Looming Shadow: Journey to Chaos book 2

by Brian Wilkerson

  The fungi that Neuro was thrown into was poisonous to mind, body, and spirit, so he was out of action. Tiza had to carry him on her back. In his current state, he was the lightest of all of them.

  Looking around, Tiza scanned the horde for known breeds and quickly guesstimated what they were and what they could do. Large, old, grown strong on a diet of Fog and the mana-drenched meat of others, they ranked as B class monsters. She took stock of her equipment and her allies and possible strategies in a moment. Then she closed her eyes, removed her safety mask, and muttered, “Spider Daylra, all conditions have been met.” The monsters pounced. She opened her eyes and shouted, “Light come forth!”

  Suddenly, the monsters halted. Their instincts shouted danger of the creature that multiplied its own power instantly. Tiza's eyes glowed with blue light and her body glowed with a pale blue aura. She blurred past a monster and side-kicked a second to open a path down the mountain.

  She deflected a third monster reaching for Vaya and then turned aside a fourth bounding toward Nolien. Her light flickered, but she took a deep breath and renewed it. Then she tossed both her companions over her shoulder and ran down the mountain slope towards the edge of the Fog Cloud.

  The monsters followed her. Hideous and misshapen, they chased her relentlessly. It was only by the power of Videlicet Mens that she stayed ahead of them. Only with the greatest effort did she maintain its effect. She took one deep breath after another and each one empowered her to greater heights. They also eroded her health and sanity.

  Her hair was matted against her head with sweat. Her body heaved; a feat made dangerous by the thick Fog. No longer taking controlled breaths, the Fog began to pulse erratically within her body. Her skin turned both sickly pale and translucent. Nolien recognized the symptoms, but she did not. She was no longer concerned with them. She was not aware of them. The light of Videlicet Mens blinded her to everything but her goal. She was developing monsanity, the insanity known only to monsters.

  As the seconds passed and she grew wearier, the monsters grew closer. They grew close enough for Nolien to count their teeth. A titanic monster stepped into her path, but Tiza jumped ten feet and kicked it in the stomach. Empowered by Videlicet Mens, the Fog, and her fierce determination, she knocked it over and then ran over its face. She jumped off it and continued her sprint uninterrupted all the way out of the Fog Cloud.

  On her way down, she tripped and skidded down the slopes. The three people she was carrying tumbled in three directions. She breathed as deep and fast as she could but it was hard, painful, and futile in the thin air of Ceiha. Nolien rushed to her side to begin treatment, then paused when he looked back at the Fog Cloud. The monsters were following them.

  They started heaving as he did when he first entered Ceiha's territorial waters. It was slow and clumsy, but they continued stalking forwards. The smallest ones adapted quicker and moved faster. Soon, they would be overrun. Nolien was calculating the odds of running again when he heard something shocking.

  Tiza whimpered. Nolien would never forget it. Indomitable Tiza was afraid. His own safety was suddenly less important and saving her became his priority. Now...how do I do it...?

  You can't do it, Honorable Elder Brother. Give up.

  The healer ignored it and made more plans, but it followed him. It pointed out every flaw in every one. He could hear it laughing at him. Admit it. You can't do it.

  Tiza flickered like a sputtering candle and, suddenly, it dawned on him. I can't!

  “As I am Chaos, you are Order divine. As the sun to the moon, you shall shine. Take my power and me mine!” His slip made his face burn. He swore he could hear The Trickster laughing. “I mean like a leyline! MANA TRANSFER!”

  A blue tether shot from his staff to Tiza's back and, instantly, all her fatigue disappeared. Empowered by Nolien, she grabbed the horns of the monster about to gore him and used it as a club to bash, smash, and flatten the last three monsters pursuing them. Then she tossed that one into the air, channeled enough mana to her blade to make it a mana blade, jumped up to the monster's level, and slashed off all its heads before it crashed to the ground, dead. She landed lightly and stood tall. Then other monsters caught up with it.

