Black Hole: The Book of Iratus, Episode 70

Chapter 691

Iratus looked at the goods in the large cart and couldn't see anything of interest to him. He turned to Astrid, the purple-skinned man thing, and asked her a few questions.

Iratus: "How are you guys able to maintain a trading caravan in this place?"

Astrid: "I'll admit the monsters sometimes chase us away, but we have been able to get our cart out, one way or another. As for any people, well, so far we have only met nice people and people who just wanted to be left alone."

The Arabic human took a glance over to the conversation.

Musheer: "We have had one villain who thought themselves capable of fighting us. He didn't make it far."

The shark girl narrowed her eyes, annoyed more with her own luck in life.

Resonantia: "Lucky you."

Astrid: "If I can ask some questions too."

Iratus: "Hm? Sure, have at it."

Astrid: "I notice that most of these women...young women are all pregnant. Aren't all of you too young to be raising children?"

Iratus: "Weather its now or years later, nothing would be different."

Astrid: "Like, I always thought child raising to be an adult thing."

Iratus: "What do you mean? We are already working adults."

Iratus had a confused look on his face.

Iratus: "We hunt, we fight, and we do taxes." He finished with a playful smile.

Astrid: "In this world, I thought it would be nearly impossible to have children."

The old fox woman came over to join in the conversation; her wound from days ago now healed enough to be unnoticeable.

Venatio: "Our lifestyle and current wealth exceeds most people throughout history."

The nixman was slightly defeated, so she just waved her hand.

Astrid: "Actually, nevermind. How have our wares been so far?"

Victoria: "Unique, that's for sure. I have not seen most of this stuff at other locations."

---

Chapter 692

Studium was over by the other two humans and exchanging a jar of food for some of their clothes.

Bellum: "There are a lot of clothes we could take from the abandoned locations, so why are you buying those?"

The fox boy held up the kilt and digitigrade designed moccasins.

Studium: "Have you ever seen these on our looting campaigns?"

The cheetah girl gave a quick thought and then sighed.

Bellum: "Technically no."

Studium also grabbed something similar to what Greg was wearing, something like a cowboy but visually brown and slightly less rugged.

Iratus's focus was taken back to himself as Astrid talked to him again.

Astrid: "The people here, you got a real civilization, right?"

Iratus: "Hm? Uh, yeah. We build most of this stuff around here."

Astrid: "I ask because if you guys make a lot of stuff here, then we may come by a lot to trade."

Iratus: "Well, you should find resources from other exports to bring. This stuff is nice, but none of this helps us grow our community."

The Nixman woman gave a smile and then shrugged.

Astrid: "You know how it is in this crazy world. You guys are the first real community I've seen. However, since we know you have a growing community here, perhaps we can start taking raw resources now."

Then she looked around a bit.

Astrid: "But if you are producing, then people will want. What do you people produce?"

---

Chapter 693

Iratus: "As long as you don't spread the word around, I will tell you."

The nix woman gave a thumbs up and then looked at it for a second before turning back to Iratus.

Astrid: "That means yes, sorry."

Iratus: "We have it too."

Astrid nodded her head and then waited for Iratus to speak.

Irauts: "I think in terms of non-perishables, that would be the soap, copper, tin, or really bronze in general, paper, and ink."

Ignis: "If we possessed the ability to properly rip the salt from the water, we could have proper preservation techniques for our food."

Victoria: "I already told you, smoking has worked out fine."

Resonantia: "Drying out the meat was how we did it back where I come from when we had no other options."

Aestus: "Wait, you guys had me store our meat in pots with fat as the sealing!"

Iratus: "All pointless now with the cold room. Though we still never got around to pickling, and I was looking forward to that."

Venatio dropped five short swords and took several circuit boards from the cart.

Greg: "I said I'd trade for just one sword."

Venatio: "Keep the change."

Iratus was shocked and turned to his tower, knowing that she took them from his stash.

Venatio, turning to Iratus: "I thought you lacked salt because the ocean is, like, four hours away. People, just evaporate the God-blessed water!"

---

Chapter 694

The trading was wrapping up with the cart turning around.

Iratus: "There is a town further south, Last Mistake, and a few more of our people live there."

Venatio quickly spoke up.

Venatio: "And one maybe member of our group."

Iratus: "Liora? She is still around?"

Venatio: "She visits every day."

Iratus: "She has? Uh, nevermind." He turned back to Astrid. "The point is there are more people to trade with."

