(Fey’s POV)
“You’re sure, you’re ready for this?” X asked for the third time.
His nerves were probably worse than mine since his core was so badly damaged; after trying to activate the legacy he could no longer lend me strength. The only assistance he could still provide was sharing knowledge, however it was no easy task getting any useful information out of him.
I had to do everything by my own power and a month wasn’t a long time to master twelve elements. Hell I hadn’t really mastered any of them, but I felt confident I was strong enough for what had to be done now.
“I’m fine, I’m more worried about the girls. If a hero comes after me, I can just blink away, but they won’t stand a chance.”
“If you blink you might end up in pieces and there’s no guarantee they’ll all find the same destination either.”
“That’s why it’s a last resort, but if I’m fast enough I won’t have to.”
“Fast enough? You’re going to broadcast yourself invading a research base full of trained enforcers. Even if you’re ‘quick’ you’ll be lucky to get out of there alive.”
I nodded, but didn’t reply. Cole and Fin were approaching the energized fence, it was time for the plan to begin, and I needed to focus.
Striding right up to the gate, Cole shouted, “Hey, you guys are enforcers right?”
The napping guard on the other side slowly blinked open his eyes, then shut them again.
“Hey! If you’re an enforcer then wake the fuck up and do something about that!” Fin howled, pointing at a white serpent with emerald green eyes.
White fang was its name. It was well known in the area as something of a legend. How I managed to tame it was beyond me, but the creature obeyed my commands, so I’d get what use I could from him.
The guard's eyes sprang open and he nearly fell from his chair. “B-B-Beast! Sound the alarm, there’s a beast at the gate.”
Fin and Cole had done their part; they fled into the forest as enforcers rushed out of the fence. White fang initially chased after them to keep up the ruse, but he turned sharply back toward the enforcers after being struck by a fireball.
His hard scales weren’t harmed by their magic, instead the snake absorbed the energy from every spell. The ability was similar to what X had taught me to do, except that he could only absorb spells not spirits.
The snake had only one weakness, it’s mind was like a child’s—pliable and easily manipulated. Because of this, I guessed it might’ve been similar to Blood Fang, a creature birthed from child experiments that didn’t go quite how SAFE intended them. Today I’d find out if I was right, and so would the rest of Vania.
Twelve enforcers surrounded the snake, blasting him with spells of every element. White Fang ignored the barrage and used his long body to knock half the group away, while twisting toward the enforcer who had been asleep at the gate. Opening his wide maw then snapping it shut again, the snake swallowed the man in one gulp—or whatever snakes do to swallow.
Wasting no time at all, White Fang coiled his massive body tightly around a female enforcer, squeezing her slender form until her bones cracked and her blood forced its way out. Of the four enforcers remaining on their feet, it seemed only one still had tiger courage to face the beast. She stood alone as her companions ran, crawled, slithered and scrambled any way they could to get away from the beast.
“Why!” she hollered, raising her CAD towards the creature. Almost every enforcer was equipped with a model-G CAD, Fin warned us about it and explained how they worked so that we would be prepared if the special unit ever came after us.
“Why did you come back here? Is this your revenge?”
White Fang met her gaze then slithering between trees he moved at a breakneck pace towards her. The enforcer fired her CAD repeatedly, though none of her shots landed. White Fang zigged and zagged, avoiding each shot until he barreled right over the woman.
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Her body was crushed under his weight and torn apart by his rough scales. Without slowing his pace, the snake continued ripping through the enforcers.
They were completely suppressed and unable to fight back effectively. They weren’t even trying any more. The situation had devolved into an every man for himself survival scenario. I knew the snake was strong, but I didn’t expect him to be quite so overwhelming.
While White Fang was busy with his massacre, another enforcer came out from the gate. Seeing what was going on, he quickly turned back, likely to call for more back up or warn those inside the facility of the threat they faced.
Rushing to meet him at the gate, I cast “blink” not on myself, but on the enforcer. It was my intent to send him near White Fang for the snake to devour, instead, he wound up split in pieces…
A rain of blood and foul flesh confirmed I still didn’t have a firm grip on the magic. Traveling through space instantly was something I lacked a reference for and so, I had to figure it out bit by bit as I experimented on objects, and now people. Guilt tugged at my heart, he’d have had a chance to run from the snake, but I’d killed him instantly instead.
“Keep going, it’s too late to stop now!” X proded, reminding me that I couldn’t let myself be distracted. This wasn’t my first kill… unfortunately that happened weeks earlier when a detachment of enforcers discovered me trying to find an alternate way into the base from the nearby mountains. As Xander pointed out then, it wouldn’t be my last kill either—not if I was going to keep fighting against the lies spread by Pyro.
“I know.” I replied and pressed on past the open fence.
A small security building nestled among dense trees, was the only structure in the immediate area. A neatly arranged path of paver stones led past the building and through the woods.
I popped into the security building to ensure it was empty—it was empty, but more importantly I noticed a surveillance monitor that showed a group of enforcers hurrying out of a large camouflaged building.
“Looks like they’re on high alert.” I said.
“Well, the snake wasn’t exactly subtle.” Xander chuckled.
“Maybe not, but I couldn’t help feeling like the people here are the ones responsible for what was done to him.”
White Fang was still just outside the gate. This batch of enforcers was probably dispatched to deal with him. It didn’t matter though, they wouldn’t just ignore me if they saw me, so I’d have to hide or fight. Since time wasn’t on my side, I snatched what looked like a key card from the desk and followed the stone path through the forest.
I noticed the enforcers probably at the same time as they noticed me. They looked confused by my presence, but I’d been expecting them.
I cast “Spear rise” immediately.
From the stone beneath them, slender spears rose up at various angles, piercing through their flesh enforcers effortlessly. It was too easy. In the blink of an eye six lives were extinguished. They might have been mothers, fathers, sisters, or brothers…they could have been any number of things to any number of different people, but I couldn’t think about that now. As they hung limp on the spears, I continued on to the research building.
The facility looked eerily similar to the one I’d seen before, except that this one was still being taken care of. Meticulously managed flower beds lined the walkway. The grass was cut and trimmed back from the stones. Its lush green hue, and an impressive lack of weeds and wildflowers, suggested someone took pride in their gardening.
The building itself was quite large; it should’ve been plainly visible above the trees, but the upper half of the building was covered in foliage and blended perfectly with the forest canopy.
I expected the area would be crawling with enforcers, but using the key card, I entered the building unimpeded.
The lobby was nearly identical to the other facility as well. To the left of the door, there were a few rows of chairs and several vending machines. On the right a large cylindrical contraption with a big screen behind it. On the monitor, something like a holo game was playing—I couldn’t be sure, but it reminded me of “Knight’s Quest.”
Curious, I took a closer look at the machine and discovered a small window through which I could see someone inside.
“Probably best you leave them be,” Xander began, “and maybe it’s time to start your stream?”
I nodded, took a holocaster from my pocket and strapped it to my head, then connected it to my comm. This was my first time using it, so I had to decide on a username.
I typed #Fey then deleted it.
“Far too obvious, I agree,” X remarked. “Why don’t you try ‘dead man walking’ or something like that?”
“Good idea, then we’ll go with that.”
With an air of disapproval X added, “you really should have set this up ahead of time.”
“Should’ve, but didn’t.” I rolled my eyes. “Anyway, shut up. The broadcast will start soon.”