  Unlike the three before, these were bigger than she was. Their spirits were far stronger and, unlike her, they were not exhausted. Instead of fighting them, she retreated. While she could not defeat them, Ceiha itself could. Artfully, she drew them further and further away from the Fog Cloud. One by one, they suffocated on the thin air. The sense of self-preservation in the remaining monsters kicked in and they retreated to the Fog Cloud.

  Nolien had never been more in awe of her. Together with the blue dress, she appeared as a sapphire reaper. Then she faced him and he saw a monstrous look in her eyes.

  Nolien beat himself on the head. The voice from before laughed and ridiculed him. In his panic, he had forgotten Rule Number One of Healing. The Griffocratic Oath stated that, above all, a healer must never harm someone they’re trying to help. By providing her with so much unregulated mana, he pushed her closer to mana poisoning and monsanity.

  She shivered and shook. Her skin was still glowing blue and tiny jolts of mana arched off her body. Her eyes were glazed and wild, her breathing ragged and hoarse. If he didn't do something soon, she would die and kill him in the process. She sniffed and bared her teeth.

  “Tiza...Adrenaline Junkie...you need to stay calm so I can cure you.”

  She pounced on him and he went down. She bit his collarbone and raked him with her gloved hands. Ignoring all of it, he embraced her.

  “Tiza! Don't you recognize me?” He pulled her head back and looked her in the eyes. “It's me, Tenderfoot!”

  Tiza snarled and snapped.

  “Tiza, please! Don't do this!”

  With one arm around her waist and another curled around her head, he held her gently. Enduring the pain, he stroked her back and hair and recited their adventures. He told her about their joint training sessions and how she made fun of his lack of stamina. He told her about the restaurant they liked to go to and the last movie they saw together. He reminded her of the time he slipped on a banana peel and they ended up trapped in a closet. He reminded her that Retina and Sathel were waiting for her in Roalt. He ripped off one of her gloves and forced her to stare at the scar on her shield arm. Two jagged red lines were his last hope.

  “Please, Tiza, I'm begging you! Tell me you remember this! Remember me!”

  Tiza blinked. For a moment, she stared at it; an agonizingly long moment. In the end, her eyes rolled to the back of her head and she fainted into Nolien's arms.

  Her heartbeat, so strong and fast, was now terrifying slow. Desperately, Nolien reached for his detached medical mindset and set about treating her: lay patient flat, cross patient legs, move patient hands to womb, check for damage with Scanning Staff, and finally initiate Spiritual Stabilization.

  “If this doesn't work...there will be two humanoid monsters running around.”

  His mana, now controlled and measured, flowed into her, and she began to recover. Then one more monster crawled out of the Fog Cloud. A snake-like creature, it was red, black, and big enough to swallow an orc whole. Its tongue slipped in and out as it slithered toward the humans. Fog left its body with each hiss, but given the length of its body, it wouldn’t suffocate until after it consumed all of them. Nolien gritted his teeth, bit his lip, and finally lost the battle.

  “ABYSS TAKE YOU, TASIO!”

  The hum of a mana-driven engine filled the area seconds later. A small airship shaped like a griffin descended from the clouds and hovered above the monster. Hatches opened on its flanks and munitions dropped from the wings to open elemental fire on the beast. Now that it had the thing's attention, it hovered just out of reach. A girl dropped on top of the thing and ran its massive length to the head. The sun shined on her alone as she dug a giant wedge into its skull to fish out vital tissue. Finally, she jumped off and her airship fired a bolt of lightn
ing that fried every single cell in its body.

  Then the ship dimmed and its engines shut off. It plummeted hundreds of feet until its emergency stability jets kicked in. They slowed its fall enough to avoid a crash and make an emergency landing instead. Kallen grimaced when she heard the crunch.

  “...pyudtfgx...That's gonna be expensive...” she muttered, then she waved Nolien over. “Come on; you’re...Nolien, right? She can rest in the cabin. The zombie can come too.”

  “What zombie?” Vaya asked.

  “Oh, yeah, I guess it’s cat hairs in this case. In any case, you’re all welcome to my home.”

  Nolien didn't move. “Was your ship flying just now?”

  “I’ll explain later. I’m in a hurry. I shouldn’t have stopped to help you.”

