The oxsteed’s hooves thundered over the ground as Valanor and Ethan raced toward the Tall Wood, a forest to the West of the Capital. They had already left the farmlands behind, and the dense forest was ahead, more visible after each hill they crested.
They’d been forced to wait until the next day to follow Savilar. Despite Valanor’s impotent fury, the city wouldn’t make another stop until morning, and each hour that ticked by brought his rage to new heights. Ethan was concerned as well; Savilar had been a reliable ally, and the Deep Cell had taught him patience, if nothing else.
They had charged off of the city’s massive drawbridge the moment it touched down on the boarding platform, the sun only having just risen. They’d been pushing their mounts ever since, to the point that the barrel chested beasts would likely be incapable of making the trip home. As they rode, Valanor repeated the same warnings he’d given the night before.
“Only strike when you’re sure of your own safety! A Dusk rank rift releases numerous monsters of that rank. Try to focus on any Dawn rank ones you can find. Savilar and I will take down the more dangerous ones. If he’s…if he’s still alive.”
Ethan nodded, sharing the knight’s worry. The report of the rift had gotten to the city late the previous day, and they could only hope that the Rift Hunter had survived the night. He wasn’t the type to hold back for prudence, even with the rest of his team dead.
Valanor had explained that the previous rifts Ethan had encountered–first on his shackled trip to Corvale, then in the forest on the way to the haunted tower–had both been Dawn rank. Those rifts weren’t powerful enough to draw much attention in Potentia, apparently, and typically only smaller, Dawn rank demons would emerge. It was only the rare case–such as in the woods with the ape-like monsters–that an evolved Dusk rank demon might come across with its kin.
Dusk rank rifts were more dangerous, as the power they produced not only made them larger, but drew more powerful demons as well. There would likely still be hordes of lesser beasts coming through, but Valanor claimed that as many as a dozen Dusk rank enemies could be waiting for them. Despite his fear, the knight was surprisingly confident that Savilar lived–a testament to just how powerful Hunters of that rank were.
At last they had nearly arrived at the Tall Woods, so named because it was almost exclusively massive trees like redwoods back home. Valanor turned to Ethan once again. “Don’t forget your duty, Ethan. It’s bad enough that I’m even bringing you along. Stay alive.”
Ethan nodded back. It had been an argument just to convince Valanor to allow him to come, but the knight couldn’t deny that Ethan’s powers lent themselves well to escape. Although it was clear that the man had finally agreed more out of concern for his brother than anything else.
But Ethan wasn’t worried. In the Deep Cell he’d seen a thousand battles, and as they raced forward, it felt a bit like coming home.
***
Valanor jumped down from his oxsteed, allowing the mount to turn back and look for grazing–it had earned the break. He examined the path through the woods, which had obviously been made by a recent battle. He and Ethan had followed the road until the blue-white light of the rift had become visible through the trees, and soon they’d found the trail that Savilar had left.
Most of the demon bodies this far back had clearly burned away by now, their magic rejoining the Astral, but the evidence of the Rift Hunter’s remarkable gift for destruction was everywhere. The path ahead was easily six paces across, and was a straight line heading directly for the portal, which Valanor could see in the distance.
Broken and shattered trees showed just how hard Sav had been fighting, and obviously against one or more truly massive demons based on how flattened everything was. Valanor summoned his armor and tower shield, then began to move down the path. He turned to Ethan, inspecting the man.
The so-called ‘doctor’ looked better now that he was clean and clean-shaven, leaving behind that ruined specter he’d become in the Deep Cell. He was in his black and red leather armor, the odd white coat back in place, though he had the hood on now, which he’d rarely used before. Still, it didn’t hide the man’s eyes, which Ethan didn’t seem to understand were darker now, and looked more monster than human.
“Are you ready for this?” he asked, desperate to get to Sav, but still worried about his charge.
“More than ever,” Ethan replied. His voice was as dead as his eyes, and Valanor again wondered how much of the man had survived his imprisonment.
“Very well, don’t forget what we talked about. Let’s move.”
Valanor took off at a run, the Assassin keeping up with ease. Val wasn’t concerned about ambush, his Astral senses were extended, and he refused to let his mind fall into the same placid fog that had gripped him on his first journey with Ethan. That had been a dark time for him, and he’d nearly failed his charges in his negligence. Never again.
As they grew closer to the rift, Valanor finally started feeling the presence of enemies, and knew they were about to be attacked. “Get ready!” he called, only to see that the Assassin was already gone. Val shook his head, but focused on what was coming.
A moment later, demons flowed out of the woods. They were ceritas, looking like tailed humans stretched to horrific proportions. Their fingers were clawed, and they were eyeless, but their mouths were circular, and ringed with teeth taking up most of their faces. They rarely had special abilities, but they were quick, and hard to pin down.
Valanor slammed his shield with his warhammer, [Singular Focus] drawing the attention of every red skinned demon he could see. The creatures charged him, already mad, but now focusing that madness on him. He didn’t stop charging, calling upon [Eye of the Storm] to draw their attention to his shield, and keep them from getting behind him. It wouldn’t work if they couldn’t reach it–like with the large drakes–but thankfully the ceritas were so slight that over a dozen could line up ahead of him easily.
