NBB3 - chapter 38: Hide and seek

Tirella hovered behind the barrier, staring in terror at the monstrosity that was now so large it resembled a small planet. Intense stabbing pain in her mind, her head, made it hard to focus, and it was as if a thin film lay between her and the incoming Kaot Lord.

A dozen ugly eyes, small and set along the edge of its maw, looked back at her. The red irises glowed dimly, and as she watched, the intensity of the glow increased steadily as if it was building up to something.

"It's going to attack again," she muttered.

The pain in her head lessened, and after staring at it for a few more seconds, she turned and rushed back through the icy atmosphere. She knew that far below, hidden from view by the grey backdrop, Pasant would be waiting.

We have less than half a day before it's here, Tirella thought, increasing her speed until the clouds were mere streaks.

When she finally saw Pasants grey cloud hovering in the distance, she flew towards him.

"Where did you go?" Pasant shouted as he moved towards her.

"We need to hurry," she said without answering him. Instead, she flew in the direction of Tendraal's ruins.

Pasant followed her, but when she increased her speed he began lagging behind again.

"Can't you move faster?" she hissed as she glared at him.

An angry scream came from the small gray cloud. "First, you just leave me here, then you come back and complain! This is the fastest's I've ever moved," Pasant said.

"Move. Faster!" Tirella snapped, and she wished she could pull the other along.

Scanning the horizon, she tried to uncover any hint of Tendraal's ruined skyline, but the seemingly never-ending wasteland stretched out before her in all its vast emptiness.

Just a few more hours, she thought.

--

Solus shot through the cable towards Laron. Long cracks and fissures marred the energy walls. He hadn't realized he was moving through Laron's energy tether until he noticed the familiar markings and colorations. The cable seemed immensely strained, and new holes popped up everywhere as he shot through.

This thing won't last much longer, Solus thought as he watched a long, thin tear run back from where he came, disappearing into the distance.

On the other side, a bright light appeared, and a moment later, he shot out of the tether, coming to a sudden stop and hovering above a square. Screams and shouts came from everywhere, and Laron stood below, slamming a Goliarn's head against the ground.

He looked around and saw Oytach, his arms spread out a few feet away, blocking the gate by himself. A host of Goliarn quietly and broodingly stood on the other side. Although some seemed ready to charge, none took even a step closer, most looking up at the sky with wide-eyed fear.

"Come," Oytach said as he grinned and beckoned.

The Goliarn didn't respond but continued looking up, sometimes sharing frightened looks.

Solus looked up to see what was going on, and his eyes widened. Long dark cracks with glittering green edges covered the usually steel-grey sky, and a small dark spot sat in the middle. Two burning red points seemed to glare at everyone.

"The Kaot Lord," Solus whispered.

As soon as he spoke, he felt an immense pull from Laron's cracked energy tether. His mana-body was dragged towards it, and it took all his effort to slow himself down.

"Is that it, it?" Laron sang as he gazed up at Solus with wide-eyed fear.

"Is he back?" Oytach shouted, looking over his shoulder.

Solus gritted his teeth, trying hard to stop the tether from pulling him back in. Finally, after a few moments, he came to a precarious stop, half a foot from the tether.

"Solus? What is wrong, wrong?" Laron asked.

Solus wanted to reply, but a shattering came from the energy cable as a section collapsed. Before he could even answer Laron, he was jerked forward and inside. A piercing pain came from his mind, growing as he shot through the quickly deteriorating cable.

What is going on? he thought.

He felt his mind stretch as the cable pulled him through, his speed increasing constantly. After a few moments, he suddenly slowed down, almost hovering motionlessly in the crumbling cable. Then he was yanked forward once more, only to stop a few moments later.

His speed continued changing until he finally plopped out of it and back into the room deep below the ground. Dizzy and with a splitting headache, he turned around to Laron's cable rapidly cracking. A long thin line appeared around the end, and with a sudden snap, the end that was attached to him shattered, and the cable surged up through the ceiling like a-

Rubber band, Solus thought, before shoving the useless information away.

He gaped at the spot Laron's energy cable had been, barely accepting what had just happened. Laron had been the only one who could hear him… the one who had helped him get as far as he had gotten. Now that he couldn't reach the other,  what could he do?

After a few moments, his worry subsided slightly, and he looked at the other energy cables. His gaze drifted to Sumil's, also damaged but seemingly stable. Uncertain, he moved towards it, then stopped a few inches before it and stared at its gleaming but damaged exterior.

It might disappear without warning, he thought and pressed against it.

