Azaria 2-22

Good Morning!

Chapter 22: Neo-Chicago goes to War! Part 1

Lance

I rushed out of the building that I had been using and looked around. In the far distance, I could make out what looked like dots moving toward the city. Telescoping my vision, I found they were more of the boats like the one that I had already taken. Looks like whoever was in charge didn’t care to be stopped while making their delivery.

With a few bounds, I was soon standing next to the other Powered in the makeshift command center next to Azaria’s dungeon. A few other Powered that had wandered off during the few moments of down time were also rushing back. Thinking about it, I decided to bypass the tent and made my way over to Azaria’s dungeon. She, Starburst and Ophelia were making their way out of the manor.

“I’d rather speak to you. What do you want me to do?” I asked. The thought of taking directions from Neo rubbed me the wrong way when I considered that few of my fellow humans had been willing to help me before all this went down.

She grinned and I felt like she had read my mind. “I spoke with the other dungeons. A few of them will be able to help us.”

There was a thump and a boy or man, it was hard to place his age, landed next to us. He looked sickly, but something inside me told me that he wasn’t as simple as he looked. For one, he had managed to approach us without any sound. Even if he had flown somehow, there should have been some noise to the process.

“Ah. Thomas. Lance meet Thomas, Thomas meet Lance,” Azaria said gesturing between us. I looked the guy over a few more times, but I couldn’t get a good read on him.

“A pleasure.” Azaria held out her hand to him and he smiled before dropping a phone in her hand. “As you requested, my lady.”

“Don’t. Just… Don’t,” Azaria said rubbing her forehead. At first, I thought she was annoyed by him, but I could just barely make out a blush on her paler than snow cheeks. Did Azaria fancy him? I quickly covered my mouth to stop from laughing.

“Sorry. I couldn’t help it,” he said then cleared his throat. “I already put the others’ numbers in it. Just send us a text.”

“Good.” Azaria closed her eyes for a long moment. “I feel we can leave the city to the Powered. The attacking forces are about the same as the one Lance dealt with earlier. We need to head up and deal with the cores on the island above us.”

“You’re going to come with us?” I asked shocked. Didn’t she need to stay in her core?

Azaria waved my concern off. “Yes. Something about the transfer locked me in a semi-fleshy body, but it doesn’t matter where I am, I can still control my dungeon.”

“We should take Neo and the a few of the Powered though,” Thomas suggested looking toward the Powered that were running around. Privately, I agreed with him. I might not like them for various reasons, but they were the strongest people in the city.

“Oh. I had never planned to go without them,” Azaria replied with a chuckle. She walked past us and made for the gathering. Neo looked at her with narrowed eyes but didn’t say anything. The people rushing around faded to the background as Azaria confronted him, Axe, the Highlocks. “We don’t have much time. We are up against several dungeon cores. It is best if we head to the heart of the problem right now.”

“We can’t just leave the city!” Anna Highlock exclaimed with a grim line of a frown. “How many people will die if we leave?”

I raised my hand in a flippant gesture. “Less than if we take care of it quickly. Only the Powered in this tent will make much of a difference and we all know there are humans that are hiding their powers from the rest of the greater community,” I added thinking about my sister. I doubted that she was just sitting in a hole waiting for this to be over. No, I was sure she was trying to figure out a way to come out on top of all this. We were sisters after all.

“The dungeons are going to be closing their entrances for the time. That will prevent them from being taken by the enemy and will stop any humans foolish enough to run into them. A few of them, however, will be helping me, and thus you in dealing with this enemy. We still have to act as the spearhead.” I noticed her glance at Thomas briefly and looked the guy over again. So that was his story.

“This is all very well and good, but how are we supposed to get up there!?” the large man, named Axe shouted.

“We just need to hitch a ride,” I said pointing at the cluster of boats descending on the city.

“What she said,” Azaria added with a laugh. “Plus, a few of us can fly.” She slowly left the ground and levitated off the ground. Thomas joined her, along with Starburst. She pointed at Neo and he snorted as he rose into the ground again.

“I shall acquire a ride for your forces, my Empress,” Ophelia said saluting the floating Azaria with a pink armored fist to her chest.

She took her soldiers and made for the edge of the city. Azaria landed next to me and grabbed my shoulder. “Lance. I’d like for you to go ahead and scout. Do you think you can handle it?” she asked with a straight face.

I blinked a few times a bit caught off guard. “Um. That might not be a good idea. I tend to make a mess anywhere I go,” I replied rubbing the back of my head. Sadly, that was just the way it went.

Azaria patted my hand. “I know, but you’re about the only that is powerful enough to protect yourself and still communicate with me. And hey, if you do cause a mess. At least you’ll make a distraction for the rest of us.” She formed something in her hand before handing it over to me. “This should let you understand the demon language, but no promises.”

I laughed. “Fine then how will I be getting up there?”

“I’m glad you asked that,” Azaria said with crocked grin.

I blinked in surprise when I was blasted through the air at an angle towards the island above us. I gritted my teeth as the air streamed around me. I was moving so fast that the demon ships that were heading for the city zipped past me almost before I was aware of them. I only had a few seconds before the edge of the island above the city flew past me. At this rate, I was going to fly out over the edge and end up in the ocean. I suddenly felt a pull on my foot that stopped my flight. Falling back to the ground, I used my telekinesis to pull myself toward the demon’s island.

