When Alicia, Wisesa, and Kaito landed behind the shrubs, they witnessed the naked cryptid hounds one by one being consecrated to the flames until their forms transcended into nonexistence. The trio’s eyes narrowed; the hounds rushed towards a lass as if lining for the slaughterhouse. A lass with long hair, a dusky complexion, and dressed in all orange. Atop her head perched a unique pointed hat, resembling a dragon miniature with a copper tail and gaping jaws that moulded the hat’s brim, complete with its array of teeth.
The lass oftentimes provoked the advancing canines in her native tongue. Every gesture of her body exuded firmness and vigour, a fervent enthusiasm of slaughtering the hounds with exuberant joy. Using a thick serpentine staff as the medium—Alicia had guessed it to be a magic staff—she summoned flames from the heavens as retribution for the hound pack. When a few managed to wriggle out of the meteor shower, fiery wheels clamped from the front and rear, causing the beasts to lose their grip on gravity and setting them into a frenzied spin, blistering their pale skin to reddish-black, then again, one with the empty space.
To the hounds’ instinct, the lass with the orange pointed hat was the big catch of the day. No wonder their relentless number emerging from the cavern on the cliff wall was far greater than before. Their dominion had become the wasteland of prey, evident from the desolate fishing village, perhaps due to their greed-mongering.
The trio of youths behind the bushes watched the lass taking her stand, hands slowly raising, breath quickening in preparation for yet another battle. Though her arms were slender, the sinuous contour of her muscles spoke of immense strength, adorned with veins tracing the surface of her glistening dark skin. She swung her staff, and suddenly, its bulk lengthened upwards. Well-sharpened obsidian blades protruded from either side, about ten in number. With the new wave advanced near, the Orange Witch impaled one creature and wrenched the jaw of the other. Pinkish-red fluid and clumps erupted like a bursting boil.
"By the gods, that girl is not bad," commented Wisesa, turning towards Kaito. "Do you know who she is?"
"She... she's the candle merchant," Kaito replied.
"She's the candle merchant?" Wisesa’s tone conveyed disbelief.
But Kaito solemnly nodded.
"Oh, she's not a Kagatsean native? " Alicia interjected with a follow-up question.
Kaito's slender neck offered a subtle shake. "She's one of the refugees."
Upon further scrutiny, Alicia noticed an anomaly: Kagatsean forest was quite lush, but the flames dared not encroach beyond the mage’s battleground. The youths’ noses neither were untinged by acrid fumes nor did their lungs burn, for all the smoke gathered and ascended to a singular point. A seething ocean of flames in contrast to the verdant panorama.
Alicia decided to scan the mage with her glasses, and the lenses displayed an interface.
POSSIBLE PRACTITIONER DETECTED {Faces here} RANK: MEDIANUS III POSSIBLE MYSTIC ART: TLEMAUAYOLOTLI
The bespectacled girl was agape. "Tlemauayolotli? Could she... hail from Tamoanchan?"
On the other hand, the Orange Witch still showed no signs of fatigue as she dispelled the accursed creatures. Perhaps Alicia and Wisesa were not needed—Alicia thought of this, and if it was true, she could watch in relief and rest her body. However, this did not apply to Kaito, whose anxiety was palpable. He persistently tugged at their clothes. "The candle merchant doesn't seem to be going anywhere! Don't let my sister run out of time!"
Alicia shut her eyes, forcing her body to endure through sheer willpower. At that moment, Kaito felt the touch of her silk-clad hand. "Please, dinnae go anywhere. Alright?" pleaded the lass with a bitter smile.
"I'll stay here," Kaito assured her with a firm nod.
Alicia retrieved Orb and, with Wisesa, proceeded towards the battleground. However, as the Orange Witch continued to cast various forms of fire magic, the hounds howled and scurried in frenzy. Their muscles twitched until conjoined twin mutant forms emerged from torn hides, each of their hands mutating into guns or shields.
As if privy to the symptoms, the Orange Witch’s head swivelled lightning-fast. Alicia and Wisesa now could observe her face with clear sight, a streak of green painted along her ember eyes.
"Who has it?" seethed the Orange Witch.
Alicia was about to answer, but the words on her tongue were quickly overridden by a warning, "Watch in front of you!"
The witch saw the shielded hounds hurtling towards her, while those bearing twins armed with rifles staggered and fired. Alicia was about to summon an Arcane field for the Orange Witch, but the witch was quicker. Lifting her staff towards the sun, the witch shouted, “Xu-tēmōx! Xu-tlaxu! Xu-tepēh!”
