Sacrifice Mage

I hounded after Shubratha.

There was no time to care about who or what got in my way. I stepped on people’s toes, almost shoved a poor lady into a cart full of dried vegetables—yes, I apologized as I continued running—and even made some poor boy think I was chasing after his runaway pet, only to swerve away onto a different street after my real quarry.

Paragon Shubratha was an annoying person to catch. Somehow, no matter how fast I moved, we remained equidistant from each other. I didn’t fall further behind, but I was also sure I wasn’t getting any closer at all.

And then, when I decided to get to a vantage point to see what he was chasing after, I found out it was Cerea of all people.

That nonplussed me for so long while I was hanging in the air, a small crowd of onlookers had gathered up to stare at the floating foreigner. Not giving them a single iota of my thoughts, I quickly zoomed through Claderov airspace. That helped me discover a neat little thing my target was performing.

He was literally warping space. I didn’t understand how, or why he was doing it in the first place. If he wanted to get away from me, I figured a Paragon of all people would have myriad ways of doing so, but he was just keeping me at arm’s length.

Almost like he was forcing me to watch whatever was going on, or was about to happen, from a distance.

Yeah, well, screw that.

I channelled Sacrifice next. It was a little crazy. I should have learned my lessons after I had tried Sacrificing the hair Izithy had provided me. Offering anything from the Paragons as a tribute for Sacrifice would create a blowback that my body was absolutely not ready to handle. Even if I was a good deal stronger than I had been at the time, I was sure this wasn’t the best idea.

Still. I was getting tired of whatever strange trick the Paragon was playing on me. It would have been one thing to just disappear. But this leashing was insulting.

So, I focused on whatever his Aspect of Dimensions was causing between us. On the Weaving, as he had called it, of his Aspect.

It didn’t fully work as I had hoped it would. I was in a more secluded area. Actually, I wasn’t even sure where I was, having paid attention only to my target. But it didn’t matter. The main point was that Sacrifice’s burning white threads latched onto something, but failed to actually burn it away for whatever reason.

Most likely, the Weave still refused to grant me ownership of my target’s Aspect. I had Overclaim to help with that, but obviously, it wasn’t going to work on a Paragon. So annoying.

Maybe I just needed to try harder. Surely, there was some kind of gap or a—

“Can you please stop that,” the Paragon said.

The drawling, almost snarky voice appearing right next to me should have made me jump out of my skin, but I was way too annoyed by that point.

“I can now,” I said. “What made you stop?”

“Is that how you speak to a Paragon, you insolent child? No wonder Shik’shikan was so frustrated with you. No sense of decorum or respect.”

“You literally dragged me to this planet.” I was starting to get so mad, I couldn’t even talk right.

Objectively, I should have been acting a lot more subservient. Had I really come all this way, had I really progressed as far as I had, just to throw it all away via getting wiped out by an annoyed Paragon?

But I couldn’t help it. The source of literally every single fucking thing I had experienced was standing right in front of me. I could reach out and wring the guy’s scrawny old neck. I could spit in his fucking mafia-don face. Thankfully, reason prevailed and I didn’t actually do any of that, but fuck if I was going to pretend I wasn’t boiling over just then.

“I did,” he said. “Why are you angry about it? You don’t seem to regret that decision, just as I figured you wouldn’t.”

I was so confused by that statement, my anger actually abated for a second. “What? What do you mean, you figured I wouldn’t? Did you pick me out somehow? I wasn’t just some random asshole you picked from Earth?”

“Earth, is it?” His eyes got a faraway look as he rubbed his chin through his beard. I distractedly noticed that the ends of his hair and beard were hardening and curling into horns, just like his eyebrows. “What an odd name. But yes, my Ritual didn’t simply select some random being from some other world. I knew to aim for those who were the least attached. Perhaps it was something you yourself never realized…”

He seemed to be teasing me, turning the conversation on its head. Not so fast.

“That’s not the point,” I said. “You’re distracting me. You brought me here against my will. If it had been something I chose for myself, then that would be one thing. But you forced me to come here.”

“Then allow me to correct my mistake.”

His Aspect flared at the tip of his outstretched finger. I recognized the swirl of black-and-white energy from when Cerea used it too. My reaction was instinctive. Reverence Everlife glowed to being around my forearm and hand as I smacked away his grasp.

“What’s this,” the Paragon said, faintly bemused. “You seem angry at being on Ephemeroth, and yet, you now reject the idea of redressing this crime that you insinuate has been committed. Shouldn’t you make up your mind before getting needlessly angry?”

“You’re once again taking the choice away from me,” I said. “Is that what you do all the time? Do you really think that, just because you’re one of the strongest people in existence, you deserve to do whatever you want to whoever you want whenever you feel like it?”

“Not necessarily. But I do end up having to do so occasionally, yes.”

