Chapter 194 - Family Reunion (Patreon)

Zeke sat on the steps of his tower, staring at the crystal-encased figure before him. The girl was young, blonde, and very pretty – just like in the painting he’d seen in the hermit’s hovel. Just like Fiona once had been. It was a devastating reminder of what the old crone had given up to attempt to save her little sister from the demon. And it had been for nothing; the girl who’d been embedded in the crystal was clearly dead, her body preserved by the tree’s strange composition.

The trip back from the island in the center of the Lake of Flames had been mostly uneventful, punctuated by a few moments of unbridled excitement. He’d been attacked twice on the lake itself – once by the salamanders and another time by some strange and enormous insects that skittered across the lake’s surface like it was solid. Defeating the attackers had been easy enough, but because they’d come in numbers, it had taken quite a bit of time. Now that he was back in the safety of tower’s aura, Zeke could finally admit that he was exhausted.

In the demon realm, the atmosphere that was so caustic to everyone else had been a balm for him, letting him go longer and further than he ever had before. In that world, he’d been practically inexhaustible. When he’d first entered the Lake of Flames, Zeke had expected that to continue. He’d been wrong.

The toxicity of the air, diluted by the Radiant Isle’s own atmosphere, had grown weaker, but it had also changed subtly. What had once been a balm had become almost poisonous, sapping his strength in such a way that his energy reserves felt completely unequal to the task of pushing him forward. He could tell that he would never break down like Fiona had, but, in the area around the Lake of Flames, he would feel fatigue much more keenly. As a result, he was eager to leave the place behind.

Before he could do that, though, he needed to reunite Fiona with her sister. It would be an onerous task, and it would likely bring up feelings he’d rather ignore, but giving the crone a little closure was the right thing to do. Besides, he had a quest. As he rested, Zeke drilled down into the quest sub-menu. He read:

Quest: Seek out the portal to the second plane and swear fealty to the Archdemon Oda. Reward: Class and Racial Evolution

Quest:  Find a way to the center of the lake and find what became of the Hermit Fiona’s sister. Reward: [Armor], [Weapon], or [Utility Item].

Zeke had hoped that the quest would complete once he retrieved the body, but the system seemed more intuitive than that. He had a feeling it would not be finished until he’d reunited Fiona and what was left of her sister. The other quest, he ignored. There was no way he would ever stoop so low as to swear fealty to anyone, much less an Archdemon like Oda. The idea of giving himself over to someone else’s control was anathema to everything Zeke stood for, and he would rather die a horrible death than lose his own agency.

But that quest did give him a hint about the next plane – specifically, that once he managed to receive a class, he would have the opportunity to evolve it, just like his race or skills. It probably should have been expected, but it was the first time Zeke had really thought about it. He had a lot more important things on his plate, and he just didn’t have enough information about the next plane to make any concrete plans. As usual, he would just have to make it up as he went along.

After a couple of hours, during which Zeke recovered from the lethargy that had enveloped him, he sighed and pushed himself to his feet.  Then, he inspected his armor; it had held up extremely well during the fights, and it only bore superficial damage. Even that was slowly fading away as the self-repair enchantment did its work.

Pudge, who’d been ranging along the lake’s shore, exploring and killing any monsters he came across, chose that moment to pad into view. The giant infernal bear held a limp salamander in his mouth; the thing was huge, but Pudge was even bigger. Once he drew near, the bear dropped his prize before Zeke and sat down.

Winner, Pudge thought at him. King of Lake.

Zeke let out a chuckle and reached out to scratch Pudge’s ear. “King Pudge,” he said, amused. “I like that.”

Holding his head high, Pudge puffed out his chest in pride, which brought another snort of laughter from Zeke. Pudge was a deadly fighter and a stalwart companion, but Zeke valued him more for his friendship than anything else. Without the bear’s affable companionship, Zeke felt that his time in the Radiant Isles would have been a lot more difficult.

“Alright, buddy,” he said. “Let’s get this thing done.”

With that, he and Pudge set off toward the hermit’s hut. As they walked, Zeke couldn’t help but marvel at how unobtrusive his armor was. It almost felt like wearing normal clothing, save that he could feel the power coursing through each piece. Whether it was something everyone could eventually do or if it was due to his runecrafting path, he had no idea.

The trip was uneventful, and as they made their way to the hut, the landscape changed from healthy flora to the lake’s trademark blackened and charred trees.  Zeke ignored it, instead keeping his attention focused on anything out of the ordinary. Nothing jumped out at him, and he reached the hut without issue.

