Hyperion Evergrowing

Kurt held the canal grate open as the last of their skulking party ducked through, exiting the city without alerting the authorities. They had lost little time in gathering the few members of Luriem’s seedy underbelly that both met the power threshold, and owed him favours or debts.

An hour after the meeting with Fracture they had gathered, the three red robed guilders now thoroughly outnumbered by the eleven gangers and thugs they had conscripted. Kurt itched to resist their demands, to spit in their face and storm off. Unfortunately, such an action would be unwise, especially with the third, silent figure that had frozen his blood without so much as a gesture.

Well, he had intentionally misinterpreted their request. Had luring half of Luriem’s cutthroats into getting themselves killed or arrested been worth a broken nose? Sure. Had it been worth losing an eye? Almost certainly not, but there was still a chance he could get it fixed.

The real question. He thought, letting the grate fall shut as the last of their little company of misfits, criminals, and pompous dickheads exited the city. Is this little charade worth risking my life over? Our lives over?

Kurt glanced to the side, meeting Maline’s amused twinkle with his one good eye. “At least one of us is having fun.” He grumbled under his breath, noting with more than a little irritation that the robed figures had all stopped to ensure that he wouldn’t try slipping back into the city. They walked for several minutes through the darkness, keeping low and silent as they carefully made their way further from the city’s walls.

He felt a presence by his side, then a hand rested against his shoulder. “How’s the pain?” Maline asked, her words like honey.

“Fine.” He lied, but he could tell by the way her fingers tightened that she hadn’t believed him. He did have a skill for pain suppression, one he made very good use of, but the skill had its limits, and he was quickly reaching them.

“Well, if you need a top up, just say the word.” She demured, leaning in closer with every word. “If you’re worried about what too much dosage might do to you… well, there’s no need. I would never let what happened to poor little Slayde happen to you, my love.”

Kurt gave her the side eye as they walked, earning a playful smirk from the [Venomancer]. Dangerous was an understatement when it came to describing Maline. The deadly potential of her classes combined with her peculiar eccentricities and habits didn’t make for the most reliable company. But… they were partners, and it wasn’t like Kurt didn’t have his own suite of incongruities.

“Poor kid.” He said, not wanting to get into the weeds about what she, they, had done, but he couldn’t ignore it either. Maline had brought it up for a reason, if she had something to say it was better to let her say it.

But instead of speaking further she just hummed, linking her one arm of flesh and blood with his. One arm and one eye. Kurt mused, enjoying the contact despite their situation. There’s something poetic about that.

“We’ll need to leave the city after this. There will be too much heat.”

“Leave? After all the work we’ve done?”

“How many of the idiots we tricked today do you think told the authorities who put the idea in their heads?” He asked. “It wouldn’t surprise me if the guards are at the doors to our public residence as we speak.”

“They’re in for some nasty surprises.” Maline giggled darkly.

Kurt missed a step. “Did you booby-trap our house?”

“Of course. The place had a vermin problem before we moved in. Didn’t I tell you?”

He didn’t want to know what, or more likely; who the vermin had been. He kept walking, not wanting to give their ‘employers’ an excuse to accuse him of desertion. Seven hooded figures crested over a nearby hill, their mounted silhouettes highlighted against the night sky.

“We’re in the shit.” Kurt said, his voice low. “Whoever it is we’re hunting is a lot more trouble than they let on. They’re not telling us everything, which is understandable, but there is clearly something off about this whole ordeal.”

“You felt his aura, nobility of some kind, no? Powerful as well, possibly over level one hundred, though I think his skills would be more potent if that was the case.” Maline said. “A challenge, how fun.”

“How dangerous.” Kurt corrected. “Even if Leif is in the high nineties, I don’t trust Fracture. If it comes down to a fight, they won’t hesitate to throw us to the wolves, so to say. Bunch of bastards.”

“It is also interesting that they only seem to care about the man, not the girl.” She mused, leaning against him as they waited for the approaching figures to arrive. “If he’s nobility, then who is she? A daughter? Servant?”

