New Possibilities

Asher had collapsed after about an hour of attempting to leave the underground of Winterhaven. He awoke to being in his bed. Looking around, he noticed both Leah and Willow staring at him. "What happened? How did I get here?" Asher asked in confusion. Both girls shushed him quickly. "A lot of people died here, Asher. Because of you, it wasn't everybody. Nobody knows why you weren't affected by the plague that ran through the town, but everyone is grateful to you," Willow explained.

Asher raised an eyebrow as Leah nodded. A rush of memories hit Asher all at once of everything that had happened. It all made sense now. He went to slide out of bed and collapsed to the floor. He checked his leg to find it broken again somehow. Didn't it heal before he left the castle? How was it broken again?

He had questions and no one here could answer them. Asher told Willow he wanted to speak to Leah alone. As Willow left, Asher looked at Leah intently. "I saw the figure again. I faced the lich and it had beaten me. It was going to kill me. The figure saved me. It said it unlocked more abilities as well. I want to try something on you, since you are the only person I know with an ability similar to mine."

"Whatever you need to do, do it," Leah replied. "You saved my life."

"Give me your hand," Asher ordered. Leah did just that and she felt strength leaving her body for a few seconds. Asher remarked, "Very interesting." A few seconds later, she felt a rush of warmth flowing up her arm. After that, there was a coldness as it left once again. Asher did that multiple times until he was satisfied with the results and he stated, "I'm going to keep some of your energy to help me heal for a while. I'm very interested to see if I can boost any allies we may gain over time into higher strength so we don't lose people we trust along the way."

Leah nodded to him and said, "Try to rest. You've more than earned it, my friend. You fought hard to save everyone."

Asher smirked as Leah left the room. He hadn't done it for everyone. He had done it for two reasons. He expected a large reward and Leah was his friend. She was the only person that he could remember in his entire life that had been around for a long enough time to make an impact.

He saw the armor stand in the corner and it almost brought a tear to his eye when he saw the state of it. His minotaur leather cuirass had a hole broken through it, along with several cracks along its surface. It had served him well for a long time, but it was ruined now. There was no point in trying to use it.

Whatever the shadowy figure had done to him, it had severely weakened him. It would be a couple of days before his leg fully healed. He wasn't recovering like he had been before.

Asher could feel that his powers of ice and fire were still present, along with his enhanced hearing. With all of his extra skills, Asher felt as though it wouldn't take long for him to reach his former strength again.

A couple of days passed and Asher was walking again with no issues. It was as if he had never been hurt. Asher felt a determination to become stronger, fueled by his recent defeat.

Asher hadn't made it out of the guild yet, he wasn't sure what to expect. Never before had he done something that could be considered particularly heroic. This was completely uncharted territory for him. He peeked through a window and saw a crowd gathered outside. So many people had gathered to praise him, completely opposite from the response he was used to.

He sighed deeply before walking out and hearing at least a hundred people all cheering his name. Asher knew word would spread about him from now on. There were quite a few high class adventurers that he had saved in the end. He wondered if he'd be able to convince them to buy him some new armor since his had broken due to the fight he had with the lich.

Several days passed with the townspeople constantly showering Asher with praise and adoration for saving them. As small as the settlement was, Asher was amazed at how many people were gathered. After about a week, the people started to settle down. Asher had received a new chest plate before that had happened, however.

His new chest plate was another Minotaur leather cuirass embedded with Aetherian steel studs to deflect blows. Killian had bought it for him, along with bracers and greaves to match it. Asher had sold his old greaves the moment he received that gift.

He met up with Leah and Willow and stated, "I don't know what happened to me down there, but it weakened me. I may not be able to do jobs with the two of you for a while until I recover fully."

Leah asked, "So you're taking a demotion for now?"

Asher replied, "Not so much. I talked it over with Connor, I'm going back to Imperia for now while I recover and I'm going to do D rank jobs until I recover enough that I can perform at the same level again."

Within the next few days, Asher had left the province with Leah escorting him. They had done this so he could return her power he had borrowed to her. He had somewhat mixed feelings about leaving, he had left the last time due to bounties on his head. Had he returned without paying those off, he'd likely be a dead man. Because of that, he almost wished he had let the city die. At the same time, there were crowds of people cheering his name.

As soon as he got to Imperia, he went straight to Colin. "Connor told me what you did and what your situation is, you absolutely can do the rank D jobs as much as you need to while you recover, Asher. You have my thanks for making sure my brother is still alive."

Asher replied, "I did everything I could down there. Anybody else would have done the same."

Colin grunted his agreement and the conversation was over. Asher got to work after that, doing every job he could. Once he was satisfied with the amount of power he had gained, he returned Leah's to her. It would take a while, but he felt as though he might be able to catch back up to where he was originally.

He took a job killing goblins. It was an easy enough task for him. They were harassing farmers in the countryside. Asher was about to deal with them when he heard a bone chilling voice from inside his head, "Subjugate them. Make them submit."

Asher was confused while he stared at the goblins. A hand came out of nowhere and grabbed Asher's, pulling him along. The shadowy figure placed Asher's hand on a goblins forehead and the being screamed, "Submit!"

Asher felt a rush of power and weakness all at the same time. It was like nothing he had ever felt before. As quickly as it had started, it ended. The shadowy hand that was holding Asher just moments before was gone.

The goblin's eyes went completely black, devoid of life. After that, it began to attack the others. Asher could feel a small surge in power from each one, which was good because whatever the being had made him do had drained him of power significantly.

Asher looked around and the being was nowhere to be found. Asher wondered how exactly the being was connected to him. It had shown him two new skills with his power of domination and this newest one showed that it was aptly named. The goblin he had subjugated, had killed every other one and it stood as rigid as a board, awaiting orders. Asher was confused as to how to actually perform the skill, as it had happened so fast he didn't have time to pay attention to what the being had done.

Even still, the power had drained him. The goblin was going to be his ace for now until he had time to regain his strength. A smile crossed his face, however. He wondered just how far he could go with the monsters under his command, with the fact that he still received some level of power back from them. He would have to try some things out in the coming days.