The Mantis Corruption - Book Three - 11. Chapter 11 - Tisa & Olona, Part One

“We can’t simply sneak past Gunge,” Tisa explained to Olona. “If one of those monstrosities needs to satisfy its craving, it will be able to sense me immediately.”

Olona furrowed her brow. “So, we need to figure out a way to make you undetectable,” she stated. “Is it your mantis gland? Is that how they sense your kind?”

“I don’t know much about them,” Tisa replied. “Liovia was always able to see them coming in advance.” She fell silent at the mention of her murdered companion.

“Is there a parts shop down in the village?”

“Parts?” Tisa asked.

“Yeah,” Olona confirmed, and she pulled up her shirt on the side to reveal her ribs to Tisa, “like this.”

Below Olona’s armpit on her ribs was a small piece of electronics the size of a coin.

“That’s my double lung,” she explained. “I have one on both sides. They allow me to absorb more air with each breath, and they provide me with extended stamina and endurance. I know that I can build a dampener for your mantis gland to get past Gunge.”

Tisa looked surprised. “Oh, I didn’t even realize that was possible, and I don’t know if there is a shop with what you need. I visit the village very rarely.”

“I’ll head into town. You don’t need to come with me,” Olona said. “People can be cruel to those who are different,” she added with an apologetic expression.

Tisa wondered what Olona meant only for a moment, because the teenage human girl suddenly took off like a shot through the forest. Her speed gave Tisa the impression that she was a Shift.

“I’ll be back soon!” Olona called before she was out of sight.

Olona seemed very poised in her confidence, and Tisa did not know what to make of the peculiar youth. Tisa stepped into the hut that had served as her home for more than half her life. She could not have imagined leaving, but now that it was a possibility, she no longer wanted to remain in the sad little dwelling.

While Olona was gone, Tisa began to organize things that she knew they would need for the trip. She pondered why she felt so willing, not only to run off with a total stranger, but also to trust her with her very life. It seemed preposterous. If the device that the young organic mechanic constructed was insufficient, Tisa would be killed by the monsters of Gunge. She wanted to leave Xin, but she did not have any sort of plan; Tisa did not know what to do.

A short distance from Kestapoli, while still in the forest, Olona slowed her pace to a normal walking speed. She lit one of her joints and took a few pulls of smoke that she breathed out into the air above her head.

At the edge of the village, she approached a peddler and asked, “Is there a mechanic depot in this town?”

“Not a proper one,” he replied, shaking his head, “but you may be able to find some equipment at the flea market down yonder,” and he pointed toward a wide building a little way down the street. “There’s also a small shop down in Galopis,” the man added.

“I very much appreciate the information,” Olona responded, and she headed to the market.

A bell rang when she entered, and a round woman with large glasses and a beaming smile called out, “Hellooo,” in a singsong way.

She reminded Olona of an owl.

“I am an organic mechanic from Ruburge,” Olona declared. “I came up here to help the people who were recently injured in the attack. Do you have any gear or equipment or tools for sale?”

“I surely do,” the woman replied. “Not only do I keep a small collection of home-use packets in stock, I recently got a good deal on a trunk of miscellaneous and discarded parts. The at-home kits are in the jewel case behind you, and I haven’t put the new trunk out on the floor yet, so let me head into the back and grab it.”

“Is it heavy?” Olona asked. “I’m happy to help you carry it.”

“That’s mighty generous of you, girlie,” the woman replied. “As a matter of fact, though, it’s got wheels. I’ll have it out for you in a moment,” she said with a smile.

She turned and left Olona to examine the products that the woman regularly kept in stock. There were wound treatments, supports for broken bones, burn kits, and there were even several neutralizing tonics for venomous animals of the Infinite Waste and the vast grasslands of Xin. The glass case was well-stocked.

Olona turned to the squeaking of the trunk’s wheels that foreshadowed the return of the shopkeeper and the miscellaneous parts. The woman lifted the lid, and Olona saw what was in it.

