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Chapter 134: Talking it out
🕑 Added 2023-04-29 12:08:06 +0000 UTCChapter 134: Talking it out
For some time, Mercury's journey was uneventful. Twice, storms of ash whipped across the landscape, forcing its denizens to seek shelter or be swept away, and twice, Mercury defended the little cracks and crevices he hid in.
He also started to communicate with his watery companion far better. The two had grown closer in general, looking out for each other, and making sure they stayed alive. Somehow, the water seemed to have a much better sense for what was alive than Mercury, meaning they could largely avoid any of the moving hills and other sleeping giants that roamed the place, while Mercury did better in upfront fighting.
They made a good duo, and got along quite fine. Sometimes, Mercury even felt as though he could almost tell what they were thinking in that liquid mind of theirs, though maybe that was just because they were very expressive on the outside, waving their tail about or gesturing with their paws. It was still a strange feeling that they chose a replica of his shape, though.
At any rate, they were still making progress. Every day, they drew closer to the mansion at the center of the dip, and every night, Mercury got closer to the heart of the nightmare, avoiding the stalkers and running from them when necessary.
By now, he was encountering them annoyingly often. More of them were roaming the bog as he got closer to the crystal, and occasionally, he would run into a second one while fleeing the first, forcing him to take half a stand, and deal some damage to them, before running once more. Occasionally, just once or twice, he also saw silhouettes of other things in the fog, though they usually disappeared very rapidly, or, sometimes, were being chased by stalkers, and that wasn't really something he needed to check out.
Now, however, he was much closer to both landmarks, and it seemed as though he would be reaching the ash-covered mansion first. He could see it growing closer day by day, and if he squinted really hard, he thought he could even make out some movement in front of the mansion.
Most importantly, though, he saw something else. It wasn't nearly as impressive as the massive building in the middle of the funnel, but it was a landmark nonetheless. It almost stuck out more than the mansion, now that he finally saw it, given that it seemed to be carved from a lighter material, and not nearly as well put together.
The thing seemed to be something of a temporary dwelling, parts of it often covered in the ash that continued to rain from the sky. It was covered by the hides of the beasts that roamed this place, with spikes torn from their backs placed as defenses. From a distance, all the gray blended together, giving it reasonable camouflage, especially against monsters with poor vision, but Mercury could see it, and he knew, it was something that required more than basic instincts to build.
It looked almost like a tent, though given its size, it seemed at least more than one person lived there. Going there was slightly off course from the mansion, but Mercury decided that it was more than worth it. His current companion had already more than proven that meeting someone else who was also intelligent was a huge boon in this place.
Because of that, he'd been taking a detour towards the ramshackle housing, and by now, he was close enough to count the spikes out front of it. He'd even had to avoid a handful of simple traps, crafted from sinew, claw and bone.
Going there was a bit of a weird feeling, since whoever lived inside seemed to rarely come out, he'd seen no movement in the recent days after all, but he also didn't know how to approach it. What the hell was he even going to say? Something like 'Hey, my name's Mercury, and I'm totally not trying to kill you like literally everything else in this place'? That would go over well, he was sure.
Well, by now he better come up with something fast, because if he moved any closer to the entrance, there was absolutely no shot he was avoiding all the dozens of traps.
"Hello?" he eventually asked, trying to be loud enough to hear, but quiet enough to avoid attracting dozens other monsters. "Anyone there?"
For a while, there was no response, the hut staying silent and motionless. The first noise Mercury noticed, was when <Intuition> quietly rang a warning in his mind.
Immediately, Mercury dropped himself to the floor, shuffling aside as fast as he could without triggering a trap, seeing a spear hiss through the space he'd just been in, sinking into the ground just a few meters ahead. It was crude, shaped from a long bone, with a long fang attached as the tip.
The noise it made was unreasonably quiet, almost imperceptible, but Mercury hardly had the time to mind that, as he picked it up with <Telekinesis>, and looked out for anything else flying his way. For a few seconds, nothing happened, then another spear suddenly appeared in front of him, being smashed aside by his rijn.
