It did not take long for Marius to begin spilling what he knew, once he realised Aurelian was not serious about his threats.
Bahamut’s presence, though, was likely the greatest motivation.
“I was placed here to enact a greater plan by my master,” the Vasiri began. “Absolum wished to experiment with a new means of manipulating the dead.” Marius glanced between Bahamut and Aurelian, licked his lips, and continued. “The plan was to use the Manawoods in the arboretum to curate the tainted essence you saw enhancing the Skarnids and Skeletons, and wield it to create a new, more powerful kind of servant; one utterly bound to the intent of the Master’s Chosen, and with the enhancements necessary to ensure catastrophic power.”
“I’m not even at my Initiate Temper, Marius, and I killed your creatures,” Aurelian said sceptically. “That doesn’t seem like a great success to me.”
“You have an Elysean Runesword!” Marius spat with a clear sense of wounded ego. “Those are all but lost to modern times! Besides, you are Nephilim. These creatures were never meant for a foe of your particular calibre, though I was likely tasked to stay here because of your possible arrival.”
“The vulnerability to fire isn’t very helpful, either.” Aurelian pointed out.
“There were plans for circumventing that, though they were outside my purview.” Marius admitted with something akin to sincere bitterness. “I was not included in those discussions.”
Aurelian believed him, if only barely, simply due to how annoyed he sounded over it.
“Why did you not come for me when I first landed?” he continued.
“I was… uncertain of your capabilities. I suspected that you might be Nephilim, but Absolum told me nothing, and I thought to worry about it after my servants had breached the hidden chambers, but—”
“Then I came to you.” Aurelian finished with a thoughtful nod. “Very well. Continue your tale. What was the purpose behind creating this new type of monster?”
“There is an enclave of apostates in the Desolation.” Marius said with another look at Bahamut. “A… a sanctuary of sorts. My master wished to test his new creatures on them, before sending them to conquer the other lands of the Prime Material.”
“Sounds charming,” Aurelian said while filing away that information.
Wherever the supposed sanctuary was, he’d have to try to find them and warn them. How he’d go about that… Well, that was a different problem entirely. “But I don’t buy that you just juiced up some Skarnids and skelly boys and called it a day. What else did you fuck with?”
“Skelly bo—?”
Aurelian pressed his relaxed blade against the Vasiri’s flesh again, and Bahamut snarled.
“Fine!” Marius spat. “There were other Vasiri helping me. It was—is—a grand undertaking. They cajoled, intimidated, or outright herded entire swathes of the blighted fools that roam the Desolation toward the city outside the palace and we… changed them.”
“How?” Aurelian asked while a sick feeling started to build in his gut.
“We enhanced them with the corrupt essence, and forced them to Infuse it. We pushed them to consume and consume, until it properly infested them. First dozens, then hundreds, and eventually thousands. We’ve been doing it for years. Many years.”
“How many of them are there?” Aurelian asked flatly.
“Ten thousand or so.” The Vasiri answered with a glimmer of dark pride. “Closer to forty, when you factor in the dead we raised over the years, and the various beasts we captured, corrupted, and bred from within the Desolation itself. It is an unstoppable force. It will wash over the remnants of Elysea like a tide of—”
“The remnants of Elysea?” Aurelian asked the moment he caught it. “Explain. Now.”
“I… I misspo—!”
Bahamut snarled and Aurelian, swallowing back his disgust at the necessity of his actions, turned and stabbed his blade down into the Vasiri’s shoulder.
The creature’s flesh began to smoke where the runic steel impaled it.
“I warned you not to lie.” Aurelian growled in his best Jason Statham impression.
Intimidation is now Level 6!
“Mercy!” Marius cried piteously. “Mercy! Mercy! It burns!”
Aurelian twisted the runesword instead of answering, and kept his gaze fixed on the not-vampire. While doing so, he crushed down the pity he felt for the shell of a man, the broken soul, which had been so terribly corrupted by Absolum’s madness. There was no point in letting that feeling grow.
“You were a good man once, I wager.” Aurelian said instead. “A noble man, before this thing you are now. A Healer, right? You helped people, and probably took a lot of joy from it. So I’m going to give you a chance, one last chance, to be more than the fucking monster Absolum made you into.”
Aurelian didn’t move his blade an inch, and he captured Marius’ gaze with his own.
