It took E4 all of five minutes to get dressed in a spare maid outfit that Marissa just happened to have on hand. By an even greater coincidence it was not a size too small, but fit perfectly. The fine material was further augmented with leather in places that were liable to be struck. The black dress went down just below her knees, matching nicely with the short black boots and contrasting with the white stockings which bore additional padding on the knees. Her apron was of a durable white material with dozens of pockets which seemed larger on the inside than the outside. A new medical satchel made from durable canvas fit around her shoulder nicely, as did a bandoleer for her crossbow.
“Mistress, if you already had this, why did you bring me the other one when I awoke?” E4 asked as she met with Marissa in the kitchen. Rather than staying in the guild hall she had been shown to a house nearby that Marcus and Marissa had rented. It was a smaller place, but was also private. The entire house had a living room, kitchen, four bed rooms, and a war room with numerous maps and cork boards. There was also a cellar with built in panic room. The whole thing was made from stone and steel, with countless Aetheric based technologies. Marissa was currently making use of the oven and the sink, both powered by Aether rather than traditional means such as wood or a hand pump.
Marissa looked up from where she was frying up some zucchini and bread crums. “Well,” She looked very guilty as she shot a glance to her brother who immediately went back to the dozen of maps on the table. “I’ve got a few maid outfits, but I’ve never gotten any of the maids to wear them. It took me months to get one to wear something that short and snug.”
“And I can’t imagine why.” E4 replied, placing her hands on the rather large window in her blouse. That and the slit up the side of the dress made up the expected perversions to modesty, though at least the slit had a practical purpose. “Thank you for the undershirt Marcus, that was very thoughtful.”
“That was Marissa, I had no part in that outfit.”
“I figured, maybe you’d go for it maybe not.” Marissa explained quickly. “There’s a mesh over it so it’s not like you’re going to catch a spine through it. Either way, it’s a nice dress, no need to waste it. The dress and undershirt are both tier 1, so you don’t have to worry about getting stabbed too much.
“It’s got the feel of it, though it still feels too soft to turn a blow.”
“That’s because you’re tier 1. It’s moving with you. If you tried to wear tier 2 stuff, or you tried putting tier 1 stuff on a Myst Folk it would be like trying to walk in a suit of stiffened leather. We can get you a set of leather armor, or even chain armor if you really want, but I usually don’t go heavier than a breastplate and a thick coat.”
“Is it because armor is too heavy?” E4 asked. “Back on Earth I usually had a bullet proof vest or something unless I was in a secure hospital.” She bit her tongue back so she didn’t blurt out it was the or something she wore most often.
“That and our tenacity. A high tenacity makes your skin as tough as the best leather, but it also affects your clothing. A high tenacity regulator in silk is tougher than a low tenacity regulator in steel.” Marcus explained. He reached into his bag and pulled out a few materials. “Some materials will elevate your tenacity, but at the cost of your might and speed. 10 charge lead is some of the heaviest stuff around, a suit of armor with it will drain away 5 points of speed but grant 10 in tenacity.
“Sounds very abstract, like the statistics of the armor have more to do with who’s wearing it than what it’s actually made from.”
“Once you get your head wrapped around it, it’s ok.” Marcus replied.
“Do I smell corn bread” Marissa asked, shortly before Imnad and Vienna stepped into the dining room.
“Family recipe, y’all… are we ready for the planning meeting?” Imnad quickly corrected himself. His wife nudged him gently. E4 immediately noticed both were armed, and while Imnad continued to wear tan his wife had changed into a cerulean dress with a cresting wave pattern. Hundreds of small beads seemed worked into the material, and she could practically feel the restrained Aether ready to be released from the outfit.
The two teams quickly set up, spreading the dishes they had brought and going over the maps and figures. The city was well documented and mostly orderly, yet the mountain plans were a confusing maze and the forests were covered in splotches of color. “Later, eat first. Can’t plot on an empty stomach.” Imnad chided.
Immediately they dug in. E4 found herself starting with a huge helping of mashed potatoes, and within a few bites she felt the healing hands skill slip right back into her mind, like remembering the name of a song that had been playing nonstop through her head for the last few days. This was followed by cornbread, which while charged did not provide a skill, as well as some manner of fish that reminded E4 of swordfish but was a bit tougher and crunched slightly when chewed With every crunch the herbs, something a bit like orange but not quite as strong, exploded against her tongue. As she did she felt… unfulfilled. It was similar to eating a low calorie version of a snack, it tasted almost right but she knew there was something better that was more filling. As a ravager with a caloric requirement half again a human’s and subversion that cast from calories E4 rarely ate the low calorie version of anything. She quickly finished the dish, and immediately her eyes sought out more.
“That didn’t last long, you sure you’re not part kobold E4?” Marissa teased. “Vienna, looks like you’ve got competitions for seconds.”
“What, you think just because I’m a kobold I love wave-scale?” Vienna asked, as she helped her to the last piece of the fish. E4 tried to move on to the next dish, a complex looking salad Vienna had brought, but her ravager eye involuntarily watched as Vienna took her first bite. “I mean, I love wave-scale, but not because I’m a kobold.”
“Dear, you once got into a bidding war with Ophelia over a single cut of the fish. How many hundred coin did you end up spending?”
“None, she won it. I’m not going to spend two thousand coin over one cut of fish, even if it is 300 charge.”
“That sounds delicious.” E4 replied. Even as she spoke she felt the Myst shift a bit in how her body absorbed it. She could almost see scales covering her skin. “Is this fish addictive?”
“The way my wife and Ophelia the druid fight over it you’d think, but it’s not. Apparently it’s just a kobold delicacy. Wavescale tend to give buffs involving water and defense, sometimes they even let you breathe water for a bit. If you get a skill from them it would probably involve tenacity, speed, or water breathing.” Imnad paused. “when you ate that, did you feel a sense of fulfillment, like you needed more but the piece you got wasn’t going to cut it?”
“Something like that.”
“Oh you poor soul.” Vienna shook her head. “You just found one of the reagents you need to get recharged, and it’s one of the most expensive ones there is. Admittedly it’s good, it improved my rain dancer skill to the flood dancer skill. The ability to move through water like air while also being able to breathe under water are niche but undeniably useful. It also expanded my aether shaping. I’m looking forwards to getting some high charge bladescale so I can get the abyss dancer skill for tier 3. Not sure how high the charge has to be, but I’m guessing it’s going to be rare.”
“And cost a mint.” Marcus replied.
“That sounds amazing. Are there a lot of under water creatures of The Myst?” E4 asked. “For a place called the distant shores we’ve faced very little in the way of beaches.” She shot a look at Marissa, “Despite my mistress’s… proclivities.”
“Oh really?” Marissa adopted a lecherous grin. “Well I know where we’re going next.”
“Sister, behave. You can be a deviant later, and E4 please don’t get my sister started when we’re trying to work.”
While their meal settled they gathered around the maps and details Imnad had found.
