by C. M. Carney
Then, something Gaarm had said came rushing back to him. “The only rule here is that there ain’t no rules, at least none you can trust won’t change the second you need them to stay rules.”
Knowing on an intellectual level that chaos was unpredictable was not the same thing as experiencing it firsthand. The human brain was designed to analyze and process information in a logical fashion, even if that brain bounced between the ears of a livestock aficionado like Gaarm.
It’s no wonder people go mad here, Vonn thought, and a small cackle pushed past his lips. With an effort, he pushed the mad smile away and forced his eyes shut. He began a rhythmic breathing technique designed to focus the mind. Fear was the product of ignorance and ignorance the child of a lack of knowledge. He could overcome both with patience and observation.
Vonn opened his eyes and looked around, his senses drinking in the world around him. He floated in a quiet spot that his eyes suggested was the size of the Hub back in Dar Thoriim. With that as an anchor, other things became quantifiable. He decided that the space before him was the front and therefore behind him was the back. With those metrics established, left and right determined themselves, as did up and down.
Instantly, his vertigo eased, and his other senses came into play. He ignored his nose, deciding the low-grade stench of rot filling the entire Realm of Chaos would be of no help. Touch was also useless, and he refused to open his mouth for fear the taste would be worse than the smell. That left only hearing.
He closed his eyes again and listened. The first thing he eliminated was the sound of his own breathing, then the thump of his heart. He forced himself to stay still and the low creak of his leather armor disappeared. With his own sounds dulled, he drew on his Perception tier ability Acute Hearing.
The ability increased the overall sensitivity of Vonn’s hearing allowing him to hear stealthy enemies, pick locks with ease and if he concentrated hard enough, sense the sonic waves reflected by objects. He was a mere Journeyman in Perception, but he’d seen Masters of the technique fight off a dozen opponents while blindfolded.
Nothing forces advancement like duress, the voice of his old mentor said in the back of his mind.
Vonn drew his sword and his dagger and brought the flats of their blades together. A sharp clang reverberated from them and spread in all directions and he held his breath. Nearly two minutes later, his lungs were burning, and his head had grown light, a small echo came back to him. His eyes snapped open, and he looked down and to the left.
What he saw made his heart leap with joy and his stomach churn. Just visible as it pushed through the mists was the keel of their ship. Several multi-colored flashes of light illuminated the surrounding clouds. From his perspective, the ship was upside down, and his carefully created orientation fiction collapsed. Bile rose in his throat and a moment later he threw up the remnants of his last meal.
The thin liquid drifted away from him before getting caught in a gravitational eddy and spinning downwards. Through pure force of will, he reoriented himself. Down was now up again, and the ship was not flying upside down, but floating above him. As the new equilibrium took hold, the stream of bile flew up and to the right.
Vonn tried to move towards the ship but found no more purchase than a man trying to swim through air. With a scowl, he realized his only option lay in following the partially digested contents of his own stomach. He stretched out and felt the hint of a tug. It was not enough to pull him into the field, but he found purchase like a climber gripping an outcropping of rock. He pulled himself closer and soon the pull of gravity took him.
He had no time to rejoice, for a dull crack of stone on stone reached his ears and he snapped his eyes down. Below him, a spinning ball of rock had smashed into a floating island covered in grass and sprouting a small forest. The impact spun the two bodies away from each other, each casting a fan of debris in all directions. The detritus expanded outwards and several squeals of fear reached Vonn’s ears.
Vonn squinted and activated Perception again. His vision telescoped down and expanded. Had Vonn known of the technology, he would have equated the sensation to activating a zoom lens.
The impact had cast more than rock and clumps of grass into the space around the islands. A half dozen gnome sized simians spun in the null gravity, their limbs flailing in desperation. Panicked howls rose from the surface of the forested island and Vonn saw more simians. These island-based creatures tossed vines towards their fellows. Clawed hands grasped, but only one of the floating simians grabbed ahold. The others, perhaps sensing their doom, screamed louder sending waves of fear flowing over Vonn.
