Chapter 25 - First Wave
Magrath, Vanstead Dukedom of Augustein Year 995
Amara barely brought her axe up in time as a long, spindly tail whipped in her direction, cracking and clicking together like a spine. She grit her teeth, skidding backwards from the impact. She raised the axe again, preparing to block, only to see the Aberration’s tail swing aside, whipping around and flying towards the collapsed miner instead. Amara opened her mouth to warn him, but before the first syllable could get out, those bone-like joints pierced straight through his chest.
The man screamed, a gurgling sound rising in the back of his throat. Markings climbed up his arm, their yellow glow flickering and flashing black as a dark sludge formed around the piercing wound, mixing together with red.
Yellow and black clashed, the light fading more and more. Amara watched as the man’s body convulsed, limbs jerking around like James’ had that day. His eyes rolled back, screams dying and limbs falling heavy and still as energy and motion magic were drained. The tail pressed deeper into his chest with a squelching sound, and his skin began to melt away into a pooling liquid, losing shape and collapsing as next his form magic was devoured.
There was no longer any sound escaping him. Amara distantly wondered if the perception, emotion, and mind magic were gone by then, too. In that eerily still, half deformed heap, it was impossible to imagine he might still be alive.
With a final lurch, the tail yanked itself free, thick, viscous liquid splashing and dripping from its end. Amara was vaguely aware of people screaming and running around her, but her eyes were drawn to the body of the miner, his aura still flickering faintly.
The sound of bones cracking snapped Amara out of her trance. The head guard had run up to the Aberration responsible, an insect-like creature with similar bony tails whipping around like tentacles that crawled around with two human shaped arms dragging it along the earth. Right now, those eerily human hands clawed at its face as the guard dug his sword deeper into its beady eyes. The creature let out a shrill, piercing screech as it jerked and flailed. One of the tails whipped forward, about to slam into the man, but before it could, an orange glow wrapped itself around the limb, freezing it in place as markings of the same color rose up the man’s arms and a jewel embedded in his blade glowed. Motion magic, Amara thought mentally.
Forcibly holding the creature still, the man tightened his grip on the sword, and in one heave, sliced the blade through the Aberration’s head. It collapsed into a contorting heap, body beginning to disintegrate. The man didn’t give it a second glance, instead spinning around, sword already pointed at the next closest Aberration. Across the square, another creature, this one with a slimy, slug-like body that left a thick, slippery substance behind on the ground froze mid bite as the same glow wrapped around it, allowing its would be victim, a young boy who couldn’t be older than ten, to scramble to his feet and flee from that gaping maw.
The head guard’s hand shook slightly, his eyes narrowed as he grit his teeth.
“Kim, back me up here!” he barked out.
Several feet away, another guard in a dark uniform was locked in battle with another Aberration. She and a few other guards stood with their backs together, fending off an approaching circle of creatures intent on surrounding them.
“I’m sorry, sir!” she called out, voice breathless. “I’m afraid our hands are full!”
The man cursed, the orange glow flashing. All around them, the square was overrun with Aberrations. Amara could see grey-uniformed watchmen and dark-unformed guards fighting and ushering civilians away. The windows of bordering stores were shattered, and the smoothly paved street was upturned into a mess of rocks and rubble. Motionless bodies lay in heaps along the ground while still others attempted to flee.
The slug-like Aberration twitched as the orange glow around it flashed again. A mere foot away, a woman was trying to yank her leg out from underneath a chunk of fallen rubble while another woman struggled to pull away the pieces. She tugged harder when she saw the glow flickering.
Without thinking, Amara dashed forward, arm already drawing her axe back as she jumped over a fallen street light.
Just as the glow flashed again, the Aberration lurching forward, she brought the axe down the center of its fleshy body. The blade cleaved through easily, the creature’s body a squishy texture that reminded Amara vaguely of pudding. The two halves fell away, landing around her and kicking up a pile of dust as they began to disintegrate. Amara’s eyes quickly scanned the square, noting three more Aberrations approaching. She turned to the two women, ready to blast away the rubble if she had to, but two watchmen were already helping them. Satisfied, she turned away and ran deeper into the center of the square.
Her path was intercepted by an Aberration twice her size. Long, heavy arms swung at its side, its body hunched over slightly. A disproportionately small head poked out from the creature’s chest, a single eyeball staring down at her.
