NBB3 - chapter 42: Awake at last

Sumil followed Scathia's small shape as it loped across the wasteland far below.

How is she this fast, she thought, eyeing the long trail of dust that trailed behind Scathia.

It started from the hills and continued as a long, straight line to where they were now. Even up here, she could hear the insanely rapidly tapping of the other's footsteps.

Trying to squeeze out more speed, Sumil knew she wouldn't catch up. Worse, she might lose her if she sped up more.

She tried to determine where they were heading, focusing on the landmarks in short bursts while keeping up with Scathia. It took her only a few moments to recognize the area they were in, and her eyes widened in surprise.

Why is she heading towards Domain's portal? she thought, a sudden worry growing.

Were Scathia and Domain working together? The simple thought made her fearful, and she hoped it was just a coincidence. Maybe Scathia was simply moving towards the closest portal she knew.

Sumil focused on her movement, struggling to keep up.

Ten minutes later, weary and tired, she finally saw the walled town appear in the distance. Shapes, almost like boulders, lay scattered about the area. On the ground below, Scathia slowed down, and, relieved, Sumil followed suit, staring in disbelief at the destruction that spread out in front of them.

Amidst twenty-foot craters, parts of undead, fractured bones, heads, and limbs lay scattered everywhere. The silent wind had blown a fine layer of dust across everything, showing this hadn't happened recently.

Not sure what to do, Sumil slowed down and flew slightly higher and closer. When she flew above the town, she saw it was almost destroyed. The central building she and Galg had escaped from was leveled, and the black, red-edged rift was the only thing that remained undamaged- hovering in a large crater.

Far below her, Scathia stepped up to the rift before stopping, and Sumil focused on her.

"I can see you up there!"

Rathica's voice suddenly echoed around Sumil, and she surged a dozen feet back in shock.

"Looking to see where I'm off to? Well, go tell Drys he is welcome to follow me if he wants!"

Scathia's crazed laughter echoed up, ending abruptly when she jumped through the rift.

Sumil almost forgot to keep up her energy explosions, dropping down as she stared at the rift in stunned silence. That was it? One more outburst, and then she left?

After waiting to see if it was a trick and if Scathia would come back out, she finally lowered herself to a dozen feet above the rift. This close, she got a better look at the destruction.

Who did this? Did Domain come through? No, that doesn't make sense, she thought as she took a better look around.

After a few moments, she discarded the problem and landed beside the rift. None of it mattered. First, she needed to close this rift! She had a chance to rid this world of Scathia, and Domain, if he was still on the other side.

Her mana-field bloomed out of her, azure blue lines and large dull blue sections, and within moments the rift was engulfed and shrinking. There was no resistance, which both worried and confused her, and she constantly expected something to jump through to stop her. Nothing happened, though, and the rift continued to shrink rapidly.

When it finally closed with a pop, she wasn't as relieved as she had expected. Instead, she gazed at the now empty spot where the rift had hung.

"Something is wrong…" she muttered.

She inspected the remains of the town around her when a sudden tremor passed through everything. The world's light dimmed, and slowly, worriedly, she looked up at the darkened sky. Thin crack lines appeared above, similar to before, and her eyes widened as more appeared, growing outward. Then, with a flash, the barrier shattered.

A beam of blackness, purple energy crackling around its edges, shot down somewhere south of her. For a moment, nothing happened, then a bright burst of light made her flinch and turn her head. She was partially blinded, and she began blinking away the bright spots in her eyes. When she could finally see something again, a hazy line was slowly rising in the distance.

"I need to get back," Sumil muttered.

She took one more look at the pillar of energy, then turned in the direction of Skulltown and blasted off.

--

Tirella slowly felt her consciousness return. Something had awoken her, but she couldn't determine what. Had Scathia done something? She kept calm, refraining from any movement. After a moment, she realized something was shuffling through the room. A moan echoed from somewhere, followed by cracking and popping sounds like bones snapping into place.

