Moonlight Relic, Ch 19: Uninvited Guest (Patreon)

“Sam?!” Lenei’s eyes widened as she halted and stared up at him. Her head tilted much farther back than she’d been expecting. She barely came up to his chest now. “What happened? You’re gigantic!”

“That’s a new one,” Lesat added, tilting his head back as well. He was a few inches taller than Lenei, but he only made it to Sam’s shoulders. “You’re definitely a foot or two taller than before and you look like you could eat boulders for lunch.”

“My race Evolved,” Sam rumbled back. His voice was low and deep, resonating in his bones and in the aura that was still flaring around him, but he pushed it out of his mind. It seemed his race came with a few other changes. “I can sense things around me better.”

“You almost do look like a World Breaker now,” Lenei said slowly, “or like the good form of a World Breaker. There’s something about you that says you’re trustworthy.”

“My Charisma increased,” Sam replied, pushing aside the comment. It would be helpful if people didn’t find him so frightening now, but he wasn’t going to trust it yet. “I didn’t know racial Evolutions were possible.”

“They aren’t usually for humans,” Lenei replied. “The Church has records of other races Evolving and sometimes humans manage it, but it’s extremely rare. The requirements are unknown. It usually happens at the same time as a Class Evolution.”

“What race is that, anyway?” Lesat sounded puzzled. “You looked like a demon before, but not as much now, even though the horns are similar. Your skin is goldish and your eyes are glowing. You look like some sort of star-eyed giant.”

"It's called Astral Hunter. Have you heard of it?”

“No,” Lenei shook her head after a moment. “I can ask for records from the church when we get back to Highfold. But, more importantly, that uneasy feeling you gave me before is gone. It improved after the Grand Flaw closed, when your Defiant trait went away, but now you feel friendly, even though your size and those horns tell me I should run in the other direction.”

“True,” Lesat agreed, “and there’s something that tells me you are good at crafting, like a sense of accomplishment or skill that you radiate. It makes me want to talk to you about leatherworking and see what you know.”

Sam paused for a moment as he considered that. Lesat was a leatherworker, but he wasn’t. Then he checked his status page for the detailed explanation of his traits and realized what was happening.

“My Craftsman trait must be coming through now,” he answered with a satisfied grumble. “This race seems to be more acceptable to the World Law, so things are working. Maybe I’ll be able to enter the town.” The idea made him optimistic, since he’d been wanting to explore Highfold ever since they arrived. He just hadn’t had an opportunity yet, or the illusions necessary to hide his appearance from the city wards.

If this new race showed up as non-hostile, maybe he wouldn’t need an illusion to get inside. But the decision over that could wait. Right now, there was work to do and his two friends here gave him an idea.

“Now that the moons are out, I won’t be able to continue repairs until morning, but my Evolution came with a sense for enemies that have escaped from the World Seal. There are four in the area. Do you want to hunt them with me?” If they did, it would help to slow his experience gain down and he could focus on eliminating the bounties and earning ability tiers.

“Of course!” Lenei answered immediately as her eyes brightened. She was always ready for a fight. “If there are things like that here, they need to be eliminated immediately! Those things bring destruction and terror wherever they go.”

“And the rewards for killing them should be good,” Lesat agreed with an easy grin. “I’ve been wanting to stretch my legs after all that building and see some more of this place. Where are we heading?”

Sam touched his amulet out of habit, getting a sense for where his family was, and then he frowned. His father had left the city and was heading into the second layer. A wave of concern hit him as he saw there were monsters scattered all around on the path he was taking.

Dad, are you there?

He sent the thought across the amulet, but the words faded away into a crackle of mana that felt like broken enchantments. It made him look around at the runes that had come to life all about the relic. The activation was blocking communications. There was too much chaotic mana and the amulets weren’t of a high enough grade to deal with it.

It also reminded him that many other things had come to life in the ruins. He could sense the presence of the so-called “elemental pools,” where elemental crystals were pouring their energy into catch basins, like the water one he’d used and then replaced after the Grand Flaw. Entering those would be risky, since they would pour a refined aura into your body, but there was a chance it could activate or improve an underlying affinity.

