The Fusionist Book 4 -- Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Did I cause this to happen? Is my presence here a catalyst for that Scission to appear?

Larek didn’t know, but the sounds of screaming coming from somewhere in the barracks caused him to run out of his assigned bedroom, only to emerge into a chaotic mess once he reached the main leisure space for the Protectors where they hung out in between patrols. A third of the figures inside the room were on the ground or collapsed partway in chairs or draped over tables, screaming their heads in what appeared to be pain – though there were no visible wounds that the Fusionist could see. Most of the remaining Protectors appeared dazed, as if they were unaware of what was going on, though there were a few that were attempting to figure out what was going on with their comrades.

Stopping as soon as he saw the chaos, Larek witnessed something happen that gave him a clue as to what was happening. The Protectors that were already screaming suddenly convulsed uncontrollably for a few seconds before their screams ramped up yet again. At the same time, Larek inadvertently focused on the environment and the Mana that floated around the space. As he halfway expected, the density of the multicolored strands of light was more than it was even a day ago; with the appearance of a Scission nearby, it seemed plausible.

What he wasn’t expecting was that the light strands floating around suddenly streamed toward the screaming individuals, where it disappeared into their bodies, absorbed just like Larek absorbed it to replenish his Mana. Because he was watching, he also noted that on about half of those convulsing the light changed subtly as it entered them, and he had the distinct feeling when he saw how it transformed that he was looking at Stama in its raw form.

Are these strands of light not Mana, but something that encompasses both Mana and Stama?

Larek didn’t have time to ponder it further than that as the screaming abruptly stopped, leaving a deafening silence that was interrupted a few seconds later by the pained moaning of those that had been affected. While no one else present likely knew what exactly happened to them, the Fusionist vividly remembered the process in which his Mage half had been awakened back at Crystalview Academy. He could only assume that this was what had happened to them, as well as those who had Stama injected into them had their Martial side “cracked open” – as Penelope would say; he couldn’t say for sure that was what happened, given that his own Martial awakening was quite a bit different, but it seemed plausible.

But that just begged a bevy of questions. How did this happen? Why these people? Was it in response to the Scission appearing? Are they now Mages and Martials?

With no answer ready at his fingertips, Larek noticed the familiar face of Protector Ashlynn being one of those that had suffered the abrupt awakening; she was slowly picking herself up off the floor, appearing unsteady as she got to her feet with a stunned expression on her face. The moment he took a step in her direction to see if he could gain any answers from her, a notification appeared in front of him that caused him to stop.

Warning!

Corruption saturation has surpassed the second threshold!

At this stage, the Corruption has now spread to every corner of the world, though it only has a tenuous foothold in most locations. While the Guardians continue to assist in maintaining the original breach, they have proven to be unable to halt the upwelling of Corruption that is constantly being infused into this world.

Since the appearance of the first Aperture 1,468 days ago, the advancement of the Corruption has not been curbed, though great gains were made in pushing back its spread. Unfortunately, this has proven to be unsustainable and drastic measures were instituted by the Guardians.

As a result of passing the second threshold of Corruption throughout the world, a great working was unleashed that has unlocked the potential to be a Mage or Martial in millions of people all over the world. In addition, a small portion of necessary knowledge was imparted to the newly awakened individuals with potential, giving them the tools to curb the advancement of the Corruption on a global scale.

No longer will the Guardians be alone in their valiant efforts against the dangers that threaten the entire world. It is now your duty to go forth and fight the physical manifestations of Corruption that even now are emerging from Scissions in the fabric of reality.

Do not panic and do not wait to protect your lands! The danger that these physical manifestations of Corruption will create a permanent Aperture leading to the world of Corruption is real, and preventing that from happening should be your first priority.

While Scissions are temporary portals into the world of the Corruption, Apertures are permanent connections between the two worlds. These permanent connections are established when the Corrupted Aetheric Force present in their physical manifestations….

The notification went on to repeat the earlier notification he received back in the Kingdom referring to Apertures, which he thought was strange given that he already knew about it. When he got to the end, which also ended with the phrase, “Good luck and good hunting!”, he quickly reread it all to make sure he was understanding what he had read. There were three main points that he focused on, each of them stranger than the next.

