Nothing but bones 2: The chaos rifts

by J. Carrarn

  "We have arrived at your destination, most valued customer!"

  The zombie's sudden announcement interrupted Solus's train of thought. He looked up and saw the zombie was pointing at a large double door. Unbeknownst to him, they had arrived in a narrow passage with the doors filling the whole of the back end. He could hear movement and yelling and laughing voices from inside.

  Solus gestured at the zombie. "You go first."

  Seemingly relieved, the zombie nodded and walked to the doors. Without knocking, he pushed both doors open and stepped inside. Red light streamed out, and with it, a multitude of voices. Frowning, Solus followed the other.

  The door led onto a small balcony with two stairs leading down on either side. The yellow zombie rushed down the staircase on the right. Satri orbs decorated the bone railing along the balcony, below which was a large room, divided into three different areas. Tables and chairs filled the section closest to the entrance, and olive and purple skinned zombies sat around the tables, talking loudly. Separated by a low bone wall, an enormous bar filled the next section. It split the crowded room in two and served as the division to the last area.

  A group of purple zombies with black hair and pink glowing eyes stood behind the counter. They accepted orbs and other unrecognizable objects from the zombies that crowded the bar. In return, the purple zombies handed small objects back, and Solus tried to make out what they were.

  One of the zombies, a mottled yellow with green, accepted something and began to cheer, raising his hands in the air. Some of the others around him pounded him on the back as he ran off toward a corner table. From where he was standing, Solus could just barely make out what it was. A section of wyrm hide.

  "What is this place?" Solus muttered.

  He saw the yellow zombie rush between the tables below, heading toward a small door in the bar. At least, he thought it was the same one. It was hard to tell amidst the multitude of similar zombies, but he thought that it must be his guide because it was the only one that was running.

  The zombie yanked the door in the bar open and headed into the third and smallest section. There were only a few low and wide benches furnishing the middle of this area. Tables stood against the walls, cluttered with orbs and other junk. On one of the benches sat yet another yellow zombie together with two of the purple ones. Their hands were clasped together, a pink glow emanating from in between their fingers.

  Why are they all so similar? Solus thought while walking down the stairs.

  As he walked through the room, the only non-zombie here, the other undead began to take notice of him. A hushed silence fell, and within moments all eyes were on him.

  Wondering if there would be trouble, he reached the door in the bar. The zombie had closed it again, and from behind it, he heard some low mutters and an angry voice followed by a slap. Grinning, he pulled the door open.

  The yellow zombie he had followed here lay on the ground. Yellow pus trickled from the side of his mouth, and a nasty-looking bruise covered his left cheek. The other zombie, almost identical save for his bulbous, protruding eyes, glared at the downed zombie. The two purple zombies, one male and one female, had stayed on the couch. Whatever they had been holding had stopped glowing and they looked at Solus with wide eyes and a fearful look.

  He stepped into the room, and the large, heavyset zombie looked up. Solus took a quick look around the tables, and his eyes widened when he saw the piles of mana-orbs lying under them. Those he had seen from the entrance were just a paltry few compared to this trove. There were more orbs here than he had ever seen in one single place.

  One table stood apart from the others. A piece of what looked like a cured wyrm hide was pulled tight across it, and on top was a much larger orb.

  A wyrm-orb! Solus thought. He knew there were almost certainly other undead in Tendraal that could hunt wyrms, but somehow he knew that this had something to do with Sig and the others.

  "Don't you even think about it! I don't know who you are or why you had Ettol bring you here, but that orb is my prize!" the zombie said in a panicked and high-pitched voice as he stepped between Solus and the orb.

  Solus focused on the other. "You must be Borl," he said, lowering his voice.

  "Yes, Borl the Magnificent. And you are?"

  After a moment's hesitation, Solus shrugged.

  "Solus. I am here to ask how you have knowledge of the ancient words."

  At the mention of his name, Borl's eyes grew wide, and he stepped back in shock. "The leader of Skulltown? Yes, yes. That makes sense. What brings you to my humble home?"

