Chapter 44: Death Wish

Chapter 44: Death Wish

Pain erupted across Noah’s body, fire burning through every inch of him. Even with the Crimson Rot battle he had not felt something quite like this. His soul shuddered under the pressure, aching and cracking, and Noah lost all awareness of where he was and what he did. The visage of a brilliant woman standing in golden light bathed him, as a pulse echoed in his soul. He felt like he would die, in fact, he wasn’t sure how he wasn’t already dead.

[Devourer] resists [Light of Judgement]

Noah felt something echoing in his soul, rising from the depths as it smothered the light, absorbing it. Unconsciously, Noah found himself activating his Pain Tolerance ability, as the sensations vanished instantly. As awareness returned to him, Noah realized he’d been standing silently without moving an inch. The pain had been enough to make him pass out just as he had been.

Blinking his eyes, Noah looked at his health bar, finding whatever minor damage was done had already been erased by Lifeblood. A moment later, the light faded away, as Noah looked at his arm, noticing it burning with golden flames.

“What?” Erwest muttered, staring at him as he drew his blade. “Just what are you?”

“Uhh,” Noah stared, unable to come up with anything. His mind was still stuck taking everything in.

Aurelia stepped between him and the blade, and Nae walked up, having Erwest put the weapon aside. “I did expect this. He’s got an Abyssal Symbiote as his arm. That’s why it’s burning,” Nae said, before glancing at Noah. “He himself is unaffected. If he was a cultist, he’d be burning all over and rolling on the ground in pain.”

Erwest looked at Noah, assessing him for a moment. The flames slowly dwindled on Noah’s arm, before fading entirely.

“Why are we bringing in a man who would use something as filthy as an Abyssal creature to be his arm of all things,” Erwest asked, blade still pointed at Noah.

“Because we do not discriminate against Void users. The void is neither evil nor good. You cannot rage against pure destruction,” Nae said.Ñøv€l--ß1n hosted the premiere release of this chapter.

Erwest turned to look at Noah, glaring at him for a moment. “I finally understand why I had such a bad feeling about you now,” the paladin said, withdrawing his sword. “I do not approve of this. This man has, as you already mentioned, put his teammate’s life at risk, and not only that, but he has half merged his body with a creature from the abyss. I had made the assumption that his black eye was from some injury or a prosthetic, but I see now that it was a choice.”

Noah gave a shrug to the man. “Losing an arm isn’t much of a choice.” His voice was somehow calm, but he felt a cold sweat drenching his back as he did. That had been close. If there was an acting skill, he should really unlock it by now.

“Please, Erwest. We need to focus on the real target. The Abyssal cult has slipped right under our nose for gods know how long. We need to bring these guys back, and all the others that we can identify to find out how they’re doing it and stop it. Don’t lose focus of who our real enemy is,” Nae said.

Erwest looked at the woman, before giving a nod to Nae, and then Aurelia. “You’re right. My apologies, Nae, and Aurelia. We need to stay focused on the enemy.”

Noah noted the man’s distinct lack of apology for drawing a blade on him, but he ignored it. Conflict would not serve him here.

“Good. Thank you,” Nae said, before turning towards Noah. “Alright, then you two are in the clear. We can start working on our plan now,” Nae said. Walking up to the table, she took a seat, as a map manifested in her hand.

“Due to the nature of this event, we can’t really contact the guild in Aquaris to tell them to capture the team. We have to assume all of them are compromised, since we don’t know to what extent the infiltration has occurred. From my divinations I know they’re still in Aquaris, but that is about all the information I have at the moment. The last quest they picked was within the city, to clear out some stray monsters that had spawned near the water source, a standard quest. The location is slightly outside the city itself, in a nearby village. So chances are they will most likely be there when you arrive,” Nae said, as a marker lit up on the map, highlighting the location.

“What do we know about the party?” Noah asked.

Without waiting for Noah’s reply, the Paladin turned around, walking away.

“That is one grumpy dude,” Noah said, watching the Paladin walk out.

“Don’t mess with the Paladin, Noah. He’s stronger than both of us, and you wouldn’t want to make the church of Hellion your enemy,” Aurelia said.

Might be too late for that I’m afraid.

“So, where to now?” Noah asked, changing the topic.

“I believe Josiah should have my gauntlets ready, so I’d like to get them,” Aurelia said.

“Sounds good,” Noah replied, as the two made their way out of the guild.

Silence persisted on their walk, as Noah found himself glancing at Aurelia to study her expression.

“I did mean it, by the way,” Noah said, turning to look at Aurelia. “When I apologised, I mean.”

“I know. I could tell,” Aurelia said, looking back. “Do you mind if I ask you something?”

“Go ahead.”

“Do you want to die?”

Noah paused in his steps, staring at Aurelia. “What... do you mean by that?”

“I've seen adventurers like you. They grow really fast, but they also die just as fast. Jumping into one thing after another recklessly. My father had a friend like that. I called him uncle Dan, because my father always told me they were brothers. He was the strongest man I knew. I thought nothing could defeat him, he would always win in the end, and come out stronger than ever,” Aurelia said.

Noah found the look in her eyes distant, as if mourning a lost memory.

“Until one day, he didn’t win. And just like that, he was gone, along with everything else I ever knew. I lost two fathers that day,” Aurelia replied, before glancing back at Noah. “I’ve avoided joining parties because of this. I don’t want to get attached. It’s why I only stick around temporarily. But I’ve been with you for... almost a month now? It’s not the longest I’ve spent with people, but a lot has happened, and I’m starting to feel happy about traveling with someone. So, tell me now if you want to die, and I will help you the best I can before I leave.”

Noah stared at Aurelia, not sure how to reply. He paused. He wasn’t sure. Somehow, he couldn’t bring himself to say no. Did he want to die? No. Not really. But... if he did. He would not care much either.

“You told me you didn't want to go back because you wanted to run from your past, just like I had,” Aurelia said, looking into Noah’s eyes. “But to me, it looks like you're still running.”

They walked the rest of the way in silence.