The seeming pointlessness of the conversation was driving me nuts, yet at the same time, it was kind of mellowing me out after my initial enraged outburst. Which was a good thing. Being more level-headed was only going to be to my benefit.

“That’s good,” Shubratha said. “You’re realizing that anger is ineffectual. Finally maturing a little. I knew I had a good reason for picking you.”

I took a deep breath and then just held the silence. And then held it some more, opting to just stare at him disdainfully. I let the moment get as awkward as possible before I finally said, “I’m realizing anger is pointless against someone like you, and I’m also realizing you’re lifeless.”

That made him blink. “Excuse me?”

The look on his face was so surprising, I was almost tempted to smile. But it wasn’t like my anger at the bastard had dissipated just because I had internally admitted it was ineffectual.

“You’re lifeless,” I said. “As in, you don’t have a real life. Like, look at what you’re doing now, chasing after someone for some bullshit or whatever. You go around causing trouble across dimensions, ruining people’s lives, giving them false hope while taking their hard-earned money, and you know why you do all that? It’s because you’ve got nothing good to work towards.

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“I don’t care if you’re a Paragon or a Banished God in disguise or whatever. You. Are. A. Grade-A loser. That’s what you really are. It’s kind of obvious just looking at you. You don’t have a family, you don’t have friends to spend your time with, you don’t have a community to work for and help improve, you don’t have any meaningful hobbies, you don’t have a fulfilling job. You don’t have a life.

“All you have is the Weave. All you do is mess about with grand shit because your head is too far up your ass to see the rest of the world. All you live and breathe is this fantastical power you’ve accumulated across centuries, with nothing actually worthwhile to make you a real, living person. Nothing. Like I keep saying—you’re lifeless. An overpowered, loveless, manikin.”

He didn’t answer when I finished my little tirade. I let the silence stretch, let it provoke and needle him, daring him to come up with a reply, with some sort of rebuttal that would prove I was reaching and making assumptions.

Shubratha said nothing, his eyes inscrutable as he held my own.

“In truth,” he finally said. “I don’t blame Shik’shikan at all for taking your leg.”

I rolled my eyes. “And for what it’s worth, I don’t regret getting transported to Ephemeroth. Not really. I’ve found things here that are more meaningful than anything I had ever felt on Earth.”

“Then why go through this whole rigmarole, throw such a fit and tantrum—”

“I wasn’t done. My feelings were never the point of this discussion. It doesn’t matter what you do to me or what happens as a result of this conversation. The point is that if you continue messing with people’s lives like you did with mine, then you’re going to regret it one day. Maybe not today, maybe not this century, but it will bite you in the ass before you die.”

“Well, I shall be waiting for your teeth to grow strong enough to leave a mark, then.”

I hadn’t even said it was going to be me doing the metaphorical biting. Honestly, it was annoying that his responses were all about goading and needling me. How hard was it to take even the tiniest smidge of responsibility?

Shaking my head after another sigh, I decided to walk away. I had said my piece. There was no point in wasting my time any further, “Just tell whichever one of your fellow Paragons pops up after the last [ERROR] to be somewhat less of a dick than Shik’shikan.”

“No promises,” Shubratha said behind me. “But I do hope you survive and get to live, Ross Moreland. You’ve turned out to be a far more interesting case than I had assumed you would be. So much so that your ambitions are almost… heretical.”

I blinked. Leave it to the bastard to state something that would unfailingly reel me back into our little chat.

But when I turned, Shubratha was gone.

I just stood there for a bit. There was no one nearby since I had chosen to confront him somewhere we wouldn’t be interrupted. A part of me was cursing the whole thing as a waste of time because I hadn’t learned anything useful or actionable. But I couldn’t lie.

The tiny bit of satisfaction at finally getting my words out made sure my heart remained settled.

The day of departure came pretty quickly. In the little time I had before that, I started practicing to earn another Affix for Illumination. I still had a free slot for it, so why not. At some point, I had kind of lost interest in getting Manipulation.

But that was because I had the idea for a different Affix.

Lasers. Beams. Something along those lines. It took care of a problem I had been butting up against for a long while now. With Intake and Absorption absorbing a ton of energy, I had no idea where to direct it all.

Now, however, I did.

I practiced by using the two Affixes to absorb energy from my Immolation Ignition Charge, trying to channel Illumination at the same time to create light without using Manifestation or any other Illumination Affix.

It didn’t work at first. Totally expected. I wasn’t even sure I made much progress just then. Oh well. It was just another thing I’d need to keep practicing.

The train heading back to Zairgon was much larger than the little ones we had used outside of Claderov so far. These were proper carriages, spacious enough to house a few dozen people in every one, leaving a decent amount of room for Se-Vigilance to take up in the head carriage.

“You’ve been rather busy on our little trip, haven’t you, Tourist Moreland?” she asked.

