When we departed, dawn had just begun.
We were all speedily leaving to get back to our houses in time; it would be a long day indeed, but one where all of Sundoor's Wastelands would celebrate.
From Sundoor itself to the smallest villages, they would celebrate to their heart's content.
It would likely be among the last of the warm days of the Flow Season as well, which meant that the temperature would start dropping during the months to come, the nights would become longer, and the days shorter.
The temperature always dropped considerably during the night, especially in Drylands territory. I often wondered how those nomad tribes survived when the temperature dropped so much below freezing in the north but especially to the west of Sundoor.
Maybe everyone had different methods to keep warm.
We lined our houses with pelts and Crystals; they might have something else to keep the warmth in, something I didn't know about.
The group going back to the village included Roana. M.J. did not consider this Festival part of her tradition and cultural heritage, so she did not take part in it, but Roana had been born with another culture before she had been taken in by Jane, and her mother had not restrained her from cultivating her beliefs.
Also, the last time she had been to Murkstall had been before the plague.
Faruq had also expressed the desire to come with us; he would only have to warn his father about it.
Even passing by Veinforge, we'd still get to Murkstall by lunch, and I would still find Harlow waiting for me there as we had agreed upon before I left.
I couldn't wait to see her, but I was sure that seeing that I had broken my clock-arm, she would get mad, even if likely just a little mad... No, really, she never got mad. She was a fountain of smiles; at least, she had always been so for Nova and me.
Anyway, I hoped I would get to wear another clock-arm, but it was unlikely that she had thought so far ahead to bring me a spare one. I was unbalanced without one, and even using my heavily tested Trick Shot transfer was not the same thing without my clock-arm weighing me in mid-air.
However, my current setup would have to suffice for the moment.
Tomorrow I could hope to get back to Logan and beg for a new bow and arrow. Of course, I would keep following Forms training, but I had been without an arrow to shoot for far too long now; I was growing restless.
I wanted my tactical superiority back.
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We reached Veinforge, and it was still early in the morning.
"I'll be back in a little while if you want to wait here; otherwise, come inside, but Dad will invite you for tea, and we'll definitely waste much more time that way," said Faruq.
Sincerely, the prospect of having to wait more time until I could see my Harlow did not sit well with me, so I did not even dare follow him in.
While we waited, Nova and Roana played with the still-unnamed cub.
The beautiful Golden Netherlion drew glances wherever I went, as it should be, but seemed to have bonded really well with all of the others, especially with Roana and my sister.
Meanwhile, though, the cub had taken an interest in the fish and Zap-trouts of the river. It was good; it meant that he was about to be ready to hunt, which meant that I could start training him.
"Why is he still not named?" Roana asked.
I shrugged. "I don't know, whatever Nova suggested has worked for me until now, but all the names she's suggesting don't really seem to fit him."
"What's wrong with Leo, and Champion, and Conqueror?" Nova asked, "or Rex, and Jax, or Marley? I just don't get it."
"Too common, monkey; at least Ronda was creative"
"Don't call me that!" she shouted back. "Besides, I called him that because it made me think of Roana."
"Am I a hound to you!?" Roana shouted back before starting to tickle her.
"No, let me go that's shameful!" Nova answered.
"I'll show you what's shameful!"
We laughed at Nova's expenses.
Ever since Faruq had joined us, Nova was trying to look and behave more like a woman; of course, there was a long way to go, but I didn't like that we were losing our brother-sister intimacy. Those phrases belonged to us.
In the end, no one followed Faruq to the village, and he was back out of Veinforge before the five minutes mark.
"It seems that the first economic exchanges started the other day," he said, coming back, "our villages have started trading, and the other villages around are starting to recognize Murkstall as an active village once again. There will likely be future exchanges with other nearby villages for you guys."
"Good." Murkstall was finally recovering his long-lost fortune.
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When we left from Veinforge's borders, we could hear Alistar starting to hum softly; he seemed really happy. And when we reached up to Treis, the village made up of mostly of fishermen, situated deep inside the lush thicket of forest amid the southwest mountain range where the Crabriver ran, Alistar's humming became almost a proper song.
