Chapter Four-Hundred Forty-Nine (Patreon)

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Harbinger

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So many minds.  So many noises to silence.  Biding time in the refuge of the Unseen was grating.  The four of them were able to achieve blissful stillness there, but the sounds of the noise carries far.

And now, finally, it can play its role in silencing them!  Its fellows split off to other locations, and the Unseen to its own mission, itself having received the honor of silencing the largest cacophony.  And it feels it has the perfect place to start.

It may not be the loudest congregation of noise, but it is one that is uniquely grating.  It is not one of the Master’s first, in fact, it’s among the newest, yet it was impressed upon itself that there is one that chained the Master, forging and laying a clever trap that Master even now must work around.  And here, among all the din, is a chorus that dares make their noise in harmony with it.  The noise is slightly different, but close enough to ensure the Harbinger praise for silencing it.

Silencing them will be especially gratifying… if slightly more difficult.  Even with the Unseen’s skill, the harbinger cannot slip out of a shadow within the compound itself.  But there is plenty of room to manifest on the other side of the walls.  And though it could certainly burst through a wall, why bother when there is a wide door, guarded only by a noise that is already starting to sputter and fade.

It is a mercy to silence that one.

The Harbinger materializes out of the shadows in an alleyway, and charges the door with a shriek that grates on more than just the ears.  The one at the door tries to react, but surprise and age rob it of the ability to stop the Harbinger.  One noise silenced, so many more to come.

Inside, the few noises there vanish through other doors, crying alarm before the Harbinger can silence them.  It lashes out at both, but only strikes one, and even that is deflected by a shield that hums in maddening frequency.  It needs to give chase, but which to follow?

Perhaps it doesn’t even need to follow.  The noise will gather other noise, and bring them to the Harbinger.  Can it silence so many at once?  Ordinarily, it would be confident, but for the attack to be deflected… perhaps caution is in order.  It should seek out the scattered noises before dealing with the full chorus.

It surges toward the one it hit, hoping to catch it before it can recover, only to feel the mind seem to split into five perfect duplicates?  Four flee in different directions, while one crawls away slowly.  Many of the Harbinger’s mouths frown before it lashes at the one crawling, snuffing the mind and silencing the noise, but the other sources continue to flee.

Not the true noise, then.  Frustrating.  Worse, the other noises are quickly congregating, fleeing behind barriers and fortifications, gathering in areas to allow them to properly group up to attack the Harbinger.  It grins at the idea, its form flooding through the halls toward the courtyard, where it senses many minds gathered, many painful notes building a grating harmony.

Perfect.  It will disrupt them and silence them, and the others will despair that their defenders were so soundly and simply overcome.  It bursts into the open space, seeing a dozen aligned against it, a wide variety of noises to contend with.  One steps forward and screeches its note, the mana agitating at its command.  Another maneuvers to try to box in the Harbinger, shield and sword trying to push it back as the mana harmonizes with the first.  The Harbinger bides its time, allowing the others to think they have the advantage, their mana reverberating enough to rattle its many teeth.  It lets them drive it into a corner, giving them the confidence to add to the chorus. But there it finally is: the moment to strike.  It lashes out at the mana, pulling one small piece of the noise out of tune, and disrupting the entire work.

The harmony collapses and the noises look on in horror as the nearest are snared, their minds snuffed, and their forms consumed.  It laughs in glee as it prepares to finish the rest… but something is off.

More illusions!  To be able to imitate harmony like that is impressive, but the taste of the morsels is off.  It snarls and lashes out, snuffing the fake minds and dispelling the illusions.  But one is no illusion.  A small one that grins instead of faltering, its shield blocking the simple attack.

The Harbinger doesn’t give it a chance to speak, instead lashing out with maw and mind to crush the small nuisance!  But it is not so easily brushed aside.  It blocks and dodges, duplicates splitting off with each movement as if it can somehow make every move in battle at once!

The Harbinger strikes down many of the illusions, but it seems like there’s two remaining for each!  It needs to find the illusionist, but that is proving to not be a simple task.  Each duplicate moves correctly, breathes correctly, even thinks correctly!  To control so many, it would need to concentrate, and the Harbinger should be able to sense that.  But it can suppress itself, somehow.

It needs to do something else.  A stalemate is in the noise’s favor, giving it time for its allies to prepare, or time for it to find a weakness to exploit.

Can it simply leave?  While it distrusts its idea of the exits to the courtyard, it is certain it can force its way through a wall and find the limit of the illusionist’s influence.  It hasn’t attacked yet, either, merely defended and presented a tempting target.

It can be dealt with later.  The other minds are difficult to pinpoint now, but it is confident it can track them down once it gets away from the troublesome noise.  It surges away from the illusions, mouths open to rend whatever it comes in contact with, its mind focused on overcoming whatever trickery may be thrown at it.

The illusions look surprised at its retreat, before they vanish and the single noise is revealed.  The Harbinger doesn’t change its course, though.  The noise is more trouble than it’s worth, so it will seek easier sport with the other minds.  It hits a wall and start tearing, even as it feels the mana around the noise roil with its intent.

Let it try.  The Harbinger is ready to see through the tricks now.

“Synethesia!”

It can taste the bitterness of its own screech and see itself involuntarily curling up as its senses suddenly go haywire.  It can hear the texture of the ground beneath it, feel the sudden rumble of thunder grating against its surface, and smell the relieved sigh of the noise as something weighty appears.

It lashes out, the discordance of its senses making it impossible to tell if it even manages an attack, let alone hits with it.  A harsh gust of wind tastes blue as it tries to defend itself, a bolt of lightning making it see the sourness of pain.  It tries to focus, clearing its own mind and cutting off its own senses for a moment.  One beautiful moment of silence.  It opens an eye and hears more attacks coming, needing a moment to finally mentally filter out the insidious illusion.  Eyes are for seeing, not hearing.  It never thought to defend against the wrong sensations being forced into the wrong sense, but it also never had to fight an illusionist like this one.

When it finally restores its sense of pain, its mouths whimper at the damage it had to endure.  It feels down suddenly shift, and rapidly moves to suppress that afflicted sense as well, only to see it’s no illusion.  Down is now within its center, and its weakened form is powerless to resist, even as a bit of up is introduced to make it float before a winged serpent.

A Conduit.

It tries to lash out mentally, but its defenses are formidable.  It could have perhaps broken through if it was in its prime, but it is anything but at the moment.  It lets itself be carried, trying to recover itself.  It doesn’t know why the Conduit doesn’t destroy it, but it’s obvious it has no intentions of killing it.

Yet.

It also has no intentions of letting the Harbinger free, but perhaps it still has some hope.  The Conduit takes it through the air, toward the Sanctuary.  It can feel the two other Harbingers in similar situations as itself, and though they appear to have also been defeated, it feels nothing of the Unseen.

It must still be biding its time!  Perhaps it will pull them through the shadows to assail the core?  It does its best to hide its glee at the idea, hoping the Conduit cannot sense its mind.  The Unseen will make its move, the Harbingers will escape, and the sanctuary will be silenced.

As all things should be.