by R J Triveri
Requirement met: 700 essence added to Splendor Solis.
Splendor Solis - Rank up! Rank 2 Pacts obtained!
Nightmourn Pact unlocked.
Additional Methods unlocked.
Please refer to the Splendor Solis for more details.
Well, that was easy. With that Athos nodded and got up from the couch. “Well, not such a bad day all in all.”
“Right, the bright side and all that. Now that you’ve got your gun, you’re coming with us for sure. The sun’s getting ready to go down, and we need to go get some more Nightbloom seeds for the greenhouse.”
“And you can’t buy it because I take it you’re the one that provides the seeds in the market, right?”
Walter nodded happily. “A burden and a curse to be honest, and I’ll be damned if I ask the Suits for help. Their tax is just ridiculous. Fifty percent. Bah!”
“Can’t you just ask another farmer?”
Again, Walter’s grin hit home. “I’ll ask them when they move here. For now, all we’ve got are ourselves to rely on, and since we’ve got you and that perk of yours, we shouldn’t have anything to worry about.”
Doubt crept into Athos’s voice as he spoke. “So you say.”
His friend simply cocked a brow while his grin only seemed to grow with his words. “Have I ever steered you wrong, Athos?”
The alchemical arm thought for a moment and came up wanting. “To be fair, you haven’t given me enough advice to steer me wrong.”
As usual, his laugh was boisterous. “True, Athos. Too true. Just give me some time then, and we’ll see. It isn’t often we get visitors, let alone make new friends. Give me enough time and I might just do more than steer you wrong.”
If that was supposed to be a comfort, it wasn't, but Athos took it as one all the same. “Thanks, I think.”
“Think nothing of it! Now, check your ammo, we’re heading out in five.”
He followed Walt out the door with his inventory open before him. Ten Pyrothium, sixteen Sol Arum, and a scattering of Obscurus Arum should be plenty on top of the regenerating basic ammo the cursed weapon had. He unholstered it again and for the first time really studied it. The weight was a bit more than before, but it also didn’t just feel like a weapon. It felt like it belonged with him. The soft pink, cushioned handle fit perfectly in his hand just as Sally had said it would. Strangely, the smell of gunpowder didn’t linger around it anymore. Instead, it smelled of the ocean, of salty air, and something else he didn’t quite recognize. He shrugged it off though as they walked outside. The setting sun almost blinded him before he blocked some of it with his arm.
“Woah! Watch where you’re pointing that thing, Athos,” Walter warned before taking a step back. “You don’t wanna frag me, do you?”
Athos quickly lowered his hand, before he even realized it was holding the weapon. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to.”
Walt shook his head. “I know you didn’t, but rule one of using a gun, never point it at anything you don’t intend to shoot.”
A given, but he shook his head all the same. “I’ll get used to it.”
He walked a bit closer and put his hand on the other’s shoulder. “I know you will, but I need you on defense tonight. Sally has a few tricks up her sleeve, but a gunner… sorry, an alchemical arm would really work in our favor.”
Made sense, a farmer and a mechanic could only do so much, but then that begged the question. “How did you do this before I got here then.”
Walt shrugged, rubbing the back of his head a bit before stroking his beard. “Honestly, we’ve never had much of the stuff. We get lucky from time to time and some will grow near the house, but it just isn’t enough to meet the demand that the medics and guilds have for it. If we can fill up that second greenhouse with it, I’ll be able to rest pretty easy for a while, and Sandra can stop worrying about not being at work.”
“What does she do?” Athos asked curiously as the pair continued their walk towards Sally’s workshop.
And there went Walt again, rubbing his beard nervously. “Sandra’s… well, she’s a Blade Dancer. A rank ten fencer with a second rank ten in dancer. She did gladiator fights until she got on to serve the royal guard in Graywall for a fortnight at a time.”
A gladiator? Blade Dancer? That woman was a hardened warrior? With a daughter like Sally, should he really be surprised? How did someone like Walter get a girl like that to notice him? “That does… well... What do I even say to that? Damn, Walter.”
His smile was telling as he walked with a bit more pep. “Persistence is an amazing thing, Athos. You’d be surprised what a few fruit and genuine kindness can do for someone.” A hint of pain painted his voice as he continued, “but I know you don’t have kids, Athos. Well, I don’t think you do anyways, but Sally needs her mother. I want to convince her to go back to the fights even If it pays less.” He sighed, looking off into the distance, “If something happens in Graywall like what happened in Tenebrae…”
“You don’t have to explain,” Athos quickly added before they reached her door. He already knew what it was like to lose both parents at once, but he doubted Walt thought about that aspect of his arrival. Walter wore his emotions on his sleeve so openly that even someone like Athos could easily read them. The tears that had started on his cheeks were more than telling enough.
“Aye, but… don’t tell Sally or Sandra I said that. I don’t want them to think I’m soft,” the marshmallow of a man explained before knocking on the side of the door frame. “Sally! Get your toys and bags! We’ve got work to do!” A moment later, a rumble came from inside as if a cannon went off, but Walter didn’t budge. In fact, he held Athos fast before he spoke again. “Come on, Sal, leave whatever you’re working on and come on out!”
