***Tirnanog, The Plains***
***Astra***
“With your permission, protector Astra, I must say your partner has a few loose screws,” Amudsen commented in a hushed whisper while we watched the massacre.
I turned and glared at the leader of our guard detail, but couldn't truly gainsay his complaint. Was he sulking because his charge had abandoned the protective circle?
Not knowing how to react, I chose to say nothing and returned my attention to watching over my partner.
Magnus had broken the formation he had ordered the men to take and was now playing bait for the parasites, following Elijah's example.
Indeed, do as the Romans do.
At first, he had been professional about his solo hunting spree, only taking on lone parasites. But at some point, he had lost his respect for the creatures and was now attacking groups of two and three.
More disturbingly, he was laughing like a maniac while slaughtering them. He was even using flash step to heighten his kill count while having a competition with Elijah for the title of bugslayer.
I watched Magnus stabbing one of the monsters in a vital spot and electrocuting it.
Defying immediate death, the creature struck back with its spike arms, but was countered by Magnus's armour angling itself seemingly on its own to deflect and redirect the blows instead of taking them head on.
A second monster abandoned its fight with a Caravaner and launched itself at what it identified as the greater threat. It came from my partner's blind spot – which would have been trouble for most normal humans.
But Magnus was slowly improving his Precognition thanks to his training with Elijah.
Before it could close the distance entirely, Magnus kicked his spetum while holding onto the shaft's end. The created leverage caused the weapon to rip sideways out of his latest victim and whip around, creating a crescent-shaped trail of arcing sparks.
If it hadn't been for the monster behind him, the manoeuvre would have looked like the vain fancy of a martial artist.
But it wasn’t.
The spetum's blade passed through the charging parasite and severed the upper torso from the rest of the body.
Magnus blurred and was already dashing towards another foe before the pieces hit the ground.
The creatures might have been an actual threat in larger numbers, but spread out as they were they couldn't challenge my partner if he used his speed to its fullest. And thanks to my father's training he had turned proficient in the use of his main weapon.
Which was fine as long as he didn't get carried away.
As if to mock me, Magnus threw himself right into a group of three opponents.
What worried me was the fighting style he was developing. It didn't solely rely on maximising distance with his weapon. Magnus wasn't above using close combat techniques and even his fists when something managed to get past the blade's tip.
The spetum stabbed, feet kicked, and two fingers left a cauterized hole where a parasite's eye had been a moment ago while my partner tumbled with jerking movements through the group – relying on his sub-identities to dodge and coordinate movements which would have left a normal human out of his depth.
While I was capable of the same, I never would have chosen to fight this way without being forced into it. I would have relied on lightning strikes as much as possible and avoided coming close to these monsters.
On the other hand, Magnus’s filaments weren’t long enough to deliver electric strikes without extreme power usage.
Why did this trouble me so much? Was it just hard for me to watch him because he was so important to me?
I closed my eyes and massaged the bridge of my nose while I stood amidst our guards.
Actively watching out for parasites coming our way wasn't necessary. I had my filaments extended to ward off any attacker taking an interest in our group. Simply by providing a safe zone, our hunters ensured this section of the fortress wouldn't fall.
Amudsen was still staring at me, expecting an answer.
“I will talk to him about it,” I assured the bodyguard.
Normally, Magnus was calmness and logic personified. If asked, he would assuredly say he disliked causing pain and murder – even if it must be done. Maybe he even wholeheartedly believed his claim, but there was something inside him which called for carnage and slaughter.
Or was it just the thrill of a life-threatening situation? When I saw him the first time, he was also laughing like a maniac while being chased by a pack of gutters.
Maybe it wasn't a mutation-driven instinct to worry about, but something which had always been inside him, suppressed by Earth's mostly peaceful environment.
While I contemplated his behaviour, the parasites which had jumped onto the fortress slowly ran out of numbers and the focus of the battle shifted to defending the parapet.
The parasites which couldn't make the jump in one go were still trying to climb their way up, but so far the Caravaners had held the line.
Once Magnus saw that the Caravaners had everything well in hand, he shouldered his spetum and made his way back to us with a grin on his face.
“It feels good to let loose,” he commented, covered in parasite goo.
I gestured for our guards to turn away.
They did as commanded by forming a circle around us while facing outwards and at least pretending to give us some privacy.
It wasn't like anyone who truly wanted to would have had a hard time spying on us – given the fortress's very public setup. A wooden wall wasn't as reliable as a hundred metres of stone to ensure privacy.
“Are you having fun, Magnus?” I asked. “I am just wondering whether you always tended to laugh like a maniac when you are fighting.”
“Hahaha!” Magnus touched the back of his head, looking slightly ashamed. “Am I overdoing it, dear?”
