Healer Book 6 -- Chapter 1

Chapter 1

“What an absolute disaster.”

Fer’la’vina could only nod in agreement with Che’ga’lera as her feet touched down on the edge of the Stronghold, set high above the Wildlands in an unassailable position.  Turning around and using every bit of her now-restored Level 900 eyes, she looked toward the southern portion of Tarth where Region #1 was located – and the hole that had been blasted in the mountain range where The Citadel Dungeon used to be.  It was the first time in Fer’s experience as a Warden of Tarth that she’d ever seen a dungeon so utterly obliterated, and her mind mentally shivered as she remembered the sheer destruction that had emerged from the detonation of Adversarial energies. 

No one could survive that, could they?  Fer was 100% positive that even she, even if she had been back to her normal 900 Level, would’ve perished in such an explosion.  Yet, the System seems to think that there is at least one survivor.

She pulled up one of the most recent messages on her feed, confirming that assumption.

You have completed the full requirements for your assigned SPECIAL Quest!

All current instances of the Adversary within Region #1 have been eliminated!  In addition, the investigation of the Support Class Contender, Thaden, with a last known Level of 201, has concluded with a negative determination of Adversarial connections.

In addition, Wardens from two separate Regional authorities have recognized Support Class Contender, Thaden, as a Hero of Tarth!  Title rewards will be distributed to—

ERROR!  No record of Support Class Contender, Thaden, has been found!  Checking posthumous collection database… no record of posthumous collection found!

Note: Once the recipient of the Hero of Tarth title has been located, it will be necessary for at least one of the Wardens who recognized the Hero’s deeds to impart their rewards.

Not only was the Quest they had been given by the System as Wardens complete, which had been to eliminate all instances of the Adversarial energy infiltrating the world of Tarth as well as searching for Thaden as a potential agent of the Persistent Adversary, but the System recognized the very same Support Class Contender as a Hero of Tarth!  While the System couldn’t find him, which she’d learned from Thaden was largely because he had never gone through his mandatory Training, it also seemed to believe that he was still alive – and would be able to obtain the rewards that the Hero of Tarth Title would bestow upon him.  Even Fer didn’t know what those rewards would be, given that Titles were relatively rare even outside of a developmental world, and she’d never heard of a Contender obtaining one before. 

As for where he was, if he actually had survived, she didn’t have a clue.  They had searched the massive hole in the mountain range where The Citadel had been, looking for any sign of him, but they’d had no luck.  It wasn’t as if they had to dig under rubble or anything in their search, hoping to find him under a rock or something, because there wasn’t much of anything left in the area, as the dungeon itself had been destroyed, as well as a half-mile of the surrounding mountain range.  The hole in the ground left behind by the explosion was surprisingly shallow for all of the devastation, as it only descended about 50 feet before there was only a wide, shallow, hemispherical stone dish scoured clean of any debris, and every little bit of the citadel and surrounding mountainside was gone.

It hadn’t been obliterated, of course, as it had been flung outward from the force of the explosion, but even a relatively detailed search over the hour they had before they were forced to return to the Stronghold in the center of the Wildlands turned up nothing but stone debris flung up to 100 miles or more away from the epicenter.  In other words, if he was out there, they didn’t have an easy way to track him down. 

Thankfully, as the message had told them, the destruction of the Dungeon had also eliminated all of the noticeable traces of Adversarial energy within the Region.  Accompanied by Thaden, they had been able to cleanse many of the infiltrated Dungeons throughout the Region beforehand, and while she thought there was a possibility that there were some that they missed, the System considered the matter finished.

Fer’la’vina wasn’t going to complain, however, because she and the other Aelveen Wardens came close to a final death more times than she liked to admit during their foray into Region #1.  While she was devoted to her position as a Warden of Tarth and would dutifully give her life to ensure the System’s directives and the safety of the world, it had been a long time since she’d been so close to permanently dying so many times in such a short period of time. 

They, of course, had a Human Contender named Thaden to thank for their survival.  In fact, everyone in Region #1 and potentially the entirety of Tarth had been saved by him, which she supposed merited the Hero of Tarth Title he’d been bestowed; even Ghareta and the other Charee Wardens admitted after he’d gone into The Citadel to face down the danger that the Adversary presented that they wouldn’t have survived if he hadn’t been there.

While Tarth was now relatively safe from Adversarial infiltrations inside the Dungeons throughout the Regions, at least according to the Assimilation System, the danger of the developmental world failing its intended purpose had only been delayed.  The Contenders had gone from one crisis to another; while the issue with the Adversary had been something that required the help of all the Wardens, an occurrence that had never happened before in her knowledge, the current issue was the activation of Developmental Phase 4.

