Gremlin's Greed: Chapter 2 COMPLETE (Patreon)

Ethan shook Jasper awake before the sun rose above the mountain peaks. The gremlin’s eyes snapped open, but the look on Ethan’s face killed Jasper’s complaints before they reached his lips.

“We have company,” Ethan whispered, his eyes cold.

“Yon?” Jasper asked grimly as all vestiges of sleep vanished from his face.

“Most likely,” Ethan said with a grim nod.

Jasper leapt to his feet and wrapped his cloak around him while Ethan woke the young woman up.

“Linna,” Ethan said as he grabbed her shoulder. “Get up. We have unwelcome friends visiting.”

Linna blinked blearily, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes as she sat up.

“I’m sorry?”

“We’re under attack,” Jasper said briskly. “And not by humans. Make yourself small. Ethan will take care of this.”

Linna’s confusion vanished as a grotesque scream tore through the mountain valley. She paled and pushed herself against the wall of the small cave. Jasper kicked snow from beyond the cave across the fire before rushing back and hiding against the wall beside Linna.

“Why aren’t you helping Ethan?” Linna hissed.

“Nothing I can do,” Jasper whispered back. “The ugly bastards are called Vodrun. My Vision abilities don’t work on them. Twisted perversions of nature. Now stay still and be quiet. They’re strong but incredibly stupid. Ethan should be able to take care of them before they notice us.”

Ethan drew two swords out from under his cloak and strode out to the middle of the plateau. His weapons shimmered in the glowing moonlight like two silver icicles. Several tense moments passed. Ethan stood completely still, his back to Jasper and Linna and his head tilted slightly as he listened intently.

The snow at the far end of the plateau suddenly erupted into the air as a thick black claw appeared at the edge of the cliff. With a victorious howl, a large dark form hauled itself upwards and onto the plateau. It was canine in shape, but far larger than any wolf could have been. Disproportionate muscles writhed and rippled under its skin with every jerky unnatural movement it made.

Two sickly yellow eyes fastened on Ethan and the creature’s maw opened, revealing several rows of massive, stained teeth. A violent howl tore out of its mouth, spraying saliva that bubbled against the fresh snow on the ground.

The Vodrun blurred into motion. It reached Ethan in seconds and lunged for his neck. The swordsman’s weapons flashed in the moonlight and the screech of claws on metal tore through the silent air.

Both man and beast were forced back several steps. The creature let out a guttural howl and launched itself back through the air toward the swordsman. Ethan danced out of the way gracefully, his sword flickering out to bite at the monster’s unprotected hide.

The Vodrun managed to turn itself midair, bringing its hind claws to bear against Ethan’s strike. Metal struck against claw again, but Ethan twisted his second sword at the last minute, scoring it across the bottom of the Vodrun’s chest. The creature stumbled as it hit the snow and Ethan pounced on it, plunging his twin swords down toward its head.

Before he could strike the finishing blow, a dark blur shot through the air toward the swordsman. Ethan hurled himself to the ground as a large black spike buried itself in the ground where he had been standing. Ethan rolled back to his feet, but the opportunity was gone.

The downed Vodrun clambered back to its feet with a hissing bark that could have been a laugh as it moved to stand beside the new creature that had appeared at the edge of the cliff. Unlike the first Vodrun, the newcomer had a long scorpionlike tail that emerged from the center of its back.

“This is unfortunate. I don’t suppose Yon would settle for talking this out over breakfast? I’m suddenly hungry,” Ethan said.

The Vodrun bared their teeth and took a synchronized step toward the swordsman. Ethan shrugged and rolled his shoulders. He raised his swords again and shook his head in Jasper’s direction.

“Damn. A second one. Ethan can’t do this on his own,” Jasper snarled. “Change of plans. You need to run.”

“I thought your Vision powers don’t work on them?” Linna whispered.

“They don’t,” Jasper said as he pulled a small dagger from his belt and sprinted toward the Vodrun.

