Eden's Gate: The Scourge: A LitRPG Adventure

by Edward Brody

  Alert! A person or sentient being has permanently relocated to an area under your control. To continue with the colonization process, please define a name for your colony. If you do not proceed with colonization, you may remove any trespassers by force.

  Edgewood Village, I thought, not wanting to stray from the unofficial name we had been using all along.

  Congratulations! You have founded the colony: Edgewood Village. Citizens will now come and go based on your actions. Details about your colony can be found on your Manifest screen.

  By my judgement, at least sixty or seventy percent of the elves who had been hanging out behind our village agreed to colonize with us, while the remaining thirty or forty percent packed their belongings and headed deeper into the forest to try to survive on their own.

  “Don’t worry,” Aaron said as he placed his hand on my shoulder. “Once things are cleaned up and we get our village into a stronger position, the rest will seek to join us. You can’t win everyone over right away.”

  There was loud chatter amongst the elves as they all seemed to be congratulating themselves on joining our village and discussing the possibilities of the future, while some were simply questioning the prospect of getting a meal.

  Keysia took the initiative and raised her hands. “Give us a bit of time, and if everything goes as planned, we’ll have our first servings of food ready today! We’ll follow up with you all when it’s prepared, but it will have a cost. You can trade any weapons, armor, or other items for food at a reasonable rate.”

  I stared at her as she spoke, stricken by both her attractiveness and her energy. She was so strong... She hadn't broken down or cried over our relationship like I had once seen in a nightmare. She was totally put together despite her frail appearance. If anything, seeing Adeelee and I on the hill that day had only made her tougher and more resilient.

  I wanted to say something meaningful to her, but I didn’t know what to say. Another ‘sorry’ wasn’t enough, and the timing didn’t feel right for any sort of flirting or attempts of reconciliation. Instead, I just leaned over to her and said, “Thanks.”

  Keysia glanced at me, smiled, and nodded. “No. Thank you for helping my people, Gunnar.”

  I felt a tug at my heart by her response. Although I was happy to hear her return a thanks, her voice didn’t have the same feeling that it once had. It seemed like she had really given up on me for good, and I would never be more than just her guild leader.

  I took a deep breath, turned away, and opened up my guild manifest to get my mind off Keysia and to see what was new, now that we had started the colonization process.

  The manifest showed that 87 people had joined, which both excited me and scared me at the same time. Within minutes, we had gone from an informal village to having nearly a hundred people living under our influence—people that I would now be responsible for protecting. More than a hundred, if counting my guild and the guards.

  I closed the manifest and turned to my guild mates. “Let’s get to work. Jax, Sung, Jeremy—you know what to do.” I looked to Keysia specifically. “And you...”

  Keysia just nodded, turned, and walked away.

  “Trynzen,” I said to the Barbaros, who had been hanging out nearby, behaving surprisingly better than normal but looking bored, like he had no idea what was going on.

  He perked up and stared at me.

  “Trynzen, find food for eat,” I ordered.

  “Food for eat?” he questioned.

  I motioned my hand towards the horde of dark elves. “Friends… Find food for friend.”

  Trynzen stood tall and scanned all the elves. “Friend?”

  “They’re all friends now.” I pointed towards the corpses he had left on the ground earlier. “Find more food for eat.”

  Trynzen slammed a paw in his chest. “Trynzen find food for friend!” He turned as if he heard something deep in the forest and started running for it.

  “Oh, and um… give the food to Keysia first!” I yelled. “Don’t just bring dead animals to the elves! That won’t leave a good first impression!”

  As he ran off, I took a deep breath and let out a long exhale. I hoped it wasn’t a bad idea to set him loose like that.

  “You did it, my man,” Aaron muttered as all the other guild mates set off to do their tasks.

  “We did it,” I corrected, “but it’s only the start.”

  “It’s only the start, but we’re going to make Edgewood Village rival Mist Vale someday—you wait and see.”

  I chuckled. “Yeah, I wish.”

