Looming Shadow: Journey to Chaos book 2

by Brian Wilkerson

  Suddenly, Vaya grabbed her arm and dragged her behind a rock. Zettai asked a silent question and Vaya pointed over their cover.

  A rat turtle known as a Shrephael walked past. It was tremendous in size due to Fog mutation; the fleas on its back were half as big as Vaya was tall. The shell was smeared with entrails, scratched, and dented. Its eyes, teeth, and claws were all red, stained with blood. A ten-foot tail dragged behind it, thrashing like a thing in agony. The girls waited for it to pass, then Zettai had another surge.

  This one was worse than the ones before and she spasmed out of control. Vaya tried to keep her still, but she made noise nonetheless. Fortunately, it didn’t attract the Shrephael’s attention. Unfortunately, it attracted something else.

  It was something lupine in shape with a thin metal hide and blue-yellow coloring. It rushed them and fell into a pit of grey tar. The more it struggled, the more it sank. Then a mound rose up and swallowed it. Moments later, the tar settled and the trap reset. Zettai settled moments later. Vaya helped her up, but only a minute later, she had another attack.

  A surge of pain made her knees weak and she grasped a stone for support. While she waited for the pain to pass, she realized that her arms were sinking into the stone. She tried to pull them out, but they were stuck. Frantically, she yanked on them, but only hurt herself. She was elbow deep in the stone like a classical princess kidnapped by a troll.

  Red mist clouded her eyes and a similar scenario appeared out of the Fog. She saw herself arrested while attempting to sneak aboard a ship at Yebo and all the suffering that came afterward. She closed her eyes, but she could still see it. The jailer hurt her every day and told her to be thankful she hadn't been executed yet. Then, as now, she couldn't resist or protest.

  The mist cleared and she saw Vaya pulling at her arms. She shook her head.

  “A lady doesn’t abandon her friends.”

  Zettai bit her tongue hard enough to draw blood and spat it on the stone. The cursed fluid melted the stone like acid and specters flew from it all around her. The flux of blood and spiritual power caused another surge. Again, she felt weak at the knees, but she was held in place by her arms; they were still trapped as high as her mid-lower arm. Then, another monster approached.

  It was a fourteen-foot mass of purple slime. The top layer was like flesh but transparent, making visible the interior blood and vital organs. A strip of bony ridges crossed its back and one side. Zettai gestured with her head for Vaya to run, and as the monster oozed towards them both, she did. It reared up and swallowed her whole.

  She barely had time to take a breath before she was enveloped by the living sludge. All around her, it pressed against her and pushed her further down its length. The smell was horrific; she felt herself passing out. Then another surge came and it traveled out of her and into every part of the creature. It made an unearthly ping and exploded.

  Zettai gasped on the Fog-soaked ground. Every part of her was equally drenched in the creature's slime. Her gown was ruined and made heavy with it. She couldn’t move. The pain had finally become too much. A phantom of Mr.15 stood over her and scowled.

  “One more failure.”

  At last, her resolve broke and she cried. Instead of salt water, tears of blood ran down her face.

  “I’ll bring back help!” Vaya shouted over her shoulder. “I promise! A lady keeps her word!”

  Vaya raced across the living ground. She stepped lightly and nimbly to avoid traps like the one that snared the lupine monster. Her eyes moved just as quickly over the landscape to avoid other monsters and, when she spotted one, she ducked behind rocks to stay out of its sight, then continued running. Despite her pace and the landscape, she never tired because the Fog re-energized her with each breath she took. She made good progress until a new monster stepped into her path.

  It was a metallic creature that stood upright on three legs like a tripod. There were three circular upper limbs and these carried white half-orbs. Extending further up was a thin neck and a fourth loop carrying a single eye. The eye gathered energy and fired a thin beam at her.

  She sidestepped and ran away, but the eye beam followed her. It was faster than she was and struck her in the back. Instantly, her dress ignited and the skin underneath scalded. She dove to the ground and rolled to put out the flames. The creature charged for another shot.