As soon as he touched, the familiar jerking motion pulled him in, and he was whisked away. The inside of Sumil's mana-cable was glowing bright blue, with long cracks across. Still, it seemed more stable than Laron's had.

The direction seemed roughly the same as just before, and when he shot out the other end, he saw the buildings of Skulltown sprawled out below. Loud booms echoed below him as Sumil shot through the sky, her hands angled behind, blasting energy balls in a constant stream.

A blue lightning flash appeared beside Sumil, and then Galg was arcing through the sky, flailing his arms.

"Two more spots, then we checked them all," the skeleton said. "Bout time too, I'm tired of this. I want to see what that massive black thing was!"

Sumil didn't respond.

What massive black thing? The Kaot Lord? Solus thought as he looked up. The sky was its normal grey again, and he shook his head. It wasn't important. They needed to get to Drys and bring that mana-core to GD18. He took a deep breath, then roared at the top of his lungs.

"Go to Drys!"

As soon as the first word came from his throat, the energy tether cracked loudly. He was dragged towards it with such force that his attempts to slow it were futile. The last thing he saw was Sumil looking up in surprise. Then he was speeding back through the mana-cable, praying Sumil would understand, or at least act on his command.

--

"What are you looking around for?" Galg shouted as he appeared beside Sumil again, his arms flailing as he attempted to remain upright.

"Didn't you just hear that?" Sumil shouted back as she looked around.

"Hear what?" Galg screamed as he plummeted to the ground. His body changed into a bolt of lightning that shot back up and appeared beside Sumil.

Sumil didn't reply. For a moment, she continued in the same direction, then she changed course, angling back towards the city's center.

"Hey, where are you doing?" Galg roared in a surprised voice before turning into a lightning bolt and appearing beside her.

"We need to go see Drys first," Sumil shouted.

"What? Why?"

"Because Solus said so," Sumil replied as she eyed the tower in the distance.

"Wait? Solus? Where is he?"

Sumil didn't respond but continued towards the distant tower in the city center.

Galg stopped asking what was going on after a few moments, and then they quietly raced across the dark city. Fights raged around the gates and walls of the inner city in the distance. When they reached the square, they found a large mass of Goliarn before the gate, battling with a massive black, red, and crystal-covered behemoth. They tried to get past him, but each that did was grabbed and hurled back, some over the wall.

"That guy is having a blast," Galg said with a loud laugh. "I think I'll join him for a bit."

"No," Sumil snapped. "First, we need to see what is happening at Drys!"

"Fine, fine," Galg said. "I'll just go after that old fool tells us what he wants."

Sumil shook her head in confusion. Over the last days, Galg had become odder and odder, his word choice more like some of the AI. She was starting to wonder if he perhaps was one.

Still, there was no time to ask now as she wasn't sure how he would react. Instead, she aimed for the window at the top of the tower.

When she reached it, she shot inside at full speed, barely noticing a group of four massive four-legged beings in the center of the room. Then, as she skidded on the ground, rolling over, she heard a startled cry.

"More of them! Get those two before- GAH!"

Sumil pushed herself up, strings of blue energy around her fingers as she looked around the room.

Two unfamiliar, thin, and four-legged undead flanked Norg, their overly long fingers wrapped around his wrists, struggling to keep him in place. Their faces consisted of a white plate with a single slit behind which two green eyes glowed. They were holding their faces close to Norg's, who had his eyes closed. A third one was holding an unmoving Drys up by his neck, staring into Drys's eyes. The final two stood frozen in the middle of the room, looking at a tall, long-haired woman that sat in a chair before them. She had pushed herself up, her hand outstretched towards the other side of the room.

"Give that back," she hissed as she glared at Galg, and Sumil immediately recognized the voice. It was the same she had heard days before.

What is Scathia doing here?

Galg didn't respond. Instead, the skeleton gazed at the large mana-core in his hands.

"So this is one of those mana-cores?" he muttered softly.

"Grab him!" Scathia screamed as she fluidly jumped forward, her body moving as if there were no bones in it.

The two four-legged undead in the middle of the room stormed at Galg. When they both nearly reached him, Galg changed into a blue lightning bolt that crackled through the room and stopped at the other end.

"Yeah… I don't think so," Galg said as he cradled the mana-core below his arm.

Scathia glared at him from the other side of the room.

Sumil was still on the other side of the room, looking at Drys and Norg.

Are they doing something with their eyes?

Drys was more powerful than most undead she knew, and if he couldn't move, that meant he was somehow locked down. She remembered the ability Scathia had long ago, where she could even hold Solus in place, and her eyes narrowed. If one of those things got too close to her, she would need to do what Norg did and close her eyes. But how could she resist when blinded?

