Equalize

by Ryan DeBruyn

  “Up here, Azoth. I am sorry. I am in a lousy mood because two lecherous idiots startled me.”

  Sela refused to share her embarrassment fully with anyone, not even the Chimera. Azoth, who had looked up and spotted her, began to get up and stretch in an odd mixture between stretches familiar to cats and dogs with a few differences due to his wings, size, and strength.

  Sela’s eyes widened at his increased size as he carved deep gouges into the earth with his front claws, and when he beat his wings. He had grown to be at least double the height and width she had in her feline form and his wing flaps nearly flung Sela out of her perch in the tree. Azoth did reply while he stretched in a tired but excited sounding, deep mental voice, which was utterly ironic to his childish spiel, “Sela! Is Rocky back? Can we all go hunt together? I have getting stronger! I see you wings now. Can you teach fly? I have tried fly, I have crashed…”

  His mental tirade continued, and Sela marveled at him. This Azoth was so much more excitable than the one she had been speaking with on the trip to Ottawa a few days… That thought made Sela realize she didn’t know how long she had been gone.

  She cut off Azoth’s flood of exuberance with a question, “Azoth, how many days ago did you bring the people we saved back here?”

  Azoth tilted his head. “Days? It was many hunts ago!” After finishing, he raised his head majestically at her, seeming almost to preen at his answer.

  Sela tilted her avian head even farther than his and narrowed her eyes sharply at the amalgam. It would seem that the glare was simply lost on the cat-like creature, and so Sela was forced to ask her original question in the best-exasperated mind tone she could manage, “Azoth, why are all the people living in separate groups?”

  “Don’t know! Humans all meet at sun up with man who has access to hole in space. He doles out food and asks if anyone spare any. No one ever spares food, and no one wants Azoth’s kills because I have eaten half of them. Now they ration wolf meat.

  Humans screamed at each other, fights each other. No one leaves Territory because they are more scared, but some groups afraid of humans in here, too. Sela hunts with Azoth now?”

  Sela was exasperated by his inability to give answers but was also slowly coming down from her original boiling emotions due to Azoth’s puppy-like demeanor calming her frayed feelings. Sela began to rationally consider the situation.

  What could she do to help these people before returning to Rocky? This wasn’t altruistic. In the world Sela came from, you either contributed or were left to die. She worried that if she didn’t get them started, they would be counting on Rocky’s giving nature forever.

  Despite all that, Sela figured hunting with Azoth may give her more time to think, so she responded in the affirmative which made the silly, childlike Chimera prance around in excitement. She then took far too long to explain the strategy of dual hunting to the silly pet.

  The plan was that she would scout from the air and notify him of prey in the area. He would be able to approach it from upwind and, with his size, take it down quickly.

  Over the course of the day, Sela and Azoth hunted, and Sela considered options as they quickly took down monsters that were well above her level and power. This was all due to the tank-sized creature. While he was slow and awkward still, Sela picked his prey very well.

  She would find animals strong but below his weight class. Often, these creatures would have been faster than Azoth but were hit unaware due to the planned ambush. Then they would have to compete in strength with a beast that they had no hopes of overcoming. These thoughts were what eventually brought Sela to a realization.

  She would have to level a group of individuals in the Territory as quickly as possible. Between her and Azoth, they could have them reach a point where they had at least two skills each. Then if done correctly, they would be the most active group in the valley.

  If this A-Team chose to reside in an area, the others may also be convinced to join. If the others weren’t persuaded, she would just exile them from the Territory. Sela excused herself from further hunting after a time and a long-awaited level.

  Azoth, who was mid-meal and had already consumed more than four times his own weight, didn’t mind. Sela began another circle of the region, trying to find the grotto she remembered from her first day with Rocky.

