Path of Dragons

“What’s going on?” asked Elijah, grabbing a pedestrian’s arm. The man tried to jerk free, but he was entirely unsuccessful. “I don’t want any trouble. I just want to know what to expect.”

“War,” the man spat. “Those assholes on Mercer Mesa allied with the Lake City Adventurers and attacked the government. Or what’s left of it. They won’t last long, though. They don’t have the power.”

“Shit,” Elijah breathed, releasing the man. As the fellow ran off, joining the flow of other pedestrians, Elijah turned to K’hana and said, “This visit might be short-lived. If it comes down to it, we’re just going to leave, alright? I don’t want to fight a war if there’s no chance of our side winning.”

“I understand,” she said, though Elijah felt ethera whirling around her. It was subtle, but it was there nonetheless.

After that, the pair traversed the city. Along the way, Elijah saw that, in a lot of ways, Seattle was exactly as he’d left it. Most of the residents were clearly trying to go about their lives, the same as always. But periodic explosions from the other side of the city had put everyone on edge. They didn’t know what would happen when the fighting was finished, and they were obviously nervous about what the future might hold.

K’hana tried not to gape at the technology on display, but her efforts yielded mixed results. Most of the time, she remained stoic and stone-faced, though there were a few bits of technology – like phones and computers – that elicited a wide-eyed gasp once Elijah explained their nature.

“These devices allowed you to access information so easily?” she wondered.

“Yeah,” Elijah answered. “It was a very useful tool, but most of us took it for granted. More often than not, we used it for entertainment, usually the silly sort.”

Because of how steep the cost of targeted research was in the new world, Elijah had come to value information a lot more than in the past. On quite a few occasions, he’d found himself wishing the internet still worked. If it did, finding information about classes, cultivation, and just about everything else would have been much easier. Even his search for his family would have ended much more quickly.

But that was a useless lamentation. The world was the way it was, and all they could do was adjust accordingly to the changed reality.

With that in mind, Elijah and K’hana trekked across the city. A few times, they passed old battlegrounds where the local buildings bore the brunt of the destruction. Husks of cars and piles of near-molten slag were in abundance as well.

And then there were the bodies.

They weren’t that common, but a couple of times, Elijah looked down an alley to see dozens of corpses heaped into large piles. They were all naked, having been stripped of anything even remotely valuable, and they’d been treated with absolutely no dignity. In the past, such blatant disregard for the dead would have transformed Seattle into a hotbed of disease. Yet, most people were hardy enough to withstand those sorts of sicknesses.

Elijah did wonder what would happen if microbes started to evolve. Would that result in super-infections? Viruses that even healing spells couldn’t combat? It was a troubling though, especially when he thought about how incredibly deadly some diseases had been even before the world had been transformed. Hopefully, he would never have to deal with that sort of thing.

Regardless, they made their way through the eastern half of the city without much issue. It wasn’t until they had passed Mercer Mesa, which acted as something of a dividing line between the peaceful portion and the warzone, that they began to have issues. At first, they were merely watched – and by both sides of the conflict – but inevitably, they found a squad barring their path.

There were two men and three women, all wearing an eclectic collection of gear that marked them as Lake City adventurers. The leader, who was a tall, dark-skinned woman with short hair, called out, “You two are going to want to stop right there.”

Elijah considered simply taking on the Shape of the Guardian and massacring the people. Something told him that route would end up being easier. However, after losing control in Valoria, he’d resolved to avoid killing unless it proved absolutely necessary. It wasn’t guilt, precisely, but rather, an acknowledgement that there was usually a better way to solve issues. Besides, even as misguided as they might be, they were still people. And without his grief-induced rage obscuring his good sense, he held that human life was worth a little inconvenience.

So, he slowed to a stop, then leaned on his staff as he asked, “What’s up? Is this area off-limits or something?”

“For you? Absolutely,” she answered.

Elijah sighed. “Guess we’ll just turn back, then,” he said, glancing around. There were a few bodies nearby, most of which wore the black Kevlar armor of the local government. Elijah hadn’t exactly committed to fighting a war, but he had agreed to help Isaiah. That made them, at the very least, temporary allies.

Which meant that the people in front of him were probably his enemies.

“Not so fast, friend,” the woman said. She held a long, wicked-bladed spear and wore chainmail armor that clinked when she stepped forward. “Our time is valuable, you see. And the war effort requires funding. Our soldiers need food. Equipment. Surely, you’d like to donate a bit to a good cause. Ethereum or equipment – it’ll all go to good use.”

Elijah asked, “And if we don’t?”

“Ah, you don’t want to go down that road,” she answered with a shake of her head. “Nothing good in that direction. You’re not so stingy as to deny us what’s fair, are you?”

“Seems like what’s fair to you might feel a bit like a boot on my neck,” Elijah remarked.

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“You’re looking at this all wrong.”

“Oh?” Elijah asked, shifting slightly. He’d already dedicated one facet of his Quartz Mind to casting Soothe, while another was occupied by an impending transformation into his lamellar ape form. “Enlighten me, then. How should I be looking at this? Because it looks a bit like a shakedown to me.”

“Ah. Well, I can’t really deny that. A girl’s got to eat, if you know what I mean,” she said with an affable smile. “So, since we’re both on the same page here, let’s cut right to it. You hand over your valuables, and we’ll let you leave. Can’t let you come this way, though. Not safe for noncombatants.”

“Who said we’re noncombatants?” asked Elijah, realizing that the woman didn’t intend to let them leave. Even if they paid, they would be attacked. Elijah wasn’t certain how he knew that, but he was certain it was the truth.

The cast of Soothe he’d held on the cusp of completion finished, and he immediately moved to Shape of the Guardian. Having obviously felt Elijah’s cast, K’hana erupted into motion, summoning her Water Whip. At the same time, she enveloped herself in a thin layer of water that slightly distorted her appearance.

