Chương 31: No Way to Run

Malric grinned as he watched the fucker dragging behind him suddenly lose control of the underglass, lesions opening along his skin in a bloody disp-'Wait, what?' What he'd previously thought were cuts, he suddenly realized were… flesh flowers. He saw the coloration of the plants coating the boy- Aaron, apparently, if Nothing spoke the truth- drain into his skin, turning him a strange green and yellow, while the plants covering him were suddenly covered in skin and hair.

Even the white ropes extending from his back were not skin flowing down them like a liquid and ending with each seed turning into a human hand. Halfway down the length of each of the vines, they abruptly split in half, leaving a two-pronged limb weeping blood, each with two and a half fingers on the end of them. These monstrous limbs bent out like spider legs, slamming into the ground and sending Aaron halfway up the tunnel, very nearly bearing down on Malric. Behind his eyes, Malric saw humanity no longer.

No smile, no fire, just the primitive desire to survive, and an entity before him that had been dubbed detrimental to that goal.

'He's… a half-step twisted… no, he already was. This? This is a twisted goin half-step into human.'

"The boy's got a phase two?" he heard someone mutter unhelpfully, and he nearly cut him down for that. Luckily Jav came through with some good news at the same time, speaking over the useless one.

"Don't react to me, but I can see him clearly in my under-sight now. I don't know what he's done, but I think I can predict his moves now." Malric didn't nod, not wanting to tip this monster off that he had such a thing in his pocket, simply raising his claws to face it down and praying.

'I hope you're right, Jav,' he said, seeing the newfound fluidity of their enemy,'Because I'm gonna need a miracle to survive this.' * POV: Aaron. As soon as Aaron found his body hoisted in the air and his mental faculties free, he allowed the new sensations to wash over him, the world appearing before his eyes in a way that it never had before, and all the chance to observe it while Onward Evermore controlled his body. He found that he wasn't fully suppressed, nor was he completely in control.

He shared a deep link to the body still, but felt like interfering now would just end with him dead. The flood of new information gave him a strange mental map though, as it appeared Onward Evermore saw many more things that he didn't. The air pressure, movement, and heat he'd felt before but ignored now came to the forefront, giving him a blurry mental map that helped him see what was behind him, partially around corners, and the placement of his Windwhips.

Through this odd new sight he saw that at the halfway point of each of the whips, they split open into two prongs, each of them becoming an independent limb on their own; half as strong too, but with a more even dispersal of force, it was significantly easier for Windwhipped Seedblossom to get him upright. He didn't even know it was possible for him to split his vines.

And this wasn't the only change either; unlike his jerky flight, Onward Evermore was able to perfectly balance mid-air, hovering perfectly as its new long appendages skittered along the ground and walls. The standoff between Onward Evermore and Malric lasted only a few seconds, but both managed to assess the threats before them. Onward Evermore didn't do as Aaron had, keeping in one direction.

With its six limbs, controlled dexterously enough, it was just barely able to surpass Malric in speed, circling him like a wolf while Malric's gaze remained sharp despite his injuries. Onward Evermore darted in quickly, but Malric was already moving, positioning the claws in a way that closed the gap Onward Evermore might've slipped through, Onward Evermore for its part not simply backing off as it instead threw its entire body into the strike- much as Aaron often did.

The thunderous note reverberated, but this time, Aaron heard something much different, attention freed as it was, the whisper of something else beneath it; though, despite knowing something was there, it felt ephemeral and out of reach- something he couldn't have, not yet. Not as with his current Sensitivity. Onward Evermore drew back, circling faster and snapping forward at a moment's notice.

Unlike Aaron, it had no tells before it was rushing in, nor any way to know when it would suddenly swerve around the scorpion to attack from another angle. Despite that, Malric appeared to have a significantly easier time moving to block and attack Onward Evermore, forcing it to become more creative- more frantic. As if trying to prove it was better. That it was a more dangerous host.

After a ten second onslaught where it made no progress, Aaron watched as it drew back for a second, a manic glint running through it.

