Day 57 Cont. / Escape
"And the entire vanguard was captured?"
"Not entirely, Sir. Their wounded were with the main column, and some of their rear soldiers managed to escape, but that's still less than a quarter."
Lukas let out a sigh as he surveyed the mountain from behind The Order's defensive lines. With the vanguard lost and an unknown number of arachnae hiding underground, they had dared not advance into the valley, forced to remain on the previous mountains until the colony was dealt with.
"Well it's better than nothing…"
"Should I assemble the troops for an assault, sir?"
"No. We don't know what's hiding down there, and if the arachnae live up to their reputation, it'll be full of ambushes and traps. I won't lose any more of my crusade to capture a single mountain, I'll destroy it instead. Brynhild, you'll help me with this, won't you?"
The Valkyrie standing beside him crossed her arms and gave him a serious look.
"Do you think this is a worthy use of the Goddess' power?"
Though her words were cold and strict, they did not imply distaste. Rather, they carried an air of a teacher or professor assessing if a student was confident in their answer. Lukas returned the look with a serious one of his own, and with a determined voice, answered "Yes. I do."
His partner gave a slight smile, then nodded approvingly.
"Then it will be so."
He turned to the officer who had reported to him originally and nodded.
"Commander Harald, prepare the ranger squads for scouting duties and bring me these mages."
With a flick of his wrist, a scroll containing a list of names materialized in his hand and he thrust it towards the man.
"I have use of their talents."
The man took the scroll and offered a quick salute before replying with "Yes, sir". Then he spun on his heel, cape flapping as he strode away.
Annika paced back and forth impatiently at her position in the rear lines. The bandage wrapped around her head marked her as technically being one of the wounded, but the healing magic of the priests meant she was now combat capable. It did mean she couldn't wear her helmet, though, which shunted her to the reserve line, away from potential heavy fighting. She hadn't been there when the vanguard was overwhelmed, but Garret failing to return gave her all the information she needed. Something had gone terribly wrong, and Garret was among the taken.
"Loch, Smith. Come with me, our hero wants to see you. Something about a new operation."
The arrival of a sergeant signaled the departure of the two mages stationed near by. When he mentioned a new operation, Annika's ears perked up and she listened in to hear the details. None came, however, as they were simply directed back to Lukas for further instructions. Annika looked left, then right, and after seeing that nothing dangerous was going on, abandoned her post and hurried after them. If there was a rescue operation going on, she wanted to be a part of it.
Garret…
"I trust all of you know what happened a few hours ago?"
When Annika arrived, the briefing had already begun, so she ended up standing at the back of the crowd of rangers and mages, straining her ears to hear. Lukas and Brynhild, as well as several other high-ranking officers stood in front of them, with the hero delivering the briefing personally. Almost everyone nodded at his question, but for the sake of the few who didn't, he quickly went over the situation – that the mountain ahead of them contained an enormous nest of arachnae, and that their ambush had kidnapped most of the vanguard.
"Arachnae are smart. They know they won't be able to fight an entire crusade so they're hiding in their mountain. No doubt they'll be expecting us to try to clear them out and have laid further traps and ambushes within. With a smaller nest, we might have tried to do just that, but this one is too big. Even in the best case, we'd lose hundreds of men and be halted for days, and that's not a sacrifice I'm willing to make. The reason you're here is simple. We're going to destroy this mountain, but first we need information. Mages, I'm told all of you have some experience with earth magic. Who here can combine that with divination magic? I need to know where their tunnels are, the depth of those tunnels, and the composition of the rock."
Out of the group of mages, less than a dozen raised their hands. Lukas looked disappointed at the small number but nodded anyway.
"That's less than I'd have liked, but we'll make do. If nothing else, at least we can give you more guards this way."
With that, he dismissed the unneeded mages, leaving only rangers and a few wizards (none of the sorcerers had the required capabilities).
"Your officers and sergeants will assemble the groups and give you your patrol routes. Mages, the rangers will protect and scout for you. Rangers, make sure the wizards are undisturbed when casting their spells. Time is of the essence, everyone. I'll launch my attack tomorrow morning, so you'll have to work through the night. Have your reports ready before then. Dismissed."
Putting aside the obvious question of how a single man was going to collapse a mountain, Annika pushed her way to the front of the crowd. She couldn't believe there was no plan for a rescue!
"What about the soldiers!?" She yelled as she forced herself in front of their leaving hero. One of the officers shouted and tried to push her back, but Lukas waved him off and allowed her to finish.
"You had a question."
Annika took a moment to b collect herself before asking again.
"What about all the captured soldiers? Half the Northreach soldiers are down there, and…" She cut herself off, not wanting to say the terrifying words that her partner was too.
"We have to try to rescue them!"
Lukas sighed when he heard this.
"What's your name, soldier?"
"Annika. Annika Nyman."
"In any other situation, I'd agree, Ms. Nyman. But this is a nest far bigger than what we expected. If we launch a rescue now, we'll lose more men than we would save… And I won't have my crusade broken before we even begin to attack the demon realm proper."
"But we can't just leave them there!"
"No we can't… but we also can't sacrifice soldiers foolheartedly. It's been hours since they were captured, they might all have… changed by now. We don't know if there's anyone left there to save."
Annika deflated as he spoke, understanding the calculus behind his decision but unwilling to accept that they were leaving Garret to die. Lukas picked up on this change of demeanor.
"… Your partner was captured, weren't they?"
"… Yes…"
"I'm sorry. But even for your partner, we can't send anyone in."
"… Then what can I do… is there anything anyone can do?"
Lukas placed a hand on her shoulder to comfort her.
"If I were you, I'd pray for a miracle."
"Shhh… Quiet!"
Leading a small group of human soldiers, Garret crept through the arachnae's tunnels, praying to not be discovered. The rooms immediately adjacent to Ilona's had been devoid of arachnae, but each held a bound human soldier. With his fire, Garret had wasted no time carefully burning them out, but though they still seemed human, they were worthless when it came to combat. The venom had affected them much more strongly than it had Garret, rendering them docile and submissive. While that meant they were extremely receptive to his commands, it also meant they wouldn't dare raise a finger against… just about anything. 'Guarding sheep' was what Garret likened his current situation to. As they crept through the dimly lit caves, he had to harshly whisper back to them to keep some stragglers from wandering off. Thankfully the screams of pleasure or pain from other arachne victims covered most of the sounds they made.
