Colonel Arivarsan scowled. He remembered his old mentor’s words. Bullets are dangerous. Politicians more so. They have agendas. And that old adage was proven again today.
Somehow, he didn’t know how Kavita Stalin had been notified of Ashoka and Dr Serai’s discovery so soon. And now she wanted him back. To that end, she had single handedly scrapped his team's mission and saddled him with junior officers from the army.
They had jumped out of a Cheetah helicopter and rushed to him. They also had specific orders to grab air, and water shards. Apparently, the higher ups wanted flying men and deep-sea divers now.
At least, he could still take Singh, his second in command and two other NSG commandos to protect the doctor. Speaking of them, he saw them guide the army soldiers to their motes. They reached out and stopped mid movement. It was like time had stopped and they had turned into statues.
His eyes went to a screen that was focused on Dr Serai and that brat. They both stared at each other blank faced. Something told him that they weren’t here anymore. He nodded to Singh who began his long walk to the steely mote he had chosen. The doctor, and the captain tasked to keep him safe moved with him until they reached the red motes.
“It’s not as bad as you think, colonel.”
Colonel Ari turned to the tablet screen and looked back at Kavita Stalin “Madam MP, with all due respect, you just threw my operation into the gutter.”
Kavita put on a fake smile and in a comforting tone responded “Your operation can go on colonel, and your men can regain the chance they were offered as long as you bring Ashoka back.”
Arivarsaan pursed his lips and then nodded.
Kavita nodded back with a smile. This one looked more genuine but still was a bit off.
“Just do you part. And I promise you, not just ten of your men, but all twenty-two of them will have the chance to get rid of their medical conditions.”
Just the sound of their conditions being used so casually as a bargaining chip made his blood boil. After all they had sacrificed, after all they had done to protect politicians like these and now, they were using him and his men.
“Colonel. Calm yourself. I don’t need your heart to give out before you even take the mote.”
Arivarsaan gave Kavita a nod “Fine, Madam MP. I will take the mote and then drag your son out of whatever trance he is locked in. Once you have him back and your family whole, you will let me make my men whole.”
Kavita gave the colonel a baffled look and then laughed. That was the first time he had seen her actually laugh.
“You think this is about emotion? I now see how I must be coming across. Colonel, I don’t much care about Ashoka. He is a lost cause/ I only care about what he can do. Do you know what I had to do to get him back to India after his last fiasco? Threaten him with inter continental ballistic missiles.”
From the corner of his eyes Arivarsaan saw the doctor move to a red mote and wait for the captain. They both grabbed their motes and stilled.
Kavita continued “That boy, if he is not controlled, can be more dangerous than a battalion of the best trained soldiers. And once again, that annoying boy has stumped me and proven to be more useful than I thought. I don’t want him, but our country needs him. We need him to identify these motes and make their installation into our people successful.”
A red light on the ceiling began to whirl and an alarm began to blare.
Colonel Arivarsaan turned and looked at three medical professionals running to the motes. He followed their trajectory and saw flood lights focussed on a pile of sand. No, not sand, but ash, that was slowly floating away into the wind.
The colonel focussed his eyes back onto the tablet “Madam, two of the army…”
“I know. I have the live feeds running on my computer right now.”
Arivarsaan exhaled, relieving the pent-up stress he was holding “Madam, I understand your motivations but let me remind you, we don’t know what these things do. I will take a mote, and I will return, your son and the doctor, I don’t know whether they will survive until then.”
Kavita looked up “Oh they will survive. That girl is a cockroach. I stepped on her so many times and yet she is still here. She is like me. But Ashoka, he is… He will not die because of some glowing motes. If you want him dead, you put a gun to his head and shoot him at a point-blank range. And then you repeat it twice more.”
Ari looked at the woman on his screen appalled. How could a woman talk about her son like that? He visibly calmed himself and nodded.
“I should go. We don’t have time to waste here.”
Kavita’s lips twitched upwards in a mockery of a smile, and she nodded “Good luck colonel.”
Arivarsaan dropped the tablet on the desk and ran down from the observation area taking two steps at once. He sprinted towards the ash pile and on the way, he caught one of the young army officers. He grabbed the man by the arm.
“Lieutenant.”
The man looked scared but straightened “Sir?”
“Where are you going, son?”
