Rise of the Devourer

“Who are you, and why were you summoned by a summoning circle?” Aurelia demanded, tapping her foot.

“You’re welcome for the help,” Noah said, trying not to be annoyed at her attitude. He remained where he’d collapsed, watching Aurelia with an uncertain look, a woman who could pulverize him in a single blow.

Her eyes flashed golden, flames twirling around her fist. “I’m extremely short on patience, and the only reason you aren’t a burnt husk despite the very real possibility that you could be some kind of strange eldritch monster is the fact you helped free me. So answer my questions honestly. Don’t lie. I’ll know. Nod if you understand,” she said, the glow in her eyes increasing.

Noah returned a slow nod.

“Are you human?”

“Yes.” Noah didn’t hesitate to answer.

Aurelia frowned, but whatever method she was using to find if he was lying or not, didn’t seem to have been triggered. He’d been worried for the briefest of seconds if he’d been changed into something less human, but his Status page listed him as human, so it was a safe bet he still was.

“Are you with the cultists?”

“No,” Noah said.

“Were you sent by the Iron Fists?”

“Who even is that?”

“Answer the question,” Aurelia snapped.

“No.”

Silence settled as a contemplative expression took over Aurelia. A moment later, she glanced at him with an analysing gaze. “Are you from this world?”

Noah swallowed a lump in his throat, not replying immediately. Should I tell her? What if they kill anything that’s not from this world?

It wouldn’t matter either way. His shoulder was injured, his mana was low, and he had no way of escaping if she wanted to kill him. Slowly, he raised his head and replied, “No.”

Aurelia gave him a terse nod. With almost a sigh of relief, she walked up to him and collapsed nearby, taking him by surprise.

Noah was taken aback by the sudden change in her.

“My apologies for acting like that. I really appreciate the help, even if you just stood around for a while. Nothing about you made sense, and I’ve already been betrayed once today. Forgive me if I appear on edge,” Aurelia said.

“Fair enough,” Noah replied. “In my defence, the Quest had ‘don’t die’ as an optional objective, and I wasn’t too keen to jump into it without having some kind of plan.”

“Don’t die in your what?” Aurelia said, raising an eyebrow at his words.

“Nevermind. My name is Noah. Noah Brown. And I’m not entirely sure how I’m here. I think I died.”

“That’s impossible. You cannot just bring a person back to life like that. Not without some god interfering,” Aurelia said. She leaned in, squinting at him. “You even knew my name.”

Noah raised his hands, shifting back slightly. “Hey, I’m not lying. Can you explain anything that’s happening? And think about it. Why would I help you escape if I wanted to harm you? I’m even more lost than you are. I don’t know where the heck I am, or where to go from here, or how come I have magic all of a sudden… Honestly, I have so many questions,” Noah said, slowly putting his hands down as he saw Aurelia’s expression relax.

“I’m sorry, you’re right. I’m just incredibly stressed out. None of this was supposed to happen…” Aurelia said, staring into the distance.

Noah waited as long as he could, but the pain in his shoulders became too much to bear. “Sorry to disturb you while you’re resting but… could you maybe do something about this,” Noah said, pointing at the shoulder Viktral had attacked, which hung limp by his side. Likely dislocated.

“Ah yeah, sure,” Aurelia said. She moved and crouched beside him, inspecting his shoulder.

“Clench your teeth,” she warned.

Aurelia grabbed his shoulder and pushed the arm. Despite the warning, Noah bit his tongue at the intense pain that assaulted him as the shoulder joint was pushed back into his socket. Leaning his head back, he breathed through the pain. Aurelia sat by his side, closing her eyes.

After a minute or two, as the pain slowly faded, Noah asked, “Why’re you just sitting here with your eyes closed?”

Aurelia opened her eyes, glancing back at Noah. “I’m meditating.”

“I’m as much a fan of that as the next person, but I feel like it’d be smarter to do that when we’ve escaped first,” Noah said, glancing around at the corpses littering the area. “Not the most calming of places.”

