by Eric Vall
Varleth nodded. Some of the color returned to his face, but he was still much paler than he was on a regular day, and that said something.
“What did you do?” I asked Arwyn as she moved to tend to Orenn.
“I only neutralized a small bit of the essence that’s infusing with his bloodstream,” she replied and worked her magic over Orenn’s arms.
“I didn’t know you could do that,” I replied with a smile. “That’s pretty impressive.”
“Thanks,” she laughed a little, “but until now, I didn’t know I would be able to do it either.”
I laughed, too, and stood while she finished doing what she could with Orenn. The ground shook beneath my feet, and I turned back to the entrance of the bakery. Against the orange and black sky was the silhouette of the yeti monster as he stared right at us. He took several more monstrous steps and shook the loose glass from the blown-out windows before he stopped.
That was it. The air was still, and the only sound that reached my ears aside from my racing pulse was the fires that still kindled in some places. The monster simply watched us and waited for us to make a move.
“You cannot hide forever,” the angel monster’s voice echoed across the Shadowscape and my spine went rigid.
“It’s her!” The color drained from Nia’s face as she sidled up beside me.
“Show yourself!” I gritted and my fist tightened in front of me.
“Perhaps in time,” she teased and it felt like she was actually speaking inside of my mind, “but only if you survive that long.”
“You’re just a coward!” I yelled back furiously.
“I am not the one who is hiding.” Her elegant voice lilted to a soft giggle. “However, I am a patient woman, humans. My pet will be waiting for you whenever you are ready to accept your fate.”
“We will never back down!” I yelled, but there was no response. “Hey! Do you hear me?”
“We’re no good sitting still like this,” Orenn commented. He stepped up to my other side and looked over at the stationary monster as well.
“We don’t even know what it is,” I countered.
“It’s a baroquer,” Varleth’s voice was strained, and he struggled to stand. He leaned heavily on the wall and winced as he shuffled closer. “They’re usually smaller in size, but don’t let that fool you. They’re murderous regardless.”
“Fought them before, have you?” I asked and held him steady when he stumbled.
Varleth nodded gratefully and continued. “Once, when I subbed in for another squad’s banisher last year.”
“Do you know anything that might be able to help us then?” Arwyn readjusted her stock of vials and medicines and tightened the pouch to her hip again.
“It’s fast and its bite is deadly,” he supplied and righted himself. The pain from the essence absorption slowly ebbed from his features, as Arwyn said it would, but I knew that it was just a temporary fix.
We had to be fast if we were going to crack the Catalyst.
“You up for round two?” I looked Varleth in the eye, and he managed a smirk. It was weak, but there was an unmistakable determination in his features.
“You bet. Leave the Catalyst to Orenn and me,” he reassured. “Just take care of yourselves against that thing.”
“Of course, man.” I chuckled. “Let’s go be heroes.”
Varleth rolled his eyes, but there was no disdain held in the action. He flourished his cloak and moved around me. “The catalyst is near the outskirts along the mountain from what I can gather,” he added.
“Got it. We’ll keep the baroquer as far from you as we can,” I replied confidently.
“Watch yourselves,” Arwyn warned. “The monster swarm seems to have receded for now, but there is no telling whether there will be another wave. Keep your eyes and ears peeled at all times.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Varleth and Orenn replied in unison.
“We will go first and distract the baroquer,” she informed. “Once we have its attention, slip out of here and get to the catalyst as fast as you can.”
The two of them nodded, stepped aside as she walked towards the door to the bakery.
“What will we do?” Nia put her hand on her hip and her gaze followed Arwyn.
“What we always do, Miss Kenefick.” Arwyn glanced over her shoulder with a smirk. “Kick monster ass.”
We were all surprised to hear such a declaration from the normally well-spoken Arwyn, but it was times like this that I remembered why she was a squad leader in the first place. She had to have the toughness to match the smarts and the beauty.
“Let’s go!” I shouted, and Nia, Arwyn, and I dashed from the bakery and back into the blood rain towards the baroquer.