[Shield Slam] crashed into them a moment later, shattering bones and knocking the group back. Valanor refused to stop moving forward, knowing his brother needed him, and he kept pushing as the demons fought a retreating battle. He heaved with all his might as Toby appeared behind him, bladed obsidian arms slicing forward.
For all his passion and fury, Valanor wasn’t moving quickly enough. There were dozens of the creatures, and their claws were slicing at him wildly as their mouths snapped. It was all the more difficult as Toby had to spend most of his attention keeping them from surrounding them as he moved slowly forward. In that moment, as his warhammer lashed out and was so easily dodged, Valanor missed Syph as much as he ever had.
Abruptly the tone of the battle shifted as a column of flames erupted near the back of the mob. Red bodies went flying in every direction. “Finally,” Valanor grumbled, as Ethan made himself known at last. At least, he knew that academically. He couldn’t actually see the Assassin at work.
Another column of flame erupted. A moment later a weighted chain wrapped around three of the creatures, and they were pulled into the forest. A bolt of orange lightning crashed into the center of the group next, and Valanor found himself moving forward faster and faster.
The fight shifted into a blur as his hammer mechanically swung back and forth, the claws falling on his shield like hail. He just kept pushing, never fewer than a dozen ceritas in front of him. Every step of the way Ethan moved through the woods like a ghost, and the demons fell.
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He would appear in a burst of Ruin, and bodies would fall. His sword flashed, cutting through his enemies like a thresher. His shorter blades would stab and maim. The Assassin would leap from the trees, or appear from a rift like a demon himself, bringing pure destruction.
Valanor soon found himself somewhat disturbed by the wanton slaughter. He’d seen Maggie’s recording of the fight in the village, even watched it several times later as he was deciding what to do about Ethan, but this was different. The man no longer fought…like a man.
At one point Revan appeared, leaping out of the woods and dragging two of the demons back. Suddenly Ethan was there. He plunged his blades down into them relentlessly as the skinny creatures were pinned by the large cat. Blood splattered, but Ethan only stopped when another group came into range.
This time he leaped, pouncing on them like a wild animal, his blades inverted his hands. He slashed downward, ravaging them before jumping back into the woods. A breath of flame from Revan covered the retreat.
A moment later Deevee was there, flashing through rifts among the demons as two Ethans mimicked the action. As the hydra let out tiny blasts of power, the twin Assassins slashed and whirled in perfect harmony, carving their way through the mass. Abruptly the pair disappeared for a moment before bursting from matching rifts on either side of the path, their katanas leaving a line of dead before they vanished once again.
It continued like that for nearly half an hour as Valanor pushed ever forward, the pair leaving a trail of demons behind them in ruins. The ceritas weren’t particularly powerful, their speed the only true evidence of their Dawn rank power, but still, it couldn’t be denied that Ethan had found his place in combat. Every step of the way, the man moved in remarkable synchronicity with his Familiars.
With Revan he would pounce, surprising the enemy before disappearing just as quickly, leaving explosions of flame in his wake. With the hydra he would attack from unexpected angles, suddenly among the enemy, then gone in flashes of death, often with his reflection there to mimic the action.
The most disturbing was the little lizard that rarely showed itself. Valanor seldom even witnessed those kills. Demons would simply fall down, clutching bloody wounds, or look confused as their own bodies fell apart. It was silent, and clean, yet equally brutal. More than once Val caught himself wondering exactly what had come out of that cell.
He understood what was happening, of course. He couldn’t have reached Dusk rank without learning to fight like his own Familiars. But Toby and Sylvie hadn’t changed him much. They each fought like slow, indestructible walls. Toby lived as a stationary rock, content to bask in the sun, while the steel crab did something similar under water, only moving to catch food.
Syph had been the challenge. The beautiful white lupus fought like most wolves, with a wildness and sense of freedom Valanor hadn’t understood. It had taken him years to get past that block, only achieved when he’d finally gone out to the woods himself, and hunted side by side with Syph. He still remembered stalking prey in nothing but his undergarments, loping down game trails, hungry and desperate.
Even then, he always had the sense that he was trying to emulate his Familiars, succeeding just enough to break through Dawn. Ethan…Ethan was as savage as Revan. He was two minds fighting as one, just like a hydra. And…well if that little lizard was anything like the deceptive, living promise of quick death that Ethan had become, Valanor didn’t mind that it preferred to stay hidden.
As the Dusk rank rift grew closer, looming almost as tall as the massive trees, Valanor pushed even harder. He knew the ceritas–regardless of their numbers–would have been no threat to Savilar, meaning something else had to be preventing the portal from closing. Soon it became clear what that might be, as they encountered the bodies of a new type of demon.
They were gigas, gray skinned demons of humanoid form twice the height of a man. They were frustratingly strong, but slow, often using logs or rocks as weapons. Savilar’s fight with the giants was likely what had carved the path into the woods, though the ones they found were still Dawn rank.
