Published at 22nd of October 2023 9:42 am

Book 3: Chapter 8

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"What are they?" Viper asked, his voice as calm and cold as always.

"They're soul-stealers," Gale replied. "One of the more dangerous creatures we'll find down in the crypts. This is a small brood, but we should expect to see more lurking around the area."

That wasn't welcome news, but there was nothing to do but continue pushing forward. After examining the monsters’ bodies to see if there was anything of value on them, the team continued down one of the passages that led to the right. According to Gallant, the markings on the tunnel walls provided some clues as to where the tunnels led. As they walked, he explained in a low voice what they were looking for.

"There's a symbol for the first tomb," he said. "It looks like a square with six lines coming off, five pointing up and one pointing down.”

“Isn't that the symbol of a skeletal hand?" Viper asked.

The rest of the team was silent for a moment, and then Cynen groaned.

"Now that you mention it, it does seem like that’s what it is."

A few steps ahead, Gallant turned his head and nodded.

"I can confirm that," he said. "Now that I'm remembering it, it does look like a skeletal hand, with a bit of the forearm still attached.”

“That seems to fall in line with what I know," Viper replied. "The being buried in the first tomb is called the Skeletal Hand of Lesrak. Though who Lesrak is, I'm not quite sure. Be careful. It seems that there are more of those monsters ahead."

Just as Viper had predicted, as they rounded the next corner, they saw five more soul stealers racing toward them. The monsters had abandoned the silent approach, but still, their long legs made hardly a sound on the rough stone floor, and only a faint hiss escaped from their beaks. This time, Cynen stepped forward, thrusting both hands out and letting out a heavy shout as green flame filled the passage.

The monsters were either too foolish to understand the danger they were in, or mad with their desire to consume the team's flesh, because they didn't stop as they ran straight into the giant fireball Cynen had summoned. The first one took the full brunt of the blast, its beak opening as it let out a loud wail. Its body caught on fire, and it began to thrash about, smashing into the side of the passage and slamming into its companion.

The other soul stealers ran past it, occasionally getting slashed by flame-covered limbs that set them burning as well, but they seemed not to care as they threw themselves against the party's blades. Viper and Cynen guarded the front, doing their best to keep each other safe, while the other four awakened members of the team got in damage wherever they could. The passage wasn't very large, only broad enough for four men to stand shoulder to shoulder, and the fight was messy. But bit by bit, Cynen's flames did their work, burning through the carapace and into the bodies of the soul stealers, eventually destroying the spark of life in their bodies.

Four times in the next hour, the party ran into more soul stealers, culminating in a fierce battle against twelve of them that came from different directions, intending to sandwich the party and disrupt their formation. By the time the fight was over, Gale had been wounded, as had one of the red-masked assassins. Realizing that it was time to rest, Cynen asked Gallant to look for a place, and they soon found a small burial chamber off the main passage that only had a single entrance, which would make it easier to guard while they rested. They had no sense of whether it was night or day, though when Cynen idly wondered about it, Viper casually informed her that it was ten minutes to six o'clock, and that the sun would set in another forty-five.

Ignoring the strange look that she gave him, he got some of the food out of his pack and sat down to eat. He only ate a couple of bites, mostly to show that he was actually eating, and then put the rest away for later. As a carrier of the Guardian Flower, Viper got all of the energy he needed from Garrett and the ambient mana in his immediate environment, but it wouldn't do to go for a few days without eating, and so he made sure that Cynen saw him. After encouraging the red-masked assassins to follow suit, he sat quietly, almost in a meditative trance, as he waited for his turn to stand watch. Sitting down next to him, Cynen stared at him as she ate her food.

"You seem familiar to me," she finally said when she had finished her dinner. "Have we met before?"

According to Viper's memory, they had met once, back when he was Raoul, a member of the Swamp Sharks, and had not yet joined the Kline family. As far as he was concerned, however, he was no longer that man. Ruel was dead. So he shook his head no. Cynen was unconvinced, but let the matter drop. Instead, she gestured to the red mask he wore.

"Why wear a mask, then?" she asked.

Curious about how he would reply, Garrett listened in as well, but he just shrugged and didn't answer the question. Silence fell over the room, and soon Cynen huffed and grabbed her blanket.

"You're too boring," she said, shaking her head.

As the team settled down to get a few hours' rest, Garrett couldn't help but chuckle. In his eyes, Viper was the furthest thing from boring, and if Cynen could see the Guardian Flower's true appearance, she likely wouldn't be able to sleep quite so peacefully next to him. Since the team wasn't making any moves at the moment, Garrett let his attention drift back towards the surface, to where a small sea of stars awaited him. The stars stretched down into the crypts, representing the Flower Ghouls, who were rapidly propagating in the tunnels below the inn. They were now starting to stretch northward, entering the Grave Walker’s territory while keeping themselves hidden. They were like tendrils of an astral octopus made from the milky way, and for a little while, Garrett was mesmerized. Garrett watched for a while and then ordered them to begin to make their way down into the passages that the team had taken.

So far, the Flower Ghouls had not come across any monsters that they couldn't handle with ease in the crypts. There had only been a few undead and other groups of ghouls that hunted in the upper passages, and they had handled them and the occasional thug who wandered in the tunnels with ease. They were coordinated, excellent at hiding, and possessed multiple enthralling abilities. In fact, he was confident that if he let them go naturally without guarding their growth, they would quickly overrun a large part of the city. Garrett was curious, however, about the soul stealers that Viper and the party had run across. The nightmarish creatures weren't like anything he had seen before, but rather appeared almost like a mutated praying mantis, an insect that didn't exist in this world.

