Stratothrax
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Chapter 105
🕑 Added 2021-07-03 21:16:33 +0000 UTC◈ Chapter 105:
Rain shook his head, trying to clear his tired mind. He needed, he needed to get up and… search for Opal.
Placing one paw on the back of an Orc he helped lever himself up, a slow climb onto two feet where he swayed like a tree in the wind, barely managed to remain upright as his body screamed in protest.
He gazed out over the lake of Orc bodies. Was Opal alive in here? Trapped amongst the dead or dying? Amongst hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of bodies?
He almost slumped down in despair, but then something caught his eye, a flash of white fluff, an arm waving for help amongst the dead, right at the edge of the lake.
Rain slowly approached, carefully picking his way across the field of bodies, nearly slipping over a number of times as his body barely held together. He came to the arm, a hand and a limb ensconced in what had been snow white fluff now spattered red with Orc blood.
“...Lyra?”
A muffled yell for help replied and he grabbed hold of the arm, his paw engulfing her entire forearm. With one motion he heaved her half up and out, Orc bodies shoved aside as the bedraggled sheep girl rose. A teary eyed and perfectly miserable face appearing below hair drenched through and lank with blood.
“Why did I agree to this!” wailed the sheep girl.
“Lyra…”
She looked up at him and blinked, taking in the innumerable bits of metal sticking from his ragged body, daggers and snapped swords, arrow shafts and broken spears, all speckled amongst grievous injuries. He looked ready to keel over dead under a light breeze.
“P-potions-, Red!”
Her hand dove below and a moment later she was shoving potion after potions into Rain’s paws of various differing colours.
“This will help?”
“Er, maybe, they came from a box of potions marked for bodily health, so, yes? Drink!”
Rain lifted his paw and put the entire collection of potions into his mouth, bottles and all. In moments his teeth had ground the glass to powder and he swallowed it along with the liquid contents of the bottles.
“Oh, well I suppose eating them works too…” said Lyra her hand drooping.
The effects were swift, each bit of metal protruding from Rain’s body was forcibly ejected, a shower of metal falling to the ground, his wounds clotting over, flesh sealing, his back straightening as dog tired exhaustion was washed away and fresh tireless energy replaced it.
It wasn’t a true healing, but already Rain could feel his body taking care of that, putting to use the burst of bright vigour the potions gave.
He shook his head slightly as his head fog cleared, the chains of tiredness falling away. His gaze turned back to Lyra.
“...Why did you come back? You had escaped... And- and Opal, why Lyra? Why did you do it?”
“She wanted to come back, I couldn't stop her, she was beside herself I’m- I’m sorry, it was a really bad idea, I should have stopped her…”
Rain bowed his head.
“And now she’s…. Gone,” he choked out, emotion straining his voice.
Lyra blinked at him.
“Uhm, well no actually, I’m holding her hand right now under all these Orcs- Wai- Waah!”
Rain immediately hauled on the unfortunate sheep girl who let out a yelp of surprise as she was forcefully dragged fully free from the bodies and sent sprawling on the sand at the edge of the lake. Her other hand was latched tight around a small wrist and she dragged up a familiar black haired head, her shoulders popping free from between a pair of muscular Orcs, her lower half below.
Opal came up gasping and swearing, she then turned to the side and spat out sand and Orc blood, gagging in disgust.
“Orcs… are really… fucking heavy…” she managed to get out between heaved breaths.
“You’re unhurt?! You’re okay?!” said Rain beside himself with relief.
Opal gingerly touched at the back of her head, then finding herself whole and uninjured she patted more confidently.
“Seems that way, I feel fine, better than fine.”
Her hand wiped across her face, clearing away the blood, then brushed by her forehead. She paused as her hand caught on something.
“Huh- Whassah?” she muttered.
Rain blinked as he noticed what she was touching at. It appeared at first to be a lump of gore that had gotten tangled up in her hair and stuck to the right side of her forehead but as blood was wiped away a deeper black appeared, a stubby singular little horn, a horn made of deep black shadow.
Opal touched at it with her fingers, exploring. Then with a frown she tried tugging on it, trying to pull it off. It remained affixed and all she succeeded in doing was awkwardly yanking her head forward.
