MA: 96. Justicia's Crossing

The geography around the Central Forests of Justica was atypical of a normal forest. It existed within the bottom of multiple layers of escarpments, meaning its elevation was much lower compared to the rest of the Region.

This allowed rivers to flourish, and the massive landmasses provided a natural barrier that kept the foul monsters of the Region out of the inner sanctums of the forest.

It surprised Red.

She had expected to find nothing but emerald trees and the usual tasty monsters along the way. But to her surprise, they had to do a bit of climbing.

The terrain became uneven. Boulders replaced the lush greenery on the forest floor. Several days later, and Red noticed that the trees were far more spaciously placed than before. They were tilted southwards as if subjected to a constant invisible breeze.

The ground was rugged, and Snow’s boots were so worn out that her feet ached. She had to rely on Rockie for transport as they passed through a stretch of forest where broken caravans and splintered wood were a common sight.

Giant birds soared overhead. The Oblivion Eagle was a type of bird that was known to attack climbers. Then, once they fell to their deaths, they’d feast on their corpse with blunt beaks. They were weak as birds and targeted anything that looked defenseless.

“Grrr! Even when I’ve punched a bunch of already, they still won’t give up!” Red – out of everyone on Rockie’s back – was repeatedly targeted by these birds.

By now she could understand the language of the ‘caw’.

“Caw! Caw! CAAAAW!” She snapped, slapping a bird’s face into the rocky wall.

They tumbled down and were immediately swarmed by their own kin.

“Serves you right! Gah! Are birds that dumb!? Do they just run into enemies without thinking twice!?”

Snow gave Red a deadpan look before sighing.

“It’s not that you’re weak. You’re just useful to them. Oblivion Eagles will sometimes gaslight another unassuming bird to do their bidding. If they can’t eat you, then they can eat the bird.”

“Sounds dumb. Guess that makes sense.” Red nodded to herself as they reached the summit of the last escarpment.

The Central Forests seemed so small behind them. She couldn’t believe how the canopies had hidden how low they were compared to the rest of the Region. From there, they would have reached what Snow called ‘sea level’.

Why not land level?

Red wanted to ask, but Agate responded for her.

Sea Level

< Primary reference point for elevation >

Elevators. Nice.

She nodded as though she understood what this meant.

“What makes sense?” Snow asked after a long delay. She had tried to figure out what Red was talking about, but while she could talk to animals, Red was something else entirely.

“Birds. They fly because they don’t have much meat. So they have to eat each other. And by eating each other, they repeat the cycle of weak eats weak. So their offspring becomes weaker. Basically, weak plus weak equals weaker.”

“Bwa!” Three Paw barked as though to agree with Red.

Snow shared a look with Rockie once they reached the top. She didn’t know how a Rock Bug was far more sensible than these two, but she wasn’t complaining. A hand brushed against Rockie’s fur, feeling small deposits of iron that were taken from the equipment of the bandits.

“The quality of the person matters more than if they’re weak or not. Does that mean my offspring will be weak, despite me being a Healer?” Snow asked.

“Probably.” Red said bluntly. “What, were you expecting me to say the opposite because it’s you?”

“Absolutely not. Are you always going to be this cheeky, or do I have pull your cheeks off?”

“I’m sowwy…” Red’s cheeks were stretched to a comedic length.

“Focus. We’re almost at the crossing. If our timing is right, then we’ll get to watch the train plough through. Just make sure you don’t get too close. Scarlet Logic’s bound to be watching the crossing.”

“Why don’t we just head through a different route?”

“The me from yesterday would have agreed. But I’m scared that our friends are being kept as slaves. The sooner we make it to Aire, the better. Plus, don’t you want to eat good food again?”

“Hm. Good call. I’ll take the risk of being captured forever for a chance of eating something tasty! Right guys?”

“Bwa!” Three Paw agreed.

“Brrr…” Rockie was less optimistic, mainly because it couldn’t taste food to begin with.

Red couldn’t wait to reunite with the kind people of Hearth Village. But if Snow was right and if the Syndicate bandits were anything to go by, then there was a chance that they were already captured.

How slim or plausible the chance was didn’t change the fact that the Trakk Syndicate were capturing villagers from the Central Forests.

Snow was anxious. A part of her stalled like she was afraid of finding out. Rockie moved onwards, ferrying a warry Snow across the barren forest.

“Let’s hope nothing’s happened to them.” Snow offered a prayer to the Nexus.

*

The world ahead became barren of life.

The luscious greenery faded to an ugly brown.

Eventually, the branches were stripped of leaves and left to shiver to an invisible wind.

The faint rumbling of something heavy pulsed beneath their feat.

Waves of unbearable pressure washed over them.

It caused Three Paw to whimper, and Rockie to walk like they were drunk.

Even Red found it difficult to balance herself atop Rockie’s back.

“What’s this ‘Whomp. Whomp’ sound?” She asked and smacked the side of her head, as if it would release the pressure in her skull.

“The Gravity Trains. You can sense them kilometers away before they arrive by feeling the gravity waves. Not everyone can feel it. But those who can are susceptible to the Gravity Sickness Condition.”

Snow explained before reading an excerpt that was one to one to the message Agate sent Red.

Gravity Sickness

< A debilitating Condition that affects a small portion of organisms. Causes the endolymph (inner ear liquid) to misalign with the world’s pull of 9.8 Quants >

The terminology confused Red. Snow didn’t know much better either. 9.8 was a term commonly used to describe gravity, though no one really knew why.