The gremlin jumped onto the monster’s leg before it noticed him and drove his dagger into its hide with all of his might. The dagger barely broke its skin, but it was enough to draw the creature’s attention.

The Vodrun spun, hurling Jasper into the snow. Ethan rushed toward it and attacked with a flurry of strikes that forced the Vodrun to turn and defend itself instead of pursuing Jasper.

Seeing that both of the horrific creatures were distracted, Linna darted out of the cave. Her foot slipped on the slick snow as she ran but the pirate turned the fall into a roll and hopped back to her feet, sprinting away without looking back.

“Left side!” Jasper barked as he scrambled back to his feet.

The swordsman rolled to his right as the first Vodrun’s claws rent through the snow where he had been standing. The mutated Vodrun spun back toward Jasper and roared. A spike launched from the tip of its tail, but Jasper was already moving.

The gremlin dove under the creature and cut at its hind legs with his dagger. The strike bounced harmlessly off its tough skin. Jasper rolled of the way just as a powerful foot slammed into the ground.

A roar of pain split the night sky. Jasper used the distraction to scramble out from under his opponent and gather himself. Ethan had managed to land a blow on the original Vodrun’s face, blinding it in one eye.

It lashed out blindly, forcing Ethan to raise both of his swords to block the strike. The Vodrun that Jasper was fighting flicked its tail toward Ethan, shooting a spike out of it toward him. A blur of silver intercepted it midair. The spike spun away harmlessly and landed in a puff of snow. The swordsman disengaged from the first Vodrun and took several steps back. He allowed his cloak to slip back, revealing a set of metallic arms that emerged from his back just below his original ones.

Ethan leapt on the Vodrun, pinning one paw into the ground with both of his swords before swinging himself onto its back with his extra arms. The Vodrun howled in pain and reared back, but it was unable to free its paw.

While Ethan fought, Jasper was losing ground against his opponent. With his only weapon lodged in the beast’s stomach, all he could do was desperately dodge back and forth in the snow.

Something shot through the air past Jasper’s ear. He instinctively rolled to the side and came up just in time to see the Vodrun roar in pain and stumble backwards. A jagged rock was lodged where its right eye had been. Dark blood trickled from the new wound and hissed as it dripped onto the snow. Jasper spun to see Linna standing several feet behind him, pale faced and breathing heavily.

“What are you doing here?” Jasper yelled. “I told you to run!”

“Saving your lives. And also my gold,” Linna replied.

The half blinded Vodrun’s muscles bunched up and it let out a howl.

“Ethan!” Jasper screamed, hurling himself out of the way as the huge beast launched itself through the air toward Linna.

Ethan seemed to blur as he catapulted himself from his own Vodrun’s back. He appeared before Linna; four arms raised to meet the creature’s paws as it slammed down on top of him.

Somebody screamed as the Vodrun crashed against Ethan, but Jasper wasn’t sure if it had been him or Linna. The swordsman had taken the strike with his mechanical arms, using his other two to grab the beast by the neck and keep its gnashing jaws away from his face.

The Vodrun growled and slowly started to push Ethan’s arms down. Jasper clambered to his feet and started toward them in a vain attempt to help.

The first Vodrun finally ripped itself free from Ethan’s swords with a scream of pain. It spun toward Jasper and bared its teeth, limping toward him as its blood and saliva sizzled against the snow.

Jasper glanced desperately toward Ethan and Linna. Ethan had dropped to his knees and the Vodrun’s mouth was practically at his neck. It reared back to strike the finishing blow.

The attack never came. The world vanished in a wave of golden light and a violent ringing. Linna stood behind Ethan, her arms thrust out desperately. She was completely enveloped in shining gold energy. A barrier of the same color hovered between the Vodrun and Ethan.

The Vodrun were as stunned as Jasper was. Unfortunately for them, Ethan was not. In a single swift movement, he rose to his feet, wrapped all four of his arms around the creature’s head, and twisted violently. The Vodrun’s neck broke with a sharp snap. It collapsed to the ground without another sound.

“My sword!” Ethan yelled.

