[Voidknight Ascension] Chapter 238 – Alliances

Raiko awoke to the sound of raised voices outside the earthen dome that herself and the Sil’marans were using as their home. She usually slept in the workshop, but that wasn’t a great look for the leader to be drooling on her worktable every night.

It was difficult to be in there anyway. The smithing area reminded her too much of Sam. The lone dullahan was practically heartbreaking.

Sometimes she forgot he wasn’t there when she heard the dullahan hammering away at some project or another and the wound reopened anew when she found the smithy only contained one person.

Haman pawed at her face with his grabby hands, trying to wake her up. As if the noise itself wasn’t enough. “I think they’re gettin’ riled up,” Haman said gently. “They need a Queen to calm them down.”

She gently picked up Haman and put his furry body on her face. He giggled the way he always did when she sniffed him. His little dexterous paws playfully grabbing her ears and her cheeks in turn.

He smelled like rich coffee mixed with raspberries.

It was the best. Sometimes the scent of fruit changed, but the lingering scent of freshly brewed coffee remained.

It blunted the pain of loss, but she wished she didn’t have to lose one to gain the other.

“I really don’t feel like a Queen,” she admitted. “Never wanted to be anything other than a Sage.”

Haman chirped curiously.

He was one of the few who knew her heritage well enough. She didn’t use to be in much of a position to rule anyone.

Raiko got up, carrying Haman.

He held onto her arm with his small paws and looked around the place. “Raiko?” he asked quietly. “Why does the other place look better than this one?”

She stopped mid stride towards the door and thinned her violet eyes at Haman. “I was exhausted when I made the first one, and just unlocked the skill to make it.” She began to stare when he didn’t quite meet her eyes. “Listen, Haman, it’s not a bunch of excuses! I really did suck at it!”

She supposed it must be confusing for the pobul. For Raiko to suddenly lose her proficiency over shaping the land. So many things were different now after the Shards shattered. And the two of them had been apart for a long time.

Too long.

Raiko could have offered to remake the Sil’maran dome. Truthfully, she didn’t want to.

She wanted to leave Sam and Komachi’s room the way it was. She kept expecting him to randomly show up, to mysteriously return from wherever he went.

It was starting to seem less and less likely. The dreams she had of Sam were strange and disturbing. He faced monsters made out of cursed metals and chimeras created by experimental magics.

Haman, sensing her distress, snuggled up to her and squeezed her arm reassuringly. After everything they went through to get Haman back, it felt good to finally be whole once more.

“You’re such a good pobul,” she told him fondly.

Raiko went out into the settlement proper and the source of the arguing.

A pair of women were shouting and pointing fingers at each other while poor Matt was trying to calm them down. He wasn’t doing a bad job of it from Raiko’s point of view, but the moment the gathered people saw Raiko, they forgot all about Matt and marched toward the Queen.

It wasn’t as if Raiko was really their Queen. The people from Kale’s Skyshard had yet to become full citizens, but every single person wanted to join Sil’mara. She could hardly blame them. Everyone wanted to belong to some measure of civilized society that wasn’t about to boil over into banditry and riots at any moment.

Raiko could tell that Kale was relieved. He didn’t seem the least bit bothered that people wanted to jump ship to Sil’mara instead of putting Kale or any of the others in charge.

His people didn’t dislike him by any means, but it was hard to compare to a people who had walls, safety, and running water.

However, she couldn’t miss the look of hurt on Matt’s face as the two women ignored him and approached Raiko and Haman.

Unsure of how to act around a proper Queen, one of the women attempted a poor curtsy, while the other did an awkward cross between a bow and a salute.

They both looked like they just came out of the bathhouse.

Part of the problem was, Raiko didn’t particularly want to lead. But it was easier that she did it, rather than somebody else.

She could trust herself not to be a cruel, selfish villain. Someone else? There was no telling.

“Your Queenship,” the first woman began, glaring at her rival as she came up from the awkward bow.

“Your Majesty,” the woman who couldn’t curtsy to save her life corrected. “We had a tiny little tiff that we thought you could adjudicate.”

“A very small problem that we needn’t bother the Queen with!” the other woman snapped, despite the fact that they had both made a beeline for Raiko as soon as they saw her.

Raiko summoned every ounce of her patience. It would be so easy to leap into the trees and go literally anywhere else, utterly ignoring them.

