Chapter 82: Temperament
Doing his best to suppress a rush of powerful emotions that were atypical for his usually dispassionate self, Alex watched on with a growing sense of relief as, slowly, but with increasing rapidity, one adventurer after the next either regained consciousness or managed to sit up in their medical cot with an exhausted-sounding groan. Many were darting their heads around the tent as though confused or unaware of where they currently were. This was not surprising considering that a number of them had been totally unconscious upon their return here to the raid camp. Thankfully, even those with the most life-threatening injuries were showing clear signs that they were beginning to pull through. Be it an act of the Gods or an act of luck, it was starting to look like no one would end up dying today after all. Tomorrow, however, would likely be a very different story. But there’d be time enough to worry about that later today. For now, Alex did what he could to oversee the treatment of his guild-members, assisting Kesten wherever possible.
“How long was I out?” Spider asked, rubbing his face groggily then ripping an IV out of his massive forearm even without permission from Kesten. “Last thing I remember was the sky turning dark, and the kid, he was…he was doing some real wild shit.”
“That was a very short while ago,” Alex said. “You’re one of the first to wake up, actually. You’ve only been here around ten minutes.”
“No kidding?” he asked. Shirtless, he felt around his body, likely for any signs of the numerous lacerations he’d sustained. Finding only smooth, undamaged, and unscarred skin, he said, “Wow, I’m guessing you used a couple of the stones on me, huh?”
Alex nodded. “Two reds, actually—courtesy of Zephyr Vextran.”
An approving grin popped onto his face. “I’ll need to give him my thanks in person whenever I see him. Zach too, actually. Say, where’s he at, anyway?”
“No clue,” Alex said with a shrug. “But as soon as I’m done here, I intend to go speak with him. We’re overdue for a very long chat. I’ll probably have to wait my turn behind Kalana, though. I know she went out just now looking for him.”
“I don’t remember much about what happened,” Spider said, “but I get the feeling it was a bit out of the ordinary, huh?”
Alex’s breath caught in his throat and a chill traveled down his spine. It was to the extent that he actually had to take a moment to still his nerves as he thought back to what he had witnessed. Those damage numbers. That ability. He’d known from Fluffles’ appraisal that this day was going to come sooner or later, but not even in his wildest dreams had he expected it to be to this extent, let alone this soon. And that was after taking into account the fact that he, unlike the others, had actually come to eventually believe every word of what Fluffles had said.
“Zach stronger than Donovan,” were the words that Fluffles had said to him—to them all. He’d said it plainly and clearly right there in Angelica’s. “Zach stronger than all GSG combine.”
An uncharacteristic nervousness came upon him as he vividly recalled seeing the damage numbers that had popped up in front of one of the shredded mobs. Though the world had been pitch-black, the light from Zach’s blade had illuminated it clearly enough so that Alex could easily discern the result of each and every strike. And he was positive: one-hundred-percent certain that Zach had been unleashing attacks hitting in the hundreds of millions, and in one particular case, he was sure that he saw a strike land for a billion damage.
For such a staggering, unthinkable thing to be possible at all was terrifying all on its own, but for this power to be in the hands of a seventeen-year-old boy who had absolutely no appreciation of how to responsibly wield it…Alex really needed to keep a much closer watch on him from now on. With the sole exception of the dragon, this was likely now the most important issue that he’d ever have to deal with.
Having pointed numerous young adventurers down the same path as Zach—as he himself had once been pointed—Alex was under no illusion that it was anything but a brutal trial by fire in which many new adventurers did not survive. For this reason, around fifty years ago, the adventuring guilds had broken a millennia’s worth of tradition and created the “Rites of Initiation,” a sort of training program in order to give new, young adventurers some very basic knowledge and skills to help them survive. But not all guilds agreed with the practice, with the GSG in particular being opposed to it. Therefore, in following the same tradition that he himself had been inducted into, Alex had given Zach a few gold and turned him loose.
But only now was it really, truly sinking in: only now did he really understand how wrong he had been.
What he’d done, in essence, was kick a traumatized boy to the curb, only so that, due to sheer chance and bad luck, he would then go off to become further traumatized by all the violence, evil, and cruelty the world had to offer. And now…now he was coming into possession of a power so great that it was only a matter of time before he was indistinguishable from an actual God.
“Alex?” Spider asked. “You okay?”
