Ch. 10: Dominance and Authority 2

“So… Where are we going?”

Sataska and Rainier were casually pacing themselves towards their destination. Finally when Sataska grew bored of nonstop walking and miserable attempts in flirting, she finally asked where they were going.

So far, Rainier had been quiet about his destination. To be honest, he had only visited this location once and he wasn’t too clear on its whereabouts. All he remembered was that it was on the west end of Roseir Plateau. Basically, on the opposite end of the plateau where Outpost Roseir was at.

And it was the most likely place to hold magic artifacts that would provide him a higher percentage of survival for him and Sataska.

(I doubt she’ll be leaving anytime soon and two heads are better than one despite her delusional tendencies. Besides that strange quality of her that takes other beasts power by devouring them is useful, unfortunately she can only have one at a time.)

“It’s… Well, the best way to describe it as a cemetery. It is literally a group of coffins hanging from an outcrop from the plateau.”

The Hanging Cemetery of Ladia. It, as the name suggests, is a hanging cemetery for the Ladia, a family of dhampirs or half vampires. The description of the cemetery made Rainier believe there would be some valuable objects of interest hidden inside. Perhaps a magic spear or something since the encyclopedia also mentioned them being something like masters of pole weaponry.

“Hm, intriguing. What are we going to do at this cemetery?”

“You see this dagger and mask?” Rainier held up the Razor of Envy and placed his other hand on Garavan’s Masque. “They’re pretty awesome magical items. I’m keeping this the Razor of Envy since it’s essential to my survival, but I still have yet to know what the mask does.”

“Well, if you had it on at all times, maybe the mask will eventually reveal its secrets.”

“…”

Sataska casually suggested this with a finger on her chin as if thinking thoughtfully.

“I mean, if you have no idea what the mask does then wouldn’t the most logical thing to do is have it on at all times. The mask, whether in normal daily work or in a frantic battle, will reveal the secret behind its magic eventually.”

Rainier scrunched his eyebrows together and said with an annoyed expression, “Can it be this person is actually somewhat intelligent? Meh…”

“Rude! And at least leave out the ‘somewhat’ part too!”

Sataska complained with tears partially forming in her eyes.

Rainier shrugged and slipped on to the mask. The metal latches on the mask held on to the back of Rainier’s head, keeping the mask on his face not uncomfortably but sturdily. As always, the neutral expression of the mask seemed to perfectly cover Rainier’s face.

“So, are we there yet?”

“Hm, I vaguely remember this landmark, so I’d say yes.” Rainier gestured towards a spider web mangrove with curved stone pillars weaving through its roots. Why such oddly shaped stone was woven like that through the tree’s roots was beyond him.

In reality, Roseir Plateau was very short width wise. The length of the plateau’s southern and northern tip was many times longer than its widest line from west to east. It would be safe to say that Roseir Plateau had the same area and width of Argentina while being as long as Chile. Rainier did not know this of course since he had no map to show him.

Every now and then the two happened upon hostile monsters which they dispatched with precision to their teamwork. Creatures like the hornet stag that Rainier had already assimilated a power from were finished off by Sataska. A new creature that Rainier had not yet seen, called the Necroraptor appeared before them once. It seemed it was a creature that mainly lived in the south.

In any case, while avoiding its fearsome claws, Rainier eventually finished it off with the Razor of Envy. The hardest part to deal with about the necroraptor was its annoying capability to heal its wounds to an extent. Not to the extent of regenerating limbs or nasty cuts, but any sort of light scratch that would nag and irritate anyone’s mind.

Rainier felt it was very lackluster for a self-healing power, and quite disappointed. ‘Maybe there’s a more powerful version of self-healing. Healing a lost limb would definitely be useful in this dangerous world.’

Necroraptor- A bipedal carnivore usually decorated in grey or brown scales. It eats both the flesh of living and dead animals and often hides among corpses in order to conceal itself. A fairly common genus in the world, though many of its subspecies differ from one another in its healing factor. Necroraptors have a habit of following large groups of any species in order to eat any dead left behind.

As for the ability in question Rainier gained, it was indeed the mediocre healing ability. ‘Though I say mediocre, it will indeed be useful. Perhaps I can regenerate from larger injuries more quickly if I relax.’

Sataska also ended up getting tangled by a carnifer vine, though Rainier managed to smash the appendage to a pulp with a single kick of his legs before slicing it in half with the razor. The two quickly fled as getting completely tangled up with a carnifer’s vines was quite dangerous and hard to get out of.

Eventually, the two finally arrive at the Hanging Cemetery of Ladia.

“So, how are we going to go about this? I guess I can make some web ropes and tie them around the coffins. Then we’ll slowly use the rope to pull them all up?” Though that was what Rainier proposed, it was still a troublesome task to perform.

“That sounds pretty dangerous…” Sataska agreed with the thoughts Rainier had in his mind.

“How is your arm strength, Sataska?”

