387: Travellers (Patreon)

The dragon lowered ‘til its neck touched the ground, and Junko hopped on quickly, clearly well used to doing so. The rest of the group demonstrated similar ease; Yue climbed into the space behind Junko, Marlowe and Maverick settled in further back.

Nicolai and Serrin stood and watched, Serrin because he was uncertain, Nicolai because he didn’t like the way it was looking at him—that big green eye, slitted like a cat’s, had been staring at him since it got here. Junko looked over at Serrin, smiling warmly. ‘Come on!’ she called. ‘You’ll enjoy it.’

Serrin regarded the dragon, and its enormous eye shifted over to him. ‘I was always told that if I saw a dragon, I should retreat immediately and call for… help.’

‘Not this one. Silver is friendly,’ Maverick replied. ‘At least, he is to us. Not so much to anyone else. But hey, I’ll put in a good word for you.’

Serrin shrugged and got moving, angling for a spot at the base of its neck.

‘You getting on or staying?’ Junko called to Nicolai, and the dragon’s eye was back on him.

It obviously didn’t like him—its vast Soul Sense swept all around them, and where it touched on his own it emanated vague threat. Much like how killbot might show its teeth over Local, to a bot that was threatening its client. This thing was Tier 3, which made it a serious danger. Still, it wasn’t going to attack, though it released a faint rumble as he approached.

Junko murmured, patting its neck. ‘I know.’

Nicolai rolled his eyes as he pulled himself to a place at the base of its neck. The dragon immediately shifted, rising and raising its wings before he was properly in place, but Nicolai rode it easily, using one of the stubby, blunt spines that ran over its neck and back as a grip. With a bunching of muscles and a tensing of Soul, it leapt boldly into the air, easily clearing the buildings either side, great wings thwack-thwacking like living sails. He could feel the immense muscles beneath him flexing as it laboured upwards, and its Soul was likewise tense with effort, two enormous spiritual wings extending outward around the physical versions.

Spreading ripples alerted him, pulling his focus towards Yue. She was doing something, activating a Symbiote or set of Symbiotes. Whatever it was, it was powerful, pulsing out ripples that would’ve been easy to feel for miles around, were it not for the dragon creating even stronger ones. None of Junko’s companions reacted. Serrin turned to look at her, the movement surprised and curious.

The dragon settled into a glide once it had risen high enough. Its physical wings did not even bother to beat, though its spiritual wings continued in slow strokes.

‘Amazing!’ Serrin cried. ‘I never thought I would experience something like this.’

Yue paused whatever she was doing to glance back, amused. ‘I understand the feeling!’ she called. ‘Life is full of surprises when you travel with the Summoner.’

‘Summoners,’ Junko corrected, glancing back. ‘Are you bringing Sora through?’

‘Almost done,’ said Yue, closing her eyes.

The ripples pouring from her Soul reached a peak. She stretched out her arm, and the Oma crystal held between her fingers turned to dust. Where she pointed, the air twisted.

Whatever Yue was doing as the air twisted and surged, it had to do with the spiritual realm. It felt very similar to when Serrin crossed over. After learning from the Hornet how to do so himself, Nicolai recognised the feeling of that realm.

‘You’re reaching to the Spiritual Realm?’ Serrin said, his voice climbing with excitement. His Soul Sense pressed curiously towards the distortion, like a crow pecking at something shiny. ‘What Layer? How deep can you go?’

‘Leave it be, kid,’ Marlowe said, glancing back. ‘What she’s doing isn’t easy.’

Serrin obeyed only in the sense that he stopped talking, and his Soul Sense retreated to a slightly more polite distance, but his attention remained fixed on the opening. Nicolai was similarly interested, but he knew that the answer would be coming soon enough.

The opening tore wider, and a ghostly, serpentine shape wound free. It looked a little like one of those Chinese dragons, with two long whiskers, and its head shifted side to side as it flowed through the air like a ribbon. It had stretched to several metres in length by the time its whole body was through, and Yue closed the hole with a sigh of relief.

