07 – Dangerous encounter

It really is forest as far as the eye can see.

Edmund was alone, standing by the window and looking out in the distance. He had left the girls at the ground floor by the door, and they were waiting for him to finish up with his last minute preparations. What he was really doing, instead, was taking some time to just unwind and think. These last two days had been unbelievably stressful, in a way that he would never have thought possible before. He was used to the stress, and he liked to think that he could handle it well, but now that he had seen real stress he was rethinking it. What he was used to, he realized with a slight sense of shame, was not stress. It was actually being a chaotic, distracted and probably ADHD person who could afford to act however he wished, follow his every whim and desire, and not care about the consequences because he was by all means nigh almighty and with a gargantuan team of people following his every move ready to fix all the problems for him should he say the word.

And yet, even now a part of his brain was telling him the story of how he was actually superior to all these backwards people who have their little magic and think themselves so smart and advanced. It was telling him that he was better than them: his power stronger and more versatile, his thoughts and ideals coming from an Age of Enlightenment and progress, and his view of the world, inevitably better than that of a person who had never even thought there could be life in the cosmos, which he doubted Toora or the others ever even considered.

He bit his lip. This behavior was going to cost him dearly if he wasn’t able to keep it in check. He better.

Praetor, can you see outside?

The AI manifested as a small collection of floating cubes constantly rearranging themselves. This was its preferred form, made real through the still functioning holographic emitters in the control room. He wondered if this meant that it could touch things, then remembered that in this tower they hadn’t updated the technology yet, deeming the work too low priority to bother. Not that it mattered, now that the AI had access to the machinery that made manipulating reality as easy as just a thought and some energy being spent.

“Only visible light cameras are working right now. Shall I add the rest of the suite of sensors to the repair queue?”

Sure. Put aside a small part of the energy I will send back to repair the Hume stuff to instead restore the other systems. Anyway. Look at the land. It’s different, isn’t it?

“It is.”

Just what kind of cataclysm has not only managed to erase any trace of modern society but also remade the whole fucking world? And as he thought that, he also wondered how he would fare in such an unknown, mysterious world.

***

The door slid open, letting the morning sun penetrate inside the armored interior of the tower. The trio emerged from the metal spire, and behind them its door shut close, with the swirling darkness engulfing the bare metal like the hungry maw of a leviathan. Toora reflexively checked how far up the tower the darkness had reached, and for some reason found herself saddened by the fact that it hadn’t progressed much during the night. She felt like it was an indicator that Edmund was right, and the repairs were coming along very slowly, if at all, and that he really needed to find his artifacts if he wanted to get himself back on his feet. She could understand. She had felt the same, back at the academy. Powerless with an objective that was so far away as to seem impossible to get.

“Don’t mind that, it’s fine.” She heard him say. She looked away from the clouds of black and saw him approach the ring of trees.

“Oh, okay. But… what even are those clouds?”

He chuckled. “I don’t know either! It never used to do that. Although, we didn’t have magic back then either, so who knows? My theory is that when magic comes in contact with a Hume-based construct—”

Suddenly a low cry rolled over the forest, seemingly coming from somewhere deep in the heart of the forest. Lisa dropped down into a battle stance, scanning the tree line just ahead and around them. They had barely left the Pylon, with its door only a couple meters behind them, but Edmund found that he didn’t know how to react to this hidden threat, with his senses giving him nothing to work with, no information whatsoever. Praetor, he thought frantically, and the reassuring presence of the AI made itself known. Stand by, alright?

“You heard that, boss?” Lisa said after a moment.

Toora nodded. “The forest was silent on the way here.”

“Now it’s not anymore.” The armored woman said, still at the ready. Her barycenter was low, her whole body ready to snap at a moment’s notice.

They stood unmoving for a few seconds, but the forest was still again. Slowly, Edmund loosened the tight grip he had on his mind, and let the adrenaline rush wash over him. The two women exchanged looks, and Toora nodded. Lisa turned towards the forest again, and slowly began to approach the vegetation, shield raised and ready to meet anything that might come her way. When nothing did, she signaled with her hands, and the impromptu team advanced their first steps into the thick underbrush.

Edmund made his way through the thick leaves and branches, pushing aside a particularly clingy branch that was pulling on his shirt. He briefly considered using reality bending to just shove it out of the way, in that satisfying overly violent way that would definitely make him feel good. Checking his internal supply, however, he resisted the urge. It was harder than he thought it would be.

“Why aren’t we taking the path you guys took to reach the Pylon?” he groaned.

“This is the path,” Toora replied from barely a step ahead, yet almost invisible in the dense foliage.

“You went through this much vegetation?”

“No. It was much more open before, barely a couple bushes here and there.” Toora did a wide gesture, indicating at the trees around them. “The forest has changed.”