I shrugged and happily noted he had called me dear. “As long as it remains at the current level it looks like it’s manageable for you, so I don't care. It's just that we are still learning new things about our mutations and we have nobody to turn to in regards to how the zipper mutation affects us. Do I have to remind you of Hector? We should be aware of overly strong instincts before they become troublesome in the future. If something negatively affects our behaviour it's wise to avoid mutations which are known to compound the issue.”
Finally understanding my worries, Magnus allowed his serious side to resurface. “Well, I don't think it's a problem. You aren't having similar feelings when you are fighting right? So it's just me having fun.”
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I shook my head at his way of putting things. “Just having fun, you say. Fine, if you want to have it this way. It's a reasonable if still troublesome explanation. Though I would urge you to stay wary of such things. It wouldn't be the first time for a mutation to affect the genders differently. Unrelated to the cause, I still have to say I am not happy about your tendency to 'have fun' by throwing yourself in harm’s way.”
Magnus smiled. “I can only assure you it's mostly a 'me' thing.”
He took my hand and squeezed it. 'Do you believe me when I confess it's a coping mechanism against being scared shitless? The parasites give me the shivers.'
I tried my best not to give anything away on my face. 'Are you serious? You just threw yourself into groups of those things and you are telling me they scare you?'
Magnus had used our secret communication method for this confession, so it would have been stupid to hint at our ability by displaying facial expressions without any context for watchers. It would only be a question of time before someone linked our strangely shifting expressions to a special communication ability.
'Totally! Didn't you take a look at those creepy crawlies? They are insect things as large as a human. Zerg made real and I had to get close enough to touch them. It's either laughing like a madman at the surreality of it all or pissing myself while screaming like a baby for its mama. Take your pick.'
Zerg? I blinked and did my best to ignore yet another of my partner’s colloquialisms.
Anyway, his confession was a little too blunt for me. 'I see, I can't say I have the same issue with how Tirnanog's animals look. I guess spending my childhood in this world hardened me against the alien appearance of most things.'
If Magnus was honest with me it was even more commendable for him to pick a fight with the monsters despite his fears. Fearing something dangerous was only natural and very few people could overcome their heartfelt fears and face them.
I belatedly realized he was still waiting for an answer. 'Stick to the laughing. So you are trying to overcome your fear by facing it head-on. Feel free to call for me if you have trouble with something tonight.'
Despite my earlier misgivings, I couldn’t help but smile. Hopefully, we would just look like a couple in love.
'That's a very motherly thing to say, but I am glad you worry about me.' He grinned.
I rolled my eyes when I realized he must have mistaken me. “If you are sure, then it's fine. Just ensure you don't get too excited tonight.”
“Tonight?” Magnus asked with a raised eyebrow. His grin turned even wider.
He was clearly misunderstanding what I meant, so I clarified myself with a gesture at the multitude of cadavers. “So many bodies combined with the smell of blood and guts will draw some of the really dangerous nasties. I bet that's the main reason why Elijah was so worried about an attack from those things. There is just no way to prevent the saherna from turning into a humongous feeding beacon for everything that goes bump in the night. Throwing the cadavers off the saherna won't help much at this point because the fortress is already soaked in blood. The Caravaners will have their hands full with preventing any breaches.”
Magnus's expression fell while he listened to my explanation. “Oh. Damn! I didn't think of that at all! Don't we have some chemicals which we can spill on the bodies to mask the scent?”
I shrugged. “I am sure the Caravaners have something, but the predators I am worried about aren't so easily fooled.”
Fending off the remaining parasites took the better part of an hour, after which Elijah rejoined us.
We talked and watched the cleanup, which somehow led to a detailed explanation on getting rid of parasite infestations.
The troublesome part about a parasite invasion weren't the few large ones big enough to fly onto the fortress in one go. Nor the ones which actively tried to climb the parapet and kill the unwelcome humans.
No.
Getting rid of all the little ones which clung to the saherna's legs and the underside was the true problem – a task which would take specialized teams with climbing gear days. The worst part about it wasn't even getting rid of the infestation. Instead, the problem lay in having to leave the fortress's relative safety to do so.
Being on one of the cleaning teams was the job with the highest casualty rate among the Caravaners.
There were things which had specialized in feeding on parasites when a saherna conveniently passed by and snacking a human cleaning team wasn't so different from slurping up a few parasites.
It took some time, but we eventually retreated to our quarters. A few hours later, Magnus and I went to bed, exhausted. For once, we decided to hone ourselves in abstinence.
I was... falling.
The evil men had thrown me together with a group of women into the shining ring of light. They had just shoved us into the pit.
Why had they decided to kill us after all the experiments? Or was this just some new test?
