I made it to the realm of Esu. That in itself was strangely soothing.
All I had to do was push my way through the thicket at the edge of woods, get behind the first row of trees, and a sense of relief flooded me. That first breath of heavy, moist air, rich with the smell of decaying leaves I took, made me feel like I had come back home.
What the bloody hell, right? My home back on Earth didn’t smell like this. Yet, even though I couldn’t explain it, I felt that way. And with that, what my mind tried to lull me with was a false sense of safety.
The notion that couldn’t be further from the truth.
There was no army of mossbears waiting beneath the treetops, intent to face an enemy who would dare to enter their woods. Actually, there wasn’t a single one of them, only trees and more trees.
Why would they be here at the edge, anyway?
As far as I knew the last time we, I mean the slavers and Shadowbreakers with me in a cage and under a tarp, made it to the clearing in the middle of the Old Road through Esulmor without encountering a single mossbear. Sure, it hardly spoke of where they lived. If anything, it told me that if they didn't want to be seen, they weren't.
But…where the hell were they now?
Were they so oblivious to what was happening on their doorstep?
I simply refused to believe that. They were out there somewhere; I was sure of it. It was just a matter of getting them to act.
Just like last time I was here.
The similarity between my current visit and the previous one did not slip by me. Just like then, I was desperate. Less than a week ago, I was worried I would end up as a slave again, now as bird food. A slight difference there, not the only one, though. On my last visit to Esulmor, I had no idea what I was doing when I raised the challenge to Esu, prepared to die. This time, I was bracing myself for the call, fully aware of the consequences.
Making the call itself was another matter. When it’s hard to catch your breath, it tends to be even harder to shout, and me rushing through the woods on all fours made it exceedingly difficult.
Sure, I could have just used my presence. I’ve learned to do that! However, it didn’t carry that much punch. Or so far, for that matter. I still had a lot to learn in that aspect.
Not the call I needed right now. My call had to be heard as far and as clearly as possible. And so, without stopping my rush into the heart of the woods, I slowly gathered my breath and let it out in one mighty roar when I found the opportunity.
The call echoed among the woods, hurting even my own ears, while my presence ripped away from me, shaking the nearest bushes and trees.
Two hundred levels stronger than when I issued my challenge, it now carried my plea for help, nothing more. That’s all I was able to put into it in my rush, and there was no reason to say anything else. From what I learned, the beast liked to keep things simple and straightforward. So why announce my despair when it would make me only a bigger wimp in the eyes of the mossbears. It wouldn’t get them to me any faster, and so I deemed it utterly pointless.
All that remained was to hope that my plea would reach the ears of those to whom it was addressed. If not, I was bound to try again and again as I made my way deeper into the woods, their territory and their home. My home? I shook off the feeling again, chalking it up to my tier three beast change.
It wasn’t long before I got a response to my plea back, and my ears twitched at the rustle of the trees above as the beast flew over me. Not the answer to my call I was looking for, but what I feared would come. Regret for my actions found no place in my heart, though. I had to try, and I’ll try again if I get a chance.
“The bastard is on you!” Deckard yelled in my mind, that easy-going tone in his voice I’ve heard most often, long gone. Was he up there?
Yeah, the man could have faced the beast as he said, but it was giving him a hell of a lot of trouble. From what I’ve seen so far, he’s only been able to slow the northern eagle down, ward off some of its attacks, and pretty much hinder it, but not defeat the air-born beast. Not while it was in the air, its domain.
My ears pricked up again.
What I heard besides the rustling of the leaves this time was the snapping of the branches. Something was coming and damn fast.
So I did the only reasonable thing and jumped aside even before the wind blast appeared in my perception.
Whether it was luck or the eagle was so precise, I had no idea, but the attack hit the spot where I had been a moment ago, doing so while it passed through the tree. If I had any thoughts of being able to endure one of these wind blasts, blades, or whatever before, they were gone now. Seeing a tree whose trunk I would have trouble hugging cut in half like a toothpick pushed all such thoughts out of my mind.
Leaving the falling giant behind, I let out another roar. Sure, I was most likely making it easier for the flying bastard to find me under the tree canopy. However, I had a feeling that even without me announcing my position like an idiot; it wasn’t hard for the beast to spot me.
