Flesh ripped, feathers scattered before they broke down and joined the dust. The leader swallowed the monster whole, liquid oozing down the sides of its mouth. As it devoured, the bubbling of its flesh stilled, and it dragged its claws down its cheeks.
The other monsters wailed at the sight, but none dared to run away.
While they were distracted, Alice and I slowly moved back and some of the closer creatures started to turn our direction before stopping. They glitched out, torn between focusing on us, and their leader, some shaking as if their brain malfunctioned.
The leader answered for them.
As it leaned forward, its stomach expanded. Ooze ripped through its front and spilled across the ground. It collapsed, slamming its arm against a stone, crushing it and sending pieces through the nearest monsters.
Flames licked up its side, and the ooze that had spewed forth burned away in black smoke before it sank into the dirt.
“Craaaaaiigh!”
The nearest monster was skewered and dragged into the leader’s mouth. Down it went in a crunch of flailing limbs before the leader’s stomach sealed over. It managed to sit up long enough to lock eyes on the next of its kin.
Now or never!
I raised my axe and hurled it at the leader. It pulled the monster it had shoved between its jaws and held it up to block, but my axe sliced through, severing half its digits. It screeched and swiped the closest monster, flinging it toward us.
Alice stepped in. Her axe batted it aside and she released a wave of frost. Those closest, froze into statues, while the smaller brethren jumped away or hid beneath the larger of their kind.
Crunch!
Another disappeared down its gullet, and the flesh along its fingers bubbled. Long claws regrew, and the stub of its severed arm gained a few inches. There was a second, where our eyes locked, and a light in its eyes flashed across the field.
“Alice! Kill the leader!”
Her legs cracked as her feet shifted. Claws dug into the ground and she jumped atop one and hopped to the next. I activated the rune in my hand and held out my other as the incantation settled in my mind.
Flames lanced across the field, searing through the closest swath of enemies. As my axe smacked into my palm I threw it again, tearing apart a monster that leapt for Alice’s leg. I turned in time, and dug my claws into the hide of another before a snake-necked man grabbed my legs and dragged me down.
No.
Fire erupted, burning through as I tore the neck from its body.
Ek kalla á lýsandi stjörnu.
The star formed, the orb appearing as the sun amidst the void in my mindscape. The runes joined in as my mana flowed freely, empowering the incantation. The shadows took a backseat as the lava rushed in, and corrupted the spell.
What was once made for light, became a spinning inferno that I lobbed into the crowd. It popped and rained napalm, melting the monsters before they could claw away their flesh.
Bodies broke and split, the dust crinkling with shards of glass. I recalled my axe, and carved through another beast as Alice reached the leader.
Its stomach was a bulging mass, the leader having eaten its way through the crowd. Its arms twitched while its fingers bent in every direction, accompanied by the snapping of its bones.
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She planted her claws into the dirt and twisted her body. The leader collapsed on a limb that broke itself under its own weight before reforming.
Now!
The blade sang as it sliced the air and parted through a distorted limb. But as the blade reached its neck, bones shot through its chest and caught the metal in a crystal trap. The protruding rib cage carved deep cuts into itself before the ooze from the bones bubbled and sealed the damage, binding the blade together.
Alice tugged, snapping a kick across its jaw, sending fragments flying.
“Let go!” she yelled.
She shoved her claws through its shattered jaw and tore chunks free but the bone trap tore itself further from the monster’s body, revealing parts of hissing spine that snaked aroud her hand.
Damnit!
I kicked a monster away, and jumped across another’s back. My clothes disappeared as my legs shifted, the dense muscles launching me closer. I slid to a stop and swung, my axe cutting through the ribcage, allowing Alice to pull her weapon free.
Now was the time, we had our chance to attack. But the monster had other plans. As its spine slid down, the leader grasped the bones and shoved it inside its bulging stomach. I raised my hand and conjured more flames, as the same time the leader wailed.
The screech paralyzed my body, the sound banishing all other thought as the world hummed to its tune. The nearest monster reached its hoof toward the leader before the limb bloated into a bubbling blob.
Blood punched my side as its body became little more than a puddle. One by one, the nearest monsters followed suit, creating a green haze that fogged the area.
After half a dozen fell to the wailing, the leader’s mouth rebuilt itself and snapped shut. Before I could react, wings sprouted from its back, nearly double the giant hawk’s. The feather’s blotted out the sky and my fingers twitched as the shadow fell upon us.
It wrapped too long limbs around our arms and bound them tight. The green haze rushed out the area with a single flap of its wings, sending monsters rolling away as it did it again and again.
I tried to fight it off, but the world spun with each minor adjustment. It’s neck bent down and a beak sprouted from its face, reaching the tip of my nose. The sharpened bit poked through my skin, drawing a drop of blood that was quickly absorbed by the crystal.
The leader squawked and the muscles in its legs crushed the ground as we lifted into the air. Its wings dipped low and we nearly crashed atop the fleeing horde of remaining monsters, but it righted itself and a second, smaller pair of wings sprouted from its waist.
“Al-ice…” I croaked.
It started to gain height, carrying us past the trees and away from the mountain.
Where the hell are you taking us?
Alice was still frozen in place. She was no help, and I couldn’t let the monster drag us off to who knows where. We needed to get back to the mountain.
And the damn thing was dragging us farther and farther away.
I tried to swing my axe, but it harmlessly bounced off its side as I failed to put power behind my attack.
Not working. My mana?
My core thrummed, the two seas at the ready as it slipped into my palms.
Perfect. Just need to time…
The leader dipped, nearly smashing into a pair of tall trees before it eked out of the way. The land was higher on the left of the mountain, and we weren’t too far from the ground.
It’d hurt but we needed to get down.
Now!
The incarnation slid into place as the rune solidified, joined by the shadow mana that rushed in. Above my palm, the colors drained and the shadows stretched as light folded into the portal. The leader reacted, its bindings tightening, trapping my fingers.
But I didn’t need much room to move. I flexed my wrist and shoved the portal’s edge into its flesh. The crystal flaked and shot inside.
“Craaaigh!”
With the bindings devoured, I moved my arm and slid it through. It carved a deep furrow, leaving barely enough to contain me in the monster’s grip. Its wings struggled as it reeled back, shooting high.
Drop us you jerk!
I increased the flow and let the incantation grow, slamming my hand through its other arm before grabbing Alice. She struggled to get free but I held her tight and looked up into the monster’s beak.
The shadows punched through and my claws dug into its neck as I removed a wing. As the leader screeched its arms unwound and it sailed into a tree, crashing through a mound of ash and bark.
Air howled as the ground rapidly approached.
This is going suck.
Before we crashed, I closed my eyes and braced but a burst of electricity shot into my arm and my mana retreated. The rune in my head shattered as incantation came undone.
Wha-
“Aaagh!” Alice grunted.
Something metallic flew from her waist. It was the knife we grabbed. The metal was awash with glowing runes while the white crystal in the pommel seared my eyes. Its light pushed away the shadow, a crackle of electricity that extended past us and latched onto both our chests.
The pommel flashed and my cloak stretched around us as reality began to bend.