An icy wind ruffled Kimi’s hair as she leaned over the edge, carried upwards by the sheer walls of the cliff. In spite of the light from the moon and the stars, she couldn’t make out the people who jumped down. The forest was in an uproar behind her with sounds that defied description. Her best estimate was to call it an avalanche of wood.
“Why do you think that woman rode down in the boy’s arms?” Kimi asked. Apparently to no one in particular, because her ghost offered nothing but a hum. It seemed animating a forest through their dormant Vital Nets took a lot of concentration. “They must be pretty good friends.” She sighed and sat down, dangling her legs in the air. The sent of sap was overwhelming.
She chanced a look behind her. Almost all the plants had uprooted themselves and were now clambering down the mountain on makeshift limbs. Their bodies shifted between grotesque shapes with each step, releasing mists of sap and splinters into the night air.
“The vine trick,” she scoffed. “That’s a cute name for it. More like the nightmare monstrosity trick.” She turned away, closing her eyes. They reminded her of creatures in the Old City sewers. At least they weren’t howling.
“Okay, that should do it,” Morgan said. Kimi felt a wave of nausea. She wiped a line of blood from above her lip. Morgan fidgeted in the back of her mind. “Are you okay?”
“We’ll get to the Shaping Stone, don’t worry about that.”
“That’s not—“
“Is the Keystone really going to be that useful? I don’t think there’s many plants up north.”
“The vine trick isn’t the only thing the, um, Keystone is good for,” Morgan said. “And working so close to the Paladins we’ll need everything we can get. I’m sure the White Temple is aware of my escape by now, and they’re even less charitable to my existence than the Arteficers.”
“What about that strange woman you talked to, with the Oracle stone?” Kimi said. “What’s her angle?”
“I doubt she has an angle. Merely a woman who found an interesting arte and was trying it out. It would be good if we could find something to trade for it. I would like to avoid a raid on the Black Temple if possible.”
“Well I don’t trust her. She asked too many questions.”
“She was only curious,” Morgan said. He didn’t have a body, but she felt like he shrugged anyway.
“Too curious.” Kimi did her best to glare inside her own head. “Anyway, we should take cover somewhere, let the ‘vines’ do their thing.”
“Why do you say that?”
“If the Maho-ju sensed when you touched the Keystone, imagine who else might have now that you’ve done this.” Kimi waved behind her without looking. She got up, sparing one last glance for the village far below. They weren’t in for a good morning.
A terrifying howl bellowed from the tree line, joined by a cacophony best described as forest battle noises; splintering branches and the flash of blades. Nearest to that chaos, standing on the wooden walls surrounding his home village of Monte Aldé, was a young man armed with a sub machine gun. More a boy, really, as he only recently turned sixteen.
It sounded to him like a pack of Night Howlers ambushed one of those mercenary teams on their way back to the village. They were good at stuff like that. The boy had only once, to his knowledge, seen one of the creatures, although with their powerful Camouflage Arte he could never be too sure. He checked the space behind him.
When he turned back to the forest, he saw a woman had run out, with two bizarre figures on her tail. Definitely Night Howlers. They flashed with kaleidoscopic light, hallucinations made flesh. He raised his weapon towards one of them, wondering if it would help to fire.
That woman was Elvira, and she’d broken away from a group of metas when Hitori told her to run towards the village. He hadn’t elaborated, but they talked earlier about the importance of trust, so she did it without hesitation. Now there was a pair bearing down on her. Was that part of the plan?
In any case, Hitori told her to follow her instincts during their cave side conversation, and right now she sensed an opening. The wolves were split up, trying to encircle her, not expecting a sudden counter attack.
She leapt forward, turning mid air to face the furthest creature, then braced her sword tight against her body and planted her feet. Before she finished skidding she fired off her Dash Tech. She felt as much as heard the crunch of bone when she slammed into her target. The meta tumbled away, its psychedelic visage faded leaving only a large wolf with mottled brown fur.
Her tech was not at all suited for sudden impacts, so she spiraled and stumbled when it finished, barely keeping her feet. The other wolf went dark, making it hard to find in the dim light. She picked it out as it leapt for her throat.
And directly into a silver wall that materialized before her. Hitori emerged from the forest and finished it off with a quick two strike tech. The rest of the team was close behind.
“Nice work,” Hitori said with a smile, pulling her up. “You’re getting a lot of milage out of your first tech.”
“Thanks,” she said. “But I want more of them anyway.”
Hitori laughed. “Probably wise. For now let’s get behind the walls.”
