"Help me. Help me. Help me. Help me."
Dev hugged his knees to his chest and closed his eyes. The... thing was out there. It was going to kill him. There was nothing he could do. This wasn't nature. This was something far, far worse.
He should've known.
He knew, deep down, that he should be reciting mantras to drive it back. That was what you did against Vetalas. That was the only way to drive off the evil spirits that took possession of corpses. He KNEW that. He'd been taught the correct mantras as a child.
"Help me. Help me. Help me. Help me."
But... the proper words just wouldn't come to him.
All the time, he could FEEL her getting closer and closer. It wasn't just the dead skin or rotted eyes. The worst part was the bone-deep coldness that came from the undead woman. The supernatural chill pierced through him in a way that he wouldn't have thought possible. It had been the first warning he'd gotten.
His traps. His alarms. His friends. None of them had worked against the possessed corpse that beckoned him.
He HAD to remember the mantras. He HAD to!
"Help me. Help me. Help me. Help me."
But... the only thing that came to his mind was the image of her face. It had been shrouded by a hood at first. The moons were full, so there was light, but it had only shined on her lips and chin. She'd just appeared old at first. Others might recoil from the elderly, but Dev had been raised better than that.
A Scout is...
A Scout is...
There was a rule about respecting your elders? Wasn't there?
"Help me. Help me. Help me. Help me."
He couldn't think. His mind kept on repeating that same scene over, and over, and over, and over...
The moment he'd glimpsed the truth. When the Vetala's mask had slipped. Dev had already been on edge. How could an old woman be in the Dyed Lands? How could she have entered his camp unnoticed? It might have been that wariness - that level of guard, that had held firm against her dark magics.
A small wriggly thing. That had been the first oddity.
Dev had taken a closer look... only to fall back and scream when he had realized it was a maggot!
Then, the illusion had shattered. Her face was no longer hidden underneath her black cloak. Rotted skin. Leaking eyeballs. The pallor of death...
What was the mantra?
"Help me. Help me. Help me. Help me."
Dev had wanted to explore. He never expected to run into creatures from Hindu mythology. But? Shouldn't he have? This world had Nagas. It had Garuda. What else was there, just waiting to kill the unwary?
There was a flash of red so bright he saw it through his eyelids.
He'd always been scared as a little boy. It wasn't until he'd become a Bharat Scout, until he'd embraced their oath, that he'd...
A Scout is courageous.
Yes. He was a Scout. He had to be courageous. If he couldn't remember the old mantras, he'd use a new one.
"A Scout is courageous."
Dev still huddled in a little ball. He still refused to open his eyes. There was movement around him. Something was destroying his tent.
But, he had his mantra. The mantra he'd taken for himself. The mantra that he'd chosen to live his life by. The mantra that defined him!
"A Scout is trustworthy. A Scout is loyal. A Scout is a friend to all and a brother to every other Scout. A Scout is courteous. A Scout is a friend to animals and loves nature. A Scout is disciplined and helps to protect public property. A Scout is courageous. A Scout is thrifty. A Scout is pure in thought, word and deed."
Dev opened his eyes.
Pinky smiled as Bit stared down at her.
She'd just been talking to Lars? And she'd... leveled up?
She had!
Pinky jumped to her feet, or at least she tried to. Her body felt sluggish and she had something wrapped around her limbs.
She was trapped!
A jolt of fear raced through her. She had to run! She had to get away!
Pinky flailed, but only managed to get herself more and more entangled. Soon, both her legs were bound together. Her right arm was stuck over her head, while her left was behind her back.
"Ow!" It was hard to hear Bit's voice from the thundering of her own heart. "Pinky, that's my hair! Calm down, okay?"
"Bit!" She craned her neck to look up. "You're alive!" Pinky sagged in her bonds, and began to cry as conflicting emotions ran through her. "I'm so happy!" And afraid.
Afraid. Yes, that was what she was feeling. Only... it was different than before. More visceral. More potent. But, it all was fading away as her heart stopped racing. It was like coming down from an [Adrenaline Surge], but not nearly as fun.
"Hang on." Bit winced as she pulled at her own hair. "I'll get... you... out..." She tugged at the strands that still held Pinky, but only succeeded in making them tighter. "...I'll get a scalpel."
