NBB3 - chapter 30: Thrown around

Solus rushed after Oytach, surprised at the other's pace. The return trip was faster than the first few times he had made it, mainly because Oytach seemed unworried about drawing any attention.

Why aren't more of those Sludgies coming to check? Solus thought as he scanned the area.

Oytach might not worry, but he didn't feel like walking into some trap. When they reached the destroyed area, Oytach grinned as he moved inside, pointing at a large crystal that stuck in the side of the crystal cavern wall.

"I did that after I evolved! If I'd known I could have used it to beat those black globs, I'd never have thrown it away."

Solus didn't reply but looked at the crystal floor, not sure what to do.

"Solus, what are you waiting for? Come!" Oytach said as he turned and looked at him.

"There are more of Gouldiv's… offspring in these dead crystals," Solus said as he nuzzled the ground.

Oytach's eyebrow ridges rose, and he looked below his feet before kneeling and peering deep in the stone.

"Come, little things! Come to Oytach and see what will happen if you come too close!"

Solus wondered what Oytach was up to, and he looked with interest as a single tiny purple spec of mana appeared deep in the ground.

"Ah, you are right," Oytach said, and he laughed. "Let's see if that mindless thing knows what-"

Oytach fell quiet when the spec rushed up, straight at his hand. As soon as it touched the crystal below Oytach's palm, it disappeared. The red crystals on Oytach's body glowed bright, and a soft disembodied scream came, then it was quiet.

"Good! They are just mindless things," Oytach said with a grin.

The Kaot Lord turned around and grabbed a large piece of crystal which he placed across his shoulder.

"Here, stand on that. They can't harm me."

Solus grinned at the Kaot Lord and jumped up. He landed on the crystal that barely sank from his weight. Looking at Oytach, Solus nodded. He was starting to like this Kaot Lord. Still, he needed to remain careful.

Oytach lumbered forward again, humming loudly as he did. Every so often, more purple mana-specs rushed at his feet, only to be absorbed. Each time, Oytach grinned and hummed a bit louder. Solus listened, becoming more and more curious about the odd Kaot Lord.

"Are there more Kaot Lords like you?" he asked when they had passed through most of the dead area.

"Kaot Lord? Never heard that word," Oytach said, stumbling as he pronounced the word. "I'm a Burzith, and if that's the same...I don't know! When I came here, I was just a Gzin, barely conscious. I never met any Burzith. All I know are Gzin like you. Well, not like you. I've never seen a Gzin as conscious and able to talk!"

"Gzin?" Solus asked curiously.

"You wouldn't know what Gzin are yet," Oytach said. "Until you evolve into your Darlt form, you won't get any of the knowledge. Don't worry. It's not that interesting anyway!"

Oytach laughed as he continued forward, on occasion kicking large crystals and causing them to crack.

Solus didn't mind the quiet. He was trying to make sense of what Oytach had told him. If what he said was true, the Kaots of this world -no, maybe all of them- weren't just simple raving lunatics like they seemed. As he mused, he barely noticed when they excited the damaged area.

"So, what does your friend look like?" Oytach said, snapping Solus out of his ponderings.

"She's got orange hair and orange eyes and is probably bound by a dozen of those tentacles," Solus said as he blinked and looked around.

"Oh, a strong one then! Probably a Darlt. They were lucky to capture her… most Darlt's they have here are the ones they forcefully evolved." Oytach fell silent, then struck the nearest crystal so hard it fractured and toppled over. "They like doing that," he grunted.

"Did they do that to you?" Solus asked.

"Yeah," Oytach muttered. "From a Gzin to an Oytach all the way to a Birth. It took so long… they kept draining me, then forcefully stuffing me full again."

"Why did they end up putting you behind that wall?" Solus asked.

Oytach perked up and barked a laugh. "Because Gouldiv lacks a brain! His forceful evolution triggered the defense of my mana field, and the evolution I gained had resistance to his draining force in it. Even better, when I became a Burzith, I became completely impervious to his vile purple mana!"