Haman snorted, expressing his annoyance at the display.

Lenal had appeared at her side somehow. She was getting disturbingly good at appearing beside her like some sort of ghostly visage of the perfect lady-in-waiting.

Not that Lenal seemed to aspire to that, but she was always on hand whenever Raiko seemed to need her.

And many times when she did not.

“Y’see,” the first woman began, taking Raiko’s silence for acceptance, “Freida and I have been best friends since grade school. Always jealous of me and everything I’ve gotten ever since Bradley Baker picked me for the school homecoming–”

Raiko stared. “Is this how friends behave from Earth?” she asked, beginning to truly wonder if leaving would have been the better option. It didn’t seem like they needed a leader for this.

“Well…I was only providing a little bit of context,” the woman said.

“More like lies,” the other woman, Freida, offered. “Wendy has always been one to tell tall tales. The truth is, we both found something last night before curfew.”

“And each thinks that they are entitled to it,” Matt said, catching up to the group.

“I see,” Raiko said, trying to be calm. “What is it, then?”

“It’s a gem, your Queenship,” Wendy said, holding out a cloth-wrapped object. “I swear it fell straight from the sky and right smack-dab between Freida and I.”

I really should just give them my surname already to stop this Queenship business, but I’m not sure that would even work anymore, she thought miserably.

“It damn near took my toe off, Wendy!” Freida yowled. “‘Between us’ my ass!”

“See?” Wendy said, a look of smug satisfaction on her face as if she intentionally trapped Freida. “She always does this, trying to twist things around.”

Raiko’s breath caught when the cloth slipped free to reveal the gem. It wasn’t just any old jewel. It was an Ascension Gem.

“This…fell from the sky?” Raiko asked, hardly believing it. “Did you notice any other details from where it came?” She tried not to offer anymore suggestions, in case that colored their information.

Then again, the Maelstrom was a strange thing. Its howling winds had quieted considerably since…that day. It was still pulling them in, but at a much slower rate. The black wall of death was weaker than ever before, but that only meant localized storm cells spawned instead of a singular massive one.

Sometimes rare materials spawned from the storms, sometimes it was monsters, and other times it was just malice made manifest.

“You mean monsters or anything?” Wendy asked. “No, your Queenship. We would have raised the alarm right away. Chris and Kylie were on patrol that night, and I don’t think either of them saw anything either.”

The twins were hanging back in the group, talking amongst themselves, but they turned when their names were called.

Raiko still didn’t know entirely what to make of Sam’s friends. They seemed a stalwart lot, but it was hard to talk to them sometimes. Like Raiko, they were grieving the loss of their friend, and often wanted to talk about little else.

Which only further twisted the dagger in Raiko’s chest.

I should have told him how I feel. Instead, I was too damn scared.

There was no other excuse for it. It didn’t matter they both would hardly age. If he rejected her, eventually they would both get over the awkwardness.

Clenching her jaw against the inner anguish, she examined the Ascension Gem and shoved her emotions deep down. Not the healthiest thing to do, but what did it matter anymore?

Haman studied Raiko’s face. She could hardly keep her thoughts and feelings from him.

“You’ve found something very useful,” Raiko said. “Have either of you looked closely at this?”

“It looks like a ruby to me,” Wendy said.

“I say it’s a garnet, and it’s mine,” Freida replied.

But it was Lenal who clarified by whispering in Raiko’s ear. “They belong to the Never Levelers,” she told her. “They don’t feel comfortable dealing with the system the Shard has provided for them and have, through some means we don’t understand, shut out all system prompts and notifications. They can’t see Shardscript.”

Deeply disturbed, Raiko slowly looked up at Lenal. “Did I hear you correctly? Never Levelers?”

Lenal nodded reluctantly.

“I have…no words for how absolutely asinine that is.” Raiko took a steadying breath. She struggled to unravel the logic in such sheer stupidity and gave up the futile effort for what it was.

Lenal shrugged as if she agreed, but didn’t see a way around it for now.

Raiko didn’t care to tolerate it. Not for long. One way or another, she was going to crush that self-destructive faction and convert them to the ways of the multiverse.

I swear, Ardor grant me patience, or I may just snap, Raiko thought in exasperation.

Matt stood to the side, folding his arms and watching, but not butting in.

