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

Two insects, each about the size of Elijah’s fingernail, crawled across the stem of a plant. They looked a little like ants, though they featured eight legs instead of six. To accommodate the extra limbs, their bodies hosted an additional section between the abdomen and the thorax. Otherwise, they were almost identical to the Earth insects with which Elijah was familiar.

He had no idea where they’d come from or how they’d evolved on Gorveth. The same could be said for thousands of other insects that called Druhmor home. One day, they’d simply appeared.

Rationally, he tried to justify their existence by supposing that they’d come from dormant eggs in the soil. But realistically, he didn’t think much of that explanation. Instead, he’d fallen back on magic as the only reasonable rationalization for their existence. That they still felt natural and as if they belonged to the ecosystem was enough to keep him from worrying too much about it.

“You brought this on yourself,” said Benedict.

Elijah barely heard him, he was so exhausted. Instead, he just sat with his back against Treebie’s trunk, his arms propped on his knees as he stared at the insects. They carried small bits of vegetation, probably to a nearby nest. He didn’t bother searching for it. He was too tired to spend even the tiny bit of energy it took to focus on Soul of the Wild.

“Did you hear me?”

“I heard you,” came Elijah’s fatigued sigh.

“Do you have a response?”

“What do you want me to say?” he asked, looking up. Thankfully, they were alone. That was a first. “Should I have just not done it?”

“Of course you shouldn’t have!” came Benedict’s exasperated answer. “You had no idea what you were doing or how it would affect him. It’s only through sheer, dumb luck that you didn’t kill that boy!”

“I knew what I was doing,” Elijah lied. In reality, his actions to cleanse the boy’s corruption had been driven wholly by instinct. It had overwhelmed his good sense, and to the point where he hadn’t even considered the potential consequences.

While it had worked out for the child, there had existed no guarantee of success. For all Elijah had known, removing the corruption might have killed the boy. After all, it had been a part of him. The fact that it hadn’t harmed the boy was a minor miracle.

But Elijah wasn’t going to admit that to Benedict, largely because it would just earn him a lecture he had no interest in enduring.

The real consequence came from success, though. Once the panic had subsided and everyone saw the effect of Elijah’s actions, they’d all come running. And by the time the dust had settled, a couple of things had become abundantly clear. The first was simple – Elijah’s actions with the boy were replicable.

The second was a little disappointing for the populace but not terribly surprising. It seemed that he was incapable of cleansing the corruption from adults. Only children could benefit from his efforts.

And what also became immediately obvious was that Elijah just didn’t have it in him to refuse their requests. So, he’d spent the following month constantly working on every child in the newly built city of M’yakein. The process was arduous, especially with older children whose corruption was more ingrained.

But gradually, Elijah had managed the job the same way he approached any other task – through sheer resilience.

Now, every child in M’yakein was corruption-free. And Elijah’s soul felt limp and lifeless, as the constant use of his mantle had exhausted him. That wasn’t the worst of it, though. Instead, that label could be applied to his failures.

More than a few teenagers were just old enough that his efforts were incapable of curing their corruption. If he’d kept going, it would have killed them.

And those failures would always haunt him.

The looks on their faces. The disappointment. The realization that their hopes had been misplaced. The knowledge that they would spend the rest of their lives beset by their mutations.

Once, Elijah had let himself believe that the people of Dravkein were blind to those physical deformities. But now, he saw just how wrong he’d been. They saw them. They hated them. And they would do anything to free themselves of that burden.

The failures showed Elijah just how deeply ingrained those feelings were.

He’d offered them false hope.

“I’m leaving,” he said suddenly.

“What?”

“I need to finish the outer ring,” he stated, his voice sounding almost mechanical in his own ears.

“Elijah, you don’t have to leave. Everyone here –”

“It’s not about them,” he interrupted, though he wasn’t certain if he believed that. What he did know was that he couldn’t endure the shame of his failure. He’d tried his best. He had done what he could, and he knew he couldn’t be blamed for his own limitations. And yet, that made almost no difference to the way he felt.

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Elijah looked up and gave Benedict a smile. “I’m not running away,” he lied. “I just realize that I’ve been neglecting my responsibilities.” He pushed himself to his feet. “Besides, I’ve done what I can for the kids. And I was glad to do it. I only wish I could’ve accomplished more.”

Benedict started to speak, but then thought better of it. “When will you be back?” he asked, which was obviously not what he’d intended to say.

Elijah shrugged. “I’m not sure. Those trilithons aren’t easy to make. But I’ll check in from time to time. Don’t worry so much.”

Benedict just shook his head. “Be careful.”

“Always,” Elijah said before letting himself resume his dragon form. In seconds, he was winging across Druhmor toward the edge of the continent.

He didn’t stop there, though.

Instead, when he reached the coast, he tucked his wings close to his body and dove. He hit the water with barely a splash before using Shape of the Sea. The giant turtle form had grown much larger, and now, far surpassed a blue whale in size. Elijah could only estimate the length, but he supposed it was at least a hundred-and-fifty feet long and much heavier than even that increased length suggested.