“My father’s heading up the mountain,” he announced when he gave up on trying the amulet, “but there are too many broken enchantments here to reach him. Let’s meet up with him and then find the bounties.”

Lenei and Lesat nodded as they checked their equipment and then fell in behind Sam as he headed toward the lower layers. Leaving his dad alone in the ruins was a bad idea, especially with the number of monsters here and whatever had come to life under the moons. They would have to be careful.

Just as they were approaching the staircase down, a lean figure raced around the corner ahead of them. It was a short, powerfully-built man with a snow white cloak that was edged with a richly speckled fur. He was brimming with energy as loops of lightning flowed around his arms and lower legs.

As soon as Sam saw him, his aura flared out in a wave of moonlight and crystalline flames, soaring dozens of feet high into the sky, and he Analyzed him.

Human. Aether Mage-Storm Knight, Level ???.

His Analyze was too low to get a read on the level, but the Guardian Star chimed in a moment later, telling him it was 174. Sam let out a growl as his flames compressed into spirals and his eyes burned brighter, but he waited to see what the man would do. He had to be some wealthy adventurer or explorer. He didn’t mind killing adventurers if they attacked him, but it wasn’t how he wanted to spend his days, and this one looked difficult.

As soon as the man saw them, he slid to a halt and the lightning around him soared higher, but he didn’t attack. Instead, he stared warily at Sam and the field of flames, ignoring the presence of Lenei and Lesat who were just behind him.

“World Spirit!” The man muttered and then the lightning around him slowly calmed and disappeared, until he was standing there with an arrogant expression that he might have thought was respectful. He inclined his head in a quarter bow, looking at the ground.

“I am Garild Morlan, Governor of Highfold, Storm Knight of Aethra, Godson to Duke Helstaff of Issiria, and Guardian of Law. On behalf of House Morlan and Highfold, I extend my most sincere welcome to you, Horned Hunter of the Moons and World Spirit of Aster Fall.”

Morlan bent lower as Sam said nothing. His posture was rigid, as if he were unaccustomed to lowering himself.

Sam stared at him with a sense of building irritation and disbelief. Of all the people he’d expected to meet on the mountain, the governor was not one of them. And he thought that he was a World Spirit? He was torn between making the most of it and making up a story that would divert attention away from his real name and family.

Unfortunately, Lenei and Lesat were standing next to him and that limited his options. Someone with the governor’s connections might be able to find out who they were and then follow the trace.

When he’d appeared as the Horned Hunter to close the Grand Flaw, he hadn’t intended to look like a World Spirit, just someone mysterious who had come out to defend the world. He’d seen Grandmother Winter and he wasn’t in her league. He was also sure that World Spirits had their own set of limitations, whatever they were. Who knew if he was already breaking one of them.

Despite his confusion, it didn’t take him long to think of a plan. It was better to be something new than to pretend to be something familiar and get it wrong.

“I am not a World Spirit,” he growled out, his voice echoing deeply across the snow all around them and from the tumbled walls of the buildings. The same thread of warmth was in it as before, part of some natural aura that accompanied his Evolution.

“I am an Astral Hunter. I was summoned by the World Law to deal with threats to this area, and I have chosen this peak as my residence. These allies and others have volunteered to assist me.”

He waved his hand behind him to indicate Lenei and Lesat. If the man wanted to think of him as something strange, let him.

---

Garild wasn’t used to bowing except at court, which he rarely attended, but right now, it seemed appropriate. There was nothing but this towering golden figure with horns and eyes like stars in front of him. He tried to Analyze him, but the result was useless.

Horned Hunter of the Moons. Level: Unknown. Abilities: Unknown. Race: Unknown. Alignment: Law. Mood: Annoyed.

He wasn’t sure how powerful the Hunter was, but he had to be at least at the high First or early Second Evolution. The sense of strength radiating from it was as powerful as an open volcano.