Jasper snapped out of his stupor, scrambling across the snow and grabbing Ethan’s sword from the snow where the Vodrun had discarded it. With all his might, he spun and hurled the weapon toward Ethan, desperately hoping it would land close enough.

The weapon landed in the snow between Ethan and the Vodrun. The creature screamed and launched itself toward Ethan. The swordsman was faster. He flung himself forward, grabbing the sword from the ground and thrusting it upwards.

The sword punched through the bottom of the Vodrun’s neck. He swung himself out from under the creature, ripping the sword up through its neck and cleanly decapitating it. Its headless body crumpled to the ground behind him, sizzling against the snow.

Ethan flopped to the ground and dropped his sword in front of him. His mechanical arms disappeared back within his cloak. Behind him, Jasper collapsed to his knees and let out something between a whimper and a sigh of relief.

The gold light faded from around Linna and the barrier floating in the air disappeared. She blinked uncomprehendingly, looking from her hands to the dead Vodrun bleeding in the snow beside her.

“What. Was. That?” She asked, her voice trembling.

“A moment, please. I thought we were all dead,” Jasper said, holding a finger up.

They sat in silence as the adrenaline wore off. Ethan was the first to start moving again. He rose to his feet wiped his sword off in the snow before grabbing the other one from the ground and doing the same to it.

“What were those? Did you make that gold light? I thought your powers don’t work on those things?” Linna fired off a series of questions.

“Vodrun, no, and they don’t,” Jasper said.

Linna rubbed her forehead with one hand and pointed at the dead monster beside her with the other.

“Right, one question at a time. Give me real answers. I think I deserve them. What in Typhon’s name is this…thing?”

“It’s a Vodrun,” Ethan said as he wiped off his second sword in the snow. “Abominations that shouldn’t exist, made by someone that really hates Jasper and me. Don’t worry, they only went after you because you were next to us. You’ll probably never see one again, but we greatly appreciate your help.”

“Yeah, I guess. I wasn’t going to just leave you two. Not to mention you still had my payment,” Linna said. “Also, you saved my life by blocking the… Vodrun when it jumped at me. Thank you.”

“You shouldn’t have been in danger in the first place,” Jasper muttered.

“What he means is that we appreciate you coming back to help,” Ethan said with a smile.

“Well, everything turned out all dandy. You became a Vision,” Jasper added. “Bunch of people would pay a whole lot of money for that opportunity.”

Linna looked down at her hands and flexed them experimentally.

“You mean I made that light?” She asked.

“And the fancy golden wall,” Jasper said.

“How?”

Jasper and Ethan exchanged a glance. A silent conversation seemed to pass between them. The gremlin sighed in defeat as Ethan strode over to the dead campfire and grabbed their packs from the ground.

“I’ll explain it on the road. We don’t want to sit around waiting for more of these mangy bastards to find us,” Jasper said.

Linna nodded shakily. Ethan led the small group away from the clearing, leaving the dead bodies of the Vodrun in the snow behind them.

Once they had put some distance between them and the plateau, Linna shot a pointed look at Jasper and cleared her throat.

“Fine, fine. You don’t have to be so impatient,” Jasper said as Ethan boosted him up into a cave several feet above them.

“We all just nearly got killed by hairless demon dogs with scorpion tails on their backs and I can make gold light out of thin air. I get to be impatient,” Linna replied as she pulled herself over the ledge and followed Jasper into the cave.

Jasper snapped his fingers and a small orb of light appeared in the air above him. It flew over to Ethan and settled just in front of the tall man’s head. Ethan took the lead and they ventured deeper into the mountain’s depths.

“To be fair, only one of them had a scorpion tail,” Jasper said as they walked.

“The gold light?” Linna reminded.

“It’s not that hard. You’re a damn Vision,” Jasper replied.

“I see. And do you plan to explain what that entails?”

Ethan suddenly stopped moving and raised a hand in warning. Ethan and Linna slid to a stop and watched the swordsman expectantly. He stood completely still for several moments. Then his sword flickered out of its sheath and Ethan stabbed something on the ground in front of them.

