Becoming Monsters: In the Mirror Ch. 34

This is still a story of the Becoming Monsters Universe by Ai Loves, setting used with permission. All canonical and mechanical errors are my own. The yarrb is the creation of FelisRandomis, used with permission.

The Stormbreakers (including Anita and Kamira, appearing here, and Xela, their leader) are the creation and property of Xel_Artz, used with permission. His artwork has inspired a lot of my writing and my mental images of several of my own characters. I was overjoyed when he gave me the thumbs-up to my request.

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Chapter 34: The Chase

Ryan charged forward as soon as the duel started, coming in with an enormous overhand smash that would have reduced me to paste under his hammer. Simple, direct, and effective. Hallmarks of his combat style, like they always had been.

I saw it coming a mile away, spinning to my right to evade the blow. The force of it striking ground was enough to sound like an explosion, but I ended up unmarked and in position away from his shield hand. Fire flew from my fingertips as I targeted his undefended shoulder. The Firebomb, unfortunately, seemed to splash off of his armor. Right. Compensating for weaknesses. I didn't have access to Gloria's Acid Mist, which meant I was about to have to do this the hard way.

"So predictable, little Incubus. Delivery changes, you stay the same." I hopped backwards to get out of range of his backhanded swipe. "Weak."

"It's not too late to stop this, Ryan. Back off and back down. You have nothing to lose for doing so, and everything to gain." A Lightning Net was my next probe, but he swatted it aside with his shield. No dice. He was barely fast enough to interpose it against my first sword strike, metal chiming brightly against metal, but not nearly fast enough to catch me with his Shield Rush. The sword left a deep scar on the face of that shield. Something to consider if this went long?

"Everything to gain? If I give up on the only group that will have me?" A leaping smash had no more luck than his initial rush. The crowd shifted backwards a bit as our attacks brought us close to one edge of where they had cleared off.

"You still haven't learned what I tried to teach you, back when you still wore my badge." Initial probes were going nowhere, and the Troll had both a much deeper well of Stamina than I did and a much quicker and more efficient Regeneration. Plus no need to use MP on most of his abilities. The longer this went, the worse it would get for me.

"Are you still harping on that load of manure?" He was more wary now, knowing that his usual tricks were getting no progress. "About no one person being truly strong? Is that why you are so afraid to stand and fight? So weak without your Guild? Without Lucile doing your fighting for you?"

"You still call her that, and wonder why you got nowhere with her? Come on." Oh, that got under his skin. I was suddenly dodging left as another enormous smash cratered the ground where I had just been standing.

Double Team let me run a copy across his field of vision as I rolled towards his back, my main body striking at the joints of his armor. This time, I scored on him. The shining edge of my new weapon found his gray-green flesh, in the space between his torso and leg armor at his lower back. I managed to flap backwards as he roared in pain, stomping the ground.

The very real shockwave obliterated the Double, but left me untouched. There was verbal shock from the crowd as the clash got more violent. He spun to face me.

"You know that won't work for long, Kithkin. So annoying."

"And yet, it's the only attack that has struck home from either of us." I had to keep him talking, because I knew the chink in his armor now. Both literal and figurative. That thing was held together by barely more than prayer right now. Reinforced at the front, where he knew he'd be facing his opponents. The enchantments I had found were similarly placed. Probably not the best quality, either, just pretending to be that way. I knew the difference now, having seen what a real Enchanter could do.

He was still Guildless, others probably having dumped him during trial periods. Hired as a freelancer every now and then, taking what he could, then being set firmly to the side as soon as the need was over. He did not have the resources to shore himself up, to properly equip himself as befit his level and role. It was a self-feeding cycle. That equipment was what he leaned on, and simultaneously it was his weakness.

"Got any good Guild prospects recently, Ryan? Hammer swing like that should get you noticed by almost anyone." I raised my voice a hair, making sure the nearby crowd could hear. This particular swipe of his weapon actually required that I use my wings to dodge, jumping over the horizontal arc. This time, when I used Double Team, my clone and I kicked off of each other midair to land on either side of the enraged Troll.

