Chapter 48: Mirage Swamp
September 23, XX68
Squad 19 had made camp near a spring. That morning, Agile and Laudo were filling water canteens and buckets in preparation for the day's journey. "Lovely little spot," Agile said. "Given that this mountain range is supposed to be forbidden and cursed."
"We're only on the outer reaches. Wait til we get deep inside, closer to the Tower. It'll get grim and dark."
"And Mirage Swamp is just ahead," Serges said as he came by. "That's a deadly spot. Of course, nearly every spot here is deadly."
"If you say so… hey, something's coming up."
Serges and Laudo looked in the spring. There was a blurry animal coming up and it was huge. Serges stepped back. "Sigma! We've got a dragon!"
"Dragon?" Sigma got up and came to the spring. Everyone else approached cautiously, weapons at ready.
Agile, Serges, and Laudo got away from the edge just as the dragon rose above water. Before long, another reploid jumped off of the dragon's neck and landed on the rocks. He had black hair and a white wizard robe. Underneath his robe, one could tell he was wearing simple blue armor.
Was that Rock, the old hero? Sigma wondered. Like every other reploid child, he had loved the stories of Rock and Blues, the heroes who defeated Dr. Wily. But no. His eyes glowed brightly. The wizard smiled and waved. "Hello Sigma."
Oh, it was him. "Hello X."
The other members of his squad, particularly the Wily reploids, looked to Sigma for a hint of what to do. He indicated that they should keep their weapons away. X was a potential enemy, but wasn't one openly yet. And he was with a dragon to boot.
X turned to the dragon and spoke to it in the dragon language. The two of them and X's elf exchanged words. After a short goodbye, the dragon slipped back into the spring and vanished. "What are you guys doing out here?"
"We're on a foray," Sigma replied. "What are you doing out here alone? You're not a Patrol member."
"No, I'm not. I have some personal business to take care of. I know what I'm doing; you don't have to worry about me."
Still, until the full force was ready to attack, they had to play by Field Patrol rules. Those included escorting civilians in dangerous territories. And since X wore no badge, "We're here for some time, so if you need us to escort you somewhere, we can work our plans around it."
"You won't be able to follow where I'm going. You could join me to Mirage Swamp, if it's not too far out of your path. Just don't come in with me or you'll get hopelessly lost and drowned."
"You're entering Mirage Swamp alone?" Serges asked. "Are you mad?"
"No, I'm not mad, and my elf is holy. I'll be just fine there."
Sigma's older self had been quite insistent that X and Zero were dangerous reploids. He never really believed that. They had been small kids, and X was still on the small side. Well if he wanted to go to Mirage Swamp, Sigma didn't care. Might even get rid of him before he became a problem. "If you're certain. But is that all you have with you, one pack and an elf?"
X's elf jingled, sounding insulted. X spoke to him in Elf, then told Sigma, "I have everything I need."
"Very well. Give us a few minutes to finish packing, and then we'll head for Mirage Swamp."
Traveling with a Patrol, X was able to get better maps of the Forbidden Mountains. The trek still looked rough. There were ancient roads and paths, but not all were properly mapped. Centuries ago, a race known as the Fae had nearly ruled the world. They preferred to live in mountainous areas. The Forbidden Mountains were named as their mythical place of origin; the holy city of Arwen was once their capitol.
Currently, the Fae were reported extinct. But Pashka's words made X wonder. Could that powerful race of tricksters still be alive? If so, would they help or hinder his quest?
"Excuse me," one of the Patrolmen asked. "Mind if we talk?"
He looked up at the two strangers. From their red-violet eyes, X figured that they were brothers. "I don't mind. What do you two have in mind?"
"My name is Laudo Whittaker, and this is my brother Raitzen."
Raitzen nodded.
"He usually doesn't speak, so don't mind him. I wanted to ask you about White magic."
"I'll tell you what I can." X looked over the two brothers. Raitzen was a Shaman of the Shadow ring; his aura had a clear strength in Air. Laudo's rank wasn't readily apparent. What was apparent was that he was in the White ring. "Are you an adept?"
Laudo nodded. "Yes. The woman seer who trained my third eye said I was a strong one too. Of course, considering our father is Quint,"
Raitzen tapped his brother's shoulder.
"I know, it hasn't been proven. But I've got a strong feeling that he is. Anyhow, my teachers haven't been able to teach me much. I want to know who trained you."
"I started under a sorcerer named Lulani. I finished under several ghosts who were masters."
"Ghosts?"
"That is the only way now. You have learned necromancy, haven't you?"
