Savage Awakening 522. Good Eats

Afterward, he got the sense Reina was still more than a little embarrassed about the whole thing. She wasn’t usually one to let pride or ang

Afterward, he got the sense Reina was still more than a little embarrassed about the whole thing.

She wasn’t usually one to let pride or anger cloud her judgment. It felt a little out of character for her. When he brought it up—

“I know. I just…” She flushed even more. “It won’t happen again, Zane.”

“Alright.” Zane looked her in the eyes and nodded. “I trust you.”

“Mhm.”

He smiled. “…You don’t have to try so hard, just for me, you know.”

“You—!” She raised her chin. “‘Try so hard…’ as if! I wanted payback for myself too, Zane Walker. In fact, that was the main reason. I didn't go that far out of my way. I have my own plans, you know.”

“Really, now.”

“That’s right. You might just be overestimating your own importance.”

***

Aelin and Syriel had watched their rather dazed Mistress stumble out onto the balcony earlier that morning, looking disheveled yet quite pleased, and just sighed to themselves.

Now, on a lower balcony a few hours later, they just happened to be cleaning out a study on the floor directly beneath.

“…Wait,” said Syriel, baffled. “But I thought the Mistress called in all the Grand Master runesmiths off their projects, just to make sure she could get payback for him…”

“Shh!” Aelin closed the window. She shot her fellow handmaiden a flat look. “Of course not. Everyone knows the Mistress felt humiliated by her fight with the Slayer. Look how hard she’s been working ever since! That trap was just for her.”

“But didn’t she say she wanted to hit it with just as many slashes as the Slayer hit Zane with?” said Syriel. “It’s why she said she had to replace half the defense wards with attack ones… right?”

“Mm-mm.” Aelin shook her head.

“But she didn’t need to do that… she said even if she couldn’t kill Malzareth, she still wanted to get it back? I—I swear she said something like that—”

“Definitely not.”

Poor Syriel looked even more baffled. “But—”

Aelin cut her off. “Think about it. Everyone knows how proud the Mistress is. Even Grand Elders kneel to her! Would she really go so far out of her way, just for some man?”

“…I guess not… I just thought—”

“She’s our Mistress, and it’s our job to support her,” said Aelin primly. “If anyone asks, especially that Zane, that’s the story.”

***

That afternoon, Reina took him to one of their upper-bough dueling platforms. From that vantage, you could see nearly all the World Tree below. Kingdoms stacked on kingdoms stacked on branches, spiraling endlessly, dotted with the puffs of airships small as figurines from this distance.

She showed him some of the Concepts she’d mastered lately. They’d gone down without too much trouble. She had the experience of Mistresses to draw from, as well as an immense nature affinity due to her newfound blessed physique.

She could make oceans laced with Creation, so thick with it that Nascent fish would spawn randomly. Schools of fish with mirror scales swam about, flashing under the morning sun.

“It’s called the Concept of Hydrosphere,” she said, pleased. Part of her Tier 6 Laws of the Natural World, a Law increasingly augmented by World Tree Creation, just as Zane’s was augmented by Destruction.

Then there was the Concept of Geosphere. She could summon continents now. Still not quite as strong as, say, the Deep Earth Hall Founder could pull off, but at the rate she was grinding away, he was sure it wouldn’t be long.

“They’re strong enough to block half-step Empyrean attacks,” she told him.

She knew she could get a good deal more potent, too. Her rate of growth lately had rocketed her into the Top 5 of the Rising Dragon rankings. It was hard not to grow fast when you had the Galaxy’s greatest repository of Creation, the memories of countless elite Empyrean Mistresses at your disposal, and the best resources a Great Faction could offer.

But the other Mistresses had that too, and only a handful had made her rank.

Zane got the sense it was just how hard she was working. She’d relaxed quite a bit since he’d come. But he could sense the stress in her body.

He knew she’d been quite affected after the Slayer incident. He wasn’t sure if she’d let herself unwind a little with time. But that turned out not to be the case.

Then again, when Reina had a grudge, she was as stubborn as anyone.

Different folk grew differently. Noughtfire wouldn’t be one for this. But Zane and Reina were alike in a way, he felt—they grew best when they burned. It was why he’d never thought of his heart-demon as a weakness—the vision of failing her still gnawed at him late at night. Weaknesses weren’t meant to make you stronger.

He didn’t mind being chased by that demon if it took him to the greatest heights this galaxy had to offer.

Heat and pressure. That was the game. The feeling in the heart and the knowledge of what there was to fight… it either broke you or remade you.

He wouldn’t break.

He was sure she wouldn’t either.

***

There was still one more ritual to go for Reina, but her body had to recover. The Everlasting elixir was still making changes in her, prepping her physique for the final stage. Her physique could already take nearly twice as much force and essence as before.

Before she entered it, she wanted to finish grinding out the concept of Aerosphere, take in some more Creation shards from the World Tree, and learn a few top-tier skills that she could finally access, now that she had a second-stage body.

There were Mass Blessing spells she’d wield, spells that could unlock the full potential of the World Tree. Buffs that could hit thousands of True Gods and Empyreans at once, buffs that could make her archers accurate enough to hit a fly from a quarter-galaxy away, or make armies immune to Corruption. Creation-based shield skills too. All top-of-the-shelf stuff, by the sounds of it.

She planned on communing with past Mistresses and learning as much as she could.