“I managed to fast talk Kindred into letting me take a look at the book he got. While I can’t approve of stealing it, if he were to misplace it I wouldn’t be opposed to passing Sketch a hefty purse of coin for it.” He moved a set of papers from the side to the center of the table. A well illustrated image of a human deep in the grips of the Wu-cog fungus. Blue fibers seemed to stretch off the man like fur, his eyes were glazed over and his teeth twisted into a beak like growth. Beside the image was a description of the disease, the patterns of those infected, and how to fight them.
“I half expected the treatment to be kill it with fire,” E4 commented, “but the treatment of critical persons is surprisingly lax for Mundo, a solid 50 coin for an essential worker or 500 for a political official, he must have been feeling generous. There’s even a payment plan for recouping investment, he must be feeling very confident.”
“E4, that’s a twentieth of their income. That would be a lean year for even one Myst folk, let alone if both parents and the children got sick.” Marissa snapped.
“Marissa, the children aren’t essential, they wouldn’t be included.” E4 replied. For a moment Marissa just glared at E4. “Don’t blame me, I’m not the one who came up with this plan. By the time this sort of stuff was being published officially I was already on the outs with the Purifiers.” She turned to Imnad. “I’m honestly a bit surprised he let you copy this.”
“Well… he didn’t really let me copy it. I might have dropped by for tea and made a quick copy while he was busy with something.” Imnad replied. “His office was very orderly, it only took a few moments to find the book and take a few pictures.” He gestured towards a wood and gold tablet with several gears and unknown mechanisms literally bolted on. One of those sections appeared to be a printer, which was even then running its way through a piece of paper and transcribing some notes. “He had this and one other section bookmarked.” He moved to another few pages, and E4 quickly noted the horned humanoid that crouched over a human body. “Look familiar?”
E4 took one look at the ravager and every hair on her head stood at attention. The face looking back at her was a mask of scar tissue, with one ravager eye swollen large and one human eye receded deep into its skull. Its maw was elongated, chitinous material forming a bestial muzzle that stretched out from a mouth frozen in a permanent scream. Six elongated fingers, each possessing an extra joint and a long claw beyond, stretched from each of the hands with one hand reaching towards the viewer. The figure was crouched over a human corpse that E4 noted wore a Bleeding Heart shirt, her red hair long and splayed around her body even as her one purple eye stared lifelessly at the sky. Yet the clincher was the rack of horns, bearing 64 points. She immediately started hyperventilating, having to get up and begin pacing.
“E4, what is it?”
“Crazy.” E4 gasped out. “That man put in an illustration of Crazy.” E4 took a deep breath and tried to sit down, but her eyes immediately went back to the page and she got back up. “I’m sorry, I need a minute.” She immediately ran to the bathroom and turned on the tap in the tub. Lightning poured from her hand as she powered the pumps, leaving a faint burn on the metal even as water flooded in. Immediately E4 plunged her head into the water and let out a scream. That scream quickly turned into sobbing, which continued for a good five minutes as her isopod created stress hormones faster than her eyes could carry them out.
[[Hold on, I’m going to try to override that, give me a bit- Red Queen]]. Within her isopod several memories were going berserk, and it was no wonder. Ravagers acted as if they were a step above humans on the food chain, so one would have to be desperate to attack one without overwhelming force, and crazy to do so for food.
Yet a ravager with that many horns was always hungry.
Breathing water forced E4 to focus. All ravagers could breathe water, but it was not as easy as breathing air. The human brain was designed for air, and while the isopod could replace much within the brain it didn’t replace the dive reflex for some reason. A ravager had to intentionally breathe under water. Sleeping under water was possible, but falling asleep under water was something most ravagers never learned. Being forced to breathe manually forced E4 not to think about the horrific predator for a few minutes, and the plentiful water helped E4 wash away the chemicals her isopod insisted on creating. Finally she stood up and with a gesture the water flowed off her and back into the tub where it drained away. Taking a deep breath she walked back into the dining room where Marcus and Imnad were in deep discussion on which location within the forest was the best to lay an ambush.
“I think if we had the Purifiers dig in here we could lead the bugs right to them. I’ve run a few tests in the forest and they seem to like a strange combination of copper salts and sugar.”
“I don’t like trusting them with something that important. Especially now that their leader tried to lobotomize both E4 and one of Stone-Weaver’s muses.” Marcus replied. “His people have violated the Right of Sanctuary right in front of two Stone Guards. Stone-Weaver hasn’t brought him to heel, which gives me a bad feeling.” He looked up to E4, “Did you dip your head in the sink?” E4 gave him a confused look, before realizing she had forgotten to dry her clothes. With a gesture the water seemed to leap off of her and dive into the sink. “Did you learn water shaping while you were asleep?”
“Did not this mistress tell you the dao of Darwin was a path to great powers?” Vienna added with a smile. “For falling asleep in the bath she was given the power of water shaping.”
“That wasn’t shaping, that was telekinesis.” Imnad replied with a shake of his head. “A useful parlor trick, but far weaker than true shaping. Back to the matter at hand, they are still Myst Folk and thus will fight the Creatures of The Myst. Even if Kindred ordered them to fire upon us, between us and the creatures, they would shoot the creatures.”
E4 held her tongue, but in one hand she kindled a small flame and took comfort in the fact it did not burn her.
“According to what the Purifiers have been reporting, this disease isn’t acting like a true disease. It almost looks like it’s being guided. It started here,” Imnad pointed to a section of the map, “and spread out from there. See how it followed the trade routes, as if it was targeting them.”
“Mind if I take a look at the reports?” E4 asked. “It’s been a while since I’ve studied epidemiology.” Imnad handed her a packet of papers and she immediately dug in.
“So, how many Stone Guard are we going to be using?” Marcus asked.
“We’re going to be using a contingent of 20 Stone Guard and 80 Purifiers. I told Kindred that was a ludicrous amount of force, but he insisted this plague must be stemmed. He did state that he wanted 20 of those Purifiers to go here first,” He pointed towards a small pool on the map, “then meet up with the remaining force.”
“That’s a ravager pool. I’d leave it alone, attacking it won’t end well.” E4 commented. She stared at the page, then turned to another, then skipped two. Data flowed into her head and she felt her isopod vibrate as it absorbed, sorted, and discarded data. She felt her heart pick up the pace as her isopod doubled its caloric intake, and somewhere in Marissa’s room her crossbow and staff began to resonate with her. She quickly stood up to fetch them, and got back to work.
“This mistress applauds your preparation Marissa, most regulators touch not the mesh and bonded items until second tier, yet you equip your maid so thoroughly. Do you also have such treasures? I did not know the Eagle-Wood family had enough rail-steel to facilitate such.”
“We don’t.”
E4 noted that down as she went through the papers. The Hymn supplied her with data even as she read. Mistakes were noted and with a flick of her fingers a pen of bone and blood appeared and she began to make notes. Stacks vanished and within moments she had her answer.
“Here.” E4 replied, pointing and circling in blood a part of the forest. “It’s coming from here.”
