Chapter 76 (Patreon)

Chapter 76

Riven turned heel and walked out of the room, cloak flowing out behind him, leaving the other people to talk amongst themselves about what had happened.  Tensions were high and he could still hear the creatures above occasionally roar through the ceiling even despite how thick it was.

Riven gazed upwards.  “They probably just found new prey.”

“Actually…” The teenage boy interrupted his thoughts with a nervous laugh, having followed them inside OR 5 without permission but not seeming to care.  “Those creatures are trying to find a way down here and are expressing their rage.  I’ve been watching on my map.  They tried the stairs, but couldn’t dig through the rubble.

“Oh really?”

“Yeah.  Those layers of stuff you packed in there after that awesome attack held them back...”  The teenage kid gave an awkward thumbs up.  “So thanks for that!  My name is Jake by the way.”

“Nice to meet you Jake, my name is Riven.”

He shook hands with the smaller, blonde young man and gave an appreciative nod.  “Thanks for the help.  Do me a favor and continue to watch out for it, alright?”

“Will do!”  Jake gave a quick salute, a more firm smile than his previous ones, and turned around to march out the door towards his parents on the sofas.

***

The visions had returned.

Riven found himself surrounded by an ocean devoid of life.  Only the warm, rolling waves gently tossing his body back and forth was cause for any noise, and his body relaxed amidst the never-ending massage of the waters around him.

Slowly he opened his eyes, and as he did - his body began to rise up out of the ocean and into the air.  Demonic wings sprouted from his calves, his lower back, and his upper back one after the other as flesh tore and gave way to greater substance… but this rebirth did not hurt.  If anything, as his red eyes finally opened fully to meet the visage of a brilliant crimson moon ahead of him - and he felt the grip of a god on his soul pulling him home.

The moon was so close… barely hovering above the horizon of the otherwise dark and starlit sky.  Yet it encompassed well over a third of the sky above him - with pockets of craters and mountains visible even from here where he looked upon the moon’s brilliance in all its glory.

He felt it getting closer now, felt the pull of his ancestors calling to him - and in a flash, the sea around him began to roil and churn.  Water turned to blood, sending cyclones of spinning red torrents cascading about him.  The calm sea turned into a hurricane and the bodies of those he’d slain rose up from beneath him as a mountain of corpses, all of them reaching out to him with dead eyes as they worshiped the one they now called master from the afterlife.

But beyond all else, and within the eye of the storm about him, a sword forged from the blood of his enemies was created before his very eyes.  The legions of dead men and women he stood upon screamed in anguish, the zombies all draining of their last visage of undeath while they withered away and fell into the ocean of red beneath.  One, two, and then three of his thralls appeared in explosions of shadow in the air around him, all bowing their heads towards his divine form while he rose up into the sky and took the gleaming red weapon from where a tornado of rage swirled about them.  Then he lifted his hand, shimmering crimson light encompassing it as a rocket of power launched itself into the heavens with a blast of power that tore through the heavens and exploded overhead - creating a nova blooming above them to finally signify his return.  The world trembled under his power, the oceans roiled, and the air about him simmered.  All would see it, and all would know it was him.

The king was coming home.  Though his enemies and usurpers might try, they would not be able to stop him now.

Yes… He was finally coming home.

***

[Quest Update: Finding Your Friends - As promised by the Administrator, your completion of Chalgathi’s Trials and the Tutorial Trials have brought you together in close proximity with your family and friends.  Once per day, you will receive a ping on Allie’s general location to let you know which way to go.  Locating the position of your sister Allie now.]

Riven’s notification woke him from the dream he was having, and he rubbed his eyes with a yawn.  He hadn’t slept well, his mind repeating the strange images of the man in the ocean, the blood moon, and the sword created from a mountain of the dead.

Was it supposed to mean something?