Edmund sighed. He didn’t know about any forest changing, but he knew he was feeling extremely uncomfortable. He had barely any Hume energy right now, with only a trickle coming from the inner mechanisms of the tower after both Axiom and Preator took their cut. Praetor was even instructed to grab the least amount possible, barely the necessary to keep the basic functions of the tower running, which sadly meant that sooner or later Edmund will have to start actually sending some of his energy to do the actual repairs.

As for Axiom… better give it all the energy it needed.

They walked for a while, occasionally stopping to let Toora cast something. She didn’t have her staff, or most of her equipment, which made casting slow and sluggish compared to how she was used to. The magic washed over the group, and dispersed into the forest. To her eyes, Edmund appeared as a black void, a place of missing, where her magic senses not only could not see, but did not even reach.

The magic wave eventually lost its energy and disappeared. “It’s all clear,” she said.

As before, Lisa walked ahead, followed by the mage and Edmund at the tail as they emerged into a small clearing. The went on for a couple hours, only stopping to let Toora cast her scanning spell, making sure they made as little noise as possible. Suddenly Lisa stopped dead on her feet. She readied her shield, and motioned to the other two to approach silently, hiding behind the hulking slab of metal. From this close, Edmund saw that it was intricately inscribed with patterns and engravings, with little small holes where the lines crossed. Cool, I wonder what these patterns are for.

Lisa pointed to a small rise in the land towards the other end of the clearing. “Two Boarts, right over there.”

Edmund squinted, but could not make their shape out from this distance. What caught his interest, instead, was the strange shape of the small hill. Next to him, Toora was looking intently, unconsciously pressing herself against him, while also covering him with her body between his and the threat. He didn’t pay her any mind, still thinking that the small hill was too unnatural in shape, and how he could use the information.

“Are they dangerous?” he asked distractedly. The small hill was square in shape, with a steep drop of a few meters that was dotted with small, rectangular holes. Looking more carefully, he realized that the overgrown walls were not made of stone, and the holes were not caves.

“High D-rank.” The towering woman said.

Edmund made a confused noise, hoping it would get the message across.

“I am a high D-rank adventurer, while Lisa is a newly promoted D-rank, for comparison.” Toora said, “those two wouldn’t be a problem for a full team of D ranks, but even then it would be best for them not to let their guard down.”

“Oh.” Now he could see them, two gigantic brown furred animals grazing at the foot of the small hill. “Can we go around them?”

“We can’t,” the mage whispered, making a gesture in the air in the shape of a V. “There’s a river and a ravine close by, forcing us to go through a narrow path at the other end of the clearing. I don’t think we can avoid them unless we draw them out.”

“Let’s do it, then. Do you have something you can use?”

She shook her head. “They can sense magic.”

“What kind of animal can sense magic?”

Lisa turned around, a dead serious look on her face. “Not animals, monsters.”

“Monsters…” he mulled over the word. “Do they react to sound?”

“Yes,” Toora said. “You want to use your power?”

He nodded. “Yes, by all means should be instantaneous and undetectable. It’s not magic after all.”

“Okay,” she nodded. “When you are ready. Lisa, provide cover on the back.”

“On it, boss.” She hid behind the gargantuan shield, keeping it pointed at the two monsters.

Edmund looked at the two animals, then at the hill that was not a hill. He hesitated for a moment, then looked away in search of a spot where he could manifest the sound. As soon as he found it, he asked Praetor to send him the waveform of some footsteps, and he projected the sound loudly and clearly from the far side of the clearing.

Immediately after hearing the footsteps, the two Boarts became agitated, looking in the direction of the sound.

“Again.”

Edmund nodded, and another small portion of his energy was drained to make more noise. Like a charged spring, the two monsters revealed their unnatural nature, as they leapt in the air and shot towards the fake person moving through the forest. He kept up the illusion for a moment longer making the noise run away, snapping branched and moving leaves in the process. Of course, this was only sound and nothing else, but the monsters bought it and chased after it until they disappeared into the green.

With a nod, the group took off. Lisa was covering the rear, keeping her great shield up in the general direction of the monstrous boars, while Toora was mumbling incomprehensible words and moving her hands about. Edmund could feel that she was preparing to cast some magic even as she ran, but the flow was erratic and constantly on the verge of slipping away from her control.

This is not good. Can’t they sense magic? He looked behind him, but the trees were hiding the two monsters with thick leaves, while ahead the hill was inching closer. Maybe, maybe. Praetor, how much metal can I dissolve with the energy I have? How about making concrete explode instead?

They kept running, moving pace after pace ever closer to the vertical wall of the hill on the other end of the clearing. They moved around a singular huge tree in the middle, that with its impossibly large branches was plunging the whole clearing in a sunless darkness almost as thick as the forest itself.

