The natural order is one of predator and prey. But whether it is prey, or predator, is something humanity cannot seem to decide.
Excerpt from The Beasts of the Dungeon
***
The Calamity was smashed backwards against the wall, which it hadn't even gotten thirty feet away from. Elly grinned, then grinned wider when the thing struggled against the unending stream. A half muted roar went through the cavern, and she lightly shifted her footing when Vistus raised the stone they stood on.
Water soon poured around their platform, and she appreciated the lack of wet socks. And the secondary illusion barrier keeping away the noise, for that matter.
And yet Marcus had dared to claim he had 'solved' the issue of bursting everyone's eardrums.
Marcus grunted, his portal shifting lightly to the side. The Calamity was pressed more deeply into the stone. "I have the thing. Starting the count."
The count. Water held might, and was non-magical in its application of force. But even at such high speeds, at such extreme volumes, water was only that. Water. So while the Calamity thrashed against the wall, unable to escape, its plates of sanguine armor did not break. They did not shatter, nor did what water the creature swallowed seem to have much of an effect.
So if the Calamity could not be damaged, they would measure how long they could keep it in place.
Elly idly stroked her bow. "I could end this right now. A few enchanted arrows, fired from my Life enhanced bow, would probably kill it."
"Not with that amount of water in the way," Vistus replied. "But please, try. We're here to experiment, after all."
She shrugged, doing exactly that. Picking a normal arrow as a baseline, she lined up the shot and exhaled slowly. The arrow shot forward with a loud twang, and she lowered the weapon while watching it arch.
It entered the stream of water, and while it had just enough speed to actually reach the Calamity, it didn't penetrate the thing's armored hide. Elly frowned, nocking a proper arrow. Her limbs rippled with strength as she infused them with as much Life as she could handle, and this time her bow didn't so much twang as snap.
The air itself keened and the arrow slid through water, but even so, its tip only buried into the target a scant inch. She glanced at Marcus. "Failure. Holding?"
"Holding. Fourteen seconds and counting."
She turned to Vistus. "Your turn."
The man moved not a step, but their platform slid closer, stone rippling over stone. It was a surprisingly efficient spell, Elly found, and more importantly, kept Marcus and his portal perfectly stable.
A hundred feet away they stopped, close enough now that Elly could feel the drops of water splashing against her skin. The creature was still raging against the stream, still bellowing loudly, but it could do nothing.
Lucky, in a way. Not agile enough to dodge, at least not the first time, and not exotic enough to have magic. A big, tough, dangerous beast, but a beast all the same.
Metal wires materialized in front of Vistus' outstretched hand, shooting towards the Calamity. Elly could feel the amount of magic in them, the complexity of the weave, and that only grew with distance. But it also grew thinner, more razor-like, and before long it was gliding through the water.
Unlike her arrows, the metal didn't seem affected by the endless raging stream. So it snaked over and around the Calamity, looping and looping until no inch of it was free. The creature wasn't quite bound, but nine times the spool went around its neck, and she doubted it would live even should the thing get free.
But they already knew Vistus could kill Calamities. It was the man's speciality. The point of this was to do so efficiently, because there might be another in the next half hour. And then another, and another. Wasting all his magic on one kill could prove lethal.
So the metal grew less dense. Less magical, and less dangerous. The lesser version was also vastly cheaper to use, clearly, and soon enough it started to saw.
The Calamity screamed, in pain or rage she couldn't tell, as Vistus slowly took it apart. Neck, arms, knees, torso. All areas of the body were tested, probed and assessed. It was almost disturbing, and Elly had a high tolerance for that kind of thing. Not that the Calamity was actually losing limbs.
It took maybe twenty, thirty seconds, and then the metal withdrew. Vistus hummed. "Good enough. I have what I need."
"My turn, then," Marcus said. "Please move us back."
Vistus complied, and they slid away from the Calamity. Despite the pressure on the creature's body lowering, it still couldn't quite escape. The sanguine horror really was proving to be a good test subject.
Slightly more worryingly, the cavern was filling with water, and though it would drain into the wider Dungeon eventually, the stone had a slightly downwards slope. Fighting in five feet of water would be… challenging.
"This is going to get loud," Marcus warned mildly. Vistus was already tightening the web of illusions around the three of them, which to Elly's senses looked like a crooked cage. Then her attention snapped to the Calamity, because the continuing hammering of water was turning into a whine. "Here goes nothing."
Not even Vistus' illusions could completely scrub away the sound, which to a regular person, would be overwhelming. Like a whine and whistle coming from every direction, bouncing off the cavern walls. Growing louder, almost. To her enhanced senses, it would have been crippling.
It cut into the Calamity like a blade, piercing slowly regenerating armor and sending it spiraling to the ground. The portal angled to follow, to keep slicing away, but the creature of bone and hardened blood twisted free.
Marcus adjusted again, but the beam overshot, then undershot as he corrected his aim. The Calamity found its footing, charging forward with an enraged roar.
