Chapter 45
Nemose Lions are a rare and greatly feared monster. A magical mutation unique to lions, only one in 800,000 cubs is born with the Nemose condition. These monsters grow to titanic size, growing as tall as 20ft. These creatures boast an immensely tough, golden-furred hide that can turn aside firearms munitions and a potent resistance to offensive magics. Nemose Lions also display an unprecedented strength, even for their size. One of these lions can combat entire packs of Venom Wyverns with little issue. Nemose Lions are highly prized for their hides, both for aesthetic and durability, as well as their blue-black bones, which display even greater toughness than their hide.
What I witnessed had me questioning my sanity for more than a few seconds. A male lion of golden metal and dark blue-black bone, standing fifteen feet high, breached the treeline in a spray of shattered trees. Standing atop the mammoth beast of bone metal stood a metal woman. Nennel rode the lion in the way I’ve only seen daredevil wilderness men break wild broncos, with two feet planted on its back and her Lasher Lines used as a makeshift bridle.
My sister rode into the battle screaming the war cry, “Fly my kitties!” Closely followed by a cackle you could only find from a storybook Witch. The massive mechanical lion charged Kellden with no hesitation and swung a paw the size of the Ceangar without breaking stride. The Arsenal threw every chain that wasn’t holding him up against the incoming boulder with claws, but the action was feudal. Kellden was launched by the swing as if he were a sports ball, and the gargantuan lion was a professional batter. I watched the Arsenal, who almost cleaved me in two, fly into the distance, screaming. I couldn’t tell you if the scream was of rage or terror. Nor did I know if he was no longer a threat. But I didn’t have time to wonder about ‘maybes’.
I brought my rattled focus back to the squad of Knyghts pitting spell-blades against the Necrotech beasts. The battle was intense. Neither side held an advantage now that the greatest threat to the cats was out of play.
As the skirmish unfolded, my focus was diverted as the colossal golden lion paced up to me and knelt to let Nennel dismount. “Oh gods, Iver! You’re bleeding.” Nennel said in panic as she hurried over to kneel beside me.
I gave my sister a level look. “Nel, I’m always bleeding. It’s kinda my thing. More importantly, I have more questions about what the hells is going on than I know how to voice like a sane person.” I held that level stare with her as I jabbed an accusing finger at the tame lion that could’ve inhaled me and barely choked. “To start, is that a Nemose Lion?!”
“Yeah,” she answered like it was obvious.
“As in, the magical and massive savanna cats… with nearly unbreakable hides?!” That was when my calm mask cracked.
“Iver,” Nel started, as she gave me an irritated look. “Stop losing your head before all your birds fly the coop. We need to get you patched up before you bleed out.”
I held up a finger in request for a moment’s pause while I pulled my Lok-Link welder. Quickly, I mounted it to my cybernetic arm, tested its flame a few times, then set to work. “This is going to suck,” I predicted. Sure enough, I had to bite back another scream as I cauterized the wound shut. I couldn’t use the Quik-Klot to patch myself because it would break apart as I moved, and I was about to do a lot more moving. Sealing the wound only took a few moments, Nennel watching in horror as I roasted my side like a stake I had a beef with (Pun intended).
When I finished, I let out a hiss of relief from between clenched teeth, then I gestured for Nel to help me to my feet. “So… when were you going to tell me you were a Druid or Bridler?! That’s not a small secret!”
Nel’s scarred cheeks flared with a blush, and she refused to meet my eyes as she draped my left arm over her shoulders. “It’s something I’ve been working on in secret. I didn’t say anything because I didn’t think it would be useful in this hell-scape city.”
“We are having a talk later.” I tried to sound stern as we made our way to the treeline, but I only sounded in pain and tired. “But for right now, we need to get out of here. Demierra took Ozwald and Ferris to safety, but we need to get down to the subfloors to collect the other two.”
“The shed?” Nennel asked.
