He was a fucking trophy. The’d put him on display in a trophy room. If Xander still had blood, it would be boiling. He spun his vision around, noting other pedestals with various items on them. He was sandwiched between a broken sword and a single gauntlet, both presumably from some other defeated foe of Thrask. Xander took stock of his abilities. He needed to find out if his companions had survived the war, was his first thought. He knew at least one had, because, as he slowly calmed, he could still feel Freyja through the bond, though it was faint from the distance between them. All he could discern was a direction. If Freyja had made it, surely others had as well.
Now, how was he supposed to get out of here as a disembodied helm without raising an alarm? He could see sunlight streaming in from a stained-glass window in the room, so he knew it was daytime. He would be well served by at least waiting until nightfall. Then he could form himself a body as quickly as he could and try to escape from wherever he was. There was a hitch, though, he realized. He could create himself a body, but he’d have to relearn how to walk, as he’d be directly controlling and powering runes to do so. Perhaps it would be better to just create a small piece of metal inside his helm and use [Ferrokinesis] to levitate himself away. Much quieter, and hopefully harder to notice than a metal figure clumsily trying to escape while learning to walk.
Xander froze as he heard the sounds of footsteps echoing down the hallway that he had been placed in. A Thraskian noble, dressed in navy blue, with white ruffles at his collar and cuffs, turned the corner. The man slowly made his way down the hall, perusing the items that were on display. He didn’t seem to notice Xander, even as he walked through the spot that Xander’s form was, blacking out Xander’s vision. The noble shivered as he passed through Xander, though, possessed of a disconcerting feeling.
So, he really was invisible. That was a benefit, he decided. Not much of one, though, since he’d be tied to his armor, which wasn’t invisible. Settling in for to wait for darkness to fall, Xander shifted his perception back to within the helm, looking out as if he were wearing it. He was already turning the ideas for a new body over in his head. He was going to scare Gabrelle so fucking badly for all those trick messages she’d left for him on his golem.
No more admirers passed by the trophies, though Xander caught sight of several members of castle staff coming and going from both directions. One of them, a maid, had stopped to dust each object. Xander found the idea that he had been getting dusted every day like some kind of bookend infuriating. Night finally fell, and Xander made his move. He used his abilities to create a film of steel on the inside of his helmet and then lifted himself off the pedestal with [Ferrokinesis]. It was a slightly disorienting experience, though he quickly adjusted. Rising higher, he pressed his helm to the stained-glass window and manipulated a hole into it so that he could simply levitate himself out of the window.
If one had been looking, they would have seen a disembodied, jet-black helm with a skull for a face cautiously peek out of a hole that had appeared in a stained-glass window set into the wall of king Martin Winter’s palace. The bodyless piece of armor then floated out of the hole and onto the roof of the building, out of sight from the ground.
Xander looked over the edge of the roof with his disembodied vision. He was in a huge city, surrounded by walls. The building he escaped from was clearly a wing of a palace, a sprawling compound of lavish buildings. He’d never seen this place before. He assumed that this must be the capital of Thrask, though he’d never heard the name of the city. It seemed to be a well-fortified city, as he could see that, in addition to the walls, there were frequent patrols of watchmen both on the walls and within the city itself.
Xander thought his situation over. He was a bodyless ghost possessing a similarly bodyless helm, trapped inside a city full of people he considered his enemy. Even if he didn’t think of them as the enemy, he doubted that a floating helmet would be left unmolested. Xander thought that he could probably gain enough height to go over the wall, but he was unsure if he’d remain undetected. Moving himself about with [Ferrokinesis] felt clumsy and disorienting still, and he didn’t feel like he’d be able to gather much speed. He’d have to hide out somewhere in the city while he put a body together for himself and learned to use it.
Xander pondered the best place to hide, before remembering that with his skills he could create his own. He identified a patch of barren streets and slowly levitated his helm from the roof of the palace to it, touching down on the ground. Activating [Improved Manipulate] Xander began to hollow out the ground around his helmet, sinking down into the ground. One he was below the level of the street, he reformed the cobblestones and then dirt above him, sealing himself underground.
Xander continued burrowing downwards, reforming dirt above him to prevent a sinkhole from forming. Once he estimated he was deep enough, maybe forty feet below the surface he stopped, and began widening his tiny area until he had space to create a small piece of steel, upon which he engraved a single gathering array and light rune. With the dim illumination, Xander went to work. He used [Ferrokinesis] to hold himself against the walls of the tiny cavern and began manipulating away at the dirt and stones. One there was a large enough space, the size of a very cramped cubicle, he stopped. He didn’t want to collapse the roof onto himself by carving out too much. He created stone and lined the dirt walls with it, strengthening the space as he continued to work.