Did she realize I was here? Tirella thought as she opened one eye.

The power of the body she was in began to assert itself, and although it was nowhere near her own, she was shocked by it. It was more than she had before Viridi changed her. Dim light poured across the ceiling above her, and she wondered if it was safe to open her eyes.

"Fools," a cold, angry voice whispered throughout the room, and Tirella froze.

"They think I'll just abandon what's mine? After that thing deals with Solus and Tirella, absorbs them, and leaves, I'll just rebuild! Who cares if it wipes out all of the others? I'll have no more resistance like that, and there will always be more undead!"

A burst of hysterical laughter followed the voice.

Tirella felt her anger surge up as she listened to the insane words. The soft padding of skeletal bone feet echoed throughout the room, and a hungry smile came to Tirella's face.

She isn't in another body yet!

Tirella carefully raised her head, feeling the long hairs pull up along the sides of the platform. A few feet away, in the center of the chamber, a simple-looking skeleton moved towards the opposite wall. Tirella pushed herself up, not losing the skeleton out of her sight.

One of her hands gripped the edge of the platform, unconsciously squeezing, causing a loud crack.

The skeleton stopped and haltingly turned around. "What? Why are you awake?"

Scathia couldn't hold back a short laugh at the confusion in Scathia's voice. She pushed herself up, a smile creeping on her face as the skeleton took two halting steps back.

"I've found you," she hissed as she straightened to her full length.

A shocked silence hung in the room.

"You!" Scathia howled. "How did you-" she turned around, staggering towards the nearest table.

"No you don't," Tirella hissed as she ran across the room.

Scathia got two steps from the nearest table when Tirella grabbed her and dragged her away. She took a glimpse at the body on the table. It was a green-skinned zombie with black spikes across her powerfully built shoulders and arms.

"Let me go! Evil, vile," Scathia screamed.

Tirella lifted the skeleton, shaking her twice and delighting at the snapping of bones and screeches of panic.

"Now I know how you survived," she said with delight as she looked around the room.

"But," and she focused on Scathia, screaming and fuming while striking at her arm. "This finally ends now!"

For a moment, she thought of dragging it out, hurting Scathia for what she had done, then she put her hand around the other's head and spun it around. A dull crack came, and the screaming stopped, silence filling the room.

She is too dangerous… given time, she could have tried to pull something, Tirella thought as she dropped Scathia's body.

She sighed and stomped on the skull before rummaging through the bone shards. She was surprised when she found the large, almost square mana-orb. Not a mana-core yet, but close to it.

A soft beep came from the side of the room, and she froze. Then she twirled around to the origin of the sound.

Three red lights were slowly blinking on the wall to her left. The beep coincided with each blink. Within seconds a rapidly accelerating beeping and blinking occurred on the wall, and Tirella felt uncomfortable. Something about the beeping…

A series of sharp pings came from her status window, followed by a long howling whine she had never heard again. She immediately pulled it up, looking at the new lines.

> Warning!

> Nuclear buildup detected

> Detonation imminent

> Evacuate the immediate area

> T minus 4

> T minus 3

Tirella's eyes widened as knowledge about what might happen flooded her. She hurled the mana-orb away, closed her eyes, and shot out of the body, which dropped to the ground below her. The beeping was so fast it almost seemed like a single continuous beep, and Tirella shot up and through the ceiling. A rumble started below, and the area around her crumbled as a bright light began seeping through the stone, almost like it was chasing after her.

A dull pain erupted from her tiny body, the first time she had felt anything of the sort in this form, and the side of one of her arms disintegrated. She stared at it in shock as the rumbling increased and cracks appeared on the stone.

Faster, Tirella thought as she flew up into one of the chambers below Tendraal. Whole sections of the ceiling and walls collided around her, but she didn't stop as the light seemed to catch up. The pain increased, and a thin haze of brown and green mana trailed behind her.

Faster! she howled as she tried to squeeze every bit of speed out.

