Chapter 199: Of course it’s an ambush (Patreon)

It took several days of cutting through the deep jungle, Calvin’s Bent gradually draining away as his summons were burned through. Thankfully he had the Bad Penny Ability, allowing his summons to last a lot longer than they might have otherwise.

In a moment of exhaustion, Baroke asked him why he hadn’t simply flown them into the center of the jungle.

Although it would have been faster, There was a better chance of them getting split up en route, and moreover… When Calvin made a Nadia fly above them toward the south, she veered off suddenly and crashed into a tree. The next one was caught in some kind of clear webbing, then she got chewed on by glass spiders, nearly invisible against the blue sky.

Calvin didn’t have the breath to speak at the time, so he simply waved his hand dismissively.

“Yeah, I got it. This thing’s got a brain.”

A few minutes later, Baroke spoke up again.

“Does the sun look… off to you?”

Calvin glanced up, expecting a giant eyeball, or blood red. He was a little disappointed when it was normal and simply not where it should be. They were on the equator, going north to south, so the sun should be moving perpendicular to the long line of cut trees they were trekking along in a perfectly straight line, following behind Calvin’s Knick-Knacks.

Unfortunately, that didn’t seem to be the case.

The sun seemed to be slightly behind them.

Calvin glanced at the Knick-knacks industriously creating their path, ignoring the various monsters that sprung up around it, their teeth and claws proving to be little impediment to their progress.

He followed the path that they’d carved, the straight line allowing him to make out the place they’d started a few days ago easily.

He had a clear line of sight, every tree perfectly lined up, his gut was telling him.

Except the shadows on the ground.

Far in the distance, the shadows were all pointing to the left, but over the last twenty feet, the shadows of the trees slowly began to diverge from each other, pointing this way and that, even overlapping each other at times, which was a sight so unsettlingly unnatural that it made the hair on Calvin’s neck stand up.

Calvin looked up at the sun and took a step backward.

The sun shifted further behind them, but the forest remained the same.

Calvin took two steps forward, and the sun swung up and to the left, nearly blocked out by the trees.

Yep, we’re in a non-euclidean maze. Elliot said sagely.

The Abyss does that mean? Calvin demanded.

You’re in a maze not composed of walls, but of tangled up space. Left is straight, straight is straight, down is left, etc. Basically your perception of direction and real direction are at odds with each other in here, and you gotta find a way to get through it.

We could spend a lifetime in here, getting progressively more and more lost as you struggle to find your way to the center. Once you grow old and weary, you’ll want to leave, but you’ll be so deep in the Maze’s clutches that you’ll never see your home again! MUAHAHAHAH!

“Ooor,” Calvin said, glancing up at the sun then back down at the trees, mentally summoning the knick-knacks to him.

“Cut me a path of anything whose shadow matches that angle.” Calvin said, pointing to one of the trees from twenty feet back that had uniform shadows. And make sure to adjust as time goes by.

Oh, you think that’ll work?

“I hope so,” Calvin said. If a tree had the same angle from the sun, they had to be facing it from the appropriate direction.

Theoretically. It was just a matter of getting from tree to tree with the right angled shadow.

What if you’re facing the wrong direction?

We’ll figure it out.

And figure it out they did.

Knick-knacks were incapable of creative thought, so they saw the shifting shadows and never bothered to stop and ask why, they simply kept going in what they perceived to be a straight line. They understood the request and did their best to accommodate it, but their intuition and critical thinking weren’t quite enough to piece together the problem.

As it turned out, using the shadows to navigate was a dead end, as soon as their winding path was out of sight of the entrance. Since moving changed not only someone’s position but also the direction they were facing, the shadows seemed to shift wildly as they walked, leaving them totally confused about which one was at the right ‘angle’.

Where logic failed, Intuition filled the Gap.

Dozens of tiny clues, like footprints ahead of them where they’d already been, the apparent angle of the sun above them, the tendancy for the trees to lean to the south, and so on, allowed Calvin to crunch out a generally southern heading, creating a nonsensically winding trail as he went.

None of those clues by themselves meant anything, but all of the tiny little facts put together gave Calvin a fairly accurate roadmap of where he was going and where he’d been.

