Into the Storm

by Christopher Johns

  A moment later, they were out of sight, and so was the cat-kin. He hung precariously on the outside of the window, trying it and finding it open. I hadn’t even noticed that he was gone until I’d looked up.

  We not worried about him? I asked Balmur and James.

  Balmur touched my shoulder. Two of the missing thieves are his sisters. He wants revenge as much as we want to know what is being planned under our noses. If we can help him, he will help us.

  I nodded once and watched as he melted into the shadow and stepped out of the shadows in the window. A muted crunch met my ears as James just hopped from the roof we stood on to the ledge of the window easily, whereas I took owl form and glided across with no issues.

  We shut the window before our snooping and sleuthing truly began, sticking to the shadows so as not to be made from the outside. This section of the warehouse seemed to be holding a large variety of art. Paintings and sketched drawings of landscapes and nobles encased in open wooden displays in some places with dried hay and paper packing supplies readily at hand.

  I say nobles because these people looked aristocratic in nature, a certain degree of pomp and airs of wealth seemed to be included in the artwork. Snooping here gave us nothing of any use after circling the whole of the floor carefully and quietly. Even managing to get behind some of the art was difficult but manageable, though it yielded nothing.

  We came to a set of stairways, thin with metal handrails that led up and down. “Do we go up or down?” Calmyra muttered as he slowly checked a nearby window.

  The guards had done three rotations by now, and we hadn’t heard anyone inside. Nor had we found any traps.

  “Better go up, that way we can save the more dangerous bottoms floor for last,” Balmur suggested, his gaze intently on the stairs, a pocket of dust that he blew onto it in his hand.

  “How is the downstairs most dangerous?” I blinked at him.

  “Guards can look into the windows at any time and see us,” Balmur explained softly while observing his handiwork, then shook his head. “Wires on the stairs, we need to go up on the rails themselves. They aren’t trapped.”

  He took a second to rest his hand on the rail before hopping up onto it with no sound whatsoever, then walked up with Calmyra stalking up the rail behind him.

  I looked over at James, who shrugged and did the same just before I turned owl and flapped up to the floor above with no issues. Calmyra regarded me coldly. “Cheater.”

  “I prefer the term, gifted, thank you.” It wasn’t a joke so much as letting him know I was unbothered by his disdain.

  This floor was jam-packed with boxes and crates, barrels with foul-smelling things inside that made my sensitive nose screech in protest to the proximity. Calmyra hissed softly, and I could understand why the scent burned noxiously.

  Sulfur and chalk were in the air, and there was something culty going on here. We dropped into crouches and slowly explored, checking for traps and finding some of the boxes were trapped.

  Calmyra and Balmur worked together to find the mechanism of one that would have released a noxious gas into the air, then opened the lid. Inside stood several thick rolls of paper, blank and black as pitch, with nothing else.

  Several other boxes and crates turned up chalk, more traps, and various tomes on proper summoning etiquette. Nothing on a ritual itself, but whatever was going on up here seemed to point toward someone wanting to bring a shit ton of demons into play.

  “Is there a way for us to ruin these materials?” I whispered to Balmur, who shrugged.

  Calmyra reached inside one of the boxes with the books. “We can take these and put a damper on things. At least a little bit. The syndicate may take more once our investigation is done—summoning demons is something we expressly forbid.”

  I nodded and took one of them, the cat-man opting to take the other two in that crate as evidence to his people. Then I took some of the chalk and paper for Yoh, as well. Maybe he could shed some light on the subject.

  “Let’s move on,” James suggested before nodding to an empty section of the room.

  We moved close to it, the scent of copper and burnt incense thickly cloying the air. Red chalk glow in a pentagram of similar design to the one that I had seen in Maebe’s study in the Fae Realm where Yohsuke had summoned his now patron Archemillian. The demon had been instrumental in us getting Balmur back from the Hells and had since then been a pain in the ass by ordering us to find a demon that a powerful human had summoned to our plane. But at least now we knew what was going on.

