Shadowcroft Year 3 - Chapter Thirty-Five

Treacle’s dull, brown hair was now a bright shade of pink. Bubble gum pink, even. All the way from the hair around his horns down to the hair around his hooves. Both his horns and hooves were now red and white striped, like the classic Christmas candy canes. Treacle’s core whined with power as new candy-coated steampunk contraptions sprouted of the compartments across his body. They had the melting gummy goo off him seconds.

Treacle lifted a huge pink hand. “Well, this is not surprising given my new abilities. How long have I been out?”

“Eight days,” Logan said, studying his friend’s new form. “What do you mean by new abilities? You made all your choices without us?”

“Well, I didn’t have much of a choice at all, truth be told.” Treacle squinted at him. He really was a pink minotaur. It was going to get some getting used to without a doubt. “Through the candy haze. My past leads to my future. A bubblegum destiny.”

“That haiku was very well done,” Inga breathed.

Treacle was all smiles. “Thank you. But I ascended because of your experiences on the candy world. I told Logan that, before I ascended. Yet, now my future is candy, some armor, and some haiku.”

“No crocheting?” Logan teased.

Treacle’s cheeks glowed, the pink transforming into a brilliant red. “Those were unfortunate side effects.”

“If you’ve already ascended and got new skills, can we see what they are?” Inga asked. “I am so very curious!”

Treacle nodded. “It would be easiest if I just formed a symbiotic bond with Logan. That’s how we did last year, and it worked well enough. My candy form yearns for union.”

Logan focused on his core, sending a pulse of Apothos racing through his body. That energy coalesced and rained down from his gills in the form of Symbiotic. The fine powder swirled around him and danced in an unfelt breeze. Treacle’s big pink nostrils flared as he inhaled the glimmering pollen. The ensuing transformation didn’t take long. Logan could feel his connection to Treacle grow as the spores spread through his blood stream, infecting everything they touched.

Fungal growths quickly appeared along Treacle’s shoulders and sprouted around his head.

A message appeared in Logan’s head.

Treacle Glimmerhappy has accepted Symbiotic Bonding!

Notice: As the Infecting Agent, you alone can terminate the Symbiotic bond. In addition, you will receive 10% of all Apothos cultivated by Treacle Glimmerhappy from this point forward. Bonding initiating in 3… 2… 1…

As the countdown lapsed, Logan felt Treacle’s mind become one with his. His thoughts unfurled like a blooming, springtime flower. There was a vast ocean of peace waiting within the minotaur, but it was undercut by a hazy memory Treacle had buried long ago. Gnomes loved candy, but they also loved shopping for boots. In gnomic culture, footwear was very important. Too bad Treacle had hooves now.

Treacle reached out and touched Logan’s hand. “Don’t fret, friend. I bought enough boots during my time on Plimpkinny. I find this new life very satisfying. I’m at peace with who and what I have become. Perhaps it is the constant threat of death, or the total disregard for life at this school, but either way, there is a certain amount of exhilaration living on the edge.”

Inga beamed at the minotaur. “You’ve come so far, Treacle!”

“As have we all,” the cow man said with a nod of his shaggy, pink head. “Now, let’s look at my Guardian Matrix.”

The stat sheet filled Logan’s mind. Dimly, he heard the whir of the candy contraptions cleaning the floor of the last of the gummy cocoon. It sounded like a wet vac slurping up a spilled milkshake, which was deeply unsettling. Logan didn’t dwell on the sound for long.

<<< ۝>>>

Treacle Glimmerhappy

Guardian Core Matrix

Base Race: Minotaur

Current Evolution: Steampunk Confectioner

Cultivator Class: Azure Branch Cultivator; B Class, Rank 10

Primary Elemental Affinities: Mallus/Fulgur

Racial Abilities:

Beast of Burden, Bovine Leap (NEW!), Herd Endurance (NEW!)

Racial Skill:

- Gore

- Labyrinth Sense

- Maze Walk (NEW!)

Internal Alchemy:

- Clockwork Organs

- Engineered Anatomy

External Alchemy:

- Rabid Mutagen

o Ugknot Calflings

o Gummy Bulls (NEW!)

o Peep Golems (NEW!)

- Electric Alchemist

o AFS Core Improvement (Augmented Fulgur Stone)

- Arcane Transmutation

Machinist Mastermind:

- Blacksmith Marvel

- Engineered Weapons

o Cavity Masher (NEW!)

