by Atlas Kane
Then Ketzal hit the ground, and she walked forward, her golden whip snapping at the beast’s snout. Satemi leapt down after, and she charged. Swords drawn in a flash, the fight was on.
Cade had plenty of time to retrieve his axe now.
As high a level as it was, with all of them in the fight, the ugly bitch had no chance.
The girls had already fanned out to either side. Minda bought herself some room and summoned a storm of ethereal leaves. The gale swept across the badgalmander’s hide, slicing furrows along its body.
It roared in protest and bunched its muscles to attack. Satemi stepped in its way though, twin swords igniting with power. The blades turned crimson, and as she danced forward, cut through the beast’s cursed flesh.
Before Cade entered the fray, their foe had fallen to the ground.
It gushed blood out onto the forest floor, and its final breath escaped its overgrown lungs.
“Well that was a little bit of crazy,” Minda said, collapsing her staff with a jerk of the hand.
Satemi stood straight and sighed. “Needed your damn treat, eh, Minda?”
“Oh, don’t tell me this was my fault. Monsters have been showing up ever since--”
A rumbling growl cut off the woman’s defense, and they all spun to face the new threat.
What attacked them was so strange-looking and so ugly that Cade had no easy reference for it. Yet it moved like a humanoid. No time to inspect the beast, Cade simply dove out of the way of its incoming fist.
The creature had a bulky upper body and a mouth stretched wide to accommodate sharp and twisted fangs.
Having stood up from his roll, Cade turned and fired an Explosive Shot from the handle of his axe. The ball of condensed ether slammed into the monster’s chest and blasted a melon-sized hole from its flesh. Ribs shone sickly white, and the creature fell back, clutching itself.
Yet this monstrosity, with warped scaly skin stretching over writhing muscle and bone growth piercing its skin across its arms and shoulders, was far too large to be seriously wounded by the attack.
It counter attacked, moving too fast for Cade to fully evade. Swinging its thick arm in a backhanded bash, the monster made to end Cade in a single move. Satemi dashed forward and activated her protective shield, and the creature’s arm ricocheted off of the expanding crimson dome.
Taking advantage of the momentary reprieve, Cade struck their assailant in the leg with Culling the Pack. The affected body part glowed, indicating that it was wounded. When it moved again, it had slowed significantly.
“Regroup, everyone!” Cade shouted, then belted out an Alpha’s Call, the skill boosting his group’s speed and combat potential. Wanting to stack the odds, he followed it with a Wyrm’s Wrath.
Suddenly, Cade’s body was filled with lightning. He darted forward, slashing at the great beast and landing another hit on its leg.
The monster continued to retreat a few more steps, then it jumped. In a feat of incredible strength, their attacker had passed over Cade and Satemi, and was barreling down towards Ketzal.
How in the world is that even possible? Cade thought, watching the heavy foe crash back to the ground. It must have weighed four or five hundred pounds and yet it just jumped thirty feet. From behind, Cade noted its bent and hinged legs, giving him the first clue as to its physiological origins. They were insectile, almost like a grasshopper’s, but bulging with unrestrained muscle.
And those aren’t scales. They’re plates of chitin!
Yet there was no time to stand by and observe. Ketzal was rising in the air, a pair of black demon wings spreading behind her. The monster stared up at the danger, receiving a slash from Ketzal’s golden whip across its face.
It hunched over, curling its torso over its legs. A high-pitched whine sounded from the beast, and then the skin of its back exploded. Spines shot out in all directions.
Several cut through Ketzal, interrupting the skill she was about to use. The demoness fell to the ground soundlessly.
The spines had torn through Satemi and Cade’s guard as well, but despite the wounds, he hobbled forward to intercept the monster. His axe was still recharging, so he couldn’t fire another shot, and using one of his jungle-rigged explosives would be too dangerous in such close quarters.
Satemi flashed forward, teleporting with a skill, and stabbed through the beast’s ribs. It responded by slamming its fist in her gut and sending the warrior flying into a nearby bush. Her sword still protruding between its ribs, the creature turned to the fallen Ketzal and raised its fists above its head.
