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A fusion of metal and monster, chitin covered in steel, a heart replaced with a motor, legs working together with wheels. That was the monstrosity the woman was staring at, it would help her and her temporary companions travel across lands that wanted them dead. It was known as a monster engine, an undead monster that had most of its insides removed and replaced with either mechanical parts or magical components. The woman remembers when they were first invented, but it still bothered her quite a bit, and she was rather displeased by their growing popularity over the years, though right now using one was the only choice she had other than walking alone.
The woman sat down in the back of a metallic carriage attached to the beetle-like monstrosity's thorax, its metal body protecting those inside from both the heat and the unstable mana, not that anyone inside had to worry about the mana. For the woman's right, crystallized arm had stabilized any mana going into her body and stored it for later, like how a liver removes harmful toxins from a person's blood, though the down side was she had to concentrate on creating artificial muscles made of mana just to move it normally... The other members in the carriage however weren't mages like her except for the driver, in fact they weren't exactly alive, they were conscripts of the Order of Al'kun, a cult of necromancers that sought out criminals to… Conscript into their undead legions, believing that service as undead soldiers will save them from an eternity from torment in the afterlife. She wasn't sure if she agreed with that logic, but they did make the world a safer place, so she wasn't going to complain.
"Lady Maria-" the necromancer commanding the attempted to speak, but was quickly interrupted. "Just Maria is fine." The woman said, causing the necromancer to go silent for a few moments before speaking up again. "Maria, if I may ask, why have you decided to travel with us? It's uncommon for outsiders to interact with us unless necessary. Even if they're fellow mages." the man questioned in a raspy voice, the carriage jumped up abit as it went over some rough terrain, the beetle's legs took over as the wheels attached to it lifted up to avoid damaging them. "Hmm, because it's safer, obviously." She said with a small smile, causing the man to look over, he narrowed his eyes as he stared at the rather Voluptuous woman wearing Dark, yet feminine and elaborate clothing, a dress that looked far more suited for a noble woman staying home rather than traveling. Yet strangely, the woman was rather intimidating, not uncommon for a mage, but strangely, the necromancer felt like he was the weaker one here. She had wavy, honey brown hair, yet there were several clusters of hair that had changed to a dark violet.
He almost was about to speak again before the woman sighed. "I sensed something, I wish to investigate it, and your order plans on stopping by a city near it." She said as the man began to look forward again. Beginning to speed up as he noticed the other groups ahead were farther than he remembered, the various conscripts in the back attempted to readjust from the sudden burst of speed. "Mind telling me which city is that? We're stopping at multiple cities, even if most of the people here are dead, a few of us need to eat and rest." The man said as he caught up with the rest of the Order. "Malveron" The woman said simply, the man looked curious now. "That place? It has become a dump ever since Salvumm became the ever burning city, it's full of beggars and slavers looking to exploit anyone desperate enough to deal with them, even we try to avoid that place unless we have too." the man said, causing Maria to finally look over. "Well, can't exactly blame them, how is a city supposed to adapt when its closest neighbor and major trade partner is suddenly set ablaze?" She questioned, causing the man to go silent. For several moments they rode in silence, only to be occasionally interrupted by the groans of the conscripts sitting near her.
She looked over at some of the conscripts, they wore helmets that completely hide their identities, not even their eyes were visible, yet she could feel their rotten eyes gaze upon her. Their torsos had their various crimes carved into them, likely before they were executed if the rumors about them are to be believed, Maria tried not to think about whatever crimes the other passengers had committed before being conscripted. Instead, she looked at the silent moon and quiet plains outside the window. It was the perfect distraction, letting her forget about the rotting soldiers sitting next to her and about the state of the world for a few hours.
After a few hours however, the seemingly empty plains were interrupted by an unexpected sight, a mountain range seeming made out of water. "Hm? I thought we were going through the bloom-touched lands?" Maria questioned, causing the driver to speak up. "Some idiots tried to set the flowers on fire again, causing the bloom-touched to wake up early. It'll be a few months until it's safe to even be a few miles away from it… much less drive through it." The man said, causing Maria to sigh as they went inside the cave-like system under the water mountain, she looked out at the liquid walls, watching the fish swim above her as she said "That's at least another week of driving…" she said in a disappointed tone before resting her head against her left hand.
