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Chapter 111: Keep Your Friends Close...
🕑 Added 2024-08-15 06:01:35 +0000 UTCWorld: MSS - Loading...
***
“Arrosh,” I hissed, grabbing his elbow before he could leave, “You don’t have to do this.”
The thought of Arrosh betraying me never even crossed my mind. Arrosh would never do anything like that. Period and end of discussion. If anything, the reason for why he was joining them –albeit temporarily– was the opposite: to help me.
Arrosh looked at me, then winked at me with those murky eyes of his. “That’s where you are wrong, Young Sword, like a bent-sword. As the Crows look for its feast, does it ignore the Vultures in the sky? Nay, the Crow must keep an eye on the circling vultures lest it become their feast in turn.”
He wanted to be my eyes. No wonder he had been strangely silent during out exchange. He was getting a measure of Clover and the others.
“I’m being serious, Arrosh,” I jerked my head towards the retreating figures. “They’re bad news.” I lowered my voice. “Don’t do this. I’ll lead you to your people. You can stay there until I come back.”
He placed his hand over mine, firm and strong. “Just as the tree only grows upwards, the mother goat only looks to raise her young safely until the calf is strong enough to stand on its own.” He softly removed my hand from his elbow. “My goal has always been the one and same, my disciple. To ensure the legacy of my master… and to do for you, what he had done for me.”
“Arrosh.” My voice sounded pained, even to my own ears.
“Do not despair, for this way, I can be the sword that cuts both ways.” With those meaningful words, he gave me a single pat on the shoulder and hurried after the other party.
“Fuck.” I cursed as their retreating forms disappeared around the bend. I snarled in anger and clenched my fist, feeling instant pain. Opening them, I saw strips of blackened flesh, burnt from using Arrosh’s blade which had been enchanted with Biyu’s black lightning. Of course, I didn’t have a single elemental resistance stat.
Because of me, Arrosh was taking a risk. A risk he shouldn’t be taking and didn’t need to take. More than that, we had just met. I had just broken him out of this torture castle. We battled through the Scavengers and two Players. We went through all of that together just to launch ourselves into another web of deceit, where I couldn’t even tell if Clover was being sincere or not. Probably not, she might have told the truth but I doubted she told me the whole truth.
It was constantly one thing to another where I felt helpless and powerless, feeling like other people were in charge of my fate. I couldn’t control a single thing.
Life is like that though.
If there ever was a posterboy for ‘bad luck’, it had to be me.
I took a moment to gather my thoughts, making sure the Dimension Rings were still in my pocket. It was worth a veritable fortune and I could think of more than one way of using them. Getting a new sword for one. The adrenaline from the battle and the proverbial fencing match with Clover wore off, allowing my subconscious to surface and finally voice its opinions.
Walking into the passageway, my thoughts became more organized.
It wasn’t necessarily a bad thing that Arrosh was with Clover’s party. Like we discussed, he was keeping an eye on them and looking out for me. But more than that, it meant I could keep an eye on him too. The Players were sure to have heard what happened to Arrosh and me by now. I’d be surprised if they didn’t do anything in retaliation. If I left Arrosh behind, all alone, in the orc settlement, he’d have no protection. Atleast this way, they had to go through Clover’s party to get to Arrosh.
The second thing was that Clover had ousted her identity to me. Counting her party and mine, that meant I could account for two of the parties in the Church’s mission that weren’t players. Simple process of elimination. Which meant that it was either the Turinan Party or Party ‘A’. While I was doing simple process of elimination, why not apply Occam’s Razor to it as well?
The Church of Light, Flame and Shield hates Players. I know that for a fact. So what were the chances that the Great Houses of Turina would send Player Adventurers to a Church mission? So I could tentatively cross them off of my list of suspects for being Players as well.
Which left only one option.
Party 'A'
…Or Clover could be lying to me and Arione could be part of the [Player’s Guild].
Oh, the irony with that line of thought.
My head began to hurt after going down that rabbit hole. No, for now, the safe thing to do was assume that Party ‘A’ was the Player in this operation that Dibo mentioned.
“It’s just a masquerade.” I muttered. No one was who they seemed to be.
Perhaps this whole ordeal wasn’t a loss after all. In this game of guesing who’s who and what everyone wanted, I’d gotten my hands on some valuable information. Oh sure, I was tortured and leaving with mental scars that no amount of therapy might be able to heal but atleast I was now on the level playing field. Before, it felt like I had a whole mountain of things to do, starting with figuring out the motives of the different parties.
At least now, I knew. Clover’s party and mine would try to steal the Relic from the Church. Most likely, the Players would do the same. The Church and the Turinan Party would try and keep it away from us. A three way fight. In a way, having Clover’s party with us –at least until they stabbed us in the back– meant that I didn’t have to feel outnumbered.
Keep on looking at the bright side and the dark things might never catch up.
I suddenly realized that I was limping. I laughed. I couldn’t help it. Because I could've easily asked Clover to heal me but they thought had never crossed my mind. Hell, I just blamed her for not even offering.