“To…” The man in uniformed white looked at him and then at the pile of ash on the ground. He turned to the two army officers standing next to him and they looked on blankly.
“Boys, this is critical. Grab the motes you were assigned. We need to save the rest of our personnel. Be brave for our people and let’s save them before whatever happened to our brave boys from happening again.”
The young officers straightened, and unison saluted with a “Yes sir!”
The lieutenants ran to their motes and Arivarsaan sighed. They weren’t badly trained. They were just so young. Only if they could have a couple years of combat experience would have done them good, although they might have also realised that he was putting it on thick.
All these thoughts breezed past him as Colonel Ari sprinted past the medical professionals in hazmat suits. A glance showed him that they were collecting the ash and separating them in two different piles.
Good, he thought, at least their families would get some closure. With that one final thought he reached his mercurial mote and without a hint of hesitance, he grabbed it.
Colonel Ari blinked. His years of training made him scope out his surroundings instantly. He was in a building. It looked like a large temple. He spun, collecting all the information he could. The two men who had turned to Ash were on the ground, not moving. As his eyes fixed on them, he saw parts of them flake off into grey ash.
“How?”
His eyes focussed on the commotion straight ahead. Through the overlapping voices he saw Dr. Joshi and Captain Abesh Konkani throwing chairs and other pieces of furniture at the large archway of the temple. Major Singh, who was piling things up looked at him and then beyond the furniture.
His eyes went past him and registered caucasian civilians in threadbare clothes. Then his brain caught on and he saw them for what they were. No, not civilians but dead pale beings. The way they moved, their stuttering walk, their lifeless eyes, and their stitched-up mouths made them look ominous.
One of them reached out to the leg of a chair. Instead of reaching out and pulling on it, the brainless creature just tried to walk through the obstacle.
“Colonel, I need your sidearm, sir.”
Arivarsaan looked at Singh and took out his sidearm. Major Singh was like his brother to him and he let him take the lead while he assessed the situation further. He turned his head back at the door and saw Captain Abesh Konkani call out to the doctor.
“Doctor Joshi, we got another smart one.”
Captain Konkani pointed at a dead woman who was trying to grasp an upturned pew.
The doctor ran to the site, raised his arm and shot out a stream of fire from his fingertips.
“What the…” Ari muttered in shock.
Colonel Ari looked at Singh to ask about the strange sight and saw the major slide the magazine out of the body of his pistol, with his unchamber the bullet in one hand.
“A moment sir.” Singh said distractedly and took aim.
Before the colonel could react, he threw both his magazine and the bullet into the horde of enemies. Colonel Ari followed the magazine’s trajectory with an open mouth.
It flew past the piled-up furniture and exploded with a bang before it even reached the ground.
The shrapnel from the explosion took down a handful of the enemy and rattled against the furniture. The captain turned around and shot Singh a dirty look and then quickly looked back as more dead people piled into the barrier behind the first ones. And to add insult to injury, some of the downed enemies got to their feet in eerie silence and began to jostle the barrier.
Colonel Ari took a deep breath and in a controlled voice asked “Major, report.”
“We are in a temple sir. A temple of that god” Singh pointed at the seven-armed angry god with cracked skin and angry eyes standing tall over everything.
The major continued “I came in around forty minutes ago with Rastogi. Found the two army lads dead of explosion of their sidearms and smoking.”
“Yeah, they turned to ash on the other side.”
Singh closed his eyes “So, I am not going crazy then?”
Colonel Ari shook his head and asked “What about the politician's boy and the doctor?”
Singh nodded “No sign of them colonel. Dr Joshi is not happy about that. I suggest not bringing them up.”
Arivarsaan cursed in a whisper “Damn it! Singh, we need to find where those two are. That brats mother wants him back. He has suddenly turned into a strategic resource.”
“Great, first as NSG commandos we had to protect politicians and now their spoiled children?”
Colonel Ari closed his eyes and in a stern voice ordered “Continue with your report major.”
Singh straightened “Okay, where was I. Yes, when I came in colonel, the captain and the doctor were already struggling against the…the…the dead civi…”
The major pointed at the dead people beyond the pews and the tables and licked his lips in discomfort.
“The enemy. Singh.” Colonel Ari stated as he looked into Singhs eyes.
Singh took in a deep breath and nodded curtly “Dr Joshi and the captain sensed something from my weapon and made me throw it into the crowd.”
