Outside Influences

“What in Olympos is that?” Orseis yelped with alarm.

Bel turned her head to see what had spooked Orseis and was shocked to see the head of an enormous man bobbing above the tree line. She had been so caught up with the sights that she hadn’t been keeping an eye on their surroundings.

“Is that a giant?” she wondered aloud.

“Not giant,” Cress refuted. “Titan.”

“Are titans better than giants?” Bel asked quickly. Whatever this titan was, he looked even larger than the giants that she’d fought. He walked through the trees like a man through tall grass and the ground shook slightly with every one of his steps, although he was distant enough that Bel didn’t hear a sound.

Cress tilted her head again before shrugging. “What is betterthan?”

Orseis laughed. “I think our language troubles are gonna be a problem down here.”

Bel’s sucked on her lip. “Yeah,” she agreed.

Cress shrugged, giving up on whatever Bel had been saying to her. She pointed towards the titan took a few steps before waving for Bel and Orseis to follow after her. Bel was surprised that they weren’t flying, but Cress seemed to prefer that they proceed on foot. The other gorgon beamed back at them, clearly excited to be going wherever she was leading them, and Bel couldn’t help but smile back.

Cress did draw her maul, so Bel knew that the path through the forest of tall, spindly trees wasn’t completely safe. Cress scanned each trunk they passed, alert for any threats, but there was a happy spring to her steps.

Bel and Orseis did the same as they followed quickly behind her, even though they didn’t know what threats were lurking around them. They’d walked for less than a minute when Orseis jerked on Bel’s armed and whispered a hushed, “look,” while pointing with her spear.

Bel immediately stopped and fell into a fighting stance. A large, hairy creature had been lurking quietly in the woods near their path, watching them with large, brown eyes. It stood a little taller than Bel on four straight legs that ended in strange, rounded feet that had claws pointing in every direction. Its large ears were repeatedly folded upon themselves like the lung of a bellows and flopped against the side of its long face. The animal’s top lip drooped halfway to the ground, giving it a grouchy appearance. Bel’s snakes hissed a warning as it continued to stare at her.

“What?” Cress asked from a few steps ahead. She looked at the creature and then the surrounding woods with concern. When she realized that there wasn’t anything other then the hairy beast she laughed.

“It is hugag,” she said. “Hugag is… hm…” She scratched at her head as she search for words, but eventually shrugged. Instead of speaking, she jumped up and sliced through a low-hanging branch with her metallic nails. Then she gathered up the cut limb and walked over to the grumpy creature.

It eyed her with distrust as she approached, but Cress cooed at it quietly. When she shook the branch, the thin, needle-like leaves the creature forget all about the gorgon. It happily opened its mouth and wrapped a long, grasping tongue around a branch. With a swift motion it stripped the needles and went quickly to the next branch, working its way over Cress’ offering until it was completely bare. Cress gave it a few pats on its leathery back as it searched for any remaining needles, which it tolerated with a snort.

Cress laughed at it walked back to Bel and Orseis with a wide, cheerful grin. “Hugag,” she repeated.

Bel nodded. “Hugag. Peaceful.”

“Peaceful,” Cress repeated quietly. “Hugag peaceful.” She started walking again, still alert for any actual threats.

Bel quickly poked Orseis in her stomach when she saw the girl sending lingering glances back at the hugag. “Don’t even think about it.”

Orseis snorted. “I prefer seafood anyway. It’s less hairy.” Despite her assertion, Bel was amused to see the cuttle-girl’s gaze still drifting to the Hugag again as they walked away.

Orseis flushed with embarrassment when she realized that Bel saw her. “You know how hungry I get,” she said defensively. She rubbed her stomach and gave Bel a sad expression. “I haven’t eaten in forever, you know.”

Cress paused and looked back at them. “Problem?” she asked.

Orseis immediately put on a tough face. Bel rolled her eye at her friend’s distrust.

“She’s hungry,” Bel explained. She pointed to her stomach and made a sad face. “Hungry.”

“Ah, hungry” Cress said. She thought for a moment before nodding quickly. Their guide gorgon turned slightly and began walking again.

Orseis perked up immediately. “Are we going to find some food?”

“I guess so,” Bel answered. “At least I know that gorgons eat the same stuff as humans so she won’t lead us to a pile of delicious leaves or something weird.”

Orseis made a disgusted noise at the thought. “You know, some of the people back in the Golden Plains eat nothing but plants. Luckily, there aren’t many leafy things in the desert. I think all of those types of people left or died out after Technis raised his Barrier and dried everything out.”

Bel frowned at the though of Technis wiping out a people by accident. She wondered if he even though about them; did he enjoy the influence he had on their lives or did he consider them beneath his notice? Probably the second, she thought, the Dark Ravager lived right next to the semi-humans of the Golden Plains and didn’t seem to care about them at all, even when his cultists fought with them.

