Chapter 135

Red lighting crashed across the darkening sky, setting off explosive booms that caused the ground to quake and tremble.

A growing choir of worried concern began to rise from the marketplace just down the lane as people streamed out, running for cover.

"Brace for combat," Tobias ordered.

"Assessing for target," Riley replied, her tone squelched by adrenaline, just as the door opened behind them.

"Peace, friendlies!" Caedmon called, stopping Tobias in mid-turn.

A black cloaked ranger, with black blade drawn was with him. Tall but willow thin, he seemed near the verge of starvation. Pale skin pulled tightly over spindly bones, arms, and legs.

"I take it you're Rowan?" He asked in a high-tenor voice.

"And Greenbriar. Nice to meet you, Sycamore," Riley replied.

“Ah, the four legged blackblade! Charmed to meet you, the name's Eastmund by the by," he laughed easily, eyes sparkling with delight and curiosity.

"I hate to break up such a civil discourse, but those clouds are swirling. My blade, Tobias?" Caedmon asked as it appeared in Tobias' left hand.

"I'm Tobias, and that's Riley, of course," Tobias mentioned, handing off the sword.

"Strength in numbers, lads," Eastmund said.

"Riley, stay close, you're unarmored," Tobias reminded.

"So far it's just a bit of weather, odd, boss fight kind of weather, but I've got my shield bracelet," Riley replied.

Hiss-hiss-hiss.

Riley's ears swiveled to the right as a dwarven guard in pebbled leather armor ran by, heading for the marketplace, only for a black bolt to erupt out of the shadows and cut him in two.

"Contact right!" Riley cried over the dying man's screams.

A black, tarry abomination slithered out from the shadows, multiple tentacles erupting from its body at chaotic angles and placement, with four beady red eyes.

Riley cast Celestial Insight just as another flurry of bolts erupted from behind it, as the entity charged.

Chuthara, Anomaly, Chaotic Dark, Level 2-8

The creation of a Nightmare God, this being from another realm has been pulled here by the power of rising chaos. There are always two, a soldier and a caster.

Hello again, Children. Nice little universe you have here…

"Where'd those come from?!?" Tobias cried as the party broke into various directions, each dodging out of the way of the volley.

The black bolts hit a window of the Dancing Kraus behind them, and it dissolved into a puddle of goo, followed by new screaming in strange languages inside.

"They're scared, but I don't think anyone is hit yet," Riley reported glancing behind her.

"Scream at them in dwarvish to get to cover!" Tobias cried, already in a charge toward the soldier.

Riley projected as broadly as she could, spying a few of what she took for barmaids and a tavern keeper.

"Civvies warned, Tobias! There's two of them!" Riley cried as he charged up the center, with Eastmund and Caedmon flanking from either side.

The creature melted away, unnaturally contracting its oil slick of a body to the left and the right as Tobias swung before wiping out three tentacles in each direction, striking him across the chest.

Tobias dropped into a retreating roll as elements of his robe dissolved into goo, revealing his armor underneath as pieces of it hung down, impeding his motion.

Caedmon went to thrust his sword, but the tip of the blade chipped off just inches from what would have been a lethal strike, inspiring a shriek of rage as the creature switched targets, its red eyes rolling through its body to focus in on him.

"It's warded! Get some distance; we have to kill it with magic!" Eastmund stopped his charge and pulled at his power.

Riley saw his arms and hands glow with a strange brown light, encompassing his sword, before he thrust it into the ground.

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The cobblestone below him gave way as if made from paper, a cleft growing in the ground, pulling down the creature, only to slam the earth shut closed around it.

An eerie quiet fell, broken only by the distant rumbling of the ground.

"More eyes, leering in the dark, down that alley!" Riley rose on her hindpaws to motion towards their right, as the closed ground exploded upward, launching rock and debris high into the air, as the Soldier Chuthara rocketed out of it, wailing in rage.

Tobias turned his head to look, only to look away, towards the soldier.

"I don't see it!" He cried.

"No contact," Caedmon echoed as the same curious action occurred with him.

"You idiots, I just pointed…" Black bolts flew from the dark, and Riley realized in that moment that it was up to her. Curious, she again cast Celestial Insight.

"Riley, take command, you've got visual!" Tobias called out.

"Call your target!" Eastmund replied.

"On your order," Caedmon echoed.

Chuthara Caster, 2-7, Chaotic Dark

Always with a soldier, their nature as beings of pure chaos war with perception. Only those of a certain nature and design can perceive them without special warding.

It's a joyful world, you know!

"Mother fucker," Riley swore, pulling at her power, "Let's shake and bake!"

Her paws wreathed in white magical energy before she called her power to life.

Righteous Flame/Flame Wall

A circle of celestial flame surrounded and corralled the caster as it shirked and burned in agony. Not in any mood for mercy, Riley mimed her intent, drawing her paws closed, the power following her paws as the circle drew in towards its center.