Why had it repeated over and over like it had?  Though he’d been asleep, he could distinctly remember having it numerous times over…

But then he saw the hologram notification and his heartbeat began to spike.  Through the cement walls and dirt, through the city and not that far away was a gleaming figure.  He couldn’t make out the true identity just yet as she was only represented by blips of light, but he could tell exactly how far away and which direction she was in.

Finally.  Fucking FINALLY!  A huge smile tugged at his lips and he clenched his fists with an inward scream of triumph.  She was alive and not far off!  But just why hadn’t he already had a notification appear before now?  Had it appeared when he’d been undergoing transitional pains during that first night in the broken down gas station?  Or had it happened during one of his fights and he’d accidentally dismissed it?
He was half tempted to rip through the ceiling and just charge through the waves of enemies to get to her, but he knew doing so would result in the death of dozens of people that hid here with him.  Inwardly cringing that he was stuck down here in this hospital basement, he could only hope that next time he’d be ready to move and out in the open.

Athela’s voice spoke from behind where she sat against the wall, playing pattycake or something akin to it with Azmoth.  “Looks like your friends aren’t that far off.  I’m excited to finally meet your sister.”

She’d gotten the notification too then.

He nodded, yawning one more time and reviewing the vivid dream he’d had again.  Secretly feeling rather jealous of the two recovering elves on their relatively comfy hospital beds, Riven rubbed his forehead and yawned before coming over to sit next to Athela.  “Can’t sleep?”

“Don’t feel like it.  You’re supposed to be nocturnal now, ya know.  As a vampire.  You’ll hunt better that way and you won’t have to worry about debuffs.”

Hmmm.  That was probably true, but Riven also liked being able to walk around in the day.  Was needing to wear extra clothing to block the sun’s rays really too much of a hassle?  He didn’t think so.

“Yes yes.” Azmoth stated profoundly, giving Riven a knowing look as he gave up on the pattycake game and swatted at Athela instead - easily missing her in the process as she dodged backwards.  “You want hunt at night.”

Riven smiled slightly, chuckled and leaned his head on Athela’s shoulder to relax a bit when she settled down next to him.  “It may take some adjusting too, but you’re right.  Moving around in the daylight is a little… uncomfortable.”

There was a knock on the door, and the familiar voice of Dr. Brass echoed through a moment later.  “May I come in?”

“Come in.”

The doorknob turned, and the door opened wide to reveal the old man’s haggard appearance.  He looked like he’d aged a decade in the short time they’d known him, his gray hair was frazzled beyond belief and it looked like he’d just woken up.  His white coat was dirty and covered in small patches of blood.  Dark bags were under his eyes, and he rubbed his temple with a tired expression to shut the door behind him.  “May I sit?”

He motioned to the floor in front of Allie and Riven.

Riven silently gestured for Dr. Brass to do as he pleased, and the old man came over to plop right in front of the others.  “Most of the others are still asleep, so I thought this may be the best time to get away from them and have a word.  I…”

His words faded away from him as his thoughts became muddled.  Dr. Brass sat silently by, inspecting Athela, then Azmoth, and then Riven.  Putting his hands over his face and sputtering something under his breath, he rubbed his tired eyes and removed his glasses.  “Riven, right?  That’s your name?”

Riven nodded once, taking a pack of saltine crackers on the floor nearby  and opening them.  He was beginning to feel hungry again.  Specifically, he wanted blood… but he was curious as to just how long he could stave off the hunger and was self-experimenting by eating other food in the meantime.  He obviously wouldn’t go too far, as he didn’t want to have another insanity attack, but he could feel just how far away the tipping point was and he hadn’t even come close yet.  This gave him some measure of relief, meaning he wouldn’t need to actively gorge himself all the time - but rather could probably put days inbetween each feeding if he really needed to.

Dr. Brass grunted, pulling his knees up to his chest and slowly rocking back.  “So… how did you come across your magic, if I may ask?  By randomly finding them after they appear out of thin air?  Surely you didn’t learn it on Earth.  You can shoot piercing bolts of blood at creatures to kill them.  And you can obviously summon demons.  Is this some kind of sick joke?  I want to believe this is all just a bad dream, but over and over again I am disproven.  I know what I saw, but I can’t seem to grasp the reality of it.  Can you please show me one more time?  A spell?”

