Path of Dragons

Book 5: Chapter 8: Nexus Town

Sadie Song stood stiffly, her back against the wall as she scanned her surroundings. The so-called Nexus Town was not what she had expected, and the people who’d steadily trickled into the settlement were disappointments as well. Many of them were ragged, clearly having been unprepared for the dangers represented by the Trial of Primacy.

“Did they think this would be easy?” she asked, not bothering to glance at the man by her side. Fortunately, she and Dat had taken the possibility of being separated into account during their own preparations, and she’d purchased a pair of items from Argos’ Artificer that would allow them to find one another. The range was only a few hundred miles, but it had proved sufficient to guide her to her companion. Clearly, others had not thought so far ahead.

“I don’t think they knew what to expect,” Dat answered, his voice carrying with it a tone of pity. He’d already seen a few people die, and though it wasn’t the first time, he never took such things well. Neither did Sadie. She keenly felt every innocent death. Even the ones who died due to their own stupidity earned her compassion. Yet, she hid it much better, mostly behind a mask of learned frigidity.

Dat had led a group of forty back to the Nexus Town, and many of those followers had immediately gone to the Branch at the center of the settlement, going home the moment they were given the opportunity. It had been less than a week, and already, hundreds had done the same.

For her part, Sadie had arrived amidst a group of non-humans who had no interest in her help. So, she’d set off across the jungle alone, braving the dangers without the benefit of anyone to watch her back. More importantly, she’d had no one to slow her down, so she’d made good time as she had searched for the Nexus Town.

Finding the right path had been the most difficult part of the journey, but fortunately, she had Path of the Faithful to guide her.

Path of the Faithful

Increase non-combat movement speed by 5%. Also, provides direction in times of need.

On the surface, it seemed like such a simple ability, and in the beginning, she was far more concerned with the ability to move through the wilderness a little more quickly. However, ever since being granted the ability at level seventy, she’d learned that the second function was far more important. When active, Path of the Faithful gave her direction, usually towards some location she would be needed. It was how she had found the Druid’s ring of stones, and it had given her some insight into how to reach the Nexus Town.

That insight was frustrating, though. She couldn’t control it. Nor was it always apparent. Instead, it manifested in the form of a subtle feeling that if she wasn’t attentive, would completely escape her notice. Ever since gaining the ability, she’d learned to pay attention to those feelings, but the situation was still far from ideal.

Truthfully, as grateful as she was for the ability, she was also frustrated by it. As a financial analyst, Sadie had come from a world of numbers and concrete facts, and so it was quite difficult for her to rely on ephemeral feelings that she couldn’t quite quantify.

Flexing her jaw, she glanced around at the town. Unlike most of the ruins she’d encountered, the small city was well-preserved and mostly intact. It would have no difficulty housing the Trial of Primacy’s participants.

“Don’t grind your teeth, bro,” Dat said.

“I wasn’t.”

“Okay,” he said, refusing to dispute her claim.

She relaxed her jaw, repeating, “I wasn’t.”

“I believe you, bro,” he said. “Oh – look who’s here.”

For a moment, Sadie thought he was just trying to change the subject, but when she looked in the direction of his pointed finger, she saw something she hadn’t expected. That Elijah Hart had survived and reached the Nexus Town was not surprising. He was an extremely resourceful and quite powerful individual who’d spent years traveling alone through the wilderness. If anyone was capable of trekking across the jungle, it was him.

However, she had not expected him to be leading a group of a dozen people into town. In fact, that was the exact opposite of what she would’ve anticipated from him. Outside of healing people in Argos – which Sadie suspected was motivated by some ulterior goal – he’d established himself as entirely rude and extremely self-interested. After all, he’d disappeared in the middle of an important meeting, only to return a week later without so much as a proper apology. Sure – he’d claimed to be sorry, but it was a hollow gesture meant to assuage her ire.

And that wasn’t even considering the results of their first meeting, when he’d thrown foul language her way. Maybe his anger was warranted, but civilized people didn’t speak to one another in such a manner.

But Elijah Hart was not civilized. He was a wild creature living in a man’s skin, and she’d resolved to treat him as such.

So, it was difficult to imagine a scenario where Hart would save anyone. Perhaps they offered him some sort of reward. Or maybe he’d intended to use them as human shields. That seemed the sort of thing he might do, and the wilderness was certainly dangerous enough to warrant the thought. No – he couldn’t have helped those people out of kindness.

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Because that wasn’t the sort of thing someone like him would do. Not with the stink of death billowing off of him like he was a smokestack.

“He got new armor,” said Dat.

Indeed, the Druid was wearing a set of leather equipment that he hadn’t been wearing before. It was difficult to judge its quality, but Sadie had difficulty imagining it wouldn’t be top-tier. He’d probably hunted some ultra-powerful beast just to get the materials.

The cut was utilitarian, with the only ornamentation being on the chestpiece. There were two etchings that looked like intersecting crescent moons stretching from the center toward the shoulders. Otherwise, the rust-colored leather was simple to the point of austerity, though it did make him look a bit bulkier than normal.

Of course, he also wore that ridiculous fur cloak, even despite the hot and humid weather of the jungle. In his hand was a white staff, around six feet in length and with a subtle ethereal glow coming from beneath a carved representation of a Celtic braid. The top was carved with some sort of reptile – perhaps a dragon – though she couldn’t be certain without closer inspection.

Finally, the man had taken the time to visit a barber, cleaning up his curly head of hair and trimming some of the bushiness from his beard. She could acknowledge – at least in her mind – that it was a definite improvement. If it wasn’t for the effects of Sense of Sin, she might’ve found him quite attractive, in a rugged, mountain-man sort of way.

Beside him strode some sort of goblinoid creature, and a dozen humans followed behind.