“You really don’t know anything do you?” Aurelia said, surprised. “I’m meditating to replenish my mana. From the feel of your aura, you’re dangerously low as well.”

“My aura?” Noah asked.

“Yes, your aura. Did you not have any Awakened in your world? In fact, how old are you? Most people tend to awaken when they turn twenty, but you definitely look older than that, and you’re just level 6,” Aurelia asked, before looking at Noah again. “Exsanguinator… I don’t think I’ve heard of it.”

“I’m twenty-four, and I’m pretty sure we didn’t have any Awakened in my world. Or magic. Not this kind of magic anyhow,” Noah said, before glancing back towards Aurelia. “Well, maybe? What’s an Awakened?”

“Someone who has access to the Astral Scripts and can level up in their Paths. What’s Exsanguinator about?” Aurelia asked in return.

Noah almost replied, before he paused. A blood-based Path like his could be taboo or seen as inherently evil.

“Are there any taboo Paths?” Noah asked.

“Many gods forbid certain Paths. But most aren’t outright taboo. Anything that does not dabble in necromancy or ritualistic sacrifice is allowed by the adventurer’s guild.”

“Are you a part of that? The adventurer guild?” Noah asked. He could imagine what an adventuring guild might be like, and the thought of being able to visit one filled him with excitement.

“I am. I’m an E ranked adventurer. I’d show you my plate, but the cultists took it when they captured me,” Aurelia said, frowning.

Noah gave it some thought, then decided to keep the details of his Paths to himself. He didn’t want to explain how he’d gotten three at once either. “Exsanguinator is blood-based. It lets me heal, which is how I survived being stabbed.”

He glanced at Aurelia, using Identify on her.

[Flame Warden - ?]

“You’re a [Flame Warden] then?” he asked her, reading the description. Aurelia’s eyes widened in surprise.

“I am, but I have two.”

It only shows the highest level Path. That’s good to know.

“How did you get here by the way? You’re clearly powerful,” Noah asked.

Aurelia’s expression fell at his words, as if recollecting a grim memory. “I got set up. I was working with an adventuring team, and we’d gotten a search Quest for disappearances around these parts. Turns out, the team I was working with was a part of it. They laced my food and handed me over to the cult.”

“Sounds like you’ve had a rough day as well,” Noah said.

“Yeah,” Aurelia replied and clenched her fists. “I really should’ve seen the signs. I got complacent and nearly died.”

“Tell me about it,” Noah said, shaking his head.

“How did you get here?” Aurelia asked, raising an eyebrow. “I know you were summoned by the cultists but… souls of the departed do not move on to the Void.And if they do in your world, then I pity your reality.”

“No, I’m pretty sure that’s just me. Honestly, I’m not really sure. I can’t remember how I died,” Noah said.

“Well, Outerworlders are not without precedent in Erandir. They’re not exactly common, but common enough that we have a word for them. Perhaps you’ll meet someone from your home.”

“Is that so? That would be… an experience,” Noah replied, trailing off.

“You don’t sound too thrilled by the idea?” Aurelia asked.

“I mean, I’d probably be happy at the time. But it would remind me of everything wrong I’d done in my previous life as well,” Noah said, looking up at the dark cavernous ceiling. “Honestly. Despite almost dying multiple times today, I still have no desire to go back. I’m not sure what I’d even go back for.”

Aurelia remained silent, drawing Noah’s focus back to her. The brown-haired woman was silently regarding him, as if trying to find something within his expression.

“Is there something on my face? Or are you just taken away by what you see?” Noah said, flashing her a grin.

Aurelia looked away and chuckled, shaking her head. “No, I was merely surprised.”

“Surprised that someone as handsome as me had a shitty life back home?”

“Surprised at how similar we were,” Aurelia said, leaning against the wall. “Tell me, what’s your world like? You said it didn’t have any magic.”

