Author note: So, a bit of bad news. There will very likely not be a chapter tomorrow. Will be heading across the country to my family and wont be home in time. My personal backlog is currently non-existent because of editing for the book releases and other stuff. I'm hoping to get that back in the summer holiday. I'll attempt to get an extra chapter somewhere across the week - but no promises. Sorry guys!-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Irwin watched the incoming Shadowy Oculithar go from a blurry outlining of a soulforce resonance to a massive thing that was pushed against part of the barrier left and above him.
Right, Greldo wasn’t lying about its size, he thought as he watched the tentacles sprawl out and reach for him.
He sensed the second one approach as he focused on the first. It would be a few moments before it was here, and he’d have to wait till then before he could fill the branch with flame. That didn’t mean he couldn’t do anything, though. He focused on his flame and began using it to rapidly fill his enormous body with kinetic energy. If he had to fight here, in a place where moving across the soundwaves would be hard or even impossible due to its limited size, it was the best thing he had to increase his speed.
As if sensing he was doing something, the Shadow Oculithar let out a high-pitched rattling and clicking sound. Two tentacles shot forward, bridging what was over two hundred feet as if it were within arm’s reach. Each almost blurred as they sped up the last twenty feet, and Irwin barely kept up, raising his gauntleted hands in their path.
One tentacle dodged his grip, and Irwin yanked his head sideways, using some kinetic energy to make the movement explosive enough for the tentacle to miss by a few feet. At the same time, he managed to grab the other while reaching for the second.
It was jerked back by the main Oculithar body, while Irwin sensed the other tentacles begin to spread around the edges of the branch, covering a third as they clearly prepared to assault him from all sides.
Irwin grinned maliciously as he clenched the squishy tentacle he had managed to grab and yanked at it, using the rapidly building Kinetic energy to make the move more explosive. The Oculithar didn’t even have a chance to react as it was dragged from where it had been pressed against the barrier and into the open. Irwin snapped his hand forward, summoning and releasing a hammer as big as his giant torso. It zipped forward as multiple tendrils drew back and in its path. The hammer slammed into them, barely slowed as it crashed through and into the Shadow Oculithar’s main body.
“Kid, the other one is here, stop playing around!”
Irwin blinked, lowering his hand, which had another hammer in it. A roaring anger had filled his mind. A desire to rip the thing apart, and it took him only a fraction of a second to realize why. The song of Luath and the others was still building in anticipation, and he could feel his own emotions react in tandem.
Taking a deep breath, he looked to the side where the second giant Shadow Oculithar had appeared, its tentacles already halfway towards him.
“Get ready,” he shouted at Luath, before pulling on his first soulcard.
Some hours earlier, when he’d fought just outside Igniz, he’d also summoned his flame, but he’d held it back. He had been next to the harbor, and he’d only had to deal with the cloud of tiny ones. Now? Now, he didn’t have to hold back.
A whoosh came while the ice below his feet melted almost instantly as the flame burst out of him. Fed by the kinetic energy he had been building, the heat from it immediately caused more kinetic energy to build up. A feedback loop grew in power, flame generating kinetic energy that filled his enormous body, which seemed willing to hold all of it, and kinetic energy feeding the flame. The only limiting factor, though he barely noticed it, was that it constantly drained some of his soulforce.
The flame rippled out, covering both Shadow Oculithar, which led to its rattling screams. When the flame slammed into the barriers, they lit up in a myriad of green and blue tints, pushing back against it. Not that Irwin could properly see it. The world around him was one of orange and yellow flame, and he shot forward, grabbing a tentacle of the second Oculithar.
Both seemed frozen from the sudden onslaught, but he knew it wouldn’t last long. He was about to call Luath when the Chaos Whale appeared in the center of the branch. Its bulk, added to those of Irwin and the two Oculithar, caused the already small branch to feel cramped.
Irwin barely noticed.
