Gods of Myth and Midnight: A LitRPG Novel (Seeds of Chaos Book 3)

by Azalea Ellis

  Vaughn paled with anger.

  “Do you wish to fight, human? I wonder, do you know where those ‘Seeds’ you are so proud of came from? Do you understand the magnitude of my power?” As he spoke, Torliam’s voice grew deeper with anger, and his Skill seeped out to form a glowing nimbus around him.

  Vaughn clenched his fists and flickered away, reappearing at the door before opening it and slamming it again behind himself.

  Torliam smiled, crossing his arms over his chest proudly, then looked to me like a kid hoping for praise. “It is obvious to anyone who looks that I am a mighty warrior. If he bothers you again, I will send him scurrying away.”

  Despite the scenes of horror surrounding us and the heavy mood, I let out a small laugh. Even Torliam could be childish sometimes.

  With one last look at the crazed red-headed girl, Torliam and I went back to the common area. I wondered if Kilburn would try and stop us from taking the briefcase of Zed’s nanite booster when he learned I had no plans to cooperate with information about how to use the arrays, or any of my further plans. The briefcase had been taken back to the little room he’d gotten it from, which was apparently Kilburn’s personal “office,” so the answer to my musing was pretty obvious.

  One of the Players, I thought maybe the one who’d shot lasers, was using a Skill to project the image from a link onto the wall. It was displaying a news channel. I was on the news.

  I watched in stunned horror. They had footage of the night before, starting shortly after I confronted the Estreyans, and ending when some Skill had wiped out all the electronics in three city blocks, like a miniature EMP. The government-placed cameras had caught some of it, but the majority of the footage came from civilians who had been filming with their links. With multiple films from different people, they had managed to catch the majority of the altercation, from my appearance to the crash of the downed destroyer.

  “In breaking news, the military and a group of the superhuman troops that have caused such controversy attacked the squad of alien ships holding the city of Mordsmouth hostage, shortly before dawn. They managed to take out several ships, including one of their destroyer-class ships, and dispersed the forcefield which held the city hostage. The remaining ships seem to have retreated, though their location is currently unknown. The scene of the battle has been closed off, while the military inspects the area. Officials have no news on whether alien reinforcements may be coming to retaliate for this loss, but enforcers are aiding in the mass evacuation of all civilians who have not been able to enter one of the emergency shelters. Due to the shortage of resources, many question where these people will go, and how they will survive.”

  The link switched to another station, where the reporter was already speaking. “An unidentified woman seemed to be conversing with the alien ship in their language. Experts are examining the footage, but as of yet we still do not have enough information for them to reliably try and translate the conversation. Body language experts tell us she may have been negotiating with the aliens or attempting to convince them to let the hostages go.

  “Others wonder about the significance of the creature she had with her.” Film clips of Birch, yowling at the destroyer, and then running with me as the fighter ship came after us, played on the wall. “By all appearances, it is a cat with wings, though there is controversy over its origins. Is it a result of genetic manipulation, or is it somehow related to the aliens themselves, perhaps? The creature isn’t the only strange ally that appeared last night. Seemingly cued by the alien ships’ move to attack the woman, the civilians in the park were evacuated through tunnels dug underneath it, while the military attacked, with more young soldiers displaying distinctly superhuman abilities. Effects that seem like something out of a film were on open display last night, as caught in these clips.”

  The channel played through films of Chaos rising from my hand, then showed Torliam’s signature light lowering the civilians, along with the dirt they stood on, into the tunnels dug beneath the park. “These people seem to have kidnapped a number of sick and injured people that the aliens were holding hostage. If you have any news of their whereabouts, please contact the your local enforcers.”

  It showed an indistinct black form flying through the sky, its form resolving when it passed in front of the flame the fighter ship had been shooting at me. “This appears to be a bird, which carried some of the woman’s allies, and helped her to escape from the alien ship’s attacks.”

  A Player picked up the burning tank and hurled it at the destroyer. Another shot beams of light at it. The clips went on. “In a feat that has caused rejoicing across the world, these people were able to, along with the help of military survivors from the nearby base, take down a destroyer.” The reporter blinked a few times, clearing tears from her eyes as the footage played beside her. “This is the second destroyer we have managed to eliminate. An escort ship was also downed last night. Footage was taken that confirms some of the rumors we had been hearing from the Republic of China. The aliens are bipedal, and humanoid. What does this mean? We have a guest on next, a renowned geobiologist and archaeologist, who will talk with us about the implications of this discovery. In the meantime, if you have any knowledge related to the identity or the whereabouts of this woman,” my brightly lit form, standing on the edge of the roof, appeared again, “or any of her companions, please contact the Department of Defense. There is a reward of one million credits for any information leading to her location.” Their contact information came on the screen and stayed there for a while, presumably to give everyone time to save it.

  I took a few deep breaths. We would have to be more careful, but the coverage didn’t really change anything, and I didn’t have time to worry about it at the moment. I needed Zed’s nanite booster. I turned to the small room, where Kilburn had set himself up, and opened the door.

