Tank and Seth completed their preparations by the next afternoon and were ready to head off to their challenge with the Titanic Sparks. This was a big risk and had Calvin a little nervous. Seth and Tank were both very important to Olympus, Seth exceptionally so. Seth's creations were arguably one of the largest reasons for Olympus's success, and having him locked away in the trials for a period of time could leave them vulnerable. Even more, if something happened to Seth inside the trials, Olympus would be crippled. However, his success in the trials was likely to bring Olympus an incredible boost to their capabilities.
Calvin sought out Seth before his departure. He found the artificer making some final adjustments to his gear in his workshop.
"You about ready?" Calvin asked as he approached.
Seth looked up and gave a nod. "Just about. Wanted to make sure I had everything dialed in perfectly."
"Listen, I know you've been looking forward to this challenge, but I need you to be careful in there," Calvin said, his brow furrowed with concern. "You're too important to Olympus. If something happens to you..."
Seth held up a hand to stop Calvin. "I appreciate the worry, but you need to have a little faith." He flashed a sly grin. "When have I ever gotten in over my head?"
Calvin opened his mouth to respond but quickly closed it, realizing Seth had him there. The artificer had an uncanny ability to keep himself out of true danger through his inventions and cunning.
Calvin watched as Seth and Tank departed through the portal, their forms shimmering before vanishing entirely. He couldn't shake the uneasy feeling in his gut, but he trusted their capabilities. They were two of Olympus' most formidable assets, after all.
With a sigh, Calvin turned to head back to the council chambers, Freya and Ian falling into step beside him. The daily reports awaited, and he hoped for good news.
As they settled into their seats, Calvin began sifting through the various documents and data pads. Most of the reports were routine - updates on resource production, population counts, and the like. But one report caught his eye, a troubling anomaly amidst the normalcy.
"A scouting team sent to investigate a disturbance near the northern settlement has gone silent," Calvin read aloud, his brow furrowing. "And now the settlement itself has stopped communicating."
Ian leaned forward, his expression grim. "That's not good. Could be an attack."
Calvin nodded, pulling up the portal network on a holographic display. "The settlement is still listed as an option, so it hasn't been destroyed. But something's definitely wrong."
Freya growled softly, her hackles rising.
"We should investigate. Test out our new abilities in real combat." Calvin suggested.
Calvin hesitated, glancing at Amy. She met his gaze, her eyes fierce with determination. "I'm coming with you," she said, her tone leaving no room for argument.
But Calvin shook his head. "I need you to stay here, Amy. Keep Olympus running smoothly while we're gone." He reached out, grasping her hand. "I promise, you can come on the next mission. But right now, I need you here."
Amy looked like she wanted to protest, but after a long moment, she nodded. "Fine. But you better come back in one piece, you hear me?"
Calvin grinned, squeezing her hand. "Wouldn't dream of anything else."
He turned to Freya and Ian, his expression sobering. "Gear up. We leave in an hour."
As they prepared to depart, Calvin couldn't help but feel a thrill of anticipation mixed with the worry. This would be their first true test of their new powers, a chance to see what they were truly capable of.
Calvin, Ian, and Freya emerged from the shimmering portal into an unsettling scene. The settlement of Alderwood stretched out before them, its streets and buildings pristine and undamaged, but utterly devoid of life. An eerie silence hung over the town, broken only by the whisper of the wind through the trees.
Calvin's crystalline armor glinted in the sunlight as he surveyed the empty streets, his hand resting on the hilt of his bladestaff. "Where is everyone?" he murmured, his voice tinged with unease.
Ian closed his eyes, reaching out with his elemental senses. He could feel the lingering presence of an essence, something foreign and unidentifiable. It hung in the air like a miasma, clinging to every surface.
"There's something here," Ian said, his brow furrowed in concentration. "An essence I've never encountered before. It's faint, but it's everywhere."
Freya growled softly, her hackles rising as she sniffed the air. Her primal instincts were on high alert, sensing the wrongness that permeated the settlement.
Calvin nodded grimly. "We need to search the town, see if we can find any clues as to what happened here."
They moved through the streets methodically, checking each building for signs of life or struggle. But every home, every shop, was empty and undisturbed. It was as if the entire population had simply vanished into thin air.
As they neared the center of town, Calvin's eye was drawn to a small, unassuming building. It was a simple wooden structure, no different from the others around it, but something about it felt off.
He approached cautiously, Freya and Ian flanking him on either side. The door was slightly ajar, and Calvin pushed it open with the tip of his bladestaff.
Inside, the room was in disarray. Furniture was overturned, papers scattered across the floor. And there, on the far wall, was a message scrawled in what looked like charcoal.
"The forest," Calvin read aloud, his voice echoing in the empty room.
Ian moved closer, examining the message. "It's a clue, I think. Whoever left this wanted us to find it."
