V2Ch37-Out of the Light

The ground quaked once more, but it was weaker the second time.

There was a third tremor, but at that point, James knew he’d won. Those were death throes as much as they were real attempts to escape.

He burned himself out trying to break out of that tomb.

“Is he dead?” The woman in white asked. She had approached slowly, cautiously, from the edge of the battlefield. She leaned on her companion to walk.

“Give it a minute,” James said, shrugging. “We know he wasn’t strong enough to break out.”

“Riiiiight,” she replied a little uneasily. Turning to her companion: “Could you set me down, Chris?”

James remained seated where he had been, waiting to get the alert. Ten minutes passed in near silence, all three survivors exhausted. James used Identify on the other two while he was waiting. Their names were Hilda Rohm and Chris Roach.

Roach, huh? Fitting name, considering he survived being in the thick of all this fighting without showing any special powers. Good for him. The woman and the white aura she’d surrounded herself with during the fighting were something else, though. James was quite curious about that, but he didn’t want to spook these two by prying into the details.

Finally, the crucial notifications popped up.

[You killed Flame Elemental Nikolai Rostov Lv. 18! 1400 exp gained, based on your contribution to the fight!]

[Predator in Human Skin leveled up!]

[Evolver Human leveled up!]

[Politician gained 1000 bonus exp based on your destruction of a threat to the entire population of this Orientation in front of witnesses who will share the story!]

Well, that’s new, James thought. But the kill was more satisfying than the levels this time. He died alone in darkness, raging to the end. Buried alive was better than he deserved, but at least he didn’t get to live to a ripe old age and die surrounded by loved ones.

“Wow!” Hilda said. She threw James a look of respect. “You really did it.”

“I did,” James said. “We did. I appreciate your help.” He looked from one to the other as he spoke, a small smile on his lips.

“We hated having to follow him, so it was only natural that we’d try to help you take him out,” Chris said matter-of-factly.

It feels like he’s telling the truth, but it feels like there’s something else underneath it. James had been wearing the Ring of Truth for a while now, but it felt like this was the first time he really used its functions.

“What do the two of you want to do now?” James asked. The key question. Were they going to make themselves useful, or did they want to scatter?

“I never thought that far ahead, honestly,” Hilda said. “I was never sure when the next sunrise would come, and one of us might be on the chopping block. But it seems impossible to survive in this forest alone. I mean, you saw how long I can use my full power for. I’m basically good for one fight in a day.”

“You have a group, right?” Chris asked.

“I do,” James acknowledged. “I’m imagining that you guys would be able to fit in pretty seamlessly, actually. Especially when I tell them how helpful you were in breaking up this cult.” He smiled.

James’s new allies followed him through the trees. He traced Moishe’s footsteps, which were easier to find than he’d have expected. Maybe it was James’s superhuman senses. But he guessed the footprints were also much heavier and clumsier than normal, since Moishe was carrying Officer Ross.

Hilda had recovered much of her lost Stamina and was able to move at a normal walking pace, so James figured it wouldn’t take long for them to catch up to Moishe.

As they moved, Hester spoke up from behind James’s ear.

“To answer your question from earlier, sir, you didn’t do exactly what Lord Anansi was going to suggest, but close enough. And, just my opinion, but what you actually did was more impressive than what he was going to suggest. Lord Anansi started to say that all elementals have a core somewhere in their bodies, but if you fight a semi-intelligent one, they can move the core around to pretty much anywhere in their body. He was going to tell you to crush the whole body at once, I’m fairly certain. When you cut him off, he was almost done transmitting.”

“What does that feel like, for you, Hester?” James asked. He spoke in a very quiet voice, trying to avoid being overheard by the two walking just a body’s length behind him. “When Anansi transmits something.”

“It’s a bit like—”

As Hester was in mid-sentence, James felt her body heat up for a moment. He recognized the familiar sensation. Anansi was transmitting something to her again.

