Forged Legacy

Chapter 125 - Catching Up

“Well… I died,” Harvey stammered, staring down at the granite countertops. Since when were his fingernails so interesting?

“What!” his mom shrieked. The sound spiked his heart rate as memories of getting chewed out in their own kitchen back in Arizona roared up from the depths of his mind.

“When? In your trial? Is that why you’re gold now?” his dad asked, putting a calming hand on his wife’s shoulder.

“No. I crashed my car an hour after we got off the phone. Everything faded to black, but then I heard the System’s voice and found myself floating in space.”

“Harvey go space? Are you astronaut now?” Max asked. His brother had wrapped around his leg and held on for dear life the second he mentioned his own death, but it looked like his love of sci-fi movies had flushed away the concern.

“Kind of,” Harvey said, tousling his brother’s hair. “It’s like my mind was stuck in the void, but my body was slowly rebuilt in front of my eyes.”

“And it turned gold for some reason?” his dad asked.

“No. Why are you so stuck on my new eyes? Just give me a minute, and I’ll explain everything.”

Seeing this was a conversation she wasn’t willing to only hear half of while she cooked, his mother turned off the oven and traded the ingredients for the baked ziti she was planning to make for a veggie tray and snacks from the pantry. Harvey snatched a stalk of celery and was about to dip it in the large cup of ranch, but the pleading eyes of his family killed his appetite. They all gathered around the table, and he regaled them with his experiences as a veilstrider in the trial, omitting a few details that weren’t suitable for young ears.

Starting with the story of how he met Julian, he realized the early days of the trial wouldn’t make him look good, especially without the added context of his Stain.

“Did you really hide in a tree?” Tyler howled.

“You would’ve done the same thing!” Harvey complained. “A literal zombie snuck up behind me in the middle of the night in a forest of black and purple trees!”

“You had a magic wand! Even if you didn’t, I can think of at least three better options than letting yourself get cornered!” Tyler chuckled.

[I don’t know. Screaming like you found a spider in your bed worked out pretty well for you,] Julius snickered.

Oh, come on. The voice in my head’s making fun of me, too?

[A big chunk of that voice came from the dashing prince who rescued you.]

His cheeks burned as he couldn’t help but blush. It was all in good fun, and he was laughing right alongside his family. Knowing all these stories would end with him making it out alive took some of their edge off.

“I’ll take you hunting sometime, and we can see how calm and collected you really are,” Harvey chuckled.

The room went silent. Tyler turned to his parents with a hopeful gleam in his eyes, and they stared back with a look Harvey recognized all too well. The “we’ve already talked about this, you’re not going to that party” look.

“Anyways,” Harvey interrupted. Next, he told them about finding Hannah and saving her from the bloodrunn. His sister, Eleanor, perked up when she heard that Harvey had met a tall, handsome firefighter who fearlessly saved young women.

“How old did you say Julian was?” she asked.

“Married,” he replied flatly.

[and dead,] Julius added.

“What about Hannah? Is she married?” his mom asked.

“Holy hell, people. Are you going to do this with every name I bring up?” Harvey complained.

“Sorry, sorry. You’re right, keep going,” his mom apologized.

Next, he tried to explain how legacies work, starting with the Born Protector Mark, only for his father to unbutton his shirt and show he had one of his own.

“A lot of us have the same one, the Mark of the Devout. A few even upgraded theirs to an Imprint,” he explained.

“Seriously? The same Mark?” Harvey asked.

“Yeah. The angels said that all it takes to receive one is to be truly faithful, and in return, he strengthens our Willpower to help us keep following his path for us,” Dad began.

Harvey could feel a lesson brewing, so he rushed to get back on track.

“Do you guys have one?” he asked his siblings, sure that his mom definitely did.

“No,” Eleanor replied.

“Nope,” Tyler added.

Max was too engrossed in a cookie to answer.

“Our teacher said it’s normal for you kids to need some time for the Mark to develop. You haven’t had the experiences to shape your faith yet like your father and I have,” his mom explained.

Harvey nodded, excited to see what else this teacher could explain. He had his own theories about how the System really worked, but at the end of the day, he was still stumbling around in the dark. Maybe they could shed some light on a few things for him.

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“Good to know,” he said. Harvey continued, telling them all about Veils End and the zombie horde that attacked them when Gabe started screaming. About meeting Gary, Amy, and Elena. About the blacksmith, gaining his profession, and finding the mine full of elementals sitting in his backyard. Instinctively, he wanted to pull out a cellphone and start showing pictures of everything like this was another family dinner where he showed off all the beaches and museums he saw on a long vacation, but all he could do was describe the places he saw and monsters he fought as best as he could.

“How do you kill a man made from flying rocks?” His dad asked.

“Steven!” his mom complained. Harvey could feel her blood pressure rising with every fight he described. Part of him wondered if he should lay off the details, but another part of him enjoyed being fussed over.

“Easy. Just swing hard,” Tyler said.

“I wouldn’t call it easy, but that’s basically the idea. They have these crystals in the middle that are the source of the magic holding it all together. Hitting the crystal killed them, and I used the essence-infused iron and the cores to make stuff in the smithy.”

He told them about his trip to the living forest, where a fish nearly drowned him the second he finally took a bath. Max loved Buttercup, and his mom pounced on the opportunity to tell him that all the carrots and lettuce the deer ate were what helped him grow big and strong.

[There’s no way that works,] Julius chuckled, but stopped when Max dropped his cookie and started tearing into the veggie tray.

Never doubt my mother.

