Published at 22nd of October 2023 9:43 am

Book 3: Chapter 37

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Spinning, he lunged for the broken window, intending to escape, but thick strands of hair wrapped themselves around his leg, jerking him off of his feet and causing his face to slam into the ground. With a growl, he rolled over, slashing at the hair to cut it away from his body. He fought fiercely, but quickly found himself completely outmatched. Though his claw strikes could cut through the hair Isabelle used to bind him, when he attacked her directly his blows simply passed straight through her, failing to wound her in the slightest.

Paskal's attacks all dealt physical damage, to which she was almost entirely immune, but at the same time, Isabelle was having tremendous trouble keeping him bound, and it was all that she could do to keep him from running. Back and forth they fought, destroying the room with their attacks. Each time Paskal would try to run, Isabelle would pull him back, throwing him against the far walls before attacking with her sharp nails. Dozens of scratches soon covered Paskal, but the gang leader just growled and pressed forward. Suddenly, the door slammed open and Delrisa appeared. Upon catching sight of the pale vampire, whose mouth and chin were soaked in crimson, Paskal's blood chilled. He gave a hoarse scream, turning and scrambling for the exit. The first rays of the morning sun were just beginning to breach the horizon, dying the clouds that covered the sky gray, and it was in that color that he sought safety. Neither Delrisa nor Isabelle could afford to be out during the daytime, but they had been given a job to do by Garrett, and they weren't about to fail.

A sea of hair flooded the room, wrapping around Paskal and dragging him back across the floor. At the same time, Delrisa pounced. Though her fingers and claws couldn't get through Paskal's defenses, that wasn't what she was aiming for. She gripped his head tightly in two hands, and with a scream that shattered the silence of the morning, wrenched her hands to the side, snapping his spine with a clean jerk. Panting, she looked up, her eyes darting towards the sky and then towards Isabelle. Without speaking a word, she pulled her cowl over her head, wrapped her cloak around her, and fled, seeking the shadows of the alleyway below before the sun could burn her skin. As the vampire fled to the closest entrance down into the sewer system that ran under the district, Isabelle wasn't far behind, and in a moment had vanished, rapidly making her way across the city as she darted from reflection to reflection.

Left behind were the ruins of the safe house and the corpses of the Brass Tiger Syndicate. A few minutes later, a faint shadow appeared in the broken window, and Ryn slipped into the room, her eyes watching Paskal's body warily. It only took her a moment to see the gruesome bend in his neck, allowing her to relax. Though she had not witnessed it, she had an inkling of what had taken place here, but instead of remaining to dwell on it, she got down to business. She had been tasked with a job as well, and after a swift 25 minutes of work, she dropped two large packs down into the alley below, where Pax and the rest of the Awakened Dreamers were waiting.

Marin was carrying Kinsley on his back, and Estel had her hand on the red-haired man's wrist, constantly infusing mental energy into him as she tried to keep him alive. His body was terribly burned, scorched by the ability he had used to slay the undead Maragoth, but his wounds were healing at a speed visible to the naked eye. Catching the packs, Pax groaned under their weight as she hoisted them up on her back. Ryn had completely cleaned out the Brass Tiger Syndicate’s stashes, and this safe house was the last. Once she was sure that there wasn’t anything else of value to steal, Ryn and the others made their way back to the inn, careful to avoid the army patrols that were starting to crawl through the district.

As they arrived, the first rays of dawn broke through the clouds, shedding light on the grim city, and a bell rang out, accompanying the dawn as it announced the fight was over. Thousands of citizens, sitting tensely in their homes, began to relax, many of them turning to the five-petaled flower plaque on their wall, bowing their heads and murmuring a word of thanks. The night had been tense and none of them knew if zombies would come beating down their doors at any moment, so the light of morning was tremendously welcome.

