Chapter 12: The Engulf

The boy received a private funeral that only family and only a select few were allowed to attend, Barbados not being one of them. He wouldn't have attended even if asked as he had a grave mystery to uncover.

"I accepted the call huh." This was a rare occasion when a Rigormortis led to the original body, and to some clues behind the Remnant. Barbados kept the mana crystal that was left in the puddle, but decided that it would be better left alone to drive away any resentment left. He decided it was time to browse the book he found in the library, but not in his room. Barbados walked out and headed towards the main entrance of the academy, but stopped as he saw his reflection in the mirror.

"Still good old me." He blinked and saw a past version of himself covered in the blood of many. He blinked again and it was gone, but noticed his halo had formed a noticeable crack. "That'll heal by itself."

****

Barbados lay on the warm forge floor, his head laying on the Forge Guardian.

"If only I could view the world from your perspective, ancient one. I would be able to understand more." The guardian grumbled in its usual monotone tone. Barbados picked up the book and opened it. Inside was the title 'The Reaper wished to live again' written in ash grey ink. From what Barbados read, it seemed to be a twist on the belief that the Reaper of Death wasn't an emotionless hunter, but a kind soul who acted as a guide. It was written from the Reaper's perspective, going into detail about the process of death and reincarnation. It also prophesied about the end of the world and the stars falling from the sky as the sky cracked open to let invaders attack. What shocked Barbados was that it was left on a cliffhanger, implying the existence of more of these books forged from his kind's skin. As he turned the last page, a map and an amalgamation of numbers were harshly drawn in a silvery ink.

"Hey Sansar. I had a premonition. I am destined to rule the world."

"Good luck doing that will blind, Truif." Sansar laughed as he teased the other Sinborn.

"Trust me. When I see the time being ripe and the fruit of opportunity sprout, I will leave my mark on the world. My words shall light fires and my actions quench the flames."

"Truif I somehow wonder how you survived the harsh childhood of us Sinborn. You were the first one, right?"

"I am, and I didn't survive that hell. I died and came back. Died. Came back."

"Yet you still view the world in colour?"

"If only you could see Sansar. The infinite possibilities right in the palms of blind fools. But like I was talking about my dream. I will leave my mark in case I ever lose you, or you don't find me. Metal numbers with a reflective surface…"

"Heh. Truif you blind genius. Just how did you plan this?" The map in the book correlated to the ancient world, but the coordinates were written in a way to always lead at the same location. "So this is the next chapter in my new life. Exploration." He still hadn't been able to meet the druid girl but left a letter in a box on the bench specifically for her so only she could open it. Barbados said his farewells to the Guardian and left to find the Spirit-Possessed.

"Grent. How would one travel to another country? I want to go sightseeing."

"Simple. If you have the money you can take a private Blimp." He looked and saw that Barbados had no clue what that was. "They are a large platform attached to a balloon filled with mana crystals. Mages transmute those crystals to light air and use it to float through the air. That's the quickest way."

"How long does that usually take then?"

"Depends on the length of travel. From Germania to the Engulf, it would take 3 hours."

"Ah." Barbados inspected the map and noticed the spot numbered 1 was inside the Engulf. "How much would one ticket cost?"

****

The Engulf is an area that shifts and moves around the known continents. Most mortal resources refer to it as an uninhabitable place where matter is disintegrated. However, the Sinborn knew more about this unexplainable occurrence; it was a living organism. A giant flesh landmass composed of miniature cells, all with specific purposes serving a sentient hivemind. Barbados was inside the passenger lounge as he waited for the flying ship to take off. Alongside him were 5 others: 2 humans, an orc and 2 harpies. One last passenger got on and joined the party, a wendigo with more distinct features from Grog with a subtle white layer of fur. Barbados looked back at the map he had and analysed the mark that was left there. What he believed to be waiting for him at the hive mind was knowledge, information he had not obtained surrounding the multiple millenia he had slept. He got out a notebook from his bag and tried to harshly imitate what the core of the mass looked like when it was created.

