Gef’Una – Zo’Duq’Ut – Delta Zone #3 Level 80 – 99
Gef’Una had taken his appointment as Primus grudgingly after the clans had voted unanimously to endow it upon him.
It was not that he was unwilling to adhere to the unbiased nature of his duty or renounce his stewardship of clan Tan’uk.
In fact if it was up to him, he would be the most strident adherent to clan bi-laws in the long and prestigious history of the mantle.
It was more a matter of him having made an accursed [Lesser Contract] with his late mate Jaq’Una the Initiate Merchant. The blighted contract in question stipulated that he would do everything in his power as the clans strongest Initiate Stalker Adept, to keep their cub safe from any undue harm that might come her way.
And as he would discover all too quickly, the worst part of the one sided agreement was that cub would likely be the instituter of the harm in question...
So when the Council of Hod’eim had informed him that her Party had failed to return in a timely manner from their latest Siphon clearing attempt, Gef’Una felt the itch of the [Lesser Contract]'s obligation, like that of an Initiate Trappers snare on his neck.
A small balm to the ever insistent skill however, was that the Party sent to replace them, due to their failure to check in, reported that the siphon was bizarrely still occupied.
Upon investigating further, it was with some surprise and relief that he discovered her Party’s current roster consisted of at least one of each of the five clans progeny. Knowing his cub as he did, Gef’Una was certain she had not planned so far ahead, especially given her…predilection… for rock brained actions. Though at least in this case, he praised The Spirits of The Great Hunt for her beneficial choice, if only so that it enabled him to maintain the necessary facade of neutrality whilst keeping the [Lesser Contract]'s sting lessen.
As the days and nights passed though, his hope that something had not gone terribly wrong, became but a herd animal in the jaws of an over leveled manabeast. Still, he refused to let his beleaguered hope die and in turn hastily approved deployment of each Clan’s forces to intercept whatever may come out of the Siphon.
Invaders from Siphons were far from common, since his planets Elevation had begun some 3,752 cycles ago.
Records from the early days when his kind had met the appearance of manabeast with fang and bloody claw, told of a veritable stampede of Faction aligned entities trying to invade through the siphon’s and subjugate his ancestors.
Soon though, they had learned the error of their ways as the Clan’s managed to put aside their prejudices’ and long held grievances, to form an unprecedented union. Thus all of their magnificently furred kind no matter their color, marking or breeding, united under the banner of the Council of Hod’eim before finally pushing back the tides of greedy invaders to reclaim the lands of Zo’Duq’Ut and herald a new era of prosperous hunts for thousands of cycles to come.
But the thoughts of the clans past glories were of little comfort when the Siphon still had not been cleared as it nearing the end of its life span. Gef’Una dreaded to think what being so craven of mind in the otherworldly factions, had the foresight to capture his only cub as some form of cowardly leverage to make their kind submit to its will.
After a long and lengthy debate within the council chambers, the clan heads unanimously voted to deploy him in his role as Primus for the good of all the involved, and hopefully still breathing, cubs.
Fighting against the dishonor in subterfuge, Gef’Una hid his joy and relief as he all too readily adhered to Councils order to meet whatever came out of the accursed Siphon head on, with his own infamously lethal fangs and claws.
And so it was that he stood at the front of the gathered elites of the five clans, with his of Party of Primus elites to his tail, while they collectively waited with shifting whiskers and twitching claws for the Siphons period of stability, to finally end.
It was no surprise that when the flash of light that washed over the thousands of gathered forces, it led to weapons being readied, claws being extended and spells being prepared in earnest.
The breath caught in his throat at the notion that the dissipating light might reveal that some fool hardy warrior had accidentally killed his precious cub.
Yet despite the unending scenes of horror that had played though his mind during the intractable waiting, Gef’Una was caught completely on the wrong paw for the first time since he was level ten.
Standing in the center of the menacing might of the tribe’s collective elite, stood his cub and her Party, and though slightly battered and bedraggled, she stood completely unrestrained all the same.
