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Nero Walker, Book 3 Ch.17 (132)
🕑 Added 2024-03-15 22:30:00 +0000 UTCWhile the sergeant was currently collecting the essence crystal from the mob’s corpse, and Ms. Averett was preoccupied with standing guard, Rose was free to listen in on the two noble’s discussion.
She did her best to fade into the background as Lords Salvatore-Verena and Walker started conferring about the recent fight. Her latest brush with death had brought much more attention than she was conformable with. Hopefully, both of them would go back to ignoring her existence as soon as possible.
Luckily, even after seeing her almost die, Ms. Averett and Sergeant Wesker didn’t seem to care all that much about her. Which was exactly how she wanted it. They weren’t who she was here for anyway.
Forcing herself to focus on the present, it took some effort, but she managed to push her recent trauma to the back of her mind. Despite her hands still shaking, she concentrated on what Lord Salvatore-Verena was saying.
The older man was giving the little lord examples of how mages from history had adversely affected the landscape by not respecting their power. He even referenced the fall of House Dorchen, which was a story known to every citizen of Dorchester. In fact, she doubted that any school in the Strates didn’t at least mention the famous event.
600 years ago, the Dorchens were caught planning a rebellion. They were going to leave the protection of Oglivarch, and create a new kingdom in the Strates. Several nearby cities were said to have been sympathetic to their goals. Many historical analysts believe that if the plot hadn’t been discovered, it might have even succeeded. The whole of the Strates only remain a part of Oglivarch to this day because the populators had come down like the wrath of the gods on Dorchester. As a result of that war, and the terrible magics used to win it, the entire region’s essence profile had been permanently altered.
Yet, despite what Lord Salvatore-Verena was saying, she knew the recent density shift had everyone wondering if there were more to the story.
When the team had returned to Dorchester to drop off the assassin at the Tower of Law, Rose took advantage of the opportunity to rejoin the city’s Thought-hub through her link. No longer restrained by the military’s over-site at the elite training camp, she had been able to peruse the news releases and several of the commentary boards she always kept up with. And some of what she had read came to mind as she listened to Lord Salvatore-Verana subtly berate the little lord about how magic could have unintended consequences.
There was even a theory going around on the commentary boards that Lord Walker was sent here as an instrument of balance. One of the orders in the religious district, the church of the sun, posted a sermon advocating the belief that Goddess Serene used the little lord’s arrival to ensure the Dorchen line finally died out. Now that the last Dorchen was truly gone, their line finally ended for their betrayal of humanity, the density shift was just the essence returning to Dorchester so that the city woud regain its former glory.
Only the faithful would think that argument made any kind of sense, but there were even some non-faithful who were supporting the idea. After all, if the rumors were true, the little lord’s soul was from another plane of existence. There were several commentators saying they heard it directly from the army intelligence. And if that were true, how could it have happened without someone from the higher planes being involved?
At the time, she considered the idea nothing more than a publicity stunt, probably set in motion by House Walker or some of its agents. It would offer a clever cover for whatever odd personality traits and social indelicacies the new little lord exhibited. But, like her, most citizens were too smart to fall for the manipulations of the nobles, regardless of what those in power thought. However, after seeing what Lord Walker is capable of, she was starting to doubt her conclusions.
Looking around, observing the charred and ruined landscape of the wilds, it was hard to deny that the Lord Walker seemed a little more special than the average citizen of Dorchester. Maybe it wasn’t just politics and backing, perhaps there was something more to his rapid rise to power.
Rose narrowed her eyes as she studied the young lord. It was impressive, the image of a soot covered young warrior being instructed by the older mage with a backdrop of a burned out forest and wisps of smoke still rising to the sky all around them. Rose had to admit, it was like something out of the historical records where the great citizens of the past shaped this kingdom with nothing but their will and their wits. ‘Don’t allow illogical thoughts to shake your center. Reason and determination are all you need on your path,’ she quoted to herself, trying to shake off her ever-growing awe of the little lord.
