Advent of Eternity - Interlude Chap 3 (Patreon)

Lillicent was tired of killing all the men Holen sent after her, and she suspected that the Shard she’d worked for was getting equally tired of sending them. She laughed to herself, tightening her hands around the blood slicked grip of her chipped sword.

She’d been rather proud of the weapon, being the first one she’d made entirely on her own, and it had served her well – until today. The Shard of Holen was evidently done playing around, and he’d included a Scion amongst the other devotees that were sent for her head.

It had been a group of eight men when the fight had started. Now only one was left. If someone had told her she’d have taken on a group of this size a few months ago, she would have laughed in their face.

These men had laughed too. They weren’t laughing anymore.

“You’ve come farther than any of us thought,” the Scion said, a glimmering green dagger floating in the air beside him. His raggedy blonde hair was covered with blood from where Lillicent had splattered him with the life of his compatriots, and a light cut ran along his chest. “You can’t beat a Scion, though. Not without being one yourself.”

Lillicent spat on the ground. Her saliva was tinged pinkish red, and the deep, throbbing aches coming from the wounds covering her body were a foreboding clock, counting down to where her body wouldn’t fight any longer.

“I used to think the same,” Lillicent replied, rolling her shoulders and raising her damaged weapon. “I don’t believe in absolutes anymore, and you aren’t the first Scion I’ll kill. Or did Holen not tell you that?”

The Scion’s confident grin flickered, then came back. “Big words for someone who lost their Boon. Pathetic, really. After you’re dealt with, Holen is going to have people go out and take care of the bastard that you gave his gift up to.”

Lillicent laughed again. “He’ll kill you. I saw it in his eyes. Nothing is going to stop him, especially not someone like you. But that doesn’t matter.”

“Why is that?” the Scion asked, pacing toward her and spinning the dagger in the air around him in a lazy circle.

“Because you aren’t going to survive today,” Lillicent replied, blurring into motion. She flicked her sword up, aiming to thrust it into the Scion’s chin, but his flying dagger shot to intercept it.

The force of the small weapon sent a tremor down her arms and carved a new chip into her blade. She gritted her teeth and spun, kicking the man in the stomach. He grunted, staggering backward, but that did nothing to stop his dagger from shooting at her throat.

Lillicent dropped to the ground and rolled to the side as the dagger followed her path. She dropped her own sword and grabbed it by the hilt an instant before it found its mark and gritted her teeth, straining to keep it from getting closer.

“You talk very big for a woman that’s about to die,” the Scion said, walking toward her. “End of the line, Lillicent.”

His face came into view above her. Lillicent spat into his eye and the man cursed, flinching back. She averted the dagger’s course, slamming it into the ground, and threw herself into the man’s legs.

They both crashed to the ground. Lillicent rolled over, pinning his arms to his torso as she came up on top of him. The Scion snarled, but it was cut off midway through by her fist smashing into his mouth.

Blood splattered and teeth cracked as Lillicent drove two more violent blows into the man’s face. A flash of pain erupted in her shoulder as the dagger slammed into it and she cried out.

The Scion took advantage of her pain, throwing her to the side. Lillicent howled in pain as the blade worked itself deeper into her body at the man’s request. She dove forward, grabbing her jagged sword from the ground and slashing at the Scion.

He hopped back, avoiding the strike and directing his own blade deeper into her body. Lillicent staggered, the blood pouring down her back growing cold as her body started to go numb.

The Scion laughed at her expression. “Goodbye, Lillicent.”

She fell to her knees, gasping in pain. Her hand pressed to her side and she convulsed, blood pooling on the ground around her. The Scion approached her, a smug grin on his face.

He was so confident in his victory that he didn’t notice the tiny crossbow at her side until its payload was firmly lodged in his throat. His eyes went wide as Lillicent dropped her last weapon to the ground.

Blood bubbled up to his lips as he worked to say something. Lillicent slammed her sword into the ground, pushing herself upright with a snarl, and made eye contact with her would-be killer.

