Two Twin-Tailed Scorpions roamed the streets ahead, their olive carapaces shimmering under the flickering streetlights. Four baby scorpions scuttled and hissed around them, playing with a blood and mud smeared half-dead puppy.
“Should we avoid them?” Nana asked in a whisper, hiding behind a building with Ewan, peeking out of the corner. Dirt smudged her clothes; streaks of wiped soot marred her cheeks.
Ewan glanced at Luna, dusting off his jet-black t-shirt, and adjusting his torn sleeves. “Can she heal poisons?” he asked.
“I haven’t tried yet, can't say for sure,” she said.
He hadn't tried it with Iris, so he wasn’t sure whether she could either.
“Those little ones are still infants, they’ll sell for a good number of Novas,” he murmured. “Too bad they’re not newborns.” He looked at Nana. “It’s your chance to prove yourself. Go, be the bait,” he said, patting her shoulder.
“What?” she whispered in alarm. “I’ll die in a second.”
“No, you won't.”
“L-Let’s do rock paper scissors. I’ll go if I lose,” she said.
“Fine.”
“Rock paper scissors,” they said at once and both threw rock.
“Again,” Ewan said.
“Rock paper scissors.”
…
…
…
Nana made a crying face, holding out a scissor against Ewan’s rock.
“You’ll be fine,” he said. “Just to be on the safe side, bite this.” He took out a cloth from his claw-ring and stuffed it in her mouth.
It muffled her grumbles and whines and she stared at Ewan with a teary gaze.
“It’s clean, don’t worry.” Ewan laughed and slit his wrist with his obsidian dagger, and her eyes went wide.
Blood Rein!
He used all the Blood-Anima he had for the spell; it was the strongest it could be at this point.
Luna fluttered her wings and healed his cut with an aqua glow when the spell took out the needed blood from him.
“This’ll keep you safe,” he said and soaked her already dirty clothes with his blood blob. “Now go.”
……
Nana stood in the open streets, her chest heaving, her knees verged on buckling. She clutched the edge of her now blood-drenched ivory top and faced the hissing scorpions while her Astylind hovered in front of her, squawking.
Ewan hid behind a corner with the scorpions’ backs to him, his Ryvia covering Nana and the smeared blood on her clothes inside his spell’s range.
Dekoth.
Orange and Frost came out of their vortexes and stood beside him, prepared to pounce on the scorpions on his command.
Two scorpions, four pointy tails; they blurred when they stabbed Nana.
Go!
The blood on Nana’s clothes darted off and shielded her and Luna behind a concave barrier as she crouched, holding her head, the cloth in her mouth smothering her scream. Orange launched away at the same time, and using an invisible platform Ewan created with Ryvia, blasted down at one of the scorpions. His punch exploded on the scorpion’s head and cracked the asphalt beneath. Its upper carapace fractured while its bottom shattered, mushy brain matter splattering out with blood.
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The tails collided with the blood shield and sparked as one scorpion lost its life and collapsed to the side, its limbs twitching for a second.
Frost acted in concert too and gestured for his spell. Sharp pointy ice-stalagmites sprung out of the ground with force and shanked the other scorpion, piercing its sturdy carapace from beneath. He waved his hands and hurled several icicles at the struggling scorpion, impaling its head and ending its life.
Hold them down!
Ewan broke into a run, his Spellbook flying with him, and restrained two of the baby scorpions with his Ryvia. They screeched and flailed but couldn’t escape. The other two had fled outside his range during the battle, so he left them to Orange and Frost.
“I-Is it all done?” Nana asked from behind the blood shield, taking out the wet cloth from her mouth.
“Yeah,” Ewan said. “You have the suspension spell, right? Cast it on the other two.”
Nana touched her tear shaped pendant and took out a thick white hardcover book, her Spellbook. Orange and Frost grabbed the thrashing baby scorpions by their tails and held them in front of her while she cast the suspension spell.
Ewan too cast the same spell from his Spellbook on the two he held down. And soon four frozen scorpion statues lay still on the streets, the last second of their struggle electing their quiet postures, not dead not alive, suspended in a limbo state.
“How much will they sell for?” Nana asked, putting her book back in the wine-red pendant.
“Don’t know, I haven’t researched their market.” He took out a cloth bag from his claw-ring and put two statues in it, leaving the other two for Nana. His claw-ring couldn’t keep the suspended Astylinds, so this was the only way to carry them. At least, they were sturdy enough and wouldn’t break easily. “Let’s find a place. We’ll rest for the night,” Ewan said, panning his eyes around the dark streets.
Because the trams stopped working, they hadn't traveled long, this was still their own zone in the residential block. Deserted and quiet, the blinking shadows of the walls were their only companions here. The pitch-dark corner ahead was an abyss with its mouth gaping, ready to devour them if they stepped forth. Not even the moths came to the streetlamps tonight….
“S-Should we ask someone for help?” She moved closer to Ewan, away from the dark corner.
“There’s no one here, they’ve all left. Let’s break into some place and spend the night.” The consecutive fights financed his Novas balance, but they also drained him, he needed some rest now. “Try this one.” He eyed the nearest house. Its walls were low, even Nana could climb over.
His instincts tingled when he helped her up the wall, however. His hands halted and he turned around, light on his toes to bite back if necessary. The dull currents down his spine warned him about someone, something, but there was no one here—not in his sight, not in his Ryvia. His nose twitched; a hint of minty smell tickled him. It wasn’t Nana, she smelled of night jasmine. Faint mist seethed in his mind, and his perplexed frown pulled on his brows. The drifting fog hindered his thoughts. And the more he mulled over it, the more muted his reason became.
“W-What happened?” Nana asked, her legs dangling on both sides of the wall. “I-Is someone there?” She shrank away from the dark streets.
“No, it must be my imagination,” Ewan said, massaging the bridge of his nose and turning to her again.
Was he too tired? He vaulted over the wall with ease and cradled her down on the other side. It was time to rest.
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Status: Healthy
Step-0 [3rd Awakening]
Name: Ewan Ayres
Species: Human
Vitality: 1.4
Spirit: 6.7
Anima: [Fire – 6.7 | Ice – 6.7 | Blood – 0.0]
Astylinds: 4 [Potential: 0]
Rolling Cat [Toast]: Step-0 [3rd Awakening]
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Fire Monkey [Orange]: Step-0 [Level-3] [Grade-C]
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Imp [Frost]: Step-0 [Level-3] [Grade-C]
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Blood Lotus [Iris]: Step-0 [Level-3] [Grade-C]
Equipment: Common Clothes.
Storage: Journal; Elementalist—The Path of Anima [Subtype-Book]; Spellbook; Bloodlust [Spell]; Transmute [Spell]; Anima-Crystals; Obsidian Dagger; Hub-Connector; Ingredients.
Novas: 290
Crelith: 4984