John shook his head, locking gazes with his brother. “There’s another way,” he said, frowning as he took in the frightened gazes of his lover, brother, and friends. “There’s four of you now.”
Congratulations! Woodland Step is now Tier 4! (1 of 5 points spent)
For prodigious use of magic and psionics, you have gained 15 points to Mana and 15 Points to Psion!
Emily’s eyes widened. “John, you’re leveling up!”
Lucy’s blinked. “But he’s awake. He can’t grow in front of you, that’s not possible.”
Mitch’s cold eyes gleamed. “True.”
“Guys, he’s actually glowing,” an awed Carl whispered.
John gave an angry shake of his head. “Please shut up, I need to focus.”
With his left hand, he threw a burr at the door, bronze vines spraying outward in a ten-foot diameter cluster. Boosted Bronze Bloodvines Cast! 27 Mana spent!
“Vinia, Viridi!” he shouted, tossing a chestnut and walnut upon the floor, grateful his 007-esque fantasies of always being prepared and dreams of feeding Emily from his hand that had never quite happened last night had left him with a pocketful of uneaten nuts, doing his best to focus the frenzied grasping branches into a leafy canopy arching back from the ceiling, finding it easiest to manipulate the spell exactly as he had the day before. Greenbinding Cast for 27 Mana!
Congratulations! Persistent use and deliberate manipulation of your Arcadian powers have boosted Faerie Magic to Rank 2! You now enjoy a 20% reduction in cost, casting time, and requirements! Thanks to your hybrid half-mortal state, you can manipulate Faerie magics in ways never seen before, even in your dreams!
Sudden pounding could be heard from the doorway.
“This is Inquisitor Mordillin, duly authorized representative of the Jordian High Council. We are well aware that rebel scum lurks behind this doorway. Surrender at once or suffer for countless centuries in a high-intensity pain vat personally designed by the head of our beloved High Council!"
Cold laughter could be heard echoing along the corridor. “And don’t think your Terran status will save you. We have probed the minds of all of you who dare to commit treason, and our exquisitely detailed sketches will assure your Earthly bodies stand trial, just as will your Jordian ones! Now surrender, foolish apes, or prepare to experience pain you can scarce comprehend!”
John could sense his friends’ mounting dismay, gazing about in desperation that bordered on panic.
"Oh shit. The Psiblade, John. I hid it so no electromana surge would destroy it till we had a chance to go to the Northern Continent and declare ourselves! I don’t dare face him. We have to run!” Mitch’s voice had turned strangely eager. “Can your Faerie powers truly save us?”
“Shut up and hold hands,” John snapped. “Now!”
And John wasted no more time, closing his eyes, centering himself, desperate to imagine them all a single step away from rustling trees beside a clearing that would forever be seared into his psyche, not as a fool trying to wedge five people into the corner of a room even now being cleaved open by the terrible humming blade of crackling darkness that had just sliced through the door like it was nothing.
“Stop what you are doing, immediately! Men, fire at will!”
“John!” Emily screamed as beams of laser fire ricocheted off his Elementium armor. But the strangest thing of all was the beam of light flashing right through his hand… and he didn’t feel a thing.
He knew something was wrong, but the magic had already taken hold as the frustrated curses of the Inquisitor cleaving through whipping bronze vines and the sound of scattered laser fire haphazardly shot behind said inquisitor faded to the rustle of forest branches waving in the breeze, the stink of ozone and the sweat of fear replaced by the scents of loamy soil and pine.
John took a shuddering breath, turning to his friends.
You have successfully cast Tier 4 Woodland step! 40 Mana spent!
For breathless seconds, they all stared at each other, John’s Mana slowly ticking back to full, before breaking out in tears and laughter.
Lucy flashed a wild grin. “Oh my God, that was so close! I thought we were dead. I thought we were all dead!”
Carl nodded, grinning from ear to ear. “My heart’s still racing! Hell, that was some crazy shit. All those Readit rumors that Highlords are power-mad psychopaths who’ll kill you at the drop of a hat if you get in their way. Fuck it! It’s true, man. Totally true...”
