Chapter 10: The desert, part 1
In an unknown location
She walked to main chamber, the steel door automatically slide open. Everything in this place is made of steel the walls, floor and ceiling and even some of the equipment. She wonders where they got all the steel to make this place. Wouldn't stone be enough?
In the center of the chamber was Laplace was seated looking at one of her (or is it?) screens. Laplace was a strange creature made mostly of a material called plastic and some types of metal, the only organic part she had has half of her brain.
- Statement: Good morning Lucia. You have received my message. – She said in her monotone voice.
- Yes I did LaPlace. – Responded Lucia back. – What did you wanted to tell me?
LaPlace kept her eyes, or her optic sensors to be correct has she talked. – I wanted to inform me you that Lily is dead.
- That´s a shame, I guess. It´s not like we were financing her anymore. We got the data we wanted from her wasteful experiments months ago. – Lucia said.
- Statement: Yes, I´m quite aware. Addendum: The strange part is that all of her test subjects had all of their mutations sealed with what I believe was a ritual spell.
Lucia took her hand to her chin. – That's not exactly strange. We knew that the mutations could be reversed by a sufficiently powerful ritual. The real question is who could be powerful enough to do it.
- Statement: It may have been that it was the monster lord. Three of her theoretical paths took her to the village.
- Does she know about us?
- Statement: Unlikely, the lab in Hellgondo wasn't been breached. Addendum: Neither was this one.
- We were lucky that no one found out about this place after the hybrid escaped and wrecked havoc on the forest.
- Annoyed Statement: Yes I know, there´s no need for you to tell me. Addendum: I have already put several security protocols to avoid this kind of accident again.
- Is that all? When you called me I thought you had bad news about Promestein trip to hell.
- Statement: No updates. She´s still looking for a test subject. Addendum: She wasn't encounter the Seraph either.
- What was the point of me coming here then? You could have just send me a message. – Lucia protested.
- Statement: It has been 2 days, 13 and 48 minutes since I last saw you. Addendum: I wanted to see how you were doing.
- Is that so? – Lucia asked with sarcasm in her voice.
- Mocking statement: Scanners show you have gain 2 kilos and 193 grams. You should avoid sweets.
- Fuck off! My weight is none of your concerned. – Lucia shouted angrily, making a middle finger gesture before leaving the room.
- Mocking statement: Come back any time.
I hate the desert.
That´s something I decided on our first day traveling in it, with its horrible heat during the day and the freezing cold during the night. The family leading the caravan was nice enough to let´s sleep in one of their big enough round tents. Maybe it was because of the giant scorpions we fought in the first day.
That´s another thing I hate about the desert. The giant scorpions. They attack every day, several times, burrowing from the sand without warning, in groups of 2 and 3. Fortunately they aren't tough. Stabbing them is enough.
After a week of travel we departed from the caravan was we wanted to go north to the capital while they wanted to go south, to make business in the coastal towns and the elf settlements. When I asked about the elfs, Alice explained that there was a monster kingdom in the islands. The family leading the caravans left us money and some supplies.
We were simply going to follow the river until we reach the city, but Alice decided that she wanted to make a detour to see some underground ruins. She wouldn't take no has an answer. After two hours of walking we reached a cave entrance surrounded by pillars with some unknown language.
The entrance was being guarded by a group of bandits. The moment they saw us they unsheathed their weapons, ready to kill us and take all we had. Alice turned into her normal form and threaten to turn them all into frogs. They quickly went back to what they were doing before.
Have we approached the entrance of the cave we were stopped by who we assume, has the leader of the bandits since he was better equipped than the rest.
- I would advise you, fine travelers to go back, its dangerous. – He said.
- What´s dangerous about it? – I asked.
- There´s a dangerous ... monster in there. – He responded.
- What kind of monster is it? – Alice asked this time. The man gave a small smile. – If you fine adventurers want to know it ill cost you. – He said, rubbing his fingers. Alice let out a grunt.
- Lucas, give him a coin. – She ordered. I took a coin (from the merchants' payment) from one my pockets and gave it to him. He took a long look at it then stuffed it in his pocket. – It´s made of metal, with legs like a spider and swords in place of arms.
- So it´s not a monster, it´s actually a construct. Doesn't matter, were still going in– Alice said. The man cocked he´s head. – I don't care what actually is called. But if you´ve decided to go in I can tell you how to avoid the monster. For a small price of course. – He said smiling again.
- Pass. Let´s go Lucas.
