The clergy have something terrifyingly strong rushing around outside our walled area. Every few seconds, a plume of dust rises through the air. Whatever is causing all that damage, they are quick. One moment, a cloud of dust forms in front of us, the next, behind us.
The majority of mermineae seem completely unfazed by our presence. They either rush toward whatever it is they are fighting, or flee. Most flee.
I’m surprised the clergy is even holding up their end of the deal. It’s almost suspicious how effective their distraction has been. Between Spenne and me, none of the few mermineae that still try to rush toward us survive. Grímr hasn’t even needed to lift a talon.
Despite how effective it is at spreading my flames, Spenne has stopped casting bolts of lightning out into the crowds beyond. The wraps around his hands now tightened and hiding away the volatile electricity within.
Instead, he rushes around, fast as lightning himself. With his wide jaw, he bites into the poor victims that clamber into my inferno. Branch-like patterns glow beneath their skin before inviting me in. My flames run through the forking burns in their bodies and incinerate the mermineae from the inside out.
I would have liked to practice my spear against them, but Spenne doesn’t give me the opportunity. He throws himself after each like a ravenous beast.
Outside our stone circle, the fire has spread rather far, but it won’t be moving much further. The thinning crowds of mermineae make it nearly impossible for my flames to spread from fur to fur without direct control. The small nudges I’ve given the fire have been enough to spread a good few hundred metres, which is incredible considering the only sources of fuel are corpses half submerged in melted snow.
Dark clouds of smoke hover above, spreading far over the surrounding slope. I can’t help but look up at it mournfully. So much wasted resources. Uncle Rivin would be disappointed. Whatever reason the áinfean has for the smoke, it better be good.
A loud crash has me turning to the wall behind us, only to watch as it crumbles to rubble. Another massive plume explodes out of the new crater formed just outside our ring. It looks like whatever the clergy brought with them accidentally destroyed our defences. Well, hopefully it’s that, and not them attacking us.
I prepare myself anyway. Something that can cause that much damage so quick would be at least at Imiha’s level.
Through the obscured air, a merminea climbs out of the crater. Well, it has the shape of a mermineae, but it is impossible to see it directly. A cloak of ash and dust flows off its body. It jerks its neck to something unseen; the motion accompanied by a wave of dust blowing away from its head.
On both forelegs and hind-legs, it tenses before it disappearing from sight. Another plume rises a few hundred metres away, likely the creature landing.
Was that really a merminea? Its movements are far too wild and feral to consider it as one despite the similar shape. If they had this creature hidden, then why are we even here? Couldn’t it just kill any that tried to pass the Alps as Hund did with the army invading his land?
“Solvei, Grímr. It’s time to go.” Remus climbs out of the crevice.
They’re done already? Well, I’m not about to complain. I climb up Grímr’s back, ready to take to the air again and leave this place.
Spenne lets out a rumbling chuckle and unwinds the wraps around his arms. “About time!”
My team climbs out from the ground, but doesn’t move away. Within my flames, I feel Remus has regrown his limb. Did Imiha finally forgive him?
Well, if we’re all done, then there’s no reason to stay around.
Grímr tilts his head back at me in a way I’ve learnt to associate with him being perplexed. I’m unsure what the look is for, but he finally starts moving.
Only… toward the crevice.
I finally realise why my team hasn’t moved away from the hole; they plan to go back through those tunnels.
No. There’s no way. I jump off Grímr and backpedal. “No. I’m not going back down there.”
I may not feel that terror of being trapped anymore, but I will still do everything I can to keep my freedom. Sealing myself beneath stone again is just asking for problems. Not only will my knot prevent me from going through with it, but I’ll have to tell them of my mental rope. About how likely I’ll be to stab them in the back.
I can’t.
“I’m staying here.”
Frustration crosses Imiha’s face, but the others show resignation and concern, like they expected this, but hoped otherwise. Well, they shouldn’t have expected any different. I’ve made my plan to stay on this side of the Alps abundantly clear. If they expected I’d want to go back through the tunnels once we were above them, they are sorely mistaken.
