DISCOVERY PART 5I

Day 448; 1735 (Late Afternoon)
Focus: Hunter Party Camp

In a location quite a distance away from 513’s battlefield...

Five figures sat around a dugout fire pit inside a clearing off to the side of a wide road leading east, away from the Kingdom of Colesty. The road was the primary trade route between Cole’s Keep and the Kingdom of Ecalard's capital city of Lux. 

The clearing was just one of many rest areas attached to the main trade route between major kingdoms and nations. As such, the route was considered a high security zone, where road patrols were common and the safety of travellers and merchants were guaranteed.

The five figures were a newly formed party that had recently registered with the behemoth sized organization called the Hunter Coalition. Rather than immediately assigning a catchy name to themselves, the group -- the hunter party --  chose to remain unnamed for the time being. It was a choice agreed upon through consensus.

Of the five, the leader of the group, a female hybrid by the name of Lorne, sat comfortably atop a fallen tree trunk. She kept relatively close to the campfire, as to keep warm.

While performing maintenance on her weapons, a sudden bout of indescribable stench registered in her mind.

Her face wrinkled in discomfort as she dropped her weapons and clasped her face with both hands. 

The smell of burning flesh and smoke filled her mind, as if she was in the middle of an intense fight.

Upon noticing the oddity, the only man of the party -- who had purposefully sat some distance away -- stood up and approached her.

Man: “Lorne, are you alright?”

Asked the man while placing his unsteady hand on her shoulder.

Lorne: “I’m...I’m fine, Damon. I will recover shortly.”

Responded Lorne after settling her gag reflexes.

Still feeling concerned for his leader's well being, Damon continued.

Damon: “Hmm. Just to be safe, let’s have Mona take a look at your vitals.” 

His hand remained firmly perched on Lorne's shoulder as he looked towards Mona's direction.

Lorne: “I said I’m fine!”

Lorne retorted defiantly, violently tossing Damon’s hand aside. 

This act caused Damon to shut his mouth and retreat a few steps back in caution.

Mona: “Don’t be so stubborn! Here, let me have a look at you!”

Seeing her friend's exaggerated reaction, Mona scolded Lorne from where she sat. She then glanced at Damon, sending him a sincere look of apology, then swiftly approached Lorne, forcibly grabbing onto her hands to stop her from escaping.

Lorne wanted to complain and act out, but having known Mona for a long time, she knew better; she knew that struggling was futile.

Agitated, Lorne quickly gave up her stubborn resistance and awaited her fate.

Seeing her friend reluctantly submit to her demands, Mona gently smiled. She loosened her grip on Lorne's hands and began to diagnose her condition. 

Closing her eyes, Mona entered a state of meditation, clearing her mind of outside interference. When she achieved a certain level of inner peace, she channeled a strange power from within her body. Silver particles quickly emerged from under her skin, engulfing her figure as she mumbled unintelligible words to herself. As a result, the surrounding area was illuminated in a greenish glow of faint light -- one that eclipsed the light of the nearby campfire. 

The green light rippled and moved like a liquid, forming a clear barrier around Mona's body. As time passed, it rapidly increased in luminosity, almost as if going out of control. However, the other members of the party remained calm. 

Clearly, this wasn't the first time they had seen such a phenomenon. 

The glow then transferred over to Lorne, slowly enveloping her figure before disappearing into her body shortly after.

Lorne: “H-how is it?”

Lorne asked hesitantly.

Opening her eyes slowly, Mona replied.

Mona: “Good. Nothing out of the ordinary.”

As she spoke, a faint glow of green light flashed in her eyes before quickly vanishing.

While the two women discussed the results of the strange power, off to the side, Damon paced back and forth between the campfire and the wooden stump he used as a seat. He spent that time pondering deeply about recent events. 

He had his own doubts and worries regarding the matter; he understood that the person leading their group had to be mentally mature, properly trained, had a clear mind, and was ready to make hard choices at a moment's notice. Otherwise, they'd be no better than a gang of bandits with an official title. 

