NBB2 - The chaos rifts - chapter 33

A familiar figure came through the gate towards them. Towering and white, it had bones so thick that the ribs touch each other, seeming like a single massive ribbed plate.

"Skull!" Solus said, walking forward. He let go of Tirela, who was calming down again.

"Master, me stronger!" The skeleton projected, his voice loud enough to cause the walls around them to shudder.

"Not so loud!" Solus groaned, shaking his head. Stepping in front of Skull he was impressed as he looked up. The other had grown another head taller and was now by far the tallest thing he had seen so far. Even Uran would be dwarfed by the other.

Before he could react, Skull struck him in the chest with his fist. He barely stopped himself from taking a step back.

"Master, me fight! Bored! They all break!" he said, sounding almost sad as he pointed at the bodies behind the gate.

Solus guessed his old minion must have nobody to practice with anymore. But he shook his head all the same. There were too many things more important. Even running to his tower and grab the mana-core would have to wait. First, he needed to find out what Drys had been up to and share what he had learned about the rifts. Perhaps Drys could come up with a way to use it to close them all.

"Skull, I need to speak with Drys. We have a lot of trouble coming. But don't worry, there will be something fun for you to do before the sun sets."

Patting the skeleton on its massive shoulder, he noticed that Skull had gained odd protrusions on his knuckles. Thick slabs of bone, covered in minuscule patterns.

"Drys at pattern hall," Skull said after a moment.

"When did you evolve?" Solus asked as he walked towards the main road leading into the city. He beckoned the others to follow him, getting an odd look from Tirela.

"No remember… long ago?" Skull said, seeming confused when he had to explain when. Anything but yesterday, today, and tomorrow confused the giant skeleton immensely.

Solus grinned and examined the open area behind the gate and roads that led away from it as he walked. Most of the previous damage had been repaired since the last time he was here, while many of the buildings bordering the walls had been strengthened.

The trip through the city took longer than he had thought.

Many roads had changed, new buildings blocking previous entrances, and slowly he began to see a pattern. They had made chokepoints. If the Kaots got in, they would be funneled into a set path. He recognized Drys' planning in it and ponder on the many capabilities Drys had reminded him of something.

Drys could stop Domain if he had Galgs body! All they needed was to get Galg close enough to Drys so he could use his nullify ability.

"Why are you so happy all of a sudden?" Tirela asked as she stopped inspecting the city around her.

"I'll explain later. Look over there!" Solus replied as they exited a small street and stepped onto a large open square.

Two long lines of undead stood in front of an enormous building. One line was composed of heavyset, bulky undead and skeletons, while the other consisted of smaller undead. Many were wielding weapons, hammers, and spears. The building spanned the entire side of the square, and it's four stories towered over many of the buildings beside it. A single bone tower rose from the left side, and Solus grinned.

So Drys did make himself a more permanent residence! he thought.

As they walked past the long line of undead, a hushed silence fell across the square. Soon most of the undead were staring at them.

Stopping in front of the doors, Solus turned to Skull. "Find Norg and Vingria for me. I need them to come here."

Skull nodded and turned away, stomping off in the direction of Vingria's Battle Inn.

"He is odd…" Tirella said, staring after Skull. "Something about him is different from the other undead I've seen."

"He is, and we have no idea why. According to Drys, it has something to do with his mind, but we never found out what. My idea is that he has a very low intelligence score, but I can't imagine how low it must be."

Solus moved into the building, the few undead closeby quickly stepping out of his way.

Tirela didn't reply, and he heard a stunned gasp from her. Turning around, he saw her staring at the long halls that branched out from the main room. Stone and bone tablets stood arranged side by side, covered in patterns ranging from small and simple to sprawling and complex. Pairs of undead moved between them, one appearing to know where he went, speaking about the tablets they passed. Solus recognized the ones guiding as boneshapers and librarians.

"I've never seen anything like this!" Tirela said as she turned to Solus.

"Not even in Bastion did they have a building filled with inscriptions and patterns!"

"It's because of Drys. Even before we met, he was able to create and manipulate inscriptions," Solus said, taking a quick look at the patterns.

He saw many powerful ones, some he had not seen before and others he knew from the status windows inscription list. Marveling at Drys' abilities, he moved towards the staircase that dominated the main room.

As they moved up, they passed more floors, divided into halls filled with patterns. All of the staircases were heavily used, and they passed many other undead on their way up.

When they reached the last staircase, a long-haired fleshy undead blocked their way. Its entire body was covered in thick hair, and lines of smoke trickled up from them. The hair from its head splayed down his back, and where it touched the ground, there was smoke rising up.

"Ah, Solus! Drys said to let you up if you showed up. He also said that you need to find him when you get back!" The undead spoke in a high, squeaking voice, and a trickle of smoke came from between his lips. He immediately stepped aside, leaving a lingering acidic odor behind.

Solus just nodded, not sure what to make of the other. He didn't recognize the evolution, and he wondered if Drys had been experimenting by giving undead new ones to see what they would do. It sounded like something Drys would do.

