An Age of Mysterious Memories

Chapter 29: Octorochi Strikes Back

The thing about heat, or cold, it seems to be tied to the same resistance, thermal resistance, which makes sense. I guess it’s the resistance in the change of the speed of the fluctuation of one’s own atoms, since that’s more or less what heat is, or lack thereof. I wonder, if one achieved high enough thermal resist, could they acquire thermokinesis? Well, I mean, Lil basically has that, and they have infinite thermal resist. I only surmise this as a possibility because it feels like resistances and tolerances are somewhat subconscious abilities, learned as it were, as most other abilities. So if a being is basically learning to control their own atomic movement, a very mild possibility exists that they could learn to control other atomic movement. Honestly, if one did learn that, they’d acquire all forms of psychokinesis, tele, pyro, cryo. I guess it seems a bit far fetched. Hah, in a world full of magic, gaining psychokinesis sounds far fetched. I don’t even know what to believe anymore. Am I dreaming right now, or am I lost in thought?

I open my eyes, to see Teuila’s face in her hands. She’s propped up with her elbows digging into my chest, where my hands lay beneath her elbows. Te stares down at me, smiling. Her legs and body drape down my torso and legs, she basically has me pinned. “‘Sup dork?” She asks, I can’t help smiling, rolling my eyes and shaking my head.

“A direction.” I sarcastically reply, staring into her wonderful emerald eyes. Teuila’s jaw hangs slack for a moment, with one eye slightly squinted, the other eyebrow slightly raised, as she contemplates my answer. When she realizes I literally answered what is up, she sits up, straddling me, and socks me in my shoulder then my cheek for my cheekiness.

“Heee.” She gleefully lets out her wonderful single laugh. After the laugh, she stands up and to help me to my feet. We jokingly stand professionally, with one hand behind each of our backs, and casually shake each other’s other hand. “Dork.” Is all she says in response, and I just grin at her like a madbeast, smiling wide to my eyes.

“Does anyone else mind if we keep doing this? The much shorter marches, with quick scouting for dugouts, and frequent long naps for rest?”

The rest of the family seems to agree that it appears to be the safest course of action for all involved. I regret that my pyramid idea didn’t work out, though I’ll gather enough new resources for a new bottom face for the pyramid over time, and hopefully Teuila and I can keep sneaking out to train. If we train enough, I’ll have enough energy capacity that I can toss up all the walls simultaneously. I’m nearing that point already from one training session. If we train even harder, I could force Lil or Teuila’s temporary evolution and still place all faces of the tetrahedron, that way, anyone who was further away could be rescued and dragged into place before I set up the walls.

Next time we train, maybe we could invite Lil and Lu along, though perhaps the singing and marching is all the training Luni needs for now. If Lil gains a bit more maximum energy, they might be able to evolve when tethered to my pool, without using any of my own energy. Are you guys in my head right now? What do you think about that idea?

Since I was thinking strongly about them, I figured it might call their attention to my thoughts. “It did.” “Yup yup!” come Lu and Lil’s replies across our mental wavelength.

“Lil should join you two, I can’t believe you snuck off without us, but I was really tired and scared after today. I didn’t really see it that one night, since I was barely moving. Having the first time I really see it be when I was away from the family, well, it terrified me.” Luni sends her thoughts my way telepathically into our shared wavelength, the bond between the three of us. “I think maybe you’re right, maybe the singing is enough training for me for now. I’m not brave like you.”

Lu, you are braver than you know, but you’re so sweet, and tender, wait, that sounds like I’m describing food, sorry. “Tehe.” She giggles across the mental wavelength, and I hear Lil chuckling as well. Anyway, it’s okay, you don’t have to prepare for fighting, just be your sweet self, and don’t over-exert yourself.

“But you’re gonna let your dragon pal join you in training! Right buddy?” Lil enthusiastically thinks at me. Of course Lil, of course.

The entire exchange happens in a split second, between other conscious thoughts, it really is like being able to experience a conversational world at the speed of subconscious thought. It might even be faster. Our wavelength is such an accelerated pace, that I understand how Lil and Lu have years of time together already. I want to get to spend more time with them in there. I’ve been so preoccupied with my emotions and plans that I forget that I have two amazing friends within reach at all times. Our little inner circle gathers for a group hug, which of course means Lil jumps up to be squished between all of our chests.

Our days begin to blend together, as we continue marching ever North. Luni finds simple rhymes she can do that the twins and Agwai can join in on, like ‘and a one and a two,’ and so on. We take rests every few hours, and for about half the duration of those rests, Lil joins Teuila and me for training. So I practice having them both tethered and evolved simultaneously, which has some unusual repercussions, or well, at least unexpected benefits. One benefit is that my energy capacity increases faster, though I have to be careful, evolving both of them outside of combat takes up nearly everything I have. Another benefit is; as Lil joins the tether Teuila gets to feel what Lil feels, including somewhat joining our bond.

