Galactic High

The group had rested in silence for a few minutes after that. Not commenting on anything while Alora worked her magic, healing the most critical and life-threatening wounds first, and only stopping for Chiyo to yank several blades out of various places on Jack's body, who hadn't even noticed them until his adrenaline ran out. The collapse of the building had made these wounds even worse, and the Ilithii was as careful as she could possibly be on the blades that had snapped in several places, with Nika theorising that Svaartal had intended them to break up once they entered the body.

Alora seemed conflicted as she worked, trying to ignore Jack's insistence that she heal the others first before she worked on him. Sephy's wing had been mauled badly by Xharl's attack and the resulting fall, but Alora cautioned that they would need a more experienced healer to properly look at it, though she was able to numb the pain for her. Though Sephy had suggested visiting a street doc and paying for surgery herself, Alora knew she just didn't want to go to the Temple of Hope.

Sephy had reluctantly relented after it was pointed out that the healing magics at the Temple would be far quicker and probably free of charge, at least once they gave their report to the right people there. The Skritta had demanded they go back to Gladespring and rest in a safe zone with as many sweet drinks as they could have, and nobody was against the idea. Alora knew she needed to send word ahead to the right people, and intended to contact the church of Astara with the help of Jack as the best people to trust.

Nika got the group's stuff back from where they'd hidden it and started looting the bodies with Sephy while the others were busy petting the 'dog'. That is to say, Jack and Alora were, while Chiyo kept her distance, still weirded out by the beast.

I'm telling you! We have no idea what this beast even is, and you want to trust it even AFTER it started shooting lightning bolts everywhere!?

"It fought alongside us, Chiyo!" Alora rolled her eyes at her friend's paranoia. "Are you really going to be mean to it?"

I'm not mean to it! Chiyo denied while, with a grin, the 'dog' wandered over to Chiyo at Alora's encouragement.

No! Keep it away from me! It’s dirty! Chiyo whined as she floated up, while the dog kept jumping to try and catch her.

"See! It just wants to play!" Alora smiled. "Maybe you just need to get used to him over time!"

Get used to? Oh no… Chiyo replied in realisation.

"Yep." Alora grinned. "If it wants to stay with us, it will." She grew more serious for a moment. "Unless you really don't like the idea, Chiyo?"

I'm fine with it as long as it leaves me be. Chiyo sighed. Sephy would never forgive me anyway if I said no.

"Well that's that settled." Alora sighed with relief. "Now we've got to get back again…"

*****

“By Astara’s tits! Fucking hell!” High Priestess Cornelia finally spoke in shock on hearing their story, having sat through it all in stoic silence until Alora had finished. It had been a relatively uneventful but uncomfortable trip back, with the group still sporting whatever deep-set injuries Alora was unable to fix until Brother Arguinious had insisted on seeing to them with his magic before they delivered their report to the High Priestess. Sephy had been a bit reluctant to accept the healing, not wanting to be 'in debt' to the temple, but in the end had been persuaded by the others. It helped that she had not known Brother Arguinious until today.

"We will need to verify ourselves and test the samples you have obtained for us." The high priestess finally calmed down. "But I believe you. This is clearly a Spawn of Nekdon to me."

"They already know about the truth circle on the carpet," Sephy spoke up from where she leaned against the back wall as far away as possible. “We weren’t lying.”

"I had assumed you must have told them, Sepharina; I intended no deceit. An old trick from my predecessor, but I have to be certain." Cornelia nodded in shame at Sephy. “When I got your message I had assumed it was something else and you'd misidentified whatever it was, but now I know for certain from everything you've told me. Unless you disagree, Faegleal?" she asked the woman sitting next to her, who had been leaning back in her chair taking notes.

Inquisitor Faegleal had been one of the first people to successfully communicate with Jack after his rescue by the paladins, having been the person to question him under the watchful eye of the High Priestess and building trust between them in those first few hours. The honey-badger-looking woman had not been unkind to him during his initial questioning, determining rather quickly that he was an Outsider, and assisted High Priestess Cornelia in the efforts to acclimate Jack when a quick measure to send Jack back hadn’t been found.

"I agree, Cornelia, this is disturbing. Though the revelation that a Spawn was this close to us is a dire one, my own worry is on the party that woke it up from hibernation in the first place. A few of my acolytes had been investigating Dubakuu as a potential serious threat, but until now hadn't been able to find him, which in itself was worrying. Unfortunately, by the time we realised he was coming after your group we couldn't get into contact with you, which matches the time you claim you encountered the Spawn of Nekdon."

"It took you that long to realise?" Nika asked incredulously.

