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Zenith

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After saying goodbye to the kind couple multiple times, and being buried by the numerous kids again, Mire and myselves head out to find some transportation.

This issue is thankfully easier to solve than our housing, as we just pay for fare on a cargo wagon planning to go scavenge the wrecked colony. By noon we see the gates of the city growing distant behind us.

Traveling in a cargo wagon is very different from riding in a royal carriage. Every time the spider leans at an awkward angle our rears get a good thump. Mire smirks each time, his rear protected by his ability to just sink into the shadows beneath him when the carriage lurches. I guess he deserves some revenge for me leaving him in a carriage for multiple days with my unconscious bodies.

Our trip is mostly uneventful. The occasional monster attack spices things up every so often but only lasts for a single punch or a well placed icicle. Watching the Muut caravaneers fight is quite fascinating. Their small bodies are incredibly agile, and combined with their wall climbing abilities they have complete domination of the dense woods. Their mages are somewhat frightening, smiling placidly while torching massive insects or pitch black frogs. I know they can’t make any other expressions but the knowledge doesn’t comfort me much.

After about a week of travel we arrive. The usually patchy swamp opens up into a large body of water. Small spots of green glow weakly in places, their light flickering dimly. Those small details are dwarfed by the rest of the scene.

The water is filled with debris, wooden planks, and shredded fabric. Support beams stick out of the water haphazardly, their tops completely splintered. It looks like a malevolent wind came through and just destroyed everything above the waterline. Strangely none of the nearby trees or plants are touched, even in the water around the wreckage.

“I expected damage, but this is worse than I imagined.” One of the scavengers rubs his head. “I don’t think there’s much to save.” I nod at his words, there’s no sign of life, at least. A quiet melancholy hangs over the surface of the swamp, as if it’s mourning the loss as well.

Mire and I still have a purpose, however, and we make to do it.

We search the debris on the shoreline and in the nearby tree cover. Footprints, campfire burns, left behind trash, anything to implicate another party. After several hours of searching we do find something.

A set of massive footprints pushed into the mud. Each foot is easily as wide as my height, and twice as long. Several spots are dug into the mud, where claws pierced the ground. There’s also a massive drag mark between the legs, indicating a tail or some other kind of dragging appendage.

This is most likely not any country’s doing. The tracks could implicate a dragon, but they rarely leave their mountaintop homes, and they have no motive to trash a town. But they can’t be ruled out, it’s a possibility.

The more likely option is the worse one. A monster attack, and a bad one at that. Being strong enough to do the damage that was done to the village means the creature would be way above our paygrade. Especially if it’s somehow intelligent.

Intelligent monsters, called Aware monsters, are extremely rare, but highly dangerous. They’re basically a monster with a mind that’s equivalent to a person’s. They’re only a monster because they are an anomaly and not representative of their species. If a monster species gets intelligent enough as a whole they slowly grow into a race. Smarter monsters are often able to live alongside people, even having kids with them.

Judging by the remains of this town, this is not one that can.

But, that does leave the possibility for talking open, be it a dragon or an Aware monster. The worst option is it being as strong as the evidence suggests, but with no agency. A mass of instincts wielding that amount of power is a nightmare.

Mire and I wordlessly start following the tracks that lead off into the dense forest. The trees here are different from where I woke up a year ago. Those trees were covered in a light brown bark with a thin canopy of light green. These trees are thick and gnarled, their bark almost black. Almost no light touches the ground, getting swallowed up by the dense canopy of wide, dark green leaves.

I think about the situation as we follow the path. An intelligent monster would be doable, we could talk it down most likely. A dragon would be the easiest to talk to, but impossible to actually fight. Wight’s abilities are already absurd, I can’t imagine what an adult dragon is capable of. A Mindless monster would be pretty difficult, since it was able to level an entire town. I’m pretty confident of my abilities but even they would be put to the test.

We almost walk into it. At first glance it’s just a slight hill in the forest, grass and moss growing over it. Then the hill breathes. It's three stories high at the shortest, and its length is obscured by the treeline. Mire and I both freeze. As if to mock us, the hill thing holds its breath. Then it slowly inhales, like it’s trying to smell something. Fuck.

Stones and trees fall as the hill slowly raises itself out of the earth. Mire and I just stare in awe as the beast slowly is revealed. Two forelegs as thick as one of the cars I saw in my dream slam into the forest floor and slowly leverage the creature upwards. Morbid claws adorn the digits of the creature's foot, which look strangely dexterous. Trees far away from where we are start loudly falling, until a tail whips through one in view. Splinters explode in every direction as the scaly tail obliterates the trunks. Another three tails follow the first’s trail, until all four settle on the forest floor.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

That’s when its back legs appear. Soil churns and splits as two monstrously muscular legs pull themselves from the earth. The back legs follow the other parts of the creature’s anatomy and look vaguely lizard like. Unlike the front claws, the back ones are thick and point straight outwards. Finally the creature stands to its full height.

Looking at the monster all at once, an image from my time with Amy flashes into my mind. It looks like a turtle. A massive, plant and dirt covered turtle. Its shell is completely covered by a thick layer of soil, grass and other smaller plants growing from it. Stones also lay on its back, and even a few larger bushes. Realizing what the creature reminds me of, my eyes flit to the large hole in the front of the shell.