"Kob," I said, jokingly massaging my temples, "You're hurting my ears, can't you hear the cub lamenting."
"Oh? Was I singing?" he said, failing to fake surprise.
"Yeah, you were, but singing is really not the right term, more like hitting our eardrums with a cudgel."
"You'll be singing in a while too; in the meanwhile, it's my turn. Oh! There she is!" Saying so, Alistar raised his arm to point to the river.
A fascinating green-scaled Koboldess was immersing herself in the river, she had a lance in hand and only a light shirt to cover for her sensible parts.
"Is that Lemmy?"
It was the name of the Koboldess Alistar had been courting ever since he healed from the Shade-plague, although she had been courting him since long before.
"Isn't she too cute for you, Alistar?" Asked Faruq.
"Yeah, but remember, I'm a star among all. No one can compare. See you guys! I'm going to surprise her."
"It’s surprising, he can even see her from here with his Perception,” said Roana, "but she seems really sweet."
"I just hope she's as weird as him. It would make for a nice pair," I noted.
"Why don't we go to meet her? He could have introduced us!" said Nova.
I chuckled at that, "Didn't you see how excited he was? He entirely forgot about us."
As we continued, I followed Alistar with my eyes, and although he failed to take her by surprise, she did really show him how much she had missed him, maybe a little too visually for us, so much so that I had to turn the other way, but I could feel Nova chuckle to herself while she looked at them.
I gave her a gentle slap behind the head, "Leave them some privacy, Peeping Tom!"
"They would have hidden somewhere if they wanted some privacy, and it's not like they are doing who knows what, it's just a kiss!" she gave me the tongue, then continued, "A kiss like that could be given to anyone, really, even somebody much younger than you; I bet they wouldn't mind." If that had not been a dig for Faruq, then my name was not Loke Nightfold.
"I don't know; that's much more than a kiss I could give to someone, especially someone that might have the age of a little sister," Faruq answered, surprising my expectations.
Nova did not utter any more words after that.
Although it was a harsh cut, I could not blame him; he likely had endured those digs ever since we started training. I was so thankful, though, that I could have kissed him right then and there.
I limited myself to give him a pat on the back.
I knew that Nova was growing and way too fast for my likings, but I just wished she didn't; I wanted her to remain my little sis for the rest of my life.
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Alistar rejoined us later, catching up to us just before we reached the area that would get us to the south-eastern Murkstall, where the graveyard was situated.
At that point, Nova had partially found her voice back, and when we reached Gramps' tomb, she brought him flowers we had collected along the way, then we headed back inside the village.
What was waiting for us were speedy preparations.
Although barely two weeks prior, the village had held a big celebration, the fact that we had the means to prepare another meant that they had been very active and that the trade was going really well.
I managed to see a couple of faces I didn't know talking with the villagers and a couple of more being accompanied by the mayor. They spoke with him about something that, from the looks of it, seemed rather urgent.
But in the end, the economic aspects of life were really not to my tastes; if it was something related to the village's defense, they would definitely come to talk to me. It didn't seem to be the case this time.
Or was it?
Because when everybody saluted me, and the mayor threw a look at me, he swiftly made a turn to the other side, grabbing the two people he was talking with from the shoulders, seemingly to distract them.
Something was going on, and because of his reaction, I feared it was related to the Night Hunter and the Inquisition.
I turned the other way and whispered to my companions. "I'm gonna catch up to you later, guys; I'll be going home first. It seems something's going on, and even though I have this hood on, my presence might not be ideal right now."
"'Right, you go, I'm gonna attract attention," said Alistar.
"Then I'm going to accompany Faruq and Roana to take a look around,” added Nova.
I skittered to my house right away, cub in my arm, and judging by how some of the villagers signaled to me to hide, I might have been exactly right about what was going on.
However, if anyone could recognize me that easily, hood and eyepatch were not having the effect we hoped for, then again, the Night Hunter did not have a cub, did he?
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
I thanked them with my hand and gave them Sun’s blessings then surreptitiously entered the house.
What I found inside after I closed the door was a surprised girl with only a white shirt and pants on and beautiful red curly hair; she was sipping radish juice while drawing something on a blueprint that covered my whole table.
