It took a couple of weeks before Zeke felt fully recovered. However, unlike some of his previous ill-advised antics, he wasn’t completely incapacitated by his latest foray into utilizing his Will. Instead, he was fully capable of tending to his followers in the tower, and in fact, he felt that if it came down to a necessary battle, he would be able to harness at least sixty percent of his power.
Eveline likened it to a doctor’s orders to take it easy rather than putting him on complete bedrest, and despite his hatred of her use of Earth’s idioms, he couldn’t really disagree with her assessment.
Still, he felt cooped up and wanted nothing more than to get moving again. For one, he felt increasingly desperate to reach Talia. It made no real sense; she’d been on her own for quite some time, and, as far as he knew, she was doing just fine. Or she was at least alive. So, he had no idea why he felt the urgency so keenly all of a sudden.
But feel it he did.
On top of that, he’d never really gotten used to sitting still. Even before his rebirth into the Radiant Isles, he hadn’t been suited for relaxation. Back then, the idleness that came after his injury had driven him to abject apathy; he was better, now. More mature, perhaps. And he still had purpose. But he couldn’t change his nature, and every moment he spent in inactivity was a moment he wanted to be moving toward some goal.
He was not meant to laze about.
Which was ironic, considering how often he injured himself so badly that he was forced into long periods of convalescence – which was something he intended to work on in preparation for his next skill. He just needed to figure out what form his intentions might take; then he could start to visualize how to make that happen. After that, he would need to actually build the skill.
So, he was a long way from any leaps forward on that front.
Either way, those two weeks were not spent entirely idle, and he dedicated the majority of his convalescence toward working on his skills. He also spent quite some time in the Hunting Grounds training his fighting style. To some, practicing without his skills might have seemed a little superfluous, but for Zeke, it made perfect sense to spend just as much time honing his those abilities as it did to work on anything else. After all, there was every chance that, sometime in the future, his skill with a hammer might prove to be the difference between winning and losing.
And considering the stakes he usually faced, that was equivalent to life or death.
When he wasn’t training, he soaked in the Crimson Spring. Often, he was accompanied by injured kobolds or even a few centaurs who’d deigned to accept the invitation into the tower, but most of the time, he was given plenty of room to himself.
Was that respect?
Or fear, perhaps?
Zeke had no idea, but he knew it wasn’t something he could change. Not overnight, at least. And what’s more, he wasn’t certain that he wanted to. He cared about the kobolds. Truly and deeply, he did. He would fight and kill for them, if that was what it took to give them a chance to reach their potential.
And yet, he was an introvert by nature, and outside of a close group of friends, he preferred solitude. So, as much as he cared for his adopted people, he appreciated their standoffishness.
Gradually, Zeke recovered until, at last, he felt as well as he had before the battle of Berghem. Which was how he found himself letting Kianma give him a tour of everything that had changed over the past few months. He’d seen some of it, but only in passing; the rest, he’d let fly under his personal radar.
“You’re a terrible leader. You know that, don’t you?” joked Eveline in his head. She’d started coming out more often – everyone who mattered had accepted her presence – but she still preferred remaining sequestered inside his mind.
Not that she could ever leave it behind, of course. She was stuck with him just as much as he was stuck with her, but that didn’t bother Zeke nearly as much as it probably should have.
“I don’t really lead them,” he pointed out. “I’m more like a mascot. Kianma and Silik do all the heavy lifting.”
“When you say jump, they all ask how high,” she countered. “That’s what being a leader is.”
He didn’t have an answer for that, so he remained silent as Kianma led him through the Residential District to an area the kobolds had affectionally named The Clutch. There, Zeke discovered more about kobold rearing than he’d ever wanted. True to form, they reproduced like reptiles, which meant that they laid eggs. Once those eggs hatched, they were raised by a caste of Broodtenders, at least until they reached adolescence and they acquired a class.
Which was one of the things that truly excited Kianma.
“This is unprecedented. Before, perhaps one in twenty attained a class at all,” she stated. “But for those born in The Clutch, that ratio has increased significantly. Now, one in three are born with the capacity to choose a class, and the Broodtenders believe that number will increase until every kobold has a class.”
On the one hand, that was expected. Zeke knew that Mikaena had worked for decades – perhaps even centuries – to usher the kobolds out of monsterhood and into sapience. She’d given their care over to Zeke in the hopes that he could help them continue that journey. And that was what had happened.
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However, on the other hand, Zeke had expected it to take much longer.
“They’re not strong,” Eveline said, using Zeke’s senses to inspect a small kobold. The infant looked like an upright salamander, though with a few extra ridges. With its large eyes and curious nature, it was incredibly cute in a way that most reptiles weren’t. “They still have a long way to go, especially if we can get the tower to add that Hall of Affinity. Speaking of which, we still need quite a few natural treasures.”
“I know.”
After showing off The Clutch, Kianma led Zeke through the rest of the Residential District where he saw the increasing quality of life for the kobolds. Before, they’d all piled into a few buildings, but in the past few months, they’d begun to branch out and use the space available. They still preferred close quarters, but Zeke had to acknowledge that they were making progress. What’s more, he observed a lot more variation in their personalities. Certainly, they still thought of themselves as a collective, but one comprised of many individuals. As far as Zeke was concerned, that was a step in the right direction if they wanted to develop true sapience.
“If they haven’t already,” Eveline said. “The line’s kind of blurry on that, though.”
