Marktavious Nicholson
"As you both can tell, I am in good shape. Not a single scar exists on my body. My healing capabilities are far greater than I could have imagined."
Sitting before me was Q and Bonner. The two men rested on the couch in the den. For the past hour, I had recounted my encounter with my ambushers a day prior. Despite the vicious attack from the wolf demi-human and his allies, I remained in perfect condition. There was no ounce of pain nor an indicator that fighting had ever occurred.
I paced before the two men as they ate breakfast. My tail flickered with confidence as I declared my condition. It really was a miracle that I managed to avoid weeks of pain and torment in a single day of rest. When Q returned alongside Claire, his fury caused quite a stir. His concern about our current situation was reasonable, but I was able to talk him down.
Within this very week, the two of us clashed with opponents nearly too much for either of us to handle. He recounted his travels with Claire and even mentioned that she ditched him during his battle with The Gold Coin Brigade. That made me question her resolve, but he took her side, to my surprise. Q informed us that he and Claire worked together to overcome a powerful beast called "the Fiend Fish Monarch."
From my understanding, the fiend fish were decently powerful creatures. They could lay waste to an ecosystem if left unchecked by a natural predator. If that transpires for too long, then one of their species is promoted through sheer violence as a monarch. On the other hand, The Gold Coin Brigade is a name that I immediately recognized.
It was a faction that I often clashed with when we were playing Infinity Unleashed. They were a tenacious bunch, and their tenacity allowed them to survive until this current era. If we were to follow in their footsteps, then we should begin looking for another path.
"I'm glad to hear that we both managed to live another day, but that simply unearths a problem for us." Q responds. He balanced his wooden bowl of porridge in a single hand.
"We are still weak. Well, more accurately, our cause is too weak." Bonner states with a huff. "Our opponents are numerous, but counting Claire and Horace, we are still only five people. That is not enough."
"Not to mention that they also have tough fighters on their side. If we don't step up our game, we'll end up wasting our lives. I'm starting to reconsider siding with Claire. You did mention that Horace tried to kill ya'll, so I don't see a real reason to stick around.", Q adds.
The man wore his concern on his sleeve. I could imagine that he would have more doubts since Claire directly left him behind, although she did manage to return later. Horace also seemed to come around after his attempt on our lives last night. From what I could see, our alliance seemed to be fleeting by the day. Yet, something within me tells me that this is the path forward.
"You both are correct. Claire and Horace have proven to be somewhat fickle allies, but I urge you to look past that. They have their reasons for their actions, but our partnership has yet to mature to that level. She sought us out, and I doubt she would leave you to fight a group without proper explanation. Horace attacked us because he suspected that our enemies compromised me. He did so to protect his mistress. Although his fears were misguided, I have chosen to remain true to my instincts, and gentlemen, my instincts tell me that we should remain allied with Claire."
"Even if she had a good reason, it is still a shitty thing to do. Despite my strength advantage, I managed to get lucky in those encounters. If not for outsiders, then god forbid what could have happened. We aren't fully prepared for this type of event.", Q states with a wrinkle in his brow.
He made an excellent point, which paired well with Bonner's. We were simply not prepared enough to defend ourselves properly. This world tells me we can't just slide by with our current abilities.
"From where I stand, I can only see one future for us if we continue our course. Each one of us will be dead, and our lives will be wasted assisting people who could turn on us on a dime. Their allegiances are to themselves and not to us, so they will use us as pawns for as long as we allow them to do so. So the question is, Mark, how long do you intend to allow them to use you as a meatshield for a problem that was never yours in the first place?" Bonner asks with narrowed eyes. "You may all be healed up now, but things seemed dire when you were injured on that bed. Then you got up and fought Horace. You were even insistent that you wanted to do it alone. I fear that your recklessness may be your undoing in the future."
"I recognize your issues with our allies, and you are correct. I was rash, and therefore, I paid a price. That was the world reminding me that this isn't Infinity Unleashed. We can't just throw our levels around and have things bend to our wills. This isn't a game, so that means that we will have to take the people in this world more seriously, or else we run the risk of burying one of us in the ground.", I respond.
Stroking my goatee, I began collecting my thoughts. Looking toward the two men, I could notice the conflict brewing underneath the surface. They were having second thoughts about our alliance, and they were warranted.
There must be a better way of traversing this world without the immediate danger to our bodies. It would be easy to pack up what we have and flee Astana. It would be easy to abandon Claire and Horace to fight that belong to them. That would be easy to do, but I wonder if it is the right path.
