Icarus Awakens

Mavar Helioc, Prime of the Illustrious, adjusted the turban wrapped around his head with some annoyance. Sand appeared to be the great equalizer where discomfort was concerned, at least when one was stripped of their powers. He was closer to restoring his mana structure following the revival after almost being fully corrupted, but True Transmutation was all he had at the moment. It just seemed petty to use divine power to shield his eyes from the sand, to say nothing of the mental and mana exhaustion it would bring.

He was, of course, in Aughal. As soon as the Tyrant abandoned the region, leaving the Spires on full lockdown with all remaining mortals secured within, he'd gained what he'd wanted from causing the distraction. Time, as well as satisfaction from seeing his enemies weaken each other. The report he'd been waiting for came just as deep tunnels were being dug for more of their hold outs.

"Sasha," he greeted warmly to the flesh architect whose creations were even now hard at work. "Has it begun?"

"Yes, Prime." He easily sensed the reticence in her voice.

"Speak."

"Prime…" She lowered her voice such that none of the lesser human workers nearby could hear. "I am beginning to have doubts. Not concerns, but, but I must speak them."

Mavar nodded sagely, hiding his pleasure. No matter how meek the approach it was good that his apprentice was speaking her mind, even to him. The mistakes of old should never be repeated. "Do so."

"The converted mortals, Prime. I knew they couldn't be saved when we captured the birther golem, but using them?"

"Why not object before, instead of after?"

"Because…" she trailed off, fingering the rim of her spectacles. Functional, not corrective. Any biological imperfections would be well within Sasha's talent to correct, even in herself. "We trust you. You kept us on course when the alternative was death. But I still find myself questioning what kind of world we'll make if we're willing to use tactics like that now."

"We do what we must," Mavar replied, not discouragingly, "so that we will have the choice to do what we wish. If you find yourself needing to blame someone for what was done then look to the gods, or myself if you cannot rationalize that. And should you truly be concerned, good. Your judgment should not perfectly match my own, or else I would have failed as your mentor."

He was being more open than usual and she picked up on that immediately. Otherwise she wouldn't have kept going. "Then, all of these fortresses, why? The land will be unlivable soon in the Thormundz, and hostile here no matter who wins."

"Foresight, Sasha. Not the power, but simple foresight." He tapped his temple through the cloth around his bald head. "Hammer's death is our only immediate concern, but once that comes to pass it is the astral vessel we will seek to claim. The Old One will contest us, of course, but it can do little in the Crest. If we encircle that region and prepare properly…"

"You mean to destroy Threst's Spoke?"

"When the time is right, and not just that one." He frowned at the disturbed look Sasha was giving him and sighed. "We do what we must. Or, perhaps I should say, I do what I must, so you will have the choice to do what you will. Take heart, Miss Veltrex, and if you must, make me a martyr for your conscience."

That at least partially mollified her, but he could tell there was more and waved a hand permissively. "Then, Grave? And what of the reports I'm hearing that the Entropic Agent has gained control of the astral vessel?"

"Ha." Mavar schooled himself instantly after letting that slip out. "My apologies. I shouldn't make light of Grave. That he has returned and begun to pressure the borders of the Octyrrum is troubling. If he had struck at our Collective's heart… but this did not come to pass. It may take all of the Illustrious to allow his soul to rest in the Astral, but it appears we will have time to deal with him once our other matters are settled. As for the Entropic Agent?" He fought the urge to chuckle again at the sheer ludicrousness. "Lies, no doubt, by the would-be King. I am certain cleansing the corruption at this stage is impossible, even for him."

…

A bit of the wild, vibrant joy he'd first gained from Beast Mode returned as Daniel forced his claws into the divide between the sliding doors. There was resistance, and while he couldn't have pierced the side of the car with a fully-charged Power Shot, the mechanisms holding the door closed didn't need to break to move.

While they'd completed the approach successfully through use of muffle sound trinkets, there was no doubt they were about to aggro whatever was inside. "Thanks. Always a gentleman," Shuni half-whispered as she tossed elementally charged smoke bombs through the gap he was struggling to hold open.

