Lord Miln gradually returned to consciousness through a haze of pain. His side ached and Lord Miln could distantly tell that he was missing parts of his lower body. Everything pulsed and ached. Still, at least he was still alive. With every breath, more of his senses returned to him. He found himself laying on a rough and unforgiving stone ground with the familiar sensation of Aether on his skin.
Really, that’s all that important. As long as I still live, I’ll have another chance...
For a while, Lord Miln simply lay there and savored the sluggish wind on his face. It was warm and reassuring in a way. It seemed like the world was glad to see Lord Miln return to the fold. It was almost like Aether itself was bending so closely over Lord Miln to watch over him that it was breathing on him.
I wonder what happened with the Nether King. Since we are all not dead, Ileot must have taken care of it… dammit, if it wasn’t for that attack of his- but no matter. If the Nether King is dead, things haven’t reached a point where I cannot recover… Yes, I just need to make it back to my headquarters-
Ah… but it was all… annihilated…
After sighing, Lord Miln’s mood fell. There was a sour taste on his tongue after all the elaborate Aether constructs he had designed had been annihilated by the casual power of the Nether King. But Lord Miln didn’t let him stay depressed for long. As his body slowly recovered, his optimistic mood returned to him.
Starting over just means I can do it better… at the very least, I’ll prevent anything like the situation that happened with Randidly Ghosthound from happening again...
Yet when Lord Miln opened his eyes, his pupils dilated; all of his optimism shriveled and died as he looked upward. He was staring at the source of that breath that Lord Miln had felt on his face. Lady Iellaya smiled down at him with dark and gleaming eyes.
As soon as Lord Miln recognized the situation that he was in, Lady Iellaya didn’t hesitate any longer. She raised her heavy leather boot and stomped on the gore-y hole that she had opened in his side with her wing earlier. The blood that had since dried since he had initially been wounded now cracked and oozed. Groaning helplessly, Lord Miln simply closed his eyes once more and attempted to endure the pain.
...a-as long as I don’t die…
“You know, I’ve been thinking about it for a while,” Lady Iellaya said casually. She twisted her heel on Lord Miln’s side, grinding the vulnerable flesh around the wound into mush. “I really don’t understand karma. It was just never something I bothered with on my own world. You ate or were eaten; that was life. Yet suddenly I find myself surrounded by fools who speak so authoritatively about karma.”
Gasping, Lord Miln pressed his eyes closed and endured the steady, painful grinding of Lady Iellaya’s boot on his wound. After quickly scanning his situation, his outlook became even grimmer. Lord Miln could tell immediately that most of his images were injured and he had several Skills that had fractured into pieces from Ileot’s Swacc attack.
Although he had recovered most of his Stamina, his physical body was nowhere near healed. Rather than Vitality, Lord Miln had put most of his Stats into Endurance.
Ileot Swacc…! I hope your fate is one thousand times worse than mine! If I get out of here-
Lady Iellaya continued to speak, leaning over so her nose was very close to Lord Miln. Her weight pressed more and more painfully onto the oozing wound. “They say karma is a destiny that cannot be avoided. That it’s a powerful weapon that can cut and maim. That it’s a record of everything you’ve ever done… Isn’t it ridiculous? Do they really expect me to believe that it can be all of these things at once…?”
Then Lady Iellaya straightened. She removed her foot from Lord Miln’s wound, finally allowing him to catch his breath. “...but it clearly exists. I think of them all, I like Randidly’s definition the best: that karma is the choices you are making with your every action, every moment of your life. And I… I choose to walk to the Path I promised Abiodun I would take. That I will one day rule an entire world, and be able to protect my people there.”
Sighing, Lady raised her hand and looked at it. Because Lord Miln was on the ground underneath her, Lady Iellaya’s entire face was covered in shadow as he looked fearfully up at her. “...and I have to admit that taking revenge on you now for so stupidly endangering us all… would harm that Path. It would be so easy for it to be discovered that I was the culprit… no matter my contributions in this battle. Being found out would mean I lose everything.”
Although Lord Miln kept his breathing even, he inwardly sneered. Heh, getting cold feet Lady Iellaya? Typical. Oh I’ll certainly take my time getting my revenge, but now that we’ve had this discussion, do you think I can let you live…?
But then Lady Iellaya’s face changed. Her lips curled into a smile that could be seen even though the rest of her face was in darkness. With a soft voice, she said. “...but I suppose I can’t find it in me to really care. Abiodun was my dearest… he was my pillar. And because you took that away from me… I need to repay the favor, no matter what the consequences are. Fuck the karma involved.”
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
Lady Iellaya reached down and pressed her hand over Lord Miln’s face. Panicking, Lord Miln began two twist side to side. But he was simply still too weak. Horrified, he looked up through Lady Iellaya’s fingers and saw that her face was covered in scarlet lines that seemed to glow. Her hand tightened on his face.
A brown scaled serpent with crimson lines crisscrossing its body licked its lips.
When Lady Iellaya pulled her hand away, Lord Miln’s life fluttered away through her fingers.
****
Congratulations! Your Skill Reign of the Eidolon Crucible (L) has grown to Level 201!