Elvira playfully saluted and sprinted after him towards the wall. This time she built up some forward momentum before Dashing up it. She flipped once, and then belly flopped onto the parapet. A little kid with a gun flinched back when she landed. She gave him a sheepish grin, and then hoisted herself the rest of the way and quickly jumped down the other side.
She released a deep, loud breath and plopped onto a large stone marker. “Sweet Saint Silva that is the most work I have ever done in my life,” she groaned. “I’m hurting in places I didn’t know I had. Chandra, give me some juice!”
“I’m pretty sure you have more Vital Energy right now than I do,” Chandra said with an amused grin as she walked by.
“Come on, come on,” Hitori said, grabbing her hand. “We have to debrief the mission commander and I want us all there.”
“Bah, I knew you were a sadist,” Elvira said, but nevertheless allowed herself to be pulled upright. She joined the rest of the team in a brisk walk back into the center of the village. Once again their evaluator had vanished from sight.
Virgil shifted uncomfortably against the frigid stone wall. He’d taken shelter against the mountain winds in a rocky nook. He could see a group of women standing a short distance away, almost glowing in the light of the moon. They had pale white hair and silver eyes. They were also dressed like they hadn’t left their desert home.
“How can they stand to wear that,” Virgil said. “They’re practically naked.” He shivered. He was wearing a heavy coat, with a fur lined hood that obstructed most of his face. “A high metabolism is one thing, but that’s freak of nature levels.”
He laughed and rolled his eyes. “I’d better check on the boss.” He started walking, as fast as he could without running. The group of white haired women ignored him as he passed, chatting amongst themselves in Bachijan, the language of the Northern continent.
He found Reaper standing over a sheer drop in the mountain, atop a rocky pile jutting out from the side. His boss was in a huddled conversation with a massive bird sitting on his arm, a creature known as a Rokh. They spoke together in mixture of low trills and chirps, and finished as Virgil approached. The bird took off, disappearing into the night sky.
“What news from the birds?” Virgil asked.
“He’s here,” Reaper said.
“That’s confident. Did they see him, do we know where he is now?”
“Not exactly. Thanks to Nova there’s no shortage of Seitojins around, and we don’t know enough about the vessel to pick him out.”
“Then why are we sure he’s here now?”
“The trees have come alive,” Reaper said, pointing to the cliffs on the other side of the village of Monte Aldé.
“Ah, yes, the vine trick, that would do it,” Virgil said. “But doesn’t that mean he’s got the Reaping Stone?”
“No, he wouldn’t bother with the vines if he already grabbed the stone. It must be locked up. Somewhere he could get close enough to grab the latest key, but too well secured to take the stone itself.”
“Well, alright, what’s the plan? Are we going to sneak in and snatch it before Morgan can get to it?”
“No, thanks to the friends of your other half, the village is crawling with Paladins right now. We can’t risk being exposed.”
Virgil scoffed. “You give that old temple too much credit. They haven’t fought an honest war in centuries.”
“You give them too little,” Reaper said. “The White Temple may have cast aside the ways of battle, but they have no shortage of ruthlessness. Plus, they’re well connected. I have no desire to wage war against the whole Bachijan army, and even less with Nova.”
“So, we’re just going to wait it out?”
“Yes. The village is doomed and they know it. We’ll be able to slip in after the evacuation, and since Morgan is alone, we won’t have any problems beating him to the stone.” Reaper turned to walk further into the mountains. “Let’s take cover a little further back, I’d like to avoid being seen at all if possible.”
Virgil peered into the village. “Wouldn’t it be funny if he was down there right now?” He laughed.
Normally, it would only take about five minutes to walk from the village edge to the Civic Center in Monte Aldé, but at their current pace it took Hitori’s team twice that. He spent the journey ushering them forwards. It was a little annoying, but to be fair they had all been up near twenty four hours. Nova trained for many things, but sleep deprivation wasn’t one of them.
Something to think about, I guess. Not enough equal distribution of suffering.
When they arrived things were much the same as they were when Hitori was there yesterday. Busy. Hitori supposed his team probably wasn’t the only group running short on sleep and long on problems. The town square was a large concrete pad, with the Civic Center on one end, and a small brick storehouse in the center.
He led his team into the Civic Center, where he found an older man standing over a paper map, penciling things into the margins. It was their mission commander Ramses Malikah, an instructor he shared with Elvira for a class on global politics. One of the few courses where his new teammate was on par with her peers.
“Commander Ramses!” Hitori said, breaking the man from his thoughts.
