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NBB2: The chaos rifts - chapter 4
🕑 Added 2020-10-18 07:25:52 +0000 UTCStaring at the undead pooling in front of the bright red rip in the sky, Solus felt the thing in his chest start to beat again. What if they were all as strong as the first few? Seeing the pursuing undead gain ground on the party from Skulltown, he shook himself and jumped forward. Sprinting as fast as he could, he hoped that he could intercept the pursuers in time.
Keeping an eye on those still standing in front of the portal, he saw they had noticed his movement and began running his way. His anxiety faded when he noticed how much slower than him they ran. When he had covered half the distance to the others, the Blackguard spotted him and changed course, now going straight for him.
Solus stopped when he realized they would reach him before being overtaken and looked around to see where the other undead had gone. They had split into two groups and were effectively blocking the routes into the wasteland. From their speed, he knew he could probably make it through without a problem, but the others would never make it.
"We are going back to Uran!" He roared, pointing at the white bone forest from which they had just come. The Blackguard's emotionless voice came almost immediately in reply.
"Are you sure that it is safer there? Can't you hide us underground?"
Blinking, Solus considered it for a moment but then shook his head. "I could, but we have no way of knowing if those undead have similar abilities. Besides, we can't let them run around. If that portal keeps spitting out more, they could eventually make it to Skulltown. Who knows how strong some of them are?" Halfway in his reply, the others reached him, and he fell in line with the Blackguard.
"Kreel, can you talk to Uran and tell him what is going on? He needs to get his army ready and meet us inside the forest.
The crowned skeleton replied after a few moments. "The boss said that you aren't welcome in the forest. If you come in, he will rip you apart together with anything else that dares disturb him."
Solus snorted. "Tell him to stop being a fool and remind him who got him out from under the ground. And with whom is he going to practice all those stupid abilities of his next time?"
Kreel was silent, and this time it lasted for seconds. Solus wondered what that old yellow fool was telling him.
"He says you can come in."
Solus almost stumbled. Had it taken that long to say this? "Fine." He looked at the Blackguard. "When this starts, keep the others away from the fighting, and guard them."
"Yes, Solus."
Looking across his shoulder, Solus saw they weren't moving fast enough. The pursuing undead would catch them before they reached the forest. He furrowed his thick green eyebrows, and after a few breaths, a loud rumbling came from behind them. The earth split, creating a chasm, just wide enough that he hoped it would slow them down. It wasn't too wide or deep because he didn't want them to stop chasing; he needed them to follow him to the forest so he could destroy them with Uran's help.
This isn't good; he muttered when he saw the undead leaping across the nine-meter wide boundary without a hitch. He grumbled and focused again, this time creating a thick carpet of sharp stone spikes. They covered the entire distance between him and the pursuers, and this time he saw them stumble, and some even fall over. A few didn't seem bothered, mostly skeletal looking undead, but the rest was moving at a fraction of their previous pace.
The distractions had been enough, though, and the group made it to the edge of the forest. Uran came trudging from deep within, a pair of massive skeletons with crowns on their skulls similar to Kreel. Uran moved towards them, stopping when he was an arm's length from Solus.
"Let's deal with these guys, and after that, you are to head back to Skulltown. I don't want to see your ugly mug here for a while!" He bent forward a bit, "got it?"
Solus almost hit the skeleton's ugly mug but resisted the temptation and nodded. "Sure. Now let's see how strong these things are!" He swirled around, a snarl on his face, and the desire to rip something limb from limb.
The first of the incoming undead were only a hundred or so meters away from them, while the rest was still trying to cross the spiked grounds. Casting a glance at the Blackguard, Solus was relieved when he got a small nod. Grinning from ear to ear, he ran towards the incoming skeletons, Uran right behind him.
The scattered skeletal undead saw them heading their way and began slowing down before coming to a full stop. They barely had a moment to wonder what they should do when Solus reached them. A few meters before them, he summoned stone from the ground, packing it thickly around himself. Within moments he looked more like a stone giant, a head or two taller than he had before. Without stopping, he slammed into stunned undead.
