[Voidknight Ascension] Chapter 217 — Aren’t Samurai’s Supposed to be Elegant?

Lounging, Xero lazily rested his dark palm on the hilt of his great katana. Luckily, the weapon was still sheathed.

Though Kale knew how fast that could change.

The dark elf samurai rarely left the tiny floating isle. At least, not for long. Only combat drew him out. Whereas that otter-like creature never left it at all, even during fighting, no matter how much Kale’s people tried to tempt him.

When someone half-heartedly mentioned releasing the grappling hooks to let their isle go, since the otter and dark elf didn’t want to formally join, there was an uproar.

For some reason Kale didn’t entirely understand, the Assassin, Simon, was the loudest of the voices, demanding that they protect these newcomers while strangely gripping his dagger.

It didn’t seem like Xero needed protection.

Though that piece of land didn’t look like it was going to last long in these storm winds. That spinning ball of magical destruction on the horizon was pulling all the Skyshards in like a black hole and a hurricane had a messed up child in the bathroom of a meth clinic and this was the unholy result.

As far as Kale was concerned, nobody was going to be spared from the storm. Together, the two islands seemed to be moving slightly slower.

Emphasis on slight.

“It’s like we’ve gone from one apocalypse to another,” Kylie muttered from beside him.

The golden wheat swayed all around them. It smelled wonderful, like a peaceful haven far removed from the endless clouds and crumbling rocks riding the winds.

No wonder Haman never wanted to leave.

Even now, he was out in the fields with his little wide-brimmed conical straw hat, tending to the many plants.

Kale had seen the plantations on O’ahu, but this was different. It was like the otter-like creature managed to combine the rolling hills of wine country in France with the American heartland of wheat, the stepped rice fields of Vietnam, and the plantations of his home thick with tropical fruits.

This was one of the reasons why his people were crazy for Haman. While they had a nigh infinite source of food and water from that cursed pyramid, none of it tasted like what Haman grew.

“Dross-dongo, mate,” Xero said. When it was clear that nobody understood what he said, he clarified, “I’ve thought the same, mate,” He always seemed to watch the farming otter from the corner of his eye.

Morale wasn’t great, and Kale’s was no exception. For a long while, he was holding onto the hope that they’d find Sam again. Find any of their friends again.

Now his hope was slipping away.

Few people were allowed to visit the tiny isle. Xero never strayed far unless there was a battle, and Kale was afraid that if anybody dared to slip on the isle while he was otherwise engaged, the dark elf wouldn’t hold back his rage.

Worse than the loss of life was that Kale worried Xero might end up leaving the rest of Kale’s group to the mercy of the descending monsters.

Kale made sure to keep Simon away. After hearing the things the Assassin muttered, and the initiation tests he often forced on people, Kale just couldn’t risk it.

Still, he couldn’t entirely control Simon. Something was going to happen eventually. He only hoped he would be there to stop it before it got out of hand.

This was meant to be a peaceful mission, Kale told himself. A glorified meet-and-greet. Sam could do this in a second, all winning smiles and affable nature. I’m used to being the sympathy card, but I don’t even have that going for me anymore.

Not that Kale minded.

Going from wheelchair-bound to fully functioning legs was a godsend. The apocalypse was horrible, but the thought that he was going to be a burden to his friends and more than likely die alone in a wheelchair was not a very happy one.

The apocalypse changed all that.

In his heart-of-hearts, he feared that the price the multiverse demanded might have been Sam. Losing his best friend, a brother in all ways that mattered, wasn’t worth his legs.

“Does he ever take a break?” Kale asked, nodding toward the creature Xero called a pobul.

“Aye. Not as much as I’d like, but you’d have better luck lassoing a hurricane and controlling it than telling a pobul what to do.”

Almost as if he heard them, Haman sat down, drinking quietly from the cool, pristine water the island had. He straightened upright, like a tiny person.

