Chapter 4: Chapter 4

Silver woke early the next morning, not remembering when he fell asleep. He remembered the words of the weirdo from yesterday and decided to follow his advice, following the sun throughout the morning.

He did not run into any more dangerous encounters so far, just a creepy one. A random Elk came out of a cave he was passing and watched him as he passed. It had golden antlers that had weaved themselves into a weird sort of crown. A strange sort of threat seemed to emanate from it that Silver could perceive now since he had acquired his abilities. He had felt it with others that he had seen or passed as well; the Harpy, the scaled ape.

He was certain it was some type of predatory sense that allowed him to know how much of a threat different monsters were to him now. It wasn’t exact but he knew which monsters were more powerful than him and which weren’t. Mostly. There were some sneaky monsters he saw that he felt absolutely nothing from.

As he walked he thought about what to do when he finally ran into other people. What would he say? Hopefully they were human, though probably not. Not many humans went by ‘The Fish.’ And how does he explain his eyes? Maybe it wouldn’t be that strange.

Around noon he finally stopped to rest, to give his aching legs some rest. He wished he had some food and water.

He sat against a large tree and stared up into its crown. “This place sucks, but at least it’s beautiful out here. Better than Arizona. I always wanted to live in the mountains or a forest. Or a mountain forest, yeah.”

Silver started to stand when he heard a soft sound coming towards him from behind and slightly to the side. He spun, activating his eyes and sending his stasis ability towards the sound, eyes flashing their noxious green.

“Deflect,” a voice hissed. A white light flashed, briefly blinding Silver. He shielded his eyes and took a step back, only to feel something sharp poking into him.

“Fuck,” he said.

“Indeed,” a deep, but distinctly feminine voice said from behind him. “What’s a baby Siphon doing sneaking around in these woods alone? You’re awfully far into the unclaimed lands.”

“And very close to our camp.” The hissing voice was back. Something about that one unnerved Silver. It was very inhuman sounding.

Silvers mind spun as he thought of what to say that wouldn’t make him seem suspicious. Shit, he thought.

“Um….” Not a great start. “I uh – I was…umm.” Damn, He was nailing this!

He felt the sword start to press further into his back, slicing slightly through the fabric of his clean white tee, as he heard the footsteps of the hissing voice approach its partner behind his back.

“Wait, wait! I remember! I’m here to find someone who goes by ‘The Fish,” Silver yelled.

“Jimmithy?” There was hesitation. Silver could work with that.

“Yes! Jimmithy The Fish! That’s who I’m looking for,” Silver almost yelled. “Some evil hipp- um, some guy told me to come this way and find ‘The Fish’. Black hair, really handsome, purple eyes.”

“The Dark God,” The hissing voice whispers. “Let’s take him to see the Captain, then. He’s most likely being truthful. The Dark One hates liars.”

The Dark God? That doesn’t sound like someone I want taking an interest in me, Silver thought.

The sword was judiciously taken away from his precious skin, and a moment later he heard it being sheathed.

“Whatever you say. You’re responsible for him now, though. Come on cub, follow the Picton.”

Silver turned around. “What’s a P-,” Silver never finished the thought. Behind him stood two otherworldly beings. One was a furry woman, with wolfish features, including two canine ears standing tall in her silky, straight hair. Her hair was pulled into a bun on top of her head, her ears twitching as she glared at him. He could only describe her face as perfect. Her entire being looked as if it was sculpted by a god and then given life.

The other one he assumed was the source of the hissing. An almost 3-meter-tall humanoid, with stony grey skin and patches of scales adorning his forehead and cheeks. It was stooped forward slightly, rubbing its hands together as it assessed him. It gave Silver the creeps. He especially did not like how long his limbs seemed to be. Reminded him of a certain slender creature in a nice suit; and something about rusty spoons…

“Me. I am the Picton’Mithal. I assume that is what you were going to ask.” He slightly tilted his head as he observed Silver.

Silver only now realized as the creature turned to walk away, that it also had reptilian eyes, with pitch black sclera.

“Follow me, child.” Silver paused, his eyes flashing darkly.

“Child? I’m 22!”

The tall creature gave him an exasperated side-eye. “You are still by far the youngest person in this camp, human. We have kobolds older than you serving us.” He turned to continue walking, before stopping again. “Besides, I did not mean your age. You are a cub. It is normal to refer to a Tier One as a child. Your ignorance is…interesting. I wish to speak with you later if the Captain does not turn you into a statue.”

Silver ruminated on that thought. Another person who could turn others into statues? Another of these Siphons, like him? Presumably one who was not a cub, or a Tier One, or whatever. Silver looked around as they walked, choosing to keep his silence. He didn’t really want to talk to the creepy guy leading him.