I also invoked one additional thing. My Double Shapeshifted, just a hair. Looking larger, more present. He dove in, drawing out attacks but not returning any of his own. I needed to conserve the mana for what I was about to do. Reaching into my Pocket with my left hand, I pulled out my pistol. I wasn't going to be the most accurate like this, but I didn't have to be. He was a huge target, and close. I was aiming away from the crowd, with the forest behind him. Bracing against my right wrist, saber still in hand, I fired twice. Ryan quickly figured out what was going on when they struck him in the back, spinning to face me and bracing with his own shield. My next attack, however, didn't involve a trigger pull. I gathered power and blasted him with a Combat Disenchant.

With a series of pops and snaps, the prayers that had been holding his equipment together were rejected. I could see components litter the area, followed soon by three enormous clangs as the front and back plates of his armor hit the ground, followed shortly by his shield. His hammer held, being made of much better stuff than the rest. His pants did as well, but I was not convinced they were magical to begin with.

"Your defenses are down, Ryan. Back off and surrender. The next attacks won't splash off."

"I don't need them to crush you, Jeremiah!" He grasped his hammer in both hands and charged at me, seeing red, thinking only of doing violence unto my body for daring to destroy what he had struggled so hard to assemble.

"So be it. Flame Ray!" I did not technically need to call out my attack names to use them, but this time? This time, I wanted him to know. I was not my wife's equal at her signature technique. For this, though, I did not need to be. He was wide open, unguarded, and I had no reason whatsoever to hold back. The lance of blue fire shot forth, piercing his torso directly at center of gravity. I missed his heart. I only grazed his lungs. The fire, however, severed his spine, and he could not heal this wound natively.

Ryan's legs immediately stopped responding to his orders, and he dropped face first into the dirt. There he scrabbled, trying to stand, not able to. "KITHKIN! Kithkin, I'm not done with you!"

"Yes. Yes you are. Daniels, you never marked me. You didn't take the chance to back down. And you know what? Everything I did to you, I did with the power of my Guild. My sword was crafted by one of them, the techniques used taught to me by them. By myself, I would have died here. Together, we could overcome you. That is what you never managed to learn. You could have been one of the greats. You could have been a champion. Now. Listen closely. I do not have the means to knock you reliably unconscious without killing you. Surrender now. Let the medics carry you off the field. Please. I do not want to finish this the other way. You have lost. Your only decision remaining is the magnitude of it."

He struggled there, not able to reach me, not able to reach his gear. Barely able to crawl, dragging himself forward without the help of his legs. There were no words in his rage, not coherent ones. Fischer looked on with a dispassionate face, horror and pity in his soul. The crowd, who had cheered for my final attack, was deathly silent at this display. In the end, my opponent collapsed onto his belly, the strength leaving his arms as the awful force of hatred ran out.

I stood there. Waiting. I could feel everything in his soul as he used every ability in his repertoire to try to get back into the fight. I could feel the moment when he realized that, were our positions reversed, he would have killed me with neither hesitation nor remorse. The terrible self-reflection, the moment he gave up. I was there with him, a hidden ear in his emotions, as the man I used to call one of my Guild was loaded onto the stretcher. I still stood there as our arbiter officially declared the victor, as the crowd dispersed and the ambulance left, dispassionate as a statue of myself.

I turned, finding my family behind me. Sarah was carrying a plain brown bag. The remains and components of the gear left on the field. My proper stake for the win, by Guild Law. She decided against the large metal plates. Whitney had a different bag, holding the traditional portion of the many bets which had been placed on this fight. My wife took two soft steps forward, gently putting her arms around me. Just like that, the dam holding my pain at bay was no more. I broke. I sank to my knees, sobbing like a child. I had no control over my emotions, my ladies just had to stand and endure it as my Aura told them in no uncertain terms what this had meant to me. What it had done to me. We were not truly alone there. Though others not of my Guild kept a respectful and fearful distance, I knew I was being watched. I still could not hold it in. The tears flowed, striking the ground like a summer rain.

It was probably only a few minutes later that they eased off. That my control reasserted. I could hear my wife's quiet voice in my ear, telling me I would be okay. I felt her arms around me, saw the others standing guard. I eventually stood again, and when I did Whitney offered me some food. A bag of her own Guild Hall favorites, something she probably grabbed for when she was watching.

