Shattered by the Sun
Today's chapter title is a lyric from a certain song, which I'm sure a few of you will get. Sorry if this one's a little shorter than usual folks.
Cyrus had decided, after some thought, to approach the glowing orange pillar first, although he didn't really have a specific reason for this. It just seemed like a good place to start.
Of course, there was also some prep work involved, because the great beacon seemed to be coming from the desert, and a trip there would be bad enough on its own without a fight waiting for him at the end. Making sure he had enough water and wouldn't keel over due to exhaustion was a major concern, and everyone seemed glad to help. The pillars had put everyone on edge and were always there, burning on the horizon even at night and everyone wanted them gone, or at least out of sight. Making an entire village's worth of blinds wasn't fun.
He had hoped to head out nice and early, get to the desert before the noon sun got too hot, but he really didn't notice anything was up until the sun didn't seem to rise properly. There was no brilliant smear of color to the east, painting the horizon warm colors, and when he finally saw hints of the sun, he could only see the edges, as the majority of the sun was covered by a black disk. The moon, maybe?
An eclipse might be a pretty good reason to sleep in, but Cyrus was curious if there would be anything… weird about it. The last time the celestial bodies got weird like this, it was that strange frost moon, when Nicola, Crista, and Picea joined their number, so Cyrus was honestly expecting the worst.
Titania was looking out the window, seemingly deep in contemplation. "Hey, Titania, what's up?"
She snapped out of her reverie and shot him a glare before responding. "There's something up with this, the eclipse and all. I'm stronger during the day, but there's something up with this. It doesn't feel right. Not enough oomph, you know?"
"I really don't."
"Of course you don't." She sighed. "I'm much stronger during the day. I promise you, if you fought my previous form during the day we wouldn't be having this conversation."
"Because you would have splattered me across the countryside?"
"Well, that was implied."
The eclipse was really something novel. His body was telling him that it was day, that the sun should be shining brightly, but it simply wasn't. It would be even weirder if just happened all of a sudden in the middle of the day… It would downright terrifying, to see the sky darkening until it almost seemed like night.
He decided to take a walk outside, get the full experience while he could, give his new beetle armor a test run and all that. Of course, he brought his flail along, because of course he did. Going out unarmed was basically signing his own death warrant, and sure enough, once he got far enough from the village proper all number of nasty creatures starting showing up.
At first, it just seemed like the usually nightly affair, zombies and all that, but these ones seemed different. Towering undead figures with tall, cylindrical heads and bolts in their necks, along with zombies with no head at all, just a gigantic eyeball. They were also a little tougher than the usual enemy he faced, but that wasn't unusual.
However, the more enemies he fought off, the weirder they got… labcoated men with the heads of flies, strange creatures that seemed to have crawled from some deep recess of the world, shrieking figures that loped across the ground, crawling with terrific speed. Cyrus hammered away with his flail, sending the figures flying, but there always seemed to be more of them.
Sometimes Cyrus would take to the air, trying to avoid the rushing hordes of enemies, including strange figures with masks of all sorts- pig masks, hockey masks, strange things covered in nails- with all sorts of weapons. They would launch sprays of nails, lunge with chainsaws, or just try to rend him apart with their own hands.
Unfortunately, the sky wasn't empty either, and he ducked and dodged out of the way to avoid the spheres which flew through the sky, which sprouted razor sharp edges, and Cyrus didn't feel like testing how effective his new armor was like that. The spheres honestly weren't too bad, but they were hard to see in the strange twilight of the eclipse, and he did not want to get blindsided by one of those things.
After batting a sphere out of the sky, he felt something pressing against his armor, seemingly searching for a gap to exploit, and he instinctually swung with his flail- but hit nothing. He looked down to see a tiny little bat flitting around his arms, looking for some gap to sink its unusually sharp little teeth into.
He grabbed at the creature, hoping to crush it within his gloves, but before he could get a good grip on the thing, it began to grow, delicate wings turning into the thick fabric of a billowing cape, the tiny face warping until Cyrus was staring directly into a face that was almost human. The skin was too white, as white as chalk, and the eyes were a terrible shade of red, like blood freshly spilled, and the imperious expression seemed inhuman when stretched across that pallid face.
