NBB2 - The chaos rifts - chapter 25

"..w...wha-t, happened?"

Tatjie's groan rumbled through the room, shattering the silence of the darkroom.

Solus's stopped paying attention to the intense explosions and shuddering that came from above as he turned to Tatjie, who slowly crawled up. The soft green glow of the stone walls illuminated her ravaged body. The entire front of her chest was bruised and battered, and she spoke with a slight lisp.

She lives up to her class name, unmovable indeed, he thought. Too bad her body couldn't handle it when she went up against something stronger than herself. He thought back to the fight they had after he evolved her. No matter how hard he hit her, she wouldn't move a step back, leaving her body almost broken in half.

"We are hiding underground, and something is happening in Tendraal," Tirela answered Tatjie's question.

The orange undead sat cross-legged in the middle of the room. A ball of stone lay on her palms. The grey and brown rock groaned and cracked as it morphed and swirled constantly.

"...what? It's dark..." Tatjie groaned. She swayed, seeming ready to topple over at any moment.

Tirela put the stone away and rushed towards her, supporting her. "Stop moving around! We don't know what's going on, but-"

Listening to Tirela explain things to Tatjie, Solus examined Sig again. Sig lay motionless beside him,  still unconscious. He hadn't woken up since they got here. Putting his hand on the other's chest, Solus felt the faint mana swirling deep inside the undead. Sig wasn't in any danger, but if he didn't get a wyrm's mana-orb, it would take forever before he was up and moving again.

I must have looked like this, Solus thought, as he thought back to when Domain tricked him and left him for the wyrms. The memory of the AI brought a simmering rage with it. He had time aplenty while behind the barrier. Time to worry about things, time to plan things. One of the things that he had been worrying about was where the AI had gone.

The last moment anybody had seen the treacherous AI had been just before Sig evolved. With his darkhunter shape broken, he must have either found a Kaot or taken over either Galg or Sumil.

Neither of the two possibilities would end well.

Solus's fingers instinctively flexed, and he squeezed the green stone in his hands. As they tumbled down, he had somehow managed to hold on to it. As he gripped it harder, the smooth material resisted his strong fingers with ease. He looked down at the intricate weave of crystalline structures. It reminded him of gold, but this was much easier to shape.

As he sat, pondering the material, other thoughts passed through his mind. Especially the strength of the undead and Kaots he had come across continuously resurfaced and with it worry about his ability to stop them.

Something nagged him, a memory of something from a while ago. Trying to pinpoint it, it took a few moments before he found what was bothering him.

A grin slowly spread across his face, and he focused on the stone. Ever so slowly, its form began changing. As he did, he felt small pockets and cracks inside the stone, and with an incredible effort, he smoothed them out. Although it was difficult, it didn't cost much mana, which was a good thing with how little he had left. It did take a long time.

When he finally finished, a large hammer lay in his palms. Its handle was as long as his arm, and the head was massive, bigger than his head. He raised it in front of him, feeling it try to drag down even his powerful arm to the ground. His grin widened. It had been a long time since he wielded anything but his fists, but the stone hammer had again proven the use of weapons...as long as they didn't shatter on the first impact.

A loud rumble from the city above shook the cave, small bits of the ceiling cracking off and dropping on the ground.

Solus looked up and grimaced.  It's time to head back to Skulltown, he thought.

They didn't get an answer on how to close the rifts amas, but he wasn't sure Scathia even knew. Besides, forcing her to tell him what other option she was holding back seemed unlikely.

But before they headed back, he had to do something about Derin. The undead had proven both useful and trustworthy. A quality he was starting to realize was more useful than just having strong allies.  He wanted to see if he could find him.

Gauging his energy levels, he sighed at the slow regeneration. He couldn't leave yet. Although he wasn't stuck with the odd status-window warning again, most of his mana seemed to go to repairing his damaged body.

He remembered the previous times he got hurt- first by Domain and then by those odd fire undead. His mana regeneration had stopped working at those times. Luckily, nothing like that had happened this time. Though slow, he could feel the constant increase of his mana. If he could sit here for a few days, he would probably be good as new. But they didn't have a few days. Looking at the tottering Tatjie and the unconscious Sig, he sighed.

"Tatjie," he said, stepping forward until he stood before the other two. "Stay with Sig and keep him safe. Nothing should be able to get to you down here, so rest and regenerate."

He expected her to complain, but after a moment, she just nodded. The simple act caused her to clutch to Tirela to remain seated upright. After a tottering moment, she inhaled and lay down.