Olona knelt by the side of the box, and in an attempt to keep the excitement out of her voice, she said in an awkward monotone, “How much do you want for some of this junk?” Everything she needed was in the trunk.

“I don’t rightly know. Why don’t you pick out what you’re looking for and make me an offer?”

Olona nodded and looked down at the contents so that the owner of the shop would not see her smile. She placed a small case onto the countertop, laid a handheld gun-style tool beside it, and she hoisted a heavy sack that she carefully placed with the other items. A little square box caught her eye, but when she opened it, it was empty.

“Too bad,” Olona said to herself.

There were two rechargers that she added to her growing pile, and a collapsible exam lamp intrigued her. She debated for a moment, before placing it beside the counter. Olona also selected a few of the kits that the shop owner kept in stock. Then she made eye contact with the clerk, who seemed startled.

“You want all of this?”

As she was speaking, Olona placed a large stack of coins between her and the woman.

The owner’s eyes shot to the money. She did a double take and quickly picked up the pile. “Done!” she declared with a grin.

“Perfect,” Olona replied, “I don’t suppose you have a box, do you?”

The sun was not yet at its zenith when Olona arrived back at Tisa’s shack. Olona was surprised to see Tisa with a travel bag slung over one shoulder and an expectant expression on her face.

“I didn’t know how long it would take you to build this thing, so I figured I should be ready to leave, whenever that may be.”

“Okay,” Olona replied with a determined smile, “I’ll get started.” She felt encouraged by Tisa’s enthusiasm.

“Are you hungry?” Tisa asked.

Olona looked relieved. “I’m famished! I didn’t want to impose, and I thought I might just go back to the village to get something to eat.”

“I’ll fix us some food,” Tisa said, and the two of them headed into the hut.

Olona placed her box of equipment onto the floor beside the table, and she began to remove and describe her purchases, as she spread them out before her. She opened the large sack. “These are coils of multiple gauges of organowire, really quality product. This is the foundational stuff for what we do in organic mechanic work. Everything starts with this,” and she held up one of the spools. Olona continued. “These rechargers allow me to work anywhere, so if one of us gets injured on the journey, I’ll be able to build something to help fix us.”

“The journey,” Tisa whispered.

Olona looked up at her.

Tisa took a breath. “I guess I’m just…” she paused. “I don’t know. I’m ready to go, but I’m nervous.”

“Excited?” Olona countered.

“Maybe,” Tisa replied, “maybe scared.”

Olona picked up a strange device. “This will allow me to make a shield for your mantis gland.”

“What is it?” Tisa asked.

“It’s a pressure gun. It will allow me to turn the organowire into a functional piece of machinery.” Olona set up the exam lamp, activated the light, and laid a few of the premade packets onto the tabletop. “This burn kit has a packet of miteron, which is a compound developed by the Oselians. These three anti-venoms each come with their own peliophage syringes. That’s another thing we can thank the Oselians for,” she added. “I’ll melt the metal tips from the needles and combine it with the miteron. The organowire will surround it as the internal component that will keep your mantis gland hidden.” Olona gave Tisa a confident smile. “I’m going to make you a halo,” she declared.

“A halo?” Tisa repeated.

“Exactly,” Olona replied. She lit a joint and became focused, as she started to open packets and uncoil a little of several different gauges of wire. A cloud of smoke wisped out the door.

“I really enjoy the aroma of burning muluflower,” Tisa said. “Liovia used to smoke one she called red mulu. I never cared for smoking it myself, but I liked when she did.” Tears came to her eyes in a flood that she was not expecting.

Olona stood and stepped up beside Tisa. She did not say anything, but she brought her palm to Tisa’s back.

Tisa wiped her eyes hard, turned to her hearth, and put a pan on the flames. She took a slow breath.

“Do you want me to smoke it outside away from you?” Olona offered.

