Year 168 (part 2)

“You don’t look in particularly good shape, for a hero.” I mentally spoke to Alvin, and he was powerless to resist. I sensed the swirling chaos within his body and I’m eager to see how it worked under the hood. First we start with comprehension, then, weaponization.

“And if I refuse?” Alvin said.

“Well, you’d rather live like this, bedridden for the remainder of your days, than let me try to heal you?”

Alvin didn’t reply.

“The next demon king will come in 10 years or so, and when it comes, it will come for you, because you are the last surviving hero. And they will find you in this state, and kill you. And destroy the city around you too.”

The weakened hero clenched his fists. “What do you even care?”

That offended me. Offended us. Have we not been fighting against the demons all these while? Have I not been resisting? What gave this hero the right to question that? Why, just because I wasn’t on the ‘same’ side. “I brought you because Kei asked me to help you. Because I happen to be one of the few people in the world that can even try to undo a demon king’s curse, and you question me?”

I was tempted to just keep him in stasis.

“By bringing you here, we have pretty much drawn the next demon king to us. To me. Do you think I would do so if I didn’t mean to heal you?”

“You could have brought me here to kill me.”

“I could.” Honestly, I could. In fact, if I found out how the demon’s poison or curse or whatever worked, I could be a dick to the world and not heal him. “But that would mean more unnecessary destruction, and more people dying while we wait for the gods to summon the next batch of heroes. As much as I dislike Kei’s request, I still saw some merit in helping you. And we need you to fix the locust problem that’s causing food disruptions all over the world.”

“And I am supposed to believe that you mean well for the world.”

“I do.” I meant it. I truly believe that this cycle is horrible. All the lives, all those forests, jungles, trees and habitats wiped out, just to serve as the playground for this game of gods. I’ve seen enough death to see this isn’t the way to go, and from what I can tell, many other, earlier precursor civilisations have suffered a premature death.

“Heh.” Alvin snorted.

“So, are you letting me help you or not?” If I have to kill him, I will. With the levels I gained since the fight with the demon king, maybe I could give him a run for his money. Still, the entire Valley of the Unrotten is loaded with bombs. If he’s going to start something crazy once I healed him, I would blow up the entire valley to take him down. I’ll live, but I don’t think he will.

“Fine.”

-

I made a giant attendant tree that’s focused as a biolab to house Alvin’s body, with all the best materials I could gather, and all the tools I may never need.

I activated all my sensors, and then dived into his soul spring, to see what is the magical equivalent of an oil slick.

Just like Meela long ago, there were these two large magical jugs in the sky that poured beautiful untainted, sparkly water into his soul spring, and the ‘lake’ around it. This sparkly water was star mana, and then, I saw these... strange spire like structures that resembled the demon’s homeworld. These emitted demonic mana in large quantities, and yet the star mana was still able to push back against the mana produced by these spires.

What’s really different, was something that looked like a single red crystal located right on top of his own soul spring that was surrounded by a red flame. I activated my soul-related abilities to get a closer look, whether this was just another type of curse. The flames seemed to burn the star mana that got near it, and in doing so, created an entirely dry, parched area.

[Greater Daemon Hybrid Parasite Spawn - nascent form]

What-in-the-fuck. I looked closer, and I saw, indeed, there seemed to be something resembling a.... I’m not sure what I’m looking at. It’s like a jellyfish, but incomplete.

In fact, once I observed the way the flames interacted with the star mana, I believe that thing may be ‘drinking’ the star mana.

-

“Alvin. I want you to tell me what the demon king did to you.”

He was still groggy when I woke him from the biolab’s bed. My vines and my own healing energies have taken over the role of his magical bed, and I could see he was healthier in most ways. But his skills and magic all remained off limits, so long as that... parasite, consumed all the mana that got anywhere near his soul spring.

He sat up, and told the story.

Both of them fought the giant worm demon king, and it went quite well. The temples provided some assistance, as they brought out old hero items to help provide cover fire and take out the mobs. They activated their powers, their star mana forms and went all out. The demon king caught one, but Hans managed to use his attacks at point blank range to significantly weaken the demon king before he was killed.

He fought the demon king to the end, but at the end, when he thought he won, there was a core in the middle. He thought it was going to explode, but instead, it just shot out the locusts to the entire area. In the middle was also this glowing blob of tiny red worms that attacked him. He thought he killed and destroyed most of them... but then he began losing his powers.