Freya sniffed at the scrawled words, her nose twitching. She looked up at Calvin, her eyes gleaming with understanding.
"The forest," Calvin said, realization dawning. "Whatever happened here, the answer lies in the forest."
They exited the building, their gazes drawn to the dense woods that surrounded the settlement. The trees loomed tall and dark, their branches reaching out like grasping fingers.
Calvin took a deep breath, steeling himself for whatever lay ahead. "Let's go," he said, his voice firm with resolve.
They set off into the forest, the trees swallowing them up like a hungry maw. The air grew thick and heavy, the canopy blocking out the sun's rays. Strange sounds echoed through the undergrowth, the rustling of leaves and the snapping of twigs.
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As they pushed deeper into the woods, the feeling of wrongness grew stronger. Ian could sense the foreign essence more clearly now, its presence cloying and oppressive.
Suddenly, Freya stopped in her tracks, her ears pricked forward. A low growl rumbled in her throat, her muscles tensing.
Calvin and Ian froze, their senses on high alert. And then they heard it - a rustling in the bushes, the sound of something large moving through the undergrowth.
Calvin readied his bladestaff, the crystalline blade gleaming in the dim light. Ian's hands crackled with elemental energy, fire and lightning dancing between his fingers.
The bushes parted, and a monstrous creature emerged. It was a twisted amalgamation of plant and animal, its body a mass of writhing vines and pulsating flesh. Glowing eyes peered out from a gaping maw lined with razor-sharp teeth.
Calvin leapt into action, his bladestaff flashing as he struck at the creature. The crystalline blade sliced through the vines, but more sprung up to take their place, lashing out at Calvin with whip-like tendrils.
Ian unleashed a blast of fire, the flames engulfing the creature. It shrieked in pain, its flesh sizzling and popping. But still it came on, its movements jerky and unnatural.
Freya pounced, snarling viciously as her powerful jaws snapped shut on a squirming vine. She wrenched her head back and forth, shaking the tendril like a dog with a chew toy. The Aetherwolf's razor sharp teeth shredded the fibrous plant matter, sending chunks of pulpy green flesh flying. Sticky sap sprayed from the severed end of the vine as Freya ripped it free with a growl of satisfaction.
The creature thrashed and writhed, its attacks becoming more frenzied. Calvin and Ian fought back with everything they had, their new abilities pushed to the limit.
The monstrous plant creature writhed and thrashed, its vines whipping around with frenzied intensity. Calvin and Ian battered it with elemental attacks, but the creature seemed to shrug off their blows, its regenerative powers kicking into overdrive.
Suddenly, the creature began to glow, tendrils of sickly green energy coalescing around its gaping maw. It reared back, preparing to unleash some kind of devastating attack.
But before it could strike, Freya let out a savage growl, her body erupting in a blinding aura of primal energy. In a blur of motion, she flashed forward, jaws snapping shut around the creature's glowing maw.
There was a pulse of power, a shockwave that rippled outward from Freya's form. The Aetherwolf's muscles tensed, straining as she drew the creature's charged attack into herself, absorbing the deadly energies.
The plant monster convulsed, its vines withering and turning brittle as Freya drained it of its power. With a final pulse of energy, the creature collapsed in a lifeless heap, reduced to little more than desiccated husks.
A system notification appeared before Freya:
VINES OF DECAY. DO YOU WISH TO LEARN THIS SKILL OR CONVERT IT TO PRIMAL ESSENCE?
Freya didn't hesitate for a moment, her mind already made up. With a decisive nod, she selected the option to learn the new skill. While converting it to primal essence would be useful for strengthening her powers, the prospect of mastering a brand new ability as her introduction to her new abilities filled her with excitement. This was her chance to truly embrace the changes she had undergone.
As soon as she activated the skill, a shudder ran through Freya's body. Thick, pulsating vines erupted from her spine, writhing and undulating like living tendrils. They snaked outward, stretching across the forest floor, their vibrant green hue rapidly fading to a sickly brown. Everywhere the vines touched, the foliage withered and decayed at an accelerated rate, leaving a wide circle of death and decay radiating outward from Freya's form.
Calvin and Ian could only stare in amazement, their jaws hanging open as they witnessed this display of Freya's newfound power. A decaying miasma wafted from the blighted area, carrying the pungent scent of rot and decomposition. This was a highly unusual skill for Freya, considering the path she had been on since joining the system - one focused on primal forces of nature and the raw, untamed power of the elements. And yet, as Calvin considered it further, a sense of understanding dawned upon him. Decay was an inescapable aspect of the natural cycle, the inevitable conclusion to all life. In that sense, Freya's new ability fit perfectly within the primal nature she embodied, a brutal yet necessary force that cleared the way for new growth and renewal.