Solus turned to the small room wall, and an opening appeared that led up at an angle.

"Let's see if we can find Derin in whatever is going on up there," he said to Tirela as he walked up the ramp.

Tirela came after him, and they walked in silence. Solus could feel that the orange undead wanted to ask something, although he wasn't sure how he knew. When she finally did, it didn't come as a surprise.

"You could move us up with a platform?"

"I could. But I have little mana remaining, and it regenerates as we walk," Solus said, wondering if that was what she was mulling about.

"I absorbed most of those wyrm orbs…" Tirela said, her words lingering like a question.

Solus didn't reply, curious at what she wanted.

"According to the little status thing you gave me, my mana-field and physical density are 16100/17000 and 12000/12000 now. I should be almost ready to evolve again?"

Solus' started, stumbled, and almost fell over. Why do they keep telling me these things while I walk? He grumbled, shocked at how strong her mana-field was.

Examining Tirela, who was quietly staring at him, he was curious to see how strong she was. The values she just said so offhandedly were as high as his before the World Elemental had tempered with his pattern. Had she been holding herself back while fighting? If she had the same earth affinity as him, didn't that mean she should be just as strong at shaping stone? Then he remembered some of the red skeletons with fire-affinity. Not all of those were equally strong, so something else might be going on.

Tirela was frowning at him, and he quickly nodded. "You are right. One more wyrm orb should do it."

Tirela nodded, and they continued forward. He felt the turmoil in her increase until she suddenly stopped.

Solus turned and looked at her, wondering what she wanted to know.

"Why did Scathia tell those skeletons to grab me?" Tirela's face remained emotionless as she stared at him.

A rumble caused them both to grab for the walls to remain standing.

Glad it wasn't something difficult, Solus turned back and started walking again. "Because she wants one of our mana-orbs..." he stopped as he remembered how Scathia had called them mana-cores. "Well, she said she wanted our mana-core, but I-"

Tirela drew in a breath, and Solus stopped mid-sentence and looked at her.

"Do you know what those are?" he asked, curious.

Tirela didn't respond right away, and when she did, she sounded lost in thought. "I remember those… when I was in Bastion, rumors were floating around. Because I wasn't like I am now, I didn't understand, but I remember."

When she continued, Solus had to strain to understand her whisper.

"When the first huge rifts opened, enormous Kaots erupted out of them. They were the size of Wyrms and as unintelligent and ferocious as the smaller ones as they mindlessly charged Bastion's walls.

Although large, their tendency to charge headfirst at things made us believe we could still win, and Jagged fought one. The fight lasted for a long time, and as it continued, the vast difference in strength became more and more obvious. In the end, battered and wounded, Jagged was victorious..." Tirela's voice trailed off as he gazed off into the tunnel ahead.

"I was the only one still there to witness it. The rest had been caught in the cross-fire, crushed, ripped apart, or otherwise ended...So, I was the only one who saw how Jagged, barely functioning, ripped open the head and crawled inside. When he re-emerged, he carried an enormous, angular mana-orb. As we dragged ourselves back, I remember him muttering that he wasn't able to absorb it. Later, rumors began floating around, and the name mana-core began popping up. Nobody knows who named it that..."

As Solus listened to her, something nagged the back of his mind. What she described sounded familiar. A large, angular mana-orb... When she said Jagged couldn't absorb it, he remembered. At the end of the battle for Skulltown, he had found one in the massive Wyrm! It had been attached to the walls with odd fleshy tendrils, and neither he nor Drys had been able to absorb it. After experimenting on it for a long time, Drys had grown annoyed with it, and Solus ended up tossing it in his tower. As far as he recalled, it should still be there, forgotten below a table.

"Solus?" Tirela asked, louder this time. He realized she had called his name a few times before.

He frowned. Should he tell her? Remembering how he had been attacked by those he thought allies, Sig, then Domain, he hesitated when he recalled something. He hadn't trusted Domain in the start. The AI had somehow always seemed untrustworthy, but he had somehow forgotten as time passed. Tirela, however, had never given him that feeling. It was more the other way around. He felt a sort of kinship with her, probably because they both had earth affinity.

Turning to look at her, he saw she was staring at him intently, probably wondering why he didn't answer. She had the opportunity to harm him before, or even end him not that long ago, yet she didn't. The feeling of distrust slowly faded, and he grinned at her.

"I have one of those things," he said.

"A mana-core?" Tirela seemed stunned.