  The metal griffin's side door opened, creaking as it did so. A teenage girl with red hair stumbled out, clutching her head. She wobbled on the solid ground until she regained her bearings. Then she marched toward the green-haired girl and glared at her.

  “Kallen! You jarsupik gusil! I told you we were going to run out of fuel!! Now we'll need to call Draco...if they can even get here…” the redhead ranted. “Our premiums are going to skyrocket... I don't know how we're gonna land –”

  “Nolien Heleti, we’re on our way to rendezvous with Eric. Put your Tiza in the ship’s cabin.”

  “Kallen! Don’t ignore me!”

  “I’m not. I’m simply prioritizing someone in need.”

  “Then what about the other girl?”

  “She’s not in need.”

  Nolien put one arm under Tiza’s shoulders and another under her knees. Her head settled into the crease of his shoulder. Ignoring the others' stares, he carried her into Albatross IX. The impact had tossed loose articles to the floor and Nolien took care in stepping around them. He found the cabin and nudged the ajar door open with his foot. Ever so gently, he laid her on the bed and tucked her in.

  “Have a good rest, Tiza,” he said as he stroked her hair. “You deserve it.”

  She nestled into his touch and moaned contently. “Tenderfoot...”

  He smiled fondly. “Yeah, it's me. I'll be right here when you wake up.”

  Tiza smiled.

  Nolien left the cabin and closed the door behind him as quietly as possible. His legs then turned to jelly and he sank against it.

  Kallen sat in the captain's seat and revved the engine. A field of electrical power swept the ship, making the hairs on Nolien's arm stand up. The engines hummed to life and the griffin spread its wings. Kallen pushed the accelerator forward and Albatross IX took flight.

  Nolien waited until he was sure the takeoff hadn't woken up Tiza, then joined Kallen in the cockpit. As he entered, he noticed a crystal inserted into a slot near the ship's ignition and a yellow light glowing within. He chose the seat closest to the door. The instant he sat down, Kallen asked, “How long have you been going out?”

  “Excuse me?”

  “How long. Have you. Been dating?”

  Nolien buckled himself in. “We're not a couple.”

  “I’ll fix that for you when I come back.”

  Kallen parked above the Fog Cloud and flipped a switch to shift the engine's mana drive to outside mana instead of Ligol's blessing. She pulled the crystal out and reconnected it to her staff. Then she pulled a scarf out of the glove compartment and wrapped it over her nose and mouth. Next, she grabbed a bag and stuffed in some devices.

  On the way to the hatch, she gave Emily orders such as how long to wait for her, what to do if she didn't come back, if a large and/or flying monster approached, etc. Her first mate told her not to worry. Kallen pecked her cheek and said, “Goodbye, honey. I'll be back in time for dinner.” Then she jumped out of the ship backwards.

  “Does she know what she's doing?” Nolien asked.

  Despite her blush, Emily responded in a deadpan manner. “I ask myself that every day.”

  Kallen plunged into the monster den and the Fog rushed by as she fell. Her skin tingled pleasantly as vapors brushed against it. She shook those thoughts away before they triggered ones that made her skin crawl instead. She landed on her feet, crouching to absorb the impact.

  The Fog limited her visibility to a few yards. She held her staff out in two hands in case a monster surprised her. The grey spirit light glowed steadily. She swayed it this way and that, watching the pulsations. At last, it reacted.

  She breathed slowly and carefully. Although her scarf protected her from the Fog, it couldn't block out smells. Fog could be the most fragrant aroma or the most repugnant of stenches or all at the same time. Here, they mixed with the decaying organic mass and the byproducts of the Fog's inhabitants.

  She jumped away and a glob of acid ate the rock she was standing on. A lizard as long as she was tall perched on an outcropping to her right. Its body was dry and scaled and in the process of growing fur. It hissed at her, breathing in the Fog and twitching. It prepared to jump and Kallen noticed something startling: its forelimbs were human hands, and its hind limbs were human feet. It rocketed past her and head-butted the rock behind her, shattering both. As it lay recovering, she could even make out patches of human flesh. It hissed again, and Kallen realized it was hissing in pain.