Deep within the mists, something large roared back. The simians screeched louder as terror overrode their need to be silent. They flailed wildly as another roar, louder and much closer, rumbled over them. The mists below the swarm of simians roiled and the clouds burst outwards as a large winged serpent emerged from the cloud cover.
It opened its massive jaws and flew through the simians, pulling them into its mouth like a mass of krill consumed by a whale. The serpentine beast spun around for another pass. This time it spat a jet of orange flames from its mouth, charring the surviving simians on the island. The impact sent the corpses spinning into the air, and the drake snagged them one by one. It spun up and hovered, staring down to see if it had missed any tasty morsels. It found nothing and started to turn away, when a jet of liquid fire illuminated the clouds above Vonn, drawing its gaze.
At least some of them still live, Vonn thought, realizing that Rubik would have stopped his eye beam attacks if his friends were already dead. He turned back to the drake which was approaching fast.
The beast’s gaze flowed over Vonn and then to the ship carrying his friends. Vonn didn’t know if the drake saw him, or simply didn’t consider him a threat. Every instinct Vonn had screamed at him to move, but he was no longer the scared street urchin who fell victim to fear. He was a Templar of the Source and he would control his fear, use his fear. He forced himself still as the drake approached. Maybe he’d get in one good swing before the creature swallowed him or smashed him aside. Perhaps he’d slow it enough to help save his friends.
The beast flew towards him, its greedy eyes still staring past him to the ship. On its current trajectory, it would smash through Vonn and barely take notice. His muscles began to seize, overworked from their constant desire to move regardless of the orders Vonn’s will tried to impose.
Vonn sheathed his dagger, eased a hand to his bandolier and pulled a throwing knife free. He twisted the safety latch on the knives phial, arming the mixture of Barrow’s eldritch oil and an igniting agent. For all intents and purposes, he now held a bomb.
He waited until the drake was within range and then tossed the knife towards its head. His aim was true, and the knife impacted the horns protruding like a jagged crown from the drake’s head. Green fire exploded and flowed down the reptile’s back and it roared, spinning on its axis and tucking its wings to get away from the flames.
The beast wasn’t injured, just angry. Vonn flipped his vorpal blade down and got ready to strike. The massive serpent zipped under him, the turbulence of its passage spinning Vonn head over heels. He bounced off the drake’s thick underside as it continued its roll. The impact altered his trajectory, spinning him up into the curled wing.
A blow to the gut knocked the wind from him and he nearly dropped his blades. The impact spun him, flipping him ass over teakettle before smashing into the drake’s back. One of the bony protrusions protecting the beast’s back ripped a furrow across his cheek, but he ignored the pain and took his one shot.
Vonn lashed down with the vorpal blade, finding the spot where bony ridge met flesh. The ultra-sharp blade pierced the space between the scales and arrested Vonn’s motion. The drake roared, more from surprise than pain, for the strike must have felt like a mosquito bite to the massive creature, because it moved on as if it had already forgotten.
Vonn’s heart thundered in his che
st as the drake unfurled its wings once more. He risked a glance towards the ship and saw several more flashes of light. Mixed feelings of hope and dread filled him. It was clear that his friends still battled, but who could say how long they’d last, especially if the drake took them unawares.
A terrible idea came to Vonn and with it a plan foolish enough to humble even Lex. He pulled his sword free, earning another grunt of mild annoyance from the drake and slipped it into its sheath.
Then he climbed up the creature’s back, using the spines like rungs of a ladder. With each step, he feared detection. If that happened it would take little effort for the drake to toss him. Vonn climbed atop the monster’s head. Apart from one damaged horn, the beast looked invulnerable. Thick scales as tough as plate mail protected the spots between the horns. If a vulnerability existed, Vonn didn’t see one. Looks like ‘Operation Stab-It-In-The-Brain’ was a no go.
Serves you right, pal, his internal critic muttered. Did you really think ‘do as Lex does’ was a good plan? He scowled and understood how Lex must feel. Maybe I should be nicer to him, assuming either of us survives the next few minutes.
