Icarus Awakens

“He’s Gtoll!” Khiat was exclaiming as if that provided new information. “No, you don’t understand, he’s the best!” Unlike the rest who had witnessed what could not in any way be called a spar, the young dusker had been taken by the display. If a little disturbed towards the end. “He’s a hero to us. He’s almost level 5. And that’s his team!”

Khare barely heard any of it. They’d been concerned for Tak and Hunter, of course, but also distant from the rest of the group. That wasn’t bad, or that unusual. It was pretty easy to forget that Khare was there. Entire days could go by with the other members of the team barely interacting with them, though, admittedly, they could be isolated for hours advancing inside the ground. That’s just how it was for a gestalt traveling with those not of their kind. They were hard to understand and slow to understand them, and the rest of the team didn’t feel what Khare did.

Otherwise, they would have known that gestalt didn’t show tears when they were sad. And why wouldn’t Khare be sad? There he was, standing as tall as Kob once had. How could Khare not think of them? The Martialist knew what they were doing tonight, but honestly? There wasn’t anything their friends could do to make any wish they had come true. Because-

“Hey, Khare, are you ok?” Evalyn asked, and they picked up most of the meaning behind the question. Not that they believed it had been asked.

“Memory.” All that Khare wanted to say, compressed to a word.

Evalyn looked to the giant as Khiat timidly walked over and Daniel went to check on Hunter. Farthest Run was in their own corner discussing something. It was just the two of them. “Oh. Kob, of course. Khare, I’m sorry, I didn’t even think. Why don’t we do you next? We can figure it out while they recover from whatever that was.”

Khare had to take a step back, or, rather, amble backward. They’d taken to moving in their hybrid form unless that appeared to unsettle someone. Their wish? They wanted Kob back. They wanted to see their people again. Khare was the only one that hadn’t gone to the sanctuary, because of their friends. They didn’t want to abandon them. If Khare could have anything possible in this world, they wanted the ability to be normal. Though it was Daniel they had gained a bond with, perhaps it was Hunter who would have understood them best.

Perhaps, just tonight, their friends could help with that. Khare tried to ask. To be fair to their team, it was easier to communicate than with random people off the street. Familiarity did help.

Evalyn eventually got there. “Understand? You want, oh of course! Why didn’t I think about that? There has to be some kind of item or something that can translate for gestalt. We could try at Arpan but, no, it sounds like not even Lograve can talk to him now. Maybe there’s some gestalt in the city you could ask? There was also that Druid that came with us from the Thormundz.”

Khare let her talk, catching what they could and hoping a little more than they had before.

…

“You’re sure you’re fine?”

“It just hurt. Not anymore.”

“Screw that, your leg was torn off!” Daniel emphasized the last two words. “And they just put it back on?”

“Yes.” Hunter raised and lowered his leg experimentally and nodded. “It would have grown back.”

“That’s not the point!”

“I think it’s fine, and I am very grateful.” Tak was there and suddenly, Daniel felt like he was intruding. This wasn’t his moment.

“Sorry.”

“Why?”

“I just wanted to make sure Hunter was ok, I didn’t want to interrupt this,” Daniel said, self-aware.

“It’s fine.”

“It is?”

Tak folded his arms. “We know you can be disrespectful sometimes. It is ok.”

That startled him for a moment until he saw Hunter grinning sharply. “You,” he chuckled. “Ha. Fair.” At least they didn’t… Daniel’s thoughts trailed off as he picked up on something. Tak and Hunter still seemed like they were communicating privately. “Uh, what is it?”

Tak’s voice entered his head as the two included him. Should we try it again?

Best way to find out.

Find out what? Daniel asked.

Nosy, Hunter scolded mockingly.

But, hey! They ignored him and walked over to a cleared part of the courtyard. There was a lot of room here, even considering the few duskers that were trickling in as the night aged. The voices of the giants carried and the language was common, meaning Daniel picked up on several retellings of the fight amid people being grateful that this had been their night off. As he watched the two take up individual positions away from each other, he had a sinking suspicion. “No. No, oh, come on. Now? They didn’t really do anything!”

He watched, half-hoping he was wrong, as Tak and Hunter used Double Cut again. Or, they tried to. The effects of the attack still worked on them, but something else happened too. Appearing the same distance away from the point the two had decided to intersect at, but on the opposite side from each, another Tak and Hunter appeared. At that moment all four launched towards the center of the X, now being formed from all points, and each struck in succession.

