by Aaron Oster
18
Grace blinked weary eyes, squinting against the rising sun and trying to stop herself from falling asleep. Lumia had tried to get her to do so multiple times, but she’d refused. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to, but every time she did, she would see the horrible scene of Morgan falling from the sky, blood trailing behind him as the massive sphere of destruction swallowed him whole.
She knew she couldn’t stay awake forever, but right now, she was determined to keep the nightmares at bay in the only way she knew how.
“I think we should stop for a rest soon,” Lumia said, breaking the silence.
Though Grace wanted to insist they keep on going, she knew that Lumia was tired. Despite her high rank, Lumia required quite a bit more sleep than humans did, and she’d been flying all night.
“Alright,” she agreed, yawning widely and rubbing at her eyes.
She knew that things would be worse once they landed. She’d be unable to keep herself distracted and awake once they touched the ground, and she was dreading it.
They began their descent, Lumia aiming for a small copse of trees at the base of a nearby mountain. They’d covered a fair bit of distance, but they were still well within the South Kingdom. According to Lumia, it would take over a week to reach City Six, where Garrison Blue was stationed.
Grace was still blinking through her exhaustion when Lumia was blindsided by a massive, dark shape and sent spinning from the sky, roaring in surprise.
Grace was knocked from the drake’s arms and sent plummeting to the ground nearly a hundred feet below. The air rushed around her, whipping at her hair and clothes as the ground rushed up to meet her.
The Grace of six months ago would have panicked and flailed, but Morgan had trained this Grace.
She threw her arms out to the sides, then used her Body Shift+ to lighten herself. With her arms now extended and her weight more than cut in half, her descent slowed. Still, the ground was rushing up fast, and she knew she needed to time her next move carefully. When she was just ten feet from the ground, she unleashed her Siren Scream, blasting the ground with a powerful soundwave and giving herself a makeshift cushion.
The blast slowed her enough to avoid breaking any bones, but when she landed, tucking into a roll, Grace managed to collect a good few cuts and bruises before regaining her feet. Despite the rough landing, Grace was alive and felt quite proud of herself. She’d fallen over a hundred feet and wasn’t dead.
A roar from up above grabbed her attention, and she looked up, seeing three dark shapes tangling with Lumia’s – now much larger – bulk. It was hard to make out what they were exactly, due to the uncertain light, but with her Aura Sense, she could see that they were all supers.
Concentrating hard, Grace willed their information to come up but was only met with partial success.
Name: Greater-Winged ???
Rank - ???
Ability type - Super
Her brows furrowed in annoyance, but she realized that if she couldn’t even make out their entire names, then they were beasts that were far too powerful for her to take on. Although she could sense their immense power and make a guess, thanks to Morgan’s training, she couldn’t actually be sure.
She continued to concentrate, looking at both Lumia’s core, which blazed many times denser and heavier, then back to the beasts. Grace knew that Lumia was an Advanced beast at rank 71, and comparing her core to those of the other beasts, they were somewhere in the low 60’s and were perhaps at the Intermediate stage.
She received a flare of warning then from her Aura Sense and pulled her attention from the battle up above to see a pair of furry beasts emerging from the small copse where the two of them were going to rest for a few hours.
They were perhaps two feet at the shoulder and over five long. Their fur was a dark red and covered in small black and brown dots, and a pair of short fangs protruded from their top lips, curving down to their chins. Grace had never seen beasts like this before, but thankfully, the ones down here were much weaker than the beasts in the sky.
Name: Flecked-Dwarf Smilodon
Rank - 10
Ability type - Super
Grace had no idea what a Smilodon was, but judging by the way their muzzles were bunched up and the dark claws were tearing into the stony ground, she was in real danger. While she technically outranked these beasts, it was only by one rank, and she was exhausted. Lumia was still too busy tangling with the beasts in the sky, which meant Grace was on her own.
The beasts could probably sense that she was dangerous, which meant they approached with caution, splitting up and each moving to take a flank.
She breathed out slowly, trying to calm her racing heart, and moved her gaze between the two, waiting for the attack to come. Right now, she didn’t really know much about these beasts, which meant that staying on the defensive was probably best.
It was only because she was watching so closely that she noticed the small twitch in the left’s muscles a moment before it leaped.
Using her Body Shift, Grace reduced her weight, diving forward and under the beast. She jumped to her feet, spinning in place to see the other Smilodon charging at her. She extended both hands, unleashing a Siren Scream and staggering the beast with the powerful wave of sound.
The other Smilodon was on her right and swiping out with its powerful claws. She twisted out of the way and used her movement to unleash a kick, increasing her density and unleashing her Sound Burst as her kick connected. Unlike her Siren Scream, this skill could be projected from any part of her body and produced much smaller, more targeted soundwaves.
The Smilodon was knocked off its feet as the soundwave slammed into its shoulder, and instead of turning to face the other beast as her instincts told her to, she forced herself to attack the downed beast instead.
