NBB2 - The Chaos Rifts - chapter 15

Solus trudged on, a stone pack filled with orbs on his back. The wide-open wasteland stretched out before him, as it had for the last day. The light-footed padding of Sig was hard to hear with the current chatting from behind.

"You're telling me there is no sun? Are you joking?" Tatjie was so excited her voice had risen to almost normal levels.

"I just told you…?" A sharp voice replied before sighing. "It is so hard to talk with you!"

"No, it's not! You are just not used to it, that's all!" Tatjie complained.

Derin's soft groan came from the side, where he had been walking since the morning, trying to get as far away from the chatter as he could.

"Oh? I can understand Derin and Sig perfectly."

"That's because they are stupid! I've told you that before."

Sig snorted but didn't say anything.

"It doesn't matter, just tell me again about when you awoke! Come on, Tirela!"

"I've told you about it twice already," Tirela responded.

"But I enjoy hearing it…" Tatjie complained.

Solus tried to zone the complaining out while listening to Tilera's story. He had heard it before, but every time he heard it, he thought of something new.

"Fine!" Tirela sighed before speaking in a bored and annoyed tone.

"I woke up in a flat world with three moons in a dark red sky. The first thing I remember is seeing them, far on the horizon next to the dull red sun. All around me was just dusty yellow rock, without end. Shortly after awakening, there were massive explosions in the distance, and curious, I went there. The trip lasted for a long time, and when I arrived, the explosions had long ended. The flat, yellow ground was ripped apart, fissures and giant holes dotting the ground. All around lay other undead ripped apart most without ahead."

Tirela's voice changed, as it had the first and second time. The boredom and annoyance changed to wonder, and she seemed to forget anybody was listening.

"I traveled those destroyed stretches for a long time when I found an enormous undead. It was surrounded by dozens of smaller ones, ripped to pieces, their limbs barely recognizable. There was a wide gaping hole in the side of its head, and back then, I had no idea what it meant. Below one of its feet lay something, something that drew me towards it. It was a small round orb, and as it moved past it, unable to stop, I managed to grab it without toppling over. The mana from that orb flowed into me, and as I fell to the ground, I thought my existence was done…"

At this point, Solus barely heard her words, the memories of his own awakening playing through his mind. A few moments later, he realized she was still talking, and he had again somehow missed a part.

"-had scavenged the entire battlefield and found three more orbs. After absorbing them, I felt the urge to change, and moving back to the giant undead I entered its head. On the insides of its skull was an intricate, enormous pattern! As I stared at it, something happened. My mana-field surged out, hovering around the pattern, and I blacked out."

Turning his head around, Solus watched Tirela, moving slowly so he wouldn't trip. Tatjie and the others were also gazing at Tirela, spellbound by her words.

Tirela herself was speaking fast and energetic. "When I woke up, I had changed. I was more powerful and fleshy! I also knew things could do things. With my new powers, I prowled the battlefield a final time, managing to find one more orb that had eluded me, and then I left. I continued traveling the eternal sands, and the boring unending flat area lasted for such a long time I don't even remember what I did most of the time. It changed when the dust trails came."

Solus perked up because this was the part that was of most importance.

"The flat area sloped up, and in the distance, it flowed up and down. More sand, red and yellow now, flew through the air as the wind battered me. It increased until all I saw was red and yellow, and I continued on. When the sand left, I was on the top of a sandbank, an enormous mass of bone-white undead streaming across a hill in front of me. Behind them were black rifts, some so large they seemed to stretch to the moons. The undead ran towards a small settlement of yellowish buildings, round and odd in shape, with pointed horns that reminded me of those on the heads of wanderers. A line of undead stood before the buildings. They threw yellow and red balls at the incoming undead, blasting many into bits, but for each one they ended, dozens exited from the rifts."

Tirela fell silent for a moment, her face confused. "I did not know what I know now… had I known, I would have turned and fled. Instead, I stayed and watched how The Host surged across the undead, defending the town. They ripped them apart, tearing their heads open and ripping out the round orbs I had found. They devoured them… sometimes whole heads at a time, and after they continued beyond the town, all that was left behind were obliterated buildings and unmoving bodies."

Again Tirela fell silent, and her voice was weary and tired when she continued. "I saw this many more times in the time that I traveled the sands. Settlements far bigger than the first, buildings as tall as those we saw of the ancients back there, "and she waved across her shoulder. "None stood a chance...  As time passed, more rifts opened, and smaller groups of the chaos host roamed the sands. If there were a few, I could end them and take their orbs, but eventually, there were too many. I traveled as far as I could until I came across more undead. They traveled towards Bastion, or so they called it. The last safe place. I went with them, not smart enough yet to realize it wouldn't matter."