That’s why there are no trees here, Edmund thought distractedly, then focusing his attention to the small caves. They were square, with vines and moss surrounding and covering their entrances, with only solid darkness visible inside. He nodded to himself, just as Praetor told him that he did indeed have enough energy to do what he wanted to do.

A tremendous roar, immediately followed by the clanging of something sharp and hard against metal sent his thoughts into complete chaos. I knew it! He turned around, still running, to see Lisa being tossed like a ragdoll by a horned snout, covered in brown and black fur that surrounded a pair of hungry red eyes. She recovered quickly, converting her fall into a roll and coming back up, then leapt towards him.

The only thing he saw or heard was a huge explosion, then the hulking armored figure of Lisa appearing from the side, shield pointing away from him and towards the creatures. A loud clang, then the recoil sent the huge mass of armor and limbs towards him, and both he and Lisa rolled on the ground for a few meters.

The two monsters didn’t buy the diversion after all. The first, his mind told him as soon as it caught up with the present, had jumped Lisa from the front while a second had tried to assault him from above. The explosion was triggered by Toora’s magic, which fortunately had gone through without issues despite the erratic flow, and if he was still alive he probably had her to thank.

All this happened in a split second. I wonder… if she hadn’t started casting…

He scanned the environment, making use of the full suite of tools his mental connection to the AI gave him. His eyes lingered for a moment on one of the caves, then he took note of the rest of the team.

“Follow me!” he yelled.

Toora, who was readying another magic, immediately canceled her casting, instead giving a very quick look around. “Lisa, with him!” she commanded, then ran towards the hill, following behind Edmund.

Edmund ran as fast as his legs would carry him. He was desperately trying to catch his breath, and almost wished he had gods to pray so that he wouldn’t stumble. He had to save his Humes, however, and could not use them to empower his body. Soon, the hill had grown big enough to loom over his head, and he ran towards one of the small caves.

Behind him, he could hear the metal of Lisa’s shield strain under pressure as a gigantic mouth attempted to pry it away from her. One of the beasts had tried to bite it, only to be shaken off with brute strength by the woman. He struggled to run the last stretch, almost launching himself into the cave.

He could barely see a faint light very far away deeper into the earth.

“What now?” Toora asked in-between breaths.

“Deeper!” he yelled back.

He was heaving. Just a few more meters.

Now.

He turned around, checking that both Lisa and Toora were past the threshold he had mentally set in the tunnel. With a flex of his mind, the whole ceiling exploded in a shower of pulverized concrete, rebar, and many falling humps of misshapen metal. The support beams on the sides hidden by the overgrowth collapsed as well, taking the entire structure down. Four floors of what once must have been a huge parking structure made of solid concrete came down on the monsters, burying them with rubble and rusted over carcasses of cars and trucks.

The trio kept running towards the light for a few more minutes, slowly decreasing their pace into a light jog.

“This wasn’t a hill,” Edmund said, heaving. “I knew it was too strangely shaped. It’s a parking lot, buried under stone and plants.”

“Is this a ruin from your time?” Toora asked, “there must be valuable artifacts in here, then!” her eyes lit up as she said the sentence, and Edmund almost felt guilty about it.

“No, there’s nothing of value here.”

“Oh,” she deflated.

“Yeah, this was like a stable for our mechanical carriages. Nothing more.”

Lisa clicked her tongue.

Sensing what the woman was thinking about, Toora shook her head. “It’s not worth the risk.”

Edmund looked at her with interest.

“I know boss. It’s just a shame.”

The mage waved the comment off with her hand.

Edmund couldn’t resist the curiosity. “What is a shame?”

“Her magic system. She needs to extract a particular gem she can find only in monster she or her team kills.” She explained, then frowned. “But I won’t endanger us to go back just for that. We don’t know if the Boarts are dead or just buried.”

He nodded, and they walked towards the small fire exit on the opposite side of the building. In his mind, he replayed the whole fight over and over again, feeling the depleted tank of Hume Energy slowly get filled in from the Pylon systems. The fight had been so bad and inefficient. There were many things he could have done better.

No matter. I am alive, which means I can learn from my mistakes.

There were two things he learned today. For once: monsters were even worse than people in that they were full to the brim with magic; this meant that he couldn’t manipulate them directly with his reality bending due to the disruption between the two energies. No flick of the wrist to give a monster an aneurysm. Secondly: the more constrained, detailed and specific he was when applying his power, the better it worked. Projecting the footsteps had been a breeze, just a matter of making sound waves appear, while making the concrete explode took a toll on his mind and body that he was still recovering from.

This was important information about his own power that he had never bothered to research in the past. As he mulled over all this, he was also struck with an idea: what if I tried to make reality bending items myself? That way, I can put all sorts of weird rules and restrictions to them, making them incredibly op for a relatively small Hume expense.

His mind went to a video game he used to play a long time ago.