Kin of Exile

by Tyler Bunyard

  Puck soared into the air and approached Aerozthcz. It was carelessly floating high above the ground, the heavy flow of air still wrapped around its body. It rolled its glowing eyes. “Ground me?” it mocked. “I’d like to see you try!”

  Puck focused his attention behind the wind-bearing demon, where a nearby, old parking structure was located. Tens of ancient, broken-down vehicles began to float into the air and cluster. The destroyed light-posts and cracked railings began to lift as well, as Puck focused all of his strength and concentration into the attack. Within a few seconds, a bundle of heavy scrap was held in the sky, casting a shadow upon the wind-demon.

  “Huh…?” Aerozthcz cracked its head to the side curiously. Puck dropped his hands to the floor of his floating platform, and the levitating assemblage of metal crashed down. The airborne creature frantically flailed at the oncoming assault, whipping thin slices of air at the enormous projectile. But try as it might, in an instant, it disappeared into the carnage that was now smashing toward the ground.

  The bodies of the broken-down cars bent and snapped as they slammed into the streets below, the other scrap metals getting covered by the heavier material. A cloud of dust erupted from the target area, and Aerozthcz became buried underneath a pile of wreckage.

  However, less than a second later, thin slices of air shot out from the pile, causing the automobile remains to explode outward. The wind-demon revealed itself, laughing at its opponents.

  “Well you brought me down, I’ll give you that!” it shrieked happily. “I can’t say it hurt much though!” The heavy air flow that wrapped around the demon’s body was still circling as strong as ever.

  Johnny and Karrel paid no attention to the banter however. Both of them had prepared their attacks, and this was the opportunity they were searching for. Four large cannons stood fully constructed and ready to fire at Johnny’s side. The symbols representing the “Barrage” variable wrapped themselves around Karrel’s wrist, as he grasped a green ball of energy in his hand.

  Simultaneously, the two of them let loose their attacks. Large shells of metal erupted from the barrels of Johnny’s turrets, while Karrel tossed his green ball into the air, splitting it into several smaller replicas of itself that immediately soared in upon the demon. The cannon fire and green spheres of energy punched into the winged-creature. A massive explosion echoed throughout the streets of Flarepoint, as debris scattered across the ground. The resulting dust cloud was large enough to obscure the entirety of the road.

  However, their visions were only obscured for a split second, as moments after the attacks landed, a gust of wind erupted from the center of the cloud. The current was so strong, it nearly knocked Karrel off of his feet. With the veil dispersed, Aerozthcz could be seen standing, unharmed, with its armor of air still flowing around its entirety.

  The vicious demon cackled violently as it eyed its prey. “When will you all learn?” it asked, “that you are nothing more than my next meal?” The wind-demon lashed out with its arms, slashing thin strips of pure air through the streets and into the sky at Puck.

  Karrel dove out of the way, as fast as he could, but to no avail. The near invisible attack sliced into the bottom of his leg. The orange light around him flared instantly, and Karrel felt the immense agony of the attack consume his limb. The pain was intense, and Karrel almost believed that his shins had been cut in two. As he scanned the blood pooling at the bottom of his shoes, he knew that had it not been for the protective, orange light surrounding him, he almost certainly would have just lost his foot.

  Meanwhile, Johnny met the blast of air head-on, the chrome snakes along his body expanding to completely cover almost his entirety in a chrome armor. He struggled to stay on his feet from the attack, and a large gash in his metal shielding appeared. The armor immediately started a slow repair process, filling in the newly created gaps in the silver plating. Johnny’s turrets had been completely destroyed however, and they were shooting sparks out from their decapitated hulls. All the while, Puck slammed into the ground near Johnny with a loud thud. He ungracefully rolled to his feet as the debris from his now destroyed platform rained down upon him.

  Regaining their stability, the group turned to face their opponent once more. It was already sending its next strike, this time relinquishing bursts of high velocity wind at its targets. Karrel and Johnny managed to dive out of the way, but Puck was not as lucky. With what little time he had, he telekinetically ripped the rock around him from the ground, wrapping it around his body. For a moment, he looked like a man made of stone, but as the attack washed over his form, the rocks shattered, crumbled, and burst into a million pieces. Puck was knocked onto his ass with several new cuts and blemishes. He struggled back to his feet, injured, but not yet out of the fight.

