Ch. 79 – Stradholm III (Patreon)

Tinuriel stood at the double doors that would allow ingress or egress to and from the train interior, and Reth was sitting next to Felix, fiddling with his staff as the electrical components on the top arced and glowed. The rest of the car was solid metal, save for the window that Felix looked out from as he held his hand over the control panel, yellow electricity arcing from his fingertips as he felt the thrum of the pistons as tiny pulses along his hand. It felt like haptic feedback from VR gloves – the expensive kind that he only had the opportunity to try once when he had saved up a bunch of money for a video game expo ticket. Closing his eyes, he was able to follow the electricity through the device and gain an understanding of the basic mechanics of the device.

There is something akin to a combustion engine that, instead of gasoline, uses Anima…or whatever their version of it is-

They call it ‘Soul-Energy’ in this ‘Verse.

-Right. They bleed into this port here to power the device. Blood contains Anima…And if these Cavestalkers were made by drinking from a pool of blood, then I would wager that they are being overloaded with Anima to the point that it is changing their physical form.

Interesting thesis. That means Reth’s Anathema should be able to revert the process.

“Hey, Reth,” Felix said.

The Earthborn man looked up, “Yes?”

“Given your knowledge of Magic…stuff, what do you think about this theory.”

“What theory?”

“Right…Okay, so here in this ‘Verse, Anima is in the blood. And those Cavestalkers said they drank from a pool of blood. Is there such a thing as too much Anima…overloading a body?”

Reth’s face screwed up in deep thought for several seconds before he shook his head gently, “In my ‘Verse – and with the VBV Multiverse knowledge from the other ‘Verses you’ve visited – no. The physical form is sacrosanct. But, if the blood contains Anima, then it could be…” His visage became resolute as a grimace took over his face. “You know how, in your ‘Verse, if you get a transfusion of the wrong type of blood, bad things can happen?” Felix nodded, and Reth continued, “Anima, Soul-Energy, Mana, whatever your ‘Verse refers to it as; you have your own. Tinuriel has hers, I have mine, you have yours. But…what if a person was given an Anima transfusion? If it doesn’t match their own…I don’t know what would happen. Maybe it could change the physical form.”

“Querying System…There’s no information on Anima transfers. It’s not been tried. Or, if it has, then it’s been hidden enough that the System hasn’t added it to the database.”

Felix nodded, keeping an eye on his Anima bar as it slowly depleted from keeping control of the train that continued to speed along its way. “Then the current theory we have is that this blood pool holds some type of powerful Anima, and when it is consumed, it is like a blood transfusion with the wrong blood type. But…instead of the immune system attacking the new blood, the new blood is stronger, and changes the physical form of the host.”

Reth’s eyes went a bit empty as he tried to wrap his head around the scientific theories Felix was positing, “How do you know all of that?”

Felix chuckled, “I spent a lot of time in hospitals. You pick up a bunch of stuff just by listening.”

“Heads up – the train line is coming to an end.”

Felix looked out the window and saw that the track changed, growing thicker as a means to slow the train even without the person at the helm using the controls. Felix felt the tension on the rail through the electric-Magic connection, and slowed the train to a stop at the station. “Nonalus Station,” he muttered. They had been traveling for twenty minutes. Lucifer, use an Anima Elixir so my bars are at least somewhat decent. Then, I’m keeping Ghostwalk up.

“Vigor is low for you and Tinuriel. Do you want to use Elixirs on that as well?”

“Not now,” Felix replied. He turned to his allies. “Are you ready?”

Tinuriel nodded with a manic grin, “I can’t wait to crush more.” She pulled open the door and strode out onto the landing, followed by Reth, with Felix bringing up the rear. The Hellfire Wick was still active, and floating above Tinuriel’s head. Reth’s staff was still flickering with its own flame, and the illumination cast sinister shadows off into a cascade.

Stepping onto the landing, Felix looked down and thanks to his Lucifer-enhanced sight, saw the deep gorge that this enormous structure was built atop. A series of pillars held up a few buildings on this top level where the three rail lines ended. A few signs labeled the various buildings – a warehouse whose front doors were shattered and smashed in, the wood splintered and cracked as if someone was trying to break in. A glass-windowed building that was, oddly enough, completely intact that appeared to be a ticket station. And lastly a set of elevators adjacent to stairs that descended into the depths.

“I’d bet,” Reth muttered as he looked over the rail, “That this Nonalus is down there.”

“Querying System…Nonalus is the deepest city along the Luminescence Rail Line. It is the most recent and furthest expansion. It was built thirty-ish years ago.”

Tinuriel walked over to the crushed doors of the warehouse and peered inside. “Felix…you’re going to want to take a look.”

Felix walked over and what he saw inside turned his stomach over. He had to pull away and vomit over the edge of the rail. Who…would do that? Wiping his mouth, he forced himself back to stand next to Tinuriel – who was stone faced, and Reth who had come over and had a similar reaction as Felix.

A large quantity of maimed corpses was piled on top of each other. The sickly-sweet stench of rotting flesh hit Felix’s nostrils and if he didn’t have an already empty stomach, he would have lost it again. There were deep, carved wounds on each of the bodies. What horrified him more than anything was the size of the bodies. These were children…

They must have been in here, hiding, hoping for a train to come and rescue them.

Felix shook his head, “This is barbaric.”

Tinuriel nodded, “The cannibals on Vugog would feast upon the young of the other tribes as a show of dominance. It is worse when it’s happening in front of you. Be thankful this is just the aftermath.”

“There’s no blood,” Reth said softly as he bowed his head and signed in some type of reverent gesture. “Those Cavestalkers must have slurped it all up, before traveling on the lines to Fheldarm.”

Felix shook his head, “This is fucked up.”

