The Nullifier charged and swung its massive claws at me. The creature was without its head and eyes so all its attacks missed when I moved out of the way. The Absorber charged me from behind my back and I had to pull myself to one of the beams up my head to dodge. Both hunters were now free and ready. The others fired their attacks at the creatures.

The Nullifier was the only one I couldn’t let get near them so I swooped down from the ceiling and crushed it under my massive tentacle fists. I knocked it to the ground and slammed my fists down on it again. The Absorber pounced on me and then bit into my neck. Its teeth pushed into me and an arcane force dug even further shredding my muscles. I had forgotten that all the hunters could project arcane force with their attacks. It will be a useful power but for now, this fucking hurts.

Abaxis cast a spell that made Carmilla and Lupine faster as their attacks sped up. Slingshot bullets smashed into the neck of the Absorber with added ferocity. Carmilla managed to pierce the eye on the tail of the Absorber and it blinked in pain. The arrow tore out a chunk of the tail and the eye looked to the group. I saw Devin and Carmilla clutch their heads in pain. That must have been the psychic attack of the Absorber.

The Nullifier had grabbed one of my fists with its claws and the dozen or so mouths on its body started to chew into my hand. I lifted my arm and smashed him back into the ground. I kept smashing him with that arm while the other bent backward and grabbed the Absorber on my back. I threw him to the others so Devin and Zenix could kill it. The blue and red cat flew across the room. I had no idea what sounds were being made and that was scary. I could still see in 360 degrees of vision and my sense of smell was heightened. Relied on all my senses to make up for my weaker combat experience so lacking the ability to hear the screams of my allies or the ground cracking beneath me made me anxious. I remade the spike on my right arm. The Nullifier had let go of my arm and was now lying on the floor with a lot of broken bones. I finished it off by stabbing it a few times. The others had also made short work of the Absorber. I felt safe now so I remade my ears and heard my friends.

“Fuck that thing sounded so wrong. I could feel my brain try and squeeze out of my ears,” Carmilla said.

“I know. I wanted to run to the farthest corner of the world to get away from it,” Lupine said.

I walked over and untransformed. Some of the blood that was on me fell to the ground but some just landed on me again. I spoke, “Yeah, I don’t think I would be able to handle the sound even if I was making it. It is dead now and I want to thank you all. I don’t think I need anything else here in Eiselcross so it’s up to you all how much you want to explore. I am sure there is something here we could scavenge.”

“I want to go home eventually. I wanted to keep my promise but I need to spend time with my family for a bit,” Abaxis said.

“We don’t have to stay here. There are a few other locations,” Devin said.

“I don’t like this place,” Zenix said.

“I also want to leave,” Lupine said.

“I would also feel better not being here,” Folin said.

“We can camp back near the entrance,” Carmilla said.

“I agree. We don’t need to rush,” I said.

Zenix and Lupine nodded their heads. Devin spoke, “Okay let's head back to the first chamber where all the paths forked. We can rest there.”

I was okay with that. There is still stuff here but I don’t need it. If I wanted I could also search for the Intuit charge and give it to them. I am sure they would appreciate that. We walked the long way back to the entrance chamber where we started to make camp. It had only been a couple of hours since we came down here but almost dying can be tiring.

“I am going to look around the other chambers. Just to make sure nothing sneaks up on us,” I said.

I head down the southeast tunnel first. It leads to an old and ruined street. I know there isn’t much here but I keep my see-magic eyes up and find the glowing blue dome. This was a stasis bubble. I never learned what they were meant to do but I know what they currently do. They are frozen moments in time. All across Eiselcross there are these bubbles with moments from the fall of Aeor perfectly captured in time. I suspect it has something to do with a Luxon Beacon as the Nein find some experiments and dunamantic magic deep beneath the main crash site. This bubble held three fleeing citizens who were running from some attack that hadn’t been around for over a thousand years.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

I knew of three ways to potentially break the bubbles. I could complete some ritual that was written down in some ruins somewhere. It would require a dried flumph tentacle and powdered unicorn horn. I could find an Arm of the Betrayer. A magical weapon that was like my vestige but instead it was an evil weapon that contained the soul of a devil or demon. It also needed to be its fully powered version. I was not going to find and use one of those.