Riven frowned the doctor’s way with a raised eyebrow, realizing that the man was nearly at a mental breaking point by the way the old man’s voice shook, and he pointed at the far wall.  Crimson ribbons flickered along his forearm, licking his skin and engulfing his hands until they reached the fingers a half-second later – and a thin shard of blood magic materialized out in front.  “It’s true.”

The three-foot shard of sharp, pointed magic rocketed forwards into the wall, piercing the stone without much effort and sending chipped pieces of concrete skipping onto the floor.  Dr. Brass gawked, shook his head, and sprung to his feet to inspect the projectile.  He gingerly touched it, withdrawing as a warm sensation began to spread along his hands when he did – and watched the solidified blood magic slowly fizzle away into nothingness a couple seconds later.

“So I’m not dreaming.  That’s… that’s real magic…” Dr. Brass gasped, putting a finger into the hole in the stone wall where the magic had almost cut cleanly through.  “This isn’t a dream.  This isn’t a dream.  This really isn’t a bad dream.  How is this possible?”

Riven was truly confused.  Had Dr. Brass actually been trying to convince himself that this was all fake?  And if so, why would a simple act of magic like what he’d just done be enough to convince him when everything else the old man had seen were just as convincing?  This doctor was about to mentally shatter.

“You’re really going to ask that after all you’ve seen?” Riven asked sincerely, cocking his head to the side and looking down as he felt Athela’s covered head land in his lap when she scooted across the floor.

Dr. Brass in the meantime was still dumbfounded.  He whirled on Riven and stomped over, pointing back to the wall.  “Do it again!”

Riven slowly shook his head.  “I need to conserve mana in case that thing breaks through our barrier.”

“What are your other abilities?  I know you can teleport because I saw you rip open space and travel through it in the visions conjured by that boy in the front room.  What else are you hiding?”

Dr. Brass was breathing heavily.  There was a long pause, and Riven raised an eyebrow.

“I’d rather not talk about them right now.  I don’t know you that well and giving away all my secrets doesn’t seem like a wise decision, considering the post-apocalyptic scenario we find ourselves in.”

“…Are you really a vampire then?  Like, really?”

Riven chuckled.  “Just recently became one.  Yes… you saw the fangs, didn’t you?”

“I thought that was some kind of weird trick to try and intimidate people.”

“It wasn’t a trick.  I’m also a hell of a lot faster and stronger than most people now too.”

Dr. Brass narrowed his eyes suspiciously.  “You’re not a threat to us, are you?  When I first met you, I did get a rather bad feeling about you… but I always like to take people for who they are rather than go at face value.  I hope I didn’t make a bad choice.”

Riven rolled his eyes.  “No, I’m not a threat.  Not unless you cause trouble for me first.”

“Good.  You seem like good people… I’m deciding to trust you, please don’t make me regret that decision.”

The old man sat back down, trying to collect his thoughts.  “I’m sorry to bother.  I’m just trying to wrap my head around all of this and what’s happening.  You seem to know more than anyone else that I’ve met.  It’s a god-damned mess out there!  Everyone in the next room looks up to me, and I have no answers.  I’m just a man doing his best, but my best is not nearly enough.”

Riven smiled, genuinely, as he recognized the sincerity in Dr. Brass’ words.  “That’s all we can ask of ourselves.  As for what I know – it’s very limited.  I’m counting on Athela here, mostly.”

“Even I don’t really know that much!” Athela stated bluntly with a chipper smile from where her eyes were covered up by the blanket she’d thrown over her face.  “I’m rather young for a demon.  I was only in the nether realms for 200 years until Riven freed me!”

“Two hundred years?” Dr. Brass repeated disbelievingly.