“That’s a bold claim.” Imnad stated.
“Hmmm, this mistress is intrigued, would you like to place a wager on that?” Vienna asked. “Perhaps, 20 coin? Did you really read these reports,” She gestured and the papers were flung this way and that before returning to her hand, “Or just skim?”
“I have the Psychic innate skill, and it manifests as object reading. Just by touching the papers I can tell what’s on them, and The Hymn whispers the errors and duplicates in my ears.” E4 replied. “Wish I had that in college, but that’s beside the point. Look.” She pointed out the map. “They followed this supply route. If you read the reports closely you see a pattern. Look how much wood and steel they’re carrying out here. I’ll repeat, they are moving wood to this area, despite the fact the swamp has lots of wood, not from it. Why?”
“Maybe they’re making a new mill, a place to manufacture wood out here. Logs are heavy.” Imnad replied. “I’ve seen how much work goes into making finished processes. If you can get an energy source… you think they found a source of Aether out here? That they have a blessed or a cursed?”
“The Witch of Wu-cog was a mine foreman, and he knew his stuff. He knew how to push his men, and how to fudge reports. I saw one of his earlier lairs, built before he had the perfect strains of fungus to drive his men to near fanatical states. Even as a young man he was ambitious, leading three separate mines into creating unions before turning to the dark side and crushing them instead. Marissa, you said that young blessed don’t have the same problem of attracting tougher monsters that adult do right?”
“Yeah, Marcus and I slew monsters as part of our chores but it was never anything more than a few goblins.”
“What if a young Blessed showed up, could they be given a junior foreman title and sent to a remote village to keep it secure, especially if there was a rare resource there?”
“Wouldn’t work.” Imnad replied. “The best and most Myst laden resources can’t form in places where aether abounds. There are hunting grounds and mines we can only visit every few months because otherwise it won’t regenerate. A few are only opened once a year, though going there for anyone lower than tier 4 is a death sentence.”
“The Great Maw!” Vienna exclaimed. “Remember when that was found? A giant pit that had once been a lost kobold city.”
“I remember that… from a journal my grandfather wrote.” Marissa replied, drawing a knowing look from both of the Marked family. “We, I mean Marcus and Mason, went there years ago. A lost city that had been missing for 20 years, that’s actually where we… they got the Myst dense parts to create and the riches to fund the creation of the teleportation device.”
“There were so many resources there it took nearly three years to gather it, the most powerful regulators cycled out only long enough for the Creatures of The Myst to lose their scent before bouncing back. Some of the safer areas were safe enough for first tier but had resources equivalent to second tier.” Marcus added. “My knitting needles are made from Myst iron from there. So you’re thinking they found some lost city and Stone-Weaver wants to keep all the treasure?”
E4 made a gesture and closed her eyes. She rolled her die, and with a final gesture pulled a pair of papers from the pile. As she opened her eyes she didn’t need to look to know she rolled a 20.
“Eight pieces of black basalt, personally carved by Lord Gerric Stone-Weaver, eight hundred kilograms of fine sawdust and eight boxes of ironwood, all signed for by one Co’ic Le’ort.” She waited for the recognition to hit, but it didn’t.
“That’s quite the investment, what were they shipping back?” Imnad asked.
“That, I haven’t found anything being shipped back. Maybe it just wasn’t reported?” E4 peered through the papers again, rolled her bone die, but it came up a 1 and the hymn was silent, save for the fact something was burning. “Did we leave something in the oven?”
“The Pie!” Vienna exclaimed, quickly fetching it without regards to the fact it was in the oven and she had no gloves. E4 quickly saw it was a shoo-fly pie, and her mouth already began to water. Vienna quickly cut the pie and each of them had a piece.
“This is delicious Vienna, I haven’t had this in a long time with the rationing. Did you make it?” E4 asked.
“Imnad did, when it comes to sugary treats he’s got quite the sweet tooth.”
“Don’t y’all go spillin’… That is not a story I wish to share here.” Imnad replied. “Regardless, this pie was made with Aetheric sugar. When you’re collecting resources you always find a bit more with a good pie in your stomach. I knew the chance to gather some resources might come up, but if this is a lost city we’re visiting it’s a good thing to have.”
“Sounds like a plan.” E4 replied, taking a second piece. As she bit into it she felt something crunch, and felt a rush of chemicals go down her throat. It took her half a second to recognize the beta-lactams and pseudo-opioids within. “What the, it’s infested!”
“That’s impossible,” Imnad said, just as a fuzzy blue grasshopper dropped from the ceiling and immediately burrowed into the pie. As one the regulators looked up, to a ceiling blue and squirming.
“Marissa,” Immediately Marissa had a dozen tiny vials flying into the air, and they all burst into sapphire Aetheric flames. “Time to go!
E4 was already half way to the door before a stink bug the size of a sedan stuck its head in the door. The wicked ice pick that was its mouth-part rose up waiting to stab her. For just a moment she paused, her mind deceiving her that before her stood Kindred with his ice pick. Yet isopods have no time for trauma, and within another moment seven cuts had severed the mouth-part and another seven stabbed the air where Kindred’s face had appeared. From her outstretched hand bio-lightning fell like rain upon the creature. Behind it a trio more pressed forwards, until with a gesture three bolts burst forth to strike two in the head and one in the shell. The two dead ones immediately began to evaporate, but worse was the fate for the survivor. As its muscles seized from the electricity E4 stepped to it and severed its spine before setting it alight with a spark of Aether.
She was the first one out, but Vienna practically dragged Imnad out with Marcus and Marissa close behind. The moment she was out the door Marissa threw something into the building and the entire structure was engulfed in cyan blue flames.
“Something tells me we’re not getting out deposit back.” Marissa quipped.
“We have bigger problems, Everyone down!” E4 hit the dirt just as a blunderbuss shot took the head off a fungus covered mantis. To her surprise the creature remained standing, its arms stretched out and slashed where she had been. With a gesture she blasted it with a bolt of bio-lightning and felt the energy finally drain from her arm.
[[Four shots from a single use where once we received one, this is unexpected but most welcome. Do you think it scales with one of your MIST scores or is it a skill you have acquired? I’m borrowing the Wise Mind- Red Queen]]
“Looks like The Myst doesn’t want us getting fat off such a large meal.” E4 quipped.
“That’s the Regulator diet.” Marissa replied, firing off a burst of lightning at the nearest bug before slamming a colorful liquid filled bulb where her usual vacuum tubes would go. What burst forth from her gun was not lightning, nor was it fire, but somehow the reverse of both. It was dark and for a moment E4 thought she had gone deaf. Yet the trio of spidery insects the size of German Shepherds were immediately reduced from flesh to ash, and then to Aether. “Might as well eat well every meal, you’re either going to be dead or burn it off within a few days.”
Without a word Vienna took off, leaping to the roof of a building, then another, then a third with such alacracy that the only sign of her passage was the burst of wind and the after images E4’s eyes barely caught. Yet in the distance she could see what she was running towards.
