Mana Mutation Menace (Journey to Chaos Book 3) (17 page)

All this time, Annala was blind. She couldn’t see the
fight’s end game. She could only hear Gruffle scream as the monster ate him.
When the area was finally illuminated, Grendel was right outside her cage. She
could see madness in its eyes. She'd seen the same look in all the monsters
she'd fought over the years on her village's borders. As much as she didn't
want to believe it, she could no longer deny it. Her Eric was gone and in its
place was this monster.

It ripped the bars off with one motion. Then it leaned
down and sniffed her hair. She trembled at its inspection, and when it was
done, she braced herself for its bite.

"Those
chains look uncomfortable."

It took a while for the words to sink in, and when they
did, Annala was furious. She blushed in rage and embarrassment and shouted a
string of curses so vile she would look back on this event and be thankful she
was gagged.

Eric chuckled a deep, throaty, and monstrous laugh, but
there was no doubt that he was genuinely amused. His form shrank and reshaped.
His skin became soft and fleshy, red hair grew on his head, his eyes lost their
slit, and his claws became fingernails. He was now one hundred percent human.
Then his lips separated into a grin.

He pulled out the gag and she shouted, "Jerk! You
made me think you'd gone feral! I thought you were going to eat me! I'm glad I
ran out of tears earlier because I don't want to waste any more on you!"

With Gruffle’s keychain, he unlocked the cuffs that were
holding her prisoner. Then, like a gentleman, he assisted her out of the ruined
cage. It wouldn’t be chivalrous to allow her to trip on the metal bars he
snapped like twine. She accepted his hand, but once out of the cage, she didn’t
jump into his arms. Instead, she crossed her own and looked away with a scowl.

"Please don't be mad. It was a once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity."

She spun on her heels and punched him in the chest.

“Don’t you
dare
say that! Limited lifespan is the
root problem!”

“What problem? I’m alive, you’re alive, and Gruffle will
stay alive long enough for Tasio to win his bet with Samael.”

Annala tugged on her ear again. A look of lovely
melancholy spread about her face.

“I don’t want to talk about it. I’d rather hear you
explain yourself. You demonstrated more control just now than you have all
night.”

"It’s simple really. When I realized that everyone
would treat me like a monster, and you said I wasn't Eric anymore, I decided, 'Screw
it! I'll be a monster.' I gave into my monster instincts and embraced the
monster point of view. Then I had an epiphany."

Eric transformed his head into that of the grendel, but
his eyes remained human. He transformed his right arm into the grendel’s and
used it to strike The Thinker pose.

 "There were no monster instincts; only my desires.
There was no monster point of view; only my point of view. I would have
disliked a radio talk show host spitting venom at Kasile as a human. I wouldn't
have tolerated the scientist’s and guard’s attitudes as a human. I already
considered my guild to be my second family before my mutation. Most importantly,
whether human or monster," he took her hand in his and held her gaze, "I
would always protect you."

 Up until now, Annala had been fascinated by his thought
process. Now she was flustered. Blushing, averting her eyes, avoiding their
joined hands, yet not pulling away, she was completely unable to form a
coherent sentence.

 “Oh...Eric …I... Um...it's...Ah..." She stopped and
swallowed. "Thank you. I'm sorry I doubted you and I'm sorry for the words
I said."

 "Don't worry about it. It's not your fault. It
wouldn't have been an issue if not for my self-destructive coping
mechanism."

 "What do you mean?" she asked, back into
science mode.

 "I didn't believe myself to be a grendel. I didn't
want
to believe it. Then my actions proved otherwise. Make no mistake: I
am
Eric Watley, but I'm not the same Eric Watley. The mutation changed me but only
superficially. Just like Kallen said, my change from who I was before I came to
this world was more fundamental than my mutation.”

He reverted to full human mode, except for the claws. Then
he slitted his eyes but kept his voice at a human pitch.

 “Like I said, my desire and my point of view remain the
same; only seen through a new lens. Because I didn't accept this, I created a
separate self—the grendel. I blamed all my new behavior on this 'creature
inside of me' that never existed. In order to maintain my past identity, I
created a new identity and lost control over my present actions. For how can I
control myself if I do not believe myself to be myself? If I believe that ‘Evil
Grendel’ is in control, then I am obviously not in control despite my efforts
to control it; that is, myself.”  