The purple and red balls flew forward in pairs aimed at both the center of the upper floor's ceiling, and as far down the back staircase leading to the lower part of the car as Shuni could manage. Daniel let the doors slam closed after that, shaking out one hand from the strain. He'd had to pull from an awkward angle from the roof given the limited space along the side of the car.

They were about to retreat when the entire construct shook, traces of fire and electrically charged smoke drifting through the divide in the doors. "Maybe we should get back?" Tak loudly suggested from the other side of the bucking floor. There was universal agreement that whatever they'd just woken up had at least the strength to buck the transport car, and no one wanted to fight that in the gap between it and the tunnel.

Sigron remained on the roof last, pushing people off with his sword hand as if urging skydivers out of a plane. He formed a wide shield to screen any attack that might come as the Knight hopped off himself, but nothing struck him.

The team watched as the four cutters spaced evenly along the tracks as the transport car rattled, not quite derailing but bucking at times. Smoke continued to trail out, revealing some concealed vents along the bottom, but it'd last at least a couple of minutes before dispersing in an otherwise contained space.

"Bad way to die," Hunter commented, frowning at the sight with his longer teeth.

"It doesn't do that much damage compared to a weapon," Daniel said, starting to feel a little bad for whatever was in there. "I didn't activate Elemental Onslaught in case we had to go in there, so it's just a trickle of light damage."

"Slow death, then."

"Y-yeah." The car moved so violently then that one of the sides tapped the tunnel before it came back down, causing everyone to wince from the noise.

"Hey, is it just me, or is that moving more than it was before?" Everyone took a few steps back to get behind the firing line at Shuni's words.

"It could just be getting desperate," Evalyn said, concern that this was wishful thinking plain on her face. "You're sure neither of you can tell what this is?"

"Didn't smell like anything," Hunter returned, his fur beginning to stand on end in a way that didn't suggest he was ready to zap something. "But I think I hear it now. Daniel?"

The currently not-Artificer accepted Keen Senses, and while his senses were barely under the potency of Hunter's, he got enough to pick out whatever was moving inside the car. Hunter's armor stretched in protest as he briefly became bipedal to allow Daniel to mark it.

Prismaticore Ooze - (3, Berserker - 2, ~Converted~, Forced Transmutation)

"Oooh fuck." Daniel waited a few seconds to confirm his worst fears, and then reverted all the recent changes they'd made with Blood Union. "That is not good. Back up, back up!"

"What is it?" Evalyn shouted as the shaking in the car grew louder, the cutters trailing behind the team while still pointed at the enemy.

"Slime monster! It's not dying, it's-" One, and then both upper doors creaked as they were forced open from the inside. An appendage pushed its way out of each, primarily a soft orange close to the color of Alex's wings with red and purple streaking through it. "Growing!"

Khiat already had an arrow in the air, Evalyn's Songbolt following as she switched to broadcasting lightfoot song. The arms of the ooze reacted differently, the arrow causing it to swell while the Songbolt blew out chunks that were quickly regenerated as more mass slurped out from inside.

The arms then planted themselves on the side of the tunnel and swung backward, propelling the car toward them. "So much for not getting run down!" Shuni shouted. "I can dodge around that but I don't know about you guys."

Light burst in the tunnel as Khiat perfectly timed a Sun Arrow to the ooze's next arm swing, this time blasting it like Evalyn's Songbolt had. The disruption was enough to unbalance it, slowing the car rather than speeding it as it tried to push. That would've been great, except for the fact that Khiat couldn't use that ability again without locking herself up.

"It's absorbing fire and lightning, at least," Daniel observed. "Pure force and radiant work. Gotta think it's at least resistant to pure physical damage."

"Won't matter if we don't stop it!"

