Ch 25 - Stress

"You going to explain in full or just disappear again?" Kyle asked in annoyance, arms open wide.

Draxxer sighed "It's too late for me to back off now so yes, I will explain what I've tried to explain to your party here" he answered gesturing at Skill and Karnage. "I guess I should start from the beginning now that things have mostly calmed down" laying forward in his chair Draxxer put his hands together and began to tell.

"When Gods want something done about what goes on down here, they use an artefact left behind by the Avatar. Before you ask about it, not even the Gods know what or who the Avatar was just that it created them in turn disappearing and they created us in turn weakening them. But the intentions behind both creations weren't the same. The Gods created the races not simply to create but…to finish off what they started. Conflict brewed between the Gods after the Avatar disappeared, over what happens next and what happens with the different realms left behind. Some of them wanted the conflict to end not wanting to hurt their own."

"So the Gods came together and chose different realms, warzones where they created their troops and made them fight instead. The victor would come to choose what happens in that realm, the other Gods that chose to fight on that realm have no say until the next fight." Everyone turned to listen, even Skill who didn't seem to care much "But at one point, the Avatar returned. It destroyed Gods left and right, ending those that desired conflict the most. When it was done with purging its children it left this artefact to the remaining Gods then disappeared again."

"The artefact allowed seven Gods to each pick a single mortal being imbuing them with their power, sending those chosen here to this realm and granting them what we call The Grand Quest. I was one of those chosen and part of the first ever to fail."

"Why only this realm?"

Draxxer smirked "So you're awake"

Sly groaned as he stood up from the table, wobbling a bit he held onto it "Yeah no thanks to you, Nephilim? Seriously?" he stared at Draxxer in disbelief "Yeah I heard it all, somehow".

"Then I will continue. The answer to your question, is that the Avatar was angered by all the Gods not just bloodthirsty ones. It banned the survivors from messing with the other realms, leaving them only this one."

"What about Lilliana, you were there so you had first person experience with that part" Kyle asked.

Draxxer nodded "Lilliana…It was Oberon who started our Grand Quest, it was also Oberon the reason she went rogue. Being a demigoddess isn't easy, scorned by all Gods and Goddesses. Worst of all though, she disgusted Oberon. The only reason he kept Lilliana alive was because of his wife the Goddess Queen of the Fae Titania, when the demons took her…he began to lose it. Imagine it, living together since the beginning of existence. Oberon was above furious, he went insane and Lilliana enjoyed it."

"I even suspect that the demon's appearance on Barik was her doing, she did not seem torn up about her mother's death at all. We weren't able to stop her, Oberon miscalculated when he summoned us. We were too weak to fight the demons so early and ended up losing four to just one devil. Frost, Spear, Arrow and Draco dead, only me, Darkness and Scythe remained. Scythe…He betrayed us as well, he joined Lilliana for the promise of returning home. As far as we can tell that did not go very well for Lilliana. Scythe did return home but in turn he stole her most precious possession."

"Scythe stole the artefact of the Grand Quest from Lilliana as she had done from Oberon, without it she cannot continue her plan. She intended to call up her own heroes, her quest? Take over this realm."

Kyle paced around the tent "What about the main powers of Chaoz? The Elves? The Orcs? Ogres? What about this alliance of races of yours? Why do none of you try to stop her?"

Draxxer shook his head "The Elven courts won't act, all three of them have their hands full hating each other. But…cannot act against each other because ultimately the Elven Elders lead the people through tradition while they only have their warriors. As for the Orcs and Ogres, the Orcs love conflict but are terrified of the Devil Kings while the Ogres have always had a bone to pick with the Fae king." He looked up and stared at Sly "As for us, the alliance wishes to use the heroes against Lilliana and the demons but because of tradition…us previous heroes weren't allowed to make contact. The dominion…isn't in its best shape either."

"Similarly to the Elves our side is broken, the people do not trust us…me…The churches have taken over the people's hearts and the royal family is losing it's backing. The churches will be awaiting your arrival to Eslet, I beg of you not to reveal what happened here to them. It would ruin the Empress's campaign to restore her family's name." He stood up still slightly shaking "The Humans, Halfbeasts, Scalarians, Dwarves and Fae rely on this. If the Churches take full control I cannot fathom the idiocy they will bring forth. The Mers and Avians will not act on their own, cowards and survivalists by nature."