It also seemed to be a shock to all the gathered warriors as every one of their number held their breath at what to do about the armored, grey skinned furless being standing to the side of the recently returned Party that sported an unsettling mane of white hair coupled with red eyes of menace.
The trance was broken however when his rock brained cub of all beings, shouted.
“KILL THE FUR-LESS!”
Like all of his kind, reason was momentarily superseded as the instinctual call of the hunt was issued.
As one the collected warriors attacked, but through the maelstrom of spells, projectiles and darting blades his eyes went wide in shock as the thing moved with impossible speed, to become a blur and erupting the ground erupted and splitting the air.
With his species supernatural hearing, the aftereffect of the fur-less’ passage was like being clubbed around the ears, forcing all to recoil and in some cases where their Vitality was not strong enough, collapse in writhing spasms. Being one of the strongest of all present, Gef’Una recovered in time to watch spells which were renowned for never missing their target, streak off into the sky. Unable to find any trace of their intended prey.
After the pained and yowling wounded had been seen to by the healers and the warriors had regained their sense of balance, he stalked through the hastily parting warriors to his daughter and her Party, whilst demanding.
“Kel’Una of clan Tan’uk and leader of this Party. As Primus of the Council of Hod’eim, I am honor bound to escort you and your Party back to Hod’eim so that you may face the Council in the fur and explain your part in this debacle!”
Her Party focused upon him with rapt attention whereas Kel’Una herself merely groused.
“Come now farther…don’t you have better things to be doing like hunting that abomination? Better that then escorting a lowly Party of hunters to talk to those grey whiskered blunt claws of the cou-“
Gef’Una’s anger flared along with his nostrils, leading to his eyes narrowing as he threatened.
“Watch your word’s cub…Or I will be forced to bind you and take you in on a charge of dispensing misinformation about The Council!”
However his threat was almost entirely lost on his blighted cub, as she sighed and replied in mock defeat.
“Very well oh mighty Primus…Me and my lowly Party would be honored to have one such as you, escort our humble selves to the capital so we may be peppered with questions we almost definitely have no answer to, by the esteemed white furred rulers of us all.”
Baring his fangs at his progeny he irritably swiped a paw at her head, to which she teleported away from.
Like she always did…
Hissing in further annoyance at his insufferable cub, Gef’Una instructed.
“Have yourselves ready to leave in the next five minutes or by Pes’tuh, I will dock each and every one of your tails!”
Turning and stalking to where the hunt leaders of the five clan’s forces were gathered, he nodded respectfully to the five veterans whilst he neared before directing.
“I want each of you to take a zone and find where whatever that fur-less thing is fled to! With any luck, that was just some kind of long range movement skill that has a long cool down...If one of your warriors does find it, instruct them that this is a tracking only mission, at least until I get some answers out those rock brained cubs that make any claw-less sense!”
The diversely furred and sized hunt leaders chorused.
“Yes Primus!”
Before lithely bounding off to follow his directive, like any good clan member was supposed to….
With immediate matters seen to, he and his misbegotten progeny’s Party made haste for the capital, Hod’eim. An added benefit of the trip was that he was finally free to pounce out of the role of Primus and take up the mantle of protective father away from all those prying and scheming eyes and ears.
Thus, he asked more paternally of his daughter as they paced through the Delta Zone.
“Cub, what have you gotten yourself into this time?”
The rest of the Party graciously eased their stride, to give the pair some privacy, which in turn led her to counter in mock innocence.
“Oh mighty Primus whatever are you referring to?”
Growling in a way that only a farther could, Gef’Una entreated.
“Daughter, you know I have to maintain impartiality as a measure of my role…If I had given you and your Party special dispensation to join the Council’s hunt I would be derelict in my duty as Primus!”
Shaking her head as the weathered and tarnished mages robe whipped around her whilst they bounded past the sparse bushes, Kel’Una opined.
“For all my lives, I’ll never understand why you accepted the appointment to Primus father…Your just going to be shackled to those old fur ball brains’ whims for your remaining centuries!”
He wanted to baffle her ears and tell her she was wrong, that the role was more than just acting like a rodent on a string, pulled by a wizened paw. Yet having served as primus for half a century already, after the former one fell to a Siphon break, Gef’Una knew all too well the truth of her words.