For a moment, they locked eyes, and Cyrus could see nothing but sheer condescension before the figure lunged, revealing razor sharp fangs that aimed straight for his throat. Cyrus avoided becoming the vampire's lunch, but it still slammed into him, sending them both spiraling through the air.
As he grappled with the figure, desperately trying to get enough distance to use his flail, only one thought came to his mind: throw some garlic at it. Of course, this wasn't very helpful, and eventually he managed to kick the vampire away before slamming his flail into the thing with enough force to shatter bone. Somehow, it got back up, but didn't recover when he knocked the thing's head clean off.
Cyrus was proactive enough to basically keep the air clear- he could smack just about anything out of the sky as long as he could see it coming, which could definitely be a big if sometimes. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see something massive blocking the halo of sunlight peaking out from behind the moon.
He turned and swung with his flail, striking the head of a truly monstrous moth, easily the size of a small building. It was hard to make out specifics in the faint light, but he could get faint impressions of massive wings and a great, heavy abdomen, along with a pair of truly massive eyes. Cyrus, being interested in playing fair, mercilessly struck at the head, trying to defeat the creature as quickly as possible.
It was a tremendously tough bug, which wasn't too surprising- Cyrus was wearing armor crafted to mimic a beetle, after all- but his flail seemed to be doing something, even if it wasn't much. He also tried to strike the wings, hoping that they would crumple under the force of his blows, but they were much tougher then they looked and snapped back like elastic whenever he managed to bend them out of shape.
Fortunately, the moth seemed to scare the small fry away, so no vampires or spheres interrupted their deadly dance. He managed to avoid most of the creature's attacks, but it was incredibly strong; eventually, it seemed to back off and Cyrus sagged in relief as he glided through the air.
Of course, Cyrus couldn't have good things, and the giant moth stopped to lay a clutch of massive eggs, which started swaying almost immediately, tiny little cracks appearing almost immediately. He made sure to keep an eye on them while fighting off the giant moth, and of course they eventually cracked open to reveal the creature's spawn, which were basically just smaller versions of their parent.
The baby bugs were just as aggressive as their parent, but fortunately they weren't quite as durable, and Cyrus managed to strike them down with a few good blows. Unfortunately, the deaths of the creature's offspring only sent it into a fury, and Cyrus had to try even harder to dodge now, swerving out of the way of the moth's tank-like body.
Eventually, Cyrus managed to strike the creature's head with enough force to kill it, and it dissolved into smoke- leaving a girl behind where its abdomen once was. Cyrus dove to catch her- he certainly couldn't imagine the girl surviving falling into the mob of monsters below- and managed to grab her.
Her most notable trait were the wings, a tremendous pair just like a moth's, although she also had a distinctive pair of antenna peaking through her hair. He couldn't really get any specifics of her looks, but he assumed she was similar to her previous form. He got the impression that she was female, of course, but the clothes he felt were surprisingly soft and fluffy. Strangely enough, she also seemed to be holding something vaguely circular in her hands, but he didn't have time to investigate.
Afterwards, Cyrus dropped the girl off back in the village and got back to the fight, batting away the same mooks as before, with an occasional surprise in the form of a strange, ghostly figure carrying a massive scythe. Cyrus was surprisingly used to killing ghosts and other supernatural creatures like that, although the massive scythe was a bit of change- especially when it turned out to be physical. When he killed the ghost, the scythe remained and instead fell to the ground, the blade sinking into the soft loam.
Cyrus really couldn't stop to eat due to, you know, everything going on, and unfortunately it seemed to be a day long event, considering how it lasted from dawn until… Noon, as it seemed to be now. The sun was still hidden behind the moon, making things a little strange, but you could still get a rough idea of time by tracking the moon's solar halo through the sky.
The enemies would occasionally drop little trinkets, like strange little purple bands and shells that gleamed gently in the faint light. Of course, he wasn't stopping to take a careful look at the various artifacts that littered the ground, considering how he was busy murdering anything that moved.
