All the Dust that Falls

Chapter 149: Welcome to Summoner’s Rift

Cliff and I navigated through the woods casually as Tanu huffed along behind us. It did seem a bit unfair how much easier this was for me than Tanu, but there wasn't much I could do about the length of his legs. For now, he would just have to bear it.

We had started off at a jog, but Cliff soon figured out that wasn't going to work. Not only was the kid way slower than us, but he wasn't exactly sneaky. Occasionally he would ask Cliff a question of some sort and receive a short snuffling reply. Then his face would look extra determined as he focused on placing his feet more softly or avoiding sticks. Aside from that, though, we continued on in "silence." It was all to marginal effect, though, as his breathing was just loud. Also, the scent he gave off was very distinctly out of place in the forest.

The forest was much darker and more still than I remembered. The moon was covered by clouds, meaning that even the low-wattage light it emitted was absent. In some ways, that was helpful since it made us harder to spot. But it also made Tanu trip on practically everything. As for the stillness, I supposed that was because everything in the vicinity could hear us coming. I couldn't really blame Tanu for that, though. He didn't nearly have the same precision of movement as Cliff did.

Luckily, Cliff was very patient and didn't seem concerned at all by the complete absence of prey. With that information, I had to assume that she didn't really plan this as a true hunting trip. That made her insistence on bringing Tanu along make slightly more sense, but I still didn't get the full reasoning.

Perhaps she was training him like I trained Beatrice? If so, Tanu needed a lot of basic training. The time I spent wearing out the children should have given him enough energy, but apparently, there was only so much energy that his still-developing batteries could store.

The walk through the forest continued for a while before we eventually circled all the way back to the castle entrance, completely empty-handed. Tanu was really starting to flag. Cliff had tried to pick him up by the back of his neck and carry him home. That hadn't gone well, though, so he was pretty much draped over her back as we returned through the gate.

When we got back, we found Talia nervously pacing in front of the gate. When she saw the limp form of her son, she rushed over and frantically checked him over. Tanu had recovered enough by then that he woke up and started fending her off groggily. Eventually, she was satisfied that her child was unharmed, so she turned to me. "Thank you for bringing my baby home again!"

Following up her statement with a deep bow, I wasn't sure how to respond. That was exactly what had happened, I supposed, but I don't think that was really what she meant. Still, I had gained enough social awareness that it was probably for the best if I didn't correct her misunderstanding. Perhaps in the future, I would let her know before Tanu went outside again. Yeah. That would be a good idea.

—-

Bee knelt on the cushion near the center of the grand hall. It had been a focused couple of weeks. She had pretty much put all her duties on hold to prepare for the first summoning. The only thing she had kept up was her daily sermons, and those were only an hour. It helped that she didn't have to prepare for them or anything. Everyone would just gather and listen to her tell stories of the times before when it was just her and Void. So far, she hadn't needed to repeat herself, but there were a few stories she kept going back to reference.

Her first meeting with the god always played well with new arrivals. The new batch of soldiers had been skeptical at first, but then they saw Void cutting stones into perfect bricks with the power of light. The first group of soldiers had done a good job helping to convince them as well.

Tony and Susan had done a good job integrating the new recruits into their training program. They were making good progress. The motley band of twelve soldiers was even starting to integrate with the rest of the castle. There had been a few mishaps, but the leaders of each group stepped so hard on any improper activities that the castle leadership hadn't had to step in yet. The biggest problem was preventing the kids from learning how to dice.

It wasn't even that big of a problem, all things considered. The children were all very shy in the beginning and would barely speak to the men. Now though, they were slowly coming out of their shells and would occasionally hide behind Tony's or Susan's legs to watch them.

Bee forced her mind to stop wandering and focus back on the task at hand. She glanced around at the audience before checking and rechecking all her lines. The lines she had spent the last week planning and the last couple of hours painstakingly tracing with salt. Across from the rings sat her master. Void had been quite focused on the summoning, spending a lot of time watching her preparations. It left her to her own devices, though, so she couldn't help but feel this was some sort of test.

Besides Void, only Tony was close by. Everyone else was near the door, ready to run if things got out of hand. Finally satisfied that everything was in place, Bee started the chant. The unfamiliar words were hard to pronounce as they forced her mouth into movements she had never done before. Yet her practice paid off and helped her to maneuver through the complex patterns. What poured out of her mouth was nothing that could be considered from this world.

Even if she had wanted to stop, she couldn't now. The words no longer flowed out of her; they were violently yanked. She felt like she had lost control of her own mouth as the words continued to pour out endlessly. Slowly, the salt lines and other alchemical materials began to glow as the accumulated power and magic soaked into them.

