Chapter 113: Life and Death

There was a full fifteen seconds of heavy silence while Nell’s words settled over them like a blanket. “Zaren died,” Allie managed eventually.

Nell flinched. “Yes. But he isn’t dead.”

Yeah, that cleared things right up. “Care to elaborate?” Allie said, refusing to let hope get a foothold.

The Ashra swallowed audibly, then jumped when Reese all but appeared a few feet away. “She’s alone,” the ranger said quietly.

“Well, strictly speaking that’s not—” she grimaced. “Er, never mind. Well, long story short, that Arthal dickhole stabbed Zaren with his own sword, killed him, took all his valuable shit—sword included—and fucked off. Zaren was… well, revived, I suppose. Only apparently coming back from the dead takes a toll, because the prick hasn’t so much as stirred in four days.”

That damned hope dug its hooks in and refused to be dislodged. Allie forced herself to take a breath. “Take us to him.”

Nell’s shoulders drooped in relief. She turned on her heel and sped off into the city, leaving them to follow, and follow they did. They passed several more bodies and a spread of equipment and gear Allie numbly recognized to be things from Zaren’s storage spread out in a perfect circle with gaps where items had been taken, but her attention was locked on Nell’s back.

She picked her way through the abandoned alleys and to a squat house that seemed slightly sturdier than the houses surrounding it. She threw the door open and led them to a room in the back. When Allie followed her in, her heart stopped. There, lying in the middle of the room with bandages wrapped around his torso and his skin painfully pail, was Zaren.

For a moment that might have been an hour from the way the world fell out from under her feet, Allie couldn’t move. Then she saw the faint rise of his chest and the distance between them vanished. A cry slipped past her lips when her skin touched his and felt its warmth. She pressed her ear to his chest and sent a silent thanks to any gods listening when she heard his heartbeat.

He was alive.

After a second’s delay, she felt a shock pass between them. He breathed in and she thought she might have seen a flicker of color return to his pallid skin, but none of that compared to the feeling of their bond snapping back into place with a force that floored her.

She choked back a sob. “T-touch him,” she managed. “The Links, they must have been damaged when he died, he—”

The others wasted no time in surging forward to place a hand on him. With each touch his shallow breathing seemed to deepen. Even Festus hopped off her shoulder and stuck his snout in Zaren’s face to make sure he was breathing. Noelle cradled his head with a pained whimper and bent over him, pressing her forehead to his.

Allie made no move to wipe away the tears that were falling down her cheeks. Instead she pulled back the hastily applied bandages, then sucked in her breath. An angry red wound about the size of the Jailer’s Blade marred Zaren’s abdomen, but considering he was still here she figured there was no significant damage.

But what worried her most was the angry violet burns that spiraled out from the cut. They spread out in a starburst pattern up his chest and vanished below his pants. She had a feeling they were just as bad on his back, but she was afraid to move him.

“Soul burn,” Festus offered. “The last time he carried marks like this it was from nearly depleting his pool of Soul Essence. With the Blade involved, it’s very likely his pool is mostly empty.”

Allie burst into motion, ripping her clothes off while Reese knelt over Zaren with potions and first aid supplies. First she dripped potion into the wound, then she carefully cleaned and stitched the wound closed. Allie laid down in nothing but her undergarments and pressed herself into Zaren’s side.

“Er,” Nell said, her cheeks dark, “what exactly are you doing?”

“Essence regenerates through intimacy,” Allie said breathlessly, “so hopefully this helps his recovery.”

Noelle ran her fingers through his hair while Therese tipped a potion between his lips. Nora checked his pulse, then cupped the side of Allie’s face with a warm look. “I’ll keep watch,” she said softly. Then she stood and left the room.

Allie couldn’t stop touching him. Tracing his jaw. The lines of his muscles. The new injuries he’d accrued layered over the scars of his old ones. The new soul burn, stretching underneath unblemished skin like a bruise. He was here. He was alive. She knew she’d be furious with him later, but right now she just wanted to fall apart.

