Hardcore: Qi Worlds Chapter 33: Dread

 The Vanguard gladly left Vaugend behind, veering south into unknown territory. The changes Benzhi, Mother and the Seer made were no longer apparent once they closed in on Vaugend. Although they had impacted an area that was roughly five hundred kilometres across (300 miles), by Benzhi's calculations, it seemed little had changed outside this area. The Vaugend surrounds were the same as always; other than being much further away from the new glade. What was south of Vaugend, was new to Benzhi, and he had travelled more widely than Gisael and Reyas.

 Studying the maps, they could see a large stretch of plains. It was marked with sporadic farms and a couple of villages. There was a mountain range to the south of the plains with two passes indicated, one near the western sea and another, higher pass, centrally. The higher pass had the more direct route to the Kingdom of Loctris, and from what the map indicated, it wasn't a single city, there was five spread over the lower half of the continent, with six territories. Vaugend happened to be the provincial northern territory. The hicks. 

 It was a fairly easy decision, they would head to the higher pass, as it caused them no concern regarding traversing the terrain and it was the direct route. After passing the mountain range, they would head to the closest of the five cities and gather information. The trio put as much distance between themselves and the city before nightfall.

 The landscape of the plains varied as they travelled, at first it was dusty, rocky with some grass and the odd hill. As the days passed, it became greener with long grasses, and small patches of forest spotted throughout. The rivers, some of which originated in the alpine forest, varied in size and shape, some heading towards the sea and some towards a lake at the base of the southern mountain range. Most were small water courses that the trio could jump or skip over, and a couple were large, wide healthy water flows, which required wading across. Benzhi failed miserably at tree-running across the waters, sinking immediately, much to the delight of Gisael and Reyas. 

 The wildlife of the plains was insignificant, it was uncommon to see signs of even the smallest animal and only once did they spy tracks of a herd of large animals some type of bovine, perhaps a bison or buffalo. They had spied men on occasion, moving with wagons or handcarts, mostly south. Benzhi approached the first group to try and garner some information, but they reacted in fear. Panicking and drawing weapons, from then on the Vanguard just avoided men.

 The plains were immense in scope, taking almost a week for the Vanguard to find their way south to the mountain pass. It occurred to Benzhi, and the Blackcloaks must have been close at hand, otherwise, how did the Duke get aid from the Blackcloaks so quickly if they came from Loctris. 

  Camping for the night at the base of the Mountains Benzhi suddenly got an uneasy feeling. A feeling of dread. He looked at Gisael and Reyas who looked at him with concern.

 "Do you feel that?" Benzhi asked.

 "Nay," replied Reyas, "I can only sense ye."

 "Close the connection, you are leaking dread, I want to see if I can feel it," Gisael offered.

 The trio had been working on opening and closing the connection as they travelled. It was not something of great concern to Reyas and Gisael; however, Benzhi would like some privacy now and then. Uniting for combat was a boon, but it didn't have to be twenty-four seven, he concluded. 

 Benzhi closed the connection, using qi manipulation to add a small disc blocking the tether. Severing the tether completely meant they needed to re-establish using the same method as the first time they connected.

 Gisael inhaled deeply and closed her eyes, enhancing her senses. After a time she spoke, "I feel nothing." She looked at Benzhi quizzically. "What is it?"

 "I felt really anxious all of a sudden like you just told me someone was in danger or might be dead," he explained. There was nothing to be done, other than the sense of foreboding, nothing else was alerting them of any danger, nearby or otherwise.

 The three went about their normal tasks. Gisael and Reyas scouted the area for possible threats, collected some wood or any foodstuffs they happened across. Benzhi erected the tent and set the campfire. Once finished he engaged qi sight, the feeling of foreboding had not abated, it had gotten worse if anything.

 Benzhi scanned the area, and nothing looked out of place suddenly something caught his attention, a flash. Benzhi looked up with qi sight, not something he ever felt the need to do. Flash again. Across the sky, he saw what looked like a flash of lightning, but it wasn't lightning it was something else. And it wasn't a qi stream like he knew it.

 Benzhi explained when the pair returned with enough wood for the night and some additional food to add to their rations. If only he could contact Mother or the Seer, he even tried, but the vast distance and lack of connection to the alpine forest made it impossible. Benzhi lay down, not wanting to eat and curled up near the fire.

 Reyas and Gisael exchanged concerned glances.

 Benzhi could not sleep, but he closed his eyes and withdrew to within himself.

 Then it suddenly dawned on him. Maybe it was the simulation, and maybe something was happening to it. He sat up, startling Gisael who was keeping watch. Benzhi tried to activate his stats screen. Nothing. He had not had the desire to even check his stats lately. The simulation, if that is what it was, felt real to him and he was just too darned busy ensuring the Forest was safe. So much to do. So much to learn. Little time to worry about a stats screen which really did nothing. He could accurately guess how well he was doing anyway. What did it mean that he could not pull up his stats screen? It's not something he would contemplate discussing with The Seer, let alone Gisael. Was there something wrong with the simulation, or had he merely "gone native". He had suspected, deep down, for awhile, that he had gone native in the simulation, it was not something he wanted to contemplate. But with the qi storm now and the fact he couldn't call up stats he was beginning to fret. Was the simulation crashing? Were they trying to pull him back? All of these things crossed his mind.

Benzhi felt helpless, there was nothing he could do but wait.

 "There is a qi storm in the sky," Benzhi informed Gisael, Reyas was sleeping in the tent.

 Gisael looked up, the stars were out in force, there were no clouds, no visible signs of a qi storm.

 "Well, I am not certain it is Qi, I can see it with qi sight. It looks like a lightning storm," he paused for awhile taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly, "that is all I know."

 "Do you still feel the dread?" Gisael asked. Benzhi merely nodded slowly.