“You’re going to die here, Marius. I can’t let you go. You’re the scorpion, but I’m not as stupid as the frog. I can’t let you live, but I can make your death either slow and painful—or quick and easy. Tell me what I want to know, and you can at least die knowing you did something worth a damn with the last moments of your tortured existence.”
Marius fixed his rusty eyes on Aurelian’s own, and a flicker of something like hope— which was bewildering—brushed against his Soul Sense.
The Vasiri nodded once, his features twisted into a pained expression.
Aurelian withdrew his sword from Marius’ shoulder.
Congratulations, Aurelian Lucis Imperius!
You have met the requirements to unlock the skill Persuasion (UC)!
In the Realms, the ability to talk one’s way out of a situation is a surprisingly uncommon but necessary skill, and those that master its finer points are well-known and respected among even the most powerful of the Realms’ denizens. By convincing a twisted creature to remember some facet of its long-buried former self through the strength of your presence, you have successfully joined this uncommon breed of personages.
Make good use of that silver tongue, Reclaimer!
Persuasion is now Level 2!
“...the sanctuary is the last bastion of Elysea’s descendants.” Marius admitted in a resigned tone. “It’s not a secret. Solarius ensured that all remnants of the Empire were firmly infiltrated, and did so long before they were able to become anything resembling a threat. Not even the other Eight know who his agents are, but they are placed in positions to stymie and choke the potential growth of any resistance to the Nine’s hold on the Realms.”
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
Aurelian didn’t lower his guard even an inch, and he moved his blade to angle the tip at the Vasiri’s throat, but listened in silence.
“It lies north of here, perhaps four weeks’ travel by foot, by the reckoning of an untempered, upon a vast and flat section of blighted ground. It is guarded by a runic choir that instigates a dimensional displacement of the valley and its mountains, but we have agents within Sanctuary ready to disable the defences when Absolum’s army approaches.” Marius narrowed his eyes. “I would say it’s impossible for you to find it, but dragons are rumoured to possess Truesight. If that’s true, then your pet—”
“Companion.” Aurelian corrected with a narrowing of the eyes.
“—companion can see it regardless of how it is hidden, or at least see the displacement barrier of the dimensional gating.”
“Who leads this zombie apocalypse army?”
“That is an… apt name, I suppose.” Marius muttered. “They are led by twelve Vasiri, who are led in turn by the Necrolord Lunnierre.”
Aurelian filed away the information and looked down at Marius searchingly.
“Why did you become this cooperative? My speech about your old self can’t have been that impactful.”
“It wasn’t.” The Vasiri confirmed with a derisive look. “But my hatred for Absolum… that is real, Nephilim. Knowing you will foil his great work, that you will slay those unworthy bastards that claimed my genius as their own innovation…” Marius smiled crookedly.
It was a mad smile. A piteous thing.
“Call me mad, Reclaimer, but that is something that gives me a measure of satisfaction.”
Aurelian considered the Vasiri without ever once dropping his guard, and frowned at the creature’s words. “I only have one more question.”
“Ask.” Marius said impatiently.
“The Blood Lords of Eld. Does that mean anything to you?”
Marius stared at him for a long, long moment; and Aurelian felt surprise echo out through his Soul Sense.
“How do you know—” Marius’ eyes widened. “Of course,” he breathed with something approaching human wonder, “that explains why you didn’t succumb. You did something to my Essence. You changed it, in a way not even Absolsum has been able to change it. That explains everything!”
“That isn’t an answer, Marius.” Aurelian said flatly.
“But it is, boy. IT IS! Yes, YES! I know what the name means; it refers to an ancient order, a sect of Cultivators from a time long forgotten, whose power was once the envy of all the Realms. They predate even the Elyseans, and were the masters of Life and Death. The Elden, they were called. The Blood Lords were their ruling Elite, so it’s said; an elite hegemonic aristocracy which commanded entire Legions of True Arisen.”
Investigation is now Level 8!
“True Arisen?”
“Undead.” Marius said fervently. “But of such power, grandeur, and purity that even the name is unworthy of them. The Arisen were masterworks, sustained by the power of Anima, and as brilliant in death as they were in life. What we do now is a pale imitation of that power.” Marius’ expression turned vindictive, and spiteful while he continued. “It is a secret Absolum has tried to wrest from the Graveheart for aeons without success. This is quite the development, oh yes. When he learns of this, he will pursue you to the ends of Terra and beyond.”
“The Graveheart?”
