Chapter 202

Chapter 202

Chapter 202

Trees cast shadows on their cabin. The sounds of the campfire crackling under the night sky grew louder as Julie added a handful of dry twigs. The young redheaded woman gave Hakim a wide smile, sitting down next to him as he roasted marshmallows over an open fire and kissing him on the cheek.

“You look unusually happy tonight.” Julie said while wrapping her arms around his waist in the warm forest breeze. She glanced over to her mother Tanya, and her brother Tim who’d managed to regrow his lost limb after they’d spent all their hard earnings from the dungeon experience with Riven on a series of high quality potions.

Tanya, who was putting another marshmallow on a stick and handing it to her teenage son, smiled back at her daughter who looked absolutely stunning in the formfitting white healer’s robes she had multiple copies of. “You make us all happy to be around, Julie. Your energy is infectious.”

Hakim chuckled and pulled out a flaming ball of what had once been edible, sighing when the others laughed at him before pulling it off and tossing it into the fire pit. His shirtless chest was heavily tattooed now, given the abilities and body enhancements he’d acquired, which only kept Julie’s eyes on him longer. “Yes, your mother is right. How lucky I was to have met you!”

Julie flushed in embarrassment, but not before Tim gave a loud snort.

“My sister still snores and farts far to often for my liking.”

Julie gasped as her mother and lover began to loudly laugh around the campfire. Glaring at her little brother, she crossed her arms and harumphed. “I do NOT SNORE! And it isn’t my fault I’m lactose intolerant!”

“You could stop eating cheese.”

“BLASPHEMY! Mom’s pizza is too good! I’D RATHER DIE!”

The sound of laughter rose, but the sound of heavy boots trudging through the forest towards them caused the small group to pause. Hakim glanced down the forested hill towards the outskirts of town where tiny lights littered the dark landscape, and coming out of the darkness a familiar figure stepped forward.

It was Caleb, the same man who’d entered the dungeon with them when Riven had shown up. He still carried his semi-automatic rifle, though he’d upgraded some of the runes along the weapon’s side to empower its shots, and had the typical camo outfit he liked with a pair of night vision goggles on top of his head.

He pulled the goggles off when he came around the bend in the forest path and strode forward with a smile to the cheers and waves of the others. “Hey guys! Sorry I’m late.”

Hakim’s large muscles flexed as he gripped his battle axe and waved it around in mock threat. “Yes, how dare you not be faster! You court death!”

Julie rolled her eyes and handed Caleb a long stick with a marshmallow attached to it, smiling gently when the man took it in turn and sat beside her mother on the other side of the firepit. “Glad to see you came safely.”

“I’ve got a scout class! I can usually see danger a mile away. Literally.” Caleb winked, setting down his rifle and pulling out a small sack of goods from a backpack. He tossed over some twinkies, a couple chocolate bars, some pre-cooked hotdogs with buns, and some paper plates before pulling out the big kicker: the vodka.

“OOOOOoooooh! Caleb!” Tanya said in a teasing flirty voice while waggling her eyebrows. “You never told me you were bringing alcohol!”

Caleb’s face grew bright red when his friends’ mother nudged up against him, and both Julie and Hakim began to cackle loudly while Tim rolled his eyes.

Julie grabbed one of the hot dogs from Tim and then shook her head. “Mom you need to stop doing that or he’s going to think you’re serious one of these days.”

“Who says I’m NOT serious!? I’m totally into younger, handsome men!” Tanya retorted with a frown, briefly glancing at Caleb sitting on the log next to her while his face went from red nearly to purple in embarrassment. Her grin only grew wider, but she spared him further stress by giving him a little bit of space and giggling. “So Caleb, how did you like the new clothes I made you?”

Taking the olive branch immediately, Caleb cleared his throat and shuffled nervously with the food in his lap - arranging it and rearranging it on the paper plate while avoiding death glares from Tim. “They’re great! The stat boosts they give me are definitely appreciated, your skills are getting better”

Tanya beamed and started pouring herself a tiny cup of vodka. “Glad you think so. However, I do believe...”

Her voice trailed off and her eyes widened when, under the starry sky and with the backdrop of the small town in the distance, five men silently appeared on the forested edge of their clearing. All were utterly silent, all dressed in black with white masks that hid most of their face. The familiar symbol of two crossed daggers hung as tiny metal amulets around each of their necks.

It didn’t take long after that for the others to take notice, and Hakim slowly turned to stand while hesitantly reaching for his axe and silently activating some physical buffs. His brows furrowed, and the five masked men turned their attention to him next.

One of them, the central figure, raised a finger and wagged it back and forth. “Do not be so hasty to start such violence, Hakim. We are not here to do you harm, we are merely sent as messengers. How you respond to that message dictates what happens next.”

Hakim’s nose wrinkled, and he put his body in front of Julie’s while the rest of his tiny guild behind him. “I already told Matt that I spent everything I had. Tim’s leg took a lot of money to regenerate, I am not hiding anything and even if I were - it wasn’t Matt’s to take.”

The central figure snorted, brushing Hakim’s reply aside with a wave of his hand. “That isn’t my concern. What is my concern, is that we were paid to bring the lot of you in for a discussion.”

“How much did he pay you?”

The figure shrugged indifferently. “The Red Hand paid in items rather than Elysium Coins. Not many people have direct access to the altars anyways in this remote section of the world, so items are better suited for our needs unless we wish to travel. But that doesn’t matter. What matters is whether or not you’re going to come quietly, or whether or not you’re going to come missing a member or two.”

