--- AYMIAE, FIFTEEN YEARS AGO ---

A sharp crack heralded the pain as a scraping sensation moved across her upper arm. Aymiae cursed, ducking behind a relatively thick tree as Raan took his turn and bolted forward to draw fire. The sniper was hiding in the trees somewhere, with one of those strange weapons that Aymi had been trying to find for years. She wasn’t about to lose this one when she might get a chance to take it apart.

Mostly at the moment she was angry. So sparking angry. Aymi always seemed to go a bit berserk when someone got hurt. Usually she was timid and helpful, but the moment someone else was in danger it was like she was an entirely different person. Kind of like mistress Raia when the king tried to take over the Ayfel that one time.

She felt at her arm, coming back with the slightest bit of cyan blood. It wasn’t a deep penetration, not enough to get anything into her main bloodstream, but it had scraped against a spot where two joints in her exoskeleton met, the tender skin there wasn’t protective enough to fully block those bullets.

Aymi was extra glad that this particular weapon didn’t pack enough of a punch to do more than occasionally crack her natural armor, and that was only with a direct hit. It wasn’t often where a tuvei was more resilient to a weapon than a human. Sure enough, her three human companions were huddled behind a fallen tree a ways back, Cada and Marn tending to Harrel who’d been shot in the leg. Aymi and the other tuvei took turns drawing fire as they steadily drew closer to the hidden attacker.

She wasn’t entirely certain what she would do when she got her hands on whoever had done this, but she might actually kill them. She’d never really been able to do anything like that before, always leaving the area if she knew it was necessary and part of herself still screamed that all life was precious.

Well, this attacker would be disarmed at least.

Aymi kept checking the wind through the whole situation, trying to feel for inconsistencies. She wasn’t great at sensing the patterns of the air even after twenty-seven years of having the ability, she was a lot better at illusions, but she wasn’t about to hide herself now, Raan would be in more danger when he tried to edge forward if the attacker couldn’t see Aymi too. Either way, Aymi didn’t find anything significant in the wind this time, she was much better at making it move or using it to occasionally slow her fall than sensing stuff with it.

The crack of the gun gave Aymi the signal to move forward again since the sniper had focused on Raan, she bolted for the next tree even as Raan ducked behind a different one about forty feet to the side and a bit behind her.

Sparks how far away was this guy? She kept running, trying to make it erratic as she zigzagged, she made it past her initial target and was almost behind the next one before she heard the gun again and felt the bullet hit her shoulder straight on. She wasn’t an idiot and had set up an illusion of herself that was quite a bit taller, so the likelihood of the attacker hitting her head was minimal with his accuracy. She’d probably live through a headshot though unless it was an extremely unlucky one and got one of her eyes, but Aymi wasn’t about to play with fate.

She heard the gun again and bolted forward once more, squinting as she noticed the light hitting something reflective in the trees just a bit farther ahead and closer to Raan’s side than her own. Possibly two or three more clumps of trees before she would be behind the attacker.

Aymi put her hand on her sword when she skidded to a stop behind the next clump of trees, remembering quiet nights where her brother showed her sword stances in secret. “I don’t want you to be unable to defend yourself.” She glanced back at the fallen log her human companions were behind, about eighty feet behind at this point.

How had the attacker managed to hit Harrel from this far? How had he managed to hit herself and Raan at all in the early part of this? Was it an eagle eye potion? Enhancements? Did Yerans even use magic? Perhaps the attacker was just that skilled with his aim. Aymi had tried out a bow once and her weak eyes had severely disagreed with the experience, so she didn’t really have a great frame of reference.

The gun fired again and Aymi kept running forward, Raan did something she couldn’t quite see, but it distracted the attacker enough for her to get behind the tree he rested in undetected. Aymi slid behind a new tree and watched as Raan ducked again behind his own. The sniper looked around, frowning in his odd human way, he probably hadn’t seen where Aymi had gone then.

She dismissed the illusion that made her look taller and pulled a worn necklace over her head, welcoming the familiar illusion she’d bound to it over five months ago now. It felt so much longer than that now, and it was one of the most worn illusions she’d ever made, it badly needed to be refreshed and her toes kept poking out the bottom.

It still did the job though, and Aymiae disappeared, light passing through her completely with no purchase. Unfortunately, it also took her sight with it since there wasn’t any light to reach her eyes.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

Now that she was closer, she could feel how the wind moved around the attacker, it wasn’t very clear, but she did get a sense of distance from it.

She heard the gun a few more times, worrying about Raan all the way as she slowly approached the tree, feeling with her feet for obstacles and stepping lightly so she wouldn’t make too much noise. That gun was loud though, it was a miracle the Yerans weren’t all deaf if these things were constantly going off in their homeland.

