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Monarch of Profound Toxin - Chapter 15
🕑 Added 2024-09-18 18:07:07 +0000 UTCEik prepared to land on his feet, but the moment he entered the fracture, everything changed. What had been up became down. Left became right. Front became back. His brain could not make sense of what was going on. This was not something that should happen to a human.
But before he could even begin to comprehend what was going on around him, he got a mouthful of grass as the air was knocked out of him. With how much his head was spinning, Eik couldn’t quite seem to get his feet under him.
“Hrust vi kek, di re gi runka men gigi mandraka?” a gentle voice said. For some reason it was as if he had been sleeping for an entire night, because Eik found it impossible to open his eyes more than a crack for the blinding sun light above.
“Drik di gravask vi ran mo?” the voice seemed to ask. It sounded like a young man.
Blocking the light with a hand in front of his face, Eik tried to get a glimpse of the person, but all he could see was a dark silhouette. “I don’t—, I don’t understand what you’re saying, mate,” he gasped. “Can’t you turn on that translation thing your friend used?”
Then it struck him where he was and for a moment he hesitated. “Also… please don’t kill me,” he added.
The man kept talking as he reached down and hauled Eik to his feet by the forearm. This guy, like Atla, looked entirely human. His hair was black, unlike her bubblegum pink, so he looked even more ordinary. He didn’t have a beard. Not just in the sense that he was clean shaven, but in the sense that there wasn’t the slightest hint of hair growth on his face.
He looked like an adult, but maybe that was simply something his particular kind of human didn’t have. Maybe they had evolved out of it. Eik scratched his own chin where week-old stubble grew in dark strands.
“Where am I?” he tried, harboring little hope for an intelligible answer.
“Di kun wahuni kana,” the man said with a puzzled expression.
“Right… Of course.”
The man walked up to the fracture and circled it once before coming back to Eik, who was looking around the place he had landed. A domed ceiling of smooth, white stone encompassed most of the space, low, undecorated walls completing an almost perfect half sphere. There was only one exit, but a large opening in the peak of the dome let in plenty of natural light.
For some reason, instead of the same white stone for the floor, a well kept, lusciously green lawn with an old fruit tree growing peacefully in the middle provided a sense of comfort even for Eik in his situation.
“Drik di Atla gigi miindara ran?” the man said, pointing indicatively at the still open fracture.
“Atla?” Eik asked pointedly and gestured to the fracture as well.
“She. Threw. Me,” he said, enunciating every word.
“Through. The. Fracture,”
“Like. A. Maniac.”
He tapped his temple with a finger. “She is—”
“What?” Atla said, stepping out of the fracture without the slightest hint of discombobulation. “What am I?”
Eik spun in surprise, inhaling sharply. “B-Beautiful and benevolent!”
“Ka re gi runka men gigi mandraka?” the man asked her.
“He’s the new ambassador between the Nidafjeld Alliance and TX497-81414. He’s a weakling, though,” she said.
Eik “I understood that, you know…” he muttered. Standing next to her and talking like this was a very different feeling compared to watching her from afar as she overwhelmed the leaders of his city. It felt more intimate, and most of the pressure she had exerted back there had been withdrawn.
“Ah, right, sorry,” Atla giggled.
“Also, I don’t remember agreeing to anything like an ambassadorship.”
The man asked something else and Atla prioritized answering him. “He was the only interesting one there.”
“I’m just a regular guy, though,” Eik said.
“Of the more than a thousand Awakened surrounding me, among whom you were one of the weakest, by the way, who was the only one who called out to me?” she countered.
“What about Travis Lockwood?”
She smiled. “I picked him out myself because he was the strongest there. I didn’t leave him much choice in the matter, did I?”
“Boulder Fist Gary? All the others who shouted or shot arrows?” Eik tried, but all he got in response to that one was a skeptical raise of her eyebrow. “But you said it yourself. I’m weak.”
“People start out weak. Then they get strong.” She said it so matter-of-factly that he didn’t know how to respond. “I see you thinking that I picked you randomly because I don’t take this seriously. That is not the case. I’m looking for someone with grit and guts. Not necessarily strength. I’m not just looking to recruit one of your established leaders who’s going to tell me whatever I want to hear to manipulate a better deal. I want someone who can become a true link in a long-lasting relationship and you look like a fine candidate.”
