The Soul Engine Ch. 54 (Original Fantasy) (Patreon)

A/N: Godzil-err, I mean... the Beast approaches!

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A lot has come to light in a very short amount of time and Mikael is beginning to wonder if it was a mistake coming to the Sylian Woods. To be fair, it wasn’t as though Thayla’s father had any way of knowing the true disposition of the elves he’d met a single time decades in the past. This had always been something of a Hail Mary based entirely off of Bula’s heritage… but also the fact that they were reaching out to her.

If they wanted to get in touch, didn’t that imply that they could be reasoned with? If they were calling to her, didn’t that mean they could be negotiated with? It wasn’t a bad theory. It wasn’t even a particularly bad plan in Mikael’s honest opinion. But… the best laid plans and all that. They clearly hadn’t asked enough questions when they’d first arrived here. If they had, maybe they could have gleaned a better understanding of the situation.

It was one thing to try and commune with a Forest God in the hopes of helping the Sylian Elves get back on their feet so that they could in turn help them defeat Foss Sangrey. It was another thing entirely to try and enslave that same Forest God, even for that exact same purpose. Bula didn’t talk much about her time as Zadicus Quinn’s slave, but that certainly didn’t mean she’d enjoyed it.

Hell, if Mikael hadn’t had a superior claim and Bula hadn’t played a part in the initial suffering he experienced after being brought into this world, he suspected the half-orc warrior would have been far more irate over not getting to kill the Lord of Alether herself. Put succinctly… the High Executor had just admitted to trying to get Bula to enslave a God these past three days. And then he’d gone and threatened to kill Mikael and Avina if the half-orc didn’t play ball.

Surrounded as they were, it was possible that Daylor Krislamin could have even made good on that threat if Bula forced his hand. Mikael had enjoyed quite the power boost from the half a dozen Children of Syl that they’d killed and he’d absorbed, but that wouldn’t mean much if even one of those arrows, coated in a poison capable of debilitating a creature the size of a house, found purchase in his or Bula’s or god forbid Avina’s flesh. He and Bula might be able to survive an arrow or two apiece, but Avina… Avina was squishy. Very squishy.

However, before things can descent into combat, before all hell can break loose… things change.

THOOM. THOOM. THOOM.

The earthquakes that rock both Bula and the High Executor off of their respective perches and onto the ground below confuse Mikael at first. But when he floats down with Avina to stand at Bula’s side, he finally realizes what’s making the ground shake. Footfalls. Something is coming. Something massive.

“THE BEAST! THE BEAST COMES!”

Daylor’s panicked, desperate voice rings out through the woods and in an instant the hundreds of elven warriors ready to turn the three of them into pincushions turn away, removing arrows from bowstrings and darting too and fro in a flurry of activity. The High Executor is no different. He forgets all about them in an instant, focusing only on shouting orders to begin bringing forth fortifications and more arrows, to get into position.

Mikael, Bula, and Avina all exchange a glance at this. To go from being on the verge of execution to being ignored is… a strange sensation for all of them. Bula in particular looks disgruntled and like she’s torn between planting her battle axe between the High Executor’s shoulderblades or preparing herself to do battle with whatever it is they’re all so afraid of.

Given the way the remaining Children of Syl have all pulled back out of view, hiding themselves behind nearby tree trunks hundreds of feet wide, Mikael has a suspicion that whatever is coming… it’s the big one.

THOOM. THOOM. THOOM.

Looking around with his Soul Sense, it takes Mikael a second to find the thing, however. Mostly because… it’s actually pretty small when he finally locates it. But that’s not a matter of size. That’s a matter of distance. And it’s definitely getting bigger.

“There.”

When Mikael points, both Avina and Bula look to where his finger is going. But they see nothing because at this moment, the creature… this ‘Beast’ as the High Executor called it, is still too far away to be seen through all of the massive fucking trees. However, the two believe him without hesitation. Daylor on the other hand…

“Where?! What do you speak of human?!”

Eyes glowing with teal energy, Mikael looks over to the elven male with a tilt of his head. Given the way the bastard had just been talking to Bula, he doesn’t really want to give the other man the time of day. But… this is bigger than petty grievances, he supposes.

