NBB2 - The Chaos Rifts - chapter 12

"I think it's getting slower!" Derin said from his position, sprawled across a chair Solus made for him.

Sumil and Tatjie sat beside him, while Domain was grumbling behind them. The orange-skinned undead, Tirela, Domain called her, was constantly stroking his skin. Her face spread in a wide smile.

"You are right." Solus nodded. He had noticed it a few moments before when he found that Galg was getting more time to hover between attacks.

The shadows grew longer as the sun began lowering behind the hill.

"About time too… How long can it bloody take to absorb an orb? Did that cloud fall asleep or something?" Tatjie asked with a yawn.

Nobody replied, and they just stared at the quickly slowing Crusdon.

A little while later, the Crusdon tottered, one of its claws striking the ground instead of almost grabbing Galg. The skeleton appeared beside it, the first time since it had started dodging around.

"Finally! This was horrible. Horrible! I am NEVER doing this again!" Galg's voice rippled around their heads while he dodged another flailed attack. "Do you know how boring this is?" He said again.

Derin moaned, placing his head in his hands. "It was so nice when it was quiet…"

Solus got up and walked towards the Crusdon that had stopped flailing about. Halfway to it, the enormous undead crab collapsed on the ground. Moving forward, Solus looked at the front. Hidden inside a small fold, where a row of red eyes that seemed out of proportion compared to the enormous body. They glowed softly from inside, but as Solus stared at them, the glow faded.

A final shudder came, and Solus nodded. Through the rock below the Crusdon, he could feel vibrations coming from inside the body. The flesh on the legs rippled, and small cracks appeared on the shell.

"Solus, move back." Sig's voice, weak and stuttering, came from all around him, and Solus quickly jumped away. The urgency and weariness in the voice weren't what he had expected. Was something wrong?

With a flash, an enormous dark grey cloud enveloped the remains of the Crusdon. Billowing outwards and inwards, streaks, like tendrils, stretched up and out. Solus jumped away as one, the size of his leg, struck through the air he was standing at before.

"Sig?"

Getting no reply, Solus stomped a step closer, raising his voice.

" Sig!?"

The powerful shockwave of his voice blew a bit of the outside cloud inward, but it reformed almost instantly.

"I think he is evolving. After absorbing that much energy, he probably has no other choice." Derin muttered from behind.

"Evolving into what? Is he going to play cloud in the sky?" Galg laughed as he pointed at the dark sky.

Solus blinked. Cloud? How does he… He turned to the skeleton, who was just looking up, giggling loudly.

"Don't say anything." Domain's voice whispered beside his head, so soft Solus almost didn't understand him.  Turning to the Darkhunter AI who was standing to the side, staring at him, he saw the familiar blue glow in its eyes. Domain was calculating something.

"Later," came a second whisper.

He nodded, turning his gaze back to the cloud. His mind was spinning. There were no clouds, and only a few undead even knew about the concept. How did Galg know? Thinking back to what Galg had done and said over the last day, he remembered something the other had said right before the fight. Crabs. Solus tried to recall if he had mentioned them, but he wasn't sure.

The cloud began coalescing into a more solid-state as the outside turned hard and glossy. A grey light shone from within, and dark swirling clouds could be seen churning around faster and faster.

"Why do I get the idea we get to wait again?" Tatjie said with a groan as she fell back down on her chair.

Solus sighed, taking a quick peek at his status window.

> Time remaining: one day, three hours and twenty-seven minutes

Taking a deep breath, he turned to Sumil. "Take care of things here. I need to take care of something. When Sig wakes, find out what he can do."

"Yes, Solus."

Seeing Sumil turn her full attention on the shiny barrier, Solus turned to Domain. "Let's go." Without waiting for a response. He turned and trotted up the hill, quickly increasing his speed. Soft padding from behind told him Domain was following him.

"Hey! Where are you going? Don't just le-" Galg's sputtering was interrupted by a loud bang, followed by some mutters from Derin.

Solus ignored it and rushed up the hill and onto the cracked and rocky top. The hilltop ended in a steep ravine, and beyond it was the wasteland, wide and empty.