The clearing looked a lot brighter than Pinky's last memories. Both moons were full, and they lit things pretty well. The jungle was still a deep, dark mass, but the clearing...?
Pinky craned her neck. Things did NOT look like what she remembered. There were grooves all over the ground. The three tents were shredded. Her own house looked pretty beat up too! The Milk Box was on its side and was leaking several different fluids from deep wounds. She heard Dev saying something about [Scouts] from inside the remains of his tent.
And that was it.
That fact sent a shiver up Pinky's back. If [Fools] could get [Dangersense], she was certain hers would be screaming at her right now. She'd missed it at first, but there was something else missing.
There were lots of somethings missing.
The Jungleclad who'd guided them. The bodies of the Quillcats that had attacked them and been set to the side. The massive form of the Redno. Badgy and the monkeys. All of them were gone.
So were the Mets.
Oh, wait. There were two monkeys left. She'd almost missed them. They lay on the ground. Still. Dead.
Something was wrong. Something was very, very, very wrong. She could hear movement in the underbrush. Pinky looked around with wide eyes. Was the jungle moving again? Bit had used some [Skill] to sedate it, but how long would that last?
Things were out there. Things that could eat her as one small, Fraerling-sized snack!
"There." Bit cut the last strand that had been wrapped around her. Pinky hadn't even noticed she was being methodically freed. "You're good to go, Pinky."
"Am I?" Pinky swallowed. "What happened here? How long was I out? What was that... darkness?"
"Uhm..." Bit grimaced. "I don't really know. There was a dark shape in our camp, and you attacked it with one of your beams. After that, the Mets went crazy. It hasn't been long. Certainly not long enough for you to have suffered any brain damage from being dead. Only, like, four minutes. Tops."
"Wait." Pinky stopped and turned towards Bit. "I was dead?"
That explained so much.
A Scout is courageous.
Dev stood up and looked around. The Vetalas was nowhere in sight, but the scars from its presence were all too easy to see. Everywhere around him was death and destruction.
"No. That's not right." He mumbled to himself. "Where are the bodies?" While there was destruction, there was no immediate signs of death. "Ah." There was one. The milk box.
He was so confused. Had it all been a dream? If so... what had happened inside the clearing?
Dev slowly started walking towards where he saw Bit working on something. Her scalpel flashed in the moonlight.
Had... Had SHE done this? Could the Vetalas have possessed her? Was that what had happened to all the other bodies? He'd only heard about Vetalas possessing human corpses, but he also wasn't one for fairy tails. There might've been stories of them doing it to animals as well.
If Bit was possessed... he should run. The forest was dangerous, but it couldn't be worse than having her as an opponent.
Dev took a step back.
A Scout is loyal.
He stopped.
He was a Scout. He was loyal. If Bit was possessed, then it might not be too late for her. He might be able to drive the evil spirit away. He had his mantra after all. Besides, running through the jungle was certain death. That was especially true without any supplies.
A Scout if courageous.
Dev walked forward. "Bit. Is that you?"
The little girl turned to face him. "Oh, good. You're up. I was worried about you, but I didn't think you were in imminent danger. I'm glad I was right!" She smiled at him, and turned around. Pinky was in one of her hands - the hand that wasn't holding the scalpel.
The Fraerling was twisting around and stretching her arms. "Ah, that feels good." She climbed to Bit's shoulder and stared at Dev. "Are you okay? I'm not sure what happened, but it looks like you had it pretty rough there, buddy."
Dev blinked. Pinky was worried about him? She was asking how he was? That was... surprising. Not unwelcome, but he'd grown accustomed to a more... chaotic experience from her. A joke. A pun. Some strange tangent on Fraerlings that she'd keep talking over people about.
A compassionate Pinky was strange.
A Scout is courteous.
"I'm..." Dev looked around the ruins of the camp. "I'm doing as well as can be expected. Considering."
Bit walked up to him and took his hand. She turned it over and lifted it to the side. She then poked his ribs, and moved to other parts of his body. "No outer wounds. No signs of bruising or internal bleeding. Sit down." He complied. She peered in his eyes and flashed moonlight into them with her scalpel. "No signs of a concussion or diminished faculties. Low body temp. Rapid pulse and breathing." She nodded. "You're experiencing shock. Here. Lay down." She guided him down, and then pulled the damaged milk box over and propped it under his feet. "Just focus on taking deep breaths, okay?"