It still took only about three seconds for the attack to be pulled off as conjuring the clones didn’t take any additional time. The copies vanished after the ability ended, although interestingly Hunter ended up where his illusory clone should have while Tak followed the line he’d originally set. “That’s not fair,” Daniel whined to himself and then had a thought. He pulled out his Focus. “I didn’t happen to improve my bond with Hunter too, did I?” There wasn’t a response at first, though eventually one came.

Alert: No, sorry.

-

Alert: Cool ability though. Looks like it’s based on Flash Jaunt.

It was technically against Earth-Daniel’s rules to break from the formatting of how his Encyclopedia responded to him when he made a custom alert. Things had changed ever so slightly once Daniel had found his way to the Bridge Space. His other self had reasoned that that rule was put into place so Daniel wouldn’t think there was someone on the other end of the line. With that rationalization, Earth-Daniel cheated now and then.

That hardly changed things. As Daniel copied Taloran’s earlier sulking with about an eighth of the earlier intensity and Evalyn discussed with Khare, Farthest Run was having their own quiet discussion.

…

“Marky, what the Crest is that Druid?” Qess asked in a whisper. “Am I insane or did we just watch his bond improve? Just like that?”

“How should I know!? You’re the one with a bond!” The Druid was unsettled by what he’d witnessed. They all were to some extent, considering they were recovering from being under a prolonged fear effect. Gordon and Qess, connected by a bond of the hunt, shared a look. “You heard what Gtoll said in the middle of that fight, though? Triple-bonded? That would mean they’re quad-bonded now or something!”

“I think he was talking about the Artificer,” Taloran mumbled.

“What?!”

The Bard recoiled just a little and then shrugged. “That’s where he was looking when he said that. How’d he know?”

“It’s a thing you learn around level 4 or 5 if you make it that far. I’ve heard of it,” Gordon explained. “You should be able to get a rough sense of someone’s level by now. The Seventh Sense improves with everything else as you level up.”

“What could you do with a bond that deep?” Marky, the unbonded, asked.

“You never know. What Qess and I have is specific to our bond and in six years it’s only deepened once.”

“Damned trap spiders,” Qess muttered.

“But that Druid has two bonds that have both improved at least once.” Gordon grabbed his chin in thought. “That would be about half a dozen extra powers altogether? And you tend to get better than average ones from bonds that can resist magic suppression. Damn.”

“Makes sense.” Everyone turned to Taloran, who bristled at the skeptical gazes. “Oh, what, the horny Bard can’t make a good point? Did all of you forget where they just came from?”

“Thormundz,” a few of them sighed. Somehow, it hadn’t come up in conversation yet. How did you broach the subject of being from there? They might not have known if a certain Artificer and Druid pair hadn’t made a very public exit from the city a month ago.

Rumor, being what it was, had carried the highlights to any of wished to know such things. “Two dragons and a Tyrant,” Gordon said softly. “Surviving all of that? It does make sense.”

“Tal! Where’s that big brain of yours when it comes to women?” Marky asked.

“Hey! I have taste.”

“If that’s taste, then you’re a glutton.”

“If only,” Taloran sighed dramatically.

“Hi. Sorry it turned out like this.” The team tried not to jump as Evalyn appeared beside them.

“It’s fine. Gordon’s fault, really, for walking up to the second strongest person in the guild and not knowing it.” The Ranger glowered at Qess’ words but didn’t comment. “Calling the night off?”

“Oh gods no. Actually, we may need your help again, if you still want to come with us. Marky, how well do you know the other Druids here?”

…

Not well, as it turned out. Or at least, he didn’t know about the Druid Evalyn wanted to find. Considering none of them had remembered her name, had only a loose description to go off on, and couldn’t be sure she was here, that was hardly his fault. Marky did know most of the Druids in the guild and a few outside of it that hadn’t taken to monster hunting, all of whom were likely asleep given how late it was.

Evalyn’s team, still unnamed, had the energy and previously shifted sleep schedule to keep going strong. Farthest Run were beginning to flag. Even with level 3 endurance powering half of them, they had been patrolling with the guard all day. All week. The city was going downhill, though none of them tried to think about it.

