Ch. 29 – Dirge (V) (Patreon)

No!

Felix ran over as Roy pulled his sword and engaged the ogre. He was heedless of the swinging club, and thanks to the Dark Lord occupying the enormous combatant, Felix was able to squeeze by without being noticed. He pulled the chunk of rock off Tinuriel and felt sick to his stomach. Her face and torso were caved in, and he saw foaming, bubbling blood. He immediately retrieved a Health Elixir and pushed it into her mouth.

Lucifer, pop all my Vigor Elixirs and one Anima Elixir.

You’re out of Vigor Elixirs.

“Then Health Elixirs will have to do,” Felix muttered. He had wanted to use his new Fallen Angel Class Skill to help heal her faster, but this would suffice for now. Her wounds were beginning to rejuvenate, and her body was slowly un-crushing itself. He pushed another Health Elixir into her mouth, tipping it back. “I’m not losing you,” he whispered.

Glancing up, he saw Roy fighting the ogre – who he finally noticed was wearing a crown – and struggling mightily against the foe. Felix dragged Tinuriel off to the side, pushing her into the corner. She blinked her eyes as consciousness returned, and she tried to move. “No, don’t. Stay.” Felix put his last Health Elixir into her hand before he turned, pulling out and socketing a charge into the Photon Blade. He ran up to the Ogre King, jumping with his massive Might Stat before kipping off the wall to be at its neck level.

Execution, he thought as he channeled all his anger at Tinuriel’s injury into his strike.

The blade sliced cleanly through the Ogre King’s neck, and his head slipped to the side as the body fell. Felix landed in a roll next to Roy as he ejected the Photon-Blade Charge, swapped to his daggers, and peeked out the door into the courtyard. “The four on the gate are coming. We use the door to funnel them. Netherlight Arena.”

The whole room was shrouded in a grey-silver light that blurred their forms. Roy threw open the doors and held his sword aloft, “Your King is dead. The Dark Lord has returned! Kneel!” The ogres continued moving toward the gate, picking up enormous halberds and maces. “Worth a try.” He backed away into the entry hall to coax them in. Felix stood just beside the doors, waiting to strike, knives at the ready.

A bolt of blue-yellow lightning zapped through the doorway and struck Roy. He tensed up, gritting his teeth, before sagging slightly and using his sword as a support. They have a Magic user? Felix glanced back at the Dark Lord and cursed, switching back to the Photon-Blade and socketing another charge. “You owe me,” he muttered as he turned the corner and stood in the doorway. He saw the one in the back that had used the lightning Magic, and three were closing into melee range – two with clubs taking the lead, and the one with the halberd behind them. A tactical move.

And one that did not matter. “Dragon Dance.”

Felix ran between the legs of one of the ogres, slicing it in half from below and bisecting it up to the chest. The Photon-Blade hilt began to burn him. Rapidly swapping charges, he dashed sideways and carved across the midsection of another as its guts and entrails spilled out. The hilt glowed white-hot, dealing damage to him as his skin started to melt and char. The blade sputtered and began to fluctuate wildly. Just one more hit. The Dragon Dance came to an end as he sliced through the midsection of the last melee ogre.

And then the Photon Blade exploded.

Felix was thrown backward into one of the shattered fountains as the blue flames engulfed him and his skin burned so quickly that he couldn’t even feel the pain. His spine shattered and his head sank with a sickening crunch into the stonework. His (P) Final Stand activated and prevented him from dying.

Using Regenerate. Stay down. Play dead. Lucifer's voice in his head was the most panicked Felix had ever heard him be.

Felix lay still – playing dead – as his skin slowly healed over. He was in excruciating pain and it took every ounce of willpower to just lay still instead of writhing about in agony. Roy ran out of the citadel and charged the ogre mage, screaming in rage as his sword blazed with grey-silver light. The mage summoned a bolt of lightning from the skies that descended and smote him – but the Dark Lord shook off the blow and finished closing the distance. He carved deep gashes across the ogre and cut out its legs from under it, before going in to stab the throat.

He ran over to Felix, “Damn. Are you alive?” His body was burned by the lightning bolt, and the silver-grey light surrounding him slowly healed his body.

