NBB3 - chapter 37: A cloud of Sig

Norg yawned as he stretched his body over the oversized stone couch and looked down at the bustling Battle Inn. From his balcony, he had a great view of the central arena and the dozens of tables filled with undead that surrounded it. Pudgy, yellow zombies moved between the tables, carrying plates filled with steaming white flesh. Nothing had changed since he and Vingria had left, only some dust in their private quarters.

The sound of chewing and soft moans came from the side, and he looked at Oytach, who was cleaning another plate of Wyrm flesh. They had wandered to the city for a few hours before going to the Battle Inn, and as soon as they arrived, Oytach had clamored for Wyrm meat.

"If you keep this up, we might need to hunt another Wyrm," Norg said with a grin.

Oytach looked up, his eyes sparkling above a wide oily grin. "Sure! When do we go?"

Norg shrugged. "First, we need to find a way to stop that giant Kaot Lord that's coming here and all the other stuff."

Oytach sniffed as he looked at the plate before wiping his hands. His humorous attitude faded as he stared at Norg.

"About that…" he said as he stuck out his hand to Norg. On his rugged palm lay a large mana-core sparkling and shining in the light that shone down from the glowing stones set in the ceiling and walls. It hadn't been there before, and Norg hadn't seen him take anything from somewhere.

Norg raised his eyebrows, and he resisted snatching it up. "How did you do that?" He asked instead, pointedly looking across Oytach's unclothed body.

Oytach smiled as he tapped a crystal on his arm. "I can keep things here… It's not that easy, but I'll teach you how to do that later. But take it. I wasn't sure what to do first, but this place..." he waved his hands around. "It's incredible. I've never heard or seen anything like this."

Norg grinned as he rose without taking the mana-core. "Let's go to Drys. You can give it to him yourself. Then we can figure out what to do next."

Oytach nodded, and the mana-core shimmered before vanishing from his hand. He grabbed the chunk of meat as he rose. "Ready."

Norg stretched his body, noting the lack of cracking bones. Perhaps he didn't have any?

"Let's go then," he said as he walked towards the exit out of his and Vingria's private quarters.

I bet Drys won't have seen this coming, he thought with a grin while also wondering if Solus had anticipated this.

--

Sig woke feeling light. A cold wind flowed around his body, and a quick look showed he wasn't in the hills anymore. He tried to recall what had happened.

The core! I've evolved, he thought as his memories slowly came back.

He sensed around his body and realized he was high above the ground. The air was freezing, and the stars and nebula glittered in the distance.

That barrier should be here somewhere, he thought.

His thoughts drifted off as he gazed out into the darkness of space, not noticing how he was slowly moving up. After a few moments, he sighed and tried to focus, which seemed harder than he remembered. His mind felt wide and expansive as if it had spread out so far he couldn't keep his thoughts together. With some effort, he pulled himself together, the small mana-specs that made up his body compounding upon themselves. Although it felt like a struggle, his thoughts gained some clarity.

The last thing he recalled was absorbing the mana-core he had gotten from Norg. He'd taken it into the hills, so the dangerous-looking Kaot Lord, wouldn't take it. What was that one called again? He felt the name flit through his mind a few times before he caught it.

Oytach, he thought.

Right. And after that, he had absorbed the core and…. He gazed down, seeing Skulltown far below him, a tiny spec in the flowing hills.

He was about to go down when he stopped. Wait. Hadn't he done this to gain something? As if through a fog of sensory information, he recalled what he was here for. His mana needed to regenerate again! He focused on his mana-field, on his energy level, and was shocked at how massive it had become. Although he wasn't sure how much he had before, it paled in comparison. It again took him some time to focus, and he sensed energy slowly trickling out of his mana-field. A sadness wafted over him, and he wondered if the upgrade hadn't fixed the broken-down areas of his patterns.

"The core is gone, and for what?" he muttered.

