[Player Log Start!]
[Log Holder: Jared Caliber]
[Level: 2]
Jared’s first realization that something was wrong was when Lucinda began to retch, shaking and regurgitating thick globs of slime.
Maybe he should have been more concerned when she had tensed up and tilted her head to the side, but he had taken it as a sign that Verity had taken over, with her constantly acting like a coiled viper.
Now, Lucinda had been thrown out, scattered into the wind as thin, wispy constructs, and then Verity was being teleported out. It had to be a plan that Lucky and Tench had somehow worked out with Verity beforehand.
Wherever Verity had gone, it didn’t matter. The crows were all looking at them, keenly aware that it would be their own necks on the chopping block when Ciera came back.
Jared flinched slightly, the cuts on his face and arms stinging from the salt and sand that had gotten into them. They were finally clotting it over, dry and tacky over his skin. Reopening them was not something he needed.
But they didn’t strike immediately. Instead, fervent discussion bubbled up between the flock.
“Why should we work on the command of the human?” One of the crows murmured.
“She has mastery over invisible supports, and her ally can control air.” Another replied, “We will need their help to make our new Nest.”
“And these are the allies of the ones who destroyed our first Nest!” Some other bird butted in. More birds cawed in sharp approval.
The air around them rippled, the light refracting as transparent silhouettes of birds began to circle them, Lucinda’s faint voice echoed between them, “The people who destroyed your Nest… two of them are dead. The third has abandoned them. Spare the ones left behind. Give them a fair trial.”
A raven laughed, “We can no longer have our fair trials. As you should know, given that you are the only survivor of the Cocoon.”
Jared would have taken their distraction as an opportunity to make a run for it, but he was still tightly bound by the tentacles of unknown origins. He silently shook at head at Tench and Lucky, trying to nonverbally hint at them to make a run for it – or quietly head into the base to hide – but instead of taking heed of his advice, Lucky was more concerned about looking at a spot right over Jared’s shoulder.
“Hey, murder army!” She yelled, catching the attention of every bird in earshot, “Call me crazy, but I think she’s coming back.”
What? Jared tried to scoot around and crane his neck to take a look at what was happening behind him.
The tentacle, which had so far been tight, but unmoving, twitched and pulled itself taut. The birds scattered quickly, with no intent on getting caught in the crossfires of the fight.
Something landed on the beach close to him, right out of his field of vision, and skidded a little, so sand rained down over his head.
A man growled, and the smell of burning lay bitter on Jared’s nose. Smoke was beginning to creep over the shore, swamping his feet and disguising Ciera’s soft footsteps. Jared thrashed in a panic, trying to get out of the line of fire.
In front of him, Lucky was typing furiously on their Console, things appearing around them in bursts of green pixels out from the Inventory. In particular, there were weapons. One shoulder-mounted rocket launcher, she kept for herself, aiming at the spot behind Jared where he could hear the two people circling around each other.
“You can’t kill me!” Paterson was raving, shrill and hysterical, “You need me! I’m the only one who knows how the Purest Magic works! None of you were able to take out the blocks she installed!”
“The only thing I’ll ever agree with Monroe is that you’re a loose cannon, Paterson.” Ciera answered levelly, “You should have stayed in your little bubble, and convinced yourself that you were a kindly old man in a safe haven. All you’re getting out here is an execution.”
Jared got back to trying to turn himself around, Lucky still adjusting her aim on the rocket launcher.
The two of them were facing off. Paterson looked nothing like he remembered, with greasy hair, wild eyes, and soot-coated clothes. A Console was strapped to his arm, but it wasn’t the one he had before. It looked newer, sleeker. A different model.
Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!
Ciera flicked her hands, the smoke clustering around them provided a good cover to sneak her tendrils around him. Paterson countered with a wave of heat that pushed away all the smoke, giving them all a clear view of the entire shore, Ciera’s tendrils and all.
A lot of things happened very, very quickly in that moment. Lucky took advantage of the visibility to line up the shot, and fire the launcher. The rocket went whistling past Jared’s ear, and his eyes slammed shut reflexively.
At the same time, the tendril around him slackened and whipped away so quickly, he was left stumbling face-first into the sandy beach. He clamped his hands over his ears, bracing for an explosion, and the scattering of bloody chunks of meat.
The explosion came, rattling in his head. Paterson screamed, only to be cut off abruptly. Blood and gristle splattered onto Jared’s back.
He pulled himself up, hoping to find both their problems resolved. Instead, he found Ciera standing there unharmed, her tendrils pulling away from where they had formed a dome around her, the twisted shell of the rocket lying in the molten, charred sand just a few feet away from her. Ciera grinned sharply, “You never try new tricks, do you?” She asked, eyes pinned on Lucky.