Aymi found the tree and asked nicely for the wind to blow real hard towards her, it did so enthusiastically, and the attacker’s bag fell out of the tree. She heard him curse and he probably glanced down for it, but she’d already kicked it so it landed a bit farther from the tree.

She heard the gun a few more times and then the Yeran cursed again before leaping from the tree and landing near Aymi, he seemed frantic.

Aymi broke the illusion when he passed her and dashed toward him, holding the sword up to his squishy human throat, curved so if he tried to pull away it would slit his throat. “Why are you firing on us?” Aymi asked in his native tongue. “You hit my friend with that gun of yours.”

The Yeran froze, “What kind of savages don’t die after over seven direct hits?!” He cursed again.

Aymi pulled the sword closer to his neck as Raan emerged from behind the tree. Switching back to Melorian, she glanced at him “Raan, can you take his gun?” She turned her attention back to the annoying man. “Why were you firing on us?”

He spat into the grass as Raan carefully pulled the gun off the man’s back and picked up the bag of ammunition. “My division was told to ambush you. The general thought that only three men would be enough though since everyone knows Savages are easy as all hell to beat, so he pulled everyone else into his monster hunts. The other two deserted when they saw the magic.”

Aymi sighed, “And here I thought coming in peace and telling the whole land we’re just here to trade would get past these things.” She shook her head and nodded toward the gun Raan was holding, switching back to Melorian. “Do you know how that thing works?”

Raan gave Aymi a look of utter bewilderment. “What? You’re the one who wanted this thing so bad.”

Aymi glanced back at the prisoner. It was so strange that this place was terrified of magic, and really it was only to magic’s benefit since it let them get away with so much. She could cast an illusion over him and make him think something else was happening, or scare him into submission, but there were too many variables there.

She frowned for a moment now that she had some leeway and, keeping the sword steady, Aymi pulled the whisper out of her bag. She used to wear the sickly blue amulet all the time, but she hadn’t wanted it to start glowing out of nowhere and freak out the yerans. ‘Hey, is it within our deal for you to…take control of people for me?’

The whisper seemed amused at the question, ‘Easily, though most mortals don’t take it well.’

She contemplated for a moment before deciding she didn’t care. Aymi pushed the amulet into the human’s hands, he took it, confused. After a couple of seconds he stiffened and drew the chord over his head. Aymi took that as a sign that Whisper was in charge now. She still waited for him to speak though, “My oh my. What has it been, eight years since I used a body?” He flexed his fingers with a pleasant expression while Raan glared at the amulet sourly. The empath didn’t particularly like randomly hearing the creature sometimes just because of his ability.

In fact, Raan was already turning his glare to Aymi, “I thought we decided we can’t trust that thing?”

Aymi shrugged, walking off towards the rest of the group. “I figured that guy needed some kind of punishment and I don’t really like killing people.”

“Oh, this is significantly worse than death for our friend here.” The whisper said, following behind her dutifully. “I don’t think he’ll be very sane after this, regretfully.”

“I need a scale though, Whisper. How different is this from occasionally using my senses or helping me to dodge things I don’t notice?” Because that had sometimes felt like a violation to Aymi. She felt a knot of regret bubble up, but well, the whisper had been only useful to her this whole time.

He raised an eyebrow and then gasped, wiggling them back and forth, “Eyebrows are so nice!” He kept going until Aymi cleared her throat pointedly, “A scale my dear Aymi? I don’t know a mortal term to describe it, but it is very different. I took control entirely. Though I suppose I could have shared and that wouldn’t have as many ill effects. Most possessors like myself can decide to what extent it is-”

Aymi absently took the gun as Raan offered it, hefting the weapon and barely stopping a happy dance from coming out as she tried to keep listening to Whisper’s explanation. She’d waited so long to hold this weapon, or any weapon really before leaving home. She found it hard to let go of them.

Aymi glanced over the gun, frowning at the shape, it was basically just a metal tube with some fancy handle stuff, it was slightly bent. Aymi squinted at the bend, sensing an ancient preservation spell on it that was probably common to any of these things that were still floating around. The world had lost the ability to make new guns after the Cataclysm.

It was around this point she realized that Whisper had finally finished, and that she hadn’t heard a word of it. Oh well. “How did that guy even hit us? This is like if a bow had one arm longer than the other!”

Whisper glanced at it, noting the slight bend, “He was using some type of stabilization spell unconsciously, and I think he was even spinning the projectiles as they went. He was probably the best person in the whole world at using that thing. Too bad his superiors would have killed him if anyone realized what was happening.”

He shrugged and plodded off, leaving Aymi to stare sadly at his back.

There was mostly just regret in her mind.