OhmN

by M J Conlon

  “So what type of birds are you?” Derick asked.

  “We are NOT birds.” Anath replied indignantly with a thought that denoted disgust and revulsion.

  “Okay, what are you?” Derick asked with a huff.

  “No, I will not say until I am entirely sure of your character. I thought you were intelligent, but if you cannot differentiate us from common birds, then I don’t know what to think of you.” Anath replied indignantly.

  With that, as quickly as it began Derick was once again filled with a quiet mind. Derick wanted to say something about liking the quiet, though to be honest it was nice to have heard a friendly voice, even it if was only in his mind.

  Finally after the last ember began to lose its bright red color and the silvery gray of dust filled the hallways, Derick got up walked over and examined the carnage. Derick could feel that the birds were all following in a line behind him, Anath as usual leading the way. Derick waved his hand, the sign that he was absorbing the energies from the dead bodies, before moving forward. He had to do this dozens of times each step as the sheer volume of dead and deceased lizard monsters was nearly uncountable.

  Given the number of bodies, the number of appendages and difference in sizes from one monster to the next, it looked like a horror of mutated flesh and bones that had been welded together by fire and mayhem. Looking at the size of the grand entry way and the volume of dead monsters Derick was surprised that his half-ass-ed plan actually worked. Derick decided against recasting his levitation as he was not sure if he would need it again in the future. Remembering how his fall and stumble into the hallway of shit almost caused him to get devoured by the descending horde.

  Derick continued forward consuming the energies and experiences of the monsters each step of the way. The birds behind him scraped up the bodies, finding slabs and strips of meat that were either buried or covered by different bodies preventing a few choice strips of meat from being consumed in flames and ash. But for the most part every piece of bone and body was destroyed in the carnage.

  Only after leaving the entry way and the portions of the hallway where Derick directly controlled the flames did more and more bodies have meat available for the birds to eat, no not birds, but I don’t know what they are?

  Derick looked back to see that the creatures that were following him had all started to fully grow out their front legs, forcing them to walk on all fours. It also appeared that the lower half of the creatures were covered in fur? Derick was slightly confused as he had an idea of what Anath and her flock might be, but was unable to see a tail. Well there was a tail of feathers, but no extra tail that would help confirm Derick’s suspicions.

  Derick walked along, not wanting to make a million wrong guesses, he would rather make one correct informed decision. As the group rounded the big stone turn, the one Derick had cut through with his phase ability, he found more and more bodies that had died of smoke inhalation and broken necks due to being trampled over from their friends who were both retreating and advancing at the same time.

  Much to Derick’s dismay, he also found the flat burnt outline of what had to have been his walking stick, the short staff that had been in his possession since he first left this dungeon so long ago. Also in this corner was where the bodies were piled the highest. To no one’s surprise, this was also the section that Anath and her flock of whatevers started slurping at the blood in many of the bodies.

  Derick supposed that Anath and her flock needed as much, if not more liquid than a human might, given their rapid growth spurts. Was the thought fiend stopping your growth?

  “Thought fiend, oh the monster you found us with? I rather like that name for him. It is rather fitting. And yes, he got us when we were still in our eggs. Then he would use us to mark prey that would be hunted down by him when they slept at night. See the dust that you were originally covered in encourages a sleep like effect that eventually takes over a person’s body and makes them fall asleep with their mind open for being devoured.” Anath replied mentally.

  How long were you his slaves?

  “For far too long.” Anath thought the last part with a particular sigh.

  Are there more of your kind somewhere?

  “I don’t know, but whether there are others of my kind or not is irrelevant. I have chosen you, and as such I go where you go.” Anath replied. “Now if you will excuse me,” she thought, before greedily drinking the blood of a lizard creature. It was fascinating to watch the not-birds creatures eat and drink, they would take their ever growing front legs and tear a patch of skin loose, then dig their beaks in deep in order to start drinking. By this time Anath was now up to Derick’s shoulder even while hunched over on all fours. The others of her flock were not far behind, but there was a good few inches of height that Anath had over the others of her kind. Derick wanted to gently run his fingers down Anath’s back, but decided against it never wanting to interrupt someone while they were eating.

