Mana Mutation Menace (Journey to Chaos Book 3)

by Brian Wilkerson

  The goddess’ smile inverted and she glowered at the distance.

  "Oh that lazy, hedonistic, undisciplined...Probably didn't even send an envoy! When I get my hands on him...!" She refocused on Eric and smiled again, this time apologetically. "Sorry, you must not know what I'm talking about. What we’re doing is not in any of those books you read. I’m here as a favor for two people. The first and more pressing is my granddaughter.”

  “Kasile?”

  Fiol rolled her eyes. The gesture reminded Eric of turning over coals in a fireplace.

  “No, Laura the Hermit.”

  “Who?”

  “Never mind. I’m not supposed to talk about her. She’s in hiding. Anyway, you got yourself into legal trouble and she requested that I help out. So I set up two tests: a test of Mercy and a test of Self-Control.”

  “You mean that ordercrafter I fought works for Kasile?”

  “Yes. Jasmine volunteered to pretend to kidnap Annala.”

  Eric forced himself to look away from the goddess and back to Annala. She looked away and tugged her ear.

  “Did you know about this?”

  “No! If I had known then, I wouldn’t have been so terrified! I thought I was being dragged off to a fate worse than death!” She pointed her finger at Fiol and declared, “The first chance I get, I am going to profane your temple! I have extensive knowledge of such acts, and when I’m done, it will be so spiritually polluted that the site will have to be scorched to ashes and abandoned! Then I’m going to write a sternly worded letter to your descendent claiming responsibility!”

  Fiol shrugged. “Go right ahead. Seriously, if that’s your passion, then I support it.”

  A goddess that encourages people to blasphemy against her?

  “It was necessary that your reaction to these tests be natural and authentic so that Eric’s reaction would be natural and authentic. Otherwise, his actions would be invalid and this would be a waste of time.”

  Annala scooted away from the goddess and hugged herself. The glare only made her appear more exposed and vulnerable. Eric’s eyes slitted and he growled at this creature threatening his future mate. This made her point and exclaim, “That’s it! That’s what I was going for! You see, monsters have no conception of mercy or punishment. You passed this test by sparing Jasmine and you get extra credit for trying to bolster Kasile’s ranks in the process. That was the Test of Mercy. The Test of Self-Control was harder.”

  The goddess snapped her fingers and Annala's negligee shimmered out of existence. It left behind her loose and modest pajamas. The elf yelped and grabbed a blanket.

  “The idea was to recreate the Tahart incident with rescue sex. The villain was easy enough; she’s terrified of ordercrafters and you hate them. The standard hero reward was the tricky part. There was no chance of making her into a sultry temptress; too mousy for that. Besides, I knew that ‘nerd mating dance’ you two have would be more effective.”

  “That light in her eyes...” Eric muttered. “You enchanted her?”

  Fiol nodded. “Yep! It wasn’t easy to persuade her to make the first move. Elves are much more covetous of their first time than humans are, so I had to frame it as helping you. By the way, you weren’t easy either! Between that promise you made and your fear of hurting her, I had a hard time stoking your fire too!”

  “You were the elemental we fought today?”

  Fiol played with the tiger cub’s tail, much to his annoyance. She swung it about as she continued explaining.

  “Technically, I’m every fire-based elemental. It’s part of my limited omnipresence. That zap from the tiger’s eyes? It was an amplification enchantment for fire-based emotions. Annala, dearie, if you don’t mind, please explain them. ”

  “Hatred, passion, lust, excitement, arousal,” Annala said in a deliberately scholarly tone. “These emotions are the domain of the Grand Elemental Sentience Fire because they inflame the heart and galvanize the mind.”

  “I was going to do this anyways, as a favor to the second person I mentioned, but when my descendent prayed for my help, I decided now was the best time.”

  “Let me guess; people think I’m a threat because of what happened today and this was supposed to prove that I’m not because I showed mercy and self-control.” His eyes slitted. “Did Kallen have to go through this?”

