Since they came late, their group could no longer press closer to the Tribulation site. They couldn’t even reach the clearing itself. Throngs of red robes had camped there for days already. Even those who weren’t supporters of Faridar but only attended for the spectacle had arrived early in the morning, hours before their group. The farthest they reached were the trees bordering the clearing. Naamon commented it was better to be away from other Tellerins since he couldn’t be sure they had let go of their enmity with Borlen’s group.
A benefit of staying by the trees was that they could climb them. Much better to have a vantage point up here than be down there, squished by the crowds while seeing nothing.
Elian perched on the highest branch that could hold his weight. Similar to the strategy of Tharguras, the followers of Faridar dug a hole and fortified it the best they could.
It wasn’t the crater left behind by the Tribulation of Tharguras—that was a few dozen yards to the left. It was a new hole because the bowl should be smaller than the Tribulation’s area of effect.
Elian boosted his eyesight with a little Aether, not enough to strain them. The scant details he could pick up from this far away told him that Faridar’s group seemed more prepared than Tharguras was. More towers bristling with all sorts of defenses. Around thirty floating balls of pure black, each bigger than a groff, were secured by chains to the towers. Likely a gigantic version of the absorbing stones since Faridar was a Tellerin. Ghostly apparitions swirled above the bowl; Elian had no idea what those were. And the magical barriers were shaped like pyramids instead of the usual domes. From where did the mages they hired come from?
Again, this demonstrated the amount of knowledge destroyed by the Giant invasion before humanity scrambled to unite. Also goes to show Elian should prioritize saving people. He’d never know if someone held the key to defeating the Giants someday.
Save people and get them to work together—the second part was more challenging.
Supporting others in battle could be the better way of accomplishing it. Originally, Elian aimed to be the hero, inspired by the true heroes he followed in his first life. Be the strongest to save others. Everyone would then look up to him. But he remembered his high school and college days playing online role-playing games with his friends. Whenever they’d explore this dungeon or fight that dangerous boss monster, it was the healer or tank who called the shots, commanding the group while the strongest warrior focused on killing the enemy. Could he apply that setup here?
Elian sighed. His memories of Earth were needles of guilt pricking his heart. He shook his head to clear his mind and focused on the center of the red-robed masses. Something was happening.
“Behold! Our Champion Penitent!” Naamon, standing on a branch below him, gestured at the source of the ripples spreading throughout the crowds. He didn’t need to say more about who among the thousands was Faridar. The Champion Penitent was very noticeable, to say the least, far more than Tharguras was.
“He’s huge…” Elian whistled at the surprising size of the cloaked figure. “Taller than Priest Ihadir.”
At first, he thought Faridar wore an extremely oversized armor or likelier embedded himself inside a golem—he had seen that strategy during research. But when Faridar removed his cloak to the deafening cheers of thousands, Elian saw that he was really that huge. Unlike Ihadir, a mutant monstrosity of ballooning muscles, Faridar was well-proportioned as he stood twelve feet tall. He wore a simple white tunic with short sleeves, perhaps a symbol of purity before he’d equip the armor from the golden hall. The Kymorathi number of his Tribulation glowing through the fabric of his clothes.
“Two feet taller than Priest Ihadir, to be exact,” said Naamon with pride, as if there was a height competition going on. “Though the esteemed priest most likely has more muscle mass. It is the Greater Boon of Goliath’s Blood that’s the cause of Penitent Faridar’s growth in size. A side effect of it.”
“Half of one’s Energy is turned into Health,” Elian said what he knew of Goliath’s Blood Boon. Elite soldiers of Strella, a kingdom neighboring Merl, were required by their king to get this Boon. “There’s also a lot of Health added each level up. A very good Boon for tanking the single strike of the Lesser Tribulation—be as beefy as possible.”
“You are learned in the various Divine Bestowals,” said Naamon.
“Brother Elian is widely traveled and knowledgeable of many things,” Borlen said from somewhere further below.
“The downside is growing bigger and bigger as Health increases,” Elian continued. “Some may consider that a bonus, but for me, there are many not-so-slight adjustments to be made living with that size.” This was why Elian wasn’t aiming for the Greater Boon of Goliath’s Blood even if it could make use of his otherwise idle Energy that just keeps growing due to his Aether Magic training.
