Chapter 28 - Blessing

Author's note:

This is an extra chapter for being on the Rising Stars' main list over the last week! The next one for the regular Monday release will be uploaded in the next 8 hours.

Happy reading!

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A Blessing! Finally! Erik thought with excitement. 

He was starting to think that there was something wrong with him for not receiving one so far. He was worried that he wouldn't be able to receive one since he wasn't fully Awakened yet. But those fears were now elevated.

He did feel that it was a strange twist of fate that he received his first one not for killing a Nilgrim, but for killing a human. 

He focused on the rune again, eager to discover what it was.

Blessing: Snuffed Candle

The name doesn't say much, but whatever this is, I hope it is useful.

After that, he found out its type.

Curio.

With slight disappointment, he thought. That's not what I need the most right now. An armor or weapon would have been better, but it could be helpful, depending on what it is.

Blessings had a few categories. While weapons and armor were relatively straightforward, curios could be many things with various enchantments.

After that, it was the description of the Blessing.

He should have looked. He should have searched. He should have tried. But a talent without fire cannot burn, and a man without light does not see.

"Erm, right. Is this about Gareth...? I'll figure this out later," he murmured to himself.

Then, the enchantment of the Blessing surfaced in his mind.

Burn brightly.

That's it? Erik sighed. 

This did not tell him anything. He would need to try it out.

He waited for more—he still did not know its Rank and Grade—but nothing else came to mind. Which was concerning...

Wait, it couldn't be.

Something occurred to him. Usually the Rank and Grade of a Blessing corresponded to the ones of the being that was killed. But since Gareth was Unawakened...

It appeared it did not have a Rank or Grade.

His new Blessing could barely even be considered one.

Erik grimaced. The joy of earning his first one was almost gone.

He was about to try and summon it when he realized he was nearly empty of essence, and wasn't able to. While Blessings did not require much to take shape and materialize into existence, they still needed some.

I guess I'll have to take a look at it later, he thought. And just then, a voice brought him out of his considerations.

"E-Erik? What should we do now?"

Endur had come closer but kept his distance. The boy still looked scared and pale as a sheet. He just stood on the side and stared at the macabre scene.

Erik looked around. Blood was everywhere. His eyes moved from the swarm to then rest on Gareth.

The first human he had killed directly... Now that everything had calmed down, he realized what he did, and bile rose up his throat, but he gritted his teeth and calmed himself.

Lark did not really count. And the scarred female warrior, although killed by his doing, wasn't directly by his hand. She was killed by the swarm. Still, he didn't deny that her death was also on his hands. 

Gareth, however, was directly killed by his minion.

While living in Skulheim, especially during the first few years, Erik had done many things but he had never taken a life.

The Ulednar were warriors who were meant to fight the Nilgrim and protect the kingdom and its people. It was true that this was a Whisper and that these humans might not be real. But if he couldn't control himself even in here, what would it be like on the outside?

He wondered what his parents would think of his actions. Would they approve? Or would they think that he should have sought out a peaceful solution?

His gaze moved to Gareth's axe. Some of the blood on it was most likely his. 

His eyes hardened.

No...

He did what was necessary. They tried to kill him. And if he was going to survive this ordeal, he would need to toughen up. He had no other choice. Not only that, but Fee was in here as well. He could not leave her to face the Whisper alone.

Firming up his resolve, he told Endur. "Ge—"

Suddenly, however, Erik felt dizzy. Now that the excitement of the battle had passed, his condition caught up with him. He needed to rest and bandage himself up.

"Are you alright?" Endur asked with concern, seeing him sway.

Erik shook, took a deep breath, and steadied himself. "Yeah, I'll be alright. Bring their weapons back to the camp."

They gathered anything useful they found. There was some water and dry food on the bodies of the two dead people. And other than their weapons, there was nothing else of value. Erik decided to leave the armor as he thought that it would slow him down and his minions would be too encumbered by them. He had no use for them.

There was, however, one thing he absolutely needed to get. 

After some hacking with his hatchet, he carved out the Blood Crystal from the Nilgrim and used it. 

The invigorating feeling washed over him again, and with it, he recovered a little more essence. Blood Crystals did not appear to be useful for restoring essence. They simply increased the base capacity and, with it, gave him a little more essence. But to truly restore his reserve, he would need time.

After this battle, he felt that he was close to fully saturating his Talent Runes.

