"Overseer, what we doing?" Grog, the leader of my Orkand team asked.
I was standing inside the biome for the Briar Lieon's created thanks to Chase's containment cage enchanted item with Grog and his second in command Tina. The biome was a series of mountains that floated above a thick fog too dense to see through.
"Finding Chad and fixing his screw up." I replied with a sigh.
I scanned the mountain range below us. My squad and I had set up the Briar Lieon riding station pretty close to the portal out of the biome so that anyone who had enough or just wanted to leave to could fairly easily. At least it should have been very close, looking down I could only see the fog below and signed that parts of the mountain had cracked and fallen away.
"Might be a bit bigger than a screw up…" I added then concentrated on the manacite communication ring and Chad specifically.
Chad replied smarmily. I frowned and crossed my arms at the man's tone.
My left eyebrow twitched in annoyance at that comment and admittedly it stung a bit. Being told I can't do something because I'm a normie was a normal everyday occurrence for the vast majority of my life. Until I met Jade I believed I was destined to just roll with the punches and not do much to try and change my fate. It wasn't till I met Chase that I realized how little all the efforts I had put in to bettering my family's life had done. Which was why I wasn't going to let another person caught in the swell of Chase's gravity talk down to me.
I took a deep breath then put four fingers in my mouth and whistled. It was loud and shrill, echoing off the sides of nearby floating mountains and carrying the sound throughout the entire biome.
I waited a couple seconds before I heard the familiar chittering of the inhabitants of this biome: The Briar Lieon. The Briar Lieon was the combination of a sugar glider, giant hare, and lion fish. Chase made it based off of the Furgong made by Justice Technologies and being shown off by them inside the Sadamas center.
The Briar Lieon stand at five feet tall and take most of their physical characteristics from the giant hare. They have overdeveloped hindlegs which they can use to jump more than ten times their own height, the sugar glider's gliding membrane between it's arms and legs, as well defensive spines and quills laden with lion fish poison hidden inside the hare fur on their back.
There were fifteen Briar Lieons inside the biome and ten of them were currently flying towards me and my Orkand team. A fact that made me want to slam my head into a wall, since I was a normie and able to wrangle multiple evos without any mana and Chad was a splicer and couldn't get a single one to listen to him.
The first of the Briar Lieon's reached me and landed on the mountain side above me with the others landing on the remaining space on the mountaintop. All ten were looking at me with expectant and surprisingly relieved eyes.
"Manager!" The first of the Briar Lieons exclaimed happily.
"Hello everyone. Can someone tell me what the heck is going on?" I asked, glancing around at the collection of evos. The evos all glanced around at each other then the first answered.
"That splicer that bossman Sin left in charge was letting those people do basically anything they wanted. Two of those guys started racing us and making us go longer than we wanted so we refused. The two that were racing used mana to force them off their backs…and accidently forced the mountain apart." The Briar Lieon explained.
I groaned then pinched the bridge of my nose. I had a feeling that there was something Chad wasn't telling me but letting nobles and military officials walk all over him wasn't good. I looked to Grog and Tina with serious expression that made them both flex their muscles and pop their joints in preparation for a fight. I then looked back to the first Briar Lieon.
"Can you take us to where Chad and the others are?" I aasked. The Briar Lieon nodded enthusiastically.
"Yes! We can get there swiftly!" The evo exclaimed then jumped from his spot on the mountain and landed beside me. He crouched down and I saw his fur shift and flatten which I knew was the evo simply laying the spines on his back down so he didn't accidently stick me. "Climb on! We'll get you there in a flash Manager!"
I did as the Briar Lieon said then looked back at my Orkands and saw that they were doing the same. Holding on tightly to the Briar Lieon's neck fur I prepared myself as it swiftly jumped into the air and flung it's arms and legs open to start gliding on the wind with its membrane.
"Oh shit!" I exclaimed and held on tighter, the wind rushing furiously past my ears and face.
"Are you alright, Manager?" The Briar Lieon asked.
"Yes, just surprised by how fast you are!" I replied then glanced back to see that all of the Briar Lieons flying behind me, including the ones that Grog and Tina were riding.
The Briar Lieons flew through the sky, heading towards another mountain that was drifting towards the sun in the west. The mountain was shaped like a pillar with many holes and cave entrance in the sides. At first I thought everyone was on that mountain however the Briar Lieons simply looped around the mountain and speed up, sort of sling shooting towards the a oddly shaped mountain drifting further and further away.
As the group neared I noticed that there were multiple parts of the mountain that were either burned or looked to be blasted off by lightning or fireballs. The smell of burnt flesh and ozone quickly filling my nostrils.
