“Axe me.” Sean said immediately, once it was clear the paladins weren’t going to stop chasing them. “Those bastards really want a fight out here, then we’re going to give ‘em one.”
Gel whooped in a fury of approval, as a crimson-black battle-axe manifested itself in Sean’s right hand. It was larger than it had been the last time the geladin had seen it. Heavier too, with an edge so sharp it sliced clean through the robes of another random citizen who had been fleeing alongside them. Sean yanked the axe away before he accidentally carved the man’s arm off, then turned to face their pursuers.
Only ten of the paladins had chased them this far. There were no real alleyways in this section of Dervash, no side-streets between houses or businesses that weren’t gated off as private property, and no entrances to the sewer they could delve into quickly enough to get away. The number of locals fleeing with them, clearly unsure of whether they were the paladin’s targets themselves, had also gradually dwindled as they ran. With that last partially-disrobed citizen now careening wildly out of the way and cussing up a storm, the true target of Gold Spire’s ire had no further cover.
Standing in the center of the paved street, Sean slashed from left to right with his new axe. The simple gesture made clear his intent to cut down any who approached, and it had the desired effect. The paladins who had been chasing them, armored one and all, abruptly slowed their runs down to a wary stop.
Perfect. Sean thought, marveling at just how easily he was able to wield this massive weapon. With the height difference between his disguised form and his true self, it didn’t look like he should be able to even hold it, much less with only one outstretched hand. Now to give any one watching or any still running for the guards a story that might not get us killed after this.
“Tell them we’re not afraid to fight, and they have no right to chase us down like this.” Sean instructed Gel, and his companion happily complied. A voice emerged from Sean’s throat that had never been his own, and the tongue that also didn’t belong to him started whipping about inside his jaw as the slime conveyed his words to their foes in what sounded like Peasant.
“Now tell them that if they take one more step,” Sean brought his crimson-black battle-axe to the front as if it weighed nothing more than a sharp knife, pointing it directly at the lead paladin who looked like he was getting ready to start moving forward again. “We will defend ourselves – as is our right – by transforming into their worst nightmare.”
Gel cackled at the deception and did as he was bid, and Sean noted with no small degree of satisfaction that his last message had finally convinced the last few still-curious heartbeats within range of pulse sense to flee. With all known onlookers suitably dealt with, and a reasonable excuse presented to the people that they could fall back on later if they were caught out, the geladin waited to see if any of the paladins arrayed against them might lose their nerve.
It was honestly a fair bet. An interesting new quirk of his pulse sense allowed Sean to discern which specific emotions were fueling the rising tempos inside his enemies’ rib cages if he was close enough. At this distance, he could tell that more than half of their hearts were pumping rapidly due to fear as much as adrenaline
I wonder what that light-lady told them. She didn’t say any kind of words, not that I could hear anyway. Gel said all she did was make those weird flashes of golden light. Maybe that’s how she talks? Some kind of strobe-code? Internally shaking his head at his own bad joke, the geladin refocused himself on observing their opponents.
They had been chased nearly halfway across the city it felt like, and the physical toll of doing so in heavy armor was clearly visible on each of their sweating, panting faces. Sean was once again glad for his undead form, as sprinting so long at that pace had taken nothing from him. He could have gone all day. All night too, as a matter of fact.
If only he weren’t facing down ten members of Gold Spire, that knowledge might have been more reassuring. Memories of bright beams of condensed light boring holes through entire trees and then crashing said trees on top of him flashed through Sean’s mind, and he had to wonder how many of these paladins had the very same ability. If they all did, then this was likely to be a very short fight.
Or maybe not. He mused, watching the human, lizardkin, and owlen faces across from him dart cautious looks at one another. If they had something like that, they would have used it already. Besides, that time in the forest was two evolutions ago. I’m not the weak skeleton I was back then.
Sean could sense the life energy emanating off each of his foes, and if he had to guess solely based off of the level of internal revulsion alone, then none of them were as strong as Saren was. The thought encouraged him, as did the reminder that they had just saved the owlen from some paladins not all that long ago. Though, admittedly, their participation in that fight had been mostly through ambush tactics.
