Techno

The pirates ran around the streets with crazed smiles on their faces and fiery torches in their hands. They had already set some of the houses on fire, and the villagers who were trapped in those houses rushed out the backdoor with clothes over their mouths. The pirates would sometimes point their guns or swords at the villagers, extracting them from their homes with chains and fear. The pirates had even dragged supernatural creatures into the fight. Animated skeletons with bows fired recklessly at anything that moved, and large beasts with weirdly shaped noses called Ravagers used their tusks to rip apart buildings. Green skinned creatures that smelled like gunpowder would sacrifice their lives to create huge explosions. Any villager that died was immediately given life by a gray-skinned pirate holding a leather book with dark blue-gray spirits circling him. The villagers, however, were not given back the lives they had. Insead, they became bloodthirsty zombies who swung their rotting fists at the living.

Techno stood at the edge of the village with his axe in his hand. He waited for a moment to strike, wondering which threat he should tackle first. Everything in the village was dangerous and life-threatening, but Techno had to make the decision of which one needed to be taken out first. He needed to make a tactical choice, and his godly companions were not helping him. Alex wanted him to fight everything in sight, and Steve was not around Techno.

Techno was about to make his decision when he saw his mortal companions. He had forgotten they were there, some part of his mind going back to the time when he would fight alone. Lilka jumped off Mother Wolf with her bowstring pulled back, blue energy solidifying to create an energy arrow. She shot it at the closest skeleton, and she continued firing even when that particular skeleton went down. Mother Wolf ran towards the Creepers. The giant wolf grabbed each one with her teeth, throwing them away from the village so they would explode midair. Gunpowder fell to the ground, but Mother Wolf growled at any pirate who was going to set the gunpowder ablaze.

Steve was floating around Kristin. He pointed towards the Ravager, whispering something to her that Techno couldn't hear. Kristin nodded along, reaching her hand out into the open air. Purple cracks appeared across her forearm, all merging together to make her fingertips a solid dark purple color with glistening spirals. The energy poured from her hands as slow as honey, and it shot out towards the sides instead of going all the way to the ground. A long scythe appeared in her hand with a black hilt and a purple colored blade. Kristin's face broke out into a smile as she held the weapon close to her, but Steve pushed her forward. Kristin's smile disappeared as she ran to the Ravager. She jumped into the air, her scythe spinning around her body before striking the Ravager's back. The blade sunk into the gray flesh, and purple cracks shot out from the spot like Kristin had used the Touch of Death.

Techno felt something heavy lift from his chest. He had never fought with people before. When he was younger, he would protect his farmlands all by himself. He had fought the monsters in the eastern forest by himself, too, and every mission he was given by the Blood Church was a solo one. Alex and Steve helped Techno, but they couldn't exactly fight alongside him. They could only tell him the weaknesses of his enemies and direct to him the best places to hit with his weapon. It was a new experience for someone to be there with Techno. He didn't really trust Kristin or Lilka (or Shrub), but he instinctively knew that they had his back.

Techno jumped into the fight. He set his sights on the pirates, leaving the supernatural creatures to his companions. Alex whooped as Techno's axe landed in the shoulder of a pirate, going so far into flesh that Techno heard bone breaking. Techno pulled his axe out with ease, lifting his foot up to kick the first pirate to the ground. Techno jumped over the bleeding body to strike the next target. This pirate lifted their sword up to parry, but Techno's axe fractured the metallic blade. The steel fell to the ground like broken glass, and the pirate barely had time to look terrified as Techno pushed his axe into the man's chest. The pirate sputtered before falling limblessly to the ground.