Apparently, that was just the right thing to lift Kylie’s spirits. Her eyes glistened. “Oh god, he’s just so cute.”

“One of them, eh?” Xero asked, leaning against the small wooden shack’s wall. The only man-made structure on the entire isle.

“One of what?” Kylie asked, an uncharacteristic fire in her eyes.

Chris put a hand on his sister’s shoulder. “Chill, Kylie.”

Xero hardly seemed perturbed. In fact, the only other person who could match Xero’s detached coolness seemed to be Haman. Neither of the two seemed worried about the Maelstrom or the countless monsters falling to their island.

Some were even spawning from smoky twisters that touched down on their Skyshard. Things had gone from bad to worse, to horror movie levels of terrible. The next step, of course, was the disaster movie, and Kale didn’t like his odds there.

The black guy always died in those movies. Even worse than the horror flicks! He always told Sam that if he ever found himself in a horror movie, he’d just turn around and refuse to investigate any sort of lights, noise, smoke, or otherwise odd behaviors.

As always, whenever he thought of Sam, his mood soured. The only thing that made him feel any better was that his kingdom quest hadn’t failed. Supposedly that could happen if the objectives were impossible to complete, but so few people actually had even a single quest that it was hard to tell if that was actually the truth.

Xero flicked his ruby-red gaze toward Kale. “Tell me more about this friend of yours.”

That had been part of the reason for coming to their tiny isle. That and to offer–again–that they were welcome among the safety of their number.

Xero had made it abundantly clear that for as long as Haman stayed, he would stay too. Kale didn’t know what to make of their relationship. Sometimes it was as a guardian to an innocent child, others it seemed more like an apprentice and master–with Haman as the unlikely master.

Out of concern for offending the man, a real honest-to-god drow, Kale didn’t pry much into their relationship.

“Sam was a good guy,” Chris said. He winced when Kylie elbowed him in the ribs. “Is a good guy,” Chris corrected, pointedly avoiding Kale’s scowl.

“Dead, eh?” Xero asked dispassionately.

“He’s alive,” Kale said with conviction. “We’re going to meet up with him soon. I can feel it on the wind.”

Xero looked at the strange green winds that whipped and shredded lesser Skyshards apart. “Then tell me about him.”

Kale folded his arms defensively. “The last I saw him, he was tangling with a golem. Some sort of monster that was defending the Skyshard we all arrived on. He did it to protect us, to buy us time.”

“He also fell into that ravine,” Chris muttered.

“But Kale says he’s alive,” Kylie said quickly.

This has been a point of contention among their otherwise tight-knit group. Kylie seemed to believe him out of sympathy, while Chris was annoyed by the whole affair.

They had all grieved Sam’s death, but only Chris seemed to think moving on was the right thing. It wasn’t that he didn’t care, Kale knew that wasn’t it. But with everything going on, he probably couldn’t continue to hold out hope.

There was too much death.

“Sam has a cat too,” Kylie added nervously. That was generally hard to explain. “One who talks and casts magic.”

Xero perked up. “A soul aeder?”

“You’ve used that word before,” Kale said. “What’s it mean?”

The drow made a weighing motion with his hands as he tried to summon the words to explain. “Sacred animals, elevated far beyond nearly any race on a given Worldshard, yet they act much like any animal you might expect. They yearn for companionship. Some say they created the Kindred, others say the Kindred made them, and yet others say they found each other in the cold reaches before the Shards first cast their glorious light.”

“The Kindred?” Chris asked.

For the first time Kale had seen, Xero looked stunned. He gave a rueful grin, muttered something and shook his head. “You needn’t worry about them. Soul aeder are powerful, but limited. They are a walking contradiction. Death holds no sway over their kind.”

Kale took that to mean it was fairly common knowledge to know who the Kindred were. Too bad he wouldn’t be finding out from Xero. He looked up. “Hold up. Soul aeder can’t die?”

“Nah, mate. And that’s as far as you should think on it.” The look he gave Kale was pure caged malice.