  “It is okay. I would prefer contact, from you.” Anath emphasized the you part, seemingly implying that no one else would be granted the honor. With that Derick very tentatively walked over to Anath and stroked her magnificent feathers lightly, tracing the contours and patterns that the giant feathers made to help streamline air flow. Simply amazing, Derick thought to himself as we felt the smooth and interwoven patterns that each feather made with the ones around it, and the patterns themselves of royal reds and browns denoted even more regalia than Derick originally thought Anath might have. As he gently smoothed out the feathers on Anath’s back, Derick felt a slight twinge of electricity course through the feathers. Are you able to wield electricity?

  “It is part of our innate powers.” Anath replied, while sounding like she was mentally speaking around a mouth full of food.

  Right feeding, sorry.

  “Oh… No problem…” Anath replied, still greedily eating and drinking her fill.

  What the fire hadn’t fully consumed, Anath and her brothers and sisters would shortly it seemed. At first Derick wouldn’t think it possible, but Anath and her brothers and sisters began to grow so much, that they needed to at first break up into groups of three, then finally groups of two. Anath and Derick took the first two spots in the group of two, followed by two sets of one male and one female, or so Derick thought.

  “That is correct, each of the others have chosen a bonding mate. One that they will be bound to for life.” Anath replied, as if she had read Derick’s mind, which Derick knew that she had.

  So you got the short end of the straw and were stuck with me? Derick replied, trying to make a short joke.

  “On the contrary, I chose you, which forced the other males to choose one of my sisters.”

  Isn’t that a bit incestuous?

  Anath paused, as if reading Derick’s mind for what the word incestuous meant. “Oh, you are worried about breeding abnormalities. No we will not be breeding together, pervert.” Anath said.

  WHAT? No, I meant that two siblings should not.

  “HAHAHA.” Anath was laughing so hard that she almost sounded to be cackling in Derick’s mind.

  What, you knew what I meant? Derick thought, then realized she did know what he meant and was pulling his leg.

  “All that is meant by a mental bonding is that this is the being that you will go to for comfort and for understanding. While it is not unheard of to have offspring with a bonded, it is encouraged to have offspring with others. The idea is to get as much genetic.” She thought the word genetic as if she had gained its knowledge from a book, which if she had gained it from Derick’s mind then she probably had. “Diversify as you can, while being able to go back to your spiritual anchor whenever you have need. This way we are fulfilled in all aspects of our being, mind, body, and soul.” Anath finished the thought, letting Derick think on it, while she continued to feast. All the while Derick kept absorbing the memories and experiences of the dead lizard creatures as the continued their slow trek forward. Though Derick thought of it now
as more of a leisurely stroll with a great friend, versus his original thought, the one where he thought it was a tedious movement through the field of carnage.

  Derick began viewing the desolation of corpses and mutated lizard bodies in front of him, trying to find the ones that looked the most ripe for Anath.

  Upon finding them, Derick would mentally note them on his mental scanning area. As soon as he made his first note, Anath stopped her current meal and made her way forward to the one that Derick had indicated. Seeing this Derick walked ahead, gaining the experiences of each, then finding the bodies of the ones that had been suffocated and trampled, rather than burnt to death. Each time he found a trampled body, it was marked and highlighted in his mind and then never mentioned.

  Anath found each body, each time she moved on, Derick noted that each of his previous mental marks would disappear after a few seconds. It was interesting as it meant that Anath was at least able to remove markings from his mental map, and maybe she could add some of her own markings?

  With that thought a new marking showed up in blue on his mental map. This was a big blue dot that was larger than a person, but seemingly smaller than a room. What is that?

  “Oh, that is a pool of water.” Anath replied mentally.

  But I don’t need to drink. Derick thought to himself.

