Chapter 99: Break inner
Chapter 99: Break inner
As soon as the bugmen—bugwomen?—were free, they lunged at me in unison. I didn’t expect them to be grateful for being saved, but damn. Even after so much time spent chained, even while being pregnant, they were awfully fast. I dodged by a hair.
“Ungrateful lot…” I grumbled. “Get out of here and wreak havoc on someone else, dammit!”
I enforced this notion by getting out of the house. Outside, I heard someone’s shot of alarm, and knew that I was noticed. But how much? I didn’t wait to find out and instead bolted upwards, to the ceiling, which was high and dark here.
Then the bugwomen got out too, and everyone’s attention, just like I expected, switched on them. My path was clear, for now.
I dashed towards the centre of the village, where the stone dome that hid the source stood. When I came at it with my claws, I put not just the force of my hand in it, but the force of magic in my wings that charged me towards it.
The stone blocks cracked and crumbled, but held. I hit another time, and another, with enough force to make my entire body quiver from the backlash. In a dozen of forceful strikes the first block fell out of the wall in a heap of stone chunks, letting outside a blindingly bright, after the twilights of the village, light.
All the colours of the rainbow played in it, visible even when I closed my eyes. My eyelids, the least transparent part of my skin, couldn’t stop it just like they couldn’t stop the light of sun. Though, whatever glowed wasn’t even close to the sun’s brightness, it was as bright as the sky at day. It took me a moment to gather myself; then, I continued to deal with the dome.
After the first stone gave in, pulling out the rest was a trivial matter. I broke a few more out of the dome, and the others, held together only by their shape, simply collapsed, opening me the view on the source of the light and the water.
There was nothing unusual with about where the water came from—it came from a crack in the stone. A simple spring that created a small pool in a natural hollow in the floor. But out of that pool protruded a crystal that just screamed “weird magic” with all its appearance.
It was a half a meter tall and growing out of the floor. The part of the crystal that connected to the ground looked just all other rocks in that mountain. Then it began to gradually change, until at the lower third of it, just below the water level, it became all quartz-like and glowing with rainbow lights.
The water was at its brightest when it was closer to the crystal, too. Clearly, it got its magical properties from this rock. Would I get more power if I touch it, too?
Nearing shouts got my attention. I looked away, only to see village’s hunters and warriors running towards me with their spears and murderous battle cries. They seemed to deal with the bugwomen already… Sooner than I planned to.
There was no time to waste. There was no time to plan or think.
With a single blow, I broke the crystal at its glowing part. Then I grabbed it and flew up and away, feeling intense tingling spreading from my hands towards the rest of my body. It was so strong, it hurt, but I grit my teeth and ignored it for now.
Up and away was far enough to get me out of the immediate danger, but I still had the wall to deal with. At the first embrasure, I got to a sentry already waited for me with a dart that it threw at me as soon as I approached. I couldn’t even hide—I got a huge glowing boulder with me.
I rectified that problem by hovering in a quiet (momentarily) corner for a minute to cover the stone in my spare pants. It didn’t fit in my bag, but like that, I at least didn’t make a prime target for anyone who could throw rocks.
Or so I thought, until I saw how my pants slowly began to glow, too. It was a wonder my hands weren’t glowing yet! They felt like they might do that at any moment. I felt weird as well. Jittery. Despite all the time I spent without eating or sleeping as much as I’d like, I felt full of energy right, and ready to take over the world.
Maybe I should just break the wall of the village the same way I broke the wall of the dome that protected the crystal—or protected the village from the crystal. It seemed like a good, simple idea. What was the big difference between these two walls, besides, well, a few dozen centimetres in thickness?
I shook my head to chase off these thoughts. This won’t work, not when my hands were busy with the crystal in the first place. It was just that surge of energy playing with my head, but I knew better than to give in to the impulse without thinking about possible consequences.
Another idea. ‘Pest, can you cast a dark cloud around me and the stone I got and keep it there when I move?’
Pest was silent for a second before answering. His voice didn’t sound very assured, either, though the orders I had given him prevented him from lying. ‘Sure can. Should I get to it?’
‘Yes, do it.’ Someone threw a spear at me from behind, but they were kind enough to shout about their presence before it, so I dodged in time. The rest I thought on the move, the move to the opposite end of the village, where there was a wall, too, and embrasure in it.
It was a wall opposite to the one from under which the rainbow water flowed. I had no idea what would be on the other side, but if luck was still smiling at me, then it won’t be monsters with stats bloated from all the magic water they drank.
I just had to get there first.