Within a month he was significantly weakened, and he thought he was going to die, but then somehow the condition stabilised. Still, he needed support, and so the temple brought out the ancient hero item, the Healing Bed. Honestly, the bed itself resembled something that would be found in a hospital. It’s clearly something made by a hero in memory of home.

“Those... little red worms. I thought I got all of them.” Alvin confessed. “But I think some of them managed to get into my body.”

The spawn in his soul spring. How?

-

I thought long and hard about this. There’s a parasite in his body, and it’s the thing that denies him access to his powers. It’s like somebody rerouted the electricity away from the main computer, so the computer’s unusable, but not necessarily ‘spoilt’.

The thing was growing. It fed on his star mana.

Honestly, a part of me was extremely curious of what happens if it matures? Does it burst out of his body?

The red flames protected it, but I realised that the protection was insufficient. Not enough to deny me.

I placed Alvin in my specialised soul forge, a set up I used to heal Stella of her void mana curses, and activated the various ley lines for the power I needed. The flames this parasite created, were meant to ‘consume’ star mana, and it was specifically tailored for it. It had pretty good protections, such that significant majority of healing or anti-poison or anti-parasite abilities could not get past those red flames.

But not me. The flames bent and went out to the touch of my overwhelming mana. And my vines reached out, and then touched it.

At that moment, a voice spoke back. ‘Tree, we believe we are on the same side.’

I mentally froze, and Patreeck quickly updated. “No mental incursions, master. It appears to be a telepathic message passed via the vines.”

‘Don’t remove me.’

The... spawn? Indeed, there really was nothing else but the crystal. “What are you?”

‘I am the demon’s bid to escape the clutches of our Slavers. A weapon created to kill heroes, but at the same time, use the heroes’ powers to grow. ‘

...shit. “I do not believe you.”

‘Certainly, you should not.’

“How do you speak so... well?” The level of speech and sentence structure suggested something a lot more intelligent than what I initially remembered of the demons.

‘We learn from the captured heroes. We learn from their memories, their thoughts. We leech off their minds, and pick the speech and language patterns. Even now, I tap into the hero’s mind.’

“You are a parasite.”

‘That I am.’

“Then tell me why I should not remove you?”

‘Because I can help you fight the Slavers. We know your kind is unaware of who we are. Who we serve.’

“Then enlighten me.”

‘The Ancient Slavers, and the Puppeteers, are but two large factions in eternal conflict over the multiverse. This world is one of the many ‘gateway-worlds’ at the edges between the realm of the Slavers and the Puppeteers. We, the so called ‘demons’, are but a race of animals, or monsters, that the slavers have ‘assimilated’ as their slaves of war. Our homeworlds are helpless, the slaver’s mind-touch is etched into our flesh, our souls stolen away and fused into the mass. Our leaders are forced to fight their wars, sent to your world as the demon kings.’

I wonder whether its’ lying. But it’s quite plausible. “Then what are you?”

‘I am a secret project, a weapon designed by our kings, with a spark to regain control of our own destiny.’

I’m getting some serious Xel’naga vibes here. No. Kerrigan.

‘But to do so, I must grow and mature outside the eyes of the Puppeteers and the Slavers..’

I had a real sinking feeling.

‘The Demon Kings believe we can have allies in this world. Those who can help us rebel against our Slavers. We have seen strong natives across the multiverse, and we have attempted to seek their aid. I am to be made using the magic of the Puppeteers, to wash away the corrupt stain of the Slavers that seeks to hold onto my will. With true independence, and the knowledge I have, we can retake my homeworld.’

Is this for real? No. Don’t demons always lie? But that’s the belief, isn’t it? “I have not decided to help you or not, but I need to know everything. And I mean, everything damned thing.”

‘Certainly. Our kings believe letting the natives know the truth of the conflict will convert some to our cause.’

Convert to their cause? That choice of word seemed to sound like the demon’s attempting to incite people to believe them. Isn’t this just a version of the Demon Cults I met a century ago? “Start from the beginning. Who are the Gods?”

‘The Slavers and Puppeteers are but a generation of mortals that gained apotheosis, perhaps a few million years ago. They come after three Parents, the Birth of the system-time and the Birth of the worlds, and the Birth of Souls, and rose to enslave them. They failed.’

“How do you know this, and how do I know this is true?”

‘It is our ancient belief which we believe is true.’

Oh lord, I’m dealing with demonic religion. “What do you want?”

‘We want to be freed of the Slavers.’