It was also much stronger, as he demonstrated when he tore into the first monster he found. The form also had the unique distinction of being entirely physically based. There were no fancy spells to cast. No big, ocean-scouring abilities to use. It was all about muscle and snapping jaws.

Which was exactly what Elijah needed at that moment.

For the next few days, he tore through the ocean like it had become his own domain. He barely even acknowledged power levels. Nothing there could stand before him, even if it took hours or even days for each battle to play out.

At first, he told himself he was doing it to gather meat for M’yakein, but it only took a few hours for that lie to peter out. By that point, he’d allowed the beast in him to take over, to drive his instinctive need to hunt and kill any monster that dared cross his path.

But due to the structure of his mind, he never risked losing himself entirely. At all times, parts of his mind remained free of the beast’s pull. It only took a single thought to revert to his normal demeanor.

He held that thought at bay, though.

Instead, he worked out his fatigue and frustration in the only way he knew how. He didn’t have access to therapy. He didn’t really have friends to share his burdens. And he’d never been great at working things out himself. But what he could do was go on a killing spree.

Along the way, he caught sight of the fleet that had brought the refugees to Elijah’s continent. They remained out to sea, where the captain claimed they belonged. Elijah avoided them, save to ensure the monsters stayed away.

His killing spree lasted almost three weeks, during which time he gained an entire level, putting him at two-fifty-two. He could have kept going, but his desire to do so had already begun to wane. In its place was the call of responsibility.

After all, he hadn’t been lying when he’d told Benedict that he needed to rededicate himself to the project that had occupied his every waking moment for the better part of a decade. The outer ring needed to be completed, and the longer he put it off, the more difficult returning to the project would be.

So, it was with some reluctance that he made his way back home. Once he was atop the cliffs ringing the continent, he found the spot where he’d left off and resumed his work.

Within a few days, the peace of the task once again enveloped him.

There was just something about it building that filled him with solace. So long as he remained focused on the job at hand, his mind felt quiet. All his frustrations melted away. His shame at his inability to cleanse the older children and adults took a back seat to the focus required to properly do the task.

And gradually, all of that faded away.

Days passed into weeks, and it was more than a month before he resurfaced. By that point, he was more than three-quarters of the way around the continent. But as much as he wanted to keep going, he knew he couldn’t afford to neglect Treebie.

So, he returned to find Druhmor mostly unaltered. The only difference was that some of the grateful parents had left him gifts at the edge of the Abyssal Moat. Food. Clothes. Some jewelry. Even a chest full of ethereum.

Rather than feeling gratitude, Elijah felt a surge of anger when he looked at those offerings. Not at the people who’d left them, but rather, at himself. He didn’t deserve it. Not with the failure looming over him.

With some difficulty, Elijah suppressed those emotions. It took him a few minutes to do so, but by the time he’d managed it, he had decided what to do about the whole situation.

First, he had no need for their money, so he resolved to hand it off to Benedict. The clothes and food, he would keep, if only because he had need of both. A diet of monster meat was enough to sustain him, but he very much missed the taste of fruits and vegetables.

And the clothes would go a long way toward replacing his tattered wardrobe.

So, he slipped everything into his Arcane Loop, then headed to M’yakein. The city was just on the other side of the Abyssal Moat, so it didn’t take him long to cover the ground. However, when he entered, he found himself taken aback by just how well developed it had become.

The last time he’d visited, the foundations of something special had been laid. But back then, it was too new to really appreciate. Now, it featured a lived-in quality that made it feel more like someone’s home.

Which it was.

Elijah was just now beginning to see that for himself.

For a while, he wandered the city, taking in the harmony of it all. As he did so, he garnered quite a lot of attention. Mostly from the families of the children he’d cured of their corruption, but it seemed that stories of what he’d done had spread throughout the city.

The attention was not pleasant, but at least the residents kept their reactions to him mostly subdued. They still stared. A few still reached out to touch him, like he was some sort of messianic figure. And plenty thanked him, as well. But they didn’t impede his path.

Eventually, he found his way to Benedict’s home, which was contained within one of the city’s many buildings. It was on the top floor of said building, and thankfully, Benedict was home.

“You’re back,” he said after sliding his door open.

“I am.”

“Did you finish?”

Elijah shook his head. “Not really. I just came back to check on Treebie. I’m heading back out again soon,” he said. Then, he retrieved the chest of coins from his Arcane Loop and offered it to Benedict. “I don’t have any use for this. Just…redistribute it or something, okay?”

Benedict nodded. “I can do that,” he said. Then, he asked, “You want to come in? I can make tea? It almost tastes like coffee.”

Elijah gave his friend a smile. “You had me at coffee.”

“That’s literally the last…you know what? Never mind. Come on in.”

And with that, Elijah stepped inside, and in doing so, rejoined the growing society he’d helped to usher into fruition.