Elijah raced forward, transforming a little with each step. It only took a moment or two for the shift to complete, but in that time, he’d already covered most of the ground between him and the woman. She recoiled, but otherwise, reacted quickly, stomping on the ground and manifesting a large, metal shield.

Elijah crashed into it, but to his surprise, the thing didn’t shatter. Nor did it move. Instead, it merely dented. At the same time, the rest of the woman’s squad closed in, two of them aiming sword blows at his side. When they connected, they did so with a metallic clang as Elijah used Iron Scales. As their blades rebounded, a roiling ball of shadow slammed into him, splashing across his torso like a wave of tar that restricted his movements, though only slightly.

He hit the shield again, deepening the dent.

“Take it out!” shouted the woman, clearly straining.

“We’re trying!” came an answering call as an arrow glanced off of Elijah’s scales.

Elijah was about to hit the shield again when he recognized that he’d once again been manipulated by a protector-style class. He’d encountered such an ability when he’d fought the team of mercenaries in Valoria, but that variety had been far less subtle. Perhaps it was an inferior version. Or maybe the woman was higher leveled. Yet, Elijah couldn’t be bothered to care. Now that he knew what was going on, he had no difficulty ripping his attention away from the shield and bounding toward one of the less protected members of the group.

“Resist!” the shielded woman barked.

“Adjust-”

The next man never got the chance to finish his statement, as Elijah barreled into him before he could get the words out. He was a melee fighter, armored in chainmail, but he clearly didn’t have the benefit of much in the way of Constitution. As a result, he practically exploded from Elijah’s charge. Bones crunched, and blood erupted from his every orifice before he went tumbling across the street and into a pile of rubble.

He was dead before his momentum was spent.

At the same time, K’hana’s Water Whip arced out, severing the arm of a woman who looked like a Sorcerer. The disarmed mage screamed in pain, but it cut off only a second later when Elijah used his newest ability.

Debilitating Roar

Let out an enraged bellow that sends all nearby targets fleeing in fear, decreasing their damage by 15%. Increases caster’s footspeed by 10%. Only usable when caster is under the influence of Shape of the Guardian. Duration based on Ethera attribute. Current: 9.2 seconds. Resistance based on target’s Constitution attribute.

He’d tried it out a few times in the tower, so he knew what to expect. Still, he’d only used it against non-sapient creatures, so when he opened his mouth and let out a primal shout, he was a little surprised at the remaining combatants’ reactions.

The now one-armed woman cut her agonized scream off, turned, and ran away. The other just stared at Elijah in horror, his face pale, as he dropped his weapon. Then, he too fled, scrambling into the ruins of a building without looking back. The only one who managed to resist was the leader, and Elijiah saw that her resistance wasn’t complete. A puddle of urine collected beneath her feet, and she shook in abject terror.

But she held her ground.

It only lasted a moment before K’hana’s Water Whip slashed out, decapitating her. She had been frozen in fear, and even though she’d managed to regain control just before the serpentine stream of water connected with her neck, it was far too late to erect any defenses.

Her head tumbled free, and as she collapsed, the world went silent, but for the clatter of her chainmail-clad body hitting the ground.

“Dammit,” Elijah said, shifting back into his human form. “I didn’t want to have to kill them.”

“They attempted to rob us,” K’hana said. “They deserved to die.”

Elijah wanted to argue, but he held his tongue. Not only did he suspect that it would do little good – cultural differences being what they were – but he also didn’t really disagree. While he wished he could have ended the situation nonviolently, the reality was that if he’d done things differently, there was a chance that he or K’hana would have been injured.

Or killed.

For better or worse, the world had turned ruthless. There was room for peace, but when someone broke it, the response needed to be swift and merciless.

“Check the bodies,” he said. “Take anything useful. We’ll get the items appraised later.”

K’hana knelt beside the leader’s corpse while Elijah searched the rubble for the one he’d crushed. As it turned out, their armor was of decent quality, but their weapons were nothing special. Elijah did find a few vials that K’hana said looked like healing potions. So, he pocketed those as well.

Fortunately, the ones who’d run off hadn’t come back, even though the effects of Demoralizing Roar had faded after only a handful of seconds. But that didn’t mean they wouldn’t return, so Elijah and K’hana quickly moved on. As they traversed the city, Elijah sensed that they were being watched, but no one accosted them, and it wasn’t long before they arrived at their destination – the Capitol building.

And it was in much worse shape than it had been during Elijah’s last visit.

The grounds had been ripped to shreds, and the dry fountain at the center had been reduced to rubble. The building itself was still intact, but there were plenty of signs that it had endured a number of powerful attacks. In all, it looked as if a battle had been fought on Isaiah’s doorstep. The whole area was encircled by a makeshift wall of sandbags and piled rubble, with rough towers jutting above the man-made edifice.

Elijah’s and K’hana’s arrival didn’t go unnoticed, either, and he could see that plenty of ranged weapons – from bows to wands – were aimed in their direction. Seeing that, he didn’t bother with a stealthy approach. Instead, he led K’hana to the only gap in the wall, which was manned by a squad of men and women in black fatigues.

“Stop there. What do you want?” asked a man in the back. He was stocky, with salt-and-pepper hair that had been cut into a military style.

“I’m here to see Isaiah. I owe him a favor.”

“Is that so? I’ll –”

“Let him in,” came a voice over the man’s radio. That reminded Elijah that he still had the radio Isaiah had given him in his pocket. He just hadn’t thought to use it.

“Yes, sir,” said the guard. After that, his underlings parted, letting Elijah through. However, the man still sent one of the others to escort them to the capitol.

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