Luke Blissfallen, Level 17 High Elf Thrall (Stormrazor Battle Priest)(Warning: 3% soul decay detected)[10 Willpower Requirement]

Riven sighed with a shake of his head, though he was now smiling again. Yes, he supposed it was good to have friends such as these. Pushing off the wall in the alley he was viewing the three-story tall orphanage from, he made his presence known while stepping into the light.

Immediately the guards around the perimeter of the orphanage tensed and bowed their heads, clapping hands to their chests in a salute. There were orcs, humans, cyborgs, ghouls, skresh, and even a few goblins in the mix of the guards stationed here for the time being - making it a rather diverse outfit of over 50 people protecting nearly three thousand kids that lived here. The caretakers, mostly ghoul and human women but also having a good number of elves who had chosen to stay behind, all stiffened on the playgrounds in turn when seeing him approach. Some of them even prostrated themselves, while others, tried to round the children up to hush them or push them inside.

The only one who did did not freak out was Luke. The old man’s skin had a leathery appearance to it when he smiled, and his smile only grew wider upon seeing Riven approach. He waved, putting down a little boy he’d been playing mock-wrestling with, and walked forward to meet his master with a hand outstretched.

“Good to see you!” Luke called out, surprising Riven by pulling him into a brief hug and stepping back. “How have you been!? It’s been a while since we sparred, have you come to bring me in for more lessons?”

Riven’s eyes softened while taking in the little children who stared up at him in from a nearby picnic table and a jungle gym on his left. “No. I think your place is here, more than teaching me how to be a pathetic excuse for a warrior.”

The elf thrall’s eyes widened in surprise, then he began to laugh while putting his hands on his hips. “I suppose you weren’t the greatest in up close combat, but you sure look the part with all that heavy armor you’re lugging around. And hello to the rest of you! Azmoth, Athela, Jackal, Messenger, and...”

He gave each of them a head nod - even the maw along the armor set that gurgled back at him, before staring at the snake wrapped around Riven’s arm. He raised an eyebrow. “New minion?”

“You got it. Her name is Yattazi, and she’s usually a lot bigger than this - but I can’t go around the city with a massive snake now can I? She’d rip everything up.”

The snake, who’d been curiously examining the children nearby, turned her spined head to the older man and flicked her tongue out to display fangs crackling with chaos energy. “Hello, fellow servant of the massster! I am Yattazi, devourer of the living and great sssserpant of the volcano! You may kowtow before me one thousand times and ssshower me with giftsss for being allowed to basssk in my presssence!!! For I have gracioussssly chosssen not to eat you!”

Athela chittered in amusement when Luke’s face fell.

“I see she’s a keeper.” Luke replied flatly, ignoring the snake and turning to Athela. “You told her to say that, didn’t you?”

Athela took in a deep inhale, aghast. “HOW DID YOU KNOW!?”

“That is exactly something that you would say. If Riven ended up getting two demons with your personality, I think this necropolis would be in for a real shit show.” He shook his head. “So what is it that brings you here then, Riven? Anything I can help you with, if not training?”

Riven’s smile returned. “I just wanted to check in and see how you were doing. Don’t get me wrong, we’ll train later, but I have things to do and it’d simply been a while. You’re looking good, healthy even. I also saw your soul degredation was only at 3% now, you’ve come a long ways. Have your abilities returned?”

The old man grinned mischeviously, pulling his hands out of his simple robes and producing a baseball sized orb of water that began to crackle with lightning. “Yes. Though not all of them. The most prominent miracles I have are still being set into place, but I can feel them. They’re almost here.”

Riven’s smile grew wider. “Awesome. You’ll have to teach me more about the difference between miracles and spells later on. I know the basics, but not many people use miracles here.”

“That will change very fast if I have any say about it.” Luke hiked a thumb over his shoulder to the children in the background. “They’re all really fast learners, and I’ve even captured a couple weak monsters for them to battle against in practice rounds! It’ll all be controlled obviously, but cultivating the younger generations is something every great faction starts very early. At least that’s how it was on Zazir before the merging of worlds. Now with the system here and the levels we can gain though... it may be even more important.”

Riven clapped the old man on the shoulder. “Glad to hear it. Do you work with Mara a lot? She is supposed to be overseeing these kinds of things.”

“I do.” Luke replied with a nod. “That hottie is really something else...”

“Mara? The ghoul necromancer?”

“Yes, that’s the one.”

“You think she’s pretty?” Riven replied with a teasing grin.

Luke only blinked. “Well I’m straight and I’m not blind, so obviously so. She’s gorgeous! Just because you surround yourself with beautiful women like Athela, Kathrine and... Others, doesn’t mean the rest of us get so lucky all the time. Contain yourself and save some of the women for the rest of us, damn you!”

Athela let on another dramatic gasp, hopped off Riven’s shoulder and morphed into her humanoid form. She put both handed on the old man’s face to pinch his cheeks with affection. “YOU’RE SO NICE! Riven, wrinkles here just got a lot of brownie points. Treat him well, and tha plan you had to eat him - scratch that. We’ll just eat Genua instead.”

Riven could only facepalm and roll his eyes. “Stop harassing my teacher. Anyways, it was good seeing you Luke. I’ve got some ratkin and dwarves to visit in the underdark, along with some native vampires too if what Snagger told me was accurate. Take care, keep safe, and I’ll be sure to drag you out for a practice match whenever I get back.”

Luke gave him a thumbs up after swatting away Athela’s fingers with a scowl. “This is how you do it, yes?”

Riven chuckled. “Yes, that’s the thumbs up motion. You have it right. Adios my friend.”

“Yes, adios to you too Riven. I’ll see you later.”