As long as Stonehaven stood, he would keep trying to save her.
Chapter Fifty
“THANK YOU,” AIJAL said as she stared into the swirling fog in the Vial of the Mists. The Esh woman blinked back what looked like tears and turned her gaze on Devon.
Accept the unique class specialization: Shadowcaster Y/N?
Devon stood a little taller as she clicked yes. Dark magic sprang to life around her, scraps of shadow darting around. At the Mistwalker’s nod, the darkness abruptly sank into Devon’s body.
Congratulations! You have gained a new specialization: Shadowcaster.
An art unique to the Esh society, shadowcasters combine the elemental magic of sorcery with the illusionist expertise commanded by the great Mistwalker shadowbenders.
You have gained a new combat form: Shadow Shifter
Allows the shadowcaster to passively avoid melee strikes by instantly turning the targeted area of the body to shadowy mist (30% chance at Tier 1). The most basic of the shadowcaster combat forms, Shadow Shifter has nonetheless been cited by many as also the most versatile.
Cost: -25% mana regeneration, effect lessened with a higher Focus score and at higher tiers of the form.
You have learned a new ability: Night Shackles
Unbreakable darkness binds your target’s wrists, interrupting spell casts and preventing further casts for the duration of the shackles.
Cost: 90 mana
Duration: 45 seconds
“I have much more to teach you,” Aijal said, still speaking with normal pronouns. “And as for what appears to be lagging development in your abilities as a sorceress, I believe some of my kin will be able to offer further instruction once we deal with the Rovan.”
“Nice,” Hailey said, still without the envious tone that Devon would expect given the woman’s demeanor lately and her pigeonholing as a vanilla Seeker class while all her friends had unique powers.
Thinking of that, Devon cocked an eyebrow at Aijal. “You guys don’t have anyone that can help Hailey out, do you?”
The Esh turned a kind smile on Devon’s friend. “The mysteries of the arcane are not something we often plumb. But perhaps once the demon threat is vanquished, you will find interesting resources within Ishildar’s libraries. Our histories speak of many truth seekers who were self-taught in this fashion.”
Hailey gave an uncharacteristic carefree shrug. “I’m sure my path for advancement will become clear soon enough. I don’t feel any particular rush.”
Devon couldn’t help but cast her friend a sidelong glance. Had whatever passed between Hailey and the wisp caused this change? Devon held in a smirk. If only she could derive the same happiness from interacting with the annoying arcane ball.
She glanced over Aijal’s head and shoulders to take in the changes to the city. Everywhere, vines were withering and leaves were falling from jungle trees that, judging by the height of the buttress roots that erupted from the pavement, had stood for more than a century. Unlike the slow change to a savanna biome that had crept over Stonehaven following Devon’s recovery of the Greenscale Pendant, with the Curse of Fecundity finally broken, it seemed that Ishildar’s jungle would likely be gone within a couple of days.
Thinking of the pendant, she headed for the entrance to the cathedral. “I’ll just fetch the relics, and what say we go blast out some foliage from the Veian Temple on the way to rescue Stonehaven?”
***
Hailey and Devon stood together at the front of the grand, open-air temple, Aijal having left the pair to return to her Drivan kin and organize a final assault on the Rovan. As Devon’s Downdraft spell scattered the last pockets of leaves that dirtied the corners of the temple, the quest completion popup appeared and confirmed that the temple had been restored. Finally, after all these months, Ishildar could stand strong again in the face of the demons. The area didn’t feel all that different, but Devon was willing to take the game’s word for it.
Hailey whistled. “Not bad for a little sweeping.”
“Huh?”
“You don’t see it?”
“See what?”
“The buff, dude,” the woman said.
Devon smirked and sighed. Sometimes she did miss the obvious. In the corner of her vision, the buff icon was actually larger than the usual icon size by about 50%.
“Duh,” she said, examining the text for Ishildar’s Blessing. As promised, it listed the benefits to Accuracy and Damage versus demons.
