Chapter 420 - Some Explaining To Do

Waking up, Marcus shot up of the bed he was on, and he felt a lingering sting in his head.

Yet only a couple of seconds later it disappeared, and Marcus felt much better than he had in a while.

He had not realized how much the bottled-up thoughts and emotions of the people's souls he had devoured was weighing on him.

However, along with this he realized that he had forgotten many things he used to know.

He could not recall any of the information he had gained from taking these people's souls into himself, and all that was left was their forms that had nothing attached to them.

Still, Marcus remembered some of his time in his spiritual world that had been in turmoil, and now knew how badly he had been abusing the power he had.

'I should have headed the administrators warning more. I thought by just using it here and there I would be fine. But I now know I should only use it as an absolute last resort.'

Getting up, Marcus moved his body around a bit and could tell the difference.

'I am a bit weaker.'

After releasing parts of the souls he had devoured, Marcus could tell that his stats which had benefited from the skill, had taken a small hit.

But he felt like he had done the correct thing, and that any strength he had lost could be gotten back latter through other means that did not damage his soul and psyche.

Looking around Marcus tried to find Lyra, but she was nowhere to be found.

Luckily Roxene was there waiting for him, and Marcus asked her where Lyra had gone.

'She has gone back into that tower to have some big meeting. Oh, and I am glad you are doing okay now. For a minute there it felt like our connection was going to be severed. Try to take better care of yourself. We all have limits, and you need to know where yours are.'

Nodding his head, Marcus thanked Roxene for her concern and advice, and said that he would do better from now on.

"Also, when I get back, I will cook you a feast of puff cow meat. I need to thank you for always having my back."

Letting out a few exited yaps Roxene was very happy to be getting her first cooked meal in what had now been days.

Before that though, Marcus headed to the tower so that he could get some more information and find Lyra.

When he entered, he received his fair share of stares from the rebels that were moving about and getting necessary preparations done.

"Jed Right?" A young boy probably no older than sixteen said as he approached Marcus.

And for a moment Marcus almost asked who the hell Jed was, but quickly remembered that was the alias he was currently using.

"Yes, I am Jed. Is there something that you need?"

"Yeah, the captains are in a meeting right now, and I was told that if you woke up and came to the tower to escort you up."

"Well then lead the way. That is why I am here." Marcus said holding his hand out and beckoning the boy to take him to the top of the tower.

Quickly the boy began leading Marcus up the stairs and when they made it to the second to last floor, the boy stopped abruptly and went wide eyed.

"Why are we stopping?" Marcus said in confusion.

But as he pushed past the boy, he saw that all of the captains except Lyra and Tesia were currently on this floor instead of in the meeting room.

"Ah Mack thank you for brining him up here." Francis said to the boy who was a bit in shock to see all of these captains at once.

Normally he only interacted with Francis who was the captain he worked under, and this was the first time he was seeing most of the others in such close proximity.

Seeing this Francis said, "You can go now, we will take things from here."

Nodding his head, Mack quickly began going back down the tower to get away from the room that was exuding a dangerous pressure.

Of course, this was due to the fact that some of the captains were radiating a hostile aura towards Marcus.

Though he did not care and said, "Where is Jadzia, I do not see her here?"

Standing up, his anger evident Kazimir nearly yelling at Marcus said, "Do you think you can just walk in here and start making demands like you own the place? You have a lot of explaining to do. Who was that vampire, and what is it that you really want?"

However, Marcus just ignored Kazimir and turned towards Francis who seemed more levelheaded.

"Oh, do you think you can ignore me?" Kazimir said as he took out his weapon.

"Stop that is enough." Larks said placing a hand on Kazimir's shoulder.

He then looked at Marcus and said, "Lyra is up with the chief and Lady Tesia. Right now, she is explaining the situation to them, but I am sure that having your side would do them good. Head on up and you can explain everything to the chief."

Nodding his head Marcus walked past the captains and went up to the top floor of the tower and stood outside of the single door for a moment to collect himself.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Knocking on the door, Marcus waited for a response and a second later he heard, "Come on in." 

Opening the door Marcus saw Lyra standing up and she appeared to have been saying something to both Tesia and Marek when Marcus had arrived.

"Ah good timing we were just talking about you, but more importantly that vampire that was following you around." Marek said as Marcus walked in.

Moving next to Lyra, Marcus said, "I can tell you have some questions for me. Go ahead and ask away."

"Would you mind telling us about that vampire first and foremost? We asked Jadzia what she knew but she said this was the first time she had seen that vampire. So, seeing as how she appeared out of you shadow, we were hoping you might know?" Tesia said taking the lead in the questioning.

Shrugging his shoulders Marcus said, "I do not know much about her, and I had no idea she had been following me around. I happened to fight against a different vampire that was terrorizing a town a bit over year ago, and I killed them. I suppose that this vampire and that one are probably connected, but I have no idea why she is so interested in me. Though this is not the only time she had come to my aid, the first time I was on the verge of collapse, so I thought it was a hallucination. Still, she saved my life and told me that I would owe her a favor in the future. Though I guess now I owe her two favors."

After Marcus said this Marek turned towards Tesia and she said, "He is not lying, though he is holding something back."

Marek turned back to Marcus and said, "So what is it that you do not want to say? We need to know we can trust you, so tell us or leave."