So what now? Is this where they betray my trust for a second time and drag me through?
Grímr walks up to my side and turns back to the others. “I have no reason to go home anytime soon. I’ll stay by her side. You all have a job to do. Make sure the nations are prepared. There are surely still enough mermineae down in those tunnels to threaten our homes.” Grímr brushes my side with the edge of his wing. “We’ll find another way around, eventually.”
“I’ll stay too.” Bunny steps forward.
“No, you won’t,” Imiha immediately rebukes. “Your influence in Vanguard is far too important to let you stay here.”
Bunny stops her advance toward me, obviously conflicted.
“Are you lot leaving or not?” Spenne asks. “I’m getting agitated.”
His white wraps now dangle from his elbows, exposing the intense energy of his arms to the world. Wild electric arcs spark out through my flames, many zapping along the ground. Static empowers the air. Like his sparks moved through my flames with ease, I find my flames energised by the intensity in the air. What is he doing?
While my attention is elsewhere, Bunny slams into me, pulling me into a hug. I panic, thinking she’s trying to drag me down with her again. As soon as I flinch, she lets go.
“Please come back safe.” With that, she backs up to the rest of the team.
“We’ll meet again,” Remus says with a rueful smile.
Jav waves from Remus’ head as they descend back into the depths of the Alps. I am… sad to see them go. It is too bad the only way back is through the Alps. Hopefully, there’s another way… but if there is, the mermineae should have already found it.
“Finally!” Spenne raises his exposed arms above his head. Rapid sparks spread out from him, striking at anything they can find: burning corpses, stone, Grímr.
Grímr doesn’t seem to mind, though.
Spenne shouts and I feel the thunder rolling through my chest. An explosion of light blinds me and a body shaking crack almost deafens me. I feel it before I see it. My flames rocket up into the air, following a thicker lightning arc than I’ve ever thought possible. Even as my eyes readjust and confirm what I feel, I struggle to believe it.
Two thick, continuous, forking beams of lightning strike the dark smoke clouds above with such ferocity I can scarcely believe it. Thunderous laughter rolls off the áinfean with each pulse of energy he thrusts into the sky.
The electricity seems to find a home amongst the sky overcast with smoke. Lightning spreads further, zapping the air outside the cloud of ash and smoke.
I can’t turn my eyes away from the sight. Each second Spenne pumps more energy above, the darker the world seems to become. Despite the blinding arc of electricity right before me, the blue sky around the smoke darkens into a black thunderstorm. I don’t know where these clouds are coming from, but before long there is no clear sky to be seen.
The áinfean’s beams abruptly cut off, forcing me to squint to readjust my sight now that everything is so dark. The daylight has gone, but the sky is still lit by uncountable lightning strikes arcing through the storm above.
Spenne casually rewinds the wraps over his hands. I still can’t take my eyes from the sky above. I can feel the energy thrumming through the air. My flames hijacking the lightning each time an arc crosses the sky.
I’m confused by his purpose. It’s incredible, but what does creating this immense lightning storm help?
The áinfean turns to us with arms raised, gesturing to the sky he created. “I hope you two are ready.” He grins as his voice thrums through me.
I can’t help but feel we should have long left already.
The sky suddenly quietens. Lightning stops and thunder abates.
Spenne clenches his fist as if grasping the air and tugs downward. At his command, the world erupts in chaos and noise.
The sky ignites with a thousand bolts striking the earth at once. Some lightning strikes combine into major arcs of electricity, bridging the sky to the ground. These arcs tear through the slope, frying thousands in seconds.
The sound is constant. Loud booming overwhelms everything else.
I can intimately feel each strike around me. I can’t control the electricity, but it wouldn’t be hard to just reach out and ignite everything around it. Even a league away, far further than I’ve ever been able to feel, the lightning almost begs me to use its power.