“Ah, Omega team,” he said. “You’re a few hours early. Was there a problem?”
“Nothing serious,” Gordon said. “Few drakes, forest came alive and decided to kill us, bad weather. You know, usual.”
Hitori flashed Gordon a glare, which he ignored, before turning back to the commander. “Not how I would have reported it, but in the essential details he is correct,” Hitori said. “We came back because there’s an army of motive metaflora on its way. I believe it’s time to evacuate.”
“A few trees moving about is pretty rare,” Ramses said. “And frightening too, I’m sure, but they’ll hardly be invincible, there’s no need to overreact.”
“No sir, you’ve misunderstood,” Hitori said. “It wasn’t hyperbole to call it an army. There are a least a thousand animate trees coming our way, and by the look of things, driving a wave of terrified metafauna before them.”
“A thousand? That’s impossible. There hasn’t been more than a half dozen reported cases in the last three centuries.”
“Es la neta, pendejo!” someone yelled from behind Hitori. He turned to see it was none other than their evaluator, an Eastern woman named Rosalina Kinyani Varzhish. “I saw it with my own eyes! Los pinche arbustos shambling down the mountain!”
“Damnit Rosa!” Ramses winced. “Do you always have to yell?”
“Only at estúpidas fresas who waste everyone’s time! They gave you their report, believe them. Your students aren’t going to make stuff up.”
Ramses muttered a swear in Bachijan. He sighed, then continued, “I was so sure we wouldn’t to have to evacuate Monte Aldé. Foster is going to be insufferable.”
“Can any ships make it in time?” Chandra asked.
“Yes, I believe so,” Ramses said. “Foster insisted on calling in a favor from Mairtala and getting them to send a flight our way. Last I heard they were due to arrive around daybreak.”
“But that’s after the metaflora will arrive,” Protius said.
“Yeah, less than ideal. Thankfully airships tend to fly at half speed. If we tell them to double time it, that should give us hours to spare.” Ramses nodded to himself. “I’d rather spend a half day floating idle over the ocean than even a minute running an evacuation during a battle.
“Alright, you guys wait here a minute. I’m going to call the fleet and tell them to hurry, then we’ll think about what you should do next.” He pulled out a small black disk and started manipulating a series of floating symbols. Then he frowned.
“What’s with the face, Ramses?” Varzhish asked.
“That’s strange. It says it can’t make a connection.” He tried again. “Nope, just a generic error message.”
“Can you contact any of the other teams?” Protius asked. “It might be wise to recall them now anyway.”
“Good idea,” he said. Then he punched a few more icons and waited a second. He frowned again. “Nothing. I’ve never heard of a WebComm failing like this.”
“That happened to us too,” Hitori said. “We tried to call you earlier, and didn’t have any luck.”
“I think the local web has been depleted,” Protius said.
Ramses bolted upright. “Is that possible?”
“Theoretically, certainly,” Protius said. “And it explains why WebComms aren’t working. I think the metaflora are feeding on it.”
“If that ain’t the red sands,” he muttered. “With that much energy….”
“Yah güey, they told you it was an army,” Varzhish said, slapping Malikah on the back.
“Think a radio might work?” Gordon asked.
“It should,” Protius said. “Assuming we have a transmitter with enough power.”
“Unfortunately they’re a bit too backwater around these parts to have a tower,” Ramses said. Varzhish glared at him. “Looks like we’ll have to rely on Flares. Hopefully the teams have a good view of the sky.”
Hitori heard someone barge into the room behind him. “Boss!” they yelled. Hitori turned in time to see a man barrel past him. He was in his early twenties, and strongly Duroterran. Hitori thought he looked a little familiar.
Varzhish snapped her gaze to the intruder. “Oh, so now I’m the boss, is it,” she said.
“Ms. Rose,” he said.
“Don’t try and sweet talk me either! Do you have any idea how—“ she cut herself off. “I mean, how dangerous things are right now.”
“Damnit Queso,” he mumbled.
“Don’t go blaming him! My nephew at least had the good sense to stay behind the walls. What were you thinking!”
“I was thinking suspicious movement in the forest should be investigated, and that a massive surprise attack from the north could be a problem. It’s a good thing I did too, because it looks like that’s what they’re planning. I saw at least three chieftains pass Moonshadow Rock while I was out, and that—“
“Ay!” Varzhish yelled a string of colorful expletives in Eastern. “You went that far by yourself!”
“It wasn’t that far,” he said. “And besides, I had Nando and Paca with me.”
Apparently that wasn’t anything his boss wanted to hear, because she exploded in profanity.
