Chapter 31 - Confession (Patreon)

Echo’s tears dried up and he held Fumi close to him, finding solace in her presence alone. Rose walked up behind the two on the bench and set a hand on his shoulder.

“You did a good thing,” Rose said quietly, her voice warm and gentle – motherly.

Echo nodded and stood up. The trio began to make their way to the Queen’s Castle.

“Hey! Wait! Are you Mr. Echo?!” A voice cried out from behind them.

Echo turned and felt the blood drain from his face.

I can’t deal with this right now.

A young woman – a Toskar girl with filed down tusks and stout appearance just like her father – ran up to him, panting slightly at the exertion before straightening her student uniform and bowing slightly. “You…You’re him?”

Echo knelt to her level and nodded, “I was an adventurer with your dad.” He gently held her hand “I’m so sorry. I tried to save him. Know that he saved me.”

The girl nodded with tears in her own eyes. “Thank you, Mr. Echo. I’m Shara.”

Echo smiled gently, biting back the revulsion he felt for himself. He ate her father. Not just killed him but devoured him. For sustenance. For power.

Shara leaned against him and cried, bawling her eyes out.

Echo gently held her for a few minutes.

Fumi and Rose watched the display from the bench.

“He is quite compassionate,” Rose commented. “I would have figured he would be more calloused given what he went through.”

Fumi frowned slightly, “He is too nice.”

Rose cocked an eyebrow at her, “Oh? Is that not one thing that drew you to him?”

Fumi smirked slightly, “It is. But he needs to harden himself.” She looked over at Rose, “If we hunt down Tiberius, we have to get stronger. The fastest way is to eat monsters.”

Rose grinned, “Well, that’s a pragmatic view of things. I’ll support you in this endeavor.” She turned forward, “I want that servant of Malvir dead as well.”

Fumi glanced at her, “Lost a loved one?”

“A person I’d known for millennia. A close friend.” Rose’s gaze turned to ice and the temperature around her dropped several degrees. “Tiberius must pay for that.”

Echo extricated himself from the girl’s grip. “I’m sorry, I need to go.” He reached into his pocket dimension and pulled out a small ingot of Brightsteel. “Use this when your account runs out. And if you need more, just ask for Echo Asheron at the Adventurer’s Guild.”

He smiled gently and offered her a kerchief to wipe her tears, “Your father would be so proud of you.”

Shara nodded and held the Brightsteel close. “Thank you, Mr. Echo.”

Echo smiled and stood up, walking to his two allies as the trio continued to the Queen’s castle.

Fumi pulled him around the side of The Royal Academy and down a well-guarded road.

Crimson Scale Axan flanked either side and stood at attention, with a pair crossing their halberds in front of the trio. "Halt! What is your business at the castle?"

Echo frowned, "Pomentar in Saint's Hold sent us. We have something for The Queen's attendants and were told to bring it straight to her healers."

The questioning guard nodded and glanced back as a Crulon dressed in tabard and more decent clothes than the slaves they had come across earlier ran down a small passage. A few minutes passed before a Violet Scale Axan came strolling down from the castle gate and approached the trio. "You must be the adventurers, Echo and Fumi, yes?"

The two nodded, "Yes. Lead us to the healers,” Fumi said curtly.

The Violet Scale Axan nodded, "Aye. Put down the halberds you idiots." The two guards did so and took their posts once more as the attendant took them down towards the enormous, raised portcullis. He lowered his voice to a near-whisper, "You acquired the herb, I assume?"

Echo nodded, "Indeed."

"Give it to me," He held out his hand.

Echo shook his head and frowned, "Pomentar said to give it to the healers."

The attendant sighed, "I was hoping I wouldn't have to do this." He reached into a pocket and threw something at the trio.

Rose muttered, "Great. Court intrigue. I hate court intrigue," as a cloud of mist enveloped the trio.

"We aren't affected by poison," Fumi said matter-of-factly, fanning the powder away. It floated toward one of the guards and he immediately seized and fell over as full-body spasms took hold.

The Attendant growled and ran off which prompted several guards flanking the trio to draw their weapons.

