Chapter 68: Havoc
Hiro, Eiji, Emi, and the Leviathan's were walking north toward Deadmarch.
They passed by Boh on the way, walking with a female giant.
"Boh!?" Hiro exclaimed.
"I really didn't think we'd run into you again!"
They ran up to him.
"Seriously!" Eiji exclaimed.
"Who's she? Did you finally find another giant?"
Boh nodded. "Yep, she's had it rough though. I'm taking her back to the warrior's to meet the other's."
Emi nodded. "Yeah... She'd likely had run into some of them hunters once'er twice. Crude one's them folks, not all bad though. I know a coupla one's... Kenji 'n Kenta... They ain't so bad."
Boh smiled. "I ran into them earlier. They didn't seem to mind us once I explained who giants were..."
Emi grinned. "No shit? Well... Small world. How're they lately?"
Boh shrugged. "Superstitious... Kind of funny... Kenji is an angry one, that's for sure."
Emi sighed. "Yea... He had a rough comin' up. He was just a little tyke when them watcher's corrupted 'n killed his ma. Said she were a witch... Kenta's all he's got now."
Boh looked down. "That is pretty horrible. If you see him, send him my thanks, and wish him well."
Emi nodded. "Will do."
Onna smiled softly. "Nice to meet you kids..." She said.
She seemed kind of timid, but very nice.
Eiji and Hiro nodded.
"You too." They said.
They continued forward.
Hiro sighed. "Man... I'm already starting to miss home."
Eiji nodded. "I know, but we have to keep going."
Emi sighed. "Ya need to not talk so loud about yer cast's 'n all that. We're gettin' close to Deadmarch, and these guys'll tear ya up."
Hiro nodded. "Okay, we'll be quiet."
Emi looked at them.
"And no castin'. They'll smell it out like wolves to a raw steak."
Eiji sighed. "Well, if we can't talk about it, it seems obvious that we wouldn't use it."
Emi laughed bitterly.
"You'd think... Ya may be shocked by how many get strung up over witch claims, and if it came down to it, I'd fight em... I don't wanna though. Ya don't hafta be a witch... Sorry, caster, to be claimed. So keep yer head down... Please."
Eiji looked at her. He could see now that she was worried...
"Thanks for looking out for us Em." Said Eiji.
Hiro smiled. "We really appreciate it."
Emi smiled softly. "Well... Yeah. I wouldn't want ya kids to get hurt... I also need that trainin', cause it'll get me out a Deadmarch. Can't have ya dead for that..."
Hiro sighed. "If you needed to get out of Deadmarch, we would have helped you anyway."
Eiji smiled. "We don't let our friends go hungry or cold... We don't like them treated badly either. We'll help your sister, and we'll find that noble who hurt her... You can count on that."
"Exactly." Said Hiro. "And I'll try my hardest as well."
Emi stared at them.
"Ya mean... We're really friends?"
They laughed.
"What do you think!?" Hiro exclaimed.
Eiji shook his head. "You know, you can be pretty dense, to not realize we're looking out for you too."
She teared up. "Thanks... Ya know, I've never had no friends 'sides Freya who's lasted long..."
Eiji smiled. "Well, we aren't going anywhere."
She grinned. "Alright. I'm gonna treat ya guys when we get this settled... Maybe, I'll see what I got when I'm there."
Hiro shook her head.
"Don't waste your money, we'll get you something."
She beamed. "Really!? Nobody treat's me too nothin'! That's grand!"
They all laughed.
Fred looked down.
"But... But Fangirl... I got you cake."
Emi looked at him.
She smiled. "Well, not really. 'Cept for Fred... He's the greatest. He has the best taste in all of them cakes that I'd ever seen!"
He ran around in circles and jumped for joy.
"FANGIRL LIKES MY CAKE! HOORAY FOR FANGIRL!"
"HOORAY!" They screamed.
Emi looked back at them as they neared the city.
"You stay put here, and stay hid. Okay?"
They disappeared into wisps of smoke.
"I LOVE YOU FANGIRL! I'M YOU'RE BIGGEST FAN!" Screamed Fred.
"FANSHIP!" They screamed.
"And be quiet!" Emi yelled.
"They'll hear ya from a mile away, and they'll blow our cover."
"Yes Miss General." They said.
They all wisped away into crevices of rocks and other shadows.