The young man turned away and mumbled, “It’s not any worse than what you get up to.”
As he turned Hitori heard a gasp from Elvira. He looked back, wondering if perhaps she found him stunningly handsome.
She was certainly stunned, though Hitori wasn’t encouraged by the snarl forming on her lips.
Do they know each other, I wonder? Maybe an old flame? This could be fun.
Hitori had the sudden impression his newest teammate was about to attack one of their future peers. A certain amount of combativeness was expected in mercenary companies, but assaulting their evaluator’s subordinate would do them no favors come grading time. Even if Varzhish did seem rather murderous herself.
Hitori moved to block Elvira, planning to guide her out under some pretense. Before he could she pushed past him.
“Drake! Valentine! Vincent!” She said each world like she was cursing the name of Apep himself. The young man, apparently Drake Valentine Vincent, jumped and turned to face her. He was more surprised and confused than Hitori was to hear his full name, but Hitori noticed a hopeful gleam he did not share. Varzhish passed a quick glance between them. There was a sad hint to her eyes.
“Vivi?” Drake said. “Is that you?” He walked towards her.
Elvira hissed, “Don’t call me that, you! You!” She swallowed the rest of her sentence in a growl.
Drake winced. “Vivi— I mean, Elvira, sister, I— I don’t know what you heard but—“
“Shut up!” She yelled. “You fucking— cowardly— treacherous—“ each word was choked off. Her meaning was made perfectly clear by the drawn sword, however.
Finally, some excitement! Come on, let this play out for me! I’m dying!
“Elvira,” Hitori said gently. He reached across her, placing a hand on the hilt of her sword. “Come outside with me, please.”
Bah, spoilsport.
“No.” Elvira had a dark look in her eyes. Hitori continued to move, putting himself between her and Drake. Her brother had a pained expression. She growled, “Get out of my way.”
“Not going to happen,” Hitori said. Elvira pushed into him, but Hitori returned the pressure, steering her towards the exit. Her hand flushed white from the pressure of her grip. She resisted a few seconds, but eventually relented.
When they cleared the front door, Elvira made a trembling attempt to sheath her weapon. Instead it toppled to the ground and bounced away out of reach. She feebly grasped after it, then gave up. They stood in silence a moment.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Hitori asked. Elvira tensed, but then found something very fascinating in her boot laces. “Or maybe someone to distract you?”
She took a few deep, slow breaths, then wiped at her eyes and looked at him. “Sorry.”
What’s she apologizing for? You’re the one who ruined it.
“Hey, nothing wrong with feeling stuff,” Hitori smiled. “Though it might be a bit much to stab a motherfucker.”
Elvira laughed, but with a manic gleam to her eyes that was not at all encouraging.
“If you don’t mind my asking, what did he do?”
Elvira remained silent a minute, before saying, “He killed my father.”
“What!” He dropped his hand to his sword. “We’ve got to—“
Hitori was interrupted by a tremendous crash from the north. An explosion of screams and roars filled the air, accompanied by an outpouring of gunfire. He drew his weapon and aimed towards the commotion, taking a position in front of Elvira.
“What was that!” Elvira said.
Hitori turned to her, taking one of her hands. “Grab your sword,” he said. “We’ll manage your brother later.”
“You two! The north wall has been breached,” someone yelled as they came out of the Civic Center. It was their evaluator, Varzhish.
“Varzhish,” Hitori said. “Drake isn’t—“
“You don’t know the whole story,” she cut in, with a quick glance between Hitori and Elvira. “But we don’t have time to talk. Metafauna are pouring into the village, and we need every available body to push them back.”
More people poured out the Civic Center behind the veteran mercenary, including the rest of Hitori’s team and Elvira’s brother. Drake was standing apart with a forlorn expression.
“Alright, we can let it sit, for now, right?” Hitori said, looking to Elvira. She nodded. She’d managed to take up her weapon, but her eyes were unfocused. Drake approached from behind his boss, and made a motion as if to speak.
“Later, mijo,” Varzhish said.
Drake shook his head. “I need to say one thing.” He looked at Elvira. “Don’t go back home.” Then he took off north.
The Eastern woman looked after him a second, then turned to Elvira. She gently touched her shoulder, a sad look in her eyes, then turned and followed after Drake. A couple people appeared from around the Civic Center and joined her.
“I don’t understand?” Elvira said.
Hitori frowned and shook his head. “We’ll get to the bottom of it, I promise. For now, we have work to do.” He gathered the rest of his team and led them north.
