The Magi's Society

Mevi recovered surprisingly quick, having not been entirely consumed by her power like once before. While Mevi was recovering, she was still physically weak from her attempt to defend the surviving villagers. So while they traveled, Mevi spent her time in the care of Kalesi, or the strong man who had offered to carry her before. She would be passed off when Kalesi had to lead the group in pathfinding or otherwise scout ahead in their chosen course. Mevi focused all her energy to recover faster, as she didn’t want to be carried or act a burden to others. Yet her caregivers heard very little of her complaints as they continued their journey.

The group of survivors were now led by the commanding presence of Kalesi, who was never hampered by Mevi’s lightweight frame on their convoluted journey. Yet the fog seemed everpresent. Small specks of light peaked through the thinning darkness, but it still remained blanketed over the terrain they traveled. Kalesi would occasionally stop and interact with her invisible interface, only to look frustrated at their surroundings. Mevi could do little to help or reassure Kalesi, and could only watch as her mentor’s stress seemed to mount.

Kalesi tried her best to lead the group in a mostly straight line, when they were able. The twisting and spiraling pipes, struts, and naked infrastructure traveled the group in many different directions. A completely straight path was only viable for a kilometer or two before it suddenly stopped or turned. Then Kalesi, with some of the more adept survivors, would search the area for a new path to take. The scouts would report dead ends often and they begrudgingly turned around several times to find new pathways that led them partially along their previous course.

When Mevi was able to, she attempted to steal a glance at the boy Kalesi had brought back. She had seen him, running with them, and finally awakened somehow. What had happened, and if he was ok, piqued her curiosity. She had seen him darting in and out of the crowd, and caught a glimpse of him when they would need to turn to change course. Yet he seemed to avoid her entirely. Kalesi seemed busy, and serious, about leading the group quietly, so Mevi didn’t bother to ask her mentor what had happened. Yet anytime Mevi and the boy’s eyes might’ve met he darted away faster than she could get a good look at him. She eventually gave up, since she couldn't chase him while being carried anyway. Relenting to herself that if he didn’t wish to see her, she wouldn’t force her curiosity on him. Instead focusing on trying to convince Kalesi that she could walk.

Mevi eventually convinced her caregivers to let her travel on her own, having recovered remarkably fast; she was able to walk on her own without assistance after only twenty odd minutes. With her recovered, Mevi tried to help calm and lead the survivors who had adopted her fully at that point. Mevi noticed several times, when she would use her Maige to help create light or fresh air, that the fog seemed to be thickening if they ever turned around to backtrack. Almost as if the oppressive dark was chasing them as they attempted to escape. At the verge of her heightened senses and hearing she knew there were Rusted. Mevi ignored the signs at first but after creating a great orb of air to cover most of the group, and thus drastically increasing her Maige’s consumption of her vitality, Mevi could confirm the faint scratching, incoherent calls, and echoing of thumping feet could only be the Rusted. Somehow they were being followed.

Mevi was hesitant to approach Kalesi. The group had regained some small amount of hope, and were determined to escape, and Kalesi led the way by example. If she stopped and became frustrated it didn’t take long for the crowd to begin murmuring and anxieties to relight. Yet the issue of the Rusted shouldn’t wait, and could not wait, for a convenient time to be revealed. Approaching Kalesi as the group walked at a brisk pace, Mevi mustered herself to expose her suspicions, “Kalesi, I have something we might talk about without prying ears.”

Kalesi seemed confused, and almost concerned, but stopped the group’s march, “We’ll break here. If you have supplies, like food, I recommend eating now.” Kalesi brought Mevi away from the group as the survivors idled while watching the two suspiciously.

“What is it, Mevi? Are you ok?” asked Kalesi, obviously concerned.

Mevi didn’t know how exactly to tell Kalesi what she had begin to suspect, so decided to be blunt, “Kalesi, when I use my Maige it seems to make me hear and see better. I don’t really know why, but the stronger I use my power the better I can hear, see, and sense things around us…” Mevi hesitated and ensured none of the survivors were listening, but talked in a hushed voice regardless, “I think we are being followed by Rusted. I can hear them, sometimes…”

Kalesi’s expression became grave, “Are you certain about this? There are many creatures in the Pipes, most who hide away at the fringe of even my sight.”

“I cannot be entirely sure, but they sound the same as when I heard them in the village. Human… but not.”

