The Primal Hunter

Jake was rarely nervous, but on that day, he really was. Logic be damned; he was still a bit afraid his parents wouldn’t be okay with him coming, even if Caleb had only ever said they wanted him to. He had to admit that this was one of the reasons he kept trying to avoid going… Jake was very different from before, and with every day, he truly grew further from Jake, a boring salaryman in finance, and into Jake, the hunter. Despite how much he had been assured by Caleb, the nervousness still stayed, making him feel like this was a repeat of their first meeting all over again.

To add on, there was one more element. A person who had looked forward to meeting Jake’s parents even more than Jake himself… or, well, equally as much. It was naturally his other self, sim-Jake.

Sim-Jake last saw his parents the day they died. To him, it had been decades, even if he had been able to experience the real Jake’s memories. However, as he still maintained an ego, it just wasn’t the same. That is why when Jake entered the real Skyggen, he instinctively knew Sim-Jake had stopped his training and was alert and watching.

Who could blame him for being nervous? Both of them? All of this resulted in Jake slowly making his way toward the large residence where Caleb and his parents lived, with his head full of doubt. The guards didn’t stop him at all but took out tokens to let him in without even speaking a word, Jake knowing they had been informed of him coming. He hadn’t tried to hide this time around, so they all knew he was in Skyggen, meaning there really was no way to back down.

Jake approached the house and saw them within through his sphere. Waiting. He took a deep breath and walked up to the door before knocking. Within the house, mom instantly shot to her feet and rushed towards the door. He was thinking about what to say or how to act as she hastily opened the door and saw him.

In the next moment, Jake realized how dumb he had been.

Without any hesitation, his mom pulled him into a hug. His anxiety washed away as he just returned the hug. Neither of them spoke as he smiled, a well of emotions also coming from within his Soulspace.

He really should visit more.

“How long did you think you could hide it from me?”

The Augur looked out at the vast golden city from atop the spire. A deep frown adorned his face as he felt the changes in the tapestry from the faraway planet. The mix of hope and fear from his home planet reached him even in another universe, proof of his increased power after his evolution.

“Until you discovered it yourself,” the B-grade Bishop answered with a sigh. “I am not foolish enough to think that I can obscure the truth from an Augur for long.”

Jacob’s frown only deepened at the answer. “Why was this necessary? What happened on Earth?”

“Movements and machinations above what we mortals are meant to comprehend. The game of the gods is not ours to interfere with; all we can do is try and make the outcome as acceptable as possible. Yip of Yore, a god recognized as at the pinnacle, challenged the Malefic One, and their battle was extended to also include their Chosen. The Chosen of Yip of Yore invaded your planet with the help of a faction of natives and battled the Malefic’s Chosen. This happened only shortly after you arrived here and recently concluded with the Chosen of Yip abandoning the planet and the Malefic’s Chosen coming out on top,” the Bishop explained, Jacob not sensing a single trace of falsehood in his words.

“Why would all of this require me to leave Earth and come here?” Jacob asked.

“It is not only you. The faithful will all be evacuated from the planet as the Holy Church has decided to abandon it unilaterally. A decision that should not come as a surprise to you, considering the state it was in and the turmoil it faced,” the Bishop answered.

Jacob wanted to protest but truly couldn’t. Deep inside, he had known this would be the conclusion for quite a while. The Holy Church was a monolithic faction that either controlled a planet or didn’t. They had rituals and effectively terraformed planets to be better for themselves and natively spawn holy energy that strengthened the power of faith for all who lived there. Sharing with other factions, especially enemy factions like the Risen, was not an option.

“After the second event, it was obvious that taking control of the entire planet would not be feasible,” the Bishop continued. “Considerations of placing an embassy of sorts there were brought up but ultimately decided against. As things are looking right now, it looks like the Malefic One’s Chosen will end up victorious. Something that I also feel does not come as a surprise,” the Bishop said, a hint of accusation in that last part.

They both knew Jacob had been asked to distance himself from Jake and also that he hadn’t followed that advice quite as the Church would have hoped. Jacob also knew that the hope, no, expectation, of Jake was that he would leave the planet altogether. There truly was little reason for him to stay from the perspective of the Church, so they assumed he would just teleport to the Order. Something he had done. Except he also kept coming back, and based on how he seemed to have made a home on Earth, it looked like he didn’t plan on staying away for good.

“Could you tell me everything that happened in my absence?” Jacob finally asked. While the Bishop had explained the cliff notes, Jacob knew there was more to it. There always was.