“Apprentice.” Kurt said, wincing as the pain in his eye grew. “Or at least that was the impression I got. Not uncommon for those in the higher levels to take on students. Teaching another your path is a way to eke out a few extra levels. Probably why so many retired adventurers join training programs in guilds or take on apprentices.”

Maline hummed thoughtfully. “Maybe I should take on a few students. We could pick some up from an orphanage.”

“No.” He immediately shut down.

“Aww, why not?” She teased.

“Because our bottleneck isn’t more levels, it's money and resources.”

“I suppose that is true enough. In theory, this little job will solve that for the immediate future.”

“It will.” Kurt nodded, turning his attention to the nearby gathering. “Assuming it doesn’t kill us.”

“Auxiliaries!” Norman called, the man having spoken to the newly arrived group of Fracture members. “Approach. We depart for the forest immediately!”

“Not yet.” The sell-sword growled, crossing his arms and glaring up at Norman. The non Fracture members shuffled uncomfortably behind him. “You were awfully vague about who, or what the target was when we spoke a few days ago. Now you have us sneaking through the night, about to charge headfirst into the wilderness on your say so.”

“Are you questioning me, demikin? You appear to have forgotten your place.”

“How about instead of running your mouth like a smug prick, you shut the fuck up and listen.” Kurt snapped back. “You want us to act as your disposable meat shields? Fine. Honestly, I couldn’t care less. The least you can do is give us the rundown on the target. I already crossed swords with this so called ‘healer’, and let me tell you, the man is far more than you let on when you came to us begging for information as to his location.”

“Your weakness is none of our concern. Your inability to follow orders however, will be.” Norman replied.

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“It’ll be easier to follow orders if we actually know what we’re going up against.” Kurt said, gesturing to the men and women behind him. “Do you even have a plan? What exactly are we doing, running in blindly after him?”

Norman went to take a step forward, his eyes gleaming with dark fire, only for the silent one to place a hand on his arm. Norman froze, glancing at the still unnamed man. He flashed a series of hand signs which Kurt couldn’t decipher, though by the keen attention the members of Fracture paid to the motions it was clear that at least they were getting something out of it.

“Fine.” Norman said, turning back to Kurt and the others. “But if so much as a word of what I’m about to say slips from your mouths, you will be dealt with. All of you.”

Kurt clenched his jaw, sensing those around him tense up. “Fine.”

“The target is a former member of the Varan nobility, and this is how we plan on containing him...”

===

The forest was even harder to navigate at night than Kurt had feared. The faint light from the ball of embers kindled in his hand barely illuminated a handful of steps in front of him. At least it seemed like their employers knew where they were headed. Every handful of minutes the party would crawl to a stop, the silent man raising a hand to adjust their trajectory into the wilderness.

With every step they took the forest seemed to grow louder, insects buzzing from their burrows or beneath the bark of the tightly packed trees. The screeching of distant monsters reached his ears on several occasions, only for whatever was causing them to grow silent.

Maline walked ahead of him, the acidic construct in the shape of an arm snaking out to dissolve tripping hazards and low hanging vines. The constant sizzling of plant matter, the occasional flash of dull green light, and the tangy smell of acid added to the increasingly suffocating atmosphere of the forest.

Behind him someone cursed, falling to the ground with a cry of pain and the snapping of twigs. Everyone came to a stop as the man shouted and writhed, his cries of pain quickly transitioning into screams of panic as he twitched and spasmed, desperately trying to slap something off of his body. By the time Kurt had dashed over to the man three others and rushed to his side, one of them stabbing downwards with a stiletto to pierce a beetle the size of a dinner plate. The insect chittered as it died, wings fluttering with violent intensity as it tried and failed to flee.

Nasty welts were blooming all over the victims arms and upper back, and somebody shoved a roll of cloth into his mouth to stop the sound of his continuous wails.

“Venom?” Maline asked as she glided to Kurt’s side. “Oh dear, that looks like it hurts. Should I do something?”

“Don’t touch him.” Another man said, wincing as his own words came out too loudly. He fidgeted as Maline gave him an unimpressed look. A few seconds later he procured a bottle, the contents being force fed to the injured man still writhing on the ground.

