My Best Friend is an Eldritch Horror - Chapter 292 (Patreon)

Henry’s words, as they often did, turned out to be correct. Damien’s extended game of hide and seek with Hilla ended that night, when he returned from practicing with Sylph to find that his tent was missing.

It wasn’t hard to spot – it had been moved to the edge of the camp, and Hilla stood beside it, her arms crossed. Damien exchanged a glance with Sylph.

“I don’t suppose we’ll be able to get away with using your tent instead of mine now?”

“If you do that, I’m pretty sure she’ll drag you out of the clearing kicking and screaming,” Sylph said. “I don’t think Hilla is going to let the matter lie any longer. Either we run or you talk to her.”

Damien rubbed his forehead. He let his hands drop and heaved a sigh. “Talk it is. I was really hoping that she’d just kind of ignore everything.”

“You really don’t know her very well.”

“You don’t say,” Damien said, even as Sylph winced as she realized what she’d said.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean–”

“It’s fine. You’re not wrong. Let’s go talk to her, I guess.”

“Should I really come with you for this?” Sylph asked. “It’s probably something that you should just be talking about between the two of you.”

“You do anything I do,” Damien replied. “As long as you want to, that is. Also, at this point, you know her better than I do. So does Henry, for that matter, but I don’t want to rely solely on his advice for anything with a relationship.”

“Hey!” Henry protested from Damien’s shadow. “That was uncalled for and quite rude.”

“Was I wrong?”

“Not in the slightest. Carry on.”

Sylph shook her head. “Okay, I’ll come. Are you going to tell her everything?”

“Not if I can avoid it. I’ll just say as little as possible while taking care of whatever she’s worried about. We’ve already discussed what would happen if I said everything,” Damien said as he and Sylph set off toward the displaced tent.

Sylph sent him a worried glance, but she elected not to say anything else. Hilla stood with her arms crossed beside the tent, watching them approach quietly until they stood across from each other. Several uncomfortable seconds ticked by.

“Well?” Hilla asked. “Talk, Damien. You’ve been avoiding me. What’s going on? Seriously. What’s gotten into you? Did something happen with your father?”

Damien snorted. He was tempted to blame everything on Derrod, but he suppressed the idea. There was no point making things even tougher for Hilla than they already were. “It doesn’t have anything to do with him, no.”

“Then what is it?” Hilla demanded. “Why won’t you speak to me until I do something like this? How come Delph winces every single time he catches me looking in your direction? Give me answers, Damien. Do you hate me?”

“What? No! Why would I hate you?”

I don’t even remember who you are.

“Any mother would think the same if their child refused to speak to them after being away for a year,” Hilla snapped.

“I don’t hate you.”

“Then what is it? Tell me!” Hilla stepped forward, grabbing Damien by the shoulders. Ether leapt to his palms instinctively, but he forced it away.

“I was trying to protect you!”

“Protect me? I’m a grown woman and a battle mage,” Hilla said, aghast. “I’m your mother. It’s my job to protect you. And I already know about the Corruption. What could you possibly be protecting me from?”

“Me,” Damien replied, shrugging her hands off his shoulders. “The memory loss might have been a little more extensive than I let on.”

Hilla’s mouth worked as her eyes darted around Damien’s face in confusion. Faint realization started to set in, but she set her jaw in denial. “Extensive? How extensive?”

“I don’t remember a lot of things.”

“How much, Damien?” Hilla asked, raising her voice. “Do you even know who I am?”

Damien’s throat clenched. He wasn’t sure why, but his stomach was tying itself into knots and every fiber of his body – except for his mind – felt like this was the last woman in the world that he should be upsetting.

Just lie. Henry and Sylph can help pass everything off. I can’t tell her everything.

“No,” Damien said softly, the word slipping between his lips before he could stop himself.

Shit.

Hilla took a step back as if struck. Horror washed over her features. She swallowed shakily. “Nothing? You don’t remember me at all?”

“I lost a lot of my childhood. I’ve got some powerful people looking into seeing how to fix it.”

A tear welled in Hilla’s eye and she quickly blinked it away. “If it was something they could fix, you would have told me that from the start, wouldn’t you? Seven Planes. You don’t know who I am anymore. I–”

She abruptly stopped speaking and drew in a trembling breath, letting it out slowly. Hilla nodded once and pressed her lips together tightly.

