Chapter 12: The Other Shoe

“Let's see,” Evelyn said as she opened her menu for all to see.

“I mean, it's not as crazy as with Ophelia but...” Elaine muttered but was interrupted when Evelyn caught her in a desperate kiss.

“So apparently bonding with our Awakener lets us cheat the leveling system,” Ophelia said, thinking out loud while Evelyn attempted to suck Elaine's face off. “I think once we're done here we should tell the other Awakeners about this. Getting powerful abilities for free is one of those things we shouldn't be keeping to ourselves.”

“But what if the others can't replicate this?” Evelyn asked eventually, once she had to come up for air.

“Then we get to brag about how much more our Awakener loves us.”

Elaine snorted and rolled her eyes at that. “I don't think we should antagonize the others. We are all on the same side. I will tell Jordan about this, though, just in case.”

Ophelia nodded, then looked at Evelyn. “Have you decided on your abilities yet?”

“I think so,” Evelyn said, then began tapping buttons.

“I'm very curious to see if that special ability is as good as it sounds,” Ophelia said. “Don't you have limitless stamina in a thunderstorm?”

Evelyn nodded. “If these abilities work the way I think they work I'll never grow tired while fighting ever again.”

“Has that been a problem?” Elaine asked. “During the attack you seemed to hold your own pretty well.”

Evelyn waggled her hand in a so-so gesture. “I wasn't in any danger of keeling over but that was mostly because I was holding back. I started off throwing these really huge spells but then realized I had to pace myself when my vision started going dark around the edges.”

Elaine winced and Evelyn rushed to reassure her:

“It's okay. Nothing happened and I was smart enough not to do anything rash or stupid.” She paused. “For once.”

Elaine snorted, then kissed Evelyn's forehead. When she was done she looked over her stat changes. It wasn't a big difference but every little bit helped, right?

“So, what are we doing now?” Ophelia asked.

“We could get up or...” Elaine said as her hand closed around Ophelia's plush thigh.

“I'm for 'or',” the vampire said, leaning in to kiss Elaine even while she spread her legs wide for her lover's ministrations.

Just then there were three rapid-fire knocks at the door. Elaine began to scramble for some clothes to wear but Ophelia gestured for her to stay and slunk out of bed, heedless of her nudity, while Elaine pulled the blanket up over herself and Evelyn.

When Ophelia reached the door she opened it to find Prudence in her military uniform.

“What is it?” Ophelia asked.

Prudence blinked rapidly as she beheld the naked vampire in front of her as well as the two women on the bed. “Uh, I...”

“Yeees?” Ophelia asked.

Prudence shook herself out of it and then said, her voice suddenly serious again. “There's a situation. Get cleaned up, we need the entire Project.”

**

The mermaids had been running the scanners constantly for days. Back when the camp had first been attacked they had noticed a massive spike of necromantic energy in the area, which had tipped them off that something was awry. There had been a second spike of energy when the second force had showed up. As such, they knew that watching out for necromantic energy was their best option for checking if an attack was coming. Even more, Professor Stollos had informed them that if there was going to be an attack it would most likely happen that day.

And so, the whole day they'd spent checking and re-calibrating and re-checking the necromantic energy readings. As it turned out, all the re-calibrating had been unnecessary.

The spike of energy was an order of magnitude more powerful than anything they'd picked up thus far. It had been so powerful and so localized that they could easily pinpoint its location.

Everyone at Base 15 as well as at the refugee camp had assumed that Caulder would have had to abandon his original summoning site after Private Dupree had turned it into a giant crater but that crater had been exactly where that new spike had been located. As soon as it had been located Ophanim Prudence had been sent out to investigate. There had been a drone in the area to do the investigating but whatever had caused the spike of energy had also managed to blow out any electronics in the vicinity.

And so they'd needed Prudence's Gospel to check out what was going on.

**

Prudence had been more than a little bit flustered when a buck-naked vision of a woman had answered the door. She'd known Ophelia was pretty but the absolutely perfect curves on the woman had still been a surprise, if a welcome one. The fact that both her and Evelyn had been absolutely glowing around Elaine had not gone unnoticed either.