A wasp-like buzzing came from the inside before the sound grew coming straight for the door. Another metallic bang rang through the air as Athos watched five large, golden hornets erupt from the door. “Walter?”
“Just don’t shoot them, Athos.”
The metallic wasps circled the pair as Walter gave the advice. One by one, the wasps lowered themselves down to eye level and studied each of them. Then just as they had come down, the five took to the air again and waited, hovering above the barn with a little more than their buzzing to accompany their presence.
“Aren’t they good drones?” Sally said as she emerged from the barn wearing something Athos had yet to see in Incipere.
“Is that armor?” Athos managed after a moment. The girl wore a helmet, bracers, and a form fitting chest plate, all in the same color of gold as the wasps. In the right angles, Athos swore that the helmet looked just like a stylized wasp’s head.
“You don’t think I’m going to just go out in clothes, did you?” She asked him before calling the wasps down with a thought to perch on her shoulders. “I’m a Mechanist, not a warrior.”
“I didn’t even know armor was an option.”
Sally sighed as Walter laughed. The mechanist walked next to the pair and simply gave him the rundown. “I don’t know why I expected anything less out of you, Athos. Most classes don’t have an armor proficiency unless you’re a combat class, but this armor lets me control my drones, so it’s a bit of an exception.”
A moment later, a message flashed in the bottom left of Athos’s vision:
Sally Queen => Athos Aramis: I got it from a skill book.
“What?”
“What, what?” Walter asked as another message flashed.
Sally Queen => Athos Aramis: Shut up!
Sally just looked at him as if he had grown another head. “Yeah, something up?”
“I…”
Sally Queen => Athos Aramis: This is a private message, Athos. Just act normal.
Athos nodded to no one but himself and got a bit of a curious look from Walter as he did. “Nothing, I think I’m just a bit confused.”
“Then listen closely. We’re going into the field, we’re going to collect from Nightbloom, and c
ome home. No heroics, no real hunting, no problems. Right?” Sally explained.
Sally Queen => Athos Aramis: And sorry, I thought you knew about private messages. Just think what you want to say to the person, and it’ll get sent.
Having his attention split was a bit more irritating, but it seemed worth the effort.
Athos Aramis => Sally Queen: Like this?
Sally Queen => Athos Aramis: Exactly, but remember the real world is still trying to interact with you. Dad just asked a question, the answer is yes.
Without even thinking, Athos blurted out. “Yes.”
“Good! Glad to see you weren’t just daydreaming.”
A party invitation has been sent. Would you like to accept?
His hand rose and pressed the accept button before three other bars appeared in the corner of his vision. Each bar marked integrity and had a name and a picture next to it; Sally, Walter, and Sandra all showed on his window under his health with five smaller bars for each of Sally’s little pets.
“It takes a bit to get used to, but just make sure we don’t drop. You’ve got our backs? Right, Athos?” Walter added with a grin before giving him a rough pat on the back.
Athos smiled at the vote of confidence, but his nerves would tell him otherwise. “I’ve got this.”
Sally Queen => Athos Aramis: Just don’t kill us, Athos.
Athos Aramis => Sally Queen: I don’t plan on it.
“Alright lady and gentleman, let’s quit standing around and get our asses in gear!”
The Moonlight Hunt
The walk into the field was a little louder than the daytime walk had been. At least, it was to Athos. The sounds of ambient crickets and the swaying of the grasses as they passed were deafening compared to the sounds of nothing he expected, but it was a sound that he didn’t mind. It felt natural to him. As natural as things could be for him here. It was a welcomed noise as his thoughts gathered, fought, reduced, grew, reduced again, and finally came to a single conclusion as the stars began to twinkle into existence. He couldn’t wouldn’t think of this world the way he had been. Not the way that Lucas and the rest of the Suits did.
“Athos!” Sally called as he started to fall behind in his thoughts. “Move your ass!”
He did as he was told and started to move quicker as his thoughts continued. Of course, he never really thought it was a game, but it seemed so much like one when he thought about where he had come from. There was no inventory, but he could carry things all the same. Both suns were warm, and the skies were blue too. The wind still blew, he still felt pain. In reality, it had been just like the books had said with a few… omissions. He really was just trading one world for another.
“Athos!”
He started to pick up the pace again as the pinpricks of light began to spread across the grasses. Some small, some large, some beautiful as the trio approached one in particular. Soft purple petals glowing in the night’s embrace greeting him as he finally caught up.
“Nightbloom?” he asked after Walter got up from inspecting it.
The large man nodded. “You should pick it, Athos. With those pointy ears of yours, we have a better chance of getting seeds.”
It made sense to him, so he did. Without actually having to break the stem, the flower disappeared into his inventory as easily as if he had cut it with a blade. For the first time, he noticed that he got a record in the same area that he had seen Sally’s private messages. “I got two seeds and five petals.”
Walter grinned. “Great! Only fifty more... give or take a few.”
Buzzing filled the air as Sally let loose her drones with a command. “Incoming from the left.”
Her left, Athos realized as he looked to his right and saw the grass rustling. Weapon pulled to his hand, he looked to her. “Can I get this one?”