In the distance dozens of dragonflies, each the size of a school bus, were dropping off bugs as if they were helicopters. They didn’t have to go far for more troops, it seemed they flew over the wall, dropped a large bug or a few smaller, then landed just on the outside of the wall. Immediately the bugs began rampaging through the streets. The smaller ones went into homes seeking food and prey, the bigger ones simply smashed holes into the homes, or tried. The stone walls were sufficient to resist a few blows, but an oversize stag beetle forced its way into a house before E4’s eyes, even at the cost of its horn.
“Devil’s Handkerchief, who taught those bugs mixed air tactics? Marissa, Vienna, bring down those fliers! Imnad and E4, Groud patrol!” Marcus shouted, raising his blunderbuss and firing. Immediately E4 felt herself lunge for the nearest bug, a horrific mixture of ladybug and tiger beetle with mandibles that were currently chewing through a door that the Myst Folk family behind it were desperately holding closed. She felt the jolt of whatever skill Marcus used give her an extra push, and as she slashed into the creature her blade went through the armor as if it was barely even there. Immediately she had her crossbow in her arms and bolts flying through the air. Each bolt found its target, the crossbow correcting for her movement and the bolts twisting in air before delivering a deadly payload. Ravager toxin ravaged the insects’ primitive nervous system, shutting off pain before lulling them to sleep, and then converting the Myst that made up their nervous system into Aether. Every bolt neutralized its target, but it was a target rich enviroment.
A scream caught her attention, and before her eyes a pair of cockroaches with razor claws darted into a house. Without a thought E4 had her crossbow up and a hail of bolts were in the air, each one striking a different cockroach. Immediately three went down, their bodies already beginning to dissolve away, while the other two kept going unaware of the malicious toxin already ripping them apart. “Marcus! They’re going after the folk!”
“Leave them R4, if we don’t kill these things there won’t be any folk left to save. This is an emergency, we have to move! Push forth!”
For a moment E4 felt The Hymn driving her forwards. She began to run, before a phrase dropped from her lips. “There are no emergencies in a pandemic.” Her perfect position fired and she seemed to appear at the door of the house the insects had broken into even as she dropped a coin into her crossbow. “Get down!” She yelled, Her eyes locking on vital nerve clusters even as the bolts took flight. Each one sank directly into its target, releasing a toxic payload where it would do the most damage. Each of the bugs dropped like a puppet with their strings cut. “Are you alright?”
“We’re fine miss,” One of the Myst folk, an elderly man with gray hair spoke up, two children behind him.
“Run, find somewhere to hide.” E4 stepped back into the street, and already she could see more of the infected bugs trying to break into the other houses.
“Regulator!” E4 turned to see Missy charging forwards on a horit, the bird looked decked out for war and its long pointed beak sported a metal blade that attached to a helmet to protect its head. “Leave these bugs to us, help your fellows.” With a gesture she charged another bug, this one a hornet the size of a motorcycle that was trying to chew its way into a house through the roof. Her right arm turned into a long stone lance, and with a deadly thrust she speared the thing through the abdomen, before jumping from her mount and laying into it with a stone fist.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
“E4 what are you,” E4 leapt, exerting ATP to boost her speed even as she felt her perfect position pull her, and in a single moment she was before Marcus. He stumbled backwards, and almost caught a claw from another mantis for his distraction. At the last moment his blunderbuss seemed to twitch in his hands and blast the thing’s arm free from its mooring. “Let the Stone Guard protect the Myst Folk. If we don’t stem the tide they’re going to get overrun.”
“If we cannot protect those before us,”
“Would a surgeon treat a scuffed knee or leave that to a nurse to deal with a stroke?”
The rebuke left E4 reeling, only for an oversize tiger beetle to slam into her, its oversized jaws worrying her dress. Immediately she thrust 14 claws into each of its enormous eyes and gave a quick twist, removing two perfect cylinders of flesh and fungi. Immediately flickering green flames engulfed her hands, sterilizing them. No sooner had she freed herself from the first beetle four more arrived.
“Duck!” E4 dropped to the ground just moments before Marcus spun around with his sword, aether lengthening the blade and striking the four beetles.
“Nice great cleave.”
“Yeah,” Marcus eyed the descending dragonfly carrying eight more of the beetles. At that exact moment a bolt of lightning worse than anything E4 had ever seen descended, not upon the dragonfly, but where Marissa knelt aiming her zap rifle. For a moment time stood still, before the bolt shot forth and speared the dragonfly before jumping to a second, and then a third. The crack of thunder blew E4 right over, and only a combination of telekinesis and perfect position let her land on her feet. Blinking the spots away she saw Marissa, her hair fluffed out from the static electricity and a section of her zap rifle actively melting away, kneeling in a circle of rapidly evaporating materials. Behind her, arms outstretched, Vienna stood without a hair out of place but with a wicked smile plastered on her face.
“Aether Shaping rocks!” Marissa yelled, the front section of her rifle flying off as she gave her rifle a shake and landing with a splat. “Let’s do that again!”
The high buzz of more dragonflies echoed through the sky as the infected bugs descended. Each dragonfly was smaller than before, but far faster. Immediately ranged weapons were out, with Vienna utilizing throwing daggers that arced lightning in a way not dissimilar to E4’s own Bio-lightning. Suddenly she stopped. “Get to cover!”
E4 fired one last time, and suffered for it. A needle fine hair dropped from the sky, striking her with the force of a bullet and slipping right through her arm. For just a moment she felt a razor shoot through her muscles before the ravager toxin stole the pain away. Sending a burst of metabolic fire into the wound ensured no fungi would grow, and to E4’s surprise the flame didn’t hurt a bit. It felt more like the jets of a very warm hot tub as the lambent flames agitated the surrounding flesh.
[[This is your reminder you have a skill that specifically mentions your own fire doesn’t hurt you. Also you might want to seek cover, tarantulas shed.]] Immediately E4 became aware of the pair of eight legged shadow currently dropping hairs like shrapnel. Marcus was already running for cover, while Vienna was projecting an electrical field above herself and Marissa as she casually strolled beneath a roof. E4 dashed over to Marcus, a bit of telekinesis pushing any hairs she might encounter away from her.
“Vienna, can you get up there?” Marcus asked. His voice was only slightly louder than normal, but E4 could see Vienna look to him. “That thing is going to crop dust the entire city if we don’t stop it. If those hairs have the fungus on them we could have a massive infection.”
“They do.” E4 added. “The Purifiers will try to burn every house it touched, and likely the people too. We need to bring it down fast.” Marcus shot her a cautionary look. “Wu-cog fungi suppresses pain, but it doesn’t do much against swelling. That dragonfly’s wings have to be about ready to break, especially carrying that spider.
“Say no more.” Vienna replied, her voice barely audible before she leapt high into the air, end descended upon the dragonfly with a bolt of lightning highlighting her trail. E4 covered her ears mere moments before the crack of thunder resounded with enough force to shake the windows of the building she huddled beneath. She watched as the dragonfly dipped slightly, but kept on flying. As she watched a shudder ran down E4’s spine.
