Celebrating easter weekend with family, which as one would expect, is both weird and uncomfortable. Sure, they ain't no more babies, but it's still strange to hear uncles exchanging dad jokes like they're the funniest things on the planet and still not understand them, is it truly something that only a dad could understand? The worst part is that I can't even eat most of the good stuff since I'm diabetic...at least I can play some games with my cousins and whoop their races.
Chapter 14: Hunt through the Shining Forest
The following morning, after a good night's rest, the trio were greeted by more guards, but these must have accompanied the queen as their armour was of much higher quality, more than that, they carried themselves differently from the others. As they could now understand them, it was easy for them to explain that they had been sent to escort them to meet with the queen on her imperial airship, something that they would have written off if not for all the other crazy things that had witnessed in just a few days they had been in this world.
Unlike before, when they had to walk from place to place, they were taken to her via a carriage large enough for at least 2 dozen people, the vehicle pulled by 2 of the large beasts Lelouch had seen the previous day, Ice breakers as they called. Their trip through town was uneventful, as thanks to them being unseen, they didn't have people stopping to watch their travel or anything like that, and the tri largely remained silent as they viewed the buildings and residents. Still, despite the busy streets, it wasn't chaos and traffic was managed effectively, allowing them to get to their destination in around 20 minutes; the destination being what passed for an airport in this world.
Though, Jeremiah noted to himself that that might not be accurate as their modes of air transport were vastly different to their own, so their facilities reflected that. As their flying ships didn't need runways to take off or land, the strip of land set aside for air transport didn't seem to have any runways, rather it was built in a closer fashion to a sea-port, with different piers and docks which ranged in size from those that seemed to service craft the size of a yacht to those that serviced flying ships the size of the Spanish galleons of old. Honestly, there was a part of the cyborg that was ecstatic about seeing this, seeing these ships of steel and wood slowly rise and land, no doubt loaded with hundreds of tons of people and cargo. Still, it wasn't any of those that was their destination, as when they got out of the carriage and walked through it, they found themselves facing the flying ship that Morgalia called her royal transport.
The trio had to take a moment to take it all in, if the other large vessels were akin to Spanish galleons, this was an entirely different beast. Over twice as long as the second largest ship, like with the rest of the architecture they had seen, it was designed with as few sharp corners as possible, seeing as if they allowed the ocean itself to smooth out its edges. Across its smooth outer shell, were carved dozens if not hundreds of images detailing mythical beasts that they expected weren't so mythical, people and events that must have been famous and well known to the people here. If the Avalon was a warship that could host a royal, this was a cruise ship that could enter battle.
Despite its sheer opulence, as they boarded the vessel, they could see that it was built to defend itself as there were strange armaments scattered across its body with some that appeared to be cannons straight from the age of sail, but they seemed…different from what C.C. could recall, and what Jeremiah and Lelouch had seen in history books, more than that, next to those same cannons sat crates which they assumed housed their shoots, but with one open they could tell it wasn't some kind of iron or stone balls, as it seemed to glow blue.
Still, they contained themselves as they were led into the belly of the beast, ignoring the fine finishing and other symbols of her wealth and power as they were led into a small throne room where she sat, waiting for them. Upon their arrival, she stood from her throne, with a smile.
'Welcome, I trust that your short trip was uneventful?' She asked them as the trio bowed, not wishing to offend her or the guards they saw standing watch around the room.
'It was, your majesty.' Lelouch answered, knowing that Jeremiah wouldn't correctly refer to her as to him, she wasn't his queen.
'That is good to hear, then it will mean that the good news comes from both sides.' She smiled as they all looked up, surprised at the speed at which she managed to do it.
'You mean?' She nodded her head, taking her seat once more as they remained standing.
'Yes, during the night, some of our scouts managed to track down a rift, the area has already been cordoned off and as far as we can tell, no more beasts have managed to cross through it.' She explained to them the good news. Looking towards one of her scribes who shuffled forward and handed Lelouch the report for him to read, confirming her words as it also noted that they suffered no casualties and it located quite the distance from the nearest settlement, close to a large river that was used to ferry commercial goods.
'Then it seems that our ordeal is coming to an end.' Jeremiah breathed out a sigh of relief, no doubt worried that his family and Anya were more than concerned about their whereabouts.
'No.' The man stopped, looking at his master whose gaze never left the smiling face of the queen seated before them.
