Temerick’s POV

The fires were gently crackling, trying to pull me towards sleep. Throughout the camp, people stirred restlessly. I didn’t blame them. Even on the road, rumors of destruction floated. I refused to believe it though. Kiln, completely destroyed? Ridiculous. I had traded there many times, and those walls were immense. Any beast strong enough to take them down would have been spotted, and I doubted the humans had a hero strong enough to sneak this far into the elven territories and wreak such havoc.

“HALT! WHO GOES THERE?!” A guard’s bellowing challenge had all of us up and armed in seconds. I moved swiftly through camp toward the forest where the challenge had come from, seeing Finderan standing there with his crossbow notched and aimed at the chest of a dark figure. One that stood there, swaying on its feet as it slowly put its arms to the sides.

“Step forward slowly, keeping your arms raised. Make no casting attempts, or we shall turn you into a pincushion.” Finderan ordered, and the figures slowly obeyed. As the firelight revealed the decrepit figure, we all sucked in a horrified breath. It was a young elf, barely into his thirties. His shirt was all but destroyed, the only thing remaining was a tattered ring around his neck trailing a few strands of thread. Small cuts and bruises adorned his body, with a few of the larger ones oozing a yellowish green pus. His pants had a few cuts in the thigh area, but were basically gone from the knee down. His feet were covered in mud and other filth, and there was a bright red line starting from a cut on his ankle and leading up the side of his leg.

“Healers!” I called out, immediately concerned. “Come into the camp, boy, and tell us your name.” He stumbled forward, but before I could get there Finderan managed to catch him. With his help, we picked the poor thing up and carried him to the fire, which someone had already managed to bring back to life. Karacyn already had water boiled, and her portable alchemy kit at the ready.

“Blast, he’s unconscious.” She muttered as we laid him down. “Though probably for the best. This won’t be pleasant. Tem, I’m gonna need a lot of clean bandages.”

“On it.” I said, leaving her to her things. I jogged to the third wagon and quickly located our rags barrel, and simply brought the whole thing. Better too many than not enough. When I got back, Kara was already leaning back on her heels.

“Well?” I asked, placing the barrel down and dropping a few into the boiling water.

“I’ll need to get him cleaned first, but there don’t seem to be any broken bones, thank Shalora.” She said, getting a few winces from the guards nearby. It didn’t matter to me what religion you followed, so long as you followed my orders when necessary. That said, I wasn’t a big fan of this new lizard god. Too new, and growing far too rapidly. “Definitely has some blood poisoning we need to address, or he’ll be dead by sundown tomorrow. Most of the other infections will clear up with a bit of cleaning.”

“Right. No time like the present to get started then. If you want to start brewing that blood cleanser potion, I’ll clean him up a bit. Get the grime off.”

“Perfect. Save his feet for last, and don’t break open any pustules if you can help it.” She ordered. “While he’s out, I’m going to take a wire brush to them to make sure they are absolutely clean.” I shuddered to think of what this poor kid would have to go through, and gave Shalora a silent prayer thanking her for him passing out. She didn’t use it much, but Kara would bind him with magic to make sure his wounds were clean and prevent him from trying to escape.

Several hours later, and everything was finished. Several of the guards had to walk away, which was fine with me. We had to burn nearly half our rag reserve, which could have been a problem on any other stretch of road. Luckily we were only a day and a half out from Steelbrew. Chances of battle were small, and we could restock most of our supply there for fairly cheap.

“What do you think happened to him?” I asked as I washed my hands.

“Dunno.” Kara shrugged. “He’s dehydrated for sure, and has been running through the forest for days. He got damn lucky no predator found him, otherwise he would be something’s dinner by now.”

“You’ll sit with him tomorrow?”

“Of course, but if I tell you to back off of your questions, they stop.” She ordered, giving me that look.

“Of course.” I nodded, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek. “Go on to bed hun. I’ll set the guards to watching him tonight, and we can set up an infused broth for him to drink tomorrow.”

