We had gathered everyone in what was left of the inn we had been staying at. The front wall still had a hole, and a chunk of the roof was also destroyed by a piece of flying road from where Zilla had burst free from the sewers. I would like to say that everyone was ok, but frankly we wern't. Beatrice had already bleed out a lot when she enhanced me in our match, only to then go running and stabilize a magic circle. Liora had been the focuser of that magic circle and even now I could see a thin glowing blue under her skin where her mana had been forced through her so forcefully it was still there, so even small movements probably hurt for her right now. Selene was tapped out of mutation and would probably be unable to move tomorrow from soreness alone, much less the bruises from being shot and attacked by Pip and Jackson in our match. Jax and Thalia haden't been under as much strain as everyone else, but they had been in charge of grabbing people while Selene and I recovered so they would be tired and drained, close to if not as much as the rest of us. Even now I could still feel that uncomfortable heat from where the revolution core had been burning and blistering me from the inside out to the point where it felt like every heartbeat spread more pain through my veins, this and glasses breaking left everything blurry and hard to see which only made things worse.
We all sat for a moment as the silence seemed to stretch. People outside had begun to return back to the city after the battle's aftermath, the families returning to destroyed homes, and those who couldn't find their families praying to not find them dead, and yet they wern't. While nobody was sure what happened, that last green pulse had fixed wounds, and brought the ones that had died back from the immediate dead. It was something only a high level healer could do, but considering how fast the boy who was fighting Zilla was healing, there must have been one that saved everyone.
As we sat I heard what sounded to be a small building noise, almost like something chittering as I turned to see both Jax and Liora shaking where they sat, their eyes shadowed before they both threw their heads back in an almost manic laugh. I turned to the others, but they only returned my confused look as Jax said.
"Oh MAN! Can you believe it, they could take that thing on, and even kill it, what level do you think they were?"
"If you think that's good you should have seen the guys guarding the circle, one of them was manipulating raw aether, they turned dirt from a solid to a liquid to trap a bunch of monsters that were sent after us, I had no idea such a thing was even possible!"
I'm not sure what it was, be it the energy in which they said it, or the infectious glee they seemed to be spewing out, but Beatrice began to chuckle as she said.
"Don't forget the crab guy, he threw a bunch so fast it sounded like a cannon and launched the monsters through the woods like they were the cannonballs."
"You all weren't even in the city, but we meet got to see Alaster go nova first hand, you should have seen him, he was like a blazing star. Though tell me more about this crab, in detail."
Thalia said joining in. I felt a small smile growing on my face as I chuckled and said.
"I got to meet my uncles, apparently one is a giant and the other is a sword, makes me wonder what in the world my grandpa is getting up to these days."
"N-Not only that, but we all survived and are doing well."
As we all sat, new smiles on our faces that hadn't been there before we looked back to the door, or at least what I hoped was the door, it might have been a tall window, everything was still blurry. Outside one could expect that people would be downtrodden, or sad, but people were happy, embracing loved ones, and finding what remained. Apparently a high level necromancer has been sent by the Frigund to begin helping with the rebuilding efforts. Life would go on, the city would be rebuilt, people would go to work in a few days and the city would work once more.
Thalia held out her hand where her bracelet glowed and Sir Oinks a lot cave out and began to strut, a small dagger held in his mouth like he expected to be only pulled out as a last resort weapon to deal with the danger. He wined and spun, looking for the threat as Thalia hugged him and said.
"Sooooo, what do you all think are the chances that we will get to do another round of the plate games?"
We all turned with a confused look as Jax asked.
"Why is that your question here?"
"What, we needed two more rounds worth of points to get third place and we were totally winning that last one before the attack of the Kaiju."
"What's a Kaij-"
Jax asked, but I stopped paying attention instead listening in as I heard Will and the other voice I had begun to refer to as Thrive arguing in my head and causing a slow, but building headache.
"We don't have to tell her anything, Aiden's playing off the effects of the poison well enough and we can figure out a cure during the next leg of our journey!"
Will yelled as across from him Thrive stood, while Will seemed like a perfect copy of myself aside from not wearing armor, Thrive instead looked like how I did back in Hopestone, alchemy robes instead of armor and no spear on his back as he yelled back.
"It is going to become a liability, especially for adventurers where things like that will get people killed, plus how do you expect Aiden to ever be trusted again if he hides something like this!"
Hearing both sides I focused back into the moment as the others were discussing.
"Hey guys, we still have the issue of the Seed of Betrayal."
Conversations seemed to stop as they turned back to me, though even without my glasses I could see how Selene refused to meet my eyes, staring at the table instead.
"It's not bad, mainly because my blood was being heated might have messed with its effect from the revolution core, but there is still an amount of unconscious fear when I look at Selene."
Selene stood as she still refused to meet my eyes.
"I-I understand, I want to thank all of you for your help with everything and your willingness to work with me. Without you I wouldn't have been cured, I will be going now."
She began to walk towards the door as the others watched her, a mix of sadness and more on their faces as I stood and said.
"Hey, where are we going, I'll drive."
Selene turned back to me, her expression was unclear with my vision blurry, but I could guess she was confused.
"B-But the Seed of Betrayal."
I made a show of scoffing as I crossed my arms and said.
"Oh Please, I cured your condition that you struggled with for years in just half a year, what's another half a year to fix this, might even get a better time now that we have nicer tools. Besides, I know for a fact you aren't a monster, or even a bad person. So I ask again, where are we going, I'll drive."
Selene turned away, not moving as she said in a small, but hopeful voice.
"W-Well I had been hoping to head back to Tessegog to share the good news with my mom and brothers."
I turned to Jax, or maybe Beatrice, one of them who was roughly Jax shape and sized and said.
"Well team lead?"
"Over here, we have got to get you new glasses, and I don't see why not, it could be a fun trip."
The others stood as Thalia, Selene, and Beatrice began up what remained of the stairs as Liora said.
"We'll grab your bags, bring the ATV out front."
Jax and I began to head for the door as I nudged him and said.
"Dude, did you have to ruin the moment by pointing out I was looking in the wrong direction?"
Jax chuckled and said.
"Yea, like your constant squinting wasn't making it weird, you're scrunching your face up like your mid dump."
Even as the two of us bickered all the way back to the ATV and even as we pulled it around and we began the next leg of our journey I found myself thinking back to the start of this journey in hopestone as for a moment I could imagine myself, in my old robes, as the others of who would soon by my team arrived to the city, and in the far distance Beatrice ran around as a confused fox with a blue screen. I found a small smile spreading on my face as I thought.
I am glad I was still so curious about adventure
END OF SEASON 1
Authors Note:
Thank you everyone who has read up to this point, this story has been a bit of a passion project of mine I have enjoyed writing and hope you have enjoyed reading. The next part of The CuriousAlchemist will be up in the coming months as they follow the crew in the next arc following the crew in Tessegog as they deal with monsters, trials, comedic moments, and a very overprotective family.
If you want more from the same world, a separate story called Survivors of the lost Isle will begin being published on Royal Road and Webnovel