'My lord?' Jeremiah asked him.
'She's not going to just let us leave, not without something on our end,' Lelouch explained. 'And I right?'
'Quite right.' Morgalia didn't deny it as she clapped her hands. 'Before you return, I have a favour to ask of you three. You see, the residents of the Coedwigglair woods, have been sending reports of an Afanc which has been terrorising the local miners and has even killed a few of them that tried to subdue the beast themselves.'
'Afanc?' C.C. asked, unfamiliar with the term. At that, the queen looked at another of her scribes who cast a small spell of a picture of the animal in question, and it was…quite the creature. They could agree that the afanc might be distantly related to a Nile crocodile, but that was it as far as animals they could compare it to. In terms of size, it was to a Nile Croc, what a mountain lion was to a house cat, with the beast being at least 10m in length alone. It wasn't flat like a croc either, rather its large and powerful legs supported it further off the ground, giving it a height tall enough for its thick, leathery back to reach the cyborg's torso. And as if a supersized Nile crocodile with razor-sharp teeth-filled jaws that looked strong enough to crush steel wasn't enough of a threat, its tail seemed to be an anaconda that could shift and move around its main body with ease.
'It's a rather troubling creature, known to stalk the waterways and attack just about anything that crosses into what they see as their territory. We had thought the situation with them was handled decades ago, but it seems that we either missed a few, or this one moved to the area from somewhere else.' The next showed footage of one of those attacks, allowing them to see it burst from the water with frightening speed before attacking the boats at the small pier, some tried to fight it but their spears and weapons didn't do much against its extremely durable hide as its tail whipped about, knocking men quite a ways back where they didn't get back up.
'What do you want us to do, fight it?' C.C. asked her, frowning as this seemed like a fool's errand.
'Yes.'
'How are we to do it? We have no experience with such an animal.' Lelouch asked, keeping his cool as he thought over what he had seen. It was true that the beast seemed formidable, more so than he would have expected from a natural animal-but surely it had a weakness. If nothing else, C.C. still had her submachine gun, even if she was low on rounds. Perhaps, she could focus on blinding it, allowing him and Jeremiah to try and neutralise the tail? Morgalia, noting how he was already thinking of possible methods to handle the issue, kept on smiling.
'You didn't have any experience when you killed those two Gwyllgi.' She reminded them, but C.C. scoffed at that.
'I would argue that those two are quite a ways below this Afanc you wish for us to hunt down and kill.' She replied to the queen, who for her part didn't deny it.
'I won't argue with you on that account; however, I must insist that before we may return to your home, you handle this issue for me.' Her question didn't leave them with a lot of options. They could refuse and attempt to try and find a rift on their own, but in a foreign land filled with plants, animals and other dangers they didn't know, that was a foolish choice; more so if you considered that they had no way of tracking rifts outside asking around when they could.
However, the same could be about this, they were being sent to kill a monster they didn't know existed the previous week, with little training on how to handle it other than whatever they could port over from croc hunting, a notion made all the harder by the fact it had an anaconda for a tail which could easily wrap around any of them and either squeeze them to death or knock them aside with the same force as a kick from a horse. Neither option was anything close to good, but when it comes to it, they had to pick the lesser of the two evils.
'Very well, but for the sake of honesty, why are you asking us to do it when you no doubt have trained professionals?' Lelouch asked Morgalia, who leaned back into her throne, looking more like a craft fox than anything else.
'Part of the reason is convenience, why risk the lives of my people when you three have all but dropped into my lap?' He knew that there was more to her response, something she wasn't telling him but he had to accept that for the moment. 'However, I do recognise that this is a tall task to ask of you, so along with your reward, I can offer something else.'
'Your hand in marriage?' C.C. dryly asked, only for the queen to giggle into her hand.
'Well, that's certainly! But I'm afraid your two companions are far too young for me.' Morgalia replied, dismissing the two men entirely with a handwave, but her gaze remained on C.C. who had seen that kind of look far too many times to not know it when she saw it. 'You on the other hand…yes, a fine wine indeed.' Her words got Lelouch and Jeremiah to look towards the green-haired woman with surprise as in a rare case, C.C. was just as gobsmacked by it as them. At their reactions, Morgalia couldn't help herself as she laughed.
'Oh relax, I jest!' She waved off their concerns that she was going to steal them away for her bed chambers, she wasn't so crass, if she wished for them to join, they'll do so of their own volition. But that wasn't what they should be focusing on. 'No, what I had in mind is something you three should be well acquainted with; land and a title.'
