Chapter 56: A Giant’s Tears.
“No, we’re not turning back.” Slab repeated. His face still stiff.
“Why the (Gnome) not!? What are we supposed to be doing here anyways!?” Charlie screamed in return. His own face blistering red.
His hands, which had been flying all over the place, went over to the peaks in the distance.
The mountains were still glowing like a projected tapestry. Vibrant reds and greens clashing against each other in the background. The faces contained therein were sometimes happy and sometimes sad. Half-covered by clouds in such a way that like they were hiding behind curtains.
“What do you think happened over there!? A (Gnome)ing picnic? Those things are dead! All of them! Whatever they would have done or could have done to the people of this world is moot. Because, repeat after me, they are all (Gnome)ing dead!”
“You don’t know that.” Slab bit back. His visage now regaining some of its colour. “The queen could be alive and she’s the most dangerous one of them all in any case. She’s the one we have to kill if we hope to make western Europe habitable again. It’ll allow my clan to spread out and keep the fight going once we’ve dealt with the Blood Queen.”
He waved his arms about.
“This is but a temporary setback. Sully has the [Stable Reality] ability. So do I, for that matter. We’ll slowly clear away whatever happened along the old Swiss border and move into the mountains. His range is more than enough to find her.”
“What good will finding her do if we’re all torn apart by ghosts!?”
“I mean, the ghosts aren’t really ghosts in the way you’re thinking.” I interrupted.
Charlie turned. Murder still in his eyes.
“You! You shut the (Gnome) up! This is all your fault! If you’d kept the (Gnome)ing sword on a leash! None of this would have happened!”
I took a few steps back, patting down Slasher as she hung on my hip.
‘You know, he’s got a point.’ I [Messaged].
‘But I did what you wanted me to do!?’ Cherub complained. ‘You wanted the monsters dead and I killed the monsters. You wanted the whole earth and sky around us to be cleaned of bad light and so I cleaned it. There’s no bad light anywhere near here anymore. They should all be thanking us! Isn’t that right Slasher?’
‘Hur hur. Murder time.’
I shoved the weapon inside my ring. Determined to have a very in-depth follow-up conversation later.
“Hey! Don’t blame him! He stopped the attacks coming from the sky!” Dusty stepped in.
“And nothing bad has happened to us so far.” Boris added.
“So far.” Monique countered. “I’m not sure how I feel about putting my life on the line. Especially when the ability is called [Unstable Reality]. How long do we have until the bloody air in our lungs turns into acid?”
“That won’t happen.” I scoffed.
“How do you know?” She insisted.
“Because I would have seen it using [Insight]. I’ve been using the at-will application to see glimpses of our immediate future as well as using the proper charged version to look into different branching timelines. None of the ones I’ve seen have any of us dying.”
“Okay? What have you seen?”
“Parades. Mostly. Held underground in our honor. I see lots of people hooting our names. Like, a lot of people. They’re mostly cheering for me, but you and Slab become very popular too. You should probably watch out for suitors by the way. Lots of buff French guys looking to become your significant other.”
Monique blushed.
“I’m not looking for a man. I’ve got kids.”
“Yeah, I saw you telling them that too.”
“Why are talking about this!?” Charlie screeched. “The mountain is on fire! I can feel the air buzzing! Let’s get the (Gnome) out of here!”
“Its fine.” Slab insisted. “We’ll go in. Kill the queen and come back out. Me and Sully will be using our abilities together. Nothing is going to go wrong.”
More laughter could be heard all around us, coming from down below and suffusing the air with their musical hoots and howls.
We looked down.
There, spread out below us, were wild poppies in stark shades of red, wild sage in soft hues of blue, pink clovers and white marguerites. All of them with disturbingly human mouths and eyes.
It was then, that they began to sing.
“Madman. Living perpetual. Silence.”
“Trapped in a hollow enclosure. Hiding from skeletal candles. Screaming out into the void.”
“When. He sleeps. You will at last, have peace. When the Butcher dies, darkness is nigh!”
They raised their voices higher.
“Wailing. Drowning in shadows. Despairing.”
“Chained to the lakebed and waiting. Crawling with maggots and pus.”
“When. She sleeps. You will at last, have peace. When the Slaver dies, brightness is nigh!”
A few giggled.