While she was lost in thought, Sergeant Wesker finished his task and got the group moving toward their objective. Rose pushed the uncomfortable thoughts aside and did her best to focus on the dangers of the wilds. If she wanted to live through this experience, and have a chance to consider these difficult questions, then now wasn’t the time to think about them.
Not even an hour later, she watched Lord Walker halt the group mid march. She felt the little lord level right in front of her… right in the middle of the wilds. His silver hair whipping around as the wind kicked up dust and leaves from the forest floor. He wasn’t meditating or anything… he’d just been talking.
Since she’d met him, he’d leveled multiple times. Now, she’d even seen it happen. It was shocking, and absurd.
‘Maybe he really is just different than the rest of us,’ she wondered in awe.
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‘Did I really just kill myself by following an essence trail?!?’ he raged.
Nero’s mental process was moving so fast, it was almost hard for him to form a coherent thought. Only a few seconds past at most, and he felt everything around him growing more vivid. As a mental projection, he had no body, no physical form that would allow him to interact with the world. And that was a problem, because he truly wanted to start shouting and pulling his hair out, as any good freak-out required.
Yet, with every second that passed, his panic faded. In less time than it takes to order takeout, Nero’s emotional state reached equilibrium, seemingly unable to maintain any strong emotion. In fact, he felt fine… calm… almost abnormally so.
He could still hear Nick trying to contact him through the spawn point. Checking on his new elven friend, Nero saw that he was still calmly reading his book, clearly oblivious to Nero’s presence.
Everything seemed so clear, and Nero’s mind had no trouble interpreting what it was seeing. In fact, he seemed to be able to come to conclusions faster than he could notice details.
The elf was clearly only here to monitor this essence event, and obviously had no fear of the creepy forest all around them. Most likely, he was a scout, assigned to guard duty. This was another world, so there was probably a civilization that was Oglivarch’s equivalent on this side of the essence event.
Turning his attention back to the weird ball of tangled essence, Nero could see that despite the similarities, this side’s event was very different than the one back with his party. The event must act as the connection point between these two worlds… planes… yes, these were both planes. That’s why the ambient essence was so different, but so similar. There were multiple material planes, just like there were multiple higher and lower planes. ‘How did I know that?’ he wondered.
Nero’s mind was filling with information about where he was. He felt like he knew that these beings were called ‘Elfen’. Images of their cities flashed in his head. He could see their towering ‘homewoods’ surrounded by a civilization that lived in harmony with the natural world. Flashes of streets filled with elfen shops, riders on stags patrolling the border, large bramble walls protecting their ‘conclaves’. It was like getting a local guide-book for tourists downloaded directly into his head.
He had never felt so in tune with the ether, able to so easily understand the world around him. ‘Wait, yes I have,’ he thought, the faded memory breaking his connection with this area’s essence profile.
Flashes of his journey through the planes bubbled up from his subconscious. He saw glimpses of fantasy civilizations of all kinds. Scenes of towering cities floating in the air, their gold walls shining like a beacon in the sky. Red expanses of land with black cities of stone reeking of misery and pain. And so many others that his head started to swim.
Like pushing away a bad memory, Nero shunted those recollections back to where they came from. Immediately, they retreated into the recesses of his mind, only a fraction of them having been touched.
He now knew what was happening. ‘I finally did it. I killed myself through my stupidity,’ he said to himself calmly, barely able to muster up any significant emotion at the thought.
Nero felt for his connection to the body he’d been using, sensing a thin thread leading back through the essence event behind him. The moment he felt the connection, he grabbed hold with all his will and raced along the link, right into the heart of the twisting essence. Somehow he knew that it would lead him back to his party.
Everything happened in reverse. Images and knowledge of the world he left flashed through his mind, then a series of sensations that he couldn’t quite comprehend assaulted his being. His sense of time vanished, and then he felt the knowledge of the area around Dorchester hit him like sock full of quarters.
People working together for the greater good, doing all that they could to channel their baser instincts into the ability to survive in a world that didn’t want them. Weak humans banding together to create massive cities of commerce and learning, surrounded by isolated towns and villages all working to feed resources into their local havens. Towering walls protecting millions of people from beasts and monsters dedicated to wiping out any sentient species that dared to influence their environment.
