by Ryan DeBruyn
What in the hell was that all about? I know I needed to do laundry, but I didn’t need to be put in a spin cycle with the clothes. I feel like the rug that gets hung up and beaten clean of dust.
He stood up and almost fell back over from the dizziness and disorientation that blast had caused him. He glanced at his debuffs and saw a great many new symbols he didn’t yet recognize but even more that he did. Sela loped up to him, and he nearly fell into her horse-high back. In the wake of the fight, a broken, bloody, and disoriented Rocky leaned heavily on Sela, as Azoth walked over, bleeding and angry. “Why Derik attack Azoth?” he shouted into Rocky’s mind.
The volume caused him to wince, and he held up a hand as he fished out a health elixir and cast Dark Mend on himself. After he had downed the liquid, he responded out loud for both Sela and Azoth, “Let’s go ask him, shall we?”
There were eight of the thirty torn in half and another eight dying from vicious wounds Sela had inflicted upon the attackers. Rocky, who was limping his way along using Sela’s cat form as a crutch, grimaced and cast a few Dark Mends on the worst cases to hopefully prolong their lives until he had answers at the very least. As they approached Derik, Rocky realized that the man wasn’t far from death himself. He had landed near a tree trunk and had unceremoniously careened into it a few bounces after.
If they didn’t do something quickly, he would definitely die. Rocky pulled out a Health Potion and poured it down the man’s throat and then cast a few quick Dark Mends on the dying annoyance, nearly bottoming out his Ether pool. Looking down as bones popped and crunched back into place, Rocky felt sick but not as sick as he did a moment later when he saw a strange, glowing, red pulse under Derik’s shirt. The rough landing had nearly torn the shirt entirely off, which revealed the necklace that had not been visible on Derik during the fight. Snarling, Rocky bent down and ripped it off, mentally throwing it into his bag of holding in the same instant. He felt the familiar presence on his mind from Bathilda’s Heartstring for a split second before it was gone.
As Derik healed, he walked around gingerly, inspecting the other survivors to see if they had Heartstrings as well, but he didn’t find any. He did, however, find a strange, pulsing handprint on each of them in different locations. When had Derik been affixed with the perverted thing? Rocky tried to think back and realized that Derik had been an asshole since the first day he met him, so it was going to be very hard to pinpoint a change in his demeanor.
Who was controlling them? Was it Derik?
Sela, now human again, came up behind him somewhat angrily. “Why are you healing them? Do I need to remind you that they just attacked us out of a cloudless blue sky with no provocation or warning!” In answer, Rocky pulled out the Dragon Heartstring, using an old shirt to keep it entirely away from his skin. He showed it to Sela discretely before looking around at the growing crowd of people around them. The small crowd looked scared and confused, having just witnessed a large amount of senseless violence; Azoth’s kills were particularly disturbing as they were still in multiple pieces.
Rocky took a moment before the crowd grew larger to walk around and place as many of the dismembered corpses into his inventory, and he saw Sela follow suit a moment later. A few people looked very disturbed by what was happening, but luckily, the crowd was small. Within a few minutes, the only evidence of the death and violence was blood pooling on the ground and on Azoth’s claws. Rocky handled the second by asking Azoth to go hunt for his lunch.
“Did Azoth do wrong? Azoth not sure…” Rocky felt his heartbreak from the confused tone his pet used, and he could honestly say he was lost for what to say to the soft-hearted companion. Azoth had simply defended himself and had done nothing wrong at all; even Rocky hadn’t known that these people were somehow infected. He had recognized some of the attackers as the same individuals who had assaulted him on their first night here, which had given him even more reason to kill them. Yet something about the method of their attack, the lack of communication, had immediately felt perverted and twisted to Rocky.
Rocky turned to the big, black Chimera and placed his hand on the beast’s chest before looking directly into Azoth’s black eyes. “Azoth, you did nothing wrong. They attacked you, and you reacted. In no way was that something bad.” He saw Azoth glance around the valley before his wings flapped open with a gust of wind.
“Oh, okay! Azoth go find meatier treats!” When Azoth responded, all the hurt of his previous confusion was entirely gone, replaced by childish exuberance, and if his mental words were interpreted right, he had considered eating his kills. Rocky blinked and covered his head as the massive Chimera took off and winged away to find a more appropriate meal. He sighed and wished his mood could swing as abruptly as his pet’s could. Also, he made a note to discuss with Azoth to never eat humans.
That sure would change the story of Clifford the big red dog.
Once Azoth was gone, he did feel a bit of the tension in the air leave, and he cleared his throat, “I need some help to gather all the survivors of that attack and put them together, please.” At his words, some of the hunters who were more accustomed to the sight of blood stepped forward and gingerly moved the remaining twenty survivors into a rough circle. Rocky continued as they worked, “Does anyone know why these people attacked Azoth, Sela, and I?” He made sure to stress the word attack to ensure anyone just arriving realized that this was an unprovoked assault by the unconscious people currently being dragged into a tight group.
One of the hunters dragging a body spoke, “This guy’s name is JF, and he wasn’t at training this morning. I can confirm that his team,” he pointed at two others and briefly glanced at the blood on the grass, “were absent as well. We were going to talk to them about hunting an area together today.”
