Overseer's Rise: A LitRPG Apocalypse, page 1
Sigil Weaver
Book 3: Overseer’s Rise
Dawson George
DG Publishing
Copyright © 2023 Dawson George All rights reserved.
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.
Cover illustration by: Fahed Alrajil (Dehaf)
Printed in the United States of America
This story was first published on Royal Road here. With the series complete, there will be no further books either on Royal Road or elsewhere.
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Chapter 1
Rory didn’t appreciate waiting. He had thought that aging would raise his patience. Wasn’t it a mark of venerable wisdom that one was never impatient?
In Rory’s case, he had found that time was a precious commodity. Not only did he have less of it left the older he grew, his life had been turned upside down thanks to the apocalypse. No one could really blame him, especially not when he was responsible for the survivors in his town too.
“He’s not here yet?” Viv asked as she joined Rory at the gate. She looked no more pleased than him at Arelland’s lateness. “We don’t have much… actually, I have no idea how much time we have.”
Rory sighed. She was right. “Yeah, it’s all up in the air. But hope for the best, prepare for the worst.”
She nodded. They weren’t being unreasonable to get things going quickly. After all, their child had turned into the monstrosity that was conducting this whole apocalypse business.
Alex McIlroy was now the Invigilator, ostensibly in the position that oversaw the war between the Homeworlders and Otherworlders, and they had warned that there was going to be changes soon.
Rory wished he knew what that meant exactly, but what he was certain of was that Alex wanted to end the war. Thus, they had tricked and forced their way to the very pinnacle of the system that ran everything. He and Viv only hoped Alex would be alright.
They weren’t sure how much they could hope to help Alex somehow, and what that even implied for their precarious position, but first things first.
Arelland had to answer for a lot of things.
A Wraith ambled up the driveway to the gate. They all looked the same to Rory, but he was pretty sure this was the same one the Wraith Lord had sent them to contact Arelland. She had successfully reached the elf yesterday, when they had last seen Alex as the Invigilator, and returned with the answer that Arelland would come today.
No sign of the elf yet, but that wasn’t the Wraith’s fault. She couldn’t force Arelland to appear after all.
“Any news about Arelland?” Rory asked as the Wraith drew closer.
She shook her head, the dark cowl shading her face staying still as though it was glued to her head. “I see nothing. He will come soon, however.”
“So you said yesterday…”
“Any updates on what’s going on elsewhere?” Viv asked, perhaps trying to change the subject.
The Wraith considered for a moment. “The town of Hillhard is still quite devastated from the Corebeast’s rampage. Both Homeworlders and Otherworlders are staying well away from the area and regrouping before they make any further forays against each other. The new development has concerned all.”
Viv frowned. “And the monsters?”
“They are wary as well. I do not believe anyone expects another catastrophe of the kind that the Corebeast presented, but it will take some time before any creatures feel confident to roam this area again.”
“You told us all that yesterday.”
“Yes.”
Viv sighed and stared at the Wraith. “You could have just said no, I have no updates.”
“Yes.”
Viv stared. Rory almost felt like laughing. They had heard much the same information yesterday, but it didn’t hurt to chew on the same things once more.
His eyes were drawn once again to the areas around the palace. Much of it was blocked from his view thanks to the walls surrounding Belcourt Palace, but the areas he could see told enough of the story. The Corebeast’s devastating breath had destroyed much of the hillside the palace rested upon, enacting wholesale deforestation.
But this was nothing compared to the rest of Hillhard, which didn’t share in the protection Rory’s palace had thanks to its Safe Zone.
There was no shimmering golden barrier to stop the Corebeast, a monster the size of a stadium, from stomping on houses, leaving craters in streets, and setting most of the town ablaze with its virulent, fiery breath. A pallor of smoke still clung to the air of Hillhard.
Hillhard was going to need ages to recover.
“He’s here!” came a sudden shout from further ahead.
A second later, Ned came flying in on his Burnwing appendages. They disappeared as he landed just before Rory and Viv. A faint smattering of scales covered his exposed skin, though much less than what it used to be a couple of weeks ago. That Sigil of Taming from Alia was helping a lot.
“Finally,” Viv said, staring past him and along the driveway. “Go tell the others we’ll be with them as soon as we can.”
He nodded, then pressed his hand on Rory’s shoulder before disappearing into the palace grounds proper. Ned knew what this meant.
Rory and Viv hadn’t hidden anything from the others at the palace, however much the issues with Alex felt like a personal, family matter. They had understood. They were sympathetic and were ready to support Rory and his family, for which he was eternally grateful.
But for now, Rory focused on the driveway just as Viv was doing. Their guest of honour was finally here.
