14 Lost Time
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*Thump-thump* *thump-thump* *thump-thump*.

Nadia could feel her pulse in her ears when she woke, struggling to take in her surroundings, only to find she couldn’t move.

Oh shit! Panic flooded her awareness as her mind and vision cleared, realising she was bound. Whoever had captured her either hadn’t bothered, or hadn’t been able to remove her armour or her gauntlets, instead wrapping her in a set of chains that gave off a strange air.

Felix! Felix, are you with me? She called out internally.

Felix is here, Host.

Can you do anything about these chains? She asked, hopeful.

Felix is… restricted. Flow of power is being disturbed. Curious.

Of course it is. She sighed.

Taking in as much of her surroundings as she could, she found herself chained to a large metal stake within a tent. Outside, she could hear the storm overhead, though it seemed to have lost a great deal of its power by this point, with the winds dying down and only the occasional rumble of thunder carrying over from the distance.

Why isn’t there anyone guarding me? Are they so sure I can’t escape? She wondered. Listening intently, she couldn’t hear any sounds of activity nearby that she would expect within a camp. No voices, no footsteps… nothing.

Unsettled as she felt, Nadia fought to keep her heart from racing and did her best to relax her muscles, trying to keep herself as fresh and energised as possible for when she had an opportunity to escape. Minutes passed, then an hour, and still, there was no sign of activity. The rain ended, and soon the sun rose, while the camp remained silent.

Something is definitely wrong, here. She thought to herself.

Nearly an hour after dawn, she heard signs of someone approaching the tent she was held in, pulling back the flap to let the vibrant morning light spill in. There, outlined against the dawn, Zarathea stood unharmed and unmarred.

“Nadia? Are you alright?” She asked.

~

It took some effort to release Nadia from the chains, but with that done, Zarathea led her out into the remains of the Hunters’ camp. There, Tirie and her squad were picking through the goods and supplies the hunters had brought with them, all of them relaxed and at ease.

“What happened?” Nadia asked in confusion. “There was one… he was different. His weapon…” Her voice trailed off.

“Aspirants, according to Frederick. Pseudo-Adepts, artificial beings produced through alchemy.” Zarathea responded, her voice thick with disgust. “There were two such abominations here. One still lives, but is badly wounded and under watch. The other…” She paused for a moment, her voice cold. “The other fell.”

Zarathea lead Nadia through the camp towards a large wooden pillar, to which the surviving Aspirant was chained. “This is the one that attacked you. Do not let its outward appearance deceive you, this… thing is a monster.” She said. With a fluid motion, Zarathea drew a blade, cutting the Aspirant deeply across its abdomen.

To Nadia’s surprise, not only did the wound not bleed, she watched in morbid fascination as tendrils of flesh reached out to one another, reknitting themselves together in mere moments. “We kept this one alive so that you could claim its essence. The other nearly succeeded in Rising almost immediately after it was killed.”

Great. Nadia thought to herself. Nadia accepted Zarathea’s knife before approaching the aspirant, overcoming her brief feelings of reluctance before driving the blade through the base of its skull. As it died, a flood of energy entered her, unlike any she’d felt so far.

Level up: Hunter’s Robes is now Lv3.
Ability Acquired: Featherfoot.

Barely a moment had past when Felix spoke to Nadia.

Felix requests Host absorb the corpse.

Releasing a tired sigh, Nadia shook her head before reaching out to the body. In for a penny, in for a pound.

With a flash of indigo light, Felix swallowed the Aspirant’s remains. Suddenly, Nadia felt a shift in the magic within her as Felix seemed to be undergoing a change.

Demi-Core Absorbed: Enhancement Available.

At first, Felix’s trademark indigo light began to flare up all over Nadia’s body, like small pockets of dark lightning before a new and sudden change occurred. The Heavy Battle Suit melted away to reveal Nadia’s form briefly as the magical energies settled into a state of calm, with her armour nowhere to be seen.

What the…? She wondered, before she felt a new surge of power.

As she stood there, wearing only her underclothes, a dark bead formed in the centre of her chest, radiating the same mist she’d encountered within the tower alchemy lab previously. Nadia watched with morbid fascination as the bead rippled and moved, recalling the Sludge-creature she’d fought in the temple.

With a surge of power, the bead erupted outward, releasing inky black fluid that wrapped around her body, passing through her clothing as it adhered directly to her skin. Nadia began to panic as it raced up her neck, even flowing over her face, invading her eyes, nose, and mouth, blanketing her in darkness from head to toe.

What the fuck!? What the fuck!? Nadia was wracked with panic as she scratched and tore at the layer of darkness that was covering her in the grip of fear, when she realised… She felt fine. Good, even.

