Witchers of Nifelheim - Part 3

"Magic for me. Recent events have shown me the uselessness of learning Nifel further. Words can be heard as you want and can be spun to make other's believe what you want.

There's really no dual meaning behind throwing a fireball or healing someone"

Radiance wrote:"Magic for me. Recent events have shown me the uselessness of learning Nifel further. Words can be heard as you want and can be spun to make other's believe what you want.

There's really no dual meaning behind throwing a fireball or healing someone"

"You mean people don't set friends on fire for laughs, or heal prisoners so their torture lasts longer?" Rogue says.

"I guess I can expand my spells." Circi crosses her legs and lowers her head as her breathing slows. She enters a meditative state.

Rain looks back to Ursula, "I'll also hone my magical abilitys. More damage is always nice."

Twilight wrote:And was language not required to advance in magic?"

"That's right!.." Johan said, remembering: "Ursula mentioned something about needing to know Nifel as a mother tongue, to achieve Category 5 in magic"

Twilight wrote:She looks at Alyx. "Is my shoulder that comfortable?"

Alyx shrugged with a smile: "I just like hanging out with you, that's all"

Rogue wrote:"You mean people don't set friends on fire for laughs,

Johan's eyes darted left and right, and he slightly inched away from Rogue.






Off in the distance, Ursula seems to have finished her monologue, crossed her arms and defiantly looked away. Kaylee is sheepishly smiling, patting Ursula on the shoulder.

"Okayyyy.." Johan nervously said, looking back at everyone: "..now that we decided how we're gonna spend our free time... we should.. probably try speaking to Ursula about training us....
Aaaaand making sure she's not planning to.. um... defect-"


"Waaht?" Squiggles collected his front mandibles close to his face: "She wouldn't do that!... w-would she?"



"I mean, if she feels a complete disconnect from us, I dunno" Johan grimaced: "We probably shouldn't leave things hanging, the way they did.
At the end of the day, I mean, we all have the same goal in mind. Sure we may disagree about politics, but we all want the same thing. To save all the folks on Nifelheim.

I just think we need to underline that, whenever something like this happens. Its not like we wish ill on anyone. We're just... trying to help each other out... you know?" Johan looked down:

"There's no need for us to argue like that"



He looked at Circi: "And I just wanted to let you know that, you are a valued member of our team and your opinion matters to us. When we're all together, we help each other out and even if Ursula may disagree with you on some matters, I'm sure she understands that you're just trying to protect folk, in your own way.

We.. really need to underline that and.. patch things with her I think.. before she does something silly"

Kaylee Brown wrote:Off in the distance, Ursula seems to have finished her monologue, crossed her arms and defiantly looked away. Kaylee is sheepishly smiling, patting Ursula on the shoulder.

"Okayyyy.." Johan nervously said, looking back at everyone: "..now that we decided how we're gonna spend our free time... we should.. probably try speaking to Ursula about training us....
Aaaaand making sure she's not planning to.. um... defect-"

"We probably shouldn't all go over to her, don't want to crowd her" Rogue suggests, "I'll go, but we should keep it to just a couple of others?"

Circi stares at the party for a long moment, "witchers and sinners are always at each others throats." She looks down, "I HATE parasites, with a burning passion its the only fire I have left in my very soul." She bites her cheek a moment, a drop of black slowly dribbles down from the side of her mouth, "Many sinners believe that witchers are wrong for taking these world killing creatures and using them, they all need to be exterminated, each and every one." She shifts her black eyes to the partys parasites, "I am more then happy to get up in any of your faces and calling you scum sucking, world killing, warcrime inducing, bloodlusting, horrors who will take any chance they can to murder and eat." Her attention turns Tristan, "I think if the people of Nifelhime would benifit from learning about who the sinners are and what our actual abilitys are. If witchers were to instead become sinners, and we would stop bickering over what spells are right and wrong and focused on our survival as a whole, just getting off this planet and leaving it to rot." She takes a deep breath, her frail form expanding as she lets out a long winded sigh, "In a way if I were to put it in a way the witchers look at us we want to 'Up root your culture, kill all parasites, and burn this land to ash' and im not sure how to feel about that sometimes." One of her spider legs stabs into the dirt beneath her and she leans herself against it, "The world sees us as diseased monsters anyway, might as well play the part."

