Chapter 782: Reunion (Patreon)

“Do we have a deal, monster?” Lydira asked.

Stryg stared at the black chest covered in chains and arcane sigils. Whatever it was that lay inside the chest had brought Stryg and his companions to the Aurous Realm. It was the catalyst that had brought ruin to so many innocents in the Golden Desert. By Stryg’s own hand, he had killed countless individuals all for the sake of that weapon. Was it worth it? He wanted it to be.

“Was it all a lie?” Titania muttered, her small fists balled into fists. She looked up at Stryg, but he found no anger in her eyes, only tears.

“Kid, no, I—” Stryg said.

“Do not speak to her.” Lydira pulled her daughter behind her. “You speak to me. Do we have a deal? Yes or no?”

Stryg saw Titania peeking out from behind her mother’s waist. He yearned to try and explain, to make things right. But how could he? What words could he say that could somehow justify his actions or ease the pain they had brought? He had killed Naomi, Titania’s long-cherished friend, along with everyone else on that caravan.

“What will it be, monster?” Lydira asked.

He hated the way Lydira called him that, but she wasn’t wrong. He was a monster, nothing would change that. But he hated more the way it made Titania look at him.

And to make matters worse, he still needed the weapon. But if he took it, he would be confirming Titania’s fears. Even if he didn’t, rejecting the weapon might prompt the dragon lord in front of him and the dragons circling above to attack. Lydira might pretend she was afraid of Death, but if she really wanted to, she could kill Stryg and go into hiding. The only reason he could think of why she hadn’t, was that they believed he could still ignite the Astral Light. Lydira wasn’t willing to risk her daughter’s life.

The problem was, Stryg didn’t have the energy left to do so. Even if he had, he wouldn’t risk Titania’s life either. Even worse, the more time he spent here debating what to do, the less likely he could save Tauri and Gale.

“...You have a deal,” Stryg muttered through gritted teeth.

“Good.” Lydira gave a nod to her knights. The men dismounted from their horses and unhooked the wagon. She threw Titania atop an empty saddle and sat behind her. “Lady Greymark,” Lydira called out.

“Y-Yes, my lady!” Victoria replied hesitantly from a distance.

“I expect a full report as to how you and your men ended up entangled in all of this.” Lydira didn’t wait for a response. She snapped the reins of her horse and the beast galloped away back towards the city. The rest of the cavalry followed. The dragons roared overhead and flew back to Olduun, as well.

Victoria gave Stryg a strange look before giving a command to her soldiers. She marched off after her liege in a slow trot. Stryg didn’t bother to wait until she was out of line of sight. He grabbed one of the chains on the chest and yanked it off the wagon. It was somewhat heavier than he anticipated. Curiosity ate at him. What could be so valuable to have caused all this trouble?

He ignored the urge to try and open it. Time was running out, he needed to hurry. Stryg dragged the chest behind him and ran back to his tribemates. He found Gale lying not far from Tauri, arm outstretched towards the orc, and a streak of red behind her. The vampire had painstakingly crawled her way towards Tauri.

“Gale!” Stryg rushed to her side and assessed her injuries. Various cuts were strewn across her body, but it was the white dagger in her stomach that made him freeze.

“Save… her…” Gale whispered.

Stryg swallowed and squeezed Gale’s hand. “I’m not letting you die.” He scrambled over to Tauri and gently rolled her face-up. She was breathing, albeit faintly. A massive burn stretched across her ribcage and waist, leaving only blackened flesh and bits of rib bone exposed.

“Fuck,” Stryg cursed under his breath, sweat dripping down his brow. He turned back to Gale and carefully pulled out the dagger.

“What… are you…?” Gale whispered.

“I need to stop the bleeding or you’ll die.” Stryg channeled White and focused on closing up the wound even as blood poured out. With his other hand, he poured white mana into Tauri’s body. The latter spell wouldn’t be as effective without his entire focus on it, but at least he could prevent her condition from worsening.

Like Stryg, it seemed Sidus had inherited their father’s touch of death. The wounds Sidus had inflicted on the women weren’t healing properly or nearly as fast as they should have been. Chaos was toxic to mortals and the malignant form it had settled into their wounds was only making things worse.

Fortunately, as his Chosen, Gale had been channeling his chaos for three years now. Her body was somewhat more resistant to the effects. It still took over an hour before he finally managed to heal the gaping wound on her stomach. The smaller cuts would have to wait. Stryg turned back to Tauri and focused on her recovery. 

What might have taken only a few minutes took Stryg several hours. The sun was beginning to rise by the time his white mana was depleted. Tauri was breathing more easily, though she had yet to awaken. After a few hours, Gale had found the strength to walk and had made her way over to the body of a stranger. A pale young man, in his mid-thirties, if Stryg had to guess. His throat had been torn out, leaving behind a bloody mess all across his shirt.