  And it was likely here somewhere.

  We need to be on high alert, James whispered through our earrings.

  What’s going on? Jaken replied quickly.

  Balmur moved closer to the summoning circle, careful to avoid breaking it or coming into contact with it before answering, I think we found the site of the demon summoning.

  You need us? Muu and Yohsuke asked in unison.

  Let us investigate more, but if you can safely start moving this way, it may be smart. I advised cautiously. Bokaj, you may want to keep your tails busy for a little while longer. This could get ugly.

  You got it. If you need me there, you’d better fucking call. His anger was understandable, especially since we could be facing a relic of his best friend’s recent tumultuous past.

  I took a steadying breath and whispered, “Hubris.”

  The scepter appeared in my hand quietly, and I felt a little better for the contact. Balmur had his blades, one holy and the other Sorrow, his sentient vampiric weapon that Maebe had given him.

  James just stood there, casting his gaze about, and Calmyra turned and stalked about the room with us nearby. The rest of the boxes we opened held little more than what could be just more materials. We took what we could or thought would throw things out of whack for the assholes with the crooked schemes, then made our way slowly back downstairs.

  The trip to the second floor was uneventful, though getting down to the first floor proved tricky.

  “We need someone to disable this trap from below,” Calmyra muttered softly.

  The mechanism was a system of wires that intersected and wove together intricately like a spider’s web, but they looked to be attached to a series of bells and pipes.

  “Balmur?” I looked over at him and he shook his head. “What’s wrong?”

  “I’m good at these things,” he started, but stopped and had to take several deep breaths. “But if there’s a demon down there and I’m alone with it… I don’t know what I’ll do.”

  I frowned, B… are you afraid?

  He nodded, and that was all it took. Sometimes, friendship is about helping your friends face their demons and supporting them as they overcame them. Other times, it’s being willing to stand in the gap and face those demons for them.

  I’d take that hit.

  “Tell me what I have to do.” I shapeshifted into my vorpal viper form, my body condensing into a long, thick snake’s form. The wires were warm against the cool air, and I could perceive them with my heat-sensing pits as my tongue tasted the world around me, as well.

  “As you slither through, I need you to disable the bells as best you can.” Calmyra motioned with his hands as he spoke, his eyes darting around the room. “This means potentially biting off the clapper so that it will make no noise. Once that is done, I can safely disable the other mechanisms.”

  “Why not use magic to just stop all of it?” James asked quietly, a look of consternation on his face.

  “The wires are spelled to snap should they be magically tampered with,” Balmur explained tepidly. “If it weren’t for that, I would’ve been able to do it from this side.”

  How did you know that? James frowned at the dwarf.

  Balmur flicked a finger to his magical eye. One of the eyes I collected from that mage we killed had an ability to see magic. It’s about twenty minutes from needing to feed again, and I’m not sure if I should do it now or not because the other eyes I have are
drow eyes. They see heat signatures better. The abilities will switch once the eye consumes again.

  Makes sense, James muttered, making sure he glanced about. Let’s get this over with. Something about this place is giving me the willies.

  I made my way carefully up the rail, cautiously avoiding the wires, sometimes having to raise single sections of my long body just to avoid a cleverly wrapped section of railing. I bit and pulled out seven bell clappers before my mouth became too full to continue, and I had to make a choice—do I try to go back and spit them out? Or do I swallow them?

  Get. Your brain. Out. Of. The gutter.

  I took a deep breath and decided to slowly hang down the rail and reach out with my mind toward the shadows that pooled there. They responded sluggishly, with me having to strain immensely just to get them to respond, but seemed to be okay with me poking them to become a soundless depository for my current mouthful. I opened my mouth, a tinkling of bell clappers softly escaping as they hit my fangs, but nothing near as loud as the bells themselves would be. I sighed in relief and released my hold on the shadows. Thank the gods for that gift. Phew.

