Rise of the Devourer

After they’d returned to the hive, Noah found himself back inside Vion’s chamber which they’d moved to a more convenient location in the hive. He sat in a comfortable room, looking down at his hands, feeling a strange shiver run through them. This certainly wasn’t the first time he’d almost died, not even close, but something was different this time. It had felt the most certain. The most abrupt. It hadn’t been on his terms. He hadn’t gone in and taken any dumb risks, he hadn’t chosen to fight any gods, or talk back to someone far more powerful. He’d… just been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

That… something about that made it worse. And yet, at the same time, he didn’t feel anything.

Noah’s shadow stirred, forming next to him, buzzing with what felt like barely restrained fury.

“Hey,” Noah said, nonchalantly raising his hand.

His shadow seemed to open and close his mouth a few times, as if trying to speak but he just couldn’t find the right words. At the end, the specter spoke through gritted teeth. “You do realize what happened just now? You died. We died.”

“No, we just used up our free extra life. It even said it charges back up as well,” Noah said.

“Why’re you being like this?” The specter asked.

“I feel like that’s my question to be asking. This isn’t the first time this has happened. Stuff like this happens. From the very moment I came in this world, something’s been trying to kill me. The recent period of ease seems to have made you forget that,” Noah said, frowning.

“Do you even understand what it’s like to know that myself, my own reflection, do these things, knowing that it’s just your life but mine that’s tied to you as well? Have you maybe ever given it any thought?” The specter asked.

Noah stayed silent, unable to find words to reply.

“Listen… I’m sorry. But what do you want me to do? I didn’t instigate anything. I’m not being stupid here. I know I can be sometimes, but this one wasn’t on me, was it?” Noah said.

“You know what you can do. What you’ve had the option to do for a while,” the shadow specter said, walking closer. “What’re you so afraid of?”

Noah looked into the specter’s eyes, pausing. “You know, it’s ironic that you’re giving me this lecture. Wouldn’t doing that just kill you?”

“No it will not. I will return to where I belong. To you. But… I’m starting to see something now. This is all just an excuse isn’t it?” The specter said, leaning back. “You don’t want to do it, not because you care about me or whatever, but because you’re afraid aren’t you? Afraid of getting me back. I am the part of you that was afraid. The part you keep trying to run away from. No wonder we split apart the first chance you got. It must be so easy, without that constant voice in your head. Without the fear of the consequences haunting you. It’s so easy to live here if you don’t have to be afraid about your own life, isn’t it? It’s all fun and games, you can chase off cool things and live without any worry of any consequences,” the specter said, form wavering and darkening as shadow wisps began to swirl around it for a moment, before they settled down.

A moment of silence remained between the two of them, before the specter whispered.

“Do you even think about it anymore? About home? And the people you left behind?”

“Shut up,” Noah snapped. “I didn’t leave anyone behind. I didn’t have anybody at all, in the first place. After mom died… no, there was nobody. And if you want to say that piece of garbage of a man that’s supposed to be my father somehow matters then you don’t know anything.”

The shadow specter laughed. “That’s a lie and you know it. The memory is vague, but you remember Leah don’t you? And what had happened? She wasn’t the only one either, a lot of people were impacted by us. By our choices. But forget even them. There was someone more important than any of them as well, wasn’t there? I don’t remember. We don’t remember. Not since we came here, which makes it so easy to ignore, but you feel it, don’t you? Something was taken from you. Something you had,” the specter said.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Noah felt something wavering, vague memories swirled in his mind, giving him a light headache at the back of his head.

“She knows. Raelinah. It’s why we’ve been chasing her. That’s what all this has been about, has it been not? It’s why you were so desperate, were you not? When you woke up in that void you knew you had lost something. Something truly important. More than either of our lives. How can you… how can you just forget that? You’ve cut that part of yourself off, shoved me aside, simply living in the moment, as if there truly is nothing you care about in the world,” the specter said, his form wavering even further.

“You know you’re incomplete, that we’re incomplete. And if you know what’s best for you. For both of us, then you’ll fix what you broke,” the specter said, before dissolving back into Noah’s shadow.

Silence remained in the chamber after that, Noah sitting there by himself, thinking back on the words. It hurt, because all of it was right. But was it so wrong? Was it so wrong for him to just… live carefree?

He knew he wasn’t normal. He’d never been normal. No normal person arrives in a world of monsters and starts slaughtering them one after another. No normal person jumps into the maws of death without any concern. But why did that matter? He’d never been normal, not even back on Earth.

This place felt more like home than Earth had ever did to him. Why could he simply just live life without any worries.

Noah clenched his fist, unable to find any answers.

But something hurt in his chest. The shadow had been right been about one thing at least. He was incomplete. No matter how much he disliked the nature of the powers these shards gave him, no matter how much he disliked how… inhuman he was, at his core.

And that was the thing, all along, wasn’t it? From the very start, he’d understood that, at the very core of him… he wasn’t truly human. There was something terrifying that existed inside of him, something he did not like admitting existed there, but he could see glimpses of it. In those moments, when he is fighting and living the thrill of it all, that inhuman thing inside of him felt more satisfied than anything else.

The Devourer felt satisfied.

Noah closed his eyes, trying to focus his thoughts. Magic thrummed in the chamber, and Noah felt a familiar but surprising presence arrive next to him.

He opened his eyes, and saw Zax standing there.

“Apologies. It took us some while, but we’re glad to see you are unharmed Noah,” Zax said, dusting his clothes.

“Now… we did say we wouldn’t be interfering, but the second chance thing had also been a security measure to make sure the risk and rewards were not out of balance. Technically, you died and failed the test,” Zax said.

Noah looked at Zax. “Are you serious?”

The dragon scoffed. “No, this had always been a training exercise, but we wanted to see what you wanted to do. We can’t easily charge that spell, it’s a powerful one and takes time.”

Noah paused for a long moment. Then an idea came to him. “What if I use my dimensional vault?”

Zax shook his head and sighed. “We knew you’d say that, no, that would cause you to explode. It’s why we built in some protections.”

“Bummer,” Noah said.

“We do mean it when we said we can’t come to save you Noah. We’re busy with certain tasks,” Zax said.

Noah nodded. “I know. It’s fine. I can’t have you babysitting me all the time. I need to get stronger on my own. And I have an asshole thunder wyvern to take revenge from.”

Zax thought for a moment. “Very well, we’ll let you continue.”

“Thanks,” Noah said. After a second’s hesitation, he added. “And… about the thing. The spell I got, from the quest. I think I’m ready to use it.”

Zax paused, glancing back at Noah, then, the dragon gave him a small smile. “We’ll need some time to make preparations. Complete your task here first,” Zax said.

And with that, the dragon teleported away, vanishing.

Noah sat in the chamber for a little longer, then, letting a long sigh, he made his way out. He knew he wouldn’t get any rest now, so he might as well train a little.