The Last Utopia Page 14
The problem was Sophie, who still threw curses after me. Before I had the time to react, the dancing lights focused in her direction one by one. Annoyed by the brightness, I bent the light around my eyes to dim the lights. Even I knew we couldn't talk ourselves out of this one, and I couldn't fight what I didn't know.
Now that I got a better view of our opponents, I realized the exact severity of our predicament. With my training and natural gifts, I could sense the layers of barriers shaped around the guards. I knew the shape of that barrier. It was the same shell I had built around myself. Even worse though were the weapons I could see in their hands.
From the outside, they looked like old firearms I had seen in movies and games, but my trained senses revealed the truth. The magic formations around the matte black sticks spoke of a magic nature, as did the handle, shining brightly in my magic sense.
The handle must operate like a conduit for the mana of the guardians, I thought.
This was trouble. Before their raid, I had never seen an armed red guard before. I hadn't even known that the guards had personal weapons. As panic filled my eyes, they raised their guns in Sophie's direction, with me right in the line of fire. Unconsciously, I had turned towards their goal, towards Sophie. In the time it had taken me to work through all the information and take action, even she had realized that something was off. Her shouts had stopped. Now she stared up ahead, frozen solid from shock.
“Run!” I screamed to bring her stiff body back to life. My voice cracked from the strain. This had been my own fault. If only I had talked it out, if only I didn't sneak past her! I would make up for my mistake, get Sophie out in one piece.
“Get on the ground and do not resist!” a melodious baritone came from behind.
Yeah, right.
“Get on your knees and cease all resistance!”
Although I was right in their line of sight, they were still focused on Sophie alone. Somehow, despite their magic powers, they hadn't noticed me yet. It gave us our only chance. While I ran up to Sophie, I reshaped my shells. As I reinforced the exoskeleton barrier in my back, I lengthened the light-bending shape to my front. My poor skills compared to the Mystic only afforded me another half meter in length.
Has to be enough!
In full sprint, I rushed into the kneeling Sophie and scooped her into my arms. When the girl entered my barrier, she disappeared from the eyes behind the red masks.
“They're not here to play! Hold on tight!”
As I yelled into Sophie's ears, the weapons went off in my back. All around us, pieces of floor burst off in fist-sized chunks. This wasn't a warning shot!
Without thought, I kept going, full sprint towards the hidden wall. If they couldn't see my invisible figure, there was a good chance they wouldn't see the wall either. They'd never expect us in this direction, toward an innocuous wall.
With every step I put between us and Sophie's original position, their accuracy reduced. At the same time, the attackers became more and more reckless. As the rate of fire rose to a frenzy, the tunnel turned into a battlefield.
I could feel the projectiles of pure force breeze past me as they ate away at the wall to my side, the ceiling over my head and the floor between my feet. One projectile went straight between my legs, but I didn't care.
Doesn't matter, didn't hit. Just run.
We had almost reached the safety of the caverns, but then one projectile found its target, a lucky hit. With how wild their fire had become, it was inevitable. As the magic bullet dissolved and I could feel the mana pull me backwards.
No wonder the ground was being ripped apart by this. Even worse, the greedy pressure also forced my spell shapes with it. I couldn't keep up both shapes like this, so I had to make a decision. Without thought, my instinct worked through the best solution.
To protect the shell in my back, I let the force carry away my light shape. Now that they had landed the first hit, invisibility would be of dubious use and the speed and strength provided by the shell would be my best bet. Exposed in the open, I strengthened my final shape and sprinted ahead, even more desperate than before.
Now that we were exposed, the fire became more concentrated. Pieces of wall and floor were flying all around us. Just ten more steps and we would reach the relative safety of the cavern tunnel. But then, another hit. And another one!
Two consecutive bullets yanked at my back and ate away my momentum. By now I had almost come to a complete stop. In desperation, I looked ahead, to the fake wall.
Impossible. Completely out of reach!
I knew I couldn't make the final stretch like this, so I abandoned what I had left. Although I had never learned it, my intuition found the way out of my misery. Somehow, I released the shape around my body and fired the whole barrier backwards. Without a will to stabilize it, the shape would only last a few seconds, but I didn't need long. Now reduced to my puny human self, I forced my body forward as fast as I could.
In my arms, Sophie now felt heavy as lead. Even so, I wouldn't let go of my ward. I could give up everything else, but not this. My mind raced as it threatened to lap my sluggish body. From behind, I could hear the gunfire and rip and tear through my barrier.
One more step!
A final leap brought me through the fake walls, just as the earth beside me exploded and showered my face with dirt. A near miss had turned into a narrow hit! Half blind as I was, I rolled into the hallway, as Sophie's body escaped my arms and went who knew where. Dust had entered my eyes and I could feel something wet and sticky run across my face.
Doesn't matter. Keep going!
“Back! Sophie!” As I shaped my mana into its most crude form I just hoped that the shadow I could feel rush past me meant that the girl had reached safety. Determined to make good on my mistakes, I expelled raw force from my open palms. When the mana clashed with the compressed walls of dirt, the Mystic's shapes broke and the tunnel began to fall apart. Although the old man was a much better mage than me, destruction was always much easier than creation.
