The building Mourad headed towards was a small, locked outbuilding behind the cabin that Liangyu had been sleeping it. Mourad had observed that some of Liangyu’s thralls had always managed to be loitering nearby.
Liangyu probably thought that by keeping her treasures in a different place than she slept, they’d be safe. Mourad rolled her eyes. The Death Witch had fallen victim to a common trap for the intelligent and powerful—she’d begun to believe her own hype. Especially being so long lived, she’d had a long time to develop glaring blind spots.
Mourad slowed her pace and crept around the side of the cabin near her target. The rough, splintered logs scraped her exposed arms as she hugged the side of the building. She was trying to be as stealthy as possible, but she was badly hurt. She’d lost her sword, too. That stung; it had been worth a fortune. The only option now was to hopefully find another, larger fortune. There was sure no way in hell she was going back to the battlefield.
She crept up to the corner of the building, peeking out and darting back, smiling broadly. One of Liangyu’s thralls was standing in front of the outbuilding, more of a shed. The undead creature was strangely still and staring into space. Mourad shrugged. The undead creature’s immobility just meant her job would be easier.
She pulled her trusty throwing spike from the rear of her belt. The weapon had cost her a great deal of money in the distant past, but it’d been one of the best investments she had ever made. The low-level enchantments on the spike made it weigh more after it left her hand, and maintain speed better in the air. It had taken her a long time to master throwing it, but after she had, it was the best concealable, ranged weapon she had ever owned.
She breathed deeply, concentrating on the target she knew was only about thirty feet away. She had to attack as fast as possible so that, hopefully, Liangyu wouldn’t notice the loss. The big merc had no desire to tangle directly with the Death Witch. That path led to certain death.
Mourad kissed her throwing spike for good luck, cocked her arm back, stepped from concealment, and threw. As soon as the spike left her hand, she relaxed—she could tell the throw had been true. The spike took the thrall—some sort of arachnid monster—directly in the head and dropped it without any fuss.
A second later, Mourad’s entire body lit up with screaming nerve endings. She bent over in anguish, hissing as she waited for the pain to pass. She’d forgotten for a moment that she had been so badly injured.
After she could walk again, the muscular woman crept forward, retrieved her spike, and forced open the door to the outbuilding. It didn’t take her long to find the loose board on the floor and she shook her head. This is child’s play, she thought.
Her eyes lit up as she regarded the crushed velvet bag full of Dolos orbs, spirit stones, and magic jewelry that Liangyu had taken from their victims. She quickly tied the bulging sack to her belt and limped away as fast as she could.
She desperately hoped Liangyu got herself killed, but that was probably wishful thinking. Barring that, she wanted to be long gone by the time the Death Witch realized she’d been burglarized.
* * *
Jason felt tired, frustrated, shocked, but above all, utterly furious. On top of his group having been attacked without provocation, he had never felt so useless and powerless in his life. He hadn’t been able to use his magic in the fog, and he’d been forced to physically run back to his friends. Then, finally, the fog began to clear.
He’d teleported forward a few times, tired from running so hard, even with his Endurance skill. As he flashed forward, he’d learned some terrible things.
He passed by Yanno-ibbi and Rark-han, lying in pools of their own blood. He hadn’t stopped to check on the Mo’hali men. He felt guilty, but he didn’t know how critical the timing of his arrival could be.
When he’d gotten closer to the main group, he’d felt his heart drop and he’d feared the worst. Everyone was down or wounded. The entire situation looked terrible. Jason had stood still in the dying fog, and nobody had seen him. Instead of rushing in, he’d watched events unfold with a growing sense of shock and emptiness.
He’d seen the scrolling information over his left eye about Liangyu. He’d listened to the terse exchange between Biivan and members of his group. He’d learned that Aodh and Henry were gone.
Henry, his best friend, the person who’d had guarded his back and kept him sane from his first day on Ludus…was gone. Jason hadn’t been there for him. He hadn’t been there for his best friend in his time of need.