“Yet again you prove my parents wrong love.” She gave me that smile that never failed to light up my life. At my raised brow, she explained, “You can learn new things. A day of infused broth to recover his strength is the perfect treatment.”

“Ah, well. I did learn from the best.” I said, smiling.

“That you did.” She agreed before packing up the last of her things and leaving toward her bedroll. Gods, but these trips were sweet torture! To have her so near, but having to refrain from touching or being intimate as it wasn’t fair to the guards or the rest of the caravan. Oh well, it was better than the alternative. I couldn’t imagine leaving her at home, wondering when or if I would be back. Maybe this should be our last trip? Something to think on when we arrived.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

“Finally starting to wake up?” I asked as our guest slowly stirred around noon. We had been traveling for the morning, but he barely stirred, even when hitting the deepest potholes. He looked around the wagon with blank eyes, then simply sank back into the blanket we had covered him with. “I’m Temerick. What’s your name?” Again I got no response, so I just shrugged and laid back in my seat. Kara took that moment to lean forward.

She inspected his eyes, and checked his bandages as well as the line on his leg. When that was done, she handed him a canteen of the herb broth we had made. “Drink this for now, as well as the contents of this vial.” She ordered. “The vial is for the blood poison slowly killing you, and is quite bitter so I suggest following it quickly with the broth. The broth will help you recover to the point you can eat solid foods again.”

“Better do it, friend.” I said after a tense minute of silence. “One way or another, that medicine will be getting inside you.”

“Don’t waste on me.” He said, his voice scratchy from lack of use.

“Why not?” I asked.

“Not worth it. Should be dead.”

“Let’s make a deal.” I said, dropping down to his level. “Why don’t you take the meds and tell me what happened, and I can decide? If I think saving you was a waste, you can work off the cost of the potion and the healing we have done so far.”

He took a moment to think, then nodded and swiftly chugged the potion, grimaced, then downed a bit of the broth. After a few rounds of coughing, he slumped back and sighed. “Was supposed to be home.” His voice was already a drawl, and I raised an eyebrow at Kara, wondering if she had put a sedative in the broth. She gave a quick shake of her head to indicate no, and the boy continued. “Wanted some truffles, so went into the forest. Wandered farther than usual. Turned back at the strange light, saw the fire in the sky. Fire fell, thunder with no storm. The land shook.”

“Where was this?” I asked. “Where did you see the fire in the sky?”

“Kiln. The fire fell, the land cried. Only I survived, so I ran.” As he spoke, his eyes glazed over and he started rocking back and forth. “Run. Run from the fire, but you can’t outrun forever.”

He didn’t say anything else after that, but that was fine. He had said enough. We had to get him to the guards as quickly as possible.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

The next day we set out early, wanting to get to Steelbrew before noon. Unfortunately, we were a bit late, but arriving just after lunch might actually work out better. As we pulled up to the gates, I gave the merchant issue sign to the guard checking us in. Scratching my nose with the third finger of my right hand. He quickly came up and to his credit, seemed to be pretty good at subtle.

“Good afternoon and welcome to Steelbrew. Need any recommendations while in town?” Well, he was either subtle or he had missed the sign. Studying his face, I realized he missed it.

“Look, we have a slight issue that your captain will want to hear about immediately.” I whispered, looking into the back of the wagon. The boy was sitting there, mute as usual. “See that kid? We picked him up a day ago. He had ran all the way here from Kiln, says he saw it be destroyed.”

“Kiln?” The guard immediately went on alert, though he did remain fairly quiet. “I see. Head to the Noose Neck Inn, the captain will be with you as soon as she can. You familiar with the place?”

“Yeah, we’ve been there before. Thanks.” I nodded, heading in to the city. The inn was across the street from the barracks, and we still had a few blocks to travel when I saw a runner from the gate enter the barracks.

I hopped out of the wagon, helping Kara and the boy down before talking to Finderan, “Take everything down to the warehouse and get settled in. We’ll take care of things here and be along shortly.” With a nod, he led the procession down to hopefully keep us on track for our trip. We had a few things to pick up, but since we always stayed for a night in the city it wouldn’t be an issue.