The cart group gave their thanks and headed out for Last Mistake while Iratus retired to his tower, where he and a few of the others gathered around in the communal kitchen to relax.

Aestus was the first to express how great it is to have a trading caravan regularly coming by, but Resonantia spoke up to counter her.

Resonantia: "Now hold up. We should still treat these traders with some healthy amount of suspicion. Do we even know if they are part of some bandit group and will come back with an armed group? Silver hell, did anyone find it suspicious that they spoke our language quite well?"

There were a few murmurs of agreement, and then the young shark girl continued.

Iratus shrugged while some of the others voiced their own opinions.

Venatio: "It isn't too hard to learn multiple languages. In fact, they may know more than our language, as I recognize their ethnicity and accents. In theory, each one of those people spoke their own language, and I stress again, it would not be uncommon for people to learn many languages in their life."

The raccoon girl waved her hand in dismissal.

Victoria: "Take it from me; merchants make for the best spies."

Studium slightly weary: "I didn't sense any deceit from them. They smelled nice enough."

Resonantia: "Regardless, I'd like us to do a patrol around a few key areas to make sure nothing nefarious is going on."

Iratus: "If that is what you want, then let's see who is willing."

---

Chapter 695

Later that day, Iratus and Salvos were out on patrol on the north side of the train tracks. Their first destination was the Travelers Cabin, as it was coined, for it was where Stina's group was for a time.

As the two gathered around the cabin, Salvos held up his hand.

Salvos: "Wait." He gave a few sniffs. "Strange, Echo wasn't here before."

Iratus: "Echo is here?"

Salvos: "Something. Let's see if he is still here."

Iratus walked up to the door and gave it a knock, and in a few seconds, the sounds of something big moved around, and when the door opened, the large sharkman Echo indeed was the one here.

Iratus in a playful tone: "There you are. We have been looking everywhere for you."

Echo slightly annoyed: "I have been trying to find a proper place to stay." Then, his expression softened slightly. "It turns out that the cabin is the only real place I can rest my head."

Salvos: "Uh, no. Crater Haven has been infested with treeskins. You should be seeing an overflow of those monsters soon."

Echo: "I can't believe it! Then what should I do?"

Iratus: "Considering these treeskins are a threat to us as well, you can join our incursions into Crater Haven to eliminate them."

Echo: "And risk my life? No way."

Salvos: "As long as there are a bunch of us, monsters are rarely a threat."

Echo: "I am no soldier, so there is no way I'm getting into that."

Iratus: "Ah, before I forget, I have to tell you something."

---

Chapter 696

Iratus filled Echo in on the two people from Purple City. Echo was surprised at first, but after the whole story, Echo didn't seem happy.

Echo: "I don't recall those two, so they might be new. Hm." He took a second to think. "You said they have not appeared again?"

Iratus: "Yeah. Purple City is far away, so this would be normal."

Echo: "Far, but not that far." Then he gave a slight smile. "If they do come back, I will be more than happy to try my luck with them again."

The conversation continued, and Iratus caught Echo up on all the goings on before everyone went their separate ways.

Echo: "I'll try that ruined town, Last Mistake, next."

Salvos: "Trust us; you'll love it there." His voice was slightly sarcastic.

On the way back, the sky was becoming blacker, and a fuzz hung in the air.

Salvos: "The heck? Is it a blackest day?"

Iratus: "I didn't feel the fall. Then again, we know so little about the Nexus Prime and these blackest days. Blasted silver, we got about fifteen minutes to the tower. If reality is breaking, then we need to head out fast."

The pair ran towards the tower and eventually got to the train tracks, where once was the hole where the train from long ago fell in; now there was a large tower, an obelisk if anything, now stuck in it, and it towered high into the sky.

Salvos: "Oh, sure, more non-sense."

Iratus: "It still does not feel like a blackest day, but random things appearing is what is supposed to happen. So I guess reality is breaking?"

Salvos: "Your loves once talked about a mini blackest day, so maybe this is something like that, maybe?"

Iratus: "God bless it."

---

Chapter 697

The obelisk was a black structure, towering above them, seemingly absorbing the light around it. Its surface was composed of dozens of unevenly compressed squares, like blocks forced together by some crazy architect. The structure itself bulged in some places, narrowing in others, giving it an unnatural, almost pulsating appearance, as if the stability of the building was struggling to hold itself together.

The edges of each square shimmered faintly and emitted a strange white hue. It looked too large for the hole it occupied, as though it had pushed its way up from the ground, displacing the area itself to take root here.