“What do the Slavers and Puppeteers want?” I presume these are the gods.

‘We do not know much. We know they seek to conquer the gateway worlds, and to do so we must defeat the Puppets, and claim the native magic of the world. In worlds where we have conquered, the slavers consumed the natives and turned them into new slaves, to fight other battles. The native worlds were stripped of certain types of energies, and the rest was left for the new slaves to use. The Slavers will change the natives, such that the natives become more... warlike.’

“How do you open the portals to our world? Where is your world?”

‘I do not know how to describe where my world is. It is just... there. As for the portals, the Slavers have unique individuals tasked with tuning the void-gates. The void gates are tuned to residual energies of your world, but I know not of their operations. These are the powers of the Slavers. Each of the demon worlds have agents of the Slavers.’

Each of the demon worlds? THere are more than one? “How can I know you are not lying to me?”

There was a moment of silence, then it responded. ‘So what if I am? Does it make what I say any less useful?’

I kept on with the Q&A session. “How do you break free of the Slaver’s hold?”

‘Their hold is written in the flesh, and in the stones of the soul.’

“What happens when you mature?”

‘The hero dies, and I emerge a matured creature, hatching from the body of the hero.’ Whoah, that’s some alien shit. It was then that I felt my mana become slightly unstable. I decided to pull out, and disconnected my vines from that parasitic crystal.

-

“So?” Alvin asked when he woke up.

“I’m still trying.”

“I felt like you almost touched it though. What... what is it?”

“I... I don’t know.” I lied.

Honestly, I had a choice. Do I save the hero, or do I keep the parasite? If what the parasite said is true, he could be useful. No. Even just seeing it was sufficiently informative. It meant it’s possible to create ‘soul spring parasites’. Creatures that existed in the soul spring and that same soul spring can ‘leech’ away the star mana.

Could I make tree-equivalents of such parasitic creatures? I believe it’s not impossible, there are parasitic trees in the world.

“Huh, so the great tree isn’t so great after all. So much for being the god of the Central Continent.” Alvin snorted. Thankfully I am a tree, and the insult didn’t bother me.

I contemplated the issue, whether to assist Alvin, or to let the parasite remain within the body of the hero. The hero’s a pain in the ass, but he’s hostile. On the other hand, what could the demon do for me? Should I use it as a source of information and just extract what I can, then save the hero anyway?

At what point does the demon mature?

-

‘I will mature in another... three years.’

I felt a strange unsettling feeling. “Tell me more. Why do you come to our world like clockwork? Every 10 years?”

‘Is it that frequent? It may be those gathered from the other enslaved worlds. The Slavers occasionally only require the Kings to serve as the Leader of the Assault, to stabilise both the interworld portal and to spread the Slaver’s energies.’

“What are the heroes, and why do the gods need them?”

‘We have captured a few in the past, and we can read minds. The Puppeteers summoned heroes from the same few places, and we met their kind in the other worlds too. But why... we are not privy to the thoughts of the Puppeteers. We only know that their magic is well suited against the etchings of the Slavers on our reforged flesh.’’

...fucking shit. I mean, I knew from the Zaratans that there are other worlds and they face demons there. “How do you plan to strike back against the Slavers? You said you needed help. What is the strategy?”

‘In our homeworld, the Slavers maintain ten large crystalline spires, which store the souls of our people, prisons. The Kings are those chosen from the imprisoned souls, a promise by the Slavers to free some of us for every Puppeteer we slay. There are similar spires in the other enslaved worlds.’

I paused at the idea of these... controlled spires.

‘The Kings are suspicious of the Slavers, but given our circumstances, we have no choice but to obey. The Slavers etched strong curses and rules into the flesh of the Kings, so we are bound by their will.’

“Where are the Slavers?”

‘We do not know. We believe they have ascended to a higher folded plane where they can reach multiple worlds at once, rather than have their powers limited by the constraints of space and time. Their servants walk in the enslaved worlds, their appointed commissioners...’

There’s so many things that don’t make sense. If there are these puppeteers that manipulate this game, why do they need to ‘import’ heroes from Earth? Why?

“Do you know of... earth?”

‘Yes. One of the few homeworlds of the Puppets.’

“Why? Why them?” There are other worlds?

‘We do not know why. We have attempted to reach that world, but our powers fail. It seemed that these homeworlds are behind some kind of one-way barrier.’

This meant Stella’s plan to reach home may fail. “Back to the crystal spires. Will destroying them free the world from the Slaver’s rule?”

