CHAPTER 44: In The End…
Brenden was shook, I could see the confusion on his face as he and Mina helped me back to my feet. The sun was beginning to light the world once again, showing scores of dead demons and rivers of blood. In the large circular field around the monument.
Brenden looked to me and removed some sort of glowing orange drink from his inventory, “Thank you again Sir Rick… You have saved me more times than I care to admit. Drink this, it will heal your exhaustion. It’s basically a Stamina Potion that I concocted earlier.”
I took the drink and chugged, my body fired up with energy as my muscles felt brand new once again, “You owe me no thanks B-Rend. You guys came here and saved me. I was stupid to go at it alone but I’m glad I did because those Goblins had some intense magic. I think one could teleport.”
Brenden and Mina both looked intrigued, “I want to teleport…” They said at the same time then, “Jinx!”
Seeing my friends together and joking with each other was a ray of sunshine in the darkest of times.
I bent over to Arthur, “Hey Puckeroo, let’s go back to the safe zone and see the family. They will be happy we’re okay. Shit!”
I walked to the area where my father was slaughtered…
“What is it Sir?” Brenden asked as I searched through the piles of blood and guts.
“My Father’s ring. I need to find it.”
“Let us, please.” Mina said placing a hand on my shoulder.
I looked back at her with a frantic look. The corner of her lips shifted upwards into a warm smile, Brenden stood next to her also smiling although I saw the concern on his face.
I shook my head, “Yeah, okay… Thank you guys.”
As I waited, I was trying to not think about telling my family that our Patriarch has died. The man who raised me, taught me how to navigate this world. A man who was full of jokes and love, even if he never said it or showed it, I always knew he loved us. I didn’t need a hug to know it. If he didn’t care, I would have died long ago.
I knew my mother would be strong and hide most of her pain. I had to stay around to be there for all of them, at least until the heavy grief subsides.
Mina broke my steady stare into nothingness, “Hey. Rick? Here.” She handed me my fathers wedding band and continued, “Want to walk up the monument with me? You probably don’t need it as much as we do but high areas clear the fog on maps.”
“Of course, Fuck me. Sure” Arthur headbutt my leg and began panting, “Yeah I know bud, I can’t believe I missed it either. I tried to hammer the basics into my head over the past 2 weeks since this bullshit started but ya know.” I did my best to push away the grief for my friends as I laughed at my stupidity.
Even though my chest felt like it had a sky scraper resting on top of it, I laughed.
“Yeah, I had a feeling you might have missed that, you’re really smart so don’t get me wrong, but you are oblivious with the obvious.” Mina jabbed.
“Come on puck, I’ve always wanted to watch the sunrise from up there.” I invited Arthur who barked in agreement and we all ran up the monument stairs.
Some of the steel stairs at the bottom were dented or completely broken but it was easy enough to skip them as we all raced up the 400 plus stairs to reach the top.
As each of us entered the viewing room, ooo’s and ahhh’s filled the observation deck.
The sun was just about to peek up from the mountains to the east.
Large mushrooms of cumulus clouds glowed a heavenly golden yellow on one side blending into a radiant white on the other. High above hair-like strands of cirrus clouds stretched from one horizon to the next with a magnificent light blushing ombré.
The sun poked its head up from behind the mountain finally, its luminous majesty filling our souls with a rejuvenating warmth, like being the first to enter a cafe upon opening and being greeted by the smell of freshly baked bread and rich toasted coffee.
Brenden broke the silence, “It’s beautiful. I will never forget this moment.”
The hush returned as we all faced the sun leaning against our respective window, Arthur was standing on his hind legs staring out in front of me.
Brenden walked to the other side, “This place is really cool, my class was suppose to field trip here and to the museum when I was still in elementary, however we had to pay 10 dollars and my step father said he’s, and I quote, Not givin’ that Got-damn school another 10 bucks! Foolish brute... Say, what is this statue over here?” His imitation of his step father was pretty good even though I didn’t know the man, I knew men like him.
