Path of Dragons

“I’ll meet you guys later,” Elijah said as he zeroed in on a familiar figure. “Same place we stayed last time, right?”

Kurik said, “I need to restock on some trap supplies anyway.”

“I wanted to see if there was any news on the other challenges. We have seven more to go,” Sadie added.

Dat shrugged, “Guess I’ll just go hang out with Atticus.”

With that decided, Elijah focused on his surroundings. They’d just returned to the Nexus Town to find that very little had changed about the settlement itself. The buildings were all the same, but there were still a couple of key differences. First, there were far fewer people around, prompting Elijah to wonder if that was because more Trial-takers had died or if they were merely away from the safe zone at the moment. He hoped for the latter, but he fully expected to discover that the former was to blame for the lower population.

The second difference was even more obvious. The market square surrounding the Branch was entirely empty, lacking the temporary stalls that had occupied the space the last time Elijah had been in town. It only took him a few moments to recognize that those merchants and tradespeople hadn’t gone back to Earth. Instead, they’d established premises in the abandoned buildings surrounding the square. There was plenty of space, so it only made sense that they’d exchanged their tents for more permanent structures.

Still, it made the square look like a ghost town, which was the only reason Elijah had noticed the presence of someone he hadn’t thought about since leaving on his latest expedition. In fact, he’d almost forgotten him completely, but the man’s companions still loomed large in his mind. He’d always liked dogs, after all.

As Elijah approached, he knew he’d been noticed. But unlike the last time he’d encountered the pack of dogs, their human handler – or leader, perhaps – didn’t scurry away. Instead, he stood his ground, allowing Elijah to reacquaint himself with the man’s appearance.

The first thing Elijah noticed was the man’s dirty and disheveled state. His beard was matted, and his hair hung greasily to his shoulders. Like Elijah himself, he was barefoot, but his clothing was ripped and torn, looking as if he hadn’t changed his outfit since the world had transformed. If it had been new and in a better state of repair, the attire wouldn’t have been out of place in a big box electronics store. Khaki pants, a blue, polo-style shirt – it was deceptively normal.

But with everything ripped and torn, the man looked like he’d been living in the wilderness for years. Perhaps he had.

“Hey,” Elijah said upon approach. He lifted his hand in greeting, continuing, “I didn’t get a chance to introduce myself last time. I’m Elijah.”

One of the dogs – a tiny shih tzu – raced in his direction, then leaped into his arms. He caught the little ball of fluff, and it immediately climbed his chest to enthusiastically lick his face. That was when the rest of the dogs rushed him, barking excitedly as they danced around, impatient for their turn at his attention. The only outlier was a chihuahua who looked at him suspiciously.

“Oscar,” the man rasped, his voice rough with obvious disuse.

“Ramirez?”

The man nodded, and Elijah took a deep breath. “You’re one of the top names on the list,” he said. Ever since seeing the first power rankings, he’d been fascinated by those at the top. And even from the very beginning, Oscar Ramirez had occupied one of the first three spots. Aside from when Thor or Elijah himself had taken the top position, Oscar had been number one.

That meant he was exceedingly powerful.

Elijah set the dog down, then knelt to give some attention to the others. As he scratched a rottweiler mix’s ears, he said, “You have a nature attunement, don’t you? No – you don’t have to answer. I can feel it.”

“I…I do,” Oscar said.

“You don’t have to answer now, but I have this grove,” Elijah said. “It’s very beneficial to people like us. You’re welcome to visit.”

“Thank you for the offer,” the man answered. “But we must go.”

Miraculously, the entire pack of dogs all looked back at him, then let out a collective whine. He countered with a low growl, and the animals meekly returned to his side.

Elijah persisted, “How about a meal, then? I have plenty of supplies.”

“We ate recently.”

“But –”

Oscar and his pack of dogs had already started walking away. The little shih tzu gave Elijah a last, regretful look before letting loose a dramatic huff and following. The group disappeared around a corner a moment later, leaving Elijah a little confused.

