Chapter LXIV: Dead End I

Demonic Wildlands

Month of the Tortoise 33, 172 ,328 DE

Dodging to the side of Demonic Hyena's snapping jaws, I clamp my jaws onto the back of its neck. The Demonic Beast is among the weakest we have found, and as my teeth sever its spine, it goes limp.

We followed the tails of the Demonic Beasts to the edge of the mountaintop, but several of them disappear over the edge. This Demonic Hyena was the last we could find. Dropping the corpse to the ground, I look over the edge, but as acute as my vision is, I see no signs of the Demonic Beasts below.

Joining at the edge, Vorn scans the land below. "What now?"

"We find the underground caves and rooms."

Following the trails of the Demonic Beasts back to their point of origin, we stare into a wide, deep hole in the ground. Wooden scaffolding serves as a framework for wooden ramps leading down. Built against the walls of the roughly square hole, the ramps turn twice before reaching the bottom, some fifty meters below.

The thick logs planks, used for the scaffolding and ramps, look like they could support eight or ten tons of weight. Considering the size of the Demonic Apes and the Demonic Cow, the bitch aunt's minions probably needed to build them that way. Whatever the reason, the wide ramps easily support my mass.

Four tunnels lead off from the bottom of the pit, and a big pile of corroded, crumbling, metal beams and plates lies beneath the section of the ramp. Looking at the floor and walls, spot sections of rust-stained stone. Holes in those section are probably where the metal was once secured. Maybe, the metal used to be stairs or ramp in the past. After sniffing the metal, I cannot identify what type of metal it is. It also give me an off feeling. While it does not feel Chaos corrupted, it does not feel natural, either. I narrow my eyes in confusion. According to Old Man Jones, while practicing my Engineering, I have encountered every kind of metal native to Sirius, which is the true Name for this world, before the Dragon Gods sealed it.

Humans now call this world Diqiu, a name given to it by the Temple of the Dragon Gods. Those who try to use another name for the world tend find themselves executed by torture. The Dragon Gods understand the power of Names, and their get upset at mis-Naming something they have re-Named. Names have the power change something false to true. If the True Name of something can be changed, the very nature of what was Named can be changed.

After drawing a piece of the corroded metal into my Core Realm, I examine the corridors leaving this pit. Like the pit itself they have a roughly rectangular shape. The stone has clearly been worked by the hands of intelligent beings, but it was a long, long time in the past. This place reeks of age. The scents of humans, Ferocious Beasts, Demonic Beasts, and Chaos corruption linger in all four tunnels. Only one has scents that are recent. In the other three tunnels the scents are weeks to months old, but the stench of Chaos corruption lies heavily all around.

"Your bitch aunt and her minions were active here for months if not years."

Vorn follows me down the tunnel with the most recent scents. It extends to the south. While the tunnel is big enough for me to move about in my true form, most of the doors leading off it are too small for me to get through. The scents of hundreds of humans, living and dead, lie one atop the other along the tunnel and in the doorways of the rooms, but the only humans are corpses.

Looking through the doorways, all that we see are bodies and a random scattering of refuse, torn scraps of paper, and discarded, mostly broken, containers and tools. Some slaughtered everyone and ransacked this place before leaving. It was not Vorn's bitch aunt. This was done in the past day, and she is long gone. The culprit should be Jaanfaag? Who else could it be? I do not know his scent, so I cannot tell if he was here.

These humans were weak. From their scent and the feel I get from their corpses, none of them were above the level of Qi Condensation. Their clothing looks like the robes commonly worn by Apothecaries and Alchemists. Those robes are made to shed liquids and resist chemicals and poisons. The tables and shelves in the rooms probably once contained their equipment, but it was all taken or broken.

Deeper in the tunnel splits. One fork, heading southwest, slopes down. The other fork, heading east, opens into a network of smaller tunnels. My true form cannot fit into the smaller tunnel, and I shrink to a height of about one-hundred-fifty centimeters at the shoulder. The smaller tunnels have hundreds of rooms opening off them. The appear to have once been prison cells, but curtains or wooden doors have been hung. From the bedding and chests of clothing and other personal possessions, it looks like these rooms are where the minions were living. In some of the rooms, we find more corpses, including those of children.

While Vorn appears impassive, odors of confusion and anger fill his scent. He digs though the belongings in a number of rooms but seems to find nothing of interest.

After our cursory search of the living quarters, we head down the southwest tunnel. It soon turns back to the north and ends in a rough cave. At the center of the cave I see the podium from the corrupted female's memories. Farther into the cave, a cage stands empty. While the cage reeks of Demonic Beasts, the foul energies of Chaos radiate from the podium.

Glowing with the Light and Dark Od, my swords circle the podium.

Can you do anything about that?

No! You made us too weak! Tama's angry thought pierces my Mind like an attack, and as I diffuse its Power, her anger surges.

Sister! Cease your idiocy! Even if he could allow us to unleash our full strength, we would still be too weak! Anger replaces the normal coldness behind Tia's thoughts. Her sister seems to be the only thing capable of truly angering her.