  “Of course she had to do something like this; several times, in fact. Sapients, regardless of their gender, have the ability to reason. This helps them determine who, what, where, and when for things like violence and sex. Whether or not they use it is less certain. I remember when we were first making these rules as part of a peace deal with the Third Unified Demon Republic. I was nervous about using ‘reason’ as the criteria because everyone on both sides was either a murderer, a whore, an idiot, or all three.”

  “You lost your train of thought again.”

  Eric looked around for the voice, and then he realized it was the tiger cub. It was odd to hear an adult human man’s voice coming out of such a small, nonhuman thing.

  “Eric Watley, your gender is not a concern here. All men and all women can resist sexual urges. Whether they do or not is not at issue. Monsters, regardless of their gender, cannot. When they are hungry, they must eat. When they feel threatened, they must attack. When they feel a sexual urge, they must satisfy it. The fact that you felt such urges but did not act on them, even when nudged by divine power and encouraged by your paramour’s safety and then willingness, is a credit to your recovery. When this matter is resolved, and that collar is gone, feel free to kill Nulso or go at it like rabbits if you wish.”

  In a puff of smoke, he disappeared. Then he reappeared in a corner of the apartment, with a mouse’s tail between his claws.

  “Stop!” Eric shouted.

  “Why?” the Crowned Tiger asked.

  “That’s Alice. She’s a friend of mine. She stops by sometimes for cheese and a talk. I imagine she was going to give me girl advice.”

  Alice was too scared of the divine tiger holding her to talk, so all she did was nod.

  “Fair enough.”

  The Crowned Tiger released her and teleported back to Fiol’s arms.

  “What do you think, Fairtheora?” Fiol asked. “Is Eric Watley a threat?”

  “Your Divinity, I am satisfied that Eric Watley is not a threat to the general public. Her Mortal Majesty Queen Kasile will be reassured by this event. He will still have to stand trial, but this character evidence will help his case.”

  “Good. Glad to hear it. I’d hate to see my descendent lose a confidant. Those are hard to come by.” She stroked the tiger cub’s back and he purred contently. “Now that the secular stuff done, we can move onto the sacred. Eric, pull your staff out.”

  “Okay…Why?”

  “I’m going to give you a blessing.”

  “You…You’re…a blessing?! But I—”

  She touched the crystal with one finger.

  "You who overcame the fire of your own body shall not be overcome by this fire."

  A red glow filled it. Then it shrank to the size of a marble and the grey sphere pulled it into orbit. It chased the blue at the other side. Eric stared at the red light, then up at the woman who gave it to him.

  “This is True Scared Fire. Kasile possesses only a pale imitation. That’s why the enforcer could shut it down.”

  “You mean she’s not your descendent?”

  She smacked him on the head with a fan made of ashes. “Of course she’s mine!"

  Yes, the fan smack proves it...

  "But all that mortal blood between her and me waters it down. Somehow, she was under the wrong impression about how this works and had to figure it out herself in order to regain it. From now on, I’m teaching royal theology myself!”

  “Did you forget what Tasio did to stop you from doing that?” the tiger cub asked.

  “I don’t give a den of ashes what Tasio thinks. My daughter’s bloodline almost ended the other day because one Torch d
ied giving birth to the next and thus couldn’t educate that Torch about the true nature of her heritage. Besides, he owes me for this.”

  “I foresee a man named Cid in our future,” the tiger cub muttered.

  “I’ll deal with that when it happens. Anyway, Eric, this light here will give you a direct link to me just like the blue light for Waol. You’ll be able to use a tiny fraction of our divine power through them.”

  “When did I meet...It was the mutation, wasn’t it?”

  “Like I said, lazy.”

  “But…why?”

  “Ask Tasio. This was all his idea. I believe he asked Eaol and Wiol to test you as well so keep an eye out for them. Bye-bye for now.”

  She disappeared in a pillar of fire. Eric took a moment to process and then called The Trickster’s name three times. Without a sound, a god of a different nature appeared in her place. He looked from the angry Eric to the embarrassed Annala and said, “Good, Fiol’s already been here. I assume she told you to ask me for the divine plan?”