He had thought they would probably jump out of the way and had attached long clubs to his arms. Getting ready to strike them before they could dodge, he crushed one below a well-aimed strike. Weak? Uncertain, he summoned some stone containers and captured six of the ten undead. Only four dodged, but before they could get far, Uran rushed in, grabbing two around the neck. Without restraint, he savagely bit one in the neck, gnawing its head off in less than a second. He spat the thing out before grabbing the second one in two hands and ripping its head off.
Uran roared, causing a circle of dust to blast away from him, and he ran after the two remaining ones that were fleeing back to the portal. Solus ignored the big skeleton, instead looked at the ones he had captured. They were knocking against the sides of their prisons, and one managed to create cracks in the stone. He thickened that one's layer until he barely heard it resist inside. Using stone hands, he began piling the square stone containers into a neat stack.
Content, he ran after Uran, who was halfway to the portal. You're too slow, Uran! Dropping the stone armor, he began using the rock in the ground to propel him forward. He left a dusty debris-filled trail in his wake as he quickly caught up to Uran.
The other undead blocking the entrances to the wasteland were looking at the situation and were backing away. When they saw how fast Solus was, many fled into the wasteland, alone and in small groups.
Feeling his skin crawl, Solus tried capturing them into containers, but they were too far, and he only managed to catch one who had been lingering. We can't let them get away... Uncertain where the idea came from, Solus felt sure that it would be bad.
"We have to capture them before they disappear!" He howled, slowing down and looking over his shoulder at Uran.
"We can't capture them all! Let's just destroy that portal before more come. We can go hunt those things after!"
Solus was surprised to hear Uran say something intelligent for once. He slowed down, and before he reached the portal, Uran caught up.
"Now what?" Uran grumbled, eyeing the portal. After a second, he raised his hand, and a thick ball of bone formed on his hand. Weighing it thoughtfully, he tossed it at the portal. It disappeared inside without a ripple, and nothing happened. "Why don't you go inside and look where it leads?"
Solus shook his head. As if! "No. Why don't you try?"
Uran didn't respond, and the two walked around the portal, looking at it from every side. It was as thin as Solu's hand from the side. The other side was identical to the one they had seen, black and without any gleam.
Sensing some tremors in the ground, Solus turned to the forest to see a group of a hundred skeletons run their way. At the edge of the forest, he saw his group, the Blackguard in front, stared at the small army. Seeing the blackguard stare at him, he shook his head, hoping the other could see over that distance. Luckily he got a nod, and they moved further away.
Turning to Uran, Solus frowned. "What are you up to?"
Uran spat out a laugh before pointing at the group. "Those are a few of my average minions. I am going to send a few through and tell them to look around and come back right away.
Solus' frown deepened, but he kept silent, waiting for the others. When they were a hundred meters away, a thud came from behind, and Solus whirled around, just in time to see a skeletal undead scramble up and look around. He jumped forward, attempting to grab the other, but he was stunned to see it change into a small cloud of bone fragments. His hand was stuck in the middle, and he felt the bones pelt his skin as if trying to rip him open.
"That is fun!" Uran roared, before jumping forward and sticking his hand in next to Solus'. As soon as he did, the bones began swirling around in erratic patterns, and then most of the cloud of fragments rushed off with a speed Solus had never seen before. A few seconds later, it disappeared into the distance, leaving a small amount whirling around Uran's hand.
The large yellow skeleton did something with his hand, and all of a sudden, the fragments coalesced into a dark grey skeletal hand that fell to the ground. Uran shook his head and stomped on it, crushing it into the ground. Then he turned to his followers who were a short distance away, their burning green eye sockets staring at their leader.
"You! Jump in there!" Uran pointed at a random skeleton, indicating it should jump into the portal. When it didn't act immediately, Uran surged forward, grabbed the skeleton, and unceremoniously brought him to the portal. "Go in, look around, and come back. Don't do anything else!" Then Uran shoved him forward, into the portal. The skeleton disappeared without a sound, and Solus frowned, getting ready for anything.
