Ch. 25: Alliances And Allies

It took less than 10 minutes this time for me to open the Rift. Once it was Open I had Jess run through, then Bella next and I followed last. Once we were outside we saw our team, minus Kenny and Nick, standing there with a pair of IRBA representatives along with Sean and a group of Blue Dragon guild members I wasn't familiar with. "Jess, Ode, holy shit you guys made it out?" I chuckled as Felicia ran up to Jess and hugged her, then me as well. She looked behind me at the open Rift Portal "Where are Nick and Kenny?"

I shook my head and explained what had happened, in detail and leaving nothing out as Sean and the others listened. "I don't know why exactly this is happening, but I do know that I can open or close this Rift at will. If I close it, then that space disappears here and will reappear somewhere else. If I keep it open, I can make sure no monster waves come out of it and we can harvest it at will." Sean looked me up and down and shook his head "I don't know where you're getting these powers from bud, but I think we need to have some kind of talk soon. As for the Rift, I have another team coming in to deal with it."

I nodded and walked up to the Rift, manipulating it so that it will never be fully opened, which was a lot easier than I thought it would be. "It's safe from opening like it would normally in a few days." Sean nodded and the IRBA representatives began questioning me as they pulled me away from it. The rest of my team all watched me and as I turned to them, they all nodded at me in appreciation. "Hey Sean, can you bring them out once you clear it?" I asked and he nodded "We never leave our own behind." I nodded and began answering questions.

What had been probably a week for us inside of that Rift had amounted to only 3 hours outside, but the IRBA rep that was there had alerted Sean to the change in the Rift and he had come as quickly as he could. Most of the rep's questions though were all about my newfound ability to open and close Rifts, even though I knew only a few things I could do with it I answered their questions to the best of my ability.

Once they were done questioning me I called Sean and my team over. We walked away from all of the other people and the reps, so we could be alone when I dropped the bomb on them. "Alright, so I have a few confessions to make. Let me get it all out before you guys ask me anything." They all nodded, so I told them about being a Herald. I told them about the new Perks I had acquired and told them about everything else I had left out of the report to the rep's.

Most of the team was just quiet as they contemplated this, but Sean had a smirk on his face "You know, I knew there was something special about you that day you came with us to the Rift. I've had chats with other guild leaders and even though they've all had members go through Rifts that changed once inside, none of their members ever reported feeling the change themselves. It would also explain why the Dwarves are being reluctant to make a treaty with us, claiming they are waiting for a certain someone from our planet. I'm assuming that someone is you."

It wasn't a question, just a statement. I nodded to him "Yeah, I told the first ones I met not to say anything about my status just yet, mostly because I had no idea what I was doing. Now though, I'm done playing nice. These Rifts are fucked and I need to step up and deal with it. I know the Dwarves have been dealing with this a lot longer than we have, so it's time I talked to them." I turned to my team "I want you guys there with me. I know I kept things from you guys and you probably hate me right now, but I really do like you guys a lot and hope you'll come with."

Felicia just chuckled as she put a hand around my shoulders "Ode, we don't hate you. The fact you're a Herald doesn't change anything. Hell we all owe you our lives, especially Jess here." Then she adopted a serious tone "Just don't keep any more secrets from us." I nodded and she squeezed, then let me go. I looked up at Sean who was grinning "I'm with her on this. You're good people Ode, the lying is bad, but you had a good reason. Hell if I had become a Herald and gotten all these crazy gifts, I would have been freaking out too. We Blue Dragons have your back though, no matter what."

I chuckled and nodded "Thanks guys. So who do I talk to about getting a meet and greet with the Dwarves?" Sean pulled his phone out and held up a finger as he dialed. "Hey Jonas…yep it's Sean…no we're handling it…yeah I know, this shit sucks man…oh good, glad to hear it. So I was actually calling to let you know I think I know who the Dwarves are waiting for…yeah ask them if it's the Herald they want…yeah I can hold…alright I'll wait." He put a hand over the mic, then shook his head "Jonas is my uncle, he means well, but he always worries about me." I laughed, then thought of Claire and chuckled.

