Looming Shadow: Journey to Chaos book 2 (53 page)

She jumped away and a glob
of acid ate the rock she was standing on. A lizard as long as she was tall
perched on an outcropping to her right. Its body was dry and scaled and in the
process of growing fur. It hissed at her, breathing in the Fog and twitching.
It prepared to jump and Kallen noticed something startling: its forelimbs were
human hands, and its hind limbs were human feet. It rocketed past her and head-butted
the rock behind her, shattering both. As it lay recovering, she could even make
out patches of human flesh. It hissed again, and Kallen realized it was hissing
in
pain
.

Her hands shook. Her
heart skipped a beat. The thoughts she suppressed returned with a vengeance!
Surrounded by fog, factory ruined, mutations everywhere.
Sister!
Sister,
help me! It hurts! Big sister!
Kallen shook her head just in time to dodge
the next acid spit.

“You poor thing...” she
muttered. “You won't be in pain for much longer.”

She charged the monster
with her staff forward, batting away acid barrages with her barrier. She thrust
at its skull and looked into its eyes. Lethal intent bombarded her, but only
from the left. The right was still human, and it was scared. Her thrust grazed
its head and she had to spin to avoid its jaws.

“Abyss take it...” she
cursed.

The lizard whacked her
with its tail. She jumped over it and plunged her staff at the spot where it
connected with the main body. Its hissing increased and it drew in more Fog.
I
got it pinned...
she thought and drew a dagger from her belt.
Now to put whoever
they are out of their misery.

Its entire body glowed.
The last traces of humanity were overcome by scales and fur. Its remaining eye
morphed into a rotatable stalk like the other. It drew in more Fog and grew
spines of ebony and flesh. Kallen tore her staff out lest it be consumed in the
monster's growing body mass.

The lizard was now
twice as wide as she was and four times as long. Its eyes were two
interdependent stalks above a flat nose and a long jaw of serrated teeth. Ebony
spines ran down its length like the rings of a barrel over bands of green fur
and orange scales. Seven legs supported it instead of four and two more stuck
out of its back. These lacked any sort of covering at all. The tail was
completely healed and lined with sharp ridges, which it now slammed down on
Kallen.

She jumped, ducked, and
dodged as the much larger tail flailed. It crushed rocks and stirred the Fog.
The mist mana swirled and spawned visions of humans going insane and mutating
and being eaten. Kallen shut her mind to all of them before her memories
overwhelmed her.
I have to kill it.
She withdrew into the Fog to hide
and plan her next move. The beast paused and tasted the air. Its twin stalk
eyes zeroed in on her location and fired its sticky tongue like a guided
projectile.

Kallen threw up her
barrier. The tongue cracked it, wrapped around, and squeezed. Kallen gritted
her teeth, then dropped it and jumped up before she was crushed. The tongue
reloaded and snapped back. This time, it caught her and slammed her into the
ground. Even with her barrier, it hurt. She drew lightning mana from her staff
into her free hand and electrocuted it. The giant lizard writhed on the ground.
Its tongue constricted, but then relaxed and allowed her to escape.
I wish I
could use more magic than that, but it might set off the Fog and blow us both
up...

The lizard recovered
and shot again. She took cover behind a rock and the tongue captured the one
next to her. As the tongue snapped back, it pulled the rock instead and it
shattered against its head.

 A shadow appeared in
the Fog behind the lizard. It was smaller, but grew bigger until its foot was
larger than the lizard. While the reptile searched for Kallen, the shadow
stomped it into paste. Two clawed feet planted themselves to both sides and a
pelican beak descended. It enclosed the corpse and its skin folds lit up.
Kallen saw the outline of a second creature ripping and chewing the lizard.
Then the avian leaned back and swallowed the minced meat.

It stepped forward. It
was so close she could count the starfish making up its down feathers. Then it
rotated its lower body, spread its dorsal fins, and defecated. Relieved of its
waste, it walked away in search of its next meal.

Kallen released the
breath she'd been holding. A little closer and the next mound would have been
her.
Speaking of which, I should take a sample.
She shook her head.
Later!

She checked her
bearings.
He's close...
She followed them up a ridge and saw flashes of
red light in the gloom. Staff ready, she approached at a jog and burst into a
clash between a Bladi and a Grendel. Her light pointed directly at the latter. The
fight ended in the former’s favor and he prepared to deliver the killing blow.

“STOP!” she shouted.
“That’s Eric!”

