“Tell me,” I said, surprised at the gentle power in my voice. “All of it.”
“Beast,” Alice said plaintively like a child explaining her behavior to an adult. “Inside. Here,” she touched her head.
“And this Beast, what is it? Is he a genetic mutation? Does he make you lose control of your body? Do you remain aware of what’s going on?”
“Don’t know. No. Zealots! Bastards!” once again her face twisted into the mask of fury. “Bastards, yes!”
“What’re Zealots got to do with it?”
“They studied me. They tortured me,” she breathed out. “A long time. Beast was after. Not before. After what they did.”
“So the Beast started coming after you’d been with the Zealots?” I asked.
“Yes. Yes!”
“But this Beast, what is he?”
“Dunno. Not Alice. Not me. He inside. Always. He speak to me. He not human. Me scared. Me feel bad.”
“It’s very possible that they experimented on her in order to introduce a symbiotic A-entity into her body, Incarnator. Her latest transformation shows all signs of the presence of an Azuric creature within her.”
“But Miko, what kind of a crazy idea is this? Two souls in one body? Is that even possible?”
“In theory, yeah. Unfortunately, all the information pertaining to these kinds of experiments in Stellar Archives is classified.”
“And this Beast, is he sentient? Can you speak to him?” I continued questioning the girl.
“Yes. No. Dunno. Not like humans. He speak to me. But,” she frowned, desperately trying to explain something but not having the words, “not like we speak! He hurt. Me feel bad.”
“Is it an Azuric entity?”
“Yes. No. Dunno,” she squeezed her eyes tight. Tears rolled down her face, leaving dirty streaks on her skin. “I become him. I kill. Everyone. New body. Alice need new body. Grey, help. Please…”
This whole thing seemed much more complicated than I’d originally thought. The girl shared her body with an Azuric entity from over the Edge, which the Zealot fanatics had planted inside her for reasons known only to themselves. Even with Alice’s enormous powers and experience, she’d still failed to work out what she was dealing with. All I could tell was that she suffered a lot.
“Okay. I got it,” I said. “I’ll do what I can. Calm down now. Are you hungry?”
She violently shook her head, still sobbing without getting off her knees. Her night hunt must have been a good one.
“How often do you turn into the Beast?” I asked.
“Azure. Night. Black Moon.”
“What, every night?!”
“Yes. No. Azure,” she struggled to put it into words. “Azure. Azure. Azure!”
I didn’t understand. Was the transformation triggered by A-energy? Or did Beast crave Azure? What was she trying to say?”
“Azure. Moon. Beast.”
“Most likely, her transformation depends on the Black Moon cycles, Incarnator, just as I initially thought. As the Black Moon provides a source of Azure of planetary proportions, I’d venture a guess that the creatures from over the Edge become more active at certain phases of its cycle. Alternatively, the constantly varying patterns of the blue lines covering the Black Moon surface might play a part in it too.”
“Sorry, I don’t understand,” I said to Alice. “Do you want to say that the Beast takes over your body every time the Black Moon rises? Every night?”
“Yes. No. Dunno. Daytime, Beast sleep. Nighttime, Beast sleep. Moon, light, Azure — Beast wake up. Before, one day awake, then seven days sleep. Now one day awake, then three days sleep. Sometimes one day awake, then one day sleep...”
“So it’s different every time, is it? You can’t tell, is that what you mean?”
“Yes. No. Dunno. When Beast hungry, he come out. Now Beast not hungry. Beast sleep. Three days sleep,” she shrugged helplessly.
So although the Azuric patterns covering the surface of the Black Moon seemed to be a prerequisite, they weren’t the only requirement. There were other unknown factors at play here, which complicated the whole thing no end. Still, I was pretty sure there was a solution to her predicament.
“And this Beast, what does he want?” I continued grilling her, “What does he do when he breaks free?”
“Azure. Blood. Kill. Everyone,” she said slowly and clearly.
“And what can we do to make sure this Beast doesn’t kill me next time?”
“Lock me up. Chain me. Not easy. Beast is strong. Or I go hide,” she added softly. “Run away. The Moon is out, me not come out, me not take Azure.”
Oh. So it looked like that we might have to find some shelter every day before nightfall where the rays of the Black Moon couldn’t reach her. Alternatively, I’d have to go into hiding myself to make sure the Beast didn’t find me. Either that, or we’d have to immobilize her. Given her enormous strength, that was a task and a half but still, both Rat King and Evyl had somehow managed it by caging her in…
What an interesting partner.
She rose to her feet, wiped her face with a handful of her own hair and looked at me quizzically. “Grey, Alice. We a team? You help me?”
“Yes,” I said firmly. “Yes, I will help you get rid of this Beast whatever it is. I’m gonna help you become an Incarnator once again.”
“Good. Thanks,” she gratefully touched my hand in a gesture that meant the world to me. “We go now. Quick. Pack is near. Beast killed rats’ runners last night. Rats are close.”
