POV - The Monarch
The Monarch relished in the sweet sounds of the choir. Voices of human men and women tore through the warehouse begging her to stop. One man in particular had taken out more of her subjects than she’d have expected, but he was close to breaking now, and the perfect vessel.
“Die you bitch!”
Such venom in his voice gave the Monarch chills of anticipation. He was fast as he broke from the defense line, and dashed between her army with incredible poise. A blade of solidified lightning flickering in his hands. Performing such feats of athleticism that she couldn’t help but marvel at his jaunting form. She released another wave of dark energy and the man slowed, but not enough. He arrived next to her bringing the chittering blade toward her neck. At the very last moment, she diverted her strength to the black barrier around herself. It was just enough to avoid death. The blade cut clean through her shoulder and the pain hit the succeeding moments. The Monarch screamed in agony and revelry, and with her other hand, she grabbed his throat and crushed his windpipe.
The man dropped, clawing at his neck, alive but crippled. The rest of the room was quieting now, the sounds of people's song fell from the chorus one by one until only his struggling voice remained.
The rest would only serve to feed her subjects, but this man was special and deserved her full attention.
Leaning down she dodged the man’s last futile attempt at killing her.
“Quiet down little one, you have an incredible future ahead of you, Don’t fight me, or do. I might like it more if you did.”
With all the benefits of her new form, the one thing she hated about her evolution was her voice. Grace’d had the most enticing mix of alluring and commanding, but when the Monarch spoke now, all that came out were guttural words and tortured consonants.
The man tried to pull away but she locked him down, smacking his skull onto the tiles and dazing him. Sending raw power through their connected arms, she watched as veins of power oozed black ichor down into the human male.
His thrashing renewed as the wonderful energies soaked into his bones, but a reassuring word and mix of power limited his struggle.
As she whispered words of congratulation to him, his resistance gave out and the change took hold. His body rapidly evolved. When it was complete he opened his eyes a new. Taking in her world, and in a raspy voice, he spoke.
“My Monarch, I am here to serve, what can I do.”
With a fang-filled maw, she flicked her regenerating wrist.
“For now, join the others, you are the first of many, you will have to work hard to earn my favor.”
Her child got up and lowered himself gratefully before scampering off.
Satisfied, she took in her growing kingdom, they were hundreds strong at this point. Unfortunately, her triumph was short-lived, the guiding presence arrived and the system screamed for her attention.
Clenching her jaws, as its mere presence caused her torment. It gently reminded her she had a job to do and that she was not currently searching for the second shard.
The shackled guardian had to be relieved of its piece, or things would become harder. Its location burned in her sight, and try as she might, it was hard to refuse a wish of the system when it had been so good to her. A series of clicks and a twist of her will were all the Monarch needed to get her subjects moving. Her newly christened lineage was already enforcing her will over the subjects and she felt a sense of pride at that.
Marching from the barricaded building her numbers spread out into the streets and combed the surrounding wreckages for survivors. She felt no pity for those they found, only purpose. The journey should not take long but they had to move if this was to be successful.
----------------------------------------
Mark was currently leaning back into a plush sofa. The room was awash with activity, but no real words of consequence were being exchanged. When they had returned Chloe had called a meeting for the evening. The first thing Mark had done was to check on Sam, only to find her awake and going over some documents in her bedroom, with Karter vigilantly doing the same.
Mark had shot her a disbelieving look, which she had countered with a shrug and shake of her head. A quick check revealed that she was around eighty percent recovered but Mark still insisted she refrain from work until she was feeling better. Signs of Mana overuse resulted in confusion, inability to concentrate, fatigue, and constant headaches. Mark set up a [Regenerate] to lessen the burden and later they would complete another session of healing.
Right now though Chloe had the attention of the room.
“Okay, so originally, part of our deal was the retrieval of a particular item. I have determined that if we want to achieve this particular goal we have to locate the creature that has it within the next two days. After that, our percentages drop to 0.03%, so non-existent.”
The air in the room became unsettled but she continued.
This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.
“I’m not sure exactly what we are looking for but I’ll know it when I see it. Sam, our greatest chances lay in you and Jonathan leading the way. As you have probably been near this particular beast before.”
Karter was quick to intervene.
“No, Sam, please your condition is unstable. For that matter, you all just got back, we need to think about this! I’m all for pushing yourselves to grow but you need breathing room too.”
Karter was addressing all of them but his eyes fell securely on Sam, who for now seemed reluctant but remained silent.
Chloe looked around the room
“I am aware of our state and the risks. But if we don’t do this, things will get much worse for us and many others.”
Jonathan looked at Mark and then at her.
“What about the expedition into the underground? If we are not back in time to uphold our end of the deal, NAS will revoke its protection.”
Chloe simply nodded.