It didn’t help that whatever controlled this nightmare jungle didn’t stop throwing creatures at him that were seemingly immune to the disorienting effects of the jungle.

He had Baroke and a knick-knack follow behind him, step for step, the Knick-knack using it’s torch to lay down a squiggly line of burned earth, hopefully allowing Kala and the others to follow his path.

***Kala***

A hand clapped, grabbing Kala’s attention.

Kala blinked. Ella was facing east, frowning at her questioningly. Her dad was similarly wandering off in the wrong direction.

‘This way south.’ Kala signed, pointing.

Ella frowned and shook her head, pointing at Kala and making a wobbly line with her hand.

That’s interesting.

“Come to me?” Kala signed.

Ella shrugged, heading towards her. The Genosian started out straight then turned sharply north, her head turning to stay fixed on Kala.

The look of surprise and disbelief on Ella’s face didn’t need translation.

Hmm… Kala frowned, then motioned for them to stay put.

Ella and Aoehe stayed in place, watching with increasingly amazed eyes and Kala walked toward them in a straight line.

She took Ella’s hand, and Ella took her fathers, and together the three of them resumed their trek through the jungle.

Seer for the win! Kala thought with a smile, marching ahead of Calvin, whose burnt line on the ground was forming at a slow, halting pace.

They were still attacked by monsters regularly, but between Ella’s shiny blood-red skin and Aoehe’s Chained spirits, they were able to fend them off. The supply of mutated Genosians had run out a long time ago, and the Suck-monsters were easy to avoid as long as they didn’t say anything.

All they had to contend with were the occasional warped creatures that the bubble threw at them, but they were by and large disoriented by the transition between realities.

***Calvin***

“What does that look like to you?” Calvin asked Baroke.

“A popped pimple,” Baroke said, eyeing the crater ahead of them. It was perfectly round and smooth, carpeted in that strange fungus, seemingly having risen up to ground level.

In the center of the crater was a hole. Tiny from this distance, but easily big enough for several adults to go inside.

“I know what it looks like, It’s a lens! The focal point of the effects!” Learner said, looking up at him with expectant eyes.

“That’s right.” Calvin said, and Learner beamed, unconsciously wiggling in place and leaning toward him.

Calvin reflexively raised his hand, almost patting Learner’s head before he snapped out of it.

Whew, Pretty dangerous there for a moment.

“Still looks like a whitehead to me.” Baroke said with a grunt.

“Well, let’s go burn it to the ground,” Calvin said, heading for the hole in the center of the.

“It’s already on the ground, though?” Learner asked, falling in behind him.

“It’s kind of an expression in this case, Calvin said, covering his face with a cloth and stepping out onto the white fungus layer.

It had the strangest texture. Brittle, and yet when it gave under his feet, the broken fungus turned sandy before collapsing into a tougher substance.

If he weren’t sure it was a bad idea, Calvin might want to take his shoes off and see what it felt like crumbling between his toes, imagining that would be what snow was like.

As they walked into the massive fungal crater, the forest began to rise up around them.

Not simply because they were lowering in altitude, either. The forest rose up and warped, rising high above their heads until the last bit of sky was choked out by jungle canopy directly above their heads.

“Well, that’s pretty fucked up,” Baroke said, staring up at the jungle above their heads.

“I know, right?” Kala said from a couple feet away, fading into view, dragging Ella and Aoehe along behind her. one second she wasn’t there, and the next she was, like stepping through some kind of invisible doorway.

“So the bubble overlaps here,” Calvin said.

“Seems like it.” kala said, nodding.

“Good, because that saved me hours of figuring out a way to bring you back.”

Although if both realities overlap here, it’s not exactly the defensive position I thought it was.

Calvinian summoning.

Chimera

15/47 Bent remaining.

Calvin created a massive, enhanced fireworm directly on top of the hole in the ground.

No sense taking any chances. They could explore it after every piece of organic matter inside was reduced to carbon.

At his direction, the Fireworm placed its butt over the hole and started convulsing, it’s shiny pale white exterior convulsing rhythmically.

“Hah! It looks like a guy taking a dump,” Baroke said, pointing.

It kind of did.

Then the fireworm exploded into a green mist as something shot through it, sucking in the green smoke and regarding them with a hateful stare.