  “Better than Highcastle!” he said, but quickly looked down and started shaking his head as he spoke to the ground. “Well, maybe not that good. Not really. But we’ll do well…”

  “We will,” I said and placed my hand on his shoulder. “I’m going to go try to knock out that quest.”

  He took a deep breath, raised an eyebrow, and tapped his foot on the ground. “Hurry back or I’ll start charging you for babysitting.”

  I chuckled. “The baby is sleeping. You’re hardly doing anything.”

  As if by magic, the baby sniffled, and cries started spilling out of Aaron’s arms.

  “See?” Aaron said with wide eyes. “If we don’t get rid of it soon, you’ll need to start paying me. I can’t craft when it’s acting up.”

  “Oh geez,” I groaned. I wasn’t sure if he was joking or serious, but I reached in my bag and held up the joojak I had purchased from the shady dealer. “How about this for payment?”

  Aaron’s eyes lit up, and he shrugged slightly as he reached for the bag. “Well, I guess it’s not too difficult. I can always do some crafting later.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh when Aaron seemed to forget everything around him at sight of the dried joojak leaves. He opened the bag and took a whiff of the powerful smell inside.

  “Dude,” I said as Aaron continued to inspect his haul, ignoring the baby’s cries. “It’s hungry or something...”

  Aaron’s head jerked up, and he started to walk towards his house while continuing to rustle in the bag. “Yeah, yeah! I’ll feed it again. It’ll be fine.”

  As I strolled to my cabin, I yelled out, “And don’t smoke any of that while you’re watching the baby!”

  “I wouldn’t dare!” Aaron yelled back.

  I seriously doubted his honesty.

  Chapter Thirty

  2/21/0001

  I walked through Inner Highcastle with my bare essentials, leaving everything behind but a bandage I’d bummed from Jeremy, a health potion, a food ration, the advanced disguise kit, my only Sulfer’s Ash, and my Liar’s Mask. I didn’t want to risk losing the Liar’s Mask, but figured its ability to conceal me for a brief moment while leaving a fake copy of my body behind might come in handy if things went sour and I needed some shifty movements. The Sulfer’s Ash would be necessary if I needed to summon a Fire Elemental for any reason.

  I marched past the Arena and eventually reached the barracks where the shady dealer had told me to meet him. Out front, I saw Commander Eldrich facing a platoon of around thirty men. The commander and all of the men were holding swords, and he made several fighting motions which the men followed, grunting each time they made a move. They didn’t appear to be uniformed soldiers but plain clothed—likely members of the Fighter’s Guild.

  I didn’t interrupt the commander but looked closely to see if Ozzy was part of the group. I hadn’t heard anything from him since he’d been summoned by the Fighter’s Guild, and it was hard not to worry if he was okay. He was a Reborn, so he couldn’t die, but there were terrible things that could happen to a Reborn in Eden’s Gate, such as imprisonment, which I was all too familiar with.

  He didn’t appear to be in the cluster, so I continued on my way.

  The barracks was at the far end of Highcastle, positioned close to the wall, so there wasn’t much room to navigate behind it. There were no bushes, barrels, or anywhere notable to hide, and I didn’t see Windell when I arrived.

/>   I leaned against the outer wall of the barracks, crossed my arms, and prepared for another late arrival of the shady dealer, but it took only a minute or so before Windell’s head appeared above me; he was lying on the roof of the barracks, looking down with a sharp-toothed smile.

  He grabbed the edge of the roof and somehow kicked his legs out so that he flipped head over heels and dropped to the ground, easily landing on his feet. Not giving me time to compliment his athleticism, he waved his hand for me to follow and said, “I’ve got things to do. Let’s go.”

  I shadowed Windell as he followed the wall in the direction of Outer Highcastle rather than towards the Wastelands as I would’ve expected, and after a few minutes, we reached the edge of Inner Highcastle—a section where the corner of the tall walls surrounding the zone joined with the mountain beside it.

