081 Encounter · 16
Encounters · 16
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ictory disappeared
under a sky of monsters of ash and cinder, a dark wind stirring flower petals
of fire skyward. Below that sky Chain, Maye, Squawk, and Lute Mouser found
themselves in a desperate battle to stay alive. For the two Sa·B·ers the
monsters that would overcome Maye and Squawk were of little concern compared to
the threat of the wyvern. Every injury they inflicted simply resulted in a gout
of flame that fused shut the wooden carapace of the Ambrosial beast. Drop was
hard pressed to swim safely through the battlefield providing protection from
the flames as the five of them were pressed into trying battle. There was only
so much that each of them could accomplish though, as Squawk only understood
spell casting of one fashion and struggled to cast any spells within Ambrosia.
Maye was limited in her ammo supplies and even less familiar with magic than
Squawk to be able to accomplish much more than kicking the monsters that
swarmed her with her hooves while using her rifle as a club. Even Lute found himself
hard pressed as the Ambrosial wire of his weapon was far less effective within
Ambrosia. But not one of them missed the ease with which Chain moved, or the
Ambrosial Gate that she opened within Ambrosia with each snap of her fingers
despite the risk of opening a gate at all within.
“She really is an idiot. If any of us tried to open a Gate….”
Squawk swallowed fiercely as he weighed the consequences of
opening a Gate within Ambrosia and could only connect Chain’s ability to do so
with her idiocy. Maye fared little better in understanding how Chain pulled it
off, but she could barely focus on the dancing, flipping, acrobatic delivery of
arrows of Light and powerful sword slashes carrying that Light. Lute could
better watch her and knew the power she wielded was genuine. With one swing of
her sword, she turned her bow into a blade of light that rent many a monster
asunder and split the wyvern vainly in two. The beast naturally responded with
a belch of flame that Drop had to save Chain from.
“We have to stop making it angry. Stopping these flames in
this domain… If not for the wood, it would not be possible.”
“Then I just need to figure out how to kill it in one blow!”
Closing her eyes for a moment and moving by instinct, Chain
tried to think but was again assailed by the image of the dragon of Darkness
that filled the space between her thoughts. Opening her eyes, she pouted
angrily and ran to buy herself some more time.
“Hrm~! It’s no good! I can’t think with that thing in my
head.”
Snapping her fingers, Chain summoned her bow and leapt into
the air, spinning and using monsters as steppingstones to climb higher. As she ascended,
she loosed arrow after arrow, but for every monster she killed, two more seemed
to take its place. The battle was not going the way she wanted it to, and she
knew normally she would be getting legitimately angry instead of just
frustrated. But like her thoughts, memories, and knowledge, her emotions were
fragmented and unreliable in their appearances. Only the dragon of Darkness and
the whispering of the Lucifalz were constants.
“That’s right, the tree. It may be loud, but I can hear my
thoughts in it.”
“Wait! Don’t! We may desire knowledge, but we cannot hope to
find what we seek within the Lucifalz.”
“But you can hear my voice in there to, can’t you?”
“We can, but…”
“Then help me find my voice in there. Let’s find my voice
speaking the knowledge I need.”
Drop swam alongside Chain as best she could, looking on
Chain’s massive eyes and pleading expression worriedly. She looked on the
battlefield and the hopelessness of the battle and trembled. If there was a
time to take risks, it was in that moment.
“Fine, but we pull out if we start to get overwhelmed.”
“Don’t worry, we’re just listening for me and any knowledge I
have to win this fight.”
Nodding in confirmation, Drop and Chain turned their thoughts
onto the Lucifalz. The whispering was overwhelming, and Chain fell to a knee,
forcing Lute to have to come to her rescue.
“Chainmaid, are you alright?”
“I just need a moment.”
“I can buy you that much, but the nun and the pilgrim…”
“They’ll be fine…”
Chain could not afford to focus on anything else if she were
to isolate her voice among the whispers of the Lucifalz. It was a difficult
task though as when she did hear her voice it was either too fleeting or too
alien in attitude and thought to grasp. She did not relent though and just
started trying to listen no matter what they were saying in the hopes that she
would hear what she needed to. Trying to prompt her voice amongst the whispers
she spoke aloud what she needed.
“Magical theory, the relationship between wood and fire, and
what can kill them both…”
“What are you saying Chainmaid?”
Overhearing Chain as he fought to keep her protected, Lute
asked her what she meant but she did not hear him. Her voice within the
Lucifalz’s whispers had taken to arguing with itself over what she focused on.
“Fire and wood shouldn’t be able to coexist. Fire burns wood
as fuel.”
“But if the wood is strong enough it can resist the fire.”
“Such a weak fire though should be easily put out with a
simple breeze or a splash of water.”
“Wood strong enough to resist fire will shrug off such a wind
and water only strengthens wood.”
“Earth is no good either. Wood can strengthen itself from
earth as well and can penetrate even the strongest of rocks.”
“Then the wood that is too strong even for fire has to be
killed.”
“But what element is left that could pull that off.”
“Darkness…”
The word came to Chain ominously and seemed to cut her off
from the whispers of the Lucifalz. Standing unsteadily, she took a step back
and looked at the Lucifalz, remembering what she and Drop promised the spirits
above.
“A Darkness to swallow even the greatest Light.”
“That isn’t a good idea.”
Drop could not contain her worry about the idea that Chain
had, but Chain simply smiled.
“But it’s what we promised the spirits here, isn’t it? To
protect them from the Light with a Darkness it can’t pierce.”
