The Newt and Demon-8.85 - Eat Some Stew. Sleep by the River

Theo couldn't hold his balance. He was bowled over as Tresk jumped on him, squeezing him tightly enough to make his left side ache in pain. Alex came next, her massive dragon nose pressing against him and blowing hot air as she giggled. It had only been a few weeks. The marshaling had been on her own planet, trying to sort things out before returning to check on the alchemist. Upon spotting him, she sprinted across the distance and pulled him into an unrelenting bear hug.

“That’s enough of that,” Theo said, trying and failing to push her away.

“No way. I’m gonna squeeze you until we become the same person again.”

“Yeah, me too.”

Both Theo and Tresk groaned as the dragon put a small fraction of her weight on them. That's when the group broke up, everyone rising to their feet and gaining some amount of distance. The alchemist had been taking a stroll just outside the city gates when the pair returned. Life, for the most part, had returned to normal and broken tasks. There still needed to be commerce and food production, as well as some monster-slaying missions. Although those were rare, there were still the occasional goblin that showed up out of nowhere. All the people who had been temporary residents had left, but a fair amount of them had stayed.

Theo had dealt with the loneliness by getting very involved in the running of the city. With no alchemy to do and no problems to work on, he had been lending a hand at the farm or Azrug’s store. He did everything he could to help things move smoothly. The Southlands Alliance had become something of a curiosity for those with access to an airship. There was even a new form of currency, taking the place of the copper, silver, and gold coins.

“So? What did you learn?” Theo asked.

Tresk dusted herself off, shooting a nasty look at Alex. “Not enough. The only thing anyone knows is that the system is resetting. Everyone has a guess as to how long it’ll take, but no answers.”

“Go figure.” Theo smiled, despite the situation. “Anyway, wanna help me? We’re weeding Field 4 today.”

Tresk stared, raising a brow as her mouth fell agape. “We’re doing what now?”

“We’re farming. Banu needs help with Field 4.”

Tresk looked around, as though the idea of actual work offended her. “I’m not sure I understand. Don’t we have a giant monster to kill? Or maybe some goblins?”

Theo shrugged. “All the goblins we spotted are weak. There’s nothing to fight around here. Even the Swamp Dungeon vanished.”

Although Tresk spent some time glowering, she eventually relented. “Okay. I guess.”

Working the fields was nothing special, and Tresk didn't seem to enjoy the job at all. Alex, being far too large to do much more than stomp the crops, flew off to do something far more exciting. But Theo found great peace in working the fields. It had been something he did to come to terms with his loneliness, and it was highly effective. Farming, as it turned out, wasn't very easy. Banu had assembled all the workers he could and was currently fighting with the new state of non-magical farming.

“Man… I hope this crap goes back to normal real freaking soon.” Tresk sucked on the end of her finger, which she had sliced open somehow. “This stinks.”

***

A few months passed with very little happening. Although Theo got a few letters from Khahar, the content of those letters was minimal. They were in a holding pattern, waiting for the system to finish fixing stuff up before they could move forward. No one had been expected to be this bored, but there was a charm to it. Nira and Alise’s wedding was interesting. It was attended by most people who lived in Broken Tusk, and even a few folks from Boar Hollow.

Theo and Tresk were situated by the river, which had sprung to life over the weeks. The sound of the water flowing was always a comfort, and they had fallen into the habit of hanging around there when their work was done. There had been a few goblins in the swamps, which Tresk was beyond excited about, but they didn’t prove to be much of a challenge.

To her, it must have felt like eating crumbs after going without food for a day.

But their relaxation was cut short. Theo barely opened his eyes at first when he heard the sound of someone approaching. Although he was the leader of the Southlands Alliance, people didn’t really bug him lately. They took their questions to the administrators, typically Alise. Only when the alchemist heard the voice of the person approaching did he snap to attention.

“My dear alchemist,” Fenian said with a wistful sigh. “How long it has been.”

Theo sprung up, eyes snapping open as he locked his gaze onto the elf. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

“Well, that’s one way to return,” Tresk said with a laugh. “Ew. What happened to you?”

Fenian looked strange. A band of sigils ran across his face, disappearing beneath the ruffled coat he wore. “Ah, the price of power. Unfortunately, I had to make a deal with the system. The power I gained in Death’s Gate was… immeasurable, which pissed the system off quite a lot. It sealed my power away until the reset.”

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“Damn. You must’ve had an adventure,” Theo said.

Fenian let out a breath, taking a seated position by the river. He sighed before pressing his back against the soft grass. “What a tale it is…”

Instead of relaying that story, Fenian placed his hands behind his head, put his hat over his face, and went motionless. Theo and Tresk shared a look, and eventually a shrug. They all reclined on the bank of the river, listening to the sound of the water rushing by. Hours passed and no one moved. The alchemist was certain that Fenian had fallen asleep at some point, and he wouldn’t deny that he dozed off a few times. But eventually, Tresk’s stomach growled loudly enough to wake them all.

Fenian yawned, stretching out and rolling his shoulders. “What do you think? Shall we get lunch?”

“More like dinner,” Theo said, gesturing to the fading sun. “Also, yeah. I’m starving.”

