The Fusionist Book 5 -- Chapter 42

Chapter 42

Stopped near the rear exit to Fort Hilltower as he tried to figure out how to open the door without being seen, he nearly reached out for it when a hand touched his shoulder from behind.  Larek nearly reacted by attacking whoever it was that had managed to spot him sneaking around in his Camouflage Sphere, but a glance at the hand on his shoulder out of the corner of his eye revealed a familiar scaly appearance. Somehow, the Senior Instructor had managed not only to locate him despite being nearly invisible, but had also snuck up on him regardless of his combat awareness. It was at that point that he knew he still had a long way to go before he could match the pure power and experience of the Martial trainer.

“I—”

“You don’t have to say anything,” Torge whispered, cutting him off. “I’m glad you’re leaving, because it’s going to get a bit difficult with you here and the Dean hanging around. I could tell he recognized you, though it might take seeing you a couple more times before he remembers from where.”

“But—”

“It’s fine. I’d rather you get out of here while you can, because I’d rather not have to fight Wilburt to keep you safe if I can help it.” He turned Larek around, and since he was inside of the Sphere he could see him. “It’s been a pleasure, boy. I wish you good luck in rescuing your nestmates.”

“Thank you, Senior Instructor—”

“You can call me Torge. All my friends do,” he said, smiling as he held out his hand for his former trainee to shake. “Keep practicing and I think you might just be alright.”

“Will do, Sen—Torge. By the way, I left something I was going to give you later underneath my bed. Remember what I told you about my Void Pocket Fusion and how it works?”

The Drekkin nodded warily.

“I created one for you and filled up what I could in the time I had. Most of them should be self-explanatory, but slots one through ten are filled with copies of different Fusions, so be sure to share with whoever you want.”

“You can’t be serious,” he replied disbelievingly.

“Oh, I am, but you’ll just have to see them for yourself,” the Martial Fusionist said with a smile. “I better get going before it gets too late.”

“Safe travels, and I hope to hear of your success in the future.”

With a nod, Larek turned back to the door, but Torge was already there opening it for in full view, holding it open so that his former trainee could sneak out. He took his time exiting so that he wouldn’t be particularly visible, but once he was outside he sped up in the lower light levels present. He could still be spotted, but it would be much harder compared to inside of the Fort, and right now speed was more of a concern than perfect invisibility. Within a minute, he was already heading down the pathway leading to the Nobles’ Quarter, and with very few out and about he made good time. Not stopping as he blew past the guard station, the two guards on duty not even noticing him as they leaned against the wall chatting, he turned his feet toward the SIC Headquarters building where he hoped he would find Nedira.

As if the thought had summoned her, Larek nearly collided with her familiar figure rushing through the streets, her destination seemingly where he had just come from. Throwing himself to the side to avoid the collision, he deactivated his Camouflage Sphere and whispered, “Nedira!”

The Naturalist let out a high-pitched squeak as Larek startled her, putting her hand against her chest as if to keep her heart from pushing its way out. “Larek! What are you doing here?”

“I had to leave suddenly.”

She was visibly confused as she looked at him, her breathing slowing down from the panicked state it had been in a few seconds before. “What? Why—you already know, don’t you?”

“Know what?”

“The SIC just received news that Dean Wilburt will be taking over running the Fort starting tomorrow.”

He nodded, while at the same time thinking how glad he was not to have ran because of an unsubstantiated claim.

“How did you find out? I just heard an hour ago and was coming to get you as soon as I could get myself out of there.” For the first time, Larek noticed that Nedira had her Void Pocket bag with her, and she looked ready for travel.

“He showed up and was bragging to Torge about taking over,” he explained. “Thankfully, he didn’t recognize me right away, but he thought I looked familiar. It’s only a matter of time before he puts it all together.”

“He saw you?”

“Yep! I even shook his hand,” Larek said, chuckling.

“You… shook his hand? Why would you do that?”

“I was just trying to throw him off, and acting nice was the best way I could think to do that. I didn’t want to give him any reason to investigate me further than that at the time, which punching his face in certainly would’ve done.”

