Adamant Blood 167

“I’m never doing that again,” Sally said, “That’s what I was unable to say back there.”

Mark just stared, feeling like the floor of the silver spider had dropped out from under him.

The four of them were riding back in Eliot’s hoverspider, with Isoko at the wheel, Eliot at the center, and Mark and Sally in their own chairs to the sides. The settlent lay in the distance, beyond the front windows, while the screens in the vehicle monitored everything within sight. There were a few red spots on the monitors, indicating monsters, but nothing concerning.

What wasconcerning were Sally’s words.

Sally wasn’t joking. And what’s worse is that Isoko rumbled in agreent and Eliot humd, not sure what to say, but also he kinda agreed with Sally and he wasn’t sure how to say it without offending. Mark couldn’t read minds, but he could tell a lot about a lot according to the vectors in the room, and Mark was the only one excited about what they had accomplished. Shroor was dead, and they had done that.

But they hadn’t done enough?

That was it, wasn’t it.

Mark wondered if now was a good ti to have this conversation. They were all stressed emotionally, but… Mark said, “That’s how you feel now, and sure, I get it. That was scary as shit. But we won. We did it—”

“Youdid it,” Sally said, “Not—” She cut herself off.

Mark Looked at Sally, saying, “Everyone had a part to play, and we did it together.”

“You’re the one that did it all, Mark,” Isoko softly said. “I drove Eliot around.”

Mark almost said sothing—

Eliot spoke, “I’m not fighting kaiju like that ever again.” His voice was calm, his vector unworried. He had made a decision a while ago but he was just now getting around to talking about it. His words were a simple statent, like the Two Worlds were round, human blood was red, and kaiju were big. He continued with the sa tone, “The vents broke on this, you know. The miasma got into the vents. I had to spend half of my resources to keep the ship intact, through the caustic spores. The acid that killed Shroor’s cloud? I used that first on the silver spider, all across the hull and inside, too. It worked well enough.”

Silence.

Mark looked down at the floor, and at the walls. He hadn’t noticed the slight pitting here and there, but there were pits in the sleek silver surface, and in the rougher flooring, like soone had dropped acid everywhere. Which is exactly what had happened. Eliot probably had to replace everything inside, didn’t he?

That could have been catastrophic.

… Shit.

Mark had no idea what to say, but he knew he needed to say sothing. To rally the team so they didn’t make the mistake of thinking they weren’t powerful, that they weren’t needed, that they didn’t matter. Because they did matter! They were strong! They were needed! They mattered so fucking much! And Eliot solved the problem with the vent intake! He would never make the sa mistake ever again.

Mark had a few ideas of where to go with this.

Mark began, “Everyoneis support in a kaiju kill, even the tip of the spear. No one gets there alone. It takes one big monster to kill the world, but it takes everyone to make it better. That’s how it is.” Mark was t with silence. Vectors turned inward; away from Mark. Mark said, “So that was scary and I get it. I really, really do. But we won. And if you want to do more next ti then you can get stronger, because I know that’s what I’ll be doing—” Sally wanted to say sothing, but Mark continued stronger, “And if you don’t want to be on the kaiju team then that’s fine!” Sally held back. Mark spoke softer, “… If you don’t want to do that again, you don’t have to. But you dohave to be ready for kaiju in your life. That’s inevitable.

“There is no escaping the duty to fight.

“So, to fight better… There’s Flight and Protect magics from House Valen for and Isoko, and Sally and Eliot if you want that, too? And better artifice stuff for you, Eliot, I’m sure. Rember how we want that flying castle? Well that’s the plan! I wasn’t talking out of nothing when I said I wanted a flying castle. It could even be a castle large enough to be a city and able to defend itself like one, too. And…

“Sally, you want to be an Inquisitor, so you need to get on that. I don’t really know what the power of the God of War and Murder can do in an Inquisitor’s hands, but it has to be a lot, right? So get on that. And I an really do it. The Collective is still here, sowhere, in the settlent, right? The Collective is everywhere. I think Isoko knows the ones who are at the bar all the ti. So let’s get on that.

“Make the commitnt.

“And maybe in a few years we’ll all be strong enough to venture into Endless Daihoon, to wade through kaiju like they’re nothing, or be really, really good at hiding, and we’ll find the elvesand their Resurrection magics, and if we know enough about magic before we get there we’ll know what we’re looking at when we get there.

“And when we co back, we change the world into sothing better. Sothing where people don’t have to be scared of kaiju at all, like in Tokyo, where they summon the kaiju with the gate openings and then make a show of killing them every month.

“And along the way to that future, we do what we can right here and now.”

Mark ended it there, because he kinda lost the thread of the future. All he knew was that the future was out there, waiting for them to seize it. Waiting for them to be strong enough to grab it and hold on and make it theirs.

Mark had his team until that last part, too.

Sally was reluctantly hopeful, realizing that she didhave things she coulddo, even if she couldn’t go directly against kaiju. That had never been her goal in life at all, and she was only just now realizing a lot of her own goals in life.

Isoko was easier to speak to, for as soon as Mark ntioned magics she went ‘huh’ and nodded, as though she had rembered she had good, huge goals in life.

Eliot had a lot of good, unseen thoughts. If Mark were to guess, they might have been sothing along the lines of ‘Well yeah, the supplies in the spider weren’t enough, but a full castle of supplies? That could work’.

Speaking of Resurrection magics had caused a small grin on Sally and Isoko, while Eliot simply humd and raised an eyebrow. Mark imagined Eliot thinking, ‘It would make for a good story, but an impossible goal.’

And then there was the last thing Mark had said. About changing the world.

Eliot asked, “What do you an, ‘do what we can in the here and now’?”

