I could feel pressure build up along my skin long before I even neared the spatial anomaly. It was a subtle build up I couldn’t quite place my finger on until Seek slowly started to shift directions further north. I stopped just shy of it.
”Is something wrong, Operator?” VGL asked. “This is the thirty-seventh time you’ve stopped since we left the town.”
”You’ve been keeping track of even that?” My ears twitched backward. There was… something. More than just the spatial anomaly. I couldn’t quite place my finger on it, but I’d been feeling something was wrong for a while now. The fur along my tail had puffed and flattened repeatedly.
”Affirmative. The Operator’s health is my number five priority.”
”So you keep saying.” I turned around fully to face the way we came, and settled down. “Quiet now.”
VGL pulsed once and then fell dead silent. I shifted back a few steps, and dropped down into the tall grass with my vi-rifle pointed out toward the Mire. I wasn’t totally sure what it was, but it was almost… too silent? I couldn’t quite place it. My wet rag of a tail curled along my hip, and settled against my side.
I waited for thirty minutes before something changed. I thought I’d see a shadow approach. Just like every time I stopped to wait for something to come from behind, there was nothing.
Tension filled the air, and only increased with each passing moment. I could feel eyes watching me, almost. My fur instinctively raised, and pressure mounted on my shoulders. There was something. I just couldn’t see it yet.
Another thirty minutes passed. Whatever it was knew we were here, lying in the grass to wait. It got bored before I did. A warm, older voice called out. “Hello?”
A chill went through my spine at the sudden voice. A brief, short-lived hope followed right after it. Am I really not alone out here?
I knew better than to call out, though. There were all sorts of calamities that could imitate the human voice. Just last night, I was kept awake by one. It was much, much more likely to be some monstrosity than a person all the way out here. That, and it sounded way too similar to the one I heard back at the destroyed convoy.
”I’m sorry… I didn’t want to scare you.” The voice called out amiably. Every instinct in my body said not to reply, and yet I found myself wanting to anyway. “Hello? Are you still here?”
My breathing slowed to a crawl. A minute passed, and a shadow slowly appeared against the distant fog. It was massive, and lumbering. The two-headed bear should’ve been making a ton of noise while moving, and yet it remained entirely silent as it approached.
My finger froze on the trigger. Out here… I likely wouldn’t be able to outrun the creature. I’d need to slow down and rest at some point, too. That was exactly what it seemed like it was waiting for. Nothing was better than getting prey that tired itself out. Continuing further was a recipe for disaster.
Hiding from it… not possible. Not here, at least. This thing had some serious tracking capability to find me all the way out here from the forest. Did it know I slipped its hunt the first night? Was it just playing with me?
Could I kill it, though? This thing seemed incredibly intelligent. Chances were high it wasn’t some garden-variety calamity. Maybe top thousand, or it might have a calamity core…
After hesitating for a moment longer—
Vzzt!
A bolt slammed into the creature’s face, and it staggered backward. A dozen more bolts followed afterward and lanced into its fur. The bear straightened up, and lifted its head high despite the bolts of light. “RAHHHH!”
I shot to my feet, and sprinted toward the spatial anomaly. My ears twitched back toward the bear. Instead of giving chase, it remained—
I glanced over my shoulder instead of relying on my hearing, only to find the bear rapidly closing the gap to me. I tossed myself into a roll, and the bear sprinted past me like a freight train.
It continued for a few moments, and then slowly came to a stop. It turned toward me, and its footfalls became hearable once more. The spots I hit across its fur were singed, but it didn’t seem to care. Its two heads lifted in unison toward my direction. Both of them had four eyes for a total of eight.
A familiar child’s voice spilled out of one. “So you saw through me?”
”A wolf?” The older voice lost its amiable edge. Instead, it was filled with hunger. It’s eyes lasered onto me. “I’ve never tasted a wolf before.”
I didn’t bother mincing words with a calamity, and pulled the trigger once more. A bolt slammed into its eye, and the bear let out a furious shout of pain. Without letting up for a moment, it charged again.
My aim shifted to its eyes. I only got off a dozen shots before it lunged at me with a bite. I sidestepped and whipped my axe forward to block its maw. Its sheer strength of the blow made me stagger backward, and it caught the tomahawk with its teeth.
I ripped my axe backward, and sent a kick flying at its face. My hand dropped back toward a scavenged grenade—
I flopped down and rolled underneath a heavy body slam. The beast whooshed over my head, and I got in a good slice across its side. Sizzling blood poured down onto me. With my posture already shattered, I couldn’t hope to dodge as its hind leg snapped back and caught me in the chest. Pain flared, though I barely managed avoid the majority of the blow.
The bear continued a few steps, and then flicked back around. It circled for a moment to let me get back up to my feet before charging once more with a furious bite. My axe snapped into my hand, and I swung forward to hit its neck—
Wumph!
The golden blade barely cut in before its paw lashed out and slammed me in the chest once more. The bite was just a feint. The realization hit me a moment too late. I was thrown clear off my feet by the sharp impact, and rolled backward. Pebbles and rocks dug up into my arms and body with each roll.
