I have a new respect for mid ranking bureaucrats. At least the ones who want to do their job. It is the position I hold, my Visionary Chronicler lets me both inspect the characteristics of anything I look at and also remember it perfectly. It was also why I was used as a glorified lie detector when working with the ‘government official.’
Titus had me inspect every document that was written. Nine out of eleven came back with ‘ Notice: An agreement founded upon deceit has been placed before you.’ In the end the government man finally buckled and told the truth after Titus pointed a twelve gauge at him. Our government friend turned out to be the treasurer from some department in Denver. He was trying to strong arm people into helping retake the city from a trio of warehouse sized monsters.
Day 31, Owen Landers
Silas learned something over the following two days. His understanding of physics was flawed, that and he wouldn’t be a good science tutor. Melting stone turned out to be more difficult than he had assumed. Sure, tossing a rock into a fire, then ramping up the heat by nine times worked, but the melting point of stone was well over two thousand degrees, a number that they blew past accidentally. Campfires were somewhere in the ballpark of five or six hundred degrees, so they could melt the rock by tripling that twice.
Five thousand four hundred degrees was insane, it was also hotter than any container could withstand. Fortunately, the mother and daughter seemed to be mostly immune to heat now. At least when it came to heat they created.
Silas sighed, “I have no idea how to use this.”
Bella nodded. She was standing beside Silas watching her daughter splash around in a lava puddle, “Honey, make sure not to get any on your clothes,” Samantha’s dignity saved, she turned her attention back to Silas, “I don’t know either. Though, we should be able to make glass out of sand, that could work to make the lenses you wanted.”
He had tried everything he could think of to concentrate heat, but his everything amounted to making a focusing lens to focus sunlight. An idea that never got off the ground for obvious reasons. That and the glass wasn’t naturally clear, at least not when it was melted down in such a crude manner.
Samantha coated her body in the solidified air, then flopped into the lava. Bella jumped forward to save her. It took a while to adapt to the new capabilities they possessed.
“Its, Ok,” Samantha smiled up at her mom, “I protected my clothes.”
Silas knew there was a way to use this, he was just not able to think of it. Likely he was too focused on liquid stone. What else did he have, water, animal parts? Neither seemed like good weapon choices. His big issue was they needed to be touching an object for an ability to work on it. Both of them were fragile enough that rubber monkeys were a substantial threat to them.
“We need to change our approach,” Silas said.
Bella looked up at him, “What do you mean?”
“Your sigils have a standard setting and a greater one. We need to get all of them to that second level. It should give us substantially more options if we can get them working,” Silas answered. Just because bone crafter was being difficult to work with didn’t mean that all greater sigils were problematic to use.
Bella nodded, “You also mentioned that we could increase our abilities through hard work?”
Silas nodded, “Yes, you can do it through pushing your sigils to their limits. Kind of like working out, but with glowing rocks we got from purifying monsters instead of muscles. I don’t know which actions will yield what results for you, so I guess experiment with it. We can take a month or two to experiment.”
Bella’s face went pale, “A month or two? I thought we would be gone by then.”
“No, I want to make it home, not die in the attempt,” Silas answered, “That means not taking any path that leads to certain death.”
Silas started breaking down how he believed their sigils could work. Making something as hot as possible for as long as possible was one way, but so was making only a part of something hot. Melting different objects and making different things with the heat, from sculptures to food would likely yield results eventually.
For sturdy gatherer, Bella could join him. Putting on some muscle would definitely count as extra mass. Samantha could work on making her solid air form in different shapes. For instance, claws made of the transparent material could be useful.
Bella took a few moments to process the fact she would likely be here for up to a year if everything went well. She finally nodded and mutely went to go pull her daughter from the rapidly congealing puddle. Silas sighed, he was not good with people he didn’t know. He liked to think of himself as the leader of this little group, but he wasn’t good at leading.
His father was a police chief. He had retired as soon as Silas’s younger brother had moved out, but people still called him for advice. Silas’s father had been a rock in the community, everyone followed him because they knew they could rely on him. He didn’t think he possessed his father’s genuine care for others, Silas was too focused on his goal.
Shaking his head, Silas pushed the distracting thoughts aside. He would live or die fighting. The first thing he needed to do was repair his armor and make both girls a set for themselves. He wasn’t able to be everywhere at once and a bit of insurance could go a long ways. He also needed to resharpen his sword, which was easier said than done, the metal was freakishly hard.
Silas felt a bit awkward when he needed to get Bella’s measurements, however she didn’t seem to care. Samantha was excited and started asking for different designs from flowers to thorny spikes. It was a bit much, but Silas had the excess bone to make it to her specifications. Bella did not care about how it looked, she just wanted it to work and also for hers to be made second.
