Chapter 21: Chapter Twenty.
Chapter Twenty: Not if I have something to say about it…
Greg was tempted to ask the familiar to stay in her corporeal form beside him. He, however, understood the importance of keeping her hidden for the time being. After all, a hidden blade was much more dangerous compared to one that was out in the open and exposed to one's opponent. With everything in place, Greg took the time to take a deep breath and calm his nerves. If he could avoid tipping off his foe that he was aware of them, then he could maintain the element of surprise when he struck. Pulling the door to the room he'd dived into open, Greg calmly stepped out and moved towards the entrance to the infirmary.
The sun was still up in the sky when Greg stepped out of the infirmary. By Greg's estimate, the time was around four in the evening. People were still moving about in the town, probably organizing what they would have for dinner. One who casually looked at this scene would have no way of knowing that there was danger lurking here. Greg, however, wasn't calmed by the seemingly normal evening. If Olivia was on edge, then he'd stay alert for anything, until she made it known that the danger had passed. Greg didn't have to look for long. He'd only taken a few steps from the infirmary when he caught sight of his cousin, Nolruk.
His cousin had been leaning against a house close to the infirmary, watching as Greg approached. Because of this, Greg had no way of avoiding the guy or acting like he hadn't seen him. In his cousin's eyes, Greg couldn't help but notice that there was a look of pity. It was almost as if he was looking at a dead man walking. A cold fury began to burn in Greg's chest. Was this the same look they had shown the first time around when they'd killed his father and tried to kill him? Unable to suppress the fury he felt, Greg made no attempt to hide the fact that he was aware that his cousin had been waiting for him. "I hope I didn't keep you long," He offered with false politeness, all the while his eyes were trying to bore holes in his cousin's head.
His cousin, however, didn't respond to him, instead, he simply pushed up from the wall and said, "Come with me," As he started towards the forest.
His cousin didn't look back, as if it was a foregone conclusion that Greg would comply and follow him. Greg, however, made no move to follow. Olivia had already warned him about allowing himself to be pulled into the playing field that his uncle had set up. If he wanted to come out on top, he just simply couldn't allow himself to be led by the nose. Saying nothing, he watched as his cousin walked some distance off before he realized he was on his own. There was some measure of anger in his eyes as Nolruk was forced to come back to where Greg had remained standing. He had expected Nolruk to snap at him angrily for not following. His cousin, however, maintained his cool and spoke plainly. "Father said to tell you that you have a choice as to where this fight takes place," His cousin said. Once again, both in his voice and the way his cousin looked at him, it was as if he was looking at a dead man. As if, regardless of how Greg struggled, the outcome would be the same. "It can be out in the forest, or at your home," Nolruk continued. "However, he'd hate to see either your sister or mother come to any harm, so he'd highly recommend that you come to him," His cousin said before turning around once more. This time, Greg could see it in the resolute way that he was moving that his cousin wouldn't be coming back a second time.
There was nothing subtle about the threat to his family. There was very little doubt in Greg that if he didn't follow, his sister and mother would be pulled into this fight. From how strongly Olivia had reacted, Greg knew he couldn't underestimate the threat posed by his uncle. If he arrogantly believed that he would be able to protect his family, and then failed to do so, he wouldn't be able to forgive himself. At the back of Greg's mind, he always remained cognizant of the fact that he was an imposter. His mother and sister weren't actually his mother and sister, they were Roka's. He had simply been swapped out with the real Roka. As such, from a cold and detached point of view, he had no obligations to anyone. What happened to either Roka's mother or sister, had nothing to do with him. There was no reason that he should risk his second chance at life for their sake. But for whatever reason, sound as the logic was, Greg just couldn't bring himself to act on it. For better or for worse, in this life, they were his family too. Greg owed it, if not to them, then at least to the Roka that he'd replaced to protect them.
'What was the danger that you picked up on?' Greg asked mentally to his familiar even as he cautiously looked around to see if there were other hidden threats around. Who knows? Perhaps his uncle was trying to lure him away so he could do something to his family.
