Chapter 219 - Found And Lost (Patreon)

The Meersvant’s teeth were chattering when Jiran entered the cave. Mana Omnis scoured the man’s body and Jiran was momentarily stunned to discover the electrical currents in his brain were still practically nonexistent despite him being awake. Their gazes locked as Jiran drew closer, and when the man saw how quickly Jiran crossed the small cavern, his eyes grew wide with panic. His lips were parted, releasing rapid puffs of mist into the frigid air. 

Jiran, on the other hand, was all smiles, and his voice was set in a chipper tone as he spoke slowly enough to be understood, “Greetings. Glad you finally woke up. Do you have a name?”

The captive’s eyes widened even further. He took one glance at the only exit, then thrashed against his constraints with all his strength but his efforts were beyond futile. Jiran’s aspect-formed ice proved far more powerful than a tier four. The flicker of a skill activating within his manapool was followed by the gems across his body releasing distorting waves of energy. The icy prison didn’t even quiver. The man seemed to accept his fate; his muscles went lax and his head flopped forward. Without a word, tears sprang from his eyes and froze instantly as they fell upon the ice.

Jiran tsked, “This whole silent treatment thing is getting old, fast. I have a lot of questions, and some of them I don’t need you alive to answer.”

The man shook his lowered head, his face skewed in an expression of pure torment, “It’s not real. It’s not real. This is a dream. That’s right, it's a dream and we’ll soon awaken.” Having denied his reality, and therefore no longer needing to restrain himself, the man’s remaining mana seeped from his manapool to spread through his body, fighting off the chill creeping through his flesh.

Jiran shook his head slowly with a light frown, “Nope, definitely not a dream. I chased you here from that temple after your friends attacked me without any warning.”

The man’s head snapped up. Eyes that barely belonged to a sane person searched Jiran’s features, seemingly begging that it all be a dream.

No wonder Gheratros was annoyed with me for speaking slowly. It’s only been a few seconds but this feels like it's taking forever. Well, I’m certainly not going to snap at him about it like she did to me… So rude.

Jiran made sure to keep the annoyance from his tone and expression, not wanting to destabilize the man further, “Where are the nearest tier seven or eight beasts?”

“What?” The meersvant was so shocked by the random question that his panic mostly faded.

Before it could return, Jiran reiterated his first question, “This would be a lot easier if you told me your name. I’m Jiran.”

“Uhh, Jedd. Jedd of Forestfall. Are you going to kill us, Jiran?”

Us?

Jiran’s aura spread wide in every direction except directly around Jedd, failing to sense anyone else present. Assuming he was referring to the others at the temple, Jiran moved on, “I’ve never been in the habit of killing innocent people, Jedd. There are even some extremely guilty ones I’ve let live. It depends on the circumstances,” While waiting for a response, Jiran wondered if Markhiss had caused trouble for his friends.

“Oh. Okay,” Jedd’s head fell again and he released a pitiful sniffle, “We… We’re not innocent.”

“Most people aren’t,” Jiran replied with nonchalance, “and the funny thing about crime is that it's regional. What's considered evil here might be perfectly fine where I'm from…” He trailed off, Jedd easily understanding the unspoken implication that the opposite also held true. “So, about the beasts, do you know?”

“The beasts? Oh, right. Tier seven or eight? No, we don’t know. The highest we know of for sure are tier five and those are near where we grew up, which is… a long ways from here.”

“We know? How can you be sure the others don’t know, either?” Jiran frowned, wondering if he was right about the parasites having access to Telepathy since Jedd seemed so confident in his reply and his mana didn’t quiver with the telltale signs of a lie.

“They’re alive?” Jedd popped his lips, just as confused as Jiran.

At this point, Jedd’s mana was nearly spent. Between his pale skin that was turning a deeper shade of blue, his drooping eyes, and his shallow breaths, Jiran knew it was time to release him or he might very well die before answering more questions. Without realizing the implications of what he was doing, Jiran used Elemental Castigation, returning most of the ice to mana as usual; he was far more focused on keeping his energies from touching Jedd in any way while Mana Omnis monitored each twitch of the parasite within his manapool. The mana entered Jiran’s body and mixed oddly with the rest of his energies, causing his jaw to drop at the same time that Jedd fell weakly to the floor with the last bits of ice clinging to his body and clothes.

That ice was created by my aspect and I turned it back into regular unaspected mana! But now it… tastes funny? What an odd sensation, like burning your tongue and knowing how a meal should taste but its ashes in your mouth.

Jedd pulled himself onto his hands and knees, his clothes rapidly soaked from the water on the floor. He took one look up at Jiran and assumed his silence was a refusal to confirm if his companions lived. His head fell once more and his shoulders sagged, “Apologies. It is not our place to know your intentions.”

