COI C75
Somewhere in social media, many accounts are piling up again about the news. It is getting hectic as time goes by. The list of posts will be endless where many posts of pictures and chats coming from up and down. There are times they need scroll away from the heat of discussion and focus on the previous posts. The what if chat place holder where people who wanted to leave give their anonymous opinion why the need to leave. Hiding from many people who are going to fight their reasons and they tried to encourage such toxicity. It was common back then in their original world but this is serious to that extent.
It’s been more than four months now, and it gets easier after those first few weeks and the return of the internet after the power was on. That first post was after the gathering of city states leaders across the region. They were not fond of it, and even cause almost an outbreak. Many fled, in the beginning, from the city’s rumors from an obsess ideologue they come up with to a city thriving any better as before. It doesn’t feel the same. Many people protest about it and can’t do anything. The Foundation is preserved too well to anyone to use it. The locals are pleading them not to create an uprise that will get worse if the Foundation can’t be complete.
From in between posts where the chats were starting to calm down and improvements were achieved throughout the city. Nonetheless, they kept scrolling. The citizens and locals were having a great time in the summer. The lockdown was a pain but it is enough for them to endure such painful isolation. Pictures of events occurred were everyone reach their peak of nostalgic happy life. It is great for them not going back to the time of depressed weeks to continue to stay in this world.
Finally, the beginning of the post is reached and all hundred thousand compiled properly from the moderators. The users look for the post made during that time, to summarize everything had happened and today. They remember one more time they need to leave and others want to stay. Somewhere among them outside or inside of their own home, they still need to remember that this world is getting harder. Defectors are coming back inside the city. People exposed from the dusts are showing symptoms of their lack of taking care of their health. The city’s productivity is going down due to lack of raw materials.
They read the posts “. . . Either we are lucky or dumb enough not to go. This city is going insane . . .”
“. . . Many separated families are everywhere. We have people here got separated . . .”
“. . . If we are going to stuck here, then all of our efforts to live what we are thriving to work hard for is gone . . . just like that . . .”
“. . . We have things needed to do back home. People who are rely on us to take care of them, we are parents, is it alright to live this world where the people are willing to help us?”
“. . . Selfish or not, this is not right to stop it as we are so close to leave . . .”
Later they read the argument “. . . Why coming back where our society is against us?”
“. . . They can leave, but why would we let them stay here with us. We don’t need them as much they have their own life . . .”
“. . . This is BS. I can imagine of me not part of leaving, but force to stay here is not a choice . . .”
“. . . I heard from the locals. You can separate yourself with them but others will forever be trap but what’s the hold up?”
“. . . Everyone is going to rage on my comment, but it’s because they want the city to function. A city this big will definitely want us to stay. Or else they have to live a medieval world . . .”
Lastly the hate comments “. . . What the fuck did the mayor just said? Stay!”
“. . . Yes! Suck on that you bunch of cry babies. We are staying!”
“. . . Shut the fuck up! We can just leave and let you guys left alone and rot . . .”
“KISS MY FUCKING ASS! If they are going to let that bullshit happened, we will just storm at the monument . . .”
Later after few days of posts. “SHIT! SHIT! SHIII . . . IIIT! They have full control on the monument. We can’t leave”
“. . . Residences from Fuku City are riling up. This is not good. They are not going to like this . . .”
“. . . Serve us right! When the foods are gone, they can’t revolt lol!”
One of the users is reading the posts, starts to smirk and almost laugh for the sake of it. It wasn’t that long for the defectors see what happened during that time. It was pathetic. Just like them, it is actually difficult to feed that large amount of food. Alga’s light was the keystone of their replenished food stocks. Now the Jigeram will take it away in due moment of time. Their people already know the consequences, and the fear of going those cities. Magic realms or not, they are respecting the warnings from those city states leaders.
In Stranding Island, Haw and Ironno heard the news from Rusic, it was detrimental but not concern to the least. The island is already being covered in dust. Normal activities are done without magic.
“Yeah, the government wants our help once more. This time the Jigeram is here and everything turns for the worse. I reckon they have people are tired after that incident, they need to be replaced”
Ironno takes his time reading the letter from them “I was there a few days ago, I can’t say anything when staying awake”
“Hah! You were sleeping for the entire day when you got back here”
Sanquin is with them, deciding to stay a bit after hearing the incident. A puff is coming around to her as she dusts it off the light around her.
