She moves her hand to take another bite and then hesitates, she then tosses the roasted meat away. She looks me up and down,
"How do you know about that place?" She yells, instead of using Mind Speak. She is standing up, taking an aggressive stance towards me.
I slowly stand up, "I don't like the way you are talking to me."
Her eyes blaze with fury for a moment, then she relaxes. "I'm sorry, Master." She walks over and stands in front of me. "You may punish me." She starts to raise her skirt.
I feel myself wanting to do just that, but I push that feeling down. I can tell she is trying to manipulate the situation so that I drop the subject. "Just tell me why you reacted the way you did?"
She grinds her teeth, her face contorting in an array of emotions.
"Tell me, these Companion Laws you spoke of, am I able to make you do whatever I want? Even if you do not want to?" I ask her.
That fury I saw earlier flashes across her face. "Yes, Master. You must speak my name and use the Power Word Compel."
"Power Word? I have not heard of that term before, what is it?" I ask.
She sighs, "They are extremely powerful words, if used within the correct bounds and conditions. Most people do not meet the criteria to be able to use a Power Word. Plus, most do not know of their existence. If I was not under the laws of Subjugation, the Power Word I just told you would not work."
"Sarvina Uils, I Compel you." I say, feeling a thrill, which is odd considering my lack of emotions.
Her face glazes over, her eyes becoming glassy. "Yes, Master?" She says in a robotic voice.
"Tell me, why did you react the way you did when I mentioned Facility Zero? What is its significance?"
"My response was spurned from my status as a member of the Royal Family of Ala-Vis. Lower and unworthy species such as a Terran should not even know of its existence. Facility Zero is where the most advanced technology of the Progenitors and other alien species is kept. All of the knowledge of the universe is kept there as well as all known Skill Orbs. There are a number of Legendary and Mythic items housed within the facility." She drones on.
"Interesting." I look at my glassy eyed Companion. "Squawk like a chicken." I compel her.
"I'm sorry, Master, I do not understand your order."
I realize that I do not know how to end the control I currently have over her. "Uh... end compulsion." She just stands there. I snap my fingers. Nothing. "How do I end compelling you?"
"You must say my name and use the Power Word Wake."
I do as she says and Sarvina blinks her eyes, looking around confused for a moment. Then looks at me, a tear running down her face. "You had complete and utter control over me... it was so terrifying... and so fucking sexy... you need to take me NOW." She screams the last word at me, her crazy coming to the surface.
After the very heated joining of our bodies Sarvina sits up and looks down at me. "I have never been compelled before." She looks at me with a side glance. "I think... she would have taken over if you hadn't taken me."
"The Cursed?"
She nods at me. "I felt her about to take over after you ended the compulsion." She looks at me for a few moments, searching my face for something. "It's a strange feeling knowing that you can control me, but it is also freeing in a way. I don't know what my purpose is anymore, all of my people are gone. Will you help me find out what happened?"
"Yes. I wish to know what happened to your... our people."
"Will you tell me how you know about Facility Zero?" She asks.
"Kala and I found a Progenitor ruin that contained a construct called X-20, after we released it he told us of the existence of Facility Zero. But, it turned out we were all pawns being orchestrated by another X-Unit calling himself The Watcher. I do not know what the endgame is, but he seemed to be helping us." I tell her, watching her face contort in a series of emotions, from surprise to fear.
"That was so foolish, Master."
"Sometimes it sounds like you use 'Master' as an insult." I challenge her eyes.
"You have no idea what you have done. X-Units are supremely dangerous, please tell me you didn't unlock its A.I.?"
"Why does it matter, it has a kill switch that is bound to me. Plus, I don't even know if it survived when The Caste destroyed the village where I was staying. Doc was a great help to us and seemed to be growing with emotions, I believe he genuinely cared." I tell her.
Sarvina's face darkens, "Idiot. I should kill you right here, right now."
I tense, "I thought you were not able to harm me?"
She glares at me, clenching her jaw. Her eyes start to turn pure black, but she grinds her teeth, and the darkness recedes. "Master... there is much you do not know, nor do you understand." I hear something dripping and look down to see her hand clenched so tight that it is dripping purple blood. "Please just trust me." She closes her eyes. "Let us continue our journey. Until our bond is stronger, I can't discuss these things with you."
"I don't trust you." I tell her point blank.
She sighs, "Power Word Death. Spoken in the same manner as the other Power Words, it will instantly end my life. It will not break our bond, as I am immortal, but it will give you ultimate control. Ultimate power over someone is better than trust."
I nod, feeling better with this knowledge. Sarvina moves to mount the unicorn.
She looks at me with curiosity.
Her face pales, "That is a much greater extent of something only the X-Units were able to do. How did you get such an ability?"
