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Chapter 276: Ahead
🕑 Added 2024-03-11 06:18:09 +0000 UTCLeland pursed his lips and looked off to the side, hoping the gesture would make Captain Curtain stop staring at him. It was the age-old notion of “if I can’t see him, he can’t see me.”
This, of course, didn’t work.
“What happened to Seer?”
Shifting his gaze to his friends, Leland knew he had to take charge. “I… killed him?”
“Is that a question?” Curtain asked, his entire body stiff like a board.
He sat behind his desk, a few bandages wrapped around his wrists and knuckles. Leland had offered, like he had for everyone else in the bastion, to heal him, but the Captain declined on principle. His injuries were his own, stupid mistakes that would heal in time and serve as a reminder of the mortality of war. His wounds were nothing that some of his men hadn’t also experienced, those that lived, that was.
With a suffering sigh, Leland turned to the man and said, “My parasite killed him—"
For a brief moment, Leland felt Lodestar stir across his back. The parasite rolled, spinning against his skin in a way that felt like a crawling beetle.
Curtain held his gaze. “Uh huh.” He made a note on a sheet of paper. “And what about the pillar of purple flames?”
“That I will refrain from answering.”
Silence filled the office. Even Isobel, who was standing guard over Leland by way of lounging on the couch in the corner, kept her lips sealed.
“Your answer will go down in my report,” Curtain said, his voice like a flat line. “Are you fine with that?”
“Who is the report to?”
“The Queen—”
“Aunty P,” Isobel interrupted. “All reports go through her first. Although, I’d bet this particular report will cross the Queen’s hands sooner than later.”
“The ‘Queen,’ huh?” Leland asked, eyeing her.
She replied with a shrug, glancing at the Captain.
He turned back. “And how about this: write ‘Leland will talk to you about the purple pillar of fire in person at a later date.’”
“If you are going that route, may as well kiss the paper,” Isobel snidely whispered, causing both men to look blankly at her.
“Ignore her.”
“I have tried to since she arrived in my bastion.” Curtain scribbled on the paper. “What might I write for your arrival date to give your verbal report?”
Leland thought for a moment. “Well, I have to head to the Gru Triumvirate when we leave here. Got to deal with some more Tears—"
“You are not going to the Gru Triumvirate,” Isobel said plainly.
When the request for help came to him, she had long been gone, missing the original drama surrounding the situation. But Leland was glad to know that everybody he knew hated the Triumvirate one and the same. The consistency was refreshing.
“I am,” he replied.
“Do you know how many people get assassinated there? Trust me—”
“Yeah, yeah. Save your speech. I’ve heard it from my parents, Jude’s parents, Glenny’s dad, Aunty P, and Sybil. I’ve already promised I’d go, and we both know why I feel the need to.”
“And why is that?”
“It has something to do with a pillar of light blasting into an eternal storm and a sapphire being that just wanted to go home.”
Isobel’s eyes quickly went to the side. “Oh that…”
“You should come,” Leland casually said. “It’s partially your responsibility as well.”
“Should…” Curtain began, “should I add that to the report or not?”
“Aunty P and Sybil already know the details about our journey into Gru territory. Although, resolving an age-old war between two alien races from another world may take some time.”
“That’s what you are going to be doing in the Gru Triumvirate!?” Isobel screeched. “What kind of—”
“That’s what we will be doing, yes.”
Her hands went out in front of her like she was strangling a cat. “I— Of all the stupid reasons— I cannot believe Aunty P is allowing this. Do you even know how many Palemarrow citizens are killed in the Triumvirate a year? Nearly enough to start a war!”
“Aunty P actually barred me from going… but I’m vetoing that. I’m my own person and can make my own decisions—”
“Clearly, you need to be shackled—”
“Isobel,” Leland snapped. “I’m an adult. The others are adults. We know the issues surrounding the Triumvirate and don’t care. Innocent people are going to die, and my name was given by a Lord to help. How can I ignore that?”
She recoiled slightly. “Which Lord— Nope! Doesn’t matter. Do you really believe that you of all people are not going to have assassination attempts on your life!?”
