Jason Salazar

Prophet of the End Level 36

72 Strength

144+22 Resistance

36+7 Kinesthetics

108+12 Acuity

180+17 Focus

Charges: 116/197

Primary Abilities: Hand of Fate, Withering repudiation**

Secondary Abilities: Made Manifest, Flagbearer, Relic Seed

Tertiary Abilities: Scales of Ouroboros

5 Primary Upgrades available!

Non-stat Item Abilities: +15% Charm Archetype potency,+15% footing, Concentration, +15% Damage Reduction, Holdout.

Jason’s kit wasn’t very…good.

He was like the youngest kid in the family, who everyone gave their hand-me-down clothes.

Literally, in this case, Jason thought, plucking at the hem of Loth’s Shirt of Protection.

Shirt of Protection

+10 resistance

15% all damage mitigation.

Loth had found something else that synergized with her Build and swapped it out months ago. The shirt had been just collecting dust in their warchest until Jason came along.

Same thing with the Holdout Dagger on his waist, and the Swamp Stompers.

The rest was just junk they’d found that had marginally correct stats for him. They kept telling him that ‘synergies were everywhere’ and he just needed to keep his eyes open, keep his Build in mind, and be creative, but how do you do that when everybody else snaps up the good stuff, or looks at your proposed soft-set and shakes their head, heaving a sigh of disappointment?

Well, I guess it doesn’t really matter that much. I’m awesome.

Except against slimes, golems and undead. Jason hastily corrected.

Who could’ve known he’d be completely useless on the last dozen Floors?

Everybody else in the Party had already been through the first 6 Floors, and didn’t need his help at all. On the 7th Floor, they treated him like a liability and kept him in the caravan and barely let him go out hunting with the other Climbers.

Then the 8th floor he couldn’t do anything.

This is it. I’m gonna show everyone how awesome I am. Easy win.

Boom!

“Gah!” Jason gave a reflexive shout and jumped in place as a humanoid body was jettisoned out of a concealed hatch, slamming into the wall with enough force to shake the stone he was standing on.

Alright, first thing’s first. Gotta compose a list of things I don’t like about this guy.

Jason had found that Withering Repudiation worked a bit better when Jason took a little time in advance to create a list of things to complain about.

His pants are stupid tight. Make his butt look big. Hair’s long, all tangled up and shit like an idiot. No muscle on the arms like a total wuss…and…it’s a girl. Shit.

Umm…Jason desperately tried to reframe his insults in a fraction of a second.

The fae groaned, standing up, holding her head. For a brief instant they locked eyes.

No time!

Withering Repudiation

116-115 Charge remaining.

You’re a short-limbed, underfed, moron wearing poorly cured leather that doesn’t even function for it’s intended purpose. Your hair is the color of piss, and probably smells like it too.

The fae stiffened and slumped over as Withering Repudiation paralyzed her while she took psychic damage over time.

After the first few rocky seconds, Jason was able to chain the insults together fluidly and get the attack off the ground.

About six seconds into Jason’s unstoppable attack, a pitiful sob cut through Jason’s concentration, causing the Ability to snap off.

“Eh?”

“Please.” The fae mumbled into the ground. When she raised her head to look at Jason, there was the strange animalistic element in her face, but there was also anguish.

“I don’t want to fight,” She mewled, tears streaking down her face.

“Uuummmm…” Jason said, taking a half-step forward. Except for the weird cheekbones, she looked almost exactly like a young woman in distress. Like that one time Muse had cried in her room for an entire day when Ron went to the pond with Kaya.

“…Are you, um, okay?” Jason asked.

***William Oh***

“No, you dumb-!” Will shouted, shaking his head as he observed through the Phantom Eye.

“You know for somebody who is supposed to be really good with people, Jason sure sucks at killing them in cold blood.” Will groused, crossing his arms beside Alicia as he watched the farce continue.

“You don’t think those two could be related?” The glowing-eyed archer asked, glancing at Will.

“Eh, probably,” Will said with a sigh. “This’ll be a learning experience.”

