by Ian Rodgers
“Yeah, sorry I can’t stay longer. But it was fun! Bye!” Gaelin waved farewell before walking out of the park.
“Did you find anything?” he asked me quietly, and I wobbled side to side.
“Nothing good,” I replied sadly. “Apparently the rabbit hutch is populated by monstrous, flesh eating hares rather than by cuddly bunnies.”
“Hmm, pity, I was looking forward to an easy mission for once,” Gaelin sighed. “As for information on my end, I haven’t had much luck either. Though I may have accidentally started a new headware fad.”
“I did notice those children had blobs of congealed gel on their heads,” I remarked.
“Yeah, they saw me wearing your clone, thought it was a cool idea for a hat, and pestered one of the parents to make them some of their own ‘jelly caps.’”
I snorted in amusement, and Gaelin snickered in agreement. “Yeah, that was my reaction as well. Anyways, some of the people I spoke with knew of it, and one of kid’s parents told me it was near a ‘nebula,’ whatever that is.”
“A nebula is a cluster of space gas and star dust,” I explained. “Astrologers claim that nebula are the corpses of stars, and Astromancers can connect to and channel mana through them to perform minor acts of Necromancy, which supports the former’s claims. Did they say if the nebula had a name?”
“Hmm, no afraid not,” Gaelin replied after thinking it over. “Guess we have to keep eyes and ears open for more on that topic, then.”
“Alright, then,” I grumbled in disappointment. “Unless Dora has found anything, we’ll be here a while longer. I’ll let you know where to go after I chat with her for a bit.”
I pushed out of my first clone, and dropped into the one furthest away from my physical body. It took no time at all, however, and in moments I found myself squeezed uncomfortably tight inside a glass tube.
“At least you kept the cork out like you promised,” I muttered to Dora as I slid out of the small vial I’d been stored in. As I did so, I sensed a great deal of hostility surrounding the half-orc.
‘Looks like I came right in the nick of time,’ I mused. I oozed up the side of her body, coming to rest on her shoulder. I quickly took a look at the surroundings, and winced.
She was in a smuggler’s warehouse, large crates and cages full of exotic, and no doubt illegal, monsters and animals filling the area, while a group of five ugly spider-like people tried to corner Dora.
“What is that?!” a voice cried out as one of the bipedal arachnids spotted me appear on my fellow Chosen One.
“This? Oh, nothing much, just my personal Attack Ooze,” Dora said, and I heard a hint of vindictive amusement in her voice.
“A-attack Ooze?” one of the man-spiders asked hesitantly.
“Yes. They’re vicious little things. Pocket-sized death dealers. This one is particularly nasty. He’s made of potent acid, so if you want to avoid having your gooey innards drip out of your exoskeletons, you’ll back off.”
The threat drove the arachnids off, the quintet booking it and vanishing into the depths of the warehouse. Once they were all gone from sight, Dora sighed and reached up to pat ‘me’ fondly.
“Thanks for the assist,” she said, shaking her head in annoyance. “Those fools were getting on my nerves. I was this close to testing my new repeating crossbow on some bugs.”
“Technically…” I began, but the Healer cut me off.
“Yes, yes, I know, spiders are not technically bugs,” she interrupted, waving her hand dismissively. “They still go crunch underneath my boots, though.”
Dora glared off into the dimly lit warehouse as I shivered at the threatening tone she’d used. After a bit she returned her attention to me.
“So? What’s up?” she inquired.
“Well, I discovered that the rabbits are the flesh-eating kind, so no tourism in that regard,” I said dryly. “And Gaelin figured out that it’s near a nebula of some sort. Didn’t get a name for it, though. How about yourself? Find any information from the dregs of society?”
“The planetoid we are looking for is past the Whispering Nebula,” Dora revealed. “Apparently, the smugglers here once tried to poach some of the Rending Rabbits that live there in a misguided effort to try and sell them as guard animals. Surprisingly, they succeeded, only to lose the merchandise when the Rending Rabbits escaped. Apparently, their teeth can chew through solid steel in minutes. They’re still on the loose somewhere in the city.”