  Finding the grotto from the air was simple, but trying to find an entrance from the ground was another story. Sela spent thirty minutes of the waning light attempting to find some way of walking in and out of the naturally fortified location until she discovered a small trail with a few switchbacks. In her bird form, it was challenging to see the six-foot wide opening from above as it blended in with the rock around it.

  The grotto had this rock naturally defending three sides of the broad, central valley. The final view was abutted by the river which flowed towards rapids on one side and winded away into the distance on the other. Sela estimated the space inside the Grotto to be more than enough to comfortably house a massive population and would give the settlement ample room to grow.

  The location now decided, Sela flew around, looking for something to solve her other problem. Just as night fell, Sela absconded from one of the survivor camps with a pair of trousers she estimated to be only slightly too big for her and a white shirt that was definitely meant for a man. Then she mentally asked Azoth where he was and flew through the starry night to his location.

  The following morning, Sela walked brazenly towards the first group of survivors that had entered Algonquin Valley in ill-begotten, ill-fitting clothes. While she may not have customarily commanded much attention, the rambunctious Chimera following her did.

  The fact that she had removed Smith’s access to the territorial storage may have also played a role in the survivor group’s panic. Sela approached and used Analyze on all members of the group as they slowly quieted and turned towards Azoth’s boisterous approach.

  It wasn’t until Sela spoke that many of them even noticed her presence since most were staring openly at Azoth. “Hello, Smith, Derik, and I don’t see the third man Rockland met.” Upon hearing Rockland’s name, the two men froze momentarily and tried to recall having met the gorgeous woman who stood before them, which they of course failed.

  “Who are you?” a dirty and disheveled Derik asked in a quick, challenging tone, throwing another question out like malicious gunfire, “What do you want? We have no food.”

  The laugh like bell chimes on the wind was so mesmerizing, every man in the group almost stepped towards Sela as their own desire nearly took control. When she spoke, however, it was dripping with scorn and condescension, “Oh, I know you have no food remaining, and I also know you haven’t hunted for a single piece of food since you have arrived. Now, where is the man with the crossbow and bolts Rocky recovered, and where is the muscle-bound man who had lost a daughter?”

  The faces of everyone in the group fell as one, and Sela tilted her head in confusion. This time, Smith answered in his usual, stoic calm, “Our hunter, Jesse, went out to hunt the morning after our arrival, and we have not seen him again. It seems like it might be harder to hunt for food when food is hunting for you. As for Brody, he slowly deteriorated, speaking less, eating less, and then one day, we woke up, and he was gone.

  We were originally fifteen, and now we only have eight. Even in this place of relative safety, we have been unable to live… How do you know us? For we do not know you.”

  The conversation that followed raised anger, fear, and desperation in the survivors, but Sela refused to allow them to go back to who they once were. These people hadn’t even realized that they could assign stats or skills. They would have been amongst the earliest casualties if not for the relative safety of the stabilized Ether. Her Analyze as she approached had told the story well. Not a single member of this group had even risen to level three.

  Sela asked for access to each of the group's interfaces and shook her head when she saw only a select few had a class. The teachi
ng continued for most of the morning as she chose classes and skills for most present. Unfortunately, the only man who had access to a rare class was Smith, who was able to select an ancestral class called medicine man. The description Sela read linked him to an ancestor named Pinga.

  The name was unfamiliar to Sela. The class was also, but the man's skills were similar to that of ritual magic. Regardless, the group mostly chose ranged options that didn’t need physical weapons, which meant they were heavily magic based.

  For the remainder of the day, Sela and Azoth split the group into two foursomes and took them hunting. Neither of the two high-leveled individuals stepped in unless absolutely necessary, and by the end of the day, the two groups were both an average level of seven.

  This meant that the eight individuals all received their second skills, except for the rarer classes that only got to look at them. They also hunted for their own food, even though Azoth did eat half of his team’s. Unsurprisingly, Smith’s class also came with innate ability to understand the local flora, and he had foraged for many edible greens along the way. The sight that greeted the group of ten upon return to their original camp was of an angry mob.