“How?” she croaked.

“Well,” Nell said, wringing two sets of hands in front of her, “that’s a funny story, actually. One I can’t really tell, apparently. If you just wait a bit, my… er, employer, I guess? She’ll be by to explain things fully.”

“And who is your boss?” Therese asked dangerously.

“That’s… also complicated. Easier to hear from the horse’s—” She jumped and her eyes focused on something that only she could see. “About fucking time! Yeah, no shit! I can’t, you did something to—yeah! No. Yeah. Will you shut up and just—”

Nell’s body tensed, then relaxed, then her eyes closed and she swayed. When they opened, they were no longer red. Instead they were a shimmering, deep green. Her body didn’t change, but something about the way she held herself made her feel like a completely different person.

She waved her arms like she was suddenly off balance for a second, then she righted herself with a grin. She looked around the room and that grin widened, but when she saw Noelle she let out a squeal. “Noelle!” she cried in a voice slightly higher than the one she’d been using earlier.

Noelle stiffened, but Nell was already hurtling forward. Noelle made a surprised grunt with wide eyes when Nell scooped the Malachai up with all four arms and spun around in a circle. Nell let out a vibrant laugh like tinkling bells. “Oh, I’ve wanted to do that forever!”

Allie half expected the little hellion to fly off the handle, but Noelle just looked up at the taller, four armed woman with wide eyes. Her head cocked and her wings twitched. “…Ash?” she asked hesitantly, speaking for the first time since Zaren’s death.

Allie blanched. “Ash? As in goddess Ash? You said your name was Nell!”

Nell—er, Ash made no move to set Noelle down, sitting by Zaren’s head instead. “No, Nell said she was Nell. And she is. I’m Ash.”

Clearly it had something to do with the change in eye color, but past that Allie was lost. “You’re the boss that… you… Nell mentioned?”

Ash beamed. “That’s one way to look at it. Technically she’s my Avatar, which means she’s a vessel capable of hosting my divine essence and giving me the ability to have a physical presence in this realm, but employee has a much more entertaining ring to it, don’t you think?”

Allie just blinked. Reese and Therese both seemed as flabbergasted as she was. Then Allie finally put it together. She couldn’t help but cling tighter to the man she loved. “You brought Zaren back,” she breathed. “You’re why Keone couldn’t find his soul. Because he was already reincarnated.”

Noelle’s eyes somehow went even wider, but Ash couldn’t hide her flinch. “Yeah, about that. I might need your help with him when he wakes.”

Allie’s brow furrowed. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Promise you won’t try to kill me or my lovely Avatar?”

Zaren’s chest was warm under her palm. Maybe it was just wishful thinking, but she felt like his color had deepened even further just in the short time they’d been talking. “You saved the life of the man I love. I think that earns you a little leeway.”

From her worried smirk, it was clear Ash didn’t think a little leeway was enough, but she spoke anyways. “I’ve been doing a little investigating while Zaren’s been napping. It seems Karn’s perversions of the laws of the cosmos ran deeper than anyone realized. He needed to make sure none of you survived his experiments so you couldn’t spill your secrets.”

“He marked you for death. All of you. However he did it, though, it didn’t take on Zaren. My belief is that it’s thanks to Zaren’s soul having enough Zaverrian to make him exempt from whatever twisted techniques he used. That, or the blade burned the mark out of him.”

“Either way, it wasn’t something Allura could change, even with reincarnation.” She combed her fingers through his hair. “You were still marked, even in this life. You were all fated to die. But with his death, Zaren paid your debts. Someone, somewhere along the way, orchestrated things so that his death would re-balance things after Karn’s manipulations. It was the only way to give us a chance to stop him and his master.”

Some of her energy faded and she looked to Allie with a heavy gaze. “He fought with everything he had, you know? Tooth and nail. Even after he died, his soul refused to give up. To let go of all of you. But none of that changed one simple fact. He had to die. He just… didn’t have to stay dead.”