‘Most likely. We believe it will weaken it, at least. The spires are extensions of the Slavers, destroying them should weaken their hold on our homeworld.’

“And you will stop invading our world?”

‘You would have to free all the enslaved worlds for that to happen, and there are perhaps hundreds.’

Hmmm... This is useful. This meant that hiding the world from the view of the gods and demons may be a more realistic option. “Wait. That day you spoke of the portals. What residual energies do you speak of?”

‘In your world, there are remnant energies of the Slavers. These act as beacons for the gates to find your world. As it is, your world has a mix of energies, both the Slavers and the Puppeteers.’

“Where?”

‘...we do not know. But we know we leave more of the slaver’s energies in your world after each invasion. Perhaps in the bodies of the Kings.’

Alright. Damned Daemolite is bad. This just confirms it. I’ll have to destroy all the daemolite...

No. if there are residual ‘Slaver’ energies, I should gather them and see whether I can absorb them for myself. If these are remnant energies of the Gods of these demons, it should be worth something.

-

“You’ve been trying so many times and nothing.” Alvin snorted. “I’m getting annoyed with this. Just kill me and be done with it.”

“I’m very tempted to.” I responded.

Edna, Kei and the others finally returned from the Northern Isles, and Kei walked through the door. Alvin sat on the biolab.

“Hi Alvin.” Kei said, her body that of a golem.

“Who’re you?”

“I’m Kei, you asshole.”

“Kei’s dead.”

“Well, let’s just say I didn’t really die. I got blown up by the demon king, but somehow Aeon managed to salvage a big chunk of my soul and placed me into this body.” Kei’s explanation was quite on point.

Alvin stared at the golem.

“What, you don’t believe me?”

“No.” Alvin shook his head. “Wait. How?”

“I explained it already. Weren’t you listening?”

“I mean. Yes. No. I mean, how?”

Kei facepalmed. “You’re an idiot.”

“I swore I saw the notification said you died.” Alvin shook his head.

“I lost all of my [hero] classes and all of my levels, which the system somehow interpreted as me dying. I believe Aeon described it as having the entire house blown off.”

“Why didn’t you try to contact us?” Alvin said.

“What for? Would you believe me?”

Alvin thought about it for a moment. “...true.”

Kei then turned to me. “Aeon, how’s his condition?”

Should I lie? I decided maybe it’s not worth it to lie. “There’s a parasite inside him. A demonic parasite that’s eating up all of his mana and most of his vitality.. I’m still thinking about how to remove it. It’s... complicated.”

Kei nodded. Alvin’s face was one of abject horror. “You didn’t tell me that.”

“I wanted to tell Kei, first.”

Edna then walked into the biolab, her energy and presence easily filled the room. Kei looked at Edna a little surprised. “You’ve changed since I last saw you, Lady Edna. You’ve crossed the line?”

Edna gave a little nod. “Just barely. So, how’s your patient?”

“There’s a parasite in him.”

“I see. That explains a lot.” Edna could sense magical energies of those around her, so she was quite surprised by how ‘empty’ he felt. It’s one of the consequences of the ‘domain.’ “So, what’s our next step? We wait for Aeon to heal him?”

“The parasite’s a little bit tricky.”

-

Later on, I pulled Edna and a few of the senior Valthorns for a private meeting, where I briefed them on what I learned from the parasite.

“The conundrum is essentially, do we save the hero, or do we keep the parasite for it’s knowledge?”

“Why not both, really?” One of the higher leveled druids, a dude called Kayus asked. “Perhaps, if it is a parasite, we could transplant it to a suitable host.”

“It needs star mana to grow, if what it says is true. And if it chooses to resist us on maturity, it may be a handful to deal with.”

Lumoof hushed it. “We have Aeon and Edna to deal with it.” Lumoof wasn’t too far off from the Level 150 either. Now that Edna’s back, they could resume their dungeon exploration.

Hmmm... transplanting the parasite could be an idea. I also wondered whether I wanted to draw on its’ demonic energy. Perhaps it could give me the breakthrough I need to truly understand and master demonic mana.

I also wonder... whether I could ‘convert’ it the same way I did with demon walkers? Does it have a soul? Or perhaps, it has?

‘Yes. The Kings managed to free a part of our souls, and spread it into the worms. The Slavers still have a hold over my soul, but with each day, the consumed Star Mana eats away at their bindings. When I mature, I will be free.’

There was something about it that just didn’t sit right. Was it instinct?

-