The Fusionist Book 4 -- Chapter 51

Chapter 51

Larek’s first sight of the Drekkin city the group led him to was awe-inspiring, as it was much bigger than he expected it to be. Based on what he’d seen of their height, the knowledge that they lived underground, and the fact that they had been essentially besieged by the monsters altered by the Umbral Demons, he had pictured something of a large town with small buildings, and perhaps a few thousand Drekkin spread throughout it.

In reality, as he approached the city after passing through the tunnel that grew increasingly wider and more ornate, with portions of the stone walls carved into intricate designs and even recognizable beasts and other forms of life, he was greeted by a massive cavern that sloped downward from the tunnel that stretched further than he could see in every direction other than the one he came from. With a ceiling that had to be at least 1,000 feet in height, the space felt like an impossibility, especially as there didn’t seem to be any type of supporting columns or obvious signs of how it was kept from collapsing in on itself. Not only that, but that ceiling was made almost entirely out of the glowing crystal that he’d seen throughout the tunnel he had been traveling down, meaning that the whole city was bathed in a light bright enough to match a late afternoon day up on the surface.

As for the city itself, the buildings he could see seemed constructed of only stone and the size of them boggled his mind, as a few of them appeared to be taller than even the walls surrounding Copperleaf. That was only the largest of the buildings he saw, of course, but there were a variety of different sizes and formations that demonstrated the sheer creativity of the builders, as each one was unique in some way.

That uniqueness was further enhanced by the fact that not a single building he saw was the same color as another, as while they were made from stone, they were constructed from an almost endless number of stone types, more than he realized even existed. If he wasn’t mistaken, there was even one large building that seemed to be constructed of the glowing crystal like what was along the ceiling, though he wasn’t sure how that was even possible.  More than just different stones and the glowing crystal, many of the structures he saw had been painted over in a riot of different colors that should’ve clashed and hurt the eye, but somehow worked to be pleasing to the eye even with their marked contrast and varied hues.

The only thing that stood out like a sore thumb was the wall that surrounded the city, which was constructed entirely of the plain, dull stone that the tunnels had been carved through, and while it appeared to be of relatively new construction, there was visible damage along a few parts that were in the process of being repaired. At only 30 feet tall around the majority of what he could see, it seemed woefully inadequate against the monsters he’d seen both down underground and up on the surface; he could tell that it was still being built up in areas, as if they were still trying to raise its height even further, but with such a stretch of wall it would take time. He could only assume that they either didn’t have a wall at all before the Apertures appeared around Lowenthal, or it was so short that it had been demolished and this new, taller wall was constructed on top of its remains.

“Welcome to Draverdin, Larek,” the Drekkin group leader called up to him. He’d learned along the way that his name was Gharix, which he might have heard during their initial meeting, but he hadn’t really noted it at the time. I would advise you to leave that… contraption out here before we enter.”

Larek nodded, thinking that was probably for the best, especially since the small gate he saw along the wall barely looked large enough for himself to walk through. He set the Air Skimmer down after moving it along the wall, and then used his Secure Hideaway to camouflage its location and prevent anyone from messing with it. With enough force, especially by some of the stronger Mages and Martials, they could break through its defensive hardened air barrier, but he hoped it would stand up to any casual attempts.

It was only when Larek was walking along with the group surrounding him like some sort of guard detail – either for an important personage… or a prisoner, he thought – that he realized he hadn’t activated his Perceptive Misdirection Fusion. He’d deactivated it after leaving the Empire, as it wasn’t needed in the empty desert and the draw on ambient Mana, while comparatively small, was enough of a reason not to keep it active especially when in combat against monsters. Just the thought of so many people looking at him as he entered this extremely foreign city filled with a race of people he had just recently met made him itch to activate it so that he wouldn’t stand out as much, but he held off because he was fairly certain it would cause confusion among the group he had met, at the very least. He already had issues with gaining their trust up to this point, and suddenly changing his appearance within their perception would only give credence to their skepticism around his interaction with the Umbral Demon.

He couldn’t really blame them, though, especially after learning firsthand how the Demons were able to replace a person’s soul and become them almost imperceptibly. If any of them, or their stolen bodies, were to get inside the city, they could cause a lot of damage and potentially lead to even more possessions. Glancing up at the ceiling, the constant glowing light that illuminated everything with very little in the way of shadows made a lot more sense now, as he figured it was designed to give the entire area little access for the Demons to invade on their own.

Therefore, even though his skin seemed to itch from all the attention he was getting from the hundreds of Drekkin that watched him travel to the front gate, escorted by Gharix’s group, he forced himself to simply be who he was and not hide behind the Fusion on his ring.