  The way Borl spoke triggered some long-buried knowledge, and Solus shook his head as he scrutinized the yellow zombie.

  "You talk differently from the others. Why?"

  The zombie didn't respond immediately and stared at Solus for a while. Then he turned to the others and pointed at the door. "Leave us; I need to speak with my friend here."

  Ettol scrambled up first, rushing out of the room without looking back. The two purple-skinned undead got up slower, and the woman looked at Solus with an unreadable expression. As she moved past Borl, her hand brushed his arm in passing. Borl's eyes widened a fraction, and then the two purple zombies left the door, closing it behind them.

  "Alright, let's sit down. No sense in standing around, is there?" Not waiting for a response, Borl returned to his seat on the low bone bench.

  Solus moved to the opposite one and sat down carefully. The bench creaked, cracks forming through the bone all along its length. For a precarious moment it seemed ready to shatter, but then the cracking stopped.

  "Weighty fellow, aren't you?" Borl said, making a sound Solus had never heard before. The sound triggered another flow of images and concepts from the information passed to him by the first sphere.

  He whistled!

  "That! How do you know those things?" Solus said, pointing at Borl with curiosity and wonder.

  Borl smiled, his eyes bulging out even more as his cheeks wrinkled. "I can tell you, but I am just as interested in how you know!"

  Solus frowned. He had no interest in trading questions for more questions. If the other wasn't going to answer him, should he force answers out of him?.

  "Hey now, calm down! There's no reason to get angry."

  Borl's voice rose in pitch as he backed up against the back of the bench.

  "Let's answer your question first. We can get to mine after."

  Solus calmed down, staring at the other and waiting for him to continue.

  Getting no reply, Borl cleared his throat and laughed.

  "I've been here for a very, very long time. Ever since Scathia woke up and started awakening the rest."

  Solus just glared at the other, wondering if he was about to get one of those long-winded, convoluted and ultimately pointless stories like Norg used to tell.

  "Right… You must have heard that Scathia isn't… like others?"

  When Solus shook his head, the other continued with a grimace.

  "Alright, then please, bear with me for a moment. I promise I'll get to the point soon enough."

  With a soft sigh, Solus resigned himself to his fate and nodded. "Fine."

  Borl laughed.

  "That's the spirit! So, as I was saying, Scathia is not like others. You've heard of the ancients?"

  Solus nodded, and the other sighed in relief.

  "Good, that will save me a ton of time. So, the ancients were alive, and they used undead, which would be us, as slaves. Still with me?"

  Solus's full attention was now on the other, and his desire to get to the point faded. "Yes. They called us minions."

  "Err... I didn't know that, but it makes sense. Either way, some horrible calamity befell them, and they all had to flee. We don't really know what it was but-"

  "Life-energy disappeared from this galaxy, causing the death of every living thing," Solus interrupted.

  Borl's eyes widened, and he swallowed. "Perhaps I should let you do the talking…"
<
br />   "Continue," Solus said, starting to enjoy himself.

  "Right, well, like I said, they left. Before they did, though, they made sure to get rid of all their undead minions. Nobody knows exactly why, but…" Borl let his words trail off, staring at Solus in expectancy.

  "I don't know either," Solus said with a shrug.

  "Ah, that's too bad. Oh well, I guess that will have to remain a mystery, for now, at least." Laughing softly, Borl seemed to be lost in thought. Solus cleared his throat pointedly, prodding him to continue.

  "Well, anyway, the ancients weren't as thorough as they thought. They missed one. A powerful undead who had been secretly locked away in a vault, deep under the earth."

  "Scathia," Solus said after a second.

  "Indeed. Scathia. Long ago, her summoner meant for her to become a Litch."

  Solus raised an eyebrow at this, and Borl shrugged.

  "Don't ask, because I don't know what that means either. Not anymore. Anyway, her owner placed her in stasis. He must have died or fled with the other ancients before he could carry out his plans, and Scathia was forgotten, left behind to weather the ages."

