Returning to the surface from deep within the cave was not as easy as coming down. Coming down, though the caverns had been full of small animals and insects, none had bothered him. Even so, he had been cautious going down for he didn’t want to face unexpected attacks. His strength provided him with the confidence to continue down, though.
Going up, his strength was still the same - more or less - but the small animals and insects had already entered into the Initiate level. If they decided to change their behaviour towards him, he would have a very tough time getting through.
So Nero used Muted self and tried to hide his figure as best as possible. Since he already knew the path he was going to take, he knew the perfect places to hide while going up.
Although it slowed down his progress, it was very necessary. If he ended up in a fight, his return would be a lot slower than the time used by his precautions.
In the end, despite Nero’s many precautions, he was still noticed by a family of ferrets, but they only stared at him curiously, and then just passed by. They seemed just as disinterested in him as they had been before.
That was good to know. That meant there was a possibility he could still bring the team down to the pond once he ensured everything was fine.
Nero’s return to the surface couldn’t have taken long, barely a few minutes at most. As he approached the mouth of the cave, he heard the sounds of fighting, so Nero engulfed his body in his cryoflames and rushed out, ready to assist.
Despite the increased difficulty of the situation, based on the performance Lina and others had shown, he was certain they’d have been able to survive the few, short minutes since the change had occurred. Even so, it would be best not to let them wait too long.
Nero rushed to the entrance, ready to join the fight, but the scene he saw stunned him. Corpses. There was a small mound of corpses that had fallen atop each other, blood and dismembered. Lina and another soldier were the only ones left standing, and even they were on their last legs.
Though stunned, Nero’s eyes kept searching. He saw the corpses, and he saw the spears sticking out of them. Clearly, they had been betrayed. But that wasn’t what he was looking for. He was...
Then Nero saw her. Vanessa. She had fallen on the ground, her daggers still clenched in her hands, her face covered in blood. From the distance, he couldn’t see if she was breathing. He couldn’t see any injuries or arrows, but there was so much blood.
One would think that the sight would have driven him mad with anger - a cold furious rage to take revenge. But that is not what happened.
Nero felt a stabbing pain in his chest, as if his heart had been punctured. He felt a loss so deep that he was not prepared for it. He was no longer in Perilith when he looked at Vanessa’s bloody face.
No, he was back to being thirteen years old, standing in his home with Patricks toy in his hand as he looked at the strange man at the door. He could hear once more the words of how his brother had been pronounced guilty, and shipped off to an undisclosed location. He could see his mother screaming in anger, and the silent, brooding expression of his father.
Looking at Vanessa, Nero felt a wound reopened that had taken years to partially close, and it hurt more than he remembered.
Nero had always been a pragmatic man. He had goals, and for them, he could sacrifice anything and everything. Nero had distanced himself from his parents so they would not stop him. He had sacrificed enjoyment and friendship, sacrificed the passions of youth and the dreams of children. He did not even regret it, and would have done even more.
If there was something hampering him, something stalling his steps and halting his progress, he would have discarded it. He traded a spear for a glaive, just in case it might help him. If a weapon had broken, he would have discarded it. Should a wall block his path, Nero would have torn down the wall. He would have even chopped off a limb or cut off his own flesh if he had to.
But it was his heart. The pain that stopped him still was in his heart, so what could he do to it?
Nero could have set the world on fire and not even flinch, but how could he give up his heart? How could he close it off? Even though oceans of pain filled it now, somewhere deep within, there was still at least a pond’s worth of love for his brother. In there was still a room with childhood memories that he couldn’t give up, still that warmth he felt when his idiot father cracked a stupid joke.
Nero felt like he was suffocating in pain, and there was a blue flame within his mind telling him that it could offer him solace. If he gave into the flames, gave up his emotions and closed off his heart, it could take away the pain.
For a moment - too quick to even be called a split second - Nero wavered. It was too much. But it was just a moment.
Nero’s loss filled eyes saw the soldier stumble, saw Lina prepare for a final fight, and resolve filled them once more.
The pain never left, and maybe, it would never leave again. But no matter what, he could never close off his heart. Whether it was Patrick, his parents, his sister-in-law, whether it was... it was Vanessa, or anyone else he called friend, he cherished them too much to close off his heart.
Growing up in a world full of death, he had learned to cherish each moment, and he would not miss out even a single moment of warmth from them, even if he had to endure all that pain. After all, since when had Nero been afraid of a little pain?
Never. Pain was not a stranger to Nero, it was a dear friend. And what did one do with their friends? One introduced them to those one met.
The feeling in his mind - the one where the blue flame took away his emotions, leaving him calm - disappeared. The flame, however, remained, and instead became a source of cold fury.
Had it been any other time, Nero would have reflected on this change. It felt very real, and very significant. Now, however, was not the time for that.
As the cold fury took hold of Nero’s mind, the beasts about to attack Lina suddenly retreated, as if they sensed a tremendous danger. Curiously, they had detected the danger as soon as the change in his flame took place.
But since they retreated, Nero turned to look towards his left. He heard something move there, and when he looked he found a figure hidden in the bush. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what was happening.
His team was over, dead or dying, and Dave was hidden in a bush, at the Initiate level. He had caused Nero to face the biggest failure that he had ever experienced, resulting in the loss of nearly every member under his command.
Dave, the target of his rage, seemed to have sensed Nero’s gaze and looked over. The expression of fear and shock in his eyes gave Nero no solace or satisfaction.
Mustering every ounce of strength in his body, Nero dashed to Dave and punched him straight in the face, throwing his body back - though a cold, deep voice in his head reminded him not to kill Dave.
Death was too easy an escape for him - Nero needed to properly acquaint Dave with his friend, pain. Also, someone would probably have to extract his reasoning.
But that final thought was buried too deep for Nero to pay attention to it now. He merely saw Dave’s deformed face, his crumpled nose and the layer of frost that began to appear on his face after the briefest contact, and knew he had to adjust the angle of his punch.
Breaking his skull might injure the brain, causing memory loss or death, so the second time he punched him in the jaw.
Dave’s body had been strengthened after becoming an Initiate, which Nero felt was fortunate because this way he was a lot more durable, and Nero wouldn’t need to be as careful to avoid accidentally killing him.
But as much as he wanted to continue bashing Dave, there were still a number of beasts behind him, and they were the real threat, so Nero was forced to prioritise.
Instead of continuing to punch Dave, which felt really good, Nero grabbed his ankle with both hands and flung his whole body at the nearest beast.
Nero had left his glaive at the entrance of the cave so the weight of it wouldn’t slow him down in beating up Dave. Now, though, that had left him without a weapon. He could go back and get the glaive, but Nero was content with using Dave as a human whip as a temporary weapon.
Authors Note: I am making some minor changes to how the Eldrim cards are ranked in stars, and how they’re used. An explanation will be given provided in the authors note down below, as well as in an upcoming Chapter. I will also make changes in previous Chapters on to correct them accordingly. If you’re reading this anyplace other than , you may have read the work with an incorrect understanding of how star cards work, since it is not the official platform or version.