Looming Shadow: Journey to Chaos book 2 (4 page)

 He remembered a
similar situation where a friend of his won a duel and drained the loser dry.
If Emily did that to him, then he wouldn't blame her. The least he could do was
buy her a new outfit.

In the end, Emily
showed mercy and only bought one set of clothes. Eric didn't think she'd be
interested in the cloaks, but she tried on as many of them as shoes – and there
were many shoes. Afterward, he bought clothes for himself; just like before,
they made him feel lighter than before. When they were both done, Kallen led
her new friend and her new pack mule to her apartment.

On the way, Eric asked,
“Kallen, do you know how to get to Ataidar from here?” Kallen nodded but said
nothing. “Well?”

“
Well,
you could
walk about ten miles south to the coast, swim the Yuki Ocean to Acemo, navigate
all the marshes to Rlawader, and cross the most trickster-prone land in this
hemisphere to reach the dukedom of Esrah at Ataidar's northern border. Then
you'll follow the Rose River to the western district and follow the Queen's
Highway to Roalt. What do you think?”

That could take a year!
Assuming I don't get lost!

“Or you could wait a
month and let me you take you back by airship.”

Eric raised an eyebrow.
“You're offering to pay our way in an
airship
!?”

“Uh-huh. There's a Mana
Mutation Summit to prepare for. Ah, here we are.”

Before them was a
wooden inn and sitting at the desk was an old man who languidly waved to them
as they passed.
Mr. Monotone!
a perky voice in Eric's head chirped.
Unlike Dengel’s voice, this one was just a memory, and a bittersweet one at
that. Eric didn’t want to think about it either.

Kallen led them up the
stairs and down the hall to her home away from home. Before the door opened,
Eric could smell it: the stench of a dozen species leaking through the
doorframe.

“Did something die in
there?”

“No, it's just my
research. Wait just a moment.” She ducked into the room, said something about
air fresheners, and then pulled the door open. “Welcome to the lab of Kallen
Selios!”

It was by no means
luxurious, but it was warm and adequately furnished. There was a small kitchen,
a living room, a bed, and a couch. As one, the girls looked at the guy. He
placed his bag on a rug and looked for a blanket.

Dinner was simple,
modest, and fit Eric's perception of Kallen: cup ramen. Kallen picked the spicy
and Emily grabbed the sugar, leaving Eric with the sour. The latter was happy
about this because the honey incident had turned him off overly sweet things.
While they ate, Kallen explained the purpose of her visit in the frigid north.
Her assignment was to research the elemental properties of mana mutation.

Mana entered a world
fruit through The Eleven Mana Gates: one for each element and a final one for
Spirit. Only mana that came through this last gate was neutral because the rest
was “colored” by an elemental gate. There was a hypothesis stating that this
phenomenon influenced the mutation. It was not yet a “theory” because many
previous studies were inconclusive.

“I'm going further than
that,” she declared. “My presentation lays out the entire process!”

“That's an...” Eric fumbled
for a nice word. “…unrealistic goal.”

“I prefer to call it ‘ambitious,’”
Kallen replied and returned to her explanation.

Monsters around Mambi
tended to be ice type and the ones in jungles could be seen with plants growing
on them. Across the world, it was the same; monsters would often have a
connection to the natural world around them. This was known as the Elemental
Mana Factor Hypothesis. If it could be proven true, it would be a step toward
discovering the mechanics of mana mutation.

All based on my
work. Every mage living does so in my shadow.

When will this voice
go away?
Out loud, Eric said, “It would be a grand feather in your cap.”

“Yeah, but I have
something else in mind. To prove the hypothesis, I'll have to find pure ice
energy in one hundred monster corpses.”

Finished eating, they
threw their cups into the recycling bin and split for their separate beds. The
next morning, Emily dove into the work of settling into the new world. She
asked Kallen for magic lessons over breakfast (energy bars), inquired about
local traditions she should follow or taboos she should avoid, and asked about
the qualifications necessary to join this ICDMM  or other skilled labor. In the
end, she effectively became a sidekick so she could learn and Kallen could have
an extra hand with her job. Eric was told to find his own.

