Chapter 84: ~Summon.~ (1/2)

***Norfolk, Northern Ocean***

***Ascathon***

After the fight with the bandaged guy I finally have time to concentrate on other things. The battle around us has ended and there are just a few silver ships on the run. I can count about thirty of them descending towards the sea fleet of the Nation of Mist.

There is no way for our ships to follow them in a close range engagement. The ship we are on is just drifting without control. Jazira's first attack spell fried the bridge, leaving the vessel with no one to control it. There may still be combatants below deck, but it doesn't look like they are interested in challenging us.

My damaged flagship is on it's way towards us while my fleet is gathering again. Den and Fingulf did a good job in keeping order after Celestial and Jazira followed me.

“It's cool that we managed to capture this vessel. Although I don't understand why the enemy just sent their dolls again. You got a lot stronger Celestial. Last time we had a lot of trouble with those elders. They almost defeated us.”

“I trained a lot. And I knew what to expect this time. It's easier if they don't manage surprise attacks because of their freaky healing abilities. But I have to admit that they seemed slower and weaker than the previous ones. Maybe their controllers tried to save mana.” Celestial shares her impressions of the enemy with us.

“This silver armour wasn't very strong either, although it kept rambling about various things during the fight.” Jazira nods while sitting on the silver breastplate.

“And what was it talking about?” Celestial asks with a questioning gaze.

“How the hell should I know? I don't listen to the whining of my opponents. A fight is a fight. Talking can be done later.” Jazira crosses her arms in front of her chest.

“It may have told you what's going on? There are some idiots who do that, you know?” I argue. But I am not a fan of talking to someone I want to kill either, so I understand her reasoning.

“You could have interrogated the bandaged guy. Instead you threw him overboard.” Celestial looks at me angrily.

“Hahahaha. Don't fret about the small stuff. Besides, he didn't look that important.” I scratch my head while I try to shrug the matter off. “So we don't have any high ranking captives who might know what's going on.”

“How about reassembling one of the elders?” Jazira looks at the pile of body parts at Celestial's feet.

Celestial kneels down and tries to reattach one of the heads to the body. The flesh immediately grows back together, but the eyes remain closed and the body stays silent. “Looks like it doesn't work.” Celestial shrugs her shoulders.

“Maybe they have to be reassembled completely. Let me help you.” Jazira gets down beside Celestial to reassemble one of the elders.

I observe their dubious efforts while they discuss the placement of various body parts. A body piece which looks like it belongs to someone else gets attached in the wrong way. A finger is facing the wrong direction.

When their work is done I have a hard time holding back.

“It's an abomination! Once I knew a mad scientist. He was obsessed with creating life. For that purpose he gathered body pieces from graveyards. This looks like one of his works! You even mixed up the gender of some obvious parts. This looks like a mixture of some kind of ghoul and a hermaphrodite!” I burst out.

“Shut up! I tried. But she didn't listen.” Celestial pouts her cheeks.

“I am not good at puzzles! She made too many pieces.” Jazira stabs an accusing finger towards Celestial.

Then the eyes of the thing flick open. It inhales and starts coughing and flailing with its wrongly connected limbs.

“~It's alive!~” Jazira starts to hop like a child and claps with her hands. “See? I told you that it would work!”

“Put the poor thing out of its misery.” Celestial looks at the thing like a sad mother who has to end the life of a baby which was born with a life threatening malformation.

The thing is somehow able to sit up and take a look at its body. “What did you do!”

“An experiment to make contact with you. How about surrendering now, before we start bombarding your sea fleet?” I emphasize that we hold the upper hand at the moment.

The abomination snorts. “I could say the same to you. Surrender now or face the full wrath of our gods! Our summoning ceremony is almost done. There is no chance that you are able to withstand the power of a god.”

I look down at the sea fleet and then to Celestial. “Could this be a part of their stupid game? As I understood it the gods aren't allowed to take action themselves?”

“Maybe they are, if certain conditions are met?” Jazira asks.

Celestial winces. “Like being summoned by your followers.”

“Ahahahaha! It's too late! You may have won the battle, but you lost the war! Our gods are here!” The elder screams and the whole world is dyed in a strange light. I get a dreadful feeling and run to the railing to observe the fleet under us. A huge magic circle appeared. Around the enemy fleet.

“Great! What now? Do you think Lidith may come to help us?” Celestial comments from beside me.

Then the huge magic circle vanishes as fast as it appeared. It was just a light show for the believers after all.

Another person appears on the deck of the ship. And another one. Then a third and a fourth. They have familiar faces. I know those bastards from my vision.

The abomination continues to babble religious nonsense until Jazira decides to shut it up by pointing her middle finger at the thing.

One of the three figures turns towards me. “So we finally meet. Seems like Lidith told you about our little game. I am Charon. This is Aneth and she is Wynne.” The younger one of the two men introduces himself. Lidith is standing a little behind them while looking very unhappy. Seems like she lost a dice roll or something like that.