So, finding a Druid was out. That meant tracking down one of the gestalt. It shouldn’t be too hard, right? There were some in the region, and where else would they be? Farthest Run had certainly seen them on the streets, only, now that they tried to look they couldn’t find any. Mostly duskers, because it was night. The gestalt slept, or, at least, everyone thought they did. Khare confirmed it, but could you be certain it was the same thing?

That was the problem. Gestalt were different. Even Hunter, an awakened monster, could talk to people. For every gestalt, or at least all that Daniel knew of, it was like they had a barrier of smoky glass between them and other people you could just see through. And there was the simple fact that they looked different. To use Hunter for another example, he had a mouth, four limbs, and eyes you could see the person behind. If you looked for him. When you got down to it earth gestalt were just a mass of vines. Hell, he’d fought monsters that looked just like them.

Only, they were people. You couldn’t deny that, and no one was trying to. At that same time, the people they tried to ask on the street looked a little uneased by the questions. Giant bug people being caught off-guard by questions about gestalt amused only one person in the group, though it would have been two if Thomas had been there. But the Cleric was on no one’s mind.

“This is frustrating,” Gordon, Ranger and expert tracker, sighed. “I know there are some in the city. Earth gestalt, that is. None of the other elements, even fire. There’s a team of them in the guild but I rarely if ever see them. They have a setup out in the deserts they defend.”

“Hmm. My tracking power wouldn’t work.” Tak frowned, continuing to converse with Hunter in his head while the group deliberated. The most obvious improvements from the deepening of their bond were the effect on Double Cut, now called Mirror Strike, and an extension of their telepathy out to Daniel’s current range. Both also had that ‘on the tip of your tongue’ feeling of an unawakened power, but hadn’t figured it out yet. Daniel’s phone didn’t work on bonds either, except for the initial notification whenever he got them. Not even Earth-Daniel knew why that was.

“My powers aren’t working either. The streets are too busy. The whole damn city’s too busy,” Qess complained. The city’s atmosphere was starting to weigh on the group a little. It was like they were out at sea and every time they talked to someone, they took on some water. They also weren’t getting anywhere.

“Maybe we should move on to someone else and keep a lookout for gestalt?” Daniel asked. It was a reasonable idea, save the mood and efficiently use time. Evalyn shot it down.

“It’s Khare’s turn. We just need to think about this differently.” The Bard kicked at the dirt while Tak rubbed his shoulder. A dusker had bumped into him on the streets and Tak had received the worst of that trade. “What kind of place is more likely to have gestalt at night? Gordon, you’re sure you haven’t seen gestalt at least working anywhere?”

The Ranger shook his head, and the Taloran muttered, “Definitely not in the brothels. What? I’m saying we shouldn’t look there! Jeez.”

“Sewers?” Daniel ventured. It was a random thought prompted by the fact that gestalt couldn’t smell. He received mostly blank looks. Right, sand. I guess looking around the acres of farmland is also out.

“Hmm. Tricky riddle,” Tak said, still rubbing his shoulder despite Regeneration having already taken care of the minor injury. “Not where you normally go. So where do you not go?”

“Spires, but they’re not there. Gestalt don’t have one,” Qess said. “I don’t think they have a noble house either. They weren’t there when the Tyrant fell.”

“It’s starting to feel like they aren’t anywhere,” Evalyn sighed over Daniel’s sudden curiosity. “But we’re not giving up. We just need to-”

“‘Scuse me,” an old voice called out behind her. A few of the others had seen her approach and noticed because the human was the only non-dusker on that street. Of course, the only person who had seen the old woman the first time had her back turned. As such, Evalyn was completely caught off-guard when she turned around to see Festra, the old Druid. The gestalt whisperer. “I thought you might want to talk to me.”

“Wha, how?”

“If you don’t mind my old knees, I’d be more comfortable talking at home than on the move. Seeing as you just spent the last half hour running away from me.”

“What?”

“Guardian’s Call, dear.” Her eyes flicked to Khare for a moment, and then she laughed. “This one says, ‘you sure took your time.’”

…

“So you can just talk to them?” Daniel asked. He was one of the four non-gestalt in the room, which was the basement of an old brick house. Whatever Builder magic had paved the roads had also dug out this space and prevented the sand from flowing back in. I really need to talk to one of them at some point.

“Yes. Tea?”

“No?” Evalyn replied, still a little shaken by the whirlwind that was the Druid but aware enough to not see anything close to resembling a boiling pot in the room. There was just a bed, a small, slightly rotted wooden chest, and the chairs they were sitting on. Oh, and the walls were covered in wriggling vines. That was also coloring the conversation.

