by R J Triveri
“And how the hell do you know that?” Sally asked as the drones closed around her.
“Because am beyond your limitations.” A moment later, it turned its attention back to Athos. “Fifty percent of your life and your blessings. I will seal my contract with you for that.”
“He can’t do that!” Torrent interjected before Athos could speak. “He’d be helpless.”
“That is for him to decide.”
And just like that, it was all eyes back on Athos. “We don’t want to kill her.”
“I do not wish to kill If you do not. My purpose is to purge impurities, assist you to your goals, and protect you, Athos.” As if it’s impatience was growing, it continued to speak. “I will not be summoned a second time if you refuse, but my offer stands resolute. Do you accept?”
Sally’s hand tightened on his shoulder. What option did they really have? Reluctantly, he nodded. “I accept.”
The spear pierced the veil of light and drove itself through his chest on a single, powerful motion. “Then the pact is struck.”
Pact Accepted!
Fire rushed through every nerve in his body, and to the horror of those around him, he convulsed on the spear that was impaled in his chest. His hands wrapping around the pole of it as the shimmering silver of the spear pulled his integrity from him into its form.
Damage Received - 35% integrity remaining - Integrity Critical
A glow shimmered and shattered around him as the beast held the spear in place to the shouting of Sally and Torrent. Trina simply watched as horror painted her face like a morose mask.
Blessings removed: Vedava’s Blessing
Status removed: Hobbled
Sally’s voice pierced the air first. “Athos!”
But Torrent’s was close behind. “Holy shit, stop! You’re killing him!”
It ignored them as Athos cried out again as the spear was pulled free, leaving behind only the ripped fabric of his shirt and coat as proof the deed had been done. Not even a moment after, the fabric mended as the beast completed its task. “The pact is complete, Master Athos. What do you wish of me?”
His voice was weak, and his body was no better as his vision blurred. Every movement felt forced as he spoke, but as she had promised, the hobbled status was gone. He could stand more firmly on his own as his words found a voice. “Take us to Ioh.”
“As you wish, Master.”
With those words, Rain turned to the left of the group and began to clear the path. Each movement seemed to grow more confident as the group was led deeper and deeper into the shedding foliage.
****
“Is it done, Auxi?”
Proud couldn’t begin to describe how Ferris was feeling about her patchwork creation. Using the prebuilt protocols for summoning, she had seamlessly paused the area, re-purposed the code, and reinserted it as a new skill. She couldn’t wait to see the end results as the program’s directives began to take hold in the pact beast parameters. “It will be soon, Unum.”
“The data must be purged. We are running out of time.”
“As you say, Unum.”
Letting the pride melt from her mind, the Auxi returned to watching the modified code and the encroaching corruption against the still loaded core file of the dungeon. Despite all that, she had faith in her charge to do what needed to be done.
The Grove
“It is near,” came the echoing, metallic voice of Rain as it cleared the path, shattering whatever protections were preventing them from moving forward in the first place with a gust of solid air from her spear. It was almost entrancing to watch the enchantment on the foliage shatter or mingle with the shedding essence of nature.
However, Athos wasn’t one to be enthralled at that moment. The alchemical arm wasn’t moving nearly as quickly as his beast. His body wanted to give out as Sally and Torrent stood watch beside him along the way. It felt as though every muscle had given out on him, even after absorbing a healing salve’s effect, his integrity only reached fifty percent. The rest, Athos rationed, must be locked inside his pact beast.
“How are you holding up?” Sally asked as he stumbled again.
“I’ll survive.”
“You look like hell. I’ve never seen anyone survive an attack like that,” Torrent added as he looked over his friend with a new respect.
“Pact beasts need a payment,” Athos explained. “If you don’t have what they want, they will take your integrity as payment. Lillie did it, and I can only assume my other would have done it as well.”
“Then why use it?”
