(II) Predators

141 (II) Predators

“Adam is pretty cool, and that orc is now a noted issue,” Uva said. Discomfort spread through her mind. Connected to her consciousness, Adam and Shiv tasted it as well. Uneven undulations passing along her mana strands as a result—the only magical sign of her slight anxiety. “I will need additional countermeasures for Diviners, I suspect.”

"There is no perfect counter," Adam declared. "For every skill, there is another skill it cannot account for, and it only gets more extreme with every evolution. We are nowhere near invincible, and it's best that we remember that. Except for you, Shiv." Adam gave the Deathless an annoyed stare.

Shiv just laughed. "Don't worry, Adam. As long as you stick close to me and survive all the horrible things that keep coming my way, I guarantee that you'll be at least, I don't know, a tenth as powerful as I am. And it'll only take a hundred times as long."

"Don't forget about my vambrace," Adam said with a snort.

"What, your little sparky Necromancy thing?” Shiv pretended to yawn. “Yeah, it's really impressive. Of course, if you shoot me with it, you'll have to think about the collateral damage.”

Adam sneered. "You know what? If you annoy me enough, I might just forget to consider the collateral damage. Maybe I'll just shoot you. What do you think about that?"

Shiv's grin faded slightly as he considered that. "I think not, Adam. I think you're too good a guy for that, and I think even if somebody pissed you off enough for you to do something like that, I doubt you'll be able to live with yourself after."

Psychology 29 > 30

The faux aggression on Adam's face broke apart then, and he blinked. "Was that ? It felt uncomfortable. Felt like you could see right through me in some way.”

Shiv considered what he just did and let out a grunt. “Yeah. My Psychology leveled again. Hells, it’s leveling fast. I just kind of triggered it without thinking. Probably got into the habit of using it against the orcs. They like poking at minds as much as they do the body.”

"Well, best that we don't use that on each other," Uva said.

Shiv nodded in agreement. "Yeah, sorry. It just feels like..."

"Reflex?" Adam finished for him.

"Yeah," Shiv replied. "Reflex."

The Gate Lord considered that for a moment. "Your environment shapes who you are. I don't think it's good for you to be spending all this time alone with the orcs. With so many orcs as well. You'll probably need to come up with a strategy to balance out your behavioral influences."

"You make me sound like a kid, Adam," Shiv replied, a bit of humor returning to his voice.

"That affects everyone," Adam said. "Isn't that right, Uva?"

"Correct," the Umbral said. "Wait, how do you know about this?"

"I took a Psychology course in the academy."

"Adam, how many felling classes did you take there?" Shiv asked.

Adam's eyes looked upward as he tried to recall. "Well, I managed to fit in ten semesters' worth while I was there."

"Ten?" Shiv asked.

"Not that much. The academy expects you to practice and develop your own capabilities on the side. Classes are mainly theory," Adam finished. "Now, stop interrupting me. As for classes, I don't know, eighty?"

"Eighty classes," Shiv gawked, "on top of all the learning you had to do as a kid? Holy shit.”

“Holy shit, indeed." Adam sighed. "I didn’t much like some of the classes, and I must admit that most of them didn’t go that deep into the subject. But still, my father stressed the importance of knowing things. Even a tertiary bit of knowledge matters in the heat of battle.”

“Like with the mana bomb back at Passage,” Shiv said.

“Yes,” Adam replied, holding his head high with pride. “Just like that.”

"Yeah, well, instead of having classes or instructors, I got these orcs.” Shiv chuckled.

Neither Adam nor Uva shared his amusement.

"That and they're likely using their psychology and social skills on you all the time," Uva said. "I expect that most of them are at least Adept-Tier for most of their social skills. Probably Master-Tier for at least one social skill on average. Mingling with them is dangerous and beneficial for you at the same time. But only if you are exposed and grounded by a comparatively kinder, more ethical influence.”

Uva’s strand squeezed Shiv, and the Deathless just nodded. “Of course, Miss Uva. You know I have no problem with you educating me.”

“Uva,” Adam said, looking between them. “I have many complimentary things to say about you, but perhaps I should be the one to instruct Shiv on ethics.”

“You doubt my ethicality?” Uva asked.

“Yes,” Adam said bluntly. “Not severely, mind you. But the things you are willing to do are more than a little for me, disregarding the biases of your culture. Frankly, Shiv just butchers people. What you do with a mind is invasive. It can be a thing about my culture, but just crushing someone’s sense of self bothers me deeply. I mean this without offense.”

