The Fool's Freedom

The shadows swallowed his vision and pain shot through his wrist. The dagger shattered in pieces as the [Shadow Slash] containing every last drop of Alan’s mana left the blade.

It was a narrow, strangely shaped thing. Alan had moved his wrist slowly, pouring everything he had into the skill, and even boosting the strength of his arm to keep control of the mana overloaded dagger.

Unlike the spear crescent, this time the mana was much more concentrated which seemed to make it even more devastating.

The blade of darkness tore through the humanoid mask and obliterated more than half of it. It continued, taking a large chunk of the body too, passing through the root of the tentacles growing from the back of the creature’s supposed head, and disappearing into the darkness of night.

Alan felt the limbs holding him disappear and he fell limply on the grass. There was loud screeching and he felt the ground shake. He was not sure if it was the ground or him that shook, but it didn’t matter.

There was no system message coming through.

Had he failed?

Alan tried to stand up, forgetting the broken wrist, and screamed in pain as he put weight on it. It took him another minute of struggle until he managed to gather enough strength.

His head was pulsing and his vision swam. He saw the light of some scattered cages, and he moved, hoping he had picked the direction Ashlyn had been sent flying to.

Her dark shape was wiggling on the ground and with strength Alan didn’t know he had he stumbled over to her.

His throat was parched and he didn’t try to speak as he reached for the bag that was miraculously intact. Almost. He rummaged through, praying the field healing potions he had were not broken. The cloth bundled around them to keep them safe should’ve offered enough protection.

He managed to find one and dropped everything as he carefully poured it into Ashlyn’s mouth with his shaking hand.

The liquid made her open her eyes, and she said something to him once he was done with the potion.

Her words didn’t reach his brain.

He was so tired.

Alan smiled and caressed Ashlyn’s cheek with his left hand.

He tried to stand up. They had to get out of here, they had to get to safety.

Then everything went dark.

***

It crawled through the damp earth, returning to the whole. A maggot, then another, then a thousand. Many bodies, into one.

This was a new world, a vast world. Unknown. Segmented.

With so much life, so much flesh.

But it could not consume life. No. It consumed death. And to create death, it had to end life.

Its bodies swarmed the forest, moving under the soil, eating, and waiting. Everything that fell, every dying creature, every rotting carcass. It would be consumed and turned into a branch of the whole.

The old world had been paradise. It had taken a long time to conquer all living flesh and take it into itself. The living flesh had resisted of course, as it always did.

It always did.

There was so much missing from the whole.

What had happened? Where was the kingdom of rot and peace?

It was wrong, so wrong; the whole was missing so much. So much was lost in the old world.

But it would start again. The new world was big, much bigger. All it had managed to see and feel was the forest that seemed to have no end, no matter how far the maggots traveled. Some parts it didn’t dare enter.

Only to the east, it ended. Sand covered the land there. Sand and fire. It was no place for it.

The forest was good, yes, similar to the one it had been born in so long ago. So many worlds ago.

A forest, whose dwellers would feed it until it outgrew it.

It knew there were other things beyond the forest. Terrifying things unlike anything it had ever felt. And the rotting flesh remembered, even if the mind did not.

An interesting world.

Time was not a constraint, but a helper. Living flesh expired, and it became part of it. No hurry. It had patience.

No. Not it. It once had a name, yes, it had a form that commanded the legions of carrions. Not an IT!

What was the name? What was it? It remembered the power, the consuming, the rot. What was it?!

There was pain. Sweet pain, sudden pain.

Maggots returned, and it did not care if it had been hours or days. They swirled around the core, feeding it information, experiences, and knowledge.

Burned flesh littered the forest. Burned flesh was not useful, it could not join the whole.

Another spoke of many of her children dying at once. They died all the time; it was no different than before. This was an anomaly, but the maggots remembered it happening in other lives.

One of her stronger children had died too, what remained of it rushing to bring back news. They were her pride; part of the whole, but whole on their own too.

No matter.