Cyrus supposed that the desert trip was out of the way for today, and even if he wanted to take a night trip (which would probably make the desert more tolerable) but he had a feeling that he would be too exhausted to travel to the desert. Even if he tried to pace himself he would still have to stop and roost, trying to take easy shots while catching his breath.
Of course, he also wondered what exactly caused this strange phenomena- well of course, his rough, ramshackle memories did provide enough information for him to know that eclipses were a thing that did happen from time to time, when the moon moved in front of the sun, but they were supposed to be short term things, lasting for a few minutes at most. No eclipse should last an entire day like this, and if wasn't some sort of strange illusion… then did some powerful cosmic force literally reroute the path of the entire moon?
This sort of navel gazing about the mysteries of this strange world didn't really yield any results though. Sure, Cyrus knew that things were… off in this world, but he didn't have any real concrete memories of what the old world was like. He was here, now, and there was nothing he could do to change that… or at least he thought so.
Sundown was a relief, and the great swarms of monsters finally seemed to come to a stop. Of course, things could never be easy, and the ground was littered with sharp nails and steel spheres covered in all sorts of nasty bits- razor spikes and edges. Acid bubbled gently in little puddles and the ground was covered in all sorts of foul substances, foul muck dredged up by the swarms of monsters.
Cleaning all this up was going to be a tremendous pain in the ass- he supposed you could sweep up all the nails and metal bits with some magnets or something… but what about the acid? Yikes. Whatever. Cyrus picked up the stuff that seemed interesting, like the accessories and the scythe, but he went back home pretty quickly- they had a new guest, after all.
Fortunately, someone (maybe Terra? She was strong.) moved the girl, presumably to the sickroom, and Cyrus headed in that general direction. As the sun set, he felt a strange sort of humming from the purple bracelet- he could see that there was a pattern etched into the strange purple stone, a delicate crescent moon. There was a strange sort of warmth coming from it, and he felt great- stronger, faster, even a little healthier- and he had several of them, considering all the vampires he batted- no pun intended- out of the sky. They might make good gifts?
In the sickroom, he saw the girl laying in the bed, her delicate wings splayed out to the sides as she breathed gently. He could see two items- presumably belonging to the girl- on the bedside table. A strange little yoyo, patterned like an eye with a vivid blue iris, and a short sword in a worn leather scabbard. Cyrus was curious, and he pulled the sword from its sheath- or rather, what was left of it. It was a short sword, made shorter by the damage to the thing's tip, and the rusted metal of the blade with dotted with greenish moss.
Cyrus wasn't sure what use the two items had, but maybe he should ask the girl about it- it was her stuff, and it probably wasn't a great idea to just fiddle with it. He considered taking a seat, and even pulled out a chair when his stomach gave an intense grumble. After double checking that the girl wasn't stirring from her rest, he headed off to get some dinner.
Everyone was understandably shook by today's weird occurrence, in the form of the day long solar eclipse and all the monsters that entailed. Cthylla was ranting about some of the monsters she had seen with her enhanced eyesight. "No really, I'm telling you! It was a guy wearing a labcoat, with a fly's head!"
Andi snorted. "Really? You sure a fly didn't land on those sunglasses of yours?"
"Of course I'm sure!"
Before Andi could reply, Cyrus spoke up. "They're real, and just as nasty as you'd expect. They threw around these nasty vials of acid… I'd recommend watching your step, there are little pools all over the place outside the village."
After a few moments of silence, their second newest guest, the cultist, spoke up. "Aberrations of the natural order like that are to be expected, considering how your actions have thrown the world out of balance."
Cyrus sighed. She was right, of course she was, but she had been all doom and gloom since she woke up. Admittedly, being all doom and gloom did make sense if you were completely convinced that no measures could possibly save you from destruction, but it didn't really raise the group's spirits. As Cyrus considered this, he suddenly realized that he didn't even know the woman's name.
"Wait a minute. Did anyone ever ask you for your name?"
The girl shrugged, sending rippling patterns down the reflective embroidery of her cloak. "Does it really matter?" Cyrus gave her a look, and after a second she sighed. "If you must know… My name is Asteria."