She genuinely laughed at that, but she held it in as best she could because she didn’t want to call attention to themselves in the darkened street. “Yeah, I’m glad you didn’t do that – even if he deserved it.”

“I was close to doing it if he immediately recognized me, but thankfully he didn’t.” Looking at her belongings again, he asked, “Do you have everything you need? Are you ready to go?”

“I have everything. I ended up leaving quite a few Fusions from my bag for the SIC; I hope you don’t mind.”

“Again, that’s what I created them for – to help people. I did the same thing with Torge, so don’t worry about it.”

With a smile, she said, “Thanks. But yes, I’m ready to go.”

“Good.” Forming his Pattern box right there in the street, as he wanted to leave as soon as possible, he started laying out his plans. “I was thinking about going east for a while, hitting Apertures on the way so that I can continue improving my Martial abilities, as well as accumulating more Aetheric Force. I still have a long way to go before I’m ready to face the Gergasi and save my family, but after today’s outing, I’m feeling much more confident that—”

“Actually, let me cut you off before you go into too much detail,” Nedira interrupted, even as she leaned against the inside of the box and looked at him with a serious expression on her face. “There’s going to be a change of plans concerning your destination.”

Taken slightly aback, he asked, “What? Why?”

“Bring us up and start heading south if you would, and I’ll explain on the way. Shrugging, Larek did as she requested and they shot into the sky. With the improvements to his Pattern Manipulation Skill, it wasn’t as much of a stress on his focus to bring them 500 feet above the ground, and even moving through the air at a slightly higher speed than normal – going south – was easier. He might not be able to maintain it for hours, but for now it was good enough.

After about 30 minutes, he slowed the movement of the box and brought them down, where they hovered only about 20 feet above the ground. At this height, he could probably maintain his construct for half a day if necessary, if not longer.

“So, what’s this about a destination? Did you hear something important?”

With the moonlight from above the only illumination nearby, Nedira nodded. “Exactly. At the same time we received the missive detailing the change in leadership over the Fort and the Academy, I also obtained a lead from an SIC member that I’d been waiting on.”

“A lead on what? Or… who?”

“It’s a who,” she answered. “Your former roommate, Verne, to be more precise – or at least someone similar enough that I couldn’t imagine someone else from the Dyran Hearthwood being a former SIC member and going by the name, ‘V’, now.”

“That does sound promising. Where is he?”

She paused as her face fell slightly. “Well, that’s the issue, actually.”

“He’s not… dead, is he?”

She held her hands out in front of her placatingly. “No, it’s not anything like that. The problem is more of where he’s at.”

“Is he on the other side of the Kingdom or something? If so, it might take a little bit, but we’ll get there.”

Shaking her head, she finally explained what was having her so worried. “No, not exactly. Apparently, ‘V’ is located in a city called Warshdin along the southern border of the northwestern Calamity. And before you ask, yes, we did visit that city on our way north to see your family – albeit briefly. In fact, we never actually made it inside.”

“Briefly? Never made it inside?” Larek vividly remembered the trip they had taken in his Pattern box to the east and then north to Rushwood, but every place they stopped at they had at least entered the city or towns they passed, even if a few of them had them leaving after a few minutes.

There wasn’t a single one that he remembered not entering at all, unless he counted the one where—

“You’re not serious, are you?” he asked, hoping she was joking. “The city where the two Factions met us outside and threatened to kill me? Really?”

Nedira nodded. “It gets worse than that.”

“How could it get worse? They threatened to kill me, remember?”

“Oh, I remember. But that’s not the issue. It has to do with what Faction he is supposedly part of.”

It only took him a second to realize what she was saying, but didn’t understand the problem. “The Strike Faction?  Not that I have an issue with that, because I honestly believe everyone should be working toward that outcome, but what’s wrong with that?”

“Inherently, nothing,” she replied with a shrug. “But the same information I gained said that the Strike Faction in Warshdin was set to implement their first major strike into the Calamity with the intent of closing the Aperture there. They were going to be doing it soon, too.”

“How soon?”

