The Homeseeker: Elemental Adventurer LitRPG [Isekai] (Series Complete!)

Finnegan dragged Zalan with all his might, pulling him to the entrance of the Depths of Despair. Rep was able to limp once helped to his feet, and followed close behind. With a wave of his hand, Rep illuminated the area outside the Depths of Despair with Elemental Flame. The space beyond the mines allowed the light to beam freely. Zalan let out a triumphant cry, finally able to stop emitting his Elemental Light just to be able to see. He let his head hang back as Finnegan pulled him to the lip of the cave.

The young man set Zalan down and sat down to stare upward. He breathed in deeply, taking in the fresh air unspoiled by the dank surroundings of the mines. He let out a short laugh.

"We survived!" Finnegan said loudly.

"Indeed we did," Rep said, kneeling down to catch his breath.

"I got a new Elemental Power and everything, just like Madam Hikma said," Zalan said, smiling.

"An incredible feat," Rep said, nodding.

"Not as incredible as defeating the Mind of Madness," Finnegan said, flexing a thin arm.

Rep laughed good-naturedly. They were all in high spirits after escaping.

"I was not so certain we would be able to take on the Mind of Madness. Even Madam Hikma told me we would have to defeat it," Rep said.

"She did?" Zalan asked, pretending he wasn't eavesdropping on that conversation.

"It was when you left me to speak with her in private. She said that you would have to defeat the strongest Monster of the Mindscape in the Depths of Despair."

Zalan's eyebrows furled curiously as several thoughts came into his mind. An eye twitched slightly and his mouth opened and closed in thought a few times. He pursed his lips and shook his head, surprised.

"What? What are these faces you are making?" Finnegan asked.

"Madam Hikma said that I would have to take on the fourth Monster of the Mindscape in here? And she said it was the Mind of Madness?" Zalan clarified, trying to remember for himself.

"I asked if it was the Mind of Madness and she remained silent," Rep answered as he recalled the scene.

"Oh my God. You've gotta be kidding me," Zalan placed a hand over his eyes in embarrassment.

"What? What is it?" Rep asked.

"There are five Monsters of the Mindscape, right?" Zalan asked. "And we've apparently defeated three of them before the Depths of Despair?"

"I have never heard of such monsters," Finnegan chimed in.

"Yeah, I think that might help with the point I'm getting at," Zalan pointed to Finnegan.

"Let me see. The first Monster of the Mindscape was the Elemental Dragon, yes?" Rep asked.

"We assumed." Zalan nodded.

"And the second… the Basilisk at the Elemental Rage Tournament?" Rep guessed.

"Already our old theory is falling apart," Zalan said, but encouraged Rep to go on with an eager nod.

"The third was… Perhaps the Thallasic Terror. Or a Leviathan! Or maybe… A Poniwhale?" Rep offered.

Zalan sat up. He had a serious look in his eyes and looked between Rep and Finnegan. They could feel the scrutiny in his gaze as he was growing comfortable with the conclusion he wanted to share.

"Have either of you heard of the Monsters of the Mindscape before? Before Madam Hikma told us about it?" Zalan added for Rep's sake.

Rep and Finnegan thought about the question for a few seconds, then shook their heads. Zalan ran his hands through his hair in consternation. Certainty flicked on like a switch in his mind.

"Okay, what about the Five Stages of Grief? Have either of you heard of that?" Zalan asked.

Rep and Finnegan looked at one another in confusion. They shook their heads.

"Great," Zalan droned. "This whole time I never had to fight a bunch of monsters. Madam Hikma just didn't have any better way to describe the battles I had to overcome in my mind."

Rep and Finnegan looked confused. Zalan wiped his hands over his face in embarrassment.

"You were fighting monsters in your mind?" Finnegan asked.

"No. Well, kinda. I don't think it'll make sense even if I try to explain it. The stages of grief aren't even like a real science. But it makes sense. I get it now," Zalan said. "Except I still don't get how it's supposed to help me get out of the realm. I'm pretty sure I reached acceptance."

"Reached acceptance?" Finnegan asked, shaking his head as he didn't understand.

"That was one of the first things Madam Hikma told you that you needed to do in order to escape the realm! She said you needed 'to accept!' Is that what this is about?" Rep said, curious.

"Yeah, exactly. If I just understood what she meant in the beginning, I could have skipped all this," Zalan waved his hands in the air, gesticulating in a circle.

"Amazing. What does that mean for you now?" Rep said.

"What does Rep mean that you want to escape the realm?" Finnegan asked, further confused by the sentence.

"I don't know, Rep," Zalan answered, ignoring Finnegan. "I think I need to tell Madam Hikma I figured it out and she can tell me what to do from here."

"So, you could be leaving here very soon," Rep said, smiling in excitement for his friend.

"I'm not getting my hopes up until I figure out the actual answers here," Zalan said. But even he couldn't help from smiling.

