Outside Influences

Bel poked carefully around the large cut that went down her face and over her eye. It hurt, a constant dull ache that she guessed wouldn’t fade any time soon, but the new blind spot on her left side was worse. She found herself spinning left near constantly, trying to make up for her missing eye with increased vigilance.

“Not that there’s anyone around here, right?” she asked the air.

Bel turned, surveying the surrounding destruction. Kjar had told her that some of the cultists were still alive, but she couldn’t imagine that there would be any survivors at the pyramid. She tapped a finger against her new armor as she thought about the goddess’ words.

Was she talking about Nebamon and Rikja and the other people in Satrap? Are they still there?

Bel had been hoping that they had all been wiped out by Technis’ forces, but that would be too simple. She sighed, and then she dusted herself off and glared defiantly in the Barrier’s direction.

Time to get moving.

Bel grabbed a hefty rock for self defense. There probably weren’t any of the Dark Ravager’s followers around, but better safe than dead. Then she started searching the rubble, checking for anything useful or dangerous.

The pyramid was still shifting, its middle eroding away and the outsides collapsing inwards, so she patrolled at a safe distance. The building was larger than she’d thought and she quickly realized that she would be walking for an hour just to go all the way around.

Her goddess-blessed clothes squeaked as she moved, causing Bel to shift with discomfort. They felt heavy and hot, but Bel wasn’t going to take them off, even if she felt silly wearing them. Dressing like a warrior is something that Beth would enjoy, but I’ve always worn simple stuff.

She looked down at her still bare feet and sighed. Now I look somewhere half between warrior and plague victim.

She made sure to avoid stepping in the clumps of ash, bones, and melted metal that littered the ground, small monuments to Kjar’s justice.

After making her way about halfway around the temple Bel found a crater, wider across than she could throw a stone. At the bottom of it was the Dark Ravager’s corpse – the upper half at least, charred to a crisp. The lower half of the demi-god’s body was nowhere to be seen.

Being at the edge of ascension hadn’t saved the giant beetle from Kjar’s wrath, so killing a demigod was possible. If Technis was at the same stage then he was certainly mortal… but could Bel really hope to challenge such power?

“I’m pretty sure that I couldn’t have bent an antenna on this guy’s head,” she complained to herself, “how on Olympos am I going to fight Technis?”

She hadn’t even been able to stand up to Nebamon, who had in turn been below Ventas and Technis’ patchwork people. With the element of surprise she’d been able to defeat a couple of cultists, but that didn’t count for much in the grand scheme of things. She had a lot of growing to do if she wanted to avoid whatever disaster would come from Lempo taking matters into her own hands.

First though, Bel was desperate for a drink of water. She resumed her search through the rubble, hoping to find something – anything – to eat and drink.

Across the desert, Beth bounced awkwardly on her riding lizard as it shimmied across the sand. Her mount wasn’t like the thinner lizards of Satrap that allowed her to sit tall and proud; these ones were squat and fat, their wide feet well suited for navigating the shifting sands of the Golden Plains. Riding them was faster than walking, at least for someone with human legs and feet, but Beth was still frustrated with their speed.

“How long until we reach the pyramid?” she asked again.

Orseis waved a few of her arm tentacles through the air, something that Beth recognized as the woman’s version of an exasperated shrug. “Only about a minute less than the last time you asked, Mistress Beth.” She leaned her heavily hooded head in Beth’s direction and whispered loudly, “you know, we could have gotten there faster if we left the others and swam.”

For a moment, regret pulsed through the back of Beth’s mind. It was foolish, but she had actually considered leaving everyone and rushing to the Dark Ravager’s pyramid on her own on the possibility that she would be able to save Bel before something happened to her.

That was foolish sentimentality though – Beth knew that she needed an army to confront the demi-god, and she hadn’t been able to get them moving until the skies had burned with fire.

Beth turned back to Orseis and brought her mind back to the present, snorting at the tentacled woman’s suggestion. “Sure, swim right through the river with all the ash and hungry water spirits. I’m fine going around all of that.”

Beth gestured to their group, about 200 strong.

“Anyway, we’ll need all of us, even those who can’t swim. If the Dark Ravager has just ascended and abandoned his cult to this mortal world then this is the moment to strike with as much force as we can muster. If that spirit storm we saw was any indication, there must be some extreme chaos created by their demigod leaving them leaderless.”

