Emily felt a wet sensation against her cheek and tried to bat it away but another one followed shortly. Swallowing the chalky taste in her mouth she wanted to brush it away but it smeared against her face. Emily cracked her eyelids open and looked around, but only pitch-black darkness greeted her. She couldn’t even see her hand in front of her face so she sent her hand out to feel around herself. They brushed up against the roots and loose dirt that surrounded her. The wet sensation must have been mud dripping down from the low-hanging ceiling.
Emily grimaced to herself and felt around the dark tunnel. She knew they couldn’t have gone far and was proved right moments later when she bumped into a warm body beside hers. She patted it down and came to the assumption it was Atticus.
The two of them had taken refuge in the hole in the ground when shit had hit the fan and things must have been nasty for her to pass out.
She tried to take another look around but the tight space made it very hard to do so, though it wasn’t all bad news.
When Emily managed to peek down at her feet, she saw the faintest light entering their hidy hole from above.
Emily breathed a sigh of relief, she’d not been looking forward to being buried for a second time.
As she tried to wriggle herself backwards she jostled Atticus who seemed to stir.
“Dammit, where are we?” a disembodied voice came from beside her.
“Hang on and don’t move, I’ll get out and then you can follow.”
Emily couldn’t see his face but his grunt in response would have to do.
It took her another five minutes the toss and turn her way out of the hole feet first, her arms and travel clothes snagging on every root possible.
When Emily finally sat up on her knees and shook the dirt and grim off herself she let out a sigh of relief.
“Okay, you should be able to make your way out now.” She said into the dark hole.
Glancing about the area, Emily could see the destruction that had visited the island. The fight had destroyed much of the pristine foliage, leaving only the strongest trees standing in its wake.
The peak where the fight had taken place was no more, leaving only a broken mountain at the center of the island.
Emily cupped her hand over her nose as the smell of burnt and decaying meat wafted through the area like a gas. Emily tried her best to ignore the Wyrm's pheromones but they were potent and she couldn’t help it when her heart rate skyrocketed in her chest.
She looked up at the sky and saw early morning light trying to break through the cloud cover. It wasn’t currently raining but by the looks of things it was only a matter of time.
By this point, Atticus had gotten free for the little recess and glanced about, his nostrils flaring at the smell.
“Dammit we need to get back to the boat, if we stay here we’ll be found for sure.”
Emily frowned to herself.
“Well now hang on. I think we should go deeper in.”
Atticus shot her a baffled expression.
“Are you insane? We need to leave this place, and this is not just the scent of fear talking. Whatever was going on up there, we don’t want any part in it.”
Emily shook her head trying to explain what she had seen.
“Look, from what I can tell the main danger of this island was probably that massive Wyrm, but by the looks of things it's been taken care of. I want to go over and have a look at the corpse maybe there’s something we can learn from this. Plus I need some more time before I use my source again.”
Atticus's expression never changed as he looked pleadingly up to the heavens.
“Energia save me, I’m not going anywhere near that thing’s corpse,” he said with fierce determination in his voice.
Emily shrugged as she looked back towards the shore.
“That's fine, you don’t have to come, but I’m going. You stay here and find Mist. If he survived then we’ll need him.”
Atticus’s eyes narrowed dangerously and then flickered down to the Cardinex on her wrist.
Emily halted herself and smiled, turning to face Atticus completely, she could see the cogs turning his head. To get off this island he’d need something to help guide him and if he thought Emily was about to get herself killed then he would probably need the Cardinex.
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“Now what's going through that beared skull of yours? Are you thinking that just because you're faster you’ll get away?” Emily said as a threatening tone entered her voice.
Atticus glanced up from the Cardinex and searched her face as he weighed up the gains.
To Emily, Atticus was useful as another set of hands and eyes to watch her back out here—not to mention he was a Scout. But if he thought that would protect him if he stole something from her, he was dead wrong. Emphasis on dead.
On the other hand, he needed her ability to sail them from island to island.
Atticus searched her face but when he found no hint of hesitation in her body language his shoulders relaxed.
“Fine… I’ll go find the beast, and make sure our boat hasn’t floated away, but…” Emily could hear the restraint in his voice, which softened into a plea. “Be careful.”
She hummed softly, refusing to take her eyes off him as she waited for him to leave toward the beach. When he was out of sight Emily breathed out a tired sigh, her heartbeat rocketing out of control once more.
The pheromones were powerful and put both of them on edge, but that wouldn’t have saved him if he’d decided to act on his fear.
Turning away from the beach, Emily headed in the direction she’d see the Wyrm fall, but in doing so the stench became more powerful as time went on.
