Hermera
The 7th of Mounichion
The Year 4631 in the Era of Mortals
“I’m not sure that could have gone much worse,” Cora said.
“I don’t know about that,” Arche said offhandedly. “One of you could have died.”
“I think that’s rather dismissive of how close you came.”
Arche rubbed his throat. His first moments after regaining consciousness had been tumultuous. He’d flailed and yelled, trying to draw his weapons and fight while the rest of them held his arms and legs down. Luckily for them, he’d come back to himself before activating Divine Body, otherwise someone could have gotten hurt. Whatever Helwan had pressed against his throat had stemmed the bleeding enough to stabilize him. Once conscious and in full control of his senses, Divine Body healed his wounds. He was no longer injured—according to his vitals, at least—but his neck bore a large, new scar.
The experience presented a whole new set of problems. Arche didn’t know much about vampires, but he was pretty sure getting bit by one was supposed to come with a chance of turning into one. If Aima was anything to go by, that was a fate he wanted to avoid if at all possible.
“Maybe. My life is more expendable than any of yours, though, so that’s not really a fair comparison.”
Cora looked at him in surprise. The others eyed him uncomfortably, with the exception of Tess, who scowled.
“That is not the answer I was expecting,” Cora said quietly.
“We can discuss this later,” Tess interrupted, her glare letting Arche know that they would indeed be discussing it later. “For now, we need to figure out our next steps. The vampire is likely gone. She’ll be hiding somewhere up near the surface and I wouldn’t be surprised if she left the ruins under the cover of night. If we look for her, it’s likely we won’t find her before she makes her escape.”
Arche rubbed his face with one hand. The pain and weariness of the day was catching up to him.
“Boy howdy, when I fuck up, I fuck up hard.”
“Well, you got your wish,” Tess shot back.
He looked up at her, one eyebrow raised. Tess lifted a decapitated head.
“The revenant is dead.”
“Hah!” Arche barked mirthlessly. “The whole point of that was to stop a mindless killing machine hunting me down at an inopportune time. Now I have a mindful killing machine who’s going to hunt me down at an inopportune time. Things are really going well. But hey, at least we’ve got treasure.”
An uneasy silence fell over the others. Arche took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh, feeling the fresh skin on his neck stretch uncomfortably.
“All right. I think we’ve done enough damage for one day. Take a last look around to make sure we didn’t miss anything, then let’s get out of here and head back to the village.”
Cora, Basil, and Helwan split off to see if anything the dwarves left behind was salvageable. Tess, however, remained with Arche.
“Guess we’re having that talk sooner, rather than later.”
Tess frowned at him.
“Your behavior is worrying me, Arche.”
“Sorry?”
“I think you’re taking this too quickly.”
“Taking what?”
“Moving on from what happened in Hekate’s Vivitorium. You…” she paused, lowering her voice to an almost inaudible whisper. “You died. You didn’t just come close. You died.”
Arche felt the muscles in his jaw tighten.
“I know. I was there.”
“And ever since you’ve been running from that fact. Usually headlong into danger.”
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“What do you want me to do? Sit around and lament about it?” Arche’s voice grew an edge. “It was horrible. It was the worst thing that ever happened to me. And I will gladly go through it again so that none of you have to, because there’s no coming back for you. I’m so sorry if I’m not dealing with this situation in a way that’s ‘emotionally healthy’ but I don’t have the time. Shit needs doing and our enemies keep stacking up.”
The lines of Tess’s face softened, but her eyes were as hard as stones.
“You’re pushing too hard, Arche. You need to slow down. Think. Consider next steps.”
“I don’t have time to think. There’s too much to do.”
“No, there isn’t. You’re taking on too much because you’re avoiding the real problem. When’s the last time you really slept?”
Arche looked away, feeling the emotion bleed out of him. He was too tired to be angry, especially when she was right.
“I got a little last night.”
“Not nearly enough. You’re exhausted. I can see that plain as day. You deflect with humor and play up this air of mystery in front of Basil and Cora, but you can’t hide from me, Arche. I know you too well.”
“Another of my many mistakes, I’m sure.”
A haunted look spread across Tess’s face, a pain so roiling and angry that Arche flinched.
“What you did saved my life. For everything else that came with it, you saved me. Don’t you dare call that a mistake. That meant everything to me.”
Arche grimaced, nodding.
“That was callous. I’m sorry. You’re right, about all of it, of course. I’ll…I’ll try. I can’t promise any more than that.”
“Good.” Tess moved a loose strand of hair out of her face. “No more talk of sacrificing yourself, alright? You’re worth more alive and well. To Myriatos and to me.”
“Thanks, Tess.”
She nodded and started to turn away, then seemed to remember something. She turned back and held out her hand, the bone kopis appearing in it a moment later.
“You should probably take this. Your old one broke, so maybe this can work until you can get a replacement. I’m more of a knife girl anyway.”
Arche took the kopis from her, offering her a smile in exchange. She nodded back, giving him a small smile as well, but it didn’t fix the worry in her eyes.
He looked down at the kopis.
Revenant Rib Kopis
Rarity: Epic
Quality: Masterwork
Durability: 800 / 800
Weight: 1.2 kilograms
Length: 65 centimeters
Traits: Deal 15 Necrotic damage over 5 seconds (Stackable)
Arche’s eyebrows shot up. It wasn’t the type of sword he typically used, having developed a preference for the longer, straight bladed xiphos as opposed to the shorter, curved blades of the kopis, but he couldn’t deny the sword was an upgrade, especially since his last sword had shattered. Other notifications flashed in the corner of his vision. It was as good a time as any to go through them.
Your party has slain a Level 30 Revenant.
You gain 270 experience.
Shields has increased to Level 5.
+2% Defense with Shields (+10%)
+1% Damage with Shields (+5%)
Medium Armor has increased to Level 5.
+2% Defense with Medium Armor (+10%)
+0.5% Mobility in Medium Armor (+2.5%)
You have learned a Skill.
Blunt Weapons — Level 1
You have learned the noble art of bashing skulls. Happy smashing.
Each level in this skill improves your ability with blunt weaponry.
+2% Damage with Blunt Weapons (+2%)
+2% Speed of Blunt Weapon Attacks (+2%)
Psychic Link has increased to Level 3.
-0.5% Mana Cost (-1.5%)
A new skill, a few skill levels. At least something good had come out of the nightmare. Arche closed his eyes and rubbed them. Tess had definitely been right about one thing. He really needed some sleep.