Chương 19: The Trap

Jason didn't know how to explain it, but felt normal for the first time since he came to Veridia. Sara getting knighted and gifted land felt unnatural. It felt like something that shouldn't have happened, but to most soldiers' surprise, Jason was a great military leader. He was getting told that in the present.

"I'll be honest," Faila, a run-of-the-mill sycount, said to him. She was a hardened woman but not Aelia hardened. Nothing like the plush women that he had been seeing and interacting with in the castle. He actually appreciated it.

"I thought it'd be a slog workin' for a kid, but it almost feels like I'm working under a company commander. How long'd you get drilled?"

"I didn't," Jason said thoughtfully—quietly.

"To be honest, I'm not sure. This feels so… normal."

"Well, keep it up, Jason," she said.

"We're almost there." Everyone had said or whispered something to that degree—except Raul. He kept saying, "Thank God, Emma's not here…" Jason took the plunge now that he felt grounded—like himself.

"You have dreams I killed Emma?" he asked bluntly.

"I have the dreams. But not that you killed Emma." Jason felt a strange hope.

"That's positive."

"No, Jason. You got her killed."

"How the hell did I get her killed?" Jason asked.

"We're soldiers."

"I don't know," Raul said.

"But I can feel it. You feel it, too, right?"

"No, I don't feel the slightest guilt."

"And that … is what bothers me." Jason pulled his horse ahead of Raul's, barring his path.

"Emma's alive. So why the fuck are you all…" His hands vibrated in a choking motion.

"Blaming me? For something that hasn't happened?"

"Why does it bother you?" Raul snapped back.

"I don't know," Jason said sarcastically, "'Cause everyone else feels that way?

'Cause Sara almost killed me over it and no one cares? That—""Commander," Faila said.

"I apologize for interrupting, but… there's something wrong."

"What's wrong?" Jason crested the bluff they had been riding on, only to find himself staring at a sea of mist so thick that it left the distant city a hazy outline in a sea of what. It was like a solid thing, like powdered snow at a ski resort. He had a grim vision of some TV show he watched where the party was separated in the mist, each lured away by trickster demons. The feeling passed, though, replaced by something grimmer. He couldn't figure out what.

It was just one of those thoughts—something between nostalgia and deja vu. Raul turned to him.

"This isn't normal, Jason."

"Right-O, Captain Obvious!" Jason exclaimed.

"That's obvious."

"No, I mean this… this isn't orcan company. It's a…"

"It's a what?"

"An oddity." Jason's mind blurred violently, showing him grim visions of ghostly death, magic, and dampened screams. He also remembered the chamber. The lake. The vitality. A… prize.

"Yeah, I… remember," Jason said.

"This is where we fused our body with—""No it's not," Raul said.

"That was in a cavern."

"So you see it, too," Jason said.

"The lake?"

"¡Este güey nos va a matar, cabrón!" Raul spat viciously.

"Jason! What part of the cavern don't you get? That's not the entrance of an oddity. That is the city." He pointed at the thin silhouette.

"And it's cloaked in it. Something's wrong. It's a—""Thanks again, Watson!" Jason said.

"But an oddity's an oddity, and we're supposed to conquer them. Liberating cities is also what we're supposed to do. Or have you forgotten?"

"Yeah. Next year. Right now—""We're useless?" Jason asked.

"No, we aren't. I don't know what's going on. But if I had to guess, we're living in some alternate timeline or something. And back then, I'd get a hard-on over a fiery blade. This time… Raul, we're thrashing sycounts. I'm leading an army. And besides, everyone lived in your memories, didn't they?"

"The Party," Raul said coldly.

"The other people—""Will live. Now shut up. I'm commander and you will follow my orders. We're going in. If it's too much for us to handle, we'll retreat. I'm not stupid enough to get us killed over nothing." Raul seethed.

"Sara warned us. Stay away from crypts."

"Yeah, well Sara was the one that suggested we come here."

"No, it was changed."

"Stop justifying her!" Jason yelled.

"Now move!" Riding forward, Jason led the way as he took the pathway down the bluff, riding, riding ever closer to the mist.

Raul missed his family. He missed his father, whom he increasingly appreciated for giving him good advice, his friends, family, and community. He especially missed his abuela, who would say "Tú sabes lo que está bien y lo que está mal, tonto!" and slap him upside the head whenever he did wrong. The statement went, "You know right from wrong, fool!"

