Chapter 41: Paroxysm
Before we set off again, we did a proper check of all our equipment. It was supposedly pretty standard, at least for professionals, that travelers would periodically just do a complete check of all their gear to make sure nothing had happened to anything. It made sense, and the longer break we'd taken here definitely made space for it. Thankfully, an hour or two later, we found that nothing had been broken or come undone. Given the horrible humidity of the marsh, it would have been easy for something to happen to some kind of binding or clasp or whatever.
The only notable 'event' was a scattering of clouts gathering back west, which led for a decent amount of downtime for the rest of the day. A crackling fire, warm food, and physical rest did a great deal for everyone's moods. We were all chatting again, as well. I'd had an info-gathering session with Daniel already, by the time three different groups had been set aside. I was sitting with Kelessta and Rachel, while a deep discussion was going on between Basrith, Thenishale, and the Countess. Daniel was off to the side, scribbling in one of his numerous notebooks, and Arla was napping next to the fire.
"Truly? You can't discriminate because of sex?" Kelessta was asking, eyes wide.
I made a so-so gesture at her. "Well, not legally, and not in every nation or culture. We of the quote-unquote developed world liked to pretend that we were without prejudice, but you'd still find a lot. Sex, race, gender, age, sexuality, basically anything people can't control. It is, or I guess is supposed to be, legally protected, but culture is strong and slow to change." Rachel put on a grimace but nodded, agreeing with my words.
Kelessta still shook her head. "It's still remarkable that you've got it written into law. I wish it were so here."
"How bad is it here? I had hoped to escape that sort of thing with a second chance at life," Rachel asked, frowning.
She snorted. "Women are generally treated as incompetent. Even nobles with actual power are often treated as lesser by supposed peers," she spat, looking over at Evelyn. "Her grace is one of cleverest people I know, yet she has to hide behind her son to get anything done."
Well, that was a crock of shit. "Well, that's a crock of shit. Especially in this world where you've got magic and skills and stuff that make up the physical differences. Hell," I paused, gesturing at the huge woman before me, "you've probably got three times the muscle of the average human man in your tail alone. What the hell does that sort of shit even do? Ugh." Another thing to add to the list below 'eliminate slavery.' "If even half the champions are women, this place is gonna go through a lot of change."
"It would definitely be welcomed, by some people. You can escape some of that by adventuring; the only thing we're judged on, at least professionally, is our effectiveness. It's dangerous work, but I at least have the freedom to not have to pretend to be something I am not." Kelessta said it with a mote of pride. I smiled. At least there was some sort of progress here.
She continued, though, pushing the topic forward. "You said several things, though. Age, gender, sexuality?" Kelessta shook her head. "I can't say that I would hire an old person for difficult, physical work, or a child for difficult administration... what?" She paused.
I realized I'd quickly put an extremely disgusted look on my face. "I wouldn't hire a child for shit. They should be learning in school and having fun, not fucking working," I said, unable to keep the displeased look off my face. "That's another big one. You can't hire people below certain ages for jobs, period."
She blinked a moment. "But... how does one support a family? Idle hands are still hands that need fed."
"I guess that's where the advantage of technology comes in," I said, trailing off. How to describe it?
"Our level of technological progress allowed for a great increase in the availability of food and shelter. For nearly a century, it was possible to feed a family of two adults and multiple children on just the parents' wages," Rachel put forward. Succinct, I liked it.
Our new friend had caught the unpleasant part, though. "Was possible? What happened?"
"Greed," I said simply. "Those in power decided they didn't like sharing, so shit was getting worse. It was still relatively okay by the time I died, but anyone with half a braincell could see what was happening."
Kelessta snorted out a laugh, which induced displeased looks from both Rachel and me. "I apologize," she said. "To be honest, I was starting to feel extremely inadequate when compared to just how idyllic you were making it sound."
I couched my look. "That's fair, I guess. We've got a lot of weird parts, too, stuff that's just laterally interesting."
The two of us (with sparse commentary and questioning from Rachel) spent the next few hours chatting about odd things from earth, briefly going through the concepts of memes, of odd cultural components, and giving me a chance to learn a little more about the mundane parts of Avare. Somewhere between medieval and renaissance Europe could be used to describe Aldon and Orleia, and the fact that they had apparently been bickering on and off for centuries caused me to ping them as analogues for Britain and France. Technologically, they got a lot done with magic that was surprising.
