NBB2 - The Chaos Rifts - chapter 10

Solus shifted his gaze from the ground to the small clump of gold in his hand. With intense focus, he made it wobble and stretch until it was long again, then he turned it back into a small clump. He repeated the exercise as they walked, switching his attention to his path and the gold while ignoring Derin that constantly hovered around him. A soft ping, the first in a while, made Solus sigh, and he turned the gold back into a bracelet around his wrist. He needed time to focus on it, not just while he was walking. It cost too much of his attention to look at where he was going so he wouldn't walk into a chasm.

The hills behind them cast long shadows across the valley they moved through, and when Solus stepped back into the light, he looked across his shoulder. The sun would disappear behind the hill soon. According to Sig, tomorrow they would exit the hills, and then it would be a long trip towards Scathia's city.

The valley floor ended in a tall, crumbling cliff, a small, narrow path leading up one side.

"We are going to stop there for the night," Solus said, as he pointed at the cliff wall. It wasn't that he was tired, but he wanted to practice through the night. Besides, he looked at the party that was jogging and running to keep up with him. The fleshy undead were all breathing raggedly, even Domain tottering his head drooped down as he ran forward. Only Sumil and Galg were fine, although the latter was running far to the back.

Solus stared at the lightning imbued skeleton; a wave of annoyance coursed through him. That one just couldn't shut up, and everything it said made him want to throttle it until it shut up.

"I saw you look! Can I come and walk with the strong in at the front again?!"

Galg's voice came like a snap from all around his head, and Solus groaned. What was Drys thinking, sending this one along?

"No! Stay there until we reach the cliffside." Solus shot back, using his disembodied voice so he wouldn't accidentally blast everyone away again.

"Sure, because why shouldn't I walk with you… it's not like I evolved three times or anything! It's just-" The skeleton's voice cut off when a stone tendril grew from the ground and slapped it across the chest, hurtling it back.

Nobody even looked up from the sound. It wasn't the first time, nor just Solus, who silenced Galg this way. The first time Solus had seen Tatjie shut Galg up by knocking him down, he had been stunned. But after a few hours, it had made sense.

He watched the skeleton scramble back up, unharmed, and he shook his head in wonder as he quickened his pace. Galg's twig-like bones were incredibly durable, and although he had smacked it around hard, it didn't show any damage.

Sprinting ahead of the others, Solus looked at the cliff, feeling his annoyance take the upper hand again. Taking a deep breath, he focused on the stone, and a large section of the cliff ahead of him rippled, dust and stones clattering to the ground. The section smoothed out, like the walls surrounding Skulltown. At the bottom, a large entrance appeared as a rumbling came from inside the cliff. Slowly, as if drawn by an invisible hand, an inscription formed around the door, shaped like two trees that bend together and connected to carry up a skull. Slightly above the door and to its sides, two more openings appeared, smaller and without the adornments.

As he worked, Solus' annoyance receded, and tranquil happiness spread. Staring at the temporary shelter he had made, he smiled. The more elaborate it was what he made, the better he felt in the end.

"Are you planning to live here?" Domain dropped on the ground beside him, speaking between ragged breaths.

Solus grinned, his mood only increasing. "Don't like it? You can sleep outside." Not waiting for the reply, he stepped through the arch, examining the large hollowed-out room. In the middle was a thick, solid table with a few benches around it, while two circular staircases at either side led up to a balcony that circled the room. The balcony was divided into six rooms of different sizes, the largest one straight above the entrance and the only one with windows.

Turning to the others that dragged themselves inside, Solus pointed up. "Find a room to rest. We continue when the sun rises!"

Derin, Tatjie, and Sig barely responded, just slogging towards him with weary faces.

Sumil entered and took a look around before she nodded at Solus. "You are improving again!"

A feeling of content rushed through Solus, and he grinned at Sumil before turning to a staircase. "I am going to rest, don't bother me unless it's important!"

The room he had made for himself was tall and spacious, with a large stone bed dominating the middle. The entrance had a large stone slab beside it to act as a door. Closing it, he lay down on the stone slab, feeling it crack in some weak areas. Status!

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

Name: Os Solus

Age: 1

Sex: male

Race: Demi stone elemental

Type: mutation

Class: Stone shaper

Strength: 41/48

Constitution: 34/39

Dexterity: 20/24

Endurance: 69/90

Intelligence: 29/34

Wisdom: 20/23

Charisma: 9/16

Manafield: 13978/14000

Physical density: 17100/19000

Skills: 2

Inscriptions: 3/7

Mana generation: 32

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

His intelligence and Manafield should be easily ready for another evolution and calling up the possible evolution patterns, he nodded. It wouldn't be long now, and he could hardly wait to see what options he would have.

