Life in the Fort

My morning begins with the angry sounds of shouting. Not the worrisome sort, no alarms ring, and there’s no screaming in terror or pain. No, I can recall this particular sound from a dozen different movies detailing military training. Perhaps Chip is simply using those memories as reference for translation.

While they use spears and magic in place of rifles, I suppose soldiers are still largely the same in principal, and a sergeant yelling at the top of his lungs while throwing about awful slurs seems to be something of an industry standard. Makes me feel like I’m being coddled with my training in the Unified States.

Then again, they’re training these kids to kill, while I’m being taught the opposite, so that’s likely making something of a big difference in the approach to training.

The hard ground and wall, even softened with blankets, made for a rather uncomfortable night. My armour, with it’s thick plating, made the experience that much worse. I stretch and try to work the stiffness out of my joints.

I put the room back into the same condition as when I came here, or near enough. The sheets might be a little tossed and the blanket is just a bundle on the bed, but I mean, the doors still attached, and I haven’t destroyed anything, so it’s fine.

I really shouldn’t be wasting time on laundry.

I only have today left to seek out the pests that Arduelle has assigned for me, and I’m not sure what the hell she’s even referring to. Should I go out monster hunting? Should I talk with the soldiers and try to find something that stands out as troublesome?

For now, I head out to look for the bathroom.

Opening the door, an ordinary sort rather than anything fanciful, I nearly stumble right into the chest of the warrior left outside my door. She’s a woman, and I’m not sure if that was an intentional politeness considering my current predicament, or just a lucky coin toss in my favour.

“Good morning, ma’am. My name is Shrelle. I’m here to guide you around the fort and answer any questions you might have.” She says, saluting and talking with clipped, well pronounced… hisses and clicks?

“Bathroom.” She twitches a quick nod and leads the way.

This culture still has much to learn about the niceties of such facilities. Rather than bitching and moaning all day long, I’d rather leave the memories behind with the filth, which I can do thanks to cleansing magics.

“If you’d like I can give you a tour of the fort.” The warrior offers, standing just as straight and stiff as before. I suppose to her I’m some foreign dignitary, and she doesn’t want to screw up and end up getting the same shouting treatment as those same training soldiers I hear in the distance.

“Sure, let’s do that.” I say, “Though if you can find the time to schedule some breakfast into the tour that would be lovely.”

“Yes, ma’am.” She salutes before leading me away. I follow after her at a quick walk, thankfully she doesn’t move so fast that I have to start jogging.

Due to the size and scale of these lizard-folk, the inside halls are quite tall, and wide enough to fit three abreast. Wider than I’d expect of a fort, but not by much. The stone used is mostly creamy in colour, but dappled with spots of light brown, not at all as pretty as a palace, but it’s not aesthetically offensive either.

The doors are thick wooden planks, and I’d have to put in some serious effort to get through them when they’re barred. Which is another part of this place that’s a little off putting.

Every last door can be barred from either side, with a plank of wood kept beside just for that purpose. A reminder that this place is meant for war, or the beastly equivalent that they live through here.

There are precious few of these solitary rooms, and I’d guess that most have to live in shared accommodations instead. I’m somewhat glad that I was found by the Unified States, for all their failings, they do have good facilities.

Shrelle leads me out through a large wooden door into the inner courtyard of the fort. Warm light touches at the tops of the walls around us, but the tall walls occlude the light. A few blue lanterns have been kept up to ensure that no shadow is allowed to linger in the corners. A security measure, for sure, but a pleasant aesthetic choice as well.

I breathe deeply of the fresh morning air, and take in our surroundings.

The shouting is significantly louder now that I’m close enough to see the sergeant yelling to the soldiers under his ministrations. I’m sure he’s using some magic to make him shout the louder.

Near a hundred soldiers stand before him, lunging forwards with blood tipped spears at the command of the sergeant—he’s probably not actually a sergeant, but that’s what I’m going to keep calling him.

The mana dense blood that covers each spearhead shimmers with faint motion, and glows with a circular current of mana. By the looks of it, it doesn’t waste any mana at all, at least for the talented soldiers, that is.

“You train in formations?” I ask watching them work. It isn’t exactly a shield wall or anything near as impressive, but they are timing themselves to the sergeants orders.

“What do you mean by formation?” She asks, looking at the gathered warriors. “We need to fight alongside one another, work around each other’s attacks and anticipate how the others will act and react. It’s not as if we actually fight that close together in real combat.”

“So only loose formations? That’s normal, then.” I say with a slightly relieved nod. I don’t know why I’m relieved at their perceived ineffectiveness, but I just hate the thought of having to fight against shield walls. The less I see of them the better.

The soldiers in the field below manipulate the blooded tips of their spears with practiced ease. Thrusts, turn to cuts as the blade at the end reshapes into a more vicious hook. They move quickly to slice at an imaginary enemy as fast as they can, before shifting it back to an ordinary spear.

