Time slowly slipped away as the hunt for some Kardons proved fruitless. From what Karlak had said, they should have come across one or two by now yet, nothing. Now that Aldrich thought about it, the forest had become deathly quiet except for the steady scuffing of the Kuna mounts' hooves against the ground.
Suddenly, Karlak raised a fist, a silent command for them to halt. With a graceful dismount, he scanned the path, his eyes narrowed into slits. Then, he turned and called out to one of the Sylvariths. "Janko," He called.
Janko slid from his mount and approached Karlak as they exchanged a flurry of words in their native tongue. He then returned to his mount and untied a sack that sat on it. From within the sack, he withdrew two weapons. One was Alan's sword and the other was a dagger with a green blade.
He handed the green dagger to Aldrich and the other sword to its previous owner, Alan.
"Look at who found its way back to me," Alan grinned as he secured his blade across his back, while Aldrich turned the dagger in his hands, studying its blade with a curious gaze. The blade reminded him of the Skitterlings' carapace.
"Aldana. Say. Manage. For. Now," Karlak grunted.
Aldrich nodded. Aldana had most likely given the skitterling king's carapace to a weapon smith like she promised she would, leaving him this temporary blade. He smiled softly, but it was soon replaced by a frown. Was something wrong? Why arm them now?
Karlak caught the suspicion in his gaze and leaned closer. "I. Smell. Blood."
He quickly singled out five, including Aldrich, to follow him, while he left Alan with the others to guard the mounts. The six of them moved quietly like phantoms through the undergrowth. They first stumbled upon a human corpse, his body still fresh. His neck had been slashed open. Aldrich was not new to death. He had just killed numbers of skitterlings a day ago, had he not?
But, this was different. Skitterlings were like animals. They were not highly intelligent life forms. This, however, made him feel sick.
They pressed on, and they saw more bodies, humans and sylvariths spread across the leafy ground. There was a fierce battle. Karlak and the others' faces turned to stone. A chill gripped Aldrich's skin as he felt their anger. He quietly readied his hand, secretly reaching for his dagger. He prayed they would not turn their anger upon him.
Then, an anguished cry shattered the silence. Aldrich exhaled, relief washing over him as they surged toward it, abandoning the bodies.
Then, they found something that made them go cold. A dozen men, their laughters, vile and sinister, surrounded a sylvarith woman as one of them defiled her. Aldrich's face contorted, disgust written all over.
Karlak's growl erupted, an enraged roar that shook the trees. Before the humans could react, he leapt, his fist smashing into the face of his first victim. Unsheathing his massive hammer, he crushed another's skull, blood and brain matter splashing to the floor. He had killed the third before Aldrich and the others joined the fight.
Aldrich's dagger flashed, piercing a human's throat. The human's brown eyes widened in shock as he realized he had been killed by his own kin, another human like him. However Aldrich's face bore no expression as he pulled out the dagger, allowing the man to fall to the ground choking on his blood. He did not feel anything, no remorse, no guilt. After all, he had only killed an animal. Yes, that was what he was.
Aldrich did not care the humans killed the sylvariths, afterall it was part of the trial. However, to rape was a different thing entirely. This was to feed their own sick desires.
The rest fell very quickly, Karlak taking care of most of them. He had left the main rapist for last. He dragged himself across the ground, unable to walk. Janko had stabbed him precisely in the back, shattering his spine. He whimpered in the dirt, snot and tears streaking his face.
Karlak towered over him, his rage knowing no end. He raised his powerful legs and pressed it against his head. Ignoring his screams, he shattered his skull like a brittle fruit, the wet crack echoing.
The Sylvarith woman lay in Ula's arms. She had died. Aldrich could see the grief on all of their faces.
"Did you know her?" He asked Karlak.
"Yes," Karlak nodded, his stare fixed on her lifeless form. "She. Reason. Aldana. Not. Come."
Aldrich did not understand but he suppressed the urge to ask more questions. He would not push Karlak.
As the Sylvariths gathered their kin for a pyre, Aldrich rifled through the humans' things. He could tell they were from the Lowlands like him. He could not guess what parts though.
Among their things, a small bag contained three blood-stained white cores. Aldrich sighed as he suspected these men must have killed Highlanders for this. He reached for one, and almost instantly, a mechanical voice sounded in his head. It was one he had heard before.
"User is in contact with a white core. Will user like to absorb it?"
Aldrich's throat tightened as confusion crashed over him.
"Yes," he whispered regardless.
The white core in his hand quivered, then melted, its crystalline form dissolving not onto the earth but into his skin, seeping through his pores. A moan unconsciously escaped his lips, a surge of pleasure flooding his veins, brief yet intoxicating. The core vanished after.
Then, the familiar holographic screen appeared. He had not summoned it this time. Aldrich looked around, the Sylvariths were still gathering the dead. They couldn't see what he saw.
The screen now glowed with new data.
User age: 16 years, 3 months, 5 weeks, 8 days. Blood group: A+. Core force: 800 cpm. Cores absorbed: White (1/1000), Red (0/800), Yellow (0/400), Orange (0/150), Blue (0/25), Green (0/1). Black core asynchronization: 1.01%.
His asynchronization had ticked up by 0.01%. A grin split his face. It could grow. The Black Core's bond with him wasn't fixed. And although 0.01% was little, he could guess absorbing the other cores would have more value.
His eyes darted towards "Core Force". He had no idea what it meant but it had doubled as well. He quickly snatched the remaining two white cores from the sack, their blood-stained surfaces cool against his fingers. One by one, they melted into him, the pleasure a fleeting rush each time.
The screen updated. Asynchronization: 1.03%. Core force: 1600 cpm.
With a flick of his wrist, he banished the hologram and tossed the empty sack aside. The remaining items amongst the loads were useless.
The Sylvariths ignited a pyre and the dead became smoke, save for the girl. They had cleansed her body. They would bring her back to the village. Aldrich watched quietly as they moved her with care. It was obvious she was no ordinary sylvarith. The fire crackled, smoke curling skyward as the Sylvariths knelt before it, their voices rising in a mournful chant, hands casting soil into the flames, a ritual to honor the departed.
Alan and the others had now joined them. They did not need to be filled in to understand what had happened. When the last ember faded, they turned back toward the village, the hunt now abandoned. They had set out for food but have returned bearing a harvest of grief.