His voice softly echoed around, seeming to emanate from every part of the cloud that was his body. The sound cleared some more of the clutter from his mind. Wondering how much he had changed, he attempted to reform into his standard shape. He felt resistance as the mass of mana-particles that made up his current shape attempted to draw matter towards it. There was no response, and a gush of energy flowed out of him.  He instantly knew what the problem was. There wasn't enough matter around him! With one last look at the wide-open space around him, he floated down, quickly picking up speed.

Halfway down, he saw a slight movement to the side of the hills and slowed down. A massive black area moved slowly along the side. He waited, but it didn't seem to do anything, and he moved faster. As he did, so did the black area, and it finally dawned on him. It was his shadow!

How can it be… he thought.

His mind became fuzzy as he continued down while staring at his shadow that was blotting out a large section of the hills below it.

Ten minutes later, he stopped, still high above Skulltown. Cries of panic echoed up at him, and the bright blue barrier shimmered around the city. For a moment, he thought it was because of him. Then he saw bright explosions throughout the city as small energy bursts struck the bottom of the barrier.

Skulltown is under attack?

He sped down until the bottom of his cloud body was almost touching the barrier around Skulltown. His body almost covered the entire barrier, and he found that he could see from any spot in the cloud on which he focused. He saw the walls and the towers and thousands of undead running around. Some gazed up at him while others were fighting with each other.   He hadn't been able to do that before, he thought. Then he sensed his mana trickling away at a faster rate and stopped.

"I need a body," he said as he flowed around the edge of the barrier to the hills north of the city.

The stone below him was cold and dead to his touch, and as he flowed across it like a wave, he attempted to reform again. This time he could feel the mana-particles that made up his body draw dust and stone towards themselves, binding them closer.

With a jarring suddenness, his feet thudded on the ground, a tremor coming from all around him. His mind cleared up instantly, thoughts and images sharpening.

"I.. am different," he said.

His voice still sounded airy, and as he raised his arm, he saw the individual parts that it was made from swirl around chaotically. With a slight bit of focus, he released his tension, and the arm spread out, becoming a massive form of dust and debris. Drawing it back took only a little effort, but he knew if he did this for a long time, he would be back where he started: out of energy.

The howling of energy blasts and explosions echoed from the distant city, and he looked up at the barrier. It was a few hundred feet away, and it looked smaller than he remembered, as did the buildings. He knew he should go and help the others, but somehow there was barely any pressure to do so. He also missed something, some drive, some desire. It took him only a moment to realize what it was.

He didn't care where Solus was!

Some part of him knew this should shock him. But it didn't. Instead, he clinically realized that a part of him, the part that always tried to find Solus, was gone. It had been something he had never consciously realized, but now that it was gone, he knew it had been his main driving force.

Did he somehow bind me to him? Sig thought calmly.

He couldn't come up with an answer, and he realized it didn't matter. At least not to him.

"Let's just see what is going on," he said as he started walking towards the barrier.

--

"End those Goliarn puss brains," a short zombie screamed as he tossed a cloud of small green globs at the battle below.

The green goo rained down on the Goliarns below, barely seeming to do anthing. As he readied another attack, darkness suddenly covered everything. All he saw were bright flashes of energy and glowing eyes below him, and he looked up in utter shock. Everything above was black, but he did see some kind of movement above him.

"What is that," someone beside him muttered.

There was no response, but the undead on the wall stopped attacking.

The fighting below didn't slow, however.

After a few moments, the darkness moved away and flowed over the edge of the wall. The zombie and most of the others rushed to the edge of the wall, staring at where there had been a hill in the distance. Now it was a black wall of nothingness.

"Perhaps someone should warn Drys," the zombie muttered.

Before anyone could reply, the blackness changed into a vortex that swirled to the center. A moment later, a towering dull grey giant stood on the side of the hill. Strands of dark hair drifted around its head, forming a mane that slowly flowed down its back. Suddenly one of its arms enlarged, and the zombie jumped back.

"Yes," someone said. "Go to Drys and tell him a Kaot Lord arrived! As if these Goliarn aren't enough!"

Before anyone could answer, a soft voice drifted towards them as if on the wind.

"Tell Drys that Sig is back. Lower the barrier so I can enter!"

