Trash: Chapter 117 Crystallization (Patreon)

Chapter 117

Crystallization

Jumping into action is a relative term, as objectively speaking one can only move but so fast. Time is relative, and there are times when even moving at your fastest is too slow, and this was one such time.

Just like the slimes in class, I had seen this, or a version of this earlier, where multiple semi-sentient groupings of the same organic structure all awaken and converge as one. Instinctively I felt a twitching of my left hand, the hand that helped to find the right cording so I could make musical notes that were previously impossible to achieve on my own. My body’s automatic response to trying to do something against these writing lumps of dark pooling miasma. Miasma that was now shrieking at decibels that were so loud you could feel your brain vibrating in response. Like that one annoying neighbor who swore they would become the next rockstar if they but pounded their drums louder and shrieked louder into a microphone, playing for a nonexistent crowd.

Remembering that sense of frustration, knowing that my own instrument was soundly in Madame Bloom’s carriage, an act performed by Markon during one of his multiple trips to help us, I noted the issue right from the start. Then I remembered my own response to that annoying neighbor and their constant screams. It was a bit juvenile, but when you are that frustrated, and feel like you can’t think long enough to get out a coherent thought, sometimes the best decisions are the snap decisions. That is why, while dealing with the pounding of psychic screams erupting in my mind, I did the only thing I could, the only thing that made sense. I screamed back.

“FAAHHHH!” I cried out, my instinct going to cursing, but the moment I opened my mouth was the exact moment I remembered why I was forced to switch from singing to playing the violin today in class. The fact that my voice was now a medium for transmitting my Divine Music Resonance Skill. A Skill that apparently does not like harsh consonants, a fact I found when the divine coating of energy that was covering my scream abruptly cut off when I tried to go towards the harsher ‘k’ sounds of the real word I wished to shout out at that time. Instead, I used the release of holy energy as a guide for how I would proceed.

I watched in a state of surprise as my own empowered Divine Music Resonance notes seemed to combat the psychic assault and releasing wisps of miasma that came from the broken shells that had all shattered and awakened at once. The two forces fought for a second, then as if one force met its superior counter, they stopped. Like water dousing flames, or like soap eradicating dirt, the two forces met and then the world went silent.

Well almost silent, for I was still producing my own scream. A scream that produced a golden blanket of sound and holy energy that fell over the crate of five cracking stones. Then proceeded to smother the black mass in a suffocating blanket.

A quick response, one scream, and it was relatively over.

I continued until my lungs emptied of oxygen, and then I inhaled and repeated the process, shaking and moving the box slightly just to make sure I got the entire dark oily ball of slime.

If I thought we were safe after the first response scream, everyone seemed to know we were safe after the second round of treatment, as everyone began moving. Madame Bloom was oddly one of the first to respond, and not in the way I expected at all, especially not as her face was still covered by blood. Blood that had violently poured from her nose a moment ago in response to the cerebral pressure she was facing.

“Stop,” was her one-word response, as she held up a hand in a halting gesture, but then moved closer to the box and peered in. “I need to see something.”

At that I just looked at her like she was crazy. Then a moment later I felt that I was going crazy for what I was now looking at. For there at the heart of the dark slime, I saw the slime slowly being melted away by the layer of holy energy that had coated it, but there was an odd chemical reaction that was happening. At least I assume it was a chemical reaction of some kind, as the layer of holy energy on top seemed to have a resonating response to the now stopped dark tentacle infused shadow slime. A chemical reaction that caused more of the noted smoke to escape out and under the layer of slowly dissolving holy energy, and away from the now solidifying and crystallizing sludge.

With horror, I saw what looked like crystalline shards sparking to life almost instantly. Well not truly instantly, it was one of those subtle instants, one where you are watching noodles get cooked in water, turn your head for a moment and find that they have all melted, that sort of reaction. Here it was much the same, I spent too much time watching the smoke vapors flee and melt seamlessly into the air, that I missed when the crystals started to form.

The crystals created by this method were small at first, barely sticks pointing up, then longer cylindrical shapes began to appear, and finally there were squares and boxes that formed from the cylindrical shafts.

Watching in horror, again my mind went to the events of Saturday morning, where I entered a spirit rift, and subsequently took down monsters that all produced similar shards. Though, those shards were much larger and contained far more energy. By comparison, these would be the equivalent of the wasted materials that we discarded from the rift, if we took all the empty shards and compiled them into one unified mass.

“Is that?” I began, trying to put into words what I was now seeing, what I was remembering from Saturday. As if reading my mind Madame Bloom just nodded her head.

“Yes, it appears that these are the base form needed to create rift shards. While these are inferior quality, the fact that any were formed at all shows just how dangerous these were,” Madame Bloom began, then caught herself as she looked around the street. She looked around and tried to see something, but eventually stopped herself. “Well, are.”

Finally, by this point a few of the city guards came over, “what was that?”

“It appears that these are the anchor stones needed to corrupt an area and eventually convert it to a spirit rift area,” Madame Bloom declared, her voice seemingly hesitant but her words presenting an air of confidence that might make her hesitation harder to catch if you weren’t aware of her typical deliberate cadence. Having been around her so long now, I knew this to be her tone of questioning and doubt, as she was puzzling her way through a puzzle that could only be solved by speaking your way through the puzzle in its entirety.

The two guards nodded, then finally the sergeant that had been interrogating me not too long ago asked, “what would you have us do?”

Hearing the words, Madame Bloom paused, and then reaching down into the box, pulled up the crystalline stone, a wet slurping sound echoing in its removal, as part of it was not quite fully solidified yet.

“Apprentice, coat this side in your resonance as well,” Madame Bloom commented. Hearing that, I just shrugged and did as she ordered.