“I’m fine,” he replied with a sigh, putting Zach out of mind, at least for the moment. “Just lost in my thoughts, sorry. At any rate, you should be good as new. And yes, make sure you thank Zephyr when you get the chance. You’re not the only one to benefit from his generosity.”
“I see…”
Thanks to the many years of friendship and the extraordinary bond that Donovan shared with Zephyr, the Explorers Brigade had been willing to loan the God Slayers Guild nearly half of the rejuvenation stones that they had in guild storage, as not even the GSG’s entire emergency supply had been enough to mend the thrashing that almost thirty of them had taken. Alex had even resorted to using his coveted light stone on himself, something he’d been holding onto for a very long time.
Now, as several more minutes passed in this large, rectangularly shaped tent that had been established as a designated infirmary for the upcoming fight with Ziragoth, just shy of half of the wounded were back to full strength, Alex included. The rest would be up and about within another hour.
Thank the Gods for the rejuvenation stones, he thought. What would we have done without them?
The miracle of the stones never ceased to amaze Alex. When used on a high-level adventurer with enough constitution to enable passive HP regeneration, an hour or two was all that was ever needed to return from near death to top-fighting form. Unfortunately, they were incredibly difficult to come by, and having exhausted their supply before the battle with Ziragoth had even begun, Alex was naturally worried about how they’d tend to their wounded tomorrow—when the real fighting would begin in earnest. Even in his most optimistic of calculations, they would not have enough stones to save all those who’d be critically injured, which meant that picking and choosing who lived and died was inevitably going to take place. He was not looking forward to that.
The GSG is down to two purples and a yellow, he thought anxiously. That’s all we’ve got left now.
There were four types of stones in existence—or at least four types that were known to exist. The most common, yet still incredibly valuable, was the red stone. On its own, a single red rejuvenation stone would typically repair all tissue damage and regrow limbs as well as other non-vital organs. Yet, given the beating some of their members had taken, more than one had been required for a number of them.
Donovan, for example, had required three. It wasn’t that one by itself wouldn’t suffice, but rather, the difference between one and three—at least in his case—meant recovering in half an hour versus spending a week or more in a hospital. Passive HP regeneration could only go so far, and the more serious the injury, the less effective it was at expediting recovery. Given that he was leading the entire raid, having him out of commission tomorrow was not an option, and getting him back on his feet was well worth the sacrifice. But to be clear, it had been a big sacrifice. Because in addition to the reds, Donovan had also needed two of the yellows and a purple as well.
The yellow rejuvenation stones were rarer than the reds, and they were used to resupply any vital resources the body had depleted, which could include: blood, spinal fluid, and even brain cells in the event of serious head trauma. They could also repair connectivity between nerves and other organs. And for non-trauma related issues, such as incorrect heart pacing, autoimmune disease, viral and bacterial infection, and other types of misfires, a yellow was the only option. Insomuch as it pertained to Donovan, he’d lost a lot of blood and had sustained major nerve damage, which meant one had not been enough.
Lastly, the rarest type of stone—other than a light stone—was the purple rejuvenation stone. A purple stone was the only stone capable of curing cancer, cleansing severe and life-threatening toxins, and regrowing or repairing vital organs such as the heart, liver, kidneys, etc. Based on a quick MRI performed by Kesten, he’d made the determination that Donovan’s recovery required a purple stone due to damage inflicted to his heart and lungs.
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Even considering how badly Donovan had been roughed up, Alex had still likely been the most grievously injured of all of them. And yet, he had nevertheless been the very first to recover: taking no longer than twenty seconds. This was because he’d had something the others did not: a light stone. The shape of an oval, the appearance of a diamond, and about large enough to cover your palm, it was the rarest of all stones. And after five years of keeping it around for an emergency, he’d finally had to use it. Unlike the other stones, the light stone combined the effects of the red, yellow, and purple stones, and no matter the extent of the injury, a single light stone was all that was ever required.
At any rate, while he’d miss the feeling of security that came with having one of those around, he decided not to dwell on its loss and instead focus on just being grateful that he was still alive—and that his guild-mates were still alive, too. With each passing moment, more and more of the GSG were recovering, and now, Alex was glad to see that Donovan looked to be the next to rise, as his snoring had abruptly cut off, and he was making an exaggerated grunt.