Obviously, there was the Web that we'd talked about, but they actually had some pretty basic autonomous carriages and really primitive flying vessels. They cost a ton to maintain, and really couldn't be used without heavy magical inputs, but it was cool to see things that could match Earth capabilities, at least a little bit. Maybe a big flying platform was more like a hot-air balloon than a VTOL, but that was right now. Magic probably had a lot more potential there than anyone currently could figure out. It made me wonder how things were going to change with us Champions here, with our modern knowledge. Given Nathan, Rachel and I were all plucked from the 21st century, I had to assume the others had been as well. I'd refused to share, but how long did we have before guns started showing up? Decades? Years? Months?
I'm certain there were a lot of physical differences in our worlds as well. The more Kelessta spoke of terrain and such, the more it seemed to me that magic was integral to its very foundation. She described places like the 'Kestrian Wilds' where stones and crystals rose from the earth, simply drifting through the air aimlessly inside its borders. 'The Vortex' was strange to me as well, a huge whirlpool between the two continents that sucked anything that got too close in, so violent that it made traveling between the continents almost impossible for much of history. Hell, even the marsh we were in was a little bit illogical. It was murky, but still oddly clean, given the water didn't flow well. I was assured that Serpent Lake, the lake into which the Akh-Bhor flowed, was pristine and vibrant. So much so that impossibly powerful and large creatures made the place their home, preventing Molora from expanding toward it yet.
Magic had to account for these creatures, as well. Obviously, the things like undead and ghosts had to be magic, but the huge things that were described to me were ridiculous. The size that dragons could reach should prevent them from flying, but did no such thing. They had various elemental breaths, ranging from your stereotypical fire, to strange additions like 'sharp air,' violent scythes that could cut like knives.
Magical creatures were part-and-parcel of a fantasy world, but now, being within one... I wanted to tear apart its mechanics. Supposedly, the universe ran on intent, an actual fundamental force. What did that mean for non-sapient, or non-sentient creatures? Rocks? Dirt? It was all so fascinating. I could manifest a spike of electrical energy, powerful enough to hurt a healthy creature almost my size, just from willing it. Why? Why? I just wanted to keep asking why. I felt like a kid again, in some ways, entranced by the world around me that held so many mysteries.
Though she lacked the sheer curiosity I'd been displaying, Kelessta seemed to share in my joy of figuring out how things worked. She'd had a mentor, early on after she left her home, who had taught her the basics and left pretty soon after she proved that she wanted to know more than he could teach her. Apparently the idea of "magical textbooks" was ridiculous outside centers of learning, and I was extremely disappointed to hear that libraries were almost as rare as schools were.
As all nice conversations had to end sometime, we eventually set up for the night, preparing to head out again. My eyes found that storm gathering in the west again, noting that it had grown over the passing hours. Basrith assured me the weather would not make it out here, and I had to trust his judgement on that. I, of course, was no expert on weather systems to begin with, let alone ones here in a strange marsh, on a strange continent, on a strange world.
I wonder when it won't be strange anymore? When it won't be 'their world' but 'ours?' Thoughts of home, and what 'home' meant, kept me company as I drifted off, glad to be one of the ones allowed a full night of sleep that night.
The next day heralded a moderate shower. True to what I'd been told, we could clearly see the storm shifting south, away from us, but we'd caught a drizzle that stuck with us the entire day of travel. It didn't seem to bother the inhabitants of the marsh, not the muckstriders, not the birds that landed on them, and certainly not the goddess-damned insects. Though they weren't my patron, I did send off brief prayers to The Mountain and The Hunter, whichever one governed the little bastards, I asked that they stay away. Of course, I got no response, and our group continued to be harassed by the things all damn day.
We took several breaks, making sure to stay safe, and moved around suspected marsh drake territory several times, but we never really stopped. The drizzle made things miserable, but there wasn't anything we could really do about it, moving as we were. It was still better to path forward and get through all this as fast as possible.
