Chapter 87- Unexpected visitor.
With in the deep mountains near the verdant valley, a hidden temple existed.
It sat along the spine of the mountain range that divided the verdant valley from the Ashlands, at an altitude where the air thinned and trees gave way to bare stone.
It was not even marked on any maps.
Inside the temple, a group of figures knelt on the cold stone floor of the inner sanctum. The dark granite was stained with blood. Centuries of ritual had left their mark in layers of dried blood, scorched sigils, and the faint sweet smell of old blood.
In the center of the sanctum stood an altar that pulsed with a red halo. The halo was not from any fire or light but a ring of crimson energy that hung in the air like a wound in the fabric of the world.
Within the halo one could see movement, something evil pressing against the barrier from the other side.
The kneeling figures were fanatic devil-worshippers who had been causing havoc after havoc.
Among them was even one of the players: Mira, a young girl who was a historian. Her curiosity had led her to this mission. Now she no longer knew when she should have stepped away.
She had witnessed massacres of towns, yet believing it was only a game, she had gone along with it. Right now she was staring at her interface. She was mid quest. A quest that promised her a minimum of Epic rank class and legendary at best performance.
[Ding~]
[Progress: Devil’s Gate — 73% complete]
[Sacrifices remaining: 60]
Mira opened her eyes. Her hands were steady. The ceremonial knife in her right hand was still wet. The offering lay before her on the altar...a player. She did not know his name. He had been wandering the mountain paths looking for rare herbs, and she had told him about the temple.
Told him it was safe. Told him there was a hidden boss inside that dropped legendary materials.
He had followed her.
They always followed her.
The red halo brightened as the sacrifice was consumed.
Energy rippled through the sanctum, and Mira felt it—a warmth in her chest, a whisper in her mind.
The presence on the other side of the gate was closer now. Hungrier...
[Ding!]
Devil Energy +4
Total Devil Energy: 87
Mira had been kneeling throughout the sacrifice; her knees had gone numb.
She wobbled as she tried to stand.
Crimson light painted her face in shades of red—the white of her eyes, the dark of her hair, the thin line of her mouth. She looked like a saint of an unholy church.
The altar absorbed every single drop of blood.
...
Back in the real world, inside Space Z headquarters.
Leo stood on a balcony that overlooked the city skyline through floor-to-ceiling glass. He had been given a room to stay in. Headphones sat in his ears as he listened to a very, VERY old song, trying to calm himself.
It was the one his father used to play in the smithy all day long...the song Leo had once grown sick of. Now he was listening to it on his own, and it worked.
He was soon humming along...with the lyrics
"Raindrops are falling on my head...
But that doesn’t mean my eyes will soon be turning red...
Crying’s not for me...
Hmm... hmmmmmmm...
It won’t be long till happiness steps up to greet me...
Raindrops are falling on my head..."
At that moment Miss Hargrave knocked and opened the door.
She had knocked for a long while, but Leo neither opened nor answered, so she simply entered.
She found the man standing on the balcony, humming to a song through headphones he had somehow found.
She squinted her eyes with a bit of irritation as she was certain he had not had them when she brought him into the building.
She stepped forward and pulled the headphones from his head.
"Mr. Stone, you have a guest waiting."
"Hmm? Guest? I have a guest in Space Z?" Leo was confused.
"Yes. Follow me." She led him to the hall. The hall was empty.
Leo looked toward the balcony and saw a man standing there, smoking.
"David." His hands clenched.
Seeing Leo arrive, the man threw away his cigarette and walked inside.
Leo sat on one of the ergonomic chairs, the headset still around his neck. Fiona perched on the armrest beside him, legs crossed, her eyes fixed on David with vigilance.
David had arrived twenty minutes earlier. He had come without appointment or explanation; he had simply walked in, and Ms. Mosk had allowed him entry—something that surprised Fiona and the rest.
The man had entered the elevators as if he owned the place.
"So," David said, taking off his sunglasses. "So you know Thane, Right? I think everyone knows this guy"
He set a tablet on the table between them. The screen showed a dossier: a name at the top, a level, a class.
THANE
Level: 41
Class: Duelist (Legendary)
"Ascendant has been... diversifying," David continued.
"Paul’s approach was brute force. Kang’s. The ambushes. The wanted posters." He shook his head.
"That’s old thinking. Paul wanted you dead. I want you at a negotiating table. There’s a difference."
"You work for Paul," Leo said. It was not a question.
"I worked for Paul." David sipped his espresso. "Paul is a middleman. I’m a specialist. Mosk—Elona Mosk—sees you as an asset worth protecting. Ascendant sees you as an asset worth controlling. I’m the bridge between those two positions." He tapped the tablet. "Thane is what happens when you stop treating players like targets and start treating them like leverage."