In the inn, Garrett sat slumped against the wall, his body burning with a supernatural fever brought on by Lesrak’s Flame. His body was so hot that the edges of his clothes were beginning to char, faint wisps of smoke rising up around him. As dawn rose and the bell rang, his body trembled slightly as all across the city, people spoke in relieved whispers or murmured their thanks to the symbol of dream flowers on their walls. Though the awakened who carried dream flowers couldn't feel it, a subtle shift was happening in the hearts of those mortals who were blessed with blooms. The dream flowers they carried shook, reflecting the gratitude and relief of their hosts, and sending a faint trickle of energy back to Garrett.

He had exhausted all of his mental energy through the course of the night, and now, as he defended against Lesrek's flame, the final drops had been wrung from him and burned away. Just when his flesh started to sear, those faint trickles of energy arrived, seeping into him and sinking into his soul spark. With each trace of energy that arrived, his soul spark glowed, sending out a faint golden light, and anywhere that light went, the damage being done to his body was repaired.

It was barely enough to keep him alive, but as more and more citizens realized that they had passed the night safely, the energy streaming into him grew. At first, it was barely a trickle, and then it transformed into a small stream. When the bell finally fell silent, it was as if a torrent had been unleashed, thousands and thousands of drops of gratitude and hope surging through the connection between his soul spark and the dream flowers scattered around the city.

The golden light from his soul spark grew stronger until it had lit his body with a brilliant color, and the flame, which had been on the cusp of victory, found itself trapped once more. This time, however, the flame didn't get a chance to retreat. It had already infected too much of his body, spreading itself out to destroy him in body and soul, and now, as the golden light from his soul spark shone forth, it was caught in its entirety, gaining a golden tint as it calmed down. The change was instantaneous, and with a gasp, Garrett's eyes snapped open for the second time that morning, his body brimming with energy, staring in shock at the window in front of his face.

[You have unlocked the Dream Ruler class.]

[Dream Ruler is a supreme class and cannot be a sub-class. Path of the Watcher is now a sub-class.]

Dream Ruler

You have subdued multiple dream locations, bringing them under your control, and integrating their powers and forces into your territory. As you continue to grow your territory, you will improve the natural abilities granted by this class. Each territory increases the effect of existing abilities, while potentially granting new abilities.

Territories: [2]

Ruler’s Aura: Your soul spark exerts a field of authority that causes those around you to obey. The strength of this aura is determined by the number of territories you control.

Anoint Chosen: Grant special individuals your blessing to act on your behalf, lending them a portion of your power. You may have a number of Chosen equal to the number of territories you possess.

Awaken the Soul [Dreamer’s Rest]: Mortals who visit Dreamer’s Rest are more likely to awaken.

Flame of Life and Death [First Tomb]: You have subdued Lesrak’s Flame.

Survivability: High

Growth Potential: Unknown

Taking a sharp breath, Garrett realized that his entire world had changed. Though he didn’t feel any stronger, the Ruler’s War had just catapulted his strength ahead by a league. That realization brought more fear than comfort, however, as it was likely he was just starting to scratch the surface of the strength of the beings who would soon be his enemies. Agma-Yoth had only been beaten through a considerable amount of luck, but from what he was seeing, it was clear that the necromancer couldn’t have been considered a strong example of a Great Ruler. In turn, that meant that the Great Rulers he would come up against in the future were likely beings of considerably more power.

If he had grown this much from just two territories, how much would he grow if he managed to take half a dozen, or even the whole city? Even though he wasn’t in the dream, Garrett could feel that the subtle connection he had to the Dreamer’s Inn had been strengthened, and a new connection, this one to the First Tomb deep underground, had been added. Though he desperately wanted to explore them, there simply wasn’t time and a moment later his door burst open and Ryn waltzed in, plonking a massive sack of gold on his table. It was so heavy the wood creaked alarmingly, and she hurriedly picked it back up.

“Whoops. Don’t want to break your table,” she said, a grin on her face.

“Even if you do, it looks like you earned us enough that we could buy a new one,” Garrett said with a ghost of a smile. “How did your missions go?”

Putting the gold down on the floor, Ryn came over and sat down on his bed, her gaze picking out his rumpled covers and the sweat soaked shirt he was wearing.