Teuila and Lil grow closer than ever due to the shared evolution training through me. I’m so happy that there’s no lingering resentment there. I remember dreaming one time that Teuila would be able to leap off of Lil and strike down any foes. Now that they’re able to practice with each other, Te can actually do just that. Seeing it in action is a pretty spectacular spectacle, as far as sights to behold are concerned. They both have such exuberant, and similar personalities. They share the dream that they both hold. Both want to get strong enough to lead a happy peaceful life, staying safe, and protecting the ones they love.

We’ve finally reached the waterfall at the cliffs in the swamp, I can see the rock that I leapt off of from down here. We haven’t run into Octorochi again in all this time, perhaps due to our cautious use of dugouts every few hours, or perhaps it’s laying in wait for us atop the cliff. I’d wager the latter. That serpent is so intelligent, it knows what it’s doing. I’d wager it figured out we were traveling north. With our frequent rests, it had probably beat us here.

“Hey, um, everybody? I’m so proud of how far we’ve gotten, we’re nearly out of the swamp, but I’m almost certain the serpent is atop the cliff waiting for us. I’m at a loss how to get us safely up there, while staying ready for battle. I could have Lil or Teuila carry one or two of us at a time, but then that basically leaves the first ones up there to face the serpent alone, as Lil or Te’d have to go back down and get the others. Worse yet, that’s two non combat evolution tethers, I barely have enough energy to create those, let alone maintain them.”

There’s murmurs from the family, as they worriedly try to suss out the right course of action. Mataalii plainly asks, “So what’s your plan, magician?” I sigh and sit in the mud that’s caused by the standing water on the swamp floor.

“I don’t know Mata, I don’t know, I’ve been trying this whole time to be prepared, I can’t work miracles.”

“Seems to me like you can.” Mataalii replies smugly.

“Excuse me?” I’m confused, that almost sounds like a compliment, but Mata sounds like a jerk as they state it.

He leans close and whispers, “I’ve seen you sneaking off, I’ve seen what you can do, don’t, disappoint me.” He emphasizes his final words by jabbing me in the chest repeatedly. The rest of the family watches the exchange but doesn’t intervene.

Does this mean Mataalii snuck out at some point, and watched me train with Teuila and Lil? I guess it doesn’t matter, we weren’t intentionally keeping it secret, we just wanted everyone else to rest, and we wanted the time to train.

“I guess I could make pitons, or, basically clay stairs or steps, pounding them in slightly, and baking them against the cliff face with Lil’s help. Near the top, we could affix a rope. Lao and Ag, you could fit the twins in your kelp pouches. Mata I trust you can climb safely, Luni too.”

“Child, what of you, Lil, and Teuila?” Lao’s words are fretful, which is understandable, I left us out for a reason.

“We’ll already be atop the cliff, we’ll be the ones placing the clay ladder steps and vine rope.” I didn’t want to have to admit it. I’m risking the three of us.

Lao starts to object, but Agwai holds Lao’s hands and shakes their own head. I wish I could stomach the courage to thank Agwai for their faith right now, but my insides are tied up in knots of fear. I spend a few moments thinking questioningly at Lu and Lil Though Lu is fearful, while Lil is prideful, they both agree.

We have to go slowly, I need to regenerate my energy as I’m using it to place the clay. I’m carefully using unbaked clay shaped into wedges. I fire it into the cliff side by expelling it from my inventory, then pound it in place with my tattoo tendrils. Lil bakes the steps into place with their fire breath. Teuila seems almost invincible to the effects of gravity in some ways, but still, as she climbs along beneath us, testing each step, I ready myself to help her evolve at a moment’s notice.

We’re about two thirds of the way finished up when disaster strikes. My guess was either wrong, or Octorochi has a quick way up and down the cliffside, as there’re screams from below. I rapidly fire the last piton-steps into place, including an eyelet one. Lil digs into my energy to finish firing the clay into place on the cliff’s face. I send a vine from my inventory through the eyelet, rather, almost all the vines I have, to be able to reach the bottom. This course of action sets my energy dangerously low already, I barely have enough left to evolve Teuila. I thought we would have more time, so that I could finish the ladder without using energy. Instead, now it has taken far too much energy, risking the entire plan.

