22 The Old Ones

A chill ran up my back, “Ok, so maybe you could make that sound a little less menacing next time?”

Torix stood, "I’ll think about it. Now, I learned to become a lich by pulling my soul from my body. I then grafted it onto the body of something else. Organic matter contains souls better than inorganic compounds. Regardless, this lich process disconnects me from the needs and benefits of a physical body. I maintain sight and other senses via magic. I mention this all because, in essence, your situation is the precise, opposite state of my own.”

I kept my gaze steady, “Because of Blood Magic, right?”

“Indeed. Instead of being disconnected with your body, you have molded your mana and mind to your flesh, bones, and blood. Your armor is the same. It is a physical extension, and that physical extension means the armor extends your mind as well. If my theory is correct, then your gaining of magical knowledge correlates to your control of your armor because of this.”

He hit the nail on the head with that one. Torix raised a hand, “That being said, neither of us understands just what kind of physical extension your armor is. I pray its influence is more or less positive.”

I shivered at that thought. Torix turned a palm to me, “I mention all of this in regards to understanding the ritual itself. Its nature and your situation are becoming clear as I parse the pieces together. Why, I do believe I am on the cusp of gaining a holistic understanding."

I crossed my arms, “I hope so. It’s good you're not just staring at the runes and drawing a blank.”

"Oh no, quite the contrary; those runes are incomprehensible gibberish.”

A bout of laughter burst out of me. Torix remained unperturbed while saying, “I’ve garnered this all via context clues, not the actual runes themselves. To be precise, Althea is the source of most of this new knowledge. Her mind is influenced by the chaotic energy her body produces. This creates physical changes because of her Blood Magic. You’re in the same circumstance, but reversed - your physical body is influencing your mind.”

All of that might explain my sudden work ethic. Either that or the effects would reveal themselves in time. I raised my brows, "Good to know, but what does this have to do with my magic, exactly?"

Torix pulled a clear gemstone from one of his warps, this one starry like pictures of space. Torix pulled his own mana into the crystal, and it shifted a jet black. Torix held it close for my viewing,

“This is an untampered mana gem that has had its mana drained. I am funneling my own mana into it without altering my thoughts. This dark mana is the byproduct of that, being dominion based. Take this-”

He tossed the clear stone at me, and I caught it. Torix gave me a curt nod, “Will your mana into it.”

Holding the stone in both hands, I leaned over it while making my tiny mana streams. An orange, bright mana flared into the stone. The leeching energy burned my hands in the process. Torix reached out a hand,

“It is as I suspected. Your natural affinity is towards augmentation mana.”

I pursed my lips, “Uh, what does that mean?”

“Simply put, your mana is oriented towards your own self improvement. My mana is dominion based, so it is oriented around manipulating external forces. Origin mana is centered on creating and generating forces.”

I waved a hand, “Is there a mana based on destroying things?”

Torix scoffed, “What? No. Of course not. Now-”

Interrupting Torix, Althea walked up and sat beside me and in front of him. She balled up, her arms around her legs as she rested her chin on her knees. One of Torix’s eyes narrowed and the other widened. It was like he was raising a brow in confusion.

“Uhm...Why are you here?”

She pursed her lips, “I overheard you guys talking, and I, er, I got curious. Am I interrupting?”

Torix considered before coughing into a hand, “I...I suppose not.”

Althea and I looked at each other before I spread my hands, “Torix, you don’t have to breathe, do you?”

Torix said, “I don’t.”

I blinked, “So why did you cough just now?”

Torix pushed up imaginary glasses, “It’s a force of habit.”

Althea laughed while I held my own down. Torix eyed Althea before tilting his head at her, “Give her the crystal. I’m curious about her mana type as well.”

I threw it and she snatched it out of the air with the wind whistling around her arm. She radiated orange mana in her crystal as well, though it shined far less compared to my own. If anything, a constricting darkness dampened it. Torix flicked his finger, the crystal telekinetically knocking out of her hand. It flung right into an opening portal as Torix turned to me,

“She has a far more dual affinity than you do. This means she could master either augmentation or dominion mana. Perhaps a higher mana type could even be achieved, should she show talent.” Torix’s gaze shifted to her, “Though, that combination is quite an unusual mana type, given your apparent personality.”

