Chapter 312 - Unique (Patreon)

“You could’ve just told me,” Zeke grumbled, sitting on the ground, his legs splayed and his shoulders slumped. His hammer lay across one thigh, and his sweaty hair hung in a soggy curtain around his face. “It would’ve saved me a lot of effort.”

Floating near his shoulder, Eveline said, “I’ve told you a hundred times already – that’s forbidden. The application of Will is a personal journey, and it’s protected by the Framework. If I explained how it works before you unlocked your potential, it would have been extremely bad. For both of us. I might not have survived, and you would have forgotten our entire exchange. That means –”

“I’d be stranded here, stuck in a mind-loop,” he said. She’d explained the issue more than once, and even in his slightly muddled state, Zeke had finally understood the issues at play. Zeke didn’t know all the rules, but once a person crossed a certain point when it came to their paths, they were prohibited from passing their understanding on – at least until their would-be pupils unlocked their potential. It was a convoluted mess of a system – at least as far as Zeke was concerned – but it boiled down to one simple fact: the Framework had no interest in awarding anyone anything for free. To earn progress, one must work for it. Until they proved their mettle, the Framework simply didn’t consider them worthy of the knowledge.

“Your previous usage of your Will was crude,” she said. “And the same could be said of your latest attempt. However, it was enough to unlock the door. Now, you must step through.”

Zeke glanced up at the roaring ocean of fire above him. It felt closer than ever before, but he had no idea if that was simply an optical illusion or if the Wave had begun. It didn’t matter; he’d already committed to enduring the approaching calamity, and nursing his dread would do little good.

“And when I do?” he asked, leaning back on his hands. “Will you give up your secrets, then?”

“When you reach that point, you will have no use for my pitiful knowledge,” she stated. “I think you underestimate your own accomplishment. Only level thirty-five, and yet…”

“What does my level have to do with this?” he asked. Until that point, he’d considered his path and his level to be completely separate routes to power. Perhaps distantly related, but certainly not dependent on one another.

Eveline let out a sigh and floated in front of him. That was a change she’d experienced after recovering the captive piece of her soul; now, she could fly, albeit only a few feet above the ground. Of course, there were probably other benefits of which Zeke was unaware, but given that she was bound to him and heavily restricted by the contract, he couldn’t bring himself to worry overmuch.

She said, “They are unrelated, strictly speaking. Each can develop independently of the other. However, as the easiest – or at least most straightforward – path to power, levels generally come first. It is almost unheard-of for anyone to develop their path to any appreciable degree before they hit level one-hundred. And race…race is even more difficult to evolve.”

“And attunement?” Zeke asked.

“Attunement is different,” she said. “It is almost always tied to race. For instance, dryads will always have a nature attunement. Demons, an attunement focused on suffering. And –”

“Wait, what?”

“It is part of our transition,” she explained. “The suffering we experience transforms us, and when we descend into demonhood, we gain an appropriate attunement. Others are born with theirs.”

It made sense. Zeke assumed that the dwarves had a natural earth attunement, just like Eta was connected to nature. His own attunement was probably only possible because of his class choice as well as his ability to absorb the king’s spirit until it had saturated his very being.

“Yes. Your transformation had more in common with what demons go through than anything naturally occurring,” she said. “Without your very unique circumstances, it would not have been possible. You are a very lucky boy.”

Zeke shook his head and focused on his battered body. He certainly didn’t feel lucky. In fact, he felt more cursed than anything else.

“In any case, your attunement is a different conversation altogether,” she said. “My point is that your development is highly irregular. I didn’t even begin to explore the other facets of power until I was twice your level. And I certainly didn’t make any progress until after I’d been level one-hundred for decades. All of that is to say that you are well ahead of the curve, and while I’m sure someone else has tread that path before you, it is uncommon and traverses unexplored territory.”

“So, you can’t help me?”

“I cannot,” she admitted. “Even if I could, it would only stunt your growth. Some things, you must do for yourself. Even your false god would tell you the same.”

“Oberon never pretended to be a god,” Zeke said. “He’s always told me he was just powerful. He even described himself as middle management.”

Eveline tapped her delicate chin, then said, “An apt label, though not entirely accurate. This Oberon – I’ve heard of him. He’s strong. One of the pillars upon which the heavens rest. There are seven. And their mirrors in hell, as well.”

“Only seven? I thought there would be more,” Zeke said. “And why haven’t you ascended? You were capable even before your imprisonment, right? Is the portal hidden like it was in the Radiant Isles?”

“Oh, devils no!” she said with a slight chuckle. “Hidden? Of course not! The Portal of Descent is openly available. Few brave its depths, though.”

“Why?”