Approaching the podium, I study the sigil etched into it. The corrupted female's memory of it is barely a shadow of the real thing. Its complexity dwarfs anything below the Transcendent sigils in a few Old Man Jones' tomes. Running in a spiral that circles back on itself multiple times, it has seven or nine layers, but I cannot say which is the right number. Many of the finials branching off the main lines are ones I have seen before. I do not understand more than a fraction of its meaning, and I am not sure I want to. The sigil is simply wrong. It should not exist in this Realm.

Vorn walks up to the podium, but after just a moment, he looks sick and turns away. "What is that?"

"Something bad. Chaos." I do not try to elaborate.

Openings in the walls of the cave lead to more caves and tunnels. The stench of more than a dozen Demonic Beast that I have yet to encounter wafts from several of the tunnels. Listening carefully, I hear the distant sound of wind.

Vorn frowns. "These caves connect to the outside."

"Demonic Beasts entered these caves, but they may not be in the mountain any longer. I will not waste time hunting what may no longer be here."

Returning to his human form, Vorn looks at me. "What now?"

"We search what was left behind and question the corrupted humans."

Back in the main corridor, we enter the room nearest to the fork. Hidden from view by some shelves next to it, we find a closed door. When the handle does not turn, Vorn kicks the thick wooden door off its hinges. The room beyond has a cold forge, and along one wall metal crates have been stacked.

As Vorn sees the crates, he frowns. "Is this the same design as the crate we took from the keep?"

I examine the crates. "No sigils. These won't seal off Chaos energies without the sigils."

Going up to the crates, Vorn tries to scratch one with the tip his sword but fails. After "What metal is this?"

"Soul Steel. It's an alloy combining Soul Iron and common Amalgamate iron with a small amount of charcoal."

The mine, where the bitch aunt had set up a base, used to be a Soul Iron mine, but it played out a couple centuries back. This Realm's contact with the Elemental Realms could have spawned new Soul Iron veins. Several of the tomes from the ancient War Masters contained information on the effect.

Soul Steel would actually be quite useful to have. With a though, I shift all the chests into my Core Realm.

"How long do you plan to stay as a dog?"

"Go fuck a cat. There are couple dead ones up top."

By the time we emerge back onto the top of the mountain, the rising sun lights eastern sky. We found nothing that gives any clue about where the bitch aunt may have disappeared to and nothing at all about Jaanfaag or Temujin, either. There was nothing among the scraps of paper to tie this to anyone or anything on the Great Plateau.

Returning to my human form, I remove a bamboo tube from my core realm. A short fuse pokes out of the bottom, and twine holds a piece of heavy waxed paper over the top. Using a tiny thread of Trinity, I light the fuse.

Pop!

With a hollow sound, a waxed paper-wrapped ball flies into the sky. At the height of its flight, it burst into blue fire and slowly starts to drift toward the ground.

In the distance, the Silver Princess quits it slow circling and heads toward our position. Arcing around from the windward side, as it nears us the rear anchor drops.

THUMP!

After the anchor hits the ground, the slow moving airship drifts to a halt overhead. Less than thirty seconds later the main hatch open and a rope ladder falls to the ground.

As I follow Vorn up the ladder, I spot the pit from the corrupted female's memories, the on where the bitch aunt and a male controlled Demonic Beasts to fight one another.

How long was this base active for? Are there more hideaways like this one scattered around the Demonic Wildlands? How do they exist here without any of the stronger Ferocious or Demonic Beasts causing problems for them?

Even if I get my hands on the bitch, I may never know the answers.

Entering the airship, I find a fearful Brigitte staring at me, and a curious Vorn watching her. For more than a minute, she stares at me without meeting my eyes. Her pink tongue periodically licks her trembling lips. The sour odor of fear fills her scent.

"Are going to just stand there, or are you going to spit it out?"

Taking a deep breath, Brigitte swallows heavily and releases it. After taking another breath, she raises her fear-filled eyes to mine. "You aren't human."

I release a harsh sound that I suppose cannot really be called a laugh. "I'm half human."

With a start, Brigitte shrinks back. "What is the other half?"

"Did you see me change form?"

Brigitte nods without speaking.

"Something you can never talk about. You're best off forgetting you ever saw me take on my true form. I can use a Watch Tower to erase the memory."

After staring at me for close to a minute, Brigitte shows me her palms and shakes her head. "I swore to take you as my Master. I deserve to know the truth."

"Knowing the truth about me means you will be the enemy of the Dragon Gods and their followers."

Brigitte's face turns pale. "I need to know."

"A wolf."

"But you're not a Demonic Beast."

"That's a lie fostered by the Temple of the Dragon Gods. This world, this realm is a Beast Realm. The Great Beasts exist to protect it from things like the Primal Powers. The Great Wolves were the rulers of the Great Beasts. The Dragons invaded and the Dragon Gods placed a seal on it."

Vorn frowns. He should know I speak the truth, but he probably does not like how I phrase it.

"You are not allowed to speak about my nature to anyone."

With a frown, Brigitte looks at her palms. The seals placed on her by my swords probably activated with my command.

"Weigh anchor and take us to the west.."

"Aye, Master." After acknowledging my command, Brigitte returns to the bridge.

"Where did you store the snake trash?"

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