Navigating through the trees wasn’t hard and by the looks of it, every beast, prey animal, and insect had fled the area. So the walk was decently pleasant if one didn’t mind some mild vegetation destruction and a silence so complete that she thought she was walking through a horror movie.
After traveling for ten minutes like this, she could make out the Wyrm's huge body as it poked out from the tops of the trees. From here, it was easy to see; one of its massive wings was twisted at an unnatural angle, marring the landscape like a beacon.
When she arrived at the crash site, she searched the broken scar of land where the creature's body had destroyed the mountainside and came to a gradual stop at the lowest point of the slope.
From this range, the size of the Wyrm was all the more noticeable. Its back leg alone would flatten Mist entirely, forget about a tiny human.
Emily looped around to its side and found the killing blow, it was a truck-sized hole straight through the center of the beast's chest cavity, coming out cleanly on the other side.
There wasn’t even that much blood as it looked like whatever that black beam had done it had cauterized the wound. Or maybe just erased it. It was consistent with Oscar’s attacks so probably black source.
When Emily was certain there was nothing in the area she stepped out of the treeline and moved closer to the large beast. If she could get some of its hide or a tooth could they be turned into something useful?
As she stepped up to the large beast, life conduit triggered, letting her know that it was still alive.
Disbelief shook Emily to her core as her head snapped to the hole in its chest. Then her gaze shot to the head and she spotted a single heavy-lidded eye staring at her. The deep amber barely registered Emily with a dull gaze.
Emily’s heart was beating a mile a minute but the longer the seconds stretched out, the more certain she grew. The Wyrm was so close to death that it couldn’t even raise an arm in its defense, even its eyelid eventually shut again as though it were too heavy to keep open.
Emily stared up at this titan and a smile crept onto her face.
She could not have wished for anything better, excitedly she stepped towards the wound to drain what was left of the creature's strength when something else got caught in her life conduit, and this one was far more awake.
Emily’s head snapped about looking for the threat when she heard a small but powerful cry coming from the Wyrm's body.
You have to be fucking kidding me,” Emily ground out as she watched a small Wyrm crawl out from under the larger one's wing.
It hissed and cried at Emily, having spotted her out in the open.
Emily had approached the beast carelessly because she was certain nothing else would want to be anywhere near here for a while, but that probably didn’t apply to its young.
The damned thing was a mother.
Emily didn’t have much time to react, so she leaped backward as the creature lunged at her. When it crashed to the ground, chips of stone flaked off in all directions. Even though it was probably a younger beast, its size was equal to that of the one she’d seen in the fight.
Emily’s gown spread out while she was in mid-air, and she halted her descent. Even if this thing was a baby, she needed to go all out from the beginning. Blood streamed from her hands and formed two massive crescents, which she unleashed at the Wyrm, still getting its footing.
The two attacks merged into a massive ‘X’ that slammed down from above. While the young Wyrm's scales dented, they held firm.
Seeing that her slashing attacks were ineffective, Emilly created four blood bolts but kept thin streams of blood pumping into them, as she shaped them into spears. When they were big enough she began to rotate them to increase their penetrative power and sent them shooting forward one at a time.
The young Wyrm took the opportunity to close the gap between them with lumbering steps, its own body still unfamiliar to it.
The first and second spears hit, digging into its scales near it chest and causing it to scream in pain, but the third missed. By the time she was ready to fire the fourth, the young Wyrm had gotten enough of a run-up and took to the skies, opening its fang-filled mouth wide enough to swallow Emily whole.
Now, Emily was by no means fearless, but over the years, she had thought herself pretty much inoculated to this particular emotion. However, when a building-sized lizard suddenly vaulted into the air and opened its mouth wide enough that one could see down into its stomach, she was not ashamed to say she let out a few high-pitched screams of panic.
Luckily, her reactions kicked in. Instead of firing the spear, she quickly reworked it into a whip, which she then grew to latch onto either side of the young Wyrm’s jaws. This prevented her from being swallowed, but the sudden impact jerked her spine, leaving her dangling mere centimeters away from the angry mouth.
Emily quickly sent more blood to its jaw to keep them from closing completely, but she couldn’t slow the momentum of the beast. When it got its shaky wings under itself, it decided to take her for a ride. The young Wyrm suddenly went from horizontal to arcing straight up, climbing into the skies.
Emily’s gaze flickered briefly to the shrinking ground, and she cursed her luck. She’d been looking for a reason to fight one of these things; she might as well take advantage of the opportunity.
Blood points: 176