“Good thing I have a fearless hunter as a bodyguard who can sniff out all ambushes and plots on my life before they even start.”
“I think I’m going to quit.”
Leland rolled his eyes. “Come on, don’t you want to meet some alien races from other worlds—”
“And stop them from going to war.”
“Yeah that.” Leland then added, “One of the races has been described as ‘turtle people.’ Don’t you want to know what that means?”
Isobel shared a look with the completely bewildered Captain. “No,” she said. “I’d rather not.”
“Okay fine, don’t come.”
Leland then counted in his head, one, two, three—
“We both know I’m going with you. Just shut it, will you?”
“I think I have to mention it again; but I have a parasite after me. So you will also be dealing with that when it pops up.”
Curtain started scribbling as Isobel let loose a guttural growl.
------------
Without a primary antagonistic force barreling down on the bastion, the job of the Vagrant Warden had been completed… well, mostly. Without ever truly having a description of what this job entailed, Leland felt his presence at the bastion had fixed some problems while creating more.
Rabid monsters still journeyed toward the Tear proper, hellbent on whatever mana-altered instinct held their natural instincts hostage. Leland felt sure some researcher was going to write a big paper on the changes the Tears brought to the natural environment. In fact, he was sure that paper would be a hotly debated topic for years to come.
With the Witches gone, except for the few that managed to escape Jude’s onslaught, new trade routes and caravan routes were surely coming soon. The Tear simply had too many resources to take advantage of. Most of which would be immensely helpful for adventurers and the military. Leland could imagine the bastion becoming a true hub for military and magical progression – a place for all to rank-up their Legacies relatively safely.
But of course, that brought plenty of logistical problems that Leland and the others weren’t too keen to figure out. Captain Curtain or someone would figure it out.
Which left team Fuzzy Bear in a sort of limbo. Did they stay or did they go? Staying another day or two meant they could take some extra rest before hitting the road again. Leaving now meant Curtain would no doubt send Aunty P a report stating that the “Vagrant Warden left before the bastion could properly be stabilized, thus putting everyone stationed within her walls in danger if the enemy rallied for another attack.”
And while there was not a shadow of a doubt that the Witches were done for, the idea that Leland wasn’t doing his “job” might be worth a day or two of sitting around.
“When do you guys want to leave?” Leland asked the gathered group.
“Whenever you want,” Jude muttered, sipping some beef bone soup.
“Then we leave tomorrow.”
“Sounds good.”
“Fine.”
“Alright with me.”
“I am definitely not coming,” Elin muttered, everyone, even Glenny, nodding in agreement. For as much as she was part of the team these last few days, the First Druid Legacy had her own life and ambitions. Helping out the Triumvirate with near complete strangers? That was something on her list of never in her wildest dreams. “You people are too much.”
Everyone feigned hurt, but her eyes went to Glenny. “Not you Glen, you’re cool.”
Jude leaned over to Leland and Gelo. “’Glen?’” he quietly asked, making the best-rogue-in-the-bastion’s ears turn red.
Ignoring all of that, Isobel asked, “Straight to the Triumvirate?”
“I don’t see why not.”
“I see plenty of reason ‘not.’”
Leland shrugged, falling back into his thoughts. Leaving tomorrow meant he and Lodestar could finally have their long awaited talk.
Subconsciously, he started rubbing his soul necklace-cloak – which wasn’t looking quite like a necklace anymore. Instead of a single strand of soul green, the Soul Lord’s cloak had transitioned into a weave-like shawl or mantle. Having stolen a significant number of souls, Leland now had to hide the magical garment deeper in his shirts, otherwise the whole room lit up green.
He supposed one day or another, he’d have to wear the dang thing like Glenny wore his cloak of shadows – out in the open for everyone to see. There was only so much clothes-stuffing someone could do before they went crazy with discomfort. And let Leland be the first to say, apparel made of souls was not nice on the skin.
Beyond that, there wasn’t much to do. Not right after dinner, at least.