Erik looked at his last remaining Draugr. It was barely functional. It would be of no use to him and it was better to raise a new one. So he decided to dismiss it, and when he did, it fell apart. 

So this works too.

Erik hadn't tried dismissing them before.

From the two human corpses here, only Gareth could potentially be converted as one of his Undead. Although he had suffered more wounds, his skeleton appeared to be more intact. The red-haired female's foot was crushed. But that would have to wait until he recovered some essence. For the time being, he only needed to move the body so that it wasn't swallowed by the swarm.

After some time, they returned to the camp. The scene was just as bloody as the other one.

The tall female warrior was missing her head, while the annoying villager's hearth was pierced by a spear.

"Thrane!" Endur shouted as he ran to the warrior lying in a pool of blood. He was missing an arm and had multiple grizzly wounds.

Surprisingly, he was still alive—but just barely.

Endur carefully turned him on his back. It took the older man a few heartbeats to focus on who was there.

He caught out some blood and said between labored breaths, "You... survived... good!"

His eyes looked between them. "You must... get back." He caught out more blood before continuing, "Take care... of my... little sister."

That was all he managed to say before coughing more and breathing his last breath. He had used his remaining strength to convey this one last message.

After a few moments of silence, the boy started crying quietly.

Erik did not know them well. He had only spent a bit of time with them, but even he felt a bitter taste in his mouth.

Shaking it off, he decided to give Endur some space. He moved to where he had left his supplies and rummaged through them. He needed to take care of his wounds, which did take a long time for the smaller ones. but he needed help with the one on his back.

"Endur, come. I need you to help me with the wound on my back." Erik thought that doing something would help distract him.

The boy just stood there for a while, staring at the dead man.

"Endur." He called out calmly again.

He finally reacted and walked over with a dazed expression. Erik then instructed him on what to do, and while they were at it, he asked.

"Were you close to him?"

"...Yeah. His little sister is older than me, and she is a friend. But she is often sick."

Erik kept quiet, letting the kid talk.

"When she was younger, she had an accident where she was bitten by a number of the essence suckers. They think this was the reason she is often sick."

"Did you make your armor for her?"

"Yeah..." He paused before he continued, "Thrane has always been like an older brother to me as well. His family was from the other settlement, but when they wanted to kick out his sister for being dead weight. He left with her."

"Oh. That's a good brother."

"Yeah... not many would."

There was a silence after that, but Endur seemed to be slightly better. However, it would be a while before he could move on. Overall, Erik actually thought that the boy was managing quite well. He was most likely used to death. 

With Erik's wounds tended to, they needed to move on to their next task.

"I need to rest and recover at least a little, but we cannot stay here. We do not know if there might be others coming. And even if there isn't, the blood might attract something. It will be best if we move."

"Where are we going to go?"

"I saw a place not far from here that was covered by trees and well hidden. We will move as much of the stuff as we can there. Cover the blood and bodies as best as possible and spend the night there before heading back to the village."

"A-alright."

They got to work. Erik could not carry much or even move a lot. So it was up to Endur to make a few trips between their new camp and the old one.

After some time, Erik had just barely recovered enough essence to raise one minion, and he went back for Gareth. He laid his hand on the corpse, and as the mist seeped into it, the flesh, muscles, and organs melted away, leaving only the skeleton. Sparks ignited in the skull, and the Undead rose to its feet.

"Welcome back, Gareth," he said with a wry smile.

Now, with one minion, things were a little easier as Erik commanded it to carry some of their things.

And while they were doing that, he had the time to reflect on the earlier events. Something was nagging at him.

They did not seem surprised to find a newcomer in the valley... Why? Erik though. And the realization came to him almost immediately.

Yaren! Then must have come made contact with him! So he survived... Of course, he did.

Erik wasn't surprised. The noble scion would have many tricks up his sleeve and he would have surely found a way to survive.

Was this his doing, or was it the traitor among the villagers? Are there more traitors? There must be...

Now there were even more things he had to worry about. 

The question is if he is still with them. And if he has struck any deals with them. Hmm, it seems the other settlement is now on the move. It could be because of the swarm, or maybe Yaren has convinced them of something.

It concerned him what the scion was up to. He felt an even bigger sense of urgency to leave the Whisper. 

And he was also starting to be concerned about Fee as well. Before, he thought that she would be safe in the village, but now he wasn't as certain.

Erik stationed his Undead as a guard before settling down. They had some dry food and settled in for the night. 

We need to hurry back tomorrow, he thought as he fell asleep.