"The increases swayed you, didn't they?" Domain said, and Solus wondered if the AI was gloating. Could they even gloat? Seeing the glowing blue eyes, he bet they could.

Solus just nodded as he spread his senses to look for another Wyrm. "Yes. But I want you to think of a faster way."

"Faster? The only faster way would be to do something even more dangerous."

Solus detected the telltale tremors of another Wyrm, much further than he'd like. With a grunt, he looked at Domain. "As long as it's fast."

As he jumped down the ravine towards the wasteland, he thought he heard Domain laugh.

--

Blearily blinking ahead, Solus dragged himself forward. One of his arms was mangled, the almost impenetrable grey skin gouged and bleeding. His green hair was covered in white goo, and he had the greatest difficulty in seeing clearly.

"You could have stopped after the first time." Domain said, trotting next to him.

Solus slowly turned his head and stared at the AI with burning eyes. "You're the one who suggested I do another…"

"True. But you could have stopped!"

Looking ahead, Solus blinked a few times until he blurrily saw the hills in the distance. With this speed, it would cost him all night to get there. For a second, the insides of the wyrms mouths flashed in front of his eyes as the teeth mercilessly managed him, throwing him back in forth as they tried to penetrate him. He shivered. This had better be worth it.

A loud ping came from his status-window, something that had happened a few times before. He wasn't sure why, but as he forced his weary legs one step after the other, he looked at the two wyrm orbs in his hands.

"Not yet," Domain said as if he could read his mind.

Solus growled, the sound so much weaker than normal that it almost sounded like a feral undead growl.

"If we come across more Kaots..." he muttered.

"You will have plenty of time to absorb the orbs then, while I keep them occupied."

Solus didn't reply, struggling onward.

Hours later, when he had almost keeled over from exhaustion twice, and all he could see was a blurry outline, he heard Domain say something.

"...enough."

He only caught the last word, and as he turned to look at the other, wondering if it was time to absorb the orbs. He saw a dark blur shoot towards him, and tried to doge, but fell flat on his face. The two orbs got yanked from his hands. Confused, he looked up and stared into the toothy maw of Domain, just in time to see him swallow the two orbs.

"As I said, this should be enough. Not even you can do something now… you really are too gullible, you know that?"

Hearing the mockery in the other's voice, Solus tried to push himself up, knowing something was very, very wrong. His arm didn't respond.

Domain looked at him and sighed as he shook his head. "Such a great vessel. I would have loved to take it and truly show what it is capable of."

Vessel? Solus glared up, raising a hand to grab the other.

Domain just stepped back. "Drys would never have trusted me…"

"Lied?" Solus croaked. The single word cost him an enormous effort.

"Lied? O no, you silly undead. I didn't lie. What you did is definitely the fastest way to increase your attributes. However, it also leaves you incredibly weak, which is exactly what I wanted."

Domain began circling him, his canine muzzle drawn in a nasty grin. "You seemed pretty intelligent at first, but I guess if you give someone what they want…"

Solus knew the other was going to attack, and he had no idea what would happen. Trying to draw in power, he felt a minuscule trickle come from the ground below. He needed time!

"Why?"

"Because after untold millennia alone, I have finally figured something out. I don't want to be anybody's tool anymore!"

Domain streaked forward, his jaws snapping loudly.

Solus felt something pull at his neck, but it didn't penetrate his skin. He resisted the urge to grab the AI. It wouldn't help. What he needed was some energy, even only a little. Another blow, followed by a scratch and a bite, and soon a whirlwind of attacks crashed down on him. It didn't hurt him, and he felt the energy trickle continue.

After a while, Domain stopped, standing aside while heavily breathing.

"Curse this weak infernal shell! No matter. You can't go anywhere!" The AI turned away, his blurry shape quickly disappearing from Solus' vision. He only heard him laugh softly.

"I wonder what shape that incorporeal undead took! With his body, I can blow this resilient form of yours up from the inside. That is… if something else doesn't eat you first!"

Solus felt the other move away, but even his stone-senses were dulled, and within moments all he heard and felt was the silent wasteland around him. Anger and fear filled him, anger at himself for trusting the AI and fear that Domain would harm the others. Lying there, the energy entering him seemed almost insignificant. With this speed, he would need hours before he could even move, let alone fight!

