Banished Pt. 08

"What would a monster do with a core?" I asked, and Casey blinked several times, her eyes flicking between the Kobalt, and my own concerned gaze.

"I- I don't know," she answered, apparently as flabbergasted by the development as I was.

I turned to Gisela.

"Do monsters ever do that?" I asked, and the girl quickly shook her head.

"It is not within my understanding," she replied.

As we spoke, Cameron came over to join us, but as she took one look at the body in front of us, she turned and began to retch, as she spilled the contents of her stomach unceremoniously onto the earth beside her.

I quickly moved to her side, and placed a hand on her back, rubbing gently as she continued to vomit for a bit.

"I'm fine," she quickly said, as she took a labored breath in, and wiped away some tears from her eyes.

Casey shot me a worried look, and I bit my lip nervously, as I led Cameron away from the grisly scene, and toward the sleeping area prepared for us.

I lay her down on the bed of rags, but as I sat down beside her and took her hand, she quickly shot me a disapproving look.

"You don't need to worry about me. Go. You need to handle this," she said, and I sighed.

As I stood up to leave, she kept ahold of my hand for a moment, letting out a sigh, before finally letting me go with a nod.

"Go," she whispered again, and I nodded.

"We should get Nolan to cover her watch," I said, as Casey moved to join me.

"Already done," she answered, and I smiled at her.

"How did I ever survive without you?" I added, and she smiled, blushing a little at the compliment.

We moved to meet up with Gisela, and as I relayed my encounter with the new creature, Gisela furrowed her brow.

"So. The thing exists," she said, biting her lip nervously.

"It's probably not the mythological beast your people believe it to be. For now, we just need to be more cautious about how we move within the camp. If it can attack from above, then we need to make sure that no task is done alone."

Casey nodded in agreement.

"I will make it known," Gisela said. "Forgive my absence; our fallen comrade must be prepared to rest within the earth."

I nodded, as Gisela bowed, before heading away.

"Where are you thinking?" Casey asked.

"Defending against that thing in a forest is a nightmare," I said, and she nodded. "Do you think we could hunt it?"

She shook her head in response.

"If it moved through the trees as high up as you mentioned, and as quickly, then there's no way for us to even engage unless it attacks. Maybe we could set a trap, but I can't say for certain without more info on the creature."

As we spoke, I spotted Myrinne walking towards me.

"Herr Auslander. The God-enemy wishes audience," the girl said, gesturing to Raul, and I shot Casey a dubious look as we thanked Myrinne, then headed in his direction.

When we got there however, I noted that he seemed to be shooting tentative glances at the canopy above.

"You saw it?" I asked, and he nodded.

"I saw it move amongst branches too; it's quick. Quicker than any monsters I've ever seen."

"So, what did you want to talk about?" I asked, and he let out a sigh.

"I want to co-operate," he said. "I have some info that might be useful right now, and some modules that might help us survive this place."

"Why the change of heart?" I asked, and he sighed.

"Two reasons mainly. One; I'm... trying to give your suggestion a chance. I kind of thought that most of the people who came here were like that Emily girl; dangerous, and untrustworthy. But I've been observing what you're building here, and I guess I'm starting to see the value of it."

Casey let out a sigh.

"What's the other reason?" she asked.

"Self-preservation. That thing up there was watching me intently... something in me told me that it marked me, as 'next on the menu'," he explained.

Casey frowned at him, as I began to rub my chin thoughtfully.

It did the same thing to me... didn't it?

"What's the module," Casey asked, and he frowned.

"Basic map module," he replied, and I tilted my head at him.

"I did a thorough search for mapping tools; I never saw a basic map module," I replied, and Casey sighed.

"Legacy item. Either they figured it was too useful for its cost, or not useful at all, so they removed it from the shop."

I frowned.

"What does it do?"

Raul gestured toward his wrist, and I nodded, undoing the ties on Raul's hands, and he tapped the implant on his wrist, and the little holographic image of a grid popped up.

"That looks fairly blank to me," I said, and Casey frowned.

"What does it do, exactly?" she asked.

"I can mark this spot where I'm standing, and I'll be able to find it no matter how far away I go."

"That could be useful... if I wanna chase something."

"Exactly," Raul said, and Casey shrugged.