Before I could understand what was going on, I landed with a splash in water. The shock forced me to inhale a lungful of it. Panicking, I kicked and flailed mindlessly until something slithered around me, grabbing my arms and legs.
It pulled, and then there was air again as someone pulled me out of the water.
Gentle but powerful hands forced me into a sideways position while I coughed. Water spilled from my mouth and nose in what felt like a continuous stream until I was retching and dry heaving while someone held me in position so I could get rid of all the water I had inhaled.
“There we go, out with all of it,” a motherly voice intoned from above me while the person who had helped me rubbed my back.
For a time I simply lay there, utterly exhausted from the ordeal.
When I could finally breathe without effort, I tried to find out what was going on, but the world was unbearably bright.
All I could understand was that several people surrounded me and the women who had landed with me. These people who had awaited our arrival were now in a heated discussion about what to do with us.
“… take the brunette and the girl,” someone said. “We will pay you a month’s worth of our concrete supplies for the war effort. You can load your airships till they can carry no more cargo and return to your mountain as the heroes of these negotiations.”
“You should know we have no use for your concrete if it isn’t a steady, affordable supply,” another voice retorted. “Besides, do you really expect me to grant you any favours for resources you would have left behind anyway? There’s no way you are going to drag all that stuff back to Thich if you can just mine more at home.”
My eyes finally adjusted somewhat to the brightness. I couldn’t see perfectly, but it worked out if I shaded my eyes.
“We are still going to take the younger women to replenish our numbers. The girl is a bit young, but she will grow up. Just name your price.”
Meanwhile, the people kept haggling for… me?
Of course, I had heard about things like slavery in history class. And the news on the internet was full of mentions of human trade, but such things couldn’t possibly exist in the modern world.
Right?
Why was I fooling myself?
Hadn’t I been abducted right from my school?
And nobody had done so much as lifted a finger.
Why was the world such a horrible place? Why could everyone do with me as they pleased?
And why was I so weak?
My lamentations ended and I stifled a scream when I finally recognized the people… monsters who were haggling for the eight women who had arrived with me and fallen into a pond right next to a sturdy concrete construction. There were so many of them. All different!
A childish part of me kept drifting off to memories of Alice in Wonderland, but I had abandoned any such notions months ago when the men in black took me to experiment upon.
But the grizzly reality was far away from a tale for children. These people displayed all facets, from beautiful to utterly grotesque.
The woman who had helped me was the most frightening of all with her bat-like wings. She was still rubbing my back in an attempt to comfort me, oblivious to the fact that her appearance had me frozen like a deer caught in the headlights.
My eyes flicked to the teenage girl next to her who had the same wings. She was looking down at me as if I was an interesting new bug which had fallen into her lap. Then the girl grinned with a knowing smile as if she was the only one who was in on a very funny joke.
My attention was forced back to the haggling people when one of them accosted the man who was clad in scintillating silver bands and opposing those who wished to ‘buy’ us.
The offender grabbed the smaller man’s clothes and lifted him to eye height. “If you are saying we-”
The bully’s words abruptly cut off with three sharp snaps which silenced him and the arguing crowd like gunshots.
Then the large man fell apart and the man in silver dropped back down to his own two feet.
Just like everyone else in the vicinity, my brain failed to compute what had happened. How it had happened? More importantly for everyone’s immediate survival, why had it happened?
Unlike in the adult movies I had secretly watched despite my parents forbidding me, there was no fountain of blood. Nor a big spray of blood.
The bully had been bisected down the middle, then split apart at his hips and chest, creating four distinct pieces sans the separated arms and legs which only now began to lose their blood. It wasn’t especially fast, but also not slow.
The bat-woman covered my eyes, preventing me from seeing the growing puddle on the paving. But I had already watched it spread as it followed the groves between the cobblestones. It had been hypnotising.
I shivered.
People began to scream, but were quickly silenced when the scintillating man’s voice spoke softly, but with more authority than I had ever heard before.
“You are dead wrong if you believe some Thich scum can touch an elder of the Aerie without repercussions. Go and skedaddle back to your superiors. Tell them they can come here and face me and the other elders if they want to turn this place into a slave market. I would rather support the assembly’s move to make the Old Camp a neutral zone than to have you people hold bidding wars for people…”
His voice slowly faded, leaving me to wonder what was going on.
Then someone pulled the hand away from my eyes and I was facing a blonde woman in the same scintillating clothes as the man who had killed the bully.
I couldn’t help but feel like something was off about this. Teresa wasn’t blonde.
I frowned. How did I know this is… should be Teresa?
This was wrong. The memory was wrong.
The woman, Gaia, smiled.
“Sorry to wake you up from your little dream. There’s something dangerous outside. I would love to have a chat, but you really shouldn’t be sleeping now.”
She suddenly got in really close and screamed right in my face. “Wake up!”