Stoneheart (Rise To Omniscience Book 11), page 35
With the pack on her back, Gwen slowly moved out from under the cover of the ledge, then waited until the bear’s head was turned in the opposite direction. Taking a deep breath, she took off at a dead sprint, running for the path for all she was worth.
It didn’t take very long for the bear to spot her, and with a snuffling roar, the Beast gave chase. Throwing a look over her shoulder, Gwen felt her heart practically leap up into her throat. The Beast was huge. Its shoulders and head stood level with her own, and judging by its bulk, it likely weighed nearly a ton. Its fur was a silvery black and shimmered in the moonlight. Its eyes were twin beads of black, though she barely noticed them. Her gaze had been drawn by its massive yellowed teeth and the dark shovel-like claws that tore furrows in the earth as it ran. Its information came up in an instant, hovering before her and letting her know what she was facing.
Name: Silverheart Bear
Rank - 12
Ability Type - Super
Gwen reached the path, then began sprinting up, tapping into Internal Gravity II and hurling herself upward with her weight lowered. Now that she’d seen its rank, she definitely didn’t want a fight. For just an instant after the skill activated, she began pulling away from the terrifying creature, but the Beast was deceptively quick and was soon gaining ground.
Worse, she could see the landscape growing steeper further up ahead, with massive boulders sticking out at odd angles. Another thing she suddenly remembered from her father about bears was that they were excellent climbers.
It was almost like bears were the perfect killing machines, and no matter what you did, you couldn’t get away from them.
Throwing another look back over her shoulder, Gwen let out an involuntary yelp as she realized that the Beast had closed over half the distance between them and was coming in fast, even with her gravity lowered to a quarter of what it normally would be.
If there was a single weakness she could think of, it was that bears were bulky and heavy. In theory, that meant that they shouldn’t be able to take corners and sharp changes in direction as well.
She pounded up the path, her feet screaming in pain as sharp stones dug into them, but she barely noticed as she soared to her left, summoning a sheet of ice and jumping off it. She only just managed to clear the jump, her fingers latching onto the edge of the large stone.
As light as she was, it was easy to yank herself up onto the massive boulder and keep moving upward. The stones only grew larger and clustered closer together as she kept moving, climbing higher and higher, with the bear losing a bit, then gaining it all back and then some.
It was right on her tail now, not five feet behind her, and the bear’s body suddenly rippled with silver light. More on instinct than anything else, she threw herself to her left, her gravity switching to heavy at the tips of her fingers for just an instant, dragging her out of the bear’s path.
Sure enough, the Beast barreled forward, its speed having suddenly increased, and rushed straight past her, taking several seconds to slow down and figure out where she’d gone.
Gwen, to her credit, hadn’t stopped to watch, dashing up a different route on the side of the mountain. Scrambling over another large boulder, she almost had another heart attack when she ran smack into the side of something warm and furry. She sprawled on her ass, staring up in horror as the bear turned its beady eyes on her.
“Shit!” she yelled, diving forward and rolling between its legs, emerging out the other side.
She heard crunching sounds from her pack, but she didn’t care as she leaped to her feet and launched herself upward, summoning two sheets of ice in quick succession. She leaped off one, then the second, just managing to get the tips of her fingers atop the fifteen-foot sheer sheet of stone that had risen in her path.
Straining her arms and kicking her feet, she scrambled up, hearing a raking of claws on stone and the passage of wind as something heavy swung by. With her heart pounding a mile a minute, she slowly got to her feet and turned around. Gwen saw the gigantic bear standing on its hind legs, reaching for her.
Standing up like this, the bear was absolutely massive. Easily twelve feet tall and with its shovel-like paws, it was slashing at the edge of the stone right beneath her. The second bear climbed over the edge, letting out a roar of anger as it spotted her.
Fight, she desperately pleaded.
The two bears didn’t listen. Cursing under her breath, Gwen continued to run, knowing it wouldn’t take them long to get up and over. The mountainside turned even more sheer now, forcing her to run on all fours, more climbing than running as she tried to pick the best path to the top. She could see it now, where the mountain plateaued.
She could also see the bears gaining on her, the two shaggy monsters moving far faster than her as they made their way up the cliffside.
Grace’s fingertips were numb and bruised from grabbing at the frozen stone, and her feet were covered in scrapes and cuts up to mid-calf. Her head was starting to pound, and her breathing came in ragged gasps, fear and adrenaline pushing her onward.
The bears were less than ten feet behind her when the landscape finally shifted, the steep incline decreasing rapidly, allowing her to get back to her feet.
A ring of jagged stone protruded from the mountaintop, and though it hid what was inside, she knew she’d rather face whatever it was than the two bears coming after her.
Another roar from up ahead made her swear yet again as a third bear appeared from behind a rocky outcropping, this one even larger and meaner looking than the other two. It moved to block the opening in the stone as though it knew that was where she was headed.
“Screw you!” she screamed at the bear as it lumbered forward a few steps, waiting for her to come to it.
