by V. A. Lewis
Then it clicked. A memory of the first time I saw Gennady resurfaced— he was driving some sort of bike. A bike that sent up plumes of white smoke…
I remembered the smoke from earlier; the small white plume rising up in the distance, that I dismissed because of its distance from me. I immediately cursed myself for how sloppy I had been throughout this entire mission. Revealing myself to Felix was fine because I was left with no other choice. But this? This should not have happened, and it was entirely my fault I was found out.
I took a step forward. "I’m sorry it had to come to this, Gennady," I said the words dangerously.
A bead of sweat formed on the man’s forehead. "W-what are you talking about?"
"It was my fault, it really was. But I have to protect myself."
"Are you even listening to me? What are ye on about?!"
"It was—"
The Dwarf cut me off.
"Sacred piss, can you stop yapping for a second and listen?" Gennady screamed, and I paused. He managed to roll over to his back, craning his neck up to face me as he sighed. "I’m not going to tell anyone about this. If I did, I would have immediately gone back after seeing you kill those Crawlers rather than come up here myself!"
"I…" I hesitated. "You won’t?" I asked, lowering my dagger but still not releasing my spell.
"Yes, I won’t!" Gennady nearly screamed his head off.
"And how can I know that you won’t?"
"Because I can do magic myself! It’ll be like turning myself in, you fool!"
Gennady could not raise his arms, per se, but he was able to move his fingers. A small spell circle formed on his fingertips, before a small ball of light winked into existence.
"See?" he said. "Now let me go!"
I stared at the circle filled with a simple pattern glowing faintly at his hand, and then felt the magic coming off from the weak light spell. I chewed my bottom lip, wrestling with my indecision, before finally releasing the magical bindings from him.
Gennady could have been a Dark Crusader, but he would not know who I was, which was what ultimately made me choose to free him; I was still wary of him, but I could at least ask questions while he was standing on his own two feet.
"Finally, took you long enough." He stood up, rubbing at his arms and legs.
"Sorry about that. I was just being cautious," I said.
"Well remind me not to get on your bad side if that’s you ‘just being cautious’. Goddess grace us, what were you even planning on doing to me?" the Dwarf asked.
"Oh, um…nothing?" I mumbled out a reply.
He looked at me blankly. "You were going to kill me, weren’t you?"
"...no," I said, lying.
"What kind of a damned fool are you? Who murders someone just because they see you cast a bit of magic? You could’ve bribed me or threatened me, but you went straight to trying to kill me!" Gennady pointed accusingly at me.
"You could’ve told someone regardless!" I argued, trying to defend my actions. Or intentions. I scowled underneath my mask, folding my arms. "How am I supposed to believe anyone’s going to walk away after seeing this"— I gestured at my floating ball of light— "and keep quiet about it?"
"What are they going to do? Go to the Church and call for some Inquisitors?" Gennady snorted, shaking his head. He stopped when he saw my expression— or lack of expression— and frowned. "Wait, you actually think that’s going to happen?"
"Why wouldn’t it?" I asked, cocking my head.
"Sacred piss, lassie, are you mad? Why would the Holy Xan Empire send Inquisitors over every single claim of someone doing magic? That’d make it very easy to get anyone you don’t like killed. Just go to your local temple and say ‘hey, this guy does magic!’, and you’ll be rid of him forever. Of course not that’s not going to happen."
The Dwarf waggled a finger in the air.
"The worst thing that could happen is the city guards believing the person accusing you, and they’ll try to toss you in a dungeon for a few years. Maybe get some Priests to visit you and cure you. Then they’ll let you go."
"I don’t think I’d like that either," I said simply.
"Well, unless you’re an idiot who wouldn’t leave once it seems like you’ll be arrested, that won’t happen. And this won’t happen in the first place unless the man who spotted you casting spells is some mad fanatic— which most people aren’t. They’ll just take the bribe and stay quiet. Avoid trouble, like normal people do," Gennady said, matter-of-factly.
