The world around Dalen felt strange as Volan and the other healers came into the room. The parts of his body that weren’t agonizing him felt foreign. His status flickered in front of his eyes, a constant flash of blue and crimson as notifications filled his log.
Title acquir[ERROR]phet[ERROR]rath[ERROR]thic]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~. +15% Wisdom, and Will.
[ERROR]: Incompatible source…
[ERROR]: Core Integrity 22%
[ERROR]: Shell Integrity 45%
[ERROR]: Core Binding Incompa…
[ERROR]:
…
..
.
“Dalen, how do you feel?”
Dalen recognized the voice but he hadn’t noticed the speaker enter. Melisia sat next to him on a small stool flanked by Leo and Volan.
It took Dalen a moment to get his mouth to work as a strange numbness pulsed across the parts of his body that weren’t on fire, “... Never felt better… What happened?”
The three of them looked relieved as he managed to speak but when Melisia replied her words stretched out strangely, “Yooouuu… charged into the chaaaaaaaaamber and-”
“I remember that part. I meant after!” Dalen snapped, without thinking. Listening made his mind ache and he couldn’t wait for her to get to the point.
Melisia frowned at Dalen’s tone but Leo answered, “Alansu is innnnn a cellllllll and all of her thralls have been freed.”
Dalen choked out a chuckle, “Thought so… Why are you all talking so slow?”
Then the old hag appeared in front of him. Dalen almost flinched expecting her to jab him with her stick as usual but this time she just smirked, showing off her crooked teeth, “You’re desynchronized Scrawny. Nothing to worry about, just an expected part of what happened to you.”
Elendria’s voice was as annoying as usual but it wasn’t twisted and dragged out like everyone else's.
Melisia and Leo looked confusingly at Elendria but Volan nodded, “Yes, I suspected assssss much. There is little I can do if that is the case.”
Dalen grimaced at their voices and looked at Elendria, “Can you do something about that?!”
Elendria giggled and waved her gnarled hand.
Elendria Farstep has activated Warden’s Sanctuary and marked you as its host. Do you accept? Yes/No
Dalen accepted and suddenly the pain in his head vanished.
“It will only last a few minutes boy. Your mind is struggling to readjust to our world's times,” Elendria explained, “and before you asked, I can’t use the skill again for twenty-four hours.”
“Thanks. Now, I get the broad strokes of… what happened. Kal did something, right? Took control of my body?” Dalen said, his mouth struggling through a few words.
Melisia replied this time, “Yes. It was as if he was standing right in front of us. You were covered in a cloak of crimson and brutalized defeated Elder Jak and somehow broke Alansu’s control over her thralls.”
“Right, I got that part or most of it at least but what actually happened? My log is full of errors.” Dalen asked, displaying the still ticking log of notifications.
[ERROR]: Incompatible source… purging
[ERROR]: Purging failed…
[ERROR]: System protection bypassed due to Core-Bound Host trait
[ERROR]: ~~~~~~~~~~He who k~~~~~~~~ Resonance….
[ERROR]:~~~~~~~~~~~~Breaker~~~~~~~~~~~
[Warning]: Enemy pantheon petition failed…
Dalen’s head quivered as he read the notifications. He knew what he was seeing was normal and the rest of the room looked aghast at what they were seeing.
[ERROR]: Tier and Unity of sponsor not sufficient for prophet maintenance
[ERROR]: Unbo~~~ ~ill bypass ~~~~~~
“Gods! I have never seen anything like it,” Volan gasped.
Melisia on queue summoned her notebook and immediately started writing, “Have you had errors like this before? What is the incompatible source? What does core-bound mean? Does this enemy pantheon include Quotz?”
Dalen groaned, “Don’t ask me. Ask Kal when he gets back… ” To Volan and Elendria he continued, “You said something about me being desynchronized, what’s that?”
Elendria smirked and rapt her stick against the ground before plopping herself onto a chair that Dalen swore wasn’t there a second ago, “You interacted directly with an entity in another plane. It isn’t a common occurrence but among prophets and summoners it's not unheard of.”
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Dalen winced at the word prophet but he let her continue.
“Each plane has a different time differential. Some run fast, others run slow. Summoners of all types have experience with it to some degree if they manage to grow to the point where they can communicate something extraplanar. Prophets also experience it depending on the time in their god's divine realm,” Elendria leaned back into the chair and crossed her legs.
“Since you were the weaker of the two in communication your experience of time was forced to adjust to The Bearer’s. I am assuming things slowed down when it first began?” Elendria asked.
Dalen nodded so she continued, “Where The Bearer is likely running much faster than our world, meaning every day that passes there is just a moment here.”
Dalen didn’t like the sound of that but it at least partially explained how Kal had grown so strong so quickly.
“Right, but that doesn’t really explain what happened, just part of why I feel so shit…” Dalen muttered.
Elendria cackled, “Ha! You’ll have to ask The Bearer when he gets back Scrawny. Because I have seen nothing of the like in all my years. I think I got the better of the deal!”
Dalen sighed and regretted it immediately as his body felt like it was about to combust, “Elder Jak? He was the guy with the hammer right?” Dalen barely remembered the man but he did have the distinct memory of the flat of the man’s hammer coming toward his face.
Melisia nodded, “Yes. He wanted to see you when you awakened but Jaliete ordered him to wait until you called for him.”