Though Garret tried to save as many people as he could, often times he was too late. The next room he peered into contained a man and an arachnae, but unlike Garret, the man had completely changed. In the glow of the fungi, he could see the tell-tale purple tint that had crept across the man's skin, and by how he was frantically thrusting against his spider paramour, he didn't look like he was going anywhere on his own. Unfortunately for him, his thrusts and cries were for naught as the arachnae in front of him followed her late mistress' instructions much more dutifully than Ilona. When she scrawled off of him to adjust his bindings, Garret saw that webbing had been wrapped around the man's cock in a tight ring, preventing release. He also saw about a dozen bite marks where the spider had injected even more venom, no doubt raising his libido to dizzying heights.
"Get out of here, Garret. Run."
"KILL THEM! Show them you're the one who decides who suffers now!"
Oddly the submissive voice was quiet here, though probably because of the lack of things to submit to and its fear of being tortured endlessly like that. Either way, the human voice was the obvious choice, so away Garret ran. "Poor Bastard…" was what he muttered as he left the man to his fate and crept away. He needed to conserve energy, he couldn't waste it unless it was urgent, or a voice forced him to…
Eventually they reached a fork in the road, where the tunnel split into two. Deciding, basically at random, he led his fellow soldiers down the right path, which proved to be a mistake. Around a bend, it opened up, into a giant cavern containing dozens of arachnae of all different varieties, wandering around. This must be some sort of rallying point for them, or maybe a common area. In the center of it, lay a patch of dried, torn webs. That must have been where the spiders had kept him before Ilona took him, but by now, no cocoons remained. The captives had all already been claimed. While that was disheartening, at least that meant Garret didn't have to enter this room. There was no way he could fight this many monsters.
"Let's go the other way…", he whispered.
The other path was similar to before, being lined with small rooms. As usual, Garret headed for the nearest one to check it out. The chamber contained a female soldier, stripped naked and suspended from the ceiling by several thick threads. It also contained two arachnae this time, who were occupied with rubbing their hands all over her body, fingering her, groping her breasts and ass, and nipping at her to inject yet more venom. Unlike the men, this woman came again and again, screaming with pleasure as the spiders had their way with her.
"Let them do what they want… maybe you can be the husband of the woman after she turns."
"GET THEM! STOP THEM! KILL THEM!"
"Just get the hell out of here. You can't fight them."
Garret was inclined to side with the human voice again and ensure his own safety, but he had to keep things balanced… at least they were weak to fire.
"Stay here and stay hidden.", he whispered to his 'sheep' before stepping into the open and striding through the door towards the trio.
"Hey! Release that woman, you whores!"
At the sound of his shout, the spiders turned towards him and almost in unison, brought a hand up to their mouths to hide a giggle. Their mirth was short lived as Garret conjured a pair of spears and sent them flying into their spider halves. They screamed in pain as he blew them apart, then followed it up with a pair of fire balls to finish the job... Then he collapsed as his vision flickered and the energy rushed out of him. On all fours, he wheezed and tried to stay conscious. Shit… shit… too many spells… shit. If he wanted to do something like that again, he'd need to find Catherine's crystal.
When he felt like he could stand again, he pushed himself to his feet and pulled himself upright. Almost immediately, he began feeling better as his energy reserves started to regenerate. Wait…. That was quick. Too quick. Something was wrong, wasn't it? In the back of his mind, a memory from his military schooling played before him. It was of a lecture on demonic energy.
"One fascinating property of demonic energy is it's ability to affect people differently purely depending on their gender. For females, it snuffs out their spirit energy production to prepare for their transformation into a monster, but for men… For men, it encourages spirit energy production, raising it to levels far beyond a normal human's as it corrupts them."
The voice of the remembered lecturer caused Garret to shiver. Don't think about that, Garret, just focus on getting everybody out.
"Hey. Hey! Are you ok?" with a flash of fire, he cut the woman down. When she was on the floor, though, she only answered his questions with moans and gaps as she fingered herself. With each breath, her breasts grew, and her hips and legs swelled. … They were too late.
Her legs throbbed, then split into two sets of front spider legs. Her ass and hips swelled and slowly shed their skin as a large, round spinneret grew, as well as two pairs of back legs. Like most monsters, her breasts also grew to an envious size, and her figure reshaped itself to become slimmer, shapelier, more attractive. Then she slumped forward against Garret as the transformation took its toll. Before she could do anything, though, Garret took advantage of his accelerated recovery and hit her with a blast of fire.
Events like these were common as Garret's group crept through the halls. Progress was slow, since they were forced to hide in shadows or behind rocks when an arachnae wandered by, and when they did have to kill something, they had to spend precious time dragging the heavy corpses out of sight. Disappointingly, many of the rooms they checked contained either tortured incubi or freshly transformed arachnae, but they did manage to find some additional survivors. As they wandered through the tunnels, their group of (extremely docile) men and women slowly grew. By the Gods above, though, this complex was massive… Though they had been walking in a vaguely upward trajectory for at least an hour, there was still no sign of the surface.
Eventually they found a room full of items looted from the captured soldiers, mercifully unguarded. Leather and metal armour lay in one pile, haphazardly tossed there – for why would the Arachnae care about armour that wouldn't fit them? Another pile held a collection of swords and shields, likewise neglected. Though his group of survivors were too meek and submissive for the weapons to be of use, Garret took one of the better-looking swords from the pile. Whoever it belonged to probably wouldn't mind… Unfortunately, there were no piles of clothes around, much to Garret's disappointment. They had probably just ripped him out of his robes and cast them aside. Armour on his arms and chest would interfere with his spell casting, but unwilling to go completely naked, he found a pair of leather-armoured leggings and boots that fit somewhat well. He belted his sword over them once he had pulled them on. When he finished rummaging through the leather pile, a slight glow in the corner of the room caught his eye. Stashed away, hidden behind the piles were a small handful of magical gems – spell focuses from the captured wizards. He passed over most of them, as a sorcerer had no need for a focus, but a particular, familiar one thrummed with energy and he quickly snatched it up.