All his other friends were hurt and bloodied. Some might be dead, for all he knew.
Jason had failed. He had catastrophically dropped the ball. His reflexive teleport up into the sky when the ambush started had prevented him from fighting alongside his team. His absence might have cost his friends’ lives. The way he’d let his mother down as a kid paled in comparison. He’d told himself he’d never fail anyone he cared about again, but here he was. Henry was gone.
His friend was gone. It was hard to form coherent thoughts past that fact.
Also, someone was threatening Uluula, his wife. Someone. Was. Threatening. His. Wife. She was in danger. The sweet, white-haired Areva woman who’d questioned her own culture to be with Jason. The brave, honest, loyal, beautiful person that he had been lucky enough to meet on a hostile planet. A woman he had rescued from a lonely cell, who’d become the most important person in his life, the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.
They were threatening his wife.
No.
Jason had heard enough. “Uluula, stop, come back.” He called Uluula away from the last remaining enemies and began stomping forward, feeling the rage overtaking him again. He only cared slightly that he was heading towards a High Priestess.
She had been threatening his wife.
Uluula fell back, stopping near Jason and looking conflicted. She looked like she wanted to hug him, flee, and fight at his side all at once. She looked between Biivan and Jason. “My love, I—”
Jason shook his head. “No, go with Keeja. I’m sorry. I’m sorry I let you all down. I won’t do it again. Never again.”
“But you—”
Jason stalked forward, his thoughts turning red. His heart burned like a volcano, magma flowing through his veins at a quickening pace. Jason fed the rage. He gave it everything he had. All of his other emotions went into the fire. All of his rational thought fed the blaze. When he ran out of things to shove into the growing inferno of his terrible anger, he began feeding it magic, dumping raw power into himself, into his soul.
He thought he could hear voices at the edge of his mind. He ignored them, focusing on his sword, Breeze. His grip tightened.
When his muscles cramped, he just kept feeding magic to the growing wildfire inside of him. When racking pain came, he welcomed it. When he felt his soul grow dark, he embraced the change.
…Threatening his wife! His WIFE.
Decades of shame, years of tormenting himself for allowing those closest to him to be harmed, came crashing back. All the powerlessness, frustration, and regret felt over an entire lifetime assaulted him all at once, amplified by his magic.
NOT ANYMORE.
He would never stand by again and let someone threaten the health or life of a loved one. He’d never endure standing on the sidelines and observing someone important to him be hurt again, especially and most importantly his wife.
He didn’t care if he destroyed himself in the process; he was going to eradicate anyone or anything that threatened those dear to him.
Jason’s eyes narrowed and gave in to his darkest emotions. He gave in to the power thrumming through his body and became something new, something dangerous.
* * *
Uluula had conflicting emotions as she watched Jason glide past. Overall, and it shamed her a bit to admit, she felt overwhelming relief. At least she wasn’t alone anymore, the last standing member of the group. A part of her knew that her husband might be walking into dan
ger, but she’d been willing to risk her life just moments before, too. Fair was fair.
Still, she didn’t know what Jason was going to do and it was making her nervous. She trusted Jason’s judgment, but although it rankled, they really couldn’t afford to provoke a High Priestess.
Despite the danger, deep down, Uluula held on to hope. Henry and Jason had somehow managed to keep themselves and the rest of Delvers LLC alive since they’d arrived to Ludus. Uluula desperately wanted to believe in her husband. He surely wouldn’t be foolish enough to attack a High Priestess…right?
However, as Jason continued forward, she could feel his anger coming off of him in waves, almost like a physical thing. She wanted to support her husband, but she didn’t know what to do. Jason was their only hope of surviving the situation with any kind of answers about where Aodh and Henry had gone.
Deep in the pit of her stomach, she suddenly felt dread. Uluula’s eyes few open. Henry. Jason’s best friend…was gone. Missing. Oh no! She silently screamed in her mind. Jason probably knew!
She reached out to her husband, opening her mouth to call him. She took a step forward, her heart lurching in her chest, her entire being overcome with a mixture of love and fear.