Why Gale knelt next to a dead man in silent mourning, Stryg did not know, but he could feel her pain bleeding through their bond. He sat next to her and joined in her quiet silence. Gale leaned her head on his shoulder and gave a long, deep sigh of exhaustion.

“Who was he?” Stryg asked after a long while.

“...His name was Evander. He guided us through the desert. He was… a kindred soul. You would have liked him.”

“Is that so?”

“Mm.”

“We need to head into the city before the sun gets any higher.”

“Stryg, why did you leave us?”

“Our cloaks are in tatters. Your flesh will burn at this rate.” Stryg got up and swiped Tauri up into his arms. 

“Answer me. Why did you abandon us that night?” Gale pressed.

“...I had to.”

“You had to?” Gale laughed bitterly. “Holo sent the three of us on this quest. She knew how dire it was for us to find the weapon, that’s why she didn’t send you alone. So why did you leave us behind? Did you think we couldn’t handle ourselves? That we’d slow you down?”

“It wasn’t like that.”

“Really? Then what was it? Because we were supposed to come up with a plan to sneak in and destroy the weapon. But instead you rushed into the enemy camp without a plan and recklessly ignited the Astral Light. You could have gotten yourself and everyone else killed!”

“I know,” he whispered.

“Then why? Why did you do it?”

“...I spoke to Aleirune.”

“What?” Gale blinked in surprise. “But I thought she hadn’t spoken to you in years.”

“The last time we spoke before that was when I almost drowned in the middle of a storm.” Stryg recalled that night, when he fled Mora Manor alongside Maeve and Rhian. He thought he was going to die.

“The World Soul used to speak to you a lot when you were a child, but then she stopped, right?” Gale stood to her feet and made Stryg look at her.

“Yeah.”

“So, what changed?”

“I don’t know.”

“What did she want?”

“She found me in my dreams. She told me…” Stryg sighed. “She told me that the caravan transporting the weapon was nearby. That time was running out. It was now or never. I had to go and take the weapon. Otherwise, it would fall into the wrong hands. In hindsight, I can only assume Aleirune was referring to my brother.”

“Sidus,” Gale snarled.

“He’s working with the Order that’s been giving us problems ever since we left Hollow Shade. Sidus must have found out that the caravan was transporting the weapon and was planning to steal it.”

“Of course, he was. Fuck. No wonder he was looking for you.”

“He’s been chasing me for days now.” Stryg glanced at the chained chest lying on the sand. “We need to get to Olduun and hide this.”

“Agreed, but first.” Gale poked him in the chest, “I understand now why you left that night. But why didn’t you wake us up?”

“There wasn’t enough time.”

“To wake us up?” Gale cocked her eyebrow and crossed her arms.

“To come up with a plan. The way I saw it, we had no idea what we were up against and there was no time to find out. The only option I had was to sneak in, but if I were caught, which I was, I’d have to fight. And if the enemy was too great or too powerful, which they were, I’d have one last resort.”

“The Astral Light.” Gale frowned.

“We couldn’t let our enemies get the weapon, no matter what. Those were Melantha’s last words before she disappeared. It’s the whole reason why Holo sent us here. The fact that Aleirune spoke to me after all these years only proves its importance.”

“But you knew igniting the light could kill you.”

“I knew it would definitely kill you and Tauri. And besides, if I had told Tauri—”

“She would have stopped you. Tauri would have never let you risk your life like that. And she certainly wouldn’t have approved of the massive cost of innocent lives either.”

Stryg looked down at his wife resting in his arms. “I know it was selfish… And I didn’t mean for so many innocent people to die.”

“But…”

“But if I had to choose between saving the both of you or this place, I would let this whole realm burn.”

“Even if it meant you’d burn alongside it?”

Stryg shrugged.

“So you left us and tried to stop the caravan.”

“Yeah. That didn’t work out.”

“But you have the weapon now.”

“I guess I do.”

Gale narrowed her eyes. “You should feel relieved, but you don’t. I can feel it through our bond. You’re not one to feel guilty over the killing of others, yet you do. Why?”

“There’s this little kid. She trusted me and I…” Stryg closed his eyes. “I fucked up.”

“How?”

“I killed the people she cared about.”

“With the Astral Light?”

“Yeah.”

“Killing people has consequences, Stryg. I thought you learned that with Plum’s mother.”

“I know, it’s just—” Stryg shook his head. “It doesn’t matter anymore.”

Gale placed a hand on his shoulder. “Come on. Let’s get to Olduun before the sun really starts to burn off my skin.”

“Right,” Stryg smiled wryly.

As they turned to walk away, an abrupt cough froze them in their footsteps. Stryg and Gale shared a strange glance. They slowly turned around and stared at Evander’s body. His chest rose ever so slightly, a quiet wheeze escaping his exposed windpipe.