Devon swallowed. Okay then. Mission accomplished. She hoped it would be enough.
Nodding at the nearby Stone Guardians, she sent a mental command, and the nearest golem crouched down to pick up her and Hailey. Despite having traveled this way twice already, she couldn’t help flinching as the massive stone fist lightly encircled her body, nubbins and crystals of stone gouging uncomfortably despite the giant’s efforts to be gentle. As the golem opened its palm and allowed Devon to step off onto its shoulder, she breathed a sigh of relief.
It might have been nice to make her triumphant return to Stonehaven marching at the head of a full cohort of stone giants, but after cycling across the city, clambering through the Stone Forest, fleeing the Stone Forest at triple that pace, then traveling back through the city once again to become its Keeper, Devon was tired.
Also, she could walk at about one-tenth the speed of a Stone Guardian’s long strides.
So standing on the shoulder of one of her massive, twice-her-level minions and holding on to its ear nub, she watched the city pass by, the remnants of jungle toppling as the giant smashed through them. Beyond the walls, she stared down as the waving savanna grasses swept by beneath her. As the Stone Guardians advanced, shaking the earth with their heavy footfalls, flocks of birds erupted from the grasslands, squawking as they flew away. In the distance, a pride of lions—no, wait…maybe they were manticores? It was hard to tell from so far away. Either way, the beasts jumped up onto a pile of boulders and stared at the imposing parade, tails twitching.
For a while, Devon fell into a sort of trance, just enjoying the scenery and feeling the sunshine on her face.
Until, as they drew nearer to Stonehaven, Devon heard the first shrieks and saw the rising smoke. All at once, her breath came in quick gasps, and her heart slammed against her ribs.
“Go,” she whispered through the connection with her golems. “Quickly.”
As the giants sped to a run, the very bones of the earth shook.
Chapter Fifty-One
THE TRAVELER ARRIVED as the new leader of Ishildar brought her giants into the battle. He’d known this was likely. He’d seen it in the pattern, and the possibility had been one of the strongest. He nodded, satisfied by the sight.
Standing unnoticed atop the cliff face that sheltered the hamlet of Stonehaven, the traveler looked down upon the town, its defenses buckling, the life lights of its citizens rushed and frantic as they attempted to save their home. Their panic reminded him of ants responding to an attack on their hill, and he recalled that first insect he’d rescued from suffering, the creature that had helped him wake to the power of Illumin.
As he inspected individuals, he saw their possible futures in the layers that made up creation. There was potential for evil in many of the hearts, something that dismayed him whenever he looked upon a human. When he glimpsed that, he struggled not to eradicate the possibility.
But the true evil lay beyond the walls. What wickedness might be paled in importance behind that which already was.
The scourge must drown in the light. Stepping to the far rim of the cliff, the traveler got down on his hands and feet and slipped a leg over the edge. Cautiously, aware of his human frailties, he searched the ledges and irregularities of the cliff face for adequate purchase for his callused feet, then slowly edged his weight over the brink. Once established on the vertical face, he began climbing down to where the cliff intersected Stonehaven’s wall-walk. Touching down on the platform, he str
aightened his simple garb and walked toward the main gates where he had the best vantage on the demon attackers.
The traveler raised his arms and called down a pillar of light against the evil.
Chapter Fifty-Two
“OW!” DEVON WINCED against the sudden glare as an insanely bright pillar of heavenly light burned a hole in the demons’ forces.
“What the hell?” Hailey yelled from the golem’s opposite shoulder. “If that came from your paladin friend, the dude’s been holding out on us.”
“I don’t think so,” Devon called back. Torald might be one of Veia’s personal crusaders, but that attack had appeared way too overpowered for a level twenty-something character.
Regardless of the source of the purple afterglow that now stained her vision, Devon couldn’t argue with the results. It was like a giant hole-punch had come down from the heavens, carving out a perfect circle from the demon forces. More surprisingly, where the light had touched and the corpses now lay smoldering, the demons seemed unwilling or incapable of filling the gap.