The sounds of battle increased as they closed in on the ship. Voices yelled and screams tore at throats, but they were a mishmash of indecipherable words. The dim outline of the ship’s hull had just come into view when a harpoon exploded from the mist and sunk into the drake’s left shoulder where wing met body.
A guttural roar of pain rumbled into Vonn’s bones and the muscles of the beast’s neck tightened. Vonn slammed forward as the drake altered course and only his grip kept him from getting skewered on one of the beast's horns. The jagged break in the damaged horn was recent, for bloody pus still oozed from the sheath of muscle and cartilage designed to hold the horn in place. A desperate idea, too foolish even for Lex, filled his mind. Had he not been facing certain death he would have paid it no heed.
But he was, so he did. Securing his grip with his left hand, he pulled his vorpal sword from its scabbard and pointed the tip into the wound, right above the snapped horn. He took a deep breath and pushed with all his might.
The blade sunk deep, scraping along the top side of the skull. It was not a killing blow, for that was likely beyond Vonn’s capabilities, but his sword was lodged in the meat of the drake’s head. Vonn knew from personal experience just how painful head wounds were.
The beast bellowed and tried to pull away, but Vonn was in charge now. Less than a minute later he had trained the beast to understand simple stab-based directions and turned it towards the ship. This part of his plan was the most foolish, the most Lex-esque.
An impartial observer would be right to criticize the logic of helping his friends fight one crazed, chaotic abomination by bringing a second one to the battle, but that observer wasn’t helping and so did not get a vote. Vonn roared and pushed the sword deeper, forcing the drake to dive. They pushed through the clouds and the ship came into view. Rubik floated above the deck firing its deadly eye rays all over the damned place. He saw Errat and several bläärts but did not see Lex.
“Please be alive,” Vonn said in a low voice. The drake opened its mouth, set to unleash its fiery breath when Rubik turned its main eye on them. “Shit,” Vonn said as a wave of orange light flowed over them, snuffing the flames out like a blow to a candle.
Rubik unleashed more beams, and the drake spun up, entered the mists above the ship and arced back down. They pushed back through the clouds right on top of Rubik and the drake roared in challenge, its wide jaws ready to become Rubik’s express tunnel to pain and death.
Right before the drake swallowed the mutated DuoQuadrata, a beam of necrotic purple energy lanced into the drake’s mouth. Underneath Vonn, muscles went limp, and the drake fell from the sky. Its jaws slammed shut about Rubik, like a garage door whose chain had snapped.
A moment later, the beast shook its head like a dog waking itself up. Whatever damage the Death Magic beam had done, it did not appear to be fatal. Before Vonn could celebrate or wonder why he was rejoicing at the victory of one horrific chaos monster over another, the drake turned its ire on the ship carrying his friends.
The massive serpent dove and dragged its claws across the deck, tearing through the wood with no more effort than a shark through water. Errat dove aside, but one of the bläärts was not so lucky and its blue-skinned, purple blooded body was smashed to a pulp.
The beast’s claws continued to rend the deck, but Lex stood his ground, drawing spirit energy into his hammer. Vonn screamed for him to move, but then saw the reason the NPC refused. Seraphine lay on the deck, her body stiff and unmoving. Lex was defending her, and Furrick whose body she’d stolen, and it would cost the fool both their li
29
Lex gripped his Maul of Holy Might with sweaty hands, his fingers white knuckling the smooth ebonwood shaft. Lex had always wanted to see a dragon, ever since he was a wee program back on Earth. But now, as the plane sized lizard bore down upon him with claws the size of tree trunks, he reconsidered that dream.
“Get up,” Lex said over his shoulder, in a loud, but calm voice. He cast a partial glance back to see Seraphine blinking back at him, a single tear flowing from her eye. The paralysis debuff still gripped her, turning the teenage male body she’d stolen as rigid as a frozen corpse.
“Quit your crying,” Lex muttered, more to himself than Seraphine. “You’ve earned your fate. Furrick does not.” He turned back to the approaching drake and got ready to swing his hammer. Hopefully, I’ll give it a hangnail, Lex thought with a desperate chuckle.