“I know that,” Basilard
said. “This is a mercy kill.”

The image of Patrick
Lumberson flashed through her mind. The image of her sister followed. Then a
deluge of all the other people from Siduban whose lives she ended. She shook
her head.

“No. Not this time. I
can save him.”

“You can?”

“Yes. I can do this. I
can do this. I can do this.”

Focusing on the love
within her heart
and the light within her crystal, she turned its
brilliance on the Grendel. It howled and covered its eyes at first, but after a
few moments, bathed in the glow, it relaxed. Kallen approached it in safety.

“That's right,” she cooed.
“I am light; I am
your
light.” She touched the tip of her crystal to the
orb of darkness in the Grendel’s mass. “I will lead you back to yourself.” 

A flash of holy light
illuminated the landscape. The home he was born in, the school he spent
thirteen years in, a generic business building he worked in, Royal's public
library where he lived for nine days, the Dragon's Lair, Roalt Royal Castle,
the Altar of Rebirth, Mount Daici, and Mount Heios; all of them were mixed
together into a bizarre conglomeration. When Eric woke up, it was all he could
see. It was in the air and the ground like Escher’s daydreams. All of it was
shrouded in ever-thickening mist. If not for the light, it would hide
everything and he would think the place a white void.

It wasn’t Fog because
if it were, then it would be exhilarating to breathe. This was just plain old
air. Another curiosity was his completely human form. Theoretically, it was
possible to mana mutate into himself, but it was an astronomical chance.

What the abyss is
going on?
What happened?
The mana explosion loomed large in his mind
and again he looked around the landscape. He saw a vaguely familiar castle and
somewhat familiar mountains and couldn't quite name the buildings mixed in.
The
Fog of Ages!
It's um....ah... something to do with mana mutation...can't
remember...Can't remember! Monsters can't remember anything...What was I
thinking about?

He detected movement in
the clouds. A small outline of a shadow stood just beyond his field of vision.
Instead of calling to it, Eric chased it. As he closed the distance, he made
out details: humanoid, short, and scrawny. He pounced and pinned it to the ground.

“Let me go!” his prey
shouted and struggled. “You're scary!”

“I'm not scary!” Eric
spun the kid about. “I'm...me?”

The kid was himself
minus sixteen or so years.

Eric stared at the
smaller, younger, and weaker version of himself. That face and those clothes
brought back a mess of memories.
Old Eric...I thought I buried you in the
Kyraan desert and left you to rot in Tahart's apartment.

 Snarling, he squeezed
the kid's arms. “Who are you!?”

“I'm Eric Watley!” the kid
said, eyes welling up. “Please stop hurting me!”

“You can't be Eric
Watley!
I'm
Eric Watley!”

“No, you’re not,” a third
voice said.

Both of them turned to
a figure older than both of them. He was tall, thin, and pale, as though he'd
never seen the sun. His hair was a shade of purple instead of red like the
other two and he walked with his eyes closed. He wore an ankle-length robe
embroidered with runes. He carried a staff in one hand and a book in the other.
His feet never touched the ground because a disc of air supported them.

“I am Eric Watley, and
this is my partner. I call
hir
Staff Soiléir.”

Staff Soiléir flashed
in response, like BloodDrinker.

“All the tricks of
Chaos couldn't make you Eric Watley.”

A fourth figure stepped
forward. He was of the same age and height as the mage, but muscular and tan.
He wore a simple tunic and pants, but visible underneath were chain mail and a segmented
plate. His face looked like a thunder god’s and he was eating a peach. A ring
of daggers rested on his waist and one more in his free hand.

“I am Eric Watley.”

“Oh, this is just
great! I'm having an identity crisis!”

He pointed at the kid.
“You're the young Threan me.”

He pointed to the other
two figures. “You're me as a mage and a mercenary. Something must messed my
mind…How I fix this?
Eat them!
...Why I say that?
Eat them!
I’m
not speaking cor-
Eat them!
What’s go-
Eat them!
”

The mage charged a
bolt, the mercenary took a fighting stance, and the kid wailed and ran away.
Eric didn’t reach for a weapon because he was himself was a weapon.

His right arm grew big
and thick, and the skin from his shoulder to his fingers turned gray and rough.
All the weight of a stone arm coming at once forced him into an awkward gait.
His legs became long and muscular and fur sprouted from the waist down. He
dashed past the two before they knew it.
Small one gone. New target is thin
one.
He pivoted to a stop as scales filled his left arm and interlocking
metal spikes grew on his back. His chest was crystal.

