Path of the Deathless (Book 2 Completed)

217 (II)

Enrolled [II]

Shiv sighed and peeled the robes off his body. The front end was painted deep red and soaked all the way through. Shiv held it up before him as he wandered into the bathroom. The interior was dim, but after a few seconds it brightened, as if the room sensed his presence. Shiv looked up and saw another small orb charged with Pyromancy lighting the space. Shiv frowned. He wondered if it was possible to tap into the orb to amplify its mana and use it as a weapon. He wouldn't put it beyond the academy.

This was, after all, a place of Pathbearers. And having the lights also serve as an integrated defense system was an ingenious idea. Then, as he thought about it a little further, he decided it was probably a stupid idea and likely impossible. It would be more hazardous than defensive. With all the reckless students on campus, it was more likely one of them would burn their own eyes out or something, necessitating an unnecessary trip to the Biomancers after.

He curled one of his mana hydra's heads through the front side of his borrowed robes and peeled the blood away. In the briefest of instances and with the lightest of efforts, he managed to strip the red from the black. But that didn't mean the robes were clean at all. No, they were torn in several places, with all manner of dirt, soot, and bits of gravel embedded in the fabric. He looked down at the sink next to him, and he twisted the handle at the top of the faucet.

Water began to flow, and he followed a faint trickle of Hydromancy mana leading into the jetting metal dispenser. He watched as the water trickled on for a few moments and wondered if Cullywier could transport him across the university using this infrastructure as well. It was something he needed to ask the fairy later, when he had a chance. For now, he placed his robes within the basin and began to scrub and squeeze.

He was used to washing his own clothes, but it had been a while since he'd done it. Having a self-repairing set that kept getting shredded, while putting on armors made from his very own bones, made cleaning a redundancy or an activity of simplicity. As he washed his robes, another sigh escaped him, this one more tired and mournful. He thought back to his brief moment of freedom, down in the Umbral Wilderness, how he swam through the glistening rivers filled with bioluminescent colors, how he gathered the weeds there and discovered their capacity to serve as ingredients.

He missed it, he craved it, and even though he had some measure of freedom back, it still felt stifling. Becoming a student at Phoenix Academy was something he had dreamed about before, but he'd had a taste of what it meant to be truly free, to be a Pathbearer untethered to a master or the whims of fate. It was like going from being a free-flying bird to one that existed in a larger cage than after its birth.

We'll get that back, he told himself. We'll get everything back. Find Uva and the others again. We'll finish saving what's left of Blackedge, deal with this Udraal bullshit, the Ascendants, and then… then I get to live my life. I don't give a godsdamn what you throw at me, System, I'm gonna live my life, and I'm gonna find my way. I'm going to live my way. I'm going to grow beyond your violence and force you to give me peace when I ask for it.

He gritted his teeth as he finished his declaration and ignored that wary feeling in his stomach, as if he had tempted fate a bit too much. By this point, it didn't matter. The System was going to come for him one way or another. He could only get more powerful, get more prepared, get wiser, increase his knowledge. It was the only thing that could protect him from an ugly end.

As he finished wringing the filth and detritus out of his robes, he began to turn and squeeze. He turned and wrung the fabric in his hands, squeezing out every bit of water it had lodged between its fibers. He used his Hydromancy, plucking out what he couldn't release through twisting alone. And after a few seconds, the robe was as dry as it had ever been. He closed the door to his left and hung it on one of the hooks there. He hummed and saw there was a complimentary set of towels offered already.

That was thoughtful, he thought, but maybe it was just a basic amenity. Not all students there were rich, and supposedly this dorm was specifically for the non-nobles.

It was then that Shiv realized he had no money on him, and he hadn't thought of spending money in quite some time. Frankly, everything he needed he took from someone he killed or one of his allies made for him. Now that he was in civilized society, he might encounter some situations that required him to spend mithril.

Part of Shiv cringed. He didn't like the idea of spending mithril, mainly because he never had much to begin with. And with all the skills he had, stealing was infinitely easier. So was simply killing himself, and making do with the parts harvested from his body. Can't be doing that in the open anymore either, Shiv realized.