***Jason Salazar***

“I’ll be okay,” She said, wiping the tears away from her cheeks. “I felt like I was going to feel so bad I would die there for a second.”

“Oh, um. Sorry.” Jason said, offering her a hand.

Her ear twitched a bit when Jason said ‘Sorry’, and Jason felt some kind of warmth settle in his chest as she took his hand and stood up.

He thought it was because he was being polite to a cute woman.

She was the same height as him, her body fully developed, just…small.

“My name’s Eve.” She said, her hand clasping Jason’s for a moment longer than strictly necessary, sending lightning up his spine. “And you are?”

“Jason. So are we supposed to fight or…”

“No!” She shouted shaking her head and backing away from Jason. “My uncle forced me to go on the Hunt, I don’t even like fighting. These brutes are always talking about the thrill of the brush with death, but it turns my stomach.” Eve said, shaking her head.

“So what, um, do we do instead?”

“We don’t have to do what the others are doing. We could just…talk,” Eve said, taking a step back and sitting against the wall, patting the ground in front of her.

“O-okay.” Jason said, moving to sit down.

There was a tiny voice of apprehension in the back of Jason’s head, but it was nearly entirely drowned out by Jason’s confusion at this strange turn of events, and the butterflies in his stomach.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

***William Oh***

“Oh, come on! Don’t sit down, just-“ Will made stabbing motions.

***Jason Salazar***

“You’re awfully young for a Climber. Younger than any I’ve ever seen.” Eve said as Jason settled down crosslegged in front of her.

“I’m probably the youngest Climber ever to make it here. It’s…kind of a long story.”

She gave a dry chuckle. “Mine too.”

“Oh?” Jason asked.

“Fae don’t really age, we just grow bigger and stronger over time until we get to about the size of an adult human. I’m one of the first generations of fae to enter the Court that didn’t witness the birth of the Floor. That’s why I’m so small.”

“So we’re both younger than everyone else.” Jason said, nodding along with a half-smile.

“Every thousand years or so, when the Coil collapses, a few of the older fae die off and create a gap in the courts.

I had the support of my uncle, but I still had to fight to join the court.” She said with a bitter expression. “It was awful. And the reward for joining the court? More death, and a Lord who exerts control over my every action. When I was young and weak, I was at least free.”

She wrapped her arms around her knees, staring into the distance with a haunted look.

“I’m…sorry. Is there anything I can do?” Jason said, his heart warming.

She twitched and glanced up at him for a moment before a thin smile flickered across her face.

“I wish, but no. I’m stuck here with chains of Debt that cannot be severed by the hands of a Climber. The only choice I have now is to continue climbing the ranks of the court until I die or become the new Lord.”

“That…sucks.”

“It is what it is,” Eve said with a tired shrug. A moment later, she perked up “But the limitations of my station don’t prevent me from helping you,” she said.

“What do you mean?”

“When I bring your head back as a trophy, I can advocate that we spare the rest of your caravan. You are a very rare catch, after all. Would you like that? Safe passage for your caravan?”

“That’s a great idea!” Jason exclaimed. Something about that felt…off, but Jason couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

“Oh, thanks!” Jason said, giving Eve a big hug. Eve stiffened for a moment before hugging him back with one arm.

“It’s my pleasure,” Eve said, her chin over his shoulder. The faint sound of something sharp scraping against leather caught Jason’s ear, but he didn’t think anything of it.

“Man, Will’s gonna be stoked when he learns my head bought safe passage.” Something still felt wrong about that, but Jason couldn’t quite figure out exactly what it was. It was like there was an invisible wall in his mind that kept bouncing his thoughts off. He pondered if he should be concerned about that, and his thoughts bounced off of that, too.

Well, whatever.

Eve froze against Jason for a moment.

“…Will who? A friend of yours?” Eve asked, pushing him back to look him in the eye, her dagger resting flat against his shoulder.

“Will, the leader of the caravan?”

She glanced up and to the left, where Loth was aboveground.

“I thought your leader’s name was Loth the Luminary.”

How did she- Jason’s critical thinking was cut off and his thoughts redirected towards Will.