“Secrets. Lurking in mire. Hidden.”
“Stagnant, so still and repulsive. Waiting for the sun to fall.”
“They. Do. Know. That when the coffin, calls. They must…”
Monique set the flowers on fire. Sending a wave of flames below us. Dusty grabbed me in that split second, throwing me over to the left as if I were a sack of potatoes.
“What was that for!?” I called out, only to see all my friends stomping into the ground with a ferocity that betrayed no small amount of desperation.
They didn’t stop for a few more seconds, until the small hill we’d been standing on had been turned into a small crater.
Yet, the voices did not cease. Petal floated upwards and around me, whispering in my ears.
“Hungry. Draped in deep crimson and, angry. Fangs that rip into hard stone. Tendrils that reach to the sky! When he wakes, the air will shake and quake. Gnomes will stumble forth, to their demise! Puffin, hunted through jungles and seasons. Chased into waves and deep waters, running and clinging to life!”
A gust of wind blasted them away. Slab and Dusty swinging their weapons so fast that the shockwaves sent air currents billowing past me.
Dusty in particular dropped her axe and lunged at me. Holding me to the ground.
“Sully! Do you trust me!?”
“What!?”
“I asked you a question! Do. You. Trust. Me?”
“Y-yes? Why wouldn’t I? You’ve saved my life so many times up till now.”
“Good. Then listen. Don’t think about what you just heard. Don’t consider the implications.”
I didn’t say anything. Looking up at her as my mind worked out what each of the lyrics meant.
“You killed them?” I asked, softly.
She didn’t answer. Neither did her mind. It was as silent as the grave. Making me wonder what she’d done to hide her own thoughts so thoroughly. In fact, none of the others were open to me either.
‘It must be some secret technique they learned and refused to share. No doubt to keep me from finding out.’
My fists clenched. I thought of what might have happened while I was out. Then, I thought of Mason. Of what he’d been up to. What he must have done to Doris. What he would have gotten away with if I hadn’t stopped him.
“Okay.” I said. My grey eyes staring into her cold green ones.
She blinked.
“Okay.” I repeated. “I get it. I, I’ve had to come to terms with the fact that not everything is black and white. I, I still think I’m a good person and I still want to be a good person. But I get it. We can still be friends. I’m not mad.”
Her mouth opened and closed, like that of a fish.
“We, can’t tell you…”
“Its fine.” I stopped her. “I trust you. I don’t want to know.”
She looked ready to break for a second. Then her features hardened and she helped me up to my feet.
I sort of, lost a bit of time as I stood. As if there was another Solomon steadying me in the face of the news. A presence in the back of my mind.
When it spoke, I realized that it wasn’t another me at all. Instead, it was it, him, her, whatever it was, again.
‘This is bothering you because you were weak.’ It taunted. Just as it had within the mansion. ‘Mercy is a privilege only the strong can claim. A weakling like you must struggle just to breathe. They knew you weren’t strong enough to do what needed to be done. They acted because you left them no choice.’
It… it was right. This time, at least. I chose to get drunk and ignore the problem, instead of dealing with them as did with Mason. Its my fault they’re dead.
My hands clenched into fists as I recalled the visions. The gnome. The Barbarian’s End.
If it destroys my world and enslaves its people, that will have been my fault too. I could stop it. If I was strong enough.
I breathed in the ephemeral air. Feeling the living currents swirling inside of me.
I was… more connected now. More in tune with the inner workings of [Unstable Reality] and the world that had spawned Cherub.
I tugged at the strings, and brought them under my command. Forcing them together.
Abilities Converging:
[Unstable Reality] 10 Has been undone. 55 Ability Points Gained.
[Stable Reality] 3 Has been undone. 6 Ability Points Gained.
[Warp the Veil II] 1 has been formed. 1 Ability point consumed.
60 Ability Points Remaining.
Abilities Converging:
[Manifest Intruder] 7 Has been undone. 28 Ability Points Gained.
[Seal Intruder] 5 Has been undone. 15 Ability Points Gained.
[Banish Intruder] 1 Has been undone. 1 Ability Points Gained.
[Psionic Conjuration III] 1 has been formed. 1 Ability point consumed.
43 Ability Points Remaining.
[Warp the Veil II]
Standard Combination of [Stable Reality] / [Unstable Reality].