It was her belief that everyone knew right from wrong—that people intrinsically knew not to hurt each other and spew rage and steal things, but they chose to do things anyway. She wasn't unforgiving. She'd also say, "Niños tontos, vayan a sacarse las ganas," which meant something to the tune of "Go on, go get it out of your system," which meant, "Stupid kids. You're going to do it, so just do it, and then grow up."

His abuela had fallen into dementia before he could truly appreciate these life lessons, but now that he was following Jason into the pits of hell, those lessons were eating him like a metaphorical espirtu gnawing on his shoulder—because she was wrong. Jason didn't know right from wrong. He knew popular from unpopular. He could tell what people considered wrong, but he had no problem doing anything, as long as people weren't watching. That, and when people were watching, he wanted to do something popular.

Raul had figured it out. Sara was from a different timeline and so were they. Now, Jason knew what it took to become popular: becoming a conqueror. Jason's tyranny was accepted because he breathed warfare. He took over the Hikan Empire, liberated the western lands, and instilled nationalism that bypassed the famine and hardship his wars created. He was a modern-day Caesar. Memories of Jason's rise to power flashed during the entire trip. He was a great leader. But there was a problem. ("Stay away from crypts. You may feel stronger, but you're not ready yet.") Sara had warned them to stay away from crypts. Now, they were coming onto one—and it wasn't as it was. It was— (A trap.) Jason liked that. He reveled in the fact that there was a true challenge. Raul didn't. He just kept riding ever closer to the forest, Lemeeka Forest, which briefly led to Apiro. Apparently, it was originally home to five thousand who, just last year, bustled through the cobblestone streets, going in and out of inns and shops and taverns.

Farmers' wagons went in and out at will, trading potatoes with the bakers for fresh bread and selling the rest to the hungry citizens. And in the center, there was a large line for people drawing water from the well. The town survived exclusively on mana cores to create water, but they didn't have a grand system. So they created an artificial lake in the center and fed it the cores of nearby beasts they ate as food. They were strong people, but they had been overrun by the orcs.

Now, they were gone, just like those in Coline, but unlike Coline, orcs hadn't taken control of the human settlement. The whole thing was covered in fog so thick that the entire company instantly turned to silhouettes of nervous, whispering soldiers. The webs showed first signs during a ten-minute walk through the forest. One soldier stepped onto one and fell. Two soldiers had to cut the web and pull them free.

Their swords stuck to the ground, though, and someone commented, "If you swing that thing, it'll get stuck on your enemy." Faila approached Jason.

"This is evidence of a Crimson Weaver nest." Jason's eyes blurred, and he said, "Yeah. But that's fine.

'Ice mages, freeze the webs already!'" Ice mages froze the gunk on the soldiers' swords and suddenly the web shattered. Jason grabbed a whole chunk and froze it. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

"When'd you learn ice magic?" Faila asked, stepping over a web.

"Years ago…" Jason whispered, finally feeling the gravity of the situation.

"It actually doesn't matter, does it. We'll be fine." Jason stepped past all the soldiers.

"Skhematízontas!" A blizzard conjured out of nowhere, blanketing the trees and ground in a stunning wonderland of ice.

"There's nothing to fear!" Jason said boldly.

"Ice mages up front. We're liberating Apiro!" Raul had to admit: he was drawn in by Jason's confidence and charisma. He reveled in the cheers. He wanted to cheer. But— (You're not ready yet.) He took another step and remembered his abuela slapping him upside the head. (¡Tú sabes lo que está bien y lo que está mal, tonto!)"Jason," Raul said seriously.

"Crypts aren't this simple. We should step back, regroup, and—""Shut. The fuck. Up." Jason turned to him with a frigid gaze.

"Sara told you not to. And you're jerking off on her every word. Well, I'm not. Now move. Or I'll transfer your authority to Faila. I'm shocked I haven't already." Raul winced. He needed his position. It gave him direct control over Faila and Yesa, the sycounts leading the platoons. Raul fell silent, listening to the ice Jason created breaking plant statues underfoot. The company made it to Apiro thirty minutes later. The town was like Silent Hill, only more disturbing.

A quarter of the town was burnt to ash and charcoal, and the other half was destroyed. There were webs as thick as ropes keeping broken buildings standing. There was a battle, but the crimson web that moved through town ensured the spiders' victory. They found an entire building pierced through it, and there were cocooned orc bodies pierced through or separated from the web. Jason tried to freeze it but failed.