Entering the inn, we headed toward a corner table that had a bench seat for the kid to sit on. He obediently slid around to the back, while the innkeeper walked over to us. “Y’all missed the lunch special, we already sold out. I can get ya an ale if ya want?”

“No thanks. We’re meeting the guard captain here, she should be by-“

“Right now.” Came a calm voice from the doorway.

“Captain Zoe! Good to see you again!” The innkeeper was immediately best friends with her, but I didn’t begrudge him anything. We were passing merchants, and weren’t buying anything. The captain of the guard? Yeah, not someone you can snub.

“Zeke, good to see you too. Sorry to do this, but I need your dining room and it needs to be secure. Can you lock up for an hour?”

“For the guard? Sure. I’ll be in the back prepping some dough for dinner tonight.” He said, immediately complying and leaving us alone. Well, alone with the captain and three guards. She had on this amazing black armor, made of a metal I couldn’t quite put my finger on. Maybe an enchanted ebony? Her three guards were all shirtless, though they were covered in intricate tattoos. One reminded me of vines, one of whirlwinds of wolves fighting, and one looked like he was covered in lightning. She slid into the seat and sidled up next to the boy, turning his head so she was staring into his eyes.

“Tell me your name.”

“Kutkh.” He replied, though his tone was as dead as his eyes.

“You come from Kiln?”

“Came.” He corrected, a bit of life starting to stir. At least, until he shuddered and tried to look away. “All gone.”

Pulling his head back, she gave him a soft smile. “Kutkh. I know it hurts, but you need to tell me what happened. That way I can send people to make sure it never happens again. You want to help us with that, right?”

“Promise?” He asked, and seemed like he had reverted to a small child begging his parent for a treat.

“I promise. I’ll even go myself if I have to.” She smiled, but he was already looking away and rocking a bit in his seat.

“Ok.” He said. “Ok, I’ll tell.” He nodded, letting the rocking intensify a bit. “I wanted truffles. But we were out, and Brendan always charges too much at the market. So I went hunting them. But the woods were picked clean of the usual spots. But I kept searching, they taste so good. Before I knew it, I was miles away. Further away than I had ever been before. And then I saw it.”

“Saw what?” The captain prodded, as he had frozen.

“Fire.” He whispered. “The sky was on fire, and there was thunder without storm. I looked back, and it was hovering over the city.”

“What was hovering? The fire?”

“The figure. He stood there in the air, silver wings behind him. Then he called the fire down, and it fell. Fast. Too fast! The ground shook, and something slammed into me and sent me sprawling. I knew something terrible had happened, so I ran.” He said, tears running down his face. He turned to the captain and said, “I left them. I just. I didn’t want to die, and he would kill me. Those silver wings. I left them all to die.” At that he broke, pulling the captain into a hug as he cried. She looked uncomfortable, but eventually put a comforting arm around his back and gently patted it.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Sean’s POV

As my disguised body held the surprised captain, my new partitions in my mind carefully watched the three guards. They had gotten closer, but didn’t bother pulling any weapons or preparing any shields. Fools. I was about to make them pay, but first I had to deal with the major threat. My right hand was on her kidney, just below the line of her armor.

“And now I’m going to kill the filth clinging to your soul.” I whispered, low enough that only the captain could hear me. As I was speaking, I sent a spike of spirit energy through my right hand and into the head of the beast connected to her soul. The contact let me finish my attack with the guards none the wiser. With one mind on the reactions of the merchants next to me, I sent three spikes of spirit into the heads of each of the beasts feasting on the remaining guards’ souls. The one with lightning tattoos was the only one to start to react, but it’s hard to avoid an ambush set by five different minds.

“What the?” The merchant asked in fright, sliding along the wall in an attempt to escape. His wife merely opened her eyes in fright.

“Relax you two.” I said, propping the now unconscious body of the captain into the bench. “I won’t tell you much, but don’t trust the new religion. They give gifts that will literally eat your souls.”

“Explain.” The wife ordered.