“A queen like I may not look it, but I am very strong! Between the two of us, we can definitely pull up any of those coffins depending on the heaviness of its contents.”

“Alrighty then, since there’s not much of a better option, I’m going to carefully tie a web rope around the closest coffin.”

Rainier had slain several males and females arachnacosa. He can spit acid thanks to the males and create tough spider silk from the females. Thankfully enough for him the silk came out of his body with a PG rating, from the palms of his hands.

After making the rope long enough, he made his way across the cliff to the vertical point where the first coffin was hanging. As an insurance policy, Rainier tied a second silk rope to a sturdy stump in case he lost his footing.

This spider silk was exceptionally strong. And if it was woven tightly together, it could probably ward even bullets off with the same effect or better than Kevlar.

In any case, Rainier tossed the end of the first rope close to where the coffin was hanging. Afterwards, he grabbed onto visible handholds and carefully made his way under the hooked outcrop. Once he was close enough to the rope suspending the coffin in midair, Rainier swung his body and launched forward, grabbing onto the suspension rope.

‘This isn’t rope. It’s like a chain without the cold metallic feeling.’

Without wasting time, Rainier shimmied down the warm chain until he reached the coffin. Rainier nimbly maneuvered the silk rope through the handholds attached to the coffin. Of course during the process he almost fell numerous times, but Rainier’s sense of balance was polished so that he never actually felt he was about to fall.

“Sataska! See if you can pull the both of us up! If not I’ll try to climb up and help with the pulling!”

Rainier yelled to Sataska while keeping watch out for any possible threats in the air or on the plateau.

“Oh jeez, this girl is really damn strong!” Rainier was quite surprised that Sataska alone was capable of such strength.

As for the source of the strength, it was the combined might of her being an evoant queen and devouring Skaren’s body some time ago. Besides, in Ademptis, a display of strength of this stature was quite pitiful in comparison to some of the creatures away from Roseir Plateau.

Once the coffin was high enough, Rainier jumped upwards, propelling himself with his strong legs. He grabbed onto a handhold and pulled himself up. Quickly afterwards, he helped Sataska in pulling up the coffin by hand. It was almost as hard as trying to lift a large piece of furniture off the ground and into the third story of an apartment through the window.

“Ahhh… Finally!” Rainier and Sataska arranged the coffin so it was flat against the ground.

The coffin was made of a black wood which seemed as hard and cold as iron, it also had a thorough lacquered finish for a pleasant glossy effect. There were eight handholds, four on each side, symmetrically arranged on the coffin’s side presumably for a funeral service. The very bottom of the coffin was shaped into a flattened pyramid, though it tapered nicely into a sharp point. The coffin was one whole head higher than Rainier, so it was quite tall. It was also just wide enough for someone of muscled stature comfortably fit in. Decoration wise, the coffin had thorny design. Numerous vines were interwoven around each other with numerous thorns poking out every so often; of course the design was symmetrical. Lastly, there was the sole non-symmetrical touch which was a single flower shaped like a rose but with the petals spiking outwards instead of curving.

The most prominent feature of the coffin which caught Rainier’s eye was the spear stabbing through the upper left side of the coffin. It was a clean white iron pole with a slightly darker colored sphere attached to the pole’s end. Rainier could just barely make out that it was a spear due to the spear tip barely showing itself from the coffin. On four sides below the spear tip were secondary blades with the same shape and color of the main spear tip, though they were all curved at the top and pointing inwards instead of outwards.

“How odd. Why is there a spear thrust through this part of the coffin?” Rainier looked at the coffin and spear from all sides.

“The only way to find out is open it, I guess.”

“Hm, yea… Though how?”

After Sataska suggested opening the coffin, Rainier quickly agreed though he could find no seal or lock to the coffin. It was as if the entire coffin was hewn from the same chunk of wood and fashioned to what it is now.

Rainier had a hunch, however. That the key to opening the coffin was the spear.

“Maybe if I pulled this out?” Rainier placed two hands on the spear’s shaft and braced himself.

While he expected the spear to be stuck inside the coffin firmly, refusing to budge, it was in fact quite the opposite. Rainier only slightly lifted the spear and it cleanly slid out of the coffin. Due to the ease of unsheathing the spear, Rainier pulled a little too hard and ended up falling backwards on his back.

“Huh?” Though the spear was still in his hands, Rainier looked at it and the coffin in turn wondering why that was so easy.

*BANG*

The top of the coffin shot off into the air, reaching a great height before falling past the cliff face and down past the plateau’s edge.

Sataska jumped around to Rainier’s side with chitin blades forming around her arms and body, ready for anything. Rainier stood up and aimed the spear at the coffin, though he was more comfortable with the Razor of Envy, his mind focused only on the weapon in his hands at the moment.

Then two bony hands stretched forth from the coffin and weakly placed themselves on the coffins side, pushing with the little strength they could muster.

“I am… Awake?” A very old and mystical voice crept out from inside the coffin.