Grants the User the ability to distort or repair the veil between physical and non-physical dimensions within the range of [Sense Thoughts] or derivatives and at a cost of 50 Psy multiplied by current ability level per 10 hours. Repairs to the veil have no time limit.
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The range of distortions or repairs increases by +500% per current ability level and may increase further if ability is overcharged.
Distortions will cause random fluctuations in the local laws of physics at a rate of +25% per current ability level.
Duration, potency and cost increase by +20% per current ability level.
Distortions will provide a +10% boost to the potency and range of all psionic abilities as well as a +10% chance for random Intruder manifestations per current ability level.
Distortions will reduce the cooldowns of all psionic abilities within range by -10% per current ability levels.
Distortions will increase Psy recovery rate by +20% per current ability level for all psionically-gifted creatures.
Distortions will increase experience gain by +5% per current ability level for all psionically-gifted creatures.
Caution: Intruders that manifest as a result of this ability will be heavily influenced by the User but may not always be friendly to the User.
The potency of all these effects increases by 150% every five levels.
These effects can be overcharged with Psy through this ability.
[Psionic Conjuration III]
Standard Combination of [Manifest Intruder] / [Seal Intruder] / [Banish Intruder]
Grants the User the ability to conjure, seal or banish Intruders within the range of [Sense Thoughts] or derivatives.
Intruders will naturally bond to non-living mundane matter after they are conjured and will gain abilities that pertain to their current host at a cost of 220 Psy per current ability level. Intruders must maintain their form using the User’s own Psy or their own in order to remain within a physical dimension.
Intruders that are sealed may become trapped in living and psionically infused material for increased potency based on the materials used.
Intruders that are sealed in a medium through this ability gain +20% more Psy and +30% to Psy regeneration per current ability level while they are sealed.
Sealed Intruders also benefit from +1 to all ability levels per every 5 current ability levels.
Intruders may be banished back to the veil through the channeling of this ability at a cost of 55 Psy per Intruder per second.
Intruders that are one Tier lower than the User’s current Tier may be banished at no extra cost. Intruders that are two or more Tiers lower than the User’s current Tier may be severely damaged or outright destroyed at no extra cost.
Caution: Intruders that manifest as a result of this ability will be heavily influenced by the User but may not always be friendly to the User.
The potency of all these effects increases by 150% every five levels.
These effects can be overcharged with Psy through this ability.
Level Gained: +500 Maximum Psy. +12 Ability Points.
Level Gained: +500 Maximum Psy. +12 Ability Points.
Level Gained: +500 Maximum Psy. +12 Ability Points.
I looked over the changes. Seeing the sheer number of points. I had 144 to spend now, given that 5 of them had been left over from when [Unstable Reality] pushed to level 10.
I chuckled dryly.
“You know, I’d been hoping to save points this way. Little by little. Until I could bring [Electronic Interface] to 15 or higher. I figured that, if we didn’t find Anezka, I might stand a chance against her machines if I did that.”
“You wouldn’t have.” Monique cut in. “None of us would have.”
“You don’t need to worry about her anymore.” Charlie piled on. All fear of the ensuing chaos apparently forgotten.
“Worry about yourself and getting to Tier 4 as soon as possible. It’ll be all right once you get there.”
I sighed and allocated my points accordingly. Sprinkling them around so that I’d have a better chance of merging other abilities in the future.
I brought [Warp the Veil II] and [Psionic Conjuration III] to 10 and 8 respectively. Following it up by bringing [Mental Bolt] to 7 and [Heart Attack], [Drown], [Indigestion] and [Psionic Curse] to 5. That decision left me with 3 extra points to sped, which I invested into [Entrancing Gaze] to bring it up to 3.
