Rika’s eyes slid open, a white tiled ceiling greeting her overhead. She stared blankly at the constellation of dots running across the ceiling, the events of the previous day weighing heavy on her mind. She didn’t notice when someone entered her hospital room.
“Oh, you’re awake,” Brenner said as a took a seat by her side. “Doctors said they were able to save most of your damaged eye with a mix of surgery and some powerful healing magic. You’ll only have partial vision out of it, and a pretty gnarly scar, but better than nothing right?” Brenner checked to see if Rika wanted to respond, but when she remained silent he continued on.
“Besides that, your body is pretty battered, but nothing too serious. Physically, anyway. I imagine you must be in shock after everything that happened…”
“You should kill me” Rika croaked out, cutting him off. Brenner didn’t respond. “I’m the summon of the man… the monster that attacked the city. I should be treated like any other case of possession.”
“Hey, I’m in agreement with you on that” Brenner said casually after a moment. Rika’s eyes flicked in his direction. “Unfortunately, those NDSA guys at the warehouse that night have already spread the word that you’re the one that killed the Lich. You’re something of a hero on national news. Between the attack on Raleigh and the orc invasion, the public is grabbing onto any source of optimism they can find. If I were to go and kill the town hero, that would reflect pretty badly on me and my guild.”
Rika snorted as her eyes returned to the ceiling. “Hero huh?”
Brenner rubbed the back of his neck. “At any rate, the exact identity of the lich has been kept a secret, as well as the knowledge of your… situation. If you want to reveal those things to the media, it's your choice. For now, the public will remember Hoffman as the human he was, not the lich he became. Of course, a lot of mystery still surrounds exactly what happened after his supposed death.”
Rika fell silent again, Brenner sitting by her side for a while.
“Well, I better get going, Hoffman’s corpse army was fairly easy to defeat after he died but there is still a lot of work to be done around the city, never mind the threat of an army advancing towards us.” Brenner stood up, walking towards the exit.
“What happened to Clay and that elf?” Rika asked.
“Oh yeah, the kid. Eye witness reports say they saw an elf fighting someone in a tower downtown, the damage causing the entire building to collapse. The current assumption is one or both of them are in the wreckage somewhere, but debris is still being shifted through.”
“Oh,” Rika said, the information giving a bit of relief. “I see.”
…
Think we got him this time?
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“No idea, the building was definitely collapsing when I died though. I just hope I was able to drain enough of his mana.”
Clay had awoken some time ago, changing out of the burnt and tattered clothing into some fresh clothes, which had managed to come out unscathed in his backpack. The bag itself was heavily damaged though.
Well, if it did work I guess you finally found a way to get around barriers. Just drop a building on their head, the bigger the better.
“Somehow, I think I still need to find a better solution.” Clay quickly exited his house to find the streets silent and deserted.
“Oh, that's right, the orcs. They must’ve won the battle of Asheville this time around too. The town must’ve evacuated.”
So then, what’s the move?
“Let me think…” Clay thought back to the last time around. Things were happening faster than the original timeline, and events were very different, but last time when his town evacuated he got into that altercation at the clinic with the elf and some woman. Well, he was pretty sure that woman was actually Rose who had been possessed by then. After that… everything reset. But would all that happen again, with everything that has changed?
Clay hurried over to the town clinic, taking up a concealed spot to watch the exits. Observing it for several hours, it was pretty clear nobody was coming or going. Things were definitely radically different this time.
Clay sighed as he got up. This was a waste of time, but it was probably better to be sure. If he had lucked into running into Rose this time around too, it may have led him back to Uriana.
Clay’s next stop was his town's NDSA branch, this time he would have to break in, but with the building abandoned, a few rocks were all he needed to gain entrance. The armory was locked, but he knew where to look for the key, and despite being cleaned out of most weapons, there were still handguns and spare ammunition for him to pick up. He desperately needed replacements after losing his weapons in the previous day's battle.
The last place he visited was the mess hall, helping himself to some snacks and bottles of water. He had money, but he wasn’t going to find anywhere nearby that was open for service.
As Clay exited the building, the sounds of distant horns pierced through the silence of the town. Looking in the direction they came from, there was smoke rising somewhere not too far off. Clay figured it must be the orcs moving through the area. Quickly grabbing his things, he headed off in the opposite direction.
…
“Please help, it’s my sister, she’s fallen unconscious and has a raging fever. I don’t know what's wrong!” A panicked woman in her early 20s shouted as she sprinted into an emergency room, the limp body of a young girl in her arms.
“How long has she been out?” A nurse asked as she rushed to the girl's aid.
“Several hours” the woman replied.
“Hours?! Why did you take so long to come in?”
“I... I’m sorry” the woman stammered. Finding a place to bring her sister to for medical treatment hadn’t been easy, given they had been avoiding going into town as much as possible. She had to beg some locals for directions to the hospital.
Several nurses took the young girl away, while one stayed behind to comfort the woman. “It’s going to be ok. Can I just get your name?”
“I… I’m Ciera.”
“And how about your sister's name, Ciera?”
“Uriana.”