(TLO) Chapter 162: Silver Priests (Patreon)

What in the fuck is that?

Seth shrugged in response to his minds. They knew just as well as he did; whatever it was, no one knew. His hand was held out to his side in a calming motion, palm faced down. The gesture was involuntary. Even now, he had no idea when he had made it.

All that was unimportant, however. What he needed was to not move. So he remained calm, silent, staring back at five eyes. There was no place for hope. Whatever the thing on the pink beast’s back was, it was dangerous.

Beside him Triton remained silent and calm. It was impressive. Not in the sense that he could be quiet and calm. No. It was in the sense that he agreed to take instructions from an Iron.

Behind Seth, his brothers followed the same instruction. He was certain they knew nothing of what he had stumbled upon; what they had stumbled upon in the darkest red of the crack’s night. He would tell them, eventually. For now, however, survival was more important.

All five of the creature’s eyes narrowed slightly like a man peering at something to far to see. When they narrowed further still, Seth realized it was not seeing him, merely staring. To be sure, he needed to test his hypothesis.

Are you sure that’s a good idea? One of his minds queried.

Seth would’ve liked to answer but was certain sound would give him away if the creature wasn’t actually seeing him. Testing his hypothesis, he turned his head slowly, panned his gaze until he was looking at Triton. Beside him Triton stared through a space between boulders too.

That, perhaps, explained his silence. What was the possibility the creature stared in the priest’s direction as well? There was much to owning five eyes that he knew nothing about.

Gently, his minds keeping the creature within their attention, staring at it from his periphery, he stretched his outstretched hand further. It slipped through the distance to rest itself on Triton’s arm.

When the gold turned, it was in the same fashion he had employed, slow and testy.

We need to leave, Seth signed when he had his attention.

Triton nodded once but didn’t back away from the boulder. Seth understood why. He feared what sound would do. He feared crossing the creature on the beast. It suggested a wide variety of things but Seth took only one. The fear was evident on Triton’s face. It was the kind that held men ransom and broke the will of even gods in old stories. There was only one thing alive that could scare a gold so thoroughly.

Whatever that crerature was, it was at least a Baron.

If a fight ensued, it was not one they could escape.

When his mind reached out to check on his brothers, he knew no one was going anywhere. They were statues in their stance. Triton’s fear, and perhaps some of his, had tainted them, stained them to nigh petrification. All except Timi. He could see it on his brother’s face. The only employed silence and stillness simply because he did.

Not for the first time he wondered if his brother even remembered what fear was. Unbidden, his mind sifted through memories of Timi and he wondered something different. Had his brother ever even known what fear was?

If we aren’t going anywhere, one of his minds thought, why don’t we see what we can do about that objective of ours.

Thinking logically of it, it had a point. If none of them could move for fear of alerting the enemy, he could at least watch. He could at least learn.

He returned his eyes to the space between boulders.

The beasts on the other side of the boulder weren’t necessarily strange as far as reia beasts went. In truth, he doubted it was possible for a reia beast to be truly weird. He’d seen them all, from creatures that were bipedal to creatures that had over six legs. Tentacled with teeth instead of suctions. Creatures that moved backwards.

Watching a big cat with purple fur, five legs, and no teeth wasn’t necessarily disturbing. Instead, it was mildly intriguing to learn them. However, it begged the question of what the quest meant when it asked him to learn them. How much of them did he have to understand to be considered learnt.

A lot? A mind thought, unsure.

Seth had no answer for it. So he picked out a single creature and focused his attention on it. At first, he’d intended to pick the one with a limp but changed his mind. A limp could stand in the way of whatever it meant to learn the creature. A limp was a defect. A defect meant the beast wasn’t complete. So he focused on another.

The first thing he noticed was the odd harmony all the limbs seemed to work with. He had never seen a living creature with an odd number of limbs. All living things had an even number of legs. From what he could tell, even numbers held a certain synergy.

So why five?

Seth wished he could speak. If he could, he would’ve asked how he was supposed to know. Instead, he kept his silence and studied the animal. At least he had the first thing to learn: why they had five legs.

The animal moved oddly but perfectly. If he was to define the word ‘strange’ it might be watching a creature move comfortably on five limbs. It somehow hobbled along. What he thought of as its fifth limb was the one that hung between its two front limbs. It touched the ground after every third step in what was an unconscious act. Yet, it blended.

He didn’t necessarily understand it, but he was aware of it as he moved on from it to something else. There was nothing to see in their fur; nothing worth noting. His attention was moving further when his mind dragged him back.

Wait! What’s that?

Seth returned his attention to the fur and saw nothing. He tried to focus when someone tapped him. Once. Then twice.

