Chapter 62: A peaceful day

Returning to my town was refreshing. Long journeys are exhausting; walking down the familiar cobble paths is calming. The peaceful sensation is an illusion; I still enjoy none the less.

Walking from the bustling stalls made from local woods. Reminds me of the town market from home. Back home they would almost exclusively sell food items. I would walk through the market to get to work. I can hold my own in a conversation, yet I am more of an introvert than an exstrovert. Even with that being the case it made me relaxed imbuing my mood with positivity walking through that market.

Just hearing the world around me full of life was invigorating. To a lesser extent, this place gives me a similar sensation; minus the familiarity of home. I spot the clerk I normally see consistently behind the counter of the mayor's office.

Walking up to them, trying my best not to come up behind them; it's rude after all. “Hi, how are you? I never caught your name what was it?”

With a shockingly straight back then turn on their heel. “Hello Aeternum, I’m good. How are you? And it's Jamey.”

Holding my hand apologetically. “Sorry for the late introductions; I suppose I just got used to you behind that desk.”

They grasp my forearm firmly. “No stress, I am always behind that desk after all.”

Curiosity filling my thoughts, “I've got to ask. As far as I can tell you spend half the day in that building, why?”

He just chuckles lightly, dusting my shoulder. “You see, it pays its weight in obsidian. The position is great, all be it boring.”

“What are you saving up all that money for anyway?”

He takes a bite of an apple from the basket around his arm. “I want to open a restaurant. I have always loved food and my grammy entrusted me with her recipe book; I want to do her proud. So for now I am saving the money to open it.”

Nodding appreciatively, “A noble goal, treat me to a dinner when you open.” I say lightly hitting his arm. Now, this is a guy I can get behind.

He just chuckles lightly, “Okay, but you must treat me to a drink next time I see you.” I lightly heartedly offer my hand to shake the deal. “You got it, buddy.”

“I must be on my way, I thought I would visit the mayor, he is surely bored without my visitation.”

A smile creeps up his mouth, “I didn’t say this, but he wants to pull your hair out. You know he used to be very violent. He was a part of the royal knights. Your gift must have pacified him immensely, he has been far happier recently; still gloomy, but better.” He turns to walk away, “See you around, pretend I didn’t say anything.”

I wave goodbye, a nice chat. I can't believe that old gloom shroom was actually a full-blown knight.

Continuing down the cobbled path, I note the qualitative jump in the stones suddenly. I suppose the governmental district gets a lot of funding for obvious reasons. If I could tap dance I would all the way to the building. For now, I just walk with a skip in my step a mental beat in my mind.

“Dragon Radio!” How could I forget, that lets you play music from the earth. Quickly scribbling in messy handwriting to craft one in near future.

Lost in my notebook of poorly written handwriting, I walk straight into the damn door. “Ouch,” it didn’t actually hurt but it made me feel better from the blunder. Walking in, I find a different clerk manning the desk. I walk right by straight to the mayor's office. The clerk didn’t even flinch. Either they are terrible at their job or I am so good at acting I look like I belong.

Coming up to the nondescriptive door that hides the mayor's office. I hear 2 voices talking rather loudly.

Unintentionally eavesdropping I hear a few lines.

“The crown wants the information!” A masculine, rough voice says.

“And I will say it again, I am not required to give it. Leave the poor soul alone.” I hear the clear tired voice of the mayor.

“That’s unacceptable, the searches haven’t found a scrap of information of his past!”

“No need to shout!” I hear the tone of the Mayor shift from his normally unwavering voice.

“He is dangerous, just because you got a fancy toy your…” The voices slowly fade.

I walk away, even with curiosity burning, it's rude to eavesdrop. My mind spinning with thoughts; was that about me? It's possible but I didn’t hear any key indicators it was me. I have never heard the voice of the other person before.

Walking away I feel like I have eyes burning holes in my back. I don’t know if it's anxiety or if I in fact have a tail. I grasp my necklace, turning a corner I disappear. Feeling the pressure from behind me disappearing like smoke; I let go of a breath I was unknowingly holding. Weird stuff, I best stay out of trouble for the near future.

I need a break, let’s go fishing. I enchant a rod with some nice fishing enchants before heading to the local lake. A light breeze pushing the water into small waves. I enjoy looking at the crystal-clear lake slowly swirling. Leaning against a small oak tree I rest my mind for a time.

I sit with my legs crossed; eyes closed. Clearing my mind, I feel peace wash over me with the gentle breeze. I didn’t realize I was so anxious from that eavesdropping earlier. That’s why you shouldn’t do it; ignorance is bliss. “I could use a massage,” I say as I lightly ascended above the clarity of the meditative state. It's easier to meditate here than back home. Running around, from job to job, from family issue to family issue. I can hardly distinguish if it’s the nature of the world or my life.