Desperation clawed at her as she barreled right at it. Behind her, she could practically feel the other bears’ breaths on the back of her neck. She didn’t turn to see how close they were, knowing it would be a mistake.
The third bear lunged forward as she approached, clearly eager to get a piece of her. Gwen gathered herself and then leaped, clearing the top of the bear’s head as she tucked into a somersault. Her hands slapped the shaggy Beast’s back as she sailed over, landing neatly behind the Beast and lunging for the entrance.
She heard a series of roars from behind her as the others were forced to slow, the third bear getting in their way. With a cry of triumph, she shot through the opening in the stone, emerging into an open space that reminded her of the arena back in the Academy, albeit one without any seats. Tall, jagged spires of stone ringed the area, looking like the open mouth of some terrifying monster.
She slowed and stopped, her chest heaving and blood pounding in her ears. She half-turned to see if the bears would try following her. The path she’d squeezed through would be too narrow, but they might try climbing over it.
After several moments passed and nothing happened, she realized they weren’t coming. The jagged stone spikes likely made it impossible for them to climb in, and seeing as they couldn’t fit through the path, they were effectively shut out.
The hair on the back of her neck stood on end as another growl sounded, this one from the far side of the open area. Gwen squinted her eyes and saw a dark shape there. The moon had gone behind some clouds, temporarily making things a bit darker, but now it slowly slid out, pale moonlight bathing the area with its luminescence and revealing the horror waiting there for her.
It was a massive bear, easily twice as large as the ones that had been chasing her. The Beast was a terrifying sight to behold. Its silver-furred face was heavily matted with scars, a large slash across the right side of its head revealing a milky white eye.
At least Gwen had something working for her.
Though it looked intimidating, when it came to practicality, she was sure the bear would much rather have had two functioning eyes than the overall look. It would screw up its depth perception and give it a major weakness that she could exploit if it didn’t kill her first.
Its massive paws were scarred, just like the rest of its body, and the shovel-like claws looked like they could rip her in two with little effort. Its massive canines were silver in color instead of the usual yellow-white, which told her they were unnatural. In short, this was an Evolved Beast, in addition to being an Arc.
Name: Dire Silverfang Greatbear Matriarch
Rank - 12
Ability type - Super
She swallowed nervously as she tossed her pack to one side, readying herself for the most dangerous fight of the entire Zone. If she could kill this Beast, she would be allowed out of this Zone. She hadn’t wanted to face a monster of this caliber at night and certainly not in her current condition. Her Chi was down to about half, which meant she didn’t have access to her most powerful skill. Her fingers were numb, her legs were aching, and she barely had any clothes on, let alone any armor.
“Yeah, that seems about right,” she said to herself with a grim smile.
The Arc reared up on her hind legs for a moment, revealing a massive swath of scar tissue and silver fur. It spread its paws wide and roared its challenge, the sound echoing across the mountaintop and letting all know who the queen was around here.
Gwen, for her part, did her best not to quail in fear, shoving down the sensation as deep as she possibly could and facing the terrifying challenge head-on.
Sometimes, there is no good path forward. When that time comes, fight like hell because your life will depend on it.
Those words echoed in her mind as she threw herself forward, running at the massive wall of fur, teeth, and claws, ready to do just as her father said.
52
Morgan fought down the mix of seething anger and burning worry as he and Grace exited the seamless rooms and walked back into the strange world of dulled colors. His Aura Mastery didn’t function at all in there, at least not in the sense of being able to feel anything in his surroundings.
The ground underfoot crunched as they walked, looking around and taking in this strange new world that Thomas had called the Mirror Zone. They were in the center of a crumbling city. Massive buildings, half-collapsed, sat amid piles of rubble and refuse. Huge chunks of stone littered the cobbled streets, which were cracked and broken, allowing for tufts of strange black grass to worm their way through.
Looking back over his shoulder, Morgan could see where he and Grace had been trapped. It was a smooth, metal building, now complete with over a dozen holes that he’d punched through its sides in his search for anyone else. Finding Grace had been more luck than anything else, and though he was glad to have company in whatever hell they’d been trapped in, he would have preferred it if nothing bad had happened to her at all and that she was still back at the Academy, keeping her eyes on his daughter, who was safe.
Even thinking about Gwen’s unknown fate sent worry worming its way through him, though according to Grace, she had no idea where she’d ended up.
Morgan might have thought she was dead if he didn’t know his daughter so well. According to Grace, Gwen had managed to break free of the ambush and was making her way to the Academy grounds when she disappeared.
There were only a couple of ways that you could make someone vanish like that, and both involved spatial travel. One was via a Portal Scroll and the other by way of a Beast Zone key.
If those students had been trying to kill her, tossing her into a Beast Zone would be a sure way to do it. Well, at least they would have thought so. Now knowing what he did about Thomas and Grace purposely being lured away, Morgan was sure that whoever was involved in the attack on his daughter knew this was going to happen, which meant they’d had the forethought to plan ahead.
His thoughts continued to churn as they picked their way through the ruined city, Grace leaning heavily against him, her head pressed to his shoulder. He could feel the sorrow pouring off her in waves, and he could scarcely imagine what she was going through right now. The only way he could think of something similar was if Sarah were to turn on him like that, which he knew she never would.
