CHAPTER II: DIPLOMACY
I knew that travelling the roads would be risky even with the patrols that protected it but the sheer lack of protection for merchants in the Slane Theocracy is far worse than I thought. We had only been travelling for a few hours at a casual stroll before the shadows informed me of presences following us. The details start to trickle in as the dozen armed men get closer until they block our route forward. I can tell that there would only be one outcome for this exchange given their drawn weapons but I look to Shalltear for guidance, her unspoken order to let them act first. I never liked this command but obey it as usual while the soldiers get closer and break into four groups. We go back to back as the groups surround us, neither of us giving off any sign of hostility even as they point their weapons at us. A white-robed figure takes a step from one of the groups of warriors and states in an arrogant tone, "You aren't the usual rabble that comes through here. What business do you have in the Slane Theocracy?"
"Adventurer's business. We've been contracted by the Irlo branch to clear a camp in this region," Shalltear replies but the posture of the men shifts suddenly. Swords and maces become firmly held but I remain tense and cautious in preparation for a fight. Shalltear is projecting enough calm for both of us that the attention of these men is drawn to her. The white-robed figure ponders her words for a moment before replying in the same arrogant tone, "Irlo has no jurisdiction in the Slane Theocracy. Your presence here is considered trespassing."
His lie is so obvious that I can barely believe that I'm hearing it, my body suppressing the urge to laugh at how foolish these men are. The humour quickly gives way to anger and I start mentally daring them to make their next move, my outward appearance displaying none of my inner emotions. The men respond to my unspoken challenge by moving forward slightly at their leader's hand motion, the white-robed figure stating as they move in, "You'll be taken into our custody and brought before a high priest for processing. Remove your weapons."
"Of course," Shalltear says with amusement, my body rapidly taking a knee as she summons her greatsword from her inventory and swings it around us at high speed. The blade effortlessly cuts through metal armour, soft flesh, and brittle bones, the soldiers becoming two dozen pieces before they realize they're under attack. Their roars and screams of agony last for a few seconds before their vital fluids are violently sucked into the greatswords mechanism. From my crouch, I turn my body and leap at the white-robed leader, the man rendered dumb by the swift carnage we unleashed. As we fall to the ground, my right-hand knocks away the sword he tries to draw and my left-hand grasps their face, the man's hands flailing at me in desperation. I smile as they scream in agony, the shadows leaping from my hand into their ears to violently rip their knowledge from their mind. Slowly, they lose their voice as their mind becomes a blank slate and once I release my hand from their slack face, blood runs from every orifice on their head.
"These men are bandits," I reply calmly as I move to a stand but Shalltear is too caught up in her reverie of slaughter to hear me. I reverse my motions, taking a seat on the ground and closing my eyes so that I can feel the shadows around me with higher clarity. The darkness responds to my call, crawling from the surroundings and over the corpses of the slain to absorb them into itself. A wave of positive feedback spreads through my senses from their delight and my right-hand reaches out so that the shadows can glide across my scales. A smile forms on my face from the gentle motions the shadows perform across my palm and as I gently pet the shadows, I open my eyes so I can witness them squirm and dance in agreement to my attention. I hear Shalltear exhale in relief but her voice carries annoyance when she tells me, "You spoil that pet of yours too much. They're gonna get lazy if you keep doing that."
"That's why we share ownership. You can be the good pet owner and I get to spoil them as much as I want," I reply with amusement as I aim my fingers upwards and wiggle the fingertips as if scratching a chin, the shadows reforming so that they can enjoy the sensation. Slight pain embraces my fingers as the shadows bite them playfully but I slowly remove my hand from their mass and whisper to them that it's time to move on. They slide back into the surroundings as I rise to my feet and say with conviction, "We're close to our objective. I know exactly where their camp is and the last time this leader was there, they had a unit strength of four dozen armed men...three dozen now."
"So how long will it be until you sleep with your shadow?" Shalltear replies with undertones, my face displaying my irritation at the casual accusation. Though I want to deny her claim, I know that she knows me better than I do and that any argument I form would be for nought. Instead, I smile and reply with sarcasm, "What? Being married isn't enough? You have to assume that every being I treat with compassion will want a piece of me?"
"Just speaking aloud. Don't mind me," she says in a sing-song voice, my shoulders shrugging as I reach out with my left hand. The shadows leap onto my scales and coat them rapidly, the sensation still odd to feel but endured. I focus my mind on controlling the alterations to my form, my body lengthening and swelling with dark power. I move onto all fours as my spine adjusts to crawling and watch as my veins in my arms glow with crimson power through my scales. I lean my head back and smile as a mask of shadows forms over my face, the shadows forming a visage of one of the Yamato dragon's head. I close and open my new jaws, feeling the jagged teeth slide against each other.
Shalltear leaps onto my back and tells me to take me to our objective, my head nodding as I turn and leap towards the direction of the camp. I revel at the intense feeling of speed from my movements and ignore mundane considerations such as trees and bushes. Those in my path are smashed out of the way with long swipes of my arms, the clawed hands and hardened limbs easily cutting through wood and foliage. The shadows coexisting on my scales dump more strength into my body in response to the destruction I'm causing, my muscles burning with new strength and my mind filling with thoughts of violence and bloodshed. My vision darkens as my senses focus on the acquisition of prey signatures and I have to fight hard to keep control of my impulses as I ram through the obstacles in my way.
A sound intrudes on my senses like a slap to the face, the silence broken by a rhythmic beating. I dash at the sound which becomes quicker as I approach and as I smash my way towards it, I start to see the source of the noise. Four pools of blood pulse in front of me and I dash towards the pools through more trees and plants. I slam into something denser and slash at the first pool that gets within my range, the first pool screaming as it splits open. The noise is deafening with my senses so enhanced but I focus on the next target even as the first target spills their innards on the ground.