He got to work. It all started well, the bulk of the bone was plastered to the girl’s body with little issue. The problems started when he attempted to cut away the excess material to make it light enough for the ten year old to move around in.
“No, I need giant shoulder shoulder pads. Like Sir Richard from Unicorn Squire,” Samantha said, “It has fire on it and looks cool. He’s secretly a bad guy, but he wants to be a good guy. Madam Crow captured his mom.”
Silas tried to process what he could only assume to be some kind of television show, “Uh, no, you can’t have giant pauldrons. You don’t have super strength.”
She looked up from the rock she was lying on, “I have super armor, so why can’t I have cool armor too?”
“Can you move in your super armor?” Silas asked. That was quite literally the first thing he had tested.
“No, it doesn’t get bendy,” Samantha said dejectedly.
“Thats right, though I should still be able to attempt a flame design,” Silas said.
It was a foolish statement. He had assumed that Sir Richard’s fire was two dimensional. No, it was three dimensional and spiky. Silas only agreed because a spiky ten year old was genuinely more difficult to digest. It had nothing to do with her wide eyed pleading expression, not at all.
Fire was not something he had ever modeled before, so he spent two days getting it down. He took breaks to hollow out their cave and work out, but he didn’t need nearly as much sleep as the other two. Silas would put the extra thirty or forty hours a week he had to good use. At the end of the second day he had the pauldrons made to Samantha’s exacting standards.
That was also the day their makeshift home was completed. It wasn’t pretty, but it would keep them safe. There was a tunnel only three feet tall at the entrance that expanded to a seven foot tall room with a ten foot diameter. Three hollows were cut into the walls that would be adapted into beds once Silas found some fresh pelts. He was surprised at the rapid progress, until he saw the unnaturally smooth interior.
“You melted this out?” Silas said a bit incredulously.
Bella nodded, “I was thinking about how we made lava, and the fact that we can touch anything we participate in heating. We piled in some of the dry body parts and lit them on fire. It was gross, but I hate that Sammy has to sleep in that rickety hole. Anyway, I turned it into an oven, then melted and scooped out the stone.”
She showed her hands, which had unhealed burns covering them, “It turns out that the stone wasn’t considered to be heated by me until after I interacted with it. Its strange that melted stone is safe, but not if it is heated in natural ways.”
It was one of the many things that Silas had questions about. However there was something a bit more important, “did you get any sigil upgrades?”
Bella paused for a moment, like she was considering not telling the truth. Silas felt a bit hurt that she didn’t trust him yet. Finally she nodded, “Yes, I got a point in focus. The reason was for pushing through pain.“
Once again she showed her burned hands. Silas grimaced, he had not considered how long it would take either of them to recover from injuries. Those burns would only take a day or two two heal if he had them whereas, Bella would be crippled for a few weeks at least. Well, not crippled, but not able to fight.
“Make sure to heal well,” Silas said, “I know that sounds like a stupid thing to say, but you can’t just get hurt like this and ignore the consequences in the same way I can.”
Bella paused for a moment, then nodded slowly, “So long as it doesn’t harm Samantha.”
“I know it’s stressful to be here. However, its not hopeless. The dragonkin have an open portal, all we need to do is overpower them and use it. That point in focus is the first step to getting there. Get more of every stat, get greater sigils, and then go home,” Silas tried his best to sound comforting.
From the look on Bella’s face, he assumed that he had failed. She leaned back against the wall, where she slid to the floor “I don’t have a home to go home to. I can’t even mourn because Sammy needs to me to be steady. So what if I get hurt or crippled, all that matters is that Sammy is alive.”
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Silas didn’t have a response to that. If Abby wasn’t waiting on earth, he would have likely given up on returning. Maybe he would have turned into some kind of cave man. Maybe he would have just laid down and died. Silas was not inclined to put Samantha in danger, however he reaffirmed his goal of keeping her out of harms way.
They were interrupted by a scream. Both of their heads whipped to the entry way. Silas was the first to start moving. He ducked through the entry hole and scrambled outside. He berated himself for leaving the girl unattended outside. Getting to his feet, he found Samantha on her back with a dragonkin attempting to shove a bone spear through her chest.
Fortunately, the solid air armor Samantha could make was ridiculously durable. Silas didn’t hesitate, he charged the dragonkin. Fortunately, he made a habit of always wearing armor. His normal clothes were full of holes and no longer decent, so it wasn’t as if he had a choice.
