The small group spent almost the entire morning slowly making their way towards the Spawn’s lair, walking past the foundations and remnants of what had once been tall spire-towers and sprawling commercial plazas that lined the incongruously broad and relatively intact thoroughfares. During the Obsidian Moon’s inaugural year, the first Commander of the Moon had designated the entire Fourth Quadrant an economic zone by virtue of the safety afforded by being so close to the Gate to the Red Level and the military personnel that lived there, and had tasked the Castellan and the rest of the Stage managers to plan construction and development of the area accordingly. They responded by using more expensive and durable materials for the general plan while hiring geomancers and aesthetes to oversee everything to create a harmonious and luxurious whole. This combination of affluence and security had increased the Quarter’s desirability to mercantile Clans as well as independent businesses and these had, in turn, invested heavily in the Quarter’s infrastructure. Over time, it became the most expensive Quadrant to reside in during the Moon's heyday, and boasted a selection of goods unrivalled by even the Aetheric bastion-worlds at the Galactic Center. Unfortunately, the Quadrant’s affluent past was also the reason why it became the most hotly contested and later the most thoroughly looted of all the regions of the Stage.
Still, some of the Quadrant’s old charm and elegance remained, most notably evident in the broad roads, sculpted lamp-posts and decorative arches that doubled as elevated crosswalks. Eric, walking point for his team, had to constantly keep himself from being distracted by the alien architecture and art on display as he cautiously walked alongside the low walls that lined the sidewalks, with Pig marking sites of interest on his Auto-Map as directed.
About three-quarters of the way into their trek, Eric signaled a halt and led his team into the mostly-intact interior of a building that anchored the corner of what looked to be a wide oval park area. A large, leafless tree stood at the middle of the oval, its black glassine trunk giving off a faint shadowy glow. Surprisingly, a thin layer of what looked like red- and brown-leaved weeds were growing in the tree’s immediate vicinity, although most of the soil within the oval was bare and hard-packed. Beyond the tree, the small hill that marked the Gharun Spawn’s lair could be seen.
< Listen up! > Eric squatted beside the wide window he had been looking out of, indicating that his companions should do the same. Modular amor plates scraped softly against each other and servos growled as the others did as he directed. < Designate this location as Fall-Back One on your personal maps. > Seeing the others nod and hearing no dissent, Eric continued. < Serra, direct Cid in fortifying this place as much as possible and set up a supply cache in case we need one. Osar, check the surrounding structures while I scout the way ahead. We will all assemble here in two hours before we begin our assault. >
< Roger, Cap. >
< Yes, sir. >
< Yes, Jad-Os. >
Ranging forward, Eric went over the information he had been given regarding their target.
A Gharun Spawn was, according to Osar and Luna, the larval stage of a void-faring behemoth known for swallowing entire vessels with one massive gulp. In fact, an adult Gharun posed a threat even to a fully-operational orbital station. Thankfully, the beasts were rare and getting rarer, with most sightings now being confined to the Empire’s fringes. In the case of the specimen Eric and his team would soon be facing, Luna’s drones confirmed that it had not yet reached adulthood, meaning it hadn’t yet attained the full power of its natural armaments and defenses which, to Eric at least, already sounded formidable as all hell!
First, was the creatures speed, which Osar had described as deceptively quick, and an offensive arsenal that varied from individual to individual. There was also the matter of its aetheric abilities, which could also vary depending on what creatures the individual Spawn had already defeated and consumed. Finally, and this was confirmed by a few of the recon drones that actually managed to get near the creature, the Spawn had a strong exoskeleton similar to plate armor which covered the entirety of the beast’s elongated body, and was particularly thick around its vulnerable head and neck. To make matters worse, Osar’s pre-action report stated that the Gharun’s intrinsic ability to rapidly rearrange its segments to protect certain areas had been the main inspiration for the creation of the flow-metal battlesuits that was now a manufacturing standard all throughout the Empire.