One moment, he signed, trying to focus more, harder.

Something touched at the edge of his vision that he couldn’t make it out. There was something there, at the tip of its fur. Each time he peered harder, Triton tapped him. Each time the priest tapped him, he signed the same thing.

One moment.

What was he seeing? What was he trying to see? It was right there, staring at him. All he had to do was stare back. But he couldn’t. What he was trying to see was beyond his…

“Seth!” Triton hissed.

One feline ear on each of the beast perked up. Triton had drawn their attention. And Seth saw what he hadn’t been able to see. It started from the tip of the fur of their ear then spread down the rest of their body. It was in tiny sparks moving through each fur. It was the most imperceptible of waves concealed in the simple undulation of its fur.

He looked at Triton out of the corner of his eyes while keeping the now alert beasts in his periphery.

We need to go, Triton signed.

Seth nodded in response. I’m right behind you, he signed back.

He watched the tiny sparks, countless at the tips of every uncountable fur. It made him realize the creatures didn’t hear. They might, but it wasn’t the way they necessarily worked. Eyes focused on its furs, he raised a hand and tapped it against the boulder. It was a sound so small he doubted his brothers behind him heard it.

Triton’s hand shot out and grabbed his wrist. He sensed the priest’s frown beside him and ignored it.

His minds smirked at his action.

That’s just trippy, one thought.

To think we just risked our life for trippy, another chuckled as if, giddy.

Seth agreed. He’d risked his life along with his brothers’ for it. But it was more than trippy. When he’d tapped the boulder he’d seen the way the sparks moved along the fur, vacillating in his direction. Only a moment after did the beast’s ear twitch. Then it turned. The beast with a limp followed, bumping into another.

The offended beast rounded on it with a growl and a snapping of its toothless mouth.

To Seth’s surprise, rather than back away, the limping beast pulled back the leg between its two front legs. There was something defensive about the act. The creature was the weaker of both beasts and it protected the chosen leg.

Their weakness? One of his minds asked.

He couldn’t say for certain, but it was suspect. He turned to a still frowning Triton and signed. Their middle leg is their weakness.

That’s nice, Triton signed back harshly. But we’re not going to fight them. We have to go back before…

Triton’s hands froze and he turned his head towards one of the mountains. Did you hear that? he signed.

Seth hadn’t heard anything. Even now, in this short conversation, he continued to study the beast. But that was a good question Triton had asked. If a gold was hearing something, there was a very high chance there was something.

He turned to Timi. Did you hear anything?

Timi nodded once.

Any idea what it is?

Timi turned his head in the way people do when listening for something. Whatever his brother heard was something he couldn’t. Rumor has it, Timi signed. That there are people coming.

This was the first time his brother attributed simple knowledge to rumors. Rather than focus on that, his minds itched to go back to the beasts.

Can we take them?

Timi shook his head, then paused. Do you want us to?

Seth hesitated. He needed more time to study the beasts. And if I said yes?

Timi paused for the space of a breath. It was long enough for Triton to grab Seth again and sign: Are you insane? We have to leave now.

Finally, Timi signed, Yes.

Seth met his brother’s eyes. Their pitch black had long since lost their ability to convey emotions. Still, he saw resolve in them.

He didn’t deserve his brother’s loyalty. He gritted his teeth as he thought on it. Earlier on his minds had joked about his choice between sacrificing his brothers in a need to fulfill one of his quests. He’d joked about it then. Now, faced with the reality of it, he wasn’t so sure.

They don’t bite, one of his minds thought out of nowhere, dragging him back to what it deemed important. They have something in their mouth but they don’t bite.

We can’t lose Timi, another mind interrupted. What happens if we do this and survive? Will he still listen to us?

He will.

We don’t really believe that.

Does it matter? All we need to do is pass this quest, the power it will grant us will be a lot.

At what cost? Our brother’s trust?

Timi will always trust us. It’s how he’s wired. He won’t turn his back on us.

Ready to bet his loyalty on that.

It’s exactly what we’re doing, isn’t it?

We can’t. What if he dies? We can’t lose him.

There was a long moment of silence before a response finally came. Perhaps… his mind thought.

Then why?

Because… there was hesitant pause. When the answer came, it was from all his minds with a dawning realization.

…We do what we must.

Something about the way the words echoed in his mind, moved through him like the devil in disguise, rang in him. It was a truth.

He nodded once, his decision made.

He turned to Timi and signed. We do what we must.

Timi gritted his teeth and nodded once. It seemed his mind was wrong, Timi was a sacrifice that would never turn his back on him. He’d always suspected. But seeing that very nod, now he knew.

