Shackled, p.32
Shackled, page 32
“Strange,” said Hime. “Whatever these devices are, they don’t belong here.”
Korrash could not take his eyes off of the glittering objects. They struck him as familiar, as if he had seen them a thousand times. Of course, that was nonsense. Whatever these things were, they were not from the world of Nightfall.
“You must constr…” Korrash began, a strange urge to speak permeating his entire being. He bit it back, as the rest of what he wanted to say made no sense.
“What was that?” Hime looked at him quizzically, but he was unsure himself of what he was trying to say, so he just looked back at her and shrugged.
As they stared at each other, whatever emotional moment might have passed between them was swept away as a mechanical war machine the size of a small castle erupted from the wreckage of the village.
You are surprised. Monsters strike first!
Chapter Fifty-Nine
The Hamlet of Derryberry, Kingdom of Eastmere
Fwoompfwoomp. Two azure crystals the size of watermelons shot from mortar tubes mounted on its… back? Korrash wasn’t sure if most normal anatomical words could even apply to this abomination.
Its body was shaped like an egg and textured in a grooved pattern similar to a brain. Here and there, large orbs glowed red between its numerous protrusions. The thing’s steel legs, at least, were recognizable as such. The metallic appendages were mounted on either side of the large body, and the massive “knees” bent the wrong way, giving the thing a hunched appearance. Its feet were gargantuan, with three splayed toes shaped like wedges, but it did not seem to have anything that could be considered arms. The metal of the legs glowed red-hot, and the feet scorched the earth as they stomped toward the pair of Adventurers.
The earth-shaking thump of the crystal projectiles impacting the earth twenty meters behind them shocked Korrash out of his stupor. He reached for his sword, then thought better of the plan that involved him precisely stabbing a moving piece of metal that was both hot and ten times his size. Sheathing the sharp weapon, he readied his staff instead.
One of the red orbs began flashing erratically, and moments later, a beam of ruby light shot out, sweeping along the ground in a line that caused the dirt to erupt into flames. They both leaped from their horses, which fled into the twilight.
Hime charged directly toward their foe, her simple katana drawn and held out to her side. Her steps were quick and wasted no motion, and she almost seemed to blur across the ground. Korrash hung back, considering the best spell to use on a creature like this. He decided to go with something he’d never done before and use a compound spell.
"Golmos. Zoza. Ro. Ha. Vik. Zx. Lev'thas. Kalos. Vik." As he spoke the words, the crystals embedded in the ground behind him crackled to life, sending out arcs of lightning which quickly joined with that produced by the other pylons (Primordial Vocabulary 10 success; Primordial Magic Theory 10 critical success). It also placed them inside the fence the energy created.
Since Primordial Magic was language-based, it was possible to manipulate that language to one’s benefit. The conjunction “zx” acted like a magical semicolon, allowing the joining of two small spells together for instances when precision timing was vital. Because of this spell’s complexity, Korrash had just sacrificed more than half of his mana.
A bolt of flat gray energy shot out, striking the mechanized giant in the front of its cranial body. The magic scattered against the metal, causing no visible effect. Korrash hoped that the spell, meant to weaken that very metal, had worked.
The first magical projectile was followed by a second; this one a blob of water a meter around. Rather than being clear or even blue, it was coated in an oil-like, rainbow sheen. The spell had been modified by “kalos,” adding the attribute of Harm. He hoped it would allow the water to penetrate the weakened chassis and play havoc with the thing’s internal devices.
The water made impact, right on target. It dripped off, forming puddles of quickly-evaporating water. It also did absolutely nothing.
Korrash grumbled and opened himself to the aether around him. He would have to try a stronger spell to get past whatever resistance this thing had.
That’s when he realized that there was no aether in the air, nor was there mana. The lightning fence, it seemed, had sucked it all away.
“Oh, fuuuuuudge,” he said, only he didn’t say “fudge.”