"Make underglass bouncy," it said, and he agreed- for now. It'd helped him with the Mushki, he would help it with the cannibals. Going high, Aaron watched Malric ignore Onward Evermore, as if knowing it was a feint beforehand. His Primary dove towards the ground, and Aaron saw confusion evident throughout the cannibal boss' body.

'He really can see through Onward Evermore's actions to a degree, but what I do is a blind spot.' Whatever sense Malric used likely told him that Onward Evermore was about to simply crash into the ground, meaning he was completely taken off guard as the underglass turned elastic, his Primary's momentum carrying it down and forming a narrow indent, before the black glass abruptly snapped back into place and finally sending it through the killzone faster than Malric could react. But he was not alone.

Someone behind Malric pulled him backwards and the blade soared past his face, cutting off several strands of hair as his Primary went wide. It saved Malric's life, but the movement was mirrored on Scorpion only a second later, causing the entire beast to buck upwards on its back legs like a horse. It was also going sixty miles an hour. It had no chance to right itself as it'd done when Aaron pulled it off the wall, its back end hitting the ground with a deafening boom and sending it into the air.

The dome of silvery aura condensed, turning a bright opaque white, and as the scorpion rolled, the dome actually managed to skid across the ground, protecting its occupants rather than just crushing them beneath the weight of the beast. Like a car wreck, Aaron and Onward Evermore watched as the cannibals crashed and rolled again and again.

Not only did a loud boom accompany each collision, but a blinding explosion of energy was released each time, its body becoming more damaged and bleeding power faster with each burst. It took the scorpion a solid minute before the flat bottom finally caught on the ground, sparks flying as it screeched to a halt, its body halfway off the ground as it went the last couple dozen feet; it balanced precariously for a moment, nearly falling on its side, before finally slamming down to a halt on its belly.

The end result was that the scorpion's entire body, legs, claws, and tail, were completely mangled, only the top hemisphere maintaining its shape. Onward Evermor descended on the broken construct, ready to crack it like an egg. * POV: Jav. Despite the dome, despite them being protected, Jav knew that their tank was being torn to shreds. After all, the damage was reflected on Boss. He watched boss grit his teeth, screaming out in pain every few seconds as his shin broke, or his elbow, femur, foot.

Jav had one arm under the boss, holding him up, when one of his ribs let out a crunch. A few seconds later, the boss coughed up a mouthful of blood. Yet, through it all, even as his fingers were bent backwards and his arms were shattered, he kept them extended, the silver barrier protecting all within from the twisting forces, saving the last of their band from being crushed under the Silver Scorpion.

When, finally, the boss sagged in relief, his posture weakening as the barrier did, Jav knew it was little more than a display now. It would protect them no longer.

"Set me down," he coughed up, and Jav did so as quickly and carefully as he could. Everyone in their band gathered round. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

"Boss," he said fearfully, seeing his mangled body.

"Can Roving Fortress…?" Even as he felt the creature from outside descend on them, he asked, knowing they were wasting time. He just… didn't know what to do. He needed the boss, they all did, and losing him felt unimaginable. Jav had been with the band for close to two years now, an absurd length of time in the Underworld. To lose everyone else had been a blow, to lose the boss too? He… was freezing. He shook his head, "No. There's no coming back from this. I'm done."

"No…" The boss let out a wet cough, "But you aren't, Jav."

"I can't," he insisted, "I… I'm too much of a coward."

"I was too," he said.

"But it doesn't matter now. We're out of time, Jav. Take it, run… and make the bastard pay." With the last of his strength Jav watched the boss coalesce Roving Fortress into a single point- his heart. Every scrap of power saved over the course of the boss' long reign, condensed into a single moment. And he was right, Jav knew that they were out of time.

With the empowered knife that the boss himself had given Jav so long ago, his hand snapped out with more steady a strike than he thought he could manage, cutting through the now-mundane bones and flesh covering the vital organ. Tearing it out, he watched the boss release a death rattle, going limp, and breathing his last. In his hand, he held a silver heart with blue lines running through it.