Using the time as I fell toward the island, I took in the details. An almost medieval looking city spread out over the island. Black clouds spread over the sky that let red rain fall onto the city. Spires rose into the sky in various places. I had a feeling those where the locations of the dungeons that lived in the city. In the center was a spire that nearly touched the clouds and easily rivaled one of the skyscrapers in the city.

In the streets, I spotted figures moving around. From the looks that I could make out, they almost appeared like normal humans. With red skin, horns, wings, and tails of course. Only a few out of the ones I saw carried what looked like weapons. No one appeared to notice me, though in a few areas, I did see what looked like soldiers mobilizing.

Extending my claws, I dug into the wall of the large building as I hit it. The red bricks broke apart in my hands. I once took a trip to Europe when I was much younger. If they weren’t painted red, it would be almost the same material. I finally came to a stop and took a breath. I’m going to smack Azaria next time I saw her.

Judging by the layout of the city, I would need to get to the center spire. From my vantage point, I could spot plenty of patrols. I was in the middle of thinking when I heard a sound from the building under me. I leaned over and peeked into the window to spy what looked like a male demon that was rousing from sleep likely due to my impact with the building.

There wasn’t much in the room. Just a simple bed that looked older than the building. A desk that only had a few pieces of parchment and some candles on it. I didn’t see any weapons and the demon didn’t look particularly strong. A beam of light washed over the building next to the one I was gripping as one of the ships started approaching where I was. I ground my teeth as I didn’t want to deal with the enemy quite yet.

I gripped the edge of the window, then twisted to kick my way in. I aimed for the still rousing demon and land with both of my feet on his chest. There was a yell of shock before I quickly placed my knee on his neck to cut off his airflow. When his struggling reduced to just a few twitches, I released the pressure, and he took a deep breath.

“Quiet or next time I won’t be lifting my knee,” I said, and a strange language was superimposed over my words as I talked. I could still hear the English, but it was drowned out by the demon language. I ignored it for the moment and glared at the demon who nodded vigorously.

I lifted the rest of the way off him, but still kept my clawed hand pointed at his chest. I just had to hope something vital to his continued living was located there. My harvest wasn’t showing anything of much value, with only his brain showing up orange. Turning, I watched the window until the ship moved away further into the city. Well, it looked like they had noticed my approach after all. I turned back to the demon under me.

He was of a modest build. If he didn’t have all the demon features, he would have looked like your average human. His face was well built and might have been considered handsome back on Earth. “Good. Now tell me. Where is the Queen?”

This time English was superimposed over the demon language as he spoke. “Center of the city! At the top of the spire.”

“Is that her core or her avatar?” I demanded since we needed to reach her core.

He gulped. “Core at the bottom, deep in the catacombs of the central spire. No one has ever done past the second level and survived.”

I grinned and patted his head. “Don’t worry. That’s for us to figure out.” I reared back my hand to finish him off, but his squeal of panic made me hesitate. He just seemed a little too innocent for me to kill him in cold blood. Which was stupid given what I had already done to my fellow humans, correction, former fellow humans. I sighed and pulled some rope from my storage and bound him.

“Wait!” he shouted right as I was about to gag him.

“What?” I demanded with a glare. He should be lucky I was letting him live.

“Take me with you when you flee the city!”

“Excuse me?” I asked slightly bewildered.

“This place is hell! The dungeons treat us like disposable toys or worse, food. My entire family was slaughtered in front of me for the amusement of a passing core’s avatar. I was left alive to remember the looks on their faces.” Tears of all things ran down his cheeks as his expression was twisted into one of rage, sadness, and humiliation.

“I would like to, but I’m a tad busy trying to kill your leader,” I replied with a shrug.

“Really!?” He exclaimed with a slightly deranged look overtaking him. “You really intend to slay the demon?”

“Yes.” I paused as I considered the man. I needed information on the city. Normally, I wouldn’t consider taking anything he said at face value, but it was hard to fake that level of hatred for someone. It might save me some time to get some answers from him. I squatted in front of him. “For that I need to know more about the forces of the city.”

“I can’t tell you much. They like to keep us in the dark about as much as they can,” he said suddenly turning downcast.

I snorted seeing where the queen was coming from. “Hard to revolt when you don’t know if there are a hundred or a hundred thousand soldiers that you have to deal with.”

He nodded slowly. “We know there are between thousand and five thousand. They just can’t support more than that.”

I stood and leaned against the wall to look out the window on the other side of the room. The ship searching for me had moved on, but I spotted what looked like patrols in the streets. I turned my gaze to the roofs of the nearby buildings. It would be hard to reach them as not only do they vary in height, but there was also a far distance between them. I knew I could clear it, but not quietly.

“Damn it, Azaria! A little more time to plan would have been nice,” I growled to myself. Hell, some red paint and I would have blended right in with the demons given my body.

“Do… Do you want me to take you to the Central Spire?”

I turned and narrowed my eyes at him. “Why would I trust you?”

“I just… just want to live. Even if you leave me here, they’ll kill me for letting you go. My battle prowess being of little concern to them. Those that are captured are killed if they are recovered.” He dropped his head, managing to look even more distraught than earlier.

I sighed and shook my head. “Even with you with me, I don’t see us getting more than a few feet down the street before someone notices that I don’t have red skin.”

He grinned and rolled to point at the closet. “I got just the thing!”

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