An Age of Mysterious Memories

Chapter 28: Revenge of Octorochi

No plan survives first contact, or so they say. Lil and Luni are off to the west, Octorochi is closing in on them fast and Lu is just barely standing to begin turning away to run, everything seems to fade into slow motion, Agwai has to hold Laomati back as I place the first face of our structure, the floor beneath us.

I have two fighting instincts clawing for dominance, one is to place the two western faces of the structure, which gives me more time to place the final face before I have to suffer energy debt, the other is to tether energy to Lil, and have them get Luni to safely, which takes enough energy that I won’t be able to get all of the walls up at all. If I place the two westward walls, Luni has further to run before she makes it around and into the pyramid, where I could close it safely, and Octorochi is faster, every scenario I play in my head in rapid succession ends with her being caught. If I evolve Lil, I don’t have enough energy to put up the third wall, even the second wall causes me to go into energy debt, causing the rest of the family to be a free meal as we’re trapped in what amounts to only most of a pyramid.

I hate this serpent, this evil beast that attacks without reason, without remorse. Someone dies today if I take either course of action, everyone dies today if I do nothing. I look to Teuila, begging forgiveness for what I’m about to do. I state calmly, “Change of plans.” I then yell “Scatter! Te, Lao, south, Mata, Ag, Twins, North!” I extend my energy tether to Lil, whom is atop Luni’s head at the moment, as they transform they know immediately to break away to the south, carrying Luni. I however test out my teleportation, and face down this bastard once more as I summon a copy of Gae Buidhe from my inventory.

I can feel Teuila’s seething rage as she has no choice but to guide Lao away, she understood immediately that she and Lao were faster, so could sweep wide around and rendezvous with the rest. All I need do is survive, and not look this thing in the eyes. I tighten the leaf leather hood about my eyes, covering both of them, and roar my frustrations at the serpent once more, letting my danger wraps guide my reflexes. I’m almost lucky to have spent that time blind, and to have gotten a headache today, it’s like some force is looking out for me. I wish I had Teuila’s agility, or leaping ability, if I could get above this thing’s reach and come down on it, repeatedly, but no such luck. Gae Buidhe however manages to ignore its threshold, as expected of a dangerous magical spear.

What other advantages do I have? Quick, think Reggie, think, it can’t meet my gaze, inside its mouth is more tender, I have seven more copies of a dangerous spear, wait. If I move that way, it snaps, I’m in a jaw, if I move that way, it snaps, I’m in a jaw. If I move this way, and duck low, it snaps, and won’t notice until too late as it jams its own face down on a spear that I stick in the mud. I feint, as if Gae Buidhe and the shield are my only armaments, striking towards the agile serpent, it dodges me nimbly as expected, then I duck low, summoning an extra copy of the spear into the muck below me, sticking up just past my head as I inch ever slightly lower into the muck below. The force of the serpent impales itself, driving Gae Buidhe through its own head, and filling it with fury. It won’t fall for that again, I need to infuriate it twice more before it will make enough mistakes for me to escape.

I’m already panting, and sweating, if Lil guides Lao and Teuila around to the north, and spots Mata, I can probably teleport away and join them, but I have to wait for an opening, and wait for them to be far enough away that the serpent loses the trail. I have to keep inciting mistakes until then, without making too many of my own. Fudge, I have to go for a swim, again.

I dance in a slow semicircle around the serpent, drawing its attention as I make the occasional jab. It can’t afford to ignore me, knowing how dangerous my spear is. I summon another copy of Gae Buidhe in the air above the serpent, out of all of its lines of sight, then I feign falling backwards into the river as I let the other copy drop between the serpent’s rear heads, shunting into its tail, nearly pinning it into the mud, but of course the ground is too soft for that to work, all it accomplished was angering the serpent. That’s all I needed it to do. The serpent took a split second to look around for an unseen attacker as I let myself fall in the river, before it realized that it was me. Mistake number two.

Come on, I just need one more, I need it to make one more, and I have to make sure I don’t impale myself on one of the spears sticking out of the snake in the meantime, I should probably get close enough to reclaim those.

Oh no, it’s even faster in water, oh no, what was I thinking. Lil if you can hear me, tell Teuila I’m almost ready to teleport out of this mess, keep Mata in your sight, don’t let them split up anymore, start a dugout. Ahh my head. Fudge. My vision blurs even inside the hood, and my danger wraps’ senses are flooded with froth and the splash of water, making it hard to discern where the serpent’s attacks are going to come from. I have to give in and let the wraps subconsciously guide me, and trust in them.