Solus blinked in surprise, suddenly realizing something he should have noticed before. Oytach could see mana! He'd never even known it was possible before he awoke, but this Kaot Lord was able to do it. Thinking for a moment, he decided not to summon his mana field when Oytach was around. If he noticed the purple mana-spec that was the offspring of Gouldiv, he might get violent.

"Look, Gzin," Oytach said as he stepped around a ten feet crystal growth and into an open space.

A dozen tentacle-wrapped Kaots hung from the ceiling, dull mana flowing through the tentacles. Solus looked around for Vingria, but she wasn't there. Besides, he didn't expect Gouldiv's minion to have brought her here. If only he knew how long he'd taken before he reached Oytach. Then he could determine how far the Sludge had carried Vingria too. He had barely finished his thought when Oytach stepped beside the nearest tendril-covered kaot and ripped the tendrils apart. Everywhere his fingers touched, the tendrils hardened and cracked, and when he finished, he tossed the Kaot away as he walked to the next.

As he freed more of the others, Oytach's grin turned wicked.

Oytach freed dozens of Kaots before moving through a small outcrop of crystals and into the next open area. Dozens of tendrils wrapped up a figure, holding it tight midair.

"There you are," Vingria shouted. "Do you have any idea how horrible-"

She cried in shock when Oytach laughed and ripped apart the tendrils that bound her, causing her to fall hard.

"This must be your friend," he said. "She speaks in the same weird words as you did before!"

Vingria scrambled up and looked at Oytach, then Solus.

"What is wrong with him! His words are all… wrong," she said. "Is this the Kaot Lord? He looks like some overgrown undead."

Solus's smile turned into a grin when Oytach stepped forward and began prodding Vingria.

"Your friend is different! What is wrong with her?"

"She's always been odd," Solus said as he watched Vingria slap away Oytach's hands to the Kaot Lord's obvious amusement.

"Anyway, we need to find my other friend now. He was here before, but he tried to escape, and Gouldiv's minions took him away somewhere."

"More friends," Oytach said with a weary smile. Then he looked up, his eyes flashing red. "There is only one other place they hold captives… the same place I was when they evolved me and the others. Up there!" he pointed towards the dark ceiling.

Solus looked up, but all he saw were dozens of crystals poking down.

The others? he wondered why Oytach hadn't mentioned those before. Deciding it wouldn't help to ask now, he looked around the ceiling for a way up.

"How do we get up?" he asked.

"There is only one way. Follow me," Oytach said as he took one more jab at Vingria's shoulder before turning around and stomping off.

Vingria snarled as she watched Oytach leave, then looked at Solus. "If he didn't know how to find Solus, I'd rip his head from his body!"

Solus just cast her a lupine grin before trotting after Oytach.

Otyach the Kaot Lord, or Buzrith Solus guessed he should call it, led them through the purple crystal maze, seeming to know exactly where to go. They wound through tight mazes of crystal that Oytach smashed in passing and across open areas with dozens of tied-up Kaots that he freed. The typically furious beings just lay on the ground, seeming unable to move. After a while, they started to come across inert tendrils, the bodies in their bindings still.

"This is the older area," Oytach rumbled as he pointed at a group of dark tendrils wrapping around a single figure. "They didn't know how to keep the ones they captured alive at first."

"What did he say?" Vingria asked as she glared at Oytach.

"This is the old area," Solus repeated before speeding up until he was beside Oytach. "How much further?" he asked.

Oytach pointed at the ceiling ahead of them, and Solus followed his finger. His normal vision did not pick anything up besides a slightly darker area in the patchwork of purples glows that decorated the ceiling. As they moved closer towards it, he saw it was a circular hole, at least sixty feet above the ground. The sides were the first area devoid of crystals he had come across. It was smooth black with no holds to climb up with, and it seemed to go on for a very long time.

"We need to go up there?" Vingria asked as she glanced up. "I can't jump that high…"

Solus ignored her and looked at Oytach. "How are we going to get up there?"

