Those That Fell Off A Cliff

> “They were all greedy. An era where the greediest of them all took the throne.” ~Schrodie, the Gatekeeper

“Can you fight, Enza?” Frein asked as they ran out of the outpost. He wanted to follow Kristel by jumping over the walls like she did. He was sure he could do it, but the lack of practice reasoned with his recklessness—something he rarely actually followed. He wanted to know if Enza felt the same doubts, considering she was born only a few days ago. A connection was established between them but there was no way he would know everything about his yuma.

“Not sure,” said the pup.

“It’s alright. Just observe for now.” A blue flare flew up the skies, making the early evening seem like Blueday. No doubt it was Kristel. They raced to it with speed.

“Sorry I’m not big enough to carry you yet, Frein.” Enza’s tone was a mix of sincere shame and hopeful determination. “I’ll grow my wings and make up for it!”

“I look forward to that, definitely.” The thought of soaring through the skies almost distracted him. Thankfully, the prolonged glow of Kristel’s flare brought him some urgency.

They picked up the pace, crossing Minaveil Manor and taking the bridge towards the residential area. People murmured and gawked but generally stayed out of trouble. Guards on duty gathered as well, keeping everyone out of harm’s way. They saw Frein and asked what was happening.

“It’s alright. You don’t need to worry,” he said to them. “The Princess should’ve gone this way. Can you point me to her?”

“Fourth Road, towards the big houses,” replied one of the guards. “We were instructed to keep the people from approaching.”

Frein gave his thanks and avoided further questions from the onlookers. With the help of familiar-looking street signs, it didn’t take him long to find Fourth Road. It opened to a small circular dead-end surrounded by five distinct two-to-three-story high buildings and each were at least a quarter of Minaveil Manor’s width.

There in the middle of the cul-de-sac, he saw the Princess flanked by a pair of guards. She stared down the assailant who flailed around his weapon like a maniac. He was easy to differentiate from the civilians who kept a safe distance away while they observed the commotion.

“Do you need help?” Frein asked, trying not to make his panting obvious.

“Something’s wrong,” Kristel said.

“What is it?”

“Do you think someone like that can fire an arrow?” She pointed at the enemy, his cloak all but hid his secrets. He growled like a madman and drooled while taking heavy breaths. He carried a bow with runic etchings, waving it like a club. “I didn’t lose sight of him, not even for a second.”

“Then we should probably capture him,” Frein suggested, finally catching his breath. “He might be under some kind of Meiyal Art, or something like that.”

Kristel smirked. “Exactly, but my Arts aren’t designed for capture. I can keep his attention; can you take him down?”

“No problem.” Frein fed meiyal on his Siffera, preparing for combat.

Kristel stepped forward and Drew a pair of meiyal blades. She dashed and closed the distance in a flash, slashing down on her target’s shoulder.

Before the Princess could make contact, the madman retaliated with an otherworldly roar and blasted a wave of meiyal akin to Frill’s during the time she was enraged. It threw Kristel at a nearby tree, instantly shattering its thick trunk. Fortunately, it fell forward on the road rather than one of the nearby houses.

The disorienting screech caused the surrounding civilians to flee, including the people from the five houses. The two guards immediately led them away from the commotion.

The madman chased one who didn’t have an escort, but Frein was quick to intercept him.

The Visitor sent a kick straight down and slammed the would-be assassin on the ground, causing the road to break. Another crashing meiyal wave assaulted him. He was quick to position himself in front of the nearby civilian. The wave pushed against him with brutal force and he was forced to respond by flaring his Siffera as much as he could.

“Go,” Frein said at the civilian, calmly controlling his urgency to minimize unnecessary panic. “I’ll keep him occupied, just run to the guards.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

With the civilian thankfully following his orders, Frein turned his attention to the madman stuck on the floor. Something was happening to him.

Kristel had moved in to flank, but saw the change as well.

The assassin convulsed aggressively, as though he was having seizure attacks. His muscles rapidly enlarged, so much and so fast that it ripped his skin off. Blood spluttered like a fountain as the man’s torso was opened from the inside out. More flesh and innards emerged from his split body; the amount didn’t make sense.

Until Frein saw skulls growing out from the man on the floor and skin rapidly taking shape of featureless and obscured faces. It had turned into a Nightmare. A quadrupedal form of the man crawling on its back with a trunk of stitched up skulls protruding from its stomach.

“What the—”

“Forget about capturing it, Frein.” Kristel shouted from the other side. “It’s one of Those That Fell Off a Cliff. Normal Meiyal Arts won’t work on it, but it’ll die on its own. We just have to keep this Fallen contained until then.”

