Chapter 217

Chapter 217

The undead legionnaires were something else. Riven had watched alongside many of the others under the stars as he commanded them to battle one another, and although it’d only lasted for 5 minutes - the battle was a sight to behold.

They were classed as elites, each poised at his own level which was far above the norm on this planet, and the fields erupted in a brutal free for all as they clashed. Storms of blood energies and shockwaves of clashing weapons eradicated much of the plantlife for a solid five hundred yards, and Riven wasn’t entirely sure he’d come out unscathed if he’d been pitted against all eight at once.

Unfortunately the fun didn’t last, and as the night dwindled on - it was time for him to say goodbye. At least for now.

“I’ll be back for our meeting with the fam.” Riven said, giving his sister a hug when she bent down to throw her arms around his chest. “Feel free to call me with the coms we have whenever you want to talk otherwise. The engineers have really improved their craft, given we don’t have satellites anymore.”

Allie chuckled, ruffling his hair and kissing him on the cheek before backing up and evaluating Riven alongside the three demons he’d contracted with. “You going to get a fourth soon?”

“A fourth?” Riven shot Athela, Fay and Azmoth a sidelong glance. “Before Chalgathi’s quest, sure. Yattazi leaving like that left a bad taste in my mouth though. I’ll give it some time, there’s no rush.”

Allie nodded sagely, leaning against Fimrindle’s thin metal body. “Gotchya. Well I do feel better now that you’ve got some of your abilities back, but take it easy. No serious fights until you’re fully recovered and can walk again without hobbling like an old hag.”

Riven stuck out his tongue, and laughed when she did it right back. “Fine. I’m treating this like a miniature vacation anyways. Luke, Genua, Len, it’s time to go. It should be noon on the other side of the planet and Hakim will be waiting for us.”

Len grabbed onto her mother’s skirt and followed the thrall-to-be to where the demons were gathered alongside Riven’s wheelchair, smiling hesitantly up at him and hiding halfway behind her mother’s legs. She still didn’t know exactly what’d happened between Riven and her family all those months ago, but her mother had told her they’d had a falling out - so she’d been rather shy ever since and kind of awkward.

Riven himself had been even more awkward, and the guilt still gnawed at him every time he looked down at her. Nevertheless he gave his kindest smile and tried to avoid the child’s gaze afterwards, nodding to Genua and then Luke after they’d gathered up the supplies they’d need for the next week. “All ready?”

“We are, master.” Genua said with a slight bow.

Luke just nodded with a grin and gave a thumbs up. “This is how you all do it, right?”

“The thumbs up?”

“Yes?”

“It means yes, or good, a positive connotation.”

“Then I’ve got it down!”

Riven chuckled and lifted his hand, summoning Jackal to his hand - the weapon flew forward and landed in the open palm while his fingers gripped the solid black metal streaming with small rivers of blood.

Allie, Gurth’Rok, Dr. Brass, Mara, and all the others that’d come waved their goodbye while the campfire still continued to crackle behind them.

“Have fun and get some relax time in!” Lahn called out when the portal erupted in front of Riven’s spear-staff. “You always look like you’re about to have a stroke!”

Riven blinked, then heartily laughed and flipped him off when he realized the young man was trying to make a joke. “Fuck off, just because you’re my sister’s boyfriend doesn’t mean you get to talk shit!”

Smiling and waving at the now furiously blushing Lahn who sat in is own wheelchair, Riven immediately wondered whether or not they’d made it an official thing yet.

Probably not, at least not in Allie’s queen persona, given Allie was going to go back to the royal academy again on her time off. The vast majority of people in Dawn, more to the point - the people at the Royal Academy, didn’t know who and what she was outside of Lahn’s family and that Gleetus guy they’d already killed.

Whatever floated her boat. Riven was just happy she was happy.

Putting on Gaia’s token, the red in his eyes began to fade to blue. The same could be said for Genua, and his three demons all abruptly changed as well. Athela’s black hair remained but her eyes and skin became more human, adopting the look of a raven-haired young woman with the look of a track star. Fay adopted the same tanned blonde look she’d had back in Mandon when she’d gone on a date with him to meet with the king of Dawn, and Azmoth turned into a hulking, muscular, four-armed barbarian lacking a face.

[Gaia’s Heartwood Token (Epic): Wearing this token around your neck allows you to suppress any Charisma effects you may have, suppresses your vampiric qualities as well as the demonic qualities of your contracted familiars, as well as changes your status page information to represent a Level 55 Human. Those with identifier classes at high enough level can circumvent this ability.]

