Two Hundred And Eighteen
“You’d better not be causing Karen-chan and the others any trouble.” I warned Ixitt, as he dropped down more bags full of devices. I could see metal and glass cubes and cylinders within one bag as it opened, with thin wires and balls of blue metal shining through.
“Of course not, I would hardly be foolish enough to jeopardise my visits to the mortal world by upsetting your allies.” He grinned, tail lashing happily. “Even in the mere hours I am able to spend there, I learn much. My Mortal Engineering will reach new heights. Your ideas too… fascinating.” His grin broadened. “So, have you made any progress?”
I nodded. Hyacinth was spewing out spores, and the thorn-wolf tied to the Fae Stone let out a shuddering cry as it began to corrode, mushrooms, toadstools and virulent fronds of vivid red and orange fungi sprouting rapidly, disintegrating it. Beside it, the silent Degraded Kobold remained unhurt, a faint mist of red spores covering it.
“I see. So you have succeeded. Marvellous!” Ixitt clapped his hands. “With this, our victory is assured, is it not? And more… could we not completely overthrow the Unseelie with such a deadly plague?”
“I doubt it. I see too many problems with it. The worst is… this could be replicated with a little knowledge. The genie is out of the lamp, so we need to keep it hidden as much as possible.” If it required a special Fae like Hyacinth, and mortal knowledge of advanced biology, genetic engineering and more, then I wouldn’t be so worried. The problem is, in the end while that helped significantly and gave me the initial idea, the solution was painfully, dangerously simple. Imagine if someone found a way to turn ordinary water and household chemicals into a cold fusion device. Anyone who wanted would then be able to build a nuclear bomb. The world would be destroyed in short order. The only saving grace is that it would be far more difficult to refine the process without Hyacinth. She’s not essential, but she expedites the issues with replication significantly. Even so, I can’t assume I’m the only one who can do this or has useful companions. “If the use of such abilities escalates, then only a wasteland of death throughout the land would remain.”
“I see. It seems a shame to leash such a terrible weapon, but I bow to your wisdom.”
“It’s only leashed, sure. Don’t get me wrong. If it comes down to people I care about dying, or letting the genie out of the lamp, fuck the lamp. In desperation we’ll use it, have no fear. But ideally I’d like to keep it secret, only using bio-warfare against the Myconids. Fighting fire with fire, as it were.” I shrugged, watching as Hyacinth was cheering at the death of the next prisoner, a Myconid Scout. It resisted longer, but its end was the same, disintegrating into a slurry of fungal slime and a scattering of ether. “But surely you see the danger. If one skilled person with a good idea can overthrow an entire Territory, or take down a vastly more powerful opponent, that means no matter how strong we get, we always have to be cautious.”
“I see. You are thinking carefully.” Ixitt approved. “As a Mortal Engineer, our goal has long been to replicate the deadly weapons you mortals have created. They can allow a small child to defeat many strong warriors, can they not, or purge a city in flames. I understand. Such devices are the bane of the strong.”
“Yeah. So I don’t want to reveal our hand. Still, very few of us know precisely how we are going to win this.” I sighed. “And everyone is trustworthy, I think. Still, I want to wrap this up quickly. I’ve been at this for days, and it’s a real strain on the mind.”
Ixitt nodded. “So, are you prepared?” He looked at Hyacinth as she was spewing out the deadly motes. “It seems even more lethal than the Myconid spores.”
“Not yet. There’s two more iterations we need to make. We have the lethality and the fact it only affects plants, plant-based creatures and Fae. But the dying forest around the Spring is massive. It’s about twenty miles in radius, right? So that means it covers roughly twelve hundred and fifty square miles. That’s huge. There’s no way Hyacinth can produce enough spores to overwhelm that forest. So we need to make it spawn additional spores in a deadly cascade. We have to turn the forest into a sea of red and orange snow.” I shivered at the atrocity I was contemplating. Too late to worry about it now. The Myconids are responsible for many horrible deaths, and their existence is incompatible with other races. Besides, for Shaeula, I’ll dirty my hands as much as is needed. “We need the mushrooms and toadstools that grow from the corpses of the victims to cast their own spores out on the winds within the forest. That way we’ll set up an exponential wind of death.”
“Magnificent.” Ixitt approved. “To think I would see such a day. Please have no pity for the enemy. They would reduce the Seelie Court to similar ruin, as they did the forests there. Even your mortal world would not be spared if they could journey there.” He paused then. “So what is the second development you require?”