Singh lowered his voice to a whisper and continued “Honestly, my friend, if the boy captain wouldn’t have threatened me with a glowing ball of fire. I wouldn’t have thrown my weapon. He saved my life, and I am glad but don’t tell him that.”
“Pride, my friend?” The colonel asked with a faint smile.
“Of course, pride.” Singh shot back “After all, I wasn’t stupid enough to go on a vacation, bugger some ladyboy in Thailand and return with aids.”
Colonel Arivarssan gave him a disapproving look but let the comment slide and looked around.
“Where is Rastogi?”
“They took him. They must have heard the explosion and come in. When we arrived, they were swarming the bodies. We saved their bodies, but they swarmed Rastogi as he fought them and took him. They also took their dead, as they retreated. And then we established a perimeter.”
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Singhs words were calm, but his eyes were anything but. He looked like he was on a razor edge.
Colonel Ari closed his eyes. Two of his men were dead, one was missing, and his second in command was about to explode. And he was barely five minutes into the mission.
“Hold on. Did you say you came in forty minutes ago?”
“Yes. Sir?”
“Check your chronograph. How long has it been?”
Singh checked “Forty seven minutes.”
Colonel Ari lowered his voice “I saw you take the mote barely fifteen minutes ago.”
Singh leaned back “What does that mean?”
Colonel Arivarsaan twitched and tried to rub something off his eyes. He stopped and looked at the… words?”
Analyzing.
Parameters recognized.
You have consumed a Quicksliver Shard
Please wait while it is integrated.
Colonel Ari’s baffled look must have been evident because the major cleared his throat.
“Are you… You must be seeing words?”
Colonel Ari looked up “Is that normal?”
Singh grimaced “I think it is. At least doctor Joshi said it was normal. Since we could all see them. I agree with him. The boy wonder said that it was like a video game hud.”
Ari shook his head “I don’t know much about that. I am more of a candy crush guy.”
Singh got a sour look “Maybe I should have played them. They gave both the doctor, and the captain the ability to throw fire.”
Colonel Ari looked at the Captain Abesh gathering a handful of embers of fire. He threw them at the encroaching enemy.
“Singh? What ability did you get?”
Singh scowled “I took the metal shard. I can make my knife sharper by just looking at it. Also, I am faster with blades and my ability should make my blades indestructible.”
Arivarssan looked at Singh with a baffled look “That is good. I thought with your background of performing in the Gurudwara and knife fighting, you would like that?”
“I would, if I had a metal knife.”
Singh took out his knife. It was a beautiful bark blade with a laser edge. But it was made out of carbon fiber.
The colonel chuckled “I think this is what the yanks call first word problems.”
“Shut up and give me your stupid hunting knife sir.”
Arivarssan reached out to his back and handed Singh the blade.
“What did you get?” Singh asked
Colonel Ari lowered his voice “It says that I have a quicksilver shard. It’s still integrating so I don’t know what ability I will get yet.”
The major looked at the captain who was making embers dance in the air and sighed “I hope it's better than that. Otherwise, the boy wonder will be unbearable.”
“Singh. Stop being jealous. You are good with knives. And you are better in close quarters than anyone else. Now go keep an eye on those two. They are our artillery now. And for god’s sake drag the doctor back from the door. He is trying to climb the barrier to get a closer to the enemy.”
Singh looked at the doctor and grimaced.
“Why is it that people with no common sense have the biggest brains?” and ran to the two fire slingers.
Ari watched Singh drag Doctor Joshi down and lay into him. He was about to walk away when he heard a pop. He instinctively reached for his sidearm and stopped. He didn’t have any bullets. That moment of hesitation would have been his end if the two clearly dazed men who had appeared out of nowhere weren’t wearing Indian Army uniforms.
“Lieutenants, throw your magazines, and your ammo and any bullets you have into the enemy.” The LTs looked at him blankly and at the milling dead he was pointing at.
The colonel used his command voice “Now!”
The young men hustled to comply instantly. A few minutes they were watching slack jawed as their ammo exploded.
“Good. Now which shards did you consume?”
“Air, sir.” They both said together again and stood in attention.
“Fire and fire. And air and air?” Colonel Ari muttered.
The lieutenants were too busy looking at the undead enemy with horrified fascination.
