NBB3 - chapter 15: Incoming

Tirella shot further up, passing thin clouds blown around by the torrential winds that ruled this high. She stopped and gazed down. Far, far below was a section of wasteland that seemed covered in a black spiderweb.

Odd how those massive caverns and fissures look like this, she thought.

She looked around, trying to find a way to remember how to return here, some landmark that stood out. The dark ice section was far to the east, and when she saw it, she suddenly recalled the Zerichs that roamed the dark waters below. She gazed at them for a short while before turning her attention to finding landmarks. There was a mountain to the north, shaped like two fingers jutting from the ground, and between that and the ice, she guessed it would have to do.

She was about to go further when her gaze crossed a section of lines in the distance, and she sensed her body, far below the Skulltown's hills. It was perhaps a few hours travel from her, meaning it was weeks if not months for the fastest of the undead.

Soon, she thought, then turned around and flew up.

Alyra was far ahead of her, a tiny pinprick still oddly visible against the dark blue above that flashed to the barrier. Tirella increased her speed until the few clouds she passed were no more than smudges in the corners of her eyes. Ten minutes later, she was just below the barrier, looking straight down at Alyra, now a tiny pinprick shooting up towards her. She had passed her easily.

From this altitude, the landmass below her was nothing more than a smudged grey and black wasteland. The ice region covered the entire east. From this high up, where she knew her body was, didn't seem too far from the location she knew Gulder's hideout and Alyra's base were.

She scanned the section below, noting the lines and ridges that had once been coastlines and rivers. A few minutes later, Alyra zoomed beside her.

"You are very fast," she stated, gazing at Tirella as if expecting an explanation.

"You're just slow," Tirella said with a grin. As she did, she wondered how fast Solus would be and if he was whisking around like her. She hadn't thought it possible before, but now she met Alyra, and they could see each other, she wanted to find out. Still, finding him would be difficult with such a large area. Perhaps she should wait and see if he came back to his body? Then she thought about how few times she herself had been back and sighed sadly.

"Are you alright?" Alyra asked, and Tirella looked up to see the other inspect her.

"Yes, just remembering something," she said.

Shoving the desire to talk with Solus away, she turned to the barrier, looking through it into the dark depths beyond. It was hard to see anything, with the shivering thing blurring her vision. Instinctively she knew it was a reaction to mana and other things pelting the surface. Still, she saw nothing interesting beyond it, just a moon, the other planets -although interesting, not exceptionally scary- and the greenish cloud that was traveling slowly through the solar system.

"What did you want to show me," she asked.

Alyra frowned at her. "Are you blind?" Not waiting for a response, she moved a bit closer to the barrier, pointing towards the gaseous cloud of condensed mana particles.

Tirella followed her finger, but all she saw was the barrier, and the closer she got, the more it acted like a blurred lens. Normally her perception would be enough to see a crack on the moon of the furthest planet, boosted by Viridi's gift. Now, it felt like her ability to almost infinitely zoom in while in space seemed blocked and hampered by the barrier. Annoyed, she shot forward.

Just before she went through the barrier, she heard a startled yelp of panic from behind; then she was through. With the barrier out of the way, the vibrant colors of green that made up the cloud were clear as day as the whole cloud seemed to jump close. As it did, she saw a black spot the size of a grain of sand, moving against the green backdrop. She frowned.

Something is coming this way, she thought as she focused. Jittery, her vision focused, struggling as she tried to see something beyond what she usually saw.

All of a sudden, a monstrous something popped into her view: a dark thing with dozens of rows of glowing red eyes, above a toothy maw with innumerable tentacles that dragged behind it. The elongated black pupils were focused squarely on the planet behind her.

Tirella spread out her other senses, struggling as they swept outward. When they finally reached the small shape, she grunted in surprise. Although it seemed almost still, she could feel it was moving at incredible speed, faster than she thought she could move in her own body. It only looked slow due to the absurd distance.

The more Tirella looked at the thing, the more she thought it looked familiar. Still, it took a few minutes before her eyes widened, and she instinctively backed up.

It's a Kaot lord!

Her senses told her it was massive, bigger than the biggest wyrm she had ever seen. As she turned on her mana-overlay, she jumped back further as she saw the deep, ugly red haze that surrounded it. It was the same color as Kaots had but denser, and it left a trace behind it that slowly dissipated in its wake.

It's coming towards the planet… she thought.

Letting out a loud groan, she tried to gauge the Kaot Lord's strength, but all she felt was its movement and its size. If that thing reached the planet… there would be nothing able to stop it! All of a sudden, the undead below the ice and the Lethargic ones seemed like minor problems. Her desire to explore the planet faded, and all she could think of was finding Solus. They had to come up with… what?  A plan? Perhaps they could increase the power of the barrier to keep it out? Or… fight it?

Not without our bodies, she thought with a growl.

And even that might not be enough.

For a few more minutes, she continued to look at the massive monstrosity heading towards them. From what she could feel, it would still take over a month to reach them, and her distress faded slightly. Five weeks, perhaps six, she decided upon gauging its speed more calmly. There was time...