I just hoped that this would be enough, at least for a while. My work complete, I brushed the dust out of my eyes. Only one eye opened, but at least I could see again.
Although my vision was still blurry, now I could see that I was properly faced towards the entrance. At least one thing had worked out. All around me, I could feel the ground shift and quiver, ready to come down. I turned and ran as fast as I could. Of course I ignored the angry shouts of the guards. They wouldn't get in here, not without shovels.
Shortly after, their words were drowned out by a crash that entered into my very core, as several tons of earth collapsed and blocked off the tunnel. After the final sprint, I fell to my knees, oblivious to anything around me.
- Nine
The sweat dripped off my face and soaked the clothes on my back. Uncomfortable, I raised my sleeve to wipe away some more of the dirt in my eyes.
Once I could see again, I found the cheap brown cloth of my shirt stained red. Something must have hit me, maybe the ricochet off the bullet by the cavern entrance. It didn't matter though. I wasn't in critical condition and at least for now, we would be safe.
With a heavy sigh, I forced my exhausted body back up, before I formed my shell again. It took a lot more concentration than usual, a sign of just how rattled I actually was. Finally, I began to look for Sophie, whom I had lost sight of earlier.
My enlarged eyes swirled around and found the girl to my right, tired and slumped to her knees. A deep breath relieved my anxious mind. At least she was fine. Ready to help up my companion, I walked over.
“Sophie, we have to keep moving,” I said. After a few seconds, there still was no answer. “Sophie!”
When the girl finally looked up, I reeled back from shock. Never before had I seen this kind of face on her. Her skin had always been pale, but now even the last bit of color had been drained. At least her eyes weren't wet from tears, but the silent desperation which filled them seemed even worse.
As she continued, more and more convinced of her own guilt, her voice became louder to match her self-conviction. “Now they're gonna find the caverns. They'll snuff out what little we have. Before anything can be done! Before we can fight back!”
At the end, Sophie's trembling voice had turned into a scream. I understood her feelings. She had held up well until now, but all this time the unnatural environment had been getting to her. Now the guardians knew the secret entrance to the Caverns. Not long and they would come here to destroy everything the Mystic had built.
This was the last push she had needed for her feelings to break through the dam and flood her rational mind. We might still be able to prevent the impossible, but we would have to move quickly. First however, I had to calm down my unstable ward. In the first place, there was no reason for Sophie to put the blame only on herself.
“Listen, Sophie: This is as much my fault as it is yours. I should have stopped you, rather than try and sneak off on my own. Plus, who knows what kind of magic powers the guardians have, with the way they were flinging spells around. Either way, I doubt I could have slipped by. In any case, nothing will improve if we sit here and blame ourselves. I need you to get up and walk back with me. Can you do that?”
Only empty eyes stared back at me. Again, I caught myself wondering what Nate would do in my position.
“...I can't carry you again. You're way too heavy.”
Finally, I got the reaction I wanted. Her eyes narrowed in anger and with a quiet “fuck you,” she braced herself onto her feet. For now, the best I could do was to break through her desperation, no matter how. I didn't have time to be picky with the long term effects, so I chose to overwrite the girl's depression with anger. After all, we were still in imminent danger. Right now, there was just a thin layer of earth separating the forces of Astralis from the Caverns. We would have to hurry.
“So what now?” Sophie asked.
“Right now, we need to get back and tell the old man what happened. I'm sure he'll have an answer. He always does, doesn't he?”
“...he has to,” Sophie answered in a weak voice.
Though I would never admit it, I quietly shared her sentiment. Despite all of his abilities, the Mystic wasn't superhuman. All by himself, he couldn't possibly stand a chance against an army of mages, armed with those anti-mana guns. Still we pressed on, and hoped beyond hope that the old man could surprise us one more time.
As we got close to the exit, we could already hear the screams from below. Dark shadows of worry covered Sophie's face, and mine couldn't have looked much better. Something wasn't right. A short sprint brought us back to the entrance above the Caverns, but they were almost unrecognizable from the place we had left minutes ago. Before us was a hellhole.
If the chaos in the Caverns from the day of the raid had been like a disorganized beehive, then this was a beehive on fire. People ran around screaming, with no discernible goal. Bands of gangsters patrolled the borders of their territories to push the brave and confused away, under threat of death. In the distance, I could see other groups in jackets, arming themselves with all kinds of improvised weapons. Had they decided to storm the surface perhaps? What kind of madness had overcome them to hedge a plan like this?
“The people are gathering towards the right-side wall,” Sophie said.
She was right. Although there was chaos, the citizens of the Squalor did their best to huddle together at the wall to our right. Whatever had stirred up the people, It was coming from the left.
“Let's get back to the Mystic first. I can't protect you in this mess.”
Sophie gave me a sour look, but didn't say a word. My silence answered her, but I still covered both of us with my light barrier. After the shape had settled, I nodded towards Sophie and we jumped down the ledge together. My prepared cushion of force feathered our fall at the bottom.