> Potential evolutions pending … ...

> Unusual mutation detected in current inscription, calculating possible paths…

> Time remaining: two days, one hour and forty-seven minutes

That meant he needed to somehow increase his values. He took a look at charisma and shrugged, well, almost all of his values.

He removed a mana-orb from the pouch attached to his waist and held it up. It barely fit in his hand, and he recognized it as one from a Wyrm. There weren't that many of those, and most went to Drys so he could quickly ready an undead for evolution.

Solus focused, and the orb flashes as energy trickled through his hand and into his body. The entire orb would be barely enough to refill his energy field, and he only had two more, but it would have to do. He could always hunt wyrms on the way across the wasteland.

A soft muttering came from the main room beyond his door. Sig, Derin, and Tatjie were talking about their experiences hunting across the wasteland. Listening for a bit, Solus heard that none of the others had ever gone this way. Traveling through the hills was a lot more time consuming then across the open wasteland. Only Sig had been here, and he was retelling his story of tracking the traces of the army back to its origins.

Solus blocked them out and focused his attention on the gold. He planned to continue changing it until he either maxed his intelligence or was out of energy.

--

Hours later, when it was quiet in the temporary shelter, Solus got off the bed and stretched. He was tired, the energy in his mana-field almost gone. Two of the manaorbs lay grey and empty beside the bed, but it was worth it. He only needed one more intelligence to max it, and his manafield was already maxed.

Around his wrist was an intricate bracelet of gold, thin strands connecting like a mesh. It wasn't very strong, and he could rip it far too easily, but for now, he would leave it. Besides, his energy was so low that he couldn't change it back without using the last orb. That would have to wait for the morning.

Besides, he needed to try something else. So far, all his evolutions were based on his physical strength, constitution, and endurance, and he wasn't going to evolve without maxing those. This meant he needed to increase his physical density, strength, and endurance. The constitution would follow from those. Physical density would be the easiest; he just had to find more mana-orbs and absorb them, which would help him in more ways than just that.

Moving to the window, he grimaced as he focused some energy and increased the window's size. He really was drained. Outside, the combination of moonlight and stone that glowed in a dim green outlining in his eyes made it easy enough to see.

He jumped down the window, landing on his hands and feet to try and reduce the noise he would make. He partially succeeded, but the ground still shook a bit as a heavy thud resounded across the valley floor.

"Where are you going?"

Solus turned to Domain, who lay in the shadow of an outcrop, staring at the moon.

"I need to increase my strength, and I know only one good way of doing that."

Domain cocked it's head to the side, his gaze remaining unwavering on the moon. "Lift weights?"

Solus blinked, staring at the other with a stunned look. "I was thinking about finding a quiet part and just hitting the side of the cliff…"

Domain's dry, throaty chuckle was followed by the large Shadowhunter rising and stretching with a satisfied groan. "There are better ways than hitting things to become stronger." He trotted towards Solus and stared up.

Solus wondered for just a moment if he was going to regret this, and then he shrugged. "How?"

"Like I said, pushing weights would work, although I have no idea where to find something heavy enough for you to push. To physically struggle against something almost as strong as you would work, but… again… where to find something like that?"

A sensation that Solus hadn't felt a lot before flushed through him for a moment. Flattery… he thought, images of the concept floating through his mind. It was a hard thing to grasp, he thought. It wasn't exactly bad, but it could lead to bad things, it seemed.

"So…?" Solus asked, drawing out the word.

"Not just you, but all of us will have to become stronger before we reach Scathia, and for that, we need many more mana-orbs. This means we are going to catch two birds with one stone."

Solus gaped at the other as the concept of small flying things floated through his mind. "They could fly, like Drys?" He muttered.

"..." Domain stared at him in stunned silence before nodding. "Yes... like Drys…"

The Darkhunter sprinted forward, across the plain towards the side of the hill. From what Solus could see, it was in the exact direction of the Wasteland.

"Keep up!"

Grinning, Solus ambled forward, slowly picking up speed. If he shot forward like the other, he would wake up the others and create a small crater. It didn't matter. Within moments his speed was increasing, and soon he was jumping short distances with each leap, blurring forward, his body angled almost horizontal across the ground. Every time he hit the ground, a pit formed below his feet, cracks running around while stone shot about.

He passed Domain, who increased his speed, all four limbs moving so fast it seemed like a blur. Solus expected that he would overtake the other and leave it far behind, but the other managed to keep up.