“Mhmm!!!

“That’s an absurd amount of time.  Are you certain it was that long?”

Athela wiggled her fingers at him like a witch casting a spell, pulling the blanket halfway down and chuckling like an evil witch.  “Mhmm!!!  Really it was 197 years, if you want a specific amount of time.  I know what you’re thinking though!  Demons can live for indefinite amounts of time through the ages if they acquire enough power.”

Dr. Brass scowled back at Athela and adjusted his glasses again – a habit that was quickly becoming overly repetitive and, to Riven’s eye, seemed like it was something Dr. Brass did whenever the old man got flustered.

The old man coughed into his closed fist - addressing the demoness again.  “What is Negrada?  I heard you and Azmoth talking about it earlier.”

“The dungeon that was going to eat me!”

“Dungeons eat demons?”

“Not all the time, but sometimes.  Their minions can absorb our essence, and sometimes they even bind other demons to do their dirty work.”

“That’s barbaric.”

“It’s the circle of life!  I’m just happy I ended up getting out.  I didn’t want to die, and I really want to make Riven proud after picking me as his first companion.  I think you made quite the oh-so lucky steal by binding me, Riven!”

“I did?” Riven asked with mock curiosity.  “Didn’t realize you were old enough to be my great, great, great grandma by the way.  You old fart.”

Athela growled and narrowed her eyes dangerously.  “Yes, you did get a steal, idiot!  AND I’M NOT OLD!”

“Not just old, but really old.”

“Shut it twirp!”  Athela tried to sucker punch his kidney, but was quickly deflected by Riven and aggressively smacked back across the forehead to get a feminine *UMPH* from Athela when she fell backwards.  This got an amused laugh from Azmoth to their right.

“Riven…” Dr. Brass began in a low tone, staring at the floor between his legs.  “Where did you grow up before all of this started?”

Riven’s red eyes found their way to the old man, and he blinked – wondering why the doctor would care.  “Well… that’s a long story.  The short version is Dallas, Texas.  Let’s just say I didn’t have the greatest of childhoods…”

***

Athela found herself waking up to the sound of a pained moan.  The clock on the wall said it was 4am – meaning she’d slept 4 of the 8 hours she’d usually sleep, and she still felt completely refreshed.  She blinked, yawned, and clucked her lips a couple of times.  The light of the room was the brightest in their new underground bunker, due to the dungeon core in the wall, and she could hear children playing out in the waiting room down the hall.  The sounds of laughing and giggling with happy, carrying voices was enough to make Athela’s heart swell in a way it almost never did.  It’d been a while since she’d been so relaxed, as odd as that was given their situation.

Riven was peacefully asleep next to her, and Azmoth was in a rather uncomfortable position next to the metal surgical table.  The large demon did give Athela a nod of affirmation though, clarifying that he wasn’t asleep but merely bored out of his mind as he went back to staring at the ceiling.

Another low moan of pain echoed out from one of the two elves, and Athela saw the one with silver hair adjust her posture underneath the blankets – blinking rapidly and coughing as she sat up with a startled yelp.

“Why hello there!” Athela said, reaching out a hand and patting Riven’s hair down while he slept.

The elf blinked in surprise.  “We’re not dead...”

Athela gave the other girl a confused frown, and then stood to grab a small box of orange juice.  Walking over to the bedside, she noted how tired the elf looked.  The IV was still in her arm, and the poor girl barely had enough strength to sit up properly – her head sagged and there were bags under her eyes, yet she was still very pretty.  The blue paint across the elf’s face was partially gone or smudged, and the broken clavicle was still obviously broken even after having it set into its proper anatomic location as the injured woman grimaced when she moved it before thinking.

The woman groaned again, wincing and eyeing Athela suspiciously before laying back in the bed under the warm covers.  She looked to the IV in her arm, a little worriedly, and then underneath the blanket to see that her clothes were missing.

Lastly, the elf looked to her leg where it’d been bandaged properly by Dr. Brass.  “What are you doing to me?”