His fingers moved lightning quick before his brother turned away, before battle began. We leave now. Retreat.

There was a moment of confusion on Timi’s face. Surprise. But there was also a moment where his muscles relaxed in relief.

Go, Seth signed harshly then turned to Triton when his brothers began turning slowly.

Maybe I was wrong, Triton signed with a frown. Maybe you’re actually the most dangerous.

Then he started turning slowly.

Seth did not follow him. Instead, he returned his attention to the space between the boulders and turned his eyes on the largest beast and its pink fur. The first thing he noticed was that’s its pink fur carried sparks of reia like the purple ones, but it carried it more obviously, its fur constantly vascillating in different directions. Whatever it observed with, it was more than just sound.

He felt his brothers begin their retreat behind him and hurried. He’d learnt the weakness of the purple ones. Learnt how they move. How they perceived their environment. But the pink one had something else to teach him. He was sure of it.

But whatever it had to teach him, he wouldn’t learn now.

The rider! One of his minds barked at him as he began turning away. Look at the rider. Learn the rider.

It expected him to learn a Baron rank beast; a humanoid beast that showed intelligence?

Around him everyone had taken at least one step in retreat. Perhaps there was still time. He moved his eyes along the length of the iron creature with a blackness that never shined despite how polished it looked. He didn’t give it as much scrutiny as the beasts before it, but he hoped he gave it enough.

When the creature blinked, all five eyes took turns in blinking so that it was always looking, always seeing. The protrusions of its black head were tilted upwards and Seth realized it wasn’t armor it wore. It was the reason it didn’t shine or gleam, it was the reason it looked so mundanely beautiful.

All that black was the creature.

His second realization came with a touch of fear. No matter how hard he looked, he learned nothing of the beast. He tried for what seemed like minutes, eyes narrowing, peering as if trying to look beyond this world. Around him everyone had moved a step farther, managed more motions without drawing attention.

We can’t, a mind muttered. We can’t read it.

Maybe because it’s different? Another mused.

Seth disagreed. Five eyes, no nose, and no mouth wasn’t all that different. That it had no facial muscles he could read wasn’t all that different. He refused to believe it was. If they couldn’t read it, there was one more way. A way he had only used in battle but wasn’t necessarily for battle.

We know what you’re thinking, Seth. Don’t do i—

“[Fractured Mind],” Seth whispered, and the world came alive in the dying of his minds.

Beside him Triton’s jaw dropped.

He responded to the priest with a raised finger. He put it to his lips, bringing the priest’s objection in whatever manner to silence. This was not about Triton. This was about learning.

He turned his eyes, focused and undeterred, to the creature and studied it with more than just his eyes. He listened to it now. Smelled it. Tasted it. It could not hide from him. Not anymore.

In the space of a heart beat, something in his brain cliqued and it brought a mild discomfort to him. He withstood it with a will strengthened from time under his long experience with pain. He held on for a while, teeth clenched against it, eyes open as wide as they could. He studied the creature capable of riding and pain studied his mind. Whatever it sought, it released him soon.

Seth realized he’d been wrong as [Fractured Mind] deactivated far faster than he’d ever had it. Whatever he had just tried to observe, it had taken the entire skill in less than a minute. In its taking, he realized he’d been wrong: The creature could hide from him; it could always hide from him.

But he’d learned something of it and his minds echoed it in a single thought as they came back.

What’s a Vambrant?

That was an answer he doubted he’d ever have. Sadly, he didn’t have much time to ponder on it when someone did something severely stupid.

“HEY!” a voice bellowed. “I didn’t know they made silver priests!”

All heads turned to the village idiot who’d just doomed them all and found he was not alone.

Behind them, clad in light armor and the government badge, a man somewhere in his mid twenties pushed aside a considerably large rock so that he could step through where it had been rather than follow the vast space around it. He’d displayed a mild strain in the action but what caught theirs was the loud crashing sound it made as it hit the ground. In Seth’s senses, the furs of all the beast’s lit up like fireworks.

The Vambrant, however, didn’t seem to care.

The man stepped forward with nine others behind him. They wore equally light armor that reminded Seth of a lot of adventurers from West Blue and walked with a false confidence. Silver or not, they were ambushing priests. There was more than enough fear to go around.

“Why so quiet?” the man bellowed again from across the distance, and this time the pink beast’s fur lit up with the purples’. The man smirked. “Cat got your tongue?”

Seth saw Triton wince and wanted to apologize for keeping them here so long. When the man took another step further, Seth’s minds asked a question that left him confused.

What the hell’s a Volgar?