“Uh…” I muttered, surprised. “That’s good. Huh. Didn’t think you’d have that much luck.”
“Jellik, I know criminals. I worked for some for nearly three years. I learned a lot from my time in the Yellowmoon Menagerie,” the half-orc said while wearing a smirk. “And one of those lessons is, ‘if it sounds like a bad idea, a criminal has already tried it.’ I just applied that advice here after I learned about the nature of the rabbits earlier, and figured that some smuggler or poacher would have tried to use deadly bunnies somehow in the past. And look! I was right.”
“Don’t get a big head now,” I warned her. “Changing size, mass, and shape at random is my job!”
The Healer snorted at my words but nodded.
“Understood, Jellik,” she replied, giving me a lazy, casual salute. “So, what now?”
“If we know where to go, the only option is to head to a teleportation station, buy a trip to the Whispering Nebula, and find Barron’s black comet,” I stated.
“Got it. If my memory is right, we flew over something like that,” Dora mused. “It had those gold painted spires and a flashing sign.”
“Ah, right, that place,” I mumbled, thinking back to our time when we’d been airborne. “Yes, you’re right, I believe it was a teleportation station. Alrighty then, you try and find your way back to it. I’ll go and tell Gaelin the good news.”
Dora gave me a thumbs up, and I slipped back down into the open potion vial. After another round of shunting my mind back and forth different bodies and informing Gaelin of the new plan, I returned to my own form, wincing at the aching pain that throbbed through my mind.
“Hmm, note to self, do not switch bodies too quickly, or else it hurts upon returning to the original,” I grumbled. Pushing myself off of the big steel dumpster I’d been leaning against, I checked myself over. Nothing out of place, and my disguise was still working. I hadn’t been disturbed while body jumping, either, which was nice.
Confident nothing was wrong, I made my way towards where I had spotted the teleportation station earlier.
For some reason, I was starting to attract stares from the denizens of the city as I made my way through the more crowded streets. Concerned, I discreetly checked my illusions. They were still up and functioning, so that couldn’t be it. Was it my Chosen One-ness leaking out? Didn’t seem like it, the gazes were more amused than anything else.
‘Do I have something stuck on me from that dumpster?’ I wondered. ‘That might be it. Must have gotten some sort of grime or grease smeared all over my robe. Ugh, gross!’
“Repel Dirt,” I intoned softly. “Repel Mess!”
The two spells I uttered activated and magic washed over me, banishing anything dirty that was clinging to my clothes. Satisfied I was done with cleaning up, I continued on. Eventually I made my way to the building that housed the teleportation arrays, and to my delight spotted both Dora and Gaelin already there, the pair chatting about something or other.
“Hey guys,” I greeted. The two turned, greeting me as well, but then they began to stare, and then snicker.
“What? What is it?” I demanded, and Dora pointed a finger at my left ‘leg.’ I couldn’t sense anything wrong with it, so I bent my ‘head’ and looked down.
“What the freaking freak sauce are those doing on my leg?!” I cried out, staring in shock at a quartet of small, black rabbits with silver eyes gnawing away at my limb. “And why can’t I detect them?!”
“Those are Rending Rabbits, Jellik. I did some more research on t
hem before I got here,” Dora said. “Apparently, another aspect that adds to their rarity and danger is they can negate magic around them. And since you use magic to detect things…”
“They are invisible to my senses and magical echolocation,” I finished as she trailed off. “Why are they chewing on my ‘leg’ though?”
“Because it’s there,” the half-orc replied. “Apparently they like to nibble and gnaw on things.”
“Should we return them to their home?” Gaelin asked. “Or should we, um…” he drew a finger across his throat.
“I don’t know,” I said slowly. “Maybe Barron likes these little fellows? If he does, he might not appreciate us killing them.”
“Well, if that’s the case, we can’t use a teleportation array or a Dimensional Gate to get to the Whispering Nebula,” Dora pointed out. “Anti-magic creatures, and all that.”
“I guess we’ll have to use one of those flying ships,” Gaelin said, gesturing off in the distance where hundreds of floating specks could be seen coming and going from the docks on the outer rim of Mez’Molzc.