“Nah, loth’s like…his first lieutenant. She’s this like…super-kobold, but William Oh is the actual leader of the caravan. You guys probably haven’t been hanging around other Climbers enough to hear about him, but he’s totally awesome. This one time, he sneezed near an evil spirit, and-“

“It said ‘bless you’, and exorcized itself.” Eve finished, her face turning pale. “So as not to be rude.”

“Oh, so you guys have heard of him!” Jason said. “My favorite is the one-”

“Shhh….” Eve said, shushing Jason. It felt like someone had pulled a drawstring on his mouth, and Jason couldn’t speak if he wanted to.

“He’s watching us. Jason, you’re going to pretend to kill me. That’s the only way I can escape this alive. You want me to survive this, right?”

Jason nodded enthusiastically. He’d apologized several times, admitting fault. She’d also made the generous offer of helping the caravan. He owed her.

“And you know what, if I survive this and make it back to my court alive, I’ll get a big promotion and it’ll be so big, that I’ll owe you. Won’t that be nice?” Eve said with a shy smile.

Jason nodded, his eagerness to help redoubling at the promise of not only settling his debt, but being owed.

“So you’re going to pretend like you noticed that…”

***William Oh***

“Finally!” Will groaned as Jason seemed to shake off the fae’s control long enough to realize he was about to be stabbed, catching the dagger on his forearm up before countering with his primary weapon, the warhammer, crushing her shoulder and sending the fae reeling backwards.

Then Jason’s lips started twitching as he struck with Withering Repudiation, locking the fae in place while he went for the coup-de-grace, delivering a swift strike to the back of her head.

Once the fight was over Jason sighed and began walking back to the main room, his knees wobbling.

“Hey, congrats,” Will said, patting Jason on the shoulder. “If you hadn’t spent so much time talking, you could’ve finished a lot sooner.”

“She was trying to kill me the whole time!” Jason said, tottering past.

“Well, duh.” Will said, arms crossed. “Why didn’t you just kill her to start with? You had the upper hand.”

“She said she didn’t want to fight.” Jason said with a shrug. “I thought they can’t lie.”

“Eh…” Will waggled his hand. “They can mislead. Maybe she didn’t want a ‘fight’ and instead would prefer an execution. Yours, specifically. You did notice when she had a dagger at your back, right? When you hugged her? We were just going to let you get stabbed to teach you a lesson.”

“Eh?” Jason said, cocking his head.

Will frowned. “You didn’t notice that?”

He broke the control, right?

“Did you say or do anything that directly or indirectly implied that you owed her anything?” Will asked. “Did you accept a gift, favor, or apologize for something?”

“Um…both?” Jason said.

“So…how did you get out of it?” Will asked.

“Get out of what?” Jason replied, seeming confused.

A bolt of alarm shot down Will’s spine and he turned his Phantom Eye towards the fae’s corpse…which was missing.

Damnit. Will dragged his hand down his mask.

Jason’s eyes widened as realization dawned on him.

“I’ve made a terrible mistake!” Jason cried before the whole story burst out of him like a broken dam. The young Climber’s voice wavered as he spoke, horrified that he’d been so close to allowing himself to be killed.

Will took a deep breath and let it out in a controlled breath. “It’s fine. She didn’t learn anything we weren’t prepared to let slip.”

They got Will’s name, but they didn’t know anything about him other than that. he hadn’t revealed any of Will’s actual Abilities or how he might attack. They could’ve gotten Will’s name from any of the civilians with fae watching them from the bushes.

All they would really get was that Will had some strong subordinates and that most of the fae who came out on the Hunt died. They were going to learn that anyway when none of them returned.

Can’t have everything always go perfectly, I guess.

***Jason Salazar***

After the battles concluded, Jason spent the rest of the night wallowing in shame.

Maybe I am just a dumb liability, he thought, staring at his hands. It seemed like when the chips were down, he always messed up some critical detail that forced everyone else to rush to pick up the slack.

They should’ve just left me in Akul, Jason thought sourly. He was better at working a crowd and prattling make-believe than he was at fighting for his life, as evidenced by today’s colossal failure.