- Mechanical Monsters

o Delicious Armor (NEW!)

Confectionary Engineering (NEW!):

- Fulguric Sugar Bombs (NEW!)

o Exploding Chiclets (NEW!)

o Poprock Caltrips (NEW!)

- Sweet Hand Cannon (NEW!)

o Taffy Cannon (NEW!)

o Jawbreaker Machine Gun (NEW!)

<<< ۝>>>

Logan read through all the amazing abilities in awe. “Wow. This is a ton of new stuff! I’ve honestly never seen so many skill and ability additions. This must’ve been a major evolution for you.”

Treacle nodded a little. “It is. Much of it is due to the Blue Divine Philter, so I thank you for that, Logan. It’s one of the reasons why I didn’t wait to choose my new abilities. I was able to tie a knot at the same time I ascended, but that knot had everything to do with candy. It was steeped in sugar. I was very inspired by your Wally Wanko dungeon, obviously.”

“Obviously,” Logan said, getting excited. “Let’s start at the top.”

Treacle opened his mouth, but Inga started talking a mile a minute.

“Minotaurs can leap very well using their powerful legs,” she rattled off. “They can also match the endurance of their herd, so they can keep up. Unless I’m mistaken, this should give you the ability to keep your Apothos balanced. Maze Walk appears to be a limited teleportation spell for use within your dungeon, though it cannot be used in combat. But this will help us because our dungeons have been getting bigger and bigger. With Logan’s Kurrybooboos, you can leave one section to be healed in another.”

Logan saw that Treacle had two new groups of minions—gummy bulls and peep golems. “Wait. I have a great idea,” he said, waving his hands to slow down the onslaught on information Inga was spewing out. “Let’s go down to the Tartarucha Cells. They’re probably in use, but you never know. It’s after ten on a Saturday night. They might be open. And I’d love to see what Treacle can do firsthand.”

“I think that’s a wonderful idea,” Inga agreed. “Unlike me, you’re clearly a kinesthetic learner, so a hands-on approach will help you more quickly understand his the changes. And I’m sure the Onyx Tortoise will make an exception for us, considering we are actively preparing for the interschool tournament. Plus, he owes us one after that whole incident last year with Billy the Scales.”

Together, they left the cafeteria and headed down into the undercroft.

Walking past the writhing eldritch horror that had once been Marko gave  Treacle a momentary pause. “What is Marko going to be when he comes out of all—” the pink minotaur motioned to all the tenacles, teeth, tongues, and eyes—“that?”

“That’s the questions we’ve all been asking ourselves,” Inga said with a disturbed look on her face. “If his transformation is as dramatic as yours, we’re in for a shock, I suspect.”

In the end, the Tartarucha Cells were open. Nemoy had signed up, but he’d flaked. Just another symptom of being one of the bad kids. However, Ikgix frowned on people not using their time in the practice dungeon. The old turtle was glad to give them access, especially since he did owe them several substantial favors.

Logan and his friends soon ended up in the blank inner sanctum—it was just raw cobblestone with torches burning in wall sconces.

Treacle tossed his core gem onto the crumbling stone pedestal and activated the dungeon to be.

With a casual flick of his hand, the minotaur summoned one of his new minions, a gigantic bull, with broad shoulders made entirely of gummy material. Well, it’s muscled body was all gummy. Those horns were razor-sharp stripped candy cane.

Logan summoned a silver sword and a shield. “Is it all right to see what these things are made of?”

Treacle winced. “It won’t be pretty. But you can try.”

The bull pawed the ground, let out a thunderous roar, then dropped its head and charged Logan. The fungaloid leapt up into the air, making himself lighter than air using Pneumacity. At the same time, he chopped into the body of the gummy bull. His sword sank harmlessly into the gummy substance only to be abruptly yanked out of his grasp. The gummy material burbled outward, pulling the sword into the creature’s body until it disappeared completely.

A huge horn struck his ruby shield, batting it from his hand and sending it to the floor in a clatter.

The bull continued its unrelenting charging, careening into Logan with his head. The beast hit him in the chest and sent him flipping ass over tea kettle through the air. He landed in a heap, head still spinning from the blow. The bull didn’t let up for a moment, however. It wheeled around in a tight circle and charged again, which was when Logan realized that its hooves weren’t gummy either—they were made of bone and keratin. Big, nasty, and sharp.