“What? Oh, yeah, I left them alive,” Jiran waved off Jedd’s concern, continuing to examine the strange taste in his mana.

Jedd’s eyes lit up with a glimmer of hope and he found the strength to stand on shaky legs, “Truly? That's a relief.” Seeing his actions, Jiran’s brows drew together in a frown.

How can he be up and moving with his brain producing next-to-no currents? Is that how their species is, or is it related to the parasite?

Jiran maintained his distance and resumed his questions, “Why did they attack me?”

Jedd blinked several times in what Jiran could only assume was regret, “That was our mission. Our crimes would be forgiven if we guarded the temple for twenty seasons. This is our tenth. We-we celebrated our anniversary last moon.”

“Twenty seasons? That's a long time to be stuck in this desert. I didn't sense a single beast on my way here. Didn't see any plants either. How do you survive?”

“There are no beasts in the wastelands, nothing to eat or drink either, and with the heat, escape is impossible. Supplies are brought to us t-twice a moon,” The last vestiges of Jedd’s mana twitched and quivered before returning to its placid state.

He's either lying about the supplies or the frequency. Probably the latter.

“When was the last time they were delivered?” Jiran questioned, pretending to be more interested in a spot of dirt on his armor than Jedd’s answer.

“Three w-days ago,” Jedd stumbled over his words again.

Jiran’s voice took on a dangerous edge, “I see. Well, thanks for being honest with me up to this point, Jedd.” The man swallowed loudly, taking a stumbling step away from Jiran who watched him with a calm expression. “I've only got a few more questions for you, and I hope you'll be just as honest when you answer them.”

“Y-yes, surely we will,” Jedd nodded vigorously, the gems in his skin sending reflections dancing across the walls.

“That's great, just great. What do you know about how I arrived in the temple?”

Based on what I overheard from their leaders, it's hard to say if they know what the teleportation platform is capable of.

Jedd flinched as though he expected Jiran to strike him, “Not a thing. The room you came out of has been sealed since before we arrived. We aren't permitted to so much as touch the door. They check the seals every season, to make sure it's secure. W-we're sorry, we truly don’t know anything.”

Jiran was disappointed that every word had been the truth. However, it had been a long shot to expect a low-tier criminal to know the secret of the teleportation platforms, so he shrugged off the bad news. “That’s fine, thanks for your honesty. What can you tell me about seekers?”

Jedd’s head snapped toward the cave’s exit, his panic returning in a flash, “W-we’ve got nothing to say! It’s forbidden for us to speak that word. We’ll not bring death to our families. Apologies, Jiran, but we would rather die than say more.”

He’s serious. And terrified to the extent that he must know for a fact they would follow through if he spoke. How would they even back up a rule like that?

“Alright, I won’t press you about the seekers, Jedd. That said, my next question is far more important, so don’t expect to get away with another non-answer.” Jedd took a full two steps back, once more eyeing the exit and licking his lips. Jiran’s every word struck like a hammer, “Have I been talking to you, or the parasite in your manapool?”

A drop of condensation from the ceiling splashed into the pool submerging their feet, the sound like thunder in the perfectly quiet cavern. Jedd may as well have still been trapped in Jiran’s ice for how perfectly still he had become.

“Jedd?” The man practically jumped out of his skin at Jirans urging.

He responded in a whisper, unable to meet Jiran’s eyes, “We aren't parasites, we're the Found.”

“Is that what you call yourselves? The Found? Fitting name, you certainly found a home inside that body you stole.”

Jedd gasped, horrified, “Not stolen! Jedd accepted our union willingly.”

Jiran scoffed, not believing that for a second despite Jedd’s mana indicating he spoke the truth, “I highly doubt that. Who would give away their body, mind, and especially their mana?”

“We swear it's true! No Found would ever take a body by force! T-that's disgusting, vile, truly evil. If such a crime was discovered, they would be executed on the spot.”

Jiran squinted at the man, crossing his arms over his chest, “You think I’d believe that you live in complete harmony with the Meersvants, and that only those who willingly choose to, are parasitized. Shrelkshit that’s true. I've met several races and not a one of them would allow something like that.”

Jedd popped his lips, displaying the same confusion as before, “No and yes. The Lost, Meersvants as you call them, are our children. When they come of age, they meet their life partner and become united. It is a joyous celebration, a union that makes us both whole and one.”

Jiran's stomach twisted in a knot and he nearly gagged, “You take children… What about the ones who disagree?”

“There are none who deny the uniting. It is a joyous celebration, a union that makes us both whole and one,” Jedd reiterated the words as though he’d spoken them every day of his life.