A familiar, low, and rumbling voice echoed through his head, and his consciousness flagged.

"STILLLLL WEEAAAAKK!"

"Not so loud!" Solus groaned inside his head, but he got no reply. After a few moments, he wondered if the thing from deep in the earth had left again. Then he sensed a wave of energy from below, partially like when he drained an orb, but also similar to his stone sense. It prodded and poked his body a few times.

"TOOOO YOUNGGGG! GROWWW STRONGGGERRRRRR" The voice became louder at the end, and as the last syllables reverberated in his head, Solus lost his last grip on his consciousness.

His last thought was, why the thing even showed up if it just made things worse.

--

"Do you think he will wake up soon? This is boring!"

"Be quiet, and be happy you are still in one piece!"

Solus felt like he was covered under a layer of stone, pushing down on him. His body felt empty, almost void of energy, while his left arm hurt. But, he also knew he could move. Raising his hand, he rubbed his eyes that stung like crazy.

"He is awake!" Derin's voice pierced through the veil shrouding his mind. How is he here? He wanted to sit up, but it felt as if something was pushing him back. A string of pings came from his status-window. They lasted for a few seconds, increasing the pain in his head.

"Could you get up? It's not safe here!" Galg's voice shouted around his head.

Moaning, he managed to get his elbows under his body and push himself up, his left arm not as cooperative as his right. Opening his eyes was almost as hard, and when he looked up, he was glad it was still dark.

Derin and Sumil stood in front of him. The blue undead had a look of worry on his face, but Solus was more distracted by the damage they had. Sumil was missing most of the armor plates covering her chest, the blue energy between her ribcage blazing intensely and hurting his eyes. Quickly looking away, he saw that Terin was missing the part of one arm below the elbow.

"What happened?" He croaked.

"Why don't you tell us?! What did you do to Domain?" Galg shouted.

Turning his head, Solus saw the simple white skeleton stand to the side, while a slender, completely black shape with long floating grey hair stood beside him.

"Sig?"

"Solus! What happened?" Sigs voice sounded hazy as if something was wrong with his throat.

Solus felt his annoyance grow. He asked that first, why didn't anybody answer him!?

"Domain came back without you. When we asked where you were, he didn't answer, but his mana-field exploded out, covering the black thing with Sig inside." Sumil said, placing a hand on her chest, where the plates had been. "Before we could do anything, the entire thing blew up, leaving a crater the size of Skulltown. We were all blown away, and when we woke up, Domain was lying on the ground, and Tatjie and that orange chaos undead were gone."

Solus dropped on his back, blinking at the sky. Did he take over one of those two? It was the only logical solution. "Did you find any traces of them?"

"None," Sumil said, while Derin beside her shook his head.

"Now it's your turn! What did you do?" Galg said, and Solus wished he could shut the other up.

"Domain tricked me," Solus said, having no interest to elaborate.

"Quiet, I need to think." His mind was a jumble, and his emotions just as much. As he tried to focus, he knew they were in trouble. Domain could have gone everywhere. Back to Skulltown, ahead to Scathia, or anywhere in the wasteland. The last two didn't bother him as much. He would deal with that when he had the chance, but if he went back to Skulltown. Although he agreed with Domain that Drys would be harder to trick, he also knew it was hard to be careful of something you didn't know was there. Someone had to go back and warn Drys, someone strong enough to get past any trouble on the way. But that didn't help him with his current problem. He needed a mana-orb!

"Do any of you have a mana-orb with you?"

Derin shook his head, a look of sadness covering his sharp-edged face. "We used them after we woke up, or we would not have gotten here this fast…"

"Speak for yourself!" Galg said in annoyance.

"Sig, can you get a wyrm's mana-orb?" Solus asked after a moment.

"Probably," Sig said after a moment.

"Alright, go and find one, as fast as you can!"

Derin cleared his throat, looking worried. "Is that smart? What if Domain is lurking about?"

"Is there anybody else who can get a wyrm orb?" Solus asked, staring at the other, who shook his head.

Feeling his energy reservoirs, so perilously low that he knew any exertion would probably make him lose consciousness again, Solus gently focused on the rock below him. The headache increased to a throbbing, but a small tunnel opened up beside him.