Xander heaved a mental sigh of relief. He was safe as he could be, circumstances being what they were. Now he could work on creating himself a new body and armor. Though, body and armor would now be one and the same, he mused. He started by creating a body of steel, jointed with ball sockets like a posable action figure, with a faceless head. With his helmet resting on the torso of the steel mannequin, Xander began etching movement runes onto it, much as he had with Juniper. He wondered if his golem had survived. He’d ordered it to follow his teammates.
Once he’d finished etching the movement and intelligence runes and then powering them with gathering arrays, Xander tested out the body, flowing tiny bits of mana into it. Various bits of it twitched and spasmed. Slowly, he managed to get it to sit up. His experience creating and then controlling his wings was helping him, as this was a similar learning process. Still sitting – the tiny cavern was too small for it to stand – he used the arms to reach out and grab his helm, placing it on the faceless head of his new body.
Xander began carving out and reinforcing his cave, creating wooden posts to relieve the weight of the ceiling. Soon, he had a ten foot by ten foot cube carved out of the soil, deep below the Thraskian capital. He used this space to practice pacing about, getting a handle on his new mode of transport. Xander experimentally rotated his head a full three hundred and sixty degrees, silently chuckling in his mind. His wrists were similarly able to fully rotate, as was every other joint. Satisfied for the moment with his ability to move, he set about creating a new set of wings and armor, once more utilizing carbon fiber.
The first layer he created was the personal gathering arrays. Xander noticed that they were improving his mana regeneration even without being worn. He wondered if his arrays had always done that, and he’d just never realized it before. The other thing he noticed was that his mana bar didn’t deplete like it used to. Before, when he was still alive, when he spent mana, he would be able to see the bar that represented his entire mana pool, and a line within it that represented his current total. Now, he simply had a mana pool, and when he spent it, it grew smaller, and when it regenerated, it grew larger. He was starting to feel that maybe he didn’t have an upper mana capacity anymore. He opted to create three more layers of gathering arrays, to test his theory. He watched as his mana totals ballooned far past anything he’d ever achieved before. With enough gathering arrays, he’d be able to spend mana without ever worrying about running out.
The creation of the rest of the carbon fiber that he’d be wrapping his mannequin body in went quickly thanks to his new levels of mana regeneration. Runing them still took time, but Xander no longer needed to sleep, not having a living body. Soon he was once again clad in many layers of carbon fiber. Many, many more than his previous suit had contained. Xander hoped that the additional layers would protect him in the case that he encountered someone like Terron Winter again. He mentally shuddered as he remembered the ease with which the man had skewered him through his armor. Next, he created a new set of wings, changing little from his previous iteration besides the addition of several extra layers of additional strengthening runes. His backpack of arms was also recreated, and he cast [Golemancer] on it, starting the process of bringing it back to being able to operate somewhat independently of him. Xander spent three days and nights under the city, and he took the opportunity to cast [Golemancer] twice more on his backpack, bringing past the level of [Automaton] in its ability to follow orders. He spent some time creating various sounds runes on a patch of carbon fiber he places over where the mouth of his mannequin would be, until he was able to speak, forcing sounds from the runes.
Xander’s final creation was a small, stainless steel disk coated in glass, upon which was carved the same soul binding array that sat on the inside of the mask. With any luck, that was the ‘mark’ that [Revenant] referred to. If his helm was destroyed somehow, he should end up back at the disk he’d created. His business finished, and with a handle on controlling his new body, Xander began to tunnel upwards, filling in the void behind him to keep his secret room containing his backup mark from being discovered.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
It was a quiet day in the city of Grentus. Ever since the war had ended some two years ago, life had returned to normal for the citizens of Thrask’s capital. There had been some rumblings of a robbery at the King’s palace, but such things made no impact on the lives of the average man on the street. The day ceased being quite for the citizens of Grentus that were leisurely occupying a square near one of the city gates, as Xander burst from the ground, laughing in his strange, new metallic voice. Flapping his wings, he took to the air as the people around him screamed in shock and fear, and cries of ‘monster!’ rang out across the square. He was quickly over the gate and flying into the distance before anyone could respond to his presence.
Judging by the sun, which was still in the East, the morning not yet over, Xander was headed Southwest. His flight plan was a straight line towards where he could sense Freyja. No longer needing to breathe, Xander flew as high as his wings would take him, rising above the clouds. The fact that he couldn’t feel the wetness of the clouds or the chill of the wind as it rushed by him dampened his mood somewhat. There was a lot that he was going to have to come to terms with regarding his new state of existence.