The crone was sitting on a stump outside of the hut, where she was whittling a piece of wood. She looked up, and upon seeing that Zeke hadn’t brought anything with him, her already hunched shoulders sagged in disappointment.

“You are giving up,” she croaked when Zeke drew to a stop in front of her. Pudge sat beside him, entirely ignored by the crone. That, in and of itself, was odd; to most, Pudge was a terrifying monster, but to Fiona, he seemed little more than an afterthought. “She is truly lost, then?”

“I brought her back,” Zeke said, not wanting to waste any more time. On top of that, he wasn’t fully recovered from his time within the mixed atmosphere, so he was already feeling the strain. “But I didn’t think it was smart to bring her here. I left her back at my…camp, which is outside the lake’s influence.”

“Is she…”

The woman’s voice trailed off, as she was incapable of voicing her assumption. The pain in her voice broke Zeke’s heart. Fiona and her family had been faced with a horrible situation, and though they had stepped over a line while trying to save Fiona’s dying sister, Jacie. But Zeke knew how that sort of situation felt, having been faced with much the same circumstances back on Earth. Would he have made such a deal if it meant saving his little brother, Tommy? Without any hesitation. So, he could definitely empathize with Fiona’s and her family’s decision to embrace the demonic ritual.

“I think so,” he said. “But I can’t be certain. When I found her, she was encased in a crystalline tree. She looks preserved, but…I just don’t know. One way or another, I intend to free her.”

Fiona hung her head. After so long, she had to have known the odds of finding her sister alive, but it still clearly hit her hard.

“Very well,” she said, wiping tears from her cheeks. She squared her should as much as she could and added, “Let us go, then.”

Zeke nodded, and without another word, led the woman toward the tower. He’d contemplated stashing the crystal somewhere else and keeping his tower a secret, but given how many people had already seen it, he knew that secrecy had been thrown out the window. It was only a matter of time before everyone who mattered knew about his tower. Besides, it wasn’t as if Fiona had anyone to tell.

And admittedly, the situation just didn’t sit right with him. There was something missing. Something that didn’t quite fit. Zeke couldn’t put his finger on just what it was, but his every instinct told him to be careful. Given the nature of the tower, there was no place he felt more comfortable dealing with the unknown.

The trip passed uneventfully and, a little more than an hour later, they crossed into the tower’s aura. Fiona stumbled to her knees, groaning in discomfort.

“It’s so clean,” she managed to mutter between gasping breaths. Looking up in terror, she demanded, “What did you do?”

“It’s an aura,” Zeke said. “I didn’t want to crack the crystal open within the lake’s influence, so I brought it back here.”

“What is this place?” the woman asked, regaining some of her composure. However, she remained on her hands and knees, her breathing still labored.

“My tower,” was Zeke’s only answer. Fiona must have sensed that she wouldn’t get any more information out of him, so she didn’t ask any further questions. After another ten minutes, she was mostly back to normal, though she was still clearly uncomfortable. Not that it mattered; she wouldn’t be there much longer.

Zeke’s conscience told him to offer solace to the woman, but his instincts screamed at him to distance himself from Fiona as quickly as possible. If she hadn’t been so harmless looking, he might have abandoned the quest altogether.

Fiona’s eyes alighted onto the crystal containing her sister, and she let out a wail before rushing over and throwing her arms around the thing. To Zeke’s surprise, the crystal began to slough off in great sheets before a spiderweb of cracks spread across its surface. A few seconds later, it shattered into a million pieces.

He wasn’t sure if the crystal’s integrity had been affected by the tower’s aura or if it had simply drawn energy from the lake of flames, and without the source, it had begun to degrade. It was also possible that Fiona had done something. Whatever the case, Jacie soon fell free, limp and damp. She was clearly dead.

“I’m sorry, Fiona, but –”

Another wail erupted from the hermit’s mouth as she tilted her head to the sky. That’s when he noticed a subtle yellow glow that had enveloped Fiona. Tiny tendrils of faint light had reached out to the other girl’s body, latching onto the figure before Zeke could even figure out what was happening.

Suddenly, Jacie’s corpse – and it was clear that she was dead – shriveled and withered into a dried husk. As it did, Fiona’s posture straightened, her skin cleared, and her features remolded themselves back into perfection, just like Zeke had seen in the painting back at the hovel.

“W-what…”

Zeke stared as the woman stretched languidly, then let out a ringing laugh of pure joy. “Oh, that feels so good…”

Zeke took a moment to [Inspect] the woman.

