The Fusionist Book 5 -- Chapter 28

Chapter 28

The next week was filled with fighting, Fusions… and fleeing from Factions that wanted to force Larek to work for them. As the two of them traveled east for another day before heading northeast for a day and then straight north afterwards, they encountered additional Apertures that were able to give Larek a little over 26,000 Aetheric Force when he killed the monsters inside; it wasn’t as much as he was hoping for, as most of what they encountered were Apertures that didn’t contain any particularly strong monsters. Still, it was enough to increase the maximum Level for many of his Mage Skill, and even obtained another Skill Level in Throwing as he used some of his Weaken stones for extra damage at times.

Mage Skills:

Spellcasting Focus Level 41[50]/50 (500 AF)

Magical Detection Level 43[53]/55 (550 AF)

Pattern Recognition Level 45[55]/55 (550 AF)

Pattern Manipulation Level 55/65 (650 AF)

Multi-effect Fusion Focus Level 56/65 (650 AF)

Focused Division Level 56/65 (650 AF)

Mana Control Level 62[70]/70 (700 AF)

Fusion Level 62[70]/70 (700 AF)

Pattern Formation Level 62[70]/70 (700 AF)

Martial Skills:

Blunt Weapon Expertise Level 1/35 (350 AF)

Stama Subjugation Level 2/35 (350 AF)

Bladed Weapon Expertise Level 3[13]/35 (350 AF)

Unarmed Fighting Level 4[14]/35 (350 AF)

Throwing Level 20[30]/35 (350 AF)

Dodge Level 24[34]/35 (350 AF)

Pain Immunity Level 20/20 (N/A)

Body Regeneration Level 39[49]/50 (500 AF)

The only Mage Skill he didn’t increase the maximum for was Spellcasting Focussince it still had a bit to reach its current limit of 50; at the same time, he increased his maximum for Pattern Manipulation up to 65 from its previous 55 since he had been increasing that Skill significantly over the previous few weeks. Of course, as soon as he did that, he didn’t obtain any more Skill Level increases; it was probably because he wasn’t using it for anything other than a box for their transportation and wasn’t stretching the bounds of what it could do.

But what they were really concentrating on as they traveled was visiting any large cities or towns along their route. They didn’t necessarily need any food or traveling supplies since they had all they needed in their Void Pockets, and after Larek added Fusions to his new clothes, he didn’t have to look for any other attire; instead, they were looking to gain some more information. The knowledge they gained about the state of the Kingdom showed that most of the Kingdom was similar to what they’d seen before. There were pockets like Tarvada that were supposedly surviving – and in a few cases, thriving – scattered around the Kingdom, but the majority of it was like what they found in Fairmeadow.

Clusters of cities and towns worked together in large areas, creating what were essentially safety zones where the Apertures were closed regularly or controlled to the point where they were no threat. Looking at the Kingdom as a whole, these safety zones – with a few exceptions of independent cities or towns holding on somehow – formed a cross that extended from the east to the center, west to the center, north to the center, and south to the center; the large part of the remaining land to the northwest, northeast, southwest, and southeast were consumed by the Calamities. There was a fifth and final Calamity that was centered in the Kingdom, which apparently either covered the entire capital or was so near it that it made no difference; information coming from that direction was few and far between, which could also account for the fragmented state of the SIC and the lack of a centralized resistance against the Apertures.

Along those safety zones was where Larek and Nedira traveled, which also meant that finding Apertures to close and hunt monsters was difficult, since most of them were taken care of. He was tempted to venture into the nearby Calamity but held off for now, since he wasn’t exactly sure what he would find in there; that sort of information was apparently only for full members of a Faction for some reason – and there was a problem with obtaining that knowledge.

It mainly stemmed from the fact that every single town and city they visited had similar policies as Fairmeadow, where they demanded service from those who had potential. They had gotten lucky that they knew the Faction Commander back in that first city, and even then they had to contend with someone who didn’t understand why they were being let go. That luck didn’t extend to the places they visited afterwards looking for information, as they were essentially told that they had to join the Faction and serve… or die.

Needless to say, they didn’t like either of those choices, so they had to flee after spending a few hours gaining as much information as they could before they flew away. Most of the places they visited were a bit lax in their orders and allowed them to come to terms with their service, similar to Fairmeadow where you served or starved, but others essentially had them under guard as they were marched to where they would meet with a Faction leader and be told what was expected of them. It was in those situations where Larek immediately picked Nedira up and jumped straight up into the air, forming a Pattern box under his feet before fleeing as fast as possible.

Only once were they actually chased by an odd squad of Aeromancers, who attempted to use air-based spells to blast them out of the sky, but they were completely ineffective against his Pattern construct. Thankfully, they were only followed for about 5 minutes before the Mages ran out of Mana and could no longer take large, bounding leaps enhanced by air spells to keep up with them.