 "Meditate, as you call it" Gisael continued, "you must rest some, who knows what comes with tomorrow."

 Benzhi nodded again as did as she suggested. He couldn't meditate, he sat there pretending.

 The first rays of light breached the horizon. Benzhi was awake, waiting for dawn's early light. He woke Gisael and Reyas wanting to get a start on the day and what it may bring. 

 They broke camp and headed up the pass. Benzhi was drained before starting, but it was better than sitting and doing nothing. As the sun lifted over the horizon the sky did not turn from a light yellow to a blue gradually. It turned red. Blood red.

 Gisael and Reyas could not feel the dread that Benzhi could, but the signs they could see were ominous.

 "Should we turn back?" Reyas asked.

 Benzhi shook his head, "it feels right to continue, ever since we started climbing the pass I can feel these mountains calling to me. There is a Core here and to turn and leave now. I cannot."

 "What will you do with this Core?" Reyas continued asking questions.

 "Well, I would try to communicate with the Seer, I hate not knowing what is going on," Benzhi stated.

 Gisael stopped and turned on him, poking him in the chest accusingly, "You don't know what is going on most of the time!"

 "Yeah and I hate it," Benzhi replied with a smile on his face. A fleeting moment of levity to ease the oppressive feeling stalking him. He had left the connection closed, there was no need to burden Gisael and Reyas with this feeling as well.

  Before the party made it halfway up the pass the red sky changed. It's colour morphed from red to a dappling or speckled like a spectacular light show, except it was horrifyingly scary. If it wasn't for the feeling of dread encompassing Benzhi it would have been beautiful. The dread thing put a dampener on everything.

  A bolt of red lightning shot towards the ground behind them.

 "Run!" Benzhi shouted and immediately reopened the connection between the three.

  Looking behind they could see smoke and steam rising from where the lightning struck. As the cloud lifted a red portal appeared. Oval in shape with a centre that looked like red coloured water, rippling between the oval supports. The supports were darker in colour, but still red, and looked like they were on fire. Dappling in the breeze small flames leapt from the edge of the portal.

 The three had stopped running and were staring in fascination. 

"If that's not an evil portal, letting in evil gawd knows what, then I am a turtle," Benzhi stated confidently. "I do have some good news though," he paused for a second, "the dread feeling is lightening. I think I know what it was."

 "Do we run ahead or wait?" Gisael asked although they could all feel the apprehension and indecision now the connection was open.

 Benzhi was feeling much better over a short period of time. He wanted answers, "we wait, this is far enough," he supplied.

 As they watched the portal they could see many more lightning strikes in the distance, from every direction.

 "Let's assume every one of those strikes is a portal," Benzhi suggested.

 The Vanguard drew their weapons in anticipation. Benzhi with his sword and shield, Reyas her two picks and Gisael her bow.

 The portal spewed forth a creature, the Vanguard flinched in unison, as another and another poured forth. The creatures stood on two legs and their arms were so long they almost reached the ground. They were almost six foot tall and covered in white fur. They were ape-like with a snarling face, intelligent blue eyes stared malevolently at the Vanguard. There was no doubt they were dangerous with their long razor sharp claws and mouth full of sharp fangs. They looked like snow white werewolves to Benzhi.

 "pfff, Yeti," said Reyas breathlessly, "so many." Six Yetis had come through the portal.

  "Two each," said Benzhi waiting for the Yetis to charge.

 The distance between the two groups was a couple of hundred paces, the Yetis bounded up the incline and closed it in twenty heartbeats.

  Benzhi didn't shout any orders, he didn't need to. He shielded Gisael as she downed the creatures. Even with her lightning reflexes, unerring accuracy and the power of her qi shot it took two arrows to down the first. At two hundred paces the Yeti dodged her first short effortlessly. Gisael waited until they closed to fifty paces, forty and shot the first between the eyes as it bounded up and down. 'Amazing,' thought Benzhi.

 Benzhi stood to the left of Gisael with Reyas to the right. Allowing the wood elf to continue to fire at the charging Yetis. Gisael took another down and another, by the time the Yetis reached them there were only three left.

 Reyas charged one and Benzhi defended against the other two. Gisael dropped her bow and drew her sword as Benzhi dodged and parried claws and teeth.

 The Yetis were fast, furious and without fear. Clawing, biting and charging at their prey. Benzhi could not stall them, they attacked relentlessly. He parried another claw, slicing the offending hand off with qi blade. The Yeti screamed but did not stop its suicidal rush. It rushed straight onto the tip of Benzhi's blade, impaling itself. While Benzhi's blade was rendered useless the remaining Yeti attacked his flank, Benzhi could not wrench his sword free fast enough and was caught with a claw slice to his sword arm. Before it could affect an enraged bite Benzhi twisted and smashed its face with his shield qi strike, flinging it away twenty paces. It rolled back a couple of times and then stopped. It did not stay still for long, the Yeti groggily stood and charged again.

 Reyas had killed her opponent with a pick to the head, she had been careful not to take any wounds using her qi body techniques to enhance her speed and agility she was able to dodge its attacks before delivering one fatal blow. Gisael held off firing her bow at the last, they would need to conserve arrows and this one would be finished off forth with.

 The Yeti charged Benzhi who knocked it to his right with his shield where Reyas was waiting with her pick, embedding it in the Yeti's skull. 

 "Three, two," Gisael pointed to herself and then Reyas, "and one," she said while pointing at Benzhi.

 "You can count," Benzhi said and patted her on the shoulder.

 The Vanguard were about to appraise the scene of the battle when they heard a noise from down the hill. There were more Yetis, over a twenty and more spewing forth from the portal. 

 "Ok, run now," Benzhi stated the new plan.

Chapter end