Felix let out a pained noise and tried to raise his arm – only to see to his horror that his arm was barely attached. “Lev…”

[Experience Awarded = 40]

[Experience Bonus from Execution Skill = 10]

Level…up…Netherlight.

Right. Netherlight Myrmidon.

[Selection Made: Netherlight Myrmidon]

[You now have access to several Class Skills]

Finalize…Felix felt his body go flush, like he had been submerged into a warm bath. His arms snapped back into place, vertebrae in his back mended themselves, and his skin grew back.

Felix stood up and ran past Roy to the inside of the citadel. He dashed to Tinuriel. She was staring at the floor and looked up at him as he knelt next to her, “I thought I lost you.”

She maintained her stoic demeanor, but he could tell that she was barely holding back a torrent of some sorrowful emotion. He’d seen the same layered emotions in his sister when she tried to put on a brave face at the hospital. He knew the look of someone hiding pain and misery. He saw it every day on Earth when he looked in the mirror when he had to keep putting on a brave face for the world when he was just done with life on the inside. Instead of speaking, he just sat next to her and held her. “I know how you’re feeling,” he whispered.

Tinuriel leaned her head into him, and she sniffled as she spoke, “I…I should have died.”

Felix just shushed her, and they sat there in silence.

Some time passed and Roy came inside, coughing to make his presence known. “I…I hope you two have had enough time.”

Felix looked over to Tinuriel who nodded and pushed herself up. Felix did the same. “What now?”

Roy pointed at the blood-covered slab that almost killed Tinuriel, “That has to go on the throne base. Then the headpiece you recovered.”

Felix reached into his inventory and pulled out the journal, handing it to him, “This is yours. I also found a dagger-”

“Keep it,” Roy said as he ran his thumb along the pages before putting the journal into his hip pouch. “Thank you for finding this.” Roy went over to the slab and with Felix’s help, they muscled it into the throne room and socketed the stone nubs into the piece on the dais. Felix pulled the last part from his inventory and slotted it on top. Roy sat down and set his sword across his lap. “Finally…I’m back home.”

[Crisis: Heficyre – Revive the Dark Lord on Dirge, the Dark Lord’s Desolation (Tier 4) – Solved!]

[You have earned a Multiverse Charge]

Roy smiled, “My thanks to you two, my champions.”

Tinuriel remained silent, just grabbing Felix’s arm. “You’re welcome. What’s so special about the throne?” Felix asked.

“This.” Roy slid his sword point-down into a hidden socket, and the throne exploded with silver-grey light. It blasted through the windows behind the throne – long since shattered – and cascaded up. Felix imagined it surrounded the whole castle. “This is a beacon that amplifies my power,” Roy stated. “It was the magnum opus of my first life. The sword contains my offensive power, the armor my defensive power. The throne, however, amplifies my ability to rule.”

“You don’t mean, like, enslavement Magic, right?” Felix clarified.

“No mind control. Netherlight – what you term the combination of light and dark – is meant to protect and safeguard. You should be able to protect those you count among your allies. This throne allows me to do it on a much grander scale. And” he smiled, “I can use this as a beacon.” The entire world went silvery-white as the Dark Lord’s power exploded out from the throne. “The whole Tier will be limned with my fusion of light and dark. When it has spread to encompass all here, I will make my decree.”

“Neat,” Lucifer said aloud, sounding intrigued.

“I would ask you, Felix Winters the Versewalker, to fulfill your oath with access to your VBV here in my throne room.”

Lucifer, mind explaining how this will work?

Sure. Multiversal Charges can take you to new Universes. They can also be used in Universes you’ve already visited to make an access portal. For example, if you were to go back to that Death World and go back to that downed mech, you could then use a Multiversal Charge and get to either the weird acid-rain generator, where we left from the first time, or to that downed mech.

Let’s plan this out then. Since I have three, I can establish one here which is kind of in the middle of the Tiers. I’m going to use one on the first Tier. I should use the third in Tinuriel’s realm. That way I have a good ‘spread’ of the Tiers to access if I need it.

And, we have two more Crises to solve. I’ll ensure we save one in reserve, so we don’t lock ourselves out of Multiversal Charges.

Felix looked up to Roy, “I will do so.” Okay…spend it.

Done!

