ShanDeRad
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Book 2: Chapter 32
🕑 Added 2024-05-28 11:52:04 +0000 UTCShaun’s mind was going so quickly that it was hard to keep track of everything that was suddenly falling into place. Queen Elivasia was Fae, which meant she was part of The Alliance, if she was still alive he would put money on the fact that she was the one called The Betrayer, their ruler. The great war, the one he had found just a single reference too, it was the Nephilim, in alliance with the Dragon and the Fae. But they lost, the Nephilim were all killed, except maybe they weren’t Azreal created and gifted the legacy, what was now his heritage, how he didn’t know, but the why was becoming clearer, they had lost the war, but the Nephilim would not end, not if Azreal succeeded. The legacy was a way for them to continue living, if not in body, in spirit.
The moment he realised this he felt himself pulled into another memory, he again stood in the place of the Nephilim, but this time he was privy to a private conversation between himself, Queen Elivasia and another, a being that looked like a man but their eyes looked reptilian. “One day the legacy will awaken, and with it change will come. It will not be soon, eras will pass, but when the boy awakens you must find him, see him to safety, he will hold the key to everything we have fought for, but only if he lives.”
“How will we know it is time? How will we find the boy?” Queen Elivasia questioned him.
“Elivasia, Shrakein, you will feel the shift, you both, who have always stood by our side. Once the spark of the legacy ignites you will feel a connection to him, I have made the legacy to be tied to not just the Nephilim but the Fae and the Dragons too.”
“And what do we do with the boy?” Shrakein questioned.
“Train him, allow him to learn and grow. As he evolves it will become clear what his role will be, but telling you more will risk everything. He is the last chance we have. Queen Elivasia of the Fae, King Shrakein of the Dragon, do you both swear to me that you will do everything you can for the child?”
“It shall be so, mighty Nephilim.” King Shrakein answered, followed soon by the Queen Elivasia.
In an instant Shaun was back in his own body, in had seemed that no time had passed in real life, but the memory was stuck in his mind, as clear as if he had lived it himself.
“Listen closely Shaun, I promise you I am here to help. I was sent by…”
“Queen Elivasia” He answered for her.
“Yes… how do you know that.” The Fae was staring at him with wide eyes, a hand on the blade by her side.
“You are here to make sure I join The Alliance, to take me back to be trained, to learn, from the Fae and Dragons, just like they promised.”
“Go on.” She said, releasing her hand from the weapon.
“You know what I hold? Did they tell you?” He asked her.
“No, just that I was to watch, remain undetected, and look for any sign of a boy that showed signs of being more unique than he should be. When I found you it was confirmed that you were who we seek, that I should do all I can to keep you safe and bring you back.”
“But you can’t yet, can you? The tutorial has to end first right?” there was no leaving a tutorial early, he knew that, it had been spoken about enough with the clans and reps that everyone had to go into and complete a tutorial, there was no leaving early.
“Yes, but I can give you this.” She pulled out a coin, on one side was the face of the Fae Queen and the other a dragon. “When you go back to your planet you will be able to use it. It will bring you straight to the Palace, right to the Queen.”
“Does it have to be used straight away? Is there a timer on it?” He needed to know what kind of window he had, whether it was something he would need to use immediately or something that could wait, until he was ready.
“It can be used whenever you so wish it, either as soon as you are back on your planet or in 10 years time. But it will only work for you. But do not let anyone know that you have it, if you a found with that coin on you, the result would be less than pleasant.” One of her ears flicked back, almost so quickly he didn’t even see it. “We do not have much longer left. You must know that you have caught the attention of people that you really do not want focusing on you, yes? That these people will not be happy if you do not choose to join them?”
He had already thought about this, no matter what major faction he chose to join he was going to end up making a lot of people angry. “I know.”
“My advice, Shaun, is to use the coin the moment you can. But if you don’t, know that your planet will be safe from any outside interference for 1 year, no more. During that time a leader must be chosen, and the planet declared to a clan or faction. Do not, by any means, take the position as ruler, no matter how tempting it may seem.”
“I wasn’t planning on it.” He reassured her.
“Good. If you chose not to come to us immediately, do so by the time the year is up, they will come for you, and I may not know why, but I have been informed that you will not survive once they have access to you again. Your death will be at the top of their priority list. They don’t take kindly to being denied the things they want.”