Kalesi thought for a moment, and looked out to the remaining peoples. Many of their number had perished in the fight to escape, and another had died soon after their escape from their village. They had begun dividing and eating what little food they had packed. Some eyed their ration with suspicion and squirreled it away into their pockets or what bags they carried. Yet even in the dense fog and dark, they chatted and were hopeful. Several watched Kalesi and Mevi with suspicion, or curiosity, but waited patiently regardless. After Kalesi’s contemplation she turned to Mevi, “We will increase our pace. If it comes to it, we will try to escape… I am having difficulties navigating out of the fog, but we should press ourselves regardless.” Mevi nodded to her mentor’s decision, and as their discussion ended Kalesi called out to the group, “We leave in a few moments. We will increase our pace, we won’t have another break after this.”

After Kalesi’s proclamation of a rushed pace, many in their group groaned or otherwise seemed downtrodden by the news. But the reason why was masked and Kalesi provided no explanation. Some watched on with a growing concern, being tormented by the command’s mystery and their two guides’ private conversation. Still, all the group agreed and after less than a minute they had evolved from a brisk walk to a steady jog. Mevi moved herself to the back, but probably would have ended up in the back regardless due to her poor speed, and watched for stragglers who fell behind or stumbled.

The group of escapees rushed along the metal pipeway, still stopping and searching for new paths when their previous ended. The growing tension was added to with the increased exhaustion. With the trials living in the Pipes created, most were fit enough for prolonged jogging but Mevi had not experienced such specific needs. She quickly fell behind, and several in the group slowed to stay with her. It became evident of her fragile stamina when two of her escorts began debating who should carry Mevi, while the subject in question listened with embarrassment. The conversation didn’t reach a conclusion as the group reached another dead end.

The group let out their disappointment and dismay at the sudden dead end. Some began turning around again, the closest pipe roadway was several meters away and not nearly close enough for normal people to leap across. Yet with the growing need for haste, Kalesi stopped their retreat. Calling out to the group, as Mevi caught up with her attaché of worried villagers, Kalesi declared her intent, “We do not have time to continue becoming side tracked or diverging from a straight path. I will leap to the other side and create rope for us to climb the distance. While I do so, stay here and rest.” The group seemed content with this decision, many collapsing to sit or crouch as they rested from the long jog. Kalesi easily leaped the short expanse, and began to use her portable synthesizer. It seemed content to work on such a simple task as fibrous cable, and from Mevi’s vantage the device didn’t seem to struggle or complain like when it attempted to create Kalesi’s explosives.

The exhausted troupe of refugees rested for a while, and to Kalesi’s credit she created a strong-looking wire in only ten minutes. With their method of transit created, Kalesi began the process of attaching the cable to her side of the pipe, then quickly flying over the gap to the onlooking spectators. As Kalesi landed, there seemed to be exactly enough slack in the cable to allow her to land just past the ledge, but no further. Landing with a precise expertise, Kalesi began the process to attach the cable to the metal surface.

While Kalesi began readying the cable, Mevi was flowing currents of pure air in and around the group of survivors. While she did so, Mevi was keeping a trained perception on any hint or sign of the Rusted. They seemed distant, so much so that just to hear them she had to focus hard enough that her Maige threatened to dissipate. They were safe, for now at least. But while Mevi listened for the lumbering bodies behind them, she heard other noises as well. The usual gusts of dust-filled wind, clattering of rusting metal falling onto some distant platform, and noises of creatures unknown scurrying around the unseen places of the Pipes. Yet as she filtered out the usual background noise, she could hear a clattering of something distant in front of them. The sounds she heard were almost similar to the Rusted, but more trained and coherent, almost like their own group’s movements when she listened to the footsteps of their travels.

As Mevi brought herself out of her meditative state, focusing all her senses to listen and understand faraway stimuli, the survivors were already crossing the cable. The gathered people were terrified of the crossing, and only one had made it to the other side, while another slowly climbed across the gap with hands and legs firmly grasping the cable. The still-climbing individual was more than halfway across when another brave soul began their own attempt. Mevi thought the unknown sound must’ve been other survivors, or residents of the Pipes, so forgetting it and resolving to tell Kalesi after they crossed to their new pathway, Mevi sprung into action to help encourage the group. Seeing the worried faces of those gathered she declared, “Don’t worry about the climb! You are all incredibly skilled, I’ve seen that much already, and I might be able to catch you if you fall.” Some of the worried gave pained appreciation at her words, but most seemed unenthusiastic at Mevi’s assurances.