“We have magic tricks. Sleight of hand and stuff like that. Nothing like the awesome magic you have here. Oh, but we do have the internet, so I guess it balances out.”

“The internet?”

“It’s a network that connects these devices you use to look up anything. Any question you have, it’ll probably have the answer to. The majority of the world’s information and data is stored on the internet. Although most of it is just porn.”

Aurelia hummed. “That sounds like the Astral Script, but more accessible. And not limited to magic. Although I don’t know if it has this ‘porn’ you speak of.”

“The Astral Script huh. Well, mine did take the form of an RPG system which isn’t that many steps removed from the internet in the grand scheme of magic things,” Noah said.

“What’s…” Aurelia’s mouth moved as she tried to pronounce the word, only to give up with a shake of her head. “The thing you said just now.”

“RPG system? It’s a kind of game—Actually, I’ll explain that later, too much context needed in between before it’ll make sense,” Noah said.

Aurelia looked at him weirdly, then turned away. “You should meditate as well,” she said, crossing her legs and straightening her back. “A place like this is bound to have a storage chamber with magical artefacts. There’s no way I’m leaving all of that behind. I also need to find any belongings of the person who I’d originally come here to find.”

“There’s other people here?” Noah asked, feeling a bit better at the idea that he wasn’t the only one trapped far outside his depth.

“None alive. They kept us in a small dungeon underground. I was the last one there,” Aurelia said, souring Noah’s mood.

Closing his eyes, he straightened his back, and tried to focus on meditating. It took him a while to settle his thoughts from running into a thousand different tangents. Thoughts of the fight and the recent events kept flashing in Noah’s mind, playing themselves over.

He’d killed two people. Not by accident, but intentionally. He’d killed even more, if he counted freeing Aurelia. They would’ve killed him too if they could’ve. Viktral almost did. But despite the knowledge, despite knowing these people deserved what they got, Noah found the sight of the dying cultist, his eyes wide in shock, firmly stuck in his mind. He let out a breath, then dismissed the image as he focused on the warmth swirling in his abdomen.

You are meditating.

Mana regeneration increased by 100%

Congratulations! You’ve obtained the skill [Meditation].

Noah startled, his eyes fluttering open at the sudden chime in his head. Glaring at the words, they disappeared.

“My soul’s user interface sucks,” Noah grumbled, closing his eyes once more and reactivating Meditation.

Even without the mana bar increasing twice as fast, Noah could sense something in his body starting to fill. After just a few minutes, Noah’s spirit was filled to the brim, like a bowl with too much water, ready to spill over.

Mana: 100%

Noah opened his eyes, finding his energy replenished, as if just awakening from a nap. He glanced sideways and saw Aurelia Meditating still. Deciding to use his time to explore his system, Noah opened up his menu.

Name: Noah Brown

Race: Human

Rank: F

Paths:

Exsanguinator - level 6

Astralwalker - level 4

Void Hunter - level 4

Attributes:

Power: 11

Agility: 9

Constitution: 11

Mystic: 13

Attribute Points: 14

Selecting his Attribute Points, Noah thought it over before distributing them.

Power increased to 16.

Agility increased to 12.

Constitution increased to 15.

Mystic increased to 15.

He looked at the two bars at the corner of his vision and found them ever so slightly larger.

Satisfied by the choice, Noah closed the menu, then opened his [Abilities] menu.

Abilities:

Exsanguinator:

[Blood Drain (Basic)] - level 1

Astralwalker:

[Blink (Basic)] - level 1

Void Hunter:

[Obliterate (Basic)] - level 1

Noah selected Blood Drain, Blink, and Obliterate.

[Blood Drain (Basic) - level 1]

You can draw upon the blood of others to heal yourself. Increases healing regeneration and can negate blood loss and bleed.

[Blink (Basic) - level 1]

The realms cannot hold you. Jump through reality and teleport a short distance around you in the blink of an eye.

[Obliterate (Basic) - level 1]

Channel the energies of the void to annihilate everything that may come in your path.