I held myself back from telling him that my situation was a little bit different from most, since that would reveal too much. Instead, I took a deep breath and apologized.
"Sorry, you’re right. I probably could’ve just ran away or something. I overreacted."
"That’s underselling it, lass," Gennady said, glaring at me for a moment. Then his eyes relaxed as he continued, "But I accept your apology, since I’m alive. I probably shocked you too, coming in like that, huh?"
"Just a little bit."
"I just saw those Abominations and had to act. I didn’t even know you were here until I saw the last of them die, and got excited when I saw that Light spell hovering over your head and knew I wasn’t seeing things."
"How did you even see me kill those Crawlers anyway?" I finally asked the question.
The Dwarf grinned, and just set down his pack. He rummaged through his equipment, pulling out a small cylindrical object which he pulled open to make it longer. It was a spyglass. "This," he said, tapping the lens of it. "I carry one with me at all times, and I just so happened to be looking in the right direction when you began casting those spells. Although it was a blur, I could’ve sworn you were a Geomancer and not a Thaumaturge."
I chose not to confirm or deny anything, and just gave him a curt nod. "I see."
So it was poor timing and the fact that the Dwarf was actually searching for me that led to my supposed slip up; I could very easily breathe a sigh of relief and push the responsibility of my mistake to bad luck, but being unlucky was a state of being for me. I had to have known things would go wrong somewhere and prepared for it better.
There was no use in pointing fingers or wallowing in sorrow. I did that plenty in the past, and I had to focus on getting better for the future.
"So," Gennady started, interrupting me from my thoughts, "this is where those Abominations have been coming from. How did you even find it?"
I lifted my shoulders in a shrug. "Luck, I guess. As you saw, a group of Crawlers were retreating after failing to take back their nest. I ran into them and they attacked me, which led me here."
I was not sure how accurate it was to call being attacked by Monsters ‘luck’, but that was the best descriptor I had for it.
"Aha, and I caught you just in time from stealing all the credit for exterminating the Abominations. I think I took out a dozen, which means I should be getting at least ten percent of the reward," he said, smiling greedily. "Although I would have liked to fight the tougher ones. These were barely even an E Rank threat!"
I decided against commenting on Gennady’s insistence of using his ranking system for Monsters, and addressed the other part of his statement.
"Ten percent of the reward?" I cocked an eyebrow beneath my mask."Why?" I asked.
"What? Are you telling me that you fought more than a hundred Abominations before I arrived? That seems hard to believe. I don’t even see that many dead bodies lying around, and there can’t be that much more inside."
"...you think I already killed them all?"
"Yeah… wait, you mean you haven’t?" Gennady frowned, his beard scrunching up in the process.
"Uh… no?" I said, "I’ve only just got here. I’m pretty sure there are a lot more inside."
"Wait, so why were you just standing around and not fighting? I thought you were tired!"
"I… was observing them." I inhaled deeply, deciding to explain now rather than having to come up with an excuse later on. "The Abominations are doc
ile towards me. They don’t attack me unless I attack them first."
"But that’s… not how it’s supposed to work. I’ve fought groups of them before, lass. And I’ve read all the reports. They attack almost all living beings the moment they see or hear them."
I shrugged again. "Don’t ask me how it works. That’s just how it is for me."
That was not a total lie; I truly did not know how it worked. I knew I was special to the Abominations because they had something to do with those three strangers and their god—sorry, I meant to say jerk god— but the exact details eluded me. So I was telling the truth, even if I was being incredibly vague.
Fortunately for me, Gennady did not ask me to elaborate.
"Hm, if the Abominations aren’t gone yet, then I guess that’s better for me. Maybe we could run into some Horrors or Amalgams. I need to see how strong they actually are," the Dwarf said, grinning at the prospect. "Come on, Aria. We’re gonna wipe out this infestation."
I jerked at hearing my mom’s name get called, before remembering that was my fake name now. "Right," I said, hurrying after Gennady who was already marching further into the cave.
I stepped up beside him as my light spell illuminated the way; his spell dissipated soon after he cast it, having served its purpose in convincing me he would not report me to the local authorities.
