Chapter 17

On the day before Jack was supposed to return to the Dire Woods with team Meredith, he stepped into Gary the smith’s workshop at the back of Gary’s Monstrous Alloys shop. He was currently unarmoured with all his gear in his gym bag along with an extra bag with something special inside.

It appeared empty of any occupants but someone could very easily be hiding behind one of the numerous piles of half finished projects laying strewn around.

“Helloooo?” Jack called out casually.

No one was in the workshop, he heard some voices from the main shop, it seemed Gary was dealing with some customers, it was the middle of the day after all. He walked through the workshop and through the door leading to the shop behind the counter. There he saw Gary was indeed dealing with a customer, several customers in fact, the shop actually looked like it was doing brisk business.

At least a dozen people that he could see were browsing the shelves and racks, some of them looked like proper hunters, others looked like they had no idea what they were doing. Jack remembered his own first time walking into the shop, looking for his first weapon.

Jack stood by the door patiently waiting whilst Gary spoke with a customer, a hunter by the look of his armour. The hunter was paying Gary for one of the special kevlar flak jackets he’d made from Glimmer spider silk. After receiving the vest, the hunter’s eyes went to Jack and they widened in shock. Gary noticed and turned around in confusion.

“Jack! So you are alive after all!” Gary boomed jovially.

“I almost wasn’t a few times, but here I am, hi Gary,” Jack greeted him.

Gary finished up with his customer and told his niece, Elizabeth, to watch the store. They went to Gary’s workshop.

“So, is this where you tell me you’ve lost everything and you need it all replaced? You know that’s well over a hundred thousand pounds worth of equipment right?” Gary told him in disapproval.

“Ah relax old man, I actually managed to recover everything and save my own arse this time. I even overheard the people who stole the stuff complimenting some of the gear you made, they were curious about the craftsman,” Jack told him and was amused when Gary puffed up proudly like a peacock.

“As well they should be! That spear and axe are masterpieces if I do say so myself! Hmph! Anyway, what are you here for? Meredith’s order isn’t quite ready yet,” Gary said.

Jack pulled up the left sleeve on his shirt and showed it to Gary. “I’m here about this,” Jack told him. His left arm hadn’t healed, it was still a mess of runes he’d gouged into his flesh several days ago, they weren’t healing quite right. Normally when he cut himself ever since he’d started cultivating, the cuts would scar within a day and fade to nothing in less than a week. But the runic cuts in his flesh were barely scabbing over, sometimes the cuts would reopen and begin bleeding again.

Gary leaned down to look closely. “Hmm, well now, I’d heard about runes before, but I never thought of delving into them myself, your guild keeps info like that highly restricted. Who did all that? And what does it do?” Gary asked in curiosity. He gently lifted Jack’s arm and examined it with a critical eye.

“I did it actually, I’ve been studying runes for a couple of months or thereabouts. And this stuff is my own design, it lets me conjure up non-elemental non-physical basic constructs of hard light,” Jack said proudly.

Gary looked even more interested and pulled Jack’s arm even closer, examining the runes in minute detail. “Hard light? Non-elemental? How? Like I said I’ve heard about runes but I just thought they were scribblings or rudimentary language used by sentient monsters. Just how exactly do written down or carved symbols generate a magical effect? And how?” Gary asked as he brought out a small monocle to his eye and peered down at the runes through it.

“I don’t know to be honest, they just do, though I’d never use anything I found from an orc or goblin site.”

“Hmm,” Gary replied, still examining the arm.

Jack gently retrieved his arm. “So listen, do you still have any of that Glimmer spider silk left?”

“Huh? Yeah, why?” Gary looked up at him in confusion.

“I want to use it to stitch up these runes,” Jack explained. “They’re not healing properly or disappearing. Whenever I channel magic through them they burn and itch like fucking crazy, so I thought I should try stitching them up with something thats magically conductive, like the silk.”

“That's an interesting idea, will it work? Or will it just spoil the effect?” Gary asked critically.

Jack shrugged.

“Well, okay then. Lizzy! Get in here!” Gary called out to the shop.

A moment later, Gary’s niece stuck her head in the workshop. She was slim, about seventeen years old with blonde hair and blue eyes, she looked over to her uncle with exasperation.

“What!” she replied.

“Need your expertise with a needle and thread kiddo.” Gary waved her over. She walked over with a look of curiosity and stared down at Jack’s arm.