Once more the waterblade sliced across it, but while armor split apart, the creature managed to brace. The beam cut off, and in the following silence she could hear him sigh. "Pretty good damage, but it won't kill even a middling brute. Shame. And no defenses, either. Can't exactly risk doing this on my lonesome. Not if I don't want to be killed by a lucky Champion with a bow. Or even a rock."
"It's still good," Vistus consoled. The Calamity jumped closer, but the experiment was done. Metal wire—wire that had coiled around the man's arms—sprung forth, ensnaring it whole. Elly shrugged, putting three arrows into its skull. Vistus inspected the creature while he spoke. "Work on your aim, and as long as you don't have to resummon the portal, it's efficient. Very efficient."
Marcus grunted, seemingly watching the Calamity as it writhed in the air. Elly could feel Vistus' reserves drop, bottoming out every moment that thing struggled, but her arrow had pierced the brain. Which it actually had, and in the correct place at that. Never could be too sure with Calamities.
It took another few seconds for that fact to register, but the Calamity slowed, a vaguely confused look on its face. Dead and dying, as the saying went. Two Archmages—and herself—against only one of them, and without Hounds or Champions to aid the creature?
Death was the forgone conclusion.
She hummed and skipped closer, looking over the corpse. Which, of course, lashed out at her. Not so dead after all. Elly skittered backwards with a laugh, slowed by the water but not nearly slow enough.
Actually dead now, and with one arm still grasping in her direction, the Calamity breathed its last breath. She looked the thing over, heaving a disappointed sigh when the blood armor started to melt. "I wanted those, dammit."
"Internal blood control," Vistus offered. "I wonder if it could have absorbed more had such been available. It was relatively weak for a Calamity, in truth."
Marcus snorted. "Probably helped that none of us attacked with direct magic. If the creature could have grown by absorption, though, wiping out a town or two might have been catastrophic."
"Alas, the creature was stupid, and now it's dead." Elly patted the pouch on her hip with a hum. "I don't have vials. Vistus?"
A simple, crystalline vial appeared in her hand, complete with cork and an attached string. Pretty small, but she didn't actually need much. Some Imperial crafter could probably do wonders with its blood, but…
But what, exactly? "Vistus, could we harvest the blood? All of it?"
"We could," the man replied. "But carrying such volumes of materials is…"
He trailed off, glancing at Marcus. Her husband sighed. "Yeah, yeah, you can use my bag. Does anyone actually know how to butcher a Calamity?"
"Never met a beasty I couldn't skin," Elly replied happily. "Or exsanguinate, in this case. Blood should be pretty stable if stored properly—hey, look, someone who can make literally any type of container we could ever need—but for flesh and other things, we'd need something to stabilize the loot."
Vistus hummed, visibly growing more interested. "Without weight and volume being a problem, we could take the whole thing. A lot of prototypes the Empire creates are just that, prototypes, but some bear fruit. It's just a shame most truly spectacular things need Archmages to craft them. Nevertheless, this is proving interesting. With a surplus of material, they might just make something we mortals can actually use."
"Trophies first," Elly chided, "Overloading the Empire with materials second. Two more vials, if you please. This was the textbook definition of a shared kill."
Marcus glanced at her, the hint of a grin in his eyes. "We already took a vial of blood from a Calamity, remember? That Giant mutant we killed?"
"Shush, you. If I had known we would come across a blood monster, I'd have saved it."
***
"You seem pleased with yourself," Marcus noted. Elly shrugged idly, kicking her feet over the ledge of the Dungeon. He, she noted, was standing a few feet back. "That ledge might crumble, you know?"
"You'd catch me."
Elly smiled when he didn't refute that, the big softy that he was. Besides, this little luncheon spot of theirs had a good overview of their camp. "See that tower?"
"Even your baseline eyesight is leagues sharper than my own, woman, and in case you had forgotten, it's really dark around here" he replied, folding his arms. "But I'll presume you're talking about the encampment our fleet is supposed to be building."
She hummed. "Quite right, male. Let me paint you a picture. It starts—"
"I honestly don't really care."
"With the towers," she continued. "Eleven of them, about thirty feet tall and with eight mages on each. Spotters and sentries, though I can't smell their magic from here. Those eleven towers are joined together with walls half their height, stone from start to finish. Three gates offer access to the surrounding area, and Horzo's last little gift is projecting its shimmering barrier over the entire camp."
"You're aware I was present when General Freza went over this, right?"
Elly ignored him. "The ships are docked in the center, sitting in a rough circle. Each has large ramps giving easy access to both one another and the floor, encircled with a second, taller wall. The ship's shields overlap it just enough to provide protection from the air. The soldiers, when not serving on the wall or ranging outside, still live in the ships themselves, which allow us to keep the camp relatively small."
"Are you done?"
"And the thing I was looking at just now," she continued, "was the northernmost tower. I think. Might be east. Either way, it is currently raining literal fire down on a small surge of Hounds, which have discovered that there are pitfall traps littered around the walls. So while this isn't too overly special, Freza has her Legions well drilled in construction. I might need to rotate our companies through her own, see if they can't pick up on some of that. Expertise is all well and good, but speed matters."