He shifted nervously. "Yes… but I haven't had much contact with the dead, other than a few reliable spirits I could trust. Are most ghosts friendly?"
"Most are harmless, just lost. If you listen to them and help them on their way, they can give you a lot of wisdom. Even the ones that aren't strong in White."
"Huh." He scratched his head. "I suppose I have to."
"There is a haunted temple in Firelily Jungle. That's where I was, so you should try there. However, you'll probably have to leave your brother behind. They'll make you take an oath of silence."
"I see." He turned to his brother. "You'll be okay with that?"
He gripped Laudo's shoulder.
"I'll be fine. I'll miss you a lot, though."
"The nearest city is Wyndia. It takes around three days to get there from the Temple, so you'll have to shop for supplies every three months about."
"I've had survival training. What, are you trying to talk me out of this? I thought that with the lack of White wizards, new ones would be great."
"Yes, but…"
"And I'd always thought that since I was a second gen Wily reploid, I might be able to complete training without harassment. I know they know that I'm in the White ring. So far, I haven't been bothered."
"I wasn't bothered, but that's because I lived in Fort Cerise. No, it's not that."
"Then what? Why shouldn't I be a White wizard? Do you sense some problem with my magic? I'd like to know; I can improve."
His brother tapped his shoulder to get him to pause.
X smiled at Raitzen for that. "Nothing wrong with you. White magic has some difficult truths to learn, though. Those who live by the true spirit of our ring seek truth, even if it is painful to know. And there are some truths that have caused me great worry and concern in learning them."
"I know the truth can hurt."
"You'll be questioned many more times about quitting. Think it over before you go. More than any other ring, you must want to know White magic in order to learn it."
"I do. I'll look into this temple, then." Laudo clasped his hands together and looked into the fire. "There is something else I'd like to discuss, on a different subject. It's about the Wily clan."
"What about it?"
"Specifically, about people like my brother and me. The second generation." He looked over at X. "Do you know how many of us are out there?"
He shook his head. "I've not heard. But I have three cousins who are all second gen Wily reploids."
"There's no official numbers out there. However, I've used my third eye to look into it. I can safely say there have been about fifty reploids that were built by Master Wily over the years. I think the actual number is fifty-three, but can't say for sure. And these are individuals; his children that have been rebuilt or altered over time still only count as one."
"That sounds about right."
"Any one of those reploids can have a child. Even the few daughters. It's said that they take advantage of cities with open adoption policies to secretly have their children raised outside the clan itself. Out of the whole clan, only one child was openly born into it because the masters declared him part of their plan."
"My cousin Equinox."
"There is nothing that forbids them from having affairs and knowing of their own children. They are forbidden from marriage, no exceptions, and it's said that they are advised against having more than one child from one partner. Thus, Raitzen and I are probably statistical anomalies if we are both from Quint. So having about fifty reploids over eighty some years, not forbidden from affairs, although restricted in their social capacity by the eyes."
"I hadn't considered it, but there must be a fair number of you out there."
"One hundred and twelve. Just about two per clansman. About seventy percent of them know; maybe forty or thirty percent actually know who or suspect who."
"So what about your group?"
"My powers suggest that every second gen is a fighter to some degree. That worries me; did Wily make a program that would get passed on to his reploid grandchildren, and maybe beyond that? Is there a chance that all one hundred and twelve of us could hold some dangerous plot in wait? He made Omega's body to destroy any race that destroyed him.
"So who's to say we don't have some danger? I mean, if I had a choice, I would just be a poet and a seer. But programs from my father give me a draw towards battle. When I was a child, everyone saw me as an innocent, thought that I'd never hurt a single soul. And with Raitzen watching over me, it should have been so. But once I became an adult, I started being drawn to weapons and battle spells. I know my soul hates battle. I get so nervous and I feel ill when I see a dead body. And yet, something in me loves the feel of the gun and the power of a devastating spell."
"He really should be a pacifist completely," Raitzen said. His voice was deep, touched with care for his brother.
Laudo sighed and put his face in his hands. "Ever since my first battle, I've been torn between loving and hating the warrior in me. I want to know if this is some hidden genetic trap that Master Wily has put in us."
"You're talking about a genetic check that would crash any child formed without the draw to violence. But I know what you're talking about. Another of my cousins, Solstice, fits your worry. She was born without armor. Everyone thought she'd be like Roll, not suited for battle. But then she passed the Dust Bunny King's test at four years old, and excelled in swordplay."
"And this check would have to work on both the males and females."
