MTLNOVEL Chapter 5: Henry
"Your 'Melody of Revelation' is not set up correctly. The 'Infinitely Many Voices' has to be in their central position. It's very visible that you have created a new set of tears." Marx eyes rested on Waynie's right elbow. The configuration of the 'Melody of Revelation' was a concentric array of six shards, each one catching the dim light and refracting shadows onto quiet patterns across Waynie's skin. Its primary purpose—to detect the number of approaching foes—functioned without fault. But its secondary purpose, discerning the rank and class of these enemies, remained dormant. The critical component, the 'Infinitely Many Voices,' glimmered, faintly out of position, nestled a third of the way down his forearm. Though Waynie could easily discern the rank of an enemy, the finer nuances of their class eluded him—a gap born of his lack of attentiveness. Waynie pinched the misaligned shard between his thumb and index finger. His left hand steadied the matrix as his right hand deftly unfastened the central shard of the melody, swapping their positions with meticulous grace.
[You have obtained the song 'Premonitions of a Nightmare Melody'.]
[Description:
A lost lamb played this song when it was searching for its mother.
'A spectral hymn in silence weaves,
Whispering truths the girl conceives.
Hollow notes, a moonlight dance,
She gets to know this in advance.
No lies, the truth—just fate's decree,
A song of fate for those who see.']
To tell what an attribute effect did, was not always easy. To learn of it, one usually had to consult an Awakened with an ability to discern those things. But in this case Waynie had constructed the effect himself with the help of his brother. So, he knew exactly what it did. The Spell just added its own descriptions. But it was always nice to obtain more ways and abilities to do things. The melody started to play only a moment later. It didn't sing any song like in the Spell description, they were simply melodic tones from the vibrating crystals causing audio feedback with one another. A moment later the 'Tear of a wistful comrade' started to echo as well. Then a couple of others.
"We should go."
From where the enemy was coming, it was clear that they didn't know where he was and had no idea where he was going. The shard's vibrations grew in intensity, revealing in what directions their adversaries were searching. And thus, easy enough for him and his brother to avoid. They had made it nearly five miles beyond the city's borders when another shard began to tremble violently, that he hadn't seen react in a while. Its resonance shifting from a low murmur to an urgent, discordant rhythm.
Corrupted. Strong ones.
About eight Fallen Devils and a few Fallen Tyrants scattered to the north- and southeast. Four more Fallen Devils stood directly in their path. And one human Awakened.
Marx could read the rhythm just as well as Waynie could. "What should we do?"
"We're breaking through."
The two of them proceeded to move further ahead. They were getting closer to the mountains. Up ahead the land was torn apart, as if some ancient force had cracked the earth open long ago, splitting it like fractured glass. That hadn't stopped lava from pouring onto the surface and forming a river. A bridge led to the other side and that was where their adversary was waiting. They were still out of sight. Waynie turned to his brother. "It's better when they don't see us together. Perhaps you should wait here."
Marx decidedly shook his head. "No, that's no good. I don't want to be taken by the ones that are behind."
Waynie nodded understanding. The two moved further ahead.
As they neared the bridge, four creatures prowled in the dim evening light. The lava illuminating the scene more from below than above. Their forms resembled hounds, but their bodies were wrong—twisted. From their bellies, a mist of pitch-black smoke writhed, threaded with veins of slithering fire that pulsed like living embers. Each exhale left trails of smoldering heat in the cold air.
As for the Awakened, both Marx and Waynie knew what it meant that there was one right at the center of the bridge: The four Fallen Devils were controlled by the Saint called the 'Beastmaster'. Waynie did not recall the Saints actual name but it hardly mattered. They hadn't escaped. This was still part of the defense force of the city.
In peacetime such creatures were all over the city of Ravenheart. They had been there as well on the supply mission. Normally these corrupt creatures did not attack humans. Supposedly people were save as long as that saint held those creatures contained. But Waynie did not really know how true that was.
Waynie nodded to the Awakened up ahead. "I'm not exactly fond of nightmare creatures."
"Henry." Marx waved his hand to the man that Waynie did not know.
The man, supposedly named Henry waved back but made no attempts to move closer. "You can't possibly hope to make me think you aren't the two we are looking for."
Marx shook his head. "What, me? I'm not involved."
But the effort was fruitless. In Henry's eyes there was a spark visible. He could deduct in two seconds that Marx had helped his own brother and therefore would have known about Waynie's identity exactly.
Waynie sighed contemplating. "The dogs may be a danger. But I can kill you before any of them attacks."
The awakened Henry snorted derisively. "I'll just move out of the way."