Getting up I head to the wooden pier. Lightly poking a barnacle, a little too high on the pier for its own good. I cast my rod; the wind caught it carrying it further than normal. Just as I was settling down to relax, I feel an extremely strong pull. “I should invest in strength enhancements” I speak as I struggle to real whatever this is in. Musing at how easy I make it sound. I suppose it is easy with NEI but it would likely require infrastructure to do… broken from my musings. I am suddenly yanked forward. As if I am going to let you go just like that.

Spreading my legs like a sumo wrestler I grip the rod with all my strength. I slowly pull back, using the method I slowly learned from previous fishing ventures. I struggle, being pulled forward at times and pulling the rod in within other times.

Struggling, I slowly reel in the rod; agonizingly slowly. Eventually, I see a silver glow approach the water surface as I reel in.

Suddenly the string goes slack. Following instincts, I didn’t know I had; I drop the rod before jumping back. I narrowly dodged a large metallic fist launched out of the water. What rises is a terrifying monstrosity of metal. Rust eating at the edges of the metal plates. A metallic monster shaped like a bipedal beast with a singular optical lense within its chest.

Slowly I see a red glow run through vein-like structures in the chest. Flying as high as I could I narrowly avoid a red beam that left a ravine in the earth. Steam released from the back of the beast; I swoop in; ax in hand. Flying towards the side it turns towards me, long, dangerous arms reaching for me. I avoid them; yet still too close for comfort.

I land a strike on its optical lens only to be rebuffed with a shockwave from some kind of forcefield. I am grateful for my flight otherwise this would be a true nightmare. Regathering my bearings, I notice red energy accumulating once more. Knowing what's coming I fly to its side. It follows me by turning but I am slightly faster. Striking its should near where its neck would be, I find my ax bites only a few inches deep.

I fly backward; swerving irregularly expecting a lethal death beam. Yet it didn’t come, instead, it raised both arms. A sigil engraved on both hands lights up with red energy. A lance of red leaves the hands like blades. I see the glow of red move to its sturdy legs. I suddenly see it lower its stance before it uses those powerful legs to launch at me. Using these terrifying lances to strike at me.

I couldn’t avoid it in time, a lance slices straight through my torse shearing off my right arm. Crying in agony at the lost limb I retreat to the sky. Using my good arm to eat a god apple I had in spares. I notice my arm is quickly regenerating; yet not quickly enough.

The energy is accumulating within the chest once more. Flying towards the beast I fly around the beam that launches from the chest, landing on its chest before swinging my ax repeatedly just to the side of the forcefield. As it discharges its beam, I get a few good swings; lopping a chunk of its chest out.

Luckily, I severed one of the visible veins of red, noting a clear lag in the flow of energy where I strike. The goal in mind I fly around its legs, dodging as best I can. As it starts to generate those lances again, I swoop in and strike my ax at a red vein over one of the shoulders before quickly flying back.

The lance on the respective arm is shorter than the other and slightly erratic – success!

It again launches at me for a similar strike but taking advantage of the small lance and prior knowledge I dodge with a few burn marks on my armor. Taking a chance, I fly up to its arm, striking a second vein on the weakened arm. The lance quickly destabilized but it came at a cost. The monster closed its ars rapidly; to escape I got my side singed with the remaining lance.

It bows its arm before doing something I didn’t expect; it threw the lance at me. It quickly destabilized in the air but it struck my chest, resulting in a painful hole in my chest, narrowly missing my heart. Gasping for breath at the collapsed lung I retreat for a moment, letting the regeneration heal the wounds rapidly.

I note it's charging the central beam once more, attempting the same tactic I tried before I fly down. Only to watch it shoot balls of red energy at me like a machine gun. I let my flight fail, dropping down and avoiding a large amount aimed for my original trajectory. I still got hit by a couple; noting the weaker effect. I still wince in the burning sensation covering my body. As I fall, I chug some potions before reaching the beast. I use my ax and gravity to strike 2 veins going towards the central lense. It shudders back, red energy becoming erratic.

Taking the opportunity, I run towards it, striking red veins on the legs and ankles before flying up and hitting the forcefield. A large crack appears on the forcefield before I am rebuffed with a shockwave. Not losing my advantage I rush back towards it. It hastily erects 2 very thin and lanky lances from its arms. Noting it's falling back, I take flight. I with a matrix-like precision and a godlike amount of luck avoid being bisected. I strike at the center once more; the forcefield collapses as my ax descends on the optical lens. Shattering the structure and revealing a red core spinning with energy.

I notice its quickly losing stability, rings spinning around it crumbling. I fly away at maximum speed before an explosion shocks the area. Ears ringing, I fall to the ground, struggling to maintain my consciousness. Eventually, the white images in my eyes and ringing in my ears fades to a background annoyance.

Turning towards where the creature was, I see a massive crater, shards of metal lit aflame everywhere. Trees on fire in the background I approach the crater. Noting the terrifying heat blasting out in waves. I see a floating red orb at the bottom of the crater. I stumble down the hole towards it. I collect it in my bag of holding before teleporting away. Relaxing fishing trip my ass, I jinxed it!