Rain looks to Ursula, then to Circi. She sighs and leans over to Johan, "We need to get ursula and these two need to work their diffrences out. The only reason Circi is being such a stuck up bitch about this is because of her beliefs. We need to assure her that we are all on the same page here no matter the diffrences between us." She whispers.

"Just one question, before you go on your crusade." Twilight says, folding her fingers casually.

"Is your species really named "sinners"? Is that the name you chose for yourselves, or did you adopt it from the Nifel language? Because if it is, you already have shot yourself in the foot or whatever substitute you have for that."

Kaylee's parasite, Harris, slowly narrowed his eyes. His expression became distorted by a deep scowl, as he looked at Circi:

"Yeah?... we hate you too then!" He angrily said:

"Becoming a Sinner and completely deforming your body to the point of unrecognition, is somehow better, than forming a Glasgow Synergy with a Glystaria?
Give me break"


Harris' expression grew into a sneer:
"When humanity first set foot on Nifelheim, they were little more than blind, helpless puppies. Unable to physically see or harm parasites.

It is only thanks to the Synergy, that your species were able to survive and fight back.
If Witchers didn't exist, humanity would have gone extinct 1288 years ago, the same year they were Exiled.
Like it or not, Glystaria need humans, and humans need Glystaria to survive. That's why the Witchers called it a Synergy."



Harris took a step towards Circi, releasing a poorly hidden smirk:

"You forget and tarnish the roots of your ancestors.
You were human, long before you became a Sinner. So get off your high horse.

Face it Sinner, if Witchers didn't exist, you would have never been born."






"Harris!..." Johan called, face palming and releasing an exhausted sigh:
"...one step forward, two steps back.
We're not gonna get very far if we keep provoking each other!
Please, lets just stop this. There's really no need for such things when we're trying to help each other"

Kaylee Brown wrote:Harris took a step towards Circi, releasing a poorly hidden smirk:

"You forget and tarnish the roots of your ancestors.
You were human, long before you became a Sinner. So get off your high horse.

Face it Sinner, if Witchers didn't exist, you would have never been born."

"And if the humans hadn't been kidnapped and exiled here in the first place, neither of you'd of been born. Try to remember who the real enemy is here, you guys should be allies" Rogue adds.

Circi looks to Twilight and gives a small nod "Way back when humanity first arrived here and we first got the disease you can imagine the fear and panic when suddenly people begin dying from some unknown disease, it was at this time that people started refering to that disease as "Sin" i believe one of the quotes are, "Their blood ran black as sin, rivers of tar caked the snow and from it, rose the Sinners." That was the first instance of the name, from there on it just stuck." She tilts her head at Twilight, "Do you have a friendlier name in mind?"

Circi glances up at Harris, She hungrily looks over him, "I dont want you to like me you two faced, short fused, manipulative little scumbag. All I require is your soul. Whether im human or not, humanity as a whole benifits because im not feral." She pauses, "However thats not the point you brought up, you might wonder why we think that way?" She rests her head against her spiderleg, "This disease comes from nifelhime itself. Turning yourself brings you closer to nature, it makes you appreciate the life on this planet a little more. When I gave my life up for what I would be I didn't think about the trees, the grass between my toes, the animals within the forests. I thought about two things, my hatred for the parasites which, thankfully still exists, and my survival." She pauses and looks down at herself, "look at that, im still here. After turning into a sinner it took some time for the haze around my mind to lift. When it did I found myself appreciating life a bit more. Dianas right, I am a hermit but not without reason. Have you ever sat in silence, listening to the wind through the trees. Sitting outside and just watching the world pass? Trekking mile just to see hills of grass and flowers? No of course not, because your a world killing parasite that only wants anarchy, death, and destruction. You never cared about the world you live on in the first place so why dont you take a seat, and get off YOUR high horse."