“Oh wow, who did that? It looks like they used a sharp rock or something!” she said in disgust.

“I did actually, and I used my fingernails,” Jack answered mildly, more amused than offended.

She looked up to him with a serious face. “That’s really gross.”

“Bwaha hahaha haha!” Gary guffawed at his niece’s cheek.

“Well you’re not wrong. Anyway, I need you to stitch them up with Glimmer spider silk, can you do that? They need to be really really tight or dense,” Jack told her as she examined his runes with the same critical, speculative eye as her uncle.

“Hmm, these are runes right? Yeah I reckon so, we should have enough. Never really worked on live flesh before though, just monster leather, so be warned,” she told him ominously.

“K’, got any um….anaesthetic?” he asked hopefully, already knowing the answer.

Gary opened a drawer under a nearby workbench and pulled out a bottle of rum.

“Oh! Actually that’ll do nicely!” Jack gratefully accepted the bottle. “Just trace the outlines of each rune, nice and tight please,” Jack told her before taking a swig.

“Fine, luckily for you, I’ve got an actual sewing kit and not just the stuff I use on leather armour,” she said as she rummaged in a drawer before coming back up with a small box.

Gary meanwhile got up and went upstairs before returning with a spool of white silvery thread. He plopped it down in front of her and leaned back, watching with interest as his niece got to work.

She threaded the needle and pierced his flesh on his upper arm.

While she worked and Jack drank, Gary talked.

“Why did you carve that stuff into your flesh anyway? Or did the guild force you into it?” Gary asked in slight concern.

“To be honest, the guild indirectly forced me into it,”Jack replied with a wince as Elizabeth poked his flesh with the needle.

“Oh? How so?”

“When I got, for lack of a better word, kidnapped, that fucker Eric Flamewrought locked me up in a…….hmm, I’m not really supposed to say actually. I signed a nondisclosure agreement, anyway I was in these restraints that locked down my lightning abilities so I had to come up with something. The runes were the only other feather in my cap I could think of that would help me get free,”Jack explained before taking another swig of rum.

“Alright, but why all this? It looks very err….well didn’t you have something more discrete to carve into your skin? I mean, it’s kind of a mess.” Gary looked down at Jack’s arm in discomfort.

Jack sighed. “I’ve actually been working on a bunch of different projects with runes, but the erm..the runic shield matrix is the one I’ve been working on the most and it’s the one I know the best. So when I was locked in some fucking lunatic’s oubliette, it was the only thing I could think of that would be of some use. And trust me, it was very useful,” Jack said with a grin.

“An oubliette eh? Jesus, I never fully trusted those guild types, you shouldn’t either boyo,” Gary said gruffly in concern before grabbing the bottle of rum from Jack and taking a swig.

“Oh don’t worry, I don’t trust ‘em. But for now they’re making me rich, and besides, there are plenty of good people amongst them. Though I suppose it’s inevitable that an organisation with access to so much money and power would have a few skeletons in their closet.” Jack shrugged as he pondered the dynamic between power and corruption.

“Aye, it is inevitable, but it’s supposed to take a hell of a lot longer than a couple of years for corporations to get those skeletons in the first place. And personally I think oubliettes are a step beyond mere ‘skeletons in the closet’,” Gary snorted in derision.

“True, so anyway, have you been getting the packages I’ve been sending you?” Jack asked.

“Oh aye yeah, they’ve been a great help,” Gary said happily.

Over the past couple of months or less, Jack had been periodically sending some of his monster loot to Gary, as had Meredith. Not much, but enough for Gary to do something useful with.

“That’s great, now bearing that in mind, would you take a look in the big bag next to my gym bag?” Jack pointed to where his gear lay,

Gary got up with a look of curiosity and went over to the bags. He opened the one Jack indicated and took out the two large silver backplates Jack had taken from the Kladican.

“Holy shit, are these what I think they are?!” Gary exclaimed, holding them up in wonder.

“If you’re wondering if they’re from a Kladican, then yes, they are what you think they are,” Jack confirmed smugly.

Gary held them up to the light and admired them, turning them this way and that, examining them in minute detail before looking at Jack.

“Let me guess, you want them turned into armour,” he said knowingly.

“Bingo,” Jack responded cheerfully.

Gary went over to a workbench and placed the plates down, he continued to examine the plates, tapping them with small hammers, scratching at them with various tools. He continued this for a minute before looking up at Jack.