Arelland was slowly coming up the hillside. As ever, he was in his mech suit, though it looked polished and cleaned up after their excursion against the Corebeast. But Rory’s eyes went wide at one change.
The elf no longer had a mask on.
Arelland and all the other elves needed special masks to breathe the air in the world. They had specific pressure requirements that the masks helped regulate normal air into, thus making sure their lungs could process the air inhaled.
A while back, Rory had granted Arelland a Sigil that performed the same trick as the masks. It made the idea of needing masks no longer a necessity as it had been before. Rory had single-handedly given the elves a new way of seeing a certain, integral part of life. It still amazed him that he had affected something to that level.
No wonder he had been nearly killed because he possessed the power of Weaving.
“Where’s your mask?” Viv asked. “You didn’t…?”
Arelland smiled. A smile Rory could see for the first time. He was what Rory could call nothing but pretty. Straight jawlines, high cheekbones, a chin tapering to a soft point. At a glance, he was the perfect representation of elves as presented in the myths and stories.
On closer inspection, there was some minute changes. A silvery shimmer cloaked Arelland’s cheeks like a beard made of chrome. His smile revealed a tiny bit of his teeth, which were entirely black. Not dirty black, like pitted teeth one step away from rotting off their gums, but a pure black like jet, possessing a soft gleam as though they were polished.
His lips were entirely transparent too, showcasing a twisted tapestry of veins and arteries Rory decided not to pay too much attention to.
“I don’t need a mask anymore,” Arelland said. Still with that bright smile. “Thanks to Rory, of course.”
Rory had to struggle to pull back the questions he was supposed to be asking. Here was the elf, clearly standing grateful for his help. He cleared his throat. “Well, I’m glad it works.” Rory frowned. “Actually, I’m curious. Is it—”
“Rory.” Viv gave him a meaningful look.
Rory cleared his throat again. “Right, sorry, we have more important matters to discuss.”
Arelland’s smile had grown wider at seeing Rory and Viv’s exchange, but now it slipped a little. “I imagine you have a lot of questions.”
“We certainly do,” Viv said.
“I will try to answer to the best of my ability.”
“You will answer everything.”
Rory raised a hand. “Viv…”
“No. We need answers, Rory.” Apparently, Viv was in no mood to feel glad for Arelland. Her scowl had deepened into heavy anger. “It was ages ago that we asked him what happened to Alex. And how are we shown where our child is? By sacrificing them off!”
Arelland sighed. Rory was almost expecting his mask to make the whirring noise it always did.
“I apologize,” the elf said. “I—”
“I’m not done,” Viv growled. “We just wanted to know if our child was even alive after you and your… people took over where Alex used to live. We get nothing, not a single iota of information, until we’re suddenly shown—tricked—that they’re supposedly part of the rebels.
There was more Viv wanted to say. Rory could see how she was struggling to rein in her real temper, how the urge to shout and perhaps even strangle the elf was coursing through her. He took a deep breath, then placed a companionable hand on her shoulder. Rory was here. For her, and for Alex.
“There’s a lot we need to know, Arelland,” Rory said. He wasn’t sure if he ought to reveal that Alex was the Invigilator now, but that wasn’t the main point of this conversation anyway. “A lot happened the day the Corebeast attacked. We need to understand how you knew everything.”
Arelland held Rory’s eyes, his smile long gone. “I knew nothing. Not until the moment I saw your child at the same time that you did.”
“But I imagine you suspected. What was it, the blood targeting thing? The Imps needed something of mine to set the Corebeast on my tail, and since they couldn’t have gotten anything from me directly, it had to have been something from someone directly related to me. Someone possessing my DNA.”
Rory’s mouth twisted at the realization. His frantically troubled mind had already run through those possibilities on its own. It didn’t help that Arelland’s expression basically confirmed that what he had suspected was true.
“Do you want to know something, Rory?” Arelland asked. “This all truly began when you were attacked by your own.”
Rory lost track of his thoughts. “What?”
“The day you were attacked by the rogue Homeworlders. The ones who kidnapped you to force you to relinquish your Sigil of Weaving. This all began when they forced my hand.”
“What are you talking about?” Viv asked.
Arelland took a deep breath. For a distracted second, Rory wondered how it felt for him to breathe so freely after so long. Then he forgot all about it as the elf explained.
“When the humans tried to abduct you and force your hand, they had the help of rebel Otherworlders,” Arelland said. “It concerned me, for I didn’t want to believe that the rebels were helping the Homeworlders. Well, as we all know, it turned out that they were, in truth, assisting our enemies just to sow chaos in our ranks. But the gist of the matter is that I investigated the matter personally.”
“And what did you find?” Viv asked, breathlessly expectant.
“I found corruption deep in our Otherworlder ranks. Certain higher-ups in our hierarchy were assisting the rebels. In fact, they had been assisting the rebels from the moment we landed in your world, during the moments we were taking over your old capital to form our new base of operations.”
