Chapter 56: Scorpion and Tarantula

Scorpion and tarantula faced each other in combat. The scorpion was a massive armored creature, its body covered by spiked plates of rusting iron. The tarantula was sky blue, with luminous hairs mixed in among its fur, making its body shine and glow. It stood a good two feet taller than the low, crawling body of the scorpion, but the scorpion’s tail made up the distance in height.

The scorpion lunged forward, piercing the air. As its tail struck the earth black rot spread outwards from the sting.

The tarantula scurried back, moving up the sides of the dunes that cupped them in a bowl of orange sand. It hissed, and spat out a spear of sticky webbing that struck the scorpion’s legs.

Moving awkwardly now, the scorpion lurched forward, coming for the tarantula with its claws. Hold and stab, that was its strategy. Lock down the enemy’s speed with its gripping pincers. Strike the life from its enemy with its deadly tail.

It was a simple strategy, backed up with the endurance and armored body to run its enemies down over the course of hours.

And the tarantula was flagging, most of its energy already spent.

Speed meant nothing against the resilience to track a single foe for days.

Now, when it finally realized it had to fight, it was running low on strength and aura. Its chances had narrowed to a final thread– but it clung to that final chance with all it had.

Its massive, furred legs stomped down on the scorpion’s eyes, kicking the beast back. The scorpion’s tail shot down like a whipcrack, and the tarantula barely scuttled back in time.

Once again they stared each other down…

The tarantula lunged, losing its nerve to hold out and fight the long fight. In that same moment the scorpion’s tail shot forward–

There was a single, deadly strike. Its tail stabbed into the center of the tarantula’s head, piercing the brain. Poison spilled through the curved blade of the tail, pouring into the spider’s gray matter. Terrible, twitching convulsions overtook the tarantula’s body as it collapsed to the ground, legs shaking violently as paralytic poisons dripped through its veins.

A single rune glowed on its brow.

The scorpion’s own skin glowed with two more runes.

As the flaming letter of Aleph lifted from the dead tarantula’s brow, it floated closer and closer to the scorpion, which snapped its claws in glee…

And Nic burst from the sand underneath. He flew into the air, the sand underfoot launching him higher. His blade swept in a circle and removed the scorpion’s tail in a single, razor-fast strike, cutting a crescent of green-blue fire in the air.

As he dropped down onto the sand, the scorpion flinched back.

There was no mercy in his eyes. Peacemaker plunged forward, a raindrop point of blazing blue light piercing through the scorpion’s head.

In the same way it had killed the tarantula…

The scorpion died.

Three runes rose into the air. One from the spider, two from its killer. Nic examined all three with a single sweep of his eyes, and sighed.

None that he didn’t have already.

With a wave of Peacemaker, he allowed the blade to suck in the runes, absorbing them into its crystalline body. It was far from a loss. Allowing the blade to eat was almost as important as growing his own power…

But Nic still felt impatience.

In the distance, a beam of light shot into the sky. It signaled another creature completing a collection of the Aleph runes. It also signaled Seeona’s army and the Ghost-Toll Legion closing in on that poor unfortunate creature– ready to steal away its prize.

Nic wasn’t ready to face that kind of competition. He had spent the better part of the day tunneling, carefully peaking up from the depths of the sand, and tunneling further. His strategy was to keep his head down and silently absorb runes before they ever reached a complete collection and blipped on the enemy’s radar.

So far…

Three runes to his name, none of them the ones he needed.

But sometimes, the difficulty of a strategy was holding faith in it working in the long term, even if the short term came up… short.

Nic dug back into the earth and vanished.

---

Nic slithered through underground passages, using Mire Caller to create asphalt tar that reinforced the walls as he worked. His goal was the Valley of Memories where he’d first met Sunfire, after defeating the ghouls and assassins who lurked in the shadows.

There were dozens of treasures hidden away in the tombs riddling the valley’s walls; better yet, some of them had definitely absorbed Aleph marks…

And beyond that, Nic had business with Levanth, the strange giant who was chained up near the valley’s end. Levanth was an enigma, but Nic had come to guess at the creature’s real identity. His claim to have once ‘eaten a god’ was as good as an admission that he’d been one of the four Guardians who devoured the old pharaoh.

But whether Nic would fight him or try to reach some peace, even Nic wasn't sure. The impression the giant had left on him was immensely old and tricky, the kind of deadly cunning that Nic would rather not tangle with.

The earth in front of him turned from loose desert soil to hardened stone, and Nic began to dig, creating a drill of swirling sand that cut through the rock at a steady pace. This kind of effort was something alien to him; Nic was used to exercising his cultivation in short, powerful bursts of effort, spending everything he had on a few frantic moments of combat. This was a slower and steadier form of effort. It didn't take everything at once, but relied on him maintaining a constant pace. As he sweated away under the earth, he could feel his cultivation base steadying and settling into place, filling in invisible cracks he'd never have noticed on his own.