Finnegan looked between the two men with narrowed eyelids, annoyed at being left in the dark. He folded his arms over his chest.

"Can we go now? I have much to share with the people of Nightfall," Finnegan said.

Rep and Zalan helped one another to their feet with aches and groans. Finnegan led the way and they began the journey back to the city of Nightfall. They moved in silence. As much as Zalan looked forward to seeing the sun again, he was already ecstatic to just be out of the Depths of Despair. He could finally go to sleep again. He could have a real moment's rest, heal, and eat. He could feel his companions' excitement as well, the speed at which they walked was significantly faster than the way they dragged their feet in the mines. The way grew brighter.

"What is that?" Finnegan stopped suddenly, looking out to the horizon.

Rep and Zalan gave it a glance. The distance was dark, the edges of sunlight licking the horizon as the sun rose. Peering closer, Zalan looked for anything out of the ordinary. There were no people nor monsters.

"What's what?"

"That! That light!" Finnegan pointed.

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Again, Rep and Zalan followed his gesture growing further confused. Zalan shared a look with Rep.

"What light? I do not see anything," Rep asked.

"How could you miss it? Look how it fills the sky!" Finnegan opened his arms wide.

"You mean the sunrise?" Zalan asked sarcastically.

"That is not a sunrise! It can not be!"

"Why not?"

"We are in Nightfall! The sun never looks upon Nightfall!" Finnegan looked between Rep and Zalan as though it were obvious.

Confusion bubbled to shock, then to amazement. No one spoke, watching closely as the glow of the sky was met with a distant, radiant orb peeking at the horizon. Unmistakably the sun.

"By God," Rep whispered.

"Did… Did we do that?" Zalan asked, baffled.

"The Mind of Madness…" Finnegan whispered in awe. "It can not be true. The darkness of Nightfall is gone?"

The trio watched in silent awe as the sun continued to rise, gracing the land with a warm glow long forgotten. Looking around in amazement, Zalan saw that the mouth of the Depths of Despair looked significantly less intimidating when it was met with natural sunlight. Before, he was certain it had a mind to eat him. Now, it almost looked like a tourist attraction.

"Oh dear," Rep muttered, looking at the soil around them.

The dark soil was populated by hundreds of Nightbloom, all of which were withering away in the face of the sun. Rep and Zalan looked to one another, a silent agreement to never mention it to Ma. Quietly, they got back on the move to Nightfall.

The journey felt shorter on the return than it did on the way to the mines, even though they spent time admiring the trees and distances that were once concealed in Nightfall's endless night. Distant torchlight appeared in the distance before long, nobody having thought to put out the fires that lit the way around town.

To the trio's surprise, they could see a crowd gathering at the end of the town, staring out toward them. Zalan wondered what they were looking for. They had head coverings and tarps thrown over them for shade. It occurred to Zalan they had never seen so much sun and were accustomed to it. Then, they began waving, cheering, and calling out toward them. It seemed like they were somehow waiting for them.

"What are they all doing out here?" Finnegan asked, astonished.

"I was just going to ask you if it was customary to occasionally come out here as a town," Rep said.

"Not as far as I know." Finnegan shook his head. "But these are strange times." He held up his pale hand to watch the sun's rays on it.

The calls from the residents of the village were overlapping one another heavily, making it very difficult to understand what was being said. Zalan was concerned that they gathered together for reasons similar to watching an Elemental be killed like the last time he saw a crowd. Zalan and the others picked up their pace even further to get closer to the mass of people.

"Is that Finnegan?" a voice called, astounded at the sight.

"I live!" Finnegan waved his hands overhead.

There seemed to be some ambivalence toward the news. Zalan had forgotten that Finnegan was not looked upon kindly in Nightfall until he saw the looks he was getting. He was still nothing more than a thief in their minds. There was a collective derision directed toward him, despite the audience looking more interested to speak to Rep and Zalan. Zalan thought it was no wonder that Finnegan fled to the Depths of Despair when his own people looked at him with open glares and sideways stares.

"Is it dead?" someone called out eagerly. Others in the crowd nodded their heads in fervent curiosity.

"No, Finnegan is alive!" Zalan said, wondering if they thought he had turned into a Fleshless.

"Not the boy!" another person called out. "The Mind of Madness! Is it dead?"

"We felt its effects leave our minds! Like its hold on us disappeared! Was that because it died?" a woman added.

Zalan recalled the feeling that went through his head when the Mind of Madness had finally perished. He felt like he could think clearly again, the fog of fears and regrets of the recent blasts having lifted. It allowed him to come to catharsis. He didn't realize that killing the monster meant relieving all its former victims of its dark blasts.

"The monster is dead," Rep reported to the crowd.

The residents of Nightfall immediately went wild with glee, throwing hats in the air in a great bellow of cheers. Families and friends hugged, while some spun in excited circles. They cheered, whooped and surrounded Rep and Zalan for further answers. Rep and Zalan could see the disappointment on Finnegan's face as he was pushed from their group, not included as a relevant person of discussion.