'You'll make us lords in your domain?' Jeremiah asked, surprised that she would do such a thing when he was expecting some sort of monetary compensation.
'Yes, if only your exiled prince. Though do not expect to give anything close to the king.' She asked then in return.
In the end, they went through with their agreement though it wasn't like they were being sent out without help as Morgalia had her men show them to the private armoury where they could both leave anything they didn't feel they needed, and borrow anything else they thought they would. As they had left their bags in their rooms back at the mayor's residence/office, they had decided to pack weapons that they could use. C.C. selected a short sword and buckler shield, choosing speed over power with some chainmail to protect her chest. Jeremiah went with a battle axe, some heavy plate armour which while they were told was enchanted to lessen the weight on the user, didn't seem to bother the man. Lelouch, took a sort of middle ground between them as he selected a suit of armour that was a mix of both, keeping things light while offering increased protection. Arming himself with a crossbow
With that settled, they were given some provisions, a small airship and crew, and sent off, arriving at the location within a few hours with the sun still high in the sky thanks to how fast the vessel was, much faster than the merchant's carriage.
Once there, they saw that the area was once more, vastly different to what they could have expected as while the area was called a forest, it wasn't made up of trees or even large shrubs, but tens of thousands of crystal-like structures jutting out of the earth that resembled trees. When C.C. stepped forward to inspect them, she saw that they contained gemstones of all shapes, sizes and colours. She snorted as she wondered what diamond barrens would do if they knew of this place, would they wish it was destroyed by such an abundance that would devalue their industry, or would they seek to control it to further their profits? It was an interesting question as there seemed to be a stump where one of them once stood, but while it was a clean break, there were signs that it was regrowing as any healthy tree would.
'This entire place…it's a renewable gem mine.' Jeremiah noted as they observed how a new clear crystal just jutted out from the stump, followed by another as the "tree" regenerated what was lost.
'It would explain why they're so concerned with that beast interrupting their efforts here." Lelouch noted as he picked by a small red gem, a ruby and inspected it, and while no gem expert, he had seen enough of them around the fingers and necks of nobles and his wealthy fellow students at Ashford to be able to tell quality to some extent and if he was right about this, this single gem was of remarkable form, and he had found this on the ground, almost as if it wasn't as good as another and if that was the case, well-this woods were worth far more than their weight in gold. Still, as he stood up, he pocketed the gem.
'How do we find our prey?' Jeremiah asked, observing the area and noting that it must have been one of the ones that had been left to regrow as there was little in the way of signs of activity.
'It's a waterborne predator, right?' C.C. asked.
'That's what they told us, though how it ended up here is beyond me.' Jeremiah replied.
'There's a river not too far from here, perhaps it followed a waterway and decided not to leave.' C.C. replied, messing with the strap of her weapon, having not used one like it in quite some time but she knew enough to make it count.
'And that's how we'll find it, it'll most likely go to where there's the most water, which means downhill.' Lelouch stood as he pointed ahead, at how the ground seemed to fall. With their target in sight, they started to move, always ensuring that they were following the ever-falling ground level, which gave raise to small streams flowing water towards wherever their target was, and increasing signs of fey activity. This included signs of trouble from the smashed tools, broken carts, rails ripped out of the ground and everything in between, thankfully while they knew the beast had injured a great many people, there had been no deaths so they didn't need to worry about signs of a body as they moved.
As they moved deeper into the crystal forest, it become harder to track any real moment as the sun's rays reflected off everything, creating blind spots and flashes of light which had them wincing and looking away. It was in this mess of crystals and light that Lelouch started to see things, the first time he thought he saw a head of black wool or a dark fluffy body. He pointed it out to his companion but left out the fact he believed he was seeing the rams from his dreams in the real world. However, either seemed to see what he thought he saw, playing it off as the light getting to him and creating illusions that were tricking him, but he didn't think it so. There was something more to this, something he wasn't understanding as he continued to see their shapes, hear their hooves cracking as they moved, always out of sight, always gone before he could get a good look. In frustration, he reached for a single contact, playing it off as him fixing his hair and when he thought he saw one, he turned his head as quickly as he could.