A bolt crashes into Grímr, but he just stands there, unfazed. The energy simply passes around his metal plumage before flowing into the ground. The same can not be said for any other bird still in the skies or the mermineae running along the earth. Vermilions, enantiorns and all other avian hunters fry in midair faster than even the ground creatures are obliterated.
Grímr nudges me, snapping me from my daze. “We should leave.”
I nod to him wordlessly and climb onto his back. I circle my flames around us, preparing to give him a boost once he takes off.
We barely gain any air when an explosion of dust slams us into a wall of earth. I tumble off Grímr’s back and a cloud of particles obscures my vision. It doesn’t burn. I try to clear the dust and ash from the air, but I can’t consume any of it.
Wait, no. That’s wrong. The dust is burning, but I can’t feel anything from it. It’s like the particles have no energy at all, which can’t be right. I’ve never felt something without energy. I didn’t think it was possible.
The dust quickly disperses, my flames burning it away despite the contrary sensation. A vast swathe of earth is now gone and at the centre, a massive concentration of dust keeps my flames at bay. Once the cloud clears enough for me to see, the frenzied merminea becomes visible.
The energy deficient particles pour off the creature’s body faster than my fire can burn through. I can’t see the being through the mass billowing off it.
The creature shrieks. A guttural howl like nothing a living creature should produce. With all four legs tensed against the ground, it leaps at Spenne.
The áinfean lets out a thunderous laugh. “Yes! Come!”
Spenne twists a moment before the merminea reaches him, His thick finned tail slamming the creature to the ground. Much of the earth disperses in dust as the merminea descends beneath the surface. The áinfean doesn’t leave it at that. Hundreds of arcs of lightning tear into the crater before joining into one colossal beam unleashing untold power from the skies.
When the lightning stops, I have only an instant to see what this merminea looks like before the dust covers it again, and what I see is horrifying. Hollow sockets are all that remain of any eyes it might have had, but that isn’t even bad compared to the rest of its body. There isn’t a touch of skin. Muscle, bone and organs are all exposed, and each are in a decrepit state. Almost like they are falling apart.
The dust is its very body decaying at an accelerated rate.
How can it even move like that? There’s no way it isn’t excruciating.
Spenne cares little for my horrified concerns. His grin grows wider and he drops his arms into a stance that makes him look like he’s ready to charge. “You survived that? Great! I was starting to think coming here was a waste of time.”
“Murderer!” the merminea’s voice comes out in a raspy struggle.
Sparks rush out of Spenne’s tail as he rests it back along the ground. The occurrence must surprise him as he lifts it to show a large section where the white wraps have decayed.
“Well, that’s annoying,” he says. “But no matter.”
He lowers his tail, but doesn’t let it drag along the ground as he usually would. It hangs suspended behind him.
The merminea doesn’t wait any longer, lunging at the áinfean. Spenne grabs the creature by the arms near the shoulder, stopping its offence dead in its tracks. The wraps around his hands immediately decay, exposing the electric arcs of his body to the open air.
He flings the merminea away to give himself space and unwinds the white bindings from his arms and head. The merminea charges once more, a blind attack on his enemy. Spenne just waits for it to get close and then strikes out. He snaps his maw over the head of the merminea, biting it clear off. Before it falls over, Spenne swings an open palm into its chest. A lightning bolt strikes from the storm above at the same instance and he sends the merminea flying. It crashes through Imiha’s wall of stone and obliterates it.
It all happens so quick that I forget we are trying to get out. Grímr digs the tips of his wings into the wall and uses them like fingers to pull himself up. I blast a burst of solid flames beneath me and join him on top of the wall. A little trick I’m happy to have learnt.
I’m just about to help Grímr take off again, when two rather concerning events happen. The dust merminea climbs out of the wreckage, headless, but still moving. While that is bad in itself, the two new merminea standing on the wall opposite me are far more worrying. Both exude as much dust and ash as their friend below.