Daniel looked at the tracks, had a thought, and sighed. "Think I've got something for that. Going to run ahead!" He activated Longstalker's Stride, blitzing in front of the rest of the group even as the ooze began catching up to them. Everything behind him was grayed out of his mind through the trance, though Pack Insight still gave him enough of a sense to know his friends were following.

When he'd bought enough of a lead, Daniel grabbed the Focus Shield off of his arm, grumbled about claws, and worked his phone out of the slot before forcibly wedging it into another one with all the strength he had. "What are you doing?" Alex asked over sending stone, her ghost near enough to see.

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

"No time." The rest of the team was on his heels as he got back up. It was a good thing he was in Beast Mode now as leaving his Focus behind would stop him from using Artificer powers anyway. It would suck to lose track of it if this plan didn't work, but he was reasonably confident they could find it by scent later if necessary.

"Now, what?" Evalyn asked between breaths. The arms of the ooze pushed again behind them and it was now moving almost twice as fast as Sigron, the slowest member of the group.

"It stops, or someone stays to distract it."

"How would it-" The back of the car slammed against the tunnel as it rocketed into where he'd stuck his phone into the railing. Playing by the normal rules it would have just destroyed it and continued on, but Daniel's Focus was made from level 10 material.

He wasn't sure there was any way to break it, short of divine intervention. The momentum might have been enough to knock it out, he'd used every bit of strength he had to get it stuck into the floor. Between his mid-20s score, the buffs from his hybrid form, and Defiant Rage, it was enough of an impediment to derail the car. The ooze attempted to push against the wall again, causing an ear-splitting screech as the prongs of what was probably a magrail setup slid against the floor of the tunnel.

Both Daniel and Hunter stopped covering their ears as the car settled down once more and the ooze retreated inside. From the looks of it the smoke had dispersed and had stopped feeding the monster, but it also now filled what they'd hoped to use to save time.

A different voice came over his sister's sending stone then. "Hey, idiots, what the Crest are you fighting?"

"Tlara?" The ooze began shaking the car again, though it was unclear if it was smart enough to reset it or not. Moving itself could be seen as an instinctual response, using the car like a shell, but did it understand why it had stopped moving quickly?

"Prismaticore ooze," Hunter answered, the stone picking up his voice.

There was a slight pause on the other side, either Tlara picking her brain or reacting to who had answered. "Fuck, don't know anything about that. But oozes and slimes and shit like that usually have a core. Fucking prismati-core, get it? That's what you need to hit to kill the fucker."

"Surprised you know about these, they're rare, at least in this part of the kingdom," Evalyn commented as the ooze continued to rumble to seemingly no effect.

"Salant," Sigron grunted, making Khiat look up from where she was catching her breath.

"The evernight region? I always wanted to go there."

The Knight opened and closed his mouth, frowning as he couldn't find the words he was looking for. He was pushing through the aftereffects of the curse, but they weren't fully gone. Instead he shifted his shield arm into a shallow bowl, making a fist with his hand and moving it about it. "Pools, in the glow."

No one got what he was trying to say, but Tlara shouted over attempts to clarify. "Did all of you forget I'm a Beastmaster? We have to know this shit!"

"Anything else that could help?" Daniel asked.

"Eh, sounds like it absorbs some stuff from what Alex told me but you figured that out. Normally they soak up water and grow up to as big as they'll get slowly, but the kinds that eat magic can get a burst of growth. Don't get caught in them, fucking obviously. If you can't hit the core directly though, I mean, damn, sucks to be you."

"Just when I thought you were being helpful for once. Thanks anyway, Tlara."

"You too, Alex," Evalyn added to the air in general. "That was good thinking on your part."

His sister came back onto the sending stone. "Better than ghosting up to a monster, I guess. But what are you guys going to do?"

Daniel considered the question, trying to feel if he had an unawakened power that could help. He was down to ten or so and should have options open but there was nothing there. It was the downside to the wait and see approach he'd been taking, sacrificing power development in Beast Mode for everything else he'd been doing as a human.

