by J. Carrarn
Solus stared at Domain, his mouth open. Was the AI being serious?
"What?"
Domain laughed softly, turning his attention to the Wyrm. "That thing has a massive bite force. If you can keep his mouth from closing on you, it should greatly increase your strength."
As the Wyrm moved further away, Solus frowned. He knew it probably wouldn't end him even if the Wyrm swallowed him, but the prospect wasn't very appealing. He wanted to increase his attributes, though, and if this was the fastest way...
He finally nodded, deciding that he could always just destroy the Wyrm and follow his original plan of pounding some mountains if it became dangerous.
"Alright. Stay here."
He leaped forward, the force of his jump accidentally blasting Domain across the wasteland. Hearing the AI curse loudly as he slid away, Solus gritted his teeth and realized he had forgotten again. He really needed to think before acting.
The side of the Wyrm had many more older-looking scars. Even the most recent ones were already healing, small grey plates growing back over the wounds. Sprinting alongside the Wyrm as it carved a track through the wasteland, Solus stared at its gaping maw.
It could probably swallow some of the smaller buildings in Skulltown with a single bite, he thought. Its multiple rows of curved teeth gleamed in the moonlight. Wounds lined the inside of the grey, tendril-covered mouth. A single long tongue with a vicious mouth on its tip hovered in the back of its throat. Three shorter ones, cut off halfway, lay unmoving on the grey flesh, lolling about from the Wyrm's movement.
Had it tried eating the Kaots? Solus wasn't sure, but it made sense. Looking at the teeth, he wondered if his almost impervious skin would prove strong enough to withstand them.
Sprinting ahead of the Wyrm, he waited as the roaring sound grew closer. The Wyrm had spotted him, and its large, unwieldy body shivered and shook as it tried to turn away.
Is it afraid…? Solus could barely believe what he saw. From what he knew, the Wyrms had never shown any emotion, let alone fear. They just mindlessly gouged paths through the wasteland, devouring anything that stood in their path.
Moving sideways and into the Wyrm's path, he ran straight at it and jumped toward its gaping maw, landing just behind the lower rows of teeth. With an odd gurgling sound, the tongue shot forward, the smaller mouth on its tip snapping at him. He grabbed it just below the spongy jaw and held it in place with some effort. The roaring from the inside of the mouth increased, as an abysmal odor, together with thick white drops of acidic spittle, spewed from the Wyrm's throat and across his chest and face. A burning sensation came from where it had hit him, together with a hissing sound. Before he could do anything about it, the Wyrm's mouth slammed shut.
Solus barely raised his free hand in time, the gum behind the top row of teeth slamming into his palm like a collapsing building. With a clenched jaw and bulging muscles, he barely held the mouth open, but as he did, he felt the pressure increase steadily.
I need both hands!
A trickle of fear appeared in his mind as he felt the Wyrm tongue struggle while his other arm shook under the strain of holding open the jaw. It drowned out a ping from his status.
He scanned around in a frenzy, but the only stone his senses found was below the Wyrm. With his energy level still low, he wouldn't be able to get it to the surface. Not with the Wyrm moving. Groaning from the strain, he squeezed the tongue harder, trying to remove one of the problems. The flesh compressed under his fingers, but it barely caused any damage. The pressure from above increased, and he felt his arm buckle. Instinctively he released the tongue and raised his second arm to hold the mouth at bay.
The small oval mouth in the tongue hissed and shot toward him, biting into his shoulder just below his neck. A few of the teeth pierced his thick hide like needles, and pain shot through him. Simultaneously, the pressure from the mouth increased again, and with shaking legs and shivering all over, Solus finally lost his calm. He vaguely heard another ping as he opened his mouth and let loose a thunderous roar.