“You’re still my son. I don’t care if you can’t remember right now. I remember. Nothing has changed. You don’t have to avoid me.”

“I just didn’t want you to feel hurt, especially with the war coming up. Distractions are dangerous.”

Hilla shook her head sadly. “It’s a mother’s duty to protect her son. Not other way around. I am an experienced mage from the frontlines, Damien. I may have retired, but I’m more than capable of separating my personal life from war. You really did forget me. The Damien I knew would have told me immediately. We trusted each other.”

Damien winced. “I’m sorry.”

Can’t trust somebody I don’t know.

“Don’t apologize. It wasn’t your fault you lost your memories. Is there any chance of recovering them? Any chance at all?”

“I – yeah. There is,” Damien said. “Someone I trust with my life is working on it. If anyone can bring them back, he can.”

Hilla squinted at Damien for several seconds before giving him a small nod. “Okay. If you say so, I’ll believe you. And, if they can’t come back, we’ll just build new memories. Sylph knows who I am, right?”

“I do,” Sylph confirmed. “As does Damien’s companion. He isn’t in any doubt that you’re his mother.”

Hilla gave them a weak smile. “See? That’s progress. We can rebuild what was lost, but not if you don’t let me help share the burden.”

Words didn’t want to come from Damien’s lips, so he settled for giving her a small nod. Hilla’s hands twitched at her side and several seconds of awkward silence passed. Finally, she cleared her throat and nodded again.

“Okay. We’ll start over, until you can get your memories back. I’m Hilla Vale, your mother.”

Despite himself, Damien couldn’t keep a small snort of laughter from slipping out. “I think we’ve already established that much.”

Hilla looked hurt, but it wasn’t long before she started to laugh as well. Sylph stared at them, baffled, as the two started to laugh even harder. It was nearly a minute before either of them managed to gather enough breath to talk again.

“Well, if there was any doubt about you being related, it’s been dealt with,” Sylph said.

Hilla pushed the hair out of her face and gave Sylph a small smile. “Thank you. Damien didn’t forget you, did he?”

Sylph glanced to the side. “No. Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize,” Hilla snapped. “Especially not you. He was always a bit reserved. He needs someone to rely on, especially if I can’t be that person for him right now. I was so thrilled when you came to visit us. You know, when he was younger, he could never keep a relationship with a girl for more than–”

“Hey now, we don’t really need to go there,” Damien interjected. “I remember. I had things I was dealing with back then.”

“You remember that?”

“I – the memories I lost were important,” Damien said. “And only the important ones. I remember the unimportant stuff.”

“I see. I’m not sure if I should feel better or worse about that, but I’ll spare you the retellings then. Even with the threat of the Corruption, we should have time to catch you up on your memories in between everything.”

“I suppose so. There should be some time in between preparing for Delph’s demonstration in the ranking battles and practicing for fighting against the Corruption,” Damien allowed. “Especially with how slowly it has been moving. Maybe you’re right. I should have told you about this earlier, but we can catch up now.”

Hilla smiled. “We can. The best thing anyone can ever do is try their best. I’ll always be your mother, Damien. And, if you can’t remember that, I’ll just have to remind you.”

The tightness in Damien’s chest started to release. Of all the ways that could have gone, he hadn’t expected Hilla to take it so well. The woman clearly did care about him. That only made the throbbing ache that had been building in his heart grow even stronger. How much had he paid to control the Void? Just how much had the Faceless taken from him?

“Now’s as good a time to start as any,” Hilla suggested. “Especially since I’ve gone and made a scene. Perhaps we could have dinner together?”

“I think I’d like that,” Damien said. He turned, preparing to head back down to camp and get some food before the others took everything.

A loud thrum filled the air as a brilliant purple portal snapped open in the center of the camp. Whisp strode out from it, black smoke curling off her gauntleted fists and her clothes tattered.

“The Corruption is moving.” Whisp’s words echoed through the camp like a funeral dirge. “There are several thousand Corrupted monsters assaulting the frontlines, and hundreds have appeared around the Mage Colleges. Blackmist has repelled the first wave, but you must all return immediately. It is no longer safe in the wild.”

A second of stunned silence followed her words, followed by the loud cacophony of everyone trying to yell over each other to ask Whisp questions. She narrowed her eyes and clapped her hands together with a loud crash that echoed through the camp, cutting them all off.