“A reproduction limit.” I answered, and Ixitt looked puzzled. Seeing that, I explained. “Look, I’ve tried to make the spores as safe as possible, but I’m cheating using aether, so there could easily be unpredictable outcomes. Besides, there are plant-based Fae in the Seelie Court, such as Asha, and the many Rhyming Trees will be damaged or even killed by them too.” Another sting on my conscience. Asha assured me there weren’t any more dryads alive in the dead forest, but if there are… they definitely won’t survive this.
“Yes, there are the treekin, and others, one of the seven surviving great branches of the Fae.” Ixitt nodded. “Still, these spores, surely they should not be able to penetrate the Seelie Court, just as the Myconids cannot?”
“Probably. I’m going to run numerous safety tests to be certain. But even then, can I take that risk? If I’m making a weapon of mass destruction, I’m going to handle it very carefully. I can think of a lot of things that might go wrong. Since we are allies of the Seelie Court it might allow the spores through, or an enemy could start cultivating the mushrooms to use against us. So basically, we need some sort of kill-switch, and a reproduction limit seems the best way. Still, that’s the hardest of all the concepts so far, it’s giving me a real headache.” I would have to calculate the average area that one cascade of spores would cover, and then scale that up. I didn’t need to be exact, if I was out a generation or two it wouldn’t matter too much, but even so, there were tests and calculations required. Letting out a long sigh, Ixitt tried to cheer me up.
“Well, I have much to do as well. It is not just you who has to work hard, Akio. Where is the princess? She would be happy to cheer you up, right?”
“Sadly she’s training with Ulfuric now he’s back. Since she became a Kamaitachi as well, she has more combat options, so Ulfuric is hammering some basics into her.”
“Bad luck for you then. Well, I think Hyacinth is done, so I shall leave you to your work. I’ll be finishing up the last few devices.”
I nodded as he left. Hyacinth ran up behind me, face bright, the sadness she had displayed several days ago now forgotten, seemingly. But I remember. “Master, I have dooone it! They die every time nooow!” She gushed, smiling broadly, fishing for praise, but I could see a shadow in her silver-violet eyes.
“Yeah, good job.” I stroked her hair, patting her head, and she purred with happiness. “Still, we have to improve it still further. You think you are ready?”
Hyacinth nodded, her head bobbing wildly. “I am always ready tooo serve master!” she giggled. “And when I am dooone, master will reward Hyacinth, right?”
“You don’t need to wait on a reward. Hyacinth, you’re a good maid and a good girl. So… now isn’t the right time, but when the battle is over, we’ll talk, right?”
“Talk? Master wants to talk to Hyacinth?” She said, a touch uncertain. I reassured her by pulling her close, arms around her.
“Yes. I do. About what you want out of life, and what I want. I know you’ve been hurt in the past, but the past is dead. I don’t know that Hyacinth. The Hyacinth I know is the one before me, and I want you to be happy.”
“Master wants Hyacinth tooo be happy?” She said, puzzled. “But I am happy. I have a master to serve, and a mistress, a princess nooo less. Any brownie wooould be happy to serve! I can clean the hooouse, wash the laundry, cook the meals… sour the… nooo, Hyacinth doesn’t want to dooo anything bad anymore! Master and mistress are kind!”
“Well, I hope you can find something more you want out of life. Brownie or boggart or anything else… they are only labels. What matters is what you do, who you are, not what. So just think about it, all right. When this is done, tell me what you really want out of life, okay?”
“I dooo not quite get it, but… Hyacinth will think about it.” She promised, her face red. I released her, and we strode back towards the Fae Stones. I took a moment to purge the remaining fungus with flames, before looking out into the forest.
“I guess now we need to experiment in there. Are you ready?” I asked, and she nodded once more. “I shall help you put ooon your suit, master! A maid should dress the master, wash his back in the bath, the front toooooo!”
As she retreated into her familiar delusions, I felt a bit better. Yeah, a Hyacinth who isn’t a pushy pervert isn’t right. As she pulled up the zipper on my protective suit I tugged on my mask and goggles, hiding my smile…
********
“Cast the spores!” I ordered Hyacinth, and she unleashed a spray of the microscopic red and orange motes. As they gushed out, only visible to my eyes due to my incredible eyesight, I calmed my mind, pulling on the aether inside me, as well as that which my Territory provided. I also had a pouch of Etherites at my waist, for if that alone proved insufficient. Concentrate, I know what I want to achieve, what image is required! The spores bathed the onrushing giant pitcher-plants, thorn-beasts and several Myconids who were directing them. As they were engulfed, the creatures started to crumble, the rapid, enhanced creations of our fifth generation making short, savage work of them.
