The Fool's Freedom

It was not difficult to follow the trail of destruction. The elves were pretty wary of Alan as he passed through their homes, but being led by Derzid was enough deterrent for them to start a fight. Few bared their sharp teeth and stared with a look similar to the one of the large elf Alan had left bound beneath their walls. The mana of the anchors would run out soon, so he was not worrying about the guy.

He almost found himself wanting someone to challenge him again. The short scuffle had left a dark part of him very dissatisfied. Like he wasn’t supposed to simply bind down his opponents and make them submit. He was supposed to destroy them and pave a path for himself in blood.

The urge was an echo left behind by the anger from the fractal, and perhaps the wills hiding in the whispers of the shadows. They had no control over Alan’s own actions, however, their influence and the advice he seldom caught from the whispers were something that would follow him in the fights to come.

He didn’t stay long once he saw the large mess of broken stone and trees that was the fighting field. It was pretty impressive, considering the enemies he had met in the forest. None of them could match the sheer amount of destruction the ‘beast’ had done to the elven Sanctuary.

It was exciting imagining what the fight would be like.

Alan left his entourage behind without a word and rushed through the woods into yet another unknown part of the forest. He could feel the mana become denser, almost as if he had passed through some border, and the beings living in the forest too, became stronger. The elves were unlucky to have their Sanctuary so close to what he saw as a ‘stronger zone’.

The broken trees became rarer, but whatever the creature that had wrecked the elven Sanctuary was, it was huge. Larger than anything Alan had seen perhaps, with a few fractal exceptions. The elves had given him only a general direction. They claimed to have chased it for a while after managing to wound it, but for some reason, Alan doubted their account of the events.

They were much different than he had envisioned a society forced to feed on each other. Most seemed to prefer the martial way, becoming warriors or improving the skills gotten in their previous lives. Few were those touching magic, and most of them were healers.

There had been no children either for some reason, which was strange. A dark thought passed through his mind but he quickly ignored it. Surely the elves weren’t that stupid or unoriginally evil.

Alan kept going and used his speed and control over his mana to make himself difficult to find. There were many shadows that served well, and being able to sense anything alive was the greatest advantage he had gotten from his insight into flow.

It took him an hour to reach a barren field in the middle of the now very dense forest. Trees the color of dark steel rose like spears next to each other, making something like a wall that could stop larger beings from passing. It almost felt like a planned boss encounter the closer he looked at it.

The creature inside was hazy to his senses and difficult to pinpoint. He had noticed that the closer one was to his strength, the harder it was to sense their mana signature unless they allowed themselves to be found. Alan strained his mind and closed his eyes, feeling each current of the ever-present mana until slowly, like a painting being painted in front of him, the beast took shape.

It was a large thing, and while the mana was not concentrated like in those who had classes or wielded magic, it was everywhere. Perhaps the thing at tier two… or at such a high tier one level that it could rival tier two.

I’m so excited. What the hell is happening to me? He felt a drop of sweat drip down his forehead – something that hadn’t happened in a while considering his new stats and his changed body. His mana was churning like a raging sea, waiting to be unleashed, and the shadows shared his excitement, growing more agitated by the second.

His recent fights had been full of tricks and outside interferences. Something he craved had been lost in the process. This fight wasn’t going to be one of them. He closed his eyes once again to prepare himself and try to sense something more and even tried to listen to the silent churning of mana for a few moments. Each tiny current was part of a whole, and that whole was probably part of the whole world. Of the universe. It was a wondrous thing.

It was a moment later that something new appeared in his newfound sense.

Humanoid shapes doing their best to hide, but their weakness betrayed them. They were closing in from behind him. Alan grinned from the anger that stirred, urging him to just give in to his frustrations. He had a good guess who they were – elven scouts. Perhaps here to witness his battle, or to make sure no one survived it. Their purpose didn’t matter to him for now.

Alan was going to make sure they knew what they were up against. The brief sensation of the dragon grasping his neck resurfaced in his mind – something he hadn’t mulled over much. It made him want that level of power, but also pissed him off further. Never again would he be so helpless.

Without care, he walked out into the clearing. There was a giant artificial cave dug into a hill at the opposite end, just like a final boss fight was supposed to be. The scene is set.

The beast sensed him in but a few steps and Alan felt it stir. He walked calmly. One dagger fully made of shadows in one hand, and the trusty sentimental [true edge] in the other. This was going to be a battle for old time’s sake. His curses, if placed mid-fight, would probably make sure it ended in his victory. However, they were something he dared not overdo. The one that stole life gave him resources for his other skills, and would perhaps grow into something even more useful in time.

And his skill given by the shadowy ghost of the one whose steps he was partly following, was not a skill that would work on a beast. It was for those who were capable of suffering for their deeds and memories.

A low and long roar sounded in the forest, making the trees shudder and whatever animal sounds had echoed throughout the trees disappeared in fear.