A third time, he changed his form, and this time, it was
everything except his face. Given his metallic skin, it resembled armor.
Instead of a monster hiding inside a human, this was a human wearing a
monster’s hide.

“By accepting this change, seeing myself as 'Grendel,' I
regained this control. My grendel is not a monster that raids mead halls, but a
knight devoted to his lady."

 Annala's checks, which had just then regained their
normal color, suddenly turned red again.

 "Stop that! We...we need to get out of here." She
turned away. "If you didn't kill Gruffle, then he should still be around
here somewhere. Get him and let's go!"

 "As you wish."

Eric the Grendel made a gesture and said a few words. This
called down the wind spell until it floated between himself and the bride. Then
he dismissed it and held the troll in both hands.

“Start talking, troll.”

 "It's about time! I was getting sick up there
watching your nerd mating dance!"

“That’s not what I meant.”

“Why should I? There’s nothing you can do to me that you
haven’t already done. If you kill me, I’ll become a reaper and kill you in
return.”

Eric returned to the ruins of his body. Its chest was cut open,
organs were chewed up, and all its limbs were broken. As soon as the head was
reattached, the soul’s pilfered
kon
fixed the damages. Then Eric broke
it again. More
kon
fixed it and Eric broke it a third time. Still more
kon
came; it was involuntary.

“Okay! Okay! I’ll talk! But I can’t tell you
everything…I’m just a grunt, you know. They only tell me what’s necessary for
the op. In fact, I doubt that I—”

Eric broke his right arm. Gruffle screamed.

“Eric,
that’s enough
,” Annala insisted.

He looked at her in confusion. “It’s working, isn’t it?”

“….Samael told me you caused a labor shortage for her
organization and that was the reason she gave for wanting to contract me. After
talking with your elf girl—”

Suddenly, Annala became acutely self-conscious of her
outfit. The final words both terrified and delighted her, but the third emotion
was despair. Eric, thinking only of the present, felt only delight. Gruffle
rolled his eyes.

“I realized Nulso had arranged for Samael to get you out
of his hair.” He continued explaining simply to change the subject. “Contract
you, kill you, or keep you a monster; it didn’t matter to him as long as you
couldn’t interfere with his plans.”

“To put an Order Subjugation Collar on me.”

“Self-centered bitch…this isn’t about you!”

Eric cuffed him on the head.

“It’s not. She just happens to be the daughter and
honorary niece of Nulso’s ex business partners. She’s nothing but a tool in his
revenge on them.”

“Why hasn’t Nulso arrived yet?”

“I don’t know! He was supposed to be here by now.”

“Then let’s leave before he does.”

The couple returned from whence they came with their
prisoner. Since Eric had killed the opposition on his way up, there was no one
to stop them on the way down. Nevertheless, they kept their guard up at all
times. Eric marched in his full grendel form and Annala kept her bow drawn and
charged. The bet wasn’t won until they left the grounds.

Few monsters bothered them and they were easily dispatched
by the new Eric. His full grendel form tore them apart with ease and then he
ate them. The other monsters feared him, but there was never any doubt in
Annala’s mind that he remained her Eric. Thus, the pair walked out the door
with minimum trouble. The biggest hurdle yet was waiting for them outside.

Nulso blocked the exit.

He wore the same clothes as always and they bore the same
wrinkles. He hadn’t changed since the day Eric first met him months ago. In his
hands, he carried a steel-corded leash with a metal collar written in
ordercraft runes. He pulled it taut and Annala shuffled back. Eric blocked his
sight of her and growled warningly.

“The girl cannot leave,” he said stoically. “Her treatment
is not finished yet. I cannot discharge her.”

A magic circle appeared as Annala pulled her drawstring as
far back as it would go. Its sigils flared and runes spun at a dizzying pace. Chaotic
light shined as it drew on her Seed of Chaos. Flowing from her hair to her bow,
it customized the arrow for ordercrafters.

“I’m checking myself out!”

