Prologue #2
Meredith opened her mouth to retort, but Todd slammed his stone down on the table again.
“She did. No one disagrees with that. The System records show that the Quest was issued by Meredith herself. However, the recommendation to lift her Geas from the Hero has been rejected. If Peace is unwilling to offer a secondary reparation, then it is our job to think up a suitable punishment for her.”
“I can think of a few things,” Delar offered helpfully, wiggling in her seat, leaning forward. Her fingers tapped against each other, the click of bone on bone audible despite the translucent flesh around her body. “What about class evolution Quests for everyone in the Hero’s Party?”
Meredith went utterly still. Rogush raised an eyebrow, his brutish gaze shifting to take on a cunning gleam as he glanced at Delar.
Non tilted her head, contemplating the suggestion.
Class evolutions were a way individuals could be guided into expanding their affinities.
For those like the Hero, trapped by their classes and Blessings, evolutions also represented a chance to move away from the shackles of the gods.
But it wasn’t a sure thing. They’d have to complete difficult Quests to qualify, and then choose to move away from their current class. The way they went about conquering their Quest determined what their class would transform into.
“Not… a bad idea,” Rogush rumbled, “but I think we should all have to agree on what the Quests are. If we let Peace determine them herself, she’ll just manipulate the situation so that the members have to move more fully into her service to complete them.”
“We should ban Peace from taking part in issuing those Quests completely,” Delar countered.
“I believe you are absolutely correct, War, that she’d manipulate the system.
By the same token, I believe that Chaos should also be barred.
She has a clear agenda. As the injured party, I say Life should get to determine the difficulty, but that Law, War, and myself should be the ones to establish the parameters. ”
Non opened her mouth, then closed it when Julius flicked his tail. Her brother side eyed her, his orange gaze demanding silence, so she sat back in her seat with a pout, crossing her arms over her stomach and tapping her foot against the floor.
“Fine,” Julius said. The cat rolled once again onto his stomach, shook himself, then hopped off the table.
Julius smoothly transformed to his felid form midair, his skin shifting through a number of colors, his hair shimmering through various shades of gray, and his orange eyes gleaming.
He adjusted his tunic, then put his feet up on the table—which made Todd grimace.
“Let’s set it at a minimum S-rank level 55 Quest,” Julius said. “I also think it should have something to do with the thirteenth floor of the Great Dungeon.”
“Come on!” Meredith protested while throwing her hands up.
“That’s no fair! To get that deep, they’d have to abandon all their activities on the surface…
” Her words slowed down and Non watched the realization grow over the goddesses’ face.
Meredith took a moment, but the girl looked horrified to realize Julius’ intentions.
“I think that sounds fair,” Law said, stroking his beard. “The Hero is currently on the threshold of Level 50, and he’s done some exploring on the eleventh floor already. Pushing them to make it deeper is a reasonable challenge.”
“Agreed!” War roared with a slap of his palm on the table. “Push them deeper, make them grow in power. Perhaps that lovely little cat-gi—felid,” he muttered, swiftly changing what he was going to say with a glance at Julius, “will finally take a proper class and become a true Berserker.”
Julius just snorted, amused.
“Then if we’re agreed, Peace, Chaos, and Life should leave the chamber so we can establish the evolution Quest,” Law proposed. He looked over at Non—the expectation she’d protest was clear on his face.
“Sounds good to me,” she said sweetly. Non bounced to her feet and stretched her arms up over her head. She turned and walked out of the chamber without a backward glance. She didn’t need eyes to sense Julius coming up behind her.
“That worked fairly well,” her brother said in a quiet voice.
“We knew Peace would overstep, though I didn’t think she’d go as far as she did.
” He sounded thoughtful, and when she looked over, she saw him walking with his hands clasped behind his back.
“Her previous actions may make it impossible for your Vester to reconcile with his brother.”
Non grimaced. “I didn’t think the first thing Vester would do after getting Unfettered was kill Jack… but someone put that idea into his head, didn’t they?” She glared at Julius, who raised his hands innocently.
“I didn’t tell him to kill Jack,” Julius protested. “I just said Denny would be better off if Jack were dead. Was I wrong in that?” Non felt a flash of pride in her little brother. Julius could be even trickier than she was when he chose. She let out her breath in a huff.
“No, you’re right. That boy was rotten to the core.” Non reached up, rubbing her thumb against the underside of her horn. “I also don’t think we’re done with him.”
“What do you mean?” Julius asked, clearly confused. “He’s dead, how could we still struggle with him?”
Non motioned for her brother to follow her into her room, then they sat down on her couch. The crystal globe sat into the floor like a massive dome showed Ordinal spinning. Non waved a hand over it, and slowly the image spun down until it was hovering over Porter’s Walk.
The image zoomed in closer, and they saw the Hero and the remnant of the Hero’s Party walking away from the town cemetery.
A new grave sat at the foot of a marble plinth.
The name Jack Kincaid was engraved deeply into the face of the stone obelisk.
The soil churned, and then a skeletal hand pushed up out of the ground.
What emerged was a mass of mummified flesh, skeletal and wiry, with glowing green sockets in a bare skull perched atop a slender neck.
The status of the individual was visible to the gods.
Jack Kincaid: Death Knight, level 48—Avatar of Death.
“Well… shit,” Julius muttered.