I send my copy of the spear back to my inventory, deciding to fight bare-handed, mostly so I can retrieve the other two copies without injuring myself. The first spear is easy to get, as all I have to do is bop one of the front heads in the snout, the one that’s got the spear stuck through it, to reclaim Gae Buidhe from its cranium. Next time I fight this bastard, I’ll have a spear ready for each of its heads, I just need to survive until then. It’s getting impatient for me to be in its mouths, here comes all the heads at once, just like the first time. I didn’t think you’d ever fall for the same trick twice, you big jerk. I make myself as small as possible, and I have to give up one of my most prized possessions to do this, but I use Newton’s third law, expelling my walking stick from my inventory, jamming it into the bed of the river, pivoting my body so that it shoves me upward between all of Octorochi’s necks, into the path of the last spear.

I catch the final copy of Gae Buidhe, dragging it out of Octorochi’s tail, and slashing it across as much of its body as I can as I’m teleporting away in the confusion of its heads snapping at one another in the foam and spray of the rapids. I momentarily appear atop Lil as I’m shunting Gae Buidhe back into my inventory, then arrive in front of Mataalii. Without the fury I feel deep down for Mata, I wouldn’t have gotten away. Once there, I just hug Mata and say “Thank you.” I then drop to my knees, dropping the tether with Lil, passing out.

While unconscious, I find myself reviewing the losses. I lost a quarter of our tetrahedron’s faces, I lost my walking stick, but as far as I could see when I arrived via teleportation, everyone had arrived and banded together to make a dugout, it seems it was easier with a nearly fully fledged dragon to dig. Maybe we should just do that from now on, I’ll keep Lil evolved, and deal with the pain involved with keeping the tether up for extended periods. Lil can just quickly dig a cave every time we need to rest, then I only need to throw up one face once it’s dug.

I awaken to being shaken and slapped by Teuila. I’m in for it now. “I’m so sorry, I’m so, so, so, so sorry, please forgive me Te, please. Please forgive me.” I do mean it, I’m sincere that I regret and want her forgiveness.

Teuila’s response is to growl louder, and louder. “Grrrrrrrrrr!!!!GRRRR!!!!!GRRRRRR!!!!” When she seems unable to growl any louder she just yells, “AAAAHHHH!!!!!” After it’s out of her system, and everyone else looks a bit shook up, she slumps to her knees once again. She pleads with me quietly as she lightly pounds on my chest, “Why is it you? Why does it always have to be you?”

The funny thing is, it’s because I’m not strong enough yet, that it has to be me. If I had a little more maximum energy, the plan would have worked fine. There was another option I didn’t exactly try to take, I could have maybe force evolved Teuila instead of Lil, to much the same effect, she’d have dashed over to rescue either Luni or Lil, then I’d have had to beg her to scatter. She could have stayed to distract Octorochi that way, but then Luni or Lil wouldn’t have gotten away, one or the other. I also might not have gotten out, because I’m slower than the rest, and I don’t know if I can teleport to Teuila. She might have risked herself or one of the others to try to save me.

I realize that as I’ve been lost in thought, several of the family have been asking me why I didn’t put up the building, or why I couldn’t. When I come to my senses, I try to answer. “Luni was too far away, she’d have had to run around to the back side, but the serpent was faster than her, it’d have beaten her there, then I’d have to close the pyramid to save the rest of us. I had to choose between Luni and Lil, or the rest of you. I also played through in my head trying to have Lil or Te rescue her, while still putting up the walls, and I couldn’t get the final wall up due to energy debt. I’m sorry that I’m not strong enough, that I don’t have enough power and energy for my magics yet.”

I’m certain that my failure has cemented my worthlessness into Mata’s mind, but I guess that serves its own purpose. His animosity towards me, or my resentment of that animosity allowed the kind of negative bond I needed for my own small victory this day. It’s fairly somber in the dugout, and Lil looks to be snoozing off the weariness of the transformation, their adorable snores are the only sound at the moment.

Lil’s probably the only one that understands why I thanked Mataalii when I arrived, since I haven’t really explained the teleportation to anyone, what I’ve learned about it, or at least guessed about it. I might even be wrong, it might not be anger that I have, it might be hostile intent of others, Mata could actually really have it in for me, I don’t know. “Is anyone injured? I’m sorry if that was scary.”

The twins look extremely shaken, but I don’t see any injuries on anyone, well, anyone other than myself. I’m battered, bruised, I might have some broken bones. I’m so incredibly grateful for the way injuries recover in our world. What I’m not grateful for is that jerk serpent, as my thoughts focus on it, my hatred of it grows and grows. I imagine how it could have taken any member of my family from me.

