"Thank you lad." Teddy told Will with a smile as the young man sat in front of him, his own mug of lovely black gold steaming in his palms. Thank god that these Marines had some coffee beans before the place was sent here.
Enough so that Donny had managed to plant and cultivate a few on their farmland properly.
Then again, the soil had become more bountiful over the past few weeks, even as the constant heat of the sun lessened over the past few months since he had arrived. Or perhaps it was that jungle that was finally managing to pull it's weight.
Or it was something else that young Will had pulled to this world that they were unaware of.
There were plenty of times when he had summoned something, only for nothing to appear.
High likelihood that they would be more eventual headaches to deal with.
Speaking of said headaches…
"How has the integration of the horses coming along?" Will asked.
(1-15+18-17+4=26 Thundering Hooves
Horses that can literally run like the wind. Also can control it. A range of fields, large enough for these roving bands of horses can call a home. AKA, one tile of Civ 5 space which is… a lot. About 124 kilometers. Thankfully, these horses have a kind personality, and bond with Will and any of those that are aligned with him due to the high roll.
Are larger than normal horse breeds, along with wisps of wind constantly traveling through their manes. Can range from a gentle caressing breeze, to cutting gales of hurricanes and tornadoes.)
"Quite well. The knights in particular have bonded quite quickly to the horse bands closest to our borders. Though, we shall need to speed up our expansion plans earlier than we had anticipated."
Will grimaced. "Not something that is going to be easy. Even with the refugees and influx of people from nearby settlements, manpower isn't something that we can conjure out of thin air. Reliably that is." He quickly added when Teddy stared at him with half lidded eyes, a smile gracing his mustached face.
"Besides, we aren't sure if they are going to be people desperate for a second chance, like Miss Elizabeth, or someone that is itching to return home like Varric or Donatello."
"Or spirits in your head that glitter your ear with commentary." Noah whispered into Will's ear, the merchant rolling his eyes, knowing that the body less being could see him do so.
"Still, those horses are going to be quite the boon. Especially with just how fast they can run." Will mused as he took a sip from his coffee, ignoring the fact that it was currently pitch black outside.
"Indeed. Them being territorial beasts for anyone that isn't you, or one of us, is yet another boon." They'd watched earlier as horse literally tackled through a mutated bear that had tried picking off one of the younger foals that had wandered from the group. The large beast had been simultaneous cut in half, while the two former wholes had been sent careening leagues away.
Varric insisted on never being near another one again after that. "I'm too damn short to ride one anyway. Sides, I like my balls where they're at. Don't want to accidentally piss one off."
"There have been some troubling reports recently, of some of the other settlements beyond Tenpines Bluff to the east and south. Apparently they have been going quiet recently, smaller traveling groups and caravans as well."
Teddy frowns at that, the good mood dissipating into the silent room. "Since when?"
"It wasn't something that they immediately noticed immediately. After all, travel isn't something that people normally do here in the Commonwealth compared to some of the safer places out west. But given that it had been almost three months… they started to get worried and asked some of the Minutemen troops to check on some of them during their patrols."
Teddy already knew what they found given the look in Will's eyes. "They found only ruins didn't they?"
Will nodded, keeping the register in his mind and the lightning in his veins bottled up tight. Even if he wanted to let them both out.
"Numerous smaller camps and budding towns were wiped out. The worst part is that it looks like the townspeople barely even reacted to whoever attacked them."
"What do you mean?" Teddy asked.
"I mean that whoever invaded, did it fast enough that most towns didn't have time to fight back. No shells or casings on the floor, most people looked like they were barely reacting to the act before they were killed."
"Hmm… that means either overwhelming numbers or it was during the night then."
"Yes that's what I was thinking about it too. I'm planning on heading out towards some of those places to check myself,. while also visiting any in the vicinity that might still be around." They both hoped that there would still be people for them to find.
"I'm still never going to get used to you doing that." David said offhandedly as Will stared at the orange stone that shimmered in his hands.
(12-9+4=13 Dragoon
The Dragoon Asterisk. A powerful artifact able to impart knowledge and power into the wielder the longer they hold it, and the more arduous the tasks that they endure.
