Second Skin Omnibus

by M Damon Baker

  The shaft flew forward, expanding mid-flight when Enlarge took effect and then struck the bones of the undead dragon’s tail. The beast let out a bellow of unbridled outrage as the thick bones froze and then shattered in a hail of icy destruction. The injury obviously wasn’t fatal by any means, but the beast’s health bar ticked down noticeably when the long section of its tail broke off.

  Taking advantage of its brief distraction, Bane flipped the skeletal monstrosity on its side and pinned it beneath him as he raked his claws over its animated remains. His talons rent deep gouges in the creature’s bones, and he even managed to snap off a few of its ribs as well, but even so, the damage was clearly not enough. The ancient dead monster withstood his assault, and although it was still pinned beneath him, Bane was quickly tiring and would not last much longer.

  I had only one option left to me, and I dashed forward as close as I dared in a desperate gamble to save Bane’s life. When I got as close as I could, I cast Merge, disappearing into the nighttime shadows instantly when it took effect. I hoped that the darkness would protect me from injury just as well as it shielded me from sight, but I had no way of knowing. All I truly knew was that Bane was in trouble, and without my help, he’d be dead in a matter of minutes. Even if it cost me my own life, that was not going to happen.

  The pace that the Spell allowed me to advance at was agonizingly slow, but eventually, I drew close enough and canceled the magic when I was finally in place. The second I reappeared, I pulled the Essence Blade out from behind my back, imbuing it with one of my talents as I swung it with all my might at the undead dragon’s forelimb in front of me.

  The power of my swing and the enchantment of the Blade drove it deep into the massive bone, taking down the monster’s health bar another tick. The thin tendrils of darkness that emanated from the Blade leached into the stark white bone, crumbling away a small section and adding to the damage I’d caused. But I hadn’t taken the huge gamble to merely whittle away at its vitality—the blow had another purpose entirely. Disable took effect immediately as well, and the dragon stumbled, collapsing beneath Bane, unable to resist him with only the three limbs it had left to it.

  I immediately rolled away, and recast Merge, seeking refuge within the darkness as I retreated. Bane and the undead dragon fought furiously, thrashing wildly in their struggles, and I doubted that I’d survive long in that maelstrom, even with the protections of my Shadow Armor and God-forged gear.

  But my single strike had turned the tide, allowing Bane to overpower the crippled abomination. With the creature off-balance and unsteady, Bane was able to tear away its remaining forelimb, leaving it virtually helpless against him. Straddling its broad back and pinning the foul beast’s wings beneath him, Bane pummeled at its skull relentlessly until the heavy bone shattered under his withering assault. Once it had been effectively decapitated, the skeletal dragon collapsed, its bones losing whatever vile enchantment that had held them together, and they crashed to the ground in a heap.

  Bane was not much better off than his defeated foe, his tattered wing hung almost lifelessly at his side, and the deep gouges that the undead monster had ripped into his sides bled freely as he limped away from the scene of the struggle before falling to the ground. Although Bane had won his battle against the undead monstrosity, the vicious conflict had left him near death as well. But I had no healing Spells or curative magic to aid him; only my crystals, so I pulled out a handful of them and began crushing them against Bane’s scales as soon as I reached his side.

  There are more, Sintári, his pained words froze my blood when they echoed in my mind.

  The realization that the Mistress of Shadows had very likely lured us into a trap shot through my mind, competing for a half-second with my overwhelming concern for Bane’s safety, but there was no way I was going to abandon Bane when he needed me most. I’d done something similar back in Kiva and had vowed to never relive that bitter experience again.

  Stel and Venna arrived just as I began treating Bane’s wounds. Although the powerful crystals would have healed any of us rather quickly, they’d not been created with the intention of treating the massive injuries that had been inflicted on Bane. The long gashes that tore through his scales stretched the entire length of his side, overwhelming the healing power of my tiny crystals, despite their potency.