“Because we wouldn’t be making progress if I didn’t,” Athos almost snapped but relented as his face softened from a sudden shot of pain from his near-fragmented body. “It sucks, but we needed its help.”
“I still don’t how it happened,” Sally said. “You hadn’t set up anything for it, but everything changed…”
Torrent shrugged as if the strange world had become a common occurrence. “Like he said, Sally, his skill glitched and mutated. Probably has something to do with the weird shedding.”
“Seems too convenient to me,” she commented as she looked at Athos’s hand still painted with the pact’s symbol.
“It was,” Athos admitted. “I don’t like any of this. It’s not right…” He couldn’t help but watch the armored figure continue ahead as if the world could pay it no mind.
“Can’t you dismiss it?”
He shook his head. “From what I understand, once I create a pact, it doesn’t leave until its job is complete,” Athos rubbed the back of his palm where the new symbol imprinted. “or until it’s destroyed. At least, that’s how Lillie was.”
“Lille?” Torrent asked as the attention of a feminine name from Athos stole his attention.
“The first pact beast I summoned. She was a little fairy that acted as my guide in my first dungeon.”
“What happened to her.”
He sighed. “She got shot by the Suit I shot.”
Sally hung her head slightly in understanding, but Torrent paid the silence no mind as the pact beast came to a halt further ahead. He simply broke the quiet. “I think it’s found something.”
“I’ve brought you to where you requested,” Rain corrected before standing to the side. The spear wielder had carved a path through the forest to the center.
Escorted forward by Torrent and Sally, Athos confirmed what the pact beast had said. “This is it.” He recognized everything. Well, what there was to be recognized. The leafy beds, the collected foods, the lush green grass, the stage at the far end of the grove, but that was all that was left. The dryads were gone, the birds were silent, and in the center, the grove smoked a toxic, purple fume. Surrounding it, the lushness was gone. The green had faded to browns and purples while the soil was simply cracked and dried. The sky even seemed to go foul near the dryad boss as she stumbled around her home.
“What’s she doing?” Torrent asked as Ioh looked at the group then returned to whatever she was originally doing, paying them no more mind than she would another blade of grass.
“She is searching,” Rain replied as she stood by. “Is it not obvious?”
To Athos, it was. However, Torrent turned to the pact beast and addressed it directly. “No, it isn’t obvious. I’ve never seen a world boss before today, let alone given one enough time to ignore me.”
“Then you should watch and listen more while speaking less,” it commented before turning back to Athos. “Master Athos, what are your orders?”
Well, it was now or never.
“Stay back, and don’t intervene unless I’m in danger. I need to talk to her.”
Despite not having a face, the tone of the pact beast strongly indicated that it disapproved of his choice. “I would not advise your actions, but if it is your order, I will obey.”
He nodded as he took a few steps from Sally and stood on his own. After his natural recovery had kicked in, his fifty percent should have been plenty to react i
f he needed it. “Anyone want to join me?”
“It’s what I came here for,” Sally quickly responded as she walked to join him followed quickly by the others.
“We came to help you, Athos,” Trina added. “What kind of friends would we be if we let you walk into danger alone?”
“The shitty kind,” Torrent answered for him as he put his sword down a bit, “but what’s your lead.”
“Same as it was,” He said after a moment looking back into the glade. “I’m going to talk to her. Even almost feral, she isn’t trying to attack us.” Athos thought they would have already noticed that fact, but he continued. “I want to see if there’s anything we can do. Keep a few steps behind me just in case though.”
The three nodded and one after another, they fell in behind Athos as he walked forward. Magus was in its holster, but he was confident that he could defend himself long enough for them to reach him. Step by step, the approach continued until they were well into the grassy area nearly untouched by the shedding of the world around it. Step by step, he grew closer to the first truly friendly face he had met in Incipere. With his approach complete, Athos could see just how off Ioh truly was.