"Catherine…"
Relief flooded through Garret as he grabbed the energy crystal, both from the knowledge that it would increase his abilities, as well as from knowing that the one memento he had of his late friend was not forever lost. He whispered a quick prayer, thanking her again, wherever she was.
"Don't worry, Catherine… I'll get these people out. They aren't going to end up like you."
At least he hoped he would… the venom and demonic energy was still affecting him, and he was beginning to notice a slight fog rolling over his thoughts…
Five minutes later, they were back on the move. The arachnae passing by became more and more frequent, and from the whispers he could make out, some of them had discovered their 'husbands' had gone missing. Speaking in hushed tones, though, most were too afraid to sound the alarm. Worried about the punishment they might receive if their mistress learnt they had let a human escape, they searched alone – something that, thankfully, made evading them much easier. Staying hidden, though, didn't get them any closer to finding a way out. They had to keep moving.
After what seemed like ages, Garret finally spotted a bit of light glowing from around a corner. In case of a trap, he had the soldiers stay put while he scouted it out and began to creep towards it. Peering around the corner, though, he nearly collapsed to the ground with relief. Sunlight, mountains and valleys all lay before him as he stared out of one of the cave entrances they were ambushed from. From the orange tint of the light, it looked like the sun had just begun to rise. Was it a new day and he had been underground all night? It didn't matter. All that mattered was that he was almost out… but between him and freedom lay three arachnae hiding behind rocks or in a crevice on the ceiling, no doubt waiting for The Order to try a rescue attempt. While they were well hidden from the outside, Garret could see them clearly from behind, so he got to work. He drained every last bit of energy in Catherine's crystal to summon an array of flaming spears, then sent them flying. Two of the arachnae were slain instantly, but the third barely survived. He quickly finished her with a blast of fire before she got a chance to scream, then leaned against the wall for support as his vision flickered. Even with the crystal, that was… that was too much… but the way was clear. He took one shaky step forward after the other until he reached the entrance and spotted the glittering lines of armoured Order soldiers across the valley. Safety… He took a put his hands on his knees as he caught his breath, then shouted and waved for the other soldiers to follow him.
"Come on!" They were safe! Finally… Garret let out a breath he didn't realize he had been holding and did a quick head-count. Twelve soldiers… twelve people who would live another day. Twelve humans who wouldn't be corrupted by monsters… but there were still more, right? He pushed back against the encroaching, mental fog and tried to remember. Forty? Sixty? Eighty? Over a hundred? He couldn't recall the exact number of soldiers in the vanguard, but he knew it was a lot more than twelve…
"You're done, just get home. You're weak, you can't do anything else."
"GET BACK IN THERE AND DO YOUR JOB! YOU'RE NOT DONE YET!"
"Come on, Garret! No one gets left behind!"
The Arachnae's voice provided a welcome boost to his willpower, and he agreed with what it had to say. Maybe he'd get captured again, but he had to try and pull at least a few more out. Twelve people wasn't nearly enough.
Garret looked over the people he had rescued, who were aimlessly wandering around. One stuck out as being at least partially lucid, so Garret grabbed her and pointed her towards The Order's lines.
"Hey! I'm going back in for more, I need you to-HEY!" The woman got distracted and looked at something else, so he ignited a hand and pressed it against her side. The sudden burning pain caused the woman to yelp but brought her focus back.
"I need you to get everyone back to The Order. Can you do that?"
"U-uh-"
"CAN YOU DO THAT!?"
"Y-Yes, Sir!"
Drugged as she was in her submissive haze, the only way Garret found he could get through to her was to again, act like an arachnae. There was something that felt extremely disconcerting about it, like if he did it too often, he would lose who he actually was, but he didn't have any other choice. Raising his voice again, he shouted to the rest of the group.
"FOLLOW THIS WOMAN, YOU MAGGOTS, SHE'LL LEAD YOU BACK TO THE ORDER. IF YOU DON'T MAKE IT, I'LL KILL YOU MYSELF!"
What was that last part? He didn't want to say that… Shit, was the arachne's voice taking over? He shivered and shook his head, trying to reorganize his thoughts. He'd been sloppy, hadn't he? He'd upset the balance… At least his shout had worked. The doped soldiers, though uncoordinated and sluggish, began to run with their new 'leader' towards the army, leaving Garret free to head back into the mountain.
"Once more into the breach, Garret, lives are at stake."
He tried to shove aside the anxiety rising within him as he stared into the maw of the earth, then stepped forward. He needed to hurry. He didn't know how much longer he had, and his arm was starting to turn purple…
When he progressed a little, Garret spotted a hither-to unnoticed split in the path. He doubted he'd find many more people by heading back the way he came, but there was another major tunnel off to the left and, further down it, he saw it split yet again into two or three more. With no better ideas, he headed down it, then picked the right-most fork. If he survived long enough, he'd sweep across each path from right to left, rescuing as many humans as he could. That was a pretty big 'if', though.
The tunnel complex was getting busier and busier as he moved, and Garret was forced to spend more and more time hiding. Were there simply more arachnae down this way? Or was the nest finally being alerted to their escape? It didn't matter… all that mattered was moving as quickly and as quietly as he could, hiding as he needed in any nook or cranny he could find.
After several minutes of walking, and a half-dozen empty rooms, Garret found signs of another survivor in the form of shouting and cussing coming from around a corner. When he looked into the room, he saw a very, very cross looking man, being assaulted on the web by three other arachnae, all of varying colours and builds. Part of his head wondered why there was such a variety of different arachnae here. Maybe a person's background governed the type of spider they turned into? The other parts of his brain quickly shoved that thought away. It didn't matter, what did matter was getting that man out of there.
Garret stepped forward into the room, then threw a roaring blast of fire at the lowest spider. Her scream, as she burned and fell off the web alerted the other two, who froze in fear for a moment at the sight of the fire. Soon, though, they realized they were backed into a corner and lunged at the person standing in their way. Garret dove to the side as the pair jumped off the web at him and flashed his fire once he righted himself. The arachnae cried out in pain as parts of their spider-halfs were melted, before charging forward with renewed vigor. Garret was about to ready another conflagration and finish them for good, when a spike of stone erupted from the ground in front of him and impaled the closest arachne. Then, with a whistling sound, a large shard of rock flew through the air towards the second. The spider heard it coming and barely managed to dodge it, but that gave Garret enough of an opening to quickly finish the job. He recognized that magic! That meant…
"Nathan! Are you alright!"