Time seemed to slow.
It is part insect and part Kotani Ape, Cade thought distantly. Its fur had been replaced by thin and leather skin and plates of chitin, and its limbs were distended and morbid. Even its head had shifted, becoming the inhuman face of an insect, mouth not only opening vertically, but unhinging outward in an added pair of mandibles.
Too slow, Cade thought, watching the bone-spike-covered fists descending. Too slow, and she will die because I failed her.
Then a light shone above the beast’s back, and Minda formed, dropping out of her stealth with twin daggers held to its throat.
In a savage attack, Minda sank the blades into the sides of the monster’s neck, and yanked them backwards. It screeched, head tilting up and momentum suspended as blood shot out in twin torrents.
Then it was over.
Satemi had a few broken ribs, but those would heal in time. Cade tugged a few spines from the tender flesh of his legs, then helped to remove the one that had taken Ketzal in the collarbone. The poor demoness was covered in blood, but she seemed unperturbed. She’d remained conscious enough to know her death was imminent.
When she finally stood up, hand clutching her collar bone, she smiled. They laughed together, her white teeth gleaming brightly through her mask of sticky blood. “I was gonna kill it, guys, I promise.”
Minda sat down by her side and summoned a soft scrap of hide. Pressing it to the woman’s brow, she began to clean Ketzal of the gore. “I don’t doubt it. I really don’t. I just figured I’d kill it just in case you were in over your head.”
Cade insisted that Satemi wrap her ribs up, but she wouldn’t have it. Instead, she drank a Healing Tincture, and shoved a handful of herbs in her mouth. “This is all I need for now. You though, look like you’ll be bleeding quite a bit. How about we use a little of your favorite Scorching Poultice.”
Grumbling, he allowed the woman to rub in a few pinches of the paste in each of his wounds. Most were shallow flesh wounds, but one had nailed a vein and he was bleeding heavily. The Poultice lived up to its name.
A second after pressing it into his flesh, the medicine lit up his pain receptors like a redneck 4th of July. He satisfied himself by grinding his teeth and recalling a good many of his favorite curse words.
Yet it was effective.
One of his first Alchemical Engineering recipes, the poultice was made from Scorching Sweet Potatoes, and took on their fiery taste.
In a few minutes, the group was no longer bleeding, a few bandages had been wrapped around the body parts most vulnerable to infection, and everyone had the bitter tang of healing herbs in their teeth.
“Let’s get out of here,” Satemi suggested, saying what they’d all been thinking.
Before he turned and followed his companions down the trail, he at last inspected the terror that had nearly undone them single-handedly.
Kotani Locust
Level 12
Megafauna Amalgam
Cade shook his head, thinking of their ape allies who lived so much closer to the ether fallout surrounding Tanrial. It must have been on a patrol when a cloud of ether combined its form with a fucking locust.
He looted both creatures and was rewarded with a pile of Ether-poisoned Meat. He discarded it all but kept the other resources. The Badgalmander Pelt seemed as if it might be valuable in crafting, and the Chitinous Amalgam Plates were as hard as steel but half the weight. T
he least he could do to honor his fallen ally would be to fashion a set of armor.
When they next met with the Kotani, he could give it back to them as tribute as well as a gift. It wouldn’t bring back their fallen tribe member, but it would be a sign of good faith.
The turn of events worried Cade. The apes were intelligent and resourceful, but when they’d joined Cade in retaking Tanrial, the beasts had lost far too many of their numbers. Having also to contend with the clouds of poisonous ether as well as the amalgams it continued to produce, the Kotani tribe might not fare well.
Shaking his head, Cade caught up to the retreating group and kept a vigilant watch of his surroundings.
Like the hundreds of patrols he’d gone on in his time in the infantry, Cade always remembered how important, how dangerous it was to pull up the rear of a formation. Only the point man had it worse. He could see Minda’s white ears flicking as they assessed some minute sound as she walked ahead.