“The new armor the guards get? It has a soul leech in it. At stage three like these guys with the tattoos have, they leech is fully integrated into their body. At stage four, like the captain here, they gain an armor of void steel. I’m just glad my surprise attack worked, as the one in kiln was waiting for me and managed to summon a void Dreadlord.”

“By Shalora!” The merchant swore, and I could see him shaking. “What happens now? I don’t suppose you would be letting us go?”

“Actually, yes, I am letting you go. You worship the proper gods, and not the one trying to invade this world. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to finish clearing out a bit of the guards. Until then, I’ll have to keep you here. I’ll place a barrier around the whole building. If it disappears, you might want to start fleeing.” With that, I let my features melt and reform as I took the visage of the now unconscious captain.

“What? How?” The wife asked in terror.

“The less you know, the better.” I said. They already knew I was a shapeshifter, but letting that out could only help Elendria and I. When word got out, they would have to suspect everyone. And the longer they suspected everyone, the more it would wear on the guards. Standing up, I headed out of the tavern and sealed it behind me. I left enough magic that it would work for an hour, before crossing the street and entering the barracks. I had some research to do.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

The day after Kiln

“I don’t understand why we have to split up.” Elendria grumped at me as we looked at the aftermath of the battle.

“This is why!” I said, pointing to the crater. “You got the notification too! We killed a boatload of civilians Elendria! They’ll use them as elven shields whenever we get forced into a pitched battle.”

“So we split up? How does that help us?”

“Trust me, it’s far easier for me to infiltrate the cities than you would think. I’ve already upgraded to Chimeric Body IV. The superior shapeshifting included in that lets me alter 80% of my body. Unless they can find a way to detect my soul, they can’t stop me.”

“And me?” She asked.

“You’ll be going to the smaller villages and clearing them out.”

“Clearing them out?” She asked, eyebrow raised.

“Exactly. What, did you think I would want to sideline you?”

“Yes.”

“Please. Unless you were swarmed, you can easily handle the level 1 and 2 variations of these soul leeches. Hell, you can go toe to toe with a level three and still come out on top. While I’m infiltrating and hunting down the main threat of the breeding grounds, you will be causing chaos as you free the smaller villages.”

She stared at me for a moment, but I couldn’t tell if she was hoping I was lying about splitting up or if she could tell if I really thought she could handle a few villages on her own. “Alright, we can do it this way. But we have to meet weekly. I’ll track you down with the charm from the guild.”

“Fair enough.” I nodded. “Now, get going, and be careful. I’m going to upgrade a few things then head out to cause mayhem.”

“Fine, but you be careful too.” She said, stepping forward and giving me a kiss. “If I can’t take unnecessary risks, you can’t either.”

“Agreed.” I said, giving her a long hug. “Alright, let’s go.” I said, and she took off. I went ahead and changed my features to that of a young elf, and prepared to start a long run through the forest. While I did so, I went ahead and bought a few upgrades and looked at the final reward from killing the Dreadlord. I had ignored it after the battle, frustrated with getting zero experience from destroying all the soul leeches in Kiln. After reading the description, I was starting to feel a little better about it.

Upgrade acquired!

Partitioned Mind II is now Partitioned Mind V (max)

You may now split your mind into six parts. Each part may concentrate on its own spell, or work together to increase the casting speed for more powerful spells. At level 5, each mind can cast a spell using 150% of your INT.

New upgrade unlocked: Web of Life I

You have proven capable of making the toughest decisions in life. When to sacrifice others in order to protect the world. The elves will have a difficult recovery from losing over 1000 elves at Kiln, but they will recover. This would not be the case without the destruction of the Dreadlord. As a reward, the Web of Life adaptation has been unlocked. This special perk is awarded to those who can sacrifice the few to save the many.

Cost: 18 adaptations per upgrade

Max level: 5

Effects: The Web of Life interconnects bodies and souls. Attributes will now be shared across the reinforcement circles you have created.

END, AGI, DEX, and WIS are all increased by (STR + CON + INT)/(6 – WoL X)

STR, CON, and INT are increased by (END + WIS + (AGI + DEX)/2)/(6 – WoL X)