Online: Eiodolon Realms – Child of Ruin-Chapter 55 - 54 – Ash Returned

The soft hum of the interface lingered in Eron’s ears as the Logout Successful message faded from his visor.

The walls of his cramped apartment were a jarring contrast to the dim glow of the ashen forge he’d just left behind. He blinked against the harsh daylight filtering through the blinds, the memory of heat still clinging to his skin like an echo.

For a few moments, he just sat there, headset resting against his lap, staring at the half-empty glass of water on his desk. The world outside was loud—cars rumbling in the street below, distant chatter from the open market a few blocks away—but his mind was still in the cursed land.

He opened the messaging interface on his wristband. His fingers hesitated before typing.

Eron: Got something to tell you. Meet me in-game. I’ll be at the inn.

A reply came almost instantly.

Rai: You alive?

Eron: Depends on how you define it.

Another ping.

Rai: That’s ominous. Fine. Alex and I will log in. Five minutes.

Fifteen minutes later, after a quick bite and a splash of cold water, Eron slid the headset back on. The world of Eidolon Realms bloomed into existence once again, pixels giving way to cobblestones, lamplight, and the faint sound of muffled chatter from the inn’s common room.

He spawned exactly where he had logged out—one of the private rooms upstairs, the scent of oak and candle wax lingering in the air.

Rai was there.

The moment Eron’s vision adjusted, he saw the familiar mop of messy brown hair leaning lazily against the wall, arms crossed, that perpetual half-smirk in place. Alex sat on the bed, boots kicked off, nursing what looked like a mug of cider.

Rai, as always, looked like trouble waiting to happen—messy brown hair, that unreadable smirk, and a stance like he was perpetually ready for something to go sideways. Alex besides him looked sharper, his eyes scanning the room like a hawk.

"Eron," Rai called, spotting him. "Still in one piece. Miracles do happen."

Eron snorted. "Takes more than bad luck and worse odds to break me."

Alex grinned, sliding into a seat at a corner table. "I am guessing you didn’t call us here just to share your philosophy on survival."

"Not quite," Eron said, taking the seat opposite them.

"Well at least you finally decided to come back from his vacation," Rai drawled.

Alex grinned. "And here I thought you’d quit and left us your share of the loot."

Eron rolled his eyes, but the corner of his mouth twitched. "Vacation? Yeah, sure. Spent my days sipping tea and eating biscuits." He stepped forward, the floorboards creaking softly under his boots. "You two haven’t changed."

"Why would we?" Rai shrugged. "We’ve been busy. Made some decent coin while you were off... wherever you were." His tone was deliberately casual, but his eyes flickered briefly—watching, weighing.

Eron arched an eyebrow. "Coin, huh? Enough to retire?"

"Hehe! Now that’s a suprise for the future" Rai replied. "But let me tell you it wasn’t easy to get. But we still got it."

Alex laughed into his drink. "Barely."

Eron shook his head, pulling out the nearest chair and sitting too, sighing heavily. For a moment, none of them spoke, the quiet punctuated only by the muted noises of the inn below.

Finally, Rai leaned forward, elbows on knees. "So... are you going to tell us what really happened?"

Eron’s gaze drifted to the shuttered window, where slivers of morning light slipped through. "I took the quest as you instructed. But it, uh... wasn’t exactly normal."

Rai’s eyebrow arched, but he stayed silent.

"It started with a forge," Eron continued, voice steady but distant. "An ancient one, buried in a place that shouldn’t exist. I thought it was just a crafting quest—turns out it was something weirder. Deeper. The land itself was... weird. Cursed, maybe." His jaw tightened almost imperceptibly. "I met someone there. An old man. He said he’d been bound to that place for years. He brought people there, families. He thought he was helping them but instead, they suffered. Same as he did."

Alex frowned. "Why would he bring people there if he knew?"

Eron gave a humorless laugh. "He said he didn’t know at first. But when the land demanded more families, he brought them—thinking maybe it would work out this time. It never did." He stared into the fire for a moment. "I hated him for it. Still kind of do. But... he wasn’t a monster. Just... someone trapped in something he couldn’t escape."