“But,” Reth said as he raised his head and took a deep breath. “It’s a chance to learn what happened. I don’t want to do this, but it’s the best way to learn. Tinuriel nodded and went to the corpse pile, digging through the bodies until she found one that had a somewhat intact head. She gently extricated it and set it on the ground in front of Reth. He knelt and muttered some prayer under his breath before tapping his staff to the body. “Dread Revelations”

The child’s body sat up and looked with hollow eyes at Reth. “What happened here, little one?” Reth asked softly.

The child’s expression shifted to one of sorrow for a split-second – as if the body recognized what had happened to it – but then returned to a neutral look as it recounted the events. “About a month ago, a weird circle-thingy opened up here at station. Man in weird clothes came through. Went down deep – past my house – and into the no-no caves. Lots of screaming. Cave was closed. But mommy heard noises, and we went up. Lots of kids and mommies up here near rail place. They put us in the big building with the boxes. Lots of smash and crush outside. Then…scary claw. And nothing.” The child’s body went slack and fell prone, with Reth reaching out to gently set the head down.

Felix’s eyes narrowed, “That sounds…like a portal. Lucifer, can you query the System to see if there was any other Versewalker who came through?”

“Querying…holy hell.”

“What?”

“A Versewalker came through here…One that had its Versewalker Core stripped from them just ten hours later.”

Felix felt his body lock up. Wait, the System can just choose to remove the Versewalker’s Core?

Yeah, if you’re not doing what the System wants – which is solving Crises. Even the Versewalkers that are retired in their VBV still have to solve Crises in connected-by-portal ‘Verses since they’ve already established a link – it’s just often very easy for them to do so.

“What type of thing could they have done to warrant such an action?” Reth asked.

“I’d bet they are responsible for whatever happened here. Or at least partially responsible. Their name is Tabula.”

Tinuriel’s face went taught, “Do they still have their powers?”

“Not Versewalker Classes or Affinities, no. But they could have a bunch of gear from all across the Multiverse, which means they would be extremely dangerous regardless. And since they don’t have (P) Multiverse Adaptation anymore, the items will function how they would in the ‘Verse they came from.”

“We’ll deal with them,” Felix said resolutely. “But for now, we have to deal with our current issue. Push it out of your mind for now.” But Lucifer, make sure that you notify the System. We’ll take care of this Tabula person.

Already making a report.

Felix walked over to the railing and looked over. Reth went back to the corpse pile. Tinuriel came over and patted Felix on the back, “You okay?”

Felix shook his head and felt a few tears come unbidden. “No,” he whispered as he leaned against her and her arm wrapped around him. “I’ve never seen…anything like that.” The pile of corpses were too fresh of a memory for him to really give much care about this former Versewalker lurking somewhere in Stradholm. The eyes, those vacant, lidless stares from children whose bodies were torn asunder haunted his vision even though he was looking down into the darkness below.

She rubbed his arm reassuringly, “This is the reality of war. Atrocities occur on both sides of conflict.”

Felix looked up at her, “Did…you do something like this before?”

Tinuriel shook her head, “No. Elves aren’t so barbaric.” She frowned slightly, “I have seen similar atrocities when fighting on Vugog. You grow inured to them over time.”

“I don’t think I’ll ever be able to get used to something this horrific,” Felix muttered.

“The Multiverse can be a cruel place,” Lucifer replied. “Just remember that you’re trying to prevent this from happening again. This same scenario could play out all across Stradholm if we don’t find the source of this corruption and put a stop to it.”

Felix nodded, “I…You’re both right. Sorry.”

Tinuriel squeezed him close, “You have to go through fire to be forged. Consider this part of your forging.”

Reth walked up behind the two and cleared his throat gently, “Sorry to interrupt. Felix, a word?”

Felix turned and nodded, “Yeah, what do you need?”

Reth sighed, “I would like to bury them. Can we open your VBV and put them in there?”

“It’s going to sound macabre, but technically they’re objects right now. We can put them into the inventory, and I can instruct some VBV residents to bury them.”

Felix nodded, “Let’s do that. We can’t waste time and have more of these things possibly spread.” He walked to the warehouse once more, turned his head away, and held his hand out as Lucifer sucked up all of the corpses into the inventory. Returning to his allies he looked down the deep, deep descent. “We could just jump and float down. I’ve got Fallen Fligh-” His eyes caught movement. “Lucifer? Amplify. Detect Hostiles.”

Affinity Amplification.

 The golden hue outlined dozens of the creatures that were crawling up the pillars supporting this station. They were scrabbling along the walls as well. Felix pulled his Channeling Dagger out with his right hand and took aim with his wrist-pistol. “We have company!”

Reth growled, “Let me deal with this.” His staff was covered in an aura of bright, neon-green energy that flowed outward before coalescing into a singular point. “Affinity Amplification. Affinity Empowerment. Vigor Conversion. Fire Wall!”

The whole space below the rail station ignited with a roiling fury as Reth oriented the Fire Wall to become a giant donut that spread to the edges of the vertical tunnel, licking and crashing against the walls of the shaft. The flames burned a bright-orange, and the trio heard the screams and chittering of the creatures. Reth’s use of Affinity Amplification caused the flames to burn hotter on the side facing down towards their foes, and as he pushed his staff forward, the ring descended. The trio heard screams and crackling as the fire ring descended.

“They can fly?!” Tinuriel shouted as she pulled Reth back. Felix – thanks to Ghostwalk – was able to remain at the edge, and saw that several of the creatures were flying up through the center of the flame-donut shape. He took aim at their wings – leathery, pale, white skin stretched over bones that looked to be some type of spiny protrusion from the spines. Letting off several shots, he pierced holes through the wings – but they continued to ascend toward the trio.

“Get ready!” Felix shouted as he took a few steps back to be in-line with his allies.

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