She took a moment to recover. James waited a little nervously. What was the Spider God going to think about James refusing his advice so soon after he’d become Anansi’s Chosen One? James hoped he wouldn’t take too much offense, since it really would make the legend of James Robard less interesting if he was constantly receiving advice from an eons-old god.

“Lord Anansi says that he didn’t have enough faith in you,” Hester said brightly. “Next time you’re in a battle to the death, he won’t give you advice unless he thinks you’ll die without it.”

“That’s great!” James whispered, barely moving his lips. “I think. Hm.”

“Yeah,” Hester said. “I think he took that well. Probably!”

“You saying something, dude?!” Chris asked from behind James.

“No, man!” James replied. “I just talk to myself sometimes.”

“Sorry, Hester,” he whispered even more quietly than before. “I’m not going to introduce you to anyone. Your information and advice are sort of a trump card, you know?”

“Sure, of course!” She sounded pleased. “As for the way the transmissions feel, I don’t want you to worry about it too much. But I think the closest analogy for a human is that it’s a bit like a headache throughout my entire body.”

A few minutes later, they reached Moishe. He was slowly trudging forward with Officer Ross on his back. Moishe turned around as James moved into view, and James immediately noticed that Officer Ross looked different than before. The bullet wound on his forehead had completely healed over somehow.

There’s a story there, James thought.

“You did it, then?!” Moishe exclaimed. “You killed Rostov?!”

James nodded and grinned.

“Easy peasy,” he said.

“Uh, yeah, what he said,” Chris agreed from behind him.

“Somehow I knew you would,” Moishe said. His eyes had a look of trust in them that James recognized from the other people he’d rescued.

“Anything interesting happen since we parted ways?” James asked, gesturing at the body on Moishe’s back.

“Oh, you’re wondering about our dreamer here,” Moishe said.

He quickly explained what had happened.

“Hm. Got it. You should set him down, I think,” James said slowly.

“Uh, why?” Moishe asked.

“His pulse and breathing have changed,” James said. “I think he’s about to wake up.”

“Sure thing, then.” He put Ross down, neither gently nor carelessly, on the ground. “What next?”

“Next, I think I’d better have a chat with him,” James said. “These two are joining us.” He gestured at Hilda and Chris. “They helped me fight Rostov, and I think we can trust them.”

“Hilda,” Moishe said, nodding at the warrior in white. His eyes narrowed as he looked at Chris. “Surprised to see you here, Roach.”

“And yet here I am,” Chris said with a grimace and a little shrug.

“Well, I guess if James and Hilda trust you, I’ll trust you,” Moishe said. But he was obviously reluctant.

“I trust him,” Hilda said. “He helped free the people who were going to be sacrificed, and he pulled me out of range when James launched his final attack at Rostov. If Rostov had survived what happened today, Chris would’ve been one of the first in line to be sacrificed.”

Moishe looked mollified.

“What do you want us to do now, then?” he asked, turning back to James.

“Take these two and meet up with the prisoners,” James said. “Same way you were walking. They should be waiting right on the border with the Dead Marsh.”

“The Dead Marsh?!” Chris said.

“I guess you’re familiar with it,” James said.

“What are we going near there for?” Chris asked.

“The cult chased my group into that region, so we’re going to go and pull off another rescue mission,” James said. “Of course, if you’re unwilling to join up with us, you’re welcome to split off now and find your way on your own.”

Chris frowned deeply.

“Of course we’ll assist you,” Hilda said, giving Chris a sharp look.

“Yeah,” Chris breathed. “Yeah, that’s the way, of course. That’s how we work off the bad deeds. I guess this is just my karma.”

“Sounds about right,” Moishe said. “We can leave right away.” He was looking down at Ross, whose body twitched slightly as Moishe spoke.

The others glanced down at Ross, then said their goodbyes to James for now and walked off, following Moishe’s lead.

“Why’d you send them away?” Hester asked once the group was out of earshot.

“Still haven’t quite figured out what to do with this guy,” James said, voice low. “I need to talk to him alone. The situation is complicated by what happened to his wife.”

