The Oracle Paths

"Wait-wait a minute! You're going to Laudarkvik?!" Elduin spluttered as he spotted the gloomy city in the distance. He was so shocked that he forgot about his airsickness and the freezing high altitude wind chilling his bones.

There was plenty to be uneasy about. Jake had never seen such a baleful city.

To begin with, Laudarkvik was brightly lit only one or two hours a day. The rest of the time, the thick layer of black clouds shrouding the entire southern part of the Empire plunged the city and its countryside into total darkness. Flying from Lodunvals to Laudarkvik had taken him through such a pitch black region and without an outstanding visual acuity it was undeniably terrifying.

This was not to say that the city was very well lit during the scarce periods of daylight. The sunlight shedding on Laudarkvik was rather weak, like a winter's day in the late afternoon.

Luckily for them, it was almost noon and this was the time when Laudarkvik was "sunny". This made Jake realize that he was probably admiring the city in its best light...

Instead of answering the elf, Jake decelerated to land in a clearing not far from the city and unceremoniously dropped Ruby to the ground like a slightly too heavy sack of flour.

"It's time to end this." Jake sighed.

Connecting his wrist to her wrist, he immediately received the following notification:

[Oracle Rank identical, establishment of a Slave Contract impossible.]

Jake was a little confused, but he had anticipated this possibility. That's why he didn't hesitate to make her waste all her Aether. The price had been exorbitant for him too, but it was either that or kill her on the spot. And he was pretty sure the Oracle would stop him by interfering with one of its bullshit missions.

'Oracle Promotion, activate.' Jake replied calmly.

His First Lieutenant's authority level was immediately elevated by two ranks, to that of Major. Ruby had depleted all her Aether, so her Oracle AI could not even stand up for her, even if she had a matching skill.

Technically, however, he still needed her consent. With Ruby passed out, she was unfortunately not in a position to assert her rights. When Jake used a Soul Spell this time to break her mind and make her give in, her resistance was much weaker than his previous mental intrusion.

Yet, he was quickly caught off guard as he realized that even in the midst of a nightmare that tortured her endlessly, Ruby was still Ruby. Absolutely unfazed, as if she felt no pain.

"That Dream Glyph is such a pain in the ass." Jake grumbled as he ramped up the pressure.

Jake had already glanced at Ruby's Oracle Status during this time and her current Bloodline was a Grade 9 hybrid Bloodline named Myrghenian Dreamlight Alfion. Neither Xi nor the Oracle System had any information on it, but based on the previous abilities demonstrated, they could make some guesses.

What was certain was that the Dream in "Dreamlight" and the "ion" in "Alfion" referred to the Dream Zhorions. It wasn't a glyph alone that gave her hypnosis and illusion abilities, but a full-blown bloodline. And that was far more troublesome.

Ruby was also part Eltarian, which meant that her mind had the same potential as his. Combined with her Dream Zhorion Bloodline traits, psychological torture through an illusion or dream was almost ineffective. In her dreams, she had control over everything and could define what was fake or real and deliberately choose to feel nothing.

In other words, Soul Spells aimed at manipulating her mental space were virtually ineffective. That didn't mean it was impossible, but it was like a human trying to outdo a lion's claws using his own fingernails. The gap was almost insurmountable at equivalent spirit.

But more importantly, unlike Shaktilar, Jake quickly realized that Ruby was much tougher. After all, she had survived to the very end of her Second Ordeal, undergone a military education, and put up with a severe handicap for most of her life.

Lastly, she was also a Digestor. Jake didn't know how much of this part influenced her, but he'd never seen one of these monsters writhing in pain. Some of them would cackle or shriek when sliced, but it was hard to tell if it was out of pain or anger.

Meanwhile, Elduin, Bhammod, Jeanie, and Trash were sitting on a rock, watching him with growing restlessness. Since he had crouched down to feel Ruby's wrist, he had not changed his position as if he were sleeping. Except that his eyes were wide open, which was downright creepy.

"What's he doing?" Elduin whispered as he turned to the fairy and the boy.

Trash shrugged, while the Minmin scratched her head for a long time before answering adorably,

"I don't know."

