Now, this was where he could play around, without actually killing the host and losing the body.
He toyed with some of the minor organs and got an immediate reaction, the entire body and mind seemed to suddenly focus inward.
Strangely, the specimen was acutely aware of every little detail within it, a mastery of self he had observed very rarely. That would be excellent for better observations, so he insinuated himself within the nervous system, able to watch the play of currents and observations made by the body within itself.
Except, as he did so the specimen seemed to notice that as well, and take umbrage at the invasion. He began to feel warm, which should have been impossible since there wasn’t any energy state he naturally existed in that would be affected by general convection.
And he wasn’t allowing enough of the biological impulses to seep back into him to feel what the specimen was feeling. Except it was somehow getting a lot hotter, and very quickly indeed.
His lattice was absorbing energy through the interdimensional matrix that linked them. Except it wasn’t actually consuming it. The energy was actively pursuing his essence along the strands, running into his own unique energy form in a most uncomfortable way. The buildup was getting to be too much, he wondered if this was a translation analog for pain among the Forlor; perhaps it was a whole new discovery.
He didn’t get much time to contemplate the find; blue fire lit up through his entire incorporeal form and extinguished itself by consuming his energy. In effect, the fire cleansed him from Fenix’s body, like a poison, the magic of primal fire allowing for many uses, not just harm but also warmth and healing.
After all, fire was what the wielder wished it to be, and fire had been around in the cosmos long enough to pick up quite a few definitions.
**
A patina of dirt covered the strangely spongy looking stone of the walls and the small town beyond.
Muddy brown ground spilled across every surface, the rains had been unable to clean it off thoroughly, only moved it around. At first, the lack of seams and the texture of the stone had bothered him until Fenix realized every wall, every building had been shaped from raw stone using magic.
From the vantage point provided by the tree, he had climbed there were many buildings visible, layered in a circular pattern away from the corner rim of the land mass beyond the wall.
Big buildings like halls and smaller ones that seemed to be houses except every one of them were for beings about three times his size. There were streets, set in curves and connected with byways along their route from one rim of the plateau to the other.
It was well chosen, almost triangular against two sides of the broken away floating rock of the land mass, while the third was encompassed by a long wall. Shaped from magic and formed into their construction the entire town and wall would have sprung up nearly overnight. With the right amount of power of course, which in the Prison meant Vitae, and that much would not have been so easy to collect.
He wasn’t sure what to make of it, the entire wall was a single high barrier for getting in or out, but there were no guards or patrols. Perhaps there were magical defenses, but he would need to get closer to ascertain that. At this distance, the place looked abandoned and ready for the taking. Except that the big stone gates were closed, two exotically designed statues to either side of a worn pathway leading up to them.
Either the gates were closed behind the occupants, and they kept everyone out, or something else entirely had happened. Judging by what the moth had told him, it was the latter.
Fenix made his way down from the tree and cautiously over the intervening land up to the gates. Ever vigilant, he kept a wary eye on the walls; his ears acutely tuned to any sounds, his feet sensitive to tremors or indications of something underground, and his nose sniffing the air for exotic scents.
His magical senses were also stretched to their limit; time in the Prison had taught him the need to be more aware than he was used to, even with his enhanced natural senses.
He could tell that a significant magical barrier held itself in place like a dome over the town, extending up to the walls then back to cover the entire area, anchored underground.
The origin of the effect seemed to be the two statues; interestingly enough, they appeared to be shaped like gargoyles, with wings of stone swept back from broad shoulders and animal feet and heads, both of them leonine in appearance and with remarkable detail.
The most telling point though, was that the faint traces of magic emanating from the stone walls was entirely different from the magical shell around from the statues. A lot more of Fenix’s memories had returned and with them the skills and learning of the centuries of study.
He now knew how to do so much more than even just a few weeks ago.
Right now, he used his experience to stop in front of the statues, separated by about sixteen feet on either side of the worn track leading to the gates and addressed them.
“So, who are you?”
He wasn’t surprised when a creak of stone muscles preceded a response from the statue to his left.
“Who are we? Nay, who are you to ask?”
“I am Fenix.”
The one on his right responded first. “Fenix, do we know a Fenix?”
“I do not know a Fenix myself. Is it a vegetable or mineral?” the one on his left spoke.
Fenix was reminded of how the women had kept speaking one after the other, but now it was just two of them. He supposed he should thank some deity for that.
“I think it is neither, perhaps it is his kind?”
“Or perhaps it is his name.”
Fenix broke in quickly. “It is my name.”
“Ah, good.”
“So your name is Fenix, what can we do to help you Fenix?”
“Yes, what precisely do you think we two can do for you?”