First and foremost, the notification mentioned that it had been 1,468 days since the first Aperture had appeared, which he mentally calculated to be just over 4 years. That was impossible, however, as he had only been in Enderflow for about a month, and the Aperture appeared – and was temporarily closed – less than a day before he arrived. So, either his previous notification about locating and closing the first Aperture was a lie, as there had been at least one that had appeared around 4 years before, or…

…he had somehow lost time and it was actually 4 years later from when he was transported to the Empire of Sealance.

Unfortunately, the latter reason would also explain how things had gotten bad enough that the Corruption was spreading all over the world rather than concentrating on only the Kingdom – in only a month. If it had indeed been around 4 years since the first Aperture, then he could see how it might have gotten that bad if the SIC back home wasn’t able to get a handle on the situation in a quick enough matter. For it to have progressed this much in a matter of years was still very troubling, nonetheless; he couldn’t imagine how bad it was back home for the Corruption to spill over to the rest of the world.

And that world was completely unprepared for what was happening to them.

The second thing that caught his attention was mention of a small portion of “necessary knowledge” was imparted to those that had been affected by an awakening. While unsure of what exactly this meant, Larek could only assume that each person was given a rudimentary understanding of what they could do with their newly granted power; given that there were no Mage Academies or Martial training Forts nearby to help them learn how to cast spells or applying their Stama for Battle Arts, he suppose this made sense. How exactly this knowledge was imparted to them was a mystery, though the Fusionist supposed it was similar to how he had gained access to certain Mage Skills immediately after his awakening in the Academy, though on a greater scale.

He also thought it was patently unfair, as Larek had needed to learn everything from scratch at the Academy, and it seemed as though the basics were being taught to these people for absolutely nothing. He could certainly use a course on Stama manipulation and the usage of Battle Arts, as he was fairly certain that he hadn’t been imparted any new knowledge on those processes within the last few minutes.

Lastly, he noticed that the notification didn’t seem as personalized toward him or even toward the Gergasi “Guardians”. Instead, as he closed the notification from his view and looked around the room, it quickly became clear that everyone received a notification, not just himself or those who had been magically awakened. Whether or not the content was the same was something he’d have to find out, but he suspected it was similar if not identical.

“What is going on?”

“How did this happen?”

“This isn’t real, is it?”

Larek heard variations of these questions as he made his way over to Protector Ashlynn, he main point of contact within the organization of the Protectors. He hadn’t seen much of her after the bandit incident a few weeks before, but while he knew a few of the other Protectors by sight, Ashlynn was the only one that he had spoken with for more than a minute or two.

“You. What do you know about this?”

She had seen him coming and locked onto his tall figure immediately, firing off her question with a demand in her voice that he hadn’t heard since he was first taken into custody just after arriving in town. “Not much, unfortunately,” he admitted, coming to a stop in front of the woman. “I can only assume that the SIC inside the Kingdom were unable to contain the Apertures that were opening up everywhere, and this is the result.”

“So, you’re saying that it’s your people’s fault? And what did that notification mean about Scissions and ‘physical manifestations’?”

He shook his head. “No, it’s not their fault; if anything, it’s the so-called ‘Guardians’ that caused the problem in the first place.”

“Guardians?  I saw that mentioned in the notification; who, exactly, are they?”

The Fusionist debated on how much to share about the Gergasi and the slavery of the Nobility in the Kingdom, as well as the origins of the breach, the Scissions, and the monsters that emerged from them. As he hesitated, his peripheral vision showed that many of those that had been affected by their magical awakening had recovered enough and had gotten over enough of their initial shock to hear Ashlynn ask Larek the question. When he didn’t answer right away, there was a movement toward him that he immediately identified as threatening, so he held up his hands to stop them.

“Hold on, I’ll tell you all you want to know, but there’s something more important that you need to deal with before it become a problem,” he said quickly, which stopped them in their tracks. “Do you all feel something coming from that direction?” he asked, pointing toward where he felt the Scission in the far distance. “That’s a Scission, and it’s in the process of unleashing monsters into this world. If you all saw the notification about Apertures, then you need to kill them before they can establish a permanent connection to the world of the Corruption.”

“Monsters? Those are just old wives’ tales, aren’t they?”

Larek chuckled at the question from one of the Protectors, a man he didn’t know by name but had seen around, as the naiveté in the question sounded like Larek did more than a year ago before he left home. Or is that more like 5 years ago if I’m right about the time difference? I still need to find out if that is accurate or not.