“I don’t really have any experience in piloting such things,” I said slowly. “Heck, I’ve only ever been on one ship in my life!”
“Same, and mine was a river boat,” Dora piped up.
“Well, I have thrice the boat-based experience you do, plus, one of those times was when Lily, Bigg Guy, Vala, and I stole a flying pirate ship. We did manage to fly it all the way to Riggs, so out of all of us, I think I can pilot any vessel we need.”
“Couldn’t we just hitch a ride on someone’s ship if they’re heading to the Whispering Nebula?” I pointed out, and Gaelin nodded.
“Hmm, I suppose we could do that instead of stealing our transportation.”
“Why would we want, or even need, to steal a ship?” Dora asked in exasperation, and the halberdier shrugged.
“Dunno. Just keep in mind, we have a track record when it comes to making poor decisions here in the Aether,” he reminded us solemnly, though I detected a hint of amusement in his tone.
“Fine, let’s just head to the docks and see what happens,” I sighed. It couldn’t be that hard to charter a ship. Could it?
Chapter 17: Shooting Stars
“ATTENTION CRIMINAL SCUM! CEASE FLEEING OR WE WILL BE FORCED TO CONTINUE OPENING FIRE!”
“Go suck on an exploding lemon, pigs! You’re still shooting at us!” Dora poked her head out and shouted furiously at the half dozen flying machines shaped like prawns. The porcine pilots of the patrol ships responded to her taunt by spraying bolts of red-hot energy at her.
Dora let out a terrified “Eeep!” and ducked back inside the vehicle and rolled up the windows. Just in time, too, as the barrage of energy slammed into their smaller vessel, shaking it and causing a loud siren to go off.
“Agh! My ears!” Gaelin swore as he yanked hard on the steering wheel. The vehicle responded quickly, swerving in front of the oncoming patrol craft. At the last second Gaelin pulled a lever and their ride shot up over the metal prawns.
“Phew! That was a close one,” he muttered, before glancing over his shoulder at me. “Jellik! How are things going back there?”
“I have no idea what I’m doing!” I wept pathetically, trying frantically to fix the mutilated pile of wires, gears, and valves that made up the engine of the vehicle we’d ‘commandeered.’
Really, it was technically stolen, but was it really stealing when the object in question was owned by an infamous criminal gang boss who ran a smuggling enterprise? Yes, it was, but it was less morally dubious.
The vehicle in question was a fancy and elegant looking vessel. It was shaped like a golden pine cone, and was quite luxurious on the inside. Couches upholstered with black velvet made up the middle compartment where Dora currently sat, with the front one being for the driver, in this case Gaelin, and the last and rear-most section a combination storage space and engine room. I was in that one, trying to repair the damage our ‘liberation’ of the machine had caused.
How had it all come to this? A good question, and one I wasn’t entirely certain had an answer. See, it’d all been going smoothly. We made it to the docks and asked around for anyone to take us to the Whispering Nebula. No takers, sadly.
So, we decided to go with Gaelin’s option of ‘borrowing’ a vessel from someone. We were Chosen Ones on a time sensitive mission, after all.
Unfortunately, before we could do much searching, the smugglers Dora had scared off with her ‘Attack Ooze’ bluff had been in the area, apparently reporting to their boss. Said boss was not impressed with Dora tricking his five stooges, and sent goons after us.
Long story short, we ended up smashing up three warehouses full of illegal goods, incapacitating over a dozen elite minions and countless more lesser mooks, and ‘acquired’ the boss’s personal transportation vehicle while making a run for it.
Sadly, the local guards spotted us running away, and since we were in the crime lord’s own vessel, tried to apprehend us, assuming we were him. Odds were they’d still try to arrest us even if they knew we weren’t part of the smuggler’s operation, as we had caused quite a bit of damage to docks. So, booking it was the only option.
‘Or it would be, if I could fix this accursed machine!’ I growled to myself as I tried slapping the engine. It sputtered for a moment, giving Gaelin a temporary burst of speed, but the engine quickly puttered out and coughed metallically before dying once more.