Noah whistled as he read through the descriptions. Blink and Blood Drain he’d already used and had a good idea for how they worked. The more mana he used with Blink, the further he could teleport.

Curious, Noah reached out to Obliterate. The skill felt intuitive. Dartk wisps gathered at his hands, coating them with the essence of void. A prickling sensation ran along his skin as he used Obliterate, and he glanced up, noting his health starting to dip. Cancelling the skill, the health drain stopped immediately.

“That’s going to be tricky. Good thing I have [Exsanguinator] though,” Noah murmured, closing the [Ability] menu and moving on to his [Skills].

Skills:

Meditation (Basic) - level 1

Astral Resistance (Basic) - level 7

Soul Resistance (Basic) - level 7

Void Resistance (Intermediate) - level 14

Noah selected the Meditation skill.

[Meditation (Basic) - level 1]

Increases natural mana recovery rates by 100% during the meditation period. Increases physical recovery rates while active.

“That’s neat,” Noah said, closing the description. Changing options, he went to his resistances. Soul Magic? He stared at the resistance in confusion, before opening the prompt.

[Soul Resistance (Basic) - level 7]

Your soul has weathered the Void, absorbing pieces of the Astral Interdimensional Rift, before being put back together. It has grown resistant and rigid, resilient to change. Soul Magic will struggle to take hold of you.

Before he could move on to the other resistances, he felt Aurelia stir as she stretched her limbs.

“Alright, I’m full. Let’s move,” she said, standing up.

Noah followed after her to where she’d fought Viktral. Noah stood a ways behind, watching her go through his clothes. She picked out items from the dead man’s robes, before letting out an aha! holding up a bracelet.

“What’s that?” Noah asked, trying to ignore that she’d just looted a corpse of a person he’d helped her murder.

“A storage device. It has a pocket dimension inside where you can put things. We can get the contents inside it if we take it to the city,” Aurelia said.

“Sounds like a convenient tool,” Noah replied, looking at the bracelet in wonder.

“It is, but it’s also annoying. Storage devices are all blood bound. You need special tools to open one up, even after the owner has died. If I don’t find a key for him then we’ll have to make a trip to the nearest city to open the bracelet and hope it’s in there, so that we can come back here and pick the area clean,” Aurelia said, continuing to search through the dead man’s robes.

“Can you show it to me for a second?” Noah asked.

Aurelia threw the bracelet to him and Noah scrambled to catch the thing without dropping it.

Inspecting the bracelet, he noticed various gems and little symbols carved in it that lit up when turned at a certain angle. An idea came to Noah, and he opened up his Inventory.

Pushing the bracelet into the menu, he tried to store the item, but found it touching the menu screen as if it were solid. Words flashed in front of Noah’s eyes a moment later.

[Inventory] has detected a storage device.

Would you like to transfer the items from [Viktral Nayfar’s Storage Device] to your Inventory?

Yes/No?

Noah selected the Yes option, and a myriad of notifications erupted in his vision.

3 x [Mana Stones - F] obtained.

17 x [Mana Stones - E] obtained.

2 x [Mana Stones - D] obtained.

1 x [Potion of Healing (Uncommon)] obtained.

1 x [Tome of Sight (Common)] obtained.

1 x [Twin Daggers (Uncommon)] obtained.

1 x [Ring of Abyssal Eye (Rare)] obtained.

1 x Cellar Key obtained

1 x Abyssal Cultist Chief robe obtained.

Scrolling through his Inventory, Noah briefly glanced at all the items, before picking up the one with the key symbol. The key was iron and rusted, and Noah could not detect anything magical about the item.

He used Identify on it, to check just in case.

[Cellar Key]

An old, rusted key to a cellar.

“Aurelia?” Noah called out.

“What is it?” Aurelia asked, not looking back as she continued to search through Viktral’s robes.

“I think I found the key.”

The sourc𝗲 of this content is free(w)ebnov(𝒆)l