Tirela stared at the sky, her black eyes blowing from within. "Bastion was incredible, an enormous city of bone with towers stretching to the heavens! Its walls were twenty times as tall as I am now and just as thick. Inside were more undead than I had ever seen, many as powerful... "she turned to Solus, "as powerful as you."

Solus had heard her say the same thing before, and just like the second time, he felt fear. Fear of what she would say now.

"The chaos host came… first a few, then many. At first, the undead of Bastion harvested the orbs, using them to make more powerful undead, but as the chaos host numbers grew, nobody could leave the city. Watching from the walls showed only the chaos undead, a sprawling mass of movement, fighting amongst each other and growing stronger as they did. Then came the time that the giant chaos undead came. They roamed around the city, attacking it's walls, trying to find a weak spot… A group of them did and broke through."

Tirela sounded sad, a far off look in her eyes. "I didn't know much back then, just that many of the undead of the city had helped me and each other. Now they were ripped apart, ended for their orbs. The chaos host flowed into the city, destroying all in their path. I was lucky. Together with a small group of powerful and fast undead, I managed to scale one of the walls. Jagged created enormous walls of bone to hold off the chaos host long enough for us to get through their ranks. He didn't make it." Tirela looked down, seeming to remember something. She continued after a few moments.

"We split up as soon as we made it out, running and running in the hopes of getting away, and alone I ran into the endless sands. The Kats were everywhere, and eventually, they cornered me. They came at me from all sides, and there was no place for me to flee… except through the rift."

Solus let out a breath, and he saw Sig look behind them, far in the distance to where Skulltown should be. He understood what he was thinking about. If a city like Bastion fell, how could Skulltown hold out?

"And then you came here…" Tatjie said with a sigh, her orange eyes gleaming as she stared at Tirela. "I wish you could tell it again."

"No."

Tatjie sighed. "Too bad, I love hearing you tell that story."

Tirela smiled sadly here. "No, I mean, I didn't end up here."

"Wait. What?" Solus stepped forward, looking at her in confusion. "But you came from the rift?"

Tirela laughed, looking at him with an interest that worried him somehow.

"After jumping in the rift, I came to a world without a sun. It was dark, and all I could see was specs of sand blowing around, giving a slight illumination to the world. Rifts covered a landscape ravaged by some major cataclysm. Besides the small clearing, deep crevices lacerated everything, creating a labyrinth all around me. A harsh wind blew always, and as I stood there, I saw Kaots move from many of the small entrances and cracks and jump through rifts. Seeing a group run towards me, I sprinted to another rift, smaller and to the side. Jumping through it, I landed on a black rocky outcrop beside an immense ravine. A large red sun hung to the side, and all I could see was black mountains, jagged and sharp. There were no moons, just stars."

Solus shook his head, confused. "How many rifts did you cross before you came here?"

Tirela looked at him; her orange lips curved, and her black eyes were sparkling. "More than I can remember. I stayed for a long time in some worlds, searching for rifts or other undead, but I never found any. All I found were empty worlds, or worlds filled with chaos undead."

"You found no other cities or towns?" Sig stood beside Solus, staring at her in shock.

Tirela opened her mouth, then sighed and shook her head. "None with undead. All I found were ruins, both ancient and more recent."

"Ruins from ancients?" Solus asked.

"No, I have never seen anything like those. What I found were ruins similar to Bastion. Some build from bone, others from stone, and even a few build from a black, glossy material I have not seen here yet."

"Say… why couldn't you speak when you came here? If you were with the undead in that big city, Bastion?" Derin asked, frowning.

Tirela walked forward, forcing the others to continue on. "I couldn't speak any better when I was in Bastion. According to Jagged, some undead just couldn't speak properly. He said it depended on their drawings, what you call patterns."

"If you enter the same rift you exit, do you return to the same world?" Solus asked, thinking about the undead Duran tossed into the rift.

"Yes, but a rift directly beside might go to an entirely different world… that is, if you can find one."

The others looked at Tirela, who shrugged. "I've been to a few worlds where no matter how far I wandered, I couldn't find another rift. I had to return through the rift I came from and continue my journey."

The others continued asking questions about what the world looked like, but Solus wasn't interested. Instead, he increased his pace so he could walk in relative quiet.

So many worlds… and all empty, he thought.

Fear laced with anger surged through him as he thought about the rifts that were popping up everywhere. Wait, why are there some worlds with only so few rifts? He was about to turn to Tirela when he stopped himself. She probably didn't know. From what he had understood, she wasn't that smart before. Taking a quick look at her, he wondered what the makeshift pattern he had made her did. She had major parts of the Zombie invoker pattern, mixed with something called The Conjurer Initiate. Tirela's looked at him while talking with Derin, and her lips curled in a smile again. Solus frowned, turning his gaze back to the dusty wasteland.