“Hm,” Uva mused. “A mix of influences on Shiv, then. And regardless of how unnerved I make you feel, his other influences are Can Hu, Valor, curse-happy chef, and the orcs.”

Adam stared unhappily at the millions of gray-skinned monsters leering at them from all directions. “Right. Yes. Well, Shiv, I might as well spend a bit more time with you when I can. Even if I do have to come over here more.”

“Not sure how wise that is,” Shiv said, staring down the orcs with a casual glare. “You don’t much like it here. They make you nervous. And if I can smell that on you, they can probably taste it.”

“Right. But so what?” Adam shrugged. “They scare me. Combat scares me. Death scares me. Losing my mother scares me. Failing my town scares me. I’m basically always scared these days, Shiv. But being scared doesn’t break me. It just makes me more committed. I’m not letting the orcs cow me. And I’m absolutely not surrendering you to them. You're not theirs to have.”

The Deathless swallowed as he looked at Adam. “Hey. Adam.”

“Yes?”

“Thanks.”

The Gate Lord smirked. “What are friends for?”

“Oh,” Shiv muttered. “We’re friends now? Not your responsibility?”

“We’re responsible for each other. You’ve always done what you can for me. Over and over. So I’m going to do what I can for you. Damn the past. Even if it hurts us.” Adam paused. “I’ve been thinking about the orcs. They will exploit that against us. They will figure out our history. I think it will still hurt. To recall and be insulted by what your parents did to my mother. My family. Blackedge. My sister. But you know what?”

“What?” Shiv said, a weight growing inside him.

“You gave me back my mother,” Adam said. “And you’ve bled for me. You’ve died for me so many times. What Harlon and Vera Lowe did was forever. But what you did is forever too. So. I’m going to state that now before the mood abandons me and I don’t have the courage to muster the words.”

Shiv nodded. Mainly because there was a large rock in his throat. If he started speaking, it wouldn't be so dignified. “Yeah. Thanks,” he managed to force out.

“Yeah, thanks?” Adam repeated, something tugging at his lips. “That’s your reply.”

“Shut the fuck up, asshole,” Shiv growled to hide the wetness building in his throat. “If you make me have a moment in front of these orcs, I’ll kick their asses for mocking me. And that’ll take a bit too much godsdamned time.”

“And normal Shiv returns,” Adam muttered with a smile.

The two sons of Blackedge shared a look, a laugh, and then a happy silence. Uva said nothing, but Shiv felt a warmth emanating from her as well.

It only then occurred to Shiv how lonely he had been all his life, and only after he got a contrast of people he could count on—people who cared about him—that he realized how much being lonely hurt.

"Anyway," Adam said, letting out an extended breath. "I’ll be coming over here because I don't want to imagine what Shiv without morality looks like.”

"I don't think you need to imagine," Uva replied flatly. "Just go find one of the more destructive orc Heroes."

Shiv winced at that. "Am I really that bad?"

"Bad?" Uva replied. "It has nothing to do with bad. It has everything to do with how you act. Of course, you're destructive because your skills lean that way, and because you're inexperienced. They're destructive because they want to see things break. Still a fundamental difference. There isn't a true parity between you and a Heroic-Tier orc until your destruction becomes a matter of choice rather than a byproduct of your actions.”

Shiv took both Adam and Uva’s words in.

All his life, he wanted to be a Pathbearer, to be powerful, to hold bare magic and wield it, to create wonders and miracles. He wanted to be free to adventure across the world to see sights he could only dream of and sights beyond his dreams. But now that he had this opportunity, now that he'd grown faster and to greater heights than most Pathbearers could ever hope, he considered who he might become when he finally hit Legendary Tier.

And he going to hit Legendary Tier. Likely sooner than anyone else on Earth ever had. He brought up the Quest again, the first one he'd received, and one that was still pending.

Quest: Break Vicar Sullain’s siege of Blackedge and stop another war between the surface and the Abyss before it can begin.

Success: Evolve an to Legendary Tier.

Failure: The Abyss rises, consuming all surface territory of Lost Angeles.

The moment the town was liberated and Vicar Sullain was defeated, he would be able to elevate himself into becoming a Legendary Pathbearer. But which Skill would he choose? And what kind of Legend was he going to be? How was he going to face the world?

Philosophy 11 > 12

Psychology 30 > 31

And as he considered that, his Philosophy and Psychology both leveled.