She refused to talk for the rest of meal, although Cyrus couldn't say he blamed the girl. Maybe if he managed to defeat this eldritch monster, her mood would get better? Cyrus could feel a bit of sympathy, honestly- having no memories led to a fair amount of navel-gazing and depression, and that just due to amnesia! Knowing full well that your best efforts had failed and the world was going to end… the poor girl was handling it surprisingly well, given context.
Eventually, Cyrus headed off to the desert the next evening, once he had assured himself that there wasn't some sort of wacky event going on. The wind had really picked up though, and fortunately enough it was blowing from behind him, driving him towards the desert with speed.
The closer he got the pillar, its light only grew more overwhelming, until the entire sky seemed to be tinged orange. Eventually, Cyrus saw something flying him at tremendous speed, a long, wormlike creature with gnashing orange fangs that glowed brightly. Cyrus quickly snapped his wings out and spiraled to the side as it shrieked past in a blur of orange and brown.
It turned on a dime too, and Cyrus had real trouble dodging the thing- he could see a brightly glowing ball on the thing's tail, and Cyrus struck out at it with his flail as the creature shrieked in agony. The thing was freakishly fast and didn't stop at all even as Cyrus attacked it, so Cyrus dove towards the ground in an attempt to shake it off.
As fast as he could dive, the creature was even faster, and he could hear it cutting through the air. It felt like it was mere inches behind his back when he turned his dive into a roll that kept him from getting smeared across the baked sands of the desert. The strange creature immediately stopped its pursuit once he touched the ground, and Cyrus felt relief for a fleeting moment.
He had a sinking feeling that there was more going on that just a scary flying worm- maybe it forced him to the ground so its friends could pick him off? He looked around and saw something else approaching him, a lancer on a great lizardlike mount. The rider let its gleaming spear dip, and Cyrus leapt to the side to avoid it.
The rider was roughly human looking, and seemed to be riding bareback, which give Cyrus an idea. He struck the creature with his flail, and managed to knock it straight off its mount before quickly finishing the creature off- although not quick enough to let him block the rider's mount before it jumped him with a terrible shriek.
Up close and personal, Cyrus could see that its skin was sort of rocky and burnt, except for the brilliant orange crystals that poked out from its body, making its tail into a weapon that could rival one of Cyrus' own. Its teeth were certainly terrible as well, and his flail wasn't the greatest weapon at such close range- it was literally right on top of him, gnashing teeth inches from his face.
He couldn't exactly kick the creature off, but he managed to roll to the side enough to grab the massive spear that the rider dropped- it was way too long to use normally, but he managed to lodge it between the creature's jaws so it wouldn't gnaw on his face. He managed to throw the creature off then, giving him just enough range to hit it with his flail.
These things were certainly nasty, and there seemed to be way more of them, along with others. Humanoid creatures that could roll into a ball and charge him, dismounted versions of the rider he fought previously, and strange swordsmen that fought with two blades that made the air shimmer with their heat. Cyrus got to work, fighting his way towards the glowing pillar of light.
Eventually, after batting away what felt like dozens of those mooks, he eventually reached the source of that brilliant orange light- a great pillar of a strange material he couldn't easily name, but it was undeniably alive. Strange veins, like lava, criss-crossed its sides, and strange orange tentacles sprouted from its tremendous body- it was easily the size of a building. At the top there was some sort of strange mouth like thing that glowed brilliantly, and every once in a while a creature would crawl out- or fly out in the case of the strange flying worm creatures.
Unfortunately Cyrus couldn't just start hammering away at the thing, since there was some sort of tremendous bubble surrounding it that made his attacks bounce off like they were nothing. However, things weren't hopeless- every time he killed one of the creatures, a tiny burst of light flew off and hit the barrier, making it shiver and flicker for a few moments. Killing enemy monsters was all he needed to do, and it just happened to be something he was very, very skilled at doing.
Eventually, after Cyrus had killed dozens of the things- he couldn't give exact numbers since he didn't realize that he needed to count at first, but that was what it felt like- the barrier finally collapsed with a tremendous shattering noise, leaving nothing between Cyrus and the pillar, which he attacked with a vengeance, ignoring the other monsters in his haste to finish the things off.