“I’m only paid enough
to feed myself,” Kallen explained. “Do you think I can feed both of you without
another source of income?”

With his talents as a
mage and experience as a mercenary, Eric decided to join the local militia.
After the recent mana storm, they were looking for extra hands and, after
seeing his magic, they were happy to feed him after the daily drills and
patrols. His connection to Tasio and everyone else from Ataidar didn't reach
this far north. They didn't even know he was an Otherworlder; just one more kid
whose clothing was stolen by Yukihime, the local trickster. Yukihime herself
showed up to support this idea by reciting a detailed and embarrassing story
she made up. Eric grudgingly said it was the truth. As for pocket money, he
turned to hunting.

The surrounding area
was home to many breeds and there was an industry behind every part of every
one of them. Claws and teeth could be made into jewelry or smashed into powder
for domestic products. Muscles and organs were good for food and potions. Fur
and skin were both fashion and functional. All of which could charmed for
accessories or bought for scientific study.

Much of Mambi’s economy
revolved around this hunting. There were the hunters who left the city walls to
find monsters, craftsman who processed them, shops for weapons, armor, or
curative items. Taverns catered to them and served local delicacies. Even the
local government had special niches for the hunters and the monsters they
fought. It was sobering to think that this town’s lifeblood was, in part,
tragedies like Patrick Lumberson.

“How many people become
monsters vs monsters born from monsters?” Eric asked one night at dinner; ramen,
of course. “Is there a percentage?”

“There are dozens from
dozens of sources,” Kallen replied. “First, you have to define ‘people’: Do you
mean humans like yourself, or do you include the Earthmover family? Since
ordercraft prevents mutation from occurring in urban areas, how do you reliably
track mutations? Consider the scale; mutations happen all over the world.”

She slurped a long
string of spicy noodles.

“It’s generally
accepted that most monsters were born from other monsters, or were otherwise
never sapient, because the number of missing people that can’t be attributed to
other causes is too low for the monster population that we have.”

“If that’s the case,
then how do you know what the monster population is?”

“Kill every monster in
a designated radius, come back the next day, and do it again. Repeat a third
time and average them all.”

Emily choked on her
pork noodles. “That’s how you measure the population? How are there any left?”

Kallen shrugged.
“That’s one of the mysteries.”

As the days passed, Kallen
spent more and more time outside the walls and came to dinner less and less
often. When she did come, she ate quickly and didn't say word. She disappeared
into her lab and neither of the two saw her for the rest of the evening. As the
month drew to a close, a heavy object slammed against the wall. Eric opened the
door to the lab and saw a monster’s head in two pieces on the floor.

“Is something wrong?”
Eric asked.

Kallen drew herself up
and mimed holding a note card. “The results of my extensive study into the posthumous
remains of the monsters of the Mambi region indicate that elemental ice energy
may or may not play a role in the transformation of sapients into monsters. In
other words, I’m not sure.”

“Inconclusive, huh?”
Eric asked. “That must be frustrating.”

“If only I had a better
method of detecting it…”

Kallen paced. Her
stomach rumbled, but she ignored it. She chose instead to listen to herself
concoct and dismiss solutions. Eric suggested that food might get the creative
juices running, but she waved him off and insisted that her juices ran by the
use of them. She was yanked out of her thoughts by Emily yanking on her hair
and sitting her down at the dinner table.

“Eat now,” Emily said.
“Work later.”

Kallen looked up at
her. “Is this supposed to be an intervention?”

“Yes,” Emily said and
shoved a warm cup of ramen in her hands. “Now eat!”

Kallen opened it up,
picked out a chunk, and held it out. “Say ‘ahhh.’”

“
Whmmph
.”

Blushing slightly,
Emily swallowed around the chopsticks thrust into her mouth. Kallen picked more
out, swallowed it, and offered more to Emily, who blushed redder, fumbled for
her own utensils, and grabbed a different box. Eric sent Kallen a sour look. An
innocent smile was her reply.