Ian knelt down, examining the decaying flesh. "I've never seen anything like it," he said, his voice tight with concern. "It's like it was a fusion of plant and animal, twisted by some dark essence."
Freya sniffed at the remains, her nose wrinkling in disgust. She looked up at Calvin, her eyes filled with a primal understanding.
"This is just the beginning," Calvin said grimly. "Whatever's out here, it's not natural. And it's got something to do with the disappearances in Alderwood."
They pressed on, deeper into the forest. The trees grew thicker, the undergrowth more tangled. Strange shapes moved in the shadows, just out of sight.
As they crested a hill, they found themselves looking down into a small clearing. And there, in the center, was a sight that made their blood run cold.
A massive, pulsating mass of flesh and vines sprawled across the ground, its tendrils reaching out in all directions. And embedded within the mass were the missing people of Alderwood, their bodies twisted and contorted, their faces frozen in expressions of agony.
Calvin felt a wave of revulsion wash over him, bile rising in his throat. "What the fuck," he whispered, his voice hoarse with horror.
Ian's face was pale, his eyes wide with shock. "What is this thing?" he breathed. "What has it done to them?"
Freya growled deep in her throat, her hackles rising. She could sense the wrongness emanating from the mass, the dark essence that pervaded it.
Calvin gripped his bladestaff tightly, his knuckles white beneath his crystalline gauntlets. "We have to destroy it," he said, his voice hard with determination. "We have to free these people."
They charged down the hill, their weapons at the ready. The mass quivered and pulsed as they approached, its tendrils lashing out to meet them.
Calvin's bladestaff flashed in the dim light, slicing through the tendrils like a hot knife through butter. Ian unleashed a torrent of elemental energy, fire and lightning ripping through the mass.
Freya leapt into the fray, her jaws clamping down on the writhing flesh. She tore at it savagely, her teeth ripping and tearing.
But the mass was strong, its regenerative powers seemingly endless. For every tendril they cut down, two more sprang up to take its place.
Calvin leapt into the fray, his crystalline armor glinting in the dim light filtering through the forest canopy. His bladestaff whirled in a dizzying dance, the razor-sharp edges slicing through the writhing tendrils with precision and grace. The storm essence within him surged, crackling along his limbs and infusing his weapon with raw, elemental power.
He thrust his hand forward, summoning a barrage of lightning bolts that arced from his fingertips, searing the pulsating mass of flesh and vines. The stench of charred plant matter and sizzling ichor filled the air, mingling with the coppery tang of blood from the embedded victims. Calvin's eyes narrowed, his jaw clenched tight as he pressed the assault, determined to put an end to this abomination.
The creature lashed out, a barbed tendril whipping towards Calvin's face. He ducked beneath the strike, feeling the rush of air as it passed mere inches above his head. Retaliating with a swift uppercut, Calvin's bladestaff cleaved the appendage in twain, sending a spray of viscous sap splattering across his armor.
Undeterred, Calvin reached deep within himself, tapping into the wellspring of power granted by the Titanic Spark. Storm essence swirled around him, coalescing into a shimmering aura that crackled with barely contained energy. He raised his bladestaff high, the weapon pulsing with an otherworldly glow, and brought it down in a mighty overhead strike.
The impact sent shockwaves rippling through the clearing, the ground trembling beneath Calvin's feet. A blinding flash of lightning erupted from the point of contact, forking outwards in jagged bolts that danced across the creature's form. The mass convulsed, its tendrils spasming as the storm essence tore through its fibers, shredding them like paper in a hurricane.
Calvin pressed forward, his movements a blur of crystalline armor and crackling energy. He wove between the flailing appendages, his bladestaff a whirling dervish of destruction. Each strike sent a surge of storm essence cascading through the creature's form, causing it to shudder and recoil.
The air grew thick with the acrid stench of ozone, the hair on Calvin's arms standing on end as the storm essence built to a crescendo. He could feel the power thrumming through his veins, begging for release. With a roar of exertion, Calvin channeled the energy into his bladestaff, the weapon glowing white-hot with fury.
He leapt into the air, the storm essence propelling him upwards like a bolt of lightning. At the apex of his jump, Calvin brought the bladestaff down in a devastating arc, the searing edge cleaving through the creature's central mass like a hot knife through butter.
The creature let out an unearthly shriek, its form convulsing violently as the storm essence ripped through its core. Tendrils thrashed and writhed, ichor spraying in all directions as the abomination struggled to maintain its cohesion. But Calvin's assault was relentless, his bladestaff a blur of motion as he hacked and slashed, severing appendages and carving deep gouges into the pulsating flesh.
For a moment, Calvin believed the fight was won. However, the ground beneath his feet began to tremble as the soil fell away from a rising form. This creature was buried underground as well, and now it was rising up to confront them.