Now, Mexico
Tlaloc hurled his axe into the raging river of ghosts.
Nothing happened.
Cal waited.
“… so, magic axe, huh?”
“Your mouth never stops. Like my aunties at a party.”
“I can’t help but wonder about,” he gestured at Tlaloc, “how all this happened.”
“Will you share your truths. About how you’re able to fly? How you are holding me in the sky? It is your doing, isn’t it? That seems obvious, but I’ve seen plenty of things I can’t explain since the fucking spires showed up.”
“Don’t trust you yet.”
“Same.”
The silence was punctuated by the crack of thunder and the flash of lightning.
A red bolt pierced the river of ghosts and revealed the obsidian axe stuck in the ground.
The black, glassy surface glowed as red arcs played across its surface.
“Nice trick.”
“I’m trying to concentrate.”
Sure enough, Tlaloc’s eyes were screwed shut, one meaty hand thrust toward the axe.
Lightning began to strike the river in multiple locations punching holes through the grasping, wailing ghosts.
The heavy rain slowly turned into a deluge.
Steam seemed to rise from the river’s surface.
Cal blinked.
It appeared that the steam was also made up of the spirits of the monstrous dead.
He eyed Tlaloc. “Are you flexing your whole body on purpose? Like, dude, I get it you’re swole and shit, but man, you don’t want to be too tense or you’ll blow out your muscles. Bad for your concentration. It’s magic, right? Shouldn’t have anything to do with the physicals… unless it does for you…”
“Shut up,” Tlaloc grit his teeth.
The man flexed even harder.
Cal shook his head.
The obsidian axe slowly built up power until it was lit up like a bright red neon sign.
It bathed the entire area.
“Worst red light district ever,” Cal muttered as he watched the thousands of undead monsters and thousands of ghosts rushing about like angry ants.
“Get ready,” Tlaloc growled.
Cal already was.
The rain god’s surface thoughts had told him what was about to happen.
Wind and rain swirled around them with the strength approaching a hurricane.
The axe glowed so bright that it was impossible to see with physical eyes alone.
Tlaloc roared.
Cal threw a telekinetic bubble around both of them a split-second before all of the magical power gathered in the axe exploded.
Red lightning burst free in all directions.
It arced through the entirety of the river of ghosts.
The ghosts screeched as they boiled into steam, dispersed up into the raging storm.
The true boss monster stood revealed at the steps of the largest pyramid once again.
“It really wants to get up there, doesn’t it?”
Tlaloc sucked in deep breaths.
It was like standing next to a huffing bear.
“All worn out?” Cal reached up to pat the rain god on the shoulder.
Tlaloc slapped his hand away.
“Well… why don’t you just take a break. You put in good work. I’ll take care of it from here.”
“This is my land, not yours!” Tlaloc growled. “I will finish it.”
The true boss continued to hobble up the steps. It had reached about a quarter of the way to the top.
“I cede it to you.”
Tlaloc muttered something.
“What? Say again. Didn’t quite catch it,” Cal lied.
“Throw me…” Tlaloc gestured toward the true boss.
“Huh?”
“I can’t fly…”
“You can super jump.”
Tlaloc muttered something else.
“What?”
“I’m… a little tired. I don’t want to waste time and energy walking through all of that,” Tlaloc gestured to the tightly-packed mass of undead below them.
“Why didn’t you say so?” Cal grinned. “Where do you want to end up?”
“Throw me at the monster.”
“Got it.”
He didn’t warn the rain god. Just chucked him like a fastball at the true boss.
The impact was spectacular.
Brittle bones shattered.
Weak flesh tore.
Tlaloc grabbed the true boss’ head in one hand and crushed it.
Cal waited for the chime.
Nothing.
The rest of the undead swarmed up the temple steps toward Tlaloc.
Cal shoved them back to the ground with a thought as the rain god sat down.
“It isn’t over yet. The rest of these foul things need to be destroyed.”
There were thousands more buried underground.
“Alright, let’s get this over with then.”
“I leave that to you,” Tlaloc said.
“What happened to all that talk about this being your land?” he snorted.
“You have my permission,” Tlaloc waved.
“Very magnanimous of you. So, we’re going to talk properly after this?”
Tlaloc nodded.