"You have no idea what I care about! You know nothing about me!!" Harris angrily spat. Just as quick, his expression turned mournful:

"...I was born two months ago.. and almost immediately shoved into a Witcher. My ancestor didn't ask me what I want, when he gave me life and threw me at Kaylee, and after the Synergy it didn't matter."



Harris' expression changed into a scowl again:

"So no. I never just sat and watched the world pass, BECAUSE I NEVER HAD THE CHANCE!!!" Harris angrily barked. He was staring daggers at Circi:



"...Glystaria are very individualistic creatures. No two are the same...

You don't know me, you don't know what I want, what I care about. Because today was the first time we met.

All you have are prejudices, preconceptions and stereotypes. All the things that other people apply to the Sinners. Things that you want to fight against"


Harris released a fake smile:
"Congratulations.
You have become what you hate."




He grimly crossed his arms:
"How can I become allies with someone who decided they hate me, before we even spoke."

"I'd have gone with the Lost," Radiance adds in "Sin usually requires purposefully doing something evil or going against a divine plan.

The original sounded like they where stranded in a different world then changed by the world. Lost from Earth, Lost to this new wold, and Lost from understanding by both Witcher and Glysteria"

"I guess that, with the talk about a rite of "death and rebirth", you could fall under a species of the undead. Unless your species can reproduce sexually."

Her eyes narrow then. "I don't have a high opinion of the undead. Do hope your kin can sway my opinion for the better."

She then turns away, muttering to herself.

Disgruntled purple wrote:"I guess that, with the talk about a rite of "death and rebirth", you could fall under a species of the undead. Unless your species can reproduce sexually."

Her eyes narrow then. "I don't have a high opinion of the undead. Do hope your kin can sway my opinion for the better."

She then turns away, muttering to herself.

"Oh, not this anti-resurrectionist spiel again..." Rogue groans.

"Okay, guys, lets.. try to stay focused on our mission" Johan said, calmly raising his palms:
"We all have very strong, often different opinions about different subjects in life and that's okay.
We grew up in different places across the world and our world views were shaped by our personal experiances, our culture, our friends and family.

Growing up so far apart from one another, on different planets, in different countries, it would make sense that there would be some things we disagree on.
Buts there is something that unites us, as a team.

Our will to do good.


Lets focus on that and move forward. And, maybe we'll see that we're not so different after all." Johan released a shy smile: "Okay?"


He looked at Ursula in the distance and subtly motioned her to come closer. Ursula, still frowny, crossed her arms but reluctantly approached. With Kaylee shadowing her close behind.

Kaylee Brown wrote:He looked at Ursula in the distance and subtly motioned her to come closer. Ursula, still frowny, crossed her arms but reluctantly approached. With Kaylee shadowing her close behind.

"Feeling better?" Rogue asks Ursula.

Radiance turns his head to Ursula "I'm sorry about what I said and how I said it. I haven't been truly respectful to you and how things are here.

Dispite my excellent hearing I haven't actually been listening go what you say and why you've said it.

I've been to wrapped up in my precognition of what I think should be and have been ignoring what is. So once again I'm sorry"

Rogue wrote:"Feeling better?" Rogue asks Ursula.

Ursula began slightly blushing, crossed her arms and looked away: "...I am fine"

Radiance wrote:Radiance turns his head to Ursula "I'm sorry about what I said and how I said it. I haven't been truly respectful to you and how things are here.

Dispite my excellent hearing I haven't actually been listening go what you say and why you've said it.

I've been to wrapped up in my precognition of what I think should be and have been ignoring what is. So once again I'm sorry"

Ursula looked down. Arms still crossed, her expression began catching a mix of sorrow:

"I am sorry as well. I may have.. overreacted, a bit too harshly... you didn't deserve that."