Echo sighed and pulled his whipsword out of the pocket-dimension, "Alright you two, no killing. Fumi, mind getting that guy?"

As soon as the question had left his lips Fumi activated Alacrity and incapacitated the Violet Scale Axan with a swift strike to the knees with her sheathed sword. From the way he collapsed, she had broken both of his legs. She then took up a ready stance as several guards descended upon her.

Echo wheeled about, extending Bulwark to cover Rose. He easily parried the twelve guards that rushed him, disarming them and breaking hands with each riposte in a matter of moments. Despite his lack of formal training, the rough sessions with Fumi had helped him develop a dirty and effective fighting style.

Rose closed her eyes for a moment before incanting a spell, "Hear my call northern winds, Freezing Mist." The air around her turned into a blizzard and the three guards approaching her froze into ice cubes before clattering backward; just like in a cartoon.

She glanced at Echo and smirked, "They aren't dead - though they may have hypothermia."

Echo just chuckled as he looked at Fumi who was a whirlwind of death. Well, she would have been if her blade had been unsheathed. As soon as a guard approached her, she cracked them across a joint, breaking it and causing Echo to wince.

If magical healing was not a thing, then she would be making paraplegics of many guards.

He was very happy seeing her smile of pleasure as she relished the exhilaration of battle. It filled him with a giddy joy of his own.

That's my Fumi.

All the guards outside the palisades were dealt with; and quickly enough that an alarm wasn't raised. Fumi lifted the Violet Scale Axan with one hand by the scruff of the neck and held him up to Echo's face.

"Now. You're going to direct us to The Queen's healers. No tricky business or I'll let Fumi break you more,” Echo said as he stared into the Axan’s eyes.

The attendant was whimpering in pain and pointed with a shaking hand towards a passage through the portcullis. Fumi led the way, dragging the attendant along, with Echo and Rose right behind.

The four wound their way through the various passages; passing a variety of Crulon servants in decent clothing, and the occasional Axan who scuttled away immediately.

"I'm surprised you aren't questioning me," Their prisoner said after they had ascended a flight of stairs in a servant passage.

"I don't want to be involved in your politics."

"Why are you helping The Queen? You'd rather have an undead monarch rule eternally than have the rightful heir take the throne? You have the evidence in your possession! You could end this whole farce with testimony and oust the undead bitch!"

Rose interrupted, "Speaking from experience, an immortal ruler is the best you could hope for." The Axan looked up at Rose warily as she pulled off her ring for a second, revealing her true nature and causing the prisoner to scream in terror.

Rose put the ring back on and smiled sweetly, "And, as Echo said, we aren't interested in your politics."

They arrived outside a door painted white. "Here...will you let me go now?" the captive asked.

Echo shook his head, knocked politely on the door, and stepped back. A few seconds passed before a female Axan opened the door - her scales were pure white, her eyes yellow slits, and she wore a black robe.

"How can I help you?"

"Pomentar sent us. "

The White Scale Axan nodded, glancing at the attendant Fumi was dragging. "Is…that, Jeremiah?"

Echo shrugged, "He tried to take the Deathvine and poison us."

The White Scale Axan nodded, "Come in, and please bring him." She stepped back as the trio and their prisoner entered.

The room was a large laboratory. A wall-length bookshelf extended along one side with several reading nooks. The other half contained a variety of laboratory equipment - not unlike what one would find in a chemistry lab.

Fumi put her prisoner in a chair and glanced at Echo. He pulled some rope out of his pocket-dimension, and she tied him up.

The White Scale Axan sighed, "Jeremiah…You are part of the conspiracy?"

Jeremiah nodded and stared at her resolutely. "Trini…An undead shouldn't sit on the Cruxian Throne. If Lux found out, then she would smite all of us."

Trini, the healer, shook her head and put a hand to her temple, "You are an idiot. I can't believe you thought this hair-brained scheme would work." She turned to Echo, "You have the Deathvine?"