Whatever the weapon, it couldn’t have come soon enough. Devon’s heart fell when the purple shadow cleared, and she saw the damage to her settlement. The curtain wall was half gone, and improvised bridges had been laid across the moat in half a dozen places. In two locations below the main palisade, demons worked with battering rams, bashing them again and again against the main wall. Others tore at the gates with wicked claws, and for every beast the archers and casters struck down, another rushed forward. Looking south, she spotted a steady stream of fiends marching to the fight.
If the help of the Stone Guardians and Ishildar’s Blessing weren’t enough to turn the tide, Stonehaven was lost.
Devon let out a shout that was about the closest she’d ever come to a battle cry and urged the stone giants into the fray. With a swing of its massive leg, the guardian carrying her kicked aside a column of demons, sending them flying. A swipe of the giant’s massive arm brought down a small armada of imps, the little demons hitting the ground with a crunch.
Stomping another handful of the beasts flat, the Stone Guardian reached the edge of the settlement, kicked away a pair of bridges spanning the moat, and then deposited Hailey and Devon atop the wall before dropping into a fighting stance before the town. A low rumble rose from its throat as it waited for a challenger.
With the platform of the wall-walk under her feet, Devon felt each blow from the battering rams. The top of the wall was chaos, archers running back and forth to resupply, melee fighters stepping into gaps to knock down siege ladders as they touched the rim. Blinking, Devon took a moment to get her bearings before searching out Jarleck.
The fortifications master was standing beside a stranger clothed in a ratty robe much like an old-time friar. The man’s head was hidden in his cowl, and he nodded as Jarleck spoke.
Devon hurried over and caught Jarleck’s eye.
He nodded at her. “Thank you, Mayor. If not for Ishildar’s Blessing, we wouldn’t have lasted,” he said. “They were almost over the walls.”
She glanced toward the battle where the giants were rampaging through the demon horde, smashing imps and thralls and hellhounds while seeming impervious to the damage of the fiends’ attacks. But due to her connection with the golems, she knew that wasn’t quite true. Their injuries were small still, mere scratches and chips missing from their ancient stone flesh. But they wouldn’t last indefinitely. Given the size of the approaching army, the best her guardians could manage would be to grant Stonehaven and Ishildar a few more hours.
“What was that column of light?” she asked. “And have we had any contact from the awakened races?” The last was a faint hope given the profound disorientation and confusion that any awakened creatures must be feeling. How could they even know where to come? But given the situation, even a faint hope gave her something to cling to.
When she’d asked about the light, Jarleck’s eyes had turned to the cowled stranger. The fortifications master nodded and gestured to indicate that the newcomer should speak. Pulling back his hood, the man turned gray eyes on her, eyes that seemed at once haunted and infinitely wise. This man was a keeper of secrets and a refugee besieged by his own awareness.
She swallowed, blinked, clenched and unclenched her fists. “Owen?”
Chapter Fifty-Three
“I FEEL…OUTSIDE myself much—most—of the time,” Owen admitted as he ran his eyes over the group. Though reluctant to leave the wall, Devon had gathered the members of her former guild together in the upper chambers of the inner keep to hear Owen’s story and devise a plan. “When I’m inside the game, it’s like I know things. I feel almost like an NPC, like half my actions aren’t even my choice. I’m part of the pattern.”
Devon chewed her lip, concerned. He’d mentioned this pattern a few times now, and Devon had no clue what it meant. But the mention of being out of control of his actions sounded…not good. It reminded her too much of the weeks Owen had spent under Zaa’s control, his mind harnessed by the AI to create the demon lord, Raazel.
Yet at the same time, Devon knew without a doubt that the vulnerability in the implants had been patched. The AIs could no longer commandeer a player’s brain and use it for their own devices. So what was going on here?
