Chapter 12 - Rescue (Patreon)

He tried to vomit – but nothing came up – and held his head as he hyperventilated.

I just ate her?! Oh, God! What the hell!

He had seen the woman shifted before. He knew, deep down, that this…thing…was Ingrid.

A scream of rage and frustration echoed down the tunnels and Echo froze for a moment.

He must have come back.

Echo picked up his sword and sprinted, choking down the nausea at devouring his former ally. The walls passed in a blur.

He moved fast - faster than he'd ever gone before. A pale shade against the mottled brown of the tunnel and black of the darkness.

But after a minute of running, he hit a dead end. His eyes were drawn to the wall to his side, where lingering traces of transmutation magic scattered about, the brown of the wall coruscating with the brown Quintessence of Tiberius’ spells.

He reached forward, touching his palm to the wall, "Transmute Substance." The wall fell away, and Echo barely noticed any change in his Quintessence from casting the spell.

As he stepped into the sealed-off tunnel he frowned. He had just perfectly cast a spell without a spell tool and hadn't needed to incant a phrase before the spell itself.

That shouldn't be possible.

He closed the entryway behind him again with the same spell to confirm that he wasn't just hallucinating. The spell went off without problem once more.

The tunnel continued onward as he crept forward. It ended in a chamber like the one that he woke up in; a single table that was slightly tilted.

A corpse was arrayed there, a young Ogo woman.

Ogo were the companion race to the Gori; similar in appearance to standard fantasy-genre elves. But unlike the hulking brutes that their companion race was composed of, they were on the shorter end of the height scale, with slim forms and sharp wits. If the Gori were the brawn, the Ogo were the brains.

He walked up and examined her. Her body was partially desiccated, and the chains had long since gone loose.

As Echo was about to leave and head back to the main tunnel, he heard a gasp. He turned and saw that the corpse had sat upright, looking in his direction. The sockets where eyes once were stared at him, and he felt chills going up his spine.

"Waaaahhhhh," The creature tried to speak but only a wisp of air escaped from their lips.

Echo walked over and reached into his pocket-dimension, pulling out his last healing potion and pouring it into the creature's mouth. She swallowed the potion greedily and began to pant.

She spasmed a few times as her skin rejuvenated. Muscles reknit, bones grew strong once more, and her breathing became much fuller. The blush returned to her face and her skin slowly returned to its natural shade of a deep, tan brown as her eyes regrew.

Echo gently unwrapped the chains from her body. She was a full head shorter than him, with pointed ears that extended up past her hair which began to grow back in, hair a deep red like a ruby.

Her eyes were a brilliant green, except the whites were black as night, as she blinked them open and gazed up at him.

Kill…

Consume…

Evolve…

The thoughts assaulted him once more, but he felt like he could push them down.

His earlier…meal seemed to help him push away the instinct. He shook off the reality of his eating of Ingrid. His brain couldn’t cope or comprehend what he had gone through, so he distracted himself with this woman.

"Are you alright?" he asked the woman.

"...Yes." Her voice was quiet and soft.

Echo reached into his pocket dimension and pulled out a set of spare clothes. "Transmute Substance." The clothes shrunk down to an appropriate size and he handed them to her.

She meekly took the clothing and dressed before looking him up and down. "...Thank you."

Echo smiled and reached up to scratch his head, "No problem. We'll talk later. That creep found out I escaped. We have to run."

She shook her head, "...Not smart. He's close."

Echo glanced back and felt a tension in his gut as a series of images flashed across his mind, the cube, the memory of the pain, the panic. He froze and stood stock still as the Gori came over to him and looked up at him - only about a head shorter.

"...Food?" She asked like a pleading beggar.

She began to lean in towards his arm, mouth open.

He recoiled away and held his sword up instinctively.

She frowned but nodded, "...I…need to eat…something."

Echo reached into his pocket-dimension and pulled out trail rations that he had purchased. They were very stale and hard as bricks. He pulled a small flask of water out as well, handing both to her. She scarfed down the food and chugged the flask within moments.

"...Thank you."

"Yeah. Just don't try to eat me, and I won't try to eat you. Deal?"

"...Mhmm."

Echo sat down, "I re-sealed the wall, so as long as we are somewhat quiet, we should be safe here."

The Ogo sat down across from him and stared at him, "...Captured?"

Echo nodded, "I don't know how long."

Her eyes widened and a few tears brimmed up, "...It's been long."

Echo shut his eyes and immediately forced them open once more as the memories of the cube haunted his closed eyes. The taste of Ingrid’s flesh still permeating his mouth.

The Ogo crawled forward a bit, eyeing him warily but with sympathy. "...Can you get us out?"

"I don't even know where we are." He pulled out his compass and handed it to her, "This is all I have to help get out of here."

She turned the compass over and nodded slowly, "...Pretty."

"I'm Echo. What's your name?"

"...Fumi."

"How long have you been down here?"

Fumi stared off to the wall, "...I don't know."

The two stopped talking as they heard a skittering noise. Echo reached a hand back to the wall, "Let's hide a bit better. Transmute Substance." He whispered.

The spell carved out another tunnel. He ushered Fumi to follow him and sealed up the wall once more; just leaving a few holes for air to flow through.

He pulled more food from the pocket-dimension, devouring it as the hunger returned. He glanced at Fumi in the darkness.

Kill…

Consume…

Evolve…

Instinct continued to urge him, and he crawled towards her in the secluded alcove, not in control of his own actions.

She recoiled away from him and held up her hands, a small swirl of green energy forming around her fingers. "Gust." A forceful wind pushed him back against the wall with a gentle thud.

This impact to the back of his head shook off the instinct and brought clarity.

She sagged visibly from the effort.

Echo was immediately filled with remorse. "Sorry. I just felt-"

Her demeanor changed; no longer hesitant, sure of herself. "Try it again and you die."

Echo held up his hands, "I said I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-" He stopped talking and held up a finger as there was a clicking noise nearby, followed by footsteps.

Several tense moments passed in silence as the noise grew louder and louder.

"Tsk. He found the Maven and rescued her. Well…he is a transmuter. Reshape to my will, Alter Substance." Tiberius was outside. Mere meters away.

Echo felt a pulse in the ground beneath him.

Is he turning this whole…lair into stone?

No, not localized, but further away. Echo could transmute that anyways, so it wouldn’t be that big of an issue-

"And the finishing touch; Sight beyond sight, grant me warning, Warded Walls."

Echo felt another pulse and saw the brown energy pulse through and past him.

Based on the incantation, Echo assumed that it was some type of detection spell. If he interacted with the walls, Tiberius would know.

Tiberius's steps echoed as he began to leave, the chittering following him, "They'll have to come out to eat eventually…and then I'll get him back. I'm not done with him yet…"

The voice faded away as Echo breathed a sigh of relief. Fumi sat there, petrified and pale. He reached out and gently gripped her shoulder, pulling her back to the present as she pushed him away, eying him warily.

"We are trapped," He whispered, stating the obvious more for his own sake than hers. Reinforcing the situation to himself.

She nodded, "...How much food?"

Echo pulled every scrap of food and stored liquid out of his pocket-dimension. "I would guess if we rationed it…a few days?"

Fumi muttered something he didn't catch before looking at him, "...We could eat each other."

"Eh?"

"...Parts of each other."

Echo recoiled at the thought and shook his head, despite his instinct screaming at her to eat her. "I won't resort to cannibalism, even if we would die otherwise. I won't eat another person."

But I did.

Fumi shrugged, "...May not have a choice."

Echo felt his stomach grumble and grimaced, gritting his teeth.

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