Menace to Society_Reckoning: Unity

I stared at the distant creature through my fading vision and Uriel buzzed, though my exhausted mind almost missed it.

Name: Suzy

Species: Crystal Moon Owl

Health: 400/400

Mana: 320/320

Endurance: 241/350

Strength: 265

Agility: 381

Speed: 500

Toughness: 12

Spirit: 320

Status conditions: Clear mind;

Titles: Lord of the forest (Former); Menace to society; Lover of music; Seeker of Song; Quasi-Phoenix; Candidate deity;

Abilities:

Complete Regeneration lv: 4

Wind essence magic (Master): lv: 16

Fire essence magic (Beginner): lv 1

Mind over nature magic (Adept): lv 37

Body empowering magic (Adept): lv: 62

Keen eyes lv: 90

Arial tracking lv: 98

Steel feathers lv: 100

Rending talons lv: 100

Piercing beak lv: 100

Swift flight lv: 100

Sound suppression lv: 100

Razor wings lv: 100

Heh… It really is Suzy… Though why is she here? And how did she recover from being a taxidermied head mounted at the Ornery Owl Inn? Gretkarn squeezed ever tighter and my shield finally broke. Dont… Don’t tell me it has to do with her lover of music title… How could she remember the song I played… when she was just a head?

“At last! At last!” Gretkarn slopped and slurped his too many tendrils out of the way, bringing me ever closer to his oversized maw. “I’ve won! Now you shall join with me! Submit! And all the world shall be Gretkarn!”

I could see past his tendrils before thanks to my expanded senses, but now that I was really looking at them, even with my vision blurring and fading, I could tell they weren’t in good condition.

The burns from my sword were wide, deep, and everywhere, and the most recent ones weren’t even showing signs of healing.

And that’s only the damage I did.

Though they were being slowly repaired, he had countless puncture wounds from the ship's ballistae, and even more smaller lesions from the magic arrows Carmella had bombarded him with in an effort to free me.

Just a little more… And we would’ve had him…

I checked his dwindling mana, and watched it concentrate deep within his hulk of a body, before it, and his real form slithered up and out of the enormous mouth.

He wasn’t much to look at, and I’m not saying that because I’m having a hard time looking right now. All he was was a pinkish-navyish lamprey with a few tendrils trailing off him at odd intervals.

How did he even fit inside that fish before? It was smaller than he is!

I watched Suzy close in on me at an incredible clip, using what little mana I had left to sustain that slim thread of hope, but she was still too far away to do anything.

Not that I even knew what she’s here to do, should she even get to me in time.

However, Gretkarn lowered me to mere feet away from his slimy body, and with no barrier left to protect me from his invasion, and not enough mana to erect a new one, I decided to trust in Suzy’s good will.

Just a little more…

I need to her to get as close as possible before I pass out…

His horrible tendrils slimed onto my clothes and he hoisted his noodly body up toward my mouth, which he’d pried open with his larger body’s tendrils.

Where he planned to fit his several foot long corpus inside me, I didn’t want to know, but his haste left me no choice but to play for time, so I spluttered. “H–hey. Hoo hou hememher hwen I hyhohized hou?” (Do you remember when I hypnotized you?)

Unable to speak using his hulk body since he’d separated from it, his voice invaded my mind once more. ~You speak nonsense. Befitting of a fool like you. You did not reign over me, simply shocked me to inaction.~

I smirked. “Heah, hut hi halso hit hour harasites hidn’t hi?” (Yeah, but I also hit your parasites didn’t I?)

He thrust himself up to be right in my face, his beady little eyes burning navy blue. ~Irrelevant! Pointless! Cease this meaningless prattle and–~

“Heaningless?” (Meaningless?) I glanced down at his supersized shell. Okay, maybe it was more of me limply dropping my head, but it accomplished the same result.

I forced my restrained and exhausted arm to make a thumbs down gesture, the signal I’d implanted within the host of hypnotized horrors to follow.

The husk he made from countless progeny glowed as it came to life again. I lacked the mana to move much of it, and didn’t have enough parasites hypnotized to fight him when he was in direct control, so in this brief window of opportunity, I had one of its smallest tendrils rip Gretkarn off of me, while also having the parasites I ensorceled activate their progenitor’s power ability in order to drain him of what mana they could.

I’ve actually had them subtly waste bits of his mana through the whole fight in time with his casting, but he had so much stored that it’s only making a difference right now. Plus I never imagined he’d merge with the leviathan… All I hoped was to create an opening to kill it… But everything went so wrong.