"Okay."
She then started cutting open his make-shift foot stool.
...
[Explorer Level 20!]
[Conditions Met: Explorer → Scout]
[Scout Level 20!]
[Skill - Advanced Danger Sense obtained!]
[Skill - A Trap a Day obtained!]
[Skill - Mend Tent obtained!]
Dev's eyes sprung open. He'd just leveled! Had he fallen asleep?
He blinked and looked around. Bit was standing over him with an empty syringe. The Milk Box was gone... Oh, wait. There it is.
He looked around the clearing and saw the white 'creature' standing a few feet away. Pinky was pacing back and forth on its top and muttering to herself. While he wasn't that far away, she was speaking far too softly for him to hear anything.
Bit put the needle back in her bag, and then kneeled down next to him. "Feeling better?" He looked at her blankly while she took his hand and placed a finger on his wrist. "Yep! I think you're good to go!"
Dev licked his lips and swallowed. "What happened? I was asleep, and then I had a dream of an old woman. Except... it wasn't a dream, was it? And she wasn't a human, she was a Vetalas. Well, I guess a Vetalas is like a human. A dead human. But that's not what anyone would think of when you say a 'human'." Dev frowned. "I'm talking too much. My heart is racing, and... whoa." He suddenly felt lethargic. "Wow, uhm... wow."
"Don't worry about it." Bit smiled at him and offered her hand. "It's just an adrenaline derivative. The boost is strong, but short."
Dev grabbed her hand, and the tiny girl pulled him to his feet with a surprising amount of ease. "Yeah. Thanks." He took a deep breath. "I feel better now." He looked at the ruins of the camp, and the absence of anything else aside from him, Bit, Pinky, two dead monkeys, and the Milk Box. "Was there a hallucinogen or something?" The Vetalas wasn't real. Right?
"No, well, yes, but mostly no." Bit put her hands on her hips and scowled. "Something came into our camp last night and was doing something to you. I'm not sure exactly what it was trying to do, because it had a perception altering ability."
"A perception altering ability?" Dev repeated.
"Yeah." Bit shrugged. "Kinda like how Badgy has one that helps him sneak up on people. Or, I guess, helped him sneak up on people." Bit looked sad.
"What happened to Badgy?" Dev looked at the ground. Was that blood? It was hard to tell under the moonlight, but there seemed to be more of it than there had been yesterday.
And there had been a good amount yesterday.
"I had him attack the creature." Bit let out a sigh. "And he died. I'm not sure exactly how, but if I was to guess: every cell of his body shut down at the same time. Instant death."
"What?" Dev shuddered. "I never heard of a Vetalas that could do that before."
Bit tilted her head. "What is a Vetalas anyways? You've mentioned it a couple of times now."
"Veltas are like zombies..." Dev frowned. "No. That's not right. They're animated corpses, but the Vetalas is the evil spirit that's possessing them." He looked to where the different bodies had been. "I don't remember any stories of them using non-human vessels, but..."
"What?" Bit raised an eyebrow. "You think?" She let out a sigh. "No, whatever that creature was it wasn't directly responsible for what happened to the cadavers."
"Then what was?"
Bit grimaced. "My Mets."
"What." It was meant to be a question, but came out flat.
"They... sort of went berserk and attacked it." Bit looked away and spoke with a small voice. "Then, after the Vetalas fled, they sorta..." The next part came out as a whisper. "Decided to kill everything. They didn't attack us because we're human, but..."
"Oh." Dev's legs gave out and he sat down with a thump. "The robot apocalypse."
Was it something to do with Asimov's three laws? Was that why he and Bit were alive, but Chewbacca wasn't? It only then struck Dev then that his Jungleclad friend was gone. He'd noted he wasn't around, and that all the corpses were gone... but he hadn't put it together until right then.
Chewie. The one Jungleclad that could understand English. Their brave guide that had escorted them deep into the Red jungle.