Watching the other dash beside him, Solus blinked. Domain had been completely exhausted before, hadn't it? Or had the AI been acting? He really needed to keep a better eye on Domain. It was far too tricky, and he still wasn't sure if it was even remotely trustworthy.

Solus rushed up one hill, down another, and across a second within the time it would cost the others to cross a single valley. Cresting the next one, he saw the familiar grey terrain of the Wasteland stretched out in front of him. He slowed down, noting he had finally left Domain behind. Turning around to see where the AI was, he saw the quadruped rush down the hill; its movements far more jittery and sluggish than when they had started. When it finally reached him, Solus snorted.

Perhaps he didn't act before, he thought with a grin.

Domain's long black tongue hung limply from its mouth. Dragging itself beside Solus, it crumpled down in a heavily breathing heap of black muscle and limbs.

"So, what do we do here?"

Domain didn't respond but closed its eyes and lay down. A second later, it's disembodied voice sounded beside Solus' head, while Domain's Darkhunter form tried to catch its breath.

"Find us a Wyrm." Even the disembodied voice sounded oddly winded.

Curious how he would increase his strength with a wyrm, Solus sensed around the wasteland, searching for the telltale tremors that signaled the passing of one of the giant wyrms. It didn't take him too long to locate one, crawling parallel to them.

Pointing his finger in the direction, Solus wondered Domain was going to even get there.

"There's one over there."

Domain struggled up and moved towards him. "Alright. Pick me up, and carry me there."

Solus sighed. He had almost expected as much. Not that it mattered, he thought as he picked up the lit black body and threw it across his shoulder. Holding it in place with one arm, he leaped forward, leaving behind a thunderous boom and a cracked pit, debris raining down in it.

He thought he heard a cry from Domain, but he didn't care. The wind rushed along his face as he began leaping forward, leaving a line of craters in his wake. Before too long, he saw the dust trail of the Wyrm as he was falling back down.

As he crossed the last bit, he slowed down until he was a few hundred meters away from the massive Wyrm. He dropped Domains mumbling shape to the ground, inspecting the Wyrm. It was a large one. Not as big as the one he created his tower off but still bigger than most he had seen. To his shock, he saw partially healed wounds across its flank.

"Some of those chaos undead attacked it!" he shouted to be heard above the roaring from the moving Wyrm.

Domain got up and stared at him for a second before turning his gaze on the Wyrm.

"There is nothing we can do about that right now. Instead, let's get started. To increase your strength, you need to struggle."

Solus quietly stood beside the other, inspecting the worm. What did the AI want him to do? He could easily kill one…

Domain looked up, the sides of its wide mouth curling up as a vicious glitter showed in its eyes. It disappeared so fast, Solus almost thought he had made a mistake.

"Get in front of it and stay still until it bites you. Then keep its jaws open."

Solus stared at Domain, his mouth open. Was this stupid AI serious?

"What?"

Domain laughed softly, turning his attention to the Wyrm. "That thing has a massive bite force. If you can keep his mouth from closing on you, this should greatly increase your strength."

As the Wyrm moved further away, Solus struggled. He knew it probably wouldn't end him even if the Wyrm would swallow him, but the prospect wasn't very enticing. But he did want to increase his attributes, and if this was the fastest way. He finally nodded, deciding that he would just destroy the Wyrm and follow his original plan of pounding some mountain if it turned dangerous.

"Alright. Stay here." He leaped forward, the force of his jump accidentally blasting Domain across the wasteland. Hearing the AI curse as it slid away, Solus gritted his teeth. He should really stop jumping without thinking.

The side of the Wyrm had many more, older looking scars. The freshest ones were already closing, and small grey plates were growing back along the sides. Sprinting along the Wyrm that drew a track through the wasteland, Solus stared at it's gaping maw.

It could probably swallow some of the smaller buildings in Skulltown with a single bite, and the multiple rows of curved teeth gleamed in the moonlight. Wounds lined the inside of the grey, tendril covered mouth. A single long tongue with a vicious mouth on the top hovered in the back of the throat, while three shorter ones, cut off halfway, lay unmoving on the grey flesh, lolling about from the movement of the Wyrm.

Had it tried eating the chaos undead? Solus wasn't sure, but it made sense. Taking a look at the teeth, he wondered if his almost impervious skin would prove strong enough to withstand them.

Sprinting ahead of the Wyrm, he waited as the roaring sound grew closer. The Wyrm had spotted him, and i's large, unwieldy body shivered and shook as it tried to turn away.

Is it afraid…? Solus could barely believe what he saw. From what he knew, the wyrms had never shown any fear. They just mindlessly gouged paths through the wasteland, eating anything in their path.