“Hey, what the fuck? Did some dumb Orc glue a rock to my head? What the hell am I touching here?!”
“It’s- it’s- it’s a horn Opal,” whispered Lyra, staring at the thing in question.
Rain hesitantly raised his paw, unsure why a small chunk of his darkness was currently attached to Opal’s forehead. He pushed his will into it, but the dark didn't respond in the slightest. Puzzled, he tried to mist it, and draw it back into his body, but again the stubby dark horn remained as it was, solid and unmoving, embedded in Opal’s forehead.
“It’s the same as my dark claws and centipedes, made from the same stuff, but...” he murmured.
“Huh,” said Opal, “You sure about that? it’s not exploding my fingers with fear even though I’m practically jerking it off.”
Rain blinked, that was true, she was touching the dark without any issue, her skin remaining whole and unafraid.
“What does it feel like? Does it hurt?”
“Nah, if I hadn't touched it I wouldn't have even realised it was there, it’s- well now I’ve noticed I can tell it’s there, some weird dark thing, I can sense it like a spot I’m conscious of.” Her brow furrowed as she fingered the horn. “It’s almost like I can control it, like an extra limb but not a limb…”
The goblin girl twitched her hand and black mist suddenly seeped from the horn, drifting and rolling around her fingers like a mist snake. She held her hand up to her eyes, awe in her expression as she looked at the dark. “Is this… magic? Is this like your magic?”
“...If it’s like mine you should be able to form it, create something.”
“How?”
“Just will it to happen.”
A small tongue poked from the corner of her mouth as her brow furrowed in concentration. After a moment the mist began to take a shape, solidifying. Opal concentrated and for a fraction of a moment the wobbly misty soft outline of a crude sword could be seen before the form collapsed back to nothing.
“Huh, you weren't kidding about how hard this stuff is to control.”
“But it is the same?”
“Hold on.”
Opal focused once more and the mist started to form again, this time taking a curved shape, a huge razor sharp talon, a copy of one of the Queen Harpy’s talons. Opal’s small hand grasped the base, holding it like she would a sickle.
“There. Just needed to be a predator right?”
Rain nodded silently, a turmoil of emotion running through him seeing the talon in her hands so soon after the disturbing sight of the broken Queen. She must have seen the dark Queen use her talons when she came back and decided to copy them.
“I don't like this, it’s like you’ve been infected…”
“What? No, it’s not that.”
“Then what is it?” said Lyra. “How do suddenly have Rain’s ‘magic’?”
“Isn't it obvious? I’ve Evolved!”
Rain and Lyra stared at the goblin girl who apart from the horn looked exactly as she had been, if a little bloodier.
“Are you sure? You kinda look the same to me.”
“Yes! I totally just had my triggering event! It was when I came to help Rain, or when I got bashed on the head... or when those other Gobbos were shitty and betrayed me…... or when I nearly got splatted by a bunch fat ass Orcs….. Or maybe altogether perfectly in that order without a single thing different. Hmm. You know I think I get why evolving is so rare now.”
As she spoke she struggled up from between the two very large Orcs she had found herself trapped under and suddenly popped free, stumbling to her feet.
She lifted the talon high victoriously. She had grown a little taller, maybe three inches in height reaching a grand total of four foot eight inches, she had gone from being a short Goblin, to a... slightly less short Goblin. Her hair had grown with the increase in height too becoming longer and fuller, her eyes brighter and more colourful, hips proportionally larger, slightly broader and heavier on her frame. Her chest too was significantly larger, now straining her chest wrap to the limit and spilling over the sides, soft flesh bulging from between the strips of cloth.
“I’m now a magic Gobbo, a Hob Gobbo? A… witch?” She paused suddenly feeling unsure of what exactly it was that she had evolved into. That was when she caught sight of Lyra and Rain. They were both staring at her like they had seen a ghost, mouths hanging open, eyes very round.
“What? Why are you staring at me like that?!”
“It’s! It’s!”
“You’re!”
“I’m what!?”
Lyra’s wobbling shaking hand rose and pointed.
Opal followed the finger, the finger pointed down at her rounded belly.
“Aw lame, am I gonna be one of those fat pot bellied Gobbos?”