"Harlow? Harlow!" I was joyous, no need to hide it.
She looked at me, brows shooting up, then she smiled, she quickly noticed the cub that I had put down on the ground; it was frightened of her.
"You’re finally here… but what is that? It's so cute!"
"Not as cute as you are."
At that, she opened her clock-arms wide to invite me in, and I did just that.
"Wait," she said, detaching from our kiss, "something's missing."
Then she almost tore my hood off.
Her gaze went to my clock-arm then back to me, "What happened to the arm I made you, Loke?"
That tone was indeed the one angry Harlow would use, "Oh, well… I kind of went a little overboard when the Titan appeared, and I kind of had to bring down an Avian ship, then stuff happened, but anyway! I'm fine, see? No need for other implants, right?" I managed to add a laugh at the end of that half-assed explanation, but she just went wide-eyed.
"And there I was protecting you, saying Dad that the stuff with the Titan and the Inquisition was not tied to you this time…" she shook her head, "You are a damn hurricane, Loke."
She fell silent for a couple of seconds, lowering her gaze, almost making me believe I had gone too far.
But then she raised her gaze and gave me a robust smile, "But you know what? I kind of like that part of you. You bring energy to my days, sometimes a little too much energy, but if you were not yourself, then I wouldn't… like you as much as I do."
"You almost killed me, Harlow," I let out a sigh of relief, then she grabbed my face and stamped many kisses on it.
"Come take a look. I've kind of remained here for a week as I worked on this."
"You did?"
"Yes, look!"
She pointed at the blueprints on the table, "I've never tried building a Flow-cart, so I'm mostly going on intuition here. However, I believe that we might need one of our own, no?"
I looked at her enthusiastically; a Flow-cart to our uses and needs would indeed speed things up greatly.
"This is a big Flow-cart. Is it for the preys?"
"For that and to transport an entire party of people, delvers move in groups after all."
Damn right they did, and we were getting closer to become proper delvers. We had even Promoted Skills at our disposition.
"But this will require a lot of things, and I mean really a lot of things, materials, chemicals, Crystals, Stones, how are we going to afford that?"
"Well, with time, and if we start hunting near the Fallen Kingdom, we will start gaining a lot of tech parts from the monsters there; however, it's still not finished, I need to work on it some more," she turned my head to herself, "in the meanwhile, why don't we work on us some more?"
At that point, the cub jumped on the table, demanding attention.
"What did you call this ball of fur?"
"Oh, I've still got to name it, I can't find the right one for him."
"It's a he then; uh? What about… Loki?"
"Loki? Loke and Loki?" Was she joking?
"Yeah, it's quite cute, don't you think?"
I thought about it, really thought about it, so much so that I went into a trance.
It actually wasn't bad; it wasn't bad at all.
"You know what? I think he's going to be called Loki."
"Really?"
"Yes."
She seemed shocked by how serious I was. "You know I was just joking with you, right?"
"I know, but I think it does really fit."
She started chuckling, and then her laugh slowly got louder, the cub growling to try and imitate her.
"Come here silly," she said, drying her eyes, "let me mount you an arm because then I need to mount you. By the way, I think you got taller again."
Mount my arm to mount me? It took me a while to realize it.
"Uh? Ooooh! Sure. Please, be my guest."
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It was later in the evening when the mayor came to look for me.
I dressed up a bit and got out; Edward, the mayor, took me under his arm, and we walked through the village at the pace of his limping.
"So, Loke, you've made a name for yourself, didn't you?"
"Did the Inquisition come over?" I replied with a sigh.
"They did, and they frisked through each of our houses. Thankfully, they seem to have gotten some new recruits with a little conscience in that sack of manure they have between their ears, so they did behave rather well."
I couldn’t help but laugh at that. However, the new recruits thing got me interested, but I let him speak.
"You laugh, but we hadn't received a visit from Sundoor since before the plague hit us, which makes me think that the new recruits might not only have a conscience but actually a thinking head between their ears. They were not even surprised when they found us healed."
"Anyway," he said, chasing away the thoughts with a wave of his hand, "They were looking for someone, a certain, and I quote, "Night Hunter," and for some reason, someone has pointed them here."