Eric kept all of these factors in mind as he moved towards the mound-lair, moving slowly and keeping out of line of sight from the mound. Signs of the Spawn’s presence was abundant in the surrounding area of course, from large gouges on the ground or pavement, to three-meter high scrapes along sagging walls. There was a wealth of Spawn-sign at the edge of the oval park, although for some reason the Gharun Spawn never crossed into the barren earth where the strange tree was growing. There were also remnants of what Eric assumed were the evidence of the Spawn’s former meals: A surprisingly varied selection of dried blood splashes, split armor plates, cracked bones and desiccated body remnants of beasts scattered in out of the way corners or shoved to the sides. It made sense that there were so many since in its current lifecycle stage this Gharun Spawn was primarily focused on building up body mass and increasing its personal aetheric reserves. Neither was it particularly concerned about concealing its presence, since it had presumably learned that very few of the Stage’s void denizens had the power to even threaten it, much less defeat it..
Eric paused over one discarded carcass, which looked to be a reptiloid hexapod of some sort, with scaled, leathery skin sagging over broken bones, its insides apparently sucked dry through a half-meter hole on its side. His Dragon Sight revealed that the entire mess was devoid of aether, an empty spot in the background of ambient unaligned aether.
Was the Spawn absorbing aether when it fed on its prey, leaving behind aetherless remains? Was it something similar to the energy cycle every child was taught in the Union-verse? If so, what was the source of aether then? Was it the stars, or planets? How did all that work?
Suddenly, there was a chime and a window opened, despite Pig’s standing orders to filter anything of that nature when Eric was out in an active mission.
Hidden Quest Advanced: Learn the Deeper Mysteries of the System
Step 1 Objective: Gain a deeper understanding than most regarding the System (50%)
Milestone Reached: Asking the right questions
You have begun to question the underlying nature of aether generation and transformation and its place in the Universe. Chase down or figure out some of the answers to complete the first step towards understanding.
Step 1 Reward: Gens Improvement
Enclosed within his helm, Eric sucked in a breath of filtered air as he tried to parse out how his idle musings on the feeding habits of Gharun Spawn had actually advanced a hidden quest. There were so many unknowns still, but at least it seemed the System itself thought that he was making some form of progress.
He just wished he could feel the same.
“Motion detected twenty meters to your right, sir.” Eric sidestepped into the dubious cover provided by the beast carcass he had been examining, Pig’s warning bringing him immediately back into the moment. Then, about fifty meters from his position, he got his first glimpse of the Gharun Spawn they were here to kill.
It emerged head first along the side of a tall, relatively intact tower-spire, about five meters off the surface. The first thing Eric noticed were a pair of thick, segmented antennae, waving busily through the air, that preceded the small, squarish head covered by a thick plating of mottled exoskeleton. Even as he watched the beast’s armored surface rippled, taking on the hues and apparent texture of the wall it was climbing, giving it quite an effective camouflage.
“Switching to visual config three, sir.”
Eric blinked and the world was suddenly alight with swathes of color, with reds and yellows predominating. A helpful red outline and tag kept him aware of the Spawn at all times, and Eric watched with fascination as the rest of the beast followed its head. It moved in a hypnotizing pattern of stops and starts, one moment all flowing movement, the next as still as the permacrete surface it was crawling across.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
The Spawn was about fifteen meters long and seven meters wide, with a distinct bulging thoracic hump just behind its head segment, flanked by a pair of huge crab-like pincers. It looked like a particularly front-heavy caterpillar, if a caterpillar was armored like a front-line tank and armed with several sets of claws, both for grasping and for piercing, metal crushing mouthparts, and a multitude of bladed legs all along its bulging sides.
< First team this is Recon element reporting we have visual on the target. > Eric’s lips twisted into a wry smile at his instinctive phrasing even as he whispered into the Squad-Net, though he knew there were no external audio-waves for the enemy to detect: Habits ingrained by years of experience had a tendency to rise to the fore during moments of stress. < I repeat, we have visual. >
< Roger Recon, > The reply came almost immediately, Serra’s voice sounding bored as she spoke. < We have your location. Converging, ETA five minutes. >
Eric glanced at the corner of his helm’s covering faceplate, noting the small cluster of green dots that marked his team’s location begin to move towards each other and to him. Five minutes huh? Eric thought, let’s see if we can find any weaknesses to exploit before the rest of the team arrived at his location.
< Ready and waiting, Cap. >
A few minutes earlier Serra had activated her Flawseeker ability and identified several vulnerable points along the Spawn’s body. Then, after a quick conversation regarding points of attack and several contingency plans, Eric had sent his team out to their designated positions.
