by M J Conlon
Derick analyzed the scene before him, then focused on the energies he received, trying to see if he could piece together what this pack of creatures was doing. In a matter of minutes, Derick saw the creatures’ past life. He saw them constantly being sent out to gather the mosses that grew around the different crystals of the cavern. He could see how these were just the workers that were sent from a much larger hive of lizard monsters. He saw through the eyes of the monsters that he had killed that there were multiple different casts of creatures that made up the hive that lay due East. He could see a number of different warrior classes that had ten arms, six for walking and four for fighting.
There were support monsters that had only eight legs but four antenna and Derick could tell that the ones with four antennae could cast different types of spells. Then there were other classes that had six appendages and six antennae but this group only used four legs to walk, and they were given the best of the foods that were brought in to eat. Then he could see in the deep recesses of the mind a dark ominous void that Derick knew was the hive mother, but she was always clouded in shadows and secrecy. Better to be worshiped from afar than be exposed up close for having flaws, Derick thought to himself as he made up his mind that he would try to take out the hive.
Derick seeing that the birds had finished eating the scraps from the various lizards, turned to the lead bird, or at least the one Derick remembered leading the way out of the Thought Fiend’s cave and thought I am going to kill the hive. With that Derick pointed at the different worker corpses that the birds had just finished eating. Have they gotten bigger? No, must be a trick of the light.
The lead bird chirped with a sense of fear and foreboding coming to its song, after which the other birds followed suit.
“Duly noted.” Derick said to the birds, as he got up from the spot he had been meditating from to see the past of the creatures he had killed. Is this a new ability, or an extension of one I already had? Maybe the new capabilities of the empathic portion of my psychic viewing? Derick thought to himself, as he began heading east.
It didn’t take much for Derick to see the way the workers had traveled, as they left a faint trail every few meters of a slime like material that seemed to glow in Derick’s eye sight. Derick knew that he was only able to see the slime and its glowing trail thanks to his awareness skill and wondered not for the first time how he had been lucky enough to have that skill from the start of character creation. Did all characters start off with the awareness skill, and it is only through constant use that it will improve or be able to be used? Derick knew that HAIL would give him an answer, even if he wasn’t necessarily supposed to about his being the something percent of people that were able to start with the awareness skill, and that he estimated that only ‘x’ percent of people would have used the skill at all.
Derick shook the tangent of thoughts away from his mind as he focused. He shifted into Stealth after passing the first slime trail and began making his way carefully and silently down the tunnels. Derick felt a little weird always crouching with his staff in hand, but after this point he felt almost naked without the little walking stick. Looking at the stick, Derick could see that it had gained a number of foreign components added to it from his travels. He could see the residual traces of dragon’s blood on it, from his first encounter in this dungeon. He could see the traces of brain fluid from where he had knocked out the thief from the city square. He could see how the bottom of the staff was now coated in the blood of the countless monsters that he had first killed then walked over and through, throughout his journey. Derick could also see how all these elements were slowly combining to imbue his staff with another worldly quality. Does the game create magic items from the basic items we use? As an apprentice artificier he knew it was now possible to create a magic item from an otherwise mundane item that one started with, though such feats were often rare. He also knew that the more energy the item he had used above its base threshold, the more it was likely to either break or explode violently. Thinking the foreign thoughts flood his mind, and thinking about ways he could improve his existing staff Derick almost missed the influx of new minds that now flooded the outskirts of his mental range. He could feel the thoughts and energies of hundreds of minds that fanned out and around him. Derick knew some to be scouts that made sure the cave systems were clear and that working groups were coming back regularly.
Derick looked around the area, and found a small crevice that he could huddle into. The birds seeing his movements, also began to take perches from higher up and around Derick. Derick didn’t quite know what they were doing, but so long as they were quiet, Derick didn’t mind. Do they just want another free meal that badly?
Derick shook away the thought, and began mentally ripping apart the minds of the scouts that he had made note of. Once all were destroyed he paused, letting his breathing take over and force himself to calm down. Slow is smooth and smooth is fast. Derick repeated to himself, forcing the blood rush to dissipate in him. He knew he could have killed a lot more of the creatures, but unless he got them all in groups he would be noticed. With that in mind, Derick came up with a plan of attack. He focused on groups of the monsters. First he focused on a group of the gatherer lizard creatures that were in a passageway to the north. He took out the ones closest to the hive, before working his way out to those that were farthest away. He could feel the fear of some crying out, begging their brothers to leave, but it was too late. Derick made short work of the gatherers to the north. Then Derick rested, before focusing on the gatherers to the south. Still never leaving his spot, Derick sent tendrils of energy out to grab ahold of and mercilessly destroy the minds of the gatherers to the South. Derick focused around the quick feelings of panic and fear that lasted seconds, before the minds of the monsters he was attacking were ripped apart and unable to deliver coherent thought. Once the southern tunnels were clear Derick rested. Then he focused on his own eastern tunnel, killing off any workers or sentient beings that came within his now 500 foot radius.