We entered the cave, a few meters inside became pitch black and we had to use the torches with Alice fire magic. With our path illuminated we could see the layout of the cave. It seems to be man made with more weird writing and mosaics covering the walls. All of it either to damaged or faded away by time.
- So Alice, what's a construct? – I asked breaking the silence.
- What? Oh, its like the doll back in the ... – she inhaled before continuing. – ... mansion. An inanimate object given a kind of rough sentience through magic except a construct is usually made of some kind of metal. But that man was lying. I bet the only dangerous thing were going to find here are more scorpions. Speaking of scorpions. – Alice stopped slithering. – There´s one right there. – She pointed at a dark corner.
I forced my eyes. I could see the silhouette of the creature and the familiar the sound of it´s pincers.
- Go kill it. – Alice ordered. I shrugged my shoulders and complied. It´s not like killing these things is difficult. I approached the creature, unsheathing my steel sword. The light illuminated it, it was completely white with red eyes and slightly bigger than the usual scorpion. It shudders and it raised its tail. I darted to its side and quickly stabbed him. It shrieked in pain. I kept stabbing it while avoiding its tail. Needing to hold a torch in one hand made it necessary to stabbed it a few more times. It eventually gave its last shriek and collapsed but not before spitting out something, which hit the ground with a metallic sound.
- Hey Alice come see this.
- What is it? – Alice asked has she approached me.
- The scorpion spit out this ... axe.
- Huh, weird. Why would it spit an axe? – She asked.
- I don't know. Seems like it´s just a normal axe. – I responded.
- Maybe it´s cursed! – She said. I took a step back. – Really? – I asked
- I´m not really sure, but I wouldn't touch something that has been vomited by an animal.
- Then lets just leave it there and keep going. – I said. – Agreed, lets go. – Alice said and we continued walking. We walked for over an hour, during that time we found two recent corpses their bodies full of lacerations, what was left of their clothes resembled the bandit´s own. Still, Alice was skeptical about the construct story. Eventually, the long corridor ended in an enormous circular room with two floors. The room was in the same state has overly long corridor, every work of art in it had either faded or crumbled beyond recognition.
- Finally, something that isn't just a linear corridor! – I said sitting down to rest, next to what used to be a big statue in the middle of the room, now it was just the legs left. – So, about this place, surely you must know something. – I asked.
- I know, and don't call me Shirley. - Alice responded. – It´s part of a trade route from a civilization long gone that ruled all the Sabasa plus a bit of Senora, it´s name was forgotten. According to historians it was the predecessor of the Sabasa Kingdom and the free cities. – She explained.
- That´s cool. – I said before drinking from my canteen. – What does the writing all over the place says? Looks eligible enough.
- I have no idea. The civilization is so old that there´s no one left to teach how to read it. It a shame ... No fucking way! – Alice suddenly yelled.
- What is it?
- Come see this! Quickly!
I got up and circled the statue in time to see Alice throw the upper half of corpse away from her with her tail. I turned my eyes to what she had called my attention to. – Wow! That guy wasn't lying about it!
Next to Alice laid the remains of what looked like the construct described to us. Made of metal with a red-yellowish color, it´s lower arms were blades blunt and rusted, its head looked like a helmet but not like any helmet I had ever seen. Smooth and angular, with only two holes for the eyes. Its lower body, Four members ending in pointing ends, separated from the rest due to damage. The shoulders and upper torso were covered with markings.
- Is it dead? – I asked.
- Dead isn't the word I would use but yes it is. – Alice responded. – Look at those markings. They look like runes.
- To protect it from magic, right? – I asked, remembering one of our conversions.
- Yes, I wonder how resistant to magic it was. – She said lost in thought. She then raised her head and her ears twitched. – Did you hear something? – She asked, turning her head to me.
- I did. I think something´s coming. – I responded. The sound in question became larger, coming from the large corridor opposite of the one we came from. After a couple of seconds the source of the sound enter the room. Another construct. Unlike the previous one, this one looked quite alive (if it can be described with that word). I could also hear a whirring sound emanating from it.
- That´s so cool! – Alice said loudly. That made the construct turned it´s head in our direction, it´s eyes were bright like flames. It turns the rest of it´s body, raised its bladed arms and charges to us. I unseated my steel sword and went to my combat stance. Alice cast a lighting spell, with a large grin in her face. The spell hit the construct, it writhed and collapsed, the light from its eyes died out. Alice gave a disappointed frown.