"Was it dead when you arrived?" one villager asked.

"No, it was very much alive," Rep answered.

The audience gave astonished gasps, completely captivated by the short answer.

"And you killed it?" another person asked quickly.

"No, I had very little to do with its death," Rep said, tilting his head to Zalan to continue the story.

Zalan looked over at Finnegan sulking outside the crowd. Suppressing a smile, he had an idea. He cleared his throat and breathed deeply and channeled as much charisma as he could, trying to remember how Captain Buttonwillow McKittrick would tell a story. He allowed a moment of suspenseful silence, both for effect and to gather his words like Buttonwillow would.

"The fight with the Mind of Madness was a bleak one! More than once it tried to blast us with its dark rays!" Zalan said boldly, addressing the entire crowd at once.

He awkwardly stopped mid-thought as he tried to come up with more words. The crowd had gone silent, thinking Zalan was building even more tension with his pause. He quickly recovered and continued.

"We were in dire straits, ready to roll over and die. But it was thanks to none other than Finnegan Swift that we were able to defeat the Mind of Madness!" Zalan pointed aggressively to Finnegan who had been pushed to the edge of the crowd.

The young man looked up with hope in his eyes.

"Finnegan?" a villager repeated skeptically.

"Oh, yeah," Zalan nodded, getting in his groove. "A smart guy for his age, for sure. Rep was down, out of the fight. I was totally out of energy after fighting Arachulas. But Finnegan ran right toward the monster, not a hint of fear in his stride. He got close, then killed an Arachula. It was enough to gain the Experience needed to gain a Level. And you know what happens when you gain a Level…"

Zalan slowly began to imbue his body in Elemental Light, increasing its brightness. The audience gasped and stared in shock at the display. Zalan continued to increase the light until he made it explode with power, mimicking the look of having just gained a Level. It was a poor equivalent, but the display was more than enough for the villagers to understand. They all turned away from Rep and Zalan, rushing to surround Finnegan with their questions.

Finnegan stared at Zalan in veneration, his jaw wide open as he came to understand the credit he was receiving.

"You really killed it, Finnegan? I thought you were just Level Two!" someone said.

"Not anymore!" Finnegan tapped fingers together and revealed his stats. "Level Four! I gained an entire Level when the Mind of Madness perished!"

"Did you really run toward the monster that emitted beams of evil?" a woman asked, clearly impressed.

"Yes, but I must say I was more scared than Zalan made me out to be," Finnegan said.

"So modest!" a villager slapped him jovially on his back.

"Well, Zalan struck the first blow with a saber of light! It shone like the sun and cut anything in its path."

"A light-saber?" another of the villagers asked. "What an incredible weapon. I've never heard of such a thing before."

While the crowd was distracted by their new hero, Zalan stepped away from the mob surrounding Finnegan, and Rep followed a moment later. Zalan was pretty sure trademarks and litigation didn't exist in the realm, but he didn't want to stick around long enough to find out.

"That was a splendid thing you did for him," Rep said, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah. But it was a little self-serving too," Zalan admitted.

"How so?"

"I just wanted them to leave me alone. I really want to go to bed."

Rep laughed loudly, beaming in agreement.

The friends stopped short, staring in concern at the town before them. Wood, splinters and destroyed furniture was scattered across the area ahead, like a giant cheese grater took interest in one portion of the town. Walking slowly, Zalan kicked a piece of wood over, trying to see what caused it. At best guess, he would have thought a tornado caused the destruction, but he wouldn't have thought the people of Nightfall would be so nonchalant about a tornado tearing through their town.

Further they walked, and Zalan saw that damage was clearly limited to about a half-dozen homes, and the destruction continued out away from the city. He and Rep gazed out, looking between the source of the destruction and its path from its victims. They turned to the audience who was throwing Finnegan in the air, then back to the harrowing sight.

"A totally localized tornado?" Zalan asked, turning to Rep.

"I would have guessed the Mind of Madness, but it was already in its lair before we entered. I do not know. But this feels… wrong."

They began knocking door to door, both looking for a place to stay and to ask about the situation. Most remaining buildings were vacant, their inhabitants in the crowd celebrating Finnegan. But Zalan persisted with ease, knowing that he was about to have one of the best snoozes in his life. It wasn't until they visited a very familiar building that the door finally cracked open.

"Penelope. We need a place to sleep." Zalan immediately spilled three gold coins in her hand. She opened the door wider, no more questions.

"I did not think I would see you again. Alive or dead, to be honest," she admitted to them both.

Zalan wasn't in the mood to explain anything and plopped down on the same bed he last slept in. It felt like a cloud under him, the first true chance at respite.

"Excuse him, we have had a very long day," Rep said.

"It has been days," Penelope corrected.

They both looked over at Zalan who was already deep asleep. With a small smile on his face.