"Look at me." X studied Laudo's eyes for a while. His soul really was peaceful, one that would fit a poet best. And most of his programs geared him towards observation, intellectual pursuits, and mastery of languages. But there were those lurking genes that drew him to violence and mastery of battle magic.
"If I knew any way to silence those programs…"
"You may have to learn to ignore them or shut them down."
"Is it a genetic trap?"
"Your situation would suggest the possibility. You could talk it over with an engineer, but I'm sure they'll tell you that it's dangerous to mess with a living reploid's programming."
"I know. I just… I hope it's only for our generation, and not for generations to come."
September 30, XX68
The group had to move slowly through the range. Falling rocks were always a danger. So were the sudden winds, natural magic storms, lightning flares, dark magical creatures, minor earthquakes, thick fogs, poisonous fumes, and volcanic activity. Added to that, few people really knew the area and maps were always unreliable. Even satellite imagery was unreliable, since magic was strong enough to scatter the signals and disguise acres of terrain. Some old maps would shade this area and state 'Do Not Go Here'.
In one sled, Vile asked, "Is it a good idea to be escorting him? We know the Light clan will favor the humans."
"For now, we have to play nice," Sigma said. "Besides, he's asking to go into Mirage Swamp. Even with his elf being holy, it's young and won't be able to help."
"The will'o'wisps will kill his elf," Sigma's own elf said. "Then they will led him to deep water and drown him."
"Vedic agrees with me," Sigma translated. "We'll let him off there, have Laudo or Dynamo search for him on our way back, then report the bad news to the old hero. We'll say we tried to dissuade him and X went ahead into the swamp. It'd be nice to get proof of his body, but I'm not risking anyone to mirages."
"I don't like this," Vile said. "But if we must."
In another sled, Neko hung close to X. Eventually, he spoke in the dragon tongue. "I don't like this."
X felt surprised, so responded in dragon. "What about this? You're not worried about Mirage Swamp, are you?"
"Not that. It's this group."
He looked around. Dynamo was driving, although every now and then he glanced at X, to see what he was doing. "It's Xenophon's stories, isn't it?"
"I probably am biased against them. In his stories, if I ran into this entire group together, I would be very worried, and wouldn't be the only one. They were bad enough in smaller groups, but all of them at once…"
"This group hasn't done anything bad so far. We can't do something because of a mirrored history."
Neko sighed. "I know. I just hope we don't regret this."
"What are you guys growling about?" Dynamo asked in jest.
"He's worried about his mother," X replied.
As he thought, Neko jingled and turned pink in embarrassment. Dynamo's elf giggled. "What the hell? You guys are entering Mirage Swamp and you're worried about your mother?"
"I just left her," Neko said. "I hope she's not too mad at me for bonding suddenly. She wanted to help me out."
"Momma's boy," the elf taunted.
"Why did you mention my mother?" Neko hissed in dragon. "Especially when we both know he's actually male and actually my caretaker?"
"They've probably noticed how young you are. And I knew your reaction would make it seem like we really were talking about Xenophon. Do you want them to know that we suspect they may not be what they claim to be?"
"I guess not."
"I'm sorry about embarrassing you."
"I'll let it go. Better I get embarrassed then they find out we suspect them."
X glanced around at the group ahead. "And I do agree with you. Something about this group is masked. I don't think they're up to any good out here."
"Are we in trouble?"
"Not right now. But next time we meet up with them, we could be."
A shout came from the last sled. "We've got cockatrice! Right…"
Everyone went on alert, but did not want to look at the cockatrice group. Serges called, "Anybody have a mirror?"
X opened his pack and pulled out the serving tray. He had to disenchant it first. "Here." He threw it with telekinesis.
Serges noticed and caught it with the same. He quickly cast a spell into the mirror. The cockatrice, two of them apparently, screamed and turned into stone at their own reflections.
"Is that all?" Sigma asked.
"Yeah. But we lost Agile, Violen, and Raitzen."
"I'll check them out," X offered. "I can reverse the stone curse."
The group stopped and X went to the last sled. The two stone monsters had flanked and surprised them. But since it was soon, the reversal spell was guaranteed to work. X calculated HealA9.7/A/m to free them. He would have to drain energy from himself, but it would do.
"Here," Agile finished. He blinked at seeing X in front of him. "Huh?"
"They should be fine," X called up to Sigma, who got the group moving again. X turned back to the three. "I need to examine you to make sure the healing was complete. And if you still feel stiff in your joints in three days, you should see a doctor about it."
X checked them over, then slept until they reached Mirage Swamp. He got out and walked up to Sigma's sled upon waking. Serges asked, "What were you holding onto a serving tray for?"