"Hide in there. Sig, when you come back, phase into the room and hand me the orb!"

Seeing his old minion nod his head, he struggled forward, dragging himself into the tunnel. His left arm felt tingling and painful, and he looked at it. The gash from the wyrm looked ugly and bloated, a purple coloration covering the surrounding grey skin. Need to do something about that… he thought, unsure what that would even be.  As soon as his upper body was inside the tunnel, he slid down a short distance before rolling into a small room. Derin and Sumil followed him in, but Galg's voice just echoed down.

"I am not going under the ground like some Sigmiton! You just do whatever. I am going back to Skulltown."

Solus groaned. Of all the ones he could send, Galg was the fastest but also the least reliable. Hearing the other mutter and curse a bit, he finally sighed and raised his voice.

"Fine, go back and tell Drys what happened. Tell him that if either an odd orange undead or Tatjie shows up that he needs to lock them up! If you do well, I'll get you a reward when I get back."

"A reward? Will you even be able to come back? Here I thought you were the most powerful undead around. Bah, just look at you!"

Something rustled above ground, almost as if innumerable little stones slid around.

"Hey! Calm down! No need for this! I'll do it; I'll do it!"

The sound disappeared, and Solus frowned. Sig must have done something, and he wished he knew what.

"You'd better come back!" Galg shouted before a soft crack came, and Solus felt the tremors from the earth where the undead had stood disappear.

"Do you think that was wise?" Sumil asked, and Solus blinked. The skeleton almost never doubted him, always doing as he asked.

"No. But how did you want to stop him?"

Sumil didn't answer, and Solus painfully closed the entrance, blocking the last of the light. Then he drifted off, his tired mind wandering all over the place. After a few moments, he realized something.

"Status!" He shouted in his mind, and a blue box appeared in front of his normal status info. It disappeared a few moments after he had read it.

> Warning energy levels dangerously low!

> Temporarily halting evolution calculations

> ….

> Mana levels below threshold. Going in low-energy modus to prevent malfunction.

> .............

> …….

> Energy levels sufficient, rebooting

> Mana regeneration barely sufficient, halt evolution calculations until levels sufficient

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Name: Os Solus

Age: 1

Sex: male

Race: Demi stone elemental

Type: mutation

Class: Stone shaper

Strength: 46/48

Constitution: 39/39

Dexterity: 22/24

Endurance: 83/90

Intelligence: 33/34

Wisdom: 20/23

Charisma: 9/16

Manafield: 14000/14000

Physical density: 19000/19000

Skills: 2

Inscriptions: 3/7

Mana generation: ERROR ANOMALOUS DRAIN DETECTED 1 [32]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Solus' mood went from annoyed to happy as he saw the almost maxed out attributes. Although it had cost him greatly, almost everything, at least it wasn't all for nothing. He wasn't happy with the weird error beside his mana generation, however. The message didn't mention it.

As he lay on his back, pondering what to do and what the AI was planning, he quickly lost track of time.

A soft tapping above woke him, and he realized he had almost fallen asleep. Scanning up, his energy still barely enough to sense more than a general vibration as something moved above ground. The tapping lasted for a short time before moving off to the side.

What was that? He barely finished the thought when a dark cloud oozed through the ceiling. It immediately turned into Sig, who dropped on the ground, holding two large mana-orbs in his hands.

Wondering why the undead had brought two instead of coming back earlier, he didn't complain when they were put in his hands. Energy flooded through the palms of his hands and into his body, but as it did, he also felt a large portion of it coalesce around the painful spot in his arm. It disappeared, but the pain lessened. As more and more energy poured from the two orbs, Solus realized only a single orb would never have been enough. Half of the energy disappeared into his arm before the pain disappeared, and he heard a ping from his status window.

Feeling his energy partially replenished, he ceased draining the orbs. Staring at their dull, partially crumbling form, he knew there was only a little energy in them. He also knew he might need it later. He shoved them inside the pockets of his leg armor, deciding before he headed to Scathia he would hunt a dozen or more wyrms.

"Better?" Derin asked from the back of the cave where he sat on his haunches.