Oytach laughed and walked towards an eight-foot-tall crystal and kicked it. With a sharp crack, the crystal snapped at the bottom, and Oytach snatched it before it could fall. Looking up, he took two steps forward then slung the crystal forward like a spear. It pierced into the black stone, penetrating almost halfway in.

Vingria sniffed and crouched. Before Solus could tell her to wait, she jumped up. A small boom echoed out from where she had stood, and an airblast knocked Solus off his feet. Vingria easily reached the crystal, landed on it, and held the side before staring down.

"What are you waiting for?"

Solus sighed as they scrambled up and looked at Oytach.

The Kaot Lord was staring at Vingria with wide-open eyes. "She has to be the strongest Darlt ever!" Oytach said with evident admiration.

"Not by a long shot," Solus muttered as he thought back to Tirella, Skull, and some of the other undead he knew, not even taking into account his own. Although Vingria was strong, many undead in Skulltown were stronger by now.

Oytach effortlessly ripped more crystals from the ground, favoring long and thin ones that would jab into the wall.

"Right, that's as high as I can get them," he said finally.

Solus believed him, staring at the dirt and stone grit falling down from the hole where dozens of crystals sat lodged in the wall creating a rough staircase.

"Can you reach that one?" Oytach finally said as he pointed at the first crystal steppingstone.

Solus sighed, fearing what would happen and wishing he had a stronger body.

"No," he said softly.

"I'll help!" Oytach said with a wide grin, and he stepped forward, grabbing Solus' neck and hind leg.

Solus yelped as he was lifted from the ground, then the world spun around, and he felt dizzy. The painful grip on his neck and leg disappeared, and suddenly he was flying through the air, heading towards the nearest crystal jutting from the wall. For a moment, it almost felt the same as when he used to jump around, then the wall closed in. He slammed against the rocky wall, oddly noting the cylindrical lines on it just before his head thumped against the wall. Everything began spinning, and he tried to dig his nails in the crystal below him.

His nails screeched as they slid across. He felt his body slide off, and as he sucked in a breath and scrambled for a hold, images of crushing to smudge on the ground played through his mind. Then something slammed on the crystal beside him, and the grip on his neck returned.

"Careful, Solus! It's not good to fall," Oytach said before he roared with laughter. "I'll bring you up," he continued, and before Solus realized what was going on, he was rushing through the air again, carried by the massive black and crystal-covered hand.

When Oytach finally stopped, they were halfway up the wall that became narrower the higher they went. Vingria sat on the top crystal, a wide smile on her face as she gazed at Solus.

"It's been a while since I had such fun," she said with a snort.

Solus didn't respond but looked up, noting the small dark hole. It was still far above them. He wondered how they would get up the next bit when Oytach drew him back, and without warning, tossed him up, straight at the hole.

If I get back in my own body, I'm going to throw him across Skulltown, Solus thought as his anger and fear warred inside him. Then he shot out of the now ten-foot-wide hole and into a dark cave. As he hung midair for a split second, he looked around and tried to see if there were any dangers. Purple crystals were everywhere, but all dormant without any glow, and two paths led away. Then he landed with a soft tap.

"No- NO! Noooooo!" he heard from behind him.

A wicked grin came to his face as he turned around just in time to see Vingria sail through the hole, arms flailing. She landed in a crumpled heap, then scrambled up and growled as she spun around. When she saw Solus looking, she glared at him before turning to the hole.

"I'm going to get him for that," Vingria growled.

She had barely finished when Oytach sailed through the opening and landed solidly on his feet. He looked around, and when he noticed Solus and Tirella glaring at him, he grinned widely.

"So much easier now I'm no longer weak! I wanted to do that for such a long time," he said as he backed away from the hole and looked at it. Solus heard him snarl nastily and step towards a massive crystal.

"Wait," he said, getting a sense of what Oytach was about to do.

Oytach turned around and frowned at him. "What? Do you want to go back?"

"No, but we don't know for sure Norg is up here. Let's find him before we destroy this opening," Solus said quickly, backing up a step when he saw a dangerous gleam in the large red eyes.

Oytach was quiet, then the dangerous gleam disappeared and sighed. "You are right, and I promised to help."