For those that the two of them actually stuck around for longer than a few hours and spoke to the local Faction Commander, two of them attempted to essentially capture Larek after he offered them some Fusions that could help them combat the Apertures. He was able to escape with Nedira after overpowering the Mages and Martials they had stationed inside the city, which were thankfully generally weaker than most – as the majority of the stronger members of the Factions were out on patrol.

Only one, a single Faction, was willing to hear him out and accept help in the form of Fusions without asking for mandatory service. It was actually a large town, nearly a city, that was controlled by the Strike Faction – as opposed to every other place they visited which was operated by the Defend Faction. He wasn’t sure if it was because of their philosophy toward pushing deeper into the Calamity than the other Faction, or just bad luck, but the town of Bardington was in bad shape. Not part of a larger network of Faction-run cities and towns, it also wasn’t necessarily independent like Tarvada; instead, it was basically shunned by nearby cities and towns for being part of the Strike Faction. As a result, they had starving people, though not nearly as bad as he’d seen before; they also only had about 30 Martials and Mages living there and defending the town from the nearby Apertures, but those individuals were something he hadn’t expected to find.

Older, veteran members of the SIC.

As soon as he met some of them, he realized why they had a different philosophy concerning the Calamities than most of the others he’d met. The veterans knew what it was like having control over their lands, as many of them had fought against the Scissions and their monsters for years, and allowing something like the Calamity to continue existing was an affront to all they had worked for during their lives as part of the SIC. They called the newer Mages and Martials, as well as the entire Defend Faction, “complacent” and “lazy”, both of which would eventually lead to the downfall of everyone.

Having seen and heard the excuses of their stance on the Calamity, even from his old bodyguard, Kimble, Larek agreed with the old-timers. At the same time, there wasn’t much that the Fusionist could do to change the situation other than what he was already doing – and the veteran SIC members welcomed his help with open arms.

Thankfully for them, Larek had spent some time during the evenings adding Fusions to the materials he had picked up in Fairmeadow thanks to the Faction Commander there, so he had plenty to give to the entire force there in Bardington. While he was working on those Fusions, he had also used his Skills to add a brand-new Void Curtain +10 Fusion he designed to their clothes and even their weapons. The new Fusion was simple, as it utilized the same void carrier principle he’d utilized on his Void Pockets to essentially hide all sight of the Fusions behind a “curtain”, meaning that they didn’t have to go around with the same amount of scrutiny at their clothes that they’d been putting up with.  Now, anyone with sensitive enough Magical Detection could see the absence of Mana around them and possibly seeing ambient Mana being sucked into what was essentially a void around them, but they wouldn’t be able to see the actual Fusions.

Larek unloaded many of the same Fusions he had at Fairmeadow for Kimble, but he also spent the night in Bardington and added additional Fusions to the weapons and armor of those who were available. Contrary to what he’d seen in other cities, these older SIC members actually had quite a few Fusions of their own, but while they were well-constructed, they were also fairly weak.

At least compared to what Larek could create.

So, he replaced what they had and added in some things that he and Nedira had on their own armor, including the Automatic Ice Repulsion Field, because, well, why not? If they were determined to strike into the heart of the Calamity regardless of his help, they were going to need it. For real, though, he actually hoped that his efforts allowed them to actually succeed, because that would just be proof that his Fusions were effective in the hands of those who could really take advantage of them.

Sadly, even though he was able to fully outfit 25 of them with new Fusions – since one of their groups was out at the time – he doubted that they would be enough to close the Aperture. Still, every little bit helped, and if he could keep them alive that much longer, then it was worth his time and effort.

Plus, they were actually able to sleep in a bed, whereas every other place they visited essentially ran them out before they could stay the night.

He had worried that the older SIC members would try and keep him there the morning after, but they instead parted with heartfelt thanks and a wish for their own success – and a promise to pass on any information on those they were looking for. He knew it was probably a forlorn hope that these people would obtain any information like that, given that they were essentially out of the loop, but it didn’t hurt to have additional contacts, he supposed.

That was their only real highlight of their trip, however, as most of their time was spent looking for the odd Aperture nearby to close and hunt for more Aetheric Force, or escaping from cities and towns after obtaining more random tidbits of information. He created more Fusions at night, thanks to some additional materials from those in Bardington, which replaced what he had given out, but didn’t receive any more Skill Levels in his Mage Skills the entire trip.

Most of what he created was simple by this point, even if it was relatively complicated by most people’s standards, and he’d produced them dozens if not hundreds of times by this point; he was starting to get to the point where he’d need to start designing new Fusions or challenge himself with something before he started advancing again. He had some room to grow thanks to the Aetheric Force he was able to accumulate from their journey, but didn’t quite have the impetus at the moment to further his development.

Simple repetition, while it worked to increase his Skills in the past, wasn’t going to cut it anymore.

After their week of practically non-stop travel, they finally saw something familiar to the east of where they were traveling: The mountain that contained the city of Peratin… as well as Copperleaf Academy where Larek and Nedira had met and attended classes. It was also the location of Fort Hilltower, which he hoped to attend at some point soon to study the Martial side of his abilities.