I should head over to him, Alex thought. We really need to talk…
Carefully navigating his way across the tent so as not to accidentally bump into any medical equipment, Alex headed to the opposite end of the infirmary where the GSG leader was now rubbing his face and his eyes while lying in the cot. The moment Alex approached, Donovan immediately turned his head and met his eyes, which meant he was lucid even though he’d only just awakened. With a curt nod, Alex took a seat on a chair that was across from the cot. Then he leaned over and shuttered the blue curtains that separated one bed from the next and served as the only semblance of privacy to be found in here.
“Fuck,” grunted Donovan, slowly sitting up in his cot and massaging his temples like someone with a hangover. “That sure was something, huh, Alex?”
Although Alex and Donovan were as far apart as two people could possibly be personality-wise, Alex had always held such great admiration for his guild-leader, and the events of today were a perfect example of why. Despite being in a state that had very much fit the definition of “mortally wounded,” Donovan had soldiered on until the very moment they’d gotten the last wounded member of the GSG into a medical cot. It was only then that he had allowed himself to be treated, collapsing into an immediate coma-like state, but only after insisting that he be the last to receive any of the stones.
Truth be told—and this was not intended as an insult, however insulting it might sound—but in Alex’s honest, genuine assessment of the man, he took Donovan to be a bit of a lumbering idiot. Harsh? Yes. But he also considered Donovan one of the bravest, most selfless people he’d ever met. He put others before himself without any regard for his own needs. And for that reason alone, Donovan would always have Alex’s respect.
But now, as Donovan continued to meet his eyes with a level of seriousness and urgency that was highly unusual for the man, Alex began to feel a tremendous sense of hope rising within him: that having witnessed what Zach had done, he was coming to the realization that Alex himself had come to some time ago. Donovan, after all, had witnessed everything that had taken place, including the dropping of the light bomb and its subsequent crater that, just based on the media’s reporting, was now the deepest artificially “dug” hole on the entire planet of Galterra, beating out the record made by the underground expeditionary cave the researchers from the People of Virtue had dug twenty years ago.
They’re saying it runs almost fifty miles straight down, Alex thought with a shiver.
Despite only having met Zach a few days ago, Donovan had developed a very quick, very noticeable fondness for the boy. And Given Donovan’s fiercely protective nature towards those he regarded as important to him, Alex knew there was absolutely no way he could broach the topic of Zach from a precautionary perspective without Donovan getting the completely wrong idea, misinterpreting Alex’s intentions as having cast moral judgement on Zach, and becoming irritable and heated. But now? Now, Alex could see that Donovan could see the need to discuss guiding him and working with him more closely. Maybe it was even time to bring Zach into the GSG formally.
He gets it, Alex thought. I can just see it in his eyes.
“You know what I’m here to talk to you about, don’t you?” Alex asked him.
Donovan nodded. And then he released a sigh that sounded troubled. “To be honest, I figured we’d be having this little chat sooner or later.”
“You did?”
He nodded. “I just didn’t wanna say shit, but…yeah…”
Alex nodded. He was becoming more relieved by the second. “You’re troubled by what you saw today, aren’t you?”
“A bit,” he said with a half-grunt, half-laugh, “but who wouldn’t be?”
Stretching his shoulders and cracking his knuckles, Donovan straightened his back and regarded Alex with an intensity that suggested he was taking this very, very seriously. This was going extremely well so far. Even still, he decided to approach the topic with the sensitivity he believed was warranted given Donovan’s penchant for misunderstanding his intentions. To his surprise, however, Donovan came right out with it—and quite bluntly, too.
“Even though I’m sure the kid’s got a great heart and ain’t the type to cause harm to anyone, we can’t pretend we didn’t see what we saw.”
“That’s exactly right,” Alex said, nodding.
“And we have to make sure we don’t fuck up and let someone this gifted go down the wrong path.”
Alex placed his hand on his chest over his heart. “I’ve been wanting to say this to you for a while now. I just didn’t know how you’d react.”
Donovan grunted. “I don’t blame you. It’s not a comfortable thought. But everyone saw how far behind we were. A seventeen-year-old is already stronger than all of us.”
“That’s right,” Alex said, nodding. He was so unbelievably grateful that Donovan was seeing things the way he did. “Which is why—”
“—it’s a damned good thing we’ve got our boy Zach looking out for her,” he finished, and now he was smiling. “That kid looks like he’ll be able to handle anything. I think she’s in good hands.”
Alex felt his heart leap in his chest and some of the blood drain from his face. “Wait, what?” he asked, unable to stop the gasp that followed his words. “Who’re you talking about?”
Donovan shot him a questioning glance. “Same kid you are, Alex.”