“It is a trial,” she explained. “Dreadful, deadly, and difficult beyond all measure. Even if one reaches the bottom and passes through to the Mal’aetherius, the change in stature is enough to dissuade all but the most ambitious. Even for them, descending without proper preparation is tantamount to suicide. Getting to level one-hundred is only the most basic requirement. Most will not descend until they have reached the absolute pinnacle of power on this plane.”

Zeke shook his head. “And I’m guessing there are quite a few who’ve reached that pinnacle who’d rather stay here, where they’re the big fish in a small pond, rather than…descend into a much bigger lake where they’re once again at the bottom of the food chain.”

“Just so.”

Over the next few minutes, Zeke rested while Eveline continued to flit around, explaining random things about the demon world. On some subjects, she was remarkably knowledgeable, but on others, she was woefully ignorant. After all, she had been imprisoned for hundreds of years, and even before that, she’d only had a passing relationship with what she called the Heavens.

Her perspective was a strange one, Zeke had to admit. On the one hand, it made sense that she’d categorized the opposing world as Heaven and the demonic lands as Hell. After all, those designations vaguely fit those descriptions. However, Zeke had a hard time marrying the things he’d seen since being reborn with a heavenly label. Certainly, he’d never have classified most of the people he’d met as angels.

Did that mean the term “demon” was a misnomer as well? Were they just as capable of good as the so-called angels were of evil? He had no idea, but what he did know was that real people – whether they were demons, angels, or anything in between – were never easily labeled.

“It isn’t about where they end up,” said Eveline, once again reading his surface thoughts. “It’s about where they started. The Oppressor isn’t perfect, and nor is its creation. The Framework is nothing but a machine, and it can only do what it was created to do. As powerful as the Oppressor is, it is incapable of quantifying the nuances of existence. Good and evil are a myth that it has chosen to treat as reality. As such, it has chosen to categorize the myriad shades of gray that make up reality into black and white. And if you repeatedly tell dark gray that it’s really black, it will begin to act according to its assigned nature. So it is with demons.”

“And why don’t the people in…Heaven…do the opposite?” Zeke asked.

“I think you know the answer to that question,” Eveline stated.

Indeed, Zeke understood it better than most. For Zeke, being reborn was a trial to be conquered, and he’d been forced to endure a crucible of pain as well as sacrifice. But for most others – aside form the chosen – it was only disorienting. They went on with their lives, much as they would have in any other situation.

So, for them, change wasn’t necessary.

But for the would-be demons, they were tortured into becoming exactly what the Framework needed them to be. From the moment of their rebirth, they were groomed for evil.

“Precisely,” said Eveline.

Zeke shook his head. That was only Eveline’s perspective, and as a demon, she was not to be trusted.

“That’s true of anyone you meet,” she pointed out. “How many Angels have lied to you? How many have you seen commit evil acts? How many have tried to kill you? Believe me or not, it doesn’t matter. I merely want to open your eyes to the truth. It’s up to you to decide whether or not you want to see beneath the surface.”

“I’d really appreciate it if you stopped reading my mind,” Zeke said, pushing himself to his feet.

“Not possible,” she said with a cheery smile. “Your thoughts are far too loud to ignore. If you want me to stop listening, you’ll just have to think quieter.”

Running his hand through his hair, Zeke said, “I have no idea how to do that.”

“One more task on your to-do list then,” she said, twirling around him. She really was far more energetic now that a piece of her soul was free. And more childlike than he would have expected, given she was an unfathomably old demon. Was it an act? Or was that really who she was? “Speaking of which – my other cages. It’s best if we do it sooner rather than later because in my current state, I don’t know how much I can shield your mind from the Wave.”

“But you said –”

“It’ll be fine,” she said with a dramatic sigh. “You worry too much. Now, just hop on down this mountain, head that way.” She pointed slightly to the left of the giant pillar that dominated the horizon before continuing, “Kill the Warden with your great, big hammer, and we’ll be good to go.”

“Wait, what Warden?”

“That’s a lot of ‘w’s’,” she said with a giggle. “The Warden, of course. Big guy. One eye. Horns all over his head. You know – the Warden. Everybody knows about him, right?”

“Uh…I thought I’d just have to break another chain…”

“Nope!” was her cheerful reply. “But you specialize in killing big monsters, don’t you? Well, the Warden’s the biggest, baddest monster around. Of course, I’ve heard he used to be an orc or something – you know, before demonhood reached up and grabbed him ‘round the middle. But that’s neither here nor there. The point is, you have to kill him before you get to my next cage. Fun, right? Good opportunity for improvement, I always say.”

“Do you really?”

“No. Of course not. Just an expression,” Eveline said, crossing her arms in a pout. Her moods seemed to jet from one extreme to another at the slightest provocation. “That’s because you don’t play along. Just…just go, okay? Just go kill the big monster, and we’ll be done with all this before you know it.”

