Soulburned : The School of Souls

Chapter 4 : Overdrawn

Thale landed into a roll, his Quickwood scrapping across the cobblestones as it flexed.

All around him, civilians were screaming.

It's happening again.

The events of twelve years ago flashed through his mind.

Thale had been thirteen. Just a student in the mandatory Primer courses. It would be years until Thale entered the Iris proper, he hadn't even considered it yet.

Is it the same Soul Eater? The Archmage had been clear that it had only been banished, not destroyed. No, get moving.

He pushed the memories down. There wasn't time.

Haste.

He ran.

His Eros starved limbs screamed. They'd eventually give out if he continued to push it like this.

The Soul Eater was leaving a wake of destruction trailing behind it. Its wings had been burned away by the Wall of Light, so instead of flying, it ran. It carved a swath of death down the center of the district, ignoring existing roads in favor of creating its own. Homes that had stood for decades now burned. Thale ran past them, others would be along to stop the fires.

With his spell active, Thale was almost a blur. No normal human could hope to keep pace with an Eros-enhanced Mage, but even he was struggling to keep up with the Soul Eater. The thing was fast! Its massive humanoid legs were powerful, and its stride was enormous, it being the height of three grown men stacked one atop the other.

Simple buffs aren't going to cut it... Thale thought. If he had any hope of catching up with the creature, he needed to do something drastic.

He concentrated on his legs. Blood and Eros were already flooding the muscles, allowing him to move at superhuman speeds, but it wasn't enough.

This a bad idea, he thought, then drew Eros from his core. It was going to be a long recovery.

Blend

It wasn't a spell typically used on oneself, or anything alive for that matter. It was more similar to the spell he had used to turn that wooden door to stone than a typical enhancement.

He began to regret his decision immediately. The muscles in his torso began to shrink, then redistribute. The mass moved downwards into his hips and legs. The skin stretched and cracked. Thale let loose a cry of pain as he ran. The pain was exquisite, but his speed increased.

He began gaining on the Soul Eater.

A Banshee, one of the flying creatures that made it past the Second Wall swooped down and attacked a group of non-combatants. The banshee racked its claws across a young man's forearms as he tried to defend himself. A young child's horrified screams rose to mix with those of the banshee.

Thale rushed to the group, his sword humming as it cut through the air.

Strength.

With Thale's buffed strength and speed, his sword carved the creature in half without meeting resistance.

The now free young man immediately scooped the sobbing child into his arms, despite their profuse bleeding. He nodded in thanks to Thale before running with the child into a nearby building. Thale immediately continued sprinting after the Soul Eater, leaving the civilians to fend for themselves.

They'll be fine. he told himself as he continued the chase. He passed several other groups of people, all struggling in the panic. Thale ran past them. Stopping the Soul Eater was his biggest priority.

He left the strength spell active. These standard buff spells were a Mages bread and butter but were costly to cast. His Eros would continually drain, but constantly recasting would take a greater toll on his body in the short term.

As long as I don't run out of Eros entirely... he thought.

He tried not to think about it and continued moving through the city at a breakneck speed.

The districts between each wall grew progressively smaller as one approached the Iris. The Soul Eater was already approaching the Third Wall. A moat of Lesser fire had already sprung up around the wall, and already pillars of light were shooting into the sky to raise a barrier. Ballistas had begun shooting down banshees, a few even risked firing bolts at the Soul Eater directly.

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It wouldn't be enough.

Most of Sclera's defenders had been stationed on the Second Wall, and the Soul Eater had made it through their extra defenses in mere moments.

The Soul Eater slowed as it reached the edge of the Flames. It opened its demonic maw and began sucking fire directly from the moat. The Soul Eater's eyes began to glow orange with power.

"Flesh of Stone!" Thale shouted, then launched himself at the Soul Eater's back, both feet extended out in a flying kick. He impacted hard, and his increased weight from the spell was enough to cause the Soul Eater to stumble forward into the moat of fire. Thale landed in a heap on the edge of the embankment.

Burn you bastard!

The Soul Eater screamed, vibrating the very air. The Lesser Flames licked and tore at the demon's flesh, slowly consuming the monster.