~What?! What?! How is this–? What have you done? How dare you toy with Gretkarn? Submit! Obey!~

I could feel his rage scorching my fading mind. Honestly, it was all that was keeping me awake at this point, for without that strong emotion I’d have blacked out from lack of mana, as I’d just used the last of it.

My sustained spells shut down, so no more telepathy, shapeshifting, or expanded senses from here.

If feeling weak was foreign to me, then losing the sensory array I’d had up for so long was even worse. Cause now I not only felt trapped in a body that wouldn’t move, but I was barely aware of what was going on around me too.

But still, I managed some semblance of a smile, since my mouth was still being held open. I’ll leave it up to you, Suzy.

Then my eyes lulled shut.

And the last thing I saw was Gretkarn shooting back toward me in a conjured ball of water.

Wherever you are.

I felt a spray of wet hit my face, and all sensation left me.

~Merciful God, please strengthen your servant. Please deliver us from this evil. Please rid us of the imposter to your glorious throne. Merciful God,...~

“Uggh.”

I winced, and forced myself to sit up and open my eyes.

But everything was dark.

Who’s voice was that? Mine? Were those my thoughts?

~Merciful God, please strengthen your servant. Please deliver us from this evil. Please rid us of the imposter to your glorious throne. Merciful God, please do not abandon us in our hour of need, please guide us to do your will, please save us.~

I shook my heavy, groggy, head and sighed. “Nope. That’s Calden. So where is the kid? Why can’t I see him?”

I narrowed my ineffectual eyes and peered through the darkness until I made out his kneeling figure in the murk.

He wore slightly oversized armor and carried a fancy looking sword which he clutched, point touching the floor in front of him, while he prayed.

At first, all I could make out was him, but the longer I looked, the more of the area around him I could see; though the whole thing was still pretty vague as all I could gather was that he was somewhere in the castle, and people were bustling to and fro around him.

~Merciful Creator! Guard us! Shield us in this time of terror! Please!~

Another, older, and considerably more frantic, voice came from somewhere behind me, and then a few hundred others echoed his words and panic.

“Iskel…?”

I glanced around the dark space and found him surrounded by praying people back where I’d left them in the outer district of the city. Only now, the guards protecting them were on the verge of being overrun by Gretkarn’s eclectic assortment of gooey goons, and parasitized people.

Well, crap.

I reached out to them, but I appeared to lack hands or power of any sort, so my efforts were met with stinging failure as I was left to watch them suffer.

What the heck am I supposed to do here? They’re going to be overrun, and I can’t do anything about it! Calden can fight, but not against that many creatures and not when he’s so far away!

Their prayers kept ringing in my ears, pushing my desperate mind to think.

And then I remembered something.

Calden can’t reach them physically, but he’s got that ‘blessing of the people’ ability which he can use to strengthen others. I think it required a hundred charges to use, but that shouldn’t be an issue when there are over a thousand people praying!

“But wait… How do I get him to use it? I guess I should try our telepathic bond first, right?”

I focused all I had on reaching him, because if this didn’t work, I really didn’t have any recourse and a lot of people were going to suffer for it. ~Hey, Calden? Can you hear me?~

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It took a second, but his head bobbed up, then he prayed harder. ~Lord Anon?~

~Yeah, it’s me. There’re some people in trouble, and I can’t help them right now, can you use your ‘blessing of the people’ ability on them?~

He trembled. ~I’m terribly sorry, but the only converts since coming to the castle were the merchant and his caravan, I still lack the required amount to use it.~

I frowned, then sent him the image of Iskel and his congregation, along with everyone else who’d joined them in prayer. ~Does this help?~

Because I really, really, really, need this to help! They don’t deserve to get caught up in this crap! And I’m kinda to blame for starting it so suddenly!

His eyes shot wide, and he leapt to his feet. He held up his sword and white light enveloped him. I watched him say something aloud, something I couldn’t hear, which froze the feet rushing by him.

Then, on Iskel’s end, that same light poured down from above the people’s heads and embraced the guards, and anyone brave enough to fight off the encroaching creatures.

“Oh thank heavens!”

It wasn’t some insta win power by any means, more of a gentle boost, really. The blessing slowly recovered their lost strength, even enhanced it a little, while also healing their wounds, and protecting them from future harm in a manner reminiscent of a full body suit of boiled leather armor.

It’s not much, but it’s got a good spread, and is helping!