Fiona leaned forward. "You’re bringing Thane to the table."
"I’m making sure Thane is the one sitting across from Leo." David smiled. It did not reach his eyes. "Not to kill him. To demonstrate that Ascendant has the capacity. The rest is negotiation."
"And if Leo says no?" Fiona asked.
David looked at Leo. "Then Thane ensures the conversation happens anyway."
Leo stood. The chair scraped against the floor.
"Wait—there’s something else we offer too. Just... listen."
"It’s the VIP protocol."
"Contracts," David stated. "We provide real-world escort protection for the top players in Myth Online."
"Thane will seek you out in the game. He has already been ordered. I came here just in case you agree, because I don’t want you to face him."
Leo’s jaw tightened.
He simply said, "Let him come," and ignored them as he walked out of the room toward his assigned quarters.
He reached the room, locked the door, and connected.
"CONNECT."
...
He found himself in Hugh’s smithy.
Hugh sat on a low stone bench near the hearth. The two cubs, Ash and Ember, were curled against the forge base, their dark fur catching the glow. Ash’s ear twitched at Leo’s arrival. Ember was still fast asleep.
Hugh stood up. "You’re finally back."
Leo nodded and crouched beside the cubs. Ash shifted, pressing his head against Leo’s palm.
"Hahaha! Missed me, little fellows." Leo took the cubs into his lap and rustled their fur.
"How long have they been like this?" Leo asked.
"Since you left." Hugh rubbed his temple.
Leo played with the cubs for a while and even forgot about all his troubles.
Hugh spoke with an exhausted breath. "Sigh... hey, they don’t eat well when you’re not here. I had to try so hard to coax them and feed them."
Surtr, who had been out of reach, suddenly manifested on his own. This surprised both Leo and Hugh.
Surtr had never been able to do this before, yet now he appeared of his own volition.
With his manifestation the temperature in the smithy rose. The ancient being seemed to have grown even more powerful.
He spoke: "You should mark these cubs right now.
I can sense an ancient hidden bloodline dormant within them. They seem to originate from very ancient divine beings, but as the generations passed the blood was diluted, reducing them to common beasts. The genes are still passed down. If you tame them, there might be a chance we can awaken their bloodline in the future."
Leo looked at Surtr with narrowed eyes, trying to appear a little angry. "Where have you been? You just speak when you like and ignore me when you don’t, huh?"
"Tsk... I have been cultivating on my own, so I am mostly unavailable. But... listen to me and mark them to form an initial bond."
Leo listened. Ash had settled into a daze while Ember watched him with eyes that almost looked intelligent for a creature only a few weeks old.
"Don’t worry," Surtr said. "A soul mark is not a leash. It is a door you open once, and then you trust them to walk through."
Hugh asked, "And if they don’t?"
"Then the door closes. No harm done." A pause. "But they will walk through when they trust you with their heart."
Surtr briefly explained how to carry out the process. Leo already had his Soul Forge branch open, so he was somewhat familiar with the method. He followed Surtr’s advice, and a flicker of soul fire manifested in his palm. He slowly extended his hand toward Ash’s head.
The fire slowly flowed into the cub, warm and gentle. The cub felt no discomfort.
"Now. Push the fire inward. Not through the fur. Through the soul," Surtr instructed.
It was like threading a needle in a dimension that did not have straight lines. Leo compressed the Soul Fire into a thin filament, pushed it through the space between his palm and Ash’s skull, and pressed—gently, precisely—against the cub’s spiritual core.
Ash’s soul responded.
At first it was vigilant toward the soul strand, but soon it felt Leo’s familiar presence and welcomed it.
A pulse of warmth surged through Ash’s body.
[Ding!]
[Soul mark established: Ash (Warg Cub)]
Bond type: Basic Foundational
Effect:
Spiritual awareness +1
Soul resonance when within 100 m
Ember came forward on her own and stood there as if asking Leo to do the same.
"You really are intelligent, aren’t you?" Leo chuckled, then repeated the process with her.
[Ding!]
[Soul mark established: Ember (Warg Cub)]
Bond type: Basic Foundational
Effect:
Spiritual awareness +1
Soul resonance when within 100 m
Ember’s soul was different from Ash’s—sharper, more curious, less patient. She pushed against Leo’s consciousness like a question.
Surtr’s heat faded. "The foundation is laid. What they become with it is their choice."
...
"Now, shall I go and grind some levels?" Leo muttered as he cracked his knuckles and stretched.