She sighed and looked over the non existent plane, the dark nothingness that surrounded you from all sides, sometimes giving way to glimpses of a hazy, barred wagon, rolling somewhere across the snowdrifts. The creaking of its wheels subtly reached your senses, as if invading from the real world and echoing in your consciousness.

"Well... I don't know any high security prisons around Rakshata, so where ever we're going, its pretty far out" Ursula sent a tired hand over her forehead:

"Thought of anything to do, to pass the time?... I could conjure a chess board or something"

"Training seemed to be the vote," Radiance jumps to his feet "Acoording to Tristan here martial arts is out of the question as we don't have physical bodies, but I dont see why we cant mentally learn more moves. After all, isn't the first step in learning something to see hear or read it first?

Actually, if any of you are interested I could teach you about blind fighting. Knowing how to fight both using martial and magical means in the dark or momentarily blinded I think would benefit everyone. And, most of the process behind it is mental so it would work here"

Radiance wrote:"Training seemed to be the vote," Radiance jumps to his feet "Acoording to Tristan here martial arts is out of the question as we don't have physical bodies, but I dont see why we cant mentally learn more moves. After all, isn't the first step in learning something to see hear or read it first?

Actually, if any of you are interested I could teach you about blind fighting. Knowing how to fight both using martial and magical means in the dark or momentarily blinded I think would benefit everyone. And, most of the process behind it is mental so it would work here"

"I'd be curious to give that a go" Rogue raises his hand.

Ursula made a sour face in Tristans direction:
"..you don't want your new friend to train you? I thought he was SOOOoooo cool" she said grouchingly.


"Ehehe.. okay now-" Kaylee calmingly raised her palms again.


Ursula looked away, still holding her hands crossed and brought her head high:
"Fine, fine. I guess I have no choice but to train you"
After a pause she looked at you again, catching a more serious expression:
"He's right though. Studying martial arts in this realm is impossible"



Ursula stretched her hands forward, showing you her palms:
"This body isn't real. We're not actually standing here, next to a campfire, we're just imagining ourselves doing so. Everything we see and do here, are just images inside our head.
It wouldn't be a mistake to say we are having a dream.


While its true that we are conscious of it, our real body's are laying on a cold floor somewhere.
To advance our skill in martial arts, our bodies require the procurement of 'Muscle Memory'. We repeat a technique, we repeat it again, our bodies begin to remember it, how we moved, our spacial awareness, everything.

After a while, we begin performing techniques on auto-pilot. Without thinking about it, our body remembers.

But to acquire muscle memory we need our real bodies to move, to repeat the technique over and over. Without it, only imagining it won't bring a significant improvement to our skill"



Ursula shifted her weight, staring off into space and falling in thought:
"But after we wake up, we could try learning to fight without looking. The Blindness status effect is a favorite all around. If we can maintain even a moderate state of combat effectiveness while blinded, it will improve our survivability as a combat unit"

She nodded: "Yes, its a good idea. It will raise our overall martial art skill"


Ursula took one last look around the nothingness and her eyes caught focus:
"Alright. Lets get serious"









Inside a dream, the flow of time had a different perception, hours felt like minutes, weeks felt like days. The state of a never ending dream allowed your mind to really rest and process past events at a steady pace, setting your mind at ease.

New information given by Ursula felt easy to learn and early on you began to feel real progress.


And the carriage continued to roll, carrying your bodies somewhere through the winter. Sometimes, you felt the glimpses of reality slip through, a distinct smell of hay, the biting cold, a trace of a conversation by the guards outside.

Sometimes you would even wake up, very briefly, to see the snowdrifts outside, through the metal bars of your carriage. Only remote, desolate areas appeared before your vision, mountains and mountains of snow, with no trace of civilization in sight.
You always remained groggy and half asleep for no longer than a few seconds, before a guard would zap you with paralysis again, sending your consciousness back to oblivion.





