novelzi 114- The Return
114- The Return
Cormag—?
He writhed in the darkness, reaching out to hold onto the last vestiges of his sanity. The tethers of his soul reached from bone to wretched bone, holding him here in this shadowed shallow grave. He had felt the power of his visitor probing, testing, seeing if he was ready yet.
Chronus always was brilliant, decisive in his actions, and firm in his beliefs. But he had a weakness that so many great men struggled with. Hubris. He wasn’t as clever as he thought he was. Wasn’t better at reading the soul strands than Cormag was at hiding them.
Cormag bound another string of his will from his formless being to the remains of the nearby bones. He infused them with mana and purpose. They were never his to begin with, but they would serve as an anchor.
He felt the gnawing things in the dark growing closer, attracted to his movements. Summoned by his violation of the natural order. The darkness broke as slitted eyes slid into reality searching for him.
Cormag fled back to his one respite, his only safe haven in this horrid half-life of his. The place that served as both his anchor and his punishment. His sanctuary.
A warm hearth with a bearskin rug welcomed him. A high-sitting chair next to it and children's toys spilled across the floor. Cormag averted his eyes from the sight. He looked away from the reminder of how wonderful his life had been and rushed from the room, practically stumbling past his daughter's doorway. He fled into his study and slammed the door shut behind him as he always did.
This time I will do everything right; no one needs to die except for that demon wearing the skin of my wife. I can do better. I can be better.
Cormag took a few deep breaths and looked towards his [Core]. His study was an impressive circular room with one entire wall made of a single curving piece of glass. It overlooked his once proud rose gardens, now in shambles because of his failures.
His core statue practically taunted him in its duality. He walked around the statue angrily, looking at the right half lit by the blue moonlight streaming through the study window. He saw a handsome man with thick laugh lines. On his outstretched hand a butterfly sat glowing with a white haze of healing magic. His daughter stood next to the butterfly, beaming in delight.
He slowly paced around to the left side of the statue. Gaunt, pale skin practically stuck to his bones. His left eye simmered with a piercing blue light that spiritually hurt to look at. And his left hand trailed down, held loosely over a begging soldier. The soldier’s life force was frozen between his palm and the man’s form as he forcibly severed his sanctuary from the protection of its god.
Where his daughter stood on the right in delight and as a reminder of every good thing he once had. A severely beautiful woman stood in the shadows on his left. Her piercing eyes held nothing but contempt and avarice as she looked down with a slight smile on her face at the man dying at his feet.
Cormag Nodded to himself angrily and sneered at the demonic thing that was once his wife. He slowly got down onto his knees and folded his hands in a private prayer. “Gods...I will do better. I will...I will fix it...” Please, anyone...help me...show me a way to free my daughter's soul from that foul creature's never-ending grasp... I know my wife is truly gone, but my daughter...Then...then I will die and pay for what I have done.”
He sat heavily and looked out over his ruined rose garden. Tears slowly streaked down his cheeks as he thought of how Lily used to tend them herself. So proud of the magic she had learned. Eager to show a proud father how she could make a flower bloom. His last thought before he cast himself back into the real world to strengthen his soul bonds once again. Was of how happy they were.
***
Vraxious—Forsaken Lands
Vrax really didn’t feel like fighting whatever the hell the thing crashing around in the thin strip of trees ahead of them was. And he absolutely didn’t feel like swinging back around to go past Grandma Chitter’s again. At this point he just wanted to get home as fast as possible.
He was going to hole up in his little shop of horrors after making sure Red wasn’t dead. To that end, he crept forwards without the others, skirting towards the trees. He told them he was going to distract it so they could sneak by. He didn’t actually have a plan yet beyond ‘fuck it, worst case This spot is now a dandelion hellhole; I’ll deal with later.
Vrax practically oozed from patches of tall grass to overgrowths of mushrooms and over fallen logs nearly invisibly as he made his way right up to the tree line. Now that he was closer, he edged under the roots of a half-fallen tree. His talent made the moss dripping from it cascade over his shoulders, erasing his silhouette from any angle.