I shook my head in the negative. “I had Ferris set up a distraction to start from there. While it hasn’t started yet, if we’re caught up in it, we’ll be in a deep grave. Speaking of, I need to contact Ferris. Ask him if something went wrong. Though our method of descent’ll have to be quick.” I weakly raised the Data Capture Canister, still in my left hand. “We can’t let Thallos or anyone else get hold of this.”
“What is it?” asked Nennel, eyeing the device like it was a bomb.
“The data and formula that everyone here has been spilling red for,” I said before, looking over my shoulder at the Nemose Lion, who dutifully followed along. His massive, dark skull and mechanical eyes set my skin tingling with nerves. “And you’re certain that Gold Main here won’t eat us?”
“Good name,” she approved, “But I’m certain. While I was being chased, I was sure I was as dead as a rabbit caught by a wolf, but with my… training and my…. unique physical form, I found a resonance with them. Each of these poor creatures,” she waved her free hand to the battling pride of lions, “is a patchwork of several souls of the same type of beast, all forced together, shoved inside a Soul Crystal.” I could hear the righteous wrath in her words, and she clenched her jaw. “Those poor souls are forced to handle those half-machine, half-bone bodies under the direction of cruel masters.”
“And you can control them?” I asked, watching as those mechanical beasts fought like a team on par with a pack of wolves, harassing to faint away in order to give an opening to allies, striking at openings in the Knyghts’ formation.
“Don’t be so cold.” Nennel scolded me. “I befriended them after they realized we had some common ground.” She raised her left arm to show bite marks rending the metal of the limb. It clearly was not working as well as it should have. “So I spoke to them. Calmed their inner chaos. Then I told them I needed their help, and they agreed.”
I eyed the golden lion at our back as we stepped into the trees. “And Gold Mane?” I asked.
Nennel gave an amused snort. “He was actually the easiest to convince. He was supposed to be Evea-Life’s alpha predator. Their ace in the hole. They had even specially ordered him from Vartex, according to the poor guy-”
“Wait,” I interjected. “You can talk to him?”
“Well, sure. Anyway. These terrible people had so poorly treated him that when I told him I was a friend and he could taste sweet revenge, he was too eager to get back at these scum bags.”
“Good to know,” I said with a smirk.
“Anyway, how are we supposed to get down from here? If the shed isn’t safe, and that battle with the armored men is right on top of the levitation platform, what are we supposed to do?”
“I guess repel down the side and breach through a window. I do have some vials of Devvorick acid.” I replied.
“But what about the-” Nennel started, but I had to cut her off when I caught a glimpse of a flash of movement.
I threw Nennel to the dirt with my left hand, even as I turned to throw a punch at a blade of ice that had been aimed at her. If I hadn’t had my cybernetic arm in its armored state, it would’ve ruptured, and I would’ve found that ice knife in my chest. Instead, the frigid shot burst into a chilling spray, and I was knocked off my feet, my body stiff and somewhat numb.
A vaguely familiar Dwarven shape hurried to me from the shadows. I thought it was Kharmor for a moment, breathing a sigh of relief. This was until I saw the Gem Dwarf features. Fadelmour, I realized too late. He picked up the Data Capture Canister that had fallen from my grip. He flashed me a domineering grin as he opened the bottom of the container to extract the Memory Crystal core from the device. “Thank you for your efforts, boy. We’ll take good care of this.”
“Drop it, you glass-bearded, rot-souled bastard.” I snarled as I attempted to climb to my feet. I fell over myself, too weak to keep my footing. The last of my strength had been used to break that surprise assault. But I found myself saved from three directions.
Gold Mane bellowed as he swiped a massive paw, shattering the trees between him and the Dwarf. Simultaneously, Nennel commanded the roots around the Dwarf to capture his feet. The gnarled wood serpents wove up his legs, holding him in place. I reached for the Infusion Dagger I had stowed in my boot as I mustered as much strength as I could to end this wretch’s existence. I was beaten to the punch.