At first, he didn’t hold much back from his family, but he started letting the details get hazy as they moved towards the back half of the trial. They didn’t need to know about Gary’s weird Profession letting him manipulate their Outpost with fear or gathering together to exterminate a colony of sapient iron elementals. Instead, he gave them the broad strokes. Crafting armor, learning inscriptions from Elena, evolving to F Grade, and fighting the Undead.

“Skeletons?” Max asked. “Were they scary?”

“Super scary, but luckily I had my friends to help me. We set a big trap and tricked the skeletons into falling for it,” he explained, trying to use words his brother would understand before turning to the rest of his family. “That trap helped turn the tide, thinning out the numbers enough for humanity to survive when we made our last stand at the hell hotel.”

“Son…” his father stammered. “If it were anyone else telling me this, I wouldn’t believe a word you’ve said. Did you really kill a dragon?”

“And the prophet riding him, but Julian did most of the work with him before I showed up,” Harvey confirmed.

“We don’t use that word,” his mom chastised.

“What, prophet? That’s what he called himself. The ideology was a little different considering his goal is to turn all life undead, but I don’t think the word’s an issue.”

“If that’s what he really believed, he’s not a prophet,” she declared.

This wasn’t the hill Harvey wanted to die on. “Believe what you want, but I can prove this happened. Since you already know what Imprints are, I am assuming you’ve heard how hard it is to get one. Well, I have three.”

Three screens appeared in the air for all his family to see. Seeing their growing disbelief as he recounted his experience was starting to annoy him. He knew how insane it all sounded, but feeling his own family doubting him felt like they were invalidating the sacrifices that had brought him here. Not just his own, but all the people who died giving him the chance to sit at this table. He let his aura fill the room, gently pressing against each of his family members as he displayed the effects of each Imprint.

An audible gasp from each was exactly what he was looking for, and the screens disappeared after each had been given a chance to read. The silence was deafening after his aura retracted, and they all looked at him with concern.

“I… don’t know what to say,” his father began. “Other than that I couldn’t be happier to see you. We were worried sick when we couldn’t find you in here.”

“Thanks, Dad. I can’t tell you how good it feels to see you guys again,” Harvey smiled. “Enough about me, though. What about you? I want to hear all the crazy stories from the land of angels and demons.”

“Well…” his dad began.

“It sucks,” Tyler interrupted. “We’re either in school or at church 24/7.”

“Hey! I don’t want to hear another word like that out of your mouth, young man!” his mother scolded. “You’re lucky to be learning about our new world from an angel instead of from zombies like your brother.”

“At least his trial made him stronger!” Tyler shot back.

“So… what? They just have you guys in class all day? When do you have time to level up your Class?” Harvey asked.

“Most of us haven’t gotten our Class yet,” his dad explained. “Instead of choosing one at the start of our trial like you, we were all given the same Profession.”

“We’re Faithful Seeds, just like all of God’s children. We might not throw fireballs around like Harvey, but the angels are teaching us everything we need to know to find our path in the world,” his mom lectured, using the same voice she’d developed over years of teaching Sunday school.

“What if I want to shoot fireballs like Harvey? None of the paths they've shown us lead to that?” Tyler complained.

“I’m confused,” Harvey said.

“Join the club. Instead of learning to fight, they have us sitting in classes like Endurance: Transforming Faith into an Unshakeable Weave or How Music Heals the Soul,”Tyler mocked.

“I liked the music one,” Eleanor said. “Felt good to get back in front of a piano again. I’m leaning towards becoming a Herald.”

“In case you haven’t noticed, there’s an army of demons out there trying to break down our door. We have more important things to worry about than piano!” Tyler said.

“That’s for the angels to worry about,” his mom said.

“No. It’s not,” Harvey interrupted. “The angels are losing, and they don’t care whether you live or die.”

“How could you say that?” his mom asked aghast.

“Because I heard it right from one of their mouths. I only found you guys after stumbling on an angel named Cash being gunned down by four humans and a demon with guns and fire. Eight humans from our side lying dead at his feet, all because the Templars and Sentinels travelling with them ran the second things got dangerous,” Harvey seethed.

“That’s probably only one side of the story,” his mom replied.

“No. After I killed the sinners and the demon that were shooting at him, he led me back to the gates, where another angel literally said that losing the blood of the faithful was regrettable, but at least no angels died. I’m sure they’re happy to put you through whatever curriculum they’ve drawn up, but at the end of the day, you need to be able to protect yourselves.”

His dad’s shoulders slumped, but he could see the indignation in his mother’s eyes. She struggled to find the words to refute his claim, but only sharp gasps and stutters came out.

“Steve, say something!” she finally stammered.

“We’re only a few levels away from being able to choose our path and create our Classes. God willing, we’ll earn one strong enough to defend ourselves,” his dad sighed.

“Choose your path?” Harvey asked.

“The angels know a few proven paths to power. A mix of Classes and Professions with skills that have been refined over thousands of years. They said we'll know enough about ourselves and the System to pick the right one once our Professions hit the limit for the G Grade,” Tyler explained.

“They want everyone to follow a blueprint? I’m sorry, but you don’t have time to wait. Doesn't matter to me whether you pick one of their paths or make one of your own, but you have to start leveling up now. That demon I killed was Level 60, and I’m sure he wasn’t the strongest one in here,” Harvey insisted. “What level are you guys?”

“Our Profession’s up to Level 19. It takes around a week of learning for each level from here on out, so we should be ready to go in 6 weeks,” his dad explained.

“Not happening. I don’t care what the angels say, we’re starting today,” Harvey declared.