Alright, I know I say this a lot, but what the fuck? I see weird shit out here every day. Weirder shit, honestly, every time I go in farther. But how, in all the hells, is that thing a functional monster?
The creature flinging itself around the trees a few strides from Vrax was a nonsensical mishmash of shapes and limbs. Its body was a perfect pyramid of light pink flesh with a thin coating of brown fur over it. It wobbled strangely adeptly around on three long stick-like legs ending in hooves that simply jutted from the bottom of the pyramid's corners.
A single oversized eye swung around loosely on a bundle of nerves dangling below the body, and a pair of tiny hands sprouted from the top, seemingly uselessly waving around.
Please just let this be a mimic that ate some hallucinogenic plants and not some failure of nature forced to live out its existence like this.
[Gorrukuku Tier-1 [Threat: Low]
Ahh hell no, just a poor abomination. I really do feel kind of bad for that thing. How does it eat...or well, anything? Focus, Vrax; you just need to fucking distract it and adapt a bird or something.
Vrax looked around his immediate vicinity for anything skittering nearby he could potentially adapt into enough of a threat to distract the monster for a few minutes. He didn’t really want to just call out Sunshine or Duchess again and have it devolve into another fight that would attract God knows what.
There were some rats rooting around nearby nibbling on leaves that kept trying to escape their fate. A small mole-like creature was within reach, staring at him with glowing yellow eyes. Angry that Vrax had invaded its den but too cowardly to do anything about it.
Of course there was an utter plethora of insects under the roots with Vrax, but he had been hesitant to adapt most insects because he was worried that was going to spiral into the dragonfly all over again and cause another not-so-minor ecological disaster.
His eyes alighted on an especially mean insect to his left. A centipede bigger than the rats was creeping horrifyingly up behind one of the eating rodents. It rose up, lifting its head and front clusters of legs off the ground silently.
To Vrax’s surprise, its entire belly pulled open with dribbling poison from the now visible maw that ran from its head down half the length of its bottom. There was the slightest shimmer of colorless mana, and an invisible force wrenched the rat into the centipede's waiting grasp.
They devolved into a frantic tumble as the centipede wrapped around the rat, its poisonous bite turning the rat's veins a visible black. Then, as quickly as it started, the rat went limp, and the centipede settled over the top of its prey, sedately feasting with small munching noises.
Well...that would sure as shit distract me... We are in the forsaken lands. I'm sure I've got a bit more wiggle room before I start another insect apocalypse... Get over here, Mr. Centipede. Are you ready to become a nightmare? Well, I mean, you are already fucking terrifying. Ah, never mind. I really need to stop talking to myself so fucking much.
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Vrax reached out slowly and then snatched the centipede with an armored glove when the Gorrukuku was busy pulling itself into a tree with a gangly leg. He eased his way out of his hiding spot and crept back a few trees to another even more hidden dugout under a fallen tree before he started working on the writhing creature in his hands.
Vrax eased mana into it, adapting its form. It slowly ceased its struggles and settled down as the blessing of Vurune washed through it. First Vrax slowly lengthened it, upscaling everything about its size; by the time he was done, its top half was trailing out of the dugout, and it was longer than he was tall. Vrax shuddered slightly as its twitching legs skittered across his armor excitedly.
Okay, it's big enough to be a problem now, but I need it to be distracting as well. Am I really just going to make it obnoxiously bioluminescent? Yeah...yeah, I am, but I'll save that for last. It's big; it was already awful. It needs that special Vrax flair to it.
Vrax shaped the hundreds of legs one by one with a simple but wicked change. Their tips became unfathomably sharp. He layered and compressed the chitin over and over, smoothing out each tip as fine as he could, having them then end in needlelike points. It worked almost too well; he had to move just the centipede's weight on him when it shifted around in the cramped dugout, sinking its legs into his armor.
