Having fully revealed the truth of his life, and not the assumed one where he received memories from Void Relics when young, Ezekiel felt a weight be lifted from his shoulders. Even as a different sense of dread settled in his stomach, one that wasn’t an omen.
“So... That's the full truth.” Ezekiel was hunched over in his seat as he finished speaking. “I hope that this doesn’t change things for us, but I’ll understand if-”
A warm body tackling him backwards stopped Ezekiel in his tracks. His words got caught in his mouth and nearly choked on his tongue as his head hit the ground.
“It changes nothing! You’re still the man who saved me, and that’s all that matters.” Riley curled up on Ezekiel’s chest as Celia flew over to land on her partner. “The only thing this means, is that I now understand how you’re so strong, and how you know so many different things.”
A flood of relief filled Ezekiel, and the incoming dread dispersed as he found himself growing warm and fuzzy. Then hot, and searing.
“Hot! Hot! Too hot!” Ezekiel cried our as Riley’s emotions affected her mana. Blue flames began covering her body as she held onto Ezekiel even tighter.
‘It’s times like these that I’m glad I don’t have a body like other Spirits.’ Shine was incredibly smug as they silently laughed at their partner’s expense. On top of Riley, Celia also smirked in amusement. The story had no effect on her, other than solving the question of how Ezekiel knew so much.
Unfortunately, for Ezekiel, Riley wasn’t listening as she held onto him. So, deciding to fight fire with fire, or Void in this case, Ezekiel released his [Nothingness] and caused the flames to dissipate.
For a little while, the two laid on the ground doing nothing, with Ezekiel holding Riley as she held him. Before, finally, the two broke apart and looked at each other. Breaking out into laughter a few seconds later, the two rolled apart while holding hands and chuckling.
“Thank you...” Ezekiel finally felt fully welcome in this world. “You don’t know how much this has been weighing on my mind for years now.”
“I can’t even imagine.” Riley muttered as she looked at Ezekiel. “... Do you ever miss your old life?”
Ezekiel was silent and turned to the sky before answering.
“No, not anymore. I used to, but it’s been so long now. I’ve been in this world for over a year longer than I lived in my previous world.” Ezekiel rolled over and held Riley once more. “Since I was aware for all those years as well, that means that I’ve actually lived longer on this world.”
“Good. I wouldn’t want you longing for something and leaving me behind.”
Ezekiel winced, which Riley noticed, so he explained the time difference that was included in the barrier that the Ancient Void placed around the world. The ultimate magic, which was used to give Eldramir as much time as possible to save itself.
“I see... Then I guess we both know what needs to happen.” Riley smiled. It was sad, but also full of hope and certainty. “We’ll just need to reach Tier seven. The sooner, the better.”
Ezekiel mirrored her smile. Her confidence being contagious, but also recognizing the struggles and dangers that they would need to experience before they could reach that level of power.
“Well... For now, we can think about that tomorrow. The world has apparently changed since we entered that Ancient Legacy. We need to find out how much and how bad.” The sigh Ezekiel let out carried a massive amount of frustration and wariness. “So, first things first, finding civilization, and then my family so that we can catch up and figure out our next steps.”
Riley nodded in agreement, and the two made their way to their shared shelter. Shine and Celia would keep watch until it was time for them to leave.
For now, the two Hunters needed their rest.
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Flying through the night sky, clear with no clouds in sight, Ezekiel was barely able to map out a rough route for them to take as he stared at the stars. Both directly above, and off into the horizon. Figuring out their possible location, the Hunter duo found several islands on their way.
Though Ezekiel knew that they had been lucky when, after flying for nearly a full day, they only just landed on an island before running out of mana.
“We need to make a change of plans. A raft will be required if we want to continue.” Ezekiel muttered as he looked out into the island. “Given the size of this island, we’ll be able to take down a few trees and make what we need. But it’ll still be difficult since we don’t have any actual building supplies.”
“Will we need to worry about the island’s Spirit Ruler's?” Riley gazed into the distance. It was quiet, but that meant nothing in the long term. “It wouldn’t be a good thing if we pissed off the Spirits on the island.”
“Hmm...” Ezekiel agreed, of course, but knew that they couldn’t keep risking it if they wanted to get any closer to their destination. “We’ll rest for a bit, then scout out the island. From there, we’ll figure out how we can appease the Ruler of this region. Given its size, this island should only have maybe three of four Rulers in total. Not counting any Glacial Spirits that are living underwater.”