The clergy have something terrifyingly strong rushing around outside our walled area. Every few seconds, a plume of dust rises through the air. Whatever is causing all that damage, they are quick. One moment, a cloud of dust forms in front of us, the next, behind us.
The majority of mermineae seem completely unfazed by our presence. They either rush toward whatever it is they are fighting, or flee. Most flee.
I’m surprised the clergy is even holding up their end of the deal. It’s almost suspicious how effective their distraction has been. Between Spenne and me, none of the few mermineae that still try to rush toward us survive. Grímr hasn’t even needed to lift a talon.
Despite how effective it is at spreading my flames, Spenne has stopped casting bolts of lightning out into the crowds beyond. The wraps around his hands now tightened and hiding away the volatile electricity within.
Instead, he rushes around, fast as lightning himself. With his wide jaw, he bites into the poor victims that clamber into my inferno. Branch-like patterns glow beneath their skin before inviting me in. My flames run through the forking burns in their bodies and incinerate the mermineae from the inside out.
I would have liked to practice my spear against them, but Spenne doesn’t give me the opportunity. He throws himself after each like a ravenous beast.
Outside our stone circle, the fire has spread rather far, but it won’t be moving much further. The thinning crowds of mermineae make it nearly impossible for my flames to spread from fur to fur without direct control. The small nudges I’ve given the fire have been enough to spread a good few hundred metres, which is incredible considering the only sources of fuel are corpses half submerged in melted snow.
Dark clouds of smoke hover above, spreading far over the surrounding slope. I can’t help but look up at it mournfully. So much wasted resources. Uncle Rivin would be disappointed. Whatever reason the áinfean has for the smoke, it better be good.
A loud crash has me turning to the wall behind us, only to watch as it crumbles to rubble. Another massive plume explodes out of the new crater formed just outside our ring. It looks like whatever the clergy brought with them accidentally destroyed our defences. Well, hopefully it’s that, and not them attacking us.
I prepare myself anyway. Something that can cause that much damage so quick would be at least at Imiha’s level.
Through the obscured air, a merminea climbs out of the crater. Well, it has the shape of a mermineae, but it is impossible to see it directly. A cloak of ash and dust flows off its body. It jerks its neck to something unseen; the motion accompanied by a wave of dust blowing away from its head.
On both forelegs and hind-legs, it tenses before it disappearing from sight. Another plume rises a few hundred metres away, likely the creature landing.
Was that really a merminea? Its movements are far too wild and feral to consider it as one despite the similar shape. If they had this creature hidden, then why are we even here? Couldn’t it just kill any that tried to pass the Alps as Hund did with the army invading his land?
“Solvei, Grímr. It’s time to go.” Remus climbs out of the crevice.
They’re done already? Well, I’m not about to complain. I climb up Grímr’s back, ready to take to the air again and leave this place.
Spenne lets out a rumbling chuckle and unwinds the wraps around his arms. “About time!”
My team climbs out from the ground, but doesn’t move away. Within my flames, I feel Remus has regrown his limb. Did Imiha finally forgive him?
Well, if we’re all done, then there’s no reason to stay around.
Grímr tilts his head back at me in a way I’ve learnt to associate with him being perplexed. I’m unsure what the look is for, but he finally starts moving.
Only… toward the crevice.
I finally realise why my team hasn’t moved away from the hole; they plan to go back through those tunnels.
No. There’s no way. I jump off Grímr and backpedal. “No. I’m not going back down there.”
I may not feel that terror of being trapped anymore, but I will still do everything I can to keep my freedom. Sealing myself beneath stone again is just asking for problems. Not only will my knot prevent me from going through with it, but I’ll have to tell them of my mental rope. About how likely I’ll be to stab them in the back.
I can’t.
“I’m staying here.”
Frustration crosses Imiha’s face, but the others show resignation and concern, like they expected this, but hoped otherwise. Well, they shouldn’t have expected any different. I’ve made my plan to stay on this side of the Alps abundantly clear. If they expected I’d want to go back through the tunnels once we were above them, they are sorely mistaken.