  Meanwhile, Johnny and Karrel attempted another counter attack. The yellow-eyed engineer laid down some suppressing fire with a few rapidly constructed weapon emplacements, while Karrel began to fire shot after shot of purple and blue energy from his hands. The continuous barrage smashed into the wind-bearing demon, but once again, it stood its ground, the warping windstorm that surrounded the creature protecting it from harm.

  With an ear-shattering cackle, the winged demon twirled once in place. A hurricane of force spawned from its center, encompassing every direction. Karrel and the others braced themselves for the omnidirectional attack. It was of no use. The three friends felt their feet leave the ground, and in one swift motion, they were thrown several feet into the air before they came crashing back down onto the streets below.

  Struggling back to his feet, feeling the aches and bruises all along his body, Karrel desperately surveyed his surroundings, attempting to get a bearing on where he and the others had been thrown. The orange aura surrounding him was still going strong, and both Johnny and Puck were nearby; that was good. However, they were still in the process of getting back up. All of them had been tossed several blocks away from their opponent.

  “Damn it!” Puck slammed a fist into the ground as he stood up. “Nothing seems to phase this bastard.”

  “It’s that damned armor,” Karrel panted. “The thing’s been shielding it from all of the damage. As long as the demon’s got that tornado wrapped around its body, I don’t think we’re going to be able to win this fight.”

  Johnny brushed himself off, tattered pieces of cloth falling from his clothes. “We need to stop the air flow,” he groaned as he caught his breath. “I don’t know how, but that armor is in perpetual motion.”

  “Almost like magic…” Puck gave an injured smile.

  “Magic or not, you can’t get around the laws of physics,” Johnny grimaced. “If we interrupt the airflow of that shield, the energy should redirect away, and that annoying buffer should disperse.”

  “Okay,” Karrel gave a frustrated shrug, “how?”

  Puck smiled. “I’ma need something big,” he suggested before looking at Johnny. “We just need to hold it in place long enough for it to push through the initial barrier.” He paused for a second before bringing his attention to Karrel. “We’re going to need another distraction.”

  Karrel’s stomach clenched as Puck explained his plan. It was most likely going to get him killed, but the air was once again getting heavy, and he could see the toothy smile of his opponent slowly approaching them once more.

  “You ready?” Puck asked.

  “This is beyond stupid…” Karrel complained.

  “Good!” Puck telekinetically ripped a large platform of rock and dirt from the ground, carrying Johnny and himself into the sky.

  Aerozthcz was now close enough that Karrel could once again feel the immense pressure the creature gave off. It was getting stronger, and he felt as though the gravity in the surrounding area had increased threefold. The bloodthirsty creature took notice of the now airborne Johnny and Puck. This meant Karrel was not doing his job…

  Rushing to resolve that issue, Karrel flicked his book behind him so it was levitating close
behind his upper back. He sprinted straight toward his opponent. The demon was taken back by such a direct approach and stared half-confused at the oncoming human. Karrel cursed his obedience to Puck’s plan. It was going to be the death of him.

  Karrel jumped forward, swinging his leg around for a heel-hook toward the demon’s head. To his surprise, the blow connected, and for a short second he felt his heel push up against the strong barrier of wind that was still wrapping itself around the creature. The wind-demon recoiled from the blow, but as Karrel expected, it remained undamaged.

  A crooked smile crept upon the face of the demon before it whipped one of its arms around toward Karrel. Instinctively, he ducked underneath the blow, countering with a two-pronged strike of his own, each of his attacks bouncing against the shield of air. The creature continued its assault with a flurry of blows, lashing with each of its limbs at Karrel. With each strike, a deadly-thin gust of wind sliced into the air, dicing the environment and tearing into the ground, but never hitting Karrel.

