Benjamin Vryce

The hallway had brought them into a fancy dinning haul. Which in turn had led to a suit of rooms that made their own look like a broom closet. The next area they came too was similar to the corridors they had traversed before, only smaller, and had led to what must be a kitchen. They hadn’t gone in a straight line, so it was likely they had missed several exits from these places.

Eventually, he had found the access panel, just like back when he had run the Shipwright’s trial. Once he ripped it from the wall, setting Jade’s still sleeping body down to do it, there was a short drop into the service tunnels below. These areas were too small for them to be swarmed, and he hoped they might get the chance to rest while the moved this way.

“How are you holding up Nyx?” He asked the demoness, who stood beside him armed and armored all in black obsidian.

She looked around constantly, it seemed to Benjamin that her head must be mounted on a swivel. The ice blue of her eyes, standing out in stark contrast to the red of her face. finally stopped scanning the small service tunnel and looked to him instead.

“I am fine, Master.” She said, giving him a once over of her own. Likely checking for injuries. “How is Jade? She is slowing our progress as she is.”

Benjamin couldn’t argue that point. The blonde woman didn’t weigh very much, but he was forced to carry her in his arms. That meant he couldn’t use his sword effectively, or run full out either. They really needed to find a place to hole up until she recovered. Looking around, Benjamin didn’t think they were likely to find a better spot.

“She seems fine, but we can’t keep going on like this,” he began looking down at the unconscious woman.

“I understand completely master, set her down and I will finish her off.” Nyx said, raising her sword arm.

“No, Nyx.” Benjamin said with a sigh, “I meant to say that we should rest until she recovers. Here is as good a place as any, and I need to look in on a few things I’ve been neglecting. Think you can watch out for us while she rests and I get some work done?”

His demoness creation watched him while he spoke, nodding her head immediately after he asked his last question. At least she hadn’t lost her loyalty to him, that would have been a shame. Setting Jade down against the wall, Benjamin settled down as well. Giving one final nod and smile to Nyx he entered his void space.

* * *

Nyx

Nyx watched as her master closed his eyes and felt his consciousness move into the void space. He was defenseless while in this state, so was the blonde, Jade. She gripped her sword a little tighter while she watched his unmoving form. The thoughts that moved behind her ice blue eyes, flitted from subject to subject. She adjusted the grip on her sword again, and took a step forward.

She knew he needed this time; he had spent so much of his essence and attention on her, that he had been neglecting his other responsibilities. So, when she felt the approaching life forms, she didn’t say anything. Instead, letting him go about his own tasks. This wasn’t his responsibility after all, it was hers. She was his sword and shield, his eyes and ears, his confidant and lover…lover?

She had to think about that one, somehow it didn’t feel right to her. Not that she had any love experience in this new life, she might have in her old one, but so much of that had been lost to her now that she wasn’t sure. For the time being, she was his sword and shield and eyes and ears. The rest would sort itself out with time, right now she had incoming enemies to face.

There were at least twenty of them, gelatinous green oozes that she could almost see through. They filled the small tunnel as they came closer, thankfully only from one direction. She moved out in front of Benjamin and Jade, readying herself for the conflict to come. She knew pain would wake Benjamin up, so she resolved to settle this conflict without any damage being delt to him.

With a blood thirsty grin, she slapped the flat of her blade against the face of her shield. Creating a ringing noise in the air, and drawing the attention of the incoming ooze monsters. No matter how many changes she had gone through in the last few weeks, Nyx had never lost her love of battle. She was thankful for that, no matter who she became in the future, she would at least have this love of slaughter to ground herself with.

* * *

Benjamin Vryce

Slipping into his void space, Benjamin assessed his options. Opening his ant case and looking at the cores and patterns it held. He still couldn’t bring himself to look too closely at the patterns the Erlking had gifted him. Not that he could use them now, not with out risk anyway. That left the slime, and the female kobold. He realized that the slime would have its uses, but in the situation, they found themselves in at present, it was less useful than Ice.

Thinking of Ice, Benjamin looked up and awakened the massive she wolf. She shook herself as she animated, looking like a dog after a bath before settling down beside Benjamin.

“Greetings, rider.” She said in his mind, “how goes the flight?” She didn’t sound bitter, but Benjamin knew she had to be upset. She was an alpha, and a predator, being left out of battle had to rankle her.

“We have found a save place to rest for a time,” he answered. Reaching out to scratch her thick fur before continuing, “Nyx is watching outside while I came in for some research. I need to check on the aged copper acorn, but I wanted to help us outside as well.” He spent a few minutes catching the wolf up on what had been happening, and his thoughts on how to improve their situation.

She proved a great listener as always, and even helped him find a solution to the problem he had pondered over. Eventually however, she gently reminded him why he was here. Not letting him avoid the topic any longer than needed.

“My rider, I know it is difficult. But you must look in on the forest world.” She spoke gently, but her tone was firm.