Once all minds were clear, Derick got up from his spot and slowly moved forward. He gestured to the birds, showing his intent to move forward quietly with his hands. He didn’t quite know if the birds understood him, but at least they remained quiet as they too followed behind him, only the ruffling of feathers and swooshing of air being the only auditory sign that they were following him. Derick could feel their mental energies, he now tracked them in his personal tracker as green.
Were they yellow before, or orange? Derick wondered to himself as he made his way forward. It was often easier for Derick to focus around the task at hand.
Only with his mind occupied on extra thoughts, could he force his body to go slowly and methodically through the actions he knew needed to be done.
Finally Derick found himself close enough to feel the mental energies from other powerful creatures. Rather than focusing on the soldiers and working his way forward, like he had originally intended he figured he would take a page out of the history books. Following the military examples of Colin Powell, a hero and legend that both Derick and his grandfather looked up to, he decided to take out the enemies’ surveillance. Focusing on the creatures that could seemingly locate him by their thoughts, Derick directed his attack to the first one on the northern tunnel and began quickly and methodically peeling away the creatures mental layers and slicing deep into its mind with his piercing attacks. Derick focused on the speech centers first, followed by the mental relay portions of the mind, then the motor skills portions.
Once it was effectively mentally neutered, Derick killed it quickly and without hesitation. Yet the strain from quickly eliminating the one mentally capable opponent was almost tougher than his taking out a group of eight gatherers. Derick found a small shadowed corner that would be hidden from creatures leaving the hive and decided to use that cubby as his new staging area. From there Derick then systematically took out each of the mental creatures in the northern tunnel, then the eastern, then the
southern. Derick could feel the faint trickle of liquid pooling down his face, a sign that he was pushing himself too far, but he knew he had to take out the eyes first, before he could rest safely.
Only after the last of the mental creatures had been eliminated did he allow himself to rest. He shut his eyes, and focused on re-centering himself. He felt the world spinning around the moment he closed his eyes, it reminded him of being drunk the day after he finished his bachelors. He held onto the memory of the joy he felt those following few days to help him refocus his will.
Finally after what felt like hours, Derick’s mind stopped reeling and he was able to focus one again. It was during this time of renewed clarity that Derick realized there was a weight in his lap and a small finger was cresting his lip. Derick opened his eyes to see that the lead bird was wiping away the blood from his lips. A primal course of fear washed through his body as he saw the eyes of the predator taking him in. Yet the feeling of fear was over and gone in a second, as he gently raised his small hand and stroked the bird gently with his fingers.
“Thank you.” Derick mouthed to the bird. Then Derick once again went about clearing away the enemies that still lined the entry way to the hive. This time starting with the Southern tunnel Derick mentally worked his way North, taking out groups of the enemies at a time. Once a perceived cluster had been eliminated Derick would rest. It must have been a little over two hours in all, but it felt like days to Derick. The hunting, killing, and waiting to see if his attacks had been noticed and if so how would the enemy respond? The entire practice had been tedious, but necessary. Finally, once the last of the monsters had been removed from his mental range Derick patted the bird and gently shifted his legs letting the bird know he wished to get up. The bird took one look into Derick’s eyes, before nodding its head as if in approval before flying off to join its brethren.
Derick used his staff to help him up and steady himself before he began going forward once again towards the enemies. As he approached the hive he realized his whole classification of the structure had been off. This was not a hive at least not in the traditional sense, this was more of a fortress or a citadel. There were walkways and guard towers that had been stationed both above and below in a pattern that suggested a two tier external facing structure, though as he approached Derick could begin to feel more minds going deeper into the tunnels.
Derick made his way to the scouts first, absorbing their energies quickly, then gesturing for the birds to take their meal. Then he made his way to the inter-mixed warriors and gatherers, again draining their energies before moving on. Looking around Derick thought that he was missing something until he looked up to see that the top guard towers seemed to be shaped in a random spherical design. Is that where the mental creatures were? Derick thought to himself as he made his way closer to the wall of the structure. As he approached, Derick looked over the wall for any signs that a warning would be struck if he touched the wall. Not seeing anything that blatantly said this is a trap, Derick cast Levitation on himself and quickly climbed up the side of the wall, not going over the side until he was certain that the coast was clear. He searched both the walkway to the different spherical domes and the archways that made each sphere accessible via the roof. Once he was certain that his immediate vicinity was clear of a trap, Derick got onto the walkway and found the first mental hive creature. Derick quickly absorbed the energy of the creature and let the items it carried flow into himself. He even grabbed the creature’s body with his psychic telekinesis and threw it over the side of the wall for the birds that had been following him. Then he did the same to the next sphere, never going into the sphere and instead Derick crawled his way around the outside of the sphere. Derick couldn’t explain why, but he felt uneasy when he thought about going into the spheres. Maybe there is residual psychic residue? Maybe my entering would signify that a foreign entity was present?