I hold my hands out, black tattoos adorn the tops of my hands. "One is The Mark of the Watcher, and the other is the Mark of Synthesis. The latter gives me the ability called Soul Touch. I don't know how I got them."
"I noticed them, but I did not think they were important." She tells me, but the feelings I get from her make me think she is working in the wiggle room of deception.
I pull out the Fast Travel Orb.
"My, oh my, you are full of surprises. What else do you have in that bag of yours? You do know that won't work outside of the Fast Travel alcove?" She picks up the golden orb, it is engraved with intricate designs and has a dense mass for its size.
I take it back from her hands and sit down. I activate Active Death, the world turning gray around me as everything is filtered away. Focusing on the orb I use Soul Touch. My mind is flooded with new information. The orb is made of gold and Xorite. I was crafted by a master in portal technology, but I do not absorb his knowledge. Thousands of Progenitors touch me as I transport them to various destinations. The technology is similar to what I had built on the spaceship that brought me to this planet. The world around me flashes, and flashes over and over, faster and faster. I am vaguely aware of Sarvina yelling at me. There is one final flash and then I am falling. I flail my arms about in open air, the ground is far below me, approaching fast, and then I am face first on the ground. The wind knocked out of me, 16% of my health gone. Then time reverses and I am in the air again. Seems Temporal Preservation kicked in, but all it is doing is making me experience falling on my face again. The ten-minute refresh timer for Temporal Preservation is ticking down. I wonder why it didn't kick in when Sarvina was choking me? Or when she slapped me? Or when she clawed up my back...
"Well, that was amusing. You were teleporting all over the place. I'm sur
prised you didn't end up ten feet under the ground." She says with a chuckle.
I wince as I get up, I think I bruised some of my ribs. "Thanks for your concern."
She shrugs, "There was really nothing I could have done to help you." She waits for a moment, "So? Did you get anything from it?"
I pull up my notification.
Congratulations! Using Soul Touch has increased your knowledge of your existing skill Teleportation, this skill has leveled up to 32, you have been awarded 3,200 experience. Your intelligence has increased by 12 points. Due to your Focus of Ameliorater, you may now Upgrade, or Empower the skill.
I now know I am able to teleport myself, or someone else, short distances at the current skill level. I fill Sarvina in, then open up the Upgrade menu.
Congratulations! You can Upgrade or Empower the Skill:
Teleportation (Intermediate, Lvl 36)
Upgrade: Portals
Empowered: Teleportation
Teleportation is a line of sight skill, so distances allowed are only as far as you are able to see. Portals will allow the user to create an unstable wormhole to a location previously visited (Portals off-world are not allowed). Portals require a substantial amount of mental energy and will only remain open for 5 seconds.
You may now teleport up to 4 objects, creatures, or people at the same time. Total mass allowed is 400 lbs. Empowered Teleportation will also allow the user to bypass 20% of an enemy’s physical and mental resistances.
"Portals. There is no debate." Sarvina tells me after I show her my choices.
"Why? Seems like dropping 400 pounds on someone is overkill and just what I need."
She looks at me like I'm a moron. "Oh. You are serious." She sighs. "Jax, this ability you have, Soul Touch, it's extraordinary. Then pair it with your focus and you are in line to become this world’s ruler. Let me help you, I will be your queen and adviser. You can't think small. Empowering the skill sounds like it is powerful. But, there were only a handful in my time with the knowledge of Portals. You would be a fool to pass it up."
"That is the first time you have used my name."
She gets on her knees, "My apologies, Master."
I ignore her and select Portals, I know she is right when she said to pick this Upgrade, but I'm not going to tell her that.
We mount the reanimated unicorn and ride in silence for a few hours, I sense her rage coming down slowly. We step through some of the red trees that grow so profusely on these mountains, a well-worn road greets us. It leads up into the mountain, off in the distance we can see smoke and a huge wall. I sense Sarvina's happiness, I am unable to process the feeling, it dies immediately as I begin to feel it.
She twists her body to look at me from her seat upon the unicorn,
She smiles wickedly and leans in to kiss me, her tongue dancing within my mouth. We ride on for 15 more minutes.
"Halt! This is a restricted area. State your business." A bearded guard yells at us from high on the wall.
Sarvina and I hop down from our mount. "We need you to open these gates and then everyone within will have 30 minutes to leave this area." I yell back.
The bearded guard looks at another guard, they look back down at us and then laugh. "Shoo! This is no place for people of your low level." The non-bearded guard yells after he stops laughing.
Sarvina and I both hid most of our User Info, luckily these guards didn't use anything more powerful than Analyze, all they know of us is our levels.
"We are here to fight The Caste. We have no quarrel with you, but if you do not do as I ask we will have to kill you and everyone beyond this gate." I say, not responding to my Companion.