Moving sideways, in the path of the Wyrm, he ran forward and jumped in the mouth of the Wyrm, just behind the lower rows of teeth. With a gurgling sound, the tongue shot forward, the smaller mouth snapping at his head. He grabbed it just below the spongy jaw and held it in place with some effort. The roaring from the inside of the mouth increased, as an abysmal odor, together with thick white drops, spewed from the Wyrm's throat and across his chest and face. A burning sensation accompanied a hissing sound, but before he could do anything about it, the Wyrm's mouth slammed closed.

Solus barely raised his free hand, the gum behind the top row of teeth slamming into it like a collapsing building. With a clenched jaw and bulging muscles, he barely held the mouth open, but as he did, he felt the pressure building steadily. He needed to have both hands free! A trickle of fear appeared in his mind as he felt the Wyrm's tongue struggles increase while his other arm shook under the strain. It drowned out the pinging sound from his status.

Sensing around for rock, the only he found was below the Wyrm, and with his energy level still low, he wouldn't be able to get it all the way here. Not with the wyrm moving. Groaning from the strain, he squeezed harder, trying to remove one of the problems. The flesh of the tongue compressed under his fingers, but it barely caused any damage. The pressure from above increased, and he felt his arm buckle. Instinctively he released the tongue and raised his second arm to hold the mouth at bay.

The tongue's mouth hissed and shot towards him, biting into his shoulder just below the neck. A few of the teeth pierced his thick hide like needles, and pain shot through him. Simultaneously, the pressure from the mouth increased again, and with shaking legs and shivering all over, Solus finally lost his calm. He vaguely heard another ping as he opened his mouth and let loose a thunderous roar. The sides of the mouth billowed out, saliva and debris blasted out of the mouth behind him and back down the throat. The tongue dropped away, rolling limply on the ground while the wyrms forward movement slowed. The pressure from above lessened considerably, and Solus shoved the mouth up as he jumped forward between the jaws and away from the teeth. Behind him, the mouth slammed shut, but he didn't care. He reached for the base of the tongue with both hands where it thickened and connected to the back of the throat and tore at it with his fingers. The thick flesh stretched under the force, and a keening sound came from the throat. Roaring in fury, he tore and pulled until the side ripped open with a wet sound. White pungent liquid poured from the wound, hissing where it touched his hands. With a few more jerks, Solus ripped the tongues off and hurtled them further into the darkness of the throat. Then he jumped after it.

The throat became narrower until Solus couldn't go forward. Looking around, he found no other way out. With a growl, he slammed his arm up to his elbow into the side of the Wyrm that keened again. Ignoring everything, Solus struck again, pummeling a cavity into the side of the Wyrm. White blood, pus, and meat flung around him as he rammed himself a way out of the Wyrm.

When the cavity was deeper than he was tall, the meat changed to a thicker grey, and then his hand punctured through a layer of thick grey plates. Ripping the edges, he tore an opening through and jumped out of the Wyrm's side. Landing on the ground, his legs gave out, and he fell forward, catching himself on his hands.

Staring at the softly glowing rock covered in a thin layer of dust and debris, Solus knew one thing. He was not going to do this again! Behind him, the keening wyrm slowly moved away, seeming to struggle, staggering on occasion. Solus ground his teeth and grabbed at his pouch. Holding the remaining mana-sphere, he drained it so fast it pulverized into grey flakes that fell from his fist, as a rush of energy pushed away the weary feeling.

Struggling to his feet, he turned to the fleeing Wyrm and focused. A tendril of stone shot from the wasteland floor and pierced the wound he had just left from, shooting out of the other side. The Wyrm froze with a shudder, the momentum of its body snapping the tendril from the ground.

Striding forward, Solus saw Domain stand to the side, staring at him. Turning his attention on the Wyrm, Solus jumped on its head and stomped his feet, creating an indent of destroyed scales and meat.

Moments later, he jumped back out, carrying a new, shining mana-orb in his hands. It was bigger than the ones he had drained and should last him a bit. Moving towards Domain, he glared at it until the Darkhunter backed up a few steps.

"Did it work?" The AI asked, his voice an octave higher than usual.

"I am heading back. I'll see you there," Solus snarled before sprinting away. That stupid AI could find its own way back, see if he cared.

The return trip cost him longer, but he still arrived before dawn. As he jumped back into his temporary room, he closed the windows behind him, covering them with a layer of stone.

Wearily he lay down on the bed. He couldn't even be bothered to check his status-window. It could wait till the morning. Closing his eyes, he thought he heard a softly muttered question from behind his door, but he ignored it and let the sleep drown everything out.