With a groan, Randidly sat up and rubbed his forehead with his right hand. Then he released a breath and relaxed back into a laying position, savoring the sensation of simply laying in the warm tent. For a few seconds, Randidly was almost completely at ease.
Looks like the fight between Ileot and the Nether King resolved itself one way or another… Randidly looked around at the unfamiliar tent. Unless this is an elaborate trap where I walk outside the tent and Ileot begins to torture me… or could this even be a projected world? I shouldn’t discount that possibility, even if Grim Intuition didn’t trigger while I was in the Eidolon Crucible.
Randidly mobilized his Grim Intuition. Instantly, he could sense the tent and then the rather busy camp that sprawled around him. From the messy campfires and hastily made tents, it was clear that this was more of a refugee camp than a base, consistent with what Randidly would have expected after the huge confrontation between Aether and Nether at the frontline. As his perception spread out, Randidly felt the presence of both Salazar and Zauna, helping with the cooking fires and passing out food to the bedraggled column of soldiers that was patiently waiting for their meal.
Grimacing, Randidly attempted not to dwell on how many of the soldiers bore heavy wounds in the surrounding area. Most of the surviving soldiers had missing limbs that were only now starting to heal and Randidly’s Grim Intuition could clearly detect that their images hadn’t escaped the carnage. Of the large army of about eighty thousand that had begun the battle, there were only about fourteen thousand people milling about the camp.
Randidly’s Grim Intuition expanded outward, finally finding the familiar figures of Vualla and Lady Iellaya, as well as Nadia and Kailm, the two powerful individuals who guarded the Fate armory. Surrounding those individuals, Randidly sensed another few dozen forces, but other than that, it appeared there were no survivors from the battle.
There were no other refugee camps
Randidly’s hands clenched as he spread his Grim Intuition out even farther, eventually observing the battlefield directly. Much of the area they had previously been stationed, aside from the notable exception of Lady Iellaya’s fort, had cracked and fallen into the Great Rift. Even the rocky outcropping of headquarter appeared to have collapsed into that sparse darkness.
But Randidly’s focus was inevitably drawn to the corpses. They were twisted and dusty, bloody and horrified, tear-stained and smelling of shit. Nether Beast and Aether soldier lay together, locked into a distorted embrace. Some seemed filled with rage, as though they hadn’t even noticed that death came to them. Others were crying, their faces covered in salt and panic.
So many people died… Randidly could only sigh. Even though he felt so inadequate, it was hard to know what else he could have done. There are no perfect paths, only appropriate ends...
After a minute of letting the horror of war sink in, Randidly pulled back his focus and turned his attention to one last check to make sure he wasn’t currently in a projection world made by Ileot Swacc.
He pulled the Philosopher’s Key and felt the karma of the air. He thrust the key forward and aimed for the karma of the battlefield where Ileot and the Nether King had fought. No matter if his senses could be fooled by the projection, Randidly believed it would be almost impossible to hide the karma of the battlefield. And if this wasn’t the true battlefield, Randidly was confident that the Philosopher’s Key would be able to open a path to that location.
Luckily, Randidly found nothing even after several minutes of searching. Feeling a deep relief, he returned the Philosopher’s Key to his belt. There’s the possibility that Ileot could disguise even this, but it seems unlikely, considering how rabid he was toward the end… Seriously though, this Fate is quite useful. No real offensive power, but it terms of utility, I couldn’t have asked for anything more…
Considering that he had been left alone, Randidly quickly inspected his own situation. Finding himself well-rested, he chewed on his lip for a few seconds then decided to try and help the surrounding wounded. So Randidly turned his focus inward and began to refine a drop of liquid Aether that he could use with Yggdrasil to spread a general aura of healing. With the boost of liquid Aether, the process would be much less time-consuming.
An hour and a half later, an exhausted Randidly stared at the glowing violet drop of liquid that floated above his palm.
Looks like condensing liquid Aether is harder than I thought… Randidly’s mouth twisted. It also requires that the Aether have the opportunity to soak up my image, then be bound together by my emotions… Most of the older Aether I possessed that fit that criteria was used to make the first two drops of liquid Aether, while the rest was used to make this one. I can obviously flood myself with more Aether, but I’ll need to let my image settle into it before I can refine more…
With my images growing more potent, it shouldn’t take that long to shape the Aether sufficiently. But still, my access to liquid Aether will be much more restricted than I had thought… no wonder that people relying on System Aether have such difficulty creating liquid Aether…
For several minutes, Randidly struggled with the decision over whether to save this drop. But eventually, he could only shake his head sadly. It was a selfish thought, but part of being a ruler was making the hard decisions not to casually use his resources to help unaffiliated individuals. For now, Randidly would keep the drop of liquid Aether in reserve.
Besides, Randidly’s Grim Intuition had also sensed the presence of the dormant Nether King just beyond the edge of the Great Rift. Likely in the same spot where it had been while under the attacks of Ileot. Just in case they would once more need to fight the Nether King, Randidly planned on holding the liquid Aether back.
Therefore Randidly got up, twisted side to side to crack his back, and then walked out into the refugee camp to begin healing the surrounding people the old fashioned way.