Voridam

Chapter 5 : Strange Dealings in Strange Times

"You wanted to speak with me." Zaika'Vo asked the cardinal. "Yes..." Karst would say, turning around and flipping the table between them in a fit of rage. "WHAT THE FUCK, do you think this is Zai?!" He'd grab the jestray by the neck, pinning him to the wall. "You not only killed the unkillable, but you've disrupted a business!" Karst would say as he dropped Zai, letting him speak.
"What do you mean? I've taken it over." he'd say between breaths. "I've taken over the entertai-"
"Not that business you idiot. Joy was running another business, which can no longer continue, now that you've ripped off the back of his fucking skull. Harrigan was using him to shift ikrin throughout the city." Karst would reveal.

Harrigan was a drug kingpin of sorts. Nobody had ever seen him, except Karst. He knew that the drug lord wasn't some sort of hidden god. He was merely a matriko, hiding in a lab making ikrin. Karst had never found out how Harrigan got so much power. But ikrin was a powerful drug. Available in many forms, and all sold by the mutated matriko. The most popular form was a small, baked berry filled with the drug, discreet, effective, fun.

"Ikrin is the very thing that ruined the lesser levels. And you've helped to push it around?" Zai would question. He knew Karst was corrupt, but he assumed the scientist to be above peddling drugs around the poorer areas. "There's a lot of money in that. And now you'll need to take Joy's place in that little section too. Get out of here before I make you wish you had only lost an arm." As Zai left, he noticed something in the distance. Looking out over the city walls, out to the wasteland, in Mara'sect. The kest crystals in the wasteland lit up like they were calling out. And that lab out there was running harder, hotter, faster than ever before.

He'd open the door to Karst's office again, immediately taking cover from a shard of stone thrown at the wall to politely tell him to 'fuck off'. "Karst...come see this. It's that lab...your old one...I thi-" Before he could finish Karst rushed outside, grabbing the shard from the wall. "Fuck...what is she doing?" He'd ask himself. "Wait, you know what's happening out there?" Zai questioned. "I do. And now you're with us. You should know. Vara is out there. I don't know what she's up to yet, but I think whatever she has planned, we need to stay on her side. Who knows what the head scientist can do." Karst seemed to show worry. Something few had ever seen in the primitive arachinol.
"The head scientist? I thought that was Hysti-" "Before her, not too long ago, Vara was the head, she made this...thing, called a nightmaric human. I fear she may be making more nightmarics out there." "So we should be on her side?" In response, was a mere nod.

The two would leave the city, riding out into the wasteland, in a mobile lab. Karst sitting at the helm. Zaika'Vo sitting in the rear, in a small observation room. Looking at the city in all its glory from the toxic wasteland. "As I'm sure you know, us primitive arachinol are immune to the toxicity of the wasteland. But you are not. I had something made for you when I made your arm." Karst would gesture to a box by Zaika'Vo's side. Inside was a mask of sorts. A helmet with a wide, red visor designed specifically for Zaika'Vo's head. When the Jestray put it on, he felt a connection to his robotic arm. The two were designed for each other, as Karst said.

"That mask, will protect you from the atmosphere. Your clothes were designed by Joy to withstand it too. Just your hand you need to worry about out here." Jestray never wore shoes, instead wrapped their feet in leather or cloth. Zai's wraps were provided by Joy, so if Karst was telling the truth, then they would theoretically protect him. "Oh, it'll also protect you from the frame's light." Before Zai could question that, they passed through a massive doorway made from kest gems, the light blinding even with the mask on. He could only fear just how bright it was.

Soon, as they approached the lab, Karst stopped the vehicle. "Something's off..." He'd whisper before a blinding purple light erupted from behind the lab. A large mass of tendrils flying away, into the air. A large group of perhaps forty beasts, erupting from the ground. Pitch black, bone white armour over their heads and claws, like skeletal armour held together by tar. Riding on the back of one of the beasts, was Vara "After him!" She shouted. The beasts seeming to follow her command. 

"What was that...what were...they?" Zaika'Vo asked, still getting used to the active, heads up display running through his new mask. Each of the beasts being marked as 'unknown'
"Those must be the nightmarics...fuck..." Karst would mutter as he steered the vehicle towards the flying mass. "That's my generator." He's point out. Putting on his helmet and stepping outside the lab. "Stay here. Don't open the door." Karst would say as he closed the door, a jetpack activating on the back of his suit as he went after the generator. Zai just sitting in the mobile lab, watching those strange beasts rampage after the flying device.

Soon, after he zoned out, there was a knock at the door. Completely ignoring Karst's instructions, Zai opened it. "Hello there." Curiosty would say as he stepped into the lab. "So...a jester? How quaint." He'd say as he looked at the lab. "What are you?" The confused jestray would ask. Observing the strange entity before him, like solid tar. His body malleable and yet, retaining perfect shape. "I'm not entirely sure what I am, but I made those beasts you saw. And I know my name. Curiosty." Zaika'Vo's helmet would change Curiosty's tag from 'unknown' to 'nightmaric'.
"A nice name...You made those creatures?" Zai asked. Removing his helmet for a moment to properly see Curiosty. "Correct, you know those little marian parasites? It turns out I can turn them into something else. A nightmarian as we've called it. And those are fun, they don't touch the living. But they turn the dead, into...well...nightmarics." He'd chuckle softly. Looking out the window. "What's this alliance I hear of. We've got the arachnids, you, reptile. And those strange people, the stone ones."

"Stone people....Oh, garrotol. Wait...people...is that what you...looked, like?"
"Yes, it was quite strange, I thought she was an angel at first. Then I saw the room, the moon burns my flesh when it pulses...if this even is flesh." He'd say as he gestured to his arm, spikes forming across it as he demonstrated. "She calls me immortal...this doesn't feel like immortality...She's changed you know? Over time, glowing purple...like those spikes from the ground."

"She's being poisoned by the kest." Zaika'Vo would say, gesturing to a nearby crystal formation. "This stuff corrupts any life near it...except you...and your beasts." Before Curiosty could speak once more, the thunderous beat of the beasts running back could be heard. Followed by Karst and that strange mass of tendrils that was apparently his generator. The strange mass had glowing, purple eyes and seemed to follow Karst's commands, like a pet would.

"Zai, get in here!" Karst would shout as he entered the main lab...