"Might as well just take it off of him anyway," she said, and Raul frowned.

"Wait, mods can be transferred?" he asked, and she raised an eyebrow at him.

"Uh, yeah," she replied, and I snickered a little at his distress at the realization.

Way to lose your bargaining chip, I thought.

She showed him how to transfer the module, and as I activated it, I decided to give it a test, marking the current spot on the map.

The map showed literally nothing else, but I had to admit that it was still better than the absolute nothing, save for my compass, that we had when it came to navigation.

"That the only module?" she asked, and as he nodded, she eyed him.

"Nate. Force him to tell you if he has more," she said, and I patted her on the shoulder.

"Easy there. At least he's giving us something. Let's just take it one step at a time for now. You said you had some information?"

Raul shot me a thankful nod, before continuing.

"Yeah. The area we're in right now is an originator's domain. Now I don't know an awful lot about them, and a lot of what I've heard is hearsay from villagers; but there is one thing that I've heard from a very reliable source."

"Which is?" Casey asked, a little impatiently.

"Every domain has at least one guildhall, usually somewhere on the periphery."

I rubbed my chin, as a smile appeared on my lips.

"Hence the map," I offered, and Raul nodded. "This could be a godsend."

Casey quickly clicked her tongue at me in annoyance.

"A word?" Casey asked, and I nodded.

"Excuse us for a moment," I said, tying Raul's hands back together, before walking just out of earshot.

"He could be lying; are we seriously gonna just trust his word?" she asked, and I frowned.

"Apart from trying to make sure we all die in here, why would he?"

"Isn't that possibility enough?" Casey asked, and I sighed.

"On the probability that he isn't; this isn't the kind of chance we can pass up. We need supplies. Some more healing potions; armor. He has thirty-five hundred credits that we can splurge here to make sure we make it to our destination."

"I still don't like it," she replied, and I sighed.

"Think this through, Casey. I can move really fast in this armor, and without having to worry about getting lost, I can really go all out. A quick recon mission, and I'll be back before you know it."

"You can't go alone. You need to take someone else with you at least," she replied, and I frowned.

"To slow me down? The only person that can keep up with me is Francesca, and there's no way I can leave this camp without at least one of us around."

"You're being dumb, Nate. If you get injured, or if something unexpected happens, you'll be out there alone and we'll have no way of getting to you."

"It's a risk; but this is one case where its massively outweighed by the possible reward. What's really going on here? You seem to be banking on some pretty unlikely problems. Are you sure that you're thinking straight?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Maybe your hypnosis is impeding your judgement," I suggested, and she glared at me angrily.

"What? Ugh, fine! Just do whatever the fuck you want then!" she spat, before storming off, and as I stared after her, I gave the issue some thought.

Casey was an invaluable asset.

Her use had far transcended the inside knowledge that she brought to the table, as she had proven to be a highly efficient advisor as well.

But on the other hand, I was fairly certain that her emotions were clouding her judgement.

I mean, finding a guildhall while we were in the middle of nowhere?

This was a best-case scenario since we badly needed to stock up on essentials as we prepared for the long journey ahead.

As I rubbed my chin, trying hard to think of a solution, I noticed that Casey was standing off to herself, so I decided to go to her.

"Hey," I said, and she kept her eyes forward, as she ignored my greeting.

"I really need you to be my advisor right now," I tried again, and she scoffed.

"How am I supposed to believe that when all you do is ignore my advice?"

I sighed, then moved closer, but as she shot me a warning glare over her shoulder, I kept a reasonable distance.

"You haven't really been listening to me either, you know..."

She turned to study me.

"You keep taking risks-"

"I took a risk for you once, didn't I? And now you're basically indispensable to me."

She continued to stare at me.

"Look, just hear me out. That thing that attacked is probably going to come back; but my guess is that we have a brief window right now during which I can do some recon without it interfering; if I find the hall, then we get some invaluable supplies. If I don't? Then I've probably just wasted a few hours."

"What, are you asking my permission? I thought your mind was made up."

"Help me to plan this so that I can reduce the risk as much as possible," I replied, and her eyes teared up a little, as she swallowed uncomfortably.

"Fine," she answered. "If this is only a couple of hours, you're taking Francesca."

I shook my head.