"Then, hypothetically speaking, if I was this Night Hunter, silly name by the way, what would the people say about me; what would be the word about me?"
"Oh, you want to know about what they say of the Night Hunter? Well, they are saying that he killed an entire Gnoll's encampment with his bare hands, ripped to pieces as if they had claws; it is said that he has sunk an Avian airship by himself, while in the middle of the sky, it is said that he did so just to kill the Titan that was rampaging in the forest, and it is also said that just to spite the Church of the Sun he killed a pious nun."
"What!? I did not kill the nun! She was alive when I left her!"
Edward smiled, "Yeah, I guessed so; I just added that last detail myself."
What a trickster this old man.
"Oh. Well, I might have been on the scene while it happened," I faked a bout of coughing.
"Right..."
"What? I might have seen him do it?"
"I've seen you lie to your grandfather dozens of times, young man," Edward shook his head amused. "Now go, have your well-earned rest. I just wanted to confirm, but just make sure you wear something more covering, especially to cover that face of yours; portraits are starting to arrive even here. They are not exactly spot on, but it's not actually an easy face to forget, with that eye and all."
I could understand the eye, but what was the "all" about? Was I ugly? No, I wasn't!
Was I? Damn that old man!
He had managed to make me nervous about my looks… Although Harlow did not seem to really care, and sincerely, it was all that mattered right now.
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It was one hour before twilight when we gathered to depart; we were not the only ones actually; there were a few more younglings that wanted to come with us, as well as Lem, Alistar's girlfriend.
Departing into a big group was not actually ideal, but who was I to deny these boys and girls, to have the fun they hadn't had in literally three years?
Three years spent in their sickbed, doing nothing but eating, pooping, and resting.
I might have been a captain figure for them, an example but I wasn't their father.
However, the Dump was not only ours. Monsters, homeless people, even Sundoorians went there to spend the time. It was everyone's; we just had to make sure to get out before trouble arose.
But leaving useless doubts apart, I had noticed something else, “Hey, is that armor new and a spear too?”
Alistar grinned, “Courtesy of your red-head,” he slightly bowed toward Harlow which walked by my side.
“It was my pleasure, Star. It should be able to grow with your body for a year or two, but if you are going through armor at the speed Loke is going through his clock-arms, I doubt it’ll last that long."
“Ouch,” Alistar said, looking at me.
“Ouch,” I repeated, much to Harlow’s amusement.
After that, we properly got to know Lem. She turned out to be really nice to talk to. She was Alistar's age and seemed to be as crazily singular as he was.
I couldn’t help but Trace Alistar’s new armor and spear, his old shield had been fixed long before.
> Grow-fit Kobold Armor
>
> Durability: 100%
>
> Bonus: Constitution + 35, Agility +5
>
> Shade Capacity: 100%
>
>
>
> Strengths: MoonSteel
>
> Weaknesses: Hinges might get stuck if outgrown, while overheated, or covered in frost
>
>
>
> This Kobold Armor has been produced by a Tinker Class with amazing Clock-technician Skills that go well beyond their levels. Its defense is the best MoonSteel can offer. It has five sockets for Crystals, one of which triggers the armor’s helmet automatic folding.
>
> It is highly resistant to Flow-based explosion and fares well against Shade generated frost.
>
>
> MoonSteel Long Spear
>
> Durability: 100%
>
> Bonus: Strength + 25, Agility + 5
>
> Shade Capacity: 100%
>
>
>
> Strengths: Great attack potential and a nice amount of Crystal sockets
>
> Weaknesses: None
>
>
>
> This Long Spear has been produced by a Tinker Class with amazing Clock-technician Skills that go well beyond their levels. Its attack is really high, while, at the same time, its lightness makes its attacks faster than expected. It is made entirely out of MoonSteel and has four sockets for Crystals or Stone reserves.
>
>
“Damn, Star. You are officially better equipped than me.”
“Always was, always will be,” he grinned.
I couldn’t help but give him a pat on the shoulders that, with my Strength, sent his unbalanced gait to almost fall on the ground.
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We departed with a group of almost twenty people, among which there was our group, Harlow and Lem.