He mulled over more thoughts as he stepped into the shower. Shiv removed his Voidmantid armor and his mask, placing them into his cape. He thought about the breakout, about all that had happened. He thought about how the System hadn't exposed him again, how he was still surprised that no Ascendant or Prismatic Guard presence descended upon the campus in search of the Legendary-Tier escapees after the battle. He thought about the Neath, about Irons, about everything they had to do in the future.

One thing he definitely didn't think about was Udraal. He didn't want to deal with that. He never wanted to deal with that. But despite this, Shiv knew what was coming. His maker had plans, and the game he was playing was an ugly one. Worse yet, Shiv couldn't quite get his measure.

He was a monster born of action instead of being born of bestial nature, but also was neither hateful nor rageful. He didn't seem to be affected by anything emotionally. He just treated people like things, and that was what Shiv was to him. A thing. That was what Shiv's parents were to him as well. And Adam's parents. And Adam, as well as his sister. And everything in the world.

Valor, Shiv thought to himself, what the hell happened to make your son like this? Or was this how he always was? Something you can't remember? And as soon as Shiv thought of his old friend, feeling lonely in this room, he wondered how Valor was doing. How Uva and everyone else were doing on Blackedge. He even thought about Roland. He washed himself, scrubbing away at the fetid accumulation that was clinging to his body. Just hold on. I'm coming to get you. I'll find a way. I'll find a way soon. I promise.

Something hit him in the side of the head.

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It wasn't painful, but it did make him flinch. Shiv turned hard. He spun within the basin, and the water around him splashed. His Last Morsel appeared in his right hand, and the Deathless growled, prepared to fling himself at his ambushers and rip the limb from them. Can't even felling shower in peace.

His vicious snarl died as he rolled his eyes and let out a tired scoff in the face of his "enemies."

"Really? This is how you decide to reach out? Right now? While I'm cleaning my ass?"

A dimensional rift splayed wide before him, blocking his sight over the tiled walls. Down the pathway, Adam laughed. The Gate Lord's merriment was overwhelming, and he practically couldn't stop himself from doubling over. His vector wings glimmered bright as he drew closer. Behind him, a small cohort of orcs followed, Helix, Whisper, and Tequila among them all. Back on the other side of the pathway, Mortar grinned as well, waving with his large metallic fingers.

"When else?" Adam asked. His face was red in that open visor, and he looked like he was on the verge of collapsing into laughter once more. "You're finally out of the fire."

"Why?" Shiv said. "What's got you so tickled?"

"We did a whole funeral for him—" Adam began before he finally broke down again, almost collapsing to his knees.

And then Shiv realized, and he couldn't help it. He chuckled too. "Yeah… I thought we were taking advantage of some poor, unfortunately Cursed orphan who fell heroically in battle. It turns out, he's a poor, cursed orphan who's hated by everyone from his hometown, and apparently didn't believe in using protection."

"That's two girls now," Adam breathed. His eyes were wide as saucers. "Two!"

"Technically one," Shiv said with a deadpan grunt. "The other's a corpse in a freezer along with the infant she carried."

And that made Adam wince. "Right. But still, this is ridiculous. I mean, does he have any social skills?"

"None that passed muster," Shiv said. "But then again, neither do any of the girls, I think. So, I don't know, maybe they found him endearing? He went off in the woods and picked them a bunch of flowers or something? I don't know, Adam. I have no idea why this guy did what he did and how he managed to get to doing what he did."

"And the best part about it is that it's now your problem." Adam started laughing again, and Shiv just glared.

"I want to strip the skin from that liaison's ass if I ever see him again. He really neglected a lot of information when he dumped Marcus's corpse right in front of me."

"A lot," Adam concurred. The Gate Lord coughed and mastered himself. "Anyhow, where's your pin? Show it to me."

Shiv pulled back the curtain and picked it up from where he had left it on the toilet lid. As he turned, Adam held up a bluish pin. It too was built on mana, and Shiv briefly squinted at it. "How'd you get one of those? Is that left over from your academy days?"