It was first coined by Caldera industries when they found the gravitational constant of Elysia. They measured it as 9.8 Quants of Gravity, which was the gravity that people felt in everyday life.

What it meant, or what gravity really was aside from these ‘quants’ was unknown to them. Now even Snow had information on this. All they knew was that the Gravity Train was sending ripples of gravity that affected their sense of balance.

“No wonder the trees look like that. How are you supposed to survive out there?” Red commented as they approached a massive clearing. “I never felt anything like that when I was on the train.”

“It might work relatively for all we know. We’ll just wait for the train to pass once. Stay close to the boulders. They’ll keep us hidden.”

“Rodger that!”

Two-meter-wide boulders replaced the trees. They were high in minerals such as iron and copper. The soil between each boulder was tilted as though something had been burrowing through it.

Small rocks sailed across the field. The pulses of gravity clumped them to these rocks. When Red went to pick one up, she was surprised to find that it was attracted to the giant boulders.

“Magnetic! Rockie! Feast on them!”

“Brrr!”

Rockie’s enjoyed the side of the boulder, its mandibles chewing through ore and rock with disturbing ease. Its tongue lapped at the stone. The grinding sound combined with Red’s dizziness was utter torture.

Its body became harder beneath the furth.

Before long, Rockie’s soft body was replaced with an iron-copper alloy, boosting its stats by a considerable portion.

Forge Bug
Rockie Grey

< A Very Hopeful Insect! >

Soul Rank: Blue | Affiliation: Red

LEVEL : 55     ORIGIN : Insect     HP : 44,500 (+10,000)     ATT : 700 (+200)     MAG ATT : 0

ATT DEF : 750     MAG DEF : 200     MP : 400     RESIST : 80 (+20)     AGI : 20 (+5)

“Lots of pluses now. Heh. Gonna need to start feeding you some proper metals. Like steel. Tungsten would be awesome! Tungstenie, the Tungsten Tank!” Red cackled. “Good DEF stats. Mind if I take it?”

“Brr.” Rockie offered an arm.

It was willing to let Red take a bite.

But Red wasn’t going to fall for it.

“Nuh uh. I like having teeth!” She sneered. “How dare you try to trick me. Don’t go to sleep tonight if you know what’s good for you.”

“Brrr.”

“Grrr!” Red growled before her face suddenly lit up. “Oh hey, did we just say ‘burger’~? Alright, you’re forgiven.”

“That’s all it takes?” Snow murmured.

“Hey, I’m a reasonable person. Unlike Scarlet Whatchamacallit.”

Speaking of Scarlet Logic…

Thump

“Get down!”

Snow dismounted from Rockie and dragged Red down behind a boulder. They were barely a kilometer away from Justicia’s Crossing. A thick metal beam ran from one end of the wasteland to the other.

Nothing within this kilometer dead zone existed aside from bandit clans and the occasional Scarlet Logic member who oversaw the violence. They could easily step in to stop these bandits from fighting one another, but instead, one member would throw either silver coins or scraps of animal meat to the victors.

It was no more than their way of quelling their boredom as they patrolled Justicia’s Crossing. Neither could they tell how many personnel there were, or what Scarlet Logic division they belonged to.

The fact that so many Syndicate members were here meant that they were expecting to collect something valuable.

“Did Scarlet Logic tell them about us? That doesn’t make sense. Scarlet Logic wanted you Red. So why is a Syndicate involved?” Snow drew from several wells of possibilities.

But she came up dry.

“Maybe it’s not us they’re after?” Red suggested, peering out from behind the boulder with suspicion. “I wanna get closer and figure out what they’re thinking.”

“We do know Scarlet Logic likely set up a perimeter to catch us. We’re not going to learn anything new. It’s too risky.”

“Risky if I fight. Not if I eavesdrop.”

“But how are you going to get close?”

“I uh…”

Indeed. How was Red supposed to get close? And if Scarlet Logic were on patrol, then how were they supposed to get past them in the first place? They weren’t dumb. Red recalled how easy it was to trick them, but that was in part due to the Fodder’s heightened senses.

Clunk. Sift. Scrape

Rockie made a strange noise behind Red as she thought of the ways they could get across.

Use the train as cover? Dangerous.

Go back and befriend the birds to fly across? Possible! Red was good at making friends!

How about launching a surprise attack? Red wouldn’t lose. She knew that much.

“Snow. Give me the order to win. That’s how we’ll win.” Red concluded.

But Snow just pointed at something behind her.

“Or, we follow Rockie.”

“Huh?”

Red turned to find that Rockie had managed to borrow out a one-meter-wide tunnel. It used its metallic body to scrape the clay and dirt away, whilst its front legs pushed roots aside with relative ease. Not only that, but it was silent all things considered.

“Brrr!”

“Rockie can burrow all the way through. Then we can use the Gravity Train to mask the noise.” Snow nodded to herself, her smile growing as they finally arrived at a plan. “Rockie~ I love you.”

“Tch. I could’ve thought of that.” Red murmured, jealous of the Rock Bug. Then she uttered a slight beneath her breath: “Stupid dumb Rock Bug. Steal my Snow again and it’s over for you.”

They got onto their hands and knees and crawled through the tunnel. Three Paw remained in their shadows in the meantime.

It was going to be a long, filthy crawl.