V2Ch103 New Toy

The dwarf that was casually chatting it up with Lake began to stroll toward him.

"Look at you. Helpless in front of the campfire that no longer moves. At least, it's not moving according to the naked eye. This WoM object slows time for everything in a large sphere around the user. Obviously, everything except the user. My associates have other WoM objects that negate the effects of this one. I came alone today. You won't have to worry about them. Not that you would have to worry any less with me here."

He sat down on the log next to Lake. He reached into Lake's cloak and pulled up his shirt.

"Not even a scar. Unprecedented healing. Maybe I'll just..."

The dwarf heard movement behind him.

"Nothing should be able to move."

He whispered under his breath.

"Who's there?"

No response. He stood up in alarm and browsed his surroundings, not that it did much good during this dark night.

'Something's coming. No, more than one thing. Half a dozen?'

He thought to himself.

Many legs were stomping toward him. They sounded clumsy as if drunkards were running. The footsteps were... not feet. It was like knives stabbing the ground.

He could see the shadow of whatever was coming. It was short. Shorter than a dwarf.

It was fast. It came charging straight at him. The dwarf leaped out of its path. It was like a runaway train. It looked like a black centipede with only eight legs. Four in the back and four up front. Its head was a simple sphere on a neck.

It came to an unsteady stop. One of its legs had pierced Lake's leg, and another, his stomach. It seemed to pause for a moment before it looked dead at the dwarf. It resumed its charge at the dwarf.

"And for a moment, I thought it would go after him and save me the trouble. No such luck."

It slowed its speed. The dark insect-like creature came to a stop. It reared up onto its hind legs and lowered its upper legs as if they were arms at its side. The thing leaned its head forward and let out a terrible screech.

The dwarf plugged one ear.

"Not very pleasant. What are you?"

The thing began shrieking in different tones, some longer, others shorter. It was as if the thing were trying to communicate.

"I'm getting a headache from all of this... noise."

He reached into his pocket and threw three tiny daggers at its head. All three hit their mark.

"Headshot."

He let out a triumphant smile. Only for a moment, though. The daggers began to disappear into the thing's head. It seemed unaffected by the blades. It looked down at its limbs. It began to shudder. Its arms began to convulse. The pointed tips of the upper arms had split into five. As if it had grown fingers. Three of its arms grew larger at the shoulder. These individual bulges shifted down the limbs until the thrown daggers emerged from within its hands. It grabbed hold of the daggers and took a stance.

It was then that the dwarf realized that this thing was no beast nor insect. It was intelligent. Maybe it really was trying to communicate before.

It started to charge on only four legs this time. The dwarf got ready to move. Once again, its clumsy nature was exposed. The thing looked like it was trying to run faster than it was physically capable of. It stumbled on its own legs and tumbled to the ground, losing grip on two of the daggers. It started shrieking more.

"This seems like a lost cause. I'll just do what I came here for and be on my way."

He started to walk around the mess of a creature. It was struggling to move. He spat in the direction of the creature as he passed.

Almost as if he had insulted the thing's mother, its head cocked in his direction. All of its legs disappeared and reformed into a proper working formation. It charged at him once more.

"Shit. Persistent."

He rushed toward the campsite and Lake. As he got closer, the light from the fire began to brighten up the ground. Lake's body was now slightly leaning backward from the attack of the creature earlier.

The light of the ground began to darken ahead of the dwarf. It caught his attention and he came to a stop. Just then, he realized that there was no sound coming from behind him. He turned his head enough to get a quick glance.

It was gone.

He looked forward just in time to see the creature ahead of him.

"How th..."

It was reaching out toward him. He had to move fast to avoid its grasp. He leaped backward with all his might. It wasn't enough. Its arm stretched out faster than he could move. It extended more than twice the length of its body and took hold of his right hand. It didn't just grasp his hand, It melded to the surface of his flesh and extended up to his elbow.

He knew there was only one escape. He used his own dagger to sever his arm. He got away quickly.

The creature screamed at the absence of his opponent.

---------------------

"AHHHHHH...T BACK HERE YOU BASTARD!"

Gravity suddenly felt heavy. The shadows from the fire began to dance.

"Shut up! Were trying to sleep!"

A random camper yelled out. Others groaned in agreement.

"Lake?"

I had to get rid of my shadow form.

'Cut it off, Fear.'

My vision of the world disappeared and my darkness came back into view.

Mother had already retreated back into her light. This was the longest I had ever used her power since I picked her up.

"What happened, Rage? Why was it so difficult to control. It also seemed like he couldn't understand me."

"I have a feeling that it was because of the time warp that the WoM object caused. Your brain woke up with Mother's power and allowed you to keep a proper pace in your mind. When you took control of the shadow body, your brain was thinking at normal speeds. You were trying to move at a normal pace while inside of a slowed bubble. It was as if you were attempting to take 72 steps in the blink of an eye. It just can't be done. Just the same, your speech was like trying to squeeze a paragraph into a millisecond. It would come out unintelligible to anyone."

I groaned in defeat. I had spouted off a whole speech to him and he couldn't understand me.

"Lake?"

Babur was calling me. I came back to reality. Babur's face was over my own and I was on my back.

"What happened? You started shouting. It woke me up."

"Sorry. I had a problem with one of the campers."

I stood and walked over to the severed arm.

"Lake... Why is there..."

"Shhhh. One of the assassins."

She immediately understood what had just happened.

"There's something in the hand."

She pointed out. I kneeled down and pried the shiny object out of his hand. It was the cube. He must have turned off the time slow before he severed it.

I pressed the button. I didn't feel any different but, the area around me was frozen in time. The fire at the camp was motionless again. I flicked some of Babur's loose hair. It responded quickly and suddenly returned to a motionless state.

I let out a smile.

"This could be fun."

I wished I could laugh...

A thought occurred.

"I wonder if this affects spirits in the area, too."

I pressed the button again. I was three feet further from Babur. She was leaning on me when I first pressed the button and almost fell when I pressed it again. She reached out and I caught her hands before she could actually fall.

"Sorry. I'm still getting the hang of this."

I held it up and showed it to her.

"What happened? How did you get over there?"

"This is a WoM object that slows time. It's what the assassins used in Reinstorm. Aaaaand now it's mine."

Her eyes almost bulged out of her head while locked onto the cube.

"Can I try it?"

I narrowed one eye at her.

"Maybe later. We should get some sleep. Still lots of travel to do tomorrow."

"Aw!"

"SHUT IT ALREADY!"

"Shhh!"

We returned to our tent after putting out the campfire.

I had tossed the arm as far as I could with my strength, away from the trail. It would be annoying if people found it.