So what now? Is this where they betray my trust for a second time and drag me through?
Grímr walks up to my side and turns back to the others. “I have no reason to go home anytime soon. I’ll stay by her side. You all have a job to do. Make sure the nations are prepared. There are surely still enough mermineae down in those tunnels to threaten our homes.” Grímr brushes my side with the edge of his wing. “We’ll find another way around, eventually.”
“I’ll stay too.” Bunny steps forward.
“No, you won’t,” Imiha immediately rebukes. “Your influence in Vanguard is far too important to let you stay here.”
Bunny stops her advance toward me, obviously conflicted.
“Are you lot leaving or not?” Spenne asks. “I’m getting agitated.”
His white wraps now dangle from his elbows, exposing the intense energy of his arms to the world. Wild electric arcs spark out through my flames, many zapping along the ground. Static empowers the air. Like his sparks moved through my flames with ease, I find my flames energised by the intensity in the air. What is he doing?
While my attention is elsewhere, Bunny slams into me, pulling me into a hug. I panic, thinking she’s trying to drag me down with her again. As soon as I flinch, she lets go.
“Please come back safe.” With that, she backs up to the rest of the team.
“We’ll meet again,” Remus says with a rueful smile.
Jav waves from Remus’ head as they descend back into the depths of the Alps. I am… sad to see them go. It is too bad the only way back is through the Alps. Hopefully, there’s another way… but if there is, the mermineae should have already found it.
“Finally!” Spenne raises his exposed arms above his head. Rapid sparks spread out from him, striking at anything they can find: burning corpses, stone, Grímr.
Grímr doesn’t seem to mind, though.
Spenne shouts and I feel the thunder rolling through my chest. An explosion of light blinds me and a body shaking crack almost deafens me. I feel it before I see it. My flames rocket up into the air, following a thicker lightning arc than I’ve ever thought possible. Even as my eyes readjust and confirm what I feel, I struggle to believe it.
Two thick, continuous, forking beams of lightning strike the dark smoke clouds above with such ferocity I can scarcely believe it. Thunderous laughter rolls off the áinfean with each pulse of energy he thrusts into the sky.
The electricity seems to find a home amongst the sky overcast with smoke. Lightning spreads further, zapping the air outside the cloud of ash and smoke.
I can’t turn my eyes away from the sight. Each second Spenne pumps more energy above, the darker the world seems to become. Despite the blinding arc of electricity right before me, the blue sky around the smoke darkens into a black thunderstorm. I don’t know where these clouds are coming from, but before long there is no clear sky to be seen.
The áinfean’s beams abruptly cut off, forcing me to squint to readjust my sight now that everything is so dark. The daylight has gone, but the sky is still lit by uncountable lightning strikes arcing through the storm above.
Spenne casually rewinds the wraps over his hands. I still can’t take my eyes from the sky above. I can feel the energy thrumming through the air. My flames hijacking the lightning each time an arc crosses the sky.
I’m confused by his purpose. It’s incredible, but what does creating this immense lightning storm help?
The áinfean turns to us with arms raised, gesturing to the sky he created. “I hope you two are ready.” He grins as his voice thrums through me.
I can’t help but feel we should have long left already.
The sky suddenly quietens. Lightning stops and thunder abates.
Spenne clenches his fist as if grasping the air and tugs downward. At his command, the world erupts in chaos and noise.
The sky ignites with a thousand bolts striking the earth at once. Some lightning strikes combine into major arcs of electricity, bridging the sky to the ground. These arcs tear through the slope, frying thousands in seconds.
The sound is constant. Loud booming overwhelms everything else.
I can intimately feel each strike around me. I can’t control the electricity, but it wouldn’t be hard to just reach out and ignite everything around it. Even a league away, far further than I’ve ever been able to feel, the lightning almost begs me to use its power.