Laughing like a madman, I kept on walking for about half an hour.
I stopped laughing along the way, growing sad.
Things were really over between me and Clover wasn't it?
Yeah... it really was.
They saw me first.
“Mister! Mister!” Stole came running from around the bend.
Before I could greet her, Stole slammed into me, wrapping her arms around me. The leather armor creaked and I caught a glimpse of her black-hair, the style which resembled a horse’s mane, without even a chance to look at her face. She looked up, grinning and I saw the black and amber-colored eyes turn into a smile.
She looked back, still grinning. “He’s here! I found him!”
Then the others came and a weight I’ve been carrying disappeared.
Aurora came running from the corner with her heavy armor, caked with dirt and blood. Skaris followed soon after, his spear at the ready but his lips stretched into a sly grin and I felt my expression match his. Kyrian was the last appear, his eyes wide with worry and he too relaxed visibly at my sight.
“Mr. Lock.”
“Sssslaveborn. You live.”
“Lock, you are alright.”
I swallowed something hot and heavy, fighting back the rush of emotions. The last I had seen them had been only a day ago, maybe half a day longer if I wanted to stretch it. But it wasn’t the time that mattered. It was the combination of my own experience and the situation that I had left them in. They had been left alone with a group of Scavengers and a Grade 4 Field Boss monster to contend with. I never voiced it out loud but I feared the worst.
But they were here.
All of them.
“I’m alive.” I said with a half-laugh.
They came over and Skaris punched me on the shoulder, hard. Even Kyrian –not someone for manly gestures– gave me a few pats on the back. Aurora checked me over for wounds and Stole finally let go of me.
“On the way here, we saw another party. Did they hurt you in any way?” Kyrian asked, noticing the wounds I had.
“No.” I sighed, dreading having to explain to them exactly what happened in the last day.
Skaris sniffed. “They ssssmelled familiar, Sssslaveborn.”
Of course, the beastman’s superior senses would have recognized them. If anything, Skaris already had his own suspicions likely.
“I can explain all that later. What about you guys? None of you guys are hurt?” I turned my gaze to Aurora. “Aurora, the new Core. how do you like it?”
“We thought you were dead and now that we find you, the first thing you ask is about Sis Aurora’s Core?” complained Stole.
“The Core is fine, Mr. Lock.” Aurora answered solemnly. “What has happened to you? Are you ok?”
“A lot. And I…” I hesitated, trying to put into words what I was feeling.
“I think I’m going to be ok.” I said finally. And I meant it.
Skaris and Kyrian shared a look but neither of them commented.
“The Church. We’re supposed to be at the docks aren’t we?” I said, looking around frantically. “Are we going to make it?”
“Lock, please. You have to rest.” Kyrian was frowning in disapproval. “Marc Pointell will stall the church’s departure. We have time. But first, I want to make sure you are alright.”
“No,” I growled. “We have to get on that boat.”
Kyrian must’ve noticed something was up, figuring that this wasn’t just a regular quest I picked up. He didn’t even know about my deal with Dibo or what I knew about the Relic that lay at the end of this quest. But he had lived his entire adult life serving a Great House and knew when a party leader was being serious about something.
“Come on then, you can explain on the way.” Kyrian gestured and Skaris saddled up next to me, trying to help me walk. But Skaris was nearly seven feet tall and it was awkward.
“Here, let me, Mr. Skaris.” Aurora moved in and it was a much better fit. I began to walk, slightly limping.
Suddenly, I couldn’t tell if I was walking on my own or being dragged by Aurora.
“He’s going into shock.” Kyrian whispered. “He’s passing out.”
“What?! What the fuck are we supposed to do? Should I get my Sister?!”
“No, just feed him a potion and let him sleep.” Kyrian’s voice sounded far away.
“I ssssshall carry him.”
I tried to say something. About how we needed to get to the docks. We had to. So many things were riding on this. Learning more about the Player’s Guild and finding out what their plans were. What would happen to Arrosh if I didn’t show up to this mission –how he might be used like a dispensable soldier. What the Church was planning to do, how this linked up with the big picture of Turina wanting to wage war on a bigger scale.
How things were becoming more dangerous and we needed to grow stronger as a group.
I wanted to say all these things.
But my mouth mumbled something incomprehensible and darkness began to approach at the edge of my vision.
“Don’t worry, Lock.” It was Kyrian’s voice, but it sounded muffled and warbled, like it was coming from the other side of a wall. “Don’t worry, we’ll get to the docks.”
I stopped fighting.
My comrade said he’ll get us there.
That was good enough for me.
I slept.
***
I slept without dreams.
No Khan. No Oung. No nightmares. Nothing. Just darkness.