One of those arms rose and swung at her, and Amara rolled out of the way as they crashed down a foot away, the ground cracking from the impact. As the Aberration struggled to remove its arm from the earth, she ran forward and slashed the axe into its chest. As it did so, a spear pierced through the body on the other side. The creature fell to the side, and Amara saw Isolde, her own weapon drawn. The woman yanked her spear from the body, and Amara did the same, rushing over to the fallen Aberration’s head and cleaving it off. She didn’t straighten until she saw that familiar dust, her eyes meeting Isolde’s.
The woman’s hair was slightly messy, dark strands flying into her face that she absently brushed aside with a gloved hand. Amara could see dark liquid dripping from the tip of her spear and a few stains and rips on her clothes, but for the most part she looked remarkably well put together. Certainly more so than Amara.
Amara wiped some sweat from her forehead, not caring that she was probably leaving smudges on her face.
“I don’t think laying low is an option right now.”
Isolde’s eyes sharpened, and they flicked to the side, where the head guard from before was currently fighting a different Aberration, before snapping back.
“No,” she said simply. “I don’t believe it is.”
She lunged forward, thrusting her spear. Amara felt warm liquid land on her neck and spun around to see an Aberration fall, as silent in death as it had been in life. Isolde frowned, wiping a stray stain from her cheek with the back of a gloved hand.
“Thankfully, these all seem to be rank E,” she muttered. She brought her spear back in a ready stance, and Amara did the same with her axe, the two of them standing back to back. “As long as we’re careful, we should be able to get this taken care of.”
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Amara nodded, her own eyes scanning the square. At this point, more empty spaces had opened up as the watchmen and guards drove back the Aberrations. Limp bodies lay strewn about the square, more than one disfigured from having their magic absorbed. Most of the guards and watchmen seemed to be working on isolating a majority of the Aberrations to one end of the square. On the other side, the remaining civilians fled, but a few stray Aberrations forced them to stop and dodge in a frenzied panic. Yells rose from the watchmen and guards’ side as well as more Aberrations appeared. Amara narrowed her eyes, flexing her fingers around the axe handle.
“I’ll go help the civilians,” she said without looking at Isolde. “You help the watchmen and guards.”
Amara felt the other woman’s gaze on her, but she didn’t pause, rushing forward to the other end of the square. She felt her feet step through something soft and squishy, but she ignored it, keeping her eyes forward.
An Aberration with a dog’s body and three slivering snake heads sprouting its neck stood with its hackles raised in the center of the street. One fleeing civilian, a man gripping a small boy’s hand, yelped and pulled the boy back protectively as one of those snake heads hissed and snapped in his direction. He ran the other way, the two ducking behind an overturned bench. Amara noted with narrowed eyes the way the other two heads remained relatively still throughout, only moving again when the other one returned.
The Aberration took a step forward, and Amara’s eyes flickered over to an elderly woman on the other side of the Aberration who moved in lurches, back hunched and a cane rolling behind her. A rose colored glow flashed faintly around her as she attempted to use motion magic to speed up her retreat, but the woman clearly wasn’t used to it and it had little effect. A brief image of Joan flashed in her mind, but Amara forced herself to remain still as the Aberration took a step in the woman’s direction, who froze.
The moment one of the heads began to extend, she dashed forward, raising her axe and swinging into the closest of the two swaying heads. The second she felt her axe get stuck, she didn’t hesitate to flare her magic.
Distantly, she thought about how strange it was to have those gloves covering her markings. There was only a faint red and orange glow escaping from the tops of the gloves. Still, even without the back of her hand visible, the numbers still appeared in her mind, a constant thrumming knowledge temporarily brought to the forefront of her consciousness.
Magic Reserves: 62,623 → 62,601 / 110,876
Maximum Output: 22
Variability: 1
Amara felt the axe cleave through the head with a sudden burst of energy, and she struggled to stay on her feet, letting the momentum carry her forward into the second head. The axe didn’t slice this one as cleanly, leaving a deep gash on one half of the creature’s neck that left the rest of the head swinging with a spray of blood. Amara’s eyes were kept trained forward, however, at the head still extending towards the woman.
When the head’s gaping jaw was only a foot away from the woman, her axe reached the back of its neck. The Aberration released a shrill shriek, tossing and jolting, and Amara nearly lost her grip on the axe. The earlier flare of magic had gone away, gone as fast as it was intense. She’d hoped it would last long enough for this one as well, but she’d miscalculated.
