novelraw Chapter 142 – Putting It In
Chapter 142 – Putting It In
Chapter 142 – Putting It In
“I took a look at the little godling. He is interesting, just as you said. What I find more compelling, however, is the company he keeps. Does the Lord of Light know that one of his base models has been corrupted? Blended with a dragon of some sort based on my inspection.” – Artemis talking to the god she knows as Vegtamr
“I kinda feel like that rift was hiding something.” Kurt said the morning after their latest rift run.
Val set her juice on the counter, stopping halfway through pouring before sighing heavily. “And I’m not saying it isn’t, but what do you want to do about it?”
They had gotten the alert that the rift was being assigned to them shortly after getting home from the unfortunate first interaction with Jay’s fifth team. Everything with the rift had been completely normal at first. Penny came and briefed them while Kurt helped Kristi reload her enormous ammunition boxes. It was a medium-sized rift that had been diverted to their anchor since they were technically open.
The first thing that clued them into the rift being odd was that the other side of the portal showed a sunny graveyard. It still was in monochrome through the event horizon but otherwise looked rather lovely. Usually there was a certain ambiance that rifts went with, and those two things didn’t mix.
Secondly, when they stepped through, there were birds chirping and flitting around from the trees to the roofs of the mausoleums. Not normal birds but not monsters in any way. They looked like green versions of cardinals, if slightly bigger. They also paid the team absolutely no mind.
Thirdly, there weren’t any other monsters whatsoever. They searched for hours, looking around the perimeter woodland and even inside the tombs. Not a single thing besides green trees and happy little birds as they made their way to the core.
The core itself was a lovely yellow color. It reminded Kurt of the yellow that auto makers used to put on Corvettes and Porche’s. It was a nice medium yellow, not too bright and not too dark while still being tasteful. It was also a rather large core, nearly double the size of the cores they had previously extracted.
“Regardless of how strange it was, there isn’t anything to be done about it.” Kristi said as she doused her pancakes in syrup. “We got the core and they detached it to collapse in the void.”
“I know, I know.” Kurt held up his hands in a surrender gesture. “Just saying it’s bugging me.”
He had a feeling the entire time they were in the rift like someone was watching him. Something just prickled at the back of his mind but every time he had turned around, nothing was there. Even his aura sight was useless, not showing anything except the haze around the core.
They finished up their breakfast before going about their individual tasks. Kurt went down to his workshop and set up the program to start engraving the shifting enchantment using the laser engraver. He was hoping that he could automate the process so all the rings could be dropped off and picked up same day.
Kurt ended up making a program and the jig to hold the rings, having enough room for a 5x5 grid. While that was being milled out, he went back to the pile of books from the enchanters guild he had been slowly reading through.
Most of them were simple notebooks from various enchanters who had been researching topics related to the craft. All of them were of in English, which he suspected had been curated specifically for him. Still, he found it interesting to read and went back to the one he had been reading that covered research into energy conversions. His attempt to make a universal transfer device…
Universal trans…lation? Energy conversions? Kurt had something click in his mind and quickly brought out his notebook to write down his jumbled thoughts before they vanished. He might have just had a breakthrough in his language problem.
*****
A few hours later, Kristi and Val returned from their morning training session in the Order. In this case, they were the trainers, teaching a group of Jay’s new people about how to use some of the equipment that Kurt made. When they came down stairs it was to see Kurt not in his shop but at one of the computers.
“Hey babe. Whatcha doin?” Val asked as she hugged him from behind.
“Oh, good, you’re back.” He turned around to face them. “Can you say something in another language for me?”
Val was curious as to why he would ask but went along, asking how his day was in Japanese. She knew he didn’t speak any other languages besides English, so she was surprised when he answered in flawless, albeit painfully formal, Japanese. It wasn’t a simple one-word answer either, but a full and complete sentence.
“How did you do that?”
Kurt tapped his head just behind his ear. “Programed an update.” He said. He then explained more after seeing the confused looks on the girls’ faces.
“Are you familiar at all with the concept of mental energy?” When they shook their heads, he continued. “It’s essentially background energy that we generate all the time and broadcast at varying strengths with our intent. In this case, communication.”
“OK. So, how does that correlate to you learning a new language?” Kristi interrupted.