With the arachnae dealt with, he hustled over to the prisoner in the net and began to cut his earth sorcerer comrade down.
"A-Ah! I-I'm… I'm fine!"
Nathan spoke in ragged breaths, and, once he was free, Garret could see exactly why. He was covered in bruises and bitemarks, and the tell-tale purple veins spreading from the holes indicated he'd taken a lot of venom. Garret snapped his fingers and produced a small flame to let him better see, then shivered when he saw the extent of the man's corruption. Frankly, it was a miracle that he could even cast at all in this state.
"Shit… We've got to get you out of here, Nate. Don't worry, the surface isn't far."
"NO!"
The man staggered to his feet, clenched a fist and struck his chest a couple times, before shaking his head.
"No… No. Hah… Garret, there's more down there. We've got to rescue them."
"Nathan, you're in no shape to fight, much less walk. Let's get you out of here. I'll come back for the others, I promise."
"No! No, we rescue them now! Garret, you're gonna need help. There's monsters all over the place. I'll be fine. This is something I have to do."
"Let him do what he wants, its not your place to command him."
"He'll be in your way and he's almost corrupted as it is. Kill him or send him away, it's the only option!"
"Nathan isn't going to last much longer, you've got to get him out of here…"
The human voice was the most reasonable of the three, but the submissive one had been neglected enough it was in danger of fading away… if it disappeared, the arachnae voice might take over, and then he wouldn't be rescuing anyone… He had to protect himself. He had to stay sane. It wasn't that he was afraid,… right? Sorry, Nathan…
Garret cursed himself for being so selfish, then followed the submissive voice, shoring it up and stabilizing his thoughts at least for the moment.
"… Alright… Let's go."
"Stay where you are, get on the ground! Quick, someone go get the priests."
The Order's frontline was abuzz with excitement as a trickle of captured soldiers made their way to them. Archers kept them from getting too close, until priests could check them over an purify them. Once they were announced to be ok, though, a cheer went up from the troops. Friends who were thought to be dead (or worse) were reunited, sometimes tearfully, then rushed to the rear to have the wounds they sustained examined.
"What's going on here?"
Attracted by the noise, Lukas and Brynhild came to check on the commotion personally.
"Someone rescued a bunch of soldiers!"
He furrowed his brow at that response. He hadn't ordered a rescue operation… Lukas quickly strode after the soldiers being taken to the make-shift medical grounds. Most were still a bit out of it, but he looked around until he found one that could talk and headed over to the bruised and battered woman. When she saw him coming, she struggled to push herself into a sitting position from the bedroll she had been laid on and gave a slow, sloppy salute.
"G-Good Day, Sir."
He nodded and returned the salute, before taking a knee beside her.
"At ease, at ease. Save your strength… What happened down there, soldier? How'd you make it back?"
The woman sighed and fell back onto her pillow with enough force that Lukas almost reached to catch her, the fatigue from her ordeal plainly displayed.
"A mage… A mage got free and broke us out. They bit all of us, and we could barely think, but he… he managed to hold on somehow and get us back. I think he's still in there."
Lucas nodded and thanked the woman for her time, then left. As he walked back to the rest of his officers, his mind wandered to the other soldier who had lost her partner. Annika Nyman, wasn't it? Maybe this was the miracle she was praying for.
"You know anything about this, Brynhild?"
"No…"
So, it wasn't the work of the Chief Goddess doing this… or at least not at a level that a lowly Valkyrie would know of. Either way, though, once bitten, twice shy. He wasn't going to risk any more soldiers, so all they could do was wait.
"Let's see what that magician can do."
"Die. Die. DIE!" Nathan shouted as he shot rock after rock at an arachnae they found toying with her 'husband'. His first two spells went wild, but the third was a solid hit and knocked her off balance, allowing Garret to quickly finish her off. Nathan didn't stop, though, and shot another rock into her corpse. "Die." A second quickly followed. "Die." Garret had to catch his arm before he threw what probably would have been a third one.
"Nathan, stop! She's already dead!"
The sudden physical resistance caused him to start, then shake his head, confused for a moment, looking between Garret and the monster.
"R-Right. Dead. We killed her. She's dead."
While Garret busied himself with burning back the web and cutting down the imprisoned soldier (who thankfully hadn't been fully corrupted yet), he walked over to the body and kicked it.
"Dead! You're dead! Fuck you!"
He spat, then started laughing. The soldier Garret was helping was too out of it to find this odd, but Garret raised an eyebrow. If he couldn't control himself, maybe it would be safer to leave him behind, despite the massive benefit his spells brought…
"… Are you alright, Nathan?"
"Hah… More than alright, Garret! I feel… I feel wonderful! Powerful!" He raised a fist and a giant spike of rock shot upwards from the ground.
Gods, where was all his energy coming from? He should have passed out several times over by now… Something in the back of Garret's mind told him he already knew the answer, but what was it? Had he figured it out earlier? Yes, he had to have, but for some reason he couldn't focus on it. There was just this vague, nebulous feeling that he should already know. A shiver ran down his spine as he thought what that implied. Fuck… His transformation was progressing again, wasn't it? Maybe he wasn't going to get out of this after all…
"Ok, Let's go! Come on, Nathan."
They needed to pick up the pace, he didn't know how much longer he had. Nathan's extra spells should be fine, so long as he kept him away from Ilona. … Wait…
With two magicians, the few fights they did have went rather smoothly, but the enemy within was turning out to be a bigger problem than the monsters. Nathan began to have more and more trouble aiming his spells. He sent them flying wildly, shards of rock firing in every direction, and might have been completely ineffective if not for the sheer volume he was slinging. His constant barrage of stone guaranteed that at least *some* would hit.
Garret himself found the voices in his head getting quieter, but his memory getting worse, and stray thoughts of Ilona intruding when he needed to concentrate. He burned himself again to try to give him something to focus on, but even that was starting to feel muted. Regardless, he shoved his thoughts of impending doom aside. They had found another handful of captured soldiers and, when it started to become too difficult to hide everyone, they headed back to the surface and sent them on their way. This was where things started to go wrong.