The beast that walked out was massive. It towered over Alan – at least five meters in height, if not more. It was the size of a small house and looked like a rhino but covered in brown bark-like skin and rocks. It had three horns in the front of its jagged maw and three small beady eyes. Two on the side of the head and one in the middle.

It was a large thing and looked scary, but it was nothing comparable to the dragons or even some of the larger void creatures Alan had seen in the fractal.

Just a beast. Come, let’s fight!

The two charged simultaneously. Alan felt his blood pump strangely in his ears, echoing with the emptiness of the void and the endless strength of the mana that gave him life. He pulled at Cole’s life force immediately, reinforcing his charging attacks with [Sacrificial Attack]. It had grown into an amazing skill now that it didn’t take from his Vitality, but another’s.

Two shadow blades flew toward the charging beasts whose feet made the earth tremble. Alan cast [Void Step] and appeared to the side shortly before the blades crashed into the head of the thing. It roared in defiance and stopped the charge, digging a large groove in the ground. It was too heavy to stop and smashed into one of the trees, making it fall halfway as it got stuck into another two that were grown too close.

Alan grinned, imagining some of the elven scouts get crushed. More lifeforce poured out of the connection and four silhouettes made of the darkest shadows walked out from the shade of the forest’s edge. Their chains shot out and wrapped around the beast’s limbs and pulled, trying to hold it down.

Alan felt the strain on the skill, and how much energy it took to even stop the movement for a second. The mana drained fast and the monster struggled against the chains. Its three eyes grew red from anger and the earth shuddered once again.

There was a surge of magic and Alan’s eyes widened as he cast [Void Step] to reappear a few meters to the side. A large spike of Earth broke the ground where he had been standing a few moments ago and crumbled shortly after.

Earth magic?! I’ll be damned!

He felt the mana of his Dark Servants grow weak and saw the chains they were holding become more and more translucent. Making full use of his speed Alan shot out in a flurry of shadows and neared the beast. He pumped mana into his legs and jumped as high as he could before letting a flurry of charged shadow blades toward the beast’s head.

Most were broken by the large horns that met them, leaving nothing but a few scars despite the will that had permeated the blades. Only one slipped past and found the beast's forehead, leaving a shallow cut that didn’t seem to do any significant damage.

It made Alan more excited. Few had stood against his attacks in such a way. The chains were doing more in that regard. His Will was one that broke, and the chains were tightening slowly, crushing the skin around the beast’s thick limbs like a river would weather down a stone – slowly but surely. He wasn’t sure he had enough mana for that, despite his seemingly bottomless pool.

Alan fed more mana into the Servants and briefly contemplated casting the skill again. He hadn’t done that before and wasn’t sure if it would cancel out the previous ones, or summon four more.

Cole can handle it. I hope. The servants and the [Sacrificial Attack] required quite a bit of Vitality. He could only feed them up to five safely before the energy became too much for his control though. But constant casts added up.

Even if the man died, it wouldn’t be a large loss. Sparing him had been also a small gesture toward Rosalyn and her efforts for the good of the many. It was a tough job – one that Alan wasn’t going to take onto his shoulders. Helping her a bit was a given, since the fate of humanity, or at least a very small and insignificant part of it rested on her shoulders.

He had neglected to ask her if there had been contact with other Sanctuaries…

His thoughts almost resulted in getting skewered by another spike of Earth and Alan quickly focused on the fight. This was fun!

***

Tim watched their leader cower in the corner. It was only the two of them, as everyone else had been sent away to prevent them from witnessing the pathetic sight. As a [Healer] Tim had quite a few skills that allowed him to sense Vitality and what happened in the body.

However, the constant drains were unlike anything he had seen before. It was like something was cutting off Cole’s lifespan, rather than hurt his flesh or body. Every once in a while, a giant hand would reach and pluck some more.

The man cried, nothing of his former cold and confident self remaining. Tim frowned. It wasn’t physically hurting him, that was certain. He could also [Sense Pain] in his patients. This was different.

Perhaps the shock of watching his hard-earned attribute points flee was too much for the man’s mind. Perhaps whatever it was Alan had done was much more than Tim could understand. It was terrifying. He was very glad he hadn’t been around to meet the man, although he doubted Alan held anything against him. He hadn’t done much other than befriend people the guy didn’t like.

Perhaps there was a way to salvage this and switch camps. Cole was a lost cause, and Tim was helpless to fix whatever was plaguing the man, no matter what he did. It was not a healing issue, it was much more.

Another problem was their partner – Mayra, the [Warlock] who had sent Alan away. She had powers Tim could only be jealous of and yet she had closed herself in her ‘tower’. He had met her only once and she had begged him for help too, but he had been powerless. Was even her almighty Patron unable to remove whatever it was Alan had done?

Yes. It was time to work on his image.