Healer Arc 2 -- Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Thaden didn’t hurry.  As much as he probably should’ve hoofed it after his Party left him behind, to theoretically join them in finding out exactly what was going on, the fact that he was moving toward where he felt the whiff of the System heading made his steps hesitant.  Who could blame him, though, given his past relationship with the all-powerful entity?  It was the System that had ultimately attempted to kill him on multiple occasions, had imprisoned him beneath a sea, and had taken pains to eliminate any trace of him from the minds of his fellow Human beings… so, yeah, he wasn’t really enthused about having any further dealings directly with it.

Before he arrived on Plangea, he had been told that the System had a fairly hands-off approach to the massive world, unlike how it had acted on Tarth; as a result, he thought that he was relatively safe from its manipulation.  As he slowly approached Felith in the far distance, he still felt the slightest hint of the System’s overwhelming power, but it was so much more faint compared to the metaphysical weight that it had on Tarth that if he hadn’t known it for what it was, he might have missed it.  Even before he could see the town in the distance, he couldn’t feel any trace of its presence still lingering; it was as if the System had simply brushed the area with a giant feather of its power, whereas on Tarth it had used a sledgehammer to enforce its will.  In other words, the System’s presence was a mere shadow of what he knew it was capable of; it arrived and left so quickly that it was like a figurative drive-by. 

Thaden didn’t know what that meant, but he figured it couldn’t be good.  In his experience, the System’s direct involvement, even if this was the merest hint of it, never had a positive outcome – at least not a positive outcome for himself.  

When he estimated that he was approximately 2 miles away from Felith, as it was just over a ridge and down in a shallow valley, he his Party sense suddenly screamed some warnings.  Pulling up his Party list, he saw Harven’s name sudden grey out, meaning that he had died, followed quickly by Scarven.  A few seconds later, Unarven’s name copied them, and no more than 10 seconds after that, Warven suddenly went dark.  After their names on his list was the word (Resurrectable)… for all of a few seconds, before even that disappeared.

What… What happened?  They’re all permanently dead?  How?

With each permanent death of his Party members, he felt a small surge go through his body and mind; it wasn’t exactly a physical or even a mental effect, but something else that seemed familiar.  Stopping in place, he opened his Character Report and saw something odd.

Fortuity – 112

He was frankly flabbergasted at the sudden increase in his Fortuity, which had been at 51 just a few seconds before.  It wasn’t until he recalled the bonus traits that his Fortunate Catastrophe gave him, and he considered one in particular:

Any allied deaths within 3 miles of the Fortunate Catastrophe cumulatively increase the Fortunate Catastrophe’s Fortuity by 30% (From Fortunate Catastrophe)

It wasn’t something he’d actually had apply before, as by the time he had taken the new Class, he hadn’t been in a Party with anyone that had permanently died.  There had been plenty of people he knew that permanently died around him, but they hadn’t actually been in his Party at the time; apparently, the bonus trait distinguished between friendly targets and allied targets by them being in his Party, which was an interesting distinction. 

The sudden shock of his Party being wiped out froze Thaden in the middle of a field, on his way to top the ridge ahead of him so he could see Felith.  As his body refused to move with the fear of what he might find beyond the barrier between him and the town, his mind coldly calculated the 120% increase in his Fortuity due to his Party’s deaths and found that the result perfectly matched his new Fortuity stat of 112.  He felt like he should feel something about the deaths of the Party members with whom he’d just completed a dungeon; if he was being true with his own feelings, he abstractly felt horrible that they had died, but he also knew that he wasn’t responsible.  It was something that he’d had to learn while in Tarth, as he had been the inadvertent impetus that had caused many deaths, but the ultimate responsibility had either been at the hands of the Assimilation System or the Persistent Adversary.  He had spent too long blaming himself for things that were out of his control to fall back on doing that to himself, though he had to constantly remind himself not to fall into that pit again.

So, it was with a struggling conscience that he closed the distance between himself and the top of the ridge, where he crawled the last dozen feet so as not to silhouette himself against the sky.  Once he moved the last few feet and laid down in a spot to give himself a good vantage point, he looked down into the valley and felt his breathing hitch at the sight before him.