As the power source was ripped away, the Silver Scorpion groaned, its barrier flickering and dissipating to reveal that floating six legged monstrosity dripping with blood. In a single motion, Jav crushed the entire heart into his mouth, teeth sinking deep. Too large to chew, but he knew he wouldn't need to. The moment he bit down, the energy exploded, surging through him. Already, with his undersight, he felt that multiple entities were converging on their location.

The boss might've been broken, but in his last moments, he'd been anything but running low on energy, having stored as much away meticulously every single day. Gasoline was merely to supplement his already frugal spending. The Imprint found his own, not overwriting but merging together with it, and the strange new power within him asked but a single question.

"Recycle the Fortress?"

"Do it." He did not resist when he saw the energy encompass his boss' corpse as well; it made sense, after all. Boss and the Fortress were always one in the same, and now it would be his turn to be joined. * POV: Aaron. Looking through Onward Evermore's eyes, he saw the moment the white barrier vanished to reveal a gruesome sight within. On the ground, Malric lay dead, above him a mundane-looking cannibal with dirty blonde hair and somewhat rounded features wrapped in heavy clothing.

In the cannibal's hand, a glowing silver heart. The moment he processed what he was seeing, the man shoved the organ into his mouth, and exploded with power. He let out a shrill scream, beams of power escaping through his eyes and mouth, energy forming a storm around him as it linked into the broken scorpion. Before Aaron's very eyes, he watched the beast meld and begin reshaping.

"What are you doing?!" he screamed at his Primary as it floated uselessly, watching.

"Attack!" His Primary sent back denial, a reverent undertone to it as it watched the process. It wasn't a hard rule, just… etiquette. Imprint etiquette; it was like it would be dishonorable to interrupt the process now.

"Out of all the desperate tactics for survival, being rude isn't one of them?! Motherfucker!" He instantly tried to pressure his Primary into action or take over the body once more; he knew it would take minutes or hours at the very least, but maybe if it was distr- Not only did he find himself rebuffed, he found there was absolutely zero give. Energy more dense than ever before, he realized with shock that Onward Evermore was creating its own. He wasn't the only one who could create power alone.

Just as he didn't need Onward Evermore, it- apparently- didn't need him, and just as intense emotions dedicated to his purpose allowed for him to create power, Onward Evermore did so now as well. Why it was only with this rather than the intense survival it always strove for, he wasn't sure, but the extra energy from its emotions ensured that not only would he not make it out within the next few hours, it might very well be an impassable wall for as long as it could feed on its emotions.

Dread filled him, but he crushed it viciously.

'My energy grows stronger, its power is stagnant. Will recovery be difficult? Yes, but not impossible.

'Not to mention, its strength is only because of THIS particular occurrence. Once the cannibal has absorbed the Imprint fully, it will lose that independent energy production.' The entire time he contemplated this, the process continued. The scorpion melted down into a slurry, Malric's body going with it, and the living cannibals were thrown around as it coagulated and shifted, electric blue lightning rooting out from the excess of energy.

Gradually, it began to arc over itself, taking the shape of a tire-like structure. When the walls of it began to split and reshape themselves, he was forced to turn away as something else washed over him. Because the senses in a biological body spoke over Sensitivity harshly, Onward Evermore didn't even react, leaving him to be the one to cut away everything except for sight in order to feel the other presence more clearly. It wasn't a pulse, but a constant pressure… one that was growing.

Considering his inexperience in using Sensitivity, it took a moment to pinpoint from what direction it came and assess the signature it gave off, like trying to hear with a single ear and struggling to understand the direction from which the sound came. Yet, despite the distance between him and the new combatant, the sheer presence of the lighthouse-like entity made it impossible to miss for long.

"RUN!" He screamed to Onward Evermore, and it expressed hesitance to leave the process before it was complete. He turned its attention towards the incoming calamity. It shot off at speeds, continuing down the tunnel they'd been going before, then down the first corridor going right as soon as it could, since the new "Thing" was approaching from their left.

The ground blurred as Onward Evermore quickly built up its momentum again, going faster than Aaron ever could've if he was in control, but not nearly enough for him to relax. A sense of dread crept up his spine as the aura permeating the air thickened, and despite not having a body, Aaron felt he could almost reach out and touch it. He quickly realized it wasn't simply his imagination as the underglass walls began to ripple outwards, being pushed away from the incoming creature as it grew closer.