Both of the guards faces instantly become hard, one of them points a crossbow at me. "This is your last warning. Leave now."
"How dare you threaten my Master. We are the rightful owners of The Red Gate, you are dirty squatters." Sarvina screams, her face pure hate.
"Look out! There is a Langhu!" The guard not pointing the crossbow yells. The bearded guard twirls to face the red skinned Langhu running at him with a huge ax. The bearded guard backs up, almost falling on his ass.
"Stop!" The bearded guard yells. When the charging Langhu doesn't the guard releases the bolt from the crossbow. The projectile passes straight through the Langhu causing the intruder to disappear. The crossbow bolt is now sticking out of the eye socket of the other guard. "What? No!" The guard that just shot his coworker yells. He drops the crossbow, like it is a snake. Before he can do anything, there is a purple lasso of energy around him. He looks down at the grinning face of a blue skinned woman. She pulls and he comes tumbling down the wall, his head bursting on the stones below.
I, on the other hand am numb, these are the first humans I have ever killed. It was surprisingly easy. If only they would have listened, I am only trying to save them. If I must kill a few to save the many, so be it. I must kill The Caste, and these fools are trying to stop me. Why would they be so moronic?
New Quest Alert:
Takeover of Land's Wound
You and Sarvina have begun attacking Land's Wound. This is a strategic war point. If you take over this location, you will become a War Commander of this location.
Quest Type: Epic
Difficulty: Very Hard
Rewards: Land's Wound, War Commander User Menu, 5,000 experience
Tola'Val Soldiers Remaining: 98/100
Do you accept this event quest? Y/N
As soon as I accept the quest a loud gong rings, sounding from within.
Chapter Eighteen: The Long Road of Assholes
~
Jill woke to a notification that war had come to this land.
"You must leave." Jill hears a voice say.
Jill yelps out and twirls around, "You scared the crap out of me." Jill says to a transformed Nessa. She is larger, her hair a mixture of green and silver.
"It is official. War. A horrible thing, so much death and suffering will occur. But the fairies can no longer stand idly by. I have already met with my council, now that the Wood and Silver are one we are united. We will fight. Scouts have reported that forces on both sides are headed to a location in the Red Mountains. If you move quickly you can cut around The Caste and reach the human forces first." Nessa tells her.
Jill stretches and yawns, "Geez... not the best way to wake up. Are you sure it's a good idea for me to leave alone? I'm still not a high level, I don't even have a focus. Why can't we go together?"
"You will not travel alone. Aurelia and Thunder will accompany you."
Jill chuckles, and then realizes Nessa is serious. "You can't be serious. Why would I take Aurelia with me? She needs to stay here, where it is safe."
Nessa looks sad, "Aurelia already tried to leave without you. She barely slept, she just sat and watched The Caste march by, anger rolling off of her like a river. That child... there is such power in her, it is frightening. You or I cannot stop her and you can't leave her here. You temper her, as she does you. Without each other Corruption will take hold in your hearts." Nessa flutters up and lands on Jill's knee. "I see much pain in both of your futures, but I also sense great love in both of your hearts. I fear th
is war may be lost if she does not fight."
"Are you really asking a child to fight in a war? We can't. I can't. I want her to have a childhood, play with some fucking dolls, or whatever there is to do on this stupid god damn world." Jill is now screaming, her body shaking with both anger and sadness.
Nessa closes her eyes. "I'm sorry, Jill. That is not possible."
They both sit quietly for a few minutes.
"I have a Fairy Bag of Holding for each of you. They are rare items that diminish the weight of its contents by 75% and have 100 slots. I have also placed some of our scared fruits within. It's all I can provide. The Silver Wood Fairies will make preparations and leave in a few days, we travel much faster, so we will catch up." The Fairy Queen tells Jill. Nessa hesitates for a moment and then holds her hand out to Jill. She drops a glittering stone in Jill's hand. "One of my tears. Do not use it lightly, if at all. I had a vision while in Chrysalis... the tear may not even be for you, but for the child. Just promise me that you will not use it or give it to her unless the situation is dire."
"Thank you." Jill places the tear in her Flux inventory. "Will it allow someone to command people the way you did?"
"Oh. No, Power Words are extremely situational and can't be wielded by just anyone." Nessa cringes, "My apologies, I was not trying to imply that you or Aurelia are not special..."
Jill holds up her hand stopping Nessa, "It's okay. I get it."
Nessa bows her head to Jill. "The child and the Wiger are outside, pacing. She is eager for blood. Please, guide her, show her the way is to protect and love. Vengeance will only destroy her... and you."
Jill avoids Nessa's gaze, feeling embarrassed for a moment, not quite understanding why. Then she realizes that she sought revenge against The Caste and Nessa knew.
Chrysalis: The Crucible of Immortality Book 2 Page 21