“That's not, that's not-!” warbled Lyra.
“You’re- You’re-” Rain seemed to trapped in a mental loop, unable to accept what was happening.
“Wow, calm down, you're acting like I’m pre- pre-” The Goblin girl suddenly froze and her head rotated mechanically to look back down at herself. “Pregnant!” she squeaked out, her eyebrows shooting up.
Her hands slapped down on the dome of her belly. “How can this be happening?! I didn’t do anything and now I'm preggers?!”
“Is evolving into a pregnancy a thing?”
“No! That's ridiculous! I- I don't know what’s happening…I Don't know what’s happening!!!”
Lyra began to move around, looking the Goblin girl over.
“You are a little bit larger, so maybe... maybe you were pregnant before but it just wasn’t showing through, some pregnancies don’t, and- and your body growing made it visible? Or Uh, grew it out? Accelerated it? Expanded it? Something like that?”
Opal stared wide eyed at her. “I was already…? Even in the dungeon…?”
Rain hesitantly reached out a paw and placed it on her belly, palming her pregnancy his paw was so large. He remained silent just feeling the warmth and naked heat of her taut domed skin. Had she really been pregnant for some time and they just hadn't known? It was not a good thought, how could he have not known about something as important as this? He should have- somehow- This was his fault- But then when he had first mistakenly thought Opal was pregnant back down in the dungeon he had started dismissing it as a possibility after his suggestion was forcefully rejected by the Goblin girl. The thought had slipped from his mind, too many other things to worry about, too many things to do, It just wasn’t something he had found time to revisit.
And now he was staring at the result of that inattention, a pregnant Goblin girl carrying his spawn…
What in gods fucking name was going to come out of her when a monster like himself was the seed? His species had supposedly been extinct for over a thousand years, a mysterious species of monster with worrying and alarming questions hanging over it, and now, and now…
Opal was pregnant with a half-goblin-half whatever the hell he was.
Who was to say that whatever thing came out wouldn't hurt her in the process? He just didn't know and his concern for her spiked even higher, his heart missing a beat as his thoughts unravelled into all the worst possibilities.
Opal squinted up at him as he remained silent and still.
“Hey, wait a minute, if I’m bigger now… doesn't that mean that you’re smaller?”
“It- it just means you are bigger Opal.” Rain managed to get out.
“No it doesn't, it means you are smaller compared to me! If I’m on top of you or standing next to you then you will feel smaller to me, and that's what matters!”
“I… guess?”
She crossed her arms under her enlarged chest, having to adjust slightly to her new proportions.
“It’s bad wolfy, real bad, it's like you’ve gone backwards, like you’ve been starved and are wasting away from my point of view.” She shook her head. “I’m not having it, you need to be big and strong and huge so…” her eyes moved to the lake of dead Orcs. “Eat.”
“I can’t, I need to care- I need to look after you. You’re at risk from everything now Opal, you need protecting at every single moment.”
“Okay, and the best way you can do that is by getting bigger, more bigger means more safer, now gobble up all those dumb levelers. Come on, go go go.”
Rain glanced at Lyra who shrugged helplessly.
The Goblin girl took a wobbly step, getting used to her new size and center of balance, and then she circled behind Rain. She raised her hands and placed them on his rear, then leaned into him, shoving him forward with all her might.
Rain didn't move in the slightest, barely feeling her all her effort.
“C’mon already, you gotta get bigger for me to make up for me evolving!”
After a moment he stepped forward. It was true that he was ravenous, wandering through an ocean of trees with next to nothing filling to eat had not been a pleasant experience.
Opal stumbled behind him, having to catch hold of his tail to steady herself.
Rain reached down and picked up the chopped off arm of an Orc. Hesitantly he raised it to his teeth and bit into it.
“It’s not bad,” he muttered taking another bite.
“There see, now that wasn’t so hard was it?”
Rain looked out over the lake of Orcs, a lake of seven foot tall and very muscular Orcs, which made for an unbelievable amount of mass. Hundreds and hundreds of the crazed levelers had tried to kill him, and they had all failed, all died in the attempt. He supposed he should at least have a little recompense for the pain and injury they had inflicted on him... they would just be left to rot otherwise.
He finished the arm and reached out for more.
