My Best Friend is an Eldritch Horror - Chapter 249 (Patreon)

He arrived at the top of East Mountain a short while later. Magical power burned around Damien, dissipating into the air as he released the hold he had on the Ether in his core. He spent a moment refilling before he took a glance around.

Venus’ room was alone at the top of the mountain. There were no others on the same floor as her, and the plaque above her door only had a single name on it – hers. Damien walked up to the finely carved stoon and rapped on it.

Several seconds passed before it swung open to reveal a girl about his age. She had blonde hair and her pale skin flickered in the torchlight escaping her room. “What do you want?”

“I’m here to ask you a few questions,” Damien replied. “Do you mind if we step inside?”

“I very much do,” Venus said, her eyes narrowing. “Who are you?”

“I’m a transfer student.”

“And you came to seek me out for what reason?”

“One that will be discussed in private.”

“You aren’t being very convincing,” Venus said. “I don’t know what school you’re from, but you clearly don’t understand how Mountain Hall works yet. I’ll be nice and let you turn around and leave. I’m not wasting my time on an idiot.”

“You misunderstand,” Damien said. “This wasn’t a request. I was just being polite.”

He grabbed the door with telekinesis and slammed it open. Venus’ eyes widened, but he didn’t give her a chance to fight back. If she was as strong as Quinlan, she might actually have enough ability to bring some attention toward them.

Damien detonated a Gravity Sphere behind the girl’s head, yanking her off balance. She recovered quickly, ice expanding and covering her body, but Henry’s tendrils shot out from his mage armor and grabbed the girl by the arms, throwing her back into the room.

Stepping inside, Damien slammed the door shut behind him. Almost instinctively, he cast Devour and absorbed the flurry of icicles that shot at him from Venus’ hands.

“I’m not starting this with you,” Damien said. He tried to pull her feet out from under her with telekinesis, but she fought the spell off with her mental energy. A wave of cold washed off the girl. The top layer of Damien’s skin instantly froze and he gritted his teeth.

“Kneel.”

Venus slammed face first into the ground as the gravity surged around her. Something cracked and she let out a garbled cry of pain as her nose broke. One of Henry’s tendrils sharpened, turning into a blade that he rested against the girl’s throat.

“Don’t,” Damien said softly. “I am not in the mood.”

“W-who are you?” Venus asked, her voice coming out garbled and nasally.

“I’m angry. You may sit up if you dismiss your magic. Believe it or not, I have no quarrel with you.”

Venus swallowed, then pushed herself up as Damien released his direct casting. She gingerly touched her nose, then winced. “Why attack me?”

It took Damien a moment to understand what she was saying.

How’d she manage to land nose first? I can’t understand half of what she’s saying now.

Henry burst into laughter. “What a thing to complain about. What a truly horrible thing for you to have to deal with.”

Damien sighed. “Go wash your face off in the shower. You can’t talk well with a broken nose, and I’ve got some questions I want answered. Take too long and I’m coming in after you. Trust me, you don’t want that.”

Venus nodded, her cold eyes drawing in for a moment before she stepped into her bathroom. Damien took the time to examine her room while the shower turned on. It was in good shape, with a well made bed and paintings on several of the walls.

A portrait sat on her dresser. Damien picked it up with telekinesis and brought it over to himself. It depicted Venus – presumably a few years ago – standing together with a younger girl that looked remarkably similar to her.

The running water stopped and Venus walked back out, her hair wet but her nose set back in its proper position. Her gaze flicked to the portrait in Damien’s hand. He set it back down and raised his hands apologetically. “I’m looking for Quinlan.”

“What?” Venus asked, staring at him in shock. “My god, what did she do to you to make her come after me like that? You planning to kill her or something?”

Damien snorted. “Do you care? I’ve heard you were rivals.”

“I – well, you need a rival to get stronger,” Venus said carefully. “I don’t like Quinlan, but she was strong and we made each other better.”

“Then you’ll be pleased to know I mean her no ill will,” Damien said. “I want to know where she is.”

“Training or something in her room,” Venus replied immediately. There wasn’t an instant of hesitation.

“No she isn’t,” Damien said. “I already checked there.”

Venus’ eye twitched. “You’ve already snooped through her room?”

“And then some. But you answered that pretty quickly. Are you covering for something?”

“What? Why would I cover for her?” Venus asked. “I already told you, she’s a training partner, but I couldn’t care less about her as a person. She just helps me get stronger.”

“Her heart is beating faster,” Henry observed in Damien’s mind. “She’s lying, I think.”

As do I.

Damien pressed his lips together. “You’re making a lot more difficult than it needs to be. I’m going to find Quinlan. You know something, but you aren’t saying it. Do you see how that might be a problem for me?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Venus said, holding his gaze. “I have no idea where Quinlan is. If I did, I’d tell you. I couldn’t care less about her.”

Damien didn’t need Henry to tell him that Venus was lying. She was probably the strongest student he’d met on the trip to Mountain Hall, but her deceptive abilities weren’t particularly good.

He took a deep breath, trying to suppress the annoyance building in his mind. The Void called to him, offering a solution, but Damien refused it. If he used force to get through every single issue, he’d end up like a worse version of Delph.

“So we’re at an impasse, then,” Venus said. “You won’t leave until I tell you something that I don’t know, and I can’t tell you for the exact same reason.”

“No, we really aren’t.” Damien shook his head. “Because you do know where she is, but you won’t tell me. In about five minutes, I’m going to leave your room and know everything you do. The only question is going to be if you tell me voluntarily, or if I have to pull it out of your mind.”