  I made my way back up and started the process again. Two rounds of expelling later, we finished this portion of our escapades, and I was able to rest on the bottom floor while the cat-man rogue worked his way swiftly down the stairs with his tools almost flashing like blades. He would pin the triggers back with small barbed metal pieces and move on almost before the first one was set. It was an impressive sight to behold and with my work and his taking only fifteen minutes or so to boot.

  Once they made it to the bottom floor, I shifted back to my human form and watched the shadows around us.

  Something isn’t right, I sent and growled to the others.

  There’s a goddamn demon her. Of course, something isn’t right, Bokaj shot back with his weapons at the ready.

  I found what had sparked the sensation of wrongness around us. This was a cooler of sorts with runes on the walls that would hide a presence and keep things cold.

  At least that is what I can understand of them from this distance, Hubris explained. If I were taken closer, I could attempt to decipher things a little more easily.

  I thought about it, but guttural growls and deep crunching noises reached my ears, and I turned toward the south of the building. In the center of the poorly lit room sat a large, flabby body of maroon flesh that held something in front of it like a baby.

  The crunching didn’t stop, but the beast threw something over its shoulder slightly away from us. Balmur went to go see what it might be and brought back the remains of an arm. The delicate wrist, and forearm had bangles and bracelets dangling from it.

  Calmyra’s eyes looked blank, dead, as he reached out and took the grim finding.

  Oh, shit, that was likely one of his sisters—Balmur hadn’t had the time to finish the thought before the syndicate representative yowled in fury and pain at the loss of his sister.

  His blade flashed toward the hulking form before us as he sprinted forward. “Monster!”

  The thing spun around, a grotesquely large arm lashing out and just above Calmyra’s head as he skidded beneath the strike. His stabbing blade flashed into his hand, and he began to slash and gore anything he could reach. The creature took damage, but I was too far away to see how much or what level it was.

  Hope you guys are close, shit’s popping off in here, Balmur called to the other party members who were on their way.

  James had already leaped into combat. Level 37. The thing in his arms is level 40.

  The demon fought ferociously to protect the bundle in its other arm, the left-hand slapping at the two agile fighters as it tried to back into a corner to cut off routes of attack from behind him.

  Fire wreathed its body, and it roared loudly, a crashing sound from outside somewhere off to the east of our position almost made me look away, but I would have to trust Balmur to watch my back.

  “I’m going in. Balmur, you steer clear of this one, okay?” I saw him nodding before I let myself be taken into combat.

  Your plan is sound, master, might I suggest that you use me to cast this spell?

  I still found it vaguely irritating that Hubris seemed to know what I would do before I even did, but I sighed and used it to cast Falfyre. A slight mana sacrifice seemed to be needed, so it cost 250 MP rather than the 235 MP I had expected. Rather than the sword coming to my hand, the brilliant platinum weapon added its three and a half foot length to the end of the scepter, making it look more like a naginata, especially with the foot-long length of the hilt. The runes along the blade shimmered like the heat along hot pavement, and my connection with Hubris was slightly more amplified than before.

  This is our power, master. Hubris couldn’t hide the smugness in its voice, and I found myself grinning in excitement. I wanted to see how this would turn out with one of my new aspects.

  Aspect of the Terran Gorilla – The Primal Warriors body grows denser, and their hide thickens to increase their physique and power like that of the king of the trees.

  +20 strength, +10 defense, -5 dexterity

  Muscle density increased, rage abilities deepened.

  My body did exactly as the spell said it would, my arms lengthened, and every muscle fiber in my chest, back and core flexed at the same time, thickening immensely. My legs felt a little heavier as well, but not by much, and I could tell that my humanoid body had a smattering of the same grass-like fur over it that my buddy Frederick had all over his body.

  I whooped and launched forward, the blade slashing toward the creature’s throat.

  Balzerus Demon Lvl 37

  A flash of infernal flame formed a barrier between us and forced Falfyre to slow its deadly descent into the bastard’s flesh.

