(Ashen POV)
The king’s health skyrocketed, his body stayed at one solid and healthy temperature, his skin went back to a healthy color, and he stopped coughing blood. Also, his grey hair seemed to turn back to black in some areas, small patches but still noticeable. He sat up after a few sets of quiet breaths. His eyes looked faint but seemed as though life was crawling back into them with every passing second, the room seemed to grow lighter and the faces on those in the room brightened slightly. His face, on the other hand, looked as though he had already come to peace with his fate, and accepted his death before it came.
He looked blankly up at my face, color-washed into his eyes and he seemed to snap out of his little death trance. He sat up slowly while holding his head, I wondered what could cause this, I figured that the answer was something magic-related, but the actual cause was still unknown to me. It could be anything, but the last thing I'd want it to be was something that I had done that had this unforeseen side effect. Thinking back on the demons, maybe the moon was at fault once more, but I would need to test that theory out later.
“King Erik is safe, calm yourselves,” I said, lowering the barrier, to which the lot of them rushed to check on their king, which seemed to get better by the moment.
They looked at him with a plethora of emotions, but none seemed all too trusting of what I had done. I couldn’t blame them for being untrusting of a demon, but I thought I had proven my connection to humanity to them at this point, guess I haven’t. A few maids and butlers still roamed, doing their duties and one maid gave him a mug of water to drink, which he did slowly. He still seemed tired, as the spell didn’t cure fatigue, but he would be healthy again in a few minutes. I was getting ready to leave anyway when I got a small notification from Aeyrs, so I quickly exited.
“I’ve other tasks to do, shall I return in three days for our discussion?” He muttered a slow and heavy ‘Yes’ so I teleported out of the room.
I teleported to my bedroom in the guild base, quickly accepting the telepathy spell from Aeyrs.
“Ashen, I found a village in one of the forests. A magical fire started burning it down so I went to investigate.” His voice sounded calm and concise.
“Alright, since you messaged me, that must mean something important happened, right?” What could this be about, another random village, I'm not a charity worker.
“Of course, the thing is, these people are highly skilled in magic for what seems to be ordinary humans on the surface. But it seems like their genetics were half-merged with that of the fae.” Just what could this entail I wonder, no matter, there is still too much to do before getting involved with yet another village.
“So what are you thinking, that I could go meet them? Or train them? What? You’re not giving me enough details brother.” I know for certain that this was a good opportunity, same as Aeyrs thought, but I needed more compelling evidence to pursue this over my other duties at the moment.
“Well, I figured that you could use the help with powerful magic users, and as an ally, if needed.” Great, I called it.
“Very well, what else?” There was most likely something deeper, as this wasn’t important enough to invoke telepathy.
“The fire destroyed part of the forest and it seems that the lack of mana in the air from it weakened them drastically. On top of that, a young boy managed to break through my [Hesitant Rage] skill, be careful.” Hmm, maybe the boy wasn’t angry, but even after all that, it would be hard to say for sure.
“Not only that,” he continued, “but I could sense a grand source of magic from a tower in the village, might be worth checking out.” The thought of unknown magic was enough to get me interested, one of few things that could, but the number of things I had to do was enough to keep it just out of reach for now.
“I’ll keep it in mind, where are you?” If only I could have him do it, things would be so much easier.
“Well, about that, I’ve got myself buried in responsibilities around the guild base you know, do you even know how many NPCs still ned tasks to do, and what needs to get done?” Oh jeez, I figured I was doing most of the work, guess he was dealing with what I wasn’t, I’ll have to fight him soon enough to pay him back for it.
“Sorry, I’ll get the rest of my work done, I'll see you back at the castle, don’t die before then.” I just had to get my job done, then we could fight and burn some worked-up tension.
“I could say the same to you, I’ll see you back here later.” The telepathy ended, and I was left in the dark alley once again.