"That creature might not come back for a bit, but another 'geisterung' attack is still probable. I can't leave the camp and take the only people who've fought, much less killed one."

"Then Jordan," she began, and I bit my lip.

"That might be counterproductive; if he slows me down, it might actually increase the risk. The only people here who can keep up with me are Francesca, and Mr. 'Walking Corpse', over there."

Casey rubbed her chin, as she cast a glance over at Raul.

"Maybe there's a way we can use him, actually," she said, and as I smirked a bit, she rolled her eyes at me.

"Come on, tell me."

She let out a sigh, before continuing.

"His pledge. There's a way you can use it to exercise more autonomous control over him."

"Hnn~. How so?"

"The idea is that you create a clause while focusing on the shadow image of him in your mind; then designate a consequence for breaking that clause."

I bit my lip.

"Okay, how about... complete muscular paralysis if he tries to hurt any sentient lifeforms."

"If the condition is too general, it may not work, though..."

I frowned.

"Okay; can I practice on you?" I asked, and she frowned.

"Okay, but don't make the condition anything painful. I'm still nursing a stab wound."

I summoned up the image of Casey in my mind, then set about designing the clause.

Let's see...

If Casey has an involuntary thought about me, send a shiver up her spine! I thought, and no sooner had the clause been declared, than Casey shivered a little, then shot me a curious look.

"What did you do?"

Another shiver ran up her spine, and I snickered a little.

"I created the clause, 'if Casey has an involuntary thought about me, send a shiver up her spine'," I explained, and Casey tilted her head at me, as another shiver ran up her spine.

"Why would you do that?" she asked, and I shrugged.

"I thought maybe it might counter your hypnosis," I suggested, and she frowned.

"Turn it off, will ya?"

"Are you sure? Maybe it might help you shake your obsession problem."

She shook her head.

"I'd rather deal with it myself, thanks," she replied, and I shrugged, as I called up her image in my mind, and dissociated the clause from her image.

She shot me a relieved look, as I turned to study Raul.

"How about if I use the image of specific people that he is forbidden from hurting?"

"That should work, as long as you can clearly recall the images. What's the repercussion though? I know you said muscular paralysis, but you can make it so that his heart stops beating if you really wanted."

I shook my head.

"We might need him yet, and he has expressed some troublingly suicidal feelings in his time here. I'd rather not tempt him with that."

After explaining the deal with the pledges, however, Raul quickly agreed, and a quick test showed that the clauses worked perfectly, as Raul fell to the floor, unable to move, just as he raised his hand to deliver a blow at my face.

The clause, however, had to be reworded to add in a time limit to his petrification, or else he'd just lie there until I used my control over his body to end the condition.

He rubbed his hands together, evidently having been quite uncomfortable in his binds, and I made a note to myself to enquire about safe binding methods that we could use, that didn't result in as much discomfort for prisoners in the future.

"So, what's the plan?" Raul asked.

"You and I are going for a run," I answered, and he glanced between me and Casey.

"Do I get armor?" he asked, and Casey quickly shook her head.

"Your strength and speed boosts should have transferred from your old armor by now, no?"

Raul reluctantly nodded.

"Then good. All I need is for you to keep pace with Nate."

"Do I get a weapon at least?"

Casey bit her lip, and I nodded.

"If I'm in trouble and there's a fight, I'll need him armed," I reminded her, and she sighed.

"The hunting knife?"

I nodded.

"Works for me," he said. "How soon can we leave?"

"As soon as I wake Francesca," I said, and he nodded.

When I woke up Francesca, and let her know what was going on, she quickly furrowed her brow at me.

"Why didn't you wake me sooner? Maybe we could have tracked the thing?"

"If you were awake, maybe we could have, but it was gone before I knew what it was."

She sighed, stretching as she shook off her sleepiness.

"Does Cameron have my spear..." her words trailed off, as she spotted Cameron asleep, not too far from us. "Is she alright?"

"Yeah... she got a little sick again, so Nolan relieved her," I quickly answered, and she frowned.

"Should I relieve Nolan?" she asked, and I shook my head.

"I think we need the extra eyes for now, but I don't want everyone to get worn down like we did back at the cluster. Get the spear from him, and swap him one of the daggers or something."

Francesca nodded.

With that settled, the only thing left was to head out.