  Her hands shook. Her heart skipped a beat. The thoughts she suppressed returned with a vengeance! Surrounded by fog, factory ruined, mutations everywhere. Sister! Sister, help me! It hurts! Big sister! Kallen shook her head just in time to dodge the next acid spit.

  “You poor thing...” she muttered. “You won't be in pain for much longer.”

  She charged the monster with her staff forward, batting away acid barrages with her barrier. She thrust at its skull and looked into its eyes. Lethal intent bombarded her, but only from the left. The right was still human, and it was scared. Her thrust grazed its head and she had to spin to avoid its jaws.

  “Abyss take it...” she cursed.

  The lizard whacked her with its tail. She jumped over it and plunged her staff at the spot where it connected with the main body. Its hissing increased and it drew in more Fog. I got it pinned...she thought and drew a dagger from her belt. Now to put whoever they are out of their misery.

  Its entire body glowed. The last traces of humanity were overcome by scales and fur. Its remaining eye morphed into a rotatable stalk like the other. It drew in more Fog and grew spines of ebony and flesh. Kallen tore her staff out lest it be consumed in the monster's growing body mass.

  The lizard was now twice as wide as she was and four times as long. Its eyes were two interdependent stalks above a flat nose and a long jaw of serrated teeth. Ebony spines ran down its length like the rings of a barrel over bands of green fur and orange scales. Seven legs supported it instead of four and two more stuck out of its back. These lacked any sort of covering at all. The tail was completely healed and lined with sharp ridges, which it now slammed down on Kallen.

  She jumped, ducked, and dodged as the much larger tail flailed. It crushed rocks and stirred the Fog. The mist mana swirled and spawned visions of humans going insane and mutating and being eaten. Kallen shut her mind to all of them before her memories overwhelmed her. I have to kill it. She withdrew into the Fog to hide and plan her next move. The beast paused and tasted the air. Its twin stalk eyes zeroed in on her location and fired its sticky tongue like a guided projectile.

  Kallen threw up her barrier. The tongue cracked it, wrapped around, and squeezed. Kallen gritted her teeth, then dropped it and jumped up before she was crushed. The tongue reloaded and snapped back. This time, it caught her and slammed her into the ground. Even with her barrier, it hurt. She drew lightning mana from her staff into her free hand and electrocuted it. The giant lizard writhed on the ground. Its tongue constricted, but then relaxed and allowed her to escape. I wish I could use more magic than that, but it might set off the Fog and blow us both up...

  The lizard recovered and shot again. She took cover behind a rock and the tongue captured the one next to
her. As the tongue snapped back, it pulled the rock instead and it shattered against its head.

  A shadow appeared in the Fog behind the lizard. It was smaller, but grew bigger until its foot was larger than the lizard. While the reptile searched for Kallen, the shadow stomped it into paste. Two clawed feet planted themselves to both sides and a pelican beak descended. It enclosed the corpse and its skin folds lit up. Kallen saw the outline of a second creature ripping and chewing the lizard. Then the avian leaned back and swallowed the minced meat.

  It stepped forward. It was so close she could count the starfish making up its down feathers. Then it rotated its lower body, spread its dorsal fins, and defecated. Relieved of its waste, it walked away in search of its next meal.

  Kallen released the breath she'd been holding. A little closer and the next mound would have been her. Speaking of which, I should take a sample. She shook her head. Later!

  She checked her bearings. He's close...She followed them up a ridge and saw flashes of red light in the gloom. Staff ready, she approached at a jog and burst into a clash between a Bladi and a Grendel. Her light pointed directly at the latter. The fight ended in the former’s favor and he prepared to deliver the killing blow.

  “STOP!” she shouted. “That’s Eric!”

  “I know that,” Basilard said. “This is a mercy kill.”

  The image of Patrick Lumberson flashed through her mind. The image of her sister followed. Then a deluge of all the other people from Siduban whose lives she ended. She shook her head.

  “No. Not this time. I can save him.”

  “You can?”

  “Yes. I can do this. I can do this. I can do this.”

  Focusing on the love within her heart and the light within her crystal, she turned its brilliance on the Grendel. It howled and covered its eyes at first, but after a few moments, bathed in the glow, it relaxed. Kallen approached it in safety.