The pair lowly set up a shelter once more. This time in full, since they wouldn’t have to worry about leaving right away, and hopefully not with angry Spirits chasing them either.
After resting for several hours, the two donned their Spirit Armor and flew toward the center of the island. They made no attempt to hide themselves, but also didn’t flare their mana. Instead, they naturally allowed the different Spirits of the island to sense where they were and their power level, so that said Spirits could come up to the Hunters as they wished.
However, as another hour passed by, and no Legendary Spirits approached them, it was apparent that there was a problem that neither of the Hunter's was aware of.
“Could this island just not have any Spirit Ruler's?” Riley asked Ezekiel as they came to a stop in the dead center of the island. “That’s a possibility, isn’t it?”
“A low one, maybe...” Ezekiel narrowed his eyes as he looked toward the ground. “But I’ve been spreading my senses far and wide. There aren’t any Adept level Spirits in any of the areas we’ve passed over either.”
Riley’s eyes widened, as her senses weren’t as well attuned for checking such things. So, it wasn’t something she had noticed. She had just assumed that the Spirits that were weaker than them were hiding. Not many Spirits actively went against more powerful beings by choice, after all.
“What are the odds that a Tier two Spirit would be able to tell us anything?” She asked as she started looking for one below the tree line. “Should we try to find out what happened here, or just make the raft and get going?”
“The latter.” The certainty in Ezekiel’s voice made Riley pause. “There’s no point in searching for answers here, since this happened as we got closer to what should be our destination. The sooner we reach a human-controlled island, the sooner we’ll get our answers. The raft will help with that.”
Riley nodded in understanding. So, with that in mind, the pair set out to put together a raft that would act as their resting point moving forward.
It ended up taking several days, and the raft they made wasn’t exactly a beautiful piece of art, but it was held together well enough. Mostly due to some makeshift wood-joints and tree resin glue. Along with several ropes that they had on hand in their Void Pouches.
“Well, hopefully it doesn’t fall apart on us in the open sea.” Riley muttered as she looked at the fairly large raft that they had made from several dozen logs.
“So long as we don’t run into any storms, we should be fine.” Ezekiel immediately winced as he said it, since he knew he’d just taunted fate.
The fact that they ran into a storm just a few days later, and he was forced to fly up, with the raft, to avoid getting wrecked by the massive waves and maelstrom winds proved him right.
But after another week of travelling, and getting turned around more than once, Ezekiel and Riley finally found an island that had remnants of buildings and civilizations.
As well as a large number of massive and sickly-looking mushrooms that seemed to be surrounding a familiar organic structure that was reaching for the sky in the distance.
“Oh no...”
“By the Ancients...”
‘What the hell happened here!?’ Shine’s outburst was the loudest, even if only Ezekiel heard it. ‘I thought that the Rot was on the other side of the world! How did it make its way into the Archipelago?’
Ezekiel had no answer, and he and Riley just floated in the sky, wordless as they stared.
Both Hunters were shocked and dismayed to see what had happened here. Especially so far away from the Desolate Lands that covered the Archipelago and the Seas it existed in.
“Do you recognize this island?”
Ezekiel shook his head at Riley’s question. “I barely remember the islands I visited while living on Sanafalls. Let alone the hundreds of islands I never set foot on.”
Looking into the distance while remaining in the sky offshore, Ezekiel turned to the Spine that was growing in the distance. “For now, I want to take care f that, then we can see if there are any survivors on this island. This island is too big for there not to be at least a couple more cities.”
He stared sadly at the broken structures that were once a port city. The massive walls that protected it now nothing more than rubble sticking up from the ground. The last remnants of the city, beyond the broken buildings overgrown with fungal monstrosities.
“How will you do that?” Riley asked.
Ezekiel held up a hand and a black [Void Pane] appeared above his hand. Clasping his fist, the incomplete [Void Gate] disappeared from existence.
Riley nodded in surprise. She hadn’t known that Ezekiel and Shine had figured out how to weaponize that spell yet. Not reliably, at least.
Flying over to the sky above the Spine, Riley stayed far away, since the miasma was too much for her. She estimated that, even with her better grip on her mana, she’d only last an hour or so, without casting spells, before she ran out of mana.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Creating a much larger [Void Gate] Ezekiel turned it sideways and flung it toward the Spine from above. It fell like a comet, and half the Spine simply disappeared inside it. There was no displacement, as Ezekiel created a pseudo-space, similar to what the Void Pouches used, and forced the Spine to enter into a stretched-out space that was separate from the space in front of the [Void Gate].