  “Dynamic Entry!”

  Tiza jumped over the fallen Vaya and spin-kicked the thing in its eyestalk, knocking it off balance. She landed, drew her sword, and slashed every leg and all three circles. She accomplished nothing but attracting its attention.

  The limbs grew and it pounded the orbs downwards in an attempt to trap her. She sidestepped the first, jumped by the second, and then the third closed in on her. Immediately, it radiated intense heat and began cooking her alive. Then Basilard shattered it with a punch. The monster reeled back while he smacked Tiza on the head.

  “This is why I didn’t want you to come.”

  He stuck out his right hand, reached out with his spirit, and bashed the creature away. Taking out his own sword, he repeated her pattern. He succeeded in severing all the limbs and cutting all the circles. He delivered the killing blow via a stomp on its eye.

  “Condinever; Rank B. You’re decades away from this level. And you!” He pointed his finger at Neuro. “You were no help just now! You led us to the girl and yet you did nothing to help her!”

  Neuro shrugged. “She is an artificial life form with a pilfered soul. According to the Book of Death, I should kill her right now to restore balance.”

  Vaya yelped and scurried behind Basilard.

  “Her only crime was to be created by a lunatic because a man missed his daughter.”

  “The same can be said of most such abominations.”

  Despite learning the awful truth of her origin for the second time, Vaya screwed up her courage. Then she jumped out from behind Basilard and into Neuro’s face. She pointed at him with such ferocity that he stumbled back a step.

  “There’s no time to argue! My friend needs help! You can kill me after I lead you to her!”

  She stepped back, clasped her hands behind her back, and cleared her throat.

  “If that is agreeable with you, then I will start right away.”

  “Sure.”

  “What kind of trouble is your friend in?” Basilard asked.

  “Mr.15 injected his blood into her and it’s killing her. When I left her, she was in so much pain she couldn’t move.”

  The killing intent radiating from Basilard made everyone present piss themselves. It scared away several nearby monsters. It made Vaya wish she’d let Neuro kill her a second ago. She shook it off and said, “Is that a problem?”

  “No. Show me the way.”

  Turning on her heel, she ran back to Zettai. Although she feared this man would kill her new friend, she had no alternative to trusting him. Without his help, Zettai would surely die.

  Basilard followed her. It would have been faster to carry her, but he didn’t trust himself with something as fragile as a teenage civilian. In his current state of mind, he might break her by accident. Bladi Conversion was a forbidden art and now he had to choose between a lawful killing and a benevolent rescue. BloodDrinker hummed in anticipation of its coming meal.

  The group found Zettai sprawled on the cold ground. Its living essence protested the cursed blood she spilled on its surface. The humans perceived it as an unearthly tremor that vibrated in their bones and invoked feelings of disgust in their minds. The prowling monsters avoided her because none of them wished to eat poisoned meat.

  Her skin was pale where it wasn’t rotten. Her hair was now completely red with not a trace of blonde to be found. Her irises were the same color, but her eyes as a whole were glazed over. There was no rise and fall in her chest, not even the mild ones allowed by her corset. The rest of the gown was ripped, stained, and otherwise ruined, but it still drove Basilard mad with rage.

  He the ripped the
upper skirt clean off.

  “What the abyss are you doing!?” Vaya shouted.

  “This is the Bladi family ceremonial dress.”

  He pulled off the tiara and veil and wadded them up.

  “Even in its altered, corrupted, state, she doesn’t deserve to wear it.”

  He vaporized the gauze and defaced the symbols decorating the bodice.

  “It's heresy and she is walking sacrilege.”

  Tasio appeared above her still form and his expression was uncharacteristically stern.

  “She is a victim who risked her life to save your student.”

  “Don’t try to guilt me into this, trickster. I know what you’re planning!”

  Tasio arched an eyebrow. “Oh? I thought I was making this up as I went.”

