Chapter 54: Dark Origin
The moon hung high in the sky above Tom's private island. The weather had cooled and mist spread across the island's ground. Tom wore a white under shirt and sweat pants and took a walk towards where he planted Amber. The Xothicans were still asleep in bed and Tom didn't expect them to wake up for another couple of hours.
Amber was the only Xothican object he managed to hide from the UNDF. Every reward he got from a quest that wasn't an equipment item was confiscated by the UNDF and the UN research teams. Potions, creatures, and unused weapons were to be studied.
Tom had a feeling that Amber was special so he did everything in his power to keep her hidden. Over time his instinct was proven correct. Amber grew faster than any plant or tree on Earth. As she grew, Amber grew more sapient. She was able to express more complex thought to the point where Tom had to remove her from his room when he saw a blue window where she make a lewd comment about a tryst he had with Vivian and Sylmae. Soon after Tom planted Amber, she had transformed from a Sacred Plant into a Mother Tree.
Tom approached the location where he planted Amber. She was in the center of the island and since then not only did her growth rate increase, but the plant life around her flourished. What was once a fields of grass, ferns, and, for some reason that Tom couldn't figure out, coffee beans, had become a forest that contained flowers and trees that resembled palm trees.
"Hope I'm not bothering you, Amber," Tom said.
Amber, at this point, was over six meters tall. From the base, the trunk split off into four trunks that spiraled upwards. Leaves sprouted inside the spiraled trunks and blocked any view into the center of the tree spiral. The four trunks spread outwards, at the top into an umbrella shape of branches and leaves.
Amber is never bothered by your presence.
While capable of communication, Amber always referred to herself in the third-person.
Mother TreeName:Amber EverettMaturity93.1%Status 1:The tree is extremely happyStatus 2:The rich soil provides all the non-magic nutrients this tree requiresDaily Mana Need0/1200
"Looks like you could use a top off." Tom placed his hand against the tree. A slight blue light radiated from from his hand. Tom felt his Mana leave him. The tree's leaves rustled in response to the session.
Mother TreeName:Amber EverettMaturity94.5%Status 1:The tree is extremely happyStatus 2:The rich soil provides all the non-magic nutrients this tree requiresDaily Mana Need1200/1200
"You're so close to reaching one hundred percent maturity. Considering you're already a large tree, what happens when you get to a hundred percent?"
Amber wishes to surprise you.
"I look forward to seeing what you come up with."
Something is bothering you?
"Am I that transparent? We're about to take on Hastur's son and I'm nervous about the whole thing. This guy is the son of someone who was capable of fusing two universes."
Amber believes in your and the girls' ability. Amber loves you all very much so Amber will provide support. Look up.
Tom did as she said and saw one of the branches shake. A flower bulb formed and then grew. The flower bloomed into a beautiful blue and black striped flower. The petals then fell away and a new bulb emerged from the center of the flower. This new bulb formed an oval-shaped pink fruit. This fruit detached from the branch and fell down. Tom reached up and caught the fruit. He held the fruit in front of him and examined it.
Erato FruitRankSSEffects10x Multiplier to Health, Stamina, and Mana Regeneration and 10% increase to all stats for 12 hours. Grants "Friend of the Trees" title.A fruit that can only be grown once by a Mother Tree. To be given one is proof that the tree trusts you with its life and is considered one of the greatest honours anyone can receive. A single bite from this fruit amplifies all of the stats of the consumer. This fruit also grants its consumer the title "Friend of the Trees" which grants the person a positive aura around tree people and creatures.
"A-Are you sure?" Tom asked. "The description says you can only make this one fruit."
You have cared for Amber since Amber was a seed. Amber trusts the girls and you without hesitation. Take a bite of Amber's fruit and allow the girls to take a bite as well.
"Thank you, Amber."
Amber does need to make sure Amber's food source continues living.
VVVVVV
Two hours later...
Tom's team along with the SYSTEM-enhanced UNDF soldiers gathered together in the briefing room with Commander Steele. Steele had a table with a phone on it.
"Thank you all for coming here," Steele said. "Since your return from Draig's Estate, we sent our people to secure his property and businesses, and arrested all of the members of Umbra. During these arrests, the Vice-President of the United States attempted to take the President hostage in order to escape arrest. The President is fine and actually apprehended the VP. I'm afraid he was the one responsible for leaking your identity to Umbra."