All right, hold the image in my mind, picture precisely what I need. Aether poured from me, saturating the spores once more. I imagined the structure of the spores changing, so that the mushrooms they created would be different, using some of their destructive hunger and the life of their victims to fuel an explosive growth within, spore sacs swelling, producing an explosive gas, so that when critical mass was reached the mushrooms and toadstools would detonate, showering out another increased tide of spores in all directions, ready to feed and repeat the process. Damn, this is hard.
As the nearby enemies disintegrated the mushrooms sprouted, but they didn’t perform as I hoped, merely disintegrating to dust, torn apart by my failed manipulations. Not unexpected. Well, we simply have to try again. Over the last handful of days here we had repeated the same process numerous times, and the majority were failures. Still, it only took one success to progress. I shifted focus, aether swirling, my mental focus sharpening. It was a little dangerous directing all my attention towards my work, but if any enemies tried to take advantage, Hyacinth was more than capable of defending me.
Grow, change, mutate! I knew what was needed, but to directly affect living things was an order of magnitude harder than manipulating materials. Still, the spores had no consciousness, so their resistance to change was still significantly less than a sentient being. I can do this! The mushroom would be vivid, with a pulsating, throbbing cap of ruby red, filled with new spores. The stalk would be a sickly orange, gathering energy and forming an explosive detonation. More and more mushrooms and fungi were breaking apart, unable to withstand the pressure of the aether, but some were the right colours at least, so I focussed all my will on those. Several burst, but one of them was starting to swell, looking just as I imagined.
“Hyacinth…” I managed to gasp out, sparing her a fraction of my attention. “Get ready to absorb these ones…”
“Hyacinth understands!” She said, her bare hand, not covered by any protective rubber, ready. As the cap swelled like a tumour, the stalk shuddered, and with a gushing flow of my remaining aether it blew apart, launching the crimson head upwards, where it scattered dust in all directions.
“I have it, I dooo!” Hyacinth declared, sucking the spores inside her with a shimmer of nature energies. I slumped down, mentally drained, yet elated, as my Aether Manipulation skill had increased, trumpeting my success.
Your Skill, Aether Manipulation, has advanced from Rank 6 to Rank 7. This further increases the strength and efficiency of your aether usage, and further reduces the effect of the Material plane on your manipulations, as well as reducing the negative effect of hostile Territories upon your powers. You can achieve incredible effects when your will and vision are firm, and the resistance of living beings to manipulation and change will be reduced if their will and imagination is inferior to your own. Class: Noble (5), Type: Foundation (4)
I quickly gathered all the spores that scattered with wind energy. My brain was acing fiercely, but it was too early to tip our hand to the enemy that lurked at the Spring. Flame energy flared, consuming all of the motes, and I grabbed Hyacinth, pulling her with me in retreat. The Class of Aether Manipulation has gone up. That must mean it’s significantly more powerful now…
“Did we dooo it, master?” Hyacinth was asking, and despite the pain I was enduring, I smiled behind my mask.
“I think so, though we’ll need to test it carefully some more.” I don’t want to make any mistakes. “But first, we’ll need to capture some more test subjects. But that can wait for now. I’m exhausted…”
********
“That is rather… horrifying.” Shaeula observed grimly. Jade and emerald energies were shimmering in a curtain, preventing the spores from spreading in directions we didn’t desire, but even so, the grasses and plants around the Fae Stone border were warping and shifting, decaying away. The trapped Myconid struggled, more of the explosive toadstools sprouting. Shaeula called upon her wind prison, sealing it in, just before it exploded, discharging another cloud of the contagious dust.
“Yeah, even testing it was a real hassle. The last thing I want to do is annihilate the forests around here. Even so, there were accidents. We lost the mansion, some of the forests… we’ve really treated Shaeraggo’s gift to you like crap. We’d better make it up to him.” We looked out over the border. Groups of captured Myconids and plant-creatures hundreds of metres apart had been contaminated by the exploding toadstools. “The only upside is, during testing we worked out our own spores don’t pass the border, just like Myconid spores. Still, keeping our tests hidden from the wider Myconid armies has been a pain, the last thing we want to do is start early.” I gestured down at the rough map I had sketched in the muddy ground, a crude depiction of the forest, with a series of rings marked out.
