Galactic High

The ground trembled as Jack charged forward, kicking the final lone Blightcap to smash into paste against the wall as he led the group out of the shrine gate, with Hund’Razzil mopping up the rest of their enemies.

“Well it’s a good thing all your stuff grows with you!” Sephy quipped. “As funny as a giant buck-ass naked Jack might be, it wouldn’t be very practical!”

Vetch was very clear about the types of potions he rewarded us with, and I confirmed them, Chiyo pointed out with a chuckle as they caught up. There are lesser varieties that don’t have measures to include proximity to items, and drinking one of those with fully sealed heavy armour wouldn’t end well!

“Jack, head deeper into the forest!” Alora called out, as she floated her Dancing Lights past his head. “Follow the lights, and make sure we can keep up!”

“Got it!” The human roared, his voice easily carrying. He barreled forward, his massive form crashing through the undergrowth into the forest beyond, with some of the trees seeming to bend and sway out of his way, likely aided by Elysandra from afar. Spotting a few of the slower Blightcaps trying in vain to run, he swept them with his foot, booting them into the trees where they exploded in puffs of spores.

“GOOOOOAAAAAAALLLLLL!” He yelled, unleashing his inner football hooligan.

“Well, at least he’s having fun!” Nika chucked as the others struggled to keep up.

*BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* Jack’s footsteps thundered on the forest floor, the sound of his passage echoing through the forest like the approach of a storm as he chased after the fleeing monsters, destroying everything in his path!

“COME ON ENGLAND!” He tauntingly yelled out as he stomped on some Myrelings that failed to dive out of the way. “IT’S COMING HOME!”

“Chiyo, how long will the effects last?” Alora asked the Ilithii as Chiyo used her Cane of Travel to hasten their speed.

I don’t know, fifteen minutes at most for some people! Chiyo replied. But less for others! We need to make the most use out of this and disrupt what they’re doing. Kill the remaining witches or take out what they’ve been up to!

“Not a problem!” Jack grinned as he crashed into a hastily-assembled formation of Blightcaps with the force of a battering ram, swinging his axe in a wide arc as he cleaved through half of them in one stroke, their armoured bodies offering no resistance to his blade.

“Jack, watch out!” Sephy called out, spotting the threats with one of her drones and quickly pointing in the direction of a group of Blightcaps that she recognised by their giant bloated forms as the explosive ones.

“Oh yeah!?” Jack growled with a daring grin as he reached over his shoulder and drew his blunderbluss. The already-intimidating weapon was now nearly the size of a ballista in his hands, with a barrel now wide enough to fit an entire person.

Jack planted his feet firmly on the ground, his stance wide, and braced as he hefted the blunderbuss to his shoulder, its weight practically nothing in his enlarged state. He sighted down the barrel, aiming at the centre of the advancing pack of explosive Blightcaps.

Then he pulled the trigger.

The blunderbuss roared like a raging hurricane, the sound booming through the forest as a massive wave of searing energy erupted from the barrel, a torrent of superheated plasma that bathed the entire area in blinding light. The blast was immense, magnified a hundredfold by his enlarged size, and it tore through the air like a raging beast.

The leading Blightcap exploded on impact, its body disintegrating in a flash of green and yellow as the plasma blast engulfed it. The explosion set off a chain reaction, each of the explosive Blightcaps detonating in turn as the blast wave tore through their ranks as if they were melted butter. The blast wave also ripped through the surrounding foliage, with trees and underbrush alike vaporising under the intense heat. When the dust and debris cleared, all that was left was a smouldering crater.

“Woah!” He yelled out.

“Gotta love magitech!” Nika called out. “Gotta move, you don’t have much time!”

I sense us getting closer! Chiyo warned. There’s something bad up ahead!

“Then let’s go kill it!” Sephy called back, as they charged through ever-thickening clouds of the false mist, with Alora using her new staff to blow the spores away from them as best as she could.

As the group navigated their way between the tree trunks, they saw more signs of the now-familiar corrupting fungus around them. Orange pustule-like growths up in the trees that were obstructive, their branches twisted and gnarled to block Jack’s path, forcing him to tear them to splinters with his axe. More of the pale white mushroom patches along the ground continued adding more and more to the oppressive spore clouds. And now different strains of all sorts, appearing with more regularity with each step they took…

As Jack spotted a gap in the treeline leading to some ominous pale light in the distance, the group passed a cluster of unassuming mushrooms growing at the base of a rotting log. Their caps were a dull purple, almost blending into the shadows, and they seemed to pulse faintly with an internal light. But as Jack drew near, the mushrooms suddenly sprang to life.