Nathan remained in the cave to watch their back while Garret yelled his commands to the soldiers, but as he returned for their third trip, he heard a sound like tearing flesh, followed by Nathan crying out in pain.
"Nathan! Are you alright!?"
He ignited a hand to give him more light, then, when he didn't see any monsters around, rushed over to his comrade, who was gasping and holding his arm. A close inspection quickly revealed what was wrong – A spike of stone had nearly torn his hand straight off, impaling it through the palm.
"Shit…"
That had to have been self-inflicted. Nathan must have felt himself slipping and tried to focus his thoughts with pain, much like Garret had a habit of doing. That wound, though… Earth mages couldn't just do superficial damage like his fire could…
"Nathan, we need to get you out of here. Come on, The Order is just over there."
"NO!" He screamed and pushed Garret away.
"No! No. No. No. I can't. Garret, look at me. I'm dead. I'm dead. I can't…"
He stopped and hit the side of his head with his good hand and shivered. Then he looked at Garret and lunged at him, grabbing him by the shoulder.
"Look at me! Look at me, look at me, look at me. I'm dead. I'm gone. I'm not going to-I can't-I… I-I can't think."
Sure enough, when Garret did examine him under better lighting conditions, he could see exactly the problem. Nathan's skin had gained the usual purple-tint of an incubus, and he could see muscles twitching as they were slowly rebuilt and reshaped to be more attractive, stronger and faster. By all rights, he should have been transformed already, but Nathan had somehow managed to hold on… albeit only by a hair.
"Garret! Garret, please! I-I don't have anything! This is all I've got. I-Just… Please. Please let me stay. It won't be long, I… let me fight. Just let me fight. Until the end. Please!"
With how desperate and fearful Nathan looked, Garret couldn't bring himself to say no. Thankfully, the voices in his head were so quiet they could barely put up any resistance. The 'human' voice commanded that he let him finish his duty to The Order and die a soldier's death, though, and something told Garret he should listen to it. He just needed to keep Nathan away from Ilona, but otherwise it'd be fine.
… Something in the back of his head told him that thought was wrong, but he couldn't put his finger on why.
Once Garret had cauterized the wound to stop the bleeding, the two sprinted through the tunnels as fast as they could. They didn't bother hiding, not that it mattered. By phenomenally good luck they had managed to avoid alerting the entire nest so far, but apparently, while they were on the surface, someone had discovered the bodies and raised the alarm. Shouts and bells sounded from the caves around them as they ran, urging them to hurry. Occasionally a cluster of arachnae would emerge from a tunnel and confront them, spraying thread or thrusting at them with crudely carved stone spears, but it was never enough to stop them. Large groups caused them to turn and run, but Garret managed to keep the thread off them with his fire, and Nathan could shred pairs of arachnae with his stones when direct force was needed. Throughout their panicked descent, Garret kept looking at their faces. Was Ilona one of the arachnae sent to stop them? Maybe she was around the corner. In that room? Down that hall? He started seeing her face everywhere, giving him pause. He had to make sure he didn't kill the real one!
… Wait…
Through winding tunnels, down into the depths of the mountain, they ran, arachnae chasing them all the way. His sorcerer friend tripped, but Garret caught him, hauled him to his feet, and they kept moving. They passed several rooms but didn't have time to look inside. How were they supposed to get anyone out like this, much less escape with another arachne?
The two rounded a corner, passed through a couple forks in the tunnels, and nearly crashed into another mamono who was coming the other way. She was just as surprised as they were, but Garret managed to recover first and throw a flaming spear into her. Then he grabbed his friend and shoved him into a side room before diving after him and hiding behind the sizable corpse of another spider. Apparently, he'd cleared this room earlier…
Out in the hall, shouts got closer, then paused, then began to disappear as the pursuing arachnae split up to search each path of the… rather complex tunnel junctions they had just passed through. Garret waited (nearly having to hold the sorcerer down to prevent him from attacking) quietly and held his breath. Gradually, the voices sounded from further and further away. Once the spiders had passed, he let out a sigh of relief, then hauled his comrade to his feet. They were safe for now, but there was no time to relax…
The first room being clear was a hint that Garret had already been through this area, but every subsequent one they checked confirmed this. Each chamber contained only dead arachnae or transformed incubi. Ok, so he'd been through here before… But where was here? Garret reached into the back of his mind, trying to orient himself. Humans were fine and all, but he needed to get back to Ilona! Wait, where was that man running off to?!
The Order's soldier had gotten away from him and was running off to cause God knows what kind of damage. "Wait!" He shouted and sprinted after him. Where was he going?! The soldier skidded to a stop at the edge of another tunnel entrance, panting, allowing Garret to catch up. When he approached, what he heard was the mutterings of a madman.
"I'mdeadI'mdeadI'mdeadI'mdeadKillThemKillThemKillThemKillThem…"
When Garret got closer, he saw what the human was staring at. The central cave of the complex, full of arachnae lay before them. The man turned to him and, before he could react, threw his arms around him in a crushing hug.
"ThankyouThankyouThankyou… Run!"
Then he shoved him away, into another tunnel.
"SarahSarahSarahSarahSarahSarah… I'M COMING, SARAH!"
With a final cry, the human leapt from the tunnel mouth into the cavern and began working his magic. Though Garret couldn't see what was going on from where he'd been shoved to, he heard the cries of arachnae and the shattering of rocks. Should he help? That man would kill many mamono… maybe he should go back and help them capture him – see if he could save any. With the shake of his head, he pushed that aside. Doing that would put him at risk… He couldn't die yet, he needed to get back to Ilona, that was all that mattered.
The poor girl didn't look like she'd moved an inch when he finally made his way back to her. She lay there, slumped in a corner and holding herself, with one of those crude stone spears at her feet. Someone must have come by and given that to her, but she hadn't moved to join the search parties. When he approached her, her eyes lit up with a combination of confusion, joy, and… something else. Was that concern? It didn't matter! He was here for her now.
"Garret, you…"
"I came back, Ilona. I told you we'd leave this place together."
She opened her arms and Garret dropped to his knees to pull her into a hug. She trembled against him, tears of joy dripping onto his back as she pressed him against her.
"I thought you were… Garret..."