Echo nodded and pulled out the cold bag, handing it over to the White Scale Axan. She dumped the contents into several vials before waving her hand over some red symbols inlaid in a table. They glowed a bright red like a heating coil, and she set the vials on the symbols as they began to boil.

"How long have you kept up the facade?" Rose asked.

Trini leaned back as the concoction bubbled behind her, "Four hundred years. She was assassinated during the rise of the New Gods, and one of the Black Scale was able to bring her back - fully, as an intelligent undead."

Rose nodded, "An impressive feat of magic. And I assume she is in a state of injury?"

"Correct - I'm sorry, Pomentar only sent me a missive regarding you two-" she pointed at Echo and Fumi. "-But not you. Are you also bound to secrecy?"

Rose pulled her ring off for an instant to show her undead visage, and surprisingly Trini didn't even flinch before Rose put the ring back on, "Let's just say I am familiar with undeath myself. And the rigors of ruling."

Trini giggled, "Truly a treat. Welcome, White Rose - the Lich Queen of Kaad."

Rose bowed, "My name precedes me. It's been so long since an emissary came from The Kingdom. Indulge me, you are White Scale, yet you wear the robes of the Black Scale. Why?"

Trini smiled, "I started as a healer, but I had a knack for keeping patients alive for too long, even after they expired. Turns out I'm a half-breed…And as for our lack of contact, this conspiracy-" She gestured at Jeremiah, "-Has kept things from operating normally."

Rose reached into her hip pouch and pulled out another black vial, handing it to Trini, "I carry extra for myself. While you wait for your own to finish brewing, use this."

Trini shook her head, "The Queen's condition requires a more potent mixture. Deathvine combined with Silverthorn extract."

Rose gasped, "Oh my, she contracted Empire's Folly?"

Trini nodded, "She picked it up on a diplomacy mission to The Vaysha Rift.”

Empire's Folly was a disease concocted by the Black Scale when The Empire invaded before its reformation. It turned humans into undead upon contact or inhalation. Only the roads laid down by Ignis held off the disease still held in their bark.

Echo nodded, "Why is it so bad for undead?"

"If you weren't made by the disease, but were undead through some other means, then it causes you to lose your intelligence until mended." She turned back to Trini, "You should allow me to administer it. She won't attack me even in a frenzied state."

Trini nodded and gestured for Rose to ascend a well-hidden set of stairs, "This will lead you directly to her chambers. In the meantime," She turned to Jeremiah and pushed her hand against his shattered kneecap, eliciting a groan of pain. "You're going to tell me all about your conspirators."

He gasped as the pressure was released and growled, "You'll never get me to talk. I'd rather die."

"If you insist. I can raise your corpse and get the answers I seek."

"Wait! I'll tal-" Trini stabbed a dagger into his temple. She pulled the blade back and wiped it on a cloth she grabbed off a table, "Now to prepare the ritual to force him to talk-"

"I can do that for you," Rose interrupted. "I'm a skilled practitioner. Do you want his corpse fully active, or just the standard?"

Trini chuckled, "The standard should do fine. My words are well-regarded here. Although-" She pointed at Echo and Fumi, "-You two would be valuable as witnesses."

Echo just put an arm around Fumi's waist and sighed, "I wasn't planning on toppling a conspiracy, and quite frankly I don't want to get involved that much. We’ll listen, but I want to talk to The Queen myself."

"Deal," Trini nodded and looked at Rose, "Do it."

Rose raised her scepter and concentrated for a few moments, the pale blue of her Quintessence turning to magic and coalescing in the implement. "Return to us fallen one, Raise Undead." The pale blue covered Jeremiah's body and he jerked several times before he assumed an unnatural rigid posture.

"Your highness," his voice creaked out and he wheezed as air forced its way into his lungs.

"Go ahead Trini, ask away." Rose stepped away and Trini glared at the bound Axan.

"Alright. Who is involved in the conspiracy?"

Echo tuned out the long, long list of names. Rose on the other hand had pulled a notepad out and was taking extensive notes.

