“Poisoned Bog: Friend and Foe.”

When Elofan whooped, a gentle pulse of Mind flowed from her body, slow and controlled. The results of what was presumably her Ability were anything but. An explosion of shimmering, translucent purples and greens spread across the ground and permeated the air as Ben watched, the colors coalescing into ghostly vapors and thick, intangible sludge that sprinted in every direction, covering every inch of the town. From where Ben hovered, he saw the Ability cover the streets and homes, from the town square where Muweh, Herwen, and the cultists were standing off all the way to where Beelzebub and Greyan clashed, far down the main street.

The two Knights before them scarcely had time to react, and by the time they could, they had nowhere to run. As for what the Ability did, Ben had absolutely no idea.

“We have a big advantage now that I managed to activate my Ability. Forgive me, but you three will still need to fight,” the Fernen said.

Grehn’s discipline afforded him the control not to turn to look at Elofan in shock or curiosity.

“Wanna tell us about it? Quickly!”

He added the last part as Meyara and Jey turned towards the group, who were slowly backing away, towards the other side of the street and cover. He didn’t know if he was imagining it, but it almost seemed as if the spectral vapors were reaching up and latching onto the Knights, as if to hold them back. But they were far too incorporeal and thin to do any such thing. The Knights seemed like they could move just fine.

Or did they? It was subtle, but thanks to Ben’s seeing, the tiniest of changes appeared. Jey’s breath was slightly heavier, the grip on her side tighter. Meyara’s movements ever so slightly less refined. Though, Grehn thought he might be imagining things.

Elofan whooped, the sound less exaggerated than usual. “The simple version is this: I’ve designated the Knights and Muweh as our enemies. Everyone else in the Bog is a friend. You’ll feel the effects for yourself, but the enemy is now on something of a timer. Another one, I suppose, if you consider Jey’s injury. They will weaken as long as they remain in the Bog, up until a point. Unfortunately, I had to use the more tame version of my Ability to accommodate both friend and foe.”

Jey perked up. “Watch out. They’re stronger and we’re weaker. Everyone in town.”

“Woah, hold on,” Vlugh said, “you can understand Elofan? Have you just been lying to us about everything this whole time?”

Jey hesitated. Meyara still hadn’t moved, and all of that was fine with Ben. Like Elofan had mentioned, Jey’s injury and now Elofan’s Ability had put the Knights on a timer, so wasting any of that time was fine with the bees. Not that Beelzebub was thinking about such things at the moment.

“Nah, I can just hear real good. That’s my Ability.”

“Enough.”

Meyara’s blunt word was accompanied by a click. Following her lead, Jey readied her rifle and aimed at the group. Without another warning, they fired. Grehn responded in turn, infusing Mind into his body and sword to block the barrage. His eyes widened as he moved with greater speed and accuracy than he’d ever experienced in his life, and the bullets flying towards them found no purchase at all as they clanged against his blade instead. Bullets were fast, and powerful to boot. He’d never thought blocking them would be… easy.

“The effects aren’t as great as they could be, but it’s a sacrifice I need to make to use this version of my Ability. Even so, you should find it pretty helpful.”

“Pretty helpful?”

Grehn’s disbelief was apparent as he readied his own Ability. It took slightly less Mind than he was accustomed to in order to reach full power, so he responded to the bullets with a barrage of cool blue slashes of water. Meyara easily dodged the blasts of water with small movements, but Jey had to drop to the ground to avoid them. Meyara fired again, but Grehn deflected her shots with ease. His discipline nearly broke, and he almost turned to look at Elofan. Bringing her along had been the best decision he ever made.

“Geez, are you that strong or is the Fernen’s Ability just super useful?” Jey asked as she stood. “In any case, I like your Ability. Simple, efficient use of Mind. Actually, your whole fighting style fits in with our squad. Simple, unassuming Abilities, where the majority of your Mind can be dedicated to strengthening yourself in battle. Maybe you could’ve joined the Knights, in another time.”