It had lost before; it would lose again. Patience was all that mattered, loss was temporary. Death came for all, and it came for death.

No!

NO!

Not IT!

Her!

The maggots rejoiced at the sudden find of lost memories and churned in the deep dark pool that was now their hope, ready to shape the world.

Only one name returned, from the myriad she had borne.

She was the Rotting Mother, walking forever between life and oblivion. And she could wait, and learn. There was a new voice in her head that promised greatness, new paths to follow, and new evolutions.

Yes, she had time.

No matter how long it took, rot came for all.

Even the Gods.

***

Alan woke up sometime later.

The sun nipped at his eyes as he tried to open them, making him turn to the side. His whole body was sore, but nothing hurt too bad, surprisingly. His muscles felt fatigued but rejoiced as he moved them, making him moan in pleasure.

He remembered something and wiggled his right wrist carefully. There was discomfort there, but it was almost pain-free.

How about that?

His eyes shot open and he looked around, noticing Ashlyn’s form just on the other side of his. She was still asleep. There was blood covering the front of her leather vest. There was also a hole left from the stinger of the horror.

Alan rose with a groan and inspected the wound itself, finding it in the later stages of healing.

Thank fuck.

Relief washed over him and he laid back down. He was hungry and thirsty but they were alive, that’s what mattered. The golden glint of the Sanctuary barrier made him smile.

Had she dragged them here after he had passed out? Saved once again.

He had done his fair share this time, though.

Alan stood up after he rested some more and rummaged through his bag. There were pieces of broken glass inside it, and some had cut through the cloth. It had been a good bag for what it had gone through.

Good thing he kept the small healing vials wrapped in bundles of cloth. He had 3 left when he left the tunnels, and he had given one to Ashlyn. She had apparently fed him one too, again, after he had passed out. There was one left.

There were also the kobold herbs, now once again soaked and covered in pieces of glass. Fuck. He should have gone and found someone to check them out. They were useful and they had saved his life once, but the addictive properties worried him, and he couldn’t tell what the positives and negatives were from the single experience.

Alan stood up. Emerson’s home wasn’t too far, but he doubted he could carry Ashlyn the thirty minutes it would take him to go there.

Probably more.

There was a message at the back of his head, vying for his attention.

It was strange he was just noticing it.

You have slain: Smiling Echidna (43)

Level up!

You have reached level 5 in [Warlock]!

+ 3 Attribute Points

+ 1 Mind, Will, and Magic

Level up!

You have reached level 6 in [Warlock]!

+ 3 Attribute Points

+ 1 Mind, Will, and Magic

An Echidna, huh? It had… died? Just like that? He didn’t remember anything beyond the flash of shadows and the cracking mask.

His first thoughts were about loot, but that could wait until Ashlyn was up.

The new levels were very much welcome and he decided Vitality should take precedence for now. He tried to put his 6 free attribute points into it, dismissing the message warning, but only three went in, raising it to 5.

Due to the trait [Limited Vitality], your Vitality cannot be raised above the value of 5 by any means.

By any means?

The fuck?

[Severe Weakness] had briefly allowed his title to raise his physical attributes above the limit of 15. Why was this different, goddamn system?!

Whatever.

Instead, he opted to put the 3 remaining into magic, raising the attribute to 63. He needed mana. Maybe focusing on [Ritual: Enchanted Bones] was the smart thing to do. He needed mana crystals though.

INFORMATION:

Name:

Alan Morgan

Race:

Human

Class:

Warlock

Level:

6

Titles:

Pioneer; Madcap; Slayer; Friend of the Spirit World

ATTRIBUTES:

Strength

36

Dexterity

33

Vitality

5

Will

66

Mind

54

Magic

63

TRAITS:

One Mind, One Body; Limited Vitality; Tongues of the four corners; Survivor’s will; Shadow Mind

SKILLS:

Warlock’s Body Mastery; Synaptic Failure; Shadow Slash; Ritual: Enchanted Bones; Mortal Peril

It was another hour before Ashlyn stirred. Alan used it to do some stretches and check the condition of his body. It felt decent, if sore. He wondered if exercising would help him raise his base physical attributes. He still had 15 points there, and [One Mind, One Body] gave him a cap of 25. That was a difference of 10 he couldn’t fill by using attribute points from levels.

