Mason didn’t have the time or luxury to mourn his friend and general. But he did have a way to take out the rage.
After a few words with Carl and Blake (who he told to stay on that side and close all the portals there), he leapt back into the sky and circled the city towards Chinua. He was about to dive down and smash into the biggest group he could find before he remembered Winter’s Grace. And all the other reasons to keep his distance.
Battle had a way of bringing you back to old, familiar habits. But he wasn’t just a threat up close. In fact, he was arguably more dangerous at a distance.
He was a distance-murdering ranger who could kill most targets faster with a bow. And he was a druid trained by some of the most powerful nature casters on the prime, gifted a rune literally designed for nothing but destruction. Floating there in the sky, he was like some kind of attack helicopter that didn’t run out of ammo.
He summoned his bow and shifted back to human hands, than rushed through his shots. Crippling Strike was more like artillery than a shotgun on the smaller demons. Power Shot dropped even the larger creatures, and usually left a crater. The air hummed with the bouncing string of his Elven Bow, his arms and hands a blur as he swooped over the portals taking out anything in range to start the dismissal.
He found a particularly juicy pack that was still coming in, and started channeling. A pillar of light fell from the sky, illuminating the portal and everything around it. The few, not so bright abyssals looked up with a scowl.
The spell ‘Solar Destruction’ was almost pretty. At least for a second. Everything in the pillar of light seemed to still as the gravity sucked them a few feet towards the star god’s power.
Then it crushed them with so much force the ground shook across the field. And lit them on fire if they weren’t dead.
Mason flew to the next portal, and kept shooting. He carved a line and then a circle of death around Chinua and his people, blasting with his Solar rune on cooldown. He added a few Lightning Storms and Freezing Grasps just to test how big he could stamp his runes.
Even with Winter’s Grace he managed to drain his mana and started bloodletting himself for more. The physical pain was a welcome distraction. Chinua and his people held their ground and became the anvil to his hammer. Between them, they drove the loose demons across the field and blasted them apart before closing the portals one by one.
When the primary threat was over, Mason flew up to get a better look at the battlefield. Everywhere he looked he saw his players mopping up portals. The defences were gunning strays down from the walls. Anything that tried to climb was getting crushed by vines or knocked off by static weapons.
The attack on the eastern city was all but finished. He had to go back and check the west, but he knew it wouldn’t be as hard pressed. This was the main attack, and it was crushed.
He dropped down next to his other general when the field was clear. Chinua and his people had to look way up to meet his eyes in his half bear form.
“It’s done. After the portals, regroup at the palace and figure out casualties. Check in with all the other settlements. We lost Phuong.”
The older man looked like he wanted to ask exactly what that meant, but must have found the answer in Mason’s expression.
“From my profile I can tell you already it’s a great victory. We’ve had very few deaths. And…I’m sorry. Phuong was a great soldier. But I suggest you appoint someone else as quickly as possible. I would be willing, though as the official eastern Nexus defender it may not make sense. There are other choices I could suggest.”
Mason held back his anger, knowing the man was right. He nodded then flew off, only messaging the scouts to say he was going back west.
He dealt with a few more portals. He reached out with One with Nature to listen to the great trees and the forest. He went to Night Eyes and found the centaurs had fought several skirmishes but no great battles. He and his people were in good spirits with many kills.
But as he explored the continent, he found three of the smaller western objectives had been taken. Apparently there was nothing he could do about it after the fact. What had been living things and natural ground had become perfect circles of alien destruction. It wouldn’t even let him change the terrain back with his Apex Predator. There was no magic lingering in the air. No sounds or signs of other planar life. Just nothing.
He checked in on Haley and the others to make sure they were alright. But Nassau was currently the safest place on the planet. He finally left them to check back in with his people in the east, happy to learn that not a single location had fallen.
“We should have put guards all over the west, too,” Carl said, his tone raw and bitter as he went through his own grief over Phuong. Mason shook his head.