A stunned silence came, then one of the skeletons stepped forward.

"Sig from the stories?"

"Probably," came an aery reply. "Now, open the barrier."

"We can't," the skeleton said dispassionately. "We aren't the ones who raised it."

"Then find Drys," the voice said as the massive dark giant sat down in front of the wall.

"I'll go," one of the skeletons said.

Smaller than the others, he ran towards the side of the wall and jumped forward. Instead of plummeting to the ground, he floated forward, across the battle below and towards one of the buildings on the other side of the wall.

"You should help the others."

Sig's voice jolted the others back to action, and after sharing a frightening look, they turned around. Soon they resumed throwing green and red energy balls towards the battle below.

Below the wall, Sig looked at the wall behind the occasionally shimmering blue barrier.

"I wonder why I don't sense Solus," he muttered.

--

Solus woke with the familiar suddenness that always occurred when he took over another undead's body. He heard struggles and fighting beside him.

"End that weak one," someone said.

The high-pitched snappy voice grated on Solus's ears.

"I'm trying, but it feels like it keeps getting stronger," a deeper voice replied.

"Solus!"

Laron's panicked shout made Solus jump up and look around. The bone door was destroyed, and in the opening stood Laron, his body heavily muscled but not at maximum capacity yet. He was holding back the Goliarn, his hands on the other's wrist as he tried to prevent the massive undead from pushing him aside or ripping his head off.

"He is awake," the annoying voice shouted.

Solus saw movement behind Laron. The small undead with the piercing black eyes that could see him in his mana-projection shape stood behind the struggling undead and pointed at him with a pasty white finger.

"Solus, help," Laron shouted.

Solus took one look at the Goliarn, then at his own white arm, and knew he wouldn't be able to do anything. Well, not what Laron had in mind. He jumped forward and moved close behind Laron. He pounded the other on his lower back.

"Hey," Laron howled.

"Don't whine," Solus hissed. "I can't fight that, but you can. You just need a hand!" At that, he began unloading a barrage of hits on Laron. Although each individual hit didn't do much, he saw Laron's muscles expand with each hit.

"You owe me for this," Laron howled through clenched teeth.

"I can give you a better evolution," Solus said seriously.

"I'll hold you to that," Laron snapped.

"Stop him," the Goliarn roared.

Solus looked up and saw that the Goliarn's arms ad begun trembling. The black-eyed, pasty, undead convulsed, then turned to dust. A moment later, a small and brighter version of Sig's cloud hovered on the spot.

"Bile," Solus shouted as the cloud rushed through the Goliarn's legs, around Sig, before slamming into his chest.

Pain erupted from every inch of his body as he felt the cloud tear a hole through him. Then the jarring feeling came as he was ejected out of the body and into his small green mana-form. The pasty white zombie slumped on the ground below him, a hole in its torso from which puss oozed. The light-grey cloud shot back around as if for a second attack when it saw Solus.

"He is back in his mana-form!"

Solus yelped as he was drawn back to Laron. He had barely had a chance to do anything! The only good thing was that purple lines had appeared on Laron's chest, and Laron began forcing the Goliarn back.

"No! How are you doing this?" the bald undead roared as the muscles on his neck became taut like cables and his arms shook.

Laron didn't answer but shoved him back. A look of panic came to the Goliarns face when the cloud slammed into Laron's back. He stumbled a step forward, and the Goliarn quickly ripped his arms free and kicked at him. The massive boot shoved Laron back, and the Goliarn stepped after him.

Laron's head snapped up as he roared in anger. Dozens of purple lines appeared across the back of his arms and even a few across his face. With a snarl, he jumped forward and shoved the Goliarn. As if hit by a Wyrm, the Goliarn flew back and slammed into the opposite wall where he slid down with a groan.

Laron turned around, and the small cloud that had been rushing him stopped in its tracks before backing up.

"You shouldn't resist," its disembodied voice hissed from all around. "Scathia will hurt you if you do!"

"Laron, grab one of those Lethargic ones and get us out of here," Solus shouted. He was keeping an eye on the Goliarn and saw it push itself back up with an angry growl. If this continued much longer, more might show up.