I knew where he was pointing, it was the only statue still standing in the area, “It’s John Stark, underneath it says, ‘There they are boys! We beat them today or Molly Stark sleeps a widow tonight!’ He was a general I believe, I could be wrong about that part though. The elementary school I went to was named Molly Stark, so of course it’s burned into my brain.”
Brenden smiled, “That man knew how to rile up the troops. I do indeed enjoy a man who gives a great speech.”
Mina was staring out of the window enjoying the beauty just as much as the rest of us. It was odd seeing her this way.
This is not the girl I remember from the other week. I checked her character tag to be safe and everything came back normal.
I needed to talk with her to make sure everything was alright.
I gave everyone another few minutes of silence before speaking up, “Well, time to go… Home, I guess?”
As we started jogging down the stairs the sound of our echoing footsteps was joined by Mina’s voice, “What did you name this one? Judgement or Verdict?” She teased.
“No… Reprisal. Ya know, since we regained some ground, took back what is ours.” I said defensively.
Mina giggled while responding, “I like it, I like Conviction too. I’m just kidding.”
I chuckled, “Yeah, I don’t like either myself. I was put on the spot and tried to think of a good name but it never works. The system won’t close it from your HUD until you choose a name and it won’t let you use the name of the actual territory I tried Cuttingsville because I liked the name of that town.”
Brenden joined into the conversation as we reached the bottom, “I think they’re great names. Strong names Sir!”
“Yeah, I disagree about Cuttingsville. That is a horrible name for a town these days. I don’t think anyone would go there if they saw that name on their map.” Mina said.
“Woof!” Arthur agreed.
“Point taken, but that’s what it was called before, I wanted to keep the world what it was.”
Mina’s entire attitude and tone changed back to how I remembered her, flinty and intense, “It will never be what it was. Never again.”
We fell into silence for a while as we jogged.
I didn’t want to push her to open up in front of everyone so I let it go, but I was curious why she’s here and why she is now following us back to camp.
Once the previous conversation had plenty of time to die out I brought up a new subject, “I never did thank you for the save. So yeah, thank you for helping me out. I owe ya.”
She shook her head a few times as if to bat away the dark thoughts, “It’s no problem, I’m sure you’re wondering why I’m here and why I’m following you back. We can talk when we get to the safe zone.”
“Actually yeah... I was literally just thinking that. Do you have some, mind reading spell?” I asked, genuinely curious since she did repeat my exact thoughts back to me.
“Haha, no. Just common sense I guess.” She replied.
“True enough. Well, I look forward to catching up! Speeding up!” I pushed the pace about 5 mile per hour faster, Brenden always liked when I pushed us and specifically pushed his endurance.
I had loads of notifications and loot to go through but I wasn’t ready to check them, I know I got at least one level up after killing Voldrix but that too is on the back burner. There were plenty of more important things to worry about.
“Should I make a road here? I don’t remember any roads leading in from this direction. Jesus... Let me check my map!”
As I pulled up my map shaking my head and wishing I didn’t say anything, Mina spoke up, thankfully ignoring my stupidity, “I see a small dirt road or a wide walking trail ahead, maybe a quarter mile, we can go up there and cut back in, then we can decide if we need a new road?”
I gave her my endorsement with a quick thumbs up, “Perfect!”
We followed Mina cutting back into a wide walking trail. The trail held straight for the most part zig-zagging every so often. The trail ended by a river outside the safe zone.
The small waterfall with a pooled area was likely the reason for the trail. The water was still freezing cold as it was coming from the top of the mountain and even though it was beautiful out and the temperature was around 65 on average since the rapture or, attack, it was still April in Vermont, which meant water was still cold as fuck.
I checked up stream as far as the forest allowed with Scout Gaze, not seeing anything undesirable or off-putting then dipped my head under the water.
I felt the blood and grime start washing away as I brushed my face with my hands, letting the water cleanse last night. I removed some dish soap that I stole from the house where I found my shoes that were burned to nothingness and cleaned my hands and face, offering some to the others.
