While Varino was bored out of her mind, Zerine was playing with hatchlings. Evidently Arashi was told about how Zerine was feeling, so the golem attacks were few. Instead, she focused on training with the hatchlings, which always devolved into playing.
Zerine laughed, running as a glittering wave of scales gave chase. Squeaks of determination to chase the pretty lady followed her.
She had no idea when the hatchlings started referring to her as the pretty lady, but she didn’t mind it. Being with them had been some of the few highlights of the past two months, always leaving her with a smile. It was also entertaining to her the names they called her till landing on the pretty lady. It went from the purple magic platform, inspired by her letting the dragons hang on to her while blasting magic as she moved around. There were other suggestions, but the ones leading to her current name were things related to her fighting so strong or scary lady.
She lept just in time to avoid a gust of wind targeting her legs. It would have caused her to fall if it hadn’t sensed it coming.
Zerine laughed.
“You can’t catch me!” she teased, still laughing as she ran weaving through the forest.
Calls from the hatchlings to galvanize their efforts were all she got in answer.
A stone appeared in her path, but she used it as a platform to jump over a small stream of water, which turned out to be wise as tendrils of the water shot out, missing her by inches.
Several indigent squeaks came after that attempt.
Zerine’s laughter was free and a little wild. She was really enjoying this. Running always made her feel like she was free, leaving everything behind. Not quite like when she flew with Terri, but it was the next best thing.
She ran, weaving through the forest, leading the hatchlings on a chase. Eventually her legs burned and Zerine pretended to stumble from a gust of wind, then trip as a stone moved upwards.
A moment later, an entire flight of delighted dragons tackled her, covering her in colorful scales, squeaking happily. Some found out Zeirne was ticklish and soon Zeirne was gasping for air as they proceeded to target this newfound weakness.
“Alright, little ones, you’ve captured your prey,” Arashi said, using magic to make the air vibrate as she landed nearby. Zerine had learned that the adult dragons were using this tactic to get the hatchlings to start learning to speak rather than just knowing the dragon’s tongue. Zerine had to admit, though, the squeaks were adorable even if sometimes the sounds revealed their many incredibly sharp teeth.
There was a host of complaining squeaks to her announcement, which turned to squawks as Zerine took the chance to strike, finding the spots that tickled the dragons.
“I got you!” Zerine said, tickling the dragons too slow to flee.
The dragons scattered, chirping, squeaking, and making rather adorable tiny roars as they ran to Arashi.
Arashi chuffed, shaking her head as the hatchling piled onto her back.
Zerine stood, brushing herself off, laughing as several dragons chirped challenges.
“Such big talk now that Arashi is around. I’ll get you next time,” Zerine teased.
At her words, Arashi rumbled her amusement.
“Bob will be here soon,” Arashi’s draconic eyes narrowed. “So stay…here…till he comes gets you.”
Zerine sighed.
She had gotten into trouble exploring. They had said something about some people out to get her and hurt her father in the process or something. Nothing had happened though, but ever since that lecture, she had been behaving and ready for anything.
“That was one time. And I will wait,” Zerine said, sitting crossed legged, but stood up a second later. “Actually, can I sit near that stream in the area to mediate?”
Arashi looked thoughtful for a moment.
“Very well. But stay there.”
There was a flash of light and Zerine stood next to a burbling stream with the glow of burning grass lighting the area. The multicolor flames of the grass created a mesmerizing effect, which helped Zerine get in the right state of mind to mediate. Without that effect, she knew it would have been quite the struggle.
With a contented sighed Zerine sat crossed-legged and threw back the vial of mind enhancement elixir. It pushed the headache back, but made it so her mind flood with thoughts.
There was simply too much flowing through her mind that she had been pushing aside. Todo lists, projects, and, of course, her stresses. Stress about what the tribunal will bring, stress about how she was doing with her training and lessons, and on and on.
She took another deep breath and let out slow letting everything go. It took a few more before she settled.
Vinessa worked with her to enter this meditation. If she practiced it enough, she would be able to enter her soul space. It was one of her favorite memories of late when she had told Vinessa that she had probably entered her soul space with no external aid.
Vinessa had poked and prodded till Zerine had explained the crest ceremony when she was eight, her odd experience on Trevel Island, which then led to her having to explain her experiences on the island. Vinessa could be scary a trainer, but when she shifted into something other than her trainer mode, it was nice. They had laughed over Kimi’s and Varino’s antics with the other spirits. Zerine felt that connection to Vinessa again during this chat. She still wasn’t sure what it was, but almost like a thread of energy connecting them. It felt…right to her and had her opening up to Vinessa.