X took it, but it had been ruined. He had defended it against high temperatures, not against Stone Gaze. The mirror part was tarnished black and the gold paint had been blasted off. "Oh no… I had that for an offering to the dragon."
"You were going to give a cheap serving tray to a dragon?" Sigma asked, puzzled.
"Because it had a mirrored surface. Dragons don't care about monetary worth, just about prettiness, shininess, and such things. This isn't good."
Sigma thought about it, then took something off his neck. "You saved my men. You can take this as an offering."
X caught the silver ankh. "Isn't this the one from your exorcism?"
He shrugged. "I don't need it anymore. Go ahead."
"If it's all right. Thank you for the escort. I hope you find what you're looking for." X's vision flickered. "Although it won't be what you're hoping for."
"Excuse me?"
He closed his eyes. "It's vague, but I see… there's a riddle of who is the master and who is the puppet. You may have things wrong." He looked back up at Sigma. "Sorry if that confused you. My third eye isn't exact."
"Well thank you for your help. Good luck in your quest."
"Hold up," Neko said. His aura flashed rapidly. When it settled down, he said, "Take one more step and we will be in Mirage Swamp. You'd best call for Talasi now."
"Good idea." X knelt down and drew the runes in the marsh. Then he stood, thought for a moment, and called, "Honorable dragon Talasi, I wish to earn your blessing. Please spare my life until we can speak."
"Will that request work?" Neko asked quietly.
"I can hope. All right. My life is in your hands now." X entered Mirage Swamp.
It didn't change. The area still looked like a damp brown and green swamp. Neko flew ahead of X, who followed him exactly. A step forward, then to the right, a few steps forward, to the right… an hour into the swamp trek, X felt puzzled. It seemed every time they turned, they went right. And the distant peaks stayed in the same relative position.
"Are we going in a circle?"
"No. The path is clear to me. Keep following me as you are; this water is thick and deep. There are man-eaters out here too. They haven't come on the path yet."
X smiled. "For a place of mirages, they haven't been creative yet. I keep seeing the same grass tufts, the same lily pads, the same rocks, nothing different. Oh, no, that's different."
"Hmm? Keep following me."
"It's just a tree."
"Actually, that's a pole with a corpse on it."
X shuddered. "Really?"
"Yeah. Looks like there's a lizardman encampment around someplace. I'll lead you around it if we run into it."
"Sure. I trust you."
"Hold up." Neko stopped. Then he flew onto X's shoulder. "There's a band of will'o'wisps ahead."
Looking ahead, he did see five balls of light floating above the swamp. "I think I see them."
"We can't be too sure you do… I know. I can fling water balls at them. Think you can match targets with my spell?"
"That should be easy enough. But stay on my shoulder; you don't want to be caught in the spell I'm going to cast."
"All right."
Neko started up his spell. X calculated his, but held off on the targeting rune until he sensed where his elf's spell was going. Neko cast Water Ball; soon after, X cast Fairy Bane. The will'o'wisps screeched upon being hit by the bane spell, but instead of scattering as X hoped they would, they rushed at them. X was hit by several rounds of Bewilder. This spell was meant to confuse one's opponent into letting their guard down. X closed his eyes and held still. Ignoring various spells targeting him, he calculated Holy Ray. That would damage the wisps and leave Neko unharmed. Holy Ray hissed out and X expected to hear quiet after.
There was a cry of anger. "Give that back!" Neko shouted.
X opened his eyes. There were two fairy auras chasing each other around. There was another hovering in front of him. "Follow me," the one in front of him said, also in Neko's voice.
"What?"
"Ignore them. They're trying to fool you. Come on."
"No, follow me," one of the chasers said, as he rushed up to X. He also sounded like Neko and had a gold cross, which the other two didn't have. "I know where we're going."
"They stole my birth cross!" the third cried. "Give it back!"
"Don't try to fake tears, darkling," the first said.
"Thief!" The third activated a Water Sword Slash to attack the second, which had the cross necklace.
"Hold on, you three," X said. "All three of you could be fakes."
"I'm not!" all three said.
"Please be quiet. None of you will reach your goals if you don't let me decide which of you is real, correct? So let me think."
They consented to this.
X considered. All three appeared to be just balls of light, but that could be Mirage Swamp messing with his senses. The second one did have the cross necklace, but he wasn't wearing it. The first one spoke of wisp tricks, but that could be a trick in itself. The third one was more emotional than Neko usually was. However, it was his birth cross, which would be important to him, and he had used the right sort of spell to be Neko. And it was possible that they were all fakes.
