The walk down the long, dark hallway Ren led me down was excruciatingly slow. My heart had leapt to my throat at some point, and seemed to be climbing with every second that ticked by. I did my best to stop my brain from racing down that familiar path of worst cases, but there was little I could do about that sixth sense that cried out impending tragedy, that warned me of something terribly wrong waiting for me wherever Ren was taking me.
Eventually, though, and altogether too soon, Ren stopped walking and motioned for me to stop as well. Gently, he opened the door to our left, with only the slightest tremble in his fingers. Inside, I saw gathered what was likely all that was left of the Fiercewater Clan. They were arranged kneeling in a dense circle, each of their haggard faces downcast, their eyes shut in obvious grief.
Tasting bile in my throat, I stepped into the room and forced myself to get closer to the circle. Unwilling and yet unblinking, my eyes travelled to the center of the gathered group, finding in the middle of all the clansmen a kneeling Evelyn. Cradled in her hands was an unnaturally limp and small body, covered entirely in fancy robes stained with a deep scarlet.
I recognized the robes immediately, having hugged a little girl wearing robes of the exact same design only an hour earlier. Having promised her safety then, a life free of the danger she’d faced far too much of already. Having promised her a happily ever after that I’d known, even then, was a promise I’d likely not be able to deliver on.
I just hadn’t expected to fail to deliver so spectacularly, nor so soon.
Evelyn looked up at me then, her watery brown eyes holding a glimmer of the same light I’d seen in Maya’s more times than I could count.
“Ruby…” she started, her voice laden with an uncountable grief. “Ruby, they…they…”
My body trembled as I stifled the emotion rising within me, forcefully cooling my boiling blood. “Can she be Revived?” I asked, my voice small, barely above a whisper, but it rippled in the silence of the room like a pebble dropped in a pond.
“No,” came an answer from another clansman – an Elder, judging by the man’s age and the poise that had yet to leave his bearing. “She hadn’t yet formed her Flux Core, so she cannot be brought back with a Life Revive.”
My eyes snapped to the man, the fog in them clearing a little as I read into the man’s words. “But there’s another way?” I asked, feeling like I was just barely keeping my head above the swirling emotions that threatened to sweep me away.
The man didn’t respond, looking instead back at Evelyn. His answer was obvious, so my gaze shifted back to her too, waiting for her to respond.
Evelyn stayed silent, long enough that I thought she simply wasn’t going to answer, but she eventually opened her mouth. “She’s special, you know? Or…was. She could see things, things the rest of us couldn’t. It was a gift, a gift from the Forest God.” Her words were slow, measured, laboured. “Maybe this was just fate. Maybe she was never meant to come back from the forest that day. Maybe the weeks I got to spend with her afterwards were another gift from the Forest God, one that was never meant to last.”
“Evelyn, please. Just tell me, can she be brought back?” I pleaded, the talk of fate grating on me. I’d had just about enough of mysterious ‘fate’ messing things up for me. Fate was just a label people put on things they couldn’t control, but that didn’t mean it was an untouchable, omnipotent entity beyond reach. If things were out of my control, it just meant that I was still too weak to change them. It just meant I had to get stronger.
“There’s one other way,” Evelyn spoke finally, “that I know of, but the Clan is far too weak to even dream of getting its hands on a treasure of that calibre. There’s nothing we can do, Ruby.” The defeat in her voice cut me hard, her tone horribly reminiscent of Ocean’s back then.
“There’s nothing you have to do, Evelyn,” I assured the woman, speaking over the rising tide of emotion within me. “I will handle it.”
“I can’t possibly ask that-” the woman started.
“You aren’t asking anything of me, Evelyn,” I cut in, unable to control the slight tremble in my voice. “I made a promise, a promise to her, and I’ll make the same promise to you. I will give you the ending you deserve, I will. What use is my endless pursuit of strength, Evelyn, if I can’t use it to protect the people I care about?”
Evelyn had no response for me, and the silence hung for a moment before I spoke again. “Please, Evelyn. Please, just tell me.”
Evelyn sighed heavily, turning to look at me with emotion so potent brimming in her eyes I could hardly put a name to it. “The Elixir Lotus,” she said softly. “If it’s combined with a Life-Elixir pool, it’ll make the only treasure I know of that can accomplish it. But the Lotus is a treasure even the greatest forces on the continent hold in high regard. It won’t be simple getting your hands on one.”