It felt good. With so much pressure weighted down upon him, the fate of the Princess, Winterhome, and Earth all in the balance, it felt good to occupy himself with something as simple as digging. Maintaining the sand-drill took just enough effort to distract him; he didn't have time to worry or let the pressure seep into his mind.

Nic had made sure to dig a labyrinth of dead ends and loops, instead of leaving a straight line anyone could follow. With hidden alarm talismans filling every branch of the tunnels, he and the Princess would have all the time in the world to run if someone broke in from above...

Suddenly a shining beam of light burst out from under his drill. The golden shadow it cast on the tunnel walls widened and widened as the sand-drill continued to tear stone away, exposing a golden cavern pocketed inside the earth.

Nic spilled out into an ancient burial chamber. Torches burning with eternal fire illuminated a sarcophagus and gold-covered canopic jars. A single ghoul was crouched in the corner, hissing with its mouth of rotten teeth.

With one clean flick of a throwing knife, Nic put an end to the pitiful creature. He glanced at the treasures but didn't bother with any of them. The last time he explored this place, he was warned he could only steal away three treasures from its tombs. Nothing he saw here was worth spending one of his two remaining chances.

Kicking open the sealed doors of the tomb, Nic emerged onto a series of rough, rocky footpaths that ran up and down the valley's sides, across the sheer faces of the stone walls that defined the valley sides. Ghouls crawled in the morning light, clustering where the bridges and statues carved into the stone walls gave them shadow.

Nic took a moment to mark the cave he'd emerged from and seal the way behind him, took a running start, and dived off the edge. He caught the far wall with a tar-coated hand and slid to a halt, already halfway down.

The ghouls were still blinking in confusion, unsure of this strange intruder. Nic casually descended the last few paths in a series of short hops, landing in front of a ruined stub of tower climbing out of the sand.

"A visitor?" A sand-worn voice called from within. "Heh, I wasn't expecting to see another fresh face this century..."

"Just me again, old man." Nic croaked. "But I've got a different face this time."

He stepped into the dark.

The giant was chained to the far wall, his arms bound by iron chains and hidden magic. Nic knew by experience that his reach was just far enough to nearly reach the two doors, allowing him a chance to snatch up unwary travelers trying to visit the temple at the valley's end. Nic positioned himself just outside that reach, holding Peacemaker high.

"Hmm, still small, I see. I would've chosen something with more heft, myself..." The giant grumbled, slapping his chest. Old eyes burned in the dark like half-exhausted embers, tired but full of cunning. "But then, I didn't expect you'd come back at all, so perhaps you've simply got a perverse mind."

"Nothing perverse about it. I'm straightforward enough. I have business with the Chimeric Soul-Drinker, and I thought you might know him."

Nic answered, holding the old giant's gaze.

"Ahhh. I might, I might..." The giant licked his parched lips. "What's in it for me, remembering such an old name?"

"I don't know that I can offer you freedom. Not just whether I can free you at all, but whether I should." Nic said, not giving any ground. "But then, I don't know you that well yet. So you tell me. Are you the Chimeric Soul-Drinker?"

The giant paused for a moment, and then began to laugh, his lanky, starved frame shaking in the restraints. "Gods above and below, they make you brats audacious. Yes, that title is mine now. When I was a servant of the land and its rulers, they called me Levanth, but when I stood with the people against their tyrant, I was branded with the name of a beast." His grin showed crooked stubs of yellow teeth.

"Sorry to bring up bad memories, then." Nic said. "But its in my nature to be curious. Especially about someone who fought the System..."

"Fought." The giant said bitterly. "And lost. It was a fool's errand, and I've paid for my idealism."

"And here I was thinking it took a lot of courage to stick to your guns, after thousands of years tied up." Nic challenged him, glaring directly into Levanth's eyes. "Don't tell me you're having second thoughts?"

"Second thoughts? I've had seconds, thirds, fourths-- I've drank my fill of thinking and thinking and thinking alone in the dark." Levanth snarled. "Do you know what my conclusion is? If the System could be fought, some fool would already have torn it down, in my thousand years of solitude. The very fact its still standing-- the fact that it persists-- is proof enough that none of us have what it takes. Not you, not I..."

"Maybe." Nic admitted. "But it might be possible to escape it..."

"Escape? Escape to where? The System is growing, all the time...." The giant rumbled. Chains dragged on the floor as he reached a hand out. Nic stepped back, but instead of an attack, the giant beckoned with a massive hand, trying to lure him forward. "Anywhere man desires power, the System can and will grow. Look. "

On the giant's arm, Aleph marks began to burn. Nic's eyes widened. He saw eight in all, including ones he didn't already have.

"See? You helped the System grow, even if you thought you were defying it. And the System, not caring about your reasons, will reward you..."

"How did you get those?" Nic asked, still cautious.