He didn't see sheep, but an owl, and a large one at that-feathers as blue and deep as a cloudless midday sky reflecting on a calm lake's surface; with glaring, watchful eyes as red as blood. He paused as he looked at the bird, wondering what it was doing here, what its purpose could mean for him. Its gaze trapped him, leaving him motionless save for the steady rise and fall of his chest which quickly started to match that of the bird, their shared crimson eyes looking into the other without pause and while the bird saw an empty, cold abyss in Lelouch's gaze, he saw in the gaze of this mysterious hunter of the night a gaze that spoke of one thing, and one thing only: death, and a deep wisdom that could only come from a being that didn't just accept death, but was made from it, a true servant to the underworld and its master.
As soon as his gaze locked with the owls, its broke and what felt like hours faded to reveal it had only been a few moments, a small enough time window that neither Jeremiah nor C.C. picked up on his pause in step. He blinked and to his surprise, the owl was gone, leaving him wondering if it had ever been there, to begin with but as he turned to continue, replacing his contact lens, his eyes widen when he saw on the ground before him, was a large, blue feather.
Soon those small streams formed into larger ones, and with the forest giving way from uneven surfaces to clear steps, and cuts in the land that led them deeper, they soon found a good spot to check, a large cave where most of the runoff flowed into. 'It's certainly large enough for one of them to come and go as it pleases.' Jeremiah noted as they looked into the space, the light of the sun only illuminated the first few meters and after that, it was darkness.
'And if all this water is any indication, the interior would be perfect for such a beast.' Lelouch replied as he reached for his torch, having opted for the ones they had brought with them rather than whatever they could get here.
'Which just means we need to be all the more careful.' C.C. reminded them, her gaze landing on her warlock, though he didn't seem to react much, turning his gaze away from her. Ignoring how that made her pinched her heart, she chose to focus on how he had a strange feather attached to his bag, one she was sure wasn't there before. Grabbing her torch as well, the trio set off into the cave, quickly finding tracks that seemed to match their prey as they slogged on through ever-increasing depths of water, the entrance depth is no more than a deep puddle and now, only a few minutes in, they were waist deep in it, leaving them all feeling cold as their clothing had been picked for harsh dry winter conditions, not wet, summer ones. Still, despite the discomfort, they pressed on as the signs of the beast become more frequent in the form of tracks and the cracks and craters on the walls which the animal must have created as it moved.
A full hour in, and deep underground, with the water level, only increasing, it was a small mercy that they found a small, dry path they could use as before, they could tolerate the water and its dangers as the beast they were sent to kill was far too large to even attempt to sneak up on them. However, with the water level now at their chest height, they didn't wish to take the chance and quickly made for the path on the side, even if it was narrow and extremely uneven, slowing down their progress. It was only later, after drudging for another 20 or so minutes that they finally started to hear something other than the rushing water echoing over the crystal walls.
With this established, they slowed their approach even more, seeing what appeared to be a waterfall coming up ahead. As they reached it and looked over, they saw that the area opened up into a truly massive cavern, so large that despite the constant flow of water into it, it wasn't too deep. The crystals that made up this part were far clearer than the ones above ground and seemed to illuminate the place as if the walls and ceiling were made from millions of glass shards, creating a rainbow of colours washing over the area. Despite the beauty of the sight before them that most nature photographers would give an arm and a leg to capture on camera, their attention lay focused on their prey.
C.C. decided that the images didn't do it justice, imposing even as the beast slept. Its tail was constantly in motion as if standing guard for the monster in its moment of weakness. With their torches off, they relayed on the naturally occurring amount to observe the creature from behind cover.
Unfortunately for them, the tail caught sight of them and hissed, the sound bouncing off the walls as the eyes of the beast shot open, getting out a growl that sounded like rocks being crushed as it turned to their position and rushed it. not wanting to be caught flat-footed, the trio split as they jumped down and away from the beast. Jeremiah was the exception as the larger man drew his battle axe, swinging it at the beast with a cry of power. The tail zipped forward to meet it, knocking him back as he landed with a splash in the knee-deep water while C.C. rushed it, her sword at the ready as Lelouch took a position further back, loading his crossbow before taking aim and firing.