"Mother fucker," Tom growled.
Steele pressed several buttons on the phone and a new voice joined the briefing.
"Hello, everyone," Forest said over the phone.
"It's good to hear that you're alright, Mister President," Garza said.
"Thank you, Captain. Now let's get down to brass tacks of this briefing. I went over the information you sent me with the head of the NSA, FBI, and CIA. Tep was extremely thorough with his information. This Intel will make getting convictions of Umbra's members fairly quick and painless. Now for Hawke... We have seen the surveillance footage of him that was included in the package and are convinced of your accusation. Hawke was killed and replaced by Wendigo. We have managed to retrieve Wendigo's political schedule for this week and I'm afraid there does not appear to be an instance where he is away from civilians."
"We don't want to put civilians at risk but Wendigo will find out that Umbra is gone," Steele argued.
"I know, Commander." Forest was quiet for a moment before he continued. "He is too important of a target to let go. There is an opportunity right now. Hawke is in the middle of a town hall meeting. This will be as few civilians as possible this week. We can contact his Secret Service agents and notify them of the situation and withdraw them from his detail."
"That would work. Garza, Azikiwe. Your teams can create a perimeter around the combat site and evacuate the civilians. Tom's team can focus on Wendigo."
"Sylmae can cast Slow on Wendigo allowing us to get in attacks before he has a chance to counter attack," Tom said. "According to Tep's data, Wendigo is still weak from not eating Soul Axes for centuries."
"Then we have our plan of action," Steele said.
VVVVVV
After the President provided the location of the town hall meeting, Tala casted Invisibility on everyone. Tom teleported them outside of the town hall where there was a gathering of people and press outside of the building. Prior to leaving on the mission, Tom and his girlfriends ate the fruit that Amber provided them. The one bite was enough for them to feel their bodies filled with energy.
Everyone prepared for the ambush by checking their gear one last time. Vivian gave the UNDF soldiers a once over before she asked, "Hey Garza, what ever happened to those robot suits you people had?"
"We had some people do an assessment on their cost and found that they had many disadvantages compared to our current armour suits," Jones explained. "The HERC suits required batteries that would drain after each mission and the strength they provided the wearer became useless once the wearer levelled up enough. The suits were also five hundred thousand American each. Our current suits were easily mass-produced for thirty-five hundred each. Expensive, yes, but a better option than the exosuits."
Garza was focused on the crowd around the meeting hall. "That is more people than what we were expecting," Garza said. "We need to draw them away from the building."
Tom sighed, "I have an idea. A really dumb idea."
VVVVVV
The crowd waited with anticipation for Hawke to exit the building. Tom went through the crowd while invisible. He occasionally bumped into people but the thickness of the crowd hid his presence. Tom looked over the crowd and saw Reia was in position near an alleyway. She had dropped her invisibility and was turned to the side and moved in a way that it looked like she was wandering around confused.
"Is that one of the Xothicans!" Tom yelled.
The crowd looked around and saw Reia in the distance.
"It's one of the Xothicans!" one of the civilians yelled.
"It's Reia!" a reporter yelled.
Tom quickly teleported towards Reia and saw the massive crowd move towards them.
"And now we move into the alley," Tom said to Reia.
"Got it," she said as she followed him. Since they were in the same party, they could see each other even while invisible.
As soon as they entered the alley, they teleported back to the position of the others.
Sam chuckled and said in her thick Texan accent, "you know, they say 'If it's stupid and it works; it ain't stupid.'"
"Look!" Sylmae said. "The doors!"
Everyone looked towards the town hall and the front doors opened up with two Secret Service walking out in front of Hawke. Hawke walked with a confident stride expecting to be adored by the crowd outside. The three walked out and were surprised to see the crowd down the street. The two Secret Service agents gave each other a look and quickly ran away from Hawke.
"Now!" Garza said.
Sylmae quickly casted Slow on Wendigo. Tom ran forward with Reia and Vivian behind him. Garza's and Azikiwe's teams went to their positions to create a perimeter to keep civilians out of the combat zone and to make sure that Wendigo doesn't escape.
With Slow in effect, Wendigo, disguised as Hawke, moved at half the speed as he normally could. Even with this effect in place, Hawke was able to move pretty competently. As Tom raised his sword, the invisibility on everyone dropped.