Previously, the town of Felith had been a relatively modest town that housed hundreds of Netherines and a smattering of foreign visitors, with dozens of buildings behind tall walls that helped to keep it safe from the threats present in the local environment.  The most danger that he’d seen threaten the town was one time when a large pack of two dozen, starving, Level 10 Longfang Wolves assaulted the gate, attempting to force their way inside, but the town’s Guards and a dozen Adventurers were able to stop them from doing much more than chewing a few holes in the gate before they were eliminated.  Most days, nothing ever came within miles of the settlement, as anything hostile seemed to recognize that it was a place where they would immediately be killed; even if they traveled within those few miles, they were usually identified and eliminated by Quests issued by the Coalition to ensure that the town was perfectly safe.

Nothing could’ve prepared them for whatever had attacked this time, however, as the entire town of Felith had not only been trampled by something big enough to knock down the walls as if they were made of toothpicks, but had also been able to burn everything within sight.  If it hadn’t been for the plethora of massive footprints that had trampled the fields outside the settlement, he would’ve thought that some sort of orbital airstrike had taken out the town, as the destruction was so complete that it appeared targeted with some sort of high-tech munitions. 

He was far enough away that he couldn’t see anything too clearly, but he had a good enough vantage point to see that not a single building was still standing.  For the objects that he thought he might’ve once recognized, they had been practically obliterated, with only the remnants of the walls still visible.  A few lingering fires still burned inside the town, creating thin pillars of smoke that rose into the air, but practically any wood that had been inside the settlement had been burned to ash, leaving only collapsed stone rubble scattered around, though even that had been damaged enough that nothing was in one piece anymore.

What was even worse, as far as he was concerned, were the massive footprints leading to a number of spots outside in the fields where specific areas had been charred down to the dirt.  He wasn’t sure what they were, at first, before he noticed in one of the closest spots a few scraps of torn cloth and a half-melted hunk of metal that he thought was a scythe, just like the one he had used to help harvest wheat. 

Whatever had come to the town of Felith had deliberately ensured that there weren’t any survivors left behind.

What did this?  Was it the System?  If so, then why?

It didn’t make sense, and as he stared at the absolute devastation that used to be the town that he’d spent the last 6 months living within, he wasn’t sure where to even start looking for answers.  In addition, even if it was a bit selfish considering that hundreds of Netherines had just lost their lives in whatever horrific attack had just occurred, he realized that he now no longer had a place to stay.  That thought then led to a flash of melancholy as he considered Arthrax, the only real “friend” he’d made since he arrived; based on where he remembered the house he’d rented a room from was located in the town, it was more than obvious that it had been obliterated along with everything else around—

Movement in one of the fields nearby caught his attention, as he saw some stalks of wheat moving counter to the gentle breeze that flowed through the valley.  His eyes locked onto the spot, waiting for some other sign of movement.  It can’t be one of whatever did this; the footprints left behind look like they’re the length of a mid-sized sedan.

Finally, after a few more seconds, he saw movement again, along with a brief glimpse of something larger within the wheat.  It only took a few seconds to deduce that it might just be someone who had managed to escape with their lives; another quick look around the place didn’t reveal any massive monsters waiting around for him to make an appearance, so he decided to take a chance.  He wanted answers, and if someone was still alive, they might just be able to provide them.

Staying low to the ground, as he didn’t necessarily want to flaunt the fact that he was there, Thaden quickly scrambled down the other side of the ridge.  He nearly fell a few times as he awkwardly made his way down into the valley, but he managed to somehow keep his feet as he reached the edge of the wheat fields.  As he got closer to where he had seen the movement before, he looked for some sign that it was actually a person moving around and not a monster of some sort, and by the time he was within 50 feet, he was finally close enough to catch a glimpse of red and black-striped fur semi-camouflaged in the stalks.