Kneeling down practically begging he asked them "Please help us"

Sly smirked "Then go speak with our leader, Birse of the Serenity guild. We're just scouts right now, he doesn't take kindly to being spoken to through others you know."

"You won't tell?" Draxxer asked as he glanced up at him.

"Tell about what?" Sly replied with a grin "Now explain".

Standing up Draxxer looked at him with confusion "About?".

Sighing Sly opened his arms wide "About the damn half angel in the room, what happened to me? I don't even know why I was so pissed off back there!"

"Your companion died, it injured your soul. Mages call it a soul wail, releases all your pent up anguish and hatred as raw magical anger. In your case all your Aura along with your locked ancestral power, your Astral mana. An explosive combination, the reason I blew my cover at all." Draxxer explained sadly "I'm sorry hero but your power is too volatile, I cannot allow you to use it again. Yet".

"Yet?" Kyle stopped pacing.

"A wall can be made to block off the two energies from colliding along the existing lock. But I cannot do it" Draxxer replied.

"Then who?" Sly stepped forward eager to hear.

"The other surviving hero, Darkness. She can help you, she is a Nephilim herself and a master on Astral magic after all." Draxxer turned to the remaining spy "Gather your unit leader and colleague, we're moving" the spy nodded and disappeared. "My men will accompany you to Eslet's gates, after that you're on your own adventurers".

"What about you?" Karnage asked as she stood up along with the others.

"I'll go to Frosthold, speak with your leader. Only one of you heroes is back there so it will be easier to stay out of sight from them. After that I will make sure there are no other angel bombs among the adventurers, if anything happens my men will inform me and I will be right around" Draxxer answered as he raised his sword.

"Well thanks for…Not letting me go nuclear I guess?" Sly chuckled sadly.

Draxxer slashed a rift open "You're welcome adventurer" and walked in, immediately closing it behind himself.

---

Minutes later

Having spent the last couple minutes in awkward silence the party finally got the ice broken as Kess walked into the tent "The ride is ready, let us go" she told them before disappearing back out.

Sly sighed and stood up "Okay look, I've had it with you all glancing back and forth at me. I'm fine, nothing is wrong with me and I'm definitely not going to explode anytime soon" he stated loudly getting everyone's attention "I'm completely fine" he repeated.

Reyna glanced up from staring at her feet "You su-"

Kyle cut her off "He says he's fine so he is, I know what a soul wail whatever feels like. It sucks, badly but doesn't last long. Can we go now or will we just stand around feeling bad for each other?" he stood up and walked out.

"What he said" Skill followed.

Sighing again Sly walked over to the exit "Well…Let's go then" and walked out, Reyna and Karnage following soon after.

The town was no town at all, just an oversized encampment of tents and wooden walls. Some buildings were being built but none were habitable yet, only tents of different sizes stood as walls and roofs for the citizens.

Catching up with Kess, Kyle couldn't help but ask "What's up with Carn? Tents and wood keeping them safe from the monsters and cold?"

"New town, dungeon appeared couple weeks ago." She stated with a stern tone.

("Not the talkative type") Kyle thought to himself "A dungeon?".

"An underground set of rooms of different elevation, each with their own traps, monsters and mysteries. All controlled by a single being, all part of a single being. Dungeons aren't living breathing beings by they are sentient, somewhat." She explained in full.

"Ah…Wait what?" Kyle replied taken aback as the others caught up.

Kess rolled her eyes "New dungeons are very useful, new warriors train there to gain quick experience at the cost of increased danger."

"Did she just say a dungeon? Quick experience?" Sly asked leaning in to whisper.

"At the end of each floor it is said grand loot can be found, rewarded by the dungeon itself by using the equipment dropped by other fallen delvers" Kess continued to explain, unaware the others had stopped completely.

"Did she just say loot?" Skill chimed into the whispering.

"'Grand' loot" Karnage corrected also whispering.

Having finally noticed Kess turned around "Adventurers?"

"Yes! Exp!"

"Loot!"

"The mission!"

"Huh what?"

All but Reyna turned to her in confusion blabbering some nonsense, she stared at them with a raised brow hidden under her mask "We are…heading to Kaledd correct?..." she asked glancing at all of them.

They all looked at each other before Reyna replied "Fine, I'll be the voice of reason. Yes we are and no we aren't delaying to explore a dungeon!" she exclaimed.

"But…"

"Grand Loot!"

