Chapter 710 - Leaving Something Behind

Zeke stared up at the ceiling, his hands behind his head as satisfaction and regret danced in his thoughts.  Had he really made a mistake?  Or was his disregard for his own contentment so potent – so unstoppable – that he simply could not allow himself to be happy?

He let out a long breath through his nose, then glanced at the woman beside him.  Talia looked so serene that it was difficult to remember how deadly she was.  A subtle green glow danced across her pale skin, accentuating the rise and fall of her chest.  Once, she hadn’t even needed to breathe.  She was more alive now than she’d ever been before her ascension.

Clearly, given her enthusiasm upon his return.  The old Talia never would have acted that way.  Not because of some reservation – rather, because her emotions had been eternally muted.  The difference was staggering.

In truth, the potential answers to his initial question were both valid.  Zeke had long since adopted a fatalistic view of his own life.  One based on duty and forward momentum, all while he careened toward his own death.  He never expected to survive The End.  His story would not end with happily ever after.

So, the notion of finding love was one he simply didn’t accept as possible.  Yet, there he was, looking down on a woman who very much loved him.  Talia had made that abundantly clear, and Zeke had begun to accept that his feelings were reciprocal.  Or at least they could be.

It wasn’t love at first sight.  Not like someone might read in a fairy tale.  Rather, it was built on mutual respect and care.  Attraction was certainly part of it as well.  But it wasn’t the lightning bolt of love that so many people romanticized.

Zeke had never felt anything like that.

The closest was Abby, but he knew that was a pairing of circumstance.  The result of his vulnerability and long loneliness.

Perhaps there were more parallels with Talia than he wanted to admit.

The difference, of course, was that Talia was devoted to him in a way that would have seemed entirely alien to someone like Abby.  The latter was self-interested to a fault, jealous, and toxic.  Talia, by comparison, was pure.  Unfiltered.  Good or bad, her feelings were real.

The few days since he’d returned had been hectic, and he’d spent quite some time in the Crimson Pools – not to heal himself, but to assist in everyone else’s recovery.  A simple use of [Hand of Creation] was enough to supercharge the hot spring to mend all but the worst injuries in a matter of moments.  Because of his participation, the number of casualties had been cut down significantly.

Of course, that also furthered the kobolds’ worship of him, simultaneously strengthening their faith and making him supremely uncomfortable.  For many, it was their first interaction with him, and given that he’d saved their lives, he knew he’d found followers for life. 

For someone who still thought of himself as just a man, that was not a pleasant sensation – even if he knew it was necessary. 

But more importantly, it had also given Zeke an idea which had taken root in his mind.  Stubbornly, it refused to let go. 

The gist of it was that, given that he knew the tower was functionally a piece of him, it stood to reason that he could infuse it with more of his power.  Initially, he’d hoped to simply redirect some of the divine energy into the Crimson Tower and improve its functions across the board, but that had proved impossible.  Now, he found himself considering a different, far more specific route.

“Will it work?” he asked in his own head, but there was no answer.  Eveline still hadn’t recovered from their time within the Framework.  And he couldn’t help but wonder if she ever would.

Her silence was deafening.

For a long time, Zeke simply lay there, his fingers tracing a simple pattern on Talia’s bare shoulder as she draped her arm over his scarred chest.  Only after a few hours did he finally choose to act.  He still wasn’t certain if his idea would work, but he knew he’d exhausted his predictive abilities.  Without experimentation, he would never make any more progress.

Talia groaned when he extricated himself from her arms, though she didn’t awaken.  That left Zeke to pad his way toward the door and down the hall before descending the steps.  He didn’t bother dressing.  No one else was in the manor, so he was at no risk of exposing himself. 

It was his house, after all. 

Soon enough, he reached the pulsing crystal in the center of the foyer.  It looked the same as ever, though since he’d returned from hell, it contained much more energy.  Part of it was mana, but there was enough divine energy within that it gave him some hope that his plan would work.

Upon laying his hand upon the crystal, he closed his eyes and sank into a meditative trance.  The crystal was more than just a hunk of rock.  It was a densely inscribed enchantment made solid, pulsing with enough energy to power a truly devastating attack.  Yet, it was contained and constrained by its nature, which was to control the Crimson Tower. 

To date, Zeke had rarely used the thing.  Instead, he’d let Eveline take care of most of the tower’s maintenance.  Still, he found the menus easy to navigate and, ultimately, to ignore.  He wasn’t there to change settings or rename floors.  No – he wanted to give the tower’s features a little boost.

So, reaching inside himself, he took hold of his divine energy, guiding it from his core and into the crystal.  At first, he kept it to a slow trickle – enough to establish the connection, but not so much that it would shatter the thing.  However, it wasn’t long before he pushed the flow a little harder. 

Over the next few hours, he slowly increased the rate of divine energy, and that process infused the crystal with enough power that, for a while, it seemed on the edge of bursting.  It did not, though.  Indeed, it took that energy and repurposed it into reinforcing its own structure. 

The Crimson Tower was an amazing artifact, and one whose purpose and history Zeke still didn’t know.  What he did know was that it seemed infinitely scalable, meaning that the more power he put into it, the more impressive it would become.  That was the crux of his idea, at least.  Time would tell if it worked.

At worst, he expected that the energy would simply dissipate.  But he dared to hope that he could lend a little of his power to the structure so as to make his people’s lives a bit better.

Specifically, the Crimson Pools, but the Hunting Grounds and the inner world of the floor once known as the Artisan’s Terrace could benefit as well.  Perhaps it would grow even larger, or maybe it would simply grow richer, both in terms of natural treasures and other resources.  Whatever the case, he couldn’t imagine it being detrimental.