< Standby. > Eric said softly as he aimed down the length of his void-aether charged pain-lance. Pig had painted several areas on the beast’s body that Serra had identified as weak points, and Eric had selected one of the Spawn’s recessed eyes as his first target.
Eric calmly took a breath and held it.
Then he pulled the trigger.
The shot blasted away one of the Spawn’s eye, leaving a blood-leaking smoking hole that caused the beast to roar in pain and anger. The beast immediately leaped away from the wall, crashing into a lower building in a cloud of dust, its ungainly body moving with unexpected speed and grace, as it oriented itself upright. Its huge bulbous head crashed through a wall, swinging from side to side, antennae’s waving, trying to pinpoint the source of its injury.
< Moving! > Serra shouted, echoed by Osar as the two of them tried to reposition to adjust to the Spawn’s unexpected leap.
< Firing! > Cid announced suddenly, and Eric growled as he began running full tilt towards his teammate, even as a loud rumble and several corkscrewing missile trails erupted from Cid’s position: The combat-inexperienced scientist had followed the original plan of attack despite the change of circumstances, and was now exposed and unsupported, with an angered behemoth focused on him.
< GET OUT OF THERE! > Serra shouted as the Spawn barreled forward. Cid hurriedly engaged his Voidwalker jump thrusters, shooting up into the air. His two escorting Lancers moved to support, directed by Cid’s AI, firing a stream of concentrated aether bolts at the charging creature, causing enough of a distraction to divert the creature’s charge.
Eric slammed into the ground beside the beast, cracking the pavement, gritting his teeth as his suit and legs bore the brunt of the force of the impact. His Voidwalker frame creaked, while alarm lights sprung up all over his faceplate display. Eric ignored the telltales as Pig immediately cleared his field of vision, trusting his AI to monitor the extent of the damage and warn him in time.
Touching Vashanka’s ring with his right hand’s fingers, Eric pulled out his sword, immediately charging it with hunger aether as he slashed at the Spawn’s head. The blade bit deep into the side of the Spawn’s head, cracking the chitin and eliciting a spray of blood. There was a rush of vital energy into Eric as the hunger aether did its work.
Impossibly fast, the Gharun Spawn twisted its thorax, swinging one of its large grasping claws at Eric, striking so hard it slapped Eric’s weapon out of his hand, sending the bloodied blade flying into a mound of rubble.
Activating his boot jets Eric slid to the side at right angles from the creature, loose stones skittering all over as the enraged beast barreled forward. Thick strands of the roiling ambient aether were suddenly being sucked into the creature’s main body.
“Incoming attack, Sir!”
Pig’s warning sent Eric desperately diving for the creature’s flanks, even as he fished another sword from his ring. He heard Cid’s voice shouting somewhere above and behind him, before explosions began raining down all around the area, raising clouds of stone dust and rolling fire.
By some miracle Eric kept his feet under him, riding the shockwave of explosions as debris rattled all over the surface of his battlesuit. He slid to a stop against a crumbling gray wall, left knee down, left hand up to shield his eyes.
The Gharun Spawn was rattling and shaking within the dust cloud, the artificial illumination of the Dome shining wetly on its blood-streaked exoskeleton. Several of its dangerously clawed legs were damaged, bleeding acrid-smelling violet-red blood. As Eric watched, the big brute managed to raise itself up on its remaining legs, its attention focused on the black and grey battlesuit hovering a few meters above its head.
Cid, instead of taking the opportunity to get away, had turned to fight.
The scientists two hands were extended, each of his guntlets presenting four-barreled grenade launchers, smoke still rising out from their barrels. There was a loud clicking sound coming from the guns and Eric was soldier enough that he recognized the sound of guns dry-firing.
Cid was panicking.
Below the hovering scientist, the Gharun Spawn had also realized something was wrong. Instead of hunkering down and trying to protect its damaged body, the creature’s head was now raised, its remaining three eye’s fixed on the bulky battlesuit in front of it, calculating the elevation it would need to launch an attack.
As the massive creature raised itself on its heavily-muscled hindlimbs, Pig’s overlay created a red square and indicated a cracked, bleeding area along the distracted Spawn’s dorsal carapace. Vulnerable, a blinking red tag over the square read.
Smiling viciously, Eric rumbled a thanks to his vigilant AI, pulling out a heavy metal spike from his ring, its meter-long length punctuated by cruelly hooked tines standing at right angles from the main shaft.