Rory’s eyes widened, his breath catching in his throat. “Alex used to live in Dwellmont.”
The elf nodded. “Correct. One of the rebel benefactors had assisted several humans living in your capital. In return for not killing them, they would be allowed to join the rebels and make their escape that way.”
“So, they did it to survive.” Viv’s eyes were roving across the area. Rory could almost see the gears whirring in her head. “They were forced to be a part of your stupid rebel faction.”
Arelland only stared at her. Rory could understand why. The last time they had seen Alex, they hadn’t looked as though they had been forced into anything. In fact, Rory would argue that Alex themselves had been the focal point of the rebel faction.
“I could not have known it was your child,” Arelland said. “The rebel helpers did not keep track of the names of the humans they helped. They hardly kept track of the Otherworlder rebels.”
Viv frowned, leaning forward in anticipation. “Then how did you…?”
“I was able to find out that the rebels used the humans they had recruited from Sanc—from Dwellmont, to infiltrate the Homeworlder base in Mirrorend. The leader of the Otherworlders was able to make use of her leverage and contact the leader of the Homeworlders, thus learning that certain humans had stolen important Sigils and other supplies from them.”
Rory shook his head. “The Mirrorend people couldn’t have identified Alex either.”
“They didn’t. They weren’t able to identify any of them. As I said, I didn’t truly know they were rebels. All I learned from the Homeworlder leader was that the rebels were connected to certain monsters who had taken up residence in the area. My first suspicion was the Djinn, but the Imps proved to be the rebels’ true allies.”
“So it was entirely a coincidence that you found out Alex was part of your rebels?” Viv asked.
“I had my suspicions. But nothing for certain, yes. I regret to have found that the two lines of thought collided at a time like that.” Arelland sighed. “When I learned that the Imps must have someone close to Rory to manipulate the Corebeast and connected the fact that they might be harbouring rebels, you understand what sort of devastating possibility I was struck with.”
Rory could imagine. Even now, he couldn’t admit that he would have agreed with Arelland’s plan of putting the Imps in danger, of drawing out the Invigilator using the rebels—or at least, their leader Alex.
“You still kept it from us,” he said. “You took away the decision from us. I understand you think our decision would have been clouded by parental concern if we learned that Alex was partially responsible, but taking away someone’s choice in a matter isn’t something we can ever approve of.”
“Truly?” Arelland looked confused about something, but then his expression flattened to show… nothing. “I apologize, then. I will make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
“You don’t get it, do you?” Viv asked quietly.
Arelland stared at them. It took a second longer for Rory to realize that of course Arelland didn’t understand. He was an elf. They didn’t think of things in the same way that humans did. They didn’t have the same concept of valuing the ability to choose. Their central ideological differences were a species—an entire alien world—apart.
Rory sighed. “It doesn’t matter. There’s no point being angry about the past. We need to move forward and work towards the future. But that doesn’t mean we’re just going to forget about this. Trust is hard to rebuild when it’s broken once.”
Arelland closed his eyes. His body was perfectly still. When he opened them again, there really was a sense of remorse in them. He didn’t say anything though, only nodding tightly in acceptance, though it wasn’t enough to mollify to Viv. Nevertheless, she didn’t say anything else either. It really was for the best for them to move on.
Especially since Arelland could be key to helping them figuring out how to help Alex.
“What do you want to discuss?” the elf asked.
Rory swallowed, imagining his slow anger, his disappointment, his fear for Alex, and every other negative emotion making things difficult going down with the lump in his throat. “You mentioned something about the Otherworlder and Homeworlder leaders getting in touch…”
Chapter 2
Arelland didn’t look surprised by Rory’s line of questioning. Then again, his face was so hooded now, there was no way Rory could have determined anything about what the elf was feeling. That smile he had come in with might never have existed in the first place.
Rory shoved aside the strange guilt surfacing from his guts and focused on what he needed to find out.
“How are the leaders in touch like that?” Viv asked. “The way you Otherworlders and Homeworlders act whenever you see each other, I’m surprised your leaders are secretly on speaking terms and not threatening to tear each other apart at the merest mention of their counterpart.”
“They are more responsible than that,” Arelland said. “You see, they have been charged with making sure that their sides are prepared to fight the wars they need to.”
Rory frowned. “Wait, are you saying they’re like mini-Invigilators?”
“Hmm, well, it would appear they perform the same function, I suppose. But perhaps not to that extent. One leader is chosen from the group, Otherworlder and Homeworlder, by the Invigilator, and this leader—or Overseer—is to make sure that their people are ready to combat their enemy, to do everything in their power to ensure their counterpart’s defeat.”