He let out a whistling gasp, taking a step back and clutching at his neck, as if that would make the bolt disappear.

“Nice last words,” Lillicent said, drawing on the last of her strength and ripping her sword across his neck, cutting several of his fingers off in the process. The Scion pitched forward, crashing to the ground and laying still.

Energy rushed out of his body and entered hers, sending comforting tingles through her tired flesh. She sighed. It wasn’t enough. It never was.

The dagger in her back shimmered, then faded to nothing. Lillicent grimaced, desperately wishing she still had the empowered resilience and regenerative abilities of a Scion. Instead, all she could do was carefully – and very painfully – tear a strip from the bottom of her shirt and carefully bind it around her shoulder.

It wasn’t a fast task, and it every single movement sent uncomfortable tingles through her upper body. Once the adrenaline wore off, Lillicent was pretty sure she wasn’t going to be able to sleep right for a week.

She spat on the ground again, then knelt beside the Scion’s body. Pulling his dagger from its spot at his belt, she started digging around, searching for where the man kept his Boon. Of course, it was in the last spot she checked.

The blade clinked as she pushed it into the heel of his foot and sighed, carving around the Boon. The distasteful task finished as a tiny green disk the size of her thumbnail fell to the dirt. Lillicent picked it up, wiping the blood away, and studied the green disk.

“Use or consume?” she wondered aloud, turning it over in her hands. Artificing was one of the hardest Paths to follow, as it made an enemy of every Scion while simultaneously making the Artificer a valuable resource for all of them.

That meant that they all wanted her services or dead, and none of them wanted her strong. Spending a Boon just to get some extra experience was far from optimal, but she didn’t have the luxury to waste time and pray that she wouldn’t get killed too early. She’d seen what prayers to these gods got her.

Lillicent crushed the Boon. Energy poured into her like a rushing river, flowing through her arms and into her chest. She drew in a sharp breath, tensing as it swirled through her body.

The gods have granted you experience for absorbing a Boon. You have leveled up.

A Shard of Holen looks upon you with hatred. Your slight against him will not go unpunished.

“Stuff it, scum,” Lillicent muttered, pulling her status up in hopes that something useful had changed.

Name: Lillicent Vix [Age: 20]

Path: Artificer [Rank Zero]

Level: 14

Attunement A: Empty

Attunement B: Empty

Attunement C: Empty

Attunement D: Empty

Attunement E: Empty

Spirit of the Artificer [Legendary] – Your passion has become flame, your soul the tools, and your body the forge.

Abilities:

Spark – Ignite the forge within you, using a Boon as a catalyst to forge something new. Success depends on skill and willpower.

Artifact Mastery – Artifacts respond to your command more than they would to others.

Lillicent waved the information away, letting out a slow breath. She’d finally gotten two abilities that had a lot of potential to be useful. Unfortunately, they required either a Boon or an Artifact, and she had neither.

She reached into her back pocket, pulling out a small, flat metal box. It had been dented and warped so that the latch took a little too much effort to pop open. Some blood had leaked into it during the fight, but her map was still intact.

Lillicent breathed a sigh of relief. She was pretty sure she’d long since memorized the map, but she had absolutely no desire to test if that was true. She pulled it out and unfolded the map, studying it for a few minutes.

Her next goal wasn’t too far, now. A dungeon that had been mysteriously shut down by the Adventurer’s Guild – if there wasn’t some sort of old Artifact sitting around somewhere in it, she would have eaten her own boot.

Lillicent folded the map back up and put it into the case, closing it with two fingers. The latch didn’t take. Her eye twitched and she squeezed harder, closing it with a sharp snap. Shaking her head, Lillicent returned it to her pocket.

The sun was setting overhead, and she still had a lot of ground to cover before night fell. Lillicent grabbed her blade and strode away from the eight corpses lying on the ground around her, making her way toward Rosewood.