Path of Dragons - A LitRPG Apocalypse (BOOK TWO ON KINDLE SEPT. 2)

“I never meant to scare you,” Elijah said, sitting in the waiting area just outside the Conclave Spires. He hadn’t noticed the building directly after his arrival, but now that he’d had a little time to explore, he very much appreciated the addition. Most Conclave compounds featured a similar set-up, though Elijah had never actually paid attention to them. Probably because he tended to skip to the front of the line or, if he was forced to wait, spend his time in conversation with the Space Mages who ran the Spires.

But at the moment, he was more concerned with the woman sitting next to him.

He’d known Eryka for a couple of years, and in that time, he’d thought they had become quite friendly. Not on the level of true friends, but close enough. However, he’d seemingly ruined that when he’d dragged a thousand bodies through her Spires outside of Ironshore.

In truth, he didn’t blame her for seeking reassignment. He’d likely terrified her. That had been the point of the whole display. Certainly, he’d not intended to scare her specifically, but he’d done it to send a message to the world.

That message had been received.

“What you meant and what happened are two very different things, Mr. Hart,” she said, her back ramrod straight and her gaze straight ahead. “I have been assigned to accompany you to the new site – a job which will be accomplished to the best of my abilities. However, at the risk of causing offense, I would ask that you keep your personal thoughts to yourself. We are not friends.”

Elijah frowned, and through Soul of the Wild, he could sense the tiniest of tremors assail Eryka’s spine. Even he hadn’t felt that, he couldn’t ignore the rapid pace of her heartbeat. The subtle tremble of the muscles on her neck. The blatant stiffness with which she held herself.

It all spelled a single word: fear.

Certainly, she’d put on a brave face, but she was terrified of him. Knowing that, her statement cut even deeper. She hated him so much that she would risk the consequences of his displeasure.

“If that’s what you want.”

“It is.”

He nodded, then fell silent, knowing that he’d lost a potential friend. Such was the state of his life that even though he’d expected as much, it still weighed on his mind. Not because of the loss itself, which was bad enough. But rather, because it was just one of many. A single representation of a pattern he’d recognized everywhere he went.

Even in his own grove, the children looked at him not as a person, but as something much loftier. A savior. Hero. A figure on a pedestal. And all Elijah had ever wanted was to just be a regular guy.

That ship had long since sailed, and it was high time he figured out how to live with that fact. To that end, he forcibly shifted his attention away and pondered his ongoing mind cultivation. He felt that he’d established the basic imagery in his mind, but he hesitated to implement it. Partially, he worried about perfecting it, but in the back of his mind, he also wondered what it would mean to take the next step.

Dealing with the trauma was not something he looked forward to, even if he knew it was necessary. However, he also knew that moving from one step to the next was anything but instantaneous, and he wasn’t certain if he could afford to be out of action for as much as a month.

Regardless, Elijah felt that he’d just about nailed down the imagery and how it related to cleansing the trauma. He just needed to settle in, implement it, then deal with the repercussions, both in the time it took and the toll on his psyche.

The prospect must have twisted his expression, because the few other people waiting for their turn in the Spires shifted away from him. That only made things worse, so by the time someone called for them to come forward, Elijah was well into the cycle of frustration and anger.

He took a couple of deep breaths to calm himself, then followed the attendant Conclave member out of the waiting area, then across the plaza to the Spires. Soon enough, he and Eryka stood at the center of the circle, awaiting their teleportation. A second later, they disappeared, only to instantly reappear in Philadelphia.

The Spires there looked the same as during his last visit, though the Conclave had erected a facility surrounding them. To Elijah’s eye, it looked odd nestled between a pair of skyscrapers, but he supposed aesthetics weren’t the primary goal. Rather, the compound was meant to serve their purposes, focusing on security and efficiency of their operation. In that endeavor, it was extremely effective.

Elijah waited while Eryka checked in with the local Space Mage, arranging for the Arcane Engineers and Builders that would soon follow. After she was done, Elijah led her away from the Spires and through the city. As they went, he was well aware that they were being watched by Vinnie’s people.

Eryka clearly felt it as well.

“It’s the Frozen Moon Clan,” Elijah provided. “The faction in control on this side of the river.”

“I read the dossier.”

Her clipped tone silenced Elijah’s intention to provide further context. Thankfully, they reached the bridge soon after, and the guards on duty recognized that he was in no mood to pay their toll. So, they allowed him through.

Or rather, they scattered when he showed no intention of slowing down and talking it out.

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It wasn’t long before they reached the other side, where someone offered to escort them to the settlement known as Thirty – a former train station – but Elijah told them he was fine on his own.

It only took a few minutes for them to reach the settlement in question, where Elijah found himself standing face-to-face with Lamar Sims.

“They told me you were coming,” the big man said, crossing his arms. “You don’t call. You don’t write. And I had to hear it from someone else that you slaughtered a pirate town? I thought we were friends.”

“Sorry,” Elijah muttered, his eyes downcast. “I didn’t –”

With a laugh, Lamar wrapped his arms around Elijah in a giant bearhug, lifting him from the ground. “Should’ve taken me with you!” he bellowed good-naturedly. “I hate pirates.”

A voice from nearby said, “You’ve never even met a pirate, idiot.”

“Hey Helen,” Elijah responded, raising his hand when Lamar finally released him.

“And I’ve fought plenty of bandits. Those are basically pirates,” Lamar pointed out.

“I mean, being on the water is kind of implied in the word pirate,” Helen stated, shimmering into view. That Elijah hadn’t felt her was proof that she’d gained a few levels. Her stealth ability was impressive.

“Disagree,” Lamar interjected. “And it doesn’t matter. It’s the principle of the thing. Stealing is stealing, and I won’t stand for it.”