"I come in peace!" Mercury yelled, blurting out the first thing that came to mind. He probably sounded like an idiot, but given the following lack of spears, it seemed to at least get the message across.
After a few seconds, Mercury saw something blur at the edge of his vision, then a person seemed to almost slide out of the ash. Well, more a vaguely person-shaped outline, he couldn't pinpoint any features no matter how much he tried. It wasn't even that they dug themselves out. They'd clearly been there the entire time, but he was unable to see them at all, blending into the ash perfectly. Probably some kind of stealth Skill, he figured.
His watery friend was currently hiding a little distance away, so the two of them would be able to talk more easily. If he actually met someone sane, Mercury didn't exactly want to make a threatening first impression, and bringing along a copy of him was certainly a way to seem more dangerous. So, he opted for the diplomatic approach, putting some faith in his own capacity to run away if needed.
For some time, the person just stared at him from a distance, seemingly waiting for him to move or attack, but nothing happened. He saw them murmur something to themselves, but couldn't exactly tell what it was, even with <Enhanced Hearing>. After a few more seconds, they finally started approaching and dropping a second layer of stealth, letting him actually see some details.
It was immediately obvious he wasn't facing a human. Most of their skin was covered with thin, glossy scales, only leaving their face free of them. Both the scales and the skin were covered with a film of water or oil, lightly refracting the light. It didn't seem to bend quite the right way to Mercury though, as it looked more like it blurred the actual edges of the figure rather than making them gleam more.
They had no hair, the back of their head instead ending in a longer, almost whip like appendage with a small, gelatinous orb at the end. Their eyes were round, and spaced far apart, their pupils a crescent shape. The skin on their face was pale, and seemed to slightly shift in colour occasionally alongside their scales, which combined with the blur to give them a sense of flowing.
In the middle of their face a somewhat flat nose rested, featuring a second set of nostrils halfway up the bridge. Their lips were thin and of the same colour as their skin, making it almost look as though they lacked a mouth entirely from afar.
"A mopaaw which speaks," they said, still slowly approaching. Their voice was like a flowing creek, soft, yet with a hiss to it.
"I am," Mercury answered. "I was dragged here by a twisted servant some time ago, I used to live in Stormbraver. I mean you no harm." He was hoping that was enough to convince them he wasn't a mindless beast, and it seemed to do, given the shift in their posture, and the loosening grip on the spear he'd only really noticed now.
"Stormbraver you say. The name does indeed tell me something. A city, if I remember, though I could not tell you where," they spoke more freely for a moment, then their eyes narrowed. "Yet, that means nothing. Perhaps, you are simply being puppeted by a parasite. I have never seen a mopaaw speak before, either."
Now, the tip of their spear was pointed at Mercury again. "What can I do to prove myself, then?" he asked, careful to keep some distance to the speartip.
"..." the creature did not reply for a little while, seemingly thinking on the query. How could he do so indeed. If he was a parasite smart enough to talk, that would mean he probably had access to the host's memories, and at that point, how could he prove anything? Then, an idea seemed to flash through their mind.
"Go to your Skill shop," the creature said, and Mercury did just so. "How much to buy the <Claw> Skill?"
"I have that one already."
"<Parasitize>?"
"5.000 points."
"<Puppeteer Host>?"
"Only 3.000, maybe because I have an affinity for weaving."
"<Advanced Egg Production>?"
"Can't find that one. It does offer me <Egg Laying>, for 4.300 points, which doesn't seem like something I'd consider, honestly."
The creature nodded. "Good. Seems like you aren't a parasite, at least."
"Yeah, I'm not. Good way of testing for it though, seeing if all the Skills fit within range," Mercury answered.
Once again, the creature nodded, still keeping the mopaaw at a distance. "How come you haven't died yet?" they asked.