A crystal cylinder filled with a dark red liquid, with 3 thin flap appendages that were used for absorbing the solar energy. It should be located in the very centre of the colony and if he absorbed the red ooze, he would incorporate all the knowledge with his body, with a small side effect of nausea. As he scribbled away, he overheard from the female orc about potential treasure hidden on that bare land.

"Oh?" Barbados thought as he was intrigued. "Why would it create unnecessary treasures to lure treasure hunters?" From what he could remember, the core would never personally choose to use its resources for such purposes. Unless it had become corrupted or someone got their hands on it and controlled it.

"Ah, what a mess this will be," he told himself as he placed his face in his palms, while also getting up to look out the window, "No sight of Angels, or Heaven."

He felt a hand touch his shoulder and when he turned, he saw one of the harpies.

"Hi I'm Jan. I wanted to ask you something while the others were asleep." Barbados looked over and what they said was right. "Are you perhaps a Recluse? Or working with the Knight Council?"

"No I am a teacher employed at the 5 Star Academy, although its a temporary contract."

"Woah. Amazing. What do you teach?"

"Weapon mastery. I'm rather good. And what about you? Why would a pair of harpies be travelling to such a desolate land." The harpy thought for a second.

"We are explorers. We try to chart the uncharted, any land still left to be explored. And The Engulf is one of the 8 last mysteries of the world. Being able to explore it and discover its secrets is an honour."

"I see." Barbados made small talk with the harpy, talking about their pasts and what led to this exact moment.

As the flying ship arrived closer to the landmass, it let down a ladder and let the passengers descend down, while it landed in the water afterwards. The ground felt strange, a mixture of cracking dirt and squelching flesh.

"Yuck." Barbados said as he bottled a sample to experiment with later. It was a sickly pink colour that resembled rotting meat, with cancerous bubbles of yellow liquid. Thin layers of skin popped as trapped air escaped through visible pores.

"We will return tomorrow afternoon to pick you all up from this spot. Alternatively you can use the flares provided to signal for an emergency flight. Stay safe." The ship had taken off and left.

"Would you be interested in travelling with us?" asked the harpy he previously talked to.

"I have certain business to attend to but if you wish to call for me, use this." Barbados pulled out a thin plastic-like tube. "Breaking this in half would affect the colour of my ring and alert me."

"Ok! Good luck on your travels."

Barbados followed the coast to try and arrive at the furthest possible point of the island. Along the way he had noticed slight variations in the environment: miniature detached pieces of flesh acting as rocks on a beach of dead cells and cliffs lined with a sturdy carapace. Barbados wondered why the core had decided to alter its terrain to mimic different biomes. He could see a mountain range formed from a rib cage lined by a thin stretched piece of skin.

"It looks like a balloon." he told himself as he kept following the coast. The main core of the hive mind should be located in the centre of the island, but that's not what he was looking for. Ever since he arrived, he had seen strange flowers formed from metal that all pointed towards a certain direction, the back of the island. He made his way and in the distance he could see the outline of a red tower formed from two intertwined towers with a particular white crystal clasped at the top. The sun was already setting, so he quickly ran to the organic building. There were strange hair appendages that gently flowed as the wind pushed them, and visible movement under certain flaps of skin.

He threw a dagger up towards the crystal, but it bounced off it as if it was made from rubber. But Barbados did theorise what the significance of this tower was- a storage of energy. Those metal flowers all absorbed the sunlight by constantly shifting their petals to face the giant ball of light, and through the use of static electricity, they formed a current to pass all the energy through it. Although why they went with this wireless and more wasteful mode of transportation and not metal wiring was what confused him. There were too many choices that favoured convenience over efficiency. He certainly now knew that the hive mind had gained its own sense of self. Barbados wiped the sweat off his forehead just thinking about the multi milenia problem he uncovered. The moon crept down on the sky and he was sitting leaning against the tower, looking inwards. Cold lunar winds swept across the land, and he held in his hands a cubical device. Once the moon's light touched its surface, the latch unlocked and a silver star sprung up.

