Pretty Puddles
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A shining silver blade more than a meter long was now following a diagonal path up from the shadows and straight through Vreena’s chest. It wasn’t a typical longsword; the edges of the blade were jagged and formed a rather crude zigzag pattern, almost like the teeth of a ferocious beast, and much like a wild animal, what ought to have been pristine white edges were now covered in a murky red smear that spanned the entirety of the blade’s length.
“Gah!”
A surge of built-up blood escaped Vreena’s mouth, soiling her once white robe beyond any form of recognition. After being shoved onto her backside at the last minute, Emma stared at the scene in front of her in sheer horror, her legs were quivering, and her breathing was getting even more erratic but despite the apparent buildup of her emotional turmoil, her explosive reaction never came.
Too many of her pent-up emotions were vying for the right to manifestation and the end result had unsurprisingly been inaction.
The moonlight raining down on us was the only real way to confirm the identity of the aggressor. It was a young man, one I’d seen before in fact, he was one of Amaris’ bodyguards. However, instead of riding atop the giant beast that his master was so fond of, his upper body was now emerging from within the confines of Vreena’s own shadow like a vivid specter breaking free from a nightmare.
“Many a thanks for stopping somewhere with this much moonlight, this place can get really dark so I was starting to think I missed my chance~.” There wasn’t any hint of regret in his voice as he applied more force to the sword now locked in his bloody grip.
The cynical grin on his face sparked some kind of hostile reaction from me, my body moved on pure instinct and within seconds I had already lowered my posture and was engaged in a fierce lunge towards my target.
His upper body had only partially emerged from Vreena’s shadow, but that wasn’t a problem since he was standing in between me and Emma, so I was effectively in his blind spot. By the time his head turned in response to the sound of my body cutting through the air it was already too late. I slammed my knee dead in the center of his face and even though my form was rather poor, his head still rattled from the crushing impact. Before I could continue the onslaught however, his body slipped back into the confines of the dark spot on the ground like it had been sucked into a whirlpool, then, it branched off from Vreena’s shadow and moved over to the opposite end of the large branch we were standing on.
It was only after his body had retreated into the darkness that I finally caught on to the true nature of that power. It wasn’t normal for him to just sneak up on us like that, and hiding from me was almost impossible, even if he was suppressing his mana to the utmost limit, I could still perceive his soul, but that wasn’t what he was doing. That shadow ability was acting as a way for him to separate himself from the physical world, almost like stepping into a dream, so his presence was essentially erased the moment he used it to conceal himself.
“I let my guard down.... He must have slipped into my shadow earlier.....” Vreena mumbled through her now gritted teeth, her eyes were bloodshot and the apparent exhaustion from before was now all the more prominent in her features. Just going off the slow-paced sound of her ragged breaths, it wouldn’t be all that surprising if she keeled over after taking two or three more steps, but no, that wasn’t going to happen just yet.
She slowly turned around to face the now disarmed aggressor who’d previously gotten the better of her as his body cautiously ascended from within the veil of darkness. His right cheek was swollen, and a palpable rage was being conveyed through the lens of those hateful eyes.
“Damn it, nobody told me that kid was a mage....You’ll pay for that kid, I don’t care if you’re a target or not.” Rising to his feet with a bloody grin, the man adjusted the joint I’d knocked loose in his neck.
“Think again, you’re not getting your hands....on either of them...” taking a step forward, the old woman spoke up, sword still lodged in her chest.
“Your time’s almost up you old fool, you won’t be suffering much longer.”
Ignoring his remark, Vreena simply steadied herself with the wooden staff now keeping her body upright, after mumbling a few words under her breath, she locked her gaze on the target only a few yards away.
“What? Have you finally realized just how-”
She slammed her staff onto our thick foothold to signal the initiation of her attack; from the point of impact, large blades of wind emerged and rushed across the branches' entire surface, fragmenting the age-old timber in mere seconds.
A sense of weightlessness immediately enveloped my body as the platform beneath me gradually lost all semblances of structural support, breaking apart in a rain of shattered wood and twisted branches. Before my fate could be decided by the whims of gravity however, Vreena plucked both me and Emma by the wrist before boosting herself off the crumbling platform with us in tow.
Glancing over my shoulder, my eyes scanned the rain of debris for any signs of our startled foe, but his flailing body was nowhere to be found. It goes without saying but someone with a radical ability like that wouldn’t go down that easy, so the only thing we had right now were the few seconds of time that little parlor trick had just bought us.
A loud impact echoed through the forest as we attempted our gale guided escape but -
“Tch!....Not right now....” Vreena cursed, tightening her grip on us in the midst of what was now becoming our descent, both her life force and mana were dropping at an incredible rate, so the most she could do was get us as close to the ground as possible before her spell eventually gave out on her.
The sudden halt in our momentum sent the three of us tumbling forward, I was able to regain my balance rather quickly by diverting my momentum into a roll but the other two weren’t so resourceful, their bodies were sent skidding across the ground like empty barrels.
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This situation was getting worse by the second, but the stagnant dust cloud conjured from that descending impact was at least able to provide us with some cover for now.
“Elder Vreena, Emma!” I called out in the midst of my dash towards them.
“Owowowow.....I’m alright Liam, it’s just a few scratches, let’s go help Elder Vreena!” Emma hastily replied after rising to her trembling feet. Just a short distance away was the elder in question, lying in a pool of her own blood, her hands were planted firmly into the dirt, but despite her best efforts she obviously lacked the strength to stand on her own two feet right now.