  Basilard growled, his eyes glowed, and his killing intent flared once more. Vaya revised her opinion from earlier. She’d rather one of the monsters from earlier had eaten her, than to face this one here. He pointed his Bladi claw at the Chaos god and shouted, “This is why Eric hates you! Why all of Creation hates you. You toy with our lives for your amusement and overturn our fortune because you think you know better than us!”

  “I am hope and I am despair, but what I truly am is change. It’s your choice to interpret that change as one or the other.”

  “Don’t give me that crap! I bet you’re responsible for her arrest in Yebo!”

  Tasio’s expression didn’t change. “Maybe, but whether I am or not is irrelevant to the here and now. Kill her or spare her; it’s up to you.”

  Basilard growled again and clenched his fist, but took no action.

  “Take all the time you need. She’ll just be a prisoner in her own body until you decide, suffering soul isolation and Mr.15’s madness.”

  “Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t! There is no spell or ritual for this sort of thing!”

  “Oh, but there is. A curious young lad devised a hypothetical ritual. It was just a thought experiment, but his uncle was impressed. They discussed it so much I imagine he remembers it, even as the stagnant adult he is now.”

  Basilard impaled Zettai with BloodDrinker. Vaya rushed forward, but Neuro’s hands were as strong as a tomb. She could do nothing but shout as her friend’s body was defiled further.

  “Exile, by my blood and by my authority, I command you: leave this host and vanish into nothingness.”

  Pressure built in Zettai’s stomach. She leaned over and vomited blood. Basilard watched and waited for the final ejection. Once all the blood was gone, her spirit would leave and he could lock this event away in the deepest vault in his heart. Once, twice, thrice; once more, and it would be over.

  Tasio shapeshifted into a small child; a girl no older than ten. She was cut, bruised, branded, and clothed in rags. Pale blonde hair descended down her back in a ratty mess while her bangs hung over her eyes – eyes that shined with tears that she refused to shed. She sniffed once and said, “You’re worse than my parents! I-I hope you never become one!”

  “….Abyss take you, trickster.”

  Basilard returned BloodDrinker to its scabbard. Then, with a dagger, he cut his lower right arm. He placed it on the wound and recited, “In an act of loyalty, blood was spilled. In an act of compassion, blood was restored. In an act of love, new blood will flow.”

  The wound shined with red light.

  “Life and death and rebirth. You are like the founder because this cycle will make you stronger.”

  Color began to return to her skin.

  “You are now connected; I am you, you are me, and together we are family.”

  Her chest began to rise and fall once more.

  “Bladi Forbidden Technique: Conversion.”

  Zettai’s eyes refocused and the first thing she saw was Basilard’s face. For just an instant, a look of unadulterated love broke out across her own, then it clouded over in fear and shame.

  “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean for this to happen! I just wanted to save Eric and…”

  Basilard’s scowl made her curl up into a ball and hug herself.

  “…Be useful for once.”

  “Have you seen Eric?”

  Zettai nodded.

  “Where is he?”

  “H-he was still in the l-lair.” She pointed in the direction she came from. “The entrance is back there…We left it open, right, Vaya?”

  “A lady exposes the wicked so the righteous may smash them into tiny pieces.”

  “Thank you, Miss Vaya. Abo-Zettai, can you stand?”

  Zettai uncurled and, while she was unsteady, she could stand on her own two feet again.

  “Nolien, Tiza, escort the civilians to safety. Neuro, escort my students to safety.”

  The novices immediately accepted their orders, but the priest protested. One death glare later, he dropped them and took point on the new group. Basilard turned his attention to the entrance.

  “W-wait!”

  “What is it!?”

  Zettai shrank back again, then tried a curtsy with the remains of her skirt.

  “Thank you very much for saving me.”

  “Thank The Trickster…I would’ve let you die.”

  Zettai’s eyes teared up in a perfect imitation of Tasio’s illusion, and she said, “You’re horrible!”

  He turned his back on her. “I’m lawful, or I used to be.”

  Chameleon Flashing through the area, he moved out of her sight. Rather, she was out of his sight. That little abomination…The thought made his eyes glow.