Okay, so he knew I was thinking about using soul aeder as tanks to keep monsters away, Kale thought to himself. Which is definitely not something that should ever be spoken aloud. Got it.

Still, he wouldn’t put it past somebody like Darren from strapping a soul aeder to his chest and using it as armor.

He didn’t doubt that Xero could kill them all, if he wanted to. Levels equated to incredible amounts of power, and the Samurai was well beyond anyone else.

No one had even heard of that as a job evolution before.

During the few raids they had on their Skyshard, Xero took a full quadrant of the battlefield all to himself and dealt with the foes before Kale’s entire party could cover their section.

That alone meant that Xero was raking in the Experience, but he hardly seemed to notice or care for that matter. Both Xero and Haman were waiting for Raiko.

It was the main reason that Xero agreed to aid them. They both knew Raiko, though Kale only from a scant meeting with the woman’s ghost or astral projection.

Of course, that was also when he got the kingdom quest to rejoin Sam.

“Why do you think your friend is still alive?” Xero asked out of the blue. He tilted his head toward Chris. “The mage here thinks he’s dead.”

“Because of the kingdom quest I received,” Kale said. “It wants me to meet up with Sam and join his kingdom. That has to mean that Sam is both alive, and somehow created a kingdom. Leave it up to him to thrive in the apocalypse.” Kale shook his head. “However, I have not been able to share the quest with anybody.”

Xero nodded along as if this was all normal to him.

For all Kale knew, it was.

This is going to be my new normal too, he thought. If we ever survive.

The dark elf was from Islegard, the other world that joined this new plane of existence alongside Earth. Apparently, they used to have levels and quests too.

“Hard to do,” Xero agreed. “The quest would have failed if he were dead. You’re dead-to-rights about that, mate. You said Raiko spoke of Sam to you?”

“She did.”

For the first time, the drow looked uncomfortable. He scratched his chin. “She mention her relationship to this…Sam?”

If Kale didn’t know better, it sounded like Xero was nervous. “I’m going to level with you. I was in such a state at the time, I can’t say I recall much. The only thing that has stuck with me is the quest and the knowledge that Sam is still alive. I haven’t heard from her since.”

Xero looked over at Haman. “He says she’s coming. If they’re together, we’ll see the both of them.”

Chris turned to Kale. “I don’t think you’re wrong, but c’mon man. A kingdom? Sam? Does he look like a king to you? He’s a beach bum, and you know I mean that with the utmost of respect.”

“You think he’s still a retail stocker, too?” Kale snapped, then found himself looming over Chris. “Do I still look like a cripple to you, Chris? Huh?”

Chris raised his hands in defeat. “You know that’s not what I meant. But look around you! How hard was it for us to get to this point? We’re still losing people almost every day to the monsters and the weather. How could anybody create something more than a shantytown in this hellhole?”

In the fields, Haman perked up and stood at his full three-foot-height. He chirruped brightly. To Kale’s ears it sounded like birdsong.

Xero burst into motion, his katana in his hands as if by magic. “Ready yourselves. Something is coming. Tell the weaklings to hide. They do not want to tangle with this foe.”

Kale looked around alarmed, but it was Kylie who let out a gasp. Her enhanced vision spotted what Haman was raising the alarm about a few moments later.

“What do you see?” Kale asked as Xero stalked through the field of wheat to Haman’s side to hold a hushed conversation with the pobul.

Kylie’s voice was a horrified whisper. “It’s the ogre…”

Chris chuckled, then realized that his sister was not laughing. “You can’t be serious! The same ogre from the starting island?”

The only answer was a mute nod of her head. Her eyes never left the ogre as its shape became larger and more defined. It was on a Skyshard large enough to rival their own, and all around its feet milled countless monsters.

But the worst part by far was that it was coming straight for them.

Kale turned away and hopped onto his Skyshard, bellowing orders. “Prepare for battle!”