Across Eternity B. 05

City of Beasts

Noah and Valia were late to meet back up with Reynolds and his men, but fortunately, they were still waiting at the agreed location, though they were far from happy about it. The fact that they arrived on a sled pulled by a partially dismembered fiend helped distract them from their anger.

"What in the world happened out there?" Reynolds asked.

"The centaur tribe was raided by a small army of fiends, and its members were captured and dragged away," said Valia. "This is Shannon, a survivor. She's coming with us."

Shannon was understandably timid in the presence of the Utheric knight and soldiers. These were the people taking over her country and enslaving the citizens. Had the Profane not done it first, these men might have been the ones to capture her people.

"At the very least, I was able to gather a lot of information about our enemy," said Noah.

"Then I suppose this wasn't a complete waste of time," Reynolds huffed. "However, I insist we head for Welindar with no more delays."

"Agreed, lead the way."

Thus, they resumed their journey across the plains. While the men rode on horseback, Noah and Valia sat on the sled, dragged by the captured fiend. Shannon galloped beside them in her centaur form, and when they made camp that night, she fell asleep before dinner was prepared.

"She's exhausted," Valia sighed, draping a blanket over her.

"With everything that's happened since last night, it's no wonder," said Noah.

Watching them, one of the soldiers got annoyed. "Bad enough we wait for days for you two traitors with our thumbs up our asses, but now we have to take care of your little pet too?"

Noah and Valia ignored him and resumed their conversation in elvish. "The ghoul I fought, Tysinger, concerns me. How many more like him are there?"

"You said he was able to detect you while you were cloaked?"

"He couldn't sense my location, but he could sense my attacks. He called it my killing intent. I suppose it's similar to the feeling of being watched."

"Hey! I'm talking to you!"

"I wonder why he bothered trying to save that other one. Did he say anything?"

"Only that Deacon still had some value. Perhaps he possessed some trait or ability that's rare for hosts, something not given to him by the parasite. Perhaps he was being used as a test subject."

The indignant soldier stormed over. "Don't ignore me!"

Noah calmly stood up, faced him, and rendered him silent with a punch to the throat. The man dropped to the ground, gasping for air and paralyzed by agony. "We are trying to have a conversation, and our friend is asleep. Please keep the noise down. And that goes for the rest of you, too." The other soldiers wisely obeyed and ate in silence.

As they were breaking camp the following day, Noah noticed Shannon cleaning her grandfather's sword. Along with some supplies Noah scavenged from the destroyed village, the sword and bow were all she had left of her home.

"Are you any good with those?" he asked.

"Women do not take part in the hunt or in battles, but we are trained at a young age to defend ourselves."

"That's good. I admire resilience and capability. Indulge my curiosity, will you? How about a quick match? I'd like to see the fighting techniques of your clan."

The challenge surprised her, but Noah gave her a second to gather her courage. "As you wish," she said, trying to keep her voice steady.

Shannon assumed her centaur form and brandished her sword, facing Noah. Sensing what was happening, the soldiers moved out of the way to observe. The two moved in a circle, keeping their distance as they gauged each other. Noah could read her expressions like a book. She was fearful, distraught by everything that had happened, but there was determination in her eyes, trying to climb out from under the pile of her doubts.

"See that sword? That's more than just a piece of metal in your hand. You're holding your destiny, the power to change the world."

Noah made the first move, closing the distance and swinging at Shannon. He used the flat side of his sword and held back his strength and speed, wanting to ensure he didn't end up wounding her. She blocked the attack, and rather than countering with a slash of her own, she reared onto her hind legs and tried to kick him with her forelegs. Noah moved back, not wanting to be coldcocked by those tough hooves. He went around the side, aiming for her lower body, but she turned and warded him off with her sword. Thanks to the long handle, she could defend herself from all angles.

She reoriented herself, able to turn and pivot with surprising dexterity. Noah went in for a third attempt, laying down some easy swings for her to block. She was out of practice but able to fend off his attacks, and her growing confidence drove her to counter with several slashes and thrusts. She kept her legs moving at all times, not letting her large body hinder her agility. Noah dodged and blocked each of her attacks and would slip through and tap her with his sword, pointing out the weaknesses in her defense.