“No, no, I really like the smell,” Tisa replied. She opened a cupboard and grabbed some food items. “How did you run so fast?” she asked in a choked voice, trying to distract herself and change the subject. She tossed a few chunks of fatty meat into the pan.

“I’m not supposed to talk about it,” Olona responded, but before Tisa could react, she continued. “Since you have to trust that my mechanics are going to save your life when we get to Gunge, I’ll tell you all about the unregistered enhancements I’ve done to myself. They got me kicked out of my apprenticeship,” she added with what almost sounded like pride in her voice. She took another puff of smoke.

“There are a lot of organic mechanics in the Tuilii la Ru region,” Olona continued, “who don’t care for me very much because of what I’ve done to myself.” She stood and brought both hands to the backs of her legs below her buttocks. “I have mechanics in my hamstrings and quadriceps that also support my knees and hips. I’ve got parts in my jaw,” and she touched the side of her face. “Both of my arms, my left eye and ear, the fingers of my left hand, and even the exterior of my skull under my scalp have all got mechanics.” She looked playfully guilty. “I’ve been a naughty girl.”

“Wow,” Tisa replied, “and you’re only 17?”

Olona shrugged. “I just get this stuff. It makes sense to me. It has since I was little. What I don’t understand are the rules, regulations, and restrictions surrounding organic mechanic healing practices.” She shrugged and got back to work. For a little while, the two did not speak.

Soon the hut was filled with the aromas of Tisa’s cooking. She prepared a noodle dish with fresh vegetable florets and the rich, fatty meat. In a separate small pot, she made a thick sauce that added spicy and umami flavors to the meal.

In less than an hour, Olona constructed a strange metal framework that was almost as large as the tabletop, and the meal that Tisa was preparing was ready.

Tisa examined what Olona was building and asked, “I’m going to have to wear that on my head?”

“What? No!” replied Olona. “This is just the workstation I need in order to assemble the halo. You’ll see in a little while.”

Tisa held up two plates of food. “Do you want to eat?”

“Yes!” Olona said dramatically. “I would definitely like to eat before I get started on the real work. Erm… maybe we should eat outside,” she recommended, eyeing the cluttered table.

The two women sat together, eating in awkward silence.

After a few bites, Olona said, “This is good.”

Tisa smiled and nodded.

Several minutes later, they were finished, and Olona positioned herself at the table again with the framework in front of her. She looked over her shoulder at Tisa and said, “Thank you for the food.”

“You’re welcome.”

Neither of them spoke for the next few hours, except for the occasional mumble from Olona as she assembled several different mechanical elements, none of which looked to Tisa like a halo.

When Olona eventually said, “Done!” she looked over with a satisfied smile. “This is some of the best work I’ve ever completed.” She sounded even a little surprised at herself.

“It’s too late to start out now,” Tisa said. “I’ll make us dinner and we can sleep here tonight, one last time.” She made eye contact with Olona and pointedly asked, “Are you sure you really just want everything behind?”

“I have nothing here. My family all live to the far south, and we grew apart during my years of apprenticeship. Plus, now that I’ve made enemies among a bunch of the other organic mechanics, I need to find some new place to make my way. I’m good at this,” Olona added, pointing at the thing that still did not look like a halo. “I know that my services will be worthwhile to someone somewhere, especially away from the regulations in Ruburge.”

“But we have no idea what is…” and Tisa thought of Liovia, as she said, “northerly. We have no idea what’s up there.”

“And we’re not going to find out until we arrive,” Olona concluded. “Now, how can I help with dinner?”

The next morning, as the sun slowly began to creep up the sky, springtime birds and insects started their morning cacophony, and the rest of the world awoke.

Tisa rose, but she was alone. She found Olona buzzing busily outside of the little cabin.

“Good morning!” Olona called. “I’ve got the rest of what we need packed.”

“We’re really doing this?” Tisa asked.

Olona laughed. “Oh, you know we are! Let’s eat something and head on our way.”