Bloody hell! Five o’clock!
A quick roll forward into the ditch behind the tree trunk saved me from another wind blast. Not from flying rocks and falling trees, though. Seriously, where were the mossbears?! That eagle was destroying their woods.
Or was that not a problem, a reason to come?
Perhaps they didn’t mind? After all, Esu was able to repair such damage in a few breaths. That time back in the burned clearing, when the trees sprouted up again, it was a magnificent sight. Something worth seeing again. Under better circumstances, though.
Anyway, them not coming was something I couldn’t afford. It wasn’t just my life that depended on me calling them for help, so I roared again.
Six o’clock. No eight! Wait!
“Shit!”
What the fuck was Deckard doing?! Three wind blasts were heading my way. The concern for my mentor that crossed my mind I quickly banished and focused on saving my own tail. One blast I could deal with, three? Fuck it, make it four! That was something I wasn’t sure I was trained enough for. It was like running through a minefield.
Not that I’ve had that experience. Hard to find a minefield in the middle of Earth's bustling cities. However, it felt like the whole forest around me came alive, as if the earth had decided not to lie still where it should anymore and decided to devour me. Add falling trees to the mix, and I found myself in a hell of a rut.
Forced to do my best, even better than that, I ignored the rocks cutting into my skin, jumped over a log, slid into a pit under a falling tree only to find myself face to face with another broken tree trunk threatening to slam me into the ground.
No breather for me, just another narrow escape, a whisker, and Sage would have stayed pinned under the massive piece of old wood.
As a former florist, my heart bled for these majestic trees that must have grown here for dozens, if not hundreds of years and now were being cut down with such ease, brutality, and with no regard whatsoever. That was not what they deserved.
Nor was this a hunt I had earned. Seriously, why was the beast so hell-bent on getting me? It simply didn’t make sense.
I moved, dodged, rolled, ducked, but found myself under a barrage from which I could see no escape. The beast had me locked in an expanse its barrage created. The old and majestic woods were beyond recognition in a matter of moments. What I was now traversing through was a jumble of fallen trees, broken branches, and wood splinters while I lost the cover of the treetops above me. The eagle up there could see me in plain open.
There was no other way to describe my situation other than I was in some deep shit. I was really screwed!
Where the hell was Deckard? Why didn’t I see him up there?
“Like a weasel,” cawed the eagle. Although I had no idea what weasel the beast was referring to, it clearly wasn’t meant as praise. Scorn permeated both its voice that struck my ears and the meaning behind it.
Since it wasn’t a stupid beast, after dodging another attack, I barked back: “Why the fuck do you want to kill me?”
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
Perhaps a foolish attempt. One did not dwell on the thoughts of the ant they wanted to trample. I had to try, though. I wanted to know what I did to earn this, to warrant such loathing. Surely Dungreen couldn’t have sent them? If someone was behind it, I’d put it down to the mind mages. But even that seemed far-fetched. They couldn’t possibly be able to control such beasts, could they?
“Doesn’t even know her worth,” shrieked the eagle high up in the sky.
Worth? The beast wasn’t talking about the money put on my head, but about what it thought of me.
“Pathetic beyond belief. Just die, weasel.”
They sure saw the weasels as something utterly inferior. That’s what I could sense from its shrieks. To its annoyance, this weasel wasn’t going to roll over on her back and wait to die. I did my best to avoid another barrage of wind blasts sent at me with each flap of the beast’s wings. To make matters worse, the eagle added a few feathers to the mix. They were a far cry from the feathers on my wings. Rather than feathers, I would liken them to arrows forged from iron and sharp as a needle.
Luckily for me, the eagle was no sharpshooting master archer. Or else I’d be nailed to the ground and not running around. In that regard, it was no match for Harper and her crossbow either.
And I was even more bloody stupid than that overgrown bird. Why didn't I use [Master's Shield] to shield away the stones? Why did I have to be pushed so far before I realized what skills I even had? That was beyond stupid.