"Galg, bring that core to GD18."

Drys's voice echoed through the room, strained, tense, and coming out in bursts.

"What? Why?" Galg asked as he looked at Drys, ignoring Scathia.

"Because we will all be doomed otherwise," Drys said, his voice weaker than before. "That thing is almost at the barrier."

"Don't believe him," Scathia hissed. "Give me that mana-core, and I'll give you anything you want!"

Galg snorted and shook his head. "Are you crazy? There is nothing you can give me that I can't take!"

He raised the mana-core, and a dull crackling laugh echoed through the room. "And with this, even more so!"

The entire room seemed to freeze as the mana-core began softly glowing.

"Galg, remember that boring world we were on for so long," Sumil said as she kept her eyes on Scathia and the other undead. "If you let this world be destroyed… where will you go?"

Galg was quiet for a while, then shrugged. "I can just make another world like this?" he said, but his words seemed uncertain, and the mana-core stopped glowing.

"You know what Tirella said. There are no others," Sumil hissed.

It was quiet in the room as all undead quietly gazed at Galg, waiting for what the skeleton would do.

"If you bring it to GD18, I'll get you a new mana-core," Norg croaked, his voice strained. His arms were shaking, each held by one of the four-legged undead trying to push them behind his back.

Galg looked at him, then at the mana-core, and lastly at Scathia.

"You wanna offer me something too?" he said with a laugh.

Scathia hissed, then moved with blinding speed, crossing the distance in a blur. Her lips curled up, and she stretched her hand towards him.

No, Sumil thought, and she raised her hand to shoot Scathia. Her arm seemed to move in slow motion, and she knew she'd never made it.

Galg snorted and changed into his lightning form, zapped past Scathia so fast she was blown aside, and appeared near one of the windows. He shook his skull, and his laugh echoed through the room.

"Fine. I'll bring this shiny bauble to that stupid AI, and you guys will spend the rest of your lives making me happy," he said.

With a loud laugh, he jumped out of the window, changed into a lightning bolt, and disappeared into the distance. It was quiet in the room until a Drys let out a burst of laughter.

"All your planning went to waste because of one crazy skeleton," he said.

Scathia growled as she rushed him, striking him across the face. The dull thud echoed out, but Drys' head barely moved, and a smile slowly crept on his face. His eyes, which had previously been dully gazing into the green eyes of the spiderly undead, switched to Scathia.

"What?" Scathia hissed as she swayed, then slammed face-first onto the ground.

"You shouldn't have come this close," Drys said as the thick pale fingers around his neck shuddered, and his feet thudded on the ground.

"Stop him," Scathia whispered, her voice barely audible as she tried to push herself away. The mouthless undead that had stopped midway in the room when they couldn't catch Galg ran towards her.

Sumil stepped forward, shooting a stream of energy balls through the room that exploded into the spindly undead. The first explosions knocked the left one over, causing it to spin in midair before rolling across the floor. The right one barely managed to keep its feet, his arms raised as he guarded against the incoming barrage. Staggering, it ignored Sumil though and moved towards Drys. Sumil watched as Drys ripped himself free of the one holding him, then stepped towards Scathia. His movements were sluggish, and his eyes dim.

Sumil hissed as she increased her attack on the second undead, but it shrugged off her blasts and reached Drys. Without waiting, it wrapped its spindly arms around him.

"Close your eyes," Sumil shouted, just as Drys did so.

Sumil shot another stream of small energy balls at the undead, but the thing seemed impervious as it dragged Drys to the ground.

"Sumil, keep Scathia beside me so she can't use her powers!" Drys groaned.

Sumil ran forward, collecting energy in her hands and slowly forming bigger balls.

"Stop her," Scathia croaked.

Sumil heard the sound of scrambling feet behind her. Angling her hands back, she ejected the blasts on the ground, propelling herself forward and into Scathia just before she could crawl away from Drys. She wrapped her hands around her as they slid back and knocked into Drys and the other undead. Sumil felt a wave of weakness wash over her.

"What is this?" she muttered as she grappled with Scathia, who was face-first on the ground.

Scathia hissed and began crawling forward, slowly dragging Sumil away. Drys lay beside them, struggling to get free from the undead on top of him. He kept opening his eyes quickly every second, looking for Sciatica and stretching his arms towards her.

Sumil groaned as she sensed the massive strength in Scathia's body.

How is she this strong? she thought as the other overpowered her.