The Nightmare roared with a cacophony of screaming skulls and accompanied by another surge of meiyal wave that was clearly more potent that before. Both of them braced for impact. As soon as the wave made contact, Frein felt weakened. His Siffera was completely erased.

Kristel had it worse. She fell on her knees and screamed, clutching her head with both hands; meiyal blades nowhere to be found.

With a speed belying its form and supposed balance, the Fallen rushed at Kristel. From within its bloody torso, a giant piece of a ribcage emerged. Its bloody and fleshy tip aimed at the Princess.

Frein re-Drew his Siffera, bursting to a speed he wasn’t accustomed to using. He almost tackled the Princess, but caught himself just in time. The movement, however, didn’t afford him any flexibility and he was forced to take the hit from the swiping rib bone. He mustered every bit of meiyal he could spend in an instant and focused his Siffera on his back. Frein didn’t care whether it hurt or not, all that mattered was that the rib didn’t impale him to death.

His Siffera-empowered back took the hit and fended off the piercing force. In return, he was shoved—along with Princess Kristel—and sent flying towards one of the houses.

Relying on his enhanced reflexes, Frein flipped midflight, using his back as a cushion for both of them. They crashed right at the gate, snapping it out of its hinges. The force slammed them further into the main door, onto a foundation pillar, on a counter, then finally on the opposite wall where he dug quite a crater.

The two groaned as they squirmed out of the hole.

“Thanks,” Kristel said as she dusted off herself. “You okay, Frein?”

Frein coughed and hopped down the floor. Chips of marble and some kind of gemstone fell off his hair. The gate grated down, bended somewhat into his shape. “I think my back’s going to kill me tonight.”

“One problem at a time, Visitor.” Kristel nodded towards the interior of the room.

Frein turned and immediately saw the problem. A woman and a child cowered at the corner of the dining room; their dinner completely abandoned. He meant to say something to reassure them, but the sudden earthquake snapped his attention back to the Nightmare.

It had grown one more rib bone, charging towards the house with manic rage. At this point, the body of the upside-down man flailed in the air, hovering through the help of the pair of ribs as large as one of the house’s pillars. Its skulls kept bleating their screeching song.

Kristel quickly moved to intercept, but the Fallen shoved her off like a fly with a third rib. It crashed through the house, breaching through the marble exterior as though it was fake cement.

The second floor collapsed, and Frein quickly moved to cover the mother and daughter. Piles upon piles of debris slammed and pushed against his back. It took all of his strength to stay above his knees, lest he let his body crush the two screaming civilians in front of him.

“Everything’s going to be fine,” he said over gritting teeth and burdened breaths. “You two will be okay.” The collapsing subsided, but he could feel the Fallen stomping over the pile of debris, trying to dig its way through. “Sorry about your house, though.” Frein smiled despite the situation, trying to calm the civilians down.

“Please, get us out of here!” The mother cried.

“That’s the plan, miss. I’d appreciate it if you can let me concentrate, though. I might turn deaf.”

Something—or someone—tugged at his consciousness. Enza. She was feeling concern and worry with a hint of panic. Frein immediately willed a command for her to stay put and stay hidden. Without any prior knowledge of how she could fight, Frein couldn’t risk her joining.

The Visitor took a deep breath and Gathered as much and as far as he could. He grasped every bit of meiyal he could reach and Milled them through his Perpetual-Layered Milling form in an instant before feeding them straight into his Siffera.

With newfound strength and determination, Frein pushed against the weight behind him. His own screams bounced off their small corner as he forced himself to stand. Inch by inch, he could feel the weight relent. He maneuvered to orient himself better, turning on the pile so he could push further.

The Fallen screamed and Frein thought another surge of meiyal wave was about to bombard them. But it was Kristel’s voice that followed instead.

“Now, Frein!”

There was nothing else to Gather but so much more to Mill. He fed his Siffera again. The effect this time was mildly noticeable, but it was enough for him to push further.

The balance finally shifted. To his surprise, Frein saw the entirety of the second and third floor collapsing over Those That Fell Off a Cliff.

He had just carried an entire building.

Quickly assessing himself, he wasn’t even mildly exhausted. Nowhere near Art fatigue either.

Confidence found and gripped him. A slow chill ran up his spine.

“Can you get them out?” he asked Kristel, pointing at the mother and child. The guards had already backed off farther away.

“What about the Fallen?” she asked.

Frein couldn’t hide his excitement. He felt a little out of place, as though some possibility was within reach but it was blurred and difficult to identify. He opened his Spatiera and pulled a memento of his past.

Nakiri.

Four rib bones emerged from the rubble and struggled to force itself from the crude entrapment. Frein approached without even turning to the Princess.

“I’ll handle it.”

----------------------------------------