FSE

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formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 4

The two travel along a winding road through the snow and rocks, they see little more than shear rock and the strange ice formations that look like frozen auroras that sometimes grow several times taller than Onyxia is long. They walk in silence as they pass through a frozen wonderland. Onyxia sees things she had never noticed before being bonded to Jacob, beautiful things that never caught her attention. She quietly marvels, and warmly thinks to herself, 'I'm glad I met this boy. Life seems so much, more... well, it's just better now. If this is how humans see the world, I don't mind being a little more human.'

Onyxia spaces out as she thinks way back to when she was a demon, and smirks as she thinks 'Funny how history has a way of repeating itself. Oh well, at least this time I don't feel like I'm going to explode. Hmm, I wonder...' She looks deep inside her mind, until she finds her soul. She sees her spirit body, but it takes a moment for her to recognize it as she has swollen with souls so far that she is basically just a giant belly with two giant breasts growing out of the top of it, and a tiny speck of a woman laying on top of it all. The sheer number of souls has made her grow large enough to fit a small city inside her belly. She marvels at the ocean of souls contained within her spirit body, and wonders what it would feel like if she were sent back to hell in that body. She flushes when she pictures herself impaled on a soul stalactite with it dripping its flow of souls straight into her belly through her butt or puss. She daydreams about this sort of thing often these days.

In the distance Onyxia spots firelight in what looks like an old watchtower on a hill. She nudges Jacob and gestures at it with her nose. They stare for a few moments and then grin at each other as they share a childish idea, to prank the bandits by scaring them with Onyxia. The mischievous duo waits till the sky darkens to make their approach. Onyxia is worried that the bridge spanning a large and deep crack in the ice that seems to completely encircle the hill as well as go down for quite a ways. Looking down into the darkness gives Onyxia a funny feeling in her belly. Jacob solves issue of the bridge by slowly and as quietly as he can growing an ice bridge thick enough to hold Onyxia's weight. It's a strenuous and time consuming process, shaping that much ice. But he does it. Jacob crosses first while etching a pattern in the ice to prevent Onyxia from slipping. Then Onyxia tenderly tip toes across, half over the ice cracks and she freezes in fear. Her eyes lock onto Jacob as she wordlessly begs him to save her.

The ground shakes as Jacob draws more power into himself than he has ever controlled before, the need to save Onyxia from certain death is the only thing in his mind. With every tiny movement Onyxia makes the fractures spread across the ice. Jacob's eyes ignite with white flames and his hair flows in magical wind, markings spread across his face and cause him to glow as he gathers power. The ice bridge shatters, and Onyxia falls. But Jacob catches her with a net of pure crackling magic. She lays on her back as he lifts her up over his head and sets her down softly. The spell dissipates, and the net evaporates into blueish green dust that blows away in the cold night air. Jacob collapses with blood running from his eyes, nose, and ears. Onyxia hurries over to him and gently scoops him up and holds him against her scaly chest as tenderly as she can. She sits there with her wings wrapped around herself as she tries to keep him warm, tears of worry drip from her face as he sleeps.

Several hours pass, it is the middle of the night now, and Jacob stirs. Onyxia nuzzles him eagerly hoping that he is ok. She licks his face as gently as she can, and makes little concerned noises. Her tail swishes a little like a dog might wag its. Jacob coughs, and sniffles as he pushes himself up to stand leaning against Onyxia's belly and look into her face. He groans as he rubs his head "Ohh damn... that hurts." Onyxia stares at him with worry scrunching up her face amusingly, dragon's faces just don't look right when they make that expression. Jacob smiles and pushes on Onyxia's nose playfully as he jumps down off of her.

Jacob crackles his neck, and begins the long walk up the stone stairs that go up the side of the cliff like edge of this giant table rock that is apparently in the middle of an ancient frozen lake, judging by the way the ice looks, and how far down that crevasse goes. Fortunately the stairs are wide enough for Onyxia to squeeze through, even if she does manage to get her belly stuck at one point. The stairs lead into an old, there is no light and a strange smell is wafting towards them. A smell unknown to Jacob, but instantly recognized by Onyxia who rumbles thunderously as she growls. Onyxia speaks, her deep husky voice causing Jacob's teeth to vibrate "Goblins... nasty little beasts, filthy grubby hands, nasty little spears, they eat little boys like you." She says with a touch of humor. Jacob dryly replies "that would be funny if it weren't true..." he sighs, then stretches a bit. "Come on, let's see what's in there."

