Chapter 8-248: Creation Wants a Word with You (2/2)
Sleipner obligingly spun his tires and zipped away towards another group fleeing the city, eying the sensory map of Detect Qi and Commune with Nature I was sharing with him. I couldn’t be throwing out Break Enchantments unless I could regain the Pool used to Cast them, so the Song of Life would be much more useful for mass numbers, as it would literally last until I was done Singing it.
But this fight was effectively over. They couldn’t avoid the awareness of the Land, which wanted them gone like the alien infection they were, and they couldn’t outrun Sleipner, especially with their technophagery giving them a massive aversion to cars.
They were doomed, and I was Bringing their Last Day!
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Master Fred saw them coming, as they were only trying to be a little careful, not exactly sneaky. Traveler had a lot of people to work through, able to break basically one person free of the Mantra a second. Her voice was rising and falling in a wild, energetic vocal dance, and he knew that if she put any magic into it at all, this whole crowd of dazed people would be whirling and dancing to her voice.
That wasn’t happening, because the first ones she had cleared the Mantra from were telling the rest what was going on, and what to do. After all, there were a lot of people laying in the streets who needed to be watched, they themselves needed to get home... and this city needed to begin the process of healing and recovery.
The eel-folk of the Indian Ocean were not far away, and could only consider this an opportunity to attack, especially when so many potent defenders had been killed.
Those incoming looked to be chi-users, moving too fast to be human, lightfoot on display, ready to fight and flee. He didn’t see any spellcasters, which raised all sorts of mental alarms... there’d been a few lesser Casters among the victims she had released, but he hadn’t seen any senior ones.
That likely meant they had been surprised, overwhelmed by Enthralled natives, and killed as heretics and blasphemers. The chi-users were merely rebels and possible recruits, likely striking against their own and forcing them to be more circumspect as they tried to recruit/release more people.
They came out into the open warily when they saw the people stumbling away, their body language individualistic, no longer moving with the unconscious Cadence of the Enthralled.
Seeing Lady Traveler engrossed in her Singing as she moved through the crowd, freeing everyone she laid a hand on, they closed warily on him, since he wasn’t doing much more than keeping pace with her and standing guard.
“G’day, mate,” a slender fellow holding onto a gleaming Rapier said warily, clearly a bit nervous as he looked Fred over, and didn’t know what to think about the black eyes and silver pupils and burning Hellscars.
GOOD MORNING, Fred signed back in burning letters on his shoulder. The man looked at Fred’s throat, tried hard not to blanch, and took a breath. YOU LOOK LIKE SOMEONE WHO HAS BEEN HAVING VIOLENT CONFLICTS WITH THE BUDDHISTS.
“You got that right!” the fellow half-laughed, wiping back his thin blond hair. “They rose up and slaughtered every senior Spellcaster in the city in less than a day, and we’ve been trying to fight back ever since. That was almost a year ago. We’ve been trying to get word out, but they’ve been very good about controlling the access of outsiders and not letting anything slip by. It’s been horrible!
“How did you know to come here?” the fellow asked in relief.
WE DIDN’T. WE’RE DOING A CIRCUMNAVIGATION OF THE CONTINENT TO BRING SOME NEWS TO YOU, AND JUST ARRIVED. LADY TRAVELER SENSED THE QI IN THE CITY, IDENTIFIED IT, AND PROMPTLY DECIDED TO TAKE OUT HER BOREDOM ON THE MANTRA.
“Lady Traveler? That’s a unique name,” the man said with feeling. “That a performing name? I’ve never heard Heartsong like that, even from that Morninglight girl.”
IF YOU LOOK HARD AT THE WORDS I’M FORMING, YOU’LL NOTICE THEY AREN’T IN ENGLISH.
The man, and everyone with him, blinked and stared at the burning letters above Fred’s shoulder, astonishment slowly rising on their faces.
I IMAGINE THE BUDDHISTS INTERCEPTED THE DATA CORES SENT HERE. LADY TRAVELER MIGHT HAVE THE MOST WELL-KNOWN FACE IN THE WORLD RIGHT NOW. SHE INTRODUCED US TO THE HUMAN TONGUE. At the total lack of understanding, he continued, HUMANITY HAS A GENETIC LANGUAGE. ANY HUMAN BEING ALIVE CAN UNDERSTAND THE WORDS IF THEY HEAR THEM, AND THE WRITTEN FORM IF THEY KNOW HOW TO READ. YOU CAN LEARN TO SPEAK IT IN ABOUT AN HOUR, TOO.
“Maker’s fire! For truth, mate?” the man asked, astounded, sneaking another glance at the lovely dark-haired halvyri singing away over there.
ABSOLUTELY.
“Wow.” The swordsman finally sheathed the Rapier he had out, suddenly feeling awkward being armed in the face of such peaceful intentions, and his companions did the same. “Uh, apologies. We’ve been very jumpy lately...”
Fred waved it off. UNDERSTOOD. WOULD YOU LIKE TO GET STARTED ON LEARNING THE HUMAN TONGUE?
They all looked at one another, and shrugged. “Sure, mate! What do we have to do?”
He turned his head to look at Lady Traveler, and just framed the request. She had Still and Silent spells, and didn’t need to interrupt her Song or progress at all as she waved her hand. He craned his neck back to look up into the sky as a hundred-meter Holo screen, which would be looking at you face-on regardless of what direction you saw it from, appeared in the air above them.
THE HUMAN TONGUE hovered there, and faded away as a familiar face, in very plain surroundings and seated in a chair in a studio somewhere, came into view behind it...