Normally, he wouldn’t have made such an overt attempt at befriending someone, but he hadn’t been lying when he said he’d felt Oscar’s attunement. There was a kinship there that he could scarcely quantify, like he’d found a long-lost brother. It wasn’t truly a familial connection – rationally, he knew that – but it felt like he’d found a close friend that had fallen on hard times. And he desperately wanted, perhaps even needed, to help.

Of course, helping someone required their consent, and Oscar clearly didn’t want that. But he just as obviously needed it. The man was lost. Elijah didn’t know what was going on there, but after having been through something similar, he thought he had some notion. Oscar hadn’t gone completely feral, but Elijah wouldn’t have been surprised to learn that he’d spent long periods of time living as an animal.

After all, Elijah had come close to doing just that, and he could recognize the signs. More, he saw it in Oscar’s eyes, and he could read it in the man’s demeanor. Once, Elijah had read that some Druids were given the chance to evolve their class in such a way as to permanently take an animal form. At the time, he’d wondered what could push a person in that direction, but now, after seeing Oscar, he knew how such a thing could happen. If given that sort of chance, Oscar would almost assuredly join his pack in truth.

Was it Elijah’s place to step in? Would his help even be welcome? And if it was what he wanted, would it be so bad if Oscar let his bestial side take over? Maybe. Maybe not. But in the wake of the meeting, Elijah certainly had a lot on his mind.

For a while, he wandered aimlessly, visiting various shops, and if he’d stopped to pay attention to any of it, he might have marveled at how well-established some of them were. If he hadn’t known better, he would have thought that some of those stores had been there for decades. Idly, he inspected some of the wares on offer, and he even bought some dried fruit that he hoped would supplement his rations, but the bulk of his attention remained on Oscar and his pack of companions. Or more accurately, on how he might help them come to terms with their nature.

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But he couldn’t think of anything that might help – especially considering Oscar’s reticence to accept even a meal, much less a more focused attempt at providing assistance.

Soon enough, Elijah found himself stepping into the familiar confines of the infirmary. It wasn’t as crowded as it had been in those first few days, but there were still plenty of patients. And as had been the case every other time Elijah had visited, Ron was there, tending to those patients. Without a word exchanged between them, Elijah leveraged his spells to pitch in.

In so many ways, the act had a calming effect on Elijah. Not only did it soothe his soul, but it also gave him time to think. After all, healing in that setting didn’t really require much thought. He simply needed to keep spells like Soothe and Healing Rain active, while using Nature’s Bloom on the more dire cases. However, even that didn’t give him the answers he sought, and by the time everyone in the hospital had been healed, Elijah was no closer to finding a solution to the Oscar situation than he had been before he’d started.

But he did feel better.

“Thanks,” Ron said, resting his huge hand on Elijah’s shoulder. “Would’ve taken me all day to finish if you hadn’t come around.”

“No problem. It needed to be done, right?” Elijah responded.

“That it did,” Ron answered. “Wish everyone else would figure that out. You’d think these idiots would be more careful if they didn’t have a healer around, but they keep throwing themselves into one dangerous situation after another. Lost three of them yesterday. Poison. Didn’t get here in time for me to counteract it. I did what I could…but well, you know the limits we have to deal with.”

“I do,” Elijah said. “That’s kind of why I’m here.”

He hadn’t realized it until then, but there was a reason Elijah had wandered into the infirmary. After all, he’d told his companions that they needed to find a proper healer, so it only made sense to ask the only one he personally knew. Sure, there were others out there – more than Elijah would have thought – but they were all part of teams and usually kept to themselves. As such, he’d not had any opportunity to meet them, and even if he had, they were already spoken for.

“Oh?”

Elijah launched into an explanation of the situation, citing his limitations as a healer and pointing out that his class was better suited for a more varied role. Then, he asked the question he needed to ask. “Do you know any other healers that might want to join a team?”

Ron’s eyes briefly widened in surprise before he let out a brief chuckle. “Ah. I see what you did there.”

“What?”

“You came to ask me to join you,” Ron stated. “But I won’t do it. You know I’m here to help people, and not just one group.”

“I didn’t ask you,” Elijah pointed out. “I asked for a recommendation.”

“Bah.”

“Bah?”

“You heard me.”