Allie exchanged a loaded glance with Therese. “Ash, what did you do?”

“Well, I brought him back to life,” she said evasively. “I just, maybe, kinda sorta, had to do it with some stipulations since resurrection isn’t normally something I’m capable of and I was on a bit of a timer.”

Allie went still. “What stipulations?”

She didn’t like the way Ash winced. When she finally explained, she did it all in one breath. “I might have reincarnated him as my Champion, which means that according to the laws of the universe he now exists to serve me and my interests.”

Well. Shit. “Zaren’s going to go mental,” Therese said grimly.

Allie agreed. Being beholden to a god wasn’t something he was going to be a fan of, regardless of which god it was. She sighed and rested her head on Zaren’s shoulder. “I’ll keep him from freaking out too bad. We might want to get the others here, though. The sooner we can get his Links restored the better.”

“No!” Ash yelled, causing Noelle to jump and ruffle her feathers. “No, everyone is exactly where they need to be right now! This is the best window we’ve got to find Allura, and we need to do that as soon as possible now that they have the Jailer’s Blade.”

Reese finally finished with Zaren’s front and I helped her roll him over to his back. The burn there looked even worse than his front, though there was a dark sense of beauty to the mark. “Isn’t that a really bad thing?” Therese asked.

Ash held one hand parallel to the ground and wobbled it back and forth with an, “Eh.” Then, at our behest, she shrugged. “Don’t get me wrong, the fact that a powerful artifact capable of imprisoning gods has fallen into the hands of our enemy, but a sword is still just a sword, even when it’s a really powerful one. Now, if the Devourer had managed to extract me, force me into an Avatar prepped for devouring, and taken my powers? That would be a very different story.”

She leaned back and sighed. “It’s hardly ideal, but in all honesty we ended up with the best case scenario would could have asked for.”

Well that was a comforting thought.

# # #

I’d been run over by a horse and carriage before. I’d also been set on fire once or twice in my life. I’d even spent the week after my encounter with the Valax queen feeling like someone had scooped out chunks of my insides. Never had I had the pleasure of feeling all three at the same time, though.

It didn’t help that I was exhausted. The kind of bone-tired weariness that made me want to just let sleep have me again. But some niggling voice in the back of my head refused to let me. I wasn’t surprised to be buried underneath bodies, but what did catch me off guard was the lightning bolt of pain that ripped through me when I tried to shift.

A pained grunt slipped out of me and suddenly everyone around me was moving. I heard hushed, jumbled whispers pass over me like I was underwater. It was a struggle to open my eyes, but when I managed it I couldn’t help but smile at the sea of naked bodies and hands touching every part of me they could reach. The canopy of the pit visible over their shoulders.

Then Allie’s hands were on my face, turning my head so she could crash her lips against mine. I kissed her back as best I could, but I still felt like I’d gone ten rounds with a warhammer. But something was wrong. Even in the dim light I caught the tears on Allie’s cheeks. The panic and pain and fear in some of the glances thrown my way.

It took far too long for my mind to catch up, but it was looking down that did it. They’d stripped me bare (no surprise there) so there was nothing but a bandage wrapped around my middle to hide the sprawling violet starburst that stretched from my chest all the way down to my knees, centered around that fiery pain hidden underneath the bandage.

And then it all came rushing back. The trap. The flight. The fight. Losing. Getting stabbed. Freeing Ash. Arthal.

No. Karn.

Rage surged through me as the memory of him running the Jailer’s Blade through my middle flashed in my mind. I reluctantly ended the kiss and sat up.

Well, I tried to, at least. It wasn’t until a few hands found my back and helped lift my torso into a sitting position that I could breathe again. A familiar, muscled body shifted behind me and Jack became my backrest, wrapping her arms around my middle gingerly. “Ow,” I groaned.