At least the ooze was giving them more time to strategize, though the car occasionally rustled to prove it was still alert. He rejoined the conversation after the internal check in. "I've got Mark Weakness, which should at least highlight the core. Phasing ammunition might get through the walls, but I don't have any made without an elemental affix." He'd had to compromise on Bullet Math too as he was reaching the point where it would become his life to make all available variants. Even if it put them at a disadvantage now, Shuni was worth the hassle.

"Fine, we can't get through walls. Let's fight through it to the core," Hunter suggested. "Wasting too much time, we should just fight."

"Hey, did you not hear what I fucking said!?" Tlara asked, with a distinct change in volume at the beginning that suggested she'd grabbed it back while talking. "That thing'll start dissolving you the moment you're in it."

"We can do it," Hunter insisted. "Tak shares the damage. Daniel comes with me in my body, marks the monster. With the Hide thing it could work. I'll use a potion after." He'd meant Reinforce Hide, the latest power Hunter had awakened. It both had a cooldown and a limited duration of one minute. The effect was purely positive, increasing his defensiveness overall, but the downtime was long enough that he couldn't use it for more than once a fight usually.

Evalyn grimaced at the prospect and looked behind her. "Daniel, how close are we to where Khare marked the wall?"

"Still a few minutes away, I think." He gestured under the transport car. "Have to get my phone back to know for sure."

"Damn it." She covered her face with a hand as she thought and then picked her head back up. "Ok, three options. We backtrack and ignore this, we try and bait the ooze back to that hallway, or we go with Hunter's plan. I'd go for the second but it'd risk the ooze running us over if it can get back on track. Otherwise, I don't think there's enough room for us to fight normally."

"If he is sure he wants to do it, I will do everything I can to help," Tak said in support, Daniel a step behind him.

"I won't say this isn't risky, but I can stack Ferocious Healing and Quala's prayer on him too. If we get close to the doors it'll probably come out again, if the ooze is too damaging we'll pull back. Otherwise?" Daniel looked at his brother and nodded. "I trust his judgment. This way gives us the best chance of not losing time coming here."

Shuni really couldn't object given the social implications, Sigron seemed troubled but also refrained, leaving Khiat holding her bow. "I could bend my arrows into it, with Hunter's Eye I might be able to find the core." She tensed her string to half draw and then relaxed it. "No, I'm not that good of a shot. Yet."

Evalyn looked at Hunter unsteadily, concern winning out against her composure. "If we weren't fighting for everyone in Aurus I'd say to Crest with this. If you get stuck, I don't know if we can pull you out."

"I know. Don't worry, I won't let it beat me."

That should have been it, but there was one last voice raised before they started walking forward. "For the record, me and everyone else here thinks you're crazy. Spinner's holding Thomas back from diving into the rift to stop you. But we believe in you too, even him. Good luck you guys." Alex ended it there, and while Daniel considered telling her not to send the astral clone in after them, he relented.

Surprised I have to tell you this, but you don't have to prove anything to the team either, Hunter, Daniel thought as he sat down and soul swapped into the ringcat's body. The heightened senses did bother him slightly as he didn't have the power responsible for amplifying them, but he was also long past that being a problem. Jokes aside you're one of our best in melee. I'm backing you, but don't feel like you have to do this to prove how strong you are.

This is just the best way, Hunter replied, and as Daniel was currently playing passenger the voice sounded as if it was coming from all around him. Tak, sorry to volunteer you.

There is no amount of pain not worth taking for friends. Hunter's head panned toward the avianoid and then lowered in gratitude. Now go. You two have a wet ball to kill.

Daniel watched as most of the team approached the door that had been angled toward them when the car jumped the tracks. Nothing immediately happened as they closed to within a few meters, but as soon as Shuni bounced a dagger off the doors the entire thing shuddered. Whipping orange, red, and purple tendrils shot out from the abused doors and began to gravitate toward the closest living thing.

Without hesitation, Hunter's muscles tensed and then released into a Springing Strike aimed right for the opening. Slime oozed against his fur and began to burn. While Daniel was currently Fearless, there was a definite unease taking hold as the body he didn't have control of began to be digested.