‘We really need to brush up on Void Pouch creation. If regular non-Void Scholars can make them with Runes lift by the Ancients, then we should be able to make something better.’ Shine complained as they watched the [Void Gate] Ezekiel threw down begin to waver, before finally collapsing.
‘Agreed. But that will come later. When we get back to Sanafalls.’ Ezekiel’s reply was filled with worry, as there was no possible way that Sanafalls hadn’t gotten involved in whatever was happening in the Archipelago.
He didn’t have time to think about it, however, as the top half of the Spine was crunched as Space contracted in on itself. The spell failing and the destructive force overwhelming the Spine’s defenses. With little to no flying Cruor, it was surprisingly easy to take them out. Unlike in the war for Harkem.
Though, the cost of the spell itself was not low, and Ezekiel would have to take some time to recover before they could move out again.
Yet, as the resulting explosion revealed a pool of Ichor near the ground, Ezekiel got an idea.
‘You know that this is a terrible plan, right? Shouldn’t we be trying to breakthrough with another enlightenment?’ The Void Spirit knew full well that using Ichor to improve would speed things up for them considerably. But it wasn’t exactly the safest way to do things. Especially since they wouldn’t have a controlled environment to do it in.
‘Given what we expect to run into, can we really expect a safe and controlled environment to be found in the near future?’ Despite his words, Ezekiel was having second thoughts.
“Ezekiel!” Riley’s voice cut through his mind, and he turned toward her. She was still floating in the distance. “Let’s go! Before we get swarmed by spore pods!”
Looking forlornly at the pool on the ground, Ezekiel shook his head. Shine was right. They could try that method later. When they had finished getting answers.
“Thank you.” Ezekiel said as he and Riley flew away.
“For what?” She gave him a look of confusion.
“... Nothing important...”
She continued to stare at him for a few moments, but after they got a bit further away, she shrugged, and let the topic drop.
The two continued to fly in silence, heading toward the other side of the island. The left the area that was still filled with the now thinning miasma.
Only to nearly be struck down by a large number of Legendary Spirits that attacked them from seemingly nowhere. Neither of the Hunter’s senses having given them a warning.
Though, given that the attacks were clearly meant to disable, not kill, was likely the only reason Ezekiel’s danger sense hadn’t flared up any more than the constant state that it had been in for the last few weeks.
“Oof!” He and Riley both grunted in surprise as they impacted on the ground. They were then wrapped up in stone coffins that covered everything but their faces.
Now that his enemies weren’t hidden by whatever it was that was keeping them from his senses, Ezekiel could tell that the spell that held him and Riley was a composite one. With at least two Legendary Hunter's fueling the spell. The Spirit Armor clad Legendaries had appeared a moment after the Spirit's in the sky had knocked the pair down.
A pair of armor-clad boots crunched along the ground, and Ezekiel could see that it was a man in blue Spirit Armor. A Legendary Glacial Hunter with his helmet off, one that wore a sash that Ezekiel recognized as being a part of one of the larger Guilds in the Archipelago, though he couldn’t remember the name, approached them.
“Well, well, well. Looks like we got a couple of traitorous vermin coming back to...” The Hunter trailed off as he looked at Ezekiel more closely. “A Void Hunter! But there’s only one...”
Ezekiel decided he didn’t need to deal with this right now. So, by flexing his mana and his muscles, he utilized his many [Understandings] to break out of his temporary prison. Shattered stone and dust flew everywhere, and the Cavern Hunter's flinched at the backlash of their spells failing.
Riley did something similar, and melted the stone that held her, changing it to something that the Cavern Hunter's couldn’t easily control like before.
“Yes. I am a Void Hunter. The one and only Legendary Void Hunter at that. Now, can someone please tell me what’s going on?” Ezekiel didn’t back down, even as the other Hunters readied themselves for a fight. He knew he couldn’t win, but he could certainly grab Riley and run away. “Given that I just destroyed the Spine over yonder, I’d think a bit of appreciation would be warranted. Unless you’re members of the Cult of Light, though I’m assuming you’re not, since you have yet to try and kill me for being a Void Mage.”
The Hunter's all grew outraged at Ezekiel insinuation.
“We ain’t members of those blasted traitors to the world!” One of the Cavern Hunter's called out.