"Yes. One of the enormous wyrms had one." Solus mind spun as he realized something. "That means the big one in the city should have one as well, probably even bigger than the one I have back in Skulltown," he muttered unenthusiastically. He vividly remembered the size of that one. If possible, he'd prefer not to tangle with it.

Silent again, they continued forward, both mulling over things.

"We should tell Scathia…" Tirela said softly, sounding uncertain.

Solus stopped and turned around. "What? Why?" He felt the previous doubts arise again, and it took him more effort to push them down.

Tirela looked at him with her pitch-black eyes, and a nasty smile came to her face.

"Because we can try to trick her into coming with us or telling us how to use it to stop those rifts."

Solus's eyes widened, and his rising distrust snuffed out. Staring into intense dark eyes, he felt the same kinship as before, telling him to trust her. A wide smile began growing on Tirela's face, and he blinked, turned, and coughed.

"Yes, good idea."

He increased his pace, trying to understand what was wrong with him. Every time he was with Tirela, his emotions were a jumble, but not the angry one that he felt when one of those shadowy Kaot was around. It was as if being around Tirela confused him.

Increasing his pace even more, he began running up.

"We need to hurry," he said, more to himself than to her. A confused, startled reply came from behind, and he could feel the distance between them grow as he sped up.

He continued running until the light at the end of the tunnel became bright. A dull sound of fighting came from the tunnel entrances, and the ground shook and shuddered at times.

Is it day time already?

He didn't think they had been down here for that long. Slowing down, he stopped a small distance from the entrance. Loud thudding came from behind, and staring down, he saw Tirela. She didn't seem tired, but when she looked at him, she frowned.

Ignoring her look, Solus pointed at the top of the stair. Dark, thick clouds drifted through the sky.

"Get ready to fight," he said as he stepped out of the tunnel. They were still within the walls on the mountainside and a few meters from the nearest buildings. The muted sounds increased to a loud cacophony of explosions, screams, and roars.

A strong wind was blasting bone dust and pieces of bone debris against his chest. The once chaotic, magnificent city of Tendraal had turned into a mass of broken and toppling buildings. Something had flattened the area in front of them, towering stacks of crumbled bone blocking their sight.

A short distance to one side was a still-standing section of buildings, and Solus saw dozens of undead in the window openings, staring out into the city. They were all looking at something in the distance, and a look of despair covered the faces of the zombies and other fleshies.

"How are we going to find Derin in this mess?" Tirela asked, raising her voice so Solus could hear her.

"Let's get to high ground first. I've got an idea!" Solus replied, his deep rumbling voice hard to understand amidst the sound of falling buildings.

They moved towards the still-standing building, jumping across the piles of broken bone.

When they arrived atop a partially intact building, Solus turned to look out across the city. He took a step back, his eyes widening in shock. Enormous bone undead flew through the air, shooting balls of red crackling energy at small jumping shapes. Each spot they hit exploded, bone shards shooting outwards as buildings crumbled.

They were almost at the bottom of the mountain, and as he looked around, he saw that two of the three towers that had held up the immense skull still stood. A dozen of the flying things hung from their sides.

"What are those?" Solus muttered, wondering why everything that was out to get him had to fly. Tirela didn't reply, and when he turned to look at her, he saw she was looking at the flying monsters with wide-open eyes. Her face was slack, her mouth hanging partially open.

"Tirela?" Solus said, reaching out to shake her shoulder.

She shuddered, jumped back at the same time slapping his arm away.  Then she blinked and looked around.

"It's like Bastion!" She growled, turning to the flying things.

"Those were the first to arrive, Ygra's, they called them. They flew over the walls, destroying parts of the city before we disposed of them all."

"How long after these Ygra's came did the massive ones arrive?" Solus asked, watching the flying monstrosities as they continued chasing the undead. One dove down and came back up with a tiny figure in its claws. Seeing the yellow plates, Solus shivered as he got a grasp of the flying thing's size. They were almost the size of Wyrms!

"I don't remember. It's all too fuzzy, but not long. Days?"

Two of the Ygra's shot at a larger building, bringing it and the whole structure of smaller buildings around it crashing down. The thunderous sound interrupted them, and then a wave of bone-dust followed it, washing over them.

Blocking his eyes with his hand, Solus felt the rumbling through the bone he stood on.

"Then we need to hurry. This could be happening at Skulltown right now, and I don't know if the barrier will hold!" he growled, turning around and jumping up the building. An angry shout from Tirela came together with the sound of a small explosion, and he cursed. He needed to watch when he jumped. A moment later, Tirela's shape blurred past him.