A shout of brutal rage came from deeper into the woods, an instant before a javelin of bone flew from between the trees to punch through Fadelmour’s hand at the wrist. His limp hand thudded to the ground, the Memory Crystal rolling away from Fadelmour even as he screamed at the loss of his appendage.
Nennel and I snapped our heads in the direction the weapon had flown from to find Ferris rushing through the undergrowth. He wore an expression of rage all his own, a warped sword of bone in one hand that exuded an aura of Death Myst. He was not playing around. This became a certainty when Ferris moved past me and Nel to drive his weapon into Fadelmour’s chest, up to the hilt. The Gem Dwarf spasmed as he gagged, then stiffened, then fell. The roots at the fresh corpse’s feet retracted at a gesture from Nennel.
The Elven Reaper then spun to lunge at the Nemose Lion, only to have Nennel shout at him to stop, calling the beast a friend. Ferris almost tripped over himself to stop when Nennel shouted at him. He eyed the beast, who eyed him right back. After Ferris lowered his weapon, as sure as he could be that the Necrotech beast wasn’t about to attack, he hurried over to help Nennel stand. Nennel, in turn, moved to help me up. Ferris wore a sour expression when Nennel draped my arm over her shoulders, but I didn’t have time to worry about intergroup drama.
“And the gallant Necromancer rides in atop a steed of bone to save the princess and a lowly peasant,” I said with a smirk.
Both Nel and Ferris gave me irritated looks. “I’m no princess.” Nennel said even as Ferris said, “Don’t call me a Necromancer.”
My smirk fell when my thoughts turned to the entirety of our situation. “Fer, why the hells are you here? I told Demierra to take you and Oz to safety.”
Ferris abashedly rubbed the back of his head. “Yeah… Sorry ‘bout that. I got distracted when the metal monsters popped up and set soul sense on fire. It distracted me from that job you gave me.”
“Speaking of,” I said, “Where is that distraction? If Nel’s cats finish the Knyghts and Kellden is down for the count, then we might as well take the stairs all the way down.”
“Well, um,” Ferris stammered, “It’ll be happening any second now. But we have bigger problems.”
“Bigger how?” I asked with worry.
Ferris gave a nervous chuckle. “Well, I’m here and not gone, kinda because Demierra got chased off and I had to flee.”
“From what?!” I demanded.
“Security forces burst into the shed, and the automated defenses kicked on. Luckily, I don’t think that they noticed what I did to those mowers.”
I spat more curses as I tugged on one horn in thought. “Did you see a Sun Elf Warrior, by any chance? She’s one of the ones we need to rescue.”
“Yeah, but….” Ferris trailed off.
“But what?”
“Well… She took a spray from an auto-turret right to the chest, and she dropped. It was kinda weird. I thought those things were supposed to go for the closest targets first, and that would’ve been me and Demi.”
I clenched my teeth in a snarl of irritation. “How much do you want to be that Weaver had something to do with that?”
“I will not accept that bet,” Nel said in a grim tone.
Gunshots burst through the air of the roof yet again, and I could hear at least one more AV hovering above the clearing. Evea-Life security forces must’ve engaged with Regulator reinforcements. My thoughts raced as I tried to think of a way out. With both forces reinforced and the fight renewed, in addition to the tower’s automated defenses active, we were in trouble yet again.
That was when a strange sound came from the direction of the shed. The sound of many trees groaning under the pressure of rapid growth. Ferris and I wore grins for an instant as we realized that the L.I.F.E formula sprayed and spread out by the gallon by the automated mowers was going to cause a great deal of chaos. Then there was a sound of rupturing concrete and warping metal. The rooftop shook, and an ominous groan rolled up from below.