She was too late.
Jason exploded.
His form burst out like a living cloud. Inky darkness with pinpoints of light provided a mesmerizing kaleidoscope of moving patterns. It looked like a window to the starry heavens hung in the air for a couple moments before snapping back to where Jason had been standing. Uluula gasped.
Where her husband had been standing before now stood a shadow person with silver eyes. Jason’s dark silhouette roiled, flashes of light randomly zigzagging from one side to the other. The only way Uluula could have known the new figure was even Jason anymore was his grip on his sword, Breeze.
However, even Breeze had changed. The low-level enchantments Thirsty had put on the weapon in the past had never been visible before, but now Breeze crackled with energy, arcs of electricity leaping off the blade to Jason’s shadow form with no obvious effect.
But most disconcerting at all, Uluula heard music. Just like when Keeja had used her power in the past, Uluula…experienced music when she focused on Jason. It was a song she recognized, “I Stand Alone” by a Terran band with a ridiculous name, Godsmack. The song was one of her husband’s favorites.
Uluula immediately knew what she was experiencing—she was somehow hearing Jason’s soul song. How is this possible? Only Holders like Keeja could manifest a soul song…Uluula put a hand to her mouth, tears in her eyes. What is happening?
Biivan’s haughty expression under her cowl dropped. She took a half step back. Uncertainty had replaced all the venom she’d had in her voice before. “What is this—”
The demigoddess didn’t get a chance to complete the thought. Jason, or whatever Jason had become, darted forward, Breeze descending in a glittering, sparking arc.
* * *
Jason was dimly aware that whatever was happening to him was not normal. However, he was too angry to actually form any thoughts or questions about it. In the back of his mind, he dimly heard a Godsmack song stuck in his head. He thought it was appropriate.
He knew he was going to do his best to kill a High Priestess now. He was past lying to himself at this point. He was going to fucking destroy her.
She had been threatening his wife. Unforgivable. His thoughts were heavy and dark, their edges as sharp as razor blades.
He would destroy anyone who threatened his family. He felt this truth in his bones. Jason dimly recognized the electricity arcing off his blade but paid it no mind. Limitbreak, a corner of his mind murmured. The whispers around his spirit grew louder and Jason listened.
He was going to destroy anyone who hurt his friends, those who THREATENED HIS WIFE!
He flickered forward, closing with his enemy. Every cell of his body resonated with his rage and indignation. He slowed his perception of time as he moved, noting every flicker of emotion that crossed Biivan’s face. The number of expression changes he saw in her face in the span of a moment allowed the rational part of his mind to deduce that Biivan had enhanced senses too.
Jason delivered a devastating cut from a modified vom tag stance. He felt grim satisfaction as the blade descended. Biivan was not a woman to him anymore, she was not even a person. She was an obstacle to crush. However, somehow Biivan’s hand came up with lightning speed and materialized a glowing sword, blocking Jason’s blow. Her eyes widened as the two weapons met and stopped, the null-time layer on Breeze’s blade countering Biivan’s obvious strength.
The High Priestess snarled and batted Jason’s sword away from the side, flat to flat, and changed her motion to strike impossibly fast at his throat. Jason was dimly aware that he could hear a thrumming melody now from Biivan, sounding something like old Earth opera music but with more percussion.
Jason’s heightened awareness warned him of the glittering, curved blade on a collision course for his neck. He flexed his magic and teleported away. The corner of his mind that still retained rational thought knew to move the fight away from his friends and his wife.
He snarled, teleporting above the shore of the nearby lake. Biivan made a beeline for him, flying at a breakneck speed, the air around her growing hazy from the power rolling off of her body.
Jason dispassionately waited for her to come, noting that he was effortlessly flying in place, manipulating time and space. It was as natural as breathing for him now. He lifted a hand, his fingers pointed forward, and unleashed hell. Wicked needles of null-time shot out at Biivan, who avoided them at the last second, flinging her body to the side.