"I caught one fluttering through the air like a butterfly. The others came to me when greedy, short-sighted creatures tried to take what I had..." The giant said. "Some of them tried to bargain. Some of them even offered me... freedom."

“Nicolas!”

Eyes widening, Nic saw clearly. The giant had tried to conceal it using his posture, but the chains were already broken.

In a single bound Levanth rushed towards him. Nic dodged aside in a split-second reaction, leaving behind an illusionary shadow. The giant's hand smashed the doppelganger into a spray of water droplets that exploded against his hand, each tiny droplet bearing the smashing force of a sledgehammer.

They barely even slowed him down.

Levanth rolled as he hit the ground, twisting, his feet shooting out to catch himself on all fours and turn towards Nic in one smooth, animal movement.

Nic had already flung a knife. It shot towards Levanth's eyes until a backhand blow knocked it from the air--

But Nic expected that. The talisman wrapped around the knife's hilt detonated, filling the dark cavernous jail with a brilliant flare of searing light. Levanth, his eyes weakened by a millennia of captivity, screamed and went blind.

His long, lanky limbs swept out, throwing punches through the air. His body was beginning to shift. His proportions were no longer human and fur grew along his arms.

Nic dodged between the clumsy blows, feeling the wind at his back as huge punches swept overhead and past him, destroying the shadows his dancing movements created.  Peacemaker swung twice and two crossed trails of blood erupted across the giant's chest.

In the next instant Levanth threw himself forward, crashing against the ground in a full body blow. Nic escaped to the left, flinging himself aside and rebounding up the jail's walls. Peacemaker swept overhead as he dropped into a descending cut that sliced deep into Levanth's neck. His foot landed against the giant's face and he backflipped away as the giant's hand made a clumsy grab for him.

But in that moment, Nic underestimated Levanth's reach. The chain hanging from the giant's manacle swung like a whip and caught him around the leg, wrapping around him. Nic barely had time to grit his teeth and prepare for impact as Levanth grabbed the base of the chain in both hands and *swung* him hard into the wall.

Nic hit the stone wall and felt the breath leave him. Levanth was shooting towards him, throwing himself into a leaping, double-barreled kick that drove both his feet forward like javelins, meaning to crush the life out of Nic against the harsh unfeeling stone.

In the last split second, Nic forced his bruised lungs to open and chug down a breath. His aura poured into the Eight Directions Ring and he teleported away an instant before disaster. The kick broke the wall nearly in two as Levanth slammed into it with the full force and weight of his oversized frame.

Nic hit the ground, kicked off, and scrambled to the far side of the chamber as his breathing steadied and his body regenerated. The giant had landed one blow-- and it had nearly stunned him long enough for Levanth to finish him off. The sheer strength in those wiry, underfed arms was incredible.

"So..." Nic gasped out, his entire throat one long internal bruise. "That's it? You're just another fight over power..."

"In this dying age... What else is there to fight about?" Levanth had completed his transformation. The giant had the body of an ape now, covered in dark fur. His head was the head of a snarling tiger with goat horns sprouting from its skull. Emerald serpents grew out of the golden mane that covered his thick neck.

Nic slid into a martial stance, his body low and Peacemaker raised overhead lime a scorpion's sting. "I don't know. I just know, you should have chosen something worth dying for."

They lunged at each other.

Levanth's right reached for Nic, but Nic was surrounded by mist and smoke, duplicates appearing on all sides. The giant's fingers plunged through a doppelganger and it erupted into a shower of droplets.

The giant pivoted hard on one heel, swinging his left arm into play. The long, heavy chain around his wrist became a deadly striking weapon, scything through the darkness with enough weight to sever a human head. Nic saw it coming. In the instant before impact, he dodged towards one of his duplicates and commanded the illusion to shatter. Water droplets sprayed out and exploded with rupturing force-- launching Nic high into the air with the sacrifice of his double.

The chain swept below him, and Nic dropped, igniting Peacemaker in a fiery swing that came down like a comet and met flesh with a meaty, bone-jarring impact.

Levanth howled as his right arm was cut away in a single blow. The giant reared up, filling the cavern, screaming and screaming in agony, the sound a wave of pain that nearly deafened Nic on the spot.

With a shout of his own, Nic kicked forward and slammed Peacemaker's haft into the beast's gut. As Levanth stumbled back, he did so again, and again, and again-- hammering away with relentless force. "Spit it out!" He shouted. "Or I'll cut it out myself!"

With a choking gasp, Levanth heaved, and a slime-covered stone object shot up from the depths of his belly and went bouncing against the floor. Nic swept Peacemaker's flat into the back of his leg and sent him sprawling to the ground, before darting back and grabbing the spit-soaked treasure.

Another stone organ. One of the pharaoh's stolen four pieces.

"You.. brat..." Levanth gurgled.

"Don't bother talking." Nic said coldly. "You've said enough. Out of respect for the man you used to be, I'll let you live."

Grabbing the severed right arm and the Aleph marks that burned there, Nic turned and departed.