The arrow soared toward Nulso's chest but slowed as it
entered a cloud of spiritual and divine power. Gradually, it lost momentum and
hung in the air, trapped. He plucked it from his field of force and tossed it
back at Annala.

It lodged into her chest, making her wince. A bloody stain
appeared around the shaft and quickly spread. Eric snarled and crouched for a
sprint.

“Eric, wait!” She pulled the arrow out and tossed it
aside. “I’m okay.”

“Of course she is,” Nulso sneered. “She’s immortal and you
are not.”

“Shut up!” Annala shouted.

“I’m sorry I ruined your wedding dress. ‘Til death do you
part’ indeed.”

Annala stood up and notched another arrow. “I said shut
up!”

“By the way, how’s Aunt Triste doing? Still
hallucinating?”

Annala loosed the arrow, but this time, it didn’t even
leave the bow. Order tendrils emerged from the ground and grabbed it, along
with Annala herself and Eric. It wrapped about their wrists and arms, pulling
them behind their backs and binding them together.

“I’ve always wanted to say this, ahem, GET OVER HERE!”

The tendrils yanked the couple forward. Eric growled and struggled
against the restraints but not only did he fail to free himself, they forced
him into his human form. Every power he acquired in Ceiha was now shut down and
useless. Annala knew she couldn’t break free, but resisted anyway. She called
out to Lady Chaos, Progenitor Arin, and every single trickster, begging them
for help but not one of them arrived. Both of them were soon at Nulso’s feet.

“Neither of you can stand against me because you lack
faith. Your powers fail you because you do not fight a man but an instrument of
Order’s Divine Will.”

He constricted Eric. “You owe Tasio your freedom and your
current life style, yet you despise him for being who he is. How ungrateful.”

He constricted Annala. “You fear the very deity central to
both your culture and your biology. You want her to stay away and yet you ask her
for help? What hypocrisy!”

He buffeted them both with a wave of order-tainted
spiritual power. “I, on the other hand, have accepted Lord Order as the rock of
my life and he has empowered to deal with scoundrels and blasphemers like
yourself.” He gave Annala a once over. “In fact, I can even do weddings.”

He clapped his hands together and solemnly declared,
“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to join this couple in
temporary
matrimony. The Cruelty of Chaos will one day rip them apart, but for now, they
wish to be together.”

Annala shook her head. “Stop it!”

“Eric Watley, do you swear to perpetually worry Annala
over your mortality? To cause her nightmares over your inevitable fate, and to
one day leave her alone and miserable?”

Eric glared up at him with madness in his eyes. “
Go to the Abyss
,
Order drone!”

“Annala Enaz, do you swear to make Eric envious of your
eternal health and beauty? To watch him grow frail and senile, and to spend
eternity mourning him?”

Although her eyes shined with fresh tears, Annala too
looked defiantly at him. “The Abyss is too good for you! Go jump in the Sea of
Chaos!”

“Then, as the presiding official, I will present the
ring.”

He dangled the Subjugation Collar between them. Annala
gasped, realizing what he planned to do. She shook her head pleadingly. More
tendrils sprang from Nulso’s aura and drilled into Eric’s head and chest. His
will invaded Eric’s mind and spirit. Eric fought with all his might, but he was
crushed beneath Nulso's power. Another ordercrafter would have been baffled and
intimidated by the mixture of human hatred and monster savagery, but the man
formerly known as Harry Butchin was well acquainted with both. Eric’s eyes
clouded over and he became Nulso’s creature.

"Eric, fight him! Tasio —”

"Is not coming this time," Nulso said. "He
cannot break the rules of this game or Samael will claim Eric's soul. Did you
truly believe I would attempt this if he could still intervene?"

Eric lifted Annala’s veil and she continued pleading with
him. He raised the collar to her neck and she squirmed in distress. The
ordercraft runes glowed in anticipation of dominating her. Then, before Eric
could secure it, she stepped forward and kissed him. His hand froze in
surprise. Annala drew back, blood dripping from her mouth from where she bit
her tongue.

“I may not have faith in Lady Chaos, but I certainly have
faith in you! I believe you will keep your promise. If monsanity can’t turn you
against me, then ordercraft can’t either. Wake up!”