Eritance - Chapter 32

“Well, yes but what does that have to do with this?” I asked somewhat confused. “While it isn’t uncommon for orcs and goblins to attack villages, don’t you think it is strange that they were looking for a relic in your village?” Hans asked.

I guess it was a bit strange for this same force of orcs to just be pursuing a relic throughout the land. “Orcs and goblins usually like to steal women, food, and weapons. They aren’t usually knowledgeable when it comes to relics and how to track them” Hans said.

“So, what are you saying then? Why did they attack Hallen and kill my father?” Ciara jumped in.

“For some time now, they emperor has been trying to collect all relic users and relics under his wing. He has paid special attention to the collection of especially rare relics. This is all so that he can keep a tighter grip on his empire, word is, there are even other lands that he is preparing to conquer using an elite army of relic users. Your beast relic would represent a powerful addition to his army” Apollos said.

What Apollos and Hans had just revealed to us was quite shocking. This whole time I thought it had just been bad luck that I had been pursued, but it seemed that I was specifically being targeted all along, that is if I understood the implication of what they had said.

“I know relics are somewhat rare, but why go through all that effort to get mine? Surely there are better ways of getting relics than destroying whole villages” I said.

“Normally that would be true, but you have a special relic. Normally speaking, relics give a kind of affinity towards boosting one stat in particular. For example, if you had a speed relic, your speed would be boosted enormously, and it would continue to grow almost without limits. However, your beast relic allows you to increase all stats. Not only that, unlike the others, you can absorb energy from beasts that you kill, and imbue power into items”.

I had no idea my relic was that precious. It seemed that this relic had no limits. With the proper nurturing, it could make me a rival for any force. No wonder the orc chieftain was going crazy for it.

“Nobody knows how many beast relics exist in the world today. Nobody knows how many users exist. You might be the only one left. The emperor wouldn’t let this kind of a relic slip through his fingers, he would definitely make use of all sorts of underhanded methods to obtain it. This isn’t the first time he’s used orcs and other more powerful monsters to get what he wanted” Apollos concluded.

So, the emperor was going for me now? That was just great. It seemed that the life of peace that I wanted was slowly slipping away. “How does he know where I am though?” I asked. “right now, he shouldn’t be able to track you, thanks to that ring I gave you. However, it is truly unfortunate that your village was wiped out before you could get that ring” Apollos said to me.

“Look, I really don’t want to get involved in all of this. Is there anyway that I can just live out my life in peace?” I asked.

“Hmmit should be possible. If you live a very quiet life in the wilderness, far from where some of the more powerful members of the emperor’s forces would show up, you just might be able to escape detection”.

It didn’t really seem like an ideal situation, but hey, at least I wouldn’t have to get involved in pointless struggles. Just as I was thinking this Ciara spoke up. ” the emperor killed my father. I was supposed to become one of his concubines. What my father thought would be a blessing ended up being a curse. I will never forgive the emperor. I want to join the resistance” she boldly proclaimed.

“We’re always looking for new recruits, but it isn’t something to take on lightly. At any moment we could come under attack and be wiped out. Is that something you think you could handle?” Valera said.

“I don’t care. I want to work for the day when I can bring down the person who organized the death of my father and village” Ciara said with a fierce look in her eyes.

I inwardly groaned at this turn of events. I didn’t want to get involved, but I didn’t want Ciara to run off and join a resistance movement by herself. Besides Ross, she was the closest person to me. Of course, that didn’t really mean much considering I had always been alone, but I didn’t want to lose a relationship so easily.

I cursed inwardly and asked to join too. After pledging to join the resistance we were told to return to the inn and to wait. After a day or two someone would come for us to bring us back to the underground base where we would receive our training and new assignments upon graduation from training.

With a sigh in my heart, I knew that my life would continue to get more complicated from here on out, but at least I might be able to learn more about my powers. I also had to think of a way to convince Simon to join too. That way we could all be together.

Before returning to the Blue Swallow I decided to finally check and see how strong Valera was. “Ross, analyze Valera” I said.

Valera Strength 12 Stamina 8 Speed 6

I was shocked. No wonder she called the orc chieftain weak the first time we met! She was strong enough to kill a spine bear by herself! I was beginning to wonder what kind of monster she was? I guess I would be finding out soon enough what other monsters the resistance had in their reserves. For now though, it was time to go back to the inn.