“This is happening,” Tisa said to herself.

“Yes!” Olona replied. “Are you second-guessing? Having doubts?” she asked. “You wouldn’t be a sensible human being if you didn’t have those feelings. I mean,” she continued, “I know you’re a Shift…” but she stopped herself. “Oh, is that the right thing to call you? It’s not offensive for me to call you a Shift, is it?”

Tisa smiled. “No, that’s fine. I’ve never really thought of myself in those terms, because Liovia and I were just ourselves up here in the forest. Since we rarely went to the city, there weren’t people for us to compare ourselves to. I guess that I am a Shift, but I’ve always just thought of myself as a person, maybe an outcast,” she added.

“I’ve sort of always been the opposite,” Olona responded. “Since there have always been loads of people around, I’ve always compared myself to others. My personality tends to allow me to be friends with lots of people, which can be a gift, but it actually takes a lot of effort for me to develop deep relationships with individuals,” Olona admitted. “So I’ve also kind of always been on my own, even with others.”

Olona leaned her pack against her lower leg and added, “I made an effort to get close with the other girls in the apprenticeship program, but there were only a few of them, and I just never really clicked with anyone. With you, Tisa,” she added, “I don’t know, I just want to be your friend.”

“We are quite a pair,” Tisa agreed. “I think I’m old enough to be your mother.”

“No you’re not!” squawked Olona. “I’m 17 and you said you’re around 30ish. Maybe you’re like an older sister. And I was serious,” she added, almost in a pout, “I know we barely know each other, but I already feel, I don’t know, close to you.”

Tisa was not expecting Olona’s words, nor did she know how to respond to them. She was not used to the idea of friends, and she felt herself blush. Whether out of nervousness or just a desire to change the subject, Tisa asked, “Where’s the halo?”

Olona reached down and patted the bag that was leaning against her shin. “I’ve already packed it away. Let’s eat and start walking; I think we’ve got a lot of that ahead of us.”

Tisa was still curious about the halo. “Shouldn’t we test it on me and make sure it works before we go?”

Olona looked slightly offended. “It works,” she declared. “This is what I do. I also have to trust in the gear that I build for you, because if the monsters find you, they find me, too. I know exactly how the halo works, and I’ve already tested that it functions properly. Once we are close enough you can put it on. Now, what are we eating?”

“You’re not worried?” Tisa asked.

Olona took a breath. “Any number of different things might happen to us, but one is that we might make it, might find somewhere else that we fit in that’s not Xin. That’s what I’m focused on,” she continued, “and I acknowledge that this crazy journey we are going to take doesn’t really make sense, but this is no one else’s crazy journey but ours. We don’t need to justify or explain ourselves to anyone.”

Tisa shook her head and let out a little sigh of disbelief. “If you say so. Let’s fry up some eggs.”

Olona gave Tisa an inquisitive look, but she did not say anything.

“What is it?” Tisa asked her.

Olona pulled a guilty face. “I feel like I’m not supposed to ask,” she said.

Tisa furrowed her brow and replied, “Ask what?”

Even though no one else was in the forest with them, Olona voiced her question in a whisper, “What can you do?”

“Oh,” Tisa did not seem bothered by the question, and she raised her hand. Above her fingertips, a disc of shadow appeared in the air like a hole punched out of reality. From it rose a chubby little hooded figure that spun in a circle.

“I’ve always been able to manifest shadows,” Tisa explained. “I create these creatures. They’ve helped me and Liovia in the forest for years.”

The thing vanished.

In under an hour, the two were turning their backs on the hut and the muddy hollow beneath the old tree, and Tisa and Olona started out along the edge of the northern forest. For three uneventful days they walked through the grasslands, and on the fourth day, Tisa decided it was time for the halo.

“How does this thing work? Is there a time limit on it?” she asked as Olona unpacked the device on a smooth stone.

It did not look like a halo. Three separate pieces of delicate machinery sat upright. They each looked more like incomplete star shapes than parts of a halo.