I smiled, a small thing, and grabbed an ear of corn. "You need to keep the rest. Not going to have a chance to go back and get you fed before you go Below with the Stormbreakers, that's still happening."

She didn't look very happy with me, but accepted it. Ish. The corn was good, made me wish I could accept the rest. I'd have that chance later. Whitney and Gloria wouldn't. As we sat there, all of us together, I noticed something. All seven of my ladies seemed to be still synced up, but there still seemed to be motion to their Auras. Motion towards me. I checked my Status screen, finding two shocks there. The first was that my Class Progress was at 99%. I was moments away from hitting level 12, if I gave any effort to it at all. The other was my Hunger, which ticked upwards from 22% to 23% as I watched.

Given that I was not presently orgasming into anyone, that was a major shock.

"Everyone! What is your Hunger at?" The chorus of responses were universally 72 or 73%. Odd. It didn't seem to quite track having an even percentage, or the ratio Sarah had spoken of before. Nor was it as swift and clean as when they were sharing with each other. It seemed clear, though, that I was siphoning their Hunger by my mere presence.

Further musings on the topic were interrupted by two women walking up. One appeared to be a Wolf of some kind, though her coloration was in icy whites and blues. The other was a fiery red Tiger. Both were wearing minimal clothing, though it seemed more for maneuverability and comfort than to show off. They were both also wearing a Guild Badge, theirs showing a tornado and lightning bolts. Despite being of obviously different Races, they gave the impression of being twins. Just a sense that they knew how each other moved as well as themselves.

The one on the left, the icy Wolf, was the first to speak. "Hi! I'm Kamira, and this is Anita, from the Stormbreakers. You were easier to find than I thought you'd be."

Gloria and Whitney stood to shake their hands. I did, as well. "Glad to see you, I was afraid that my little tussle might have scared you off."

Anita shook her head, her fur giving the impression of heat shimmers. "We chase tornadoes in the off season. It would take a lot more than that by far."

They left, taking my Berserker and Hunter with them. The Stormbreakers seemed like good folks from all that I had managed to find. Xela ran a tight ship in his Guild, another tiny group like my own. It was easy to forget, sometimes, that the Major Guilds made up barely more than half of the people at Camp. Most of the rest were Minor Guilds, or Lesser Guilds depending on who you asked, with a significant chunk preferring to stick to freelancing. It just provided them more flexibility, less pressure, especially for those who did it for reasons other than their primary living. Others preferred to keep their Guild only to the extent that they could personally know everyone there. I knew other states, other Dungeon communities, might be run differently, but this was ours.

The six of us took the shuttle bus back for a much-delayed meal of our own. Well, snack for most of us. I was the only one who had been too busy to pick up anything. Lucy seemed to sense that my mind was elsewhere. No matter how much trust and devotion was in the group, the fact remained that she was the one who knew me better than I knew myself. She excused us for a bit, grabbed me by the wrist, and almost literally dragged me off to the side. Away from the crowd, away from the noise. "Alright, Jay. Your head is so far up your own butt right now it looks like it needs to be surgically removed. Care to explain what's on your mind before I have to perform a radical rectal craniectomy?"

I shook my head. "Love, it isn't what you think, really. Not the fight. I just noticed something really big, while we were sitting down afterwards. I'm passively siphoning Hunger from everyone in the Guild, now. It's not fast, but it's significant and more than what I burn through daily."

"Jay, what are you saying?"

I took her into my arms. "I'm saying, love, that I am not forced to have sex with anyone anymore. I don't need it to live, as long as I'm around you all. I don't know all the mechanics of it yet, but I've determined that much."

"Don't your class abilities work from that?"

"I think only my bonus stat gain requires it. I can live without that. Class Progress and Acquired Ability ranks can be done the old-fashioned way."

"Jay, love, do you mean..."

"Yes. Lucy. It's all voluntary now. Nobody has to feel forced. We can have what we wanted for so long."

