As the one humanoid and the eight elementals returned to the group the humanoid was still unable to talk. Busy with having to process what he had just witnessed, he barely registered what was going on around him.
The other humanoids were equally shocked, but for a completely different reason: The fort was talking.
The martials were especially shocked at the fact that the group exiting the fort, was so nonchalantly ignoring the talking fort.
One of the Mind-Mages was the first to realize why neither the rock nor Waji reacted to the talking fort: Waji was completely out of his mind and the elemental had no perception of sound.
“The fort is talking.” the Mind-Mage informed the rock via prayer.
“Oh? What is it talking about?” genuinely interested, the rock asked for mediation.
“It is asking to be unshackled and in return, it is willing to let the soldiers within free.” the Mind-Mage answered.
“And how does it say, does this unshackling work?” the rock asked for details.
“Something about, having vital organs that are not connected to itself?” with growing confusion the Mind-Maged shrugged: “I don’t really understand what that means!”
“Strangely enough, I do understand. Does it have instructions about how to reconnect the organs?” replying like this, the rock was getting slightly annoyed at having to ask every single question.
“It claims that the explanation is too complicated and that it would like to give instructions on site!” the Mind-Mage was growing more and more frightened at what transpired in the living fort for Waji to still be unresponsive.
“Then I cannot help with this, can I?” the rock concluded
“Ah, yes. It is just, it was talking to you in person.” the Mind-Mage exposed the core of the problem.
“If you think this is worth it, go ahead. I can only tell you that the fort is not loyal to anyone.” the rock refused to make this decision, and informed the twelve humanoids of the situation.
“Meaning it is not our enemy, so the soldiers may very well be enemies.” Lerana, the Healer offered her concerns.
“The soldiers are not enemies either. If what Noii said is true, they may, in fact, be very close to allies. But their current loyalty-situation is a complete mess!” the rock clarified.
Quickly deciding to go along with the fort’s suggestion the team helped the fort out of its misery.
Guided by the fort's instructions one Martial and one Mind-Mage each made their way to each of the two organs.
This enabled Waji to get a much-needed breather. He curled himself into a fetal position and took a nap.
The teams of two each followed the fort’s very technical and complicated instructions, until they finally managed to reconnect the fort to its organs.
After some time, a gate opened up in the fort’s wall and a few thousand soldiers came rushing out.
As Waji was still sleeping Vebjik fulfilled the task of the rock’s medium. He stepped closer to the freed soldiers and greeted them.
The others prepared for the continuation of their travels, and the infiltration into the Abyss.
“Hey there, friends! How is it going?” looking at their tired, and terrified faces, which just barely started to show the slightest amount of relief, Vebjik understood “Do not mind that question! What I really want to know is if you can help us make contact with what once was The Detester.”
“Sorry, we are not working with them. Up till a few days ago, we had a fragile peace with the new queen. This peace, however, is now broken.” one of the soldiers decided to respond.
“Do you people have some kind of indication, where we could be able to find them?” hoping for some clues the rock's medium asked.
“Sorry!" rejecting the notion, the soldier looked around: "But I believe most of us are willing to help you out!”
“I will have to discuss this offer with my friends!” with these words Vebjik returned to the others.
As the last soldier came out of the fort, Ertzu presented her concern: “Erm, sorry, Uh, fort, but we would need to get to the other side”
“No problem!” the fort stood up and went out of the way “If you ever need my help, I will be happy to oblige. By the way, you can call me Noii!”
“OK, but how can we even contact you?” Ertzu responded to the offer.
"Wait wasn't that the name of the talal?" Lerana, the Healer pointed out the inconsistency.
“Don’t you people have methods to do so, my oppressors could easily do so! I apologize I was unaware of the oppressor's name!” the fort explained its thoughts.
“Nope we don’t have any Warriors with this ability, but you can contact us by shooting a prayer to a god named Merafinger!” Ertzu offered another way.
Being asked to do so by the rock, Vebjik intervened: “Once the god was prayed to, it can contact the prayer via divine messages! Just the same as how it communicated with us before our friend was able to do so by itself!”
After shooting a quick prayer to Merafinger, the fort declared: “Now I will go to free my siblings from oppression! I hope you find your friends.”
“Wait! Won’t you need some help with the unshackling-process?” Ertzu showed genuine concern for the fort's thoughtlessness.