“Something huge. I can see it getting closer. Biggest source of Weave I’ve ever seen, in fact.”

For a moment Daylor looks incredulous… but then seems to peer into Mikael’s glowing eyes for a moment longer before nodding sharply. The High Executor apparently chooses to believe Mikael, because he immediately starts shouting orders to prepare for an attack from the direction Mikael pointed. It’s almost enough to get him some brownie points… but nah. Not really.

Especially not when the bastard doesn’t hesitate to whip around to Bula a moment later.

“What are you still doing here?! Return to the Circle! You are our only hope against the Beast!”

Same shit as before, but with an added note of manic desperation in the elf’s voice. Of course, Bula responds just as well to being ordered around now as she did previously.

“I refuse. I will fight.”

Her repeated refusal to listen has a vein bulging out of the High Executor’s forehead as he snarls in a panic.

“You fool! You utter simpleton! This is not a fight! This is the BEAST! You have seen how we handle the lesser creatures… but nothing The People can throw at it will take down that monster! Greater cities then ours have tried and failed!”

Mikael hums at that particular piece of information.

“Are you saying that every single Elven City has fallen to the same creature?”

THOOM. THOOM. THOOM.

Glancing over in the direction of said creature as the ground continues to shake with its footfalls, Mikael has to admit… even without hearing Daylor’s response, he can believe it. The thing is twice the size to his Soul Sense now, and still far enough away that it can’t be seen with the naked eye. And it’s only getting bigger. That it could even make the ground shake from this far off was… a testament to its true size.

“Yes! The Beast is unstoppable! You cannot fight it! You cannot reason with it! Everyone else is dead! We are the last remnants of The People and it is coming to finish the job!”

He sounds terrified. He sounds traumatized. He does NOT sound like a leader in this moment, like the vaunted ‘High Executor’ he’s supposed to be. Mikael wonders then how old Daylor Krislamin truly is. He’s referred to them as children and whelps since their arrival. He acts as if he’s been around for far longer than any of them have and to be fair, he probably has. However… Mikael is beginning to suspect that just as this last elven city was the least of the Sylian Elves’ civilization, Daylor Krislamin was the least of the Council of Executors.

This was not a man who knew what he was doing. This was not a man who was ready to lead his people out of the jaws of extinction.

“I don’t care. Maybe you can’t fight it. But we can. Me and Mikael will kill this Beast for you. Just watch.”

Bula’s confidence is endearing… but as he glances over in the direction of the approaching creature again, he has to admit… he’s starting to wonder if it might be misplaced. Daylor, meanwhile, has no compunctions on telling Bula precisely what he thinks of her words.

“Pure Arrogance! You stupid, ignorant brat! The Beast is not something that can be KILLED. Our only hope is for you to go back to your mother’s circle and use it to bind Syl and calm the Beast down! It is our only hope you foolish little cretin!”

The High Executor is practically frothing at the mouth as he rants and waves his hands wildly at an uncaring and unconcerned Bula. All around them, the elves have taken up their positions. Hastily rebuilt fortifications and sniper nests dot the tree branches. There’s a sense of… grim acceptance of death in the air. They all know they’re doomed. But they’ll fight anyways. Mikael can… almost admire that.

THOOM. THOOM. THOOM.

What he cannot admire is Daylor’s diplomacy. Or rather, the complete lack of it. The High Executor might even be right. Their only hope might be having Bula connect to Syl. Maybe without the enslavement that Daylor had unthinkingly let slip earlier. But talking to her like that wasn’t going to get the half-orc on board with such a plan. No, it was obvious that the High Executor had never learned that you caught more flies with honey than with vinegar.

Before Mikael can say as much or even begin trying to convince Bula that maybe they SHOULD go back to the Circle… Daylor’s expression, full of wrath, abruptly goes blank. His anger melts away… and his eyes move past them, over their shoulders.

“It’s too late. The Beast is here.”

Mikael blinks as he, Avina, and Bula all turn around at that. Huh, yep. The massive blob of Soul Energy is indeed there now… so big in fact that it covers almost the entirety of Mikael’s vision. Turning off his Soul Sense is the only way for him to see the creature that that Soul Energy belongs to. Otherwise its just plain blinding.