  “The baby is the caster!” Calmyra snarled as he moved within the barrier toward the little creature. The Balzerus demon backhanded the cat-kin into the flames, and he howled as his fur singed, and his health bar dropped 15%. I couldn’t see his level, but that wasn’t good.

  Radiant golden energy poured over his body, and I knew that aura of healing—Jaken was here.

  A rocket of green and manic energy pierced the barrier. “All this fun without me? What the hell?”

  “Shut up and fight, Muu.” Yohsuke’s voice drifted over my left shoulder as I swung my weapon once more and found the demon’s flesh, carving off 13% of its HP bar. A rush of cold air brushed against my back, and I knew that Kayda was behind me, a bolt of lightning tearing the ceiling apart to strike at the demon, shocking it and the creature in its arms. The demon roared in fury, a magical burst of flame and force buffeting us as we stood against it.

  A glimmering from the depths of the bundle the demon held caught my eye, and I suddenly lost the will to fight. I was with Maebe and Vrawn, and their conversation with each other was just so enticing. We were in a house I didn’t recognize in front of a large window peering outside over a large forest. Both of them sat facing each other in front of the window, moving and discussing something.

  I couldn’t help but smile at the contentment in my heart at their closeness.

  Wait. I growled. I’m in the middle of a fight, how the fuck is this possible?

  Both women looked over at me, and their eyes were dead, the portions of their bodies that had been on the side closest to the windows visceral with blood, bone, and pustules, their faces growing more skeletal and demonic as they stood to sway toward me. But the usual seductive swagger was gone from their bodies, replaced by an almost puppet-like shambling. The forest outside began to burn and glow with the pyres of flame that swept toward us.

  “You should never have come snooping.” Not-Maebe’s voice came from a mouth that didn’t move.

  Not-Vrawn reached out to me as if to call me into a hug, and I balked at the idea. “Do you no longer find me attractive, my dear?”

  This voice was off, and it was just the push I needed. I launched myself forward, and cracked both of them in t
he face with a spinning back kick. If this was a dream, I wasn’t going to wait like some teenage lamb to the slaughter while my tormentor tried to kill me.

  “This ain’t Elm Street, you piece o’ shit!” I bared my teeth as I landed, and bum-rushed Not-Vrawn while she was off-balance, knocking her to the ground only to have her disappear.

  I turned to see Not-Maebe, no longer a monster, but herself, leering down at me where I crouched. “You’ll learn to fear me, champion. You all will. And what I represent.”

  “Let me guess, you’re a general, and you want us to give up?” I rolled my eyes and stood. “Not happening, but if you leave this planet, now—I won’t hunt you down and rip you limb from limb for fucking with the people I love.”

  She laughed then, the sound not even close to how her laugh should have been. “Even when I’m in front of you, you can’t kill me. Come find me once more, and let’s see who is stronger then.”

  Maebe turned to walk toward the window, clearly unbothered by my threat, so I lashed out how I thought might affect the creature. “Your brothers thought that they were stronger than us, as well. They died pitifully.”

  Not-Maebe stopped and turned, her face becoming even more angular and foreign as whatever this was continued, “Their pathetic existences are nothing compared to mine, and I will see you dead at my feet for thinking they could even amount to me for a moment.”

  I spread my arms wide in welcome with a grin plastered on my face. “Bring it, bitch.”

  Not-Maebe just winked and vanished in a cloud of smoke, the dream leaving with her, and I came to awareness, standing with Hubris in my hand.

  Looking around, I saw that the others had yet to fully return from what was happening and that the demon and the little bastard were gone.

  Calmyra lay on the ground, bleeding from his mouth but breathing. I cast Void’s Respite on him, and the shadows enveloped him and settled into his skin. With how the spell worked and his location in the darkness, he would likely recover fully in a moment and need no other healing.

  I can wake them if you wish?

  I lifted Hubris to head height and examined it critically. “You can?”