Chapter 114: Ashes

Chapter 114: Ashes

Leif wished his spatial ring was larger, that way he could actually store clothing in case he ever got into a situation like this again. Unfortunately it wasn’t, and the likelihood of him being able to afford something better was practically none. Though maybe my current bottleneck is my location. He thought, stabbing an amber limb into the steep incline of stone, slowly inching his way up higher.

The two packs from the terrorists were slung over his back. With every motion he made they swayed, but their bulk wasn’t enough to majorly impede his process. The biggest challenge was finding a way back up to the surface. The higher up he climbed the more natural the caverns became, their geometric shapes becoming jagged and narrow. That was the problem, he had found several ways back up to the surface, he just couldn’t fit.

“I miss the sunlight.” He grumbled, pulling himself up onto a ledge. Small rocks tumbled down into the darkness below, dislodged by sharpened claws and stabbing limbs. A tunnel led off to the right, and from what he could tell it seemed to curve upwards. Hoping for the best but expecting disappointment he pushed out his aura, and by doing so increasing the scope of his perception. He couldn’t sense the physical layout of the way forward, instead he was groping around with esoteric senses to find... life. He sensed it, traces of roots from the surface. Hopefully he was close now.

He wasn’t. It was another dead end, one that was incredibly uncomfortable to back-track out of. He was beginning to feel claustrophobic, the suffocating weight of thousands of tonnes of stone pressing in on all sides making him feel distinctly uneasy. Not going underground again. He promised himself, healing his arms back into the proper shape after having partially broken them to fit through a narrow passageway. Leif couldn’t help but remember that he had made a similar promise after escaping the Mythhold for the first time.

With every hour he was trapped down in the network of caves his desire to teleport home became stronger and stronger. He could just take a step, and in a blink he would be out of this increasingly uncomfortable nightmare. But he didn’t, he didn’t need to, and that’s what he kept repeating to himself. In the end it wasn’t magical senses that allowed him to escape, he heard a shrill whistling coming from a passage that had appeared to lean downwards. Instead the tunnel dipped downwards, then led upwards to the surface, the rock having been eroded over time into a surprisingly effective channel for wind.

Leif still had to punch his way out. Anyone into ancient cave structures would have wept at the damage, but the Scion wasn’t particularly keen on geological preservation. The cave mouth curved upwards, almost like a mouth that had been carved into the hillside. Before he left, Leif stripped off the tattered and charred clothing he was wearing, and dressed himself in the clothing he found in the packs.

There were rations, blankets and waterskins. Both packs had spare boots, neither of which fit him, bent metal cooking implements and some sort of silvery chalk. It took him a few moments to resize his feet, a distinctly strange experience even if this wasn’t his first time doing it. He wondered if there were people with flesh magic, allowing them to reshape and change their physical appearance like he was capable of doing with [Wood Manipulation]? He pulled on a cloak, double checked himself, adjusted the repaired mask covering his face, then stepped outside. I need to make a new one, I did kill a man with this only a few hours ago.

The fresh air and evening sunlight was glorious. What was less glorious was the massive pillar of smoke rising in the distance. It didn’t take much deduction to realise what must have happened. Guilt flickered to life in his chest, he should have finished off the strange fire elementalist when he had the chance. He glanced around, checking his surroundings before heading towards the town. The hillside he had emerged from was wooded, and he took the time to partially drain several ageing trees on his way.

He hoped those he was travelling with were safe, he wasn’t sure he could face the demikin clan if some of their younger generation had been killed on his watch. Some of the clan’s elders had been hesitant to let them come south, even if what they were procuring would be vital to turn Far-reach from a well-built campsite to something more. He was a powerful healer, they should have been safe. And hopefully they still are. He thought, pulling a low hanging branch down with a mental command, then twisting it off the tree with another.

The stick shifted into a staff, then he created a loop, put the straps of the two packs through the loop and continued on his way. There were so many things he could do with [Wood Manipulation], he still needed to get used to having the skill, but it was a muscle he was becoming increasingly familiar with stretching. The forest, cultivated as it was by the nearby town, wasn't overly difficult to traverse, he quickly made his way towards Klos, emerging from the treeline to get a closer look at what had come of the settlement.

