[ST-ST-STATUS C-CONDITION REC-REC-RECIIIIIE-E-E-E-]

I try to blink through the haze that surrounds me.

Not the fog. Something else – something happening behind my eyes.

[S-ST-SSS-ST-ST-A-A-A-AT…]

{PPPPPP-PPPPPO-OI-OI-S}

I feel my mind cloud over. The cries of my companions reach me only briefly, like they’re whispering from the bottom of the hill.

“Raziel!”

“Wee man!”

Sounds of clashing blades assail me then. Something zipping through the field around us with laughter spilling from her lips.

“What’s the matter, little Lightborn?” she chuckles beside my head. “Feeling a little slow?”

My eyes brim with fire and I turn to strike through the ghostly form of the girl – the Seeded woman with the clipped ears and scything arms.

[S-S-W-AA-ALLOW SW-IPE]

My blade and its beam of light slashes through nothing but air, fizzling away in front of me – the girl’s form vanishing with maniacal laugher.

Then pain shoots through my back paw. I feel blood trickle down my leg.

“RAZIEL!” Someone screams through the ghostly haze. “RUN!”

Running…heh…yeah. I could do that.

The girl’s voice comes again, her laughter spilling into my ears.

“I’d like to have a private conversation with the little mongrel, if you don’t mind!”

More screams. Howls of pain. A roar of anger and the flash of claws raking through the air.

Then flames – an explosion that fills my vision with a flower of blooming red-orange.

I feel weightless.

My paws leave the earth…

When I blink again, I feel my legs shake. I realize only now that I’m on the ground, having been tossed to the bottom of the hill by the explosion. I try to bring the world into focus as the sounds of the raging battle echo all around me.

Come on, I growl at myself. Come on! You’re supposed to be, like, a hero now, right?

[S-snnn-sn-ooooop-op-ppppp…]

Nothing but a buzzing in my mind where there should be sense. Nothing but voices ringing out in a dark void where my thoughts once were.

Nothing but her laughter as she lunges at me again…

“Here I am, little man!” she cackles.

The ground behind me opens up and I feel myself falling, my paws skittering about trying to stay on the surface. Only by planting my blade firmly in the ground and using it to lever myself up to I manage to avoid being swallowed up by the earth itself.

Then I feel her behind me, inches from the back of my neck, her breathing hard and heavy.

“Too…slow!”

I feel a slash nick the back of my head and tumble forwards, mewling in pain. The sword leaves my mouth and I feel my whole body shake.

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D…Damn it!

Blood trickles down my back legs and head, and though I know I should feel its warmth as it runs in little rivers down my fur coat, I’m shivering with cold.

“Oi, ya spooky bitch!” Aethel booms from somewhere nearby. “Pick on somebody yer own size!”

I can hear her as she responds. I can feel her breath catch on the hairs at the back of my ears. I can sense her tongue licking every dry crevice of her lips when she replies.

“With pleasure.”

She’s gone just as soon as I knew she was here. She’s flashed right over me and towards Aethel’s voice, and I hear him as he meets her relentless assault. I can only barely make out her attacks – she’s nothing but a flash of scythes and a maniacal smile that never does drop. Whatever Aethel’s doing with his potions, I don’t have a clue. He’s just a big dark blur. Like some kind of magic, fire-breathing bear…

But there’s other shapes that take form around me now. The form of Witherfang sitting straight backed and regal, looking down at me with his old amber eyes. Next to him: the bloody figure of the guy who’s blood I took, staring at me with eyeless sockets.

They look down at me and scoff. They’re ashamed. Of course they are.

“Because I wasn’t what you expected?” I ask them. “Of course not. I told you as much…”

I slump back down and start panting heavier. My breathing becoming more rapid with each passing minute. I think for a moment that I see Aethel fall beneath the tree – his black coat streaked with little bloody rivers pooling beneath him…

Swiftrunner…well…maybe he finally just ran off.

That’s what I should do, right?

What I should do…

The girl laughs again triumphantly. She stands on her prey like he’s nothing. A fallen giant.

I feel her eyes lock back on me.

And that’s when I rise up, staggering, but upright nonetheless.

I snatch up my sword from the ground, much to the surprise of the two old ghosts before me.