Laron hissed and ran to the back of the room, ignoring the Lethargic ones and speeding up as he headed straight for the wall. Solus was about to ask what he would do when Laron slammed shoulder first into the wall. Cracks and tears appeared from the impact point as bone bits flew everywhere. Laron pushed himself away, pulled his hand back, and slammed it into the bone, shattering a part outward. Daylight poured into the room, and Laron kicked the edges to widen the hole.

"Laron, a body!" Laron shouted as he saw Laron get ready to jump out.

"Fine," Laron roared as he stepped back, grabbed the nearest zombie, and ripped away from the bone tendrils around its arms.

"Stop him," the cloud shouted, but the Goliarn didn't move. He stood in the door opening with a small grin on his face as he watched Laron ready to jump down.

"It is nowhere safe for you," he rumbled. "You will see."

Solus frowned, wondering what the Goliarn meant.

Laron jumped from the hole. They were only one story up, and this side of the building led to a small open area with multiple similar structures. However, unlike the one they were in, the others had windows, and Solus saw movement behind a few of them. Laron landed with a heavy thud, then looked around.

"Over there," Solus said as he pointed towards a small alley leading away from the open area. He could see a street on the other end with undead running through it. Screams rang from all across the city, similar to when the Lethargic had awoken the last time.

Again? Solus thought as he turned to the Lethargic one Laron was dragging behind him as he moved towards the street. It was still unmoving, and as he saw it, Solus blinked.

"I'm going to take that body! Keep it with you and get us back to Drys's place."

Laron growled as he looked at Solus. "Stop telling me, me, what to do, do!" he sang. "Get in that body! After that, find your own way!"

Solus saw the angry glitter in Laron's eyes, and he barely managed to keep his calm.

"Fine," he said. "But bring me to the area before the Patternhall."

Laron sniffed and looked around. "It's the last thing I'll do. Then I'm going to leave this place, place," he said.

Solus didn't reply but drifted to the undead in Laron's grip. It was a basic zombie, green with large rips and pustules across its chest and arms. Short cropped brown hair, glistening as if wet, was the only remarkable thing about it. As he entered the body, he wondered how long he'd be in this vessel.

He woke to screams, shouts, explosions, and a massive, pulsating headache. He groaned as he struggled up and looked around. He stood in a narrow alley, hidden behind what looked like debris. Laron was nowhere in sight, but he saw the square in front of the Patternhall at the end of the alley.

"What is going on," he muttered as he moved closer.

As soon as he stepped out of the alleyway, the screams and shouts became stronger. A dozen undead were battling in the only entrance to the square. In the center stood Bilderbin, Oytach and Norg. Surrounded by a mass of fighting undead, they were holding back a tide of Goliarn that seemed intent on rushing past them. Oytach picked up one of the Goliarn and hurled it back into the mass of bodies before the gate.

A group of small grey clouds flew across the wall and slammed into two of the battling guards. One bounced off harmlessly, but the other pierced through the zombie. It sank to the ground soundlessly, next to dozens with similar puss stained holes.

"Laron, what is going on?" Solus roared as he ran forward.

His body moved slowly, feeling even weaker than the one he had only minutes before. Without thinking, he pulled up his status window.

Name: -

Age: 28

Sex: Male-ERROR

Race: Zombie

Type: basic

Class: -

Strength: 2/6

Constitution: 3/8

Dexterity: 4/10

Endurance: 2/12

Intelligence: 4/7

Wisdom: 1/3

Charisma: 1/4

Mana-field: 113/230

Physical density: 200/310

Skills: 0

Inscriptions: 0/2

Mana generation: 2

Weak, he thought as he stared at the values in disbelief. The mana-field was too low by far to consider evolving, even if he could get a mana-orb. Besides, this body just wasn't going to be of use in the battle raging ahead of him.

"Solus?" Norg roared.

The dark-grey, green crystal-covered behemoth swirled around, dragging along a struggling Goliarn before slinging him back into the mass shoving to get in. The flailing projectile knocked two other undead down while Norg turned to Solus.