Not dwelling on my stupidity for a second longer, I quickly found out that blocking those feathers straight up was as pointless as blocking Harper's bolts and barrage of stones was rapidly whittling away at my mana reserves. It was a nice change of pace, nonetheless.
The moment I found the opportunity, I returned the favor with the roar and presence of the beast of my own making. “Why?!”
If my presence gave the eagle pause, it didn’t show. If anything, it revealed even more contempt. “More confusing than humans. Weak, yet powerful. Should not exist. Die!”
“Fuck me!” Did the eagle have to end every sentence with ‘die’? And so much disdain behind it? It almost made me feel like I was the one who broke its unhatched eggs. I couldn’t explain where such an unconcealed ire came from any other way. Seemed personal.
Was it a misunderstanding? Even if it was, it didn’t look like I’d get a chance to explain.
The eagle’s attacks devastated the already damaged forest even further, making my movement all the more challenging. Have you tried running barefoot on the ground covered in splinters? It was hell. And the bastard didn’t even bother to come down, just sent his attacks at me from above. It was so not fair. But to say it was just toying with me would be pushing it.
This supposedly proud animal has sunk so low to take out its frustration like a petty child on me, trying to genuinely kill me. What to make of the fact that it hasn’t succeeded yet? I had no idea, but I was damn glad for it.
“Come down and fight, coward!” I barked up when I got the chance. A false dare, even if an eagle swooped down, there wouldn’t be much I could do to it. But even a counterattack with no chance of success was better than just running around like this.
From the angry shrieking and the increased intensity of the strikes, I figured that the feathered beast wasn’t fond of being called a coward. Not that it did me any good. Good to know, though
“Pathetic weakling like you dare? Die!”
Here we go again, same old song of die, die, die. Not something I intended to do. However, as I forged my way through the debris of the forest, trying to survive under the barrage of blasts and feathers, I found it odd that it was so reluctant to dive down and swoop me up. My previous stunt, when the eagle tried to do that in the open expanse of the plains outside the woods, surely couldn’t have discouraged it? So why was it just hovering up there?
Safety!
As I sought safety in the woods, it sought safety in the air. The fucker was afraid of the woods or, to be precise, mossbears. Where the hell were they, anyway?
“Come down and fight me if you dare, coward!” I roared at the top of my lungs as I got a moment to breathe, giving my full contempt to the last word. If I was unable to hurt the beast physically, why not hurt its pride.
And it worked like a charm. I pissed the eagle off.
However furious the beast was, it didn’t swoop down.
“Little Beast, are you still alive?” Deckard’s voice echoed in my mind. The relief that hit me almost made my knees buckle. He was alive.
“Where the fuck were you?”
My mentor didn’t answer me right away, but his voice was good to hear. “That shitty bird got me good.”
I refrained from asking if he was okay. If he was alive and came back, he must have been. On the other hand, I had trouble staying that way under the barrage of the wind blasts and feathers, as strange as it sounded.
“Damn! What have you done? It seems royally pissed off.”
“Called it a coward. Several times.” I said, a bit proud while narrowly avoiding a flying branch threatening to pierce my guts. “Can’t you do something about it? I’m really in a pinch here.”
“Working on it. Not sure if I can force it far enough from you, though.”
“What about knocking it down?”
“Into the woods?”
“Or here, into this mess.”
“Are you insane?”
“It’s afraid to go any lower.”
“Yeah, I noticed, it doesn’t change shit. Unless there are mossbears with you, it’s pointless.”
I swallowed my worry, trying not to let it seep into my inner voice. “They will come!”
“You put a lot of trust in them.”
What else was there to do? What was the point of the whole Esulmor escape? “I do!”
“Then get ready.”
What?! Was that it? No arguing? I expected him to try to talk me out of it, looking for a reason. This could have easily led to my death. Then, I realized he was a go with your gut guy. And now he’s chosen to trust mine.
“Can you get his attention?”
Was he kidding me? How did it look to him? Did he think I was running around in the middle of a storm of feathers sharp as blades and wind blasts for my amusement? For Traiana’s sake, I already had the eagle’s attention!
But if he meant to piss the beast off even more, that was something I could definitely do.