Their showcase isn’t yet done however, as the next set of thrusts has the blood bursting out into various spiked shapes, presumedly inside the body of an invisible target. The spiked blood ball then spins about like the blades of a blender, and I do not want to imagine being on the other end of that.

They continue with their training for the entire length of time that I’m willing to spare watching, which isn’t much really. I’m hungry and breakfast is calling to me.

We’re currently at the ground level inside the fort, surrounded by the tall walls, where no seam or crack can be seen. While back on Earth this would be a marvel to make the pyramids seem lame, the existence of magic makes this a rather ordinary fortification.

“This way is the mess hall.” She says, “If there’s nothing there palatable for you, I can have something arranged.”

“Your species eats plenty of meat? I’m fine with that.” I reply. I could do with a good salad, but I won’t make a fuss about it. I’d also be willing to bet that asking for salad would end rather badly for me, I wouldn’t even know what leaves are edible, so I can’t expect lizard people to figure that out.

The inside of the mess is, as described, a bit of a mess. The soldiers are relaxing as much as they can as they eat, drink, chat, and play a few games. I guess this must be one of the few places where they can come to get some rest, between patrols and guard duty.

My aide easily guides me through the process of getting a meal, and I steal a table for myself off to the side. The meal is certainly a little heavy for breakfast, but I get the feeling that I’m going to need the extra energy today.

“Hi.” Says a young soldier as she takes the seat across from me, her eyes sparkling as she looks me up and down. I’m not sure that I’m really that much of a sight, sneaking mouthfuls of steak under my dark veil, but she seems to think otherwise.

I suppose it would be interesting to speak with an alien, wouldn’t it?

“Hi.” I reply.

“You’re really from somewhere else? Somewhere beyond Selena?” She asks, glancing up at the young woman who’d been guiding me around. Shrelle makes a difficult face before giving us a little space.

A little strange. Perhaps this is more than just wanting E.T.’s signature.

“I am.” I reply, meeting her eyes and waiting for her next words.

“What are you here for?” She asks, and I get the feeling that she’s dancing around the topic that she wants to bring up.

“I’m here to deal with pests, apparently.” I say. “I’m meant to be finished by today, but that’s looking less and less likely.”

“Oh?” She ask, seeming rather giddy to move on to the next topic.

“What are you here for?” I ask, “Not the soldiering thing. I’m sure we’re both on a schedule, so let’s just get to the point, shall we?”

“Oh, ah. Yeah.” She takes a deep breath, looking about the room before sitting a little closer to me so that we’re not overheard.

“I want your opinion on something. I was thinking… why should we stay within these walls? Why continue fighting waves of beasts like we have?” The young woman asks, “I think that we should expand, that we should delve into the forest and drive off the beasts.

“By fighting, we can become something stronger in the process. Something more than what we are. It has to be better than sitting around waiting for something bigger than us to finally come and destroy us.”

“Not a bad idea.” I say with a shrug. “There will eventually be the day that even Selena, your home and goddess, will fall. Hopefully not for a very long time, but no-one lives forever.”

She shudders at the thought but seems that much more eager having heard it. It’s a simple enough point, but some simply haven’t considered the mortality of their gods.

“We need to challenge the universe and become something better and stronger, if we want to survive. There are others who think the same.” She says, looking at the man on the far side of the room that’s giving us a rather fierce glare. “Ksar over there is our leader, we’re planning to escape into the wildlands and try to survive out there.”

“So why approach me?” I ask, “Isn’t that a pointless risk?”

“That’s what Ksar says, but I think you could help us. You live in another world; you’d know what to expect from the universe. Maybe even tell us how we can hope to survive out there.”

“Well, I can share what I know about the main factions, but the only one I can confidently discuss is the Unified States of Mana.”

“What is with that name?” She asks sneering at the very sound of it.

“Eh, I think they’re just claiming that everything the mana touches is part of their empire. It’s the most powerful faction around but they’re decaying as far as I can tell. I’m not sure how much they actually participate in war, but they largely just capture and convert people to their faction.”

I continue to explain how things work and she gasps in wonder and horror of equal measure.

“So what faction are You?” She asks as I try to explain what little I know about the rebels who defy the Unified States.

“Me? I like to think that I’m my own fraction, but that would be overstating things a little. I’m existing under the good will of Arduelle and Frey, the two dungeons I told you about, while avoiding the ire of the Unified States.”

“Then you’re where we want to be.” She says with an eager smile. “We’re not going to be the top dogs out there, we just want to avoid getting eaten until we get strong enough to stand against them.”

“I’d take you with me if that was an option.” I say sitting back and staring at the ceiling. “People like us have to work together if we want to survive.”