The wind blew softly around him and time passed. Uran grumbled beside him, his patience thin. Just when he turned to the rest of the quietly waiting skeletons, a skeleton came through the portal. It was the same skeleton, but it was missing an arm and had burn wounds all over its frame.
"What did you see? Speakup!" Uran closed in, his face roaring around them.
An inaudible whisper came, and Solus didn't catch it. Neither did Uran, who growled. "What was that?" The skeleton shook its head, using its head to bash into its own skull. After a moment, another whisper came but louder this time.
"Clouds of yellow gas, all around. When they touched me, I started burning! They stretched incredibly high into a sky with three green moons!" The skeleton toppled over, trying to catch itself with its remaining arm, but the mutilated appendage snapped, splinters flying everywhere.
Seeing the skeleton about to crash into the ground, Solus summoned stone in an attempt to catch it. He needed more answers! His stone hand only partially formed when the skeleton hit the ground, and all of its ribs snapped. Its skull broke off its neck, rolling to the side. Long cracks formed across it and the burning eye sockets flashed once before fading.
"He didn't even see if there were more undead around!" Uran stamped onto the ground before turning to the remaining group. "You co..." He stopped mid-sentence, shaking his skull and stamping his foot again, deepening the small crater. "No use. Why don't you go in? Perhaps that pudgy flesh of yours will hold out longer?"
Solus barely heard what was said, staring at the portal, a plan starting to form in his mind. Things needed to pass through, right? What if he just covered the entire entrance with stones? That way, anything that tried to come through would be stuck inside the portal! The longer he thought about it, the better it seemed and stepped back, waving with his hand. "Get out of the way. I am going to cover the portal."
He didn't bother looking if Uran would comply but began searching deep in the earth. Right below them was a massive amount of rock, solid and hard, and with a grin, he began summoning it towards him. Around the portal, the dry earth began to crack and ripple, and as a mass of grey stone began growing up and around the black portal. Within moments a thick, solid layer of rock was causing everyone to step back from it continuously until they were standing in front of a small hill. It towered over them, casting a long shadow towards the forest.
That should do. Stepping back, Solus looked at Uran, who was eyeing the new hill, muttering to himself. "I could have done this myself, with bone. That would have been stronger!"
He focused on Solus and pointed away from the forest. "Fine. You helped, now get lost, and take those ungrateful sacks of flesh with you." Uran's eye sockets began flaring up, and Solus sighed inwardly. The ancient fool's patience had run thin, and it was time to leave. Turning around, he projected his voice at the Blackguard. "We are leaving. Try, and keep that skeleton out of sight."
"Yes, Solus." The reply was almost instant, and the party from Skulltown began running towards him. Walking away slowly, Solus looked at Uran. "If more portals open up, send a messenger. We don't need more undead around here, trying to take control."
"We won't need your help. But if you need help in Skulltown, you can send someone to beg for my help!" The skeleton barked a loud short laugh and turned to his minions. "You guys, get the boneshapers here and create a fort around this ugly hill."
Solus heard him give more orders but was paying more attention to his incoming followers. The Blackguard reached him, falling in step with him while the rest followed close behind. Solus was about to sigh in relief when he heard a bellow from behind him.
"You thieving rotting bag of flesh, give me back my minion!"
"Run!" Solus turned as the others rushed forward, and he saw Uran walk forward. "He is my payment for that beautiful hill I gave you!" he shot at Uran.
"Payment? PAYMENT? For that pile of-" The ancient skeleton got no further, the ground below his feet in a hundred-meter diameter crumbled, and he disappeared with a yelp.
Focusing, Solus caused the edges to grow towards each other before running after his party roaring. "Kreel, tell Uran that I look forward to our next meeting!"
--
The trip back to Skulltown was long and arduous. Solus had to make sure none of the undead from the portal were following him, but the slow pace was annoying him immensely. The slow speed at which the rest traveled made it seem especially endless, and when they finally reached the hills, Solus had enough.