“After that’s the hardest ritual,” she said. She bit her lip. “There have only been two Mistresses that’ve done it...”

“You’ve got this,” was his opinion on the matter.

She didn’t look so sure. “Zane, you have to remember—to be a Mistress, you have to be a nearly perfect vessel already. That means these are all some of the most talented women there have ever been… if the success rate’s in the single digits for even them, it means you have to be perfect.”

He found this quite amusing. It was like she’d never met herself before. “You know you annoy folks, right?” he said.

“I do?”

“I overheard some elf-ladies in the Council lobby when I was waiting,” he explained. “They were saying it just doesn’t make sense. She can’t be that good at everything that fast. And everyone seems to like her, too… they thought it was just infuriating. You were just too perfect. You had to be cheating.”

Some kind of deal with a nasty devil was the agreed-upon explanation, at the end of which it would take away all her talent and looks and make her an ugly, warty witch.

Elf-ladies were mean, Zane discovered.

“But I’m not perfect,” said Reina, baffled. “I—it takes me time to learn too, just like everyone else! And I worked really hard to get here. I guess I might have some gifts, but it’s not like I—”

These were the protests of someone who was definitely about to destroy this thing, in Zane’s opinion.

***

Evan and Avery tumbled through the entrance portals one sunny afternoon. Evan tackled them all in hugs.

The first thing he said was, “I got Chomper back!”

Sure enough, a panting snout stuck its way through the portal. Chomper tumbled through too. The giant puppy was a good half-size bigger than Zane remembered. He supposed it made sense for twenty years’ worth of growth.

Evan still looked the same as ever. Time had passed but none of them had aged much since the System started; it was something to do with their new lifespans. Though in Evan’s case, he thought the ‘Golden Boy’ title had something to do with it too. He still looked about twelve. 

Evan had been offered a Title evolution at some point, but he said right now he liked things as they were. He still had a bunch of adventures to go on before he wanted to grow up. 

Chomper seemed quite excited to be back, up until the moment he tumbled off the branch. He yelped, surprised, and was gone.

“Noooo!” cried Evan. He looked utterly horrified.

But after he scampered to the edge, he found the puppy staring up at the branch. Evan breathed a big sigh of relief.

He and Chomper were shortly reunited.

“Chomper was waiting for me on the 40th floor the whole time,” he said happily as they ate a gumbo dinner. “That’s this big ‘rest stop’ floor where tons of adventurers were waiting. It’s like a refueling stop for folks trying for the Delver King’s treasure… it’s just huge!”

It took a while to find Chomper, even when he knew where Chomper was. This was because the 40th floor was so stuffed with commerce. It was owned by a very, very old Empyrean called the Merchant King. That floor sold so much stuff, Evan couldn’t believe it. He’d spent whole days pattering down alleys devoted to just blueberry cotton candy, sleds meant specifically for roc-riders, or the best noodle stores he’d ever visited.

Almost anything you could think of, you could buy. Maybe in one of the giant shiny glass display stores, maybe in some shady back alley, but it was all there, a maze of shiny stores that sprawled on and on.

There were long-retired Delvers there, folks who’d taken one too many hits on the upper floors and spent their days as trainers, prize fighters, or drinkers.

“They lack discipline,” Avery declared, nodding firmly. She was wearing shades. Zane sensed she’d gone through her own arc, though the exact nature of it was a bit unclear at the moment.

“I mean, I don’t know if I would put it that way…” said Evan. “Um. Anyway—”

It turned out Chomper had wandered around, sending out hopeful soul signals to Evan. But just when they were miles away from being reunited, Chomper got stolen by the Black Hand, the Merchant King’s greatest foes—the black-market troupe on that floor, who dominated the floor’s deepest alleys.

Evan gave chase.

Just then, Evan seemed to remember an important bit of context. Along the way, he helped a kid find his toad, and they became fast friends. This kid turned out to be the Merchant King’s favorite nephew.

There was this big adventure that involved an auction, many battles in alleys with assassin ninjas, and poor Chomper being stuffed in a crate and shipped off in a giant airship loaded with gold bars, to be taken high up the tower, lost forever.

But just as that airship tried leaving port, the Merchant King stepped in with his own ships and blocked it from leaving 40th-floor airspace—a small favor given what Evan had done.

“And then I went on there with Orin Thunderfist and my new friend Jem, and we finally set Chomper free,” said Evan happily.

“Nice,” said Zane, ruffling his head. Also, before he forgot—“The pumpkin cookies were quite tasty, by the way.” Evan beamed.

“Sweetie… how do you feel about the Tower?” said Reina gently. “It sounds like it’s been a little rough. If you’d like, you can always come adventure and train in the World Tree Kingdoms too. I’m sure they’d be happy to have you.”

Here, she could also bring down the full wrath of Reina on anyone who dared harm her Evan.

“I really appreciate it, Miss Reina,” said Evan. “I thought about leaving for a bit, but there are still lots of folks on the upper floors who really need my help! And maybe helping folks meant I lost Chomper, but it was also helping folks that let me get him back! And I just made so many friends along the way…”

“At first, I thought it was all my fault,” he said sheepishly. “But I feel like sometimes it’s just really hard when you’re doing your best. But that’s just what it means to be a hero. It doesn’t mean I shouldn’t try!”

“That’s a nice way of looking at it,” said Reina.

“Mhm!”

Besides a life lesson, Evan also gained a bunch of levels, a Concept, and a Signature skill upgrade.