“Halt! Who is—? Gharix?”

On top of the wall, a Drekkin that appeared to be in charge of the defense around the small gate leading inside the city, called down for the group to stop as he looked them over. Around the area, more than one person outside the walls was already running away at the sight of Larek, even if he was surrounded by a group of Mages and Martials.

“Darden! Let us in, we have important news and need to see The Sire.”

The guard looked closer at them before responding. “But that doesn’t explain who that is, Gharix. You know the rules better than anyone, and by the look of him—hold! Back away, Gharix! He’s been shadow-touched!”

But the group leader didn’t move away from him, much to Larek’s surprise. To his even greater shock, neither did any of the other members of the group, even the female Mage, Pyluxa. “No, Darden, he’s not been shadow-touched; in fact, he’s figured out how to—”

“Shadow-touched?”

“I see the aura around him—”

“Kill him before he gets into the city!”

Gharix held his empty hands out in front of him as he suddenly spoke in the Drekking language in what Larek could only assume was some sort of placating and convincing tone, but it was clearly not working. From what the Combat Fusionist could tell, the guards on the wall were just normal guards and not Mages nor Martials; that changed as they responded in the same language with increasingly hostile-sounding words, and were quickly joined by dozens of Mages and Martials that seemed to sprout up from nowhere behind the wall.

Uh-oh. This doesn’t look good.

Meanwhile, Gharix seemed to be getting desperate, and while he couldn’t understand anything he said, the pleading tone was obvious enough to anyone listening. Suddenly, conversation stopped on both sides, and the silence that arose had a pressure to it that he Larek didn’t like the feeling of.

“Get ready to run. Larek, if you could help protect us with that shield?” Gharix said very softly, and Larek could just barely hear it

What’s going on? he thought. He wanted to ask, but he figured that the Drekkin group leader was speaking softly for a reason. Instead, he nodded almost imperceptibly and said, “I can only produce that type of shield if I’m stationary, but I’ll do what I can.”

His slightly louder speech was apparently all that was needed to set off a confrontation, because as soon as he finished, Gharix shouted, “Run!”

They turned around and took off just as spells were being cast upon the walls, and an arrow flew into Larek’s back – only for it to be pushed down by his Repelling Barrier. A brief look backward showed that at least a dozen magical projectiles, ranging from weaker Fireballs to a massive boulder that was at least the size of one of the Drekkin flying toward their running forms. Pyluxa and Hakkin were lagging behind, lacking the Agility that the Martials possessed, though Gharix and another of the Martials did their best to place themselves in front of the incoming attacks. Larek could tell that it wasn’t going to be enough, so he ran next to the two Mages, created his Pattern shield, and used it to block the initial volley of magical projectiles.

Or at least he tried.

Moving it quickly enough, he was able to intercept most of them, but a Fireball and a small grouping of Ice Spikes made it through not only his shield but Gharix and the other Martial, Abarcen, as they tried to defend their most vulnerable members. Cries of pain rang out as both Hakkin and Pyluxa were hit, Hakkin with a fireball to his back that knocked him down on his face, and the female Mage with an icicle through her left leg, sending her sprawling and unable to get up.

“Move! Run! I’ve got them,” Larek said, even as a three more arrows seemed to come out of nowhere to try and impale him while he was distracted, and while one of them got through, it wasn’t powered by any Stama or Battle Art and his clothes did what they were supposed to do by stopping it from piercing through the cloth. The two Martials didn’t move until he reached down and grabbed the two Mages, letting his Pattern shield dissipate and losing the Pattern Cohesion in the process, and he held them under each of his arms as he ran off with them.

It was just in time, too, as the Martials from the wall had jumped down and were closing in with them, even as another wave of spells were released from the Mages back on the wall. Larek took off running with every point of his Agility, only slowed down slightly from the surprisingly lightweight forms of the Drekkin he was carrying.

He was actually quite a bit faster than the others and quickly outpaced them, heading for where he felt his Air Skimmer was left behind. Larek was also forced to ignore the female Mage pounding at his back and her yelling for him to release her, as he knew that would be a poor idea if he were to let her go at the moment – and at the speed he was moving.

Regardless of her protestations, they made it back to his vessel as he deactivated the Secure Hideaway without being hit by anything along the way, and he deposited the two Drekkin Mages inside before scrambling aboard himself. He began the activation for liftoff and held it to just barely above the ground so that when Gharix and the others made it to him, they would be able to jump inside.

