Part Two - New World - Chapter [050]
My mind went black and the only question that came out of my mouth was.
"What do we do?" I shrilled as my voice quivered in on itself.
"We need to find shelter - being exposed to miasma for too long can cause insanity and even death - let's hurry our way to L'reu. The quicker we get there, the more people we can help." Arlsan replied with determination and strength. There was not a single thread of insecurity to his voice.
The tower itself had activated and what seemed like an elevator stood in the middle of the tower itself.
We grabbed our things and set foot inside the glowing circle at top the tower. It seemed it was just shy of being able to fit two people.
I pulled a lever.
Slowly then quickly the elevator descended into the tower itself. Being inside the tower suddenly removed all light, the inside was made of shiny rock that illuminated our way down through the tunnel carved into the tower itself.
Once we reached the bottom we headed outside through the small room we had previously explored.
As we came out into the light - I heard a loud boom at top us.
It scared me like a bomb had gone off - making my knees shake.
A shining pillar of light made it's way up into the heaven's. So high it climbed up into the clouds.
Orientator suddenly made a lot more sense. The light was bright - bright enough for anyone to see it miles away. I was suddenly glad we managed to activate it.
So we got on the Sky-breaker and just like last time I got on the back side and Arslan told me to hold on.
I did as I was told and placed my arms around his waist.
His back was warm and smelled like the sun.
The Skybreaker roared to life with a simple movement from his leg, gearing into rev 1.
Then with a swift motion and a cool drift, Arslan got out of the little grove the Orientator was placed on and back into the open field. A sliding slope and a bit of turbulence - the Skybreaker revving up as it geared into it's second rev - making a pile of dirt spit out into the side.
The bike had some power to it, even if it had no wheels.
Just like that we were cursing back in the open field at a relative pace.
L'Reu was miles away still, but the storm was getting darker and darker - peering from behind the mountain the city was built into.
"Hold it steady!" I shouted for a moment, and took out my binoculars. I had to grab into his shoulders to be able to use them. My goggles protecting my eyes didn't do my any favors so I took them off - the wind instantly dried my eyes. Even if they looked goofy - I understood why he had invited on using them. I managed through it and peered at the storm.
As if it knew we were watching a creepy green glow suddenly came from the center of it. The miasma purple nature suddenly looked like some type of fog. And then what I can only describe as a giant floating eyeball peering into the city itself.
"What the fuck!" I shouted.
"What is it, what do you see?" Arslan shouted over the wind blowing.
"It's like a giant eyeball, floating above the city - "
"That's our target!" Shouted Arslan.
"It's a Demon - probably a class Seraph or bigger." He shouted. I had no idea what any of that meant.
"Shit!" He said - as I continued looking. The eyeball wasn't actually doing anything, just looking at the people. Seraph made me think it was some kind of angel. But Arslan had said it was demon.
"I really thought they would take longer to prepare - but it looks like they had an army ready if they're attacking this early," he mentioned.
"Is it because we activated the first shrine?!" I shrieked.
"That's right! They noticed some of their miasma supply dwindling and must have put two and two together. This attack on L'Reu was probably premeditated. They were planning to attack anyway." Arslan managed to spill all that out while the bike was climbing speeds of more than 150kms per hour. And he was pushing the machine harder. We were making great time.
Suddenly the eye looked our way. Straight at us.
I felt a shock ran through my body.
I blinked.
But something told me to look at the giant eyeball again through the binoculars.
"Uh Arslan?" I said in a low voice.
"WHAT!?" He shouted.
"Arslan?!" I said a little louder. Tapping his shoulders.
"What - speak louder - I can't hear you?"
"LOOK UP!" I finally shouted.
Even with the naked eye you could see the eyeball was powering some kind of spell, and it was looking straight in our direction.
It charged until the spell was tiny in it's pupil. Twinkles of stars showed around it - was it charging up?
Before I could react - the eyeball showered us with a ray of light that traveled a massive distance in the blink of an eye.
"SHIT!" Arslan shouted and steered the Skybreaker with a swift movement that our sides almost hit the fast moving floor beneath us. But I managed to grab to his waist at the last minute.
The beam of light didn't hit us - but it almost toppled us.
Arslan strained as he used the momentum to put us back on track. His muscles tense.
A sight of relief once we were floating straight once again.
"Do something?!" He shouted, the eyeball was once again charging, looking up towards the sky, twinkles around it, the spell becoming smaller and smaller around it's pupil.
"I'll be borrowing your sun," I said and placed my hand on his back as I managed to stand up on the moving bike.
I held up my staff and said.
"PREMINENCE!"
