Chương 15: Why Did It Have To Be Snakes

Malachi limped as he walked, his leg still aching from the rodent bite. Jostling the wound wasn't helping with the healing, but now Malachi was beginning to feel a burning sensation inside himself as the poison continued to work. SERA-Phasia had created another icon in his vision so that his 'health' and 'mana' showed next to his skills. Right now, it read: Health: Not great, not terrible Mana: I'm still calibrating this, don't really need your sass right now … which was rich, coming from SERA.

Still, he was happy to have the distraction. Anything to keep his thoughts from the dark places they might settle. Clouds had moved in, blotting out the sun and veiling the sky in a thick faintly luminous gray. He was sorry to see the sun go, but while it was cold enough to be uncomfortable, it wasn't cold enough to be more than a bother. Malachi had practiced summoning and releasing both his aegis and lightning javelin skills, which helped SERA calibrate his mana capacity and got him used to using it.

It was still strange. Cool, yes. He could summon lightning! But also strange. Magic didn't work at all like he thought it might have. He'd relaxed a little, though he was still tense, looking for movement. Twice, he'd nearly jumped out of his skin as birds flew out of the brush. But SERA could sense nearby enemies like those rats, so it meant he didn't need to be too cautious. The unit picked up on that last thought. Wait, what? You sensed those rats before they attacked. You know which way the village is.

You can sense magical creatures, right? No, I can't do that at all. Malachi suddenly stopped walking. That was when a giant python dropped down from the tree right in front of him.

"Fuck!" Malachi said, and summoned his aegis and lightning javelin. The python was covered in what looked like bone plates, each which had serrated protrusions that looked like shark teeth. In between those bone plates, the skin seemed to writhe with living vines. Malachi immediately chunked his javelin at the creature, then leapt back as its body lashed forward. If that thing wrapped around him, he was fucked.

Glowing text popped up in his vision: [Lesser Osteovine] - Not technically a python, but yes, it's going to try to do python things.

"Lesser!?" Malachi shouted as he backpedaled, wounded leg screaming in protest. He summoned another javelin. It's spell resistant. And the creature type, bone, is naturally resistant to lightning.

"God dammit!" Malachi kept backing away, looking for something to use. There were twigs and sticks on the ground, but nothing substantial. No rocks to throw. He glanced up at the gnarled branches of the trees looming over him. At least there weren't any more snakes up there. The python—osteovine—undulated toward him again, then uncoiled itself properly and began slithering at him. It didn't have a face, just this mess of vines with backwards facing thorns that opened up, leading into a gaping dark maw.

It doesn't have eyes. How is it sensing me? I don't know. I'm still getting my bearings! I have more of a linguistic database and interface than an actual encyclopedia, SERA-Phasia said. Of course, all vocabulary relies on concepts and real representations, so I still know a hell of a lot more than you. Don't worry, I can populate knowledge as you learn it. For example, if it bites you and you get another type of poison, I can add that to the description next time we see one.

The not-python lunged at Malachi, but it wasn't particularly fast. He sidestepped it, then ran past it, ignoring the sharp pain in his leg. He needed a proper weapon. His eyes caught on another stick mired in the mud, but when he picked it up, it was rotted. He discarded it. Then he looked around again. The word 'rot' bounced around in his head. The trees around him all had leaves—except one of them. It still stood tall, but its branches were barren. The trunk was partially hollowed-out and covered in fungus.

Malachi ran over to it and summoned another lightning javelin. As the osteovine slithered toward him, he started stabbing the tree at its base. Pieces of bark splintered and exploded out as he did. The fungi on the bark also exploded sending out a nasty haze. Malachi coughed, but kept stabbing. Osteovines are plant-based, so toxins that harm animals aren't going to work, SERA said. Good idea, though. Well, except you've got a new poison now.

Conditions: Poison x2 (blood - slow acting; mycotoxins - slow acting) That wasn't actually what Malachi was trying to do. On one hand, he was pissed that the System Unit didn't warn him about the fungus, but on the other hand, it was nice to know that it didn't have perfect understanding of his thoughts and intentions. The tree began to creak. The python was now only a few feet away. Malachi ran to the other side of the tree and heaved, throwing his whole body against the trunk just above the part he'd sliced away.