His eyes locked on Vonn’s and he heard the half-elf calling him an idiot in his mind. In a millisecond exchange only capable between people who truly knew each other, Lex showed Vonn he would not move.
Vonn scowled, crouched and pushed the hilt of his sword with all his might. The meat between the drake’s skull and horns tore and pulled free. The beast roared and shook its head, desperate to toss Vonn and end the pain. But Vonn held on and twisted the blade forcing the drake to turn its head, pulling its attack vector off course.
Lex swung his hammer in an upwards arc, activating Crushing Blow and Double Impact. The hammer smashed into the drake’s toe with a satisfactory crunch and then the beast was by him, the rush of wind ruffling his hair and beard.
It wasn’t until after the drake had turned in a sharp arc, ready for another attack run, that a thin line of blood trickling down his scalp proved just how close the drake had passed. He wiped the blood away with the back of his hand, clearing his vision enough to watch death coming for him.
The drake opened its jaws, and a fiery orange light built deep inside the beast’s gullet.
Of course, its anti-magic debuff was shorter than mine, Lex thought, griping at the unfairness of it all when a quick check told him his own debuff had worn off. He chortled in joy.
Lex dropped his hammer and raised both arms. Knives of blue-white energy exploded from his outstretched hands and screamed towards the drake. They flew through the creature’s slather covered jaws and deep into its gullet, but the beast kept coming.
They say when you’re about to die your life flashes before you. As death came for Lex, he learned how full of shit they were, for he saw nothing. He was about to die and was pissed he wouldn't get the chance to call them out.
Lex had accepted his fate when the drake spasmed like a cat about to hack up a hairball. A half dozen beams of various colors exploded through the drake’s head and neck, barely missing Vonn. The serpent’s eyes dimmed, and its body went limp. It plummeted towards the ship, a multi-ton sack of dead weight.
The NPC dove to the deck and the drake’s body zipped over his head. It smashed through the main mast and then slammed onto the deck. Vonn flew forward, bounced off one of the beast’s larger horns and then skidded across the deck, his momentum only slowed when he hit the starboard gunwale, his sword falling from his hand. He didn’t move after the impact, he didn’t even seem to be breathing.
L
ex ran towards Vonn when the canvas of the ship’s sail fell over him like a heavy blanket. The weight dragged Lex to the deck and knocked the wind from him. The fallen rigging entangled his legs and arms. He struggled like a drunk man trying to fly a kite but finally reached his dagger.
He stabbed upwards, slicing through the sail, before pushing himself clumsily through the slit in a comic mockery of birth. He stumbled free and ran to Vonn. Once there, he hesitated, his hand hovering over the prone form of his friend. Errat, Seraphine, and Simon joined him.
Lex looked to Errat, who summoned the green glow of life mana to his hand and cast Minor Healing. Only then did Lex touch Vonn. He felt the warmth of Errat’s spell flow into Vonn. For several heartbeats, nothing happened, but then Vonn gasped like a drowning man finding air and opened his eyes.
“Ouch," Vonn said, extending his hand to Errat who helped him to his feet. Lex pulled the rogue into a fierce hug, burying his face in the taller man’s shoulder. “What part of ouch didn’t you understand?”
Lex pulled back, a foolish grin of apology on his face and let Vonn go.
“So, we won?” Seraphine said, her tone implying it was as much a question as a statement of fact.
“With a little help,” Vonn said, stretching his neck.
Perhaps it was the lack of jest in Vonn’s tone or the jitters that come after an adrenaline crash, but Lex turned towards the corpse of the chaos drake, his fists clenched tight. He walked towards the downed beast and grabbed his hammer.
The others sensed the mood and readied themselves. Lex walked with quiet steps under the wing of the fallen drake and crept to its head. A dinner table-sized eye stared back at him, glazed over and lifeless. The drake’s head was cocked to one side and its tongue had lolled from its open mouth like the red carpet at the Oscars.