The Dragoon specializes in combat with a spear along with arial combat and jumping attacks. Due to the higher than average roll, the user acclimates to the Asterisk at an increased rate.)
He'd summoned it earlier in the day, and waited until they were well on the road to truly analyze it. And what a beauty it truly was!
"You're telling me that just using this thing can give someone power?" David asked as Will passed him the stone, inspecting the orange glowing rock with a discerning eye, Glory scanning it as well.
"I'm sensing some strange readings coming from this stone. I'm not exactly sure what it is though. It seems similar to the Light, yet very different from what I can tell."
"Probably magic. I've had plenty of magical items and artifacts make their way through the summons." Will offered while scratching the back of Dogmeat's head, the dog panting in appreciation while sniffing the air with both his nose and tongue.
"Well whatever this is, it has a vast more power than one would expect. Certainly for something so small." Glory offered. "Would it be too much trouble if I were to inspect this during any downtime?"
"Sure, I have no problem with it."
"How do you use it?" David asked.
"Don't know really." Will said. "These things don't really come with instructions."
Before they could focus any longer on the stone, a growling bark from Dogmeat catches both young men's attention. "What is it boy?" David asked while kneeling next to the dog, who simply gestures forward with his head. "You want us to follow?"
Oddly enough, the dog nods at both men, and takes off towards the south, remaining silent all the while.
"....Did he just nod at us?" David eventually asked, running next to Will, both of them easily keeping pace with the Zoan canine.
"Yeah, that's new." Will admitted with an even expression. After everything that he's been through, his dog understanding him wasn't really the most interesting thing that has happened to him.
The run was long enough that the smell eventually hit them.
Smoke, ash, and iron. Blood.
They arrived to an enclosed community, a little imitation of Pre-War paradise, with the restored suburb homes, and white picket fences. Surrounding the homes were foot thick stone walls, barbed wire fastened at the top of the walls, with a destroyed steel gate that looked to have been powered by something.
Turrets were strewn around the floor, the barrels and circuitry that they once held inside now scattered to the floor, the corpse of a man splattered with numerous bullet holes strewn next to it.
"Will?" David asked quietly, materializing a .45 pistol that the old gunsmith Pete had managed to reconstruct from some old salvage.
"Yeah." He responded evenly, summoning his blade out into the air, sending out a pulse wincing when he received what he expected back. "No one is left. There are electronics left behind though."
"Alright, I'll take point." David said, heading inside with the gun expertly trained forward, guard up regardless of Will's assessment.
A good thing. Just because Will didn't feel anyone inside, didn't mean that they didn't leave something behind.
It was a bloodbath on the inside, numerous bodies scattered on the floor, most of them wearing pristine clothing that looked straight out of those pictures and billboards from the Old War.
A sweep through the small town showed that the carnage was thorough and bloody, leaving this fortified settlement nothing more than a ghost town.
Yet, there was something about the entire scene that brought a chill to them both.
"Everyone besides that guy out front was killed by a shot to the head." David mused as he stared at the carnage with a furrowed brow, words cold and clipped.
"Yes, all to the back of the head." Will responded while Dogmeat sniffed around, a constant growl emanating from his throat. "Not something that can be done easily, at least, not without them having been bound."
"Other than the bullet to the head, they don't have a scratch on them." David knelt to the closest corpse, a woman in a green dress, face locked into one of surprise with widened empty green eyes. "I've seen something like this before."
There was something in his tone that set Will's teeth on edge. "Where?"
"On the bodies that I used to leave behind." The breeze left haunting echoes traveling through the town, David refusing to look at Will's face while the merchant simply stared at him, waiting for him to continue. "Before I died, I had a… specific type of cyberware. A Sandevistan, experimental military tech that pushed the body to its limit. I was basically a bullet in human form. Let me move like a damn lightning bolt while everyone else just… stood there."
Will didn't need to hear any more to know where he was going with this. "Which means that whoever did this moved a hell of a lot faster than should be possible." A sinking feeling started to well up in his gut.