Odds aren’t quite in our favor the same way, here. If they don’t open up the second I move, then that means they’re all close-range fighters, too. Or they’re trying to prevent collateral damage to the city. Maybe if I–
Just as Sean was starting to consider whether using the shock value of assuming his real form would work to spring his assault, the man leading the paladin’s ragged formation spoke up. He admittedly used a fairly commanding tone too, but as Sean didn’t understand him the effect fell rather flat. He tilted his head at the man, somewhat amused despite the circumstances.
Kinda feels like he’s a villain in one of those poorly dubbed action movies, the ones where not even the studio realized the dub they paid for wasn’t in English. Maybe I should start posing wildly too. Have Gel start claiming they’re all ten thousand years too young to challenge us.
“He says ‘the Light already knows your true form!’” Gel said, adopting a mockingly authoritative tone reminiscent of the man’s own. “Also something about honor and duty, a few completely inaccurate claims about our heritage, and he’s still going but I’ve honestly stopped listening. Can we eat them now?”
The slime’s voice took on a menacing edge. “I’ve decided I don’t like food that chases me.”
Sean chuckled as their disguise fell, and their foes’ eyes widened in horror despite their leader’s claims. His final words were said just before leaping into action.
“You know what? Me either.”
~~~~~~~~~~~
“Odds, anyone?” Erasiel called, setting down an impressive assortment of exotic chips, dips, crackers, fruits, and meats the angel had brought in with him on a table near the wall-sized scrying scroll.
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“Three tankards on the paladins.” Markiel said, having somehow already stacked the largest cracker she could find with a slice of every single meat. Penciel frowned at his friend’s lack of decorum but as usual, she ignored his judgment.
“Three tankards?” Erasiel let out a low whistle. “Thought we were planning on friendly wagers, and here you are going after a whole day’s worth of brew! You want me to have to make it through a day’s worth of accounts dry?”
Erasiel shuddered at the idea, even as he flopped down onto one of the room’s many lounge chairs. A moment and a gesture later, slices of his favorite fruits rose up from the tray and began dancing their way over to his waiting palm.
“I’ll take that bet.” Penciel said after a moment’s consideration, stacking his own cracker with only a single slice of meat. “Quality flavor should be savored, you know.”
The angel waggled his cracker at Markiel, who was already two more deep and rolling her eyes, to make his point before tossing it back.
“Didn’t you say it was one on ten?” Erasiel’s eyes were already closed, the angel clearly more interested in his meal than the reason they had all gathered here. “I thought we were coming here to watch your little anomaly problem solve itself, and now you’re betting it’ll stick around?”
“Anomaly problem?” Markiel’s words sounded muffled through the mounds of crackers and meat she had stuffed into her otherwise delicately shaped cheeks. Bits of each spilled out as she spoke, but her reflexes were fast enough to catch and toss them back down the hatch. “What anomaly problem?”
“You’re about to find out.” Penciel said to his gluttonous friend, who shrugged and went back to the tray of exotic charcuterie – though he noticed her attention was now fixed on the scene playing out on the scroll. Her eyes went wide as Sean and Gel reverted back to their natural form for the first time in the city’s streets. Penciel loaded up another cracker and held it up to her, not even bothering to keep the grin off his face.
“Like I said, it’s about quality.” Penciel enthused, and Markiel’s eyes narrowed suspiciously at him. They both knew she had bet on the paladins because they happened to share a mana aspect with her, and he could tell she was starting to suspect he had left some key details out before the fight started. Which he had, because nobody risked Javiel’s brews without believing the odds were in their favor.
“How is an anomaly ‘quality’?” Markiel asked, one eye now open and watching the fight as it played out. The prompts each side were generating filled the right side of the scroll, but there was nothing out of the ordinary about them as far as he could tell. “Isn’t it your job to remove those anomalies?”
“Technically, I’m primarily tasked with investigating them.”
“And this counts as an investigation, does it?”
“Sure it does.” Penciel gestured with a cracker at the screen, careful not to let the sun-dried slice of seasoned dragon heart slip off. “What if they trigger another cascade? He’s an outworlder. You know what they’re like, we have a whole budget for them for a reason.”