The sides of the Wyrm's mouth billowed out, and saliva and debris blasted away from him, spilling out of the gaping maw behind him and down the throat. The tongue dropped away, rolling limply on the ground while the Wyrm's forward movement slowed. The pressure from above lessened considerably, and Solus shoved the mouth up as he jumped forward between the jaws and away from the teeth. Behind him, the mouth slammed shut, but he didn't care. He reached for the base of the tongue with both hands, grabbing the thick part that connected to the back of the throat and tore at it with his fingers. The thick flesh stretched under the force, and a keening sound came from deep inside the Wyrm. Roaring in a fury, Solus tore at it until the side ripped open with a wet sound. White pungent liquid poured from the wound, hissing and burning where it touched his hands. With a few more jerks, Solus ripped the tongue off and hurled it into the darkness of the Wyrm's throat. Then he jumped in after it.
The throat became narrower until Solus could not continue forward. Looking around, he could find no other way out. With a growl, he slammed his arm up to his elbow into the side of the Wyrm's throat. Again it made a keening sound, louder this time. Ignoring it, Solus struck again, pummeling a cavity into the side of the Wyrm. White blood, pus, and wet tissue flung all about him as he forced a path out of the Wyrm.
When the cavity was deeper than he was tall, the flesh became thicker, and then, at last, his hand punctured through a layer of thick grey plates. Ripping and tearing savagely at the edges, he created an opening and jumped through and out of the Wyrm's side. As he landed, his legs gave out, and he fell forward, catching himself on his hands.
Staring at the softly glowing rock covered in a thin layer of dust and debris, Solus knew one thing. He was not doing this again! Behind him, the keening Wyrm slowly moved away, staggering on occasion. Solus ground his teeth and grabbed at his pouch. Holding the remaining mana-orb, he drained it so fast it pulverized into grey flakes that fell from his fist, and a rush of energy pushed the tired feeling away.
He struggled to his feet and turned to the fleeing Wyrm, focusing as his brow furrowed. A tendril of stone shot from the wasteland floor and pierced the wound that he had just left from, shooting out of the other side. The Wyrm froze with a shudder, the momentum of its body snapping the tendril from the ground.
Striding forward, Solus saw Domain standing to the side, staring at him. Turning his attention on the Wyrm, Solus jumped on its head and stomped his feet, creating an indent of destroyed scales and meat.
Moments later, he jumped back out, carrying a new and shining mana-orb. It was bigger than the ones he had drained and should last him a little while longer. Moving toward Domain, he glared at him until the darkhunter backed up a few steps.
"Did it work?" the AI asked, his voice an octave higher than usual.
"I am heading back. I'll see you there," Solus snarled before sprinting away. The AI could find his own way back.
The return trip took him longer, but he still arrived well before dawn. As he jumped back into his temporary room, he closed the windows behind him, covering them with a layer of stone.
He lay down wearily on the bed. He was too tired to bother checking his status window. It could wait till the morning. As he closed his eyes, he thought he heard a softly muttered question coming from the gallery, but he ignored it and let sleep drown everything out.
Swallower of all
A knock at his door woke Solus from his deep slumber. His mind, however, was still filled with the cobwebs of sleep. Slowly, it began to clear up. He stretched, his joints popping loudly, and he groggily scanned the room, looking for any potential danger. There was none. After some moments had passed, he realized Sumil was standing still knocking.
He projected his voice beyond the door.
"What's wrong?"
"It's long past sunrise. When do you want to move out?" Sumil's voice was straight to the point, carrying no complaint, as if she would accept it readily
if he had said that they would never leave.
Solus's mind needed a moment to process this, as he enjoyed the feeling of just lying on his back.
"I will be out soon. Get the others ready," he finally replied.
"Alright," Sumil replied.
Solus could hear her walk away and start talking to the others. He could probably listen in, but he didn't want to. Instead, he ignored them and called up his status window.
There had better be some increases, he thought. If not, he was going to have to make Domain pay for the trouble of last night.