I’d sigh, but as always, I’m not able to. I teleported back to the castle and was mildly surprised when I saw that ragtag group of adventurers coming up the road, strange, but not something I had to deal with so I just went inside. I was heading over to my bedroom for my desk, which was nearly covered in stacks of paper, and just as I got there, it seems that one of the NPCs I tasked with a mission came back to castle. I teleported to the courtyard, and once there a large demon with great leather wings stood towering over me, nearly twice my height. His level was 750, and he was an Ancient Demon if I remembered correctly.
He had red-grey skin and three sets of horns, all gnarly and massive. The first pair were much like a ram’s but larger, say double the size of a horrid buffalo's. The second was large horns sticking straight back like a goat’s. And the last set was curved upwards from the front, each horn was at least half a meter long, if not more, and they were all much stronger than they looked. The horns themselves were bone-colored and his eyes were alight with a fiery red hue. He had large goat-like legs and wore a sort of plated armor over them, leaving his chest exposed along with his head.
He took a knee before me, quickly lowering to the ground and becoming eye-level with me as his knee touched the ground. I held out my hand and he placed a large gemstone cluster into it, the gems gleamed in the afternoon light revealing a golden and green-blue color into the air, like an aura. It had an aura of mana that stuck to it like water in a sponge, it was fairly dense, but not nearly as much as mine. For what I’ve seen, this single three-kilogram cluster had as much mana as a level 60 human from Arlen, so it must be pretty good for this world’s standards.
“Thank you for your work, Arath, you’ve done me good. And I know this is a little outside of your field of expertise, but I was counting on you, and you did not fail me.” He was a Soul Fetcher, and did what the name implied, fetched souls of those foolish enough to assault the castle.
“You flatter me,” He said with a deep and mature voice and he takes a deep breath before finishing his sentence, “My lord.” I guess scouting out and gathering minerals is something similar to what he did before being sent here, but I couldn’t tell if he was fine with it because it was similar to his old tasks or because I’m his lord and therefore he must do what I ask him to.
“Please rise, my subject, and answer my question without fail, and be sure to answer honestly,” I said to him, as I might as well find out why the NPCs are loyal to prevent them from rebelling if it ever came to that.
“Yes,” He inhaled again, “My lord.” Every time he breathed, a thick but small cloud of miasma would come sprawling from his mouth, so he spoke little to avoid getting the other NPCs sick or in danger.
“Why do you follow Aeyrs and my orders? I hope you will answer me honestly.” His face seemed to grow weary at a glance but overall looked the same, old veteran war-torn demon he had always been.
“My lord,” another breath of black smoke from his lungs arose through his mouth, “It is because I wish to do so.” He said with a small trail leaking from his nostrils and his mouth, both slightly gaping and his face seemed ready and all too accepting of whatever fate was left to him.
“You need not worry, I will not take action against you if you were concerned about any such thing like that. I just wanted to know what drives you to follow all the member’s orders, and what you said helped me thank you Arath. And please, I’ve told you before, you need not kneel before me, I know you’re tall, but still, please stand proudly as a member of the Dragon Eye Alliance!” He seemed to take my words at heart and stood up quickly and proudly as I asked, making my non-feeling but actual heartbeat ever so faster, even by the most minuscule of measurements.
He put his right fist, which was clenched shut so tight it could snap a bar of steel in two, over his left breast and tilted his head forward in the special bow he did for us, “I thank you,” Another breath of miasma, much larger than the last few later he continued, “Master, dearly.” Then he walked off, and through the large metal gateways that lead to his chambers, directly in the middle and underground of the castle proper.
“Thank you too, Arath,” I muttered, and teleported back to my room, where I soon found something alarming to be happening.
“Father, your eyes, well, you know what I meant, they are catching aflame!” They are what now?
I glance into the large mirror in my room, and Vron was correct, flames that matched the entirety of my eye sockets were bursting from nowhere, “Vron, you know anything of this?” I said, getting no response to my question.”
I looked in the mirror again and the fire only got stronger, much stronger, nearly at the power of my [Fireball] spell. It burned bright and powerful, I tried to think of what to do, but it only ever increased. I had few options, but I chose the one I thought was the best and executed it like clockwork, quickly teleporting Aeyrs to me, and then us both to the top floor of the main tower in the castle. He looked confused at first but when he saw my face glowing with a bright fire in my eyes, he quickly snapped from his confusion.