Even Kalesi looked on with some amount of disbelief, “I think that may be out of your realm of power, my eager Mevi.”

Mevi wanted to believe she could muster enough strength and focus to save a falling person, but thought Kalesi was probably right. If the worst happened she would still try with what she could muster to catch someone if they fell. Mevi thought about what she would conjure in her mind to create an effect strong enough to lift an entire person to safety, and silently hoped she would be fast enough in her imagination to create a beneficial effect on the first try.

Mevi continued to manipulate her Maige’s abilities to give the waiting survivors fresh air to help bolster them before their turn to cross arrived. As Mevi was keenly watching the crossing, a light tug came at her robes. Turning to see who, or what, was pulling at her, Mevi saw the previously unconscious boy staring up at her. Only a head shorter than her, with dirty black and brown hair that poked out of the wrapped cloth around his head, and probably no more than twelve. The young boy seemed bashful as Mevi gave him her attention. The boy stuttered noises that might’ve intended to be words before finally speaking with a soft tone, “Thank you…”

Mevi was confused, looking around briefly at what she might’ve been doing, then asking, “What do you mean?”

The boy emboldened himself with silent words of encouragement, “Your master, she told me you asked her to save me… I wanted to thank you…”

Mevi wasn’t sure how she felt, warm but still sad, her heart was touched in a strange way. The boy had lost his parents, and been effectively abandoned by his community. She saw herself too much in his small body. Reaching down to ruffle his hair, like Kalesi does to Mevi’s hair, the boy flinched back. Pulling her hand away, and simply nodding her response, Mevi could not help but feel some strange sad nostalgia when looking at him. The boy escaped from her and back somewhere within the crowd. Difficult memories threatened to return to her, before she forced them back down within her as deep as they would go. Focusing on her self-issued job to provide clean air, Mevi returned to her strange task.

Before long more than half of the survivors had reached the other side. Only children and the older individuals remained. The children were too afraid to cross, and the older survivors took a little bit longer to cross than the others. As Mevi listened to the distance, she heard the Rusted getting progressively louder. The entire process this far had been forty, maybe fifty, minutes of waiting. Kalesi was becoming impatient, but seemed reluctant to carry anyone across herself. Mevi wondered how her body was affected by so much use of her suit’s enhancements. If they were anything like Mevi’s Maige, it could be excruciating. Kalesi had fought impossible odds at least twice today, and won both encounters. Added with her jumping, and emergency traversal away with Mevi at the beginning, she had used her suit’s abilities many times. Mevi could only assume those enhancements didn’t wear off as quickly as Mevi’s own ailments, as her own seemed almost mystical in nature. Kalesi seemed tired, and frustrated, while still forcing herself to valiantly lead the group of struggling survivors despite the odds against them. As they had crossed, Mevi had begun officially counting who was with them, excluding herself and Kalesi there were forty four survivors. With so many souls reliant on one person’s abilities, Mevi could only imagine what stress Kalesi might be under.

As the next two of the remaining survivors began to cross, with only eight still behind, Mevi could suddenly hear a rumbling. Not from the Rusted, but in front of them and beyond their future path. Kalesi heard the noise as well, leaping to the aid of the people at the end of the cable. As she landed, a figure burst out of the fog that blocked most unaided vision. A large behemoth humanoid, two trunk-sized legs with equally large arms and torso, was charging forward. It was a massive, hairy, creature that haphazardly barreled towards them and was easily twice the size of Kalesi. The creature seemed intent on raming the accumulated people, before a call from behind him demanded it halt. The creature clawed the metal ground to pull itself to a stop, breathing heavily with a dark hunger in its eyes.

As the large humanoid stopped itself, several other figures were revealed. Walking calmly into plain view. First only a few became easily visible, with dark shadows behind them, then more followed, and soon there seemed to be a small contingent of people slowly approaching down the metal pipeway. The previous bandit’s party could have been thirty, but in just the approaching front there was easily more than thirty. Many more dark figures stood behind, shrouded by the heavy fog that hung thick.