The Bishop agreed and told everything without holding back. Jacob had suspected it, but when it was confirmed that his father had been the leader of this native faction, he could only sigh. His sense of helplessness deepened when he learned that the Church had known about this Ell’Hakan coming well ahead of time and had even been warned, hence sending Jacob away beforehand. They had indeed planned on leaving Earth all along and just wanted the Risen gone, too, something Jacob would have been an obstacle to accomplishing. Which begged the question…

“How exactly do you expect me to respond to all this?” Jacob asked.

“I expect nothing; I am nothing more than an instrument of a greater will. What I will say is that I personally question why you believe you have been slighted. You stand here now at C-grade, a multiverse in front of you, the blessing of the Holy Mother upon your soul and the Church at your back, and you care about a small insignificant planet. The reach of the Holy Church is boundless, and there are numerous places that can benefit from an Augur of Hope. Numerous places for you to exert your Path. Could you truly guide Earth towards a feasible Path with so many elements on it to lead it astray? Your planet was corrupted beyond saving already the moment the Chosen of the Malefic One chose to stay there. All you can do now is look onward,” the Bishop said.

“And how do you expect me to do that?” Jacob asked further.

“Explore. You have barely seen anything of the multiverse yet; it is a ripe time to see what it has to offer. Leave Earth behind you. Perhaps the system will still offer you to return for events, but if not, then simply close that chapter of your life. People need help and guidance everywhere. People need hope everywhere. With time, I believe you will come to understand that no one has tried to slight or betray you. They simply guided you as you now guide others. Towards a better future,” the Bishop finished saying, leaving Jacob alone with his thoughts.

Days passed by as Jake did something he hadn’t done in a long time – absolutely nothing. He just relaxed with his family, played with his little nephew, and went around Skyggen exploring. Okay, Jake did do a bit of light work, but it was only reading, meditating, and helping Caleb out with some minor stuff. During meditation, Jake began working more with sim-Jake, but both of them dedicated most of their attention to their holiday. He had even made it clear to Miranda that he was only to be contacted in the case of an emergency, and Villy seemed to get the idea and didn’t pop into his head a single time throughout this time.

Jake naturally also discussed recent events with Caleb and his parents. Everything with Ell’Hakan and Arthur had made quite the ruckus, and especially Caleb had seemed nervous Jake would get mad at him for the whole assassination thing. Jake didn’t know why… it wasn’t like his little brother killed anyone Jake knew, and while it did indirectly help an “enemy,” Jake couldn’t exactly get mad every time his brother took a job. It would be like if he got mad that his brother went to buy potions from someone else, as that would hurt Jake’s financials.

As for the big subject of Jake’s future plans… it felt like his parents didn’t really understand it. They understood the words when Jake said he would become World Leader, but it didn’t really seem to sink in. It was a bit like how they didn’t entirely get what it meant that he was the Chosen of the Malefic Viper or really understood the multiverse and the powerful factions in it.

For the most part, Jake got it. The scale of things had gotten ridiculous. Gods who could crush entire galaxies with ease were mentioned as if normal, and factions with trillions upon trillions of members with countless planets were just things thrown out there. It didn’t really make any sense to most people as it was too far removed from their everyday lives, so Jake didn’t push it either. They didn’t need to really understand… and in a way, taking control of Earth was a way of ensuring they didn’t have to.

Or, maybe they did know and just didn’t want to make a big deal out of it. In either case, it was probably for the best, as it allowed Jake to just be himself. For better or worse. Both he and his brother knew that even if his parents and Maja had reached D-grade, the chances of them reaching C-grade were near nil.

It was another thing Jake didn’t want to think too much about. What he did like to think about was the last member of the little family.

Adam, his nephew, had proved himself to be a big fan of his uncle. Who could blame him? He seemed especially interested in Jake’s mana strings, and while Maja wasn’t keen on it, she allowed Jake to make a swing of pure, stable, arcane mana. The moving parts were a bit tough, but he got it working pretty damn quickly and rapidly expanded - from a swing to a slide to a makeshift rollercoaster to whatever else Jake could get on.

No, this was not practicing; this was playing. Did it also happen to be good practice? Yes, but that was a happy little coincidence.

A month seemed like a long time, but the weeks passed by faster than Jake had expected. Before long, it was the evening before Jake would have to head back to Haven, and they had all met up for a final dinner together. None of them really had to eat – besides Adam – but that didn’t mean one couldn’t enjoy a good family dinner.