  “Yes.” Eric put his grendel hands on his hips. “I don’t appreciate your meddling.”

  “My meddling?” Tasio pointed at himself in irritating pretend confusion. “This was Kasile’s plan; front, right, and center. I only asked Fiol to do a little extra.”

  “Don’t give me that. You want something from me and if I need divine power for it, then it must be something extreme.”

  Tasio lounged in midair. Producing an apple from nowhere, he played catch with himself by tossing it into the air.

  “You want the power to kill Nulso, right? That which is protected by Order can only be vanquished by Order or a power of similar or greater standing. Accepting Fiol’s blessing is one of the steps you need to take to acquire such power.”

  “You want me to kill one of Order’s knights. You want me to do your dirty work.”

  Tasio caught the apple one final time. Then he threw it to Eric. He caught the illusion and squashed it in his grendel fist.

  “It’s not dirty at all. Besides, he’s not done with you or Annala. His arrest will only drive him to greater action. When that happens, I want you to be ready.”

  Eric adopted an exaggerated thoughtful posture. “If that which is protected by Order can be killed by Order, then...” He locked eyes with Tasio. “…does that mean that which is protected by Chaos can be destroyed by Chaos?”

  Tasio’s usual exuberance diminished. His hair bleached itself, his eyes turned pink, and his clothing shifted into something bland and homely. His divinity faded and his feet touched the ground. Without the divine glory, his body looked humanly fragile. A vision of him bloodied and dying invaded Eric’s mind. He shook his head, but the image remained.

  “Do you hate me that much?”

  “That’s not fair!”

  “Do you?”

  “No. However much you annoy me, you were still my first friend in this world.”

  “Aio” beamed and glomped Eric. He pushed the disguised trickster away.

  "I’m still mad at you. You've played little tricks in the past, but it was all in good fun. I acknowledge you had good intentions this time, but I don't like dancing to someone's flute without my knowledge.”

  Without his awareness, his human form was giving way to his true form. Starting with his chest, metal scales were replacing his flesh and his physical stature was expanding.

  “Kas isn’t going to get away with this either. I’m going to chew her out the next time I see her. Oh, and, Royal Sentinel, I hope you understand that I was being metaphorical at that moment. The violently hungry and sex-obsessed grendel is not going to literally chew on your queen.”

  “I understand, Mr. Watley.”

  “Good! Out of everyone here, the Orc Knight is my favorite right now.”

  He stomped out and returned to human form mid-step. After crossing the threshold, he slammed the door behind him. Fairtheora followed him, but the other two did not.

  For the second night that week, Eric couldn’t sleep. Instead, he meditated. It was necessary to maintain his Razor Spirit and useful for sorting out his feelings about what had happened.

  Elves are a fertile race; it came with being imbued with power from the Mother of All Things. When a female elf lost her virginity, she would instantly become pregnant, no exceptions. After giving birth, she would be barren for a century or so, no exceptions. The fact that he learned all this from human records of war crimes made him all the more uncomfortable.

  In the morning, Annala was waiting for him outside his apartment. She wore a loose sweatshirt and baggy snow pants underneath her thick winter coat. The Subjugation Collar was hidden by a scarf and a hood. One hand was tugging her ear.

  "Hey, Eric...can we…can we talk?"

  He didn't know whether to cringe, scowl, or sigh; he settled for nodding.

  "I'm sorry about...last night," she said, her cheeks cherry red. “I should have noticed that Fiol had enchanted us. I read all about non-ordercraft mental influence three months ago and I wrote a paper on it for psychology class.”

  “Oh, Annala, it’s not your fault. There’s little mages like us can do against planetary deities. Want to do some research to fix that?”

  He extended a hand, and with a brilliant smile, Annala accepted it. She nuzzled his chest and he wrapped his other hand around her.

  “Say, I bet Fiol had an alternative motive for the test. After all, one of the roles of Fire's Avatar is to help people achieve their dreams by granting them the fire of courage. What if my mom had a talk with her before you fought that elemental?”

  "If that was the case,” Eric said, “then I would have preferred fire water."

