Chapter XXIX (29)- Flight of the Vampiric Spawn
Kizu hurled the vial in his hand at the monster. But the creature’s arm swung out from its pile of loose dirt, lobbing a fist sized rock. The stone slammed into the vial midair.
With a flash of blinding light. Flames erupted from the contact, creating a halo of flames that circled around the dirt and underside of the house. Kizu heard Ione yelp behind him, but his attention was focused solely on the creature. It broke free of its dirt cocoon and shook itself off.
It looked almost like a deranged human. It wore rags, apparently having abandoned the heavy cloak it had worn before. Now it showed its matted down black hair and dirt caked it in patches along its face. It looked even more disheveled than when he had previously encountered it. It would be depressing to look at if not for the scarlet eyes and sharpened teeth of it bared.
But instead of engaging in a fight, it fled from them. The spawn used the flames as a buffer between them as it hastily crawled away. But Kizu already had a third vial in hand. He threw it with all his strength at the retreating monster.
This time he hit. The monster’s leg blazed up instantly where the vial smashed into it. It yowled in pain as its leg lit up like a bonfire. The monster attempted to pat out the fire searing its leg, but that only resulted in the flames spreading to its palms. Its red eyes gleamed with terror in the light. It frantically glanced from Kizu to the flames, as if unable to comprehend the source of its new pain.
When Kizu reached into his uniform for a fourth vial, the monster hissed at him, like a snake warning a predator to back down. It grabbed another rock, this one the size of a head, with its flaming hand and hurled it at Kizu.
Kizu dove down, ducking as the rock smashed centimeters over his scalp. He felt the gravel chunks pelt his head and get tangled in his hair.
He raised the vial, ready to throw, but another rock already was on route to his crouched body. Kizu sprang to the side but toppled over the dirt mound that had originally housed the spawn.
In the process of his tumble, he fell flat on his face and the vial slipped from his hand. He looked up just in time to see it roll into the already blazing fire. It erupted.
Kizu raised an arm to protect his face from the blast of heat. He felt his uniform catch on fire in several places. He rolled away from the fight and back towards the entrance. The roll thankfully managed to smother the flames on his clothing, but they still left several scorch marks.
Looking up, Kizu just barely caught a glimpse of the monster as it dragged itself away from them and dropped into a hole in the ground. It disappeared silently into the dark beyond the fire’s reach.
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Kizu needed to pursue it but the flames now blocked his path. He hadn’t thought it would use the fire against him. He cursed himself for being such an idiot. Why would he prepare explosive fire brews, but not a potion that made him immune to fire? It made so much sense in hindsight. And why wasn’t the academy uniform enchanted to be fireproof? That seemed like a simple enchantment and an oversight by the academy.
“Kizu, what was that?” Ione didn’t sound angry or scared as much as she did curious.
He glanced back at her. She apparently had been sitting back a little ways on a small cleft in the rocky stone while watching the fight with interest. Her face was warm in the fire’s light. He realized that a small blue creature crouched to her side. It had four legs and wings sticking out of its back. It looked amphibious with smooth skin and large black eyes that pointed in different directions. As it smiled at him, its tongue lolled out.
“Better question,” he said. “What is that?”
It moved past him and into the fire. Where it went, the flames extinguished. It gurgled happily, as if devouring the flames. It wobbled along as it flew forward.
“No. That’s not a better question. It’s just something I summoned. Burning all the lady’s junk with her house might be satisfying, I’ll admit, but burning her down with it would be less so. Now let’s bounce back to the demon-like creature you were just playing catch with.”
“Vampiric spawn,” he admitted. Roba would be pissed if she found out he told her, but he felt he sort of had to at this point. “It’s supposed to be weak to fire and crave colder environments.”
“So you just decided to kill us all at once? Just incinerate us all at once?”
“I told you it would not be safe following me.”
“Not safe and suicidal are two very different levels of danger.”
“You’re welcome to stay here or go back the way we came.”
“No way. You said that was a monster, right? Well, if I can study a magical creature for long enough, I’ll be able to summon one. And I like adding to my collection.”
Kizu felt slightly better knowing Ione had her own personal motivations. But still, working alongside Ione made him slightly more cautious as he peered down into the hole the spawn had fled down.
There was no sign of light. Which either meant the hole turned into a tunnel that twisted out of view, or the fire had gone out as the spawn had fallen. Both meant bad news. From what he understood, a spawn couldn’t die from a fall and any broken limbs would knit together again within an hour or two. He relayed the information to Ione who only looked more excited. He had never seen her looking so alert and interested in something before.
She leaned in closer to the pit, placing a hand on his back to steady herself.
A violent wail emanated from down below. It shook the ground all around them. Before Kizu knew what was happening, Ione’s foot slipped as a chunk of ground gave way. She attempted to steady herself by gripping the hem of his uniform. And for a mere moment that felt like it stretched out to hours, they teetered on the edge of the pit. At that moment, they both knew what was to come and were helpless to do anything about it.
And then they fell.