Thud! Hikari's heavy boot knocked against the stone ground. The captive cultists rattled their chains in their cages as she walked past.
It was a repurposed warehouse. All of the windows are open to allow sunlight through which seemed to irritate the cultists.
Thud! Thud!. Hikari reached the cage at the end of the warehouse. There was a skinny bald man in tattered robes. His body is covered in Eldritch symbols. Over each symbol, his previous torturers have sliced the skin several times to ensure that they break the flow.
The jailor caught up to Hikari, he placed a tray with a piece of bread and soup at the side and unlocked the cage, before quickly scurrying away.
The Abbot slowly lifted his head. On seeing the pair of humongous boots outside his cell, he began laboriously crawling out of his cage. Slowly, he made his way to Hikari's boots and pressed his dried lips on the wyvern skin.
"Eat first"
"Yes… Great Avatar…. "
The abbot obeyed. The other cultists watched and rattled in their chains. As he ate slowly,
Hikari studied the runes on his body. Illenium, the stone which mana crystals are made of, inserted directly into his flesh. Their shapes are completely gibberish as runes typically are. They were found by simple trial and error to see which ones best facilitate a particular mana form.
She dug deeper into the abbot's physiology.
"A normal man. No ability to generate mana. But he has volunteered himself to be a living mana conduit. Must be extremely painful."
She looked around at the other cultists.
"Common grunts. Just some tattoo on their forehands. And needle marks on their arms. Nothing else of note."
She looked back down at the abbot, who was finishing up his meagre portion of bread.
Then, she noticed something.
"A RazenHeir rune. A few slices on the surface won't disable it."
She channeled her mana into the rune, it began glowing with her power, burning the flesh around it. The abbot's body stiffened in pain.
Once he recovered, he crawled back to HIkari's boot and pressed his lips back on the wyvern skin. He bowed his head to the ground. And then raised it to plant another kiss.
"Aarrgghh" he groaned as the rune on his back glowed. The other cultists rattled.
"Continue" He bowed and groveled and kissed. As vigorously as his skinny body allows.
"Aaaarrrggghh!" The rune glowed.
He couldn't lift his head anymore. One cheek on the ground, he stuck out his dry tongue and licked. The rune fizzled out as the flesh around it was completely burnt.
"Now tell me. Where is the cultist stronghold?"
"North of here. The port city of Carla."
"In Herdial?"
"Yes."
"Hrmp. That was easy"
"We are at your command"
"Why?"
"The day of reckoning is close. The skies will burn. Legions of untold horrors will stalk the earth. Our feeble mortal strength could not stop it. There is only one path to salvation. We gather enough faithfuls to summon the avatar that would deliver us all. "
"That's just bedtime stories."
"Oh, How foolish we were. The avatar has already been summoned into this world. All we had to do was follow."
"I don't understand."
"All will be revealed in due time, young avatar. Consume flesh that would become the avatar's own. Purify the imperfect flesh and mold them in its image."
Hikari scratches her cheeks.
"The scriptures reveal all. The avatar needs only pure of flesh. It needs no mortal steel nor constructs. For such crude instruments only impedes the avatar. For the avatar needs no more weight than its own flesh. "
Hikari scratches her other cheek.
"The avatar shall grow. Feasting on the offerings of its thralls. Feasting on the blood of its foes. Feasting on the very energy of the earth."
Hikari scratches her neck.
"All shall fall before the avatar. All shall kneel before the avatar. All shall worship the avatar. For it is only the avatar that would deliver ultimate salvation."
"I'll be going now."
Thud! Hikari turned around and left the warehouse.
Hikari returned to Ria who was having a discussion with the officers.
"I'm done."
"Holy Silora's tits! How did you just appear like that without a sound." The officer jumped.
"Oh, she's pretty adept at stealth as well."
"Oh I see. So- " The officers looked up at Hikari. Her cotton inner shirt takes the shape of her voluptuous blossoms. As they stared , their noses started bleeding as their pants starts bulging.
Hikari ignored them and started putting her armour back on.
"So Hikari? Did you manage to gather where the cultist stronghold might be?" Ria asked.
"Carla"
"Hmm that sounds reasonable. Did he tell you anything else? Anything perhaps sinister or anything at all?"
Hikari thought for a bit.
"Hmm.. he did talk about eating and body building"
"Umm… really? ok.. Anyways. Port Carla is mainly a zeppelin pumping station now as it's difficult to move large quantities of goods overland through the dense swamps that flank it. It also happened to be a delving spot in the past but was abandoned due to its high casualty rates. Quite fortified too due to its natural geography."
"Good observation lady Ria. Our scouting reports regarding the direction of flow of their convoys corroborates this. I would have picked the darn place for my base of operations. Looks like we are gonna need a lot of enchanted ammunition from your house."
"Looks like I got a lot of work to do."