It was vaguely humanoid, rail thing with oversized rib cage…

Calvin’s eyes widened as he recognized the creature.

“Magenta.”

Obviously it wasn’t the same exact creature, but it was the same body. The same passionate hate.

The brittle fungus around them began to shift and crack as hundreds of creatures began to stir, breaking out of the white surface like spiders out of an egg sac, even where they’d walked to get here, their footprints in the crust were shrugged off by the creatures that had been hiding directly under their feet.

I mean, I’d be pretty dumb if I wasn’t expecting a trap, Calvin thought as the ground beneath him erupted, even more Magenta-colored creatures pulling themselves out of the ground.

Calvin threw himself into the air, pulling out his Abyssal steel knife and lopping the creature beneath him in half before landing on it again.

Kala led her group of three to a relatively thin part of the mob, and between her, Ella and Aoehe, they managed to create a solid formation, although the old man’s Chained Spirit was whisked away, he managed to preform admirably with his obsidian blade, slowing down his attackers long enough to allow hid daughter to assist him.

Ella’s powers being so diametrically opposed to Calvin’s, the Magenta swarm wasn’t really that much of a threat to her. The creature’s claws slid off her iron skin like a knife on glass. They simply were a poor match.

Even then, she struggled, because while she could toss any individual creature around like a ragdoll, they came at her like ants, locking onto her limbs and trying to restrain her long enough for the others to get their jaws around her neck.

Even if her skin couldn’t be penetrated, she could still be suffocated.

Kala came to the rescue with a magic that Calvin had never seen.

She took a deep draw on her pipe – Is this really the best time? – and exhaled a thick cloud of smoke. That smoke hung in the air, whirling in place and shooting out white spikes of smoke given solid form, piercing the mob of attackers.

It didn’t stop there though, as the spike seemed to come alive, turning into soldiers made of white vapor. These featureless men joined together to create a living wall, slowing the approach of the Magenta swarm.

Calvin was having more trouble than them.

Shaping

14/47 Bent Remaining.

He didn’t try his summons, since his first experience with Magenta had made an impression. When he tried to use Dupdomancy to create a bomb, the creatures ignored the attack entirely, the bits of shrapnel bursting into vapor like drops of water on a hot stove.

With his summons and dupdomancy handicapped, Calvin resorted to a combination of hand-to-hand combat and Shifting.

Shifting.

We’re gonna have to start calling Shifting Old Reliable.

Calvin made himself light and jumped above the rabble while Baroke was buried in a sea of gnashing teeth and retractable talons.

He didn’t have time to worry about Baroke as the flying Magenta made a beeline for him.

Calvin put weight into his hand and spun around it, dodging the speeding flier in midair as she crashed into the mess of bodies below.

Calvin took the opportunity to reach into his belt and pull out an eyeball sized ball of Mage Armor. He took the blue putty and smashed it against his chest.

In the blink of an eye, his entire body was covered in blue crystal, rendering his skin far more resilient than it had been a moment ago.

It was a good thing, too, because the creature came back strong. Soaring up towards Calvin at blistering speeds with a howl of rage.

Calvin whipped out his Abyssal steel knife, complete with extra twenty-five inches of invisible blade, aiming to bisect the approaching creature.

Magenta warped around the blade like an image seen through bubbled glass, hitting Calvin in the neck and stomach with her hand blades angled to seek out his heart and jugular.

Calvin’s light weight saved his life, as his Mage armor softened the blow, sending him reeling across the sky.

How did she dodge the attack?

Calvin recalled his own words. Home field advantage. She’s using the space warping to make herself untouchable.

Calvin slammed into something soft in midair.

He glanced up and saw Learner grinning back at him, having cushioned his uncontrolled fall through space. She was similarly coated in Mage armor, although she made hers on demand.

When Calvin glanced around he noticed the forest had bent upward even more, until the white of the fungus field was all he could see, sky and ground.

Ah, now we’re in a real bubble of space, Calvin thought, looking around. Up was limited to about fifty feet in the air, and after that, every direction was down.

Well, if they’ve got the home field advantage, take away the home field, Calvin thought.