Abruptly inflating and opening up many pores, the mushrooms erupted with a shrill, ear-piercing wail that echoed out through the trees. The noise was like a high-pitched, keening scream that was almost unbearable, a relentless screech that seemed to vibrate through their very bones.

“Fucking Shrieker Mushrooms!” Nika swore as she shut the closest patch up with a swing of her staff. “Hate those fucking things!”

“Well it wasn’t like we had the element of surprise anyway!” Sephy quipped.

“It’s not just an alarm! We’ve got company!” Alora warned as she cast a quick spell.

Sure enough, shuffling sounds echoed through the woods as several patches of earth burst up, with a ragtag collection of jerky figures trying to pull themselves to their feet.

Just like the Zorn from before! Chiyo warned.

Indeed, many bodies were beginning to rise out of the ground, having quite clearly been there for some time. But compared to the Zorn they fought previously, these shambling bodies were slower and more sluggish, and Chiyo could see why.

She spotted a Zorn rising out of the ground, necrosis having long set in with an arm almost completely devoid of flesh. As it tried to pull itself to its feet, she saw the head disproportionately preserved and partially functional, with several flat fungal growths that seemed to bulge out of cracks in their skull.

But what these thralls lacked in functionality, they made up for it in numbers, as more patches of earth began to move…

We need to make this quick! Chiyo warned. Take out the threat and get out of here!

“No complaints here!” Nika agreed as she used her staff to smash the head of an unrecognisable skeletal body crawling along the ground, scattering it into dust. “These are just fodder to try and block us!”

“There’s a light up ahead,” Jack told them, having the best line of sight out of all of them. “£100 says that’s where we need to be!”

“A hundred what?” Sephy asked under her breath as they pushed through the last of the dense forest towards the light in the distance.

“By the gods!” Alora gasped.

Emerging into a clearing, the group was immediately hit by the thick scent of decay and damp rot, and they were thankful for Chiyo’s air bubble, which the Ilithii quickly reinforced as the mist-like clouds of spores blanketed all around them.

The clearing was dominated by a massive, sprawling, dark-green and yellow creeping growth that blanketed everything in sight with a revolting display of rot and decay. As they stepped forward onto it, they could feel that it was thick and fleshy, with its surface damp and glistening with moisture, oozing an unnatural black ichor with every step. Fungal vines spread out in every direction, creeping up the trunks of long-dead trees, winding through the earth, and wrapping around anything that dared linger too long in its path. The entire area felt eerily alive, as if the ground itself was a part of some dark, collective entity, feeding on the life force of every living thing it came into contact with.

A few hundred metres away at the centre of this horrific fungal canvas, was the most grotesque sight of all, a massive cocoon-like structure that rose from the centre of the black growth, towering like a vile, cancerous tumour. Its form pulsed rhythmically, each contraction sending ripples of pale light through several large, thick tendrils that radiated from it like the limbs of a spider, some snaking deeper into the forest while others seemed to float in the air before phasing out into nothingness.

The cocoon itself seemed to be alive, its translucent surface twitching and undulating, almost as if the pale light within was straining to break free before it was sent shooting off along the tendrils. With each pulse, it seemed as if the cocoon grew stronger and stronger, as if something was soon to emerge…

“Holy shit!” Sephy alerted them, suddenly stopping in her tracks and pointing to a nearby shape on the floor, and following the mass of fungal vines, Jack gasped on seeing what it was.

It was a body, at least what was left of one. It was sprawled on the ground, limbs splayed in unnatural angles, but completely fused to the fungal entity, attached by more black vines that spread out like veins across the clearing. Their skin was grey and leathery, stretched taut over a skeletal frame. Thick, sinewy tendrils of fungus snaked into their mouth and nostrils, and a grotesque bulge pulsed just under their skin, like a filthy parasite feeding on what little remained, without a care.

And then they saw the chest barely rise and fall…

As they headed closer to the cocoon, many, many more bodies came into view. They were strewn across the ground like discarded refuse, each victim at varying stages of decay, but all eerily similar—held fast by the thick fungal tendrils that had rooted themselves into their flesh.

“This is where they were taking the captives…” Jack spoke up grimly. “But why?”