Alex’s expression sobered. "That sounds... grim."

"It was." Eron’s voice dropped slightly. "But he wasn’t lying. You could feel it in the air, the way the place pressed on you. Like it wanted you to forget it existed, even while it refused to let you leave."

Rai finally spoke. "And you got out."

Eron gave a short nod. "Yeah. But the quest called it ’Legacy of the Ashedforge.’ When I finished, the system said I’d earned the Blacksmith class."

"Blacksmith, huh, Finally?" Rai’s smirk returned faintly. "Guess that means I’ll have to find a forge for you to bang metal in until you go deaf."

Eron’s lips curved faintly. "Don’t worry abolut that. I took care of it and it won’t be the worst way to spend time."

Alex tilted her head. "So that’s it? You go into some cursed land, meet a cryptic old man, and come out with a shiny new class?"

Eron’s gaze dipped for a moment. "Not exactly. The old man... he didn’t understand everything about the land. He said that it might still exist somewhere—hidden. Maybe even overlapping with our world here. Illusionary, but real enough to kill you if you weren’t careful." His fingers drummed lightly on the tabletop. "That place isn’t gone. I could feel it. Like it’s waiting."

Rai didn’t miss the subtle shift in his friend’s tone. There was a weight there that hadn’t been before. He considered pushing, asking for more—but Eron’s eyes were steady now, not evasive, but guarded. Whatever had happened, Rai knew better than to press before Eron was ready to talk.

Instead, Rai sat back. "Well, congratulations, Master Blacksmith. Guess that means next time we find some rare ore, you’re the one carrying it."

Alex grinned. "Yeah, and you’re making my armor. I want it shiny."

Eron smirked faintly. "Shiny armor gets you killed. You’ll thank me when it’s ugly but keeps you alive. And anyways I am only a apprentice level blacksmith for now. I will need to learn much more if I wanna satisfy your needs."

Rai’s gaze was pondering, studying him. "Do you really think that this illusionary world is connected to the real Eidolon?"

Eron hesitated, then nodded slowly. "Yeah. I don’t think it was just some story quest. That place... it could still be out there, hidden. The real version of it."

For a moment, none of them spoke. The idea hung between them, heavy with implication.

Rai began thinking, " Interesting! I never really thought that there might be such secrets hidden behind this quest. But this land that seduces people and then curses them? I have never heard of anything like this. Ahh! Since when I have reincarnated the stuff that is coming my way just keeps increasing."

Although Rai was thinking all this he didn’t want to pressure others so then Rai smirked slightly, breaking the tension. "Well, while you were off in ghost towns making friends with tragic old men, we actually made some money."

Eron blinked. "Money?"

Alex grinned. "A lot of it."

Eron allowed himself a small smile. "Guess I missed the fun."

"You missed me carrying Alex through fights he totally could have handled herself. We actually went to some legacy tomb of a mad alchemist and we actually got a lot of stuff." Rai said.

"Really?" Asked Eron.

"Yeah, but we have hidden most of it. I will show you later on."

They talked for a while longer, letting the conversation drift into safer waters—local rumors, increasing player activity in Velondar, the prices of certain crafting materials. Rai mentioned again that they’d managed to make a fair bit of coin, mostly from selling high-grade alchemy materials.

At some point, Alex went to fetch more drinks, leaving Rai and Eron alone for a moment.

"You’ve changed," Rai said quietly, without preamble.

Eron didn’t look up from the mug in his hands. "Maybe."

Rai tilted his head. "Not a bad thing. Just... different."

Eron’s lips twitched into something not quite a smile. "Guess we’ll see."

Alex returned, the mood lightened again, and before long they were laughing over some ridiculous story about a merchant who tried to sell Rai a "legendary cabbage."

But in the back of Rai’s mind, he kept circling back to the way Eron had looked when he talked about that cursed land—like part of him had never really left it.

And in Eron’s mind, the memory of ashen skies and hollow wind still lingered, whispering that some places don’t stay buried.