Zerine shook her head, focusing on her breaths once again. She hadn’t been able to enter her soul space, but she felt like she was close.
Breath in.
Breath out.
The streams burbling soothed her mind. The warm air of the forest cooled as a breeze kicked up, bringing with it scents. Ceder, fresh grass, flowers, and…
Crunch.
Zerine’s ears twitched at the sound pulling her out of the fragile, meditative state she had entered. She brushed it aside, not thinking much of it.
Breath in, breath out.
Crunch.
Snap.
It was just the normal sounds of forest and creatures on the hatchling hunting grounds. Plenty of little critters called this place home.
A breeze brought with it the scent of flowers and…and
Zerine’s eyes snapped open at the scent of sweat and people.
Her instincts screamed a warning right as there was a thwack of a crossbow firing. Zerine jerked her head to the right. A bolt whistled, just missing her ear but still gouging a bloody line along her cheek. She spun, using her arms and legs to leap to her feet.
A wordless shout escaped her as the flash of heat and pain shot through her. Adrenaline began pumping through her, helping her ignore the pain. Through the pain spun to her feet, just missing another bolt shot from a different direction than the first. Her bow appeared in her hands with an arrow already knocked. She noted the other direction that the second bolt had come from spotting the shift of shadows in the trees as she drew the string back. The tip of the arrow sparked from the enchantment; she would not go easy on any of them.
Her attackers would learn the hard way she wasn’t to be messed with. She had expected a beat down or something, but this! That fucking bolt would have gone right through her spinal cord. If they would not show mercy, then neither would she.
The arrow loosed, imbued with her willpower, trailing sparks as it shot towards its target. Lucky her, the person who shot the first bolt had stepped in to her sphere, which she only now realized had grown in size. Once it was a sphere twenty feet in diameter, but now it was closer to twenty-five feet. She shoved that annoy fact to the back of her mind. Either way, the first crossbow wielder didn’t get a chance to dodge the arrow, which slammed into them.
A shrill scream of a female ripped through the quiet forest, startling several creatures to fly away. A figure fell from a tree writhing on the ground, shrieking as lightning arched around and through their body before they went still.
Another aspect that was fortunate was the area Arashi had teleported her to. Where she had been mediating had plenty of Firespike bushes. Nasty plants whose barbs could cut through steel and burned worse than the fire they were named after. Only dragon scales wouldn’t be affected by the bushes. The flowers, though, were sweet smelling and had many alchemic properties, and were beautiful. They glowed dimly with a pulsing gold and red light.
At first, she had been annoyed that Arashi teleported her to such a place. It basically forced her to stay put unless she wanted to risk the stream and the creatures that called the knee-high water their home. Now she was thankful for that fact. It had forced her would-be attackers to find a vantage point to attack her from a safe distance. Although..
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Spells tore through the bushes, blasting them to pieces. Another bolt shot towards her; this time enhanced with wind magic. It streaked towards her, but she had already moved her instincts and mana senses alerting her to the danger.
Another arrow loosed. Another scream.
Two down and hopefully no more crossbows, she thought.
A roar escaped a Scalekin male who lept forward on a gust of wind propelling him over the bushes moving to strike using…
“Is that a bident?” Zerine wondered, despite the life and death situation. She hadn’t seen a weapon like that since Gary dumped a ton of weapons for her to try out after mastering basic staff and sword techniques.
It was, in fact, a bident. Two six-inch sword-like blades stuck out from the end of a spear made from dark wood. The weapon smashed down right where she had been standing.
Zerine’s gaze took in the tall, heavily muscled Scaleekin. The Scalekin had a long snout, similar to Cassel, but with dark blue leathery skin. He wore metal gauntlets that exposed his clawed hands. Plain looking black leather armor covered the rest of him. She recognized it as the armor that many recruits were given when they started.
Sounds of shouts and running feet made Zerine want to look away from her current opponent, but her training kept her focused. It also helped that she felt the intent to kill coming from five others. But the bushes were slowing them down from catching up with their comrade.
Speaking of the Scalekin, he stabbed forward with the bident, which Zerine avoided spinning away, making her new and improved ball chain unraveled.
After some of Vinessa’s truly brutal training, Zerine’s willpower had become far more refined and her use of it more efficient. This lead to her getting an upgraded version of the ball and chain. It hit harder, moved faster, and could even disrupt spells it smashed into. This upgrade and a few others pretty much used up her remaining allowance she had placed upon herself. The rest of her funds were set aside for her tuition at which ever academy she got into.
The ball was made from matte grey metal and seven inches in diameter. Gary loved making it since she let him find the best materials for her to imbue her willpower with. It moved silently along a blur of motion.