Alora quickly crouched down next to a young avian woman, her once-lively features now hollow and gaunt. The Eladrie reached out hesitantly to check for any signs of life, but recoiled when the woman’s head jerked slightly, though their eyes remained unfocused and dead. "They're... still alive!" she whispered in horror, but even as Alora said it, she knew it was a lie.

They were nothing more than braindead husks…

“No time!” Nika snapped at them, pointing to the cocoon. Emerging from the gloom were the three remaining Hags, their gnarled forms barely visible beneath the dark, roiling mist that surrounded them. They stood in a triangular formation around the cocoon, their twisted hands raised in the air, channelling dark magic into the pulsating fungal mass, not appearing to have noticed them as they maintained their concentration.

“We end this now,” Alora growled as her eyes hardened. “Kill them all and destroy that thing!”

Without another word, they charged.

Feeling the power surge within her, Alora muttered the incantation of her most powerful ability as quickly as she could. If there was ever a time to call upon her divine link, it was now!

“Shar’hashala of Quemos! I summon thee!” Alora shouted, raising her spear as she was suddenly bathed in light. Her form grew, skin glowing bright, sprouting wings and shimmering with holy flames as Alora finished her transformation into a celestial, as the corruption around her seemed to recoil away from her.

Jack charged straight for the cocoon, but was blocked as a flurry of tentacles desperately sprung up and grabbed him, though he continued to fight his way through them…

Nika dashed forward with her plasma rifle at the ready, swiftly closing the distance between herself and the nearest Hag, with Jack handily keeping the enemy fully occupied as whatever Myrelings, Blightcaps and thralls were available fought to stop him.

As she skidded to a stop, her plasma rifle whirred to life as she aimed down the sights, target locked on the Hag in the rear. A crackling burst of bright green plasma cut through the air, slamming into the witch’s side and scorching her robe.

The Hag let out a screech of pain and stumbled backwards, but she recovered quickly, snarling at the Kizun. With a flick of her hand, she summoned a wall of shadow to deflect the next round of plasma bolts, causing Nika to switch to her shotgun as she kept moving, looking to get into close range.

“Woof!” Dante warned as several swift forms quickly bounded towards them, the remaining Skinwalkers howling and screeching as they moved to stop them.

“No you don’t!” Alora growled, turning around and using her wings to close the distance, completely blindsiding the closest Skinwalker as she impaled it with her spear, the divine power channelling through her not even giving the beast a chance to regenerate as it fell still, body disintegrating as if by acid.

“Chiyo, help Jack!” Alora ordered as she pressed her hands together, condensing her power before throwing her hands out, shooting out a pulse of radiant energy that stopped the Skinwalkers in their tracks as they were knocked back by holy power, before a huge BOOM ripped out as Jack spun around and lined up a devastating shot with his Blunderbuss, cutting down many of the charging Skinwalkers that hadn’t expected it.

“Thanks!” Alora called out as she turned back around and used her wings to hover while Dante covered their flanks, using his electrical powers to hold back the swarm rapidly reforming against them.

She quickly spotted one of the Hags by a tree, cackling as it raised its gnarled hands. Alora rapidly dodged as a dark bolt of energy arced towards her in a deadly flash, before it reversed course, causing Alora to channel her power into a barrier that halted the spell completely. The Eladrie then dove down, briefly spreading her wings to zip back up slightly to avoid a desperate firebolt as she rapidly closed the distance.

“By the light, this ends now!” Alora growled with a battle cry, thrusting her glowing spear forward, aiming for the Hag’s chest. The Hag snarled and pressed her hands forward, throwing up a Force Wall in a desperate attempt to stop the attack.

“No!” The Hag cackled. “You won’t stop it!”

Alora channelled her fury into the tip of her spear as she pushed, shattering the magical barrier as she plunged it deep into the Hag’s chest, radiant energy exploding from the wound as the Hag let out a scream, her body shaking as holy light poured through her, before burning her to ash.

Sephy darted around the battlefield looking for targets, her twin plasma bouncers gleaming in the dim light as they pulsed with crackling energy. She spotted another one of the remaining Hags, this one with blackened, cracked skin and hair like dead vines. Her hands glowed with necrotic energy as she flung a dark bolt at Jack, desperate to bring him down as he slowly advanced step-by-step towards the cocoon despite its defences…

“Oh no you don’t!” Sephy snarled as she sent two ricocheting shots of plasma bouncing up to the Hag, slamming into a magical shield. The witch sneered back and refocused her efforts on the Skritta, sending another dark bolt her way. Sephy deftly twisted her body at the last second, narrowly avoiding the necrotic bolt.