“Fine,” Elijah said. “I didn’t really come here to ask you to join my group. I just kind of wandered in. But I’ll admit that I do want you. We’re probably the highest level group in the whole Trial, and we’ve already conquered two challenges. If you can’t see that this is a good opportunity, then I don’t know what else to tell you. But I’ll sweeten the deal. You come with us, and I’ll help you advance your cultivation.”

“Who says I need help?”

“I do,” Elijah answered. “I can feel it. I don’t know if you’re stuck at a bottleneck, but I can absolutely guarantee that I can help you take the next step. On top of that, you’ll get an equal share of whatever loot we get. And finally, I’ll owe you one.”

“And owing you is a big deal?”

“I’m on top of the power rankings. Doesn’t mean I’m the strongest person in the world or anything, but it does mean I’m in the mix for that label. I don’t know about where you’re from, but most places have some problem or another to worry about, right? And if not, my sister-in-law is one of, if not the highest-level Blacksmith in the world. I have access to resources most people don’t. I can help you,” Elijah said. “And in turn, you can help me. I don’t see how that doesn’t make sense to you.”

Ron adjusted his sparkly robe, then said, “I’ll think about it. But if I decide not to do it, I’ll try to find someone to fill the role.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. You’re a good kid. You came here and helped even when you didn’t need to. And maybe that was so you could get in my good graces and get a healer for your team, but I don’t think so,” Ron explained. “So, I’ll help, even if I’m not willing to go personally.”

“And what would do that? Make you turn it down, I mean.”

“Maybe I’m a coward.”

Elijah laughed. “I don’t believe that for a second,” he said. “Come on.”

“I told my daughter I’d come back,” the Healer answered. “And traipsing off into the wilderness to fight God knows what isn’t the best way to do that.”

Elijah nodded. “Maybe not. But I don’t think I need to remind you that there are still plenty of threats back on Earth. And here, even in Nexus Town. You’re going to need to get stronger. Everyone is, or we’ll end up losing our planet to monsters. That’s the truth of it. If you want to survive this Trial, it’s probably smart to stay here and keep healing people. You’ll progress a little, and you’ll help everyone else. But if you want to survive what’s coming to Earth, I think you need to get a lot stronger, and fast. We all do.”

“I see,” Ron said. Then, he massaged the back of his neck before saying, “I still need to think on it. I’ll let you know in the next couple of days. You going to be around?”

“I will,” Elijah answered.

After that, they didn’t have anything else to talk about. And given that all the patients had been healed, there was no reason for Elijah to stick around. So, he left the Healer to his thoughts and headed to the Branch at the center of the former market square. There, he accessed his account and was awarded quite a sum of ethereum for his efforts in the Trial. More, when he looked at the Knowledge Base, he found a new guide waiting for him. When he looked at it, however, he found that it wasn’t like any of the other guides he’d seen. Instead, it was a simple list, not unlike the one displaying the power rankings back on Earth.

Primacy Rankings 1. Elijah Hart – 7,301 2. Analese Leafstrider – 6,109 3. Benedict Emerson – 6,056 4. Sadie Song – 5,998 5. Kurik Magmadon – 5,901 6. Oscar Ramirez – 5,899 7. Ramul Totenka – 5,831 8. Dat Bao – 5,825 9. Abdul Nasir – 5,821 10. Hu Shui – 5,410 11. Breeze – 5,391 12. Da’jin Silver – 5,303 13. … 14. … 15. …

On and on the list went, but Elijah only saw a few names he recognized outside the top ten. Ron Dawson held a place in the mid-two hundreds, which, considering that he’d only healed since coming to the Trial, was quite impressive. However, the most surprising thing he saw was the lead he held over everyone else. More than a thousand points separated him from the person in second place, and there was an even wider gap between him and his companions.

And he had no idea why that would be. Were the few times he’d healed people in the infirmary worth so much, then? Or were there other factors at play? He had no idea. But he was happy to see that his entire team was in the top ten. Now, he just had to keep them there.

It was with those thoughts dancing in his mind that he returned to the building they’d taken as their headquarters. Hopefully, the Primacy Rankings was a sign that they were on the right track.

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