"Shh…"
She didn't let go, so he rubbed her back with a hand and tried to comfort her.
"It's alright, Ilona… Everything's alright now. Let's get out of here and go somewhere far away."
"Garret, I… Thank you. I love you."
"I love you too, Ilona."
With that, he pulled away, then leaned in for a kiss – a kiss she passionately returned. As they locked lips, she reached down to unbuckle his pants, letting them fall away, and he raised a hand to cup her breast. They would eventually leave to start their new life, but that could wait. Having just reunited, there was something much more important on both of their minds.
The way back to the surface was much, much calmer than the way in. Ilona refused to let him walk, offering to allow Garret to ride on her back, almost as if she was a centaur. This arrangement warded off most suspicion from the search parties (why would the intruding or escaping human be riding an arachne?), but the spider legs made the logistics of it a bit difficult. He ended up having to sit far forward, pressed against her back, legs and arms wrapped around her human-half from behind. Maybe that had been the plan, keeping him close to her. Unfortunately, while it eliminated suspicion, this arrangement got them many, many strange looks and sometimes downright hostility from other arachnae.
"Hey you! Yes, you! What are you doing with that human? He doesn't look broken, he should be in a web!"
An unarmed Arachne confronted them in the hall.
"I-I… I'm moving him. To a new room."
Like a shark smelling blood, the other monster sensed her hesitation and moved in closer, a devilish grin on her face.
"Is that so… Then why isn't he tied up? What are you playing at, human-born? Maybe I should take him off your hands instead… you don't seem to know what you're doing~"
Hearing those words, Ilona stiffened, then swung her spear, causing the other to hop back from the sweep.
"NO!"
With possibly the first outburst of willfulness Garret had seen, Ilona followed up with a thrust that the other spider barely managed to avoid – a slight cut dripping blood on her side showed how close she had been to being run through.
"I won't let you take him!"
Seeing that she was serious and, more importantly, recognizing that fighting her unarmed wasn't a smart move, the spider scowled and skittered away.
"Tch… The mistress will hear about this, Ilona."
Garret, who had remained still and silent throughout this, couldn't help but smirk a bit. Both he and Ilona knew their 'mistress' wouldn't be hearing anything at all.
The snickers and taunts from passing arachnae aside, after that little confrontation, they managed to make their way to the surface exit without incident. Getting out, though, was not nearly as easy as Garret had hoped it would be. Eight arachnae, all armed with spears, stood guard at the entrance, half watching The Order's lines from their hiding places, half looking inward for more escapees. Despite Ilona being one of their number, the lead Arachne saw what they were doing immediately.
"Trying to escape in the confusion, Ilona? Stealing men is a capital crime, you know…"
Ilona gulped and gripped her spear tighter as the four monsters advanced, weapons raised.
"Why don't you head back to your room and we'll forget this ever happened… if you leave the human behind. Standing guard is boring, we need something to play with."
There was no way Ilona would be fighting eight other mamono on her own… much less so with such a gap in experience. From the way they acted, these spiders looked like they had seen combat before.
"N-No, I-"
She tried to object, but Garret murmured a quiet "Shhh…" in her ear and slowly slid off of her back.
"Garret…"
"Its ok, Ilona… I'll be… fine."
He took one shaky step forward, then another, slowly walking towards the guards. Magic… Magic… he tried to focus on it, but thoughts kept drifting. Breasts, women, sex,… thoughts of it all clouded his mind as he took another step towards the Arachnae guarding the entrance. They were so beautiful… So, so beautiful…
"Thank you... But I don't think we need a traitor like you in our nest. Charlotte, grab the human. Sabrina, Alice, take care of her."
"Wait, no!"
The sudden, fearful shriek shot a bolt of clarity into Garret. Ilona! Magic! Fire! His thoughts froze, then focused on an objective with lightning speed. Ilona! He had to protect Ilona! His hands crackled with power, then ignited in a burst of blue-purple flames. The lead Arachne instinctually flinched and stepped back, before swinging her spear towards him.
"He's the fire ma-!"
She didn't get the time to finish her sentence. Garret threw both hands forward to shoot a column of fire, easily a meter in diameter. Such a blast nearly incinerated the first arachne and caused the rest to scatter, but Garret wasn't done yet. He lept into the middle of their group, an explosion of fire propelling him forward, then twisted to the side as an array of spears were thrust at him. One scraped his cheek, narrowly missing his head, and another caused a serious gash across his side. It didn't matter, though! That would heal on its own, but this wouldn't! He repaid their assaults by reaching his hands out in front and behind him, shooting two more blasts of fire then dropping to the ground as more spears cut through the air above him. He was strong. He was fast! He felt wonderful! Oh Gods, he felt so, so good!"
On the ground, he rolled to the side, trying to dodge another thrust, but the monster was too fast and stuck his thigh with her spear. Garret cried out in pain, then sprayed fire across his foes, getting them to back off, taking the spear with them. It didn't seem to have hit anything vital, and he limped to his feet as fast as he was able. It would heal, nothing to worry about! Then he braced himself and brought forth more flames.
"Garret!"
From behind him, Ilona cried out in concern, but her instinctual fear of fire was too strong to allow her to rush to his aid. All the better, Garret thought. He was dancing in his ring of fire, shooting scorching spears, fireballs, and gouts of flame every which way. There was no fatigue coming from this at all! Such power! The overwhelming sensation of strength and superiority flooding through his mind caused Garret to involuntarily laugh. A spear hit his shoulder, but he killed its owner with an eruption of fire from underneath. Another shot towards his heart, but he twisted to the side and threw a bolt of fire into hers. Then he stepped to the side to avoid what he thought would be another attack and blasted an inanimate corpse. He spun away from empty air and set another body alight with a wave of flame. A third corpse met its end with another fireball. A voice shouting over the flames stopped him short of detonating a fourth body. He froze and finally began to comprehend the scene around him. Eight bodies in various states of disintegration lay scattered around the cave, their stone weapons having partially melted from the incredible heat of the flames that had slain them. Dead. They were dead. He was safe. Ilona was safe.
"Garret! Garret, stop! Its over!"
From down the hall, Ilona tried to calm him, but though he stopped his magic, a fire burned inside him that would not be extinguished by words alone.
