Chapter 62

Green Pines Cemetery, Etson - 12:08 PM

Normally I would have enjoyed John’s outburst, but the pain kept me from feeling the amusement I rightfully deserved. “Dungeon boss,” I said through clenched teeth, lifting my arm. “I grabbed his flaming noose and used it to keep him from escaping into the floor and walls so I could kill him.”

“John, go grab Sasha, tell her we need a medic asap,” Thomas commanded.

“No need,” I answered, wishing that I didn’t have all these damn principles. “My belt will rejuvenate my arm in, like, fifteen minutes or so. It’s just a lot of pain until then. Don’t make your healer waste resources on me.”

“Kid, your arm looks like it’s going to fall off.”

I nodded. “It certainly does. You know, the belt can regenerate limbs, maybe I should just cut it off. See how long it takes to grow back.”

“You are one sick motherfucker,” John said.

“You’re right,” I agreed. “But I also have a job to do, and this is just one of the many prices I have to pay to get it done.”

Thomas and John looked at each other before the former shook his head. “Okay, but we can’t let Charlie see you like this. You have something to cover yourself up with?”

I opened my mouth to say something, but then chuckled. “I was going to say he’d still be able to smell the cooked flesh-“

“Please don’t say it like that,” John interjected.

“Fair, but it would be weirder if I didn’t get cooked after all I went through.” I threw my Vague Stick into my inventory before I attempted to peel the ghost noose off of my arm. This time it did work, revealing a sunken trench in my skin from where I had wrapped it. I heard one of the men dry heave, and couldn’t help but chuckle again as I turned to watch John retreat to the surface with his hand over his mouth.

“You really are one sick motherfucker,” Thomas commented.

“I already agreed to that.” Once the rope was free of my body, I shoved it into my inventory. Next, I pulled out a black cloak and threw it over my shoulders, making sure it would cover my arm. It did, and I felt it sticking to the discharge coming from my blackened skin. “Alright, lead the way.”

Thomas gave me one last look over before nodding and heading up the stairs. John was just outside the mausoleum standing over a pile of vomit. I couldn’t blame him for that, it was horrible. Charlie was sitting near Francis and Jess, digging into what looked like a corn dog and a box of juice. Our eyes met for a moment before he looked towards the ground. The gusto at which he was inhaling the corn dog was immediately quenched, and I sighed.

Not picking up on the child’s mood, Francis stood up and started heading over. “You’re back!”

“Yes, Francis, I’m back. Got a couple things for you, but first…” I rounded on Thomas. “What the hell are you all thinking?”

“You just ran through a three skull dungeon and you look dried up as hell, you want to drink something before you decide to lecture us?” Thomas asked, crossing his arms.

That was a good point. Removing a bottle of water from my inventory, I brought it to my parched lips and began to chug. The liquid was cool, refreshing, and only lasted a few seconds. I tossed the empty bottle back into my inventory before pointing at Thomas. “Three skulls, the word ghost and danger. That’s what I had on that map I left for you.”

“Yes, and Francis here has a purification power.”

“It is fire based, though,” Francis added.

“So, alright, ghosts, yeah?” I started. “The thing about ghosts is they give fuck all about purification based on their own element. You start flinging fire inside that dungeon, the one called Mausoleum of the Arsonist? Then bad things happen. The skeletons become charred, which adds to the armor of the Scorched Skeleton. The Zombie Gassers explode, right? Which means that your front liners are toast. And the ghost itself just eats it. Well, that’s unfair because it’s technically incorrect. Once the ghost realizes your fire doesn’t heal it, it controls the flames on the tree in the boss room to counteract your own. And makes things hotter, which you can trust me when I say that is not what you want.”

“That was all complete and utter nonsense,” John grumbled.

“And yet, it’s all true. Do y’all even have a weapon capable of attacking incorporeal creatures?”

Instead of answering, Thomas pulled a sword from the scabbard hanging on his belt. A beautiful blue and white blade made to look like stylized waves emerged, and he held it up for me to get a good look at. “Cutlass of the Eternal Spring.”

“That would do it,” I admitted with a wave of my hand. The Cutlass of the Eternal Spring was a sabre that had been forged with materials that gave it a water-aligned damage type. It dealt additional damage with each slash and stab. “Still, three skulls is dangerous, even with a group this size.”

The group in question had come to see what we were all talking about, and as soon as Thomas noticed this he held up a hand. “Everyone, get Charlie back to the Safari Resort. John and I will be back shortly after we’re done here.”

Francis stepped closer and lowered his voice as the rest of the group began packing up. “I, uh, I actually know Anthony’s secret already, mind if I stay?”

Thomas looked from Francis to myself and cocked an eyebrow. “You trusted Francis with your secret?”

“Hey!”

I snorted. “Didn’t blab to you, did he?”

“No, I suppose he didn’t.”

“I didn’t blab to anyone,” Francis claimed indignantly, crossing his arms. “I’m a vault of secrets.”

“You’re a good dude, Francis, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise,” I said with a chuckle. My gaze shifted towards Charlie, who was walking away with Jess, and I frowned. “He knows about his family, I take it?”

“Oh, yeah, poor little guy,” Francis responded. “He didn’t say much and we tried to keep him optimistic, but he said he’d know what it meant if you came out alone.”

“That his family didn’t make it.” I grimaced, but reached into my inventory and pulled out the personal items I had looted from the corpses. “I found their bodies down there, not fifty feet from the entrance. He might want these.”

Sighing, Francis took the items and put them in his inventory. “We’ll give these to him tomorrow. Right now what he needs is a long rest. It’s a damn shame.”