It was one of the earliest lessons Morgan had taught her about group combat. If you fought a group as a single whole, instead of a bunch of individual parts, you were bound to lose. When fighting a group, target a single fighter at a time while fending off the others. Although this plan couldn’t be implemented all the time, as fights were often chaotic, this time, it worked out just fine for her.
She vaulted over the Smilodon’s body, decreasing her density to give her some extra height, then landed next to its head, slamming her palm into the beast’s ear and unleashing a Siren Scream at point-blank range.
The focused wave of sound blasted the beast’s head to the ground, scrambling its brain but not killing it. Before she could unleash a second attack, the other beast pounced on her. Grace let out a cry of pain as its claws tore into her chest and bore her to the ground.
Thankfully, she’d reacted on instinct and increased her density as soon as the beast had tackled her, and combined with her armor, it prevented the claws from going too deep.
Still, the air was knocked from her lungs, and her ribs creaked alarmingly as the beast’s bulk drove her into the ground. The beast lunged down, trying to bite her head, but she threw herself to the side and used Expand Blows. Her arm bulged, throwing the beast’s aim off and allowing her to partially free herself.
She used the opportunity to punch the beast in the nose, driving it back with a yowl.
Grace was back on her feet in an instant and found herself facing both of the Smilodons once again. One’s ears were bloody, the area around its ears stained a darker red. Its focus also seemed to be a bit off, as one of its eyes were half-closed. The other was uninjured and moved in first to try and take her down quickly.
She spread her legs wide, then thrust both arms forward and used her most powerful skill, Wail Wall.
Her hands expanded as she clapped them together, unleashing the wall of sound that drove the beast to the ground, tearing and crushing its body. The roars of pain were drowned out as she sagged to her knees, her RP all but spent, and the other Smilodon had managed to avoid being caught in the blast radius.
It stalked around, its lips pulling back to show
off its overlarge teeth. However, before it could attack, a massive body crashed to the ground next to it, thrashing around in its death throes. Now that it was on the ground, Grace could see it more clearly.
Its body was covered in colorful feathers, although they seemed to be mostly decorative. Its wings were massive, with a thin membrane stretched between, like that of a bat. Its face was thin and angular, with a long, pointed mouth shaped somewhat like a beak, and it had a tail as well.
All in all, this looked like an odd mix between a bird and a bat, but not like a bird or a bat at the same time. Some of its features, like the clawed hands at the ends of the wings or the oddly muscled chest, just didn’t fit at all. But Grace didn’t stare at the beast for long, as the Smilodon, over its surprise, came at her once again.
She rose to her feet, raising her hands and trying to ignore the pain from her chest. The other Smilodon must have hit her harder than she’d thought. The beast lunged, trying to bite one of her arms, but it seemed that the earlier attack she’d landed had well and truly screwed with its perception.
The Smilodon’s attack went wide, leaving Grace the opportunity to retaliate. Her closed fist drilled into the side of its head, and with Strength being her highest attribute, her punch carried some weight.
The already off-balance beast was thrown off-course, tripping over its own feet and crashing to the ground. Grace jumped at the chance, pouncing on the beast and unleashing another Siren Scream right into its ears. This time, the beast couldn’t take the blast. The soundwaves tore through its skull, resulting in a disgusting explosion of blood and gore as its head was blown to pieces.
Although Grace was already to the point where she’d seen things like this happen before, she couldn’t help but allow a sound of disgust to slip from her mouth. She stood back, already lamenting the ruined armor when she heard a low growling from behind.
She whirled in place and could see that the other beast, despite being covered in blood, was still very much alive.
“Just what the hell are you made of?!” she exclaimed as the Smilodon advanced on her.
One of its fangs was missing, and its sides were oddly crumpled, showing the damaged ribs beneath. One of its eyes was sealed shut, and it was limping badly.
She raised her hands, preparing to take this beast down as well, but was surprised when after a few steps, the Smilodon collapsed. She stared at it for a few seconds, wondering if it was playing dead, but when the beast didn’t rise, she began to relax.
She jumped as another massive, feathered beast crashed to the ground near her, and a moment later, Lumia landed, the last beast clutched between her jaws.
“Are you alright?” she asked, dropping the beast and looking over Grace worriedly. “You’re covered in blood!”
Grace gave her a strained smile, then pointed to the two downed beasts.
“It’s mostly theirs, but I wouldn’t be lying if I said I could do with a bath and a change of clothes. Also, my ribs really hurt. One of them got me pretty good.”
Lumia shrank back to her hybrid form and moved to support her, as Grace’s knees felt oddly weak. Now that the adrenaline was wearing off, though, she realized what had happened. She’d gotten into a fight with two powerful beasts and won! More than that, she would now be able to get her hands on two powerful cores that would help her grow even stronger.
Still, as Lumia escorted her into the trees to get cleaned up and changed, Grace found herself thinking of only one thing — the person who’d taught her all of the skills she’d used to make it through this fight.
Despite the pride she felt at her accomplishments, she couldn’t stop the tears from coming, flowing down her cheeks and leaving trails in the blood. Wherever Morgan was – if he was even still alive as she’d been trying to convince herself – she dearly hoped to see him again soon.