  Puck’s plan was working, and his assumption had been correct. Karrel could not believe it. The monster before him was an expert at using the very air itself to destroy everything at a distance, but in close combat, it was not as adept. Karrel’s extensive training in hand-to-hand combat was keeping him alive and giving him an edge in the intimate battle. All he needed to do was keep himself close and keep himself alive.

  For a full minute, Karrel ducked, dipped, dived, and dodged around the creature’s strikes. The street around him had been torn to pieces in the process, and the air smelt of the fresh dirt and dust that had been ripped from the roads. His luck could not hold out any longer, however. Leaving himself open for a split-second, Aerozthcz capitalized on the opportunity, bringing its knee upward into Karrel’s stomach. The force of the blow was enough to lift Karrel off the ground and send him flying.

  With the wind knocked out of him, Karrel soared several feet before landing atop of what used to be an old garbage container, his upper back crushing it underneath the force of his fall. Whatever you guys are doing, you better do it now, Karrel thought to himself as he struggled to forget the electric pain that was surging through his body.

  His prayers were shortly answered. The sky began to darken slightly as a gigantic shadow enveloped the ground. Karrel brought his gaze to the sky. Above him, his two friends stood atop of a floating platform. Puck had both of his hands held high in the air. A short distance in front of him, levitating in the sky, a gigantic mass of scrap and various metals slowly moved forward. From its appearance, it seemed as though Puck had collected whatever he could from the streets of Flarepoint, mashing and melding them together to form one single entity. Now, it was as though a terribly-built, building-sized razorblade was hovering above.

  The winged demon looked to the sky, right as Puck dropped his arms. The floating mass of metal began its descent, rapidly accelerating due to both gravity and Puck’s telekinetic push. Without any time to react, the demon raised its arms to block, however the heaping mass was too quick, and it slammed against the demon’s body. The creature pushed as hard as it could against the gigantic pile of metal, barely able to keep on its feet as the ground beneath it cracked underneath the awesome pressure. The shield that wrapped itself around the demon began to bend.

  In desperation, Aerozthcz shrieked with fury, flailing its arms toward the heap of scrap that was pressing down against it. Blades of air began to rip and tear through the massive compilation of metal, shredding large chunks from the body of the structure. Slowly, Puck’s attack was beginning to lose its volume.

  However, Johnny was prepared for this. He began grabbing the chrome polyhedrons from his belt and tossing them wherever he could at Puck’s heaping mass of metal. Furiously tapping away at the lights on his arm, Johnny piloted his MAIT’s down to the metal and scrap that was pressing against his target.

  As the demon shredded chunks of scrap from Puck’s structure, Johnny’s MAIT’s, now forming themselves into little blobs of chrome, chased after the pieces of metal that were broken off. Swiftly, they caught the severed pieces falling through the air and brought them back into the mass of metal. Johnny’s little bots were attempting to fix and meld Puck’s structure quicker than the demon was able to destroy it.

  The tug-of-war was amazing to witness, but Karrel began to see a problem. Though the demon’s wall of wind was beginning to warp, it had yet to break, and it was becoming painfully apparent that the weaponized air was beginning to destroy the metal structure faster than Johnny was able to repair it. Karrel needed to do something if they were going to make this plan work. But, what could he do? He had no way of attaching a large mass to the wind-demon.

  The lightbulb in Karrel’s head flickered on. He grabbed his green book out from the air, and began flipping through the pages, all the while running straight toward the creature once more. Mid-sprint he came to the page that he was looking for. The red symbols representing the variable “Best Friend” stared back at him. He began wrapping them around his wrist. He closed the distance, still focusing on his book, before he was finally ready. Karrel unleashed the power he stored within his hands.

  The red text dispersed from Karrel’s hand, and in a flash of azure energy, a creature appeared before Karrel. With fluorescent blue streaks wrapped around its body, and deep cerulean eyes glowing with power, Karrel quickly recognized this creature to be the same pyretiff he had summoned before.

  The pyretiff gave a playful smile at Karrel as it surveyed the surrounding battle. It stood excited and raring to go.

  Karrel smiled. He pointed at Aerozthcz, who was still lashing out against the massive razorblade that was smashing down upon it, and met the blue eyes of his summoned demon with his own.

