Chương 85: Analog

Day 10 After a short detour to thank the kobolds and to ask them to put those demons' heads on spikes, we stood outside the tower. I had already put on my goggles.

"I'd tell you that it was a special occasion that you'd get to see the unicorn, but honestly… you'll be the third to ride it." Sarah laughed. Longer than I had anticipated.

"A unicorn? Wait—does that mean you ate a unicorn's heart? Am I even allowed on your back after last night? You know what they say about unicorns and their preferences…" She wiggled her eyebrows, in a manner I could only assume was meant to be suggestive.

"Yes, I ate that fucker's heart. Was a proper asshole, that one. Damn near killed me, too. And with this particular unicorn? I think you'll be a proper fit. A virgin might combust on contact." I shifted into the Nightmare Unicorn shape and activated Spectral Tackle. Sarah lacked Helene's experience and actually needed my help to climb on my back.

"This is a lot more badass than I had expected."

"Hold on tightly. I would rather not waste any more time." And so I carried Sarah to her family, hooves thundering over concrete. It had been a long time since that day in the forest, since I had made this shape run as fast as I could. My stats were a lot higher now, and it showed. Dodging car wrecks was trivial now. All the while, Sarah hooted and hollered. And to me, the ride was entirely too short. Soon we came to a halt in front of Sarah, Inaaya, and Alex's new home.

A wide, flat building that housed a former community center. The kind in which AA or other support groups would meet. I had always thought those places would feel miserable. But here I stood in front of one, its blue glowing outline proving me wrong. I also noticed Alex peeking out from a window. He looked a bit miffed but showed no urgency to rush out to greet his sister. Sarah managed to slip off my back without much help and stood expectantly next to me.

"You're going to stay like that for our goodbye?" I had planned to do just that—to use this shape as a launch platform for my departure. Instead I canceled out of it.

"Of course not," I said.

"Excellent," Sarah said before she pulled me in for a kiss. I only stiffened for a second at most before I returned the affection. It was probably worth the two wasted ATP. When she pulled away, she left a hand on my arm.

"That was one awesome night, Sin Slayer."

"I had hoped to skip the assassins for the next date."

"But they were at least half the fun of that night."

"I'll not take that as criticism. You know your brother is watching, right?"

"I do. I'll go and fetch my scolding. So should you." I reached up and squeezed her hand.

"Will do. I'll drop by soon." Sarah stepped away.

"Looking forward to it." I took a running start before I switched into the Heimdall-touched barn owl shape. And suddenly I was very glad that I did not do this from the unicorn shape. Even at this slow start, I very nearly face-planted into the street. The senses were intense. I heard everything. Hoping against hope that neither Alex nor Sarah had seen my fumble, I rose higher. My minimap populated with dots in every direction. A single Created moving through the rubble of a ruined building.

An entire dungeon, hidden from plain sight. Somewhere in the distance, something large moved through the streets. And along with the outlines of profane and sanctified spaces, there was another feature I could spot through walls: liminal spaces. I finally checked my traits. [Heimdall-touched 100% increased Endurance Bridge-Sense Gjallarhorn Cry Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Nine-Mother Senses] Bridge-Sense allowed me to perceive the liminal spaces and to get a sense for their destination. I wouldn't be able to route through them like Anthony could, but at least I'd know where I'd end up. Nine-Mother Senses was simply an insane +20 increase to my Heightened Senses skill. And then there was the Cry: [Gjallarhorn Cry (One-time Ability) Deliver one message of three sentences or less to every living being who can understand it and who resides in the same geographic zone.] Awesome.

I could solve our long-distance communication problem. Once. Which might be exactly what I needed to find my mom. If Anthony could find a pathway to Boston, this would allow me to communicate a meeting point with her. I knew, of course, that the odds that she had survived were low. But at least this would bring me certainty. Which meant I would need to embody this shape. The barn owl was already sitting in my list of innate shapes. It just lacked the Heimdall parts. It was also a horrible flyer.

Anytime I got too fast, the sensory overload went into overdrive. I finished the flight to the boat in the osprey shape. They had moved it along the river. The Scramble had placed a small warehouse just across the street from the waterfront. From inside I heard Jamie and Ash talking. I decided to swap into the half-dragon shape and used Alter Self to make myself look like pre-apocalypse Eve again—only this time in overalls. The moment I stepped into range of Jamie's oath, the talking inside stopped.