"General?" She asked.
Hiro looked at her.
"I guess that means you make the attack plans." She said.
Emi grinned. "Cool... I've got myself an army, 'sides myself of course."
...
I was holding the amulet in my hand.
There was so much potential to be had with this... I thought that perhaps I should summon more things to our aid before we leave... Not to mention with the absence of Eiji and Hiro.
Well... I do want Linn and Kuhn to sew their daughter again before we leave. Chihiro and Haku also deserve to see Eiji.
How long will they be gone though? I wonder if Linn will have her children before they get home...
The other's walked into the room, gather by Karo.
"I couldn't find Boh." He said.
"We'll have to fill him in later... He's probably patrolling the grounds or something."
"What's this about?" Asked Shisuta.
"Why are we here?"
I sighed. "Well, before I say anything... Shisuta, we're going to have to seal off deep knowledge from the bottom of the well."
She became defensive.
"And why is that? Is there something you do not want me knowing? I cannot just give anyone free reign to do what they will with the well... Not even you Kahn."
Haku looked at her.
"Let him explain himself then. There has to be a good reason why he's even considering this. We wouldn't purposely hurt you, or hold you back... I hope you know that."
She kept her guard up.
"Then why? Tell me."
"Because if you dig too deep, you'll hurt yourself." Said Karo.
"You weren't just sick when you woke up... You had put your mind through so much strain, you almost killed yourself."
"Then why do I not remember this?" She asked.
I looked at her. "It's a good thing you didn't. That knowledge was so much for one mind, even yours snapped under the pressure. I had to continuously heal you, and keep you in my gaze in a spell of calming. That barely kept you alive. Had you delved on your own, you would be dead... No one wants that."
She went pale.
"But... Is this really necessary?"
I nodded. "Yes, because what I'm about to relay to everyone pertains directly to what you told me. Having all of the details may not be the best for you in this case... You can't remember or retain that kind of knowledge."
Loki shook her head.
"Well a seal is a bad idea... It could damage something important."
Karo looked down. "Well, I don't know... Do you have a better idea?"
"A filter." She said.
"That way she can only take in as much as she can handle."
"I think I could manage that." Said Chihiro.
Shisuta nodded. "I like that better... Maybe then I could give good insight without... Well, destroying myself as you described."
I nodded. "That's fair, and a good compromise."
Thank god that worked out... Thank you Loki.
Junichi grinned. "And smart too... Not that I didn't know that. All women have at least two brains, but some have three."
All of the women in the room, including Linn, turned to glare at him.
"What?" He said defensively. "It was a compliment!"
I shook my head.
"Well, in any case, how long should it take to cast a filter on the well?"
Chihiro smiled. "It's much less strenuous than a seal, and should only take about five minutes."
I nodded. "Then let's do that now, and I'll begin relaying the information I've received."
Chihiro had to first put Shisuta in a state of trance, allowing her to gave access to her well of knowledge. After that, it was simply a matter of sustained manage drawing, and casting a filter on the well.
When the procedure was finished, Shisuta was brought out of trance.
"How do you feel?" Chihiro asked her.
She sighed. "It feels... More controlled... I guess. Yes, less taxing on my mind. So you were all correct."
Haku sighed. "I am so glad we could settle things peacefully... For once in three and a half years."
Chihiro smiled. "Well, it wasn't a hard solution... But you're right. This fight has been stressful for everyone here. Even the refugees are starting to pick up on the strain."
Linn nodded. "To a certain extent, they always do. Lately it's been worse though... They're all wanting to stay and help, because most of them lost their homes when this whole thing began. We've been so well guarded, we've dealt with a lot of things with more ease than they could. Yet, they've stopped the attacks and plagues. That worries me."
Kuhn sighed. "Yeah... If I know anything, it's that there's always a silence before the storm."
I thought for a moment. I figured we should at least open the portal before entering. See what we're up against.
Before that? There needed to be an explanation.
I cleared my throat.
"Alright then, I have some knowledge on their forces in the heavens. From what Shisuta described, they aren't well guarded."
Linn gave a look of confusion.
"Then... Are they just giving up? I don't know about that."
I looked down. "In a sense, they are... However, they will have the last word in it, were we to simply siege the gate. Shisuta described a core at the center of the golden city... It contains everything in existence divided between the inner minds of nine priestesses. A seed in the center. Were we to open the gates..."
