by Eric Vall
I expected there to be more drama as I descended. Instead, there was a steady rush of wind that Nia had created and sustained. Her chute flew open, and I released mine shortly after. As my body jerked at the sudden change of pace, I heard Varleth and the others above me.
Despite the situation, it was surreal to see the land from so high above. Bathi Highlands was a rather secluded area, tucked into the corner of a mountain and was near the sea on one side and mostly deserted on the other. In fact, it would have been similar to Bedima if it’d had walls to keep the village safe, though I had begun to question how safe we really were behind the walls.
“Almost there,” Nia called.
My attention snapped back to her as she landed lightly on the ground and turned toward me. As I landed beside Nia, who was still hard at work to keep everyone from falling to their deaths, I noticed her face was dripping with sweat. This was definitely taking a lot out of her, but given her look of fierce determination, I simply put a comforting hand on her shoulder.
“You’re doing great,” I whispered, and she gave me a brief nod.
“Thanks.” A smile flickered across her lips. “Now let me focus.”
As she continued to control the winds, I turned my attention back toward the area. The essence that had spewed forth at us was almost entirely gone, thanks to Nia, but that wouldn’t be something she would be able to do again. She was mighty but had her limits. The color had already begun to drain from her face, and her chest heaved with effort.
Still, she managed to get everyone down safely, and once we were all on the ground, we discarded our parachutes and started our march to Bathi Highlands. Despite Nia’s best efforts, black essence still swirled around the village though there was a lot less than before. Was it because the pyrewyrm was dying, and it didn’t have any essence left to give?
I halted as we got closer. “Do you hear that?
“Hear what?” Nia asked, brows furrowed.
“The humming,” I answered a short moment later.
Everyone else had stopped, too.
“Yes, I definitely do hear a song in the air,” Arwyn confirmed.
“I don’t recognize the language.” I looked to my comrades, and none of them seemed to have any clues as to what it was, either.
“Seems to be coming from the village,” Varleth’s gaze halted on the wing-enclosed area, and it was only in following his eyes that I noticed the giant rift gate.
“Maker…” I trailed off and shook my head. I couldn’t believe what I’d just seen.
“That’s no ordinary rift,” Varleth’s voice held a tremble to it as he realized the same thing I had.
“It’s an invasion,” I concluded, and we shared a look of horror before we turned our sights back to the village. “Shit.”
“This isn’t good,” Arwyn cut me off with a sharp gaze, and I bit my tongue. She turned to Erin and gripped her shoulders, her expression urgent. “There’s a trade town called Ginza that’s less than half a days ride from here to the west. Send word to Headmaster Sleet about this. He’ll want to see it for himself.”
Half a days ride? With what ride? Surely Arwyn hadn’t expected her go on foot, right? To my shock, Erin gave Arwyn a curious look.
“How do you expect me to get there that quickly, ma’am?” The pilot peered at Arwyn who smirked and cocked a thumb at me.
“He’s a summoner.” I wasn’t sure why that was a big deal, but the moment Arwyn mentioned it, Erin’s face lit up.
“Oh, got it.” The pilot came up to me and smiled brightly. “Okay, so here’s the thing. I don’t really have magic of my own.”
“Um… okay?” I shot a look at Nia who shrugged, but I could tell she knew something that she wasn’t telling me.
“So, I need to borrow some of yours.” Erin pulled out an apple-sized crystal from a pouch on her pants pocket and showed it to me. “Is that okay?”
“I’m not following,” I said as I stared at her summoning crystal. “If you don’t have magic…?”
“I’m a mimic.” She looked like she was going to say more, but then shook her head. “I just need to borrow some of your magic and then I can use it to summon this.” She shook the crystal. “Trust me, it doesn’t hurt. In fact, most quite like it.” She gave me a wry smile.
“Go on and let her do it, Gryff,” Arwyn said and she had a mischievous grin on her face.