That, and getting this particular Boon would take more than a year. It’d depend on how long the Goliath Knight of Kenshiron would require absolute service. Elian heard that the Goliath Knight was very demanding and grouchy.
“An enlarged body is a trivial sacrifice for one devoted to the Penance Path.” Naamon pointed again. “This next Boon is a far weightier detriment. It may be harder to see from here.”
The body of Faridar began to darken into brownish red, stark against the white of his tunic. Elian pumped his eyes full of Aether for a few seconds of extremely enhanced vision and saw cracks branching all over Faridar’s face as if it were land ravaged by severe drought. Elian wasn’t sure if this was a Curse he had read about in the temple library.
“Is this Unhealing Ceaseless Constitution?” he guessed.
“That is so,” Naamon said, sounding like Borlen. “The Greater Curse of Unhealing Ceaseless Constitution.”
“He’s doing Tribulations while having this Curse?” Elian jolted as he recalled its effects. “Penitent Faridar’s Health is multiplied twelve times, but… he can’t heal or regenerate or get back lost Health in any way ever again.”
“It is as you say, Brother Elian.”
Elian couldn’t think of a worse Curse to use against Tribulations. “He has to have ways to use his mountain of Health points for defense so he wouldn’t get directly damaged. Barriers and equipment that scale off Health, I’m thinking?”
Stolen novel; please report.
“There are those, yes.” Naamon nodded. “As for the core of the Champion Penitent’s strategy, we are not privy to it and can only guess. There are rumors he has only one Health point, having used the rest for long-lost blood magic spells.”
“If true,” said Elian, “then he has… something, I don’t know what, that helps him move normally despite his lifeforce diminished that much. And he’s stuck with only that one point forever because of his Curse.”
Disregarding for a moment the insanity of having only one Health point, he could think of various ways to take advantage of it.
It would work well with Omamyar’s Abiding Undeath, the sealed enchantments in his catfolk ring that created a barrier based on health lost—it’d be a hell of a thick barrier for Faridar. Possible that Faridar had such an enchantment, a stronger version even. Catfolk magic seemed to be based on pain and injuries. Certain branches of blood magic would synergize with this too. Faridar would need to go all in on this to defend that single strike of the Lesser Boon Tribulation.
Even if Elian could find a way to unseal the ring’s enchantments, he had no plans of copying Faridar. Outside of Tribulations, this strategy was unwise and downright dangerous. Tribulations were well documented and could be prepared for. But in battle, one could never know what the enemy could dish out. If anything gets past the defenses and pokes the last remaining Health point, then that was it.
“Are those blood mages?” Elian spotted figures gathering around Faridar. They were cloaked in a shade of red darker than the rest of the pilgrims, accented with splashes of black. If he were closer, Elian was certain he could read the black symbols on the robes of the blood mages to know the Sanguine Shrine they came from.
“That, they are,” said Naamon. “They administer to the Champion Penitent as he bathes in potions.”
The boring part of the event, the preparations, took far longer than Tharguras’ did. But the waiting was interrupted by an arrival from the sky. Elian noticed it only when the pilgrims near the middle started pointing up, apparently expecting this creature.
Elian gazed in the direction of the Temples of Tribulation. The small blot in the sky with flapping wings became larger as it approached. It flew quickly and was soon above the clearing, circling in tighter spirals as it descended. The shadow it cast was wide enough to cover the hole and the towers surrounding it.
“Is that… a golem?” Elian wondered. The creature with six wings didn’t have feathers. Rather, it looked like it was made of stone, all grayish and craggy.
Somehow, it was flying. Magic was a very acceptable answer in this world.
“A beautiful creation of Priestess Khalamundi,” Naamon said. “It has come to deliver the last piece our Champion Penitent needs to pass the Tribulation.”
“The suit of armor from the golden hall,” Elian said, watching the giant bird golem extend its neck and spit out a large crate near Faridar. It turned out true that the priests did allow Faridar to borrow from there. “What suit of armor did he—?”