“Simply put, you intended to communicate with me, thus broadcasting mental energy and intent. I updated my implant with an enchantment to translate that incoming energy and create a field around me when I am talking and intend for you to hear me. That field restructures the words I am speaking so you understand them in the matching format. In this case that format was Japanese.”
Val blinked at the rapid-fire answer. “Wait, can you talk again?” she asked again in her native language.
Kurt responded and she watched his mouth as he spoke. Now that she was looking for it, she noticed that his lip movements didn’t match the sounds she heard. It was like he was a dubbed movie where the audio and video didn’t match.
“Freaky.” Kristi said as she watched from her chair. “So does it work with written words too?”
Raising his hand and waffling it back and forth, Kurt shrugged. “Eh, kinda? It doesn’t work on the internet or downloaded books. It does work for printed books, but I am not sure how that exactly works.”
“Maybe it’s because there is some sort of like mental energy imprint or something?” Val offered an explanation.
“Either way it has to be better than the old way or at least what I had with that earring. That had to be imprinted on by someone who knew both languages and it had its own problems.” Kristi reminded Kurt about the earring she had shown him when she first joined the team.
“I am hoping so.” Kurt agreed.
Val’s smile suddenly slid off her face. “Wait does that mean that we have to…”
Kurt sighed. “Yeah, gotta replace the implants. But this should be the last time since everything else can be handled by the new network coordination settings.”
“Until you finish that other implant you are working on.” Kristi offered while reaching up her fingers to itch behind her ear.
“You know, that’s not what I was hoping you would be sticking into me when we got home…” Val couldn’t help herself with the easy target for a pun.
With a snort, Kurt gave her a pat on the butt before headed back to his workshop. “Come on and let’s get it over with. The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can move onto other, more pleasant things.”
They followed after him and he removed the devices with the spell Jay had taught him. He then quickly replaced them with the preprepared ones he had made earlier. Kristi was a good sport about it, stoically accepting the replacement implant. Val was much less… cooperative.
“But it hurrrrtsss” she hissed while flopping back into Kurts arms with as much drama as possible.
Kurt rolled his eyes and played along. “Ohhh, but you were so brave! I think you should get a treat for being so good.”
Val’s eye cracked open to show just a sliver of iris and pupil. “Like a sticker?”
Kristi threw up her hands and wandered off while they played. “Better.” Kurt said while standing her up and following the green scaled tail out of the vault.
“Like a sucker?”
“Better.”
“Ummm…” Val was now more curious than anything and had forgotten about hamming it up. “OK, I give.”
“Remember that ice cream you liked?” Kurt said. “The caramel cone one from Hagen Das?”
Val didn’t even answer, instead flashing past both him and Kristi with an impressive display of speed. They stopped, listening as they heard the slap-click of her pawed feet across the wood floor before a sliding sound that ended with a thump. Then the freezer drawer opened, rolling out as Val squealed in delight. The sound of the silverware drawer was promptly followed by the distinct noise of her flopping on the couch.
“I don’t know what she sees in that flavor.” Kristi sighed
“I got you some pistach-OOOFF” Kurt was cut off as Kristi’s tail nearly knocked him over when she bolted up the stairs. The scaled green appendage swinging in counter point to her long strides.
“Well, I guess that leaves the cookie dough for me.” Kurt chuckled to himself before following the girls up for a little afternoon snack.
They had just sat down in the living room when Val’s phone went off with a text message. Then Kurts within a second of her. Kristi’s followed shortly after and they frowned. It wasn’t an alarm tone, so they were all rather confused as they set down their pints and reached into their pockets.
“… booster injections?” Kurt muttered aloud after reading the message from something called “Direct Action Employee Readiness? Penny called a moment later and he just answered it on speaker.
“Kurt?”
“Hey Penny, you’re on speaker with me, Val and Kristi.” He answered while trying to pry out another lump of cookie dough from his ice cream.
“Great, this applies to all of you.” She said while sounding slightly out of breath, like she was walking quickly. “Remember the injection Jay gave you?”
“The nanobots? I am painfully familiar.”
“Yeah, those. Well, you are all due for a booster to them. These will refresh the colony and help with expanding capabilities.” They heard a door close a moment later and the background noise suddenly vanished from Penny’s side of the call. “Being a hundred percent frank, you three are going to be testing something for us.”
Kurt rolled his eyes and sighed. “Of course we are. Ok, where and when?” He asked with a sigh. The door to the breezeway opened a moment later and Jay strolled in holding a familiar briefcase. “Never mind, he’s here already.”