“Fine, do your worst.” I nodded to the pilot right before she wrapped her arms around me and kissed me full on. As her tongue slipped into my mouth, I felt heat rise up inside me like never before, and then for one, brief moment, we were connected in a way I couldn’t explain. It felt both better than anything I’d ever experienced, and completely unlike anything I’d ever felt at the same time.
“Wowww,” I sighed as soon as she peeled her lips off mine.
“Thanks,” she purred as she stared into my eyes for a moment. “You give good magic.” Then, without another word, she tossed her crystal to the ground, and out came a monster. It was another one that I had only ever seen in textbooks.
They were called stagis, horse-like creatures that were a dark emerald green with deep black eyes that looked like galaxies lived within them. They were among some of the prettier of the monsters I’d seen, and that spoke volumes when you thought of some of the other creatures that existed beyond our realm.
I stared slack-jawed as she mounted the beast. Without any more conversation, Erin rode off into the night. A trail of what looked like celestial dust trailed in her wake, and I prayed to the Maker that she would be able to manage on her own.
“So, are we going to talk about that?” I asked after a moment.
“What, you have a problem kissing pretty girls?” Orenn asked as he gave me an elbow in the side. “Because I’ll totally trade places with you next time.”
“Mimic’s are rare,” Nia said as she sidled up next to me and squeezed my hand. “I didn’t even know there was one who was a pilot. Usually, they’re on response squads because, well...” She waved her hand at the dust cloud that had been kicked up by Erin.
“Makes sense.” I nodded to her. “I guess I can ask her more about it later.”
“Yeah, ‘ask,’” Nia said with a smirk. “Maybe we can both ‘ask’ her about it later.” Her eyes twinkled, and before she could say more, Orenn took a step forward and pointed at the village.
“What should we do until the headmaster comes?” Orenn’s gaze swept across the village that had been swallowed by the rift. The stench of death permeated in the air, foul and absolutely wicked. It was as though an entire cemetery had crawled up from the depths of Hell to wage a war with their odor alone. All jokes aside, they would win.
“We’re going to go in there and look for survivors, obviously.” I looked to Arwyn for confirmation. “We can’t just stand here, not when… people are in there.” As I stared at the village, panic started to sweep over me. I knew how dangerous that essence was, and if Maelor or Cyra was in there...
“Time might be of the essence, Gryff, but that rift is too large for us to manage on our own.” Arwyn scrubbed at her face with her hand as she spoke which caused her hair to fall into her eyes.
“We can’t even get near it,” Varelth added. “It’s spitting out monsters all over the place.”
“Well, we can’t just give up,” Nia snapped, and Varleth recoiled. “We can go in there just fine. I’ll use my magic to clear a path while you guys look for survivors and deal with the monsters.” Nia may have been addressing the group, but she met my eyes when she spoke. In that moment, I knew she wanted to help me find Maelor and Cyra, no matter the cost.
“I wasn’t suggesting that we give up, Kenefick, merely that we find an alternative route.” He shot a sidelong glance at me and smirked. “What do you think, summoner? If you want to go in there, I’ll go, but have you got anything that might help us get in there to destroy the Catalyst?”
Before I could respond, Arwyn spoke up. “Gryff is right. We need to
go look for survivors. If someone is alive in there and needs our help, it’s our duty to do it. Ready your weapons. We may have a fight upon us once we enter. We have to be ready for anything.”
Chapter 18
The walk to the village beat out our trudge through the murky marshes outside of Garvesh, but I could have done without the imminent, putrid stench of death in tandem with the doom and gloom that loomed over us. We were silent, save for the occasional grunt or groan as we put on and shifted our gear. The alien song still hung in the air, and still grew louder.
“It really is beautiful,” Nia commented quietly. “If only it wasn’t so foreboding.”
“There is a reason for that,” Arwyn replied. “The most beautiful things, or people for that matter, are the most deadly.”
I gulped as she pierced me with her eyes, but then she laughed alongside Nia.