Techno heard someone coming up behind him. He spun around, his fist making contact with the pirate's cheek. The pirate's body was flung to the side, slamming into a burning pile of hay that was entirely too close to the nearby house. Techno kicked the hilt of his axe, the weapon rising up out of the pirate's chest. Techno saw his reflection in the bloody surface, but he also saw someone coming up behind him with a torch in their hands. Techno turned around, the tip of the torch pressing against his arm. The shirt he wore underneath his arm began to burn, but all Techno felt was a slightly uncomfortable warmth brushing against his skin. The pirate's victorious smile slowly dropped when he noticed that Techno wasn't howling in pain and the smell of burning flesh was not permeating in the air around them. Techno tilted his head to the side in curiosity. He grabbed the pirate's wrist, applying enough pressure to break the bone. The pirate cried out, dropping the torch as they cradled their broken wrist against their chest. Techno grabbed the torch, twisting it around to press into the man's shoulder around the same location he did to Techno. The man's shirt caught fire, and it spread quickly to cover his entire body. Blistering agony blossomed across the pirate's pale face, and a scream was extracted from his lips by the pain.

Techno removed the torch when he thought the man wasn't going to survive. Techno watched as the pirate hit the ground, his scream quieting to pained whimpers. Techno turned around to face his next opponent, but he was faced with a pirate in a black ensemble with a dagger held high above their head and a glowing blue arrow struck in their chest. The body fell to the ground, and Techno saw Lilka standing with her bow aimed at the pirate who had just been taken down. The two kept staring for a few moments before Lilka lowered her bow. She spoke in a voice that used Shrub's as a base, but it was filled with an ancient power that was carefully being contained so as to not completely ruin her human vessel. "Be careful, Champion of the Blood Gods. Do not rest on the battlefield. There will be time for rest later. I will not forgive you if you upset Shrub."

Techno stared oddly at the spirit possessing Shrub. From what he had been told, Lilka was the Guardian of the Undergrove, one of the four regions of the Wild Lands. The Undergrove had been burned down by Schlatt. Shrub was a survivor of this conflict, possibly the only one. As she had ventured away from her home, apparently, a passing shaman tethered Lilka to Shrub's body. It created a relationship that was similar but decidedly different from the relationship between gods and their champions and demonic beasts and their hosts. Lilka prioritized two things: killing Xornoth, the demon that destroyed the Undergrove, and Shrub's well-being. Techno had found it odd that a god-like creature would care so much for a mortal, so he started paying attention to Shrub to figure out what was special about her. She was a genuinely kind person with a naive outlook on life. She was skilled with the bow even without Lilka's help, and she knew enough about magic to be able to have lengthy conversations with Philza about it. Shrub, though, looked up to Techno. She had even promised before they had left Pogtopia that she wouldn't fail him.

Techno stopped thinking about it as he heard something running towards him. He turned around to see a Ravager racing down the main street they were all fighting on. He couldn't see any purple cracks, meaning this is one that Kristin had not been fighting during the beginning of the fight. Techno readied his axe, pointing the tip of the blade at the Ravager. Techno waited for the beast to reach him, but Kristin jumped on top of the monster's back. She swung her scythe down, creating a slash in the Ravager's back. When the beast didn't seem phased by it, she leaned down to hook her scythe underneath the Ravager's neck. She tugged the scythe up with all her strength, and Techno could see the effect this had on the Ravager. Eventually, she was able to fully bring the scythe up, decapitating the Ravager. The beast's body gave out, and it kept sliding forward. Kristin shrieked as she was flung forward.

Something burned pitifully in Techno's chest. It reminded him of the feelings he experienced when he first saw Wilbur and Tommy. It was a sense of familiarity that came from nowhere. Unlike those two, however, Techno didn't have any accompanying memories. He only had the natural instinct to keep Kristin alive. In that way, it was more akin to the natural respect Techno held for Philza, a man he didn't even know prior to forming the Syndicate. It was entirely innate, something that Techno couldn't fight even though he knew it would probably hurt him in the long run.

Techno jumped forward involuntarily, catching Kristin before she could hit the ground. He pulled them both out of the way as the crashing giant, blood soaking into Techno's boots and pants. The Ravager landed right beside them with its head several feet from the main body. Techno found himself impressed that Kristin could decapitate a Ravager since the beasts were notorious for having extremely thick skin. That, along with their size, was the reason they were difficult to defeat in battle. It took someone with incredible strength to kill one, let alone remove the head from the body. She was probably helped by the Touch of Death, but that didn't make it any less impressive.