“Me, too.” Tresk patted her belly, flashing a devious smile. “Xam has been knocking it out of the park lately.”

The trio marched through town. If Fenian had arrived with anyone else, he didn’t make that fact known. He wasn’t hiding what had happened. Like the rest of them, he was coming to terms with the boredom of their new lives. Truth was, they all needed an extended vacation.

“So, you have a limp?” Fenian asked, watching as Theo used his cane to move over the streets of Broken Tusk.

“I’m lucky to get away with only a limp, I think.” Theo smiled sheepishly, unsure how exactly to explain it. “It seemed like a good idea at the time. Tresk and Alex were busy, so I figured I’d just do it myself.”

The group entered the Marsh Wolf Tavern. Xam waved behind the counter, handing off a tray of food to one of her many servers. “Fenian! Didn’t expect to see you around here.”

Fenian removed his hat, performing a deep bow. “Xam. Beautiful as ever. While hopping between worlds isn’t easy, I feel the journey was worth it.”

“Doesn’t he have his wife back?” Tresk asked, shaking her head. “The absolute dog.”

“Just take your normal booth,” Xam said, waving the group off. “I’ll bring you what we’ve got.”

“I’ll have you know,” Fenian said, pressing forward. “My wife understands my flirtations.”

“She beats the crap out of you, doesn’t she?” Theo asked. “Blink twice if you’re being abused.”

Fenian paused at the foot of the stairs, almost as though he was planning to blink twice. His face darkened slightly. “Let’s get some food. I’ll tell you the entire tale.”

Xam was serving a real blast from the past. Theo, Fenian, and Tresk found their spot at the reserved booth. Despite the way things had been going, people were sitting, waiting for their meals or eating and chatting. The food came pretty quickly, and it was the same old wolf meat stew she had served back in the day. She didn’t have her cooking class, but the food was still great, even if the meat was no longer wolf meat.

Theo took a bite of the meat and a few unknown vegetables. The flavor was deep and rich, with a lot of mingling herbal notes. It filled him with a sense of comforting warmth, and served to release some of the tension the alchemist had been feeling until that point.

Fenian swallowed the bite of stew he had stuffed in his mouth, letting out a contented sigh. “I entered Death’s Gate after striking a bargain with Khahar. My plan, at first, was to get the soul of my wife. After stealing some dragon eggs, he wanted me to bring a few other souls back. The hard part, of course, was getting there.”

“What was it like?” Tresk interrupted.

“Hellish. There were a lot of chimeras and plenty of energy to suck up.” Fenian traced a finger along the arcane marks on his face. “Infusing the dragon eggs was easy enough. What wasn’t easy was going insane.”

“That doesn’t normally go well,” Theo said. Despite everything, he found himself unable to tear his attention away from Fenian. He wanted to know what the hell had happened.

“I lost my mind a few times. Even after finding my wife and giving her a new body, it was hard to hold it together. I spent thousands of years in there, focused on one thing the entire time.” Fenian took a few more bites, eventually shaking his head. “I eventually found the crew Khahar wanted me to get, along with your dead wife. Before anyone could stop me, I did something rather insane. Instead of using a magical item I had obtained, no need to ask how I found it, to leave Death’s Gate, I used it to keep my mind together. Then, we fought our way out.”

“Dead wife express,” Tresk said awkwardly.

“Well, when we got out of Death’s Gate, I almost killed Death!” Fenian produced a dramatic flourish. “I had him by the throat, but the Lady intervened."

“Who?” Theo and Tresk said in unison.

“The Lady of Light. A monotheistic god from Old Iaredin. She was living in the souls of the Warriors of the Shard, but was re-birthed when they left the sector.” Fenian waved a dismissive hand. “Don’t get caught up on the details. She stopped me from killing him, and I had to rush to the mortal world.”

“Oh, tell him about your earthquake stomps,” Tresk said.

“Right! Well, thousands of years of power is a lot of power… When I walked the surface of the mortal world, the mantle of the planet split. I slew thousands of invaders with every single step.” Fenian pulled a sword from his hip, holding it aloft. Unlike the shiny metal of his old swords, this one was made of pure crystal. “During my time in Death’s Gate, I created a new Dragon Flight, then infused my blades with that power. I based the power off of the Shards, so we have their power as a theme.”

Theo didn’t want to have an opinion on all this. Especially not the fact that Fenian had resurrected his dead wife. Not only was it an uncomfortable thing to confront, but it was a damn mind-boggling experience overall. That meant anyone who had died could come back in a new body… even a dragon body, if they wanted. One day he might be ready to see his old love. Today was not that day.

“Having an alignment with the Shards is a really good idea. I think they have powerful spatial magic.” Theo rubbed his chin for a moment. “Did Elrin leave?”

“And the rest of the Warriors of the Shard,” Fenian said.

“An interesting tale,” Tresk said, stroking an invisible beard. “But what does it all mean?”

Fenian eventually shrugged. “Not much. Not until the reset.”

Theo had expected Fenian to come back with some big news. Well, this was some really big news, but not the kind of impactful news he had expected.

“So, what do we do?” Tresk asked.

“We just hang out,” Fenian said. “Eat some stew. Sleep by the river.”