ULTRAMagic Babel - Chapter 5
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“Hold on, Buster,” Odo said as he indicated for the group to stop as they entered a hall decorated with carvings of flames and ceilings ordained with paintings of the stars. He then ran over to a nook, with the death rattle of a rat being heard after a good whack. It was then tossed out into the open. “I knew I smelled something foul…”
Lia was about to compliment him, but noticed another devious rat clinging to the ceiling and was perched in the perfect position for a sneak attack. “ODO, LOOK OUT!” The knight dodged instinctively, with Lia whipping out her black-gloved hand. A shiny, thin barb extended from her index and middle fingers that struck the rat without mess. It then fell to the floor with a lifeless thud, an odorous substance oozing from the wound that was a far cry from blood.
“Nasty…” Tusk remarked as he took up position to protect Buster.
“I should probably leave out the part where we’ve seen Valdemaras eating his own brood for sustenance once they’re full of enough rot…” Buster noted as he went to Odo and Lia, with the others grimacing (save for Waramunt, who rolled his eyes at the degeneracy of the rats). “Thank you again, Lia…”
“D-don’t mention it, sweetie,” she shakily replied as she cleaned her glove with an old, soiled rag that had finally seen its day. She then handed it to Waramunt so he could incinerate it and handed her a new one. “We’re all in this together, Buster.”
Odo groaned and kicked the dead rat. “Damn it, I should’ve seen that coming… Jeez, I’m so tired…”
“Then perhaps we should see if the Calcinatio Library has extra lodgings?” Waramunt suggested, receiving an exhausted look from Odo.
Adriana nodded and looked around real quickly. “Agreed. If we’re not going to head back for reinforcements, we should at least make sure we’re fully rested. A tired soldier is an immediate liability.”
“A liability, ha…” Odo muttered, then exhaled. “Alright, let’s hurry up then, before more rats show up…”
Sensing someone he did not want to, Yoshihiro assumed a ready stance, ran towards the entrance of the hall, and leapt into the air for a flying kick. “FIRE & AIR - IRON LANCE!!” Valdemaras was sent careening into the far wall with a loud crash. “HA, been snuck up on by the chaos wasps one too many times for that nonsense to work on me!”
“SPEAK OF THE DEVIL!” Odo complained.
“CURSES, CURSES!” Valdemaras shouted as he thrashed about trying to collect his bearings. “CURSES! YOU’RE NOT GETTING AWAY FROM ME THIS TIME!” he declared as he stomped towards the group, teeth bared and fists clenched.
“I believe it’s pertinent to mention that I hate rats,” Serjiel said as he readied his revolver. “They make great target practice, however…”
“I couldn’t agree with you more, Serjiel,” Odo replied as he readied his sword and electrified it.
Waramunt then held up his hands, halting everyone. “If I may, gentlemen,” he said as he put on a white glove adorned with an embroidery depicting an alchemical salamander enclosed in the seal of God. “Mr. Dykstra here has one fatal weakness…”
“NO, YOU WOULDN’T!” The giant rat shot back…
“FIRE!!” Waramunt roared, snapping his fingers and sending a great burst of flames at Valdemaras. The abhorrent creature was repeatedly screeching loudly in abject terror as he flailed about in a panic with each burst of fire. “GO! I’ll hold him off while all of you get to the library!”
“I SAID NO SPLITTING UP,” Adriana protested.
“JUST GO!”
“Can you handle it, Waramunt?!” Lia questioned with rightful concern.
Valdemaras tried to throw a punch, but recoiled in pain when a fire burst burnt his hand. “I’ll send Ensio if things get out of hand!” Waramunt assured. “NOW GO!”
“Fine, but no heroics!” Adriana ordered as she led the group out of the hall. “You’re my responsibility now, just like the others! Meet us at one of the libraries!”
The rest of the group then booked it as fast as they could to the Calcinatio Library, with Lia guiding the way as she originally planned to meet Odo and Buster there when they initially got separated. Reaching the entrance area revealed a group of red and black entities made of what looked like tar, glass, and gears, trying to break in. They were shadow constructs sent by Karnage, no doubt about it, and a group of librarians were fending them off with a myriad of magic ranging from pyromancy to blasts of magical energy. Leading the defense was a tall and strong man, with dark brown hair and a goatee who was not in a good mood. This changed when he saw the group approaching. He needed to get them into the library safely and the shadow constructs were not going to make that easy.