His Analyze was at Epic, and it was further boosted by his previous class as a Visionary, but it still failed. The only information it returned was the being’s title and alignment with the World Law. If the Hunter had been one of the civilized races, he would have been able to read his name and more. Only figures like World Spirits and some of the mythical beasts didn’t have names.

A status sheet was easily read by a Visionary or Seer, except for some of the finer details. It could be blocked, but he would have sensed that. That the Hunter was annoyed didn’t help him feel more confident. Right now, his instincts were telling him to apologize.

“If it is your home, I apologize for intruding,” Garild said finally, when he started to become worried. The ruins didn’t belong to Highfold, and even he knew that, as much as he would have liked it to be different. They were much older, not to mention full of danger, and all efforts to control them had ended in failure. Their size and the half-functioning enchantments in them disrupted every attempt. Losing half of your army to a sudden trap that activated was not a ruler’s hidden desire. “If you wish to live here, I’ll sign an official grant giving the peak to you. It will be valid from the Kingdom of Aethra herself.”

What he wanted the most was some insight or blessing, so he extended as much of an offer as he could. There were legends of beings like this granting unique gifts. Even if the Hunter said he wasn’t a World Spirit, he was something with power, and power could be shared. He didn’t feel better when the Astral Hunter frowned at him, his eyes glinting.

“These ruins are not yours to grant,” the Hunter growled irritatedly. “They are older than you know and designed for another purpose entirely. The moons guard the skies, but they are late descendants of what this place was intended to do.”

Garild’s attention fixed on the Hunter’s words, his breath halting. If the being actually had some connection to the ruins or understood their history, that information was worth its weight in mana crystals. He needed to learn what he knew, although he felt a pang of worry as he took in his size. His talons looked like they would shred steel and he was bigger than any two men.

“What was their purpose then? And yours now?” The questions tripped out too eagerly in his excitement.

“To eliminate enemies that have escaped from the World Seal.” The response was a low, rumbling growl that filled the area with pressure as the moonlight and flames surged. “And to rebuild what was broken.”

“You mean you’re going to rebuild the ruins?” The phrase snapped through Garild’s mind like a whip. Disbelief flooded him, as well as excitement as he considered how he could take advantage of this.

“You understand them that well?” If he could get that information, who knew what it would be worth.

Before the Hunter could reply, however, a pillar of greyish-yellow energy erupted from lower on the slopes, somewhere near the fourth layer. It was a beam that slammed into the runes hanging in the sky, as if it couldn’t stand their presence, and continued toward the dark clouds. The moonlight rune shimmered, unaffected by the attack, and a howl of screeching anger resonated through the air.

Garild spun to face it, his Far Sight ability sending his vision zooming. This time, the relic didn’t block him and the origin of the screech came into view. It was a twenty-foot-tall, yellow-grey whirlwind with shadowy wings. There was an indistinct form at the center that looked like a moth, but it was only a blur.

“Bounty identified,” the Hunter growled as he paced forward, changing the topic as he stared at the same point. “Plague Wing Moth, Level 124. Classified as a Terror of the Night. When it flies, tainted dust falls from its wings that brings nightmares and a rotting plague that cannot be cured without healing spells. 751 years ago, it killed more than five thousand people in a single night.”

The words sent a shiver down Garild’s spine. There was a classification in Aster Fall known as Terrors, which was a list kept by the World Law and the church. If this thing was one of them, the danger it posed was immense. He should have run the other way, but his sense of duty kept him rooted in place.

“It cannot be allowed to remain here.” The rumbling power of the Hunter’s voice drew him back to the present. “Follow me if you wish, governor. Otherwise, leave my home by dawn.”

With that, the Hunter blurred into a whirlwind as wind and snow flew around him and sent him racing forward. His speed was something that Garild could only barely keep up with, even as lightning accelerated his steps. Between one moment and the next, the Hunter disappeared, fading into the moonlit night only to reappear again farther away like a ghost.

The two humans with the Hunter raced after him, carried along by the same power, but Garild’s attention was so focused that he barely noticed them. He called more lightning as he bolted forward, trying his best to keep the Hunter in sight.

Whatever else happened, he wasn’t going to let him leave without answering his questions.