"It's like a razor…" Jason whispered.

"It's definitely a weaver." Faila nodded.

"I don't think we should fight one. The last time we encountered a scarlet weaver—""It'll be fine. Let the squads stick close in the fog, and give them full authority to execute formations on regular weavers if they get lost. Put an ice mage in each group. I'll fight the scarlet."

"Sir." Faila saluted. Raul did, too, if only to put on airs. Jason sneered at him.

"Block the webs, shield boy. You're helping."

"Understood." The team passed through the town to follow the scarlet web. Raul observed Galon's Bakery, which had webs jutting on baked goods. They reached the inns and taverns all the way to the well in the town square.

"This is so unnatural," Raul said.

"It feels like they were…" (Lured here.)"At least Emma's not here," Raul whispered again, but he felt forsaken. It felt like Sara saved Emma, somehow, but she had left him on this suicide mission. (The location changed.) She wouldn't do that to me, right? Raul wondered if Sara would lead him to his death. Shockingly, she didn't know. 2 The Lemeeka Forest, like most of Veridia, didn't look much different than Earth.

It had tall pine trees with thicker pines, but they didn't look much different than the Ponderosa Pines that were native to Colorado and faced extinction from pine beetle epidemics when their class was summoned. The ground, when Jason didn't freeze it, was spongy from light rain a few days before and smelled of earth and nutty mushrooms.

It was a good time of year to pick edible mushrooms, and there were shelf-fungus growing out of trees that made terrible-tasting tea that surprisingly made a person feel good in the morning. Raul imagined locals surviving on many of those foods. There were two major differences between the forest they were in and a normal forest.

There were large gashes on trees from where a massive animal had crashed into the trees, knocking over small ones and leaving hatchet marks in logs it had stranded on with its thick, razor-sharp legs. And there were long streaks of white webbing that shot across the ground like slacklines, moving around as the spider jumped on trees and shot it down at an enemy. Orcs stand in fourteen-foot cocoons hanging from trees like Christmas tree ornaments. But there were no spiders.

"This gives me the creeps," a soldier said, watching his steps.

"Yeah," another said.

"How hard is it to kill?" Jason asked Faila.

"It's not that hard to puncture its skin, but… it's hard to hit it. It jumps fast and shoots webs that makes it difficult to run or jump without shearing your body in half. This really is a job for Rank 8s or greater."

"Well, I took out six Rank 6s in a matter of minutes. I'm sure I can do this." —Mary Jansen— Mary's mother let herself become impregnated by the first successful man she met, just like her mother did. It was a way of life: to be a perfect wife for a successful man, and reap the rewards of high wealth, status, food, and clothing.

Her husband set up a side business for her, doing all the organizational work with his lawyers, advisors, and workers to make the venture a success, and let her run day-to-day operations, focusing on what she enjoyed most. Mary planned to do the same. She had bedded Jason and thought that she would be living that life. Instead, she was walking through thick fog with a pounding heart. Jason was impressive with his constant blizzards that made flowers crackle into shards when she stepped onto them.

She focused on that as she walked, constantly looking at the ground, letting the path weave her around the trees. Her anxiety was peaking. It wasn't just here. The anxiety was like a solid link that wove all the soldiers together. Only Jason was confident. Raul was a coward, but she appreciated it for once. As for Mary, she was useless. She knew magic; she knew to practice something to cement her position, but she never planned to use it. She'd probably scream and start a fire instead of an ice shard.

And an ice shard was all she could do. She didn't know how Jason and Raul and Emma picked up magic so fast, but she wasn't amongst them. She was a bedder, not a fighter. How the fuck did she get here? And what was Jason doing? He was a certifiable psychopath. This was clearly a trap laid by Sara, and he was walking right into it! How could he be so blind? Something was wrong. Obviously wrong. It was a bad premonition that carved images of death into her bones, and there was no escaping it.

They were out in the open, relying on one person who felt like he could solve the entire world's problems. Mary stepped on something and got stuck, feeling her boot yank up and groan. She looked down in horror and saw herself stuck to a thin rope. Jason stopped and took an exasperated breath.

"Hold still and keep quiet." Mary bit her cheek as Jason knelt and chanted, releasing a freezing wave of ice that made Mary yelp as she stumbled onto her ass. Her heel burned.