  I heard the sounds first, something wet ripping and tearing. Then I saw red, and smelled the blood.

  Chanelle looked up at me from atop Kilburn’s body, her mouth and face bloody, a chunk of meat visible between her teeth.

  Forum Page 2

  Welcome to the Earth Defense Force message boards.

  You are currently logged in.

  You are viewing thread: “Mordsmouth strikes back.”

  ORIGINAL POSTER “MORDSMOUTH-CITIZEN” SAYS:

  As you can see by my username, I live in Mordsmouth. I was there by the park when it all went down. I’ve uploaded video, here. The news has gotten half the information wrong, as usual. My aunt has polycystic liver disease, and her doctor shoved her and a half-dozen other patients on a transport pod and gave them up to the aliens. She was sitting in the park waiting to die.

  That group of people used their superhuman powers to help the sick and injured people escape. They didn’t kidnap them. The whole thing with talking to the alien ship was just a distraction so they could get the civilians out of there. They took them to some abandoned underground warehouse or something, and they healed them.

  I’m serious. My aunt no longer has PLD. Her liver is free of cysts and working normally again.

  Now, it’s obvious that these people with powers have some connection to the aliens. Why else would they show up at the same time? But as you’ll see in my video, the military has their own group of superhumans, too. I couldn’t catch everything before the fight got too crazy and I had to leave, but trust me, the stuff they were doing looked like it was out of a comic book. Gamma rays, anyone?

  I can only wonder why the military is so desperate to get their hand on that that woman and the others. Maybe they’re deserters?

  POSTER “ANTIGONE” SAYS:

  Maybe the military wants her because she can speak the alien language. So far, no one has been able to negotiate with them without getting blown up. This proves, at least, that they understand the concept of language and speech. Even if it did backfire, it means there’s a chance.

  POSTER “JABRONEY” SAYS:

  I’m not s
o sure. It’s very suspicious that she speaks their language. Is it possible she’s actually an alien, just somehow disguised as a human?

  POSTER “NINJA PIRATE WARRIOR” SAYS:

  Jabroney, are you listening to yourself? An alien disguised as a human?

  POSTER “JABRONEY” SAYS:

  Ninja Pirate Warrior, have you watched any of these films? There are giant alien sea creatures flying though our skies, and there are real people running around fighting them with superpowers. Let me repeat that. Superpowers. And not just stuff like fireballs and shooting lasers out of their eyes. If you watch closely, those people that walked through the side of the destroyer summoned a giant bird of darkness into mid-air and flew away on it. Why is it so crazy to think the aliens might be able to disguise themselves as humans?

  I think the more interesting question is, if this woman is an alien, why was it trying to save the humans? Maybe, it’s lived disguised among us for so long that it’s grown sympathetic and actually wants to live in harmony as one of us.

  POSTER “JANET MASON” SAYS:

  I can confirm the benevolent nature of that woman, and the one who can heal. My son and I met her on the road half a day south of Mordsmouth. We’d been in an accident and his leg had been broken. I was devastated. I had no idea how I was going to get him to a hospital or what it would mean for him to be unable to walk with all this panic and fighting going on around us.

  The woman and a blonde man who doesn’t appear in the films took my son into a camper so no one would see what they could do, and traded my little toes for my son’s broken leg. I have eight toes now, and my son could walk within an hour of whatever they did.

  I and the people who owned the camper talked to them a little bit. It was clear that they are aliens, though they tried to deny it. I am not sure they are the same race as the ones who are attacking us, though.

  I think it is most likely the woman and the others are some sort of third alien race, perhaps even interstellar guardians who’ve come to save us from the fish-people.

  POSTER “NINJA PIRATE WARRIOR” SAYS:

  Pics or it didn’t happen.

  POSTER “JANET MASON” SAYS:

  Here’s a picture of my feet, and one of my son’s leg.

  That’s the best I can do, since I didn’t dare to try and film them when they might notice. Notice the lack of stitching on my son’s scar.

  POSTER “POP-TARTS LOVER” SAYS:

  That…is surprisingly convincing, Janet Mason.

  POSTER “HAIRY-POPPINS” SAYS:

  Everyone is missing the most important thing! Did you guys see that winged cat?!?

  Chapter 19

  These violent delights have violent ends.

  — Shakespeare

  Chanelle chewed for a moment, her expression wild, desperate. She snarled at me, a sound that would better suit Birch.

  Kilburn was dead, I knew. His bowels had released, and I could smell it on the air. Wraith picked up no heartbeat from the gaping hole where his throat had been. I stepped forward and closed the door carefully behind myself.

  Chanelle snarled and lunged at me, moving too fast, even for someone with a few handfuls of Seeds in their system.

  I thrust my hand forward, claws extending against my will. My palm slammed into Chanelle's forehead and kept going, taking her off her feet. I pushed her head against the wall and pinned her much smaller body with one of my legs. "Chanelle!"

  Her eyes rolled crazily and she writhed against me, unable to move.