The large Kaot Lord took one final look at the hole, then turned around and stomped towards one of the exits. "Let's go and find your friend!"

Solus gazed after him, then looked at Vingria and saw her frown back before shaking her head in disbelief. Although she hadn't understood a word of what they were saying, Solus could see that she had understood part of it.

"He is dangerous," she whispered.

Solus nodded then followed after Oytach. Vingria moved in line with him.

"After we find the portal, I might have to leave this body behind," Solus whispered.

"What? Why?" Vingria asked.

"I can't explain that now," Solus said as he gazed at Oytach. "Just be ready to go through when we reach it with Norg. I left Sig on the other side-"

"You found Sig? Where was he?" Vingria said in surprise. "Did he follow you below the ground?"

"No," Solus said with a shake of his lupine head. "I'll tell you later. For now, be ready!"

Vingria looked at him, then sniffed as she glared after Oytach.

"You were always like this, keeping things to yourself instead of sharing. I'd almost forgotten what it was like. Fine, whatever. What about him?" She pointed at Oytach.

That's a good question, Solus thought as he looked at the Kaot Lord.

So far, Oytach had proven helpful, and he didn't seem to have any of the nasty habits that the other Kaot Lords had. But would that last? Or was it a front? He didn't know, and he wasn't sure he wanted to risk that, no matter if he was starting to like the Kaot Lord. There was, however, the reason why they had come here in the first place.

Mana-cores.

And, unless he was mistaken, Oytach had one.

"We will have to see," he finally said. "But before we leave, we need to get a mana-core, preferably more than one."

Vingria barked a laugh as she shook her head. "Impossible. Norg and I have been trying to find a weak Kaot Lord for ages, with no success. All of them are either really powerful or can fly."

Solus sighed wearily, about to say they would have to try, when he looked at Oytach and blinked. They weren't just with him, Vingria, and -hopeful soon- Norg here. They had their own Kaot Lord!

"I don't know what you too are babbling about back there," Oytach said as he stopped and turned. "But we are about to reach the place where Gouldiv's minions are. Get ready for some action!"

Solus nodded and looked around. An arm-long, thick piece of crystal jotted from the ground a few steps away. He stepped beside it and turned to Vingria.

"Rip this from the ground and use it on those things. Something about it causes them to break down."

Vingria didn't even bother to ask why but just grabbed the crystal in both her hands and pulled it. Nothing happened, and she frowned, stepping back and kicking it. A  deep gong-like sound followed, but the crystal remained unscathed.

Oytach burst out laughing.

"You aren't that strong yet," he said.

Grinning widely, he moved towards Vingria, ripped the crystal from the ground with a single hand, and handed it to her.

Solus watched as Vingria's face turned from annoyed to sad and back. Then she snatched the makeshift club.

"Thanks."

Oytach laughed again and turned back through the hallway.

Solus followed the hulking Kaot Lord towards the soft purple glow at the end of the tunnel.

When they reached the end, they stepped into a large cave with a ceiling covered in purple glowing crystals. The crystals were densest closer to the wall they exited, becoming smaller and more spread-out towards the end. Filthy red light poured in through cracks in the far wall, and Solus recognized the cloudy purple sky of the strange planet through larger holes. They were almost outside!

"Where is Norg?" he grunted as he looked around. There wasn't anything but dark, mostly broken crystals and gleaming black rock everywhere.

"Look up," Oytach said.

Solus saw he was glaring at something right above them. Straight up, he saw a dark pool of goop inside a forty-foot indent in the ceiling. It wobbled and flowed softly.

Sludges, he thought as he gnashed the long piece of dead crystal he was still holding.

"There's another room up there, but we are going to have to through them," Oytach said as he crouched low and grinned. "Literally!"

A boom came as Oytach jumped up, the airflow displacing Solus a few steps and blasting small crystal shards through the cave. The Kaot Lord shot up and into the puddle of black guck with his hands in front. As soon as his hands touched the black goo, it began cracking and hardening as glowing purple lines appeared. Sludges fell from the edges, sloshing onto the ground around Solus and Vingria.

