Healer Arc 2 -- Chapter 31

Chapter 31

Thaden stretched with a big yawn as he woke up feeling relaxed and physically recovered, although he was quite hungry – and then his mind began to panic as it remembered what had happened during his Class Evolution.  His eyes snapped open as he sat up, finding Sadia sitting next to the bed staring at him.

“Sadia!  You should’ve woken me up!  Who knows how much time we have?!” he practically shouted as he threw himself out of the bed, momentarily tripping as he tried to accustom himself to the recent changes in his stats.  He fell to a knee for a half-second before picking himself up, already heading for the door.

His squirrel companion was next to him in a flash.  “I tried, but I don’t think anything but this building collapsing on you would’ve woken you up,” she explained.  “Besides, you probably wouldn’t have been functional without the coma-like sleep you’d just enjoyed.”

Thaden stopped with his hand on the doorknob.  “I was out that deeply?”  He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been that far gone that someone trying to wake him up had failed.

“Yes, but at least you seem better now.”

He had to agree with her there.  Mentally feeling his body, he couldn’t detect a trace of the exhaustion that he’d suffered after his experience with the Class Evolution.  He was hungry, as he hadn’t had a chance to eat anything the night before, but that could be easily solved by something from his Inventory.  Which reminded him that he needed to unload a bunch of stuff he’d picked up in the dungeon, though fortunately it wasn’t a pressing need; the recent Level-ups had led to a much larger personal Inventory space than before – perhaps twice as large, or even larger.  He couldn’t spend a long time looking at it, however, because there were more pressing matters.

“What time is it?  Has there been any sign of… you know?” he asked, even as he passed through the doorway leading to the outside hallway.  Sadia started following him before she dematerialized and entered the CAMP, as she was still a strange sight to those in the Coalition, not to mention the city. 

“It’s about an hour after dawn, and I don’t believe there’s been anything yet.  It’s not like I can go out and start asking questions, though, so I could be mistaken.”

She made a good point, and he apologized for his unconsciously demanding tone.  “You’re right.  There’s more important things to consider, anyway.”  Thaden practically raced through the hallway, beginning his trek through the maze of living quarters that filled the majority of the Coalition building, eventually reaching the ground floor and the lobby.  “I need to warn those in power of the potential threat that’s coming.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?  What if they don’t believe you or blame you for it?”

Thaden didn’t stop moving as he made his way to Coalition desk he was looking for.  “It’s probably not the smartest thing to do, especially considering that it’s at least partially my fault for calling the System’s attention to me here in the city, but I’m not going to let everyone here die because I didn’t do everything I could to warn them.  Felith’s destruction is enough on my conscience that I don’t want to add one more thing.”

“It might not even be necessary.  The walls are reinforced enough to be able to repel strong monsters, and the general Level of the Guards here are probably high enough to handle something like the Scorching Quizards that demolished Felith.” 

“That might be so, but it would ease my conscience to warn someone in charge, nonetheless.  That’s literally the least I could do in this situation, and if it doesn’t turn out to be necessary, then I’ll still feel like I’ve done what was needed.”

Thaden was distracted slightly as he made his way through the crowded lobby, as something seemed to have changed with his perception of the various Adventurers he passed.  Whereas he’d previously had difficulty telling the Levels of anyone that was much higher-Level than he was, now he couldn’t see anyone that showed question marks on their nametags.  He even saw a few Level 80s, though there were only a few that were that high, but it showed that he wasn’t just limited to the 10-Level or so limit that he’d struggled with before when looking at other people.

He did his best to ignore the influx of information flooding into his eyeballs, as he finally arrived at the New Arrivals desk – and saw a familiar face. 

Cutting through the line, to the shock and anger of the dozen or so people waiting to check in, he interrupted the familiar Netherine, Wyrdla, as she was explaining something to the Aelveen across from her.  “Sorry to butt in, but I really need to speak with Eleria,” he said quickly, overtalking the complaint that started to emerge from the Aelveen’s mouth.  “It’s an extreme emergency.”