The family is climbing rapidly as Lil and I descend at breakneck pace. Teuila leaps off the side of the cliff onto Lil’s back with me as we plummet. The three of us crash into Octorochi from above, driving it back just before it snaps at Laomati. Lao is bravely bringing up the rear as the rest climb. I catch a sob in my throat as I understand her bravery and what her action signifies. She had to have come back down from partway up the cliff’s face. I don’t see her kelp satchel though, but I’ve no time to contemplate that. Lao wouldn’t put Mana in danger, so the twin is safe, somewhere.

It’s hard to get the words out, I can only manage a one word plea to Laomati, “Climb?” Lao thankfully obliges, and I turn my attention back to the battle at hand. Lil has been taking a quadrupedal ground based evasive stance to buy time for the family. If we flew up, it’d just ignore us and go after our loved ones after all. Teuila seems to be doing nothing in particular, that’s when I realize I need to cover her eyes. I tie my own hood down over my eyes once again. I pull Te’s visor down on her helmet, and cake its screen with clay. Thankfully that seems to snap Teuila back to her senses.

Starting to summon weapons for Teuila and myself, I place several Gae Buidhe face up in the mud, so that I can keep the serpent angry and distracted. As I’m about to start enacting the plan, the serpent breaks away, seemingly fleeing the fight. They aren’t fleeing though, they’re scaling a tree with blinding speed, and beating the rest of the family to the top of the cliffs. Lil would have a hard time catching up to it carrying one of us, let alone two of us. Teuila however could make it in a single leap.

I try to steady my breathing, remaining relaxed, trying to conserve and regain as much energy as possible. Being seated seems to be able to trigger regeneration, at least slightly, even when in danger. Though perhaps that would be difficult if I were actually still in the fray. Teuila evolves as I send my tether to her. She immediately leaps to the top of the cliff to distract Octorochi. I can’t teleport with Teuila, but I dismount Lil, and give them a slap on the tail. Lil knows what to do. Lil takes off like a rocket, still much slower than Teuila, but they will join up in time.

The few seconds of waiting are complete agony as I borrow Lil’s senses, their wings pounding with everything they can muster as they take to the sky to catch up. I can’t express how much I appreciate my little dragon buddy right now, or Te. Teuila is beyond incredibly powerful, and Lil is still a force to be reckoned with.

If the family gets to the top where they can see the serpent, and starts climbing back down, the serpent will just come back down. Eventually climbing up and down the cliff face, or hanging onto it for dear life, will tire us out before the serpent. It really has us pinned here. I guess I was right, one way or another, this is the last time we’ll ever meet this snake. I spy a slight aura in the muck through Lil’s vision, around where Staff Ninja fell. Could that possibly be the staff of thunder and lightning that they wielded?

“Lil, can you grab that, and toss it above you?”

“You betcha partner!” Lil dives low, coils their tail around the object emanating the aura, and flicks it up above their back. I teleport through Lil’s bond towards Octorochi, snagging the object out of the air above Lil on the way through. I curse the fact that I had to teleport through the bond to join the fight. It was either that, or let them battle Octorochi alone. As I’d have to scale the cliffs and push my family up into the fray. The energy cost for the teleport is too high, we’re barely going to be able to enact what’s left of the plan.

Now that I’m up here, I see how the serpent gets back and forth so easily, certain branches from the canopy of the trees that sprout below the cliff edge are within a serpent’s leaping distance upwards.

I send a telepathic request to Lil, “Lil, can you take out those branches? Even if it means setting the swamp on fire. Then tell the family to hold on until the fight is finished.” I curse slightly that I left several Gae Buidhe at the bottom of the cliff, since my plan for finishing this jerk relied on many of them. Thankfully Teuila and I have built up quite a stock of sets of equipment over our travels in the swamp. Also, we may yet be in luck, they’re sticking face up in the mud, like a spike pit trap.

I should probably be paying attention to the fact that I’m dodging Octorochi while I make these mental plans, but the danger wraps are doing their job, helping direct my reflexes. They seem to direct my reflexes to use the staff as a guard much more easily than I would expect, since I haven’t practiced with it. There are slight booms with every impact the snake makes against the staff, though I can’t figure out how to command any of the staff’s other powers. I think the noise is only angering the serpent, and nothing else. I’m fine with that. They also disguise the sound of Lil snapping branches off of the trees that the serpent could get to.

As the serpent lunges time and time again, I find myself trying to be in several places at once, to keep each of its heads distracted. They all have to remain looking down. With this many heads, its only blindspot is above it.

I’ve been having trouble keeping track of Teuila. She’s been basically dancing atop the serpent’s heads, keeping out of reach while trying not to bottom out my energy. She’s trying to use zero energy, since we haven’t even started enacting my plan yet. We’re still bleeding energy by the moment though, and this battle is far too dangerous to risk energy debt. If I pass out from a random effect of energy debt, the tethers might drop. I try to calm myself as I summon copies of Gae Buidhe into the air in the serpent’s only blindspots, facing downwards at an angle towards Octorochi. I’m not the hero of this battle, I just need to survive.