The ground before her shook and flashed a light in the shape of a human painting with clenched teeth. The image unfurled its mouth as the earth cracked open, and tongues of flame erupted outwards, forming a rolling firewall like a giant wave coveted by sea surfers—unlike the sluggish sea lapping at Kagatsean shores. The surging dogs crashed with their shields and fell over. Hearing their screams behind the fiery barrier truly brought one to vision the blazing torment in the afterlife for the ungodly.
"I'll say it again: Who! Has! it?" The Orange Witch brandished her magic staff. The vexed furrow marred her beauty as her clenched teeth betrayed her impatience. Her gaze darted between Alicia and Wisesa. "No, no. It can't be this filthy man. You! Your dorky countenance is the most endearing among us! You bear that, don't you!”
Alicia wondered if that was praise. Nonetheless, she cautiously probed, "I dinnae ken what you mean—"
"Alicia cut the bullshit! Just say you're the Arcane wielder!" scolded Wisesa.
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
"Of course, I cannae just openly say it to yon mage, can I? How many times have people hunted me down because of their infatuation with Orb?" Alicia whispered sharply.
"Never thought about that when speaking to the sullen-faced kid, did you?"
"Yes! That! Arcane!" the Orange Witch pointed at the bespectacled girl. "Don't say the 'orb' holds the might of Arcane!"
Upon hearing the Orange Witch’s words, Alicia mounted her stance. Her hand drew upon the Arcane might within Orb. "Do you have a problem if I’m the bearer of Arcane?"
"So it is true! Damn it!" the witch tightly gripped her pointed hat. After regaining her composure, she warned, "Leave this place! Take your Arcane might far away! Your presence will only trouble me!"
Alicia was stunned. The last time Arcane was deemed a nuisance was by a network of black magic terrorists fond of donning masks.
"Not to offend, Miss," Wisesa retorted, "Your mystic art display was impressive. But up until now, you were merely countering them in place."
Yet the mage seemed unwilling to back down. "Oh, is that so? Of course, my magic is formidable. What I displayed earlier was deliberate. It was to enhance my abilities."
"Enhance abilities?" Now Alicia's brows furrowed. "Divine Mercy, you show no concern for the abducted child!"
"A child? Oh, is the child's brother reaching out to you as well?" the witch clicked her tongue. "I already told him to entrust everything to me! What a wayward one!"
"Wayward one? He's dead worried!" Alicia snapped. "He's been waiting all this time. What if we're late in saving his sibling?"
"Hey, no we! Me! I'm the one who will rescue his sibling, and I stand by my word!" The Orange Witch turned to check the state of her firewall. It still burned, still towered, still valiantly repelled the absurd cryptid hounds from breaching it. "Listen, yes? His sibling won't go anywhere! They'll only feed when dusk descends, when the mother mangles her hunt and distributes it to her young. Dusk is still two hours away, so stay behind the bushes and just watch!"
Two hours. She stated it with a sturdy and affirmative tone, with a slight rough edge. This witch seemed well-versed in hounds’ feeding schedules. No myriad of possibilities would unshaken her confidence regarding Kaito’s sister's fate. Alicia, more calculating, had a different view. The witch in front of her was indeed formidable, but her cavalier attitude made the Camelot lass’ countenance grave, her gaze stern. The witch acted as though guided by a preordained fate, like an astrologist whose deeds and their outcomes appeared accurately foretold by The Existence. What if the monsters decided for an early supper? Thus, Instead of heeding the witch’s words, Alicia advanced.
"Arcane will expedite our extermination mission. Kaito cannae endure delay any longer," Alicia affirmed.
“Heissh…! Are your ears deceiving you? I know your intentions are noble, but Arcane worsens the behaviour of the Binxtrunachs—essentially every monster in Kagatse! If the Mother senses the presence of your Arcane, our efforts to save the child will be in vain, understand? No Arcane here. Fire is sufficient. Fire is supreme. Fire will engulf them all without mercy!"
"Binxtrunachs...?” Alicia’s neck slightly jerked back, eyes narrowed. “They have names?"
"Have you just emerged from the archaic library or something, Lady? Of course, they have names! Foolish names crafted by the Magisterium's people!"
"I mean, this is our first time setting foot in Kagatse. And I dinnae remember the last time I watched telemedia—"
The firewall suddenly extinguished. The heat subsided, but the Orange Witch still found herself in the shadows.