Iratus could feel a faint hum in the air, like a low, discordant vibration emanating from the obelisk. It wasn’t just an audible sound, but a resonance he could feel down to his bones.

The wolf gave an angry expression.

Salvos: "That isn't normal."

Iratus: "I would say what is supposed to be normal, but I think I know what you mean. This thing should not exist."

Both men looked around and didn't see anything else or anyone else.

Iratus: "Any chance I can convince you to help me take a better look at that black structure?"

Salvos: "We really need backup, but also, I believe there was a scouting party checking out the tunnels under here? They should have finished way before we even got here, but if not..."

The wolfman tried to think of something.

Iratus: "I get it. Come on."

The pair walked closer to the black structure, and they got close to what looked like some sort of doorway or entrance, and they got close enough to peek inside the structure.

---

Chapter 698

As Iratus and Salvos stepped through the threshold, the air shifted immediately, with the inside of the building being dense and suffocating. The walls were made of the same compressed squares as the exterior, but here they were warped even more unnaturally; their design almost made them seem to move, but it was only an optical illusion.

The ceiling was very high and was even worse with it not only having that illusionary design, but looking at it for more than a few seconds would strain the eyes greatly. Here and there, cracks ran along the surface, leaking thin streams of faint white mist that coiled in the air and crackled like static electricity. These streams flickered and shifted, casting dim, disorienting light that made it difficult to judge depth or distance.

Iratus stepped forward cautiously. His footfalls echoed off the uneven walls, and each step sent ripples across the floor, distorting the ground beneath him like liquid before solidifying again a moment later.

Iratus: "The floor feels exactly like when I first came here or when a blackest day first cracks reality."

Salvos: "Think they could be related?"

Iratus: "Only the caretakers of Nexus Prime could answer that, and I don't think we will be talking to them anytime soon."

They reached a large chamber with an open space with a floor that dipped slightly downward in the middle, forming a shallow pit. At the center of this pit was a pedestal with a laptop made of the same shimmering black material.

Salvos took a guarded look around as Iratus cautiously moved forward. Iratus got closer to the computer, which flickered into life, and a large mechanical eye was displayed on the screen.

Computer: "Ah, the Virtue of Family, it is good to finally meet you." The voice had a bit of a robotic tone, not unlike Karish the machine, but also ecstatic and unhinged. "Would you like to play a game?"

Salvos: "When creatures and things call you by that title, you know it is about to get as bad as can be."

Iratus: "We should still try to kill it."

Salvos: "That's just a laptop, bro. You won't kill anything by destroying it."

Iratus: "Ack, then how do we kill computer things?"

Salvos: "I thought you had a better grasp on computers after all the time you spent with Venatio."

Computer: "Are you ignoring me? Are you not terrified of the Sin Lord of Greed, Yaqar?"

Iratus: "Give us a minute, please."

Yaqar: "If you wish to see your ally again, you will attempt my game."

---

Chapter 699

The mouse boy bared his teeth in anger but still spoke calmly.

Iratus: "Fine, have at it, you stupid creation."

The sound coming from the laptop was even more elated as it spoke.

Yaqar: "Excellent, excellent, excellent, excellent, excellent, excellent, four zero four not found, woo!"

Salvos: "Are you a machine thing or a person behind that screen?"

Yaqar: "Wrong question! The game is simple; all you must do is stop the abomination that is tearing my wires apart at the top of the tower. Kill what you wish, but one way or another, all other living things in here must be removed from my tower. Then you get your ally, then you get the treasure, then you get your philosophical quandary for the day, then you get your IT SET MY FINGERS ON FIRE, OH GOD WHY, then you get out of my tower and we never see each other again."

Salvos slightly annoyed: "You must be lucky that we blindly walked into your tower instead of running the hell away."

Yaqar: "That's stupid; why would you not enter into my tower? Someone would have, because that is what should happen. Also, the toliet room is back where you came from; you'll need it, Salvos."

Salvos: "Uh, uh, okay, sure." He finished with a confused look on his face.

Iratus: "Why should we do any of this? Prove you have my... ally? Yeah, my ally captured."

Yaqar: "I don't even know who you are. Would you like some treasure?"

Iratus: "Seems oxymoronic for someone who bases their identity on greed to give treasure."

Yaqar: "I am a most giving and caring PERSON, I AM A PERSON, computer program you will ever meet."