Growling he side leapt a tree trunk before shooting back.
“This is no time for your lectures cub…Tell me what in the great abyss that fur-less thing was! And just how in Pes’tuh you managed to survive with it in the Siphon for thirty days?!”
His usually mouthy progeny was uncharacteristically quiet for a tense few paw falls, before she replied in an almost broken timbre.
“I-it said it wanted a truce and we thought it was just some deluded lost thing, weak and ripe for the hunting…I-I thought we were done for when it eventually attacked us…It moved so fast farther…Toying with us…SIX LEVEL 99 WARRIORS AND IT TOYED WITH US LIKE NEW BORN KITTENS!”
As the blurring open landscape gave way to more dense foliage, Kel’Una collected herself as they continued to bound in silence, punctuated only by the Zone change notification:
You have entered Gamma Zone #24 Level 51 – 79.
The notification seemed to be interruption enough to bring her out from her brooding turmoil as she continued.
“Even when it knew it had us by the whiskers, all it resorted to was verbal interrogation...So me and the others agreed to bide our time until we could strike a decisive blow…”
Laughing ruefully as her now slightly labored breathing permitted, Kel’Una took a few breaths before adding.
“Well…You saw with your own eyes how that went…”
Taking pity on her for suffering true defeat for what was likely the first time in all her lives, Gef’Una announced loud enough for the rest of her trailing Party to hear.
“We will take a break so that the casters may recover their stamina in the clearing ahead.”
Receiving no dissent from the rest they each took a spot in the rocky clearing to lounge and regain their vigor.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Prowling around the clearings edge, more as a force of habit than a need for security, he inquired of the others inhabitants.
“Given you spent so many days with the fur-less being in there, can you tell me what its class is that enabled it to trounce you single pawedly?”
Observing them, he noted that they simultaneously became uncomfortable, sharing complex facial expressions with each other.
Halting his prowling, Gef’Una scowled at the clearly conflicted group as he reminded.
“Now is not the time to nibble your tongues…”
To his surprise it was the bulky orange and white fur with black stripes, from clan Yar’Hre who was missing the left leg of his plate armor that chose to reply.
“P-permission to speak freely Primus?”
Nodding his accent, the young male continued..
“W-we don’t know what it’s class was, we only saw it use one movement skill without a cooldown, but what we do know for certain is that it has a strength attribute of at least 500 or more…”
Frowning again he demanded.
“That’s not possible…it would tangle its limbs and rip itself apart from lack of dexterity and vitality…You must be mistaken…maybe it was an illus-“
But the male cut him off angrily.
“IT WAS NO ILLUSION!”
Then he seemed to remember to whom he was yowling and amended in a much more restrained manner.
“M-my apologies Primus...W-what I meant to say is, we all experienced the force of it’s blows with our own bodies…The thing severed my leg in an instant! Then in the next it was upon my allies with the same indomitable force, ignoring our armor and snapping our limbs like it was merely flicking a tail!”
Regarding the clearly traumatized warrior for a moment, he looked to his daughter questioningly, rather than keep drawing from the same source of likely contaminated milk. Yet to his growing confusion she responded meekly.
“It’s as Quin’da says Primus…It was like a thing from the abyss…I’m not even sure that it’s sane…”
That gave him pause. One thing his daughter was not was meek...Or prone to flights of fancy for that matter...
But her last statement was nagging at him and so he queried.
“What do you mean by ‘not sane’?”
This led to her sharing a questioning look with her party, as if to seek their permission for something.
To which they nodded somber agreement, which in turn led her to release in a nervous rush.
“I-It was after it had subdued us and asked for a truce…It kept trying to interrogate us, but we stayed strong and maintained operational security despite it’s menace!…”
She paused and gulped as tears came to her eyes, he had to fight hard against the urge to lend her a reassuring paw. Yet for better or worse they had long ago chosen their roles, so all he could do was watch as Kel’Una regained enough composure to supply.
“T-that was when i-it began to attempt to infiltrate our minds...
