Fated (Chapter Thirty)
Thursday, September 3rd, 2015 08:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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mindcrackloveAlso, anything in brackets [] is signed.
Chapter list: http://tanadin.dreamwidth.org/382.html
Map of the continent: http://tanadin.deviantart.com/art/F
Character status spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet
Chapter Thirty
Kingdom of Variat, Minecraftia. October 3, year 573. Time instance 483Z.
Tarsen sighed in relief as he approached the gate and his eyes located Samuel. The shadow elementalist was starting to freak him out and he needed someone familiar. He tried not to give in to the urge to run over to his friend, pausing when he noticed the girl that accompanied him and Tranpar.
“Who’s she?” Tarsen asked as he approached, stopping a few feet away.
“Her name is Axid.” Samuel informed him. “She’s one of us.” He looked between Tarsen and Onai. “I’m guessing you didn’t have much luck in finding anyone.”
“No. Onai kept saying they were the wrong people.” Tarsen crossed his arms, subtly stepping away from Onai.
“We still need one.” Onai said simply, gaze pausing on Axid momentarily. She waved a little at the two new arrivals. Tarsen waved back while Onai simply nodded.
“Where are Valkan and Trymdas?” Tranpar demanded. “They’re three minutes and twelve seconds late.”
Samuel sighed. “Who knows.”
Not a pair to be sent off alone.
Axid raised an eyebrow and waved to get Samuel’s attention before signing to him. [You sound like you don’t like them too much.]
“It’s just Valkan. He’s…well.” Samuel shrugged slightly. “You’ll see.”
Tarsen raised an eyebrow. “Mute?”
Axid nodded. [Do you understand me?]
Tarsen glanced at Samuel, tilting his head. “That answers itself.” Samuel muttered, glancing to his left as his peripheral vision picked up on a couple of familiar figures in the crowd. Tarsen glanced over as well and groaned.
Valkan walked up to them, leading his brother and about four people around Onai’s age, who were in varying stages of wariness and fear.
“Test ‘em.” Valkan growled, crossing his arms. Samuel raised an eyebrow but pulled out the stone, going to each of the four in turn. The stone went dark as it touched them, one girl looking overjoyed and racing away the moment that Samuel took it back from her.
Tarsen decided that he didn’t want to know what Valkan had done to convince them to follow him. Once all four had been sent away, Tarsen remarked, “Well, that was anticlimactic.”
Valkan turned to snarl at him but noticed Axid standing back with Tranpar. “Who’s that?”
“Axid. She’s with us.” Samuel told him, already preparing himself for whatever unnecessary outburst that Valkan would have.
“Fan-fucking-tastic.” Valkan looked her over. “I’m Valkan. Don’t fuck around with me and I probably won’t fuck you up too badly. Got it?”
Axid frowned. [I think you need to calm down.]
“Speak, dammit, I don’t understand your stupid-”
“She’s mute, you insensitive-” Samuel cut himself off, covering Tranpar’s ears. “-asshole!”
The group went silent, staring at him. None of them had known Samuel to swear before, and he looked very, very angry. Even Valkan paused, looking him over. “Taking in useless people isn’t going to help us defeat those goddamn Hostiles. Maybe we should focus on finding the ones worth our time, huh? Or maybe you’re too stupid to figure out who is and isn’t useful.”
Valkan howled in pain as Tarsen’s fist slammed into his face. He stumbled, then was knocked to the ground as Tarsen kicked the back of his knee. The ex-bandit kicked him once more in the head for good measure before dusting himself off and looking at Samuel, whose eyes had widened slightly.
“I figured you were tired of listening to him talk and, coincidentally, so was I.”
Samuel shook his head, laughing. “I’m glad to have you on the team, Tarsen.”
“Awesome. I love being here.”
Valkan groaned in pain and curled into a ball, trying to protect himself in case someone decided to kick him again. Tarsen glanced at Trymdas, noticing him trying to hide a smile. He stepped over to the younger brother and lowered his voice. “Let me know if I need to do that again.”
Surprised, Trymdas nodded slightly. “Okay. Why would I-”
Samuel cleared his throat. “We should get back to searching. Valkan, Trymdas, maybe you should sit this one out. Meet back here in a couple of hours?”
Remembering what the younger brother had said to him.
Tarsen internally groaned but nodded. “Okay. Let’s do this.” He hesitated. “Can we switch teams?”
“I’m not leaving Tranpar with anyone except me in this city.” Samuel argued. “He-”
[I could go with Onai and Tarsen could go with you.] Axid offered.
“You’re sure?”
[Yes. He seems to make Tarsen uneasy but I don’t get that from him.]
Samuel nodded. “Okay, then. Onai, you’re going with Axid. Tarsen, with me.”
Tarsen grinned. “Alright! Off on an adventure in this shitty, awful place with my best bro and the kid he’s responsible for!”
“Was that meant to be insulting? Should I be insulted?” Tranpar demanded.
“Nah.” Tarsen ruffled Tranpar’s hair, already in a much better mood now that he didn’t have to be followed around by the creepy kid. “Let’s get going!”
The three of them set off, leaving Onai and Axid alone except for Trymdas and Valkan, the latter who was just now picking himself up off the ground and whining about his new bruises.
Axid glanced over at Onai. [Why do they think you’re creepy?]
“The shadows speak to me.”
[Ah. What do they say?]
“Many things. They told me to find you and another here. Then we go to the place that is marked on the map. The shadows won’t tell me of that place other than that it is wondrous for creatures of the night.”
Axid led the way down the streets, continuing the conversation. [Creatures of the night? Like you?]