She came to an abrupt halt when she bumped into Cress’ arm. The other gorgon quickly held up a hand to her lips, urging Bel and Orseis to remain silent and wait. Bel looked around and saw that they were close to a wide river that flowed through a deep channel in the forest floor. The area around the river was clear and the plant life was squashed flat and singed. Bel guessed that it had to be a high-traffic area, or perhaps a campsite, but she didn’t see anything larger than a twittering bird near the water.

They waited for several minutes, until Orseis grew restless enough to speak, but Cress had done something to the air to suppress any noise. Orseis waved her tentacles around angrily and Bel couldn’t help but laugh silently at her frustration. Then the cuttle-girl’s eyes widened and she quickly knelt down to the forest floor and use her new ability to turn invisible.

Bel turned to see what had startled the girl and felt a chill run down her back at the sight. A four-legged creature with impossibly thin, stick-like legs had landed beside the river. Its hooves glowed with a dusky orange hue and its large, shaggy head had two twisting pairs of horns that were stained red at the tips. Cress stepped forward to confront the monster, but instead of wielding her maul she flicked a small stone into the river. The monster spread its bat wings and hissed angrily. It tossed its head, threatening them with its horns, but, before it could attack, the surface of the water surged upwards as something burst from its depths.

Bel gasped in surprise at the fearsome crocodylian that now loomed over the hoofed monster. The smaller monster bleated with surprise and terror. It spread its wings, but before it could move the larger predator slammed it with its massive tail. The horned beast cracked and splintered like a rotten log, and bits of flesh and bone went flying in every direction like chipped wood. The crocodylian wasn’t satisfied yet, and continued to bash away as the rapidly disintegrating corpse with its large tail. As it worked, the tail went faster and faster and began to glow with an inner heat, hammering away like an ability-fueld blacksmith. The mashed monster soon heated and boiled, filling the air with the scent of burnt flesh and bone.

Then the ground combusted, turning in to a thick, dark cloud. The crocodylian turned around to face its reduced foe and snorted the gas through a pair of large nostrils. Now that she could see its face, Bel realized that it didn’t actually have a mouth, just three pairs of eyes and a pair of nostrils large enough for Bel to stick her head inside – not that she wanted to. The creature continued to snort its vaporized prey until there was nothing left.

It heaved a heavy sigh of contentment and flopped down on the ground, too lazy, apparently, to return to the water.

Cress waited a few moments before confidently striding forward. She turned and gave Bel and Orseis a wide smile, beckoning them forward as she traced a wide path around the slumbering creature. With the dangerous predator otherwise distracted, she walked fearlessly to the water’s edge where she bent down and began to collect something.

Bel and Orseis followed after her, but with a lot more caution towards the ambush predator. Orseis’ skin shifted frequently in an attempt to make her blend in with the background and Bel’s snakes curled up against her scalp. When they finally reached river Cress presented them with their prize.

“Ah,” Bel said, realizing Cress’ goal. “She got the big guy to jump out of the water and bring a bunch of fish with him.”

“Those can’t be fish, Bel,” Orseis said sickly.

“Why not?”

“They’re hairy!” Orseis hissed. “Who would want a hairy fish?”

Bel didn’t miss a beat before responding. “You would. You’re hungry, right?”

Orseis scowled, but a growl from her stomach soon proved Bel right. Orseis grabbed a fish from the ground, crushed its skull, and began messily pulling off its fur. She muttered angrily the entire time.

Cress was more organized; she had pulled a small knife from her belt and was expertly cleaning several of the furry fish. The other gorgon happily explained something about the fish as she worked; Bel couldn’t understand her words, but it seemed like Cress was happy to show off her survival skills. Even Orseis stopped her messy fish deconstruction to watch, and they were soon waiting for several of them to cook over a small fire.

Cress didn’t seem at all worried that the large crocodile would wake up and try to eat them, so Bel did her best to relax as well, but her snakes twisted around to keep their eyes on the potential threat. The taste of the fatty fish helped her mood, although she couldn’t help the occasional nervous glance at slumbering creature whenever one of them made a loud noise.

“So…” Orseis said, after she had stuffed her belly with fish, “where are we going again?”

Bel shrugged. “I dunno. Some place with more people, I think.” She smiled brightly. “Maybe more gorgons!”

“Oh boy,” Orseis replied with fake enthusiasm, “I can’t wait.” She looked at her tentacles and then at Bel. “Are you sure they’re going to welcome us? That last guy, the one who got those others to attack us, he wasn’t very friendly.”

Bel looked at Cress and shrugged. “Cress seemed to think it would be okay. Besides, Kjar cursed that guy so everything’s probably fine now. And we’ve got a plan now.”