Ferris and I looked at each other as we both realised that we had made a mistake. And a terrible mistake at that. I hadn’t accounted for the rapid root expansion. Such fast root expansion from so many trees, each of whom had only been given a set amount of space for those roots… It wasn’t hard math to figure out what was happening, and that also meant that we needed to get off the roof as soon as possible.
“We need to get down from here.” I pointed to the Data Capture Canister. “Fer, I need you to carry that and put the…” I paused, searching for the Memory Gem that held all the data we needed. It was gone without a trace. I screamed in rage at this development. Thallos or one of his lackeys had to have snuck up and snatched it.
“What are you freaking out about?” Ferris asked. “That myst crystal that the Dwarf had? I’ve got the other one right here.” Ferris reached into a pocket to produce a Memory Gem. I almost thought it was the missing one until I noticed it had different facets and emitted a dimmer glow, which meant that it was storing little to no information.
“Where did you get that?” I asked.
“From the briefcase that dead lady in the fancy dress had,” Ferris said with a casual shrug.
I didn’t have time for this. But that crystal might still have an echo of the data that was stolen. “Slot it in the lantern thing and hook it to your belt. We need to leave, NOW.”
“But what about the animals?” Nel asked in panic.
“Yeah.” Ferris agreed. “We need to free the lost souls from that evil state.”
“What?!” Nel asked with shocked panic. “You want to kill them? I want to save them.”
“As a Reaper, it’s part of my job to release the souls and spirits trapped on this plane,” Ferris spoke with stern finality. “They belong in the next life.”
“No.” Nennel flatly refused. “They’ve been put through so much. These animals deserve to be happy.”
I broke the argument before it could devolve any further. “Both of you stop. We don’t have time to track down each Necrotech and put them down. Nor do we have the time to gather them up or the ability to take them with us. So, Nel, take Gold Mane’s Soul Shard. We can install it in another frame later, when we aren’t in imminent danger.” I turned to Ferris. “Fer, the creatures likely won’t survive what’s about to happen up here. If it makes you feel any better, you can spend time hunting any survivors when we, again, aren’t about to die.” I pointed toward where I suspected the nearest edge of the tower was. “Now let’s get moving before we’re dropped into the floor below.”
Ferris and Nennel glared at each other but didn’t continue the heated debate. Ferris wordlessly took my weight while Nel spoke to the Nemose Lion and explained what she was about to do. She returned with the Soul Shard in her pocket and took my other arm over her shoulders.
The two helped me as we hurried to the roof’s edge. When we broke through the trees, we found ourselves mere feet from falling thousands of feet to the streets below. What needed to be done next was going to be nerve-jarring to say the least, but that was nothing new for the events of that evening.
I gave both Ferris and Nennel quick but clear instructions about what we were about to do. After some quick preparations, Ferris was strapped to my chest, and we were repelling down the side of the tower using my Squid Hook climbing device. I had been reduced to the simple function of an automated cable dispenser while Ferris was doing the physical work of the descent. My Elf friend was in a much better state than I was. We dropped as far as the cable of my device would extend, holding even with the windows of three floors under the roof. Ferris administered a careful ring of the Devorrick Acid around the window, and we breached with no issue. Once the two of us were inside again, Nennel, being the most dexterous of our trio, slid down the cable line and hopped into the dark office space to join us.
That was when the building’s emergency alarms started going off. Warning sirens blared throughout the area, and red lights flashed on and off, signalling escape routes.
Together we hurried down hall after hall, checking for threats each time before doing our best imitation of a sprint, with the other two half carrying me along the way. We had gotten lucky, only encountering a pair of ceiling-mounted turrets just outside the elevator doors. Ferris disabled both through the immensely technical method of throwing a grenade directly beneath them. The concussive blast also burst the elevator doors to expose the shaft.
I stuck my head into the elevator shaft and found the car to be nowhere in sight. That was trouble. I tested the button to call the car up to us, but the system seemed to be on lockdown. But I had come prepared for such an instance.
