The Oracle Paths

The trio returned to Laudarkvik in the middle of the night. Craig briefed Ruby on the trip home about their team' s situation and the other New Earth units deployed on Quanoth, but the young woman remained silent all along. Realising that he was talking in vain, her childhood friend sighed tiredly and stopped bothering her.

As they landed, two figures teleported in front of them. Jake recognized Asfrid and Hade.

"By Eltar's beard! You're okay!" The Eltarian exclaimed with relief. "When you called for help via the Spirit Shell I thought I had acted too late."

"No you were right on time." Jake smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes.

He had nearly died this time. Not literally, but it would have been much worse. In fact, he hadn't really escaped unscathed. And regrettably, those who had helped him either... Displaying a very grave expression, he asked Asfrid with a worried tone,

"Do you and the other Myrtharian Nerds in the base feel strange or have you been behaving in an unusual way?

Asfrid frowned and shook her head, but Hade responded differently.

"Corruption?"

"Corruption." Jake replied sourly, pointing at Ruby with his eyes. "She's a Digestor Trojan, like your son Nylreg."

The former Fluid Grandmaster's eyes widened sharply as he stared at the young woman, a faint light glowing from his pupils. He immediately noticed her jaded face, drooping eyelids and sluggish body language.

"How did you sedate her? Aether Spells?"

The simple fact that Ruby wasn't responsive when spoken of told Hade everything he wanted to know.

"You suppressed all her emotions." He nodded to himself. "This is not the way to go but it will do for now."

The dark-haired youth's eyes moistened unaware as he watched the listless woman. Her presence brought back the memory of his utter failure in saving his son. Making a decision, he declared with resolve,

"I will do my best to help her."

"But you won't be alone this time. Treating or at least curbing the unwanted symptoms of her Digestor nature will be one of my priorities." Jake promised before turning grim again.

Seeing Craig's face melt into gratitude, he immediately dampened his spirits.

"I'm not doing it for you, or for Ruby." He stated flatly. " While trying to help her, the Corruption infected many of my comrades. I almost lost my mind and now I have to deal with emotions I have no control over. I'll be okay this time, but what if something like this happens again?

"I finally realized that Corruption is a serious threat. If I can't get rid of it, then I have to find a way to live with it without becoming a mindless beast motivated only by hatred, hunger and bloodlust.

Asfrid had also completed her Third Ordeal, she had undergone a similar experience and immediately understood the full extent of the danger. She closed her eyes and went into a deep meditative trance to probe the changes in her own Soul. A pure-blooded Eltarian could accomplish this kind of feat.

When she opened her eyes again a few minutes later, her face was stern and she said,

"I will help you too."

"Me too!" Craig exclaimed. "Don't underestimate me, I'm a Novice Aetherist too." He added, flexing his biceps.

Ironically, the only one who was completely unaffected by their enthusiasm was the main person involved. Jake's Placating Spell was working like a charm.

"Asfrid, I'll let you check the condition of the Myrtharian Nerds who lent me their spiritual energy a few hours earlier." Jake sloppily gave her the unglamorous task of fixing his mess, but the Eltarian accepted the order without batting an eye.

" I'm on it. Ah, now that I think about it, I have another piece of news to report. Two in fact. Lucia left the base after your public speech with some elite Myrmidians to meet the Beskyrians and Tim in front of Celestial City. She'll use the opportunity to scout and identify any dangers that await us on the upcoming migration."

Jake nodded. Lucia had vaguely mentioned the topic the day before and Tim was indeed in trouble. Recently he had run out of luck and was about to be flushed out of his hiding place.

In the last few days, powerful natives, mythical creatures and Player factions had begun to cluster around the Celestial City and the skirmishes and clashes had increased in number and intensity. The toll of deaths each day was staggering, many being collateral victims like Tim who were just hiding in the wrong place.

"And the second news?" He inquired.

"Your cat Crunch found something interesting. It could be useful to us. He'll arrive in two days with cough, Lord Phenix..." Asfrid cleared her throat after her final words to cover up all the loathing she held for this insolent turkey.

The bird's impertinence had driven her mad over the past year. The number of times she had threatened to roast him on a spit was in the thousands. And despite her threats, the bird continued to take the piss out of her, pulling pranks and misbehaving...

"Crunch found something I might be interested in, uh?" Jake could hardly believe it, but Asfrid's confidence had piqued his interest.

Seeing that the deadpan woman intended to keep the suspense until the end, he did not insist and wished her a good night. After parting ways with Asfrid, Jake, Ruby, Craig, and Hade walked together to the Fluid Grandmaster's quarters.

"What about the other soldiers from New Earth?" Craig asked uneasily. "I don't feel like Ruby is a reliable ally right now..."

Jake rolled his eyes but after exchanging a look with Hade he said,

"They can join us but they will have to follow my orders or that of my officers. They can participate in the decision making, but the final decision is mine.

Craig hesitated, pondering the merits of his offer, but after a few seconds he answered,

"I'll relay your suggestion to my teammates. We'll see what they think."

"As you wish." Jake shrugged.

Once inside Hade's portable fortress, no one took a break and they went to the Fluid Grandmaster's workshop. Jake had only been here once in the past few days, not that it would have made any difference.

The 100-square-meter workshop was filled with all sorts of futuristic technology belonging to the Consortium and the Six Brotherhoods of his home world. Some of it had been made afterwards, as evidenced by the pile of Aether Fluid Artifacts strewn around.

Hade accessed a computer, entered his code and plugged in his bracelet. After that, he transferred all the downloaded data to Jake. Scrolling quickly through the contents, the Myrtharian was stunned when he discovered that the data included all the knowledge of his native world. It was an incredibly generous gift.

Seeing Jake's suspicious look, Hade calmly explained,

"I should have done this a long time ago. I just didn't know at the time if I could trust you. Anyway, no one else was competent in this field and I could take on this role alone. Now, I admit I could use an assistant or two..."

"So why now?"

"Have you forgotten already?" Hade chuckled as he showed him one of the many black spheres he had churned out over the past two weeks. "You want to help this woman to find a cure for Corruption with my expertise. But I don't have the time. You've already given me another priority task.

"But I still want to help. As you can guess, it's a very important concern of mine. So, here we go. With your intelligence and your Aetherist skills I'm sure you'll find a solution. You have a Silver Blacksmith Soul Glyph too, right? You'll do fine."

Jake was not at all convinced by the Fluid Grandmaster's arguments. Yes, he was pretty good at blacksmithing, but that was just to make rudimentary weapons like armor or swords. The only reason he could create Advanced Aether Artifacts was because of his two Soul Classes.

Hade knew full well that he wasn't interested in cramming all that knowledge down his throat, but he felt that Ruby's condition and the inadvertent Corruption of the Myrtharian Nerds was a perfect excuse to coerce Jake into it.

Perfectly clear on the shrewd Player's intentions, Jake's lips twitched but he had no choice but to accept the gift.

"I'll leave it up to you to decide if you want to share this knowledge with others." Hade winked at him, referring to Craig. Despite his willingness to help Ruby, the chubby Player was in a different faction.

"Oh and by the way!" He suddenly remembered.

"What?" Jake grunted.

"I still need plenty of magic metal. Don't forget to keep producing what I need."

"Sure..."