Seconds later, she burst out from the ground into a trembling ruin. The mountain beside her cracked open, glowing red magma oozing from cracks as ash flitted in the sky. A white glow permeated from the ground below, the edge reaching high in the sky.

The edges of her body continued to disintegrate, and her mind turned muddled and pained.

Without stopping, she shot up and up, fear lacing every thought until she finally shot out of the white glow. Almost immediately, the pain dissipated, but she continued for a good distance before she stopped, hovering high above the ruins of Tendraal.

Below her, the tip of the mountain was crumbling inward, a glowing orange sea of lava streaming out of cracks. Beside it, the ground below the ruined city was crumbling inward, whole buildings and sections collapsing down. A sudden suction pulled everything inside, and for a moment, the sounds ceased, then the ground below the city erupted in a massive explosion. The white light shot up, and Tirella yelped as she few up, feeling the light again eat away at her mana body.

High above the clouds, she finally, again, exited the white halo that glowed below. Only the massive volcano and the dark cloud of dust and debris were visible from this high.

She left a trap, Tirella thought as she felt her body shiver and tried to reform.

It took minutes before she felt halfway decent, and by that time, she wondered if Pasant had made it out. She didn't see him anywhere, but she was so high up that she could only see the significant landmarks anyway.

Low cracking sounds came from above, and she looked up, afraid, confused, and high-strung.

A massive cracked hole appeared in the barrier, and beyond it, the enormous Kaot Lord appeared, shaking and shivering as its eyes opened and closed. A white-winged shape hung beside it, unmoving.

Is that a Wyrm? she thought.

For a moment she thought about fleeing to Skulltown, then she steeled herself. Scathia was gone, and whatever had just happened, her body was slowly restoring itself. She took one last look below, then rushed up.

It took her longer than before to reach the barrier, her sluggish thoughts seeming to appear in her movement speed. When she finally approached the dark, cold area, she immediately noticed that the barrier wasn't regenerating as it had the previous time it had been damaged. Instead, fractured pieces hung around like glass.

The white shape hung close by, and she realized it only vaguely resembled a Wyrm. Still, she had a good idea who it might be.

"GD18?" she shouted as she closed in as fast as she could.

The massive thing didn't turn to her, its narrowed eyes remaining focused on the Kaot Lord, but a voice rippled around her.

"Tirella. You need to go to Solus," GD18 said in a cold, detached voice.

Tirella's mind took a few moments to digest the message; then, she shook her head.

"What, why?" she asked, confused as she looked down to where she could sense her body.

"He says his body will wake up soon," GD18 said.

"What, waking up?" Tirella hissed in confusion.

How was that possible? She wanted to ask questions, vent, scream that she had finally ended Scathia. But, instead, she let out a strangled grunt and rushed down.

What are you doing? she thought, wondering how Solus was even waking up.

But more so, she feared what would happen to what remained of the barrier if he did and if this was why it wasn't recovering.

--

> Suspended animation halted; body waking up in: 4 minutes and 32 seconds

Solus grinned at the status message. He could feel and even interact with whole parts of his body and could hardly wait for the timer to reach zero.

As soon as it did, he could rush up and make short work of that Kaot Lord!

"Solus?" Tirella's voice ripped through the silence, dulled by the rocks covering his head.

"Here," Solus rumbled, the power of his voice blasting the rubbing over his head up and away.

"What happened here? No, wait, why are you waking up? And how?" Tirella shouted as she floated towards his face, staring down at him, emotions raging over her face.

Solus barked a laugh at the rapid-fire questions.

"I shouted and broke the room," he said to answer the first question while smiling as he felt his fingers move. "And I'm waking because of something Viridi did before she left," he continued.

"What? But the barrier?" Tirella said, shaking her head in worry.

"It's destroyed either way," Solus said. "And aren't you here? After I remove that thing, it should come back, and you can power it!"

Tirella frowned, seeming confused. "But why are you waking and not me?"

