The Fool's Freedom

Alan took one of the nearby paths and didn’t look back. Placing his mark on that huge parasite was a great gain and he was delighted as he now had a constant source of life force.

He kept walking for another few hours. Parasites were rare and in between but he still ran into a few groups; all had their tongues stuck deep in the ground. However, he had not run into any more lone stragglers, so he chose to avoid the fights for now. Getting drained of mana would quickly land him into a shit situation. It was better to be safe until he was comfortable or figured out a way to dodge that skill.

By Xil’s suggestion, Alan kept picking paths that sloped down to get out of the mountain. He didn’t know shit about hiking and if there was any reason for that, so he followed the advice; it was the best he had. It was three hours later when he stopped and leaned on the cliffside. The light was yet to change and Alan strongly suspected there was no day and night cycle.

“Did you actually base your suggestion on anything?” Alan asked. Walking through the rocky terrain in constant vigilance was draining him much faster than he had expected. By supplementing stamina with mana he could go for much longer in the forest back on New Earth as he had taken to calling it. Here though, he was already feeling exhausted. The constant tension probably had a lot to do with it. And the mountain was strange as fuck. As if someone had haphazardly cut paths through with a giant knife, uncaring of logic or reason.

“No. But mountains are tall and what’s not mountains isn’t as tall. So, to reach it, go lower. It's simple fucking logic.”

“Right.” Fucking demon.

Alan decided to finally indulge a bit and reached for the curse connection. It took him more effort than he had expected to extract the tiniest bit of vitality. It was like straining his soul instead of arms to pull out a vegetable buried deep underground without digging it out first. Once he did it, it became easier and he took a few small gulps.

The soreness caused by the mana supplementation was instantly resolved and he felt himself become refreshed and vigorous like never before. Even his thought process became clearer, which was weird but then again attributes were probably mutually related. How could one have a clear mind if their body was functioning on supplements and willpower?

He once again had to resist the urge to take more than he needed. Draining vitality made him feel like he was in control of everything and gave him a sense of power that was intoxicating. It was a scary feeling, especially in his position.

With renewed stamina and feeling better than ever, Alan continued the slow descent, vaulting over rocks and even climbing in places, only to descend further down. He had to admit that it was quite enjoyable in a way, especially since he had help from his almost superhuman physical attributes now. Even after getting [One Mind, One Body], there had been a mental barrier that stopped him from fully exploring his improved physique. Now with the constant stream of life, he didn’t worry that much. It made him feel good.

Another few hours later he reached the end of the strange mountain filled with narrow passes and paths and exited on a very large-looking valley which was anything else but normal. He could still see mountains circling to the side and in the distance, but it was hard to see whether the valley was fully surrounded by the mountain chain or not.

There was much more vegetation here, which was not much of a comfort as it was mostly dull grass that barely broke out of the red soil here and there.

Alan kept hugging the cliffside as he moved, afraid to just go through the valley. Many strange creatures were roaming around and being eaten was one of his least preferred ways to go. He kept looking toward the low-hanging and alien clouds while also dividing some of his attention when he saw a particularly weirdly shaped rock nearby. He was sure he saw a few of those along the edges move, but the trusty ring was working overtime to cover him as best as it could.

Xil had grown a bit tired of constantly maintaining [Soundless] so that was out for now. Plus, he needed to hear what was going on.

And good thing he did.

It was another thirty or so minutes later that strange sounds grabbed his attention and made him freeze. Dull thuds and cracks that sounded in no particular order. He hesitated but decided to go for it. He was getting bored and avoiding every new thing or danger was no way to progress towards his goal of getting home.

What he saw as he neared the sounds made his eyes go wide. A chasm was splitting the valley as far as the eye could see and narrowed to a point just before the mountainside he was hugging. It was wide, dark, and completely terrifying.

There was a woman in well-crafted heavy armor sitting on a rock just where the chasm ended. She was sending small metal balls toward a constant stream of parasites. Alan couldn’t see the details but he saw her mannerisms and her actions. She seemed almost bored as the parasites climbed out of the chasm one or two at a time only to be hit by the orbs of steel that grew in size and shot out a simple wave of the woman’s hand. There were at least eight of the steel things circling the chasm and mercilessly hitting the parasites back down.

Is she grinding experience? What the fuck, how many levels is she getting doing that?

It was insane to think about.

Alan hesitated whether to go and speak to her or flee. He didn’t want to go back where he had come from. Enough was enough.

However, the stranger was obviously not from Earth despite her human appearance and was possibly also many times stronger than him. He was unsure if everyone would be as welcoming as the dwellers of the Bazaar. Now that was an idea! Couldn’t he go to the Bazaar and find someone to return him to his place?

As he was distracted by the new idea, the woman chose the next course of action instead of him.

“DUCK!” Xil’s voice made him instinctively follow the order just in time as one of the iron balls shot toward him. It crashed into the stone behind and sank deep, creating a perfect circular hole. It quickly flew back and stopped just above his head.

Alan felt the sweat on his brow and prepared to cast everything he had. [Monochrome Armor] seemed responsive which meant it was probably recharged and despite his situation a rush of excitement that he was about to become one with his shadow almost made him grin. However, an arm on his shoulder made his casting stop.

He could see her now as she stood directly in front of him. Two of the metal orbs were beneath her feet, helping her hover above the ground. They were not so much round as liquid now, covering her legs up to the shin. Her hair was dark and braided loose down the middle of her back, held with ornaments of steel. Her armor was ornate and carefully crafted, accentuating each curve of her body, and didn’t seem to have trouble bending at the joints. Her eyes were the same dull metallic of the hovering orbs, and a small hammer-like symbol rested between her eyebrows.

