The Oracle Paths

Contrary to Jake's expectations, Ruby showed no hint of surprise. Against all odds, she knew very clearly why her Digestor part had gone silent. Why else would she suddenly be consumed with guilt and grief?

Her facial muscles repeatedly tensed and relaxed, reflecting the painful inner conflict playing out within her. Eventually, a disillusioned countenance between shame and self-hatred froze on her face and she answered glumly,

"Because I have eaten."

Jake mulled over her words for a long time before he finally grasped what had been bothering him earlier. Ruby was behaving, reacting in a more human way, appearing more empathetic and very aware of the abominations she had committed. This was in total contradiction with the icy and cruel, almost psychopathic, behavior she had displayed all day long.

At first glance, and more out of mistrust, Jake had thought she was trying to lull him into complacency, to make herself sound more human and pitiful than she was, to soften him up. Perhaps that was so, but at least her emotional anguish was not feigned or her acting had reached such a level that she could even meticulously control her every spiritual fluctuation.

An almost impossible feat.

What had changed from before? She had taken a bite out of the two Were-Eagles, giving in to her Digestor instincts.

Digestors were aptly named and had an insatiable appetite. Yet that didn't mean they gorged themselves on anything and everything. This may have been true for those low-level Digestors devoid of any intellect, but as soon as they began to develop a hint of intelligence they would also awaken their own sense of ambition along with it.

This ambition was only the logic continuation of an instinct as irrepressible as their hunger. Namely, the desire to evolve. Jake had always wondered how they sorted out the genes and Aether bloodlines of their prey to achieve this elevation.

The Digestors' innate ability was something most Aetherists dreamed of being able to accomplish, and except for the most eminent of them standing at the very top of the Mirror Universe, it was a feat they would never be able to emulate.

Still, every extraordinary ability had to have its downside. Digesting and reworking these bloodlines to extract the desired quintessence must have taken a lot of effort and energy from them. If this was true for the other Digestors, then it was also true for Ruby.

The unvarnished truth, then, was that after tasting the two Were-Birds, Ruby's Digestor part had entered its digestion phase, devoting most of its attention and energy to it. The reality was much bleaker than he had expected.

Ruby didn't feel guilty because her humanity was returning, but because the Digestor in her was simply too busy to care. It was only when it had felt its personal interests threatened that it had deigned to come forward again, momentarily suspending its digestion.

"In other words, as long as you're full you can stay yourself?" Jake summarized matter-of-factly.

Ruby shook her head and put on a contrite face.

"I can't. Normal food is no challenge for the Digestor." She explained with an exasperated look. "It only needs to put in serious effort when the food consumed contains new or useful elements for its next mutation. It's not a matter of quantity but of quality. Moreover, every time it finishes its digestion, it grows stronger. I'm talking about it in the third person, but our souls have been merged for too long. When you are hungry or thirsty, angry or sad, it would never occur to you that these emotions do not come from you, but from someone else. As far as I'm concerned, the Digestor and I are one and the same.

"When the bloodline analysis of these two Were-birds is completed my bloodline will get a little closer to perfection and my personality will deteriorate another notch. My digestion abilities will also improve, making my human phase increasingly shorter and more subdued. The day the silver glow in my eyes becomes permanent will be the day the former Ruby no longer exists."

*****

A few minutes later, Jake and Ruby rejoined the rest of their companions near the convoy. Neither of them spoke a word on the way back, but the dimmed silver gleam in her eyes gradually regained its luster, until the vulnerable and self-conscious Ruby became only an ancient memory.

Jake felt ambivalent about the young woman. He pitied her, but he had no way to help her. He had several ideas, even a pretty convincing one, but he refused to believe that Ruby or any other Evolver around her hadn't thought of it first.

He'd had a taste of what Corruption could do. It was a relentless poison that even True Will could only slow down. A powerful mind would be corrupted more slowly, and by advancing faster than the Corruption it was theoretically possible to keep the upper hand.