“You fucking asshole,” Allie said, her voice shaky. She pulled me in for a shorter kiss this time, then pressed her forehead to mine.

I couldn’t help but grin. “‘My bad’ feels… insufficient.” But my grin didn’t last long. I had to tell her. She needed to know. “Allie…”

She pulled back and aggressively ran her hands through her hair. “How are you? Your Essence, I mean.”

I pulled up my interface, but when I did my jaw went slack. Any thoughts of my Essence fled when I saw my classes. All three of them. One whole extra one that I hadn’t had yesterday. Or, at least, whenever the last time I was conscious was. No class selection. I hadn’t even reached a total level of sixty (though I had gained two levels in Shadowborn and several levels in Soul Smith) yet a third class stared me in the face.

Champion of Ashes.

The fuck?

The name was one clue, its primary skill another.

“Allie,” I said, my voice rough, “where is Ash?”

I didn’t like how several of them exchanged worried glances. Allie. Therese. Noelle. The twins. Stella. Karina. Jayme. Most of my girls, but not all of them. Allie grabbed my hand. “Zaren, please just hear her out—”

“I’m not upset,” I promised. And oddly enough, I wasn’t. I’d thought for sure I was dead, yet here I was surrounded by my loved ones. If I didn’t feel like the back end of a horse, I’d think I was dead. “But my new class begs an explanation.”

I jumped at the squawking sound from above. When I looked up, Festus was scrabbling for purchase and climbing back onto the canopy beam he’d been perched on. “Apologies, my mistress grew excitable. She’s very pleased at your return, by the way. They all are.”

Return. I looked closer at the girls surrounding me. All of them had bags under their eyes, more than a few of which were puffy from crying. “How long?” I croaked.

“Four days before they found you,” Jack said in my ear. She pressed her temple to mine. “Six hours since they brought you home so we could have a healer look you over. There wasn’t much they could do, but—”

A spike of panic speared me. “Where’s Serena?” I demanded.

“Safe,” Allie promised, “but we’ll get to that. Your Essence, Zaren.”

I forced myself to look past the new class and winced when I saw my pool.

[Soul Essence: 28/270]

“Not great,” I admitted.

I’d barely dismissed it before she was straddling my waist. As usual when surrounded by my gorgeous, wonderful harem, it didn’t take much to get me ready for her to slide me inside her ready tunnel.

She sighed and melted into my front while everyone else closed back in. Hands caressed every part of me they could reach while Allie started slowly gyrating her hips. “I never thought I’d get to have you again,” she breathed. “Never get to feel you. Hear your voice. Be with you.”

I closed my eyes and wrapped my arms around her,  biting back a curse. “Serena’s skill.”

She nodded. “She had to sit there and feel you slipping away while there was nothing she could do about it, and we had to watch,” she said softly.

“I’m sorry.” I clutched her even tighter. “I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t be. Just be here.”

Hands and lips found any part of exposed skin I had while she rode me. Gods, they’d thought I was dead for four fucking days? How could I possibly make up for that? But I knew that answer. Do exactly what she said. Be there for them.

So I lowered my hands to her hips so I could do what little I could to help. Thanks to my injury, using my arms was all I had. While I did, Jack rested her head on my shoulder and spoke. “The Chosen conflict is coming to a head,” she told me. “Serena, Tiana, Safina, Rhallani, and Valith are there. Serena thinks she feels Allura, so they’re waiting for the battle to start so they can sneak in while the enemy is distracted.”

I tangled my fingers in Allie’s raven hair and pulled her forehead to mine. “How fast can we get there?”

“You,” Jack said, her hand lowering to rest over my injury, “are in no state for sneaking. We’ve both got half a keystone and Rhallani can keep us updated in real time. The second they make it in, we warp to them. We get in, find Allura, get out.”

I grunted in response. Already my limit was drawing close and Allie could tell. She picked up speed and her muscles clamped down on me. “Guess I can’t really argue that one.”

