Book 2 Chapter 5: A stake to claim a heart

Chapter 5: A stake to claim a heart

Jaeger tapped his finger on his temple, deep in thought, he wanted to ask many questions of course for this new place but something else seems to be going on here that needed his priority attention.

None of the men in the room spoke up, and thus Jaeger scanned his eyes over each and every one of them.

Starting from his left and going around, there were 15 people in total. For notes in his mind, 5 of them had handheld cold weapons such as swords and great weapons. 5 of the last 10 were the cloak-wearing group with no particular thing about them standing out other than the designs of the cloaks themselves.

The last 5, which included the leaderesque man, had varying aspects to themselves. If the leader was an all-around type of combatant, then one man looked fast, another purely built for strength and so on.

Most likely they had put extreme importance on one specific attribute. He couldn't read their watches, but it was probably like that, with the leader like Jaeger having an all-around spread for his attributes.

"What are the monstrosities and abnormalities outside the sanctuary caused by, they aren't normal undead and instead attack everything" Jaeger took out his smoke, looking at everyone before lighting it up. Nobody spoke right off the bat, instead taking in the smell of Vanilla wafting out from Jaeger's space.

"It all started when the first people arrived here…" A cloaked figure spoke up with a gruff voice, "…one man who was the first to meet the god of the body, told us that the god would settle here…and with each quest we completed the space of the 'sanctuary would expand'…we received points to put towards our attributes, but we also noticed…that those that died outside, wouldn't just die but become severely abnormal. The change wasn't always self-evident; in fact from what we have seen and what some of us have experienced those that died had what we thought was a 'near death' experience but somehow miraculously survived…but instead…" The cloaked figure's voice slowly died down as the leader picked up where he left off.

"They changed, and the attributes they had most dominantly seemed to be the main force of their change…those that had high strength, become those large monsters you may have seen with abnormal physiques and rippling muscles. Those that had high speed became these almost bone plated type of speed demons…those of endurance haven't been seen yet or those of perception…as for dexterity, we killed the only ones we came across which were these creatures with giant mouthy grins on their chest, extremely nimble…one got away, but we haven't gone after it. Nobody else has been allowed to leave the sanctuary until we decided what to do here first."

Jaeger nodded, "I saw it…I didn't kill it but…a 40 foot tall muscle freak did, I blitzed it, only to find I couldn't put it down and so I ran…far and fast, till I arrived here." Jaeger puffed out a cloud as he moved his tongue across his teeth with his mouth closed. Some things made sense now, at least the context.

"It's true…it sucked. We have decided that we will send our weakest to scout out and around, because if an elite group of people go out and die…well…that will be very hard to put down later" A man to the left of the leader across from Jaeger spoke up after Jaeger finished his last word.

Jaeger nodded, "it must be the cost of things here…for Enigma, the cost to learn from him is merely time and effort. He granted me things, as that is probably on your minds, but only after I nearly died several times saving another group of people for him…however, there are several 'imperfect points' I have noticed about the city."

The leader bit his cigar a little harder, and rubbed his forehead before breathing out acrid smoke he had been holding in too long, "What…would that be?" he asked both curious and terrified of the answer.

"Why is it that we haven't seen anyone from the mid sections? Why haven't we seen a soul from the echelon? Or heard about them at all? Further…the city is expanding vastly from what I have found out and heard, and yet I have only come across few people. I only saw at most several hundred people here, and even from the sanctuary I came from…no more than several hundred could be in the mage school under Enigma." Jaeger muttered the last line, but the group heard him quite clearly.

"We…may have a theory on that" one of the cloaked figures spoke up, specifically the one next to the last cloaked figure that had spoken.

"What is it then, speak up?" Jaeger directly looked at them, leaning his body over the table as he crossed his arms and lazily smoked his cigarette.

The cloaked figured sat a little straighter and composed a coherent thought as best they could, "The tower in the central part of this area has a top floor, where you can find a mote of light in which you interact with to receive things. When you close your eyes, a voice speaks to you and your watch can interact with this light…the watch says 'Entropies 8th will'…for a long time we assumed there wasn't a context, other than his voice…but now, we think that there are 7 others 'Wills' and yet it is confirmed in the city this is the ONLY point to meet with entropy"

"You mean…" Jaeger flicked his cigarette as his eye brows knitted together.

The figure nodded, "Yes…there are dimensions within dimensions here, as if the space of the city is stacked…I don't know why though."

"I do…isn't it obvious, we cannot struggle with the tens of millions of residents we had here before. We could band together, or in essence over populate a certain sanctuary leaving the rest to fend for themselves…this isn't to deprive us of a human society, this is to even the odds in the favor of all.

Albeit the whole situation is morbid…I wonder if the middle sections and upper tiered sections specifically are going through something else…I'll have to ask a certain someone sometime. Before that…I have my own quest currently" Jaeger waved his hand before rapping the table with his fingers.

The leader of the group nodded, "So be it…our current quest is conquest. The more we succeed, the greater the space here becomes for us to thrive…but it isn't easy…"

"How does the whole system here work?" Jaeger was quite curious about this.