Hime did not spare his curse so much as a backward glance as she leaped into the air, soaring up with supernatural power, her sword drawn and ready to cleave the metal flesh in twain.
From beneath the thing’s body, a multijointed robotic arm with a strange, flat tip where its hand should have been unfolded with a whir. It jerked one way, then another, before lashing out toward the swordswoman.
It was about eight centimeters too short, and she smirked to herself as she readied her blade to strike. She would end this in one blow.
There was a sudden hiss of air, and an iron piston shot out of the arm with hydraulic force. The projectile caught Hime in the sternum, arresting her momentum and sending her crashing back to the earth.
“Hime!” Korrash shouted, spurring himself forward. She wasn’t moving, but he could tell that she was breathing, at least. He thought fast. Since there was nothing for him to use to regenerate his mana, he needed to be conservative. Simple was better.
As he neared the prone woman, he saw the robot loom over her crumpled form, its oval body canted toward the ground as if staring at her. One by one, the orbs began to flash red. On each massive leg, one of the toes peeled apart from its brethren. A portion of the leg did the same, revealing flexible hoses akin to tentacles. These, too, oriented on Hime, and the ends split and opened to reveal their own orbs that also flashed with inner light.
Fixing his Intent firmly in his mind, he called out the only spell that he could think of, then immediately slammed his foot down and spun hard to the left. Now, he faced the crackling lightning instead of the massive death robot.
"Vitalis. Rideos. Ramm. Zoza. Zx. Vitalis. Rideos. Ramm. Zoza."
As he incanted the compound spell, he felt something materialize between his feet, forcing his legs apart. An instant later, he sat astride the entity his spell had summoned. He grabbed onto the creature’s curling, golden horns and gestured toward the barrier.
To his left, something similar was happening to Hime. A sheep the size of a grizzly bear appeared, her unconscious body draped over its silver-wooled back. The look in its large, black eyes was one of a strange, sheep-like determination. As one, they charged toward the blue lightning.
Behind them, a barrage of lasers shot into the ground where Hime had lain only a moment before. The ground erupted into dark red flame, then liquified into a glowing-hot morass.
As they passed through the field, the lightning buzzed at them, though it found no purchase on their wooly steeds, thanks to the spell’s inclusion of a Lightning Negation clause.
As they sped toward safety, Korrash spared a glance back at their attacker, finally remembering to scan it.
M.A.S.S.I.V.E.D.E.A.T.H.R.O.B.O.T.
If you knew what the acronym meant, you’d be even more afraid of it.
Chapter Sixty
Outside the Ruined Hamlet of Derryberry, Kingdom of Eastmere
As Korrash’s summoned sheep galloped away from the battlefield, the M.A.S.S.I.V.E.D.E.A.T.H.R.O.B.O.T. did not give chase. Instead, it shivered as the back third of its oval body swung open. From the hole poured a dozen bird-shaped automatons.
Each flapped canvas wings and sported two glittering blue crystals where their eyes should have been. From this distance, Korrash’s best estimate was that they were the size of eagles (Perception 5 failed, but became a success due to Tier differences). As they flew after him, they passed through the lightning barrier, and a shield of energy briefly glowed around them, then faded into invisibility.
As the sheep charged on, the bird-constructs began to fan out, appearing to maintain a set distance from each other. With another backward glance, Korrash discovered some much-needed information.
Ornithopter Scout
These mechanical creatures are excellent at following a target and have excellent vision, though their attack power is not on par with most other creatures of their Tier.
He felt a wave of cold pass through the sheep’s wool, and he knew he did not have much longer before his summons vanished. He had been furiously regenerating mana since passing back outside the barrier, and he hoped it would be enough. With a mental command, he instructed the sheep to stop, and they obliged. He dismounted and carefully slid Hime’s body down onto the ground. She groaned as he did so, and with a gentle shake, he was able to wake her. As her eyes fluttered open, the sheep disappeared in a burst of golden sparkles.