“That’s enough!” The Glacial Hunter called out. “The rest of yah, get out here!”
Several more Legendary Hunter's appeared, and Ezekiel was glad that he hadn’t made any worse moves than he already had.
He also noted the Obscure Hunter, whose shadow the other Hunter's had stepped out of, and the cloud in the sky that was perfectly resting over them. Extending the shadow’s reach.
A moment later, a Tempest Hunter clad in Spirit Armor descended as well. Making a total of seven Legendary Hunter's now standing across from Ezekiel and Riley. As well as half a dozen Legendary Spirits that were now floating down from where they’d been hidden higher up. Most of which were Flame Spirits.
Somewhat of a surprising thing to see in the Archipelago, but it would only be expected to have as many Flame users move to a Rot battlefield as possible.
Seeing the sheer numbers they were facing, Ezekiel forced himself to hold back from making a move. Beside him, he could sense that Riley was in a similar state.
“Perhaps we should discuss things away from enemy lines.” Slowly waving a hand behind him, Ezekiel sent [Void Cuts] at the dozen or so Rot Cruor that were running toward them. They were casually cut to ribbons and died without a sound.
Riley did much the same, with little needles made of blue Flames that set even more Rot alight and spread fire throughout the Cruor’s side of the battle line within the miasma not far away.
Looking at the casual carnage that Ezekiel and Riley had wrought with mere waves of their hands, and not knowing just how much mana that display took, the Glacial Hunter stared for a moment before turning back to his once prisoners.
“Agreed. I will escort you to our rear base, while the rest remain to stop any incursions from the Rot.” There were no complaints from anyone, even as the apparent captain looked them all over.
With that said and done, the trio of Hunters set out, with Ezekiel and Riley following the Glacial Hunter back to civilization. At least, to what was left of it on this island.
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By the time the Hunters had arrived at the fortress town that had been reinforced and supplied on the far end of the island, Ezekiel had gotten a better idea of what was going on.
Due to the incredible scarcity of the Rot outside their respective territory, few regions were as well prepared for a sudden attack by a biological weapon. Outside of Quintessa, Ezekiel wasn't sure that any faction had a means of fighting if off other than killing it with fire.
“How did they get here, if you don’t mind my asking?” Ezekiel tried to keep himself calm, but he knew that the concern he felt was evident in his voice.
“Have you ever been on one of the Archipelago’s living ships?” The Glacial Hunter asked.
“No, but I have seen them before.” Ezekiel recalled an instance, just in passing, when he saw a large ship with massive leaves for sails that was docked at one of the islands he had visited in the past. “I wouldn’t have ever thought that the Rot could make a fungal ship, let alone know how to sail in waters with Spirit Ruler's in them.”
“Usually, they wouldn’t, but it seems like the Deep Cruor were gathering their forces. A large number of our border islands were hit, both inside and outside the edge of the Desolate Lands.” The Glacial Hunter sighed in melancholic remembrance. “It was bad. Each boat had at least a dozen Legendary Rot inside it, and once they made landfall in a hidden area, they almost instantly set up dens that became impossible to uproot.”
Ezekiel and Riley shivered at the thought. Even after several months of diving into Rot dens and clearing them out, they could never get used to it.
“Hopefully the destruction of the Spine will mean that the Cruor will let up a little it.” Riley muttered. “What island is this, if you don’t mind me asking?”
The Glacial Hunter turned to look at them in what Ezekiel assumed was confusion. Though, his now donned helmet covered most of his expression, so it was hard to tell.
“This is Naramoor; the Isle of Ores.”
Ezekiel immediately recognized the name, though it wasn’t the island that he had last met members of this particular Guild on. It was one of the central mining islands and supplied nearly a tenth of the Archipelago’s processed metal. Which also explained the abundant number of Cavern Mages.
He had been here before, however, and would be able to chart a rough course to Sanafalls. Though, it would take at least another week before they got there. Which would only be possible if they had a boat and crew. Unfortunately, the fastest route would mean at least three days at sea, even for Legendary Hunter's. Which they just couldn't afford to do at this point. Even with their raft.
Before the topic could be broached, however, it seemed like they were now approaching a city. This one was much more put together than the one that was within the area controlled by the Cruor. The walls weren’t pristine, but they were clearly rugged and sturdily built.
In the distance, Ezekiel could also see several large stone towers poking out of the water. Massive chains strung up between them. It appeared as though there was fighting going on as well. If the rough water Ezekiel saw when he focused was anything to go by.