Waynie called the dagger 'Fogthorn' into his hand. It was his only throwing dagger. He had used it in the battle against the soldiers at the nightmare seed. The Spells of the memory description read:
[Fogthorn -
Crafted with a subtle sheen, it seems to fade into mist from a distance.]
A fitting name. At range, the dagger blurred, slipping between the lines of perception, nearly invisible until it was too late. Right now, Henry couldn't see it either. But he could feel something was there.
"Maybe they didn't tell you, but being fast is my specialty. And I'm a Master. You have really no chance to survive."
The Awakened Henry seemed to be wavering.
"Come on Henry, we can all get out of this alive." Marx voice was smooth and deliberate. His aspect allowed him to be very convincing. Bad arguments still failed, but if he happened to be right, his aspect would allow the enemy to perfectly understand. Marx flaw was that he never remembered whenever he used this attribute. Waynie thought that this flaw made his brother's life hard in a way quite like his own flaw. But Marx was still perfect for keeping the peace at the gates of Ravenheart.
Henry exhaled through his nose, then—slowly—raised both hands in surrender. "I will not fight you. I'll just stand to the side. It's obviously pointless. But I can't stop these Devils. They are not under my control." Henry still with his hands raised moved a couple of steps backwards.
"A condition Henry. If you want my brother to let you live, you'll help me to cover this up. We'll both pretend like this didn't happen. We're both friends. Or at least colleagues. If they find out you let my brother go, you'll just be in trouble. Don't you think I'm right?"
"That makes sense right now. I'll concede."
At that moment, Marx blinked in confusion. The understanding in his eyes faded, lost with his Aspect's effect. He looked at Waynie expectantly. "What… happened?" forgetting and gave Waynie a confused look hoping to learn the outcome of the conversation.
"I managed to convince him. We were lucky, you weren't needed at all."
"I… see. As expected of my brother."
Waynie did not care to tell Marx that he had been convincing. He rather let him think that Waynie himself had convinced Henry. Better his brother took some ego damage than himself. After all he was a Master and didn't like to admit that he had to depend on someone Awakened. And perhaps his brother would even tell other people. Besides, he owed Marx enough already as it was. No need to add to the bill.
There was no more time because the Fallen Devils charged. "Oh, right I forgot to mention that." Waynie was mumbling.
'Did we actually lose the argument and had given Henry a reason to stay alive?'
Waynie opened the battle with a sharp piece of glass he had formed in his right hand. He was still holding the dagger at the same time but didn't throw it.
The dogs were in formation. Waynie named them Northwest, Northwestwest, Southwestwest and Southwest. The glass piece pierced Northwest's ear and lopped it off. It left the Nightmare Creature momentarily startled but the other three surged forward without hesitation.
The battle had begun.
'Oh, this is a bit much.' Waynie quickly ripped the 'Discomforting Impact' from his left arm and hurled it towards Northwestwest and Southwestwest. As the glass tear hit the ground, it exploded into a storm of razor-sharp fragments. It was the only shard in Waynie's arsenal that wasn't an alarm. And for that reason, he hated to use it as well. Because then his ace was gone. Northwestwest received the full brunt of the glass pieces and from its eye to its chest it got badly shredded. However, Southwestwest managed to dodge. Mosty. It twisted its body mid-motion, an instinct meant to mislead enemies by keeping its head steady. That trick had saved it in the past. This time, it cost it an eye and a deep gash across its snout. A cruel mistake.
Waynie had no time to dwell on that. With large leaps Southwest was approaching. Finally Waynie threw the 'Fogthorn' and quickly called upon his other daggers A wet chop followed. The beast's front leg severed clean at the joint. Instead of lunging, it stumbled, rolling uncontrollably across the ashen granite of the stone bridge, a heap of tangled limbs and smoldering fur.
Meanwhile Southwestwest was still approaching and Waynie realized that it was close enough to take a bite. 'If I get hit, I die.'
The creature lunged, its twisted form cutting through the air with unnatural speed. Waynie leapt aside, feeling the wind of its strike brush past his cheek. He needed an opening. His eyes flicked to Marx, who was barely keeping the beast at bay. For once, his brother was actually useful. 'Good. A mattress'.
Gritting his teeth, Waynie sprinted toward Marx. The beast chased him, its claws outstretched. At the last moment, Waynie jumped, planting his foot against Marx's chest and using it as a springboard. The force of the impact sent Marx staggering back, but Waynie was already airborne. With a sharp twist, he brought 'Loomfang' down, the blade biting deep into the creature's skull. A sickening crunch echoed across the bridge but the creature wasn't dead. He dropped from the creatures icky burning back and in front of the dog, but the dog just charged right through Waynie and ripped and shredded the 'Tear of a wistful comrade' from under his shoulder.
'Crap'.