Time passed and then, suddenly, a few minutes later Jake began to move again. He was in a bad mood, but he hadn't said his last word yet.

"All right. You're more persistent than I thought." Jake reluctantly conceded. Without her implicit or explicit agreement he would get nowhere.

'Xi, any ideas?'

[Try a Rune. I don't have any better ideas.] She tentatively advised.

Jake's face lit up at the suggestion. This could work!

Without the least bit of respect, Jake flipped Ruby over like a pancake and placed her flat on her stomach, revealing her smooth, metallic back. The skin was protected by a thin plate of silver chitin, but Jake got rid of it by pulling hard as if to open a mussel.

Then brandishing the red-hot claw of his index finger he began to carve several words into her flesh. The skin underneath was immaculate and smooth like that of an everyday beauty, but the blood that spilled as he cut into her sizzling flesh was silver like that of a Digestor.

Jake noticed at that moment that her Digestor condition did not appear in her Bloodlines list. There was no indication that she was any different from them. He didn't know if it was to protect her or if the Oracle System was really malfunctioning and blind to anything concerning these creatures.

As he carved these words, Jake activated his Word of Power Magic and focused hard to pour all of his willpower and intent into those bloody engravings. As he withdrew his claw, a mysterious and cryptic energy spread through Ruby's body, affecting her deeply without her being able to react.

"I am Jake's slave and his will is mine."

That was what he had carved onto her back. As much as he wished he could have enjoyed his handiwork longer, he knew those runes wouldn't last long. Within seconds or minutes, her back would have fully regenerated, erasing his runes in the process.

Jake once again joined his wrist to the young woman's and this time the operation went off without a hitch. A grimace of agony passed fleetingly over Ruby's sleeping face, which surprised him greatly, but after a few seconds he received the notification of success as expected.

[Slave Contract successfully established, Ruby Hale is now your slave.]

He took no pride in this, but it was inevitable. If she behaved herself, he didn't mind terminating the contract at the end of the Ordeal, but as long as she was by his side it was a necessary precaution.

Not to mention the fact that he also had some reservations. Her pained grimace and the slight delay while the contract was being set up had put him on his guard.

'Xi, does the Slave Contract work on her Digestor part?' he inquired vigilantly.

[No Oracle Contract has ever been established with a Digestor.] The Oracle AI confirmed his fears. [If the Slave Contract worked, assume that only the human is loyal to you. Still, the human and Digestor are one soul and they theoretically affect each other. I don't know how this will play out in practice, so stay alert.]

Jake pondered the ramifications of this caveat for a long time, but eventually concluded that there was no point in worrying about it. They would deal with these troubles when they arose.

At last turning to Elduin and the others who were looking at him like some kind of freak, he ordered,

"Tell me everything you know about Laudarkvik."

The elf's face broke down as he received this instruction.

"So we are going to Laudarkvik..." He grumbled with the devastated countenance of a criminal marching to the scaffold.

Jake ignored the elf's laments and waited for an intelligible answer from Bhammod or Jeanie. He had long since given up questioning Trash, who was aptly named.

Jeanie knew a lot about this infamous city, but had never been there. Laudarkvik wasn't safe enough for a Minmin, and she wouldn't have survived more than two minutes there. Bhammod, on the other hand, had already been there several times on escort missions.

Thoughtfully smoothing his long red beard soaked with beer, the dwarf said,

"Laudarkvik is difficult to define in a few words. For many, it is the landfill, the disgrace, the darkness of the empire. The Empire's law has no hold there and all criminals, renegades and non-humans rejected by society or prosecuted by the law have taken up residence there. But if you ask the Laudarkvikians, this city is the second capital of Ret'Asi because they consider their impunity to be proof of a parallel empire. The rest of the Empire, including Lodunvals and its surroundings are called there the Day Ret'Asi, while they claim to be the Night Ret'Asi.

"Beyond that, Laudarkvik is an independent city controlling half of the Icarden province. It is co-ruled by nine factions, eight of which are formally condemned and persecuted by the empire's forces. These eight factions are the Vampires, Were-beings, Metamorphs, Dark Races, Demons, Undeads, Astral and Mutants. The ninth faction is simply the humans, mostly bad guys, who have fled the empire."