“What is that supposed to mean?” I asked as I scrunched my nose at the beautiful redhead.
“I only mean to be prepared to fight against whatever the source might be, Gryff,” Arwyn clarified, but I was still wary.
To my left, I heard Orenn chuckle. “I think all of these pretty girls have you in over your head.”
“Oh, you think so?” I said as I whirled to look at him and Varleth who failed to conceal his amused smirk behind the collar of his cloak. My reaction only made Orenn laugh harder, and I couldn’t help but smile at the banter our group had fallen into.
A loud crack in the sky interrupted our moment of levity and drew our attention. Yellow light sparked against the feathered backdrop of angel wings and essence, and from it emerged what looked to be another monster, though it was hard to make out any details from where we stood.
“Think it’s friendly?” Orenn laughed, but I doubted he expected an answer.
Something like a bolt of lightning shot out of the sky and fell to the ground, and even at this distance, I felt the earth shake beneath my feet when it landed. I thought I could see it move, but each time I caught a glimpse it was in a different position. Was it able to move that quickly?
“Incoming!” Orenn yelled, and I turned to see a stray pack of chatteroshi skitter across the field towards us.
“Let’s go, team!” Arwyn cried out.
As everyone else took their stances and readied their weapons and defenses, I threw my daggerdillo crystal to the ground. It popped out with a low yawn-like rumble and readied itself.
One of the chatteroshi launched another of its kin into the air and sent it in our direction. Its gangly limbs flailed in midair as it screamed its battle cry, its scythes glittering menacingly at us. Before it could attack or even land though, Nia shot it down with a well-aimed fireball to the face.
The monster writhed on the ground before its partners, its bluish flesh seared and burned, and then went rigid as it died.
The other chatteroshi stopped and examined the death of one of their own, then looked at us. I entertained the idea that they could mourn the loss of another, but that was absurd. If anything, they probably saw the dead body as a warning of sorts. I’d hoped that was the case, and that they would retreat back to the rift.
Boy, was that a whimsical thought.
Instead, the group charged with even louder screams. The first of them reached Orenn, who used his armored body to bounce the impish beast into the air, leaving it open for Varleth to cut it. The whole sequence reminded me of a sport I’d seen the kids in the smaller villages play with a stick and a hollow coconut.
“There’s more coming!” Arwyn yelled as she ran her sword through the chest of another chatteroshi. She made a noise of disgust as its blood squelched from the gash, and she kicked it off the end of her blade.
Sure enough, as we continued our push towards the village, more monsters came into view. I ordered my daggerdillo to attack, and it stomped forward a few feet towards the still coming pack of chatteroshi before it shot its spikes out and impaled three of them. They crumpled into piles and evaporated into dust.
At the same time, another two teamed up to take on Nia, but she was more than ready for them. My lover brought her arms down hard and fast and created twin shallow crevasses in the earth, then swung them out in front of her to make them cross. The spell effectively made a crag where there hadn’t been any before, and the chatteroshi that were caught in the crossing earth were crushed.
With moves like that, it wouldn’t be long before she could give Almasy a run for his money.
After that, the first wave had been dealt with, but there were more beasts on the horizon. Upon further inspection, it became clear that the mystery monster was a giant, yellow beetle with big black eyes and arms almost twice the width of its head. Strangely, it didn’t seem to have any interest in us, though. Actually, the closer we came to the village, the more and more I believed that my off-handed comment about it being friendly may not have been far off from the truth.
That was when I saw Maelor. He was still small in the distance, but I could never mistake his girth and boisterous laugh.
Maelor. He was alive. Oh, thank the Maker.
Before I knew it, I had started to run.
“Gryff, get back here!” I heard Arwyn demand behind me, and I should have listened. She was my teacher, my leader, and my lover, but I couldn’t stop myself. I had to make it to Maelor. I had to see him close up and make sure he was real, that it wasn’t my imagination.