"I'm getting to that," the inquisitor replied without missing a beat as she brought up a tablet and showed the room. It was a massive collage of reported sightings and rumours all involving the evil priest. "We received this information over the course of the last two days. Up until now we didn't know why, but as soon as you mentioned the cybernetics and a slicer it all fit into place for me."

She tossed the device on the table with a grunt. "This was clearly interference."

High Priestess Cornelia nodded. "So someone really didn’t want us intervening.”

"That is my conclusion. We'll need to secure the site of the Spawn, but I think our more immediate concern is tracking this hostile party. Enemies of the faith must be rooted out and eliminated before they can cause more damage."

Cornelia nodded. "You're right. We can't do everything at once, especially after the Killer Klown’s attack, so we need to prioritise. I'll leave the investigation on Dubakuu to you; in the meantime, I'll spare what Paladins I can to secure the Spawn's lair and bring in a few scribes to investigate. I understand your group created a system bypass, Alora?"

"I did," Sephy spoke up coolly, throwing a datachip into the desk. "That also includes access to the train we used. This should cover the healing your priest gave us."

"Any healing you received from us won't have come with strings attached unless initially asked for." The High Priestess sighed. "If your wounds were received defending yourself or acting against evil, it is our pleasure to heal you. But…thank you…Sephy."

"We'll be doing our own research as well," Alora added, wanting to clear the air. "Whoever was behind Dubakuu wanted Jack dead, and used the Spawn to try and do it."

"But did they know the Spawn was there in the first place?" Inquisitor Faegleal mused.

"Yes," Jack argued, remembering what Dubakuu had said to him. "When I spoke to him he mentioned the whispers telling him about it and something he called the 'Gloom Cauldron' which he used to boost his power somehow."

"Then identifying and tracking down our mysterious Puppeteer is vital," Inquisitor Faegleal concluded. "I'll have the scribes investigate our archives for similar cases and see if it's anyone known to us. I want to say it's The Augmented, but there's no way any former acolyte of Nekdon would go down that path willingly."

"Unwilling is always a possibility," Cornelia pointed out.

“Does your group have an audio copy of your encounter with Dubakuu?” Faegleal asked, pondering something. “If you will allow me to go over it I might be able to gain some insights you might have missed.”

Alora quickly looked to Sephy, who nodded in confirmation.

“Excellent.” The Inquisitor accepted the transfer of local files. “I’ll have my adepts clear up the audio and I’ll send you a copy of my findings, and I ask that you share any updates you have with us. I also ask that you don’t talk about the Spawn and Dubakuu especially, until we are ready, and I’d suggest that you extend the same courtesy to the Oracle. The Greenwardens are usually cagey when speaking to us, but in this case neither of us want interested 3rd parties coming to investigate the area and make things difficult.”

"Agreed,” Cornelia replied before turning to the group. “Regardless, you have enemies still out there, especially you, Jack. I had hoped that you wouldn't get yourself into trouble, but it seems trouble has mostly come to you instead, so I wish you the best of luck. Stay sharp, stay smart and trust in yourself and your friends. You always have our support if you need it."

"Woof!" The 'dog' agreed, the beast having already received several strange looks from the two women.

"I would say 'Astara watch over you,'” Cornelia continued, looking at the 'dog' in wonder. "But perhaps she already is. You take good care of them!" she ordered the ‘dog’ as she gently scratched it behind the ears.

"Woof!" The ‘dog’ confirmed.

******

"Gods I'm exhausted!" Sephy plonked herself down on the sofa, laying down and putting her feet on Jack's lap. “At least we made it back safe!"

"Same," Alora agreed as she threw everyone a can of cold soda. "Though I'm surprised we didn't run into any Zorn on the way back ."

"Yeah that was weird," Nika agreed. "Maybe they played it cautious after losing a few patrols to Dubakuu and his Risen?"

"Maybe" Alora agreed thoughtfully as she sat down with the others, sighing and sitting in silence for a few moments to clear her mind before she brought up business. "We need to go over what happened and work out what to do next"

Agreed. Chiyo spoke up. But we still have school tomorrow and enemies that attend it.

"Early nights for everyone" Nika added, pointedly looking at Sephy.

"Oh, fine." The Skritta sighed. "But can someone go over my homework for me and let me know if I've messed up?”

"You actually did it?" Alora asked with a laugh. "That's not like you on a run weekend!"

"I did it on the train!" Sephy grinned. "Turns out just keeping a vehicle going forward and leaving everything else switched on gets rather boring after a while!"

"You made driving a train sound much more complicated!" Jack laughed weakly. "I'll help you go over it - the parts I actually understand anyway"

"Thanks Jack!"

Back on topic? Chiyo interjected.