She was most often the one who walked point. Few Antinians had her keen senses. Only Gemma and a handful of other hunters could match her.
Returning up the slope, Cade finally relaxed. The tall trees that once held a band of Earthen Apes sprawled above them, empty and eerie in the lack of life. Nobody saw when the apes left, but Cade suspected it was the arrival of so many new bodies at Camp Casmeer that did so. Perhaps a mile away, the noisy village would seem raucous to the simple-minded beasts.
Unlike their Kotani cousins, the Earthen Apes hadn’t developed the same level of intelligence. They didn’t use tools, didn’t have formal speech or cultural patterns.
Despite the mild danger they posed, Cade was still bothered by the unannounced shift. He worried it might have unforeseen repercussions.
The afternoon was a riot of color and the villagers were busy with their chores. Gemma met them at the edge of town, looking well recovered. “The brave hunters return at last!” she declared, but when she saw their bandages, hurried forward to inspect her clan. “What is it? Did you happen upon one of the new monsters?”
“Yes, two actually. It was the second one that gave us trouble,” Satemi reported, rotating her shoulder and wincing from the pain of her lingering injury. By the look of it, not only a couple ribs but also potentially her shoulder and collar bone had been affected by the impact.
Gemma wrapped an arm around the warrior’s waist, pushing away Satemi’s claim that she was fine on her own. The two strode ahead, walking toward where a haze of smoke rose above the cook fires. Dinner would be prepared in a few hours, and they were all hungry. Cade was, at any rate. Feels like my gut decided to gnaw on the inside of my ribs for a while. Thank you very much, Lycan Metabolism.
He liked to bitch, but without the core trait of his Chimera Lord class, he’d probably have died a dozen times over since coming to Antinium. Not only did he heal faster and have increased physical prowess, but he was naturally resistant to infection and poison.
Ketzal came up beside him and gave his arm a squeeze. “At least we know what most likely happened to the other hunting party,” she said, eyes filled with sadness. “And that particular beast will not be striking again.”
“You’re not wrong. Still, wish we’d have been more careful from the start.”
“We learn every day. Nobody expects you to be perfect. However, you will be expected to show up to the council meeting. It starts in thirty minutes, okay? Don’t be late! It wouldn’t look good if our esteemed Archon missed such an important discussion.”
He rolled his eyes, but gave her a look that said he’d be there.
Cade hadn’t wanted to be elected as Archon, leader of the village, above even the Council of Five. But he was stuck with the position for now.
Looking around him, he saw people of every height, shape, and color. Some had fur, some had tails, some had outright fangs. Yet they were all his people, and they deserved the best of him. So, though he resented the job, he wouldn’t be backing down anytime soon.
Sighing like an old man with far too much responsibility, Cade headed up the hill to the waterfall. He was long past caring who saw what parts of him, and he needed a bath. When he was clean, and maybe had snagged an early portion of meat from one of the friendlier cooks, only then would he head off and play politician.
2
The Bounty of Bureaucracy
Cha repeated her argument for the tenth time, her voice tense with irritation. “I simply feel that the initial applications of the Mana Shards, though they’ve been well received, should have been brought before the council. I never approved of the over-wrought oven contraptions, and I wouldn’t have, if I’d been given a choice,”
As soon as we gather together enough people to call ourselves a proper town, drama happens, Cade complained internally. Is there anything more cliche?
Satemi groaned, her patience obviously wearing as thin as his own. “We get it, Cha. You don’t like Cade, you don’t like any of the founders of Camp Casmeer, and you want everyone to respect you. I’ll put it down on my list of things to do. Now, is there anything else we need to cover?”
Mole, a man as squat and round as the animal that gave him his name, raised a tentative hand. “Another priority is the dungeon. We should send out an expedition soon if we can. And speaking of expeditions, rumors abound that your group happened upon something quite dangerous. Could you speak of it, Cade? Fear can only be alleviated with knowledge, and I’m afraid, I am not the sort to head out into the woods myself.”