Kalesi approached the front of the now terrified group of survivors. Mevi watched on with fear and worry as her mentor would likely force herself to fight again. As the panting behemoth grew restless, a figure in the front whistled for its attention. Obediently following the command, the large creature turned and stood next to its summoner. A tall, crimson red-skinned, creature stood unaffected by the billowing dust around it. Fanged tusks could be seen even from Mevi’s distant viewpoint and it sported long black hair that hung around its waist. The creature wore a similar suit to Kalesi’s wargear, but it wasn’t decaying with rust and wear like the previous bandit’s. This man stood casually, watching the cowering group like a predator sure of its hunt. Kalesi didn’t wait for him to introduce himself as he slowly walked forward with confidence, she shouted out, “What do you want? We have nothing of value to you!”

The red-skinned leader maintained a cool gaze, stopping to look Kalesi up and down and then inspect the estranged children on the other pipeway, “I wouldn’t say that. I got news, one of mine got beat up pretty bad and a few blinded by some weird weapon. Wouldn’t know what did that, do you?”

Kalesi hesitated, choosing not to respond and scowled at the inquisitive figure.

Acting offended, the man speaks up again, “Oh, you wound me with silence. But I figure you’re the one who hurt my toys. You wouldn’t happen to be trying to use a neural link would you?” The man chuckled and then gestured behind him vaguely, “I might’ve accidentally brought a jammer with me. Just ended up in the luggage you know, forgot to leave it at home.”

All Kalesi could do was mutter, “Bastard…”

The man laughed at her, “You know! I did get told there were two nice looking toys around here, looks like I found a couple more than that. You a collector too?”

“You are sick, what you people do is sick.” responded Kalesi.

The man thought for a second, putting his hand up to his chin, “You know, I think I remember getting sick a long time ago. I got better, getting new toys always helps. So I think I’ll take yours, make me feel better right?”

Kalesi was obviously searching her surroundings for something she could use to her advantage. Desperately, Kalesi looked for some kind of advantage but they were against a dead ended pipeway and the only escape was a cable that could only support a couple people at a time. As Kalesi looked around herself the red man began to speak again, “You seem to be confused… Oh! I forgot to introduce myself. Some people call me Malicious, catchy right? I had a name, probably, better to change with the times though.” Amused by his own joke, Malicious chuckled to himself again before continuing, “I’ll give you a choice. You seem tough, tough enough to annoy me and maybe break some of my toys. So I’ll cut you a deal. You can run along out of here, or join up with me. If you don’t choose one of those I’ll just have to break you, and I don’t think you want that.”

As Malicious continued talking, Kalesi seemed to come to some grim conclusion that there was no use searching her surroundings. She instead pulled her full attention to glaring at the accurately-named man. Kalesi seemed to seriously consider his offer, and then suddenly stomped the ground in frustration hard enough to leave a small dent. Malicious threw up his hands slightly to feign fear, “Oh scary! So what’ll it be?”

Kalesi looked up and stared furiously into Malicious, “If I leave, I need to bring her with me.'' As she finished speaking, Kalesi pointed at where Mevi was standing. Mevi was surprised, and scared that Kalesi was even thinking about leaving the survivors behind.

“Oh! We are negotiating now! I love negotiating, its easier when the other party is dead though.” Malicious finished his mocking and then looked at Mevi, studying her carefully before replying, “I don’t know… I am already letting you go and you’re the finest toy here, really. I don’t think I could let two of you go…” He began to mull over the idea, pacing slowly as if spending a great deal of effort considering the request, “Here, you gave an offer so I reply with a counter offer. I’ve got this really strong guy, uses a suit kinda like mine! If you can kill him, you can go. If he beats you up, we get to take you and everyone else too!”

Kalesi’s face fell slightly, what hope of her and Mevi’s escape had seemed to drain significantly, “Fine.” was her only reply.

Malicious clapped his hands together, and a man of similar height to Kalesi approached. A strong build, and wearing a tight black suit with metallic modifications to look like some kind of ancient armor. The man approached and walked slightly past Malicious, standing ten, or so, meters away from Kalesi. At this point most of the survivors were silently weeping or cowering. Kalesi readied herself, and the strong-looking man did the same. Malicious seemed to get excited, jumping up slightly like an eager child. Calling out, as if he was an announcer, Malicious declared, “Alright folks, to battle for the freedom of this bitch and that kid over there, we have some random woman I’ve never heard of before! Opposing her, we have my faithful hound, Turnar!” Malicious paused for effect, eagerly searching the crowds for any reaction, outside of his own bemused followers he found only dread. A little unsatisfied, and focusing back on the two prospect fighters he yelled, “Now rip each other to pieces!”