CHAPTER SIX: FIGHT OR FLIGHT
After sleeping for a few hours the group decides to head out. So close to their destination, they refuse to wait any longer. “Are you able to walk, Tammie?” Jack asks when she refuses to let him carry her.
“Yeah, sure, whatever. I can’t just let you carry me around everywhere. Being treated like a child is totes lame,” she replies, trying to make a cutesy face and throw up a peace sign, but winces in pain.
“If you say so,” Jack nods, turning to Adam, “And Adam, you still need help, right?”
“No, I should be good to make it this last stretch,” he responds, shaking his head.
“Ugh, you two are stubborn. You’d better not collapse or something. Asking for help isn’t the end of the world, and we’re always here for you,” Maddison groans.
“Look, if you’ve got a problem, try wording it more judgmentally,” Tammie insists.
“I don’t have a problem, but you two aren’t fully healed, not by a long shot. That, and you’re confusing independence with stubbornness. If you are still injured, you will hold us back, that’s just how this works. But with our help you’ll be able to keep up. Don’t get us all killed, that’s all I ask,” she finishes, starting to walk off.
“Hey, Maddison!” Kaizu calls after her, but Jack extends his arm.
“Just give her some space. She does mean well, but. No, there’s no but. She’s under stress because two of us are gravely injured. I blame myself for them getting hurt, just as you blame me. But she probably blames herself for some minor thing she didn’t quite do right, and won’t let herself listen to reason. That’s just who she is, a stone cold exterior, but she really does care,” Jack reminds his friend.
“Yeah, yeah. Like the opposite of you,” he grumbles, lightly punching Jack’s stump.
A small patch of blood stains Jack’s bandages, as he asks, “What do you mean by that?”
“Well, you act all nice, but deep down you’re just a killer, right?” he asks, already certain of the answer.
“Be careful, Kaizu. Summing up people so simply can be reductive,” Jack warns.
“Oh, like you did with your sister?” Kaizu retorts.
Jack scoffs, “I only did that to prove a point. I never meant to imply that was the whole sum of her character.”
“Well, then you and I had differing intentions,” Kaizu grimly replies, before Tammie calls to them.
“You two lovebirds going to hurry up or what? We need that killer instinct to get rid of all these worms!” she yells, waving her arms wildly.
“Coming!” Jack cries back, before turning to Kaizu one last time, stating, “One last thing. Watch the stump. If it gets too damaged, I might not be able to save your ass when you need it. Now be a good boy and stop with the passive aggressive bullshit.”
Kaizu’s expression deepens, now a look of rage. “Roger that, sir,” he seethes.
The stress of the situation is affecting all our heroes, but even such biting words will not break this group of friends, nay, this family.
…
Just a short walk away, and the group sees it. Like an upright coffin, the massive black crystal towers well over a hundred meters tall. It glows with a subtle yet ominous light. Ash swirls around it, same as the cores of the hive, but with even more force. In truth, this could be considered the core of its own hive, for within it lies a realm of evil, akin to monsters, but orders of magnitude stronger. There is no mistaking it. This is the tomb of the Nowhere King. Ruler of Nowhere, the void between realities, banished during the Old Wars.
To each of the five who stand before it, something entirely different is represented. They all see the same thing, but what it means is entirely different. Jack sees justice, the first oppressor entombed forevermore. Maddison sees tragedy, as her ability to see all spirits displays a myriad of lost souls amongst the ash, lives lost to this truest of monsters. Kaizu sees something to be feared, something so much more powerful than himself, even standing before it exerts a nearly physical pressure. Tammie sees something worthy of respect, the power it took to command ultimate control over the universe, though despicable, still certainly worthy of recognition. Adam sees nothing more than a crystal, whatever meaning it had surely lost tens of thousands of years ago.