  I let out a shuddering breath, and placed my other hand against her throat, forcing my claws to retract so they wouldn't cut her. I pressed on her carotid artery, squeezing hard enough that she could still breathe, but blood flow to her brain would be reduced. I watched carefully as she struggled, harder at first, then calmed, sinking into unconsciousness. Then I let go of her throat and waited for her to wake again, counting the seconds in my head.

  Her eyes blinked open blearily and met my own.

  "Be still," I said, my voice vibrating uncannily. I kept her head pressed to the wall firmly. "Do you know who I am?"

  She let out something between a cough and a laugh. "Eve."

  "Do you know who you are?"

  She didn't answer me, her eyes turning toward the ravaged body on the floor. She took a shuddering breath. "I… I did that."

  "It wasn't you, Chanelle—"

  I felt her try to shake her head, though my hand held her still. "No! It was. It really was." She squeezed her eyes shut, tears running down her face. Her breath quickened and deepened, till she was gasping for air as if she were drowning.

  I slowly released her, stepping back.

  "Don't let me free!" she gasped out, covering her head with her arms as she slid to the floor. "You have to stop me, Eve."

  I watched her fall apart for a moment, then took two steps forward, settling on the floor beside her and pulling her into a hug. I kept Wraith focused on her, a little part of me telling me I couldn't trust her not to lose herself again. "Take a breath and hold it. I think you're having a panic attack."

  She collapsed in my lap like a little child hiding from the world. After a few minutes, she was able to calm her breathing.

  "It's going to be okay," I said, though I was already running through the ramifications of Kilburn's death. This was bad. It probably wasn’t going to be okay.

  "No." She shook her head and sat up, pressing her back against the wall. "I remember what happened," she said simply.

  I didn't say anything, waiting for her to continue. I knew that when she went into her fugue states, she didn't remember the time that passed until she regained lucidity. She'd been getting better, staying "awake" longer and longer.

  "I wasn't sleepwalking. It's warping my brain."

  She was talking about the Sickness. I resisted the urge to gag on the smell of feces and bloody meat mixed on the air.

  "Things don't make sense, sometimes. I'm so hungry all the time, and I can feel myself dying. I look around and it's like I'm wearing funhouse glasses and everything's distorted and this world, and you guys, and everything needs to be destroyed. Utterly ripped apart, not just your bodies but your lives, everything in my old life needs to turn to ash. And then the glasses are gone and I remember who I really am and I don't hate you, but I'm still so hungry. It was happening. I couldn't totally remember who I really was, and Sam was there and I wanted to hurt him but I was holding that other, hateful thing back, but there's less and less of me as that other thing spreads. But then I saw Kilburn, and it was okay to hate Kilburn, and then I was going after him and acting normal. I came in here and pretended I wasn’t going crazy and then that thing inside me was attacking, moving my body so fast I could feel my muscles tearing. He was surprised. He started to fight back. But then I bit down, and I was so hungry."

  She stared at the body and the puddle of blood that was still spreading outward. She scrambled a few feet to the side and heaved, her back arching as she threw up. Chunks of meat and bloody stomach juices splashed over her hands. She sobbed, then stuck her hand into her mouth, forcing herself to throw up again.

  I shuffled over to her, rubbing her back. The smell burned my nostrils. I tucked a few locks of soft blond hair behind her ears as best I could, and closed my eyes.

  I hated the Sickness. I had thought I understood what it was, before, but I hadn't, not really. I hated it. I swallowed past the lump in my throat and let out a shuddering breath. "I'm so sorry, Chanelle," I whispered. "You don't deserve this. But I promise. I promise I'm going to make it better. We're going to find a way to heal you. Just hold on a little longer."

  Under my hand, she convulsed again, throwing up till green bile spilled out.

  I turned back to Kilburn's mutilated body, jaw clenched. I used mental commands to send a Window to the rest of the team.

  —Get ready to leave, quickly and without drawing attention to yourselves.—

  -Eve-

  One of them would have to mak
e sure Torliam received the message, as well.

  I helped Chanelle up and away from the bloody mess she'd vomited.

  "I said I wanted to kill him," she mumbled. "But I didn't want it like this."

  "Stay calm." I helped her out of her bloody jacket, poured water on it from the flask at my hip and handed it back to her. "Wipe off the blood, as best you can. We're not going to leave any evidence behind."

  She took the jacket. "Crap. I didn't even think about that. His whole team is out there… What are we going to do?"

  "We're leaving." I took a deep breath, moved to the edge of the spreading blood and drew Chaos outward.

  It responded eagerly, flowing out and flickering into black flames that splashed down onto the puddle, eating away at it. I pushed the flames closer to the body as the blood was consumed, and then poured out more atop it, feeling the drain on my strength as Chaos ate the flesh and bone from the top down, leaving nothing behind but a few wisps of powdery dust I didn’t have the fine control to stop.

  The door opened.

  My head snapped toward it, and Chanelle froze, the jacket held against her still half-bloody face.

  Vaughn took a step in. I watched as if in slow motion as his eyes tracked over her, then to the body on the floor, and me, standing over it, power still spilling out of me. He blinked. He looked at the puddle of vomit, the half-digested contents.