by J. Carrarn
Drys pointed at the small zombie with an odd voice. It had backed up with the others and fallen silent as it listened to Solus.
"You. Go around and use that golden voice of yours to spread what Solus just said. Tell the others the Pattern Hall will hand out free patterns starting late tomorrow when the sun is at its highest. Those that come first will have the pick of the best patterns."
The zombie's jaw fell open, but he nodded fervently. Without even a backward glance, he turned and rushed away, pushing the others out of his path while his voice rang out, almost singing.
"Listen to me, all you rotheads, pukes, and pusbags, for I have news! Tomorrow afternoon free patterns will be handed out at the Pattern Hall! First come, first serve!"
The other zombies followed the singing zombie, his voice somehow drawing them along. They seemed to be more confused than anything else.
A movement from the doorway drew Solus's attention. Norg stood there, staring after the shouting zombie with raised eyebrows. When he noted that Solus had spotted him, he grinned. His eyes glimmered mischievously, and he beckoned them while turning and heading back inside.
Solus followed him, grinning as he moved the few steps he needed to pass through the entrance. This building's walls were far thicker than that of any other structures in the city. It ended at a long staircase that led down and around. Even taking two steps at a time, it took them a while to reach the chamber at the bottom of the stairs.
It was an enormous, chaotic room with tables and chairs spread across different elevated platforms. Ladders and staircases led up and around these plateaus that all circled a deep pit in the middle of the room. The pit had a grey sandy bed marred with puckered spots of green bile and white ichor, and its walls were covered in immense stone carvings depicting the epic struggles that had taken place here. Holes and dents with cracked edges, some so deep you could barely see the bottom, scarred the walls of the pit. This was the inn's central battleground, nothing like the small cage fighting rooms that were inside chambers.
Grinning as he looked at the pit, Solus remembered fondly the first time he had fought here and the effort it had taken to repair the damage afterward. Gazing proudly at the inn, he knew that no one would be able to lay this building to waste besides him. He hesitated for a second before correcting himself. Uran and Drys might be able to, but one wasn't allowed in the city, and the other had never shown an interest in beating others over the head. Of the others, not even Skull could permanently damage the building.
At the far side of the cavernous arena, on the largest plateau, was a sitting area with enormous stone benches and chairs surrounding an oddly shaped and crooked table. It was hard to see from this far away, but Solus knew it was the head of a Wyrm, the first that Vingria had managed to slay by herself. It marked a turning point for her because she had become the third in Skulltown to accomplish such a feat, after Solus and Skull. It cemented her faith that she was special and had been the reason she took control over the battle-inns.
Vingria lay on one of the stone chairs with her long muscular arms crossed over her armored chest as she watched the trio coming up the stairs.
"So, are you here to tell me how braindead I am?" she growled, glaring at Solus and showing no indication that she would stand up.
Solus pushed back his rising anger.
"Do you really need me to tell you what you already know?" he shot back as he stepped onto the platform and moved toward the largest of the chairs.
He dropped heavily into the seat with a thud that echoed through the room. The stone didn't budge or relent under his weight. It was of his own making and held another type of rock that he had only found at the bottom of a large crater beside a mountain. He still didn't know why he had brought it back with him, but according to Drys, it might have originated amongst the stars. Solus cared little where it came from, enjoying the fact that he sat comfortably. He had made a bed and a chair from the same stone that could easily hold his weight.
"This isn't the time for bickering!" Drys said. He sat down opposite Solus while looking at Vingria.
Norg dropped on one of the long benches, sprawling his long green form across it. He grinned widely, his wickedly sharp canines poking over his upper lip for a moment.
"Finally got yerself evolved, Drys? Took you long enough. I don't recognize the whole look, but is that Solus's skin you have there?"
Drys nodded, prodding his arm with a finger. "Yes, and some other interesting bits and pieces that increase my intelligence."
"So, why are you here if not to scold me?" Vingria snapped, ignoring Drys and Norg's banter.
Solus gripped the armrest of the chair and squeezed it. A soft whine came from it as the material began to give way under the pressure he exerted, and Vingria instinctively backed off, bending herself backward as if to get away from him.
"I am going to have to fix your mistake. We need information that only Scathia can give us, and seeing as you've just ended her shell, I have to go to her and find out what she knows about these rifts and how we can stop them!" As Solus spoke, his voice boomed louder and louder until the room started shaking, small cracks appearing in the walls, floor, and ceiling.
Vingria and Norg covered their ears, looks of pain on their faces. Drys just frowned and placed his hand on Solus's arm.
"Calm down, will you!"
Solus felt his abilities dampen for a moment, and that was enough to snap him out of it. With a blink, he looked at Drys, who pointed at the fissure that ran through the wall behind him.
"Remember what we talked about? Softly and in control!"
No one said anything for a while, and Solus took deep breaths, his eyes closed as he forced himself to be calm. When he opened them again, he saw Norg looking at him worriedly.
"It feels like you are acting more and more like a zombie again sometimes. What is wrong?"