I unshouldered my equipment pack and pulled a small mechanical device from a side pouch. The contraption was designed to mount and lock onto cable lines, such as one used by an elevator, and allow a controlled descent. The only question was if it would hold up to a drop that far.
“Nel, how’s your grip?” I asked.
She flexed one hand, testing it. “Good, I guess. Why?”
I mounted the descent device to the cable. “Because you’re going to need to hold onto this thing while carrying the weight of Fer and me. And it’s a long drop down.”
Ferris gave me an angry look as he folded his arms in challenge. “Another pit drop? Seriously, Iver? Do you hate me that much?”
I rested a comforting hand on his shoulder. “No, Ferris. I care about you that much. That’s why Nel’s holding you. If I hated you, I’d just throw you down the shaft and let you fly or fall. Like a baby bird.”
Our banter was cut short when the tower quaked from above. The three of us looked at each other and gave the silent confirmation that we were ready. Though Ferris did wear an expression that made him look constipated. After a few moments, Ferris and I had our climbing harnesses hooked to Nel’s and we started our controlled descent.
To keep Ferris distracted, I told him to text Kharmor and Zynna to let them know that we were on the way and to be ready for a rapid escape through the Undercity. Then I had him text Demierra to ask about the status of her and Ozwald. Ferris read her reply as best he could with our controlled drop. The Dracose said that they were safe at the moment, but Ozwald was in emotional shock, only barely responsive. Next, I had Ferris give Master Navor a brief update. That last one was an attempt at a longer distraction.
We had been dropping for only a few minutes, and the roof kept quaking, and the tremors were only getting worse. Ferris spoke up when he received a message from Zynna, and I watched his face pale. “Um… Iver… There’s a problem.” I could hear the frayed nerves in his voice. “The prisoners, they’re-”
Ferris was abruptly cut off when a tremor much more powerful than the previous ones shook the tower hard enough to detach the upper cable mount. Our drop line went slack, and we plummeted. Floors that had been passing ten a minute were now passing us ten a second, and we were only gaining speed.
Ferris screamed like a girl, just like in the Undercity, but I couldn’t afford any distractions if we were going to live through this. We would reach terminal velocity in only a matter of heartbeats. I needed to think and fast. Suddenly, I remembered I still had four Vials of blood in my Extractor Pauldron. I snatched one and thumbed it open upside down, using our fall to hold the fluid in place. I charged the vital fluid that was vital to our survival with Distortion and Morphic Myst to give myself a mental enhancement. I couldn’t spare even a moment to measure the Vell values I was going to infuse into the catalyst, so I just shoved in what I hoped were even values and enough to give me the boost I needed.
One heartbeat passed after the blood was consumed by the casting. Then my racing heart pounded in slow motion. The shaft crawled upwards around us at a snail's pace. Something was different. It felt off somehow. But I had bigger matters than magic acting strangely.
I did some quick math, estimating our rate of descent. Along the side of the shaft, the floor entries were labelled with the floor numbers, likely for maintenance workers. We were fifty floors down from the apex, but our plummet didn’t start until twenty floors back. We had around another hundred and fifty floors until we found a sudden stop. Estimating our cumulative weight with our equipment was likely four hundred eighty pounds, give or take ten pounds, depending on how many snacks Ferris snuck in. If each floor is fourteen feet from floor to ceiling, and accounting for what appeared to be about three feet of support, plumbing, and wiring space, then… we would hit ground in thirteen seconds IF there was no elevator car in our way. And either way, given our mass, that landing was going to be…. gooy. I dearly hoped that the elevator was above us and not in our path down
I needed to think of an out, and soon. Could I use what energy was left in my feet to slow our drop by launching us up for a few seconds? If I timed each burst just right and used just enough juice, I could reduce the fall to a nonlethal level. No. No way that would work. If the top cable mount was detached, then we likely were being followed by rubble, which could kill us just as easily if we reverse direction with enough force to do so. Could I use the rubble?? No. As much as I would love to pull that trick from the action holo-vids, jumping from one falling rock to the next, I was no Adroit class Adventurer class, and even if I were, doing so with Nel and Ferris would be impossible.
