Chapter 054: Changes

Ten thousand thoughts in my head, none of them optimistic. Most of them contradictory to each other.

How is that…

“Uhm… Av?” Simea saw something in my face. Something disturbing enough to inquire me about it. I shook my head in answer and returned to the chat. First things first.

Avhar Khan [P]: That’s impossible.

Vasyr Mirenir [P]: Can you think of any other explanation for that? They are gone. No way of communicating. No longer on Nexus. Their bodies dissolved like the people that chose self-termination.

Avhar Khan [P]: It’s not that. It’s just…

Avhar Khan [P]: It’s not like Robinson. It just doesn’t fit him.

Vasyr Mirenir [P]: Doesn’t fit him?! HE IMPRISONED US HERE. Trying to murder us sounds perfectly like him.

How am I supposed to explain it to him that I understand Robinson’s actions because, in a way, we were quite similar? That while his actions were sometimes extreme, there was a clear moral system behind them, that you could easily uncover by merely scraping the paint from the surface?

That in a way, he was a person I always wanted to be but lacked the courage (and money) and determination that was required to avoid falling into self-pity?

He was a philanthropist for God’s sake! Even the whole ‘imprisoned in a game’ part was extremely unlike him, but this?! It’s beyond impossible.

…

Face it, Avhar. It’s not about your view on Robinson. You’re capable of suspecting anyone of anything, you’re never truly at ease with other people. You have a wife, and despite this you still have this little list of notes about her… a list comparable to a police officer’s notes on a criminal he’s chasing.

And you have them on every person you come across. Because deep inside you are afraid they will backstab you the moment you show too much weakness. Social insecurity level over 9000. You just try to avoid showing that to people. But now...

You are mortally afraid. Because of what Deviation said about Robinson. That we should be grateful to him. You keep thinking there is some terrible secret behind all of it, and… the more insane everything gets, the more terrible the secret will be. You know that.

Ugh. I probably shouldn’t talk to myself like that. It’s not healthy.

Avhar Khan [P]: Nevermind. I still think this is weird.

Avhar Khan [P]: If it was him, he would probably make everything kill us to make this feel even more like being an adventurer in a fantasy world. Why make a type of creatures that breaks his beloved immersion and brings discord to his worldbuilding? Why the whole glitched part?

There was that part as well. That broke immersion. It bordered on breaking the fifth wall, as the glitch thing suggested that the world being a game was a thing in-game. It can’t glitch if it isn’t a game, right? Gods don’t make things glitch like that.

Robinson hated that immensely. He even avoided direct shout outs in his games, much less breaking the fifth wall. This didn’t make sense!

Vasyr Mirenir [P]: I… guess. I hadn’t thought about that.

Vasyr Mirenir [P]: Maybe they really are glitches?

Avhar Khan [P]: That would suggest that DFI no longer has full control of the game. I mean, just how hard is it to FIX A FUCKING BUG IN A GAME?!

Vasyr Mirenir [P]: Shit. I don’t think we’re gonna get anywhere, no matter how long we keep guessing.

Yes, he was right. Not enough data to figure out anything.

Vasyr Mirenir [P]: Well, watch yourself in the wild. I don’t think that’s the end of it.

Yeah. Hard to disagree with that.

***

The reactions to the news were… mixed. It depended on whether one was a Player on an NPC. Players were downright shocked, while NPCs…

… well, dying for real while living in this rather deadly world was normal for them. If anything, the fact that they didn’t die despite everything we did was much more shocking to them. They fully understood that 0,1% of enemies being able to kill us still meant that 99,9% couldn’t. And they were used to 100% to 0% ratio.

I guess they are right. Still, it was going to take a while to adjust. The world just became a bit more dangerous. And we had to get over that.

***

The way back was much easier than our raid. The Dungeon created a short-range teleportation circle on layer twenty to let people teleport out of him if they decided it was enough for them. Of course, unlocking it required getting an item that (what a surprise) was a drop from local boss.

A rare drop. It seemed that the Dungeon decided to improve the idea by constructing teleportation circles more densely than I suggested while making their keys rare drops from its Servants. Of course, every key worked only for a single group of people - he did understand the concept of an adventuring party - and only for a single teleporter. You got another key to the same teleporter as a drop? Tough luck, since it wasn’t going to work. And you couldn’t even give it to another person since it worked only with people that managed to kill the boss that dropped it.

That Dungeon is going to get scary after it grows. I had no idea what his grade was (he didn’t know either) but it was probably quite high and he was going to grow a lot. I estimated him to be at least Gold grade.

As a part of our deal I emptied our inventory before leaving. Potions, herbs, minerals, all of them were dropped on the ground. The Dungeon promptly absorbed them, learning how to recreate them. The only thing I left was the loot from the Dungeon which was going to sell for some nice... pocket money.