"Tenacity, Skills, and a good bit of luck sprinkled in. I found a source of water relatively early on, before drinking only blood could kill me, and the monsters were edible enough. You?"
"I can produce water myself, it comes with an adaption Skill I acquired by spending long times out of the water. I can now use stamina or mana to produce it, and with some levels, I can make drinking water as well as one mixed with minerals and nutrients to cover my skin," they explained.
"Well, I'm happy to meet someone else not trying to kill me. My name's Mercury, you?"
There was a fraction of a second of hesitation before they answered, their pupils widening ever so slightly as though they recognized the name. But it was gone just as quick as it appeared. "Jirluc," they replied instead, finally withdrawing their spear, and actually taking their eyes off Mercury to give the environment a quick glance.
"Sorry if this is rude, but I've never seen someone who looked like you. What species are you?"
"The question is fine. I am of the sipisc, some of the surface dweller call us fish people, though some of us also come from molluscs or other underwater creatures. It is an umbrella for all fully sapient aquatic life, mostly used by surface dwellers," they explained, then paused for a moment.
"People tend to generalize, I suppose."
"Indeed," Jirluc answered with a curt nod, "but the time for little topics has come to an end. You sought out a hut because you can think. It was a good choice, there is strength in numbers. I do not live here alone, there are two others. I am a hunter, one is a scout, the other a builder. What is your value?"
Mercury blinked at Jirluc for a moment, as the conversation moved ahead at blazing speeds. "I'm a survivor, mostly. I can fight reasonably well, set up some traps, make some weapons, and get away from most fights that don't need fighting."
Again, the sipisc nodded briefly, sweeping the landscape around them once more. "That is fine. Do you bring someone else? Your eyes wander."
For a second or two, Mercury considered hiding his companion's existence, but then swiftly decided against it. He wanted to gain the trust of these people, and while there were things he was most definitely not going to mention, it didn't seem quite smart to start things off with a lie.
"I mentioned water before. I am provided it by a companion, they are currently a small distance away, I can get them here if you wish," Mercury said, and received a nod in exchange.
After making his way through the traps, he quickly went into a crack in the rock, picking up his liquid friend, and then walked back to the edge of the trapped zone. Jirluc was standing in the middle of them now.
"What does your friend contribute?" they asked.
"Defense. They can tell which of the hills are hills, and which are creatures. They also bring some fighting ability, and can make themselves nearly invisible. Additionally, they can produce water, and having a second source in the case of your death would be beneficial."
Again, Jirluc nodded. "That is good. Come in, then." With a wave of their hand, some of the traps disappeared, probably into their inventory, letting Mercury and his buddy walk through the defenses and into the hut.
The dwelling wasn't exactly a luxurious one. It was bigger than it looked, since someone had dug into the floor, making a few extra rooms underground, but it lacked any semblance of furniture. The most it had was a couple of rough pelts lining the floor, in order to make sitting and lying down mildly more comfortable.
"Our scout is currently out, gathering information on the mansion. More servants roaming recently. Perhaps time for another eclipse on the outside, perhaps something going on in here. Don't know," Jirluc explained, sitting down on the pelts. He'd gone to one of the underground rooms, and came back with some bits of meat for him to chew on.
"What about your builder?" Mercury asked.
"In the workshop," Jirluc shrugged. "Attracts monsters if it's too loud, so the room is underground, and further away."
Mercury nodded, then silence settled down for a little while. Jirluc didn't exactly seem like someone who spoke very much, but at least the water seemed quite happy to be here. By the looks of it, the creature was enjoying the new scenery, given that they were exploring and wagging their tail.
"How did you get here, Jirluc?" Mercury eventually asked. "Anything you did before?"
"I was out, hunting for my day's meal, when a rift opened right in front of me. Couldn't dodge, went through when it was half formed. Coincidentally, the servants came through at the same time as me, so there were none on the other side. Then just survived from then on," he ended his story with a shrug. "Was quite some time ago."
