Chapter 620: Keeping busy

Mason was having so much fun, he almost forgot why he was fighting. But his divine title flared and he knew Demi and the others must have been getting closer. He wasn’t sure that was wise, but he trusted them. He also felt Streak springing towards closer, which would make the killing even better.

He hoped the creatures would all stop and fight right here and forget the city. He’d work on his wings. Streak could test out Transformation’s limits through Pack Brother. They hadn’t really fought a big challenge

together

in awhile. They could make a whole day of it.

He was also dripping with blood, acid, and venom. His skin and eyes burned, but that was nothing new. The undead were coming at him from every angle and in countless variety, the little patch of light bathing them all from the hole in the cloud above.

He couldn’t seem to hurt the altar through that golden shield, but he’d smashed the shit out of their stupid little construction project. What was left of it lay scattered in piles of metal and bone on the ground.

“That’s a real shame,” he said, ripping apart another skeleton builder as it went for the pieces. He picked one up and tossed it about five hundred feet away. “Oh dear. That looked important.”

Several snake-man-constructs hissed and coated him with venom again from several angles. There was no escaping it unless he jumped off.

His many resistances to undead and poison flared. He closed his eyes and wiped some off, spitting as he tried to get some off his lips.

“Why can’t it just be swords, or whatever? Why is it

always

disgusting?”

The snake-men-constructs slithered at him with fangs bared from distended jaws. He crushed a couple and dodged around his clearing, refusing to take hits from snakes of any kind unless strictly necessary.

He wasn’t

afraid

of them anymore. And maybe anything, except losing people he cared about. But he still just found them…gross. Really gross.

A big, furry object came flying through the air, and Mason grinned as Streak crushed a snake and tumbled over with a whiny growl. He stood and gave a happy look, tongue hanging as his head quirked.

“I told you the boots are harder than they look,” he said. “Yeah you did look stupid. Oh look out.”

A giant skeleton drove a spear into Streak’s ass. The wolf howled and spun, ripping the thing’s arm off. Mason crossed the gap and started raking and smashing again with Shapeshifted claws. He’d found it was easier to break bones and swap back to the weapons this way, and no-one was around to get freaked out anyway.

“Well what did you think would happen?” He rolled his eyes as Streak whined and jumped at another skeleton. “We’re in the middle of an army!”

The wolf took half a dozen more hits as they fought, but Mason wasn’t worried. He’d long ago given up teaching the wolf to ‘dodge’. He took some with Shared Pain, letting most just heal with his now shared passives. Killing the wolf next to him wasn’t much different than killing

him

. Unless it was something with truly horrific hitting power, he just didn’t worry anymore.

They broke bone and stone and made a big, glorious mess. Some kind of mummy-like creature threw a smoke bomb at them, which finally flared Apex Predator and made him swap a few affinities. He cut his way to the mummy and ripped it half.

Then there was another mummy with a sword and shield. This one moved like one of those zombies in a newer movie, where it jumped around and actually knew how to fight. Streak grabbed it out of the air by a leg. Mason ripped off its head.

He was about ready to work on his wings again when the golden altar made a sound like a bell. A force burst out strong enough it staggered him a few steps, then the light grew brighter and brighter until he had to squint and look away.

“Phase two,” he mumbled. “Are we fighting blind? I think we’re fighting blind.”

The skeletons, unsurprisingly, weren’t bothered. They renewed their attack, and Mason thrashed around with his arms up to protect his head. Streak was whining and growling as he covered his face or ran around in little circles.

“What do you want me to do? It’s the stupid altar thing and I can’t break it. I tried.” He rolled his eyes as Streak kept on pouting. “Jump off and get Blake then. Maybe he can figure out a way to…”

The wolf leapt and left him there without a second of hesitation.

“I’ll be fine!” He shouted after it. “Don’t worry about me. Even though I was excited to fight together!”

Something clubbed him in the cheek, and he growled and rammed his forehead into its stupid face. Or chest. Well he really had no idea, but it exploded. With some kind of goo.

He sighed and wiped a dirty arm over his face. Apparently it was sticky, and now in his fur. He spun away swiping, feeling his marilith arms still stabbing away without the slightest hesitation. So that was neat. The magic sword apparently didn’t need him to see. You learned something every day.

**

Blake blinked as a flying wolf landed and rolled in front of his chariot.

“Well hello Streak,” he said. “That’s a new power. How exciting.”

The wolf hopped up and waved his head for Blake to follow.