Who am I kidding, this raid was awesome in that regard. We had a lot of red honey, red wax, demon spider’s web and poison, Tzikimi artifacts, parts of Decemvirate machinery (we actually dismantled an entire Sentry Turret that we managed to switch off without causing it a lot of damage)... not to mention dozen of smaller things.

Sure, we weren’t going to raid it again. The Dungeon was pretty vocal about us not sending people that were too strong. Reaching Decemvirate layer was bound to be long and troublesome for mere trainees (and that’s where the most valuable things were), but even stupid red honey was going to be a valuable trade good.

It’s not like you could domesticate murderous giant hornets that were more than happy to lay eggs in you, right? The supply was obviously limited and it was known to be a delicacy.

Maybe we should set up a mead brewery in the Hold? It would sell well, and as far as I know, no local Dungeon had significant population of Locust’s daemons, and without them there was no stable supply of the honey. If a greater number of Demon Hornets entered Reality and began forming a nest, the natural reaction of people living nearby could be summed up as “KILL IT WITH FIRE”.

Completely understandable to be honest. But it opened up new possibilities for us.

***

“Oh. So that’s what you meant by saying that the winter comes fast around here.” I said to Leria right after we left the Dungeon.

“More or less.” She answered.

Well, we are totally going to make a snowman before the Hold. We can combine it with teaching the Sewer Rats’ kids what snow is and what can you make with it. Some of them were born in the sewers and never saw outside world so snow was obviously something completely new to them.

It was winter outside. Thick snow (it reached the middle of my calves), everything white. Cold (but not too windy so it was possible to tolerate the temperature). It was close to evening already, and…

… damn, that type of cloud means snow. Heavy snow, most likely. Ugh. Dying due to freezing in a snowstorm near the Hold would obviously be a nice addition to our Epic Deaths compilation, but I’d prefer to avoid it.

“Looks like it’s going to be a harsh winter.” Vaera commented. When I looked at him, he added. “One thing you learn when you become a dragonbride. Figuring out the weather is important when your life is sustained only by hunting and gathering.”

Perks of being primitive, I guess.

“The winter will be harsh? How harsh, exactly?” Lena got curious.

“Well… I it shouldn’t prevent us from making trips to the city and the anomalies, but it’s going to be a pain.” Leria answered her. “We’ll need to make precautions. Snowshoes, proper clothing and so on. Also, transporting great numbers of people, especially like those villagers, will be troublesome for a few months at best. And that is if it’s not going to be a Long Night.”

“A Long Night?” Lena decided to dig deeper.

“Once every few years the winters are especially bad.” I added. I knew this. It was mentioned in few books I read. “There is supposedly some powerful artifact of Avalanche, Imperial Goddess of Winter, somewhere in these mountains. It seems to mess up the weather from time to time. Locals call it a Long Night.”

“Yeah, I remember one a few years ago.” I could hear Leria’s tongue clicking. “Terrible. Every week or so snowstorms came. It was absolutely unlivable everywhere outside of villages or cities where local guardian deities suppressed it a bit. The snow cover was several meters deep, enough for the younger parts of forest to disappear completely under it. Temperatures dropped to -50. The cult was out of commision for the entire winter, since nobody was crazy enough to risk traveling. That’s when my deep dislike for salted meat started.”

Due to our past experience I’m 90% sure it’s going to be a Long Night. There was supposedly something important happening in the background (with THE WHOLE AEVARIA IS AT STAKE business), so terrible weather would certainly fit the theme well.

But I wasn’t going to speak that aloud. Let’s wait to see if this winter is truly going to be a Long Night.

“We’d better move.” Vaera concluded. “I think it’s going to snow soon. And the wind is getting stronger.”

***

This was definitely no little flurry. This was a proper snowstorm. But we managed to reach the Hold before the worst came.

Traveling around was seriously going to be troublesome. And my in-game body lacked the fat cover that made me partially oblivious to low temperatures in real world (the only positive side effect of being chubby).

Unfortunately, even if it is a Long Night, I still need to level up and so on. After all, even if all means of travel were a complete nope, the Dungeons in the city still remain. Most of the Players will probably redirect their attention there, since they do not require leaving the city that is under the dome of Ambryxis’ power that actively suppresses the worst snowstorms and raises the temperature.

So staying the whole winter in bed - with Simea, of course - is out of the question. Woe is me.

Grandma[N]: I need to see you. It’s urgent. Come to the city as fast as you can.

Seriously? There is a goddamn blizzard raging around!

Avhar Khan[P]: Seriously? Are you even aware what sort of weather is out there? It’s a snowstorm. Rather bad one.