  Venna saw this immediately, and added her healing prayers to my efforts, laying her hand on Bane’s side as she began chanting her incantations. Turning to Stel while I continued to crush red crystals into Bane’s flank, I told him what Bane had revealed to me.

  “More enemies are coming. Prepare our forces as best you can.”

  Without Bane, I wasn’t sure that we could defeat another abomination like the undead dragon, let alone several of them, but I wasn’t about to simply roll over and die without a fight. So, while Stel hurried to inform the First Marshal of the threat, Venna and I continued our desperate efforts to heal Bane’s brutal injuries.

  While we worked, Bane’s golden eyes slowly slid shut. Although I could still feel his presence, the fight had taken nearly everything he had, and he’d lapsed into unconsciousness. Even though we still hadn’t managed to close his wounds, the bleeding had finally stopped, and Venna cast yet another healing Spell as I withdrew that last of my red crystals from within the folds of the Forest Cloak.

  Once I’d used the final crystal, all I could do was stand by helplessly, watching Venna as she continued to cast her magic. When I stepped back, I noticed that Líann had joined us as well, pressing her own healing crystals against Bane’s side, just as I’d been doing. Her hands shook slightly as I watched her crush one of the red gems into his scales, an obvious indication of her distress over Bane’s terrible wounds.

  After several more moments, Bane’s health bar ticked upwards a notch, and the deep slashes in his side slowly began to pull together, gradually restoring his vitality. Although Bane was by no means fully healed, he was finally out of danger. Or at least he would be if our enemies allowed him enough time to complete his recovery.

  “Go,” Venna urged me weakly, clearly drained from her efforts. “I’ll watch over Bane for you. Your strength will be needed on the front lines, Dreya. That’s where you can protect him best.”

  She was right, and I knew it, but I just couldn’t make myself leave his side. When I hesitated, Líann pulled me away, gently guiding me towards where our Army was forming up our defenses. As soon as I saw our soldiers frantically organizing themselves, something in my mind snapped, and I could think of nothing else other than unleashing my vengeance on those who had caused my Bane so much harm.

  I wasn’t sure how we’d fight another undead dragon. We’d never considered the possibility of facing an enemy who’d come at us from above; that was Bane’s exclusive territory, or so we’d thought. Still, Evans arranged our Army in a defensive posture, relying on our archers and Evokers for our offense, shielding them from harm behind a wall of Dwarven Steel-clad soldiers and razor-sharp spears.

  While the vile abomination that attacked Bane had apparently been immune to fire, having shrugged off my Fireball as if it were nothing, it hadn’t breathed any flames. Even though it had somehow been able to take flight with its skeletal wings, I wondered if it had lost the ability to create fires of its own. As I took my place among our forces, I certainly hoped so, because that would be the only way we’d stand any chance of surviving what was apparently coming for us.

  Before long, the rumbling sounds of something approaching broke the stillness of the night air. There were no piercing cries from above, nor any deafening roars as before, only the steady thrumming of thousands of impacts against the ground—countless feet and hooves marching inexorably closer towards our position. We’d been searching for the Mistress of Shadows’ army for so long, now it seemed that they’d found us. From the sound of their approach, I expected a mass of soldiers, escorted by some sort of cavalry, so I was completely unprepared for what I saw when our enemy fin
ally came into view. I’d thought Bane’s warning had been about the impending arrival of another undead dragon, but the threat he’d tried to tell me about was something completely different.

  Beastkin.

  It had been some time since I’d faced off against the foul creatures, but even so, I quickly realized that these beastkin were very different from the rabid creatures that had attacked us before.

  On every previous occasion where we’d encountered them, the wild beasts had launched a frenzied assault, throwing themselves at us recklessly, seemingly without any regard for their individual safety. But these beastkin marched forward in orderly ranks, bearing their weapons in clenched fists as they stared at us with an almost unrestrained hatred burning in their eyes. Their numbers were beyond count, and I saw no end to their formation as they approached. Distant rows of soldiers appeared to emerge from the murky darkness of the night as they came into view one after another, apparently with no end in sight.