Burning and sputtering, an unholy shriek came from above as the soldier fell from the height to which it launched itself, drawing her attention from the immolating creature.

It landed with a splat before drawing together like a coalescent pool of oil, its tarry body rising from its fall, unhurt and uninjured.

Meanwhile, the caster was half its original size, and parts of it were still smoking.

"You three focus on the soldier. I'll deal with the caster," Riley ordered.

"We push them towards Riley's cast," Tobias directed.

Tobias' hands glowed orange, Caedmon's yellow, and Eastmund's brown as bolts of magic, cobblestone, and lightning began to fly, driving the soldier back toward its injured caster.

Riley sensed her moment.

Righteous Flame/ Flame Wall

Pumping everything into the spell, she drew down the circle this time, corralling the chaotic fiends in a narrowing aura of celestial oblivion, pushing her paws closed while still dumping mana into her cast, watching her reserve trickle down.

She watched her mana almost causally trickle down, refusing to stop, her celestial instinct driving her on. Following Riley's example, the rest began to pour their magic on. White lightning shot from the fingers of Caedmon as stones rained down, and the earth fell away under the two infernal creatures, creating a pit.

Tobias, finally, began casting fire bolts until nothing remained, and a prompt flared to life.

You have defeated Chuthara Caster, Congratulations!

You have defeated Chuthara Soldier, Congratulations!

Riley dispelled her cast, only a smoking crater remaining of their foes. Pausing to catch her breath, a mana potion appeared between her outstretched forepaws before she tucked and rolled, only for the fur at the back of her neck to rise.

"We aren't done. Everyone, draw in, get ready!" The storm was still swirling above them, red lighting arcing through the sky.

In a flash a red bolt detonated near the entrance to the marketplace, sending a shock wave of dark, chaotic energy through all four.

"I think we're going to clock a bit of overtime on this one!" She cried.

A figure formed in the clouds, a massive silhouette of a hawk, flaring its phantasmal wings. It screamed, the piercing cry sending Riley to the dirt, forepaws clawing her ears down, as the rest of the Ranger team fell screeching.

"Mavora?" She wondered as the icy grip of fear seized her heart.

"I hope not!" Tobias replied.

There on the ethereal winds, as the storm began to fade and the blue sky began to show, a lone voice drifted on the winds before a shaft of sunlight formed like a spotlight.

At its core were two beings in silhouette, appearing as a human male and female. The woman was standing just in front of the man and to the left, with him holding her shoulders.

She was holding out her right hand.

"Riley," she cried, her voice drifting on a faintly held memory as much as the wind, "Baby girl, come to me."

"Ma… Momma?" Riley quivered as she felt a fierce magic wrap hold of her, powered by her own longing.

Family, home…

It was right there, waiting, in the shadow of the day.

"Riley, what are you doing?" Tobias worried, his hands glowing in orange light.

"Don't hurt them! They're my parents!" The hare broke into a run, taking up the middle between them.

"No, it's not, it's just a light beam. It's a trap. Shake it off." Caedmon affirmed.

"There's nothing bloody there, Greenbiar! Don't be daft!" Eastmund cried.

"I've got no target!" Tobias shouted.

"Do we aim for the light beam?" Caedmon wondered.

"No!" Riley begged as much as ordered.

"What's keeping you, child? Come to the light, dear. We haven't long. We miss you." The entity cried.

Riley looked back towards Tobias, then forward towards what felt in every way like her parents.

“I.. want to… but… but something is wrong…” The answer was right there, in front of her muzzle, but she couldn't place it.

"Riley, I've had enough. You need to get back here now!" Tobias charged forward, his worry and concern screaming through their connection, but her heart wouldn't let her stop.

"Stay away!" As if in warning, Riley dashed forward, easily outpacing him, stopping just before the shaft of light, looking up into what was the shadow of her parents.

"You're almost there. We don't want to leave you again, Riley. Please, come with us," the voice cried.

Tobias raised his hand to cast. "Take it down, but be careful. Don't hit her!"

A type of gravity seized him as Eastmund cried, "Something is keeping me from casting!"

Riley looked back in confusion, then towards her supposed mother.

"But that wasn't my name then, was it? It was…." The memory caught and spun as if slipping a gear, "Something else! You're a monster!"

Backpedaling away in horror, the shadow lunged for her, revealing another creature with yellow eyes dripping in a black, slimy aura as her confusion burned away to rage.

"Join us, baby girl!" It lurched forward as Riley screamed in fury.

“I…I… How dare you use them like that!" Her form exploded in white fire, reaching higher than the buildings around her.

Caedmon, Eastmund, and Tobias each fell back, but not before Tobias caught the outline of spectral wings and their mana bar dropping by half.

A huge wave of flame rolled out from Riley, washing over the entity.

It screamed in agony as it died, evaporating into black mist.

"Momma…" Riley cried before falling into convulsions and curling in on herself, "I'm sorry."