The Scalekin only had enough time for his eyes to widen before.
Crunch!
Teeth, blood, and bones sprayed as the ball smashed into the side of the man’s snout closest to his head.
To his credit, the Scalekin only stagger back. One eye was closed, with blood pouring from his crushed snout.
He staggered, lifting a hand up to probably cast something. He even tried to speak, but it just came out a garbled mess. A garbled mess that turned into a gurgle when Zerine’s gauntlet covered fist smashed into his throat.
She didn’t have time to watch as the Scalekin collapsed just in time for the rest of his team to blast apart the final line of bushes.
There were five attackers. One elf, two humans, a Scalekin, and Beastkin. It was at times like these that Zerine cursed her terrible presence senses. Her instincts told her not to get hit by an attack, which duh, but her lack of being able to tell if something was E-rank or D-rank was frustrating. Sure, knowing that she could take a few hits thanks to her instincts gave her a general idea of their ranks, but there was quite the difference between mid and peak ranks. Thanks to the simulations, Zerine had gotten better at than she had been on the island where she had mostly guessed, but she was still terrible.
Zerine felt the mana building up in the area as the attackers charged.
Enhancing themselves…wonderful, she thought. Twisting again to build up momentum for the ball and chain as she grabbed two throwing knives. She hoped they were too afraid of hitting their own allies to cast spells when in close combat. Unfortunately for them, she had plenty of practice dealing with many enhanced opponents and she had no allies to be worried about.
The ground shifted under her feet.
Weeelll shit, she thought, focusing on creating mana barriers around her feet.
The ground under feet turned to mud, but with the mana barriers just under her feet, Zerine appeared to be floating just above the ground. This trick was only possible due to Vinessa’s simulation training. Her barrier hadn’t gotten too much stronger, but it was enough to handle her weight on it, but spells and weapon impacts could still easily destroy it. But this technique would be difficult to stop her from doing unless the ground affinity mage created spikes, which…
Zerine sprinted towards her attackers, startling them while also avoiding stone spikes that shot up piercing right where she had been standing before. In fact, it had been so close she heard her rider cloak tearing from several spikes.
Nasty, slow your target before stabbing the person with stone spikes, she thought.
Her two throwing knives shot out, one targeting the ground affinity mage, one of the humans, while the other went for another spear wielder, who was the elf.
The elf swore, not quite managing to dodge her attack, at least from his perspective. At the last moment, she willed the trajectory to change; the knife burying into his left elbow joint. The spear he held jerked away before falling to the ground.
As for the ground mage, she wasn’t so lucky. The knife slammed into her throat, burying to the hilt.
The elf yelled in pain, while the human women crumpled to the ground, blood pooling underneath her soaking the ground. Zerine didn’t hesitate directing the ball and chain which lashed out, smashing the elf in the face, slamming him into the ground.
Now for the other three.
***
Lenit wasn’t sure when everything went so wrong. Well, he could pinpoint it actually, but still this went out of hand immediately. The moment the two recommended for this message sent those bolts flying, the planned beat down turned into a life and death battle. A life and death battle they were losing.
The E-ranks were only going to beat her up. The D-ranks were supposed to be around in case Zerine was somehow able to fight back against six E-ranks. Meanwhile, the crossbows were supposed to be only used for intimidation to make sure she didn’t run.
Six mid through peak E-rank, four D-rank backups, then those two damn extras. And they were already down three people.
He wouldn’t look towards where the motionless bodies lay, with lightning sparking and arching around their forms even now. But instead, his gaze watched horrified, frozen in place as a knife pierced through Sarah’s throat and Matt’s face was practically caved in from that ball and chain. In less than two minutes, the E-ranks had lost three members.
Even the others were frozen in place, watching the carnage in horror. Elen, Redik, and Lisa, his team, weren’t prepared to fight a cornered animal. No one had told them Zerine had an arsenal of weapons. All they had been told was that she had some sort of partially awaken soul with an ability that gave her some sort of sixth sense. Not whatever the hell this was.
At that moment, Matt’s body crumpled. This girl more like monster, had a bow back in her hands already drawn back and loosed it at the remaining E-ranks.
A torrent of blue flames erupted, trailing after the arrow, which blazed with a sapphire light.
Two barriers of ice formed in the arrow’s path, but they were thin and hastily created so they shattered, showering the remaining three E-ranks with shards of ice.
Kevin slammed a tower shield down, taking the arrowhead on.
Lenit swore, covering his eyes as sapphire light blazed, and an explosion rocked the area.
“What the fuck!” Elen shouted.