Why does she keep smiling like that? He shook his head, about to call Sig when he noticed something had changed on the horizon to the left. Where there was nothing first, there was now a long stripe. He had seen those things before. Usually, it meant there were mountains or large hills.

Staring at it, he felt the urge to investigate but pushed it down. He had more important things to do, like reach Scathia. Trudging forward, he tried to ignore the constant prattling behind him.

They didn't stop this time, walking forward in the darkness. At first, the stars lit their way, but the light became weaker as they continued onward. When Solus estimated it was the middle of the night, he saw a soft red glow on the horizon to the left, close to where he had seen the line of mountains. Sensing ahead, he felt vibrations and sporadic tremors.

"Sig, do you recall seeing this when you came by here last time?" Solus asked, his voice shattering the silence.

Sig followed his gaze, shaking his smooth black head a few times, the hairs floating around oddly. "No. But because we went to that city, we are now moving towards it from another angle..."

As they moved forward, the red light increased in intensity, while the tremors became noticeable even to the others. Solus finally stopped when a single shock caused a few stones to bounce up and down. What if there was an enormous rift or some undead? His curiosity warred with his common sense and lost.  Removing the stone pack from his back, he handed it to Sig.

"I am going to see what that is. Just keep going forward. I'll find you when I'm done."

"Are you braindead? How are you going to find us?" Tatjie grumbled, glaring at him.

"Remember how I found the Wyrms? I will find you. Just keep stomping like you are now." Solus said, wondering if she was going to stay mad at him and for how long.

Taking a look at Sig, he saw the other was frowning at him. Although he still did as he asked, Solus had noticed that ever since evolving, Sig had started disagreeing more often. "As soon as you can see the city, and I am not back yet, wait."

Sig just nodded, and Solus grinned at him. "Don't worry. I can always just tunnel my way back below ground!" Before anybody could comment more, he turned around and marched towards the red glow, enlarging his steps until he began running. Soon he pounded across the wasteland, leaving a trail of craters and small stone outcrops in his wake.

Seeing the glow intensify, a yellow spot in the middle, he grinned in anticipation. From the rumbling and shaking, he was pretty sure it wasn't a rift.

Finally, something new and interesting! He thought, increasing his speed to his fastest.

Even with his speed, it took a long time for him to get so close that he could see the mountain ridge. By then, the glow had changed to red lines running down the largest of the peaks, while a black cloud billowed up from the top that was lined in a glowing red and orange.

An image popped in his mind, together with a name.

"Volcano!" He rumbled as he slowed down to walk.

There was a long stretch still separating him from the mountains that stretched far to the left and right, like giant crooked fingers.  They had sharp edges that didn't match with the image in his mind of gentle slopes towards flat peaks.

Continue or go back? Although he had an image and name, he had no idea what volcanoes did.

After hesitating for a while longer, he moved forward, speeding up until he was zooming along. The air he breathed had a sharp, tangy quality. Feeling his throat start to hurt, he stopped breathing. As he didn't actually need the air, it was better not to take any risks.

The ground was shaking and rumbling so much now that he wondered how the mountain didn't crack apart. From what he could sense, the ground below the volcano was under immense stress, and when he tried to manipulate the stone below him, he felt immense resistance. He stopped again on a hill, feeling small things strike his skin. A thick column of black smoke surged up from the largest mountain, the red glow creating dancing shadows in it.

In front of him was a thin red stream of slowly moving goo. Lava, he knew, and with it came the knowledge that it was molten rock. Curiously, he stretched out his senses, feeling the chaotic, quick-moving energy inside the molten rock. It wasn't pure. There were metal and other things inside that he could only push a bit. Trying to shape the rock, a glowing red hand rose from the lava as his energy drained so fast he barely stopped in time. As the glowing hand oozed back into the stream, a series of pings came in quick succession.

Gouging his energy, he realized he could make perhaps four of the hands before his entire manafield would be drained. A small outcrop, the first part of the mountain, stood not too far ahead, and he decided to see what was beyond it. Leaping forward, it took him a few bounds to reach the outcrop, which gave a clear view of a small river of lava that ran through a gully.

More lava oozed from the top, a thick stream that flowed downhill and would intersect with the river below the mountain is not too much time. Thin plumes of smoke swirled up from the smaller peaks and from within cracks in the sides of the mountains. A sense of building pressure was emanating from the whole area.

It's dangerous, Solus thought as he took a last look. He wouldn't mind staying here for a while, but he had the feeling the whole place could explode at any moment.