“Shut up. The situation will be explained later. Dredd, open a portal and get everyone back onto school grounds right now. The Corruption is targeting mages and going after any stragglers. Also, we need you and Delph at Blackmist.”

Damien’s hand shot out and he called on the Void, grabbing his staff as grayscale covered the world. He extended his other hand, tracing broken runes through the air as he cast the spell he’d been practicing for the past week.

His bones rattled as the energy twisted around him, extending a feeler in search of the Corruption Seed. His senses followed after it, leaving his body behind as he sent his mind into the Void.

He followed it into a long, plain stretch of completely flat stone within the Void. Sitting in the center of it, its skin pale alabaster white, was a towering monster. It was gaunt, with burning green eyes and thin ribbons of stone covering portions of its body where it had yet to recover from wounds.

Damien’s consciousness snapped back into his body, and he released his staff, letting the Void recede.

“The Seed is still in the V – in hiding – but who knows how long it will be until Second gets it out. We need to kill it.”

Whisp turned her gaze to Damien. “There are thousands of people gathered at Blackmist that need protection from the Corruption. We can’t play the aggressors. These aren’t weak Corrupted monsters sieging us. They’re powerful, stronger than almost all the other ones we’ve fought.”

“The professors can’t,” Damien corrected. “I can. If the Seed blooms, we’re going to have a much bigger problem on our hands.”

Whisp gave him a curt nod. “Do what you think is best, but we need you alive. We need everyone here alive. We don’t have the bodies to spare.”

“Hold on,” Delph said, stepping forward. “Dredd and I can go with Damien to deal with the monster. It shouldn’t take long. We’ve been preparing for it this whole time.”

“I can’t risk losing all of you,” Whisp growled. “The school is going to fall, Delph. I don’t have time for this. Not to mention where the Seed is. Have you forgotten what happens when you go there? Unless he can get it out, how are you going to help? You’ll run out of Ether and become useless.”

“Sylph and I can handle it,” Damien said. “Time is of the essence. You said it yourself, Whisp. Just have someone watching this area so we can get picked up once the Seed is dealt with.”

Whisp narrowed her eyes, then gave him a curt nod. “Right. Don’t die.”

“Wait, wait. Stop,” Hilla said. “Damien, you and Sylph are going to fight the Corruption Seed alone? The last one nearly beat Delph and Dredd combined. You can’t go.”

“We need to. This is my fight, more than you could realize,” Damien said. “The Seed needs to be stopped. We should have handled it earlier, but I guess we all got lax and thought it would wait around forever.”

“But–”

“This is bigger than us,” Damien said. “We’ll be back. I promise. And don’t offer to come with us. Whisp is right. You can’t rely on your Ether in the Void.”

“That’s all you have too!”

“No,” Damien said, shaking his head. “It isn’t. I’ll tell you what, Hilla. You tell me about my past when I get back. In exchange, I’ll tell you about what’s happened since.”

Hilla swallowed, her eyes boring deep into Damien’s. Then she gave him a small nod. “Mom.”

“What?”

“You call me mom. Not Hilla.”

“When I get back,” Damien promised. “It feels more poignant that way.”

“That’s settled, then,” Whisp said. She snapped her metal clad fingers. “Dredd, now. We’re unprotected here. Get the portal open.”

Dredd glanced at Damien, then inclined his head slightly. Delph growled and stormed over to join them, pulling a small pouch from his waist and pushing it into Damien’s hands. Damien blinked in surprise and started to open it, but Delph grabbed his hands and held it shut.

“Not until you’re in the Void,” he whispered.

Damien cocked his head to the side, and Delph flicked his eyes in Whisp’s direction. Damien shrugged and tucked the pouch into his waistband.

“Let’s go save the shitty little school,” Delph growled, striding back to Whisp.

Damien glanced at Sylph. “Well, this wasn’t how I saw today going, but are you ready? If you don’t want to–”

Sylph gave him a curt nod. “You aren’t going into the Void alone again. We do this together. I’m ready.”

Damien nodded and reached back out to the Void. It seeped back into him as his palm closed around his staff. Broken runes gathered in the air, visible only to him. Henry aided his motions as he drew on the terrifying magic.

The runes snapped together, and a black disk sprung open noiselessly before them. Damien and Sylph stepped into it and the world vanished, consumed by the Void.