“Emma....can you....pull out this sword for me?” Her dying tone perfectly conveyed the severity of that request, there was no room for refusal here.
Emma circled around behind her, staring at the lodged weapon in angst before commencing her attempt.
“I-I’m pulling it out now alright?”
Though her dedication was noble, she clearly wasn’t cut out for this sort of thing. Her hands were trembling even before she made contact with the blade.
“I’ll do it.” I affirmed as I walked towards the hunched over old woman, it was obvious that they’d both wanted to reject my offer, but the current circumstances wouldn’t allow for us to play niceties.
“This might hurt a little.” Grasping the silver hilt of the bloodied weapon, I slowly pulled the jagged blade from its lodged position in her chest, ignoring the steady stream of muffled groans coming from her.
“It’s out, do you feel any better?” I asked as I flicked the jagged weapon now in my hand.
“Yes, a little....thank you Liam.”
Even while battered and bruised, the old woman was still feigning a smile.
“It’s dangerous to stay here like this, that guy can slip into people’s shadows, and he somehow slipped into mine when we were leaving town earlier.....Lets-”
“Woah there! That was easier than I thought.” That nonchalant remark had once again heightened the tension in the atmosphere, as soon as that arrogant figure came bursting through the conjured dust cloud he instantly amassed the attention of everyone in the clearing.
“I knew you were injured but to think you could barely even make it this far.”
DOOM.....DOOM....DOOM.......
That familiar sensation had instantly stopped him in his tracks, without even turning to identify the source, the man smiled. “Well would you look at that...”
A yellow gleam of hatred pierced through the surrounding darkness and the stronger those miniature tremors got, the heavier the air seemed to become. We all knew full well the meaning behind the odd sensation and yet, seeing the familiar beast emerge from the shadows was still daunting.
The giant wolf hung it’s head low, drool leaking from its’ mouth like a geyser as it followed the bloody trail.
“So this is where you’ve been Lucas, looks like you’re just about to wrap things up.” Amaris’ voice echoed from her saddled position.
“Yes, as you can see, I’m pretty much done here but, what should we do with the other kid?”
“Hmm? Oh that-” Stopping mid-sentence, Amaris leaned over to get a closer look at her companion. “Wait...what’s wrong with your face?” She asked with an outstretched finger.
“......don’t tell me this half dead granny and those two brats somehow managed to get the drop on you.....”
Unable to respond, Lucas could only look away in embarrassment.
“Pffft! Hahahahahahah! Hey, Hey, Gavin, Wallace...are you seeing this!? That’s pathetic- Hahahaha!” Her laughter bounced off the barricade of surrounding trees in a mocking symphony that was only growing louder by the second.
“I have to admit, that is rather pathetic Lucas.” Ulric chimed in the moment his feet made contact with the lush soil.
“Nobody told me that kid was a mage alright! It was just a lucky shot.” Retorting out of anger, Lucas shot us a deadly gaze oozing with malice.
“You should’ve known that from earlier, how else could he have moved like that?” Amaris’ other guard, Wallace replied in her stead.
Apparently, that wasn’t enough of a reason to diffuse the conspicuous stares Lucas was now getting.
“Well, he’s got the old hag beat so I suppose we can let him off with just that. As for what to do though....” Ulric pondered aloud, completely unbothered by our presence.
“Ulric...I won’t let you...take them.” Vreena bitterly spat through her bloodstained teeth.
He formed a wicked smile after glancing over her current appearance. “I know we were just mocking Lucas and all but you’re actually the pathetic one here Vreena, I’ll have a harder time catching those two kids than I’ll have killing you.”
He halted his approach after mulling over the details and finally clapped his hands together the moment some brilliant idea had sparked in his mind.
“Lucas this is your chance to redeem yourself, bring ‘it’ out”. Ulric’s smile widened after giving that order, it could hardly even be called a ‘smile’ at this point, his expression was now treading the thin border between joy and sadism.
“Heh-Heh....I’ll give you what you’ve been asking for Vreena.”
“Wait a minute Ulric! If you bring that out now, then it’s going to use up all of my mana!” Amaris shouted after hopping off the large monster “Can’t we just make Tyrant eat them or something?”
Her brother sighed before placing a hand on her head - “Amaris, it’s just for a little while, and besides, she’s going to die anyway so why not send her off with the truth?”
“......Fine, but just for a bit.”
After getting her approval, Ulric gave Lucas the nod to proceed. He walked over to the center of the clearing we were now standing in, a spot where the moonlight was able to perfectly shine through and clapped his hands together. The shadow beneath Lucas’ feet began swirling like a muddy pond and after a while it expanded to form a large circle around him.
It was only just then that I finally realized the true scope of Lucas’s power after seeing him perform such an extraordinary feat, I was well aware that the quest to find the basilisk had been nothing more than a ruse this entire time but now that I was seeing it emerge from Lucas’ shadow, it made the entire two week search in this forest seem like nothing more than some elaborate game of cat and mouse.
The large serpent was seemingly being pulled from the depths of Lucas’s shadow, but that was nothing compared to the figure that had emerged alongside the large beast. Clad in scantily placed armor, the man stepped forward to greet us with a casual smile.
“Yo Vreena, it looks like you’re having a tough time.”
Seeing that face must have shocked her back to life, even with the hollow breaths escaping her, she still managed to stammer the one word on her mind.
“.......Owen.....why?”