"Exp…"

She groaned in annoyance at their answer, in unison nonetheless.

"Boys, we're going so move your sorry asses before I cut off your legs off and drag you" Karnage stated reaching for her swords.

All three shuddered at the thought, "Fine alright, we'll visit the damn thing another day" Sly responded while scratching his head.

Nodding Kess turned back around "As you wish, this way to the steamicle".

"The hell did she just say?" Kyle asked stopping again as the others followed her.

"Don't know, guess we're going to find out" Sly replied.

After half an hour of walking to the other side of the town they stepped through the opening in the wall to find Klein and Vulk waiting around outside, a strange vehicle sitting behind them. The steamicle looked like an ancient wheeled car, something Kyle's grandfather would rant about how his grandfather loved the dinosaur machines more than his own two sons.

"What the hell is that?" Sly asked staring at the vehicle.

"With it's slender black chassis, silver rimmed blue wheels and roofless top. This my idiotic friend, is a car…Well except for the bad ass pipes blowing steam upwards and out the back" Skill sarcastically explained as he approached the vehicle. Unlike the average car this one indeed had four large pipes exiting the top back, steam puffing out at intervals as barely any sound was heard from whatever ran it.

"Wheels? Seriously? That's so last millennia" Karnage joked as she poked around the interior, the wheels albeit having a common shape were actually twice the size a car of this size would normally have.

"You have such vehicles in your realm as well?" Klein asked as everyone hopped into the car, three long blue leather seats able to seat three each.

"Not exactly" Skill replied groaning soon after "Someone shoot me".

Elbowing Skill in the arm Kyle explained "Ours do not use ancient systems like wheels and whatever magic this one utilizes. In short they can go up and down as easily as left and right just like front and back while able to move in any other direction without turning."

"Wings?" Klein asked curiously as he and the others also entered the steamicle.

Reyna shook her head "Nothing with wings even exists anymore in our world, alive or inanimate."

"No wyverns? Sounds like a blast" Vulk chuckled as he took the driver's seat, three levers and a keyhole in front of him.

"Actually a wyvern sounds like a fun fight" Karnage replied, all three spies and Sly turned to stare at her.

"Poisonous bladed wings, poisonous fangs, acidic claws, barbed poisonous tail, poisonous spiked scales, acid spitting, pack hunting and ever hungry spawn of nightmares" Klein listed off the top of his head.

"Not fun" Sly corrected.

After everyone took their seats, Kess, Reyna and Karnage at the back, Klein, Sly and Kyle in the middle and Skill riding shotgun with Vulk who pulled out the key and entered then turned it. The steamicle made no sound as it started or moved, no engine running, no wheels turning or snow crunching.

Kyle couldn't help but be fascinated "How does this thing work?"

Klein glanced at him "No clue, you'd have to ask the creators. The Dwarves make many strange things, this being a special case as it isn't entirely complete in their eyes."

"How so?" Kyle asked, his curiosity still rising.

"All this? Just the carrier, for the weapon they have yet to put on it." Klein replied with a grimace.

"Weapon?" Frowning Kyle looked over the vehicle again, removing the seats and paint he pictured it. "Ah…"

Staring off into the distance as the trees faded by he spoke solemnly "They have been obsessed, planning them out then building them. No matter how many they came up with they kept making more, improving over the years."

"Improving what?" Sly joined in his curiosity also piqued.

"Machines, with a sole purpose in mind. You want to know what they call them? Constructs…Constructs of massacre, Constructs of their bloody vengeance." He smiled coldly underneath the mask "An art they call it, the art of demon butchering."

"Great…an army of angry blood thirsty midgets with war machines…" Skill mused as Vulk almost lost control of the vehicle at his statement.

"Sorry!" Vulk shouted regaining control almost immediately.

Leaning away from Sly who had leaned over the car's edge and began emptying his stomach, Kyle pulled out his VCD "I'll fill in the others" he stated before opening the connection "Birse?".

"Heyy…" Birse waved into the device from an angle that suggested someone else was holding it, he sat behind an oak desk resting his arms on top of it while massaging his forehead.

"What's up with you?" Kyle asked surprised.

Glancing up Birse revealed a weary expression "Your…friend visited. The blade hero? In just how much crap are we under?" he sighed "We've come to terms, the Esfeltian soldiers will be arriving in three days. In the meantime Death is working with the mage guilds on something, hold tight to those VCDs he said."

