Mythran's Master Of All

The door to the house opened, and a teenage girl about 14 stood there. Her face was tear-streaked, and it looked like it had been that way for a long time.

“Y-y-yes?” The girl said. Her voice trembled and her hand on the door shook slightly. Ren stepped forward immediately and knelt. It put his head as far below her head as his was below Elerlyth's when they stood together.

“I am so sorry.” Ren said, and he let the emotions he felt through Elerlyth show on his face. The teenage girl saw his face change into a mirror of her own, and she sobbed. Ren opened his arms, and she opened hers and hugged him. He let her cry in his shoulder for a minute, then stood up. She was still a little bit taller than him, and he held her as she let out what she was feeling.

Ren glanced at Elerlyth and gave her a slight nod, and Elerlyth reached out and touched the girl's forehead with a fingertip. The girl was so focused on Ren and sharing her pain with someone who understood, didn't notice. Elerlyth, now with direct skin contact, could feel the girl trying to pour out her sorrow.

Oh, Ren. Elerlyth thought. You're helping us both. She used her ability to start absorbing the girl's feelings of sorrow and loss, and the girl was giving them up freely. Elerlyth rejoiced in the fact that Ren would do this for her, give her a willing meal from someone else, and her ability sucked in as much of the sorrow and despair the girl wanted to surrender.

After a few minutes of the three of them standing there, the girl's constant sobs eased back to just occasional ones, and then to several deep breaths. She took in one really long breath of air, and Elerlyth stopped touching her as the feelings petered down to only a trickle.

“I'm sorry.” The teenage girl said and let Ren out of the tight grip she had on him. “I don't even know who you are, and I just cried all over you.”

“I'm Ren, and I'm here with some Adventurers to-”

“IEEE!” The girl screamed in a high pitch and hugged him again. “Mom! MOM!” The girl yelled and let Ren go, grabbed his hand, and pulled him inside the house. “MOM!!!”

“Wh-what... what is it?” A woman asked and stepped out of the living room. Her face was just as tear-streaked as the girl's was.

“Adventurers!”

“Oh, thank god.” The woman said as more tears streamed down her face. “Please, come in.”

“Thank you.” Ren said, even though both he and Elerlyth were already in the house and the front door had been shut. They went into the living room and sat down, and the woman tried to tell them the story of what had happened to her husband while holding Ren's hand; but, she kept crying and couldn't get it out. Ren asked Elerlyth to sit on the woman's other side to take her other hand, and he felt how happy Elerlyth was that he was trusting her with such an important task.

The daughter was much more composed because of how Ren and Elerlyth had helped her, and she told the story herself. By the time she was finished talking and told them everything that she knew, her mother felt much better and told them the things her daughter got wrong.

“Please, help find him.” The mother asked.

“I promise I'll do what I can.” Ren said and nodded to Elerlyth. They let the woman's hands go and stood up. The teenage girl took Ren's hand and led him out of the living room and back to the front door. She didn't open it, however.

“You know, you're really short for an Adventurer.” The girl said.

“That's okay.” Ren said. “I have a step ladder.”

The girl chuckled and Ren smiled at her and took out a piece of cloth. He wiped off her face, stored the cloth for a split second, then took it back out and gave it to her.

“Will you find him?” She asked as she held the cloth with her free hand.

“I'm not going to lie to you.” Ren said. “All I can promise is that I'll try.”

She nodded and let his hand go, and opened the front door. “I hope to see you again really soon.”

“I hope so, too.” Ren said, and he and Elerlyth stepped outside. The door shut behind them and they walked over to their mounts. Elerlyth put a hand on his arm and Ren looked at her.

“That was...” Elerlyth tried to describe how much what he had done meant to her, and he pat her hand.

“It was nice, wasn't it?” Ren asked. “We helped them feel better.”

“Ren...”

“You don't have to say anything.” Ren said and climbed up onto Princess' saddle. “I can feel what you feel.”

“But...”

“You can thank me after we visit the other homes who suffered losses and deal with their sadness.” Ren said. “Let's get to work.”

Elerlyth nodded and climbed up onto her steed, and they went down the street to another house where someone had disappeared and they hunted down the sorrow to remove as much of it as they could.

*

“He's helping the Adventurer of our kind.” The healer said after touching the Queen of the Dark Elves forehead. “The sheer amount of sorrow is... it's quite...”