“Yep, I reckon I can forge them into something useful. Kladican plate has some of the best weight to durability ratio on the market so it won’t weigh you down too much whilst still giving top notch protection. It’ll be bordering on A rank, so normally something like this wouldn’t go for less than a high six figure value, you’re -” But Jack interrupted him.

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“Lucky I know you, yes I’m aware,” Jack finished for him with a smile before taking another swig of rum.

“Hmph, just so you are aware. Anyway, there’s plenty of material here, more than enough to give you a full set of plate if you want,” Gary suggested.

“Erm, no, I prefer mobility over durability. Let's go with some half plate that I can attach over the Glimmer spider kevlar vest you made for me. Plates over my back and chest, light pauldrons for the shoulders, heavier vambraces to go over my forearms and gauntlets for my hands. Armoured boots and greaves too, and I suppose I should go with something to protect my waist and hips too, erm…whaddaya you call that piece of armour?” Jack asked, slightly uncomfortable about asking for armour that protects his midsection in the presence of Gary’s teenage niece.

She snorted in amusement but kept working.

“Those are called faulds, I know what you mean, fine then. Something with decent coverage but still allowing good mobility. Can do,” Gary said as he scribbled down some notes.

“Oh! And the helmet too! Don’t forget the helmet, I want one just like the one you did before but in Kladican silver!” Jack hastened to add.

“Gotcha, just for god’s sake don’t get kidnapped again and lose all this stuff,” Gary responded.

“That only happened one time! I’m never going to live that down am I?” Jack asked in exasperation.

“Nope.”

*********************************

An hour later Jack was leaving Gary’s workshop minus the Kladican plates he’d brought over. They’d finalised the details of what Jack needed for his armour and Gary provided Jack with a new wishlist of what materials he’d be needing in the future. They also discussed potential future collaboration for using runes in Gary’s work.

His arm itched a little bit but it didn’t feel bad, maybe the stitching would work, helping his wounds heal and whilst retaining the magical shielding effect. He decided he’d let them be for now and test them out later.

He made his way through the city of York towards the branch HQ, intending to spend some time in the gym and training halls before going to sleep in one of those luxurious boarding rooms. As usual however, fate had other plans.

He’d been asked to ‘volunteer’ for a special job by Welts, since he was ‘available’, the number of hunters in North Yorkshire was a little on the low side lately since the Dire Woods had opened up. He and Russel were to team up and rendezvous with a squad of police officers.

Apparently, another bogus cultivation centre had opened up in North Yorkshire, cultivation centres like these kept popping up all over the country. These facilities essentially offered training to anyone willing to pay, a bit like a normal gym. However, some of these facilities offered and even encouraged shortcuts in cultivation that often led to people’s injury or death. One such facility had been reported in the city of York.

“Hey Russel! Long time no see!” Jack cheerfully greeted Russel at the front entrance of the guild branch headquarters.

“Jack, still making waves I see,” Russel greeted him calmly with a small amused smile. Russel was a large, muscle bound A ranked earth cultivating hunter of a very stoic disposition. He’d also acted as Jack’s assessor a couple of times when Jack had a promotion hunt.

“Always! So, we’ve got a job to do then?”

“Yes, we’ve been attached to a unit of police officers, they have a warrant to search the ‘Earthen Heart gym’,” Gary told him.

“The ‘Earthen Heart gym’ eh? This is the place that teaches cultivation to anyone that pays then?”

“Yes, it specialises in earth cultivation however,” Russel responded. “Lately, York hospital emergency department has been getting more and more patients with petrified flesh coming in. They reported it to the police and now the police have a warrant for a search and maybe arrests if it comes to it,” Russel explained.

“Well okay then, but why do they need us? This seems like a police type thing to me, we hunt monsters, not people,” Jack said in slight confusion.

“Mm, you’re right, there should be a strict line between what the guild does and what the police do, we’re not supposed to be enforcers. But the last time something like this happened, the police tried to raid a similar facility further south, although it wasn’t fully reported to the public, it apparently didn’t go well. It turned into something of an all out elemental battle, and along with all that both parties also had firearms, so…..” Russel shrugged.

“Shit,” Jack said simply.

“Yes, shit, there were multiple fatalities. In view of that, we’ll be providing backup to the police, we’ll only be there if things go to shit, again. However we’re to immediately stamp down on anything we see as a threat. Your capabilities in rapidly stunning and incapacitating enemies with your element have been noted so you’ll be playing offence while I’ll be on defence,” Russel told him.