"So, are you a Dark Crusader?" I asked as nonchalantly as I could.
"Nope. I’ve met a few Dark Crusaders before. But I’m not one of them," he replied, still walking ahead of me. He slowed down just a little bit, and craned his neck to face me. "You?"
"Same thing for me," I said, once again leaving out any details about my actual relationship with the organization. "I’m unaffiliated. Just a Hunter looking to make some money and survive."
"One would think a spellcaster trying to survive would seek protection from the Dark Crusaders rather than trying to go about it by themselves."
"I… disagree with some of the things they do."
"A philosophical difference huh?" Gennady’s eyebrows rose. "That’s an interesting perspective coming from a Half Goblin."
I remained silent.
"No reaction? At least I tried," he chuckled, looking back to the front. "I do understand where you’re coming from though. The things the Dark Crusaders do— they’re almost no different than a gang, just spread throughout the continent. I understand they’ve gotta do what they’ve gotta do, but when they pretend to be better than their predecessors, it just comes off as hypocritical."
"You think the Dark Crusaders are like the Shadow’s Evangelium?" I asked, scrutinizing the Dwarf’s expression.
"I wouldn’t go that far. They aren’t exactly the same," he said, as we came to a fork in the tunnel.
"That way." I pointed in the direction I had come from, and we continued. "What’s the difference?"
"For one thing, the Shadow’s Evangelium worked in both Vitae and Soli, while the Dark Crusaders are avoiding confrontation in the Holy Xan Empire’s lands unless necessary," Gennady said, now following me. "As for the other, the Dark Crusaders aren’t trying to convert everyone into their way of life. Which is fine by me. Go and resolve your petty squabbles with the Church— just leave me out of it!"
"But aren’t you already a spellcaster? You just showed me you can do magic," I pointed out the flaw in his reasoning.
"Nah, I’m not a real spellcaster, lass." I narrowed my eyes as the Dwarf quickly began to explain. "I can do magic, but I’m not someone who does it regularly. I told you, didn’t I? I’m an inventor.
"I don’t believe there is anything inherently wrong in casting magic. The Church claims that it is a violation of Holy Law, but that just seems like a load of crap to me. Magic, like everything else, is a part of how the world works. And from what I’ve read, manipulating magic is almost eerily similar to working a mana tool. There are distinct differences, like how you can’t just make the mana in a mana crystal do whatever without tinkering with it first, whereas magic has a lot more freedom but a lot more complex in what it can do. But at the end of the day, both are the manipulation of the mana to achieve a goal."
I nodded along, since this was not anything new to me. "What does this have anything to do with being an inventor?" I asked.
Gennady let out a sharp breath, almost haughtily. "Because then it teaches me how mana works as an abstraction. Magic lets me innovate. It lets me create new, better mana tools."
He stopped, putting down his large bag by the side of a wall while I waited behind him. He pulled out what looked like a mix between a miniature cannon and a bazooka, hefting it over his shoulders.
"Ever heard of a spell called ‘Annihilation’?" he asked.
I warily backed away from the clearly dangerous weapon. "Never heard of it," I said.
"Well it’s this Tier 6 spell that’s purported to fire a deadly beam of energy which vaporizes everything in its path. This"— the Dwarf tapped the side of the weapon— "was made to copy it."
I stood there for a moment, just staring at Gennady as he stood proud with his chin proudly held high.
"Impressed, aren’t you? Come on, quit gawking, tell me what you think?"
"I think," I said, glancing away from the weapon and meeting his eyes, "that nobody uses Tiers in magic. I’m pretty sure it’s not a very popular system. So I don’t even know what a Tier 6 spell can do."
"What?" he sputtered, saliva getting all over my mask. It took him a moment to gather himself, before he continued, "Bah, it just means it’s very powerful. It can take out most A Rank Monsters in a single blast!"
I raised a hand. "I don’t know what an A Ranked Monster can do either."