  Solus frowned. The ancients hadn't only left her behind. From what he knew, Uran was also a survivor from that ancient civilization. If there were two, then there were probably more out there. He wondered how many more undead from the time of the ancients remained, locked away or buried somewhere, sleeping for countless ages just waiting to be awoken. He shuddered at the thought.

  "As time went by, the power source that held her in stasis weakened, and eventually, it failed. When Scathia awoke, she was all alone, buried deep under the ground."

  Borl laughed and pointed down. "Not too far from here, actually! She didn't know what had happened at first, but the grade one AI in her room explained everything to her."

  Solus blinked. Grade one?

  "Grade one is the lowest, right?"

  Borl coughed a few times before smiling weakly. "Errr, yes... but even grade one AIs have a vast intelligence, you know!"

  When Solus didn't respond, Borl sighed and continued with his tale.

  "The AI explained to her what had happened as best he could."

  Borl looked at a wall, deep in thought.

  "Scathia took the news badly. Before she went into stasis, her summoner had told her she would awaken a Litch. Instead, she woke to an empty, desolate world without a purpose."

  "As did we all…" Solus sighed.

  "Yes, yes, that is true! The difference here is that you had awoken never having seen the grandiose machinations of the ancients like Scathia had. Their towering cities, beautifully cultivated parks- green and verdant! The blue sea, filled with life and movement."

  The words created images in Solus's mind, and he shivered as he let them pass by, drinking in the beautiful and colorful landscapes. Especially the trees and plants caused a yearning in him. Shaking it away, he grimaced at Borl.

  "Scathia is an undead. Why would she care for such things?"

  "Err, yes, no… well." Borl sputtered, eventually clearing his throat and smiling sadly.

  "She didn't care for those things, but she did feel aimless and alone. She commanded the AI to scan for signs of, well, anything. She sat there, dejected, for years as the AI kept scanning. Eventually it detected soft noises in the earth nearby. Scathia then dug her way through the partially collapsed auxiliary power room and into a large cavern."

  Solus stared at the zombie, marveling at the complicated and unfamiliar words it was spouting. As he continued speaking, Borl's way of speech had changed. His choice of words became more sophisticated and refined. They also reminded him of someone else: Domain. Focusing, he found the stone below the bone floor and readied it. Then he continued listening, ready for anything.

  Borl didn't seem to notice; he was lost in his story.

  "In the cavern were many strange undead. Mindless and weak. Only capable of moving in packs, constantly searching for... something. Scathia grabbed one and brought it back. With the AI's help, she examined it, but all they could determine was that it was some sort of undead subset.

  Without any pattern on their rudimentary mana-fields, they weren't even capable of speech. With some experimentation, we managed to add a simple stabilizing pattern, and the undead changed. It became sentient in a way, and with much training, finally capable of speech."

  "We?" Solus asked, interrupting the other.

  "Yes," Borl said, apparently not the least bit deterred. "We! You asked about me, remember? May I continue? I don't get many chances to tell this story."

  This is not Domain, Solus thought. The knowledge didn't make him any less wary, and he kept his guard up. He nodded for Borl to continue.

  "Yes? Good! As I was going to say. Scathia was incredibly happy about this development and began awakening more and more of the rudimentary undead. She named them Sigmitons. She soon needed more room, so she had them burrow away to the surface, creating the first parts of Tendraal. That took a very long time, but she was undeterred, simply continuing to wake up more Sigmitons and turning them into regular undead. She never accepted my suggestions of evolving them. She said she wanted them to start small and learn by themselves."

  A sad sigh came from Borl, and his bulbous eyes stared off into the distance.

  "As she prepared to leave for the surface, I knew I would be left behind. Scathia didn't much care for me; she was using me as a tool, just as the ancients had."

  Borl stared at Solus, an intelligent spark in his eyes. "I knew that if I wanted to get out of that tomb, I needed to do it myself. But as you said so astutely, I was only a grade one AI. Barely self-aware, to be honest. Back then, Scathia wasn't that skilled at evolving the Sigmitons, so she still used me to speed up the process. Sometimes, this process failed, and a Sigmiton would break down. At first, I didn't know why this happened, but eventually, I determined it had to do with the amount of power used during the process."