Regiven – Field Foreman {Densartis Faction}

Netherine

Level 11

He recognized the name immediately, as it was his former boss when he worked out in the fields.  He swiftly navigated his way through the wheat stalks, heavily disappointed because he half-expected it to be his friend, Arthrax, that had seemingly escaped from the town before it was destroyed, and arrived at the side of the clearly struggling Foreman. 

All disappointment at the survivor not being his friend evaporated when he saw the state of his old boss.  From the waist down, Regiven’s lower half was just gone, and the Netherine was dragging himself forward by his upper arms.  The permanent-looking grimace of pain on his face was evident, as was the smoldering flames that seemed to be continuing to consume his body. 

“Who—Thaden?” the Field Foreman asked when he approached, hissing in pain before panting excessively in exhaustion.  “Run!  I don’t know where they went, but it’s too late for me….”

“Regiven!  What happened here?  What did this?”  Even as he asked the questions, he could see whatever energy that the Field Foreman had used to allow him to drag himself that far had given out as he collapsed on his back.  Thaden searched for a way to heal him, but the only healing spell he had access to was Weak Siphon – which needed a secondary target that he had control of in order to essentially transfer Health.  He looked around briefly, but he already knew that he wasn’t going to find anything alive; any monsters that might have been within range of the town had likely been scared off by whatever had caused so much death and destruction.  It was possible that there might be someone still alive within the town, but now that he was even closer to it and had a better view, he highly doubted it.

The constantly burning effect that had taken his old boss’s legs had already crept up to his stomach – and it didn’t look like it was going to stop.  Just before it reached his chest, where it would consume his lungs and heart, effectively killing him, Regiven wetly coughed a few times before painfully responding to his questions in broken sentences that seemed to strain the Foreman’s body and mind.

“Damn the Adversary!  They came out of nowhere.  Massive, green-scaled lizards.  Taller than the walls.  Name and Level unknown.  Knocked down the walls to get inside.  Odd.  Attacked the Coalition first.  Spit burning acid.  Tried to flee.  Moved too fast.  Splashed on my foot.  Thought I could make it—”

The burning effect appeared to accelerate as it reached Regiven’s chest, rapidly burning through his lungs and then his heart, killing him in an agony-inducing wave of destruction.  And there was nothing Thaden could do, as he had no way to heal him.  As he knelt down next to what remained of the corpse of his former boss, he threw himself backwards as the burning acid that had ate through the rest of the body suddenly burned brightly and flashed over the remains, consuming it within a second. 

When it was done, there was nothing left of Regiven but a pile of ash.  Even if he was able to cast Celestial Reanimation on the corpse, which he couldn’t because his former boss’s Level was too high, there was nothing left for the spell to target.  The Field Foreman was essentially gone, wiped from existence so thoroughly that there was no chance of him being brought back by any means. 

Standing back up, he looked toward the demolished town and debated looking for any other survivors, but he decided against it; the odds of anyone being alive in the rubble was slim-to-none.  Whatever had done this had been extremely thorough, as if specifically instructed to ensure nothing survived or was able to be resurrected.

Rather than stick around, as he didn’t know if they would come back to ensure that the job was complete or to finish off any potential survivors, Thaden took off toward the northeast.  From what he’d seen from the ridgeline, none of the footprints left behind by the monsters that destroyed Felith seemed to come from or left in that direction, so he hoped that meant it was the safest.  Of course, toward the northeast was another jungle-like environment similar to the one he had been found inside when he arrived on Plangea, but he’d rather brave those dangers rather than run into the massive, green-scaled lizards that his former boss had mentioned.

As he jogged toward the distant tree line, desiring to put as much distance between him and the once-bustling town of Felith, Thaden couldn’t help but think about what Regiven had told him before he died.  Those things knocked down the walls – and then went for the Coalition building first?  Why?  Unfortunately, he suspected he knew, and it sent chills down his back while also pinging a sense of remorse within his mind.  It was because of me, wasn’t it?  What happened with the Codexical Access Point had caused it to access additional resources from the System, which probably alerted it to my presence.  Then again, it might not have actually known it was me; it might simply have reacted to an anomaly and sought to wipe it out, just like it tried to do to me on Tarth. 