Riven raised an eyebrow Gaia’s way with a small grin, hiking a thumb Azmoth’s way. “That supposed to happen?”

The demigodess chuckled dryly. “I may have not tweaked it appropriately. Fay? Would you be a dear and fix it?”

The succubus tipped her straw flat brim hat with a curtsy. “Of course!”

Her hallucinations kicked in, and a firm jawline along with deep brown eyes, and a nose all appeared - along with the disappearance of Azmoth’s extra set of arms. “There we go!”

Azmoth looked down, at his body, feeling his extra limbs and the eel-like maws along his back - but not seeing them. “Looks good. Thanks Fay, good to have back.”

Riven’s face softened, and he nodded in turn. “Agreed.”

Fay paused, then blushed a deep red and kicked at the ground when Athela nudged her out of her stupor. “Thanks.”

***

Hakim leaned against the wreckage of what had once been The Red Hand’s home, a large burnt down cabin now with little to no one in the area of their recluse part of the world caring that the gang was all dead now. If anything, it’d been cause for celebration. Hakim wasn’t the only one they’d tried to shake down and things had been a hell of a lot more peaceful with them gone.

Though there’d certainly been others trying to fill in that power gap in the meantime. But they were too busy dealing with other groups to worry about small fry like him.

“This was the day, right?” Julie asked from where she sat against a tree, dressed in a healer’s robe that gave her a slight boost to holy healing miracles and her red hair pulled into a ponytail. “I don’t like being here more than I have to be. Not after what happened to Caleb.”

Tim, her brother, nodded in agreement. “I don’t blame you. But yes this is the right time, they’ll be here soon. Riven wouldn’t stand us up - especially not after mom told him she’d bring sandwiches!”

He winked at his mother, Tanya, who huffed and puffed on the hike here while carrying a large basket of the damn things for a total of over twenty sandwiches for lunch. A cold ice crystal bought from a mage in town kept the food cold and preserved, and it was almost like an ice box because of it. They were all ham and cheese, because those were a lot easier to come by than other things like peanut butter or jelly, and she’d already announced that they’d be headed to her favorite spot near the orchards after Riven, Athela, and their friends got here.

“Don’t make fun of me. I see that look you’re giving me.” Tanya slapped her hands onto the sides of her hips and pouted at her teenage son fervently. “I brought you into this world and I can take you out of it mister! Don’t make me come over there!”

“Better listen to your mom or I’ll hear all about it.” Hakim grinned with a wink, only to startle when a portal lit up inside the wreckage of the destroyed cabin. He perked up, stood straight and helped Julie to her feet before turning around in his fur-covered leathers to watch. “Looks like they’re back!”

Athela came through first, though they took a moment to recognize her due to the sundress and flat brim wicker hat she wore. That in combination with her more human features and skin color, they could have mistaken her for someone else if she hadn’t waved at them.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Hey guys!” Athela called, enthusiastically running over and throwing her arms around Julie - causing the redheaded young woman to laugh. “I missed you! What’ve you all been up to while I’ve been gone!? A lot’s happened since we last talked, boy do I have stories to tell!”

Azmoth came next, sizing Hakim up with a spout of flames from his mouth that briefly disrupted the illusion before walking beyond the portal’s exit. Then came Genua holding Len’s hand, the two elves followed by Riven who was pushed through by Fay - and then finally Luke came up in the rear.

The portal snapped closed behind them in an instant, and Tanya’s eyes lit up at the sight of them all. “Oh wow! You brought more people than I’d expected. Good thing I made so many sandwiches! I was worried I’d had too many!”

The middle aged woman slapped the side of her basket with a giggle. “Who’re the rest of these people? I’ve only met Athela and Azmoth… and… Wait, is that the succubus you used to have? Didn’t she leave? Where’s the snake?”

“She came back, long and complicated story. And the snake is gone, another long story.” Athela cut in, putting an arm around Fay’s shoulders to save her from having to explain. “As for the others…”

Riven motioned for them to introduce themselves.

“My name is Genua, and this is my daughter - Len.” The elf stated very properly, flattening out her maid’s outfit and clasping her hands in front of her while giving them a polite nod. “You can think of me as Riven’s servant.”

Len waved nervously from behind her mother’s leg. “Hi.”

“I am a servant as well.” The older elf stated, his white hair pulled back into a ponytail of his own to match Julie’s - but he had the stature of a confident and happy man with wrinkles to match frequent smiles. “Occasionally I’m also a sparring partner.”