- Ah, I thought it would more resistant. – She said, disappointed. – Oh well. – She shrugged. She slithered to it, eyes full of curiosity. The construct eyes flared up, it´s whirring sound returned. I darted to Alice side. – Stay back! – She warned me. – I´ll handle this. – She then unsheathed on of her swords and put her self in a battle stance. I left her side and went to base of the statue, to avoid being in the middle of the fight. The construct attacked, with slashing motions, Alice backed away and dodged it´s attacks. This went for a while, the construct attacking with slashing and piercing attacks and Alice avoiding them and striking back when any openings came up. Alice eventually decided to went for the big attack. Wind magic flowed through her blade she strokes when an opening revealed itself, slicing through its neck, the head of the construct has separated from the rest of the body and it fell to the ground rolling, the light from its eyes died out again. Alice gave a victory pose. The construct, now headless charged. Alice expression turn into one of realization and panic. She darted to the side, avoiding it. The construct kept running until it hit the wall, it then started hitting it. Alice scratched her head in confusion, shrugged her shoulders went to construct and slashed it with the same technique has before, separating its torso from it´s legs. The whirring sound died out again, this time it stayed silenced.
- Well, that was thing! – Alice said, poking it. She turned and went to me. – Well lets see where it came from. Maybe there´s more. Come on. – She then walked into the corridor. I just followed her. In the next corridor we didn't have to walk too much until find something new, a doorway, for an armory full of constructs but these one´s were disassembled. There also several weird weapons, all rusted and beyond use. Alice saw the constructs went right to them. I took a look at the weapons.
- What are these made of? I can't really tell. – I asked grabbing the shaft of a rusted axe. The head snapped in half.
- It´s made of bronze like half of everything in this place. – Alice responded while trying to read a scroll has it fell apart in her hands. – Bronze huh? Never heard of weapons being made of bronze. – I said, putting what was left of the weapon back in it´s place.
- They´re made of bronze a long time ago before steel was invented. – Alice explained, this time, while looking at pieces of the constructs. I kept looking around until my eyes recognized something. – Oh look its one of those object the merchant family used for light. How was it called again? – I asked before grabbing it and rubbing it.
- It´s called an oil lamp you dummy. – She said before turning to me. – You´re trying to summon a djinn? – She asked me. – What´s that? – I asked back.
- It´s a mythological creature in Sabasa culture, a magic being made of smoke and fire.
- What, like dragons?
- No, they´re supposed to be more like divine beings.
- And they live inside lamps? – I asked, still confused. – Nah, that's just from a children book I read when I was younger, a djinn that was trapped inside a lamp and had to grant wishes when summoned. – She explained then went back to her things. I put the lamp back to its place and to went to another room. This room was small office with desk and shelves full of aging scrolls. The only thing of note was being used has a paperweight for the large pile of scrolls in the desk. A large yellow orb, with some light shining in the center,
- Hey Alice, look what I just found. – I said while carrying it has I left the small room. – It´s an orb like the one we have except it´s yellow. I can fell some kind of warmth from it.
Alice took the orb from my hands and looked at it from several angles for a few moments then smiled. – I´m surprised. How did something like this ended up in a place like this? Put it in the bag with the other. – She said, handling back to me. I opened the bag of holding put the orb in it.
- Found anything else? – She asked. – No, just more old scrolls and dust. – I answered. – Then let´s keep going – She said.
We left the room and continued walking the corridor. There were more rooms like the previous one but we didn't bothered searching them since nothing else tried to attack us. After a couple minutes we finally reached what was left of the ancient trade city. Only part of the walls of some of the buildings were still standing illuminated by crackings from the ceiling of the gigantic cave. We were in what used to be the center of the city. Alice was looking around and I was studying the map trying to figure out how to reach the capital.
- Well this is not exactly what I expected to see. In hindsight, I should´t have expected the architecture of a civilization that died out a millennial ago to be able to stand the test of time. – She said.
- Yeah that´s a real shame. – I mumbled. – Also, we want to go east if want to find the river. – Alice said while looking to the map, over my shoulder. – What? – I asked. – When we leave this cave we want to go east to find the river and then follow it north until we reach the capital. – She explained. – We can leave through there. – She said, pointing at a broken pathway made of stone leading to a pair of huge half open doors with rays of sunlight coming from beyond it.
- Alright let´s go. – I said. – We went through the large doors, the never ending desert standing in front of us with its horrible heat. Following Alice directions we found the river and continued our original path. We reached the capital boundaries at end of the day, the city was an amazing city, it dwarfed San Illias and Iliasburg together with long miles of fertile farmland spawning both sides of the river.