”Ugh.” I staggered back up to my feet before it could approach. A familiar pain flared up from my ribs. My vi-rifle was torn from my strap, and lay halfway between me and the bear calamity. My axe was still held tightly in my grasp, though.
“That was a good hit,” the child-voice said. The bear lifted its paw to its neck and wiped away blood instead of charging after me again. “It’s been a long time since I felt pain.”
“We could’ve dodged that one,” the elder grumbled. The calamity started to walk back and fore just in front of me instead of approaching directly. “We should’ve just killed her when we had the chance.”
”And lose our play thing? This is the most excited we’ve been in years.” The child-voice laughed gleefully.
I coughed heavily, and slowly lowered my stance. I could recognize what was happening. The beast was playing with its food like a cat and a mouse. I held the glowing head of my axe forward, and carefully watched it. I hadn’t expected a calamity of all things to mix feints into combat. This wasn’t just any regular creature.
A rough, gravelly laugh erupted from the mouth of the elder-voice. ”What, cat got your tongue?”
”I don’t think she’s much of a talker.” The young-head’s lips pulled back into a human-like grin. “Might taste a bit stringy.”
While it mocked me, I quickly formed a plan. It had me outmatched in strength and speed. Endurance wasn’t an option. My gun was gone, and there was no telling what I’d have to sacrifice to get a good hit in with my axe—
”I’m bored.” The young-head sighed dramatically. “They’re no fun when they don’t scream.”
”Enough.” The bear turned on me all at once and charged. Instead of continuing to face it, I sprinted in the opposite direction.
My side pulled with every step. Despite it all, I threw my everything into sprinting as fast as I possibly could. The ground disappeared underneath me at an alarming rate, and Seek continued to shift to the side.
“S-stay away!” I shouted with a tremble to my voice. If it wanted to play, then I’d let it play. This was the last game it’d ever get.
“So she can speak!” The bear slowed behind me, and instead followed at just quick enough of a pace to let me tire myself out. “If you obediently become our pet, we’ll let you live!”
I hid my vicious glare, and forced my tail to twitch in terror. Once I felt Seek snap to the side, and vertigo filled my mind, I turned back toward the bear. I lifted my axe, and it swayed back and forth. “S-stay back! Don’t make me do this!”
“Something’s wrong.” The elder-head’s eyes narrowed on me. “This doesn’t feel right.”
“Relax! That hit just has her reeling. Just a bit of pain, and these humans can’t even handle it!” The young-head lowered toward me, and licked at its lips. “So what will it be? Obedience, or death?”
“… do you have a core?” My voice trembled faintly. I couldn’t tell if it was from the pain in my side or my acting skills.
”Of course we do.” The young-head grinned, and lifted its head proudly. “Your new master is—“
”I’d rather die.” I spat out venomously and raised the axe to my own throat. Rage built up inside of me. Who did this bastard think he was?
“No!” The bear suddenly stopped playing around and charged at me. The distance it left open between us slipped away in an instant.
The moment it lunged to tear my arm off, I dropped onto my back and jabbed my legs forward. I caught the paw, and redirected the motion. In one smooth move, I pulled it into a throw. The momentum and weight of the bear, mixed with my own slightly enhanced strength, proved just enough.
The momentum and bulk of the bear shifted to my advantage. I rammed my fist into its injured side, and jerked away empty-handed. The creature launched backward, and heavily slammed into the ground just behind me. It quickly jumped back to its paws.
”Bye.” I lifted an empty pin, and twirled it around my finger. I took an odd amount of delight in watching the realization dawn on the object of my wrath’s face.
”You bitch!” The bear lunged to its side to dig out the—
Boom!
The grenade I slammed into its exposed wound exploded, and sent it staggering back. While it was distracted, I darted in the opposite direction. The dust and debris stirred by the explosion hung in the air for a moment, and then slowly started to suck back toward an unknown source.
“Is that it?” Laughter erupted from the bear’s head, and it grinned at me through the explosion. Several of its teeth were knocked out, and blood poured from its maw. So it managed to get it out after all. “Think you can kill me with just that?!”
”You’re already dead.” I dropped back onto my rear, and stared up at the two-headed bear. I’d been alert and walking the entire day even before the sprint, so my legs felt like lead.
“What are you—“ The bear’s eyes widened, and it hurriedly took a step forward. Its hind legs had already lost their traction though. Its paws scrambled across the ground as it was slowly lifted into the air.
“You—you!” Both voices screamed in despair. It was already far too late, though. It flipped head over ass and was plucked off the ground like a flower lost in the wind. It whipped backward at an insane speed and disappeared beyond the fog.
I stared after it for a long moment, and slowly got my breathing back under control. I pressed gently at my side, and quietly muttered, “yeah. Me.”
My forlorn voice echoed in the sudden silence, and made me wince. The boiling rage slowly died into a simmer, and I staggered to my feet. Honestly, not the worst injury I’d gotten in the past couple days…
I wiped my axe on my pant leg and slid it back into place. “Still with me, VGL?”
”Affirmative.” The Titan core’s red light started to glow once more. “The Operator has expressed dissatisfaction with this unit speaking during combat.”