“It is,” I agreed.

“As sad as Charlie’s situation is, we’ve been waiting for you to get done with that dungeon for an hour now,” Thomas said. “I’m assuming you didn’t come and get into our business out of the goodness of your heart.”

“First off, my heart is full of goodness. If I want to save people, I will, even if you guys wouldn’t have been able to get inside in the first place until Charlie…” I let that sentence linger. “Anyway, yes, I do need something from you.”

“Okay, let’s hear it.”

“I need your help to convince the Etson Faithful to attack the Vespae early,” I said, causing the older man to frown. “Barring that, we may need to overthrow them to make sure it happens? Either way, we need to go to war early.”

I watched with interest as the expressions on Thomas’ face changed so much in such a short amount of time. The Citizen’s Justicar was a cautious person, blunder with coming to the Mausoleum of the Arsonist aside, and losing favor with the other largest group in Etson would make things harder for him. I understood the problems he had with what I was asking for.

“And why should we listen to you?” John scoffed. “You’ve been nothing but erratic since we’ve met you.”

“He can see the future, man, I think a bit of eccentricity can be overlooked?” Francis said, though the way he said it made it seem more like a question than a statement.

“He can see the future yet couldn’t even warn us of the flying tentacle monster,” John responded, throwing his hands up as he turned to the young man. “Almost got Gloria killed, and for what? Saying he could take care of something on his own?”

While Thomas was thinking, I decided to engage John if only to distract myself from the pain enveloping my arm. “Gloria is a hero for what she did, don’t disparage her courage. No one else could have helped me in the way that she did.”

“Would it have spontaneously evolved if it weren’t for you, Anthony? Huh? If left alone, how much damage could it have done?”

I barked a harsh laugh. “How much damage would it have done?” I repeated incredulously. “John, you could have taken sixty men to the Juggernaut fight and come out with five, maybe ten if you were lucky. There’s a reason why I didn’t fight it, but instead cheesed my way through both forms. This was the safest way for everyone in Etson. Besides, you’re not even asking the right question.”

“And what is the right question, you little fucker?” John asked, his face reddening. “You think you’re so goddamn smart, what is the right question?”

“You are right that it only spontaneously evolved because of me. On that, the fault could be laid at my feet even though the blame is not mine. The right question is why did it spontaneously evolve?”

“Seraphim?” Francis asked. He had his hand up to his chin, his face scrunched up like he was thinking too hard.

“Got it in one,” I praised, pointing at the pyromancer. “All three of you know that I can see various versions of the future in the form of memories, and now so does that scum sucker, Seraphim. He evolved the Writhing Juggernaut into a Writhing Zeppelin to get rid of me specifically and for no other reason.”

“You think he’s going to mess up the scenario,” Francis muttered.

“On a roll, Francis. And I know he’s going to mess up the scenario because he already has.” I tried to pat myself on the chest, but just winced as I tried to move my arm. “The preparation phase is only supposed to be a day long and then the invasion starts in earnest. He pushed it back and he added in a clause where, if I were to die early, we can get around the whole scenario? No, he’s up to something.”

“What, you’ve seen this, too?” John scoffed.

“No, I have never seen this,” I said quietly, looking into his eyes. “Never in any of my memories had I seen that scum sucker evolve a fucking raid boss of all things. Now, you may be all for sacrificing me, and I get it. I emasculated you. I shoved you and took away the person you were protecting. You feel guilty about that, and I understand. Then, everything-“

“Enough!”

“And then everything turned out to be a goddamn lie!” I continued, raising my voice. “I understand that you don’t like me, John, and the feeling is mutual, but you need to put it aside.”

“You’re here asking us to save your hide from something you caused!” John spat.

“I’m not here because of my sake, I’m here because of everyone else’s!” I yelled back. Reaching up, I yanked my cloak free to show off my arm. It was starting to look more like flesh than charcoal, but only barely.

“Mother fucker!” Francis yelled, jumping back.

I raised my seared arm and pointed at John. It hurt, by Sara did it hurt, but I needed to make my point. “Do you think I give a shit about my well being, John? Do you think there’s something about me that makes me want to hide behind you? Or Francis? Or Thomas? No! I am not worried about me. I do not care about my health or my safety if people’s lives are on the line. If I think that I’m in over my head, I’ll run. But I can’t do that, John, do you know why?”

John didn’t respond, so I looked at Francis. He answered. “Because, even if you leave, the scenario’s staying the same?”

“Because even if I fuck off, never to return again, you all get stuck with whatever monstrosity Seraphim’s placed at the end of the scenario,” I responded, nodding. “The Zeppelin was meant to kill me. I received a screen that specifically told me that Seraphim evolved it, and it retracted the points I gained for killing it the first time. The next scenario calls for my head. It’s not erratic or eccentric to look at that and go ‘hmm, maybe it’s about Anthony.’ But it’s not just about Anthony.

“It’s about everyone,” I said, my voice becoming quiet. “If it went after me, then that would have been fine. No harm done and I’m sitting on a fat stack of points. But it didn’t go after me. Where did it go?”

Thomas sighed. “To the biggest population center it could find.”

I pointed at Thomas. “Absolutely correct. It could have easily squashed me and fucked off, but it didn’t. Instead, it did as its instincts told it and went for the biggest group of people it could sense. That scum sucker’s ego can’t handle someone like me existing, and he took it out on everyone. Now I’m worried about what his next stunt is going to look like. And so should all of you. I don’t mean to be alarmist, but if it’s something I’m worried about, y’all should be, too.”

I stopped there to take a breath, letting it sink in.