"What are you doing?" she hissed.

"Faila," Jason said. Faila healed Mary's leg.

"Be careful," Jason said reassuringly.

"This'll all be over soon."

"Jason!" Raul said.

"It's coming!"

"What's coming?" Then Mary heard it, the scuttling. The cracking of ice. An army of stabs. Yet she couldn't see anything. It reminded her of the time she was in the— (Cavern.) Everything felt so nostalgic for a second.

"J-Jason. Isn't this that time we—" Suddenly, a white rope shot through the steam, coming straight for her. Mary lifted up her hands reflexively, but Faila jumped in front, slashing the web. The woman's body flew backward so hard that she smashed into a tree, cracking it in half. She coughed up blood. The sycount. The sycount coughed up blood after nearly cracking a tree in half. Then, in a hypnotic dream, the woman's body flew forward past Mary so fast the body left afterimages.

A blink later, she had disappeared into the fog and started screaming. The screaming came and ended. The sycount. Their guard. (Dead.)"Avoid the webs!" Jason yelled.

"Ice mages, volley!" Jason's entire body warped as he blasted the area with ice. It was just in time. The second he did, a spider the size of a Jeep froze in place. Mary saw the frozen spider—and screamed. More crunching ahead. Webs shot out of the frozen tundra. Jason pushed her out of the way before one hit her. Five hit regular soldiers and pulled them into the mist. One rope shot at Mary, but an illuminant barrier that looked like car oil mixed in water blocked it.

Dozens of barriers shot up, blocking all the webs. Raul was out front, saving everyone as Jason stared ahead, mind blank and distant.

"Jason!" Mary screamed. Jason snapped out of it.

"We need to retreat!" he said. Raul blocked a web that nearly hit him, but another three webs popped up. A red spindle of web pierced right through the barrier and stabbed Jason in the side. He screamed out in pain.

"Make stronger barriers, you idiot," he yelled to Raul. Jason froze the red web with such force that it became brittle. Then he crunched it with his hand.

"Why isn't Emma here?" he screamed.

"This was a trap! Mary! Heal, me, you fucking cunt!" Mary resented Jason's consistent misogyny. She loathed it. And that anger allowed her to get into the fight. She healed Jason with basic magic and said, "I hate you."

"Hate me when we live!" Half the soldiers were gone. Five minutes in. —Sara Reece— Sara was the only person who could make it in time. She used a hardcore acceleration spell on her horse as she flew thirty miles to the closest teleportation circle in Sayon's hidden teleportation network. Daniel was sitting on the boulder the seven-layer array was hidden behind.

"If you try to stop me, I'll kill you," Sara yelled. Daniel threw up his hands, revealing a parchment scroll.

"Don't worry. I'm not here to stop you. On the contrary…" He unrolled the scroll.

"I'm giving you a direct link to Apiro." Sara skidded her monta to a halt.

"And why the hell would I trust you? I wouldn't trust an unmarked teleportation array if Edico gave it to me." Daniel grinned.

"Because you have no choice. You won't make it in time."

"I'll take my chances."

"And explain why you disappeared for a day? I can tell Reesta to un-explain your disappearance."

"Oh, Daniel. You better watch your words."

"Okay, how about these for words: Killing you won't change anything. There's a third person who's regained their memories."

"And that's…?" Sara paused, and her eyes widened.

"Wait. Don't tell me—""Agronus. Agronus needs to die before I can reverse a second of this timeline. In short, if you die, I'll need to rely upon Jason. And if I rely upon Jason, well, we're all fucked."

"So you're hedging your bets."

"Precisely." He reached into a bag and threw a mountain lion mask and cloak at her.

"That said, let's not reveal we have a teleportation network, shall we?" Sara grimaced. She was so worried about Raul that she ended up throwing all her cards onto the table. She greedily snatched up the cloak, used Divine Eyes to determine that it didn't have any hidden arrays or wards, and threw it on. The mask came next. Daniel was prepared.

"If you move that one inch while I'm away, I'll kill you," Sara warned as Daniel smoothed out the large teleportation array.

"Don't threaten me with a good time," he said. For a moment, Sara thought she saw Daniel's face fill with morbid truth. Then, she put her fingers onto the array as Daniel threw zinconia crystals onto it. Teleport, she thought, and her mind and body blurred, blinking out of existence.