Moving up, they arrived in a large open room. Bone tablets stood everywhere, and dozens of skeletons moved between them.  All of them wore white, Wyrm leather robes, causing Solus' eyebrows to rise, and he heard a confused grunt from beside him. A single winding staircase stood in the middle of the room.

A female fleshy-undead was sitting at a table, scribbling something in a book. When she finished, she ripped the page from the book while beckoning one of the undead. Handing it to the skeleton, she immediately went back to writing.

"Let's just go find Drys," Solus whispered in utter confusion. He had no idea what was going on, and he didn't really want to know. Right now, there were more important things to do, and Drys could explain all this later.

Moving towards the spiral staircase, either nobody seemed to notice them or cared, and they moved up without trouble.

"This is one weird city…" Tirella muttered as she followed him up to the top.

The stair ended in a small chamber with a single closed door. Solus heard soft muttering from behind it, and he shoved the door,  intent on opening it. To his surprise, it didn't budge, but a soft tingling came from behind. The muttering stopped, and Drys' familiar voice was projected close to them.

"What? I said I am busy with important things! Just tell whoever is unsure about their evolution to deal with it themselves!"

Drys sounded exasperated, and Solus let out a soft laugh.

Knocking on the door, he steadily increased the strength he put in it, and it began humming and vibrating.

"Open up, it's me!"

The door swiveled inside as soon as he spoke, and Drys' voice came from inside.

"Finally! Get in here. We have problems!"

More problems? Why not… Solus sighed as he stepped inside.

The room beyond was oval, and books lined the walls. Each had a miniature pattern on the side that Solus recognized from the list of inscriptions in his status-window. Tables filled with open books and large bone tablets covered in inscriptions littered the left side of the room. Benches and a low table stood to the right, and Drys sat on a bench staring at a sphere locked in a machine.

Tatjie and Derin sat on a bench in the corner, looking bored and tired.

"Tirella, you made it!" Tatjie rumbled, getting up and running forward.

Tirella met her halfway with a grin on her face. Without a care in the world, the massive zombie began talking about what had happened and asking about Tirella's evolution and her new abilities.

Solus walked past them, glanced at Derin, who just waved at him, before sitting down opposite Drys. The other's grey face seemed drawn out and tired, but his eyes still held a sharp light in them.

"Derin told me what happened. I've sent Blackguards to find Galg and locked your tower so nothing can go in or out. You might need to repair the top entrance because closing that wyrm's mouth wasn't easy," Drys said calmly before scanning Solus.

"What happened with Scathia?"

His question caused Tatjie to stop mid-sentence and turn to Solus, who just pointed at Tirella.

"She ended her."

Drys' eyebrows shot up, but then he sighed in relief. "Good, that's one less thing to worry about, and Uran? "

"I don't know. As far as we know, he did something to stop the Kaots from destroying Realdeep and succeeded. I have no idea what he is doing now."

A weight seemed to drop from Drys' shoulders, and he leaned back against the bone back of the bench. "That leaves the rifts, the massive horde of Kaots roaming the hills, that Shade still loose in the city, and Domain," he said.

Solus frowned. "Didn't you say we have more problems?" Then he blinked as he realized what the other meant. "You still haven't found that Shade yet?"

It was quiet for a short moment as Drys looked at him with an unreadable expression. "Sumil hasn't come back."

A soft crack was followed by the bench side splintering as Solus' grip snapped the whole side apart. Looking at the bone in his hand, Solus tossed it on the floor.

"That means Galg isn't the problem. We must find Sumil," Solus said, his voice a low growl. Imagining Domain inhabiting Sumil's body made him more upset than he had initially been when he wasn't sure yet.

"We have no idea where he is or what he is up to. Besides, I am not sure he is actually fully gone from here," Drys said.

Tirella moved forward and sat down close beside Solus, garnering her a curious look from Drys.

"What was this about a shade?" she asked, worry lining her face.

Solus felt a wave of unrest and fear from her.

"Do you know the Shade?"

Tirella shook her head, an uncertain expression on her face. "There are many Shade's, but there were rumors back in Bastion…"

Drys leaned forward, a glitter in his eyes. "You are that Kaot that Solus evolved!"

"Not a Kaot!" Tirella hissed as she leaned closer. "Not every undead from the portals is a Kaot!"

Drys' only reaction was a raised eyebrow and a nod. "Alright, but you are from the other side of a rift?"

Solus quickly interrupted the other when he saw the hunger for knowledge. "Not now, Drys, we don't have the time. You can ask her questions later." Then he turned to Tirella.

"What can you tell us about this Shade?"

Tirella continued to glare at Drys as she responded. "The memories are hazy, but there was talk of an undead that came through a rift, and that could move through matter as if it wasn't there. Although that isn't unique, this one could do something else. After it evolved, it was apparently able to change back to its incorporeal form on a whim.  I don't know how much is real, but the rumor is that it arrived in Bastion shortly before the city was overrun."

"That doesn't sound like a Kaot, does it?" Solus said.

"Perhaps it's like Tirella? An undead that survived the Kaots and was traveling through the rifts?" Derin's interjected from the other side.