Name: Os Solus
Age: 1
Sex: Male
Race: Demi stone elemental
Type: Mutation
Class: Stone shaper
Strength: 42/48
Constitution: 36/39
Dexterity: 20/24
Endurance: 73/90
Intelligence: 33/34
Wisdom: 20/23
Charisma: 9/16
Mana-field: 14000/14000
Physical density: 18300/19000
Skills: 2
Inscriptions: 3/7
Mana generation: 32
He stared at the new values, astonished that they had all increased by more than he had ever thought possible in such a short time. Especially his endurance.
Staring at the numbers, almost expecting them to revert, he calculated how much they had increased. One strength, two constitution, four endurance, and a whole lot of physical density.
Perhaps I should try wrestling another Wyrm, he thought, while thinking back to the troublesome night. It hadn't been fun, but he couldn't argue with the results.
Suddenly more energized, he jumped up out of bed and quickly checked the timer of the evolution.
> Time remaining: One day, eleven hours, and ten minutes
If he fought with a Wyrm for an entire night, he might actually get close to maxing out his attributes before the timer ran out! Moving to the door, he shoved the stone back, causing it to slam into the ground, a gust of air blowing dust and debris through the small hall, across the balcony, and into the larger room. The mumbling conversations ceased immediately.
"Finally decided to get up, lazybones?" Galg's grating voice echoed through the hallway, setting Solus's teeth on edge.
Perhaps he could take the skeleton along tonight and use him as bait for the Wyrms? Grinning, he moved to the side of the gallery. Galg stood below, looking up, while the others stared at the skeleton with irritation.
Solus laughed as he jumped down, startling the skeleton that zipped out of the way, bones crackling with lightning. Solus's landing crushed the stone below him, sending shrapnel flying everywhere. The hunting party dodged behind the table and benches, and Solus grimaced.
I need to be more careful!
"Let's go," he said, exiting the room.
Domain was lying against the wall, opposite the entrance, his eyes closed as if he were sleeping. Solus took a step forward, and they snapped open, awake and alert.
Solus didn't say anything, unsure how he felt now that he had seen the results of Domain's advice. Instead, he gazed up at the cliff, focusing his will on the stone. A loud rumbling sound came from above as a deep tear ran through the stone, from the cliff's top to the bottom. A stone staircase leading up the side of the cliff appeared. Turning to face the others, he motioned them up. Sumil did not hesitate, running forward and up the stairs. She was quickly followed by Sig, Derin, and then the rest.
Solus went last, and when he had reached the top of the stairs, he found Sumil and Sig pointing and staring at something. Moving beside them, he saw the dark, grey wasteland in the distance. There were a few more hills, but all of them lower than the one they stood on. From what he could see, there wasn't much blocking their path.
"Alright, let's go. We've wasted enough time."
"And whose fault is that?" Galg asked as he drew in the soft sand with his long, thin white finger. A few doodles sat beside it, showing a skeleton fighting a Wyrm.
Derin stepped forward and slugged the skeleton in the head. "Pipe down! We've all had just about enough of you."
The skeleton muttered something Solus chose to ignore. He moved toward the long, boulder-covered slope.
Derin followed him, a calculating look on his face. "He can be really annoying, but he is invaluable in a fight or when we need a scout. I've never seen anything move as fast as he can."
"Don't worry about it. Norg wasn't able to keep his trap shut either before he evolved. Somehow, I managed to keep myself from throttling him. I'm sure I can handle Galg's running commentary," Solus said with a grin.
Derin nodded, seemingly relieved. He turned and moved closer to Galg, eyeing him warily.
It was late in the afternoon when they crossed the valley and trudged up another hill. It should be the last before we enter the wasteland, Solus thought, as he tried hard to ignore Galg's constant talking.
"Why don't we just force other undead to do what we want? We are stronger than they are, right? That way, we can just sit around and drain the mana-orbs they bring us!" Galg asked again, causing a collective groan from the party.
"For the last time, Galg, we don't do that because they would rebel or flee!" Sumil said. She was the only one that could somehow still keep her voice calm and contained.
"So? We can just end a few, and the rest will fall in line!"
Tatjie hissed, kicking a small boulder toward the skeleton.