Rocky Analyzed the man who spoke.
Terry Crew
Level 13
Apprentice Hoplite
Health Points 303/310
As Rocky read, he heard more people in the crowd begin noticing the same pattern amongst the unconscious people being dragged around. Soon, it was quite clear that each individual had missed the morning Meditation and martial arts. What good that knowledge was, Rocky wasn’t sure.
Great, we can clearly see they didn’t believe in the group learning and training I had initiated, which only highlights further their dislike of my leadership, or they felt that the danger from the Irradiated Ether that mediation–
Rocky felt his brain begin working furiously as he considered the possibilities of his last thoughts. Clearly these people were somehow being manipulated by the Dragon’s Heartstring or some kind of magic. Did the Meditation that he had all the survivors training somehow prevent it from working as effectively?
He knew that it definitely stopped the Zombie-like mutation that the Irradiated Ether could cause. Perhaps this form of manipulation was something similar, something that worked through the Ether Channels in its target’s bodies.
He looked at Terry and ordered in a very loud voice, “Gather everyone in the Territory. Stop them from anything they are doing and have them meet at the stage!” He looked around the clearing and shouted, “If you know anyone who has missed morning meetings, go to the military immediately and inform them. Someone is trying to mind control our people, and I think that people who are missing the meetings are more affected!”
The crowd scattered, either going to spread his orders or tell the military about people who missed training. The fear was evident on their faces. He wondered if his face held the same sort of expression. Having your mind invaded was one of the most heinous, disgusting actions he had ever considered. The Atlantean System and Etherience had a lot to answer for …
Then he turned to Sela and met her eyes with his fear filled ones. “If you missed that, I think someone is attempting to manipulate our people, and the Meditation is preventing it to a relatively large degree. Do you have a signal to get the hunters back?”
Sela nodded slowly. “Yes, I do, but I
have to be in my bird form to accomplish it, which means we probably won’t get to Chalk River today.” Rocky looked up to the countdown for the Ether Protection of the Territory.
Ether Protection
Time of Ether assisted protection for Territory: 3 days, 12 hours, 12 minutes, and 14 seconds.
While time was counting down on the Territory’s protection, they would still have time; they definitely needed to get to the bottom of this problem, or they could expect to come back to a Territory that was subverted. That didn’t mean that they shouldn’t get something done on both fronts though, so Rocky nodded at her. “Give them the signal to return, and then contact Azoth and do a fly-by of Chalk River. Try to see what we’re going to have to deal with, but don’t engage.”
Sela transformed into her Raven form and winged away without a word.
Sela
Sela flew in ever-enlarging, concentric circles, cawing at the top of her lungs and feeling rather silly. When she had made this signal, she assumed that she would only have to use it for attacks on the Territory, but now, she was up here because Rockland thought he was attacked due to some sort of manipulation by the enemy. She stuttered one of her caws as she considered how many times she had been attacked by groups of people who hadn’t warned her during her time. It was a normal occurrence, and that was why she hadn’t held back at first.
Often after such an attack, they would find anyone connected to the individuals and round them up as well, imprisoning them for conspiracy. Now, their screams of innocence and disbelief that their significant others, sons, daughters, or close friends were capable of such a betrayal had become an accusation in her memories. Could it be that she had condemned innocents to punishments that they hadn’t truly deserved? Why wouldn’t someone have checked the attackers for marks of manipulation then?
She kept cawing, relieved when she remembered that she had checked thoroughly through many such groups specifically because she had felt the same wrongness Rockland had felt from his recent ambush. However, none of the groups she had fought had borne any such mark, and she knew that none had been wearing a Dragon Heartstring. There had only been one Dragon on Gaia, Smog, and he had been so utterly powerful that even the Leviathans that the Gaian Military possessed avoided his ever-resting home on the mountain. Due to his immense power and age, he rarely woke, and nothing on the planet could truly sustain him anymore. So, once a month, he would make a circuit into deep space to capture and kill one of the myriads of monstrous creatures that lived there. Then he would return and slumber. Every rumored attack on Smog had been destroyed to a man, and anyone foolish enough to steal from him would bring destruction on an entire continent when he returned.
That thought led her back to the one thought that kept rattling around in her head lately—could the Ether Manipulation, Meditation, and Ether Channels be the reason that the force manipulating the population left a mark? It clearly needed the power of a Dragon’s Heartstring to control Derik, and that was quite a bit more than was warranted for a single human. The Dungeon made sense, but Derik? Derik really wasn’t even that big of a factor in the Territory; he was on the council, but most of the group barely listened to him anymore because of his constant negativity.
Sela finished her final circle and saw the council and the two Knights running toward the Grotto under her for just a moment as she winged by. The council had heard the signal and informed the Knights. She chuckled to herself; they were going to be surprised to run into the clearing only to be told to sit and Meditate. She wished Rockland luck with explaining that one.
“Azoth, it’s time to go scouting,” Sela mentally sent, hoping that he was in range of her druidic ability to talk to animals. He was the only animal she knew that could talk back currently, but she did get many hungry or angry feelings from other wildlife.