“Afraid I have orders, my large, hairy friend. I’m to guard the baggage train like a good soldier. No adventures for me.”

Streak stared at him with those glowing green eyes. The giant creature was almost as big as Blake’s chariot now, and covered in bone dust and bits of shattered dead things.

It was a kind of disconcerting thing to have stare at you under any circumstances. And it gave no impression of understanding, just making the same head gesture again. Blake turned to Demi with a sigh.

“Can you possibly explain in wolf, my dear? Or…feed him. Or something.”

The lovely Oklahoma native met the wolf’s eyes and locked into some kind of staring contest. Blake watched in fascination, deciding it might be rather useful to figure out ‘mind powers for animals’.

“Mason said he needed your help,” Demi explained. “Something about a glowing light.”

Mason? Asking for help? Even

more

intriguing. And now that it was mentioned, Blake did see some kind of bright light in the distance. But with all the bodies and dust and darkness from the sky above, it was a bit hard to see anything.

He put a hand to his chin. A request from Mason certainly trumped an order from Phuong. But the player army had arranged itself and was now pushing into the enemy horde. They were out there flashing with magic and earning their little glory. He was sure it was all very exciting.

Blake (and Demi) were just supposed to guard their rear and cover anyone who needed to fall back. An important job, to be sure, and one he was more than capable of doing. He was also on a ‘make everyone important happy’ quest, and ‘everyone important’ definitely included Phuong.

“Navi?” His construct floated above his face. “Go and tell Phuong that my brother requested my service, please. But I defer to his judgment. If he needs me here, then here I shall remain.”

The floating light zipped off as instructed, and he waited in his chariot with a sigh. Streak jerked his head even

more

dramatically to follow, as if Blake were some kind of idiot.

“So,” he looked at Demi and smiled. “I can see you’ve been blessed with eternity like my brother and the late great emperor. How

did

you do it? Any tips for us mere mortals?”

He could tell he made the poor girl uncomfortable. With the exception of Haley, his brother wasn’t really into the…gregarious, social type. It seemed he preferred simple and pretty—a good, clean farmer’s daughter, back before the madness.

Demi shrugged like she hadn’t thought about it and hadn’t expected anyone to be interested. Blake made sure not to roll his eyes as he waited.

“I…didn’t do anything, really. As soon as I got my prestige class it just happened. It’s to do with Gaia.”

“Ah yes, Gaia.” Blake clucked his tongue. “Had I known immortality was one seduction away, I might have picked nature, too. I’m afraid my patron would be the type to

promise

immortality, but then give me each year on a case by case basis.”

He smiled, but the girl looked so confused or unsure what to say he just turned back and waited on Navi.

“Your brother…” Demi said a little while later, which got him to turn back. “What was he like…before all this?”

Blake grinned, letting a few memories play in his mind. He blocked out the ones with his parents or friends, trying to eject these into some mental partition or another.

“The same, really. Stoic. A boy who looked at the world and didn’t enjoy the experience. Grumpier, if you can believe it. But not so serious.”

Demi smiled at this, at least. Blake sighed and watched the battle, knowing Mason was in there somewhere, punching the biggest bully he could find.

“No,” he said again, “not so different.” He turned to the girl and smiled. “I apologize if I’ve been…an ass. Change is difficult. I can see you love my brother, and that makes us family, don’t you think?”

He could see the girl was worried he was setting up some new verbal trap, but eventually she nodded.

“Good.” He took one of her hands in both of his before she could consider pulling away. “I’m afraid you’ll have to learn to tolerate me. I’m mostly harmless. Just trying to keep busy. Entertained.” He winked. “Classic little brother. But you just tell me when I’m too much.”

Demi looked at him with those enthralling, magic eyes, and for the first time he caught something more in there. Like she was looking straight into him. Maybe this one was more than a pretty face. And a great ass. And a nice, perky pair of…

“Only an idiot would think you were harmless, Blake Nimitz.”

He felt the first genuine smile take over his face, then he let out a spurt of laughter.

“True,” he pat Demi’s hand and let go as he looked back at the battle. “Fortunately for me, the world is full of idiots.”

Navi came whipping back with a satisfied, glowing little grin.

“He says you can go now, master. But he also says it’s unlikely you can reach your brother with ‘that undead army in the way’.”

Blake shook his head, preparing to turn his chariot into the bronze age version of the DeLorean from Back to the Future.

“You see?” he muttered, mostly to himself. “Filled to the brim.”