Solus froze, then frowned as he tried to come up with an answer. Why was he waking up? Coincidence? Or had Viridi planned something ahead of time? Some failsafe?

"I don't know," he said after a few moments, his good mood dampened slightly. "But there isn't anything I can do about it either. So how are things up there?"

"I don't know. GD18 told me to go here, and he made it sound important… what's that?" Tirella said as she suddenly fell quiet.

Solus heard it too. A dull rumble that rapidly increased in magnitude. Before he had any time to find out, a torrent of pain slammed into him, and the last he heard was a high pierced scream from Tirella. Then, he was riding waves of pain as it felt like something was actively tearing through his mind. With a painful, jarring suddenness, he was ripped from his body and pulled up through the ground.

Stone and minerals flashed through his vision, then a flash of buildings and a bit of gray. Everything seemed covered in a hazy purple fog.

It took him a moment to realize that he had stopped.

What remained of the barrier hung before him, and behind it, GD18's shape was hovering before the planet. Its wings were spread out, and a turquoise barrier sat before him, shaking as it held back wave after wave of red energy. The Kaot Lord's gigantic body shivered as its tentacles struck its head, pulses of red energy exploding outward.

The frequency of the waves increased rapidly, and the monstrosity opened its mouth. It bellowed an unheard scream of outrage in the void before suddenly stopping. The purple glow disappeared with a woosh, and the massive body began drifting sideways softly, unmoving.

"Galg must have gotten to its mana-core," GD18 said softly.

Solus looked at the GD18, noticing the white draco-wyrm, or whatever he was now, slowly hovering towards him.

"So… it's over?" Solus asked, staring at the Kaot Lord in disbelief.

Although the prospect brought him some joy, it felt odd to have had nothing to do with the current outcome. When GD18 didn't respond, he looked at the white draco-wyrm.

"GD18?"

"No..." GD18 said, fear lacing his voice. "It might have become worse," he said as he turned his and gazed into the depths of space.

What? Worse? Solus was about to ask what could be worse than what had just happened when he saw something move at the Kaot Lord.

A spec of bright blue light passed between the partially closed teeth of the behemoth's maw; then, blue lightning zipped out. A second later, Galg appeared atop GD18's head, an enormous angular orb in his hands.

"Just so you know," he said. "I am not doing that again! I almost got devoured by some weird little red things!"

GD18 didn't show any reaction, and Solus felt a trickle of worry as he finally followed the AI's gaze. The nebula was slowly gliding by in the distance. His worry grew as he focused, zooming in. The nebula became larger and larger, and for a moment, all he saw was the purplish haze. Then a dozen tiny shapes appeared, specs against the backdrop, moving their way.

"Are those," he muttered.

"More giant spacefaring Kaot Lords. Yes," GD18 said.

"What are you two muttering about?" Galg snapped. "All I see is blackness and some pretty clouds."

"I count fourteen," GD18 said, and he sighed. "They will be here within a few weeks."

"Wait? Fourteen of these things?" Galg shouted. "Well, that's that then! We almost lost our most important asset, me, against a single one, and I'll not be doing it again either way! Let's find a portal and leave. Find some cozy little planet and just start again!"

Solus was about to respond when he felt a tremor go through him. A loud beep sounded from his status, then the image in front of him vanished, and everything turned black.

This is getting annoying, he thought as he wished the constant jarring pulling and pushing would stop.

Then he realized nothing was happening, and he wondered if he had finally truly stopped being. Then he sensed rocks poke his back and a heavyweight press down on him. A dull groan came from somewhere further away as he realized where he was.

As a wide grin grew on his face, he took a deep breath, the dusty air swirling towards him and filling his lungs. He didn't need to, but he wanted to. A soft, dull throb came from his chest, and he sensed the spark of un-life deep in his chest thrum, filling him with power and...

Hunger.

With it came understanding and knowledge.

So that's why it's me, he thought, as he grinned.

Feeling the air in his lungs, he let it out in a loud and long pent-up shout.

"I'm awake," he roared.