The two Oculithar had managed to push through the sudden shock, their skins all over their body bubbling, their eyes closed, though how much their eyelids would protect them Irwin didn’t know. What he did know was that they were trying to pull themselves free and move back into the shadowrealm, and the reason wasn’t just his flame. Tentacles that had been flailing about were retreating from Luath even faster than they were from him.
“Luath, kill them before they somehow manage to get away!”
Luath let out a booming song that promised violence as he shot across the small distance towards the nearest Oculithar. Mouth gaping open, he ripped into the base of a tentacle, its teeth slicing into the bubbling flesh. Pale blood splurted out, instantly vaporized, and the reaction was instant. The base of the tentacle ballooned as if being blown up, then exploded outward. Accompanied by a high-pitched rattling scream, the force managed to push both Luath and the flame back slightly, creating a momentary pocket of normalcy in the otherwise sea of fire.
It didn’t last, as the flame snapped back, and Irwin saw the base of the wound cauterized. Both tentacles he was holding began flailing about in an attempt to rip free, while he sensed the edges of the Oculithar trying to sink back into the shadow realm.
Neither did it do them any good, as he kept the tentacles clenched in his hands.
“Make sure you don’t do that to the ones I’m holding,” Irwin sent to Luath, who was already shooting towards the next tentacle base.
“Won’t! Fight! Kill!”
Irwin blinked at the response that sounded like three voices overlapping, though each was Luath’s.
He only had a moment to think on it, then all of the tentacles surged towards him, as if the two Oculithar had decided at the same time that he was what was keeping them in the place that was boiling, scorching, and killing them. One of the tentacles topped a few feet from him as Luath slammed into its base, then the rest reached him. They wrapped around his arms, legs, and torso, while one encircled his neck, the tip flailing before his face.
Irwin closed his eyes, holding back a grin as he felt the squeezing instantly cause the Kinetic energy buildup to explode with power. Before, it had been only his own flame building it. Now, the pressure of the two Oculithar joined it, and where before it felt like his giant body could hold an infinite amount, now he felt it rapidly approach the limits.
More flame!
Shoving every bit of kinetic energy into the flame, the orange and yellow around him began turning paler while the barrier in the distance lit up like a runic light. The tip of the tentacle stopped slapping his face, and Irwin took a quick look. The skin was actively melting, the top layer dripping away like oil before vaporizing.
Another explosion caused some of the tentacles around him to constrict for a short moment before weakening.
Irwin just kept feeding everything into his flame, as a third, then a fourth, and a fifth explosion caused one of the Oculithar to lose almost half their tentacles. The tentacles that were blown apart littered the dark rocky ground, which, instead of ice, was now covered in pale dust and bits of tentacle.
“Kid, they are trying to get in!”
Irwin blinked, his mind splitting from an aura clone that appeared beside Ambraz, who was hovering near the barrier of his soulscape. Outside, dozens of Shadow Oculithar were slamming their tentacles against his barrier. It was hard to determine their size, but if he had to guess, they were about half the size of the ones he was fighting right now.
“They just appeared out of nowhere,” Ambraz growled. “And more keep popping up.”
As if to show he was right, Irwin saw a Shadow Oculithar appear beside the others, joining them in battering the barrier.
“Not that it matters,” Ambraz said, letting out a snort. “They would need to be way bigger to cause any problem to your barriers.”
Why did you have to say that, Irwin thought, as he recalled the giant Oculithar that they had encountered a few times.
Ambraz must have realized the same thing as he let out a groan.
“Why are they even doing this?” Irwin muttered, sensing another tentacle being blown off.
“No idea. More importantly, how are they even getting here?!”
Irwin was about to answer when a much larger explosion drew his full attention back to the fight.
One of the two Oculithar was gone, large chunks scattered around all that remained of it. Some had slammed into the barrier, blue and purplish lightning rippling through them, keeping them stuck.
“Vengeance!”
The single word Luath roared was surrounded by a song and imagery so dense that Irwin could barely dissect it. Most of it seemed to be memories of Mikili’s pod, which Irwin and Luath had saved outside his soulscape, and how she’d been ripped from the quiet of a nebula where they had lived, to be chased and killed. Some parts were older, a deep-rooted hatred against that which hunted them.