There, up near the top of one of the massive trees on the edge of the Sylian Elves’ city… a massive set of claws can be seen grasping at the wood, digging furrows into the bark as large as lakes.

THOOM. SKRRRRRRRRRRRRRSH.

The Beast takes a step forward, coming further into view. As it does so and the ground shakes beneath their foot, a new sound fills the air… one of the loudest, most intense scratching that Mikael has ever heard as the hulking monster reveals itself to have a scalp with a hundred long, spindly horns coming off of its head. They scrape against the canopy of branches and leaves that sit at the ‘roof’ of the Sylian Woods.

Mikael winces at the sound even as he resists the urge to cover his ears. Avina though, is forced to do so, letting out a soft cry. The Beast’s mere movement is enough to cause pain and leave a trail of destruction in his wake. Looking up and up and up at the damn thing… Mikael thinks he can imagine how it might have gone and destroyed eight entire treetop cities, each greater and more impressive than the one they’re currently standing on the edge of.

The Beast is… truly massive. Gargantuan, even. Easily a hundred times bigger than even the biggest Child of Syl that they’ve seen at this point. Mikael isn’t sure where to even begin with trying to kill this monster. Especially when it contains more energy than he’s absorbed in the entirety of his existence on this world. He could spend all of his magic on this creature, leaving himself completely drained and on the verge of death… and he’s not sure it would have any effect whatsoever.

Of course, he still fully expects Bula to let out a war cry and go charging past to slash at the thing’s big toe any second. Which is why when the moments drag on with the Beast regarding all of them with an eye the size of a house and no such thing happens, Mikael looks over to Bula, wondering what’s gotten into her. To his surprise… the half-orc warrior is frozen in place. Standing there with her battle axe in her grasp, Bula is staring at the Beast, jaw dropped and eyes wide open.

Is she… is she frozen in fear? Mikael didn’t think that was possible. Nor was it good for their chances of survival if he was being honest. Meanwhile, a glance at the High Executor shows that he’s in a similar state as Bula… but trembling and shaking much more violently then the half-orc. Until suddenly, he seems to find his voice.

“Uh… Uh… ATTACK!”

As Daylor’s voice rings out through the air, hundreds of elven warriors open fire. Arrows that would have peppered Mikael and his friends mere minutes ago are now aimed at the Beast… at the massive hulking monster standing between two of the massive Sylian Trees, framed in the middle of them. With how big the damn thing is… not a single arrow misses, of course.

But when your target is that big, it’s not a matter of whether you miss or not… but if you have any effect at all. Maybe one in ten of the arrows finds purchase in the creature’s hide. The rest snap on impact or bounce off. And even those that DO manage to stick and stay impaled in flesh… they’re ignored. Whatever coating the Sylian Elves use to take down creatures ten times their size doesn’t seem to have any effect at all on a creature ten THOUSAND times their size.

Mikael can’t really hold that against them though. They’re all doing the best they can, as evidenced by volley after volley of arrow fire. The complete lack of an effect is concerning, however. Perhaps it’s time to cut their losses, Mikael finds himself thinking. And by ‘their losses’, he means him, Avina, and Bula. This isn’t their fight. These aren’t their people, not really. And with Bula frozen in place, Mikael could just grab her like he’s holding Avina and… take his women and go the fuck home.

Quite frankly, fighting Foss Sangrey and his army of undead seemed more appealing to him in this moment then trying to kill this fucking thing.

However, just as Mikael’s intent is crystallizing in his mind’s eye… the Beast finally moves. First, it opens its mouth. The roar that comes from its throat is no roar at all. It is an EXPLOSION of sound, one that buffets them all and forces Mikael to erect a hasty shield of Soul Energy to protect him, Avina, and Bula… and regrettably, Daylor Krislamin as well since the High Executor is so close by.

The hundreds of elven soldiers around them are not so lucky. Some are thrown hundreds of feet in the air. The lucky ones are tossed back against the nearest tree trunk just to slump down with blood pouring out of their ears from burst eardrums.

Of course, the roar is just the opening salvo. As soon as that’s over with, the Beast surges forward and Mikael realizes with a spike of fear that their chance to flee has come and gone.

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A/N: DUN DUN DUUUUUN!

At least its not a weekend cliffhanger. See you all tomorrow, lol.

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