Valterra felt his Core tighten almost painfully as he looked upon the invader who had just metamorphosized right in front of him even as it laid waste to the other two Fomorian Stalkers. Even as looked upon the creature he analyzed what he was feeling and realized that for the first time in his Sapient life, he felt true terror and fear.
This wasn’t the anxiety of invaders being in his Dungeon, that he could deal with. This was far worse. His Core tightened further before he forced it to relax. He tried observing the creature and realized that this time he could see it through his system but what he saw did not alleviate his terror.
Shattered Avatar of the Fallen Shard - (Fallen, Unique, Rank B - Silver)
He shuddered at the rank and the power radiating off the invader’s new form. That wasn’t just a metaphorical shuddering either. His Dungeon literally shook where it connected with the invader’s aura. Aether went mad, bucking and twisting into loops and swirls that hurt to look at. Whatever it was doing to maintain its form was chipping away at Valterra’s Dungeon with malicious intent. He quickly looked away, trying to formulate some kind of response to this unexpected danger.
I’m not prepared for this, He thought. How am I supposed to deal with a Silver Rank invader on top of all the others? He flashed over to where his Mouse Captain was climbing up the sixth floor before diving down into the fifth to see how the battle was going. To his relief, other than the bearded ones group, the other invaders were being overwhelmed as their attack on the fortress of Mouse Soldiers was turned back on them once the other creatures of the fifth floor arrived.
His relief was quickly shattered though as he felt one of his walls shatter. He darted back to see that the aura surrounding the Silver Rank invader had destabilized the walls enough that it could just blast its way through them. It wasn’t going to go through the Dungeon the normal way it would seem.
In a panic, Valterra wracked his brain for some way to deal with this new threat but came up empty. At least until he noticed the rats. At least a hundred of the critters were flooding out of a new tunnel that had just opened up near his Aether Funnel. He hadn’t even felt them digging but with everything that had been going on that probably wasn’t a strange thing.
Valterra panicked and his panicking most likely saved his life. In his surprise at the new threat that he had thought was contained, he summoned his newest Framework to defend himself. And the Silver Rank invader went completely mad. It screeched a horrible sound and began recklessly charging toward where the Fomorian Stalkers had been summoned and charging fast.
Valterra seeing this felt a measure of sanity return to him. He calmed, his thoughts no longer wild and chaotic. He looked at the rats and at the invader closing in and smiled. He made his Stalkers dart through the rats until they were on the other side.
For their part, the rats seemed confused, first at the summoning of the stalkers and then at their movement through them rather than attacking. That confusion shattered into fear as the invader crashed through the wall and into the room. After its transformation, the creature stood close to a foot and a half tall but once it got into the room it began to swell obscenely.
It grew to around three feet tall and brayed a harsh cackle-hiss that reverberated through the room. To Valterra’s surprise, instead of running as he expected, one of the rats moved forward and chittered loudly to the rats around him before squeaking something in a rhythmic manner.
Even more surprising was the appearance of other rats who began to do the same thing. Then the Aether went crazy. It blazed around the chanting rats and condensed itself down until with a squeaky kind of roar the rats unleashed a sort of spell. A green-blue beam of energy ripped from their outstretched paws and slammed into the invader with a crackle of searing heat.
It flared further when it impacted the creature’s aura but barely slowed down. With a screech of pain, the Fallen Shard staggered back under the onslaught even as it petered out. The rats involved in the spell staggered as the light ceased flickering around them. That didn’t stop the rat at the forefront from squeaking loudly.
At his ‘command,’ the rat horde charged, leaping onto the creature ferociously. Valterra watched, fascinated, as the rats flung themselves at the twisted creature, biting and scratching relentlessly. His fascination quickly turned to fear once more as the creature retaliated by doing something with its aura. It flared out flinging rats in all directions, the Aether lashing into them. It brayed out its rage and pain before turning on the rats and beginning its slaughter.
POV He-Who-Chitters-In-The-Dark
This wasn’t how it was supposed to be. The invaders were supposed to fall and Clan Spark was supposed to take their rightful place as part of the house. Instead, the one invader they had come across was stronger than the clan warriors and Mad-Ones combined. The rat squeaked orders wildly, trying to contain the chaos but the slaughter continued unabated. The creature was huge with twisted muscles that somehow contained great strength. It regenerated as fast as the warriors cut and gnawed at it, ugly wounds sealing over.
He-Who-Chitters-In-The-Dark would not be cowed though. He continued to order his rats while looking for any weakness he could exploit. As another blast from the creature threw rats off of it he saw something he hadn’t expected to see. The damage from the spark lightning they had unleashed was healing slower than the other wounds. It was still there.
Working quickly the rat called his Mad-Ones to him and ordered them to bring the rest of the spark crystals. He had the other rats continue the fight while he prepared for the largest spark of lightning he had ever done. For the first time, he entertained the notion that he might fail but shook it away. Even if it took his own life he would pave the way for his pups and his clan. Some of the rats might be afraid of death. Not He-Who-Chitters-In-The-Dark.
