Vignette - Chimera

“What path have you imagined, Candidate?”

“I will learn from the beasts and the monsters, what their bodies contain, in time so too will mine. I will graft all the strengths and magics of all the beasts into my body and with time and skill make those abilities mine.”

Chapter 5

It took a week to set up the small motte and stone bailey. One ‘shovel’ was only good for about 20 minutes of work on a full day's charge, but 20 minutes of work with the magical equivalent of a backhoe can move a considerable amount of dirt. 8 cubic ft of dirt in an instant, the biggest problem was not getting buried in a wave of earth! He had to hold the middle of the stick and with the tip very carefully out of reach and the tail aimed behind him.

“Next time…” He muttered, “gonna make it ten ft long, not four.”

It was a bit awkward but it did the trick, he just had to use the shovel multiple times to get each pile of dirt where he wanted it.

The dirt was loose, hard to walk on, and impossible to keep clean while trying. It reminded him of some reading he had done back in middle school, about rammed earth. Rammed earth was one of those interesting construction methods that appeared all over the place but not very frequently. It was very strong and durable when done right. There were still intact rammed earth buildings left over from the BC’s. He could not remember what they did to the soil prior to just hammering it down though. Something about clay and animal blood he thought.

Doesn’t matter for now.

Motte completed, check! Stones piled up in walls, thank you Akil, double check. Time to join the stones together into one solid mass.

He climbed the 30ft motte with difficulty, the loose earth sliding out from under his feet with depressing regularity and no few mini landslides. Don’t get caught up in the details, just prove that the magic works!

At last he made the top where irregular stone chunks were piled on top each other for a wall 2ft thick and 10ft tall with maybe 10ftx10ft of empty space inside.

He had three cards with “Join-as-one Direction.5,2.5-forward-2x2” that had most of the week to charge. They were topped off and swollen with magic…. Maybe a bit too swollen. He had not used them yet, unlike most of the rest of his tools.. His brow furrowed , an uneasy feeling growing in the pit of his stomach.

“Say Akil, can I overcharge my runes?”

“Of course, I have been looking forward to the explosion for days now.”

“....you didn’t mention it to me in passing? A friendly warning perhaps? Hey Tim old buddy, you are about to blow yourself the fuck up, you might want to watch out?”

“A warning would not be friendly. Learning your lesson here is non-lethal. Up above it will not be. Letting you screw up now and learn from it is the kindest thing I can do for you.”

Do not get in an argument with the golem, you can not win. ”Haaaa...Any tips on keeping my enchantments from perforating my body in an energetic manner?” He tried to keep it reigned in, but the sarcasm slipped through.

“You made them, did you not? Simply tell them to stop charging, you are man, it is merely rock. If your will is not superior there is a bigger problem then an explosion.”

Why did I not think of that… The next half hour, with a trip down and back up the motte, was spent checking all his enchantments and stopping the charging where appropriate. Finally, again on top of the motte, he activated the Joiner card. The stone in a 2 ft cube at the bottom northwest corner of the keep softened and slumped like not wet enough pancake batter, the cracks between rock chunks were consumed as the rocks took on the consistency of dough, slumping together into one whole, one very uggly whole. Funny thing, Dough that as it slumped down stopped supporting the rocks piled above it...

“God damn stupid fucking rocks..” The knot on his head felt like it was trying to form a horn.

He made a note to create some kind of support structure. Wooden forms like for concrete… He shook his head trying to remember what he was just thinking. He shrugged and decided to work on supports of dirt or wood to bress the doughy stone between.

Ok, make the best of an odd situation.

He carefully picked up the fallen rubble and piled it back on top of the now solid … wallcake... Deciding to ignore its less than elegant bulgy look. He carefully activated the card again on the top layer of the wall, “It can learn…”

Its footing was not stable but after the wallcake completed its slump the stone was firmly solid. Two more activations gave him an eightish foot section of solid stone. Solid but distinctly odd looking. Granite should not have ripples like poured batter.

Repeating the process over and over and over again... delivered a solid stone keep… albeit only 8x8 inside and considerably shorter than he had first intended. The walls looked ridiculous but it was solid stone. Applying a pen with a large area but shallow depth “I name thee planer!” He created a flat section to write on all the way around the keep.

A carefully inscribed “Protection Direction-outward-14-wide-8-tall” rune chain on each wall completed the assembly. He would definitely have to look into multiple runes vs one rune per wall, but for now he just wanted to see what would happen. He was sick and tired of slaving away without seeing the results. He WOULD see them work today!

Climbing up the wall from the inside was rather easy as the ripples provided many nice hand holds. Standing on top of his first actual stronghold he felt a glow of pride. Not bad, not bad at all!

The tools were made and would recharge on their own, albeit with some supervision required, his next stronghold could go up in even less time. He was well on his way to becoming a defensive badass!

“Akil, would you again demonstrate a few examples of a normal beast attack?”

“Of course Candidate” He boomed cheerfully…

Candidate, shit… what did I forget now?

His stomach migrated into his throat, but it was already starting, he had to focus on collecting feedback, he would have to ask Akil later.

Ghostly outlines began to draw in the intangible mists and become tangible. Three familiar boars the size of clydesdales appeared to the north.

