Rise of the Devourer

Book 2: Chapter 56 — I'd like to help

Noah and the rest sat on the sofa Zax had summoned, their gazes collectively resting on Snow, waiting for her to speak. Noah suspected she would need some time, but Snow had simply shook her head in response, her eyes far more determined that he’d ever seen her. It was almost as if her spirits had finally been freed, and Noah couldn’t help but feel pleased.

Snow took a deep breath, raising her gaze as she looked at the three of them. “Vix set you up in a trap. She’d ordered me to attack Noah once the contract ended. To do that, she is planning to appear whenever Noah finds the trap.”

Noah heard the words, glancing sideways at Aurelia and Erwest, who both gave him a glance as well. A moment later, he shrugged. “I kinda expected something like that already.”

“We all did, really. Her offer was too suspicious,” Aurelia said.

Snow looked at them, her turn to be surprised. “B-but… then why did you agree?”

“Better for Vix to think we’re playing to her tune than to be wary,” Erwest said.

“You said when Noah got the Shard. Not any of us three. Does she know about his-“ Aurelia paused, glancing at Noah.

“She might’ve known that I was planning to just absorb the Shard. Technically, after doing that if I went to her, it would’ve still fulfilled the contract, on the off chance that she stuck to her word,” Noah said.

Snow looked between the three, starting to feel confused. “Sorry, I- what do you mean absorb… it’s a… it’s a god’s shard right? How can you just…”

“I’ve got one, and I can get other pieces. Not sure how I got it, or from where, but it’s kinda why I’m on Erandir in the first place,” Noah said. “I just know that I don’t want to let the cult get its hands on the Shard.”

Snow looked at Noah, trying to process all the information. “Okay- I see. I do know something else too. Vix hid this very carefully, and I think the only reason I found this out was because she did not think there was any way to break my collar. But the person on whose orders she has been doing all this, is none other than Lord Krios.”

Once again, the three of them looked at each other. Aurelia groaned, covering her face. “I’d been trying to convince myself that I was wrong.”

“Guess we owe Erwest an apology. He caught on immediately,” Noah said.

“Nothing of the sort. Krios is a tricky man, and even I doubted myself once,” Erwest replied.

“You knew?” Snow said, flabbergasted. “But- how?”

“Too convenient. He called us here, us specifically, when he could’ve used any of his own men or adventurers, then asked us to go into the rift, then we find out about the Shard which Noah can’t ignore, and you, who he’d definitely want to try and free,” Aurelia said, and then paused. “Still, his reasons all made sense. The biggest thing holding me back is… why? I still can’t find any reason for the Lord to work with the cult. Unless, did the divine light fail to find him out as a cultist?”

“Not possible. You cannot trick the All-Mother’s light. He is not a cultist,” Erwest replied.

“Hmm, Krios. Is that the name of the man?”Zax asked.

Aurelia and Erwest stopped for a second, forgetting a dragon was seated right next to them.

“Yeah,” Noah replied. “He’s the Lord of Heartilia. Very influential and powerful guy.”

“It’d make sense that they could infiltrate the guild if it was with his help. But the question just won’t leave my mind. Why? Why would a Lord like him do this? It’s one thing for some countryside baron to aim for power but Lord Krios? He has nothing to gain by working with the cult,” Aurelia said, frowning.

“Maybe they are threatening him?” Noah said.

“If the cult had that much power, we would have long been doomed. He’s an A ranker.”

“And we have a dragon on our side,” Noah said, glancing at Zax with a smirk.

“Which only really evens the scales, at best. Zax is still suppressed by the chains and even at full strength, if there’s anything that can match a dragon in power, it’s an A ranker,” Aurelia said.

“We can break these chains. This place has the tools, all we will need is some time. And we can create more of that, if need be. But first, we need to understand what we are up against,” Zax said.

“Well, there’s Lord Krios, possibly his men too though I doubt it. Vix and her goons, and the entire abyssal cult vs the four of us,” Aurelia said.

