[Glass Vial] = Sand (Quartz, 0.2-0.5kg) + [Cast] (Vial, Any) + [Furnace] (Bloomery, 1900-2000°K)
----------------------------------------
The two hobbled through the jungle as the sun rose, their enemy hot in pursuit.
“We gotta move faster,” Jay said. “How you holding up?”
Sayid winced. “The [Brutejuice] has faded, but my muscles will not recover for some time.”
Jay nodded. That potion Sayid popped was apparently exclusive to those who tuned their Cores to Alchemy, and had messed him up more than they'd first realized. It supercharged his body to behave as if it had twice the vitality it normally did, but the cost of exerting it to this degree quickly wore him down. He could barely stand anymore, the blood having drained so much from his body. Only through the support of Jay could the two keep moving, a necessary consequence that would brutalize them both when night hit again.
If Viktor didn’t get to them first.
Misha’s roars flowed through the jungle, getting ever closer. His balloon rose high above, the giant red “V” like an arrow, slowly bearing down on them.
And Viktor’s whistling echoed behind. Though Jay couldn’t see him, he could hear the bravado beneath his song’s tone, knowing that they would not be able to surprise him a second time. With morning now reached and plenty of hours for him to recover, he’d be back to a much higher strength.
Not that he needed to be at his peak. Even Viktor at half strength was more than enough to wipe them both out.
We’re not going to make it, Jay realized. Not at this speed. He’d crafted enough bandages to close his Wounds, but Sayid’s higher vitality worked against him now. His injuries could not be closed without E-Rank medicine, and those could not be thrown together with reeds and vines while strolling through an F-Rank jungle. The first aid kit he’d looted from a cairn had been enough to stabilize his injuries, but it wouldn’t be anywhere close to triggering his passive regeneration until he reached full again.
He winced and nearly fell again, his foot tangling against a rock. A solution came to mind for Jay. Easy, but dark, and one that got articulated a moment later.
“You have to leave me,” Sayid said. “I will get you killed.”
There was no denying this truth. Both of them would die if they continued without change, but in this circumstance, at least one would be guaranteed to live. Jay could warn the others about Viktor’s Cooking class, and they could form a plan from there. A single life surrendered for the greater good.
Jay also had to consider what would come after. The more he dragged Sayid on, the harsher Natura would be at night. Intent and effect were measured in equal consequence, and both knew that he would only survive this through Jay’s continued intervention. At a certain point, they were only hurting each other in this fruitless escape.
…And yet.
Jay continued to drag Sayid onward, one step at a time. He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t leave someone to die who had done so much to save his life. Even if it led to his death, he’d be damned if he didn’t try his best.
Because that’s what true relationships were built on.
They pushed into another clearing, and their eyes widened.
A komodo dragon lay in front, fasting in the rising sun, whatever its latest victim had been now reduced to a pile of gore and bones beside. An eyelid snapped open as they entered its line of sight, but it did not make a move just yet. A low grumble rolled out instead.
“I got this,” Jay said, leaning Sayid against a tree. He drew his sword and took aim.
“Be careful,” Sayid said. “This monster may appear weak, but it can still swallow you whole if you’re not careful, and its stomach acid is strong enough to dissolve even a man of my Rank.”
Jay paused, remembering how easily this monster had destroyed a gorilla more than twice his size.
Would that be the worst thing to happen right now?
He went for his backpack, a plan coming to mind. Before Sayid could ask what he was doing, he pulled out some grease and coated his sword. The blade twisted in an iridescent sheen.
Jay marched forth. The komodo stirred with his approach, ground quaking as it rose back up. Its tongue licked its teeth a moment later, coated in blood. With a hiss, it stepped forth.
The tongue launched a second later like a firehose attached to a missile. Jay gripped his sword tight and rushed at it, ignoring the lingering pain.
[Shirk] gave him the opening he needed, a [Leap] sending him right into the dragon’s threat radius. He dropped low and raced forth, a set of [Slashes] carving through its scales with ease.
But the komodo merely stomped its feet in response, sending Jay back with a yelp. His strikes had not killed the creature, only going shallow enough for his blade to touch its blood.
The komodo moaned seconds later, its legs now wobbling and eyes curling back. Before it could even turn around, it had fallen again, right into its pile of gore.
Exactly as planned.
Jay studied his sword and grinned. The sleepgrease he’d coated it with worked faster than he’d expected, no doubt due to the upscaled mats against a creature that was now so much weaker than him. He marched back to Sayid, who watched back, perplexed.