“Who gave her something that strong1?” Redik replied.
“Probably paid for with her dad’s money,” Lisa snarled.
Another flash of sapphire light accompanied by screams blinded the group again. The there another explains, but instead of blinding light suddenly there was nothing.
Linit blinked, trying to clear his vision. There were no sounds, no light. He put his hand up, pressing it up to his nose and still couldn’t see it. His mana senses were overwhelmed by energy all around him.
Panic took hold, and he surrounded himself in a blast of wind, but still nothing.
A chill went down his spin as he realized how screwed they were. They couldn’t see, but Zerine probably could sense them.
Something hit him hard enough that he flew back, rolling along the ground. He bit back a shout of pain as those damn Firespike barbs cut through his armor and in to his flesh.
Getting to his feet, he noticed that the darkness was fading, albeit slowly. Currently, he could just make out his hands a few inches from his face. There was still no sound, but it was a relief.
Ten long seconds later, the darkness was gone, and he gaped at what he saw.
***
Seconds earlier, Zerine loosed two of the fire arrows Terri had happily imbued with her dragon breath. It…might have been tad overkill, but she had seen a massive man that towered over his allies carrying an equally large tower shield and said, fuck it.
Boom! Boom!
Zerine couldn’t even see the result of the first arrow before the second was loosed. The third arrow’s tip absorbed the light. This arrow she aimed for the group behind the three nearest to her. She had only just seen them standing in shock thirty or so feet away.
The arrow flew true and her willpower caused an explosion right in the middle of the group. A ball of darkness erupted out, covering the entire area.
Just before the darkness enveloped her, Zerine saw the result of her dragon breath arrows. The first arrow had tossed the third member away, while destroying the shield based on the fragments Zerine saw strewn about and a man staggering to his feet, looking dazed.
As for the second arrow, it had done some major damage. The massive man was on the ground, a smoldering hole five inches in diameter cut straight through his middle. His chest plate was still red hot from the flames, while the rest of him had nasty burns all over. The last member, a women, had evidently hidden behind the man and was currently screaming, writhing on the ground, clutching where her right arm had been. The stump had trails of smoke coming off of it and there were signs of burns on her as well.
With a flick of her willpower, the ball and chain flew, knocking the women out as the darkness encased them and the last person roared, charging, a torrent of flames racing at her.
Zerine dodged the flames, but it was close, too close. She hissed as part of her shoulder and upper right arm definitely got burned.
Too bad you're blind, she thought, avoiding a wild spray of flames spewing from the mage. The ball and chain made quick work, smashing him in the back of the head. As he crumpled to the ground, a blast of air made her stumble.
Zerine ran further into the darkness. Several randomly cast spells flew past. She only sensed three in the area, but there had been four, right?
Her steel-toe boot took one of the three remaining mages in the face with a crunch.
Lightning erupted nearby. It flared in her instincts and was powerful too.
She whistled, which felt weird feeling it and not hearing it. Luckily, the mage blasting lightning was close and clearly panicking. When another bolt of lightning nearly hit her, Zerine changed her plan and let a throwing knife, and the ball and chain take the mage down.
She had been silently thanking Zara and Vinessa repeatedly. It was Zara who had suggested Zerine create an enchantment based on one of Zara’s own spells. She had suggested it was a safe way to escape if the situation was too dangerous. But also hinted that Zerine could also fight in it thanks to her instincts. The spell blocks all senses, including magical and auras. It wasn’t Zara’s domain spell, but something Zara liked to use when fighting large groups of mages or monsters.
It was only when Vinessa had heard about the shadow arrows where Zerine got genuine experience using them in simulations. Fighting in them, running away under its cover, and even contesting a domain. Since the arrow flooded the area with shadow aligned mana, it could disrupt someone’s domain, as they required their affinity to be in abundance.
The only probably was…
Zerine swore as she began to regain her sight. The last mage she could sense was too far. By the time she closed the distance, the shadow arrow duration would have ended, so she drew her bow.
***
Lenit’s eyes went wide as the darkness faded away in wisps, revealing a bloody mess. Lisa was on the ground, blood pooling underneath her, a knife sticking out of her shoulder. But as he watched, the knife floated out of her, cleaning itself before sliding back into a sheath around Zerine’s waist.
Redik was behind Zerine, crumpled on the ground, blood covering his face. As for Elen…
Shit, he thought.
Elen was crumpled at the base of a tree twenty feet away. She had been the closet to him when he panic.
Instead of the horror that had frozen him moments ago, anger boiled through him instead.
In the split second it took him to take in his teams condition, Zerine loosed her arrow.