In truth, all these assessments are accurate, for the Nowhere King was, and is, many things. He is an entity of contradictions and of absolutes. His power knows no bounds, save his lack of ability to enter this universe. He is a ruler unlike any other, but was born a slave to one greater than himself. He is prideful, yet will concede lesser defeats when the whole is in mind. He is an oppressor, yet under his reign the Undarr and Highborn see no greater freedoms. He is a destroyer, yet he is largely responsible for the creation of this universe. He is an allegedly all-powerful god of the multiverse, but he has lost twice to mere mortals, rótales which he created. He is everything, and as such he is nothing. Is it even accurate to say he is trapped? He is merely barred from our universe, but there are so many more out there. Perhaps it is we who are trapped, merely biding our time until his inevitable return. The broken goddess Fate saw to it once before, in the Old Wars. Perhaps she shall see to it again. Only time will tell.
…
Thousands of years ago, during the time of Steve and Dimitri, the egg-shaped vessel that sits before the Nowhere King’s tomb was the only means of escape to be found from this sprawling underground. It is by this ship that Steve and his party escaped The Cycle, leaving behind everyone not living in the Village of the Great Flame to die.
This ship passed through many hands in the millennia that passed. It was, among many other things, the home of Steve’s compatriots, then a traveling merchant’s shop, then a smuggler’s vessel, then a militia’s dropship, and finally an aquatic exploration vehicle. It is ironic, then, that though it travelled the Galaxy, changing hands so many times, this final usage brought it back home, as explorers embarked on an expedition of the long forgotten, and at that time recently rediscovered, Underground. Partway through their expedition, however, the entire team disappeared, never to be seen again. All that remained as proof of their mission was the ship they had used, now stranded, where it remains to this day.
What happened to these adventurers, nobody is quite sure, but the prevailing belief is they were relocated by the reverting of The Cycle, as the Underground was, at some point during their mission, entirely drained of water.
…
Now, one of the distant descendants of that expedition, Kai Azuma, and his allies crest the plinth upon which their salvation rests. The journey has been long, tiring, and nearly deadly, but they made it.
If only it were that easy. As they reach the top step of the seemingly endless staircase from the floor to the sarcophagus, screeches are heard from the darkness. The monsters have found them. The final battle begins.
Kaizu and Maddison enter the ship to attempt to start it up. The technology is alien to them, but Maddison, intune with the Arts of the universe, instinctively knows what to do. This ship, unlike almost all others in existence, does not run on fuel, nor does it propel itself through space in the traditional sense. Instead, it utilizes the laylines of the universe, the threads which weave the fabric of reality, known simply as ‘The Flow’. Being a caster, exorcist, and fortune teller, Maddison is able to tap into these laylines herself, and as such can tell how the ship does so as well.
Kaizu gives Maddison the coordinates of the guild hall in Centuria, and Maddison begins to search the threads of the universe for that location. She tells Kaizu, “This will take a while. I only know the general area where Centuria is, and remember, it’s a moving city. I have to make sure it’s even on that part of the planet right now. Not only that, but I have to get precise readings of what is currently there. What if the guild was renovated, or the city itself? We don’t want to be teleported inside of a building or something. Our molecules would be transposed over whatever we teleported to, and we’d be merged with it forever. Go tell the others that, then come right back. I’m going under, and I’ll need you to bring me out once the terminal reads green.”
“Uhh. Sure. I will tell them you have it under control,” Kaizu salutes, then turns to leave. He never really understood Arts much. Everything seems unscientific and wishy-washy. While he’s unjustified in that assessment, it can seem that way to those not knowledgeable in the Arts of the universe.
“No. Tell them what I said. To hold out because it might take a while. I expressly do not have this under control,” Maddison says sternly, grabbing Kaizu’s hand and holding him from leaving.
“Okay, I’ll tell them that,” Kaizu nods, and Maddison releases his hand.
Left alone, Maddison begins to meditate. The lights around her all begin to dim. The sounds of the fighting outside, of the humming machinery, it all dies away. Soon, Maddison enters The Flow. While most can only ever enter The Flow via psychotropic drugs, some high level casters can will themselves into it.
Her soul flying through the ethereal realm, she begins to search the tapestry of existence for her destination. She hopes she can do so before it’s too late.
