Chapter 65

Traitors Among Us

Rumble.

The world shook, as Frank could sense and feel Necromantic powers. Or powers that his mind now associated with Negatively polarized Life energy.

It was odd, for the power felt, well he didn’t know how it felt, as it was tainted and diluted. But after a few concussive bursts, the power that he was feeling honestly felt familiar.

Not that he knew the sources of the bursts of energy he was now sensing at the end of his periphery, but the power that was coming had a faint echo of something real, something tangible to him.

“Constance?” Frank uttered, his mind drawing parallels to the senses that his mind could not comprehend fast enough. Though after he uttered the name of his bonded, he knew the comment to be correct.

Well not completely accurate, as it was still off, then he realized that it was the same type of energy that she was exposed to.

How he could feel these monsters from so far away astounded him.

Only once he realized they were around his converted pillar, did his newfound awareness make sense. While he couldn’t truly mesh his senses with the pillar, it seemed that his initial senses were close enough to the pillar, whereby the pillar seemed to act as an amplifier and spread his senses out even further, like a natural repeater would.

Frank could feel the life forms of three distinct bodies, though only two were close enough to the pillar for Frank to even make out their forms. There was a third, but that one seemed to weaving in and around the field.

“Ambush!” The Shaman elder, Prentip, exclaimed.

Hearing that, the second elder, Erloche rose to his feet made a formal fist pounding gesture against his chest, and then turned to leave the hut.

At that, an attractive female burst through the hut’s opening.

Seeing her, Frank instantly winced as his breath caught in his chest at the sight of the woman. She was a toned fit warrior who upon making eye contact, Frank felt an intensity that was hard to describe.

Even the woman seemed to pause, as she just stared at Frank for a moment.

Fortunately, the clan elder was there, and either didn’t notice the awkward pause between the two, or chose to address the immediate issues at hand.

“Ah, Ravena, it is good that you arrived, please have your team provide protection over this sacred guest of our shrine,” the elder Prentip stated.

Hearing his voice, cause the momentary pause between the two to break, although Frank was certain that if he looked back now, he could feel the intensely powerful gaze of the female stealing subtle glances at him.

Though to be honest Frank himself wanted to look at her, to peer into those piercingly blue eyes, if only for a moment. But he knew that would be bad, as it would change something fundamental in him. Something that he didn’t want to change, at least not at the moment.

“Come with me,” Ravena demanded.

Frank was about to rise up and follow the warrior, as her demeanor instantly changed to that of a seasoned warrior, one who was used to getting her way. There was just one problem, Frank realized almost too late that his clothes were set out to dry a few feet away.

Seeing the pause, and then the fact that Frank’s eyes immediately focused on his now drying clothes, the old shaman just chuckled.

“Perhaps you should wait outside Ravena, until our guest here is in a more suitable condition to actually meet you.”

Hearing the words, Ravena paused, and then her pale skin suddenly turned beet red when she realized what the issue was.

“Right,” Ravena stammered out as she quickly left the hut.

KA-BOOM!!

Another violent strike erupted, though this one seemed to be less devastating than the last, despite it being closer.

“Ah looks like I too will be needed, now please get dressed and most of all, welcome to the pack.” The old shaman said, giving a sly wink before turning to the door where he instantly began forming into the bestial form of an old thinning haired werewolf.

Seeing the change, Frank wondered exactly how these dark realms operated, for as far as he could tell there was no rhyme or reason to the changes he observed in each section. Just that each section seemed to be wholly independent of the others, despite being part of the unified dark lands.

Of course, Frank pondered this as he quickly rose up and put on his underclothes, and then his well worn pants and what remained of his shirt.

His clothes had clearly seen better days, or maybe months at this rate. Still, they were enough to cover him, at least for now.

As he exited, Frank saw something that he never thought he would get to experience.

For the first time, Frank saw an actual elite team of warriors squaring off against corrupted beasts.

Though, looking at the three elite soldiers, it was clear that they were seemingly just as corrupted as the werewolves that they were now pitted against were.

Actually, pausing for a moment, Frank used his newly enhanced senses and was surprised that he could feel the corruption, or negative polarity of life energy coursing through these three in a violent process.

In his mind, he felt the training of Dr. Evans coming back to him. Teaching where he saw the rampant spread of diseases and viruses going through bodies, infecting flesh, and rendering bodies useless.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“At first, the patient will often not experience or exhibit any signs of strain, as their bodies will be able to moderately quarantine the damages being inflicted. The problem comes when the illness is given time to take root, from which it will eventually spread out and devour the body whole.