">Activating Spell"
">Mana allocation complete"
">Style Change"
">Healer of The Arslan Sun"
">Complete"
With that a giant - a massive spell circle formed in front of us. Those same twinkles I saw before started blinking and shining around us. It almost seemed like time had stopped.
I knew what was coming next.
It was like I saw stars and then a massive ring around a giant ball of hot plasma. Ripping to pieces with the sheer force of a thousand atomic bombs. It's force so massive it ripped through gravity and space time itself.
It was just like I had saw when Arslan purified the shrine with his final battle spell.
Solar Flare
I knew I had to control it - I knew I could.
The eyeball seemed to be aware of what was about to happen. Because it opened it's eyelids massive wide.
I could almost read fear.
I could feel how the energy left my body. And acted through me, through my mana as conduit. It was through us. I could feel how even he right now, was shining like a thousand suns. His hair floating upwards, shining a bright orange glow. A blonde so hot - it almost burned eyes.
Then the both us spoke like one.
"FIRE!"
Silence crept upon us - and then a blast so intense it shook us to our very core. A massive shooting spell rang through the grass field. It's intensity so powerful it burned everything around it in a 100 miles radius. It was as big as a river. Except of deadly hot piping liquid, traveling at speeds that seemed similar to light speed.
The eyeball had no time to react.
My spell hit it right in the middle, in the process breaking it's own spell.
A scream so powerful came from it we could hear it over the roaring flame.
The spell then crashed into the mountainside, barriers instantly went up to protect L'Reu. The defining roar of the spell ripped through the air, a thunderous symphony of destruction that shattered the once serene mountainside. Rock and debris were flung into the air like confetti, a chaotic dance of destruction painting the sky red. We could have given them a warning. But that thing was shooting at us.
Then just like that it had ended.
The eyeball collapsed to the molten rock floating abode the city of L'Reu. Slowly cooling off. I saw something peculiar. A small orb fly out of the corpse and then head towards the underground.
I collapsed my body unable to move - he could tell and slowed down until we reached a stopped.
My arms hanging on my side.
"That WAS INSANE!" He suddenly shouted as our bike crawled to a stop.
">Survivor mode activated"
What does that mean?
When the bike finally stopped and he got of it. My body felt stiff like it couldn't move.
"What's wrong?" He said and just like that I fell on my side. My body felt stiff and like jelly at the same time. I had that sensation you have when you're leg falls asleep. But thought my whole body.
He caught me just before I hit the grass.
I was still conscious.
"I can't move my body for some reason…" I said feeling like jelly.
"You're out mana my love," he said holding me in his arms.
"We need to get to L'reu and find you a doctor - thankfully there's lot's where we're going - take a rest for now." He said carrying me like a monkey would carry their young.
With that we got into the bike, my body facing him. My back to the road.
Suddenly he secured me to himself with a rope he took out of the glove compartment.
I don't understand - what does mana have to do with motor functions?
I thought to myself.
">Mana is stored inside the body" Apollo explained.
">Mana depletion means that there's not enough mana in the body and basic functions might be affected."
Why am I breathing then?
">Mana reserves at 0.00072%" said Apollo.
">Life support functions are active"
I took a breath.
">Mana reserves at 0.00067%" said Apollo.
">Estimated time till life functions cease"
">45 minutes"
Speaking would consume mana, breathing could consume mana. My state was catatonic.
Whats my way out of this - without dying?!
I could at least feel the wind blowing against my back - Arslan was pushing speeds of 200 km/h.
">I can take over life support systems in case of an emergency - just remember every nano second is estimated to cost 3 Qubits of GPU power. That's 10^9"
Huh!?
">Shall I reface the thought? Life support system can be outsourced to Sybil servers but it will cost 3 Qubits of GPU power per nanosecond - understood?"
What the hell does that even mean?!
">Confirm?"
Yes - Yes I got it.
">Acknowledged"
Doesn't mana regain over time?
">Negative - Mana regeneration can only happen once 10% of balance is regained. Otherwise a 0.7% per second penalty is applied. User must uphold 10% or more of their mana in order for this to not come into effect. It shows a sign of goodwill towards Sybil."
No one ever told me.
">My functions for tutorial mode were deactivated per user request, shall I activate them?"
No - what's the point.
">Concurred"
Like a fucking bank account.
I was paying late fees - for not having enough money in my account.
I guess I should just lay still.
Being this close to him was actually kinda nice.
I got to sit on his lap, and even smell his skin.
He smelled nice - like a warm sunny day just after raining.
I took a breath.
">Mana reserves at 0.00062%" Apollo reminded me like clockwork.
It was getting kind of annoying.