He looked back and forth. “I was hoping you could tell me what has happened here?”
“Here?”
“This very spot?”
“So many things, from the small and inconsequential to the great and life-changing. Why this very ground has been a host to many things both great and small.”
“Could we perhaps focus on things relevant to the town behind you?” He asked.
“Ah, down to specifics.”
“We like that.”
“It helps us be certain we are being useful in our replies.”
“Like we should care.”
The other statue made a sound that sounded distinctly like a fart as the next in line to speak. Fenix waited for a moment, and when they didn’t continue, he spoke carefully. “I believe I can help.”
“You?”
“You believe you can help?”
“Really?”
“And what makes you think you could possibly be of help?”
“You don’t even know what the problem is.”
He smiled. “Ah, but there is a problem then?”
“By the crap of the goddess, you gave it away.”
“Did not, you spouted the nonsense I was just following on.”
“You can talk utter crud you know that.”
“And you are one to say so, just look at the mess you’ve made of this conversation already.”
He stood there idly while the two bickered, they got quite inventive actually. Their language was an obscure dialect he had heard among shamans who were considered very close to a natural goddess of some kind.
Their reference to a goddess, albeit unflattering, was also evidence of some type of relationship. Which meant that these were entities somehow linked back to them or something very close to them.
“What are you protecting?” He interrupted the diatribe.
“Hey, what?”
“Are you still here?”
Neither statue actually turned its head to face the other; they just spoke, mouths moving under their bowed heads. It was like watching voices emanate from a far off place, except they sounded like childish chi
ldren with no deep echo or paraphrasing to lend them mystery.
“I am.”
“Well shoot.”
“So you are.”
“OK smartass, you’ll probably get us to tell you eventually.”
“So we will, so that you can understand and leave.”
“Yeah, we really don’t need your company.”
“Hang on, don’t we?”
“Of course not.”
“But we get so bored.”
“You get so bored.”
“So do you!”
“Uh, yeah, ok. You’re right.”
Fenix interjected quickly. “If I can help you then perhaps you can leave?”
“Hey, what are you even thinking?”
“Do you even think with that strange melon on your shoulders, or does ooze inside just mimic rational thought?”
He ignored the insult. “You are guardians or at least created as such. And whoever created you has locked you in place for as long as you have to guard, whatever it is you are guarding. I think you are protecting the rest of this place from whatever is in there. If I can get rid of it, you can go free.”
There were a few moments of quiet from the statues at that.
“Blimey.”
“He got it in one.”
“How about that then.”
“OK, smarty pants. We’ll tell you about it then.”
“But prepare yourself, others have tried, and failed to handle it.”
“Yeah, most are proven cowards, they just leave.”
“That’s why we are tired of explaining it you see.”
“Yeah, you think we just run our mouths off for fun?”
He raised an eyebrow at that.
“Yeah, yeah, OK.”
“Right, you tell him.”
“Me? Why don’t you tell him?”
“Fine, fine. I’ll start.”
“No, I’ll start.”
“Great tits of the Mother, would you just get on with it already.”
“Language. OK Fenix, here’s the skinny. This here race of beings, tall and overly wide and all, they made this town with the few of them sent to the Prison, right? Then, because they expected to be around for a while and they figured out that they could breed, with enough energy, they realized they could start a civilization. So they expanded a bit see.”
“And then they started to get lazy.”
“Hey, you telling this or am I telling this.”
“Sorry, sorry, didn’t mean to interrupt your Eminence.”
“Prat.”
“Megalomaniac.”
“Oxymoron.”
“Hey, who you calling any kind of moron. Do you even know what that means?”
They glared at each other from a single eye each. Fenix assumed they couldn’t move because they held the protective spell in place. Interesting.
“So, as I was saying.”
“As he was saying.”
“Thank you. These giants, they decided to find a way to get more of this Vitae whatchamacallit, so they devised a golem type thing. A big creature with many legs and claws and other hazardous implements of carnage, right? And they sent this creature out, seek and destroy kind of thing, to harvest the Vitae from whatever it defeated.”
“Yeah, yeah. See they sent it out quite a few times, seeing as how they raised so many homes and all. And with the breeding, it took quite a lot of energy. They could grow to full size in weeks with enough food, probably why they thought they could rule the Prison see, easy workforce and army and such.”
“Oy.”
“Sorry.”
“No more interruptions, I’m telling the story this time.”
“I said I’m sorry.”
“You better be. You following man-thing?”
“I am,” Fenix replied, keeping other thoughts to himself.