Xander occasionally dipped below the clouds, viewing the land below him. He recognized none of it. Just how far into Thrask had he been taken? He remembered that Graffus had said that it was a large land. Xander shrugged to himself. He supposed it didn’t matter, in the end. He’d just keep flying until he got to where he wanted to be. After two more days of flying, he recognized Ilbek in the distance. He shuddered to himself again, remembering how he’d died outside the city. Lord Vard had intended to surrender the city anyway, so it was best to keep away from it, in case it was already occupied by Thrask.
He kept flying, looking for the front line as he continued South. He was pretty sure that he was heading back towards Anlet. He was unable to spot any armies, there were no Dardian defenses to be seen. He remembered Vard mentioning that Anlet had fallen, but surely there must still be forces from both countries still in the area. All he spotted were fields and roads, with the occasional speck of a person. Maybe it had been longer than he’d thought… Was the war over? None of the buildings he had seen bore the signs of damage. Just how long at it taken him to wake up?
He could see Anlet now, in the distance. As he drew closer, he was able to see that the edges of the city were rather ragged. A few burned out shells of buildings still stood, but the overall damage to the city seemed minor. Freyja was definitely in the city, he could feel her much more strongly, now. Night was falling swiftly in the city as Xander finally drew near to his destination. He was nearly invisible to anyone who would be looking upwards by the time he was over the city, blending in with the darkening sky. He circled lower, homing in on the spot that he could feel that Freyja was in. He thought he recognized the building that his senses were leading him to. No, he definitely recognized the house. It was the house that Gabrelle’s parents owned. He could see Freyja now, and hear her as well. The cat was yowling at the sky, and beside her, he could see another figure, with blonde hair, craning their head to look at the sky. That was Gabrelle, surely, he thought to himself.
Excitedly, he sped up, rocketing towards the ground before spreading his wing and arresting his speed, spider legs extending to cushion his fall. Gabrelle let out a small shriek as his new, heavier frame hit the ground with some force, despite the cushioning of the spider legs. Before he could finish standing, Freyja had pounced on him, bowling him over. The big cat had her face pressed to his, and was inhaling great whiffs of air, sniffing him. He could feel her confusion through the bond. She knew it was him, but he didn’t smell like he used to.
“Hi Freyja,” he said, unbothered by the large paw pressing on his chest. The cat chuffed and flopped her entire body on top of him, rubbing against Xander. If he hadn’t been made of carbon fiber and steel now, he might have been crushed.
Gabrelle was standing in shock, staring at Xander. She hadn’t uttered a word since she’d seen him, but her mouth was slightly agape. He turned his attention to her, despite Freyja doing her best to block his line of sight and awkwardly said, “Uhhh… hi Gabrelle.”
“…Xander?” She slowly asked. “Is… is it really you?”
“In the flesh,” he said and then added, “Metaphorically speaking, anyways.”
“Huh? What the hell are you talking about?” Gabrelle asked him, shaking away her shock. “Freyja! Let him stand up!” she told the cat sternly. Freyja reluctantly rolled off of Xander, allowing him to stand.
As he stood up and began dusting himself off, Gabrelle launched herself at him. This time, he was prepared, though, and activated his movement runes to remain upright as she pushed his chest and then began to punch him center mass. “What the fuck Xander?! We thought you were dead!” She’d begun crying as the punches flew. “It’s been three years! THREE FUCKING YEARS! And you just now bother to show up?” The punches slowed and then stopped, as Gabrelle stood there, glaring at Xander as tears continued to drip down her face.
Xander was stunned. Three years? He’d been… dormant? Asleep? For three entire years? Slowly, he lowered himself to sit on the ground. “It’s been… three years?” He asked softly to Gabrelle.
“Yes, Xander,” she said, still sounding somewhat frustrated. “We’ve all spent three years thinking you were dead.”
“’We’ve all?’ So everyone made it out? Graffus and Atrax and Frazay? They’re all okay, too?” Xander verbalized a sigh of relief. He didn’t have to capacity to actually sigh anymore, but it still felt satisfying to make the sound.
“Every single mercenary made it through because of you, Xander,” Gabrelle said softly. “What… what happened? I saw you, I saw that man… he… stabbed you. Right through the chest. And then he just… dropped to the ground.”
“So uhhh… About that, Gabrelle. Maybe it’s best if we go inside to talk. I think we both have some catching up to do.”
Gabrelle nodded, and they both, followed by Freyja, went inside. Inside, he noticed Gabrelle’s mother, Herria looking inquisitively at him as he entered.