“What the hell happened to you?” He said trying to check it out for himself.
“No idea, wouldn’t have noticed if not for Vron,” I said in return only to get a glance around the room before his eyes landed on my tail, guess he forgot for a moment.
“Alright then, know anything about it?” He said assessing my eyes.
“None more than you,” I said starting to feel as though my head were being clouded.
Aeyrs was about to speak when a deep and powerful fumbling filled the room, “This might not be the safest place to be in, no matter how fortified it is, let’s go to the demon lands to be safe.” My mind was getting foggy, and for someone with an insanely high intelligence and wisdom stat scores, it was like having arrows and needles piercing your entire brain, although I didn’t feel the pain nor did I have an actual brain.
I tried my best and managed to teleport us deep into the demon lands, not even a decayed warper was around, it was like a tree but fed on the ambient death mana in the air, “This better be far enough away, I can’t manage my magic or my mind for much longer.” I said and the fire only gained more power and might.
“Brother, I think It has something to do with your skull, after all, nothing like this has ever happened to a player before, at least nothing has been reported.” There is no way in hell I’d ever remove this item, It would only negatively affect me, not one shred of good could come from it, besides, it was a keepsake from a dear friend on top of that.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen but it feels as powerful as my [Inferno] spell, so it is only going to get stronger with time, please leave before you get yourself killed, you know there is no way in hell I’m going down to my fire right?” My voice had a shred of emotion mixed in, which was odd, but I couldn’t pay it heed for now.
“You better be right about that.” He said and teleported away.
My eyes continued to burn brighter and more vigorously until it reached a maxed-out point, nearing the strength of my Tier 26 fire spell, [Hypernova]. It burned so hot the ground around me was vaporized then ionized, until with one fell swoop it discharges into the night sky, causing a cascading effect that resembled fireworks and the aurora borealis in one. Then the sky began to brighten and streaks of red, orange, yellow and white started to shower down randomly.
At first, I thought the skull had been shattered and turned into pieces I needed to collect, like a puzzle, but that was shot out the window when I felt the thing still in one piece on my head. I’d sigh but I don’t have the time nor the ability to. The next thing I could think of was my mana. If that got ejected from my body and spread around it would be impossible to regain all the pieces, but luckily that was wrong as well. The only thing I could think of, as nothing about me has changed, that something unique to the skull had happened but what that was I had no idea.
My mind slowly came back to its normal sharp focus, and Vron seemed relieved. I checked with Vron to make sure nothing changed, and after several minutes of checking it seems everything was in order. My entire body was unchanged, besides the fire in my eyes, they vanished when it expelled the mass of light into the sky. My spells, skills, and the entire console went unchanged, so it couldn’t have been anything specific to this world either. The best bet was a hidden condition on the skull but that leaves too much to go unexplained. Only after several minutes of silence and me just checking everything over constantly did I get a notification on the console.
[The Crystal Fire Skull has reached level 2 of 20] [Awarding 200 Attribute and Skill Points] [Secondary Ability Unlocked: Blaze of Glory]
What the hell? My skull just got a level up? Well shit, here I thought I was going to die. Still, secondary ability? What was the primary? And how come I had no idea this item could evolve and how come that whole light show just happened? Vron you know anything? Vron? What the hell happened, what’s wrong with Vron!? I continued to think for a few moments until my fist naturally clenched themselves, and I looked to the sky, which was still raining down although less frequently.
“Father!” Vron said suddenly.
“Vron, what happened?” If something could happen to Vron, then it could happen to me.
“Apologies father, when your skull upgraded I was forced to upgrade as well. I now can become separate from you and become an independent entity.” Now, this shocked me, and I was not easily shocked.
“Can you rejoin me once you separate?” I needed to know if his separation was permanent or not.