“Like… yesterday? Or perhaps the day before. It took a while for the information to get to Peratin, and the timeline might be off by a day or two.”

Everything Nedira just imparted to him raced through his mind.  “So, you’re saying that someone that may or may not be Verne, but most likely is my old roommate, is part of a Strike Faction of Mages and Martials that has potentially already entered the powerful Calamity that even all the SIC members over the last few years with the same intent haven’t been able to close?”

“Exactly. And we need to go save him before he gets himself killed.”

He looked at her and the intensity in her expression before asking, “Not that I disagree, but why do you seem so insistent on braving the danger of the Calamity to save Verne?”

Nedira appeared distant for a brief moment before she answered. “Because I remembered something else once I heard of Verne possibly being alive and in Warshdin.”

“You regained some of your memories?”

She shook her head. “Not exactly. It’s more of a kernel of knowledge that I didn’t know I had until that point.”

Larek waited for her to share what it was, but she was silent. After nearly a minute, he finally asked, “And what was this ‘kernel of knowledge’ you gained?”

“Only that I know that Norde had been working with Verne the last time I remember speaking to him. If anyone knows where my brother is, it’ll be your roommate.”

“Ah. That makes sense, then. Still, I’m a bit wary to go back to that city after our previous reception. Are you positive it’s the same place?”

“Yes, 100% positive. The only question was whether it was actually Verne there or not.”

The Martial Fusionist hmphed, crossing his arms against his chest. “Well then, it seems we have no choice but to go. We can’t let that little guy die, after all.”

“No, we can’t.”

While not exactly pleased about going back to that city, Larek knew it was necessary. And if it indeed led to Verne and from there to Norde, then putting up with the opposing Factions was worth every minute of it. Besides, if he understood the Naturalist correctly, it was possible that only the Defend Faction will still be in the city, so he wouldn’t necessarily become between them while gaining more information on Verne’s whereabouts. At least, he hoped that was the case; there was too much speculation on exactly what they would find when they arrived.

Creating a windscreen made out of his Pattern Cohesion in front of the box, which was much easier to do now that he had learned how to focus on two different constructs simultaneously, Larek raised the box up another 20 feet so that he could move faster without being in danger of running into something. When everything was set, he started them moving and the windscreen helped them from being blown out of their conveyance once he began increasing their speed. After 10 minutes of steadily ramping up the rate of travel, he estimated that they were moving at least five times as fast as they normally flew through the air, making the landscape practically fly by beneath and around them.

He could potentially go even faster, but he was right on the edge of his focus limit; any faster would mean he would have to stop more often and recuperate before continuing, but their current speed was something he could still maintain for hours yet. Neither of them spoke as they traveled south, both of them watching the land go by in the darkness of the night, though that changed slightly when the sun finally came up. At that point, Larek began describing what he’d been up to since the last time they had met, with him detailing both his stat and Skill development and his experience inside the Flame Trogre Aperture’s territory. Nedira explained that she had actually participated in closing an Aperture a few days before, as part of a group of 20 SIC members who closed it regularly.

As she described how relatively easy it had been because of the group she was in, he remembered how effective the other groups fighting against the Flame Trogres had been. He began to wonder if he should think about putting together his own group when he eventually went up against the Gergasi, but he immediately dismissed it as being too dangerous.  Still, the thought lingered in his mind, and he was unable to get rid of it.

With their speed, they traveled quickly south and started heading southwest and finally straight west. Larek had to stop about every 12 hours, where they would find someplace secure before eating and sleeping for an hour before resuming. It was exhausting, but it wasn’t anything new; he’d been far more exhausted plenty of times while he was training with Torge, so it didn’t bother him all that much. Nedira slept curled around his feet a few times as they traveled, using the only room at the bottom of the Pattern box to replenish her own energy by any means at her disposal.

After a little over two days, they arrived within five miles of the city of Warshdin, and Larek set down quickly, absorbing the Pattern Cohesion from his box and windscreen immediately, lest it be seen. Back down on the ground, they looked at each other and nodded, arranging their Void Pocket bags on their shoulders as they began their walk toward the city that they hoped would lead to their friends and family.