Jacob lights a bit of cloth on fire, and casts a spell on it that makes it fly around like a moth without straying too far ahead. The fire moth flutters over to whatever Jacob looks at that so long as it's not too far away. Onyxia makes an approving noise when she sees how useful the fire moth is. Jacob lights a few more, and gives them different priorities, like "find treasure, find food, find life, and find danger. The path is well lit by the quiet fluttering of the burning yet surprisingly convincing imitations of life.

Onyxia hisses when she sees movement, she bristles in anticipation. When an animal with fur bristles, it fluffs up making it look bigger. When a dragon bristles, its scales actually stand up exposing sharp edges which can cause horrifying wounds as they shred anything they come in contact with. Jacob keeps his distance from the razor sharp scales as he continues forward, with magic gathered and ready to create a pulse of force, or a protective shield at a moment's notice. His hands crackle with the gathered magic, as little bits of it slip out of his grasp and dissipate in the form of electricity, it's a natural phenomenon common in young mages who haven't learned to fully control their power yet.

The passage ahead narrows and is littered with picked clean bones, many of which don't seem very old, and a few of which are very clearly human. Onyxia is especially fidgety right now, and actually startles when the Mana that had been building up in her from her subconsciously clenching her muscles and cutting off the flow, squirts out. She sighs frustrated and squats to relieve herself. Jacob sends the fire moths ahead a bit to light the way, and then he sees the reflection of nocturnal eyes in the shadows not 30 feet ahead. He freezes, and stops the fire moths. The sickly yellow eyes are clouded with cataracts but even still he knows they can see him. Jacobs's skin crawls as he feels numerous weak life sources skittering around sneakily as they get into position to ambush.

Fire flows into his blood as his body ready's for a fight. Jacob's focus on the situation causes his perception of time to alter, giving the effect of slowing down time to ½, then ¼, then 1/10, and then to a stop. He can't move his body, but he can project his sense as if he were a ghost leaving his body. He looks behind him and sees poor Onyxia pushing as hard as she can to get as much liquid out as fast as possible, and she's doing a fine job of it, Jacob thinks he could probably climb up inside her without any tightness if she was spread that wide without the deluge of Mana gushing out of her.

Then he moves his perception down the tunnel. Everything the light touches he is able to look at. He moves up to the creature with the eyes he saw, and looks at it. It's an older goblin, balding, pale brown skin with the green tint that all goblins have. Its skin is wrinkled, and scared. It's large for a goblin, at full height it might be as tall as 4'8", it has the distended pot belly that is characteristic to their kind, as well as a bow in its hand. Jacob sees liquid on the arrow tips and realizes they must be poisoned. The old male goblin is just starting to stand up and wave his hand in a signal to attack. Jacob returns to his body as time begins to resume. He resumes control of his body before the goblin has finished opening his mouth. Jacob sends a surge of magic into his muscles allowing him to move faster but at the risk of tearing muscles and tendons. He raises his hand and lets an arc of lightning tear through the cave. It flies through the air so slowly to Jacob's perception, he marvels at how complex the bolt is as it tears through the air as if it were ripping the very fabric of existence.

The bolt strikes the goblin in the head, causing him to recoil backwards and his head to explode as if he were hit with a cannonball. Streamers of electricity arc between the bits of skull and flesh as the explosion disperses the particles. Time resumes its regular flow and Jacob assumes a combat stance used by mages who are battling a group. The goblins chitter amongst themselves as they try to decide whether to attack or flee. After a few moments a female steps out with her hands over her head. Jacob's hands crackle with power in an intentional display that 'there is more where that came from' her face is the picture of fear as she bows down to him and gibbers in goblinspeak. Jacob moves forward and sends the fire moths to illuminate the ambush area. He makes a commanding grunt and points to the goblin bowing to him, with her face to the ground, and her proportionally sizable ass up in the air. Jacob growls and draws out his words more to make an intimidating noise than actually expect them to understand humanspeak "Allll ooofff yyoouuuu... Stannnnd herrrrree!! Annnd Boowwww..." Surprisingly they all understand what he means and obey.