“I see. Good thing he’s not awake yet, I guess? Wouldn’t want him to have overheard everything if you’re trying to figure out what his reaction is going to be.”

“He’s not,” James said. “I would be able to tell. I have Dreamwalk, and also superhuman Perception. I don’t think anyone besides a god would be able to fake being asleep in the same room as me now. It’s very shallow sleep, though.”

“Oh, I guess that makes sense. Are you going to wake him up, then?”

“Yeah, just as soon as I’m confident that the others are out of earshot. This conversation might get a bit dicey.”

Hester’s body warmed noticeably for a split second.

“Another Anansi message?” James asked.

“This time he just sent a little mental image,” Hester replied. “It’s an image of a spider sitting on top of something. I’m not sure what exactly this is.” Hester described what she saw.

“Oh, it’s a spider eating popcorn,” James said. “Great. I hope we’ll provide excellent entertainment.”

—

When Jeffrey Ross’s eyes opened, the sun was high in the sky.

“Where am I?” he asked. “What happened?”

“What do you remember?” asked a familiar voice.

It took a moment for Jeff’s eyes to adjust to the light, and he was also a little too dazed to easily recognize the voice. In the end, his vision and hearing confirmed that he was lying down in front of James Robard almost at the same time.

Ross shot up to a sitting position as soon as he knew who it was. The world spun for a moment. He reached a hand out and leaned on a nearby rock to steady himself.

“Whoa there, try not to make too many sudden movements,” James said. He looked ill at ease, and it made Ross nervous to see it. “You should know, you took a pretty serious injury earlier, and I’m not entirely sure how well you’ve recovered.

“Injury?” Ross asked. His memory felt fuzzy. He remembered shooting Nikolai Rostov in the head, but the visual memory looked like an old grainy film reel in his mind. When he tried to reach forward past that, his mind went black.

“Yes, you had an injury,” James said. “Like I was saying before, you should tell me what you remember, and I’ll help you fill in the blanks after that.”

“I remember,” Ross said. He let out a long breath and gathered his thoughts. Could he trust James? What were the pros and cons of telling him the truth here?

Fuck it. If he didn’t tell him the truth, he wouldn’t get any information about what was going on.

“I remember shooting Rostov for you,” Ross continued. “I remember putting a bullet in his brain. That’s the last thing in my memory. I think I was going to leave the tent after that, but there’s just a blank where everything else should be.”

“Okay,” James said. “Well, the parts you’re missing are painful.” A moment of hesitation. He looked torn, and Ross wanted to shake him.

Out with it, man!

“You said you’d tell me what I’m missing,” Ross reminded him.

“Yeah, yeah, I did. Just trying to say it in a respectful way. So, after you shot Rostov, he turned into a flaming monster. A battle ensued where he was destroying everything around him indiscriminately. He killed a lot of cult members. But his first target was you. He threw that bullet you fired at him right back at you. You took a serious, probably fatal, head injury. I asked Moishe Rose to carry you off.”

“Wait, what? Fatal injury?! And Moishe carried me? You’ve gotta be shitting me! There’s no way he’d do tha—”

“Let me get to the bad part, please Jeff.”

So me taking a bullet to the head wasn’t the bad part. Ross clenched his fingers around some grass and tried to control his expression.

Quietly: “It’s that bad, huh?”

Silence from James. Was that guilt in his expression? He had such a good poker face that it was hard to be sure.

“Tell me, then! It’s about Catherine, isn’t it?”

She got hurt too? But where is she?

“Yes.”

“What happened to Catherine?”

“She sacrificed herself to save your life,” James said.

What?

A flurry of emotions flashed across Ross’s face. Catherine dead?! How could this—

James spoke again before Ross could say anything. “Don’t blame yourself, Jeff,” he murmured. “She made her choice because she loved y—”

“I don’t blame myself,” Ross said hotly. “I blame you!” His face contorted in an expression of seething anger. “I never should have listened to you, you crazy bastard.” Tears pooled in the corners of his eyes.