"Demon! It's a demon!" I hear one of them scream but I don't hesitate nor become stunned by the noise they make, each sweep of my clawed hands rending flesh and metal apart in swift strokes. The bright pools of blood spill on the ground, leaving them dull and blending them with the earth. Arrows deflect off of and melee weapons scrape against my scales in a desperate attempt to stop me but the pain only makes me stronger. For every impact, the shadows inject me with more power begging to be released, my body moving faster to try and obey the impulse. I lose count of how many pools of blood I darken but in a burst of insight, I realize only a half dozen pools remain alive, the remainder cowering in the corner of their encampment. The last survivors throw what little resistance they have at me as I slowly approach them but as I raise my clawed hand to finish them off, Shalltear whispers into my ear gently, "That's enough. We need some of them alive."
I nod my head and tell the shadows to go home, their disappointment sliding into my mind and making me sad that I have to deny them. Shalltear leaves my back so I can stand upright, gasps and shouts of horror following my rapid change back into my initial kind of monster. As I get my bearings and note their simple encampment littered with ruined corpses, Shalltear says threateningly to the survivors, "Whoever leads you, step forward."
They're too afraid to reply but it's a fatal mistake to deny her will. Shalltear throws her greatsword point first at one of the survivors, their body torn in half by the size and velocity of the weapon passing through their stomach. Their remains hit the ground wetly and the fear of the survivors grows as Shalltear repeats her question. With a dismissive gesture of her left hand, her greatsword reappears in her right hand for another throw. One of the survivors throws a nearby survivor in front of the group while screaming that the one they pushed is the leader but Shalltear shows the coward no mercy, another swift throw taking their head clean off in a shower of gore.
"We can do this until all of you are dead or you can be honest and the rest of you can live. The choice is yours," Shalltear says with amusement as the survivors scream in horror, her greatsword reappearing in her hand for another toss. Though I'm just as amused by the spectacle as she is, I turn away from the group and glance among the corpses for any corpses with out of the ordinary clothing or armaments. It takes seconds to spot what I dreaded to find and I quickly tap Shalltear on the right shoulder with my left hand, her head half-turned to me as I point to one of the corpses on the ground. She gives me a harsh look once she sees what I see, her voice devoid of humour as she hisses, "Salvage what intel you can. I'll clean this up."
I move to obey as I hear louder screaming behind me that's swiftly cut short by loud swings of her weapon. The shadows crawl out from the surroundings to consume the leftover corpses as more shadows swim ahead of my path and lift the body up for me to inspect. I pull a parchment scroll from my inventory and unfurl it, quickly reading the elvish script and throwing it aside to burn away on its own. The body flashes with an emerald light, their muscles spasming before they spring back into animation. The once deceased woman in white and yellow robes snap her head around in confusion and shock but the shadows are already swarming into her open mouth before she can understand what's happening. She doesn't have enough time to scream before all of their knowledge is torn from their mind, their eyes glossing over as the shadows absorb the fresh corpse that remains.
"Well?" Shalltear states angrily as she stands on my right side, her hands on her hips in expectation. I let the shadows feed me the new knowledge before replying, my mind filtering through the details before I say in an even tone, "It's as Aura stated before. This leaders contracts were through indirect organizations but I know where their meeting sites are and who the organizations were. It's as good a lead as any."
I turn to face Shalltear and become distracted by the dancing shadows around us, the darkness busy with consuming all evidence of our passing but doing so in an oddly enthusiastic way. Shalltear shoves my left shoulder to get my attention back and, clearly, isn't pleased by the results of the mind rip. Her voice is angry as she snaps, "So it's another dead end just like Aura's dead ends. We could go investigate these sites and third parties but they won't know anything just like all these fools didn't know anything. This entire adventure was a loss for us."
I can't deny her claim and nod in reply, turning away from her to avoid some of her ire. I close my eyes and focus on the information I was given in an attempt to find anything else that could help but find myself grasping at nothing important. Whoever it is that's coordinating all of this unrest is skilled at evasion and the vague information I'd gleaned is hampering more than helping us. I sigh to myself and shake my head before turning back to Shalltear in defeat, her anger softening slightly but not by much.
The shadows vibrate around me with a hiss that only I can hear, giving me a clear sign that something out of the ordinary is nearby. My entire body slowly rotates towards the source of the disturbance and crouches so that I move as quietly as possible, my steps slow and sure towards the direction of the threat. A single pool of blood pulses on the other side of the broken wooden barricades we entered through, my path altering to intercept the being before they can move away. Something is different about their pulses and based on how their veins were oriented, their were sitting against the wall. I had to assume that they saw some of what transpired in the camp, making them a target for alerting more groups of our mission.
I spring into action once I reach a close enough distance, my body surging the short distance around the corner and rotating to bring my right-hand swinging around like a blade. Impossibly, the target dodges under the attack at incredible speed, far beyond what a normal human was capable of. However, instead of fleeing beyond me or attacking me, they remain seated and start to shake as they stare up at me. They feared me but not in the way that I'm expecting and everything in my mind screams for me to lash out and stab this witness through their right eye. My body freezes in place and doesn't respond to my will despite my efforts to force limbs to move. Only when the world returns to normal sight do I understand why my body is resisting so much, my mouth hanging open in pure horror at the sight of the emerald eyes, pointed ears and long, brown hair.
The face of Roeray Sunlight is staring back at me in similar horror.