  The increased level of discipline over their feral brethren was not the only difference I noticed. Where the other beastkin we faced had seemed to be a random amalgamation of beast and sentient forms, these monstrosities had been far more carefully bred. Each one possessed the perfect head and torso of a sentient, save for a few with short antlers or horns; only the extremities of these abominations bore the traces of their bestial origins. Yet like their distant relatives, they wore no armor, nor did they wear clothing of any kind. With only the weapons and shields in their hands, they marched forward; the open display of their unnatural origins lending an even more unsettling aspect to the beastkin army.

  The vast army came to an abrupt halt just beyond the range of our archers, and a single beastkin stepped forward. Even in the darkness, Enhanced Sight revealed the orcish origins of his heavily muscled body, but with legs that featured the backward-facing knees of whatever beast he’d been bred from. Waving a flag of parley, the lone beastkin advanced into the empty field that lay between our two forces. I began walking forward to meet him, but before I could take a single step, Broda was already halfway across the open ground and quickly came to stand before the beastkin emissary.

  Although the pair were too far away for their voices to carry back to me, I watched intently as the beastkin spoke and Broda responded to his words. Then, with an unmistakably hostile glare, the beastkin turned and strode away towards his army while Broda made her way back to relay her report to me.

  “What did he want?” I asked when Broda finally reached me.

  “You,” she replied. “He said we only had to hand you over and they’d let us leave in peace.”

  Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who’d come to view my conflict with the Mistress of Shadows on a very personal level. Obviously, the fucking bitch wanted a piece of me just as badly as I wanted to rip out her miserable throat. I’d love the opportunity to meet the filthy witch, but not at the cost of surrendering myself to the beastkin army.

  “I told him to bugger off,” Broda smirked as she drew her hammers.

  “Perhaps that explains the reaction,” I commented dryly as we both turned to face the beastkin horde.

  While we’d been speaking, the massive army started marching in place and then began striking their weapons against their shields, adding the ring of clashing metal to the nearly deafening sound of their stomping hooves and feet. But the brief delay that the parley had provided allowed our artillery corps to finish assembling their weapons, bringing their might to bear in the battle that was surely about to commence. We’d sorely miss Bane’s fires, but with our siege weapons in place, at least we stood a chance against the vast beastkin horde.

  Then, with bloodcurdling screams echoing from their throats, the beastkin army surged forward, rushing towards us with their overwhelming numbers.

  The night sky flashed with fire and lightning as our Evokers responded with their magic, and our archers filled the air with deadly bolts and shafts. My own Shockwave enhanced arrow flew out among them, magnified by the power of Retribution and the God-forged earth arrow I’d imbued with the talent. The effect was simply… devastating.

  The shaft impacted among the charging horde with an ear-splitting roar of thunder, hurtling beastkin bodies through the air, tossing the foul creatures aside like leaves in the wind. The resulting chaos left a huge void in the beastkin lines, one that those behind seemed reluctant to enter. Not knowing the origin of the deadly strike, or if any of its effects still lingered in its wake, the ones behind skirted around the borders of its edges, avoiding the destruction that had been wrought there. I’d hoped that the brown-fletched earth arrow I’d chosen would disrupt the beastkins’ charge, but even I was shocked by the magnitude of its power.

  Yet despite that power, the beastkin continued to surge forward. Their numbers were simply far too great for a single attack to have any real effect on them. So, as they closed in and our siege weapons finally entered the fray, I fired more Shockwave enhanced arrows into the packed mass of beastkin bodies; alternating between fire, air, earth, and water-imbued shafts.

  The sharp crack of the catapults launching their missiles and the deep twang of the heavy ballistae firing their deadly bolts thrummed in my head while I shot my arrows. Each elemental shaft brought total mayhem wherever it landed; burning, freezing, electrifying, or simply shredding beastkin bodies by the dozens with every impact. But even so, it just wasn’t enough.