They weren’t as covered as I was but they did do a quick clean. Mina had a pot with a lid full of warm water that she removed from her inventory. I poured it slowly over her hands first then her face when she was ready. Brenden partook in the cleaning then doused Arthur’s face in dish soap and started rubbing it into his fur while trying to get him riled up.
I could tell Arthur still wasn’t himself.
He played with Brenden but the pure joy that he once showed was gone.
It made me fume as I watched. They took something from him. I will do anything to get it back. I promise Buck.
I moved in next to them on the river side and started splashing water onto Arthur then slapped my cupped hands onto his face to rub the water in and clean the blood from his fur. Unfortunately, he had a lot of blood in his fur even though he wore his armor, so he needed the full bath before going back. I didn’t want the kids to be scared of him, that would only hurt him more.
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I sucked it up and went into the river with him to finish up. He shook off next to Brenden, sparing Mina of the attack.
I was once again on my last outfit.
A pair of flip flops that barely fit with another pair of uncomfortably tight and short pants with my last T-shirt. This was a shirt I found in a random house way back and was saving.
It was a black shirt with a picture of the old school gangster rapper known as Eazy-E.
I mean, I had to take it.
As soon as we entered Reprisal I knew exactly where everyone was as my zoomed out mini-map displayed everyone who was not in the party as a green indicator. They were pretty far into the woods.
After a few minutes walking with my map open I noticed one indicator walking away from the rest moving to our position.
I cleared the young trees with Blood Lust as we moved. Mina helped clear the trail with me as she swung her dual daggers out in rapid succession, using the act as training.
After a bit more walking we met up with the lone green indicator, “Mom…”
I didn’t have to say it, she already knew, “Come here boys.”
She walked up to me and Arthur and held us both.
I finally shed tears for my father, it was like she was sanctuary, she was my safe harbor, a place where I could finally release my box full of terrors.
“I’m sorry. I tried.” I handed her my father’s wedding ring.
She cried, she was heart broken, but she stiffened, she was still an unwavering rock, “No. None of that. You did your best.” She rubbed my back and was startled. Her face coated with one part indignation, one part concern, as she forcibly pulled up my shirt to reveal my torturous experience.
Her face grew red as water filled her eyes like I’ve never seen before, giving me an uneasy feeling as she questioned me, “Who… Who did this to you?!”
Her fingers grazed the burnt Pick-Up Sticks lines covering my back, “The same one that killed Dad… He’s dead.”
I’d never heard the tone that came from my mother when she spoke next, “Good.” The fire in her voice threatened to burn all those around, “Did you make sure?”
She gasped and held a hand to her mouth as she saw where they peeled my skin up like a banana, the large rectangular scar at the bottom of my waist wrapped around my right side to my back. The healing magic used only repaired the worst parts of the wounds so there was still an oddly near perfect rectangle towards the bottom.
I was confused by the question at first but I soon understood what she meant, “Yes. Arthur and I both made it excruciating and made sure his despair was more than he could ever deliver to our family. These demons, aliens, or whatever the fuck they are will think twice before fucking with us again.”
She took on my fathers attitude for a moment, “Attaboy.”
That one made up informal term of acceptance was really the only thing my father would say to us when he was proud of us for something.
I smiled to the remark, “How is everything here?”
She took a deep breath helping me put my shirt back down, “Well, great. It will be hard on Cole so go easy on him. He’s upset he didn’t go with you.”
“He didn’t need to. It would have made no difference and would have likely got him killed or… Like this.” I said gesturing to myself.
“I know. I wish you listened and didn’t go yourself, but you were always too dang stubborn.” She said as we all began walking, “Soo, who is your new friend.”
“Remember the girl I told you about in Conviction who helped me out then split early? Mom this is Mina. Mina, this is my mother, Evelyne.” I introduced getting a little poke from Mina for the jab at her leaving early.
Mom stopped and walked up to her, “Thank you Mina. So much.”
