Isekai-eh Chapter-52 (Patreon)

They arrived to silence.

Other than the low rumble of the warp-stallion, Granite Hills laid silent as they rolled along the single central waterway.

Jed had to fight to keep his food down. Nothing he’d ever seen had prepared him for…

Instead of an armored garrison of disciplined soldiers laying claim to the town, the black carapaced bodies of the Imperial Guard laid next to the unarmored forms of miners and other citizens. Few of the former were intact, few of the latter visibly injured.

Had the miners somehow brought the Guard down with them?

It was too much to process. Almost unreal.

He brought the warp-stallion to a stop outside the makeshift-hospital he’d taken for a restaurant. Unfortunately, that was where they found two faces who made it all too real.

Killim and Teliya.

They were together, just outside. Killim was leaned up against the side, Teliya cradled in his lap.

His eyes were open, hers closed.

Jed hadn’t even known he’d gotten off the warp-stallion until after he was kneeling next to them. He reached out, closing the boy’s eyes. Then he said a few words, though they were little more than noise to his ears.

It felt like everything was buzzing.

They’d just risked everything to save these people. They’d even arranged for new management. And then this…

Jed pushed to his feet, eyes falling on something he failed to process for a second. Then the mangled form of Cella resolved itself. The dead Imperial Guards suddenly made a horrific sense.

If Cella was there…

Vaguely, Jed could hear Gwen calling his name behind him. That stopped when she noticed what he had, a gasp escaping her.

“Metsa,” he found himself yelling out. “Sotas!”

A half-second later, Gwen’s voice joined his.

For a seemingly infinite minute they stumbled down the street towards the mine before they found someone still breathing.

Sotas was sitting just inside a shattered hole in the ground, his great shoulders heaving. His cheeks were covered in trails of tears. In his arms was cradled Metsa’s still form.

“No…” Jed said, staring down at the fierce woman who’d taken him under her wing, who’d given so much for him.

She seemed so small and frail. One of her legs was missing, though it didn’t seem to be bleeding.

“She can be saved.”

Mythlyn’s voice was… different. Jed didn’t know why, but he could hear it, feel it across his skin. There was something making her more… solid.

“How?” Jed asked.

“A sacrifice may yet restore her.”

“This, I will do,” Sotas said, looking up and over Jed’s shoulder. Straight at the archangel as she manifested in a glorious blaze of purple-black warp-fire. “I will give for her.”

“It is not you who must sacrifice.”

“Who?” Jed asked, not able to pull his gaze away from Metsa. It was so wrong for such a fierce woman to lie so still.

“You know the answer. She is a demon hunter. One who has no warp to draw upon. It is not her wounds that kill her. It is a lack of energy.”

“Oh,” Jed said, finally turning to stare at Mythlyn as she spread her wings wide, far more warp-fire than usual flowing up and down her wings.

“If you ask it of me, I will-”

“Wait, so you just need concentrated warp? That’s it?” Gwen interrupted, gesturing towards Jed’s chest then her own. “Like the stuff we used for these?”

“Huh? Oh. Oh!” Jed yelled, shaking Gwen’s shoulders. “You’re a genius. Sotas, bring Metsa, this way!” Jed shouted, already sprinting across the ground towards the mine, leaving Mythlyn standing there with her hand raised, purple-black warp-fire pouring off her, staring after them blankly.

He’d apologize for ruining her big dramatic moment later. For now, he had someone to save. Jed barely made it three steps before he was slung over the large man’s shoulder.

“There, left,” Jed barely managed to get out before the large man passed the side tunnel leading to the cybernetics workshop.

With inhuman grace, Sotas changed directions, his next several steps going up along the wall before he dropped back down. Then he broke through into the lab, which had opened up for Jed as he’d scrambled at his chest, disabling the security.

The warp-fire display was visible for anyone who wanted to see it as Sotas hesitated.

“Down, table, there,” Jed said, pointing to the far end of the cybernetics foundry.

He’d barely gotten the words out before Sotas was moving. And he’d barely recovered from that by the time Sotas was setting Metsa on the table.

Swiping through his interface, Jed moved quickly, unable to ignore Metsa’s status flashing past. The ink that fueled the inscribing process. It was loaded with warp-energy, refined from rare demons.

There was enough for two markings. Or one marking for a very warp deprived woman.

Jed barely stumbled through the math, entering what the table needed. He’d worked through the basics earlier. He’d been hoping to bring Metsa and Sotas here after they’d had their reunion in Seven Falls.

Just… not like this.

“Okay,” Jed said as he hit confirm, the little cyan circle on his chest pulsing visibly as the process started. The word stabilizing appeared. Then something he hadn’t expected happened.

The table started drawing in warp directly, feeding it to Metsa. Then it retrieved a cybernetic limb, fitting it in place. All part of the preparation process, apparently. Just normalizing her. Saving her life as part of the standard pre-op.

It made Jed want to cry. So he did.

Almost a minute passed, during which Mythlyn and Gwen arrived. Gwen took his right hand, pulling him into a side hug while Mythlyn linked her fingers on the left.

None of them spoke.

Not when Metsa’s status flashed blue, the word ‘stabilized’ appearing in the ancient Architect language.

Not when Metsa twitched on the table as the arms swung into place, proceeding with their grisly work.

And not when Metsa screamed.

It took fifteen minutes longer than it had with Gwen. For an even greater eternity than when he’d stepped across galaxies, he waited as those minutes passed.

Finally, the arms finished, and crimson warp-fire words sprang into the air over her chest.

