The Fusionist

The recovery of Larek’s internal pattern was remarkable. By the time he woke up the next day, his Pattern Restoration Skill had not only repaired more than half of the damage that he had observed the day before, but he felt like the newly restored pattern was stronger somehow, as if it was more resilient to damage in the future. He wasn’t sure if this was actually the case or not, but he likened the change to his pattern to having scar tissue or calluses toughening up its overall structure.

Even better, the speed with which the restoration happened was only increasing, which was all due to his new Skill bumping up in Level.

Pattern Restoration has reached Level 38!

Larek was thankful for the new Skill, which he was sure would continue to increase as it helped to restore his internal pattern, as it meant he wasn’t going to be “down” for weeks or longer like he had originally thought. Before he used any of his Pattern Cohesion for constructs or Fusions, he was planning on letting his internal pattern fully heal, but he suspected that it would only be a few more hours at the rate it was going.

As he ate breakfast a short time after waking up, the Fusionist was a little more aware of his body and the changes happening to it than he had been the night before. With a better focus that he could apply to the new Skill, he discovered what it was that it was doing.

Somehow, it was taking his reservoirs of Mana and Stama, combining them with minute quantities of the natural Aetheric Force drifting throughout the environment around him, and then using this combination to regrow his pattern. Closing his eyes, he was able to concentrate on the process as it happened in real-time; it was fascinating and almost miraculous how the Skill was able to do it, and he wanted to figure out how to do it himself.

Focusing his attention on it, he was soon consumed with watching the actual combination process between the different energies, which was done in a way that he’d never seen before… and he had no idea how it was being done. Still, he spent what felt like seconds watching it work – but was more than an hour; just when he felt like he was starting to understand it a little better, his focus was broken when shouting suddenly interrupted his work.

“Hold on, he’s still recovering—” he heard Nedira responding to someone near the door, and he opened his eyes to look in that direction.

A Volunteer was standing just inside next to the Naturalist, appearing frantic in his motions as he shuffled from foot to foot. “But we need him now! The SIC, they’ve gone and—”

“Wait just a moment and we’ll be out!” Nedira irritably shouted back at the man, pushing him through the door. With her new Strength stat, she was much stronger than she was before.

Now that his concentration was broken, Larek couldn’t focus on the restoration process of his internal pattern anymore – especially as he heard mention of the SIC. “What was that about?” he asked.

Nedira twitched a little in surprise at his voice, as she had likely expected him to still be lost in thought, but she recovered quickly as she moved toward him. “I’m not exactly sure, but from what little I overheard, it seems as though the SIC is on the move.”

“Already? I thought we might’ve had a few months before they started making problems again.” Larek finished the remains of his breakfast, which was now cold, before he stood up. Grabbing the Void Pocket bag nearby, which he’d spied earlier, he quickly checked to see if what he needed was inside. Thankfully, his halberd was easy enough to pull out and store again, as were a few things such as his staff; his faithful axe was still clipped to his belt, as it was the first thing he made sure was available to him as soon as he woke up.

While he hoped not to get into another fight right now, as he felt like he was still recovering from the last one, he wanted to be ready just in case it was inevitable.

Nedira snatched her staff from where it was leaning against the wall and also belted on a flanged mace, which she slipped through a loop. It seemed like she was ready for a fight, as well.

Both of them quickly raced outside, and as soon as they opened the door, Larek could tell that something major was going on.

“Move! I need to get to—”

“—what if they come here next?”

“Watch where you’re going!”

“—just stop them!”

Members of the Volunteer Militia for Freedom, both fighters and those who kept the city of Thanesh fed and operating efficiently, were running around everywhere. He had forgotten how busy the city had become while they had been freeing everyone from the mind-controlling bugs, and even with people moving out into the cleared Calamity territory, there were reportedly still tens of thousands of people living there.

“The news really gets around quickly here, doesn’t it?” he asked Nedira, looking around at the chaos. Thankfully, no one was acting like they were being actively attacked, so he wasn’t too worried, but who knew whether that would change.

Taking a few steps out of his doorway, he could see his appearance becoming known to those on the street, as they stopped and stared at him. Remembering that he was now at his original height and not the condensed version where he was shorter, he was prepared to face the angry, disdainful looks that he was used to from the population of the Kingdom…

…but that didn’t happen.