After burning three of the constructs to cinders with black and white fire, he called out. “LIA!”
“FATHER!” She called back as the group hurried over.
“IN IN IN!” he ordered as the librarians guided the seven inside, minus Serjiel who went over to the man, with both of his revolvers ready. “Alright, everyone else get inside! I’m going to burn the rest of them!”
“Allow me, Mr. Ascher!” Serjiel cocked his guns and skillfully sniped the heads of each of the remaining constructs, not missing a single shot. The Librarians were utterly impressed as the demon blew away the smoke from his barrels.
“Nice shooting, gunslinger!” Lia’s father complimented.
“All in a day’s work, and call me ‘Serjiel,’” he said as held out his hand.
“Angus Ascher,” he replied as they shook. “Now let’s get inside and lock the doors before more constructs show up.”
The Calcinatio Library was a magnificent part of the tower dedicated to theology, spirituality, and philosophy, decorated with a persistent fire motif. There were the usual unending lines and rows of gorgeous, ornate bookshelves filled with all sorts of tomes, but also what looked like the entrance to a debate hall led to by a vestibule in the left hand wall. A debate had even been in progress in the fantastic auditorium, but was interrupted by the chaos of the more important matters at hand. After making sure the other librarians were okay, Angus went to address Lia and the group.
“Lia, I thought I told you to stay out of trouble!”
“Oh, I’m sorry, father,” Lia replied as she accepted a hug from him. “Those dirty rats kept ambushing us.”
Adriana was amazed to encounter one of Lia’s family members and went right up to him with a salute. “Sir, I am Captain Adriana Lesley Hawthorne of The Blades of Dunja and I am here to escort Lia to The Iron City.”
“Still running a foul of the law, aye, Lia?” Angus jokingly remarked, with her shaking her head. “It’s an honor to meet you captain,” he said as he shook her hand. “A female officer though?”
“Is there a problem with that?”
“No, not at all. I just figured serving the crown was more of a man’s job,” Angus answered as he straightened out his librarian’s uniform. “Odo, Buster! How are you boys hanging in there?”
“Wiped out…” Odo groaned as he went over to an empty table and took a seat, slumping in his chair.
Buster sighed, concerned as always. “Valdemaras has been running us ragged. Can we spend the night here to rest up?”
“Of course you can, lad,” Angus answered.
“Oh, Angus,” Odo interjected. “The Treeman is Tusk Willfort, and the other is Yoshihiro Hiagasa. Them and Serjiel are from The ULTRAMagic Guild.”
“Ah, I see,” he replied as he shook Yoshihiro’s hand, then Tusk’s. “A pleasure to meet both of you. Tusk, your father wouldn’t happen to be Sigmund, would he?”
Tusk nodded with a smile. “Yes indeed, Angus.”
“Thought I recognized the family resemblance. Sigmund would occasionally visit Glacierhaven to help out when he used to travel.”
“Yeah, dad told me about those adventures,” Tusk said as he took a seat next to Odo. “So the reason why we’re all here isn’t just to check out a book or two, ha. We’re helping Odo get Buster into hiding, but we’ve also come here for the beacon.”
“The beacon? What would you guys want with that old contraption?”
“No doubt you’ve heard from Ozymandias about The Vermilion King and his plans?” Serjiel inquired.
“Ah, those,” Angus said with a nod as he stepped over to an intercom panel in the wall. “We’ll need help from the Elder Librarian for that.” He then pressed a couple of buttons, causing a light to activate and the microphone to buzz a little after a tone. “Séamus, we need you in the lobby.” There was a moment of silence, with Angus holding his finger up with a mischievous smile. “Old man! We need help with the beacon!” he called out into the device.
Not a moment later an older, Irish voice spoke over the speaker. “Confound it, Angus! I heard you whippersnappers the first time! I may be old, but I’m not that old yet! I’ll be with you in just a minute…” The others chuckled once the communication ended with a beep.
“I have to admit that the staggered activation plan is a bit surprising to me,” Angus pointed out. “Why not activate them now all at once and be done with it?”
Serjiel stroked his short beard and gave it some thought. “Doing it that way may draw unwanted attention. If everyone starts preparing all at once, it will be a dead giveaway to what we’re doing. I imagine it would also make it hard to be secretive, and Ozymandias may want to catch Valdemaras and Gudrun off guard.”