He turned toward the Blackguard, who was usually walking closeby. "I am heading back, there is nobody behind us, and if there is anybody in the hills, I will find them and clear them out."
"Yes, Solus.-"
Getting the feeling the Blackguard wanted to say more, Solus hesitated before frowning. "What?"
"Perhaps it would be better if you stay until we reach the city. While you were gone there, have been reports about undead disappearing in the hills."
Solus blinked, feeling annoyance bubble up. "Why didn't you tell me before?"
"There was no need. Drys said not to disturb you yet until we got back."
Groaning, Solus stared at the sky, resisting the urge to scream. "We will go back together."
Halfway through into the hills, Solus was stamping along a rocky trail, kicking the occasional stone to relieve his restlessness. The others were noisily moving behind him, the Blackguard speaking quietly with the red-eyed skeleton.
Thinking about what he would do back in Skulltown, Solus was distracted by a minute tremor in the ground. He stopped, focusing on his surroundings. It hadn't been a rock, he knew that much, but what was it. A second later, it came again, from the top of one of the hills he had just passed. He turned around in a rush, looking up at the hills in time to see a dark shadow disappear behind a rock. Scrunching, keeping his eyes locked on the hill, he saw a dozen shadows move between the rocks for cover.
"We've got incoming!" he whispered or tried to. His voice was a deep rumbling like boulders rolling down a hill. The others froze, looking around. As soon as they did, the shadows rushed towards them, darting between rocks, and Solus finally got a good look.
He recognized them immediately. Long and slender, with too many legs and moving fast and agile; they had once stalked him and Norg in the bone forest. Darkhunters, that's what the undead in the city called them. How did these things get so close? A deep frown covered his forehead as he focused. Stone tendrils shot from the stones and rocks, grasping for the quick-moving shapes.
Within seconds, half of the beasts were wrapped in small cocoons of stone, roaring as they struggled to get loose. Between Solus' party and them was a ten-meter area filled with long bone tendrils, swishing and waving around. The slaggers stopped at the border of the area and were pacing around, snarling and growling.
Solus kept his attention on the ones behind the swirling mass of stone; his concentration stretched thin. He had never controlled this many different things at the same time, and although the drain on his manafield wasn't that bad, he did feel a headache growing.
One of the beasts rushed forward, trying to dodge through the tendrils, but got snatched with ease. The others backed off even further before stalking back into the hills. They disappeared across the crest, leaving the others behind.
Solus released the moving tendrils, and they dropped to the ground, shattering into a thousand pieces. Only those that held a dark hunter captured remained, and curious Solus moved towards the closest one. The Blackguard followed him while the rest stayed some distance away.
"What are these things?" The Blackguard kneeled next to the snarling beast, poking its side.
"I don't know, but I have seen them before, both in Uran's forest and during the retaking of Skulltown from Grinder. Some undead seemed capable of controlling them." Staring at the vicious teeth, Solus wondered what Drys would think of them and made a decision.
"We are taking them with us. Perhaps we can find a way to control them." Drawing the spread out wrapped bundles close together, Solus created a single large container that stood in the middle of the path they would need to follow. It was only half his height and completely closed, but they could still hear soft whines and scratching from inside.
The Blackguard stared at it before turning to Solus. "How are we going to bring it along?"
"We push." Without waiting for a reply, Solus put his hands on the side and began shoving the container forward.
--
They reached the precept of the last hill in the middle of the night, with the zombies barely capable of walking anymore. Solus had made everybody help push and went scouting a few times, resulting in a group of very tired undead. Even the Blackguard, who was walking in front now, seemed ready to drop over any moment, which Solus found funny because he wasn't supposed to get tired.
With a last shove, Solus cleared the top, feeling a wave of relief when the Blackguard moved his way with more vigor than he had shown in hours.
"Solus, something is happening at Skulltown!"
Having a bad feeling, Solus followed him until he got a clear view of Skulltown. The sprawling city was alight with a bluish glow coming from the wall. It was an unusual defense mechanism that Drys had developed, but it hadn't been used since the siege.