  The walls weren’t perfectly flush with the mountain in the corner, so a short, picketed metal guard rail had been set up to prevent people from having a deadly, accidental fall to Outer Highcastle below.

  Windell approached the metal railing and gave the last section a yank, easily disconnecting a bar and creating a small opening. He looked at me and motioned towards the slim vacancy in the barrier he had created.

  “Just this way,” he said. “Take it slow, go down, and slip behind the wall there.” He pointed towards the wall in front of the mountain.

  I examined the hole, and there was a steep, but survivable rocky area to catch some footing below. While impossible to reach Outer Highcastle from there without falling to your death, it seemed possible, with a little effort, to shimmy down a bit and climb around to the back side of the wall adjacent to the mountain—an area that clearly wasn’t intended to be accessed.

  “Hurry before someone comes,” Windell said, turning his head anxiously.

  I said nothing to Windell as I squeezed myself through the railing, turned around, and grabbed one of the metal rods of the guard rail to steady myself. I kicked my feet out, trying to get good footing on the steep slope of the mountain, and after feeling I had enough support, I let go.

  I steadied myself as I shimmied around the corner, between the rock of the mountain and the Inner Highcastle wall, then stumbled forward on the awkward surface to make room for Windell to slide down behind me.

  The man performed a similar move to mine but dropped expertly and didn’t even need to use his hands to balance himself once he landed.

  When he stood up straight and made it around the corner, I asked, “Where to?”

  “Just go straight,” he said, pointing further down the concealed path.

  We walked through the uncomfortable wedge between the mountain and the wall, me slipping several times along the way due to the impossible footing, but we eventually found ourselves near the back of the Arena. I could tell where we were due to the taller section of wall beside us and the familiar Highcastle flags flying high above.

  The shady man pointed to some notches that had been carved into a wall, along with a long dirty rope that was hanging from the top of the wall. “That leads to some special seats in the Arena, if you’re ever inclined to save some coin. Consider that a bonus; be sure to tip me if you ever decide to use it.”

  “Thanks,” I said. “I’ll keep it in mind,” though I had come a long way since I first discovered the Arena and had been barely able to afford a 100-gold ticket. It was probably safer to just pay my way in, next time I wanted to see a fight.

  He motioned for me to hurry faster down the hidden path.

  The crevice became even more awkward as we continued our walk, and the incline of the mountain steepened, but we eventually reached a dead end where a large boulder had fallen into the wedge, forming a tall impasse.

  “Up there,” the man said, pointing toward the top of the boulder.

  “On top of that?” I asked, looking to the steep, smooth, rock with virtually nowhere to grip. “How?”

  “This is the hard part,” he said. “Try to get some speed in your step and jump.” He pointed towards a nearby rock jutting from the side of the mountain. “You might want to double jump from that.”

  I looked at the low hanging rock and back to the top of the boulder, still feeling that the top was just too high, even with an extra boost.

  I motioned my hands for the greyblood to make room and backtracked a little. When I turned, I made my best attempt at running, but it was mostly just awkward slipping and stumbling on the slope of the mountain. When I reached what I felt was the best place to initiate a leap, I jumped, placed my left foot on top of the jutting rock, pushed myself up harder into a second jump, and attempted to grip the boulder with both hands.

  To my surprise, the jump seemed almost sufficient enough to get a hold on the top of the obstruction, but as I tried gripping the boulder, I slammed my chest into the hard rock and tumbled into the crevice below.

  I grimaced, grabbed my chest, and looked up to my status bars. The impact had only knocked 3% off my health bar, but it had felt a lot more painful.

  I stood up, walked back, and tried again, but achieved the same result of flopping into the rock and sliding down gracelessly.

  “Impossible,” I groaned, grabbing my chest and shaking my head.

  “Possible,” Windell insisted. “You have at least 15 dexterity, right?”

  “Yeah,” I answered.

  “Possible.”

  “You go first then,” I insisted.