Jack’s thumb traced the top edge of the bandage. “A part of me wishes you would,” she all but growled.

My chuckle turned into a groan as I pulled Allie all the way down and exploded inside her. She pulled my lips to hers, but this time she kissed me softly and slowly. “I love you,” she whispered.

“I love you, too.” She let me slip out of her, but didn’t go far. She nestled into my side with my arm firmly wrapped around her, trapped between her breasts. I was distracted enough by her that I didn’t see Stella until she’d slid her body over my legs and taken me into her mouth.

I sighed and rested my cheek on top of Allie’s head. “Why do I feel like you’re buttering me up?”

She grinned up at me. “Probably because we are.” Then her grin faded. “Zaren… you died. Full on. Heart stopped and everything. The only reason you’re alive now is…”

“Ash?” I guessed.

“Ash,” she agreed. “You said you had a new class?”

“Champion of Ashes.”

She winced. “A bit on the nose.”

I shot her a questioning look and she avoided my gaze, all the while Stella’s head bobbed up and down on my cock. “What does that mean?”

“Well, there’s no easy way to say this, but Ash sort of resurrected you as her Champion. According to her, you’re the agent of her will on this plane now.”

Oh, was that all? Fucking hells. “Well, better than being dead, I guess.”

Stella let me slide free from her lips and climbed up my front to take Allie’s place. Her moan of pleasure was significantly less subdued when she impaled herself on me, and she had considerably less patience than Allie had. She took me to the hilt and started riding immediately.

“So,” I said, struggling to keep my voice even under Stella’s assault, “Ash is…?”

Jack laughed in my ear. “Oh, you’re gonna love this. Just wait ‘till you see her.”

Allie leaned up to give me a peck on the cheek. “I’ll go get them. And some food.”

My stomach growled in agreement, even if I missed her presence the moment she stood and walked away. “Them?”

“You’ll see,” Therese said, amused.

I glanced up at Festus. “How are they?” I asked him.

He blinked slowly at me. “Waiting. Happy to hear you’re alright. Mistress Serena is upset she isn’t there to tend to you, but she understands the importance of the plan. Mistress Katerina believes the assault should be underway first thing in the morning.”

Mistress Katerina, huh? I wanted to comment, but my mouth was suddenly occupied by Stella’s fervent, desperate lips. It wasn’t too much longer before I was finishing inside her as well. I guess almost dying did a number on my stamina.

She’d just vacated my lap when the doors banged open. There was a black, gray, and crimson blur before Noelle was crashing into me with a sob. I held her tight through the pain as my side throbbed. I had at least some idea of what she was going through, so it was well worth it.

“I’m okay,” I promised her.

“You’re okay,” she whispered, her nose buried in my neck.

At the sound of her voice, something rippled through everyone present. I made a mental note to ask about it later since my attention was grabbed by the Ashra walking through the door. I opened my mouth to ask who she was when I realized I could feel a Link with her.

“I brought food!” she exclaimed. Indeed, she had a plate in each of her four hands, all piled high. “What are the rules for food in the pit?”

“You spill it, you clean it up. Gimme,” Jayme said, snagging one and carrying it to Karina.

The Ashra handed out two more of the plates, then sank down a little unsteadily at my side with the fourth. I grabbed the plate and Jack immediately swiped a piece off it. “Red eyes mean Nell, right?”

I choked. “Nell the golem?”

She grinned. “Ash needed a physical body to drag you to safety and keep you from bleeding out, and she needed a soul to keep it breathing. I was the nearest one. A definite upgrade, wouldn’t you say?”

I certainly would, but that was a discussion for later. “And Ash?”

“We cohabitate,” she said with a shrug. “It’s not perfect, but better than being trapped in a construct for eternity let me tell you. Ash is off doing Ash things right now, but I’m sure she’ll be back soon. She said she was pretty sure she’d be able to tell if you were awake.”