And then, he was through and back among his party… kind of.
He found himself floating above his body, oddly similar to how his journey started after the first time he died. But this time, he at least had some idea as to what was happening.
Looking down, he could see Nick leaning over his corpse, brow covered in sweat, his glowing hands raised as if he were working some great magic. Not bothering to check what his friend was doing, Nero looked around to see the entire party staring down at his corpse. While Rose seemed a little worried, Cathleen just looked confused. Her head was cocked to the side, as if she were trying to figure out what Nero’s body was doing.
Opposite them, Sergeant Wesker stood there in his full plate, leaning on his shield, utterly indifferent to what was going on in front of him.
A sense of déjà vu rose up in Nero’s mind, and he recalled a similar scene not too long ago. Images of a bloody battle. Black clad mercenaries massacring a caravan. A body that seemed empty, yet still alive. He remembered almost feeling something… a sensation he had almost forgotten. Opportunity.
As if he were recalling how to ride a bike, Nero lowered himself down to his corpse. Using the thin connection still clinging to his mental presence, he slipped into the body… again. He felt the connection solidify, and he could almost feel Nick trying to find him inside his soul-space. But, the instant everything clicked, he felt his soul reject Nick’s presence. Almost instinctively, he thought, ‘Dibs!’
He felt his flesh once again fill with his identity, his center, but unlike last time, the body was eager to connect with him. The expected pain didn’t come. Time seemed to stop as his mind slipped into the brain and joined with the nervous system. It was like he was updating the body’s mental backup with new information. Nero 2.0 was online.
His senses pulled in visceral sensations from the forest around him, and the sounds of exclamation erupted all around him. His eyes shot open, and he sucked in a huge gasp of air. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest. All of his limbs were tingling and numb.
Sitting up, he could see a tired Nick staring at him with confusion and relief.
Nick leaned over and hugged Nero hard, nearly toppling over. His voice was barely a whisper, “Thanks all the gods in the infinite heavens, you’re back.”
Nero reached up and absently patted Nick on the back. Once again, he was alive.
When Nick leaned away to look Nero in the eye, and check on his state of mind, Nero met his stare and said, “I already know what happened, and I’m pretty sure I know what I did wrong. But Nick, if you ever want me to tell you what happened on the other side of whatever that thing is, you’ll have to promise me something.” His voice conveyed his complete and utter seriousness.
Nick’s face lit up in wonder. “The other side? You went through it like a planar gate? Sure, whatever you want. Name it,” he said, eager to hear what Nero had experienced.
Nero’s face was devoid of any warmth or humor. His tone filled with ice, he said, “Jennings, that old bastard... he can never know about this. I refuse to hear him say, ‘I told you so’. I swear to God Nick… I mean it.”
The atmosphere between the two friends was shattered by a sound that raised the hairs on the back of their necks. It was so unbelievable that both their heads whipped around to stare at the source, mirrored looks of confusion and horror upon their faces.
Cathleen Averett, the normally stoic warrior woman, had her head thrown back in laughter, her shoulders shaking with mirth.
Comments
Drake
entertaining chapter forsure
Ocean Breeze
This was so cool! Just from connecting to the ether of another plane he was able to learn so much about that world! He probably could have learned a whole lot more through effort! This is exactly the same thing as learning the sword movements from the world that Cathleen taught him in the training camp. I would love if he could use this experience to do the same thing here, and learn tons just through connecting to the ether. Maybe this could be something from his Path, to adapt to this technique.
HereForHFY
I got it and found it very funny :)
Leetle Sheet
Nero was referring to that time when he nearly killed himself by delving too deep into the essence signature of his chair. Jennings had to come and pull back his consciousness before he killed himself. At the time, he warned Nero about the consequences of his reckless behavior, and told him to proceed with caution concerning his magical pursuits. So, Nero is not proud of the fact that he accidentally delved into the spawn-point, resulting in an even worse screw up then the one Jennings was warning him not to repeat. It was last book, during the training arc... maybe it's too confusing a reference, but I like it.