Leland flopped onto a couch someone had brought into their igloo-cave, pulling his grimoire from his Legacy tattoo. The Lord of Curses had said she wanted to talk, the fastest way to do that was to rank-up. His mind went to the newest hundred or so blank pages amongst his curses and spells, wondering what they meant… or more importantly, who left him a message in his grimoire.
That should be impossible, right?
Thankfully, on the page before the newly added blank ones, Leland at least got some sort of clue.
Ether Circle of Souls:
Type: Curse
Rank: MAX
Call upon the souls of the Damned, channeling the power of the Lord of Souls to siphon the souls from all enemies inside your authority.
Confused, Leland flipped back to one of the first pages of his grimoire, reading the proper page for Circle of Souls.
Circle of Souls is now rank 28.
Circle of Souls:
Type: Curse
Rank: 28 (A)
Call upon the souls of the Damned, channeling the power of the Lord of Souls into an area.
Encase the souls of those within 75 yards, siphoning their lifeforce while chaining them to this reality.
Fully consume a soul to increase your magical potency by 45% for 1 minute.
Held lost souls may now be given to a soul of the Damned as payment for a task.
Damage dealt to one target with the circle is duplicated onto all targets inside the circle for 85% effectiveness.
Those trapped within the circle know the fear of those who dabble in soul magic.
His eyes glazed over, understanding written across his face. The Lord of Mending Flames had spoken about how spells and abilities that were shorter in description and more open for interpretation were far more powerful than their detailed counterparts. The idea was freedom, the spell could do anything, in any way the wielder imagined.
Leland realized he had imagined a pillar of fire that broke apart the heavens when he cast Ether Circle of Souls against the Witches. He chuckled silently to himself, yeah that’d be the day, he thought.
He finished going through his grimoire.
Name: Leland Silver
Legacy: Curses
Archetype: Apprentice of the Curse Lord
Specialization: Pact
Overall Rank: 3
Fracture is now rank 25.
Crow Massacre is now rank 29.
Curse of Collapse is now rank 24.
Harbinger Halo is now rank 28.
Fracture:
Type: Curse
Rank: 25 (B)
Call upon the Lord of Bone to shatter those in your way.
For a single target, break a random bone and the bones it is connected to.
Crow Massacre:
Type: Curse
Rank: 29 (B+)
Call upon the ethereal familiar of the Lord of Curses.
Summon a full murder of 15 ethereal crows to attack targets for up to 3 minutes.
When all crows are present and attacking the same target, their beaks and talons are enhanced.
All resultant damage dealt by the crows bleed the target for an additional amount over 300 seconds.
Promote a single crow to lead the murder. The leader is larger, faster, stronger, and more real. If permitted, the leader can stay summoned for any given length of time.
Abuse of summons will not be permitted.
Curse of Collapse:
Type: Curse
Rank: 24 (B)
Pull the target towards the end, bringing them one step closer to the Lord of Death.
Exhaust the target for up to 3 minutes, lowering their speed by 50%.
Targets under this curse deal 20% less damage to you.
The Lord of Death smiles on the cursed, increasing your damage on the cursed by 20%.
Harbinger Halo: Pact
Type: Curse (Self)
Rank: 29 (Specialization: S)
Strike a dark accord with a presiding Lord, calling their aid.
Contracts last up to 59 minutes. If concluded early, the cool down period is decreased
Up to 4 contracts may be acted upon at one time.
Contracts that produce direct spells, curses, abilities, incantations, and/or passive effects that deal with mana, may have lifeforce partially supplemented. Effects may vary.
The pact specialization allows the creation of pact-contracts thus opening new routes of power once deemed unreachable.
Soul Fire:
Type: Curse
Rank: Max
Ignite a lost soul.
Soul Fire’s strength directly correlates to the strength of the soul used. You are the Calamity.
Soul Fire’s description all but confirmed Leland’s observations, but only new questions came to mind. Most notably, all of the extra pages in his grimoire. Ether Circle of Souls got its own new page, did that mean all ether-spells would get their own as well? If so, he hoped the Lord of Curses had plenty of ink.
But all of that was for later. Right now, Leland closed his eyes, allowing sleep to take over.
Still, he questioned just who had written in his grimoire. That was a true mystery.