David noticed the falling of the merchant's face. "What is it?"
"...This might be my fault." Will admitted with numb empty words, the crackle of lightning intensifying underneath his skin.
"What the f*ck? Why would this be your fault? You're the one that came to check this sh*t out in the first place?" David asked confused while Dogmeat gave Will a sad look unnoticed by the two young men.
"One of the things I summoned. Something I brought that was scattered into the Wastes instead of landing in front of me. It's happened before." Will said softly, remembering the Awoken former Ghouls that had found their way to one of the many settlements that Will was a part of.
That was merely one of the things he had brought. How many other times had he summoned something and had no clue what happened to it?
"Even if you did, whoever did this, it's on them. Not something that you did. Whatever asshole did this sh*t, this is on them. Not on you."
"Yes, but these people would still be alive if I hadn't brought whatever it was to this world." Will responded evenly. Before David could respond, Dogmeat barks at them, pacing around in a circle twice before heading out of town.
They both take off next to the dog, weapons still held at the ready, holy light glimmering off one blade, while Light gathered inside of David's body.
They didn't have to travel very far until Dogmeat stopped as they approached the water of a nearby canal, right by an open sewer pipe.
"Ugh, I hate having to go into the sewers. The damn smell takes forever to go away no matter how many times you shower." David bemoaned as they found a doorway inside the sewer pipe. A door that looked like it had been smashed open, what looked like a footprint indented into the thick metal.
"Hisss" Dogmeat ground out of his throat, canines elongating as his fur began to shift into white, a gleaming glow emanating from his eyes.
Will sends out a pulse and… stares out down the hallway, worry prickling the back of his neck.
Throwing caution to the wind, he pulls relaxing his 'grip' on the metaphorical door of his power when he feels that it isn't something to… chaotic.
He smiles at the blade that appears in his hand, a gleaming edge of sharpened white metal that shimmered with black along the edges. It wasn't a blade that was too big, it was actually shorter than the one that he wielded in his other hand, but the balance was absolutely perfect in his grip.
"What is that!?" Glory hisses out, staring at the blade in his hand with an almost hateful scorn.
"A new toy to use." Will said simply, shelving back his confusion for later. Now, they had something else to take care of. "I'll take point."
"What did you feel down there?" David asked him as they traveled down the corridor, both doing their best to lighten their footsteps amongst the metal and concrete floor, both ignoring the corpses that littered the hallways. This time though, it wasn't a one way slaughter, as people wearing the shoddy misshapen "Raider" armor joined that of the denizens that had been down here.
"People dying, and whoever is doing the killing they are fast, just like we thought." Will responded with a quiet breadth, constantly sending out pulses of electricity, doing his best to keep up with the constant movement of the single 'brightest' neuroelectrical signature that he could feel, though there were moments when he felt as if he lost them.
They arrived to a greater chamber, one behind yet another locked door and mechanical cross way over a large drop, that brought the 'innocence' of the settlement up top into question.
It was some sort of laboratory prison. At the center of the chamber were large blocky terminals, desks, paperwork, and… tables that had the corpse of a woman on top of it, her skull open revealing her brain to the world.
"What the f*ck kinda psycho sh*t is this?" David whispered out as he gazed at the corpse in the center, and the steel barred cells that were ingrained into the circular walls around it.
They'd arrived just as the last of the defenders, a man decked in leather armor, crumpled to the floor. Above him was a man wearing… robes? Black robes outlined in silver, a strange headdress of pure copper that resembled a gear with the large chest piece at the front.
He stared up at the two of them in surprise, before he became little more than a blur and the sound of two gunshots echoed through the room.
Will didn't allow his brain to think or take in the carnage, he just moved, his body and instincts taking over as he turned into lightning and shot towards the ceiling, materializing to see the wall behind where he stood splintered as a bullet impacted it.
"HIAARK!" Dogmeat barks/hisses as he shifts into his hybrid form half slithering, half running across the room towards the thin Raider. The very same Raider that becomes little more than a blur as he rushes backwards, the bangs of gunshots thundering as Dogmeat releases another growl when a trickle of blood slides down his shoulder.