“ARGH!” I cried, slapping the engine some more. “Why won’t this thing work?!”
I rearranged some wires and replaced a couple of gears, and for a moment that seemed to work, but then the engine coughed out a cloud of foul green gas right in front of me.
“Oh, Jellik, that reeks!” Dora complained, holding her hands over her nose.
“Roll the windows down, Dora! Please! Before the smell consumes us!” Gaelin begged, and she dutifully cracked the windows.
“Ack! Sorry, sorry, didn’t know it’d do that,” I apologized. I glanced down at the quartet of Rending Rabbits still attached to my ‘legs.’ At some point during the ride two of them had migrated over to my right pseudopod limb, which redistributed their weight more evenly.
I turned back to the heap of parts that made this vehicle move and scowled at it, and the large, human shaped dent in the side of the vehicle.
“Next time, Gaelin, try not to fight so close to a delicate device,” I requested of the halberdier, who made a rude gesture with one of his hands, the other still clasped to the steering wheel.
“Sure, in the future, I’ll do my best not to be thrown like a freaking sportsball into the side of a crime lord’s vehicle we later steal,” he spat out sarcastically.
“Quit yammering you two!” Dora scolded us. “Jellik, keeping working on that engine! And Gaelin, slow down and try to fly steady for a bit.”
She rolled down one of the windows in the luxury compartment and picked up her repeating crossbow, pointing it out the window. “As for me, I’m going to try and thin the herd.”
“I don’t think a repeating crossbow, even as strong as yours, can…” I began, only to trail off as a distant explosion, followed by a porcine squeal, rang through the open window. “On second thought, go ahead! Have fun!”
“What kind of bolts are you using?!” Gaelin gasped, staring at the devastation Dora was causing.
“Explosive,” she replied calmly as she fired at the pursuing guard vessels. “Found ‘em in one of those crates of ammunition we stole from the Dark Dwarves.”
Another explosion echoed through the interior of the vessel, and Dora let out a whoop of victory, pumping her fist as another patrol craft detonated. I snickered at the irony of a Healer enjoying the act of blowing things up.
“Ha! Take that!” she gloated, before coughing. “Sorry, don’t know what came over me just now.”
“No, no, I understand completely, Dora,” I assured the half-orc as I continued to fiddle around with the busted engin
e. “First time making an explosion is always a rush.”
I paused. “Hang on… explosions and rushing…” I turned back to the strange clockwork-style engine and peered closer. Several pieces that had gotten jarred loose now made sense to me.
“OH! So that’s how it works!” I exclaimed, before swapping a few pieces around. There was a loud roar from the engines as it sparked to life, and all of us were pressed against the nearest solid surface as enormous force was applied to us and the vehicle as it erupted into motion, propelling us forward faster than anything I’d ever experienced.
After a few seconds of screaming, Gaelin managed to slow the pinecone-shaped machine down, and with a lurch, we jerked to a halt.
I flew through the air, straight out of the rear compartment, through the main one, and right into the window shield of the driving compartment.
“Oww…” I groaned, peeling myself off of the glass and slumping in a puddle on the seat next to the driver.
“Um, Jellik? Where’d the Rending Rabbits go?” Dora asked nervously.
“Uh-oh,” I muttered, casting my senses out. In no time I found a region of empty space that repelled my magical detection. This was the only way for me to locate the Rending Rabbits; by finding the spot where their innate magic resistance blocked my magic-based senses. Having done so, I found the quartet of black furred bunnies gnawing on Gaelin’s boots without a care in the world, apparently unphased by being thrown about just now.
“Seems like they’ve moved on to solid food,” I joked. Dora rolled her eyes while Gaelin stifled a snort.
“Hey, so, where exactly is the Whispering Nebula?” Gaelin asked, glancing over at me.
“That is a good question. Where are we now?” I inquired, looking out the window at the scenery before us. I couldn’t spot the brass clamshell that was Mez’Molzc, so the boost the engine gave us must have catapulted us pretty far.
“Miracle we didn’t ram into a planetoid during that time,” Dora muttered, coming up to stand in the passageway between the compartments, and looking out the front window with the rest of the group.