“FAAAAh,” this time I managed to stay low the entire time, covering each note in a layer of thick divine energy that covered the bottom of the mass and instantly began drying out the odd material, before causing it to crystallize from lack of moisture.

Even though I knew this would be what would happen, it still seemed odd to see the results happen in real time, as jagged crystalline spikes erupted from the bottom and jutted out, creating what almost appeared to be an onyx colored geode, that is if a geode never had a protective shell around it.

We all watched as the crystals formed, what could almost be considered the equivalent of this world’s version of watching paint dry, but this was sadly far more interesting than it had any right to be. Once the last section was dry, Madame Bloom waited a few more minutes, before testing the piece. She tested it first by trying to twist the crystal, only to be stopped after a moderate level of force, then she switched to shaking the entire mass, only to see that it was in fact a single solidified piece of jaggedly formed onyx crystal. Only once she was done did she nod in satisfaction to herself, before handing the crystal over to the Sergeant. The Sergeant, apparently not aware of Madame Bloom’s strength, held out his hands for the crystal that Madame Bloom was waving about easily, only to stop and buckle the way one does when they realize something they are grabbing is twice as heavy as originally anticipated. From there the Sergeant inspected the stone for a moment, before ultimately gently plopping it down into the crate, causing a noticeable thud as it entered.

“You know what this means?” The Seargent finally stammered out, after making sure that none of the crystalline shards broke off from his hard landing.

“Yes, we finally have the missing link between rift formations, crystalline growths, and their seemingly sudden appearances,” Madame Bloom commented.

I just raised an eyebrow at this, as this seemed to be something that was mostly theoretical, which was odd as apparently Madame Bloom had been into countless spirit rifts herself. As such, I assumed it was well known how rifts appeared, but maybe that was not the case here.

“What should we do?” The Sergeant asked.

“Take this to Prince Fiamata, describe what you saw to this point, and that this is the culmination of five?” At the word five, I could hear the lilting intonation of a question directed at me by Madame Bloom. I nodded, that there had only been five marked stones in the box at the time of their awakening. Meaning that somehow those five, despite being melted away managed to create a stone of that size and proportion. “Culmination of five rift shards. Note that this likely means that whoever placed these intended for a rift to form at heart of the shopping district.”

“Gasps!” While what Madame Bloom seemed logical, it still drew a number of shocked out cries from the city guard members around us. I paused looking at Madame Bloom and seeing something in her gaze that made me realize she wasn’t speaking on hypotheticals here.

“You’ve seen this happen before?” I ask.

“Yes, just like at Bloom Park, at least I think that is what happened at Bloom Park, and what I believe would happen here next, had we not stepped in,” Madame Bloom commented. Hearing her words, I could almost hear the pain. The pain of watching something she truly loved rot away and be completely powerless to stop it from happening, despite seeing it rot before your very eyes.

“Take these and let the third Prince know that we will be here until completion,” Madame Bloom commented. Something twisted and rotted in my stomach the moment I internalized the two words until completion. Before then, it had all been a seemingly fun task with a noted end. Only once it was solidified into reality did the true weight of those words sink in, causing me to feel exhausted and simultaneously drained.

“Smithicks, come here!” The Sergeant called out, calling for one of the Sensitive guards to come over. Hearing his name, he ran over at the call of his Sergeant.

“Here,” the soldier, Smithicks, replied.

“Take these—” the Sergeant began but was quickly cut off by Madame Bloom.

“No, sergeant. I said, you,” Madame Bloom clarified, her tone brokering no room for argument.

“Me?”

“Yes, you,” Madame Bloom replied.

“Why me?” The Sergeant asked, a note of pain in his voice.

“Because my Apprentice doesn’t like you that much,” Madame Bloom begins, throwing me under the bus before I even knew one was coming.

“What?” The Sergeant and I reply in near unison, him out of questioning the order, me out of wondering why I was being made the scapegoat here.

“I don’t like you much either, you need to rethink your way of interacting with people and not assume that everyone you meet is automatically guilty of a crime,” Madame Bloom commented. Hearing her response, I felt a bit of pride at her statement, as she was clearly standing up for me, even if it seemed like it was in an awkward way. At her comment, I could see the Sergeant’s face go through a myriad of emotions, from anger, to shame, and finally to reluctant acceptance.

“As you wish,” the Sergeant finally commented, grabbing the crate with the shadow crystal and getting ready to leave. As he left, Madame Bloom still in charge, began barking orders.

“Smithicks was it?” Madame Bloom asked. At which time the sensitive that had come over apparently to carry the box just nodded. “Good, I need you to get us more crates for individual storage, as we are going to be testing multiple methods for removing the remaining rift shards.”

“Rift Shards?” Smithicks asked.

“Yes, that is the preliminary name that I am assigning to these stones that my Apprentice here can identify, mark, and neutralize,” Madame Bloom called out, giving me a lot of praise that oddly felt good to hear.

“Affirmative, I’ll get on it right away,” Smithicks replied while rendering a salute, before pivoting away and beginning to frantically look for the requested supplies.

With Smithicks now gone, Madame Bloom turned her attention back to me, “now then we are going to have to take our time and try multiple extraction methods.”

Hearing her words, I realized this was the stick portion of her words that explained the seemingly nice carrot of recognition I had just received. Once again, I felt myself groaning, as my mind kept replaying two words that perfectly summarized the amount of pain this impending task would create. Those words of course being the seemingly innocuous, until completion that had been uttered by Madame Bloom earlier. Though this time, it wasn’t just based on time, but now we were going to mess with the process and add layers and extra tasks to this whole event.

“First, I want you to—” Madame Bloom began, and I could tell this until completion would be long, boring, and painful.