I reflect on my conversation with the goddess Sine in her throne room. She attempted to force me to be her servant with brute force, yet I stood my ground and negotiated a more beneficial position for myself. While it was painful to acquire, she did gift me one of her eyes.
"However, fellas, I am not the man I was a day ago. Before, I couldn't feel it, but now I have a greater sense of awareness, and we have one person to thank.", I said.
The two men were puzzled by my words. Q would place his porridge on the table next to the couch. He would stand, and Bonner would do so with him.
"You're referring to mana, aren't you?", Bonner asks. He approached me first while Q stretched his arms. The shorter elf circled me as I placed my hands on my waist.
"Horace informed me that we did possess it, but it was not a crazy amount. It was about standard, with you possessing the least amount among us, but last night, it changed. Why?"
I couldn't help but flash a devious smirk when he asked me that simple question. I would give him a simple response to his simple question.
"Yesterday, I encountered the divine."
I would retell the story of my fight with the berserk wolf demi-human, and the subsequent backstab that sent me to the heavens above. Q was utterly stunned to learn that I was stabbed straight through and managed to survive, while Bonner's face was stiff as stone, but his eyes told a different story. The two men listened intently as I informed them of how we arrived in this world.
During my brush with the divine, I learned that a god named Valdus intended to summon Roktavor, Brass, and Vigilis, but he didn't know that we were the men behind them. Unsatisfied by his discovery, he tried to wash his hands of us by dropping us inside the Hidden Grotto. He hoped that one of the beasts there, specifically the Lynx, would be our undoing, but his plan was flawed. He underestimated us.
"During my rest, I met another goddess who was somewhat less manipulative than Valdus. Her name was Sine, and she was the one who injured my eye. The more accurate way to describe it is that she replaced my eye with her own," I said to the stunned men.
Bonner tilted his head as if something clicked in his mind when I said that. "That explains why the mana-sensing orb circled your eye when you were asleep."
"Mana-sensing orb?" I questioned.
"It is a new artifact in this world. It allows common folk to sense mana in other beings. Horace stated that it circled the individual with the most mana. Apparently, you possessed the least amount prior, but now you have the most. It must be due to Sine's eye.", Bonner stated, resting his chin on his fingers.
I could sense the hostility rising from Q as he soaked in my words. He clenched his fists tightly before exploding, "So a god was the reason that we were brought here, and then that son of a bitch decided to kill us off?! Why the fuck didn't he just send us back if he didn't need us?!"
His shouting startled Bonner and me, but I quickly bounced back.
"Valdus is a coward in every sense of the word. He used my memories and relatives in an attempt to deceive me into surrendering my fight for survival. I wished I could've done more, but I think I managed to harness magic during that time. I would've had him if not for Sine's interference."
"You should've nailed the son of a bitch in his mouth when you had the chance," Q replied, slamming his fist into his palm. He would approach me agitatedly and place his hand on my shoulder. "We're gonna find this Valdus, and you and I are gonna jump the shit out of that bastard! You're in, right?"
"Let's calm down, bud.", Bonner said while patting his pockets.
We turned our focus to the man as he approached the two of us with a defined sigh. I wondered what he was looking for, but my curiosity was quickly resolved. The aquamarine crystals we found at the Hidden Grotto were in his open palm.
"I asked Horace about these, but he couldn't identify them. He did know that they possess mana within them.", he explained.
I nodded at his words as I reached to retrieve them. I wanted to take the time to examine these gems further ever since they called to me back at the Grotto. I was drawn to them, and I felt that sensation once again.
Although the pull was not as powerful as before, something about those crystals caught my eye.
'Is the mana within calling my name... or is there something else at play? I must find out.'
My eyes focused on the small cluster as my fingers traced the cold surface. It felt strange, as if I were a moth to a flame, but the fire decided to ramp up its heat. I snatched the crystal from Bonner's hand, and the sensation jolted through my body. It was as if a lightning bolt suddenly slammed me, and if not for the two men near me, I would've dropped to my knees.
"Mark?!" They exclaimed as they became my crutches.
A familiar sensation slammed into us, and a green aura dragged us into darkness. I could feel the transformation in my eye as it flipped from mine into Sine's. I recall this sensation when she activated it; like then, the world around us began to shift. We went from a comfy inn to the desolate, crystal cave of the Hidden Grotto.