Althea frowned, “It could be what’s changed me has changed my mana.”

Torix’s tone heightened, “Let’s hope that isn’t the case. An experiment of that magnitude implies Old Ones are involved.” Torix composed himself, a shiver racing up his back, “We could be wrapped up in something far greater than I first imagined, should that be the case.”

Althea grimaced, "An Old One?"

Torix leaned back, "You don't know what the Old Ones are?"

I spread my hands, “Well, I definitely don’t.”

Torix rubbed his hands together in excitement, "Alright...Perhaps a lesson is in order then?"

I sat down with Althea, and Torix entered his patented lecture mode. After a minute or two of organizing notes and books, Torix cast a spell against a nearby colosseum wall. A layer of the stone fell from the wall, around an inch thick. Beneath it, a layer of polished marble lay underneath. Torix stared at the wall, “Where to begin...Hm.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I made sure Althea wasn’t transforming. Her eyes stayed glued on Torix and his impromptu lesson. Eagerness over her face along with an underpinning of hunger for knowledge. Sitting cross legged, I leaned back,

“So...What’s got you so curious?”

Her eyes planted forward, "It’s not everyday you get to learn from a centuries old master. I don’t want to waste this opportunity."

Torix stood taller, and his chin rose upon hearing that. I stared forward, knowing Althea was right. Torix gave us all this free teaching despite having no real reason for doing so. Even if the lich owned all the time in the world, he still enjoyed many methods for spending the eternity he had left. He chose to spend that time helping us.

Quirks or not, the guy did right by us. So far.

Continuing that streak, he formed a blue fire over his finger tip. With a deft hand, he carved out notes as he spoke. The words lingered on, streaks of dark fire brightening the marble beneath them. The necromancer spoke as he wrote,

"The Old Ones are mysterious beings that existed before Schema began assimilating our universe. Very little is known about them. These old gods are chaotic embodiments of entropy. Beings older than the universe. They are undefinable things with the ability to warp this entire universe with nothing but a whim. They shift through time. They mold through space. You get the idea."

Torix’s finger moved like a fast-forwarded video as he spoke, “Even Schema treats these beings with a wary touch. If these entities pose problems for that AI, then that alone speaks volumes for how overwhelming these beings are to us. I believe this doctor or scientist has used an Old One to create Althea’s changes.”

Althea’s lip trembled before she mouthed, “That’s bad, isn’t it?”

He tapped the marble, sending a ripple of green energy through it, "Hm, so far, I’d say yes. That being said, a situation’s outcome is dictated in part by the circumstances themselves, but also by how we respond to them. What I will say with certainty is that this doctor of yours wasn't a person who respected his life or common sense."

Althea’s eyes narrowed, "Yeah. He didn’t...Whoever it was."

Torix peered off, “I’ve a penchant to agree. It’s a shame, really, as this experimentation reminds me of the remnants and their toying with genetic splicing.”

I leaned towards Torix, “The remnants?”

The necromancer sighed before rolling a wrist, “They are the sentient race that created Schema. Many are still alive to this day, though each of them suffers an unknown status. This is due to the genetic modifications I mentioned earlier; those practices are deemed forbidden by Schema."

I spread out my hands, “Wait, what? Why?”

Torix shook his head, “I’ll be honest with you both, I believe Schema holds a grudge against its creators. Remnants no longer splice their genes, having lost the technology long ago...Outside of a few disparate patches of them. Considering the advantages against the eldritch, genetic splicing should be enforced by Schema. Alas, we may never know the true answer for it.”

I tapped my chest plate, "And this armor, it’s forbidden just like gene splicing?”

Torix gawked at the runes, “Yes, it is. In order to better understand all of this, I’ve actually called in a favor from a remnant I know. She’s rather...I’ll say eccentric as a kindness to her. She will understand more about these runes than I do. The remnants, as a whole, have unmatched runic knowledge based on what we know of them.”

Althea frowned, "When will she arrive?"

"Hmmmm...About four or five days. She was supposed to arrive several days ago, but knowing her, I simply double her arrival date’s distance. Then I add several days to that estimate as well. Usually, that is within a working distance overall.”