After a couple minutes, he called an end to the match. "I wouldn't bet on you beating a fiend, but you should be able to handle the average human just fine."

"Thank you," she said, bowing her head.

"Now it's my turn," said Valia. "I know where you can make some improvements. I may no longer be a teacher, but I can still give you a little help."

"Yes ma'am," said Shannon, but as Valia drew her sword, Noah noticed a tremor move through Shannon, with her tail swishing anxiously.

The two women faced each other, and Valia made the first move. Like Noah, she held back against her unskilled opponent, yet though Shannon withstood Noah's attacks, she fled from Valia's. Every time Valia swung at her, Shannon would back all the way out of her reach, and every time she blocked, it was with a noticeable flinch, automatically closing her eyes and shying away.

"Come on, you can't fight like that. Show me what you can do," said Valia, but she, too, was aware of what was happening. Shannon was absolutely terrified.

Valia held out her arms, daring her to attack. Shannon gripped her blade with trembling hands as she tried to build up her courage, but as she stared at Valia, her mind kept drifting back to that tragic night. She'd look at her sword, the same sword that had killed her father, and wonder if he felt this fear when he stood where Shannon now was. Her breathing was becoming more frantic, and the soldiers exchanged nervous glances as they picked up on the tension.

"Come on, you can do it," Valia implored.

With a cry of fear and frustration, Shannon forced herself forward on shaky legs and lowered her sword towards Valia, who blocked her. As soon as their blades met, Shannon reared back as if physically repelled, dropping her sword and falling to the ground. Noah kneeled beside her, finding her drenched in a cold sweat and hyperventilating. He cupped her cheek and tried to calm her down.

"Shhhh, shhhh, easy. It's ok, you're safe," he whispered.

Regardless of his words, she cried into his shirt, dampening it with her anguished tears. Noah looked over to Valia, cursed with a shroud of guilt hanging over her and seeing the sorrow in her eyes. Once Shannon calmed down, they set off from camp, and no more words were said. Everyone wanted to forget what had just happened and used the journey as a distraction.

Eventually, they arrived at the beastman city. From an ocean of fields and farmland, an island of stone buildings arose, carved into the slopes of a lone mountain. Originally built by the dwarves, the numerous beastmen tribes that occupied it had spent centuries improving its architecture, expanding it for more residents, and inscribing it with their culture. Now, the flag of Uther adorned the walls and posts, and human soldiers patrolled the routes once used by the beastmen of the old order. The scars of war were old and many, but things appeared to be bustling under Uther's leadership.

Noah's party received strange looks at the front gate and surrendered the captured fiend to be taken away by the guards. They entered the city without further issue and continued towards the palace. Many soldiers walked the streets, but that was to be expected. Shannon gazed in all directions with wide eyes and her mouth agape, having never seen buildings beyond the level of a log cabin. Here, she was surrounded by brick homes and paved roads, unable to believe the world held so many people. Welindar had a population of easily over 100,000 citizens.

Reynolds led the group up to the castle, past countless guards filling the halls and into the throne room. There, Prince Lupin stood over a table covered with maps, discussing troop movements and logistics with his advisors.

"Your Highness," Reynolds said, crossing his chest with his arm and taking a knee, "I have returned."

"Sir Reynolds, welcome back. You were gone so long, I feared the worst."

"There were some close calls, Your Highness, but my mission was successful. I have with me Sir Noah and Lady Zodiac, just as you requested."

Lupin approached and kissed Valia's hand. "Lady Zodiac, I am glad to have you assisting Uther once more. Your strength and wisdom have been sorely missed."

"To you as well, Your Highness. You've accomplished great things here in Handent, but Colbrand misses its favorite son."

Noah glanced over to a young blonde woman dressed as a healer and holding a staff. Seeing Lupin greet Valia left her with a subtle pout.

Lupin turned to Noah, who was wearing the green cloak Elisandra gave him but seemed more confused by how old he looked. "You are not Sir Noah, not the man I spoke to." Upon his words, Paulman nearby gripped the handle of his axe.

"You are half-right. You met a younger version of me," said Noah, releasing his illusory guise and shocking everyone with his sudden youth. "My apologies for the mix-up. My age is something I can control, and certain ages provide certain benefits. Looking young helps me enroll in prestigious academies," he said before regaining his adult face, "while appearing older gives me more credibility and charisma. If you indulge me, this conversation will go much easier."