The three of us navigated the streets and ignored the blood that splattered on our cheeks and clothes. As soon as we had started to draw close, the baroquer yawned to life. That’s when our fight began.
Above my head, Nia used a quick burst of wind to launch herself to a rooftop, all the better to give her a clear shot to launch off a rapid-fire barrage of fireballs. They burst across the beast’s upper body and scorched his chest and face. Dark grey charred marks replaced what had once been vibrant blue fur, and it yowled as it cradled its face.
The baroquer staggered back, but when it got its bearings back, it spotted us and brought a giant fist down towards the ground. There was a sound akin to a train colliding with a mountainside, and we barely had the time to scatter before it collided with the cobblestone and sent rubble and debris sailing in all directions.
I ducked behind a stack of barrels, just long enough to give me time to prepare. I started by hurling two of my crystals to the ground and summoning my bullet bass and my drillmoles. I utilized the bullet bass’s armor to protect myself from any further debris and commanded the moles to attack. Their drill-like nose spikes spun like drills before they dove into the earth.
After all, I knew that the bigger the monster was, the harder it would fall.
Now armored up, I broke cover and continued to run towards the baroquer. I had an idea in mind, but I would need to be close enough to execute it and wait for the exact right moment.
Out of the corner of my eye, I heard the echo of Arwyn’s battlecry as she unleashed a series of slashes into the baroquer’s fist while it was still cratered into the street. The yeti-like creature seemed to harumph as it brought its fist up and shook it, much like someone that had just felt the sting of a paper cut.
Arwyn’s face was tight and her teeth were gritted as she brought her sword down again and again, this time to the beast’s shin, but the blows were only scratches in the giant monster’s hide.
The baroquer reared its other fist back to try to crush her flat, but before it could really wind up for the downswing, the ground beneath its feet crumbled from my drillmoles’ efforts. The yeti let out a sharp whine before it tumbled to the ground. Whatever buildings and homes that had remained there were no more, but that wouldn’t matter once this was all done and over with.
At least, that’s what I had to keep telling myself.
Now that the monster had lost its footing, Nia took the opportunity to use the debris we had made and create shackles from the rock and molten stones. It effectively kept the baroquer in place for now, though with each harsh jerk of its legs and arms, the earthen chains cracked, and I knew they wouldn’t hold for long.
I had to go on the offense hard now. I hurled out my daggerdillo and commanded it to go all-out. As my drillmoles burrowed up from below, my daggerdillo launched its spike-like missiles. Each one tore into its flesh, and the baroquer continued to roar as it struggled.
I couldn’t help but worry that this was too easy. Varleth said that this thing was supposed to be fast. Hell, Nia and I had watched it chase us through the streets and almost keep up. I thought the angel monster was supposed to have some sort of control over it to make it stronger like the fire-eye in Bedima, but this seemed like a cakewalk in comparison. Something
was amiss.
And then I heard it again, the alien humming song, as it crescendoed over the sounds of battle. The sound stretched across the Shadowscape, and I looked to Arwyn and Nia who had frozen in place. The baroquer, however, was far from frozen as he convulsed and then shot back up, tearing through the rock manacles with seeming ease.
It was as if the power controlling it redoubled its effort and filled the beast with renewed life and strength. As the baroquer swept its six eyes across us, I could feel the malice drip from its gaze as it narrowed its eyes on me.
There was no time to react to the beams of light that shot from the six eyes on its ugly face. I had tried to run, but I knew before I started that it was too late. The ground around me erupted into blue flames as the beams scorched the stone, then shot right to my body.
Except it didn’t. It actually reflected off my body and shot off into the distance. I looked down and realized that the chrome armor had literally saved my life. My entire body would have gone up in flames if not for my bullet bass. I thanked whatever lucky stars I had, and in a bold move, leapt through the fire and back into the fray just in time to see Nia do what was possibly the coolest thing I had ever seen her do.