Casey walked with us to the periphery of the camp, and I turned to her as we got ready to leave.

"One more thing. While I'm gone, you're in charge here," I said, and she sighed.

"Duh," she replied, but as I turned, she suddenly pulled me back.

"Be safe... and don't do anything stupid," she said, her eyes a little glassy as she shot me a genuine look of concern.

"Me? Something stupid. Pfft," I replied, and she shoved me, as I shot her one more look, before raising a hand, and turning to Raul as we took off at a sprint.

***

"Are you keeping up?" I called, and Raul scoffed.

"Yeah, *wheeze*, this is... nothing!"

I smirked a little, as we came to a stop, and I pulled up my little map thing, and gave it a quick look.

We'd been running for about half an hour straight, and we were now some way from the camp.

Raul was trying desperately to catch his breath, while also trying in vain to maintain the image that he was completely fine.

"The guildhalls are usually concealed, aren't they?" I asked, and Raul nodded, as his eyes narrowed on me.

"Yeah, but you can detect them, can't you?"

I studied him for a bit.

"What do you mean, detect them?"

"Can't you access your own internal map module?"

I tilted my head, as Raul brought up a display similar to the one that the basic map module did; a blank map with green grid lines that showed only his location.

"Guildhalls show up as a blue blip, as soon as we get into a five-mile radius," he explained, and I frowned.

"And you got this ability just like that?"

"I think it activated after I explored a certain distance, or something."

I rubbed my chin.

My own movements had been back and forth between the guild hall, and Palancar, and now, the path that this journey led us on.

Was that distance insufficient, or were the requirements to activate the module merely different from what Raul guessed them to be?

"Well, keep an eye on it. You're the only one who has access to that," I replied.

As we set out again, I made sure to slow our pace down a little so that Raul could keep an eye on his module effectively as we moved, but less than five minutes after the resumption of our travel, I spotted something off to my right, and pulled to a sudden halt.

"What is it?" Raul asked, and I gestured in the direction, as I drew my halberd, and went on alert.

Raul stared after the direction I pointed, when he spotted the creature, slumped on the ground.

I moved cautiously to it, and immediately noted that it had been sliced cleanly in two, and that its core had been extracted.

"Fucking hell," Raul said. "That blood still looks fresh."

It was a recent kill.

"Was wondering why we didn't encounter anything in our entire journey," I said. "Someone's clearing these woods. We should head back..."

"Fuck me. The hall is right up over there," Raul replied, and I furrowed my brow.

This was the worst possible scenario.

It was right there, within reach, but going there was now a massive no-no.

"Do we come back?" he asked, and I bit my lip, as I wasn't sure even that was a good idea.

Hell, we might need a miracle right now to even get out of these woods before whoever it was found our caravan.

I was still trying to figure out how to proceed when-

"Are you two Davion's boys?"

The voice was a woman's, and as we turned, I noted that she seemed to be completely unarmored, wearing only a modest, yellow sundress that flowed carelessly in the night wind.

In her grasp however, was a rather long sword which was drawn; the blade's tip lying on the earth a few feet away from her, as she supported the weight of the unwieldy looking thing in one hand.

Her eyes narrowed as she focused on me, and as she hefted her sword up and approached, her demeanor quickly changed.

"You... you're a new transfer," she said, glancing at me, but her eyes turned murderous in a heartbeat as they rested on Raul. "You, on the other hand; your hands are stained red with the blood of your own kind."

She turned, and spat at the floor.

"If you pledge yourself to me, I'll rid you of him and give you a fighting chance at survival in this vile world," the girl said, directing her words at me, and I quickly raised a hand, as Raul readied his knife.

"Hold on... I'm aware of his past," I began.

"Then, you're complicit?" she asked, and I shook my head.

"He's pledged to me. I'm trying to rehabilitate him, so to speak; and also... I needed info about this world, and he was my only shot."

She eyed me, her eyes flicking across my body.

"You beat him in combat? That explains the armor," she said, and as I nodded, she continued. "Well then; let's see what you've got."

I barely had time to ready my stance when she appeared in front of me, quicker than a flash of lightning, but as I braced for a swing from her sword, she spun, raising her leg and striking me painfully across my neck, and I felt earth being forced into my mouth as I face planted into the ground, hard.