”Mhmm. Can’t afford to be distracted.” Though he did help me with that deer thing. So he could listen, after all. VGL-09–“Can I call you Vigil?”
”… do whatever you want, Operator.” Vigil cast a light back behind me. “Your rifle is that way.”
”Thanks.” I stretched out, and slunk back toward my rifle with my tail twitching. Vigil—yeah, I liked that. Made him feel a little less alien. Not to mention the mechanical bastard was keeping constant vigil over me despite my requests.
I snatched my rifle up out of the mud, and wiped the receiver off on my soaked shirt. Instead of continuing the journey to Silverport, I abruptly swapped the target of Seek. My ability didn't work on the living, but the bear was no longer living, was it?
A connection slowly formed and pointed me through the spatial anomaly. I licked my lips, and tried to ignore the aching in my fingers. It was a bit out of my way, but I had more than a few reasons to find its corpse. The main one was digging out its calamity core, ‘course.
Not all calamities were equal. Those with cores were significantly smarter and stronger than those without. More importantly, having a core allowed a calamity to better resist the effects of radiance. They could more easily slip into cities.
Leaving one out here where any wandering calamity could absorb it and then enter Silverport wasn’t an option. Having one would be a nice bit of insurance with Hades, too. I was previously told to get materials, so maybe I could trade it in for an inhibitor when the time came? Assuming I even got back to the city…
I found the bear beyond three more direction changes just next to where the ground started to dip into the divide. Its corpse was relatively intact, though the back half had been flattened into a gore filled pancake. As soon as I approached, a silver light started to grow in its chest.
Rend’s silver claws grew from my hands, and I dug through its chest toward the light. As soon as I found it, I ripped my hand out with the massive organ. The claws distorted, and formed a silver ball around the heart.
Just when I thought nothing else would happen, the ball slowly shrunk. With each movement, I felt pulses of satiating warmth radiate through me. The silver ball continued to shrink until nothing was left, and then returned back to being claws.
++ 10 Vitae Absorbed ++
“That’s seventeen, then?” I didn’t feel any different. Well, aside from slightly sated. I licked my lips and stared down at the mangled corpse. It’d really been a long time since I had meat, huh?
“Sixteen, Operator. This unit possesses one.” Vigil corrected me.
”… you were serious about that?” If it didn’t even take the bet, then what was the damn point of taking one of my Vitae?
Something in my voice must’ve tipped off the clanker. For once, he actually showed a bit of social grace. ”Are you taking the gift back, Operator Vargriev?”
”No.” If he wanted one, then fine. Not like I had much use for the things, anyway. “If you call me Reyna instead, Vigil.”
”This unit… will try, Oper—Reyna.” VGL’s core flashed several times as if he was disappointed in me.
The rush of warmth I felt rapidly faded. Right, why would he want to call my name? “Nevermind.”
”Are you sure, Operator?” VGL asked.
”I… yeah, I’m sure.” It was stupid, really. What did it matter what the bot called me? I shook my head and stabbed my claws into the bear’s chest once more to start digging for the calamity core. After a few moments, I plucked it out.
The silver claws dug deep into the core, and another source of warmth started to flood into me. I flinched, and nearly dropped the thing. “What? No? What are you doing?”
The nanite strain didn’t listen to me and continued to absorb the calamity core. I moved to grab it with my other hand… but it was just so warm. I was so, so cold. I closed my eyes, and slowly sunk into the satiating warmth. It was only once a message popped up that I snapped back to myself.
++ 5 Vitae Absorbed ++
… did I just consume a calamity core? Am I still me? Am I still Reyna? A disgusting feeling welled up inside of my chest, and I ripped my hand away as if I’d just been burned. Consuming cores… that was something only calamities did. Had I already corrupted and not realized it?
My heart pounded in my chest, and I looked down toward my only companion. ”… Vigil?”
”Yes, Operator?”
“Is… is this normal?” The claws sunk back into my flesh, and disappeared. The black streaked silver nanites burned across my hand. I slumped down, and leaned over the calamity’s corpse.
“… negative. An Immunosuppressant strain may help your condition, but this unit shows an increasingly low probability of acquiring one.” VGL’s light flashed across me, and settled just over my heart. “You are not yet terminal, Operator Reyna Vargriev.”
”Heh, thanks.” I pushed myself back upright, and took a step back from the corpse. Taking pity from a robot… And right after he just told me my condition wouldn’t improve, at that. Just how far had I fallen?
I looked up toward the sky instead of pondering that any further, and checked the position of the sun. I still had a bit of time to travel. I wasn’t sure if I could cross the entire divide today, but at least there didn’t seem to be anything lurking in the center of this spatial anomaly. I might be able to get some decent rest if I could find a dry piece of ground.
“What do you think the odds are that we run into something else?” I asked quietly.
”Low, Operator.” Vigil’s eye flicked across the divide. “I bet one Vitae we don’t run into any other calamity over the next three days.”
“Deal.” Easiest win of my life. There was no chance the journey remained uneventful. Vigil seemed just as confident, and warmly pulsed in acknowledgment as I slid down into the divide.