But Ruby was not under the influence of the Corruption. Her soul had been corrupted from the start and the human half of her mind was easily swayed. Her True Will was unreliable.

In the Mirror Universe, there were plenty of bad guys. And even sociopaths, whose mentality was so hideous and their crimes so unforgivable that the Digestor Corruption would have made no difference. After thinking, acting, and living like a Digestor for so long, it was a wonder her humanity hadn't completely withered away.

"Is everything okay?"

Seeing them walking up side by side all silent, Elduin immediately struck up a conversation, but Bhammod firmly gripped his shoulder to stop him from continuing. The elf then noticed Jeanie's alarmed face sticking out of Jake's pocket and gesturing with her mouth and hands all over the place to tell them not to insist.

"What do we do now? There's no one left to save." Bhammod uttered as he desperately shook his empty flask of alcohol over his tongue to no avail.

"And Norton hasn't come back... He's probably dead." Carmin mentioned solemnly as she stared intently into Jake's eyes. She seemed to have recovered from her sister's elimination, but it had erased the last traces of flippancy in her. The way she spoke and acted was no longer flirtatious.

Jake hesitated for a brief moment, and then spoke up, giving the Players on the team a meaningful look,

"Let's go to Lodunvals. Our mission isn't over. If we give up now, our rating will be appalling."

Jake, Ruby and Carmin shared the same anger and frustration over this. They had taken huge risks, but they had become someone else's stepping stones. The irony of this farce was that this Undead army strengthened Laudarkvik and thus theoretically worked in their favor.

The problem was that their Ordeal Mission did not require them to bring victory to the empire, nor did it require them to choose a side. Their performance would be evaluated, but that's all they knew. Without more detail, it was to be interpreted as "doing their best".

Had they done their best? They were still fit to fight, so no.

"I'm coming with you this time." Wyatt proclaimed in a commanding, resolute manner disallowing the slightest refusal.

He was the only one who didn't have to come. He still had the night to prepare, but he couldn't risk losing another comrade.

"Where's Seren?" Jake inquired, remembering that she was hanging out with them earlier in Laudarkvik.

"I left her at the inn." The blond Vampire shrugged coolly.

Jake sighed inwardly. He would have appreciated some extra help.

"Let's go then."

"W-wait! And we're not asked our opinion?" The elf complained agitatedly. "Wasn't that mess enough for you?!"

Jake, whose feet had already left the ground, turned to Elduin and shot back in a voice full of contempt,

"I didn't save anyone. How can I be satisfied."

Then he soared into the air, blasting off into the distance with several sonic booms. It was Ruby this time who carried the others with her telekinesis, but she didn't drop anyone halfway. The digestion wasn't over and that was the only reason Jake was willing to take such a risk.

Besides, Wyatt was there to have their back. If the enemy couldn't use ultraviolet, the Vampire Progenitor was basically an invincible boss. Only the Rank-S natives and a few outstanding Players posed a threat to him.

Without any stops, it only took about ten minutes to reach Lodunvals. As they got closer to Lodunvals, the cumulonimbus clouds obscuring the sun began to thin out and the dawn rays began to shine through the tumultuous clouds with increasing frequency.

After flying past yet another mountain, Jake recognized the Wilderness forest where he had met Trash, and then seconds later he caught sight of the burning city, or rather what was left of it.

Imagine a city as large as London being besieged on all sides by a Wengol army numbering over 600,000. It was a sight as chilling as it was enthralling.

It was what he had mentally prepared himself to see.

It was not what he saw.

Instead, a far more dire spectacle revealed itself to him. Smoldering ruins as far as the eye could see, huge craters measuring from 100 to 1500 meters in diameter littered the battlefield and had atomized all of its infrastructure, as well as those fighting inside.

Bloodcurdling screams echoed incessantly from both the ruins of the city and the huge Wengol and Wurching army outside. Jake almost hoped for a moment that the Lich's plan had failed and that he would only have to kill the Wengols, but one look at them dampened his spirits.

Those Wengols and Wurchings fighting were not alive. There was only a tide of Undeads stretching to the horizon.