He hoped that Lorne's leadership over the group would work out for the best. But he knew her inexperience could spell their doom.

[This isn't an uncommon occurrence…] He brooded, hesitant of the party's future.

After Mona finished checking Lorne for additional physical and psychological damages, Damon carefully approached the two.

Damon: “Could this be the result of the mental link between you and your younger brother? I remember a similar instance happening before.”

He asked, hoping that the incident could be logically explained.

Upon hearing this, Lorne glared at Damon, clearly irritated by his words. 

She still couldn't forgive him for accepting a commission on behalf of the group without their consent, forcing them to needlessly venture away from their homeland. The commission was the reason why their party had left the Kingdom of Colesty for the northern lands. Moreover, those who had commissioned their aid had suspicious origins, calling themselves 'Alpha Team Ghost', a foreign name which Lorne suspected to be rooted in the Traveller's language. 

Although she trusted Damon to some extent -- due to their time spent together and the unique circumstance of being a hybrid himself -- she didn't trust Travellers in general. 

As a race, Travellers were just too unpredictable. Many unsavory tales stemmed from their exploits. Most of which involved the manipulation of innocence, extensive social corruption, and the inciting of nation-wide power struggles.

Historical evidence showed that the race was remarkable, yet unreliable.

Putting Damon's trustworthiness and origins aside, Lorne steered her thoughts back to matter at hand. She knew that the mental link she shared with her brother was both unintentional and special. The former, being an issue brought forth by her brother's lack of control; he would often create an unstable mental link with Lorne whenever he had visions, sharing some of his experiences in the process. The latter was a condition that only her and her brother shared within the entire written history of their family; her and her brother were the only two in their family that could establish a stable mental link without being corrupted.

After glaring at Damon for some time, she then replied.

Lorne: “Hmm. Let me focus.”

Focusing her energy, Lorne envisioned her brother's unstable condition. She imagined his frail figure, sleeping atop an oversized bed as he was carefully watched over by her father and fourth mother. 

Reaching out with her mind, she gently touched her brother's imaginary forehead. Upon contact, her body subtly shivered. 

Her actions were the direct means for establishing a solid mental link with her younger brother -- a deceptively powerful Seer of the Teroseribe family -- while she was away from home.

By securing a solid mental link, Lorne could pick and choose the amount and the severity of mental burden that could be leached away from her brother during his visions; it was like stealing his fate. Of course, doing so meant she would suffer on his behalf, but to Lorne, the choice was obvious.

She chose the lion's share of suffering.

When the link connected, her body suddenly felt light, as if she had become an apparition; her mental state forcibly hazed, as if in deep reverie. Then, a series of mentally jarring images surged into her mind all at once. Fire; blood; flashes of light -- all of it was a jumbled mass of information. 

Regrettably, unlike her brother, Lorne wasn't a Seer, so filtering and organizing such imagery was difficult for her, despite having the Teroseribe blood flowing in her veins. It was unfortunate that only the males of the family could develop the Seer abilities.

Seeing Lorne’s complexion gradually turn pale, Mona screamed out her name in anxiety.

Mona: “Lorne!”

Damon didn’t idle by and quickly fetched the two other females in their party, Shari and Alve, to help with future developments. 

He was the least experienced in these matters. As such, he did not hesitate to gather those who were more useful.

Before Lorne’s condition became worse, she managed to end the mental link with her brother. 

Opening her eyes, a frantic look appeared on her face.

Lorne: “W-we have to move quickly! Our target is besieged by an army of emergent beasts! They...those things...each spider, the size of a carriage...each with a physical imprint of an undressed woman on their bodies! False Arachne! They are False Arachne...an army of them! We must...we must!...”

Lorne yelled in a panic.

Unlike the mental burden brought forth by the visions, the content was what terrified her.

Damon frowned as he heard her ravings. [False Arachne? Clearly it is a name derived from the languages of Earth...if I didn’t have the skill to understand this world’s common language -- Unified Halian Speech (UHS) -- I would never have been able to communicate with the locals...this...this should be evidence enough that the person who discovered the beasts is from Earth. Why else would such unique words mingle with the local language? I wonder how many more strange monsters were named by similar people; people like me.] 