"Yeah." Bit sat down next to him. "The Vetalas killed Pinky, and I was busy reviving her. Otherwise, I would've protected him." She gave a slight shudder. "Or I would've kept fixing the damage they did, over and over and over..." She seemed to deflate. "But that wouldn't have been a battle that could really be won. It would've just been an evil game that would eventually break me."
Dev wouldn't have called it a game. It was more like a programming error. Where the second law trumped the third.
He... He just sat in silence and stared at the remains of Chewie's tent.
"C'mon Lars." Pinky mumbled. "Speak to me! I know you can! ...Or I can. Or something!"
She paced back and forth on the Milk Box. It wasn't dead any longer - just like her. She'd have to apologize to Bit about thinking her odd mix of [Classes] only amounted to a complex way of doing what a [Beast Master] could accomplish.
None of them could've taken the dead body of one of their pets and brought them back to life! The Milk Box was good as new!
...And so was Pinky.
Wow. She really, REALLY owed Bit big time, huh? It was her stupid desire to come to the Red Zone that had...
Actually, no. She DID owe Bit... well, everything, but it definitely WASN'T her fault that Black monster had attacked them. What was a Black monster doing in the Red area? That... made no sense!
Then again, the Black creature was clearly powerful enough to go wherever it wanted. Even if it had been an unforeseeable encounter, it wouldn't have stumbled upon them if they hadn't gone so deep into the Red.
Probably. They probably wouldn't have encountered it... if it wasn't for her.
Pinky still didn't know exactly what had happened. It had certainly killed her, but that meant that she hadn't been able to see if her attack had killed it in return. Bit had said that her Mets had gone 'crazy', but not what had happened to the Black.
Or... Pinky glanced over at where Bit was sitting next to Dev, she might've told the story - just not to Pinky yet.
Pinky hopped off of the Milk Box and walked over to where her friends were sitting. Dev looked down at her. "I'm happy that you are alive, Pinky." He certainly didn't sound happy, but that was fair with everything considered.
Pinky put on a smile. "So am I? Crazy night, huh?" She needed to lighten the mood. That was what [Fools] did. "Good thing we have Bit with us, huh? I mean, all three of us would be dead right now if it wasn't for her instead of only me!"
Pinky, of course, was referring to herself, Dev, and the Milk Box. If Bit wasn't here, then she certainly wouldn't have been dead. Of course, then none of them would've been here in the first place and the Milk Box wouldn't even exist. That was what made it a nonsensical statement.
No one laughed or smiled.
Pinky let out a sigh. It was time to stop deflecting and to straight up apologize. "I'm sorry that we encountered that Black... thing. It was my fault for wanting to come this far into the Red Lands."
Dev smiled at her. "No." He shook his head. "We all agreed to come. It's just... Nobody expected the Vetalas. We didn't respect nature enough and we suffered for it."
Pinky stared up at him. She felt the urge to say 'Yeah, we were all pretty [Foolish], huh?', but that was probably the wrong sort of [Foolish Thought].
Bit smiled. "Hey, it could've been worse. It sucks to lose my pets, but I can make more!" She glanced at Dev. "I'm sorry that Chewbacca died, but that shouldn't detract from the fact that we're all alive!"
Pinky frowned. "Who's Chew Bah Ka?"
Dev let out a sigh. "That was what I'd nicknamed our guide." He looked over to where the remains of the Jungleclad's tent were. "It's a name from..." He sighed again. "It doesn't matter. And we won't even be able to tell the rest of his village the details."
Bit got a far-away look in her eyes before letting out a small. "Oh."
Pinky turned to her. "What is it?"
Bit grimaced. "I can communicate with my Mets, right? Well, I tried ordering them to stop when they went insane, but none of them listened or responded. The ones in the village... they didn't respond either."
Dev turned to her. "They're all linked? You don't mean?"
"I'm afraid so."
Pinky turned her head as she looked at each of her Tallfolk friends. "You don't mean what? You're afraid of what?"
"The Mets are trying to kill every non-human they can find." Dev replied. "The Jungleclad village is..."
Oh.
That wasn't the worst part.
Why did the Mets take the corpses away?
Riley was afraid she knew the answer to that, but she'd been focusing on Pinky and hadn't paid attention to what the Mets had been doing.
The cold, hard truth was that all the gorillas they'd met were now dead.