‘What is it?’ Serrin asked, craning his head as he watched the creature.

Yue lowered her hand, turning to shoot a look of faint surprise at the Hornet, but her expression quickly cleared. ‘This is Sora, a wind elemental who deigns to grant me his aid.’

The elemental looped around her, and spoke in a voice that seemed to come from all around his body.

‘Sora, the Wind of the Yellow Valley,’ he spoke, and he rose higher. ‘One of the greatest, fastest, strongest-blowing winds you will ever meet!’ He curled affectionately around Yue, shifting her clothes and hair, then blew Junko’s hair from behind, sending it in a fuzz over her face.

‘Hey!’ she yelped, scowling back, and the wind elemental rolled away, chuckling, and Nicolai could tell Junko was only pretending to be annoyed. The dragon’s Soul Sense tightened for an instant as it observed, then relaxed.

The level of heroic camaraderie on display was enough to make him slightly nauseous.

Sora next flowed around Maverick and Marlowe, then on towards Serrin, where he paused, drawing back and extending tiny feelers. Nicolai realised the being kept his Soul Sense tight and dense around his body, and those feelers were him extending it. Serrin stared back, equally curious, not at all bothered by the feelers. Nicolai didn’t want the things anywhere near him.

‘A spirit?’ Sora began, then answered himself. ‘No, you are a traveller!’ He sounded delighted. ‘I have never met one before!’

Nicolai realised that the elemental had recognised Serrin’s White Gift. Some element of Serrin’s ability to travel to the Spiritual Realm must have been there for it to feel. Immediately, he focused on locking down his Soul. His guard was perfect, as always, but he also did whatever he could think of to hide his connection to the Interior. Quickly, focused on what Serrin had taught him, trying to ape the appearance of Serrin’s abilities as best he could.

‘A traveller?’ Serrin asked, but the creature was already flicking past him.

‘And what have we here…’ Sora circled Nicolai, who sat totally cool and calm, turning his head to watch it like any normal person would. ‘Another one?’ it murmured, slightly confused. Yue had turned to watch, and from her face Nicolai knew she was paying very close attention to what Sora said.

‘What’s a traveller?’ said Serrin, and he waved at the wind elemental. ‘Hey! Whadyou mean?’

‘Why, one who can pass between,’ said the elemental, and it twitched back and snaked past his raised arm. ‘I can smell it on you. You and him have been there, in full form! Yue only ever comes as a spirit.’

‘Physical travel to the Spiritual Realm is generally not recommended,’ said Yue dryly. ‘I had never thought to meet such a… gifted pair.’

Nicolai watched her through narrowed eyes, and said nothing. None of the others seemed to know what she was talking about, merely looking on curiously.

‘How much do you know of the Spiritual Realm?’ asked Serrin, apparently uncaring or not recognising her meaning. ‘You’ve been as a spirit? So you must have Symbiotes relating to it! Is that how you found Sora?’

‘So many questions,’ she replied. ‘Do you wish to be a summoner, like myself?’

‘I wish to know anything you can tell me of the Spiritual Realm,’ the Hornet replied, hunger in his voice.

‘Later, then. When we’ve landed! The wind is not conducive to conversation, up here. Which reminds me, I didn’t summon you merely to indulge your curiosity, Sora!'

‘Fine, fine,’ whistled the elemental, shooting back toward her. There he spun a slow circle above her head, while Yue raised her arms and poured Oma up at him. Gradually, a faint umbrella of pale green energy spread through the air. The wind tearing at their ears was cut down significantly, and then as the umbrella spread wider, the dragon’s speed slightly increased. The elemental floated down, slower now, and the green field remained in place. ‘Sleepy,’ it mumbled, draping itself over Yue like an oversized scarf.

The dragon sailed through the sky faster than ever, its shadow passing silently over the vast expanse of the Dead City. Even from here The City’s danger was clear.