The dragonkin growled as it caught sight of Silas. Fire filled its throat, but it was a bit too slow. Silas tackled the monster off the top of Samantha. The fireball hit Silas at point blank range, he ducked his head, so that his helmet would protect his eyes. Fire still burned the rest of his body, scorching the gaps in his plate.
Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Silas berated himself. He had even considered that the dragonkin would eventually find him. The water had caused other creatures to steer clear, he had just assumed that the dragonkin would be equally deterred.
“Samantha, run, close the door behind you,” Silas yelled. If she could make it to the cave, Bella could protect her. She wasn’t trained to fight, but the low entrance would make it difficult for the dragonkin to protect themselves.
The dragonkin punched Silas in the cheek. His helmet muted the impact. They rolled a few times, both of them attempting to stay on top. Silas gave a few strikes and received more. The tail was Silas’s largest problem. He had not considered the nuances of wrestling an opponent with a fifth limb.
Eventually, the extra appendage allowed the dragonkin to straddle Silas. It roared in victory before throwing punches. The roar was immediately converted to a yelp of pain when its scaled knuckles struck the razor sharp blades protruding from Silas’s bracers. He had completely forgotten about those.
Taking advantage of the dragonkin’s pain, Silas grabbed it with both hands. One wrapped around the ridge of its natural bone chest armor while the other grabbed the opposite wrist. He bucked his hips and twisted. This movement worked beautifully on humans, but the tail stopped Silas from completely flipping the monster over.
It did allow him to get closer to its face. More importantly, he was able to drag his forearm across its throat. The screeching was abruptly cut off as its vocal cords were chopped. Silas was pretty sure the injury was lethal, but he couldn’t be sure. It did let him disengage and regain his feet.
Now that he was free, he looked around to get his bearings. When he had seen Samantha getting beaten, he hadn’t really thought he simply acted. So it came as a surprise when a femur smashed into his chest. Silas staggered back. The second dragonkin did not give him time to regain his balance.
It was at this moment that Silas started panicking. He had only seen two of them. It was a formation that he was becoming uncomfortably familiar with. Two acolytes and a hidden fighter. Silas blocked the follow up strike with his bracer. Adding the extra protection had been a wise idea.
Growling in frustration, Silas balled his fist and punched the dragonkin in the gut. The bone armor was similar to Silas’s, and he did no damage. A clawed hand raked across his helmet, a few of the fingers landing inside the open faced helm. Nothing vital was hit, but the sharp nails cut through his cheek, down to the bone, causing a substantial amount of pain.
Silas tossed his training out the window. That had hurt, and he was angry. The dragonkin had leaned into that claw swipe, and Silas punished it for the attempt. He reached out and grabbed both horns on either side of its head. Then he twisted and pivoted. The handles gave Silas quite a bit of leverage, but they also tied up his arms.
Several strikes hit his armor, doing little. These acolytes lacked the raw strength that the fighters had. He tossed the dragonkin to the ground before stomping on its knee. There was a crack as it was flexed in the wrong direction. Silas jumped back to avoid a tail swipe, the dragonkin incorrectly assumed Silas would jump back in and swiped its claws through the space he would have occupied.
“Almost got me,” Silas muttered. Those claws would have seriously injured him.
He had no intention of tangling with a second dragonkin today. So he scooped up a large stone, hefted it over his head, and smashed it down on the dragonkin’s other leg. It shrieked in pain, but Silas did not let up. He would feel pity when he attacked them, but they had initiated this time. They had tried to kill Samantha and would have succeeded if she hadn’t had that armor.
Silas grabbed a second stone and crushed the dragonkin’s legs. If he had had his sword, he would have killed and purified them. As it was, he would rather immobilize them quickly then go find the fighter. Silas was not at all confident in handling a creature that was able to outbox a werewolf, but he would need to find a way.
A scream tore his attention from the crippled dragonkin. He whipped around, swinging a haymaker into the monster Bella was warning him about. Only his fist hit nothing, Bella wasn’t warning him, and the fighter completely ignored him. It was instead attempting to force its way into the shelter.
Silas smashed the leg of the first dragonkin before turning and rushing to his workbench. Just because he didn’t have a sword didn’t mean he couldn’t do some damage. He scooped up his hammer and rushed to help crush a dragonkin.
~Arabella~
Silas shot off like an arrow. Bella hardly had time to make it to the door before Silas had tackled the first monster. The scaly creatures he called dragonkin were here. Her heart lurched as she watched a terrified Sammy stagger to her feet. The second one was about to give chase when Silas slit the first’s throat and stood.