"It's the aura clinging to the boy," Olivia answered without delay. The familiar was aware that Greg was in a pinch and needed all the information available to the both of them to make a decision. "It's the aura of powerful magic," She declared. "Without your mana core awakened, you can't pick up on it. I can, however," Olivia explained. "The aura of magic, in and of itself isn't that concerning," Olivia went on to say. "It's the fact that I can't tell anything about the source of the magical aura other than the fact that it's powerful, that's really concerning," She stated. "There are only two reasons that would be true. The first is that, it's the aura of a being at tier four or higher," She stated. "In which case, even with all the preparations we've made, your chances of surviving that encounter are next to nil," She declared.
'Wait, but didn't you say it can take anywhere from five years to two decades to become a fourth-tier mage?' Greg posed, unable to help the confusion even in his mental voice. 'If my uncle had been a mage for the last half a decade or more, I am certain I would have noticed,' He went on to add with certainty. From all his memories of the man, there was just no way that he could have been a mage in hiding. It was only recently that he began to exhibit changes. Before that, everything about his uncle had been as normal as can be.
'Believe it or not, him being a fourth-tier mage was the better of the two possibilities,' Olivia said much to Greg's displeasure. "The other reason is that there is a being involved of higher life order than myself," She stated. Knowing that he wouldn't know what she was talking about, Olivia didn't wait to be asked before explaining. "Think of all life as occupying different ranks. Life forms with no intelligence or instinct like most plants, occupy the lowest rung of this ranking. On the other extreme end of this life order ranking, are deity-like beings. The kinds that people form a religion around. The kind of beings with enough power to destroy worlds if they so desired," She explained. "How and why different life forms are ranked in the way that they are, is a rather intricate subject that we can dig into some other day when we have the time, but for now, all that you need to know is that I occupy a much higher ranking in terms of life order compared to humans. The only way your uncle would be able to hide anything magically from me would be if he too was working with a being that occupied a life order equal to or higher than mine," She explained. "And if that is the case, you are in even bigger trouble than if he happened to be a fourth-tier mage," She informed him.
'By 'working with, do you mean that he too has a familiar like me?' Greg sought clarification.
'That's just one of the many possibilities," Came the reply from Olivia. "He may have a particularly powerful familiar, he may have become enslaved by such a being, he may have somehow contracted such a being, he may even be working with a third party that is the one with the link to the higher order being," Olivia listed out.
Greg couldn't help the grim smile that crossed his lips even as he summarized the situation before him. "So, basically, what you are telling me is that my chances of coming out of this alive are somewhere between improbable and impossible?" Greg posed rhetorically. Anyone paying attention to the young man at that moment would have noticed that his gaze was growing increasingly cold even as he watched his cousin walk towards the forest. "Not if I have something to say about it," He ground out through gritted teeth.
***
Zarek calmly stood in the grove with the staff that had changed his life at his side. The magic had taken a great toll on his body, no one was more keenly aware of that than he was. The pain sometimes got so bad that he wanted to just curl up on the ground and never move again. He, however, had always prided himself in his iron will. As such, despite it all, he made it a point to never let it show even when he was by himself. Which was why he could maintain a calm demeanor as he watched the boy approach. This time, the boy didn't have his mask on. As such, Zarek could see the full extent of the damage that had been done to the boy's visage. Not that he cared either way. His gaze moved to either side of the boy as Zarek noted the fact that his son wasn't with the boy. There was a slight tinge of worry that squeezed at his heart when he noticed that Roka's hands were bloody. The useless feeling, however, was very quickly quashed! Despite his best efforts to make him stronger as a person, his son had always been weak. If he had fallen as a result of his weakness, then it was his fault for doing so.
