Chapter 123 Lykan: Return to Clevarall (Patreon)

Chapter 123

Lykan

Return to Clevarall

Lykan and Brenna walked in silence as they made their way back to the city of Clevarall. A city that just two months ago Lykan had directed a mass exodus from. Now he was leading one of the few dwarven survivors back to the site. Additionally, Lykan now after twenty-five years of life he had yet a third place he could call home, though just like the others he felt himself compelled to leave this personal sanctuary.

“Will you be, okay?” Lykan asked, breaking apart the silence that had befallen the group ever since they left the Obsidian Fist capital of Mezrathurin. As he spoke his hand reached for the pocket with a map of old dwarven settlements, ones that had been documented and then abandoned on the eastern continent. The map was of course a list of Titan facilities that the dwarfs had taken over as their own. To Lykan the map of abandoned settlements was priceless, as each one was a location he no longer had to search for. Also of note, was the fact that he was able to mark off the six dwarven cities that he had already shut down. Or as the dwarfs put it, ‘he destroyed the dungeon cores.’

That was still an odd turn of phrase, but one as good as any other. The room where the control panels were, was always called the core control room. And dungeons were as good of a term as any when describing the Titan Labyrinths.

At first, he expected some kick back to his requests to have a map of other dwarven cities, to see if they too were built upon Titan Labyrinths. But apparently every dwarf who entered the core room and saw the dead Titan that had nearly killed Lykan in its death throes, had all received a divine blessing.

Lykan himself didn’t have this exact blessing, though maybe he had. But he had it explained to him.

Blessing Bestowed: True Sight

True Sight: You have seen the true enemies of the Gods and this world, a Titan. May you remember their likeness and see the dangers they bring with them. Reward: +2 Awareness, ability to see qi in all things.

The King of Mezrathurin, also made it part of the rite of passage to become a Crystal Legion member. The blessing also caused a bit of a problem for Lykan and Brenna who all but radiated qi, though apparently their qi was different enough from that of the Titans and the other monsters of the biome that they were exonerated, though they were then asked to leave while everyone tried to process what had happened. This was fine for Lykan, though he couldn’t help but feel bad for Brenna as she had basically been forced to leave the city with him. That was part of why he wanted her to feel comfortable. While he had a map of abandoned cities, a map with current dwarven cities was denied to them. Lykan could understand the hesitation, though it did make his task harder.

“I could ask you the same thing. Not every day that one is made a citizen of a dwarven empire, only to be exiled the same day.” Brenna retorted.

Lykan looked at Brenna for a second, as if the same exact set of circumstances had not befallen her as well. That is when Lykan looked back to his life and saw that this was sadly becoming a habit of his. Every kingdom he went to, he was eventually exiled from. Technically he was not exiled from Sidhertha, though he felt his welcome there had long been worn out by the time he left.

He also mused that he wasn’t technically kicked out of the High Wood Elven capital either, though he was certain after his next visit he would be. Especially after he shut down the dungeon core that made their entire way of life possible.

“What, got nothing to say?” Brenna teased.

“It is not every day, though it has happened a lot more than I would like to admit.” Lykan finally answered.

Hearing that, the cheery smile that Brenna had been sporting for a second faded as she saw the deep tired look that filled Lykan.

“Where do you call home?” She finally asked after a few minutes of silence.

Lykan paused and looked absolutely stunned by the question. Finally, he just shrugged. “I can’t say that I have a place to call home. I’ve spent the last few years running around finding and shutting down different Labyr…dungeons.” He caught himself, wanting to use the term Brenna used. “That I never really had a place to call home.”

“Well surely you have a place where you were born? One where your parents raised you? You did have parents, right?” She asked.

Lykan just gave a sad half smile at the questions. “I was raised in Abberty Village, it doesn’t exist anymore. It was destroyed when the Azani forces invaded the far north. The village was burnt down in the first year of the war.”

“That is terrible.” Brenna said, a gasp filling her words as she looked on at Lykan’s blank expression.