My Binocular Vision allowed me to see the slightest details. Now I too noticed a bluish mark on the girl’s wrist, like a recently healed scar, in about the same place where I’d hacked out at her with my Helheim sword. Which meant that her body had successfully neutralized its necro toxins and even healed the apparently unhealable necro sores.
But still the sword had left its mark on her hand, which could only mean one thing: Helheim’s properties slowed down any kind of regeneration, even as powerful as hers.
Which got me thinking. Did that mean you could actually kill her?
Chapter 9
FOR A BRIEF WHILE, I was toying with the idea of telling her about my Claw of Helheim. I didn’t get the chance though: she grabbed my hand and pulled me upstairs.
“Rats. Close. Gotta go.”
“Can they lead the Possessed to us?”
Alice shrugged. “Dunno. No. How can they?”
That was good news. If she was right and if the rat pack’s actions weren’t coordinated with those of the Rogues, then the only threat could come from the drones. Which meant we couldn’t come out into the open for fear of getting into the crosshairs of Pilgrim’s powerful scanners. In which case, coming across Gnarl was only a question of time.
So we had to stay under the cover of the forest. Ideally, we had to find another underground tunnel.
As it now was, we had only one way out: back up the stairs. The monorail tunnels were completely flooded. Swimming all the way wasn’t an option. So we were forced to climb back to the surface. My Impermeability gave us a decent chance, completely screening me off and only betraying Alice’s single marker. But I found it hard to imagine that they would be able to single her out from among hundreds of various critters inhabiting these woods.
Alice seemed to realize all this perfectly well, too. We were too pressed for time to waste it on explanations; the girl kept urging me on, anxiously repeating that the pack was getting close.
Back on the surface, dawn was breaking. We scrambled out of the tunnel and hurried to leave the ruins of the small town around it. It was completely reclaimed by vegetation, the buildings’ cracked foundations and frameworks the only signs of human activity that must have been bustling here once.
Alice piggybacked me again. She rushed along the deserted streets, vaulting effortlessly over the cars’ rusty shells.
When we reached the town’s limits, I finally noticed our pursuers: several emaciated red rats movi
ng in long leaps. These were the so-called “runners”, as Alice had called them, and they were very different from their humanlike brethren: as fast as the wind, they resembled purebred bloodhounds which served as the pack’s scouts. They never engaged in actual fighting but were capable of steadfast pursuit of their quarry day in day out.
We left the town behind. The woods around us were wild and beautiful. Unhindered by human hand, Mother Nature had given it her all, growing rod-straight pine groves, impassable bamboo thickets and a great many rivers and streams, their waters as clear as glass.
Alice was well and truly indefatigable. She’d been running all day without slowing down, climbing up cliffs and following rivers’ rapids. She kept changing direction too, so that sometimes I thought we were going round in circles – but I put my faith in her experience. She’d been living in a similar wilderness for decades, so she must have had plenty of chance to shake hunters and pursuers off her trail. She kept going in circles and retracing her steps, swimming across smaller lakes and scaling precipitous mountain walls, doing everything she could to confuse the rats’ bloodhounds and lose them.
The terrain began to change as we left the plains in our attempt to avoid open areas, and climbed higher into the wooded foothills. Their steep slopes were overgrown with giants the likes of which I’d never seen before. Enormous trees with thick spreading crowns towered around us like skyscrapers. According to Miko, trees had never grown so big before the Impact, so there had to be some Azuric influence at play there. There might have actually been an old A-zone here once, later eliminated by the Incarnators’ combined efforts.
The familiar giant blue-and orange beasts grazed around them, munching on the trees’ lower branches. They were what they called Khutakh in Fort Angelo, a whole herd of them, from many-ton adult monsters to little calves the size of a giraffe. Although they seemed perfectly peaceful, Alice gave them a generous berth.
Closer to the evening, when the sky began to darken and the edge of the Black Moon showed over the horizon, Alice unexpectedly leaped onto one of the giant trees. Agile like a panther, she moved deftly amid the jumble of branches and leaves. Finally she found a suitable branching bow closer to the treetop and set me down.
The next moment, she transformed back to her human shape. She clung to a wide branch, lacing her arms around it and gasping heavily. Despite her strength, this twelve-hour marathon with an extra load on her back must have cost her dearly.
Well, admittedly her “load” was quite exhausted too. My whole body ached. My long-suffering behind had been rubbed raw. Being a passenger on such an awesome beast might look like a walk in the park, but in reality it was anything but.
Once I’d recovered somewhat, I took a look around. We were sitting on a wide platform formed by two forking bows. We could easily spend the night here, and it was broad enough not to worry about falling off it.
“Are you suggesting we stop for the night?” I asked.
“Dunno,” Alice replied hoarsely. “Night, Moon… Me tired. Hungry. Me go huntin’.”
“And the Beast… will he come out tonight?”