…
As Jack, Tammie, and Adam prepare to defend Maddison and Kaizu while they work, dozens, maybe hundreds of various monsters rush up the stairs to eat them. Small, doglike beasts with jagged maws called Daegueras lead the charge, fangs bared, and packs clumped together, swarming like an oncoming avalanche of teeth and claws. Larger, flightless avian monsters called Atrias follow closely behind, their bulky, feathered bodies and craggy, rocklike beaks moving at speeds one would not expect from being so large. Behind them, slow, meandering masses of legs known as Ankatos lumber forth. Their elongated heads and three pairs of limbs look disproportionate and unsettling, and hide their venom-spitting glands near their necks. Finally, two massive, crocodilian monsters bring up the rear. Known as Omegueras, they begin to charge up the stairs, trampling all before them. Their massive tusks, heads, and teeth, their spiked armor, and clubbed tails make them a walking fortress with the offensive capabilities of a tank.
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Jack draws his blade, materializing it from the space beside his right hip. He enters a stance even deeper than he did before, leading with his left shoulder, and holding his blade as a fencer does their rapier. With his right arm gone, he no longer needs to hold anything back. Since he can heal himself, but not his arm, Jack must make sure not to damage it while fighting. However, his body can take whatever he dishes out. He can use his full strength now, through a fighting style he developed especially for his unique circumstances.
Adam suits up fully, donning his breastplate and helmet, no longer feeling the slightest bit of pain from his injuries, and is able to move as if he is perfectly healthy and not paralyzed from the waist down. Similarly to Jack, he materializes a sword from thin air, this time from behind his back. Dragging his massive blade over his shoulder, its edge glistens like the sun, whereas the flat of the blade is a dull, muddy brown. This is Alfsteel, a metal imbued with the radiance of the Goddess of light, Ghlitamia. It eradicates evil, and is the metal of choice for monster slayers’ weapons. He grasps the long hike with both hands, steadying his weapon with the blade between his eyes.
Tammie summons a backpack onto her, which unfolds into a massive structure. It has two silo-like chimneys painted with radioactive, bio hazardous, and other warning symbols. Pipes then shoot out towards her neck, jacking into her poison glands, and down her right arm, ending in a massive gun. Nearly as tall as she is, it appears as a combination of every ethical violation of a weapon ever created. Part flamethrower, part shotgun, part noxious gas dispenser, part poison sludge thrower, and so much more. On the back sit a number of canisters, each containing a form of ammunition. Noxious gas, explosive gas, radioactive particulates, bio hazardous goo, toxic sludge, with a few more stored on Tammie’s person and her backpack.
Just as the monsters begin to reach the top of the plateau, Kaizu runs up and tells them the news. “Maddison says it might take a while, but she should be able to do some magical stuff to make the ship work. Keep us safe, yeah?” he says, smiling awkwardly, then running in terror as the first monsters enter his line of sight.
“Coolio. We’ll hold ‘em off as long as we can, which will hopefully be long enough,” Jack calls back to Kaizu.
“I think we’ll be fine,” Adam reassures everyone, only partly believing it himself.
Tammie cackles maniacally, telling Adam, “Fine? Maybe you. Me? I’m gonna have a fucking ball!” At this she lunges forward, her speed unaffected by the gravity defyingly large backpack she wears, then l,ants her feet firmly, heaves to raise her massive gun, and fires a burst of six sludge balls at the oncoming monsters.
Five of the balls hit the swarming Daegueras, reducing them to piles of molten flesh and bone. The final ball is swallowed by a screaming Atria, melting it from the inside out, its beak crumbling into small shards as its face becomes a puddle.
Two Ankatos fire back at Tammie, when Adam jumps in front of her, getting a fateful of acid, he turns back to her, smiling, yelling, “Not even a scratch!” before Tammie shoves his face and fires a shotgun blast of radioactive particles. These rapidly decay the flesh of the Daegueras climbing over their dead brethren, unable to flee as they are stuck in the gelatinous mess.
A few meters away, Jack cleaves four Daegueras in a single swipe, before being jumped by five more. More and more pile on top of him, before the area around him explodes with deep red fire, reducing all the monsters to ash. He roars back at the charging Atrias, before jumping on top of them one by one, cutting their heads off. Black blood spills forth from their necks as the6 fall to the ground. Even fallen over, they tower over him. Nevertheless, their size won’t save them.