Tusk nodded, a realization dawning on him. “Yeah, that and it may be really hard to find the spell we need with that level of chaos going off all around us…”
“That’s a good point,” Odo agreed as he sat up. “I was wondering about that, but it makes sense when you put it like that.”
Angus sighed. “That Ozymandias, always thinking two steps ahead…” A steward brought over a tray with a teapot and some cups, of which he started to prepare, but Lia took over. “Far be it from me to grasp what goes on in a god’s head.”
“Oh, father?” Lia interrupted as she poured her tea. “What happened to my mother? You know, after all the… well, you remember…”
“She went to Shadowland, looking for you not too long ago.”
Lia froze, utterly petrified over the implications. “When?”
“A year after you joined that rat bastard Milosh…” Lia looked utterly terrified, causing Angus to realize that she had never found her. “Ha! Well I guess Yvette’s disguise worked pretty well then!”
“A disguise?” Lia then recalled a seamstress who was always a vocal critic of her and Milosh… one she could never bring herself to apprehend. “Virginie Kavanah?”
Angus nodded. “That was her…”
“IS SHE OKAY!?” Lia exclaimed, slamming her hands on the table and startling everyone else.
“Easy, Lia, she’s doing fine. She sent me a letter just last week asking if I’ve heard anything new about your whereabouts. Apparently last year Queen Yngvild commissioned her to make a new quilt for Prince Folkvar…”
“Oh thank goodness…” Lia said with a sigh of relief.
Adriana’s confusion in regards to the Ascher’s was mounting, so she set her cup down and spoke up. “Lia, you clearly care about your parents, so why in the Sam Hill did you join up with Milosh in the first place?”
Lia sighed again, then took a sip of her tea. “It’s… It’s a complicated story, Adriana…”
Angus then heard a lift rattling towards the lobby and stood up. “It’s certainly a tale that should be told, no two ways about it. Since Séamus is almost here and it’s past dinner time, let’s save the history for the table. I’d rather recall all of this comfy and with a warm plate of food, if it’s all the same with you.”
Next: Chapter 6
ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)
Master Post - Patreon
“Hold on, Buster,” Odo said as he indicated for the group to stop as they entered a hall decorated with carvings of flames and ceilings ordained with paintings of the stars. He then ran over to a nook, with the death rattle of a rat being heard after a good whack. It was then tossed out into the open. “I knew I smelled something foul…”
Lia was about to compliment him, but noticed another devious rat clinging to the ceiling and was perched in the perfect position for a sneak attack. “ODO, LOOK OUT!” The knight dodged instinctively, with Lia whipping out her black-gloved hand. A shiny, thin barb extended from her index and middle fingers that struck the rat without mess. It then fell to the floor with a lifeless thud, an odorous substance oozing from the wound that was a far cry from blood.
“Nasty…” Tusk remarked as he took up position to protect Buster.
“I should probably leave out the part where we’ve seen Valdemaras eating his own brood for sustenance once they’re full of enough rot…” Buster noted as he went to Odo and Lia, with the others grimacing (save for Waramunt, who rolled his eyes at the degeneracy of the rats). “Thank you again, Lia…”
“D-don’t mention it, sweetie,” she shakily replied as she cleaned her glove with an old, soiled rag that had finally seen its day. She then handed it to Waramunt so he could incinerate it and handed her a new one. “We’re all in this together, Buster.”
Odo groaned and kicked the dead rat. “Damn it, I should’ve seen that coming… Jeez, I’m so tired…”
“Then perhaps we should see if the Calcinatio Library has extra lodgings?” Waramunt suggested, receiving an exhausted look from Odo.
Adriana nodded and looked around real quickly. “Agreed. If we’re not going to head back for reinforcements, we should at least make sure we’re fully rested. A tired soldier is an immediate liability.”
“A liability, ha…” Odo muttered, then exhaled. “Alright, let’s hurry up then, before more rats show up…”
Sensing someone he did not want to, Yoshihiro assumed a ready stance, ran towards the entrance of the hall, and leapt into the air for a flying kick. “FIRE & AIR - IRON LANCE!!” Valdemaras was sent careening into the far wall with a loud crash. “HA, been snuck up on by the chaos wasps one too many times for that nonsense to work on me!”
