The wind took Dreiki. He tumbled head over foot until he slammed into a nearby tree. All the power of the nobility, the keen training of the Tibur children, and the Ux he had fully awakened, was utterly useless in the face of these monsters.
No, that was not entirely true. The Malaki had avoided him. But why? Was it because he could see them? Dreiki stood up, a ringing pain in his tailbone. He had to regroup with the others. He whistled for Ezo in the hopes that it would help the drake find him. He needed speed. The winds had calmed down, but they were scattered.
"Hello? Is someone there?!" A voice called out from the darkness around him. "Please help me! They're after me! No- Help! Help!"
A figure stepped from the darkness at the edge of his vision. It was a Tibur who had marched with them to these blood grounds. He was clutching his arm and limping away.
"Hello? Is someone there?! Please Help me! They’re after me! Help! Help!”
Dreiki’s eyes hardened. He could see their mouth move, but the words were not lining up. Upon closer inspection, the Tibur’s tail was not a tail. It was a long pale appendage leading off into the darkness.
It was a puppet.
He noticed someone else dashing towards the puppet. Dreiki had to act fast, summoning a ball of fire and pitching it towards the puppet. He piloted the flame through the wind, past the puppet where it could burn bright and illuminate the one who pulled the strings.
The Malaki was revealed clinging to the side of a tree, its jaw unhinged as its tongue poured from its mouth and ended in the puppet’s shape.
“Hello? Is someone there?! Please help me! They’re after me! Help! Help!”
The wretched thing was still trying to lure someone in, “It’s not real!” Dreiki shouted in an attempt to get their attention as he dashed over. He recognized this person, “Arik! Arik! It’s a puppet! It’s not real.”
Arik turned to Dreiki, glancing back at the puppet just in time to evade its lunge,
“Cut its tail!” Dreiki said.
Arik jumped over the puppet.
SWSHHH!
The Malaki recoiled, its tongue severed as black blood spewed from the opening. It let out an ungodly screech, confirming for Arik what she already knew. As it primed itself to attack, Dreiki activated the hovering flame with a snap of his fingers. A sizable plume of fire exploded over the Malaki’s face. Dreiki grabbed Arik by her shoulder and pulled, “Run!”
Arik nodded, looking back at what Dreiki could only assume was nothing. Dreiki could only hope that the bright light of his flames had blinded the monster long enough for them to escape.
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He pulled Arik behind a tree, erasing his magical presence just to be safe. Arik showed her experience, staying completely still as she erased her presence as well. Dreiki kept a close eye out for the creature, utilizing his Ux for both hearing and vision. He focused his senses on the monsters. He could hear them all around. Shambling, mimicking voices, screeching, and laughing.
Lucky for them, however, none of it was close to them. Dreiki nodded to Arik to signal the coast was clear, “Are you alright?” He asked.
“I’m fine, but the longer we hide, the more people are going to be slaughtered! Let’s go.” Arik stood up, but Dreiki pulled her tail, “We don’t know everything those things are capable of, and if we rush in, we’re going to end up killing ourselves first.”
“I’m not going to leave my friends out there alone!”
“Neither am I!” Dreiki hissed back, “And your friends are a lot stronger than mine. I want to help with every bit of my being, but I can’t do that unless I know what these things are.”
He pulled a metal whistle from his pocket and blew on it, “Let’s wait here for my drake. We can move faster with Ezo, and if we find anyone injured it’ll be easier to pull them out of danger.”
“Fine,” Arik said reluctantly.
“Do you know what type of Malaki these are?”
“There are plenty of Malaki which can go invisible. Sometimes Malaki like to pretend to be other variants. You seem like you can see them, though, so what do they look like? Do they have branched antlers and hair, or are they completely bald?”
“They have branched antlers and hair,” Dreiki said.
“What do they walk on? What do their legs look like?”
“It varies.”
“How many legs?”
“I’ve only seen four. Some are walking on arms and legs.”
“Considering they used their tongue to make a puppet, that means they’re Oskuutor then,” Arik said, “I was acting stupid. I should have known I was being tricked. I knew that person, though. The one they made into a puppet. We were friends when I was very little, but we grew apart after-,” Arik sighed, “Not the time for stories. It just feels weird to know they died.”
Dreiki’s heart sank, but the anger in his gut pushed it back up, “You know about Ux right? If so, then I can teach you how to see them as well. Think of it like a lens.”
“A lens?”
“Have you ever used a spyglass before? Or a magnifying glass?”
“I have.”
“The glass is not flat, it has a curve that allows you to see things as if they were closer. Imagine Ux curving over your eyes.”
“That’s a hell of a trick to learn on the fly.”
“There’s nothing better to do. It’s best that someone strong like you learns how to see them, so we can actually fight back.”
“I understand. A lens, huh?” She said, blinking, “Whoa, what- everything’s purple and weird now. You’re all orange too.”
“That’s thermal vision. You’re looking at my body heat. That might be useful if you can’t figure out how to see past invisibility, so remember it.”
“Thermal? What is a ‘thermal’?”
“Temperature? Whether something’s hot or cold, basically,.” Dreiki said. Did other people really not know about this sort of thing? Perhaps he should not have expected Tibur to read very many books. The only reason he knew about it was due to Savekio’s training.
“I can see your bones now,” she said.
“That’s X-ray.”
The two of them froze as they heard the sound of footsteps coming closer. Dreiki relaxed, realizing it was Ezo. He embraced the drake, “I’m glad you’re safe, friend,” He said, turning to Arik and offering his hand to help her up, “Let’s go.”