Learner’s notes, Day 284: On Fear

Fear is one of the most primal, basic emotions a human can experience, and something wholly alien to me.

I’ve never before had the opportunity to study someone closely that was terrified, but I have to say, the effects are staggering. Fear seems to drastically lower a creature’s decision making ability while at the same time forcing them to make one: Run or fight.

Altogether, it seems to be a useless, vestigial emotion that serves little purpose but to cloud the minds of the humans who experience it, and yet…it’s still baked into their bodies, so it must perform some critical service, else it would have atrophied away long ago in favor of some more powerful tool, like critical thinking, which is sadly not very deeply ingrained.

One possible benefit of fear’s intoxicating effects is that it seems to strip away superficial behavior and lay the quality of a human’s altruism bare. I hear drinking poison has a similar effect.

***Goob***

“Stand behind me, Learner,” Goob said, glancing behind him at Kala’s pretty cousin. The girl looked nearly identical except certain…assets were exaggerated, straining against her dress. How the girl got a figure like that doing nothing but reading nonfiction, anatomy, and thrillers every day, Goob had no idea.

Maybe it’s because she doesn’t do anything, Goob thought, finding his eyes wandering – No, he thought, shaking his head, heart hammering in his ears. Can’t get distracted, we’re out in the middle of the jungle in the middle of the night.

Calvin told stories about bugs large enough to eat a man in a single bite, and monsters made of smaller monsters, made of even smaller ones, so tiny they could infect you like a poison and hollow you out from the inside.

Goob shuddered at the thought.

“You watch our backs,” Goob said, motioning behind them. “I’ll watch the front. That way we can cover each other. If we’re gonna get through this okay, we’ve gotta have eyes on the back of our head.”

“On it,” Learner said with a nod, crouching behind him in a similar manner as he crept forward, holding the surveying equipment like a weapon in front of him.

Alright, bring it on, jungle, Goob thought as they stalked into the darkness. I’m a wizard and I’ll bury you in stone and slime, he thought, fingering the slime canister on his belt. He’d of course picked up Dupdomancy in his last Break, so he’d taken to wearing a belt similar to Calvin’s, albeit not nearly as large or diverse.

And no one let him have any God’s Fire, either.

“Hey,” Learner whispered to him after they’d covered a bit of ground.

“What?”

“Is your pulse elevated?”

“Doy,” Goob said, frowning.

“Do you feel the need to defecate or urinate? How about your pupils, would you say they’re dilated?”

“What are you – “ Goob glanced over his shoulder and saw Learner holding a gilded tome with the royal family’s seal, with a big Anatomy stamped into the front.

“What the abyss is that?” Better yet, where did she get it? Learner didn’t have that many places to hide a book. I think.

“I’m studying physiology for a project of mine, and this seems like the perfect time to study the sympathetic nervous system. Tell me, are you currently having difficulty achieving an erection?” She watched him expectantly.

Goob’s jaw hung open as he stared at the crazy noble girl. They really do make them different.

“Why on Marconen would I want one right now!?” Goob demanded.

Learner frowned for a moment, then made a note. “Good point.”

“You can’t have your nose in a book all the time, You gotta watch our backs, remember?” Goob said, scowling at the rich girl.

“I am. Eyes in the back of my head, remember?” She said without looking up from the book.

Obviously she and I have different definitions of eyes in the back of the head, Goob thought, rolling his eyes and facing forward again. He’d just have to pay attention for both of them.

***Learner***

I don’t even know why Goob is so afraid, Learner thought as they crept along the road, stopping every hundred feet or so to take a measurement, always getting the same angle.

The Juntai security detail walking silently alongside them in the dark jungle would certainly spot trouble long before it became a problem.

Wait, I keep forgetting humans don’t see well in the dark, Learner thought idly, watching the Juntai security detail creep closer as they walked along the road. They closed in behind them as well, registering in the large, enhanced eyes she’d placed in the back of her head.

What a useful concept.

The gradual tightening of the circle of Juntai around them became intriguing. The movements reminded her of a predator encircling prey, which made no sense, because there was no prey anywhere in sight.

Well, Goob, maybe, but he was most likely a stringy meal, not even containing much fat, really.

I wonder if I should tell Goob about it? Nah, he doesn’t need any more reasons to be frightened.

A few minutes later, a light bloomed in front of them, a white hot light from a tiny filament perched between two coils on the lead hunter’s bracer.

The lead hunter wasn’t the older, flabbier one that had led them during the day. This one seemed significantly younger, at peak fighting age and heavily muscled, while the rest of the hunters seemed to be composed of men younger than twenty-two, from their physiology.