I shot my gaze up, and sure enough, there was large chunks of rubble hot on our tail. I looked down and almost gagged when I saw an elevator car in our path. But I also noticed a familiar bag on top of the elevator. A bag of ‘party favors’, and it looked full.
Yet another suicidal idea came to mind. However, it was either die trying to survive or die doing nothing and accepting a new role in life as a grease smear. I looked at my equipment and found what I needed. Those elemental-infused throwing knives, which had done me no good against armored foes.
Moving both of my hands as fast as I could in the seconds I had left felt to carry on for minutes. Even as fast as I could move, my hands acted as if travelling through thick tar…tar…TAR!! My right hand was in my thigh satchel on that side, snatching a fistful of Kinetic Myst Crystals. My left hand grabbed two Fire-infused knives from my chest. I crammed the knives into the launcher system on my arm. Even as I took aim with my right arm, my left hand blindly felt for the Trapp Tar mine I had stumbled across in my gear.
If my luck hadn’t run out just yet, we might be able to pull through this. I launched the knives down ahead of us, the weapons only slightly flying faster than our fall. While they flew, I ripped off the cover of the mine, shoved in the Kinetic Myst Crystals beside the Trapp Tar Crystal. When the tar exploded to cover the space, it would hold the Kinetic Crystals in place.
The elevator was close, dangerously close, and closing in. Forty floors away. In an attempt to balance haste and accuracy, I lifted one foot to slide the mine, face down, beneath it. Thirty floors away. I triggered the kinetic grip of that foot and straightened the leg as I angled my foot just right. I raised my right arm and initiated the expansion of my installed shield. It unfolded so slowly. Twenty-five floors. The knives were almost to the bag. A bag full of explosives that Ferris never got around to setting as traps. I triggered a burst from my foot even as I released the traction effect. The mine flew toward the shaft wall nearest Ferris. But would it make it in time? I raised my free left hand to snatch at another vial of blood, but I knew it would be too late by a fraction of a second. I could feel my mental enhancement about to give, and when it did, I would have to act in several ways almost simultaneously.
When time sped up, everything happened in a flash. The knives struck the explosives an instant before the mine struck the shaft wall just ten feet above the bag. The bag ruptured with all the thunder and flames of The Hells. The mine triggered against the wall and released a thick membrane of magical tar over the shaft. The flames hit the wall of black goo and triggered the Kinetic Crystals I had haphazardly slapped in.
I didn’t wait to see if my idea worked. I could only count on faith as I forced the three of us to roll in midair, facing myself up, toward the incoming rubble, and, unfortunately, putting Ferris face down, toward the blast. I would live… in theory; if a bit toasted.
My shield was between me and the incoming stone threats.
I gripped a vial of blood and opened it to spray across the inside of my shield, and I activated a totally theoretical Hecatomb blood ability. The blood spread around the shield and hardened, expanding the cover area even as the blast of the explosion and the Kinetic Crystals threw us straight up, toward the rubble.
Stone struck shield with bone-jarring force. Most were deflected, but some punched through the blood shield extension.
As we started our descent again, I rolled our formation again, putting me at the bottom, where Ferris had been. I could only pray that the poor guy was still okay. Just as I had hoped, the blast of the explosions had knocked the locked elevator car down and blown off the entry doors to the floor just above where the elevator had been.
My mind was foggy for more than one reason, and my eyes were hazy. I needed to do one last thing. Just trigger one last burst. As with everything since the start of the fall, timing was critical. I tried to focus on the breached floor entry and waited then… Unleashed every last bit of power left in my feet, redirecting our fall into the floor.
Little did I know just how far from over things were.