Her eyes briefly darted over to the woman, the other civilians hiding and waiting for the path to be cleared, and she inhaled and activated her magic again.
Magic Reserves: 62,601 → 62,579 / 110,876
Maximum Output: 22
Variability: 1
With a flash of red and orange, Amara tumbled forward, crashing against the hard ground and just barely managing to catch herself before her head slammed into the streets. The axe landed with a clatter and she groaned, feeling a wave of exhaustion and a sudden coldness in her limbs. This was why she didn’t like using magic consecutively.
She pulled herself up to her knees, movements sluggish and heavy, and blinked up to see the Aberration fallen. She released a sigh of relief and attempted to stand, breaths heavy. Had the immediate after effects always been so intense? Then again, her output had increased last time, so it made sense that the recoil would as well.
Amara’s hand found the handle of the axe again, and she scanned the square. The number of Aberrations had dwindled significantly, piles of ash scattered across the street and mixing with the thick blood and melted flesh. She could make out Isolde’s figure spinning elegantly, swinging her spear around with grace and confidence. One of her sleeves had gotten cut, revealing those sharp, shard-like icy blue markings and a deceptive amount of muscle that she probably should’ve expected given her strength.
Near Isolde, the watchmen and guards had similar cuts and wounds, and she could see a few fallen, but most were still standing and cutting down the Aberrations with systematic force. The wave had already dwindled significantly. While the initial sheer numbers had certainly posed an issue, the power of the individual Aberrations seemed to thankfully be not terribly strong.
Amara rose to her feet, noting that the civilians had vanished from view. She tested her grip on the axe again and noted that, despite her hands stinging from the impact, the cloth of her gloves themselves had miraculously remained intact. Expensive indeed.
She exhaled, feeling her energy come back as warmth returned to her fingers. She’d often wonder if those immediate after effects would linger and the permanent costs would begin, but it looked like her reserves hadn’t gone low enough for that to happen quite yet.
Getting back into a fighting stance, Amara surveyed her surroundings for any more immediate threats.
There. On the other side of the street, a new Aberration stepped through the broken windows of a florist shop, fallen petals scattered around the entrance of the storefront. This new Aberration was fairly small, about the size of a human, and moved slowly with a snail-like body. In place of a shell was a large, crooked monkey’s head that stared at her sideways with black eyes.
Amara kept her axe steady, scanning the creature for any extra appendages, but it continued at that steady, slow pace. She narrowed her eyes, steadily moving forward to keep an eye on the creature. This one seemed weak, like the one she’d fought in Winrow, but she wasn’t going to underestimate it. She breathed in, waiting until she and the Aberration were in a good range. The whole time, those black eyes stared into her.
As the Aberration crossed the imaginary threshold, Amara sprinted forward, zigzagging to the side to bring the axe into the fleshiest side of its body. The blade easily cleaved through, the body just as soft as it looked. When the axe was halfway through however, Amara suddenly froze.
A black aura surrounded the Aberration, engulfing Amara’s arm and hands, and she felt her muscles freeze inexplicably. She struggled to move her limbs, but they simply lingered there, static.
Motion magic, she realized. A rank D Aberration.
Amara cursed. She opened her mouth to warn the others, readying herself to use another blast of magic to escape, consequences be damned, but before she could, she felt something heavy barrel into her back.
She choked, the wind knocked out of her. The magic released her, and Amara flew to the side, crashing into a store wall, coughing and heaving as she struggled to breathe. She heard a crack and grit her teeth, forcing her eyes up.
Just behind the snail-like Aberration stood a hulking creature many times larger. It had the body of a spindly, emaciated human, and hunched over on its knees, it was the size of a building. The Aberration’s sharp hands covered its face, and from its back, skin rippled and waved as though something were swimming beneath its flesh. Amara watched as a large, club shaped collection of flesh and muscle sprouted from its back in a distorted imitation of wings, more shapes sprouting to join the first one and fanning around the Aberration.
One of the wings slammed into a woman on the other side of the street. Amara heard a crack, and fissures bloomed across the wall. When the Aberration pulled back, the woman slumped to the ground, unmoving, a dark stain left behind her.
Amara was vaguely aware of the guards and watchmen approaching, circling the two Aberrations warily. The first Aberration, Amara’s axe still embedded into its body, quivered. The monkey face broke out into a wide grin, and the sound of shrieking laughter rang across the square as the creatures struck.