“Marcus, how big do you think that is? If Vienna is 180 centimeters tall, my math says,”
“Over 30 meters long.”
“How? Dragonflies don’t have lungs, they rely on their small size to breathe. That thing shouldn’t be able to get enough air to survive, let alone fly.”
“It’s from Terra.” Imnad explained, running over to them. “The air is thicker over there, things grow bigger. In The Mysts that takes new heights. Where Earth has Leviathan and Helosbird1 Terra is full of giant bugs and dinosaurs that speak the human language. What is not real there is real here.”
“Is it a Myth, or is it The Myst?” E4 and Marcus replied in unison.
“We have to get up there and help her.” E4 spoke first.
“Vienna can handle herself, we have to focus on the bugs down here.” Imnad replied. As if to prove his point a dozen grasshoppers dropped down from the wall. Immediately he leveled a revolver and blew two of them apart with a single shot. The remaining ten immediately pounced on him and the fight was on.
Marissa fought with a dagger and pistol, while Marcus waded in with his katana. E4’s blades reaped their tithe of infected flesh, but it was Imnad’s bade that truly took its toll. The man moved with calculated steps, always just out of reach of a bite or a kick, while his own blade cut with a butcher’s precision on exposed legs and eyes, spearing through gaps in chitin as if they were laid before him on a chopping block. While E4’s surgeon’s precision had similar effects, when a sudden movement might spoil E4’s strike Imnad’s bade punched through armor like it was tinfoil.
[[I get the feeling he’s attacking like that for practice. He could punch through that armor easy, and that blade of his is putting off a lot of energy.]] E4 ducked under a bite, only for a thrust from Imnad to turn the offending locust into a cross section, the fungus exploding into a cloud of spores that set Marcus to coughing. As if on cue Marissa started to cough. [[Caution: these insects are producing far more spores than normal- Red Queen]]
“Spore carriers! Masks on!” E4 called out, a minor telekinetic field keeping her from breathing in the pollutants. With a gesture she wove together strands of flesh and hair into a mask which she quickly affixed to her face. Almost on instinct it began to grow into a beaked shape full of filters and membranes that kept out the fungus. She began creating another, but even as she began she saw each of her companions had their own methods. Marcus immediately retrieved the mask E4 had given him, stretching it over his face even as he slashed his way through a creature combining the worst traits of a cockroach and a stink bug. Marissa smashed a flask on the ground, and now a cloud of vapor surrounded her and shimmered slightly as it burned away the spores. Imnad’s strategy was the simplest, he had already evacuated from the cloud and slain the half dozen reinforcements that were attempting to join the fight.
“Imnad’s right, we’re needed here. Leave the dragonfly and spider to Vienna.” Marcus spoke up.
E4 shook her head but didn’t argue. Half a dozen ants the size of house cats and almost as fuzzy marched in unison from around a corner. Exerting ATP she charged them, only to realize they were the first of nearly a hundred of the bugs.
[[No one’s watching. Burn them all!]] With the encouragement E4 clicked her claws and twin plumes of metabolic flame appeared in her hands. Throwing the flames as if they were water baloons each plume splashed down and burst into a crackling bonfire, igniting every insect it touched. Antenna and fingal hyphae burned first, before the rest of the ant. The first few popped as their insides expanded faster than their shells could handle. Under her breath E4 chittered, guiding the resonant flames. To E4’s surprise the second row of ants turned and tried to run, only for the third row to continue the crush. As she stepped forwards, splashing more fire before her the second row perished and the third row took but a few scurrying steps before repeating the process. “Go forth!” E4 chittered, throwing another plume of fire with an exaggerated swing. Immediately her arm tingled like it was falling asleep, before the plume splashed in a flood of flames. Immediately everything within several meters of the point of impact were engulfed metabolic flames, including her. [[Interesting, all that from a single unit of ATP, we have yet to see this level of efficiency.]] E4 froze, checking herself over. [[Note: you have a skill that reduces all fire damage and negates the damage of your own fire. ]] All around her the ant horde was ruined, save a few who now retreated as if their shells were on fire. Curiously, this group had only lost their fungal coating and were not actually still burning.
“I’m alive, I’m alive.” E4 took a deep breath. She eyed the retreating insects, then looked for more threats. “Red, what was that? Metabolic fire used to give a few shots per ATP, what was that? I don’t remember getting a skill for AoE damage.”
[[Analysis: The Myst is interfering. Metabolic fire normally is a utility for sterilizing tools, creating light, and destroying infected bodies. It has been observed acting as a ranged weapon with limited spread.]] E4 dropped an ATP into the Wise Mind and it began to hum softly. With a gesture she called forth more metabolic fire, before a devious idea came to mind. Compressing it heavily she felt something flow from her to it. While ATP is usually used in units, what exactly a unit entails was never something the Bleeding Hearts were able to define. [[A continuous glucose monitor has shown some efficacy in measuring the effects of subversion use. Odds of finding one at this stage are…]]
“Slim to none.” E4 shook her head, tapping her horns as she broke into a run. “You’re in the middle of combat, head in the game.”
[[Yes, your Intellect is only 14, perhaps 20 would allow you to contemplate and fight at the same time. Have you figured out how you are going to get up to the dragonfly?]]
“Well first,”
“Stop, what are you doing?” A voice cried. E4 looked over to see a woman crouching over a man, perhaps her husband or brother.
“He is infected and must be burned.” The purifier’s gleaming copper mask prevented E4 from seeing the look on his face, and the mask flattened his voice to an authoritarian certainty. Yet her bias told her he was smiling beneath.
“Hey, hold up!” E4 did not lunge so much as appear behind the man just as a burst of flames shot from the flamethrower. With a quick twist she cut off the flow of fuel, causing his weapon to flare before going out. “What do you think you are doing?”
“What you lack the will to do. They are infected. “You carry flames, but you do not use them where they will do the most good.” E4 noticed the lambent green flames still clinging to her arm, waiting patiently as if it were napping upon a slow burning log.
E4 sighed and approached the shivering pair. She examined both, and found the man had sustained a hair through the leg. Opening her healer’s kit she retrieved a fluconazole tablet, which “happened” to be sitting right on top, and popped it into the man’s mouth. “Bite this.” She shoved a stick into his mouth and he bit down just before a bit of the flames on her arm shot through the wound, eliciting a mighty scream. A shot of healing hands closed the wound, and she felt the cauterization actually reverse as Surgical precision did its work. “Take shelter for now, see the healer tomorrow to get checked out. If you notice unusual swelling or veins appearing go immediately, got it?” She tapped the man on the shoulder. “Now go before this pyromaniac changes his mind.” With that they were gone. “And with that I’m out of time.”