“Huh?... Why would he want to talk to me? Didn’t I, I mean, Kal punch his face in or something?” He didn’t remember much but he did remember the sound of his fist meeting face. It almost made Dalen wish he was a fighter class. Almost.
Volan chuckled, “Elder Jak is a…interesting man. He is from the far east of the empire, a place called The Bloodied Arm. Have you heard of it?”
Melisia nodded, of course… But everyone else didn’t, Volan seemed to expect as much so he continued, “It is a barbaric region compared to the standards of the rest of The Van’dir Empire. There, strength is everything and in his eyes, your willingness to insult your ‘betters’ was seen as a challenge.”
“Why is a brute like him an elder? One who would kill another member so quickly cannot be trusted,” Melisia asked.
“He is rash and like I have said before he was the least likely to go along with our plans but he is a proven leader. Jak’s cell is stronger and larger than most,” Volan shrugged, “Though it is wise to be careful around him in case you take a stray step and break one of his traditions.”
Dalen listened to the old man’s explanation but he got caught on one thing, “Wait you said ‘he was the least likely to go along with our plans’? Has something changed?”
Everyone in the room nodded at once and Elendria cackled, “That’s right Scrawny, you calling The Bearer to pound Jak’s face into mulch was very persuasive.”
Volan nodded, “Yes. He has given control of his entire cell to Elder Jaliete until the conclusion of this gathering. Even knowing Jak’s sensibilities I was surprised by that decision. The last few days have gone surprisingly smooth now that Jaliete has taken the reins.”
Dalen was shocked to hear that he was out for at least a few days but it was good to hear that things had finally started moving, “Things are really going that well then?”
Volan paused before answering, “There have been difficulties. After The Bearer did what he did to Alansu we suddenly found ourselves with nearly one-hundred incapacitated people. It could have quite easily led to a deadly encounter but the shock of their sudden freedom, and the method of doing so made it more a problem of resource management than conflict.”
“The preparations for the summoning are nearly complete and I will soon have recovered the strength to attempt it,” Elendria said more officially than usual.
Dalen groaned as he dragged himself into a seated position, ignoring the protesting Volan and Melisia, “Leo, have you been keeping track of the Abyssal Infiltration quest.”
Leo nodded, “One anchor has been destroyed and another has been constructed,” He waved his hand displaying his version of the quest.
Quest Received: Abyss Infiltration
A demon from the Abyssal Horizon has infiltrated your world and soon more will come. Slay the demon and prevent the destruction of your world.
Slay Sanguine Reaver 0/1
Bonus Objective: Abyssal Anchors
An Abyssal Anchor has been detected in your area if left intact its presence will accelerate the arrival of the hordes.
Destroy Abyssal Anchor 2/4
Reward: Title, Rare Chest
“Why do you ask? Did Kalum tell you something?” Melisia pressed.
Dalen winced at the news of another anchor being built. The memory of the village in Sceleti still clear in his mind, “No, it's just if something can fuck everything up it will fuck everything up.”
Leo nodded, “I have faith that Captain Elken is taking appropriate action but I am surprised by just how fast he has destroyed one of the anchors. Perhaps others have received the quest as well.”
“Welp, who’s going to help me get dressed?” Dalen said as he painfully planted his barely functioning legs onto the ground. It was only then that he saw the dark patches of burnt skin but he didn’t care, strangely they were the least painful parts. It was everything else that hurt.
Melisia dismissed her journal without the usual flare and stared daggers at him, “You can’t be serious Dalen! Lay down.”
Dalen chuckled painfully, “Don’t make me fall out of this bed. I have people to see and propheting to accomplish. By the way, you're all talking I've been out for days. I don’t plan on sitting around when we are this close.”
Volan frowned but nodded, “You will be busy once you leave this chamber, you are quite popular since The Bearer’s appearance. But if you insist on ignoring your health I will accompany you.
Dalen shrugged, “Fine, but you’ll still have to bring booze.”
----------------------------------------
Alansu scoffed at the disappearing form of the spectre. Foul creature and an even worse master. Despite her humiliating failure, everything was in place. Soon their lord’s design would come to fruition and the enemy would be theirs.
She looked down at what she held in her hands. A small scroll of almost perfectly white parchment and embossed with dark green and black of her lord.
Divine Scroll of Mental Acuity [Divine]
Scribed and empowered by the Uton the Lord of the Underworld, Death, Rituals, and Conjuration this scroll drastically amplifies the potency of Intellect and will-based skills for twenty-four hours. Additionally, all skills activated within the duration of this effect are permanent unless dispelled by a scroll or skill of divine rarity or higher. May your will bind the fate of the weak.
Alansu giggled to herself as she read the description over and over again. With this, it was all worth it.
Thrall Keeper’s Whisper [Epic] has fully recovered.
Warning: Soothing Breath [Rare] Sundered! Time until recovered: 0:23:38
Warning: Soothing Breath [Rare] is used during the recovery period additional damage may occur.
Warning: Your mana has been sealed.
The cuffs of binding still chaffed her wrists but she could only smile at the thought of using her lord’s gift. She wanted to cry out in reverence to him but she still had her role to play.
The sound of approaching footsteps prompted her to conceal the scroll in the folds of her robes but when she saw the face of who it was she smiled, “Well, I’m surprised to see you here.”