“SPEAK OF THE DEVIL!” Odo complained.
“CURSES, CURSES!” Valdemaras shouted as he thrashed about trying to collect his bearings. “CURSES! YOU’RE NOT GETTING AWAY FROM ME THIS TIME!” he declared as he stomped towards the group, teeth bared and fists clenched.
“I believe it’s pertinent to mention that I hate rats,” Serjiel said as he readied his revolver. “They make great target practice, however…”
“I couldn’t agree with you more, Serjiel,” Odo replied as he readied his sword and electrified it.
Waramunt then held up his hands, halting everyone. “If I may, gentlemen,” he said as he put on a white glove adorned with an embroidery depicting an alchemical salamander enclosed in the seal of God. “Mr. Dykstra here has one fatal weakness…”
“NO, YOU WOULDN’T!” The giant rat shot back…
“FIRE!!” Waramunt roared, snapping his fingers and sending a great burst of flames at Valdemaras. The abhorrent creature was repeatedly screeching loudly in abject terror as he flailed about in a panic with each burst of fire. “GO! I’ll hold him off while all of you get to the library!”
“I SAID NO SPLITTING UP,” Adriana protested.
“JUST GO!”
“Can you handle it, Waramunt?!” Lia questioned with rightful concern.
Valdemaras tried to throw a punch, but recoiled in pain when a fire burst burnt his hand. “I’ll send Ensio if things get out of hand!” Waramunt assured. “NOW GO!”
“Fine, but no heroics!” Adriana ordered as she led the group out of the hall. “You’re my responsibility now, just like the others! Meet us at one of the libraries!”
The rest of the group then booked it as fast as they could to the Calcinatio Library, with Lia guiding the way as she originally planned to meet Odo and Buster there when they initially got separated. Reaching the entrance area revealed a group of red and black entities made of what looked like tar, glass, and gears, trying to break in. They were shadow constructs sent by Karnage, no doubt about it, and a group of librarians were fending them off with a myriad of magic ranging from pyromancy to blasts of magical energy. Leading the defense was a tall and strong man, with dark brown hair and a goatee who was not in a good mood. This changed when he saw the group approaching. He needed to get them into the library safely and the shadow constructs were not going to make that easy.
After burning three of the constructs to cinders with black and white fire, he called out. “LIA!”
“FATHER!” She called back as the group hurried over.
“IN IN IN!” he ordered as the librarians guided the seven inside, minus Serjiel who went over to the man, with both of his revolvers ready. “Alright, everyone else get inside! I’m going to burn the rest of them!”
“Allow me, Mr. Ascher!” Serjiel cocked his guns and skillfully sniped the heads of each of the remaining constructs, not missing a single shot. The Librarians were utterly impressed as the demon blew away the smoke from his barrels.
“Nice shooting, gunslinger!” Lia’s father complimented.
“All in a day’s work, and call me ‘Serjiel,’” he said as held out his hand.
“Angus Ascher,” he replied as they shook. “Now let’s get inside and lock the doors before more constructs show up.”
The Calcinatio Library was a magnificent part of the tower dedicated to theology, spirituality, and philosophy, decorated with a persistent fire motif. There were the usual unending lines and rows of gorgeous, ornate bookshelves filled with all sorts of tomes, but also what looked like the entrance to a debate hall led to by a vestibule in the left hand wall. A debate had even been in progress in the fantastic auditorium, but was interrupted by the chaos of the more important matters at hand. After making sure the other librarians were okay, Angus went to address Lia and the group.
“Lia, I thought I told you to stay out of trouble!”
“Oh, I’m sorry, father,” Lia replied as she accepted a hug from him. “Those dirty rats kept ambushing us.”
Adriana was amazed to encounter one of Lia’s family members and went right up to him with a salute. “Sir, I am Captain Adriana Lesley Hawthorne of The Blades of Dunja and I am here to escort Lia to The Iron City.”
“Still running a foul of the law, aye, Lia?” Angus jokingly remarked, with her shaking her head. “It’s an honor to meet you captain,” he said as he shook her hand. “A female officer though?”
“Is there a problem with that?”
“No, not at all. I just figured serving the crown was more of a man’s job,” Angus answered as he straightened out his librarian’s uniform. “Odo, Buster! How are you boys hanging in there?”