“Good! That would take time and you’ve already woken me.”

“Right.” Evalyn blinked. “What’s going on?”

“Guardian’s Call,” Marky said, last of the four. “It’s a Druid feature. I know an avianoid from one of the outer villages that has it. Anytime they need help she gets a feeling about it and goes running. It’s a pretty vague power though.” Festra nodded at the explanation.

“Uh, how can you talk to them?” Daniel decided to ask a wiser question and then ruined the sage moment. “I thought there was, a uhm, language barrier or something. But not like a different language, it’s something with how they process it?”

Festra was staring at him. “You done?”

“Yes?” People tended to question themselves more in Festra’s presence. Also, when the walls were moving. Space aside, the only other person who had wanted to come down here was Tak, but he was still trying to figure out the new bond powers.

“I just can.” Festra shrugged. “It’s another power. Elemental Tongue. Name gave me quite the wrong first impression. Spent the first day trying to spit fire before my intuition finally kicked in.” At the same time she was speaking noises were coming from the walls. Those Daniel had previously compared to a haunted forest that made the entire room feel like a scene from a horror movie he’d just decided to sit calmly in. “Helps them understand me too. Good! Or else I’d have to creak around like they do.”

“Right,” Evalyn said weakly. Festra smiled back at her, making it shamelessly clear she was enjoying the effect the room was having on them. “Thank you for, uh, this.”

“Least I could do, child,” she said with a more serious tone. “You and yours fought us out of the Thormundz. Even with my class that black-scaled bastard wouldn’t put me on the front lines.” The woman, who Daniel would place at maybe seventy with a modest physique, leaned back on her chair and propped her legs up on one of the wooden pins beneath Evalyn’s seat. This went unchallenged. “Khare tells me you’re looking for me but in travel form? Also, that you’re bonded.” She looked at Daniel while mixing frivolity and intensity like other old women knitted. “That’s something the people of the earth respect. Me too, since I’m stuck with ‘em now.”

“Right, but, is it like telepathy? Them understanding you?” Daniel was stuck on that point.

“It’s magic, boy. I talk, they listen. I thought Artificers were supposed to be smart.” She took a sip of something from her flask, which hadn’t been offered, as Daniel’s cheeks reddened slightly. “And you can’t put what I have in a bottle. Sorry. I was one of the farmers in the Thormundz, one of the ones that crossed with earth gestalt. I’ve been around them in one way or another for decades and never heard of it. Bonds that allow communication, sure, even if yours doesn’t. Powers, certainly. But I don’t have what you’re looking for.” She almost looked sorry about that.

“Well, you could always hope Hunter gets this kind of power,” Marky encouraged. “Even though his focus seems to be exclusively combat-oriented.”

“Oh yes, him. The Druid.” Daniel and Evalyn froze as Festra winked at him.

She knows? Then again, if she’d been in the Thormundz since the beginning, she might have seen Hunter back when he wasn’t Hunter. “Right,” Daniel said carefully. At least she seems fine with it. “I mean, it’s good Khare has people they can talk to now. I assume that’s what they’re doing.”

“Hmm? Oh, yes. They won’t stop talking actually.” Festra sounded a little aggrieved. “The parts about your hunts are interesting. And, oh. They’re talking about-” She looked at the walls again, never in the same spot. “Are you sure? Alright.”

“Is it Kob?” Evalyn asked.

“Yes. Khare’s grateful you picked up on that, by the way. Not everyone did.” Daniel looked away.

“They’re still mourning? Not that I’m surprised, Kob was Khare’s… parent? But I didn’t know they were depressed.”

“And you’d know what that looks like? Good gods girl, they’ve been on their own this whole time with their grief. Gestalt don’t separate from their communities! At least, not without good reason.” She nodded towards Daniel. “But it’s more than that. Khare was there when Kob died. Physically entangled until the last moment. Do you know what that means?”

“How do you know about that?”

Daniel, perpetually skipping over the line between Festra’s good and bad side, received a glare. “Fool. That bird Cleric brought me along to help when someone suggested it.” The inflection in her voice made it clear who she was talking about.

“I did? Ooooh, I did,” Daniel sighed, remembering.

“More wisdom in those two seconds than you’ve shown all night. Anyways! I, hmm… Anyone mind if I tell them about the link?” she petitioned the walls. Apparently, she got a reply. “I understand. Well, what do you know about emotional links?”