In a swirl of crackling purple light, something started to take shape in the center of the circle. The symbols she had drawn flared brightly. Finally, the force that had taken control of her voice was released. She slumped to the floor, completely worn out. It was as if she had just spent the entire day fighting demons rather than a few minutes simply speaking.

It was all she could do to keep her eyes open and watch the fuzzy black shape at the center of the circle as it looked around. Was it really that blurry, or was that just her eyes?

That question was the last thing that passed through her mind before she fell sideways, and everything went black.

—

I watched as the familiar shape of one of the lesser mess makers coalesced in the circle of dirt. Hopefully, it wouldn't mess up Beatrice's careful work - though I still wasn't fond of the idea of intentional mess-making, I could admit the symbols had an aesthetic beauty. Plus, she really had worked hard on it. I had watched as she had spent days learning about it. Apparently, it wasn't enough to just copy it from the book, either. At least, she hadn't thought so.

She had painstakingly studied to understand enough about the way the symbols worked, endlessly poring over books to make sure that each line was in the correct place. I was very impressed with her dedication to such a task. I stuck with her and took note of the passages as well because I wanted to make sure that this was done correctly. Sometimes I even neglected my other duties to be with her.

Despite all my time and significantly improved processing speed, though, I wasn't able to reach the same level of understanding as she had. Sure, I was able to store the images in my memory banks more efficiently. This let me point out when she had made mistakes in her practice. But I had no understanding, not like she did.

That was okay for now, I thought. I might have to spend more time on it later if this continues to be important. But for now, I would trust Beatrice and the books. I would just be there to clean up any mess they made.

It seemed that right now, it wasn't necessary. The black hairy ape creature bared its fangs and charged at Beatrice, but a magical wall of energy flared up and slammed it back to the center of the circle. My human hadn't flinched from where she lay on the ground, even though most of the people watching from near the entrance behind her had jerked back in surprise. Checking over her, she seemed just fine. She was simply recharging.

Tony stepped forward from off to the side. With careful steps, he picked his way through the tangle of salt. A single disturbance would let the demon get out of the circle. While I was here to step in if I needed to, the point of this test was for him to kill it alone.

To that end, he was equipped a little differently than normal. Tony normally carried the metal rod that was used to open and close the gates. It had been a kind of improvised tool when he first followed Beatrice and me out of the castle, but he had yet to find a replacement. So he had just kept it. Now though… the narrow club was heavy and worked great against the undead, but the blunt force was less effective here. So Beatrice had lent him her broom.

I was torn about this. On one side, it was great to see him wielding a proper weapon. On the other, it was Beatrice's. It was fine if she wanted to share, I supposed, but I had made it for her. The dimensions were customized to her size and speed. Tony was a lot larger and slower. If he was going to learn how to use a broom properly, I would have to make him one of his own.

His needed to be much longer, and I supposed I would make it heavier too. That would work well with his previous weapon, and he should feel more comfortable. As it was, the broom looked more like a toy in his hand.

Once Tony had made it through the defensive barrier, he and the demon sized each other up. Tony made the first move. It was a simple thrust, but the demon didn't have much space to maneuver as the walls that blocked it just didn't exist for Tony. The demon rolled to the side under the thrust, but a pulse of energy threw it back toward the center. Tony slashed across its chest with a sharp twist of his extended weapon. Blackish blood started dripping down its chest, but the creature didn't slow down. It regained its feet and scrambled toward Tony. Reversing the broom, the human swatted at it with the bristled end. It buffeted the charging demon but did nothing to stop its advance.

I cheered as the two went at it. Tony was handling himself so well, even with that little broom. Maybe I should make the bristles on his out of metal? That might give it more stopping power. But then, maybe they would scratch up the floors more… Perhaps there was a way to reinforce them while still keeping them soft?

The demon grabbed onto Tony's broom, trying to wrestle it away from him. He stumbled forward slightly, scrambling to keep his feet away from the precise lines on the floor. Luckily, he avoided each one by centimeters. Claws lashed out at his arm, but a quick twist of the broom brought the pointy end up to intercept them.

I hummed slightly as I considered the problem. Broom design hadn't been iterated on for ages, probably. It was already a perfect tool. But even its most esteemed inventors hadn't foreseen the needs of this strange place. Truly, I'd be breaking new ground here.

Tony narrowly avoided the demon's latest charge by hopping back out of the circle and watching it crash against the wall again. He took a few moments to catch his breath, circling around the enclosure. The angry mess maker snarled back and kept pace. After an exceptionally deep breath, he made a thrust with the broom to make space for his re-entry. The two clashed once more.

Sure, my prototype broom had worked well against the skeletons, and I bet it would have performed well enough on the earth demons too, but not every enemy was that light. Yeah. I would have to design it a bit differently. Maybe I could redesign Beatrice's as well. I took notes about Tony's fighting form and felt my processors whir with ideas.