“Okay, air one.” Ari pointed to the one on the right and continued “Stay here, when the naval lieutenant gets here tell him to get rid of his ammo. If the dolphin lover has any.”
That got a chuckle from the two army men and relieved some tension from their posture.
“Also put him to some use. Tell him to get us some clean drinking water. We will need it. Air two, come with me.”
Colonel Arivarsaan jogged to the doctor. He looked rough and haggard. Past him, Singh was using his knife to sharpen a leg of a stool into a spear. Every time he scraped the wood, his knife glowed.
“Doctor.” Arivarssan nodded “How are you doing?”
Doctor Joshi gave Singh an exasperated look and then nodded at the colonel “Scared, angry, frustrated, excited, awed, and curious. That is all the emotions I have been through in the last hour colonel. How do you think I feel?”
Colonel Arivarssan looked at the man. He was usually so calm but today he looked strung out and ready to pop. Ari realised that he needed to head this situation out before he did anything else.
“Doctor, this is lieutenant Air one. His shard is initiating. I was wondering if you could instruct him what to do next.”
“Air?” The captain turned to look at the young lieutenant.
“Thats not really my name.” The new lieutenant started to explain.
“I don’t care.” Captain Abesh shot back and continued “I just want to know if you can make my embers flow to the heads of those things out there?”
“That is not a bad idea.” The doctor scratched his rough beard “But we need to be smart about this. If we keep lighting fires, we will soon run out of oxygen. Can you do something about the air quality in here?””
Ari watched the lieutenant next to him get a deer in headlights look and then the young man steeled himself.
The captain sniffed the stale air and agreed “Yeah, do something about the air in here.”
Good, Arivarsaan thought and raised his head to take a look and saw a magazine full of ammo fly over his head. He grabbed the doctor and shoved him back. The expected bangs followed by ricocheting shrapnel. He looked at his men, who had all taker cover and ducked. Then two men came running to him.
“Announce when you do something like that again.” Colonel Ari growled at everyone.
His men straightened and gave him sheepish looks. He was about to continue with the dressing down when he felt something click inside him.
Congratulation.
You have integrated a Shard.
Type - Quicksilver
You have taken your first step towards Ascendancy.
Please choose a name.
Names are important and have meanings Ascendent.
Choose one wisely.
Colonel Arivarsaan looked at the small box in frustration. He quickly picked the three alphabets that would let him go past this prompt and back to his men, only two find another set of prompts.
Congratulations Ari.
You are considered the leader of your forces.
Do you want to be recognized as their leader?
Ari growled “What is with this thing?”
“Oh. Your shard initialised.” Doctor Joshi stated.
“Ari, go sit in the corner. It will take you a minute or two to get the hang of things.”
Ari raised his eyes at the casual use of his name but then it just felt right. He nodded and walked to a wall. He set his back against it and went back to his prompt.
Congratulation Ari.
You are considered the leader of your forces.
Do you want to be recognized as their leader?
“Yes.” Ari mumbled.
You have unlocked three leadership paths.
Path One
Warlord
You lead your men to raid and pillage your enemies.
You gain the ability Aura of Intimidation.
May your enemies will always run from you and may your men be too scared to catch your ire warlord.
Path Two
Commander
You are a commander that achieves his goal with the least amount of casualties.
You gain the ability Command Voice.
May your words always reach your soldier to guide them in all conditions commander.
Path Three
Chieftan.
You are the chosen chief of your people and you fight for them.
You will gain the ability Hold The Walls.
May your presence bring courage to your people and strengthen their hearts and limbs.
Ari looked at the three options in front of him. How did this all work?
The ball on the top of his vision blinked and buzzed. A new notification popped into his vision.
Sentient Ari.
Do you want some help?
“Yes.” Ari muttered.
Do you want to go to the automated help section or do you want to speak to a sentient?
“A person.” Ari almost shouted and then waved off his men who had jolted at his echoing voice.
Another set of notifications popped in.
Congratulations.
You are visiting the shop section.
As a first time visitor you have been credited 1 Kreck.
Locating a free sentient.
Shop keeper Whiswo found.
Have a nice shopping experience.
In his mind, Ari saw a curtain lift to reveal swords, spears, and knives. Ari looked on in disgust. What was this? Some mediaeval nonsense.
