by J. Cee
Violet energy coursed through the hand gripping Ceph’s leg. There was no way to parry Soulstrikes delivered through contact. Ceph cast an Interference Shield instead while swiping at the brute with more Steelstrikes. He tried to kick the brute’s hand away, but the creature wouldn’t let go. Given the difference in ranks, the brute was happy to trade attacks at point blank range.
Faros and Kayla had stopped attacking, as they were afraid of hitting Ceph. Suddenly, a Soulstrike flew out from the trees towards Ceph and the brute. The brute swung Ceph by his leg, slamming him into the incoming attack as a body shield.
“Focus! Stick to the plan!” Ceph cried. He caught a glimpse of Seth peeking out with a guilty expression on his face.
“Seth, get over here!” Kayla shouted.
Ceph kept attacking the brute with Steelstrikes, conserving his spirit for shields. He couldn’t see what else was happening on the battlefield, but he knew that they were in trouble. Their plan had already fallen apart.
“Zeudah, Zeudah!” Ceph yelled. “I can’t get free!”
Ceph gritted his teeth as the brute sent another Soulstrike into his leg, hoping that the seasoned fighter had heard him.
A few seconds later, Ceph and the brute were hurled to the ground as another body crashed into them. The brute’s grip on Ceph broke, and Ceph rolled free. He caught a glimpse of Zeudah dashing back towards the other brute with his sword in hand.
“Attack! Attack!” Ceph changed tactics, staying out of the brute’s immediate range so that the cultists could attack without fear of hitting him. He noticed that the boy Seth was standing with the other cultists now. Ceph sent a charged Soulstrike at the brute, trying to wear down its blood pool from a distance. The brute wouldn’t let Ceph stay still. The brute kept rushing him, and Ceph had to dance backwards, dodging the creature’s lunges and parrying incoming Soulstrikes. The whole time, he also tried to leave a clear angle of attack for the cultists.
The fight was messy and frenetic, but for a moment, Ceph relaxed, slipping into a rhythm. Between Ceph’s strong attacks and the constant barrage of weak attacks from the cultists, the brute’s aura was dimming at a steady pace. Ceph managed to avoid major damage by relying on parries and his large blood pool. He even managed to glance at Zeudah’s fight.
Neither Zeudah nor the ax-wielding brute looked to be significantly hurt, but Zeudah had somehow managed to keep his opponent’s full attention so far. The former Everborn fought defensively, relying on mobility and parries.
In an instant, the fight changed. The first brute, sensing that it was close to death, raised his head high and roared with defiance. The second brute responded in kind. The cry and response made Ceph’s skin prickle. Even Zeudah retreated an extra step backwards from his opponent in preparation for the unexpected.
Suddenly, both brutes converged upon the three cultists in a mad rush. The cultists stared in shock.
“Run and shield!” Ceph yelled, but the cultists either didn’t have enough spirit left or the presence of mind to respond.
The first brute seized the boy by the throat and released a charged Soulstrike. The mismatch in ranks yielded an immediate result. The young head vanished, replaced with blood-laced fragments of brain and bone. Seizing the boy’s arms, one in each hand, the brute tore the dead body in two with a slow, deliberate motion. Faros screamed.
Ceph started running towards the brutes, but Zeudah called out to him. “Ceph, stop! Look!” Zeudah pointed towards the cavern entrance.
Ceph paused. The way was clear. Was Zeudah telling him to abandon the cultists, leaving them to their fate? Ceph knew that had always been one of the possibilities, but seeing the boy die in such a horrendous manner had changed his mind. He couldn’t leave the cultists to die with the brutes.
“Ceph! Go! It’s too late out here!”
The second brute reached the screaming old man and attacked with his ax. Ceph saw the old man’s aura dim to a fraction of its original intensity. The next Steelstrike would kill Faros.
“Fuck!” Ceph screamed in frustration.
The two brutes stopped to look back at him. They laughed. Then, they turned back to the dying cultists, ignoring him.
Zeudah was at Ceph’s side now. “Go, hurry. I’ll delay them a bit longer. Meet back at Myrtle’s. Go!” Zeudah pushed Ceph towards the cavern entrance. Ceph stepped forward to prevent himself from tripping. He took another step. Then, another. Soon, he was running into the dark cavern, cursing the entire time, the screams of death still ringing in his ears.