Probably.
Most likely.
If the gorillas had been capes, or rather, 'levelers', then they might've stood a chance. As it was, they really only had their physical capabilities to rely on. And, well, her Mets were faster and stronger than any of them.
Although, were they HER Mets anymore? Had they ever been?
It would be more accurate to say they were Kevin's. It would be even more accurate to say they were the Shards'. That Vetalas, or whatever it was, had clearly been something that Surgery had taken particular offense from.
Another Entity? Or, at least, the Shard of a different Entity? That was possible. That was what Optimize was after all.
But... that didn't really fit. If it was, and it and Surgery fought, the fight would be somewhere else. Unless, that was what was happening and the Mets were just a symptom?
Anyways.
Riley stood up. "We're not safe here. We need to move."
Dev looked around. "What makes you say that? Are the Mets coming back?"
"They might." Riley began to dig around in her backpack. "It's possible that they might come after Pinky or the Milk Box." Or both. "They seem to want to kill all non-humans. They might stop eventually, or they might need to be put down." Which would be a real problem for her. Non-biological opponents weren't what she was best at.
"But then..." Dev inhaled sharply. "The jungle. We could be attacked by Red animals at any time." He stood up and began picking up the remains of his traps that had been collateral damage in the fight.
"Also the trees." Riley checked the level of a vial. Not enough. "My sedative won't last forever. We need to get away from the center and back to where it's not as active." She glanced at Pinky. "Unless?"
"Huh?" Pinky tilted her head. "Oh! The crystal? The chunk I got was used up when I attacked the Vetalas, alas." She smiled. "But don't worry, I'm not [Foolish] enough to suggest going back for more right now!"
Riley nodded. That was good to hear.
"The trees should remain dormant for at least another day, but I think we should head out before then." Riley walked over to a melted tree. The acidic part of Crawler's saliva was long spent, but she should be able to extract some of the residual virus. It was acid-proof.
"Yeah." Dev was stringing up wires. "The Mets are the current alpha predators in the area, but there aren't that many of them. No matter how quick they are, some animals will get away. They might run here.
...
"Ahhh..." Riley felt the chemicals in her mixture wash away the residual elements in her brain fluid. "That's better. Do you want some?" She turned to Dev. "It'll wake you up."
Dev looked at her with bleary eyes. "I don't drink caffeine." While she'd been Tinkering with a stable tree-acid that was even more specific to this jungle, Dev had been alternating between cleaning up the camp and setting traps. "It's addictive."
"That's true!" She was glad someone else realized how dangerous a drug caffeine was! "This, however, is totally safe. ...At least for a couple of nights."
"..." Dev blankly stared at her before shaking his head. "No. I'm good enough to work through the day."
"Suit yourself." She shrugged. "I'm-"
There was a cross between a yowl and a snarl as something burst from the underbrush! A Quillcat tumbled into the clearing - entangled in the thin ropes that Dev had strung just above the ground. It wiggled as it tried to get free before poofing up into a spiky ball.
"Watch out!" Dev dove to the ground.
Riley followed his lead as a spray of quills exploded from the trapped feline. She stretched her hand out, and flexed the muscles that propelled the tiny, venomous dart from her fingertip. The bone projectile was faster and more aerodynamic than the cat's quills, and struck her target in its chest.
"There." Riley stood up and brushed herself off. "We don't have much time, but I should be able to modify that into..." Her eyes narrowed.
"It's bleeding." Dev stated from the ground. "Look at that gash in its leg."
"I see it." Riley walked over to the spiky corpse. "We should leave. Now." She looked at Pinky who was napping on top of the Milk Box. "A Met injured it, and is likely in pursuit right now." She strolled over and gently picked Pinky up. "I can shield Pinky, but I'm betting they'll gut the Milk Box if they see it again."
She, of course, could fix practically any damage done to the Milk Box. Doing so would take time to both perform the surgery and to fashion more sutures for it. That was assuming that the Mets wouldn't try to pulverize it. They hadn't been mindless summons before the Shards had taken direct control. There was every possibility that they'd recognize the Milk Box from the first attack and take steps to dismember it more thoroughly.
"Wha...?" Pinky mumbled as she opened her eyes. "What's going on?"