“Five. I’ll fight too,” Snow added, a determined look in her eyes.

“I know you want to Snow but as things stand you’ll only get hurt,” Aurelia said.

Snow touched her chest, dark wisps rising from her fingertips. “Shadow is strong. With him, I can fight too.”

“Before we start getting too excited, there is one thing I would like to bring up too,” Erwest said, cutting through the conversation. “While we were separated, did any of you notice these clots of life inter spread all throughout the rift? I’ve been thinking on those. That’s the spell we’ve been looking for isn’t it? The thing drawing the life-force from everybody outside and funneling it into a spell.”

“Well yeah, makes sense that it is, the cultists had access to this rift for a while. What’s your point?” Noah asked.

Aurelia’s eyes widened. “Hold on, so if this Shard of a dead god is here, then why have they not used it to open a rift already?”

“Unless they have deceived you, and the Shard isn’t here,” Zax added.

Noah opened his quest, looking at it once again.

Quest: Shards of [???]

There is a Shard of [???] in an Astral Rift Vault. Find it, and obtain it for yourself.

Difficult: Extremely Hard

Reward: Unknown.

“No, it’s definitely here. I can tell that much,” Noah said.

“But if it is, perhaps they can’t access it. Not without you. This entire time, both Krios and Vix had been focused on Noah quite heavily. Maybe their goal had been to bring you into the rift from the start?” Aurelia said.

“It would explain certain things,” Erwest said.

Noah frowned to himself. “Even if it’s a trap, the Shard is too valuable to leave it in cultist hands.”

“Even if going to them may be what puts it in their hands in the first place? Walking into a trap knowingly is madness,” Aurelia said.

“No, because if we know it's a trap, we'll be prepared for it,” Noah said.

“That's not how it works. We don't know what exactly they're planning to do. Or what the trap may be,” Aurelia said.

“We can see that for you,” Zax said, glancing at a little projection in his hand. “They have powerful veils, but nothing that we can’t pierce with some effort.”

“Even so, I think Noah should sit out of this one. It’s too risky to bring him into a trap set specifically for him,” Aurelia said.

“That’s one less person to fight alongside you. Even if Zax can handle Krios, can just the three of you take on Vix and the entire cult?” Noah said.

“Having you would not improve our odds by much either would it?”

“Unless we can bring him up to D rank,” Zax said in Noah’s place before the dragon regarded Noah. “You are close aren’t you?”

Noah gave him a nod.

“In this vault, with our equipment, we can give you some time. All of you. To prepare for the battle that is upcoming. There is no need to try and rush into things,” the dragon said, leaning back on the sofa. “Not to mention. If we are to fight the vermin, it would not do for us to leave a single one alive.”

The dragon’s aura flared for a moment, a predatory smirk showing his non-human face lurking beneath.

“This is madness,” Aurelia commented. “We should leave this place and inform the guild of the cult’s plans and take them out.”

“That does not solve our problems. The rift still remains under the cult’s control, and can we even exit this place right now?”

Zax frowned. “You bring up a good point. There’s a spell locking the astral rift. We could try and break it, but the realm would collapse with the spell.”

Aurelia cursed under her breath.

“So… guess our options are simple. We fight. I like that,” Noah said.

“Sometimes, the simplest answers are the best ones,” Zax added.

“I still don’t think Noah should be with us. It increases the risk too much,” Aurelia said.

“I agree with Aurelia. If Noah is what they want, bringing them into their trap will simply be us playing into their hand,” Erwest added.

“But losing even one person is still a big blow,” Snow said.

“We don’t have any other choice,” Aurelia said.

“You do have a choice,” a voice said. Noah’s voice, yet not the Noah who sat in front of them.

Noah spun, spear in his hand, as he turned it towards the projection, rising from the shadows wearing his cloak.

“Hey there me,” the projection said, hands raised.

“Why are you here?” Noah asked, eyes narrowed.

The projection glanced behind him for a second, before dropping his hands by his side. “I’d like to help.”