“You mean Empathic Links?” Daniel asked carefully.

“Feh. Semantics. Wait, you have one?” She glanced sideways. “Not with Khare. Hmm. But yes. Well, it’s no great secret apparently, but every gestalt, of the same element, has an ‘Empathic Link’ with every other.” Marky had somewhat lost the thread when this wasn’t explained clearly but Daniel, and Evalyn who’d heard Daniel’s explanations of his powers, stiffened. “Only works when you’re ever so close but when they are, it’s strong.”

“But, that’s…” Daniel shook his head. He was struggling to wrap his head around the prospect.

“What?” Marky finally asked.

“Imagine if you could feel every emotion someone else was feeling. Not necessarily their thoughts, but all of their…” Evalyn waved a hand, not finding another word, “Emotions, all at once. Excluding us, every gestalt in this room is feeling what every other gestalt is, at the same time. It’s something that fades with distance, but bound up like that Khare can know the other gestalt in here on a level almost none of us can attain.”

“So you understand what isolation can do to one of them?” Festra asked rhetorically. “But it’s not your fault child. You didn’t know. But you should have sought me out sooner.”

“You could have mentioned something when we split up at the border,” Daniel pointed out.

“Yes, well, my apologies for overestimating you,” she returned acerbically.

“Khare felt Kob dying?” Evalyn quietly asked.

“Yes.” There was a tear in the Bard’s eye and one Festra would never have admitted to in hers. “It was horrible, by the sound of it. But, yes yes, I’ll tell them, Khare wants me to tell you that they are not as bad as Khiat was. Whoever that is. Another gestalt?”

“Dusker. It’s a long story.”

“Well, I’m sure it is. But seeing as you’ve found what you’re looking for and we’ve had this nice chat, would you kindly let me return to my rest?”

“What? But, couldn’t we talk to Khare? Through you, I mean?”

“Oh sure, sure.” Festra mimed Evalyn’s earlier handwave and put some sarcasm behind it. “Tomorrow! Or just later. Don’t you know that it’s the middle of the night?”

“We should go, then,” Evalyn decided for the group. “Thank you for seeking us out even if I did call you, somehow. Does Khare want to stay here for the night? If that’s ok.”

“Yes, yes, that’s alright. Honestly, after hearing them talking for so long I can almost fall asleep to their speech. If I ignore the words.” Daniel considered that, remembering how people slept with fans on in his world, and still didn’t get it. “Well? Go on, get!”

…

Tak looked up as the three climbed out of the cellar door in the alleyway. “Is Khare not coming?”

“No, they’re staying the night.”

Marky, meanwhile, had noticed something else. “Hey, guys, where’s Taloran?” There was a note in his voice that suggested he already knew.

“Got bored and ran off,” Qess answered with a defeated expression.

“That was after he’d checked that door. After I told him not to.” Gordon frowned. “What was down there?”

“Boss, I think we may want to go after him.”

“Fuck that, I’m not going to-” Qess began, but Gordon held up a hand.

“You’re sure?”

“Yeah.”

The Ranger nodded. “Well, Evalyn, as much as we’ve enjoyed this, my team does need its rest. But don’t be strangers. It would help if we had a name to look after you by.”

“You have mine,” Evalyn smiled. “We’ll think about it. See you around?”

“Of course.”

It was an hour later, back in the Hunter’s Guild and the private rooms being leased to anyone helping out the guard, that they spoke. Without Taloran, whose stunts the three were well familiar with. He’d take care of himself. “Gordon, this team, are we sure they’re alright?”

The Ranger was well versed in reading the Druid. Marky was new to the team, but not a fresh recruit. “What happened?”

“Well, they were talking about the gestalt and there’s something I gotta tell you about them, but that’s not important. That other Druid said something about Hunter. An aside, like it was a joke. Like.” He lowered his voice. “Like she was saying ‘look how funny it is that everyone thinks he’s a Druid’. She might have assumed I was in on it. After all this time thinking about how weird a Druid he was, it kind of hit me. If I’d started to see it after just meeting him, and this Druid knew them from before, she would know if anything’s off, right?”

“But he is a Druid,” Qess said, confused. “The Crest would he be if he wasn’t?”

“I dunno. A Spiritualist, maybe?” The thought crossed to the rest of Farthest Run, who shared suddenly uneasy looks.