Interesting. Learner thought, calmly assessing the situation as the leader strutted forward.

He said something in ILethan, pulling a copper collar off of his bicep and brandishing it. Goob responded by saying something back in Ilethan and putting himself between the Juntai man and Learner, striking a rather silly battle pose.

A rock whipped out of the distance and knocked Goob upside the head. The scrawny apprentice toppled to the ground, bleeding from the scalp while the Juntai chuckled.

“hmm…” Learner saved the memory of the conversation as she bent down and made sure Goob was alive. Sure enough the skinny boy had enough Endurance. His brain was rattled around, but his skull was intact, and he was still breathing.

The Juntai warriors approached her, chuckling, the swelling of their groins revealing that they obviously were expecting breeding to follow.

This seems like an excellent opportunity to see if fear truly does prevent an erection.

***Calvin***

When Calvin got back to the Juntai village the next day, he stumbled across a massacre.

The ground of the large square in the center of the village had been converted into an intensive care ward, where seemingly every young man between the age of sixteen and twenty-four had been subject to debilitating injury. Every single one of them was severely injured in multiple places, with broken bones, broken fingers, missing teeth, and deep gouges in their flesh.

Learner was happily checking up on their injuries, while the young men did their absolute best not to flinch away from her where their friends could see.

“What happened here?” Calvin demanded.

“Last night, our security detail was attacked by a rampaging Kugeya, nearly killed them before Goob stepped up and saved me with his earth magic. He drove the monster away, but not before a tree branch knocked him senseless. He kept at it until the thing was gone, then he passed out.” Learner leaned down and pecked Goob on the forehead. “My hero.”

Goob reddened, wiggling in his bedroll on the ground. He had a bloodsoaked cloth bandage wrapped around his head.

“After everything was said and done, I helped them back here, and took some supplies from our wagons to treat their wounds.”

Calvin glanced around and saw that they had a stunning variety of wounds wrapped in expensive silks. One of them, the oldest, looked like a half-inch copper collar had been shoved through his nose and part of his cheek, then crushed, utterly destroying the cartilage.

“Is that really what happened?” Calvin asked in Gadveran.

“Idunno,” Goob replied with a shrug. “I can’t remember anything.”

“You were attacked by a Kuyega?” Calvin asked the wounded men in Ilethan.

“Yes! Yes, that is what happened!” he practically screamed, his voice breaking.

“Oh, and I saved you a tongue,” Learner said, tossing Calvin a pink chunk of flesh.

Calvin caught the tongue, eyed it, then Learner, brow raised.

“Do you honestly expect me to believe one of them lost their tongue from a Kugeya attack?”

Learner shrugged. “Too late to reattach it, besides I don’t think the man will miss it.” she glanced over at the one with the copper collar obstructing his breathing.

Eh, Calvin thought with a shrug.

Consume

36/46 Bent remaining.

A moment later, the babble of the villagers around him came into focus, as if he’d been listening to it through water up until this point. It all suddenly made perfect sense.

“don’t know if he’ll ever walk again –“

“Such horrible wounds, how did the –“

“Wonder if the outsiders had anything to do with –“

“Bad omen for –“

Well, that certainly provides an advantage. Calvin thought.

A crunch of dirt announced the presence of Elder, seemingly aghast at the field of moaning injured men laid out in front of him.

“How did it come to this,” he asked quietly in the trade tongue.

“Just like you said,” Calvin said in ilethan, turning to face him. “You can’t predict exactly what young men will do. None of this is your fault.”

Calvin had noticed that most of those present had been off guarding his wagon during the demonstration of Kala’s fighting ability, the rest he didn’t recognize, possibly off hunting.

Oh well, at least they’ve learned their lesson.

Calvin didn’t for one second believe the Kugeya story, but it was the best option, politically.

“What happened here?” Calvin asked the young man again in the trade tongue.

“We were attacked by a Kaguya!” he said, trembling.

“What actually happened,” Elder asked in Juntai.

The injured man glanced back and forth between Calvin and Elder in a fraction of a second, before he began spilling the beans, the story tumbling out of him in a choked sob.

“We were going to claim the big breasted one as a tribe-wife, but she’s some kind of shapeshifting monster! She tore the collar through her own neck and shoved it through Bast’s face, then unfolded into a nightmarish creature and began laying around with talons the size of swords! We broke and ran, but she hunted each one of us down and broke legs and knees, punctured lungs, making it impossible to run away from her. She tossed us into a pile and toyed with us all night, tempting us into running away before chasing us down.”