“I guessed as much.” He knew that he wouldn’t be safe if he rejected their offers, and although the coin gave him some level of protection, an escape method so to speak, there were people he cared about that didn’t have the same. “What will happen to my friends, to the people I care about?”
Before she responded to him she looked at him with a mix of sorrow and pity, clear to him that he wasn’t going to like what she had to say next. “They will come for them, for anyone that you care about, to try and find a way to you. My advice, you need to cut ties with everyone from your planet, you need to do it soon and make it public. You need to make everyone believe that you have no one and nothing you care about. It won’t be easy, on you or them. Tell them what you need to but the only way to keep them safe is to let them go.”
“Is there really no way I can bring them with me? To the Alliance I mean.”
“If I could help you I would, Shaun. But my instructions were clear, only you are able to make the journey to us, I was only provided one coin, meant only for you.”
He wasn’t happy about where this conversation had gone, having to not just leave his friends but also ensure that everyone believed they hated him, no longer had anything to do with him, it wasn’t something he wanted to do. But the more he thought about it she was right. It would hurt in so many ways but if he was going to keep them safe he would need to do what she was saying. He trusted her, he didn’t know why exactly but some part of him recognised that she was not just speaking the truth but that her advice was meant to help him, as much as she could anyway. “I have a question though. What were they fighting for?”
“What do you mean?”
“The Great War, what was it about?” he pushed, he just didn’t get why it had happened.
“I was not alive then, but what I do know was that it started because of hate, and greed. The other powers did not like that there was something out there that was stronger than them, would always be stronger than them. They wanted that power for themselves, so they could stand at the top and never have to see someone higher than them again. I heard your speech Shaun, you know what I speak of. The war was an annihilation, and all for power. I can not tell you more as there are those who could tell you first hand what occurred, the Queen would wish to tell you herself, I think.” Her ears did the flicking thing again. “I must go now, before anyone knows that I have been here. Think on what I have said, make the right choice for you, Shaun.”
“Wait!” He yelled before she left. She stopped and looked at him with an arched brow. “I never got your name.”
“It is Desrilla, but when next you see me, call me Des.” She said with a laugh and smile, before simply vanishing before his eyes.
After Des disappeared he took a few moments to collect himself, the moment she had revealed himself he had felt almost like he was a different person, immediately there was some kind of kin ship between them. Now that she was gone though he felt like he was back to normal, mostly. Shaun left thro om and made his way back to the feast, acting as normal as he could, but not really able to stop his mind from going over everything that had been said and what he had felt during the quick meeting with the Fae.
The first thing he decided on was that the legacy he had did a lot more than just make him more powerful, it was changing him, not just through affinity and stats but his mind. He had been hesitant, distrustful even, to all the other factions, from the very beginning he had a sense that the major powers were not his friends, could never be his friends, it was if they had already turned on him before ever meeting him and because of that there was already a barrier between them and him. But with the Fae? It was completely different, he felt at ease, comfortable and an overwhelming sense of belonging. If it wasn’t for the memory that he had been apart of just moments ago he wouldn’t have realised why, but the more he thought on it, the more it made sense. The legacy is making me more and more into a Nephilim. The more I embrace it the closer I bind myself to them.
When he made it back to the feast he found that his leaving had been noticed, but no one made any motion to approach him about it, instead they went back to their own conversations. He sat back down at his table and a drink was quickly provided to him by his attendant, the same woman who had been serving him the entire time. He knew it wasn’t Des, he thought he would be able to feel if it was her, so he decided continue as if nothing had ever occurred with the Fae, acting as he had been the entire time he had been there.
As the feast continued on Shaun pondered what he was going to do. When it came to the major factions, he still had a number of one on one meetings to get through before being free from them, but they expected him to make a choice. He hadn’t agreed to choose any of them, only agreed to not join and clan and not to make a decision on joining any of the factions until he had met with everybody, but no where did he say he would actually choose any of them to join. That meant he was safe for another week or two, but after that he would need to engage in every delaying tactic he could muster. When the tutorial was done and he was back on Earth, he would have a year, tops, before needing to leave, as Des was right, if he turned all of the reps down they would be out for blood as soon as they could get a hand on him, sooner if they managed to recruit those from Earth to do their bidding.