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The camp was very well organized with various walkways to clearly guide you through the different parts of camp. The camp was divided into three different sections, with flags over the tents to denote the areas.

A large area of green flags seemed to be the sleeping area, with the most tents. Three tents waving blue flags seemed to be a medical area. That’s where the most Picton seemed to be as well. There were four of the creeps that he had seen going in and out of the tents. One had stopped to watch Silver and his guide as they passed. He was slightly intrigued to notice that the arrangement of scales was random on them. Most of their scales were not as symmetrical as his guide’s. One had a completely smooth face, but his hands were entirely scaled up to the elbows of his rolled-up sleeves. Probably beyond as well.

He also just assumed that the Picton that he saw were all male. They seemed masculine, but it was odd. Were there no females in the camp? Or no females in the race? It could be some type of custom he wasn’t aware of to only have males work, like the ever-sexist humans on Earth at one time. He felt it best not to ask. His ignorance was probably getting suspicious, so he’d take an observer’s stance for now. He didn’t want to out that he was from another world if it was something that could come back to bite him at a later date.

They approached the last section of the camp. Waving a large red flag as well as a red banner with some form of behemoth monster on it, was a single large tent that Silver assumed was the command center of the camp.

The large Picton pulled the flap back and motioned for Silver to pass. “Good luck, cub. If you live, look for me. Ask for Mern.”

Silver had a pretty good idea of where he’d be, not that he planned to look for him after this. The Picton gave him the creeps.

“My name is Silver. Not cub.” Silver ducked under the big guy’s arm and went inside. There were a few humans in the tent standing around a big table in the center, with a huge map unfurled on top of it. In a corner of the tent sitting on a few cushions on the ground were, as far as Silver could tell, miniature werewolves.

A few were standing, and they barely looked like they’d come up to Silver’s waist. One, seemingly the leader, stood at attention behind one of the men at the table. It was taller, deep black fur with streaks of red throughout. It looked solidly built and was almost chest high on Silver as he approached.

The people in the tent turned to look at him. There were two men and a woman. The woman had a strict aura about her, with a high aquiline nose and a glare on her brow.

Of the two men, Silver wasn’t even sure one was human. He dismissed the bigger scary looking guy outright, as well as the woman. The third man dominated his attention, as his body radiated power.

Standing at a solid 6 feet, was a man that looked human, but also didn’t. He stood lazily as he assessed Silver. He was slim built, looking tiny beside the other man to his side. His skin was blue and completely hairless from what Silver could see. His eyes looked like literal swirling black whirlpools; it was hypnotic to watch, so Silver looked away. He had two stick-like protuberances sticking out of his forehead, the nails on each hand were a crystalline blue that looked a lot like polished lapis lazuli.

“Cub,” the blue man spoke. Silver’s head snapped up, his posture lowering subconsciously. “What is a child such as you doing in my camp?”

“I-I was lost. The,” he paused, considering his words, “I was told that the Dark God sent me to you.”

“Indeed. Thanks to you, I was able to meet my god for the first time in my life. Unlike those Peta Pans worshippers, followers of the Dark One rarely meet with him unless you’re a priest. He’s a secretive god, that one.”

He stepped around the table to look at Silver, forcing Silver to hold prolonged eye contact. “What’s your name.”

“Silver.”

“Good. Welcome to the Blue Gloom black mercenary group. Find Savarti, She’ll get you a tent and some basic necessities.”

Silver just stared dumbly at him for a moment as his mind tried to process what he was just told. Was he just conscripted?

“What? Wait, what!” Silver raised his voice, just barely refraining from yelling as he clenched his teeth in barely restrained anger.

“I’ve decided to conscript you until we make it back to my city, so I can have you looked into. If you don’t seem worth the effort I’ll turn you into a very pretty statue and dump you into a lake somewhere.”

Silver’s head cooled a little at that. He couldn’t protest. Or fight back. This guy had an aura that reminded him of the Eye. It was weaker, but still several levels stronger than he was. His newfound instincts were screaming at him to do as he was told.

“…Yes sir. Where will I find Savarti?”

“That’s a good cub. Always follow your pack leader.” Jimmithy smirked at him. “She’ll probably be near the medical tents.”

Silvers face slowly started morphing into a mask of horror. The medical tent? Fuck! Anywhere but near those freaks, he practically screamed in his head.

He pulled himself together in the next second, his expression having barely shifted.

“Right. I’ll go now.”

Did he really need a tent that badly, he wondered as he stepped back out. The light rain that greeted his face told him all he needed to know.

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