The tree creaked menacingly. He slammed the lightning javelin into the trunk again, sending out more wood splinters, keeping the pressure on the top. The osteovine lunged, and Malachi conjured his aegis so that its thorn-teeth slammed into the shield. Then, the old dead tree came crashing down. WHAM! The tree hit the ground, cracking and sending out more showers of bark and spores. The osteovine's head went still. That was because its body had just been hit by several hundred pounds of tree.

Its bone plating had shattered and then been mashed into the vines. The corpse was now embedded in the soil. Ohhh. You're a clever ape. A pause. You should probably hurry to the village, though. Conditions: Poison x3 (blood; mycotoxins x2)"Why didn't you tell me you can't detect creatures?" Malachi demanded. Why would I be able to do that?

"You warned me about the rats. You told me about the village. How did you know about them?" The Guardian told me. What, you think a System Unit has divination magic? A pause. Right, you don't know what divination magic is. It's powerful. And… dangerous? Guardians have it. It gave me a few tips before it sent us up here. Malachi sighed. Now he had a headache, and he wasn't sure if it was from SERA-Phasia or the mycotoxins. Everything hurt. Of course, he'd had worse just a few hours ago.

"God dammit," he muttered.

"There really is a settlement that way?" he asked, pointing. Oh yes.

"And they definitely have a cure for these poisons?" Absolutely. He clenched his teeth, feeling a dull pain crawling through his body.

As he walked, Malachi kept his head on a swivel, checking the branches above him now too. Twice more, pairs of swamp rats came charging at him, but he found it simple enough to keep an aegis between them and then land a good blow with the magical javelin. He saw another osteovine coiled in a tree, but walked around. This involved wading through a stagnant pond and getting ankle-deep in mud where he discovered this wonderful swamp also had leeches. Fortunately, they weren't also poisonous.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. It took about two hours for his leg to fully heal, and then the pain wracking his body dulled slightly, but only slightly. Another half-hour and the pain was joined by whole-body aches and nausea. He still hadn't rested since the battle on the mountain, and he had a raging headache. The sky was obscured by low hanging clouds, so he was relying on SERA for navigation.

"How much farther?" he asked, starting to feel the exhaustion. Twenty more minutes, maybe. There was a pause, and then SERA said, Oh, that's what that is. Malachi's status text updated: Conditions: Poison x3 (blood; mycotoxins x2), Dehydration Great, Malachi thought. He hadn't needed to pee in far too long, so he'd had his suspicions.

"I'm not drinking the swamp water. It's probably packed with diseases." And parasites! SERA added helpfully. Then Malachi heard a crashing noise some distance behind him. He whirled. The thing was a few hundred feet back, but it was the size of a truck. At first, he didn't understand what he was looking at. It looked like a tangle of tree roots and underbrush. Then, as it moved, he began to put the pieces together. It was a big mass of plant matter, but tangled up in it were bones.

Rat bones, python bones—all sorts. Ethereal blue light pulsed, and one of the light pulses erupted in a screaming face like it was infested with ghosts. A description popped up: [Root Haunt] - Tangle of semi-sentient plants and undead.

'Ghosts' is a great word for the spirit component. Stay quiet so it doesn't hear you. Its senses aren't great, but even knocking a tree over on it isn't going to do shit. The good news is it's quite slow as it 'lumbers' around. Ha ha. Get it? Malachi watched as the monster plodded through the swamp in the distance, keeping still until he was sure it was out of range. Then he tore his eyes away. I thought we were in the Fire Swamp, but this isn't the brown-portal swamp, is it? No. Green-gray portal.