Much of it was still and dead, but other areas were full of movement. There were crowds down there, crawling through the streets in slow migratory masses. Zooming his bionic eyes nearly to their max allowed Nicolai to see that those crowds were comprised of shambling, zombie-like undead, their bodies rotted.

Through his heavily magnified gaze, he saw them all staring back, watching him and the others flying far above upon the dragon’s back. Their mouths gaped, opening and closing with hunger.

From what he had learned from the Patriarch and Edrin before coming here, these undead were one of the Dead City’s main dangers. With no magic sustaining them, they fed upon anything living they could find, consuming blood and souls to preserve their lives and sanity. Those below had clearly not been feeding well. Their sanity was gone, leaving behind hungry creatures which would pursue anything alive.

For some time the group was tense and drawn, all busy gazing down and muttering about the things they saw, pointing and frowning and asking Yue if she could feel how strong this or that was, from all the way up here. She couldn’t, and neither could Threat Analysis, the ripples of the dragon and the fact of there being so many things crawling through the City making it impossible to perceive much of use, not unless something was truly massive, spiritually speaking.

‘All kinds of nasty things down there,’ put in Marlowe at one point, followed by Maverick declaring, ‘So it’s a good thing we’re up here!’

Observation was quite strong in his mind, a presence bubbling with excitement. The Module was taking countless pictures, drinking in the experience of flying atop a dragon over an ancient, ruined Dead City.

The sky above was bright and blue, as always, with barely a cloud and the sun beaming down. Down in the streets, there had been a sense of closeness and darkness even beneath the sunlight, but here it felt open and warm. He supposed it was quite nice, in a way. If you were into that sort of thing. Like travelling by aeroplane.

That reminded him of the one he was building, which prompted him to spend a moment measuring the dragon’s speed. They were approaching eighty miles per hour now that it had found its stride—faster than Hornet Wings, but far slower than his plane would be.

Not that it mattered, of course. He settled back into his seat with a sense of vague satisfaction, telling himself that he was perfectly happy to be carried to their destination.

Within an hour they were at ease, Maverick running over the dragon’s back in chase of Sora, Yue yelling at both of them, Junko gazing ahead, Marlowe seeming to be asleep.

Their wariness had entirely faded, which reinforced to Nicolai the amateur level of this whole operation. They should count themselves lucky to have him and Serrin here, keeping eyes out, remaining focused.

Serrin turned to face him, emanating boredom. ‘Want to spar?’

Nicolai’s eyes narrowed, but before he could reply Threat Analysis spoke up. Go ahead, I’ve got us covered. Well, the Module was just as good as him when it came to keeping watch, no doubt about that. Better, in many ways. And practice was always worthwhile…

Moments later and their Soul Senses were lashing and slicing in the air between them. Yue twisted around to stare in surprise, but calmed after a moment. They often sparred like this nowadays, a game Nicolai greatly enjoyed. To him, it was a particularly bright mark in Serrin’s favour that the young Hornet clearly enjoyed it nearly as much. He would've brought the Infiltrator into the mix, too, but he wouldn't display it to the group unnecessarily.

Something is taking note of us, said Threat Analysis.

The Module’s tone immediately broke him out of the spar, and at a particularly irritating moment. Serrin had been lunging into a counterattack—a particularly tricky one—and Nicolai was eager to see it unfold. Instead of receiving it he abruptly withdrew, and Serrin gave a sudden start as though emerging from a trance.

‘What is it?’

‘Trouble.’

Small figures carpeted many of the buildings out in front of them, looking like ants crawling over cracked pavement. This wasn’t too uncommon—typically the beings of this City stuck to the streets, but they’d seen other masses on rooftops. However, as he zoomed in, Nicolai saw why Threat Analysis was concerned.

It was a large clan of some kind of spiritual monkey, and this particular breed possessed wings. They also wore simple outfits consisting of cloth sashes, and many had what looked like javelins slung in wraps over their backs.

‘There are a large number of creatures below which appear capable of flight,’ he informed them, raising his voice over the wind.