The awkward shock and confusion on Mina’s face made me burst into laughter as she ineptly hugged my mother back, “No need to thank me Missus Weston.”
“Oh stop that, just call me Evelyne.” She said returning to sweet little Granny mode.
Mina genuinely smiled, “Okay Evelyne. Thank you for letting me stay in your safe area.”
Mom winked, “Just don’t leave without saying goodbye.” She teased.
We returned to camp, Brenden and Mina knew what had to be done so they stayed back while Mina showed Brenden through the large barn in the middle of the clearing.
Cole came from the far side where another small building was still erect. It had to be another system created building or whatever you might call it, I would have to go take a peek later.
My mother took control of the situation while I sat behind her on a tree stump they used to chop wood for the fire. She said the obvious while I hung my head in shame.
Cole consoled his children, his wife held them all.
I waited a while for the shock and grief to calm, watching as my brothers aura deviated from grief to rage.
This is what I was waiting for, he needed someone or something to let his anger out on.
I figured I was the perfect target for him.
He started pacing and swearing, his face growing darker red with each new curse word.
“Ava, Mom. Take the kids and go.”
My mom tried to argue, “No, you’re both too old—“
“Trust me. Please…”
Not another word was said, they took the boys and entered the barn. As soon as the last was out of sight my brother snapped.
“You had to play fucking hero didn’t you?! Mr. Fucking Tough Guy!”
I stayed silent.
Usually I would argue or defend myself, but not this time.
“Come on dip shit! Say something! You’ve always been a fuckin punk! You said you would bring him back, so much for that.” He walked towards me and looked down at me, “I knew I should have went myself. Can’t depend on you for shit. Never knew what you were doing with your life, of course you would fuck up.”
He pushed me a few times and poked me.
I stood to my feet and let him.
“Not going to talk? Really? The kid who always has something smart to say is speechless finally? Fuck you.” He started hitting me and pushing me, “Of course, you’re a fucking failure!” He tried to pull me forward and I let him, not fighting against the anger he needed to release.
Against my wishes, Ava was jogging up to try to get him to stop as he continued berating me, “Come on tough guy. You have all of those stats but they don’t mean shit. I’ll still beat you like a bitch.”
He pulled again, easily ripping my last shirt, I really liked that shirt, “Shit.” I whispered as my full chest and back were completely exposed.
They both gasped seeing the extent of my month long, one night torturing.
“What the fuck did they do to you?” Cole’s eyes were full of tears.
Ava moved to stop him but I could tell his attitude vanished as he gently moved her aside to walk around me, “What… I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine.” I said calling for my breastplate to cover the worst of it.
“No, I know I’m a piece of shit. But how? You were there for one night.” He said looking at the wounds covering his little brother from head to toe.
“More shit magic like the dungeon. Some sort of ritual circle they made and put me in, what was likely 2 minutes in the real world was a month of torture.”
“No. We need to go end them all.” Cole said turning his anger outward.
“I’m here aren’t I?” I retorted with grit.
“Good. Sorry little brother.” Cole said, “I didn’t mean what I said.”
“I know. That’s why I stayed. We have that same burning anger. Mine reaches the boiling point a bit quicker though.”
He walked up and gave me a quick hug, “Come on... I’m sure you did everything you could have done and Dad would be proud of you.”
“I had to watch.” I whispered, choking back the pain.
“I know, I know... You didn’t deserve that. You’re a great lil bro. Come on I want to show you something I’ve been working on.” He said leading me toward the smaller building that I saw earlier.
Inside the shed looked to be 2 different stations that I hadn’t seen before. One was obvious and Brenden had to see it immediately, a full alchemy table lined the left wall.
The other spaces I was a bit confused about but my guess was that it had to do with my brothers profession as a Sage.
The back of the room had a small lectern with a book already pulled out lying open upon it, while the back wall was a book shelf full of different books. The right side had a work table of some sort with tools that I had never seen or used before.
“Neat spot but what is this?” I said gesturing to the book he had open.