My daggerdillo followed alongside me faithfully. A few goblins babbled at us, and I tossed out my wallerdon. It established a barrier around me with its body, while my daggerdillo impaled and launched its spikes into goblin heads and chests. They let out a shrill whine as they, too, turned to dust.
Nothing was going to get in my way.
I had gotten a few feet from him and called out, “Maelor!”
“It’s about damn time!” He faced me, and his giant grin was unmistakable, as was the blood smeared across this cheek. With a loud cackle, he waved.
I skidded to a stop. Behind me, I heard the pounding of footfalls as my teammates caught up.
“You were still a day out from Bathi Highlands.” I panted and put my hands on my knees. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“Save the questions for later, you daft kid,” Maelor grunted. “You’ve got a town to save!”
I stood upright and heaved a sigh. I repeated to myself, ‘he’s alive, he’s alive,’ and it didn’t feel real until I felt the weight of his hand grip my shoulder and shake me lightly.
“Are you going to be alright?” I asked with concern. “Where is Cyra?”
Maelor just laughed like he always did. “Cyra is fine, and I’m fine. Now get goin’!”
He was about to push me along when the giant yellow beetle thing hurled a moderately sized troll over our heads. More trolls started to clamor up its golden steel body, but it was able to shake them off with a wild flail of its gigantic arms. When they gave up on taking down the monster, they turned their attention to us.
The beetle monster buzzed, and it vibrated the entire area with a shockwave that nearly knocked us all on our asses, but we managed to keep ourselves on our feet. It looked to Maelor, then smashed the trolls headed our way with its limbs, and with each impact a felt a jolt, like a shock to my system.
It was definitely one of his monsters, so I ordered my daggerdillo to help. The two summoned monsters swapped turns as they pounded, ground, and squashed the trolls like they were nothing but insects. I almost laughed at the irony.
That wave of trolls had vanished, but I knew Maelor’s work wouldn’t be done.
“Back up is coming,” I assured him.
“I’m countin’ on it!” he said as he nudged me. “I can’t hold ‘em off forever.”
I looked him over once more, and I was thankful that my teammates had allowed me this moment.
“We’ll talk later,” I grinned, but it felt forced on my face. I was scared for Maelor.
“Just come back,” he replied, and I nodded before turning b
ack to the squad.
Arwyn took the lead again. After all, she was the one in charge here. I shouldn’t have let my emotions take hold of me the way I had, but the way that she smiled at me, though, made it clear that she understood. No hard feelings at all.
I recalled my monsters and we marched up to the rift gate that surrounded the village like a wall. It was strange, but I had never taken the time to look at one up close before. In the swirling glow of it, I thought I could see flickering symbols and markings in its midst. Maybe it was because I had never seen a rift so huge before that I never noticed.
“What do the markings on the gate mean?” I asked as I gestured at the portal.
“We don’t know,” she answered with a shrug. “Everyday, we’re learning something new about the world of monsters, but there remain a great many mysteries.”
I nodded slowly and added, “What all do we really know about the gates?”
“Aside from the fact that they are portals to the Shadowscape and that they are able to expand and contract based on the size of the monster trying to get through, not much I’m afraid,” Arwyn admitted. “But, as I said, we are always learning something new.”
We reached the gate, and I was surprised upon putting my hand on it that, unlike the other portals we had entered, this one felt like it had some kind of solid skin. It squished and shuddered under my touch, and it felt like it would give with a little pressure.
“It’s like warm gelatin,” I uttered. My teammates also put their hands on the gate.
“The warmth is from the amount of energy pulsing through it,” Varleth informed. “Though it is strange that this one isn’t hotter since it’s pouring out so much of it. I also can’t explain the solidity of it”
“We shall have to figure it out later,” Arwyn insisted as she began to sort through her kit for her filter mask. “Gear up.”
We followed suit and checked our equipment, masks, communicators, flares, and our additional earmuffs. When we were all ready, we stood in a line, ready to face whatever was on the other side, and then entered.