“I’m not sure!” Mark said, “I’m still figuring that out, but… you know. So things are ssed up! The world is broken and it needs fixing. Like… I’m… Mage Secrecy. That’s one. I’m reasonably surethat when we learn about Flight and Protection magic from House Valen that they’ll tell us so very good reasons for Mage Secrecy, just how there are good reasons for Curtain Protocol on Earth. There’s nothing wrongwith being a brawny, yeah, but…

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringent.

“Maybe I’m making a kaiju out of a malformation, here, but you have Man-made Manipulation, Eliot, and you certainlydidn’t co by that outside of your family. Magic flows on family lines— Or rather, magic flows on exposure, germination probably, and then solidification through the System and the Tutorial.

“Addashield and Inquisitor Lola and so unnad alchemist did my seeding.

“It is verypossible, in a directedsort of way, to ensure that people get what powers they want when they Awaken. So why notlet people choosewhat kind of magic they get? It’s obviously possible. I had a bad reaction and ended up in a coma, but repairing a bad seeding is possible, too, with that Emperor’s Child Color Drop treatnt I got. Expense cannotbe the biggest hurdle to Emperor’s Child being the norm, because Addashield specificallysaid that the only reason I got the Drop was to ensure that I could actually do the Tutorial so that Addashield wouldn’t Fall. So! That’s one thing I would like to change.

“People should be able to choose their own power in life, instead of the random and inherited choices we all have thrust upon us. The biggest hurdles to that are political… And I don’t know what it ans to say that right now, only that the system is set up in certain ways that I don’t even realize and I want to change the system.”

There was a deep mont, there in that silver spider, hovering its way toward the settlent.

Mark had looked away from his team as he spoke, his mind turning inward as words spilled from his lips, but now he looked back toward them, and he saw hope.

Isoko said, “I’m in. Of course I’m in. Sorry!” And then she added, like it was no big deal, “I got jealous. It will happen again.”

Sally smiled a little, and then laughed.

Eliot grinned.

And that was enough.

Mark announced, “So we got like fucking 60k points, yeah?! Let’s buy so shit! Or let’s have a party! That was our first —mini—kaiju kill but there’s gonna be a lot more!”

The atmosphere was a lot better—

But Sally still went, “Ha! Fuck no. I’m serious about staying away from kaiju. 10 ters tall; that’s my limit.”

“I could do 10 ters,” Eliot said.

Mark scoffed, disbelieving. “10 ters is nothing! At least 20.”

Isoko grinned and Eliot humd in thought.

“The hands need to be smaller than my body, Mark,” Sally said, with a grin. “That’s my real limit.”

“So what if there are no hands?” Isoko asked, in a teasing sort of way.

“10 ters tall, then,” Sally said.

“15?” Mark tried to bargain.

“I can do more mini-kaiju kills as long as I’m support and far away,” Eliot said.

“I can learn to drive a vehicle, too,” Sally said. “I can’t let Isoko have all the fun flying around.”

“Ha!” Isoko said, “Certification was a bitch, but it’s fun! Flying is fun. I like hovercars, but the goal is flight magics, and...”

The conversation shifted away from what felt like the dissolution of the group, to sothing better. Sothing with a good future. And Mark was glad. For a minute there, he was worried. But of course there was nothing to worry about. All it took was a reminder that they had shared goals for them to co back together—

“So the video of the kill,” Eliot said, as they flew over the wall of the settlent. “Should I edit out the parts where you used dragon-shaped wings and claws? Or do you want to keep them?”

Mark felt the blood drain from his face.

Sally and Isoko suddenly looked at Mark, and then at Eliot, and then back to Mark.

Mark breathed out a little, and then he made a decision, “Keep them in.”

Sally was surprised.

Eliot was feeling so kinda way that held no easy label.

Isoko asked, “Tyrant-king, dragon-brother Blackvein?”

“I’m not sure what happened out there, but everyone saw, so yeah. I’m leaning into it.”

Sally’s eyes went wide.

Eliot nodded. “Okay. Then that’s what we’re doing.”

Sally looked at everyone, and then at Mark. “You’renot surewhat happened out there?”

“Yes. No real clue what happened. Maybe soone will talk to about it later, since there’s no hiding anything at the settlent— Ah!” Mark realized, “That’s why Sam was acting weird there when he congratulated us.”

Eliot nodded.

Isoko said, “I wondered what that was, so yeah, that makes sense.”

Sally frowned a little bit, and then she realized sothing, her body relaxing. She huffed a laugh, then said, “We’ve got goals and already I’m ride-or-die, but I would like to know what I’m riding occasionally, so I’ll keep a lookout.”

Mark smiled a little.

Isoko laughed once as she angled the silver spider downward. They were over the city and following clearance toward the hovercar hangar.

Eliot said, “So the party tonight! There’s this group of guys in Castle 3 that have been begging for a big gathering place and they’re in a band, so I was thinking we can make them a place and get it staffed with people, or sothing. There’s a whole business district that needs to be made, actually, with a thousand different people wanting different things.” As Isoko landed the spidercraft on the hovercar hangar, Eliot continued, “Long ramble short: Let’s get a party venue made, and then have a party? I’ll show off the video, too, that way you can get in front of all the new hidden dragon accusations that are coming your way, Mark.”

As the craft settled down, Mark steeled himself, saying, “Yes.”

Mark stepped out of the silver spider first—

There was a small crowd arced around the space. They hadn’t appeared on the caras, but here they were, with Aurora at the front, smiling. A banner of paper held in the air behind them, supported on rainbow light, read ‘Congratulations!’.

Aurora announced, “Congratulations! You opened up the fungal forest for harvesting! 75,000 points to each of you, Mark Careed, Eliot Cybersong, Sally Wuthers, and Isoko Kanno!” And then she started clapping.

Worry beca joy, and the day progressed rapidly to sothing wonderful.