Even now, Frank could feel the corrosive nature of the life consuming energy taking root in their bodies.

It was odd, for in this state, Frank could swear that the process was reversable, as it hadn’t fully taken hold.

If given enough time Frank was certain these people could create alternating channels of energy, just as he had for Earth energy.

While his body had long since grown use to the infusion of negatively charged life energy, at least that is what he assumed to be the case. Yet, if he focused, he could tell that his core was still that of highly purified life energy, energy that all flowed and utilized the same polarity.

Yet, for some reason, despite constant exposures to corrupted life energy, Frank just now realized that his body never let such energies take root within his body.

“Finally, come with me and don’t get lost!” Ravena’s voice cut through the fog of war, as Frank watched what could only be called a blood bath, as Wolves and giant Avian creatures fought and struck at the hostile invaders.

Watching the two differing tribes of weres come together was odd, but reminded Frank of ants. At least what he expected would happen when two opposing colonies found a mutual enemy between them.

Just as in nature, the two opposing colonies banded together against the outside force, before shifting their attention back to each other.

This time it was no different.

Well there was a difference, for this time, Frank was here.

Watching the three highly trained individuals, Frank knew what they could do, and worse how they would coordinate their movements with each other.

“Watch right!” Frank called out, gesturing to his right.

Just like that, a few wolves looked back to see him, which caused them to be distracted while Major charged forward and all but tackled two wolves to the ground.

For a moment, Frank wondered why he did this, as the man was clearly more capable than that minor act as an S-Rank, but it only took a quick glance Frank’s Energy Sight to show that the once indomitable core of the great Major was now left with little more than dregs of power.

Worse, it seemed that the core of the Major was so depleted that his core was close to shattering.

Seeing the Major in such a state, Frank quickly switched targets to see that both the Gunnery Sargent and Martial Sargent were similarly close to collapsing.

Before Frank knew what was happening, he found his legs bursting forward, fueled by strength and speed that he did not remember possessing earlier.

The world blurred past him, as even his enhanced eyes couldn’t keep up with the imagery and level of detail that he had experienced a second ago with his Energy Sight activated.

Still he moved, keeping his Energy Sight activated as he began assisting the werewolves and avian creatures in their strikes.

Thump-ba-dump.

Behind him, Frank could hear the sound of wolves chasing after him.

It was clear from the sounds that Ravena and her entourage had all shifted and were now trying to keep up with Frank.

Which before his time being immersed within the land would have made for a much shorter run, as they would have easily caught up to him at that time.

Now though, now he was rested.

Now he felt the power of the earth beneath his feet, empowering him and all but propelling him forward with fluid grace.

Better still, upon seeing Frank, the trio that had been engaged with the werewolves seemed to have noticed him, and suddenly shifted their focus.

No longer were these three content with fighting and using their last bursts of energy to maim or kill one or two more were creatures. Instead, they all saw Frank and immediately began focusing on him.

Frank had expected this, as their paranoia and anger at his duality seemed to border on psychosis at this point.

Yet, these three were not aware of the new Frank, nor his capabilities.

Reaching out, Frank felt the thick clusters of negatively formed life energy. These were giant clumps that were the very anchor point from which all other corruption spread. These were also the same clumps that were infusing the three former soldiers’ bodies with enhanced strength, speed, and toughness that a normal cultivator would not be capable of matching.

With their anchors so readily exposed, and the power they exuded so familiar to him, it only took a second for Frank to mentally reach out to those corrupted nodes of energy and pull.

That’s right pull, not burst, as had been Frank’s first impulse.

The idea of detonating the corrupted anchor spots within the three soldiers seemed too easy, especially as all three were right at the neck. Right near the corroded artery. Meaning even a minor eruption would cause near death conditions, even for cultivators as powerful as these three.

Immediately, three black pulsing sacs of corruption were pulled from the three.

At that moment, everyone seemed to halt their movements.

That or the world just seemed to slow down to a halt for Frank, even as he pushed his body forward at an exceptional pace.

The three soldiers took first one, then collapsed before taking their second step as each grasped for the gaping wounds on their necks. Only the Major managed to stagger back to his feet, as he took a third step, before he fell once again and collapsed completely.

With them down on the ground, Frank who still felt a minor pull of control over the sacs that had since fallen to the ground, used his tethered connection to them and detonated all three.

Pop-pop-pop.

The three sacs made an oddly unsatisfying burst at the detonation. Frank knew first hand how devastating such packs could be, but then paused as he remembered that before such sacks were in either zombies or other corrupted beasts. He had never seen the effect on just the dark energy itself, which sadly left much to be desired.