Together they landed on the top of the building, amidst a dozen undead. The undead scattered, rushing towards different exits.

"Wait!" Solus ordered, grabbing for one of the undead. It nimbly dodged his grasp, leaping from the edge of the building. Solus jumped after another one when something moved from above, and he dodged back.

Tirela landed almost atop the skeleton that he wanted to grab, clutching its neck in her hand and keeping it in one place. Solus moved towards her and stared at the skeleton. Its green glowing eye sockets stared back, flickering slightly.

"Do you know where Scathia is?" Solus growled, bending closer.

"No."

An emotionless voice echoed around them, and Solus grabbed the skeleton, ripping it from Tirela's grip.

"When did these things show up?"

"Just after the sun rose. Another large rift appeared mid-air, and shortly after, a dozen of them flew out," the skeleton replied, his voice still emotionless.

Solus growled, tossing the skeleton to the side of the building. "Get out of here, and tell the undead you find to make their way to Skulltown."

The skeleton scrambled up and stepped to the edge of the building. "Where?"

Solus turned around before pointing towards where he knew Skulltown must be. "That way, three days travel through the wasteland, and you will enter hills. Keep going straight for another two days, and you will find another city."

"Another city?" the skeleton said, for the first time showing a slight bit of emotion: confusion and wonder.

"I will tell the others," it said as it jumped across the ledge.

"They won't make it," Tirela said as she watched the skeleton disappear. "But you know that…"

Solus nodded. "Most won't. But if they are spread out through the wasteland, they will have a better chance than locked in here. Besides, it will keep the Kaot hunting them and give us more time to close the rifts."

A deep shudder came from deep under the ground, and a wave of consciousness flooded up and around Solus. Sensing the World Elemental's presence, Solus noticed it felt weaker than he remembered. Or did he become more powerful?

"HURRY, TIMEEE IS RUNNNINGGG OUTTTT."

The world elementals voice boomed through his mind, sounding agitated and afraid.

Tirela groaned beside him, falling on one knee.

"What do I need to do?!" Solus shouted in his mind. His voice was almost as loud as that of the world elemental.

"GROWW STRONGGERRR!"

Feeling his temper flare up, Solus stamped on the ground. The thing kept repeating itself!

"HOW!" He roared back, both mentally and vocally. His voice blasted out, debris and dust flying away from the roof and clattering on the ground.

"ABSORBB THE CORREEEEEE"

Solus heard confusion and anger in the voice this time, but he also felt the presence begin to fade away again.

"HOW!?" Solus roared, afraid the elemental would leave, leaving him hanging.

"ABSORBB THE CORRREEEE" came the voice again, weak and far away.

"NO, How do I absorb a core?" Solus shouted, but the presence was gone.

Feeling his anger surge up, he wanted to shout again when someone grabbed his arm. Looking down, he saw Tirela, a look of pain and confusion on her face pointing to the side. "Look out!"

Turning, he saw two Ygra fly towards them, the flapping of their immense bone wings sounding like explosions. They were only two buildings away and closing in fast. Seeing something to take his anger out on, Solus stepped forward and drew in a big gulp of air. The Ygdra were so close he could see red energy crackle in their empty eye sockets, and he roared as loud as he could, releasing days worth of pent up frustration and weeks of anger.

A column of rippling and shivering air burst from his mouth, heading straight at the incoming Ygra. The ripple moved so fast it crossed the distance between them in the blink of an eye and struck the two Ygra mid-flight. As if gripped by a giant, their wings bent backward, as bones cracked loudly. One of them plummeted down. Its wings almost ripped clean off, many of the bones in its exposed chest cracked and broken. The second one shuddered before it flapped away, trying to flee.

"GRAH!"

Solus roared, and a second column of rippling air hitting the retreating Ygdra's back, knocking it down and away. More bones snapped, but it stayed in the air and crookedly flew towards one of the towers in the distance. A third shout didn't reach it anymore, the air ripples diffusing before they could reach.

Realizing the Ygra must have been drawn by his initial shouts at the World Elemental, Solus looked around the city. Although a lot was destroyed, even more was still intact, the enormity of the city hitting him again. Drawing a deep breath, he roared up at the sky.

"DERIN!"

The name echoed out across the city, and he hoped Derin would hear him if he was still in one piece. Turning to Tirela, he saw she was standing again, looking at him with wide eyes.

"What was that thing?" she muttered, rubbing her head with both hands.

"A world elemental, "Solus replied. "How much could you hear?"

