The Celestial Forge
By: Schin Ka'Tharos
CHAPTER 16
(Part 2)
Faster than I could track, a milky white tongue aimed at my head shot out of the worm's open jaws. In anticipation I was already in motion and had raised my arm in defense. Instead of my face the tongue hit my forearm and instantly spread out like tree roots gripping and burrowing into my skin, covering half my arm.
My eyes were already blazing blue flame and as soon as the tongue broke my skin I began to Forge. I was still limited to just the first flowline so where the worm's tongue pierced me I spell-forged through my blood. Fueled by desperation I held my will together and formed the Ten Sky's Armament technique. The sidelined analytical part of my mind marveled at the speed and ease at which the technique formed.
When the roots of its tongue took hold and sunk into me the abyssal worm pulled itself forward, eager to sink its fangs into my flesh. As the worm snapped towards me my technique locked into place around my forearm and the worm's tongue was spliced in multiple spots and severed off completely.
Blood and tongue sprayed out and a cry of agony escaped from the worm as it smacked into my forearm with a wet thud. At that level the Ten Skys Armament technique only offered a thin layer of a translucent barrier but it was enough to protect me from its bite as the worm collided into me. With the worm unable to latch onto my arm it fell to the ground squirming in pain. I took hold of its tail and thrashed it against the Skiff until most of its body was splayed across the Skiff in mangled pulp.
As the stench of the dead worm rose around me I smiled in delight of my triumph. A chuckle rose within me and crept past my teeth unbidden. Alarmed, I forced myself to focus and inspected my forearm. My armament technique had blocked most of the worm's bite but there was a small puncture wound where a fang had managed to break through upon initial impact. Concern and amusement warred within me as I processed what it meant.
"I already took one bite!" I yelled to Ciara and Adeon as I reoriented myself towards them.
Ciara was a blur of movement. She constantly spell-forged in a spray in all directions. She used a technique similar to the one she had taken the first abyssal worm down with but instead of targeted strikes she was throwing out a barrage of them in a wide array, essentially creating a net like barrier around the Skiff. It worked to keep most of the worms at bay and even ensnared some. However, a few did begin to squirm through.
"You better damn well not get bit again then," she managed to reply amidst her frantic movements. "Could use a hand if you're still able."
I fought through the toxin. My arm was covered in the worm's thick black fluids as well as my own blood. The hairline wounds I suffered from the tongue trickled red, so I grabbed the bag of rendings Adeon had given me and set about helping Ciara. I focused on targeting any worms that managed to slip through her net barrier. I found that my shooting technique worked significantly better on the worms than it had on the Seekers Guild Adept.
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I used the dregs first and found that a well placed shot would blast a hole right through a worm's body, though it would take a few hits to the body to kill one. If aimed at the head I could take them out with just one shot, but I had some difficulty with control due to the numbness creeping through my forearm from the worms toxin.
"We can't do this for much longer. I hope you're working on something, Ciara." I yelled over the shrill death screams of the worms.
"Trying!" she said. "Ashes, I need more time. More information. I need a bloody breather!"
“Not to heap it on, but I'm really at my end here.” Adeon added. His face looked gaunt and drained.
The Skiff jerked sideways and skirted around the base of a pillar with large holes covering its surface. The movement threw Ciara off her rhythm and one of the worms managed to glide past her barrage heading straight towards Adeon. I reached into the bag grabbing the first rending I could, it was bigger and more pure than a dreg and along the quality of the celestial rain I had used in the cave.
The worm opened its mouth to launch its tongue and I fired. In my haste my aim was slightly off and the rending took the worm in the lower part of the body. However due to the greater quality and raw power contained within the rending, it exploded out upon impact and ripped the worm to shreds. The tongue shot out over Adeons shoulder limp and harmless from a decapitated head. He turned to me and met my wide grin with a crooked smile before giving me a slight nod of thanks.
On the other side of the hole-filled pillar we entered an open space devoid of towering columns for hundreds of yards. The stone forest encircled the area giving it the feel of an arena. Disarrayed throughout the space were remnants of fallen columns, dead trees, and stone debris.
The amount of abyssal worms continued to grow, like insects beginning to swarm. Adeon navigated the debris field as deftly as he could and took us under a makeshift archway formed by two large segments of fallen columns which forced many of the worms off of us.
We came out the other side of the archway to face the heart of the brood itself. Before us lay a massive corpse of a hybrid solifugae. The sun spider's carcass was missing its head which looked to have been bitten off but even headless was still about four times the size of our Skiff. Abyssal worms poured out of an opening in its abdomen and covered the rest of the body, feasting on its flesh. It pulsed with abyssal worms. They had already consumed half of it and most of its legs and giant scorpion-esque tale was gone. The solifugae appeared to be dead for about a week or two given the state of bloating and decomposition and the brood around a few days old.
The full swarm of abyssal worms rose from the carcass and amassed into a cloud of twisting and writhing nightmares. The younger part of the brood too early in their feast so had yet to form membranes for wings slithered towards us on the ground.
Adeon let out a curse and tried to steer us wide of the rising horde. Behind us worms rushed through the open archway pushing into us from behind. There was a lull in the ferocity in the worm's attacks and I took the opportunity to soul-forge and try to expel some of the euphoria that was pulsing within me. I focused through the fatigue, pain, and euphoria.
When the time comes to act. You must act.
“Ciara, can you do whatever you did to the Guild Screamer to this Skiff?” I yelled over the cacophony of screeches.
Shock flashed across her face, replaced by realization. She gave me a drawn out nod as understanding came to her.
“Adeon, when I say, turn us towards the horde and give every scrap of power you have left to punch us at full speed.” Ciara said.
As she spoke she let out one final spray of techniques for a barrier and then moved towards the console where Adean stood. He kept us on a wide looping arc heading around the brood. Ciara held her hands close together as she spell-forged a new technique. Complicated patterns and shapes of thin lines of celestial essence manifested between her hands and coalesced into a golden spike.
“Now!” She screamed and Adeon turned us straight towards the solifugae corpse.
His eyes flared a brilliant purple and the Skiff hyper-accelerated far beyond any speed we had gone previously. As soon as we sped up Ciara grabbed the spike and drove it down into the heart of the console. I didn't wait to see what would happen. I let out a gleeful yell as I grabbed both of the siblings by the back of their robes and jumped up and back with the last vestiges of my strength. The three of us lifted up into the air and off the back of the Skiff.
Laughing maniacally I closed my eyes and hoped for the best.
Next Chapter...
Chapter 17