B01DCAV4W2 (S) (15 page)

“He,” Richter corrected absently.  A question occurred to him.  A question could irrevocably alter his place in The Land.  Looking at Futen, he asked, “Who is the Master of the Mist Village.”

“You are, my Lord,” answered the remnant’s deadpan voice.

“Even though I died?” Richter asked.

“Your body may have perished, but your soul endured.  I could not sense where it had gone, but your essence remained in the chaotic firmament of The Land.”

“Is that where he came from?” Sumiko asked.  Her initial expression of horror had not completely dissipated.  “Is that what we were seeing?  Pure Chaos?”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Richter snapped.  The stress of his torture and mutilation may have been a day ago for everyone else, but it had just happened as far as Richter was concerned. 

“Right before you appeared, there was a tear in the air.  It only lasted a moment, but…” Sion was at a loss for words, unable to explain something that his mind rebelled against.

Hisako finished for her son, “Apparently if you die, your soul melds with the primordial stuff of The Land.  You came back through a rent in reality.  As Sion said, it only lasted a moment, but in some ways it lasted much longer.”

“I was looking at… nothing.  Pure nothingness,” Sumiko said with a haunted tone, “but somehow, I could still feel that there were
things
in the Chaos.  What is worse, I know that they could feel me as well!  They were HUNGRY!”

The elderly sprite was clearly having a hard time adjusting to what she had felt.  A distant part of Richter knew that he should feel sympathy for the kind woman, but right now that was a very distant part.  He had things to do.  He had a Companion to save, and he had people to kill and hopefully mutilate. 

He looked down at his near naked body.  His Bag of Holding remained with him, but otherwise he was wearing nothing.  He took a set of small clothes from his Bag as well as a pair of pants.  “Where are my armor and weapons?”

“The armor you were wearing, I hid in the treasury,” the chamberlain said.  “I regret to say that your killer took your rings, belt, necklace and bracelet.”  Richter’s jaw tightened even further.  “Krom told me that he had finished repairing your other arms and armor, so I placed them in the armory as well.  He and several of the other villagers have asked where you were.  I told all of them that you went back into the lower level of the catacombs.  No one outside of those in this room know what happened.  We are here because it… he,” Randolphus corrected himself, gesturing at Futen again, “collected us.  Apparently he felt that you were about to return.”

Futen had felt his return, Richter wondered.  It opened a whole host of questions, but he didn’t have time for it now.

“Okay then.  I need to get my arms and armor.  They have a day’s head start on me, and I don’t know where they went, but I MUST save Terrod.”  He turned to Hisako, “Can you help?”

“This man they took, he is one of your Companions?” Sumiko asked. 

“Yes,” he replied.

“Then I can help you find him.”

“And I can help with the head start,” Hisako said.  “Go and equip your weapons, then meet me outside.”

Hisako and Sumiko walked down the exit tunnel.  Randolphus walked over to the armory with Richter, and Sion fell in step with them.  Alma dropped onto Richter’s bare shoulders and Futen floated with them.  Richter opened the armory and saw both sets of armor on the tables by the door.  He equipped his enhanced armor.  A quick check showed that Krom had indeed restored it.  Richter equipped his shadow dagger and high steel longsword.  Knowing what they were up against, he went a step further. 

“Sion, I need the shrieke venom.”  

The sprite stared at him for a moment, but then reached into his satchel.  Sion handed over a vial of the clear poison.  Richter removed the four dart traps from his inventory.  He cautiously removed the dart from the device, taking care not to damage the mechanism.  Dipping the dart into the venom, he received the prompt:

You have created: Shrieke Venom Dart.  Damage 5-7.  Durability 10/10.  Item class: Common.  Quality: Above Average.  Weight: 0.1 kg.  Traits: While the poison coating lasts: Chance to cause instant death.  If death is avoided, still does 60-90 damage (80% natural poison damage, 15% Death damage, 5% Earth damage) per second for five seconds. 

He added the dart back to the mechanism and the resulting trap showed the same damage statistics.  Richter did the same for the remaining traps.  He then did the same for his arrows and other weapons.  The shrieke venom was more lethal than he would have thought possible.  It was somewhat unnerving to work with such a dangerous substance, but that didn’t stop him.  He had no intention of taking either the Warrior or that sadistic bitch alive.  He only hoped his enemies would both die screaming. 

The qualifier of ‘while the poison coating lasts’ made him pause.  It obviously implied that there was a time limit on how long his weapons would be poisoned.  Not knowing what else to do, he put all of the items into his Bag.  It had shown before that it could slow down decay.  Hopefully it would preserve the venom.  He checked his inventory, and each weapon and dart trap now made a green skull and crossbones in the corner.  Richter tried to hand the remaining venom back to his friend, but Sion told him to keep it.  They all walked outside.

Sumiko was waiting at the entrance with two sprite warriors.  “Hisako is outside of the walls.  This way.”  The entire group walked down the hill and through the village.  Several villagers started to walk up to Richter to say hello, but they quickly picked up on the serious vibe and peeled off. 

One villager was not so dissuaded.  He didn’t even recognize her at first, since she kept herself in such seclusion, but then he placed her.  The damaged love of Terrod’s life walked up to Richter with absolute panic in her eyes.