“Halt. You are under arrest for,”
“Got to go, in case you haven’t noticed we’re under seige.” E4 replied, already out of range of his flamethrower. “Remember, shoot the things with MORE than two legs”
Into the fray E4 threw herself, coming across more and more swarms. She practiced with bio-lightning, claws, and metabolic fire. The fire worked best on lots of small creatures in a large area, as she found when her first fireball washed an entire courtyard clear of mosquitoes the size of rats. It worked less well against the pair of fungus ridden beetles that somehow managed to have two heads and the beaks of snapping turtles. Spending an entire point of ATP on a single compressed ball of metabolic fire sent one flying back, while the other managed to duck and catch it on its shell. A single stab from her claws into a joint between its leg and body discouraged it from getting up while she took the other beetle apart, and the ravager toxin that flowed through its body both kept it down and broke down its Myst based nervous system enough that two quick stabs into appropriate nervous clusters killed it. Yet while it was expensive E4 found bio-lightning was the most effective, as she blew the chest out of a praying mantis and sent its still smoking head tumbling to the ground. The more she used it the easier it got, until she could blast four bolts at four separate targets and hit them reliably using the same hand. Using both hands was, tricky.
“Power, Unlimited power!” She yelled as bio-lightning slew dozens of infected insects.
[[Notice: ATP usage indicates high levels of inefficiencies. Have you considered simply stepping on them?]] E4 paused as the aether faded, leaving only half disintegrated chunks of the previously chinchilla sized insects. [[Estimations indicate your claws would be more efficient, and metabolic fire has already showed fine effect against small enemies. I acknowledge lightning is excellent in presentation. Now you just need a cape and a wrinkled mask.]]
“Yeah, that took an entire unit of ATP.” E4 caught a bug trying to creep up on her, and with a throw that would make her old softball coach proud nailed it with a ball of metabolic fire. The sphere splashed, igniting everything within 9 meters which included two other stalking bugs which had previously be invisible. The previously invisible bugs, an abhorrent blend of mantis and grasshopper both lunged, their forms illuminated by green flames. E4 threw herself past them, a quick telekinetic push throwing her under their blades just as her claws struck their joints. She felt when one of them lost a leg, and both began resonating from the ravager toxin. Throwing herself into a twirl she let her tail lash the thorax of one while also placing it between her and the other one.
As she danced around a claw strike and slashed at the offending member E4 ducked under a strike, only to realize it was herself. The mantis creatures had incredibly iridescent scales, yet as it moved and twisted they seemed to reflect the light like a mirror. Hopping to the side she lashed out, only for her claws to be met with a matching telekinetic force. Leaping over the mantis she slashed at its back, managing to catch a section of scales still covered in the fungus and leaving a deep wound, only for the other mantis to slash at her. Ducking quickly she received only a crude haircut before a telekinetic slide threw her between the creature’s legs and out of range. “Let’s see if,” With a gesture E4’s arm sparked, and bio-lightning burst forth at the creature. Just before it struck E4 felt her hair stand on end just as the lightning bounced back at her!
“EEP!” E4 exclaimed, a sound that had Marissa been nearby would definitely have caught her attention. She quickly bolted a bit further back, keeping out of range of the mirror mantises, and eyed her targets. Both were wounded, with the one she had just struck only being held together by strands of the fungus. Had it been alive it would have gone into shock, and even as she watched blood quickly flowed out of its wound before evaporating into myst. Raising the Wise Mind towards it she took a quick scan. “Red Queen, how much blast did that thing return?”
[[Judging by the delightful sound you made rather than a scream in pain or being a stain on the floor, I’d say maybe 50,000 volts. Enough to disable a human but merely an unpleasant jolt for a ravager, or maybe not unpleasant for you. To be fair I do not know if your resistance is due to your skills, your inhuman tenacity, or the fact ravagers are just tougher than humans. I’m sure Marissa would be delighted to help you study this.- Red Queen]]
“Please don’t tell her.”
[[Worry not, it will be our little secret]]
The second mirror mantis quickly overtook the first, crawling right over it with such haste that it snapped the wounded one’s abdomen. E4 readied herself against the charge, and as the mantis made a downward swipe she leapt to the side, blasting it with her crossbow… only to fall to the ground as the third creature seemed to step out of the myst with her leg already in its jaws.
“No, go away!” E4 kicked out at the creature, her boot smashing into the bug’s head. To her eyes the creature resembled a cockroach. She kicked it in the head, before writhing like a snake on a frying pan to escape a flurry of blows delivered by the remaining mantis. She gave one final kick to the roach and it promptly ignored her. “Bleeding Havoc I just got these boots!” forsaking yet another piece of her disguise E4 lashed not not with a stomp, but with a the claws on her feet. While not as articulate as their seven fingered hand, a ravager’s foot could grab in a way similar to that of a falcon using a split heel in the place of a thumb. Force sufficient to crush a steel pipe squeezed with seven scalpel sharp blades that reduced the roach’s head to pulp. With a twist that would make a break dancer proud E4 managed to throw the creature by its now shreaded head into the mantis’s chest. The mantis slashed out at the surprise projectile, one of its claws getting stuck in the thick shell of the roach. As it was dragged down by the sudden weight E4 drew her crossbow, “Bio-lightning!”
Simple as it was, the crossbow was still a living thing, and it had a crude nervous system that allowed it to move slightly. It was not intelligent by any means and could not actually feel pain. It did, however, use electricity to send signals. As E4 channeled electricity through it the arms clenched tight, exerting enough force to snap the release and sending the bolt with enough speed that the lightning that followed it seemed slow. As E4’s eyes cleared she saw the city wall cracked and scorched far behind where the mantis’s abdomen used to be. With a fitting CRUNCH its thorax fell to the ground, already a charred wreck.
[[Congratulations, you’ve just attracted the attention of anything with eyes to your location. Also your crossbow is broken. Did I hear the dinner bell?]]
“I could go for a bite” E4 replied, reaching out to grab a mantis leg. She looked left and right, and with a gesture metabolic fire shot through the leg, burning away the fungus and leaving cooked mantis meat. Her tongue shot from her mouth like a harpoon, shooting down the mantis leg to grab at the meat before pulling the cooked flesh into her mouth. Telekinetic blades did the chewing for her and she swallowed a big gulp that would have choked a human. “Needs butter. Definitely too gamey.”
[[Genetic memory is attempting to retrieve a skill or memory. No soul detected, but the meat is weird. There’s too much nervous tissue here, or the idea of nervous tissue. Mind shunting that into the Wise Mind?]]
“Sounds good, but I’m going to run out of ATP at this rate.” With a gesture E4 puled over another leg even as the other ones were evaporating. She cracked the chitin with her claws and devoured the meat inside, before noticing a Imnad and a Stone Guard step around a corner. “Um… want some?”
“Is that even edible?” Imnad asked, his voice quiet but still audible.
“Hey! If you’re hungry there’s a lot more of those mantis things over here!” The Stone Guard called.
