CHAPTER 2 – THE SKY BEFORE THE STORM

Umbra Mortem – Erebus

***

Gideon leaned back in the chair with a sleeping Shira on his chest and her two pups at his feet. She’d cried herself to sleep. When he’d arrived back at Umbra Mortem the first thing that happened as he’d entered the Fortress was her leaping at him full of anger and pain and sorrow, screaming, wanting to go after the baddies and kill them all. He held her as Shadow and Moon feeling her emotions growled and leapt around looking for whatever enemy had her so riled. After an hour she passed out with a tear streaked face. He waited and waited as he watched Unra with her hand on the Settlement Orb doing her best to figure out how to do what the Blood King’s people did and create a portal blindly to an area.

Even with the coordinates as far as they understood you still had to be able to connect to a settlement than tune in to their portal to transport. Obviously that was not the case as proven by the shit stains that had taken L’Sana and Ari. The location of Sanguine Necropolis ended up being at least several thousand miles away from Umbra Mortem. Granted they could have transported to New Hades but he highly doubted it and they had that portable one-way portal they used to escape. He doubted the Demon Bitch would have made the mistake of helping an enemy come through them to attack Umbra Mortem or Oklahoma not with the guaranteed risk of retaliation. She was far too intelligent for that and to in love with herself to put her ass out on the line like that.

A surge of violence once again rolled through him as he clamped his Will. The voice that in the last day was becoming the norm once again slithered into his thoughts. ‘Patience. We hunt soon.’. It was accompanied by her sending a pulse of warmth into him. His cloak wasn’t the only one that had gotten an upgrade as his eyes clocked the small mechanical dog who did what he wanted to, pacing back and forth on the stone floor in front of him. Freddie’s extreme worry for his Bestie and L’Sana was palpable. His Personal Assistant could now take small shapes though his mass could only expand so far. The dog he was in now was about as big as he got which was about the size of a small beagle and also was what he looked like. He had a feeling Snoopy was what he was attempting to emulate. He knew he and Ari were big fans. Orin and Virasa were out at the Barracks readying the Settlement and their forces as they had no clue whether kidnapping was just the first step of something larger. Iona and Dori had their teams out hitting Dungeons to keep the Faction in the running on the rankings. Gideon personally didn’t give a shit about the rankings but he knew how the System worked and was sure it was a key to them surviving.

The War Room or Settlement Control Room or whatever the hell they were calling it now had changed once more, the Gun-Chairs now separated into their own room with a large set of double doors leading to it. They had tripled the number of heavy crossbows on top of making them more effective and lethal. They were attached to all sides of the Fortress now that no manual use was required, therefore balconies not required and they could just have small platforms they were set on with no access. They had enough Gun-Chairs and trained people now to man them.

With the help of Orin and Nuri from Oklahoma, they’d also made their own drones that constantly roamed the Settlement and were tied back into the communication center which had doubled in size and the number of people working in it. It was still a part of the room he sat in and looked like an ant hill with people roaming in and out of the room while running the day to day of a Settlement as large as Umbra Mortem which was upwards of thirty thousand people or so last time he’d asked. Most of that were Common and Uncommon Classes, many of which were not combat focused and a ton of children. They’d taken everyone and found something productive for everyone to do. They had opened up a massive orphanage and did their best to find actual families to take in kids but regardless the orphanage was well provided for with nice rooms, provided food and education.

They’d also began the formation of an internal police force called the Shades in his honor made up mostly of the Common and Uncommon Classes who showed some skill with combat. They were going to be headed by Gritzdek when he got back as he had already been tagged as Commander of the Guard. The name of it and expansion to its responsibilities had just changed. Gideon imagined the Beastkin flourishing in the role and it would keep him close to his child.

His mind snapped back into the now as he felt hands shifting the sleeping Shira. His Uncle stood above him peeling her up and off and into his arms. His one eye held an intensity that matched Gideon’s own.

“Go get some rest Gideon. It’s been a full day and you haven’t slept at all. You will do them no good if we get there and you are dead on your feet. I promise to get you as soon as we can figure out how to portal there. Danny and I will be ready.”

Gideon wanted to argue but he knew truth when it hit his ears. The burning anger and need to commit violence hadn’t lessened whatsoever but he knew he needed to be fresh if he was going to be effective. He stood as his Uncle left with the pups following as he carried Shira to Unra’s room where she’d be staying for the time being. Tolk was there and would do his best to comfort her. Gideon’s eyes took a look at the Old Woman tirelessly pouring over the Settlement Stone, Orb, whatever the fuck it was. He knew she wouldn’t stop till she’d solved the issue. His gaze slid down to the pacing robot beagle.

“Freddie, on me.”