The other reason Zarek didn't allow himself to worry about his son, was because of the boy before him. For whatever reason, his instincts, both as a new mage and as an old hunter, had been warning him against the boy. Every time he'd been on the cusp of making his move, he'd get the feeling that it would be a fatal mistake. This was why he'd forced himself to withstand the pain of summoning the dark crawlers. Whatever was up with the boy, he hadn't been willing to leave anything to chance. Which was why, Zarek had two of the dark crawlers stay right below the boy as soon as he caught sight of him. For worms that had grown to the size of about five humans in length, the things could be surprisingly stealthy while underground. The boy was calmly approaching Zarek like everything was in his control, not knowing that he was already in the palm of Zarek's hand,
"Where is my son?" Zarek asked when the boy came to a stop a few meters before him.
A chilling smile spread on the boy's face. His disfigurement making the smile even more ghastly than it would have otherwise been. "Probably writhing in pain and crying for his father, where I left him," came the calm answer. There wasn't even the slightest hint of emotion as he spoke of what he'd done.
An equally cold smile crossed Zarek's lips. "That boy hates me," He reported with no shift in his emotions. One would have been forgiven for thinking he was talking about a stranger and not his own son. "He would sooner die than call out for me when in pain," He added.
The smile on the boy's face widened, almost as if he'd been expecting this exact answer. "You'd be surprised how honest with themselves people can be when in pain," He replied. "Who do you think a boy that has so desperately been craving his father's love all his life will cry for when driven right to the edge?" His brother's son posed with a sadistic gleam in his eyes. Zarek's jaws couldn't help but clench as he was forced to consider the possibility of his son crying for him even as he was tortured. Unconsciously, his hand clenched into a tight fist and his gaze turned murderous as he regarded the one before him. However, given the lack of reaction from the boy before him, either he didn't notice the change in his demeanor, or he just didn't care. "Now, now," Roka spoke up moving his bloody hands in a placating manner. "No need to get angry. I'm not cruel enough to permanently separate a father from their son," In spite of himself, Zarek couldn't help but shudder at the amount of venom that was laced into that statement. "Soon enough, the two of you will be together, writhing in pain as a family," He added in a glacial tone.
A derisive snort left Zarek even as the ground beside him bulged up into a heap before being pushed aside by the gigantic head of the one dark crawler that he'd kept by his side, just in case of anything. He hadn't planned on bringing it out so early in their encounter. However, seeing the look of shock and fear on the boy's face, wiped away any qualms he might have had with it. For a moment, he even considered letting the boy know that there were currently two dark crawlers under him, just to see what expression he would have. He, however, chose to keep that ace hidden. One thing years as a hunter had taught him was to always respect his prey. Overestimating oneself, or underestimating one's prey has on many occasions been the cause of many a hunter's death. "Am I supposed to be scared?" Zarek asked even as he placed his hand on the head of the terrifying monster beside him.
Despite the fear that had momentarily clouded the boy's expression, he quickly regained a determined expression. Zarek could see that this wasn't an attempt to hide the fear he felt. It was the resolve to fight despite it. "Before I send you to explain it to him, I need to hear it myself," Roka spoke up. "Tell me, was my father not kind to you at every possible opportunity?" The boy asked, causing a sharp stab of guilt to strike at Zarek's heart. "Was he not your brother?" Roka continued, piling hot coals on the wound that Zarek had been doing everything to ignore. "Weren't the two of you orphans? Didn't my father take care of you when the two of you had no one else to turn to? What great sin did he commit that you would take his life?" Roka posed. "And what about me?" The boy further pressed. "What wrong did I do you that you would do this to me?" he asked, raising a hand to indicate his disfigured face
A harsh sound that was meant to pass off as laughter escaped the man's lips. "Tell me Roka, how do you plan to send me to explain to my brother?"
"STOP AVOIDING THE QUESTION!"