“Yes father, I only inhabit your tail because you don’t use it often so I dedicate myself to utilizing it while you weren’t, and as a result of me separating, you will regain complete control over it.” That did explain quite a lot, but still, I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to see what form Vron would take when he separates.
“Very well then, separate if you wish to.” After I metally said that, I felt my tail for the very first time, and to say the least it was strange and heavy.
I turned around to see me, but it was as if I was different, but it was hard to say how. Vron took the shape of me perfectly but had something different about him, perhaps he could tell me later, for now, he looked like a near-perfect replica of me, which I should have expected when his voice was practically the same as well. The only question is, how much he could replicate from me, such as my spells, skills and so on. There was something I noticed that was different however, all of his armor and equipment were fake, just illusions, so I’d have to get him some replicas that still worked well.
Something felt off, and when I looked upwards I noticed one of the falling clumps of light heading almost directly for me, this one was yellow and left a golden trail of dimming light behind it. I prepared to catch it or dodge, and If need be, I could just suck it into a black hole, but that was unnecessary. The slightly oblong sphere came crashing into my hands and just stopped once it touched, leaving a mana throbbing crystal in my hands. When I say throbbing, I mean it, this thing was just overflowing with the amount of mana in it, probably a million or so. The strangest part was the fact that it felt alive like it was a living being, but that would be plausible considering golems existed.
It glowed and dimmed every few seconds, like a heartbeat, until it gleamed and a large beam shot into the ground and the sky like a beacon. Mana crackled through the ground and sky alike leaving large streaks in both until the crystal grew ever brighter, near blinding, even to me. Then in but a flash, the light vanished leaving a perfectly smooth crystal ball in my hand that faded from yellow to blue rather quickly. I had a feeling, no, an instinct to draw it near me, to, to consume it? Surely not, it was just a chunk of crystal, there would be no reason to, what is happening.
Taking one glance to Vron and back to the ball, my hand moved on its own and drew ever closer to my crystal maw. Eventually, I managed to consume it, and once the entire thing entered my mouth as a whole, one emotion washed over my entire being, pure grief. My eye sockets started to cry? Lava poured out, like a waterfall, and left the ground in ruin but it never stopped, not until Vron had already called and got Aeyrs over to where I was. Once he got there he seemed to be in utter shock like this had happened before, but I have no memory of such a thing.
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“What happened!?” He said in a caring but terrified voice.
“The Crystal Fire Skull he had leveled up and caused a falling of crystals which he then proceeded to catch one and then, this happened,” Vron said as I was nearly mute with emotion, which worried me more than the emotion itself.
I was supposed to be immune to emotion, wasn't I? I was a demon with emotional immunities, a person that never relied on emotions and at least in this world had several titles saying I had a perfect immunity to emotions, so why? Why can I feel such potent sorrow? Why now of all times? The lava pouring out of my eyes slowly, and I mean slowly subsided over hours, causing a running river and lake of lava to form nearby. Aeyrs wasn’t meant for the heat, at least not for hours, so I was worried about him.
“I’m, I’m sorry brother…” I said, trying to stop the now trickling lava from my eyes.
Once the sorrow was all but gone, I found out why it came, a memory was fresh in my mind. I tried to recall it but it seemed broken as if it were incomplete, and a long way from being pieced back together at that. All I knew was it took place when I was young, like really young, around 5 or so. I didn’t remember much of my childhood, just that my brother took care of me and our parents were dead. I thought very little of my past, except the times, spent with my brother and when I played Sugarea. It wasn’t the best life, not by a long shot, but I enjoyed it with my brother, no matter how much he teased me about it.
My hands formed tight fists, but let go over a few seconds. I knew this wasn’t like me, so I just thought of nothing and my emotion faded as suddenly as it came. Aeyrs looked shocked as if I committed a crime worse than murdering a baby, but I couldn’t tell why. Vron on the other hand, looked as though he failed me, and he was ready to plead with me, but he made no move, neither of them did. The whole event left me in a new position, knowing that something I should have been immune to, and generally resistant to, could have such a devastating effect on not only me but those around me.