He’d run his mouth, after repeatedly being warned to control his words, he’d been screwed from his first reflexive ‘sorry’.

Jason leaned back in his tent, his eyes aching with suppressed tears. Climbers don’t cry. They get better.

Or they give up. Maybe I can go back to Akul with Will when he goes back to Akul to get the second wave, and just stay there. I don’t think I’m ready for this. I don’t know if I ever will be.

Relic Seed available.

Harbinger.

Do you wish to make a Relic Seed?

Y/N

Eh?

***Eve***

Kincaid’s Court was a screaming mess of excess. Every vice taken to the extreme until it was no longer pleasurable and instead torturous.

Their captive entertainers played their instruments with unearthly precision, Climbers collected from far and wide with talent for music. Their noses wrinkled at the pervading smell of rot that permeated the hall.

Writhing bodies and piles of bloody meat seemed to morph back and forth, flickering between sex and viscera out of the corner of her eye.

Eve paid attention to none of it.

One day it would all be hers, and she would reform the court to her taste, but today that was none of her business. She had information for her Lord. Vital, earth-shaking information.

The Coil was ending again, and the Harbinger had revealed himself. She knew his name, and even where he was! With this information, Kincaid could act early to divert the Harbinger’s attention away from their Court onto the other two fae Lords, let them suffer the Harbinger’s predations.

Eve only knew the Harbinger by reputation, but the legend had been drilled into each of them from an early age, so they knew what to look for.

Engaging with the Harbinger directly was always ruinous for any fae who made the mistake of thinking themselves above the milling wheel of The Coil.

But this time they knew he was coming! They had time to plan. Time to divert his attention, build up strength and kill him before he could once again destroy the leadership of the fae and sow chaos.

Eve was fully aware that if she didn’t warn her liege, he was the most likely to be dethroned by the Harbinger, creating an opportunity she might be able to seize…but she was duty-bound to serve to the best of her abilities, as much as it might go against her instincts.

“Eve,” Kincaid said as she approached and knelt in front of him. The black-haired Fae wore a human prince’s costume and bore an outward veneer of civility, but she knew that a mere scratch on the surface could unearth thousands of years of vileness.

“Lone survivor of the Hunt. What news have you brought me?”

Eve opened her mouth.

***Jason Salazar***

Relic Seed available.

Harbinger.

Do you wish to make a Relic Seed?

Y/N

Eh?

…Might as well. Jason thought with a shrug.

Yes.

“GAH!” Jason shouted as it felt like someone stuck a hose up his ass and started sucking out all his Charge.

Creating Relic Seed

115-15 Charge Remaining.

Jason flopped to the ground, and a moment later, he felt a small, warm object manifest in his hand.

He sat up and peered at the item, which looked something like the pit of a stone fruit made from blue gemstone.

He inspected it.

Harbinger Relic Seed.

The condensed myth of the Harbinger, who has seven times brought about the downfall of the Fae. When applied to a Relic, this seed creates an affix that enhances Focus, contract magic and gives bonuses against the fae. Affix starts minor, grows as the Myth of the Relic does. Cannot be removed.

…huh.Neat. Wonder where that came from.

Jason opened the entry for Relic Seed.

Relic Seed:

Variable Charge

Harvest a myth sown in an area and condense it down into a prepared Sacrifice to create a Relic Seed which can be added to a Relic to give it powers in line with the myth. The myths harvested this way have a chance to be uprooted and forgotten. As the Relic gains notoriety, the seed will grow in power.

One Relic Seed per Relic. Once planted, Relic Seeds cannot be removed.

“…I guess there was a Myth on this Floor. Some…Harbinger…guy?” Jason mused, inspecting the gemstone with swirling miasma inside it. “Huh. I bet Will will think it’s cool.”

***Eve***

Eve took a breath to speak, and lost her words. It was right there, on the tip of her tongue. The…something, was coming.

…But what?

“Well, what news!?” Kincaid demanded, the threads of his fine regalia creaking as he swelled with irritation.

“I…don’t remember.” Eve said, shrinking in place.