“You have to help him.  Please!  I need him back.  I will devote myself to you, Lord Richter.  Please!  I will die without him.  I will kill myself!”

Isabella fell to her knees and grabbed his leg weeping.  Before he could respond, a prompt appeared.

You have been offered a Quest: Two Lives as One.  Isabella has approached you and charged you with recovering her love.  The emotionally unstable elf has only one tie to sanity, Terrod.  By saving your Companion you will most likely save this woman’s life.  If you lose Terrod, you will most likely lose another villager soon after.  Will you reunite the two lovers?  Reward: Unknown. Yes or No?

Richter blinked and accepted the quest.  Though anger and hate were worming through his heart, he made himself stop for a moment.  He helped Isabella to her feet and just held her for a moment.  “I will bring him back,” he said simply.  Then he handed the grieving woman to another villager and motioned for Sumiko to continue on.

The guards on the walls greeted Richter quietly and ushered him across the wooden bridge.  Sure enough, Hisako was waiting in the field outside the walls in the center of a troupe of sprites.  A large ball of light hovered above their heads.  She was kneeling with both hands on the ground.  Pulses of green light radiated from her body.  The light spread outward over the surface of the ground in concentric circles.  She did this for another half a minute and then stood.

“I have found a resonance.  We only need to wait a few minutes.  Prepare yourself.”

Richter nodded.  He needed the time to see the consequences of his death anyway.

Richter wanted to scream in frustration!  His personal level and almost every one of his skills had dropped!  The current level progress had been erased AND he had dropped a whole other level in each!  That crazy bitch had effectively robbed him of weeks of work!  His Portal Construction skill seemed unaffected, probably because it was about the knowledge he had, but that was small comfort.  The loss in his personal level alone amounted to almost 50,000 experience!  He gave in to his impulse and screamed out loud!

The sprites stared at him startled.  Sion just stood at his side.

Calming himself, Richter forced himself to be analytical.  He went through his status page again, line by line.  He was missing the bonuses from his rings and other equipment.  That at least he could partially rectify.  He pulled other rings from his Bag.  He had one stamina, one health and one mana ring, adding +34, +22, and +11 to each bar respectively.  He also equipped his Amulet of Minor Mana, giving him another +17.  It wasn’t much, but it just might keep him alive. 

Richter stood in place, impatient to get moving.  Only his own hatred of pointless questions kept him from asking Hisako how much longer whatever she did would take.  After a few more minutes, she made eye contact and said, “He’s here.”

Richter heard a thud behind him and before he could turn, something streaked over his head.  A massive wolf the color of forest leaves landed by Hisako.  The sprites apparently had expected this to happen, but Richter had a visceral reaction to seeing an overlarge predator up close.  He took a step back with a startled yell, drawing his longsword at the same time. 

The wolf growled at him showing its fangs, but only for a moment.  Apparently it decided that Richter wasn’t worth any more consideration.  The wolf bowed its head toward Hisako so that the Hearth Mother could place her hand atop its snout.  This was no small feat because the wolf was five feet tall at the shoulders.   As fearsome as the beast was when growling at Richter though, it was gentle as a lamb with Hisako.  She gave a delighted laugh as it pushed its large head into her, nearly knocking the diminutive woman over.  It was clearly an affectionate gesture.   Richter analyzed the large animal.

Okami.  Level 22.  Health 540.  Mana 70.  Stamina 1260.  Disposition: Neutral.
 
Okami are forest wolves descended from the Great Wolf Honshu.  The wolves are masters of concealment in a forest setting and have an incredibly high movement speed.  Okami are more intelligent than the average beast.  This is perhaps why their social structure does not revolve around packs, but instead in an extended nuclear family. 

Hisako separated from the large wolf.   She wove her hands in a complex pattern and spoke an incantation.   A green glow enveloped her throat and then Richter got a surprise that cut through even his anger.  A series of barks and growls began to ensue from her mouth.  Remarkably, the okami seemed to answer.  It wasn’t a formal language, at least not one that Richter’s Gift of Tongues ability could decode, but the two were clearly communicating.

The interplay went back and forth.  At one point the wolf looked at Richter and he could swear the damn thing shook its head!  At the end it bowed its head to Hisako again.  She patted it one more time on its snout before turning to Richter, “He has agreed to carry you until you find your Companion.”

“Carry me?” Richter asked.  “How?”  He had no idea how he was supposed to ride this monster.  Suddenly an image of the wolf running with him in its jaws like a cub crossed his mind!  Naw, he thought, that’s ridiculous.

“Just trust that he will take care of you,” Hisako said.  “He comes from a noble line and his father and I have survived many dangers.  That is why he answered my call.  His name doesn’t exactly translate, but you may call him Fen.”

“Fen,” Richter said in a half questioning voice as if tasting the word.  The okami growled in reply.

Despite his trepidation, Richter did trust Hisako.  He walked up to the large wolf.  Stopping a foot in front of its powerful jaws, he looked it in the eyes, “I don’t know if you can understand me, but thank you for helping.  I need to rescue my friend from some very dangerous people.  If you could help me, I will be in your debt.”