  Annala giggled. Then she heard a swallow’s cry and looked up in excitement.

  A swallow flew towards them from the castle. It was five ounces in weight and carrying a one-pound coconut by the husk. Annala’s eye began to twitch and she pulled her hood over her face. The swallow flew to her, hovered in front of her, and showed her that it was carrying the coconut beneath his dorsal guiding feathers. Then it transformed.

  Its feathers receded to reveal skin and clothes, its beak shifted into a humanoid nose and mouth, its wings became humanoid arms, its talons became humanoid legs and feet, and, all the while, it grew larger. At last, it resumed its true form; an adult male elf carrying a coconut in his right hand and tail feathers in his rear.

  “Mr. Enaz, why are you carrying a coconut?”

  “I wanted to prove it was possible.”

  “Where did you even find a whole coconut?”

  “In Mercia. Where else? And for the record, I was an E variety swallow, not an A variety.”

  “Eric, please, make him stop.”

  Ponix shifted the index finger on his left hand into a blade and plunged it into the coconut. He drank the contents and offered it to Eric.

  “Want some?”

  “I’m good.”

  “In that case, to business.”

  He ripped a bigger hole in the coconut, reached inside it, and pulled out a choker. It was the very same one Eric had given to Annala before the Mana Mutation Summit save for a two differences. The first was that the gem at the center held a green light that was somehow more real than the gem that held it. Eric guessed that this was Cosmic Sap, a rare form of energy tainted by the Great Tree That Supports the Worlds, Noitearc. The second difference was a series of runes along both straps. They depicted trees and other symbols for Noitearc.

  “This thing was not an easy thing to create. Nunnal calls it the ‘Retrofitted-Upper-Body-Noitearc-Powered-Orderly-Transition-Jammer,’ which I believe should be self-explanatory, but she often goes off on the long names and I try to warn her they’re a mouthful and that it would take longer to say the name than to explain its function, which she said was absurd because—”

  “Dad!”

  “Oh yes, just put it on over the collar and it will block the transmission of your location.”

  Eric accepted the accessory a
nd Annala turned around so he could secure it over her neck. He was careful not to entangle her hair and keenly aware that Ponix was watching him. He was speaking truthfully when he said that he considered the man a threat. Right now, his instincts were telling him to get as far away from him as possible.

  When the clasp locked into place, the entire set gleamed with more-real-than-reality green light that encompassed Annala’s throat entirely. Then it faded and the choker appeared to be simple jewelry. He admired her once again.

  “Does this mean Mom succeeded in generating her own Cosmic Sap?”

  “Oh no, not by a long shot. She teleported to the Zaban Monastery and beseeched Abbot Zorgan for a blessing. He obliged her over a cup of tea. Well, Eric? Can you sense her?”

  As he did the previous night, Eric used his authority as her master to search for her location. He couldn’t find it. The leash connecting them refused to reveal itself, or rather, the second choker refused to allow it to do so. Even with Magic Sight, he couldn’t find it.

  “No, I can’t.”

  “As expected. Nunnal found a friendly ordercrafter and convinced him to assist in testing the device. Then she found another one and another until she was satisfied. She must have bothered half the towns in three countries. That’s a superlative, of course. There wasn’t time for such extensive testing because of the upcoming Mana Mutation Summit in Dnnac Ledo.”

  Annala’s eyes brightened more than the gem. “It’s going to happen?!”

  “It might. The Supreme Council has not made a final decision. You have my support, your mother’s, and Sister Sagart’s, but at current, no one else’s. The Elven Preservation Society is dead set against it, and Meza has a lot of influence, but when I mentioned a peaceful solution to the elven slavery issue, the headman gathered enough votes to take it under consideration. There are a number of fence sitters waiting to hear from you in person.”

  He spontaneously hugged his daughter.

  “I’m surprised, and, truth be told, proud of your initiative. Why, I told Nunnal that you might choose diplomacy to be your Eternal Hobby instead of magi-tech research like her and she didn’t talk to me for the rest of the day. At the end of the day, however, I used my diplomatic skills in combination with my oral ones to—”