Path of Dragons - A LitRPG Apocalypse (BOOK TWO STUBBING AUGUST 15)-11-27. Lessons Reiterated
Elijah awoke to the pervasive smell of sulfur. He shot upright, blinking in confusion as he was greeted by the sight of a normal inn room. It wasn’t much different than dozens of others he’d rented. A decently comfortable bed, a small writing desk, and an unused closet were the most prevalent features, all displaying the same rough charm of the surrounding city.
Generously, Rubibi could be called rustic. After seeing the darker side of the city, where the poor and unwanted dwelled, Elijah had another word in mind.
Initially, he’d intended to simply stay with Shane and his family, but it quickly became apparent just how bad of an idea that was. They lived in a hovel, with barely enough room for the three of them. Adding another adult into the mix just wasn’t feasible.
Plus, the more snobbish parts of Elijah pointed out that it just didn’t live up to his normal standards. Even sleeping outside was better, if only because it gave him a chance to connect with nature. Shane’s hovel was the worst of both worlds. Too civilized to be natural, but too poor to reap the benefits of civilization.
His only solace was that Shane and his family would find a much better life in Ironshore. Even the poorest among its residents had the necessary basics.
And with the amount of money Elijah had given him, Shane should be able to get his life back on track. For most people, it was a life-changing sum, but for Elijah? It was just pocket change. It did beg the question of just how much good he could do with his wealth. It was by no means endless, but it was certainly enough to save a lot of lives.
He’d considered establishing some sort of charity organization before, but he’d never taken those steps. Part of it was because he was busy with more urgent problems. Saving the world took precedence over saving the poor. Yet, it was also because he just didn’t know where to start.
Going into the slums and throwing money around wasn’t the answer – at least not in the long-term. He needed to be smarter about it. He needed to give people a real chance to make lasting changes.
The answer was so obvious that, when it hit him, he wondered how he’d missed it before.
Regardless, when he rose from the bed, he did so with a mission. After taking a shower and dressing, Elijah retreated downstairs, where he was treated to a meal of salted fish and some sort of fried reptile eggs that tasted just different enough from chicken eggs that the flavor activated the part of his brain that told him something was wrong.
It was filling, though.
Clearly, Rubibi didn’t enjoy many of the basic staples common in most of the world. Their long isolation had shifted the diet considerably, and the Conclave Spires hadn’t been around long enough to correct course.
Or the people had simply grown accustomed to their new diets.
Regardless, Elijah didn’t enjoy his breakfast very much, and after paying his bill, he quickly moved on. He didn’t immediately leave the city. As much as he disliked Rubibi – and he was forced to acknowledge that he did – he had a couple of things he needed to take care of before his departure.
His first stop was the Branch, where he sent out a couple of messages. One, he sent to Sadie, letting her know what he was doing. He also expressed his frustrations with the city, ending the message by explaining his fears concerning his former colleagues. He pointedly didn’t mention Nina – partly because he didn’t want to burden her with those thoughts, but also because he wasn’t ready to accept what was probably inevitable.
The second message went to Atticus:
Sender
Recipient
Elijah Hart
Atticus Ariti
Hey man,
I know we just spoke, and this might be asking too much (but I’m going to ask it anyway because you’re the only person I know who can make it happen).
I need a favor. The gist of it is that I want to help people. So, I want you to take 15% of my income and donate it to the Temple of Virtue. Also, find someone who can run it like a proper charity. You know, not just healing. Help people however that money can. If you need more money to make it happen, take it from my soap income.
Just don’t go overboard.
Thanks,
Elijah
It was as straightforward a request as Elijah could manufacture, and the only question was whether or not fifteen percent would be enough. He knew his rough income, so he expected it would make a big difference. But there was always the chance that the need would outpace his offered assistance.
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Still, he felt good about the idea. The Temple of Virtue was already a charity organization that provided healing to the city of Argos. Expanding the scope of their mission just made sense.
As he left the Branch, he felt much better about the situation. Even the smell of sulfur in the air wasn’t as oppressively disgusting. Elijah wandered the city for a few minutes before arriving at his next destination, which was a compound sponsored by Seattle.
And it was impressive.
With its modern technology and building methods, it also stood out from its surroundings. The compound itself was ringed by a ten-foot wall that, even if it was made of the same whitewashed stone as the rest of the city, had incorporated ethera into its construction. Because of that, it was much stronger of a barrier than the size of the wall indicated.
There were also watchtowers at every corner, with the gate guarded by four men armed with ethera rifles. Inside was a hive of activity. If Elijah had to guess, there were more than a thousand people in there, complete with vehicles, drones buzzing in the air, and plenty of support personnel.
It seemed that Seattle was taking its responsibility to meet the threat of excisement with appropriate seriousness.
Elijah felt like destroying the entire compound.
He reasoned that it wouldn’t be difficult. There was no chance it was as well-protected as the war elf encampment. Just a few minutes of channeling ethera through Eternal Plague would be enough to deal with everyone inside. And if not, he had plenty of other options.
The idea of ripping a few of those soldiers to pieces sent a note of giddiness through his mind.
It only lasted a second before Elijah even thought to question the instinct. Surely, part of that came from the fact that someone in the city had hired Gunnar to kill him. Even before that, his relationship with Seattle was antagonistic. But it wasn’t enough to prompt him to kill a thousand innocent people.