Name:
Solomon Carter
Psy:
11, 921 / 185, 895
Type:
Telepath III Level 143
Abilities:
[Solomon’s Inescapable Domination X] 18 / [Solomon’s Overwhelming Delusion V] 12 / [Solomon’s Inexorable Suppression V] 12 / [Solomon’s Calamitous Insight VII] 19 / [Delirium III] 6 / [Warp the Veil II] 10 / [Psionic Conjuration III] 8 / [Sense Thoughts] 14 / [Message] 5 / [Mental Bolt] 7 / [Hide] 3 / [Faint Presence] 2 / [Mental Map] 10 / [Team Tactics] 5 / [Electronic Interface] 4 / [Floral Interface] 1 / [Fungal Interface] 1 / [Sleep] 1 / [Team Spirit] 4 / [Team Resilience] 3 / [Team Momentum] 2 / [Team Doctrine] 4 / [Imposing Presence] 1 / [Alluring Presence] 4 / [Mask] 1 / [Hidden Danger] 1 / [Muffle] 1 / [Flash] 1 / [Persistent Message] 1 / [Mark Target] 2 / [Sobriety] 1 / [Hum of Attack] 5 / [Hum of Striding] 5 / [Hum of Defence] 5 / [Hum of Harmony] 3 / [Hum of Discord] 1 / [Hum of Cleansing] 6 / [Hum of Mist] 1 / [Painful Gaze] 1 / [Cleansing Gaze] 1 / [Entrancing Gaze] 3 / [Degrading Gaze] 1 / [Psionic Jinx] 1 / [Heart Attack] 5 / [Drown] 5 / [Indigestion] 5 / [Psionic Hex] 1 / [Psionic Curse] 5 / [Blind] 1 / [Deafen] 1 / [Anosmia] 1
Ability Points:
0
‘Its about time I experimented more with the passives anyway. I need to merge all of them. Not just for the levels, but for my own expertise. I need to become more familiar with Psy. I need to unlock other Types. I need to be more.’
“Let’s keep going.”
“Sully, I think we’ve done enough.” Slab countered. Curiously contradicting his own wishes from earlier.
“No.” I stated. My tone leaving no room for argument. Bringing Slasher out for good measure.
“We will keep going. We will get rid of whatever radiation Cherub missed and we will kill the monsters. Every one of them.”
“Sully…”
“Enough.”
They all flinched.
“I have made my decision after considering all the factors at play. I will not allow one more person to die now that I have a chance to end the threat. We cannot allow this to happen. Heroes would not shirk from danger. They would not run away from this responsibility.”
Dusty and Slab relaxed while the others were still more or less on edge.
“Don’t worry. I will use [Insight] to make sure we’re safe. It’ll be over before you know it.”
----------------------------------------
My children were dead or dying. Their bodies melting all around me.
I was beside myself. Screeching into the heavens in rage and indignation.
‘Again! It is happening again! The two-legs! The two-legs are doing this! They come with tricks and manipulations! They come to kill me and mine! Again! Haven’t they had enough!? Haven’t I killed enough!?’
They had struck with spears of fire in times of old. Metal birds dropping faint powders that eroded my shell and ate at my wings. They had come over and over again until my children swarmed over them. Their own wings blotting out the sun. Until I feasted on their stone hives and cracked their steel shells under my weight.
They hadn’t dared similar attacks as of late. Only sending out small groups to die in the face of my family. To wither under our glow.
I had thought this time would be no different. Sending my children to crush them from far above. To cull their cursed siblings before any sort of force could be built. All the while simmering with all the ideas, all the punishments I would inflict on the vile, accursed creature that turned them against me.
But this was different. There were hundreds of thousands coming every minute. Appearing out of nowhere without warning.
The two-legs of old had cowered before me. Wept when I ate their own children.
But not these. These new two-legs had hooves and skin as red as cattle-blood. They had horns of stone and blackened wings at their backs and hips. And their weapons!
This new shell of mine had not been pierced for hundreds of moons! Yet it splintered and cracked under their continued assault!
My flesh, my strong body, started to crumble. I felt disease for the first time in forever. Festering sores that seemed to speak and coax me as if they had a life of their own. They begged me to stop struggling. To accept my own end and the end of all my spawn. To placate whatever evil brought them on.
Some of strikes brought pleasure instead of pain, deceiving me into thinking they weren’t as serious as I thought. Yet when I focused on them, I found them leaking ichor and refusing to heal as all my wounds did.
Some wounds twisted further, warping my very bones into translucent tendrils like those belonging to my sea-faring cousins. Worse, those new appendages sucked vitality away from the rest of me and grew serpentine heads that bit at the unaffected parts I had left. Growing more of themselves in shades of bright blue and white.
Through it all was a rage. A never-ending rage that called both me and them to blind, stupid acts of violence. Making all my poor children disregard their own lives as they uselessly exposed themselves mid-flight.