There was a momentary pause, as all three would be invaders lay on the ground slumped over clutching their necks. Even now, their bodies seemed to glow brightly to Frank’s sight with multiple claw wounds and lacerations everywhere.

Then a glance around showed that the wolves who had been fighting a moment ago suddenly turned their gazes at Frank and just stared in disbelief.

Even the few Avian shifters that had been flying about soon landed, some violently so, as they too began to change back and stare at Frank with their hawk like eyes.

“AHHH!”

There was a moment of silence, before Erloche still in his werewolf form broke the silence and charged forward, claws fully extended to strike at the down and defenseless warriors.

“Stop!”

Frank wanted to call out, but found his voice suddenly dry.

SWOOSH!

Fortunately, Frank didn’t have to do anything, as the wise shaman stopped the charging warrior with an odd Telekinetic burst that grabbed and hurled the warrior away. It was a defensive measure as it was clear that the warrior was not hurt by the attack, especially as he landed feet first and was ready to pounce again as needed. Though he held himself as he looked at the man who stopped him.

Seeing that it was the leader of his tribe that had stopped him, Erloche looked momentarily defeated as if he couldn’t believe such a feat would happen.

Only after a second, did Frank realize that the person who yelled for everyone to stop had also been the shaman leader.

By now the Shaman leader was in between the members of his pack, and the three clearly bleeding out human warriors. Humans whose cores and bodies were so corrupted that they couldn’t even generate enough energy to make one last desperate strike.

“These are your people, are they not?” The Shaman turned to Frank.

Hush.

At the wise man’s words, everyone fell silent, even the groaning of the three soldiers seemed to die down, as they too seemed to want to know what was happening and why they were all still alive.

Looking at the trio, Frank wanted to first disavow ever knowing them, but then looking at the eyes of the Shaman, Frank felt he understood where this was going. And if it was going where he thought, then he had a plan in mind.

“I do know of these three, that is correct,” Frank answered diplomatically.

“You were also the one to disable these three, as such I will offer you the right to choose the punishment for these three.” The wise shaman stated.

Murmur.

With that proclamation, many of the wolves and avians both began conversing amongst themselves.

“SILENCE!” This time it was the second, pudgy bird shaman that yelled out.

Frank had not seen the man approach, which was frightening as he had apparently been standing right beside Frank.

“Wiseman Prentip is correct, this is an honored guest for both our tribes. As such, we will offer him the option of how his fellow pack members will be treated.” The Avian Shaman stated.

This too was a test, one that Frank had almost expected. The words about Frank being an honored guest rang true. While they could be taken out of context and noted as condescending or mocking, were spoken with nothing but the truth behind them, causing Frank to ponder.

Frank was confused for a moment as to why both shaman would consider him, of all people, to be an honored guest, but he figured it likely had something to do with the earthen pillar he created, one that caused a minor scrimmage to break out between the two tribes.

Though it appeared that such fights were common place, and likely meant to keep everyone sharp, as this little incident proved. For while the tribes had been caught off guard, both rallied together with seemingly minimal casualties, if any.

Silence.

Only after a moment did Frank realize that all eyes, from the two different tribes of were creatures, to the three former fellow soldiers were all on him.

Looking down at the trio, Frank could almost feel the exhaustion, the taste of defeat rolling off of them in waves. Seeing them in such a state, Frank could only smile inwardly as a plan came to mind.

Realizing that they would never know what it was like to be like him, or to be like these were creatures, people who were in tune with balance of both positive and negative elements, they would never truly grow.

“Yes, I have plan for these three,” Frank said, a cold smile filling the corners of his lips. “I will heal them, make them as me,” Frank began, but then paused as he realized who exactly he was speaking to. “As us, then we will send them back to the same society that shuns us for just being alive.”

“What?” The Major cried out, blood sputtering out of his hand as he tried to rise to his feet, to protest the sentence. But he soon passed out completely from blood loss as his wound while not immediately lethal was still severe enough to render him nearly immobile.

Seeing the Major down, Frank rushed to his side, and began working.

“Grab the others, see that they too survive this, so that they can finally understand what it is like to be an edge walker,” Frank stated, using the word and phrase that had seemed so odd to him at first, but now felt so natural to use and be.

And like that, the packs moved as one, restraining the two others, while forcefully applying force to the neck, while Frank began using his primary power, an F-Ranked power, one considered to be the weakest due to its range limitation, to heal the Major.

As he healed, he also made sure that the corruption in the Major’s body was subdued, not removed, just rendered inert. This would be his punishment for the trio, to be forcefully changed, just like he was.