Goblins are with only a few rare exceptions, very simple creatures, they develop simple societies based around who is largest, and who is meanest. And they have been used as slaves widely across many nations as they have a servile nature to any who prove themselves to be the dominant figure. And due to their size and lack of magical proficiency, that's not too hard for most mages. In some countries they are actually bred for show like pets, to develop the most desired traits, pretty faces, smooth skin, healthy bodies, the ability to produce the largest number of babies per litter, etc etc. They are treated essentially like humanoid animals, and in the case of the common wild goblin, they essentially are.

Jacob pleasantly surprised at their obedience because they are wild. And he had been told that wild goblins are much more difficult to establish dominance over. It would appear that the way he killed their alpha made more of an impression than he expected. Jacob leans up against the just now finishing relieving herself Onyxia as he looks at the goblins bowing to him and making "omm" noises like some kind of religious expression. Onyxia can hardly believe her eyes as she whispers "you know they think you are a god right?" Jacob blinks but his confident smirk is untouched at hearing this, he whispers back "I think I can live with that."

Wild goblins make excellent servants to whomever they decide is their master, but on occasion have been known to choose an unwilling individual. Jacob Snow is not an unwilling individual however, and has frequently thought of one day collecting goblins and using them to build a fort to play in. These days he thinks less about what fun it might be to do things, and more about what he and Onyxia need. Goblins are natural scavengers, but they have an unused affinity to growing plants as well, the only thing they need to utilize their latent ability to care for plants is a master who will teach them. Typically their minds forget most things they are taught, but gardening and farming seems to stick pretty well.

Jacob thinks about these things as he watches the goblins for a few more moments. Then he pushes off of Onyxia and walks through the gaggle of goblins and ruffles their hair as he goes past them. The goblins have no idea what to think of that, and end up following him with confused look on their faces. Onyxia brings up the rear, and glares at the little creatures. One goblin in particular seems completely enamored with her and won't stop staring at her with big sparkling eyes that practically exude awe. Onyxia tries to make the goblin leave her alone by snorting a gale force wind and knocking the young goblin over. But this only seems to further impress the little adorer.

By the time the group makes it out of the cave, the Onyxia's little admirer is laying atop her head. Onyxia gets used to the admiration and is fine with the little goblin being up there. The first thing they see outside the tunnel is the frozen remains of some great watchtower from the Age of Magic. Next they notice that there are quite a few bandits here, and that they all knew they were coming. A large man in old battle worn armor walks forward with a massive spear in his hand.

A gruff voice addresses Jacob from within the armor "who in the holy hells are you, boy?"

Jacob Snow replies casually "I am Jacob Snow, this is Onyxia, and my merry band of idiots. Who are you?"

Onyxia looks around and decides to keep her intelligence secret. She counts the bandits as Jacob and the armored man talk.

The gruff voice "I am McGuff, and this is my tower. Answer me this boy, where did you get a, dragon?"

Jacob snow makes an ice crystal grow out of the ground to his right, and leans against it as he says wearily "Onyxia attacked my village a few days ago, she destroyed everything and killed everyone. I alone survived because I was performing a summoning ritual, which she disturbed and became bonded to me. Our powers are now linked, she gains an expanded capacity to think, and I get a vessel to store my magic in for future use. See her belly? It's filled with liquid magic, in other words, enough power to bring down this fortress around us if needed. Care for a small demonstration of our combined power?"

McGuff impales his spear in the ground in front of himself and leans against it. "No, I think not. I believe you. Tell me, what do you want from us?"

Jacob crackles his neck, and says "Food, shelter, and directions to the Imperial Lands."

McGuff opens his visor and reveals a bushy grey flecked beard, and matching bushy eyebrows that veil green eyes, and a big ruddy nose. "Why would you want to go there? Oh, the rest of what you ask we will give you, make yourself at home here for as long as you like. Also, how did you manage to tame the goblins? Little buggers have been infesting those tunnels for the past month, and cost me 2 good men."