Irwin felt his own desire for battle grow with it, and he glared at the remaining Shadow Oculithar. By now, its eyelids had melted, leaving nothing but empty holes behind, while the pressure from its tentacles was barely a squeeze.
“Finish it,” he sent to Luath.
--
Greldo hovered so deep in the shadowrealm that the real world looked more like a shadow than the realm around him. Even then, he shivered at the intensity of the heat he saw that filled the branch. Part of it was leaking through the entrances, and he hoped they wouldn’t actually break from whatever Irwin was doing to try to change the branch into an oven. An oven to cook two oculithar.
Fully understand why they are staying here, he thought, looking at the enormous tentacle that still drifted there, its top still out of view.
With the biggest Oculithar gone, the hierarchy had rapidly changed. Half of the next size category were now trying their best to eat away at the tentacle. The rest of those had disappeared, though he had no idea where. The same about some of the smaller ones, though the tiniest remained at the top, staying far from the depths of the shadowrealm where the bigger ones were eating, still content with the chunks that drifted up.
The thing is, I can’t let you stay here, he thought.
He glanced at where Irwin and Luath were decimating the giants before looking down into the depths of the shadow realm. Part of him wondered when he’d felt as if it were like a sea, but most of him didn’t care. He hesitated, then he began zipping further down, towards where he sensed the pulsing odity.
A warning came from Coal, filled with worry.
‘Don’t worry. I’ll stop if it gets dangerous, but we need to lure those things up, and I think the only way is to get whatever is keeping that tentacle here. If I break off the chunk of the ancient shadow realm, claim whatever is down there, I can try to move that tentacle up. Between that and whatever it is, we should be able to lure the smaller Oculithar out.’
A mix of hilarity, joy, and disbelief came from Coal, together with some images.
‘Sure, I know those smaller ones have tentacles the size of trees,’ Greldo replied as he focused on going deeper. He quickly passed the part where the Oculithar were feeding, hesitating as he looked deeper. Why weren’t they going deeper? Could there be another, bigger Oculithar down there?
Let’s hope there isn’t, and otherwise I should be able to get away. If it chases me… well, Irwin seems to be doing easy enough with those two. Something a little bigger should be fine.
He continued down, deeper into the shadow realm than he ever had before. He’d expected that things would get darker, harder to see, but the truth was the opposite. The deeper he went, the more clearly he could see - not down, but back up. The Oculithar that were eating from the giant tentacle were clear, as if it were early morning, while the real world behind it was now a fuzzy, pale glow that seemed to illuminate the rest.
It took him only a minute to follow the tentacle down till he saw an outline below - a jagged chunk of land that seemed to drift within the dark nothingness.
He stopped a few seconds later as he saw what was actually there.
Is that a crab?
He shivered as he looked at a crab the size of a house, holding on to the much bigger tentacle, while chewing on the bottom. It stood on a rocky outcrop of what looked like a small island. The center was covered in purplish and green vegetation, bigger versions of what he’d seen growing in his own shadow pocket. As his gaze passed over the center of the island, it froze, locking onto a larger outcrop.
A beautiful sense of tranquility and peace came from the island, though a deeper sense of chaos underlied it, and as he stared at it, Greldo realized something. It was the same feeling he got when looking at his own shadow pocket after the fish and other things had begun to appear. Just much, much stronger. It was also pretty clear why it was still there and not yet dissolved into the diluted shadow realm around him.
The thing below the center, even without seeing it, was sending out a sense of such stability that he had a moment of confusion. What was actually real? He looked up at the real world beyond, then back at the thing he couldn’t see. It felt as real as the real world…
I wonder what it is, he thought, staring at the point for a few seconds.
As he focused on what he was actually feeling, the sensation slowly turned into pressure and a scent, then into song, and a feeling. The moment lingered, then seemed condensed until it was all wrapped up into a single desire that seemed to want him to rush down to grab it.
A shove came from Coal, and Greldo shivered.
‘What?’
