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Audra
Vasuki placed a roof of ice over their heads while they did the equivalent of sit and lick their wounds. It was odd missing a part of her body she had once used so regularly. When her fingers grew back she’d make sure not to take those for granted. She looked over at Cabana, she simply sat there, rubbing the closed off spot where her entire left arm had been.
“Noelem…is he really?” Cabana asked. Vasuki nodded his head.
“I’m afraid so.”
“That demon, I have no idea what that was. I’ve never seen anything like it.” Cabana pointed out.
“I used a very large chunk of Faust’s powers. Even my Ethereal Water didn’t hurt it much.” Audra claimed.
The rain began to bang against the ice roof. Audra felt Faust tap her mind.
“Erefus will be there shortly, start making your way towards us.” After relaying the message to both Vasuki and Cabana they began to prepare for the worst, well second worst, thing they could find in the Storm.
Their feet splattered against the rain-soaked ground. The smell of rot and decay came from everywhere, or maybe it was from one direction but the rain dimmed her senses. Either way she wasn’t sure but the idea that demons were about to be surrounding them was something she didn’t want to think about.
“But it’s a reality you need to accept!” Faust roared in her mind, she felt a sudden need to turn. Ducking under the claw of a Varulv, she quickly summoned a blade from the black rain and cut its chest.
“Pack behind us!” Cabana shouted, summoning one of her knives into her grasp. Audra stabbed the Varulv in the neck before looking back at the countless pale purple eyes glaring at them from the darkness of the forest.
Two of the Varulv began to run towards them only for a large wall of ice to shoot from the ground forcing them to slam into it.
“You two get going! I’ll hold them off!” Vasuki ordered, sliding to a stop, and drawing his icy blade into existence. Audra quickly began to reason with him.
“It’s an entire pack! Do you really think you can-”
“Shut up!” He spat, the look in his eyes alone was enough to shut her up. She could feel the memories of who he was beginning to crack right in front of her, “I’m the only one here that isn’t completely worn down. Besides, I have a feeling Boreal has more he wants to teach me before I end up dead.” Cabana looked conflicted about the choices she was presented with.
“Vasuki, are you sure?” She asked. The wall of ice melted and he held his left hand out. Cobalt strings of ice shot from his hand, hooking on his fingers and quickly wrapping the Varulv into unnatural poses.
“Positive. I’ll meet up with you in Larkinge.” He pulled his hand and the Varulv in front of him tore into a mess of blood and limbs.
“Point taken. Cabana let’s go!” Audra ordered.
“Don’t you die!” Cabana yelled following close to Audra. She didn’t quite hear what the man had said before the rain began to beat harder against them.
They ran for a few more minutes, the smell of rot still noticeable but now it was distant, Vasuki’s scent right by it. She tapped at her connection with Faust.
“Where’s Erefus?” She asked.
“Almost to you, we’ll rendezvous south of Larkinge.”
“We’re taking Erefus south of Larkinge.” She said, relaying the info to Cabana.
“And what about Vasuki? I’m not leaving him out here!” She declared.
“He’ll be fine, I’m sure of it. Faust said that his presence is more like Boreal’s than Vasuki from our memories. And if Boreal survived the first War of Dominion, then I’m sure he won’t let Vasuki die in the second one.” She heard Cabana chuckle behind her.
“You two have definitely grown a pair since you left Nevenal.”
“We had a good teacher.”
Audra came to a stop when she felt something nearby, definitely demonic in nature.
“What is it?” Cabana asked.
“Could be Erefus. I’m not sure.” Before Audra could react she felt herself being thrown into the air then being repositioned mid-fall before landing on the back of a giant creature. Before she could react to the black fur under her the creature began to speak.
“Hello there you two. Sorry to hear about Noelem but what can you do? I am Erefus, sure you’ve heard about me, all good things I’m certain.” Erefus quickly explained.
“Couldn’t you have just let us get on you?” Cabana asked, “No need to force us on your back!” She argued.
“Oh please, with your speed? We need to go now. I’m sure Vasuki will be fine, he’s much more powerful than you give him credit for. You may want to hold on.” Erefus explained, quickly, at a pace they could barely understand. Audra grabbed onto his fur while Cabana wrapped her arm around her stomach and placed her head against her back.
The pace that Erefus was going was beyond anything a person could hope to achieve. Yet his leaps and bounds were smooth, and fluid, it was almost as if he were made of water instead of flesh, bones, and muscles.
“Audra?” Cabana asked from behind her, almost a whisper.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Yeah, Cabana?”
“I’m so sorry I got you into this mess. I haven’t properly protected you since we left Nevenal. It’s no wonder you’ve gotten so strong.”
“It’s alright, Cabana. You’re the only person we could trust, and you guided us along the whole way. You did a great job if you ask me.” She felt Cabana shuddering against her back and her hand gripped her shirt tightly.
“I love you guys.” She said, between sobs. Audra wrapped her hand around hers as it kept its grip on her shirt.
“We love you too, Cabana.”