“Missed me!” Sephy grinned, as the Hag shot more bolts out of its wand.

Sephy shuffled backward with her wings, firing a quick volley of plasma shots mid-air. The glowing bolts bounced off the fungal creep on the floor, ricocheting toward the Hag, but the old crone reflexively raised her hand and summoned 7 mirror images, with one shattering as Sephy’s plasma bolts shot harmlessly through it.

“Come child…” The voice of the Hag purred, and Sephy looked around for the source but was unable to sense the direction. Likely a trick. “You cannot hope to stand against the tide. It’s not too late. Become a part of something greater than yourself…”

“Oh yeah?” Sephy growled, sending two bolts blasting through two more illusions. Dammit, where was it? “What are you guys hoping to accomplish here?”

“You’ll find out soon enough!” The voice cackled from the direction of the cocoon, though Sephy’s instincts suddenly screamed at her as she quickly drew her knives and sliced the air behind her. The cocky voice suddenly bellowed in a scream, one of the knives finding resistance as the Hag abruptly reappeared out of invisibility. As Sephy closed the distance, the panicking Hag cast another spell, and Sephy yelped out in pain as the hilts of her knives suddenly heated up, forcing her to drop them to the ground.

Rallying, the Hag launched forward, her palm full of magical necrotic energy. Sephy dodged, kicking the Hag’s legs from under her. As the witch stumbled to her feet, she looked up just in time to see Sephy quickly drawing her pistols, their barrels spinning rapidly on her fingers before levelling themselves point blank at the hag’s face.

“Gotcha bitch!” Sephy quipped as she fired. The Hag’s face froze in a look of surprise for a split second, before two plasma bolts ventilated her skull with a searing hiss.

Quickly picking up her knives, the witch’s spell on them having ended with her death, Sephy took stock and got back into the fight.

“Mistress!” the last Hag yelled out with a fanatical cry as she felt the death of her Coven. Quickly disengaging from Nika with a blink, she turned around and ran dashing towards the cocoon, stumbling as a plasma bolt from Nika took her in the leg.

Stop her! Chiyo warned, sensing something bad as the Hag threw her hand out to disrupt the Ilithii’s telekinetic blast. Another shot from Sephy took her in the chest as she fell to one knee, desperately clinging onto her second wind as her eyes fixated on the cocoon…

‘Izorinn!’ Alora called out, causing the Hag to scream out a litany of curses as chains of light bound her.

As Alora charged with her spear, the eyes of the Hag took on a determined sheen, turning a bright red as her face tightened in concentration, forcing arcane words out even as the chains of light burned at her corrupted flesh. As Alora’s spear silenced her for good, the Hag’s deathmask was a smile…

At that same moment, Jack’s axe smashed into the cocoon again, this time finding purchase. As the blade finally dug into the rubbery flesh, the cocoon suddenly burst, and a concentrated cloud of spores spewed out, right into Jack’s face…

Blinking heavily and coughing, Jack’s eyes adjusted to what was in front of him as the environment changed in an instant. Looking around he didn’t see his friends, or any of the monsters either for that matter. He saw trees in the far distance, but something was off about them, like they were artificial faded mockeries that only served to decorate the otherwise infinite void.

He looked behind him and down, feeling something touch his foot, kicking away the lifeless tendril. Strangely it didn’t look like it had been severed; rather there were patches of it at the end that looked like they were cleanly removed, leaving only a mosaic of rubbery fungus behind.

‘What the hell were these things doing?’ Jack thought to himself. ‘Draining people dry? Hermits living around here, Zorn, even a bunch of Klowns!? For what?’

“Impressive…” A silky voice dripped with malice called out as Jack jumped to his feet. “But now you die…”

“Not if I kill you first!” Jack shouted back, drawing his axe as he looked for the source of the voice.

In an instant, something charged out of the fog towards him in a blur of motion. Jack barely had time to block and dodge as he felt the blade of a glave pass over the haft of his axe, sending him tumbling backwards through the ghostly void by the sheer power of the blow. He landed, skidding to a stop, but was back on his feet almost immediately, instinct taking over.

He saw the figure properly, a woman his height whose shape looked blurred and obscured, but he could still make out two distinct curved horns almost like that of a ram, four moth-like wings that sprouted from her back in the same sickly shades of green and yellow he had seen on the Myrelings and the Blightcaps, and most distinctively, glowing red eyes that matched those of the Skinwalkers.