“Delicious.” Lylyth said. “I'm only getting a small sample, but it's so good!”

“He is quite intelligent to harvest this way.” The healer said. “People are actually willing to give up their pain to him.” She smiled. “It's quite admirable.”

The Queen's attendant chuckled. “You sound like you're in love with him.”

“I am.” The healer said, and Lylyth looked at her with surprise. “My Queen, I love you, too.”

Lylyth smiled. “So, it's not romantic love.”

The healer tilted her head to the side as she thought about it. “He's grown in my heart, just as much as you have, My Queen.” She said. “I've already told you that I would sleep with him if he deemed me worthy.”

Lylyth nodded. “I will allow it; but, only after I have had my fill.”

The healer sighed. “I do not enjoy the husks you leave, My Queen.”

“We shall see.” Lylyth said and smiled, then felt another pulse of sorrow in her heart. She looked down at the image of a spider there, and was saddened that it was not complete. Part of the head and the tips of the front two legs were still missing. “What will it take to finish it?” She asked the healer.

“I don't know.” The healer said. “It should have finished long ago.”

*

“CLINT!” Dillon hollered over an hour later. “Over here!”

Clint jogged over to where Dillon stood and knelt down where Dillon pointed.

“I'm no expert, but that looks like drag marks to me.” Dillon said.

“Yer righ'.” Clint said as his Tracking skill activated. “Tha' thare is a pair of boots bein' dragged ovah the edge.”

Dillon leaned out and looked down the very steep slope. “You said dragged?”

Clint stood up and leaned out like Dillon. “Yep.” He said and pointed 20 feet down the slope. “Thare.” He pointed 60 feet down the slope. “An' thare.”

“That's all?”

“Mah range is only 60 fee'.” Clint said. “Ahl haveta git down thare ta keep trackin'em.”

“Ropes are only 50 feet long, unless you special order them.” Hank said. “We don't have any special order rope.” He looked down the slope. “That slope is almost 200 feet long.”

“How doya know tha'?” Clint asked.

Hank tapped his helm. “This gives me Intermediate levels of Spot, Perception, and Track skills.”

“Okay, that's it.” Tommy said. “I officially hate not being able to wear armor, man.”

“I'd say that I feel your pain, but I don't.” Hank chuckled. “Hey, here comes Ren and the scary hottie.”

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*

“Clint!” Ren said as Princess came to a stop, and he hopped off the saddle to land beside the guys. “I've got a map.”

“Ya have a wha'?”

“A map.” Ren said. “Thanks to Elerlyth, we tracked down where the victims were from and got their stories from their families.” He said. “Once I wrote down the places they were from and the places they went missing, I realized I didn't have any idea where those places were.”

“Wha' didja do?”

“I went to the town hall and asked for a map of the town and the countryside.”

“Did they give it to you?”

“No, they only had one.” Ren said. “They let me look at it, though.”

“Tha's not really gonna help us.” Clint said.

“Sure it will.” Ren said and took out a piece of parchment. “I redrew it.”

“Wha'?”

Ren held out the piece of parchment and Clint saw the town with a bunch of dots and numbers, and dots with the same numbers out in the countryside.

“Goddamn.” Clint said as he saw the intricate detail of the map. “How long didja take ta draw this?” He asked, worried that Ren had wasted too much time drawing and not enough time helping out the party.

“About 5 minutes.” Ren said. “I'm sorry it's not as detailed as the real map, but I figured a general outline and getting it to you faster was better than taking the time to draw a higher quality one.”

Clint glanced at Ren and back at the map. This is a general outline? He thought to himself. He drew individual trees in the forests!

“I marked the missing people with numbers from 1 to 12.” Ren said.

“The numbers aren't to keep them separate, that's the order they disappeared in.” Elerlyth said.

“That was Elerlyth's idea.” Ren said and smiled. “She's pretty smart.”

Elerlyth chuckled. “Yeah, putting them in order sure was brilliant.” She said sarcastically.

Clint looked at the numbers for the disappearances, and nodded. “It shore was.” He said. “Accordin' ta tha map, they all wen' missin' around this area.” He said and ran a finger along the jagged dots that ended where they stood.

“We were just trying to figure out how to get down there to follow the tracks when you showed up.” Hank said and pointed.

“I've got that covered.” Ren said and turned to Princess. “I need to borrow your Amulet.” She huffed and it disappeared from her neck, and Ren took it out of her inventory.