She seemed surprised at his request and nodded. “Buzzers are on standby, Athos. Go get ‘em.”
As he pulled the weapon up to aim, a new reticle appeared showing each of his potion types and a small iron ball with an infinity symbol next to it. At least he knew how these things worked. His mind moved the pointer to the Pyrothium and aimed carefully as he pulled the trigger. A moment later the sound of rushing wind echoed in his ears as a small vial was sent rocketing ahead. “Clear!” He cried as it collided with the ground and burst into a pool of sweltering heat and licking flames.
“Holy shit,” Sally muttered rather loudly to herself as the flames died accompanied by a small flash of white.
“Be glad your mother wasn’t around,” Walter added sternly, “but holy shit, Athos.”
“What was that?”
He was a little surprised himself, but he smiled. “A Pyrothium shot. Only have a few of those left, but that was totally worth it.”
“It’s like a wizard’s fireball,” the girl commented before looking at the slightly damaged integrity of her drones. “That’ll come in handy tonight.”
“It will?”
Walter had lost most of the excitement that was usually in his voice as he looked around. “Stay on your toes, kids. That won’t be the only one tonight, so keep those eyes sharp.”
The sound of something whizzing through the air cut him off and collided with his arm. In Athos’s vision, he could see Walter’s integrity drop. It wasn’t much, but it made him worry all the same until Sally’s drones flew off to the right and descended into the grass. Another burst of white light followed quickly after. “Damn.”
Walter rubbed a spot on his arm and sighed. “Damn grass fishers.”
A strange look painted Athos’s face as a question blurted from his mouth. “Fishers? As in fish? You’re joking.”
He turned back to Athos and pointed. “Behind you!”
Almost on instinct, his ammo type changed due to the short distance and shot as the creature jumped from the grass towards his face. The grass fisher was about the length of his arm, covered in spines, and had the gnarliest teeth he had ever seen on a creature. One set hung grotesquely over its face while a second pair crisscrossed the first, but it still somehow managed to open wide enough to attempt to take a bite out of him. Of course, the only thing it was eating now was iron shot. To his disappointment, the attack only sent it back into the sea of grass. The cry was a small comfort as he thought about how it tried to take his face off.
“Nice shot,” Walter said rubbing the spot again before looking back out over the starlit grasses. “Let’s get moving; we don’t have time to waste.”
Sally nodded in agreement. “They’ll rank up if they get too close to each other.”
Athos had to agree with the urgency in their voices as he looked towards the next soft purple glow. Across the way were multiple bending trails in the grass. Each one wavered a different direction in a different way. He bet his money on it that they were Wild Ones. He couldn’t be taken by surprise like that again. He refused to, but then again, he had never been that fast before. It almost felt like his body had acted on strict instinct.
The trio tried to move quickly, but it was very slow going from one place to another as they tried their best to avoid the nests of grass fishers. One or two they could take on pretty easily, but any more than that was just asking for trouble even if they had the ranking advantage at the moment. Though with each encounter, Athos only got more and more skilled with his new title. Magus deterred the fishers while the drones circled behind the stunned Wild Ones and finished them off. All the while, the group was not much worse for wear by the time they reached the next spot. In short order, Athos picked the plant, announced the seed and petal count, and then moved on. The night continued slowly as the group picked their way through the field, but it was anything but boring.
“Sally, watch your back!” Walter cried as one of the fishers tried to take a bite of her. Thankfully, the armor was too thick and bounced off, but not without taking some of her integrity with it.
“Shit.” Her voice was slightly strained as her group of drones descended against another group
to block a set of flying spines before going in for the kill.
“Sorry, I wasn’t quick enough,” Athos relented. He had fallen into the groove of following Sally’s strikes. Where her drones went, his shots soon followed. Whether it was with a bullet or a vial, he tried to keep their numbers in check, but his eyes weren’t as sharp as he hoped since that last one slipped through.
“Just don’t let it happen again. The drones are almost out of juice.”
Each shot continued to draw them in though, so bullets quickly became the option of last resort. The soft whoosh of the compressed air was he new best friend, but Pyrothium was quickly in short supply as he scorched the grasses around them and forced another group away with little experience for their troubles. That particularly nasty engagement cost Athos two vials of Pyrothium.
Speaking dwindled to the essentials and even then, it was hushed. The only sounds outside of the soft steps of their feet crushing down the grass were the puffs of air Athos fired and the buzzing of the drones. It was like the movement of a well-oiled clock. Each tick had a purpose, each buzz counted off another moment, and each word punctuated the importance of the time that had passed.
Despite their progress, something nagged deeply at Athos’s mind as they continued to gather more and more of the plants. It wasn’t a single thing he could put a name to, but it lingered all the same like the fog that was starting to roll over the Sea of Grass.
“That makes fifty,” Athos finally declared after the last flower was picked, and its seeds were counted.
“Excellent! Now, we can start heading back and go to bed,” Walter grinned giving Athos a pat on the back, “and it isn’t even two yet!”
The soft rustling of grass perked Athos’s pointed ears. “I don’t think it’ll be that easy, Walter.”