I smiled tightly at the woman, determination brimming in my eyes. Her words were a rope, a glimmer of hope in the darkness settling over me, and I latched onto it like I was drowning. I had to, for the sake of my own sanity. “Don’t worry about the how, Evelyn. You worry about keeping yourself and your people safe, and wait for me. Leave the rest to me.” With a forced breath out, I pushed myself up to my feet, my eyes unerringly glued to the bundle of robes in Evelyn's hands.
“The city’s gonna get pretty chaotic soon,” I started again after a moment, my eyes finally peeling themselves away from Maya. “No one should come looking for you anyway, but I’ll make sure of it. Go, Evelyn. Go and find a place to flourish again. I’ll find you when I’m ready.”
With those words of goodbye, I walked out of the room, not wanting to spend another moment in there. I feared if I did, I’d drop to the ground weeping, and I could not have that happen. If I cried for Maya’s death, it would mean accepting that she was gone. And I didn’t accept that. I wouldn’t.
Ren followed a step behind me as I walked back the way I came, but I barely registered his presence. The labyrinthine jumble of emotion within me had taken over my senses, and yet all I could feel was uncomfortable. There was sadness in me somewhere, swirling in with all the regret and self-blame, the despair and the rage. But the sum of everything was only a deep-seated discomfort, and I hated the feeling. So I stopped. Stopped walking, stopped thinking, and simply stood for a moment, letting that potent discomfort run through me, feeling every bit of it, before silencing it entirely. All those emotions were useless to me; I had a goal now, and they would be nothing but a hindrance to achieving it.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
When I opened my eyes again, they were calm, the fire in them cooled. Nothing remained in my head but my goal; all else was locked up and stored away. Ultimately, there was getting my hands on an Elixir Lotux, one way or another – but first, there was vengeance.
I blew out a long breath, feeling that cold calm permeate my body, and turned to Ren.
I opened my mouth to speak, but Ren, reading my mind, put up a hand and stopped me. “Don't insult me, Ruby, nor my integrity. I gave you my word, and a little danger is not going to make me go back on it. Do what you need to do, Red; I’ll be right behind you.”
I was caught off guard by the boy’s words, my voice stolen by the weight of the gratitude I felt. I stared into the boy's glossy eyes for a long moment, before finally sighing, a small smile forming on my face. "Thank you," I said simply, knowing that there were no more suitable words to capture what I felt.
The boy, unsurprisingly, waved off my gratitude. “Just doing my job, boss. No need for thanks. Now, come on, we’ve got things to do, people to burn.”
I nodded, calming myself again. With Ren at my side, I was far more confident in my ability to accomplish what I had in mind.
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Zayr’s banquet was being held at the most important building in the city, the Mayoral Hall. The city lord himself had given up his seat to the boy for the three days, even though the man was an A Rank adventurer.
Ren and I found the place quite easily, since it was directly in the center of the town, but also because of the incredibly long line that snaked through multiple streets, beginning at the grand entrance of the hall. It seemed Zayr had invited anyone with even the slightest influence to celebrate his birthday, which I found strange, considering how little Zayr thought of them all. But I didn’t give it much thought; egomaniacs were unpredictable, after all.
After leaving the auction hall through the back entrance Ren used to get in, the two of us had made our way to the roof of the mansion directly across from the banquet hall – which hadn’t been difficult to get to, since it and practically every other house in the central areas was deserted. From the roof, we watched as carriage after carriage made its way through the grand stone arch at the entrance of the Hall’s courtyard.
“Looks like the event hasn’t started yet,” I said, watching the nobles stepping out of their carriages one by one.
“The official event will start at dinnertime, which means there's probably a few hours still,” Ren answered.
“I don’t think we can wait that long. The guards at the auction house will probably start rounding up all their escaped slaves soon, which means we need to start soon.”
“Speaking of which, what is your plan?” Ren asked. “I mean, revenge is one thing, but how are you planning on making enough of a commotion to affect the auction house guards?”
I smiled at the boy. “I don’t know if you noticed, but quite a few of the guards at the auction house were city guards. I’m guessing the city lord has some link with the place, and since the auction house will be low on people right now, the city guards are probably gonna make up most of the manpower when it comes to rounding up the escapees.”
Ren nodded. “Makes sense, but how does that relate to this?”
I grinned. “I plan on giving the city lord a bigger problem to worry about.”
Ren raised an eyebrow. “Meaning?”