The blood rain halted in midair as she put up her hands, and then she rotated her palm out in a circular fashion. It was hard to tell at first, but she had redirected all of the rain to aim directly at the baroquer. The monster was oblivious as it charged back to its fruitless fight with Arwyn, trying to smash the agile swordswoman with its massive fists, but it was the distraction Nia needed.
She stopped and closed her fists, and the blood droplets froze into icy blood shards, and suddenly it all made sense. Blood was mostly comprised of water, and ice was one-hundred percent water. Ah, science. Now, she had an entire storm of frozen shards at her command, but Arwyn was still in the area as she hadn’t yet seen the gathering storm. Nia hesitated for a moment, and I knew exactly what to do.
I slammed a speed slug crystal down and attached it to me. I ran past Arwyn, tucked her to my chest as the yeti slammed down another huge fist, and pulled her out of the area just as Nia brought her fists forward and pelted the baroquer with her hail of frozen blood.
The beast howled, and the sound was almost as shrill as the pyrewyrm’s. It flailed as shard after shard pierced its flesh, and purple-colored blood stained its fur as it gripped its head. It unleashed another wave of light beams that decimated the buildings around it before it took off at full speed towards the pyrewyrm, leaving us completely forgotten. I wasn’t sure what the significance was to the wyrm monster, but any monsters that could team up, especially ones that were deadly on their own, couldn’t be good.
I set Arwyn on her feet, and I was about to run after the baroquer when she gripped my hand and forced it open. Then she placed a vial in my palm and closed my fingers around it.
“This is purified essence from the first pyrewrym we defeated,” she explained. “It hasn’t been tested, so there’s some amount of risk using it, but if it as powerful as we think it is, you’ll be able to break the spell on the baroquer and defeat it.”
“That’s great, but uh,” I stammered, “I don’t know how to use it.”
“The essence will absorb into your flesh upon contact with your skin,” she explained. “It responds to emotions and feelings, so concentrate on all that is good in you and it will react accordingly. Now, go save the day, hero.”
I grinned at the little pet name, and I probably blushed, too. I ran after the baroquer at top speeds and was back on its heels in no time. I didn’t have a plan, but Arwyn was right. I had to trust my instincts.
I rummaged through the pocket of my bandolier and found my kalgori crystal. The creature emerged, and I focused my will. As the kalgori multiplied, I brought the swarm around me, proof against their blades with my metal skin, and commanded them to take hold of me. Amid a storm of glittering, deadly butterflies, I rode up to fight the baroquer face-to-face.
Just before it reached the pyrewyrm, I rode my kalgori whirlwind around it and cut the giant six-eyed yeti off. It shot more lasers at us, but the kalgori responded to my every mental command almost eagerly, as if they wanted this victory as much as I did, and we dodged and weaved through the onslaught. I could only imagine the state of the village square below. It was probably razed into rubble, and I was glad that my teammates hadn’t come with me.
We weaved past the final fusillade, and I rode the kalgori up to its furry face. At that moment, I took the vial that Arwyn had given me and smashed it in my hands. The essence seeped out and soaked into my skin. My body was lighter, or that’s how it felt anyway, and an overwhelming sense of power took hold of me. Somehow, I knew what I had to do, no matter how crazy it sounded.
I gripped its head with all of my might. The baroquer was huge, so my hands were tiny in comparison, but it was enough somehow. The power of the purified essence flowed through me as I summoned up my mana and channeled it into my fingertips. My hands pressed into its greasy fur, and the baroquer scrambled to push me away. It waved its fists through my storm of glittering butterflies, but to no avail. All it had done was slice through its flesh and cause itself even more pain.
Then I did as Arwyn bid.
I thought about my many loves, and I thought about Rori and Braden and Layla waiting for our safe return back in Varle. I focused on how much I wanted to reverse everything that had happened here tonight. I wanted Bathi Highlands to return to its quaint state, for Maelor and Cyra to be okay on the other side, and for my teammates, my friends, to all make it out of here alive.