"You need to go to the tower. Scathia is there, attacking Drys. Vingria went to help, but she hasn't been back yet," Norg projected next to Solus' head.

What? How long have I been asleep! Solus thought as he turned around and ran towards the tower.

"Stop him," an angry shout echoed from behind him.

Solus gritted his teeth and tried to force his body to move faster. It didn't comply, and he took a quick peek across his shoulder. A tall Goliarn glared at him from behind the others, his single arm jabbing in his direction. Two of the clouds flitted across the wall and towards him.

Bile! Solus thought as he ran towards the door, which was still a hundred feet away. Halfway he heard a soft whooshing sound.

"Duck," Norg hissed next to his ear, and he dropped to the ground.

Something massive flew over his head before slamming into the ground. As he crawled back up, he saw a decapitated Goliarn a few feet away.

"Those gray clouds don't like passing through Goliarn, but it won't keep them for long. Hurry!" Norg's voice came again.

Solus ran towards the door. As he passed the Goliarn, a smoky tendril came out of the wound. He quickly looked ahead, running to and then through the door opening.

The spacious area, ones filled with tables and tablets filled with patterns, was completely destroyed. The shelves and slabs shattered to pieces across the ground. A few pasty-colored limbs belonging to Librarians lay strewn between the debris. The stair to the right was partially collapsed, but a sliver remained.

Solus ran to it and began climbing up, turning his head to watch the entrance.

When I get my own body moving again, I'll never sleep again, Solus hissed as he looked at the short distance up. He could have just jumped up effortlessly if he was in his real body!

"There you are," a high-pitched voice came from the door, and he looked over to see one of the clouds rush into the building.

I'm done for, Solus thought as he grit his teeth.

A shadow blurred in the entrance behind the cloud, and the body of the Goliarn slammed down on it, shoving the cloud into the ground. Norg stepped in, holding the decapitated Goliarn body by its ankle like a club.

"Let's go! I just realized that you couldn't do anything in that weak shell," Norg said as he jumped beside Solus.

"I know," Solus grunted as Norg grabbed him around the waist with his thick arm. The green crystals on his arms pressed coldly against Solus' torso as the other jumped up from the now crumbling staircase.

"How long was I gone?" Solus asked as he held on to Norg and tried to keep his body from breaking.

"One day," Norg said. "But it felt longer."

"What happened?"

"Oytach decided to give his mana-core to us, but when we arrived here to give it to Drys, the Goliarn attacked, and the defense barrier appeared. Then a dozen of those clouds came and attacked us, but we managed to wipe them out. Drys sent Oytach and me below to clear those Goliarn and guard the entrance, while Sumil and Galg went to find out why the-

Solus' headache spiked, and a high whine penetrated his head, blotting out anything Norg might have said. A massive pressure built somewhere in the confines of his mind and something shattered as he shot out of the simple zombie body and through the conduit beside it. A tearing sensation came as he felt his connection to Laron strain.

I'm still tethered to him, he barely managed to think before his body flashed faster and faster through the mana-tether.

His thoughts became a jumbled mess until he shot out of the tether and hovered above his own body.

"What is-" he tried to say when a scream tore through the silence.

The crystals on the ceiling shattered as one, the beautiful mosaic he had once made raining down on his and Tirella's body. Looking at her, he saw she was raised up on her elbows. Her eyes were closed as she screamed at the top of her lungs, the air wobbly and odd in front of her mouth.

Solus tried to wrest himself away from his body, closer to her, but it was as if a massive weight held him down.

The screaming and the pressure ended so abruptly that he shot away from his body and towards Tirella before he noticed. Then he was yanked back, and the room spun around him as he pulled back towards the tether.

"No," he growled as he resisted the pull, coming to a precarious stop between his body and the mana tether that led to Laron.

He stared at his body, sensing small aftershocks from the pressure attack, and he knew what it was. Although he couldn't see, he could still feel the barrier around the world wobble and shiver. The Giant Kaot Lord was here.