“NAS is going to take slightly longer than they anticipate for a second run. If we leave within the next couple of days there is an 86.09% chance we’ll be back on time. It drops by twenty percent each day we waste arguing.”
Ethel scratched her chin, and, sounding as objective as she could she said.
“Well… from my side, while there's a lot on the go, it's manageable. We knew this was part of the deal, so my vote is for you all to get it done, I can handle what may come here.”
Mark was surprised she was the first to speak up, and on top of that, it was in support of the idea. It was difficult because their window was so small but as of late the day-to-day problems of the faction could mostly be delegated.
Daphne poignantly stared at Mark, as she spoke her mind.
“I agree with Ethel, if we have to do this, let's get it over with, but if you think I'm sitting this one out, while you all risk your lives again, then you are very wrong.”
Mark knew from last night how worried Daphne had been, she had given him an earful when they had been alone. He practically had to pry her off himself just to go to the restroom, but he didn't blame her for a second, had she left, he would have been in the same state. They had heard that of all the parties, theirs hadn’t returned there had been panic. Chloe had reassured them that they were alive, but that could only calm them to a point.
Even though they had a heads-up, Daphne regretted not coming with them. So her decision made sense.
Mark decided he was next. He was not going to go back on their word, and yes the timing was shit, but when had it ever been good? His only concern right now was getting his Corruption levels as low as possible and making sure Sam was fully healed. Other than that he was ready for this. He told them as much and made them fully aware of the new item he had acquired in the dungeon. Taking it out and setting the waypoint for this very penthouse. All it took was a bit of Mana and he slipped it onto the center table for everyone to see. Jonathan was the first to pick it up and inspect it. He also gave the most concise answer.
“I’ll go as long as we’re back before the second expedition, I'm in.”
That only left Sam who was conversing with Karter through looks alone. Finally, he seemed to lose some argument and Sam spoke.
“Dad, we have to...”
Speaking those words weighed Karter's shoulders down as though he were holding up the sky. His effort was visceral but he nodded at Sam, letting her make her own decision. His next words offer all the support he could muster.
“If you’re going to do this then your limit should be five people so you can use that trinket if need be. I’ve checked with the gatehouse, we’re clear to leave at this point, so I’ll put in a request for the Exploration division's first official excursion.”
They already knew who was going, but another problem arose.
“For this to work we will need to bring Cara with us. She will not have to partake in actual battle, but she will need to be with us.”
Sam’s protests came right after
“No way, I'm not putting her in that kind of danger.”
Chloe nodded at Sam.
“The chances of pulling off my plan are greatly reduced without her. She is capable of long-distance jumps and can escape just about anything. On top of that, this is her best chance at reuniting with her parents.”
Sam started to say that she didn’t care but stopped when she realized the implications.
Jonathan frowned.
“Why didn’t you tell us this sooner”
Chloe nodded.
“This was Cara’s reading. She already knows the plan and has been extensively training for it.”
Mark now understood why she had been at the Institute with Chloe.
There was more discussion but in the end, it was begrudgingly decided that Cara would come. The details were ironed out and they planned to leave early the next morning.
From there Mark headed straight to Sam’s room with Jonathan, and the three of them practiced while he worked on healing the last of the damage. He got her to about ninety-five percent before they reached their limits.
Source: Mediation (+19 Prana, +38 exp points)
Heading back to his room, Mark assisted Daphne in getting ready for the journey. They relax together, widdling the rest of the evening away. Daphne had her reservations about this journey but she was focused on getting there and putting this problem to bed.
Mark on the other hand found himself strangely anxious. A turbulent excitement beat in his chest. For a moment Mark wondered if there was something wrong with him. The few encounters he had had with the Guardians were some of his closest brushes with death, but strangely enough, Mark was excited to meet another of these things. Their strength and the danger of the unknown made them a huge threat.
But, it felt that if he could beat this monster, he could wrestle back a little control from this whole messed up situation. It was an obstacle he wanted to overcome. The night forged on ahead and Mark used the time to continue in [Meditation]. Pulling in as much power as he could, and sending it towards his Corruption. He managed to burn around 37% of the stuff from his body. It was a good start but he still had a long way to go if he wanted to break even.
In the morning they once more gathered on the roof.
“Now remember, anything goes funny, you guys get out of there you hear me?” Karter spoke to Mark directly.
Mark tightened the leather straps on his armor once more. Sam and Cara were currently chatting in hushed tones while Ethel and Jonathan discussed layout and location.
“You should head out one of NAS’s gates to avoid detection, play it safe, and come home when you can.”
Finally, it was time. Mark lifted Daphne and Chloe with him, while Sam lifted the others. As a group, they headed in a south-easterly direction and passed through the main gate as quietly as possible.