A bolt crashes into Grímr, but he just stands there, unfazed. The energy simply passes around his metal plumage before flowing into the ground. The same can not be said for any other bird still in the skies or the mermineae running along the earth. Vermilions, enantiorns and all other avian hunters fry in midair faster than even the ground creatures are obliterated.
Grímr nudges me, snapping me from my daze. “We should leave.”
I nod to him wordlessly and climb onto his back. I circle my flames around us, preparing to give him a boost once he takes off.
We barely gain any air when an explosion of dust slams us into a wall of earth. I tumble off Grímr’s back and a cloud of particles obscures my vision. It doesn’t burn. I try to clear the dust and ash from the air, but I can’t consume any of it.
Wait, no. That’s wrong. The dust is burning, but I can’t feel anything from it. It’s like the particles have no energy at all, which can’t be right. I’ve never felt something without energy. I didn’t think it was possible.
The dust quickly disperses, my flames burning it away despite the contrary sensation. A vast swathe of earth is now gone and at the centre, a massive concentration of dust keeps my flames at bay. Once the cloud clears enough for me to see, the frenzied merminea becomes visible.
The energy deficient particles pour off the creature’s body faster than my fire can burn through. I can’t see the being through the mass billowing off it.
The creature shrieks. A guttural howl like nothing a living creature should produce. With all four legs tensed against the ground, it leaps at Spenne.
The áinfean lets out a thunderous laugh. “Yes! Come!”
Spenne twists a moment before the merminea reaches him, His thick finned tail slamming the creature to the ground. Much of the earth disperses in dust as the merminea descends beneath the surface. The áinfean doesn’t leave it at that. Hundreds of arcs of lightning tear into the crater before joining into one colossal beam unleashing untold power from the skies.
When the lightning stops, I have only an instant to see what this merminea looks like before the dust covers it again, and what I see is horrifying. Hollow sockets are all that remain of any eyes it might have had, but that isn’t even bad compared to the rest of its body. There isn’t a touch of skin. Muscle, bone and organs are all exposed, and each are in a decrepit state. Almost like they are falling apart.
The dust is its very body decaying at an accelerated rate.
How can it even move like that? There’s no way it isn’t excruciating.
Spenne cares little for my horrified concerns. His grin grows wider and he drops his arms into a stance that makes him look like he’s ready to charge. “You survived that? Great! I was starting to think coming here was a waste of time.”
“Murderer!” the merminea’s voice comes out in a raspy struggle.
Sparks rush out of Spenne’s tail as he rests it back along the ground. The occurrence must surprise him as he lifts it to show a large section where the white wraps have decayed.
“Well, that’s annoying,” he says. “But no matter.”
He lowers his tail, but doesn’t let it drag along the ground as he usually would. It hangs suspended behind him.
The merminea doesn’t wait any longer, lunging at the áinfean. Spenne grabs the creature by the arms near the shoulder, stopping its offence dead in its tracks. The wraps around his hands immediately decay, exposing the electric arcs of his body to the open air.
He flings the merminea away to give himself space and unwinds the white bindings from his arms and head. The merminea charges once more, a blind attack on his enemy. Spenne just waits for it to get close and then strikes out. He snaps his maw over the head of the merminea, biting it clear off. Before it falls over, Spenne swings an open palm into its chest. A lightning bolt strikes from the storm above at the same instance and he sends the merminea flying. It crashes through Imiha’s wall of stone and obliterates it.
It all happens so quick that I forget we are trying to get out. Grímr digs the tips of his wings into the wall and uses them like fingers to pull himself up. I blast a burst of solid flames beneath me and join him on top of the wall. A little trick I’m happy to have learnt.
I’m just about to help Grímr take off again, when two rather concerning events happen. The dust merminea climbs out of the wreckage, headless, but still moving. While that is bad in itself, the two new merminea standing on the wall opposite me are far more worrying. Both exude as much dust and ash as their friend below.