  “You might not need to drink, but you do need to properly groom yourself. You stink.” Anath thought back at Derick. Derick cracked a smile then looked down to see that his sage robes of the portalist were now covered in dried lizard feces and blood. Fair enough. Derick thought, quickly absorbing the last of the memories and experiences of the creatures that he had killed and going out of the grand entry way to the small blue dot that was marked on his map. Can you smell water from that far away?

  “I can smell a LOT of things from that far away.” Anath replied mentally. Derick was impressed to see how far his mental bond with Anath could go, Derick figured that it would go at least as far as his mental map, if not further, but didn’t want to test its range in an enemy stronghold. That said, this was as good of a time as any for him to rest up and wash off as much of the filth that now covered him as possible. As Derick approached to blue dot he realized that it was a slow moving stream that seemed to have flown through the Hitadel from parts unknown, then seemed to flow back under a few hundred feet later. Overall it was a very odd water current, one that Derick wondered if he could track and possibly exploit if the Hitadel was built over this natural river, then parts of the main structure could be vulnerable to erosion or other water damage, Derick thought to himself.

  “I can track the river when it goes underground, if that would help.” Anath thought, even though it still sounded like she was talking with her mouth full.

  Derick gently lowered himself into the stream of water, which wasn’t that tall, but was able to go past Derick’s shoulders when he sat down. Once in the water Derick fully submerged his face, letting his hair and the back of his head get soaked. Not needing to breath, Derick felt himself grabbing a hold of a rock that was at the bottom of the stream and hanging on, just letting the river flow over him towards the deep dark of the inside of the Hitadel. It was then that Derick got an idea.

  “What, What are you doing?” Anath replied in a panic, as it sounded like she was finally finished eating and was now focusing on Derick.

  I’m going to do some recon, Derick thought as he let go of the rock that had been holding his small frame in place under the gently flowing current. In a second he was flowing through the few hundred open feet of water, then next he was nearing a tunnel that led off to parts unknown. Derick felt his body hit a build up of dirt and debris that had gathered at the base of the wall, where the river met the next wall in the fortress, before disappearing. As his movement was stopped, he felt a mental sigh come from Anath, before his feet aided by the momentum of water broke through the few dead plant and dirt particles that had built up over time. One second he was standing sideways on a makeshift platform, the next he was going through a water tube slide. The sensation of falling and riding the current of the underground stream reminded him of when he was a kid at the water park.

  Just like when he was a kid, this ride was all indoors and likely just as dirty as the one he begged his mother to take him to as a kid. Yet, just as when he was a kid, Derick couldn’t help but feel joy and energy overtake him as he found himself entering an enemy stronghold through an underground water duct. Sad part is, this isn’t the first time I’ve had to enter an enemy compound this way, were Derick’s last thoughts before the minds of dozens of enemies began appearing at the outer most points of derick’s psychic viewing range.

  Chapter 18

  Derick soon found the thoughts and emotions of dozens of minds fluttering in around him. He could hear the desperate cries of Anath coming from far away, but the words and sounds seemed hazy, as if they were words coming to him through a dream. After a certain point, Derick stuck out his hands and feet wide. In a second his body caught and began sliding down the tunnel, before coming to a complete stop a few feet later. Once his body was stuck firmly in place, along the top of the tunnel, where it received the least amount of resistance, Derick began scanning the area for the lizard creatures that had a stronger mental signature.

  Once Identified, Derick struck at the minds with his psychic assault, mentally grabbing a hold of the enemies’ minds from a distance and then slicing at the cerebral cortex of each mind quickly, before moving onto the next mind. Even with his quick mental attacks, a warning alarm reverberated out from the wandering creatures. Derick could feel the panic washing over the hive as they found bodies that were lying limp and lifeless in the hallways. In seconds, mental waves began pulsing in and around the area.