Jacob looks over at the goblins as they glance around nervously and look to their master for guidance. Jacob says to the goblins "go sit under Onyxia." and points at Onyxia. They obey immediately and hurry over to the big dragon and are clearly all distracted from the scary situation by her majestic appearance.

Jacob turns back to McGuff and says "I killed their leader. And that made me the new leader to them, but more than that, they seem to see me as a god." Jacob causes a sculpture of the goblin leader to grow out of the ice a few feet from McGuff, and zaps it with lightning making it explode.

McGuff flinches as bits of ice tink against his armor then says "Nice shot..."

A woman in leather armor with a two handed sword, and short hair walks over and whispers something in McGuff's ear. He takes off his helmet and says "You are welcome to stay as long as you need, but as far as food goes, you're on your own. We barely have enough for ourselves." He walks away with the woman and they exchange worried words Jacob can't hear.

Jacob closes his eyes and tries slowing time again like he did with the goblins, but it doesn't work. He is too hungry, and too tired. He does however sense something coming up the tunnel behind them, he senses a lot of them, and spins around, then says forcefully "Onyxia, take the goblins and hide over there." He points to some buildings that look large enough to conceal them.

They get out of sight just in time before some rather military looking men march out of the cave. They are obviously a troop of deserters turned bandit. But their armor and weapons look well maintained, and the men move with discipline. They ignore Jacob as he walks out of their way. One of the soldiers looks at the ice formation Jacob was leaning against earlier and taps it with his spear.

A fat man dressed in fancy cloths rides a horse out of the cave and up to McGuff's main building. A soldier runs up to take the reins as the man gracelessly falls out of his saddle in a fluster of flapping and cursing. Jacob makes a staff out of ice and covers it in stone dust to make it black behind his back, then leans on it to relieve his aching feet as he grins at the rich man having difficulty with his excessive clothing. From where Jacob stands he can see the whole scene, the soldiers standing in formation, the fat man talking with McGuff, and then a procession of slaves all linked together by chains and shivering in their inappropriately light clothing.

Jacob frowns as he sees them yanked forward by a large soldier with a whip who yells insults in their faces. The slaves who appear to be all women of various races and species he had never seen before. Jacob walks over to the slaves and walks around the group of them. He ends his circle by standing near the slave master and looks sideways at him for a moment, then turns to him and talks with the man

Jacob "so, exotic slaves huh?"

Slave master "yeah, what of it?"

Jacob "nothing, I've just never seen most of these creatures before." He says as he looks at the centaur.

Slave master "I've seen that look before, you like what you see huh?" the large man folds his arms across his chest, and leans back a bit with a grin as he looks down at this young mage. "You mages always seem to have the strangest attractions."

Jacob grins and says nothing for a moment, then has an idea and asks "Care to share any stories about your travels?" Jacob turns his head towards the big man slightly, "If you tell me a good one, I'll tell you one of mine."

The slave master extends a hand to Jacob "I'm Barrus, and you got yourself a deal."

Jacob shakes the man's hand and says "Jacob Snow, nomadic shaman."

The two exchange stories for a while, and Jacob eventually brings him behind the building where the goblins are all tucked under Onyxia's wings as they all sleep peacefully together. Barrus whispers his admiration, and they go get some food.

At the mess hall the ex-military soldiers have gathered and are eating and drinking. Several of the slaves are sent around with food or drinks to serve the bandits and soldiers. Jacob notices some men misbehaving with one of the Avians, she tries to get away but is too weak to push the soldiers away. Jacob causes the man's hands to have jagged ice crystals grow under his fingernails, which reduces him to a screaming pile on the floor. The avian gets away safely, and seems none the wiser. Barrus however noticed what happened, and realizes who did it. He raises an eyebrow, Jacob meets his gaze for a moment and sighs as he shakes his head.

The two eat together and talk about the slaves,

Jacob "Where did you find these women?"

Barrus "All over really, we pick them out of gutters, whore houses, sometimes trade weapons for a few in the more remote villages."

Jacob "Do they sell well?"

Barrus "In some places, but out here, they are pretty much just entertainment for the men until we get back to civilization.