“It’s fine. I had been banished for being a null seven years prior. When I returned seven years later, I had removed the initial marking of being a null, but it was already too late. When I arrived, the city had been burned, my father seemed to have left some time before as his secret stash was empty. What people I did see thought I was a monster, on account of my red eyes.” Lykan said, pointing to his eyes that he made glow bright red with his qi. This was odd as he normally never did such a trick.

“At the time I was not aware that my eyes would appear red while cycling qi. I never found out what happened to the villager that fled. The soldiers that had been dispatched to the village were all dead by that point, so I hope they eventually made it back to safety.” Then Lykan paused before adding “wherever that would be in this world, I don’t know.”

Silence.

“In a way my returning to Clevarall is like your story. Clevarall is the only true home I had known. I was sad to have been forced to leave it, but now that we are going back, I can’t help but worry about what we will find.”

“Why is that?” Lykan asked.

“You must understand, when we left, I was weak. I felt so helpless, orcs are these impossible warriors of legend to our people. You saw how many were killed and they kept coming. If it wasn’t for that earthquake, you summoned that killed off hundreds of them, they likely would have never stopped their assault on the temple.”

“Kind of ironic, as the temple is one of the known access points. In fact, that entire earthquake as you call it as just me collapsing the top layer of the dungeon.”

“That’s what happened?”

Lykan nodded.

“Did you know that would happen?”

Lykan shrugged. “I saw the duct works, then I felt how a few support columns had been excavated, likely for parts. With the weaknesses underneath, and the weight of a sewer system on top, the structures were relatively easy to break. Of course, I say that, when I had to channel an entire elite core into that strike.”

Rustle.

Off in the distance the sound of moving footsteps could be heard.

“I think we might have been spotted.” Brenna said in warning.

“They were bound to notice eventually.” Lykan mused.

“Eventually?”

“We have been in their territory for quite a while.” Lykan answered calmly.

“Shouldn’t we fly over them or something?” Brenna asked.

Looking quizzically at her Lykan asked, “you can fly now?”

“No, but you can. You did so with me not too long ago.” Brenna shot back.

A slight smirk filled Lykan’s lips. “You mean for me to princess carry you all the way in. While you cradle our weapons?” Lykan said, while brandishing his newly made mithril bo-staff.

Looking at the weapons that they both now sported, rewards of the king of Mezrathurin for destroying the evil living under their city, Brenna blushed slightly in embarrassment.

“Well, it didn’t have to be a princess carry. I could ride your back…” Brenna stammered trying to come up with some way to redeem her previous statement.

“Like a pony?”

“Well…no, when you say it like that, it just sounds silly. You know what, never mind, I will walk. I didn’t want to ride you anyways.”

Lykan just looked at her coyly for a moment, but then stopped. Instead, he let the slight smirk filling his lips speak volumes.

“Stop that.”

“I haven’t said a word.” Lykan said, the smirk on his normally stoic face speaking volumes. For the life of him, he couldn’t figure out why. But he really enjoyed seeing Brenna blush. Perhaps it was that she was the first true contact he had in the past seven years. Or the fact that he felt she could help him in dungeons. The last one was proof that he had needed assistance, he likely would have died in the last dungeon. Or at the very least had a number of broken bones that healed wrong and would then have to be rebroken to be healed correctly. Either way, Brenna had proven herself to be not only useful, but willing to follow him. Added to that was the fact that she was genuinely nice to be around, also she wasn’t bad to look at either.

All this was to say that, somewhere along the line their relationship had changed. No longer were they teacher and student, but now they felt more like equals. Also given the fact that they were both exiled from the only place to take them in, gave them even more to bond over.

“You don’t need to. That smirk on your face speaks volumes.” She said pointing up towards his face.

With that Lykan couldn’t help but laugh a loud and boisterous laugh.

Snap.

A branch broke as a large creature moved through the woods. The sound instantly caused Brenna to go on alert, but Lykan for his part seemed as calmed and relaxed as ever. The only change in his mood was that he finally stopped laughing, though his grin still clung to his face.

“Stop right there.” An Orc officer said, in perfect orcish. It was the level of diction, and the armor being used by the officer that told Lykan this warrior before him was one of the leaders. Also, his mannerisms of giving orders, especially to strangers spoke of years of giving orders.