Zeke could agree with that, and he followed Kianma out of The Clutch and to the Pillar. It was still just a building like any other in the Residential District, and yet, it had grown to almost ten stories. Somehow, the ceiling had risen to accommodate that.
“It adapts on its own,” Kianma said. “When we fill one floor, a new one will come into being.”
“The Crimson Tower is one of the most powerful artifacts in existence,” Eveline stated. “Or at least in this Realm.”
“You never did tell me the whole story behind it.”
“I told you what I remember. Broken mind, remember? I get bits and pieces here and there, but the bulk of my memory is gone.”
She’d said as much a hundred times, but Zeke kept hoping that more would jostle loose. So far, she could only offer insight into specific topics when some even brushed against them – like they had in the Pillar of Desolation – but those instances had proven less frequent with every passing day.
In any case, Zeke was pleased to see that the people who worked in the Pillar – including quite a few kobold spiritweavers and some of the freed slaves – were hard at work on the various tasks necessary to run what amounted to a small city. The biggest department was dedicated to food procurement and distribution, but there were smaller groups that governed everything from housing assignments to training times in the Hunting Grounds and everything in between.
“Every government needs a bureaucracy,” said Eveline. “I used to have a seneschal who handled all of that. Nice little imp who really had an eye for detail. Of course, he was stealing from me quite a bit, so I had to send him to be tortured. He lasted for almost a decade before he died.”
“That’s not true,” Zeke guessed.
“It might be. I do remember an imp, but I’m not sure what he did for me.”
Zeke gave her a mental eye roll, then followed Kianma out of the Pillar and to the teleporter that took them to the Craftsman’s Terrace. There, they met with Kala and Eta, who went over the state of their agricultural pursuits. With Eta’s help, they’d managed to increase their crops’ yield by almost double, and according to both excited women, that was just the beginning. Soon, they hoped that their fruits and vegetables would start developing other effects.
“Like what?”
“Well, over time, they will strengthen the people who eat them,” Eta said. “It may take decades for adults to see a difference, but for juveniles, it could result in higher tiered attributes. And over the course of many generations, the effect could be dramatic!”
She went on to explain that the environment within the tower was ideal for growing crops, and what’s more, the density of the ambient mana was extremely uncommon. She even claimed that they expected it to continue to grow even more concentrated as time went on.
“And that’s not even considering what how the tower will change once you complete your quest,” Eveline remarked.
“I know. The Hall of Affinity.”
“You can’t believe that will be the only benefit. Imagine a field of Ice Berries next to an orchard of Incendiary Plums. There’s nothing better than affinity fruits,” she said.
“Are those real things? They don’t sound like real things.”
“Maybe? I don’t know about Heaven’s weird fruits. What I do know is that if these lovely ladies can cultivate real affinity fruits, you and your army of kobolds are going to be a true force to be reckoned with.”
“Huh. Neat.”
“Neat?”
“It is.”
“I expected a…bigger reaction. Most people would be jumping up and down in joy.”
Zeke shrugged – mentally – and said, “That’s all in the future. It’ll be great if it happens. I might start jumping for joy then. But until we get these affinity fruits, I’ll just file them away under ‘maybe it’ll happen eventually’ and move on with more immediate concerns.”
“You are absolutely no fun.”
“So you keep telling me.”
After they completed the tour of the various farms – which were worked by yet more kobolds, though these were the lesser developed ones – he parted ways with Kianma and headed to the Hunting Grounds. There, he pitted himself against a series of increasingly difficult foes, culminating with a difficult battle against a pair of giants. He lost, but due to the nature of the floor, he wasn’t seriously injured.
More importantly, the fight left him marginally more prepared for the inevitability that he’d need to one day rely on his combat ability rather than his overpowering skills or Will. At any rate, once he’d finished in the Hunting Grounds, he retreated to the Crimson Spring for a long soak, then headed to the manor.
Once he got there, he took a few minutes to catch up with Pudge. At the same time, they practiced Pudge’s articulation. For too long, the former dire bear had been lacking in that department, and Zeke had taken it upon himself to help his companion out.
“That’s adorable,” Eveline said when they parted ways.
“What? Pudge? I mean, he was kind of cute when he was a cub, but I don’t think anybody would look at him now and call him adorable.”
“No – you and him.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re going out of your way to spend time with him. The language lessons are just an excuse.”
“I think you’re looking too far into it.”
“I’m really not. I can see inside your head.”
“And that doesn’t prevent you from misinterpreting. We’ve established that already,” Zeke said.
“True. But in this instance, I’m not misinterpreting,” she insisted. “Besides, it’s nothing to be ashamed of. You love your bear friend.”
Zeke sighed. “Not ashamed of it, Eveline. He’s as much my family as anyone’s ever been,” he said. “Of course I love him. And he loves me. He’s my brother.”
Eveline was still formless in his mind, but he got the impression that she was grinning from ear to ear. Fortunately, she didn’t have anything else to say on the matter, so after showering and eating a meal prepared by a kobold – which meant that it wasn’t terribly well-cooked – Zeke went to bed.
The next morning, he awoke with renewed purpose. Finally, he was completely recovered, and he’d exhausted everything on his to-do list. Now, he needed to get on with the business at hand, which meant that he and the others needed to start planning for the final leg of their journey to El’Kireth, where he hoped he would be reunited with Talia.