Night Hag – Level 25 (B)

“You’re a monster,” Zeke muttered, his mace coming to hand. With a thought, his helmet did the same, and he settled it into place. Meanwhile, the creature merely regarded him with a strange mixture of interest and disdain.

“I suppose I must thank you,” she said. “You have no idea how long I’ve been sitting at the edge of that horrible lake, cursed to wait for the silly girl to return. I knew she was dead, but her life force remained strong, doubtless preserved by that magnificent crystal.”

“Who are you? What are you?” Zeke demanded, tightening his grip. Suddenly, the feelings of wrongness he’d experienced made a lot more sense. He wanted to launch himself at the monster, but he needed more information. While he had already killed the turtle, which was a monarch-tier monster, he’d been perfectly suited to that battle. His fire resistance had nullified the creature’s primary attack, so it had never been a fair fight. The hag would doubtless prove to be much more difficult.

She cocked her head to the side, her long, golden hair obscuring part of her perfect face. “You are a curious one,” she said. “So powerful. So ignorant. So unwise.”

Zeke ground his teeth at the assessment. Not because he didn’t agree. He was ignorant, and he’d done a lot of stupid things since being reborn. However, just because he knew the hag’s statement to be true didn’t make it any easier to swallow.

“You’re a night hag,” he said.

The woman grimaced. “My name is Fiona,” she said. “That…label…is distasteful.”

“She wasn’t your sister, was she?” he asked, nodding at the dried husk that had once been Jacie.

“More of an unwitting partner,” the hag answered.

“Was any of it true?” he asked.

The woman shrugged. “A fanciful tale,” she said. “The truth is much more mundane. A weakling wanted power. I offered a partnership. When she learned the cost of my help, she tried to run.”

“You’re a parasite, aren’t you? You feed off of life force,” Zeke stated, still trying to get as much information as he could. He had no illusions about where the confrontation was headed; they were going to fight. One of them was going to die. It was inevitable. Otherwise, the hag wouldn’t have been so forthright.

“As do you,” she said, nodding at Zeke’s mace. It was already enveloped in red mist, evidence of the skill he’d scarcely remembered activating. “Most humans shy away from such things.”

“I’m not human,” Zeke said.

Fiona raised a perfectly arched eyebrow. “Are you not?” she asked.

“Not anymore.”

“Interesting,” was her response.

“That story you told me…”

She laughed. “A pretty fiction,” she said. “You carry your emotions too close to the surface. It was child’s play to find a story that would resonate. Demons and deals, sick siblings and sorrow – so melodramatic.”

Zeke was about to say something else, but he was interrupted by a message from the Framework. Specifically, his quest had evolved:

Quest: Avenge Jacie. Reward: [Armor], [Weapon], or [Utility Item].

“Oh, come on,” he groaned. He’d already satisfied the requirements of the quest, which meant that he should’ve already gotten the reward. The Framework, though, seemed to have no issues with moving the goalposts on him.

“What?” asked the hag. “Oh. I see. A quest.”

“How do you know that?”

“Experience,” was Fiona’s reply. “I have been the subject of many quests throughout my life, and I can recognize one when I feel it. That light brush against your consciousness, the subtle drain of your mana. So easy to miss. So difficult to ignore.”

Then, without warning, she disappeared in a puff of yellow smoke, and a moment later, the sound of claws raking against his armor filled the air. Zeke dove forward, twisting as he did so; when he regained his feet, all that remained of the creature was another sickly yellow cloud. An instant later, another attack came, but the monster’s claws were ineffective against his armor.

For now.

Given enough time, though, Zeke had little doubt that the hag would penetrate his defenses. After a handful of other fruitless attacks which saw Zeke twisting and turning as he tried to keep up with the creature, it appeared a dozen feet away. She was breathing hard.

“That armor…is…inconvenient,” she panted.

“So is your speed,” Zeke said.

“A stalemate, then?” she suggested. “Perhaps we can leave one another alone, yes?”

“A stalemate? Maybe, if I was alone,” Zeke said.

Just then, Pudge charged out of the nearby forest, taking the monster by surprise. His heavy paw swiped at her torso, but his claws didn’t penetrate her skin, stopped by a yellow barrier. However, the momentum behind his attack sent the hag flying away to collide with an enormous oak tree.

Its trunk shattered before her.

“Keep up the pressure, Pudge,” Zeke said. “She’s hard to pin down.”

Pudge let out a roar and charged the tree. Zeke followed in his wake, looking for an opening.