Chapter 93

Wil stood on top of a small knoll, watching the sun rise over the charred remains of the legion garrison and the crumbled ruins of the wall beyond it. Barely a section remained undamaged of the once mighty fortifications, to the point where he had a clear view straight to the sea beyond.

Dotting the landscape in front of him were rows of white tents. Temporary lodgings of the craftspeople and merchants leading the cleanup effort. Most of the legion soldiers had either perished to the infected or had left shortly after the clerics deemed Aachen to be sanctified, all traces of corrupted mana removed from the earth with the Lich’s passing.

Wil and the others had spent the rest of the Night assisting with the search for survivors, combing the ruins for the living, while keeping a wary eye out for the undead. They had found only a few of the former, and none of the latter.

Almost a week later and the Garrison still a smoldering mess, nothing survived the fires except for the Cathedral, the stone building and its wards had shielded it from the worst of the flames.

Taking a deep breath of fresh, coastal air, Wil watched the blue sun peak up over the eastern horizon, dying the azure sea in its namesake color. It was stunning how quickly nature recovered after the Lich’s demise. Everything was a dull grey when he had arrived, colors washed out and dull.

The blighted landscape was now gone, replaced with new growth, a layer of green already stretching into the horizon. Even the seabirds had returned, he could spot flocks of white specks circling above the waters in the distance.

Occasionally, one would dive into the beautiful, clean water, evidently even the fish had returned to this section of coast.

A rumbling in the ground beneath his feet announced the arrival of one of the merchant’s golems, humanoid constructs made of mud and clay, following their simple instructions to remove debris from the city and carry it into a pit the mages had carved out of the earth outside the city.

Over a dozen feet tall, the unthinking Golems had been following their instructions tirelessly for days and had made considerable progress in a short time.

Originally, Garman and he had been debating how long the reconstruction of Aachen would take. Wil suggested it would be a decade before the ports opened, but Garman had been much more optimistic, a rarity for the grumpy and normally pessimistic man.

“Greed can work miracles, Junior. I’d give it a year, maybe two.” Garman had told him, while they sat on one of the few sections of wall remaining, drinking as they watched the golems work.

That had been days ago, and Wil could already see the changes in the surroundings. The merchants were sinking a fortune into the restoration of Aachen, and dozens of golems were created by the mercantile group’s mages to assist.

Unfortunately, they couldn’t bring back the people. Nearly a million souls lost when Aachen fell, tens of thousands more in the years that followed.

Nothing could replace that loss, even the divine resurrection magic couldn’t bring back most of the dead. Only a high ranker could be revived by the spell, and even then, only if there was something remaining, a small part of the person left.

Otherwise, they would have brought Felix back, but his remains were dust, carried by the wind over the ocean.

Brina, on the other hand, had miraculously survived the battle. Barely clinging to life, Wil witnessed the paladin restored by Kathryn’s divine magic in mere minutes.

Of the divine avatar they had seen float above the city, not a trace of it remained. It was gone from Aachen, but it was still present somewhere in this realm. A source of worry for the gods no doubt, but for Wil and the others, they would be fine as long as it was nowhere near them.

Wil heard footsteps approaching from behind him, barely heard over the breeze. He wouldn’t have noticed them at all if he hadn’t been expecting company.

Markus stopped next to him, looking out over the construction as the morning sunlight shone on his handsome features. Wil hadn’t realized before now, but in the years since Markus had left, they were now the same height. It was strange to think of himself as equal to his brother in some way.

“Beautiful morning. Should stay clear all day, perfect time for setting out on the road.” Markus commented.

Wil was stunned at the comment. Not from the words, but the context. Markus Brookmoor was making small talk with him, talking about the weather of all things!

“What in the nine levels of hell happened to you, Markus?” Wil blurted out, not able to stop himself.

To his continued surprise, Markus turned and grinned at the comment. The brother he had known never showed emotion so easily, something was terribly wrong.

“I grew up, little brother. Something that seems to have happened to you as well!” Markus observed, before turning back to the ocean.

Wil flushed at the keen observation. He had broken through to Rank 5 late last evening. Not wanting to advertise the fact, he hadn’t flaunted his new strength, but he still couldn’t hide anything from his sibling’s keen insight.

“I’d have to be daft not to breakthrough after what happened last night.” Wil mumbled.

“I’d say you managed despite it.” Markus jested, smiling at the comment and taking Wil completely off guard. His brother was joking!

“Seriously Markus, I would think you possessed if Kathryn didn’t keep such a close eye on you. What happened?” Wil asked, pressing for an answer on his brother’s new outlook.

“The same thing that’s happening to you, Wil, just for different reasons.” Markus said, before sitting down on the short, newly grown grass of the knoll. After a moment, Wil sat down beside him.

“When I left home, I was so…sure of myself, filled with purpose. I knew that I was strong, talented, destined for greatness. And you know what happened?” Markus asked, looking at his brother.

“Someone called you a dickhead and shoved a sword in you? It’s what I would have done.” Wil said, laughing at the idea. To his complete surprise, Markus joined in.

“I wish, that would be something I could handle. I bit off more than I could chew, and it got a lot of people killed. Nothing forces us to grow up faster than failure. Did you know, I’ve never came close to screwing up before? Not once, not even a little. Perfect Markus…he was a dickhead.” His brother whispered.