"No, my pin's still back on Blackedge. I took it off the moment I got back home." A slightly sour expression crawled over Adam's face. "I don't think I will be seeing that pin again. However, this one, this one is meant for on-campus security. It's assigned to one Hector Boulevard."

"You get a false identity too?" Shiv asked.

"Not exactly. Hector Boulevard is an actual security officer on campus. However, he is currently on leave, an extended leave, and through a series of fortuitous circumstances, his pin ended up with Professor Merrielmel."

"Ah, I got it," Shiv said. "Got a back door into the Academy's network, huh?"

"Yes, and immediate access. Greet me once more." Adam sighed. A string of mana formed between Shiv's pin and the one Adam held, and soon the syncing process was complete. "Good. Now I'll be able to message you wherever you are."

The Deathless folded his arms, but immediately continued washing, rubbing more of the grime off his body. Adam shot him a look, but Shiv didn't stop. "Why, I gotta clean myself at some point, and you decided to interrupt me. I'm not covering up or stopping on your account."

"Oh, I don't mind," Adam said with an air of nonchalance.

"Yeah, sure you don't," Shiv replied. "That's why you shot me in the head just now."

"It was simply the best time."

"Best time's when I was naked?" Shiv asked.

"Are you shy?" Adam asked. "Oh, wait, no. The question is, did you somehow develop shyness in the few months we've known each other? Because I do recall you finding interesting ways to torture me early on."

"Hey, I didn't know how good your Awareness was then. And secondarily, you could have gone on a longer walk."

"I could have gone on a longer walk? Truly? That's your defense?" Adam nodded with incredulity. "You hear this one?" He gestured at Shiv, and the orcs smirked. All of them except Helix.

"Are you two jousting or trying to perform a pre-mating ritual?" the Biomancer spat derisively. "Must you always peck at each other like roosters in heat?"

Both Adam and Shiv glared at him. "It's called banter," Shiv said. "And everyone does it, especially friends."

"Ah, yes, friends," the orc asked with a nasal hiss. "I forgot, I speak this way to other orcs all the time."

"Don't bullshit them, Helix," Mortar called from the back. "You have no friends. None of us likes you either. That's why no one banters with you."

The other orcs, Shiv, and Adam laughed again. Helix scowled even harder, crossing his arms.

"It's normal," Adam added. "Besides, there's nothing here either of us hasn't seen before."

The orc seemed to accept that as an answer, and so he rolled his eyes instead of saying anything else. Tequila, meanwhile, was actively staring down, leaning his head out from the dimensional rift. Shiv looked back at him with a raised eyebrow. "Can I help you, Tequila?"

"Yeah, don't you ever find it ugly?"

"Find it ugly?" Shiv said politely.

"It looks like a worm that doesn't know how to grow hair on the rest of its body. A Cursed worm."

"I, uh..." Shiv really didn't want to have this conversation with the orc, so he simply shrugged. "No, man, I just, I don't think about it that much. Listen, lean back, you're starting to creep me out."

The former detective scoffed. "Oh, humans are so awkward about their bodies."

Shiv shook his head and went back to speaking to Adam. "So, aside from connecting your pin to mine and ambushing me while I'm trying to get all this gunk off myself, is there any other reason why you're here right now? Aside from recruiting my orcs to make me feel bad about my organs."

"Yes, I think we should talk about everything that happened today. But first..."

And before Adam could finish, a loud banging sound made Shiv flinch. From outside, there came a loud roar. "Marcus, get out here! Get out here and take this beating like a man! You're not getting away from us! Not in this life or the next!"

Slowly, Shiv's head fell with near-despair as Adam began gagging with laughter again. "Broken Moon, they actually managed to track you all the way back here."

"I can't believe this," Shiv said. "I'm going to kill Marcus."

"He's already dead, Shiv."

"I'm going to find wherever he is. And if he isn't, I'm going to resurrect him and kill him again."

"MARCUS!" Shiv's pursuers bellowed.

"To hells with this," Shiv said, shutting off the shower and reaching for his towel. "I'm putting a stop to this shit. Enough is enough."