  “Sick ‘em…!” Karrel ordered.

  The azure pyretiff immediately switched from that of a playful beast, to the monster that it was born to be. With a thunderous growl, it rocketed into action, leaping off of the destroyed ground onto whatever nearby surface was capable of holding it. Bouncing down the street, it came within pouncing range of the wind-demon. With all four of its legs, the blue pyretiff sprung off of the ground, charging head first into that of the winged creature.

  Aerozthcz had no time to react. The pyretiff sank all of its razor-sharp teeth into the body of its target. The wind-bearing demon began to scream with heated anger. Smiling while doing so, the pyretiff clung to its opponent. The protective wind was struggling greatly with keeping both of the attacks at bay, and Karrel could now see that the pyretiff’s teeth and Puck’s massive mound of metal were slowly protruding into the whirling shield.

  The wind that continued to wrap around the body of Aerozthcz began to slice its way through that of the pyretiff, but the heaping mound of meat continued its death-hold on its prey. The shield began to warp even more. Karrel knew that it was close to breaking. All it needed was another small push.

  Karrel flipped through the pages of his book and began wrapping the red symbols of the variable “Lock” around his wrists. He needed to make sure not to hit his own pyretiff or Puck’s metal, and this attack was perfect for the job. Karrel aimed his palm at the wind-demon. A red circle appeared in his vision, encasing his target, along with a green circle that encapsulated the blue pyretiff that was still clinging to the body of the screaming creature. Karrel focused on the red circle. It brightened. He flicked all his fingers, unleashing the assault. Five blue lights shot forward from Karrel’s fingers, homing in on their target.

  “No! No! No!” Aerozthcz furiously screamed as the attack approached.

  All of the blue lights connected with the wind-wrapped creature, exploding into a blast of energy. A microsecond later, a massive eruption of air burst forth from the same spot. Karrel’s pyretiff was thrown from its grasp, skidding across the ground toward Karrel’s position. Puck’s massive heap of scrap was immediately eviscerated back into the millions of pieces that it used to be. Rock, dust, and dirt scattered everywhere as the surr
ounding environment was covered in a cloud of mist composed from evaporated stone.

  With a heavy landing, Puck and Johnny regrouped with Karrel as the clearing settled. A winged silhouette burst forth from the dissipating clouds. It writhed in anger as it walked forward. There before the group stood Aerozthcz, its armor of wind no longer whirling around its figure.

  “I will not stand for this embarrassment!” it seethed. “No longer will I play with my food!”

  Karrel pointed a palm at the demonic entity in front of him, red text already wrapped around his wrist. “That’s too bad,” he mocked. “It was just starting to get fun.”

  Unleashing his attack, purple and blue energy shot forth like lightning from Karrel’s palm. The powerful blast connected with its target, exploding on impact. Aerozthcz recoiled in pain as an explosion of colorful energy erupted along its shoulder. It was visibly hurt by the attack, but it did not go down.

  Karrel and the others stood in surprise. The attack had injured the creature, but without its shield of wind, they had not expected it to remain standing from such a powerful blast.

  Aerozthcz gave a shrill laugh. It was no longer attempting to conceal its fury. “Nothing has changed! Your attacks are still pitiful!” It raised both its arms into the air. “If you want fun, I’ll give you fun.”

  With a swift whipping motion, the wind-demon began flailing its arms back and forth and back and forth. The near-invisible slices of pure air began to rain down upon Johnny, Puck, and Karrel. Dodging as quickly as they could, they all sought cover. Unfortunately, the attacks were too fast.

  Karrel felt two waves of sharp air impact with his body. It felt as though two swords had cut into his torso, and the orange light surrounding his body flared accordingly. The pressure of the attack knocked him to the sidewalk and behind an old pillar of concrete. Meanwhile, both Puck and Johnny were blasted apart. Puck had enough time to raise a wall of rock to protect himself from most of the attacks, but as his barricade shattered, the resulting explosion sent him and Karrel’s pyretiff flying. Johnny, unfortunately, took the full brunt of the attack, his chrome armor expanding to shield him from as much damage as possible as he skidded across the ground.