Tom saw a series of emotions on Wendigo's face as he approached. His eyes widen in shock and then his face scowled in anger. Wendigo slowly raised his right hand as a defensive response. Tom swung his sword down with all his strength to make the first attack matter.
Sky's Fury swung downwards and sliced through Wendigo's hand and severed his fingers. The ring finger was one of the severed fingers and the ring that was on it slipped off. The sword continued its momentum and connected with Wendigo's shoulder. Sky's Fury went through the shoulder and severed the clavicle. It continued diagonally through his chest and exited at his hip.
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Tom nearly lost his footing since he wasn't expected his sword to immediately slice Wendigo in two. Reia and Vivian stopped in place. They were also shocked by how easily Tom sliced Wendigo in two.
The Slow spell dissipated and the two halves of Wendigo fell to the ground and his blood splattered onto the ground. The blood was black in colour and was thicker than regular blood. It was similar in consistency to sludge.
Tom breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Wendigo's blood. The kill happened so easily, he was worried that he was tricked into killing an innocent man.
"Holy shit, you killed him," Vivian said in amazement.
"That was easy," Reia thought out loud.
By this time, the crowd of civilians and reporters saw the events happening at the town hall. Half of the civilians ran away in fear that there was a monster attack. The other half of the civilians and the reporters moved towards the perimeter line that Garza formed to see what was happening.
Tom's initial relief was quickly replaced with a sick feeling in his gut. Despite killing Wendigo, an experience window didn't pop up.
"We hyped him up for no reason," Vivian said while she gave his foot a kick.
"He's still alive!" Tom yelled.
Before Reia or Vivian could react to what he said, Tom rotated his sword into a stabbing position and struck downwards toward's Wendigo's head. Wendigo's left hand whipped upwards and grabbed the sword before it could pierce his head. He opened his eyes and smiled.
"I don't know how you figured out that I wasn't Hawke," he said, "but don't expect to kill me because I had my defenses down."
Wendigo raised his other hand and a shock wave erupted from it which caused Reia and Vivian to fly back. It was a disgusting sight to see both halves of Wendigo's body still working like it was still whole. Tom pushed down the sword with everything his could muster, but Wendigo held the sword with zero struggle.
Black tendrils extended from the bottom of Wendigo's torso and from the top of his lower body. The tendrils grabbed each other and then pulled his body together. The cut sealed and the wound healed.
"What the fuck are you?" Tom muttered.
Wendigo swung his left hand towards Tom. Tom's right arm was cut off at the shoulder. Blood splurt out from the wound. Tom released his sword from his left hand and stumbled backwards. He fell to the ground and felt himself go into shock.
WarningYou lost an arm and the debuff "Shocked" has been applied to you for five minutes. In this time you will not be able to move. Your maximum Health has decreased by 15%. Both effects can be immediately removed if you are healed.
"Tom!" Reia cried out.
Reia and Vivian ran over to him and quickly dragged him away from Wendigo. The rest of the civilians ran away in fear when they witnessed Hawke's body healing and the amputation of Tom. The reporters remained but stayed a small distance behind the line that Garza's and Azikiwe's team set up, despite their warnings to stay away from the combat zone.
Wendigo got up from the ground and examined Tom's arm and the sword, Sky's Fury, while Reia and Vivian hurried to heal Tom. Tom groaned and screamed while writhing on the ground. Tala and Vivian rushed over to them to aid in healing him.
"You're going to be okay, you're going to be okay," Vivian repeated to Tom. She held back her tears as she healed him with Reia.
"Ah! Fuck, fuck!" Tom growled as his arm regrew.
Wendigo, in his Hawke form, twitched and his skin paled. His arms, fingers, and legs began to stretch.
Tom's arm regrew back to its original state and his maximum Health returned to normal. He quickly got to his feet with Vivian's and Reia's help.
"You okay?" Reia asked.
"Ya, ya, I'm okay," Tom replied. His breathing was strained from the sudden trauma. "Thank you. Oh, shit! What the fuck?!" Tom pointed towards Wendigo.
Wendigo's clothes tore as he grew in size. Wendigo reached for his shirt and suit jacket and ripped it off. His pants remained but partially tore at the waist and along the legs. Wendigo had grown to twice his height. While humanoid in shape, Wendigo looked nothing of the sort.