“Must you run your mouth at every possible opportunity?” Meyara growled, glancing at her comrade.

She shook her head and brought her rifle to the ready. This time, however, she charged forward, apparently giving up on using the gun’s primary function. Without delay, Jey readied to fire again.

Grehn slashed with his Ability, intent on keeping his distance from the charging Knight. Vlugh’s pistols lowered as he screamed, fire exploding from the air before him and connecting with the water slashes just before they approached Meyara, creating an explosion of steam right in front of her. The moment her vision was obscured, Vlugh unloaded with his twin pistols as Grehn stood at the ready, prepared to block any surprise gunfire.

When Vlugh stopped shooting, there was silence for a moment, Meyara’s silhouette eerily still. Ben had seen the results of the attack, though. A quick burst of her Mind pushed away the steam, revealing a totally uninjured Meyara. Without hesitation, she dashed forward again, and Grehn prepared to intercept. She had gotten too close for another combo attack to be effective, but even so, Vlugh prepared for another breath of fire.

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He was too late. Bullets clanged uselessly against her armor, though one did catch her on her arm, slowing her down marginally. Meyara slashed with her bayonet and Grehn intercepted with his sword, putting a solid portion of his Mind into the counterstrike. In the next moment, pain exploded in his hands as his sword was torn from his fingers, like a parent taking a toy from a wily child. It flew back and sunk into the building behind them, disappearing into its confines. Meyara didn’t wait for Grehn to wonder what the hell happened; she made to run Grehn through with her blade, but a blast of flame caused her to raise a hand to her helmet and back away long enough for Grehn to shove her and backpedal away.

“She’s strong,” Vlugh said, which Ben found decidedly unhelpful. No duh!

“If that was pure strength, it’s beyond abnormal,” Grehn retorted.

He flexed his fingers. Even clashing with the bees hadn’t caused him to lose his grip like that. Sure, they likely weren’t using their full strength, but Grehn wasn’t physically weak by any means, especially when boosted by his Mind. Worse, Meyara’s attack or weapon didn’t seem strong enough to rip his entire sword from his hand. He might not be a warrior like her, but he’d seen his fair share of fights. The way her blade moved, the speed, the angle, it just didn’t make sense. Hell, one of Vlugh’s bullets had caused the strike to be less potent than she was aiming for. There had to be something else afoot.

If there wasn’t, they were so screwed it wasn’t even funny.

Meyara was still close, so Grehn put his strength into a mighty push of Mind. His mental shove, along with Vlugh’s barrage of bullets and dragon’s breath, was enough to hold the Knight at bay while they tried to think of a plan.

“You guys are pretty good as a team. Or, at least, the two of you are. Which only makes the lack of practiced teamwork you have with the fernen and the bee all the more interesting. I wonder why that is?”

Jey’s commentary continued as she strolled from the rubble, acting as if she had no care in the world. The slight twitch in her right arm she held against her side and the rifle she brandished with only her left were telling enough of her situation, though.

Elofan whooped again. “Since you can apparently understand me to some degree, I’ll say that your team also doesn’t seem as gelled as I expected from such professionals. At least in my case, I’m pretty much useless without my Mind, and most of it needs to be in active use when it comes to an Ability as strong as mine. And that’s besides the fact that your own powerful Minds are attempting to resist it. You might have an excuse, Jey, but what about the rest of your comrades? If you worked together, surely you could finish us in a heartbeat?”

“You know I can’t actually understand everything you say, right?” Jey laughed, but the action made her grimace. “I did get some of it, though. Let’s just say we’re confident in being able to take care of business.”

She aimed at Vlugh and fired her rifle, but Ben thought something was strange this time. It was almost as if he could see the tiniest of vibrations cupping Jey’s ears as she shot, and he knew he had to act.

With all the strength, speed, and Mind he could muster, Ben met the bullet with his stinger. To his delight, the bullet was deflected away from the occupied Vlugh, who could continue his impossible task of keeping the looming threat of Meyara at bay.