Wil couldn’t comment. He had always hated that image of his brother, knew how to react to that. This new Markus? He had no gods damned idea how to respond.

“Anyway, that’s why I’m proud of you Wil. I was the perfect one, and you were the…” His brother trailed off, trying to think of a polite way of phrasing it.

“I was the shitty one, Markus. You don’t have to sugar coat it.” Wil offered, grinning at his brother’s discomfort.

“Well, I heard about what you’ve been doing, and I know that you’ve been doing better than I had since you left the academy. However unwilling you were, Wil, you’ve handled yourself well.” Markus finished.

“Pfft!” Wil scoffed at the compliment. “Gods in heaven, Markus! I’ve been stumbling from one disaster to the next. I’ve felt like I’m drowning since I left the capital, just barely keeping my head above water.”

“I’m sorry to tell you, but that never goes away. Doesn’t matter how far you travel, or how strong you get, we’re all in the deep out here, waves washing over us. Just a matter of time before we’re pulled under.” Markus confided, his face showing signs of grief for his lost companions.

“God’s Bones, Markus. Not much of a pep talk, maybe you should work on that for a while.” Wil cursed, shaking his head.

“Anyway, I wanted to ask what you’re doing next? I heard from Erinn and Gunther that you may be going to Elbing?” Markus inquired.

“Yeah. I made some friends on the caravan ride over from the east. They’re good people, and I want to check in on them, it’s been a few months. After that? I’m not sure. Gunther wants me to visit his home in Innesvale for the night, but we have all month to get there.”

“I was thinking…You should go home, Wil.” Markus said, looking at his brother in the eyes. Wil was taken aback by the statement. His brother had pushed him for years to leave and make something of himself, now he wanted him to go home?

“No.” Wil said simply, trying to end the conversation.

“You’re strong enough Wil. Rank 5 is a power to be proud of, you could go back to the Academy, resume your studies.”

“I’m not strong enough, not yet.”

“Strong enough for what Wil, to make Father proud? Do you want me to let you in on a secret Wilhelm? Father will never be proud of you. Even if you rose in rank until no one in the empire was stronger than you, he still wouldn’t acknowledge it. He’d pick out some flaw, some area you neglected, and dismiss your accomplishments.”

“And how would you know Markus? He’s always been proud of you!” Wil shouted, not even thinking of the response until the words left his mouth.

“I know because that’s what he’s always done to me!” Markus screamed, panting as his emotions went out of control for a moment. Taking deep breaths, he slowly calmed down.

“I…I’m…Gods Markus…” Wil stammered, shocked at the outburst. This was so far out of character, he would expect Garman to wear a dress and join the church of Secundus before hearing this from his brother.

“It’s alright Wil. Father cares about himself, that’s all. Nothing we do will ever change that. So go home, study, try to find some happiness. You don’t need to be out here anymore, Wil.” Markus urged.

“You know, when I left… I wanted to get stronger, to stick it to father, to Tabitha, to you…I was going to show all of you that I was just as good. I didn’t think much beyond that. But now? I’ve made friends out here Markus, people that need my help. Even Garman, he’s a son of bitch, but he helped me, even when he didn’t have to.” Wil paused for a moment, before continuing.

“I’m not going home, Markus. I might never go home. People need me, and… that feels pretty good, you know?” Wil confessed, looking at his sibling. Markus just stared at him for a moment, before grinning.

“Excellent. That’s marvelous, Wil. As long as it’s for the right reasons, I can accept that.” He praised, before standing up and wiping the grass and dirt from his leggings.

“That’s a nice cloak you have, Wil. Ursine is rare, was it a gift?” Markus asked, giving Wil a helping hand to stand up.

“Yeah, a friend gave it to me when I was in the north. It saved my life.”

“That’s a good friend to have. Here, if a friend can give you something that valuable, your brother can’t be so stingy.” Markus joked, handing Wil a wrapped bundle from behind him.

Unwrapping the bundle, Wil saw that it was a well-crafted, black leather bag. Runes were stitched into the leather, covering the bag in enchantments. It shimmered with mana, clearly, it was a high tier magical item. On the front, the twin stags of the Brookmoor house were etched into the leather in gold.

Opening it, he stared inside to see that the space stretched far larger than he expected, to the point where he couldn’t see the distance edges of the leather bag. It was a bag of holding, a high quality one at that, judging by the space inside. He could fit thousands of pounds worth of equipment and items in this one.

“Markus! This must have cost a large fortune. I can’t accept it.” Wil said, rubbing his hand lovingly on the leather, before pushing the gift back towards his brother.

“Nonsense, I didn’t buy this just for you. This is mine, I used it for years until I got something better.” Markus said, holding up his hand. On his forefinger, Wil spotted a gold band wrapping around the digit.

‘A storage ring’, Wil thought, awed at the item. If Wil’s bag cost a fortune, that ring could buy a kingdom. Storage rings could hold tens of thousands of pounds of items easily and were unattainably rare.

“Thanks, Markus. Not just for the gift, but for everything.” Wil said, sincerely.

“You’re welcome, little brother. Take care of yourself.” Markus said, offering his hand.

Shaking hands in the morning sunlight, the brothers parted ways, each onto their own new adventures.