It took a few minutes before Jonas came back on the line "They did?...okay well then send a limo to my location, I have the Herald they're looking for…no sir I won't tell you who it is until you meet him…I know but you know me, I love the element of surprise…ha, alright I'll see you in a few." He hung up the phone and said "So he'll be here in twenty. In the meantime I have a few calls to make." I nodded and he walked off, getting away from all ears as he called someone else.

The team all started talking about funeral arrangements that would need to be made for Kenny and Nick, then trying to decide who should call their families and let them know. We talked about it up until a big stretch limo pulled up to the barricade. Once it was there we all began walking towards it with Sean coming along. The IRBA rep's didn't approach, realizing it wasn't for them. A man stepped out of the limo, a very short man who reminded me of a Dwarf himself, with his stocky build and less than 5 foot height. He did look decidedly human though, so I figured it must be Jonas.

This was confirmed when Sean bent down to hug the man "Uncle Jonas, good to see you." Jonas chuckled and looked around "Alright, so where is this Herald person?" I stepped forward and held out my hand "Odellin Hundai, Herald of the Human Race at your service." Jonas looked me up and down with a semi shocked look on his face, then chuckled and shook my hand "Well I was expecting it to be someone stronger. Can you prove it?" he asked and I nodded, then had them all follow me to the edge of the tree line where I showed them my Character sheet.

I focused on the Rift Traversal Perk and brought up it's description, making it so that Jonas could see it easily. He read it and nodded "Well the system doesn't lie. Alright then let's go talk to the Dwarves. I would like to know how you came to be the Herald though." I laughed and got in the limo with the rest of the team and Sean, then told him what had happened with the Dwarven Gate.

Half an hour later we were sitting in a big conference room. I was in the middle of the table with Sean on my right and Jonas on my left with my team arrayed behind me. We were waiting on the Dwarven delegation to come, which took a bit because apparently they had taken us up on the offer to explore a bit, but they were supposed to be here within the next ten minutes according to the security detail they were given.

It was then that I felt a presence, it was like a beacon of power that entered the building. I tensed up a bit "They're here." And Jonas looked over, then nodded to me as he got confirmation on his ear piece. A few minutes later the delegation walked through the door escorted by their Security detail. I stood up "It's alright men, we'll take it from here." I said and Jonas was about to respond when I leaned over to him "I'm the Herald, I need to show them I have authority." He nodded and nodded to the Security team and they left.

I walked around the table and grinned when I saw the familiar faces from that fateful day. "Well met Galrin Heartstone." Galrin smiled and took my hand, his grip was strong, but he was careful with it as we could both tell where his stats were placed. I had placed my leftover 20 attribute points into Str and Con so I wouldn't be viewed as too much of a weakling, but he was still much stronger than I was. "Well met Odellin Hundai." He said and I nodded, motioning to a chair which he took.

I walked around the table and back to my seat, noticing his team standing behind him like mine was. "I take it you're ready to understand what it means to be a Herald then?" he asked and I nodded "Yes sir I am. I have a lot to learn. I've been a Rift Breaker for half a year and have had so much happen that is out of the norm for anyone on our planet so far." He chuckled and stroked his beard "Tis the burden we carry as Heralds. I am told however that it has only been 2 years since the first Rift appeared on your planet?"

I nodded confirmation and he grunted "It took us 10 years before our Herald was designated. Can I ask to look at your PERKS?" I nodded and showed him, watching his eyes widen as he called his team over to look at them. They commented on the Adamant and Devourer Perks more than anything, since I assumed he already had Rift Traversal and Mana Boosted, or at least just Rift Traversal. Then he pulled his up and showed me his list, which only had three.