A dark mist clung to her body, making the lines and edges of her form indistinct. What should have been a very revealing skintight suit somehow… wasn’t. As she moved her body around to examine it, part of her felt as though she had a new, unfamiliar sense that hadn’t been there before. It was as if she could feel a sort of… ‘give’ to things. In certain places, she could feel… possibility, as though the world was uncertain enough for her to nudge things just so.

And nudge she did.

Nadia felt a ripple in her perception, finding herself displaced from where she’d previously stood near the Aspirant, now she was standing in a nearby shadow while even Zarathea was looking about in confusion.

“Nadia! What happened?” She called out.

Nadia stepped out of the shadow, her face lit with awe and surprise as she felt the power finally settle, and Felix sent her an alert.

Attachment Acquired: Entropic Cell

Entropic Cell
+2 Agility
Veil Step - Walk with uncertainty.

Holy shit. Nadia’s mind shook as she realised what had just happened. Concentrating once more, she nudged again, taking a step. The world became a hazy blur for an instant… and in that instant, she moved.

“That… was intense.” She breathed, the dark layer coating her body receded, now only covering her up to her neck, much like the Evo Suit without its helmet.

~

After dealing with the remains of the hunters, Nadia accompanied Zarathea back to the mountain, still unsure of how she should explain the situation to Jake and the crew. Zarathea was vague about the details of the fight after the Aspirant had taken her out, giving her the feeling that there was something she didn’t want to talk about.

Well, whatever. I should leave it alone. She thought to herself. Plenty of messed up shit happens in combat.

“I need to take them back to Falkirk,” Nadia said to Zarathea. “If I don’t go with them, things are going to be more troublesome to explain than they are already.”

Zarathea nodded before replying. “Yes, you’re right. When you return… be careful. The hunters are simply the forces of the Atheneum of Glass. The alchemists hold considerable power amongst the humans of this continent.” She advised. “Also… I may need to pay a visit to human lands before long. I would… appreciate… your assistance when that time comes.”

Her tone trailed off, sounding somewhat hesitant towards the end, but Nadia agreed almost immediately.

“With the bond, I shouldn’t have too much trouble finding you once I’m ready.” Zarathea said finally. “For now, there are things among my people I must settle before leaving.”

Nadia nodded in agreement. It was clear that based on the information Frederick had had, that their village had been exposed, and that they would need to relocate if they didn’t want to suffer another attack at the Atheneum’s hands. Nadia, as well as Jake and his crew, meanwhile, would need to return to Falkirk and inform the Hunters’ Hall of the events as they’d unfolded, or they would risk pursuit by agents of the Academician.

Still, Nadia felt that for the first time since waking up on Ariad, she had her bearings, and could see a path towards tracking down the commander and fulfilling her mission. With a renewed sense of determination, she made her way towards where Jake and the rest of the crew were held, ready to make her way back to Falkirk.

~

Zarathea POV

Zarathea kept her thoughts and feelings controlled and focused, waiting for the distance between herself and Nadia to dampen the emotional transference. With her Ancestor’s magic, she’d slaughtered every one of the hunters, the Aspirant included, and they’d been helpless to stand against her.

She’d been unprepared for the power that Shadow of the Queen offered her. Astral projection, as she understood it… Using her spirit to strike her enemies down and harvest their souls while her body remained safe…

It is a cruel thing. She thought to herself again. But cruelty is what they deserve.

Idly, she fondled her Ancestor’s talisman, drawing strength and comfort from the sparks of consciousness she could feel caged within.

~

END OF PART ONE

Holy crap this was tough for me to wrap up in a way I felt good about, and which left me enough threads to pick up the narrative from while still feeling like a good closing to the first chunk of story. I definitely feel like there's a lot of stuff that I need to go back and rewrite, probably within this very chapter, but I feel like this has at least brought closure the events we've seen so far.

As I got further into this arc, it began to feel really tricky to keep things on track as far as character development goes, and it's one of the things I've felt is the most lacking, so what I may do is go back and throw in some side-story/flashback pieces to Nadia's life on earth, to round her out more as a character, as well as introduce the audience to Commander John Allen.

For other stuff... I'm 50/50 on the pacing that I've managed to achieve. I tried really hard to focus on pushing the plot forward, which I think might have made things feel rushed in a number of places, and that stuff is just always happening, and I think that's the other big thing I want to work on when I go back to do another draft of this.

In terms of the cast of characters we've met, I'm pretty happy with the diversity I've managed while making sure not to just drown the story in yet another new face every few chapters, and in my second pass, I want to take the time to develop Jake and Rodney more, and really bring some life to them overall.

If you guys have any feedback on things you think I should have done differently, or that just need more work, please leave me a comment or send me a message and let me know what you think. I'm a super newbie writer still, and could use all the feedback I can get. Cheers, hope you all enjoyed!

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