“They can negate the effects of the light if they can control their mana effectively. It will cost double in their spells but that is much easy than to wash it off”
“Lass, their entire city has purified water I mean reserve water. Their piping protect Alga’s light and they are lucky that will prevent them to let that weakness of theirs last longer”
She looks at Haw and sees him having a device on his own. Haw notice her eyeing on him and hand it over to her. Sanquin raises her hand and casts her spell to wipe off the light then recharge it after. The device turned on without even her to check it. Haw was about to ask her but she knows her way about magic devices. A call is coming from his device and it is his girlfriends, she returns it without any intrusion. He answered it as the three are continue their conversation without him.
Ironno thinks about the situation and tell to Sanquin. “After those people you mention, do you think they will cause trouble?”
“Same as before like those gangs fighting around, but without the police to intervene. I guess you could say that it won’t have caused property damage”
“Groan* I would imagine like what happened in Mountaiwall, they could cause trouble out of spite and trying to take control in areas so that they are freely go around and escape from authorities”
“That would be just you Rusic. Ironno is thinking he would continue to fortify the safe rooms”
Ironno nods knowing well that city is becoming less stable at night.
Haw joins them after his call and ask Sanquin. “Would you mind I could bring Ironno to the city?”
“I mind”
Rusic reacted after her sudden hateful tone. “Whoa there, woman, why with the sudden . . . I think I lost this one lad”
The dwarf starts laughing where she smiles alluringly to Haw’s eyes. “He has his personal job, Rusic will always be here, and those two continue their quest. How about you Haw? Why would you ask him?”
“Ironno’s safe room is taking a share with the criminals”
Ironno laughs a bit “Heh, it’s a room of course anyone would . . .”
“They turn it into a hostage base”
Rusic laughs so hard that he is so surprised but he can’t imagine it, while Ironno got his expression confused and tries to remember the sizes of all the safe rooms being built so far. The Dwarf can’t hold it
“That wee widdle room that fits only eight people turned into a base of operation? I tell ya, I found one of his safe rooms. It was a genius idea to make that called ‘dumpster’ as a safe room. Say, I could tell a story about it. 8 people hiding in the dumpster, protecting themselves from their enemies all around them. Safe and secured and with magic scrolls shield them from their attacks. Until something smelly on the floor . . . laugh*”
Rusic starts to imagine it but that story wasn’t enough and he sees Haw and the others checking his device as they look at it. He comes closer, staring at them from above, and he asks curiously
“Hey, what’s y’all looking at?”
Sanquin uses her magic to reflect the screen to his view. The location of the safe room is the far west of the border. A newly built shrine closes to Chojima district. Rusic was shock,
“You build a safe room near a holy site? Blasphemy”
“They request it and I believe they left it alone”
His kind is not too kindly about disturbing the holy site, and even foreign ones. Where Haw and Sanquin are discussing the situation, as he goes back to the building and pick up some equipment in mind.
“. . . With the Jigeram shines on them from that hole, and I can guess they want someone who are able against its light”
“That would be the case, and you are wanting to get involved”
“It’s the first few days of the Jigeram. It gets fast affecting this place. I am starting to think why those demons and elves are hiding under their shades”
“I could not guess that from your point of view. I might learn something in this city instead”
“Good, let’s talk again with your girls after this”
“. . .” “Oh what!? I’m starting to like their ‘my’ choice. I want to see them how addicted they get from you”
Haw stops her as she is teasing him of his personal life. Rusic runs towards them yelling “Wait you long legs, I am coming with ya”
Sanquin shows a little frown on her cheeks and sarcastically said “Sure!”
Haw was a bit relief but she wasn’t serious about it. She humbly thinks she is better to bring along instead of Ironno.
Rusic brought some nice get up, but more modern items in disguise. Haw and Sanquin sees his crazy expression, as if he was gone mad. The two look at each other if either one of them will ask him. Sanquin likes it better when Rusic should have said it than make a story out of it, while Haw don’t want to read the rune writings. His outfit wears the same uniform from the public service, a simple coat and tie. When his runes activate it turns to leather padded armor. Both of them were relief and Rusic noticed
“Huh, trying to follow the law”
She didn’t hesitate “Because . . . I like surprises”
Yet she doesn’t but expect Rusic armor to be as powerful as she remembered.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
Haw whispers to Sanquin “What did you expect from him?”
“He is a Rusic, not his name of course but he is supposed to be religious. When it is about blasphemy, his gods will bless him to the most extent. I can’t describe it to you but you want to see it, right?”
“I was hoping Ironno would be the one who will help me”
“Yeah, he would activate the scrolls and quickly end it”
Haw turns his gaze to her. Sanquin takes his gaze and in return; touches her cosmetic glasses and added one shine to her right corner lens. Then she raises it up look at him with her fiendish gaze and places it back. No need for her to say more.