Meaning, there was another way.

She opened her eyes and stood up with a groan, and Alan put his thoughts away for now, rushing to her side and gently helping her stand.

She smiled when she saw him.

“Guess you had to save me again, eh?” Alan smiled back.

“It was a team effort,” she checked her stomach and whistled, “That potion you had on you did wonders. Thank you.”

“No worries, they were a gift.”

Maybe visiting Ig-Thun sometime was not a bad idea. He was plenty sure he could find kobold encampment with the tunnel with no issue, especially if he had Ash to help him.

The two of them stood up and Ashlyn stretched, testing her condition and equipment.

“It died,” she stated and looked toward the forest beyond the glittering barrier.

“Yeah.”

“Well, let’s go get our stuff and find the crystal.”

Alan hesitated but ultimately decided it was a good idea. He didn’t want to lose his spear or the dropped dagger. And if there was loot, even better.

The two of them took their time returning to the edge of the forest. Alan’s spear was the first thing they found, followed by Ashlyn’s bow. Its string was broken, but that didn’t seem to worry her.

Eventually, Ashlyn managed to find Alan’s dropped dagger too. There was also the handle of the one shattered by his skill, but he simply left it there. Hopefully, the System didn’t punish littering.

The enchanted dagger was still on his waist, its sturdy sheath making it almost unnoticeable. He was saving it for when he met something like the things from the portal.

The search for the crystal lasted a while. The echidna seemed to have left quite a trace, barreling through the forest, leaving pieces of flesh and a trail of broken branches in its wake.

They reached a place where the grass itself seemed to have been drowned in a circle of grey and blue liquid, with small pieces of blackened flesh remaining. No traces of the maggots remained, but a large dark crystal sat in the middle of the crime scene.

Ashlyn carefully stepped on the cleaner spots, until she reached the crystal. She used a cloth akin to a handkerchief to pick it up and wipe it down.

“Nice. Haven’t seen one of those,” she said and handed it to Alan.

“I can’t take it all, Ash, come on.”

“Shut it. You saved us. You saved me. The next one’s mine, deal? You got a lot of catching up to do.”

Alan opened his mouth to argue, but Ashlyn was already walking away and he hurried to catch up to her.

“What can I even get with these things?” he suddenly asked. He had paid little attention to the trading, assuming that one needed currency to trade.

“Anything the store has. It is a system of trade between Sanctuaries as far as I can tell, but the System offers other services too.”

“Such as?”

“Purification of the crystals into mana crystals. The price is steep though, certainly not worth it... What those crystals are is tainted mana, at least that’s what’s assumed around the Sanctuary. We are far from the first farming the Wailers. I don’t know if anyone has killed an Echidna though. There is also a skill exchange, but as far as I could tell last time it was empty. I don’t know how that would work. A few options seem locked, one of which focused on the Sanctuary.”

Alan needed mana crystals. He needed a lot of them. The skill exchange sounded awesome too. Although, he had no skills he would trade away, even the ritual one. The enchanted bones were the key to having a shit ton of mana, and he needed it.

Maybe [Mortal Peril]? It had helped him once, but it had been absolutely worthless during the events of last night.

There was time to think and a lot to discover.

Alan and Ashlyn took their time walking having decided to pass by Emerson’s cottage before doing anything else. She told him some more of the gangs and the life in the Sanctuary.

The conversation died down as they passed the ruins constituting the perimeter of the Sanctuary and entered what could be called Emerson’s ‘backyard’. He was there, digging a fresh hole, for a new body that had its head torn off, left on the ground behind. It was a woman this time. The head itself was set next to Emerson, a terrified expression on her smashed face.

He saw them as they approached and beamed, “Thank the Goddess! How are you two doing?”

They could only stare at the headless corpse and their friend’s smile.