The man was a born politician but not in any way lesser for it. Mole was eloquent, kind, and sharp as one of Satemi’s swords. Nodding, Cade answered, giving as concise a recollection as he could.
When he was done, even Cha seemed disquieted, her wolf ears pressed flat over her head. Though with her, Cade never knew quite why.
“Thank you, Cade. For defeating the beast as well as letting us know of the danger. I am afraid we’ll need to modify the hunting parties,” Mole said, washing his chubby hands together in a thorough display of anxiety.
Satemi picked up the thread of conversation once more. “We already have. And yes, the dungeon is a top priority as well as summoning the buildings our villagers vote for in this meeting. I think we’re done for now, so shall we call in the villagers? Or should we skip dinner entirely?”
It was apparent that Satemi was still pained by her injury. Flesh wounds could be healed quickly with the rudimentary medicines they had access to, and a few new villagers even had healing Occupations. But bones were harder to fix. The warrior’s patience, Cade guessed, was born in part by the discomfort of her broken ribs.
Yet, the suggestion earned more than a few nods, and even Havasham, the tall man who was obviously in favor of Cha, agreed.
Cha sighed, her canines showing as much as her disappointment. “Fine. Bring them in.”
It irked Cade that the woman’s attitude was always so sour. Her arguments were sound enough. Now that they’d formed a fledgling society and installed a governing body, it was fair that they be able to make such decisions. What he didn’t care to argue about, however, was regarding the necessity of housing, food production, and the force shield protecting Camp Casmeer.
Those were the basics, and as far as he was concerned, he’d have done the same again.
Cha knew it too, but for some damn reason, refused to settle into her role and accept things the way they were.
A group of villagers shuffled in to the Town Hall, one more extravagance that Satemi and Cade had decided on alone. Ironically, this one Cha didn’t mind. It is the place where she feels most important. Why take that away? Cade asked bitterly.
Sholl and Polde sat in the front row, and the massive Ronden leaned against the back wall. All the others Cade had come to know and count on as friends and neighbors filled the benches in between.
Sure, a few of the villagers were obnoxious, needy, a little whiny perhaps, but who wouldn’t be after being freed from mind control for who knows how many months or years?
>
As Archon, Cade called the town meeting to a start. “Okay, everyone, we’ve just had a nice little chat,” he began, clearing his throat when Satemi snorted. “And though we don’t all agree that our store of Mana Shards has been properly managed in the past, we do agree that you all should have a say in how the rest will be spent.”
A few of the villagers perked up at the prospect of having their own voices heard. It was nice to know that though it wasn’t easy, this crude system of theirs might actually work.
Cade continued, getting to the point. “We won’t be spending all of our mana shards just yet, especially since we are not certain that any new ones can be acquired. So, raise your hand if you’d like to give a suggestion. What structures, facilities, or town implements are you interested in?”
Nearly half of those present raised a hand, and Cade had to stifle a laugh.
Hoping to make the woman feel less bitter, Cade had asked Cha if she could manage the villagers. She pointed to a tall man in the back, a lycan with strange, metallic fur. He lowered his hand and asked in a booming but humble voice, “Security is my biggest concern. Could we build siege weapons? Or increase the size of the walls? I know we have the shield, but what if it fails?”
Murmuring followed, and Cha stood and raised her hands for quiet. She had wolf features, her fur much longer than Minda’s and her snout extended, lupine and deadly. She practically shouted to get everyone to quiet down. “We have no reason to suspect the shield will fail. And if we do, our village is properly manned with soldiers and soul weapons. Any other suggestions?”
Cade shook his head, making a note of the man’s idea. Whether Cha wanted to discount it or not, he certainly wouldn’t.
A woman was chosen from the front row, a pale-skinned woman with the long ears and slim features of an elf. “A proper bath house would be appreciated. The falls and the pool are acceptable, but not everyone wishes to expose themselves publicly.”