“This seems like an awful way to do it.”
She laughed. “We probably do it differently than you’re used to, huh?”
“It doesn’t feel very formal,” he agreed.
“It is and it isn’t,” she said. “The alliance itself is certainly a formal and very complicated pact, but the relationship between you and I, and whoever you come to know from our side,” she said and gestured to the man. “should not be only that. We need trust between us.”
Eik looked to the black haired man, but he didn’t offer much support either. Eventually he sat back down in the grass, cursing under his breath. “So you said you’d help me?”
“Will you do as I request and act as the link between the Nidafjeld Alliance and your Earth?”
“Can I think about it?”
She chuckled. “Alright, but not for too long. Are you hungry?”
Eik looked up at her with a frown. “You said you’d help me.”
“And I will. Does it look like I have anything here, in this bare room?” she said, gesturing widely.
“No…” he said and got up.
“Good, then let’s go.”
When they got outside, two guards posted on each side of the exit looked at Eik with some suspicion, but he barely noticed that as his eyes were glued to the view. They were on a hill, raised above a sprawling city below. The domed building from which they’d come appeared to be the sole structure up here, otherwise surrounded by a small copse of trees.
The buildings down below appeared to be mostly single and double story. Countless splotches of green scattered among the houses spoke of a fondness for nature. In the center, an indescribably large palace stood in stark contrast to the rest of the city, several pointy spires reaching for the clouds like the tallest of skyscrapers.
What appeared to be natural rock formation elevated the palace above the rest of the city in a way that made it look as if a giant hand had simply reached down and placed it haphazardly on top of everything that was already there.
“Wh—” Eik mumbled.
“This is the host world for the Nidafjeld Alliance and that,” she said with a grin, pointing to the palace. “is the headquarters of the Alliance.”
“The rest of the city looks kind of…”
“Ordinary?” she finished for him. “Even here, there are plenty of ordinary people with no personal ties to the Nidafjeld Alliance. And many people aren’t interested in growing powerful. They just want to live their lives quietly with their families. Is Earth not the same?”
Eik shrugged. He couldn’t deny that.
Her eyes caught his, that same depth and intensity from back in Forest assaulting his senses and making his stomach drop. He swallowed. “How strong are you? Are you stronger than B-rank?” he found himself asking, curiosity momentarily taking control. All he got back was a playful smile.
They descended the hill, a winding, well-trodden dirt path leading all the way to the bottom. The houses were mostly square structures made of wood and stone, and not particularly alien-looking at all.
“Surprised?” Atla asked.
“It just reminds me quite a bit of home. And people look human too.”
“A lot of the sentient races that make it this far tend to share similarities, both physically and emotionally. Not always, mind you, but more often than you might have expected.”
Children ran past in play, neighbors talked on each other’s doorsteps, and people tended to their gardens in peace. It felt very familiar.
“Did you come to Earth because we’re the same?” he asked.
Atla pursed her lips. “Hmm, I guess there’s some truth to that, yes, but we also have many allies with whom you would probably feel little initial kinship. Like a race of four-armed people who evolved from insects, bodies covered in chitin and with glossy, black eyes with no pupil you can see your own reflection in. They’re quite amicable, though,” she laughed.
“Ah,” she said and pointed down the street. “See that old, rusty sign there? That’s one of my favorite places to eat around here.”
Eik eyed her with an expression of disbelief. “That’s your favorite place? Aren’t you rich?”
“It’s just nice to get away from all those self-important types from the palace sometimes, you know?” she told him. “The people around here are just more—”
She was interrupted as a man crashed through one of the windows of the tavern they were headed for, glass shards scattering across the street. Another man kicked the door open and started beating his downed opponent, taking a few solid fists to the gut himself. They looked like F-rankers, or maybe E-rankers.
Atla stepped around the pair and led the way to a vacant table inside. “—relaxed and down to earth,” she finished, drawing glances from Eik and the black haired man, who had come with them from the domed arrival building.
She ordered three of whatever she was having as she told Eik about Earth’s new status quo. The Unified Mass, as all the Awakened had received messages about on their wooden plaques, was the term that described the collection of worlds that had been inducted as Earth had. That was, as far as the peoples of the oldest worlds knew, the origin of the super powers. Countless worlds had been inducted, and countless had been annihilated. The Unified Mass was not a peaceful place to exist, and one needed allies to survive.
