Infinite Realm: Monsters & Legends

ACT II ­­– Ryun

Bargain

Ryun watched from his hiding spot, tearing a piece of raw dire wolf meat with his teeth and chewing. With his stats he didn’t really need to worry about eating raw meat, and it wasn’t like it didn’t taste good. He even felt a pleasant and warm sensation spread from his stomach as he ate. Up on the hill, those asleep started to wake. As the town came to life, the people from the barn—which he suspected to be some kind of dormitory—spilled out. Supervisors left their tents, the guard shift changed, and everyone started working at their posts.

It wasn’t until almost midday that the kind of commotion Ryun had expected happened. He couldn’t tell much of what was going on, but people were obviously agitated. Then their leader walked out of his residence. There was some yelling, some pointing of fingers, and a search of the camp was quickly organized. It didn’t last long; everyone had been brought to the large courtyard and they saw that two of their people were missing. The leader yelled again, too far away for Ryun to hear, but he could imagine what was being said. Several guards were brought before the man and he started questioning them. When he was halfway down the row, he started yelling again and Ryun knew that the truth had come out. The guard shook his head, and pleaded with the leader, but the demon didn’t want to hear it.

He spun, and his two-pronged tail struck the man, sending him flying across the courtyard to slam hard into the palisade wall. Ryun was impressed—that attack was incredibly powerful. The leader yelled at his people again and they all scrambled in a mad dash all over the hill. A group of soldiers was assembled and they set off immediately into the forest in the same direction that the woman escaped in. Ryun stayed and watched. He saw the now unconscious soldier brought back before the leader again, and the leader reached up and broke the man’s neck. Ryun watched as they disrobed the man on the leader’s orders and then hung him above the barn’s doors.

Ryun hummed softly to himself. It was not the first time that he had seen that type of sentence, nor that type of discipline and example making. It saddened him a bit to see it here as well.

He shook his head and pushed off his branch, heading back toward the woman and her child. He found their hunters—two crustaceans, three humans, and one orc—and followed along with them. He watched as they took their time to track their prey and head on a direct course toward her. Even so, at the pace they were going they would reach the fugitives resting spot in a couple of hours. Ryun increased his speed and went ahead of them. His unique body allowed him ease of maneuvering among the trees. As long as he willed it, gravity had a weak hold on him, and he could move silently and quickly over vast distances. Sometimes he wondered if he had picked the best type of a True Body from his advancement to Mid Lord, but in the moments like these, when he was soaring through the air, nothing but a gentle touch sending him flying farther than anyone else could hope for, made him feel like there was nothing in the world that could touch him.

He reached the hiding place, and found it empty. He shot past it, not even slowing down, his senses searching. He headed toward the mountains, and an hour later he found them. They were climbing up the slope toward the mountain. He slowed down and then stopped. He was far more visible in the day, even though he doubted that the woman had the means to detect him. The branches were thick and obscured him nearly completely. The two were obviously tired; their pace had slowed down considerably.

“Mom, can we stop?” the tiny voice asked.

“Just a little bit more, sweetie,” the adult answered. “Just as soon as we are in the mountains.”

“I can’t, it hurts,” the little girl said.

Ryun saw the woman stop and turn, letting him see her face for the first time. She wasn’t human; she looked to be an orc, with slightly pointed ears, tusks peeking out of her lower lips, and dark green skin. Her black hair was pulled back and braided. She had blue eyes, and an attractive face, even with her non-human features. The little girl looked like a tiny version of her. The mother knelt and looked at her daughter before pulling her in for a hug and looking behind them at the way they had come from. Ryun could see pain and fear in her eyes before she closed them tightly. After a long minute, she opened her eyes and smiled at her daughter.

“I’ll carry you, okay?”

The daughter nodded weakly and the mother turned, letting the girl climb on her back. Then she was off, running up the slope slowly. She was obviously exhausted, but even still she ran faster than an ordinary human could’ve, letting him gauge a bit of her strength. Ryun knew that it wouldn’t be enough—her pursuers would catch her before the night fell, or turned. Is it then ‘nightturn’? he wondered absentmindedly as he followed behind the woman and her daughter.

He wasn’t sure why he was even doing it. He had no real intention of interfering. He was mostly just passing the time, and watching an interesting development. It was one thing that he had missed in the last few years, the excitement of something new happening. It was waking up parts of him which he’d thought died long ago.

The woman struggled for hours, and by the end her run had slowed to a walk. Just before nightfall, or rather nightturn, the six pursuers found her.