And just like most dreams, this one ended abruptly. You're not sure how much time passed exactly, when you suddenly and fully woke up.

Painfully loud cacaphony of sounds began assaulting your senses, as someone unceremoniously began hauling you back on your feet and pushing you down the ramp of the carriage, forcing you to walk into the open world, filled with a merciless biting cold wind.

It took you several long seconds before your mind began to process the cacaphony of sounds around you, interpreting them into words and distinct familiar sounds:



"Get up you lazy bums!!!" Someone was barking right in your ear, banging on the metals bars of the carriage with a stick:

"Form a line!!! Move! Move!"



Still half asleep, your eyes barely open, you began vaguely taking in your surroundings. A desolate land, shrouded in a very thick snow storm. The haze of the snowfall was heavily abstructing your vision. The freezing wind was biting into your bones.

You suddenly and vividly felt hunger. An uncontrollable, unbearable hunger. The desire to eat anything and everything was almost overwhelming. And this feeling only partially belonged to your parasite.


Your whole body ached from being stuffed in a sitting position for so long. You suspected the only reason you didn't die of hunger, or developped any pressure wounds, from sitting in the same position for so long, was due to your parasites regenerative abilities.

Without your parasite, you're not fully sure you'd still be alive. But even they were at their limit. Their hunger was pounding in your head.



Half dragged, half pushed out of the carriage, the rough, cold guards formed everyone in a line and shouted at you not to move, before some of them marched off into the distance to speak with a shadowy silhouette.
You couldn't see who they were talking to, through the snow storm, but judging by the bits of conversation that reached you, they were reporting the situation to a local commander:


"...9 total.... dangerous... Machine folk... deserter... keep seperate... kings ... interrogation...... bring food... one month of journey..."





"Did he just say one month!?" Johan shouted over the haze in shock:
"We've been dragged across the planes for a month!? Where the hell did they haul us?!?" He shouted in Soren.


"QUIET CRIMINAL SCUM!!!" One of the guards moved in on Johan, barking at him on Nifel.




The guards in the distance completed giving their report. The figure they spoke to, waved its hand, signaling a direction and faded into the snowstorm.

The figure didn't remain hidden for long. For a few brief minutes, the snowfall died down, revealing the landscape for a few dozen meters into the distance.


Gradually, you began to make out short buildings, their sturdy architecture reminded you of a military base, barracks, a mess hall, a large armory.

And much further out, you finally saw them.



Colossal, rectangular pillars, the color of dark purple iron, rose dozens of meters into the air.
Each one surrounded by stone and ice barricades, clear signs of trenches and bunkers. Defensive walls and barb wire. It reminded you of a defensive military outpost, usually placed at a border.


Only these barricades and barbwire, were built in a massive circle and all pointed inward, to the center.



A few moments later, you made a mental connection, between the colossal purple pillars, and the Obelisks you once saw around Rakshata Castle.



These were definitely parasite repelling Obelisks. But unlike before, these ones weren't built around a mightly castle.


These ones stood around nothing. Encasing and warding off a massive, empty patch of land.
Considering how long it took to gather the materials to build them, at first you weren't quite sure why anyone would waste precious metals to protect a completely empty patch of land, so large in its radius.


But when your mind slowly began putting it together, the Obelisks, the barricades, colossal, armored, hundreds of years old, yet sturdy defensive positions, made to hold back whole armies, capable of bringing even tanks to a forced, grinding hault, it finally clicked.



"Oh my god!!!" Ursula exclaimed in shock, echoing your own thoughts:



"IT'S THE MACHINA PORTAL!!!"








The portal itself was invisible, of course. A patch of empty land, with no distinguishing features in this weather.

But you suspected, under the snow, the land wad scorched and filled with craters.



The place were invading armies showed up, was vividly marked on the land by the overwhelmingly fortified perimeter.


Over the decades, the most obvious signs of battle were cleaned or covered, but you could still vividly see the fuselage of a gunship helicopter, rusting under the snow a few kilometers away. Not too far from the ravaged remains of a tank.