“Yea, I know.” Benjamin knew he had been stalling, so without further thought he pulled up a screen into his own small world.

It had grown. That was his first thought, when he looked at a pulled back view of his world. Before the entire thing had consisted of a small forest, the trees were ancient in appearance. However, at several dozen miles in diameter, the world wasn’t much bigger then just that forest. Now, it was different, it hadn’t grown to the size of an ordinary world. Perhaps the size of the continental US in total, and that included a few large bodies of water.

Benjamin tested the seal that kept him from entering his small world. It was still intact, but it had weakened significantly. He could likely break it if he wanted to, but now wasn’t the time. He didn’t know what would happen if he did that anyway. No, best to wait until it was fully matured.

Manipulating his screen, Benjamin felt like he was looking at the world through a satellite camera. He zoomed in on the huge forest that still dominated most of the available land mass. There was a tree at its very center, moving in on it he had to chuckle to himself. It held a king squirrel, high up in its branches. He couldn’t be sure but he thought it might even be one of the ones he had accidentally released into his world while he was making it.

Moving back to the goblin town, he discovered it had blossomed. It was now a city, holding thousands of goblins. He watched them moving about, several had dire squirrels as pets. They followed them around like dogs, some helped pull plows, others helped heard livestock. The livestock was a shock to the eyes, they looked like a cross between a dire boar and a squirrel, only several times smaller. It was cute to watch really, but try as he might he couldn’t find anything he was looking for.

“Where is the pack, Silver and the descendants of Grace’s line?” Ice’s question summed up what Benjamin wanted to know to the letter.

The goblin city was thriving, the buildings had grown and several were now constructed of stone. They were dressed in clothes that didn’t all come from an animal, and had begun farming the land to feed themselves instead of hunting for every meal. In short, they had advanced. However, none of the goblins looked to have any human features at all, he couldn’t find Silver, and there wasn’t a single wolf to be found.

“I don’t know,” he answered. Panning back out, and scanning the surroundings. Moving in ever widening circles looking for any sign of them.

Eventually, he found them high up on the only mountain the world sported. A small town of goblins and wolves, living together outside a cave full of ogres, of all things. Benjamin hadn’t wanted to introduce ogres into his world because of the potential for violence they possessed. Yet, here they were anyway, and when he got a look at their leader, he was forced to hold back a laugh.

She captured his attention so completely; he couldn’t look anywhere else for a few seconds. She was short for an ogre, standing perhaps six and a half feet tall, compared to the usual eight feet the rest stood. Also, where all the male ogres he saw were bald, this female sported a head full of spiky blonde hair. He supposed that when his subconscious created the ogres, he just automatically placed a small blonde in charge of them. He couldn’t wait to see Jade’s reaction when she saw this, assuming time didn’t continue to fly like it had before.

She was talking to a wolf mounted goblin, who had a familiar silver spider perched on his shoulder. This was one of his descendants then, if the pattern had continued to hold. Benjamin had to assume that it did because this goblin was a much lighter green than his fellows, and was much taller as well. The wolf he sat astride was pure white, very much the image of Honor, and likely one of his descendants as well.

Benjamin and Ice couldn’t hear the conversation, but it looked like they had discussed a hunt, because a few ogres exited the cave at the leaders call. Both held javelins and had bags of rocks tied at their waists, another hold over from Tok perhaps, or was that just how the Erlking had designed ogres to fight? The ogres accompanied the wolf riding goblin into the forest surrounding the small town.

When they had gone, Benjamin looked the area over carefully. He couldn’t get exact numbers, but there were fewer than one hundred goblins. Each had some feature that designated them as having some of his blood in them and they all wore tree climber soft hides or armor. There weren’t many wolves either, perhaps twenty of the beasts in total. There were even fewer ogres, numbering at around a dozen.

“What is this?” Benjamin asked rhetorically, not really expecting an answer just speaking out loud. “I don’t want to make any assumptions, but it looks like the wolves and the goblins with my blood where cast out.” he continued watching with slowly mounting anger.

“I would assume the same, my rider.” Ice’s voice was deep with anger of her own. “I don’t know how much time has passed, but it must be long indeed. For the goblins to forget their histories and legends, to dismiss their Creator’s blood, and the hunt like this. We need to address this, Benjamin.”

He couldn’t help but agree, untold years after he had created this world; the descendants of the people he had sent here to protect, were outcasts from their own kind. Hiding in the mountains with ogres, while the rest of the goblins flourished.

“You are right, Ice, and we will.” He told his companion, “We can’t get in their yet though, we need to survive this damn station and grow stronger first. When the seal finally breaks, we will fix whatever went wrong in there.”

He didn’t know what had happened, it was possible this was even voluntary on is descendant’s part. Benjamin didn’t believe that though, something bad had happened and he needed to find out what. The world was large, and he hadn’t looked at nearly any of it, but he was out of time. He had to return to the station, close the rift, and find that damn chicken.