Tanya’s mouth quirked up with surprise and amusement. “Servants? Riven, I knew you were on the leaderboard but I guess I just put it together - you’re rich too. Aren’t you?”

Hakim and Tim were a little weirded out however.

“What happened to you? Are you ok?” Hakim asked, motioning with his axe to the wheelchair Riven sat in. “Don’t you have healing properties due to your vampirism? I saw your neck get snapped once and you were fine.”

“Probably just an act to cover his identity, like the illusions he has on.” Julie said with a gesture. “Makes sense to me. It’s what I’d do.”

Riven opened his mouth to disagree, but thought better of it and shrugged with a gentle smile - then winked. He didn’t want to burden them with unnecessary worry, because it was very likely he’d be 100% soon enough. “Caught me. It’s just part of the act.”

His demonic minions and thralls didn’t even blink at the white lie.

Riven’s gaze turned to the town in the distance, settled inbetween large hills near a glistening lake with a temperate forest surrounding it. This entire area was temperate forest, pines, oaks and elms, in abundance, and it made him think back to the days where he’d visited various parts of Utah in the rocky mountains. “Is that the one?”

They all turned to look with him.

“That’s the one.” Tim confirmed with a nod, hands resting on his belt. “Not sure what it used to be called, but now that a bunch of new people moved in post integration - we all call it Jerbyville.”

Riven raised an eyebrow in amusement, crossing his fingers wordlessly while his hood shielded his eyes from the rays of the sun. “Jerbyville? Really?”

“You can’t judge us when your capital is named Brightsville.” Hakim muttered with a grin.

“Fair enough. I definitely can’t argue that one.” Riven chuckled under his breath. “To be fair, I was going to change the name but never got around to it. Now that it’s become a known entity though I don’t think we’re going to change it, as lame as the name actually is.”

***

The closer they came to the town, the more outliers they saw in terms of cabins, huts, or tiny fenced off communities. There weren’t many of them but the whole mountain-man theme was certainly present and many people originating from Earth had gathered here. Some sported beards, others cut-off plaid shirts with hiking boots, and then there were still more that had adopted a more medieval-style outfitting after interacting with the system. The dungeons in the surrounding wilderness nearby apparently dropped a lot of low to mid grade gear for people around levels 10 to 40, with prizes often being things like the axe Hakim had or the stat-imbued robe Julie wore. There were also two blacksmiths in town, both of which having gained the ‘ascended blacksmith’ class that allowed them to actually imbue their personal signatures into various items they made for additional stat boosts; along with other benefits to having a crafting class.

“Hey Sara!” Julie waved to another of the brunette townsfolk her age, a very pregnant one, who was walking alongside her husband on the dirt road leading into town. “How far along are you now!?”

“31 weeks and 3 days since I found out!” Sara called back, holding her belly and tripping slightly when a strong and warm breeze whipped at her hoodie - her husband leaning over to catch her from falling in the gust. “Oof! That was close!”

“Be careful, and good luck!” Julie called back while they passed, giggling when the husband started chiding Sara about being more careful. “Those two are a cute couple.”

Athela nodded absentmindedly at Julie’s words, looking deep into the forest and squinting with a frown. Then she turned back and stopped dead in the road, staring at the couple that’d just passed by. When the couple turned back a second later to look at her, their eyes met - and Athela let out a snort. “Uh… Yeah… Julie, how long have they been here?”

“Hmm?” Julie cocked her head to the side with a smile, then made the connection. “Oh! Sara and her husband John? They’ve been here since before we were here. Why?”

The couple hurried down the dirt road and out of sight, not turning back around while Athela and Fay shared a look.

“Don’t worry about it. I was just curious. Hey Riven? Mind if I go for a quick jog? I could use a stretch.”

Riven’s eyes flicked left towards the spot the couple had disappeared, and he let out a sigh while rubbing his temple with two fingers. “Sure. Make it fast.”

Athela nodded, ruffled the hood he wore, and then flashed away - leaving the rest of them to continue into the settlement.

Speaking of which, the town was a lot more lively than Riven had anticipated it to be given the size of it.

Dirt roads, log cabins and poorly painted storefronts were in abundance. There were also a couple people doing various crafts inside open-air workshops, such as carpentry and map making. Men and women laughed and bustled about, with a few patrolling groups of militia making rounds on the perimeter from time to time.