Thale scrambled to his feet.

Holy shit! I did it! he thought.

The Lesser Flames winked out of existence, leaving only scored earth, and the Soul Eater still standing in its place.

The beast laughed.

No!

The Soul Eater moved at such a speed that, even with Thale's increased perception and dexterity, its movement was imperceptible.

In half a heartbeat, the Soul Eater had grabbed Thale by the skull, picked him up as if he weighed nothing, and then slammed him into the cobblestones.

Thale's Quickwood shattered on the impact, sending shards of magically reinforced hardwood into his chest. Thale screamed. At least one rib cracked and his head felt like it was about to burst in the monster's hand. If he hadn't had Flesh of Stone active, Thale would have been turned to paste. As it was, all the air had been driven out of his lungs, he was stunned, and he was bleeding profusely from the shards of armor.

The Soul Eater threw Thale's limp form into the Third Wall. The stone of the wall cracked upon impact. Thale struggled not to black out.

Mend.

Another strange spell usage. It wasn't meant to be used on humans, it was meant for minor tool repairs. Wizards had crafted special glyphs for healing, but Thale didn't exactly have time to report to the infirmary, he was bleeding out, and fast.

The Eros in Thale's lungs, the last in his body, rushed into the wounds, pulling and melting flesh together into a gross approximation of scarring. The wounds sealed.

Thale gasped as the last of his Eros was consumed. All his spells failed all at once.

His body screamed in pain, his nerves having reverted back to organic matter. The strength and speed buffs ended, which even in the best of circumstances would leave his brain clouded and his body weak, but this...this was worse.

He couldn't breathe, he couldn't move at all.

I overdrew... I failed...

He felt empty.

He was.

The Soul Eater advanced.

Thales's vision began to blur and darken.

A bolt of black fire launched from the upper floors of the Iris tower, then arched towards the Soul Eater like a comet. The creature saw it coming and roared at it in defiance, forgetting Thale's existence in an instant.

The streak of black fire impacted the Soul Eater, knocking the beast off its feet and sending it sprawling into a nearby building.

The beast roared in pain, causing windows in the nearby buildings to shatter. The mass of fire burned in place on the cobblestone road, then dissipated revealing a man with a flaming greatsword.

A Tower Guardian.

The Soul Eater regained its footing quickly, then breathed fire at the guardian. The Guardian swung his Shriv Blade through the air, causing a crescent of the Shriving Flame to break away from the blazing sword and fly towards the fire breath. The two flames exploded on impact with each other, bathing the surrounding area in heat.

Another Guardian crashed into the Soul Eater from behind, black fire bursting from his plate armor.

A third landed next to Thale.

"You okay?" the Guardian asked.

Thale recognized him as Magnus, the leader of the Guardians.

Thale didn't reply, only slipped closer to unconsciousness.

"You've overdrawn."

The Guardian placed a hand on Thale's breastplate, over his Mage Mark.

"Infuse."

Eros flowed into Thale.

Feeling returned to his fingertips, and the strength returned to his body. He gasped, filling his lungs with air. His hearing, which had still been dulled from the Dark Sight spell returned.

The screams of civilians suddenly became deafening. A pit grew in Thale's stomach.

"The Infusion is temporary, it's not your Eros. Go." Magnus said. "We'll take care of the Accursed."

"I can help." Thale croaked, his throat burned from the recent lack of oxygen.

Magnus shook his head and stood.

"Start getting these people behind the Third. The Second has fallen, by morning this district will be overrun with Kovites."

Magnus turned to face the Soul Eater, which was now engaged in fighting the newly arrived Guardian. He began moving towards it.

"And don't draw from that Eros!" Magnus shouted back at Thale, before dashing into the fray.

Thale pushed himself off the wall. His body screamed in pain, but at least he could feel that pain now, with Magnus's Eros replacing his own. The sensation was strange. He could sense the Eros, but it was alien, he felt like he was trespassing in his own body.

Temporary, Thale reminded himself, Gotta move.

Thale took one last look at the titanic clash, then ran into the nearest burning building, towards the sound of screaming.