At the shrine, Silfa and the others are there looking at the problem. Troublesome kids are making a racket out from one of the unknown spells. The Jigeram took affect from one of those spells and caused a mishap. The spell however creates a gaping hole that connects downward closer to the river from this high hill, a secret underground cavern awakens a monster lie inside. The spell changed it into a portal. Now many are trap inside the shrine but saved by Ironno’s safe room. The monster they are facing are not the usual creatures from the dungeon. They are more unique.
Gemina sees Ruby already lying down after their fight. “I told you to identify first the monster”
“And you should tell me that there is a safe room here”
“You are a police officer. You should know about it”
The people who work here answers her question. “Well, we requested him to build here. It was a safety procedure because we are so close to the border and far away from the Chojima district”
Silfa looks at her doll, puma, trying to stall the monster. Its small size managed to stop it. Silfa sees her notification that the doll requested shaman power to fight it. Thanks to the update in her UI, the powers it will be using are nightmarish and the kids who are trapped will see it.
It gets worse that it is a curse. It made a bad impression if it uses it, and curses had not yet had a cure instead the spirit is willing to remove it or other remedies that is difficult to get from the goblins.
“We never thought we are getting tight with all these quests available after the lockdown”
Gemina feels her “I get you, but incident like these made it random because of that moon”
One of the adventurers come back from the portal and said to them. “Bad news we found something drilling up to the surface”
“Drilling? What kind of monster is that?”
“It’s no monster, and it’s coming from Rune Isles’ seas”
Silfa picks up her device and tries to call Haw. She runs to the nearest safe area as they call the others as well.
“Signal can’t be reach, either you are outside of the city or the new phenomenon disrupt the signal. Recommend to used text with loud sounds if it is urgent”
Silfa quickly changes the contact to the city guild staff.
“Hello Silfa, what’s the problem”
“Call any Enders who is available to come to this location. We have identified the monsters with Rune Isles origin, and the citizens are still trapped within the shrine”
“Alright, we will be preparing a portal to near their port for fast travel”
Silfa goes back and see Altair is already here with Emerald.
“Altair . . . and why is Emerald here?”
“Fast travel and the sensitive seismic reading had passed through the underground barrier. The police are already at the perimeters, I got here because they found you guys here too”
The monster starts to startle where the doll rapidly shaken around itself. Everyone except for Silfa sees it kind of funny. Silfa instructs them
“There is something wrong with the monster. My doll is handling it far too well”
The doll starts to shake even more to the point it is vibrating, the fear of the monster is so overwhelmed it can’t stay calm. The monster’s layered skin crumbles as it tries to break free of its imprisoned body. It lays flat on the floor with only its tail and forearms raising high. It starts to shed and revealed its true body. It gathers the humidity of the environment and even the watered soil. The newly formed water gathers around while the light tries to purge it. It washes itself up then calms itself down. The jigeram’s light forces itself down on the ground where its magic is exposed.
The doll steals all its negative buff as it too will be frozen solid from the light. The exposure reaches the doll to its limit and quietly stands still then fall to the ground. The monster’s trapped body fully shed off and it is a serpent using magic for its limbs. Silfa’s notification is requesting for the doll to allow to tame it. She looks at the serpent as a majestic as it looks, she clicks the notification. The grounds suddenly quake as everyone brace themselves had happen.
“It must be the monster digging up to the surface”
Emerald doubts it “There is no way it can reached this far. The radar shows it is still far away to reach to the top”
All around them start to change in ritualistic view. Ghostly fog lurking through and skies turn dark in different colors. Silfa shouts at her doll \
“Puma, what are you doing?”
Winds are pushing away the dust and clear everything that it touches. The ceremonial ring appeared between the serpent and the doll. Flash of lights and sounds of whistles coming from the wind. Thunder appeared in silence, spirits appeared like ghost in color orange, dancing through the circle as it celebrates. It mingles, it sings, and it is what the rituals are meant to do.
Emerald’s device starts to translate but no actual words but gibberish.
“Piyu ma whistle* gargle* whistle* gargle* gargle*”
The chant of many spirits surrounding the two and the doll starts raise up still crystallized from the dust. Motionless not moving its body, the spirits are forming their own bodies to dance during this ritual. Their eyes can’t turn away of its spiritual auras. The sounds of the spirits are making harmony with the ritual its wind plays their voices and the its shines formed with it. People from the bottom saw the change happening up to the shrine. Worried and terrified about the hostage trapped there.