“Is there a mayor here, or something like it?” Riven asked curiously, watching a couple of rifle and axe-wielding men trudge along while giving Riven’s group sidelong glances. Some of them outright stared at the elves, and it occurred to Riven that they may have never seen elves before - many of the men even rubbing their eyes to gawk.

Tanya shook her head, waving to one of the two blacksmiths in town who was hammering at a chunk of metal near a furnace. “No, there aren’t. It’s everyone for themselves, which is why groups like The Red Hand were able to pop up. There are a couple of guilds, gangs, and militia like the ones you just saw - but mostly we all get along unless you get in someone’s way. It’s overall safe I’d say. What happened with Caleb and the last time you arrived was… an outlier.”

Tim gave Riven a flat look as if to disagree but kept his mouth shut nevertheless.

“A little over twenty thousand people live here, including the surrounding homes a few miles out. Including even our own home that you saw last time.” Tanya said without missing a beat, continuing to almost skip along happily towards the center of town where a park was located for their lunch. “It means that everyone has a place in the community! Even a small businesswoman like me! I make clothes for the people here, you know!”

The men and women on the streets coming in and out of trading shops, homes and pubs all gave Riven and his friends sidelong looks or outright stares. He got a few pointed fingers as well, but he was pretty sure they were all looking at Genua, Len, and Luke rather than anyone else.

“Most haven’t seen elves yet, if that’s what you’re thinking.” Hakim confirmed a moment later, stepping onto the circular grassy park and off the dirt streets - heading towards a set of picnic tables underneath some elm trees. “It won’t be a big deal, but you’ll probably get some finger pointing and stares. There were actually some Lizardians that came through two weeks ago and that really stirred up a fuss, but even then - it was more curiosity than anything else. They came and went, and they’ll likely be back - saying they were tradesmen looking to establish connections. They even brought over some cool trinkets for many of the people here, like enchanted amulets. A very nice bunch if you ask me, even if they did look similar to those lizard people you killed in the dungeon that first time I used Heroic Intervention. So if they can handle lizardians, they’ll be able to handle some elves that look far more similar to humans than those creatures did.”

“Sandwich time!” Tanya called out, setting her basket on the flat wood and taking out packaged ham and cheese between slices of bread. “Who wants some!”

“Azmoth wants some!” Azmoth let out and raised both hands.

Fay rolled Riven up to the table, sitting down on the bench beside his wheelchair, and leaned her head onto the table while he pulled out some pitchers of water from his spatial sack. Looking up at the sunny sky above them, she let her shoulders relax as laughter began to fill the air around them when Len hopped up onto the wood and savagely demanded that she be allowed to eat the first sandwich.

“Len! That’s rude”! Genua chided her daughter, swatting her hand very softly but with a meaningful glare as the others laughed. “Apologize!”

Fay smirked when the mother-daughter duo started arguing, then shifted her attention back to Riven with a whisper. “They didn’t know. They hadn’t even a clue.”

Riven didn’t even grimace. Instead, he just allowed himself to take in the happy scene in front of him. Letting out a content exhale, he shrugged his shoulders and let himself slouch - putting a hand on Fay’s own after accepting a sandwich with a nod of thanks. “Athela will take care of it. I have no doubt that she’ll be more than enough to handle the situation.”

***

Athela’s black figure blurred through the trees, the landscape flying by at insane speed as her legs carried her forward without a single sound being made at her passing. The wind failed to whistle, the leaves she stepped on failed to crackle, and her shallow breaths might as well have been nothing but a butterfly beating its wings for all the sound it made while she raced forward.

And her prey had caught her scent.

The two figures in front of her were fast, very fast, especially for their level. What were skinwalkers doing here of all places? Were they contracted familiars, or were they ferals that’d escaped the lower realms on their own somehow due to sheer dumb luck?n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

[Level 99 Skinwalker, Demon]

[Level 86 Skinwalker, Demon]

They were also far stronger than anything that should be living in this area. Was anyone around here even close to level 80 or 90 yet?

Hakim’s group certainly wasn’t.

In front of her, two gray figures - humanoid with lanky, long limbs and alien-like heads rushed forward in a frantic gallop. They moved almost like cats, on all fours, lacking faces with the exception of round mouths lined with teeth. Occasionally they’d glance over their shoulders and shriek to one another, becoming panicked while Athela closed in.

She grinned upon seeing their fear. She certainly had some questions for them, questions that they’d give her one way or the other - and if they didn’t…

Well she had two new abilities to test out on them if they didn't. One’s she’d been absolutely dying to use.