Jack grabs a lone Daeguera, clearly the last of its pack, and throws it as one of the Ankatos firing upon Tammie and Adam. It hits the Ankato square in the jaw, flattening the Daeguera into a pancake and shattering the Ankato’s lower jaw. It turns to look at Jack, its mouth hanging open as its broken bones limply flop about. Jack then throws his sword, cleaving its head in two, before recalling his sword with a leash of flames.
As Adam is overrun by Daegueras, he drops his sword and instead opts to crush them into each other and the ground using his hands and feet. Dark blood, viscera, and flesh splatter the battlefield as Adam’s giant heritage shines through, his physical strength multiple times stronger than usual due to being underground. He only stops stomping and smashing the dogs to bits when three Atrias ram into him, slowly pushing him back. He digs his feet into the ground, grabbing the outer two’s wings, and lifts all three 9f the birds over his head, slamming them into the ground behind him. Their skeletons shatter in an instant, and the ground beneath them craters.
Tammie leaps atop the other Ankato that fired at her, laying waste to the monsters helpless on the ground around her. She melts them with goo, burns them with flaming gas, and blows them to pieces with chunks of volatile matter. The symphony of chaos and death surrounds her, and she can’t help but laugh.
Jack continues cleaving monsters one after another, killing most in a single blow, or even multiple at once. However, something catches his attention as the waves of monsters begin to slowly diminish, their forces having almost all made it up the stairs. One of the two Omegueras has locked onto him.
Adam also faces down an Omeguera of his own, while Tammie faces down the final three Ankatos. The remaining Daegueras and Atrias back down, choosing to circle the three heroes and their opponents. Whittled down to their last members, the monster army collectively understands that only the Omegueras and Ankatos have a chance at defeating the humans. The three friends realize if they defeat these final heavy hitters, they’re likely home free.
Adam’s Omegueras is the first to charge, bounding towards him like a train off its rails. Adam suppresses his fight or flight instinct, facing it down with determination and balls of steel. However, just as the Omegueras enters his striking range, he falters.
God Arms are fickle things. Indeed, they are far more powerful than ordinary weapons, and are tailored to the unique abilities and fighting style of their user. But this adaptability and strength come at a cost. Using a God Arm drains the stamina of the user, and Adam has had half of his armor on for many days now. His stamina has all but run dry, and both his armor and sword fade into nothingness as Adam is swallowed whole by the gargantuan crocodile.
Tammie, distracted by the loss of her dear friend, is fired upon by all three Ankatos. Though she has significant resistance to venom and acid due to her nature as an Anurid, or frog Chimera, as well as the innate powers of her God Arm, her Infection kicks in, and despite her best efforts, she cannot maintain her God Arm through the coughing fit. She falls to the ground, subsumed by a flood of acid and bile.
Jack sees this all, but refuses to give up on them. He will win his fight, then save them. They have to be saved. They can’t die. They’re all so close to escaping. If he falls as well, Kaizu and Maddison are dead for sure. He can’t let a split second go by where he loses focus or resolve, as that split second could very well spell the doom of them all, eaten alive by creatures of pure evil.
The second Omeguera charges Jack, who is knocked into the air. However, he lands gracefully atop his sword as it lodges in the ground, sliding to a stop as he leans forward against the momentum of the ram. He hops down from his sword, picks it up, and walks slowly towards the Omeguera, who is now readying for another charge.
As it is about to slam into him once more, Jack leaps into the air preemptively. This prompts the beast to open its mouth in an attempt to eat him. Jack then thrusts his sword into the monster's bottom jaw, and then lets go. Instantly the beast slams to the ground as if a mountain had just been placed upon its head.
In truth, that is quite accurate, as Jack’s sword, for any other but himself, weighs as much as an entire mountain range. Other than Jack himself, likely only Adam, while in the heart of a mountain, where his giant heritage is the strongest, would be capable of even lifting it, let alone wielding it with any manner of grace.