“No. Dunno. Me go huntin’. If Beast no come, me come back,” she said with a wary shrug. “Grey. Stay here. Danger below. Understand?”
“Understand,” with a chuckle, I glanced down. The ground was a good fifty yards below. Climbing back down on my own would be next to impossible. So she didn’t need to tell me.
Once she’d caught her breath, she shapeshifted again. Her silent shadow slid down the branches, leaving me alone.
For a while, I sat there motionless listening to the sounds of the woods. The far-off trumpeting of the Khutakh; the rustling of the foliage disturbed by gusts of wind; the screaming of birds… The crowns of nearby trees were swarming with angry monkeys screaming their indignation. They were small and black-faced, their coats golden brown. Apparently, our visit must have disturbed the whole colony of these local dwellers.
The giant tree turned out to be an excellent observation point, concealed by a thick cloud of foliage. Missing such an excellent opportunity would have been a crying shame, especially given my Binocular Vision ability. We’d spent so much time going in circles and changing direction that Miko was begging me to find our bearings. I had to do so before it turned dark.
Carefully I began to climb up. All my body upgrades had brought their fruit now: my newly-acquired strength, agility and coordination allowed me to climb the springy branches without much problem. If push came to shove, I could even try to climb down.
Once I got closer to the treetop and the trunk began swaying quite dangerously, I stopped and tried to take stock of what I could see.
That was actually good news. Firstly, I couldn’t see any black dots of the spy drones in the sky. Which was logical, really, considering we’d covered well over a hundred miles, and the operating radius of those jury-rigged contraptions must have been quite limited. Pilgrim was a different story, of course – that was a fully self-sufficient aircraft. I strained my eyes this way and that, but still I couldn’t see it, either.
How strange. Could that mean we’d indeed shaken them off? Had we escaped?
“I shouldn’t count on it, Incarnator. Pilgrim is probably lurking just out of your range of vision, that’s all.”
Secondly, I could make out the jagged tops of yet another set of ruins covering the far-off blue mountain slopes behind the uneven forest edge. A useful landmark. Miko immediately got busy restoring our marker on the map and crisscrossing it with a complex zigzag of our previous route. It looked like we’d ventured way too far south, approaching the edge of the enormous A-zone marked as a large purple spot on our map. Not good news. When I looked in that direction, I could see a strange haze blurring the horizon. It constantly erupted in a series of flashes, as if consumed by an electric storm surging toward us.
“Miko, what do you think it is?”
“No idea, Incarnator. Could be some anomaly. No data available.”
In any case, I had no intention of continuing in that direction. There was a slim chance that we’d indeed shaken off our pursuers, in which case we should stop running around blindly. We needed a plan and a clear-cut route. Luckily, I had Miko’s wealth of analytical abilities to help me.
“Miko, here’re the tasks we need to complete. Task number one: we need to get to a transmission tower, contact the City and warn them about the Possessed. Task number two: to get to the Monolith in order to close the existing missions and get new ones. Task number three: help Alice regain her status as Incarnator. I’d like you to come up with the best route and most optimal plan of action.”
“Tasks number one and two can be combined. The nearest working transmission tower is in the Monolith.”
“Is it really? Why didn’t you tell me before?”
“Because before, this information was irrelevant. Accessing the Monolith’s transmission tower requires the rank of Allarch.”
She then showed me the list of Stellar’s military ranks, twelve in total, from Recruit to Grand Legate: strange Latin names which must have copied the Utopian military hierarchy. Allarch was the third on the list, right after Private.
“You’re right, Incarnator. In order to contact the City, we first need to complete the required minimum of missions before returning to the Monolith. The more the merrier, because Alice needs to receive commendations too. So here’s what I believe to be the optimal plan. First, to shake off the pursuit or kill the pursuers. Second, to move toward the Monolith, but not before we complete the Update The Reference Book and the Egg of the Roc missions. The commendations we receive for completing them will be enough to promote you to Allarch which in turn will give us access to the transmission tower. This way we’ll complete the first part of our plan and find out how many commendations Alice will need to receive in order regain her Incarnator status.”
Missions! It was all about missions, wasn’t it?
I opened my status and studied the list of my active tas
ks:
Update the Reference Book. You’ve studied 7/10 Azure-altered creatures!
Reward: Unknown
Reward type: Commendation
I had three more A-creatures to kill and study. Which was quite doable, really. A-morphs were so plentiful these days you could easily come across them outside of A-zones.
The Egg of the Roc (bonus time left: 83 hrs 40 min)
Reward: Unknown
Reward: Unknown
Reward type: 3 commendations
This was a very interesting mission. Still, in order to complete it, we had to go all the way back to the Roc’s nest, then somehow manage to steal his egg from him. And don’t forget the very interesting bonus of an almost intact airmobile! If it was indeed in working condition, that would solve our transportation problems once and for all. I might actually use it in order to get to the City.
The Enchanter (Project Stellar Book 2): LitRPG Series Page 12