“Once my siblings are free, it matters little!” Noii, the living building, showcased its naivety and ignorance.
“But if they stay where they are, shackled as they are, won’t they get oppressed by the next servant of the goddess?” Ertzu explained how the fort's plan won't work.
“Are you offering your help?” understanding the truth in the female humanoid's words, the fort asked what alternatives the humanoid had in mind.
“Not mine, but there are thousands of soldiers without a purpose!” Ertzu specified while pointing at the soldiers
Most of the soldiers agreed, but some refused due to having the horror of being inside the fort still lingering in their brains.
And so, the fort took off to attack another fort taking about 2.5 thousand soldiers with it.
The remaining almost three hundred soldiers decided to accompany the Warriors on their quest.
The team of Warriors, soldiers, and elementals made their way through the mountain pass and into the nation proper.
The vast emptiness within the nation was the same as the rock remembered it to be.
And even as the group made their way to the city of Loggos, they did not see any obvious changes.
The first difference was while entering the city, as a guard advised them: “You should get a change of clothes friends. If the Zealots see deserters, they will start a fight and we don’t want to see the city burn.”
“Should you not like, I don’t know, be a little less cordial with deserters and Chifu?” not even denying the proposition of the soldiers being deserters, Ertzu questioned the work ethics of the guards.
Breaking into a hearty laugh the guard answered: “I don’t give two shits about the usurper!”
“We will wait outside then!” the man, who emerged as speaker of the soldiers during their short travel, declared.
“Then us Chifu should also wait outside, to not attract too much attention!” Ertzu decided.
The elementals also decided to stay out of the city, while the rock constantly maintained a mental link to Waji.
That way only five Martials, one Healer, and three Mind-Mages went into the city.
Aside from the regular uprisings of different smaller factions, the group did not find anything noteworthy.
The few rumours they managed to pick up told of a minor war between two distant factions, Zealots versus Rebels. None of the citizens seemed to be overly bothered or concerned by the nation’s current situation.
After a few hours, spent exploring the city, the team returned to the rest of the group.
Arriving at the campsite most of the party was lazing around. Those who did not were exercising their bodies or training their abilities.
After the situation was explained the rock suggested searching the city of Grein for clues before checking on a secret lab its previous iteration had created in the vicinity of that city.
Since nobody disagreed, that is what they did.
On their travels, the two Chifu, one Martial Knight and one Destructor, abstained from consuming any of the fountain water, because their superior physiology allowed them to go without sustenance for prolonged periods of time, while the Arbiter could not.
The soldiers also refused to take more than one meal per ten days, to not impose on their benefactors too much. And most of what they did eat during that one meal was scavenged from the surrounding lands.
As the group came upon the city of Grein tensions within the city were high. The guards were on edge and neither the Soldiers nor the Chifu were granted passage into the city. On the other hand, neither the Chifu nor the Soldiers were harmed out for their crimes against the new government.
Within the city, the group of nine came upon a few minor scrimmages, and few civilians could be seen walking through the streets.
Observing one of these fights and listening in on the words of the two factions, the nine decided to step in on the side that seemed less like a religious mob.
This unexpected development forced the religious mob into retreat.
“Who are you?” the leader of the combatants asked in an unfriendly tone.
“Maybe we should have helped the others?!” Waji, the Mind-Mage, sarcastically shot back.
“Or at least taken one prisoner to extract information!” Lerana, the Healer, offered her wisdom.
“Yeah, yeah! Thank you and all that! What do you want from us?” the man asked, trying to adopt a more friendly tone, and just barely succeeded.
“We are here to meet your leader!” Waji declared.
“Is that so? And why would I lead you to her?” the other man was sceptical of the unexpected help.
“We have an army stationed outside the city and would like to offer our services!” Lerana informed the other group.
“Who would believe such nonsense?” the more the man listened to the other group the more convinced he got that they wanted to scam him.
“You can see it from the gate! If you don’t trust our word, just check for yourself.” Waji was getting annoyed at the ungrateful man.
After the man agreed to this proposition the two groups escorted each other to the gate and looked upon the promised army. The peaceful scenery outside of the city was in stark contrast to the situation inside.
And while the combatants looked at the army, the rock checked their loyalties. A few of them were loyal to factions the rock did not know, most were loyal to the Governor of Grein, and two of them were loyal to Mellde.
