing around the vault. A moment later, he raised his hand, and a mirror rose up before gently resting in his hand.

“You can see people you have significant fate with through this mirror. Though not everyone may appear equally,” Zax said, handing Noah the mirror.

Noah used identify.

[Mirror of Friend Finding (Legendary)]

Find your friends, through this mirror, allowing you to check upon their wellbeing regardless of how far they may be. Even though it’s a massive invasion of their privacy. The mirror will not work should you not have a significant enough tie to the person you wish to seek.

Noah looked at the information, snorting to himself. “That looks like a weak ability for a legendary artifact,” Noah said. “Can only see friends with this.”

“It is admittedly limited in who it can be used upon, but the legendary nature comes from its ability to have no limits upon how far you can look. You cannot use any scrying through this rift, but the mirror will still work for those outside it,” Zax replied.

Noah hummed, turning the mirror around, looking for a switch or rune to use it.

“What’re you doing?” Zax asked.

“Trying to see how to use it,” Noah said.

“Simply send your mana in and say the name of the person you wish to see,” Zax said.

Feeling a little embarrassed, Noah coughed, before he sent a pulse of his mana into the mirror.

“Aurelia.”

The mirror lit up and Noah saw Aurelia, walking in a dark cavernous place. A few creatures moved after her as she quickly struck at them.

“Aurelia, hey!” Noah called out, but found the woman unresponsive. “Guess she can’t hear me.”

“No, though she looks to be inside the sewers beneath the castle. She should be here in a few hours at best,” Zax replied.

Noah let the image fade, pouring his mana in once more. “Erwest.”

The paladin’s image formed quickly as he walked through what looked like a cellar, covered in black tendrils from abyssal creatures.

“And your other friend is in the bottom layer of the castle it seems,” Zax said, looking through the mirror. “We should be able to bring him up here faster.”

Noah nodded, letting the images fade. Now that he’d checked up on his teammates he wondered who else he could see.

“Nae,” Noah said, watching the woman seated next to Raesar, alongside other important looking figures. Noah watched the meeting continue, the expressions grim and serious around them.

As he looked around, Noah flinched when he saw Nae looking back directly at him, before the image flickered out.

“Oh, she noticed the spell. A clever one, that girl,” Zax said, impressed.

Noah shrugged, thinking over who else he would like to see. “Avera,” he said, and a moment later the goddess’ palace opened up in his vision.

“Noah?” the goddess said, looking at him in confusion. “What a strange spell you have used. And is that- I see. I hope you are not troubling your companion too much,” Avera said, before her gaze turned towards Zax. “We still lament Ryugan’s passing. There have not been many others like him since.”

Zax gave a nod to the goddess. “Ryugan had mentioned how much he enjoyed your library, goddess. It was the one place he had truly felt home.”

“We know, my dear. And we miss the boy,” Avera said, before she returned her eyes to Noah. “Try not to pry into the domains of gods if you can, not all of us will enjoy the intrusion,” the goddess said, smiling.

“Sorry, my bad. It’s good to see you though. No idea how you’re talking to us, I thought this thing couldn’t do that,” Noah said.

“I wouldn’t be the goddess of knowledge if I didn’t keep certain secrets, would I? “Avera said, her smile turning sly. “Take care of yourself, there are difficult challenges that await you.”

Noah looked at the goddess, giving her a nod, before the screen blinked out.

“Well, that was something,” Noah replied, looking back at Zax.

“It surprises us that you knew Avera well enough for the device to work. Not many mortals can call a goddess their friend.”

“I guess so, I met her a few months back. Nice lady, though meeting her also landed me in trouble. She told me it was fate that I met her.”

“If she said so, then it must have been,” Zax replied.

Noah went back to the mirror, trying to think of who else he would like to see. After a moment of thought, a name came to mind.

“Irios,” Noah said. The mirror didn’t show anything.

“Leon,” Noah tried again. The mirror shimmered once, before the image of the sculpture he’d met at the serpent's grove appeared in his vision. He saw the man, in his home, with sculptures in his hands that he worked diligently at, carving away. A moment later, Leon looked up, and Noah saw his son walking towards him, with a small white serpent-like creature following behind him.

“Wow, Irios grew up fast,” Noah said, watching the kid appear much older than how he had just a few months earlier. “Guess he also got the life wyrm too.”

“So that is the child. He will grow much faster than normal humans with a life wyrm bonded to him. Though such a tie also brings unwanted attention and greed from others towards him. We hope the parents know how to protect the child,” Zax said, watching the scene.

“Yeah,” Noah replied, as the image faded from the mirror. Turning it around, he handed it back to Zax. “Thanks for letting me use it.”

Zax saw the mirror, accepting it back, before looking back at Noah. “Do you not wish to see someone from your home?”

Noah paused. “Can I?” he asked.

“The mirror has no distance. And if it fails, you will simply not see anything. But the fact that you didn't even try surprises us.”

“Well. I just…” Noah trailed off.

Zax slowly extended back the mirror to him, and Noah accepted it. Looking down at the mirror, Noah sent a pulse of mana, finding a name rise to his mind.

“Leah.”

The mirror flashed, swirling with colors over and over. After nearly a minute of swirling, a faint image appeared, of a woman working as a waitress, carrying plates around her job.

Noah watched his former co-worker, wondering if she remembered him at all. Or that he had died.

As the thought came, Noah saw the mirror shift, the time changing to night. Leah sat in front of her laptop in the dark, a cup of coffee next to her as she worked on something intently. It took Noah a few minutes to be able to see what she was looking at on her PC. Different news articles, keywords and headlines were highlighted, with links going to them all from a word file.

“Mysterious disappearances. Abnormal sightings of people going missing. Mass hallucinations? Multiple people were found dead at an old warehouse. Terrorism activities by extremist groups suspected. Noah Brown’s death. Missing body.”

Noah’s eyes widened as he watched. Vague memories of what had happened around his death returned, enough to piece together some parts. She had seen what had happened? If so, perhaps she would have the answers he was looking for.

“Leah, can you hear me?” Noah tried, but found no responses coming. He turned towards Zax, “Can you use a spell to allow me to talk to her? Please. I need to ask her something.”

Zax looked at Noah, thinking over it. “We can try.”

The dragon put his hand upon the mirror, mana flowing through its surface as runes began to travel down its body at rapid speeds. Noah saw a bright light flash from the mirror as the magic took a hold of it.

“Something’s wrong,” Zax said, his words clipped, a frown on his face. The mirror turned black with a crackle, cracking in two as the magic faded. Zax stumbled, and Noah looked in shock as a drop of blood ran down the dragon’s nose. “Almost made us lose our human form,” the dragon said telepathically, wiping the blood off. “We will never be doing that again.”

Noah nodded, agreeing to his words. Emotions rumbled in his chest uncomfortably, and Noah found himself unable to think straight.

“I need somewhere to meditate,” he said. He had not expected for this to happen. For someone to care that he was gone.

“Use the cleansing pool there. Maybe use the chance to consolidate your final skills as well.”

Noah nodded, not really listening as he walked towards the pool. After taking in a deep breath, he activated meditation, feeling its calming effects wash over him as he began to sink deep into focus.

He needed some time to think.

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