  Although our spears took many of them as they reached our lines, the beastkins’ endless numbers crashed against the armor of our defenders in a deafening collision of metal, flesh, and bone. I kept firing my arrows into the horde that was surging behind the beastkin front, but between my dwindling Aura and the press of bodies drawing closer by the second, I knew that it was only a matter of time before I was forced to pull my blades.

  Our soldiers fought valiantly, but despite their heroic efforts, the beastkin slowly forced us back with their overwhelming numbers. We left a trail of their corpses in our wake, but the beastkin bodies weren’t the only ones littering the cold ground as Evans repeated the tactic he’d used before and we retreated in the face of their vicious onslaught. Many of our own fell to their relentless attacks, more as a consequence of the seemingly inexhaustible numbers we faced than any real skill with arms that the beastkin possessed. Still, as I saw the bodies of my fallen people lying on the bloodied ground, I felt the rage inside me beginning to burn hot with my fury, and the dim greys of the night shifted into a deeper shade of green. With the beastkin so close, as soon as my anger kindled, I drew my swords, funneled the darkness within me into my Shadow Armor, and stepped into the fray.

  With the vast numbers we faced, there was little need for skill or finesse; I simply swung the Essence Blade with one hand while wielding my Short Sword of Sharpness with the other, and beastkin bodies fell like blades of grass before a scythe. No sooner had I decapitated one, then another rushed towards me, only to be disemboweled by my blades. Still more were rent apart by the writhing tentacles of my Shadow Armor as they ripped through the bodies of any beastkin that dared venture too close. Although I was able to hold my position for a time, I was eventually forced back when the rest of the Army slowly withdrew.

  I didn’t give up hope, but the situation certainly began to look grim as the beastkin continued to emerge from the shadows of the night. We’d slain them by the hundreds, and then the thousands, yet they still kept coming. I’d kept Líann behind me as I helped hold the line in front of her, but had lost track of not only my companions, but my Tári as well while the chaotic battle raged all around me. I would have felt it if one of them had fallen, so I knew that they were still alive, but my fears for their safety only increased as our circumstances grew more desperate by the moment.

  Then it happened.

  I nearly cowered in fear when the air above the battlefield was torn asunder by a thunderous bellow of pure outrage. My first thought was that another undead dragon had joined the fight, and I almost lost all hope. But
when the winged form emerged from the dark skies overhead, it flew across the beastkin lines and lit them ablaze with a torrent of burning destruction.

  I could not allow you to fight alone, Sintári, Bane’s voice echoed in my head as he wheeled around for another pass.

  Our lines surged forward as a renewed sense of hope restored our flagging spirits. Beside me, soldiers hacked and slashed at our suddenly desperate foes, turning the tables on the beastkin who’d been so close to defeating us barely a moment before. Bane’s second flight over the army of beastkin completely separated those in front of us from their brethren, trapping them between our steel and the blistering heat of the unrelenting flames at their backs. We slaughtered them mercilessly, and the beastkin quickly fell under a hail of arrows, Spells, and slashing blades.

  Despite the sudden reversal of fortunes, the beastkin army did not retreat; instead, they surged towards the edges of Bane’s wall of fire, seeking a way around it to continue their onslaught. But the barrier of fire allowed us a brief respite, and Evans reorganized our defenses as he prepared for their renewed assault.

  For the first time since I’d joined the fray, I glanced at those around me. Líann was right where I expected her to be: directly behind me, protected by the mass of soldiers I fought beside. Mixed among those troops were many of my own Imperial Guards, fighting alongside me through the entire hectic struggle. It was then that I noticed Ella to my right and realized that it was her shining spear that I’d seen flashing in the edges of my vision during the battle. When I glanced to my left, I saw Insleí standing there, offering me a slight smirk while she took advantage of the brief lull to casually wipe the gore from her black blades. Except for Venna who’d been protecting Bane until his unexpected return to the battle, all my Tári were safe and by my side, much to my relief.