She turned around, noticing Alyra stare at her in despair, her gaze flicking between her and the massive Kaot Lord hurtling towards them.

She knew! Maybe she knows more of them, Tirella thought as she shot back through the barrier.

"How did you do that?" Alyra shouted, closing in on her. "I've tried to penetrate the barrier for months, and-"

"Not important," Tirella snapped, silencing Alyra. "What do you know of those things beyond the barrier? Are they Kaot Lords?"

Alyra's mouth opened and closed. Then she shook her head as panic appeared in her slightly translucent eyes. "I don't know! All of them were just hunting those white things close to the cloud before-"

"All of them? There are more?" Tirella said with a groan, trying to recall what she remembered from her vague dreams. It was all just a jumbled mess, but she did recall that there were more things. She hadn't looked for others just now and debated going back out to see if there were more.

"Yes, but the others seem to be staying inside the nebula."

The odd word triggered a host of images and concepts to appear in Tirella's mind, and after a quick look, she shoved them away as unimportant.

"How can you see them?" she asked, pointing at the barrier. "How can you see anything through that thing?"

"Wait, you can see the barrier? I can barely sense its presence, but only after I bumped into it," Alyra replied, staring at her with questions written on her face.

Tirella turned back to the barrier and looked at its shimmering and shivering surface. "It's like a fuzzy window," she said, using a term she had never used before.

Alyra was quiet, and slowly the calm seemed to return to her as she gazed at the cloud. "That thing, I can't see it that well, but from my calculations, it should be a hundred yards long or more."

"It's as long as ten wyrms," Tirella said, not interested to know what a hundred yards were supposed to be.

"If that reaches us… no, when that thing reaches us, it will wipe us all out," Alyra stated.

A stunned silence followed as both small translucent mana-beings looked at the barrier.

"Perhaps the barrier will stop it," Tirella finally said, herself unconvinced by her own words.

Alyra didn't even bother to reply, but she looked at Tirella. "We need to warn Skulltown. They have the strongest undead that I know of… perhaps they can fight that thing when it gets here, or have an idea on what to do with it."

"I can go there, but I can't communicate in this form," Tirella said.

"Can't you just use your body?" Alyra snapped, seeming annoyed. When Tirella shook her head, she frowned. "Why not?"

"Because it is still evolving," Tirella hissed before cursing herself as she saw Alyra's eyes widening. She hadn't wanted to share that.

"You are still... the only evolution that could last that long is the fifth!" Alyra said in disbelief. "No undead should have even evolved to a fourth level yet!"

"Some have," Tirella said, angry at both herself and Alyra. "But that's not important right now-"

"Not important? Not important! To hell with that! A fifth evolved undead can stop that thing and all the others behind! How long ago did you…" Alyra's voice trailed off as she hovered closer to Tirella.

"You are one of the two I've heard about. Those that Scathia so often raged about… Solus and- you're her! Tirella!"

Tirella didn't respond, glaring at Alyra and wanting the stupid AI to shut up. She hadn't wanted her to know, and it felt like she was rubbing it in.

"When did you start evolving?" Alyra asked, seeming not to notice Tirella's mounting anger. "Perhaps you will finish before it comes here?" the mana-shape of the AI turned back to the barrier. "I can probably calculate how long it will be before that thing comes here, and-"

"Five to six weeks," Tirella said, interrupting her. "And I won't be ready by then."

Alyra turned back to her, shaking her head in disbelief. "You should be done by then! A fifth evolution takes long, but not that long!"

"Enough," Tirella snarled. "I have no time to explain all this, and I don't want to either! I won't be ready before that thing gets here, so we need another plan!"

Alyra seemed ready to argue again, and Tirella turned away, looking in the direction of Skulltown. She wanted to speak to Solus, but she had no way to, but perhaps Drys had an idea! Or one of the other AI, she thought. One's I can trust.

"Wait, where are you going?" Alyra shouted.

Her face was switching between anger, fear, and confusion as she struggled with her emotions, unable to keep calm.

"I am going to Skulltown to see if they have an idea on what to do," Tirella said.

"But you said you couldn't communicate in this form."

"I'll find a way," Tirella said as she began flying down.

"I just need to find one of those unconscious undead," she muttered to herself.

"Wait," Alyra shouted as she zoomed after her. "Let me come with you. Perhaps I can help!"

Tirella stopped and swirled around to stare at the translucent zombie floating behind her. What could Alyra help with, she wondered. There were many more AI in Skulltown already. Besides, that meant she had to wait for the much slower, undead AI. After a while, she shook her head.

"No, by myself, I can get to Skulltown in a few hours. We don't have the time for me to wait for you to get there. If you want to help, figure out another way to stop or end that giant Kaot Lord."

Without waiting for Alyra's reaction, she turned and moved at full speed towards Skulltown, leaving Alyra behind. As she disappeared into the distance, Alyra hung mid-air, staring after her. Slowly the emotions faded from her face, and a calculating look replaced them as she gazed up at the sky.

"Another way to stop a skyscraper-sized massive monster from destroying the planet," she muttered. "Sure..." with a grunt, she disappeared.