“Just so you don’t get any ideas. I’m not even remotely tired.” Cal snapped his fingers. A wide swathe of the undead monsters suddenly exploded into chunks.
Tlaloc glared at Cal the entire time it took for the latter to clear the spawn zone.
----------------------------------------
“What happens next?” Tlaloc said.
“Huh?”
“Now that I’ve claimed this place.”
“You don’t know?”
“Why else would I be asking you, contemptible person?” Tlaloc spat.
“You’re being serious?”
Tlaloc muttered a curse.
“You’ve never claimed a place?”
“No. I’ve only ever let the few spawn zones I’ve fixed return to encounter challenges. It is what the others wanted. They wished to face the challenges to gain levels, universal points and other rewards.”
“So, you’ve never claimed anything?”
“That isn’t what I said. I’ve claimed homes, apartments and other places to provide safe spaces for the people under my protection to live and get food and supplies.”
“Must be tough covering that amount of territory without being able to fly.”
“I cover enough ground simply by jumping.”
“You sure you don’t get around any other way? Perhaps some form of magical travel? Like, say riding the winds? The lightning? Or throwing the axe?”
“How would that even work?”
“You throw it and hold on.”
Tlaloc regarded him with a flat stare.
“Fine, fine, whatever,” he waved the rain god away. “Anyways. To answer your question… all of this,” he spread his arms out wide to encompass the Palenque ruins, “will go back to the way it was sometime after midnight.” He glanced up at the night sky.
The storm had vanished almost as quickly as it had appeared back at the beach.
“Say, does calling a magic storm have any knock-on effects on natural weather patterns?”
Tlaloc thought for a moment. “I don’t know. I haven’t ever considered it,” he replied with a shrug. “What happens to all these bodies?” he gestured at the layer of dismembered corpses and viscera covering much of the ground.
“Same thing that happens to any monster body you leave inside one of these places.”
“They disappear…” Tlaloc nodded as his eyes drifted over to the corpse of the feathered serpent.
“Yup… so, you might want to drag that one out of the zone if you want to turn its scales into armor and its teeth into weapons.”
“How far?”
“Outside of Palenque, er… probably outside of the national park boundaries.”
Tlaloc strode toward the enormous corpse.
“Hold up! You owe me some answers.”
The towering rain god stopped and turned slowly. “You want my secrets? So you can beat me?”
“Not for that reason. I mean, I think we can both agree that I was winning that fight.”
Tlaloc crossed his massive arms across an even more massive chest and snorted. “American arrogance at its best. You may claim to be otherwise, but your words show the truth. A real contemptible person.”
“I’m not going to lower myself to your obvious bait. Just answer me this… how did you break slave collars without killing the person or ruining their minds?”
Tlaloc shrugged. “They’re just metal. Easy enough to rip apart. You seem strong enough, despite being a tiny man,” Tlaloc shrugged. “I don’t know anything about this killing and mind thing.”
“Let me start over,” he sighed. “I’ve spoken with others that have done the same. They tore the collars apart with their bare hands, which resulted in a magical explosion that killed the poor person. They tried to use magic to block or contain the explosion, however that only resulted in the enslaved going violently insane or being turned into a vegetable.”
“I can’t give you an answer. I simply break the disgusting things. I break their magic. No chains will exist while I live.”
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
“Awesome… this is your chance to help thousands of people.”
Tlaloc stared into the sky for a long moment. “I can’t leave. My people need protection.”
“I don’t mean right this instant and I’m not necessarily talking about you going with when I ruin the Slaver King’s entire existence. I’m asking for a few days. That’s all. I’ve got 40 people back in California under medically-induced comas and another 10 in Tennessee in magically-induced ones being studied by a lady elf wizard.”
Tlaloc raised his brows. “This universal translation system is shit,” he muttered.
“The hope is that she can find a magic solution to the collar problem. Maybe, if she gets a good look at you in action she can use that…”
“I would help if the circumstances were different. Only my presence is keeping the cartels, the monsters and all the other scum from preying on my people.”
“They can’t defend themselves for just a few days? A week at most?”
“Not without me.”
“The downside to being too over-protective.”
Tlaloc scowled.
“No offense, but that’s a mistake. You got to build them up while keeping them safe.”
“You’ve no right to tell me what to do, American contemptible person.”