Teuila knows what to do. When her and my stamina grew through our recent training, our abilities required less and less energy. I’d like to say we could do this all day, but that would be a bit of a lie, stretching it currently. Maybe with a few more months of training. I raise an eyebrow towards Teuila, checking if she’s ready, if she believes I’ve been distracting enough. Te nods when she catches my gaze for the brief moment she’s visible before I lose her again.

We’ve only got moments left before my energy gets too low to maintain the tethers, and I’m personally running on fumes from trying to dodge the beast’s heads. Octorochi is going to wise up to Teuila’s position and threat level after our first assault. Once the serpent wises up she’ll have to take it on from the ground, losing our greatest advantage. Her leaps would cost too much energy if there were no items suspended in the air for her to dance between. Knowing this, I have a sneaking suspicion that we’re in deeper trouble than I can afford to let on.

I’m down to one last copy of Gae Buidhe in my inventory. Even though our count is incorrect, I let Lil know to let Teuila know. Now I take a single step back, and I give Octorochi the meal of a lifetime as I spread my arms wide. Enraged, it falls for the same trick for the third and final time. I shrink in on myself and leap through each of its necks as they all snap simultaneously.

Passing between its necks, I spin backwards to face its heads that just thrust past me. I extend my tendrils to grasp and coil each of the necks into a bunch. Teuila first throws her own spear with incredible accuracy, helping pin several heads together. Afterwards, a rain of deadly spears begins falling as if from the heavens. There are mere milliseconds between each impact as Teuila soccer kicks or backflip kicks each spear into the serpent’s craniums. Health bar after health bar bottom out on Octorochi, but as I feared, it’s not enough, our count was off. Our count is off, and it’s my fault for thinking we could engage Octorochi when we first met it at the lower swamp level.

If Octorochi is like Vampguppy, they’ll become enraged and more powerful in this state. I can’t afford to let that happen when we’re about to lose our advantages. Teuila combating it from the ground with the few seconds left in the tether could get hurt, or die, before even figuring out its new abilities, let alone finishing off the serpent.

I look up to the skies and see her, it causes me to smile and realize, I’m no poor child. For this upcoming course of action, I need no sympathy. I love you, my warrior angel, and my dragon, my oldest friend. Leaping from the cliff, tendrils still clasping Octorochi, I aim for just beyond the copies of Gae Buidhe. There is terror of realization in the eyes of Lil and Teuila as they both dash into Octorochi, making sure my leap isn’t in vain. Their extra push is what was needed to send it tumbling over the edge. I imagine Te and Lil are livid with me for sacrificing myself again. Both race against gravity to reach me. I calm my breathing, closing my eyes. I know they will be too late, but one thing might still work.

“Lil, pull up!” I demand, and Lil, startled, does as I ask, spreading their wings in a breakfall, causing Teuila to be caught up atop them as well. Teuila is startled and enraged, but I try to teleport, hoping that it doesn’t conserve momentum. The bad news is, I’m not mad anymore, and Octorochi isn’t alive to have any hostile intent as they impact a split second before me. The good news is the same news. I don’t dare teleport to Mataalii, I’d knock him off the cliff face. If I die at this moment, Lil and Teuila are low enough, and they’ve slowed enough that a fall wouldn’t really hurt them, so I may as well try one last thing.

I drop their energy bonds, watching my beloved buddy, and my dear Teuila seem to slowly pass out. Teuila wraps her arms around Lil with the last of her strength as she loses consciousness. She does this, I assume, in order to reduce Lil’s falling impact as they lightly plummet from a few yards above the ground. In that single instant that I have left, I force a tether around myself, pumping the energy I reclaimed from the two bonds. I shudder as I’m launched into a forced evolution with barely enough energy to even begin the process. Maybe if I’m lucky, the evolved form will absorb the impact with the swamp floor. Wait, the swamp floor has standing water! I call the other minor water walking potion from my inventory, trying to consume it as I transform. Transformation was a mistake, it made me ever so slightly larger in the direction of the ground as I began to consume the potion. The barest fraction of my back touches the ground as the potion kicks in.

It feels like my back breaks, and the swamp around me explodes, thrusting Octorochi’s derezzing body up and back down onto the copies of Gae Buidhe. I may have been a moment too late with the potion. How many times have I counted on water to spare my life? I feel my energy tether on myself snap, as my own forced evolution drops. Consciousness fades from me, and I see a bright light overhead.