The last of the caritas fell about a hundred paces before the path ended, and Ethan was suddenly beside him again. They were both breathing heavily, though they kept striding forward. The battle hadn’t been particularly dangerous, but it had certainly been an endurance trial. Valanor looked ahead, irritated to find that the end of the path had been blocked by more fallen trees.
“I’d say we scout first, but I don’t have it in me to wait,” Valanor said, eliciting a nod from the boy. “I’ll go in first, wait until I have the attention of whatever’s in there before you risk yourself. And leave if it gets bad. I mean that, Ethan.”
“I understand,” Ethan replied, his tone still lacking emotion. Give him time, Val reminded himself, almost missing the man’s jibes. Almost.
“Let’s move then,” Valanor said, moving back into a sprint, and leveling his shield. Ethan took to the trees, leaping from one to the next, his white coat giving away his position until suddenly it wasn’t. Val turned his focus back to the mission, as he charged directly through the fallen trees, obliterating them in an eruption of splinters.
He emerged in a clearing surrounding the enormous rift. It wasn’t natural, clearly being a result of the explosive energy of the portal’s arrival, combined with a battle well fought, and still in progress. There were more gigas lying around, but they weren’t the threat. Savilar’s earth elemental was currently holding back two more ceritas, although these were clearly Dusk rank.
Several more littered the area, a testament to how much damage the Rift Hunter had managed to do. The Dusk rank version had two bladed tentacles emerging from their backs, and were easily nine feet tall, but were otherwise visually similar to the Dawn rank ones they’d dealt with. Unfortunately there were other differences.
The demons were not only slashing with the claws and stabbing at Savilar’s Familiar with their tentacles, but were also leaving some kind of horrible affliction with each attack. Even the highly resistant elemental was showing signs of decay. Valanor was still moving forward, dodging around the bodies of gigas, but despite his desire to help, he still couldn’t see his brother.
It wasn’t until he was nearly upon the Dusk rank monsters that he spotted the man. Savilar was behind the elemental, kneeling in a rune circle, bloody but alive. He actually appeared to be suffering from the same ailment as his Familiar, but that didn’t seem to be what was causing him such strain.
Something was trying to come through the rift, and Sav was holding it back. The ritual wouldn’t be able to close the portal if a monster was stuck between worlds, and so the Rift Hunter seemed to be trying to force whatever it was back to Potentia…though it didn’t appear to be working.
Valanor crashed into the back of the nearest ceritas, the gangly demon spinning around in surprise to engage the new threat. That took some of the pressure off of the elemental, but it might already be too late, as chunks of earth and stone were falling off it in heaps.
Valanor tried to attract the attention of the other ceritas, but it ignored his abilities, powerful enough to keep its focus on the weaker prey. Ethan appeared a moment later, his sword flashing out to cripple Val’s target, its lower leg giving out as tendons were cut. The Assassin went to work, shifting through his abilities as Valanor had taught him, but they were moving too slowly, and they both knew it.
The earth elemental collapsed into a soggy pile, large enough that Ethan actually had to retreat temporarily for fear of being crushed. The now unimpeded ceritas didn’t hesitate, rushing forward to swipe at the unprotected man kneeling before the rift.
Savilar was a veteran, however, who’d also felt his Familiar be destroyed, and he spun around to intercept the attack. Massive black claws slashed down to be intercepted by a mace, the Rift Hunter springing back to his feet to follow up the attack. But the damage was done, made clear as a colossal hand reached through the rift, grabbing the ceritas around its slight middle.
They all fell back then, feeling the power of the enormous Dusk rank demon finally stepping into Nexum. It was another gigas, more than twice the size of the Dawn ranks they’d already seen, and it crushed the smaller demon in its grip before bringing it to its mouth. It was chewing before the rest of the body had even emerged, revealing a second head, which joined in the feast.
The other ceritas leaped forward to begin slashing at a thigh nearly as thick as the massive trees of the forest around them, but the gigas seemed unconcerned. It stood up to its full height, nearly thirty feet, and looked around the clearing as it ate. Savilar hurried to Val’s side, exhausted and bloody.
“I couldn’t hold it back,” he said, coughing. The ceritas poison was clearly affecting him, and he’d lost his earth affinity for a time with the destruction of his Familiar.
“We’ll take it together,” Val told his brother with confidence he didn’t feel.
He readied his shield, looking up at the massive monster, warily. The muscular body tensed as it tore the ceritas to pieces, apparently unconcerned with the Hunters. Suddenly both heads jerked inward, colliding, and it roared in fury and pain, dropping the dead demon.
An Ethan had appeared on each of its wide shoulders, unleashing twin stabs with their swords–directly into the demon’s ears. In a flash Ethan was back next to Valanor, sheathing his blade as the gigas grabbed its heads in agony. Ethan turned to the brothers as he drew his smaller blades.
“Eyes and ears are its weak spots,” he explained. “Are you ready for this?”