"Now what." Solus thought, seeing no moment in front of the wall or anywhere on the plains or hills that could indicate a reason for the active shield. Heading back to the cage filled with black hunters, he began angrily, shoving it down.
The way down was uneventful, but when they arrived at the closed gates, Solus noticed that there were signs of damage. Long claw marks and deep dents puckered the gate, and some seemed to lead up to the edge. Staring at the guardhouse just above the gate, he saw a single zombie stare at them with large, fearful eyes.
"Open this bloody gate! Don't you see who I am?" Solus roared at the zombie, causing it to scramble forward, hanging over the edge.
"Drys said we could not open the gate for anyone, not even you. He said if you come back, you should create a temporary tunnel below the wall to enter and close it right away." The zombie's voice was high pitched, and Solus finally realized he had small scratches across his cheek.
"What is going on?"
The zombie guard shook his head and headed back inside as if something was about to grab him.
Trying to suppress his annoyance that had grown throughout the entire trip, Solus struck the side of the cage, causing large cracks and fissures to appear. Taking a deep breath, he repaired them before using the stone below the wall to create a large enough tunnel for the cage.
The entrance of the tunnel appeared a short distance in front of him and sloped down sharply. He waved at the Blackguard and the others. "Go inside and walk to the end."
With the Blackguard in the lead, the entire group rushed into the tunnels, two of the skeletal guards carrying the two zombies. As soon as they were inside, Solus pushed the container in after them. He turned around and closed the hole, frowning before continuing. It didn't take long to shove it through the entire tunnel and up the other way, the tunnel closing behind him as he moved.
When he finally exited the ground inside Skulltown's walls, he saw a group of guards wait behind the gate, staring at them. They were all armored and armed with bone weaponry, their gear looking worn and battered. Another Blackguard, most of his black plates scratched and missing an arm, walked towards him.
"It is good you are back. Strange undead snuck inside the city and ended many of our people before we could capture them. Be careful when you go further in because there might be some left running around."
Solus frowned and stared at the group of undead. "Is the school still safe?"
"It is. There is a full squad of guards there, led by Sumil." The Blackguard waited and stared at Solus until the other nodded. It took one look at the other Blackguard with Solus' party before turning and returning in front of the gate with the other guards, staring inside the city.
"Stay close together. We are going to school."
Keeping his stone senses alert for any movement, Solus pushed the container through the silent streets, noting the small pockets of destruction. The closer they came to the center, the larger the destruction wrought was. The light from the stars, combined with his stone-vision, was enough to make everything stand out. Almost at their destination was an entire street with no more buildings left standing. Staring at the rubble, Solus felt a wave of anger but continued pushing the cage forward.
They came across another group of undead guarding the open square in front of the massive school building. Almost a hundred skeletons, covered in white and grey plates, stood in small groups spread out. They kept a watchful eye-socket on the surrounding streets. A smaller group stood beside the building's entrance and surrounded a black, blue-glowing skeleton. As soon as the figure saw Solus, it rushed forward, coming to a skidding halt in front of him.
Placing his hands on the stone container, Solus inspected the skeleton. It had a black helmet that covered most of its skull, except for some eye sockets. Two piercing blue lights looked at him from those.
"Sumil, I have some new recruits for you. There is one with red eyes that I want you to take personal care for. He is not to evolve until Drys has seen him."
"Yes, Solus. It is good that you are back. Did you learn anything from Uran?" A soft feminine voice replied.
As he remembered what had happened with Uran, Solus shook his head and laughed. "Not really, but the trip wasn't a complete waste. After you finish here, come to the tower."
Sumil nodded before turning to the group of undead behind Solus. "The new ones head into the school; someone will find you there. You, red-eyes, follow me!" Seeing the two zombies walk into the school, she nodded before turning to the guards. "Go back to Enthrill. He will tell you where you need to go."
Knowing that Sumil would take care of things, Solus motioned the Blackguard to follow him and began pushing the container towards the center of Skulltown.
"Let's go find Drys and get some more answers."