"Don't you touch my dog you prick!" Will roars out, returning Holy Rocket back into its Magnus, shooting out bolts of lightning from his hand three times, while slicing the Blade of Twilight at the retreating blur, shooting out waves of shimmering darkness through the air. Unfortunately, each and every single one of them missed.
How the hell was he moving so fast!?
"Oh no you don't!" David roared as he lobbed an orb of crackling lightning towards the blurring Raider, their target throwing himself to the side in order to avoid the grenade that exploded into a vortex of consuming lightning.
"SLOW!" The Raider screamed, pointing a hand at David and Will could only watch as the moving hands of a clock appeared over his friend, seeming to spin out of control, before they inevitably slowed to a crawl as they disappeared.
"Will, that wasn't tech! That's magic! It isn't like any that I've seen before, but I can feel it through the air.!" Noah screamed in his head as Will turned once again into lightning while he fastened himself to the ceiling thanks to his chakra.
The Raider turned once again into a blur, the bark of his gun traveling behind his movement, two of them managing to find David in his chest, the young man seeming to move in slow motion, even reacting to the pain a fraction of what he should.
It did nothing to stop the rage on his face, lightning gathering around his body as he threw his own lightning at the buzzing Raider, accompanied by the blasts of his gun.
Yet it was to no avail.
Their opponent seemed to slow down as he threw himself behind a pillar, Dogmeat slithering towards him, maw shining with gathered light while Will stared at the blade of twilight in his hands.
"Haste!" He heard the Raider yell again behind the pillar, before he once again blurred out across the room repeating his tactics.
David could only shoot in futility, his body limited due to the strange magic that he was under, while Dogmeat tried in vain to shoot beams of lasers at the Raider, before he too was under the influence of the Slow magic.
While Will couldn't hit the damn man, he was playing a game of constant tag, turning himself into lightning while buzzing across the room, attaching himself to walls and ceilings, occasionally throwing out bolts of lightning or waves of hungry twilight at the Raider.
"I f*cking hate fighting against a faster opponent. Like trying to swat a damned fly." Noah murmured in his head. "I don't think that you have anything that can hit him, not while trying to keep the others alive. If only we had some way to slow him down."
An idea struck Will and he looked at his blade again. "I don't have to slow him down. I just have to make sure that he doesn't know where the hit is coming from."
The blade in his hand was twilight yes. Perhaps it wasn't the fact that it was blade that made it valuable? After all, darkness and light were things that dictated the way of life of every human in every world.
He feels the Wings of his Heart manifest behind him, and jumps off the wall into the center of the room, the Raider blurring past him again, his gun no doubt aimed at him. Meaning that he was looking right at him.
"Shadows manifest." He couldn't use magic, not by himself. But the blade in his hand was magic.
And the hungry shadows headed his call, shrouding the entire room in a blanket of pitch blackness, both the Raider and his friends letting out cries of surprise.
He's going to have to apologize to both Dogmeat and David later.
"Shine on a new day!" He whispered to the blade, heeding the instructions that Noah always gave him.
"Feel the magic in your Heart, and manifest it onto the world." He still wasn't good enough to do it on his own. But with some help, and a little luck, he could do it.
And a light shone as bright as the sun underground in a place of death and imprisonment, blinding everyone except for him for those precious few seconds.
It was enough time for him to flash at the man blearily blinking his eyes, dagger winging around wildly while he tried desperately to flee at his high speed.
Right into a wall.
Giving Will the opening he needed to appear next to the Raider's dazed form and subdue him with a cage of electricity, binding him to the floor.
"Huff, huff… now that I have your time, how's about you answer a few questions?" Will asked with a wicked smile, inching the blade of twilight closer to the subdued man's face, the shadows overtaking the light in his blade, reaching grasping for the now whimpering man.
You know, I didn't realize just how dangerous Time Mages are until I started writing this. Can't kill someone if you can't hit them, and that's what they are all about. And this was a weak one. No, this is not Sully Mathis. Asterisk's, after all can be used by more than one person.