 
Mana bolt at head
–

The bolt collided with
his rocky shield a moment later. Mercenary dodged the one fired at him. Mage
stayed out of close range by jumping backwards and firing a continuous steam of
mana. Monster rushed forward with his rock arm positioned like a battering ram.
Mage side-jumped with ease, but the charge distracted him long enough for
Mercenary to throw a dagger at his chest. It clattered uselessly against the
barrier Mage summoned to protect himself.

He looked haughtily at
the angry Mercenary and once again let himself be distracted long enough for
Monster to swing at him with the rock arm. It smashed the barrier and every rib
in the left side of his body. He fell forwards and the dagger that Mercenary
expertly timed found its mark in Monster's unprotected forehead. He laughed
merrily while Mage muttered and suddenly a swarm of fireballs surrounded him.
Unable to dodge them all, he burned to death.

All was quiet in the mist.

Mage stood up and
breathed easily. Monster pulled the dagger out of his forehead and the wound
closed. Mercenary's burns healed in a wave that left pink skin in its wake. The
three warriors – Mage, Mercenary, and Monster – formed a triangle to keep an
eye on the other two. Kid ran through the center, screaming like a banshee.
Once he was gone and quiet returned, Mercenary pointed an accusing finger at
Monster.

“You have the gall to
call
us
fakes?! You're not even human! You
can't
be Eric Watley!”

“I'm right!” Mage said
in agreement. “Eric Watley is a mage who uses his skills for mercantile work,
or a mercenary who accomplishes missions with magic. What are
you
supposed to be!?”

“
Eat them!
I'm
the sapient
Eat them!
who does both!
Eat them!
”

“Did you hear that?”
Mage asked.

“I did,” Mercenary
answered.

“The monster wants to
eat us.”

Kid's wailing assaulted
their ears and all three plugged them. Monster only managed the left ear and
was soon deaf in the right. As one, they all turned in Kid's direction to tell
him to shut up, but what walked out of the mist wasn't Kid.

“So this is what you
were like as a child,” three voices said.

It was a tall and
slender man of moderate age, wearing a runed robe. Golden-brown hair and
pointed ears sprouted on all three of his heads. The first was ugly because of
dull hair, an overly long nose, and blemished skin. The second looked predatory
with sharp eyes and a hooked nose. The third was refined with sage-like posture
and expression, and glowed with grey light.

“This will be fun,” Shadow
Dengel said. “Like plucking the wings off a fly.”

“This will be the first
step in my rebirth,” Fragment Dengel said.

“This is an opportunity,”
Grey Dengel said. “I'd like to study him with you.”

“Dengel!” Mage and
Mercenary shouted.

“Met
Eat them!
aphor
for my relati
Eat them!
It me
Eat them!
ans that I
Eat them!”

“Right now, all of us
stand on equal ground,” Fragment Dengel said. “I will take this body for my own
after I destroy you.” He held Kid up by the hair. “Starting with this one.”

He crushed Kid's head
and the rest of him dissolved into dust. Then he breathed it in and the other
three Erics cried out in pain. Energy crackled over their forms as the balance
shifted and they flickered transparently before settling.

“I can't let him win!” the
three Erics said simultaneously.

Monster, Mage and
Mercenary swiftly formed a second triangle to surround their common foe.
Mercenary gave the signal and they all attacked at once. Mage charged a bolt
while Monster pounced with his right arm cocked and Mercenary dashed from the
left with his daggers. Fragment Dengel blocked both attacks with a barrier and
then blew them away with his spiritual power.

Raising his right hand
high, Fragment Dengel called down a barrage of mana bolts on Mage. He was taken
by surprise and saved only by Staff Soiléir’s quick thinking. It projected a
barrier that saved him, but they were so heavily pinned down they couldn’t
move. Their shield cracked by the second.

“Stop this at once!” Grey
Dengel demanded. “The magical aspect of my student is the only part worth
preserving.”

“Everything he knows, I
taught him or his mentor,” Fragment Dengel countered. “There is nothing to gain
academically by sparing him. He is a loose end.”

“Kill the little shit,”
Shadow Dengel concurred.