More accurately, it was the activation of Phase 4 before any of the Contenders were ready for it.  Other than Thaden – if he was, indeed, still alive – but he was more than a bit of an outlier.  Normally, there was typically a few Regions of Contenders that were ahead of the others, and they would be able to complete Developmental Phase 3 within months of each other; it was extremely rare for one Region to be so far ahead of any other Region that they would have to face Phase 4 all on their own, and even if they did, it usually wasn’t for long.

But now Phase 4 had started early—too early.  If what she’d seen in Region #1 was any indication of the rest of the Contenders, then they were years away from being anywhere ready to even attempt to complete Phase 3, let alone ready to handle the challenges of Phase 4.  While the previous Developmental Phases were difficult to complete, there technically wasn’t a time limit that they had to adhere to in order to complete them.  Sure, there were some time constraints in Phase 2, but ultimately there was plenty of time to grow stronger and prepare for what was asked of them – but Phase 4 was different.  If the Contenders didn’t immediately start getting ready for facing the challenges of the Wildlands, then those challenges would eventually come to them.

Fortunately, the monsters that emerged from the NESTs scattered around the Wildlands were no threat to them immediately, but over time the density of monsters would eventually push them toward the Regions.  Normally, each Region would be able to take over the Dungeon that had blocked their way into the Wildlands, such as The Citadel, using it as a defensive fortification to prevent the monsters inside the Wildlands from rampaging through the Region.  That, unfortunately, was now an impossibility in the case of Region #1, as they now had a large, gaping hole in their defenses.

Soon enough, Fer could picture waves of powerful monsters, each of which would likely out-Level the Contenders by 200 Levels or more, pouring into the Region, slaughtering everyone in their path.  Once they fully devastated Region #1, they would ten turn to the defenses of the other Regions, forcibly breaking through all of the obstacles in their way to reach the Contenders who thought that they were safe from the Wildlands until they were ready for them. 

It would be a slaughter of epic proportions, and the inevitable failure of the developmental world of Tarth would soon come to pass.

“I can’t believe that we managed to clear the Adversary’s attempt to infiltrate Tarth, only for the Contenders to fail because the final Phase was activated entirely too early,” she muttered, still staring into the distance.  Out of the corner of her eyes, she could see other Wardens returning from their own investigations into the other Regions, all of them with conflicting expressions upon their faces – which she felt as well.  They succeeded in eliminating the threat and completing the Quest the System gave them, which was something to celebrate, but the knowledge that the overall success of the Contenders was on the verge of failing utterly was a horrible feeling.

Tac’fe’hodu stepped up next to her, and it was obvious by his first words that he’d heard her.  “I can only assume that was their intent.”

“Whose?”

“The Adversarial agents, of course,” the stoic Aelveen replied.  “If they couldn’t maintain their foothold in Tarth, then the next-best outcome would be to force the failure of every Contender.  They’ve been one step ahead of us at every turn, so it shouldn’t be surprising that even in their elimination, they’re getting their victory – even if it is a bit more delayed than it would’ve been if we hadn’t eliminated them.”

Fer shook her head.  “We?  Don’t you mean Thaden eliminated them?”

“Fair,” Tac acknowledged with an additional shrug.  “But now he isn’t here.  Even if he was, being able to kill a powerful Adversarial Elite or the equivalent won’t really help.”

She grudgingly agreed.  Phase 4 couldn’t be completed by a single person, after all, even if they were the most powerful individual in the world.  There were many other factors involved in the challenge that Developmental Phase 4 presented to the Contenders, as it was designed to incorporate the help of every single Contender on Tarth to achieve victory.

It’s just so unfair.  Not for the first time, she wished that she—and the other Wardens—could do something to help, especially right now when this was all the result of the Adversary meddling in the operation of the developmental world.  Unfortunately, the assistance they’d given to Region #1 was only because of the Adversarial energy and infiltration of various dungeons; now that it was gone, they were essentially required to be hands-off, only involving themselves when they needed to ensure the safety of the world from Contenders getting out-of-line.  If they tried to act outside of the bounds of their duties, such as helping to thin out some of the monsters to give the Contenders more time, they would be stripped of their positions, at the least; if the violations were more heinous, they could even be eliminated entirely.

In other words, their hands were tied.  They could only observe as the world fell apart around them, watching as the Contenders – and all of the citizens of Tarth – were wiped out to the last person. 

“Still, Thaden would at least give them a chance,” Fer argued.

Tac sighed.  “It would only delay the inevitable, at best.”

As much as she wanted to argue further, she couldn’t – because she knew he was correct.  “I’m well aware that there’s nothing we can do to stop this from happening, but there has to be something….”  Fer trailed off as something else appeared on her message feed.