She wasn’t just looking around the grove; Ioh was frantic. Her eyes may have been cascading smoke, but the pupils were hectic going from one spot to another as her hooves carried her towards and away from the slow-moving group. Her hair still flowed, her body still moved like the creature he had met, but still, something was very wrong even here.
“Ioh.” His voice was soft at first, not wanting to spook her as she made a closer pass to him. Her attention still on whatever task she had set for herself. When she didn’t respond, he spoke louder. “Ioh.”
She hesitated in that moment and looked harder at him. Her eyes studied him. Her body stopped despite the twin trails of smoke at her eyes and the decay at her feet, and ever so gingerly, she approached him like a beaten animal. Whether she was sizing him up or she truly remembered him, he couldn’t tell, but his heart raced all the same. Beside him, the others waited outside arm’s reach by at least twenty yards. He could see their bodies tense, Torrent’s blade drew, and Sally’s drones move slightly closer to close the gap.
(Party) Athos Aramis: Don’t do anything!
His words did nothing to help the group’s tense nature, but it was enough for him to feel more comfortable. Well, as comfortable as he could be facing down something that could end his life… again. She was within ten feet now, nearly within the influence of his instance as he took a step towards her.
“Ioh, do you know who I am?”
She lingered before stepping back again. Her voice was distorted, warped, pained as she spoke. “A…Athos.”
The voice lingered in his ears as she took another step back, and he took another step forward. “Ioh, what happened to you?”
She didn’t answer and stepped back again. Her eyes went wild as she searched again for whatever it was that drove her mind. “Gone. All gone.”
“What’s gone?” Athos asked trying to get a clear answer. “What’s all gone?”
“All gone!” The voice grained as if it had come from the static itself. Her body tensed as Athos lowered his hand to his waist and held fast.
(Party) Torrent Lase: Athos, you need to pull back. This is getting too tense. You’re drawing too much aggression.
How Torrent knew that he could have guessed, but he wasn’t going to back down. “What’s gone, Ioh?”
Her head raised to the sky as she screeched like a banshee. “Betrayed!”
In an instant, Ioh raised her claws to join her gaze, and both lowered to stare at Athos. The tense form of her body released moments later, and the gap between them shrank as she stampeded in for her attack as her claws grew a sheen so familiar to the group: pixelated, glowing, and dangerous.
“Athos!”
Between the moment of the scream and the approaching dash of the dryad, Athos braced himself as a single thought went through his head while his hand reached for Magus at his waist.
Shit.
Peace
Moments passed like hours as Athos rose his gun in front of him. The hours passed like days as his finger pulled back the trigger. In the next moments that passed like years, he regretted everything. The same time as her form began to surge with nature once more, the bullet hit the falling, surprised dryad in the chest, joining Rain’s weapon. Her spear had already flown, and Athos watched as Ioh’s side bulged at first from the impact, then as the digital flesh gave way to the piercing weapon.
Half within the familiar world Athos supported, half in the corrupted forest, Ioh writhed in pain. Her body was damaged, the side of her deer flank was pierced, and her integrity had almost been completely depleted from the way she seemed to struggle with breathing. The spear vanished a moment later, leaving the deep wound, as the metallic clang of Rain’s armor slowly made its approach.
“Stay back!” Athos screamed at the pact beast, and within an instant, Rain stopped mid-stride and waited. It simply stayed back, watching its charge as he continued with his lunacy. His hands threw his weapon to the side as he moved to envelop Ioh in more of his radius, but it wasn’t easy considering her size. “Guys! I need you now!”
“What can we do?” Trina called as she moved in closer to Athos with Sally and Torrent in tow.
“Surround her! Create a larger area.” His attention turned back to the dryad as the radius grew around her. The struggling slowed as her body was enveloped in the older, purer data of the realm she had once ruled.
“Athos…” She muttered weakly as she looked around. “Where is everyone?”