Wendigo was a spindly monster. The hair he had as Hawke fell out. Wendigo's eyes were pure black and sunken in their sockets. His teeth elongated and became pointed as his lips receded.
Wendigo took a bite of Tom's severed arm and then rolled his eyes back as he savoured its flavour.
"Such power is so delicious," he sighed. "I look forward to consuming each of you. Elementals would be the greatest delicacy."
Vivian and Reia stood in front of Tom with their weapons raised.
"Missing this, Tom?" Wendigo held up Sky's Fury. "A weapon that grows in strength with its user. Can't have that."
Black energy surged from his hand which entered the sword. The sword vibrated and then cracked all over. The sword then shattered and turned to dust.
"Bastard!" Tom growled.
"Personally, I prefer being hands-on when it comes to combat."
Wendigo leaned forward and extended his clawed hands to his sides. He charged forward towards Tom's team. Several arrows from Sylmae's bow flew towards Wendigo. He dodged two of them, but one arrow went into his right eye.
"Gah! You bitch!" Wendigo growled. He yanked the arrow out with the eye impaled on it.
Tala casted a dual spell of Fireball and Lightning Strike. Wendigo teleported to the side to dodge the attack. The move was different from Tom's teleport. Wendigo vanished in a puff of black smoke and reappeared in the same kind of smoke.
Reia and Vi charged forward and swung their weapons to attack. Wendigo blocked Reia's spear with his claws and grabbed Vivian's hammer. While Wendigo was focused on the two, Tom rushed up behind them and jumped over them. A Fire Ball shot out from his hand directly at Wendigo's face.
"Gah!" Wendigo roared. He swung his arms and flung Reia and Vivian away and stumbled backwards
Tala and Sylmae moved in and unleashed their attacks upon Wendigo. Wendigo waved his one hand about as he tried to swat away the arrows that impaled into his body. Tala used Fire Balls to try and slow down Wendigo's healing ability. The spells caught parts of his body on fire.
Reia and Vivian recovered their footing and continued their attack. Reia used Flurry to attack Wendigo in the stomach. Each jab cut into his stomach but each wound slowly healed after each attack. Vivian spun her hammer over head and landed a strike on Wendigo's stomach.
Wendigo teleported away from the group to give him distance so he could recovery from the surprise counter-attack. The flames that covered his body dissipated when he teleported. A fury-filled expression came across his face.
"I'll eat your souls!" he roared.
"Come and get it!" Tom yelled as he fired a Lightning Strike in his direction.
The attack struck Wendigo and Sylmae tried to follow up with another Slow spell, but Wendigo teleported out of the way. Wendigo teleported behind Tala and raised his hand to strike her. As he swung, Reia blocked the attack with her spear.
Tala spun around and used two Flamethrower spells from her hands to completely engulf Wendigo in flames. Wendigo screamed from the pain and teleported again.
Wendigo teleported to a nearby car. He grabbed it with both hands and lifted the vehicle over his head. He turned towards the crowd by Garza's defense line. Wendigo threw the vehicle towards the crowd of civilians.
"Alpha, heads up!" Tom yelled.
Sam quickly pulled out her grenade launcher and fired off an explosive round. The grenade exploded against the car. The explosion slowed its flight and reduced its trajectory. The vehicle landed twenty feet away from them and then rolled in their direction. Garza and Sam ran towards the rolling vehicle and shoulder tackled it to stop it from hitting the reporters. The damage from the vehicle's fire was minimized by their armoured suits.
With everyone distracted by the attack on the civilians, Wendigo teleported towards the civilians. Black energy surrounded Wendigo's hands as he raised them to attack. Before he had a chance to strike, lightning struck Wendigo in the groin which sent a sharp pain from his groin and up his spine.
"You're stealing my teleporting schtick!" Tom cursed. He stood below him with his hand aimed at his groin.
Wendigo's eyes widened from the sudden attack inflicted upon him. Garza's squad held up their weapons and fired at Wendigo. Wendigo teleported from the area and back towards the town hall. Tom teleported to the Xothicans.
"We have him on the ropes, let's finish him!" Tom said to them.
They charged towards the weakened Wendigo across the street. As they entered attack range, the manhole in the street erupted into a large geyser of darkness. The force of the geyser flung Tom's group back making them hit the ground hard.
