Vowron Prime
patreon
Soulweaver 106: Flashpoints
🕑 Added 2024-09-27 18:00:10 +0000 UTCThat was the thing about assumptions… They had a tendency to fuck you in the butt.
As Richard and I rocketed back to the ground, I couldn’t help but laugh at the irony of making it all the way to the final boss’ lair and collapsing the dungeon… Only to succumb to gravity.
Or at least, it was funny right up until the moment my eyes caught sight of Eskil, and the diminutive elf on his shoulder who was kicking viciously, looking very much like she wanted to be let down.
I saw her, and my stomach dropped. What happened to Aerion if I died?
The system unambiguously considered her my gear. Did that mean she’d deInitialize when I perished? Deinitializing a living being meant killing them.
Fuck.
I didn’t know. I couldn’t know. And so, I had to survive.
A couple of seconds remained. Not enough time for me to do much of anything, other than bury my head in my gauntleted arms, curl up my body, and hope for the best.
I closed my eyes and braced for the crash.
The impact came suddenly, and with the sound of cracking ice. That was to be expected. The sea of soldiers below meant I’d hit them first. Maybe they’d even cushion my fall.
Except there was no secondary collision in which my bones were turned to jelly.
I just… kept falling.
Huh?
I opened my eyes. Darkness.
Nothing but darkness.
What… the fuck?
I looked up, and saw the dungeon. Or what was left of it, anyway.
Pieces of the ice cavern were falling. Massive islands that had only moments before been the floor and the walls. Some fell faster than I did, others slower.
I was witnessing the collapse of the dungeon, and it apparently looked a lot like falling into an endless abyss.
Did that mean I would go with it? Where was Aerion?
I frantically searched for any sign of my friends, but found none. I was alone in this unknowable place. Alone… and still falling to my death.
The ground came up quicker than I’d expected. Made sense, considering everything below me was pitch-black.
I felt the impact before I’d had time to properly register it, and when I finally pried myself from the pristine white floor, I was immediately crushed by some heavy object landing on my back.
“Son of a bitch!”
My jaw once again hit the floor, and were it not for my Vigor, I was sure I’d have knocked out a few teeth. As it was, my mouth just hurt like I’d gotten a root canal without anesthetics.
“What did you just call me!?” came a familiar voice. It was close, too. Very close.
On my back close.
“Aerion?” I asked, sitting up. That caused the elf to tumble off my back, hitting her head on the ground.
“Ow? I swear, you’re such a brute at times.”
“Well, sorry, princess. I didn’t—”
A loud crash made us both look at the giant who’d just come tumbling down, limbs splayed out in all sorts of awkward angles.
“Er, you were saying something about brutes?” I said, a wry grin taking over my face. It wasn’t often one got to see Eskil Magnusson, Champion of Dominion, looking like an absolute clown.
“Nothing,” Aerion said, with an equally large grin. “Nothing at all…”
“Well, I see we all made it in one piece!” Richard said, offering Aerion a hand, which she took immediately.
Grumbling, I got up again, hoping nothing fell on my head this time. It didn’t, unless you counted Eskil’s ‘ODIN BLESS US WE HAVE PREVAILED!’ assaulting my ears, along with blaring theme music that sounded worse than an 8-bit orchestral recording.
“Quite a theme song, innit?” Richard said, plugging his ears until it ended.
Eskil was now on his knees, in his own world muttering prayers to his lord god under his breath.
“What is this place, anyway?” Aerion asked, ignoring the viking.
“Looks an awful like the Trial’s Blessing bestowment area,” I said. “White floor, white walls… Er, pitch-black open-air ceiling?”
Looking up, I could swear I saw pieces of dungeon still falling in the distance. They seemed to burn up before getting anywhere near our white room, though.
“Seriously, where the fuck are we?”
“Right there with you, Greg,” Richard said. “Doesn’t make much sense to me, but then again, neither does much else in this world. I reckon you’ve an easier time of it, having grown up here, eh?”
I glanced at Richard, eyes narrowing. There was something about Richard’s tone that made me reconsider his words. Was it the almost overly friendly nature of what he’d said that made it sound… off?
It was natural he’d be in higher spirits. We all were. After that adrenaline dump of a fight, followed by the euphoria of victory, who wouldn’t be? Was it just that, though? I had to wonder.