The huge gummy bull was about to callously stampede Logan—

Right until Inga exploded outward, transforming into her heavy metal caterpillar form. She lunged forward and chomped down on the gummy bull with her fearsome mandibles. She chewed vigorously, making yummy noses, before spitting out the horns and hooves. And Logan’s sword. She burped. “Excuse me! But that candy bull tastes delicious!”

“I’m sorry, Logan,” Treacle said, lumbering over then offering Logan a hand up. “But I warned you.”

Logan retrieved his sword and put it back into his Ring of Blades.

Treacle folded his arms across his chest. “Now, you too, let’s see how you like my peep golem!”

A wave of Apothos swept out of his gem, now floating above the pedestal. A new creature took shape, burbling up from the ground like an erupting magma flow. The viscous substance was an alarming shade of yellow and quickly formed into a giant killer chicken, coated in granular sugar. It was most monstrous of peeps. It was like Easter in the abyss. It was truly terrifying.

Like with the gummy bear, the peep had a wicked beak and razor sharp talons. It clucked, head wobbling, and then zeroed in on Logan.

“Don’t eat this one,” Treacle warned the gigantic caterpillar Inga.

Logan recalled his silver sword as he gained his feet and prepared to meet the attack. After his scuffle with the gummy bull, he decided to add on his normal armor, then reinforce that with layers of added exoskeleton. Instead of going for speed, he was in tank mode.

“Logan, that armor just isn’t going to be sufficient,” Treacle said. “Not against my peeps. Let me craft you some. I have my Delicious Armor ability. I will use it mostly for minions, but I think I can use it on you, just as well.” He waved his hands through the air. Strands of pink hair separated from Treacle’s fingertips and danced in the air, swirling and coalescing like spun sugar being made into cotton candy. But he wasn’t making cotton candy. As more and more of the pink hair joined the mix, Treacle shaped and formed it.

The gauzy material quickly became a chest plate, then hardened, turning into a pale white substance covered in multi-colored dots. The process took seconds and when Treacle was finished, Logan had a complete set of jawbreaker armor, custom tailored to fit him. It was remarkably similar to the armor they’d crafted back on Sucrosia, just better.

As soon as Logan equipped the items, the peep rushed toward him in a flurry of rustling candy wings. Its talons left deep furrows in the earthen ground as it moved. The peep golem closed the distance in a blink and lashed out with a thrust from its bill—the attack aimed directly at Logan’s face. He dodged and launched a counter assault of his own, thrusting his sword into the tough sugar shell covering the bird. He wasn’t expecting what happened next.

The candy split and molten marshmallow erupted outward in a geyser. It splashed onto the candy armor, and his whole outfit was reduced to liquid sugar in seconds. Luckily, Logan had reinforced his exoskeleton, but even then, it was like being covered in lava that quickly hardened into concrete.

Inga hurled a barrage of Moonlance missiles at the encroaching peep beast. They struck the marshmellowy golem, one after another, knocking it away from Logan. Then Inga scurried forward and batted the peep against the wall, where it exploded into goo.

Logan stood, covered in sweet muck. “I feel so funky,” he said, lifting his hands as he watched the molten marshmallow drip down in thick strands.

“Let me help with that.” Scurrying, candy-coated contraptions burst forth from Treacle’s body and raced over to Logan, quickly eating up the confectionary goop.

Inga had the same idea. The giant caterpillar slurped up the peep leftovers. It must’ve been delicious. The very prim and proper Inga made all sorts of disgusting noises as she snacked.

Logan grinned. “I can’t believe how powerful those new minions are. And unexpected. The gummy bull has a good possibility of disarming raiders. Then you have the peep, who can attack, but is basically a walking trap. Hit it and get covered in molten marshmallow. Ouch.”

Inga finished dining on peep guts. She scurried back to the pedestal and reverted into her moth woman form. She tossed her gem onto the pedestal. “Logan, let’s have some fun with Treacle’s other new abilities. He can show us in real time.”

With a thought and a whisper of Apothos, she generated a dozen giant spiders, hairy and awful.

Logan couldn’t wait to see what Treacle did with those arachnid horrors. He tossed his gem onto the pedestal, so all three gems circled one another. Normally, they had four. Logan could only hope that Marko would emerge soon, better and weirder than ever.

While Inga’s spider took up positions around the chamber, Logan created a dozen black skullcap waddlers, complete with crimson coral spears and swords. They hurried over and mounted the spiders with familiar ease. It was kind of strange, seeing the little black mushroom men on the hulking arachnoids.