Solus shook his head. He knew Norg was right, but he didn't know what was going on. It had been happening since he came into the city, but not all the time. It was as if at times something was poking at him, enraging him, and he didn't understand why. Norg was right though. It was getting worse.
"That's a problem for later. Right now, we need to decide who stays here and who goes."
His words caught all of their attention, and Norg practically jumped to his feet. "What? You are not planning on going out there by yourself, are you?"
"Not this time. I am aware that there might be many things out there that are more powerful than me, and I don't know how to defend against all of them. Going to Scathia's city, far beyond where I have traveled, is incredibly dangerous, but not going isn't an option. The rifts must be stopped from opening…"
Solus trailed off, imagining for a moment a world where the rifts continued to spawn, more and more of the Kaots spilling out and overrunning the wasteland. He would fight them, but could he end all of them by himself? He was not ready to be ended yet! He wanted to grow more, learn more, evolve more! He looked at Norg and the others. None of them would survive, even if he did.
"So, can I go?" Norg asked, jumping up and down excitedly. His long and toned muscles writhed under his green skin like snakes.
"Are you going to leave me here?" Vingria hissed, causing Norg to stop mid-jump and fall backward on the bench.
Solus and Drys watched Norg, who seemed at a loss for words. Then he turned around to Solus, his eyes hopeful.
"Vingria can come, right?"
With a groan, Solus put his head in his hands, but before he could think of a way out of the predicament, Drys spoke up.
"Solus, I don't think you should bring any of us. Without you here, we will need Vingria and Norg. Combined, they are almost as strong as you, and if we add Skull and I to the mix, we should be able to stop anything that would try to breach our defenses."
Solus frowned at this, questioning for a moment if they could best him if they worked together. Then he remembered how fast Norg was and that Drys could block his abilities an
d seemed only marginally annoyed by his loud voice, and he shivered. They might be able to do it if he let his guard down. Vingria had a calculating look on her face, but she turned her gaze away when she saw him looking at her.
Solus suddenly didn't feel at all comfortable having her come along. He knew she probably wouldn't do anything stupid, but he wasn't so sure that he could trust her anymore.
"I agree. I will bring Sig and Domain," he said, looking at Drys to see what he thought.
Drys nodded, his long hair bobbing a bit. "I will get Basil to select one of the better hunting groups to go with you. They know the wastes better than most and have proven to be quite resourceful."
Annoyed at the prospect of bringing such a large party with him, Solus eventually nodded, agreeing reluctantly.
"Very well. I am off to check on Domain. You go talk with Basil about a good team," he said as he got up.
He took another look at Norg and felt a pang in his chest, something that didn't happen a lot anymore. He had looked forward to heading out with the tall, mutated ghoul to bust some skulls again. Although Norg still tended to talk a lot if he got nervous, he had evolved far from his previous chatter-mouth self. Then again, if he brought Norg, he would have to take Vingria along, and that seemed like a bad idea.
Getting up, he beckoned Norg. "I'll be heading out tomorrow after I wake. Before I do, I want to discuss something with you."
Solus didn't wait for a reply and turned to leave. As he did so, he saw the damage he had done to the surrounding building. Grunting in annoyance, he focused on the damaged structure around him. The cracks and fissures shrunk and disappeared with a grating noise, leaving behind a slightly marred wall surface.
As they moved through the building and up the stairs, neither Drys nor Solus spoke, and he felt his agitation rise again. It was almost as if something was prodding him, poking him, as if something—
Solus stopped mid-step and spread his senses out as fast and wide as he could. He searched for any movement, any tiny tremor in the stone around him.
There!
Far above at the top of the building opposite the inn, he sensed something: a minute shimmer, no more than as if some little pebble had slid aside. He couldn't sense anything more, but a sense of disquiet kept him focused on it.
"Solus?"
Norg's voice shattered his concentration, and as he automatically withdrew. He thought he saw something shoot away. Stretching after it, he failed to detect anything. The top of the building was quiet and still once more.
Solus shook his head, his short green hair waving around as he turned. Norg looked at him, worried.
"I think there is still a Kaot in the city…" he said before the other could ask.
Norg's eyes widened. The triangular black pupils changed after Drys had mutated his pattern a year ago, gleaming as he looked around, alarmed.
"I don't see anything," he hissed.
"Not here! Somewhere outside. I couldn't get a good sense of it."
Norg looked up for a while, but when nothing happened, he shrugged. "I'll go and find it! Was that what you wanted to talk to me about?"
Solus sighed. For a while now, he had found that just speaking his mind was getting harder. Too many times they misunderstood him, leading to unfortunate problems.
"It's about Vingria. I want you to try and keep her in check while I am gone."
Norg sniffed and shook his head.
"I'm not sure that's possible. Ever since she started the inn, she has been back to her old bossy self."
His ghoul-nails ran across the wall, causing a harsh screech as he looked at Solus. "I don't think she will try to do anything to harm you if that's what you're worried about. It's just how she is."
Norg had a stubborn look on his face, and Solus knew it was unlikely he would get any more from him.
These fleshy problems, he thought. He could almost understand why Uran wouldn't allow them in. Aside from the joy of feeling emotions, there barely seemed to be any benefit to it.