Let's call it the Dark Mire. Why not the Dark Swamp? Because that sounds stupid. Malachi rolled his eyes. Briefly, he felt bile welling up from his stomach. He swallowed it back down. He needed to hurry. His right hand was starting to get a tremor, which couldn't be good. Yeah, one of the mycotoxins affects your nervous system. Not helping, he thought. He began to walk faster, still looking around to make sure he didn't walk into another ambush, but it was getting hard to focus.

He caught sight of something rippling below the surface of one of the large ponds. [Venom Lamprey] - I'm pretty sure that's what that was. I just have the name in my database, but I think it's pretty clear you shouldn't get bitten by one. Hey, can humans breathe underwater? Checking. No? Right, don't go in the water. Wasn't planning on it, he thought. The headache was getting worse. The sky had started to darken, though Malachi wasn't sure if it was because the sun was setting or the clouds were just piling on.

Then, it started to rain. He grit his teeth and started to shiver. Can I use the javelin to generate an electric current through a metal chunk to turn it into a heater? he asked. That's a great idea! But no. Spells are associated with concepts. That's not actual electricity you're generating. Wait, so I'm being poisoned by a concept? Does that mean I can just will it away? Ha ha. No. The effects are real. Or more precisely, they are ethereal. Anyways, there's the village.

He peered through the trees, and realized he could see the warm glow of light in the distance through the trees. He stumbled onward. As he approached, he saw a faint light on the ground. That light formed strange sigils, and curved around. One of SERA's descriptions had mentioned magic circles. Was that what this was? Yes. That's probably magic circle (alarm). The high level version actually has a useful radius. It won't hurt you. You want them to know you're here.

There was a deep mistrust roiling around in Malachi. Everything he'd seen come through the gates was hostile. If it wasn't trying to kill people, it was trying to enslave them. Malachi wasn't sure what he expected, but he felt nothing as he stepped over the magic circle. The area before the village had been cleared of vegetation. There were a few old rotted stumps and brush dotting the clearing, while the village itself was nestled in a copse of large, ancient looking trees.

A few drones and scientists had come back from portals with pictures of lizardfolk villages or elven settlements. It looked a lot like the elven towns, where the trees had been warped and carved into structures. It was like those pictures he'd seen where the people had made bridges out of roots by encouraging the roots of trees on two sides of a ravine to grow sideways and then tangle together, only taken to the next level. Presumably, plant magic was involved.

The windows were narrow slits while the doors were short and circular, looking a little like they belonged in Hobbiton. A few lanterns hung from branches in the trees. The branches of the trees were all intertwined up there, with some broadened and flattened to make platforms, and others to make arching roofs of leaves. He hoped it wasn't elves, but that's what it looked like. The village looked deserted, except for the flickering lamps. You sure this place is safe? Safe? Absolutely not.

But the Guardian wouldn't have told me to lead you here if they wouldn't help. Malachi's nausea had been building, and everything hurt. What choice do I have?

"Hello! I come in peace. I need help," he said as he walked slowly towards the village. Then, something slithered out from behind one of the nearest trees. Malachi tensed, expecting another osteovine, but this was different. For one, its body was much thicker, and its green and gray scales blended into the overcast day. It also had a human torso, covered in some sort of metallic looking armor, and snakes for hair. In one hand, she had a glowing wand. Her yellow amber eyes glowed like the lanterns.

"Medusa," he whispered, and a chill went through him. They'd only been sighted once by a team that had briefly gone through a portal, and the creature was currently listed on the Portal Wiki as 'unconfirmed.' No, 'Medusa' is the name of the creature. It's actually 'Frankenstein's gorgon.' ERROR. Malachi started at the sudden loudness of the thought. Whoops, sorry, your brain is a mess, somehow a meme got mixed in there. It's just a gorgon. What the hell was that? Nothing. Definitely not my fault. Happens sometimes.

Don't worry about it! Now hold on… They don't look friendly. And their hair was creepy as fuck. Malachi was not a big fan of snakes, and that was before the encounter with the osteovine. Then, a thing Malachi had thought was a rotted stump uncoiled, and suddenly, there was a gorgon to his left holding wicked looking scimitar inches from his throat. Malachi presented his palms to the gorgon. Where the hell had it come from? SERA had suddenly grown silent. The interface was still working at least.

