Duke’s reaction speed was always exceptional. It was one of the things that had made him such a great fighter pilot. His ability to quickly read an unfolding situation and immediately react had been his hallmark. It had served him extremely well when the world had gone to shit and fighting started. Since being brought to Teldin, his reaction speed had increased far, far beyond human limits. It was not enough.
Before he had even taken in his surroundings, he was beset by Hounds. He could not see his surroundings but for the swarm of Hounds that attacked him from all sides. The thousands that were attacking on Teldin were but a drop in a bucket compared to what waited on the other side of the dimensional barrier.
Hounds had latched onto his arms and legs before he could process what was happening. And they were draining him. His Health was plummeting rapidly and he could feel the draining Ability attempting to latch onto his very soul. Duke’s Psyche was being hammered by telepathic howls and barks coming from the tens of thousands of Hounds converging on him. He panicked, releasing his UMBRAL REAPER.
The monsters of his Psyche burst outwards in an expanding sphere, attacking the Hounds around him. His limbs were released giving him a reprieve from the awful drain. His Health started quickly ticking back up as his REGENERATION engaged. His reprieve was short-lived.
One by one, the creatures created by his Ability were consumed by the Hounds. His blood ran cold as he realized that the Hounds had not left him because they were being hurt, it was simply because they had found a more palatable source of food. Before his eyes, he could see the Hounds growing stronger, growing larger, and turning back to him.
“Well, that’s not good.” Duke’s voice did not leave his body, the air and vibration sucked away by the bizarre dimension known as Exospace. He flew away from the approaching swarm of Hounds, his mind scrambling for a plan since his panic-induced, “this will kill anything” Ability actually fed the things. On the positive side, there was no Psychic feedback from using the Ability this time.
One of the Hounds appeared to be faster than the others and was breaking away from the massive swarm chasing Duke. He considered it an opportunity and allowed the thing to close on him slightly, keeping it at a set distance while they both accelerated away from the hungry mass. As they flew, Duke cycled through the list of his offensive Abilities hoping for a better result. As on the planet, the elemental Abilities had no effect. FORCE slowed it down slightly, but had no other effect.
Finally, Duke switched to SOULFIRE. The effect was immediate and startling. The Hound burst into green flames and shriveled in on itself. In seconds, the Hound was little more than a diminishing speck of green ash. Duke whooped with joy, turning back to the approaching Hounds with SOULFIRE wreathing his body. Time to play, puppies!
He spread SOULFIRE ahead of him in a cone at the approaching Hounds. The first ones that were hit by the SOULFIRE were overcome quickly. The rest of the pack split, arcing backward and away from the attack. They moved around the range of the Ability and attempted to engulf Duke from every other angle.
One particularly large Hound followed the cone of the Ability back to Duke and leaped for his face. Duke pushed the cone upwards to catch the Hound. If burst into green flames, burning as it slammed into him anyway. The impact spun him uncontrollably spraying SOULFIRE in random directions as he spun in space. This turned out to be a more effective attack than the cone had been. Hundreds of Hounds were hit by the Ability. The rest pulled back warily.
Duke locked down on his spin with his FLIGHT Ability, stabilizing himself. He kicked on his DUNGEON SENSE to get a much larger perspective on what was happening around himself. Two things became apparent quickly. One, there were more of these Hounds than he had ever imagined and two, they were the smallest of the things coming for him. The Hounds were currently hanging back, warily surrounding him in three dimensions. Another realization came to him – he had no idea where he was relative to normal space.
As he ran through his options for his next move, he sensed a change in the Hounds. Some silent signal had passed through them, and they were all poised to attack. Duke had seconds to react. He did not have the control over the Ability to maintain a large sphere of SOULFIRE but he could hold a cone of it well enough. Screw it! Time for a Death Blossom! The Hounds pounced, flowing like a tsunami coming from all directions at once. Duke spun in the most dizzying 360 degree spin he could manage and pushed out a cone of SOULFIRE.