Drys nodded, getting up and walking through the room. Solus watched him with a mock smile. Even the evolution hadn't been able to remove the other's relentless need to pace when thinking.

"There is more, though…" Solus said.

He hadn't been sure how to tell Drys about the ancient elemental, but he knew he would have to.

Drys stopped and just stared at him with a look of weary expectancy.

Taking a deep breath, Solus told him what had happened after diving deep into the core of the world. He did leave a few bits out, most notably the fact that Viridi had called him Pebble, which somehow irked him, and what she had said about his possible future potential.

"More mana-core's are coming? Does she mean that another enormous Wyrm is heading here, or something else?" Drys muttered softly.

"From what I can gather from this is that we will most likely see at least a few highly evolved Kaots appear soon."

Sam's soft voice interrupted Solus, who was about to respond to Drys.

The Sphere glowed softly as it lay on the table, and Solus frowned. He had almost forgotten about it's existence. He was about to ask Sam why she thought powerful Koats might come when loud explosions interrupted anything he could say.

"Now what?" he cursed and dashed towards the window.  The blue dome above the city was brightly lit, and a dozen Ygdra flew above it, pelting it with red energy blasts.

"Never mind them. They have been trying to get in for days now, you'll get used to it," Drys said. He hadn't even moved but stood in the middle of the room, staring at Sam.

"If we need more of those mana-core's and this Viridi elemental says they will show up, we will need to prepare", Drys said.

"I'll go to my tower and destroy the Sphere that held Domain," Solus said. He wanted to get as many problems or potential problems out of the way, which reminded him of something else. "Where are Norg and Vingria?"

"They are in the hills, hunting Kaots and finding locations of rifts so I can prepare," Drys said, as he began pacing again. "When they come back, we will know where the nearest rifts are and can come up with a plan to close them if they aren't too big."

"You need to make changes to your defense tactics," Sam said out of the blue. "I've noticed that you are using an ineffective combination of melee, ranged, and control defenders. With more efficiency, you can double or triple your defense capability."

Drys was silent for a moment before turning to Tatjie. "Take Sam to the lower layers of this building and put her there. Then tell the bonemenders that from this moment on, all undead that are to evolve are to see her first. Also, tell them to bring her the ledgers with who evolved into what so she can read them."

Almost as if in hindsight, the tall long haired undead turned to the Sphere.

"You can do this, right?"

"A please would have been nice, but I suppose we can work on your social skills later. Besides, I'm impressed you thought to make ledges in the first place. I can do what you suggested."

Drys nodded and motioned to Tatjie, who grumbled in protest. A combined glance from Drys, Solus, and Tirela got her moving.

"What, I don't get a please?" she muttered as she picked up the machine that held Sam's sphere.

"That leaves one problem," Drys said with a sigh. "We need to find Sumil."

Everybody was quiet for a while when Derin finally sighed. "I might have an idea."

Solus turned to him with an inquisitive look.

"You won't like it…" Derin continued, trailing off.

"Spit it out already!" Tatjie snapped as she stood at the exit carrying the machine.

"There's only one undead fast enough to travel back to where we lost her, see if he can find her tracks, follow them and then report back. Galg."

Solus groaned, shaking his head. "We don't even know where he is!"

"I have a pretty good idea where I can find him. In between our missions, he used to stay at the school and spend his time sitting around that odd pillar you brought back."

"The Devourer," Solus said as he nodded. "Fine, go and find him. When you do, tell him if he wants to stay in Skulltown, he will do as we ask. "

Remembering the other's personality, he realized he might refuge, and he snarled, causing Derin to take a step back.

"Tell him that if he doesn't help, I will hunt him down, snap him in half, throw both ends through a different portal."

The idea of leaving Sumil's fate up to the self-centered and annoying undead caused his anger to flare up from some deep recess. Since speaking with Viridi, he felt calm and collected, similar to shortly after his last evolution, but now his rage came bubbling up.

Derin nodded and headed for the door. He and Tatjie disappeared down the stairs, leaving the three undead and the AI.

"Why are you so angry?" Tirella asked as she stared at him in confusion.

Solus shook his head, about to say he didn't know when he froze. At the same time, Drys jumped up and ran to a window. Solus followed him while scanning all around the tower and the ground below. Sensing the ground and stone so far away, he remembered his unpleasant stay in Scathia's tower.

"I don't see it anywhere," Drys said, scanning the horizon.

"What are you searching for?" Sam asked, sounding curious.

Solus didn't respond, fully focused on finding the Shade.

Drys answered after a moment, sounding distracted. "The Shade. As soon as it gets anywhere close, Solus loses his temper."

"That is odd," Sam said, sounding slightly disbelieving.

A pair of running footsteps came from the staircase, and a moment later, someone banged on the door.

"What?" Solus snapped, hard-pressed and scanning everywhere for the apparition. He sensed Tirella had started helping and hoped she would have more luck than him.

A guttural voice, most likely belonging to a zombie, came from behind the door.

"Drys, there is an undead at the door who says he needs to speak with you. He says he knows of a way to close the rifts. Calls himself the Shade?"