After several minutes had passed Trini nodded and Rose raised her scepter, "I grant you true rest, Final Release." The undead corpse immediately disintegrated into ash before even that melted away to nothingness, leaving behind a pile of slightly bloodied clothes. The two practitioners of undeath turned and attended to the various bubbling concoctions, chatting away.

Fumi dragged Echo to one of the reading nooks and pushed him into the chair, sitting on his lap and giving him a little kiss before turning to watch the other two work. "What's next?"

"After we get our reward? I'd imagine we just wait around back home. Pomentar will be keeping an eye out for monsters here in the Kingdom, and Liam is doing the same in The Holy Empire."

Fumi nodded and leaned back against him, looking up so their eyes met, "I want a little break."

"...But?" Echo asked, knowing she was holding something back.

"I want to see if my clan is alive."

Echo kissed her forehead, "Whatever you want. A staycation for a little while, and then we will go find your family." Fumi's lip trembled slightly. "What's wrong?"

"...I've been using you…I can't keep it from you."

Echo blinked at her in surprise, "What do you mean?"

Tears began to pool in her eyes, "...I…I don't want to be alone." She put her head on his chest and began crying, "...I had a husband before…But he died…I outlived him."

She looked up as Echo gently petted her head as she continued through small sobs, "...Do you know what it's like? Watching a loved one…grow old and wither away?"

Echo shook his head and felt a few tears beginning to well up as well, and the Evolution Instinct was pushed aside by his outpour of emotions. "No. But I think I understand." Fumi looked up at him and sniffled slightly as he went on, "You figured out, back there, in Tiberius’ lair, that I must be something like you…you didn't change from the Mimic Cube and saw I didn't."

Echo closed his eyes and felt the tears come on and he didn't try to hold them back, blinking through them to look at Fumi as he brushed a thumb to wipe away her tears.

Too much emotion today. Damnit.

"You wanted love. Someone like you, who could live forever with you."

Echo leaned his head back and took a deep breath. "I just wanted to live forever in a fantasy world. I didn't think about what could happen. If I had fallen in love with anyone but you, I would have felt the same heartbreak eventually. This type of companionship…I had nothing like it in my past life."

He looked back into her deep green eyes, losing himself once more in her gaze. He smiled warmly as he hugged her close, "I'm so happy we found each other. I'll do anything to keep you safe and make you happy. Even if it meant dying all over again…I mean that with all my heart."

Fumi nestled her head and cried - the tears being of joy this time - as the two let out their emotions. “I’d fight the Gods and tear the world apart to keep you next to me,” Echo whispered.

"...Thank you, my Echo," Fumi whispered to him. He just smiled and wiped away the last of his tears, gently running his hand through her ruby-red hair.

“…I love you. Promise me you won’t ever leave.”

“I won’t ever leave you.”

"I don't mean to interrupt."

He looked up to see Trini and Rose standing there. Trini was blushing at the confession tinged by romance, but Rose as always had kept her cool.

She held up a black liquid crossed with small flickers of silver in a vial, "I'm going to administer this to The Queen. You two should compose yourselves. You're going to be talking to royalty." Rose walked off and made her way up the stairs.

Echo gently helped Fumi to stand up before adjusting his outfit.

Trini grinned and tried to hide her face, "That was beautiful. Gyah! I'm jealous."

Echo smiled and kissed Fumi on the lips which perhaps lasted a little too long given the other company present. He walked to the stairs with her in tow and glanced back at Trini, "Are we good to go up?"

Trini nodded, "If you don't hear feral screaming, then The Queen is cured. You should address her as 'Your Highness' or by her proper title, 'Queen Eleanore of the Resplendent Scale.'"

The duo made their way up the spiral stairs as Trini followed behind.

Tiberius had succeeded in making his way to the deep storage of the Soju Clan stronghold. His distraction had worked perfectly, the larger force drawing all the defenders to the outer wall.

“Reshape to my will, Transmute Substance.” He began to create another labyrinthine network of tunnels in his standard setup.

Soon, I’ll be ready.

It had been some time since he had been set up in a large city. Abductions would be tricky – at first.

Once I have some under my thrall, this will speed up significantly.

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