Bjorn finally made it to the location of the secret Isi tunnel; the location was off the road in a forested area of the inner city. The entrance didn’t look like much, just a rock face nestled against a pond. There were no indications that it was actually anything of note.
The problem was that there were still a few knights chasing them. After Tanisha killed one of them, the others only became more furious in their attacks.
The knights were all wizards using enchanted armor that both enhanced their abilities and offered excellent protection. Tyr, Svan and Tanisha had successfully held them back, but the armor was a tough obstacle. They decided to hold their ground at the entrance. Bjorn wasn’t as useful as he wanted to be since he was hitched to a wagon, which made it difficult for him to turn.
Right as the clash between the knights and the party began, the rock face that made up the hidden tunnel slowly opened. Bjorn saw cautious faces inside the dark tunnel. Then a man quickly stepped out when he saw Bjorn.
“It’s master Tyr!” the man yelled. “If you can fight we have to help him!”
It took only moments for eight sword-wielding disciples of Isi to rally to their aid. The majority of the crowd, about thirty-two in total, seemed to be women and children. The sword wielders were the only men in the group. Bjorn was happy to see Owen run out of the crowd with his trusty spear in hand.
“Help the master!” a man screamed. “Don’t let the knights escape!”
Bjorn turned his attention back to the knights. They seemed panicked at the sudden influx of enemies but were unable to disengage. However, his attention was again taken by the taste of darkness magic in the air. His heads immediately looked for the source because that taste could only mean there were more Shadow Constructs. Each head identified a different person amongst the crowd of new warriors running towards the fight with the knights.
“You see anything?” Bjorn asked Failsafe.
“Bjorn! Look out!” Helina's voice rang out at the same time Failsafe screamed in his head.
Bjorn turned one of his heads and saw her pointing at a man only a few feet away from him. His sword stabbed forward and pierced Bjorn’s side, causing the familiar to roar in pain. Bjorn immediately retaliated with a swipe of his claws, and he felt the sword slice downward out of him as the construct dodged the attack. Bjorn tried to quickly give chase, but the wagon prevented him from being able to turn and attack.
Bjorn was a long way from out of the fight, but the sudden attack caused everyone to wonder what was going on. Tanisha was almost impaled by a blitz strike from the knight she was fighting when she turned to see what had happened to Bjorn. She was saved by one of the new disciples, who used Flash Step to enter the fight. She had to go back into her own battle; the momentary distraction almost cost the girl her life.
Owen came to Bjorn’s side and thrusted his spear forward with precision. The construct dodged the spear that aimed for the spot its head had occupied mere milliseconds before. The goblin was relentless, though, more strikes followed; faster each time. Before it could counter-attack, a single beam of glowing water hit the construct’s head, making it go limp on the spot. Bjorn followed the stream of water with his eyes back to Helina, who had collected water into three glowing orbs.
With this enemy dealt with Bjorn had to turn his attention to the others. He still tasted the darkness magic in the air, so he used Identify on the newcomers. An unusual error message appeared for one of the disciples that was moving in a beeline straight for Tyr. Right as he turned his body he saw another error message, this one in the crowd of people behind Helina.
The construct looked like a child, but as it ran towards the unexpecting goblin woman its arm elongated into a thin blade. Bjorn roared, which temporarily caused everyone to freeze in place. Except for Tanisha, who was completely unaffected. It wasn’t a natural freeze either; it was some sort of Intimidation Roar. Bjorn's confusion turned to frustration as he discovered yet another power before Failsafe.
Tanisha was confused, but used the moment she had to place a well-positioned punch on the knight she was fighting. The world was frozen for only a moment more, and Tanisha used her connection to Bjorn to get a sense of his hostility towards a man frozen in place who was running towards Tyr. That person was a construct, she knew for certain after she used Identify on him. However, it wasn’t the person Bjorn was focused on the most. He started moving towards the open tunnel and when Tanisha saw why she took off running, too.
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“Tyr, there’s a shadow construct behind you!” she yelled, running in the opposite direction. “Helina, run!”