“I don’t care if you’re really here or not,” I tell them. “Maybe this Corgi’s just a little on the ‘high’ side. But I’m not just gonna lay down and die. If I can’t run from this crazy bitch, then, damn it! I’ll fight!”

I feel her footsteps behind me again.

This time, I’m ready.

I’m not going to run. That’d be the old me. Whatever that really was…

[B-b-bbb-bark A-a-aactivated]

…whatever he was, he was a coward. That’s not me now. I can do this.

I can do this.

I kinda have to, right?

My little jaws open and my bellow catches the form of the girl this time. She freezes, holds up her shears, and I take my shot.

“Leave…them…alone!”

My blade rises and falls to cleave through her barkskin, and it would have sliced her clean through this time if an unmistakable voice didn’t cut through my strike first.

“STOP!”

Something smashes against the back of my bleeding head and, yup, now I feel glass embedded in my back.

It’s through this searing shot of pain, however, coupled with the feeling of a viscous liquid seeping into the pores beneath my fur, that reality finally comes back with an earth shattering image:

I’m standing above Swiftrunner, blade raised, teeth bared, ready to enact a killing blow.

And he’s trembling below me. Terrified.

From behind, I hear Aethel’s tired voice call out before he finally collapses beneath the hanging tree

“B-Belchometry…ain’t just good…fer…fer breathin…fire…”

[Status Condition Alleviated: Illinata Venom]

Current effect dispelled: Illusory Imagery

Once again, the blade drops from my open mouth.

“I…Swift..”

His hackles are raised, clearly paralyzed with fear. And only now do I realize that I’d just used my [Bark] against him.

“Swift, I –“

A stout kick to my underbelly sends me flying back towards the tree. Before I land, I feel something drag my body through the dirt like I’m a slab of fluffy meat.

“Oh my, oh my!” Seneca jeers. “You mustn’t hurt your friends, my little mut!”

She throws me against the tree and I give a yelp as blood spurts from my mouth.

I slump to the ground and watch as she marches forwards.

“This is the Lightborn?” she scoffs. “You know, I didn’t quite believe old Thorn when he told me a mangy, run-of-the mill poodle had taken up the mantle of the great hero of all mortals.”

My sword is…well, let’s be honest – it’s miles away.

“NO!”

She barely even turns to meet Swiftrunner’s attack – doing nothing but kicking him away with a chuckle and continuing her slow, meandering march towards me, sharpening her blades with every step.

This guy…I think, as the world darkens again.

I just tried to kill him (albeit accidentally) and here he is throwing himself against this girl…all for me…

He comes at her again, wounded, practically limping, but still managing to get his teeth around her leg.

“Annoying little vermin!” she howls as she throws him aside.

Do I even have an excuse? I wonder as I watch him rise again. Can I really just lie here and die if that guy – with no powers at all – is risking it all for a little idiot like me?

I let my body fall, and then, just before I feel more than ready to black out again, my nose lands in something big and smelly.

My eyes bulge.

“H-hey!” I call out. “Hey, crazy plant-lady!”

She turns to eye me, her smile slicing across her whole face.

“I…I didn’t hear no bell!”

This time she doesn’t take her sweet time. She blinks in front of my face, grabs me by the scruff of my bloodied neck, and pins me to the bark of the tree.

Come on…I think, hoping against all hope that the thing currently bubbling in the pit of my stomach actually works. Come…come on!

“You know what?” she whispers in my face, her voice just as piercing as the tip of her scythe aimed squarely at my stomach. “I’ve changed my mind. I think I’ll gut you right here and now and see what the Lightborn is really made of.”

I flail feebly against her grip, feeling the jagged blades of her hand sink deeper into my throat.

But right now, down in the little gas bag known as my stomach, well, there’s no easy way to say it: something’s about to explode

“You…you got two things…wrong about me,” I wheeze.

Her grip tightens. “Oh, do tell. I so love the tedious last words of would-be-heroes.”

“Number one,” I snarl. “I ain’t no poodle. I’m a Corgi, born and bred.”

Her smile widens.

“And I ain’t run-of-the-mill,” I say before I open my mouth and allow all hell to break loose. “Not anymore.”

[Spirit imbibed: Salien’s Blood]

Effect: COMBUSTION