A similar number of the velociraptor-ish creatures appeared to the east, the ones that jumped taller than trees to catch eagles..

A quick turn proved that the other directions were not being neglected. Three twenty foot long crocodiles floated above the ground to the south, clawed, webbed feet flicked to propel them back and forth with startling speed. To the west was a trio of almost pedestrian looking Falcons, Black hood’s of feathers giving way to a grey belly and wings, with bright red feathers at the trailing edge of both wings and tail. They looked pedestrian until he realized, watching one of them mantel that they had 15 foot wingspans .

… Flying and jumping, I did not think this through.

With a roar the boars charged while the others held back. Apparently they would take turns? He was not sure but it seemed likely. Games did that all the time, slowly growing the strength of attacks until the finale. maybe a mini-boss would show up!

The deep ditch before the motte did not cause the boars much trouble, they simply jumped. The expected slam into the bottom of the ditch was curiously muffled though. A ditch, he suddenly realized, that did not have the stone spikes he had intended to plant.

Squealing out their grunting battlecry the pigs began to climb. The loose earth that was difficult for him was much more effective against the walking slabs of bacon. They repeatedly made a little headway then slid back down in mini-landslides. Until frustrated the three pigs backed up in the ditch to gain steady footing, then with a clearly audible “pshhew” launched themselves through the air on a collision course with the keep… The pulse he saw in the magic field clearly pointed to some innate magic skill. Probably kinetic in nature considering the lack of fall damage and the jump they were doing….

Never mind that, I will change my pants later, activate the wall NOW!

With a reflexive clench of his will the protective rune on the north wall activated. Right before three flying pigs rammed the wall with considerable speed. Like bugs on a windshield the boars broke their necks. The wall runes, not having sufficient time to charge, failed almost instantly. Still it helped a bit and the three feet of stone did the rest.

It did it, but not for free, The titanic impact resulted in spider webbing cracks crisscrossing a good portion of the wall face and driving all the way through.

I was almost defeated by several tons of magic ham. He giggled at the absurdity of it. Picking himself off the keep floor with a small groan. The wall may have held, if barely, but the impact threw him right off.

A wins a win. Don’t mind the details for now.

Shaking his head he walked back over to the corner, looking for hand holds. Before he had risen more than a foot off the floor he heard Akil’s voice

“Commencing round two!”

He did not want to miss it, so he quickly climbed the rest of the way up, prairie dogging his head above the wall.

“..Thump!” Still holding himself up with his arms on top of the wall his head swiveled towards that disturbing sound. Swiveled until the velociraptor entered his field of view, maybe four foot away, standing on top of his oh so impressive wall.

He felt a wet trickle slide down his inner thigh as he tried to clear his throat “.ahem...Nice kitty?”

Faster than a serpent, a forearm appeared into the raptors mouth, blood leaking from one side of its partially closed jaws while a hand stuck out the other side. His eyes couldn't follow the movement, and his mind refused to make the logical connections. Until the first shock wore off and the PAIN began.

Pain that went on and on.

Time seems to change from a color movie to a black and white flip book.

An instant of pain, his arm in a raptors mouth,

An instant of pressure , his back on the dirt floor inside the keep, blood painting both the walls and his clothes.

An instant of fear, 2 more raptors inside the keep, balanced like cranes, beautiful and poised.

An instant of Horror, a leg pinned against the floor with a clawed foot while its full body flexes to rip a bite free.

An instant of terror, intestines steaming and slimy, dangling in lines like melted cheese between his stomach and a fanged maw.

Flicker.

Flicker.

Stop.

Pain

Agony

Torment

Suffering

Mind destroying misery.

Dragging him from the welcoming embrace of the void. His back arches and his mouth opens

“AIIIIEEEEEEEEE…sob… AIIIIIIEE...why...sob….”.

What feels like hours later the pain recedes a bit, enough for his thoughts to expand beyond merely enduring.

“Good morning Candidate.”

“Dear Gods why?” he sobs, “Why would you do that to me?”

“I? I did exactly what you asked. I gave you examples of standard beast attacks. You half assed your way through the creation of your stronghold, did not wait for your runes to accumulate power, and did not provide yourself with any weapons.” His voice rang like a church bell, guilt and damnation delivered by a boisterously cheerful choir.

“You rushed this test, you knew you rushed it. I have shown you the leaping raptors before. They should not have surprised you. You did not think. You did not plan. Death is the only result of such foolishness.”

A solid blow, physical agony was joined by mental.

It was his own fault.

He did know better.

He knew he was rushing, his impatience an obvious thing he had chosen to ignore.

NO, he could have warned me, he could have stopped it.

Denial raged inside him. Even if he made a mistake this was too much. No one should have to live through being eaten alive.

Are you really free of guilt? A quiet voice of reason whispered. Almost drowned out behind its more boisterous brother.

But only almost.

Self reflection was no longer merely a figment of the mirror. Daily exposure over the months of his isolation had trained his will to not accept such vague excuses. He, and only he, was responsible for his pain. To blame his stupidity on others was to refuse to learn. He would accept this lesson, learn from it and forgive himself his foolishness…

“...sob”

Just not yet.