Grandma[N]: I see. Then come when it ends but don’t waste time. It’s really important.

Hmph. Makes me wonder what is it.

***

We spent a whole day doing various random things. Mostly preparing for the winter, but also finishing the process of settling the caves beneath. There were still some minor things to do, after all.

The more I think about it, the more it sounds like a Long Night. It always begins by few ‘introductory’ blizzards before the mother of them all comes. I read that it could rage for up to two weeks even. It’s an official mark of a Long Night’s beginning. After it ends, the weather more or less stabilizes, with more snowstorms coming and going in a rather repetitive manner, but rarely lasting for more than few hours.

We ate the red honey. It tasted… unlike anything I’ve ever tried. The closest equivalent I could think off would be meat coated in honey. Sweet but still meat.

It also worked a bit like an aphrodisiac, so that night with Simea was… interesting, to say the least.

After the skies cleared we immediately departed towards the city. Ytar accompanied us, since he wanted to visit his love interest before the winter starts for real, as it was probably going to separate them for a while.

***

We reached the Grandma’s residence - casually smalltalking about stuff that happened in the meantime… and then the trap sprung.

We were right before the Grandma’s residence when the trap finally sprung.

“How lovely of you to come.” The sudden voice interrupted our smalltalk. I turned towards its source and…

Oh God. Red Mist. How?!

“As I said during our last meeting, killing you would be painfully inefficient.” She said casually. She was surrounded by robed figures. She managed to reorganize her cult?! What are the damn witch-hunters doing! “So I will have to kill everyone close to you until you finally self-terminate. I’m really sorry for that, I’d prefer to do it the faster way, but…” She shrugged. “And you made it even harder for me by informing the witch-hunters about me. I failed to visit those villagers in the sewers because I was ambushed by the Brides of Ambryxis. And a bunch of witch-hunters. You should stop making it harder for both of us.”

Brides of… probably the hidden cult of Ambryxis that works like his pawns in his domain. Most of the deities on this level creates something like that. I take the part about witch-hunters back, it seems they were actually useful for once.

We conjured our defensive magic and drew our weapons, but… we had no chance of winning. Not against a being of this level that also had tons of underlings. It was a Smiling Man all over again. Only worse.

“Thankfully I managed to fake a message and lure you here.” She shook her head… while I suffered from another mindfuck. She could falsify a message in the RPG system?! “So you will be able to witness this.” Red Mist pointed her finger towards the Grandma’s apartments. And conjured a hex.

It was powerful Doom Magic hex. Reality before us died with a hellish shriek. Seconds later it resurrected itself and…

… the apartment was untouched?!

I looked at Red Mist to see a surprise painted upon her face. What just…

Grandma marched out through the main entrance. Furious. Powerful.

Wait, powerful?!

Firewing

Gender: Female

Species: ???

Level: 78

Class: Archmagician

Active Effects: N/A

Known Spells and Techniques:

???

WHAT

First spell she fired was a ball - three meters in diameter - of blindingly white flames. White Fire Magic. School that was to Fire Magic what Death Magic was to Life Magic.. only much more.

It burned everything on its path. Missed us by a meter (GOD THE AIR WAS SO HOT) which was enough to partially deplete our defensive magic… and hit Red Mist. Her defenses held, but several closest minions were instantly vaporized or partially melted. Some of them survived the accompanying shock and began screaming like madmen.

Shit, it would be an instakill if she directed it at us. At least it wouldn’t be painful for long, I guess.

Red Mist retorted with a Malice Transcendental. An explosion in front of her ripped Reality apart. Something black came in. It was amorphous and immediately began to grow, devouring… is it devouring Reality itself?! It was moving towards Grandma/Firewing, ignoring everything around (us including), and…

Her spell could be described as pillars of scorchingly hot flames erupting from the ground. Several of them first burned the thing Red Mist summoned into cinders, overwhelming its Reality-devouring nature with brute power. The two last one were clearly targeted at Red Mist. But earlier explosions warned her, so she redirected her defenses and was more or less untouched when the fire dissipated.

Shit.

Firewing could obviously fire even stronger spells, but… there were people living around. Her strongest spells would probably smite Red Mist at ease but it would mean dozens, if not hundreds of the slums inhabitants scorched as well.

This limited her to a level where Red Mist could contend. Her minions were out of the question (most of them fled from the battle already, few more brave tried to fire meager Doom Magic hexes at Grandma but without many successes), but she had a chance for victory, if she managed to force her opponent to run out of mana or…

… Now that I think about it, if this exchange brings attention of the city… Well, who I am kidding, Ambryxis obviously knows what’s happening. The Brides, witch-hunters, maybe even his resident archmagicians are already on the way. It’s hard to keep a magical battle of this level hidden.