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POV Valterra Unok’Davaas
Valterra looked on as the Silver Rank invader continued to devastate the rats. He needed more creatures. He turned to the fifth and sixth floors, watching as his creatures continued to overwhelm the Delvers there. He was trapped into only using higher rank creatures due to the fact that the Aether density was so high in the room near his Aether Funnel. He didn’t want to summon his creatures only to have them turn into monsters. Regardless he needed more forces.
Thinking quickly he widened the area at the top of the sixth floor and commanded the majority of his Wyvres through. With their Aetheric Blood, despite its lesser quality, he figured they would be fine in the higher Aetheric atmosphere. With bellowing roars and screeches around a dozen of his largest creatures dove through the opening, swooping down to attack the Fallen Shard. They tore into the creature with their savage jaws, hanging onto its back with their wing talons and hind claws.
The Shard responded instantly, shaking itself violently to dislodge the Wyvre’s clinging to it before snatching a few from the air to throw them across the room. Valterra winced as his creatures screamed in pain as they impacted the Dungeon walls at speed. For all of that though, his Wyvre’s were large creatures and their jaws did damage even as the wounds were healed by the Shard’s regeneration.
Something continued to bug him about the Shard. The way the creature’s aura interfered with the Dungeon’s Aether and it’s single mindedness towards pursuing the Fomorian Stalkers. Even now it only sought to hunt down those creatures in particular. Why? He took up the Framework of the Stalkers in his mind’s eye and compared the two.
Only now while doing so did he see the resemblance between them. Despite the changes wrought on it by its transformation the two creatures were remarkably similar. His Core racing at the thought he dove into his system messages to pull up the notification he got for trying to absorb the dead bodies of the fallen invaders.
Searching for Access…Access Denied!
Reasons Given… 1) Under the Protection of a Guardian Deity or 2) Error…
To test his growing suspicions he tried absorbing some of the dead invaders from the battle in the walls.
You have attempted to absorb multiple sapient creatures!
Searching for Access…Access Denied!
Reason Given… 1) Under the Protection of a Guardian Deity
The small magical people are under the protection of a Deity. He looked at the Silver Rank Shard again in realization. The other ones aren’t. His Core raced with ideas and speculations. There must be another reason why I can’t absorb them. Is it because they are Sapient? Probably. His Core flickered as he thought through his assertions. If I can’t absorb the bodies…could I claim the living?
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“I told you he would get it,” Ile’Fen stated calmly. Out of the High Spirits gathered he was the calmest. That didn’t surprise his other brothers and sisters. As the High Spirit of Conflict, Ile’Fen knew his way around tense situations. The others were more anxious but still nodded along with Ile’Fen’s statement.
“He won’t have enough Divine Potential to claim it,” Trik’Weri declared. “He will need some help and as you know we can’t interfere without some kind of bargain. Such is the way of Divine Potential after all.”
“It’s too late for any new bargains Trik’Weri. Anything of this magnitude would have to have been set in stone already. You know this,” Krat’Imos spoke as he looked into the Pool of Scrying. “Otherwise the Divine Potential wouldn’t transfer. The bond would need to be old and steady.”
“Hmm…” The other god’s noticed Trik’Weri’s affirmative tone and looked to him. Noticing their stares he couldn’t help but smirk. “Oh yeah…about that.”
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As Valterra gathered his Aether and will, intending to claim the creature before him, he felt Trik’Weri descend. “Hey there kid. You’re going to need more than that to do what you’re planning on doing.”
What do you mean? I have a lot of Aether I haven’t used yet. At Trik’Weri’s silence Valterra thought further and eventually got to the point he was trying to make.
I need Divine Potential don’t I?
“Yup!” Trik’Weri replied cheerfully. “And a lot of it. That’s why I am here.”
Valterra sighed as only a Core could, by breathing a plume of Aether out of his crystalline heart. Another bargain uncle? I still haven’t repaid the last one.
“Oh no, I am not here to set up a new bargain but to receive payment for the last one. It just so happens that what I will ask of you will probably necessitate me giving something up in return.”
Valterra felt something akin to what anxiety might be like as he responded to the god. What payment are you asking for?
“I want you to spare a select few of the invaders. Specifically Cormac Torgir and his party.”
Valterra felt the bargain like a blow upon his Divine Spark. But Trik’Weri was also right in the manner that the payment asked was high. He instinctively knew which invaders he was talking about. The leader of the invaders and his party. The ones who had slaughtered their way through his Dungeon with the intent of claiming his Core and enslaving him.
How dare you?! Valterra seethed. You would ask me to give up the ones who would chain me, the ones who have killed their way through my host to see me brought low!
“Yes,” Trik’Weri stated calmly and Valterra could feel the weight of those words as they settled over him. They weren’t something he could refuse.
Fine! He spat mentally. How am I do that?!
Trik’Weri, as serious as Valterra had ever heard him speak before, began to explain the plan even as the party in question neared the area of conflict.