Seeing Norg's face sour, he grinned and slapped him gently on the shoulder. "Fine, fine. Just make sure this place is still standing when I return."
"Nobody will be knocking anything down while I am here!" Norg replied before turning and heading back.
As he stepped outside, Solus shook his head. Norg had been there when the rifts first appeared, and still so much had been destroyed. Looking around at the empty square, he wondered how much would be left standing when he got back. Then he stomped off, keeping his stone sense stretched out as far as he could.
—
The shade hovered high above the city, staring down at the speck that was the dangerous grey giant. Solus… the name bubbled to the surface of its mind. Names meant trouble! Only the strongest Kaot Lords had them, and not the mindless ones, but the smart ones.
It waited until the one called Solus left before slowly descending. It hungered now. Soon it would need to feed, or it would not be able to stay in this form.
Searching, it saw a small group of undead move into a nearby alley. None of the fleshy dead things; just low-ranked undead. Its hunger grew, gnawing at its insides as it phased through the building, heading directly toward them.
—
Solus gazed at the unmoving four-legged Shadowhunter. Feline, the word came to him suddenly, startling him. That hadn't happened in a long time.
"Domain?"
There was no response, and the sphere remained dormant. He shrugged and looked around the room at his collection of souvenirs and trophies. There was still time. Perhaps he should prepare. Now that he could see his stats again, he needed to raise them and prepare for his next evolution.
Memories of his travels cluttered the tables in his room. From non-functioning spheres to rusted metal pieces in various sizes, and even strangely beautiful pieces of shaped rock lay sprawled across the stone tables. A collection of yellow and red metal-scraps lay alone in the middle of a table away from the rest, drawing his attention. He concentrated on a tiny piece of metal the color of his eyes and tried to mold it into the shape of a tree, but it resisted him. The material bent slightly under the force of his will, and he sat down cross-legged in front of the table.
Increasing his concentration, he tried to compress the metal with his stone-shaping and felt the energy rapidly drain from his mana-field. A string of small pings made him stop, and he summoned his status window.
Name: Os Solus
Age: 1
Sex: Male
Race: Pseudo stone elemental
Type: Mutation
Class: Stone shaper
Strength: 40/48
Constitution: 34/39
Dexterity: 19/24
Endurance: 69/90
Intelligence: 25/34
Wisdom: 20/23
Charisma: 9/16
Mana-field: 13918/14000
Physical density: 16900/19000
Skills: 2
Inscriptions: 3/7
Mana generation: 32
He grinned, feeling satisfaction and pride surge through him at the sight of his increased intelligence and mana-field. Although neither had increased a lot, he knew he would get them maxed out eventually.
Gauging how low his energy was, he probed the yellow stuff lying on the table.
Metal. Gold.
This time he stopped. What was going on? Such clear memories and concepts hadn't come to him in a long time. Not since his status window had disappeared. Almost slapping himself for not figuring it out, he grinned. His status screen was back now!
He snatched the gold from the table, and information trickled into his mind. So, it had been rare and valuable long ago. The old ones had taken most of it away, making it even more scarce now.
He focused on the gold on his hand, the proximity of it to his flesh strengthening his connection to it. That was something he should have thought of before, he realized. As he stared at the glittering metal, an image of the ancients wearing it as adornments flickered t
hrough his mind, and he had an idea. He focused on the gold, creating a mental image and pouring energy into the substance, forcing it into another shape. The amount of power this pulled from him was dizzying, and he gritted his teeth, grabbing hold of the stone table to keep his balance.
Slowly the metal clumped together, turning into a single large chunk that then began to elongate.
A repetitive series of pings came, but Solus ignored them as the gold wrapped itself around his wrist, changing into a band. As soon as he felt the ends connect, he stopped, falling to his knees from exertion. He could hardly remember the last time he had pushed himself this hard.
Staring at the small band around his wrist, he smiled. It had the rough shape of a Wyrm biting its tail.
So small a piece, yet so difficult to shape, he thought as he probed his remaining energy. Almost completely drained! The amount of energy he just used would have let him build a second wall around Skulltown.
"Are you trying to kill yourself?" a lispy, guttural voice asked.
Unlikely companions
"Stop it!" Domain lisped, easily dodging Solus's hands.
"Why? It feels nice stroking your fur! Now get back here," Solus said, stepping around the tables and trying to get his hands on the darkhunter.
"Instead of treating me like a lap dog, why don't you explain why you were shaping that metal?" Domain's new, guttural and lisping voice sounded like a zombie that had somehow gotten his tongue caught in a blender.
Solus shook his head, trying to push away the lingering pleasant sensation that shaping the gold had given him. Taking a deep breath and closing his eyes, he finally felt it fade away. Sitting down, he examined Domain.
The AI wore his new body as if it had been born in it. It had supreme control over it, leaping easily over a table before crouching down inside the wyrm towers wide-open maw. There, Domain lay down in the sunlight that streamed through the opening as if warming himself. The darkhunter's body seemed to have grown slightly since the AI had inscribed its program onto its mana-field.
Domain must have done something more to it.