Damon was fully immersed in his own thoughts when he heard Lorne’s ramblings grow even louder.

Lorne: “Quickly! Qui-”

Seeing that his leader had yet to come back to her senses, Damon shook his thoughts aside and took action. He quickly approached Lorne, gently caressed her face and deeply stared into her eyes -- into her soul to calm her down.

At that time, Lorne felt distraught and was issuing orders without much thought. However, Damon’s act had saved her from her crazed state.

Damon: “Our target is secondary. How is your little brother?”

He asked, clearly unconcerned with their target's well being. 

Their target, Subject 513, was too far away for them to take action regardless of what they did.

Lorne: “I-I checked before severing the connection. He is quietly resting now. I just...why him? Why was he the one chosen to see these events? He’s only seven!”

She exclaimed with a mixture of frustration and resignation lingering in her voice.

Lorne, who was normally calm and composed, would only lose her cool when events involved her little brother.

Seeing that Lorne had regained some form of rationality, Damon backed away, feeling that he had accomplished his goal. This gave Mona and the two other girls room to approach the distraught woman and check on her well being. 

Mona quickly embraced Lorne and soothed her mind with encouraging words.

Mona: “There, there. Lionel's condition is more important than our mission. It's okay to worry. In fact, I'm worried too!"

After gently rubbing Lorne's back for a moment, Mona continued.

Mona: "Remember, our primary mission is investigation, not rescue, so let's not prioritize the mission over family, okay? Besides, the Frontier Town of Rasa is too far away. It will still take us a considerable amount of time to travel there...we still have yet to reach Lux.”

Mona's motherly words soothed Lorne to her core; listening to her encouragement was one of Lorne's guilty pleasures.

After taking some time to completely calm herself down, Lorne regained her composure. She then spent a few moments collecting her thoughts before coming to a decision.

Looking around her, she cleared her throat, then issued a command to the group encircling her.

Lorne: “Ahem! Attention everyone! There is a slight change in our plans...but first, let us have dinner, I will share my thoughts as we eat."

Once the group was seated and had finished eating half the food on their plates, Lorne continued.

Lorne: "I suggest that we leave camp at first light tomorrow morning. In addition, starting tomorrow, we should increase our travel speed, only picking up contracts and bounties when convenient; stopping to rest in towns and cities only when our supplies are low…"

After eating a large mouthful of rich stew, she picked up where she left off.

Lorne: "...rather than explore uncharted woodlands to advance our party's tier and combat experience, we should spend the majority of our time travelling safe routes. This should continue until successfully exiting the Kingdom of Ecalard's influence."

"Once we reach the low security zones of the northern territories, we will revise our travel arrangements. Those arrangements will be based on our situation at that time...are there any questions?”

Seeing that her decisiveness had returned, the four following her lead felt instant relief.

“None.”

The group replied at the same time.

Lorne: “Good, good.”

She responded, in a better mood.

[Let’s hope 513 is still alive when we reach our destination.] Thought Damon as he finished eating his soup.

◊◊◊◊◊◊

Day 448; 2034 (Evening)
Focus: Battlefield amongst the Pale Trees

*CRACK*

The thunderous cracking of 513's whip drowned out the noise of battle. Near him, hundreds of torn up bodies littered the moss filled ground.

He had been engaged in mid ranged melee combat for over an hour, but to him, it felt like an eternity.

At first, he had used the range advantage of the whip to sever nearby trip wires, setting off a number of traps which eliminated many of his foes. This worked for some time until the spiders eventually broke through his obstructions, forcing him to retreat to another location.

He continued this tactic until every accessible strategic location had been exhausted. Only then did he finally choose to make his stand.

From where he stood, dark, veridian blood pooled and covered the frozen ground; the blazing lights of massive bonfires raged and flickered in the background; and an inescapable flood of countless shadows crept ever closer to his position, like an unstoppable, invading calamity.

---Chapter End