The Nidafjeld Alliance was one such collection of allies, and all the civilizations within enjoyed the benefits of the covenant.
“Say I agree to be the middleman between Earth and the Nidafjeld Alliance, where would I live?”
She set down her cup of whatever it was and stuck a fork-like utensil into some kind of meat. “Wherever you want, basically.”
“Could I stay on Earth?” he asked, perking up.
“Ob cors,” she assured him through a mouthful of food and swallowed. “You’ll have to visit us here sometimes, of course, but otherwise you’re pretty free to choose.”
Eik nodded, chewing on both Atla’s words and on whatever this duck-like meat was.
It was delicious. Better even than roast duck on Earth.
“What is this anyway?” he asked, holding up a piece.
“Brisik.”
“Is it some kind of bird?”
“No, it lives underground, actually.”
“Oh…” he said, giving the meat another glance. “What’s going to happen now?”
“I guess we’ll show you around the headquarters. Or at least some of it,” she said as she wiped her mouth with a napkin and got up from her chair. “There’s also something else I’d like to check,” she said cryptically.
“Mikla, can you…?” She waved a finger in circles, glancing at the black haired man, whose name seemed to be Mikla.
He looked at her like she was crazy. “Koko kade di mub jira’an gu gelga shi?”
“Don’t argue with me and just do it!” she said with mock irritation.
Mikla rolled his eyes and chopped the air with a swift motion, drawing a narrow, glowing line through space. A second later it expanded into a small, person-sized fracture that cracked into existence with a hum like a light saber. Despite knowing that they must have been able to produce fractures somehow, given that Atla had come out of one, seeing this man literally draw one out of empty air was heart-stopping.
The rest of the patrons quickly moved to the walls, shock painted on their faces, whispered words exchanged among them. Eik couldn’t help but fear the fracture, expecting monsters to flood out at any moment.
Atla made to grasp the collar of his shirt again, but he stepped back, raising his hands. “Hey, wait, wait. I can do it myself this time!” He stepped through, grumbling to himself.
This time was not nearly as stomach-turning or mind-twisting, and Eik managed to keep his feet under him as he stumbled into a large, well-lit hallway, windows spanning from floor to ceiling on both sides. Shortly after, both Atla and Mikla followed, the fracture seeming to swallow itself as it disappeared.
“What is this place?” Eik asked.
“Headquarters,” she said.
“Is it okay for me to be here?” He didn’t want some B-ranker to mistake him for an intruder and transform him into a red mist with a casual backhand.
“As long as you’re with me, you can be wherever I take you. But don’t wander off, okay?”
He nodded, his heart picking up speed as everything suddenly became even more real. How the hell had he gotten himself into the halls of the headquarters of an inter-dimensional super alliance?
As they walked down the very long, window-lined hall, Atla pointed to things outside and told him tidbits of information. Numerous courtyards and gardens made for a diverse environment within the palace grounds. They passed several training areas where people were either sparring or practicing by themselves or with instruction, using all kinds of abilities.
“Do you practice here as well?” he asked Atla.
She followed his gaze. “Not usually, no. I can’t really train seriously here. We have other, sturdier grounds elsewhere.”
At some point, they turned down one of the many branching walkways that led outside. They came to a stop by one of several raised stone platforms where Awakened practiced. Boys and girls in their early teens were listening to instructions from a bald, brawny man with tattoos down his shoulders, who would have reminded Eik of Older Fist Gary if not for his seemingly calm and kind demeanor.
“What rank are those kids?” Eik asked.
Mikla, who had left and come back after getting somebody to use a translation ability on him, answered. “Probably mostly F-rank.”
“Wouldn’t they have passed F-rank by now, being that old?” Eik wondered.
“Kids don’t awaken until they reach a certain physical and mental maturity, so they’re all fresh.”
Eik watched a bit more, eyes wandering to a spar on the adjacent platform, where two fighters wielding swords danced around each other, exchanging cautious blows. They seemed to share a style.
Suddenly Atla clapped her hands together. “Alright, I guess that kid will do,” she said to herself and pointed at one of the teens on the platform.
“Do what?” Eik asked.
She looked at him with a wide smile, seeming to enjoy herself immensely. “Why, fight with you, of course.”