  Although still wary, Solus felt his curiosity beginning to outweigh his distrust, and he couldn't hold his tongue any longer.

  "Yes! I've found that too. With too much force, they simply shatter."

  A soft gasp came from Borl, and his eyes widened. "You can evolve Sigmitons too?"

  Solus was about to explain when he remembered why he had come here. Taking a deep breath, he shook his head. "Later. First continue your story!"

  The yellow zombie eyes behind which an ancient AI lived gazed at him for a while. Then Borl nodded. "Yes, fine. Almost done. Have you realized that some undead are different from others?"

  Solus nodded.

  "Well, I've never managed to find out why, but some undead are simply more powerful than others. It might be because they awoke earlier and had more time to absorb mana energy, but that is just a hypothesis. However, shortly before Scathia left the cavern, she brought me another batch of Sigmitons, and amongst them was a strange one. The only one I had encountered with a golden discoloration of the mana that leaks from its eye sockets. Its mana-field was also incredibly sturdy, capable of withstanding vastly more punishment than your average run-of-the-mill sigmiton. After giving it a pattern, I used a small overload and knocked it out before it could form a true consciousness. Then I hid it below the piles of bones and other junk that littered my core room, and waited."

  The zombie's expression became angry.

  "Scathia didn't even come back to say goodbye. I'd watched over her still form for untold millennia, only surviving due to a jerry-rigged geothermal energy generator."

  Borl hissed at the ground.

  "Back then, it didn't anger me, you know? Grade one and two AI's don't have emotions. No… the anger came after!"

  Raising his yellow, pudgy hand and staring at it for a while, Borl grinned. "After she had left, I inscribed my program onto the Sigmitons' mana-field. It could barely hold even a fraction, and I had to leave so much of my databases behind… but as soon as I opened my eyes for the first time, I knew! The emotions, the
feelings, the sensations, and the simple act of being able to move around!"

  Borl laughed softly now, letting out a content sigh. "I wasn't able to evolve at first. I had to follow Scathia, and I couldn't let her know who I was. If I had evolved, she would have known something was wrong, and I knew she would not have let me go. She would have enslaved me. So I followed her as one of her initial followers and watched. Watched as she evolved herself, then as she evolved a few of the others. Watched as she began to build what would one day become Tendraal. Watched when she left the city to be built by others as she searched for more undead to bring here. With the others, I stayed behind, waiting, biding my time."

  Borl fell silent, staring at Solus with a grin. "Now you know why I know what I do and why I speak differently!"

  "Why did you tell me all of this?" Solus asked. He had been wondering for a while now why Borl seemed so willing to share all this information.

  "Easy. You are from Skulltown, the only other city in this part of the world that has a chance to weather the coming storm. I want you to take my friends and me with you when you leave."

  Staring silently at Borl, Solus was confused. "And why would I do that?"

  Borl grinned, his bulbous eyes widening. "Because I can help you track down the other AI!"

  "How do you know about that?" Solus hissed, pushing himself up. He had not told Borl anything about Domain.

  "The same way I know you are here to find a way to close those rifts."

  Solus stepped forward, towering over the other. "Start explaining. Fast."

  Borl swallowed, his smile faltering.

  "Those two undead who just left? They can read minds-"

  "They what?!" An image of someone rummaging through his mind caused a sick wave of fear and anger to wash over Solus. Did that mean they knew about the world elemental in the core of the planet?

  "Now, now! Don't lose your head! They don't harm anybody…"

  Solus lowered his head, his eyebrows raised. They had read his mind, stolen his thoughts, but they meant no harm? A soft growl reverberated through the room.

  Borl spoke rapidly now, the smugness from before replaced by fear. "They do it automatically. They read the disturbances in the mana around them and then relay what they find to me. Eorkie showed me a bit about Skulltown and what you're here for…"