As he squeezed the trigger, the bolt shot out with far more power and speed than he was expecting; his aim was true, it impacted with the target but its thick hide and scaled body meant that while it penetrated, it clearly didn't go deep enough to even be noticed at the moment as it kept its attention on C.C., who had to dodge out of the way of its charge and block its tail with her buckler shield, but the force behind even was great enough that she felt her arm nearly shatter as she fell back, rolling out of the way from its attempt to jump onto her and crush her. As it turned its head towards her, Jeremiah charged in and swung his aze at it, it's tail too slow to stop it as his blow cut into its hide, drawing blood and leaving it with a meter-long wound; but even then, it didn't seem to slow it down as it merely turned its engaged attention towards him, chasing after him and giving C.C. a moment to catch herself as her limb healed.
Seeing that the tail was such a problem, the group opted to target with as Lelouch aimed exclusively for it, the same as C.C. as Jeremiah drew its attention with his powerful, wide strikes. This proved to be a challenge as thanks to the water, they were both slowed and found themselves expending more energy than normal just to move around, and they had to move around a lot, even Jeremiah who was the largest and strongest of them knew he couldn't afford to let the beast hit him. This become the dance they followed, they would draw its attention, giving Lelouch an opening to fire off a bolt and while some missed, others didn't but it wasn't getting them anywhere fast and soon, he was out of bolts.
Wet to the bone from all the dives and dodges he had to make, Lelouch tosses his crossbow aside, having expended all his shots with the only reward being that the tail and back section of the damn thing looked like a pin cushion. Despite that, it was still going strong if not stronger, forcing him to will his bident into form, its fiery formation catching the beast's attention as it turned from its battle with Jeremiah towards him, towards his spear as it shrieked out, seemingly offended by it before it rushed him, partly running, partly swimming to increase its already explosive speed. Lelouch ran to meet it, ready to try and impale it through the skull but at the last second, he dived out of the way, letting the beast rush past him, surprised as it tried to turn to attack but they were already ready Lelouch stabbed his weapon as deep into its side as he could manage, heaving out the weapon with a growl of effort, the blood of its wound flowing into the water as he roared at him.
It was this moment that Jeremiah used to strike, having closed the distance as it rushed his master and with a mighty yell, he buried his axe into its other side, deeper than his master's spear and drawing even more of his lifeblood as he thrashed about, surprised and pained by the attack as it knocked Lelouch back, the dark-haired man barely managing to keep himself stable while its tail came around to strike at Jeremiah, but C.C. appeared and once more blocked the attack, Jeremiah supporting her to keep them both up.
With this done, the trio regrouped to observe their opponent. 'We're not getting anyway.' Jeremiah wiped some water from his brow.
'Its hide is certainly thick, my strikes don't do much.' C.C. replied, looking at her sword that only had the tiniest hints of blood on it, the result of all her efforts thus far.
'We need to take out the tail, then move to its legs. When it's off-balanced, more windows will open.' Lelouch replied, looking towards the two as Jeremiah nodded his head while C.C. gave him a sideways glance.
'Lelouch, you do recall it can swim, right?' She asked as the beast's glare on them intensified, its body tensing up for another charge.
'I never said it was going to be easy, but,' Lelouch thought back to the feather, and the owl in general. Deciding to forgo any limits, he removed his contacts and tossed them aside, hoping that his geass will be of much help as it was when they fought and killed the Gwyllgis. 'We didn't come here to run away.' At the sight of his crimson eyes, both the anaconda and crocodile heads of the Afanc zoomed in on Lelouch, a sense of surprise in their animalistic gaze before it faded away, replaced with a profound sense of fury as both heads roared to the heavens, the water around it trembling.
Lelouch didn't know what in his gaze seemed to set it off, but he could say that he could see the beast more clearly, from how its muscles tensed, how its blood leaked from the wounds they inflicted, how it took large, deep breaths; he could see it all. What he didn't see, but was picked up by both Jeremiah and C.C. was the fact his geass was once more shining bright, the raven in flight that resided in his eyes flapping its wings in excitement, eager for whatever was to come but while this wasn't the first time his geass had done something like that, his bident seemed to be reacting to this as well, its duel spearpoint twisting in shape, broadening itself, its sharpened edge growing as it seemed to absorb the blood coating its surface.
Soon, it had finished this, it's head no akin to two daggers fixed to its edge, both with intricate patterns and channels for blood to flow through as it struck into the flesh of whoever it struck. She wasn't given much more time to figure this out as the beast charged them, and they rushed to meet it as Jeremiah lead the charge, his axe at the ready as Lelouch and C.C. made up his flanks, sword and spear at the ready as they charged through the water.
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