Chapter 13: The Engulf Part 2

He managed to conjure the same fire like Erven but it wasn't enough. He needed a stronger flame. Something hotter and more violent, a bloodthirsty ember that could rival the sun's heat. He yelled "Flame" in a blood churning tone that changed the flame. It glowed yellow with streaks of purple. He envisioned the flame surrounding the axe's blade, but not melting it. Barbados wondered how his strained consciousness hadn't shattered yet. The creature prepared for another large breath attack, but Barbados forced his newly-formed body to move and rush the amalgamation. He prepared one last swing and struck the body with all his might. A clean cut had formed and a persistent blaze counteracted the creature's failing attempts to rejuvenate. He held the axe high in the air, and proposed a name for the next attack.

"Solar Smite!" He poured all the mana into this one attack and struck downwards. It didn't miss it. A large slash of flaming mana travelled swiftly through the air and ended the monster's miserable life.

The raging fire continued to burn and soon became an orange calm ember as the smooth sound of crackling soothed his burdened body. Barbados dug through the carcass searching for a new material. He finally found what resembled a gland that contained the virus or pathogen that struck him and injured his body. He pulled it out and contained it in the last container he had spare. He suddenly heard a voice echo across the land, a voice pained with harm.

"Help me…" The Sinborn knew there was no one else on the island but this group of unlikely companions. This could only mean that it was the voice of the hive mind asking to be saved. Barbados joined his party by the more calm campfire.

"Thanks for the help Barbados. All of us are." the Harpy told him. Barbados looked into space solemnly. "Where are you from?" The Harpy asked, trying to make small talk.

"My home? Heaven."

"Heaven? Is that a small town or village?" The question surprised Barbados, but he figured out that it was probably the Angels who had remained secluded from the other races.

"No Heaven is a realm in the sky where there exists a race called Angels. Technically speaking, that is the nation I was born in, but I spent most of my early life in a different realm. That was called Hell."

"Hell???" asked the whole group. "Of course they know what hell is," he thought.

"Yeah. The land of Demons and depravity," he paused and sighed, "And the land I was raised in by my father." One of the humans dressed in a long dark robe that covered their face held their hand up. "Yes?"

"How old are you?"

"I don't know. I lost track after reaching 1000 years. That's without taking into account the time I spent locked inside a statue."

"You were trapped inside a statue?" asked the Orc.

"Yes. I was imprisoned for being alive and going against the Angel's wishes. I wanted to try and explore outside the boundaries of the world. Turns out that was sacrilegious towards their God." Jan's twin put up their hand. "Yes?"

"Do you believe in any deity? Me and Jan don't particularly but most of the other harpies believe in the Great Flight, a bird that flapped its wings to create the Harpy race."

"Us Orc's have slowly started phasing out of our religious beliefs to embrace more scientific theories."

"Humans have fully stopped believing in any religious deity." said the other human clad in dark steel armour.

"No, I don't believe in any deity. I probably would have if I was born as a Demon or Angel rather than what I am. I assume you don't know what a Sinborn is?" Everyone shook their heads. "There is a 1/10 chance when an Angel and Demon mate of a half-breed being born, that being me and the other 6 Sinborns." The human in armour guessed Barbados couldn't fly with his wings as he ran towards the giant creature.

"You're right. All my wings do is act as decorations. And all this halo does is act as a dim light source. See." Barbados covered the fire to calm the embers and show the faint glimmer of his accessory. The group talked for a short while before going to bed while Barbados stood as a guard. Throughout the night, the same eerie silence fell. The orc woke up and asked if he was sure that there would be no more encounters. Barbados re-assured them it would be a peaceful night. He had set up 3 totems of repellent to create a secure area and one golem of flesh each to guard them.

"Those grotesque creatures should be driven away for the next few hours, hopefully."

****

Adam relaxed in his chair in his grand office. He asked the tutors to gather for an important meeting regarding the upcoming magician competition. Grog was the last to enter the room. Strangely, Barbados wasn't with him.

"Grog, where is he?"

"Ah," he said while sweating, "About that. He told me to pass on this message in case you were to summon him. He said, and I quote these exact words, 'I went to the Engulf, find a new teacher to cover my upcoming classes', end quote. Sad to say but I don't think he's going to attend the meeting." Grog sat down as an angry Adam clenched his fists and a trickle of blood dripped down his hand. Okia and another professor calmed him down and argued that it could be for a personal reason.

"Yeah. Personal reason to not tend to his duties. Did he at least take his telephone?"

"He did, but I think it's night time already and he won't be getting a signal unless at a high altitude."

"Just send the details of the meeting to him anyway. Anyway, the academy has decided to partner with the Arcanists to push the students to awaken their potential. Any disagreements?"

"Yes actually," said a voice that held his hand up, "Will the students be given any protective items to guard them against those barbaric mages?" The person's name was Ben Bront and they were in charge of teaching chemistry and physics.