“We could have just gone around,” he pointed out.
“We’re not done yet,” Jay said.
He dragged his friend forth, through the soft jungle mud, their footprints leading right to the sleeping komodo dragon and the dead corpse.
And then Jay dragged him under the body, through the bloody mess around. Sayid took the cue and squeezed further beneath, slathering some available gore over himself too and tossing a small vial behind.
Even better. Jay did the same a moment later, his nostrils filling with the scent of blood and death.
Not a moment too soon. The balloon flew near as Misha strolled into the valley, his frosty nose wrinkling as he took his its surroundings. With a moan, he looked back and forth, unable to catch their scent.
Meanwhile, his owner strolled through right after, still whistling. Viktor’s face was still singed from the night before, but high-level cairn bandages had been wrapped around his entire body, and his armored fishing vest was now replaced with full iron plate. He marched forth, brandishing his strange rifle.
But his tune trailed off the moment he saw the sleeping komodo dragon. He turned to Misha and mumbled, a scowl growing on his face.
As Viktor followed the footprints closer, Jay and Sayid nudged ever more out of view. Only their tracker’s feet became visible as he reached the dragon, Jay’s heart racing as he hoped this decoy would work.
An uncomfortably long time came and went while Viktor studied the dragon and its meal. Then, his fingerless gloves dug through the gore and pulled out the vial that Sayid had left behind. A hateful grumble rolled out seconds later, followed by the sound of glass shattering.
And Viktor twirled on his feet, once again whistling, though more in frustration than satisfaction.
“It appears we are too late, Misha,” Viktor said. “I will have to find you something else to eat.”
They turned and went away.
And Jay let out a deep breath, once again safe.
For now, anyway.
* * *
Incandescent beams of light sliced through the jungle canopy, caught by the dust in the air. Emerald-colored reeds swayed against a gentle breeze, and the sound of water trickled in the backdrop, waterfalls flowing from the mountain beside.
And Jay huffed in fresh air, dragging his companion over this final hump. Getting back to the harbor was too difficult in their current state, but after redirecting, they’d found somewhere closer.
Somewhere they could hide for a while more.
Their destination rose in front. Even though it had been little more than a day, the wood was already showing signs of rot and water damage, and the stone foundation had become cracked and weathered. The body had thankfully been removed from where it was hung, though the image would forever be burned in his mind.
How could it not? This was where his best friend had died.
Kevin’s home stood as it had since he last left it. Viktor might have removed most of his mats, but some supplies remained. There was also the basement, and everything was still down there. Enough to maybe turn this around.
If they played it smart.
Sayid flopped against the wall and heaved deep. “Thank you, Jay. I owe you a great debt.”
“Just be sure not to pay it back any time soon,” he said. “Tonight will be hard enough as is.”
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He nodded. “It will be harder still once our homes are pillaged.”
Jay winced. He hadn’t considered that, but it was the logical next step. Whether they were dead or alive, Viktor would cannibalize everything they’d built to be used for his own ends, taking Sayid’s high level potions in an attempt to clear his own injuries while upscaling any food left behind to sustain his body’s demands. Even if he didn’t take everything today, those areas would be kept under watch…
“We’ll have to both sleep here after tonight,” Jay said.
“Hm?”
“Bases begin degrading once you’ve slept in a bed somewhere else, and they don’t stop until you return to them. They also start degrading after you’ve died, as is the case here. There’s no way out of it. If we want to keep Viktor convinced that we’re dead, we’ll have to play the role.”
Sayid stroked his chin. “Very clever. Yes, that is what we must do next.” He sighed. “But that only delays the inevitable. It will be difficult to stay hidden on an island so small, especially if we share a space. I will find somewhere in that cavern system, perhaps.”
“No,” Jay said. “Our best chance is using what Kevin left for us.”
Sayid stared at him sideways, but Jay merely pulled a hatch open. The wood creaked, another layer of dust drifting through the air. But the light leaked in through the cracks in the wall, enough to highlight the contents below, even from above.
The pallets and pallets of iron bars glittered, right where they’d been kept.
He sighed at the sight, remembering how it had been lost.
“You plan to use this iron for advancement,” Sayid deduced. “Even if you lack an Expat Core, your options are much more fluid than everyone else’s.”