Roka's shouted reply made him flinch in spite of himself. The boy had clearly seen right through his weak attempt at deflection and was having none of it. There was a long silence between the two of them. A part of Zarek wanted to ignore the boy and avoid the question. A bigger part, however, felt compelled to answer. Not just for the sake of the one before him, but for his own sake. The look of complete shock in his brother's eyes when he realized that his very own brother was to be his killer, had haunted Zarek every time he closed his eyes. Even worse than the pain that he'd been forced to suffer since he first picked the staff up, was the silent 'why?' that had been in his brother's eyes as life left him. Unbeknownst to him, when forced to face and answer for his actions, Zarek said something that would always stick with Greg throughout his journey to the top. "You may never get to understand this Roka," The man spoke with forced calm in his voice. "But power requires sacrifice," He said simply. "It may not be what you want to hear. It may not be satisfactory in your mind, but that is the simple, brutal, and honest truth of the matter," He stated. "I killed my brother, not because he was a bad brother to me, not because he deserved it, but simply because it's what I needed to do to gain even more power," He explained.
The more the man spoke, the calmer he became. It was almost as if a weight had been shed from his back and he had obtained a new clarity in the way he looked at life. As he looked up at Roka, his gaze was no longer cold. Instead, it was just indifferent. Just as there was no need to coldly look at the step in a set of stairs that would help one climb to higher ground, there was no need to coldly look at the boy. He was simply a step on Zarek's journey to the top and nothing more. "It is for that same reason that you will die, Roka," He stated plainly. "Not because I hate you. Not because you have wronged me in any way. But simply because your death will help me gain more power," He calmly declared.
Zarek calmly watched as an almost deranged smile crossed the boy's expression. "You think just you and one worm will be enough to kill me?" he asked reaching behind him and pulling out a dagger. As soon as the dagger came out, Zarek couldn't help but seriously assess it. Mundane as the thing looked, alarm bells had started going off in his head the moment he saw it. It's almost as if, on an instinctual level, he knew that it posed a lethal threat to him. "Bring it on then!" the boy half-growled, half-shouted as he suddenly shot forward.
Zarek's eyes went wide at the speed of the boy. There was no doubt that if the worm at his side hadn't instinctively reacted to the threat to its master, then the boy would have killed him in one move. As soon as the boy took his first step, his whole form disappeared in a blur of speed. The worm beside Zarek, however, shot forward at almost the same instance as the boy had moved and met him in the middle of his charge. The man couldn't help but worry that the dark crawler beside him would kill the boy directly. For his ritual to work, he needed the boy alive. Fortunately for him, the worm seemed to instinctively understand what his master wanted. Owing to this, when its pincers closed, it wasn't around the boy's midsection which would have split the boy in two. Instead, the dark crawler's pincers closed around the boy's knees.
The forward momentum of the boy caused his body to keep on flying forwards despite losing his legs from the knees down. Zarek couldn't help but respect the boy's dedication as he completely ignored the excruciating pain he must have been in and pulled his hand back in midair, ready to stab him at the end of his flight. The man, however, had no plans of giving him the satisfaction. Taking a few quick steps backward, he allowed the boy to fall face down on the ground before him. Pushing up off the ground, the boy turned his dirtied face in his direction. In the boy's eyes was a single-minded desire to kill. Even with his legs cut off, the boy didn't allow himself to utter even a groan in pain. Instead, he just dragged himself forward, his legs leaving behind two trails of blood behind him, as he tried to get to him.
Strong as the boy's desire to kill him was, however, Roka only managed to make it within a meter of him before he collapsed. Having summoned the things using his own flesh, the man was perfectly aware of just how excruciatingly painful the things could be. Despite the boy collapsing and slowly bleeding out, Zarek wasn't willing to approach him. After his introduction to magic, the man knew that Roka didn't necessarily need to strike at a critical point of his body to leave a lethal wound. If the dagger the boy held in hand was enchanted, then perhaps, a nick from it would be all that was needed to do him in. Summoning the dark crawler that had taken the boy's legs, the man had it take off the hand that was holding the knife. With a sickening crunch, the pincers of the dark crawler closed around the elbow of the boy's hand. With the loss of half his arm, the boy finally seemed to break as a cry of agony tore out of the boy's throat.