Freddie stopped in mid-pace and looked as if he was going to say something but instead pulled a Transformers shape-change mode and shifted into a small owl before flapping his wings and lifting up to Gideon’s shoulder and once more pulling an Optimus Prime and changing into a ferret as he curled on his shoulder like Ari did L’Sana. Gideon stepped out and saw Danny sitting out on the balcony near the entrance to the War Room on some old school fold chair from Old Earth she’d propped up next to the huge mounted heavy crossbow. Her head pivoted and she nodded which he returned. He sped up to their room on the next floor up. His eyes were dragging and he knew his body needed sleep but the stirring rage was still going. His Bloodline and Class screamed for carnage, for death, his mate in danger.

His new Sub-Class [Lunar Hound] seemed to have the opposite effect, a calming energy, one of deep introspection and caution that in normal circumstances would have been a welcome boon but as of right now, anger was something he wanted. His new Skills [Investigation], and [Intuition] were constant and just as transformational as he’d always thought they would be, both tied heavily into boosting Insight first, followed by a decent bump to Perception and a small boost of Intelligence. He would need to at least throw some points into it to get all he could out the Skills. And Freddie and his Cloak weren’t the only things that had been boosted. Skald while sporting the same ratings was now in Iron so those same ratings were a qualitative jump and it could now shoot [Shadowmoon Lightning] twice a day instead of once. All of his Abilities he hadn’t really taken the time to look at yet except for his Aura which could now discern between his allies and enemies which was game changing. In addition he found he could boost it’s range but subtly shift it with his new Racial Ability Shroud. He still had a lot to figure out but the only thing he could get his mind to focus on was L’Sana, Ari, nothing else.

It would take a while to get used to as [Investigation] was constantly tracking everything around him to the smallest detail and then threading it through [Intuition] to pull practical use and application from the information. Currently it was registering all the tracks running everywhere within the hall and assimilating it into who they belonged to based on his knowledge and possible weaknesses if he had to fight them based on weight distribution. He realized at some point as it leveled he’d probably be able to filter more of it into the background and shifting only important pivitol things into being brought to the fore but currently heavily distracting. He did notice when his adrenaline was up it did do so, only focused on assisting the intent under which he was operating like when he was chasing after the kidnappers and infiltrating New Hades.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

He sighed and continued into their suite sliding through the living room and into the bedroom. The place was a ghost, a haunted empty place knowing L’Sana and Ari were in the hands of the Vampires, in the hands of the Blood King, the man who had called her whore, who had a look in his eyes when he threw them on her that said what at least one of his intentions were in taking her. Gideon’s fist slammed into the wall, a spiderweb of cracks in stone radiating out from the impact. A pulse of warmth rolled from his cloak. Freddie’s voice slipped in from his shoulder.

“We will save them Gideon. We must.”

He reached a hand to place on Freddie’s ferret head. He let it to and without saying anything Freddie shifted to his Owl form before landing on the bed back as a beagle. Gideon headed towards the bathroom willing everything off him. He took a quick shower than hit his bed. He fell asleep faster than he would have guessed dreaming of Skald thrusting through the heads of vampires.

***

He slammed out of bed as his Uncle’s voice hit his ears from the other room.

“GIDEON!!! She found a way!!!! Come on!!!!”

His ears caught the sound of his Uncle’s footsteps heading back out the way he came. He moved like lightning and before he was out the door and two steps into the hall his armor was on, daggers in his back sheathes, kunai on his forearms and Skald to hand while his cloak floating next to him slipped on as soon as everything underneath was in place. Freddie slipped from his owl form back to the ferret landing on his shoulders as he took the steps two at a time hitting the second floor and twisting back further into the hall and into the War-Room.

Unra sat at her desk looking like she’d visibly aged. Exhausted would be a compliment to what she looked like. He checked his eternal clock and realized he’d slept five hours which put it a few hours over a full day since they’d been taken. When Unra saw him her eyes lit up. Danny and his Uncle were there as were Iona and Dori, Virasa and Orin, all the leaders of Umbra Mortem. They had sad looks on their faces and Gideon had no time for it.

“Everyone. Before you say anything that sets me off, don’t. I don’t have sympathy, empathy, patience or anything close. I have one focus, to get L’Sana and Ari back and punish those that took them. The only thing I want to hear is how Unra is going to get me there then I’m off to do exactly that.”

Virasa’s voice was in commander mode when she spoke.

“I can understand and respect your words Gideon but you should change your mind and allow me to put together a formidable force to go along with you so that you have the hammer to pound Sanguine Necropolis into the ground.”

He raised his hand. His Uncle had already brought her thoughts to him on the matter through the Party Interface when he was on his way back from New Hades. His eyes reflexively went to the said interface and his anger flared hotter. It killed him to see the grayed out name of L’Sana on the Party List every time he looked at it, whether through distance or the slave collar she wore he had no clue. He refused to think it was because she was dead. They wouldn’t have taken her and Ari if all they’d planned on doing was killing them. He wanted to make this short so he could get to what Unra had to tell him.

“First. If we went in force at the Vamps it would give them motivation and time to kill L’Sana and Ari. We will have a better chance at rescuing them with just me, my Uncle and Danny. We all have the ability to sneak and with only three of us we can get to and free them before we let our presence be known or at least that is my intent and goal.