"Dimwit! You can't fight them all! And let's say you could, how would you stop them from leaving? Then what will you do if another army comes, or a Wyrm finds its way to town to gnaw on those silly sticks you call bones? Or worse, one of those rifts spawns over your brainless head?"
"Well..." Galg seemed ready to go into one of his elaborate explanations when Solus sensed a host of small tremors from the valley beyond the hill.
"Quiet!" he snapped, his voice louder than anything Galg was capable of, making his request somewhat dubious. It had the desired result though, as everybody stopped and stared at him.
Spreading his senses, Solus tried to find out what was going on, but all he found were increasing tremors, small and large.
"Something is happening on the other side of the hill. I am going to check it out. Follow me as fast as you can," he said and jumped forward.
A small pit formed where he had just stood. To his shock, Galg appeared a few dozen feet ahead of him. Before he could land, the skeleton disappeared, and an arc of lightning shot another few dozen feet forward.
Solus sped up the hill, continually increasing his speed, but Galg easily outpaced him, arriving at the top far before he did. When Solus finally arrived on the top, the skeleton stood between two enormous boulders, looking at something below.
Solus shoved him out of the way, more than a little annoyed at the fact that the little chatter mouth was so much faster than he was.
"What's the matter? Thought you were the fastest thing around?" The skeleton laughed.
Solus ignored him and looked down. In the valley below, pits and black holes decorated a rocky grey landscape with an enormous black rift at the valley's back. It was partially embedded inside a corner of the hill, leaving only a single way to get to it. Blocking that was an enormous six-legged creature grabbing at a chaotic host of undead that poured from the rift. Every time it got its pincered hands on one, it flung its catch into its mouth. Short, abrupt, and muted screams echoed up to where Solus and Galg stood watching.
A crab, Solus thought, as an image of a crustacean appeared in his mind.
The enormous undead crab had a single bone shield on its back, like a skeleton, but its thick black legs seemed fleshy.
"Look at that thing! Do you think it's doing it to eat their mana-orbs?" Galg asked, bending forward.
Solus didn't bother to reply. He had yet to find an undead that didn't need to consume mana-orbs. Although he had some knowledge of the substance the ancients consumed, he didn't think it applied to undead. At le
ast he hadn't seen any try. He blinked at the thought. He hadn't actually tried eating, though, had he?
Solus examined the giant undead crab, wondering if he should try eating it, when his eyes widened. The thing was growing! When he first looked at it, its back had been below a boulder beside it, but now it was clearly taller!
As Solus watched on in shock, Domain trotted beside him and stared at the monster.
"A Crusdon… That's not good." The AI sounded genuinely startled, and Solus turned to it.
"Explain."
The darkhunter's eyes narrowed and glowed blue for a moment.
"Crusdon's are mutated monsters that were used to clean underwater areas of stray undead. Although technically not completely undead, like you, the life they do have is a half-life."
Galg turned around, staring at the darkhunter, and Solus grimaced. He would have preferred that Galg hadn't known he was different from normal undead because he didn't expect the talkative skeleton to keep it to himself.
"So, why isn't it good?" he asked, hoping to draw the attention away from himself.
"As long as there are undead to consume, it will grow, both in size and strength. Back when they were first created, they were let loose in infested underwater chasms or ancient submerged fortresses. Those places were then locked so they would wither away and die when the food ran out."
Solus frowned and stared down at the Crusdon. Only a few Kaots remained, and although they constantly tried to dodge around or attack the monstrous thing, it was too fast and shrugged off all of their attacks, retaliating by eating the attackers.
"What will happen if we leave it here?"
The AI was silent for a moment before sighing. "It depends on how many more undead come through the rift. But from what I can calculate with my limited capacity, within a few days it will grow so massive that it will need to find larger sources of undead."
Solus winced, feeling his worry grow.
"Wyrms," he said softly.
"I would expect so. If it gets its claws on a few of those, it will grow to a preposterous size. From that moment on, there wouldn't be anything that could stop it."