A grey portal opened next to the throne. “My thanks,” Roy said. “I need to stay here for several weeks. For now, this is where we part ways…my friends.” Felix walked up and held out his hand to shake. Roy grabbed it by the forearm instead and pulled him into an awkward hug. “This wouldn’t have been possible without you, Felix. If you ever need someone to consult on matters of military or help running your personal kingdom, let me know.”

Felix pulled away, “Of course. And I hope you’ll offer those who flock to your banner the option to dwell in my VBV.”

Roy nodded and cracked a smile, “You should really come up with a different name.”

Tinuriel walked up behind Felix and grabbed his hand with hers. “May we go inside? I want to talk.”

Felix nodded, “We’ll check in with you occasionally. Do you want us to tell Melanie-”

The princess ran out of the portal from the VBV and hugged Roy, “You did it!”

Roy chuckled and glanced at Felix, “I think we’re good. I’ll send her back inside later.”

Felix nodded and Tinuriel pulled him through the portal.

Lucifer extricated himself from Felix when they got inside. He rubbed his temples, “Okay you two. Have fun or whatever. I have to go deal with some feuding goblin clans.” He unfurled his wings and flew off.

Tinuriel pulled Felix towards his house, “What did you want to talk about?”

“Wait until we are inside,” she whispered just loud enough for him to hear. When the front door had closed, she broke down crying and practically flung herself at Felix as he was pinned against the door by her size. She was crying on his shoulder and shaking. “I…I almost…d-d-died.” Her voice was tremulous and filled with a mix of regret, sorrow, and despair.

Felix used his new Might score to lift and carry her – much to her sudden shock – and put her into the bathtub. “A warm bath helps with sad emotions.” He helped her get out of the armor and just sat next to her, holding her hand as the tub filled with water. She glanced at him questioningly, but her entire body expressed fear. “I’m serious. It helps.”

She wiped some of her tears away, “I…I am not weak.” She stared at him resolutely, “I am not weak.” Her voice still trembled.

“No one said you were,” he gently brushed her hair with his fingers. “It’s okay to be afraid of death. Or near death. Hell, I almost died, and I have died twice now. I just got lucky with that first time.”

She took a few deep breaths trying to calm herself and steel her nerves. As the warm water slowly rose, and he continued to assure her with soft affirmations, she calmed down. “…I had…a question.”

Felix nodded, “Go ahead.”

“Would you keep me around?”

“I assume you mean keep you here in the VBV?” Tinuriel nodded. “Yes. Absolutely. There’s a special reward if we can clear the last two Crises on Heficyre. A way to make you stronger. To level up like I do.”

Her eyes went wide, and she faintly smiled, “That…that sounds good.”

“Plus I was going to use a Multiversal Charge to make a portal from Avelion to my VBV here-”

“No.” Tinuriel cut him off. “This realm you’re building is going to welcome everyone, right?” Felix nodded, “Then you don’t want my people here. They are too disinclined to other races.”

“Are you sure? Remember all the knowledge you gained when you first came here. I mean, you were against me as a traveling companion when we first met. And now look at us.”

She went silent for a moment and sunk into the water before coming back up and wiping the hair from her face. “Okay. I trust you.”

Felix smiled and splashed her playfully before standing up, “Enjoy your soak. I’m going to rest up. We go up the Tiers tomorrow.”

As Felix lay in bed, Tinuriel draped across his torso, his mind flashed back through each of his near-death or actual-death experiences. He vividly recalled each, and mentally ran through every decision he could have made that might have altered the course of events. The night was sleepless as he ran scenario after scenario trying to figure out what he could have done better.

This last (P) Final Stand was reckless. He shouldn’t have pushed the weird science-fiction sword to its limits like that. He should have used Detect Weakness first. Then, a Hellfire Beam on the caster to drain his Anima. After the first two kills with the remaining charges of the sword, he could have swapped to the daggers and relied on his (P) Chain Kill and the knowledge of the weak spots to ensure he finished the fight.

I need to fight smarter. I don’t want to keep getting that close to death. I also need to stock up on way more Elixirs, and maybe see if I can get an Affinity like Healing now that I’m at a higher Core Level.

He pushed himself back into the pillows and snuggled up on Tinuriel, looking forward to the next day and some calm travel across Dirge and up the Tiers.

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