The Fool's Freedom

Cole couldn’t believe how much had changed in mere minutes. The cold feeling of having his very life sucked away to fuel the death of his man was… indescribable. It was more terrifying than anything he had experienced so far. He wasn’t a fighter! He was born to lead! And that bastard… Cole shuddered and looked around in fear.

He was at Alan’s mercy. He knew it. The man being gone didn’t mean anything. Even now every few seconds he could feel something tug at the root of his very life.

All that remained was a pair of legs and pieces of intestines and flesh of Boris, but somehow Cole thought that his own fate was much worse.

He could still hear and see the act of murder, but he had seen violence before and that was not it. This was… a mistake. Alan had simply underestimated his strength. Insanity! He had seen the terror in Rosalyn’s eyes too. This was not something planned and if the man was not put down it could lead to the end of the Sanctuary and all they had built.

“Call Tim back,” he heard himself say. “Call Tim back!”

Some ran off to do just that and Cole stared at their back.

The System message was seared in his mind and taunted him. It made him want to scream, to beg, to kill.

Someone moved and the shadows shifted making him jump up and brace for another loss of life. Then he exhaled.

The witch was their last hope.

***

Alan moved slower now as Rosalyn insisted on tagging along and was holding onto his sleeve as if afraid that he would go off and kill more people. He didn’t like stressing her, but then again, he was going to do what he wanted. Dealing with some issues first would let him have a good relaxed time with his friends later. Too bad Tim hadn’t been with Cole, but that could wait too.

What had been wide streets full of kids and those watching them were now tiny tunnels among the grey stone of civilization’s ruins that were used to rebuild the Sanctuary. Alan was pretty sure he noticed some god spawn remains melded into the ancient concrete. If that was the case then it was just a smart use of resources, or it might’ve just been an artistic expression by the one responsible for it all.

It was obvious most buildings were connected either underground or by tunnels and bridges that were hidden at first glance. He could feel the bodies inside. Huddled and scared. Their mana was weak. The stability of such design was questionable, but he didn’t know much about what architecture was capable of in a System-based world. The fractal battlefield had been hardly an example of a stable society.

“Seriously, I don’t need you to watch over me,” he said with a roll of his eyes and a small smile. Zirida, Kalyntha, Feyrith, and Byrr had been a good company, but there had been an untold tension there. They were technically aliens, and some part of Alan’s brain had struggled to accept that reality despite everything. It seems like every step of the way will be full of confronting preconceived notions and parts of my character I didn’t even realize existed. I hope Byrr is alive and well.

Still, it felt good to be among humans, although even they felt a bit foreign to him now. “I didn’t do that much…” Alan mumbled.

“You blew up a man’s upper half and showered everyone with pieces of him!” Rosalyn almost yelled, forcibly suppressing her voice. She had used a cleanse to remove the remains of Alan’s attempt at posturing, so she was back to her beautiful, worry-riddled self. “And I don’t know what you did to Cole, but I’m sure he didn’t piss himself because he saw someone die.”

Who knew that guy was so fragile? They all seemed high-level. Oh well, at least I got a new battery.

Alan had sensed Cole’s large pool of Vitality the moment he had found the man by utilizing his ability to sense the flow of things. The so-called insight was growing more and more useful and he wondered if it could give birth to skills, or if it was something beyond that considering its strange growth. Mana, as it turned out, was unique to each individual. It was distinct and he found himself able to memorize the signatures quite easily now that he was tier two. As if his mind attribute weighed more and gave him more advantages.

“It was a mistake,” Alan shrugged. “As for Cole, he got what he had coming.” Having your vitality sucked away sure doesn’t feel good.

“No more mistakes!” Rosalyn barked, then seemed to realize who she was talking to and her tone softened a lot. “Please?”

“Don’t worry Rosie, since I’m here everything will go swimmingly for you from now on,” Alan said. He didn’t believe it, but some positivity was always welcome. Rosalyn didn’t seem convinced either but she chose to accept whatever she could get. They soon reached the destination Cole had given through chattering teeth.

The witch had been given her own ‘tower’, which was just a bunch of tiny rooms placed upon each other and glued together by what Alan assumed could simply be brushed off as magic. It was as if someone had cut a residential building apart into square blocks and stacked them. It was functional, if ugly.

I need to talk with whoever’s done this to make me a home of my own. Not that he had any possessions or even a need for sleep lately. Still, it would be nice to have somewhere safe to return.

Alan stopped in front of the strange building and stared, and Rosalyn did too. It was only a moment later when the girl he vividly remembered from the Elven Trunk walked out. Her eyes were the same as he remembered them, glowing with soft emerald light and accentuated with thick dark makeup. He wouldn’t say she looked sickly anymore, as her skin was now marked with quite a few hazy tattoos he couldn’t understand.

She looked him up and down, without a hint of surprise on her face, but her mana was churning in agitation. Her presence was somewhat unnerving to him, slightly reminiscent of one he still loathed despite dishing out quite the revenge. Bonez.

“You’re back,” Mayra said. Cole had been nice enough to give her name and her place of living. Alan hadn’t asked about her class though. It was more fun to learn it from her.