Whatever the reason, Derick did not like the feeling his sense gave him about entering the spheres and so he avoided them at all costs. Though he did drain the energy from and proceed to feed the birds that were now following him with the corpses of each mental creature down below.
Finally feeling that the external wall was clear, Derick sat and waited. Part of him wondered if there was going to be a changing of the guards, and part of him wanted a slight rest and reset of his levitation ability and a slight break so he could try to mentally map out the catacomb of tunnels that lead down below this entry way into the hive-citadel, the Hitadel? Derick tried to think of a good name for the place as he rested.
While he waited he felt two different bands of gatherers return, at first Derick was concerned that they would be scared off by the corpses of their fellow species, yet when Derick looked all he could see was clear ground below him. It seemed that his bird friends had cleared the way for him. While Derick could feel their mental energies, he could not see them. More than likely they are hidden up above us?
Derick waited for the first band of gatherers to get closer, he could feel a faint trickle of fear rippling over and through the group, but they continued on. Was there a scent excreted by the Scouts that let the other gatherers know that the coast was clear? Or could they maybe smell residual traces of their comrades’ blood that had been soaked up by the cave system?
Regardless of the cause for concern, Derick mentally struck out at the creatures from his perch high atop the Hitadel. The word still seemed ridiculous to Derick, but he guessed it was just as good as any. In a second a band of nine gatherers were walking, the next second they all fell to the ground in unison as nine different projections of psychic assault were sent out from Derick into the minds of the gatherers. In a second the creatures went from being sentient creatures that could feel fear and pain to nine husks on the ground waiting for Derick to absorb the energy from. Only after the second and from what Derick could tell was the last group of gatherers approached the Hitadel and were subsequently killed did derick cast levitation on himself and leave his perch atop the Hitadel. Derick went down, absorbing the energy from the first group of gatherers, before going over and absorbing the energy from the second group of gatherers. No sooner had he started to move from the first group to go to the second group then his flock of birds came out and began to eat from the first group of gatherers. Looking back at the birds, Derick could see that they had in fact grown. While a few hours ago the leader was able to sit in his lap somewhat comfortably, he now could see that such an event would be almost impossible in the future.
Derick nodded to the lead bird as it landed next to Derick, after he had finished absorbing the energy from this second group of gatherers. Are they waiting until I eat first as a sign of respect, or in an attempt to make sure that the coast is clear? Derick assumed that it was probably a mixture of both thoughts, though it was hard to tell one way or the other for sure. What was clear to Derick was that these birds at their current rate of growth would have a hard time going through the tunnels if they didn’t stop growing, though that wouldn’t be Derick’s concern or necessarily his problem. The only problem that Derick could see at the moment was that he needed to find an active portal structure that could be repurposed to get him back to his home planet of Triton.
Chapter 16
This time when Derick entered the Hitadel, he found himself using the front door. If door could be an accurate representation of the massive open arch that towered over Derick, casting a faint light on the open entry room that created a cascading effect of shadows that littered the room at odd patterns. The shadows nor the size of the entry way mattered to Derick, as a celestial gnome he had begun to expect things to be bigger than him. Which is why he probably took a faint exception to the birds’ rapid growths as they were one of the few being that had been clearly smaller than he was when they first met. Now after the feasts on these lizard creatures, Derick could see that they appeared to be growing an extra set of arms in the front, or maybe they had always been there but are now visible due to the birds’ ra
pid growth in size?
Never wanting to set off physical traps and always aware of the possibility of setting off a pressure plate, particularly upon entering an unknown enemy’s stronghold Derick jumped up, then used his levitation ability once he reached his highest point. Instantly the pull on his stomach that would drop him to the ground was cancelled and a feeling of weightlessness filled him. He looked back at the birds that were all gathering around the entry way in anticipation.
Derick not wanting to have to worry about the birds and their potentially drawing unwanted attention from behind him, held his hand up and gestured for the birds to hold their advancement. The birds looked at him with confusion for a second, until the lead bird cocked his head to the side, then nodded slightly before dropping to a squatting pose. Not long after the lead bird took his crouching stance, the others followed suite. Derick nodded in appreciation and went in to scout the room.