Beth nodded grimly at her tentacled lieutenant. “From what you’ve told me of their organization, I wouldn’t be surprised if they immediately fell upon one another, fighting over leadership.”

“Even if you’re right,” James interrupted, “are you sure we have enough people?”

Beth stifled her annoyance as she looked at her otherworldly adopted brother. Bel and James were, as much as she was loath to admit, the closest that she had to a family. She regretted letting Bel go on without her, and she hated that James had volunteered to come along for this fight.

“Of course,” Beth answered with false confidence. “They’re disorganized, we’re all excellent warriors, and we’ll have the element of surprise.”

She kept her tone upbeat despite her own misgivings. Having her arm removed by one of the Dark Ravager’s paladins had taught her a costly lesson. Experience, though, told her that she couldn’t afford to hesitate. The moment that the sky had burned with the light of a divine being she had whipped her followers into a frenzy. While the spirit storm was still rolling past, Beth had convinced them that this was their moment to strike; the discipline and fervor that she’d inspired would have pleased her if James hadn’t decided to come along as well.

At least he had brought Daran with him. The ant princess, in turn, had tempted her bloodthirsty cousin, Hanti, with news of an entire nation of breedable humans just through the Barrier. Beth found the though amusing – who other than James would even be interested in an ant woman? But Hanti had a small clutch of developing children in eggs and was easily tempted by the thought of finding suitable mates for all of them.

From the maniacal grin on the older ant’s face, Beth also suspected that the new ant woman was more than a little bit bloodthirsty.

Hanti was the opposite of Daran. James’ sweetheart was a happy-go-lucky young girl who, judging from the conversations they’d shared, looked forward to peaceful days spent relaxing with her future family. Hanti, though, was born for war.

She was bipedal, like a human, but she had four muscular arms instead of the usual, single pair. Her red carapace covered most of her body, making her hard and fierce compared to the cute and friendly Daran. Hanti also wielded twice the number of weapons as a regular human: two heavy swords on her back and two short swords on her belt. She carried a small arsenal of throwing axes strapped across her body. She was hauling around enough metal that Beth marveled at the woman’s strength and endurance. The weight the ant-woman carried would have been enough to stagger regular human who wasn’t reinforced with abilities, and Hanti moved as fluidly as any dancer despite the encumbrance.

Hanti also brought 100 of her scuttling warriors, each one a shoulder high ant with jaws that looked like they could cleave a human in two as easily as Beth might snap a carrot. Beth found them incredibly disturbing, but the ant warriors nearly doubled the size of their force.

“I can see something!” Orseis pointed with her writhing tentacles to a smudge on the horizon. “It is smoke I think – maybe near the pyramid.”

Beth raised her hand, signaling for the group to slow. To her annoyance she had to repeat the gesture several times, and the group only followed it once Hanti also gestured for attention. Beth squinted at the distance, but could only see a bit of darkness hanging over clear blue of the desert sky.

“Can anyone see any details?”

No one responded to Beth’s query, although Seth – James’ strange new scorpion-themed friend – strode forward a few steps. The quiet man was oddly competent, somehow keeping pace with the lizards over the loose desert sand. He waved his fingers in front of his eyes for a few moments before turning back to the group.

To Beth’s frustration, Seth walked back to James and whispered in the red-head’s ear rather than speaking his observations aloud. Beth had never heard the scorpion talk, although he had to be capable of speech. She wondered if he had a strange animal trait that made it difficult to speak out loud or if he was just obtuse.

James nodded at Seth before turning to Beth. “He says that the pyramid has collapsed.”

Beth rubbed the pommel of one of her daggers. “Any signs of movement?”

The shy scorpion boy leaned to James’ ear again.

“It may be too far, but he can’t see anything. Just some smoke.”

“Right.” Beth set her face with determination. “Let’s go in fast and hard. We’ll catch whoever is there with their pants down.”

She looked at her hastily assembled group… most of whom weren’t wearing pants. “You know what I mean. Let’s go.”

Everyone with weapons checked them quickly before they moved at a brisk pace. Hanti gesture-bumped into her nearby ants, sending a ripple of communication through their ranks. They fanned out, preparing to swarm over any resistance that they encountered.

