End of an Era (Project Chrysalis Book 2), John Gold [ebook reader online txt] 📗

Rachel’s group also included four mages who could talk with people, but any mention of the god got them kicked over the side. Rachel and her sixteen paladins weren’t even allowed onboard under threat of being mowed down by the crews’ defensive weapons. Needless to say, an attempt to solve the problem with threats didn’t go well. The local population were all at a minimum of Level 500, so they didn’t buckle.

The group actually found Sage’s parents accidentally as they were checking key points in the River of Life. Rachel remembered Sagie’s mother well, and she saw her at the local market. The group followed her home, where they found Arman and little Rosie. Sagie was nowhere to be found. The parents refused to say where he was or when he would be back, though the group decided not to kill them. Instead, they took them captive and were marching them back to Airis Castle.

Rachel left a note with instructions for Sagie.

Hey, Sagie.

It’s Rachel. You remember me, right?

Come to Airis Castle in Ovidius.

Your parents decided to take a little trip with us.

 

P.S. Don’t be stupid. They only have one life apiece.

***

Talamei was wrapping up his preparations for the attack on the next Golden Hand castle. With just a month left before the final showdown, he was going through a small practice run.

Just then, however, a messenger arrived from Leon.

“Sagie will be showing up in Castle Airis shortly. He’s currently on his way here from a different continent.”

The news had no effect on his mood whatsoever. Sagie was of no interest to the god beyond the chance to see Miridia. He asked her to stop by.

***

Sagie was furious. He tore down the house and scorched the forest all around, even destroying the pier. In fact, he almost got into a fight with the keeper of the island. Femida calmed Gambi down, telling him why Sagie was behaving the way he was.

“Leave the island. Neither you nor your family is welcome in my home anymore.”

“Okay.”

The locals told them that a ship powered by a magic propeller had arrived three days before. It was one of the most cutting-edge ships in the world, so everybody remembered it. Also, nobody had seen Sagie’s parents since.

Usual ships took a month to sail to Ovidius, so there was still a sliver of hope that they could overtake Rachel. With that thought stuck in his head, Sagie took off at a dead sprint in that direction. He hadn’t been himself since he read the note.

The air around the boy was alive with a constant hum of the magic field, though all he was doing was using his seal for walking on water. All he did was whisper to himself. He had started thinking poorly, reacting slowly. The boy who had built up his levels, completed quests, and enjoyed life was gone. Sagie had gone crazy from worry without even realizing it.

They were attacked several times along the way. Sagie had forgotten that he wasn’t alone, and he just killed everything in their path using his entire magic arsenal. When the lightning flashed down without warning, all Femida could do was yell at him. The boy listened to her indifferently, not reacting in the least.

He barely slept, his longest break over the two weeks they ran to Ovidius lasting just eight hours. Even then, however, he berated himself for the lost time.

Finally, they reached Ovidius, stepping out onto the banks of the human kingdoms. Sagie stopped reacting to anything Fem said; he just dashed headlong in the direction the rings pointed. Players who tried to block the road were summarily killed. He didn’t even care if they were attacking or just asking for directions. All he cared about was the fact that they meant lost time.

It was hard to run three days without taking a break. The undead, however, were the least of their worries. Either of them could kill the undead without a second thought. Still, Sagie surged forward like an onrushing tank, and the farther they went, the more undead there were. He started shelling them with fire balls, tossing rocks at them, and torching whole groups.

On the final day, they were down to just chimeric undead. It was an enormous army gathered under the walls of the fortress, and it parted to let them through the citadel shields. His head spinning, Sagie continued to buzz with magic and whisper constantly.

***

Leon was standing on the castle wall, from where he watched the undead let Sagie and his friend through. Between the magic shields and the castle walls was an area about thirty meters wide, and that’s where they’d built a small house to hold the boy’s parents. And while Leon preferred to avoid tricks like this, he’d decided that the situation they were in was an exception to the rules. His first concern was his own survival and that of his clan. The news he sent to Talamei meant that the attack was delayed, giving Leon the ability to gather more forces for the ultimate defense of Castle Airis. The clan’s strongest fighters were pouring in from all corners of the continent for the third week in a row, not to mention strong volunteers who just wanted in on the battle.

To neutralize the third-party threat, he enlisted the services of Margul, lord of the dragons. The magic field around the fortress tingled from all the gods being gathered in one place: Margul, Leon, Talamei, and a few other divinities. The latter gods were watching from farther off, there personally in the heavens where they were invisible to everyone else. The pace of events picked up quickly when Sagie arrived.

Margul’s support calmed Leon down. He was flying above the castle in the form of an enormous dragon, using invisibility to remain unseen by human eyes. Rachel and her