Time to finish it quickly.

“Leria!” I broke her out of stupor. Everyone was quite busy watching the battle of the titans in front of us.

I communicated the plan. She nodded.

Red Mist tried to pull another Transcendental. This time a straight summoning. Something terrible was about to cross into Reality, I could feel it. It made the Fallen Angel we faced look like a puppy.

Fuck, it’s an Aberrant, am I right? She can summon fucking Abe… nevermind, focus.

Firewing decided to interrupt it by another ball of fire. This time, however, the second it connected (and was narrowly repelled) a combo of Zealous Accusation and Depraved Promise hit Red Mist.

Neither of these Transcendentals could hurt her for real, but combined visions of her own wrongdoings and the wave of arousal broke her concentration for few seconds. She failed to reinforce her defenses in time, before Firewing cast another, much quicker spell.

A lance made of white fire pierced Red Mist weakened defenses and set her aflame. She screamed.

Shit, she survived that?!

She must have covered herself in something like an Inhuman Resilience, only much stronger. It saved her, but didn’t stop the damage completely. Her face… her skin melted everywhere. I couldn’t even describe how terrifyingly painful it must’ve been… and how ugly she was, with her body partially fused with what remained of her clothing.

A Reality around her bent. She disappeared. A teleportation hex? Shit, she escaped. The rest of her minions started fleeing as well, no longer having the courage after they saw their Chosen One lose in combat.

Grandma, er, Firewing ran towards us.

“One of you take people out of the apartment and through the underground passage to the place where you are hiding.” I did expect a little thank you or something, you know?! “Ytar, go to your girlfriend’s house and take her, and her family, out as well. Quickly. The rest with me. ”

What are you…” I wasn’t exactly used to people ordering me around, you know? It was normally the other way around.

“We don’t have time for that.” She interrupted me promptly. “Black Hand is coming. We need to leave, NOW.”

***

I might not be exactly aware of details of her relationship with the Black Hand, but I did know that facing another magician of her caliber - or, to be exact, one most likely much stronger - was a horrible idea.

So we listened. Ytar ran away. I ordered Lena to get Grandma’s people out (according to her, all they had to do was say that she sent them to have the people guarding the passage let them out without paying).

She led us into another part of this district. Into another stone building, but one mostly ruined.

“So, where exactly are we going and why?” I decided to speak. It wasn’t slowing us down, after all.

“To get my things out of the city. You know, the books and so on.” Oooh. Right. That explained it. “If Black Hand searches through the district properly he will find them and that… would be a bad thing.”

“You seem to hate him really much.” So much that it made me curious.

“For a reason.” She answered, with a venom in her voice. “We were a pair, back then. Only for me to discover, right before the battle with Featherclad, that some creature of Beyond promised him an Ascendence if he managed to sacrifice a person that loved him and had a power at least on a level of an archmage.”

Ouch.

“So, we battled. He won. I managed to narrowly dodge the bad end of my life by making him think I died and then disappearing in the chaos following the Featherclad assault.” She finished. “Unfortunately, he now knows that I’m alive and he will come to make sure I won’t talk with the witch-hunters or even Ambryxis himself about the deals he struck with dark powers.”

“I don’t understand why you haven’t told them already.” Simea pointed out.

“Mostly because it would be my word against his. And his standing was much higher.” Firewing answered. “He made sure there was no evidence pointing to him. But he isn’t a person to risk anything, so hell silence me regardless of the scope of a threat I am to him. Alright, here we are.”

It was a portal. Once again one that looked completely not like a portal. It was an entrance to a pocket dimension, very well hidden in the far corner of the ruined building. It was closed and camouflaged well, so even me and Leria felt nothing until Firewing opened it.

It swallowed us. When I opened my eyes, we were in… well, it’s like a dungeon. Or a cellar. Brick walls, floor and ceiling. Generally weak lighting.

Tons of rather mean defensive spells started booting up, but Firewing quickly modified them to ignore us. They would smite Red Mist if she tried to enter this please. Wow.

Archmagicians were a type of people to often end up as final bosses of even late game quests. It could be felt. Damn, these guys are strong. And if they have time to prepare…

She led us through the corridors. After few minutes everything suddenly trembled. What the…

“This place is secured with heavy defensive magic.” Firewing commented calmly. Well, her voice was calm, but she failed to stop her face from warping into a look of disgust and hatred. “They are enough of them to shield us from effects of a nearby archspell detonation.”

“Em, what does this mean?” Simea seemed lost.

“That most of the people in the district are dead.” I answered. “Seems like Black Hand really is thorough.”

God, I hope the others made it out before it happened.