Marlowe had his arms raised, stretching. He gripped the stubby spine before him and leaned a little to the side, looking below. ‘They won’t bother us. We’re flying on a bloody dragon.’ He settled back into his seat and continued his stretching, grunting as he leaned forward with one arm stretched out, fumbling at nothing.

Yue nodded, looking back at Nicolai. ‘Even in such a large group, I wouldn’t expect spirit beasts of that calibre to try a dragon.’

There is more, said Threat Analysis. Now it was drawing his attention to a large compound, about half a kilometre away. It closely resembled the Noble compounds back in their Sector. They had already flown past several such, but none had given him any cause for unease. But Threat Analysis claimed this one was alive. There was an awareness in it, something like the guardian spirit which’d controlled the compound in the Assassin’s Trial. It’s watching us, added the Module.

Nicolai didn’t need to hear anything more. He could see the dominoes, lining up to crash down on them. He opened up the Big Mouth, reaching in, and began to pull free his M99.

A spiritual hum pulsed out through the Aura, crackling like invisible lightning. The group stirred with unease in its wake, then a distant shrieking filtered into their hearing, emanating from the monkeys down below. They were all looking up, now, staring at the dragon, and they didn’t look at all happy.

Nicolai had his anti-materiel rifle in his hands. He set it comfortably in the crook of his shoulder, and swept the scope around, taking a look at the world.

Not much need for a scope, he reflected, with his new eyes. He ought to remove it, and better yet have the Assembler create a proper vieweye for the rifle. But it was nice to look through the scope and coast it over the monkeys. To settle the reticle over their heads and think on the wind, and the effect of shooting from such a high elevation. Aiming was trying to embrace him with its full and consuming understanding of all these things—and its agreement that yes he should remove the scope—but, just for the moment, he ignored it. The metal felt wonderfully cool and ready in his hands.

‘Did you all feel that?’ yelled Yue. ‘It’s coming from that way. I don’t like this.’

‘From there,’ said Nicolai, pulling away from the scope and pointing with the rifle toward one of the taller towers surrounding the compound. They all peered at the tower. Serrin stared at him for a moment then began pulling free his own anti-mat. Nicolai looked through the scope again, this time examining the tower. It looked quite similar to the necromantic spires from the Assassin’s Trial.

He was far from surprised when it sent out another big pulse through the Aura then fired a sphere of pale, sick-yellow energy. The sphere shot straight up, letting out a faint, distant wailing as it came. It began to curve, and Nicolai didn’t need Aiming’s frantic calculations to tell him it was locked directly onto them. It reminded him of a Stinger missile.

‘That thing is coming right at us,’ growled Marlowe, then yelped when Nicolai pulled his rifle’s trigger.

With a crack the rifle thumped against him and he pulled back, raising his head to watch, zooming to follow the bullet. It slid through the air and in only a few seconds reached the pale, wailing orb. And passed straight through, with no effect he could see. From below, the screeching of the monkeys intensified.

‘The hell are you doing?’ Marlowe cried at him.

‘Testing,’ he replied, tugging free the magazine and slotting a pair of fresh rounds in before shoving it back into the gun.

‘Don’t worry!’ said Junko. ‘They look pretty slow.’ She raised her voice. ‘Silver! Go—as fast as you can!’

The dragon rumbled and began beating his wings harder. Nicolai judged their speed increased by perhaps twenty miles an hour.

‘They’re moving much faster than they appear at this distance,’ he called, doing his best not to sound pleased.

He just caught her words, snapped into the wind and tossed back to him, ‘It’s fine!’

And as if that had been a signal, a great screeching and howling erupted from below.

The monkey roost was surging like some combination of a kicked anthill and a kicked wasp hive. Monkeys leapt into the air, wings beating, while more crawled out from the ruined buildings. They began to form a raucous flock, sweeping in big, expanding circles, catching thermals and rising.

Off a couple hundred metres away, the first of the homing missiles was closing fast.

This, he reflected, was quite an opportunity.