Informing Waji of which who among the other group were the allies they sought, Waji addressed one of the two: “I am quite glad we managed to pick the right group! So, tell me, boy, where is your master?”
The man, who was just rudely called a boy, only looked to the other person loyal to Mellde with a begging face and a single word in a weak and subservient tone: “Sis?”
“What do you want from our master?” the woman questioned in a demanding and commanding voice.
“We found her missing toy!” pissed at the other group's attitude Waji decided to talk in riddles.
“Many have claimed the same thing over the decades since ‘the toy’ went missing! Any proof?” immediately understanding the man's intention, the woman asked for proof.
As neither the rock nor the Mind-Mage had an answer the Healer came to their rescue: “We found out that you two are loyal to her! How do you think we managed to do that?”
“There are many able to do that!” the woman denied the argument.
“Then I guess we have to check on the lab!” Lerana gave up on the two siblings.
“That, on the other hand, is enough!” realising that it was not yet fully enough, the other woman hastily added: “If you can lead us to the lab, that is!”
“I am not gonna leave the city just to help HER regain an old toy!” the male leader of the group declared
“Then don’t, I and my brother will!” with these last words the woman left the city.
After a split second her brother ran after the woman, jumping over the heads of his comrades and happily waving them goodbye.
“You are going against our orders!” the man lamented.
“If you are too weak then just die!” turning around with a face designed for bloody murder, the woman offered to spare her superior the shame, of having others know about his inability to control his subordinates, by killing him then and there.
With a disgruntled face, the man waved her off.
During this whole encounter, the guards just silently bided their time. Officially the city took a neutral stance in this conflict.
With the rock’s guidance, Waji led the group to the laboratory.
On the day-long walk, the Warriors and Soldiers got to know Zaja and her brother Sind.
Zaja was a genius and managed to attain the status of Martial Knight, barely half a century after finishing her discipleship. What normally took at least one century, she managed to do in half that time.
Her brother was even worse. He managed to finish his discipleship in just one short year but was too afraid to tell anyone. In the year following that, he managed to secretly annihilate five different organisations, making them responsible for the death of their family.
Rumour had it that the silent boy had grown to be the favourite sparring partner of Mellde, The Civilised Terror and that he even occasionally managed to win.
The only reason he was not promoted to a Knight was that his character was not suited for any role of leadership.
During the whole trip, Sind did not say a single word, and for those listening, it was apparent that Zaja was only openly sharing her story due to her sadistic tendencies. She tried to terrify the poor men and women. And she succeeded. The Soldiers had obviously heard about the Siblings of Horror.
Some began to calculate how many of them would die before they would be able to take the two monsters down. Yet most gave up midway, some tried to reassure themselves that there were a few strong Mind-Mages with them, known to be the bane of Martials. Others failed for the simple reason of not being able to measure the might of three hundred Soldiers without any Officers and any kind of support. Some came to the conclusion that total annihilation was the only reasonable outcome.
Upon arrival at the lab, Zaja demanded Waji to open the door, but the rock held him back claiming it a trap.
By invading the laboratory’s artificial mind the rock opened the door to the complex.
What greeted them, was a foul stench wafting out of the building.
The two newest additions to the group were the most shocked and rushed right in, braving the nauseous air.
Within everything was destroyed, and the corpses of tens of people could be found. A few things were very obviously missing.
Zaja undertook an extensive investigation of the situation.
Perceiving this mess, the rock was raging inside. The traitorous bunch went too far, destroying this project of many lifetimes.
Noii did say that there had been others like her, and the rock would make her talk right now.
Turning its mind inside the rock arrived at the stolen soul-castle.
The rock’s mind rushed through the conglomerate of structures until it arrived at the subconsciousness. Ignoring the buzz going about in the useless thing it made its way to the soul-doors.
Forcing itself to calm down the rock opened the door housing Noii’s mind. But as should have been expected the mind was not in any condition to share information. The once-proud talal had gone completely insane from experiencing the torture of having her soul shredded layer by layer.
Noii’s mind was useless. Because the rock had already dismantled her soul, it would not even be able to access her memory without a discussion.
Drunk with sadness and rage and having no other outlet, the rock began to torture Noii’s mind.
Doing so for days on end the rock managed to calm down.
When the rock turned its mind to the world of the living once again the group was already on their way to the rebel’s headquarters.