“Can’t really argue with that logic,” Helen said with a grin. “Hello, Elijah. Glad you’re okay.”

“Me too,” Elijah said, raking his hand through his hair. Then, he remembered that he wasn’t alone. “Oh. This is Eryka. She’s a representative of the Conclave.”

“Hello,” Eryka said with a slight bow of her head. Her dangling earrings shook with the motion. “It is my honor to meet such an esteemed Warrior. You as well, madame Explorer.”

“Esteemed. You hear that, Helen? I’m esteemed,” Lamar joked. She elbowed him in the ribs. To Elijah, he asked, “So, what brings you here? Come to start more trouble?”

“Well, it occurred to me that I forgot to give you your wedding present,” Elijah said. He gestured to Eryka. “So, here I am, righting that egregious wrong.”

“You just now remembered that you were supposed to get us a gift, didn’t you?” Helen asked, suppressing a smile of her own.

“Uh…no,” he responded, entirely unconvincingly. He moved on from that. “Anyway, I got to thinking – what could I possibly get you that you couldn’t get for yourself?”

“A new shield,” Lamar suggested.

“Oh. I thought I gave you that big hunk of metal I got in the first Primal Realm. I’ll send it to you sometime. I don’t think it’s super high-grade or anything, but I definitely don’t need it. It’s just sitting in my treehouse right now. Or under it, I guess. The thing wouldn’t fit properly in my living room where I usually leave my junk.”

“You want to give me a junk shield?” Lamar asked, his eyes narrowed.

“I mean, it’s not junk-junk. It’s nice. It’s just junk to me, you know? I don’t use shields.”

“You should.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. Anyway – I was thinking about what I could get both of you, and originally, my plan was to offer you a week on my island. You know, to relax. I have a hot tub, you know,” Elijah said. “But then I started thinking about it, and I realized that’s not a very good gift. You both are invited to stay on the island whenever you want. So, eventually, I decided that the best way to honor your union was to help your settlement. That’s why Eryka’s here.”

“I’m listening,” Helen said.

Then, Elijah explained the deal he’d made to get a new set of Conclave Spires built on the western side of the river. “I’m not sure exactly where it’ll go, but this area is pretty thick with ley lines. I’m sure I can find somewhere close,” he elaborated. “I figured that would put you on more even footing against the Frozen Moon Clan.”

“I think he changed the name again,” Lamar said.

“Doesn’t matter. He’s an idiot, and having him in control of the Spires is unacceptable. So, short of me going over there and…you know…dealing with the problem…”

“No,” Helen said. “He’s better than some of his lieutenants.”

“I could deal with them too.”

“And what about the rest of them? Believe it or not, his rules are the only thing keeping them in check. If you want to…deal with them, you’d need to destroy everything. Thousands of people. I won’t sanction that.”

Elijah frowned. He’d expected as much, but he couldn’t help but think that simply killing the bad guys was a much more viable solution than trying to coexist. But then again, his thinking had grown increasingly binary of late – an issue he intended to address when he dealt with the trauma-tainted facets of his mind.

“I figured as much,” Elijah said. “Thus, the deal.”

It had not been cheap, either. Not only had he lost a good deal of profit by giving the Conclave the same price on soap that Ironshore and Argos enjoyed, but he’d laid out the money to build the Spires. But the bottom line was that they were the only game in town, and if he wanted to help Lamar and Helen, it was the best way to do so.

And then there was the other thing.

“I also wanted to talk to you about another thing. Maybe we can do it in private?” he suggested. Then, he turned to Eryka. “I’m sure you’d like to rest for a few minutes before we set out.”

Her brow furrowed. “Very well.”

After that, Lamar led her inside, leaving Elijah to talk to Helen. Then, he laid out the plan for an alliance with Ironshore. They would support Thirty however they could, likely including the opportunity to equip themselves from the goods offered by Ironshore’s unparalleled crafters. Meanwhile, Ironshore would gain access to the local towers as well as Thirty’s military support. It was a mutually beneficial arrangement, and one Elijah thought fit the situation very well.

Helen nodded along, and when Elijah had finished, she agreed that it sounded good. The next step was to meet with Ramik – and probably Essex – to establish the concrete terms of the alliance. But Elijah hoped that would be nothing more than a rubber stamp.

After working out a few more details, Elijah went to fetch Eryka, and together, they set out to search for a ley line strong enough to support a set of Spires. As it turned out, Elijah’s increased levels made the process much easier, and within an hour, he’d found a promising lead. He followed that until, only forty minutes later, he stopped and declared that they’d discovered the spot.

And it was only about fifteen miles from Thirty.

“What else do you need from me?” Elijah asked.

Eryka knelt at the center of the indicated spot, then pulled a device from her bag. “Nothing,” she said, jamming the machine into the ground. A slight surge of ethera announced its activation.

“That’s a beacon, right?”

She nodded. “Just to let the others know where to build,” she answered, pushing herself to her feet. She dusted off her hands, then added, “We’re finished here.”

“I could have just used the device myself. You didn’t need to come.”

“That is a proprietary piece of equipment whose function requires a Space attunement. You would not have been capable of using it,” Eryka explained.

Then, without another word, she strode toward Philadelphia, confirming in Elijah’s mind that, no matter what else he did, he wasn’t going to mend the fences of their friendship. Gone was the woman with whom he’d once shared so many enthusiastic conversations about space and the wider universe. Instead, she’d been replaced by a cold bureaucrat who would only suffer his presence because it was a requirement. She was a lost cause, and it was time he stopped hoping for something that just wasn’t going to happen.

With that in mind, he followed her back to the city, his mind already whirling with his next steps.