"You also get dragged into the bog when you sleep?" Mercury asked, trying to keep the conversation alive.
"The nightmare? Yes. Died to the stalkers once, could barely move for a day, luckily none found me the next and I survived. Recovered. Never tried to confront them again. My body feels too sluggish there," he said, a hint of a shiver running down his spine.
"I get that. Feels like the fog is trying to pin you down," Mercury agreed and received a nod in exchange, before silence descended again, a little more companionable this time.
There wasn't exactly a whole lot to do while waiting for the others to come back. Jirluc didn't seem to want to bother the builder while they were busy, and even then, they still had to wait for the scout to return. So, Mercury decided to focus on his breathing instead, listening to the world around him.
His breaths were deep and rhythmic, in and out, slowly but surely. He listened to that of Jirluc as well, though it seemed less like breathing and more a continuous flow of air going in and out at the same time, a cycle that never really stopped. It was quite different from his breathing, more akin to circling his mana rather than using his lungs, but it was a valid method nonetheless.
Then though, he focused more. This place felt relatively safe, so he decided to fully dive into ihn'ar like he hadn't in a little while. The world seemed to slowly grow more distant, and more intense, like he was seeing more of it with more clarity. It was almost random, but he peered past the veil again, focusing on Jirluc first.
Mercury watched the droplets of water generating on his skin, then being absorbed into it against to preserve the moisture. He noticed that the water was never quite the same, always shifting in composition, slightly shifting in viscosity. It seemed strangely familiar as he gazed at it, evershifting, always moving, trying to accomodate and change its shape.
His gaze swept over to his liquid companion as well as he focused, who was still exploring the place, tapping the furs and looking into side tunnels. Mercury could see the crystal inside them, see how it radiated energy and moved their body. When he looked closely, he could see that their shape was not a consistent one either.
Some parts of its body were squished, then lifted up, droplets of water flowed down, inside the body, before being wrapped up in a current, pushed and pulled, sometimes into the core, sometimes out and back towards its surface. It was strange, seeing how it kept its shape despite it taking effort. It would have been so much easier for the water to simply fall down into a puddle to not move at all, to just adapt like the one on Jirluc's skin, yet it didn't.
Every moment, his friend fought to keep their shape, as they were pushed and pulled by gravity. It was much more of a fight than Mercury would have imagined, as someone who could rely on bones and muscles that wanted to cling together. And strangely, he could tell that the water knew it was inefficient, yet decided to do so anyway.
They would not budge on their shape, not go by the whims of gravity or someone else, their shape was their own to decide. Mercury respected that, almost admired it even. He had seen too many people lose themselves in pleasing others, so seeing someone fight to stay who they wanted to be without so much as a moment of doubt was strangely... motivating.
It seemed not all water was the same after all, some wanted to conform to an efficient shape, some fought to stay unique. Still, it was held together by surface tension, and when all the water in a blob agreed on something, he was sure it was powerful, like a roiling wave on a stormy ocean. If the water stuck together and fought, it could achieve some truly insane effects.
Which only made him smile more at his friend, who so single mindedly seemed to know they wanted to be like him.
He understood, somehow, what the water wanted. Not just his friend, but water in general. How it felt it needed to conform, how it fought to stay together, how it wanted to give a habitat for life, which was far more diverse than anything else. And then it clicked. He knew exactly what his friend wanted to say.
"What is this?" the glob of sentient water asked, pointing at a small bowl carved from stone.
"A bowl," Mercury replied calmly, still in ihn'ar, and watched his friend freeze for a moment.
"A bowl," they slowly repeated, nodding sagely. "Incredible."
Then, their head turned towards him. "Wait. You understand me now!"
"Shit, I do!!" Mercury suddenly realized, and jumped up, watched by the eyes of a very confused Jirluc, who had no idea what he was saying at all.
[The individual has acquired the ability <Water (lowest)> through a specific action!]