Instead, while there were a few who saw him and looked away quickly, their expressions thankfully neutral instead of hateful, everyone else smiled when they saw him, giving him nods or even bowing as they moved along – which was frankly a little disturbing to see. A few even waved, as if excited to see an old friend, and he numbly waved back, confused at this turn of events, while at the same time grateful. While he didn’t expect that his days of being an object of fear or anger were behind him, it seemed as though the people who had been freed from the mind-controlling bug and cleared of any vestiges of Dominion magic that might have lingered in them throughout their bloodline had chosen to either embrace him as one of their own or at least accept him.

Or that was the impression he got at first glance. Only time would tell if that was the case among all of them.

“Come on, let’s get to Headquarters,” Nedira told him, grabbing his arm and directing him to join the flow of traffic. “They’ll know better than anyone else what this is all about.”

He let her direct their pathway through the crowd, and as he listened to the conversations around him, he was starting to get a better understanding of just what was going on.

Listening has reached Level 45!

However, Larek didn’t want to jump to conclusions without an official report; but if what he heard was true, then he knew that they would have to act quickly. This altered the tenuous plans he’d come up with the night before, and while this situation likely wasn’t ideal, he could see a way to take advantage of it. He was already formulating how to incorporate this development into those plans as they approached the headquarters building up ahead of them, which appeared just as busy as he’d ever seen it, if not even busier. There was even a line leading into the building, with impatient-looking Volunteers of different types waiting to get into the main entrance, with both those who had unlocked their potential and those who appeared to be Messengers – and even a Farmer.

“Hey, you can’t just cut—” one of those up front said as Nedira started pushing her way through the line. The man snapped his jaw shut as he looked behind her to see Larek right behind her, and soon enough a way was made for them without a word.

If he had been uncomfortable with how the Volunteers had acted around him before, the awe he could practically feel emanating from them at the moment was somehow worse. He might have been seen as a savior before, freeing them from the mind-controlling bugs, but he could see that his revealed nature and the fact that he had killed one of the Gergasi had elevated him into another realm entirely. At any second, he half-expected some of them to get on their knees and prostrate themselves in his presence. Fortunately for him, no one did that, but the emotions he could practically feel exploding from them made him feel extremely uncomfortable. In fact, their reactions were completely different from those he passed on the street, to the point where he wondered what the difference was.

No one stopped them getting inside, where they found that the chaos wasn’t just restricted to the streets. The large crowd of Volunteers rushing around and calling out to each other was a bit nerve-wracking, as he didn’t feel comfortable being around so many people – especially with his height making him tower over them all – but Nedira dragged him up the stairs quickly enough that it didn’t bother him too much. Larek tried not to look at the stares sent in his direction, as well as refraining from listening to the comments focused on him, and he largely succeeded because there was an edge of urgency to everyone that overrode much of the feelings they felt toward him.

Less than a minute later, the both of them managed to make it to the top floor of the building, where they found even more Volunteers rushing around chaotically, but they also found those they expected to see.

“Good; you’re here,” Kimble said as soon as he saw them, the leader of the Volunteers waving toward Larek and Nedira, inviting them into his office. Looking past him, Larek could see that Verne, Teena, and Bartholomew were already inside. It only took a few seconds to cross the distance and walk inside, and Kimble closed the door behind them, blocking out the majority of the noise from the Volunteers outside.

“I don’t know what you’ve heard, but we’ve got a problem,” Verne blurted out before the Fusionist even sat down.

“So I reckoned,” Larek responded, sitting down on one of the large, comfortable chairs that Kimble had brought in at some point. It was larger than the others and actually fit him, making him immediately understand that it might have been specifically created with his new “old” height in mind. The size made it appear a bit throne-ish, but its relatively nondescript upholstery lessened the effect. “I overheard some things on the way here, but why don’t you start from the beginning.”

Kimble took over smoothly before the fidgeting form of the excitable Verne could say anything else.

“To begin with, we had thought that the attack by the SIC a short time ago was only a probing attempt to take over this city and the Volunteers, integrating themselves as a powerful force that could protect them. However, it seems as though it was only the beginning of their strategy for this region, and the time we had thought we had before they tried anything else was sorely mistaken.”

“What do you mean? What did they do?” Nedira asked, though Larek had heard enough on his way up to have a fairly good idea.

Kimble sighed. “It appears as though they’ve mobilized the different Factions in the area, and perhaps even beyond, to fight against the spread of ‘chaos’ – their word, not ours – throughout the region. They are taking the knowledge of the mind-controlling bugs, which they have obviously learned about, and are spreading misinformation about them, making it seem as though the infestation was caused by us. As a result, they’re making it seem as though the closing of the Calamity was some sort of devious plan to spread our influence, where we won’t stop until the entire world is under our control.