At least this secret entrance had been far off the beaten path, so we could collect ourselves before we had to continue onward, into the sea of people. As we weaved ourselves between the rows of the hopeless, the seas turned rough. We kept as close as we could while we proceeded towards the Mystic's home. However, with our goal upstream from the waves of the crowd, progress was slow.
In the end, Sophie pulled me towards the side of the walls. Once again, her head had been faster than mine. No matter how panicked they were, the people would still try to stay away from the gang territory on the edges of the area. For us however, crossing through gangland would be easier. I didn't expect any gangsters to halt the path of two invisible people. When we reached the outer walls of the giant cave, our path cleared and our steps quickened.
Without warning, a loud bang reached us from our left. Although it was far away, it sounded like something big. Again we needed more information if we wanted to make it through the day.
“Wait one second,” I whispered into Sophie's ear, before I shaped a separate barrier for my ward and split up with her. Once again I repeated my trick from inside the jackal's lair. My magic shaped to press my limbs into the earth, I crawled up the wall like a lizard, to scout out the scene.
At first I saw the smoke. Right next to one of the cavern entrances, the one furthest away from us, I could see a black cloud of soot rise towards the ceiling.
Another magnifying shape covered my eyes. For now, I wasn't worried about my magic reservoir. First I had to guarantee our safety.
Out of the smoke, magic projectiles shot and ripped apart the ground, with eerie familiarity.
Another raid!
This time, the red guards had entered the most central sanctum of the City Council's enemies. My brain soon formed a conclusion: The commando of guards at the entrance to the sewers hadn't been a coincidence. They had been part of a second raid. How did they even find the entrance into this place? From the Mystic's self-assured attitude, I was sure this would have been impossible.
Then I realized: Lester's gang. The idiots had stolen their way back into the Squalor to search for a scapegoat. In the process, they must have led the red guards straight here. Although I was furious, no amount of anger could help me right now.
I jumped back down and let my barrier break my fall. Back next to Sophie, I reinforced her light shape while I urged her on.
“We really have to go. This isn't looking good.”
“Wait, what's going on?”
“Guardians. They're coming into the caverns.”
“Wait, what? Oh god...” Again her voice began to quiver.
“It's not our fault. It never was. From how well organized they seem, the guards found a way inside long before we left. The small command we met must have been there to guard the sewer entrance against stragglers.”
At last Sophie calmed down again. Since I had a feeling I would need her head again in the future, I hoped she could keep it together. As the gangsters cleared the back walls to face the ones who had come to threaten their lives, we managed to cover a good bit of distance.
We were only a few steps away from the home's secret entrance, when a figure jumped down from above and landed right in our front. There stood the Mystic, ramrod straight as always, with that same stoic look on his face.
“Old man, this is bad!” Sophie shouted as she rushed out of my shape. “The red beasts are coming in! What are we supposed to do?”
We stood with bated breath as the old man sized us up for a few seconds. This was our last hope. Surely, the Mystic would have all the answers once again.
“...follow,” he finally said.
As he repeated the old-familiar phrase, I ignored the doubt in the old man's eyes. At the moment, he was all we had to cling to, so we did as he said. At once he led us past the entrance to his home and into the depths of the cavern. On the plus side, I could finally release my own light shape. The Mystic's skillful shape was more than larg
e enough for all three of us.
“Children, someone has led the beasts to the Caverns,” the mystic's grave voice rang from the front.
“We kinda figured that out, but what do we do now?”
Beside me, Sophie had gone quiet. Maybe she still felt guilt from before, or maybe she was shocked at the Mystic's uncertainty. Either way, it was up to me to ask the questions. I was more polite than her anyways.
“There is not much choice. We will have to expedite the plans,” the Mystic said, “You will enter the lion's den early, children. You will have to see the towers and the fields. And then make your choices.”
“Wait, what? I can't leave! I'm not ready! My little sister's in danger!”
“Our plans are incomplete, but this is our final hope. Even if hope itself is only slim.”
“Wait, old man. What about me? I'm not going in there, am I?” Sophie finally spoke up.
“You will both go, children. The Caverns have ceased to be sanctuary.” After a while, the elder's steps had led us towards a place I was already familiar with: The jackal's lair. However, rather than enter the hideout he walked us past the building and into a chaotic forest of stalagmites behind.
“The beasts are at the gates. You will have to act with haste if you yet wish to change the world.”
“Wait, you're saying 'you', old man?” Sharp as ever, Sophie had noticed the old man's choice of words right away. “So what about you then? You're not coming with us?”
The Mystic halted in his tracks. He turned on his heels and looked at the two of us with the same expressionless face as always. His eyes had firmed up and the calm, piercing stare had returned, the one I had always believed could see through time itself, right into the future.
“There is good reason the beasts have stayed at bay for all these years; good reason the Squalor could grow. They feared the strength of the Mystic. For they knew: If they drew my ire with undue haste, I may harm their ranks beyond repair. So they waited. And plotted. Until I would one day perish or prove feeble. Now they see their chance. When young Brayden unleashed his force, with reckless abandon and beneath the birds, the beasts sensed the power from within the Squalor. Maybe, they thought, it was the Mystic who had wasted all this precious force.”