“Gotcha, I’ll be my usual stunning self.” Jack seriously. Russel simply sighed before walking outside, Jack followed along.

They drove in Russel’s car across town northeast a few miles before they reached the location they were to meet up with the police. They pulled into a small car park a couple of streets away from the ‘gym’ and there they saw several police cars along with a police van. A dozen armed officers waited there along with a dozen more of those fully armoured police that were said to practise cultivation and supposed to be responsible for taking care of cultivating criminals.

Russel and Jack got out of the car after parking next to the police and proceeded to get kitted up. One of the police sergeants greeted them.

“Hello, are you two the hunters the guild sent us? You’ve been briefed, yes?” he asked.

“Yes we have, Russel Everton and Jack Errant, here to assist,” Russel introduced them as they pulled on their gear. They both presented their licences.

“Hmph, as long as you remember that's all you’re here for,” one of the armoured officers remarked from the back.

Russel shrugged and said nothing, not even acknowledging the man who’d spoken. However the man was given a glare by the sergeant before he turned back to them

“Well then, if you’re ready we’ll get going.”

Both hunters nodded and they followed the group of police across several streets towards what looked like a normal gym surrounded by various other shops and businesses. Several people in normal day wear and gym clothes walked in and out of the double glass doors, all appearing quite relaxed and or tired. All in all, everything about the gym appeared quite normal.

The police walked up to the doors and entered, ignoring the alarmed stares of the various gym goers in the reception area. The main reception was a large, open, well lit area with various vending machines, posters and leaflets about the gym and what it offered.

To one side there was a large full wall window with a view of an ongoing cultivation class. It almost looked like some sort of yoga session. About a dozen normal looking people in gym clothes were sitting cross legged on mats throughout a large room facing a young muscular man at the head of the room. Each person looked to have a large bowl of dirt or soil in front of them.

Corridors leading to other parts of the gym were on either side of the receptionist front desk.

The officer in charge approached the front desk and addressed the female receptionist.

“Good afternoon miss, if you would please contact the manager of this facility, that would be greatly appreciated,” he told her firmly. She looked at them with wide eyes and startled for a moment before nervously taking up the front desk phone and talking to someone on it.

“Er…Je - Jeremy….there - there’s someone here to see you,” she stammered.

A few seconds later a young man looking to be in his early thirties, dressed in a polo tee shirt, shorts and trainers walked in with a smile.

“Hello there, is there a problem officers?” he addressed them innocently. He seemed calm, as he faced down several police officers with Jack and Russel looming in the background.

“We are with the North Yorkshire police and we are here with a warrant to search these premises,” the police sergeant informed the man. “Are you the manager here?”

“Ah yes, yes I am. Can I see the warrant?” The man smiled, still seeming completely at ease. His eyes flicked to Jack and Russel very briefly.

The sergeant presented the warrant to the manager who took it and gave it a look.

“Well, everything seems in order, have at it I suppose.” The manager shrugged with a helpless smile.

The sergeant turned to the police gathered behind him. “Spread out and search the facility, you know what to look for.”

Most of the officers and armoured police split up into pairs and walked off down different corridors and into different rooms. Russel motioned to Jack to wait with him in the reception area.

“What precisely is it that you are looking for, if I might enquire?” the manager asked with a smile. “If you’re interested, we have a lovely swimming pool and sauna just down the corridor.” He was still very calm, serene in an almost eerie way, not at all like someone who’s establishment was currently getting raided by the police. Jack frowned in suspicion and gave a surreptitious glance at Russel whom he could see was tightening his fists.

“We have received evidence and accusations of unsafe cultivation practices being used in this facility, resulting in the injury and death of numerous persons,” the sergeant gave the guy the official answer.

“Oh my, well that doesn’t sound good at all does it?” the manager said in shock that clearly sounded fake, with a vague undercurrent of amusement. Jack was beginning to get a bad vibe from the guy.

“Were you unaware of the issue or the injuries amongst the gym goers here?” the sergeant asked with a frown, also beginning to sense something was amiss.

“Oh no, we knew,” the manager simply said with an uncaring shrug. “We’ve known for months.” He gave them a placid smile. Jack’s left hand rested on his short sword hilt and Russel’s armoured plates grinded slightly as he loosened his shoulders.

