Advent of Eternity - Chapter 92 (Patreon)

“To the rooms!” Cyll proclaimed.

“You can go ahead,” Knell said, stopping at the stairwell. “I’m going to go visit Coriander, the herbalist. He’s had enough time to figure out what the crystals do.”

“Suite yourself.” Cyll shrugged and ambled up the stairs.

“I’ll go with you, if that’s fine,” Maya said. Knell raised an eyebrow, but nodded.

“Should I come as well?” Stix asked.

“We aren’t about to get into a fight,” Knell replied. “Melwood’s guards should be on high alert considering what just happened. It’ll be safer tonight than any other day. You can just relax.”

“Sounds good. I’ll do that, then,” Stix said. She raised a hand and headed up the stairs while Knell and Maya left the tavern.

“You had something you wanted to ask me?” Knell asked. The click of his staff on the stone road punctuated the words. Maya glanced at him.

“I didn’t say that.”

“It’s why you volunteered to come.”

“I guess it was kind of obvious,” Maya said with a short laugh. “Yeah. I’ve got something I want to ask. Do you know how a Scion can change their Path?”

Knell pressed his lips together. “I was expecting you might be asking that. I do – but the method I have won’t work for you.”

“Because I need the Boon?”

“That’s correct. What is your exact Path right now? Are you still technically a Scion, just one without abilities?”

“Pretty much,” Maya said with a heavy sigh. She fell silent as they passed by a pair of travelers, then started talking once they were out of earshot. “It feels like the gods still think I’m a Scion, but my Boon isn’t even my body. Dread has it.”

“And you’re certain there isn’t a single trace of it left?” Knell pressed. “A fragment of a Boon is still a Boon.”

“It was in my lower shoulder,” Maya replied. “I honestly thought I never would have gotten it to fit in my body, but it shrunk as soon as I put it to my arm. It didn’t grow back to its full size until Cyll ripped it out of me, and I’m certain none of it was left. I tried calling on its power too much.”

“That’s a problem. We need to find a way to disconnect you from the Boon, then,” Knell mused.

“Dread won’t like that, will she?” Maya asked. “Wasn’t keeping me bonded with the Boon the entire reason she wanted me alive?”

“It was,” Knell agreed. “I’m quite curious to know exactly what she’s trying to accomplish there, but Dread never actually said I couldn’t help you do anything. She just said that I needed to keep you alive.”

“You’re going to go against her? Isn’t that dangerous?”

Knell glanced at Maya out of the corner of his eyes. “My goals are far loftier than a single pirate. She might be one of the strongest ones in this sea, but there are fifteen more. If I’m intimidated by someone like her, I won’t go very far at all. But that’s beside the point. I’m not trying to actively antagonize her. My only goal is to make my crew as powerful as possible.”

Maya missed a step. “I’m part of your crew?”

“Did you not want to be?”

“I – well, yeah. I did. But I thought there would be… more. A test or the like.”

“Perhaps you’ve already been given it,” Knell said. “But, I am curious – you were a captain. Are you okay with becoming a normal crewmember again?”

Maya didn’t respond for several seconds, which was a point in her favor in Knell’s eyes.

“I don’t know,” she finally admitted. “I miss my crew. I want them back. If they were still alive, I’d do everything in my power to bring things back to what they were. I became a captain because of them. We were together since the start. But that isn’t how things work. They’re gone, and it’s because I didn’t lead them well. So no – I don’t think I’ve got any desire to become a captain again any time soon. Maybe some time in the far future, but I can’t shoulder that responsibility. Not like this.”

“Well spoken,” Knell said. “Stix wants you to join the crew, but she’s naïve. Cyll is considerably less slow, and he has no problem with your presence. That makes me more comfortable extending you a hand. I need people of your nature.”

“What, cripples?” Maya asked, a smirk flickering across her face as she nodded at his leg. “I guess we’re matching, huh?”

“So we are,” Knell agreed. “I will attempt to find a way for you to surpass this drawback. Until then, just focus on getting stronger in the ways that you can control. Opportunities are always there for those who are willing to take them. You just have to encourage things a little bit.”

They came to a stop in front of the apothecary’s shop. Faint lanternlight through the window showed that Coriander was still there. Knell pushed the door open and stepped inside. The short man glanced up at them.

“Ah. Magic crystals guy,” Coriander said, pushing a glass eyepiece back. “I finished a few hours ago. Give me a moment.”