  Creating an artificial Bladi had been outlawed since the beginning, codified by the founder himself. Sharing the family’s blood did not make her family. He would sooner give BloodDrinker to Raki, his niece, than let it fall into the hands of an outsider, even if she was a closer blood-link.

  /It’s not her fault/.

  “That doesn’t change the facts!”

  /She needs a family/.

  “She can’t have ours!”

  /She needs a father/.

  Basilard ripped BloodDrinker off its scabbard and glared at his reflection in its surface.

  “Since when do you care about anything other than yourself!? I struggle every day to keep you from eating everyone around you!”

  His reflection shifted into someone older and with slightly different facial structures. A female face appeared to his left, a male to his right, and so forth in the background.

  /We want grandkids/.

  Basilard howled and smashed the sword against a rock outcropping. At once, it crumbled into a hundred pieces and the shockwave continued into the next rock thirteen feet away. The commotion attracted monsters.

  Although the majority of Ceihans avoided this mountain like The Trickster, there was always a handful stupid enough to enter. Those with curiosity to sate, or despair to melt, or adventure lust to gratify came. Regardless, most transformed into the B class monsters now standing in front of him.

  There was a large serpentine creature, five feet in height and twenty in length. Purple bands crisscrossed along its body and, at odd points, jutted up from its skin into five-fingered hands. The bands intersected at the tail and continued on beyond the monster's body into a broad fan blade made entirely of plasma. Its mouth was lined with rows of serrated teeth, with two incisors in the middle. There was no head because the mouth was the head and the teeth were the mouth.

  There was an insect humanoid, ten feet in every direction and just as long a wingspan. It was covered in a scaly hide that vibrated as its wings did, creating a cranking buzzing sound. Its arms were long and segmented at several areas, and yet it possessed human eyes and legs. Its odor would have knocked Basilard straight out if he weren't wearing his scarf.

  Between these two giants, and within the Fog, it was difficult to see the third B class. An amphibious creature hovered without wings, possessing one hundred and eight eyes along its entire body. All of them were aglow with an eerie purple light.

  “An athon, a wasko, and a peeping mauve,”
Basilard muttered. “Shouldn't be too hard.”

  He could have grabbed the peeping mauve and used it as a bludgeon against the other two, thus befuddling them and leading them into fighting each other. Then he would rip the peeping mauve’s core out of its body, crush it, and leave the other two to kill each other. That was the quickest and smartest way to deal with this situation, but he after what he just did, he had aggression to work out.

  Instead, he attacked the wasko first. Slipping behind it with a Chameleon Flash, he drove BloodDrinker between the scales of its back until it was hilt-deep in muscle. Muttering, “Drink your fill,” he dove on the peeping mauve and tore out all one hundred and eight eyes with his bare hands. Then he threw them at the athon to temporarily confuse and pacify it.

  The first monster made an ear-shattering trill as it struggled in vain to pull out the sword that was eating it alive. It crushed rock with both sound waves and flailing. The second monster hovered in erratic patterns to buck him off and cycled through all eleven of its status aliments and all ten elemental attacks. It couldn’t stop Basilard’s savagery. The third monster caught each eye in its mouth despite jumping into attacks from the other monsters to do so. As a result, it was burned, bruised, shocked, poisoned, frozen, and other things before Basilard was done. When he was, Basilard broke its incisors off and stabbed it in the neck with them. It thrashed violently in its death throes, but Basilard caught the tail in his left hand on its first pass and held its head with the other. When it fell limp and lay still, Basilard released it and reclaimed BloodDrinker from the husk of a wasko.

  “Satisfied?”

  The sword hummed.

  More monsters raced towards him, but they didn’t stop to fight. They rushed past him as if they didn’t see him. He reached out with his senses, but they didn’t pick up anything. The Fog blocked them. For a second, he regretted sending Tiza away; her Third Eye would be useful in this situation. That many powerful monsters were fleeing that area meant that something worse was behind them. It was the same direction as his destination.