Since the two were a short distance away from the coffin, so far all Sataska and Rainier could see were the arms and hands.

“My eyes are… Open. And I can see… What is the word? Oh yes, light.” The voice had an air of experience. It was as if the voice had gone through not only one lifetime, but many lifetimes.

The voice started off haggard and slow, but it gained momentum in its speech. “How long have I been asleep? I wonder if my family… No, they are still alive but sleeping.”

Rainier wasn’t sure what to say or do, so he simply remained quiet for now.

The hands, after an annoying long amount of time finally managed to push the main body out of the coffin. And what came into view was an extremely emaciated human looking man. He had a long set of golden brown hair with the same color of facial hair forming a full beard and mustache.

“And you two are?” The old man finally turned his head towards Rainier. “Perhaps you were the ones who helped me awaken?”

Still cautious, Rainier made his reply. “Yea, though I didn’t expect there to be anyone inside it.”

“Heh, I doubt anyone expects there to be a living thing inside a coffin. Still, you helped me wake up from this sleep I was forced in. Truly, I thank you on behalf of my family.” The old man placed both palms with all fingers spread across his chest.

“I only opened up the coffin because I was hoping there was something magical to loot. Honestly, I wasn’t intending to free you.” Rainier preferred honesty over a blatant lie to get people on his side.

“Ahah, so you give me the truth.” The old man chuckled while stroking his beard. “Whether I repaid you for your help was dependent on the fact if you told me the truth of your opening my coffin. If anyone had said they earnestly wish to help my family awaken would be lying. Who would want to awaken a dhampir? We are even more dangerous and bloodthirsty than our vampiric kin.”

Rainier raised an eye. While he didn’t believe he was, there was potential danger in conversing with a self admitted blood sucker. ‘I doubt he really sucks blood like the vampires I’m thinking of, anyways.’

“I’m not aware of what a dhampir means, whether it signals danger or not. I was simply greedy, that’s all. Since you mentioned a family, does that mean they are in the rest of the coffins here?”

“Yes. I was the final member of my family to be sealed away for its crimes as they called it. I call it survival, so damn the parties involved with our sealing!”

The old man had fury blazing in his eyes. And despite his obviously weak body, he slammed his fist down which ended up shattering a fist sized rock on impact.

Sataska stood up and fidgeted around, somewhat uncomfortable around the old man. “Can we really trust him to not attack us when we don’t expect it?”

“Hm, to be on the safe side, keep an eye on him and instantly kill him if he does anything threatening. I’m somewhat intrigued by this repayment he mentioned.” Rainier mumbled out his response just loud enough for only Sataska to hear.

“Please tell me something before we continuing freeing my family. Does the Silver Star Inquisition still have a presence in the Roseir Plateau?”

The old man grits his teeth and balled his hands into fists while standing up. He clearly did not like this Silver Star Inquisition in the slightest.

“I assume that is a group of humans?”

“Yes, why do you ask?”

“Huh… Do you know how long you have been sealed?”

“I believe at least several decades, if not a century or two. Again, why do you ask?”

“You’ve been asleep for far longer than that, I’m afraid. Humans have long since been extinct for many thousands of years. Ademptis has claimed the human empire for a long time. I may be human myself, but I was brought here from another world by some magic. In any case, this Silver Star Inquisition has long since been eradicated.”

Silver Star Inquisition- A special group of inquisitors disliked the tolerance towards half-human species, dhampirs in particular. They made it their order’s goal to completely eradicate such subspecies. Unfortunately for them, dhampirs were impossible to kill by normal means, thus they only way to dispatch them was to seal them until lethal measure could be taken. Some of their most notable achievements were the destruction of the Prismatic Castle, which housed numerous half human and avian refugees. They were also attributed to the sealing of several dhampir families’ such as the Astora, Vrokar, and Ladia families.

The old man wasn’t sure whether to believe Rainier or not. Even if it was true, he wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry, probably the former.

“Ha ha! Truly? If that’s the case my former master and head of the family would have also perished. If not, then he would have contacted me by now anyways.” The old man then sighed and his shoulders drooped. “The Ladia family no longer has a purpose… This makes me weary.”

“Then what do you intend to do?” Asked Rainier, as he felt somewhat sorry for the old man.

Rainier himself had felt the extreme loneliness of knowing that he was the only human alive. His sanity was at its breaking point when he met Sataska and it quickly went back to normal. This old man was feeling similar to how Rainier felt in the past when his parents had practically abandoned him for their daily dose of intoxicants. He basically was by his own with no drive to push him forward. However Rainier found himself here and survival soon was his priority.

The skinny old man knelt down before Rainier and lowered his head.

“The Ladia family does not know how to live on their own. We have always served and been served upon. Presuming you actually are the last human in the world, then there is no other option. Help me awaken my family and I promise to serve you until death takes hold.”

Rainier tilted his head and half-lidded eyes and mouth. “Eh?”