“Right, so this thing of theirs, it tears up the countryside looking for more victims, only it can only go so far before it runs out of steam right? So after a while, it completely harvests the area it can reach; and the other prisoners, they learn to stay away, right? So, of course, this thing starts to find foraging a lot more difficult.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
“So, after a few missions sent out with nothing to show for it, and repeated instructions to do better, its simple mind works out that the only source of Vitae it could actually collect was from its makers. By now, their repeated instructions had overridden the basics of its construction see? And I think we all know what happens next.”
“The creation turns on its creators?” Fenix asked politely.
“Got it in one.”
“He’s a smart one ain’t he?”
“You would think so.”
“Hey!”
Before the conversation devolved again, Fenix decided to get their attention. “So, will you let me in?”
“Let you in?”
“You want to die gray skin?”
“No, I actually have some experience with this sort of thing, and I know why no one else has been able to defeat it. You need to find its core, the effigy or statue that it works through, transmutation to give it life. I’ve been giving it a lot of thought in relation to another matter that gave me trouble when I first got here actually.”
“Hey? Transmutation?”
“What kind of fancy word is that?”
“Arcane, magic. It means that something small was made to represent the bigger thing, and the bigger thing is like a solid projection of the smaller one. If this creature is a golem, which I think it is, then it’s powered by the Vitae it acquires from its victims. But the Vitae goes to the source, the small thing that it’s made from. Any damage done to the large one, the dangerous hunting golem, is just repaired using energy stored in the small one.”
“Oooh, that makes sense.”
“Liar, you didn’t understand a word he just said.”
“I did too.”
“Did not!”
Fenix chimed in again. “Look, I know what to do, what have you got to lose, will you let me in?”
“Hmmm, I dunno.”
“I think we should.”
“You do?”
“I do.”
“Oh, OK then. We’ll let you in.
“Thanks, I think.” Fenix stepped past the two statues as the gate opened before him. They shut it immediately once he passed through.
**
The inside of the walls proved to be just as dirty as he had seen from outside, typical of a sanctuary barrier the weather was allowed in along with the usual debris, while the entity meant to be contained could not get out.
Fenix could see the smooth streets shaped from the ground, stone brought to the surface and then molded into new shapes along with the houses. Being stone though, it could still be broken; the magical shaping did nothing to otherwise protect the rock.
Stone was good for making stable structures from since it retained inherent strength and durability, it could still withstand a lot of punishment. So it was surprising to find broken rubble in place of the buildings that abutted the inside of the wall.
Looking closer, Fenix could see that they were destroyed and then piled up; this golem must have done it to gain height and see if it could get over the wall.
But the barrier must have prevented it, judging by the number of piles spaced along the wall on the inside he guessed that the golem had tried more than once. But then it had little else to do, aside from trying to escape only those who entered the town would attract its attention. And it was a hunter, so the likelihood of it already stalking him was high.
Fenix took a running jump up against the side of one building; he then hopped from there in less than a second of traction to higher up on the one opposite and then back over again to land up on the roof. The structures obviously housed much larger beings than himself, and these had two levels apiece. Boosted musculature allowed him to jump quite high, but more than four side-to-side leaps and his momentum would drop off.
He got his first good look at what must have been the inhabitants after he leaped over the streets from rooftop to rooftop several times, each move to get closer to the largest structure at the end nearest the rim of the land mass.
One of the homes, or storage building or whatever it had been, was broken down one wall with the roof collapsed. He looked down inside to assess the general interior, not wanting to go into a building without a way out, effectively avoiding any trap of that kind.
The rooms were bigger than he was used to, as expected, and there was little in the way of comfortable furniture; everything seemed quite utilitarian. Stools and tables were present but no ornamentation, no wall hangings or frames, no general dinner plates and utensils that he could see. There were hammers and other tools, now dust covered and rusting away.
Among them, the Prisons’ effect on the overly large corpse left little detail to examine except for a general form.
They had been prominent in the body as well as tall, hunched shoulders, long articulated limbs with what seemed like pointed ends. Their heads were bulbous, like a swollen fruit on top of the shoulders and with no neck. Fenix imagined that they shaped their bodies much as they shaped stone, forming appendages like hands and feet as easily as creating anything else needed for crafting things.
A useful capability, and an impressive evolutionary trait that, along with the quick breeding, would make them dangerous. Usually, any advanced form of life could be a threat to itself and others and forcing other weaker species to band together to destroy them.
Now, where had he learned that from, possibly from Her?
By now, he was a third of the way closer to the building at the end, he guessed that they must have constructed and stored the effigy of the thing inside, but to be sure, he needed to engage it. When it drew on power, he should be able to sense where it came from, the closer the effigy and the creature were, the more precise he could get. Dangerous, but quick to resolve, so long as he could survive being in that kind of proximity long enough to finish it.
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