“That’s it?”

Olona beamed with pride. “Yes! Take this piece,” she instructed, handing one portion to Tisa, “and hold it in front of your forehead. I’ll bring the other two pieces together and they will attach.”

“Am I gonna have this metal all over my head? I mean, I don’t want something eating my mantis gland but this is a bit cumbersome.”

“Just wait,” Olona said with excitement in her voice.

Tisa could barely see what was happening with the contraption, but a moment later, the three separate pieces slid together and clicked into place. A very dainty mechanical ring now encircled her head, very much like a tiny metal halo.

“Just right,” Olona said in a satisfied tone.

“Can I touch it?” Tisa asked.

Olona smiled. “Go right ahead.”

Tisa’s fingers followed the thin band all the way around her cranium. “This is doing something?” she asked.

“Precisely, the halo is a dampener. At its most basic level, you can think of it as an electromagnet that is creating a field. It blocks the signature of your mantis gland from being detected,” Olona explained. “It’s not an electromagnet; it’s much more complex than that, but thinking about it in terms of magnetic fields is probably the easiest way to understand it.”

Tisa looked nervous. “Is there some way to test that it’s working?”

Olona grinned. “I can see that it’s working,” she confirmed. “Not only will you be undetectable to the monsters, but if you’re wearing this, I don’t think anything in the world could pick up your brainwave frequencies.”

Tisa frowned. “Can we walk farther to the south while we pass Gunge? Do you mind?”

With the towering mountains to the north and the sprawling grasslands as far as the eye could see to the south, Tisa and Olona began to head away from the ambiguous border to the realm of monsters. Despite that their intention was to go north, the two made their way out into the rolling lands a little way to the south, before continuing toward the sea. They were out in the open, but farther from the creatures that might murder them.

On their sixth afternoon, Olona and Tisa first saw the ocean. It took up the entire horizon.

For a moment, Tisa did not know what she was seeing. Then she gasped.

The sight of the sea brought joy to Olona. In Mellini, far to the south along the Ru River, she grew up only a short boat ride from the pink sand beaches of southern Xin.

“The ocean,” Olona exclaimed in delight.

Tisa was struck speechless at the wondrous panorama that stretched out before her. She made a small sound of awe at the sight. Her eyes were wide and her mouth was agape.

“We made it,” Olona said, as the sun began to set over the Infinite Waste far to the west. “Well, not made it as an all the way,” she corrected, “made it to the sea. I haven’t seen it in years, not since starting my apprenticeship.”

“I’ve never seen it before,” Tisa whispered.

Olona looked surprised and delighted. “How exciting! Let’s camp nearby so we can fall asleep to the sounds of the surf.”

Tisa was dumbfounded. “How far does it go?”

Olona chuckled and replied, “All the way.”

Tisa looked over at the young woman with a confused expression. “All the way to what?”

“To whatever’s on the other side,” Olona replied in an elated voice.

They made their camp that evening on the edge of the ocean, and Olona lit a joint as Tisa prepared a fire.

Olona exhaled a cloud of smoke and asked, “Are we cooking something?” They had eaten dried meat, fermented cabbage, and nuts for each meal on their first six days of travel, and Tisa’s reply surprised Olona.

“I’m catching us a fish.”

Before Olona could ask how, a disc of shadow appeared and Tisa smiled. A little figure rose from it, but then the thing took off like a shot. It entered the ocean without a splash, and for a moment, Tisa stood focused on the sea. All of a sudden, her shadow was back, and it came up with a large surge of water. Her figure was holding a dead fish.

“What…” Olona began.

“I used to catch fish in the Ru like this,” Tisa explained.

Olona laughed aloud. “Well, that was amazing!” she declared. She stared at Tisa’s creature of darkness as it gutted and fileted the fish, and she repeated in a whisper, “That’s amazing.”