“Wiped out…” Odo groaned as he went over to an empty table and took a seat, slumping in his chair.
Buster sighed, concerned as always. “Valdemaras has been running us ragged. Can we spend the night here to rest up?”
“Of course you can, lad,” Angus answered.
“Oh, Angus,” Odo interjected. “The Treeman is Tusk Willfort, and the other is Yoshihiro Hiagasa. Them and Serjiel are from The ULTRAMagic Guild.”
“Ah, I see,” he replied as he shook Yoshihiro’s hand, then Tusk’s. “A pleasure to meet both of you. Tusk, your father wouldn’t happen to be Sigmund, would he?”
Tusk nodded with a smile. “Yes indeed, Angus.”
“Thought I recognized the family resemblance. Sigmund would occasionally visit Glacierhaven to help out when he used to travel.”
“Yeah, dad told me about those adventures,” Tusk said as he took a seat next to Odo. “So the reason why we’re all here isn’t just to check out a book or two, ha. We’re helping Odo get Buster into hiding, but we’ve also come here for the beacon.”
“The beacon? What would you guys want with that old contraption?”
“No doubt you’ve heard from Ozymandias about The Vermilion King and his plans?” Serjiel inquired.
“Ah, those,” Angus said with a nod as he stepped over to an intercom panel in the wall. “We’ll need help from the Elder Librarian for that.” He then pressed a couple of buttons, causing a light to activate and the microphone to buzz a little after a tone. “Séamus, we need you in the lobby.” There was a moment of silence, with Angus holding his finger up with a mischievous smile. “Old man! We need help with the beacon!” he called out into the device.
Not a moment later an older, Irish voice spoke over the speaker. “Confound it, Angus! I heard you whippersnappers the first time! I may be old, but I’m not that old yet! I’ll be with you in just a minute…” The others chuckled once the communication ended with a beep.
“I have to admit that the staggered activation plan is a bit surprising to me,” Angus pointed out. “Why not activate them now all at once and be done with it?”
Serjiel stroked his short beard and gave it some thought. “Doing it that way may draw unwanted attention. If everyone starts preparing all at once, it will be a dead giveaway to what we’re doing. I imagine it would also make it hard to be secretive, and Ozymandias may want to catch Valdemaras and Gudrun off guard.”
Tusk nodded, a realization dawning on him. “Yeah, that and it may be really hard to find the spell we need with that level of chaos going off all around us…”
“That’s a good point,” Odo agreed as he sat up. “I was wondering about that, but it makes sense when you put it like that.”
Angus sighed. “That Ozymandias, always thinking two steps ahead…” A steward brought over a tray with a teapot and some cups, of which he started to prepare, but Lia took over. “Far be it from me to grasp what goes on in a god’s head.”
“Oh, father?” Lia interrupted as she poured her tea. “What happened to my mother? You know, after all the… well, you remember…”
“She went to Shadowland, looking for you not too long ago.”
Lia froze, utterly petrified over the implications. “When?”
“A year after you joined that rat bastard Milosh…” Lia looked utterly terrified, causing Angus to realize that she had never found her. “Ha! Well I guess Yvette’s disguise worked pretty well then!”
“A disguise?” Lia then recalled a seamstress who was always a vocal critic of her and Milosh… one she could never bring herself to apprehend. “Virginie Kavanah?”
Angus nodded. “That was her…”
“IS SHE OKAY!?” Lia exclaimed, slamming her hands on the table and startling everyone else.
“Easy, Lia, she’s doing fine. She sent me a letter just last week asking if I’ve heard anything new about your whereabouts. Apparently last year Queen Yngvild commissioned her to make a new quilt for Prince Folkvar…”
“Oh thank goodness…” Lia said with a sigh of relief.
Adriana’s confusion in regards to the Ascher’s was mounting, so she set her cup down and spoke up. “Lia, you clearly care about your parents, so why in the Sam Hill did you join up with Milosh in the first place?”
Lia sighed again, then took a sip of her tea. “It’s… It’s a complicated story, Adriana…”
Angus then heard a lift rattling towards the lobby and stood up. “It’s certainly a tale that should be told, no two ways about it. Since Séamus is almost here and it’s past dinner time, let’s save the history for the table. I’d rather recall all of this comfy and with a warm plate of food, if it’s all the same with you.”
Next: Chapter 6
ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)
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