“Correct,” Jay said. “This will give me access to a bloomery, which in turn will bring me into Iron Age tech, along with all the research that comes with it. Now that we know his strength, it’s only a matter of going through the Guide until we identify his weakness.” He clenched his fist. “I don’t care how long it takes, I’m going to find something we can use to bring Viktor down, regardless of his vitality advantage.”
But Sayid merely smiled. “So confident, despite the danger.”
“It’s just the logical approach. Being hopeless earns us nothing, while pushing to the end gives us a chance to beat him for good.” And more than that, Jay couldn’t allow this advantage to go to waste. He couldn’t allow Viktor to have brought so much harm without consequence.
Sayid watched him back, the creases in his brow more pronounced than normal. “Did I ever tell you the story of my Expatriation?”
Jay shook his head.
“I spent many years in hiding after Al Bamman, plotting my revenge against the Russians. I made plenty of alliances and held a vast network of supporters across the globe, but this only earned me more enemies. The kind that I could never hope to defeat.
“With each new enemy gained, my tactics had to become more complex. No longer could I stay in the same place for more than a week. I rotated my phones regularly to keep them from being tapped. I kept my own men under watch, lest they inform upon my location. Whenever we heard that foreigners were coming for me, we fled to somewhere else, leaving explosives behind to buy us more time. And despite the entire world being against me, I was always one step ahead.”
He sighed. “But, these successes only made me more bold. As I told you before, ideology is a fire that burns all in its path, and I took each failure from my enemies as divine proof in favor of my own righteous cause, all bringing me closer to destroying the men who had harmed me so.”
He shook his head. “I’ll never know where the mistake came from. Perhaps some of my men had lost faith in me. Perhaps my suppliers had been flipped. Perhaps smuggling weapons-grade uranium across international borders is a task no man can ever achieve. Not while the world hunts him down. All I knew was the Americans came for me before I could achieve my attack against the Russians, which would have made Moscow an uninhabitable place.
“Do you know what I felt when the Americans raided my hideout, Jay? Like the bug they’d turned me into, wriggling beneath their boot as they put their pressure down. It does not matter how strong you think you are, or how many allies you have. When the weight of the world comes to crush you, there is not only no escape, but you learn that no weapon is strong enough for you to wield against so much power.”
He met Jay in the eyes. “I did not experience that same sense again until last night. My most powerful weapon fell pitifully against Viktor. If such was the case for me, then do you think you will fare any better?”
Jay considered his words with a grimace. It was true. He was flying blind in his attempt to defeat Viktor, and it didn’t seem like there was a conventional weapon left that could finish him off for good. His stick grenade had been the trick to play to that end, and even that was not strong enough. Viktor would be back to full strength before long, and there was nothing he could do.
But Jay could not let that be.
“I understand what you went through, Sayid,” he said before cringing, hearing his own words out loud. He took a second to ground himself. “I mean… Obviously, I never experienced half the shit as you, and it would be ridiculous to pretend like I had. But that feeling you had when everyone was coming after you? Like no matter what you did, every decision was wrong? That, I know all too well.
“I used to work in an office back on Earth. Nothing crazy, just this tech company that wanted to act as an intermediate between advertisers and digital platforms.” He rubbed his brow, feeling like he was back in orientation. “Anyway, they had us do cold calls for nine hours straight, mostly to people who just happened to click a stupid link. One person after the next, we were supposed to throw ourselves against the wall, hoping that some commission would come through.
“And what killed me was that it didn’t matter how many deals we landed or how long we worked. They’d set things up so that if you ever fell behind for a week, you were out.” He sighed. “One of my coworkers used to have a joke about it. ‘Only two things ever trickle down from the top,’ he’d say. ‘Incompetence and blame.’ We weren’t supposed to be there for any reason other than to fill a call quota. The second anyone stepped out of line, that was it. The boot came down, and you needed a new job.
“I stuck with that job after leaving school. Week after week, I’d make those damned calls because I thought there was no other choice for a college dropout like me. Even as it sucked my life away, I kept doing what they said.”
Jay grit his teeth, his brow furrowed. “Until one day, I didn’t. I don’t remember the moment when I finally snapped. I don’t know why it was that day and not the one before or after. What I can tell you though is that I’d just felt like the entire world had been pressing itself against me my entire adult life, and I couldn’t take it anymore. I had to get out, even if it meant I’d become another unemployed loser striving for some stupid pipe dream. I couldn’t take another second of feeling so utterly powerless.”