One of Erasiel’s perfectly shaped eyebrow’s raised. He looked pointedly at the tray of food he had picked up – but had already been paid for when he had done so.
“A budget.” Erasiel said dryly.
“A very important budget.” Penciel echoed, this time tactically acquiring a chip from a stack that took ten years to bake in order to achieve its perfect filled-triangle shape.
“A very delicious budget.” Markiel added around yet-more food.
Erasiel stared at his friend for a long moment before Penciel relented.
“Alright, fine. You got me. This fight is not why I invited you.”
Markiel nodded, having come to that conclusion already. Erasiel however, frowned.
“This fight?”
“If I’m right…” Penciel said, his tone serious for the first time since either had shown up. His sudden change in demeanor only slightly offset by the dip-smothered chip in his hand and the sounds of screaming coming from the scroll behind him. “Then I will need your opinions on what comes next.”
He met the eyes of both of his longtime friends and coworkers before adding. “And whether or not we are bound to intercede.”
~~~~~~~~~~~
Dalton was unaware that bets were being made on his fate. If he had known before the fight began, he would have surely bet on his squad. A single undead hiding in their city? The despicable creature and its no-doubt nefarious plans, revealed by the radiance of the new Brightmaiden, would be crushed under their combined might like so many others.
That had been the mood before the fight began. It had changed as soon as the creature had.
And now?
Now I jes pray the Light lets at least one o’ us escape. Dalton thought, unable to take his eyes from the fight despite the blinding pain of his sucking chest wound. His wound was fatal, or would be since both of their healers had been among the first to fall. Dalton would die on this street. He had already accepted that. Jes – hrrnnghh – jes need one o’ us to make it back…
Why the captain had chosen to send them against a horror like this, instead of bringing the Brightmaiden along to help them defeat it, was a question Dalton was afraid to ask himself. He shunted that question from his mind as he leaned painfully up on one bloody elbow to get a better view.
Perrin, the first of their healers, lay unmoving next to him. The body of Merrick, their other healer and cousin to Perrin, was only a few feet away. Whatever strange ability the undead had to ignore damage dealt to it had proven their undoing. When its armor had defied even Dalton’s attempts to harm it, the pair’s attempts to keep the rest of the squad alive had made them swift targets. Thanks to the missing chunk of his stomach, Dalton still hadn’t fully dismissed the prompt his last attack had given him.
YOU HAVE USED THE ABILITY ‘LIGHTHAMMER’ ON GELADIN FOR 0 DAMAGE (30 TOTAL, 15 BASE MULTIPLIED BY 200% DUE TO BLUDGEONING DAMAGE, MINUS 30 DUE TO UNKNOWN ABILITIES AND THE TARGET’S ARMOR).
Up 200%, an’ I still couldn’t even scratch it. Dalton felt his consciousness fuzz and his vision begin to dim, but he forced himself to focus. He may only have seconds left to live, but he could spend those seconds to save the last of his squad– even if he couldn’t quite make out who it was still fighting the creature. Let’s see how ya like this, ya boner bastard.
With a great exertion of will, Dalton activated the only ability he had not yet used in this fight. The one every member of Gold Spire was forced to take early on, explicitly for situations like these. Where the last flicker of one’s life could be the Light that saved another.
Sacrificial Fuel
Description: Gain the ‘Sacrificial Fuel’ ability.
Effect: Allows the user to expend all of their remaining health and mana to empower either one of their abilities, or the known abilities of another. May only be used willingly. Note: Using this ability kills the user, even if the ability it targets is interrupted.
Mana Aspect: Life, Death
Pain unlike anything Dalton had ever known flushed nearly all conscious thought from his mind as his body was consumed in a wave of burning Light. Light that shaped itself into the form of an enormous, glowing hammer whose blunt edge was fully the size of a sewer grate. The hammer shot forth, guided by its summoner’s last will, to crush the malevolent fiend who had dared stand against the Spire.
As Dalton died, his only regret was that he wouldn’t be around to see the undead die with him.