“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.”
* * *
A single path twisted deeper into the darkness. Ceph ran as far as he dared before slowing down to let his eyes adjust to the dim light of the cavern’s interior. Some kind of glowing moss coated the ceiling. Ceph stopped to look backwards. He couldn’t see any signs of pursuit. Part of him wanted to return to the fight, but he knew that he was no match for two yellow-aura brutes on his own. He had to forge ahead to find Aeri.
His goal wasn’t to kill the brutes, Ceph reminded himself. It was to escape with Aeri. Ceph patted his tunic and felt the lump of the recall gem in a hidden pocket. Zeudah had split the two last gems he had between himself and Ceph. Ceph had no doubt that Zeudah would survive. Zeudah had escaped Jexaka and the Swarm even as his world turned upside down.
Ceph stepped forward again more slowly, searching for signs of locust-men or other creatures. Nothing challenged his descent into the cavern’s belly, though, and Ceph’s pace soon quickened. The path didn’t split, either, but simply wound its way deeper into the earth. Ceph thanked his luck, as he hated mazes.
Minutes passed. Soon, the air changed, taking on a damp taste. There were small noises, like the sound of rats scurrying along the ground. Finally, the path leveled out and opened into a larger chamber. The sounds grew louder. Ceph tiptoed his way to the chamber’s entrance, staying out of the line of sight of any inhabitants. He crept forward, peeking with one eye into the new terrain.
Ceph blinked at the scene before him. A massive underground chamber sprawled as far as he could see, with large rocky structures spread throughout it. Crawling over the giant stalactites and stalagmites were countless locust-men. From Ceph’s distance, they looked like an infestation of tiny ants. The center of the chamber had a large flat rock. On it, with her back to Ceph, sat a lone figure. Aeri.
A sharp chittering interrupted Ceph’s reconnaissance. He spun around and saw a single locust-man leaping for his throat. Reacting from pure reflex, Ceph raised a hand and cast a Soulstrike. The violet bolt pierced the locust-man’s body before exploding in a flash of light. The entire exchange had taken only a second.
The rumble of skittering creatures in the distance came to an abrupt end, creating an eerie moment of silence. Then, the chamber erupted in a cacophony of screeches as hundreds of creatures rushed towards the disturbance.
“Oh, come on!” Ceph had already taken the stopper out of the mimic powder’s bottle. He poured about half of the remaining powder directly into his mouth, followed by instant regret as the dry substance soaked up all the moisture in his mouth.
“Mwaaarrgh!” Ceph covered his mouth with his hands to prevent himself from throwing up the precious powder. He managed to swallow the majority of the mouthful before a cough forced the remaining sticky mixture past his lips.
Locust-man, locust-man, locust-man. Ceph focused on the swarm of creatures approaching the chamber’s entrance. Locust-man!
The Swarm swept out of the entrance and flooded the passageway. Ceph remained motionless as limbs and bodies brushed past him. The mimic powder worked, though, and none of the creatures stopped to pay him any attention.
As the tide of locust-men emerging from the chamber slowed, Ceph squeezed in the opposite direction past the mass of bodies. The icy cold touch of the locust-men surprised Ceph, but he pushed his way into the chamber. Would the mimic powder mask his body heat as well? He shoved his way to an empty patch of rock. Looking back, Ceph saw locust-men spin abo
ut in confusion, as if sensing an invisible intruder. To his horror, the closest creature reached out to him with a clawed limb.
Ceph scrambled away, leaving a trail of anxious locust-men in his wake. Up ahead, Aeri was standing, gazing at the mass of bodies clogging the chamber’s entrance. Her keen eyes scanned the scene, and Ceph saw a spark of understanding as she seemed to detect a pattern to the confusion.
Ceph grabbed the recall gem from inside his tunic and tore it free from its pocket. He would spring to Aeri, grab her, and activate the recall gem, taking them to safety.
Just as Ceph was about to rush forward, another locust-man ran towards Aeri. She sidestepped the creature and chopped down hard with her right hand, crushing the creature’s head.
Ceph stopped. Aeri wouldn’t be able to tell who he was. He’d have to warn her somehow. Or would he? She couldn’t hurt his blood pool with her physical attacks. And threatening Aeri was the perfect cover.