His cheeks reddened, and he breathed deep. “I guess what I’m trying to say is that I may not have experienced a fraction of the trauma you have, but I know that same sense of despair. People aren’t built to be crushed under a boot. We desire to be free.” He clenched his fist. “And we will too, Sayid. No matter what it takes, we’ll find a way to break that boot for good. That is the one thing that separates Annwyn from Earth. We can always overcome any obstacle in front.”
Despite his grizzled features, a smile still etched its way across Sayid’s cheeks. “To think it is you telling me we can defeat such a powerful enemy.” It lessened a beat. “But bravado alone is not enough to do what you suggest.”
“Yep. I’m not naive. I get that we had our best chance last night, and it will only be more impossible than before. That’s why I will do everything I can to reach Iron Age as quickly as possible. Any advantage we get is one that we can use. You’d do well to try the same. Those potions of yours are a huge asset.”
“This will be difficult,” Sayid said. “I expended most of my vials last evening, and without an iron cauldron to properly clean them, everything I try to replace will end up contaminated. It will be some time before I’d be ready to make another move. If I can survive the night.”
Jay nodded to his insight, but paused halfway through, a thought suddenly occurring to him. One that would do everything they needed. Would it really be so simple…?
He immediately opened the Guide in search of answers, frantically flipping through the Lexicon for something more to latch onto.
“What was the name of that potion you were getting drunk off of?” Jay asked.
Sayid blinked, seeing his tone shift. “You mean ‘Strangler’s Poison’?”
“Yeah, that one. How hard would it be to make more?”
“It is not the most complex of recipes.” He studied him suspiciously. “Why do you ask?”
Jay only grinned.
“Because the boot tormenting us is about to stomp right on a nail.”
Name: Jay Reis (Copper Age)
Vitality – 99/99
Hunger – 42/72
Thirst – 9/24
Fatigue – 21/48
Sanity – 106/110
Main Crafts: Alchemy 2, Armor Crafting 2, Base Building 3, Cooking 2, Jewelry 2, Medicine 2, Tailoring 2, Tool Crafting 3, Tinkering 1, Vehicles 1, Weapon Crafting 2.
Weapon Crafts: Axes 5, Bows 9, Clubs 5, Daggers 5, Spears 5, Swords 11.
Armor Crafts: Heavy Armor 5, Light Armor 5, Medium Armor 8, Shields 6.
Sub-Crafts: Curved Swords 5.
Character Skills:
[Forbidden Knowledge]
Armor Skills:
Heavy Armor: [Push], [Stampede]
Medium Armor: [Recover], [Leap], [Waterform], [Quickstep]
Light Armor: [Dash], [Feather Fall]
Shield: [Brace], [Track], [Break]
Weapon Skills:
Axes: [Chop], [Whirlwind]
Bows: [Sharpshooter], [Longshot], [Scattershot Arrow]
Clubs: [Bash], [Paralyze]
Daggers: [Slice], [Flourish]
Spears: [Thrust], [Sweep]
Swords: [Power Attack], [Slash], [Rend], [Shirk], [Violent Storm]
Armor:
[Copperplated Hat+3] (Nightmarish+5), (Buttressed+2), (Hardened+2), (Reinforced+1)
[Copperplated Leggings+3] (Nightmarish+6), (Buttressed+2), (Hardened+2), (Reinforced+1)
[Copperplated Shoes+2] (Nightmarish+3), (Buttressed+2), (Hardened+1), (Reinforced)
[Copperplated Gloves+1] (Nightmarish+2), (Buttressed+2), (Hardened+1), (Reinforced)
[Silver Ring]: Socketed with [Chipped Spinel] (Vitus)
[Silver Ring]: Socketed with [Chipped Spinel] (Vitus)
Weapons:
[Copper Scimitar+6] (Nightmarish+8), (Sharpened+4), (Hardened+4), (Reinforced+2), (Stable+2)
[Treated Bow+1] (Hardened+1): Socketed with [Chipped Ruby] (Ignis)
[Basic Leather Quiver]: Contains 17 [Silver-tipped Arrows] (Elemental+2), (Stability+3) and 3 [Scattershot Arrows] (Elemental+2), (Stability+4)
Tools:
[Copper Knife+3]
[Copper Axe+3]
[Copper Hammer+3]
[Copper Pickaxe+3]
[Copper Shovel+3]
[Basic Grappling Hook]
Boons:
[Minor (Speed)] (x3), [Minor (Sanity)]