When he managed to kill the thing, it disintegrated into a great cloud of smoke- but even through that dense smoke, he could see points of light shining through, like stars, for a brief moment before he nearly doubled over, his mind going numb as the pillar collapsed in on itself, the strange energies it contained bursting forth like a flood.
He also spotted a human figure through the smoke, however faintly, and he rushed to catch her before she fell. Her most notable trait was her hair- it was the exact same shade of orange that composed the pillar she came from.
After the smoke had cleared, Cyrus saw that the gleaming points of light were still there, a constellation composed of dozens of brilliant orange points. Once he had secured his grip on the girl, he jumped up and began snatching the fragments out of the air. Avoiding the swarms of creatures was a bit of pain, but they weren't growing in numbers so it was manageable.
Once he had collected every last one of the fragments, he pulled out his mirror and teleported the two of them back home. He had a feeling that he could make something good out of them- or one of the others could, at least.
Back at home, Cyrus dropped their newest guest off in the hospital, where Abigail and the moth girl were waiting. Once he got inside, he was sure of it- the girl's hair was literally glowing, bathing the sickroom in a cozy orange light.
"That's certainly unusual." Abigail mused as she checked up on the girl. "And not just because of the hair. She isn't just asleep- I think it might be some sort of coma?"
Cyrus rushed to the bedside. "Will she be alright?"
Abigail snorted. "Rushing over and butting in certainly won't help her, Cyrus. However, considering the trend of all the girls being as healthy as horses once they woke up, it might take something special to wake her up."
"Something special?"
"Well this is just an idea… but maybe the twin you defeated first was in a similar state until you defeated the other one? Like a sort of package deal with the other three light sources?"
"Well I suppose we're discovering the rules as we go." Cyrus shrugged before he heard a faint groan from behind him, from the other lass in the sickroom.
She opened her eyes to reveal a brilliant pair of blue eyes- all blue, in fact, no whites or pupil at all- that admittedly creeped Cyrus out a little bit. She at up and looked around for a few seconds, taking in her surroundings before her eyes seemed to widen- at least he thought so. Not being able to figure out exactly what she was looking at did make things a little weird.
The girl rose to her feet and started walking almost immediately, before she even said a word, and she walked off… to clamp onto the orange haired girl like she was a lifeline.
After a few seconds, Cyrus sighed. "Is this like a moth thing? Fascination with lights? He grabbed onto the girl's shoulder and gave it a gentle shake.
She snapped out of her trance and turned to Cyrus, staring at him with those deep blue eyes. "Uhhh… who are you?"
"I'm Cyrus, the Nurse is Abigail, and we're not entirely sure about the girl you're hugging."
She looked down at the girl she was hugging for a second before eventually letting go. "Oh, I'm not sure what came over me. My name is Cera." She smiled, although Cyrus did have to admit that her eyes made the whole thing a little more disarming than charming. Maybe he would get used to it?
It turned out that Cera had the same self destructive tendencies as a moth when she started flying in the direction of one of the other pillars- thankfully, Cyrus managed to fly up and catch her before she got herself killed, but Cyrus couldn't really bring himself to be too angry- it was a part of her being, he supposed. It would be like blaming Aria for sunbathing or Crista for avoiding the heat.
Her wings were definitely something- he had trouble catching up with her, in all honesty. Fully extended, they almost looked like giant eyes- he never got how animals could fall for that sort of thing until he the wings flapped in just the right way to give the impression of a massive face staring at him.
Eventually, he managed to drag the girl to dinner, and everyone had already noticed the disappearance of one of the pillars.
"You did it, Cyrus! It was certainly a surprise to see the light just blink out like that." Annelia seemed enthusiastic, her tail wriggling in excitement. "Can we visit the blue one next? It's over the corruption, after all."
"You're welcome to come along, but I'm warning you that it can get pretty dangerous. The monsters really come in swarms, and you can't just rush in and out- you need to kill a lot of monsters to get the job done."
Asteria looked up from her meal, her eyes particularly stormy. "At the very least, you had enough sense to gather the fragments?"
"The little orange things? Yeah, I grabbed them." He pulled them out, and they glowed brilliantly in his hands, or rather just a little above them- they still ignored gravity.