Solus rose up, and an opening appeared above his head. He jumped up, trying to use as little energy as possible, and landed just outside the hole. Sig followed almost immediately.

"There was something above us just before you came?" Solus asked, staring at Sig. It was the first time he could inspect the now fully black undead with grey hair and burning red eyes. Tall and sleek, he had an incredibly solid feeling to him. Odd, Solus thought. For someone who could turn into a cloud, he had expected the other to be airy.

"There was a group of those Darkhunters running around. They sniffled around her for a while but heard something in the hills and ran off." Sig said.

"So, how did it go?" Solus asked as Derin and Sumil climbed out of the hole he had made.

Sig's grey eyebrows lowered, and he gazed off into the wasteland. "There are more of those chaos undead around. A small group was swarming a wyrm…" Sig shook his head and looked at Solus. "They behaved like Sigmitons! Without thought, or planning they just clawed and bit at the wyrm, almost bringing it down."

Solus imagined a horde of very powerful sigmitons running around the wasteland, ending wyrms. "And the second one?" He asked as he wondered what else he had to worry about.

"I came across it on the way back. It was wounded and moving slowly. I ended it and grabbed it's mana-orb."

Derin and Sumil moved beside them, and Solus wondered what they should do now.

Sumil turned to him, her eyes blazing blue. "Solus, I don't trust Galg. I think someone else should go back to warn Drys."

It was quiet, as he thought for a while. He agreed with her, but that meant he had to send Sig. He was the only one who could get back without too much trouble. But Sig was the only one who knew the route to Scathia's city, and he knew what to expect. Besides, if he could end a wyrm as easy as that, he would be of immense help.

The idea of heading back to Skulltown and bringing more undead played through his mind. Then he recalled how long it had taken to get this far. If he went back, get more undead, it would take even longer! If those chaos undead were already moving around the wasteland, killing wyrms, how much time did they have? He stared at Sig when Sumil stepped forward.

"I can go. I don't need rest, and if I stick to the hills, there shouldn't be a problem. If Domain took Tatjie's body, he would have to rest. I'll be faster than him."

Solus listened quietly before nodding. She was right; she could just run all day and night. He had forgotten about that for a moment. "Alright! Head back, don't stop for anything." Sumil turned around and rushed towards the side of the hills, cutting across a stretch of the wasteland.

Watching her go, Solus frowned. He felt like he was forgetting something. Thinking back to Domain, he sent his voice after Sumil. "If you see Domain, don't go anywhere near him."

"Yes, Solus."

"Will we be ok with just the three of us?" Derin muttered, staring after Sumil with a look of envy.

"I don't know-" A soft cry, barely audible, echoed from the hills from which they had come.

Everybody turned to the direction it had come from, and Solus frowned. A second later, it came again, a soft cry for help.

Without waiting, Solus jumped forward, leaving a pit behind him. Derin cried out as he was blasted back across the wasteland. A loud whoosh was followed by a large black cloud with two red eyes that flew in the air beside him.

Shoving the questions about Sig's new size to the back of his head, Solus landed on a rocky outcrop on the hill and jumped further, shattering the outcrop. He easily shot above the top of the hill and looked down in the direction of the shout.

A crater filled with shattered rock stood out beside the place they had fought the Crusdon, and even the rock he had placed across the entrance was cracked and torn.

Half a dozen shapes were dodging between the boulders, earth and ripped stone snapping at something hidden behind a rock. Landing halfway on the ragged downward slope, Solus saw Sig fly in front of him.

"Sig, end those Shadowhunters!"

The black cloud that was Sig spread out even further across the hill, rolling down and across the crater. A loud howl came from one of the Darkhunters as it saw Sig approach.

They scattered to all sides, and three got away while Sig enveloped the others. A single high pitched scream followed, and then the cloud coalesced into Sigs normal body. There was nothing left of the three shapes.

Landing beside Sig, Solus stared into the small crack in the earth. And he felt his hairs rise.

"About time, you showed up. We've been stuck here for ages!" Tatjie, only one arm and her head sticking out from under a pile of rock, glared at him. The orange undead, Tirela, crouched beside her, a confused look on her face.

If Domain didn't take them over… than where is he? Solus thought as worry bubbled up.