Iratus: "Karish, Shu'al."

Yaqar: "Oh, now I understand, Karish. The first time I thought of something else, but you met the, HE WAS IMPRISIONED FOR SAYING VOTING ON THE BEST COURSE OF ACTION WAS STUPID, HELLO, Karish. Well, I will have you know that, LOOK BEHIND YOU!"

---

Chapter 700

A compartment opened up, and a bundle of computer parts fell out.

Yaqar: "Deal or no deal?"

Salvos: "I... I think those are computer parts."

Iratus: "And if we refuse?"

Yaqar: "Lust will find you, for he seeks another rematch."

Iratus: "Uh, the ebonies? Is one tearing you apart right now?"

Yaqar: "Do you know any others?" I release your ally, and Lust will follow her to your home and butcher all of you to SYNTAX ERROR."

Iratus: "I think we will take our chances."

Yaqar: "Wait...A new deal has suddenly been summoned from another world. Have you met Treasure?"

Salvos came back into the room.

Salvos: "I heard most of that, but you should know I already took all those computer parts outside."

Yaqar: "If I had fingers right now... I would bake a cake. Warning: A new deal has been summoned from another world. Have you met Treasure?"

Iratus: "If he plans on using my ally to lure an ebony to the tower, then we should see where he plans on releasing them."

Yaqar: "I see. So you refused my deal because I was releasing your ally regardless? Then all I have to do is offer you this new deal." He said menacingly. "Behold my new deal, treasure!"

The already opened compartment giggled a little. The eye on the monitor blinked and looked around.

Yaqar: "Hello?"

Iratus and Salvos already left, but they could still hear the voice from the laptop.

Yaqar: "Wow. I am the worst villain ever."

---

EPISDOE 70: END

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Episode 70 End Character Sheet
Name: Iratus Lionheart
Species: Mousefolk
Age: 16
Coverings: blonde fur, white gambeson (many repairs, some leather patchwork), leather gloves, tactical vest, tailorcraft backpack, leather plate helmet, delicate gold chain with a small pendant shaped like a lion's glare, flashlight, bronze breastplate
Weapons: long sword, 3 knifes, short sword, hammer, 1 dagger
Equipment: belt, belt bag, water skin, leathercraft backpack, 2 bags, 5 copper coins, 1 small silver bricks, 20 silver coins, 30 gold coins

Wounds: none

Relevant Community Stash: a fire starter, whetstone, several leather items, 2 glass jar, 12 bottles, 1 fish net, primitive sewing kit, a bunch of small wooden figures, wooden dice, metal scrap, lots of rusted metal, several small fish nets, sextant, some bedrolls, a tent, a large barrel, writing material, 68 cloaks and other clothing materials, some fabrics, 4 carts, 4 stitched tents, skin drum, beautiful arts of tropical scenery, floatation devices, wildlife figures, lots of tropical clothing, ancient era hyenafolk clothes, gas generator, four flood lights

Armory: 32 short swords, 33 knifes, 19 daggers, 23 metal spears, 4 arming swords, 4 long swords, 2 extra gambeson, semi-automatic rifle (no ammo), 3 hunting traps, 5 snares, 12 backpacks, 3 katanas, 3 short katanas, crossbow, several pounds of C4
Aestus: gambeson, bronze breastplate, leather helmet, metal spear, 2 knives, short sword, bronze long sword.
Victoria: bronze breastplate, gambeson, leather helmet, metal spear, short sword, crossbow, 2 daggers, flashlight
Resonanita: steel breastplate, gambeson, metal helmet, metal spear, short sword, 1 knife, compound bow, flashlight
Ignis: bronze breastplate, gambeson, leather helmet, metal spear, crowbar, 1 knife

Treasure: 13 copper coins, 2 silver coins 12 iron coins, a tarnished silver brooch, a small ornamental figurine, a few antfolk tapestries, some antfolk art, bronze lantern, bronze idol, some jeweled trinkets, iron lantern

Home Base, Tower: Large Storage Area (many crates, clay pots, and wooden chests), Basic Workshop Area (lots of tools, woodcarving tools, glue, sandpaper), Kitchen Area (many tools, many cutlery items, pots&pans, makeshift grill), Library, Armory, Infirmary Room (surgery tools, first aid kit, plenty of medicine and equipment), Children's Quarters, Master Bedroom (proper bedding, sensual antfolk sculpture), Six Bedrooms (proper bedding), four portable solar panels

Outside Base: Butchering Hut (modern butchery kit, smoking rack), Tannery Hut, Underground Storage Area, Garden Area (fenced in), Tool Shed (fishing gear and supplies, trowel, woodcutting axe, woodworking tools, lots of rope, rope ladder, plows, hoes, sickles, rakes, shovels, scythes, chisels, anvils), Wooden Wall, Small Cabin (Venatio), Large Cabin (Winter Winds), Large Cabin (Dark Sky Family), Gravestone, Rabbit Hutches.