The Coalition representative was momentarily taken aback, before she quickly nodded and then apologized to the member she was talking to.  “Hold just a moment, please; I’ll have Jogun finish the process with you.”  With that, she flipped up a portion of the counter and beckoned him forward, even as she eyed another Coalition rep sitting at a desk about a dozen feet behind the counters.  Jogun looked confused for a moment before he eyed Thaden, and after visibly blanching, he immediately ran to the counter and was already helping the Aelveen new arrival before Thaden and Wyrdla had gone 30 feet.

Instead of a leisurely walk through the bowels of Coalition bureaucracy, Wyrdla ran, looking back at him a few times in surprise that he was able to keep up with her.  Even though his recent Celerity increases were substantial and he hadn’t had much practice accustoming himself to the changes, he’d had enough experience with various stages of Celerity bonuses on Tarth that it was easy enough to adjust.

It took only 15 seconds before they arrived at a familiar door, and even though Wyrdla quickly knocked, she didn’t wait for a response before she entered with him right on her heels.  “I apologize for the interruption—” she began to say, but Thaden pushed past her to deflect any punishment that might be coming her way.

The first thing he saw when he could take in the large office of the Teglir Branch Coalition Leader was that Eleria wasn’t alone.  What did surprise him, but probably shouldn’t have, was that Flarenia and Lovinia were the other ones in the room.  Seeing them pulled him up short, but it only lasted a second before he collected himself.

“Thank you, Wyrdla, I’ll take it from here.  You may go,” the Coalition Leader said, and not more than a second later, the Representative was closing the door behind him.  “And now, what, pray tell, can I help you with, Thaden?  As you can see, I was already a bit occupied this morning.” 

If she was annoyed that Thaden had found out that she had a personal connection to the twins, she didn’t show it.  For their part, Flarenia and Lovinia appeared somewhat embarrassed or perhaps guilty, but he ignored their reactions to his appearance as he focused on Eleria and why he’d barged into her office in the first place.

“Did any of you detect the presence of System energy in the area last night?” he asked, rather than blurting out something that would immediately make him sound like a crazy person. 

“You would’ve had to have been dead not to have felt that, Thaden.  I already spent the entirety of the night trying to figure out what it meant, but all the experts on the System in the city tell me that it means nothing.”

Shaking his head, he crossed his arms over his chest as he leaned up against the wall, suddenly tired and slightly overwhelmed from the responsibility of having to tell her something she probably wasn’t going to want to hear.  Even though it was his choice to do this, that didn’t mean he didn’t feel the weight of the entire thing on his back.  “Unfortunately, that’s not entirely true.  We most likely have a serious problem.”

“With all due respect for your Rank, I am more inclined to believe the experts in this situation more than a young Human that only arrived in the area recently.  Even if you are obviously very powerful, more so than I expected, and have gained a flood of Levels in the last day, that doesn’t mean you know what you’re talking about.”

Before Thaden could respond, Flarenia – of all people – spoke up on his behalf.  “I believe him, Great Grandmother.  I’m sure he knows what he’s talking about.”

For the first time, he actually looked at their Levels, and he wasn’t surprised to see that they had both reached Level 35; it was higher than his own, of course, as he’d spent some of his PICK on increasing the Level of his other Class, but he was expecting it to be higher.  He knew that they should’ve received the 30% bonus to rewards, but it was possible that they either didn’t get some of the Achievements or didn’t get any of the 300% increases from his bonus trait.  Regardless, 19 Levels in one day was likely a record on Plangea, though there was unfortunately no Achievement for it.

Eleria’s gaze left Thaden’s and focused on her great granddaughters.  “Oh?  You would take his side over those more experienced in these matters?  You just met him yesterday; how is it possible that you trust his word over those that I am sure have much more knowledge than him?”

Lovinia answered for the twins.  “Because he’s our friend.”