“Shit, that hurt,” she said, rolling her shoulder. She reached into a pouch at her side and pulled out a small piece of folded paper, which she immediately opened to reveal a pile of dried herbs. Tipping her head back, she poured the whole thing into her mouth, then took a swig from a waterskin which she pulled from… well, honestly, Korrash wasn’t sure where that waterskin had come from. She swished the water around in her mouth and pointed at the sky.
Following her gaze, Korrash saw one of the ornithopters diving down from the sky, its blue eyes sparkling and its razored beak glinting in the dying light. He did not immediately see the others, though.
He lifted his staff and concentrated as he brought forth an overcharged Manabolt. Its silver energy lanced out and exploded in the face of the diving construct, which promptly exploded. He smiled. At least they weren’t too strong.
The world held its breath, and Darkness descended. Something roared in the blackness, not too far away.
Above him, the sky was filled with blue stars. They spun in a circle above the Adventurers, then began to convene.
He could just barely see the remaining ornithopters with his Abyssal Sight. As they flew near to each other, their taloned feet swung out and attached to the bird nearest them. They were building something, and Korrash wasn’t certain he wanted to find out what it was.
“What’s up there?” Hime pushed herself to her feet as she spoke.
“Ornithopters.”
“Like in Dune?”
“I’ve never been to a desert, but I don’t think they have anything like that.”
“Haha, funny man. Not into the classics, I take it?”
A memory tugged at his mind. Something about… sandworms? And fear? The eyes above him faded from blue to red, and he was forced to abandon that chain of thought.
“They’re attacking,” he said. “I’ll try to hold them off with a shield or something while — ”
She stepped forward, eyes to the sky, her sword held out to the side.
“I’ve got this,” she said, flexing her knees.
“But… your sword. I saw you drop it. We left it on the ground.”
“Quiet,” she replied. “I have to get in character for this one.”
As he contemplated, a stillness fell over Hime. She released a breath that seemed to go on forever. Overhead, the birds wheeled, and, finally joined, dove toward them.
With soundless thunder, Hime jumped, sword held in both hands. Air rushed out in a dome, stirring up dust from the ground.
“Typhoon Ascension!” She spun in the air as she rose, unsupported, toward the diving amalgamation the ornithopters had become. They reached out with giant talons that had been twisted together from other, smaller talons.
“Blossom-Splitting Blade!” As she shouted, a thousand silver sparks flashed around her as a burst of wind flattened the nearby grass. The din of sword on metal drowned all other sound.
The large sleeves of Hime’s kimono fluttered as she plunged back to earth, where she landed in a crouch, one hand on the ground for balance, the other holding her sword out to one side. She stood and drove the sword into its sheath with a flourish as pieces of twisted metal rained down around her.
“That was…” Korrash struggled to find the right words to convey what he was feeling.
“I know,” she said. “It’s super lame compared to what I used to be able to do before your stupid world messed up my powers.”
Korrash frowned at her and made a show of cleaning out his ears.
“That was so cool!” He had never seen anyone use a sword like that, and the most amazing thing of all was that it hadn’t taken an ounce of aetherium or mana, and even the ambient aether was left undisturbed. He wanted to study the phenomenon, and once again, they didn’t have time. If that giant robot caught up to them, there would be trouble.
He glanced up at the sky, where the wan moon shone down upon the world, a reminder from the True God that even darkness could never truly banish the light. Based on the position of the moon and the constellations, plus knowing roughly which way they had run to get away from Haxxorbot, that meant (Survivalcraft 4 failed, but became a success due to Tier differences)…
“Krakensport should be that way." He pointed across the gently rolling hills that were a welcome change from the forests south of Gnottingham. Together, they set off into the night, mourning the loss of their steeds.
“This sucks,” Hime said fifteen minutes later as they stood over the remains of the eighth Shadow-infused Pygmy Dire Bat. Korrash was forced to agree.