This was where things got complicated though, this wasn’t the only tutorial, there would still be millions, if not billions, returning to Earth and he was certain that many would have joined clans, even a chance some would have joined factions. He was going to piss off a lot of powerful people in the coming weeks, turning himself into a pariah, which in turn would reflect onto anyone who was closely aligned with him. The more he thought about the potential impacts of what he was going to do, the more he came to the same conclusion. He needed to cut ties with his friends, and he needed to do so publicly enough that word would get back to the major reps. He hated the idea of hurting the people he cared about, but he had very little choice in the matter. Only he would be able to escape, run to The Alliance, Des said the coin would only work for him, so leaving Eric, Gabe, Viv and even Li to deal with the mess he left behind wouldn’t be fair.
“Hello everyone! I am here, have you missed me?” A voice filled the room, one everybody recognised, and when the person appeared in the air right beside Shaun’s table everyone immediately stopped talking, it was Dijaun. “I will not take up much of your time, I have simply come to give congratulations to our winners and provide some information that I am sure you will all find interesting.”
Dijaun stopped talking for a moment and conjured up a drink in his hand, having an exaggerated sip so as to drag the moment out. “Now to start, round two will start the day after tomorrow, and to give you all time to prepare some tactics against who you fight I have updated the boards in the arena to show who will be fighting who and when, kind of me, I know. But that isn’t the interesting part, I have been given permission to tell you all a bit about what will happen if you make it back to your planet after the tutorial ends! But I don’t have to tell you! You need to show me you want it first!”
All of the crowd cheered for Dijaun, but apparently it wasn’t enough as he continued trying to hype everyone up, when the first minute passed of this Shaun was starting to get annoyed, after the second minute the ridiculousness of the entire situation hit him, they were all being played. Shaun didn’t appreciate what was happening, and the huge smile on Dijaun’s face was enough for him to put a stop to the entire thing. Shaun released his entire aura, trying to make it as powerful as he could while focusing it on the annoying little Jinn. He didn’t have that much control of his aura so everyone in the room got hit by at least a small amount of his power, the feeling of death quickly causing the entire room to go quiet. “Get on with what you are here to say, or leave.” Shaun said to Dijaun who didn’t seem to be effected by the aura, but when he looked closely he saw a bead of sweat drip down from his forehead.
“Yes, of course, I wouldn’t want to upset the Master of the Feast now would I” The Jinn turned back to the crowd, with a lot less fan fair than before. “I will make this quick, so as not to interrupt you further. When you are back on your planet you will find it completely changed, the world will be covered in dungeons, all the way from F to D grade, this was needed to flood your planet with mana. But it also serves a second purpose. When you complete a dungeon you will be given an opportunity to claim it, binding the area of the dungeon to a single person. You can either keep the dungeon as it is or transform the entire area, adding buildings, fields, arenas and so much more. This however doesn’t come free. To claim a dungeon you need to spend the TE required to do so. To change the dungeon into something more, like a settlement, it costs even more TE. The cost of these things is dependant on what type of dungeon you are claiming and what you are wanting to do with the area. F grade dungeon are obviously going to be cheaper, but also much smaller. Whereas a D grade dungeon is going to be much more expensive but also provide much more land, and other benefits.” He stopped so everyone could let it sink in, giving Shaun a nervous look like he was going to force him to hurry up.
“Now generally the dungeons will be clustered so that a D grade dungeon will be in places of power, they will be surrounded by E grade and then further out F grade. Ownership of claimed dungeons can be exchanged or sold to others, as can TE once you leave the tutorial. But ownership of dungeons and land also has another impact, Your planet will need a leader, and to be eligible you need to be a majority holder of an area, this can be done by straight out owning the land and dungeons or by having people who do swear themselves to you. The more TE you have when leaving here the more you will be able to do on your planet. By the end of the first year outside of the tutorial, a leader must be chosen for your planet, and your planet declared to a clan, or major faction.” He spoke the last bit directly to Shaun as no one else had been offered a position in one of the major factions. “Good luck everybody and remember, everyone here has a chance to make themselves something more than they were before. If you have lost and don’t think you will be able to fight your way back in, it doesn’t mean you can’t form alliances under those with power, those that have the best chance of ruling your world. Gain TE, gain power, and rule!”
Comments
TerrestrialOverlord
Bro's TE is about to become useless to him, he's got to give it all away, I guess to Viv or whoever will be his choice for earth's leader...darn it