[Dark Seal has leveled up! Level 2 of 20][Awarding 0 Attribute and Skill Points]
Within a flash, I teleported to the guild base and locked myself within the zero chamber, where it was the most fortified room in the underground portion and thought about the whole set of events. This wasn’t like me, and whatever was going on, I needed to find an answer without endangering myself or those I care about. From the spectacle not too long ago, I’d say there were over three hundred crystals scattered about the world. If I have the same violent reaction with each, I don’t know if I want to collect the pieces. I have to think about the situation for a while, until then, I think I will send Vron out as a substitute, he can help out in the demon lands, for now at least.
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(Vron POV)
My lord was sickly, not of the body but rather of mind, and his last orders before locking himself away in the large holding chambers of the castle were for me to aid in the construction of the demon lands, and to manage Wheatberg. It wasn’t the lightest task, but nothing I couldn’t handle either. I set off to work in the demon lands first, once there, I was greeted by the wonderful scene of a massive riot. Demons and other creatures alike roamed through the small number of buildings that were there, yelling out in several languages, demon-tongue, dark speech, gnomish, and several more I haven’t heard before. They all yelled about the massive food shortage and shelter.
With a clap of my hands, and separating them, it looked as though four scrolls came into existence, while in reality, it was more of teleporting existing scrolls from the castle to my hands. I flew hastily, using each scroll, two of which created sprawling towns, and the other two created a large warehouse of assorted foods, while the other created a small forest of tightly packed metal trees. The food should last a population this big a few days at best, but the forest should supply enough materials to get some industry going. This was all done in a dozen seconds at most, and the whole crowd issued their attention to me, then started yelling again, but not at the elders as they were before, but rather at me.
They yelled countless things, even for someone at the level of Ashen, it would be impossible to hear everything they said. It came out as several loud phrases with a constant background noise of yelling and complaining. Of the louder phrases, three were most common: Get out of here bastard! At least feed your people if you are going to enslave us! And the loudest of them, What did we do to you!? Their words shocked me at first, but I recovered much faster than they could, and I kept my maw shut. With a flicker of my hands, I attempted to utilize Ashen’s magic, at least I could use half of his mana supply, it leaves enough for him to do as he pleases, he did tell me to do whatever I have to to keep the situation from getting worse.
I formed a massive spell circle, not for awe, but because it was necessary, and it must be cast out loud. “Aon El Zon Ren Roh Far Tier Vet Vel! Grand Creation!” They paid close attention to my words, and before they could guess what it was, they knew.
The space surrounding the town, with only a few thousand demons rioting, became littered and soon covered with houses and buildings of all sorts of shapes and sizes. Each building had more than just a basic chair, bed, table and whatnot, but we're all loaded with accommodations based on the percentage of species in the demon lands. There were houses built for the tall demons, the gnomes, the Slaybacks, they were large half-hellhound half-demon hybrids, and so on. The spell cost more than I thought it would, nearly 70 million, leaving both me and Ashen with a rather small amount compared to what we needed and had available regularly. The spell made me feel drained, and I slowly fell back to the ground, as I was flying the entire time to get a better view.
The crowd dispersed throughout the new capital-sized area, and after a few minutes, mostly so I could rest and watch what would come next, hundreds of thousands of demons and other races rushed into the city and quickly made use of the buildings. The next week followed the same day over and over again, each day hundreds of thousands of these demons would claim a house or some kind of building to work in and that left just under half the population without homes. I could just create more and more houses, but the job was being done already, as they started construction on their own, perhaps following prior orders, or just to fend for themselves. They utilized the metal forest, which regenerated its trees within hours of being harvested, and created houses and some even started forging.
Ashen didn’t seem to change much, besides once leaving the underground parts to give each person in the castle a small crystal bead of some kind, each one was a different color, and every one of them seemed to enjoy the one they were given not just because their lord gave it to them, but because each one was made for them individually. Ashen spent his recovery time craft jewels and gems for the entire staff of the guild, and he seemed to enjoy it. Even I got one, it was a deep red color and got darker near the center. I liked the gem and the thought behind it. Ashen wasn’t the first person you would think of when it came to ‘nice’ people, but this act alone shows that he cares.