“Well that’s a harrowing thought.”

There were a few chuckles that I ignored while I dug into my food. I figured I only had a small window of opportunity to eat before another of them jumped my bones.

“Zaren,” Allie said, retaking her spot tucked into my side, “what the hell happened out there?”

All eyes fell to me and I sighed. Starting from the moment the trap spat me out, I told them everything. I played down some of the scarier parts, but it was still a harrowing tale. And when I got to the end, when Arthal had me well and truly cornered…

I wrapped my arm around Allie and held her close. “Allie…”

She looked up at me and I knew she recognized my ‘I have bad news’ tone. “Just tell me. It can’t be worse than what we went through, right?”

I wasn’t so sure. But, just like she’d said, there simply was no easy way to say what I had to say. “It’s Karn.”She laughed bitterly. “The gift that keeps on giving. What is it now, more of his experiments?”

“No.” I turned her chin up so she could see my eyes. “I mean it literally. Kevran Arthal is Valethar Karn. Asshole used an anagram and everything.”

She went deathly still and silence fell over the room. Allie struggled to swallow for a moment. “How?”

Not ‘are you sure?’ Not ‘that’s impossible!’ Just ‘how?’

“Remember when Rhallani said about him having a god locked up?” She nodded. “Well, best guess, that god was capable of reincarnation. He used the god’s magic to reincarnate after I killed him, only this time he made sure to pick and choose his classes.”

“He can do that?” Jack asked hesitantly.

I nodded. “He used Allura’s bond domain magic to combine his body with that of one of the Eldritch races so he’d be capable of wielding the Jailer’s Blade.”

“And in doing so, he made a grave mistake.” We all turned to Nell, only now she had green eyes instead of red.

I didn’t consider myself a genius by any means, but I was smart enough to put two and two together. “Ash. Seems I owe you a debt.”

She just grinned, then threw her arms around me, Allie, Jack, and Noelle all at the same time. “To quote you, Zaren, fuck that shit. You broke me out of an inescapable prison, so as far as I’m concerned I owe you, like, a million.”

“Ash,” I groaned, “stab wound.”

“Oh, fucksticks,” she pulled back. “Sorry, bodies are weird. I may not remember mine, but I wasn’t expecting them to be so squishy.” To illustrate her point, she squeezed her breasts.

Dear gods, not another one. Allie was just a few steps shy of completely shut down, but she was still paying attention while she processed what I’d told her. “Ash, what did you mean? What mistake?”

Vibrant green eyes flicked to mine and I was surprised by the fire in them. “He spliced his soul with that of a Zaverrian. That means he officially falls under my domain. If you can kill him, I can make sure he stays dead this time.”

Finally, a spot of good news. I just nodded and stroked Allie’s back. “Festus? How’s Rhallani taking it?”

The dragon shuffled above us. “As logically as she can manage. She has asked that I remind you the assault should start in a few hours and it would benefit us all if you had as filled a pool of Essence as possible.”

I froze with a bite of food halfway to my mouth, suddenly aware of all the gazes on me. “I don’t suppose you’ll let me finish eating first?”

Jack’s hand slid down my front and wrapped around my cock. “You can multitask, can’t you?” she said, her lips brushing the shell of my ear. “We’ve all had a very rough few days, and I know I’m not the only one who needs a little…” she went even lower and cupped my sac, “…reassurance.”

Well…

When she put it that way…

Zaren isn't the only one back from the dead! My deepest apologies to all, when I updated the last chapter I had no idea the break would last so long. Not being able to get myself to write anything turned into my brain only being willing to work on a side project I started to give myself a break the last time I started to struggle with Shadowborn and the next thing I knew weeks had passed.

That other project is still dominating a good amount of headspace, so I think for now it's best I shoot for one Shadowborn chapter a week so I'm not setting expectations I can't meet, but who knows what the future will bring?

Whatever the case, hope you enjoyed my return chapter and I'll see you again next week!