The knot squirmed tighter and Jiran found it hard to breathe. He forced his next question out slowly, “Not one child disagrees across your whole civilization? If there's one thing I know about people, it's that if you have five of them, you also have five completely different opinions on just about everything. The fact that's not the case means those kids don't actually have a choice at all.”

This… thing, took Jedd's life when he was still a kid. And the same tragedy is repeating itself across their entire civilization? How long has it been like this? Hundreds of years? This place is worse than the arena. A guaranteed death sentence for anyone born here.

Jiran swallowed down the disgust creeping up his throat, “So there isn't a single adult Meer-Lost, only the Found?”

“T-thats correct,” Jedd sensed the danger seeping from his captor and his jaw reflexively constricted, unable to breathe as fear mixed with dread.

Jiran shook his head, taking a single ominous step forward, “The worst part is that you believe everything you've said. How exactly is turning an entire race into breeding stock a joyous celebration?”

“No! That's not true!” Jedd’s panic was thick in the air as he backed away from Jiran’s steady advance.

“Really? So when you first found the Lost and began to take over their bodies, there wasn't a war? No struggle at all? Your two races simply met one day and they immediately surrendered with happy smiles, eager to lose control of their lives and mana, their children?”

“W-we don't know much about history, there used to be wars, a long time ago. But that was before the uniting! There is only peace among the Found!”

“Let me guess, those wars conveniently stopped at the same time your uniting celebrations began.”

“We don't know! Maybe?! All they taught us was how much better both our species are together. Before was naught but death for us all, yet together we are stronger, more.” Jedd’s back hit the wall and he shook like a leaf in a hurricane, “Please, please don’t kill us!” He fell with a splash. Tearing his gaze from Jiran by covering his head with his hands.

“That's the thing about history, Jedd. It's written by the victors. From an outsider's perspective, it sounds like you brainwash your own children into giving away their lives.”

“That's not it. We told you it's not like that. We're united, one and whole.”

Ahh, that explains the ‘us, we, our,’ nonsense. He’s talking as if there are two of them in one body.

Jiran stood over him, ready to reduce the man to free-floating atoms in an instant if the parasite made a move, “prove it. Let me talk to the real Jedd.”

“We are the real Jedd,” Jedd sobbed, curling into himself.

“No, you're the parasite in his manapool. The real Jedd is asleep. I can see his brain, and it's dormant, asleep. There's no way I'm talking to him right now. Last chance. Give up control and let me talk to him or I'm going to pull you out and see what he has to say.”

“No! Please! You can't do that! We'll die!”

“I'm a pretty good healer, and he's basically already dead. So even if you're right and he dies, I'll only be killing the monster in his manapool and putting his living nightmare to rest.”

Jedd scrambled on all four in a last-ditch attempt to flee but was far too slow. A fist devoid of mana and aura slammed into his back. Jedd couldn’t breathe or move as his flesh was sundered in search of the core of his being. The last sound he heard was a wet rip, then his vision went dark and he knew no more.

Mana Confluence healed the damage to Jedd while Jiran stared at the pitifully choking worm-like monster in his grasp. He lacked even a single thread of empathy, feeling only revulsion for the hideous creature. Removed from Jedd’s manapool, it had no way to defend itself and was obviously dying without the support of its stolen body. Before it could, Gaze of Pediamus told Jiran everything he needed to know and more.

[Creeping Pilferer: (Tier 4 - Semi Sapient - Unevolved - Malice) (Threat - Nonexistent) 3/10 This adolescent beast has absorbed the mental functions of its host, gaining sapience in the process. Skills include multiple avenues of debilitating prey via mana. Annihilation recommended]

They certainly go to great lengths to make themselves feel like less of the monsters that they are and more like the people they've devoured. Nasty bastards are beasts through and through.

Jedd, or the man who was once Jedd and was now an empty shell had stopped breathing. Jiran sent several rounds of current into him, but it was no use. His brain was no longer capable of simple life-sustaining functions like a beating heart or drawing breath. As Jiran had feared, Mana Omnis could see the firing of every neuron, and there were precious few of them, growing more faint by the moment.

Jiran was overtaken by more sadness than he would expect for killing a beast and watching a man he didn't know die. When Jedd passed a long minute later, Enthralling Touch pulled the last of the mana free from his corpse. It compacted inside Jiran, matching his Concentration. He drew the tiny mote of energy into his free fist, then turned it into a hissing blaze and brought his two hands together. The parasite was long dead by the time it burned to nothing.

Jiran moved the fires to the wet floor where they consumed Jedd as well, “Sorry I couldn’t save you. Rest in peace, knowing that I’ll use what you taught me to avenge the life you never got to live.”