Althea looked back, “So, uhm...Are you sure that she’s the right person for this?”

Torix jeered, “What? Absolutely...Not. Not one bit at all. She’s rather unreliable, as all remnants tend to be. That’s despite her showing interest in the runes, which I contacted her for the moment I discovered them. She did say she’d show, and that she would help us...Probably."

I stood, "Alright then. She’ll get us on the right track to getting this ritual down."

Torix underlined the word ritual, “She shall. She may even be able to assist us in producing enough mana to fire this ritual once more, along with the specific mana flows for its operation.”

I tilted my head, “Does she know how dangerous this would be?”

Torix placed his hands behind himself, “Likely, better than I.”

Althea rocked back and forth, “I thought you weren’t going to fire the ritual off?”

Torix weighed his hands back and forth, “For now, I’ve no intention too. We shall see in time.” Torix leaned towards Althea, “And you still lack answers for us? Do remember I own many methods of prying those answers from you whenever I’d like.”

Althea rubbed her temples while squinting her eyes, “Blugh, I can’t remember anything in detail. I remember tons of scientists, lots of experiments, and too many training simulations. Oh, and they mentioned the name Etorhma sometimes.”

Torix spoke with a hard voice, “Etorhma...Are you sure of that particular name?”

“Uhm, I think so.”

Torix took an imaginary, deep breath before pacing off, “I need time to think. Excuse me.”

Torix swung his arm, the sliced stone rising back into its proper place. He stepped away, brooding in the distance before Althea and I stood up. I gestured to a corridor, “Are you going to go wild anytime soon?”

Her eye twitched along with her left arm. She grabbed it, and she gritted her teeth. She closed her eyes, letting out a low growl. After shaking for a moment, she mouthed,

“No...I think I can handle it.”

I raised a brow, but she kept herself contained. I frowned, “Huh...Alright, if you say so.”

With some time to myself, I stepped into the corridor, the familiar pull of sleep tugging at my eyelids. Huddled on the floor, I slept on my side with my arm as a pillow. The rest passed by before I dreamed for the first time since the system started up.

I walked through a wooden hallway, scratches lining the ancient planks. The corridor exposed no doors, and the tunnel stretched on forever into a white abyss. As I walked further into its depths, the walls warped and the wood contorted. The lumber slabs darkened, growing eerie and ominous. The air grew stale and old, older than Torix or dirt or maybe even time.

I walked for an eternal moment, the infinity flashing before me. At its end, I reached a stone wall with carvings on it. I placed my hands onto the stone before they lit a dark purple. A voice, deep as the ocean and powerful as time, pierced into the depths of my mind,

"Embrace me, my child."

I woke up pouring sweat from under my armor. I heaved for air while glancing around. The same low-lit tunnel walls surrounded me. After a minute of composing myself, I stood up and walked over towards the colosseum. Althea trembled in the middle of the stadium. She dripped sweat, her lip bitten until bleeding.

Her face twitched. Her hands gripped into her sides. She winced, holding in the urge to scream. Her back trembled, claws darting from under her skin. Blood dripped out her back, but her robe remained untorn. She kept her gaze forward, steady and resolved. For a few minutes, she contained herself.

Her harpoon cannon laid beside her. She shook off her exhaustion, keeping herself awake. As I stepped out of my tunnel, her eyes locked on mine. Like an animal, she growled out, all of her reservation splintering at the sight of me. She howled, “You’re finally awake.”

I spread out my hands, not exactly well rested, “Did you miss me?”

She reached down towards her harpoon cannon, numerous long and thick spikes portruding from the limb. She wailed, “I’m ready.”

I hopped down the staggered steps before landing with a crashing thump. I stood while cracking my knuckles, “Good. Let’s go.”

She grabbed one of the spikes with her teeth before putting it into the harpoon gun’s ammo slot. My eyes widened as she aimed it towards me and fired. I dived toward the ground before the spike bounced off a mana barrier from Torix. The spike of ivory flipped in the air before slipping into the stone.