“This is an updated book of elements. I’ve been putting together the changes of elements to figure out how all technology blew up. I think I’m on the right path,” He turned to the work bench where he had an empty notebook he was writing in, “This here is what I’ve been designing for Arthur.”
“What is it?” I asked not being able to follow his sketches.
He took a moment pinching the bridge of his nose as he started, “I’m bad at explaining things alright. Give me a sec... Dogs have very similar vocal cords and larynx compared to humans but we evolved differently and our vocal folds have different layers that allow fine-tuned stretching and—“
“I don’t need the anatomy lesson I get why dogs cant talk, no linguistic center and more importantly, no cheeks or lips. Not sure how you know this shit but you aren’t giving my dog a magical human mouth, he’ll look all sorts of fucked up.”
“No, that’s just dumb Rick... The Mana will act as the missing parts. It will be weird to look at, but words will come out of his mouth when it’s open. If his mouth is shut, mm mmmm mmm mmm.” He closed his mouth and kept talking to show his point, “It will be like watching a dubbed movie when he speaks but it should work. It will take me more time though and I’m not sure how much.”
“Jesus, that’s all you had to say. What type of item?” I wondered what type of item he was making, a ring or amulet perhaps?
He looked at me like I asked the dumbest question he’d ever heard, “A collar of course. He doesn’t have one as it is. You know I’m shit at explaining what’s in my head. Doesn’t mean I don’t know what I’m doing.” He answered as smug as always.
I changed the subject, “Did you have time to check out the ring?”
He removed the ring from his inventory and flicked it into the air to me.
I caught the flipping ring, before I could check it out he said, “I need to level up my profession to reveal more. You need to be careful with that and DO NOT wear it until you’re at least level 70 maybe 60, your stats should be high enough by then.”
“Huh… Okay, thanks. How do you level up your profession?” I asked waiting for the obvious answer.
He looked over at me incredulously, “By seeing items, learning things. I’m a Sage… I read a lot and identify items.”
I clicked my tongue, “Right. I’ll try to find more for you. Here look at my gear.”
I removed all of my gear from my inventory and set it down on the table for him to inspect and, learn…
While he looked over my gear grunting and making other odd sounds I checked out the ring.
Damael’s Moral
Divine
+50 All Stats
+75% Elemental Resistances
???
???
???
???
“Shit. I thought my gear was good. I need more of this divine stuff.” I said then flicked the ring back to my brother, “Keep it until you figure it all out.”
Cole caught the ring then spat, “Oh quit your bitchin’ your gear is great. I wish I could view this broken sword, all it says is, broken see blacksmith level 5 or higher. I wish I knew how to farm items in this world. Need to get you that set shield. I know that demons have much more gear than monsters, they are also the only place I’ve seen a Mana potion.”
My eye’s lit up, “Mana potion?! You found one?”
Cole looked at me skeptically, “You haven’t even found a Mana Potion yet? You’re fuckin’ with me.”
“No, I haven’t, the demon mobs up that way didn’t drop a one and I killed scores of them, I think they were classified as demonic mutations?” I explained.
“Jesus, talk about shitty luck, Ha. Here, I got these off those guys you killed on your way up the mountain yesterday.” Cole handed me 3 lilac colored potions, “One more thing I want to show you. I’m curious if you found one in the other safe zone.”
“Huh, I expected blue…” I said viewing the potions.
Mana Potion
Consumable
Recover 100 Mana Points.
“Well that should give me a bit over a quarter of my Mana pool back.” I said to myself as I followed Cole into the woods a bit North of camp.
“A Quarter! How many points do you have into Will?!” He asked.
“40, but with my titles and gear it rests around 58 I think. I know I got another level up during the last fight but I haven’t checked my notifications or the gear we got yet. I don’t know, it just doesn’t feel important now.”
Cole sighed, “I get it little bro, but you know what Dad would say,”
We both spoke at the same time, mocking our father’s voice then sharing a solemn laugh, “Yuh gotta do it.”