After a few moments’ worth of thought, he arrived at the explanation. He wanted them gone because they had the audacity to step on his toes. They thought they could usurp his place and attack the dragon Primal Realm? He just wouldn’t stand for it.
For a while, Elijah silently seethed, but then, he closed his eyes and reestablished control. It had been a long time since he’d let his instincts get the better of him, and he wasn’t about to allow that to change.
With a few deep breaths, he turned away from the compound. It was located on the edge of town, which was the closest they could get without demolishing entire blocks’ worth of buildings. So, it didn’t take him long to leave Rubibi behind.
The guards kept watching him until he descended a low hill and disappeared from view. That’s when he used Shape of the Scourge, then slipped into Guise of the Unseen. It wasn’t until he was nearly ten miles away that he finally relaxed.
Once he was out of view, he shifted back into his human form, then took stock of his situation. He’d intended to spend a little more time in Rubibi, but now that he’d left, he had no intention of going back. Not unless it was absolutely necessary. So, he wasted no more time before taking on the Shape of the Sky and launching himself into the air. In seconds, he was soaring over the strange terrain.
From above, it looked a lot like a desert, though that wasn’t because there was a lack of rain. The squalls brought plenty of that. But they also scoured the land to the point where only the hardiest of plants survived. Sure, there were pockets of normal vegetation, mostly in hollows or crevices, but for the most part, the region was barren.
Elijah flew toward the mountains, covering the ground at about half-speed. As he did so, he kept an eye on his surroundings. He still wasn’t familiar with the local wildlife, and he didn’t want to be surprised by a powerful creature that thought he looked like a nice snack.
As it turned out, nothing attacked him, and he soon reached the base of the mountains. Rubibi’s climate was already hot, which contributed to the desert feeling, but drawing closer to the mountains felt like stepping into an oven. And it only grew hotter with every passing mile.
Elijah didn’t have a thermometer with him, but it felt a lot like the Crucible of Fire within the Elemental Maelstrom. It wasn’t as bad as swimming through lava, but it definitely wasn’t comfortable. Eventually, he was forced to land. Even with Wild Resurgence coursing through him, the Shape of the Sky just wasn’t meant to endure that kind of damage.
Fortunately, the Shape of the Master was. It featured significant fire resistance, but as Elijah approached the peak of that first mountain, even that proved insufficient. Wild Resurgence picked up the slack.
A day later, he found himself face-to-face with the actual wall of fire. It originated with a deep crevice that stretched along the spine of the mountain range and extended into the clouds above.
He traveled along the edge, keeping a distance of about half a mile, but even that was almost more than he could easily handle. Going through the Ring of Fire just wasn’t feasible. He knew there were a handful of passes like the one Shane and the other refugees had used to bypass the wall of flame. But even those were mostly closed now that the fires had grown more potent.
There were rumors of another path that went under the mountains – and the crevice – but Elijah didn’t want to take the time to search for it.
So, he retreated a few more miles, loaded himself up with healing spells, and transformed into the Shape of the Sky. A second later, he was climbing. A thousand feet. Then two thousand. Five thousand. Up and up he went, eventually passing into the sooty clouds.
He couldn’t see anything.
But he could sense enough of his surroundings to know he wasn’t entirely alone. There were creatures in the clouds, and they definitely weren’t friendly. Elijah got a brief glimpse of insectile features before he broke through the smoke and into the upper atmosphere.
At that altitude, air was thin. That didn’t bother him. What did pose a problem was the fact that the wall of fire kept going, probably all the way into space.
The message was clear – he wouldn’t be able to simply fly over it.
A buzzing sound reached his ears only a second before a swarm of giant, pitch-black wasps broke free of the smoke cloud. They streaked across the sky, leaving behind a wake of ash and embers.
Elijah had no interest in fighting them. They weren’t all that powerful, but there were dozens of them. And he was in his least combat-capable form. So, he wasted no time before orienting himself toward the wall of fire, casting another instance of Wild Resurgence, and activating Lightning Rush.
With a deafening clap of thunder, he became a bolt of electricity screaming across the sky.
Unfortunately, even lightning could burn.
Elijah wasn’t certain how it worked. Physics said it shouldn’t. But he barely made it through the Ring of Flame before he was entirely consumed. The only thing that saved him was the fact that he was moving so quickly.
It wasn’t enough to ensure his survival, though. Even as his body reformed, pain ripped through him. His wings had turned to cinders, and the rest of his form wasn’t much better off.
He did the only thing he could think to do – shift into the Shape of Thorn and activate Unchecked Growth. Even as the massive regeneration swept through him, he plummeted from the sky in a long arc that saw him hitting a massive dune and sending a spray of sand hundreds of feet in every direction.
But his body rebuilt itself, repairing the damage he’d incurred.
Even after he’d rolled to a stop, he lay there, slightly dazed as he considered the fact that his impatience had nearly gotten him killed.
“One of these days,” he muttered to himself. “I’m going to remember the lessons I thought I’d already learned.”
It was one of his character flaws, and one of which he was very much aware. He tended to fall into habits, especially when it came to threats. From time to time, he’d get a reminder that he wasn’t invincible, and he’d internalize that lesson as best he could. But it was so easy to fall back into old habits, especially when, most of the time, he was as invulnerable as he sometimes believed himself to be.
“From here on out,” he said, picking himself up. As he resumed his human form, he continued, “I’m careful Elijah. No more unnecessary risks.”
Although he couldn’t help but wonder just how long that resolution would last.
11-27. Lessons Reiterated
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