But Prudence had noticed something else in that moment, something she found far less attractive. Ophelia had had a noticeable trickle of cum running down her thigh as she'd answered the door. Now, Prudence wasn't a prude and she was strongly bisexual so the idea of having fun with both guys and girls wasn't something she had an issue with, except... there had only been girls in that room. Had Elaine invited a guy over to fuck her girls while she watched? Was that what the sexy lady was into?

That was kind of off-putting to Prudence. More power to anyone who enjoyed that kind of relationship but it wasn't what Prudence was into. Or maybe there was something else afoot. Maybe it had something to do with the way Ophelia, not Elaine, had answered the door to Elaine's room. Had there been a tent in the blanket or was Prudence going crazy?

She shook her head to clear it of those thoughts. These were things to consider after they'd saved the camp from the horror she'd seen.

**

“So, what is it?” Elaine asked.

“Caulder sent his next force,” Prudence said, walking alongside the three she'd picked up. “Professor Stollos told us that if there were gonna be any more attacks they were gonna be today and the crazy bastard was right.”

“Why today?” Ophelia asked.

“There's a new moon on tonight,” Prudence explained. “That can be used for some bad juju. Bad juju we hope you'll be able to help with.”

“Right,” Ophelia said, “I can dismantle spells now, can't I?”

“Exactly,” Prudence said.

“So, what did he send this time?” Elaine asked. “Another army for us to nuke?”

Evelyn shook her head violently. “No more nuking for now.”

“Why not?” Ophelia asked.

“I tried to summon it when Prudence told us there was a situation,” Evelyn said. “It gave me a splitting headache and then I got a pop-up saying it'll be another four days until I can use it again.”

“Well shit,” Prudence said. “But that's okay. Just means the General's going to be pissed.”

“What do you mean it's okay?” Evelyn asked. “It's one of our strongest weapons, isn't it?”

“It is,” Prudence said. “But Professor Stollos already said it probably wouldn't work again. According to him Caulder's insane but not stupid. If he got one army nuked he'll make sure it won't happen again.”

“You still didn't say what he sent,” Elaine reminded her.

Prudence stayed quiet for a moment, then said: “Something bad. I'll tell everyone in the briefing room.”

**

The first time Elaine had been in the briefing room only her and the other Awakeners had been allowed in but this time the entirety of Project Divinity was in attendance, alongside Project God-Machines and the staff of the camp.

“Now then,” General Pennington said. “Let's go over this for everyone, Miss Prudence.”

“Of course, sir,” Prudence said, doing her best not to balk at being called 'Miss', then used her CARD to project an image for everyone to see.

The moment she did General Pennington as well as the three cadets from Project God-Machines and some of the weaker Shard Bearers started retching.

Elaine was able to hold it in but the sight did turn her stomach. At first she didn't even know what she was looking at. All she could tell was that the thing was red. A red smudge on reality that hurt to look at. Looking around her it seemed as though the closer to human someone was the worse this thing was affecting them.

“Traces of Colour,” Leonardo muttered, looking a little green around the gills himself.

“What was that?” Pennington asked, making a gesture that Elaine assumed was him swiping away the shared screen so he wouldn't have to look at the thing anymore.

“The Colour Out Of Space,” Leonardo clarified. “Short story by Lovecraft. Unfortunately it's one of the few that's based wholly in truth. The Colour Out Of Space is a color that should not exist in our world. Unfiltered contact with it can drive humans mad or kill them outright. The effect of looking at this thing is heavily watered down compared to the symptoms the true Colour causes but whatever Caulder built here, it seems like he tried to reverse-engineer the Colour and found at least moderate success. And if ordinary humans can't even stand to look at this thing then that's a fantastic defense mechanism all on its own.”

“I mean, it's bad but I could bring myself to shoot it,” Pennington said.

“You're only looking at an image and you're close to losing your lunch,” Leonardo said. “Believe me, the real thing will be worse.”