Tisa took the cuts of fish and put them in a pan over the flames. Her little figure and its disc of shadow vanished.

“I’ll be able to do that as long as we’re close to the water,” Tisa commented.

Their dinner was delicious.

The next morning, they awoke to the most beautiful sunrise that either of them had ever beheld. It shimmered off the water and painted the sky in a splendent array of colors.

“This halo is going to work, right?” Tisa asked Olona, as they ate a cold breakfast of more dried meat.

“I trust it,” Olona assured her. “You can trust it, too.”

“I’ll trust it once we’re past Gunge,” Tisa muttered to herself. “Was this a terrible idea?” she asked, looking over at Olona.

“Don’t say we should turn back,” she replied. “I think that thought is going to come to mind, but I really feel like we should refrain from saying it. We should probably even try not to think it.” Olona brought her hand to the outside of Tisa’s arm. “Of course, turning around and going back to Xin is a possibility, but it does no good to think about giving up.” Olona sighed. “We have no idea what’s waiting for us at the end of this journey, but I’ve chosen to believe that whatever it is will be better than anything in all of the river lands. I’m done with Xin.”

Tisa nodded in agreement. “So am I.”

Under the risen sun, Tisa and Olona set off again. They turned north and followed the coastline as far from the center of Gunge as possible. The day slowly passed, and as the evening approached, the land began to rise.

Tisa and Olona were leaving the grasslands behind, and they were about to enter the thickly wooded foothills. Both of them started talking in an anxious way as they drew nearer to Gunge.

The trees were familiar to Tisa, but this was an entirely unknown region of the forest to her. She began naming plants that they passed.

“Durga pine, chiapple, whistle thistle, ogre’s breath, vigortree, hair flower.”

“Hair flower?” Olona interrupted.

“Yes, that, right there,” and Tisa pointed.

Olona lit one of her joints and took a puff to calm her nerves. “The people of the pink sands,” she started rambling, “south of where I grew up, they start smoking muluflower in childhood. I started during my apprenticeship.” She took another breath of smoke and continued her nervous banter. “I imbibe it for different reasons than they do, but I was always curious about muluflower as a child.”

Cliffs plummeted to the surf below, and as the evening began to darken the land, Tisa and Olona made camp at a clear patch in the trees high above the waves. They did not realize where they were that night.

As the sun rose the next morning, their elevated position gave them a clear view down into a ravine, and what they saw made their blood run cold. From the distance, they could not distinguish the individual monsters from one another that nested together in their tangled mass of flesh, but the women could see that it was moving.

Everything about the creatures looked familiar, yet uncanny at the same time, with limbs and heads and torsos and hair all jumbled in a repulsive and confusing visual. There was no way to determine how many of them there were nor where one ended and another began, and every imaginable human skin tone was present in the amorphous blob.

Tisa and Olona realized that their vantage point also left them exposed and visible to the monsters below.

“We need to go,” Tisa said in a whisper.

“I think you’re right about that,” Olona concurred, and they packed in haste.

Deep in the valley, one of the monsters caught sight of movement on the hill. The majority of human urges and sensations no longer existed for those Messiahs who had chosen to consume multiple photonova glands, but whether out of curiosity or just a tendency toward violence, the creature began to crawl away from its fellow beasts.

It neither informed the others where it was going nor told them what it saw, but one of its co-inhabitants was gripping it by the ankle. The one began to drag the other away from the mass, and when the second released its grip, it chose to follow the first. The two monsters made their way, each in their own unique manner, by crawling and dragging their strange altered bodies away from their encampment. They approached through a thick patch of forest and broke the tree line, as Tisa and Olona were about to head out again.

“Why are humans in our land?” one of them asked in a strange voice. It was not asking its fellow monster, nor was it questioning the two women, it was simply voicing its curiosity about the situation.

“Humans are soft,” the other one stated.

The first grunted and said, “Humans shouldn’t come to Gunge.”

Tisa and Olona froze, and the monsters charged★