With a kick, Eric launched himself from his crouched position. A shockwave of displaced air fanned out in a circle as the force of his kick shattered the pavement. He hurtled forward and in a split-second was in the air over the Gharun Spawn’s hunched form. With a shout Eric slammed the metal spike into the middle of the square Pig had so helpfully outlined.
Burden.
The spike, suddenly weighing ten tons more tore deep into the Spawn’s cracked armor, the tines ripping deep into the beast’s body.
The creature, violently pushed into the ground by the weight of the spike, screamed.
The sonic attack blew Eric back, also knocking Cid from the sky.
Eric lay stunned on the pavement as the Spawn screamed again, violently rearing itself backward, forcefully ripping itself away from the imbedded spike, leaving chunks of bloodied flesh on the spines. Before Eric could recover, the Spawn turned on him, a murderous glint in its remaining eyes. It raised its two massive foreclaws overhead, clearly intending to crush the man with a smashing blow.
< COVER UP! > Someone roared over the Squad-Net.
Stunned and disorientated, Eric shook his head as he tried to move away, but found it was impossible to get his feet beneath him. The shouted instructions galvanized him and he curled himself into a ball, hoping his battlesuit could mitigate at least a little bit of the damage.
The Spawn slammed down, ignoring the massive wound torn onto its side as it arched its body to add more force to its vindictive attack. Eric closed his eyes, his arms wrapped around his head for protection, his teeth clenching as a deafening crack resounded throughout the area.
Incongruously, Eric felt drops of cold water fall on and around him. Surprised, he opened his eyes and looked up, in time to see a shimmering shield of water breaking apart after blocking the Spawn’s attack.
Osar had arrived.
< Our turn, Jad-Os. > The Urgan said as he leaped over Eric’s prone body, not even pausing as he charged forward, body-slamming the Spawn’s raised torso and incredibly sending the huge creature crashing backward.
Eric raised himself on his elbows, still dizzy, and watched as a burst of light behind the Spawn indicated Serra’s arrival into the battlefield. Soon, the team’s two heavy hitters were in full attack mode, leaping in and striking at the embattled beast from several directions, keeping it off-balanced and scrabbling backward, inflicting damage that Eric could see was beginning to wear down their massive foe.
“Remove your helm, Captain.”
Eric turned to his side, seeing a battered Cid kneeling helmetless beside him.
The scientist’s armor was dented and dirt-stained, and drying blood streaked the right side of his face, vividly red against his pale skin. He was holding up a circular potion jelly, its blue color indicating that it was a general recovery potion.
Eric concentrated for a moment, allowing the protective plates of its helmet slide back and out into his battlesuit’s cowling. He nodded his thanks to Cid, popping the offered jelly into his mouth and chewing. The potion’s effects spread through his battered body, soothing aches and clearing his head enough that he could talk.
“You look like shit.”
Cid chuckled. “You don’t look so good yourself, Captain.”
Before Eric could formulate a reply, a blinding light flashed over them all.
He and Cid both turned towards their battling comrades, their jaws dropping as they saw the Spawn’s damaged carapace split down the middle, bright red-brown and maroon rays of aetheric light emerging from within. Enormous amounts of Body and Life energy were being expended, covering the Spawn’s entire body.
< GET CLEAR! > Osar shouted, jetting backward as the two halves of the creature began to fall. Serra, who had been in mid-strike with her heavy hammer, overbalanced and stumbled, only to have several tons of shed exoskeleton come crashing down upon her.
Horrified, Eric, Cid, and Osar could only watch as the ghastly red-tinged light died down and the Gharun Spawn emerged transformed, rising from its ruined carapace on diaphanous wings that thrummed as it stirred the air. Where once the creature had been massive and bulky, this new form was now elongated and sleek, armed with sharply-ridged limbs and a bulbous head sporting metal-edged mandibles.
< SERRA! > Cid shouted, rushing to his feet.
The transformed spawn landed, pushing aside the heavy plates of its newly-shed carapace with hardly any effort before picking up a limp white and gold figure. Then, as her teammates watched helplessly, the Gharun Spawn firmly grasped Serra’s body as it took to the air again, sending waves of dust and small stones flying as it twisted in the air and headed straight for the smoking opening of its lair.