The farther they got from Vasuki the more his scent became a memory. The things he said, the way he looked at her. Audra compared them to who he was when they first got to Daemerall. She was stuck with the memories of a guy who was way too dependent on the people around him. He was scared and impulsive and never had a plan.
‘Shut up!’ The venom in those words ate at her. The fire in his eyes as he killed the Varulv. Now that she thought about it he was the one that jumped head first against an enemy he knew nothing about.
“What did he go through?” She asked herself.
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Vasuki
Black blood dripped from his blade, joining the inky water on the ground below his feet. The fingers on his left hand were beginning to bleed from the strings cutting into him. Blood dripped from his right arm, mixing into the blackness beneath his feet.
Raising his left arm to protect himself from one of the many Varulv razor sharp claws, he countered by slicing into its torso and cleaving it in two. He used the momentum to spin himself around and held the flat of his blade up to defend himself from another. He materialized a spear of ice from the ground behind him to pierce yet another demon.
Kicking off the demon in front of him, he gained some distance before conjuring the strings out of his palm, catching in the sore spot on his fingers as they pierced the demon’s skin and wrapped around its muscles from the inside. Pulling at the icy strings its body contorted before ripping apart.
Just as he began to relax, he felt the ground under his feet tremble ever so-slightly. What was causing this he wasn’t sure, but he stayed on his toes. Quickly scanning the forest around him it wasn’t until it was only a few feet away when he actually spotted the armored Varulv. Its size was that of a giant compared to the ones he had been fighting, the Alpha Varulv was a few feet taller than he was on all fours. The black armor was decorated with purple designs that seemed to be completely random, the head piece had two large horns over the pale purple glaring eyes.
Quickly reacting, Vasuki brought the blade hard against the demon’s skull only for it to stop against the armor. It slapped him to the side, forcing him to lose a grip on his sword as he slid in the mud, he could feel his cuts burning as the demonic blood mixed in with his injuries.
“Shit, shit, shit!” He yelled as he rolled away from where the Varulv had leapt.
Coming to a stand he froze the water around the Alpha Varulv’s feet. While it was confused he made his way to his sword, picking it from the ground and coating it in Ethereal ice. He slung his weapon down at the demon as it pulled itself from the icy cuffs he had created, sending a wave of ice towards it. The demon staggered to the side before letting out a warm hissing sound at him. Despite the ache in his left hand he at least felt satisfaction in hurting it. That hope was dashed when it stood on its hind-legs and flames began to form in its mouth.
As the ball of fire left from its mouth and hit the side of Vasuki’s blade he quickly stumbled back. The heat on his fingers was enough to slightly burn him despite lasting for only a split-second. He felt three more flaming balls hit while he hid behind his sword, each one pushing him back until he was up against a tree. Noticing the flat of his blade beginning to form cracks he knew he needed to act. Moving out of the way of a fourth one he hid behind the tree he was next to.
He breathed a sigh of relief until a claw hit through the tree and cut into his back while it forced him to hit a different tree, chest first. Gasping and coughing as he shakily came to a stand. Giving in to the cold, his soul wrapped in a blanket of frost he could feel a lot more power searing through his body.
Turning, Vasuki was barely able to hold back the claw that came down upon him. More cracks formed on his sword, gritting his teeth he managed to push the demon back but was forced back once again as it dug its teeth deep into his scaled arm and pinned him to the side of the tree. He screamed as he felt his scales break under the pressure of its powerful jaws.
Hoisting his sword up he sent the tip of it scraping along the top of the Alpha Varulv’s headpiece until it stopped just short of the chunk of armor above its eyes. He created cobalt ice to hold it in place as he quickly worked the tip of his sword underneath and began to pry it off, revealing the black burned skin underneath. It dug deeper into him and tried to tear his arm off but was held in place by the ice. Plunging the icy blade into its head the demon howled in pain as it attempted to move against the ice holding its mouth open.
Black blood spurted out as his sword shattered and cut deep into the skull, while a shorted sharp part of his blade penetrated the bones and plunged itself into the blade. He screamed in pain as the demon’s teeth dug deeper into him once its brain stopped working from the blade penetrating it. Removing the blade black blood shot out against his face and into his mouth.
Immediately he began to choke, coughing and gasping against the bitter taste of decaying meat started to overtake his senses. He fell to the ground as the demon faded into nothing, he got on his hands and knees and began to cough against the ground, but even after vomiting whatever was in his stomach out he still couldn’t get a grip on the spinning surroundings.
Footsteps behind him were the only thing that told him that he was still alive.
“My oh my! How unfortunate.” He looked back at the voice and tried to fight back against the poisonous liquid in his throat as Felix walked in front of him.
“You know it is a very bad idea to drink demon blood, everyone knows this, even children.” Felix pointed out, kneeling next to him. Vasuki gasped for air at him, though he was trying really hard to be threatening in his current situation that was not possible.
“Hot take, real quick. I think drinking that was a very bad idea.” Vasuki tried to make a noise but it felt like his throat was completely shut off at this point. The last words that came from Felix had Vasuki terrified.
“This just saves me the trouble of knocking you out myself.” Felix claimed before his hand gripped his shirt.