Zeke definitely wasn’t convinced, but he had to admit that the idea of fighting a giant monster was far more palatable for him than engaging with a power he didn’t truly understand. At some point, he knew he’d have to explore the interplay between his path, his attunement, and the demonic power coursing through his body, but he definitely wasn’t looking forward to it.

“Give you an enemy to fight – no matter how strong – and you’ll gladly challenge it,” Eveline said with an amused shake of her head. “But you run from the prospect of directing your focus inward. A born cultivator, you are not.”

“I’m not even sure what that word means,” Zeke said. “But I’ve always learned better in the middle of a crisis. I don’t think this is going to be any different.”

Of course, Zeke knew from his interactions with Eta, Jasper, and the other slaves that most spent quite a lot of their time meditating on their paths. But he’d never been one to sit still and ponder the nature of the universe. Instead, he found better results when pushing himself to the brink by fighting against long odds. It had happened in the troll caves, when he’d been forced to unravel curse runes, and nothing had changed for him during his time in the Mortal Realm. Every major advancement he’d experienced had come in the middle of battle.

Of course, doing things that way came with incredible risk – as he’d discovered when his attempt at evolving a [Heart of the Berserker] had resulted in a corrupted skill. But Zeke truly didn’t think he could do things any other way.

“You are unique, Ezekiel,” said Eveline, her voice losing its childlike edge. “I don’t know if it will be your downfall or if it will raise you to incredible heights. But I know enough to recognize that your path is your own, and I would be a fool to try to put you into a well-defined box.”

“So, that’s a fancy way of saying you won’t help me, right?”

She smirked, and a bit of mirth was evident in her tone when she said, “Indeed. A more generous assessment is that my help will only get in your way.”

“Fantastic.”

After that, their conversation petered out, and Zeke took a few minutes to stretch his sore muscles before setting out. He reached the edge of the plateau in only a couple of minutes, and when he looked over to the other side, he couldn’t help but gasp in surprise at the huge graveyard spreading out before his gaze.

Amidst the black sand were hundreds of enormous skeletons, each one looking bigger than the last. The smallest among them was at least the size of a bus, but in the distance, Zeke spotted a ribcage that would’ve dwarfed a department store in size.

“What is this place?” Zeke asked.

“This…this is the Field of Giants,” Eveline said, her voice subdued. “A relic of an age long past. Of a glory we hope to one day reach again.”

“What does that even mean?” he persisted, his own voice barely above a whisper. Speaking at a normal volume somehow felt disrespectful. Or perhaps dangerous.

Eveline sighed. “You really are no fun at all,” she said. “No sense of reverence or respect.” She thrust a hand out, pointing to the center of the field. “It’s a battlefield. Nobody remembers what the fight was about. None of us know who the giants were. All we know is that they were incredibly powerful and that they are responsible for the fires above.”

“That doesn’t make any sense.”

Eveline shrugged. “Doesn’t have to make sense,” she said. “It’s ancient history. We only know bits and pieces, so there’s almost no way any of us will ever put all of them together into a unified whole. Perhaps some of the other tribes know more, but –”

“Tribes?”

“Demon nations,” she said. “Seven of them, each made up of hundreds of subordinate clans.”

“Huh.”

“You thought we were all just barbaric hordes, did you? That’s racist.”

“Just going by what I’ve seen…”

“And what you’ve seen is children,” she said. “Mal’araxis is in incubator for infants. Only here, in Mal’canus, do demons truly begin to find themselves. You will find that things are much different – in ways, more civilized, but in other ways, far more brutal – than they were in the weaker realm.”

“Great. That sounds a lot more dangerous,” Zeke said. It was one thing facing a horde of mindless brutes, but it was something else altogether to face off against a civilization of thinking creatures. “What about the mer-demons?”

“Mer-demons? Oh,” she said. “The Nikapa. They are not true demons. Call them chaff. Or natives, perhaps. They can think, after a fashion, but they are more akin to…apes…yes. Apes from your world. Curious creatures. And what is –”

“Please stop reading my mind,” Zeke groaned. “And if you can’t stop, then just keep your comments to yourself.”

“Very well. The Nikapa can be formidable in great numbers, but they are not true demons,” she said. “That is my point. If you do meet a real demon – other than me, of course – in this realm, you will…know the difference. Sooner rather than later, because the Warden is one such creature, though from what I can gather, he’s gone somewhat native. In any case, we won’t accomplish our goals by standing here.  So, onward!”

As she said the last, she’d thrust her hand into the air, and pasted an exultant expression on her face. In that moment, she looked so much like a precocious child that it took an active reminder – in the form of her floating a few feet off the ground – for Zeke to remember that she was, in fact, a powerful demon in her own right. Or a sliver of one.

“Fine. Let’s go, then,” he said. Then, he started down the slope. It was much gentler than the other side, and it had the benefit of not assaulting him with mental attacks or illusions. So, things went much easier on the way down.

Hopefully, things would continue along that path.