Even if we were noticed with only three of us the arrogance they displayed at the Council would still more than likely lead to them thinking they could take us without feeling overly threatened. Second, I have a feeling the Faction Leader Board knowing the System will be highly important to our surviving whatever tomorrow brings so you all need to focus on getting Dungeons cleared while at the same time getting our people stronger. I am sure Virasa already knows this but the Copper Dungeons should have a few of the Elites we have running our weaker combatants through them again and again until we get far more people into Iron and strong.

Last, though I think it unlikely we have no clue whether Sanguine Necropolis is alone in this or they have allies and it is part of a larger move, meaning there is still a possibility we could be attacked and I would not strip Umbra Mortem of it’s military strength.”

His [Investigation] and [Intuition] showed him Virasa and Dori were about to argue the point, based on the information relayed to his mind, at least including a few more of their Elites to the party. He didn’t have the time or give a shits at the moment to listen. He slammed the metal capped end of Skald on the ground hard, sending a divot of cracks along the stone floor.

“There is no room to argue with me on this. The subject is done for discussion. Understood?”

They both looked startled at his intensity. They nodded. He twisted to Unra who looked at him with a disapproving stare. He knew he was wrong in what he just did to people that had only loved and supported him from the beginning but they had no clue how he was barely hanging onto a thread of control. The urge for violence and killing was balancing on the edge of a brutal unleash. His voice was a cold whisper.

“Unra. Talk. You found a way to copy what the Vamps did?”

She shook her head no and it took everything in him to not explode before she gave him the hardest look she’d ever given him by a far margin then her old parchment voice softened the look with empathy.

“No I could not figure out how they did what they did but being a Prime Settlement there are so many branches of upgrades we have access to it would take me literally years possibly to figure it out especially as you can only see one level down from that which you have bought with BP. I wasted a bunch of the BP we had access to chasing ghosts so decided to make a work around on something I believed ‘would’ work and it did.”

Gideon was about to rage and scream at her to get to it when she slammed the staff he’d made her so long ago on the ground. It didn’t break the stone as his did but coming from her it was a much louder statement then his own. Everyone in the room went deathly silent including the people still working in the Communication/Control Center.

“Enough Gideon. I know and see what is churning inside you but I will tolerate it no longer. We are all worried about Lady L’Sana and Princess Arizelle, we all feel the fury and impotence of the situation but you shall show respect to those that follow you. You are our savior, our light, the one we would follow into Death’s gaping maw itself but you shall show the honor and due of what that sacrifice and faith means.”

A warmth pulsed into his soul and his Cloak whispered into his mind. ‘Loyal, followers, love.’. He couldn’t bring himself to talk, the rage to ever present but he managed to nod which seemed enough for Unra. She continued.

“We completed our portal connections to both the Wild Tribes and the Temple. Once we did their locations on the world map provided by the System populated just like Oklahoma and our Satellite Location at the Mines did when they were brought up. I noticed the location given to you by the Demon Queen was relatively close to the Temple’s which than had me searching for and finding the Ability to amplify the tracking range to locate our own Citizens. I found L’Sana’s after purchasing several upgrades and it does indeed coincide with the given location of Unhallowed’s Settlement, a hundred and fifty miles Northeast of Freeborn.

With the help of Nuri and her engineering team along with more purchases in the settlement System she suggested as well as with help from Orin here I was able to solve the two issues I saw. One, a device that will give you the ability to track L’Sana with accuracy, that will if it works as advertised, bring you directly to her as the function I am currently utilizing only gives a general location several miles wide. The other is to get you out once you’ve secured her and Princess Arizelle as I highly doubt you want to have to travel all the way back to Freeborn with a veritable army in pursuit if anything goes wrong. The portable device we created will allow a one way portal back to Freeborn. In addition Nuri has attached a present to it that will do what theirs did but exponentially more explosive. A message to send them we do not tolerate anyone taking that which is ours.

As far as the portable portal device we were able to craft in such a short time frame could not bring you directly back home but once you are back in Freeborn you can use their portal to travel home. They were also very happy with the knowledge that the Unhallowed were that close to their own Settlement which they were unaware of. They also gifted us the knowledge that the Sanctum are also somewhere within the vicinity though they have yet to track their exact whereabouts. In addition the Wild Tribes and the Temple have made an alliance with each other as well and the Wild Tribes are only three hundred or so miles southwest of their position.”

She focused for a moment and within her hand was a ring.

“This storage device holds both items, the portal and the tracking device attuned to L’Sana’s individual signature as a Citizen of Umbra Mortem. It also holds two High Quality Life Elixirs.”

A weight fell off his shoulders knowing he now had the means. He felt guilt but also love for the Old Woman in front of him. He would make it up to her when he got back. He held out his hand and she slid the ring onto his finger then grasped his hand starting into his eyes.

“I love them too Gideon. They are my family. Now go and get them back and make Sanguine Necropolis understand what it is to go against Umbra Mortem.”

He couldn’t squeeze out any words. Violence and death were the only phrases capable of purchase within his mind. He turned and became a blur heading towards their portal room.