An evil laugh bubbled out of me. “Well, the part of town we’re in right now is probably where most of the city’s elite live, right?” As I spoke, I waved my hand around, gesturing broadly to the many mansions and fancy houses that surrounded us. “And given the people I saw attending the auction, I’m willing to bet most of them live somewhere here. I’d bet some of them were there to buy something for the banquet, even.” I breathed out then, levelling a gaze at Ren. “All that’s to say, I’ve got no sympathy left for these people. So I’m gonna do what I do best. I’m gonna burn this place down.”
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Half an hour after most of Zayr’s guests had disappeared into the hall, I was doing exactly that. Already on my fourth house, I kicked down the fancy white doors and made my way inside, my footsteps trailing small bonfires on the carpet. After a quick sweep of the house, I directed all the maids and kitchen staff out of the house and dealt with the minimal security the owners had left behind, before igniting as much of the Flux in the house as I could handle. The explosion of heat instantly incinerated the first floor, and the upper ones collapsed in on themselves not long after.
I felt nothing but the smallest twinge of satisfaction at the sight. Under more normal circumstances, I knew the rush I'd feel would be immense, especially considering the enormity of what I was doing, but at the moment, there was nothing on my mind save for my goal.
Wanting to move on, I ordered the small group of huddled and terrified staff to make their way out of the inner area of the city, before making my way to the next house. The city lord would get word of my actions soon, I knew, and I wanted to do as much damage as I could before the guards arrived to try and control the infernos. Already my flames were spreading, each one spaced as far apart as I could get them to ensure they made as much trouble as possible.
I’d sent Ren to secretly watch over the Fiercewater Clan while I did my business, so their safety was taken care of for the moment. Evelyn was powerful, of course – more so than Ren, even – but she was still under the effects of the Flux-draining cuffs she’d been bound in, so I wanted to ensure they didn’t run into any trouble and make my work pointless.
It took about an hour, but word finally seemed to get to the city lord. And, surprisingly, the man decided to take care of the problem himself. I was on my eighth fire when I realized. The biggest of my fires, the third one, had suddenly died, far too quickly for it to be natural. Running through the deserted streets, I made my way to the place of my third fire and found only smoldering embers and small fires remaining. A group of five armored guards were taking care of them with water spells, while in the center of the scorched destruction I’d caused stood a tall man with flowing black hair tied up in a ponytail. He wore an elegant white suit, with some fancy alterations made to it that I’d never seen before.
The man himself, though, seemed to be absolutely seething with rage. I smiled to myself as I watched him curse and yell against the air, berating his men while they worked frantically. I could understand his rage, though. Even if the man could immediately put an end to my fires, the damage they’d already done would be a headache he was going to be dealing with for weeks to come.
Soon enough, the guards had put an end to the fire and began to move on to the next fire, where other city guards had likely already begun damage control efforts. I followed just behind them, ensuring I stayed out of the city lord’s range of detection. The man was powerful, I could tell, certainly deserving of an A Rank, but I wasn’t scared of him at all. I may have lost to the A Rank dummy, but that was only because it wasn’t human. I was certain that, against a human of similar rank, I would have been able to come out on top. It wouldn’t be easy for me, but I was more than confident in my ability to outlast any A Rank when it came to a contest of pain endurance.
Thinking up to that point, an idea suddenly struck. As I followed the men, I called up my stat board again and navigated to the Chats tab. There was only one name available on the tab, sitting just under the search field. With a smile, I selected the name and waited a moment, wondering what would happen.
There was silence for a moment, the screen only displaying the message ‘Connecting…’, until the line finally connected and Ren’s comically confused voice sounded out in my head.
“...Ruby?” the boy asked.
“Yup, it’s me,” I responded in my head, not even needing to verbalize the message.
“Ha, this is cool,” Ren said, rightfully marveling at the abilities of the Nexus Chip.
But I was hardly in the mood to think about the chip. “You busy right now?” I asked.
“Nope,” came Ren’s reply. “Had to deal with a couple guys who escaped Evelyn and were about to bring backup, but it’s been a while since anyone’s found them. They’re almost to the edge of town now.”
I nodded to myself. “Good. I had another idea.”
I could practically feel Ren’s grin on the other side, even though I couldn’t see him. “Ooh, I do love your ideas, Ruby. Let's hear it.”
“You know how the city lord is an A Rank, right?”
“Uh huh…”
“And if we get into a fight with Zayr, he’s probably gonna be a hassle to deal with, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, he’s out right now, trying to deal with my fires, and he doesn’t have a lot of manpower with him.”
“So what do you wanna do about it?” Ren asked, as if he couldn’t quite believe I was suggesting what I was.
I breathed out, steeling my voice. “Let’s kill him.”