She still remembers when these watery mountains were a rather normal lake, where villages were built around it and boats swan across it's surface in search of fish or occasionally scrap from the Valboarian invasion, where thousands of soulless golems came from across the sea to unify the dead lands under one empire and failed mid conquest, or at least that's what Maria heard. She might be older than she looks, but not that old, her grandparents would've been at most newborns when that happened.
Maria missed seeing the sight of villagers rowing across the surface, of families working together to bring up both entire schools of fish and forgotten weapons that could be turned into tools by a creative inventor. Now however, it had become a landmark, forever changing the lives of anyone around it, for while it was rather beautiful to look at, it's mere presence attracted monsters that seemed to take on the properties of the anomalous water. The water slowly became darker and murkier as they went deeper, her crystallized arm glowed a faint blue as she sensed something watching them, it wasn't visible to her, yet she could feel whatever was watching then was slowly circling around their vehicle. Was it waiting for an opportunity to strike? or was it simply observing the strange little creatures going through its territory? Maria couldn't tell, though she knew both her and the necromancers would be at a disadvantage here. The moon's light barely reached them, the monster engine's eyes had been enhanced to glow in the dark, but that only let her see what was in front of it, everything else around the carriage was nearly pitch black, yet she could barely see something move in the field of her vision.
The driver and other necromancers seemed to have also noticed this, the monster engines were slowing down, as if whatever was left of their consciousness was afraid, the mana here was slowly destabilizing, not enough to create demons, though any fae here would be at risk of going mad. Both beings made of pure mana, yet the former was born from unstable mana, while the latter was made from relatively stable mana, and given the fact her arm was glowing without her casting a spell… she hoped it was a fae creature, at least they weren't always evil, though she had to be prepared for anything.
Every moment felt more tense than the last, movement at the edge of her vision, ripples in the water, the water seemingly becoming even darker until it became a wall of pure darkness. Maria felt as if the walls were coming closer, her breathing became shallow, she tried to remain calm, if it wanted her dead it would've already done so, yet the feeling in Maria's chest wouldn't go away, as if something was wrong. "I- Could I sit on the footseat of the carriage?" Maria asked, causing the necromancer to respond with a simple shrug. "Just don't fall off, if you do, I'm not stopping for you." He said before Maria quickly got up and walked past all the undead conscripts, the stagnant air was getting to her, causing her fears and the more erratic parts of her mind to become louder, making her focus on the worst that could happen. Yet when she finally got to the very back, she sat down on the footseat of the carriage, and took a long, deep breath.
She looked at the trail behind them, the walls were still as dark as ever, yet she could still see the faint moonlight coming down through the water above, the pale light lit up the empty trail. She could see the fish swim again whenever she looked up, it was calming to watch them, her eyelids felt heavy as her mind finally began to calm down. "Maybe I should go back to rest…" she thought out loud as she stretched and closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them, she realized everything became even darker, and something was blocking the moonlight.
It was almost the size of a ship, it's spindly body was difficult to make out, but it seemed to look like a dragon headed creature with a body that resembled a bundle of coral and kelp, at first she thought it was some sort of strange looking rock that somehow started floating covered in plant life, yet, she saw one of it's bright blue eyes open and stare directly at her. She froze, it didn't seem hostile, yet barely anyone suddenly faced with such a colossal creature staring at them can remain calm. She stared into it's glowing eye, the world around her seemed to unravel, the dark walls tore apart and the eye seemed to transform into a bright sun as she found herself in a land where the grass was slowly turning from a healthy green to a dying brown, the air was filled with smoke, there were multiple cities nearby, five in total.
The first was a city that had three, colossal crustacean-like creatures towering over it, reaching down with their tentacle-like mouths and grabbing everything they could, no matter if it was plant, animal, person or even objects like lamp posts. They care very little for whatever they grab or eat, as long as they can grab it, they will consume it. Their long spindly legs crushed the buildings below with their weight, uncaring for the lives if those they end, much less ruin.
The second was a smaller city, barely larger than a town, yet the devastation it was experiencing was potentially even worse. A bloom strucken dragon, a massive and formerly noble being, now had flowers growing out of its eyes and vines covering its entire body, was now forced to help spread it curse upon the innocent cityfolk, hundreds were covered in the dragon's pollen and were slowly turning into bloom touched right before her eyes. Their faces being torn apart as a flower attempted to piece out of their face before blooming their bloodstained pedals.