We thought it was reciting history at first, but there was a hidden shifting of tone beneath its words that was so…so mesmerizing…
Before we knew what was happening it had all our minds repeating its phrases with the same tonal shifts…yet try as we might, we could not replicate them…it was such simple and malicious trickery!..."
Paws clenching and un-clenching, she continued.
"Then when it had us in it’s misshapen paw, that was when the interrogation truly began…
It began asking us who had released something it referred to as a ‘Dog’…
W-We’re still not exactly sure what the heinous creature it told of is…But the fear it instilled with it’s calling made us fear for our safety more than any greater manabeast ever could…I wish….I wish I could forget the profane cadences and phrases…but even now, my mind still demands an answer as to who would have been so foolish as to release them!...”
Unable to take his daughters distress any longer Gef’Una closed to her and tenderly put a comforting paw upon her weeping and distraught frame, and to the abyss with the honorific consequences!
Uncaring of Kel’Una’s Party’s opinions of his display of weakness, he felt only admiration for her strength of spirit as she continued.
“After we thought we h-had rebuffed it’s attempts to dominate us…then it started to exhibit its physical supremacy…
It began with simple movements that looked like they were part of a bigger whole, lacking something fundamental...Though no matter how much we have tried to tackle the conundrum, none of us have been able to reason what…"
Clearing her throat self consciously she furthered.
"Having displayed its basic capabilities, its movements shifted with greater frequency and dexterity than we thought possible of even the most lithe of our warriors, all while wearing that thick armor it does…
Once it had finished its d-demonstration, it took to sitting cross legged for the majority of the days it was in there with us, only rarely rising to dart about like a kitten at play…And all the while...It’s facial features would contort and shift at odd intervals, without pattern or explanation…
We often wondered if we had given in to its initial demands for information on the T4 Phase Conveyance quest…maybe it…maybe we wouldn’t have had our minds infected like this…”
Following her recounting of their heinous and brutal ordeal, silence hung heavy in the clearing as the other young warriors were also clearly in the midst of reliving the past thirty days of trauma. Forcing himself to at least fulfill some modicum of his role as Primus, Gef’Una pushed back his urge to weep at his daughters side and instead prompted.
“Did the furless say what exactly it wanted with the Phase Conveyance quest?”
Contrary to his expectations of a reply from his own cub, the black furred warrior from clan Uji’zau moved next to his progeny in stoic solidarity.
There was far too much affection for that of mere allies between them and his eyes went wide when he realized they might already be breaking the clan wide taboo’s of cross fur-ing, when his spiraling thoughts were interrupted as the black fur answered in her stead.
“T-that is what made us dismiss it as mad in the first place Primus, after it declared it was faction-less and alone, it stated it wanted to clear the quest…as an experiment…”
Gef’Una’s mind raced along with his quickening pulse. If what they spoke was true and the thing had the means to clear the quest that was forbidden by every clan. This would not only mean disaster for his kind, but all of Zo’Duq’Ut, if the Initiate Sooth-sayer’s skill was to be trusted!
Stamping out his growing guilt at being unable to allow his cub and her ally’s time to heal from their torture, he leapt back up to his hind paws and instructed.
“I’m sorry young ones but the Council must be informed of this at once!
To your paws!
We move!”
Not waiting for their reaction, lest he be swayed by it, he bounded ahead to lead them to Hod’eim with the utmost haste.
Sadly, the meeting with the Council went exactly as he had expected it to. Too many words and opinions with little substance to show for it.
One by one they had interrogated Kel’Una and her Party at excruciating length, trying to find discrepancies and falsehoods where there were clearly none to be found. But given his position, all Gef’Una could do was stand around like a pitiful non-combat class and wait in the wings for a decision to be reached.
Finally though, there was a vote held between the grey whiskers, on a plan of action for the clans to take and when he was called upon to receive the details, he felt his patience with them had for once at least, been well placed.
They had agreed for a constant guard of several Raid groups to be situated at the entrance point to the Great Lake in the Epsilon Zone, in hopes of intercepting the deranged fur-less and its plan to bring them all to ruin.