My vision goes red, I can’t help but feel full of fury, I want to lash out, I need to lash out. I feel my tattoo tendrils extend, and I begin to growl, my family vanishes from my vision, and all I see is red as I continue to think about that horrid beast. This. This isn’t me. I try divesting the tattoo. It feels as if the flesh of my arm is being flayed. It feels akin to my skin being peeled off, but the tendrils disappear from my senses, yet my vision remains red, it was not their fault. My thoughts drift to the various red-eyed creatures I’ve run into so far in my short lifespan, and thankfully, one of my greatest weaknesses stops me before I lash out. I imagine Day… One…

As I hyperventilate, and this red vision somehow tunnels into deeper crimson, the ever-present ringing in my ears is accompanied by a pounding presence. My pulse races, my body quivers, and I relive the nightmares of my first sleep, fleeing from everything opening into jagged maws, the world itself cracking a jagged false smile and me tumbling into its toothy grin, swallowed and shredded to bits.

Some time later, I come to, my eyes incredibly itchy and dry, as if they’re all cried out. I hear faint weeping, that I would expect to be coming from me, but it’s not, it’s coming from the twins who seem to be cowering behind Mata. I realize my hood is still down over my eyes, and I pull it back, scanning the dugout for everyone. If I’ve hurt someone in a rampage I’ll never forgive myself. Lil is there, seeming a bit stiff and on guard. Lao and Ag are holding one another close, staring on in a fright. Luni is backed against a wall. Teuila’s fist is approaching my face. I pass out before I can even finish the thought.

I awaken again, yet some time later. I feel my face for signs of a bruise, or itchy eyes, but my hood is still over my eyes, Teuila is snuggled into my chest, Luni and Lil are atop me on the other side, Lao and Ag are close as well. It’s as if none of that just happened. For once, I check my memory logs, there’s my experience of it, and reading about having a panic attack triggers another panic attack, but there’s no evidence that Teuila hit me to knock me out. My tattoo is still applied, my vision isn’t red. Teuila has woken up and is comforting me, sensing my panic.

“Teuila? Did, did I go on a rampage? Did you have to knock me out?”

“Shh, no, what are you talking about? You’re okay, you’re here.”

“Teuila, please look at my memory log, the most recent bit?”

“Hm, okay, sure. This… This didn’t happen. How can that be? I understand the panic attacks, but I don’t get the rest of this.” Teuila’s bewilderment matches my own puzzling at this memory. I don’t think I even went into energy debt, so I can’t blame that for a hallucination. “You passed out right after asking if anyone else was injured, maybe it was a dream?” Teuila guesses.

“What a horrible, awful, vivid dream.” Is the only reaction I can come up with for that. I bury my face into the crook of Teuila’s neck, and smooch at her clavicle several times, trying to just rattle free any of those dark thoughts. We didn’t march as far today, but it seems like everyone is napping with me. I’m perfectly happy to accept the rest, and I’d like to take advantage of it, but I can’t. I need to earn about a quarter more maximum energy. The most I was earning was when Teuila was evolved.

“Teuila, I’m afraid to ask this of you, well maybe not afraid, but loathe to, since we’re so comfy, but I think I need you to be evolved, and to use a lot of my energy. Are you willing to head out of the dugout, and practice jumping attacks for a bit?” Teuila’s ears perk up at my request, she basically scoffs in response.

“You barely even have to ask. Sure, let’s let the fam snooze while we train.” Teuila gently nudges Luni to one side, so that we can crawl out from under her without waking her, and we exit the dugout, replacing the cap carefully, quietly.

My idea is to have Teuila leap onto things I summon out of my inventory into the air, and thrust them down. I’m suspicious that she might have some sort of gravity based powers. While she does that, I should probably be swimming. It’ll tire me out pretty quickly, but if I time my rests, I should be able to keep it up for a while. I share my plan with Te, who’s all too happy to agree to it.

Evolving Teuila feels easier now, having done it already so many times, and I feel closer to her than ever before, like she carries my beating heart in her chest, soaring into the sky with each of her incredible leaps. As I suspected, she’s able to basically dance on objects in the air, barely connecting with them at all, or she’s able to kick them downward so hard that they rocket to the ground with incredible force. My swimming against the current tires me out physically while summoning things for Teuila to perform sky ballet on tires me out magically. I’m really just gently tossing random junk upwards into the sky, and she’s connecting with them at the apex, but it makes for effective training. I’m able to actually recover energy when I clamber out of the river and rest against Teuila, while she rests, even in her evolved form. Though panting, and struggling, I manage to continue doing this with her for several hours, before I have to beg to head back in and join the family for sleep.

Teuila readily acquiesces. We manage to resume our snuggling position under Luni and Lil, by nudging them slightly. I return to sleep, comforted, assured in the thought that next time, surely next time is the last time we’ll ever see that horrid serpent. It’s in for a nasty surprise, spears raining from the skies. I try to let go of my anger though, to enjoy the comfort and love of those I hold dear, their embraces bring me the utmost joy, and I never want to lose sight of that.