19
Wind whipped around Morgan, setting the light cloak he’d ‘borrowed’ from a village he’d passed flapping and snapping about. The loose shirt and pants he wore were made of nothing more than regular cloth, and he knew that they wouldn’t stand up very well if he were to get into a fight. He only hoped that once in Faeland, he’d be able to find something better.
Right now, he was flying over the ocean, the wall separating Faeland from the Five Kingdoms – now looking like a fragmented piece of glass – slowly flowing smaller behind him.
Now that he was on the other side, he would no longer use his Gravity Rift for fear of drawing attention to himself. Making it to the wall had been surprisingly quick, and with his newfound control, teleportation was easier and faster than ever.
Right now, though, he was just using his regular flight, which would mean a long travel time to reach Faeland. Still, it would give him time to think and plan for his arrival.
The Well of Souls had been located in the Glimmerlands, so that was where he’d begin his search. He wasn’t sure if he had to visit the Wells in any particular order, but finding the next, or even a hint of where it might be, would hopefully be found in the vicinity of the first. Right now, that was his only lead, and he had to hope that it was enough.
Two days of straight flying found Morgan reaching the borders of the Glimmerlands, the shimmering trees blurring beneath him as he streaked toward the field of flowers known as the Rainbow Bridge.
He’d been traveling with more care since he was here. With his Aura Sense all but suppressed, it would be all too easy to find himself ambushed, but thus far, he hadn’t seen much of anything. No people. No beasts. Nothing. He found it all to be somewhat odd — not that he was complaining.
Not running into anyone was a good thing. It meant that he didn’t need to waste time with fights, which would increase the risk of discovery. If he got into a fight now, he would not only have to kill everyone involved but also get rid of the bodies to avoid suspicion, which would take up even more time, and seeing as he was under a strict time constraint, it would be time he couldn’t afford to lose.
After several more hours of flying, Morgan finally found the Rainbow Bridge once more. The small knot of worry that it would somehow be gone began to loosen as he approached and saw the immense power twisting into the sky from the center of the field.
He descended, falling to his stomach and pressing his face into the ground. He was tired and knew that he’d need to sleep soon, but rest was something he couldn’t afford right now. Still, he lay where he was, breathing in the sweet floral scent and allowing his troubled mind to ease. It was only once he began to feel his eyelids drooping that he forced himself back to his feet and began pacing around the well, looking for some clue as to where he should go next.
At first, he thought about trying to go down the tunnel again, but he got the very distinct impression that revisiting the Well would be a bad idea. Still, he needed to find the other two, and all he really knew about them were their names. There was the Well of Eternal Youth and the Well of Consciousness.
The first sounded pretty straightforward, but the second was a lot more obscure.
After searching around the area for over an hour – and having absolutely no luck – Morgan finally gave up. Flopping back to the ground, he folded up his legs and closed his eyes, wondering if he should try opening his Aura Sense, even if just a little, to try and get a feel for his surroundings.
Although he knew it would be painful, especially in an area as dense with reiki as this, Morgan knew he had little choice. While right now, the spot felt calm and peaceful for both his body and soul, he knew what really lay beneath. The reiki-rich environment would all but blind him, overwhelming his senses and inflicting terrible pain. But, if Morgan wanted to find what he was looking for, he knew he had little choice.
Bracing himself against the oncoming rush of sensation, Morgan opened his Aura Sense.
A world of intense violet immediately assaulted him from all sides. It was like staring into the sun, if the sun were a thousand times brighter and could physically harm you. Both his body and
mind screamed in pain as the reiki viciously attacked his senses.
Right now, he was in the eye of the storm, yet it did not protect him. He stared at the twisting and swirling reiki, trying to see past the blinding light for something more. It was too much, and Morgan fell to his stomach, his face pressed into the ground. Just as he began to close his senses off, he saw it.
There, lying beneath the ground, were two lines of reiki, tracing off into the distance. Morgan only managed to look for a second more, getting a general direction of where they went, before slamming his senses completely shut and giving himself a blissful reprieve from the pain.
Despite himself, Morgan grinned. He’d found a way to move forward toward the other Wells. All he had to do was follow the path. He wanted to take off then and there, but his mind had been strained, pushed just a bit too far by the experience. Instead, Morgan just curled up in place, pulling the silver spear close to his chest, and drifted off a much-needed rest.
He allowed himself barely an hour before he was up and on his way, traveling across the Rainbow Bridge and opening his senses every few seconds to make sure he was traveling in the right direction.
However, when he reached the end of the Bridge, and the flowers gave way to darkening trees, Morgan ran into his first problem.
“Well, that’s not good,” he muttered to himself.
The line, the one that had been guiding him to the next Well, abruptly cut off, leaving him to wonder if he might’ve been mistaken about the lines of reiki showing him where to go. He debated going back, perhaps to try and follow the other path, but decided against it. Perhaps the path would only take him as far as the end of the Rainbow Bridge, and then it would be up to him to find its location on his own.