Garrett was curious about what would happen if he took the bodies of the dead Soul Stealers to one of the nest stones that the Flower Ghouls had captured. Would he be able to create new types of monsters that carried the dream flowers as well? The thought of an army of the four legged monsters was both horrifying and thrilling. Something in his heart told him that it wouldn't be that easy, but he figured it was worth a shot. He had also been mulling over the idea of sending Flower Ghouls out into the swamps to try to see if he could find monsters more suited for water. So this would be a good test to examine if the situation with the flower ghouls could be replicated. However, in order to replicate a monster, he needed not only a body, but a live specimen. Which is what he set his mind to as the team rested, capturing a Soul Stealer with the Flower Ghouls and dragging it back to the nest stone.

At first, he proceeded slowly, having the Flower Ghouls leapfrog to ensure that he had a solid line of defense attaching him to the main branches of the flower ghouls. But once they had proceeded down into the tunnels a good way, he set teams of them to scout ahead, looking for other Soul Stealers. Instead, what he found was one of the other creatures that Gallant had mentioned, a Flayer. At least, that's what he assumed it was. The monster looked to be a nightmarish creation that was a mix between a bowl of spaghetti noodles and a clam. It dragged itself along the ground with hundreds of thin tendrils that could withdraw into its shell-like body, making it look like a rock.

Unsure what he would use such a monster for, and deciding that it was too disgusting-looking even for him, Garrick commanded the Flower Ghouls to kill it. That proved almost impossible, however, as the Ghouls' claws and teeth were unable to break through the monster's shell. It seemed to know better, however, than to unleash its tendrils, as that would give the Flower Ghouls something to attack. And when it sealed its shell shut, it grew completely inert, as if it was no longer alive, negating the effects of the Flower Ghouls' mental energy as well.

Finally, annoyed, Garrick had the Ghouls dig a pit, and bury the stupid monster in it before resuming his search. Six hours had passed before he found another Soul Stealer, and the team was just starting to get up from their rest. Deciding to let Viper move on his own for at least a little bit longer, Garrick had his team of Ghouls move into position. He had yet to find a Soul Stealer by itself, and the one he had his eye on was with a group of three other companions.

The Soul Stealers were easily three times the size of any of the Flower Ghouls, and seemed to be built for war, which is part of the reason Garrick was so excited about his tests. He had already gathered the bodies of the dead Soul Stealers, and was transporting them back to the Nest Stone, where they would be turned into food for his brood. Getting the Flower Ghouls in position by having them tunnel into the walls and ceiling of the passage that the Soul Stealers were creeping down, Garrick waited for the Soul Stealers to get close before launching the ambush. Though he wasn’t directly controlling the Flower Ghouls like he would have been with Viper, he was still able to observe the situation thanks to the proximity of their flowers. The first Soul Stealer turned the corner and saw a faint glow up ahead, causing it to hiss with excitement and rush forward on nearly silent feet.

A beautiful bloom protruded from the wall, releasing a faint fragrance into the air that billowed like a cloud, stirring up as the monster rushed into range. For the briefest of moments, the fragrance gave the monsters pause, before they rapidly tried to back up. But that brief moment was all the Flower Ghouls needed to spring their trap. More flowers opened up from the ceiling and walls, unleashing a different kind of fragrance, one that seemed to drive the Soul Stealers mad. Furious hisses echoed in the dark tunnels, their eyes glowing red as they launched themselves at each other, in a deadly dance of hacking blades and tearing beaks.

One of the Soul Stealers was unfortunate enough to be caught in between two others, and rapidly fell, its body hacked into pieces by the sharp, blade-like arms of the monsters, before it could respond. The second to fall found itself wounded by one of its companions' flailing strikes, and staggered to the side, while the other two Soul Stealers engaged in a desperate fight that would only end when one of them was victorious. Letting out a hiss, the wounded soul stealer clearly intended to rejoin the fray, but before it could, half a dozen Ghouls burst from the wall behind it, wrapping it up tightly with their sharp-toothed petals, and dragging it back into the hole they had created. The dirt collapsed behind them and it was gone as if it had never existed.

Too preoccupied with their maddened state, the other Soul Stealers had no idea their companion was gone, and as they fought themselves into exhaustion, the Flower Ghouls quickly retreated, dragging with them their helpless captive. Watching all of this, Garrett couldn't help but smile happily. Partly because he had been able to capture the creature without much issue, and further because he had been able to do it from his seat on the Dreamer’s Throne. The Flower Ghouls were tremendously useful, if a bit creepy, and he was excited to see what he could do to expand his army.

He was starting to realize that the Dream Flowers were stronger when attached to nightmares and monsters than they were when attached to humans, though there was a distinct trade-off as they did not grow nearly as fast. He believed it had something to do with the abundance of mental energy that humans possessed. Though monsters did possess mental energy as well, and could exist, like humans, in both the waking world and the dream, their mental energy was not as developed as their physical bodies, making it much harder for the Dream Flowers to grow naturally. Some of the nightmares from the dream were an exception to this, but they often lacked the physical capabilities that the monsters carried.

Humans the Flowers attached to were a mix of both physical ability and mental strength, granting them neither of the strengths of the other two groups. Instead, their dream flower grew nearly too fast. To the point that Garrett was seriously considering trying to figure out ways to slow their growth down. That seemed unlikely, however, so he was instead taking a different path and trying to determine if he could produce other types of flower monster. Though he knew that his group was strong already, a more combat oriented monster would be able to round out his forces well. In many ways, he was preparing an army for something that might never come, a physical conflict with the other rulers of the Dream. He didn't know what sort of contest his struggle with them would take, but he wanted to be prepared just in case.

Leaving the Flower Ghouls to continue their trek back to the Nest Stone, Garrett turned his attention back to Viper and the others, who were walking through the dark tunnels deep under the earth.

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