Azoth responded almost immediately, “Azoth above you! Come up, better breezes.” Sela felt her bird beak open as her muscles attempted a wide smile. It probably looked rather sinister, but she began winging up above the clouds to meet with the joyful young Chimera. Once they were both level, Sela blinked a few times, looking towards their destination. Another storm was forming in that direction, and she clenched her beak in anger at the sight. This would be a much more dangerous scouting mission if they got caught by that when it released.
Azoth, who was already a much better flyer than she was, guided her to a slipstream of wind that was moving in the right direction, and together they took off towards Chalk River. The flight was very quick for them with the aid of the wind at their backs, and soon, she was starting to see the destruction and perversion around the immediate area. It was the worst at the site of the meltdown and subsequent thermal explosion. All the plant life in the area was black and oily, giving off a sense of violation to her druid senses. In fact, she realized that on the trip in, she got less and less of a signal from Gaia, and now, it was as if this entire area was completely cut off from the planetary god as if this was a different planet entirely.
Sela shuddered as she banked her wings slightly to ease out of the slipstream they rode. Once they dropped the builtup speed, they began circling the center of the epidemic. Near the blackened and melted earth, Sela saw eight black-robed figures all holding twisted, gnarled, black staffs adorned with a molten glowing rod at the top. The eight figures ringed a massive creature easily as large as Draksus had been in Ottawa. This creature had wings, and the scales Sela could see initially were the utter black of a moonless and starless night. Yet on the ground immediately surrounding the creature, many such black scales were littered, and most of the underside of the creature was now filled with a bleached, sickly, white-looking scale. It was clear that the eight Necromancers were casting some sort of spell to weaken and perhaps even corrupt the majestic creature. For a moment, she wondered why they didn’t move closer and touch the beast, having learned from personal experience in her past life that physical touch amplified these disgusting types of spells.
Then she saw the five broken and desiccated bodies of long-dead Necromancers ringing the beast and nodded to herself. The Dragon clearly was putting up a fight. A closer look told her even more; none of these Necromancers had a Heartstring around their staffs, which was a very good sign if the message about each removed string reducing the Dragon’s magic and strength was taken into consideration. If her suspicions were anything to go off of, Apep was slowly trying to convert Bathilda to its service. The weaker the Dragon got, and the more Heartstrings that Apep managed to harvest, the faster the conversion would take place. It was a maniacal plan and something right up Apep’s twisted, dark alley, which meant that it was easily something one of his minions would be capable of.
On the other side of the valley, Sela saw another group of about sixteen Necromancers. This group was sitting in a large pentagram that seemed to be roiling to her druidic senses. Her chest clenched, and she immediately felt sick. This was the cause of the perverted Irradiated Ether and also the cause of the storms if the relationship of its placement and the center of the forming blueish-black storm cloud was any indication. The Necromancers were the only creatures on the surface that were visible from the sky, and they were entirely defenseless.
Not defenseless, if the one in the Dungeon is any indication. He wasn’t the least bit worried about attacking Rockland and I head-on.
Yet this seemed like a perfect opportunity to disrupt some of the perversion to Gaia. If they could stop the corruption of the Dragon or put a stop to the perversion of the Ether, then they would deal a massive blow to Apep. The question was which one would be a greater blow to the two. Sela deliberated and came to a decision in an instant as her war training had instilled in her long ago.
In her mind, without the storms, Rocky, Sela, and Azoth could return here without a time limit; without the corruption of Ether, the conversion of the Dragon would slow down further. So, with her mind made up, she mentally projected to Azoth, “I need you to be ready to get me out of here as soon as I
am finished destroying that pentagram. Can you get us out of here quickly?”
“Azoth hold back on flight here to let Sela keep up. Azoth protect Sela.” Sela met the loyal shiny, obsidian eyes of the deadly creature and felt her heart melt for a moment. What she and Rockland would do without the beast, she didn’t want to contemplate. She held his gaze for a moment before motioning with her avian head to follow her.
They descended as surreptitiously as possible, alighting behind a crumbling wall about one hundred meters from the sixteen Necromancers and their pentagram. Sela transformed into her human form and knelt on the ground as Azoth stood vigil. “What Sela doing?” Azoth mentally queried like a child needing understanding of something that they didn’t really have the comprehension to grasp.
“A spell,” Sela growled at the birdbrain, hoping he would get the hint.
A few moments later, she was sweating, and Azoth asked another question, “Sela done yet?” It took every ounce of her considerable willpower to not change the location of the pit she was digging to under Azoth.
Instead, she huffed, “No, Azoth, Sela is not done yet! Now stop asking questions!”
I feel like I am babysitting my nephews or something. Do you think he is doing it on purpose?
Azoth looked around as she continued to exert her new gift to dig a massive hole under the ceremony. If she was closer, it probably would have gone faster and would have been far easier, but this was the only cover within a kilometer of the two groups that she had seen. “Why not just land on robies?” Azoth asked another question that made her teeth clench together as she pushed her power to the limit. She chose to ignore this question and thus seemed to invite a barrage of others.