The last option was to find Allowak’s Sanctuary and destroy the big crystal there. The crystal could make Yetis intelligent. They would lose their bloodlust and become wiser and smarter than most normal people. Destroying it also might undo this benefit from all the Yetis.

I also didn’t know who was trapped in these bubbles. Some of them might have been the worst mages of the Age of Arcanum. So I was probably not going to break any of these bubbles and let them stay where they were. They had all the time in the world after all. There was a room above this bubble. I climbed up there and found the chest containing the Intuit charge. It was a psychic bomb that if you knew how to arm could explore and deal massive amounts of damage in a 300-foot radius. This was something you used to fight armies. I could melt the brains of a square block of people. I will not be fucking with it. I walk back to the group after about 30 minutes with the box in hand.

“I found something. Here you go Abaxis,” I said.

He made a hmm sound and opened the box. He went to casting a spell to figure out what I gave him. I sat down and looked at the others. “I didn’t find much else. Just a ruined city street and a weird magic bubble,” I said.

“Magic bubble?” Carmilla asked. I told them about the stasis bubble and how I thought it was some kind of frozen moment in time. I don’t think I could dispel it and I didn’t think we should.

“But those people need help,” Zenix said.

“Yes but who are they? They could be evil necromancers that created these creatures here,” I said. Zenix frowned at that and looked confused. She probably didn’t know what to think at that. “It's okay. The bubble isn’t going anywhere. They will be freed one day,” I said.

“If they have survived this long they can last till someone comes to help them Zen,” Lupine said.

“I guess,” Zenix said dejectedly.

“Let's relax. We have all had a hard day. Tomorrow I hope to see those abilities Edsom. Don’t want this whole trip to be a waste,” Devin said.

“Haha. I will try my best,” I said.

I moved slightly away from the group. In the well of energy that I could draw my draconic cold energy, I looked for the elemental fire I absorbed. It was there. I pulled it out to warm my body and I felt nice and hot. A little change from the cold air. I moved it to a fingertip and focused on letting it out from my body. A small flame flickers to life on my hand. This was much easier to use than the cold energy. I practiced this for a few more hours before getting some shut-eye.

………………

“Boss more trouble,” Rubert said when I arrived at the Soul Dream.

“I guess I should have expected this. What are they doing?” I asked.

“They are attacking anyone that tries to get close. They seem to hate everything around them and are attacking anything in sight. They are even attacking the ground,” Rubert said.

“Well, they were designed to hate the divine. This might be their worst nightmare according to their programming. I will go deal with them,” I said.

I found the Absorber first. It was smashing into some trees in the forest. I created a cage around the creature. It clawed the bars but I made them thick enough to contain it. I spoke draconic to it and said calm. It looked at me and hissed. I think it then tried to unleash one of its psychic attacks but failed. I had no mind here and neither did it. It would need to learn how to use the psychic powers with just its soul. The thing absolutely refused to remain calm. I collared and chained it to the cage. I would need to let Theseus deal with these guys. Maybe he and Clarion could figure out how to make them capable of speech. I saw into its soul. It was a weird blue thing. The barrier that contained its memories and abilities was fuzzy and discolored. I was able to make the connection but it felt weird.

I found the Nullifier doing the same thing so I simply repeated the process. Tomorrow I will test these abilities. I send the two chained hunters to Theseus’s guard yard. He had gathered residents who wanted to be of service to the community and formed an official guard. They weren’t about force and enforcing laws but resolving disputes and counseling people who had issues with others. They were doing good work and people were starting to get along. I had about 200 residents of various species. Once I finished with the Formation I was going to fly to the Greying Wildlands and hunt some mamoths and other giant fauna. I spent the rest of the with formalities and helping everyone solve some world-building issues. The humaniods had agreed that it was time to meet me so I was going to do that tomorrow night.

………..

I woke up first it seemed. The fire was still going but everyone else was asleep. Wait shouldn’t Folin be on watch right now? I looked around and he was asleep on his bed. The fuck man. You need to watch out and make sure nothing is sneaking up on us.

“Oh good. You’re awake. I had been waiting to speak with you,” a skeletal man with glowing red flames for eyes said to me.