"Ilona! IlonaIlonaIlonaIlona!"
He felt strong! Powerful! This was how a man should feel all the time! Was he wounded? It didn't matter! How could it matter when he felt so good! His cuts would heal on their own, his amazing body could take care of itself. He had to show her! He had to show his love how wonderful he felt! He had to make her feel the same!
With the fire having stopped, Ilona slowly crept forward.
"Garret, are you o-MMPH!"
Without waiting for her to finish, he lept into her arms, pressed his body against hers and forced her into a kiss. Ilona resisted for a moment, more out of surprise than anything else, then quickly accepted it, returning it ferociously. More arachnae might have been attracted by the sounds of that fight, but Garret didn't care. All that mattered was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen – his woman – who held him. Ilona's hands were occupied holding Garret's head against hers, so he reached one down to spread her lower lips, before thrusting forward with his almost-painfully-erect cock. His fight, his victory, had excited him to the core, and he needed to blow off steam. Thankfully, Ilona was more than happy to help him with this. As they ground against each other, Garret lost track of his surroundings, focused entirely on her wetness, her warmth, her breasts and her beautiful face. Other arachnae might have come and gone, but Garret got the vague recollection that he'd warded them off with a few absent-minded blasts of fire. Eventually the two reached their climaxes and came together with powerful orgasms that left both of them panting as they cuddled in the afterglow. Once they had collected themselves, they kissed one last time, then stepped into the morning sunlight.
Throb
The sight of The Order's lines across the valley caused something to stir within Garret's mind. He felt drawn to them, like there was something… no, someone there beaconing him. Ilona noticed him stop moving and paused, a concerned look on her face.
"Garret, is something wrong?"
"I just…"
He shook his head, then took another look. His vision seemed to unconsciously focus on a specific part of the line and, though he couldn't see that far, somehow the image of a red-haired swordswoman flickered into his mind. Who was she? Why was she drawing him to her?
"I need to go… Something's bothering me…"
He started to walk towards the battle line, but Ilona grabbed him by the wrist and stopped him.
"I'm sure it's nothing, Garret. Come on, you said we'd leave together, right? Let's go. Forget about them."
"Yeah, I…"
He turned to leave with her, but he couldn't bring himself to take a step. Why was that? Why was he feeling drawn to that woman more so than to the love of his life whom he had just rescued from the clutches of a sadistic mamono society? They'd been through a lot together, and she was so beautiful… Why was he feeling some sort of dissatisfaction with her? Well, no, dissatisfaction was the wrong word, he did love her, and nothing would ever change that, but… This felt even more important, somehow. Like he would never be able to rest without finding out what this draw was.
"Sorry, A-Ilona… I need to do this. Wait for me here, ok?"
He tried to pull away, but her grip remained firm.
"No! No, Garret, I won't let you! That's The Order! You'll be killed!"
"I'll be fine, Ilona, I jus-"
"You said you loved me, you said we'd escape together!"
"I do love you Ilona! And we will escape together! Please, just trust me! I'll come right back!"
Ilona let go of his hand and, taking this as permission, Garret turned back towards The Order's lines and took a step forward. Then he heard Ilona begin to cry. Her sobs tore at his heart, but he needed to know. He'd be right back, and then she'd see that everything was fine. He took another step forward. Then he heard her whisper something.
"Don't leave me…"
Suddenly a blast of thread wrapped around his waist and pulled him backwards. Ilona caught him, and he found himself trapped in a crushing embrace.
"NO! No! NoNoNoNo! You can't leave me! I won't let you leave me! I love you, Garret! I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you! I'll do anything for you, so please do this for me!"
Surprised, he struggled in her grip, his hand ending up against her head, but she showed no signs of letting go.
"Ilona, stop! I told you I love you, but I need to see something! I'll come back! I'll be fine! You'll see!"
When she looked up at him, Garret froze. Her eyes. Despite the struggle, both physically and emotionally, they looked completely empty. Unfocused. She stopped moving, though she didn't let him go, and whispered her next words.
"You left me once… I won't let you leave me again."
Then she shot her head forward, biting hard onto his neck. Garret flinched and tried to push her away, but he couldn't stop her from injecting a massive dose of venom.
"YOU CAN'T LEAVE ME! NEVER LEAVE ME, GARRET!"
She thrust her head forward again and, when he blocked her from biting his neck, bit his shoulder, injecting even more venom.
"ILOVEYOUILOVEYOUILOVEYOUILOVEYOUILOVEYOU!"
The shouting, the web, the pain of the bites, the unnerving, yet pleasant feeling of the venom working through him,… the sensations all seemed strangely familiar, and Garret suddenly started to remember things. There was a fight! He had been captured! Visions of the arachnae ambush flooded through his head. What happened then? He woke up in a pile and had venom injected into him!
Ilona kept screaming and tried to bite him again, but he managed to fend this one off.
But why was he here in the first place? He was… He was a soldier of The Order! And that meant the red-haired girl was… … Who was she?! As the venom rushed through him, he found his sudden burst of clarity rapidly fading again. Fight it! Think! She had to be close to him, there had to be some connection there! The mind-fog rolled in even thicker, but before it smothered his thoughts completely, a single name appeared before him. Annika. Suddenly he knew what had to be done. With the last of his will, he called forth an explosion and pressed his hands against Ilona. Then he lost himself completely as the venom did its work, and the world faded under a fog of lust and desire.
Where was he? Garret found himself standing in what he thought was a long line of people, but he couldn't quite tell. A pitch-black void surrounded him, with the darkness occasionally pierced by spots of blinding light that hurt to look at. He rubbed his eyes and the world started to come more and more into focus. The bright spots softened and expanded, illuminating the area for him. The widening wave of light washed over the line, the stairs carved from gold, and the clouds beneath them, before reaching up to a brilliant blue sky.
… What was this place?
A loud bang pierced the gusts of wind billowing around him, and the line took a step forward. Soldiers, civilians, merchants in colourful garb all stood in the line, though not one of them looked over thirty. Garret looked down at himself and found that while he was still wearing his typical rust-coloured robes, they were perfectly clean, and that the few scars he had accumulated were absent from his skin.
Bang.
He turned to ask the man behind him where they were, but he was just as confused as Garret was. The same was true with the woman ahead of him.