“I can sense your displeasure. You know us sellers can sense emotions right?”
Ari turned and focused on a snake.
“What are you?”
“What am I? A naga of course. And you are a human. Hold on. Wait.”
The naga shot out a thin tongue and shook. The next moment the upper half of his body transformed into a bare chested handsome man’s.
“Better?” The naga asked.
“Uh…”
Whiswo sighed “So, let’s look at you. You are not an apex human, not a cyborg variant, and not psionic. Just a base human variant. How disappointing.”
Ari looked at the creature's mouth where the thin pink tongue had disappeared and then gave the man snake thing a blank look.
“Well? You asked for some help. How can I help you?”
Ari didn’t even know where to begin and then got his thoughts in order. He needed to protect his men “I… We are being swarmed by zombies. How do we stop them?”
The snake man blinked “Zombies? Wait, where are you from?”
“Earth.”
“Never heard of the place. Hold on.”
Whiswo reached for a bracelet on his wrist and pointed at Ari. It glowed and he muttered “A new ascended I see. One with only one shard. That is not good.”
“Why?”
Whiswo held up a finger “Hold on. I am still trying to find your location. Ah! Got it. You are in the trials of an Arata.”
“Where?”
“Okay, I have good news and bad news. Good news is that I can help you. The bad news is that you are not fighting zombies. You are fighting enthralled. And where there are enthralled there is the Rakshasa Empire. Soon you will run into one of their minions and then you will be dead.”
“So, how can you help?”
“I can arm you. Pick one of the weapons from the shelf and start hacking the enthralled.”
Ari looked at the rusted swords and daggers on the shelf and grimaced.
The naga looked at Ari with a knowing smile and asked “Are you looking for something in particular?”
Ari cleared his throat “Yes. Do you have any automatic or semi automatic weapons?”
This time the naga looked at him blankly.
“Um… What are those?”
“Guns. Firearms. You put a bullet in and it shoots out through a chamber. Please tell me you have guns.”
“Interesting.” The naga brought one of his gold painted nails to his lips. “How does this bullet shoot out?”
“The bullet is packed with gun powder. It is an explosive… You don’t have any guns do you?” Ari sighed.
“Oh, no. I have guns. Just not the kind you are looking for.”
The naga waved his hand and the rack behind him slid sideways to reveal another rack. This one had rifles lined up next to each other. They were grey and had hollow stocks.
“These are Continuum Rifles Model Three one twos. I also have three hundred thirties and the sniper shoulder launcher Seven one sixes. To operate these you will need…” The naga raised a pad and tapped it “One electro shard, one metal shard, one focus shard, one reflex shard. Actually, you have a quicksilver shard so let’s get rid of that. And let’s add spectrum eye upgrades and one density shard to give you the strength to use these weapons.”
The naga tapped his pad and then looked up “That will come to 31 Krecks. That is without the weapon. Together I can do it for fifty seven krecks.”
Ari sighed “I only have one kreck.”
The naga smiled deviously “I know. Tell you what, you tell me your story and I’ll see how I can help you.”
Ari raised his eyebrows “Really? Why?”
The naga moved and poured a dark liquid into two glasses that had appeared out of nowhere. A familiar bold smell hit his nose and Ari smiled.
You have consumed Serupian Graffe
You are under the influence of a nootropic - Caffeine
Concentration and Focus - Up.
The naga looked on as Ari downed the drink and sighed in pleasure.
“What?” Ari snorted “Don’t you know that a soldier always knows to get his food, drink, sleep, and shit done before things get messy.”
Whiswo laughed “You have serupian where you come from don’t you?
“We call it coffee.”
Ari saw the snake man snicker “You didn’t even flinch at the bitter taste. That showed me.”
“Hey, Whiswo. Can we get to the point? My people are fighting the enthralled right now. I need to get back to them.”
“Well, my human friend, thank you for that. Now, you were going to tell me where did you come from, why you are in the ascension trials, and what your people are like?”
Ari poured himself another cup of coffee and looked at the lizard man “Why do you want to know all that?”
“Isn’t it obvious? You are a human variant I have never seen before. If you are here, more like you will come. And I want to be perfectly placed to serve the emerging market. So, what do your people like to eat? What do they like to drink? I know they like their caffeine but what about liquor. Are your people sea weed eaters, or do they prefer plankton?”