She heard them first. Dropping her daughter, she turned, putting the girl behind her as she drew the sword on her hip. It was a long and straight sword, with a golden hilt and silver blade. She waited for the six to come into sight, her eyes turning to steel.

The six stopped a dozen steps away, their own weapons drawn. The leader of the group was a man, human, with long blond hair drawn into a ponytail. Seeing his long hair reminded Ryun that he should cut his own hair. He caught a few strands of hair and pulled on them. He hated having such long hair. He sat down on the branch, his legs dangling off it, and pulled out a small knife from his ring. He started cutting his hair with precise, silent movements as the group below started talking.

The leader of the group spoke first. “You shouldn’t have run. You know that the young master doesn’t tolerate disobedience. It’s going to be worse for you now.”

“It was going to be bad either way,” the woman answered.

“Please, throw down your weapon and come with us peacefully. He might be lenient if you come of your own free will. We can say that your grief pushed you to run. Please,” the man said.

The woman shook her head. “No. I am not responsible for my husband’s debts.”

“You know that sect law says otherwise,” the man said.

“I would’ve worked to pay them back, but I will not warm that entitled brat’s bed,” the woman hissed at them.

The six looked uncomfortable, but they didn’t lower their weapons. “He is the sect head’s nephew. We can’t disobey him,” the man said.

Ryun gathered a bit of what was happening from their conversation. He sat on his branch and watched.

“Then we will fight, and some of you will die. You might capture us and take us back, but at least one of you will not.”

The man closed his eyes and bowed his head. “We have no choice.”

The woman moved first. She jumped forward, leaving her daughter and stabbing at the leftmost person, the crustacean. He, or it, barely had the time to react—its upper arms rose and the two short blades in them battered the woman’s sword away even as its lower arms stabbed forward with another two swords. As her sword was pulled away, she whirled in an incredible burst of speed, probably using an ability, and cut through the crustacean’s lower arms before stabbing it in the throat. She jumped to the side, using its falling body as a shield against an attack from the orc man, who swung a large axe at her. She just barely got out of the way. Ryun saw that it was she who had the advantage, as her opponents were not trying to hurt her, but only attempting to capture her.

One of her opponents, another human, made a beeline for her daughter, running toward her. The woman’s eyes widened and she used a movement ability, appearing in front of the human and blocking him. They exchanged blows quickly, earning her a cut on her upper arm and earning the human one on his cheek. Then a crustacean used a crowd control ability—a tendril of smoke appeared from the ground at the woman’s feet, hindering her. She used her Qi, switching her breathing form and a pale green light enveloped her and she freed herself, but she was too late. The leader used a movement skill and reached the daughter, capturing her and putting a sword to her throat.

“Stop, or I will kill her,” the man said. “You know that he doesn’t need her. He wants only you.”

The woman looked at the five remaining opponents, her eyes searching for a way out, but there was none—and yet she didn’t lower her sword.

“Come back with us, and she will be safe. She’ll grow up in the sect and have everything that she needs. You only need to do what he says.”

The woman’s eyes were filled with desperation, and Ryun wondered if she was willing to sacrifice her daughter for her own freedom. But then he saw her sag in defeat. Seeing that look of defeat in her eyes woke something inside of him, something from long ago—a memory of a dark room and chains. He felt his face contort in anger; it was an old memory, one that he had long since buried, yet the events in front of him made him feel, and he hadn’t felt anything in a long time.

Without really realizing, he’d made a decision. He jumped from his branch forward until he landed on one directly above the group. He wasn’t hiding anymore, but all of them were too focused on their opponents to notice. The only one who did notice him was the little girl. She stared at him with a wide look in her eyes, and there was hope there. Ryun didn’t want to see that, couldn’t bear it—such feelings and looks should never be pointed in his way. He managed to keep his inner turmoil to himself, however, and gave the girl a quick wink.

He knew that the woman was about to surrender, so he spoke.

“Hello there.” All the eyes turned up to look at him, standing there above them on a branch, but Ryun was looking at the woman, and it was to her that he aimed his question. “Would you like to make a bargain? Your freedom, in return for—”

Before he could finish his sentence, she spoke. “Yes, I accept! Please, just save my daughter!”

Ryun blinked. “Ah, a bargain struck without a payment named. Lucky me, I guess.”

He saw the woman startle at that, but he turned his attention to the others.

“So, I would be remiss if I did not offer you a bargain as well. Your lives in return for the woman and the child. Choose.”