Those thoughts in mind, my hands began to glow, and the baroquer roared in agony as the essence and my mana rushed through it. It writhed under my grasp, but whatever connection I had with the essence wouldn’t allow me to let go until I knew for certain that I had done what I had set out to do.
As my grip on its face tightened, burns began to etch deeply into its skin as its flesh charred under my essence-infused fingers. It screamed and howled something awful, and I wished that I still had on my earmuffs from the previous pyrewyrm attack. And then, the black essence from the pyrewyrm’s body began to rush toward me as if I were a magnet. It absorbed into my skin every moment I maintained this weird connection with the baroquer as if it too were linked to the wyrm. Ash and black crawled up my arms, and it burned. I felt as though my flesh would simply melt off of my bones, and I bellowed in pain.
Now I knew how Varleth had felt.
The more essence I absorbed into my body, the more pain I was in, but more importantly, the pyrewyrm seemed to lose what mana it needed to remain suspended in this world even in its death and crumbled as the lesser monsters did.
The Shadowscape shook violently, and the angel wings that surrounded the village shifted and finally spread open in glorious splendor. When I looked to see what was outside of the village, there was nothing. It was as though this village had existed in its own place and time in a completely separate realm from anything else.
“You might have had the upper hand this time, human,” the angel hummed, “but you have not seen the last of Phi. The next time we meet, you will be mine.”
“Phi?” I yelled as I tried to hold on through the pain. “Who was Phi? Is that your name?”
There was no response, save for the flutter of feathers as the angel wings vanished. The blue glow that had bolstered the baroquer also faded, and it too fell to ash. It was about time, too, because I had begun to sink into the kalgori as my concentration and mana had faded. They started to fight back against me, even as the bullet bass armor started to wear from my feet.
Another loud crack echoed through the static buzz in the air, and the resulting shockwave sent me flying backward out of my kalgori whirlwind. I would have instructed them to catch me, but that would be nigh impossible for the little creatures with the speed with which I was rocketing toward the ground. All I could hope was that the armor from my bullet bass would protect me.
“Gryff!
” Nia shouted down below, and though I couldn’t see it, I felt the air around me shift in an attempt to break my fall.
My pace slowed as I descended, and although my landing wasn’t soft, I definitely could have caused a lot more damage to myself. I landed with a thud and then winced as I sat up. At least I wouldn’t have to explain to Meriden why all of the bones in my body were broken thanks to my bullet bass and Nia. She rushed to my side, followed by Arwyn at her heels. She hugged me tightly before she smacked my arm.
“Ow! What the hell?” I cried out.
“That’s for running off to play hero,” she explained, and I conceded with a short laugh.
I looked down at my hands and saw that, like Varleth, I had absorbed the black essence into my bloodstream. Though the purified essence had saved my life from absorbing so much, the flesh of both of my arms was still cracked, and it almost looked as though it had turned to ash, too. If the outside of my body looked this bad, I could only imagine what my insides looked like. Maybe I would be seeing Meriden after all.
A familiar lurch churned my stomach, and it was odd to say that I was almost happy to nearly vomit as I felt the pull of the Shadowscape dissipate around us.
We had done it. Now, the rift was closing, and if we were right, our Bathi Highlands would be waiting for us safe on the other side.
Then everything went dark and I thought I heard Nia shout my name.
Chapter 20
“Is he alright?” I heard someone say, but it sounded far away. I felt as if I was swimming in mud, so I kicked toward the sound. It was a woman’s voice. Nia? Arwyn? Nia would have asked...
Then my eyes opened and I saw both of my lover’s beautiful faces staring down at me.
“Wow. This is a great way to wake up--” I gasped, tore the mask off of my face, and rolled onto my knees away from them. The urge to throw up struck hard and fast, and I emptied what remained of the meal I’d had before my late night adventure with Varleth onto the cobblestone street. My chest heaved, and my body shook, but Arwyn was on my other side in an instant, and she placed her hand on my back as she murmured some kind of spell.