Late in the day, as the sun began its final descent, we began to keep an eye out for stopping points. It was all hands on deck, since we hadn't spotted anything good in at least the last hour. Our eyes roamed wide, and even though it wasn't urgent yet, there was an undercurrent of anxiety that ran through all of us. Basrith chewed on a claw, Daniel fussed with his notes to make sure the waterproof seals were holding, and Arla had a perpetual scowl. We continued on, still failing to find a place worthy of stopping, no particular patch of solid ground that could help. This far in, trees were extremely sparse, and we hadn't seen one since the morning.
As the sun neared the horizon, I felt a presence close in beside me.
"Nervous?"
I took a glance at the sekiss beside me, her bearing keeping her above eye level for me. Her eyes were scattered, never stopping moving.
"Yeah," I said with a grimace. "I don't relish the idea of having to mock something up, or sacrificing some supplies to create some fake terrain." The idea had been discussed, and it was looking more and more likely that it'd be the only solution for us. "That extra month of travel is sounding more and more like it would have been the better option."
Kelessta nodded. "I don't like this place. It's too... close, if that makes sense. Despite the open air, I feel trapped."
Odd, that she who was having the easiest time of things, would have this kind of issue. "Agoraphobia?" I asked.
"What's that?"
"Ah, the fear of, like, feeling trapped, I think. Big, open spaces can do that."
She shrugged, a distracting motion that caught my eyes. She wasn't built, of course, being a mage, but no one who traveled around like this for a living could get away with not building some nice muscle.
I flicked my eyes back up and saw a spot of amusement in her expression, at war with her anxiety. I appear to have been caught.
"Sorry," I said.
She waved it off. "Yes, I think that makes sense. I was always uncomfortable out in the dunes, and prefer places like forests, or places with smaller sightlines." Kelessta looked out to the southwest, where the storm part of this weather system was passing us by. "I just like having actual options, I guess."
"Nothing wrong with that."
We waited a beat, both still keeping an eye out for a stopping place. I could tell Arla out front was flagging, and would likely make the decision to stay put before long.
"So," the woman beside me started, and I found her looking at me. I cocked my head in response. "I didn't fail to miss more parts of your culture, before. Discrimination, from this morning." I nodded. "You also mentioned sexuality."
Okay, hold on, where was this going? If I had a chance with this serpentine beauty, I wasn't going to be useless about it. "Ask what you're going to ask, please. I'm not going to get offended by anything." I spread my arms. "Open book, I swear."
A little giggle escaped her. "Another way your culture is so different. Even discussing this sort of thing is taboo," she said, but looked straight at me. "Are you a homosexual? I am not blind, I do see your questing eyes at me often."
I had to let out a full laugh. The question was so straightforward, so ridiculous, in this anxiety-ridden moment, that it broke clear through my filter. "I know I said I wouldn't be offended, but damn, that is clear-cut. Yeah, uh, I'm a 'homosexual.' My culture, we call it 'gay,' or 'lesbian,' if it's specifically regarding women. I'm sorry if I've made you uncomfortable."
She looked away from me for a minute, the growing dark casting odd shadows across us. Her hat kept her face out of the rain, but it also now shrouded her expression. "It has, a little, but..."
I raised an eyebrow. "But?"
"I think, perhaps, it is not fully unwelcome, from you," she said, and even in the night, I could see a bit of red creeping up her neck. It took all I had not to jump for joy right there.
"Well, ah," I started, looking for a followup.
Unfortunately for me, before I could find my next words, the world exploded.
Water splashed out in all directions in front of us, and I watched as Arla was flung several meters into the air and landed flat on her front in the water nearby. Not even wasting a moment, Basrith reached out a hand and shot a healing spell at her, causing her body to jolt in response. There wasn't any time for me or the others to pay attention to that, though, as in front of us, a huge lizard creature reared up out of the water and roared at such a volume that I had to flinch back at its power.
My mind raced. Marsh drakes should be the size of a large gator, not the monster that rose up in front of us. Where the fuck had it hidden that bulk? The water was too shallow for it. Doesn't matter. I rushed forward, thankfully not needing to draw my weapon due to the fact that I was already using it as a walking stick. I managed to get three steps past Basrith before I heard Evelyn's voice cry out.
"What in the gods' names is that?"