This was a compass of sorts that activated in complete darkness and used the metallic star as a guiding puppet that constantly looked for all possible paths towards one destination and chose the quickest one. It also doubled as an autonomous weapon that Barbados didn't need to control.

"The centre of this landmass." The star spun clockwise in the air, examining the ground and shooting a fade trail of light towards his destination. The direction confused him as he expected it to shoot directly across from him, but the trail was slightly angled. He could come up with only one conclusion. This wasn't the furthest point away and it also meant that there could be more of these strange monoliths allocated at other points. He decides it would be best to hurry, find the core of this place and just deactivate this defective product. A veil of silence had been laid down; not even the sound of the waves could be heard as he traversed further into the vast empty island.

But this peace didn't last for long as his ring started blinking rapidly. Urgent red and blues spun around the surface. Barbados sighed.

"This day," he paused and looked at the cloudy black night sky, "This night just keeps getting more agitated. The group of treasure hunters!" he called to the star and a new path had been illuminated. He ran while preparing a set of butterfly swords in each hand. He saw sparks and heard the sound of conflict resonate. The adventurers were being attacked by grotesque bodies of flesh. Some had the forms of malformed bloated humans and others looked like giant squid. He arrived just in time to witness a body of flesh try to enlarge and mimic the disastrous body of a dragon. Its roar was accompanied by drooling and melting flesh. "Disgusting. But cool." he said to himself as he launched one of the blades spinning towards one of the many ghoulish humans and running towards the dragon.

"Barbados you came." the harpy yelled happily warding off meat golems covered in sophisticated bone armour.

"You broke the artefact so I had to. What has your group done to be attacked by these monsters?"

"Nothing. We've been getting attacked by these waves of things for the past couple of hours. They were bearable at first but look at this now." She pointed towards the armies of animated husks. He realised why he enjoyed a calm walk without encountering any hostile creature. He was a Sinborn. The hive mind was created by the Sinborn race. The hive mind wouldn't attack its creators without reason. He called back the weapon stuck in a decaying body and slashed away at firm muscle fibres. The dragon prepared for an attack, but Barbados stood his ground and hacked away at the regenerating body. A white breath formed from mostly liquid and air attacked his body, slowly eating away at his armour and seeping through to his flesh.

"Shit." he said as he backed away from the hybrid dragon and ditched the corroding tunic and cleric armour. He saw his skin form rashes and blisters as he quickly changed into armour designated to resist acid. He commanded the silver star to focus on blinding the dragon as he flung both swords into its neck. It seemed to work and he ran up the body, grabbing onto both weapons and slicing down the back of the dragon.

It roared again, this time accompanied by an unsettling cry. The rest of the creatures left the hunters alone and merged with the dragon, gathering more organic matter and using it like plasticine. It sprouted new limbs, extra wings or tendrils and giant bone spikes down its slashed back. An array of heads sprouted from the large body, all preparing from the same attack as before.

"Run away!" he yelled as he braced himself for unimaginable pain. As soon as the attack landed, his shield had eroded away and so did his entire front side. His skin struggled to regenerate as the pathogens and acid persisted to damage him. The pain was unbearable. His muscle fibres ached and trembled on his bones. His destroyed mind tried to think of a plan to eviscerate the creature in one attack and leave it incapable to regenerate, and his weary brain came up with a solution. He pulled out the icicle of mana he recently obtained and stabbed his left lung with it. The same feeling from that night overcame the pain and tried to contain the fleeing mana inside. He looked at the other hunters and saw that they had passed out. "Good." he thought as he clenched a great axe. He thought of Erven's instructions, to imagine the flame and to feel it. He clicked his fingers and uttered "Flame."