Henry? Might be time for you to show up.

“You know I can’t do anything like that, right?”

She doesn’t.

Henry chuckled. The sound stretched out into the external world as Damien’s shadow warped, rising up from the ground behind him. Eyes snapped open all over it, swiveling before snapping to stare at Venus. Henry’s many mouths slowly split open.

“Hello there,” Henry said, his voice coming out multilayered and discordant, just like it had when he’d first met Damien. “We seem to have a little bit of a problem.”

Venus’ face went even paler. “What in the Seven Planes is that creature?”

“My companion,” Damien replied. “And when I’m not happy, neither is he. So, I’m going to ask you again. Where. Is. Quinlan? I am going to find my friend, and you are not going to stop me.”

“I highly doubt that,” Venus said, her expression wavering for an instant before she set it in ice again. “I don’t know anything. You can try what you want. I can tell that you’re significantly stronger than I am, but if you could really yank anything out of my head, you would have already done it.”

Damn it.

“I could just eat her,” Henry offered. “I’d pick up some of what she knows then.”

Venus swallowed and clenched her jaw, looking away. Before either of them could say anything else, the front door swung open.

Alina walked inside, her eyes darting about nervously. She froze, looking from Venus to Henry and Damien.

“Oh.”

“Ah. She was being a little less responsive than I’d hoped,” Damien said. “You showered fast.”

“I was worried you might have some trouble,” Alina muttered, rubbing the back of her head. “Since, you know, Quinlan often talked to me about how strong Venus was.”

“A-Alina?” Venus stammered, her eyes going as wide as saucers.

“Wait, you know her name?” Damien asked.

“You know me?” Alina asked. “How?”

“That’s not possible. Is this an illusion?” Venus asked, narrowing her eyes. “Alina is stuck in a crystal in Quinlan’s room. She can’t walk around.”

“I got her out,” Damien said, something niggling at the back of his mind. “I found her while I was looking for Quinlan and broke the crystal so she could escape.”

“He’s helping me find Quinlan,” Alina added. “Or, I guess I’m helping him. But when did you see me? I don’t remember that at all.”

Venus flopped back onto her bed, her eyes glazing over. Henry cocked his head to the side, but Damien held a hand up.

“I can’t believe it,” Venus muttered. “She’s spent years trying to break you out, and you just… popped her out?”

“That’s a gross oversimplification,” Henry said. “It was somewhat challenging.”

Venus groaned. “Poor Quinlan.”

“You aren’t rivals at all, are you?” Damien asked, a bad feeling settling on top of his shoulders.

“No. I’m her friend,” Venus admitted. “I thought you were just lying to me and were trying to kill her for some reason.”

“I don’t remember you at all, though,” Alina said accusingly. “My memories in the crystal aren’t the best, but I feel like I would have remembered if Quinlan brought anyone back.”

“We never met in her room,” Venus said. “It was too risky. Both of us have too many enemies. The only way we could meet was keeping up our rivalry pretenses and meeting off campus while pretending to fight.”

“Shit,” Damien said. “Well, this is awkward. I thought you’d done something to her.”

“No. I was trying to protect her,” Venus muttered. The tension left her body and she slumped over, letting out a relieved sigh. “I thought I was dead.”

“Wow. Damien threatened you with his companion and you still didn’t tell him anything?” Alina asked, her eyes sparkling. “He’s terrifying. That was really brave.”

Venus grunted, not looking up.

Damien rubbed the back of his head. “Uh… sorry. I really should have tried to find out more, but I’ve been having a little difficulty with my anger as of late. I despise Mountain Hall. This school is horrible, and I think I was starting to feel like everyone was equally scummy. Sorry about your nose. And the threats.”

“It’s more being completely outclassed that got me,” Venus muttered, finally looking back up. “I know where Quinlan is. When she came back from Forsad, she told me she’d learned enough runes to try and break Alina out. But she ran into some kind of hitch and couldn’t progress. She tried going to the person that taught her, but he was missing.”

Damien cleared his throat. “That would have been me. Whoops.”

“You?” Venus asked. “She wouldn’t say the person’s name.”

“My fault,” Henry said. “She’s contract bound not to share anything about us or work against us. Since you’re part of Mountain Hall, she probably figured we might come into conflict at some point.”

“Seven Planes. She told me the person that taught her was beyond powerful, but I didn’t realize…”

“We can talk later,” Damien said, waving his hand. “What happened then?”

“She started digging around for someone that knew runes enough to help her finish the pattern. She got an excuse to temporarily leave the school and met some old mage in town that knew a ton about runes. He sounded like pretty bad news, but she seemed to think that he was incredibly knowledgeable. Quinlan left to go learn from him about a week or so ago.”

“That’s… convenient,” Damien said. “Did she say where he was or why he was willing to help her?”

“He didn’t. That’s why I thought it seemed suspicious,” Venus said. “But she was dead set on getting Alina out, so she risked it. I don’t know how long it takes to learn runes, so I figured she was still okay.”

“Those runes were pretty damn complex for mortals,” Henry mused. “What are the chances of running into a random person that knows them that well?”

“Did she tell you what the old guy looked like?” Damien asked.

“Not much. Just that he had a stupidly long beard,” Venus replied.

Damien’s skin prickled. “And he didn’t want any payment?”

“No. She said she just showed him the runes she’d already done and needed guidance on how to finish the circle.”

“Most mortals don’t even know of the existence of the runes I used,” Henry said. “Long white hair…”

“Eight Planes,” Damien muttered. “It Who Stills the Seas.”