“For some reason I don’t like what you’re saying Chainmaid.”
“Heh heh! That’s fine. But–”
“If you call upon Darkness now…”
Interrupting Chain’s dismissal of Lute, Drop again tried to
warn against Chain’s train of thought. Lute found the spirit’s concerns
pressing and queried of the urgency.
“Tell me Chainmaid, what is this Darkness you are referring
to, and where will it come from? Is it perhaps related to that Gate you keep
opening even when it would be unwise for the rest of to open our Gates?”
“It’s something like that. It’s like the power of the
Foreigner that infected me. But all I should need is an incantation that makes
sure I stay in control. That and a spell that is easier to control.”
Lifting up her sword, Chain looked at her reflection in the
blade and smiled. Drop’s reaction was less enthusiastic by several degrees and
she did not hold back her thoughts.
“We should not wake the Beast. The last time the Beast was
awake–”
“It ate everything.”
The enthusiasm that Chain spoke with gave pause to Drop and
Lute, but the Chainmaid smiled brightly with a twinkle in her eyes. Swiping
away monster that got to close her she turned those shimmering eyes on Lute and
Drop.
“It’s time to go, so gather everyone up by the Lucifalz and
get ready to take us out of here Drop. I’ve got the incantation ready.”
“Do you have it ready or did you hear it from the Lucifalz?”
“Maybe a bit of both, but I’ve had enough of that thing
whispering in my head and I’m going to get rid of it. I’m going to get rid of
everything stopping me from piecing my thoughts together. Now go get the
others, it’s time to leave.”
Not staying to continue arguing with herself, Chain bolted
away from Drop and Lute and into the thick of the cloud of monsters as it had
descended upon the nest the Lucifalz stood in. Sprinting at full speed with a
smile on her face, she put her sword to lethal work, monsters of ash and cinder
falling like autumn tree leaves in a gale. One monster in particular would not
fall so easily as it stood like a mountain against the gale, and for it, Chain
snapped her fingers and called up her bow. With the first arrow she earned the
wyvern’s attention by shooting it in the neck. She did not loose her next arrow
until after she leapt above the Ambrosial beast’s lunging bite, the arrow
finding purchase in the back of the wyvern’s head. Rearing back in pain, the
wyvern provided Chain a path back to the ground and dropping her bow she ran
down it and cut through the wyvern’s body along with the bow as she ran down its
back. The light coated sword easily cut through the wyvern’s wooden carapace
and an eruption of fire traced Chain’s path down its back. Chain did not make
her way directly to the ground though but made for the wyvern’s tail. The
wyvern had no intention of letting Chain make for it and stabbed at her with
the barbed tail. Chain simply smiled and leapt just in front of where the tail
struck and stabbed her sword into it just behind the stinger. Twisting her
sword to stop her leap, the wood splintered and cracked. The wyvern roared in
response and whipped its tail back around to dislodge Chain who was glad to go.
But she did not intend to leave without a prize and twisted her sword free with
a powerful slash severing the stinger from the tail. Having chosen her dismount
of the wyvern, Chain exploited her time in the air to summon her bow with
another snap of her fingers and loosed a series of arrows of Light into the
wound she cut down the beast’s back. The wyvern roared with pain and rage and
whipped about to level its fiery glare onto Chain as she landed at the edge of
the nest.
“That’s right, eyes on me.”
Smiling broadly, Chain saw the line of events before her were
exactly what she wanted them to be. Moving into place behind the Lucifalz,
Drop, Maye, Squawk, and Lute all looked in her direction with looks of worry,
concern, incredulousness, and curiosity. With Lute with them though, Chain knew
they would be safe under the branches of the Lucifalz and turned to the task
she set for herself. Grabbing her cape, she pulled it tight against her and let
it disappear, revealing her scabbard hanging from her sword strap that was
wrapped around her hips. Sheathing her sword, she looked up at the wyvern that
had begun wearily approaching her. She couldn’t ask for more perfect a
situation and her eyes sparkled with excitement.
“Here. We. GO‼”
Holding both hands out in front of her with palms turned
towards each other, Chain snapped the fingers of her left hand releasing the
distinctive ringing sound that accompanied the motion. Between her palms the
sphere of light her snap conjured swelled into being and she began her
incantation.
“~ Darkness that falls as night”
With the beginnings of her incantation, the sphere of light
became corrupted with Darkness and was soon transformed by it. As the sphere of
light became a sphere of Darkness, Chain’s cape flared violently back into
being as she continued her incantation.
“Hatred transcending ages
Passed from Foreigner to mankind
I call on your hunger to devour that which dares oppose me
Bind it to my purpose in the form of my greatest strength
Feed you with the flesh of my enemies
Sword of Darkness! ~”
Passed from Foreigner to mankind
I call on your hunger to devour that which dares oppose me
Bind it to my purpose in the form of my greatest strength
Feed you with the flesh of my enemies
Sword of Darkness! ~”
Calling out the name of her incantation, Chain released the
sphere of Darkness. In the same breath she took a step back with her right foot
and drew her sword through the sphere. As her blade met the sphere, the
Darkness became one with it, a snaking trail of Darkness writhing into the air
lengthening the blade well beyond its tip. Taking her sword in both hands,
Chain turned the tip behind her and squared up to face the wyvern, whose
internal flames seemed to defy the color stealing properties of the sword she
wielded. Chain simply smiled wider, and in response her sword of Darkness grew
larger and larger behind her.
“It’s been a while since the Beast fed, so I hope you make a
good meal.”
.
Copyright © 2019 Joshua D Tarwater
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