“Uh, neither. We like meat and grains.”
“Hmm… Sounds like a harvest world. Must be boring.”
“It is not.”
Whiswo waved Ari words away and continued “And you like projectile weapons for combat? Can you show me one of these gunpowder bullets?”
Ari slumped “No. Our ammo exploded when we got here.”
“Huh. So, a non reactive universe.” The naga took a sip of his coffee “Well Ari, my dear customer. I have good news for you and bad news. The bad news is that those kinds of weapons do not work in a reactive universe. The good news is that I can help you in another way.”
“How?” Ari braced himself.
“By selling you another shard of course. It will not be anything special. Just a class one shard. But it will help. And that is what you asked for didn’t you?” The naga smiled.
Ari leaned back. Actually he had asked for some help when the prompts came up.
“Before that, Can you help me understand how abilities work?”
“Oh that’s basic. But since you are from the butt end of nowhere, you wouldn’t know. So listen up, when a sentient consumes a shard, they integrate it into their soul. The shard strengthens their soul and changes their inner being. This new being projects an invisible field, that some call an aura, that allows them to will the area around them to react to their needs. Some create fire, some ice, and some just like to fly. Gods damn those garudas.”
“Okay. I will need a much better description than that.”
The naga took out a pipe from somewhere and lit it up. He continued “All in due time my new friend. But first you need to understand there is a downside to the shards. When we who are ascending die and turn into ash. No clothes, no weapons and no more body for our families to cry on. All we leave behind is our shards. Some say that the shards consume your soul just like you consume a shard. I say that is poetic nonsense and when the soul leaves in the ascension process it takes everything essential, leaving just ash.”
Ari frowned. The two army men’s dead bodies came to his mind.
“I am sorry. Did I hurt your religious sentiments somehow?” Whiswo asked.
“No. I just lost two men.”
“My condolences.”
Ari took a breath “What about abilities that do not come from a shard?”
Whiswo straightened “Like what?”
“Like the warlord, chieftain and commander ones. I got offered those before I came here?”
“Ari, my friend, why did you not tell me that you are a leader of your people?” Whiswo pulled out another packed pipe and handed it to Ari.
“Thanks, but I don’t smoke.” Ari found a table to put the pipe down upon.
“To answer your question, abilities that do not come from shards come from the soul and are amplified by the shards. By your earlier words, did you get an ability to lead your people?”
Ari debated about what to tell Whiswo.
Whiswo smiled “Ari, I can sense your hesitation, but you should know, you represent a great opportunity for me. You see, I need you to survive. If you do so, you will send your ascended to my shop. That is how great monopolies are born. Not that I will create one. I will create a conglomerate that will rise up to cater to this new market. Yes. I will bring in my whole family. I will be chosen as the patriarch of my clan. I will have tens of wives and serpentine maids. They will bear my seed and lay eggs of my young. I will become one of the great nagas. And through that I will gain more power. You fight to gain your power, I trade.”
Ari watched the snake man get a faraway look in his eyes and a thin sheen appeared on the creature's scales.
Whiswo turned to Ari with a steely gaze “Human, I need you, so be honest. Tell me what you got and I will help you to the best of your abilities.”
“Okay. Okay. Calm down with those eyes. I got the warlord option.”
“No.” Whiswo shot out. He continued “That is a trap. A warlord leads with fear. You must have got an intimidation aura. The aura makes your people scared of you and does not promote loyalty.”
Ari leaned back on his heels “I have two other options, Chieftain and Commander. I am leaning more towards the commander.”
“A communication ability?”
“Yes. Relaying orders is critical in a battle.”
The naga nodded “You humans sure like to talk. Fine, that is a good ability. A specialist one but decent.”
“Now, about your quicksilver ability?”
“I don’t know what that does.”
“Allow me to tell you. You will be able to move faster. Your blood is slowly transforming into quicksilver. When it finishes your blood will have a silverish luster to it. Your reflexes will be faster and in combat the speed of your strikes will pack a punch. I propose you mix that shard with these.”
Whiswo showed his fangs and took out five shards “These all together will make you a Supreme Legionnaire.”
“Five?”
Whiswo tapped the table and an image of a muscular human male with a square jaw appeared out the table. He lifted his hands and what at first looked like a strange body armour slithered across his body like snakes.