He took a moment to consider. His mana was well on its way to full regeneration, and he didn’t want to be caught off-guard. His summoned electric sheep had been great, but not as fast as the Nightmares. He needed something else.
He had shied away from summoning magic during combat due to several factors. Such spells required more Subjects than most, and likely at least one Element, depending on what was required. Then there were the added concerns of how long the summoned creature could last, how well it would obey, and its overall strength, which made crafting an affordable summon that could also match an immediate threat quite difficult, at least from the perspective of Primordial Magic.
Outside of combat, with time to think, was another matter entirely. He already had a great idea that would get them to Krakensport in record time!
“You’re right. Let me try something real fast,” he said.
“Yikes.”
“Haha. Now, stand back.” He pushed the sleeves of his robes up away from his hands. It didn’t improve his spellcasting ability; it just looked cool. At least he thought it did.
“Vitalis. Mordek. Silfli. Rideos,” he began. Aurrie stuck its golden head out of his hood at the word for summoning.
Not now, he frantically thought at his golem friend. It was too late. Hime had seen the tiny creature.
“Eek, he’s so cute! I love him! Where’d you get him?! Hey, little guy! What’s your name?” She was overjoyed at the presence of the little construct and abruptly snatched it from its perch on Korrash’s shoulder to bring it up to her face.
“Na!” Aurrie seemed excited to have made a new friend as well.
“Na? What kind of name is that?” Hime looked at Korrash with a question in her eyes, but the mage was in the middle of a complicated bit of casting and couldn’t respond.
“Ro. Ha. Nif. Ka’a. Persu. Min’naas!” He shouted the final word of the spell (Primordial Vocabulary 10 success; Primordial Magic Theory 10 failed, but became a success due to Tier differences). The first syllable lodged like a potato in his throat. Fortunately, as he forced his way through, the second syllable finished like melted butter. Most modifiers in Primordial required a sequential construction, like the four words he’d dedicated to Potency. The last word, however, actually changed its form as its effect increased. Min, the weakest form of Decreased Damage, reduced a spell’s ability to cause damage by around twenty percent. The word he had used, Min’naas, removed that capacity entirely.
In front of them, his spell’s Intent shimmered into being. A cloud swirled and coalesced into an opaque form, its body made of rainbow fluff that glowed in the darkness. Two black dots for eyes and the curve of a smiling mouth served as a face, and it bobbed back and forth in time to music only it could hear.
Happy Cloud [Harmless] [Summoned]
These enchanted clouds are created by magic. The only thing that makes them happier than carrying riders to their destinations is existence itself. The only words they are known to speak are “abbuw abbul bud bud,” though the meaning of this phrase is unknown (Lore 6 success).
Hime squealed again, the sound driving nails into Korrash’s brain. Ordinarily, he adored such sounds, but he had underestimated his magical abilities in a fundamental way. The use of the word Persu tied the existence of the Happy Clouds to his ability to concentrate, and mentally maintaining a Mythic-Tiered being was just at the edge of what he could do with only Heroic-Tiered Willpower.
“Get… on…” he managed through clenched teeth.
“What? Korrash, did you have this cutie with you the whole time? Why didn’t you tell me? I absolutely love—”
“On. Now. Talk later.” He climbed aboard the cloud with careful steps. It was, at least, as comfortable as it looked.
She followed suit, and he noticed through his escalating headache that Aurrie was riding happily on her shoulder, kicking its legs and staring around excitedly.
“Hold. Tight.” With those words, the cloud took off, a trail of multicolored sparkles illuminating the night for several meters as they flew. Their mount reached its cruising altitude, a full kilometer above the ground, in seconds.
The Happy Cloud was designed for speed, and flew along at close to a thousand kilometers an hour. Korrash was glad he hadn’t tried to use this method earlier, for the effort it took to concentrate was increasing even after the first fifteen minutes. He thought Krakensport was only another hundred kilometers away from their current position, and he was beginning to wonder if he would make it.
