Path of Dragons 4 - Chapter 18 - The Warden's Domain (Patreon)
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âDonât struggle,â growled Waldo, unbuckling his belt. âYou want your parents freed, donât you?â
The girl shrank against the wall â as if he was some sort of despicable monster. After everything heâd done for her, she had the audacity to look at him like he was beneath her? The girl â he didnât even remember her name â was the daughter of one of the prisoners outside. If he remembered correctly, they had been executed a few days before â but that didnât matter. The girl didnât know, which was all that was important.
He stepped forward, intending to grab her by the hair and show her precisely who was in charge. She needed to be put back in her place. She needed to understand who she was dealing with.
So many people regarded the apocalypse as some terrible calamity that had befallen humanity. But Waldo McArthur wasnât one of them. Before, heâd been a powerless security guard. A loser who couldnât even be trusted to carry a gun on the job. Now, though? He was a man of consequence and power. He was important. The king himself had said so, and his word was law.
Everywhere but in Waldoâs prison, at least. In there, he was the Warden. It was his domain, which meant that, in that expansive facility, even the king couldnât rival his authority. Which made the little slip of a girl â barely more than sixteen years old â and her revulsion so much more irritating.
But that was fine.
He would show her.
He would show them all.
Or that was the plan right up until a monster out of nightmares erupted out of the shadows, burying its claws in his shoulder and aiming a horrifyingly swift bite at Waldoâs head.
He shifted far more quickly than a man of his size shouldâve been capable of moving, narrowly avoiding the creatureâs razor-sharp teeth as they snapped shut with the force of finality. Only then did Waldo remember that, in the prison, his authority was absolute.
After all, he was the Warden. The Divine System had given him that class, and heâd used it as it was intended to be used. Utilizing Strength of the Jailer, he wrapped his meaty hands around the monster, then levered it free. It left more than a few wounds behind, but he had potions for that. Ignoring his blood-soaked shirt, he heaved the monster across the room.
It hit with bone-crunching force, collapsing to the ground a second later.
Waldo advanced, intending to finish the creature off. But then, it shifted, transforming before his very eyes. The thingâs scales melted away, and its body morphed into the last thing he expected.
âYouâre human?â he muttered. Then, as a short, bearded man with blonde hair pushed himself to his feet, Waldo grinned. âYouâre human.â
âGood eye, asshole,â the man growled, ethera swirling all around him.
That would not do at all.
Waldo used Wardenâs Shackles:
Wardenâs Shackles
Create an affliction that rapidly drains a prisonerâs store of ethera. Only usable inside the Wardenâs jail. Rate of drain based on casterâs level, Core cultivation, and Ethera attribute.
The man gasped, and Waldoâs grin widened. âYou donât like that one little bit, do you?â he taunted. âIâm told itâs quite painful, having the magic sucked right out of you.â
Thatâs when someone whacked him in the back of the head. It wasnât enough to even stagger Waldo, but it did elicit quite a response. He whipped around, aiming a backhanded blow at the girl who dared to attack him. She held a candlestick like a weapon, as if she expected it to do any good. She didnât even have a class yet.
Which meant that, because of Waldoâs enhanced Strength, the chances the girl would survive were precisely zero. Oh well â he would find another one soon enough. He had a lot of prisoners, after all. And many of them had family that were desperate enough to do anything to save them.
But then something stopped his hand.
He glanced in that direction to see that the manâs fingers wrapped around his wrist. Waldo tried to yank his arm free, but the disheveled manâs grip was like iron. Well, he had something to deal with that, too.
He used Fetters of Domination.
Fetters of Domination
Create an affliction that weakens a prisoner by 75%. Only usable inside the Wardenâs Jail. Affliction is less effective on those with higher effective attributes than the caster. Resistance based on relative Strength.
The moment the ability fell upon the interloper, Waldo yanked his arm free. Even then, it was difficult, and it threw him off-balance. He tripped and fell, bouncing a little because of his girth. It didnât hurt, but the embarrassment of it sent him into a rage. He wheeled around, growling, âYouâre going to pay for that! Iâll ââ
Something bit him, cutting off his tirade.
He looked down to see a tiny millipede latched onto his ankle. Its pincers had gone right through his trousers, drawing blood. More distressingly, it was not alone. A hundred of the little monsters had come from nowhere, and they seemed hell-bent on swarming him.
He screamed, slapping the little creatures and splattering their guts across the floor. He got most of them fairly easily â they couldnât stand before his enhanced attributes â but there were so many that he still picked up a few bites. That was fine, though. Once he was done with the intruder and the girl, he would take a potion â made by the best alchemist in the city, no less â and he would be fine.
It was his ace in the hole. For all his powers, especially within his domain, accidents still happened. And heâd never been afforded the use of a Healer. So, heâd made do by contracting the local alchemist. It had saved him no less than three times already, and he expected it would prove to be just as useful in the future.
But first, he needed to deal with the man whoâd barged into his office and assaulted him. Now that Fetters of Domination was active, it shouldnât be difficult. He onlyâŠ
He tried to rise, but a wave of dizziness washed over him.
*
Elijah spared one facet of his Quartz mind to look at his status, and he didnât like what he saw. His physical attributes had been reduced by more than half, which was a debilitating level of weakness that even exceeded what heâd experienced at the hands of Thor. Without that, though, Elijah would never have been prepared for whatever ability the disgusting Warden had cast on him.