“Maybe. I think they mean monsters- creepers, giant spiders, and similar.” Onai shrugged a little. “I don’t know. What I do know is that Tarsen is unnerved by me due to some event I’m unfamiliar with. My kind tends to be ruthless to those we target. Perhaps he was unfortunate.”
[Maybe.] Axid shuddered. [You seem nice, though. Just quiet in large groups.]
Onai nodded. “I’m not the monster they think I am.”
Few are.
Axid smiled at him, and he smiled faintly back.
-~-
“No, no no no, no no no no…” Vechs shook as he watched the orb, as he watched Kyilld take the form of the man she had killed. “No no no no…”
As much as he hated needing to do so, he got to his feet and left the chunk, orb still clutched in his claws as he walked, shaking, down the hallway. He took a deep breath, lifted his head, and roared one word at the top of his lungs.
“BLAME!”
His call ran through every tunnel and hallway of Spawntown, alerting every Mindcracker not within one of their own chunks that something was wrong, especially once his initial roar was followed by shouts of Aureylian’s and Guude’s names.
Vechs moved quickly down the hall, bumping into Blame as he raced around the corner, swords drawn. He almost struck at his friend before realizing, swearing and sheathing his weapons. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
Vechs continued to shake. “Get the others.” He whispered. “This is important…”
Blame took one look at Vechs’ face and nodded, motioning for him to follow. They gathered up the Mindcrackers and met in the meeting room- the one that had been built within the Vortex itself due to the disuse of the old one back on Minecraftia. It was simply more convenient to not have to leave the Vortex for every meeting. Vechs had wondered many times why it had taken them this long to have this idea, but today he was more focused on what he had seen. He was so stressed about it that he refused to return to his human form, still tightly clutching the cracked orb.
The thirty-one Mindcrackers quickly assembled. Vechs didn’t even notice the member he was the most unfamiliar with slink past him into his seat- normally he would take every opportunity to observe the other Mindcracker, but not today.
Blame turned immediately to Vechs once he surveyed the room and found every seat full. “What’s wrong?” He demanded.
Vechs held up the orb slightly. “Kyilld.” He whispered. “She’s killed the king of one of the desert countries and has taken his form.”
The room fell completely silent, all eyes locked on Vechs in various levels of horror and fear.
“What is she doing now?” Blame hissed, looking into the orb. The man that Blame assumed to be Kyilld in the king’s form was speaking to Specterveil, who had shrunken himself down in order to fit in the room. “Dammit, Vechs!”
Vechs shuddered and tugged at one of the orb’s energy lines, broadcasting the sound to the entire room.
“-will be ours.” Specterveil’s voice growled softly. “And now, those idiot Sunspines are no match for us. They weren’t last time, either, but we had more firepower…no, it’s best that we have the Kalt’on army at the forefront of the battle. We can’t risk ourselves.”
“We’ve been over this.” Kyilld growled, crossing his arms. “I know what needs to be done. And without our creator in our way, this should be much easier this time around.”
“I wish we had killed him ourselves.” Specterveil muttered. “Or at least been allowed to see and destroy the kingdom he created in our absence. That would have been so satisfying. Unfortunately, we don’t get that…oh well. The rest of the world is ours to burn.”
Kyilld giggled evilly. “Oh, I look forward to this. I just don’t like this man’s form. It’s frankly offensive to my own natural looks to appear as this…this…thing.”
“Once we are finished with Kalt’on, you won’t need to continue the deception.” Specterveil assured. His red eyes glanced up and Vechs felt a shiver run down his spine, but didn’t react other than that as Specterveil looked away. “Begin the second stage of the operation. I’ll make sure the others are ready.” He melted away into the shadows, vanishing entirely from sight.
Kyilld nodded and left the room, informing the guards that he had orders for the High General of the Kalt’onian army. Feeling sick, Vechs let the audio go mute again.
The entirety of the room was horrified, realizing the implications that this held. Blame looked as white as a Sunspine’s mask, clearly trying not to shake.
“What do we do?” Aureylian whispered.
“Nothing.” Guude sighed. “Absolutely nothing. We’re helpless.”
Vechs shoved the orb back into his toolbelt and hugged himself tightly.
At this rate, everything they had worked for was going to be in vain.
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Date: Friday, September 4th, 2015 05:06 am (UTC)On the other hand, I'm liking Tarsen more and more. He seems generally AWESOME! Did anyone else practically clap when he took down Valkan? And Samuel swore! Good grief, what is their world coming to?! ;)
But my first reaction is still scared. I feel like on of the Mindcrackers, watching but being helpless to do more. I'm afraid it will drive them insane.
(::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::)
-the lurkiest lurker
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Date: Friday, September 4th, 2015 10:05 pm (UTC)Very, very afraid.
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Date: Friday, September 4th, 2015 09:26 am (UTC)/#/ /#/ /#/ /#/ /#/ /#/ /#/ /#/ /#/ /#/ /#/ /#/ /#/ /#/ /#/ /#/
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Date: Friday, September 4th, 2015 10:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Saturday, September 5th, 2015 02:09 am (UTC)Oh and how spoopy!! I'm kinda terrified at what Tana has in store for our characters...
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Date: Saturday, September 5th, 2015 02:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Sunday, September 6th, 2015 04:19 pm (UTC)i am very scared. very scared indeed.
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Date: Sunday, September 6th, 2015 04:20 pm (UTC)-iirkolav anon
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Date: Saturday, January 2nd, 2016 11:32 pm (UTC)But I spy death in the future
Which I crave
It feels like forever
Since I have laughed at one
*maniacal laughter*
>:3