Everyone was transfixed and Asteria was no exception. "May… may I have them? I think I make some workable weapons out of them."
Cyrus bunched them in his hands and passed them over. "Be my guest."
"It's all futile… but I suppose it's something to do." She took them, and the glow of the fragments cast strange patterns across her face and hair. It was something of a bad pun, but she looked magical.
Asteria then proceeded to lock herself up in her room while she worked, and Cyrus decided to wait a bit before he headed out to do more fighting- he didn't want to imagine what the other pillars might hold, what terrible creatures lurked there.
He decided that maybe he should pick up some sort of fun hobby, and when he asked Cera was more than happy to give him the yoyo that she had on her person when she first appeared. His first attempts at yo-ing were lackluster at best. So logically, he did what anyone would do when a hobby got difficult- pour money and resources into accessories that didn't fix the root problem.
Admittedly, some of the stuff Harold the merchant got for him did help- how he managed to get a book on techniques so quickly, Cyrus would never know. He also got a few other yoyo accessories from his contacts: a sort of glove that would apparently allow you to use several at once, and counterweights for performing all sorts of tricks. (Getting a second yoyo was a bit of an issue, but he asked Cera and she somehow generated another one, not that he was complaining)
Eventually, once he picked up the fundamentals of yoyoing he started going on walks with the thing- he would be better at yo-ing if he practiced while walking or running around, right? Eventually, his walks led him to a monster- a possessed suit of armor that was stumbling around before it began to shamble in his direction. Out of pure instinct, he lashed out with his yoyo, figuring that it might disorient it long enough for him to beat a retreat- only to be surprised when the yoyo tore straight through the armor, cutting deep.
He supposed that it was a pleasant surprise, that his hobby had martial applications and he just happened to get a really good yoyo, but he was honestly a little disappointed: for a few moments he finally had something special that wasn't just beating things up… until it turned out he could kill things with a children's toy now. It was exceedingly effective though, and he eventually decided to replace his flail with it, considering the thing's design. It would always be a little unnerving, beating people up with a fish head on a chain.
Asteria presented him with two weapons once she was done with her work, both of which glowed brilliantly orange. There was a massive lance which seemed to launch copies of itself- he'd go through the motions of throwing, have it hit the target, only to look at his hand and realize that there was still a spear there. The other weapon reminded him a little of his flail, a sword composed of many segments that made it more like a whip than a sword.
"Thank you, Asteria. They're wonderful."
She sighed. "I'm glad someone gets to appreciate my work before everything is over."
"Oh, ye of little faith."
Dramatis Personae:
Cyrus: the player character, harem protagonist
Cthylla: ex-Eye of Cthulhu, in relationship with Cyrus
Annelida: ex-Eater of Worlds, in relationship with Cyrus
Medulla: ex-Brain of Cthulhu, in relationship with Cyrus
Visca: still insists on being called King of the Slimes, in relationship with Cyrus
Bea: ex-Queen Bee
Lacrima: ex-Skeletron, clothier replacement, in relationship with Cyrus
Andrea/Andi: ex-Wall of Flesh
Asta: ex-Spazmatism
Tina: ex-Retinazer
Francisca: ex-Skeleton Prime
Regina: ex-Queen Slime
Ditra- ex-Destroyer
Aria: ex-Plantera
Picea: ex-Everscream
Nicola: ex-Santa-NK1
Crista: ex-Ice Queen
Aqua: ex-Duke Fishron
Titania: ex-Empress
Terra: ex-Golem
Asteria: ex-Lunatic Cultist
Cera: ex-Mothon
?: ex-Pillars
Nissa: the Dryad
Veronica: the Zoologist
Meredith: the Mechanic
Abigail: the Nurse
Judith: the Steampunker
Roxanne: the Stylist
Actually saw a solar eclipse once. Genuinely stunning. As fun as a hot vampire girl sounds, I'm worried about character bloat enough already, but I suppose if anyone's particularly inflicted with the vampire girl thirst and asks for it… I'll see what I can do.
As for Cera, it comes from Heterocera, an etymology term for moths.