“Gabrelle? Who’s this? I heard you yelling outside. Is everything okay?” Herria asked.
“Sorry mother,” Gabrelle said. “Everything is okay. This is Xander… you met once before, when I was leaving for my first contract outside of the city.”
“Xander?” Herria said, eyebrows raised. “But… Aren’t you supposed to be dead?”
“I am, technically,” Xander answered.
“Xander, what are you talking about?” Gabrelle asked angrily. She was not in the mood for his antics right now, which only encouraged him.
“I am dead, Gabrelle. I died. Sit down, and I’ll show you.”
Gabrelle pulled a chair out from the nearby table and slowly lowered herself into it. “Okay…” she said, unsure.
Xander raised his arms and lifted his helmet swiftly off his head. Herria gasped loudly, bringing her hands to her mouth, and Gabrelle jumped to her feet, taking a few steps away from him. He supposed he did look uncanny. His face was a blank oval of steel, broken only by runes, and the only major feature was a black patch of carbon fiber that contained the arrays and runes that allowed him to mimic speech. Gabrelle’s eyes were wide, darting over his face.
Xander laughed, the voice no longer muffled by his helm. “Goddamn, dying was almost worth seeing the look on your face!” He placed his helmet back on his head, hiding his visage once more. “But seriously, I did die. Remember that sequence of runes we talked about? On the boat back from Krepash? The one I told you would tether my soul, keep it from being ripped from me like I almost had happen. Well… turns out it kept working even when I died. Here, look at my status.” Xander opened his full status and turned it around to face the girl. He realized he still thought of her as a ‘girl’ than a grown woman, despite the fact that she’d gone through battle and war with him. And now, she would be twenty-two, not nineteen. He needed to think of her as more of an adult, he admonished himself.
Gabrelle slowly read over his status, putting the pieces together in her head. “[Revenant]?” She finally asked. “So you’re… some kind of spirit?”
“I guess so. If you think it’s a shock to you, think about how I feel! I can’t feel or taste anything! I’m piloting a steel body with runes, now. It’s… been an adjustment, and I’m sure I’m even barely adjusted at that. And now I find out that it’s been three years since we tried to break out of Ilbek. I thought it had been, like, a couple of weeks when I first woke up! I don’t even now why it took three years in the first place!” Xander was working himself up. There were so many unknowns about his situation, and he had no answers.
“Xander, Xander, you’re alright,” Gabrelle said, soothingly. “And you’re right. This is must all be as odd for you as it is for me. I’m sorry for being so angry with you earlier. It’s just… I thought you’d been ignoring us for three whole years for a moment there, just letting us think you were dead.”
“I get it,” Xander said. “I’d be mad in your shoes, too.” He noticed that Herria was still standing there, staring at him. “And I’m sorry for being dramatic and scaring you and your mother,” he added.
As she noticed that Xander had turned his gaze to her, Herria slowly sidled behind a corner, out of Xander’s line of sight. He must have made her greatly uncomfortable with his inhuman face. Maybe he should work on that. Carve it into something that looks a little bit more normal. Or… he could carve it into a skull. That would be amusing. He’d have to think it over.
Xander continued on, asking Gabrelle, “Where is everyone else, anyway? Why aren’t you with the rest of the team?”
Gabrelle shift uncomfortably. “Well… they don’t like to come back here. There’s a lot of bad blood between them and the Thraskian government. They aren’t technically barred from entering the country, but… they get hassled a lot. Oh, I guess you don’t know, but Thrask won. Took the capital a few months after we broke out of Ilbek. One of the reasons that our team is so disliked is that our team was one of the ones involved in smuggling the king and his family out of the country before the capital fell. Thrask did not appreciate that, but with us being mercenaries, it gave us some leeway, keeping us from being outright arrested or exiled. Still, we mostly operate out of Sempta, now. It’s between what used to be Dardin and Krepash. The work is decent out there, but I like to come and visit family when I can. It’s… good to have you back, Xander. Contracts just… weren’t the same without you. And they were a hell of a lot harder, too,” she said, with a small laugh. “You… you are staying, right?” She asked, nervously.
“Of course, Gabrelle. To be honest, I don’t have anywhere to go. I don’t own any property, and I don’t have any connections besides you four. It’s not like I could go to war with Thrask by myself. Well, okay, I could go to war with Thrask by myself, but that seems pointless now. They probably like me even less than they do the rest of the team. That man? The one that… killed me? He was the third son of king Martin. I killed one of the princes at Ilbek. I don’t know how common that knowledge is, but I imagine that Thrask won’t be happy to find out that I’m not one hundred percent dead.”