Then again, Zeke was no expert on such interactions, so there was a chance that he’d simply kill everyone inside.

He hoped not, though.

“Caution is for the weak,” said Eveline, finally breaking her silence.  “Forge ahead.”

“You’re awake!” he said within his mind, splitting his thoughts so he could concentrate on the flow of divine energy as well as his resident mind spirit.

“I was never asleep.”

“You know what I mean,” he argued.  “Does this mean you’re okay?”

“By most definitions of the word, yes,” she answered.  “Compared to what I would like, very much no.”

“Anything I can do?”

She gave the impression of shaking her head. “No.  I must deal with this on my own.”  She sighed.  “Would you like my evaluation?”

Zeke answered, “Unless I’m going to kill everyone by keeping going, no.”

“I don’t think you will kill everyone.”

“Very reassuring.”

“I try.”

Then, she went silent.  Zeke knew her well enough to recognize that she’d spoken just to let him know that she was on the mend.  It was a load off his mind, and it freed a little of his focus to further concentrate on the task at hand.  Thus armed, he pushed ahead, wrangling his divine energy and guiding it into the crystal.

His latent and oft-ignored past as a runecrafter gave him some insight into how it all worked together, though he could only figure out the simplest of basics.  However, that was enough to allow him to direct it properly. 

Doing so also distracted him from the existential dread that had infected his mind since his time trapped within the Framework.  Or the Void.  Whatever it was called, it had left plenty of mental scars that would not soon heal.  The best Zeke could do was push his focus elsewhere.

As he did, he gradually empowered the crystal.  Vaguely, he was aware of Talia rising and leaving the manor.  She returned and left a few more times, marking the passage of days.  Still, Zeke maintained his concentration – because as far as he could tell, it was working. 

Then, at last, he felt a pulse of energy flow from the crystal and envelop the Crimson Tower. 

His days of receiving notifications for every achievement were long gone, but if they weren’t, he knew he would have received one at that moment.  He didn’t need one, though.  He could feel it.  The divine energy coursed through the very walls of the manor, extending across the grounds, and spreading to every floor.

Somehow, he knew he’d achieved his goals.  The Crimson Pools would be far more effective in healing the kobolds, which was the most important reason he’d engaged the crystal.  However, the effects weren’t limited to that.  Everything had grown more powerful and more expansive, with the Hunting Grounds becoming far more versatile.  On top of that, the Hall of Affinity was stronger as well. 

The effect wouldn’t be immediate, but he suspected that young kobolds who utilized the chambers would develop much stronger attunements going forward. 

It was not a personal power-up, but Zeke wasn’t so much concerned with his own strength.  Rather, his musings on his own mortality had left him worried about what he was leaving behind.  He needed the tower to persist, and as a powerful aid for the people who survived him.

Now, it would.

Zeke hadn’t been so sure when he’d started, but now, he was.  He’d understood enough of the underlying structure to recognize that much. 

More importantly, he had one more task to accomplish before he could move on.  And now that Eveline was awake, he could do what he knew he needed to do.

“Eveline,” he said aloud as he stepped away from the crystal and opened his eyes.  “We need to talk.”

“So talk.”

“You know what I’m going to say.”

“I do.”

“And, what do you think?”

“I think you’re a meathead who’s worried about nothing.  I’ll be fine,” she said.

Zeke ran his hand through his hair and let out a sigh.  “No arguments on the stupid meathead comment.”

“I didn’t say stupid.”

Zeke shrugged. “I thought it was implied,” he said with a small smile.  “Listen –”

“No – you listen.  I’m not ready to be left behind.  I can still help you.  I can offer a host of –”

“Eveline.  This isn’t about what you can and can’t do.  It’s about where I’m going.  It’s about what’s waiting for me.  If we end up…if we go to the Void again, you might not survive,” he explained.  “You almost died this time.”

“I can get stronger.”

“I don’t doubt it.  But we both know you’ll never be that strong.  Certainly not quickly enough for it to matter.  You felt what I just did.  The tower runs off divine energy now.”

“It always has.  You just couldn’t feel it properly.”

“Fine.  Okay.  But it’s more autonomous.  It can exist without me.  I don’t know for how long…but it won’t disappear if I die.”

“And you want to leave me here.”

“You know I do.”

She let out a mental sigh, then flickered into visibility.  “You can’t even sugarcoat it, can you?  Tell me that you need me to take care of things while you’re gone?”

“You can read my thoughts, Eveline.  It wouldn’t do any good.  Plus, I respect you too much to lie.  Will you help here?  Sure.  More than I can even understand.  But this isn’t about that.  This is me trying to save your life.”

“So noble, leaving your friends behind.”

“I never claimed to be noble, Eveline.  I’m a selfish murderer who cares more about power than anyone could ever consider healthy.  I’m not motivated by right and wrong – not really.  I’m just a monster with a goal.”

“You’re also a liar.”

“Not to you.”

“To yourself.”

Zeke shrugged. “Maybe.  I don’t know.  But I need you safe.  I don’t know what I’d do…I don’t know what I’d do if you had died while we were in the Void.”

“You would have moved on, more motivated than ever.”

“My point –”

“I know what your point is.  And we both know what I’m going to do.  All this discussion is meaningless.”

Then, without another word, Zeke felt something rip free of his mind.  He dropped to his knees with a grunt as blinding pain coursed through his brain.  Then, it was gone. 

And he was all alone in his own mind.

The crystal pulsed with new power. 

“I hope your happy,” came a disembodied voice.

Zeke shook his head, ignoring the echoes of pain.  “Not really.”

“Good.  You deserve it.”