“Grul wonders why you are so worried.” The giant troll rumbled. He had finally returned after spending some time back in the Boundary with his trolls, bringing new Territory under out control. He had enjoyed the battles, it seemed, but he was eager to demolish the Myconids. “Puny fungi all die, now or later. Grul only worries he will have no foes to crush, rend and tear!”
“Well, I doubt it’ll be that easy. Sure, we’ve created an extremely vicious weapon to use against them, but to assume they won’t be able to adapt is foolish. After all, we basically stole this from them, right? Besides, they have Sporecasters. I would imagine that they specialise in directing and manipulating the cloud of spores that permeates the forest. If given the chance, they’ll probably be able to counter us. That’s why we’ve struggled to contain our experiments to small areas, making sure to not let their Alert Spores or our experimental ones escape.”
“Prudent.” Ulfuric agreed. He had joined us for our final planning before the attack. We had spent getting on for ten days in the lower Astral, Hyacinth and I, working to refine the lethal bioweapon. Now it dispersed spores over an area of around a hundred metres, though some spores that caught the breeze could easily spread further, and would die off after ten generations, no longer producing viable spores that could breed. The final steps were the hardest, the visualisation for the aether incredibly difficult, but ironically, testing it proved even more problematic, as we had to contain the bursts and feed in fresh captives each time. Yeah, that was totally a series of war crimes. But when Seelie and Unseelie fight, they will perpetrate any atrocity on the other side that’ll help them win so…
“No weapon or sorcery, no matter how powerful, is unbeatable. Especially one wrested from an enemy.” He declared. “It is best to assume the worst, planning for it, while hoping for the best. Judging by the map, you anticipate to quickly destroy vast swathes of the forest and the Myconids within, correct?”
“Yeah. We’ve proved that against most of their forces, except their core assets like those plant behemoths, we have the edge. But even so, there’s simply too much ground to cover, too many enemies to fight. So instead we’ll go scorched earth and race for the Spring. If we take out their strongest forces while they are struggling to counter our spreading plague, we can mop up the remainder afterwards. We are going to lose the whole forest, but it’s pretty much dead anyway.”
“Hyacinth is ready, I am!” She declared boldly. “Master believes in me, and does nooot hate me for the terrible things I can dooo! For master, I shall destroy the wooorld, if Hyacinth must!”
At that Ixitt chuckled, but Shaeula reached out and patted her back gently, comforting her. “Do not-not be foolish, Hyacinth. Akio does not-not wish for you to suffer the weight of such crimes. Together with us, you shall-shall save the world. But to do so, I fear we must be ruthless. I too have been training. Akio, you shall be mightily impressed.” She grinned seductively. “My training with Master Ulfuric has not-not been in vain.”
“Indeed, you have impressed me once again, princess. Your mother could likely teach you better, but with assistance from your Kamaitachi, I believe we have found the essence of your skills.” Ulfuric nodded, his gaze approving.
“I have prepared everything as well.” Ixitt gave his report. “We have the weapons, the supplies, the method of transportation. As well as the other items you requested. I am curious to their use, they don’t seem like weapons for battle.”
“Well, you’ll see. Hopefully. We’ll need them when we win.” I answered. “Still, you and master Bjarki have worked miracles. The kobolds too. The increased supply of bluesteel they have provided makes all the difference.”
“They still need charging. You have a long night ahead of you, Akio, princess. Hyacinth too.” He laughed. “At least I have only the final safety checks.”
“I never thought this would be possible.” Ulfuric looked down at the ground once more, pondering over the map. “I still fear it may go poorly. But if it succeeds… everything will change.”
“Well, we’ve planned for everything we can. Nothing is ever certain, and they no doubt have secret forces and traps we haven’t seen. But hell, if this doesn’t work, then the Myconids will continue to spread, and eventually the Seelie Court will fall, right?”
“I shall never-never let that happen!” Shaeula declared. “I am Shaeula Tu Shae Dannan, princess of the Seelie Court, proud fiancée of Oshiro Moonstone Akio, the one who shall rule the mortal world. The Myconids… they should have stayed in their own realm. Now they will pay for the many Fae who died to their cruel spores and seeds, reaping what they have-have sowed. A mortal saying I find rather appealing.”