Monster jumped attacked
but Fragment Dengel threw him away with ease. Mercenary threw an endless stream
of daggers, but all of them were blocked. Mage's own barrier finally broke and
the elf's mana bolts bombarded both him and Staff Soiléir into dust. Monster
and Mercenary screamed in agony, clutching their hearts, sobbing and
screaming!
Shadow Dengel laughed and Grey Dengel wept. Fragment Dengel paid neither aspect
any heed until he absorbed Mage's essence.

The elven mage pulled a
staff out of the mist. It was a long oak staff adorned with precious jewels,
with a quartz pommel, and a curved wooden blade. In a flash, he harpooned
Mercenary, but Monster intercepted with his rock arm. The blade pierced his
shield and lanced his arm with pain. Mercenary threw a dagger from underneath
at Dengel's chest. The elf groaned as the blade sank into his flesh, but he
pushed the blade out and closed the wound.

An explosive bolt tore
Monster's arm apart and left him incapacitated with torment. Dengel raised his
blade to finish him when Mercenary plunged a second dagger into his chest and
fired mana through it for good measure. The mana flowed from the elf's chest to
his arm, then his hand, and then straight back to Mercenary as a devastating
beam.

Make it stop! Make
it stop! Make it stop! Make it stop! MAKE IT STOP!
!!!!

“I wish I had time to
teach him that trick,” Grey Dengel said sadly.

“He didn't deserve it,”
Shadow Dengel said hatefully.

Fragment Dengel sucked
up Mercenary's essence and chain mail appeared beneath his robes. The ancient
mage approached the crippled monster in great self-satisfaction. With a single
strike, he pinned the creature in place.

“My deepest apologies,”
Fragment Dengel deadpanned, “but my return is far more important to the world
than yours.”

“Wa? Wamrld?” Monster
garbled. “Wtos tsa na?”

“You have already
succumbed to monsanity. Pity.”

“His memories are gone,”
Grey Dengel said. “He cannot remember who or where he is. He is harmless to us.
Leave him be.”

“Make sure he's dead!”
Shadow Dengel shrieked.

“The last time I 'let
him be,' I was cast out of his body,” Fragment Dengel said. “This is the only
way to be sure.”

Mana gathered in his
free hand and compressed into a seed of lethal power.

Rain fell from the sky
and quickly built into a knee-length pool. Fragment Dengel looked in confusion.
Shadow Dengel commanded the rain to stop falling. It fell faster. Grey Dengel,
with his sage-like knowledge, was the only one to know the rain’s meaning. To
assist its purpose, he distracted Shadow Dengel with his hatred of water and
Fragment Dengel with a discussion about his history of water victories long
enough for a sphere of water to enclose Monster like an egg. It cradled him in
security and happiness. A whirlpool trapped Dengel and spun him with ruthless
prejudice.

Who are you? What
are you? Why are you?
 

The monster stared
blankly. The noises didn't make sense to it. Noises meant food, but where was
the noise? It was everywhere. The same noises appeared again. No matter how it
looked or smelled, the noises only existed as noises. More noises, different
noises, lots of noises. They were all pleasant to listen to his ears. A beam of
light cut the mist and shined on him alone.

 
Muuussiccc...Music ...
melodies ... patterns ...rhythms...
More noises and more music and more of
something else he couldn't quite grasp.
...rhythms... spells.... magic....
magecraft.... mentor...
More noises and…and...and...what was it?!
members...mates...

His arms felt weird. A
strange tingly and pulling and shaping; molding. Spreading everywhere; legs and
back and...he...remembered feeling this way onc –
Memories!

Images and information
and events! Liquid going in both ears and staying. Far from painful or
annoying, it was welcome; it was joy! He cried out and soaked in the flood of
precious memories!

The noises came again
and he could make sense of them! They were cries for him; memories of him – desire
to bring him back. He felt stronger with each one. Each one of his replies was
long and convoluted and complex and made him stronger.  

The first voice
disappeared, but the others remained. All the water drained away and Monster
was instead cradled by the chorus of voices. Monster then casually walked over
and punched Dengel with all the force of his right arm. The elf soared out of
the whirlpool and landed on his back. He dodged Monster’s pounce, but only
because Monster was not aiming for him. His true target was Staff Soiléir.
Dengel tightened his grip and pulled back.  

 “I devoured your other
parts!” Fragment Dengel hissed. “I know every trick you could possibly try!”
Monster tugged and Fragment Dengel pulled, but the stalemate remained. Shadow
Dengel laughed. “All you have left is the brutish monster! You have nothing, you
are
nothing! I am Dengel and you are Mindless!”