The hair on the back of his neck rose as he heard her say “friend,” as he remembered the creepy feeling he’d experienced when he saw the Class of the same name during his Evolution.  Lovinia also said it with such conviction that it made him uneasy, as if such a thing was so obvious that she felt like it was ridiculous that she had to even say it out loud.

“I guess now we know it wasn’t just a temporary condition.”

While it was probably good to know that, at the moment it was the least of his concerns. 

“Your friend, huh?  I’m glad that you’ve made a friend outside of just the two of you, but this is something that simple friendship doesn’t exactly cover.”

Rather than wait for the twins to say something to make it even more awkward for him, Thaden scrambled back control of the conversation.  “Believe it or not, but I actually do know what I’m talking about.  Have you heard what recently became of the town of Felith?” he asked, and he finally saw her react as her eyes widened in a clear sign of recognition.  Not only that, but he also caught a tightening of her jaw, and while that didn’t mean much to him, Sadia was a different matter.

“She knows something.  Did you see the way her eyes flicked to the side after you said that, as well as the tightening of her jaw?  I’m betting she heard something about you being involved with Felith.  And I’ll give you five guesses as to where they heard that.”

He didn’t need more than a pair of guesses, because there were only two ways the Coalition Leader would know about that.  The first way was unlikely, because it involved the System itself somehow informing her of who he was and how he was involved in the destruction of Felith.  He highly doubted that the System would start telling people in high positions to start looking out for him, as it certainly wasn’t its way of dealing with problems.  It tended to take a more direct – and violently disruptive – approach.

Which only left one way Eleria could know about it, which was if the Local Legion he’d met back in Purbooth had somehow tracked him down and asked the Coalition Leader about him.  Or it was possible that they sent word to look out for him to the different branches of the Coalition, but from what he understood about the relationship between the Coalition and the Local Legion, he didn’t think this was the case.

“Ah, I see that you’ve heard what happened.  Or at least the version that the Local Legion wanted you to know.  I assume that they were here looking for me to ask questions?”

Eleria was silent for a few seconds, her teeth grinding together, before she answered.  “Yes,” she admitted.  “They told me that they were looking for you to ask you some questions about what happened in Felith.”   

“What happened in Felith?  Isn’t that a town to the south?” Flarenia asked, clearly confused at the whole conversation.

Thaden turned to the twins and gave them a quick explanation.  “It was destroyed and everyone inside the town slaughtered by powerful monsters that shouldn’t have been anywhere near there.”

“That’s… horrible.  But why do they think you have anything to do with it?”

He smiled.  “Because I was there.”

“So they were right,” Eleria stated.  “You have more information than you told them before, don’t you?”

Nodding, Thaden admitted, “I do.  I assume that they didn’t tell you why the monsters attacked, did they?”

The Coalition Leader hesitated for a second before answering, “No.  I had the impression that they didn’t know.”

Again nodding, as if this was what he expected, he began to explain.  “I’m sure you’ve wondered why a Platinum+ Ranked member of the Coalition is in the area, haven’t you?  Well, all I can tell you is that I am very sensitive to changes in energy, including the System’s energy, and it was in Felith that a large surge of System energy was detected.  Not more than a day later, the town was destroyed, and I 100% believe that the two are correlated.  And now with the surge of System energy here, I suspect that the city is about to face something equally devastating.”

While Eleria didn’t seem completely convinced, she did appear to seriously think over what he said.  “That still doesn’t explain what caused these surges of energy, nor how these strong monsters appeared where they shouldn’t have, nor why you didn’t tell all of this to Bat’la’hera and the Local Legion.”

Bat’la’hera?  That was the leader of that group in Purbooth, wasn’t it?  “While I don’t know precisely how these surges are happening, I have suspicions as to their source.  As for why I didn’t tell the Local Legion, it’s because of those aforementioned suspicions that I believe a rogue element is causing these things to happen, and I can’t trust the Local Legion.  For the monsters appearing, your guess is as good as mine.”