Man, I'm spending way more time doing this than I probably should. If I don't hurry up, Torvalds is going to get impatient and just cannonball through.
Vrax slapped his other hand on top of its shiny exterior one last time, adding a dotting of small eyes along its front half that shined a piercing green. His final touch was, of course, swirling patterns across its body that matched the piercing green of its eyes.
Vrax whispered to it, “Okay, good luck!” Before he dashed silently back towards his friends. He saw that they were already circled right up to the tree line, waiting for his signal. He didn’t get a chance to give it; the centipede went insane.
Apparently utterly reveling in its new power, it flashed into the tree line straight for the bizarre pyramid of flesh and fur still dangling in the tree. Vrax waved his friends forward and started crossing through the trees himself, staying behind just enough to watch how his distraction acquitted itself.
The Gorrukuku hung from a tree; its single eye slowly rotated towards the garish centipede. It looked almost confused at the blur of shifting patterns rushing through the underbrush. It let go from the tree and thudded into the loam, locked onto the fast-approaching predator.
Its dangling eye began to flare with mana heating concerningly, and nearby shrubs spontaneously started smoldering. Then a beam of pure crimson light shot out, madly dancing around the trees.
Fuck! Vrax flung himself to the ground; the beam of superheated magic simply passed through every tree it touched and vaporized every plant it passed over. Trees fell, and a swath of the forest was unevenly cut down.
To Vrax’s shock, the centipede dodged it. It skittered over and under the fallen trees before suddenly rising up on its hind legs, colorless mana swirling around its dancing limbs once again. A moment later the Gorrukuku’s dangling eye was pulled tight towards the centipede and then ripped free. In a shower of gore disappearing into the centipede's maw with a sick pop.
Well...huh... didn’t think that was how this was going to go, but okay... You got this random new abomination; I'm going home.
Vrax jogged the rest of the way after his friends and left the two monsters to finish their battle. Torvald raised an eyebrow at him as he caught up with them in the next clearing.
“Did you seriously take a centipede and make it worse?”
Vrax pointed towards the distant city as a distraction. “Look, guys, we’re almost there! Let's see if Red ever made it or if we are going to have to recover his body in some random monster's den.”
***
Vraxious—The Ravenous Grove
Vrax overlooked his capitol with deeply furrowed brows. Red had been here for a few days at most. Presumably alone and without building supplies, which made what he was looking at as he surveyed his kingdom from a nearby rooftop deeply confusing.
All the adapted life he had left was, of course, flourishing. Trails of deep green vines stretched from the dome over his capitol into the city like reaching veins. Climbing across rooftops and casting eerie light from their eyes like eldritch lanterns.
Shrubs shuffled around in the clear courtyard around his dome, and adapted smelter moss had begun to carpet the empty area wherever flicker grass wasn’t creeping from the brickwork.
Even a few mauler trees had set up a miniature grove between two manors, rooting over a small mound of slain beasts. The dandelion seeds drifted aimlessly through the air, casting a green haze over everything. And of course daisies flung themselves after anything moving, devourers curiously bobbing after them.
But that was all outside his burgeoning capitol itself. Inside, Vrax could see a brand-new structure even taller than the broken tower he had his workshop in.
Well, how the fuck did Red manage that?
It was a bizarre archway that rose slightly off to the side of the boulder. It looked like someone had exactingly pulled pieces of neighboring ruined buildings and puzzled them together with plant matter to make the pieces fit perfectly. There were small spider-shaped green figures skittering all over it, working away.
Vrax’s eyes got wide when he saw a massive chunk of a manor’s balcony being hoisted into the air on dozens of green strands and carefully lined up with the dead center of the archway nearly four stories off the ground.
Who builds like that? Why the hell did Red bring a second- or third-tier builder with him? I mean, it's freaking awesome that it's so high; guests here will probably appreciate not looking out the window and seeing a mango tree staring back, but still!.