“I’m going to be forthright with you, Wendy and Freida,” Raiko said. Her voice sounded eerily calm to her ears. “This isn’t a ruby, or a garnet. It may look like that, but it is an Ascension Gem. An item that unlocks a Job. Specifically, Blood Mage.”

She held up the jewel. “Now, both of you should be able to see this Shardscript. The basic information would tell you what it is. But I assume you are struggling with Earth’s induction to the Shardrune—or the multiverse, as you may know it.”

In that moment, Raiko pitied them. These “Never Levelers” were less prepared than Islegard’s children.

The color drained out of their faces. “Then we would like it if you took it as a gift,” Wendy said, right on top of Freida saying, “I don’t think either of us wants it then!”

Matt rolled his eyes at the women.

“While I’m willing to accept the gift, I have a counteroffer.” Raiko lifted the jewel towards them. “If one of you can see the Shardscript, then you can have the gem. You could always trade it for another Job, if you wanted.”

Both of the women looked away, hardly tempted.

 “Why have you changed your minds?”

“We don’t…want it,” they mumbled together.

“Don’t want it?” Raiko asked too sweetly. “Why, pray tell, is that?”

Matt hissed under his breath. He knew that overly polite tone of hers well. He had been the receiver of it often enough that he should.

The women mumbled again, but this time Raiko couldn’t make out what they said.

“What was that?” she prompted.

Wendy wouldn’t meet her eyes as she said, “We don’t want to have our bodies changed.”

Raiko caught several–thankfully no more than six or seven–people nodding their heads along. Some of them were older people, those in their thirties and beyond, but including Wendy and Freida, who both looked to be in their mid-twenties, there were at least 3 younger people who agreed with this whole Never Leveler nonsense.

Tension bled away. Now that made more sense.

“I see. This is deeper than I thought.” Raiko took a moment to compose herself. “Is it that you do not wish to become stronger, faster, and learn magic? Or are you afraid you will become monsters?”

The women shuffled their feet, but it was Wendy who said, “It’s…not natural, your Queenship.”

“From my perspective, an Islegardian’s, it is not natural to be blind to Shardscript.” She omitted that ordinarily that was an Outsider’s infamous trait.

“If we stay as we are, then at least we retain some part of who we used to be, your Majesty,” Freida said with a dip of her head. “We have…seen the way some of the others get. Hungry for more levels, more skills, always more, more, more. That was the problem with our world. Everybody wanted more. We wish to be content with what we have.”

“Your predicament truly saddens me,” Raiko admitted with sincerity. “And you have a point. Some will behave like that towards a new source of power. That doesn’t mean you must. Growing stronger allows us to protect one another. To continue with society.”

Raiko looked to Lenal and Matt. “At the moment, Never Levelers–” Raiko noticed that the women had the good graces to wince at the name. “–are relying on us for safety. I understand you are having a hard time, but so is everyone. I’m not asking you to change your way of life right now, but I ask that you keep an open mind. Try to learn. Not just from me, but all Sil’marans.”

Raiko motioned to the Sacred Tree’s golden leaves. “Eventually, we will reach the Tower and attempt to climb to the Second Layer. A plane of greater power that the entire Skyshard, its Scared Tree and Sourcestone, will reach. It is unlikely Never Levelers are capable of the journey to the Second Layer where the greater whole of civilization awaits.”

More than the number she saw agreeing with the Never Levelers looked afraid. One young man raised his hand at the back of the crowd. “Excuse me, what do you mean by that…your Highness?”

“It’s your Majesty,” Freida hissed. “Have some class, Cedric!”

Raiko looked, hardly believing that she had to explain this. “If you are not strong enough to withstand the ambient mana in the Second Layer, it could kill you. The Shard is not cruel, so it would prevent you from coming along with us. You would be left behind.”

She looked at the gathered crowd, judging that most everybody was in attendance now. Raiko pitched her voice to be heard by all. “You should all know that Sil’mara is a nation of advancement. There is a fine line between cannot and will not. Those who cannot, we will find a way to help you. Those that will not contribute are only going to endanger the rest of us. None of you are prisoners, but Sil’mara is not a free ride. Everybody must contribute, or at the very least be willing to contribute. Whether you wish to stay or go is entirely your choice, but you should know that abstaining from leveling will have its consequences.”

On that note, Raiko tossed the Ascension Gem to Matt and walked away as the voices of people discussing the latest news filled the air.

They had a reason to be afraid.