She was smiling at him and looked almost like an innocent girl in a toy store. Her words sent a jolt through him, however. The voice sounded sweet and kind.

However, he couldn’t understand a word.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

“I’m sorry. I don’t understand,” he said slowly. The woman frowned and seemed to grow colder, before pulling out a thin metal plate out of thin air. Alan felt a momentary sense of unease as if he was being seen through. The woman smiled again. She took out another item – a yellow paper with something like a red snake tongue drawn on it.

Then she slapped him with it.

It didn’t hurt, but the paper burst into red glittering dust that entered his mouth and ears and made him panic and cough for a second.

“Do you understand me now, outlander?”

He gaped at her for a second before he nodded. She smiled like a kid again, which created a strange contrast as the steel orbs behind kept punting the sorry parasites back into their hole.

“What is a little tier I [Warlock] doing here? Who is your patron?” Her hand never left his shoulder and Alan felt that moving was not an option. The orb was still hovering above his head menacingly. He felt that the second question was much more important than the first.

“Uh, I’m kind of lost. And I don’t have a patron.” She didn’t try to hide her surprise at his second statement.

“No patron? Are you a fool, or a madman?” Although he now understood her, there was still a very strange accent to each of her words.

He almost shrugged before he realized that her hand was as steady as a ton of bricks.

“Some say both.”

She smiled wider and patted his shoulder, before letting go. He expected at least a broken collarbone or something, but she did it with ease and lightness that surprised him, and then she hovered backward.

“Well then, come with me, and let’s talk. I’m bored as shit. My name is Kylantha, of House Gernar. You got a name?”

“Alan, of… well, somewhere far away I guess.”

She nodded and the metal orb above him fell, making him flinch and stopping just before his feet. Then the metal bent and elongated until it was a circular platform.

“Step on it.” There was no room for discussion in her tone and Alan tentatively stepped on the strange metal. He felt it shift a little and climb up his boots a bit and then both flew back to the chasm.

Up close it looked even more massive.

“What’s that?” Alan asked before he could stop himself.

Kylantha looked at him with a thoughtful expression and then beamed. “One of the holes left by its roots. You do know where you are, don’t you?”

He had the name of the place… was that left by a root of a tree?

“Why are they coming only where you are waiting for them?” Alan asked again. He decided to test things out with simpler questions first. The parasites climbing out were pretty small compared to those he had run into—some the size of a toddler, others of a child. Many lacked proper bark covering. Maybe Kalyntha was not that much stronger, she just had the proper tools and skills. Alan was sure he could take those smaller ones quite easily too, although not as many and not all at once.

“Oh, they go around. Today they picked this place and they climb closer to the mountains. The parasites are dumb and these here are newborns. They harvest some of the remains of the Void Tree on the bottom of the chasms and coat their bodies with it, then come out to fight, kill, and grow. At least that’s the theory. Me and my partners were sent to cull them a bit. The mountain is filled with them already.” She helpfully explained.

“Tell me about it.” Alan looked around, noting that there was no trace of her partners.

She looked at him with an unreadable gaze. “You fought them?”

“I killed two. Avoided the groups. They had their tongues stuck in the earth so it was not that hard.”

Kalyntha nodded. “They do that. We don’t know the exact reason, all we know is it destabilizes the Fractal, so we try to kill them and ease the strain on the formation.”

“Formation?”

She pointed up toward the rolling brown and red clouds. “It keeps the Fractal stable. You don’t know anything, do you?”

“Well, this place wasn’t exactly my first choice for a vacation.”

She giggled, “Many find ways to the Fractals without meaning to. You are not the first weirdo I’ve come across, although you are the first baby.”

What did she just call me? Xil’s giggle sounded in his head.

“Baby?”

“Sorry, sorry. Someone from a newly integrated world.”

“What gave it away?”

“A [Warlock] with a weird build, no patron aura, and no clue what he is doing. Your class is typically chosen because of the possibility of having a patron. There are only a few beings allowed to act as patrons in the Myriad Worlds, like how there are only a few accepted Gods, and I don’t sense their aura around you. Not that I know much about them, but I can tell when something foreign to the Realm is nearby. Call it a sixth sense. It so happens that newly integrated worlds are ripe for the picking and often draw the attention of weird things with unclear motives that have somehow slipped through the cracks.”

Did she know all that about him from the goddamn steel plate she had pointed at him? The information about [Warlocks] was interesting. His mind focused on the facts that someone or something was in a way allowing beings of immeasurable power to exist.

This is good. Learning stuff is good. Alan remained silent, digesting the words of Kalyntha.

“Attack her now! She is distracted!” The voice of Xil echoed in his mind.

“The fuck, I am not attacking her! She will kill me!”

And she was nice so far. The fact that [Mortal Peril] hadn’t warned him of that first attack meant that she hadn’t meant to kill or hurt him, just to surprise him.

“You are a fool.”

“Oh, shut the fuck up.” Putting the demon away now would draw attraction and he wanted to avoid explaining what the cube contained. Hopefully, Xil was not dumb enough to reveal himself.

“So,” Kalyntha began. “I’ve answered some of your questions, and I also don’t think you are dangerous. I can help you, but you will need to answer some of my questions too.”

Alan nodded. It was only fair.

He decided to talk about the fight against the godspawn and how he was thrown here. It would hopefully score him some points. Kalyntha was obviously begrudgingly fulfilling some sort of duty, so she was a pretty good person to run into.

He began his tale, trying to ignore the insults coming from the demon in his ‘pocket’.