If Drys hadn't locked her down, she would never have been able to hold her. She wrapped her legs around Scathia, then stretched her hands towards Drys's to try to pull him closer. Drys kept wiggling closer, and she almost touched his fingers when two long thin hands wrapped around her arms and ripped her away from Scathia.

"No," Drys hissed.

Scathia scampered away until she was twenty feet away and almost halfway across the room. Then she sucked in a breath of air and scrambled up in a burst of energetic and fluid motion. Her eyes were burning orange, and she pointed a shaking finger at Drys.

"Bring that… thing to the basement. I'll deal with it later," she shouted. Then she turned to Sumil. "And bring her too. At the very least, her mana-orb will be useful."

Sumil felt herself be lifted up, and the arms wrapped around her tightened. Then all she saw was the ceiling swaying left and right. Scathia's voice came from behind her, a nasty slur to it.

"And now to you. Let's see if you resist as much as that old follower of mine did!"

Sumil barely made out Norg's strained voice as she was carried down the staircase.

"What did you do to Vingria?"

--

Galg's lightning shape moved through the air like a bolt, Skulltown already impossibly far behind him.

"Bah. They still got me to do what they wanted. Like some pantsy," he grumbled.

His voice followed his moving shape, leaving behind constant echoes.

"Oh well. It's not like I can't get another one," he said, joy returning to his voice as if by magic. His lightning form curved up, shooting higher into the sky. "Now, where did they say that city was?"

A soft humming came as the lightning bolt continued forward.

Under a minute later, high above the ground, the lightning bolt whisked out of existence, and Galg's flailing shape hurtled through the air. The mana-core was wrapped in his arms as he looked around. Far below him, the wasteland sprawled everywhere.

"It should be here somewhere," he muttered as he recalled when he had been with Solus.

He returned to his lightning form, shot forward, then reverted to his skeleton shape and looked around, continuing this for a short while.

Finally, a few minutes and many miles later, the outline of a city sprawled far away.

"There it is! About fucking time," Galg shouted.

A crackling bolt of lightning zapped away, crossing the distance to the city almost faster than anyone could follow. It stopped practically in the middle of the city, above where GD18 lay, his massive Wyrm-like body coiled up.

"Holy shit, it really is immense," Galg shouted as he plummeted down.

A few dozen meters before he would hit the ground, the spikes across GD18s body began pulsing with electricity.

"Stop," a loud voice echoed around Galg.

"Why? They told me to bring this thing to you," Galg responded as he held up the mana-core.

The pulsing below him calmed down, but the spikes continued to glow softly.

A second later, Galg's white skeleton slammed into the ground, causing a tremor to pass through the area and a dust cloud to erupt into the sky. Galg climbed out of the cracked hole, looked up, and a soft whistle echoed around him.

"You are really big," he muttered.

"Are you an AI?" GD18's response was soft and careful.

"Hah! Hell no," Galg shouted as he stepped forward and started climbing across the rubble that separated him from the Wyrm.

"Then who or what are you?" GD18 asked, the blue glow around his spikes brightening.

"Galg, and that's all you are going to get from me. Now, I've got this here present for you. Where would you like it?" Galg said as he held up the mana-core.

When there was no immediate response, he continued to move towards GD18.

"Just press it against any part of my body," GD18 said.

"Sure," Galg snorted as he crawled across the last distance.

"If you make any sudden moves…" GD18 said softly.

"Then what?" Galg said as he put one hand on his pelvic bone and raised himself to his full height.

There wasn't any reaction.

"Thought so," Galg muttered as he moved across the last distance. "If I didn't like this place as much as I did, I'd just take this thing and-"

The mana-core in his hand shot from his grasp crossed the last twenty feet in a flash and slammed against GD18's body. It immediately burst out into a brightly glowing ball.

"Hey," Galg shouted.

"Thank you for the mana-core," GD18 said. "If I were you, I would back up a bit, or you might get caught in what will happen next."

The mana-core began glowing brightly, and lightning crackled across the massive, towering spikes.

Galg sniffed, then turned into a lightning bolt himself and shot across the open area towards the nearest building.

"Not even a please," he snorted as he appeared atop one of the crumbling skyscrapers and looked back.

Even from this far, GD18 was a massive thing, the glow on its spikes increasing until they were blinding. Massive arcs of blue lightning were passing between them.

"Looks like some out-of-control tesla coil," Galg muttered as he sat down on the edge of the building wobbling with his legs.

As he gazed down, the lightning began pulsing faster and faster, seemingly without end.

"I wonder what's going to happen," he said brightly.