Something bright moved in the corner of his eye, and he jumped back just when an orange ball of crackling energy shot through the air in front of him. Turning to the side, he saw a group of three black stone beings stare at him with burning red eyes. Leaning with their long and thick arms on the ground, they had two curved and cracked horns running down the sides of their heads, as black as the rest of their body. Long thing lines ran across their face and arms, orange light glowing from within. There was no nose or mouth below their oddly square eyes, but a multivoiced whisper came from all around Solus' head.

"Leave. Ours!"

The beings raised their hands, crackling balls of orange energy forming between their four-digit hands.

His mind working in overdrive, Solus knew there was danger here beyond the beings, and he had already decided to leave anyway. Backing up, he was about to turn and run when something struck him in the back. Pain, bright and flashing, caused him to roar in anger. The smooth and small particles in the air blew away from him, and he heard something groan behind him. Turning around, he saw another two of the black beings emerge from a lava stream, while the third lay on it's back. Lava was flowing steadily from dozens of cracks, and the thin stream behind him had grown to cover a large area.

Spreading his senses, he felt three heavy sets of feet trudge towards him, but before he could look, three things smashed into his back, the pain growing to excruciating levels. Howling, he jumped away, far and high, looking behind him to find a dozen orange balls fly after him. More and more of the black beings trudged and climbed from lava. The pain in his back didn't abate. Instead, it grew more intense, and with it, Solus anger flared up.

Landing on the ground, precariously close to a lava stream, he shaped the rock below him, raising a circular pillar with him in the middle straight up. The heated rock was difficult to control, and his mana levels plummeted. Without looking, he rummaged in this belt container, taking out a wyrm orb. The tower shook and rumbled, and he felt the stone crack as a torrent of energy balls struck its sides. Trying to strengthen the weakening stone, he drew more mana from the mana-orb, and more stone surged from below. Tendrils wrapped around the tower, thicker at the base, and slowly the tower stopped shaking. The world that seemed to sway left and right steadied itself, and Solus fell on his back, exhausted. With a screech, he surged back up, his aching back aflame like the lava.

Dust fell through his fingers, and he felt the mana-orb pulverize. Grabbing another two, he tried to remember how many he took. Five, six? He didn't know anymore.

As he felt the thudding in his chest calm, a heavy blow rocked to the tower, and a snapping sound came from halfway. Sliding off the edge, Solus felt more than saw the tower snap in half and fall after him. An enormous black thing, similar to the others, but ten times larger and with a gaping maw filled with glowing lava, stood beside the tower. It struck the still-standing piece with its enormous fists.

A thin layer of lava covered the ground all around the tower, and as he fell towards it, Solus drew deep on his mana-field. The earth below the lava groaned as a new platform surged out, just in time for Solus to crash into it. Drops of lava still on the platform caused an odd sensation on his skin. Not pain, but not pleasant either. Looking around in a frenzy, he saw dozens of the smaller things rush him while the large monstrosity grabbed a crumbled part of the tower.

Seeing what it planned, Solus cursed, scrambling up and jumping towards where the wasteland should be. Ahead of him was a sea of lava, small vents of black smog rising from the few cracks of earth that still remained. He hadn't gone in this far, had he? Staring further ahead using his senses, he felt the wasteland, far beyond. The lava shivered softly as it flowed away.

Creating another platform in the lava, Solus used it to jump forward again. Something howled through the air, hitting him midjump, and panicking, he created another platform. It had barely formed when two black hands gripped its sides, and a black creature drew itself up.

Seeing the thing, Solus roared as he fell on the platform. The force of his voice shoved the thing back into the lava. Taking a quick looking around, he saw smaller and larger heads move his way. He needed a way out! Feeling the stone below him, he shaped a tunnel straight down. Jumping inside, he closed it above him, just as lava poured on top. Shoving the scalding stone aside was easier than creating a pillar, and after a few moments, he stopped.

He was deep inside earth now, and he felt it shudder and groan all around him. The hot stone caused even his thick grey skin to hurt, and the pain from his back had yet to leave. His mana was low, and rummaging in his pouch, he took out the last three mana-orbs. So few… he cursed and stuffed two back. Looking at the other one, he remembered the filled container he had left with Sig and slammed a fist on the ground. A small pit below cracked and tore, as if it was going to grow larger. Feeling the sand, stone, and other materials, he realized the stone in this ground was brittle and weak. Feeling a headache form, he reformed the floor. Then he began drawing in the stone particles, shoving away the other elements, until a thick, whole cover formed around the room he was in. Drawing the mana from the orb, he finished right when it turned to dust.

Hanging his head down, he looked around the glowing green room. The powerful forces outside continued building up, and he felt the earth shake for as far as his senses stretched.

Great…

He put his weary head on the ground as he lay on his side.

First, rest.

He barely finished the thoughts when his mind drifted off.