“It was too much and too far. We did well. Call everyone back to the city. Get some rest. Unless I call for you sooner, we’ll re-group just before sunrise and decide what we’re doing.” He looked at Garet. “You’re my new Minister of War. Congratulations.”
Garet looked surprised, but nodded as the promotion instantly became official. He gave a small smile in thanks, because under other circumstances the ambitious young man would have been pleased. But Phuong had been his friend and mentor, and they all knew he wouldn’t have wanted it this way.
Mason put a hand on his shoulder and walked off. Alex caught his attention at the door, and they moved to the courtyard gardens to be alone.
“We put body with cold storage,” he said in his usual, blunt way.
Mason turned, not sure what to say but feeling a sudden glimmer of hope. They were in a magic world, after all, and the healer had used an item to bring Mason back from the brink. Why not Phuong? Alex shook his head.
“For funeral. And for…” he shrugged, meeting Mason’s eyes, a deep, physically bruising pain already forming around them. “Worse than death, Patron. Demon took piece. Affinity piece.” His mouth formed like he’d chewed a lemon. “His soul, so says game. It is trapped in infernum.”
Mason stared, understanding but not quite comprehending. The demon had…taken Phuong’s soul…to hell? He couldn’t seem to form the right question for several seconds. Alex went on.
“I marked, so we can find. Body whole makes easier also. Some…rituals. Spells. If world not destroyed.”
Jesus Christ felt like the right response. Except maybe it was extra blasphemous.
“I can go. Now. I have the night. Maybe the elves can help me get there, they’re portal masters or whatever, I assume they can take a person to whatever plane they like with the right…”
Alex shook his head.
“No time. Many levels. Many enemies. Even with mark, even for you, very hard to find. Weeks maybe. Many challenges.” He shrugged like that was all optimistic. Like it could be months. Or maybe not possible at all.
Mason went through a wide range of angry, somewhere from the helpless to the petty before calming back down. A piece of him wished Alex hadn’t told him at all, and he knew why the man had waited until they were alone. He wanted to ask the next question, but he also didn’t.
“What’s happening to him down there? Is that piece of him conscious? I mean…why would the system even…” he shook his head.
“It will be a part of his mind, I think.” Alex looked suddenly very tired and old, and his accent all but vanished as he must have switched to his native tongue and let the system translate. “Why it should do this I don’t know. Maybe because it’s evil. Maybe because it thinks we are. Or maybe it’s like a mirror, and it’s we who think we’re evil. Maybe it’s just giving us what we understand. What we believe about reality.”
Mason watched the complicated Belarusian and tried to process all that. As far as he knew, the reason why the man had always used his basic English was because he didn’t want the system’s attention even to help translate. Whether or not that made any sense was anyone’s guess.
“You didn’t answer my real question.”
Alex looked away, staring blankly into the distance.
“Yes.” His voice was very quiet. “He will be conscious. And he will be suffering. That is what the infernum is. But destroying the demon that sent him will help considerably. Instead of trapped in a defined prison, he’ll be lost. Wandering.” He met Mason’s eyes. “He is strong and clever. He’ll buy us time to find him before he’s caught by something else.”
“You know a lot about this, Alex. Is that because of your god, or something?”
“Yes.” Alex had that sour look again, but slowly relaxed into a shrug. “Which god, I don’t yet know.”
Mason didn’t need details to understand a man struggling with faith. He’d never had any himself, and the appearance of a basically all-powerful synthetic sadist didn’t help in that department.
On the other hand, he knew there was more to the game than just some alien’s whimsical horrors. This thing’s waters were dark and deep. Mason had felt many moments of insight over his time in its experiment. Some kind of attempt to communicate. For whatever the hell that was worth
“We’ll find him,” he said, hoping it brought Alex some comfort. “I promise. When this event is over. I won’t stop until I find him.”
Alex smiled, maybe for the first time. Though it looked like a grimace. He pat Mason’s arm, then wandered off without another word.