“That has nothing to do with what I’m saying. It just makes sense. You and me… we take on the worst things out there. Each fight could be our last. If the people you care about aren’t strong enough to survive without you then…” he shrugged, “they won’t. The next monster or scumbag that’s stronger than them will do whatever they want. Just like this Slaver King piece of shit. That fucker is doing whatever he wants because no one strong enough has stood up to him… yet.”
“No one lives in chains,” Tlaloc nodded.
“How about this? I get someone to take your place while you help me out?”
“No one can do what I can.”
“Me.”
“You’d need to take me to Cali and, what did you say, Tennessee? I don’t know where that is.”
“It’s in the sort of middle east of America… thereabouts.”
“And this slaver kingdom?”
“Miami, Florida.”
“I know where that is.”
“I’d suggest we head on over there, but I’m not willing to risk thousands of innocent lives. I want an airtight solution to the collar problem first. It’d be pointless to kill all of the slavers only for the enslaved to die along with them or go mad.”
“Obviously,” Tlaloc nodded. “Okay. I’ll help you free the people you have. I’ll do it in front of this wizard, but I will not stay while she pokes and prods at me like an animal. She can watch. I won’t conceal anything, but as I’ve told you… I don’t know how I’m able to break the collars without hurting the people. It hadn’t realized that was a possibility. And when the time is ready I will help you bring the storm to the slavers. They have been responsible for much pain and suffering and for that they must die. There will be none in chains while I live.”
“Great, thank you—”
“I’ll hold you responsible for the safety of my people. If any of them get hurt in my absence,” Tlaloc loomed over Cal, “then you will pay.”
Cal had to crane his neck back to look into Tlaloc’s eyes.
He returned the dark-eyed glare with one of his own. “No offense—”
“No one that says that ever means it,” Tlaloc growled.
“Yeah, well, you’ve been giving a ton of it. Like, this whole time. It’s one offense after another. I’m being very magnanimous about the whole thing because the safety and freedom of the enslaved are more important than my pride,” he snorted. “So, as I was saying… the person I’ve got in mind as your temporary substitute will do a better job than you at keeping your people safe.”
Tlaloc leaned forward. “Then I would be grateful to this person.”
“Listen, I know we got to a rocky start, but I’m hoping that we can work together in a more professional manner moving forward. This world needs a lot of help. There are things out there that I don’t think you’ve seen. Things that could threaten all of us on an existential level. Like, those fishmen you let live for example. Not only are they evil, but they also serve an even darker god that I’m pretty sure is still somewhere out there. You don’t have to take my word for it. I could introduce you to people that have suffered greatly at their hands. And that’s just one of the threats already on our planet. There could be an infinite number of them just waiting to come through the spires. Ten years loosened travel restrictions. How many more do we have until those are completely gone?”
“You talk about other worlds. I saw in the spires that was possible…”
“I’ve been to one and obviously, back. Let’s say you want to give it a shot or know people that will… don’t start a fight with the natives. Even with your power I wouldn’t guarantee a win. Besides, they’re decent sorts. Probably, better than us when it comes to xenophobia. Tell them you know me and don’t act like an asshole.”
“I wouldn’t leave. I have too much to protect here,” Tlaloc regarded Cal with disappointment.
“If I hadn’t gone I wouldn’t have learned about the threats waiting for us on other worlds. The biggest one actually already came. Don’t worry. I killed it.”
“I don’t. If it had come here then I would’ve killed it myself,” Tlaloc scoffed.
“Maybe, maybe not,” he shrugged. “Anyways, I can tell you all about it while we drag that feathered serpent off the grounds.”
“I’ll do it myself.”
“Sure? You don’t want a hand? You were running on empty back there.”
“I’m fine and you will leave.”
“Yeah—”
“Now. You will leave my country and not return until it is time for me to help you.”
“Whatever, dude,” he waved the towering rain god away. He slowly rose into the sky. “When you say country? That means the areas that are under your protection, right? Not the old borders. I mean, can you truly call it yours if you’re letting cartels, raiders, monsters and all assorted garbage roam freely?”
“You know what I meant.”
“I’m sorry… I can’t hear you over the wind!” he steadily rose and cupped one ear, “can you repeat that?”
“You have one day!” Tlaloc gave him one last glare before stomping away.