But Southwestwest wasn't done. Still with the dagger in its head the animal kept charging at Marx and crunched into his shoulder. Marx let out a strangled scream, thrashing against the creature's iron grip. Waynie was very happy that his brother was useful for once and kept the dog busy. With precise movements, he closed in up from behind. The beast had no means of defense, its teeth locked around Marx. Waynie rammed 'Starshade' into the back of its neck and severed the spine from the head.
[You have killed a Fallen Devil.]
Only three dogs were remaining.
Marx groaned from the ground, struggling to rise. "Waynie—"
"No time," Waynie snapped. "Stay down."
For some reason Waynie never received a message like this when he killed a human. He used to be able to tell anyways because he would receive a lot of soul shards. But since his core was saturated, it almost felt as if the Spell didn't like him killing humans.
Earless Northwest who was still a bit in the distance let out a guttural roar. Heat and smoke rose from its body. It wasn't quite close enough to harm him, but the dog was still charging. It seemed to want to bury Waynie under its flames, but that was a strategical mistake. The creature's belly was difficult to reach under normal circumstances. But in this reckless charge, it left itself wide open. Waynie slashed into the soft flesh decisively and crushed the core.
[You have killed a Fallen Devil.]
By now the last two badly injured Nightmare Creatures Northwestwest and Southwest had both recovered and instead of sacrificing their lives individually attempted a coordinated attack. But before they could, Waynie blasted Northwestwest with glass shrapnel. The accumulated shred left not much skin on the body as pieces of glass pierced onto more glass. It was barely standing, but still alive, huffing and trembling. Then Southwest lunged. Waynie was too slow to dig out both of his knives out of the half dead Northwestwest. Instead, he had to abandon the knives. As the creature jumped at him with an open maw, he dodged at the last second. Its golden tongue just in reach licking at his face, leaving scars scorching him like glowing embers. But now that he knew that the belly was the vulnerable point of these beasts, it had no chance. Waynie pushed a glass crystal out of his hand but rushed for time, failing to make the shards back end blunt. The result was that he pushed the crystal into the belly of Southwest to crush its core, but the recoil pushed the glass back into Waynie's skin and sliced through his flesh. Agony shot through his arm.
[You have killed a Fallen Devil.]
Northwestwest, barely clinging to life, was too weak to fight back. Waynie summoned the illusive 'Phantom Grap' that could phase in and out of existence and quickly took care of it before it could recover.
[You have killed a Fallen Devil.]
It was over.
Waynie breathing ragged, his gaze took rest on Henry. But the soldier simply raised his hands higher to suggest that he had no intention of causing trouble or run.
"I can't believe you did that." Marx was staring at the carnage, his voice a mix of admiration and disbelief. His own right shoulder, ravaged by a single creature, barely functioned. Yet Waynie had taken down all of them and escaped with only a wounded hand and minor burns.
Marx and Waynie walked over to Henry, and they began to talk.
"First of all, I want to make clear that I'm not totally sure what I'm hunted here for and want to express that this is a misunderstanding. If there is a way to clear this up…"
Waynie was looking at a way to convince Henry to help him talk to someone who could resolve the entire issue. Henry just shrugged, resigned. "I don't know. We were only told to capture you."
Marx nodded at that. The two of them were part of the same unit, although not of the same cohort and had received the same call. Both Marx and Henry were still perplexed at Waynie's incredible display of power, while Waynie himself was licking the painful wound on his hand and used his left hand to push the skin together to slow the blood from leaking out. Comparably the burn on his face didn't seem so bad. Waynie calmly analyzed the situation. "I think we should still kill him. Letting him go is just too risky."
Henry's eyes darted between the dead devils and Waynie's unreadable expression. He clenched his fists. "There is no time, more soldiers from Ravenheart are soon to arrive." Henry was talking as if making a point in Waynie's interest, but all Waynie felt was an overwhelming pressure to cut the man's throat. "You two just claim you fought me and survived. I'll go my marry way." He said finally.
Marx shook his head. "That won't do, with the wound from the Nightmare Creature I'd have a lot of explaining to do. I'll come with you for a bit. Henry will tell the others that Waynie escaped alone."
Henry his hands still lifted in the air, just nodded.
Marx shook his head. "That won't do, with the wound from the Nightmare Creature I'd have a lot of explaining…" Waynie put his left hand on Marx's shoulder and stopped him. "It's all right. You were convincing." For what it was worth, Marx flaw also worked as a lie detector. Waynie thought that was quite convenient. There was no point fooling his brother here either. Otherwise, they would just waste unnecessary time. The ruler over the domain, Ki Song was far away now. So, it would take the dogs a few moments to rise up again. But there was no time to be idle.
"Let's go."