It didn't take long to return as we had sprinted the entire way. My friends were nervous at my unusually somber expression. Not bothering to wait for the gates, I motioned to the guards to keep them closed and we leapt over the ten-foot-high barrier. We swiftly found Frank and Rodriguez before heading into the employee breakroom and locking the door.
"So, what's with all the hullabaloo?" asked Frank.
"We ran into a strange monster while hunting," I answered, "It was a tough bastard, but we managed to take it down without too much trouble."
Rodriguez leaned forward, "Not to make light of our shitty situation, but we're surrounded by monsters."
I shook my head, "No, this one was like the wetnurse monster." Frank paled, but Rodriguez looked puzzled.
"Wetnurse monster?" Rodriguez had been out scouring what was left of the city for survivors when we had shared our travels.
I motioned to Eli, and she pulled out the snap-sphere. With a quick activation, she summoned the image of the creature in question. "We ran into this thing at the nearby hospital. It tortured, killed, and mutilated ever man, woman, and child in the hospital. It kept the babies alive to drain them of energy before killing them. Unfortunately, we were too late to save any infants. I don't really want to revisit that nightmare."
Rodriguez looked sick, "Shit, so you ran into another one of these things?"
"Thankfully, no. It was relatively easy to kill since it seemed to sacrifice defense for powerful illusions. This thing was something else. A horse-like skeleton covered in inky black tar." I summoned the skeleton from my storage, it clattering to the floor, barely keeping its form with sturdy sinew and tendons.
Frank asked, "Where's the tar?"
"I absorbed it, like I do blood. I'm not sure what it was made of, but my core craved it. It had a similar energy to the wetnurse. That isn't the important bit."
Rodriguez muttered, "Damn that thing is creepy. Where's its head?"
Asha answered, "In tiny shards. You're understating it with creepy. When it was alive it kept making this weird hissing sound."
"Which is a great segway into why I called this meeting. It wasn't hissing, it was whispering." I paused, gathering my courage. Fear further paled my already alabaster skin and clammy sweat beaded my neck. They all looked concerned, as I seldom showed the fear I held. I took a steady breath, pushing past the terror I felt from the memory, "It was whispering a name. Vacuolentia." Red lips hiding needle fangs curled in a predatory grin. An enormous eye stared hungerly just out of sight. Slithering in the darkness as a clawed hand caressed my throat.
"Victor!" Eliara's shout brought me back, splinters from the table I had gripped too hard fell from my hands.
"Sorry, thank you." She touched my shoulder comfortingly. I smiled and continued, "The name. Her name... I don't know, brought her attention to me. I saw flashes of something terrifyingly powerful. I think this is the Goddess the wetnurse spoke of before she died. Does this mean anything to you two?" I asked the Veru natives. They shook their heads in the negative, though I could see the name brought a similar, albeit much lesser, fear to them, to everyone in the room.
There was a pervading silence as they took in this news. I broke the silence, "We should assume there are more of these things. Keep an eye out for anyone talking about a creature that brings an unnatural fear or uneasiness to them. Like the thing they saw shouldn't exist. We should keep this information on a need-to-know basis. It's one thing for them to be aware of threats out there, but an intangible horror will only cause needless fear."
There were no disagreements and after some further discussion on minor issues, we ended the meeting. The two humans departed while I hung back, thinking. "Copper for your thoughts," asked Eli.
I sighed in frustration, "I just can't wrap my head around it. Why are these things showing up? Where are they coming from? The only clue we have is the wetnurse mentioning the void. Which may or may not be the same void from Veru's legends. I've never liked problems I couldn't fix. Why I focused on machining and not physics or some theoretical shit."
Asha said, "then let's make a plan. The only thing to do when faced with something more powerful than you is to get stronger."
"It's going to take one hell of a training regimen. I was less than an ant to that being. The wisp of her attention was nearly enough to obliterate me. At least it's a start, though. What do we need?"
Thus began my very own training montage. Turns out training is more Xianxia than wizardly study. Every day, I began with ten laps around what remained of the city which was about a twenty-mile circumference. I was forced to run at top speed the entire time, which, by my calculations is about sixty miles an hour. Therefore, it took me roughly four hours two complete the ten laps.
After that, I had lunch and did another four hours of intensive muscle training and sparring with the girls. I cooled down by compressing my core until it ached too much. I then spent the next few hours hunting down dangerous beasts. Over the next couple of months, we ran into a slowly increasing amount of what we've been calling the Void Brood. Despite the occasional one that simply repeated Vacualentia's name, they were all mindless monsters of horrifying variety. They were cruel to their prey but were nothing more than beasts. Hunting them did wonders for my cultivation.
Others that ran into the Void Brood were not as lucky. Those that survived rarely lasted long as their wounds resisted healing as we feared. Infections were more prevalent and deadly in the injuries inflicted by the void energy. Luck would have it that I would have a breakthrough and prevented a tragic death.