The effect of Bjorn’s Intimidation Roar wore off and everyone jolted back to life. The warnings Tanisha had yelled reached everyone. Tyr used Flash Step to dodge the construct that aimed to assassinate him. Helina on the other hand had no time; the construct came to life a moment before she did. Its blade was already whistling through the air before she could move. Bjorn and Tanisha pushed as quickly as they could to get to the goblin mother. The blade hit flesh then bone then flesh before exiting her neck.
“Helina!” Tanisha screamed.
Helina’s body fell to her knees before slumping over to the side head rolling free. The construct wasted no time and ran toward the furious pair. Its body elongated until it was only humanoid in shape but pitch black in form. It dodged Tanisha’s punches easily, even as maya poured out of her like a fountain. No longer blue-green but fully red as she unintentionally delved deeper into her connection to the Infernal Plane. She let the maya flow from her and fully embraced the infernal influence.
The power and rage she felt threatened to corrupt her as it had Bjorn a few weeks ago. Her mana veins felt like they were on fire as they dug deeper into her and started the construction of maya meridians. Pain only further caused her mind to swim in the sea of power she felt within the maya. It made her want to relinquish all control to it. She could feel the promise of power within it as her body moved on its own.
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Racial Evolution Progress
You have met the requirements to ascend Racial Hierarchy. Your core has been touched by the Infernal Planes, and where some would crumble you have thrived. New options unlocked. Please select one option to evolve.
Current: Wendigo (Normal)
Evolution 1: Nature's Wrath (Greater)
Evolution 2: Herne Hunter (Greater)
Please assign Racial Hierarchy within 2 day(s) or evolution(s) will be lost.
Evolve into Nature's Wrath (Greater Wendigo) [Yes/No]
Evolve into Herne Hunter (Greater Wendigo) [Yes/No]
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Tanisha closed the window, her mind too far gone to comprehend what it was telling her. In her crazed state she failed to even defend herself as she struck out against the construct. The sword-like appendages sliced her but couldn’t penetrate deeply thanks to the Maya Cloak, which had become more substantial. Deep or not she was being covered in wounds which flowed with maya instead of blood.
“I will fucking kill you, Loki!” she screamed. “I’m coming for you, I will kill you. You hear me, Loki!”
“Oh shit, that is not good,” Failsafe said. “She’s doing the same thing you did.”
“What do you mean?” Bjorn asked.
“Her core is a fusion of maya and mana by the looks of it,” Failsafe said. “But right now the maya is in control.”
Bjorn joined the battle; he was marginally slower than Tanisha because of the wagon and his injury. When he arrived he immediately snapped with his powerful jaws, one right after the other, down onto the construct. He managed to crush one of its arms before Owen jumped into the fray. His eyes had tears running down but his gaze was sharp.
Between the three of them it only took moments to land a fatal shot on the construct, which fell to the ground. Tanisha jumped on it, her mind nearly entirely lost to the maya as she bit, punched and clawed at the rapidly vanishing construct. She stood once it was fully gone, her maya-induced rage causing her to scream obscenities.
“Helina.” Owen dropped his spear and ran to the downed woman.
The quivering voice of the man seemed to bring some reason back to Tanisha. Bjorn used two of his heads to get a good look at their surroundings while the third focused on Tanisha. Tyr was okay, other than a nasty cut on one of his arms. All of the knights were killed along with the shadow construct. The battle was over, so Bjorn focused back on Tanisha. He grabbed her gently, being careful not to cut her with his claws, and forced her to look at him as she had done when he was lost to the maya.
“Bjorn?” Tanisha asked as tears flowed. “It’s not fair! It’s not fair.”
The maya she was breathing out slowly shifted in coloration, fully green this time instead of the blue-green it had been. After another minute it slowly shifted in color again until it was fully white. Once she was calm, at least in terms of maya, Bjorn let her go. He could feel her emotions, and he felt them shift in her. The turbulence was soothed by the maya; she let it take away her distress and sadness. Bjorn didn’t think it was a healthy thing to do, but understood why she would. Now was not a time to be lost to emotion; they were still in the middle of the enemy’s territory and only smart decisions were going to get them out alive.