The third city had hundreds of puppets tear apart the city, their strings being held by shrouded figures looking down upon the city, laughing hysterically as their toys slaughter the residents and destroy their homes, flaming stone falls down from the sky to further invoke terror on the dying populace, not even the soldiers of this town could handle the overwhelming about of puppets attacking.
The fourth had what looked like a massive, mana fusion plant that had melted down, now spewing unstable mana across the streets now filled with mutated monsters, from groups of people that had become one mass of feet and hands, dogs with six jaws, birds that spewed acid on any survivors below, and countless other monstrosities that were formerly human or animal. Maria started to wonder the meaning of these visions, yet she felt far too disoriented to come up with anything.
But when she saw the last vision, she was shocked, horror crept into her mind as she saw a vision that would terrify even the most stoic of knights or the calmest mages, not of what was attacking the city… but the city itself. It perfectly resembled Alvara, possibly the most important city in the dead lands, for it was built on the only safe route connecting the western and eastern half of the continent, if it fell… it could cause famines, supply shortages, economic collapse, and potentially wars between the many independent city states as they grow more desperate for resources merchants used to bring. Thousands, potentially even millions of people could die if the city falls, she then focused on the monsters that would see this city fall. First was a titanic, Arachnoid-like being that had metal like chitin, with multiple holes in it that let out hundreds of various machines that sought to kill both soldiers and civilians alike. The second monster however, was looking directly at Maria.
A mix between a python and cobra that wasn't nearly as large as the Arachnoid, yet its eyes showed a hint of intelligence that rivaled humans, it let out a hateful hiss as it suddenly wrapped itself around Maria before its fangs attempted to sink into her. She tried to resist, yet its grip was too strong, and her body refused to move. She knew this was a vision, but her instincts didn't care, she closed her eyes hoping the vision would end here. Then she heard something, a squeak? Or maybe a chirp is a closer description? She opened her eyes to see what it was, and saw the serpent get pulled off her by a large bat-like monster, it's fur was a mix of white and bright orange, it attacked the serpent without a care for its own safety, screaming, biting and clawing at it while the serpent attempted to coil itself around the bat and bite back!
The fight lasted several minutes, with both of the monsters dealing grievous injuries to each other, but rapidly recovering from the other's attacks. Flesh was torn, eardrums were ruptured, and venom was spat into the bat's face, yet when it seemed the battle was coming close to a end… the vision abruptly ended, with Maria staring up at the creature that showed her the vision, it's body much closer and visible. It looked as if its body was made of coral, with shades of red, pink, orange, blue and yellow covering most of its body. Yet, the tips of its body looked as if they were bleached of color, and it was slowly spreading to the rest of its body. It let out a low growl as it quickly swam away, leaving no trace of its existence behind other than the large trail of mana that was slowly spreading out to the rest of its surroundings.
"Are you still back there Maria? You've been quiet for several minutes." The driver questioned, causing the woman to blink in confusion for a moment before she remembered where she was. "hm? Oh yes… apologies, I… I'm just tired." she lied, she felt much more awake than before, yet the man hadn't mentioned the creature from a few moments ago… was it just a hallucination? No, Maria might be quite old for a mage, but she wasn't senile, she rubbed her crystallized arm as she got up and headed back inside the carriage. The rest of the ride was uninteresting, which Maria actually preferred, it gave her time to think. Was the creature a faelord? It would make sense, they're bound to their place of birth, have strange powers, and aren't often hostile to travellers going through their home. Yet two questions remained, why did it grant her those visions, and what was happening to it?
The visions seemed too complex for a simple prank, though she couldn't rule that out as fae are known for toying with mortals, yet she had a feeling it was more than that. If it was a vision then she'd have to tell the eldest mages, the few powerful enough to live over a thousand years. Yet she'd need to confirm it first, she didn't even know if the supposed vision was literal or symbolic yet, especially the parts related to the last two cities. She recognized the monsters in the first three visions, so she assumed they were literally destroying the city. Yet… how could a mana fusion plant melt down? That hadn't happened in centuries, and the monsters attacking Alvara, Maria had never seen anything like them before. Perhaps they're related to whatever happened near Malveron? She'd need to figure out everything she could, though for now, she couldn't do much except rest as the driver took her along towards the poor city. "How long until we reach Malveron?" She asked curiously, before it would've taken a couple weeks, but with the route change… "About a month, give or take a couple days." The man said, causing Maria to sigh as she looked outside, watching as the caravan finally exited the water caverns and was exposed to the moonlight.