The idea came again, together with a shove, and Greldo looked down. Part of him had already been planning to try to distract the crab by taking whatever was there. That might let it release the tentacle, allowing him to drag it back up. It wasn’t a conscious and full plan, and Coal seemed to have another idea.
‘I can’t pull that entire thing into my shadow pocket,’ he said, staring at the island. It was roughly the same size as his current slice of land, perhaps even a bit bigger if it went down further.
Coal shoved him again, and Greldo snorted.
‘What do you mean, it will be fine?’
A rush of senses came from Coal that seemed to compare his current shadow pocket to a high-pressure area, deep below the sea that needed more… stuff?
He hesitated as he examined the shadow crab. It had shown no sign that it knew he was there, but that didn’t mean a thing. He knew he caused a lot of pressure within the shadowrealm, and he wasn’t all that far.
‘Fine, and how do you even suggest I pull that in? It’s not a…’
Greldo stopped as he looked at the land, then at the giant tendril, then at the land. He felt his lips go dry. Could he actually do that? His soulscape wasn’t remotely strong enough; that was true, but he’d never really checked what the maximum capacity of his shadow pocket was. He’d had half a fleet there, Irwin’s giantself, and even a large number of survivors. None had really caused an issue. He focused on it now, a thing that both existed in the shadowrealm around and wasn’t actually there. Tiny fish had been inadvertently moving around the periphery.
How does this even work? he thought as he focused on his shadowpocket and felt it almost materialize around him, like a condensed version of the shadowrealm… just like the island before him.
‘Fine. Let’s try,’ he thought as he floated sideways and down to avoid alerting the crab.
As he reached the edge of the chunk of land, he pulled his shadow pocket around him, allowing it to fully exist. How that worked, he had no idea, but it hovered below him, looking both small and giant in the vast blackness. As soon as it was there, one of the crab’s stalk eyes spun to him. Greldo hesitated, but the thing just kept watching him, so he moved closer until the edge of his shadowpocket, an area without land, touched the landmass.
A shock ran through him as he felt something connect to his own shadow pocket, then a shiver ran through the surrounding shadowrealm like a ripple in the sea as the entire chunk of land just became part of his own shadow pocket.
Instead of feeling the pressure of something added that he had to carry, Greldo felt his strength increase, and whatever tiny pressure the things he’d had within his shadow pocket caused vanished entirely. The edges around it pushed out, causing the influence he had to cover at least ten times as much as he’d had mere moments before.
What…
Greldo swallowed as he felt his senses, which usually told him roughly what was happening within the shadowrealm expand in a flash. It reminded him of how Irwin had described his soulforce senses. He could feel, for a moment, the thousands of tiny fish, crabs, and live forms that inhabited his initial shadow pocket and those in the new chunk, and with it came a momentary realization of what the solid thing buried within it was. A solid thing that was enormous, almost as big as the chunk of land it lay on, and which was slowly waking up.
A giant crab, Greldo thought as he watched an earthquake shake the new piece of land within his shadow pocket. The smaller crab, still bigger than he liked, was looking around before shivering. It let go of the tentacle and scuttled to a rocky area where it quickly dropped down and pulled its claws around it.
An enormous pressure pressed against Greldo’s mind, similar to Coal, and with it came a confused query.
“I…am a prospective Lord,” Greldo sent, shuddering at the power behind the dull, somewhat slow mind. He quickly brought out his Scion of the Naicht blade.
He could almost feel the senses focus on the blade, hover there for a moment. Then, the shaking stopped as Greldo felt the enormous crab return to sleep, seemingly content with what it had observed.
I guess now we know what cut off that Oculithar tentacle, he thought.
Coal shoved him again, and he nodded. He had to get out of here. He looked up to see the enormous tentacle still drifting there, the Oculithar seemingly not having noticed what was happening or not caring.
Well, let’s see what the new limit is, he thought.
He shot up to the disgustingly chewed-on end of a tentacle that rivaled any tree he’d ever seen. As his own part of the shadow realm moved across it, he sensed he could move it, and focusing solely on the tentacle, he drew it in.