  “Alright, let’s see.”

  Windell and I each shimmied past each other to change positions. Once ahead of me, he half ran, half slipped towards the slope, jumped onto the jutting rock, kicked himself off, and reached for the top of the slope at his peak jumping height. He, just like me, slammed hard into the boulder and slid down, wincing in pain.

  “See?” I taunted. “It’s impossible.”

  “Possible,” Windell said again as he stood up, grabbed his chest and coughed.

  He walked back to his starting position, homed in on the slope, and started running for the boulder again, jumping the same as before. This time, he connected with the jutting rock at a better angle, got a little more height in his jump, and was finally able to get enough grip on the top part of the boulder so that he didn’t fall right away.

  He clawed furiously, his hands slipping and adjusting, but eventually he had enough grip that he was able to tug himself up and shimmy his way to the top.

  “Well, I’ll be damned…” I muttered.

  “Not easy but possible,” he said defiantly, standing at the top of the rock. He immediately kneeled down and jumped back into the crevice below, nearly falling and banging his head against the side of the mountain as he came down. “Oww!” he groaned.

  “Why’d you come down?” I asked. “Aren’t we headed somewhere over the boulder?”

  The greyblood grumbled as he rubbed his shoulder that had borne some impact during the fall. “That’s the way you’ll be going, but as for me… I’ve got business to do. I wouldn’t want to travel up there anyway. It’s dangerous.” He stepped forward and squeezed past me. “Good luck on your… whatever you’ll be doing.”

  “Wait. How do I know where to go once I’m up there?”

  “You’ll know,” he explained. “There’s really only one way forward once you’re up there. Follow the path, and you’ll eventually reach the Wastelands.”

  “Well, okay,” I said with a sigh as he started to walk away. “Thanks for your help.”

  “Thanks for your gold,” he replied with a grin. “If you manage to survive, I’ll be around when you need something ‘special’ again.”

  With Windell gone, I turned around and proceeded with several jump attempts up to the top of the boulder and failed each time. I felt like I was beating myself up as my chest hit the hard rock over and over, but there were a few times where I felt I almost managed a good enough grip to pull myself up.

  It reminded me of playing video games back home where I had found spots that were virtually impossible t
o reach unless you jumped at just the right moment or pressed certain buttons at the perfect time. If I had found the crevice behind the wall alone, I would’ve still thought passing the boulder was impossible and the area at the top was off-limits. If Windell hadn’t assured me it was possible, I doubt I would’ve ever even tried to get up there.

  I wondered if there was an easier way to solve the problem, but I couldn’t think of any spell or ability I had that could help me out of the situation. Summoning Sora was about the closest thing I had to making it easy—perhaps I could’ve used her back to give me more height—but then Sora would be stuck in a crevice behind Highcastle, and I’d have to dismiss her almost right away. That wasn’t a good option because there was no telling if I would need her later on in my journey. The other option was to cast Boiling Blood to give myself more run speed, which I resolved myself to try if I eventually reached half health.

  My body was aching from all the attempts at the boulder, as I took several steps back and prepared for my next jump. Though I had failed again and again, I had a vague good idea at which point my jump gained the most height, and I only needed to do a bit of tweaking to get an extra inch or two.

  I ran for the blockade, jumped, pushed my foot off against the jutting rock, and reached my hand out to grab the top of the boulder. My hand seemed to catch a rounded edge at the top of the rock, but I was too heavy for the weak grip and could only hold on for a second before sliding back to the ground.

  After some time to recalibrate, I made the same run, used the same rock for a double jump, and as my chest slammed against the boulder, I reached up and finally got a decent enough grip that I didn’t fall down right away.

  The tips of my fingers slipped and stung against the smooth angles of the rock, but they held enough that I was able to pull myself up a bit, reach out a hand, and find more resistance against a shallow groove further above. I pulled again and was able to reposition my other hand against the groove, which finally granted me a good enough grip that I was able to pull up all of my weight.