The darkness morph into a cloaked monster with a serpent-like body. The creature had a animal skull for a face and long skeletal-thin arms. It's height dwarf Wendigo's already massive height by another couple meters.
With the appearance of this creature, some of the reporters fled the area. The UNDF soldiers decided to give up on the defense line and moved in towards the combat area.
Wendigo had a look of relief come across his face upon the appearance of this creature.
"Mordiggian! You're here! We can eliminate the Elementals once and for all!"
Mordiggian looked at Wendigo, Tom's group, and then the area around them. Sirens were growing louder as police rushed towards the area. The UNDF had their weapons drawn on Mordiggian as they closed in.
"You have caused me nothing but problems, Everett," Mordiggian said. His voice was cold and everyone could feel it penetrate their being. "I will deal with you soon enough."
Mordiggian grabbed Wendigo and morphed back into shadows.
"Quick, use Identify!" Tom ordered his team.
Mordiggian and Wendigo went back into the destroyed manhole and into the darkness of the sewers.
"Damn it!" Chris cursed. "They got away!"
"Tom, girls, are you all alright?" Garza asked. She noticed that they were all bug-eyed. "W-What?"
"We all used Identify right before they escaped," Tom explained.
"All this time w-we thought Hastur and his followers were Demons," Tala muttered. "But they're not."
"They're not Demons?" Azikiwe repeated. "Then what are they?"
StatusNameWendigo (Ithaqua)RaceOld OneAlignmentEvilCurrencyNone0TitleErrorBuffsErrorErrorDebuffsErrorErrorClassErrorLevelErrorExperienceErrorHealthErrorHealth Regeneration/minErrorManaErrorMana Regeneration/minErrorStaminaErrorStamina Regeneration/minErrorFameErrorInfamyErrorStrengthErrorIntelligenceErrorWisdomErrorPerceptionErrorEnduranceErrorVitalityErrorAgilityErrorLuckErrorUnallocated PointsError
StatusNameMordiggianRaceOld OneAlignmentEvilCurrencyNone0TitleErrorBuffsErrorErrorDebuffsErrorErrorClassErrorLevelErrorExperienceErrorHealthErrorHealth Regeneration/minErrorManaErrorMana Regeneration/minErrorStaminaErrorStamina Regeneration/minErrorFameErrorInfamyErrorStrengthErrorIntelligenceErrorWisdomErrorPerceptionErrorEnduranceErrorVitalityErrorAgilityErrorLuckErrorUnallocated PointsError
Old OneErrorErrorErrorErrorErrorErrorErrorErrorErrorError
ErrorErrorErrorErrorErrorErrorErrorErrorErrorError
ErrorErrorErrorErrorErrorErrorErrorErrorErrorError
ErrorErrorErrorErrorErrorErrorErrorErrorErrorError
"I have no idea," Tom replied.
VVVVVV
A shadow blob moved through the sewers under the city. The blob entered a large area in the sewers that connected to multiple tunnels. The shadow form spat out Wendigo and then changed into Mordiggian.
"What did you do!" Wendigo yelled. "We could have killed them!"
"You were weakened and not far from death," Mordiggian reminded Wendigo. He grabbed Wendigo and slammed him into the wall. "Even after all this time, you still overestimate your abilities. You haven't eaten enough Soul Axes to recover your full power."
Mordiggian released Wendigo from his hold.
"You were sent here by accident when Lord Hastur's first experiment into merging worlds failed. I would have thought that all that time alone would have given you some perspective and understanding of your own limits. It seems I was wrong."
"I spent most of that time insane."
A glass sphere appeared in Mordiggian hand. It was a magical device that allowed communication with the holder of the corresponding sphere.
"Hastur already made his orders very clear. My mission is to speed up the merger of our worlds and to ensure your survival. At all costs. Even if the Nephilim and Elementals survive past the fusion of our worlds, we have ways to deal with them. Since the defeat of Phoenix, I have given up trying to kill them before the merger. Since Kara helped these Humans prepare, Hastur wants to remove that advantage. I have been placing Obelisks all over this world to amplify Hastur's spell."
"But you could have destroyed them!" Wendigo argued.
"I could have fought them. Maybe even kill them. But you would have likely died in that fight. If I told Hastur that you died under my watch, he would condemned me to the Agony. I will take a hit to my pride if it means avoiding the Agony.