Despite the fact that Ethan, trailed by the small group of monsters, and the massive swarm that had now left the ruined town of Coppershear in its wake heading had been running toward each other for a good bit of time up until this point he was still having trouble in the speculation of how many there actually were. In an attempt to calm his nerves, which were gradually becoming rawer, he analyzed the makeup of the swarm to try and determine why he was having such a hard time figuring out their numbers. The closer they moved to each other the harder it was for him to see the entire mass of monsters, but instead of being a hindrance to his efforts, having a narrower field of vision helped him focus.

He soon noticed a massive disparity between the number, and size, of the largest monsters and the smallest ones. Furthermore, even though he had seen them eat each other himself he was somewhat surprised to see what looked like some of the largest monsters grabbing up various smaller ones to devour them as they ran toward their ultimate target; him. He also began to notice that they were all the same type of monster though a majority seemed to be the weird scorpion and ant combination creatures that attacked the camp. Being a curious boy by nature he immediately began wishing he had more information at his disposal as the differences and behavior he was seeing confused, or otherwise intrigued him, and not having answers was bothering him.

The boy was still heading diagonally toward the sheer mountain face, his form moving easily over the fields, though he tried to not look back when he heard the ground being toward up by the raging monsters racing after him. Well, he was doing his best and hopefully no one would get too angry and ruined crops, especially after they saw the damage to the city. Upon considering the town he stole a glance in its direction, noting, for a second time, the pillars of smoke, crumbled wall, and considered what was surely the massive amounts of death within. While his nervousness was still growing the thought of lives destroyed within the town help to strengthen his resolve and he looked back to the swarm with a greater sense of anger.

He wasn't sure what time of the day it was but he could tell it was at least mid-morning as the sun moved higher in the sky, the air growing warmer, especially with the sun shining down on him without anything, other than his clothes, to shade him. While he wasn't really out of breath his body was beginning to perspire and his simple shirt was starting to stick to his skin across his shoulders, lower back, and chest, while his pant legs still managed to flap in the wind. His fabric around his arms had long since become soaked with sweat as the rays from the sun heated up the pair of metal enforced shields he was carrying, with one strapped to each forearm. He took a moment to look back in the direction he thought he originally emerged from the woods and said a small prayer to the Keepers that the other children were safe. He knew some had been hurt pretty badly but thankfully he hadn't seen any dead bodies, at least that of a child's, so he tried to think positively.

Looking back toward the crops he tried to locate any sources of water, having already ran through several shallow streams that looked to be fed from thin waterfalls cascading down the mountain. Well, they seemed thin from this distance, who knew how much water was truly falling from one level of earth to the next. After squinting he thought he could see one that looked larger than the others so far about halfway between him and the swarm, at least that it what it looked like. In truth he would end up getting there first about an hour later, but ran passed it to bring the trailing group of monsters to where he wanted them. He could feel the rumbling of the swarm beneath his feet as the countless legs dug into the ground on its mindless march to rip him apart as he came to a skidding stop a bit on the other side of the shallow river that his chosen waterfall fed. There was a pool of water that looked to be about waste deep, its depths crystal clear though its surface was in constant turmoil from the waterfall, a natural damn of rocks keeping the water's edge steady by allowing the excess to flow down to form the river faced the direction of the incoming monsters.

Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!

Just as the group that had been trailing behind him began splashing across the river he sent six glowing discs hurling towards them, his body rotating in times as his circling arms spun the now horizontal shields in the air so that he could send excess Nel' Ina through them like during his adventurer examination. There wasn't any sound as the discs flew through the air as they weren't affected by the natural order of things, though the air seemed to increase in density, like a fog, when the discs passed by, making it look like them look similar to comets in space, with their fading tails. While their passage through the air didn't make any noise, when they slammed into the mass of skittering bodies now about halfway across the river, the area around them was suddenly filled with explosions and the shrill screeches of dying monsters. To ensure the maximum carnage possible he sent another volley of Nel' Ina discs into the pile of legs and pincers as they all suffered from spasms, flicking and flinching in the air and against the ground. To his satisfaction, because of his plan, he noted the Nel' Ina infused bodily juices of the monsters begin to drain down river toward the incoming swarm.

Knowing he didn't have long Ethan quickly moved over to the pool and waded in until the water was near his waste and began to drink deeply to quench his thirst and calm his somewhat dry throat. Submerging himself beneath the surface he let his body sink to the bottom from the weight of his shields, his eyes closed and his ears filled by the thrashing of the waterfall. There, alone and without distraction, he tried to collect his thoughts and come up with a better plan than what he was already devising. Anyone else who knew what he was thinking would swear he had a death wish, which was the furthest from the truth. In fact, before the orphans were kidnapped he hadn't really considered the nature of death, let alone his own. Now, he found himself facing a swarm, one of the natural disasters that could wipe entire cities from existence that Nelumexa now suffered from, all by himself and with just two shields. The vibrations from the monsters was now overpowering the drumming from the waterfall, they were closer than he originally thought, though it didn't matter now. Bending his knees he brought his legs beneath him before planting his feet on the bottom of the pool. From beneath the now thrashing and turbulent surface of the pool Ethan emerged, a sheet of water cascading down his postured form leaving his clothes clinging to his toned teenage body and his hair spread out over his face and neck. His crystal blue eyes narrowed as he let out a battle cry of sorts and then jumped out of the pool and right toward the monstrous tide now coming upon the mass of dead monsters from earlier.