James just sat quietly across from him and let Ross continue.

“If it hadn’t been for you, we would’ve both survived this place and rid ourselves of that maniac as soon as Orientation was over. Why the hell did you have to interfere?!”

James continued to stare silently at Ross, his expression almost completely blank, as the latter spoke.

“Well?! What do you have to say for yourself?! What do you—”

—

Meteor Strike.

James’s fist, wrapped in flames, crashed through Ross’s ribs like they were made of matchsticks. Ross’s lungs started cooking as soon as the flames entered his body.

It felt to James a bit like he was touching raw chicken breasts. Ross’s lungs were soft and moist, and they resisted his efforts to scorch them. James could tell that Ross must have an unusually high reserve of Health. Not high enough to withstand the destruction of his organs, but high enough to make it take a little longer to kill him.

“Ugh—you—how did you—” Ross seemed incapable of finishing a sentence.

“I wanted to let you say everything you needed to say before I did this,” James said, holding eye contact with the man he was killing. “I’ve realized recently that I’m a little too lenient with folks. Letting people go who could become a threat in the future. At some point, I have to nip things in the bud. And you were obviously in that category.” James finally allowed his emotion to show through a little bit on his face. A slightly pitying expression. He was genuinely sad to kill Ross.

I’m sorry you have to die, he thought. I really wanted you to live through all this. There was no point in saying any of this out loud now, of course.

“But how—guh—” Ross’s arm flailed in the direction of the hand that impaled his chest.

“How did I smash you apart so easily even though you’ve been through Race Evolution?” James asked.

Ross managed a movement that resembled a nod, blood gently trickling from his mouth as he dipped his head. He seemed to lack the ability to lift his head back up after he nodded it, but James understood.

“That’s a long story,” James said, smiling sadly. “And despite your very impressive Fortitude, you won’t be here long enough to appreciate it.”

A quick death would be the most merciful. He grabbed hold of Ross’s heart with his flaming hand. And squeezed. Tight, firm, pulsating muscle turned to charred putty in James’s grip.

[You killed Jeffrey Ross Lv. 11! You gained 1300 exp!]

Pillage. He chose to take one of Ross’s Talents for himself.

[Talent Obtained: Marksmanship!]

Hm. Hopefully that will have some utility beyond the use of guns. I can throw most projectiles faster than a gun can now, I think. He would check it out later.

He directed everything that had belonged to Ross, including the man’s pistol, into his magic satchel. Then he cast water magic and cleaned his hands off.

“Hey, boss?” Hester asked, finally breaking the silence as James picked at the flecks of blood buried under his nails.

“Yeah?”

“Um, a-are you okay?”

“Not a scratch on me,” James replied. “I took him completely by surprise.”

“Yeah, but—” She hesitated, then pressed on. “You knew that guy from before your world got processed into the System, I think you said at some point. Right?”

“Yes, I did.”

“So, are you feeling alright, um, emotionally?” she asked.

“I did what needed to be done, Hester. You saw what his immediate reaction was. After what happened, I understand it, but I’m realizing I’ve been a little bit careless in the past. If not reckless. A bit too idealistic, maybe. Charging into fights with the odds against me. Sparing people just because I don’t have the stomach to kill them. Just because I know they might have loved ones out there somewhere. Well, letting people go who have a bone to pick with me just isn’t going to work out well for the long term. I have a family to protect. They come first.” James’s voice was stone cold.

“None of that answered my question,” Hester observed.

“Heh. Right you are. Well, thank you for worrying about me. But I’ll be fine.” There was a hollow note in his voice as he spoke.

In the long run, it was my family or his getting destroyed, James thought. He imagined the children he’d just orphaned. I’ll do something for them when I escape this place.

The dark voice in his mind said: Put it behind you. You still have wars to win.

That’s right. Now time to reunite with my group, so we can finish this Orientation.