The reaction was immediate as a screech tore through the shadowrealm around him. Above, the largest of the Oculithar spread their tentacles out and down, into his region. A sharp, painful pressure came with it, but before Greldo could even worry about it, the tendrils ripped back. The larger Oculithar backed up slightly, then began spreading out and moving towards him while the host of smaller ones rushed forward.
Greldo moved immediately, dashing sideways, deeper than up through the shadowrealm dodging the Oculithar, only to find himself rapidly being surrounded. Hundreds of clones of Coal popped up, rushing around the larger ones to try and distract them.
Either down or through, Greldo thought, feeling a shove from Coal.
He looked to the side, then prodded his shadow pocket.
Right, that’s true.
He shot forward, moving his own shadow pocket around himself and trying to make it as real as possible. Aiming for the cloud of smaller ones, he hit them on an edge as far from the larger ones as he could. Dozens of pinpricks hit his senses as the Oculithar were knocked away, and then he was through.
He continued upward, sometimes spinning around as he did to look behind him, only to find a host of Oculithar chasing after him.
Well, I hope you are ready for them, he thought, looking up and slowly seeing the real world return to focus.
One of the two giant Shadow Oculithar was still there, but it was reduced to only a handful of tentacles, while the entire world seemed made of fire.
Shit, he has to hurry up! They won't go up if the fire is still there!
He took a deep breath, then shot into his shadowpocket, into his manor.
Dahlia and Scintilla looked up in surprise, but Greldo had no time.
“Scintilla, use your other self to tell Irwin to hurry up! I am bringing the rest, but the fire has to be gone by then!”
He didn’t wait for her reaction and shot back out.
All around him, the fastest of the Oculithar had caught up, prodding the denser region of the shadowrealm for a way in.
Luckily, the bigger ones were still out of reach, and Greldo spun forward, dragging his realm with him, sideways through the shadow realm. He kept an eye on the real world, waiting. As soon as he saw the brightness fade, everything almost turned as black as below, and he shot back up. It took another few minutes before he could see what was going on, showing just how bright Irwin’s flame had been.
The previously still living Oculithar had been splattered apart while Irwin hung in the middle, his body covered in dust and burned and half-molting bits of Oculithar.
This is going to be a bit hot, Greldo thought as he reached the border and ‘stepped’ out of the shadowrealm and into reality.
The air was so hot that he felt like he had been slapped in the face, his lips dry within a moment.
“I can see them,” Irwin shouted from nearby. “I’ll move you into my soulscape as soon as they are here.”
Yeah, hurry, Greldo thought, barely able to breathe the scalding air.
The next few moments felt like an eternity, then Oculithar appeared everywhere, and Greldo instantly felt himself yanked away. The next moment, he was in a cool room within Irwin’s smithy, standing before a couch. He dropped himself down while a blueish Aura Clone of his friend appeared.
“Are you all right?” Irwin asked as a large can of water appeared in his hand, which he handed over.
Greldo took it and drained it in gulps that should make his friend proud before leaning back.
“Yeah, I am fine. Found the thing down there,” he said, before frowning. “What about you? Do I need to come out and help…?”
“Not yet,” Irwin said, his grin turning dangerous. “The small ones all burned or exploded as soon as I filled the branch with flame. The bigger ones seem mostly unable to flee, though you might have to check that later.”
Greldo looked at his friend, then shook his head as he looked at his still empty handslots.
“Can’t wait till Dahlia finally gets some cards ready.”
Irwin sighed and sat down on the couch on the other side, which looked really strange with him partially translucent.
“Don’t worry. She is a great cardsmith and will find a way.”
Greldo cracked his neck, pushing away his sudden wish he’d not been so quick with wanting a ruby-rank card.
“It’s fine,” he said, gently scanning the changes to his shadow pocket. “Besides, I have a feeling that if we can somehow combine my shadow sliver and my soulforce, things will get very interesting.”
He saw Irwin cock his head. “You found that thing?”
“Oh yes. I did,” Greldo said, nodding slowly.