Secondly, there would be two hunting Party’s sent to every siphon to close them immediately or report of a similar incursion attempt to their world. And lastly, he was charged with commanding a fifty thousand strong rapid response force, ready to pounce upon any attempt by the abomination to harm any of the clans City’s.
Thankfully, the Council had also seen fit to revoke any mercenary rights to the Siphons, allowing him to conscript his cub and her party to where she would be well and truly out of harm’s way. Despite her incessant yowling to the contrary.
And so the days passed as reports of The Fur-less being clearing Siphon after Siphon, quicker than their scouting Party's could even track, began filtering in.
Over the passage of days they learned of one more of many odd habits, in that it actively avoided any direct confrontation and had, as of yet, left no casualties behind. Certainly there were skills used upon it but save that of shattered eardrums and wounded pride, it seemed content to either wait for the current inhabitants to fail in their attempt to clear it, or reach and clear it before their own forces had reasonable opportunity.
This state of affairs lasted for near twenty days as the thing continued to mock their repeated attempts to end its unnatural existence.
Just after a runner from Delta Zone #5 had returned with another report of a failed ambush and Siphon closure, one of the Council’s attendants from clan Tan’uk, came bounding into his meeting room in the Primus’ official Lair and with fear coloring her voice, blurted.
“H-honored Primus! The Fur-less is assaulting Clan Uji’zau’s, City of Fual’zau!”
Bolting to his paws from the barely adequate padding of his meeting bed, Gef’Una demanded.
“When did the assault commence?”
Raising her head from the customary deferential bow she supplied.
“Only moments ago Primus, I came as soon an Initiate Scribe stationed at the Terminals informed me of the siege notification. The fur-less is demanding that all occupants vacate within fifteen minutes before it begins its assault proper!”
A feral grin displayed his fangs in all their pearlescent glory as Gef’Una clenched his paw in eager anticipation of the battle yet to commence. Fifteen minutes was just shy of enough time for his rapid response force to reach the City’s outskirts from Hod’eim and pounce as it barely began its pitiful siege attempt.
This arrogant fur-less’ fear of confrontation would be its undoing!
Leaping into action he went to meet his waiting army and led them in haste, toward the cowardly fiend before it subjected any more hapless cubs to more of its heinous acts of mind warfare.
Gef’Una was heartened to note that his subordinates shared his fervent lust for battle as they bounded alongside him in a tide of fur, the likes of which had not been witnessed in the lands of Zo’Duq’Ut since their ancestors had driven out the previous incursion of covetous alien invaders.
As they had just passed from Beta Zone #463 to Alpha Zone #13,019 that was home to the City of Fual’zau, they witnessed a flash of bright blue light, as it emanated from within the black rock canyon that all but ensconced the City.
What came next, however made Gef’Una’s rapid heart still whilst his roiling blood lust froze.
Zo’Duq’Ut’s first Citadel ‘The Scratching Post’ has been successfully established by Benjamin.
Refusing to accept the notification’s impossible text, he willed it away and streaked further down the path as the looming canyon walls blurred past.
Rounding the corner of the winding dusty trail, he skidded to a halt as his claws raked at the well-worn stone and built up dirt, displacing it and kicking up dust as he came to a stop. Eyes frantically roaming the scene before him, his mind reeled at what it beheld.
In the widest part of the canyon where the several meter high city walls of Fual’zau should have been, now stood a structure easily ten times the size of it’s predecessor.
Long had the Council petitioned for funding such a thing, but the members of individual clans had always maintained that personal strength must be of equal, if not greater importance. Thus all the council could do was ensure that all Outposts that had not already been upgraded to a settlement or a City, were transitioned over the thousands of cycles since the clans’ unification.
So when Gef’Una’s keen eyes traced the outline of the multi-million manamote, fungus like structure that towered before him, he could only curse the being who had enabled its formidable construction within mere moments of its capture.
Forcibly arresting his budding rage, he turned his eyes to the ex-inhabitants as they stood and gaped at the building from a safe remove. Recognizing the headdress of the once City’s leader, he bounded to meet the elderly female, in a bid to learn if only second paw, of what exactly had just taken place.