“You..you knew? For months? Then why did you let it continue? People have died!” the sergeant asked, aghast.

“If they couldn’t survive the process of cultivation, then that's on them, they were weak and deserved to die. It's a brand new world, there’s no place in it for the weak.” The manager let out a wide full toothed grin.

The sergeant looked at him incredulously for a moment before taking some handcuffs off his belt and approaching the manager.

“You’re under arre -!”

“Are you sure it's me you should be worrying about right now?” the manager interrupted, still smiling before letting out a mirthful chuckle.

The police sergeant frowned and hesitated before pulling out his radio.

“All units, report in…….all units report in now!” the sergeant called into his radio. He received nothing but static in return.

Russel got out his pager. “Hm, no satellite signal nor radio, something’s blocking or jamming us. Jack, go outside and call for backup from the guild,” Russel calmly told Jack.

“Johnny, you go with him and do the same,” the sergeant brusquely ordered one of his subordinates.

Jack nodded and quickly stepped outside followed by a uniformed police officer, the manager gave them a cheerful wave goodbye. As soon as they were out the doors Jack tried his pager and the officer tried his radio. Neither of them could get a signal nor anything but static.

Jack ducked his head back inside.

“Still nothing, you okay if we go further out?” he called in.

Russel nodded. “That's fine, go across the street, but hurry up.” Russel took a menacing step forward towards the still smiling manager.

Jack and the officer quickly jogged across the street to see if they could get through to someone. After a couple of minutes Jack managed to get through to the guild operator and they promised to send some extra teams, the officer accompanying Jack managed the same with the local police station.

With backup on its way, they both hurried back across the street. However, just as they were in the middle of crossing the road, they began to hear screams of fear and panic coming from the gym. Suddenly, the gym doors opened and several people ran outside, screaming in fear, trying to get away. They also began to hear strange noises, roaring and shrieking of a decidedly non-human nature.

Jack and the policeman doubled their pace and barged through the flow of people fleeing the gym. They reentered the gym to a scene of devastation, broken glass and furniture was everywhere. There was no sign of Russel, the police or the gym manager, just frightened gym goers fleeing for their lives.

The large window leading to the cultivation session that had been happening previously was broken and within the room were multiple creatures menacing a small crowd of cornered and cowering humans. Unfortunately, also within the room were several human corpses, the victims of the monster’s attacks.

Without a thought, Jack took out his spear and stepped over the broken fragments of glass into the room. At his crunching footsteps, several of the monsters turned around to face him.

The creatures looked like a cross between a hairy boar and an insect, they had snorting pig-like faces covered in a shaggy mop of grey hair with large tusks on either side of fang filled mouths. Their bodies were a strange mix of grey, wiry hair and chitin plates covering long slim bodies with multiple clawed legs and a long tail. The creatures weren’t particularly massive, about the size of larger dogs but not even coming up to Jack’s waist, however they looked fast and they had a number advantage at nearly twenty of them.

The closest one to Jack let out a gurgling hiss as it tried to assess him, Jack quickly stepped over to it and thrust with his spear as he pulled the trigger for extending it. The spear pierced the creature’s head and it was killed instantly. Before the other creatures could react, Jack moved in amongst them, he ran a healthy charge of electricity through his body and spear and proceeded to slaughter everything that wasn’t human. He was far beyond clumsily hacking and slashing at a pack of giant rats now, with precise footwork combined with deft spear jabs and slashes he expertly executed everything that came at him with ease.

Within a minute he was done, all the while the people in the corner remained still, fearfully staying clear of the fight. They were just normal people, not even particularly young, fit or strong, just a general mix of old, young and middle aged men and women, all had attended the gym in hopes of successfully cultivating their element. A few of them had faint traces of grey petrified skin on different parts of their bodies, though none of it looked serious.

Jack stepped back to the broken full wall window and made sure the reception was clear of monsters before beckoning to the people.

“It's clear, everyone get out now!” No one needed telling twice. They scrambled to their feet and fled for the front doors, not caring or not noticing the red human blood that covered the wooden floors of the room in between the bodies, they ran through it, leaving clumsy, smeared red footprints. Jack watched as the last person got out.

Once everyone had gone, he looked around and realised the police officer who’d been accompanying him was nowhere in sight. Before he could think to look for him however, he heard sounds of fighting and other creatures from further inside. Jack walked past the empty reception front desk and down one of the corridors, further into the building.