"Animals have found the clearing." Riley held her up to her shoulder. "We're leaving."
"Oh." Pinky stood up and stretched. "I'll help pack!" Instead of staying on top of the offered shoulder, the Fraerling leapt down to the ground. Proportionally, the four foot distance was a great leap.
Riley frowned. While it was nice that Pinky wanted to help, the reality was that she couldn't do much. She wasn't even a foot tall. Still... things would go marginally faster, and the saved seconds might count.
Speaking of which, she shouldn't be standing around worrying! Riley began packing. She started with the Milk Box. Should she tie it to her backpack, or put it inside? The extra-dimensional space was... relatively safe - so long as she kept the top open. Most of her samples didn't need oxygen, and those that did only required a little of it to stay alive.
The Milk Box took in a lot more. It might last... ten minutes with the supply the bag contained. Maybe less - as a good deal of the available space was filled with stuff already. Alternately, she could put it inside and simply not close it. That would provide it with air, but might negate any help the bag would be in hiding from her Mets.
Riley nodded to herself and began strapping the Milk Box to the outside. The Mets probably wouldn't be able to do any irreparable damage to it before she figured out a way to stop them.
...Unless two or more came at once.
She shook her head and continued her work. Work now, worry later.
She scanned the jungle as she packed. It was solid red, and it was nearly impossible to make out any hidden shapes normally. The predators this time weren't native species with their highly specific camouflage. Her Mets would stick out like a sore thumb.
There was movement and a flash of color.
"Dev, Pinky, we have company. Stay back."
Riley reached into her bag and pulled out a syringe with a long, thick needle. The Met appeared from within the foliage. Instead of walking on the ground, it seemed to hover a foot above it. It had to be using its spider legs to help it move around the uneven terrain.
Riley turned the needle around and placed it against her chest - right above her heart. One sudden stab drove it through the protective mesh and the bone sheath she'd made to protect one of her most vital organs. The needle was strong, but mundane. It never would've been able to pierce her defenses - except that she knew exactly where to target.
There was a small section of thinner bone that lined up with one of the holes in the mesh and her left ventricle. The solution inside of the hypodermic needle would be pumped out of her heart and carried all over her body by her circulatory system.
The Met moved out of the jungle and into the clearing.
Riley dropped the needle as she gasped in surprise. It wasn't a Met, well, it WAS, but it was more than that. The paws of the fully grown Quillcat walked across the ground. They led to its quill-covered body, and it's tail that had a spiky tuff.
It's head? It's head was gone. The Met was attached to its neck in its place.
The monster lowered itself for a pounce.
Riley's brain swirled. How?
Actually, the how was simple. Kevin's Mets had been made to both be independent servants... and to cover her biomechanical spiders. The spiders that Bonesaw had made years and years ago. The spiders that were, essentially, human brains that controlled some rudimentary hydraulic legs.
The Mets had been little more than a camouflage, but there had been a connection between them and her spiders. She'd examined them, of course, and the Mets had formed neural pathways. The brains inside of the spiders had still been in 'control' - or at least as much control as they'd ever had.
The connection, however, went both ways. There was little reason why the Mets COULDN'T usurp their hosts...
Or even replace them completely.
That led to the why: as strong and as tough as her Mets were, there were still things they lacked. Hijacking a body would allow them to push it past its natural limits.
Her eyes widened.
They could even do irreparable damage to it... and then just grab a new one from what they'd killed. That was their goal after all.
The Met pounced.
It was quick. Quicker than she'd seen a Quillcat move before. Its target?
Riley's eyes traced along its trajectory and landed on Pinky. The Fraerling had dropped what she'd been holding and was frozen. Her eyes were wide and her face was white.
Riley's muscles used the energy her solution had provided, and constricted fast enough to damage her ligaments. She sprinted to intercept the Met.
But... why wasn't Pinky doing anything? She'd been in worse situations than this in the past and hadn't frozen.
Bios:
Riley Grace Davis - Bonesaw. Has been through much worse stuff.
Pinky - OC. Not her real name. A Fraerling who managed to lose her blood class and skills - which does have a few downsides.
Dev - An Earther. A competent [Scout] who likes to draw. Really unnerved by what happened. Trying to cope.