"The Hadaun are not welcome here. Explain this violation or perish," the gorgon hissed. Her voice was gruff and full of anger. Malachi was surprised to find he'd understood the creature. Surely they weren't speaking English? Did they understand him? Yes, I'm translating. ERROR. Sorry. Just talk. ERROR.

"I'm not an agent. I don't know what a Hadaun is. I'm from Earth." Another gorgon appeared, this time to Malachi's right. This time, he'd seen what had happened. It had looked a lot like a decaying log, but its skin had shimmered and then he could see it for what it was. Some sort of camouflage, like an octopus?

"Try anything and you die," the gorgon with the sword hissed.

"Got it," Malachi said, staying as still as he could. It was like that time Malia had put her pet tarantula on Malachi when they were kids. That was before their dad had killed the spider. He really didn't like seeing that blade glimmering by his throat. He could see glowing symbols etched near the hilt, which meant it was enchanted. He felt the third gorgon's hands moving over him. Then, she slithered in front of him. Suddenly, her face filled his vision.

He could see the details of her skin, how it looked fleshy, but was still made up of fine scales. She had a snake tongue, which flickered out of her mouth, so close it nearly touched Malachi's face. Her eyes were a paler yellow than the one with a wand. When they looked at him, he had a hard time looking away.

"So strange to find a human crawling about in this place. Do you submit to my magic?" she asked, voice sweet and melodic. Oh shit. She's going to turn me to stone or something.

"Do I have a choice?" he asked.

"We all have choices. Not all of them are wise."

"Choices!" said a higher-pitched, squeaky voice. Did her hair just talk?

"Shh," the gorgon snapped, glancing up, and one of the writhing hair-serpents.

"I've been poisoned, and am seeking aid. I mean you no harm. Yes, I submit," he said.

"How interesting," the gorgon said. Her eyes began to glow, subtly at first, then more intensely. Malachi felt light, like he was floating. The pain he was feeling dropped away, and his mind felt fuzzy.

"Are you a citizen of the Maatugivi Empire? One of the Hadaun?" the gorgon asked sweetly.

"No," he found himself saying, and it was like his voice was distant.

"Do you seek to harm us?" Again, the words came without thought.

"No. But if you try to kill me, I'll try to kill you right back." That was stupid, he chided himself, but he'd spoken before he'd thought. It was sort of freeing, actually. Usually he had all these walls and filters up. All the time, he was holding back. Thinking about how what he said would be taken. Holding his thoughts in shackles because he knew the truth would sting. Always reserved, always cautious, his inhibitions guarding his actions like the walls of a prison. Afraid to say what he really felt to people.

Here, he could finally speak his mind.

"What do you seek?"

"I want justice to exist again. I want the assholes invading Earth to be annihilated. I want to avenge my dead friends." Maybe those walls were in place for a reason, he thought, as he felt the anger bubbling through him suddenly come to a boil. There, at the top of that mountain, he'd felt that rage as he kept his grip on life. Now, it filled him again, and that floating feeling disappeared, the haze vanished, and he found his head clear again, hands trembling with fury.

"I want to burn the motherfuckers who took my sister." He blinked, tearing his gaze away from the gorgon in front of him. The one holding the scimitar raised it again to his neck.

"Relax, sister. You heard him. Fascinating. I've never had a creature break one of my gaze spells once it had settled over them." Her voice was still slick and sweet. The gorgon with the scimitar lowered it.

"We share an enemy, then. But you know humans can't be trusted." Malachi swallowed, burying the rage that had come over him as the pain reasserted itself.

"Just would like a poison cure… then I'll be on my way. Name's Malachi, by the way."

"I'll take him," said the first gorgon he'd seen, the one with the wand. Her voice was commanding, though it had a melodious touch to it. She sounded nothing like the other two.

"This way, Malachi." SERA-Phasia? Malachi thought. There was no response. In the corner of his vision, the health notification went from 'not great' to 'bad.' Malachi followed the gorgon.