Magenta didn’t give him any more time to think, rushing toward him with murderous intent.

“Give me a push,” Calvin said, stepping off air to negate his falling momentum.

Hands at his back flung him forward, and Calvin drew all the mass of the earth into his body, making himself a heavyweight missile.

Magenta’s eyes widened when, instead of splattering Calvin like she’d expected, His momentum overwhelmed hers easily and carried them violently forward.

Dodge this, Calvin thought grabbing her arms and putting all of his weight into his swinging legs, then transferring it up his body into his arms as he swung her around.

“Son of a bitch!”

Magenta flew away at high speeds toward Learner, who flicked a hand, creating a ripple of reality-warping blade to bisect her.

Magenta gave him a feral grin and space warped, Her body creating a noodle-like line while Learner suddenly looked like she was under a lens.

Shit!

Calvin lunged to the side as fast as he could as Learner’s reality ripple put a cut in his side, a couple inches deep.

“Oh no!” Learner shouted, her eyes wide and brimming with tears. “I’m so sorry, are you okay?” She clutched her hand to her chest.

Calvin raised a brow at her behavior, but didn’t have time to say anything.

Assuming they lived, it was such a clean cut it would doubtlessly heal just fine, and he was too busy to sling blame.

Calvin tugged the thermite out of his belt.

“Kala!” Calvin shouted, glancing up at where Kala and the others were holding off an army of mooks.

“Yeah!”

“Need distraction!” Calvin said, pointing at Magenta.

“Got it!” Kala said,

Calvin Shifted his weight and pushed off the air, charging through the air with fine control of Shifting, aiming for Kala. Hopefully she would be able to brush his attacker off of him long enough to setup the surprise.

Kala warped in front of him, replaced with the grinning face of Magenta as space was warped, turning Calvin completely around.

“Hi,” She said, catching him in midair in a gardor hug, pinning his arms to his sides.

I call hax!

Magenta’s face split open, revealing mandibles aiming to crush Calvin’s head.

Calvin used Blade Body to suck his knife back into his palm before jutting both of them out of his temples, catching Magenta’s mandibles.

“Agh!” Magenta shouted, drawing her head back, bleeding form the face. “You sneaky fucking – “

Learner landed on Magenta’s shoulders and wrapped her arm around the creature’s neck, her fingers turning into odd tentacles that shoved themselves into Magenta’s mouth.

Calvin pulled the knives back in and pushed them out of his abdomen, stabbing into the creature holding onto him.

She screeched in pain and shoved him off, scratching at Learner over her shoulders, while a growing cloud of smoke began whirling around her, following Learner’s example by forcing itself inside the monster.

Calvin fell to the ground, shifting all his weight out of his body as he impacted the ground, weakening the damage to almost nothing.

As the other Magentas gathered around him, Calvin tore open the carefully packaged rust and feathersteel combination with his teeth, then popped the top off one of his vials of undifferentiated matter and shoved the entire vial into the package before launching himself back up.

The results where almost instantaneous. An enormous pile of thermite began growing out of control, until it was the size of a wagon.

The best part was, it was one hundred percent real, not Bent construct. Magenta couldn’t do a damned thing about it.

“Turtle up and get ready for some heat!” Calvin shouted.

He’d made magnesium filled with God’s fire a thousand times.

Multi-Shaping

A white hot light bloomed in the center of the white splotch, and the entire curved space they were trapped in jerked, like a man who’d touched a hot stove.

Then it started tearing itself apart. The forest became visible, then chunks of sky here and there. It wasn’t open, exactly, but it wasn’t under her control anymore, either.

“GYAAA!” Magenta screamed, throwing Learner off her back, coughing blood as she charged toward him, her gaze filled with hate. She’s got Learner inside her, probably. All I need to do is stall and I can win this. But first let’s see if she can handle being bisected.

Calvin drew the mummified Spinner knife off the back of his belt and with a wave of his hand, put the dimensional blade through Magenta’s torso, splitting her in half.

Magenta exploded into brown sand.

What?

The sand wrapped itself around Calvin, smothering him from every angle, his sight and senses restricted. There was a bubbling sensation against his skin as his Mage armor started dissolving on contact with the claustrophobic brown sand.

This could be bad.