“I am.” She recognized me quite faster than the rest.

“Will you kill me?” she asked, again, calmly.

“At one point, I was certain I would,” Alan grinned. He felt Rosalyn step back from him as the shadows around him grew in number and became darker. “Now, I want answers and I might consider sparing you. Your little trick resulted in quite a few unexpected boons, which I doubt I’d have received here.” The bloodline is what allowed me to abandon the trait that had plagued me all this time and was threatening my life. Such a weird situation.

“I didn’t want to harm you. I was told it’s what’s for the best.”

Told? Alan slowly frowned. The kinship he had felt with her back during their first meeting was gone now as if it had never been. Yet, he recognized some signs.

“You’re a [Warlock],” he said. The world seemed to lose some of its color as his will started raging like a sea storm. He heard Rosalyn gasp, but his intent wasn’t aimed at her so he wasn’t worried. The girl shook and her hood was blown back by an invisible wind. She threw a look toward Rosalyn as if the [Truthseeker’s] presence was bothering her more than Alan’s outburst.

“I am a [Inscription Warlock] and I’ll remain such for a long while. I’ve been taken in by the Patron of Knowledge and Scrolls, and she told me sending you away is for the best. It was with her help that I managed to cast an [Ancient] tier scroll, although it still took a lot out of me,” she said.

So, she’s not a [Witch]. Higher beings plotting my course and downfall... I wonder how much of that is related to the fact that I never accepted a patron, and how much is due to my meeting with Thorn. Who cares? I knew Cole was too stupid for this. He couldn’t have predicted what would happen to Emerson.

Alan smiled gently but his will spread even further. “I remember that the first time you tried to cast your skill. It was not aimed at Emerson, but at Wuros, and if that had worked, I wouldn’t be standing here now.”

Mayra flinched as if physically struck, and whether that was because her patron had admonished her in some way, or because she had hoped he wouldn’t have remembered that didn’t matter.

Alan felt the familiar detachment take hold. She was no one to him, and if it was just their classes resonating back then because of his lack of patron, then he had no reason to forgive anything. In fact, the very fact that she was related to one of those beings kind of pissed him off, but he knew better than to judge each one the same.

“I… I went against the wishes of my patron to try and please Cole and the rest. It didn’t work. I take full responsibility and only hope that we can reach a peaceful resolution.”

“And what would that be?”

“You still don’t have a patron, do you? I can— ah,” she fell down on her knees and the markings on her body briefly shone. Even her [pact] is like servitude. It’s a good thing I didn’t choose a patron then. Knowing myself I’d have already been dead.

“You are no longer… a [Warlock]?” Mayra exclaimed, making him smirk. Is that what divine providence gets you? Is that a patron of knowledge capable of?

She brushed her thin dress nervously as she stood up as if trying to remove any crinkles. Her vitality was nothing special, but he toyed with the idea of giving the girl a trip down memory lane. However, apart from dislike for her chosen path – a path he had been on as well, he held no further enmity. And yet… I want to know what she can do.

[Void Step] made no noise nor showed any signs of activating, and he appeared behind the girl in what was becoming his new favorite move.

Instantly a scroll appeared at her back and it shone with radiance as it burned. Its glittering ash turned into a cage that tried to wrap itself around Alan, but the shadows met it. It was not the [Shepherd’s Shroud] protection.

[Shadow Creation] was operating much better now that he had advanced, and he found it as easy as breathing to make the shadows bleeding out of his skin and breath coalesce into something useful.

They wrapped around the cage pushing down on him and stopped it in its tracks like tendrils of some cosmic horror. In the next moment, his will took effect and the glittering magic started cracking apart and fading like glass. Break for me!

“Prepared, aren’t you?” Alan smiled. He could feel the girl trembling and he could sense the build-up of power that had descended from somewhere far away. His arm stretched and he touched her shoulder gently. There was resistance, but it was minute and couldn’t stop [Curse of Buried Shadows] from taking effect.

He didn’t use it at full strength, of course. He didn’t want to break Mayra, but she was technically an enemy, and depending on her Patron, she could be dangerous even if she was a tier below him. He didn’t know if [Bestowment] was something all powerful beings knew, but he wasn’t about to find out before creating some insurance.

This ought to do it.

In another flash, the shadows that had spread around him disappeared and he was back next to Rosalyn, hands in his pockets.

“Find me when it gets too much,” he said. “I’ve suffered quite a lot because of you, and you’re only living because the gains far outweigh the pain. Mercy is a foolish thing in this new world we live in, but I don’t think you fully deserve what I have planned. However, I hate those subject to their patron’s whims and I hate liars. Some payback is needed for my peace of mind, and for yours.”

The girl looked scared, but more so confused. He was sure she didn’t know what he had done as the curse would be a slow-acting poison this time around making use of the build-up and its long duration. Shadows behind the corners, nightmares of twisted pasts that left no trace to the waking mind, and whispers of danger.

It was another test for his [Heritage] skill and for the capability of Patron beings and how they would deal with it.

After all, eventually, he wanted to kill one of them.

And it was not going to be quick or painless.