“You can have eight, but most sentients usually prefer to have five or six. It keeps an ascendent balanced and helps them grow their shards to do this.”
The body armour unfolded into four tentacles. Two of them settled over the man’s shoulders. One went behind and below the man. The fourth and final went under the man’s right arm and to his face, where it turned into a display. The man’s normal arms held up a rifle and he began to shoot. Then the two tentacled arms glowed and he shot laser beams into the distance.
Ari looked at the hologram and asked “Grow a shard?”
Whiswo nodded “Yes, shards start from class one and grow to class nine. Although, let me be honest, I have never seen a class nine shard but I have seen plenty of class two and threes. At class three, you will be able to do this.”
The man took a dramatic posture and unholstered two guns shooting them rapidly and the bent his knees and braced himself. In a blink of an eyes the two tentacles facing outwards intertwined and then shot fist sized beam that visibly pushed the man backwards.
“The supreme legionnaire was first developed by an apex human race who fought an alien invasion of spectral insects. After the war they were thankfully sanctioned by warders and forced to disarm. Otherwise, they would have destroyed themselves and now they are mostly peaceful.” Whiswo explained and noticed Ari’s interest continued “They still sell the equipment and the shards. And I happen to have in my possession the five shards and the armour.”
“I don’t have the money for this.” Ari stated.
“I know. I can give you a metal shard for one creck. Those are cheap. But if you allow me to sell the information you have in your head. I will arm you and your people with two shards each.”
Ari sighed “Whiswo, this is great but I need something to fight with right now.”
“And that is why I am giving you the metal shard. Quicksilver is a noble reactive metal. The neuro shard will let you mix that with any base metal and create a strong alloy. An alloy that you will be able to control with…” Looking at the blank look in Ari’s eyes Whiswo stopped.
Ari shook his head “Look, I get it. This is all nice but I will probably need an instructional manual to learn how to use these but I need something to fight with right now man. My team is in a dire situation.”
Whiswo tilted his head “You don’t understand, do you? I will transfer all relevant information on how to make these shards work within five seconds of you consuming these shards. Just take them and see.”
“Okay then. But what are you going to do with the information in my head?”
Whiswo grinned “You are fighting the enthralled. People do not like the Rakshasa. They want to fight the enthralled and the creatures empire breeds. I am going to tell them exactly where to find them and wipe them out for a price.”
Listening to the greedy tone of Whiswo Ari reluctantly agreed “Okay, how do we do this?”
Whiswo smiled and raised a finger at Ari’s forehead “Like this.”
Ari heard a clicking sound in his ear and then Whiswo held up two shards “Put the neuro shard in your head and the metal shard in your belly.
Ari reached his hands out and put them on the shards. Notification began populating the bottom of his vision.
You have consumed a Metal Shard
You have consumed a Neuro Shard.
Integrating new shards into soul structure.
Congratulations.
You have created the Armoured Soldier combination.
“Now…” Whiswo continued and held up his finger again “Here is the knowledge.”
As the last notification faded, knowledge on how to use the shards was suddenly popped into Ari’s brain. He looked at Whiswo and muttered “Wow!”
“That is right friend Ari. Shopping with Whiswo is always Whiswow! Now will there be anything else?”
“No.”
“Then…”
Kaching!
You have spent 1 cred.
You have traded information.
You have received two shards.
Ari felt something change inside him and before he could ask anything he was being pushed out and back into the temple.
Whiswo waved to him and shouted “Don’t forget to send your people to Whiswo and come back soon.”
Whiswo’s smile fell off his face. He shivered and transformed back into his snake body. He hissed “Disgusting ape creatures. He stank up my shop.”
The naga looked at his countertop and with the sharp end of his tail he tapped it. Moments later a cowled head popped out of it.
A female voice asked “What is it trader?”
“I heard you were looking at the possible location of the new world. I think I might have found their location.”
“What’s your price?”
“Three thousand Crecks.” Whiswo replied instantly.
The cowled face looked at Whiswo for a moment then nodded “I will pay you two now. And a hundred more if your information pans out.”
“Deal!”
“So, where are they?”
“In the ascension trials. Next to Rier.”
The person under the cowl smiled “Thank you.”
Whiswo showed his fangs “And do let the Kel know that dealing with Whiswo is always Whiswow.” Whiswo responded with a smile.