She caught Chen’s eyes and saw her concern reflected there.
“Do you think that the game has control of you again?” the teenager asked, apparently having decided to be blunt about it.
Owen shook his head vehemently. “I’m certain that’s not the case. It’s easier to think about my situation when I’m offline, and I do have a theory. My best guess is that the time I spent connected with Zaa shaped my mind, adapting it to the AIs’ structure. I think I’ve gained a sort of intuitive understanding of the way their processing works. In this case, it’s like I can sometimes read Veia’s intent, and sometimes I’m able to influence it.” The man grimaced as if in pain. “But it’s so hard—even if I understand that rationally, that’s not how I perceive things while experiencing them. My mind converts the information into something that feels much more real. And sometimes when I see things—I think this is some kind of instinctual reaction after my experience with Zaa—sometimes when I see things, I act too quickly. I can’t control the impulses to bring Illumin forth.”
Pattern… Illumin… Owen was speaking of weird things that Devon struggled to understand, but she got the sense that he didn’t quite understand them either.
And regardless, through the open window of the keep’s chambers, she could still hear the shrieks of demons and the shouts of the archers. They could talk more about Owen’s experiences later. But now there were more pressing matters.
“You caused that column of light that obliterated some of Zaa’s forces, right?”
Owen nodded. “I conjured Illumin and stamped out their evil.”
“Ooh…kayy…” Jeremy muttered under his breath.
Devon shot him a glare. “The demons still aren’t entering the area you burned,” she said. “Any ideas why?”
Owen shrugged. “Illumin has many mysterious qualities.”
“Okay, but what I’m wondering is… Can you do that again?”
“As long as the pattern permits it.”
Fortunately, Jeremy was standing behind Owen, so the man wasn’t subjected to the troubadour’s eye roll.
“Do you think you can form this Illumin into other shapes?” Devon asked. “Because I have an idea.”
***
Devon watched from the roof of the keep as one of her Stone Guardians carried Owen through the southern edge of the battle, the golem kicking aside any demons that had the misfortune of being in their path. Balanced on the giant’s stone palm, Owen held the end of the Guardian’s thumb and, eyes closed, pulled a narrow beam of light from the heavens. Channeling this so-called Illumin into a tight line on the ground, he burned a stripe through the savanna, about a foot wide.
It wasn’
t exactly what Devon had hoped for—her initial idea had involved in constructing some massive wall of light and pushing the whole freaking demon army back to the ocean. Unfortunately, that was beyond Owen’s capability. But whatever repelling quality had kept the demons out of the circle also seemed to prevent them from crossing the barrier. By searing a boundary across the landscape south of Stonehaven, Owen’s strange magic was buying the settlement time.
Time to mop up the attacking force, but more importantly, time to connect with the awakened races, with any fighting force the Felsen could field, and with the Drivan faction of the Esh once they finished with the Rovan. Already, Blackbeard—who could now speak properly following the end of the curse—was on the wing carrying her command across the vast territory that paid fealty to Ishildar. The city’s liege lady needed her subjects’ swords.
Or claws.
Or whatever help they could bring.
Regardless, with the respite that Owen was gaining for Stonehaven, Devon was now free to gather a real army and, possibly, to call forth additional power from Ishildar. Soon, she would bring the battle to Zaa’s forces rather than cowering behind the walls of Stonehaven.
For now, though, she focused on guiding her guardians through the battlefield and breaking the demon siege. Without reinforcements from the south, the defenders on Stonehaven’s walls were slowly but surely wiping out the threat. Even the noobs were helpful, particularly Valious, who now had a new, and even more insane tactic than his mad rushes at the Wyvern Keeper. Again and again, he used the largest of the trebuchets to literally launch himself into the battle, activating some crazy AoE attack in the split second before he hit the ground and died. And the crazy thing was, it was working. He’d made some serious dents in the demon forces.
Vault of the Magi: A LitRPG Adventure (Stonehaven League Book 5) Page 28