She stood stock still. To an outside observer, she seemed shocked above all. I was not an outside observer. Under the surface, she was an utter kaleidoscope of conflicting feelings. Joy and pain, memory conflicting with the now. Sorrow and elatement, flitting from one to the other as she considered what I said. What I had just offered to her. We had hunted for this kind of news for five YEARS. Now we were here. All of our dreams. Almost literally right in front of her face, and all she had to do was reach out and grab them.

And then... resolution. All of the chaos crystallized into one moment of complete clarity. The words out of her mouth were ones I never expected to hear. Though, perhaps, ones I should have. "It... it's amazing how much a month can change your perspective, isn't it?" Her tears were not sorrowful. The pain I felt in her a moment ago was gone. A memory, placed on a high shelf in her mind, to be looked at occasionally but forgotten in a dusty corner otherwise. She took a deep breath.

"Back before this adventure started, I wouldn't have had to think twice. Now, though... things have changed. Jeremiah, as wonderful as it would be, I'm not that selfish. I know you are mine, but there are six more wonderful women in our life, now. We are happy together, all of us, this giant, chaotic, messy, painful, joyous, amazing mess of a Guild that we both somehow keep a hold on. It also might not literally kill you, but I know that cutting them away and directing them elsewhere would carve chunks of your soul out with them. True monogamy isn't the dream for us that it once was, anymore. Love, devotion, and friendship are the words that have taken its place." She had her arms around me, tears in her eyes and a smile on her face. "I love you, Jeremiah, and I love Whitney and Sarah and Emily and Gloria and Amber and Paige. We managed to make a life together, and I want to keep it."

My tears of joy joined hers, and we stood in each other's embrace. It was nice to just be there. With my wife. Before returning to the crazy life we had found ourselves with, that we had found ourselves accepting and loving.

There was a cough from behind me. A really odd one. It sounded high and nasal, almost like a... quack? I reluctantly let go of my wife, and turned to see the strangest pair of people I had ever laid eyes on. Considering I had, in the recent past, helped foil a bank robbery with the aid of a midget squirrel clown, that was an impressive claim.

They were both Birdfolk of some kind. To the right was a woman, moderately short and covered in feathers of flaming reds and oranges. She had some yellow highlights, too, including a crest over her eyes. Her wings were folded at her back, shimmering with heat. Not a Phoenix, I'd seen one of those one time. More of a Firebird. A Molotov Cockatiel, as it were. She was wearing a medic's vest and badge.

The other, if anything, was significantly stranger. His bill was orange, his wing-arms green, but that Duck was covered in reds, yellows, blues, and violets in a violent riot of colors. Presumably, he was the source of the quack. He, too, was wearing a medic's vest and badge. "Excuse me, sir. I am Joseph, and this is my wife Asenath. I am the Oneiromancer for the camp medical staff, and was looking for you to get some context for images I pulled from the person you just dueled this morning."

I was literally talking to Joseph the Technicolor Dream Duck. What even was my life anymore? Every time I got used to a piece of it, something else had to come up and throw me for a different loop.

The conversation didn't last particularly long, as these things went. As soon as they heard the tiniest part of the bitter history I had with Ryan, Asenath could do little but let out a shocked whistle. Joseph was taking notes, but stopped before long. "I think I have enough. Context. Yes. Okay, we have seen more blood be shed around here for less than that. Thank you. Let us be off." He and his wife both flapped off.

Lucy looked off at the direction they left. "Did... did that just happen?"

"Yep. How much of that do you want to bet makes it onto the Internet in comment threads on videos of the duel itself?"

"No bet. You don't make bets you can lose. And... Jay?"

"Yes, love?"

"Thank you. For telling me. For letting me decide. Especially for meaning it. Now, let's get back to the others. And the food."

The rest of the afternoon was mercifully brief. We made sure to drop by the Hall to enter Nicholas as a Protectorate on our rolls. Whitney and Gloria returned unscathed. Well, mostly. Whitney was a frontliner, with all that entailed, but any damage she took was superficial. Gloria was scolding her over some of the more blatant risks she had taken, and seeing the slender five-foot-two woman successfully berate the six-foot-five and muscular Whitney was quite the image. Their earnings from the trip weren't the greatest, but were certainly significant, and they learned a lot about applying what they could do Below.