Having linked back up with Onward Evermore's senses, he felt the moment something new started to follow in their tracks, much smaller than the calamitous entity approaching. As Onward Evermore threw a glance behind, they both saw what might've been the strangest vehicle Aaron had ever seen. It looked like a gyroscope composed of a dozen or more rings, each of them spinning rapidly except the outermost one that maintained its flat, straight path.

In the middle, Aaron could just barely make out a blurry platform with many cannibals on top. It tore the underglass up as it went, a spray of fragments rising behind it, and was rapidly gaining on them.

'Why'd you come our way?! Probably to distract it with us but I'd rather you didn't!' As the cannibals passed below them, Aaron started to hear a faint, high-pitched noise. The gyroscope vehicle took a side-path, and Onward Evermore followed them without him even needing to give input. For once, Aaron didn't bother to hold back his energy from Onward Evermore, giving it freely, and Onward Evermore took it, despite knowing it would allow Aaron to usurp it at any given moment.

Together, the whips were able to reach further. Normally requiring an exponentially higher amount of energy to manifest and maintain the longer it reached, every bit counted in a situation like this. Aaron found himself slipping back into his body as a consequence, but he didn't even care, and nor did Onward Evermore, both of them giving all the energy they could to the Windwhips.

With their combined effort, they were barely able to avoid getting left behind, though the gap between them and the vehicle still gradually built. He scowled internally for a moment, when he suddenly watched it bounce off of one of the ripples in the floor, and felt like laughing, as it was only the first of many such occurrences. As the waves became more intense, the ground turned hostile, allowing Aaron to slowly catch up to them, their vehicle battered like a ship in rough seas.

Grinning as they were suddenly neck and neck, he barely managed to help Onward Evermore turn abruptly as one of the waves from the wall extended out far enough to clip his shoulder; they slipped past it, but from that single touch, he felt only solid underglass, with none of the "Liquid" state it looked like right now. He paled as he saw further, and multiple walls were already reaching out into the center of the room. The cannibals were already stuck behind him, so he needed only get further.

He desperately flung himself forward a few more times, but the gaps between waves shrunk into miniscule openings, and Aaron found his chest and limbs hammered multiple times, fighting to even inch forward. Then it happened- two waves, one on both sides of the wall, met in the middle, and the underglass joined together, forming a solid barrier. Rather than pull back into their respective sides, he saw the underglass thicken and smooth, locking him in.

And, just like that, the waves abruptly ceased, and the Underworld went still. They were never passive emanations of the creature, but intentional manipulation of the terrain. Even as he slammed his Mushki feather into the underglass to cut it, he found it only bouncing off harmlessly, far harder than any other underglass he'd encountered. Without the waves blocking their way, the cannibals came to a stop beneath him, but his attention landed solely on the approaching noise.

He'd passively been hoping it was the Mushki, as that was an enemy he knew, but the unfamiliar call said otherwise The strange, suppressive acoustics of the Underworld made it so that only when it rounded the final corner was Aaron able to hear it "Speak" in full. Rounding the corner, a strangely small figure made its appearance. About as large as his head, every other trait about it was close to metaphorical.

A vortex of people climbing up and out, clawing their way free around the endlessly absorbing center, a gravity well of total darkness at its pinpoint middle, with a foot wide event horizon composed of gold; around it, constellations of stardust crackled with golden lightning. Any wonder he might've felt was completely ruined by the constant overlapping feminine screaming. Hundreds, thousands, maybe more continuously cried out, staining its awe-inspiring appearance with terror.

He gradually lowered himself from the air, landing next to the cannibal's vehicle. Neither bothered to attack the other, both parties too entranced and panicked to do anything but stare. The… thing… stopped as well, its piercing… gaze… of sorts… scanning over them, seeing more than he felt comfortable showing. A gentle wave suddenly rolled out from it, upsetting the underglass once more, though much more contained.

When it passed below his feet, he heard Nothing himself speak, the same posh British accent, though slightly… stilted. Monotone. {Cache sample secure. Native sample secured. Awaiting oversample.}