‘I know what this is! This must be a Telepath! Many Telepaths acting in concert to kill me and my whole family! But they shouldn’t be this strong. There shouldn’t be this many of them! Why are there so many of them!?’
Worse, they never finished me! Toying with me as I’d toyed with my own captors once upon a time.
The insolence! The audacity!
I kept sending out cries. Calling more and more of my children to me. To my defense. All while heightening my glow. Until my light melted snow and stone alike into hot slag that dripped down the mountainside.
But the new two-legs didn’t care. They felt no pain when my legs pierced them. No sorrow when my mandibles cleaved their brothers in two.
Instead, they kept laughing and laughing. Together with the faces high above the sky.
“I am the fear, that the Shepherd is collecting.” One would say. Seconds before one of my personal guards bashed their skull in. The two-legs turned to smoke, went inside my child and exploded from inside of him. Wearing the shattered remains of his shell as a cloak.
“I am the blood that he wishes to be raining.”
Another did the same. Only it impaled one of my daughters before disappearing in a puff of smoke that slithered into her empty eye socket.
“I am the lamb that the Shepherd is now raising.” It jeered. Using her own mandibles to speak.
Other joined in. Drowning out my own voice. My own lamentations for my poor, poor children.
“I am the bone that rises from the muck!”
“I am the star that collapses in the dark!”
“I am the metal that corrodes evil from within!”
“I serve the coffin and the angel found therein!”
“I will bring doom and exalted castigation!”
“I will deliver his wrath with jubilation!”
“I bear the will of the head on high!”
“I foretell that your end is nigh!”
“I will ensure that your all children suffer!”
“I will treasure their souls in my coffers!”
“Yours is the soul that I will claim!”
“Yours are the screams in my domain!”
“Come now beast, destiny awaits!”
“Come now beast, and face your fate!”
They were everywhere! Everywhere! And they did not bleed as two-legs should! More and more of them were being born from the walls! From the floor! From the very air I was breathing!
I choked, realizing just that as arms began clawing out of my throat. Impaling the insides of my jaws and mandibles! Gouging out chunks of my very lungs!
The pain was agonizing and ever-present. Redoubling as my flesh knitted itself back together.
‘UNNATURAL!’ I called out to my brood.
‘UNNATURAL! YOU! YOU!? WHAT HAVE THEY DONE!? WHAT HAVE THEY UNLEASHED!?’
All the voices laughed harder.
That was when another, bigger one popped into existence. A brute with four horns, red skin and wings as black as midnight. With three insects for legs and a battle-axe in one hand.
He roared with glee and jubilation at the sight of me. Forming words as the others had.
“Mittens is here!”
Then he looked at me. Smiling widely with rows upon rows of sharpened fangs that reeked of sulfur and other burning things.
“Mittens won’t lie! Your children will die! Mittens is here!”
Then he, it. Threw itself at me with a single beat of those terrible wings. Rending mutated flesh from bone over and over again in an orgy of violence.
All while laughing.
“Mittens proclaims! From within his domain! Mittens is here!”
He sank the axe in. Deeper and deeper with every passing word.
“And the Coffin foretold! Of bright wings in the cold! That when monsters wage war come unfurled! Solomon! Bane of evil! Terrible Tyrant unbound! With a hunger to collar the world!”
----------------------------------------
There were no flowers up the mountain. Nor was there much snow to be honest.
The whole landscape was empty, save for the giggles hanging in the air. They receded at my touch. Smoothing out when I used [Warp the Veil II] on them. Like crinkles on a messy shirt that I happened to be ironing out.
“There doesn’t seem to be anything here.” Boris pointed out. No doubt trying to ease some of Charlie’s returning tension.
“Its fine.” He lied. “I’m over it. I don’t know what came over me in the first place. This is fine.”
I didn’t comment on his blatant deception. Opting instead to keep focusing on my fog.
There was nothing as far as I could sense. No birds, no plants, no mushrooms of any kind. Not even monsters.
It was as if someone had fumigated the whole mountain range with some deadly chemical weapon. Or an unhealthy amount of radiation.
‘Cherub?’
‘What!? I told you! There’s nothing here for me to absorb. Its all been taken care of.’