“What is it this time?” Asked a hooded figure, Kurt thought her name was Palen, though truthfully he didn’t care to remember it.

“Forest seems far more active than usual, ma’am.” A nearby sellsword said. “I used to hunt here as a boy. Never have I ever seen the number of critters crawling around like tonight. It’s like the whole place has come awake at once.”

Kurt could tell by the look on Palen’s face that she wasn’t convinced. But he had the [Survivor] class, not that he had had the chance to level it recently. Something was wrong, he could feel it in the soil, in the relentless hum coming from all around them.

“We keep moving. Keep up or be left behind.”

Kurt wondered if she would say the same thing if it was one of her people that had been ambushed and injured. It was as he was thinking that when a massive, lumbering form crashed through a trio of tree’s up ahead. The hooded figures shouted and scrambled as the massive creature, a feline with wicked fangs and a mane of striped hair roared and lunged for the nearest person. Weapons were drawn, but they were too late. The beast leaped, maw open to sink into flesh and rend muscle, only for it to freeze in air, its entire body going rigid.

Everyone stared in shock as the beast twitched, its muscles flexing as it tried, and failed, to move. A bone in its hind leg snapped, then another. The creature, easily as tall as a grown adult and twice as long, began to jerk, twitching as its bones broke and its limbs bent in unnatural ways. It took seconds for the big cat to be folded like a town, its body scrunched up like a ball of paper. It took everything he had for Kurt to wrench his gaze off of the beasts still hovering, mangled corpse. The silent Fracture member stood, arm extended towards the once living apex predator of the forest.

Gods. He thought, looking away as the corpse burst, blood spattering over the undergrowth and plastering nearby trees. I don’t think we’re going to have the chance to make a run for it.

“Something is definitely wrong. Beasts that strong never stray from the deepest parts of the forest.” He said, instead of making voice to his discomfort.

Palen stared at the twisted pile of meat and bones. She swallowed, then nodded. “How close is the target?” She called.

The silent figure pointed to the left. He paused, then his hand moved again.

“Leif is moving.” Norman cursed from up ahead.

And he’s close. Kurt thought, the ash in his hand flared with heat and he crouched, trying to ignore the growing pain in the side of his head.

A javelin made of white wood, shining with an inner golden radiance flashed through the darkness. It took one of the hooded figures through the chest, pinning them against a fallen log, killing them instantly.

A second projectile streaked through the night, but this time nobody was caught unawares. A bolt of lightning cracked, singing the air with the smell of burnt ozone. The lightning collided with the javelin, knocking it off course.

Something shone gold in the distance, then the attack stopped as suddenly as it had begun. Silence fell over the group, nobody sure how to react. Kurt wanted to turn and run in the other direction, and judging by the looks the non Fracture members were shooting at each other he wasn’t alone in having that potentially suicidal desire. A distant roar shook the forest, the dull thud of approaching footsteps making the leaves on nearby trees rattle.

The silent figure made a series of gestures, and moments later orders were being shouted and groups were made. Then they charged after their target.

===

Leif projected his aura far and wide, using it to call out to all the living things around him as he ran. He placed a palm onto the bark of a young willow, flooding the plant with syphoned vitality. The relief was immediate, the sensation of vitality burning him from the inside waned as he fed it all into something else, guiding the power with [Suge of Life and Growth] and a spoken command to:

“Endure.”

The tree shook, then began to expand upwards, the life-force coursing through its trunk causing an explosion of growth. The nearby ferns and bushes received the overflow, and then the grasses and fungi after them.

Within moments golden vitality was washing through the local region of forest, setting the beings that were living nearby into a frenzy of wakefulness. Rodents scurried through the undergrowth chasing swarms of scurrying insects. Birds, ordinarily roosting at this time of night were wide away, several chirping as if trying to call the dawn to come sooner so that they could hunt in the light.

Leif extended his perception, and felt several humanoid figures approaching. Ever since he had launched the first attack they had been chasing him, and this wasn’t the first group to get close. More would be nearby, so an outright engagement wouldn’t be advisable, at least not yet. He was untiring, his enemies were not. The scion pulsed his aura, calling the nearby critters to his location. There wasn’t anything big and scary nearby, but his pursuers were unlikely to take kindly to the swarm of newborn snakes he was coaxing out from a gap between two moss covered boulders.