Vrax watched for quite a while longer; the small spiderlike figures worked with exacting precision. Dozens of small pieces of stone were lifted into place along with the balcony, and the entire wooden balcony was moored in place with nearly innumerable anchors. As the fastidious little creatures kept working.
Alright, those can’t just be someone’s summons... [Engineer Ivy Tier-1] (lvl 40) [Threat: Very low] Huh?
Vrax made his way off the roof and quickly towards the construction site, looking for Red. The others had gone towards the market square to settle in. It didn’t take Vrax long; he walked right up to the construction site after dodging a pair of Devourers that were rooting around in some of the ever-shifting shrubs that had apparently exploded in quantity while he was gone.
Red was lounging in a hammock that was expertly strung between a pair of trees. With his hand behind his head, his bright hat hung off his finger as he twirled it aimlessly. He looked over as Vrax walked closer.
Red flipped to his feet, a smile creasing his face. “Treefucker! There you are! You know, the trip here was about as bad as I expected, but the actual capital isn’t as hellish as I feared. With this handy thing I don’t even have to worry as long as I stay in the dome.” He flicked a finger at a mark of Vurune around his wrist.
Vrax didn’t immediately respond; one of the spiderlike clumps of ivy ambled up to him and waved a few legs in a friendly manner. He noticed it also had a mark of Vurune placed on the bundle of ivy making up its body like a little crown. “Uhh, so red... I’m really glad you are apparently doing so well...Can...you tell me why the friendly spider pants are building stuff, and, uhh, why did you give them the marks of Vurune meant for the workers you were supposed to hire?”
Red looked baffled. ”What do you mean? Aren’t they some of your abominations or something? The little angels saw me struggling to put a door onto one of the shacks in town and came right on over to help. After a bit of a scuffle and some misunderstandings, they got right to work. I showed them a picture I have of the guild hall in the capitol, and they seemed very excited to take a crack at its high vaulted style. And the marks...well, the daisies kept disrupting the work. It was frankly annoying how everyone had to freeze every time one wandered over. And then I would have to go throw rocks or something equally ridiculous to lure them away.”
Vrax let out a slow, deep breath.
I'm going to choose to chalk this up to Forsaken Lands weirdness and Red being the luckiest motherfucker to ever walk this earth.I definitely didn’t make those things...they fit the overall aesthetic, though...
“Well... I’m glad it’s all going so well... Just, uhh, keep doing what you’re doing?”
Red nodded like that was the only correct response to his accomplishments and laid back down into the hammock. A moment later, one of the friendly little spiders brought over an old dusty bottle of wine it had probably fished out of a nearby ruin.
Vrax flinched as Red took a deep gulp with a grimace but got on going. That wine had to be more vinegar than alcohol by now. A sugar glider with a ridiculous little bright pink feather collar landed in Red's hat abruptly, and he reached over to give it a fond pet and hand it a couple of seeds.
“Oh, there you are, Lidyia. Are you done playing with your siblings?”
“Uh, Red, when I left there were two nightmare conductors... that is decidedly not one of them.”
Red looked at Vrax in exasperation. ”Didn’t you read through the guidebook I brought you?”
“Mostly! I stopped after the food and care section. Why?”
“Malaketh had me buy a breeding pair, Vrax; they did what little monsters do, and if you had read the damned book fully, you would have seen that they have rather large litters. What did you think?” Red took another sip of his wine and donned his wide-brimmed hat, this time with Lidyia, the new nightmare conductor, happily lounging atop its wide brim.
Vrax frowned. “I may have made some incorrect assumptions.”
“Mmm, enough about business. Did you bring any real wine back? This...” He swished the bottle unhappily. “Gets the job done, but it tastes like it was brewed in a giant’s arsehole for a month and topped with spite.”
“I’ll see what Torvald brought in his special bag. I’m going to go see what else has changed while I was gone.”
Oh hell, is my entire town overrun with nightmare conductors now? I wasn’t even gone that long!