[[This guy gets it.]] E4 was already half way to them before Imnad could react, drawing his blade. E4 didn’t even have time to notice he was guarding it facing her rather than the mantis, but by that time was going too fast to stop as she bolted past the pair. [[Think that’s going to be a problem later?]]
“Possibly, I’ll likely have to smooth talk my way out of trouble.”
[[There is a reason you were a Fang of Mara and not her tongue.]]
Charging into another pair of mantises, this group aided by a trio of blade hoppers, E4 wasted no time in giving the first mantis a 7 bladed lobotomy before it could even turn invisible. The first of the blade hoppers received a gout of metabolic fire mid air sending it off course and catching the other two. The injured insect snapped its jaws blindly, missing E4 but receiving her claws in return. The Mirror hopper vanished, just before a loose clout of dirt struck it and exploded into a cloud of fine dust that glowed brightly where it stuck to the now revealed mantis. Imnad stepped from a garden patch it had been standing near and with a casual lack of concern bisected the thing with his cane sword.
“Y’all… are you sure these things are edible?” He asked, eyeing the unappetizing mess before him.
“You have to cook it right,” E4 replied conjuring more flames. With a gesture she snatched up a leg before it could evaporate and pulled it over. “You want some? It could use some butter, but it’s not horrible if you’re hungry.”
“I just ate… and so did you.” He took a sip from his flask, a puff of Aether passing from his lips. “I don’t suppose you got the glutton skill?”
“Something like that.” At that moment a loud CRASH interrupted their chat as Vienna managed to disrupt the dragonfly enough to sent it falling to the ground. “Looks like that’s our cue.”
“Yes, I will meet you there” Imnad stepped back into a patch of grass and dropped out of sight. E4 took a moment to make sure he hadn’t stepped through a manhole, but all that she saw was some tall grass and flowers in a patch of soil.
“Huh, neat trick.” E4 whispered before taking off. She immediately exerted ATP, burning off the calories from the mirror mantis in mere moments to power the subversion. She ducked and dodged around insects engaging the town guard and Stone Guard, lashing out with her claws and tail at any opportune targets. With every blow she felt the insect begin to resonate, and with each bug added the resonance got stronger. Every instance of resonance amplified the ravager toxin within each, further slowing them and increasing the rate the aetheric toxin burned away at them. Resonant cells traveled within the toxin, producing more as they drank in resonance and Myst in a way that didn’t happen on Earth.
[[Analysis indicates target insects are approaching a threshold. The results of crossing this threshold are unknown but should be interesting. Want to watch some fireworks?]]
“Oh, but Red, how can we have fireworks,” E4 pointed towards the tarantula Vienna was fighting, “Without the grand finale?”
[[I think your new body is affecting you E4. I’ve missed the fun you.]]
By the time they reached the tarantula it was already missing a leg, though if it was hurt by the missing limb it certainly wasn’t showing it. if anything, the 10 meter long spider was even more of a menace on the ground than in the air. It had landed upon a large single story house and was currently making use of the rubble to trip up any attackers. While a traditional spider would be using its fangs this monster clearly knew it was big enough to simply kick things over, which it demonstrated by mowing down a pair of guards with a simple gesture as the same time as punting a rock into another guard’s chest. One Purifier ducked under the kcik and opened fire with a dragon’s breath shotgun, flaming magnesium striking the spider and lighting its hairs on fire. Yet the creature was almost as large as the house it had landed on, and barely flinched at the damage.
Faring much better, Vienna danced around the spider’s blows as it tried to kick and bite at her, fangs three meters in length and dripping with venom that burned the very stones it drippued upon stabbed down with the speed and frequency of a sewing machine. Yet Vienna was having none of it, dashing backwards even as a row of perfect gouges were dug out of the stone street they were fighting on. Where there had been houses around them there was now rubble. Other insects mindlessly approached, the fungus urging them onward, yet the arachnid brooked no trespassers and swatted them aside with the same disdain as the guard and Purifiers.
“That’s going to be one big firecracker, think it has an isolated circulatory system?” E4 gazed on at the fight for a moment. There were several smaller spiders that were crawling around on the back of the larger one, but they were not tarantulas. They were colorful, and slow moving with fungal coats on them. As E4 watched a bolt of lightning form Vienna struck a leg, nearly taking it off. Within moments the little spiders darted to it, shaking off their letharic movements for just a moment as they made a flying leap to the damaged section. Immediately they began packing the wound with fungal infected webbing.
“Little medics, I want some.” Immediately E4 felt a harvest-man slip from her eye and slink into her bag. Immediately she felt it begin to drain ATP as the isopod began snacking on the bandages and medicines. “When did we learn to do that?”
[[Examination of protocol indicates it will not work well, but it may be enough in an emergency. Perhaps a skill shall change things.]]
“Darwin Awards?” That didn’t even require a response. “Red, if you tell me to get on that thing’s back, do you think Perfect Position would work?”
[[Analysis indicates that fungus might itch something awful. E4, you should go scratch it off.]] E4 took off, exerting ATP as she threw herself across the landscape and up one of the legs of the giant arachnid. Unfortunately while she moved with great alacrity it was far from what we had hoped.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Vienna called. Her once lovely dress now looked tattered. While she was not bleeding several deep bruises had formed across her face and now exposed arms. “It is the duty of the senior sister to deliver the finishing blow!”
E4 slashed through the first of many spiders nestled on the giant, its flesh coming apart in her claws with a bit of effort. A second one lunged, crossing the six meter gap between the legs only for E4 to twirl around and lash it with her tail. She had intended to make it stop short, but her tail instead cut it in half, one missing her and the other slamming into the leg with a wet THUMP. “This junior will distract the interloper.”
“This senior accepts your offer,” She ducked under a leg sweep before giving a brutal kick to a flying beetle that sent its ruined body flying back and into the shield of a Stone Guard. “Try not to die!”
As E4 ran her tail whipped out behind her, leaving cuts in her wake. With every step the claws on her feet dug into the spider, injecting more ravager toxin. Tarrantula hairs tried to stab her feet back, but what little damage they did had to overcome her regeneration, and that was a tall order for the little hairs.
“Vienna, I’ve got this joint!” E4 called, before manifesting her claws as large as she could and cutting into the spider. Surgical strike guided her blades as if they were magnetically attracted to the most delicate parts of the spider’s leg. Just beneath the skin the mycelium formed a subdermal barrier, her psychic surgery not able to get a grip on the stuff but the sharp blade cutting through with some effort. Suddenly a spray of vile sludge erupted from the cut, enough to throw E4 off the spider and blast the leg clean off.
The spider immediately turned its focus to E4, fangs up and ready for a lethal bite. With a speed more akin to a cobra than a spider it brought down the twin razor sharp needles. E4 threw herself aside with a burst of telekinesis that sent her spinning uncontrollably, and even then the blades missed by only millimeters. Yet that distraction was long enough.