Treacle confidently walked into the middle of them, raised his arms, and issued a ‘come at me’ gesture with both hands. “Let me show you my Cavity Smasher. Send one at me.”

Logan selected one of the waddler/spider combos and sent them barreling toward Treacle.

From out of the minotaur’s arm sprang what used to be his Terra Hammer. Now, it was a huge morningstar made of the jawbreaker material. The spikes were crafted from what could only be Hershey’s Kisses. But despite the playful and rather zany appearance, the entire weapon crackled with electricity. Treacle might’ve looked like he was all fun and games, but the truth was he meant serious business.

Treacle brought the weapon screaming down in a wicked arc and slammed it into the spider’s head. The chocolate spikes pierced the creature’s exoskeleton and crushed its skull like an empty Coke can. The Fulgur energy raced up into the waddler, and the little guy shook so bad he dropped his scarlet fungal spear. But Treacle wasn’t done. He spun, his arm a blur, and smashed the mushroom soldier off the dying arachnoid’s back, bashing him into pieces.

The waddler toppled to the floor, a huge crater in its chest, its body convulsing madly as electricity surged along its limbs.

“Why call it the Cavity Smasher?” Inga asked curiously.

“There is a ten percent chance that it will cause a painful toothache with a successful strike.”

Logan had to think for a minute. “Waddlers, let’s see your teeth!”

But none of his waddler warriors had teeth. “Ha, Treacle. My guys don’t have a teeth.”

A few of the spiders, though, looked like they might be in pain. Did spiders have teeth? Or were they just worrying about the possibility of tooth pain?

“Get ready, Treacle!” Inga warned the minotaur. “We’re going to send the rest of our guys at you!”

“Do your very best,” the minotaur said grimly, widening his stance in preparation.

The Cavity Masher retracted into his arm. From out of compartments on his pack poured chiclets, which struck the floor, the ceiling, and the incoming waddlers and spiders. The gum struck and then exploded, removing arms, blowing off spider legs, and creating pockmarks across the rocky floor. With a roar, the minotaur extended his arms. The tips of his fingers popped open as he rained glittering caltrops across the ground. Poprock caltrips. The candy started to spit and sputter. Meanwhile, Treacle crouched and then launched himself up into the air. That was his Bovine Leap in action.

The spiders ran across the poprock caltrips, and explosions followed in their wake. More than half of the waddler/spider combos were dead in seconds. Bits of smoking bodies were scattered about the bare dungeon inner sanctum.

Logan watched as Treacle’s hands flipped inward and vanished, quickly replaced by enormous cannons mounted at the end of each arm. He shot monsters while he descended like he was in a 1980s action movie. From his right cannon erupted a huge wave of golden taffy that splashed down on the spiders, miring them in place. The waddlers tried to hurl their spears, but the taffy had glued their weapons to their hands.

Treacle landed with enough force to shake the room. One of the waddlers was inches away from hacking his sword into the minotaur. But that was never going to happen.

From the cannon of the left came an onslaught of jawbreakers, hitting the mushroom man like .50 caliber rounds. The waddler was blown to pieces, and then the spider met the same fate. Treacle’s right cannon went from vomiting out strings of taffy to spewing a constant stream of jawbreakers. With the twin cannons working in tandem, the rest of Treacle’s opponents never stood a chance.

Once the last of his opponents lay dead, Treacle blew the gun smoke from one arm canon and then the other.

Logan offered him a slow golf clap in respect. Inga, by contrast, did the parade queen clap.

Treacle bowed. “Through the candy haze. My past leads to my future. A bubblegum destiny.” The pink minotaur smiled.

“Holy cow, that was amazing!” Logan shouted. He loved all of his friend’s new skills and he was proud that his Blue Divine Philter had helped so much. He’d have to make some for all the C-Class dungeons at Shadowcroft as well as his fungaloid friends in his off-world class. Along with the Lojjikki Lotion to deal with the rather unfortunate side effects.

If Treacle got all those new abilities, what would Marko get?

Logan couldn’t wait to find out.

But as days turned to weeks, Logan slowly started to give up hope. The final tournament challenge was drawing ever closer and Marko hadn’t shown any signs of emerging. Logan hated the idea of competing in the Finals without his friend. But what else could he do? Unless something drastic changed, it seemed like they be facing off against Lou Shador one member short.