It’s been a week since Ashen first locked himself in the underground portions of the castle, not a single person but he had traversed the area. The week was well spent by me, and the demon lands seemed to be in top-notch shape, every demon had a home, most had jobs and the elders were establishing a government. The people even lightened their views of me, even the elders saw me as a better person, but they all thought I was Ashen, and as such, I did all I could to keep his name from being damned. At the rate the city grew before compared to now, it made it look like an entire kingdom shoved into a single ever-growing town. Surprisingly enough, the birth rate had taken an increase, a few hundred were being born each day, and only a handful died of various causes.
The week was more than enough to straighten out the demon lands, so my focus snapped to Wheatberg, as it was my next task. While I was dealing with the demon lands, Wheatberg gained more people than it lost, and is growing in population again. Those seeds Ashen gave that old woman were super potent, and they grew in little more than a day, and the harvest was so bountiful the old woman produced nearly half of the food as the entire city did, and on top of that, the food was of such quality, that it was comparable to a chef’s greatest meal, even raw, at least, that’s what I was told by Misfortune.
I had Planthra take a look at the seeds, and even she was impressed, as she told me that they would have never grown as rapidly as they did outside the barrier that Ashen had built. Planthra and Aeyrs examined the barrier and found out that it not only acted as a shield, but it also boosted the mana inside, which caused an explosive reproduction in magic plant growth, and allowed for the citizens to increase their magical prowess all at the same time while also constantly recycling the soil and giving a passive regeneration on the crops and people. Aeyrs was taken aback by how far Ashen went and thought out, as he didn’t expect him to have created anything more than a simple magical barrier.
There was little work to be done in Wheatberg, but what I had to do was more logistics and political than physical. Ashen met with king Erik and they agreed to hand ownership of Wheatberg over to the Dragon Eye Alliance, so all the tax money would be able to go right back into the city, making it ever-growing, albeit much less than the one in the demon lands. The large river that flows around Wheatberg, the Sapphire River, seemed to be used more often, not only to collect fish and water but for the sapphires that would rarely dot it’s bottoms, keeping true to its name. The last thing I had to do in Wheatberg was to meet with some farmers and shop owners about sale regulations.
Being honest, I wasn’t expecting so many people to be fond of having a demon as their lord, but the number of people wanting to meet with Ashen kept getting larger, and I didn’t think his condition would get better any time soon, so I was ready to meet with them. Before I could, however, Misfortune appeared before me, in the lord’s quarters. Something had happened, whether it had to do with Ashen’s health or not, I knew she doesn’t jump in on people without a clear goal in mind, or a good reason. She moved her hand into a small pouch that was kept tight to her waist and held out the light brown gem that Ashen had given her.
“Our lord, Ashen, has requested your return.” She said, her voice sounded sharp and clean.
“Has his condition changed?” I asked, my voice matching Ashen’s.
“You will have to see for yourself, that was all he told me.” She said before vanishing to the shadows once more.
I told the prior lord, which is now the assistant lord, something Ashen had made up so he remained in power while not acting as the face of the town. I was still low on mana, only 10 million, and going under wouldn’t be the greatest, so for Ashen’s sake, I just ran as fast as my legs could, and arrived in little over three or four minutes. Once I got to the large black doors of which I familiarized myself with, Ashen himself pushed the doors open for me. He held out his arms after the doors left his hands, and It seemed to be an indicator of an embrace. I didn’t figure that he wanted to hug, but I ran to him and he just stood there, his arms wrapped around me for several moments before I rejoined him, and my physical body dispersed into a mist that soon cleared, and my consciousness entered his tail once more.