He hadn’t even truly noticed until she spoke those words. The dryads, all of them, were gone. Not even one was left. In a forest that had been full of life, full of the splendor of nature, Ioh was all that was left. “I don’t know, Ioh.”
“They were so scared…” Her voice was weak as more and more of her integrity bled out from the gaping, pixelated wound on her side. “They’re so scared…”
“It’s okay now. It’s over,” Athos said quietly as he sat down next to her and opened his inventory. Frantically, he searched for what was left of his healing salves. A single vial was left, which he readily materialized and handed to Sally. “Spread it over her wound.”
She didn’t question him as she walked the careful diameter of their purified area and dripped the salve over the open wound. Little of it closed, and the pixelated bleeding continued. “It doesn’t look good, Athos.”
Fear welled in his eyes as he turned his attention back to Ioh. “What were they afraid of?”
She groaned loudly as the pain welled back within the open wound. “Me. It was me!” Her cries became louder and louder as tears grew wild on her face. “It was me! It was me!” Her cries continued and only grew softer until her sobs overtook her.
Athos looked to his support, to Trina, Torrent, and Sally. He wanted to understand, he wanted them to translate her meaning, but they couldn’t. He turned back to the crying dryad and tried to get something that could be considered an answer to her wailing. “What was you?”
“I took it! It was me! I tried to take it! I tried!”
“Ioh, I don’t understand. What are you talking about.”
She tried to take in air and look at him, but her body seemed to do the opposite as she fell back against the grass. Her body slacked as her head looked at him. “I trusted you, Athos. Look after them.” Her wound grew darker as the pixelation darkened. Slowly, the wound was bleeding back to the purple that it had once been moments before. “I tried to keep it safe…” she coughed harshly enough to even throw Trina into confusion. “I took it inside me. I tried to keep it from them.” Her tears returned as the wound continued to darken. “I failed.”
“You haven’t failed, Ioh. Something’s wrong, but we can fix it.”
“Athos,” her gaze glassed as she struggled to look around to the other four. “Friends of Athos, I cannot resist any longer
. I cannot fight anymore. Athos, please, give me peace.”
Athos couldn’t speak. The words caught in his throat as Torrent took up his mantle. “This is extremely messed up! I mean, is a boss literally asking us to kill her?”
Trina looked over at him then back to Athos. “She’s suffering, Torrent. What do you expect her to ask?”
“Still! It doesn’t make sense.”
“Neither does this,” Sally pointed out as the wound continued to fester darkened and spreading in wispy dark tendrils crawling over her flesh. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“I can feel it growing,” Ioh pleaded to the alchemical arm. “I cannot become that again.”
He wanted to ask so many questions; how did it happen, what happened, what could she remember… but none of that seemed to matter anymore. She was suffering, and only one question would lead to peace. “What’s your integrity, Ioh?”
“Fifteen percent and rising,” She managed after a long moment. “I’ll be forced to fight again soon.”
“Are you sure?”
“There is no other way to stop me now. I can no longer take refuge here.” The pain in her voice ebbed and flowed with her words and whether it was emotional or physical, Athos doubted there was even a difference to her anymore.
He sighed and steeled himself as it looked at the others.
“Rain, come here and stand by.”
With his words, Ioh managed to sit up and lay forward, exposing her back and sides to the four. Her eyes closed as she waited for what she now knew was coming.
(Party) Athos Aramis: On three, we strike.
(Party) Sally Queen: I’ll follow your lead.
(Party) Torrent Lase: Use fire if you have it. Dryads are weak to it. We’ll be sure to end it quicker.
(Party) Trina Rorna: On three then.
“One,” Athos began as he aimed Magus forward, but he didn’t switch his ammo. At this range, the other would have taken too much damage. “Two.” Torrent’s blade began to shimmer red as he spoke softly to himself, Trina’s fists seemed to also shimmer slightly as Rain raised her spear high. Sally’s drones positioned themselves near the wound for maximum impact.