“Healing you.” Athela said with a wink, using a straw on the back of the juice box to puncture its seal and then handing it to the other young woman.  “Take this and drink.  What’s your name again?  I forgot.  Or did I ever know?”

The elf took the box gingerly, trying not to move her right clavicle as she did, but looked it over without understanding how to work it.

Athela snickered, pointing to the straw.  “Suck out of that.  It’s fruit juice… Oh don’t give me that look!  I could have killed you any time.  Just shut up and take our hospitality whether you like it or not!”

The elf frowned again, eyed the IV where it was attached to her arm, and gingerly put her lips against the straw to suck.  She was too weak to argue or protest anything, but her brilliant blue eyes shot open wide when the juice hit her tongue.  She began hungrily sucking it down, quickly draining the box while Athela laughed and handed her another.

She was given crackers, a couple granola bars, and then a water bottle after that.  All of it was quickly downed as if the poor girl had been starving for weeks, and after she was done Athela capped the water bottle for her and set it on the steel surgical table next to Azmoth.

“So what’s your name?” Athela pressed again – a little more forcefully this time.

The girl parted her hair with her left hand – the side that didn’t have the clavicular injury, and lightly smiled.  “My name is Senna.  Thank you for helping us… but I must ask, why did you do it?”

Senna’s gaze shifted to Riven sleeping on the floor, and then to the faintly glowing cinders flaring to life at random along Azmoth’s body.  Her eyes shot wide open, and she gasped in disbelief.  “Is that a hellscape brutalisk?!”

“... Yes.  A baby one.  How’d you know?”

“I’ve seen pictures in my uncle’s archive!”  The disbelief was written along with momentary shock on the elf’s face, but she quickly regained control of her emotions and let go of the breath she’d been holding in for so long.  “Wow… I never thought I’d see one in my lifetime.  Much less one that was casually trying to sleep.”

“I don’t sleep.” Came the deep voice of Azmoth while he continued to lay on his back and stare upwards.

Senna looked back in surprise, and an eyebrow raised.  “Really… Alright then.  How do you all speak my language?”

“Your language?” Athela repeated.  “Are you sure it’s your language?”

Senna was about to answer, when she stopped and thought about it.  Her jaw dropped in surprise.  “No… no this isn’t my language.  What’s happening?  Is it your language?”

Athela shook her head with a pleasant smile as Azmoth giggled uncharacteristically from behind.  “Nope!  Our languages likely merged or converted to the universal language upon entering the multiverse.”

Senna nodded slowly, then turned to look at her friend – the other, blonde elf who was missing her entire forearm and part of her bicep.  “Ethel… is she going to be ok?”

Athela hesitantly shrugged.  “This old looking baby-stomper Dr. Brass said he thinks so… but I didn’t press the matter.  Honestly we weren’t sure either of you would live after what happened.  Apparently those goblins have some pretty nasty infections that they spread through their bites…”

“Poison.” spat Senna with venom in her words, anger flaring to life across her pretty features.  “Those wretched goblins…”

Athela shook her head slowly.  “No… Dr. Brass said it was definitely an infection.  That’s why he put you on medication.”

Athela pointed to the IV.  “He’s directing medicine these humans call antibiotics into your blood vessels for faster access.  Be sure not to take those out, they have limited supplies here after the hospital was attacked.”

Senna coughed again, this time a little more violently – hacking up some phlegm and spitting it out onto her covers between closed hands and looking to Allie apologetically.  “I’m sorry… Did you say hospital?”

Athela frowned and folded her arms over her toned abdomen.  “Well it was a hospital from Earth.  Then that monster attacked, and most of the people here died… Riven and I sealed off the entrance down here for now.”

Senna’s face slowly fell, and she sighed.  “Earth you say?  Where is that?”

“My master’s home planet.” Athela replied promptly.  “Part of Panu now.  Your world was incorporated into Panu as well.”