“We were never fast enough,” He continued breaking down into sobs. “We were never fast enough.”

“I see.” Elder said. “You were attacked by a Kugeya.”

“W-What?”

“You heard me. You thought risking the anger of a powerful wizard for a single woman was a good idea? What is our village going to do if it’s caught squarely in the center of a conflict between the empire and this wizard? We’re right on the gods-damned border. Why on Marconen would you risk starting a war with a power we obviously don’t understand in the slightest, you foolish child? If anyone asks, The story is you were attacked by Kugeya and the young man saved you, is that understood!?” Elder’s voice rose as he began shouting loud enough for all the injured warriors to hear him.

“The details match,” Elder said, switching to Ilethan as he faced Calvin again. “It seems they were indeed attacked by a Kugeya.”

“I’m so glad that that’s the case,” Calvin responded.

“If you could do me a favor and bring your entire entourage with you when you negotiate with the Empire’s envoys, that would be most appreciated.

“Why, do you think they might cause trouble on their own?” Calvin asked, struggling not to laugh.

“Let’s just say the young can be unpredictable. I realized it’s better to have everyone where the Elders may chaperone them.”

“I understand,” Calvin said, nodding. “Very wise.”

****

The envoys of the empire wore colorful hats, and slightly more clothing than the villagers, in the form of lightweight, bright green sashes over their shoulders. Their junk was still hanging out, though. The hats were made from the plumage of some enormous bird.

Their copper bracers and the metal tubes they carried showed a quite a bit more heft and craftsmanship, implying better output and most likely a higher number of Breaks.

That alone was enough to make Calvin pay attention when they arrived.

They were preceded by a whooshing sound, followed by a troop of sixteen men wearing those curious iron shoes, carrying four palanquins. They burst out of the jungle and slowed to a halt in a smooth slide.

The palanquins were made of dark jungle wood, some twelve feet long and four feet wide.

Like watching a primal jungle limo. Elliot commented as the bearers came to a halt, setting down the palanquin and retrieving their weapons from racks on the side of the wooden boxes.

They took up stances equidistant around Calvin’s party, not aiming their weapons at them, but obviously ready to fight if needed.

A moment later, the shades on the four palanquins were thrown aside and eight men stepped out into the light, donning their ceremonial headdresses. They assembled in front of Calvin and Co. Their eyes naturally landing on Baroke, who stoop nearly a foot taller than anyone else.

They glanced around curiously, before the one in the lead leaned back to the one behind him.

“This is it?” he asked in Juntai.

The Envoys were more than a bit dismissive of Calvin due to his age, and Kala, because of her gender, giving them the run-around, smiling and telling him his ideas for expanding trade were great to his face and laughing about him in Juntai, all in the space of a single breath. some of them even wandered off to mingle with the other villagers. They noticed the wounded men in the center of town, but didn’t seem to pay it another thought.

When they saw the road carved into the side of the mountain and far into the jungle though, their expressions lost all levity. When they saw the hair-thin struts of shiny metal rising up into the clouds, they seemed…concerned.

“How many months did this take, and none of these inbred backwater villagers told us?” one of them demanded in Juntai as they stared at the construction, their mouths gaping.

Calvin wanted to inform them it was closer to sixteen hours, but he didn’t want to reveal his ability to understand what they were saying behind the veil of the language barrier.

Besides, they’ll probably ask me sooner or later.

“It seems your country is serious about establishing a trade route, then?”

“Quite serious,” Calvin responded.

“Very well,” The man said, idly rifling through Calvin’s wagon of offerings. “We are open to discussing the logisitics of such an arrangement. We will wait here while you fetch your leader or one of his lieutenants, then we can return to Allast and discuss further.”

Calvin opened his mouth to say that he was the leader, and they were ready to go immediately, then he paused. The Juntai obviously had a hard time taking someone his age seriously. Maybe a figurehead would be a good idea, and Calvin had a spare one.

“I’ll go get him,” Calvin said.

“Wha?” Baroke grunted frowning.

Understanding colored the oversized archer’s face when Calvin came back half an hour later trailing Kurawe. The oversized demagogue looked every part the leader, if taken at face value.

In a matter of minutes they were all packed up into the Palanquins and moving East at blistering speeds. The extra weight of Calvin’s party didn’t seem to have any effect on the men, who must have been Veterans, at least.

While they traveled, Calvin plotted.

Given his new fluency in the language and the object of attention being Kurawe, there was every possibility he could use One of the Guys to do some reconnaissance once they arrived.