“Grul approves. Princess has grown up strong. Grul is happy he did not crush you before. The strong should prosper, only the weak must be stomped, broken and smashed!”
“I shall nooot let you down, master, mistress! And afterwards… master will embrace Hyacinth! “ she started to giggle, and I said nothing, merely meeting Shaeula’s eyes, returning her own grin.
“And my Mortal Engineering will finally reach the heights it was always meant to!” Ixitt declared. “I can hardly wait!”
“Well, you’ll have to, as we have a lot of gear to charge up, you said it yourself. And then I want to spend a night with Shaeula, I haven’t seen her in days.”
“I see. You are as eager as ever.” She smirked, but I shook my head in denial.
“No, not tonight. We’ll need all our strength and stamina for tomorrow. I just want to sleep with you in my arms. I’m pretty nervous, it’ll soothe me.”
“Fine. I can abstain.” Shaeula agreed. “Though… Hyacinth has done well. She should also rest with us.”
“Me, mistress?” Hyacinth stopped her laughter.
“Yes, you shall stay with us tonight, in Akio’s arms. There will be no love, but even-even so, you must be calm for tomorrow, and I find-find nothing more relaxing than Akio’s warm presence. It is rather-rather reassuring.”
As Hyacinth celebrated, I turned to Ixitt. “All right then. Bring out the equipment. The quicker we get everything loaded, the quicker we can return to the Boundary where there’s actually somewhere worth sleeping…”
********
“That worked just as planned.” Ixitt said proudly. A large sled-like contraption was piled high with numerous crates, boxes and sacks, but it was not touching the ground, merely floating a few inches above, green energies sparkling from the bluesteel orbs below that generated some lift, similar to a hovercraft. “It is rather hungry for wind energy, but between you and the princess, we have enough. Otherwise, we would not be able to carry enough supplies, unless we loaded Grulgor up like a pack mule.”
“Grul is no mule, Grul is a warrior!” He rumbled, in his chainmail and rubber, a newly made spiked mace that Bjarki had crafted in his hands.
“Indeed. And we need you to fight.” I agreed. I turned to Shaeula and Hyacinth, who were likewise both wearing the protective gear as a precaution. “Are you two ready?”
“I am always ready.” Shaeula agreed, her amber eyes warm behind her goggles. She clenched one fist, steeling herself. “This-this is the fruition of all your plans, Akio. I am only worried we will let you down.”
“I am nooot worried. Hyacinth believes in master and mistress!” She declared, the buzz from spending a night cuddling me having left her hyperactive. “Hyacinth warmed the bed, even if it was nooot what I thooought it was!”
“The true warming comes later.” Shaeula promised. She picked up the long tube-like device she had been checking, handing it to me. “Now, Akio, will you fire-fire the first shot?”
“Fine. Ixitt, load it up.” I declared boldly. Ixitt pulled out a glass cylinder the size of a soda-can, the inside threaded with bluesteel strands, giving off a gentle mist of nature energy. The inside was also packed with red and orange spores, so thick it was clearly visible to the naked eye. Lastly a small dot of bluesteel shimmering with yellow energies was attached to the front of it. He pulled open the back of the makeshift artillery-piece I had shouldered, before slotting the glass jar in and closing it.
“Well, for the first one I think… a couple of miles in, over there.” I sighted the weapon, and with a surge of wind energy the projectile was launched, soaring out over the forest. A few seconds later a flash of flame energy blazed, and the glass exploded, showering spores down over the forest like a chalky rain.
“Reload, and I’ll send one to the right, at forty degrees. Four miles in.” I declared, as Ixitt reloaded me. As soon as it was launched, another shell was pushed in, and this one was sent soaring a dozen miles further, sailing into the distance before blowing apart. “It’s out of wind energy. Change battery!” I declared, and Shaeula produced a shimmering jade cylinder, swapping out a component.
Okay, let’s see how you deal with this, Myconids… you don’t have a monopoly on biological weaponry. The genie was out of the lamp indeed, as I could see the site of the first impact starting to sprout, trees collapsing, forests of toadstools covering their trunks, dissolving them. If I ever want a chance of forcing this genie back in the lamp… we have to be ruthless here. Another glass shell full of Hyacinth’s nature energy, sustaining the spores, was lobbed into the treeline. “Another. I want that forest seething with death!”