That was how Grace was feeling. Someone she’d believed to love her unconditionally had turned on her in the worst possible way.
They continued walking in silence until they reached what looked like the center of the city. This area was by far the most damaged, a crater having formed here, with cracks radiating outward from a singular point.
“What do you think happened here?” Grace asked, lifting her head from his shoulder.
“No idea,” he replied as the two of them moved forward.
Morgan crouched at the edge of the crater and saw a dark imprint at its center. It almost looked like someone had been tossed down there and the force of that impact had caused this level of damage.
Grace shivered, rubbing at her arms and looking around nervously.
“This place gives me the creeps,” she said. “Something about it just feels off, like we’re being watched or something. Have you tried teleporting out or opening a rift?”
“I have,” Morgan replied, gesturing into the air.
A dark-edged portal appeared, just as it always did. It flickered for a moment, then winked out.
“There’s no way out of here,” he said. “At least not through any portals I can conjure. We’re in an entirely different world, so even if I could open a portal for long-distance travel, we’d still be stuck here.”
“There has to be a way out though, right?” Grace said.
“If there’s a way in, you’d better bet there’s a way out,” Morgan agreed. “It’s just going to be harder without the key. I think we should –”
“Look out!”
Grace’s yell came at the same time as a hard shove on his chest, throwing him ten feet back as a blur slammed into the ground between them, throwing Grace off her feet. She hit the ground hard, a series of jagged cuts having been torn through her armored uniform. Blood began welling up from the cuts, but she was fine. To her, those injuries were less than scratches.
Their eyes were fixed on the new, smoking crater, out of which something was crawling out. It had the upper body of an ape, only it had six arms instead of the usual two. Its eyes glowed blue as chunks of metal protruded where its eyes should be. Half its head was also clad similarly, with pieces of wiring running over to its back.
The creature’s lower body looked like that of a spider, only made completely of metallic parts. Morgan had no idea what this was, but it looked to be some mix of organic and inorganic materials. In short, someone had built this. His Aura Mastery returned strange information when he examined it as well, though he was glad he could see anything at all, as he hadn’t even sensed it coming.
Name: Automaton Gaurilla Sentry
Rank - N/A
Ability Type - Cybernetic
Primary - Divine Drainer
The creature swiveled between the two of them, its eyes moving in a most disturbing way. Then, it spoke, its voice sounding oddly metallic and containing no inflections of anything remotely resembling human speech.
“Divine power detected. Initiating Sentry protocols.”
Then, without warning, it launched itself at Morgan, metallic lines of power glowing along its fists. It was faster than anything Morgan had faced back in Somerset, and he triggered Soulstream without a second thought.
Bestial power flooded his veins as his muscles bulged and a Beastly cloak shimmered across his body.
“Back me up where you can!” he yelled the instant before the creature slammed into him.
The impact was incredible, and Morgan felt his bones buckling beneath the force as he blasted backward, tearing through half the city in an instant, his body breaking and reforming itself under the power of his Soulstream. He caught himself on flows of wind, then blasted back the other way, the automaton throwing itself at him with frightening speed. The two of them clashed at the halfway point, Morgan’s fists flashing in a complicated series of punches and elbows.
The automaton’s speed had slowed, though Morgan knew this was because of Soulstream, which increased his base power by a factor of twenty, which, in theory, should have been more than enough to flatten this creature.
Unfortunately for him, this thing had six arms, and despite it being slower, it could attack three times as much as Morgan could at one time. That meant that he was playing defense as much as offense here, as the two of them traded blows blurringly quickly, power humming along the automaton’s limbs as it tried to strike at him again.
Grace appeared in the sky above them, her body transformed completely. She was covered in a series of dark green and black scales, the aspect of a dragon-made flesh. It was a skill she’d gotten when she was younger, but now, after many years of development and growth in ranks, it was a far more terrifying weapon altogether.
Her body had grown to nearly ten feet and massive, batlike wings spread from her shoulders. Grace retained her humanoid shape, but in nearly every aspect, she resembled the terrifying Beast she was imitating. Her jaw elongated, her eyes glowed green, and her hands and feet grew, thick black claws extending from muscled and scaled limbs. A heavy tail protruded from her rear, and even now, it was swinging back.
Morgan looked for his opening, then took it. Two fists smashed into his jaw, cracking the bone and sending stars dancing in his vision, but his punch nailed the automaton under its chin. There was a sharp crack as its metallic spider legs tore free of the ground, its head whipping back as it sailed a good twenty feet into the air.
Gwen’s attack slammed into it just as it crested the peak of its flight. A line of green-black fire blasted from the tail as it swung, racing down and crashing into the thing. It was blasted downward, crashing through stone and debris, forming a new crater all its own. Morgan flashed forward in a blink, appearing above the downed creature. The side of its face had been partially melted, as had several of its legs. It extended one of its arms as he lunged. Ihit transformed, turning from an arm into the barrel of a cannon.