A ragged cough tore free from Metsa’s throat and she shifted onto her side. Sotas was there in the time it took Jed to blink, kneeling by her side as he took her hand, pressing his head against Metsa’s.

“That- urk… that bad huh?” Metsa asked, eyes unfocused. “Think I might’ve hit my head.”

“You are alive.”

“There was some doubt there, yeah,” Metsa said, pulling the big man closer. “Sorry to scare you. Though I don’t…”

“You are alive. And Jed. He has saved us,” Sotas said, eyes still locked on his partner. “Saved us, my love, my heart.”

“Told you taking the kid in was the right call,” Metsa said, chuckling roughly. “So, I know my head’s a bit messed up but are you seeing floating red words too?”

…Isekai-eh…

Metsa had to admit, she had not seen this one coming.

Her. A Written.

Compared to that, the cybernetic leg that’d been added during the procedure hardly mattered. She’d always figured she’d lose a limb eventually. That it had taken this long was the only surprising part about that.

“I’m too old for this shit,” Metsa grumbled as she shoveled down a mouthful of stew. They were camped out inside the cybernetics foundry, since apparently it was one of the only places not covered in blood and guts. Not even hers, despite the surgery that’d apparently been performed there.

At some the dropship had left. She thought she might’ve remembered that part, but it still surprised her.

She’d won. She’d taken on a battalion of Imperial Guard, and they were the ones who’d tucked their tails and ran.

Some days she thought she might just deserve to be a living legend.

The others had thrown around theories as to why the Guard had run, but Metsa figured the important part was that they might have left, but that wouldn’t stop another from following.

They had to get moving. Even she didn’t want to do that again.

Her eyes moved to where Sotas was undergoing the same procedure she’d just gone through. Not to save his life, but to enhance it.

The kid looked different. Wasn’t just the scruffy beard or haunted look in his eyes. Carried himself different. More confidence.

At least it hadn’t been all bad then.

“You really killed most of them on your own?” Gwen asked as she sat down beside Metsa.

Metsa was impressed she’d waited this long. It was clear the girl had been bursting with questions since she’d woken up. “Really did.”

“No wonder they call you the Huntress Carnaga,” Gwen said, shaking her head. “And that was with no preparation, back against the wall. Legendary.”

“Legends suck,” Metsa said, poking Gwen in the side. “They miss all the important bits. The nights spent side by side with your partner, laying beneath the stars. Or beneath the sheets.”

Gwen blushed, but nodded.

Good. Least they’d finally gotten that figured out. “Most important part. Legends don’t get to go home.”

Gwen raised an eyebrow, looking at Metsa. Metsa chuckled, shaking her head. “Didn’t you hear? Our home got thrashed.”

“We did hear, actually. Sorry,” Gwen said, reaching up and squeezing Metsa’s shoulder.

“Kid, did you just apologize to me for something a bunch of marshals too high on their own shit to smell their doom did?” Metsa asked, scoop of stew hovering just in front of her mouth as she arched her eyebrow.

“Not a ‘my bad’ sorry,” Gwen said, shaking her head. “Same thing I told Jed. Not our fault bad people do bad things. Still, sucks you lost it.”

Metsa nodded, taking her time to enjoy her stew.

She needed to have a talk with her skyfaller friend about their future.

And about all his missed training.

…Isekai-eh…

With Metsa safe, the rest of the disaster came home to roost.

It was, in a very twisted way, good that Metsa had nearly died. Not that Jed had appreciated it at the time.

But it had forced him to act, pushing the horror back. Given him time to adjust, to process.

“Never really gets easier,” Gwen said as they moved through one of the back streets, avoiding the worst of the violence.

Even so, no part of the small town was completely intact. Sotas and Metsa hadn’t been gentle even before she’d gone full… whatever it was she’d done.

Huntress Carnaga, as if that even meant anything.

“I think it does,” Jed said, bile rising in his throat as much at the thought as what was around them. “First time I saw it, I basically shut down for a week. And that was just a recording. First time I encountered it in person… well, Metsa and Sotas saved me from seeing the worst of it, but it was easier. Still, much as it unsettles my stomach…” Jed shook his head. “It’s still unpleasant, but easier? Yeah. Unfortunately.”

“I… yeah,” Gwen said, taking his hand. “Don’t think it’s supposed to though.”

“It is a normal mechanism of the human mind. To grow used to a stimulus. If you do not process it, simply suppressing the memory, then it will strike just as hard the next time. Often it will compound. It is why difficult problems are best confronted,” Mythlyn said from nearby where she was reducing one of the Imperial Guard to ashes. Not his armor, clothes or weapon. Just the man inside.

Or what passed for a man. The face of the Imperial Guards were all identical, with little more than a slit for the mouth, nose and ears. Only the eyes looked even vaguely human, though they were larger.

It was more than a little disconcerting.

“Confronted? This? The battle’s over,” Gwen said, gesturing towards the main street.

“Is it?” Mythlyn asked, stepping forward, meeting Gwen’s gaze. “The Imperial Guard are a weapon of Terror as much as force. This now, is a battle for our minds. I know precisely how dangerous a battle that takes place solely within our minds can be. And, my friend, I would hope you do not attempt to fight such a battle without us by your side. It was not until I had an ally, that I was able to start making progress in mine.”

Gwen nodded, wiping at her face.

After both Jed and Mythlyn hugged Gwen, they continued escorting Mythlyn about the city on her grisly task, as she sent the departed on their way, one fallen soul at a time.

The archangel of death ferrying the dead onward.