“Alright folks, we got a double dose of fun for you.” Jay said with a little upturn to the corners of his lips. “The promised booster and a little extra under the cover of the booster.”
Raising his hand, Kurt interrupted what he was sure would be a long-winded distraction. “What does the booster do and what are the others?”
“The booster is just to refresh and add to your nanite colony. Pretty much doing the same thing that they used to and replacing the ones that you used up in your pathways. The other one needs the booster to actually work. It is essentially a repair unit. It can help to heal the body heal or maintain health by storing excess materials then using them in times of crisis.”
“Can it store calories?” Kurt asked the obvious since that’s how his lycanthropic body worked, burning nutrients and calories at a rapid rate.
“It can but it’s better if it just builds reserves of the basic nutrients like proteins, minerals, amino acids and other bodily nonsense.” Jay set the injector gun on the counter after laying out a sterile mat. He then went rummaging around in his case, but Kurt saw his aura fluctuate for just a moment before his body locked up. “Gotcha.”
Jay smirked and then produced two more injector guns. They were preloaded with vials already and the demon quickly advanced on them. “Sorry, I know this is unpleasant, but I figured it would be better if you didn’t know it was coming. Or at least not exactly when it was coming.” He then proceeded to inject each of them in rapid succession before inserting a second vial into the injector guns and delivering the next one.
This time, the crawling sensation was barely noticeable. He suspected the near microscopic machines from the first injection were somehow blocking the sensation like they did with the pain he had when shifting.
“There we go, all set.” Jay dismissed the equipment to his ring and cast a counter spell to unlock them from the paralyze spell.
“You are such a dick.” Val was scratching at the spot where he injected her until Kristi slapped her hand away.
“Don’t scratch, it makes it worse.”
Val stuck out her tongue. “Yes ‘mom’.”
Kurt ignored them and turned to Jay. “Did you hear about our rift yesterday?”
“Yeah, kinda weird.” Jay stopped and turned to face him. “I looked into it, and it looked completely normal until it was pulled to your anchor and you stepped in. Even after that it was normal in every way we could measure.”
“Any other insight into it?”
Jay frowned. “Hmm, not really. I reviewed the footage too and it seems that it was just a strangely peaceful rift. Even the core came back normal. I think I will look into the records and see if there have been other such rifts. Maybe there is a pattern?”
Scratching at his stubble, Kurt shrugged. “Maybe. Sorry to be paranoid about this but it stands out.”
“No, it’s fine. Anything that is abnormal needs to be looked at.” He looked around before turning for the door. “Maybe tomorrow you stop by the training yard in the morning. We can try meeting the new team and their babysitters again.”
“Babysitters?” Kurt asked.
Jay grinned. “Yeah, after that little incident, I couldn’t really trust them, so they are now being chaperoned.”
“Who drew the short straw?” It was a short list of people based on Kurt’s experience.
“You will have to see when you next meet them. Oh, and don’t forget about that little project I asked you to look into, some of the other divisions are getting antsy with things amping up on other worlds.” With that parting shot, Jay vanished through the door and left them alone once again.
“Well, who’s for going out to eat tonight?” Kurt asked. He didn’t want to do any cooking after the morning full of enchanting and suddenly having a lot of things put in his body that weren’t natural.
“Order in.” Kristi said. “I don’t want to be out to eat when the fatigue hits and we all crash.”
Val groaned and rolled her head on her shoulders. “Shit, I forgot about that. We also need to hear what this little project is that Jay just mentioned.”
“Pizza it is.” Kurt said and pulled out his phone. He put the order in while debating on changing into his pajamas before or after he went to pick it up. At that moment, an early night was sounding really good to him. He was going to have a hard time explaining what Jay had asked for and why it was important.
*****
Kurt stretched out on the grass, pointing his clawed toes while raising his arms as high as they would go in his werewolf form. He had decided to make the most of the early night caused by the nanobot injection and had some questions he needed answered.
After his stretch Kurt opened his eyes to see a massive wolf standing over him. “YEAAACHh!” he flinched and rolled away on reflex to land on his paws several yards away from the Avatar who had been standing over him.
The massive wolf stared for a moment before huffing and moving away, headed toward the tree line. Kurt tracked it with his eyes, idly wondering what the wolf did over there besides look menacing.