The guards were momentarily occupied by their own logistics discussion and Tristan suddenly ran into you. His hands tied behind his back, forced to grasp a wooden ball, just like you, he hunched over and began quickly whispering

"Listen to me. They're gonna separate us at any moment" he feverishly looked sideways at the guards, to make sure they were occupied:

"I have the catalysts for the Avatar spell. Its your only chance of escape.

Throw away one of your Utility spells and equip this!!" He reached into a hidden, inner pocket on the inside of his shirt and pulled out a tiny pouch with some king of yellow sand in it:



"Wait until you're alone in your cell. Wait for the guards to leave.
Wait for an opportunity, when no one is watching! You don't need to draw signs in the air to activate this spell! It will summon your parasite next to you for an hour.
He will be unbound, he can untie you!"



He looked at you with a haggard expression: "You seem like good kids, you don't deserve to rot here with me. Take the spell.

Just wait for the right opportunity! Don't let the guards see you cast it! Or its over!!! They'll paralize you again, and your parasite. Or worse."



In the distance, the guards began shuffling, seemingly thinking about moving in your direction again and Tristan whispered:

"Take the spell, hurry!"

Kaylee Brown wrote:The guards were momentarily occupied by their own logistics discussion and Tristan suddenly ran into you. His hands tied behind his back, forced to grasp a wooden ball, just like you, he hunched over and began quickly whispering

"Listen to me. They're gonna separate us at any moment" he feverishly looked sideways at the guards, to make sure they were occupied:

"I have the catalysts for the Avatar spell. Its your only chance of escape.

Throw away one of your Utility spells and equip this!!" He reached into a hidden, inner pocket on the inside of his shirt and pulled out a tiny pouch with some king of yellow sand in it:



"Wait until you're alone in your cell. Wait for the guards to leave.
Wait for an opportunity, when no one is watching! You don't need to draw signs in the air to activate this spell! It will summon your parasite next to you for an hour.
He will be unbound, he can untie you!"



He looked at you with a haggard expression: "You seem like good kids, you don't deserve to rot here with me. Take the spell.

Just wait for the right opportunity! Don't let the guards see you cast it! Or its over!!! They'll paralize you again, and your parasite. Or worse."



In the distance, the guards began shuffling, seemingly thinking about moving in your direction again and Tristan whispered:

"Take the spell, hurry!"

"Okay, thank you" Rogue nods and discreetly takes the pouch, "But what about you?"

"I already have it equipped." Tristan feverishly looked at the guards again:
"Everyone, throw out one of your Utility spells and equip this one. Hurry! Each one of us is about to be separated and isolated, if you don't equip it now, you won't have another chance and it will be over!

You'll spend months locked up in this hole and I am not sure at all, that they won't just leave us behind on this frozen rock, while everyone else Migrates to Earth!

Don't worry about me, if we all escape, we can link up again in one of the remote villages out here, now hurry!!"




Looking around, the more the storm cleared, the more guards and barricades you spotted nearby.
At least 20 White Lotus members were mingling around the transport carriages, offloading the cargo.


A few dozen more were clearly escorting someone towards the barracks. They walked in a triangle formation, clearly following a few figures in the lead.

Two of the figures looked familiar. Brown, baggy sweaters, purple and blond hair. One skipping from one leg to another, every few steps.
Some others were unknown. You noted one, short in height, completely obscured by a massive black winter coat, complete with a hood. And another, loudly stomping across the landscape, notably tall, clad head to toe in heavy armor.

The shortest one, in the black winter coat was possibly in charge. The figure was articulating, sending pairs of local guards in different directions to bring supplies toward the main barracks complex.

Radiance drops Scan to take the spell. He gives Tristan a nod.

"Nearest village south, one week maximum" Radiance whispers

Rogue drops Signal Flare to take Avatar.

"Good luck" he says to Tristan.