“Dog, you have tried this mistress’s patience enough.” Taking advantage of the moment’s reprieve Vienna quickly carved a number of symbols into the ground and spread out a dozen items. They were a strange amalgam of jade and steel, or Eastern mysticism and steam punk gadgetry. Jade slips attached to lightning rods, small paper charms attached to geared arrays that spun and clicked. Lightning poured out from Vienna, her tattoos blazing with light and shifting in color from blue to green and every spectrum between. She spoke a complicated verse, a combination of growls and squeaks that made no sense to E4 as she dodged and weaved past the spider’s fangs. For a moment the world seemed to stop. A dozen vulture sized mosquitoes froze in mid air, the giant tarantula stopped moving, even the great dragonfly high above stopped moving, allowing E4 to notice it was missing one of its wings and had a stone balistae bolt through its thorax.
[[Is the world buffering?]] A moment later everything jumped, each creature and person advancing a few seconds. [[Oh, now this is bad. Hypothesis: The world is a simulation. Extrapolation: Something is using a whole lot of computing power to render. Advisory: Brace for impact]]
For a moment all was light, and a moment later E4 hit the ground, as if the time it took to fall had never happened. Her human eye saw nothing but glare, though her ravager eye was far more resilient and saw naught but smoke and Myst. A gust of wind rushed past her, allowing her to see Vienna with a railsteel and paper fan, and the scorched ruin that had been the tarantula a moment ago. All around her bits of the aracnid lay, still burning with metabolic fire that devoured the remains and lit any of the smaller spiders nearby alight. E4 immediately felt invigorated by the plentiful resonance the fires put off.
“With desperate need we call to The Heavens,” Vienna pointed her fan towards the sky, “And The Heavens answer.” She held the pose for just a moment, long enough for a boy with a press cap to take a picture with a gear covered camera, before nearly falling over. In a flash E4 was there to catch her, her own back and legs sore from the fall followed by the sprint. “That was fun, now we just have to,” With a mighty CRUNCH the dragon fly that had been carrying the aracnid pair hit the ground, two basalt bolts the size of telephone poles sticking from its body and a third through its head. “Seems this mistress isn’t alone in slaying titans. Well shot Stone-Weaver.”
“That was amazing.” E4 spoke, placing a hand over Vienna’s arm. She paused for just a moment, “Senior Sister, do you require healing?”
“This one will be fine on her own, but I shall allow it.” E4 immediately got to work, her hands buzzing as aether rose from Vienna’s wounds. It was an interesting process, and she exerted a unit of ATP into the Wise Mind to allow it to observe. While a ravager’s regeneration was miraculous on its own, the readings the Wise Mind recorded were completely different. It almost appeared as if damaged tissue was disintegrated and the aether converted back into flesh, or the dense Myst that made up sections of Vienna’s body was spreading out to fill in the gaps. Bites smoothed, swelling calmed, and pain receded fastest of all. Several poisons fought against an immune system that seemed to have already created specific cells to absorb and destroy it, which only redoubled with E4’s aid. It didn’t completely remove the toxin, though E4 felt it would help. She fished out a vial marked antitoxin, which Vienna winced at before drinking.
[[Analysis reveals inconclusive data. Healing is strange. Is she just a lump of Myst with an Aether core, or does she actually have organs in there? Are there veins that carry blood, or do things just bleed when we cut them because that’s what cut things do? Could we convince a rock to bleed if we cut it?]]
“Easy Red Queen, we’ll figure it out eventually.” E4 finished up as Vienna kept a vigilant eye. “So, where’s the next fire?”
The next fire was already out, the bugs E4 having slashed on her way igniting when the ravager toxin burst into metabolic fire, but the one after that was not. A group of Purifiers were gathered around a house, blasting it with flames.
“Greetings Burning ones, what manner of beast lurks within this abode that calls you all here? Be it some manner of lightning bug or venomous tick?” Immediately they let loose with their flamethrowers, violet flames bursting forth with enough heat to melt the stone. “In 10 thousand years, I have never seen such flames.
“What happened in there?” E4 asked. “Was some sort of infestation in there?”
“That’s beyond your clearance.” One of the Purifiers spoke, his voice mechanical and cold. His helmet seemed to glow in the firelight, an innocent bronze angel unfeeling towards the screams of the damned he stood over. He was innocent and they were evil. Surely destroying evil was good, and thus he was esteemed over all civilians who let such filth fester under the guise of mercy and ignorance. E4 shook away the dark thoughts that threatened her mind, only to realize those screams weren’t in her head.
“Someone’s still in there!” she cried out, already racing towards the building. She was just before the fire when she felt the heat, and froze. Without the Purifiers continuing to spray their abomination against science, the ISC had been consumed and the lavender flames had been replaced with the bright reds and yellows of regular fire which licked and spit from the wood within the stone structure. Within she heard wordless screams. “Get some water, hurry!”
“Nothing in there but the dead.” one of the Purifiers spoke. He reached out and grabbed at her arms, manacles in his off hand. E4 jumped to the side, his armor slowing him down too much to grab her. “Now I’m going to be nice and give you two choices. Submit, or I’m throwing you in there.” His voice went quiet. “Might be better if you just jumped, we know what you are ravager. I’ve got enough fuel to make it quick.”
“I sincerely hope that’s the Panacea talking.” E4 snapped back. “Red, do you think I can convert this to Aetheric fire and get through?” She quickly chittered.
[[Analysis: the Purifiers do not know you are fireproof, and that is useful. This detail may save your life in the future, yet you would discard it to save someone you do not know and who may die soon regardless. As you know,]]
“There are no emergencies in a pandemic, and no human could survive that.” E4 spoke with shame, glaring at the Purifiers. She ducked past the armored man, knowing if she pushed him aside they would surely burn her. Guilt grabbed her by the gut as she walked away, easily ducking under the heavily armored Purifier’s hand. She did not however expect the blow that followed it. It was not so much a physical blow as a torrent of fuel that sent both her and the Purifier sprawling.
For a moment up was down and all the world spun until E4 hit the ground with a low THUD that was echoed by the purifier beside her. Immediately E4 was on her feet, throwing the fuel off of her flesh with telekinesis. Imediately it ignited, turning her surroundings into a circle of fire. The Purifier beside her was not so lucky, immediately catching fire.
“A fitting end.” The man spoke, his armor protecting him from the fire for now. E4 knew it wasn’t rated for ISC, and even the regular fuel could burn through it eventually. “That I might fall purified, and taking with me a primary vector.”
“What is the matter with you? Your team just threw us both into a house fire!” E4 immediately turned to the door, only to find a set of stairs leading to the floor above, crudly fashioned from wood and already burning. All around her were scraps of armor, and ruined bodies. Each one looked as if it had been starved for weeks, yet none had returned to The Myst. As the fire burned a few of them twitched, six fingered hands reaching for not for salvation but for flesh long denied. None had horns larger than E4’s own. “What have you done?”
“What we had to.” E4 turned to the man as he removed his helmet, his face beneath pale and sallow. Dry wounds, like popped blisters that refused to bleed, crossed his face even as his flesh charred. “This world is sick, you are sick, yet I die pure.”