I stopped... I didn't like this part.
"What would happen?" Kuhn pried.
I sighed. "All of the citizens of the golden city are rigged to explode in the event that the gates are breached, destroying the core."
Haku's eyes widened.
"That makes sense! It would explain why no one was allowed to enter the golden city with a direct calling."
Chihiro looked at me.
"But there's another way in, right? What about this seed, divided between nine priestesses... Or rather, in the center of them."
I nodded. "Yes, your intuition never ceases to amaze me. The seed is the key to the throne. I think you have to travel directly into a realm in order to reach it. It couldn't normally be reached by even the amulet, hence the idea we breach the gates. Seeing as that's not possible, we have to take the long way."
Shisuta sighed.
"Yes, but you just said that we couldn't use the amulet, so how do we get there?"
I grinned. "I said normally... We will use the amulet, but we can't travel to it directly, because there are aspects of it that are nonexistent. The amulet can only take you to all places in existence. The dreamstone can summon any object or living organism from anywhere as long as you know what you're looking for. The dream stone amulet will open a portal to said summoned object, as a side effect of the merging of the amulet. Normally this would be considered a flaw... However we can use this to our advantage by summoning the seed."
Shisuta gaped. "That's actually brilliant!"
She looked down nervously.
"But it may not be physically possible to travel there..."
I nodded. "I think we should open it, and look inside first without entering. Then if we can determine something we may need for the journey, I can use the same technique to summon it... You know? Now may have been a good time to have Leviathan's around."
Chihiro sighed. "Yeah... But they followed Eiji and Hiro... And that other girl. They should be back in any case."
"Then why don't we just find them at Deadmarch before they reach the blood roads, and have Eiji or Hiro order half of them back. It would be a simpler and more effective solution than waiting, or even opening portals into treacherous terrain for a summon."
Loki looked at him.
"Actually? I agree with Junichi. Surprisingly... I think we should look into the portal first, so we have time to think about what we'll need."
Kahn nodded, and held the amulet.
"Then let's do it."
Loki was a tactical genius in the ways of survival... This plan was solid in theory.
The only problem was...
No one expected to be pulled into the portal.
...
Boh had made the long trip back to the Warrior's.
There was a noise coming from the place...
Then refugees started spilling out of the building.
Mei ran up to them.
"Thank god you're here!" She cried.
"I think we're being attacked, and Navin's still in there!"
"Hold on, who's attacking!?" Boh exclaimed.
Mei went pale. "It's... I don't know. I've never seen anything like it in my life."
Boh's eyes widened.
"Then it's bad. Onna? Are you coming or not? Your choice."
She nodded. "I'll help however I can."
They ran into the building, and immediately felt the strangeness of the air... Something felt unusually off, and Boh felt his heart sink.
He saw Navin, trapped in between...
What the hell was that!?
It was some kind of energy that seemed to be spilling around him.
It changed everything it touched.
It destroyed and obscured everything.
"Help! Please! I don't wanna die! HELP!"
His voice was echoed, and slightly obscured from the matter surrounding him.
Boh held out his hammer.
He figured it would be a bad idea to touch the stuff, and he was no good to Navin dead.
"Grab the hammer!" He yelled.
He did, and the matter seemed to shoot him out at high speeds, as if it had guessed what Boh had wanted to do.
Except to the extreme.
Onna did a high jump, caught Navin in mid air, and did a safe tuck and roll landing near the door.
"Yeah, there's no way we can fight this." She said.
"Let's just run."
...
Eiji, Hiro, and Emi were all approaching Deadmarch.
Eiji stopped.
"Something doesn't seem right." He said.
Emi looked at him.
"Well, it ain't right! it's Deadmarch."
Hiro nodded. "You're probably getting a bad vibe from the town... I have to admit, it's even giving me the creeps."
Eiji fidgeted nervously.
"I'm telling you something's off."
Emi stopped. "Hold on... It's way quiet... Ya might be right Eiji."
There was an amused laughter from behind them.
They all spun around to see a plethora of well armed men, and a well dressed man among them.
"Niku!" Emi spat between gritted teeth.
He laughed. "Nice to see you again, whore. As for you children?"
The watch stepped forward.
"Welcome to Deadmarch, you're all under arrest."
**And that's the end of the sequel. Enjoy part three! :)**