I risked a glance over, and she was pointing out a good few meters from the side of the drake. Some sort of energy was gathering there, black mist pouring out from a red smear in the air.
"A giant gator and a hole in the air, what's next, a dragon?!" I screamed the words out, not pausing. Rachel was rushing forward, but I got there first. "Spark!" I had to hope the electricity wouldn't cause issues. I was nervous about using my Shock Strike, and trying Spark first seemed like a good idea. I felt the magic pour through my staff and into the drake where I had poked it in the leg while ducking under a swipe it took at me. Ruddy green scales covered its body, proving that its coloration had at least something to do with how it'd avoided our detection. Four powerful tree trunks of legs ended in wicked claws that proved far more versatile than the gators that I wanted to compare this thing to. Its mouth was more what I'd expected, though. A powerful jaw ringed with twin sets of knifelike teeth ripped at us, and all was chaos.
I had to Dash backwards after my Spark, realizing that it had done minimal damage to it and it was definitely angry. I barely managed to avoid its thick tail, tipped in a vicious thagomizer that reminded me more of an executioner's axe than a morningstar. It all couldn't be fun and games; as I repositioned, I noticed the odd 'hole' in the air had been joined by several more, and the rain was picking up. Whatever was going on, it was happening now, and right here. Why? If I knew that, I probably wouldn't be stuck out here in it.
The drake let out another shattering roar, forcing us back slightly, but its attention was caught momentarily as one of those holes opened up right over its tail. The roar of anger suddenly became a yelp of pain as it skittered away as gracefully as a semi-truck sized lizard could, nursing an odd wound on the tail. I couldn't see well, but the reddish hue seemed to be sticking to it, like oil or something. That certainly boded well.
The rest of the adventurers poured forward to try to deal with the lizard, communication beginning to open. "What the fuck is the red stuff?" I shouted, shooting off a Mana Bolt at the drake's head, hoping to at least distract it with my weak blows.
"No fucking idea!" Arla responded, having gotten back up and now harrying the drake as best she could. I could see a nasty welt already starting to show on her face.
Great. Unknown magical garbage, a huge drake, and we were on the backfoot, and tired. Couldn't get better. Basrith and Kelessta were having better luck than us martials, though. The icicles that the sekiss through weren't doing a ton, but those ice spears of hers could lodge in a decent amount into its flesh. The kanekk's barriers kept Thenishale, Arla, and me from getting pasted by its huge limbs when we couldn't keep out of its way. Rachel, of course, was just fine. Somehow, she was managing to keep her footing in the horrid marsh terrain.
Out of the corner of my eye, again, I saw the odd effect in the air growing. The different spots were coalescing together, and I took advantage of one Dash to the side to look more inside.
It was horrendously, awfully beautiful. An almost glowing red tint covered a rend in the air in front of us, skittering with crimson lightning around the hole. Ashen mist poured from the distortion, covering marshwater with it and casting everything nearby in a sanguine glow that was strongly contrasting the waning sunlight. With the hole in reality - because what else could it even be - growing and creaking outward, one could now see beyond it into a realm of storm. Not like the one that had passed us by, not like the ones I ever had known on earth, but a rumbling, terrifying cacophony of lights and wonder and terror. Sheets of red bolts powered between the ashen clouds that hovered past the window into some other realm, making for a truly incredible sight. I couldn't look at it for too long, though, as my head began to pound with something between a headache and horrible awe.
Besides, there was still the marsh drake attacking our group. My momentary lapse hadn't made much difference, but that was mostly because none of us were really able to do much to the beast other than Kelessta. This weird red incursion into our space had done more damage than the icy spears, the spot where it had touched the large beast causing the flesh now to burble and throb. No time to be disgusted, though. Even though the drake was a problem, my mind was caught on the other threat.
"We have to run! Whatever the fuck that is is dangerous!" I yelled out, trying to find some ground to retreat to.
"Obviously!" Arla's voice called back to me. "But this drake would run us down!"