I took a step back from the bone, the spear having slid deep into solid rock. It left no vibration nor sounds, the earth shattering echoes of before giving way to silent whispers. Unlike the previous metal, these organic lances punctured rock without effort. From that display alone, the lance would punch holes in my armor.

Althea took another spear out, groaning as bone ruptured her skin. She put it back into her cannon, and my eyes widened. She used her transformation to bypass the ammo limitation. Smart. Another spear whizzed past my head, tumbling off a mana barrier. Before I could grab it, Althea pulled spears composed out of her arm, firing them one after the other.

My dodging grew desperate before a spear impaled straight through the bicep of my right arm. The spear ignored my arm, jamming right through it. Like magic, it left a gaping hole. I roared in pain before she shot another spike at me. It stabbed straight through my right palm. Even with my sky-high pain tolerance, the pain turned visceral.

I gasped as entire portions of bone disintegrated, the spears passing through me like piano wires through butter. Althea listened to Torix, and with more of her psyche remaining, her monstrous half learned too. She fixed her weaknesses and turned them into strengths.

Before more thoughts surfaced, another spear shot right by me, ripping at my side. I sprinted away from her, towards the back wall. I sidestepped at random as I did, several spears thunking into barriers of mana. One of those spears missed, ricocheting off the floor and landing on its side. I got close to it before turning towards Althea.

Her monstrous half laughed, "Run. Pitiful." She gasped while pulling a bone from her shoulder, “Pain.”

I bolted sideways, dodging another spear while rolling towards the grounded one. I picked up the ivory lance, turning in a circle before launching the white harpoon her way. The projectile bolted through the room, the air squealing before it smashed through Althea's cannon. The metal roared as it bent and broke. I winced as pieces of the machine fell.

She hadn’t gotten rid of every weakness.

She turned towards her cannon, three eyes on her left cheek watering. Stunned into disbelief, she froze in place while I sprinted toward her. She pulled the barrel close, hugging the apparatus. Having just been shot at about ten times, I barreled at her like a boulder down a mountain.

My feet clapped against the stone floor as she tried placing another spear into the reloading socket. The machine refused to fire. She bit into her lip until blood poured out of her mouth. I neared her before she threw the gun onto the ground. When I reached her, she sidestepped me just like I sidestepped her charge yesterday.

With a whip of her hand and wrist, she pulled out a spear and thrust it towards my throat. I tilted my head, the spear scraping the skin of my neck. I shoved her, pushing her on her feet until her back collided with the colosseum wall. Using the mana barrier’s rebound, I followed the repulsing force, lifting Althea off the ground. She flailed in the air before clopping into the stone below.

Bang. The sound roared across the arena, and Althea coughed up some blood. She narrowed her eyes at me before kicking my chest. I flung me through the air, thunking onto the mana barrier. Spinning out of control, my vision spiraled. Losing track of where I was, a clawed fist slammed into my stomach, tossing me aside.

I tumbled, stone chipping on my shoulder spines. I winced, ribs broken. Pushing myself up, Althea reinforced her arm with several of the bone spears. I jeered,

“For someone controlled by a monstrous half, you sure have some great ideas, huh?”

The deformed creature smiled at me, stepping up. She got close while I backed away. Changing momentum, I pressed my heel into the stone beneath me. I fired off a rapid right hand that slipped right past her arms. Her jaw and head snapped back, her legs losing their strength. Collapsing, she flopped into a pile beneath me.

Landing a lucky shot, I reared back a foot and kicked her. She tumbled back straight into the stone wall. I charged and tried another kick. She rolled back, and a catastrophic outbreak of noise rippled through the cavern as my foot collided with the forcefield. The bones in my leg creaked at the impact.

She pushed off the ground. She snatched me up with a swollen arm before slamming me down. The concussive force shattered the stone beneath me like a panel of glass. Standing over me, she lifted a foot, slapping it into my chest. Bones shattered. Chips of rock bounced off the ground. A cloud of dust expanded from the strike.

Once the dust cleared, many of my ribs broke. She pulled her foot from chest. She lifted her arms before I kicked her foot. She fell sideways, losing her balance. Despite my mangled body, I threw myself up, building momentum in a punch. My fist sliced through the air before thunking straight into her chest.