Deciding to face the bigger threat, the second turned to strike Silas. Bella felt guilty for thinking it, but she would sacrifice Silas a hundred times over to keep Sammy safe. Her daughter was a few steps from the entrance when something landed behind her. She dove for the hole and was just a bit too slow.
The monster grabbed a leg in one of its clawed hands. Bella grabbed Sammy’s arms, and for a brief moment, their eyes met. Glowing red malice met terrified green ones. Then they both pulled.
“Don’t let go mom, Don’t let go mom,” Sammy cried as she was stretched.
Something popped, and Sammy screamed as her shoulder was dislocated. Bella gritted her teeth and placed both feet on either side of the narrow entrance. She would not let her daughter die. Then something tore.
Jeans were tough, but for the first time, Bella was glad that torn knees were in style. The monster lost its grip as the lower leg of the denim slid off along with Sammy’s shoe. Both of them slid to the back of the shelter as the resistance on Bella’s legs vanished. Something similar happened to the monster as it staggered back, looking at the shoe and ragged cloth in its hand with confusion.
It tossed aside the articles of clothing and made a noise that was suspiciously similar to laughter. Rage filled Bella. She wanted to rip its throat out for touching Sammy. Unfortunately, there was a world of difference between desire and capability.
Bella didn’t stay prone. She got to her feet, anger fueling her, and moved to their makeshift door. Bracing her back against the wall, she used a foot to shove the rock in front of the entrance. It was a heavy piece of stone, but she could manage.
“What about Silas?” Sammy cried out.
“He will have to find a way to survive,” Bella grunted as the rock slid into place.
It did not stay put for long. The stone that took most of the power her body could generate to move was shoved aside by a single clawed hand. It was an awkward angle for the monster, it was part of the reason they had designed the hideout this way. Bella looked around for something she could use and blinked when her gaze landed on a sword leaning on the wall.
She scooped it up, staggering to the side under its unexpected weight, then brought it down on the monster’s wrist. It was not an impressive blow, but weapons were made to be force multipliers. Several of the smaller bones in the wrist were shorn through before bringing the blade to a halt. The arm jerked back like it had touched a hot stove, dramatically worsening the injury.
Take that, you bastard, Bella thought. It gave her an inordinate amount of pleasure to harm this creature. She didn’t believe that she was a sadist, but her world died a bit over a week ago, so she would forgive herself a bit of insanity.
“Mom! Get out of the way!” Sammy scrambled up into one of the cubbies by the door.
She had been lying on the floor and, as such, had a clear view of the dragonkin’s glowing throat. Bella had substantially less time to react. She jumped to the door stone and curled up behind it. She was just in time as napalm like flames blasted into the room. They splattered over the stone and far wall, sparing Sammy. Bella avoided the worst of it as well, though she had nowhere to go.
The room was on fire, and the temperature started rising. Bella cursed whoever designed the sigils. Why did a heat creation sigil only make her resistant to her own heat? This fire was still dangerous to her.
A head tentatively peeked inside. Bella tried to stab it in the eye. Unfortunately, the mantis blade was too heavy to aim straight. Her arm drooped, and gravity brought the tip to the dirt. The dragonkin scoffed, reaching in it attempted to grab the weapon by the blade. Bella jerked back, sliding the weapon through the monster's hand, nearly severing a finger.
Her shoulders burned, even from this small amount of action. She knew that a week was not long enough to pack on any muscle, but she still wished she had joined Silas in his exercise sessions. Working out for six hours a day was ridiculous, but she should be able to manage one or two. Maybe then this sword wouldn’t be so difficult to hold.
Sammy started coughing. Bella frowned, only now realizing that smoke was filling up this little room. The dragonkin wouldn’t need to do anything except lob fire through the door until they asphyxiated.
“Sammy, get on the floor behind me,” Bella said. Even as she said it, she knew it was a death sentence.
There was enough space behind the stone for one of them to crouch. If another fireball came in, Bella would be unable to dodge. Was she ready to die? It was a thought she had bandied about, but now that she was in the situation, the gravity was different. Surprisingly, the answer didn’t change, she was willing, even hoping to die. Only Sammy was keeping her here.
Her daughter jumped from the stone alcove and landed in the triangle that was free of flames. She hunkered down, below the smoke level, completely safe for the moment. Sammy would be fine, she had to be.
The dragonkin was not content to simply let them cook. It had been injured by frail, squishy creatures. Animals that hid away like vermin in holes. It threw another blast of fire through the doorway, and this time Bella couldn’t dodge.
Like any housewife, she had been burned by ovens, accidentally cut herself with knives, and pushed through pain to take care of her people. This fire was no different than an oven, but while a finger could be jerked back, her body was a different story. She screamed as fire burned her skin. It was the worst thing she had ever experienced.