With a wave of his staff, the severed arm was flung to the far side of the clearing. It's only with the dagger out of the way that Zarek was willing to step forward and approach the downed boy. Given the serious injuries that Roka had suffered, Zarek knew that he would have to carry out the ritual quickly before the boy bled out. Crouching down, the man reached out and flipped the boy over. A bad feeling immediately filled Zarek in that moment as the scream that had been coming from the boy immediately died out and the deranged smile was once again plastered on the boy's disfigured face. Without understanding how or why, Zarek knew that the boy had him exactly where he'd wanted him to be. The next few moments felt like an eternity to Zarek as his plans were overturned in the span of a few seconds.
Zarek noticed that the tunic the boy had on was torn. Dragging himself across the ground must have been the cause of the tear. The torn clothes, however, weren't what caught the man's attention but what they revealed. Beneath the torn tunic the boy's midriff was heavily bandaged. Zarek didn't know what injury the boy had suffered before coming here, but clearly, his fall had aggravated the wound given how quickly the bandages were turning red. The man could barely believe his eyes when the boy used his remaining hand to push the bandages aside and drove his hand deep into his own guts through a nasty gash on the side of his midriff. With barely even a groan of pain, the boy pulled out a yellow globe that was glowing ominously. It was only now, that it clicked in Zarek's brain that the blood that had been on Roka's hands wasn't Nolruk's but his very own. The boy had come here resolved to kill him, even if he lost his life in the process.
In the split second before the orb exploded, a whole slew of solutions fleeted through Zarek's mind. Get up and run, knock the orb out of the boy's hand, and send it flying as far away as possible, try to conjure some form of magical protection. Futile as it was, he just couldn't resign himself to death. Not after all that he'd done to gain power. In the end, however, it was the same dark crawler that had bitten off the boy's legs that once again came to his rescue. Before he knew what was going on, Zarek felt something slam into his body and send him flying away. Barely half a second after his body was in midair, the force of a powerful explosion slammed into him and added to the first force causing him to fly away even faster. While in midair, Zarek watched as the body of the dark crawler that had wrapped itself around the glowing yellow orb was torn apart and sent flying in all directions in bits and pieces.
At some point, one of the two dark crawlers that he'd had on standby under the boy, appeared behind Zarek. Unlike the tough shell that covered the back of the dark crawlers, the underbelly of the beast was nowhere near as tough. This action by the dark crawler saved the man's life. Zarek was certain that, at the speed with which he was moving, had he slammed into one of the trees at the edge of the clearing, he would have shattered his spine and the back of his head would have caved in. As things stood, while slamming into the worm wasn't exactly a comfortable experience, it was nowhere near as damaging as the tree would have been. Dropping down to the ground on his hands and knees, Zarek could feel his mouth fill with the iron taste of blood. Despite avoiding death by the skin of his teeth, he'd still suffered substantial internal injuries as a result of being body slammed by the worm along with the explosion that had followed.
A look of rage and hatred filled the man's eyes as he looked at the crater left behind by his brother's son, Roka. Not only had he killed one of the dark crawlers and injured him, but worst of all, he'd also made it so that he had no way of accomplishing the last ritual that he needed in order to truly gain the power the eminent being behind the staff had promised to bestow to him. Part of him understood that it was irrational to have expected the boy not to fight for his life or try to kill him for what he'd done to his brother, the boy's father. Still, this understanding did nothing to quell the boiling rage he could feel coursing through him. Zarek's thoughts couldn't help but turn to his brother's wife and daughter. "I was willing to leave them out of this, but you've left me no choice," The man ground out through gritted teeth.
"That's one down,"
Zarek's thoughts of revenge, however, were cut short when a voice reached his ears. The man's head shot up so fast that it's a wonder it didn't fly off his neck. His brain just simply couldn't process or believe what his eyes were reporting to him. Standing at the edge of the clearing, completely unharmed, was Roka. Zarek couldn't keep himself from looking at the crater where one of his dark crawlers had died. His eyes even moved to the pair of legs his dark crawler had bitten off that had now been flung to the edge of the clearing by the explosion. Seeing them on the ground only confirmed what he was certain of. He hadn't been hallucinating, he had watched the boy blow himself up. How then was it that Roka was once again standing before him, looking at him with the predatory gleam of a hunter that had their prey in their sights? The scene only grew more ridiculous as another voice reached his ears.