Shiv felt a resolution harden within himself. And immediately he cringed as he remembered fighting 811, and also the aftermath of his battle against the Jealousy and the Recollector.

The Recollector was a problem. He likely couldn't have done anything in that situation, no matter what he tried to minimize casualties. There was no point in regretting the deaths because the System had directly forced his hand.

he thought,

"I could just fire my arrow at you," Adam said. And then Shiv remembered that he was still mentally connected to Adam and Uva.

"Oh, right. Yeah, thanks, Adam. Might work.”

“The dimensional pathways will close eventually. But you fighting someone within that expanse is better than you fighting someone in the middle of a city. Though there are other potential issues, such as me not being present when you need this kind of support.”

"Right. Maybe we can get some kind of pocket dimension on command,” Shiv considered.

And that made Adam have his own thoughts. He stared at his bow and let out a quiet hum. “A dimension on command. That might be useful for me as well, especially if we want to trap someone, or if I want to set the dimension ablaze with corrosive energy.”

And just then, a loud cry echoed through the air.

"Hey, Insul! Took you long enough. Finally back!" Bonk stood atop the Court Leviathan, waving his massive cancerous club. "We're going out, or what? If we're going to have to wait any longer, we're going to start fighting each other. We were expecting to go to war, not to sit around all day."

Shiv snorted. "Right, Adam, Uva, suppose we start rounding up orcs and moving them out through Surface Gateway? Let’s see how our army of gray-skinned monsters holds up against the Inquisition.”

The Gate Lord nodded slowly. "We don't have any teleporters yet, but I can fire a Veilpiercer from within the bunker to the Surface Gateway. After that, they just need to pass through the pathway."

Shiv considered that, and it sounded like a pretty good solution, albeit one that relied mainly on Adam. It wouldn’t be efficient in the long term. "Maybe you can just create a dimensional network that connects all three gateways in the bunker or something."

"That was what I was thinking as well," Adam replied. "It'll be a separate channel, though. Maybe we'll have to build an additional teleportation anchor on top of that for everyone else's use. The orcs have their own specific channels that remain apart from the ones we all use. I will have to make sure it’s properly awarded, though.”

“So?” Bonk shouted. “We going, or do I need to start killing some of these other orcs? Because I will. I don’t like a lot of these ugly shits, Shiv, and I want to hit something.”

"Alright, I'm gonna go talk to these bastards before they start tearing each other apart. Or us."

“Wait,” Uva said. “Activate your cape. I’m going inside too.”

“Wh—Oh, right, the Light-Curse.”

As she slipped into the Dimensionality of his cape and joined up with Valor and Can Hu, Shiv shot up into the air with a burst of gravity.

“I’ll get a pathway set up,” Adam called. “Have the orcs queue properly if you can.”

Shiv laughed at the thought. That laugh died as he realized the orcs probably could manage a pretty neat line while they marched off to butcher and maim.

As he traveled through the air, orcs called out to him, cheering for his arrival, some jeering him for taking so long. But instead of just relishing their attention as he did before, he focused on their voices. Focused on how he felt, and he noticed it. They were pulling at his psychology, influencing him in weird ways. He truly enjoyed the orc's attention. It made him feel wanted. It made him feel special. And with every time they cheered, that feeling grew a little stronger.

Shiv said to himself, shaking his head. But he realized it this time, and he remembered this moment. He reached inside his own mind using his Psychomancy and gripped this realization. He tried to scar it into his mind.

The orcs were not his allies; they were not his friends, and they were using any and all means to influence him. He needed to be wary of that. More importantly, he might be able to use the same means to influence them back. It was time to put them on a bit of a defensive.

He came to a halt above the Court Leviathan. There, Bonk and a dozen other Heroic-Tier orcs looked up at him, their eyes glowing with violent anticipation. Some of them were bleeding, their armor slightly damaged.

“The hells happen to you idiots?” Shiv asked.

“Sparring?” Bonk replied as if it were obvious, shouldering his club. “So? Are we finally leaving? Is the Gate Lord pleased with our proposal? Or are we going to have to each sign a skill contract with him, promising our souls as collateral in case anyone accidentally steps on an ant?"

“Nah,” Shiv said with a vicious grin of his own. “You guys are going to be scratching that itch of yours good today. Go get the other orcs prepared to cross the gateway. We’re gonna be intercepting the expeditionary force. Let’s see how you bastards do.”