I used [Domination] on him, just to be sure. The answer stayed the same. Leading me to sigh in exasperation.
‘Now, if I were an apocalyptic-level kaiju that had destroyed most of western Europe in a few years, where would I be hiding?’
I called on [Insight] once more, finding that it was finally able to cut through the interference.
“Another 12 kilometres over that ridge.” I called out.
We made our way over to it in a hurry, finding more and more corpses lining the paths. Some had been burned, either form the outside or from the inside, while others had been twisted somehow. Either melted or sewn together into centaur-like amalgamations with two heads and a dozen limbs.
Some were missing eyes. Some had too many eyes.
‘Cherub. What, what happened here?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I mean, what did all this? Surely it wasn’t you, right?’
‘Not all of it, no. I only killed a few hundred thousand. The millions living here were attacked by the other Intruders that came over when I borrowed your Psy. There were a lot of hungry cousins looking for a handout and your Psy is, particularly delicious, shall we say. A lot of them took on your emotions. The ones you felt towards these guys. The ones you feel towards monsters in general. Towards anything that tries to hurt you or your own kind. Think of it like, making more of you, all of whom hate these guys over here about as much as you hate Gnomes.’
I took in the carnage once more.
‘Yeah. That sounds about right.’
We kept moving until the queen herself was enveloped by my fog. Or, rather, what I thought was the queen.
The thing I was sensing was a… sad thing. Many minds fighting inside a single brain. Tearing the scraps that used to be a host into smaller and smaller pieces before carrying those psionic vestiges elsewhere.
‘Please.’ The scraps begged. ‘If you’re there. End it. End me. End the suffering. Please. Please. Please.’
My stomach turned, but I did not waver.
I unleashed a charged mental bolt. For the first time in what seemed like forever.
It struck the pathetic, mewling wretch. Splintering some of its more fractured thoughts asunder.
‘More. Kill me. Please.’ It continued.
I blasted it with [Heart Attack]. With [Drown]. With [Indigestion]. With [Psionic Curse].
Shaving more and more life from what remained.
Over and over again until we came face to face with it.
The bug was, more humanoid than I would have liked. Easily bigger than twenty Dolce’s put together, so that she seemed to dwarf the nearby peaks in the distance.
Dusty let me down, while Slab let down Monique and Boris.
Charlie ran around it. His eyes watering from the collective smell of all the bodies.
“Some of them have hooves, and horns.” He threw up. “Sully, (Gnome)ing (Gnome) Sully. Why do they have hooves and horns?”
“Mutation has always been a constant up here.” Dusty said, dismissing his concerns out of hand. “More importantly, the queen is here and helpless. Let us finish this.”
Charlie didn’t seem to hear her.
“Sully. Sully why does it smell of sulfur here? Sully, I’m freaking out.”
Boris went over to him and helped to prop his body up as be retched once more.
Monique said nothing. Her face a stony mask.
Slab walked up to the queen at that time. His club clenched tightly in his hands.
“You killed my great-grandfather.” He said, without much emotion.
The queen wheezed. Her surroundings filled with the refuse her bowels had held and the ichor still seeping from her compound eyes.
Her mandibles moved and human speech came out.
“I killed many. To stay alive. To earn my place. In this world. I was. A fool. This world is. Not worth living in. So long. As it holds nightmares. Like you.”
It struggled to close its mandibles again, but the right side cracked and splintered before crashing into the ground. Green smoke erupted from the now-open section of flesh. Coming out like a noxious, pestilent hiss of toxic fumes. Curiously, there were faces in that somewhat verdant mist. Identical to the image I’d had of the Tall Man.
“End. The. Pain. Please.” It managed after a while.
Slab raised his club and hit it. To little effect. He hit it again and again and again. Losing himself in a berserker rage.
His blows barely left a dent.
Dusty joined him soon thereafter, managing to leave a few scars on the shell before her axe shattered into a thousand tiny pieces.
The broken sections began to repair themselves, only to grow back as purple and pink serpentine heads that tore chunks of flesh from beneath the weakened armor.
I stared at the macabre spectacle. Then up at the firefly.
Gathering up [Heart Attack], [Drown], and [Indigestion] into a single missile. One with thousands of points of Psy crammed in.
When I released it, the monster knew peace and I gained a new merged ability for my efforts.