I had just returned from my run and hopped the barrier soaked in sweat. Eliara was out hunting with Asha as a pack of sulfur fangs. They were cat-like monsters that hunted by using their lithe speed to dart in and spray their prey with a sulfur scented acid like a spitting cobra. Nasty bastards, but they assured me they could handle it and to continue my training.
As I walked to my typical training spot in the courtyard near the gardens, I spotted a little girl and boy of bout ten playing with each other. They were playing some form of tag when a shadow passed over head. The boy's life was saved as he tripped over his loose shoelaces while trying to dodge the squealing girl's touch. Some bat shaped creature dove at the boy from above. Barbed tentacles lashed and barely missed the kid. Unfortunately, it collided with the girl upon missing its desired target.
She screamed in terror as she fell, entangled with the monster. The bat was a Lovecraftian horror of tendrils and barbs. I was there in a flash, ripping the creature off of the child and crushing its head in a gauntleted fist. I absorbed its blood, ignoring the delight of its void energy as I stored it and focused on the hurt girl.
She had curly light ginger hair and a button nose. Her normally bright smile was bloody, and her face was tear soaked. Her mother was by her side nearly as quick as I was with the desperate fervor of a worried mother. The girl's yellow dress was stained red from a large gash from the barbed tendrils. It was on her neck, too close for comfort to her carotid artery. She was sobbing and hiccupping, losing too much blood.
A healer quickly arrived and attempted to heal her, but the corruptive energy in the wound hindered his Tin core fueled spellform. The little girl's eyes grew unfocused, and anger swelled in my chest. I growled, "No!" I never attempted this, but if I did nothing, the child would die. I reached out with my hand and focused hard on the energy in the wound. I felt it, studied it. I separated it from the girl in my mind. The girl's blood was her own. The void energy was mine. Thin streams of black vapor flowed from her wound, which slowly began to close as the healer's efforts were taking effect.
Seeing this, the girl's mother let out a choked sob of relief. Finally, the energy was no longer within the wound and it rapidly closed over the next few minutes. I made sure that no blood leaked from her neck, willing the blood to stay in place as a sort of liquid scab. After a tense moment, the girl's eyes opened, and she began to bawl into her mother's bosom with renewed vigor. I smiled broadly and clapped the exhausted healer on the back as the surrounding people cheered.
"Holy shit, that was close!" I let out. "Ah, sorry." I apologized at the curse word instinctively as the mother's head snapped to me.
However, it wasn't to chide me for cursing in front of her child and her sobbing friend. Instead, she said, "Thank you for saving my Ashley. Thank you, Lord Sanguine."
Still not used to positive comments I awkwardly replied, "Ah, it was nothing, really. This guy here is the one you should be thanking. I can't heal what-so-ever. Without him, we'd be a lot less cheerful." I threw the tired young man under the bus without any hesitation. The mother nodded, thanking him profusely as well. I believe he was a nurse or something before and took the praise gracefully while giving advice to the mother.
"She'll need plenty of rest and hydration. Protein too. I healed her, but I'm not at the point that I can replace lost blood. Thankfully, our Lord was able to keep the blood loss to a minimum. Why don't you get her cleaned up and put to bed?" With that, he led the sobbing mother and daughter inside the store.
I looked at my hands and smiled. Slowly, but surely, progress was being made. Only a few months left until our assault on the Gnolls and then we gain a powerful ally. I glanced at the small pool of blood and quickly did away with it. Even if she lived, no one would want to clean up so much of a child's blood.
"Uncle Vicky, Uncle Vicky! Look what I found!" the little girl beamed, the white scar on her neck stretching in response. I grinned down at Ashley. Ever since I saved her roughly five months ago, she'd been stuck to my side. Much to the horror of her mother, April, she refused to call me Lord Sanguine. I didn't mind.
"It's fine, April. The only problem here is me going into diabetic shock at the cuteness overload." I assured her once again upon her thousandth admonishment of her unapologetic daughter. I looked down to see what Ashley was showing me. My eyes widened and her mother nearly fainted.
Wriggling in the little girl's hand was the biggest grub I've ever seen. It was about the size of a guinnie pig. Not only that, but it was a gleaming golden color with silver striations that shimmered with each pulsing squirm. It seemed remarkably calm in her hands, like it accepted its fate of being a child's prize.
"That's really pretty, Ashley. Can I see it?" I requested, holding out a hand.
"Yep!" she replied, not handing it to me, instead pushing it closer to my eyes. I could have sworn I just saw a glint of tired sympathy in the grub's jewel-like eyes.
"I meant; can I hold it for a sec?" I corrected.
"Oh! Right," she giggled before handing me her new friend. "Her name is Goldy!"
"How fitting," I called out, "Hey, Eli! Any idea what this thing is? Is it dangerous?"