The Enders saw as they rush towards the top. Sanquin uses her spell to bring them up. Teleported to the shrine as they witness a ceremonial ritual, they saw the doll slowly raising upright to stand in front of the serpent. She recognized the serpent as she speaks a different language
“Chang she?”
Altair heard her say something and pointed at the monster. “That monster, what is it?”
“That’s a chang she, but it shouldn’t be exist”
“What?”
The ritual is almost over where the doll is standing up right. The wind bursts to cheers as the spirits jumping and celebrating. The ritual disappears as it stands below the flying serpent.
The serpent raises its head and taps it at the doll. Silfa’s notification pops up and congratulates her. ‘You have successfully tamed the serpent . . .’ Silfa cuts it off as she can’t describe how it did to tame it. Rusic appears and gets hype what he saw. The clap that could hears everyone around them as he continues clapping. Sanquin follows up and so did Haw. They don’t know that they tame an extinct monster that uses magic. Rusic said to them
“Who is the lucky lad or lass to tame a legendary flying sea creature?”
The adventurers turned to Silfa whereas the doll is carried by the serpent to her.
“Uhm . . . what?”
She checks on her UI and search the detail about the monster. Skipping through the notification, the description shows more valuable information it says “(Tamed) A domestic breed sea serpents are rare and were brought from another world. Excels of using neutral mana and cleansing away Jigeram’s light, however of its domestication, these monsters are harmless but it didn’t know their magic are lethal. Its natural body is still having their adaptive abilities to release static poison”
Silfa stares at the doll, the reason why it wanted to curse it because of that ability and remember why the others are getting tired for some reason. She looks around the area where it collects water. The soil is already looks bleak and the plants that are on it already withered off its leaves. She said to the Enders
“I am the one who tame it”
“Good girl. And I thought this place will be in drought or dying”
Sanquin examined it from its size. It is definitely the same chang she once it brought to this world. The purpose to bring here was aggression but she can’t understand why they let it live after that.
The flying sea serpent moves around the crystallized doll then to its mistress. Sanquin sees the mark brand on it, a magic brand that helps it stay in its current size. Elven writings brand on to it, she looks down where at the same time something is coming up. Emerald warns them.
“We should finish what we are doing here. Everyone takes those people out to safety”
The adventurers rush to save the people trapped inside the shrine while the Enders are waiting. Through Rusic’s feet as where the tremor is coming to the surface. The shakes are not there but he sinks his feet where the floors start to crumble.
He takes aside where Sanquin guides Silfa’s new tame serpent out to the area. The dusts come back to the shrine as it is being gathered there. A drill burst through and the dusts collect it. The machine raises itself up looking for something. Rusic stared at the machine as it dispatches its drill. He raised his weapon. A toolbox consists of miniaturized weapon that fits any human could hold. He raised his hammer and the runes engrave through its power relish with power of the gods.
“THIS IS THE POWER OF MY KINS!”
He throws it to the machine as it polarizes his weapon.
His uniform engraved with his runes inflicts lighting on his hammer. Pushing through with the blessings of his gods, it is the sign of wrath, and he is standing the relic of faiths. The shrine held there standing craft with calligraphy and authentic culture. The dwarven gods had realized its spiritual right. Rusic is blessed and had to protect it.
“AAAH!”
The chains of lighting are surrounding the machine as it moves forward to attack the dwarf. Sanquin and Haw step aside as the runes forces them back by its godly essence.
The machine dodges the throwing hammer and uses its own runes to push him off the cliff. Rusic grabs its arm and slides to the cliff. The runes are conflicting itself and his gods empowers him through the runes he had. The hammer is swinging around back to him where its stretch of static electricity is beginning to thicken as lightning. The machine raises its shield against the returning hammer. The hammer comes to his aid at the back of the machine. The normal runewords hammer, as small as it fits for carpentry, breaks through the shield and sparks a short circuit inside of it.
Rusic nearly falls off from the cliff as the machine stops. He tears off his shirt and shows his muscular chess. Tools are still on his side and continue to fight. The machine gathers most of the dusts and quickly repairing the circuits. It uses its body to pull the ground and using its body to slam on top of him. Floor smeared with unknown substance leaking from the machine. Rusic braces himself from its massive and heavy size on his head. A hand drill comes to his aid, pointed at the machine trying to pierce through.
His gods are furious where the Jigeram is used on to the machine. Rusic hears them and his tools lost its power. The runes start to materialize in the air as the Jigeram’s light is collected to his side. Following the motion of the machine slamming him down, the runes appeared to the both of them through the gods’ interference. The dust removed from it mechanical body, losing its source of recovery, the dwarf shouts through the voice of thunder. The machine mysteriously falls apart without any effort. The gods’ wraths were please, and the shrine is safe.