“This is not a matter that concerns you, stranger,” the human leader said cautiously. “We are members of the Black Viper Sect on orders from our territory master. Stay out of this, or the entire sect will be your enemy,” he warned, his hand tightening on the little girl.

“I don’t know who you are, or anything about your sect, but I offered my aid and it was accepted. It is now a matter that concerns me,” Ryun said with a sad smile.

“You will be making a powerful enemy,” the leader said, his eyes glancing from him to the woman and back.

“Power is relative; to an ant, a mouse is powerful,” Ryun said and took a step. He fell to the ground, the pull of the gravity on his body lessening as he neared the floor and he touched onto the leaves lightly without a sound. None of his movements made noise, his Class perk, Silent Hunter, muffling it all. Everybody tensed, getting ready for a fight, but even as crippled as he was, Ryun was above them all. He moved, his stats sending him further and faster, his hand shooting forward at the leader and the little girl. He grabbed the leader’s arm and squeezed, crushing bones as he ripped the man’s arm from the girl’s throat and pulled him aside. He threw him to the side, his body flying through the air and hitting the tree and shattering against it. He grabbed the little girl and jumped up to the branches, placing her on one and then jumping back down.

The woman had herself jumped back into the fight, killing the orc. Ryun saw the wide eyes of the others as they looked at the broken body of their leader. Then, they turned to run, but Ryun summoned his sword.

Shadow Princess landed in his palm, and he swung. |Spatial Cut| took their heads off at the same time. Then there was silence. The woman was staring at him and glancing up at her daughter high in the trees. Ryun jumped up and saw the mother stiffen at his sudden movement. He picked up the wide-eyed little girl and slowly floated down, and she ran to her mother as soon as he released her. The mother hugged her daughter and looked at him over her shoulder, fear filling her eyes again. For a moment Ryun was confused as to its origin, but then figured out that the woman was probably wondering if she would have been better off with her pursuers.

She stood and pulled her daughter behind her, her sword pointed at the ground, but ready. She cleared her throat and spoke.

“You said that there was to be a payment for your help,” she said, more than asked.

Ryun tilted his head, thinking. “Yes.”

When he didn’t elaborate, she spoke again. “Can you tell me what this payment is?”

“Does that mean that you would refuse certain forms of payment?” Ryun asked curiously.

The woman, to her credit, didn’t lie to him. Instead, she met his eyes even though she was afraid. “Yes.”

Ryun chuckled and shook his head. “You needn’t worry. The payment for my help are answers.”

“Answers?” she asked, confused.

“To questions.”

“Questions?” She blinked, her confusion only growing.

Ryun didn’t know what she had been expecting, but what he had said had obviously not been it. “Answers are what usually follows questions. I shall ask, and you will answer.”

“I don’t know anything important about the sect or—”

Ryun raised his arm, halting her. “I have no interest in this sect. I shall ask questions about anything and everything, and you will have an answer or you will not. If not, I shall ask another.”

She looked at him like he was crazy, which in some way he perhaps was. She did not know that he had no knowledge about this world, however, and that information about it was the most precious thing to him right now. “How many questions?”

“As many as I deem necessary,” Ryun said.

He saw her open her mouth to argue, but he spoke before she could. “You were the one who agreed before hearing the price.”

She grimaced, but then nodded. She glanced at the dead bodies and then back to him. “They’ll send more. The young master will not want to let me go.”

“Then they’ll die,” he said offhandedly.

She glanced at the corpses again, and shuddered. Ryun frowned in confusion; he didn’t feel the cold. He shrugged and walked over, the woman stiffening as he came closer.

“Come, we should get up into the mountains before more of them come,” Ryun said.

“Can we not rest a bit first? Both of us are tired,” the woman said.

Ryun shook his head. “No need, I’ll carry you.”

He reached for the woman and before she could react he had picked her up, one of his arms behind her back and the other behind her knees. He then knelt and turned his back to the child.

“Grab on,” he said. The woman looked at him with her eyes open wide, but didn’t say anything even though Ryun could see that she wanted to protest. She exchanged a glance with her daughter and reluctantly nodded.

The little girl grabbed him around the neck and he stood up. “Hold on tight,” he said, and then he was off, flying over the forest floor. The woman cried out at the speed and reached around his neck to grab her daughter, who nearly fell off.

I probably should’ve started slower, he thought as the land began disappearing beneath his feet.

A while later, he climbed all the way up to the base of the mountain, and with a jump he moved out of the forest onto the top of a small cliff and into the sunlight.