The ocean was rippling, giving way to an air bubble rising up from the depths. A man was standing there, dressed in scuba gear, but with a long trench coat pulled over it. Tench and Lucky shrunk away from him, their faces pasty and terror-stricken by the very sight of him. Jared took a moment to reevaluate the threat this newcomer posed.
“I don’t know, why change if it works anyway?” He asked lazily, “They almost got you, you know.”
Ciera’s gaze turned acidic, “Fuck off, Lucian.” She glowered, “This is my hit.”
“But this Realm is my jurisdiction.” Lucian replied with a clipped tone, “You can entertain yourself with snapping up the has-been, but I will be taking in the little revolutionaries. I have just the little bit of extra leverage to break their spirits.”
Jared fell quiet, waiting to see what was going on.
With unnatural levity, Lucian dipped his hand below the water level, and then pulled up a stiff figure out, shaking it towards them like a rag doll.
It took him a few seconds to recognize Terry. He looked awful; skin grayed out and covered in fuzzy green patches in some points. The dye in his hair had washed out months ago, but his brown hair was once more threaded with green fungus.
Jared gulped and looked at where Ben’s body was lying, stiff and slightly bloated. That was three of their party down. Hoping that Verity and Asadullah had made it.
Ciera scoffed, “Great, you killed a shrimp. Good for you.”
“Yet I’ve taken out twice as many as you have.” Lucian replied, sending a lazy glance over Ben’s body.
The argument was spiraling out. Jared felt uncomfortably invisible as both Harbingers fixated on their own petty squabbling. He flexed lightly, appreciating that he was no longer straitjacketed. This could be alright. He could take advantage of this.
He army-crawled out of the pool of viscera he had found himself in, edging past Ben’s body to get to Ben and Tench.
“What do we do?” He asked them desperately.
Tench looked hollowed out, and the side of his face was flecked with blood. He turned to look at Jared with glassy eyes, and shrugged, “We try to walk out of here alive. And make sure that they can’t get their hands on this Console. Because they clearly want something from this. And we can’t let them have it.”
But how? How were they supposed to do that?
“-and finally, have better spatial awareness! One of your ‘hits’ is getting away!” Lucian mocked, his free hand pointing at the bloody trail left behind by Jared. He gulped, curling up defensively against the two bloodthirsty gazes.
Lucian had a wide, shark-like grin on his face as he stalked forward, Terry still in his hand.
The boy’s toes skimmed across the sandy shore, one foot twitching lightly at the contact. And then he squirmed against the grip, jolting out of the stiff rigor mortis he was previously caught in.
Lucian jolted, genuinely surprised. It was the only reason Terry was able to get close, ashen and moldy face twisted into a snarl as he brought his arms up and caught Lucian’s neck into a death grip.
The Harbinger choked, dropping Terry, but he made sure to keep clinging on, dragging the man down with him. Ciera moved quickly, her tendrils rushing to separate the two, but it was too late. Spores were flying around them both.
In his last moments, his bright orange eyes tilted backwards, meeting Jared’s. His face twitched into a remorseful smile. A bright green notification appeared over them like a death knell.
[AOE Special Attack: Spores of Fungal Death!]
The attack was called, and when it cleared, there were two corpses lying on the ground, mummified completely by the Man-Eating Mold. Terry Glasgow lay still. For real, this time.
Everyone was quiet for a very long time.
Ciera finally tore herself away from the horrific sight and fixed the last three with a considering look.
“Nowhere to go.” She wondered aloud, “No one to die for you. What’re you gonna do now, Players?”
Lucky pulled Jared’s hand up onto her armrest, covering it with her own hand. Two thin pieces of cardboard was pressed into his palm, lined with ridges that he recognized instinctively. The Cards of Compulsion.
[Charisma +55]
Lucky was trusting him to get them out of here. To lie his way out of this. And for once, Jared couldn’t think that he had it in him, even with his strongest weapon in his hand.
He remembered what they had done to Verity, teleporting her away. All that they had learned of the Console and the System in the year and a half. It was a long shot, and they had no time at all to make sure this went well. He had to go directly for it.
Jared slunk his hand further along the armrest, going for the laptop balanced on Lucky’s lap.
One button.
One very desperate throw in the ground.
“So, inside that room, we found this laptop.” Verity’s voice rang in his mind, clear as day, “And I press on this button, yeah? And suddenly there was green light everywhere.”
Ciera’s eyes widened, realizing what he planned on doing at the last second. A tendril popped out of the ground within milliseconds of that realization to wrap around Jared’s wrist.
Too late. He pressed the power button.
[Player Log End!]