“He likes to be ‘around’ if you catch my meaning.” His wolf answered from his side, having padded over as the Avatar walked away.
“Yeah, he is around a lot lately.” Kurt shifted his attention to the wolf that sat beside him. “I have questions.”
“Perhaps I have answers. You have but to ask to find out.”
Kurt rolled his eyes and shook himself. “Typical.”
The wolf grinned. “What can I say, it’s in my nature.”
“Really? Puns?” Kurt groaned.
“How about you tell me what brough you here besides having nothing better to do.” The wolf said, not apologizing for its poor taste in humor.
Taking a moment, Kurt organized his thoughts after the startling wakeup. “So about yesterday…”
His wolf bobbed his head. “With the little gnoll or the strange rift?”
“The gnoll and his team.” Kurt clarified. “I think I reacted a little umm, harshly.”
“You didn’t kill him.” The wolf offered.
“Not the point. Normally I wouldn’t have reacted like that at all. Sure, I get mad when people get in my face but that was a bit extreme.” Kurt wasn’t going to let this one be brushed off. “Even before this I snapped at Penny during that wendigo hunt, when I spread the gift to the mercs, and I had some very violent thoughts when Sif got uppity about me not pulling my weight. I just want to know where these urges are coming from. What is…”
The wolf patiently waited as Kurt rambled on about some of his instincts and urges he was feeling. “All done?” It asked after the rant ended.
“Depends. Are you going to give me an answer?” Kurt shot back.
Pointing his snout at the vague outline of the Avatar in the distance, Kurt’s wolf answered. “It is because of us, the Avatar and myself. Remember, you are not just a half-elf, and we are part of you.”
When Kurt gave him a stern look, the wolf went on. “Remember how we used to fight for dominance? Well, that was part of our nature, our aspect. The Avatar, and by extension myself, are what you are currently growing toward until your path will diverge from his.
“When the Origin, or Lycaon as he was known at the time, was killed, his divine soul merged with mine because one of his slayers laid a curse upon him. A curse to a restless death that affected all our children. That turned out to mean merging more with the bestial side and introducing the rampant madness that you know as a ‘feral’ werewolf.”
His wolf sat on its haunches as they both watched the stalking Avatar in the tree line. “It is our greatest burden, born of our own hubris. Where we were created to be servants, we instead seized our independence. When we tried to restore the natural order and protect the worlds, we instead were cursed. We grew so strong but in that strength we lost everything.”
Kurt snarled. “So, I have to grow in power to reclaim our mantle but, the more I do, the more I lose control?”
“Perhaps.” The wolf shrugged. “But you have normally been of sound mind and resistant to the nature of the Avatar. Now that you know, you will likely be more able to prevent and adapt to it.”
“Great.” Kurt grumbled and pawed at the ground. “Since you are being so forthcoming, what else can I expect?”
“Oh, the usual.” The wolf’s ears flicked and its tail swished in amusement.
“Which is?” Kurt asked with a sigh.
“The desire to claim your territory, to protect it and those within it.” The wolf replied. “Really you will be most affected when you encounter Strand. That part of our god given mission never really faded away for some reason.”
“Is that really all?”
“Well, you did have a rather strong reaction to your mate mentioning breeding, yes?”
Kurt could almost hear the smile in the words as the wolf spoke. Regardless he felt the hair on his face stand on end while his ears perked. “Umm…”
“See, it’s not all bad.” The wolf said with a smile. “Sure, there is the usual violence that comes with challenges to your authority, that’s natural. But what is also natural is to ensure the succession of your bloodline and the strength of your pack.”
“My pack…” Kurt mused. Once again, he felt a strange impulse that he was beginning to associate with his werewolf side.
“A pack that will extend far past your mates.” Kurt’s wolf had adopted a more serious tone. “All the werewolves, in all the realms, are your pack. Because you are Lupus Rex, you stand above all. Regardless of their knowledge in you or even their faith, we are all connected through the blood. They will know you when they see you and you in turn will know them.”
Kurt was silent for a while after that, absorbing the information. “Any advice?” He asked after a long while of just sitting in the meadow.
“Keep the course, Kurt. In all the years that we as a race have tried to recover and all the attempts to raise another, you are the most promising we have seen.” With that, the wolf stood and walked away, his tail swinging to brush Kurt’s face. “Go, Kurt. It is time for you to wake up, whether you like it or not.”