She punctured into the rocky floor. Broken and turning to normal, Althea grumbled in pain. Her limbs returned to normal, and I lifted my head up, taking a deep breath. After shaking bits of stone from me, I let my leg regenerate. I pulled her out of the floor before setting her down. She closed her eyes, drifting into sleep.

I sat down, thinking about my situation. Althea still lacked real control of herself, but she made leaps and bounds compared with before. However, that growing intelligence made the spars much harder, as she used her brain a lot more. Another fight or two, and she might get a full grip. A part of me looked forward to that release of responsibility. Another part panged with sadness. Desperate or not, I learned a lot during the fights.

And a part of me, somewhere deep down, enjoyed them.

Pushing that aside, I studied and pursued some new skills. I found that Pushups were considered a skill. It didn't do anything but make pushups easier. While useless, it gave me skill points. I trained other movements, like Sit-Ups, Pullups, Rock Climbing, and Jumping. I tried keeping the skills at least somewhat useful. Rock climbing and jumping could be used while fighting or traveling for instance.

I paired this new style of training with a captured BloodHollow Bat I borrowed from Torix. I let the flying creature attack me the entire time I trained. Being considered a combat encounter, the harmless bat gave a solid boost to skill gain. I alternated the training with reading, falling into the rhythm of it all.

Interrupting my trance, Althea woke up a few hours later. I walked over, making sure she didn’t have another episode. Staying stable, she peered around before her memory struck her. Frustration roared through her limbs as she slammed a fist into the ground. She left a tiny crack in the rock, her eyes like stone. She glared forward, sitting up right with her legs crossed.

Her eyes shifted color, thorns growing out of her neck. I sighed, stepping up to the edge of the arena and sitting down. It was only a matter of time now. Althea gripped her knees until she pierced her own skin. Blood dripped down as she closed her eyes. A war waged in her mind, one side her will and the other her body. The chaotic forces under her skin trembled, and they fought towards the surface.

Those rising tides erupted. Teeth grew out of her neck. Spines expanded out of her shoulders. They reached around her robe, one of many Torix had given her. Despite everything, she remained calm. Althea stayed in her position for the next few minutes, her skin shivering but her resolve perpetual.

Further changes incarnated. Blood oozed from the wounds of her transformation. A portion of her cheek sunk in, claws expanding outwards from the exposed flesh. Her hair matted onto a bleeding scalp, and her legs writhed as if the bones came to life. Portions of her skin split and ruptured and tore, fleshy masses expanding outwards in all directions. I cringed at the sight.

Yet Althea’s gaze remained planted forward. She whispered with the fury of a storm and the hardness of stone,

“I said no.”

The monstrous half of her trembled, shaking in fury and fear. Her entire body trembled, agony and anger and rage coursing through her like lightning through a dark sky. Like shadows creeping out from under a bed. Wracking pains and deformities splintered over Althea, but she never lost her intention. Althea was done dealing with this shadow of herself.

And as that shadow writhed, it too, understood that newfound reality.

The monsters under her skin cracked and crumbled. In a rush, her wounds healed. The spines darted back under her skin. The blood flowed back into her body, and Althea became whole. She became herself. This was the first of many, but she conquered an episode on her own and with a will like steel.

She closed her eyes, letting out a deep breath. Sweat dripped from her forehead. Her eyes watered as well, and she blinked out rolling tears. She smiled and reached out with a clenched hand. Grabbing that arm, she squeezed her wrist. In that moment, she held a silent celebration. Watching her, I grinned.

I celebrated a little as well.

Knowing she’d be fine, I walked off, getting the feeling we wouldn’t be sparring for the rest of the day. Even after a few hours, Althea stayed stable. He form rippled at times, and she let out gasps of discomfort too. Despite those hiccups, she remained in command of herself. With her newfound independence, she took some time, carving out a cubby hole in the side of a wall.

She used claws grown from her skin, and she lopped the stone off with casual air even Torix couldn’t match. Her hand moved through any material as if it were air. Her spears mirrored that ability. The more I knew about her the less I understood, and that curiosity peaked with time. For now, I chose to pursue other avenues.