So when I came to, it was a gradual awakening. I slowly became aware that my body was being rocked, swaying side to side softly with a certain rhythm. The next thing I noticed was the creaking. There was terrible creaking all about and another sound accompanying it; the crashing of waves. The sound of the ocean is something that’s universal, whether on Earth or on MSS. I listened as the cascading of waves crashed against the sides of whatever they were hitting, feeling the rocking of my bed.
Even without opening my eyes, I knew that it was dark. There was no light being filtered through my eyelids. In addition to the creaking of wood and the constant ocean waves, I heard a loud crack of thunder and for just the briefest of moments, the back of my eyelids lit up –leaving after images of lightning’s forked branches etched into my corneas.
There was a chill about the air and not because of the darkness or the apparent storm. This was a chill that didn’t just sink skin-deep, but dove into your bones and stayed there. I was covered in a thick wool blanket but my feet were still freezing. I slowly opened my eyes to take stock of my surroundings.
Like I had expected, I was on a boat. With any luck, it was one of the boats chartered by the Church. There should be no other reason for me to be on a boat in any other case. Which meant that my party had made it to the meeting place as promised.
I reached out with my senses –my hearing and sense of smell, combined with the general sensation of knowing whether I was alone in the room or not. People have that almost sixth sense of knowing when they’re being watched by something. Most of the people who didn’t have that probably died out long back when our ancestors were still hunting for food. In this world where monsters were real, I assumed that sensation was very strongly linked to survival.
I was alone in a dark room, lying in a hammock. Thunder snapped again and lightning hissed through the sky in the distance, lightning up the room. I saw that the room was a typical wooden cabin of ships and now that I could see, I saw that there was a small round window in the room. There were raindrops bulleting the glass, leaving tiny beads which trailed down and disappeared, replaced by countless others. Behind all the noise, I could hear the pitter-patter of rain now.
Looking out the window, I saw harsh waves throwing the ship about. There were other lights in the distance, meaning that this ship wasn’t the only one out here. They looked like toys from this distance and in one gut-wrenching moment, one of the ships simply disappeared behind a wave only to emerge a second later.
Of course, the ships weren’t just regular ships. They were either Enchanted by Magic or Blessed by Divinity. Hell, there were Cores that could bond a ship to a captain, since a ship could be categorized as an item technically. Remember what I said about later dungeoneering requiring lots of different things? Ships were one of them.
In the game, I had always recruited a Shipmate, just to keep them handy. Kind of like Wayfinders for the ocean, you needed them for the lategame. There were certain dungeons and items that could only be attained by sailing to different places. The Ruins of Atlantis being one of them.
Shaking my head, I brought myself back to the surroundings, watching the storm outside and taking note of the room whenever the lightning flashed.
My armor and shield were nearly stacked in the corner and next to it was a dressed. I was wearing loose cloth of unknown origin, though they smelled like fresh laundry mixed with cold sweat. Probably my own sweat. I moved my legs and groaned as soreness stabbed into them like a thousand dull needles. Deciding against it, I moved my legs back underneath the blankets.
It was kind of nice.
After the last few days of endless training with my party, being harassed by the Scavengers, defeating a Grade-5 Monster and then thrown into a dungeon where I was tortured by a mad-elven-mage, I could get used to being on a boat. The blanket was warm –kind of– and I snuggled in, enjoying the crisp air outside and the contrasting heat inside. I looked out the window as the rain, thunder and waves gave me a sense of serenity. Maybe this was why White Noise was so popular back at home.
I lay there, thinking of nothing.
Inevitably, worries began to creep in.
First, I had to find where my party was and find out what was happening. I’d like to know who the captain was, what kind of person they were, plus the important people on this ship that I should be aware of. Since there were multiple ships, I wouldn’t be surprised if different parties were in different ships. Figuring out where Zenon was and what our plans were until we reached Claw’s Nest was something on my list too.
Not to mention, there were some monsters that I wanted to hunt while we were on the ship.
So many things to do. So many interconnected missions.
So many big things were happening.
And whether I liked it or not, I was knee-deep in this. Me and my party both.
Yeah. I should get out of bed and find someone. Maybe get something to eat while I was at it. Then I could persuade the captain to let us hunt some sea monsters once the storm passed. I could find a sword too –who knows, maybe one of the monsters will drop a sword. Then there was the matter of scouting out the battle powers of the other parties, making sure Clover was around here somewhere and didn’t steal away with Arrosh…
But first, I wrapped the blanket tighter around my torso.
Those things could wait.
I went through a lot, I told myself.
Closing my eyes, I let the stormy sea outside put me to sleep, more than happy that it was someone else’s problem for a change to keep us alive.
***
Comments
Moon Winchester
Also Lock needs to fucking talk over people more and get his thoughts and opinions out. He is emotionally rialed up why wouldn't he talk over them.
SlanneshSoldier69
Yep she didn't offer to heal him. I think it's because she wanted him to feel weak and to increase the chance he subconsciously decided to join her team. Alternatively she fears him a bit
Mordock 24
Has a goddess manipulating drop rates and claims to be unlucky. Although I guess he’s been on a loss streak