Books: 3x woodworking books, weathered leather-bound journal, war game booklet, sketch book (from warband), Bathhouse Reviewers (entire 80 book series), cards, Fractura's Notes, Tempestas's Notes, 12 survival guides, 3 technical manuals, 46 fiction novels, 11 encyclopedias, 4 dictionaries, 22 cookbooks, 2 gardening guides, 3 crafting books, 20 educational textbooks, 5 religious texts, 4 diaries, 12 children's books

Year 2, Day 106

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TOWER FOLK:
Iratus of House Lionheart
mouse, male, blonde fur, blonde hair, gold eyes, 6'6, age: 16, b day: 350
-
Victoria Mother of House Lionheart
raccoon, female, gray fur, black hair, brown eyes, 6'3, age: 16, b day: 5
-
Aestus of clan Riversinger
otter, female, red fur, red hair, blue eyes, 6'1, age: 16, b day: 99, (preg 111 days)
-
Ignis Yang
red panda, female, reddish-brown/white fur, black hair, golden eye, 6'4, age: 16, b day: 344, (preg 11 days)
-
Resonantia Diamond Heart Steel
shark, female, blue-gray hue skin, white hair, blue eyes, 6'5, age: 16, b day: 2, (preg 138 days)
---

CHILDREN:
Negligere Lionheart
shark, male, steel gray skin, white hair, gold eyes, age: 1, b day: 2
-
Ruina Lionheart
otter, female, orange fur, vibrant orange hair, blue eyes, age: 1, b day: 330
-
Gula Lionheart
red panda, male, brown fur, dark brown hair, gold eyes, age: 1, b day: 340
-
Tenacitas Lionheart
raccoon, female, silver fur, dark blonde hair, amber eyes, age: 1, b day: 345

Frustra Lionheart
raccoon, male, gray fur, blonde hair, gold eyes, age: 0, b day: 338
---

NEIGHBORS:
Venatio of Wise Storms, Mother of House Black Jewel
fox, female, red fur, red hair, brown eyes, 6'6, age: 72, b day: 299
---

WINTER WINDS CLAN:
Studium of Winter Winds
fox, male, gray fur, black hair, blue eyes, 5'8, age 13, b day: 190

Fuligo Leaf Shadow
otter, female, black fur, blonde hair, blue eyes, 5'6, age 13, b day: 245, (preg 40 days)

Bellum of House War Knuckles
cheetah, female, blonde fur, blonde hair, blue eyes, 5'11, age 15, b day: 91, (preg 76 days)
---

DARK SKY FAMILY:
Salvos Dark Sky
wolf, male, black fur, white hair, copper eyes, 6'8, age 27, b day: 66

Leitmotif Schlange
snake, female, yellow and red scales, naga bodied, gold  eyes, age 24, b day: 229, (preg 151 days)

---

(farm)
UMBRA OCEAN FAMILY:
Procella Ocean Drinker
weasel , female, blonde fur, black hair, green eyes, 6'5, age 22, b day: 207, (preg 55 days)

Iter of Sanguinem Umbra
goat, male, white fur, blonde hair, brown eyes, 6'7, age 20, b day: 334
---

(farm)
THE COBALTS:
Commercium Jade Blue Cobalt
rabbit, male, white fur, black hair, gray eyes, 6'8, age: 25, b day: 221

-
Abrasione
hyena, female, tan fur, blonde hair, gold eyes, 6'5, age: 20, b day: 4, (preg 194 days)

-
Kuxatura
hyena, male, tan fur, black hair, gold eyes, age: 1, b day: 284

---

LAST MISTAKE
Deficio
lion, male, gray fur, rich gray hair, green eyes, 6'6, age: 46, b day: 111

Confodere Oculi Acuti
hyena, male, dark brown fur, black hair, gold eyes, 6'9, age 26, b day: 239

Malignitas of House Brokensand
feline, male, light black fur, light black hair, brown eyes (single eye), 6'7, age 29, b day: 343