Taking advantage of a gap in the attacks, I took a deep breath and shouted again at the top of my lungs for the umpteenth time. I was getting good at it.
“You winged weasel, come down and face me!”
“What kind of fucking insult is that?“
The pressure of the presence the beast gave out, carrying the pure fury of it, silenced Deckard and brought me to my knees. To resist it and not be consumed by its wrath took enormous effort. There was no other way, though. I couldn’t just stay put when it was clear what was coming next. If there was any indication that up to this point the eagle was just toying with me, it was gone now. The chill times were over, and I could expect the full force of it.
“I take it back. Damn good job,” he said through the link of the rings before I saw him appear in the sky behind the eagle. While most of the time, Deckard appeared to be an ordinary carefree man regardless of his level, now he looked like a demigod. The space around him was bending, and streaks of golden steam whizzed where he amassed the most power. Something was happening in these spots that I failed to understand. However, it made it look like his feet were engulfed in golden fire.
This time when he moved, instead of appearing elsewhere to my eyes, I saw a golden streak hit the eagle in the back with such force that it sent a shockwave through the forest and the massive bird to the ground.
Oh, and my eardrums didn’t make it through and burst.
However, the temporary silence and a little pain were things worth the suffering through to see the arrogant bastard hurtling down in pain into the mess it had created here in the woods, brought down from its might up there by its own arrogance. In its pride and rage, the beast didn’t see Deckard as someone to take seriously, and now not even its broad wings managed to halt its fall.
In the same futile manner, the northern eagle tried all sorts of skills and abilities learned through its life on the mountain tops to stop it from falling. It crashed anyway.
And what a crash it was.
The previous blasts paled in contrast. Debris, stones, branches, and splinters flew everywhere, some making it through my barrier, cutting deep, while the ground shook. Avoiding it all was unthinkable, to shield it all simply impossible, so I just found the nearest snug-looking ditch and jumped in. With my head down and my tail tucked between my legs, I simply waited for it to pass.
I knew it was mere moments and just as well aware that my heart hadn’t done its thing either, but it felt like an eternity before everything died down. The silence that followed lasted only seconds before the shriek of a downed eagle rang through the area. The moment it hit my healing ears, I regretted boosting their regeneration with mana. Up this close, the eagle’s cry rattled me to my core.
By the time I stuck my head out, Deckard was already bashing its feathered ass. I mean, he was doing his best to keep the eagle where it was, but whatever it was he used to get the beast grounded was gone. The man trying to hold the eagle here in the woods was the good old Deckard I knew, a man powerful as fuck. Actually, the strongest man I ever knew. Yet not powerful enough.
He couldn’t do it alone.
“What the fuck are you doing?! Get out of here!” he barked at me the moment I got up off the ground. How he knew so damn fast that I wanted to help him was beyond me.
“Damn it, Korra! Just listen.” You could tell in his voice that he was tired. Was he running out of buffs? Mine were still good. They kept me on my feet so far, no sign of fatigue. Actually, I was still brimming with energy. I could help him.
Bullshit!
Wishful thinking, and I knew it. My pathetic self would do absolutely nothing to that six hundred level beast. My presence would only distract Deckard and put me in more danger. So, even though it didn’t sit well with me, I swallowed my pride and dashed away from the two into the forest’s heart.
Of course, the eagle didn’t take it lying down. Well, it wasn’t lying down in the first place, but trying to get back up in the air, above the treetops, which Deckard was quite ably preventing it from doing. Seeing that now disheveled bird he was kicking, I had to say his mighty attack rattled the beast more than I thought it did.
Unfortunately for me, it wasn't beaten enough and despite Deckard buzzing around, it was able to send several blasts and feathers in my direction.
Again, I did what I was good at and knew best: dodged, rolled, ducked, jumped aside, and shielded a little bit of the mess. It wasn’t long before I reached the edge of the new clearing and touched the trunks of the still-standing trees. There, the tremors of the ground stopped my escape.
“For Traian’s sake. Run!” Deckard shouted.
For all his urging I didn’t. Instead, I turned to him with a smile plastered on my face and tears of joy in my eyes. “They’re here. The mossbears are here.”