He turned around and brought the creature he had stabbed into the light so that Jasper and Linna could see it. A large rat was impaled on the end of his sword, still struggling slightly as the life left its body.

“Is that dangerous?” Linna asked cautiously.

“Nope! But it’s delicious,” Jasper said as he grabbed the rat from Ethan’s sword and shoved the entire thing into his mouth.

Ethan sent Linna an apologetic look while Jasper chewed loudly on his prize.

“My apologies. The gremlin gets angry when he’s hungry. Or nervous. Or excited. Or-”

“She gets the picture,” Jasper growled as he polished off the rat. “Now, I believe we were talking about Visions.”

Linna nodded silently.

“Well? What do you want to know about them? If I was to tell you everything I knew, we’d have to add a month to our travel time,” Jasper grumbled.

“I think explaining how I became a Vision would be a good start,” Linna suggested.

Jasper scratched his head awkwardly.

“Bad question. Nobody knows how to become a Vision. It just happens. Now, why you became a Vision is a different story. I’d guess it had something to do with being just about to die.”

“That’s it?” Linna asked. “Just…poof? There are thousands of people that are about to die every day. They don’t turn into Visions!”

Jasper grunted. “Aye. That’s because they actually die. Can’t be a Vision if you’re dead.”

The gremlin paused for a moment. “Usually, that is,” he amended.

“Interesting. So the criteria for becoming a Vision is thinking you’re about to die but not actually dying?”

“Now you’ve got it! Until it isn’t that is. Sometimes it just happens. Why, I knew an old lady that turned into a Vision because her cat thought her cake looked like its litter-”

“Enough, Jasper,” Ethan said.

Before Linna could respond, they came to a fork in the cave. There was no apparent difference between the two paths. Without breaking his stride, Ethan confidently strode into the right path. Jasper and Linna hurried in after him.

“Do you actually have any idea where we’re going?” Linna asked.

“Yes. I am following the light,” Ethan said, pointing up at the ball that Jasper had created.

“How do you know that the light is taking us in the right direction?” Linna pressed.

“Because I have faith that it is,” Jasper said.

“How will that help?”

Jasper stopped walking and craned his neck to look up at Linna. He squinted at her face, then spat on the ground and shook his head in apparent disgust.

“Do you know anything about Visions?” He asked.

“If I knew much about Visions, I wouldn’t be trying to pry it out of you! They aren’t very open with information about themselves,” Linna snapped.

Jasper raised his hands up and put some distance between himself and the annoyed woman.

“I was just asking. You should try to control that temper of yours. Maybe you’d like a rat? They always help me,” Jasper suggested.

Linna took a deep breath. She took a moment to remind herself that the mood swinging gremlin was also a Vision. The consequences of punting him down the cave would probably outweigh the satisfaction. Probably.

“How about you just tell me about Visions and what faith has to do with them?”

Jasper shrugged. “Sure. Do you know what the title Vision comes from?”

Linna nodded. “Yes, actually. It means-”

“It stems from their singular devotion to some aspect or object,” Jasper said over Linna.

“I knew that. I’ve heard of Visions before, by word of mouth. They can just believe in things and make them happen or something,” she said. “But surely that has limits?”

“Then you should have said so. Doesn’t matter anymore. But the key thing with Visions is their power is completely relative to how much they believe in whatever they follow. You with me?”

Linna wrinkled her nose in thought. “Completely? That’s the only thing their strength depends on?”

Jasper grinned and flipped her off. When he saw Linna’s surprised expression, he glanced down at his hand.

“Oh, my bad. Force of habit,” he said, giving her a thumbs up instead.

“Getting back on topic, would that mean the most powerful Visions are essentially just incredibly devoted fanatics to something?” Linna asked.

Jasper nodded again. “So if a Vision believed in rocks, would he just believe that rocks are the most important thing ever?”

“Exactly,” Jasper said.

“Wouldn’t that mean that just about every powerful Vision is essentially completely insane?”