The shadow man darted forward, his silver eyes wild as he followed up with a few swift, brutal cuts, chasing Biivan toward the ground. The woman snarled, a corona of energy erupting from her body to incinerate Jason, but he’d already teleported away.
Jason felt deep, suffocating rage as he darted in, aiming a thrust at Biivan’s back from a floating ochs stance. Somehow, Biivan spun in time to block the attack with her scintillating blade. The small corner of Jason’s mind that could still think clearly noted the sword looked like a shotel from back on Earth.
He bared his teeth and threw a null-time needles blast into Biivan’s face, but she somehow generated a marigold-colored shield that stopped the attack cold. The next couple seconds, Jason’s glowing eyes narrowed as he traded blows with Biivan. He had a longer reach with Breeze, but they were flying, his opponent was more skilled, and Biivan was also faster and stronger than he was. By a lot.
Before Biivan managed to cleave Jason’s head from his shoulders, he had teleported away. After he had some space, he slashed forward with Breeze and unleashed a dark arc of destructive energy at the distant High Priestess. This time, the demigoddess couldn’t create a shield in time, crossing her arms as the attack struck.
Jason felt savage glee, hoping he’d destroyed his enemy, but Biivan uncrossed her arms and glared at him. She hadn’t suffered any damage at all other than her destroyed robe fluttering to the ground. She’d been wearing some sort of metallic singlet underneath, revealed now along with her dark, sharp-featured appearance.
“I don’t know what you are, or what—” Biivan began, chewing her words. Jason didn’t care what she had to say. He wanted her to die.
He teleported behind the Areva woman, too close to use his sword, but smashed Breeze’s null-time-enhanced pommel on the back of her head. The High Priestess yowled like a startled cat, falling out of the sky.
Jason didn’t relent. He followed up with another slashing arc of energy. Biivan blocked the attack, waving her hand and shielding herself with yellow energy. Jason teleported next to her and slashed with Breeze, the sword’s blade alive with spitting electricity. Biivan blocked with her shotel and the dark-skinned High Priestess snarled. Her eyes were crazed as she thrust a hand at Jason, generating a brilliant golden orb of energy.
The enraged orb-Bonded flexed hi
s mind, willing a field of time to surround the attack, slowing it. He flew past the energy orb, putting his closed fists together before violently separating them towards Biivan. The attack ripped apart time and space itself. Biivan crossed her arms, defending herself again.
Bass from “I Stand Alone” thumped in his head as he teleported away, simultaneously releasing the time dilation he’d placed on Biivan’s energy orb. The projectile zipped off into the distance, generating a bone-jarring, golden explosion on the horizon.
Jason’s heavy attack hadn’t noticeably damaged Biivan, but it ripped apart a swath of trees on the ground below, made the water of the lake explode into mist, and violently dismantled a rock outcropping.
He teleported again, but this time Biivan had been waiting for it. As soon as he was back in regular space, he barely had time to react to another explosive energy orb flung towards him. Jason managed to slash with Breeze, generating another arc of destructive energy that met the orb in midair.
Both attacks exploded together in a violent crash of destructive energy. Jason willed himself to fly away from the blast, and the wave of pressure and heat that actually reached him didn’t have any real effect on his shadow body.
Biivan screeched, her movements and attacks growing wilder, but no less powerful as the battle raged in the sky. She rushed at Jason several times, and the air around her actually seemed hazy with power. The tiny, analytical portion of Jason’s mind that remained knew that continuing to trade blows with her was just waiting for death. She was too fast, too strong, and too skilled.
Without warning, Jason teleported straight up into the air as high as he dared, holding his breath. He needed more time!
The pinpricks of starlight in Jason’s shadow form began spinning wildly as he fed more power to Breeze, causing the blade to throw off thick, angry arms of electricity. He only spent a couple moments charging his blade, but his instincts warned him of coming danger and he teleported. After his hop, a golden orb of explosive energy sped through the space he’d just been hovering in. The attack shot up into the sky, out of sight.
Delvers LLC: Obligations Incurred Page 25