One of the Drekkin, who he thought was named Medrizz, tripped when he was clipped by another boulder, and was nearly set upon by the following Martials before Gharix managed to pick him up and drag him along with him. Larek guided the Air Skimmer forward, getting closer to the other members of the group, using his Pattern to extend a shield approximately 50 feet ahead of the vessel to help block the pursuing Drekkin. He felt the strain on his mind and body at projecting it at such a distance, but he ignored it as he stood still in the middle of the Skimmer and used the shield to knock away not only projectiles but also to shove back the Martials when they got too close.

Within a few seconds of this, he had to release the shield as the strain grew too great, and he sagged in exhaustion as the remaining members of the group reached them and clamored aboard, rocking the Skimmer so that it dragged along the ground for a moment before stabilizing. Without another moment to spare, he turned them around and shot out of the tunnel, activating Secure Hideaway at the same time. He normally wouldn’t do that, as it consumed quite a bit of the ambient Mana in the area, which wasn’t a very good idea even if he was traveling, because it would reduce the amount of Mana available for a fight if he was forced to stop, but at the moment he had no intention of stopping.

Just as they were passing the entrance of the massive cavern on their way out, a group of approximately 300 Walking Skeletons with dark-grey bones were apparently invading, but Larek didn’t stop because he couldn’t. The dome of hardened air around them seemed to shiver and shake as he barreled through the ranks of the weak undead monsters, scattering their bones as they were killed from the impact with the racing Skimmer, though “racing” was a bit of a stretch. They weren’t going any faster than the vessel’s normal top speed that it was capable of without destabilizing, but it was still fast enough to have an impact on the Skeletons.

As they left the disorganized horde of Skeletons behind, which were quickly set upon by the pursuing Martials, Larek was disappointed to find that he didn’t receive any Aetheric Force from their deaths; a brief idea of simply running over any monsters in his path for easy advancement was quickly dashed.

Once they were far enough away from the city about 10 minutes later, he stopped the Skimmer and looked at the others inside, who were currently sitting around the perimeter of the inside compartment of the vessel, looking completely despondent and uncommunicative, their eyes cast down at their feet. As for the two Mages, they were doing their best to fight through the pain and used what appeared to be Minor Mending on themselves to alleviate the burn and impaled leg, though it was slow-going. With such a weak healing spell, it would take a while for their wounds to be fully repaired – if they had the Mana to sustain it for that long, of course.

“Here, let me help,” he said, quickly using his Healing Surge Fusion on the two Mages, healing them back to normal within seconds. It wasn’t enough to knock them out, fortunately, but they were undoubtedly hungry after the healing. They didn’t complain, however, but joined the others in looking down at their feet in obvious despondency.

Larek didn’t say anything because he couldn’t think of anything that might help. Their own people had apparently tried to kill them, and he didn’t even know why.

“Thisss isss all your fault,” Pyluxa hissed suddenly, raising her head to stare murderously at Larek. “If it wasssn’t for you, all of thisss wouldn’t have happened…” Her stare made him back up temporarily at the fire within it, but it quickly faded back into a blank expression. “But you also sssaved all of our livesss, ssso now I’m conflicted. While we wouldn’t have been in that possssition if it wasssn’t for your presssence, it wasss alssso our desssicion to defend you.”

Larek looked back at her and asked, “I’m sorry they did that to you, but I also have no idea what just happened. I couldn’t understand any of that after a while, so I’d appreciate an explanation.”

They were silent for a moment as Pyluxa’s once-defiant stare disappeared and she dropped her eyes to her feet, especially her healed foot, like the others. It was Gharix that finally answered after about 30 seconds of silence.

“They thought we had been possessed by the Umbral Demons as well, or at least that we were tainted by proximity with you.” He sighed heavily before continuing. “We’ve been put on the kill-on-sight list as a result, as they don’t want to take the chance of anyone under such a possession or shadow-touched in any way coming making their way into the city.

“In effect, we can never go back to our people without being executed on sight. That’s what happened.”

Larek knew that a simple apology wouldn’t cut it for something as serious as essentially being exiled from your own people, so he said nothing at first.

“Is there… any way they will let you come back?” he finally asked, feeling somewhat responsible for the situation. Granted, he had very little idea that such a thing could’ve happened at all, but he couldn’t deny that he was the source of the contention. As much as he didn’t want to get involved in their confrontation, given that he had another goal entirely, but if it was something he might be capable of doing, he would like to try and rectify this horrible mistake.

Gharix chuckled, sounding almost hysterical. “Sure, sure. All we need to do is find some way to eliminate every single Umbra Demon, kill all the shadow-touched monsters threatening our people, and close this Aperture that no one still living has ever actually seen in person before, even if we know where it is.”

Huh. Seems simple enough – and it’s what I wanted to do, anyway.

“Well then, let’s go do that, shall we?”