"Simply put, contribution begets reward. How you interact with the sanctuary in your action, what you have done, and who you have done it with reflects the very will of the sanctuary. One heart, one whole. Or…we have said philosophically towards it all." One of the 5 non cloaked, non-leader group people said this with a sigh; the great blade on his back slid a bit as he positioned himself comfortably in his seat.

"I see…so the actions of the 'body', both in action and the human societal whole…an external symbology with a physical representation of the singular…Enigma you…" Jaeger closed his eyes, trying to dissuade himself from thinking on the philosophy Enigma had told him before, lest he get lost within it.

"What happened to the first?" Jaeger asked after a while, opening his eyes and bringing his smoke to his lips.

"Him... we don't know…" The leader said with a flash of regret in his eyes.

"What?" Jaeger looked at him confused.

"He went into…well he went to go fight another guy, who is the leader of a different group of people in the west central, where the god of the mind exists…supposedly unlike our leader, who treats us fairly and each of us have an equal standing…the man there rules with knowledge, and as he is the 'greatest' with that of a mind, he rules for himself…supposedly there…people who are the 'leader' decide on what the sanctuary will become, and those under him will carry out the will of it granting him solely contribution points"

"I see…interesting…" Jaeger smiled while shaking his head.

"Whats interesting about it?" A burly, hairy armed man to Jaeger's right asked curiously.

"The god of body tells you all that acting as a whole, like that of the muscles of the physical body, must work to shape your sanctuary. Exercising your actions properly, like that of organs and their needs. Your actions, contribute to the whole, and thus to yourself. This is very symbolic in context, and yet you are presented with a goal to lead you by which to upgrade your attributes of course…but, he is also teaching you, don't you realize?" Jaeger looked around at every face in the room, nobody spoke up, but many of them nodded in thought.

"The first man must have realized this…and that's why he didn't say it outright, and yet some of you…" Jaeger looked at the man who had spoken his thoughts on the philosophy of the purpose here, "Have almost realized this…he left most likely to not play the hero, but to carry out the will of the hands of this body. He, is a king for all of you…look to him as one, as he is a good and proper king who leads by actions rather than forces his army to shield him. I like this man already…alright, I shall go find him, and from there I shall stop this other King…who uses the people all for himself, as that is not what type of king I want to see in this world."

"Such a wise man…" Someone muttered in the room, he thought of it as a complement, but the second those words reached Jaeger's ears he shivered and then laughed while half choking on the smoke he had just pulled into his lungs.

"What is his name?" Jaeger wiped his tears.

"Nor, his name is Nor." The stand in leader said with a nod.

"Good…this shall be my contribution to your body then, your vessel." Jaeger nodded and began to stand up slowly.

The leader put his cigar out on the table before him and stood up with the rest of the men.

"We can't merely let you go alone?" He eyed jaegers build, which was obviously much smaller than his own.

"You must let me… I can move faster that way" Jaeger smiled while taking off his mask.

The man looked at Jaeger's face, which had previously been covered, with a light in his eyes.

A well-defined and young face much younger than his own scarred face. A light and righteous smile, long black hair pulled back, with fierce and pointed brown eyes. A jawline well cut, but not like jade, round enough to not look too out of place. The man carved this face into his mind, "Then…first I have two questions…what rewards can we as a people give you, and what are your attributes?"

The first question was him trying to make up for the help Jaeger denied, whereas the second was purely out of curiosity to Jaegers previous words.

Jaeger spoke out like a computer,

"Strength: 28 (+15)

Speed: 28 (+200)

Endurance: 20 (+15)

Perception: 28 (+20)

Dexterity: 24 (+20)

Intelligence: 36"

The men gasped, obviously noting the +200 that Jaeger had spoken. Even the quickest man in the room could barely say he was half of half that.

"How?..." The leader asked with his mouth agape, wondering the question on everyone's mind out loud.

"This…is my power, the additional increases I spoke as pluses are things I can give myself, but not all at once…it depends on what is needed, and these 'plus' numbers are based solely off of a particular element I am fond of with the greatest return…trust me, the speed isn't lasting, but I do have things that can keep me going continually, so the drawback I guess isn't there anymore except for the drawback on my body…as for the reward…hmm…"

Everyone closed their mouths and subconsciously nodded, if it was a power or skill they could understand completely then. If he had that innately at all times, now that would shock the shit out of them.

The leader turned his head and nodded simply for Jaeger to continue.

"I need some materials to build a house with…I'll give you the designs, if you can build it that would be nice…ill come back and take it later." Jaeger waved his hand, and out onto the table a frog popped out from a bout of mist before a slip of paper and a pencil appeared next to it from its open mouth.

Jaeger drew a schematic for what he had in mind, and then slid the paper forward.

The leader leaned as far as he could forward to look at the paper, noting its strange shape and design but he nodded none the less.

"Good…give me the route to the west central from here, I only had a route to the west central from my previous position but I don't think I can go back that way with that…brick shit house somewhere in the area."

The man beside Jaeger tapped his watch to Jaeger's after a ding resounded from Jaeger's watch in his ears he nodded and left the room and the men standing there.