There were a couple of pets among us too. We finally had the resources to form Tamers again. Pets were a blessing for hunting, guarding the farms, and keeping us company as well.
It was not uncommon for people to have remained without families, alone as the only survivor of the plague.
Many kids who survived their parents due to the Constitution burst of the easy first few levels had remained alone, practically all of them had joined us. Before the plague, such trips were done as a show of courage.
Kids will be kids.
The trip to the southern Dump was a relatively short one from Murkstall.
Keeping a steady pace, we could arrive there in a little more than an hour of march.
So, when we got there, it was night, but we had torches to lead the way, and most importantly, numbers, to scare away Shadelings.
At night there were quite a lot of Shadelings, but not remotely enough to scare me anyway.
I had yet to get myself a bow and arrows, but Harlow had mounted a new clock-arm on my shoulder implant; it was an exact copy of the one that had gotten destroyed. It was a good thing, especially due to the weight and the balance I had learned to keep.
When we entered the Dump's outskirts, I could already see mischiefs of Dire-rats moving like swarms. They were ready to intercept us, but we were ready to respond.
Two of the youths that had come with us were Hunters, but the plague had made Fighters, Warriors, and Tinkers, out of the rest. Constitution played a big role in their upbringing.
Anyway, our setup would be overkill, especially with my party of five, well, six counting Harlow, as assurance.
Needless to say, we wiped the rats out, letting the few that remained escape.
To take no chances, we hurried to the clock-tower, and I helped up the few villagers that really had no semblance of ability to climb the building.
Every one of the youths who came with us was surprised by my transfer ability, but when the excitement settled down, we were finally ready for the show to begin.
"They are going to start with the Avian ships," I heard Nova say to Roana, "they will leave trails of colored fire as they pass all around the city and form beautiful shapes. It's… incredible, really."
Roana had seen the spectacle only from the top of the treehouse's tree.
But not only were we much closer now but also all together. It would be a magical night.
"Woah..." she let out a whimper as the ships whizzed at full power around the City's skies. Their trails magically expanding in the air and reaching eve up to the closest Dump and giant dry rocks that littered the area around the City.
After the Avian airships show was time for fireworks.
The batteries were almost always placed in the same pattern, year after year.
The giant rocks were used as coordinates and as hiding places for the firework batteries in a secure location, so neither monsters nor people would steal or break them.
They exploded arrhythmically, then every now and then seemed to follow a rhythm. However, now my Perception was much more trained than last year. It made me realize that what gave it rhythm were our eyes and ears that grew less able to follow the succession of flashes and explosions.
Harlow's finger interweaved with mine. We looked at each other, smiling.
When finally, the beautiful lights in the sky that had us all gawk and shriek ended, it was time for the highlight of the event.
It could be nothing else but the giant pillar of light that every now and again bisected the skies, rising up tall from the City's center.
Usually, it was nothing else but an instantaneous flash, lasting a couple of seconds, but it was different during the Festivals.
It stayed longer, and its effects were a marvel.
When the light pillar hit the heavens, the slightly clouded sky was perforated, the clouds ceased to exist, then the light ray, like a heartbeat, started pulsing. They disappeared and reappeared, then they grew increasingly faster, they became so fast that it reminded me of the flutter of a Boom-sparrow's wings.
At that point, the sky started answering it.
The very heavens freed lights into the night's sky, beautiful lights of green, blue, silver, magenta, purple, and they thundered into the night until the whole sky exploded in a glorious electrical tempest. The sheer power of that electrical storm made us understand how small we were, not only in comparison to the vast world but even compared to Sundoor.
It gave us hope, it made us see the city in a different light, but at the same time, it reminded us how of little consequence we were against their might.
The City could control the heavens, the rain itself judging by how prosperous it was in contrast to the Wastelands around it, and its pillars of light seemed to reach the height of the very Moon, even surpass it.
What were we, if not insects trying to get too close to such a fire? If we were not careful, we would burn and turn into cinders.
And yet, I had high hopes for us. For some reason, that night, with all the people I loved near me and with a growing name that invoked the presence of the very Inquisition, I felt that there was still hope for me, for us, to change our futures for the better and become the sand storm that would overturn the mountain that was Sundoor's imperocracy.