“Unfortunately, no. The monsters that are about to emerge from the Scission are the ‘physical manifestations’ that the notification referenced, and it is imperative that you stop them before they can establish a permanent Aperture. I don’t personally know how long it will take for these monsters to get one up and running, but I would err on the side of caution. In other words, there’s no time to waste.”

Some of the Protectors still seemed skeptical while the shock of everything that had happened over the last minute or so continued to affect the others, at least according to their faces. Protector Ashlynn just looked thoughtful along with a bunch of others, and glancing at those that appeared lost in thought he realized that most of them were those that had gone through a magical awakening.

“What is all this nonsense on my Status? Strength, Body, and Agility? And what is Stama—oh. Ohhhhh. I see.” Ashlynn’s eyes focused on Larek. “Is this what it means to be a Martial like you? With the use of Stama and these Battle Arts?”

He hesitated again before answering. “Sort of? I had just begun my training, and I wasn’t given any knowledge of how it Stama is used or how to properly use Battle Arts. I can only assume by the notification that you did?”

She nodded slowly, her eyes unfocused again. “In a manner of speaking. I have a pair of Battle Arts listed on my Status and I think I can probably activate them with some practice manipulating my Stama.” Her eyes locked onto his abruptly. “But you say that we’re limited on time?”

“Yes! You need to kill those monsters as quickly as you can—”

“What do you mean, ‘You’? You’re still under your service obligation, so you’re coming with us.”

Now Larek was confused. “But I didn’t think you wanted me to participate in anything like this after the last time things didn’t work out so well. Was I wrong?”

“You aren’t wrong, but this is different,” she said impatiently. “I want you with us to help to identify these monsters and this ‘Scission’, and I’m not letting you out of my sight until you answer more of my questions. If this is a threat to the town of Enderflow and the Empire of Sealance, then it’s imperative that you share with us everything you know.”

That sounded fair enough to Larek, and since he had finished his Fusion consolidation, he didn’t really have anything else to do. Besides, the opportunity to kill more monsters wasn’t something that he could easily pass up, especially if it provided him more Aetheric Force to use toward his Skills. Glancing at his ring that held the Perceptive Misdirection Fusion on it that Shinpai had created, he realized that it probably only had another few weeks before it faded away completely; before that happened, or at least before he returned the Kingdom, he needed to be able to replicate it. In order to do that, he was fairly certain he needed to have his Fusion and Pattern Formation Skills both at Level 40; the creation of Advanced Fusions was tantalizingly close, but to get there required more Aetheric Force.

That meant killing monsters.

Fortunately, he wouldn’t be doing it alone, as at Ashlynn’s words, the entire group of Protectors started to move, gearing up for a fight as they strapped discarded armor to their bodies and picked up their stored spears. Within a minute, they were ready to go and started marching out of the door and into the street, with Larek following behind along with Protector Ashlynn – where they discovered that it wasn’t just the Protectors that had undergone a harrowing magical awakening. When he added in the panicked mutterings and screams of the rest of the town’s population, things were even more chaotic than what he walked into coming out of his bedroom in the barracks.

Thankfully, Larek didn’t have to deal with any of it and Protector Ashlynn took immediate charge of the situation, contacting those in charge of the town and breaking off a third of the Protectors to restore at least a semblance of order. The rest of them headed off toward the stables to get mounted up, though Larek refrained from taking a horse to ride. They were a bit too small to handle his actual size and weight, and he could run faster and for longer than a mount, anyway.

“Are you sure you don’t want one?” Ashlynn asked, strapping on her helmet as she settled herself on her horse.

He shook his head. “No. Now that you’re a Martial, you’ll find that your stats will enable you to run faster and longer distances than ever before.”

Rather than look skeptical, a thoughtful expression crossed her face before she ordered the Protectors to move out. Larek loped alongside Ashlynn who took to the front of their formation of 27 Protectors behind her, in 9 rows of 3 riders wide, finding it good to stretch his legs after so long being confined to the town or his bedroom creating Fusions.

Just as they were leaving town and angled toward where everyone could feel the Scission in the distance, the power coming from it abruptly spiked… and then shut off just as quickly.

“They’ve emerged,” he explained at the familiar Protector’s questioning glance. As long as we head in that direction, we should run into them.”

With only a nod in response, she flicked the reins in her hands to urge her horse to move faster, which meant that Larek had to speed up as well. Before long, they were galloping along the dirt road heading in the general direction of where the Scission used to be, with Larek wondering the entire time what exactly they would find when they got there.