Wardens of Tarth!

The start of Developmental Phase 4 is imminent!  Now that certain Adversarial complications have been eliminated, thanks to a few particular individuals, the culmination of Contender development can finally get underway.  Be steadfast in your vigilance of Tarth’s safety, ensuring that the Contenders are kept restrained in their misguided efforts to destroy the world with their newly gained strength.  Additional authority has been granted to you at this time, allowing you to monitor the situation within the Wildlands and your assigned Regions with greater fidelity.

*Note: Because of recent Adversarial incursions accelerating the start of Developmental Phase 4, the Contenders in Region #1 have gained a temporary boost to their PICK accumulation to bridge the gap in their Levels to better face the ferocity of the Wildlands’ monsters.  If this proves to be ineffective, it has been decided to let Region #1 fall to the Phase 4 threat; if no other Region is near to completing Phase 3 at that time, the NESTs and monsters within the Wildlands will be temporally frozen for 6 months.  This is to help prevent the complete failure of all Contenders within Tarth, though the remaining Contenders will still face an uphill battle when the first Region finally completes Phase 3 and begins Phase 4.   

*In addition, all Wardens but those responsible for Region #1 now have the authority to prevent premature incursions into their Region by the monsters of the Wildlands by any means necessary.  This authority will immediately be rescinded upon the elimination of every living person inside Region #1.

Stay vigilant, Wardens of Tarth!  A successful final Developmental Phase is upon us!

Fer’la’vina stood staring sightlessly out into the Wildlands as she comprehended what she’d just read.  Even as she felt the additional authority the System granted to her settle over her mind and body, she parsed through the impossibility of the message contents.

The System is altering the Developmental Phase?  I didn’t think that was even possible.

Granted, it had already acted to issue Quests to the Wardens to fight the Adversarial infiltration, but that was understandable; it had been outside the bounds of the Contender’s development, after all, and so the System took steps to fix the problem.  But to alter the actual Developmental Phase was something else altogether; it was an unheard-of situation that she frankly didn’t believe was even possible.  She could only assume that the Adversarial incursion had triggered something that caused the changes, though she’d never thought that it could be done in the first place.

Of course, the change was that the System was essentially sacrificing all the people inside Region #1 to give the rest of the Regions a chance to survive.  Though, even if the inevitable happened and Region #1 fell, she doubted that another 6 months would be enough time for the other Regions to catch up.  Still, it was better than nothing, and would at least give the Contenders more options than being overrun one Region at a time.  And, as she had just been hoping for, the Wardens now had a chance to help out, even if it was simply keeping the monsters away from their Regions.

All but the Charee Wardens from Region #1, of course.  While the danger of the monsters attempting to break into the other Regions while there was a wide hole into Region #1 was fairly low, their help would ensure that the other Regions were safe from such a disaster. 

She turned away from her view of the Wildlands for a moment as her eyes lit upon Ghareta and the other Charee Wardens, having returned not so long before, and she noticed that almost every other Warden was looking at them with pity.  To have the System essentially doom their people even before the first NEST had awoken was a hard truth to swallow, but they simply stared past everyone as if unbothered by the death sentence to their people.

Her attention was pulled away as her new authority and sense of the Wildlands detected something – which was unlikely, given that no one should be inside the land at this point.  Stepping over to the edge of the Stronghold, she looked down and her vision pinpointed the movement, right as Developmental Phase 4 officially began; millions of bestial roars filled the Wildlands as the NESTs activated, but she ignored all of that as her far-seeing vision caught someone getting to their feet.

“That’s… Thaden!” she shouted, and she was quickly joined by Tac and Che a second later.  Somehow, the insanely powerful Contender had survived against the odds, and even as she watched, the Human was on the move – and headed straight toward the nearest NEST, which was currently spewing out hundreds of monsters, which would then filter through the local environment. 

“Is he crazy?  Where’s his Party?” Fer heard from a different group of Wardens looking down the side of the Stronghold after her outburst; it was obvious that they hadn’t been told about the Support Class member that had saved them all.  

 She grinned, strangely relieved to see Thaden, even if she didn’t think it would ultimately make much difference.  “No, he’s not crazy,” she replied, looking at the Warden who had asked the question.  “It’s just that he’s a Party all by himself, and one that is probably stronger than any one of us.”

She saw the disbelief on the faces of almost all of the other Wardens who heard her, though the Aelveen and the Charee who had seen him in action nodded in acknowledgement.

The rest might not believe me now, but I’m sure they’ll discover that I’m telling the truth very shortly.  In fact, I’d say he’s about to show them what he can do right about… now.