Bang.
At least this place was peaceful. Despite the height, Garret felt no fear, and the gusting winds were more comforting than cold. The beautiful, endless view of white, fluffy clouds below them and a clear blue sky above also put his heart at ease. Nothing bad could possibly happen here, he thought as he obeyed the line and took another step forward.
Bang… Bang… Bang…
Slowly but surely the line moved forward. As time went on, Garret eventually spotted the destination the stairs were leading to – a lone cloud suspended high above the cloudbanks below them. The staircase lead up into it, disappearing from view when it entered. Something told Garret there was no way that cloud could hold everyone from the line, but since people were ascending to it, one at a time, they had to be going somewhere.
When it was Garret's turn to enter the cloud, the start of it was wispy and transparent. Its moisture was cool and comforting on his skin and, when he turned to look back, only slightly obscured his view. A few more steps, though, and the visibility rapidly decreased. After the fifth or so step, he could only see a foot ahead of him, and likewise, his vision behind had been clouded. Five more steps, though, and he saw something glowing ahead, beckoning him onwards. He dutifully followed the tempo of the banging, taking a step forward each time, despite the fog getting so thick he couldn't see the person in front of him. Just how was that light filtering through this? His question was answered after another step.
With a final bang, Garret took a step forward and found himself standing in a circle of light, before what looked to be an open-air courtroom. The heavenly light that shone down on him also beamed backwards into the fog, guiding those who were yet to come. It must be some way supernatural… In front of him, lay what he assumed to be the judge's bench, though it was far different from anything he'd have seen in Naton or Northreach. For one, it was, like the stairs, made of intricately carved solid gold, and additionally, was built much higher, such that it towered over him. It had also been expanded to seat seven judges, rather than a single one. Said judges were likewise otherworldly. Beautiful women with long, golden hair and blue eyes sat at the benches. Their seating seemed to be organized by age, with the older, more motherly looking ones sitting towards the edge, and a very young, teenage looking girl sitting in the center. It was this one that smiled a beautiful smile down at him and announced her greetings.
"Welcome back, Garret! We've been expecting you."
Before he could ask any important questions like who she was or where they were, she disappeared in a flash of light, then reappeared standing just in front of him. She bent over forward, hands clasped behind her back and made a playful show of looking him over.
"Hmm… Hmmm… Mhmm…"
She danced forward with a twirl, orbiting around him as she examined him from the sides and rear, her poofy white dress billowing around her as she did. Occasionally she poked him, causing him to flinch and try to step away.
"Well it seems ya've really done it this time. You're actually all here. The soul is nicely formed, and you can see properly… you might even remember some of this tomorrow."
Garret tried to turn to keep up with her movements, but she kept flitting around him like a too-energetic puppy.
"Wait, st…" He took a deep breath and tried to calm himself and suppress his rising confusion. "Stop. What are you talking about? Who are you? A-A-And where are we?"
The girl halted in front of him and put a hand on her chin, like she had only just realized he could possibly have questions.
"Right, of course, you're probably very confused."
She giggled, then stood up straight, bringing her hands to her chest and beaming proudly.
"I am the Chief God."
Then she opened her arms and did a little twirl.
"This is the heavenly court, and…"
She leaned forward, grinning, and poked Garret directly in the chest.
"And you are dead."
Author's Notes: Was this chapter late because I had horrible writer's block, or because I wrote 10,000 words instead of my usual 6-7,000? It's a mystery for the ages, but regardless, I managed to get an update out. Huzzah!
Alright, with that out of the way, time to get down to business. This chapter had a lot of topics I wanted to hit on, from corruption, to heroics, to character resolutions.
Let's frame this discussion by talking about the characters. Of course, I couldn't just leave Ilona laying around. I tried to set her up as having been repeatedly abandoned and abused, first by her father, then by the arachnae who don't accept her, and finally by Garret, who tried to comfort her, but ran the minute he got the chance. That's not going to do good things to a person's mental state. Because of that, when Garret came back, having been almost entirely corrupted, I thought it would be a fitting thing to make her go into a sort of yandere, ultra-possessive mode. She'd lost everyone, but the one guy who had been kind to her came back and even fought for her freedom. Then, despite him honestly intending to return, he says he's going to leave again, and Ilona… Well, you saw just how well she took that. I think this was the most fitting way I could have ended her story.
Nathan's little sub-plot has been stretched across several chapters and, though it hasn't been resolved yet (there's going to be another mention of it in the next chapter), this part was vital to his story. He was also a way I could demonstrate what corruption looks like for someone without Garret's strange resilience. He was holding on by sheer force of will, with something driving him to keep going, but even so, he was barely sane towards the end there. I wanted to give sort of a 'heroic everyman' kind of vibe here, where you see someone without any special gifts pushing himself and managing to succeed a bit in the face of impossible odds, but still ultimately perishing in the act.
That brings us now to Garret. In particular, I wanted to show a bit of how, I think, corruption from demonic energy would work. It's now that I realize the voices were a bit of a mistake. I think they worked reasonably well in the last chapter, but I just had no idea what to do with them in this one. Fortunately, the fact that they were technically a way for his mind to defend itself gave me a way out. With Garret becoming more and more corrupted, the voices got quieter and quieter as he slowly started losing his own will. Another signal of this corruption was the last few paragraphs with him and Nathan. He gradually stops referring to Nathan by name, first substituting his relationship and profession, then his allegiance, and finally, only referring to him by his race. He also started forgetting about the humans he was originally intending to rescue, eventually declaring that Ilona was the only thing that mattered. Since the transformation is stated to rewrite a person's loyalties, I figured it would rewrite the recollections of their relationships as well. It would be hard to be loyal to the Demon Lord, when your friends, family, etc. were all a part of The Order. It also mentioned turbo-charging a man's spirit energy production, so I like the idea that, for mages, corruption actually made them even more powerful, provided they could hold on to their sense of self. As shown with Nathan, though, that's not an easy thing to do for most people.
There are a few other things I set up in this chapter, but they're going to be explored in more depth in the next update, so I'll discuss them then. It's getting late, and I'm out of time, so I think I'm going to call it here. I hope everyone had wonderful Christmas and a happy New Year.
Once again, thank you everyone for reading, and…
Until next time, Sayonara!