Jacob' face darkens as he mulls that over and holds his cup firmly in both hands. The liquid starts boiling as he stares into it. And Barrus notices his eyes have started to change from pale blue to a fiery orange as he glares lost in thought.

Barrus "Don't do anything foolish boy, these are some of the best sell swords in the Free Marches."

Jacob's eyes flit back to pale blue and his drink stops boiling. "What makes you think I was planning something?" Jacob smirks breaking his poker face.

Barrus puts a hand on Jacob's shoulder and says "It's been written all over your face since the moment you saw us march the slaves out of the cave. Boy, trust me, you can't win against us all." He takes a deep breath, "I would have to fight you if you start something, and I really don't want to. I know you could take down a bunch of us before we got you, but even the best mages can be beaten by sheer numbers."

Jacob stares into Barrus's eyes and his smirk slowly fades as he whispers "Don't be here when it happens. When I fight, my blood boils and makes it hard to tell friend from foe. In my village I was forbidden from sparing with the others because of my bloodlust. I once hurt my dearest friend very badly during a match, and since then I have practiced my attacks against only ice. As for my defense, trust me, its solid."

Barrus closes his eyes and bows his head in resignation "I'm sorry to hear that boy, I really am." He thrusts his knife at Jacob's gut and feels his arm hit something solid, Jacob's eyes start to darken back to orange as he stares at Barrus. The big man sees the face of the smiling friendly boy turn cold with the resolve of a seasoned killer. He looks down an sees the blade of his knife held tight in Jacob's hand. He tugs on it but feel like he is tryng to pull a spike out of under a stone wall, the boy's grip is unbreakable. He releases the knife and stands up as does Jacob who immediately sheds his coat and starts gathering magic into his hands for combat as he walks away from Barrus.

Jacob says "Slaves, get out." Everyone falls silent as Jacob stands there waiting for them to obey, several soldiers put their hands wearily on their weapons, while others put down their drinks and watch to see what happens. The slaves look at Jacob fearfully, and see his eyes starting to glow brighter and brighter, and his hands crackle with barely restrained power. They drop their things and dash for the door.

Jacob's eyes glow as bright as torches as the magic he is gathering intensifies. The lights dim in foreshadowing of what is about to happen. Once the last slave is out of the room, he crackles his neck and suddenly raises his arms releasing a wave of kinetic force from his hands. The blast is laced with lightning charged spikes of ice that explode on impact. Barrus also gets clear of the building just in time though the shockwave still knocks him off his feet. He utters a curse and scrambles away from the horror that is being unleashed inside that building. Horrible screams fill the air and the bandit camp comes to full alert. Jacob walks out of the mess hall spattered from head to toe in blood the same blood that is running down two large bladed swords made of ice, one in each hand. Archers take aim at him and fire a volley of lethal arrows, Jacob stops them inches from his skin and turns to look at the archers. His eyes burn so brightly that his face is silhouetted by their glow.

Onyxia gasps as she feels a sucking feeling inside her belly. Something is draining her belly of Mana, she tries to stand but a wave of fatigue washes over her as the sucking feeling reaches out and rips several demon souls out of her spirit body. The act of ripping souls out of her also causes her spirit body to become connected to the network of magic that collects Mana in her womb. She feels her spirit body connect to her physical body allowing the force that is draining her to have easier access to her massive stockpile of demon souls. She sees the light of the Mana flowing out of her vagina in a steam like form that quickly becomes invisible as it is drawn away, and she sees the demon souls pop out of her and get dragged away in the same fashion.

Jacob empowers several fireballs with the demon souls and unleashes them at the archers who dive for cover, but the fireballs seek them out and find every single target. The explosion of demon soul empowered fireballs is unlike anything any of these combatants have ever seen or heard before. It's deafeningly loud, and each explosion produces so much force that it shatters stone blocks the size of a wagon. The battle only lasts a few minutes before every remaining bandit drops their weapons and falls to their knees begging for their lives. The berserking young mage stares at this expression of surrender for near a minute before turning away and stalking after any remaining prey. He realizes the centaur woman that caught his eye earlier is missing, as well as Barrus.