A tsunami of cheering swallowed the last of Elian’s sentence. He couldn’t see what happened to the dropped crate because people climbing over wagons and each other blocked the view. Faridar must be presenting it piece by piece because a wave of shouts would roll every few seconds.
The next Faridar came into view, he climbed on a wooden platform to present the suit of armor to everyone. It was shimmering crimson as if made of crystal, encrusted with different gems that each gave off their light. His helmet had golden horns coiling around its sides. Elian couldn’t tell what the armor was made of but it could resize itself to fit the wearer. Did Faridar pick this out of the several choices because of its color or was it a coincidence?
To the right of a clearing, a group of people pushed their way forward. Easy to see their movement because they didn’t wear red. The chants of a different name reached Elian, and he finally understood what was going on.
“Tharguras!”
“Tharguras!”
“Huh? Tharguras is here?” Elian zoomed his Aether-enhanced vision on the head of the mass parting the sea of red. It really was Champion Penitent Tharguras. He and his followers weren’t wearing their signature blue color because they were here to show their support for Faridar.
Naamon was saying something that Elian couldn’t hear. Looking down, Elian saw Borlen shouting up at him. Words couldn’t reach him. Trees shook from all the cheering.
Was this planned? What the hell happened while he buried his nose in books?
Carrying two wide shields that looked like double doors of a grand hall, Faridar descended into the hole and out of sight. Elian expected metal structures inside to help Faridar hold the shields up.
To the western side of the layers of pyramid barriers was a smaller barrier with someone inside. Tendrils of light extended from that person into the hole, presumably connecting to Faridar. An Altruistic Tether? Must be the personal Giver of Faridar. The connection looked stronger than that Naamon generated. A higher tier of the Tri-Horned Magnam’s Boon?
And that wasn’t all the help Faridar had. A magical dome large enough to enclose the pyramid barriers was erected. The person who made it surprised Elian.
Tharguras is helping Faridar? This had huge implications!
On one hand, it was a massive concession for Faridar because the supporters of Tharguras could say that Faridar couldn’t have done the Tribulation without Tharguras’ help. On the other hand, by extending his help, Tharguras was saying Faridar had the better shot at becoming an Enlightened Penitent first. Not only it was Tellerin culture but the practice of all Penitents to support the stronger person.
Essentially, those two would cancel each other out, leaving a gesture of peace and cooperation.
But before the celebrations, the Tribulation had to be endured first. As dark clouds covered the previously clear blue sky, Elian hugged the tree trunk.
The Tribulation descended and hit the barrier Tharguras made. It dispersed the force to the giant absorbing stones. As the stones exploded, so did the dome. The pyramid barrier was next to go. As it gave way to the Tribulation, the towers crumbled.
A blinding red light welled up from the hole to meet the Tribulation. Elian had to look away because it was so bright. There was a muffled noise and a slight shaking of the ground.
“That was it?” Elian blinked to clear his eyes. He expected to get thrown off the tree.
“I have completed my two hundred and eightieth Tribulation!” Boomed an amplified voice. Elian assumed this to be Faridar. “In five days, I will aid the Tribulation of Tharguras!”
“They’re truly at peace,” Elian said, though he couldn’t hear himself as the myriads of pilgrims erupted in jubilation.
And there was much to celebrate. The two Penitents leading the scoreboards had decided to help each other. With their rivalry evaporating, their followers had no more fuel to hate each other. Hopes arose that there’d be a new Enlightened Penitent soon. Possibly two. The priests were helping by lending equipment from the golden hall.
Elian didn’t join the feasting that followed. It was a time for Borlen’s group to reunite with their Tellerin friends and relatives. Not only did Elian think he’d be out of place, he didn’t want to ruin anything with his tactless mouth. He told Casimir that he’d needed to go to his class before the crowds paraded back to the hills.
He jogged back to Vigor Hill, pushing himself hard because his bodily constitution could handle the physical exertion. In about an hour, he reached his real destination—Gideon’s carriage.
Twelve advanced chapters are available on Patreon. It will continue to increase. Many thanks to Gark Amirkhanyan, Lorenzo Campbell, ang Martin Lange, our new Patreon supporters.