Orseis groaned. “Bel, you’re a wonderful person, but every time you say something like that something goes wrong. Maybe your mom is listening and wants to mess with you.”

Bel snorted. “I’m sure my mom wouldn’t intentionally make things harder.”

Orseis rubbed her cheeks with a tentacle. “I can’t tell if that makes me feel better or worse.”

She waved the bones of one of the hairy fish at Bel. “Speaking of your mother, you should pick an ability.”

Bel groaned. “I really don’t understand what they do. They’re all weird.”

“You’ve got to mess around to find out,” Orseis insisted. “Besides, I want to see something awesome and scary.”

Bel cringed at the thought. “Some things may be too scary.”

Orseis snorted at Bel’s hesitation, while Cress looked between the two of them as she tried to guess their topic of conversation.

Orseis tossed the skeleton into the water. “Lempo’s abilities are scary for other people, but you should be fine with them. Don’t take an ability that would mess with your body if you’re worried.” She waved her tentacles eagerly. “What else is there?”

Bel closed her eyes and concentrated on the confusing constellation of abilities that her mother offered. “Too many,” she complained. “There’s one that shifts my body, but there’s another similar to it that could mess up someone else’s body.”

Orseis nodded. “Sounds great!”

“I would rather shockwave them,” Bel asserted with finality. “There’s an ability to mutate the little creatures that live in things.”

Bel thought back to the first time she’d seen Ventas. “I’ve seen someone use something similar to deal with pests on crops. I guess I could make someone sick? Feels slow though.”

She shrugged. “I don’t have to take something, you know, I could just wait.”

Orseis waved her tentacles angrily, eliciting a warning rattle from Cress’ snakes when her tentacles got too close. “But what if we get into another fight? I don’t know about you, but those three guys that attacked us were kind of dangerous.”

Bel’s resolve wavered. Orseis isn’t wrong. What if everyone here is as strong as Cress? She glanced at Crecerelle, who had given up on their conversation and was busy using a small bone to pick bits of fish from between her teeth. The other gorgon smiled and waved happily, clearly fine not being part of the conversation. Bel smiled and waved back.

She turned back to Orseis. “How about an ability that breaks nonliving things? There’s one that shatters metals and rocks and another, more expensive one that breaks down the things that hold objects together.”

Bel’s snakes shifted restlessly. “I don’t really understand how the second one works, but it feels like it works on anything. Maybe it’s like ripping the nails out of a boat and letting it fall apart.”

Orseis shrugged. “I’m not impressed. How would that be useful? And isn’t that liquify already does?”

“Liquify turns things into a liquid. This would unmake the thing, which could be useful when summons walls or throws hammers at me,” she huffed. “You know, like that last guy. And my ability to liquify things doesn’t work when someone’s too tough. I may be able to combine the two to get through someone with stronger defenses.”

Bel chewed on her lip as she watched Cress dig a small hole and begin burying their trash. “Besides, I need to find a way to get through Technis’ barrier. Maybe one of these will work on that.”

Orseis nodded. “Sure, sounds fun. Not the first one though, breaking a rock sounds dumb.”

“Obviously,” Bel agreed. “But maybe the second one could do it. If my mother’s later abilities are similar to the early ones, then I should learn how some of them work.”

She only hesitated for a moment before feeling out the ability and tracing its strokes upon her core. What’s the worst that happens? I’ll just have to go hunt some things to grow my core to get more strokes. And maybe the ability will be awesome.

Once she engraved the ability she opened her eyes and grabbed a fist-sized rock that Cress had dug up. The other gorgon tilted her head with curiosity as Bel stared at the stone, exercising her control to slowly trickle her new ability into it. Bel was disappointed by the result: nothing. The stone absorbed her energy and settled down soon after.

Bel pursed her lips and ramped up the energy she was putting into the stone. She could feel a moment where something happened in the stone, and rather than settling down it seemed to vibrate with activity that filled her with a sudden sense of dread. She didn't hesitate to throw the stone with all of her might, sending it hurtling through the woods.

A moment later it exploded. The stone disappeared in a blinding flash of light and the blast shredded the trees in a ten stride radius. Bits of bark and leaves filled the air, and everyone ducked for cover. The large crocodylian groaned loudly and rolled over and one of its eyes slowly opened. Cress’s snakes rattled with alarm as the other gorgon grabbed Bel and Orseis. She hauled them to their feet and dragged them away from the slowly awakening beast at a hasty sprint.

Once they came to a panting stop, Orseis turned to Bel. Her eyes were wide with excitement. “That was awesome! And it works with rocks too! Those are your favorite!”

She emphatically waved her tentacles. “Do it again!”