Stumbling back, Bella tripped over Sammy. She landed hard, causing Sammy to whimper as she was sat on. The mantis blade dropped to the floor amidst the napalm. She almost tried to snatch it out of the air, but remembering how it nearly severed the fingers of the monster, she stopped herself.
Pulling on her mother’s urge to protect her children, Bella rose again. Her skin felt tight, slightly brittle, and delicate. The dragonkin was halfway into the shelter, its wide shoulders barely fit. Its forward curving horns led they way, making an effective barrier now that Bella lacked a weapon. She looked around for something, anything that could be used to protect herself and came up with nothing.
The monster crawled forward, grinning manically at Bella. Fire proved to be no obstacle to dragonkin, and neither did the smoke. Something about that tickled Bella’s memory. Open as she was to suggestions, Bella latched onto the thought and followed it to its logical conclusion.
“Sammy, I need you to use your power on the door rock, then put on your armor. Got that?” Bella said, trying to keep her voice steady. Her vocal cords felt brittle, and her lips cracked from speaking.
Thankfully, Connor had drilled emergency protocol into their daughter. Not much applied to this situation, aside from obeying mom and dad immediately. One hand shot between Bella’s legs and pressed against the stone. Sammy cried out as the oven temperature rock burned her hand. It hurt Bella to see her daughter in pain.
However, that was nothing compared to what Bella experienced when her hand made contact with the stone. Flesh sizzled and tendons snapped. There was pain, but Bella was in a state beyond pain. She wanted, no, she needed, to kill this creature.
The stone abruptly became nonthreatening as her power took hold. A sigil would not harm its owner, her current working theory. Meaning, the dragonkin would not be immune to this heat. Bella screamed again as she dipped her good hand into the now molten stone. This time it was a scream of anger.
The dragonkin’s eyes widened as it saw the glob of lava flying at its face. It tried to duck its head, but the same horns that had defended it a second ago stopped it from rotating its face downward. A fistful of liquid stone hit it straight in the eyes. Bella didn’t wait to see the organs pop and sizzle, she threw another two fistfuls of lava.
Jerking back, the dragonkin tried to escape Bella. It’s panicked exit was far clumsier than its entrance. The frantic motions of a terrified animal abruptly shifted as a force from beyond started pulling. Then the way was clear. Bella coughed, she was getting lightheaded. Smoke inhalation was lethal in most situations, right?
Her work wasn’t done yet, “Get up, Sammy, we need to get out.”
It was a furnace in here. They couldn’t handle much more of this.
“But mom, the fire,” Sammy said. So much for an obedient child.
Instead of answering, Bella grabbed Sammy and dragged her out of the fire. Out of the shelter. Sammy cried that the fire hurt, but Bella only had her eyes on survival. The first thing she noticed when she exited was how good the cool air felt on her skin. Then, as she hauled Sammy out, she saw the beat down occurring.
Silas had been what dragged the dragonkin out. Its blindness, deafness, and severely damaged hands made it easy pickings for the white armored man. His primitive hammer rose and fell like he was driving a wedge through stone. Only the wedge was absent, and the stone was the dragonkin’s face.
Bella slumped down. Now that the danger was over, she inspected Sammy. Her daughter was lightly singed. The biggest injury was the dislocated shoulder. Bella smiled at the sky, she would be fine with dying now, the pain would be over.
Notice: You have pushed Lesser Thermal Cultivator to its limits by working in extremely hostile conditions. Thermal Culticator has advanced to the new baseline you have demonstrated. Your vitality has increased to reflect this.
Notice: You have pushed Sturdy Gatherer to its limits by removing large amounts of your body. Sturdy Gatherer has advanced to meet the conditions of your environment. Your vitality has increased to reflect this.
Bella blinked vacantly at the two notices. Would vitality heal away the burns? It felt a little fast to get three sigil upgrades in a single day. She didn’t particularly care.
A final crack sounded out, and a piece of horn flew past Bella to bounce into the lake. At least the dragonkin bastard got what was coming to him. She smiled at the dead body as Silas purified it. He then grabbed something and rushed over to her. Bella blinked painfully down at a glowing purple sigil.
“Take this, quickly,” Silas said as he shoved the alien object into her personal space. When she didn’t move, he shoved it into her chest where it dissolved.
Notice: You have participated in purifying Humilis Schemat Pugnator your Lesser Thermal Cultivator will be replaced with Thermal Cultivator.
Well, that’s nice, was the last thing she thought before she fell unconscious.