“That and we have to run fast.” She says with a sly smile. “I’ve spent plenty of time out in the wilds. There are things out there that would’ve killed me if I hadn’t been so fast on my feet.”

“One day, you’ll find something faster than you.” Olly says joining us as he glares at the young woman. I shouldn’t be surprised that he’s joined this small faction of rebellious warriors. “One day you won’t come back from patrol.”

“How do you survive?” She asks, her eyes aglow as she looks at me, hoping for a solution that she’s overlooked.

“Me?” I’ve never been in a fight that I couldn’t win or escape. When I didn’t have the strength there was always some trick that worked. Sometimes mana drain, sometimes pulling collars, or sometimes I just got saved by someone stronger.

“Luck.” I say. “Just be lucky, and you get to live.”

“That doesn’t...”

“Fight through everything you can fight through. Struggle to get stronger faster and prepare a way to evade those more powerful than you.” I say, staring at the empty table before me. “ Try not to step on toes—I don’t do well with that part—do all of that, then hope that you’re one of the lucky ones.”

“Which is why we stay.” Olly says with a long, tired sigh.

“It’s no different here.” She says, staring back up at Olly. “We’re praying that we won’t be destroyed by something stronger than us. We’re just lucky that we haven’t come across such a beast so far.”

“She’s right.” I say, glaring up at the ceiling. “We’re all competing to survive, and there’s no way out of it. Here, you can simply delude yourself with the comforts of civilisation. You’re still fighting for survival, it’s just that as a larger group it’s easier to pretend otherwise.”

As the conversation starts to die, a bell rings out through the hall.

“Ah, I’ve got a patrol. I’ll see you later.” The rebel woman says, jumping to her feet and snatching up her spear.

“I might see you again, I might not.” I reply. “Don’t die out there.”

“I would never.” She replies as she runs off. Others are rushing off the same, some with a measure more haste than others.

Shrelle has returned to my side and returns my plate for me. Bloated, and frustrated, I peel myself from my seat and follow the young warrior who insists on continuing my tour.

“So how dangerous is it here?” I ask as she takes me around the fields, watching more groups of soldiers working themselves hard to train their Skills. They’re all rather impressive, but knowing that Skills are supporting them makes it rather less so.

“That depends on the day.” She replies, as we head up the stairs to the wall. I suppose there’s not as much room for flying in the confines of the fort, and there’s less need to defend against beasts.

“Some days there’s beast attacks every other minute, other days it’s all quiet.” She replies. “Patrolling the wildlands is the most challenging and dangerous task however.”

“Yet, it seems that some here relish the thought, so much that they want to stay out there.” I say, reinforcing my cardiovascular systems to ensure that I don’t tire from the steep climb and overly large steps.

“Yes… I don’t see why they’d have to stay.” She says. “If they want to go out and die, why stop them?”

“You’re not on their side?” I ask. “You’re fine with things as they are?”

She seems conflicted a moment, before continuing.

“It’s living.” She says. “Outside of here, we don’t even have that.”

“Fair conclusion.” I say, reaching the top of the wall.

The sun rises over the vast forest, spreading colour to the landscape and drowning out the dull blue lights that seeped out of a night. Covering a yawn, I stretch my legs as I stand on the wall overlooking the forest.

Guards stand at the ready along the wall, and I see a few in the distance leaping down to engage with beasts that have approached. They defeat the beasts quickly and pull the bodies back up the wall before readying for the next. I suppose guard duty on this side of the wall isn’t that much of a boring activity.

The distant forest shivers and catches my eye. A wave passes through the thick canopy, moving terrifyingly fast, tearing leaves and branches free and sending flying birds tumbling to their deaths. I have but a moment before it reaches me.

Rather than covering my ears, I activate my reactive defences just in time to save me from the incoming blast.

The wave passes me by and even though the force of it is resisted, at the cost of 50 points of mana, I can still hear it. It’s a tremendous roar that’s been muted just enough to protect my ears from any damage.

“One hell of a wake-up call. I think I’d prefer a rooster.” I say, walking over to Shrelle and offering her a hand up. “Is this normal?”

“I… I…No… this is bad, very bad.”

“Should we be doing something about it?” I ask, turning to look over the forest, out to where the sound came from.

“Yes, we probably should.” The warrior says, still frozen in place leaning on her spear and hyperventilating.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Skills & Stats

~Mana Form:

Current mana density: 890 units

~Mana distribution:

Defence: 33/33%

Offense: 0/57%

Mana sense: 0/72%

Recovery: 0/30%

Gluttony: 0/26%

Misc.: 0/42%

Efficiency: 32/89%

~Favourited Skills:

-Chip Shredder

-Multi-mind

-Tag

-Mana surge movement

-Reactive defence

-Fire burst punch

-Annihilation magic

-Mana form flow fixer

-Branching magic