"You—" Gennady deflated, putting the weapon down and back into his bag. "Whatever, it’s not like it works anyway. And before you say anything— it’s supposed to work in theory, but for some reason I can’t seem to fire the damned thing."
The Dwarf picked up his oversized bag, as I had a thought.
"Want me to try—"
I was cut off by a sound further down the tunnel; it sounded almost like a bird— a baby bird that was gently calling out to its mother. Both Gennady and I whirled around, hands on our weapons, both recognizing the distinct chirping noise.
"Abominations," he whispered. "We’re here."
The two of us slowly crept forward. The faint chittering getting louder and louder, but still remaining almost gentle in nature. Eventually, we found ourselves in a larger chamber, one with a small ledge where we stood, and a hundred foot pit leading straight down.
Gennady left his bag of mana tools behind, taking only a single handheld rifle, while I left the ball of light at the corridor behind us; there was no need for illumination here when we were facing Abominations because they themselves would offer us the light source we needed to see. And true enough, when Gennady and I peeked our heads over the cliff edge, there was an ethereal glow.
The radiance of hundreds of luminescent yellow cores, shining faintly through the darkness. The light glowed brighter, then darker. Brighter, then darker. Oscillating. Fluctuating between a shimmer and a glint. Almost like a pulse.
There were hundreds of Abominations at the bottom. The intensity of their glows were not uniform, and more than that, I saw bodies without the blue bulbs sticking out of them, that still had the glowing yellow cores on them. They were… eggs? Or something like that.
It reminded me of fish eggs. Except bigger, glowing, and instead of hatching, it slowly sprouted out bulbous protrusions from the body, creating a second skin that took control over the corpse.
"Holy Hell…" Gennady uttered the Goblin curse softly. "This is my first time seeing an Abomination’s lair. This is how they infect the dead? They’re like parasites!"
They’re worse than parasites. I did not audibly agree with him, but I did mentally say it.
I watched as one of the bodies— a regular antelope— with one of those yellow cores sticking out of its neck stirred. The body had to have b
een rotting for weeks, although there were no swarm of flies hovering over the corpse; blue flesh had grown over the skin, covering the antelope’s head, neck, and part of its front legs, but it stuck close to the body.
Suddenly, the antelope’s body jerked, the core glowed even brighter than before, shining so intensely that I had to squint for a moment just to see what was happening. Then, the blue flesh began to inflate, turning spherical in shape as it grew larger and larger. The Abomination slowly stood to its feet, letting out a soft chirping noise.
So that’s the sound from earlier. New Abominations being born.
I turned to the man lying prone next to me as we slowly crawled away from the cliff.
"The Abominations must have taken over the Crawlers nest. You can see some remains of webs still hanging around," he said. "Now, we need to destroy it completely. Cause a cave-in or something. There’s a lot of them— and I saw some Horrors too! If we let this mass of Abomination grow even bigger than it is, this could become a repeat of what happened at the Free Lands."
I cocked my head. "...isn’t that what we came here to do?"
"I…" the Dwarf trailed off. He was nervous. Sweat was forming around his neck, and his forehead was a wrinkled mess. "Yeah. That’s why we came. We just have to—"
Gennady froze, staring at something behind me. I did not hesitate, I turned around, lashing out with my dagger, and stopped myself as I saw a woman.
Poking out of the pit was a decrepit woman. Her eyes were hollowed out, and her skin was shriveled up to a ghostly white. Her hair was a tangled mess, dropping down her back as she turned her head, almost as if she was inspecting me. The head tilted lower, and lower, and lower. The head… hung loosely off her body, tilted down at an angle no living being could turn.
Then its eyes snapped open.
Two pure red pupils that shone in the darkness stared down at me, and the woman shrieked. It pulled itself up out of the crevice. The woman rose up, revealing two other bodies holding her up, conjoined into an Abomination, barreling towards… Gennady.
The Dwarf was overcome by shock. He stood, eyes bulging out of his sockets, as he fell backwards at the sight. He raised a shaking finger. "A-amalgam—"