Or perhaps it was the fact that I was a Platinum+ Rank in the Coalition that alerted the System that something was wrong?  Maybe when I registered with the Coalition again, it triggered a review?  I honestly don’t know; it could be a multitude of things that caused this to happen, because I highly doubt that this was all simply coincidence.

And Regiven thought this was the Adversary that did this?  No, it was the System all the way.  I don’t know how it did this, but it definitely seems like something that it would do to clean up a mess before it became an issue – and I have personal experience with being on the receiving end of such treatment. 

Thaden refused to blame himself for what happened, even if he felt the guilt of likely being the reason it occurred in the first place.  In the end, it was yet another reason why he didn’t trust the System to have the people’s – that it professed to protect – safety and best interests at heart.  Yet, no one seemed to see this, as they were all too brainwashed by the System to question what it did to “save” them.

It was an old gripe he had about the System, however, and it didn’t really help him at the moment.  The System and its problems would have to wait, because Thaden had his own personal problems at the moment, which he needed to concentrate on before he could complain about things that were largely out of his control. 

The first problem he had to address was what he was going to do next.  Originally, his tentative plan after gaining his second Class was to stick around Felith for a while and use the Coalition to Level-up until he was self-sustaining once again.  Once he was strong enough to venture out on his own, hopefully with access to many of his Fortunate Catastrophe spells as he gained more Mana, he would use the Coalition’s resources to search for Corinna and find out where she might have ended up in the massive world of Plangea.  Once he discovered that, he would then find her, try to convince her that she actually knew who he was (as the System had wiped the memories of the other Humans on Tarth, so she didn’t know who he was), and then potentially resume the relationship they had before.

It might have been a pipe dream, as he had no way of knowing if she would even feel the same way about him that he thought he did for her; he wasn’t even sure if he actually loved her or not, but based on the ache in his heart after losing her to the System’s memory-altering shenanigans, he thought it was a fair assumption that he had stronger feelings toward her than he cared to admit.  But even if he managed to convince her that they had a relationship before, that didn’t mean she would instantly “fall back in love” with him.

Still, it was a goal that he could focus on at the moment, as any other plans about investigating the System and the Adversary, as well as the mysterious organization that had managed to infiltrate the developmental world of Tarth, were so far outside of the scope of his abilities at the moment that they weren’t even on his radar. 

But with this recent development with Felith being destroyed and the Coalition being targeted, he was a bit wary of interacting too much with the Adventurer’s Coalition.  While he wasn’t planning on initiating any Error-inducing problems with another Codexical Access Point, he wasn’t sure if simply interacting with the members of the Coalition – who seemed to be able to detect his Rank at a glance – would alert the System that he was nearby.  Based on what he’d heard about the System not paying as much attention to Plangea on the whole compared to Tarth, it was unlikely that simply being identified as having a Platinum+ Rank would trigger a reaction from the System, but he was paranoid enough about it now that he wasn’t sure if he wanted to chance it. 

Therefore, Thaden had to find another way to get stronger that didn’t involve the Coalition quite as much.  He briefly considered doing what he did in Tarth and delve through dungeon after dungeon solo, but there were a few problem with that.  First, he didn’t know where the dungeons were located, as the Coalition had millions or even billions of teams constantly searching for any new dungeons that sprung up around the world.  He might get lucky and find some, but then he didn’t know if he would actually be able to clear the dungeon because it might be too high of a Level. 

Which brought him to his second issue, which was actually completing a dungeon on his own.  His first experience with a dungeon on Plangea proved that he couldn’t do it all himself, at least not yet, as he was basically helpless against the Gremklin Detonator Boss.  It was more than likely that he’d run into the same problem in any other dungeon, which meant that he was a bit hindered in his capabilities running dungeons by himself.

These thoughts were primarily on his mind as he trotted through the edge of the trees delineating the jungle environment, an area of relative safety compared to the devastation he’d left behind.