"I Wonder if he will make it…if he does…we should make him the advisor, I haven't done my best as one" the leader let out a sigh. His friend beside him roughly patted his back, "Don't worry…"

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Jaeger found the woman outside, and after berating the living hell out of her got her to bring him some dry rations and food to last him a while.

Many of the people guarding the upper left gate path watched as Jaeger stepped forth back into the fog, he left his mask off until he stepped through so that they all knew what he looked like. They would be far less guarded against him next time, as he hadn't upgraded his body so far and thus if he came back alive, then he was most definitely truly alive.

'Huh?' Jaeger looked down at his watch where a blinking X was located several blocks off the route he was on. Jaeger muttered to himself, and slid the mask up onto his head like a hat while taking a look around.

"It wouldn't be too far I guess, but if I fall into a maze, I could be half way across town before I get lost…" Jaeger looked back down at the maps watch only to find the X gone.

"What the fuck…" It seemingly disappeared from the map.

Jaeger muttered to himself again and slid the mask back down as he heard a clacking sound echo out from the fog.

He checked the map one more time as he slowly treaded forward from heel to toe tip but soon stopped in his tracks when his eyes caught the sight of a familiar X.

Jaeger rubbed his chin, and kept his eyes trained on the X while sliding the mask up and down his head, "indeed it's the mask…was this why he gave me it? Because it reveals unknown portals? If that was true then I should see far more X's as the whole city hasn't been explored yet…that can only mean there is a purpose he is giving me to see this…or rather, did he make the mask to allow me to see hidden or secret portals? Fuck that's vague…"

However, as many questions as Jaeger asked himself, his feet seemed to take the lead in going down the route layed out towards that portal.

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"Fwhoo…fwhoo…" Jaeger held his chest and wheezed as his eyes caught the sight of a horde of undead running towards a rock he had thrown as far as he could against a nearby glass window.

Confirming with a quick glance they had missed him, Jaeger turned around to the dark alley behind his back. Several unlit lanterns hung on the alley walls, with several old stone edged doors on either side. Shadows hung all over the place, seemingly out of place for the lack of light amongst the gray haze.

A trashcan was thrown against the ground, littering the contents it had previously contained. Rotten food, old clothe, and other miscellaneous mixed with the wet ground to form streaks of multicolored grime and glossy stone.

At the end of this alley was a dead end, the 3 walls that made this dead end were sky scrapers connected at the corners, running up into the sky before disappearing after 30 feet due to the deep haze of grey in the area. Jaeger looked up for a while, before his head leveled to the dead end his feet carried him to.

His eyes followed the wall as his gaze slowly lowered further down its flat surface and then towards the ground left and right. The only thing of note was a large poster on the wall, about 3 feet across and 4 feet tall, depicting a 'new cutting edge' system to come out some time in the future.

Jaeger had actually known about this, and half the reasoning he had no furniture other than a bed and chair apart from the table the café owner had given him; every dime went towards getting this one day.

Supposedly the system would've been a high end form of illusion that interacted with the mind, yet shit hit the fan first.

"Hmm…" Some things about the poster had changed though, whereas originally there was some complicated head set with a 'dream potion' next to it, which was a concoction that forcefully made you dream, there was the head set in a different configuration and a small rectangular square with buttons on it and a cross.

"Could…no…" Jaeger took the edges of the poster at its bottom and slowly pulled it from the wall bringing it eye level with the top portion still stuck to the stone. His eyes were even with the paper like looking straight at a blade, with his focus on the portions of the 'head set' now moving together due to optical illusion.

"Holy!..." Jaeger almost shouted out, he cocked his head behind him to make sure nothing heard the short blurt and then looked back at the optical illusion of the poster.

The pieces aligned to form the mask he was given!

However, why the rectangular control looking device? Secondly, if he was standing where the X should be on his map why wasn't there a portal?

Jaeger fully pulled the poster off the wall and held it in his hands, skimming over it all front and back before pocketing it. Looking back at the wall nothing was hidden beneath, no mechanism or switch; it was seemingly a man-made wall through and through.

Jaeger stood there for several minutes while scratching his head in thought, "Well…a dead ends a dead end…that's shitty." With a sigh he spun around to walk back down the alley. Unknown to him, where the poster once stood a strange sigil glowed to life.

A circle with an orb floating upon it clockwise, with a larger orb shaped dot in the middle. The outer edged orb began to spin faster and faster until it became a blur, and then from the central dot as a core a whirling wind of cosmic space opened up and greedily absorbed the surrounding fog.

Jaeger looked at his arms as his steps stopped. His exposed hands from the sleeves, as well as his exposed neck, felt like a cloud was passing by his body. With a quick spin Jaeger whipped out his pistol from under his arm pit and aimed for the danger he felt from behind him. Only to see a large whirling gate that mesmerized the eyes in place of what felt like the breath of death, Jaegers eyes focused on the scene before him.

The fog was being pulled in at a rate that began to increase by the second. With a strange free floating feeling, Jaeger slowly drifted forward and up until he was warped through the portal whole without an ounce of struggle.