"What's he working on?" Sly asked wiping his mouth, still dizzy he kept himself close to the edge.

"Something about veils, rifts and crap. Didn't give me the whole picture, he just ran off the moment he saw Blade walk into that…'rift'" passing his palm over his face one last time he stared into the VCD "What are you inside right now?"

"A Dwarven creation called a steamicle, four wheeled vehicle." Kyle replied.

"A beautiful piece of art" Skill answered.

"A god damn death trap" Sly finished before leaning back over the edge.

The view inside the VCD suddenly moved and an upside down Seren appeared "Is that a car? With wheels?" she asked frowning.

"Seren keep it still damnit!" Birse groaned in annoyance in the background.

"Hey I'm holding it so I aim it where I damn please" She replied "Where did you put the wolf? Please tell me its riding along and not running by!" her question made everyone inside tense up.

"It…He…" Kyle found himself at a loss for words as he glanced to his right.

Sly suddenly took the VCD into his hand "Kurt is dead, we got ambushed by Yetis and their blizzard magic. Oh and apparently I'm a half angel, a hero and a walking bomb" he stated with his chin plastered with puke before handing it back over and returning to marking the ground.

Seren stared back in complete astonishment, her mouth half open and eyes wide.

Taking the VCD from her hands Birse lined it up with his face and spoke "How is he?" now standing up.

"Says he's fine" Kyle responded while glancing at Sly "We're headed to Kaledd right now, at our current speed…" he changed the topic intentionally "Hell I don't know, how long till Kaledd?" he asked turning to Klein who eyed the object curiously.

"About three hours, the steamicle is fast but we'll have to stop at the mountain and continue by foot from there due to the rougher terrain." Klein immediately replied still staring into the VCD.

Birse sighed in relief "Good, we'll finally get to hear from Soren and Silv."

Smirking Kyle asked sarcastically "Worried about your cousin?"

Birse grins "More worried about those around him, who knows what he's up to. Silv wouldn't do shit to stop him, bets on how many times he's blown something up?"

Chuckling lightly Kyle shook his head "Yeah Silv would join him, hopefully they haven't turned the place upside down yet. So how's the training going?"

Birse shrugged "Well…some progress. The guard and mage guilds have helped a lot, our average level is still around 60s since most of our time is spent sparring and all but we still send everyone out in parties to hunt."

"Well I guess you're lucky you have us huh?" Kyle stated with a smirk.

Birse raised his brow and gazed into the projection of Kyle's asinine expression "Continue…"

"Carn isn't a normal town, it's an encampment surrounding a new dungeon. We've been told it's perfect for 'new warriors' plus the additional loot." Kyle explained his expression faltering "We're definitely hitting that place later war or not" he finally stated.

Birse snorted "Of course you would, alright thanks for the heads up. We'll see about gathering info on it, call me back whenever anything else comes up".

"Yeap, peace out" Kyle ended the connection, stashing the VCD back into his inventory he then tried to distract himself with thoughts about his magic but ultimately his worries spoke out on their own.

"He was happy about it you know" Sly suddenly spoke, his tone dejected and still resting his head over his right arm as it leaned out the edge while he stared up at the sky "Dying from a slyer, stronger predator. An honour he said." Sighing he continued to gaze upwards "Fucking oversized fur ball, damn battle maniac is what he was."

Reyna kicked the back of his seat "You're one to talk."

Kyle stared at his expression from the corner of his eyes, he was grinning.

"Yeah, same as when I found him. Blood thirsty, battle crazed. Ready to die, just for the excitement of it all." Chuckling Sly lowered his gaze "If-"

"If only you were stronger? Smarter? Faster?" Kyle asked as his stare turned into a cold gaze "Don't give me that shit, you know better than that. It doesn't matter, it never will because you weren't and that's the end of it. Instead tell yourself that you were too weak, too stupid and slow, too worthless to do anything because that's the damn truth. So man the fuck up and get stronger" he looked away "So it never happens again."

"Yeah…" Sly replied with a cold smile while still gazing off at the mountains in the distance.

("Don't get stuck in the past, learn from it and move on") Kyle thought, his words not only aimed at Sly but also himself.

Klein stared down at the strange hero next to him through his mask that hid everything including his gaze ("So young yet so…unusual…feeling so put together…yet falling apart on the inside. I expected him to be different, dark heroes always are. This one though? He's so…cold")