She did as well. Althea kept her newly carved space as a private room. She got some rations from Torix, and she set up shop there. During the rare times I glanced over at her, she tinkered with her broken gun, inspecting the parts and mechanisms that composed it. Having helped her in a twisted sort of way, I took pride in seeing her just relax.

As for me, my biggest weakness involved being at a distance. Throwing rocks worked so far, but it required time and stone nearby. Instead of fighting at a range, I brainstormed a way of closing the distance. Coming up with a brilliantly stupid idea, I found a side cavern somewhat isolated from the others. Readying myself for discomfort, I dashed straight into a stone wall.

My collarbone threatened breaking, and my shoulder howled out in pain for me to stop. I didn’t. I pulled myself back again, and I darted right into that rocky expanse. Over time, my collision zone turned into a hole then a breach then a small cavern. I gained two skills from this act of unbelievable idiocy.

Skill Unlocked! Blitz | Level 1 - In more situations than not, hesitation is a greater enemy than the unknown. By charging beyond your limits, you put your fate in your own hands. Let others dwell in that unknown. You’ve monsters to kill. +1% to blitzing speed and power.

Skill Gain! Burrow | Level 1 - Solid materials move like air in your wake. +1% to burrowing speed.

After another few hours of giving myself brain damage, I leveled those two skills to usable levels. Taking it as a two for one, I hammered away at that wall as if my life depended on it. The tedium reduced my leveling speed over time, so I shifted gears by studying for the next hour or so. I alternated between these two tasks every now and then thereafter.

Situating myself in that pattern, something about it all fulfilled me. The sensation was difficult to describe in words. I mean, thoughts, ideas, even sudden desires just pop into a person’s head all the time. They act as distractions that keep people in this sort of haze. When I focused on studying or fighting or training, that haze died down and everything became crystal clear.

I understood my intention. I eliminated my doubt.

Deep in my bones, I found satisfaction in the strain and difficulty. There was no wasted time or effort on questions or distrust. It stopped me from worrying about situations I couldn’t control, like what happened to Kelsey or Michael. Further still, losing my father and my waning humanity, I could ignore them through focus.

Worst of all, even if I found my friends, I was vulnerable. Torix showed that in many ways, but so had Althea. Well, I wouldn't be vulnerable for long if I could help it. I wouldn't be put in someone’s mercy again like I’d been with my father. Never again. I took the slight personally, and I burrowed that disgust deep in my chest. It pushed me forward instead of holding me back.

Those thoughts kept me on edge as I went through another book from Torix’s texts. Those efforts added to my questions for Torix, the necromancer glad to give me well worded answers. This bled into a constant stream of information. It all told me one immutable fact - Schema’s universe was a vast and unknown place.

An internet existed, but Schema monitored it. Even then, many factions and lots of information splintered over time. Factions hoarded knowledge, a few notable guilds rising to the top. This left many pieces of history darkened through the passage of time. The remnant’s past served as a perfect example. What Schema did or what happened to them was an enormous question mark.

How did they make Schema? Why did Schema exile them or illegalize genetic modification? I didn't know, and no one else in Torix’s books did either. This void of knowledge left me starving for answers. I hoped the remnant Torix called on would give me some closure on those questions.

That’s how I spent the next few days, in an alternating stream between training and reading. To my particular interest, I researched the Old Ones Torix mentioned. I learned that two Old Ones existed: Etorhma, Eater of Worlds, and Baldowah, the Bringer of Ruin. Both were bad news, let me tell yah.

Baldowah proved the lesser of two evils. It gave fighters more reason to, well, fight. On the other hand, Etorhma defied convention, and few understood the entity in any meaningful manner. This gave Etorhma a shadowy, mysterious presence. Baldowah, it spoke enough with people that records existed of its speech. Etorhma lacked that cohesion, its marks and deeds confusing to say the least. This made Etorhma’s lines garbled gibberish for the most part.

I mentioned all this because during my research, one of Etorhma’s passages stuck out from all the madness. Its repetition chilled my blood and fueled further nightmares. Like a mantra of madness, the scriptures and cults following Etorhma repeated a particular phrase, a beckoning call for their master, as if they wanted all swallowed by this monstrosity.

Unfortunately, it was a familiar phrase.

‘Embrace me, my child.’