  Derick found the minds casting the mental probes and started psychically assaulting those minds as quickly as possible. Derick tried to keep the minds that were closest to him alive, as he didn’t want to give away his direction. Instead he focused on a side to the right, towards the front entrance started eliminating minds that came from that direction and worked his way straight back, then to the left towards his current location.

  Derick felt the minds and bodies of the lizard creatures begin to move forward towards the entrance. In a display of stupidity, Derick realized that that was the direction that Anath and the rest of her flock were. Mentally kicking himself for leading the monsters to now defenseless flock, Derick decided to kick his assault up a few notches.

  Derick tried a new trick, now after having cut through many of the Lizard creatures minds, he felt he was aware of where many of the long and short term memory centers for each creature were. Derick found a few of the warrior class, quickly cut the long and short term memory clusters, then tried to push the thought of their being under immediate attack. Instantly the first warrior began attacking its comrades, jumping onto the back of the nearest ally who was now perceived to be an enemy and started biting at the neck of the creature.

  Derick not waiting to see the outcome of this, began doing the same thing to two other warrior class lizards, before feeling his mind begin to reel due to a sudden feeling of being dizzy. Derick forced his mind to slow down, and waited for the aftermath to clear. After all was said and done, eight additional monsters were killed; the three that Derick had mentally sent against their comrades, two of which killed two additional enemies, while the last only killed one before all were taken down by their peers. Derick found the mind of one of the giant casters and attempted to do the same, though this one had far more long term clusters of knowledge to cut through. Instead of cutting all memories, which he was struggling to, Derick grabbed hold of the recent memories of some of the brethren going crazy and amplified that feeling until everyone but him was under mind control. Instantly, Derick felt the use and serge of electrical currents and magics being cast wildly about the Hitadel.

  In a scream of panic more minds came to the cluster of violence, where the mind that Derick had influenced men
tally spoke of how the others were out of control. Soon the new comers joined their magical brother in attacking the brothers that were in the wrong place at the wrong time. It was a blood bath, pure and simple. Soon the powerful magic wielders had destroyed the thought signatures of every other creature around Derick.

  A few stragglers who came into the commotion to see what was happening were caught up quickly by the attacks and destroyed with impunity. Soon the second tier of the structure was quiet and still. Only the minds of a few of the magical classes could be felt at a distance, but they remained weary. Derick wondered if he could use this to his advantage, but decided to wait and regain his Mental Energies.

  Not for the first time recently, Derick tried to view his stats, but was unable to due to the glitch that had over taken his character since he had been sent to his original respawn point. Yet, without any true indicators, Derick just waited until his mind was completely calm and at peace, then waited a minute longer before continuing down the flowing underground water way until he was once again surrounded by hundreds of minds. This time like before, he took out the minds of all monsters that seemed like they could be used to find his mental signature. He could see the monsters casting hundreds of interlocking shallow nets that while they couldn’t reach out as far as his psychic viewing could reach, could still pose a problem if he got too close.

  This time Derick decided to attack two monsters at a time, though he worked his way from the outside in. He attacked a monster from the back and the front at the same time, then continued inward until each mental monster was defeated. This time once all of the mentally strong monsters were killed he focused on killing two random warrior class monsters, then waited.

  Once again the fallen comrades were found in a matter of minutes. This time a warning was sent out, spreading far and wide. Derick thought about spreading more confusion amongst the monsters, but decided better of it, when his mind began to feel like it was floating weightlessly in his head. Derick had pushed himself hard, knowing that he had to be quick and decisive when invading an enemy stronghold. Also, time was on Derick’s side in this instance as the longer he could draw out this engagement, the more animosity he could help spread between the different factions of monsters. It seemed that each class had a hierarchy that was ingrained in them from birth, and one that caused resentment between the upper and lower casts. The lower casts Derick attributed to being the the warriors, the scouts, the gatherers, and cleaners. The upper casts were the mentalists, the magicians, and the lords. The thoughts and memories of hundreds of lower cast members flooded his mind, as they were the primary fodder that was used in the wave that tried to overrun Derick in the first tier of the Hitadel.