"Three more to go,"
Zarek was certain that he was losing his mind when he turned to his right and saw another Roka emerge from behind a tree on the right side of the clearing.
"Wrong," The same voice emerged from the left side of the clearing. Despite not wanting to believe it, Zarek turned to find another Roka leaning against a tree on the left side of the clearing. "He sent one worm to hide under my house in the town, remember?" The Roka that had just emerged corrected the Roka on the right side of the clearing.
"Oh yeah, you're right," The corrected Roka spoke up smacking his forehead as if he'd made a dumb mistake.
"That means that after two of us take care of the two remaining worms, the last one can take their sweet time with him," The first Roka spoke up.
Zarek wanted to rage and protest against the irrationality of what he was seeing. After becoming a mage his definition of what was possible and what was impossible had been stretched beyond what he'd ever thought before. Still, to watch the boy he'd been planning to kill in his ritual not only defy death but come back in duplicates of himself, was just a step beyond what he was willing to accept. Before he could say anything, however, Zarek could feel his scalp go numb with fear when the three Rokas each reached into their pockets and pulled out a yellow orb that began to glow.
Without another word, the man ignored the pain he was in, turned around, and jumped on the back of the dark crawler that had kept him from crashing into a tree. Years of living as a hunter had given him a keen sense of when it was time to just escape a situation. And this was most certainly one of those instances. If he had the time to pause and consider he would have wondered how it was possible his brother's son had managed to come in contact with magic that was seemingly more potent than his own. He would have ground his teeth at the unfairness of it all and then would have conspired to take the boy's power for himself. Unfortunately for him, he was not afforded that chance. The boy had set his sights on him and marked him for death.
Zarek hadn't forgotten the speed that the boy had displayed with his first copy's attack. There was no doubt in the man that if he tried to escape by passing in between any two of them, they would very easily catch up to him and it would be game over. So, instead, he turned the dark crawler around and had it charge in the one direction where there was no Roka. He noted the way the forms of the three Rokas turned into blurs as they shot forward in his direction. Luckily for him, the dark crawler was faster than the three and was at the edge of the clearing by the time they got to the center. Zarek was about to smile and congratulate himself for being decisive when it was needed. He had lost one dark crawler, but all in all, if he made it out alive, it would be an acceptable sacrifice in exchange for his life. The man's elation, however, was short-lived.
Just as the dark crawler he was clinging to was about to dive into the tree line, a fourth Roka appeared from behind the closest tree with a brightly glowing orb in his hands. The first instinct of the dark crawler he was on was to use its pincers to split the new Roka in half. Zarek, however, knew that they were already too close to the boy. If the dark crawler brought its head even closer in a misguided attempt to kill the boy, they'd all be reduced to bits by the explosion. Exercising his control as the dark crawler's master, he forced it to rear its head as far back as it could. The man knew that he was essentially killing the dark crawler by forcing it to expose its soft underside to the imminent explosion. But so long as he managed to survive, what did he care about the death of a dark crawler?
Once again, his decisiveness saved him as, barely a second after the dark crawler had reared up, he was hit with the full force of an explosion for the second time in one day. Given the fact that the force was still strong enough to fling him through the air even after going through the sturdy body of the dark crawler, Zarek knew that he'd made the right choice to sacrifice the second dark crawler. Had he hesitated even for a second, then the number of remaining dark crawlers would have been irrelevant as he would have been dead. As things stood, he was only flung back and forced to skid across the ground for a distance on his back.
His whole body was aching, his back felt like it was on fire, his internal injuries were serious, blood was leaking from every orifice on his head and his ears were ringing. Zarek knew he was in a bad condition and needed to perform a healing ritual as soon as possible. He, however, knew that he was still in danger and needed to get away first. As such, despite his protesting body, he forced his eyes open, grimacing as he readied himself to push up off the ground. The man, however, froze when he found one of the Rokas squatting down next to him, with a smile on his face and a brightly glowing yellow orb in his hands…
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