"Hey, Eve," Jamie said.

"Good morning," I said as I walked through the open gate. Ash had set up a respectable workshop. Very improvised, but at a glance it looked as if it had everything we needed. In the middle of the room stood what I could only assume would be our project—an ancient VW van. Roughly from the '80s, if I remembered that look correctly. It didn't have the iconic '70s hippie-van look. Barely. Jamie and Ash sat at the side of the workshop, on two campaign chairs next to a sturdy metal table.

"Hey, Eve," Ash said.

"Still morning, huh?" Despite the grumpy greeting, they were both smiling.

"Look, Ash. I'm sorry. I had a very long day yesterday and an even longer night. I slept in. First time since the end of the world."

"You do seem to be in a pretty good mood," Jamie said.

"I, uhh…"

"We? We were worried," Jamie said, pointing at Ash and then himself.

"But Stephen? Not at all. Said that you probably just had 'a guest overnight.'""Well… yes. Wasn't all fun, though. She helped me fend off assassins. Seven of them." That wiped the grins off their faces.

"Holy shit," Ash said.

"Are you okay? Is Sarah okay?"

"Now? Yes. But things got a bit dicey. But let's not linger on that. We won. No one but them died. Where are Liz and Stephen?"

"Scouting. We didn't know when you'd be around, and they didn't want to sit on their butts all day," Jamie said.

"Okay, then. Are you here to help, too?" I asked Jamie.

"Nah, I'm just keeping guard and providing emotional support." Ash got up from his chair.

"Are you ready to start? Or do you want to grab some breakfast first?"

"Nah, I'm good." I rubbed my hands and walked over to the van.

"What's the issue with our patient?"

"The good news: I have prepared a ton of cantrips that should help. I can de-rust any part that's sufficiently small. Even fix broken parts, to a degree."

"And the bad news?"

"This thing hasn't worked for over a decade now, it seems. Definitely zero electronics infected by the Wyrm, but we'll have to completely disassemble it." This was where all those points in my mental stats came in handy. I didn't even remember when I'd looked at blueprints for engines of that era, but they all flooded back to me.

"Let's get started then." This work was what I had been craving. The entire process needed predictable steps to solve predictable problems, and even those problems that we couldn't fix on the spot had clean-cut solutions. Some gaskets were completely and utterly beyond repair. We could scavenge those or even make them ourselves. Not exactly simple, but also not deadly. And compared to the sweat-drenched summers at my Aunt Olivia's workshop, nothing here was physically demanding.

Any bolt could be loosened, the delicate part was not breaking them with our superhuman strength. Even the most uncomfortable positions could be held without so much as the lightest ache. All of which meant I had time to think about all the proper issues at hand. The to-do list in my notes was extensive. But the simple truth was that we lacked the power to tackle the big ones. I might be able to fly into Nemesis' territory, kill Jai, and make it out again. That would slow the expansion of her territory.

And it would also be a very predictable reaction to last night's visit. I couldn't know for sure that Nemesis sent them. The scouts might be their own faction, and I might have tipped my hand that I had picked a subclass with the sole purpose of finding and killing them. Their displeasure was justified. Maybe I needed to go Ender's Game on their asses. Hunt them harder and make sure they are too afraid to strike back. The owl would make me a nightmare for any I could catch on their own.

As soon as I had an antidote to their weapons. Maybe Chimerization was the answer. So I could conduct proper Gorilla Warfare. For now, the goals would have to be: finding that flying mythborn Created—and depending on what it was, deciding on my perk. Mastering that owl. Leveling the others, ideally to twenty. Check in with everyone. The mall, the hyenas, Anthony, and Sarah. If only I had any faith that any of this would go according to plan. So far no plan had lasted more than two steps.

And none of this would help with the points in between. Which were the less immediate but no less important points. Claire. The Wyrm's invitation. Hunts Point. At least when Liz and Stephen returned, they didn't rush in with alarm but waltzed in with a smile. Somehow both instantly knew how my night had gone, and I quickly returned to the task at hand. Ash and I weren't quite done yet.