"Finish them," Solus projected as he rushed towards the nearest Sludge, slicing it with his crystal.

Vingria didn't need any motivation, jumping forward and slamming her crystal club down on another one, flattening it into a rapidly hardening pile.

Before any of those that dropped could do more than wobble, Solus and Vingria turned them into hardened black shards that crumbled into smaller parts. Especially Vingria's savage onslaught gave them little chance to retaliate.

For a while, the sound of Sludge's hitting the ground with a wet plop before being smashed to bits echoed through the cave. When it finally stopped, Solus looked up to see that the Sludges had been hiding a short, crystal-free tunnel. A bright purple glow came from above, as well as loud crashing and fighting noises.

"Can you reach that high?" Vingria hissed as she moved towards him, and Solus groaned as he realized what was about to happen.

Grinding his teeth, he shook his head, and a nasty smile rose on Vingria's lips. She put her crystal club down and grabbed Solus as Oytach had.

"I'm going to enjoy this," she hissed.

Before Solus could reply, she spun around and tossed him up towards the hole. There was less power behind the throw compared to when Oytach had tossed him, but luckily he didn't have to go up as far. He easily reached the hole, flying through into a much smaller cavern. Intensely burning purple crystals dotted every surface, leaving barely any room for the black rock, and hundreds of Sludges swarmed in the center, around a laughing Oytach. The massive Kaot Lord had created a path of destruction towards the middle of the room, and wielding two pieces of crystal, rained down destruction upon Gouldiv's minions.

Solus landed on the crystal ground beyond the hole. Further in the cave stood a single, massive crystal with a dozen figures strapped to its side with black tentacles. The glow from the crystal made them look like indistinct outlining.

"Norg!"

Vingria's shout came from behind him just as she landed on the ground, and Solus followed her gaze. The rightmost figure seemed vaguely familiar, and then he recognized Norg. Purple crystal growths covered him, and he was all shriveled up as if he had been sucked dry.

Something moved in the corner of his eye, and he dodged sideways only to see Vingria run forward, waving the club in front of her as she headed towards Norg.h

"Out of my way, you oily snots," she roared as she flailed into the mass of Sludges without holding back.

Solus looked for a moment, then ran towards the edge of the battle and circled it, deciding Oytach could handle it. He dodged between and across the crystals like a black shadow and reached the massive crystal wall without drawing any attention. As he ran towards Norg, he passed dozens of other strung-up figures, some more massive than even Oytach, and his eyes widened. Those were Kaot Lords!

"Stop staring, free him!"

Vingria's scream snapped him out of his thoughts, and he gazed up at Norg's emaciated and crystal-covered body. His friend's eyes were closed, and his mouth hung open. Solus gritted his teeth and sprinted forward as he made a running jump up the wall. He easily reached the lowest tendrils and slashed them with the dead crystal. Norg's body sank to one side, and Solus slid down the crystal side. As he did, he saw dozens of purple mana-specs shoot towards his paws.

More of the offspring, he thought in panic as he pushed himself away just before they reached him.

He landed on the ground as Vingria reached him. She was breathing raggedly and snarled as she looked up.

"Don't touch the wall!" Solus shouted before she could make a mistake.

"What?" she snapped, turning her snarl on him.

"There are things inside, and they will go in your body if you touch it," Solus said.

A roar came from the center of the room, and as Solus turned around, he saw that Oytach had blasted most of the black sludges away, running after them to strike them with his crystal clubs.

Vingria jumped straight up in the air and slashed her crystal at the bindings, severing one side in a single massive attack.

Norg fell sideways, then came to a jarring stop as one tendril remained, holding him up. Vingria threw her crystal club at it and raised her arms to catch Norg. Then she turned and put him down.

"Norg? Wake up!" she shouted, shaking him as she examined the purple crystals that seemed to grow from the inside of Norg's body.

There was no response, and Norg's head just lolled to the side.

Vingria looked at Solus, desperation in her eyes.

"Do something!"