----------------------------------------
“I’ve never been in a hurricane. Now, I know what it’s like,” Nila sighed.
“Could you get out of your armor so I can hug you, please?” Cal grinned.
“Is it safe?”
“Yup.”
“What happened?”
“I’ll tell you after the hug.” He glanced at the little guy sleeping on the bed in a veritable fortress of pillows and sheets.
The Threnosh-made armor hissed as its seals opened for Nila to step out.
Cal swept her up in a hug and a kiss.
“Shhh,” Nila hissed. “He only just got to sleep. The storm was scary.”
“I’ll bet. Sorry about that. It kind of got out of hand.”
He told her everything that had happened over the past few hours.
“It was worth it. I found someone that can get those collars off at a minimum with a chance to come up with a more permanent solution for the slave kingdom. I just have to convince one of my siblings to patrol a quarter of Mexico for a week. Should be the easiest part of this whole thing.”
“So, there is an Aztec rain god and he just wants us to leave by tomorrow?”
“Yeah.”
“What a jerk! After you helped him claim a spawn zone. Those monsters sounded really strong.”
“They’ve had a long time unbothered. Which worries me about all the other spawn zones that haven’t been touched. I’ll have to ask Eron if he’s noticed an increase in spawn zone strength based on age, for lack of a better word.”
“He might not notice. Not if all he does if fly in, kill everything and leave.”
“Yeah, his perception of strength is probably off. Anyways… kid’s asleep,” he raised a brow.
Nila grinned. “Not in the same room.”
“I own this whole hotel…”
“Monsters?”
“I killed the worst ones and sent the rest running on my way back. We have several hours of complete safety.”
“It’s not too late,” Nila mused. “We never did get to enjoy the bonfire.”
“Let’s do that then.”
“Let’s,” she agreed.
The next morning a contented little family winged their way to the southwest roughly following Mexico’s pre-spires border.
“Sorry about Palenque…”
“I was looking forward to going through it after you cleared it, but it sounds like that would’ve been a difficult fight. So, I’m glad that you had Tlaloc help you. I can visit it another time after you do your alliance thing.”
“I don’t know about that. He didn’t seem like the allying sort.”
“He will, once he realizes how much you can help his people.”
“There a bird!” the little guy pointed out the window.
Nila squinted at it. “Giant bird.”
“Don’t worry, little guy. It can’t see us.”
Anything that was remotely dangerous was encourage to look the other way.
They were back in vacation mode.
“So, I was thinking we fly southwest until we hit the coast. Then we follow it up until Baja. That should satisfy Tlaloc’s demands.”
“From what you said, the western part of the country isn’t under his control.”
“It’s less of a control thing and more of a protection thing. He doesn’t do a lot of ruling type stuff. He mostly kills monsters and bad guys that threaten his people,” he explained. “I don’t want to risk our deal.”
“Not that he’ll actually be able to keep an eye on us,” Nila said. “There are still a bunch of places I wanted to visit.”
“Sorry we can’t check out Central America.”
“I understand. Getting those collars off is obviously our first priority. We can always come back.”
“I want sandcastles! I like beach cause its fun!” the little guy said.
“I know, right!” Cal grinned. “That was your first time and we live close to the beach.”
“To be fair, most places are close to the beach when you can fly us there.”
“True… I’m going to have to add beach clearing duty to my list, aren’t I?”
“It would be good for morale,” Nila said.
“Alright…”
“Yay! Beach is fun!” the little guy bounced on Nila’s lap. “And ice cream! Mom, can we get ice cream?”
Cal held a hand toward the back of the RV where the small fridge sat.
“Cal! It’s nine in the morning!”
“He already had breakfast, which I might add was pancakes with berries and whipped cream.”
“And?”
“He just had dessert for breakfast. What’s wrong with another one a few hours later?”
“It just is. No dessert until after lunch.”
“It’s ice cream, not a cocktail,” he scoffed.
“Mom, not a coptail, pease?” the little guy looked up at Nila with his chubby cheeks and big eyes.
Nila was made of sterner stuff. “After lunch,” she said.
Much pouting was had by two-thirds of the RV’s population.
Which turned into sticky-faced smiles after the post-lunch triple scoop ice cream cones as they sat on the beach under the umbrella’s shade.