The head that slowly emerges does not look like a turtle’s. A long and flat snout dominates the creature’s head, teeth sticking out its mouth and into the air at random. The glittering white teeth look razor sharp. Its head has a large section towards the back that is higher than the rest. Two large black eyes sit there, facing mostly forwards. The totally black spheres swirl with age and intelligence.

Those large eyes slowly turn and lower to look at the two of us, the creature’s gaze is close to making me wet myselves in fear. It’s not the raw power radiating off the thing, nor the imposing size of it that frightens me. It’s the intelligence that is clearly much more developed than mine. I can sense I’m out of my depth instinctually when I look at the thing.

Nothing happens. We stay still, too afraid to act, and the monster just keeps watching us. At first I think it’s waiting for us to move to strike, but as the minutes flow past and it still doesn’t attack I realize I’m missing something. With my body that’s holding up better against the creature’s presence, the female one, I look up and make eye contact with it.

It meets my gaze, slowly turning its head in apparent curiosity. It’s non aggressive so far, communication! I need to communicate with it.

“Hello! I’m Zenith Holdings, can you understand me?” I try my best to sound confident, but the creature just narrows its eyes. It seems irritated, judging by the change in its pulsing energy. Talking doesn’t work.

Magic might, though. I’ve never made translation magic, I’m not sure how it’s even done, but better late than never. With none of my usual finesse I stab my mental hand into my magic and root around for one that seems useful. Pastel pink, the small thread wraps around my hand voluntarily. Maybe this is it.

Without any clue how to do this, I just slowly create an orb with the intention of understanding. Pink light glows out of me as a small sphere emerges from my chest. The pastel ball slowly drifts to hang equidistant from me and the monster. Said monster watches the magic with its eyes, clearly not threatened by my power.

I pull at the sphere making a small thread drift down and connect to my head. Then I will a similar but thicker thread out towards the creature, I stop just before its head. I’m not attaching this to it myself, nothing to be misunderstood as aggressive.

It just stares at the pink string for a while, clearly confused at what I’m doing. Eventually it catches on, and I feel a presence appear and touch my magic. It’s like my magic is a drop of water and an ocean just brushed against it. The thread lightly lands the monster’s head and a connection zaps between us.

Mind-to-Mind Communication spell created.

【〓〓〓〓】

It feels like I’m being compared to an entire planet. The presence of this beast’s mind is incomparably larger than mine. Almost like it could just think me to death. It probably could. I attempt to make contact with the alien consciousness.

“Hello.” I use a respectful tone with the creature that could evaporate me by paying me too much attention. No response comes for what seems eternity.

The connection between our minds shakes as it begins to speak. “Little one, you have learned the arts.” Its tone is strangely… proud? The creature says nothing else.

“Creature, did you destroy a village on the swamp?” I hope it understands my question, but the magic I used was focused on understanding, not translating, so it should.

Anger rumbles across the connection, almost tearing it apart. “Those things in that village. They spread filth in my domain, and dared to attack me. Pathetic creatures like yourself should know their place. I have no room in my wood for such aggressive things.” My mind shakes with the monster’s fury.

Once the creature finishes, and the mental connection stabilizes, I try to get more out of it. “So, they attacked you?”

Instead of pure fury, indignant frustration filters through. “Yes.”

I nod my heads. “Alright.” Now I just need proof of who did the deed. Maybe the truth will work here, I don’t think he wants the Muuts to try and settle here again. “Creature, I came here to find who destroyed the village, I-” My own thoughts get pushed back at me as a tidal wave of rage pours through the link.

“Are you also going to try and fight me, small thing?” Its emotions threaten to overwhelm and destroy my magic at any moment.

“No!” I repeat the idea through the link until the creature’s rage subsides again.

My mind rumbles as it speaks. “Then what do you want?” Its tone has returned to one of curiosity, its anger gone. Its moods aren’t the most stable, it seems.

“I wish for proof of what destroyed the village, to show the ones who wish to settle here again.” My wording is purposefully provocative.

As I hoped, more anger fills my mind. “Fine, small one, I will give you proof. And tell everyone that if they try to come into my land to live, I will destroy them.” It’s anger reaches a peak and causes my magic to pop like a balloon. The feedback gives me an instant migraine.

The five story standing creature slowly reaches to its back with a foreleg. It roughly brushes off a section of dirt and plant life to reveal the weathered shell beneath. Cracks fill the air as the creature slowly pries off one of its hexagonal plates. Before it hands it to me it places it on the ground. Red energy glows around the monster’s index claw and it slowly carves something into the scale.

It hands me a plate that's easily the same size as me. On one side of it, a massive and crude drawing of a skull is carved into it. Without any further interaction the creature plods off into the forest, the ground shaking with each step. I hold up the scale with the appropriate body and examine it with the other. The scale is made of layers and layers of flaky material, which looks like it could be peeled off with your finger. It cannot be, if my attempts are to be used as evidence.

Why’d it carve the skull? I understand the threat itself, but I doubt it would’ve bothered if it was just that. A familiar itch scratches the back of my brain. I should test it. See how much magic it can take.

Before I can use my more sensible head to realize it's a bad idea, I summon raw destruction magic and throw it at the scale. The material absorbs the manically flickering red energy without any changes.

If I can’t scratch this, then next to no one can. My raw spirit and mana are the highest I’m aware of.

I look over and see Mire standing off to the side, his mouth slightly agape. He looks between the two of me.

“What just happened?”