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As Hounds came into contact with the cone, they were ignited, writing in pain. Yet the volume of Hounds far exceeded Duke’s ability to catch them with his spin. He was still maintaining the SOULFIRE aura but enough Hounds were getting through that his spinning was being slowed as bodies impacted him. The constant impacts rattled his brain, dazzling his senses as he was engulfed in the crush of bodies. His aura flickered as his concentration weakened. He reached deep inside for the resolve to restore his aura, diving deeply into his Psyche reserves where the monsters of energy lurked. He came up empty. Nothing responded to his call.
Duke’s aura flickered for the last time and winked out. The Hounds tore through the burning corpses of their brethren and tore into Duke. They were not draining him, they were tearing pieces off of him. His left arm was the first to go and all he could think at the time was Why is it always that arm? He reacted on instinct, TELEPORTING himself back to the forest and the front lines. He arrived to shocked shouts and cries of alarm before he promptly fell flat on his face. He was greeted with a notification as he passed out.
*** You have suffered significant Psyche damage. Your Psyche has been reduced by 75%. The effects will fade over time. Resting will recover your Psyche more quickly. ***
Duke regained consciousness to worried looks from Ophirian and Baslin. There was also another man at his side, but he did not recognize him. It was this man that spoke first, “How do you feel?”
Duke examined himself only to discover that he felt absolutely fine. He looked around at the people surrounding him before speaking, “I feel surprisingly well. The debuff I was suffering from is gone and it appears my wounds have healed.”
Looking back at himself, Duke activated RESTORE and CLEANSE to bring his shredded clothing back into shape. With a smile he levered himself back to his feet and looked directly at Baslin, “Gather the Archmages. I know how to stop these things.”
Baslin’s face lit up with hope, “Truly?”
“Yes, truly. But be quick about it. The ones attacking here are the tiniest tip of the iceberg. If the rest break through, we may not have enough of a world left to defend.”
Baslin didn’t hesitate before rushing off to gather the Archmages. There were a few arguments but since no one else had anything resembling a solution beyond, “We should study this phenomena. We could learn so much from it” he eventually won the argument and brought nearly the entire Council to Duke.
“Esteemed Archmages, please allow me to introduce you to King Duke of the Kingdom of Stormstride. He has fought the creatures and survived, gaining considerable knowledge in the process.”
There were a few nods but most followed suit of a grey-skinned elf who scoffed, “A human king? Why should we waste our time with him?”
Duke stepped up to the elf, causing the elder mage to crane his neck up to meet his gaze. He waited until the rest of the Archmages had fallen silent before beginning, “Two reasons. Firstly, I am the only one amongst us who has actually left this planet and seen the wider universe and secondly, because I could erase you where you stand with magical Abilities and you would have no defense or recourse. You picking up what I’m putting down, old man? Or should I send you to the other side of thew world to think over your arrogance?”
“You dare! I’ll-“
Duke TELEPORTED the elf to the entrance of the Twilight Mountain Inn and turned back to the gasping Archmages. He calmly looked each of them in the eyes before continuing. They all looked considerably more attentive and less prideful.
“Now that I have your attention, I called you all together because of all the groups here, I expect you might be the only ones who even have a possibility of helping out here.”
A surprisingly attractive female goblin pushed through the rest of the Archmages and responded before others could, “What is it that you need from us?”
Duke smiled at her, suppressing his conflicting emotional reactions of “Hey, she’s cute and she’s a freaking goblin.” He composed himself quick enough that few noticed. He was sure from the sly smile that she did but he continued anyway, “What I need from all of you is soulfire.”
“Soulfire? SOULFIRE! Why don’t you just ask for a legendary dragon to go along with it?” The incredulous shout came from a dwarven Archmage whose beard was so long and bushy Duke wasn’t sure he was wearing anything below the waist.
“I’ll take one if you’ve got it.”
“King Duke, what you ask for is so far beyond the capabilities of a Teldin-bound mage as to be ridiculous.” This from what Duke thought was an Eaglekin but wasn’t sure enough to even say anything.
“I can provide you with soulfire.” It was the goblin speaking again. She was joined by a kobold who looked far too young to be an Archmage, “I can provide soulfire as well.”
“Anyone else?” Duke asked. Receiving no further responses, he gestured for the two to come with him. He took them aside and started the real work of preparing.