“We… did it,” I said, almost to convince myself this wasn’t still part of the dungeon. “We won.”
“We sure did,” Richard remarked, clapping my shoulder. “And if I’m not mistaken, this is where we’re bestowed our just rewards. Congratulations, my friend.”
Richard extended a hand, which I took, and this time, the gesture felt entirely genuine. Was I just imagining things earlier?
“Wonder what we’ll get this time,” Richard said. “All I got last time was a bit of experience. A little underwhelming, that. Seems as a Champion, I’m ineligible for another Blessing. That was a Trial, though. Maybe this’ll be different?”
“I wouldn’t get your hopes up,” I began, but was interrupted by a giant hologram of a striking warrior dressed from the head down in plate armor. He wore no helmet, showcasing the man’s chiseled face and wavy black hair that fell to his shoulders.
“Greetings, my victors. Rejoice, for you have vanquished a great evil! In the name of Dominion, be rewarded!”
“In the name of Dominion?” Richard asked. “Am I to understand that you are not, in fact, Dominion?”
Dominion laughed, nodding with approval. “Yes! Rejoice, for you have vanquished a great evil!”
“Uh, hello?” I asked. “Can you hear us?”
Dominion once again laughed, repeating the same canned message.
“Bloody hell, it’s a recording!” Richard said, running his fingers through his hair. “Defeat a dungeon, and we get a bloody recording!”
“It does seem like Dominion himself is not present,” Aerion said, letting out a relieved sight. It was the first she’d spoken since the projection appeared. I was pretty sure that if it really was Dominion, she’d have been so flustered, she wouldn’t have dared opened her mouth..
As for me, I couldn’t care less if he’d showed up personally. Not unless it gave me the opportunity to bargain for some better rewards. I had to agree with Richard. The reward for clearing Dominion’s Trial was a little underwhelming for me. Sure, experience was nice, but a new perk would’ve been nicer. I wasn’t asking for much…
I stared up at the projection, which was still smiling and nodding proudly at us.
“Is it just me,” I asked. “Or do the gods love giving themselves makeovers every time they appear?”
Dominion—at least, I assumed it was Dominion by the pompous arrogance and confident stature—looked nothing like the Dominion of Eskil’s parade.
I glanced at our resident Viking, who was now prostrating before the image, bawling in rapture as a stream of tears rolled off his cheeks and pooled on the ground below.
“Well, seems he at least recognizes the god.”
Eskil raised his head to scowl at me. “Blasphemer! Get on your knees and worship the Allfather.”
“Does that look like Odin to you?” I asked, acting on a hunch. “Does he look the same as when he appeared during the parade?”
“Are you mad?” Eskil spat. “Of course he is the same. The One-eyed Lord has no need to alter his visage for the likes of you peons.”
“One-eyed, huh?” I looked up at the decidedly two-eyed giant projection, who stood with his arms crossed, nodding in approval at us.
“What is he saying?” Eskil asked.
“I’m pretty sure Eskil over there sees something different from us. Actually, what does Dominion look like to you?” I asked.
“Er, short-cropped black hair,” Richard replied. “Gelled a bit more than I’d like. Fresh pressed gray suit. Rose boutonniere, no tie. Gray slacks and polished loafers. Quite a dashing figure, I’d say.”
“Funny,” I said. “Because I see a rugged warrior in full plate armor with long black hair.”
“I see the same as you, Greg,” Aerion confirmed.
“Well, that settles it,” I replied. “For whatever reason, we all get personalized versions of Dominion.”
“Odd that Aerion and you share the same image, though,” Richard said with a frown.
“Probably because we’ve fought together for so long,” I lied, glancing at Aerion. “Anyway, what do you say we accept our rewards and go home?”
Richard flashed me a grin. “Sounds wonderful.”
— —
Calculating Rewards…
Do you wish to share Blessing rewards? Options:
— Retain 100% for self.
— Equal split among party members.
— Donate 100% to party members.
Party members: Aerion, Greg.
Well, here it was again. The moment of truth. I glanced at Aerion, then at Richard. Eskil was… Well, he was off by himself, still prostrating. We wouldn’t have to worry about him.
