Chapter 73
Pepe Silvia
Kim and Chris finally found easier footing on gravelly dirt, leaving the rugged cliffs behind.
They got their game faces on, as they approached the wall of pine trees.
Their mission:
Push their seeds into Core Formation.
Their gazes were filled with fierce determination.
Kim’s body moved with flowing, elegant movements, as her whirlpool churned.
Chris’ skin grew flushed, sweat steaming from his brow, as his seed rumbled to life.
Grips tightened on spear shafts as the kill squad entered the shadows.
Luna bounced playfully, tail wagging and eyes bright, happy to be on a walk.
They stalked the thick pines, searching in the gloom.
The densely packed trunks cut the visibility to only a couple dozen feet.
Chris’ hooded eyes lost focus, as they aimlessly meandered through the trees.
We are just going to wander around all day?
As they walked, he grasped at those connections he felt in the materials.
The different hints he tasted in the air.
I can feel it, it's right there.
Just out of reach, the barest hum of a strand, it pulled him along.
Kim was following along after Chris for the past hour, listening for anything, when he suddenly turned off course.
Kim stopped short, “Hey, Chris, what's going on?”
He stumbled over some roots, half paying attention, sending him bouncing off a pine.
His drunken stumble was unfazed.
“Damnit!” She hustled after him with a huff, Luna hot on her heels.
Chris felt a trace of something, a taste in the air.
I’m not losing it.
Suddenly the trees broke as he stumbled onto a game trail.
A tangled web slammed into him, obliterating his senses.
Connections! Everywhere, everything’s connected!
Frequencies screamed, grinding against his teeth like a drill bit.
Lines… The whole of reality is lines…
The world tilted, colors bleeding away to static.
Kim caught up from behind, placing her hand on his shoulder, catching him just before he dropped.
“What the hell Chris? Are you okay?”
Pale and shaking, Chris started chuckling, struggling to keep it contained.
“I’m doing great, DAN doesn't have a Qi sensing technique yet!”
His eyes danced back and forth over his manic grin.
“That’s great, I'm happy for you. Can we have better communication next time?”
Kim crossed her arms, a slight edge to her voice.
Chris swallowed.
“On it. No problem.”
Deflect, divert!
“With this sense I have, I'm getting something familiar…”
His hand covered his goatee as he untangled the web.
“Something walks along this path? The lines are… twisted. Tainted. Like they've been here a lot."
His eyes shifted from Kim, to the trail, and back again.
“They are close.”
After a brief pause, “Nice job, lead on!”
She gave him a tight smile.
Luna smelled a flower.
Chris let out a relieved, silent sigh, as he turned towards the pull of the chaotic threads.
They followed along the game trail from the trees, Chris straining his newly acquired senses.
He tracked the subtle corruption for thirty minutes, stalking through tranquil forest, just birdsong and their occasional snapped twig breaking the silence.
Finally, the tug deviated, turning off the trail.
Their forward progress slowed to a crawl, as Chris sensed the source getting stronger.
He held up a hand, telling Kim to pause, as he crept forwards.
Slowly creeping up to a bush, he could feel the taint seeping from the clearing ahead.
Bingo.
Four rough and battered Goblins, sitting, quietly chittering back and forth.
Chris turned back, he flashed four fingers, then twisted his face in a snarl.
Kim looked at him dumbfounded.
She mouthed, “WHAT?”
Chris deliberately put out four fingers, then squat down low wobbling back and forth.
“Chris, what the hell are you doing!?”
“I am trying to use better communication!”
He held his hands up, at a loss.
Luna, excited by his pantomime, walked forwards.
That's when she noticed the goblins.
“BARK! BARK! BARK!”
She let the oblivious humans know as quietly as she could.
The hungry goblins turned to the cultivators.
The forest came alive by a wall of shrieking wails, as the green skins rushed them.
Kim committed instantly.
She channeled a single, three-foot-high kinetic wave that washed through the clearing.
The heavy, fluid hammer knocked them off their feet and into a struggling pile.
They moved in for the execution, steps splashing in the foam, spears driving down.
Two struggling figures stilled.
Suddenly, Luna let out a deep growl.
Two large goblins were charging out of the dense trees behind them.
Before the surprise attackers could cover the ten feet, Luna unleashed the power of Bark.
A wave of force rippled through the air.
Water blasted off her coat in an explosion.
Ears bleeding, they recoiled, screaming and shaking.
Kim and Chris quickly executed their downed enemies, before turning and rushing the flankers.
They used their crude clubs as best they could, holding the pair off for a few moments.
Disorientation obvious, they struggled on shaky feet, each unblocked thrust creating another leaking hole.
The meager defense eventually succumbed, Chris the first to finish his off, spearhead catching a thin throat.
The last turned with a ragged cry, trying to avenge its fallen comrade.
Kim thrust into its armpit, stopping it cold.
Its life slowly left its eyes.
They immediately gathered the raw Qi from the six fallen monsters.
The volume wasn't immense, but the quality was there.
“You’re such a good girl little one! What would we do without you?” Kim asked the still nervous Luna.
She whined, head whipping back and forth.
Kim started the slow churn of her whirlpool as fast as possible, forcing the Qi to start the merge.
Chris’ Qi ripped through his body, heat building.
There’s no fuckin way I can use my technique on the move… But I can get it ready.
“Let's get out of here, in case this dinner bell called in something big.”
He turned, determined stomps tearing up the thin soil.
Smiling, Kim followed, a humid fresh scent lingering in the air behind her.