The beautiful Half-Elf walked over from where she was writing something in a notebook and widened her eyes in shock, "That's a dragon emperor moth larva! Where did you find that? They're incredibly rare. The larva has many uses. It's a delicacy, but that's a waste in my opinion. You can use it as an ingredient in cultivation resources. The true prize is the golden cocoon and its mature form. The wing dust of the dragon emperor moth is a powerful reagent in a longevity potion. A good alchemist can produce a potion that can add a hundred years to a person's longevity, even regaining some youth."
Her mouth agape, Ashley reached for Goldy, "You can't eat Goldy! She's my friend. Uncle Vicky, you won't let her eat Goldy right?"
I smiled gently at Ashley, "Of course not, Ash. I won't let the big bad Eli eat your friend, right Eliara?"
I smirked at the disappointed greed in her eyes as she reluctantly agreed. After getting an assurance from Eli that it was harmless, I gave it back to Ashley giving an apologetic glance to her aggrieved mother. "What do they eat?"
Sighing in defeat, Eliara replied, "As a grub, it eats just about anything that won't bite it back. Adult moths don't have a mouth. The properties that make them great ingredients for longevity grants them a long life so long as they aren't killed.
I picked up Ashley and placed the giggling girl on my shoulders. "Come on Ash, let's go get Goldy a home!"
"Yeah!" she readily agreed. A couple hours later, a pen was constructed inside Ashley and April's apartment. About two months ago, we managed to clear out and secure an apartment complex that was near the store. We were able to move everyone inside. Unfortunately, they were cheap apartments, so some families were a little cramped, though they were immensely grateful to be in a cramped apartment than sharing a communal sleeping area in a Home Depot.
After dumping the last of the shredded newspaper which Ashely had stubbornly decided she would cut herself, we laid the lazy grub inside along with some veggies that the farmers decided weren't worthy of feeding to people. The larva perked up at the scent of the veggies and slowly made itself over to munch on them.
Ashley stared with stars in her eyes at her new pet, bouncing with excitement she didn't know how to express. I put my head in my hands, unable to bear with how adorable she was. I stood and stretched before smiling at April who looked her daughter with the defeated smile only a parent could have. "Yeah, you weren't going to win that battle. Kiddo fell in love at first sight."
She sighed, "Yeah, but couldn't it have been a puppy or stray kitten?" Almost as if knowing we were discussing it, Goldy backwards and looked at us before it lost balance and fell backwards, much to Ashley's delight. "I guess it is kinda cute. Thanks for this, my Lord. I know you're busy getting ready for your trip."
"Nah, it ain't much trouble. 'Sides, we're just about ready. We've got the fuel packed, and once I get to silver level, we'll be set to go. It's practically a waiting game at this point. How's Ashley's studies going?"
"Really well. She was always bright, but how she soaks up this magic stuff, I'll never know. I can barely cast a cantrip, and here she is able to perfectly draw tier two spellforms," she replied proudly.
My mouth fell open, "Tier two? For real?"
She nodded, "Yep, Mike can't stop bragging about her as his top student." Mike was the one who took over Asha's duty as magic teacher for the foundational stage. He was an earth mage but had the best grasp of the basics. Not surprising since he was a programmer before the cataclysm.
"Jeeze, I'm shocked Ash never brought it up. When I was a kid, I couldn't stop bragging when I figured out my timetables."
April laughed, "Yeah, I think she was wanting to keep it a surprise for when her meridians matured, so she could show you her first spells."
"I'm happy for her. I'm sure I won't even have to act surprised. Damn, tier two," I shook my head in disbelief, "She's gonna be one hell of a mage."
"A mage. My daughter is going to be a wizard. She did love to watch Harry Potter. I always pictured her being a vet or something. She loves animals as you can see. Always bringing in little critters, begging me to keep them. When that Harry Potter game came out, she had Kevin get her to the point where you can rescue the animals and never left her little zoo to beat the game." Kevin was Ashley's father and April's late husband. A drunk driver struck his car on his way home from work one night a couple of years ago.
"Kevin would have cried in happiness at the ability to cast magic. Such a huge nerd." She smiled sadly. I patted her shoulder.
"I'll get out of your hair. It's about time for me to cultivate anyhow."
"No problem, you three coming over for dinner? Ashley will want to tell you all about her day with her new friend."
I chuckled, "Wouldn't miss it, though I'm worried I might get replaced. I'll see you two later tonight. Apparently, Eli is making some type of Dwarvish dessert." Ashley hadn't even glanced our way, never taking her wide eyes off of Goldy as it explored the pen. Though as I turned to leave, she shot up and tackled me in a hug.
"Goodbye, Uncle Vicky!" She grinned.
April laughed, "I don't think you have to worry about that." After giving the kid a goodbye hug, I headed to my apartment in order to cultivate. I sugar coated it in order not to worry my friend, but I was struggling to break through to silver. We had no chance against the Gnoll matriarch if I didn't advance.