Jacob focuses his mind and finds Barrus on the back of the terrified centaur, whipping her to go faster as she runs through the cave. Jacob's face darkens with disappointment in Barrus, and he uses magic to fling himself over the edge of the cliff towards where the cave exits. He lands softly, and walks into the cave. His glowing eyes light the path before him well enough to see.

The centaur gasps for air as she gallops through the dark with the heavy man on her back, she sees light ahead though the darkness. And Struggles forward under her burden. Once she gets closer she realizes that it's not the light of the exit she sees, but the brilliantly glowing light of Jacob's eyes. Barrus sees it too, but too late. The centaur skids to a stop as quickly as she can, flinging Barrus from her back. The large man flies through the air and his face is caught in Jacob's hand. Time stops in the moment where he realizes his head is in Jacob's hand, Jacob smirks while time is still stopped, and releases a pulse of energy that causes Barrus's head to explode and his body to split in half. Jacob lowers his hand and blinks slowly as the battle rage begins to fade.

The centaur rasps as she lays on the ground wiping foam from her mouth from running so hard so long. Jacob's eyes dim to the point that his irises emit only the faintest pale blue light. He puts a hand on the centaur and sees her bloody whip marks. He starts rubbing her twitching muscles, and letting positive healing nature magic seep into her as gently as he can. Fear and pain slowly turn to relief, and then to pleasure as the kindly floating eyes she sees look caringly at their work. The centaur tries to see the face of her rescuer, but the darkness is impenetrable to her eyes. And she resigns herself to this most lovely massage.

The two return a short while later to find the remaining bandits and the slaves standing with Onyxia and the goblins in the courtyard. Several slaves run up to the centaur and all start talking and asking questions at once. Jacob walks over to Onyxia and McGuff to talk about what happens now. The dragon and bandit leader are speechless at first, but then they come to their senses and start talking.

Onyxia "Are you alright?"

Jacob "A little tired, but otherwise fine."

McGuff "Well boy, I'm just glad my men were smart enough not to attack you, you are something else..."

Jacob "Sorry about the damage to your fort, I couldn't stand the way those brutes were acting any longer."

McGuff shakes his head and looks around "We can rebuild, but, perhaps... What do you think about, us joining you?"

Jacob stares at him for a moment as he thinks about that. The slaves are going to need someone to take care of them, or else they will end up in the same situation they were in originally, or dead from the cold and lack of food. He thinks about how he is unprepared to manage a group of this size, and how he has no experience at leadership. McGuff offers experience managing a group, and knows a lot more of the land than he does. Jacob looks back to McGuff and says "I think I am actually going to need you to be able to make my journey possible. You know how to organize your people, and you know the lands. I need your help McGuff, I would be honored to travel with you and yours."

Onyxia looks at everything and everyone, she sees them looking at the three of them with more respect than ever before, from the goblins to the slaves to the bandits. They are all more than willing to join them. She thinks about Jacob's simple plan to simply travel south and worries that without some larger goal they will become disorganized. "Jacob, when it was just you and me, your original plan was to go south and see the world, but now you have the lives of these people to think about. You need a goal, something to strive towards, a destination, a plan. Do not forget that more than half of these people are going to be relying on you to give them purpose and meaning in the months to come. Slaves, especially ones like these cannot simply be set free in the first city we come to. They need a new life, and its going to be up to you to build it."

McGuff "You might consider finding a place to start a town, we can hunt and forage for food but there are a lot more mouths to feed now, and we won't be able to keep gathering food like that in one place for a long time without running out of food eventually. We are going to need money."

Jacob takes it all in, and then remembers Onyxia's ability to lay glass eggs filled with concentrated Mana. "I may have an idea about that." Jacob looks at Onyxia and smiles as he continues "Our lovely dragon here has the ability to lay a particularly valuable sort of egg. We may be able to sell those as our first way to make some money." Jacob explains the value of Onyxia's Mana eggs to Mcguff and they talk through how to start the process of selling them. This meeting of the leaders goes on for about an hour, until it begins to get cold. During this time McGuff had his men repair the mess hall and get it in good enough condition to keep the cold at bay for the night.

The group gathers everything of use and sets out the next day.