Iskel roared a moment later, an almost insane glint in his bloodshot eyes. ~Praise be! Praise be! The Creator has blessed us! Victory will be ours!~

I cringed internally. A–alright dude. Whatever gets you through the crisis… I’m starting to dread the day I have to tell them I’m not God.

I maintained the live stream of events straight into Calden’s head, and each time he recast the blessing, more of the frightened people found their courage and started to fight.

And they weren’t warriors either. They were just everyday people, and given the area of the city they were in, most were pretty down on their luck.

But they still stood up.

Frail, malnourished, bodies, scarred and twisted by the deepest cruelties of life, gathered together side by side to defend those even weaker than them.

The children were corralled to the center as even the women stood to beat back the beasts bearing down on their neighbors and families. Heck! Frail old Iskel even waded into the fray knocking the monsters back with what appeared to be a broken off table leg.

And with the strength of a thousand hands the relentless tide started to stem.

It’s only one gathering point, but at least there will be some survivors of this calamity.

I sighed. “And given my failure, that’s all I can really ask for… .”

I didn’t remember at first, being overwhelmed with the urgent situation didn’t help, but I now fully recalled why I was without a body or power.

“I swear, if that little turd is using me to hurt more people I’m gonna… No. I need to find myself first.” I glanced around the darkness. “I’ve gotta be able to do that much, right?”

It took a minute, but the shadows eventually cleared enough in a distant spot for me to catch a glimpse of my limp frame laying in a grassy patch.

I tilted my nonexistent head. “What the? How’d I get–”

Just like before, the gloom parted the longer I stared, until I could see the massive talons of an enormous owl firmly entrenched into the topsoil a few feet away.

Oh. I guess Suzy did get to me. And since I don’t appear to be moving, does that mean she stopped Gretkarn from taking my body? But then where is he? And why am I in this dark place? Oh crap! Don’t tell me I’m actually dead this time!

I hesitantly drew closer to the image of my body, and as I did the vision expanded to reveal the rest of Suzy, and that’s when I noticed Gretkarn too.

They were locked in a fierce staring contest. Gretkarn’s diminutive form trapped in Suzy’s massive beak, helpless to escape, with nothing more than a faintly glowing gray mental barrier preventing him from being bitten in half.

Several of his tendrils had already been torn off and likely consumed, as Suzy slowly tilted her head side to side, eyeing him up like a prime side of beef.

But the wriggling worm’s attention was divided. He kept an eye on Suzy, obviously on guard against her should she attack, but he also was longingly gazing at me, or rather, my limp body laying just behind her.

So close, and yet just out of his reach.

And he eventually made his move.

However, Suzy was ready. For when he finally dared to look fully away, she struck, piercing the barrier with her wind magic, and claiming several more tendrils that dropped spasming to the ground until they eventually stilled moments later.

Startled, he didn’t just sit there and take it either, as dozens of his monstrous minions burst from the bushes behind her to attempt a rescue, but she just shot them down with yet more blades of wind magic as callously as a child plucking the limbs from a daddy long leg.

Boy am I glad that she’s got that clear minded status condition, otherwise he’d probably just hypnotize her too.

And then, to my shock, the system spoke.

I whirled around to face the direction the voice came from. “Oh, well, excuuuuse me! Since I’m so wrong, and you know sooo much, why don’t you tell me why she has that status condition and how she even got here?”

Not that I’m complaining that things ended up this way.

The ever changing male to female voice flatly said.

My disembodied jaw dropped. “W–what? The town burned?”

Remorseless as ever, the system continued.

I blinked. Someone wasn’t willing to– Oh! Right, I kinda scared the pants off of that one dude.> Then sighed.

I shook my head to clear that distracting train of thought and my own frustration with selfish politics. “But more importantly, where am I? And how do I get back to my body? I’m not dead, right? Right?!”

The system was silent.

My absent heart pounded in my nonexistent chest as I feared I’d be trapped in this dark place forever, but then someone appeared.

They weren’t definitive, being only a white silhouette that shifted in size and shape, maintaining only a vague humanoid form through it all. The contrast with the otherwise completely black realm we inhabited was stark and jarring, almost blinding, and the system spoke through this being.

I floated a bit back. “And you… You had a body all this time? You’re a person? I thought you were a program? Or… I guess you’re more of an A.I.?”

The system shook its head.

I just stared at it, partially hoping it would become more clear like my visions of Calden and Iskel, but to no real surprise, it didn’t work. “So I’m resting? Is that why I can supposedly use my abilities? Because I’m recovering while I sleep?”