  The other six groups of survivors had each sent a contingent to collect their daily food allotment, and no one had been present. The ensuing panic of the groups’ representatives could be seen in their hungry gazes and desperate eyeing of the hunted meat. If not for Azoth’s presence, they may have even tried to steal the numerous carcasses the group had collected.

  Sela simply refused to answer any of their questions. Anytime they asked where the food was, she merely responded with, “Bring your group of survivors here. Only then will we talk!” The people screamed, cried, and pleaded but eventually were forced to do as the oddly dressed woman wanted.

  It took a few hours before all the stragglers arrived at the clearing, and in that time, Sela had instructed her A-Team on the procedure for skinning and butchering. Most of the meat was roasting over the fires that Sela had coaxed back to life, and the tempting aroma had each new arrival’s mouth watering in hopes of a taste.

  A duplication of the original scene occurred as each de-facto leader chose to believe that their weight being thrown around would mean something. It didn’t. Sela, this time, didn’t even bother responding. Instead, she just stared at them until they finally saw the menace in her eyes.

  The A-Team were the only people above level three she could see, and they continued to act their assigned rolls behind Sela and Azoth. Sela had told them to appear happy and excited about the upcoming food but ignore everything else. The scene needed to be set for this moment, which Sela confirmed with a quick glance.

  “Welcome to my Valley. Most of you have seen Rocky or me, and in fact, a large group of you were saved from a town nearby and led here by my lord's pet, Azoth.” Sela began looking directly at the group she recognized from Pembroke, who started muttering and finally putting together the resemblance they had noticed.

  “While you are all welcome to stay in this place of safety, you must also earn your keep. There will be no more freebies of food! You will hunt and gather what is required or you will win your meals in other ways. This safety is not free, and just because you have all undergone tragedy does not mean that you are owed it!” As she spoke, mutters from the assembly had risen in pitch and forced Sela to shout her final pronouncement.

  An answering, unintelligible shout from within the crowd made Sela pause and the entire crowd go silent. One by one, the group stepped aside to reveal the man who was hidden and had raised his voice. The man was closely followed by four others, who were terrified.

  Why do they fear this man so?

  Arti Gallebrick

  Level 11

  Apprentice-Berserker

  Brendon Forgis

  Level 3

  Apprentice-Shielder

  Frank Futis

  Level 2

  Apprentice-Windrunner

  Guy Jilles

  Level 4

  Apprentice-Lurker

  Jack Estra

  Level 5

  Apprentice-Strengthener

  While the man’s shout had been impossible to hear over the mutterings, his next words came through clearly, “Who are you to tell us what we are entitled to? Who is this woman to come here and take control?” As his words echoed over the clearing, a few women broke down in hysterical sobbing, but most people remained absolutely still as if afraid to be noticed by this man and his lackeys.

  Unbidden, Azoth rose to the man’s challenging tone with a roar that quivered the leaves on the trees and made all but the man shrink back. The sound was much fuller since the last time Sela had heard it. Even she was momentarily startled by the deep resonation in her chest paired with his massive lion’s maw wide and showing deadly fangs.

  Arti, who was dark skinned with dark hair and an incredibly full beard, did not step back, though. He stood defiantly, glaring at the Chimera which forced Sela to intercede before Azoth bit the man in two. Sela who didn’t have Azoth’s hearing, distracted the Chimera by asking what the sobbing women were whispering to each other about.

  The Chimera telepathically repeated the words being spoken by the women of the camp, “That is the man. He came to our camp late one night… He killed anyone who opposed him and took what he wanted. He took me! That monster forced himself on me!” It was bizarre to hear what was clearly a very emotional tirade converted into the profoundly emotionless repetition that Azoth used to convey the words he heard.

  While Azoth might not understand the accusation, Sela did, and her instincts from a previous life rose swiftly and commandingly. Pulling two golem metal spikes from the territorial storage, Sela commanded her team with two words, “Detain them!”