Kristin shot out of arms with a horrified look rising to grace her paling face. Techno raised an eyebrow before looking down at his arms. There were a handful of thin purple cracks spreading across his skin. Techno hissed in pain as he saw one of the larger ones continue to fracture. Techno took a deep breath to steady his features. Kristin looked as miserably as he felt as she brought her hand up to cover the lower part of her face. Lilka walked over to them. She stared down at both of them with her inhuman eyes, something so unnatural about her aura even though she looked human. Lilka threw gauze at Techno, and he was able to catch it. "Wrap it up. The effects should dissipate within a day if you stay away from Kristin. You should count yourself lucky that you are bound to a god. If you weren't, we would be forced to cut off your arms to preserve your life."

Techno nodded at her words, moving to wrap his arms up. He occasionally looked up at Kristin. She was standing on the other side of the street with her arms wrapped around herself. Techno's godly abilities had always set him apart from his fellow man, but Techno had never been bothered by it. He preferred solitude. Plus, he had the Twin Blood Gods and a handful of people in the church like the Reverend to keep him sane if he did want company. Kristin had Tommy, Techno knew, as their touches canceled each other out. Kristin could touch her brother without fearing that she would kill him, but she couldn't do that with anyone else. She was trapped by her own blessing. Techno would have thought she was used to it by now, but maybe she had some sort of trauma associated with this. Maybe she was still reeling from the death of her closest confidantes when Oceania attacked Business Bay.

Techno knew that Tommy was still affected. He could see it plainly on Tommy's face when they were traveling here, and Techno didn't want to figure out why he knew Tommy's emotions so well. To anyone else, Tommy would have looked calm, but Techno saw past the carefully crafted facade with the ease of someone reading a children's book in their native language.

"We have a problem!" Someone yelled. The street had been emptied while Lilka, Kristin, and Techno had been talking, so they could easily identify the location of the noise. The three people on the street turned to see Niki running towards them with the power of Leviathan having left her already. She stopped right next to the Ravager with heaving breaths and wild eyes. When she finally took in a deep breath, she faced Techno and Kristin with a dark look rising in her eyes. "Apollo was kidnapped by the pirates. They had come back with hostages, and Apollo went with them to keep the civilians alive. They went in the final ship. There's a hole in the bottom of the ship, but we weren't able to expand the hole or blow up parts of the last ship. It will sink in a few days, but it's moving down the river towards Greater as we speak."

Something snapped in Techno's body. A flood of memories and instincts rose to the surface. Apollo- Tommy, his runt, the person he was supposed to love and protect and hold onto because no one else would. The boy he had betrayed and reconnected with thousands of times, the one vice he could never get rid of because that boy wasn't a vice, not really. He wasn't a problem no matter how many times he broke Techno and quite honestly ruined his life. Tommy was something more, something less, something that Techno wasn't sure he would ever be able to understand but he didn't need to. Because when that little boy smiled up at him with a love born from something deeper than idolism, the whole world seemed to click into place. That little boy was as chaotic as a whirling storm that pulsed and pushed and illuminated the dark night, but he brought peace and laughter wherever he went with him.

Techno stood onto his feet. He walked past Niki, heading towards the riverside. The boat wouldn't have gone far, and even if it had, Techno would find it. Techno would make sure to kill every single pirate and burn the ship to the ground.

"Wait," Alex said, grabbing Techno's hand. Steve stood in front of Techno with a hard look in his eyes. Techno turned around, and instead of seeing Alex, he saw the rest of the Syndicate, including a wide-eyed Philza. Techno took a deep breath. He had to think about this logically. He could not let these foreign emotions take over. He was the Champion of the Blood Gods, the invincible warrior.

"I want you all to report back to the king. Make sure you tell him everything that happened today. If he gives you another mission, go on it without any questions. Zephyrus, I'm putting you in charge. For now, I'm going to find and bring back Apollo," Techno gave them orders, realizing a little too late that he was still giving in to his emotions. A smarter person would send Niki, who could breathe underwater, or Philza, who could fly to the ship. He could have sent Kristin who probably would bring hell to earth to anyone who harmed her brother. But Techno chose himself. He needed to save Tommy, and Techno wasn't ready to understand why. "It won't take more than a few days. He will return safely, I swear."