"Oh, shit, oh, no. Guess it's too late to leave this place," said Wisesa, looking up. When the witch noticed Alicia wincing in disbelief, she trailed her gaze, but she did not witness the wall of fire.
She witnessed a horrifying abomination in the form of a pink-skinned creature with ten legs, tens times the size of the ordinary cryptid dog. Its head was oblong and sleek, and atop its hump, a towering entity raised one arm like a sculpture of a deva. Its face bore a striking human likeness, with a forked crown clung atop its head, often snagging and scraping the branches of trees. This time it had eyes, glaring at the trio with disdain.
The Mother had chosen to engage in the battle.
Dozens of furless, eyeless, and earless dogs huddled beneath it. The so-called Binxtrunachs.
The Mother’s humanoid maw opened wide, emitting a deafening siren, and at once, its youngs mutated and charged at the three youth. Alicia deftly constructed an Arcane dome.
"Seriously, what's wrong with this place? How can be people living with... whatever this is?" Wisesa asked, his eyes fixated on the monsters incessantly scraping the barrier, some ceaselessly shooting at it. "Monsters are scary and all, but this isn't a monster. The ones before weren't either."
"That’s the initial reaction of the folk here as well. Well, if only you did not come bearing Arcane..." The breath of the Orange Witch hitched, replaced by a heavy sigh. "It matters not. Calm. Fire does not complain. It lives and burns. Do you wish to aid? I comprehend the profile of the Binxtrunachs better than you. Will you follow my course?"
The furrow on Alicia's brow eased. "Fair enough. What’s the script?"
The siren’s howl from the Binxtrunach mother continued to rattle the souls, as if bearing the signs of war and calamity, which were transpiring now, within that domain. The Mother’s other hand was raised, this time holding a small child dangling from a great height, screaming for help. Again, a challenge and derogation from the monster.
"Someone’s there!" Alicia exclaimed. "Dinnae tell me... Kaito's younger sister! Oh, no, no! She’ll be crushed by the Mother's hand if we dinnae act swiftly—"
The Orange Witch’s grips on Alicia's arm brought her back to reality. "Do not shout yet, Woman. You, Man! What do you possess?"
"'Man'? What the…?" Wisesa was slightly vexed. "You know this Man possesses certain Knowledges—"
"He possesses me!" Barong suddenly emerged, grinning towards the Orange Witch, much to her surprise. Surprise that implied not fear. The fiery eyes once ignited with anger were now replaced by awe.
"Tlaltecuhtli is inside you?" the witch raised her staff to chest level and bowed. “Accept my reverence, Tlaltecuhtli!”
Barong was flattered. "Wow. Adoration after so long. See, Wisesa, an exemplar for you!"
Wisesa's mouth mimicked the Patron of Land’s words in hushed mockery.
"Earth Monster within you? Damn! Damn, damn, damn it! I am impressed and envious. Damn it! Fine, you can defeat the young doglings, but know our discussion does not end here. I will confront the Mother alone."
"And what of me?" Alicia pointed to herself.
"You... stay here. Create an Arcane barricade or whatever, it matters not."
Alicia was taken aback. "What? Are you jesting? I've already said with my power we can exterminate them faster!"
The Orange Witch hissed. "With fire alone, I can annihilate them faster than the two of us combined! Moreover, I see you as pale as death. I do not wish to care for more babes. Cease arguing, let us save the child, whatever her name is!" With fiery breath in both clenched fists, the Orange Witch shot out of the Arcane dome and landed on the chest of the humanoid giant with an explosion!
The bespectacled lass still stood within the Arcane field, her face pouting in disappointment—forcing the expression regardless of her stinging cheek. “I did not ask ye to care for me!”
"Alicia," Barong attempted to soothe, "You can bless Wisesa with the Arcane might. I already know the praise from the fire witch will not persuade him to use half of my power."
"Yes, you know...," Wisesa chimed in, "'make yourself useful!'" then he burst into laughter.
Alicia sighed, sharing her Arcane blessing resignedly, and Wisesa immediately lunged out, hurling several hounds. He presented his bum to attract their attention, to which Alicia failed to fathom the logic of the lad doing such to the blind creatures. Nevertheless, the cryptid hounds knew well that Wisesa was outside the barrier by his scent. After all, it was better yet easier to prey on people outside any barriers.
Wisesa capitalises on the creatures’s disposition. The dogs flocked towards him, firing their rifles, but the lad’s inner strength held all the bullets. As they drew nearer, Wisesa's hands were already enshrouded with Barong Heads, piercing the rocky ground and overturning them all into the subterranean layer, burying them alive. []