I shrugged. “I could say the same about you, Councillor.”

“Indeed. Although, I will take umbrage if you start calling me Tourist Se-Vigilance.”

I hadn’t thought of it, but now that I did so, it made me snicker. “Is it a custom for the Se-Targa to have… well, I don’t want to sound weird, but you’ve got very specific things for names. There’s you, and then the other Se-Targa, Se-Austerity. You see what I mean, right?”

“I do, yes. And your assumption is correct—Se-Targa of the south choose a name for themselves when they come of age. This is often a symbolic promise of how they intend to conduct themselves throughout their life, what they hope to achieve, and so on. A lifelong pact, in a sense.”

“Huh. Interesting.”

“You have thoughts? Feel free to share.”

“No, it’s nothing important. I guess I just wouldn’t want to be limited in my life by a decision I make at a certain point. But it’s not my place to comment on it.”

“I can point out many instances where people make decisions that lock them into a singular direction in their lives. For instance, many people acquire Paths, and those cannot simply be removed or discarded. Others go into debt, or commit a terrible crime, or wed a certain person. Each of these is a momentous decision that can shape one’s life. Wouldn’t you agree?”

I laughed a little. “Exactly why I said I shouldn’t comment.”

Se-Vigilance seemed pleased at the admission. It was interesting to finally learn why the Se-Targa were named as they were. I had suspected it was something important to their culture, but hearing confirmation of the mechanics of acquiring a name satisfied my niggling curiosity.

As the train rumbled along, we talked about our experiences in Claderov. I went first and explained everything I had learned, talked about all the people I had interacted with, and impressed upon her my suspicion that Claderov was clearly angling for something specific.

Something they weren’t bothering to share with us.

“A Paragon,” Se-Vigilance mused. “One whose presence is suppressed enough to move through a city undetected. Certainly a very rare sight. Regrettable that you didn’t learn his purpose, but your assumption is likely correct. He had no reason to reveal anything at all to you.”

“Right. So I didn’t bother asking.”

Se-Vigilance was intrigued to hear about my meeting with the Claderov noble as well. She confirmed that yes, whatever plans they might unearth, it wasn’t like the entirety of Claderov would be behind it. Lord Atrin could be useful against his own city.

“You’re trying to capitalize on their division, aren’t you, Councillor?” I asked.

“One must be…” Se-Vigilance grinned. “Vigilant about such opportunities.”

I laughed.

The more interesting turn in our conversation was when Se-Vigilance started talking about the discoveries she had made. It was still kind of surprising that I was sitting here, next to a Councillor, discussing things that felt like levels beyond what I should be involved with.

No way was I going to turn down the opportunity to learn about them, though.

The problem was that Se-Vigilance’s experiences were fundamentally not that different from my own. She had found scant information, and nothing that was truly actionable.

However, Se-Vigilance had been able to “freeze” a bit of Thefris’s Aspect of Inspection to unleash it in Claderov. That had successfully found out the ties between the man who had merged with the Nether Vein and his potential associates in Claderov. One of the said associates was the lord I had fought against. Go figure that bastard was likely involved.

There were other associations, such as the employment office he had likely acquired his accoutrement from and even a potential Senator. Now that was concerning.

But again, Se-Vigilance hadn’t been able to get to the bottom of the problem. That was probably impossible. Especially since we didn’t even know what their true intention was. That said, she was acting on it. I wasn’t the only one forging connections with potential allies. We’d just have to wait and see what materialized.

The journey through the Nether Vein was fast and painless. With how fast the train moved, it took just about a day to go from Claderov to Zairgon. The train was also lined with Klevacite to ward off the Nether Vein’s malicious attention. I was glad for no more fighting.

Especially against whatever craziness the Nether Vein tended to throw up.

It made me wonder if we were actively depopulating the Nether Vein. Typical dungeons had the power to resurrect its “mobs”, in the same way it created treasures. A Nether Vein was a much more natural construction, where the presence of the Netherthreads—those twisted remnants of the very Banished Gods themselves—had turned the creatures within into impossible monsters.

There was a possibility I’d receive an answer on that front. Opening up the Nether Vein, making so much progress within it, creating all these safe camps inside… those were all supposed to facilitate things like research, observation, and exploration.

My arrival back at Zairgon should have been one of relief. I was back, after all. Home sweet home. I’d be seeing my friends again, enjoying my bed in the temple once more, still trying to give a hug to Enrico.

But I never got the chance. As soon as we rose out of the pit that led into Eversight dungeon, Linak and Revayne were both hurrying over to me.

“Hello…” My voice faded when I saw the stricken looks on their faces.

“Sorry for the terrible welcome, Ross,” Linak said. His voice wavered, which started making me feel more and more alarmed. “But the shop…”

Revayne cleared her throat. “Your Starlamp shop was destroyed.”