The little guy sang a song about his love for the cold, sweet treat. Naturally, the words and the tune shared nothing with any of the music they had been listening to through the RV’s decades-old CD player.
“I think he’s got musical talent,” Cal said. “Good lyrics.”
“… yes, he does,” Nila replied.
The little guy ignored their conversation. He was lost in contentment. Or was that the food coma?
“Uh-oh…”
“I hate when you do that,” Nila sighed. She rose from her beach towel. “I’ll get my gear.”
“Nah, it’s nothing like that… er… just… uh… hold your breath. You too, little guy.” Cal mimed pinching his nose.
“This better not be—”
A dark shadow suddenly blotted out the sky.
“Oh my god! What is that?” Nila gagged.
“Give me a second…”
The shadow descended with the speed of Earth’s gravitational pull only to splatter against Cal’s hastily erected telekinetic bubble.
A rancid stench filled the air.
“Is that— do something!” Nila demanded.
“Stinky!” the little guy grimaced despite squeezing pudgy fingers around his nose like a clamp.
“Breathe through your mouths. I’m cycling the air.”
“Oh my god… it’s running down the sides,” Nila gagged.
The little guy gagged.
“No one throw up. Or I will,” Cal warned. “Don’t look at it. Close your eyes.”
The thick, greenish substance was indeed beginning to run down the invisible telekinetic bubble.
Cal sent the crap flying out to sea.
The smell lingered a fraction longer before the onshore breeze blew it farther inland.
“God, that was awful.” Nila took a deep breath. “Is it going to be a problem?”
“I’ve encouraged the giant bird monster to go drown itself far from here.”
“Just like that?”
“Yup.”
“And it’ll actually do it?”
“Probably not. I’ve tried it before. Planting the suggestion for a monster to suicide doesn’t stick. The will to survive tends to be ingrained in living things. It’ll probably snap out of it at some point, but that will be awhile from now and maybe we’ll get lucky and it’ll get krakened when it dives into the water. Doubly lucky if the two monsters off each other.”
“That’s too bad. It’d make things easier.”
“Things can’t always go exactly the way we want,” he shrugged. “Also, it doesn’t work on all monsters. Like those spirits back at the ruins. They were very resistant to the mind stuff.”
“The weirder things,” Nila nodded in agreement.
“We should probably get back on the road.”
“Yeah, let’s do that.”
“Where big bird?” the little guy peered up into the sky.
“The monster is going for a swim.” Nila gathered the toddler up and headed for the RV and left it to Cal to pack up the rest of their stuff.
Back on the road, in this case the sky, they continued to move north along the western coast.
They came across a running battle on the highway hundreds of feet below.
The sounds of distant gun shots and explosions drifted into the RV.
“I want see!” the little guy struggled in Nila’s grasp. He was desperate to press his face up to the window. “Boom booms!”
“It’s a couple of cartel remnants fighting over territory. They’ve been fighting for years over an encounter challenge that sits in between them.”
“Do we need to intervene?”
“It’d be pointless. There are no innocents in immediate danger. Tlaloc will eventually get to them. Or one side will win and Tlaloc will eventually get to them.”
They descended a little while later to lend a hand at a small community built around the central plaza of a medium-sized town under siege by scraggly-furred quadrupeds with bloody-gummed mouths of jagged teeth, razor-sharp spines on their backs and a gaze that seemed to inspire something akin to primal terror in anyone lower than Level 20.
They helped the townspeople kill the monsters.
Cal helped them expand to claim several vital buildings. A clinic, a grocery store and a hardware store that had long been a source of back and forth struggle for the people to access.
He offered to add his name to the ownership list to strengthen their claims. An offer they took with some hesitation. It was difficult to turn down a chance at food security for the first time in over a decade.
He also took a group of their strongest fighters to the quadruped’s spawn zone located in a cave a few miles outside of town. He kept them alive and they leveled some while turning the spawn zone back into an encounter challenge. They would’ve gained more of everything, levels, universal points and other rewards, if they had gone on their own at the cost of lives.
In gratitude, the townspeople threw a great party that lasted into the early morning hours.
The next day they continued their journey back home and crossed the Sea of Cortez into Baja.
That portion of the trip was uneventful.
Before they knew it they had reached California.
And so ended their short vacation.