"A fight?" I said softly. The Briar Lieon I was riding chittered angrily and chattered it's teeth.
"Attackers! My brethren!" The evo growled.
"What happened to the other evos? There are five missing from the group?" I asked.
"Those people…kept them." The Briar Lieon replied, his voice suggesting barely contained rage. "You will see soon Manager."
As we reached the summit of the mountain a flash of blue light caught my attention and jerk the Briar Lieon's neck fur sharply to the left.
"Evade!" I snapped.
The Briar Lieon immediately rolled to the left and barely dodged a lightning bolt that was obviously aimed at us. I glanced over to the direction the lightning bolt came from and saw a man in a military uniform with a offensive spell sigil in front of his outstretched hand. He wasn't alone either, there were several other men and women in different military uniforms standing a couple feet away.
"STOP YOUR CASTING!" I bellowed as I saw two more of the military officials start to cast spells.
Hearing my voice, the splicers all stopped casting their spells. The Briar Lieon I was riding flew over the splicers and I saw Chad standing back several yards away from the military splicers he was supposed to be watching. Behind him I saw something that made my stomach churn.
The five missing Briar Lieons were being held captive behind Chad. Restrained using various types of utility spells, the most noticeable one was a lightning cage type of spell. I gritted my teeth and directed the Briar Lieon to land in front of Chad.
The Briar Lieon swooped down with great speed and then came to a sudden stop a few feet above the ground and levitating for a few seconds before finally landing. I quickly jumped off the Briar Lieon and approached Chad.
"CHAD WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?" I yelled. Chad looked confused at my anger then frowned.
"Waiting for bossman Sin to get here…" He started but I quickly cut him off.
"Not that you idiot! Why the hell are you letting these people treat the Briar Lieons like this?!" I snapped. I turned and motioned towards the captured evos, all of them having deep cuts and wounds on their bodies thanks to their magical binds.
"I'm sorry, who are you?" One of the military officials asked. I turned to look at the speaker and saw that it was the splicer that shot at us with the lightning bolt.
"Nathan Kestral, logistics Manager for Sho'lajah Artifact Company. Now release these evos at once!" I replied. The military splicer looked indignantly at me for my demands. Chad suddenly grabbed me by my shoulder and spun me around.
"Are you insane! Do you have any idea who that is?!" Chad snapped. I grabbed Chad's hand and forced him to let go of my shoulder.
"I don't care who he is! His name and status doesn't give him the right to go treating our company's evos however he wants!" I barked back then pointed a finger in his face. "How about you tell me what the hell you are doing Chad? No wonder the Briar Lieons refused to listen to you if you're letting random people treat them however they want!"
"Randoms! How dare you!" The splicer growled.
"They are customers…" Chad started but I quickly cut him off.
"They are nothing until they pay for our services! They have no power over our company and we have no obligation to kiss their asses and kowtow to their every whim! Especially not at the expense of our company's evos!" I snapped. Chad glared at me and slapped my hand out of his face.
"Who are you to speak to me that way! You're not a splicer! You're a freaking normie!" Chad snapped then motioned towards the captrued evos. "Don't act like you could control a situation any better when you can't even control evos! What can you do when I can't do anything?"
Chad's words cut like a burning dagger to the gut. 'What could I do?' was a question I had asked myself several times over my life. For as long as I could remember in Egypt I had no choice but to bend to the will of those stronger than me, to splicers who were afforded more opportunity than me. I was weak, with no power or influence of my own. All I could do was hide meekly in the shadows, and every time I tried to stand up for myself I was quickly beaten to reality.
I wasn't like Sin, who had years of fighting instincts and experience to rely on. Or Iris who was trained since birth to protect one person. Or even Chase who had word hard to bend the rules and find his own way in life. I was weak and helpless.
A sharp popping sound coming from behind me followed by a quill embedding itself in the mountainside beside Chad's head quickly brought me out of my head. I looked back and saw the first Briar Lieon glaring at Chad with his fur standing in end, reveling the dozens of quills sticking straight out of his back. Beside him was Grog and Tina who were practically foaming at the mouth with rage.
"HE'S THE FUCKING OVERSEER! NEVER DISRESPECT!" Grog bellowed.
"The Manager doesn't need to command us! We follow willingly!" The first Briar Lieon snapped.
My eyes widened as I realized what was happening. The Briar Lieons had completely surrounded the military officials both on the mountain and in the air while Grog, Tina, and the first Briar Lieon came to my defense.
"TINA SMASH!" Tina exclaimed and smashed his fists together.