So, even though he was much weaker, he didnât let it completely incapacitate him. Instead, he focused on what he could do, rather than what he couldnât. That had led him to casting Swarm.
It was only barely possible. Another of the manâs abilities had drained Elijahâs ethera so quickly that he could only use Soothe and a single cast of Touch of Nature before his Core had been drained. However, even as his body healed, his Quartz Mind and his newly upgraded Novice Soul went to work, restoring what had been lost.
It had drained almost as quickly as he could recover ethera, but heâd managed to build just enough to cast Swarm.
He couldnât keep that up, though. So, he knew heâd need to finish the Warden without the advantage of most of his physical attributes or spells.
Fortunately, he wasnât entirely weakened. So, as the fat man struggled to rise, Elijah leveled his staff in his foeâs direction. At the same time, he sidestepped to put himself between the Warden and his victim. The girl was young. Very, very young. She wore a simple, white dress and was clearly terrified. Still, sheâd distracted the Warden for a precious few seconds that had allowed Elijah to adjust.
Not that he was keeping score. The moment heâd recognized the situation, heâd resolved to save her. And that resolution hadnât changed.
The Warden reached into his pocket, though his fingers didnât seem to work as well as they should, which made him fumble the task. The delay was only a couple of seconds, but that allowed Elijah to close on him just as he pulled a small bottle free. It looked like it would only hold about eight ounces, and it was filled with vibrant green liquid.
To Elijah it felt both full of life and somehow artificial, at the same time. Sort of like artificial sweetener, though far fouler. Regardless, he could read the situation â and the Wardenâs desperation â well enough to recognize that he didnât want the man to drink it. Likely, it was a potion not dissimilar from the one Thor had used to prolong their fight. So, Elijah acted quickly, aiming the butt of his staff at the Wardenâs wrist.
He connected, but as weakened as he was, it did little good, other than once again delay the manâs relief. So, Elijah hit it again. This time, the Warden tried to avoid the blow, but if Elijah was weakened, then the fat man was on his last leg. Elijah intended to keep him there as he continued to aim one blow after another at the bottle.
And eventually, he succeeded in loosening the Wardenâs grip. However, when the bottle crashed to the ground, cracking at the point of impact and spilling its contents all over the floor, the Warden turned his attention on Elijah. Even in his afflicted state, the man was powerful enough to muster a spell.
Immediately, thick, ethereal chains erupted from his bulbous stomach and darted at Elijah. He tried to dodge, but his low attributes failed him. He stumbled, which was all the opening the Wardenâs chains needed to wrap around him. They continued to grow, one link at a time as they encircled him a half dozen times.
âCure!â the man coughed, clenching his fist. The chains tightened. Elijah struggled, but there was nothing he could do. He could feel his bones creaking under the pressure. He wriggled, straining every muscle in his body. It was useless, though.
A hundred thoughts raced through Elijahâs mind, but none were more prevalent than regret. For everything heâd done wrong, for all the times heâd lost track of his priorities â because in that moment, he knew he was going to die. The Warden had robbed him of his attributes as well as his ability to heal. There was no chance he would survive.
And yet, there was some solace in knowing that the grotesque man would soon perish as well. Already, the afflictions from Swarm and the Contagion from Elijahâs flurry of attacks that had also been laced with Venom Strike had nearly killed the man. He still had some ways to go, but it was only a matter of time before he succumbed.
That was good to know.
Elijahâs vision began to darken as the Warden continued his unhinged and panicked demands. And all of his thoughts coalesced into a single one. He was sorry that he hadnât avenged his sisterâs death, but at least heâd fallen trying to save someone else. She would have approved of that, at least.
Abruptly, the grip of the chains weakened.
Then, they fell away, dissipating into ethereal motes. Elijah collapsed, more than a few of his bones broken. It certainly wasnât as bad as it had been after his fight with Thor â they were all clean breaks, as far as he could tell â but there was nothing good about having multiple fractures.
He gasped for breath, but soon, his recovery was interrupted by a repeated thumping sound. Elijah looked up to see the girl repeatedly beating the Warden over the head with the candlestick. He was already dead, a good portion of his skull having been caved in. And yet, the girl â weeping profusely â continued her assault.
Thatâs when Elijah felt the weakening afflictions â the one that reduced his attributes as well as the one that constantly drained his ethera â fall away. Flexing every aperture in his Mind, Elijah dragged as much ethera through the channels of his Novice Soul and into his Core, keeping going until he had enough energy to fuel Soothe.
Then, he kept going until he could use Touch of Nature.
And Healing Rain, which affected the girl as well. Sheâd had quite a few bruises and scratches â the man clearly hadnât been gentle with her â so the nourishing precipitation had some work to do.
Finally, Elijah tried to speak to the girl, but she clearly couldnât hear him. Instead, sheâd collapsed atop the man, and even though sheâd exhausted her strength, she continued to weakly rap the candlestick against his skull.
Once he was healed, Elijah pushed himself to his feet, then grabbed ahold of her arm. She whipped her head around, glaring at him with wild eyes, and he said, âItâs okay. Heâs dead, now. Youâre safe.â
âN-nobody is safe in this city,â she breathed, her voice hoarse.
âThey will be,â Elijah said with no small degree of resolve. âThey will be.â