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(Hairz POV)
I heard that my master had been ill, and I wanted to see him, but I didn’t know how, as I’ve never been inside his castle nor has he ever invited me. It would be rude to show up for the first time unannounced and ask to see him. I couldn’t even begin to imagine what he’d do if I showed up out of nowhere without his wishes, and even then I didn’t wish to see him in a time where he was weak. I know that calling him my master, while he never agreed to it, was a stretch, but I thought of him as a great teacher, he seems to be the single most talented magic caster in the country- no, the world!
I walked back and forth in my room in Wheat berg, it was a small comfortable room that Ashen set me up with, but no matter what I tried, I couldn’t stop worrying about him. He seemed to be secluded in his castle, I’ve not seen him come out in a week, and even then, I didn’t even talk to him, I just saw a large display of light then a rain of crystals bombard the lands. I don’t know what that was about, but I think it was something serious, and I didn’t get to look at him long before a terrible sadness washed over my body. I cried for an hour until nothing but dry tears came ou, and I felt terrible for the next day. I couldn’t imagine what could have caused it nor do I wish the same had happened to others, especially Ashen.
Currently, Wheatberg has been undergoing a growth spurt, not that I mind. The new crops that came from ol’ Mary’s farm, was simply overwhelming, it tasted great, no matter what they were used in, and it seemed to make you healthier when you ate them, as expected with magic crops. The crops were being sold at surprisingly low prices, compared to other magic crops, even just mana flowers were priced at several gold pieces, but a dozen crops would be sold by her for little over three or four silver, barely more than renting an inn for a month. The strangest part was the fact that nobody knew of the seeds or crops like they were just created from nature itself.
I even saw a glimpse of Ashen’s figure in town today, I didn’t know if he felt better or had business to do, so I didn’t bother tracking him down, but rather, I went to the Rib Cage Mountains with some mining gear, I heard some dwarves lived in the northern parts of the range, and I saw for myself that the area surrounding Ashen’s castle was rich in metals and ores, even gemstones. I carried a small pouch of storage, it could hold a cubic meter worth of stuff without weighing more than the pouch itself, as long as you could fit the item through the hole. I was planning on getting some gemstones to sell and to get the ore to upgrade my equipment, as I still needed better armor and a better sword.
I set off at noon, I could get there and mine for a few hours and come back by dusk to sell and put in my request to a blacksmith. It took nearly 20 minutes of a light jog to get there, as my dexterity was high and my legs were strong. The only thing I could have done to speed up was to run the entire way, but then I’d be too tired to mine, so jogging was a decent alternative. I got there and started scouting for veins of ore, and saw plenty. There was iron, copper, tin, lead, some gold, platinum and silver and there were even small bits of titanium. There were small crystal clusters that were on the surface too, of all different colors, but nothing seemed exceedingly rare besides a single clump of rainbow diamonds.
I mined that clump first, the diamonds got were a fair size, and there were quite a few of them. I managed to fit them in my pouch, so I continued. I mined a bunch of random crystals, whichever ones looked the rarest, as there were hundreds and I don't need just crystals. I moved onto gathering the precious metals before the iron I needed, it was a small bonus. I had to break the ore up quite a lot to make it fit in the pouch, but it only took an hour’s worth of work to get half a cubic meter of ore. When that was all done I sat down and took a break to eat and rest before continuing. I started eating a sandwich I prepared earlier, it had some meat from a plant called: Lolandus, it tasted just like cow meat, and I nearly finished it too if not for, Ashen?
“Ashen! What are you doing!?” I saw him running full speed up the mountainside, he normally walked or teleported everywhere, why change it now?
“Oh, Hairz I believe.” He said while coming to a complete stop, causing some rocks to fly from under his clawed feet.
“I thought you were ill, are you feeling better?” I said then took the last bite from my sandwich.
“Yes, I will return in a moment, you should look away from the door for the time being.” He said, so I followed suit, looking away from the door, and scouting for more precious metals.
I heard the door opening so I kept my eyes forward and didn't look back until I heard his voice again. In the meantime, I was going through some of the crystals I had mined earlier and was pretty amazed by my findings. I was no gem expert, but even I knew of gems, at least the valuable ones, being an adventurer and all. I managed to get a sapphire, a few rubies, and 2 emeralds, and I even snagged myself a small alexandrite crystal, a huge score if I do say so myself. The whole lot of gems I had would be worth, 15 gold pieces and as much as three platinum if I played my cards right.