- This is a much better sight. The sunset makes the city looks so beautiful. It kind of looks like a painting. – Alice said, smiling.
- You do realize we still have to get over the river to get to city, right? – I asked her. She waved her hand at me. – A small detail. We´ll just ask someone for a ride.
Finding passage wasn't hard, fortunately. Good manners can help a lot. By the time we were inside the city, night had already fallen. Our tired feet took us to a huge inn for wealthy people. Alice, not wanting to search for a cheaper place used her mind trick spell to get a free room. I protested has we ascended the stairs to our suite (what they called our room) but after I got into the bathtub, all my reservations faded away.
I got out of the bath and looked at my reflection. I hadn't had the chance to look at a mirror since we entered the desert. The first thing I noticed was my tanned face. I´ve had a lot of tans in my life while working in the fields during the summer but, it's a bit funny seeing the difference in color between my face and the rest of my body. My hair had grown a bit longer and a bit of hair has noticeable in my jaw. I´m not going to bother shaving since I cut myself easily while doing it and my facial hair is slow to grow.
I finished drying myself with the towel, put my clothes and left the bathroom. I enter them main bedroom of the suite. Alice was sitting down in front of mirror, tying her hair in a ponytail.
- I feel so much better now! – I said letting out a sigh. I searched the room with my eyes looking for our tiny companion. – Where´s Slyph? I can't sense her.
- She said that she was going to the garden we passed by. – Alice said, finishing tying her hair in a long ponytail. Her face was tanned, a darker purple than the rest of her body. – Hey, your hair is less spiky. – She said, stroking it.
- Yeah I washed it. – I responded. She smelled my hair. – Smells good.
- Thanks? Did Slyph said why she went to garden. - She said she was going to communicate with the wind to find the Gnome´s location. She´s probably in some random spot in the desert I bet. We could probably find some information in the city library but I presume that anything about a location will be outdated ... but you prefer to look at my breasts instead.
- What?! No I wasn't! – I said turning my eyes away from her chest.
- Yes you were. – She mocked with a singing tone. - I´ve seen you looking at them every time I took my armor thinking I couldn't tell.
- I don't know what you´re talking about. – I responded
- Don't even bother denying it.
- I would I even want to look at your breasts? I´ve already seen and touched a lot of breasts! – I said taking a step closer to her. I felt my face blush.
Alice rolled her eyes at my outburst. – Oh really? So how do breasts feel like then?
- They feel soft like ... like bags of sand! – Alice scoffed. – Mother of all you´re a terrible liar. – Alice said. A mischievous smile formed in her lips. – Would you like to touch them? – She asked.
- Touch what?
- My breasts. I´ll let you touch them. – She said and pull her shirt up revealing ample chest. I turned my head and blushed harder. – N-no I don't want to! – I responded. I feel my hands touching something soft. I looked back at Alice, my hands were in her breasts. – Oh.
I touched and groped them, they were warm and soft her left breast had a tattoo that run all the way to her hip and looked like the ones in her face and neck. She slapped my hands and lowered her shirt. – Okay, that's enough. Honestly I don't know why men in this continent are so obsessed with tits, kissing is much more sensual. Her lips turned into her another smile.
- How about a kiss? – She asked.
- What?
- A kiss. It´s least that you could own me right? – She asked me with a pout.
- A kiss I-Is alright. – I said. Alice wasted no time, she pressed her lips to mine. I kissed back, she tried to stick her tongue in my mouth and I broke the kiss.
- What´s wrong? – She asked. – Oh I get it. Its called a tongue kiss. – She explained.
- Tongue kiss? – I asked.
- Yeah, just move your tongue with mine.
She kissed me again, pressing her hand against´t the back of my head. Her tongue slipped into my mouth. I didn't backed away this time and responded by moving my tongue with her. We stayed like that for a few moments. Our kissing eventually became more intense, Alice move her head from the back of my head to my cheek and my hands grabbed her shoulders. Alice broke the kiss, a thin trail of saliva connecting us. She then put her index finger in front of my opened mouth, a pink light has glowing from the tip of the finger. I felt a warm sensation in my throat.
- What has that? – I asked. – A small curse. Enjoy having an erection lasting an hour, pervert! I´m going downstairs, to attack the restaurant. – She said and left the suite.
I was left alone, processing what just happened. I realized what she had done has I felt a familiar sensation in my crotch.
- Damn you evil woman!
End of Chapter.
Thank you for reading. Don´t forget to leave a review and until next time. ;)