“Oh, absolutely. Say, is there any rat left in my teeth?” Jasper asked, turning around and presenting Linna with a mouthful of teeth.

“I think you’ve got a bit stuck at the front,” Linna said.

Jasper thanked her and sucked on his teeth to claim what remained of his snack.

The rest of the trip through the caves was uneventful. Ethan, with the assistance of Jasper’s light orb, led the small group out of the cave about an hour later. They emerged at the base of the mountains just as the noon sun begun its descent. Two large stone pillars marked the start of a wide paved road.

“So, you had faith that the orb would lead you out of the cave and it did?” Linna asked.

“Nah, I was shitting you,” Jasper said. “We’ve been in this cave before. But look, there’s Rellen.”

The enormous walls of the city stood tall against the horizon. Even at a distance, Rellen was unbelievably large. The castle at the center of the city was the only visible building, but its spires were tall enough to scrape the clouds as they passed by.

“Doesn’t matter how many times I see it, Rellen is always damn impressive,” Jasper said.

Ethan nodded in silent agreement.

“We’ll be parting ways here,” Ethan said.

“Aye. You’ve been a great hostage, for what it’s worth,” Jasper said with a smirk. “Honestly thought it would have gone a lot worse.”

“We almost got killed by Vodrun,” Linna reminded him.

“Eh. It happens. You’re still alive, so you can’t complain too much,” Jasper said with a shrug as he turned back to look at Rellen. Linna looked down the long road and considered it for a few moments. Then she nodded.

“It can’t be any worse than getting kidnapped by two bandits,” she said with a smirk. “I’ll be needing my pay then.”

Jasper gasped and darted over to Ethan. He pulled one of the packs off the tall man’s shoulders and peered inside of it. He stuck his hand in the bag and shuffled around a bit before letting out a sigh of relief.

“I realized I forgot to check the loot. Ethan occasionally replaces the gold with dead bodies,” Jasper informed Linna.

“Only once,” Ethan said without a hint of a smile. He winked at Linna when Jasper wasn’t watching.

The gremlin pulled the second bag down and rifled through its contents before pronouncing it pure. He glanced up at Linna and sighed. He meticulously went through the bag, muttering under his breath as he ensured Linna didn’t get a cent more than her cut.

He finally pushed a sizable pile of gold coins, jewels, and decorated silverware toward her.

“One third. Exactly as promised,” Jasper said.

Linna pulled a small bag from her coat and shoveled the gold in, slinging it over her shoulder once she was done.

“Thanks for saving my life again,” She told Ethan. “I feel like I got a lot more out of this than you guys did.”

Jasper and Ethan glanced at each other.

“Don’t worry about it. We brought you into our problems,” Ethan said with a grin. “I’m sure we’ll meet again in the future. Visions have a way of running into each other,” He said.

“Go catch your caravan before it leaves! I’m sure they’re terrified for their poor little hostage. And consider hiring a Vision to train you, so you don’t accidentally kill yourself or someone else. Maybe that caravan would be willing to help out,” Jasper said, snickering.

“Right. Thanks for everything…I think,” she said, shifting the bag of gold over her shoulder and starting toward the road.

“Come find us once you’re a Vision! We can rob a caravan together!” Jasper called after her. The two partners watched her walk until she was nothing more than a small dot on the horizon.

After she left, the two bandits sat quietly at the edge of the mountain. The sun slowly made its way through the sky above them. Just as it started the last part of its descent, Jasper slung one of the bags over his shoulder and nodded to Ethan.

“We’ve waited long enough,” Jasper said. “Let’s get moving. We have a schedule to keep.”

Ethan grabbed his pack off the ground and the two of them started down the road toward Rellen.

“What sort of Vision do you reckon she is?” Jasper asked the swordsman as they walked.

Ethan grunted. “Sword, maybe?”

Jasper nodded in agreement. “That’s what I was thinking. But the glow-”

“Just an awakening. Toggle is dead, Jasper.”

“I – yeah. I suppose he is,” the gremlin said quietly.