“The fanaticism with which the Volunteers operate has only seemed to reinforce this false narrative, as to outsiders it appears as though they are still mind-controlled, but are controlled by a central figure. Namely, you,” Kimble stated, nodding in Larek’s direction. “We’re not sure how they are disseminating this information out to all the towns and cities outside our perimeter, but they are now extremely hostile toward us, to the point where they’ve killed dozens of Volunteers and destroyed an entire Transport down by the town of Lakeside. The resulting explosion, when the Fusions were damaged beyond stability wiped out half of the town, which was seen as yet another attack on our part, despite not being the reason behind the explosion.

“In short, things are falling apart. The mind-controlling bugs have continued to spread, panicking the Factions, as they likely believe that we’re attempting to subvert them from the inside. Our teams have been tracking movement throughout hundreds of nearby towns and cities not under our control, and it appears as though they’re actually preparing to attack us at some point – as little good as that would do them.”

As Kimble wound down, Verne spoke excitedly. “But that’s not all,” he started, speaking quickly. “As you no doubt are aware, the SIC had been preparing to close the northeastern Calamity for a while now, even before we closed the northwestern one. Apparently, spurred on by our efforts, or because of them, they’ve now begun the process, sending thousands of Mages and Martials into the northeastern one.”

“It was always the plan,” Bartholomew interjected, causing everyone to look at him. “I helped to develop some of it, in fact, as the process is comprehensive enough to need the input of dozens of people. However, we were prevented from implementing it already because we had many other parts of the Kingdom to factor into our logistics, as the SIC couldn’t abandon the help we provided to those on the outskirts. It wasn’t as much as we would’ve liked, but it was enough that concentrating all our forces on one Calamity was a huge ordeal. But now, with two of the Calamities closed and the SIC moving into the northwestern region to take over after you ‘left it a mess,’” he said apologetically, “they have more power concentrated in the north since the Kingdom was whole. They are going to use it to consolidate their influence and expand downwards after the northeastern Calamity is closed.

“The closure of the Calamity here was unexpected, I’m sure, but their existing plan to try and make us the enemy here can still work unless we do something about it. Everything is still in the early stages, and we have teams venturing out further to see what’s going on elsewhere, but now is the time to act before too many people die. We’ve already lost too many, and if we want to keep as many people as we can safe, we need to stop this infighting and turn our attention to the real threat: the Gergasi and the Apertures.”

Larek was a little taken aback at Bartholomew’s speech, as he hadn’t expected such to come from the man. Still, that the former Noble had been part of the SIC was an asset that they could rely on going forward, as it gave them a glimpse into the plans of the Corps that would otherwise be absent.

And right now, the issue that was most pressing upon Larek was the SIC. As much as he wanted to immediately march toward the Enclave with the support of the army of Volunteers at his back, that support would crumble if the SIC started attacking Thanesh or any of the other towns and cities into which the Volunteers had spread throughout the southeastern region. Besides, he – and they – weren’t yet strong enough to stand up to the Gergasi yet, so going right now would be a mistake. Instead, they would deal with the problems at home first, building up their strength as well as their influence, free more people from the mind-controlling bugs, and deal with the SIC once and for all. The organization had been beneficial when the Kingdom was whole, but in its current fractured state, and with the current threats that assaulted it, the way that the Corps operated was not only outdated, but dangerous. Their horrendous actions lately had proven that they were trying to grasp at their dwindling power in the Kingdom, and while he could somewhat understand that they were supposedly doing it for the greater good, he couldn’t excuse the strife, fear, and death that were perpetuated upon those that they pretended to help.

“I agree,” Larek said, nodding toward Bartholomew. “I believe that it’s time we turn our attention to the SIC. We’ve only been reacting to what they’ve done or tried to do to us; I think it’s time to be proactive to end the threat that they represent.”

“What exactly are you saying?” Bartholomew asked warily. To Larek, his caution was understandable; while he didn’t directly work for the SIC anymore, he probably knew plenty of them well enough that he didn’t want them to all be killed in Larek’s proclamation to end the threat they represented. That wasn’t what Larek wanted, either; he could only assume that many of them wanted to simply protect people, and killing them all would only hurt the defense of those people against the Apertures and the monsters they spit out.

“I’m saying that we should do exactly what they’re accusing us of. It’s time to take over the defense of the entire Kingdom.”