Someone knocked on the
door. Emily answered it to reveal the innkeeper. He stopped by to make sure
they knew about the snowstorm warning in effect.

“Snol declared she
would supervise this one in person.” Looking directly at Kallen, he added,
“Hunting in such weather is tremendously dangerous. She’d see it as a
challenge. Good night and stay warm.” He closed the door.

In a few hours, as the
storm approached, Kallen was gone. Eric stayed up, hoping to stop her, but she
did the same. He hoped to catch her on her way out, but she somehow evaded him.
Even so, he was able to follow her. The darkness was as clear as day to him and
he had a tracking spell locked on her. While Kallen took great care for her
appearance, she was less concerned with her surroundings and left hair in
places. Together with the spell Eric learned to track Tasio, he was on her
trail.

He followed it up the
mountain and around snowdrifts. At one point, it crossed a frozen creek and
Eric cast a float spell on himself just in case she did the same. Occasionally,
the trail stopped near pools of blood with bodily remains nearby.
Only a
follower of The Trickster would be crazy enough to hunt with a Snol storm on
the way. What does that make me?

After walking for an
hour or so, he found evidence of the mana storm from the other day; an alien
landscape. The ground was discolored and in places swished like a sea in the
breeze. Other places looked like poisonous gelatin and it made rubbery growing
noises as he passed. Peaceful trees were misshapen into nightmares with green
vines and animal parts in odd places. Eric wished he was a florapath out of
curiosity, but didn't finish the thought in case Tasio was listening. Another
hour passed and the storm began.

Powerful was the wind
and fierce the cold. All his layers and heavy coat counted for nothing against
them; the storm bypassed them and struck him to the bone.
The snowfall,
a
serene voice said in his mind.
Pure beauty kisses. Eternal sleep.
Kallen's
trail was still visible, so Eric projected his barrier against the cold and
pressed on.

After walking through
the flying snow, he felt a sudden sense of danger and back stepped just in time
to avoid an ice lance. Rising out of the snow before him was an ice elemental;
a living mass of energy. He’d read stories about them during his nine-day
library stay. They manifested in the worst storms and defeated all but the
greatest warriors. Those that succeeded were always sages and it was often
defeating one that earned a mage such an esteemed title.

They were also thought
to be fragments of a deity’s essence and thus divine creatures. In all his time
hunting and patrolling near Mt. Takij, he had never seen one. That was why they
were so highly regarded. For one to show up now, and directly on his path
towards Kallen, could not be a coincidence.

If one is here now,
then that’s a good sign that Snol is too.

The serene voice spoke
again in his mind.

Spawn of dark,

Light of day foil;

Vanish shadows.

All this time, the sun
slowly rose over the horizon. Nights this far north were long and none too
quick to end, but when they did, the snow became blindingly bright. Eric
couldn’t see his path, let alone the elemental. Then a second ice lance flew in
his direction.  

Higher up on the
mountain and inside a tent, Kallen thawed her arm with a thermal spell.
Abyss
take that elemental...
If I wasn't so tired, I –
She hissed as her
arm regained circulation.
At least I'm awake now.

 For hours, she
wandered, looking for new specimens. This was the last day; her last chance. If
she didn't find what she was looking for, her presentation would be incomplete,
and she would be scrutinized by other researchers and heckled off the stage.
Then she ran into that elemental and incurred its wrath. She didn't notice the
spell until it impacted on her arm. She would have loved to fight it, but she
was in no shape for such a battle. She barely got away.

Once her arm finally
thawed, she shook it a few times. Suddenly, she was breathless and lightheaded.
She grabbed a bottle of Mana Juice and shook the top over her mouth. Only a
drop touched her tongue. It was just enough to remind her how much mana she'd
lost. A part of her said she was over-extending herself: not enough sleep, not
enough food. Her hands were aching and the cold made it worse.
I can do
this!
She clapped her hands and pulled her crystal from within herself. The
orange light within shined alongside the grey.
I have the power!