“Has the image resolved itself for anybody else?” Jude asked, looking thoroughly disgusted.

At his words Elaine looked back at the image and, sure enough, the red smudge on reality had resolved itself into an actual image, even though she wished it hadn't.

The creature looked like a horseman, a humanoid sitting atop a horse, except it was all wrong. The beast was entirely red. At first Elaine thought it was merely a red-hued creature until she noticed the pronounced muscle fibers and connective tissue in between. This was no red creature. This thing was skinless, bare muscle glistening and weeping fluids. And that was only the beginning.

The rider was no rider at all. It lacked legs. It was merely a torso grafted onto the horse's back. The arms of the rider were grotesquely long and one of them held a sword, a massive single-edged blade forged around a single, enormous spine, a skull making up the sword's pommel and the tailbone encased by the tip of the blade. Even worse, a shattered halo spun lazily around the skull that was the pommel.

The rider had no face, just red flesh stretched smooth over a blank skull. Its only features were two shallow indentations where eyes might have once been and two curved ram's horns jutting out from the skull itself. Here, too, a shattered halo spun above the head.

By stark contrast the horse's head did have features, though they were features ripped from the depths of a night terror. Its maw was filled with dozens of needle-sharp teeth not unlike those of an anglerfish and it had an eye, a single eye that cast a baleful glow.

And the other, odd detail was...

“Are those fins?” Elaine asked, only realizing she'd spoken aloud when she noticed people looking at her.

“A nuckelavee,” the redhead from Project God-Machines, Elaine was pretty sure her name was Faye, breathed.

“Knuckle-what?” Pennington demanded.

“Nuckelavee,” Faye repeated. “Scottish folklore. Creatures that come from the sea and bring death and disease. No idea if that's what it's supposed to be but that's what it reminds me of.”

“It's clearly stitched together from multiple lifeforms,” Stollos said, his voice coming out of a monitor someone had set up in the briefing room.

“Stitched together?” Pennington asked.

“The sword is – used to be – an angel,” Stollos said. “Judging by the fact that the halo is still glowing the poor bastard's still alive, too.”

Everyone at the table sucked in a breath.

“The rider is stitched together from an angel and a demon, as evidenced by the horns and halo. And the fins Sergeant Caldwell noticed hint that someone stitched mermaids into this thing.”

“Why would he do such a thing?” Pennington asked. “I mean, this Caulder is clearly insane but why go through such lengths? Just to display some wanton cruelty?”

Stollos shook his head. “While Caulder isn't above displays of wanton cruelty, there is method in his madness. Angels and demons are far stronger than humans so using their flesh makes for a stronger creature. And mermaids have legendarily powerful regenerative abilities and their blood and other bodily fluids confer them to whoever ingests them over a prolonged period so I'm assuming he did this so the creature wouldn't tear itself apart under its own power. I have to admit though, I am somewhat curious at the comparison to a nuckelavee.”

“Are you familiar with the work of 'Radiant Prism' Kaja?” Jude asked.

“Intimately,” Stollos replied. “Protege of Angel Lord Samuel, leading expert on Outsiders, and one half of Heaven's elite necromancer hunting team.” Of course Stollos failed to mention that he knew Radiant Prism Kaja very well because he once went through great lengths to acquire a DNA sample of her in the hopes of using it to create the perfect mage. It would not be productive to mention his past endeavors in this company however and anyways, it hadn't worked out the way he'd hoped. Experiment 36 hadn't been a resounding failure, exactly, but he wasn't about to make anything like it ever again.

Jude, heedless of where Stollos' thoughts had gone, nodded. “Kaja hypothesized that tales of Fomorians and other sea-bound mythological creatures in Celtic folklore were really just stories of Outsider worship. Allegedly many Atlanteans settled on the British Isles way back when. As such, it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to assume that this nuckelavee was part of that.”

“Regardless of the creature's origins,” Pennington said, his tone suggesting he couldn't care less about the discussion, “what we need to do is discuss how to repel it.”