He sensed another group converging from his left with his outstretched perception. The dangling branches of the willow were almost entirely covering him now, but he didn’t need to hide. Tracking the first group he readied a gilded wood bomb. It sat heavily in his hand, pulsing with barely contained energy. Using [Wood Manipulation] he parted the branches of the willow tree and threw his destructive weapon as hard as he could. A second later it detonated, and both plant and person were torn apart.

The forest shook, the sound of splintering trees echoing through the night. With a final pulse of his aura Leif projected his will onto all the surrounding animals. Then he turned and melted into the trees, literally in some cases, all but walking through some with [Tree of Respite] instead of going around them. It was much easier to do with living plants, though getting the exit right and the whole process fast enough had at first required spellcraft.

Golden limbs shot from his back and sides, grabbing branches and pushing Leif up off the ground as he went. He rarely used this technique, it wasn’t subtle, but it was quick. Screams came from the direction he had come from, though the sound didn’t fill him with joy. This was grim, but necessary work. He couldn’t leave an enemy at his back when moving into the unknown.

The hill he had been climbing ended with a sheer drop, several much larger trees grew from the valley below. Leif jumped, falling against the trunk and vanishing into it. A heartbeat later he stepped out from the base of the trunk, not losing stride. He slowed, then turned, glancing up the rocky and overgrown cliff that he had just been standing atop. Hooded figures dressed in red appeared one by one, each staring down at him. Their uninformed counterparts materialised from the forest a moment later, and Leif recognised two of them.

That did make him feel joy. He wouldn’t miss out on the opportunity to rid the world of murderous scum afterall. But there was a larger obstacle in his way before he could do that. Because one of the hooded figures wasn’t human.

“Tell me, Vevosis. Did Zane make good on his promise? I can’t imagine any other reason to come after me with such fervour!” He called up to the blood clone. “Actually, can your creator even see this far? Assuming he didn’t manage to escape the Academy and come after me himself. Do I need to point out that there’s a war going on, there are better things for a bunch of high level imperials to be doing.”

A man stepped forward, pulling back his hood to reveal a set of severe features. Dark flame swirled between his fingers as he glared down at the scion. Leif recognised him from the Academy. He likely wasn’t the only one.

“What could be more important than securing you?” He asked.

Leif shrugged, taking a seat on a nearby log, crossing one leg over the other. “What could I possibly offer someone like you? Don’t you have vulnerable children to indoctrinate?”

“Quiet. You know not our purpose.”

“You were at Far-Reach, weren’t you? I recognise your face from the sky skimmer Khan brought for the evacuation. You didn’t seem interested in serving humanity back then either. Does Fracture only allow cowards who abandon others to join their esteemed ranks. I’ll admit I don’t really know anything about your organisation.”

The man’s already severe features darkened as he scowled, his fists clenching, umbral fire flaring out to either side of him. Robed figures quickly stepped back, avoiding the flames as they blackened the stone at their feet. The blood clone however, did not move. Black fire jumped to its robes, unravelling its sanguine, but otherwise relatively human looking features. The flames danced around its form, seemingly doing no damage. It grinned down at Leif, its teeth an unnerving shade of red.

It raised a hand, and Leif tensed, ready to resist any attempt to magically restrain him, despite his otherwise casual stance. But instead of attacking, the clone made several complex gestures. The severe man’s eyes flickered from Leif, to whatever his master was communicating.

No communication or recording crystal. Vevosis must really not be nearby. Leif thought, that knowledge relaxing him somewhat. It meant he wasn’t outmatched, even if he was outnumbered. But the words that were spoken next froze his blood as if it had been constricted.

“We know who your family is, monster. If you run, we will get to them first.”

Leif stood, his casual act dropping instantly.

“What would the powerful house Vin think if they knew what had become of one of their heirs. How would they react, do you think? Do you think you would enjoy being hunted by your own blood?”

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