"Yes," Alora agreed. "Jack, I'm sorry we didn't get the answers you wanted, but at least we have a trail to follow. The Church of Astara can help a little, but they're more focused on the Spawn of Nekdon and Dubakuu than everything else. That doesn't mean they won't be helpful with the rest, but they're stretched thin, especially right now. We need to do our own investigation."

"I've already put out a few feelers on the cyberware, see if anyone’s heard about it without giving any specifics,” Sephy added as she addressed the group. “That’s probably our best lead right now, but it depends on what information we can pull from it. I may have a few friends of friends of friends that can help us crack it, but it’ll cost us when we finally find someone. No way am I trusting this one to the temple, so I guess I’m leading this one.”

I’ll be researching the Gloom Cauldron. Chiyo added, which the others translated for Jack. We don’t know anything about it, and that doesn’t sit right with me. What it is and how Dubakuu got it will uncover a few pieces of the puzzle at least. Jack, I also want to research your arrival, and merge with you at some point to see your memory of it myself when you’re up for it. Perhaps the Church of Astara missed a few things.

Jack took a sharp intake of breath at that, which only Chiyo might have noticed, though if she did she didn’t mention it. He had no intention of reliving that horror again unless absolutely necessary, and he had been through enough today already.

“Not tonight,” Alora argued. “We need to sleep well. As for me, I’ve sent word to my people to see if they have any more information on the Oracle’s species. If anyone would know what could have messed with the Oracle, it’s probably them. I’ll also keep in contact with the Greenwardens there in case anything changes.”

“And I guess I’ll be keeping an eye on the bounty boards,” Nika noted. “For any suspects and if anyone else is coming after us.”

“Thanks guys,” Jack replied sincerely after a few moments of silence. “Well, I'll help you out however I can. I guess I’ll walk and feed this guy in the meantime!” He gave the ‘dog’ a head rub as it was lying next to him on the sofa.

“It’s one of us now.” Alora smiled. “They should probably have a name.”

“Yeah! Do we even know what species it is, Chiyo?” Sephy asked.

No idea. The Ilithii replied thoughtfully, before suggesting a name that sounded to the others like a random garbling of unpronounceable syllables.

.

“What?” Nika asked. “Chiyo, how would you even spell that?

Cqcq'trtr, it means ‘hungry chaser’ in my people’s ancient tongue.

“Chiyo, I wouldn’t even begin to know how to pronounce that!” Sephy argued. “Only a complete idiot would ever try to read a word like that out loud!”

The girls eventually got into arguing with one another over various ideas for names while Jack just sat there, petting the dog and waiting for them to calm down. He had thought of a few names already, from dumb ones like ‘Pikachu’ to the cliche ones like ‘Zeus’ and ‘Thor’. He even thought about some famous dogs from history, like

Hachikō or Lassie. But looking at the ‘dog’ as he petted it, he felt none of those fit, until he thought of a name that felt….right.

“Jack, do you have any ideas?” Alora asked him, knowing he had been staying out of it on purpose.

“Dante,” Jack answered simply as the ‘dog’ looked at him with bright eyes.

“Woof!” It barked loudly in excited agreement.

“Well it looks like that’s settled!” Alora decided on seeing the agreed nods of all the others. “Welcome to the team, Dante!”

Though they had all committed to their different projects and still had some things to go through from before, they wouldn't be doing that tonight.

Tonight was for destressing and relaxing!

As they talked, watched TV and made Dante feel at home, Jack began to move past the ordeal of their journey. It had been wrought with peril and near misses, but making it out of there had been a hell of a rush.

Though he knew he had gone through a hell nobody should ever have to go through, least of all a teenager like him.

He had killed many since his arrival to this plane of existence that crossed his path. When they had ambushed the Klowns and Zorn, they deserved it. When they had defeated the Spawn of Nekdon, it had been survival. When they had eliminated Dubakuu and his Risen, it had been in the name of justice and saving the hostages that could not protect themselves. As for the Red Legion aspirants and the bounty hunters? Self defence.

He was interrupted from his reverie by Nika's expression of horror.

She was looking at her tablet in shock, as one by one the others stopped to look at her.

"What is it?" Alora asked in worry.

"Jack's bounty went up." Nika looked at them all. "Several different random profiles were just created and added the same amount of credits to the pot over the space of a few seconds, and House Mal'Kar updated their pot a minute after that."

"They're taunting us," Alora growled. "Want us to know they're involved somehow."

"What else?" Sephy asked in worry, seeing Nika's expression remain the same.

The Kizun took a deep breath before slowly replying.

"Devil's Daughter just placed a mark on Jack."

***

Zhal-Han had to sleep on the streets once again.