"My Lord, this is not a man you should trust," Paulman warned.

Lupin appeared understandably wary of Noah. "Are you, or are you not, Alexis Veres's friend, who I spoke to at the gala?"

"Indeed I am. Sir Noah, the Wandering Spirit, reporting for duty. I have arrived to offer counsel, just as I did then."

"So, we meet once more. I welcome you, Wandering Spirit, to my city. As I'm sure you can imagine, you and I have much to talk about, and not simply in regards to the Profane. Considering what transpired between you and my brothers, I need your word that you are here as an ally, and have no ulterior motives against me."

"Unlike your brothers, you are someone worthy of respect, and have done nothing to instigate conflict or do me harm, so there is no reason why we can't work together. You have my word that we are your allies in the fight against the Profane. I believe I can offer insight into your parasite problem."

"And for that, I shall pardon you, but I need to know what happened between you and my family. All I've gotten is outrageous rumors. I need to hear it straight from you, the real story."

"As you wish. Seraph and I naturally didn't get along, and he believed us to be archrivals competing for academy supremacy. As for Galvin, he challenged me to a duel, wagering his betrothed, a duel in which I won. In retaliation for losing, he tried to kill me by burning down a brothel, murdering almost twenty of his own citizens, wounding countless others, and destroying a treasure trove of magical research that was invaluable to me. Seraph knew about his plan and didn't bother to intervene, letting Galvin commit mass-murder."

The gravity of his brothers' sins made Lupin and his subordinates gasp in shock. "My God, to think they could be so heartless."

"And for that, I'd say I handed down a fitting punishment. I publicly humiliated Galvin and his conniving mother, and I left some wounds that would never heal, both body and mind. As for Seraph, I gave him the ultimate battle he wanted, and then some. I beat him, and beat him, and beat him, until the man he was no longer existed, reduced to a bloody husk. I allowed them to keep their lives, despite all the innocent lives they had taken. It was not out of mercy, but so that they could continue to so-rightly suffer for their crimes. I would say I went easy on them."

Lupin covered his hand over his face in despair. "How did it all go so wrong? I should have done something years ago about those two, and now our family tree is drenched in the blood of our own citizens."

"Your Highness, none of this is your fault. You aren't responsible for the sins of your brothers," said Nell, trying to comfort him.

"She's right," said Noah. "The sins are theirs and theirs alone. Your only obligation is to be better than them, to be the man that they failed to. Regardless, that is all in the past. What matters is I am here now as your ally to help you, so tell me where I am needed."

"Come with me, you should see everything we've gathered." Noah, Valia, and Shannon followed Lupin out of the throne room, along with Reynolds, Paulman, and Nell. Walking through the corridors, Noah and the prince continued to talk. "Sir Noah, what can you tell me about these parasites? Do you have any theories so far?"

"I believe that they are replicated organisms, perhaps cultivated from the flesh of true Profane. Typically, being poisoned by the Profane is enough to turn a person into one of them. A single bite, and they are forever powerful. The parasites, however, produce a weaker, less stable form of the venom, which only provides temporary effects if not continuously supplied, and is prone to rampant disfigurement. Have you been able to extract any information from prisoners?"

"Even if we manage to take the fiends alive, interrogating them is difficult. They're ready to die for their cause, and can use their parasites to commit suicide if we try to torture them for information, not to mention their pain threshold is far greater than that of an average person. If we try to remove the parasite, very rarely does it ever work out."

"What I'm wondering is how they got the equipment and know-how to create these things."

"Once I returned to Welindar after the gala, I did as you suggested and searched the palace for any hidden rooms where the king's death might have been orchestrated. I was successful, and found a chamber with some burned documents and destroyed tools. Since then, all the clues we've gathered have been stored there, waiting for someone to make sense of them."

They reached an ordinary-looking corridor, where two guards stood under one of several torches mounted to the wall. They bowed as Lupin arrived, and he pulled down the torch, activating a hidden lever mechanism. The door opened, revealing a windowless room with tables stacked high with documents, equipment, and preserved body parts. Valia grimaced at the sight, and Shannon averted her eyes, but Noah was interested. He pulled a spell card out of his sleeve and activated it, creating several floating spheres of light that illuminated the room.