"All of it…"

"We don't have time for this now, but I'll explain what I can after we get out of here."

Tirela frowned, her face saying she wanted to interject. Instead, she kept silent and nodded. "What now?"

"Now we find Scathia and force her to tell us how to absorb a mana-core," Solus growled, looking around.

The highest point he could find were the two remaining towers, but the host of Ygra's made it too dangerous. He could make a stone tower for his plan, but that would cost a lot of energy. Perhaps more than he had.

"She is probably at the spot with the most fighting," he muttered.

He moved around the roof, looking at the city's different sections, hoping to get a lucky break. Tirela joined him, but he could feel her gaze more on him than the city. He ignored her, heading to the side of the roof that gave a clear view of the wall. Half of it was gone, replaced by a deep crater lined with black scorch marks. From this far, he saw remains of buildings in the walls of the crater. The undercity must have grown far beyond the borders of the wall, and he wondered how many undead were there, seeking refuge.

"Look!" Tirella said beside him, pointing at a spot close to the wall at the city's opposite side.

Squinting, Solus saw a few of the Ygra's shoot their red crackling energy at the wall. Instead of hitting it, it slammed against something that glowed blue on impact before spreading across a momentarily visible barrier.

"Scathia will be there, or they will know where to find her!" Solus said, scanning the path to the wall. Many of the buildings in between were destroyed or covered in curtains of crackling energy that seemed to persist after the Ygdra's shot it. Calculating the distance, he knew he could make it if he jumped from building to building. Turning to Tirella, he pointed at a broken-down building across the destruction adjacent to the building.

"Can you jump that far?"

Tirela was silent as she looked at where he had pointed. "I don't know. I've never tried."

"Fine. Try now," Solus replied.

He moved to the building's far edge before making a running jump towards the building. The ceiling behind him crumbled, and he cringed. Why didn't he remember he had to be careful with that?

Whistling through the air, he heard a loud shout from behind him. Hoping Tirela would make it, he landed on the building. The roof cracked from his weight, but to his surprise, it didn't shatter. Turning around, he was just in time to see Tirela fly uncontrollably towards him, a panicking look on her face while she flailed with her arms. She slammed into him, knocking him back while more cracks appeared in the roof.

Rolling across the floor, they ended against the wall with a loud slam, Tirela sprawled across Solus. Feeling her body pressed against his, Solus felt his mind grow fuzzy as a host of unfamiliar emotions rushed through him. It lasted for only a moment, but when he snapped out of it, he saw Tirela stare at him, her face slack.

Grabbing hold of her neck and leg, Solus pushed himself up before gently putting her on her feet. Ignoring her piercing gaze as she rubbed her leg, he moved back a few steps and grabbed his hammer.

The shiny green surface distracted him for a moment. It somehow reminded him of something, but when he couldn't recall, he shoved it back for later.

"You need to practice your jumping," he said before looking for their next destination. "Ready?"

"Sure, but catch me properly next time!" Tirela snapped before laughing.

Shaking his head in wonder, Solus leaped forward. Landing on the next building, he turned to do as Tirela had said, but this time she was soaring through the air without much trouble. Stepping aside to give her space, Solus blinked when she hit the ground and did a smooth roll before getting back to his feet. There was barely an impact crater where she landed.

She must have a lot more dexterity than I do, he thought.

"That was great!" Tirela roared in laughter.

Seeing her so happy reminded Solus of the first time he began leaping around. The sensation of freedom, the thrill of flying through the air. With a grin, he nodded.

"It is! Now let's go get Scathia!"

Tirela smiled at him, and he blinked. Swallowing, he wondered why his mind felt empty and hot. Forcing his mind back to the goal at hand, he jumped forward.

It took them a while to reach the last building, and by that time, they could see an enormous pattern etched on top of the segment of the wall adjacent to the mountain. A small army of Yellowplates, both small and large, stood below, while some white plated skeletons stood in front of the wall, drawing more symbols on it.

"There she is," Tirela said, pointing to the side where Scathia's unique shape stood. Three of the black Cheroc skeletons stood beside her.

Nailed to the wall behind them was Derin, his head down as he hung limply from the black pins that pierced his arms.

"They have him," Solus muttered, resisting the temptation of just jumping forward. He knew Scathia could just hold him in place while the others trapped him again.

"We need a plan…" he muttered. Tirela touched his arm, and he looked around. Her ink-black eyes stared at him, a glitter in their depths.

"I might have an idea," she said. "But you will have to trust me."