Marcus sighed. "I'm sorry I called you woman."
"I am a woman, not that you seem to care," she shot back. She grinned when Vistus groaned some dozen feet away. "Something to add, old man?"
"I should have killed you both when I had the chance."
"Oooh, that sounds like an admission that he can't anymore." Elly shot her best pleading look at Marcus. "Can we throw him off the ledge? It'll be so funny to watch him fall."
"No."
"Spoilsport. At least let me take a finger. Maybe his hand, if he's soft."
Vistus rose, leveling a severe frown at the both of them. "I find your dynamic disturbing, immoral and somewhat entertaining. Now rein in your wife, Marcus, before I get my feelings hurt."
"You can't honestly believe I have that kind of power," he noted mildly. Elly glared at the old man, twisting around to do so properly. A loud, ominous crack went through the stone she was sitting on, and suddenly, she was next to Marcus, who himself was thirty feet further back than before. He sighed. "Silent Gods, you're going to give me a heart attack."
Vistus shrugged. "That wasn't me, I swear. And no, I don't think you have that kind of power. But if I don't push back, she'll take it as weakness and walk straight over me."
"You know me so well," Elly replied, beaming. "Just for that, I won't take your hand. Marcus, hold him down while I scalp him."
Marcus rolled his eyes. "Please, for the love of our continued alliance with the Empire, finish your lunch."
"You're technically part of it," Vistus pointed out. Marcus shot the man a glare, but Elly ignored them in favor of finishing her fish burger creation. The Archmage cleared his throat. "Not helping, understood."
Elly consumed the last bite of her burger, shooting Vistus a smile. "You're the best, you know that? I love fresh food out on campaign, especially if I can custom order my treats."
"And I'm starting to worry that you're mentally unbalanced, but I'll take what I can get."
Marcus snorted, the traitor. "She's an opposite kind of creature. If she's polite, quiet and normal, she doesn't trust you, and you're probably going to lose a limb. If she's threatening to take that same limb, you're probably fine."
"I know where you sleep," Elly reminded him. "Don't listen to that mockery of a man, Vistus. I'm perfectly stable, something you can be assured of, because I just insisted on it. And who doesn't constantly insist on their own mental stability? A crazy person, that's who."
Her husband raised an eyebrow. "I'd certainly hope that you know where I sleep. You're the one who arranged the room. You should be glad I don't mind slumbering in a room full of trophies, honestly."
"Woe is you. A beautiful, dangerous, devoted woman wishes to cuddle when she naps, and doesn't mind all those hard muscles to sleep on. Honestly, it wouldn't kill you to let yourself go a little. And did you just honestly say slumbering?"
Vistus swallowed a bark of laughter. "She's got you there, my young friend. Kind of. Maybe. If you squint. Also, I salute you for taking that one off the market. A service to straight men everywhere."
"As if you can even get it up anymore," she needled. "Stay in your lane, which is full of old people. Grandmothers and the like."
"I have the perfect counter to that, which I won't use, because I'm a civilized man. And I'll have you know that older women, with a little aid from magic, can be just as amorous—"
Marcus clapped his hands, the sound echoing like the crack of thunder. "That's quite enough of that, thank you very much. Vistus, don't encourage her. Elly, don't drag him down to your level. I'm disappointed in the both of you."
"You started this," Vistus pointed out. "But perhaps you're right. Illusion magic is not my best skill, and I tire of keeping us hidden."
Elly sniffed, insulted that her fun was being interrupted. But then she supposed Marcus had a right to his sensitive side, so she could let it go. For now.
Their little camp was broken up in minutes, aided by telekinesis and teleportation as they were, and the so far silent Clarissa rose from where she'd been sitting. Honestly, making her be a lamp as punishment wasn't nearly as satisfying as it could have been.
The elemental didn't even seem to realize that it was supposed to be demeaning, which just took all the fun out of things. But now the fire-woman rose, obediently creating bright orbs of flame wherever Elly pointed.
If the woman was trying to annoy her, it was working.
Still, they made good time, especially since they had a straight path to the camp. Which itself was sat upon one of the larger stone platforms, not that it took up the whole space. Redwater could have fit on the damn thing, if only just.
Once they made it there Vistus dismissed their illusions, which resulted in a surge of Hounds diverting to eat them, but Marcus wiped them out with a few spatial clusters. He just kind of waved his hand, and some four hundred rabid beasts turned into a field of gore.
Silent Gods, he had no idea how hot that was.
Actually making it inside took but a moment, since Marcus teleported them up and then straight through the shield, and they split afterwards. Vistus had to check on the supplies, ensuring their expedition never ran below a four-year buffer, while Marcus moved to inspect the ships' cores.
It left her alone, so she decided her army could do with a spot check. It never hurt to remind her high command that she was, in fact, always watching. Her specialty might have shifted to Calamity killing in recent times, but she was a soldier to the bone, and while all this magic stuff might have changed military doctrine, one rule remained ironclad.
Retain control over the army. Always.
Afterword
Other story: The Call of the Hollow Men
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