As they neared their target and Beth caught sight of the smoke pouring into the sky, Beth’s heart raced inside her chest. She licked her lips with anticipation. With the god ascended, his followers would be in disarray. Beth was sure of it.

She, and the people of the Golden Plains, would sweep them away like rushing tide. She would rescue her little sister. Then she would convince everyone to go to Satrap and overthrow Technis.

If she could pull this off, it would be the first step to everything – years of effort – coming together.

The paladin that had taken her arm had been one of the Dark Ravager’s stronger fighters, so Beth had been hardening her resolve for the brutality that was to come. She’d been prepared for a wall of bodies blocking their way, or a small groups of elites, or even for some traps left behind by the newly ascended god.

Beth’s hand squeezed the reins of her riding lizard, her knuckles bloodless from the pressure. Her fighters crested one last dune and they overlooked a wide, flat plain. The pyramid was halfway between them and the east bank of the river that cut through the Golden Plains, just a short ride away.

Instead of an army, there was only disaster.

“That’s not a pyramid,” James announced.

He’s not wrong, Beth agreed silently. Instead of the imposing structure that had been described, there was a hill of smoldering stone.

The others were too silent to respond. They gawked, their faces filled with uncertainty and confusion. The entire force looked back and forth from the destruction to their companions as they struggled to understand what happened.

“Well,” Hanti finally broke the silence, “no reason to linger.”

Beth nodded. “Sure. Let’s approach slowly. I’m not seeing any kind of guards.”

They spread out into a wide line and advanced at a walking pace. As they drew closer to the center of the destruction there were increasing signs of battle. Burnt and melted remains lay in scorched pits. Spirits of different types – small beings of sand, little waterspouts, molten lizards, scrabbling plants, and more – shifted away from their passage. Other than the enigmatic creatures there were no signs of life.

“This is all strange, right?” James asked. “I mean, these are all elemental spirits, right? And they’re supposed to be rare?”

“Yes,” Daran agreed, her antenna spinning in dizzying patterns through the air. “This is being very strange.”

Seth captured their attention by pointing to something. Beth squinted against the bright sunlight before finally seeing a small figure waving at them.

Beth advanced cautiously, keeping her dagger loose in its sheath. Orseis trailed along at her side, her tentacles hidden inside of the folds of her robe.

As the figure became drew closer and their features became visible, Beth’s eyes widened with shock. It was Bel. Beth’s sister was slightly disheveled, missing some snakes, and had a horrible scar running across her face. The young gorgon didn’t seem to be in any imminent danger though. She was clean, wearing new clothes, and looked more tired than scared. Bel had lowered her hand once she’d gotten their attention, but didn’t bother getting up and leaving the shade of a large stone block where she’d taken refuge. Instead she waited for them to get close before speaking.

“Thank the better gods it’s you guys,” Bel cheered tiredly. “Please tell me you’ve got some water. I’ve been trapped out here, and I couldn’t find anything left unburied in the Dark Ravager’s old temple.”

Bel waved weakly at Daran and James as they joined the group. The ant-girl’s antennae beat at the air while James stared, open mouthed.

“Some food would be nice too.”

Hanti looked around suspiciously. “The Dark Ravager is gone then?”

Bel’s snakes lazily looked the new ant woman up and down while Bel pointed in a direction. “His body is in a crater over there somewhere. Lots of bodies around actually, watch your step.”

Hanti gave Bel one last curious look before rushing off to verify her words. Her army of ants followed after her, and Beth pointed for a few of her own followers to go along as well.

“What happened, Bel?” Beth hopped off of her riding lizard. She grabbed a water skin from her saddlebag and offered it to the exhausted gorgon.

Bel took a long drink and sighed with satisfaction. Then she took another long pull and wiped away some dribble from her chin. “What’s the expression that James likes?”

Bel looked around at the destruction. “All hells are loose?”

James snorted. “There’s just one hell, but all of it is loose.”

Bel rolled her eyes. “Sure. Are you still planning to go back to Satrap, Beth?”

Beth’s eyebrows went up with surprise. “Well, sure. Once we’ve organized.”

“Good,” Bel nodded. “Because I’ve got a demigod to kill. I’d rather not do it alone.”