"I'm with Ben on this matter," said professor Kans, "Last time they collaborated for an event, well not only did it cost us a lot to fix the academy, but they also hospitalised 40 students."

"I agree that you may be superstitious, but I will reassure you that there will be safety precautions established this time around," Adam replied while mumbling to himself and himself only "hopefully". "Some other things we will need to prepare are…"

****

The morning sun rays brought some positivity to this desolate wasteland.

"How many hours until that ship picks us up?" asked the orc.

"Only 3 according to my watch." replied one of the humans. Barbados wondered if it was enough time for him to reach the core, and decided to sprint towards the centre of the island.

"Shoot the flare into the air when the ship arrives. I still have some urgent business to attend to. He left them all a little pendant of defence that would protect them against one surprise attack and left for the core.

It didn't take him long to come across the edge of all biomes and the hive mind control unit. The ground resembled a puzzle, all pieces cut uneven to fit in a strange pattern. Even the climate seemed to be segmented this close to the core. In addition, there was a lack of creatures. He didn't like such long pauses of soundless motion. In the distance there was a large pylon formed from uneven crystals that resembled the one from the monolith. And unreasonably obfuscate. As he passed over onto the reinforced ground surrounding the core, more and more metallic flowers were visible arranged in a phyllotactic pattern.

"Now this is just creepy." Barbados told himself as he encroached onto the origin point of the entire land mass. The crystal monolith had the same properties as the crystal he saw before, acting more like a membrane than a gemstone.

"Now, where would that core be located?" He began to rip apart the aged bone cells, severing nerves and tendons apart, while also setting the ends of fire to prevent them from rejoining. A jaw with large fangs erupted from the ground and tried clasping him inside, to trap him but he prepared a shovel to stop the jaws from connecting. "Close." he whispered to himself as a trickle of sweat formed on his pearly white forehead. His halo illuminated the walls of the jaw and revealed intricate fine lines. Barbados continued to shred through the clump of cells. After a mighty pull he heard a single pop resonate in the half-closed room. In his hands he held the resonating and beating heart of this entire corporation. The jaws started to disintegrate into dust and dissipate into the surroundings. "Got you." he said while smiling widely. He looked back up at the pillar, to be met with a protruding eye staring back at him.

An eye had erupted from the ground to his left, then another from the right and another. Eyes sprouted from the ground all around him. A mouth formed of the solid core.

"Why father? I thought you came to save me from the parasites." Long mucilaginous tendrils shot out of the core, attaching themselves to the ground and the pillar. The pillar of gelatinous gems started merging into a large ovoid shape with a dark red centre, and the cylinder was attracted into it at a speed that ripped the skin of Barbados's hand.

"Fuck." Barbados said while arming up with an electrified rod of cold metal. He launched the rod into the tenacious membrane and yelled "Reveal the weapon". The solid white shape slowly morphed into a tipped spear encrusted with 3 blue stones. "Purge!" Barbados yelled as streaks of ferocious lightning erupted from one the 3 stones, followed by thunderous crackling and a large bang.

Intense heat melted away the insides of the embryo, as hundreds of millions of volts coursed through the entity. The stone shattered and only 2 discharges were left. Barbados walked through the disappointing figure to go and pick up the core, but was stuck by the viscous interior.

"Father… you are not father." The hive mind spoke as one last bone tendril resembling a long spine formed from the core and extended into the sky. It split into 4 smaller limbs and propelled into 4 different corners of the island.

"No. It can't be what I think it will be." he told himself as he forced his limbs out of socket to try and move through the solution. But he was too late. Light shone on the surface of the core and formed layer of muscle after layer, creating a complex design, maximising space and perfecting it. Bone and exoskeleton was buried through the structure.

A thin tentacle pierced Barbados's body. A hoarse voice spoke to him.

"I want that." 2 lifeless eyes spoke to him as it took a chunk of his body and incorporated it into its own body. The homunculus formed into a cocoon and emerged differently, resembling Barbados.

"Uncanny." To a normal person, the fight looked unwinnable, a lost cause. But it wasn't. Between his copy and himself, there was 1 large difference: he was a Sinborn, that was a copy of his body, a perfect looking one though. Barbados reached and grabbed ahold of his spear and sliced the tentacle in his body. He didn't see the large arm formed from miniature hands coming for his head and was launched out of the jelly, missing his legs. The healing process started instantaneously and he regained his balance, still holding onto the spear.

He took out the singular butterfly blade and flung it into the air, taking advantage of the creature's child-like mentality, and went to pierce its body with the spear.

"Too obvious." the core said as hundreds of eyes stared at Barbados.

"Well that's just cheating." he yelled as he was hit by a flying needle-like bone.

"I'm only using what my body provides me with." the creature said in a dull tone, which Barbados interpreted as sarcasm.