A well travelled road curved, following the lay of the land, and he jogged down it as his worry began to build. Klos was in a bad shape, from what he could see huge sections of the once well developed town were nothing but burnt rubble, he saw hundreds pitching makeshift tents in fields. One of the benefits of having two small armies encamped outside the town was that there were tents and resources to spare, though judging by the sheer number of newly homeless both forces were being stretched to their limits trying to provide.

A perimeter had been created, and as Leif approached it several soldiers rode out on horseback to meet him. He could tell by their tense posture that they were on alert, and when they got into range of his politely restrained aura he could feel more than a little fear and wariness.

“Halt traveller, state your identity and business, do not lie or hide anything.” The lead soldier said, stopping right at the edge of Leif’s aura range, a hand placed on his sword's pommel. By the man’s uniform Leif could tell they were from Ahle-ho.

“Hardly the kind of traveller you think I am, I was in the guild building when it exploded, saved your captain’s life when we fell into the sewers. Where is Peri now? I have information she will want to hear.”

The soldier blinked at him in surprise, as if those were the last words they had expected to hear. “Oh, ummm... What is your name?”

“Leif, I was in a meeting with her, Frederick and the imperial captain I don’t recall the name of. I brought in the bandits you are currently holding.”

“I see, we will need to verify this information.” The soldier said, gesturing for a pair of men to depart. For several awkward minutes they waited in silence, the soldier’s horses trotting restlessly in place.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

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Surprisingly they didn’t lead him into the camp, instead Leif was guided into a part of Klos he hadn’t been to before, though he barely recognised the town at all at the moment. Large warehouses, the biggest structures he had seen in the Klos apart from a large estate that had probably burnt down, had been set up to house the wounded. Despite the size of the buildings, they were crammed full of people.

They crossed a small bridge that led over a wide but shallow canal, likely the reason the warehouses had survived the flames, and entered the closest one. Leif kept his head on a swivel, searching for Samil, Liv and Olav, but he didn’t see them. He pushed out his [Aura of Recovery] when they entered the building, one of the soldiers that was escorting him flinching slightly as it washed over him.

Leif shook his head. “I thought about it alot over the past few hours, and realistically we’ve helped as much as we can. We’re in no position to help refugees, Far-reach isn’t a proper settlement yet, we couldn’t feed, let alone house much more than we have now.”

“Oh, yeah that makes sense.” Liv said, “I guess this is just a shit situation.”

“A situation we helped make better.” Samil said, putting a hand on her shoulder. “I’ve travelled quite a lot with my grandmother and Han before we joined up with you guys, this sort of thing isn’t uncommon. Towns get destroyed, people lose their homes, sometimes it’s monsters, sometimes it's...”

“Not.” Leif said, grunting as he got to his feet. “I’m going to go to the nearby forest and recover for a few hours. I’ll probably stay in this town for the next week or so, but you should prepare for the journey back.”

They nodded, and some time later wandered off to go find breakfast. As Leif walked through the ash strewn streets he finally checked his system notifications.

Level up! Class [Adept] is now level 4!

For healing vast numbers of wounded you have gained a level!

+1 to [Intelligence] +1 free points!

New class skills available! [Pain Syphon] or [Restful Recovery]!

Congratulations! Your [Attuned: Life] skill [Aura of Recovery] has met an upgrade threshold!

Would you like to upgrade [Aura of Recovery] from rank II to rank III? Y/N

You have reached the level 50 milestone bottleneck!

To advance beyond this point you must overcome an advancement trial!

Warning! Advancement trials difficulty is based on your total number of skills. For every skill above a total of 15 difficulty will dramatically increase!

Current skills: 17!

Attuned Items: 1!

Warning! Failing an advancement trial may result in the loss of class levels! Advancement trial may only be attempted while at level 50!

Any experience gained while at level 50 will be banked until trial is completed!

Warning! You are vulnerable while undergoing the advancement trial!

Good luck! Begin advancement trial? Y/N