  As the bystanders scattered, a wide grin crept on to the face of Arti, and he began to glow red.

  Sela

  As Sela closed with the brown-skinned titan, she watched the red light culminate into the man's eyes, and he bellowed a scream of defiance with a volume that may have rivaled Azoth. Falling into her old form, she moved with the fluidity and grace of an ancient warrior. That’s when the first of Arti’s accomplices collapsed as a green light left his hands.

  The bright bulb which had departed the Shielder's hands formed a semi-transparent set of armor as it struck Arti. Within a moment, three other spells hit the man, and his final compatriots fell to the ground, suffering from Ether exhaustion.

  Before Sela’s eyes, she watched the man gain muscle mass, and the air around him began to distort. For a warrior of Sela’s age, you rarely saw something new, but her mouth hanging open and eyes full spoke to the fact that this man surprised her. The shock was short-lived as the man closed the distance between them in a blink.

  A fist nearly removed her head from her shoulders. Luckily, Arti had aimed for the smallest of targets on Sela, which meant it took the least movement to avoid. This told of the man's inexperience in actual battle.

  Turning the dodge into a roll with a desperate shove from her legs, she avoided a follow-up elbow which dug a crater into the earth. As Sela rolled, she saw the ranged attacks of her Alpha Team collide with the phantom armor and stagger the man. The impacts had thwarted his effort to follow her. Arti turned his staggering step into a tumble as a large, black shape nearly trampled him into the earth.

  Both Sela and Arti came to a stop after their rolls. Arti chose to go on the offensive, and Sela, knowing she was unable to match the man’s superior strength, decided to defend. As Arti swung enlarged fists coated in phantom armor, Sela wove amongst the blows, never striking deep but scoring cutting strikes that began to bleed the man.

  Unfortunately, this tactic did not last as the Berserker changed his strategy and started attacking the very ground Sela stood upon. With massive, sweeping chops, Arti cut grooves into the field with blows that would have severed limbs if Sela allowed them to land. It was on one of these blows that the stone Sela stood upon shattered, and she was thrown int
o the air.

  Azoth slammed into the shoulder of the man, saving her from the incoming follow-up fist. His jaws crushed and eventually overpowered the spelled armor. Terrifyingly, even Azoth’s bulk was fought by this enraged man.

  As Arti’s shoulder bled, the red of his eyes continued to increase, and he stood, lifting Azoth as he did so. A massive hand latched onto his lower jaw and another onto the upper as the Berserker began to pry the jaws open to release his deeply gouged shoulder.

  Azoth attempted to bring his hind claws to bear, and a grating like the sound of shears cutting metal reverberated across the clearing. With a massive effort, Arti managed to unclench the jaws enough that he was able to heave Azoth away from him in a tangle of wings and legs.

  As this titanic struggle had been going on, Sela had not remained idle, and as the Berserker turned, she buried both of her metal golem spikes deep into one of his knee joints.

  Azoth managed to reduce the damage to his wings as he landed by tucking them in close to his body. When his bulk crashed to earth, a small rumble was felt through the forest floor.

  Spells continued to pelt the enemy from the A-Team, and Sela continued to weave. It was considerably simpler to avoid the continued strikes when Arti couldn’t use one of his legs. Sela easily dodged through the patterned spells of the team of survivors she had trained.

  It was a simple matter to teach each caster and ranged fighter to target waist high and above. This combined with a timing of two beats between each subsequent spell, meant Sela just needed to coincide her weaving. In longer fights, this pattern might have been suspected by an enemy, but in a small skirmish like this or against monsters, it was an ideal strategy for tanks.

  Moments later, Azoth was back and managed to pin the man under his impressive bulk, and that’s how Arti’s buffs elapsed, just under ten minutes later. Only now, both Sela and Azoth had pinned the struggling Arti.