“Sorry, but would you mind if we consulted in private?” I asked. “Need to figure out what Blessings we’d like, and Aerion’s a bit shy about stuff like this.”
Aerion threw me a withering look, which I responded to with a ‘Play along’ expression.
“My… apologies,” Aerion said through gritted teeth, which actually ended up making her lie sound more convincing.
“Oh, not at all, friend,” Richard said, raising his palms. “Please, strategize all you wish. I understand! I’ve quite the decision to make myself.”
I frowned slightly. What decision could he possibly have? He wasn’t officially in our party—I assumed I had to register Richard with the System for him to be. I probably got to skip that step with Aerion, since the System considered her my weapon.
“Thanks, Richard,” I said, waving as we left. “We’ll be right back.”
Luckily, the white-walled room was easily several football fields wide, giving Aerion and I ample opportunity for privacy. We stopped when we were around a hundred yards away.
“So…” I said.
“So…” Aerion replied, holding her arm and looking away.
“I’ll be blunt. I don’t want to do this.”
“You don’t need to.”
“I know what you’re gonna say. You’ll say that’s exactly what Cosmo would say, so you’re gonna insist I take the Blessing.”
“Greg…”
“I’m saying I don’t want to do this because all I’ll get is some measly XP, and you’ll be robbed of your own Blessing. So, it’s up to you. I’ll do it if you insist. But I’d rather we split the reward 50/50, like last time.”
“Greg, listen to me!”
I gave Aerion a hard stare, and she looked deeply into mine.
“I said it’s okay! You don’t need to prove anything.”
“I… What?”
The corners of Aerion’s lips crept up. “We’ve fought together. We’ve nearly died together. I’ve gotten to know you over the past months. We’re closer than anyone I’ve known in… In some time.” she said, her smile fading a bit before returning.
“So, you believe me,” I said, blinking. “You believe that I’m not Cosmo.”
Aerion nodded. “I do. Order would never support me as you have. He would never have slogged so hard. You’re… You. And I fear I owe you dearly for how I’ve treated you. I fear I’ve betrayed the one person who’s ever shown me kindness… I fear I’ve lost you.”
“That’s… No… It’s not like that at all!” I said, struggling to form the right words. This was not how I anticipated this conversation going. I’d been prepared to fight with her to accept her share of the rewards. And I’d been prepared to bite the bullet and hog it all if she insisted. But this?
“Look, I still don’t know what you went through,” I said, lowering my voice. “But I don’t need to be telepathic to know you’ve lived through some seriously heavy shit. Everyone’s got baggage. Even me. I get that some people just carry a lot more suitcases around than others. I don’t blame you. Was I hurt? Yeah. Absolutely. Ripped to fucking shreds after that conversation we had after Dominion’s Trial.”
Aerion winced and averted her eyes, her face wrinkling with deep frown lines.
“But I can’t blame you. Hell, even I admit I must’ve looked suspicious as hell. Guy shows up out of nowhere with powers that make no sense, and then proceeds to give you powers only Champions are supposed to have? Yeah, you’d have been crazy not to suspect me. What frustrated me more than anything was how I had no way to prove it at the time.”
“You really forgive me?” Aerion said with upturned eyes, the rampaging Berserker nowhere to be seen. Right now, in this one moment, she looked fragile. Like a normal girl, for once.
“I do,” I said. “Water under the bridge, and all that. But, uh… One request?”
“Anything,” she replied without a bead of hesitation. “Anything you desire, it’s yours.”
“Oh, er, I was just gonna say I’d love to hear about your past sometime. When you’re comfortable sharing, of course,” I hastily added when Aerion’s eyes flew wide open.
“No, it’s… It’s fine. You deserve to know. I’ll tell you everything, I promise. When we’re out?”
I nodded vigorously. “No rush. So, 50/50 split?”
“50/50” Aerion confirmed.
I finalized the decision, and for the second time in the past hour, I was taken by surprise.
For the message that appeared was nothing like what I expected. It was better.
“The Trial of Dominion shall now grant your Blessings…”
Notification: Champion Detected. Patron Deity: Order. Champions may not accept Blessings… Please choose your reward:
1) Lump-Sum Bonus Experience
2) Soul Evolution Difficulty Reduction
Comments
Annette Burke
Thanks for the chapter!