With the table set and a homecooked meal steaming, it began. They had tried to avoid certain topics during most of this time – topics delegated as work topics – but as this was the last night, all topics were valid. So, naturally, the conversation fell on what Jake wanted to do after he left.

“I heard you are planning on leaving and going to that Order again soon,” Robert, his dad, stated.

“Probably,” Jake nodded as his mom began mounting food on his plate. “I have something I want to do there before the evolution.”

“Oh?” his mom asked. “Is it related to that alchemy of yours?”

“Nah. It’s this dungeon with a hydra in it. I can fight the strongest D-grade version as long as I go there before I evolve. I lost the first time around and want a rematch,” Jake said with a smile.

“You lost?” Caleb said with a cheeky grin. “Damn, I didn’t know you could even do that. What did it do, eat all your arrows or something?”

“That is exactly what it did,” Jake answered with a deadpan expression.

His mom gave him a look to make him stop teasing Caleb, but Jake doubled down. “What? It did eat everything. Arrows, magic, even my poison.”

Caleb turned a bit more serious as he inquired: “Sounds like quite the beast. A strong variant?”

“Yep,” Jake said as he took a bite of the food that his mom had just handed him. “This hydra later became a god too.”

Frowning, Caleb thought for a moment. “Wait, the Lord Protector of the Order? The Boundless Hydra? It has an image saved in a dungeon?”

“Right on,” Jake confirmed.

“Boys, enough hydra talk,” Maja finally cut in. Jake looked a bit apologetic, with Caleb naturally obliging with the words of his wife. It was a bit rude to talk about something only the two of them really knew and cared about.

They stopped discussing anything serious for a while as they just talked about causal topics. Primarily a trip Jake and Caleb made where Jake “borrowed” some more special alchemical ingredients from the Court of Shadows and, in turn, was made to help teach some alchemists. When Jake said talked, what he actually meant was that Caleb joked about how much Jake sucked at teaching people. Which wasn’t really fair.

It wasn’t Jake’s fault all of the alchemists in the Court were morons who didn’t put enough points into Perception to actually understand what was going on. They went on and on about methodology while Jake just kept telling them to just lookat what the hell they were doing rather than just assume everything went according to theory. Something it turns out they couldn’t do because apparently Wisdom and Willpower were more important stats when it came to alchemy.

He could only shake his head at their ignorance, which his family only found amusing.

At least he did manage to teach them at least a little about poisons. Mainly things he felt were rather basic knowledge, but it seemed like him explaining it made them understand it better than if they read it. Jake wrote that up to his legendary teaching skill. Caleb was happy either way, as they both knew Caleb just wanted to have Jake teach to truly show off that there were no hard feelings between the Order and the Court. And Records. Probably some stuff related to Records too.

The dinner ended far too soon, and it was time for Jake to go. Everyone insisted on escorting him to the city exit, and it didn’t take them long to get there. Jake said goodbye to Caleb, Maja, and Adam before turning to his parents.

His mom gave him a big hug that went on for a bit too long, followed by his dad even giving a brisk one. Mom had tears in her eyes, but she didn’t say anything so as to not make Jake feel bad about leaving. They both knew he had to go.

Jake walked out of the hidden city gate as his dad followed him, with Caleb leading everyone else inside again. The two of them stopped a bit outside the city with no one else around. Robert turned to Jake with a serious look on his face. One Jake had only rarely seen on his father’s face.

“Jake… Debra and I won’t begin to act like we understand everything that is going on with you. I get some of it, but I will admit I have given up trying to fully understand what both you and Caleb are doing and how the world has changed. What I do understand is that you have important things you want and need to do. If there is one thing your mother and I would never want, it is to feel like you are restraining yourself because of us. So please, just do what you have to do. Just know that no matter what happens, we are proud of you, and you can always come to visit… but you don’t need to. You don’t have to hold yourself back because of us; we will be fine.”

They smiled at each other as his dad tapped his shoulder.

“Take care out there.”

Jake smiled and pulled his dad into a hug that lasted quite a bit longer than the last one. Letting go of him, Jake took a step back. “Thanks, dad.”

His dad just nodded. “Now be off.”

Jake nodded again and turned to leave.

“Be safe,” Jake muttered under his breath as he took off, his dad staring after him as he left – Jake also feeling the gazes of the rest of his family from afar.