What could we do? If we stayed, this red shit would probably kill us. If we ran, the drake would eat us. A catch-22, a rock and a hard place. Three minutes prior I'd been discussing something exhilarating and now we were looking death in the teeth. I watched in horror as one of Basrith's barriers failed and a claw caught Thenishale in the side, skidding him over between Kelessta and me. He wasn't moving. I gritted my teeth and slogged over there, determined to get the elf set up on the mage's back. There was no time. "If we stay, we die! If we run, we maybe die! We need to go!"
I got to Kelessta, who saw what I was doing between casts of her magic. I could tell she was flagging already, those ice spears had to be mana intensive. She allowed me to put Thenishale on her back, and taking a moment, I put a hand on her bulk to steady myself. I had to help them get out of the fight, distract the drake somehow. I had -
The world exploded again, but this time in a flash of maddening red glow and lightning. The growing rift suddenly stretched open in all directions, as if it had been held back by some elastic force. I heard a cry of pain from someone, followed by the agonized roar of the drake. The whole of existence in front of me narrowed to a point, and the three of us jumped back just in time to not be bisected by whatever force this was. My eyes caught one final issue - Thenishale was about to fall off. We hadn't secured him. If I didn't interpose myself...
I didn't think. I jumped forward and Parried the unconscious swordsman backwards against Kelessta, which put me right in the path of the glow. I pulled backwards, but not fully in time. Agony pierced through my extremity as the light appeared over my left hand, and I could feel my flesh rebelling against something foreign, something enormous, something truly ancient. I yanked it back, but the searing pain was accompanied by the sight of a horrendously burnt hand. It steamed, and I couldn't help the scream of pain as I finished my retreat.
It wasn't enough. It was going to spread through us all, and kill us painfully. We would be done here, just weeks after coming to this place. What the fuck was this? Why here?
Why me?
As if in defiance of answering me, an orange cupped barrier sprang into existence around Kelessta and me. I shot my eyes over and spied Basrith, barely escaping the light himself, as he did several swift hand movements. He caught my look, gritted his teeth, and a moment later, the barrier encased us completely, moments before we were flung into the air. Between the red rift and the orange of his magic, it was hard to see, but I spotted two more of the orbs flying into the air, one where Basrith had been, and hopefully the other containing the rest of our companions. The rift grew, and grew, and grew, and almost maliciously seemed to branch out toward the three spots of magic. I hoped our kanekk friend's barriers would do the trick.
The red met with orange, and for a moment, there was almost a lack of sound, before lightning surged through an odd tendril of power straight into the orb. Thankfully, it didn't pierce the defensive magic, but when force was exerted upon an object, physics had things to say. With impossible force, our little shelter was flung at high speed away from our fellows. I have no idea how fast it was, but I was able to cling my ruined hand to my chest as g-forces overwhelmed my consciousness.
"Ow." Someone was hitting my head. My eyes shot open and I lifted my torso up to see what was going on, startling the bird that had been pecking at my forehead. I blinked my eyes as memories came crashing back, along with the pain of my hand that I was a little too afraid to check just yet. It was day, sometime late in the morning.
To the west was an open plain, with chest-high grasses and an enormous variety of birds that landed on sparse trees. To the south, a smattering of woods played with the edges of the field, fighting over bits of terrain and laid uncertainty where one biome ended and the other began. To the west, however, was a horrendous sight. A meter or two from me, Kelessta and Thenishale laid unconscious on the grass, though I could see their breathing. The elf had a nasty welt on his side though, his armor there ruined. In the distance, the grassland lowered and became the marsh we'd trekked through. Even further, though, was a dome, impossibly large and looming, of otherworldly red light. Within its confines, that never-ending dance of lightning and ash played with abandon. As if a pimple in the terrain, a wound of anger and some esoteric meaning.
I stared in the distance at the sight until Kelessta began to stir, getting her bearings just like I had before also having her attention captured by the sight.
"...What. Ugh." My voice cracked, and I reached down, extremely grateful that I had recently grabbed a new waterskin. After I washed some of the crags down, I tested my throat, and started again. "What the actual, motherfucking shit is that, Kelessta? What happened?" It had been so sudden. So violent and extreme. I shivered despite the warm air.
She turned to me, haunted eyes taking me in. Her hat was nearby, and she picked it up and held it to her chest, crumpling it against her. Her look was wild and unfocused, scared. "I have no idea. None at all."
Well. Shit.