He suddenly paled, his words choking to a stop before Mitch’s fierce glare. He swallowed, raising his hands. “Umm… please don’t kill me, bro?”
Mitch smirked, shaking his head. “Not yet, Carl. You’re still useful.”
Carl forced out a weak chuckle as Mitch winked. “But I sure as hell wouldn’t mind some killing, after what that pair of assholes just pulled off.”
John frowned, gazing at his surroundings. It had been a split-second choice. They had been desperate, and he had bought along multiple people for the first time ever. So of course he had gone with the sight that had stuck strongest in his psyche.
Emily turned to him, squeezing his hand. “How are you feeling, John?”
John smiled into her worried gaze. “I’m feeling okay. Just needed a minute to recharge my Mana.”
Lucy nodded her gratitude. “Thanks for getting out of us out of there. The way that blade of darkness cut through the door, then your viny bushes like they were nothing...”
“Which was a brilliant move,” Mitch noted. “Since those bronze vines were sharp as blades and tangled from all directions, he had to keep shaving off chunks of it, buying us precious seconds.”
“Another feather in your cap, bud,” said Carl, gazing all around. “But just where the hell are we, exactly?”
John gazed downslope at the cavern mouth that had devoured so many of his companions; soldiers, fellow adventurers, and a woman who had struck such a chord within his soul.
He swallowed and lowered his head as Emily’s concerned gaze met his own.
“It’s okay,” she whispered, squeezing his hand. “I get it. And, for what it’s worth, I’m really sorry.”
“This is the site where it happened.” His soft voice was barely a whisper.
Carl frowned. “Where what happened?”
John sighed. “Where abominations that looked like Frankensteinien fusions of spider and girl pinned us in that cave, using magical webs and their mantis-like pincers to butcher us.” Hard eyes met Carl’s own. “They could tear right through Dominion armor, even pierce steel plate. It was a slaughter. Everyone except me was killed.”
Carl winced. “Nasty, man.”
John flashed a bleak smile. “Isn’t it though? But there’s worse. Who, or what do you think was responsible for the spores that were released, turning so many people back home into raving zombies?”
Mitch nodded. “Good thing we quarantined the island. If it had spread to the mainland...”
Lucy paled. "Are you serious? Those are the so-called ‘Plague Queens?'
John grimaced and nodded. “And they hate me more than you can imagine. I’ve killed every one I’ve come across.”
Carl whistled. “That’s impressive as hell, man. I’d ask how you did it, but after seeing firsthand how you shattered that steel helm as fast as I could blink, while still looking and smiling at me just before you pivoted around and walloped it… Shit. You know what? I believe it. It took me half an hour with your brother tutoring me on technique before I could even dent those helmets with a poleaxe.
Lucy shivered. "But if any of those spores hit you, and you're not wearing a bio suit… Oh God, I saw the films posted on RealTube, we all did!"
Emily gazed curiously at John. “When you said you were a genetically engineered experiment, fused to a horror, does that mean you’re immune to those things? Is that what allowed you to kill them? Is that the edge you have?”
John nodded, catching his brother’s gaze. “These abominations are beyond
monstrous. And yes, it’s because of what was done to me that I can do what I do. And as much as I still resent the hell out of my dad for what he did to me, what he did to me a hundred or more times over… coming back here, remembering what went down, what happened to the town I was too late to save, yeah. I can’t help but understand.”
Mitch frowned, peering intently at the cavern. “Are you sure they’re all dead?” His gaze turned strangely intent. “This is very important, Johnathan Farreach. We need to know. Are they all dead?”
Something in his brother’s gaze chilled John to the quick. “Yeah, Mitch, I’m pretty sure.”
His brother’s gaze turned flinty hard. “Symbiote 271. Full report on designated kill site requested.”
John frowned, wondering why his brother was talking so oddly, before realizing it didn’t matter. His brother wanted a full report? He would give him one.