With that Lykan held up his mithril walking stick and his left hand up in a defensive position, his slight smirk still stuck to his face.

Brenna seeing the sudden shift in posture by Lykan also followed suit, though she felt they could easily take on the dozen or so warriors that were gathering around them.

“Where do you think you are going?” The officer said, while he spoke six of the dozen warriors that had surrounded them came in from different sides. While the remaining six had orcish war bows drawn on them.

“We are going to Clevarall.” Lykan spoke back, in an even more refined tone of Orcish than the commander. At his words the others who had been walking forward suddenly paused at the incongruity. Here it was a human male, someone who likely never had interactions with orcs suddenly spoke perfect orcish. That and the relaxed nature of the man caused everyone to pause and take a long look at the man before them.

“Boss. It’s ‘im.” One of the scouts who had come close to likely tie up Lykan said. As he spoke his body began to shake as he took an involuntary step back.

“Him? Him who?” The officer demanded, suddenly angered by the way the detention was going.

“The angel, boss. The one that was summoned by the temple.” Another scout spoke up, this one was a female who appeared to have some mastery over elemental forces, if the mana flowing through her body, was any indication. It looked like she was either an elementalist scout or hadn’t fully been realized as able to become a true shaman.

Angel? Lykan wondered, but then realized that over time the story of his protecting the temple had likely been exaggerated a lot. Especially as he was now returning with one of the people from the very temple that he saved.

“She was there too.” The Scout-Shaman said, this time pointing to Brenna.

Hearing this the Orc officer waved his hand. “Seize him!”

With that, there was a flurry of motion. The air stirred as Lykan dashed about in a blur.

Thud. Crack. Pop.

Trees rustled, as areas where the scouts had been taking up positions suddenly come to life.

From the viewpoint of the orc commander the world had suddenly gone crazy. All he saw was a blur moving about. It took him a second to try to catch up to what was happening.

Chink.

The mighty broad sword that had been in his hand suddenly buckled for a second, then snapped apart.

At the time that his sword blade struck the ground Lykan had taken up position back at the center of the clearing, standing next to Brenna. Gone was the slight smirk on his face. Gone was the relaxed demeanor of a man who was on a leisurely stroll. All that remained was a monster in human flesh staring out with glowing red eyes of a demon.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

The warriors who had been standing up moments ago now suddenly fell to the ground as if they were puppets with their strings cut.

Rustle. Rustle.

In the trees the scouts who had taken up positions of over watch also began to fall and slump down. Gromgar had heard the rumors of the assault. He had even seen the trail end of the convoy of warriors leaving the city. He himself had just climbed out of the ruble as the building he had stormed collapsed underneath him. Only afterward did he hear the reports of how one being came down and protected the women and children who had huddled together for protection within the temple.

Seeing the monster before him now and hearing the words of his trusted second in command, he could see why they were allowed to leave the city unimpeded. To impede that monster was to court death.

Gromgar had been in countless battles throughout his long war-washed life and never had he been so frightened by an opponent as he was at that moment. He knew he lived only because the being before him wanted it to be so and nothing more. He looked from the monster, then down at the broken sword in his hands that was little more than a hilt of a weapon at this point. He looked and finally locked eyes with the monster for a second, before turning away. He was well used to the power struggles of looking warriors in the eye, knowing full well that the one who looked away first was often the first to die. In this case, he felt the exact opposite, to stare into that monster’s eyes was to admit that he had not been properly cowed, that he still had some fight within him. He looked away first, and then down at the ground. Only when he looked down did he see something that truly amazed him. The warriors that had all fallen, were only unconscious. He saw the way all their chests gently rose and settled as they took in deep breaths of sleep. What? He spared us?Gromgar thought. As soon as the thought hit him, the intruder spoke.

“We will be going to Clevarall.” Lykan said once more as he began walking forward at a casual stroll.

Gromgar wanted to protest, wanted to fulfill his obligations, to stop anyone who would come from the south. But he was powerless to move. His entire body froze up in fear as the monster casually strolled right past him and his second in command.