I heard his voice, and he seemed to be no different than before, “Hairz, it’s been a while.” He said, and I turned around and stood up to look him in the, well, where his eyes would be if he had any.
I smiled, he might seem cold-hearted and stone-faced, even if his skull face never changed, but he was a kind person if you knew him. “I heard you weren’t feeling the best, I wanted to see you but thought it to be rude to visit uninvited,” I said and looked towards the ground then to the castle and back to Wheatberg.
“Ah, I don’t mind, visit me whenever you please. Oh, and I nearly forgot, here, I wasn’t you to have this, a small gift for making you worry about me.” He said and dropped a light blue crystal bead into my hands.
Being honest, he seemed completely different, but I could say if it were for better or for worse. “Thank you, I’ll treasure it.” It not only was a gift from Ashen, but it seemed almost too valuable to sell, so I just couldn’t.
He pats my head twice and sat down in a chair of stone that he made just now, beside me. “Please, it’s nothing too important, besides, I owe you for being a loyal subject of mine.” He said, with a hint of a non-existent smile upon his face.
We sat in silence for what seemed like hours, just watching the ever-changing position of the sun in the sky and the faint blue moon shift across the sky. The moons appeared during the day in cycles that were very easy to predict and would lead to waves of abundant magic and periods where the magic took a small dip in terms of magical power. Depending on the moon and its time during its cycle, the moons would be able to boost or weaken the magic it’s related to. Nobody knew how, but the moon’s magic worked the best during night and worst during the day. The day turned to dusk, and before long I started walking back with only half of the resources I wanted but also felt the best I have been in years, a small smile seemed to find my face as it’s home for the rest of the evening.
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(Aeyrs POV)
It happened again. I couldn’t protect my brother from the past. The same tortured feeling was present from him yet again. I tried my best but it seems as though I can’t stop it. I tried my best to make him live a normal and happy life. He didn’t need to get a job, nor did he need to do much that he didn’t want to. I just wanted us to live freely and happily for the rest of our lives, but I should have known the past would have come up again. His childhood was unlike any other, he had it the worst of anyone I knew, and it tore me apart to see him racked with such dreaded emotions.
I bottled up my own emotions for the sake of him, but it seems like I can no longer keep them locked away. His emotional breakdown was more than enough for me to realize the truth at hand. I couldn’t protect him, it seemed as though the whole world was against him living a normal or decent life. This world, our last, even our parents, as much as I hate thinking of them. The NPCs will be more than enough of a family for him, even the other guild members were like a big happy family. He enjoyed talking and playing with them so much, but one by one it felt like he grew distant with them, so we banded together to make a special gift for him, one that I wish I will never have to give him, but one that I know I will have to eventually.
When he locked himself in the undergrounds, I couldn’t stop myself from crying for a few minutes, but only a few. He cried enough tears to fill a lake, and his tears were lava. It resembled him, hot, in a more egotistical and not physical appearance way even though he was rather good looking, generally calmed until provoked, as he lived as a mostly chill guy until you were to aggravate him and he would just harass you into submission or until you gave out, and last but not least, bright, as he was a very smart and clever person, even creating the majority of spells for the community to share, and even in our old world, he was a very gifted individual.
I Just hoped that I could help him in the future, as his current condition isn’t the greatest but it seems to be improving. He gave out a crystal bead to everyone, and I mean everyone, in the castle, even the maids and butlers got their unique crystal. I tried examining it, and with Vron’s help, we deduced that they were made of his sheer willpower alone. The stat, not his actual willpower, as that was strong in its own right. His willpower stat was so high he could create mana crystals passively but the kinds he made for each individual were different and suited each and everyone’s personality so perfectly. The last thing I'll ever forget will be his gentle nature and kind heart for those he loves, even his friends and the NPCs alike.