They bypassed the city without stopping.

While it was possible that they might’ve learned something there, the two of them collectively decided to wait to investigate any information they might gain until later. The reason for that was because Larek wasn’t ready to start training at the Fort, and it was almost guaranteed that they would both be identified as having potential as soon as they walked through the gates. The Fusionist didn’t want to have to flee now and then be remembered for essentially flying away when he came back for training… as a Martial.

But the sight of the Academy and the city of Peratin also meant that they were getting close to their destination. It had taken a few weeks to travel from Rushwood to Peratin back when he was ordered to attend, but that travel was also in the form of a slow caravan of merchants; with his Pattern box, he was fairly certain that he could reach it within two days, if not shorter than that.

For the rest of the day, they passed town after town, each of them looking vaguely familiar to Larek, not stopping so close to their destination. They ended up camping outside like they had been for most of their travels. The next day, he could practically taste how close they were to Rushwood, but when the day begun to fade and darkness fell across the land, he thought that they were still at least four or five hours away.

He had a restless night that night, as being so close to home and his family kept him awake, so he was slightly tired when they woke up in the morning. Eager to get moving, the sun was barely up when they took off again, and Larek saw something in the distance that brought a grim reminder of his journey to Crystalview: Barrowford. The town was where he experienced his first Scission, as well as witnessing his first violent deaths due to the undead monsters that emerged from it. It was also where Inquisitor Carl had first identified him as having potential, ordering him to attend a Mage academy against his wishes.

When they got closer, he frowned when he saw the state that the town was in. Or what was left of the town, at least, because its crumbling walls had been breached at multiple points sometime in the past, and dozens of buildings had collapsed inside. There was evidence of fierce fighting in the shape of scorched stone and timber scattered around, and the bones of unburied residents stuck up here and there through the rubble. Of the SIC building where he had stayed, there was nothing but a shell of a foundation, as if it had blown up from the inside.

“Wh—what happened?” Larek asked in a whisper, his eyes unbelieving of what he was seeing.

Nedira shook her head next to him as they looked down at the devastation. “Either a large Scission or a wandering monster horde attack.  Or… the Aperture I can sense to the east might have expanded far enough at one point to envelope the town? If it did, then it’s been closed afterwards.”

In the end, it didn’t really matter what happened – Barrowford was gone. They’d seen multiple villages and towns in the same shape along their travels, but this hit a little too close to home.

Literally.

Slightly panicking, he looked to the north where Rushwood was located, and pushed the Pattern box ahead probably a little too fast for safety or his focus, but Nedira didn’t say anything as they shot ahead. In too short of a time, he spotted something that sent a feeling of dread through his entire body.

Rushwood trees. They were miles and miles too far south of where they should be.

“No, no, no; this whole area should be nothing but flat land, with very few trees present. These Rushwood trees shouldn’t be here,” he mumbled.

Because if they were this far south, then that meant there wasn’t anything holding them back. And if there wasn’t anything holding them back, then it was likely there weren’t Loggers doing that work.

As if he was literally homing into his family’s home, he shot over the treetops, using his familiarity with the area to find his way back to where his family lived. He overshot it by about a half-mile and had to backtrack, but eventually he located his destination in a break in the trees and took the Pattern box down to search for his family.

The sight of their old house brought back pangs of familiarity, but they were ruined by its current state. No less than a six trees had emerged from underneath it to pierce all the way through it, destroying it to the point where if he didn’t recognize his broken bed and the shattered kitchen table, he would barely know it was the same house his family had lived in.

Setting down, he could feel his emotions threatening to break free, but whether or not he wanted to break down and cry or rage at the unfairness of the world, he wasn’t quite sure. Nedira joined him as he picked over the wreckage, looking for any sign that his family had perished in his home, but he couldn’t find a single shred of evidence. He also couldn’t find any personal possessions, as the remains of any clothes drawers and a single wardrobe they owned were completely empty – and he doubted someone stole them.

“I’m so sorry, Larek,” Nedira said after he was done searching through the remains of his childhood home. “What do you think happened to them?”

The Fusionist stood back and stared at his home, trying to picture what might have happened based on what he found – or, more precisely, didn’t find. “I don’t see any sign of a monster attack, and they appeared to have left with their clothes and most of their other personal possessions. They might have fled somewhere after it became too dangerous around here?” He shook his head. “Honestly, I don’t really know what happened here, but it looks to have happened a long time ago.” He felt somewhat better about that for some reason, because he was fairly sure that even if he had arrived earlier, it wouldn’t have changed what happened to his home.

“What are you going to do now?”

He thought about it for a moment, as snippets of his earlier search for his home came back to him. “I may not know what happened to them, but I can almost guarantee that someone does,” he said, turning to the south. He vaguely remembered seeing a clearing earlier on his rush to find his house, and if he was correct, then it was exactly where another memory he wished he could forget was located.

Rushwood village.