Ceph streaked towards Aeri while brandishing his hands in what he hoped was a convincing illusion of a clawed attack. He leapt towards Aeri, who responded by raising her hand and sending a Soulstrike into Ceph’s face.
“Ow!” Ceph cried as he crashed into Aeri, sending the two tumbling to the ground. “Did you have to do that?”
“What?” Aeri asked. “Who’s there? Ceph, is that you?”
“Yes, it’s me.” Ceph pulled himself up and tried to take Aeri’s hand, but she jerked it back. “Hurry! We don’t have much time.”
Aeri rolled away to a defensive crouch. “What’s going on? Is this some trick?”
Ceph eyed a ring of locust-men that had noticed the pair’s discussion. Ceph wasn’t behaving like a normal member of the Swarm.
“It’s mimic powder. I’ll explain later.” Ceph reached for Aeri’s hand again. “Aeri, we don’t have time. They’re getting suspicious.”
Aeri opened her fist. The locust-men must have realized something was wrong. Ceph winced at a deafening clash of screeches.
“Aeri!”
Ceph reached out again for Aeri’s hand. Their palms met with the recall gem clasped in between. As a hundred pairs of claws lunged forward, Ceph closed his hand tightly around Aeri’s, crushing the gem with ease. The pinprick of claws began to pierce his back and limbs. Then, the two Onceborn vanished.
Chapter 27
The brute readied his ax for another swing at Faros. Zeudah turned away, distancing himself from the scene. The fight was lost, but it had served its purpose in getting Ceph past the guards. Aeri’s fate, and if Myrtle was to be believed, his own, were now in Ceph’s hands.
Zeudah reached into his tunic and closed his fingers around the recall gem, shaking his head. Pitting three rank nines with no fighting experience against the brutes? The whole plan had been doomed from the start. He guessed that the brutes were more than ten times higher in rank than the cultists. Zeudah had managed to fight one to a standstill, but he had better equipment and, frankly, was one of the best fighters in Xero.
The old man’s screaming stopped. Another one dead. Or were they? It’s not like these things were even alive in the first place? Out of morbid curiosity, he looked back at the cultists. The two brutes were descending on the old priestess Kayla. She ignored the brutes, staring at Zeudah, who was in the middle of abandoning them. Her accusing eyes bore into him.
Kayla’s mouth opened one last time as a brute seized her. It wasn’t a scream. It was a condemnation. Zeudah had no trouble hearing her last word as his fist crushed the recall gem.
“Everborn.”
A moment later, Zeudah appeared in the same circular room he had fled to in his first encounter with Jexaka. The old woman’s words lingered.
He mouthed the word. Everborn. He was no longer one of them. Zeudah touched the red mark on his neck. He drew his sword and held up the flat of the blade as a mirror, studying the cross-shaped sigil. He was no longer one of them, no longer an Everborn.
“Shit.”
Zeudah sheathed his sword. He needed to find a way to remove the damn curse and get back home. Jexaka was a liar, and Myrtle… he couldn’t even see her face. He didn’t believe a word they had said about his home. He couldn’t. Still…
All he knew was that the Beastspawn, Aeri, was the key. He felt helpless, not because of his low rank, but because he didn’t know how to fight the problem. For now, all he could do was get more information, grow stronger, and aid the Beastspawn. He knew how to do at least one of those.
Zeudah rooted around in his chest until he found an ornate blue dagger with a gem in its pommel. He carefully wrapped the dagger in cloth and hid it inside his tunic. Then, Zeudah left his safehouse and headed towards the eastern part of the city. He intended to grind power points before Ceph came back. Assuming Ceph was successful, the Onceborn shouldn’t mind waiting at Myrtle’s shop for him.
As Zeudah continued eastward, clean streets and tall marble offices gave way to dusty paths and shabby storefronts. He kicked away a flock of crows pecking at rotting garbage and made a face as he stepped on fresh bird droppings. A row of even dirtier alleys branched off the main road. Obscene words and worse drawings were scratched into the walls of the cheap wooden buildings lining these alleys. Zeudah studied the markings until he found a symbol of a sword and shield.