When he inevitably caught sight of Sadie and Dat, a smile spread across his face and he adjusted his route. With his staff clacking against the flagstone street, he approached, and when he arrived, his grin widened.

“Sadie. Dat. Fancy meeting you here,” he said.

* * *

“You look good,” Elijah said, looking the pair up and down. They both wore the same armor they’d worn when he first met them, which meant that Sadie was clad in an elaborate suit of heavy plate, while Dat looked like he’d stepped out of an anime about vampire hunters. Notably, Sadie had added a pair of new weapons to her arsenal. In addition to the greatsword on her back, she carried a much shorter blade at her right hip and a hatchet on the other. Likely, she had a couple of daggers secreted across her body as well. He asked, “Any trouble reaching town?”

Sadie shook her head. “No. There were monsters, but I was able to avoid the worst of their wrath,” she stated.

Dat said, “We had it worse. Those blue-and-white creature were freaky.”

“They’re called wraiths. And I can’t really argue with that,” Elijah agreed. Then, he gestured toward Venka and introduced the hill goblin.

“You’re a big goblin, bro,” Dat said. “You work out?”

“Huh?”

“Lift weights.”

“No?”

“You should, bro. You’d get yoked,” Dat stated.

Before a confused Venka could respond, Sadie scrunched her nose and said, “Dat. Not the time.”

“But –”

“Not. The. Time.”

Dat deflated, mumbling something about crossfit and weightlifting under his breath. Without Elijah’s enhanced senses, he wouldn’t have heard any of it, so he decided to pretend that it escaped his notice.

“What’s the situation here?” he asked, pushing past the exchange.

“Not great, bro,” Dat said.

“What’s the issue?”

It was Sadie who answered, “Three things. First, everyone is terrified. A quarter of the people who’ve made it here immediately found the Branch and went home. A lot more would have left if they weren’t waiting on allies to reach town. Based on that, I expect only half the original number will be left when the dust settles.”

“That few?” Elijah asked, disappointed.

It should not have been surprising. With what he’d seen from the people who’d followed him into town, Sadie’s estimate might’ve even been quite conservative. After he’d hunted the beast, those followers had grown even more frightened than before. Not of the dangers living in the wilderness, but of him. It had made the journey that much more annoying, and he was hopeful that they would go their own way.

Perhaps it would be better for everyone involved if they just left.

Dat nodded, echoing Elijah’s thoughts by saying, “It’s probably for the best.”

Then, Sadie described the second issue, which was the clear divisions between some of the factions represented. Mostly, that divisiveness was based on race. Humans and the settlers who’d come to Earth from other planets often found themselves at odds, and much of that enmity came with them to the Trial of Primacy.

“The worst is this group of half-elves. They’re bigger and stronger than most elves, and they’re a lot more aggressive. They’ve been waging war against what used to be Moscow,” Sadie explained.

“What kind of half-elves?” asked Venka, his first contribution to the conversation.

“They’re tall, with slightly grey skin,” she answered. “I don’t know what they call themselves, though.”

“War elves,” Venka stated. “They have orc blood in them.”

Elijah shook his head. “That’s not good,” he said.

“Good soldiers. Bad for everything else,” Venka responded. “Wherever this Moscow is, they’re lucky they haven’t already been overrun. Must be a small settlement of war elves.”

“Maybe,” Sadie said. “I don’t know. But they’re walking around like they own the place. It’ll make Nexus Town a lot more dangerous.”

Elijah narrowed his eyes, saying, “I thought it was supposed to be safe here.”

“From the natives,” Sadie pointed out. “We can kill one another as much as we like.”

Finally, Sadie described the third problem – that there was another group vying for supremacy within Nexus Town. Nobody knew who they were or where they came from, but they were instantly recognizable by their black clothes as well as the demonic masks they wore.

“They look like ninjas, bro,” Dat provided. He had some sort of inspection ability, so he had more insight into who they really were. “No race. No names. Just one identifier. Immortal. The only way I can tell them apart is by looking at their levels.”

“That’s not ominous at all,” Elijah said.

So, there were two major players vying for control of the town – the Immortals and the war elves. On top of that, the surrounding jungle was incredibly dangerous to the point that it had already driven the unprepared to leave what would undoubtedly prove to be a great opportunity to grow stronger. And finally, there were the challenges to consider. Ten of them, all representing the various realms attached to the World Tree. Or in the case of the Abyss, surrounding it.

“This is going to be a lot more complicated than I expected,” Elijah acknowledged.

“It’s not all bad, bro. At least we’ll only be gone from Earth for a few months,” Dat said.

“What?” Elijah asked. The Trial was supposed to last a year, and he’d prepared accordingly. If its duration was only a few months, then he needed to become a lot more focused in his efforts to conquer the challenges.

“Time dilation,” Sadie answered. “A year passes on this planet, but only eighty-eight days on Earth. Give or take a few hours.”

“And we know this how?”

“The Branch, bro. There’s a Guide explaining it,” Dat responded with a grin.

“Well, that’s my first stop, then. Plus, I think these guys are ready to get out of here,” Elijah said, hiking his thumb behind him. The others were about ten feet away in a tightly clumped group, as if they were terrified of being alone, but too afraid to come any closer. “I’ll talk to you in a bit. I want to see if any of my friends have shown up.”

“You? Friends?” asked Sadie, clearly surprised.

“Yes. I have friends. A lot of them. I’m very popular.”

The words had spilled out, almost as if he was trying to justify himself to the armored woman.

“Anyway. Off I go. To see my friends. That totally exist.”

Then, before he could embarrass himself any further, he turned and strode toward the Branch. It stood in the center of a huge, open plaza, and it was far larger than any Branch he’d ever seen. He focused on that, rather than the tightening knot in his stomach.