86 Bugs
1495 Words
The Prince treaded slowly underneath the forest canopy. It was still especially cold down here, as the snow had only started to thaw, but there was no reason to wait. He had to test this new feature as much and as early as possible. The Rhinosaur herd had already left the village, after their rituals and a particularly steamy month of repopulation.
He was unsurprised to learn that he could not let the creatures stay with them permanently. They obeyed simple commands like "sit down" and "stop fighting" to more complex ones like "let me ride on your back" and "take me to the edge of the lake". But when it was time for them to migrate back at the end of the season, Janus' commands couldn't last. He tried commanding them to "stay for as long as I tell you to", and they did, but it never lasted. Sooner or later instinct found its way, and the creatures went back to the herd for the long journey ahead.
He did preliminary tests within the village, but the results were insubstantial. Farm animals like chickens, sheep, goats, and cows would not respond at all to the commands of the ring. Otis and the dogs obeyed him to some extent, but that was only due to the Kennelmistress' training, and the fact that he was known to carry dog treats.
He wasn't particularly used to surveying the Forest of Mist, so he had to be careful. They were a few acres away from the village. He didn't exactly feel safe wandering here, even with a team of experts to assist him at every turn, but as always, curiosity got the best of him.
I need more testing.
"Prince Janus. Over here." A scout pointed to a small patch in the east.
Janus squinted and scanned the direction and found his first subject.
There, on a small stack of bushes and logs was a Stag Millipede.
"What level do you think that is?"
Tai'dra, the I'reen monster hunter and scribe flipped through her notes. She and her band had been ranging and hunting this area for the past two years, and over those trips, she had filled their records with creatures of note that roamed this side of the forest.
"Looks like a juvenile specimen to me, should be on the edge of low to medium level. Adult queens are a challenge to go against, but they are very rare. There had been reports of them calling for backup, mostly bringing one or two others in to help when they feel threatened. Nothing we can't handle though." She said while adjusting her spectacles.
"So it's safe for me to approach it? No poison or sting or any notable feature that I should be wary of?"
Tai'dra flipped through her notes again. She had black fur all over her body, save for the white spots in her nose and face. Her ears twitched as she read through the Merrimen records.
"No poison on our records, but be wary of those horns."
They had devised a record-keeping system for all of the creatures spotted all over the village. Each monster was divided into categories and subcategories based on the level of danger and skill needed to hunt said creature. This was a tool they used to avoid throwing away hunters into monsters that they cannot engage and also as a measure of how much bounty was to be rewarded for a hunt.
"Cool then. I'll give it a go. Cover me." Janus gulped.
Haruna gripped her wrist.
Janus stopped abruptly.
"Are you sure?" she whispered. "You look rattled."
"Me? Rattled? Of course not, don't be ridiculous. We've pacified the Rhinosaurs. After those, medium level monsters shouldn't be a problem right?"
Haruna glared at him.
He gulped again.
He had been surprised to learn that of all people, Haruna was the one assigned to accompany them in this excursion. She was supposed to have a whole day of teaching and training for today, but in a surprising twist, Cornelia volunteered to cover for her. He wasn't complaining though, it was nice to have her around, out of all the mages in the village Janus always felt safer with her.
"Why do you look surprised? Don't you want to spend time with me?" She had said earlier.
"Well, it's not that I don't want to spend time with you. It's just that today's class is scheduled for advanced fire spells. You know what happened the last time Cornelia taught that class." He recalled a huge line of novices lining up towards the infirmary, with singed eyebrows and tattered clothing.
"She's not doing that today. I've forced her to work them on theory and drills. That should keep casualties to a minimum."
He remembered the hours and hours of hand drills that he received from lessons Cornelia, and shivered at the amount of wrist pain he had when it was over.
"Well, that's great, it's good to have you around." He smiled.
To his surprise, Haruna seemed flustered. "It's not like I'm doing this for you or anything, I just want to get some fresh air. That's all." She said while fiddling with her staff.
Janus felt strange, Haruna has been her friend for the past three odd years, and they've had a close teacher-student relationship with each other. Yet still, he can't help but notice that something about her seemed... odd. She gets along with her friends and everyone else in the village very well, but with him its like there's an invisible barrier blocking the way. Like some spell, he couldn't quite see... even with Arcane vision.
"Uhm... Prince Janus? Better hurry if you're gonna do it now. These critters only go out for a limited time of day. We'll be hard pressed to find another if it skitters back to its burrow." Tai'dra whispered. She was now crouching close beside him along with the two other scouts and rangers in her usual party.
Janus refocused his vision on the Stag Millipede. It wriggled above the thorny bush, thrashing its body in its leaves and spikes, presumably 'bathing' itself for the day. That behavior was strange, much like everything else in this forest, but figuring that out was Tai'dra's work.
His job was to figure out what this new defense-protocol was. The Golden Library should do a better job explaining itself. He tried exploring the interface in and out for any information it can provide, but alas, all he'd ever gotten from them was a vague error message.
"Go on. It's just a millipede." Haruna whispered. "You've taken down much worse."
That was true, Janus had acquired spells that could topple trees and take down large mammoths with a stroke of his hand and some incantations. But the thing is... that millipede had too many legs. It made his stomach churn.
He sneaked towards it, taking care not to step on any stray branches. He heightened his vision, took a little warmth from his Wellspring, and slowly crept.
The creature didn't seem to notice. On closer inspection, it was around two feet long, with hundreds of little segmented feet that crawled along its body, along with two large feeler antennae that look more like horns.
As soon as he was a few inches closer, he reached out with his right hand. He felt his party going around behind him to get a better vantage point. Haruna was raising her staff.
Don't be silly. It's just an insect. A giant one, with horns, and hundreds of squiggly, creepy feet.
The ring vibrated and hummed. The creature finally noticed his presence.
It flinched.
"Stop moving." Janus commanded.
The creature stopped. It reared its horns towards him and coiled its body.
"Stay calm and roll into a--"
Before he could finish his command, the creature lurched to his face.
He felt the blunt force of its rigid horns. It cracked the ridge of his nose, knocking him to the ground.
He was able to conjure a barrier, but the Millipede was too fast. The barrier materialized just behind the creature and dissipated as he fell to the ground.
There was a scream, and a rumbling of footsteps rushed towards him.
"Janus!" Haruna yelled.
"Calm down. There are larger monsters here!" Tai'dra snapped in a hushed tone.
"What do you mean calm down?! It's eating him! It's eating him alive!"
The creature wrapped its body around Janus' neck. Making it hard for him to breathe. All its little segmented feet were wrapped around his bare neck.
At first, it stung and itched, then it burned.
Janus felt the temperature rise above him. Haruna was casting a fire spell.
No!
"My Lady, please. You have to calm down, or are you planning to burn the Prince into a pile of ash?" Tai'dra said.
"But but..."
"It's merely a flesh wound. Luffin should be able to handle it."
Haruna's spell dissipated.
The stinging sensation crept into Janus' neck and into his chest.
"Now, your highness. I need you to stay still while as Luffin and Rozon do their work."
The Millipede screeched as two pairs of hands slowly removed it from Janus' face. The claws latched on tight, but both hunters were skilled enough to pry it open.
- Writer