“Aegis!” He yelled out as he shuffled back, the next strike from the woman catching his shield like a battering ram, knocking the air from his lungs as he dug his feet in. He swung his axe, hoping to counterattack and catch her in the side, but she sidestepped effortlessly, her form a blur of dark motion.

Before he could counter, she grabbed him by the throat with one vice-like hand. Jack struggled, his hands clawing at her grip, but her strength was monstrous. She lifted him off the ground with terrifying ease as her glowing red eyes bore into him with cold intensity.

“What’s this…” The woman curiously asked as she examined him, before suddenly giggling. “The gods have a sense of humour…”

With a snarl Jack curled his fist and desperately threw a punch, connecting with her jaw. It landed home with a meaty thud, but her head barely turned with the force, her expression unchanged as she slammed him to the ground. With a burst of effort Jack caught the woman with his boot, kicking off of her and rolling to his feet. His muscles burned and his mind was racing, but there was no time to think.

He parried the glave and swung wide, but the woman ducked under his swing with supernaturally precise movement, driving her knee into his midsection with bone-crunching force. Pain exploded through him, but he kept moving, sheer will keeping him upright as he swung his axe again, catching the woman on her shoulder. Channelling his rage he attacked again, forcing the woman on the defensive as she brought her glaive up to block before swiftly bringing it back down in a riposte. Jack reflexively parried the thrust with his left arm, then snapped it towards her forehead in a backfist that shook her for a moment, obscuring Jack’s next move as his right fist formed a punch dagger and clobbered the woman in the face with full force, with her letting out an unnatural shriek of rage as she stumbled back.

Seizing the moment, Jack quickly drew his side arm and put as much distance as he could between them as the woman rallied.

“OVERCHARGE!” Jack yelled in a panic, and the powerful photon blast hit the woman square in the chest, temporarily bringing her down to one knee before she quickly stood back up and charged with a furious battle cry.

Suddenly, the blurry form of the woman began to fade away along with the surroundings. She stopped mid-charge and sneered at him.

"Enjoy your victory while it lasts, mortal. You will see me again…"

“Jack? Jack!” Alora yelled, as Jack suddenly lurched up, seeing his friends surrounding him.

“Huh?” He spoke up groggily as Nika helped him to his feet, now normal-sized. “What the hell just happened?”

That burst of spores briefly transported you to the Astral Realm! Chiyo exclaimed. It was too much for the Life Bubble, but only temporary. You came back once the spores blew away!

“Enemies!?” Jack asked as he stumbled, causing Sephy to catch him. He felt so weak…

“Dead or fled!” The Skritta grinned despite straining against his weight. “We’ve won!”

Looking around, Jack could see much clearer now that the oppressive mist had disappeared, and the fungus surrounding them was already starting to decay and peel off the ground. But as it receded, it left behind a sight far worse than any monster the group had faced.

The remains of the victims.

The clearing was littered with bodies. Many were motionless, having already passed on the moment the cocoon was destroyed, while others barely clung on to the faint wisp of life they had left. Their skin, feathers and scales were pale and mottled, looking like they had been drained of all vitality, leaving them gaunt and skeletal. Their bodies were too far gone, having only been kept alive by the fungus that had entwined itself with their flesh, and were now shutting down. Many of the faces were frozen in agony as if their very souls had been stolen by the malevolent force. Their hollow eyes stared at nothing, mouths open in silent screams that echoed the horrors they had endured. Each breath they took seemed more of a curse than a gift, prolonging their torment.

“Alora?” Jack asked as he looked at the horror around them, but his hope was quickly cut off.

“They’re beyond saving,” Alora said softly, her voice heavy with sorrow. “There’s nothing we can do but give them eternal peace.”

Deep down Jack knew it, feeling powerless as he still felt he needed to do something to save these people!

A deep gasp drew his attention, it’s strength a cut above the faint moans around him. He quickly found the source, kneeling down besides the emaciated reptile on the ground, who looked at him lucidly with one eye, the other milky and withered with the rest of their face.

“My gun…” She whispered out. “My coat…”

“Alora, this one’s talking!” Jack called out desperately. If they could save one…

“Heh…” The woman gave out a gasp of breath that might have been a chuckle. “You wear them well…”

The one working eye that focused on Jack lost the last of its light, as the woman gave her last breath...