"What was originally an infestation of mindless beasts has been weaponized into an insurgent militia, seeking to overthrow us." Lupin showed Noah a piece of parchment, upon which a sigil had been drawn, resembling a paw print. "The insurgents all bear this mark, and call themselves the Pack. Their tactics and methodology have grown more refined, same with the parasites, and they consistently strike us where we are weakest. Not only are they driven by ideology, the power they offer enslaves the minds of those who receive it,"

"We've encountered those slaves. Just a few nights ago, while Valia and I were gathering information from the Petosic horse tribe, a group of armored fiends, led by a ghoul-type host, attacked."

Lupin turned to Shannon. "Are you a member of the horse tribe?"

"Yes, sir, I am," she said nervously, afraid to meet his gaze.

"This is Shannon, the only member who wasn't killed or captured. They used the parasites like a drug to brainwash her father so he'd lead them to their village," said Valia.

"And pulling the strings from behind the scene was a real ghoul, ancient and powerful. The Profane's ambitions go beyond Handent. In Sylphtoria, a succubus released a plague and tried to assassinate Queen Elisandra. The succubus was genuine, not like these imitation fiends you've been fighting, and used a specially-designed parasite to enhance her powers. Had I not been there, the Anorvan Forest would be in flames by now. I believe the Pack are just a small subgroup in a much larger organization."

Noah moved around the room, examining everything. He came across one of the cylindrical tanks that had once held a gestating parasite. Lupin watched intently as Noah wiped his finger on the inside of the glass and examined the residue. "Givingstin..." he muttered.

"Givingstin?" Lupin asked.

"It's a byproduct of synthetic amniotic fluid exposed to actinides, and tends to gather on the inside of the tanks. I could never forget that citric smell."

"In layman's terms?" Valia asked.

"To create life artificially means to duplicate the processes by which life forms naturally, through alternative means. Basically, you need to create something that the organism can gestate in until it can achieve some manner of homeostasis. Part of that is creating a fluid medium that can sustain prenatal growth while--"

"LAYMAN'S TERMS," Paulman grunted.

Noah sighed. "This is a glass womb, originally filled with fake womb juice for the little baby parasites to grow." He then looked over to a nearby table. "And what do we have here?"

Several items were laid out, made with materials he couldn't identify, and shapes that concealed their purpose. They appeared magical in nature but were constructed similarly to puzzle boxes. Several cables were also linking the items together, likewise made of synthetic materials. The problem was that they were all broken and had been painstakingly pieced back together, at least partially. Even if the fragments were collected, magical items were nearly impossible to repair and couldn't regain full functionality.

"That is destroyed equipment we've uncovered. My experts have done their best to try and recreate them, but they still have no idea as to how they work or what they do."

"If the Pack went to the trouble to destroy this, that makes it the most important stuff in the room." Noah laid multiple spell cards on the table like he was performing a tarot reading and placed one of the broken boxes on a blank card. "Rune View," he cast. Like all spell cards and scrolls, he couldn't perform the magic, just replicate any visual or auditory effect, but that was all he needed.

A holographic copy of the item appeared in the air, but rather than the actual device and its structure, it showed merely the runes and their configuration. Many runes weren't visible due to the damage the box had sustained and the pieces missing, but it was enough for Noah to get the gist of what the box was for. All these lines of runes were peculiarly written, almost like code, which overlapped with each other like a three-dimensional crossword puzzle. Using flicks of his finger, Noah caused the apparition to open up and reveal its inner secrets.

"Interesting," he muttered to himself.

"What is it?" the prince asked.

"Magic is great for simple, powerful tasks, like combat spells. However, for small, detailed, intricate work, well, it's like trying to cut your hair with an axe. In a way, the smaller the task, the bigger the rune sequence. These parasites weren't made by simply throwing ingredients into a bubbling cauldron or raised on a farm. Variables had to be aligned and maintained, data had to be received and processed, and all those tasks needed a way to be performed quickly, efficiently, and simultaneously. To do all that, you need either high-level technology or magic that mimics that technology.