Jack lands upon the creature’s tongue, and places his left hand upon its palate. He then pushes as hard as he can, slowly bending the upper jaw of the colossal thing, until it suddenly snaps in half, its snout now resting above its brain case. Jack continues to push, slowly cracking the braincase, before it gives, and the Omeguera’s entire head collapses, crushing its brain and killing it instantly. He then picks up his sword and walks towards the other Omeguera.
This terrifying beast, one that defeated Jack’s ally effortlessly, looks at its oncoming enemy with fear. This puny human, or puny to an over ten meter crocodile, causes it to quiver in fear. His eyes gleam with bloody hatred, an anger that is clearly palpable. The Omeguera turns to run, but Jack grabs it by the tail, lifting it above his head and slamming it to the ground on his other side. He then plunges his hand deep within its belly, before summoning his sword once again to obliterate its insides. He pulls his hand out, intestines and bloody guts hanging from his arm.
As he begins to walk towards the Ankatos, he snaps off the tusks of the beast that ate Adam, and uses it as a club when the first Ankato lunges at him. Bone meets bone, and its head cracks to pieces, while its neck twirls into a spiral, every vertebra separated from the next.
The second and third Ankatos snake upon each other, both trying to snap at Jack, but he is unphased. He snaps his fingers and a rain of fire falls upon the two monsters, liquifying their flesh. As they fall to the ground dead, he raises his sword, his entire body drenched in blood, and roars. He used a skill unique to the Undarr, unique in fact to the candidates for Demon King. Calles The Voice, it amplifies both the volume and effectiveness of any order or sound made by the user. Reverberating through the brains of every monster still alive is the booming roar of a man who has killed countless of their brethren. In an instant they all flee.
Jack runs back to the Omeguera that ate Adam, rushing through its guts until he finds Adam wedged in its throat. He was too big for it to swallow whole, but left enough space for it to breathe. He pulls Adam out, laying him against the creature’s back, as he rushes to Tammie. She is pale, far more pale than usual, and barely breathing. Her veins are visible from the outside, her blood now thick and black, like that of monsters. Jack grabs one of the spare masks, using it and his blood to pump oxygen through her body. She slowly regains consciousness and asks, “Did we win?”
“Hell yeah we did,” Jack responds, holding back tears.
“Did I do well?” she asks, coughing up a puddle of blood and loose tissue, her throat scratchy, and the medical patch sealing the makeshift tracheotomy having fallen off.
“You did, you really did,” Jack cries, a few tears streaking through the dirt and the blood caking his face.
Adam comes to as well, unable to move, once again paralyzed. He tells Jack, “Maddison was right, Tammie and I should’ve let you help us here. Maybe if we had, neither of us would’ve gotten so hurt.”
“Don’t think like that,” Jack tells him, “It’s not healthy. We all survived, probably. Not sure if Tammie’s gonna make it.”
“What?!?” she yells, her voice hoarse and scratchy.
“Just kidding. I think we’ll all be fine once we see a doctor,” Jack smiles, gently carrying first Adam, then Tammie to the ship.
“What the hell happened out there?” Kaizu screeches.
“These two nearly died, but thank the gods they’re so hardy,” Jack explains.
“Yeah, nobody sturdier than Adam, and nobody more acid resistant than me, right?” Tammie wheezes.
Just then, the terminal on the ship reads green, and Kaizu shakes Maddison until she awakens.
“We need to go,” Maddison warns, “It’s begun.”
“What?” the others ask.
“The Cycle,” she replies, as water begins to flow into the chamber out of thin air. Waves crash and roars of unknowable aquatic terrors can be heard. The crew hurries into the ship, and they depart.
…
As the ship phases out of existence, it briefly enters The Flow before arriving in Centuria. During this moment, all five of our heroes feel something. They feel as if something is watching them. As if the most powerful eyes there have ever been have seen them. That they are now on the radar of something they would've been better off avoiding forever. In this moment the eyes of The Nowhere King meet those of all five in the ship.
Shortly after, all five hear a voice. The Voice. The Voice among those who use The Voice. The supreme authority enters their minds.
“I. See. You,” it says.
The ship then exits The Flow and arrives in the thriving city center of Centuria.