His public loss to the Kizun girl had completely ruined and humiliated him. He didn’t even get to face his bounty! The video had been posted all over the local net, and he had been bombarded with messages and comments. One girl from the local academy, Vanya something or other had even requested an interview, which he had rudely declined, seeing as she was one of the main influencers that shared the video on MyFace. His last students had left him, taking what was left of their money back from Zhal-Han by force after he begged and pleaded with them to stay.

He spent some time trying to find a good place to shelter that was out of the way, trying to keep himself covered up as much as possible. He had no desire to be recognised and disturbed, so he’d hunker down if he could and try and scrounge some food and credits at night. A week or two to allow the news of his humiliation to die down, and maybe he would try again. A new cult or a religion sounded like a better way to make some quick credits anyway. He would plan his next move in the meantime.

It had been several hours of trying to find a good spot, but it had been difficult throughout. More than once people would see through his disguise and mock him, forcing him to run away to a new area. He seethed with rage as he kept looking through the districts for somewhere to hide and sleep in peace. Maybe he’d try and get his revenge on the human and his group instead….

Eventually, exhaustion kicked in and Zhal-Han sat down in a one-way side alley by the district wall. It was clearly used as a dumping ground by the local slums, and smelled terrible, but it was the best place to lie low for now. The street lights had either been switched off or seemingly busted as he walked along anyway, so he figured he could catch some hours rest as darkness reigned.

Suddenly Zhal-Han shot up as a single bulb of light flicked back on at the entrance, with a hooded figure just standing there, looking at him.

“Go away!” Zhal-Han groaned in his exhaustion, as the light went out.

Only for another to switch on closer to him, illuminating the figure with it once again.

Zhal-Han fell back in shock and quickly tried to scramble to his feet as the light went off again, coming another few steps closer. “What do you want?” he asked the figure in a panic. “I haven’t got anything!”

Another light off, another light on. The figure was closer now, and Zhal-Han could see the dark, obscuring clothing on the biped that covered his identity, though not what was underneath the hood, something bright that clearly contrasted with the dark clothing the figure wore.

“HELP! PLEASE!” Zhal-Han yelled, though none came. The next change of lights brought the figure ever closer, and Zhal-Han finally saw what was under the hood.

A pale, white mask of simple pottery design, completely obscuring the face, the expression completely neutral, though it was the symbol on the forehead that filled Zhal-Han with terror.

The Burning Skull. The symbol used by those who worshipped The Destroyer.

“No! Wait!” Zhal-Han tried, whispering to the figure. “I’ll join you! I’ll worship it! I can be one of you!”

The figure gave a slow, deliberate shake of the head, before they were obscured once again, and the final light switched on, lighting both of them up. They were only separated by a few metres, and Zhal-Han was slightly taller, but the figure had something in his hand that Zhal-Han immediately recognised in sheer dread. A long, thin, heavily serrated sawtooth blade. He had seen pictures of similar things before on the news, and knew he was going to die an agonising death.

Unless he could make a break for it?

“F…FEEL MY TECHNIQUE!” Zhal-Han bellowed, grasping one final spark of courage as he charged. He never stood a chance.

*****

Art enabled one to find themselves and lose themselves at the same time.

The paint spoke to them, as they completed their Great Work, the striking colours blending and contrasting in perfection to coalesce into a tranquil finale for all to enjoy. Sadly, there were many who never appreciated the message of their art, never searching for the mysteries and deeper meanings. Though some lost souls did, and began their own paths as ordained by The Destroyer. In the moment, it mattered not. With their colours and shapes, they could express themselves to The Destroyer in ways no mere words or prayers could.

And the Destroyer was pleased.

Yet, there was something missing. Xeenphod’s did produce many fascinating paints and clay, but the artist stopped in their work as they felt a pull in their heart, like they realised they were on the verge of creating a great masterpiece.

The whispers returned, the heralds of the Destroyer served to soothe and reassure the artist as they resumed their work, placing the final touches on their masterpiece, before signing it in the remains of their paint. The Destroyer was indeed pleased, the whispers told them, and they would ensure that all of Hive Station Bastilla would look upon their work.

The Destroyer had a gift for them, the whispers said. A new specimen. Possibly the only one of his species in existence. In the name of the Destroyer, they were to be killed, and be used for the Greatest Work of all! The artist placed the finishing touches before leaving the work to be discovered, as several anonymous tips were placed, and several local signs and screens were overridden around the artist as they walked away.

Zhal-Han’s mutilated body was discovered with the first rays of light as promised. the telltale sawtooth blade causing agony before death, ripping and shedding as much blood as possible for the mural of gore and horror left behind.

The Skinsaw Slasher has struck again.