Descending on the outskirts, the Void and Flame duo examined the state of the Hunter's and Mages that were guarding the city walls. It seemed like they were relatively well equipped, but it was obvious that they were tired.
From what he could tell, there hadn’t been any attacks in a while, but Ezekiel knew what it was like to be on constant alert. Even if the enemy wasn’t in sight. Especially against the Rot, whose spores were often invisible and nearly traceless.
The fact that Riley hadn’t dropped the thin layer of flames that covered her body was proof of the necessary paranoia.
“When was the last time your guards caught a break, if you don’t mind me asking?” Ezekiel continued to look over the guards that were watching in the distance.
One, in particular, caught his attention. An Adept Glacial Mage that looked incredibly pale and sickly. With red veins bleeding into his eyes. A symptom he recognized from his time in Quintessa.
“A week. When the last attack happened. The Rot managed to tunnel right up to the edge of the city walls. Over there.” The man pointed into the distance, where there was a large hole in the ground next to the wall. “We think we managed to clear out most of the spores and pods that grew, and the city has been running purification enchantments non-stop. It mostly works, but it’s not perfect.”
“Indeed.” Ezekiel broke off from the group and walked toward the guard he had seen earlier. “Greetings. I am the Legendary Void Hunter.”
His words caused a great deal of confusion in the guards that were surrounding the one he was targeting, but as the man seemed to collapse onto the ground and begin convulsing, their confusion turned to anger. Each one drew their weapons, even though none of the were Legendary like Ezekiel was.
“What did you do!?” One guard yelled but was forced back as the man that collapsed suddenly shot up and screamed.
It was an utterly inhuman noise, and was horribly similar to the shrill, rattling cry of the Rot when they attacked en masse. The other guards reared back as the fallen one charge at Ezekiel. His features twisted as the veins in his body bulged. Now black and blue as his flesh began to decay at a rate similar to that of a higher Tier Death Magic.
Ezekiel just released his [Nothingness], and the Rotten Thrall stumbled as he reached forward and caught it by the neck. The other guards looked shocked and horrified.
“All of you! To the purification enchantments. Now!” The guards looked scared and confused. “If you don’t want this to happen to you, then go get purified, now!”
The second order got them moving. They were nearly tripping over their own feet as they rushed back to the wall. None of them even bothered to pay any attention to the Legendary Hunter that had brought Ezekiel and Riley to the city.
“What the hell is that!?” The man asked when he finally stopped stared in open mouthed shock.
“This,” Ezekiel shook the Rotten Thrall, before snapping its neck and letting it drop, before Riley immediately lit it on fire, burning it to ashes in an instant, “was a Rotten Thrall. They only appear after a Mage, or Hunter, goes for at least a week without treatment after being infected by Rot Spores. Sometimes they lay in wait as well. Unless I’m nearby. The Cruor hate me, though for good reason.”
Ezekiel couldn’t keep the vicious smirk off his face as he thought of all the Cruor he had killed in combat. “You need to figure out a daily rotation for your city guards. Most cities in Quintessa have the necessary enchantments to ensure that there is no risk of infection upon return to designation purification sites. But since yours are mostly makeshift and roughshod, there’s a chance that they won’t work properly every time. Only a proper check by a Life Mage is properly sufficient otherwise, but I’m assuming those are scarce right now.”
This was information that had been drilled into Riley and Ezekiel’s heads within the first few weeks of their time in Quintessa. So, they were more than capable of telling what were, and weren’t, up to par when it came to fighting the Rot.
For his part, the Glacial Hunter just remained still as he seemed to be in shock.
“For the moment, while we need passage to Sanafalls, we can probably spare at least a week or so to help you out.” Ezekiel looked to Riley to make sure she was okay with this.
A nudge from Shine also let him know what his Spirit thought. A week wasn’t long enough. Something Riley seemed to agree with, without any prompting.
She shook her head before replying. “We might need to stay here longer than that. Especially if we’ll be leaving before clearing the island.”
“True. I guess we can stay for a month. With the Spine gone, we’ll be able to push further in. Once we get these folks some proper masks.” Plans and schematics for different pieces of equipment filled Ezekiel’s brain. “I hope your forges are ready. We’re going to need them.
He patted the Glacial Hunter on the shoulder before moving on toward the city gates.
They were back in civilization and, as per the usual scenario for them, there was work to be done.