"Okay, I know how to decide now. I'm going to ask you a question that only Neko can answer right. That way, I will know which of you is real and which is fake. Understand?"
"Easy."
"Gotcha."
"Yes."
X pointed to the third. "You're Neko."
"What?" the two fakes asked. "That's not fair."
"But it's right," X replied.
Neko brightened. "Now give me back my cross." He attacked the other two again. They flew off, with his cross.
"Are you okay?" X asked.
"I'm not hurt. But they took my birth cross." X cupped his hands together and let Neko land. "Sure, I can just call up another, but the first cross is most important."
"Well," X looked around, "I hate to say this, but I don't think we can get it back. I need your help getting through here, and they'll try to lead us away from Talasi with it."
Now his aura dimmed. There was a sparkle and X could see his body again, with a new cross. "Our bond is not replaceable, my class symbol is. Let's keep going."
"Yes." He looked over himself, just in case. He saw his armor with some spell damage. "Oh drat. What happened to my robe?"
"One of the wisps cast a wind spell at you, which tore it off. But it was in bad shape already. A betagator tried to take a bite out of you yesterday. I scared it off."
"Yesterday?"
"You've only seen the same things over and over again, right? It's been an eventful week."
"Week?" X shook his head. "I haven't noticed that much time pass."
"I'm afraid so. I was worried when you first started sleepwalking. You never responded, only followed. When I told you to rest, you rested, standing up if I didn't modify it first. You've only spoken to me a few times."
X rubbed his forehead. "I'm grateful for your help. I hope we get through soon."
Neko flew ahead. "Although I'm curious, since you're talking now; how did you know me from the fakes without asking a single question?"
"I did ask a question. I asked if you understood."
"That was the question?"
"Not the one I had in mind, but upon hearing the answers, I knew. It was easy."
"Oh really?"
"When you trust, you speak openly. But if there is anyone in the room you don't quite trust or feel is a friend, you speak simply and to the point. You answered simply 'yes'. The other two had casual answers, so by word choice, I knew you."
"I didn't realize that," Neko replied.
They walked on, sometimes talking, sometimes silent. X wondered about the passing of time (a week?) and how Neko was seeing this. And why, for a mirage, he kept seeing the same things, save for small differences like, "Hey, is that a rat in the bog?"
Neko paused in flight. "Actually, yes, that is. Looks like he's stuck."
X knelt down. "I'd rather not leave him there. Neko, tell me if I have him." He took hold of the struggling animal through telekinesis and began pulling him out.
"You have him."
"Good." X pulled the rat out fully and placed him on the path. There was some weed knotted up in his legs. Careful because this was a wild animal, X took hold of the weed and got it off. "There. I hope he's okay now."
"He should be fine. Let's keep going. There's some shadows I don't trust around here." Neko flew ahead. X followed and soon after, the rat followed him.
They went on. X still thought they were going in circles, but Neko insisted he had the right path. The only path, apparently. The rat followed along. X wondered if there was a language for speaking with rats. Then something caught his attention.
He stopped. There was a mass of vibrant blue flowers to his right. The individual flowers could fit into his palm, and they were blossoming ten at a time from hundreds of pods. He wondered how he could have missed them earlier. Their scent was overwhelmingly sweet and intoxicating. "Wow, that's beautiful."
"X, whatever you're seeing isn't real. This is not a good spot to stop."
"That's a pity. Those blue flowers are gorgeous."
"Blue flowers?" Neko's aura twitched. "Actually, there are a whole bunch of blue flowers over there. Probably in the thousands."
X took a small step toward one of the pods. "Growing on a vine with ten flowers to a pod, right?"
"Yeah, that's right. Maybe you are seeing that. Are we already out of Mirage Swamp? We still need to find Talasi."
"Strange that such a beautiful plant is growing in a place like this. Maybe it's magical."
The rat squeaked, then tried to bite X's foot. It didn't account for his armor. Neko was mad. "Hey, why are you trying to bite him? He saved you."
X hardly noticed. He touched one of the flowers. "I wonder what it is." He leaned forward and sniffed it.
He had seen some strange scenes on his dream quest, but that was only after long hours of chanting, fasting, and meditation. This trance came the instant the flower pollen hit his brain. The world exploded in color, from the drab green and brown swamp to a brilliant psychedelic dance. Where there had been only the sound of wind, now there were whispers, as if the wind knew something, but X didn't have the key to translate it. But it was amazing.
"X?" Neko tugged at his hair. "Get away from those flowers."
But X was already far gone.
Be careful of the hallucinogenic flowers, there.