After having exchanged greetings with the leader called ‘Vel’Kax’, Gef’Una had listened intently as she recounted how the fur-less had simply began striking the defensive shield in rapid a rapid staccato with its armored paws. At one point the gauntlets had shattered due to the power of its strikes revealing its misshapen and bald paws beneath, miraculously and impossibly unharmed.
Unperturbed by the loss of its protection it continued its assault with un-trackable speed as it all but ignored their attempts to bring it down with their fierce multitude of ranged attacks.
There was a hollow shock to Vel’Kax’s voice in her retelling and he noted her trembling tail and paws, marking her all too clearly as another victim of the abominations hallmark warfare of the mind.
By the time she had finished, the strike force had arrived and began to move the still stunned survivors to an even further remove of the canyons wall as they readied themselves to dig in for a long and drawn out siege.
It was at this point that the large gate of the Citadel opened to reveal a lone figure that could only be the fur-less, which then proceeded to walk mockingly down the large ramp at the doors base.
Gef’Una whistled to the sub commanders to ready themselves to attack when the thing addressed them in a painfully booming voice.
“CAT PEOPLE OF ZO’DUQ’UT!
I APOLOGIZE FOR THE REGRETTABLE BUT NECESSARY, COMMANDEERING OF THIS FINE CITY! MEOW BEFORE YOU STUPIDLY LOOSE PRECIOUS LIVES TRYING TO RECLAIM IT, I AM HAPPY TO INFORM YOU THAT I ONLY INTEND TO USE IT AS A TEMPORARY BASE OF OPERATIONS UNTIL I HAVE FINISHED RUNNING A TEST.
ONCE I HAVE COMPLETED THE TEST, I WILL ALLOW YOU FREE ACCESS TO THIS CITADEL AND MAKE USE OF ITS FACILITIES AS YOU SEE FIT! I HOPE THAT BY MY ACTIONS YOU CAN TELL THAT I MEAN NONE OF YOU ANY HARM AND THAT SHOULD OUR SPECIES MEET AGAIN IN THE FUTURE, YOU WILL BE ABLE TO LOOK UPON US AS ALLIES RATHER THAN ENEMIES.”
A shocked silence descended on all those gathered as the fur-less scanned their forces once and waved its misshapen and naked paw before disappearing with an ear piecing *BOOM* which resulted in the black stone where it had once stood rupturing as it exploded upward.
Even though Gef’Una knew what was coming and covered his ears in the last split second, the ringing and battering winds, still took more than a few moments to dissipate well enough for him to hear the hissing and screeching of those insufficiently invested into Vitality.
Refusing to believe a word of what the cunning fiend had said, he made sure the healers saw to the wounded, before sending messengers to Hod’eim as well as each of the clans’ capitals, to request immediate reinforcements.
However it was barely even twenty minutes before all his strategizing and planning with the strike forces sub commanders fell to naught.
When Gef’Una was but a scruff of a cub, he had thought the Initiate Soothsayers mere fraudsters for their outlandish claims. But as he advanced in age and prowess they had warned him of various key events and resultant outcomes, to give him more than a little pause when considering their guidance.
Yet the final point, where he had transformed from lounging skeptic to tail locked believer was when he'd failed to heed the clans Initiate Soothsayer Naj’Eik, and her warning that if he were to venture into the Siphon that week, his beloved would fall prey to banditry on a trading mission to another clan’s City.
From that day forth, after he could wail in anguish no longer and his tears had dried where they fell, Gef’Una vowed that he would heed their cautionary portents, lest another such disaster fail to be avoided.
So when he read through the latest string of notifications again and again, his hind paws collapsed beneath him at the weight of the knowledge that he.
Gef’Una.
Primus of Hod’eim.
Had utterly failed his kin in their time of need:
Benjamin has Slain the Phasic Boss, Monarch of Tides Soz’Keq.
Planetary Phase 2 Elevation Shift initiated.
Please return to your habitations within 59 Days 23 Hours 59 Minutes 59 Seconds to ensure a comfortable transition to Phase 2 of the Elevation process.