He remained focused, activating Mark Weakness from his end. The mana was consumed, but there wasn't an immediate effect. Active for a minute. Find the core!

Trying. Hunter's claws bit into the jelly of their foe in an attempt to swim, though there was also an almost tidal-like force aiding them. Neither were foolish enough to believe the ooze would drag them all the way to its core, though.

Remember, you can't use Flash Jaunt except as a last resort to get out of here.

I know, Hunter growled as the flow of slime around them started shifting. They were just within the top floor and his Night Eyes were enough to see the rift at the back. No core, though, and the stairs would be difficult for Hunter's frame to navigate.

Halfway across the space, their progress halted as the ooze fully pushed against Hunter's attempts to drag him forward. Hunter, I can swap the hybrid body back to you while in here. You could-

No.

But Hunter-

No! The ringcat somehow found more strength, but his claws struggled to do much against the ooze. They weren't enhanced, and while the ooze hadn't shown much of the powers it had inherited from the mortal Berserker it had been before, there were at least defensive features at play stymying their progress. I. Can. Do. This.

Somehow Hunter bought a meter or two through desperate struggle, but it cost half the duration of his defensive enhancement. The ooze hadn't eaten too much below the outer layer of his hide, but a lot of the fur and some of the tail was gone. Regeneration would fix all of that, if it had the chance.

Won't be weak, Hunter thought, and Daniel metaphorically covered his mouth as it seemed that had been something private that had slipped out. I won't be weak!

Faintly, Daniel began to sense something in Hunter's mana flow. It was rare for him to pick up on that given his sensitivity, though he'd made improvements and could be considered above the average level 2 now. Hunter had to keep his eyes closed most of the time to preserve them, and with the ooze blocking out everything else there was only pain and darkness to distract him.

The disturbance wasn't like any power he'd felt, though. It was like every part of Hunter's flow was oscillating, rather than forming into a pattern that would manifest something. It was definitely an awakening that Daniel was in no way going to interrupt, but he didn't have any idea what this was.

Hunter continued to repeat those four words in his mind as he struggled forward, never relenting even as part of one ear began to fall away and holes formed in his fangs. His mana flow responded each time, surging faster and faster, until something broke through.

The world jolted as the resistance around them parted, Hunter's body moving far more quickly through the ooze. He reached the stairs with ten seconds left on both Reinforce Hide and Mark Weakness, catching a pale orange glow off a reflective surface. Bare metal seats waited below in lines, and as the ringcat struggled to pull his body into the lower row, they saw a fleshy clump of mass hiding in one of the corners. The core, surrounded by an aura of orange light that indicated a weak point.

Force slammed against Hunter as the ooze manipulated itself, knocking him against the wall. The ringcat snarled, accidentally allowing some of the slime into his mouth but caring nothing for that. He continued to claw forward, bracing himself on chairs whenever possible. For Daniel's part he watched, praying Hunter would get to the core but ready to call out a Flash Jaunt if necessary.

When it was clear the ooze couldn't stop Hunter without significantly injuring him the core began to shift around, attempting to flee, only to be met with a Grounding Roar as Hunter ceded brief control of his body. Temporarily slowed, it still tried to hide underneath a seat, and then into a grate, but whatever components made it up were too large.

Hunter's claws pierced the mass, and immediately there was a burst of flame and electricity as the energy the ooze had consumed and concentrated was unwillingly released. The flame suppressed Regeneration across Hunter's body, coinciding with his defensive ability falling off. He rapidly began to dissolve from the outside, Daniel about to scream at him to bail out, when a threshold was reached.

Bright light glowed across Hunter, the secondary effect of Quala's prayer triggering. It ended the ability, further increasing the damage Hunter took, but bought just enough time for the ringcat to finish tearing the monster's core apart. The tension in the ooze around them faded, the material beginning to pour out of the bottom vents as the living presence keeping it together died.