“Like a charm. The first was a walk in the park thanks to those forged orders you put together. I honestly didn’t expect it to go so smoothly, but the officers fell for them hook, line, and sinker. Where did you learn how to put military orders together?”

Adjusting his position with the rope strung along his wall, Garrett shrugged.

“In a past life I had to study those sorts of things,” he said, “and I got to see the royal seal often enough that I can make a passable representation of it.”

“Hah, I knew you were a high class noble,” Ryn said, pointing her finger at him. “I totally guessed it. You lived in the palace, didn’t you? That’s the only place that you’d be able to see the royal seal and learn about military orders.”

“I did,” Garrett admitted, shifting in his shirt uncomfortably. “Hey, can you get me another shirt? It should be in my top drawer.”

Jumping up, Ryn opened his dresser drawer and pulled out a crimson shirt. Holding it up, she shook her head and put it back, getting out a simple, deep blue shirt that she brought to the bed.

“Do you want help?”

“No thanks, I got it.”

Sitting down, Ryn watched him as he unbuttoned his shirt and pulled it off. When he was about to put on his new shirt, she stopped him and grabbed the water basin on his dresser along with a washcloth.

“You’re going to have to talk to everyone in a few minutes,” she said, wetting the washcloth and wringing it out over the basin. “Better to be fresh when you do it.”

Silently accepting her help, Garrett closed his eyes as she began to wipe his chest and arms down. Once he was clean, she got him a towel and sat on the end of his bed as he got dressed.

“As for the second mission, that went even smoother. I don’t know who you had dealing with the Brass Tiger Syndicate, but boy were they brutal. Not a single survivor at any of the bases, so I was able to grab everything. Pax should have finished moving it into the basement already, but wait till you see it.”

“There was a lot?”

“More than a lot. We’re sitting on enough wealth to fund an army. The Brass Tiger Syndicate had brutal taxes, and they didn’t spend much of anything. It's almost like they were saving up for something. Gold, gems, coin, you name it, we’ve got it in spades now.”

“What about property?” Garrett asked, buttoning up his blue shirt.

“A few dozen strategically placed safe houses, all in need of a good cleaning after last night’s activity and two dozen buildings that house businesses in that area. There’s also a stack of what look like regular homes that was too big for me to look through.”

“Good. Add them to the others, and when I have a chance, I’ll take a look. Come on, it seems like just about everyone is gathered.”

With Ryn’s help, Garrett got out of bed and into his wheelchair, and allowed Ryn to push him down the hall. He carried the large bag of gold on his lap, making sure to keep the string around the top tightly pulled. The inn’s great room was packed with people, all dirty and tired from the fierce fight that had raged all night, but when Garrett entered the room he was gratified to see that they were all in high spirits from their victory. Seeing him, they all let out cheers, lifting their glasses and mugs into the air. Weaving their way through the room to the central table, Garrett had Ryn and Obe lift his wheelchair up on top of it and gestured for everyone to sit down.

When everyone was quiet, he looked around the room, his gaze scanning over all of the faces present. To his surprise, he found himself getting emotional at the sight. The fight against Agma-Yoth had been a huge gamble, and it had turned out to be much harder than he had anticipated, but it had gone according to plan, ultimately granting them success. That success had come at the cost of hundreds of deaths, however, and it was with a pang in his heart that Garrett began to speak.

“Well done. This morning dawns on the bravest, most steadfast fighters in the entire city. Many of you are regular citizens, yet you still picked up your weapons to fight against the undead wave that threatened to drown our fair city and destroy our lives. Though the cost of our survival is painful to bear, and many of our companions paid the ultimate cost, you can be sure that we will never forget their sacrifice.”

Opening the bag on his lap, he allowed the gold to shine brightly, gathering everyone’s attention.

“Anyone who lost a family member will be supported by the Klein Family and their children will be afforded the best opportunities we can provide. A memorial will be held for them in a few days, but for now, eat and drink and rest. Enjoy your victory!”

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