Everything he said was mostly true, in case she was testing him again, even if it wasn’t entirely accurate.  Most obviously, he was technically the rogue element, and even if he was the impetus behind the energy surges, he didn’t know exactly why or how they were happening. 

“I… see.  Any you believe that the System energy surge last night will lead to… what?  A bunch of strong monsters attacking the city?  A few Scorching Quizards will barely be a threat to the walls, as we’re much better defended here than a town like Felith was.”

“That’s honestly what I’m hoping, Eleria.  That whatever comes as a result of the energy surge is easily handled by the defenses here.”  He held up a hand to forestall a comment.  “However, I can tell you that the System energy surge here was far greater in magnitude than the one in Felith.  As a result, I can’t guarantee that only a few Scorching Quizards are going to show up.  It could be much, much worse and this is simply just a warning to be prepared.”  He paused for a moment as she took what he said in.  Shrugging his shoulders dramatically, he added, “Or I could be completely mistaken and you’re right – nothing is going to happen because of this.  But wouldn’t you rather waste a little time and some resources rather than take that chance?”

The Coalition Leader stared at Thaden for nearly a minute while he kept her gaze without blinking.  At the same time, out of the corner of his eye he could see the twins struggling to contain their questions, but the heavy feeling in the office made them stay quiet. 

Finally, Eleria sharply nodded a single time.  “Very well.  I will make some inquiries, advise the Baron of these developments, send out some specially picked Scout Classes, and start to make some quiet preparations if something does happen.  I don’t want to panic the entire city for no reason.”

“Fair enough.  I’m just here for the warning; the defense is going to be up to you.”

Now it was her turn to smile.  “Oh, no, it will be your responsibility, as well.  Or have you forgotten that you’re a Platinum+ Rank?  The Coalition requires your personal contribution to the defense, or your Rank will be nullified and your membership stripped from you entirely.”

Uh-oh.  Is that true? 

“I’m sorry, Thaden… I didn’t think of that.  On Plangea, for Coalition members that are Gold and higher, they must contribute to the defense of any nearby town or city if it is under attack by monsters.  The requirement doesn’t apply if it is an attack by another Faction’s members, but in this case I believe it will strip your Rank and membership from you if you run.  If you had made it back to Felith when the Scorching Quizards were still there, you would’ve been forced to attack them if you didn’t want to lose it all.”  

She answered him even though she couldn’t hear him, but he was glad to know that rule now.  What it meant was that he couldn’t run unless he wanted to lose his Rank and membership with the Coalition.  It wouldn’t be the end of the world, of course, but his status as a Platinum+ Rank Coalition member had opened more doors than not, and having access to the Coalition was important to him. 

“I’ll be there, Eleria.  I’m just stating that I have no intention of being in charge of anything.  You won’t have to worry about me stepping on your toes.”

“I’m glad we have a mutual understanding,” she replied.  “I’ll try to keep you informed of what is going on.”  Thaden knew a dismissal when he heard it, and so he nodded and turned away from the trio of Netherines in the office.  He caught a glimpse of the twins moving to get up to follow him, but they stopped when a look from their great grandmother kept them pinned in place.

Closing the door behind him after he exited, he took a deep breath.  “You were right; I’m not sure that was the best idea.  Especially now that I know that I’m going to be roped into defending the city if something does show up,” he murmured under his breath. 

“But does your conscience feel better for doing it?”

He didn’t have to think about it.  “Yes; yes, it does.”

If he was going to be forced to defend the city, even if that wasn’t his original intention behind telling the Coalition Leader, then Thaden was going to need some gear.  He wasn’t sure how long it would be until such an attack occurred, but he was sure that he didn’t have any time to waste.  Memories of the shop called Vital Support flashed through his mind as he made his way through the lobby in his effort to get outside onto Glory’s Passage.  He figured he could get most of what he needed there, and then check the Coalition Market for anything he wasn’t able to find in person.

Unfortunately for Thaden, he was so preoccupied by his mission to buy some gear that he didn’t notice some particularly discerning eyes on him as he left the safety of the Coalition building.