Zeudah pounded on a locked door in the side of the building beneath the symbol. The door swung open, and an Everborn dressed in stinking animal leathers greeted him. Inspect. His aura was bright red.
The higher ranked Everborn waited for Zeudah to speak first.
“Ah, I have my payment here.” Zeudah reached into his tunic and presented the man with the dagger.
The Everborn unwrapped Zeudah’s package and whistled when he saw the dagger.
“Where’d you get this?”
Zeudah shrugged. “An old friend.”
The Everborn squinted at Zeudah. “You one of those rich boys with a patron or something?”
“I’m here to purchase ranks, not chat.”
The Everborn smirked. “Definitely one of those pampered snots.” He jerked his thumb behind himself. “You can take the whole lot. This toy here, as you probably know, is enough to buy several lots, but I’m afraid we don’t provide credit or change. Or refunds.”
“Whatever.” Zeudah pushed past the doorman into the hallway.
“Have fun, moneybags,” the Everborn called after him. Zeudah raised a middle finger above his head as he continued down the hall. The Everborn chuckled.
Zeudah walked further into the building until he reached the end of the hall, where a large iron door blocked his path. Zeudah pulled on the handle and found that the door was unlocked. As the door creaked open on rusty hinges, a loud chorus of wails and whimpers emerged. Zeudah stepped through the door.
The room was a prison. Iron bars from floor to ceiling lined three of the walls. The cages were brimming with prisoners of all ages, genders, and sizes, packed so tightly that prisoners could only stand. The occasional unconscious or sleeping figure was kept upright by the sea of bodies around it. The smell of human filth would have made others gag, but not Zeudah. He had smelled worse in the Pits.
A disheveled small man was sleeping in a chair to Zeudah’s right, next to a shelf full of what looked like medical instruments. The short man wore spectacles and a yellow top hat, which looked out of place with the cheap brown rags making up the rest of his attire. The hat somehow stayed balanced on the man’s head, despite him leaning back in his sleep. No one in the room had an aura. These were not Everborn.
“Excuse me,” Zeudah said. When the short man didn’t stir, he kicked the chair.
The short man opened his eyes and blinked several times. “What? Huh? Oh. A customer.” He jumped out of his seat and readjusted his spectacles.
“Hello, I’m Dr. Quinn at your service.”
“I’m here for the whole lot,” Zeudah said.
“The whole lot?” Quinn glanced at the shelves and started pulling down glass jars filled with
a dark liquid. “We should have enough. What’s your current rank?”
“Thirteen.”
“I’ll prepare the dosage.”
The short man busied himself with the jars, measuring and pouring liquids. After several minutes he filled a hollow metal tube with a final mixture and closed it. One end of the tube was tapered into a point, while the other end had some kind of handle sticking out. Quinn held the tube carefully, making sure that the tapered end was towards the ceiling.
Quinn walked towards the nearest cage. “You know how this works?”
Zeudah nodded. “Not my first time.”
“Good. Good. If you would?” Quinn gestured to the iron bars.
The prison cages had no doors. Zeudah walked up next to Quinn and gripped two iron bars. He pulled them apart with his Onceborn might until there was a medium-sized gap. The prisoners inside began screaming louder, trying to shrink away from the opening. Zeudah reached inside the cage and caught the closest prisoner. It was a skinny young man, probably around Ceph’s age. Zeudah dragged the thrashing young man through the gap in the bars. Zeudah held the prisoner down while Quinn jabbed the crude syringe into the young man’s thigh.
“Please, no, please!” the young man begged.
Zeudah saw fresh bright blood and dark liquid from the syringe mingle and leak from the edge of the wound. He waited a second. Inspect. To Zeudah’s eyes, a weak blue aura flickered to life around the young man. Zeudah immediately cast a Soulstrike through the hand holding down the prisoner.
“Wait!” Quinn cried as he stepped back.
The right half of the prisoner exploded. The other prisoners erupted in cries and shouts, but Zeudah ignored them.
“Can you do that over the drain?” Quinn pointed at a metal grill in the center of the floor. He looked annoyed.
“Sorry,” Zeudah said. “The dose was off. The aura was blue.” He checked his status. Corpus. He hadn’t gained a power point.
“Really? The batch must be getting old. I’ll up the dose for the next one.” Quinn returned to the table with bottles and measured more liquids.