“Nest was home to 4 cloned S class Abominations. Esper variant. Psychic mutations had failed, save for defensive modulations in the alpha queen, known as Lilith, who managed to escape to the town below before Symbiote 271 could apprehend. Two lesser abominations were successfully dispatched by Symbiote 271 within the nest. The alpha queen and a third lesser were successfully dispatched within the town proper. No scent trails of any other Abominations were present, save one sterile drone previously executed 2.5 miles from nest. 25 Exposed Jordian children were freed. 5 Exposed children are presently gestating in a catalyzation vat within the nest. Projected time of gestation: 3 weeks. Present threat level: zero. Projected number of revenants and mutated spiders remaining within the caves: between 7 and 14.”
Mitch glared at the odd stares their companions were giving them before Emily’s eyes rolled in the back of her head. Carl had time for a single gasp before he suddenly collapsed, Lucy going unconscious before she could utter a whimper. Mitch smirked at their three comatose friends. “If they weren’t so useful, I never would have bothered backing them up.”
John frowned, wondering why he didn’t find it at all alarming that his friends had just fainted, before realizing his concern was utterly unwarranted.
Mitch turned back to John, giving him a thoughtful nod. “This is acceptable. We can purge the remnants at our leisure. Did the surviving children show any signs of infestation?”
“None. No scent markers were detected. Faerie hybridization may have resulted in partial or complete immunity to peripheral exposure. All completely human members of Goldenwheat were transformed by the Plague Queens with their initial strike upon the town. Symbiote 271 concludes this is why the children were kidnapped. Lilith sought to make X-Class Plague Queens. Recommend elimination of gestating Plague-hosts at earliest opportunity.”
His brother frowned. “Your autonomous use of tactics and hierarchical planning has been exemplary. But the odd streaks of discordant thought and evidence of internally formulated value systems is troubling. All potential plague-hosts should have been eliminated immediately. Symbiote 271, where are the children now?”
John blinked, feeling strangely reluctant to speak. Then he met his brother’s glittering eyes and all hesitation was instantly burned away. “They are in the care of kin that lives within the woods, a hermit by the name of Elder Greenwood. Symbiote 271 judged the individual to be of sufficient potency to resolve any external threat, and to sense any internal one within the recovered offspring.”
Mitch smirked, shaking his head. “Leaving the duty of cutting down any cropping horrors to an old man? Your logic algorithms are faulty, Symbiote 271.” His gaze hardened. “Find pretext to take us to this village elder immediately.”
Symbiote 271 nodded. "That was this one's intent from the start."
Mitch’s hard gaze immediately softened into a smile. “Wonderful. I believe there’s hope for you yet.” He snapped his fingers behind a suddenly dizzy Johnathan’s ear.
“What the fuck, Mitch? Why the hell do I always catch you doing that?”
“Doing what?” His brother asked innocently.
John scowled, rubbing his throbbing forehead. “Snapping your fingers behind my ears. You used to do that all the time back in high school, and it always pissed me off. And why does everyone look like they’re in a stupor?”
Mitch smiled at Carl, Emily, and Lucy, all of them blinking in surprise as they got up, yawning from their catnap. "It's been a long night, bro." Strangely intent eyes gazed into his own. "So, interesting spot you brought us to! Sorry it's home to so many bad memories, man. But I gotta ask. Are you sure, absolutely sure, the tunnels are cleaned out of bad guys?"
John paled. “I was afraid you’d ask that. Honestly, Mitch, between fleeing for my life, rescuing kidnapped children, and just getting out of there alive, I’m no longer sure. I killed a couple Plague Queens down there. There was a third and a fourth that I ended up chasing down into Goldenwheat proper, and wasn’t that a messed-up scene. So much death, Mitch, I swear. But if you’re asking me are there any revenants still hiding in those caves? That’s something I guess we’re going to have to check out later. Good thing only the Queens can spread the plague, not the revenants themselves.”
Mitch gave a firm nod. “Damn right. We’ll finish clearing it out together and get a crapload of experience because I, for one, can’t wait to level up!”
“Then don’t fight me on what I’m about to do, Mitch.”