Sanquin and Haw watch him, and she is more stun than she ever would have thought. The mountain shrine is what his gods want to protect. Rusics were keen regarding to religion, and to this day the Rusic gods still hid secretly among their runes. Rusic calms down as he tumbling forward away from the cliffs. He stops where the hole is at and looks down.
“That hole . . .” He turns around and see southwest horizon. “. . . The secrets of the enemy’s base”
Everyone gathers to him as they see what happened. Emerald looks first at the machine as it disassembles. Remaining parts and components are moving back to the hole as it is alive. With the remains left, she checks the material and found a stunning discovery. She reports to the authorities through a call.
“We struck rare metals. scraps that can help refurnish the industries”
The adventurers come back after witnessing that the dwarf had done. Altair checks on him and record the statistics of his well being. He looks down to the hole.
“This hole, it leads to somewhere down from Rune Isles”
Altair’s new updated UI can now identify enemies’ stats if they are going to fight it. It is still in low tier but his other stat can record health progress when fighting. He gets Rusic back log fighting with the machine. The machine is ranked B then suddenly went S rank once it uses the dust to recover. It is complicated to know about the machine but Rusic should have been in a quick death situation. The buffs that grant him were enormous to the point of godlike powers. The runes were unidentified of its complex engravements.
He gives the data to Emerald. “Please gives thorough examine on him, we have nothing to understand how he survive it”
Rusic is carried by Haw as they walk near the shrine. “That blasted abomination thinks that ruining a shrine like that. The gods are not please of that action”
“I don’t think I could understand gods and their interference”
“It’s because of that when the Fall era happened. The lost of the center region that is now called Rune Isles that led their assistance gradually help. I heard from my kin; they are gone mad when Durjn Kings was lost”
“I was there inside the sphere. It’s a tower that made out of Jigeram and said to be the place for kings and champions”
“Laugh* Boy, you should know what kings mean . . . Anyway, I don’t need to go back in history but I’m afraid the gods who see their own creation fell and watch it burn from an opposing threat. You will understand too when you witness your world you made gone to ashes”
Sanquin watches them walk by as she looks at the machine. That familiar look from her eyes shows grief and more importantly her reason to stay this world.
She already knew her target is not there, but the abandon facilities were made from them still exist. Emerald comes to her and asks
“Is that dwarf going to be ok?”
“He’s fine, given the power from the gods will make any mortal suffer its uses”
“Ah? Ok. Could we just send him to the hospital just in case?”
“Why not ask him?”
“He won’t listen”
Sanquin laughs “Ok, then he won’t”
Emerald walks away and continue to check on the remains. She looks at the serpent once again down from the hills.
“Chang she, how did those people summon it?”
Somewhere across the street, the gangs were in big trouble. Calls from the defectors as they warned them before.
“Of all places you could make a special portal, you pick a place that is closer to the safe room and near the public area”
The man who talked to Silfa earlier and who also persuaded the Enders to make the safe room is talking to them.
“I hope the police won’t investigate about the location of the safe room”
A moment of awkward of silence. “If they do ask, tell them it worked. But you don’t know who caused it”
“You’re right, there is no cctv there. We can continue the project”
The call stops and one of the defectors want to ruin the man’s relief.
“I almost try to tell him if one of the police have time past surveillance”
“Like hell he could understand what it is”
“How rude, but we lost a good place to mine into that abandon underground facility”
“Yeah, I still doubt that someone knows about that place”
“It is almost like someone is helping us to know that location”
“I have a bad feeling about this”
“Don’t be a worry wart, it is just an optional place for us to go if their idea heading to the west shores”
The defector shows them the Rune Isles debris locations. The segments and sectors were piled up through the devastation inside and under its sea.
“This is not some facility made by medieval people. That machine the man describe is really made out of archscience tech”
“Ugh, this apocalypse really reminds me how what it is like when a futuristic world had gone back to the Stone Age”
They look at the location where the Enders can’t reach because of the lack of needed manpower. They could have their own mining complex, and they have to keep it a secret for Fuku city district, not anymore.
Somewhere hidden below the city the facility detects one of the isolation chambers had detect no signs of life. The AI checks and sees what is happening, soon the machine that supposed to retrieve the creature is back returning with only the vital parts and components rolling to the assembly area. The AI gathered the data from its memory drive then boot it up to its own. The facility starts to boot up itself as it learned these new creatures are inhabiting. Surrounded by life pods of different species, the machines again transfer them further below.