“Zach?”
He tilted his head to the side. “The fuck?”
“…Kalana?” Alex asked.
“Obviously.”
Alex’s mouth fell open, and he had to consciously command his body to close it. He was so utterly floored at Donovan’s shortsighted racism that he had to question if the man needed another yellow rejuvenation stone to help restore some of the neurons in his brain.
“You’re worried about Kalana?”
“Uh, ‘course I am,” he said. “She’s been at this for a little over a month, and the girl’s already knocking down level-90s like it’s a morning warmup. She’s blowing past us, Alex. And if she ever tries to get revenge on humanity ‘cause of what those political-guild pricks did to her…but like I was saying, I—”
“Donovan,” Alex said, interrupting him. And now, for the first time in years, he used a horrible, naughty, and terribly vulgar word as his incredulity got the best of him. “Are you a fucking idiot?”
Donovan frowned. “Watch it, asshole.”
“Kalana is a sweetheart. She’d never hurt a fly. I’d stake my own life on it.”
“So what is it you’re so worried about, then?” He narrowed his eyes. “Zach? The kid who saved all those people in the Den of Ziragoth and saved all our lives, too?”
“He almost killed us, Donovan. You said so yourself.”
“By accident.”
Alex placed his hand over his mouth and took a moment to rein in his temper. He was an adult, and he could not resort to name-calling and other childish forms of argumentation. “I apologize for the words I said to you before.”
“Don’t,” Donovan said with a guffaw, “grow some balls for once.’”
“However,” Alex continued, ignoring his nasty remark, “we just witnessed a seventeen-year-old boy, one who is under level 20, annihilate an entire pack of level-90 adds using attacks that hit for hundreds of millions of damage. Is none of that worrying to you?”
“Of course it is,” Donovan said, and now his voice became heated. “Those fuckers in the political guilds are never gonna leave him alone now. His life is probably destroyed ‘cause of that.”
“Well, that…that’s true as well,” Alex said, “but I was more referring to concern due to the fact that someone at his age and with his temperament now has access to a set of abilities that—”
“His temperament?” Donovan asked, frowning. “Meaning what, Alex? What are you trying to say?”
This is the exact thing I didn’t want to happen, Alex thought, becoming frustrated. He knew right away that there was nothing he could say—no possible combination of words that he could ever utter—that would convince Donovan to change his mind or even get him to begin to see things from Alex’s point of view. From this moment forward, if he continued this conversation, Donovan would interpret it as Alex not “trusting” Zach or thinking Zach was “bad” deep down inside. And so, knowing the futility of it all, he also knew there was only one possible reply he could say that made any sense at this point and would give him a way out of this.
“I just feel insecure,” Alex lied, faking a sigh. “I feel like, I brought him into this world of adventuring, and I’m getting badly outclassed. You’re right. I’m being immature and mean-spirited.”
At this, Donovan’s face softened—just as Alex had known it would—and he nodded. With a firm clap of his hand on Alex’s shoulder, he squeezed tightly and reassuringly. “You’re one of the best people I know, Alex. No one’s outclassing you, bud.”
“Thanks,” Alex said, feigning a smile and doing his best to hide his total and complete disappointment.
They just didn’t get it. And that was the way of it. Alex would have to handle Zach on his own. And not because of what he would turn into, because Alex truly believed that the future for the boy was bright. Rather, it was simply what he could turn into if he went down a bad path. When someone had the kind of power that Zach had and was going to have, not only did they need to be steered away from a dark path, but it needed to be such that a bad path wasn’t even an option to begin with. A bad path for an ordinary person was one thing. A bad path for a powerful, leveled adventurer like Donovan or Alex was another. But a bad path for someone like Zachys Calador? The result would be cataclysmic; it would be of world-shifting proportions.
Why couldn’t anyone understand this? Why couldn’t they see?
Giving Donovan a similar, equal pat on the shoulder, Alex got up from the chair and prepared to tend to some of the others, as he noticed that Kesten was gesturing for him to give him a hand. “As soon as everyone is recovered, we need to put together a time for a new, updated briefing based on the information we have acquired. And if the political guilds really do manage to get the Elvish to aid us in fighting the dragon, I’d like them to be there.”
Donovan gave him a thumbs-up. “Sounds like a solid plan, Alex. Make it happen.”
“You got it, boss.”
With that, Alex walked away and tried to contain his disappointment. It looked like he’d have to go at this alone.