To his dismay, Jey fired three more shots in rapid succession as soon as he moved, and two were aimed at Elofan. It was almost as if she knew he would move at that moment, or she somehow reacted faster than he could fly. He wouldn’t be able to block all three, so he had to use another trump card.

Ben managed to deflect the two bullets going for Elofan, and as the third shot towards Vlugh, his body twisted, avoiding it. Thank’s to Ben’s sight and the Kin Link, Vlugh was like a part of the hive. A part of Ben’s body, in a pinch. Seeing the bullet was no issue for Ben; it was simple to force Vlugh’s body to jerk out of the way. The human and his stiff human skeleton didn’t appear delighted, though.

“Ow!”

The unnatural twist his body had to perform cut Vlugh’s Ability short, stemming the flow of fire. The flame was apparently the biggest threat holding Meyara back, because as soon as it stopped, she ran towards Grehn like an angry bull. Another push of his Mind seemed to throw her off balance, and her charge slowed. And yet, despite the unstable, sluggish advance, a brutal shoulder check sent Grehn soaring, crashing into a wall. He crumpled to the ground, wheezing, but his body was still intact thanks to Elofan’s buffs.

“Okay, there’s definitely something weird about that,” Ben said.

It was similar to the vibrations he’d noticed around Jey’s ears; anybody else would’ve been completely oblivious to the imperceptible twitches he saw in Meyara’s shoulder as she collided with Grehn, but there was definitely something amiss. Jey’s head cocked as he buzzed, but she didn’t say anything.

“I agree,” Elofan said as she turned her staff towards Meyara. “An attack like that shouldn’t have been so devastating. She must have an Ability that affects her attacks somehow. We need to stay out of her range.”

“You guys might have several advantages at this point, but Meyara could probably take on the four of you alone, even with your weird ghost swamp. All I need to do is give her an opening. Fuck! We could’ve already killed you if your other bee friend hadn’t gotten me so good. Maybe I should go over and help that moron Greyan destroy that little piece of shit.”

Jey’s voice warbled more and more as her face reddened and she stomped on the ground. A crazed look entered her eye for a moment but was just as soon replaced by confusion. Meyara looked back at her counterpart.

“Are you alright? Anger like that is unlike you,” Meyara asked. She spoke as she sidestepped towards Greyan, slowly cutting off Vlugh’s path to his friend.

“I’m fine. I think the venom that sting released is affecting my emotions somehow. If it gets too bad, I’ll go join Herwen,” Jey said through grit teeth.

“Speaking of. What’s delaying him?” Meyara asked.

Jey squinted. Once again, Ben noticed the slight vibrations around her ears. That must have been an indication that she was using her Ability that allowed her to ‘hear good’. If it was anything like Ben’s seeing, it should theoretically be no cause for concern. But then, how was she apparently so powerful that even Meyara could only sometimes beat her in a spar?

“Uh, I think things are actually getting a bit complicated. The Fernen’s Ability is having a more profound effect than I expected.”

“What do you mean?” Meyara had fully cut off Grehn from the group. He was stuck, and even the three left standing were trapped between Meyara and Jey at this point.

“I mean, the empowerment of the swamp isn’t only affecting these guys. Remember the cultists?”

Meyara’s helmet twitched. Ben took the opportunity to look at the square. Although his view was obscured by dust, the darkness of night, and some buildings, he could see clear signs of an ongoing brawl. Things weren’t fully desperate yet; at least the Knights were a common enemy of literally everybody else.

Meyara sighed. “Ah, damn. Well, I’d say this warrants a new strategy.”

Ben’s heart skipped a beat. He could see Elofan shiver just behind him, her entire green mass of fur rustling. And for good reason. As more and more Mind welled from the Knight’s monstrous frame, the dark slit at the front Meyara’s helmet zeroed in on only one thing: Elofan.