“The Death Eternal.” Marius said impatiently. “The Primordial Incarnation of Death Mana.”
“Right…” Aurelian said slowly. “And me having Anima is a big deal?”
“‘A big deal’, you say.” Marius scoffed derisively. “You hold a power even the God of Death cannot replicate, Nepihlim, and ask if it is a ‘big deal’. Were it not for how much pleasure Absolum’s future realisation at his inferiority, and subsequent incandescent rage brings me, I’d—”
“You’d what, exactly?” Aurelian asked while Bahamut dug in his claws.
Marius hissed at them both, but wisely stayed silent.
“Do you have any other information on the Elden?”
“Only that they were wiped out by a cataclysm nobody can name, and all record of them was stricken. The little that remains speaks of one thing, though, that may have had something to do with it.”
“Oh?” Aurelian asked.
“Solarius fears nothing, Nephilim. Calamity’s Blade unsettles the Sun God, but he fears nothing—nothing, that is, except the Elden. That is why Absolum so desperately seeks their power. Something, something about that ancient hegemony scared even the Lord of the Nine.”
Investigation is now Level 9!
“What was it?”
Marius sneered at his question. “You think I know? I only know what I do because I was one of Absolum’s researchers. I am not even a favoured servant, let alone an Avatar. What I gleaned, I did so through suffering and cunning both. I do not know that secret, Nephilim, only that it does exist. Absolum wants it more than anything else, so that he can finally dethrone his tyrant brother.” Marius giggled madly. “Oh yes, my old Master hates Solarius, perhaps even more than he hates himself.”
“It’s Hades and Zeus all over again.” Aurelian muttered while keeping his blade level.
“What?” Marius demanded. “Who?”
Before Aurelian could answer, a System alert populated his vision abruptly.
QUEST ISSUED: Secrets of the Elden
Marius of Telastra has revealed a matter of grave secrecy to you: a potential weapon, or tool, of which even the Lord of the Nine is afraid! It falls to you to tread the path of discovery, and search for answers relating to the ancient and mysterious land of Eld. There is no telling what manner of secrets await along this path, and it will surely be a challenge like no other. The Prime Material is filled with mysteries, and you have stumbled upon one that makes even Gods fear to tread!
Success Parameters:
Discover the Secrets of the Elden
Survive
Failure Parameters:
Absolum discovers the Secrets of the Elden
The Secrets of the Elden are Destroyed
Rewards:
???
Aurelian’s eyes widened, but he didn’t say anything—and instead minimised the alert for later, while refocusing on Marius, who was watching him unblinkingly.
“Nothing. Forget it.” Aurelian said with forceful dismissal. “I have no more questions. You’ve given me everything I want.”
Marius sneered, and doubt flashed through Soul Sense, but the Vasiri said no more.
Aurelian sighed, put the Quest out of mind momentarily, and shook his head.
“For what it’s worth, Marius… I’m sorry this—all of this—happened to you. I am.”
Marius was silent for several long moments, and searched Aurelian’s gaze before scoffing.
“You truly mean it, don’t you? How naive. Spare me your pity, Nephilim. What happened to me is but a microcosm of what the gods will do if they get you in their grip.”
The Vasiri stared at him with mad eyes.
“You, Nephilim, have become something beyond comprehension; something even Absolum could not conceive of. They will hate you for it, and they will fear you for it.” the Vasiri giggled. “They will hunt you for it. Forever.”
“Good,” Aurelian said much more calmly than he felt. “That’ll make it easier to kill the fuckers.”
“And you called me mad…” the Vasiri mumbled.
“Do you have…” Aurelian faltered, and then took a breath.
He reaffirmed his grip on his blade’s hilt and raised it above the prone Vasiri’s head, with the razor tip pointed between his eyes. “Do you have any last words, Marius of Telastra?”
“...I hate you too much to wish you well, Reclaimer,” the creature said with bitter resignation, “but I certainly wish you victory in achieving the vengeance I could not. I hope you make it hurt. Learn to harness the power I gifted you, incidentally or not, and in doing so I hope you make the Gods scream.”
“I’ll give them the same mercy I’m giving you.” Aurelian assured him quietly.
“Good enough.” Marius muttered while closing his eyes.
“May you find peace in the next life, Marius of Telastra.” Aurelian said quietly.
“I’ll see you in the Pits, Nephilim.”
Aurelian plunged his runesword down.
The Vasiri died in silence.