Mitch flashed a strange smile before tilting his head, pinning John with his golden gaze. “That was reassuring. What the hell are you going to do?”
John blinked, shaking away an odd chill. “I just thought of a way to level everyone up.”
“How, exactly?”
John swallowed. “I’m going to complete a quest, and I want you all linked up with me, so you can share in the experience.” He frowned. “Assuming it works the way it does in computer games, assuming you can all share in my experience, tapping into whatever legendary potentials are associated with quests from otherworldly powers. Honestly, I’m fumbling in the dark here as much as you guys.”
Psychic probe parried. Castling holds!
Mitch frowned. “What are you hiding, brother?”
John sighed. “Do you recall what you told me earlier?”
“About...”
“The territory. You know, the territory that those assholes Rojan and his inquisitor pet stole from us?”
Mitch smirked. “Yes, all too well.”
“It’s mine.”
Mitch barked sour laughter. "Sure, if we're ready to go against 80 troopers, a Psiblade-wielding inquisitor and a Highlord who's just done his utmost to make sure we're wanted by the entire Jordian council, it's yours."
John chuckled softly. “I know. No chance in hell I’ll ever get to properly claim it, right?”
“Righter than you know.”
John nodded. “Nonetheless, Claimance hasn’t reverted.”
Mitch paled, stepping back. “Oh shit, John. You mean you can feel it, inside your head?”
The dice were rattling so hard John was terrified they’d slam down any moment.
"Shut up and follow me. If my hunch is right, you guys will be leveling up before you know it."
24
Psychic probe parried. Castling continues to hold!
John did his best to ignore his brother’s mental poking as they walked the same trail Elowin’s daughter had led him along just days before.
“Ouch, damn it, John,” said Mitch. “I can’t see a thing! Where the hell are you taking us exactly?”
John winced. “We’re almost there,” he assured, thought that was a bit of a lie. After endless stumbling through darkness that only his Infravision and boosted senses could pierce, his friends' good-natured grumbling had faded to tired panting with everyone linking hands, and not even the first rays of dawn could lighten their mood in the still impossibly gloomy woods. As much as he hated to admit it, John was well and truly lost.
It seemed not even his newfound alignment with Arcadia would compel the presence of
a faerie lord that didn’t want to be found.
John stopped and turned, gazing out at the endless primeval woodlands stretching in all directions, breathing deeply of air smelling of rich, earthy loam and the crisp sharp scent of pine. He raised his fists, and his friends grew still.
John’s heart began to race, feeling a sudden weight upon the air. He forced his numb tongue to speak, words flowing seemingly of their own accord.
“Elder Greenwood! My name is Johnathan Farreach Everwood. I know you are far more than a simple woodsman.” He flashed a grim smile. “And I suspect you are far more than any other Faerie Lord!” His friends looked surprised with those words, speaking in softest whispers John did his best to ignore.
“I wish to speak to you about an accord! An accord between my House and your own. A bond between lands claimed by my ancestors and Arcadia itself!”
“John!” Mitch’s alarmed voice hissed in his ear. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
John turned to face his brother, resisting the urge to flinch from his brother’s suddenly alien gaze. “Think, Mitch. Our enemies have made their play, with Psiblades and a full platoon of troopers at their beck and call.” He flashed a grim smile. “But we have cards too that we can put into play. Embracing ancient Jordian rites and the power of dream.”
“Jeezus, just how juiced did you get in the few days you adventured without us?” a shocked Carl whispered.
Mitch paled. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”
John ignored him, turning around once more.
“The hour grows late, and destiny’s dice rattle in my skull even now.” John’s gaze was almost pleading as he stared out into the woods. “Elder Greenwood, if you would come, it must be now! Fate’s story must be told, and though I know the path I wish it to follow, soon, very soon, I must turn the page!” He swallowed, his throat parched.
Then his eyes widened with relief, awe, and he had to admit fear, as a powerfully built man wreathed in leaves, bark, and sporting a massive pair of antlers suddenly strode before them. He radiated a power and potency that seemed to transcend all the tools and baubles of technology’s mantle.
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