He had all but Devourer, which made sense. "How did you get your Adamant Perk young one?" he asked and I grinned mentally nudging Bella to sit on one of the chairs. "She was my first Animal Companion. She had sacrificed her own life to save mine, but because of our bond she was able to bring me to the interim. I knew I couldn't let her go, so I pulled on everything I could think of to bring her back and just before she disappeared, she became soul bound to me." He nodded and motioned one of the women over to him. "My love of my life. She had given her life for mine and as with you, I couldn't let her go. She isn't a Companion as far as the system is concerned, but she is my soul mate."

I nodded and smiled at her, which made her blush. "The things we do for those we love eh?" he laughed "Aye, you have the right of it. So shall we get into it?" he asked and I nodded, motioning to Jonas "This is Jonas, as I'm sure you're aware. He is the head of the Ohio Branch of the International Rift Breaker Association. He knows more about their policies than I do, so if you don't mind him joining in the conversation this will go a lot smoother." Galrin nodded to Jonas who smiled and nodded back "I can deal with both of you."

2 hours of negotiating later and we finally ironed out all of the details we could. Jonas had been given the ability to speak for the entirety of the IRBA as he had made first contact with the Dwarves, which gave us the ability to integrate the Dwarves into the Ohio Branch. They would be making their base within Ohio, within an area of Columbus that had no actual guild territory, which wasn't too hard to find for them. They would be working with the IRBA on our technology to upgrade the Rift Scanners and other devices we used to adjust to the changes that were happening as well as would be happening in the future.

From our talks I had been told that they had been at war with the Rift Races, as they called them, for 100 years. About half their population had been system integrated due to the increase of Rift's opening as the changes took hold of their planet. When we told them our situation they were baffled, but then came to understand because of how new we were to the Rift War. They couldn't elaborate too much on it though because their information was only about the changes and their knowledge of what to continue to expect, not of the reason for the war.

We also negotiated a deal for us to be able to go to their homeworld and set up a base camp and when they showed us a map of their world I was asked to pick a spot. I had asked them for information about the Rifts in the area and they designated places that would be of my and my team's level and higher. So I picked the Heartstone Hold. He grinned when I had "That is a good place. The Heartstone clan is the strongest clan in the world, we will be invaluable with our knowledge and armaments. I will send a message to Rotun Heartstone, he is my third cousin."

We also made a few more deals, where I and my team would be living on their planet, once we got 2 new members for our team. I had made sure to ask the team if they were willing and they all accepted, with Sean making some calls to the Blue Dragon Guild. The meeting itself was kind of fun, but very nerve racking for me. I didn't know what to expect when we had first come to it, but I was glad I was there. Finally we agreed to keep a portal open between our worlds, the portals would connect from their Rift Breaker association headquarters to ours.

We would both be sending our own people through the portal little by little to gain experiences between our races. It would be informative and allow us to solidify the alliance between us. They did say that most of the Dwarves they would be sending over would be in the 5 to 30 range in levels, but other than my team we should send only those 20 and up into their world as most of their Rifts were level 25 and up. We agreed to this and wrote up an alliance draft. It was basically an agreement between our peoples to aid each other, with a lot of legal jargon to fluff it up.

As we stood from the meeting I shook his hand "It's been a pleasure Galrin. I hope we can meet again soon." He chuckled "We will young Herald, now if you'll excuse me I have a date with a Bacon Cheeseburger." I laughed as he licked his lips and headed out with his team following him. Once they left I sat back down, my body shaking a bit. "Good god he's strong. I felt his power level before he came in, but wow he is on another level." Sean nodded "Yeah, he has to be upwards of level 60 at least." Then Jonas put a hand on my shoulder "You did good Herald. This is only the first of the meetings we will be having with the Dwarves, but cementing this alliance was the key to all the others." I nodded to him and grinned "So as a reward for this successful meeting, I'm going to need 10 Spell Stones and 20 Skill Stones."

Jonas' eyes went wide and I laughed.