He hopped down from his chair and waddled through a door in the back. There were a few muted thumps as he ruffled around before walking back out, holding a small box. After climbing up onto his chair, he set it down on the table and popped it open, revealing several fragments of one of the crystal.

“They’re energy sources. Not a huge leap to guess,” Coriander said, tapping the crystal. “I think you already suspected that, and I had it confirmed in minutes. That isn’t it, though. The magic inside them is strangely reactive.”

“In an explosive manner?” Knell asked.

“More like in a catalyst manner,” Coriander corrected, his eyes bright. “It’s fascinating. On their own, when they break, they just release energy into the environment. Each crystal seems to be composed of multiple small sections, so you can break parts off and release their energy slowly rather than having to let it all out at once.”

“Interesting,” Knell said. “Elaborate on the catalyst part.”

“I’m getting to it,” Coriander replied. “Essentially, when other magic is applied to the crystal, it amplifies it. So if you power a fairly weak spell with it, the result might be several times stronger. I’m not sure what’s actually causing the amplification – it’s beyond me.”

Knell’s eyes narrowed. “Any spell?”

“I see you’ve realized it too,” Coriander said with a nod. “Any spell. These are terrifying. I don’t know where you found this, but you’re sitting on a fortune if there are more than a few.”

“I recommend against letting your thoughts stray in that direction,” Knell said slowly. “You don’t want to know how many people died for these little stones. How easy was it to activate the crystal’s catalyst properties? Do I have to be worried about setting them off on accident?”

“That would be impossible. That’s the only drawback,” Coriander said, completely nonplussed by Knell’s threat. “I had to get a very careful connection set up between the crystal and my spell. If you draw too fast or too slow, the crystal just goes boom. I ended up melting the crystal into a liquid, which made it considerably easier to use. The process was still fairly lengthy, though.”

“Is it possible without alchemical tools?”

“No. It took me all day just to get a few drops as well,” Coriander said.

“Good,” Knell said. “You’ve done your part. Well done.”

“Do you have any more? I’ll buy them off you,” Coriander offered.

“I’m afraid I only have a few more,” Knell lied. “We never had all that many, and we’re going to hold onto them. And, before you ask, I got them off a man that crossed my party. We don’t know where to get more.”

Coriander’s face fell. “Damn. I was really hoping for more information. If you find anything out, please come find me. It’s not easy to get the crystals properly rendered out into a liquid, so we could make a lot of money selling this.”

“Noted,” Knell said. “If I ever get more information on them, I’ll come seek you out.”

He left the store and Maya trailed him out. They headed back toward the inn.

“Is that bad?” she asked once they’d put some distance between themselves and the shop.

“It means there’s a group of bandits with a large supply of these somewhere,” Knell replied. “Yes, that’s bad. I suppose it depends how they use them, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it crops up in the near future. There was a large mine of these crystals on the coast not all too far from Mount Bloodwater.”

“Shit,” Maya said. “You believe the little guy, then? They’re that dangerous?”

“We have no reason not to believe him, and I saw greed in his eyes. That’s hard to fake,” Knell said with a shrug. “We’ll hold onto our supply for now. I don’t know if we’ll find any use for it in the near term, but it could be fairly beneficial later, if just as a bargaining tool.”

“How do you get wrapped up in stuff like this?” Maya asked. She paused for a moment. Then her eyes narrowed. “Hold on. You took that in stride. You weren’t even slightly surprised. How much crazy shit are you wrapped up in?”

A tiny grin flickered across Knell’s face. “Welcome to the crew. You’ll find out eventually.”

They got back to the inn and Knell took Maya up to her and Stix’s room before he left to return to his own. Alone once more, he locked the door behind him and sat down on his plain bed, a frown crossing his face.

He’d downplayed his reaction considerably. If the crystals really were as strong as Coriander implied, that meant that the bandits probably knew what they were harvesting. And, if they didn’t, it wouldn’t belong before they did.

Considering he’d killed a fair number of them, there was a nonzero chance they’d end up at odds again in the future. Bandits weren’t known for being very forgiving, and any group large enough to monopolize a mine of the crystals was probably strong enough to get revenge.

Knell dismissed the thought. He’d deal with that after they were done at Melwood. It would take time for anyone to catch up with him and his crew. By the time he did, he planned for them to all be considerably stronger than anyone expected.

He sat down on his bed and leaned against the wall, closing his eyes. There was a lot to meditate over, and he wasn’t going to waste a single second.